Mark Jewell's Blog: Selling Energy, page 261

Weekly Recap, September 25, 2016

 



  
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Monday: Read The Visual Display of Quantitative Information , by Edward Tufte, if you're looking for the best way to display statistical graphics, charts and tables. 


Tuesday: Learn tips and tricks for writing a compelling email.  


Wednesday: Replace "fluff" words in your elevator pitch with ones that'll add clarity to your pitch. 


Thursday: Improve your elevator pitch by piquing your prospect's curiosity. 


Friday: Use visual words to make your elevator pitch more memorable. 


Saturday: Check out this article from Hubspot Blog on "23 Totally Genius, Little-Known Apps for Work All Salespeople Should Use." 

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23 Work Apps All Salespeople Should Use

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If I had to choose one productivity tool that is vital to success, it would be the smartphone. As a frequent traveler, my iPhone allows me to have my calendar, contacts, to-do list, email, and countless other tools at my disposal at all times. The smartphone also has the potential to be a distraction, too, so only load your phone with apps that will increase productivity, not decrease it. 

HubSpot Sales blog published great app suggestions in a recent article titled “23 Totally Genius, Little-Known Apps for Work All Salespeople Should Use.” Check out their recommended apps and up your game.

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Make Your Pitch More Memorable

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To continue this week’s discussion of effective elevator pitches, today we’re going to talk about visual words and how they can be used to make your pitch more memorable. What’s a “visual word”? It’s any word that conjures up an image in a person’s mind when they hear it.

People often ask us why we call graduates of our Efficiency Sales Professional Certificate™ “ninjas.” We chose that word because it’s visual. When you hear the word, you see a stealthy, agile, alert, and centered individual. People know what a ninja looks like, and it doesn’t have a negative connotation (at least for most people). I’ve been asked, “Why don’t you call an ESP graduate a ‘guru’? Isn’t that a more fitting description for an expert?” 

The last time I saw a picture of a “guru,” it was a dude wearing a loincloth sitting silently under a banyan tree with his eyes closed, presumably deep in thought. Not exactly the best image for a sales professional.

When you’re working on your elevator pitches, come up with some visual words that are relevant and appropriate. It will make your pitch more memorable (and as a result, it will make you more memorable, too!).

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Improve Your Pitch

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Yesterday, we talked about choosing your words wisely and why you should rid your elevator pitch of “fluff” words. Today, I’d like to share a strategy for improving the effectiveness of your elevator pitch by piquing your prospect’s curiosity. If you can come up with a really compelling statistic that is easy to understand and that makes your prospect eager for more information, you’ll be on the right track to a great pitch.

A year or so ago, I heard about a solar hot water system that could provide up to 1,000 gallons of hot water to a small dairy farm. It paid for itself in about 18 months (assuming California propane costs at the time) and was projected to last for 20 years.

So if someone asks you what you do for a living, your pitch could be something like: “I specialize in giving small dairy farmers free hot water for 18 and a half years.” Is anybody going to walk away from that? No, because you piqued their interest with a compelling statistic. (Note that the words “free” and “half” are very effective at capturing attention.) 

At this point, they’re probably going to say, “What do you mean? How do you do that?” You can respond, “We have this solar hot water system that pays for itself in 18 months and lasts for 20 years; hence the typical farmer can get 1,000 gallons of hot water for free for 18 and a half years.” Bam. Two quick sentences.  One to capture attention and a second one to explain the value proposition in more detail.  If the person you’re talking to was at all interested in solar hot water, he or she would likely remain engaged in the conversation to learn more.

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Choose Your Words Wisely

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When you’re working on perfecting your elevator pitches, it’s important to check your verbiage to make sure you aren’t using any “fluff” words. What is a “fluff” word? Words like “Pioneering,” “Leading,” “Established,” “Finest,” “Foremost,” and “Original.” Do any of these words mean anything? No. They are about as meaningful as the word “Natural” printed on a loaf of bread in the supermarket (as if the alternative were “Supernatural”).

Even words that seem very logical to use when talking about efficiency may be fluff, such as “Green,” or “Sustainable.” Sure, your company might help people achieve their sustainability goals; however, these words do not describe what you do or what value you actually bring to the table.

Remember, you have only fifteen seconds to get your pitch delivered, so any time spent on words that are not useful is wasted time. Go over your word choices with a fine-tooth comb and replace any fluff words with ones that will add clarity to your pitch.

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Email Do’s and Don’ts

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Last week we talked about trimming down your talking points during in-person interactions and staying focused on the value proposition (see “Don’t Talk Past the Sale”). Today, we’re going to discuss some email best practices that will allow you to maximize the effectiveness of your written communication.

It is not uncommon for a busy professional to get 50-100 emails every day. They can’t read and respond to that many. You need to make an effort to tailor your communication so that your email is both read and responded to. The following are some tips and tricks for writing a compelling email:

The Do’s...

1.  Make sure your subject line is both catchy and informative. 

Take a look at the newspaper to understand which headlines are catchy enough to get a reader to read the article.  

2.  Make sure that it is clear at the beginning of the email what it is about, particularly if there are multiple people on the email string. This will help the recipients decide if they need to read it or not.  

3.  Put the most important stuff first. Your prospect is unlikely to read the entire email.  Moreover, the top is the part that will show up in the Outlook Preview and on their smartphone as they sort through their daily emails. 

4.  Make it extremely obvious what you want the reader to do. You don’t want your reader to be confused about what you need from them. 

5.  Put the call to action clearly at the top AND at the bottom, particularly if there is a deadline associated with it. If the call to action is buried in the middle of your message, you’re unlikely to get the response you’re seeking.  

6.  Carefully choose the day and time you send your message to customers or prospects. Monday morning is generally a time when people sift through all the emails that have piled up since Friday, so you probably want to send your message at a time that it isn't competing for your prospect's attention with dozens of other messages. 

7.  Send separate emails for different topics, even if they are going to the same person. Emails get filed or deleted based on topic, so keep them separate.   

8.  When using Out-of-Office replies, put an alternate way to contact you or someone else for assistance, rather than just saying that you are out of the office. If you are listing an alternate person, include their email address (rather than just their phone number). If the prospect wanted to email you, then they can just forward the email to your alternate contact rather than having to pick up the phone. 

9.  Get into the habit of completing the “To” and “CC” fields of email messages as the last step before sending a message.  This prevents you from prematurely hitting “Send” before you've carefully proofread your message. You should complete your email, proofread it (including double-checking attachments), and only fill in the “To” and “CC” fields when you're absolutely ready to hit “Send.”

The Don’ts...

1.  Don’t automatically keep the reply title on an email thread if the title is no longer applicable.  

2.  Don’t be known for sending too many emails (people will tune yours out). 

3.  Don’t flag all your messages as urgent, because it is often overused and the reader has a tendency to think, "Urgent for whom?" Instead, opt for a detail about what action you are needing. “FOR MTJ INPUT: Review this awesome proposal,” for example. 

4.  Don't send things via email that you wouldn't want forwarded to someone else. Juicy or emotional emails always get forwarded.

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Displaying Quantitative Information

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I’ve recommended several resources on this blog for presentation design (such as Duarte’s Resonate and Reynolds’ Presentation Zen). While these are both fantastic books, neither of them covers the complete scope of visual design best practices. 

Suppose you want to include some compelling data in your presentation, such as financial metrics or energy savings data. The statistics themselves may be very compelling, but if they aren’t displayed in a visually captivating manner, the potential persuasive effect may be lost on your prospect. 

So how do you determine the best way to display this information? Pick up a copy of Edward Tufte’s The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. This fantastic book covers in great detail the presentation best practices for graphics, charts, and tables. Some of you may already own this book since it’s been around for many years. The fact that it is still a trusted resource today and has withstood the test of time speaks to its quality of information. 

Here’s a summary from Amazon Books: 

“The classic book on statistical graphics, charts, tables. Theory and practice in the design of data graphics, 250 illustrations of the best (and a few of the worst) statistical graphics, with detailed analysis of how to display data for precise, effective, quick analysis. Design of the high-resolution displays, small multiples. Editing and improving graphics. The data-ink ratio. Time-series, relational graphics, data maps, multivariate designs. Detection of graphical deception: design variation vs. data variation. Sources of deception. Aesthetics and data graphical displays.”

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Weekly Recap, September 19, 2016

 



  
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 Monday: Read Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation , by Lynne Truss, if you're interested in improving your writing. 




Tuesday: Explore 8 ways to master the art of communication. 


Wednesday: Learn to trim down your talking points when meeting with a prospect and stay focused on the value proposition. 


Thursday: Do you know what your competitive advantage is? 


Friday: Break out of your comfort zone and start talking to strangers. 


Saturday: Check out this article published by Entrepreneur on "4 Tips to Better Manage Your Email Inbox." 

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4 Tips to Better Manage Emails

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Email is a great tool for business communication; however, it has the potential to be extremely detrimental to productivity when used inefficiently. Most people spend a good chunk of the workday reading and responding to emails. If you were to reduce the number of hours you spend emailing each week by just 25%, you'd probably end up with several extra hours of spare time. So how do you “filter out the fluff” from your emails and recapture those precious hours? Read the following article week in Entrepreneur. It will be a very worthwhile use of your time provided you put these suggestions into practice!

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/241423

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Break the Ice

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The most successful sales professionals are the ones who are not afraid to step outside of their comfort zone. They have the confidence to talk to anyone (regardless of whether or not they actually feel comfortable doing it). If you find yourself holding back from talking to people because it makes you uncomfortable, you should make it a point to start talking to strangers. 

What good does it do to talk to strangers? Well for starters, it helps you develop the confidence to talk to anyone in any setting. Moreover, the stranger standing next to you in an elevator could be your next customer. By simply breaking the ice and starting a conversation, you can make a valuable connection. If you start talking to strangers, you’re going to see all sorts of serendipity. You’re going to find people. 

Students often ask me how to start up a conversation with a stranger. I think one of the best ways is to ask a funny question. When I’m in an elevator (particularly in a tall building), I’ll often ask the person next to me, “You know what this building needs?” Most people will respond, “What?” And then I say, “A fireman’s pole. Wouldn’t it be great if this building had a fireman’s pole where you just slide right out of here at the end of the day? All the elevators would only have to carry the people up.” Most of the time, this elicits laughter – which is the fastest way to break people out of their comfort zone. 

If you can come up with something clever to break the ice, you’ll be able to start a conversation. If the person with whom you’re speaking seems like he or she could benefit in some way from your efficiency solution, you should then be prepared to deliver a great elevator pitch – ideally one that is relevant to that person’s situation. That’s why I always emphasize how important it is that you have more than one elevator pitch up your sleeve. I like to think of it as having a quiver of sharpened arrows. Each elevator pitch is going to resonate with one particular point along your customer continuum.

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