Mark Jewell's Blog: Selling Energy, page 277
April 19, 2016
Avoid Multitasking
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Many people think that they can get more things done in a day by multitasking. It makes perfect sense – if you’re always doing more than one task at a time, you’ll be able to accomplish more in less time. Well it turns out that this theory, however logical it may seem, is wrong. Studies show that multitasking actually is a productivity killer. The amount of time spent cleaning up mistakes from work that was produced with divided attention is actually greater than the amount of time the same work would take when executed with a person’s focused, undivided attention.
Another reason to avoid multitasking – particularly in a setting where you’re working with other people, such as a meeting or phone call – is that it shows a lack of respect. In the sales world, this is a real rapport-killer, and we all know how important it is to build good rapport with your prospects and clients.
Don’t let multitasking kill your productivity or sour your relationships. Stay focused on the task at hand. For more, check out this article from the Baseline blog:
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Costs to Include in Your Financial Summary
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As I’m sure most of you know from reading this blog, compelling (and accurate) financial analysis is a key component in selling efficiency effectively. So what exactly is financial analysis? Most people would probably agree that it’s the accurate cost/benefit analysis of a proposed investment. Before you can have accuracy in this analysis, you have to actually ask yourself, “Where do the costs and the benefits come from?” Today, we’ll discuss the costs that should be included in the financial summary of any efficiency project.
Local labor and materials figures: Are you estimating the cost of labor and materials based on the national average or are you taking into consideration the actual costs based on the location of the project?
Prevailing wage considerations: If it’s a government job, did you remember to incorporate the proper assumptions regarding prevailing wage?
Demolition, recycling, and disposal costs: These are often overlooked in financial summaries. Don’t forget to include them, because they can have a significant impact on the cost of the project.
Soft costs: Did you remember to include any potential soft costs, such as architectural engineering and consulting fees?
Contingency: I've been in this business for over 25 years and I don’t think I can remember a time when a vendor included contingency in the financial summary. Why? Perhaps because they're worried about doing a limbo dance under the simple payback period “maximum threshold” that the customer told them about, and they don’t want to risk any cost increase. That really doesn't do any justice to the customer in the end, so be sure to include contingency upfront.
Rebates and incentives: Rebates and incentives have a tendency to reduce first cost, so any savvy sales professional would be sure to include estimates for these in the analysis.
Tax benefits: Be sure to separate these from the rebates and incentives. Rebates and incentives can be before-tax or after-tax while tax benefits are generally after-tax. It bothers me when someone says, “You’re going to save a thousand dollars per year in energy bills, and in addition to that, you're going to get a five-hundred dollar tax credit.” Think about that. If you save a thousand dollars in energy bills, assuming that you're a business and you can write that energy off as a cost, you’re really not saving that whole thousand dollars. Rather, on an after-tax basis you're saving a thousand dollars multiplied by “one minus your marginal tax rate.” So be careful how you present rebates, incentives, and tax benefits in your analysis.
Payment: Who is actually going to be paying for the first cost of the project? We talked about this in the blogs that covered landlord/tenant settings. It’s important for you to know who is paying and to demonstrate how this affects the project from a financial standpoint.
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April 18, 2016
Hug Your Customers
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You may recall a blog I wrote last month titled, “The Repeat Customer”. In this blog, I discussed the importance of turning to your existing customer base when looking for new business opportunities. In order to fully leverage the power of “the customer,” however, you first need to ensure that you have great rapport with each and every one of them and that they are fully satisfied with the work you’ve already done for them.
So how do you build customer loyalty? In Jack Mitchell’s best-selling book, Hug Your Customers, Mitchell writes, “Only extremely satisfied customers are genuinely loyal.” He recommends going above and beyond what you may think is “satisfactory” customer service such that you exceed the expectations of your customers. If you can do this, you’ll have a following of fans who will not only be eager to work with you again, but also be glad to give you a referral. Read Hug Your Customers and discover a wealth of customer-building strategies to keep your business running strong.
Here’s a summary from Amazon Books:
“The 200,000-copy staple, praised by Warren Buffett as “a gem... I wish everyone at Berkshire would follow [Jack Mitchell's] advice – we would own the world.”
"A master of customer service, Jack Mitchell, reveals his secrets for developing long-lasting business relationships and customer loyalty in Hug Your Customers.
"The only way to stay in business is with customers and Jack Mitchell knows how to attract them, and how to keep them. He has a deceptively simple but winning approach to customer service – that a relationship is at the heart of every transaction. Jack's business philosophy is based on "hugs" – personal touches that impress and satisfy the customer, such as:
Remembering the name of your customers' dogs
Calling a customer to make sure he/she is satisfied after a purchase.
Having a “kids’ corner” with TV, books and treats in retail spaces.
Introducing customers to business contacts.
And so much more.
“This is a proven theory – hugging works! Mitchells/Richards/Marshs/Wilkes Bashford achieves among the highest margins in its industry, as well as amazing customer loyalty. Complete with anecdotes that exemplify outstanding customer service, Hug Your Customers shows how any business can adapt this hugging philosophy to attract great staff, lower marketing costs, and maintain higher gross margins and long-term revenues. At a time when customer service has become the difference between success and failure, Hug Your Customers shows how Jack's one-of-a-kind philosophy brings the results for which you are working!”
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April 17, 2016
Weekly Recap, April 17, 2016
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Monday: Read Charles Duhigg's best-selling book,The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business on how to improve your personal and professional life through habit-change.
Tuesday: When meeting with a prospect, listen carefully to what you're hearing and tailor future conversations or proposals to resonate with their needs and desires.
Wednesday: Take a look at this article on the Write to Done blog for excellent tips on how to use writing to influence your audience.
Thursday: To develop a steller elevator pitch, you must find a balance between clarity, pacing, and energy when delivering your pitch.
Friday: Do you hyperbolize when talking to a prospect or giving your elevator pitch?
Saturday: Read this article on the Huffington Post on "10 Effective Strategies for Boosting Efficiency and Productivity."
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April 16, 2016
Strategies for Boosting Efficiency
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Every so often, I come across an article on productivity that really hits the ball out of the park. One such gem appeared on the Huffington Post blog: “10 Effective Strategies for Boosting Your Efficiency and Productivity.” Without stealing too much thunder from the article (since I think you should all read it), here are a few of my favorites from their list of recommended strategies:
Find a healthy balance between challenge and skill so that you are neither bored nor frustrated.
Write an ongoing list of two-minute tasks that you can complete when you have a small window of time available.
Monitor your energy level throughout the day to determine the best time to work on challenging projects.
Use power poses to boost your energy level and focus.
Read the full article from Huffington Post below:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thai-nguyen/10-effective-strategies-f_b_6083704.html
Love one of our blogs? Feel free to use an excerpt on your own site, newsletter, blog, etc. Just be sure to send us a copy or link, and include the following at the end of the excerpt: “By Mark Jewell, Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Get More Projects Approved! This content is excerpted from the Sales Ninja blog, Mark Jewell's daily blog on ideas and inspiration for advancing efficiency. Sign up at SellingEnergy.com.”
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April 15, 2016
Be Careful Not to Hyperbolize
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When you’re giving an elevator pitch or talking to a prospect, it can be tempting to throw in a statistic about your most successful project. Perhaps in the wake of one of your projects, you managed to reduce a client’s energy spending by 50%. While it’s great to put your best foot forward and to demonstrate the significant impact your product or service can have, be careful that you don’t hyperbolize.
If someone told you they could save you 50% on your energy bill, you’d probably be skeptical – and rightfully so. Regardless of whether or not this percentage is true, it just seems fishy. So rather than presenting the outlier (your most successful project), use a realistic yet compelling statistic if you’re going to talk numbers at all. Here’s an example:
“I see you're in the healthcare industry. We worked on six hospitals last year. I was just looking at the summary report we prepared internally, and I'm pretty sure the average amount of energy we saved each one of those hospitals was around 12%.”
(In this hypothetical situation, one hospital ended up saving way more than the others. However, I chose to use a lower number that was believable and still compelling.)
So, don’t let your prospect come to the conclusion that you’re exaggerating or that you’re not a trustworthy person, even if you did in fact produce extraordinary results for one of your clients. Additionally, if your prospect is not deterred by your hyperbole and he or she chooses to do business with you, you’ve set expectations that may be difficult to uphold. Bottom line: be compelling without being unrealistically compelling.
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April 14, 2016
The Balanced Elevator Pitch
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As I’m sure most of you know from reading this blog, truly great sales professionals maintain a quiver of well-rehearsed elevator pitches that can be used in a variety of situations. While it’s important to perfect the words you choose to use, it’s equally important to practice delivering your pitches. To deliver a great elevator pitch, you must find a balance between clarity, pacing, and energy.
Clarity and pacing: It does little good to have a great elevator pitch if you are so nervous when delivering it that you trip over the words. Keep in mind that in many cases you are going to be doing a pitch in the midst of a crowd of people. There may be a lot of background noise, people bumping into you, loud music playing, and so forth. If you’re at a networking event, there may even be alcohol involved. Bottom line, stay calm, pace yourself, and deliver the pitch in a way that your listener is not struggling to hear every third word.
Energy: Keeping the above suggestions in mind, you also want to sound excited and be excited. In fact, I tell all of our ninjas and soon-to-be-ninjas that they need to look for one sentence out of their prospect’s mouth. The sentence is something like, “Wow, you are so passionate about what you do!” Or, “You must really like what you do.” When you get that kind of feedback from your prospect, you know you are on the right track.
So, develop a quiver of stellar elevator pitches, find a balance between understandability and energy level, and you’ll be golden.
Love one of our blogs? Feel free to use an excerpt on your own site, newsletter, blog, etc. Just be sure to send us a copy or link, and include the following at the end of the excerpt: “By Mark Jewell, Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Get More Projects Approved! This content is excerpted from the Sales Ninja blog, Mark Jewell's daily blog on ideas and inspiration for advancing efficiency. Sign up at SellingEnergy.com.”
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April 13, 2016
Writing to Influence
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“It ain’t whatcha write, it’s the way atcha write it.” – Jack Kerouac
What if I told you that the key to reaching (and exceeding) your sales goal this year could be found in today’s blog article below? Chances are you’d probably keep reading…
Whether you’re aware of it or not, the way that you write – and the specific words that you choose to use – can have a major effect on your ability to build rapport and influence your prospects. Certain words and ideas, when framed correctly in writing, can subconsciously capture the reader’s attention and convert them from a skeptic into a believer.
In the efficiency sales world, we’re constantly communicating our ideas in writing – whether it’s through informal emails or formal proposals. A sales professional with even the best interpersonal skills will not reach his or her true potential without the ability to capture attention in writing.
I’d like to share a article I found on the Write to Done blog that gives some excellent tips on how to use writing to influence your audience. It’s a quick read, and definitely worth the time:
http://writetodone.com/secret-crafting-engaging-messages-words-influence-2/
Love one of our blogs? Feel free to use an excerpt on your own site, newsletter, blog, etc. Just be sure to send us a copy or link, and include the following at the end of the excerpt: “By Mark Jewell, Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Get More Projects Approved! This content is excerpted from the Sales Ninja blog, Mark Jewell's daily blog on ideas and inspiration for advancing efficiency. Sign up at SellingEnergy.com.”
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April 12, 2016
Be a Good Listener
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If you’re meeting with a prospect and you want to put your best foot forward, you have to not only ask the right questions, but also listen carefully to what you’re hearing in response. You may discern details that you can use to tailor your future conversations or proposals to resonate with their needs and desires.
You should limit the amount of closed questions you use – these are questions that elicit a “yes” or “no” response. They’re generally used for testing understanding or knowledge, concluding a discussion, or making a decision. They’re good for setting the frame for open questions – or probing questions – that you’ll use to find out more detail. The responses to these open questions may very well reveal the information you need to make a compelling case for change.
When speaking with your prospect, listen for words they choose to repeat. There are two reasons such repetition matters. First, the word(s) that the prospect is repeating may provide insight into why he or she has not moved forward already. Second, if someone frequently uses a favorite word or phrase, you might consider slipping that exact word or phrase into your half of the dialogue. This type of verbal mirroring helps build rapport, a vital factor in setting the stage for agreement.
Love one of our blogs? Feel free to use an excerpt on your own site, newsletter, blog, etc. Just be sure to send us a copy or link, and include the following at the end of the excerpt: “By Mark Jewell, Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Get More Projects Approved! This content is excerpted from the Sales Ninja blog, Mark Jewell's daily blog on ideas and inspiration for advancing efficiency. Sign up at SellingEnergy.com.”
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April 11, 2016
Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
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Humans are driven by habit. Whether we develop them consciously or subconsciously, our habits have a huge bearing on our day-to-day decisions and actions. As sales professionals, it’s vital that we align our habits with our professional goals – and in many cases, this requires us to make a conscious effort to reverse the ones that get in the way of our goals.
So how do you fix bad habits? The first step is to understand how habits work from a psychological perspective. This equips you with the tools to trick yourself out of unwanted habits and to develop and hone productive ones. In Charles Duhigg’s best-selling book, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, Duhigg provides an in-depth look at the science of habit and how to improve your personal and professional life through habit-change.
Here’s a summary from Amazon Books:
“In The Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prize–winning business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. Distilling vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives that take us from the boardrooms of Procter & Gamble to sidelines of the NFL to the front lines of the civil rights movement, Duhigg presents a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential. At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. As Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.”
Love one of our blogs? Feel free to use an excerpt on your own site, newsletter, blog, etc. Just be sure to send us a copy or link, and include the following at the end of the excerpt: “By Mark Jewell, Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Get More Projects Approved! This content is excerpted from the Sales Ninja blog, Mark Jewell's daily blog on ideas and inspiration for advancing efficiency. Sign up at SellingEnergy.com.”
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