Mark Jewell's Blog: Selling Energy, page 319

Weekly Recap, September 21, 2014

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 Monday: Learn how to create strong personal connections and build good rapport with your prospects and customers. Read  Rainmaking Conversations: Influence, Persuade, and Sell in Any Situation  by Mike Schultz and John E. Doerr.


Tuesday: Discover four categories that you should explore in depth before meeting with your prospect.


Wednesday: Don’t confuse the wisdom of asking questions during a meeting with the foolishness of not having done your research well in advance of the meeting. Learn why you should never ask a question that could have been answered with a little research ahead of time.


Thursday: Learn some strategies for reframing the value of efficiency when selling to homeowners. 


Friday: Selling Energy made it onto the Wall Street Journal hardcover business books best seller list at #8! Find out how to get a copy of the e-book for $1.00.


Saturday: Read this article for some great travel tips, and submit your own travel tips to info@eefg.com for our next travel blog.

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Travel Like a Pro

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As a frequent traveler, I’m always looking for new ways to improve efficiency, increase productivity, and save time on the road. I’m sure many of you also travel for work from time to time and might be interested in discovering some new travel tips. Today’s blog features an article that has a bunch of great travel tips – many of which I use on a regular basis. Take a look at this list and consider how these ideas might streamline your travels:

http://news.distractify.com/yosef-lerner/24-travel-tips-that-will-change-your-life-forever/?v=1

Have some travel tips that you didn’t see on this list? We would love to hear your ideas! Send us your tips by replying to this email or emailing info@eefg.com. We are planning to publish a “travel tips for sales ninjas” as a follow-on blog that will include my top five tips and suggestions from you, the readers.

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, author of Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Get More Projects Approved! This content is excerpted from Jewell Insights, Mark Jewell's daily blog on ideas and inspiration for advancing efficiency. Sign up at SellingEnergy.com.”

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Wall Street Journal Best Seller!

 

Special Announcement

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Thanks to our dedicated supporters, Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Get More Projects Approved! made it onto the Wall Street Journal hardcover business books best seller list at #8!

As a result of the high volume of sales that made this ranking possible, the book has been backordered on several online retail sites. Given the shortage of books and our eager audience, we have decided to release the e-book version of Selling Energy ahead of schedule, and to make it available for $1.00 through the end of Sept. 

The e-book is currently available on the following platforms:

Apple iBook
Kobo
Amazon Kindle (Globally)
Barnes and Noble Nook (Coming soon)

If you're eager to get a hardcover copy and take advantage of the $150 online training offer, we have a small quantity of books available for purchase through our office in San Francisco. Just order through JewellInsights.com before September 25th and we'll send it your way ASAP along with the $150 gift card. 

Stay tuned for the second part of the "Efficiency for the Homeowner" blog on Tuesday...

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, author of Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Get More Projects Approved! This content is excerpted from Jewell Insights, Mark Jewell's daily blog on ideas and inspiration for advancing efficiency. Sign up at SellingEnergy.com.”

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Efficiency for the Homeowner, Part One

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We talk a lot about commercial and industrial efficiency sales strategies on this blog. While larger projects yield larger returns for the end user, residential efficiency upgrades can have significant benefits for the homeowner as well, particularly if you reframe the savings and benefits in the right way. Over the course of the next two days, we’ll discuss some strategies for reframing the value of efficiency when selling to homeowners. 

Comfort

Improved indoor air quality
Better temperature control
Reduced glare
Improved lighting quality

Pride of ownership

Bragging rights about reduced carbon footprint
Green / high-performance “badge value”

 
Saving money to fund educational expenses

Energy cost savings as they relate to educational expenses (savings for college fund, student loan payments, etc.)

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, author of Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Get More Projects Approved! This content is excerpted from Jewell Insights, Mark Jewell's daily blog on ideas and inspiration for advancing efficiency. Sign up at SellingEnergy.com.”

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Answer the Questions First

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Yesterday, we discussed some strategies for getting to know your prospects before you meet with them. Assuming you take these tips to heart and perform due diligence before the first meeting, how do you use the newfound knowledge of your prospect and his or her industry, company, and team to increase the likelihood of getting your project approved?

One of the many benefits of coming to the table with a healthy dose of background knowledge is that you can limit your questions to only the most important ones. In this day and age, people don’t even have the patience to wait two or three seconds for a website to load before they get frustrated and click on another webpage. Needless to say, you can’t afford to lose your prospect to unnecessary questions. People want vendors and service providers to come to them with answers, not questions. By finding the answers to as many questions as possible before the meeting, you save your prospect the time and frustration of having to spoon-feed you the basics.

Bottom line, don’t confuse the wisdom of asking questions during the meeting with the foolishness of not having done your research well in advance of the meeting. Never ask a question that could have (and should have!) been answered with a little research ahead of time.

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, author of Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Get More Projects Approved! This content is excerpted from Jewell Insights, Mark Jewell's daily blog on ideas and inspiration for advancing efficiency. Sign up at SellingEnergy.com.”

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Get to Know Your Prospect

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What methods do you use to get to know your prospects before you meet with them? I'm here to tell you that you really need to do a lot more research and planning than you might imagine. The following are four categories that you should explore in depth before meeting with your prospect:

Industry

Research your prospect’s industry
Research their competitors

Company

Obtain their literature
Get to know their vendors
Talk to their customers
Talk to other employees at the company
Talk to their sales department

Team

Find out how your prospect fits into the team
Find out who else on their team is going to be part of the decision

Individual

Talk to people in your network who know them
Look them up on LinkedIn
Check out other sources like Facebook and Twitter
Read articles or papers they have written

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, author of Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Get More Projects Approved! This content is excerpted from Jewell Insights, Mark Jewell's daily blog on ideas and inspiration for advancing efficiency. Sign up at SellingEnergy.com.”

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Rainmaking Conversations

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Efficiency sales professionals know how to create personal connections with their prospects and customers. They know to establish good rapport and to use that rapport as a vehicle for delivering their message.

So how do you create strong personal connections and build good rapport with your prospects and customers? It all comes down to the conversations you have. A great conversation breaks down social barriers, builds rapport, and allows you to better understand your prospect. Being a good conversationalist will improve your sales performance and help you generate new business.

If you’re interested in learning more about conversation techniques, I highly recommend reading Rainmaking Conversations: Influence, Persuade, and Sell in Any Situation by Mike Schultz and John E. Doerr. This book covers the principles of successful conversation making and how those principles can guide your sales strategy.

Here’s a summary from Amazon Books:

"Conversations make or break everything in sales. Every conversation you have is an opportunity to find new prospects, win new customers, and increase sales. Rainmaking Conversations provides a proven system for leading masterful conversations that fill the pipeline, secure new deals, and maximize the potential of your account.

“Rainmaking Conversations offers a research-based, field-tested, and practical selling approach that will help you master the art of the sales conversation. This proven system revolves around the acronym RAIN, which stands for Rapport, Aspirations and Afflictions, Impact, and New Reality. You'll learn how to ask your prospects and clients the right questions, and help them set the agenda for success.

“Armed with the knowledge of the markets you serve, the common needs of prospects, and how your products and services can help, you can become a trusted advisor to your clients during and after the sale. With the RAIN system, you'll be able to:

Build rapport and trust from the first contact
Create conversations with prospects, referral sources, and clients using the telephone, email, and mail
Uncover the real need behind client challenges
Make the case for improved business impact and return on investment (ROI) for your prospects
Understand and communicate your value proposition
Apply the 16 principles of influence in sales
Overcome and prevent all types of objections, including money
Craft profitable solutions and close the deal

“The world-class RAIN SellingSM methodology has helped tens of thousands of people lead powerful sales conversations and achieve breakthrough sales performance. Start bridging the gap between ‘hello’ and profitable relationships today.”

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, author of Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Get More Projects Approved! This content is excerpted from Jewell Insights, Mark Jewell's daily blog on ideas and inspiration for advancing efficiency. Sign up at SellingEnergy.com.”

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Weekly Recap: September 14, 2014

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Monday: Learn how complacency and overconfidence can adversely affect all aspects of your success in Marshall Goldsmith's book,  What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful
Tuesday: Discover why it's important to address what could potentially be lost if your prospect doesn’t sign off on your project.
Wednesday: This blog explores how non-utility-cost financial benefits can outweigh utility cost savings. 
Thursday: Learn why it's valuable to have an internal champion to advocate for your project, and how to best prepare your internal champion for success.
Friday: CEOs make “50 percent of their decisions in 9 minutes or less.” How can this statistic guide the choices we make as efficiency sales professionals? 
Saturday: Read this article from LifeHacker and discover some of Steve Jobs' productivity techniques.

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, author of Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Get More Projects Approved! This content is excerpted from Jewell Insights, Mark Jewell's daily blog on ideas and inspiration for advancing efficiency. Sign up at SellingEnergy.com.”

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Tricks from Steve

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There are countless theories about the most effective ways to increase productivity. I am always open to trying new productivity techniques and have dozens of tricks that I use on a daily basis. While it’s great to test out new theories (which may or may not work), we can also learn a lot from some of the world’s most successful businesspeople.

I came across an article this week published on the LifeHacker blog that goes into depth on some of Steve Jobs’ productivity strategies. As we all know, Steve Jobs created one of the most successful businesses in history, so it’s safe to assume that he knows a thing or two about running a tight ship. I encourage you all to read this article – which features direct quotes from several of Jobs’ speeches and interviews – and consider how his theories might benefit your business:

http://lifehacker.com/steve-jobs-best-productivity-tricks-1632476352

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, author of Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Get More Projects Approved! This content is excerpted from Jewell Insights, Mark Jewell's daily blog on ideas and inspiration for advancing efficiency. Sign up at SellingEnergy.com.”

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You Have 9 Minutes

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In Sheena Iyengar’s TED Talk, “The Art of Choosing” (which I recommended a couple months ago on this blog), Iyengar sites a study that claims that CEOs make “50 percent of their decisions in 9 minutes or less.” This statistic reinforces the concept that we have to clearly and succinctly convey our core message if we want to capture the decision-maker’s attention. There’s simply no time for extraneous details and explanations.

So how can this statistic guide the choices we make as efficiency sales professionals? Let’s break nine minutes down into pieces:

You want to allow the CEO at least five minutes to think about the decision after he or she has the necessary facts to understand the project. This leaves us with only four minutes to get our message across. If the average person can read a couple hundred words per minute, you should budget no more than about 400 words – or two minutes reading time – in your written proposal for the CEO to review. Your remaining “budget” of two minutes will go toward a review of your one-page financial summary in which you have crunched the numbers for the project.

If you can get your message across in this short amount of time, you put yourself head and shoulders above all of your competitors who are trying to sell with crazy 100-page proposals, overly complex executive summaries, and even more opaque financial analyses with multi-spreadsheet workbooks.

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, author of Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Get More Projects Approved! This content is excerpted from Jewell Insights, Mark Jewell's daily blog on ideas and inspiration for advancing efficiency. Sign up at SellingEnergy.com.”

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