Mark Jewell's Blog: Selling Energy, page 254
February 10, 2017
How to Sell with Emotional Appeal
Think about how you interact with your prospects. Are you going from the outside in, or are you going from the inside out? In my experience, most people go from the outside in. They just bombard people with information – technical cut sheets, charts and statistics, and so forth. “Here’s all the data. What do you think?” And of course people are going to say (most often to themselves), “Good grief! I don’t even know what to do with all of this information.”
In most cases, purchasing decisions are emotionally driven. People are not always convinced by the facts and figures. Think about what happens when you buy a car. Do they give you the manual and say, “Here, if you like the specs on this car, come in and see it.” When you buy a house, do they give you the technical specifications of the house – the construction drawings and the appliance specifications? Or do they work with you to help you build a connection with the house? Think about it. When a real estate broker takes you around and shows you the houses they think you’ll like, do they show you the blueprints and appliance specs? Or do they show you the nicely manicured lawn and the beautiful interior and crow about how wonderful the schools are in the neighborhood?
I read a story about a particularly successful new home developer who had a unique approach to getting his prospects to fall in love with his houses – before they were even fully built! He would literally take his prospects out to the site, where the “model home” was nothing more than a cement pad. He would then put a few chairs on the pad facing in the direction of the best view from that lot. He would invite the prospect(s) to sit down and imagine how good it would feel to be sitting in the living room and enjoying that view every night after a hard day at the office. How many prospects signed on the dotted line after that exercise in visualization? Let me put it this way… There’s a reason he was written up as being a particularly successful new home developer!
The same principal applies when selling efficiency, which for most folks is a wild and wooly intangible anyway. Your product or service needs to have an emotional appeal before you bring any technical discussion to the table. Focus on the “why” before you focus on the “what.”
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February 9, 2017
Charge Your “Passion Battery”
Think back to the last time you bought something after being convinced by someone else that it was a worthwhile purchase. Chances are the thing you bought was something you weren’t planning to buy. So why did you buy it? You likely bought it because the person selling it wasn’t really selling you anything. They were just insanely passionate about what they were doing or offering. The passion was contagious. You couldn’t help but buy it.
For those of you who shop at Costco, you’ll know what I’m talking about. You walk in and they have these demonstrations. Have you ever seen the Vitamix demonstration? Holy cow! I would definitely buy a Vitamix if I had my jaws wired and couldn’t eat anything. I would buy it because those demonstrations are so compelling. You could put a television in a Vitamix and destroy it! But do you buy it because it can pulverize a television? No. You buy it because the people demonstrating its uses are so self-confident. They convince you that they can make anything into healthy food stuff at 27,000 RPM. Magic happens.
You can have compelling data about why your efficiency solution is a worthwhile investment; however, if you don’t demonstrate true passion for your product or service, your prospect may not feel the need to buy. Charge up your “passion battery” before you step into a meeting with a prospect. Passion really is contagious.
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February 8, 2017
6 Bad Habits of Communication to Break
Effective communication is essential in building rapport and closing sales. Here are some of the most common bad communication habits that I’ve come across. If you identify with any of these, make it a point to work on breaking the habit:
Multitasking while on the phone: The person on the other end of the line will be able to sense that you’re not fully engaged, and you won’t be able to converse intelligently. They won’t know whether you’re writing an email or doing a crossword puzzle, but they’ll be offended nonetheless. It’s especially obvious if you ask them to repeat a question. They’ll think you have little respect for them and as a result, they’ll have little respect for you.
Interrupting: Some prospects may be overzealous talkers. You might have the urge to cut them off and get to the point, but doing so can jeopardize rapport.
Dominating discussions: People like to express their opinions, ask questions, and know that they’re being listened to. A one-way conversation is a dead-end street.
Using too much text: This goes for all forms of written communication. The average person can’t read more than a couple hundred words a minute, which means that if you have a proposal with very thin margins, single-spaced lines, and multiple pages, it could theoretically take a person several hours to go through. Nobody has several hours to read a proposal. Few have the patience to read a letter or email that takes more than a minute to read. Given the platforms that people use for reading these days (like smartphones and tablets), anything over 100 words is likely to be “set aside for later,” which in most cases translates to “ignored.”
Starting a conversation with your most important item: Let’s say that a customer you’re currently doing business with owes you money on an overdue invoice. Are you going to call him and immediately say, “I’m calling about that overdue invoice,” or are you first going to provide answers to everything that he’s requested from you lately, and then at the end of a conversation mention the invoice? The correct answer is the latter, of course. If you focus your attention on helping him before inquiring about the overdue payment, you’ll greatly increase the likelihood that he’ll chase down that payment for you… He may even offer to overnight it (once he convinces his Accounting Department to write the check). The same logic applies to other situations… say, asking for another contact in the client’s organization who might help you advance your account development plans.
Taking too much time to get to the point: Knowing what can be cut out from a discussion is as important (if not more important) than knowing what should be included. To use a radio analogy, it’s like having more noise than signal – you want the signal, but you don’t want the noise. Avoid clouding the conversation with anything that is not going to help you achieve your goal.
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February 6, 2017
Tips on How to Build Rapport with Your Prospect
How do you build rapport with your prospect? This is a question that I address at every Efficiency Sales Professional Boot Camp, and it’s one that warrants a lengthy discussion. For the sake of brevity, here are a few key concepts that, when put into practice, will help build rapport with your prospect:
Mirror your prospect: Notice their general body language, gestures, and facial expressions, and (without being too obvious) modify your own physical demeanor to match theirs.
Match their pace: Match your prospect’s speaking pace – a person who speaks slowly might be put off if you speak too quickly.
Listen to your prospect for clues: Make a mental note of anything they say that gives you a clue about their demeanor or preferences. They say that people have dominant modalities. Some people are visual, some people are auditory, some people are kinesthetic. If your prospect says something like, “I heard all these case studies, but I need to see something in writing. Can you give it to me in writing?” you know they’re probably visual. Listen to their choice of words, determine their dominant modality, and tailor your own words to fit their preferences.
Watch for eye movement: Familiarize yourself with the cognitive processes associated with the various types of eye movements, and watch for them as an indicator of your prospect’s true reactions.
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Real-World Tips & Techniques for the Service Front Lines
How do you win business in a competitive marketplace? If your products and prices are the same as your competitors, it all comes down to the quality of service you deliver. Between word of mouth and online reviews, it’s easy to build a great reputation through stellar customer service – or to tarnish it through poor service.
In Adam Toporek’s book, Be Your Customer’s Hero: Real-World Tips & Techniques for the Service Front Lines, Toporek provides actionable advice to turn any customer-facing professional into a customer service “hero.” Through examples and stories, he teaches what to do – and what to avoid – in a variety of situations. He also emphasizes the importance of focusing on preventative measures so that you don’t end up with a customer service problem in the first place.
For more on this topic, I highly recommend picking up a copy of the book.
Here’s a summary from Amazon Books:
“On the front lines of customer service, every day presents new and unexpected challenges – and even the most dedicated employees can be caught unprepared. They need confidence. They need training. They need help. Be Your Customer’s Hero answers the call. The book provides customer-facing professionals with short, simple, actionable advice designed to transform them into heroes in the eyes of the customers they serve. Quick chapters show readers how to: achieve the mindset required for Hero-Class service; understand the customer’s expectations – and exceed them; develop powerful communication skills; avoid the seven triggers guaranteed to set customers off; handle difficult and even irrational customers with ease; and become an indispensable part of any frontline team. Armed with the tools and techniques in this book, readers will start each workday knowing they can conquer whatever problem comes their way.”
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February 5, 2017
Weekly Recap, February 5, 2017
Monday: Read Complexity Avalanche: Overcoming the Threat to Technology Adoption, by J.B. Wood, if you want to learn how to focus on selling user success rather than selling the technology.
Tuesday: What do you do when a person fails to respond to a time-sensitive email? Check out several ways to handle the situation.
Wednesday: Read 8 tips for writing a stellar proposal.
Thursday: Explore how to prepare a preparation.
Friday: If you find yourself addressing a CEO, read up on two questions you should be answering in your presentation.
Saturday: Check out an article published on the Inc. blog on “5 Powerful Ways to Make Time Your Friend, Not Your Enemy.”
Selling Energy Blog
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February 4, 2017
Make Time Your Friend, Not Your Enemy
I think it’s safe to say that most of us are in a constant battle against time. Work is demanding, projects have deadlines, and we strive for a good work-life balance so that we aren’t neglecting our families and friends (or ourselves). While we can’t add additional hours to the 24-hour day, what we can do is reframe the way we think about time. A small mental shift can help us work with time instead of against it.
According to an article published on the Inc. blog, we should learn to appreciate the fact that “busy” is better than “bored.” Busy people live more interesting lives, so think of your packed schedule as a benefit rather than a drawback. The article also suggests that we find a balance between our work lives and our personal lives, and that we structure the day around our internal body clocks.
For more on this topic, read the full article.
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February 3, 2017
Selling to the C-Suite
A lot of people are uncomfortable selling to the C-Suite (Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating officer, Chief Executive Officer, etc.). Why? I think one of main reasons people are intimidated is that they haven’t had much experience interacting with that level of officer and therefore have little or no insight into what those folks get paid to do or care about.
Just remember, C-level folks are human beings. And it doesn’t take too many mental gymnastics to imagine what they care about. For example, if you find yourself addressing a CEO, here are the first two questions you should be answering in your presentation: “How will my offering make this organization easier to manage?” and “How will my offering make this enterprise more valuable?” Think about it. The Board of Directors hired the CEO to answer those two questions on a daily basis. Your job is to help that CEO connect the dots between your offering and a better answer to those two questions. His job depends on it. And so does your sale.
With all that in mind, be sure to keep your presentation concise.
And remember, the higher up you get on the corporate ladder, the less price matters. Demonstrate how your offering can make your prospect’s organization easier to manage and more valuable. Price can come later… and only after you have convinced your prospect of your offering’s true value.
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February 2, 2017
How to Prepare a Presentation
Before you create a presentation, you have to ask yourself, “What am I trying to accomplish?” Most people are trying to transform their idea into reality – it could be that their prospect needs to embrace this new technology or that they need to adopt a best practice that you’ve seen work in a similar facility across town. Whatever your goal may be, don’t start with PowerPoint. A lot of people say, “Oh, I’ve got a presentation tomorrow, let me just open up PowerPoint and start typing.” If you do that, the presentation may wind up looking like stream-of-consciousness journalism.
So how do you prepare a presentation? Make a mind map. Write all your ideas on Post-It notes and organize them on a wall or whiteboard. Figure out how your key ideas link together most effectively and re-organize them until they flow logically from one idea to the next. You probably can’t have more than three or four key messages in a PowerPoint presentation without losing the attention of the audience, so it may be necessary to trim the fat.
Once you have that general outline mapped out, search for images that highlight the theme of each idea. I like to use iStockPhoto to find images for PowerPoint presentations. Make sure the images you choose are visually captivating and memorable, not predicable.
Once you’ve completed your mind map and found photos, you can open up PowerPoint and assemble the presentation. It’s OK to include your key ideas in writing, but don’t make bullet points for everything you plan to say. The audience will be far more engaged if most of the content is spoken as opposed to written.
After you’ve assembled all the pieces, remind yourself what your intention is and run through the presentation with that in mind. It may still need a little revision, but I can guarantee you’ll be miles ahead of the guy who just opened up PowerPoint and dumped his ideas on a bunch of slides.
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February 1, 2017
8 Tips for Writing a Stellar Proposal
The way in which you frame your product or service in a proposal can mean the difference between a “yes” and a “no.” Here are eight tips to keep in mind when writing a proposal:
Focus on results rather than methods or processes.
Be generous with innovative ideas.
Make it about the client, not about your company.
Make it easy to read and evaluate.
Accuracy is essential in both content and form.
Re-read it the next day before sending it out.
Don’t make your proposal dull; add flavor and drama.
Think through any objections and address them preemptively.
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