Mark Jewell's Blog: Selling Energy, page 293

Networking Sidekick

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When you’re at a networking event, you can get a lot more accomplished if you partner up with one or two people and work the room together. Let’s say there are 50 people at a two-hour event. You probably don’t know everyone in the room, and you definitely won’t have the opportunity to introduce yourself to everyone. If you introduced a fellow networker to your existing connections and they did the same for you, you would create a win-win situation and maximize the number of people each of you meet.

You should have a little pact with yourself to make an effort to be a facilitator of introductions. Introduce yourself to a new person, tell them what you do, ask them what they do, and maybe just set the precedent: “Hey, let me introduce you to a few people I know, and you can do the same for me.” Not only do you get a chance to meet people you may not have otherwise met, but you also get an instant rapport boost because you are being introduced by someone that the person already knows. In other words, you’re no longer a stranger – you’re a friend-of-a-friend.

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Reframing Your Motivation

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No matter how much we love our jobs, there are times when work can seem tedious. Maybe we have to make a bunch of cold calls; maybe we have to enter a couple hundred business cards into our contact database; maybe we have to send out follow-up emails to all of our clients from the past month. Whatever the case may be, it all comes down to the way we frame these tasks in our own minds.

Have you ever heard the fable of the three people building a cathedral? It goes something like this: A man walks into the courtyard of the cathedral being built and asks the builders, "What do you do for a living?" One person says, "I'm breaking rocks." Another person says, "I'm making blocks." The last person says, "I'm building a cathedral." The three people were doing exactly the same job. They just had different perspectives on what they were doing.

When you're making cold calls, when you're putting sales campaigns together, when you're writing your next sales letter, you ask yourself, "What am I doing?" Are you really just making cold calls? Are you really just crafting a campaign? Are you simply writing a letter? No. What you’re doing is you’re finding your next 50 customers. You’re making connections that are going to turn into sales.Why does it pay to think this way? It turns tedious work into meaningful work – the work you love to do.

By the way, marshaling the resources to complete all of those seemingly menial tasks takes discipline. I saw an awesome quote the other day in a colleague’s PowerPoint presentation: “Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller blades. There’s a lot of movement, but there is no definitive direction.” – Greg Cronin

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Lend Me Your Ears

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Every sales professional is required to speak in front of an audience from time to time, whether it’s a small sales presentation or a keynote speech. Public speaking can be intimidating, especially for those who don’t have a lot of experience with it.

We’ve covered some of the basics of presentation techniques in this blog, including best practices for effective visual presentations; however, for those of you who don’t yet feel comfortable speaking in a public setting, I recommend reading Lend Me Your Ears: All You Need to Know about Making Speeches and Presentations, by Max Atkinson. This book has some great tips on how to persuade and inspire an audience, and it's a great guide for developing, practicing, and delivering winning presentations.

Here’s a summary from Amazon Books:

“The room darkens and grows hushed, all eyes to the front as the screen comes to life. Eagerly the audience starts to thumb the pages of their handouts, following along breathlessly as the slides go by one after the other. . . We're not sure what the expected outcome was when Power Point first emerged as the industry standard model of presentation, but reality has shown few positive results. Research reveals that there is much about this format that audiences positively dislike, and that the old school rules of classical rhetoric are still as effective as they ever were for maximizing impact. Renowned communications researcher, consultant, and speech coach Max Atkinson presents these findings and more in a groundbreaking and refreshing approach that highlights the secrets of successful communication, and shows how anyone can put these into practice and become an effective speaker or presenter Topics Include: · How to win and hold the attention of audiences; · Using visual aids and PowerPoint more effectively;· Getting your message across and winning applause;· Inspiring audiences;· How to prepare quickly;· Fact and fiction about body language and non-verbal communication.”

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Stay Productive this Saturday

The workweek may be done, but you are still hammering away this Saturday. Maybe you’re finishing up that proposal due on Monday? Perhaps it’s your turn to watch the kids?

Entrepreneur.com published a blog on 7 ways to be more productive on the weekends. Of their tips, my favorites include: don’t ‘work’ 24-7; don’t oversleep; get moving. Read the full list here and consider fitting them into your weekend:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246496

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Genuine Rapport

I frequently write about rapport-building on this blog because without good rapport, your chances of closing a sale are slim to none. Assuming you understand the basic techniques of rapport-building, how do you recognize when you have achieved genuine rapport with your prospects?

When your prospect trusts you and feels comfortable around you, he or she will likely talk about topics that are unrelated to work. Maybe your prospect will ask you about your family, or volunteer information about theirs. Maybe they’ll share vulnerabilities that a new prospect normally wouldn’t share. Or maybe they’ll even ask for advice on something unrelated to the project you’re currently working on.

Be cognizant of the relationship you have with your prospects at all times, reflect on your successes and failures, and you’ll soon learn what helps you most successfully achieve genuine rapport.

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Investing in Change

“Some people will always fear change. But we can't indulge them.” - Veronica Roth

When you’re meeting with a prospect and attempting to make a compelling case for change, you have to remember that people are often averse to change. You may think to yourself, “Oh my goodness, all I have to do is tell them that this new technology is available and they’ll just jump all over it.”  Not necessarily. What seems obvious to you may not be so obvious to your prospect.

Remember: the easiest thing to buy is nothing. If you recall Seth Godin’s hierarchy of decision-making, avoiding risk and avoiding hassle are numbers one and two. If you have a piece of equipment that’s working fine, are you really going to be so anxious to rip it out and install a new one…much less go to the mat to argue for the capital, fill out the rebate applications, endure the pre- and post-inspections necessary, and so forth? To accept something new, something old has to be given up, and you have to acknowledge the sacrifice of change. If you don’t do that, you’re going to be at a disadvantage.  You’re going to be less persuasive.

You also have to acknowledge the risk of change, because if the current technology is still working, the boss is probably not on their case. You have to get them to a state where they’re comfortable enough to take a leap of faith and accept the risk of change.

So what’s the moral here? Before you start pitching the benefits of your product or service, you must acknowledge the current state and explain why it’s still worth investing time and money (and yes, risk) to make the change.

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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Turn a "No" into a "Yes"

 

What do you do when a prospect tells you that they are not interested in your product or service? Many salespeople would just say, “Thank you for your time,” and move on to the next prospect. An efficiency sales professional, on the other hand, would attempt to get to the bottom of it before deciding whether or not to walk away.

In many cases, you’ll find that there was a misunderstanding. Maybe they think they have to pay for it every month instead of just paying a one-time charge. Maybe they’re worried about a compatibility issue with a technology that they already have installed. Whatever the case may be, you really have to ask yourself what they may have misunderstood about the message, the proposed change, the implications…and why they believe that the change doesn't make sense for their organization.

You can even ask them a simple question, like, “What is it about our value proposition that isn’t resonating with you?” If there’s a misunderstanding at play, the answer they give may surprise you. Maybe they didn’t understand your proposal, or maybe you didn’t communicate it well in the first place. At this point, you should remedy the situation: “I must be a terrible communicator! I'm so sorry. What I meant to communicate is…” And then you tell the real story.

I can tell you from experience that it pays to take the time to figure out what is going on in your prospect’s mind. By clarifying a simple misunderstanding, you can quickly turn a “no” into a “yes.”

 

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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A Personal Connection with Your Audience

 

When you walk into a room to give a presentation, one of the best ways to break down the barrier between you and your audience is to form an immediate personal connection. We always talk about building rapport in the context of one-on-one interactions; however, the same principle applies in a group setting where it’s very important to establish good rapport with your whole audience – after all, you want each and every one of them on your side when they compare notes with each other later to make a decision.

So how do you make an immediate personal connection? It’s good practice to make eye contact with each person in your audience. You shouldn’t stare at anyone (of course), but you should scan the room and make eye contact while you speak.

Ideally, you will know at least one person by name, whether it’s the person who walked you into the room or someone you know from a previous engagement. If you do, address that person by name in front of the audience: "Hey, Tom, how are you doing? Thanks again for the help last week walking through 123 Main Street." What does that do immediately? It shows that you’re friendly and that you have a personal relationship with someone in the audience. In turn, the rest of the audience will subconsciously feel more comfortable with you knowing that you’re buddy-buddy with one of their friends.

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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Walk the Talk

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Back from the weekend and ready for your Monday grind? Before you head into your next meeting, watch this TED talk by business innovator, Nolifer Merchant, on how you can bring about new ideas that may be in opposition. 

Here’s a summary from TED:
Nilofer Merchant suggests a small idea that just might have a big impact on your life and health: Next time you have a one-on-one meeting, make it into a "walking meeting" — and let ideas flow while you walk and talk.

“ You'll be surprised at how fresh air drives fresh thinking, and in the way that you do, you'll bring into your life an entirely new set of ideas.”

Weekly Recap, November 1, 2015

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Monday: Read  The Psychology of Sellig: Increase Your Sales Faster and Easier Than You Ever Thought Possible , by Brian Tracy, and get advice on how your self-esteem affects sales performance; how emotion and logic affect your prospect’s decision to buy; how to neutralize sales resistance; and much more.




Tuesday: Remember these helpful tips the next time you are preparing to give an elevator pitch. 




Wednesday: Consider sending your proposalsthis way to get the projects approved.   




Thursday: Secure your future success by remembering the cap rate and creating value for your customers.




Friday: Learn how to make a positive first impression by entering with confidence.




Saturday: Read this article from theLifeHacker blog and spot the emails you can deal with easily.

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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