Mark Jewell's Blog: Selling Energy, page 238

Who Is the REAL Decision-Maker?

One of the questions that you probably ask yourself when you’re trying to understand what it will take to get an organization to say “yes” is, “How do I know I’m talking to the real decision-maker?” There are lots of ways to ask that question; however, I think many of them are fraught with peril. You don’t ask a blatant question like, “So, who is the decision-maker around here?” because you would likely insult the person with whom you’re speaking by suggesting that other people have to be involved in the decision. Maybe this person actually is the lone wolf that makes the decisions and has all the power in the world.

By far, the most elegant way that I’ve seen to ferret out who is actually going to make the decision is one that was suggested by Jeffrey Gitomer in his Little Red Book of Selling. It goes like this: “Bill, how will this decision be made?” After you ask the question, just zip it. This approach really falls flat if you don’t give enough silence after the question to allow the other person to formulate and share an accurate answer. Learn to be comfortable with silence.

If you have a trouble being comfortable with silence, never go into a meeting without a glass of water in front of you. When you ask a question, especially a tough question, just stop. Breathe for one or two seconds, pick up the water, take a sip, and put the glass down. You will buy yourself between seven and ten seconds of silence, and you won’t find it to be uncomfortable at all because you were just drinking from a glass of water. (I joke that if the water bit doesn’t buy you enough time, always make sure that you have a tube of lip balm in your pocket. You can take out the lip balm, lubricate your lips with it, put the cap back on, and voila! You just bought yourself another six or seven seconds of silence!)

Bottom line though, ask your prospect, “How will this decision be made?” Take notes while they speak. After they give a response, simply ask, “And then what?” Stop. Take notes. “And then what?” “And then what?” Continue to gently prod your prospect until he or she gets down to the point of saying, “And then we give you a purchase order, and as soon as you can do the job, we’ll accept an invoice from you that we will pay within ‘x’ days.”

Until you get down that whole cavalcade of steps, you will not know how many players will need to be involved in the decision, and you will go back to the office with an overly sanguine view of how easy it is going to be to close the sale with this organization.

 

Selling Energy Blog

The post Who Is the REAL Decision-Maker? appeared first on Selling Energy.

Influencer Mapping

 

One of the most valuable things you can do before approaching a new organization with a proposal is to determine exactly what you should say to each stakeholder and in what order you should approach them, including who should be approached first. This is particularly important when you’re working with large organizations and complex sales. So how do you determine which players are going to help your project get approved? You create what I call an “influencer map.”

I was doing a training session for a large client a couple years ago, and I did the influencer map exercise with a group of salespeople who specialized in selling energy efficiency in the local government sector. I split the twenty-person audience into four groups of five.  I gave each group a blank flip pad and a Sharpie along with the following directions: “Choose an energy-saving project that you’ve successfully completed. Now draw a bubble for each influencer in that project’s decision-making chain.  I want you to draw every person who had something to do with it, whether or not energy efficiency should happen in their jurisdiction, and what their respective role was (e.g., technical director, budget director, finance director, mayor, and so forth).  Next to each name, write what their core values and concerns were. Then connect these people on the chart with solid or dotted lines based upon how influential you think they were on others in the chain.”

Three things impressed me about that flip chart exercise. First, no one wrote anything on the flip charts for at least 15 minutes, which suggested to me that they had never done this exercise before.  Second, once they had completed the exercise, the drawings were totally convoluted, which I guess is not surprising given that they were diagramming complicated municipal environments where you have plenty of different stakeholders weighing in – everybody from the public interest advocates to the city council to the mayor to the sustainability director. Third, this exercise made it obvious to everyone present that if people wanted to be more successful in selling efficiency in these settings, they would have to be more strategic. They had to create a map that would show that if you were to hit one particular domino, the rest of the dominoes down the line would likely fall; or, that if you were to hit this other domino, nothing would likely happen, so you would be wasting your time.

It also reinforces the idea that multiple one-page proposals are sometimes necessary. You might actually send one one-page proposal to the budget director, a different one-page proposal to the sustainability director, and a different one-page proposal to the labor union to get everybody on board for his or her own reasons. Then when you delivered the final one-page proposal that describes the project that you would like to see funded, that proposal would consider acupressure points identified during all those other interactions you have had. This approach would ensure that by the time the final proposal is soft-circled for approval, you would have already done your homework and “checked all the players off” in your mind. When asked by the highest-ranking decision-maker whether they agree with the proposed course of action, each and every influencer would say “yes.”

If you haven’t already experimented with influencer maps, I highly recommend doing so. You’ll be surprised at how effective such a simple exercise can be in turbocharging your sales.

Selling Energy Blog

The post Influencer Mapping appeared first on Selling Energy.

Focus on Your Customer’s Story

 

Yesterday, I wrote about how increased productivity in an office space can more than outweigh the utility cost savings in the wake of an efficiency project. Today, we’ll look at another example of how reframing utility cost savings can boost your value proposition.

A few years ago, I was teaching the Efficiency Sales Professional Boot Camp and a gentleman, who we’ll call Jack, came up to me and told me that he was having difficulty getting church leaders to focus on energy efficiency as a key driver of decision-making. One pastor told him he had his hands full trying to keep a congregation attracted to the church and trying to raise enough money to feed and clothe the needy.

Jack told me, “It was kind of demoralizing because I would have thought that the church’s commitment to being ‘stewards of the Earth’ would have been enough of a driver to get some of these congregational leaders to at least listen to me.” So, I asked him, “What do you typically tell church leaders when you first approach?” He said, “I tell them that if they do this efficiency project, they’re going to save a bunch of money on their utility bills.” I said, “What’s a ‘bunch’ of money?” He replied, “A few hundred… in some cases, even a thousand dollars or more a month.”

It became clear that Jack was not framing the utility cost savings in a way that was resonating with the church leaders. How could he have reframed the benefits of his project? Hypothetically, Jack could have asked the pastor a question like, “What does the average congregant bring in a collection envelope or put in the collection plate when he or she comes to church?”

Let’s keep it simple and assume that a given church averages about 1,000 congregants each month, each of whom donates $10. If the church could save $1,000/month on its utility bill, it would be the equivalent of having a 10% larger congregation… 100 more people in the pews every month each giving $10.

Now Jack could ask the pastor, “What does this congregation stand for?” Maybe they’re most interested in giving back to the community by feeding the poor. He could then ask, “What does it cost to feed the poor?” Perhaps it’s $5 per person per day. Now, if the church could save $1,000 in utility bills, money that they would no longer be wasting on the unnecessary combustion of fossil fuels, they would have an extra $1,000 in their coffers to fulfill their mission. That equates to no less than 200 five-dollar meals for those in need.

Jack could even kick it up a notch by telling the pastor that he could do the church’s upgrades first and then share the results of the efficiency project with his congregation, asking them to duplicate the church’s efforts. If everybody in the congregation made their homes and businesses more efficient, they could take a portion of their utility cost savings and give it back to the church. If everybody in the congregation did that, they could communally raise countless thousands of extra dollars that could feed a multitude of needy folks.

So what’s the moral of the story here? Focus on the customer’s story. Tell the customer’s story and allow the customer to be a hero using metrics that they’re already using to measure their own success.

Selling Energy Blog

The post Focus on Your Customer’s Story appeared first on Selling Energy.

Turbocharge Your Value Proposition

If you are hoping to redefine and turbocharge your value proposition, you’ll want to consider bringing up non-utility-cost financial benefits. As just one example, how many people trying to sell efficiency solutions actually take the time to quantify and monetize the value of improved productivity?  All too often I hear a “salesperson” (as opposed to “sales professional”) say, “I told them it would make their people happier and more productive, but they seemed unimpressed.”  Did they offer any compelling facts and figures?  No.

Let’s consider the average “open office” layout… Chances are you’ll find that the space planner had budgeted for about five people per thousand square feet. Note that this figure includes not only the workstation, but also things like hallways, kitchens, bathrooms, elevator lobbies, and so forth.

Supposing you have 200 square feet allocated to each person and an average salary of $40,000 a year per person, you would divide the 200 into the $40,000 and wind up with a payroll amount of $200 per square foot of real estate. Now, if you compare that figure to the national utility bill average of about $2 per square foot, it’s becomes clear that your payroll is about a hundred times as large as your utility bill on a cost-per-square-foot basis. If that’s the case, you have to ask yourself, “What if my efficiency campaign boosted productivity by even just 1%?” This small increase in productivity could offset the entire utility bill!  It wouldn’t appear on the same line item as utility expense; however, it would have as positive an impact on the organization’s bottom line as if you had eliminated the utility line item altogether.

So, what kinds of things have an effect on productivity? Thermal comfort, indoor air quality, window films, lighting (particularly if it reduces computer monitor glare)… the list goes on and on. If your efficiency product or service has any potential positive effect on occupant productivity, you’d be foolish not to include it in the discussion… and to do so in a quantified and monetized manner. 

 

Selling Energy Blog

The post Turbocharge Your Value Proposition appeared first on Selling Energy.

Barking Up the Wrong Tree

 

In the business world achievement can be an abstract concept.  It’s often measured by a reputation, profit, and awards; however, none of those elements necessarily constitutes satisfaction.  In short, we might be looking for the right things in the wrong places, and vice versa. 

In 2009, Eric Barker started a blog to explore these myths: Do nice guys always finish last?  Do quitters never win and winners never quit?  Should you always believe in yourself?  Should we always do what we’re told?  What’s more important: work or home life?  

These are questions at the center of Barking Up The Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong, his best-selling book.  The answers won’t only surprise you, but challenge you.

Here is a summary from Amazon: 

“Much of the advice we’ve been told about achievement is logical, earnest…and downright wrong. In Barking Up the Wrong Tree, Eric Barker reveals the extraordinary science behind what actually determines success and most importantly, how anyone can achieve it. You’ll learn:

• Why valedictorians rarely become millionaires, and how your biggest weakness might actually be your greatest strength 
• Whether nice guys finish last and why the best lessons about cooperation come from gang members, pirates, and serial killers
• Why trying to increase confidence fails and how Buddhist philosophy holds a superior solution
• The secret ingredient to “grit” that Navy SEALs and disaster survivors leverage to keep going
• How to find work-life balance using the strategy of Genghis Khan, the errors of Albert Einstein, and a little lesson from Spider-Man

“By looking at what separates the extremely successful from the rest of us, we learn what we can do to be more like them—and find out in some cases why it’s good that we aren’t. Barking Up the Wrong Tree draws on startling statistics and surprising anecdotes to help you understand what works and what doesn’t so you can stop guessing at success and start living the life you want.” 

Selling Energy Blog

The post Barking Up the Wrong Tree appeared first on Selling Energy.

Weekly Recap, July 16, 2017

  

Monday: Read The Advantage, by Patrick Lencioni, if you feel organization is lacking in your business ventures.


Tuesday: Learn to go out and find compelling non-energy benefits for your products and services.


Wednesday: Check out a list of questions that will help you determine what your buyer is actually thinking.


Thursday: Explore how to make your elevator pitch memorable and repeatable so people will remember who you are and what you do.


Friday: Explore the “rule of three” when crafting a memorable elevator pitch.


Saturday: Read this article from Inc. with tips to help you prepare for meetings in advance.

Selling Energy Blog

The post Weekly Recap, July 16, 2017 appeared first on Selling Energy.

How Productive People Prepare for Meetings

 

Meetings are an important part of running a successful business, whether they’re held internally or with clients. There is, however, a fine line between productive meetings and extraneous ones. If you feel that a meeting is worthwhile, do yourself and your counterparts a favor and take some time to plan in advance. Productivity is particularly important in the context of meetings because each wasted minute of meeting time is not just a “minute.” If you have 20 people in a meeting and six minutes are used inefficiently, you’ve effectively wasted 2 hours. From a financial perspective, this can have a detrimental effect on your bottom line.

So what can you do to best prepare for a successful, productive meeting? Inc. published an article with tips to help you prepare for meetings in advance. If you’re tired of meetings that waste time, I recommend reading the full article here.

Selling Energy Blog

The post How Productive People Prepare for Meetings appeared first on Selling Energy.

The Rule of Three

 

In keeping with yesterday’s blog about creating memorable and repeatable elevator pitches, your pitch should also adhere to the “rule of three.” If you’re not familiar with the “rule of three,” it’s the concept that people are comfortable with things that are grouped in threes. I’m sure you can all think of numerous real-world examples of this concept – “Location, location, location,” “Lights, camera, action,” “Reduce, reuse, recycle,” “Veni, Vidi, Vici,” “Three blind mice,” and so forth.

So, what does this mean for your elevator pitch? When you’re coming up with pitches, make sure you don’t list more than three things. When someone asks you what you do for a living, you don’t want to have more than three things. After the third thing, your listener will likely trend toward “stack overflow” and only remember the last three items you mention.

If you want to get creative, you could choose three words that have a nice ring to them. Your audience would appreciate it, and your pitch would become more easily engrained in their memory.

While I encourage you to explore how you might work this concept into your pitches, don’t feel as if you have to list three things. You can have a great pitch without listing anything at all, as in the example I offered yesterday about the “Building Whisperer.” Just don’t overwhelm your audience with a list that contains more than three elements.

Selling Energy Blog

The post The Rule of Three appeared first on Selling Energy.

Make Your Pitch Memorable

 

When you’re developing a quiver of elevator pitches, one of the key things to consider is whether or not your pitch is memorable enough to be worth repeating to others. It is one thing to capture your prospect’s attention; however, if they cannot repeat it, you are squandering a wonderful opportunity to make that message go viral. A few years ago, I was teaching the weeklong Efficiency Sales Professional™ Certificate Boot Camp to a group of four controls companies that had hired us to do a command performance for their teams. When we got to the section on elevator pitches, I had each person take some time to write down an elevator pitch to test out on the class for feedback.

Except for one, all the elevator pitches needed some serious work. The one guy who had an excellent pitch stood up and presented his pitch: “You know that show, ‘The Dog Whisperer’?” He paused to let the audience think and everyone said, “Yes.” He went on… “I am the ‘Building Whisperer.’ I tame unruly buildings and make them more comfortable for their occupants to occupy.”

Of course, at this point, the whole audience cracked up. In five words – “I am the Building Whisperer” – he had given much more information to his listener than if he has said, “I am a retro-commissioning specialist. I tune-up buildings and HVAC systems.” His pitch was also instantly memorable and repeatable. It was so impactful, in fact, that for the rest of the week, people said, “Hey Building Whisperer, it’s time for lunch,” or “Hey Building Whisperer, take your seat. Class is about to start.”

So, what’s the moral of the story? If you can come up with a memorable and repeatable elevator pitch – particularly one that is creative and funny – people will remember who you are and what you do.  

Selling Energy Blog

The post Make Your Pitch Memorable appeared first on Selling Energy.

Questions That Will Help You Uncover the Real Reasons People Buy

One of the keys to success in sales is knowing what the buyer is thinking. If you can predict what might be going through your prospect’s mind, you’ll be well-positioned to address any questions or concerns ahead of time. Marketing expert Jeffrey Gitomer tells a story about an experience he had with a prospect. While Jeffrey was giving his sales pitch, the prospect was writing furiously on a legal pad. The pace and magnitude of what he was writing seemed to bear no resemblance to what Jeffrey was actually.

So, he did what every sentient sales professional should do in that situation: he stopped talking and asked the prospect something like, “What in the world are you writing on that pad? It seems to bear no resemblance to what I’m saying.” The buyer responded, “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. I’ve just got this long list of questions that I need to ask and answer for myself before I feel good about doing business with a vendor.”

Jeffrey, not being timid, said, “Well, maybe you should give me that list of questions because I still have 20 minutes left in my presentation. Maybe I could help you address some of them.” At that point, the buyer said something like, “Well, how about you just do the rest of your presentation and we’ll see if we buy from you. I’ll make you a deal: if we do buy from you, I’ll give you my list of questions.” Fortunately for Jeffrey, he made the sale. And fortunately for us, he got the list of questions which he shared in his e-book, “Buying Motives: Little E-Book of Why People Buy.”

Today, I’d like to share a list of questions that will help you determine what your buyer is actually thinking (adapted from Gitomer’s e-book). Keep this list in mind the next time you approach a new prospect, and consider how you might help your prospect come to the right conclusions:

What do you offer?
What do you offer that no one else has?
What do you offer of value?
Does it really fit my need?
It is real world?
Will it work?
Will it work in our environment?
How will it impact our people?
How could it impact our success?
Will senior or executive management buy in?
Will my people use it?
How will we produce as a result of the purchase?
How will we profit as a result of the purchase?
Do I trust the people I’m buying from?
Do I trust their ability to deliver what they promise?
How will it come together?
How do we buy it?
Do I have the comfort to sign off now?

Note that the topic of price is absent from the list. Think about it. If you don’t trust a vendor, does it really matter if the proposed price is high or low?

You can buy a copy of Gitomer’s e-book HERE.

The post Questions That Will Help You Uncover the Real Reasons People Buy appeared first on Selling Energy.