Recognize the Elements of Sales Success Preparation

Well, we have been together for five

minutes and I can already tell that

you know nothing about me, my

company, my products, my issues, or

my market. What was it you were

trying to sell me again?

—Anonymous Buyer

I’m sure many of us have heard or seen this quote somewhere in our selling careers. This is a good example of what you don’t want in the minds of your prospects in your first meeting.  That first meeting is critical to your success so you better be PREPARED.  You only have a few moments to make a positive 1^st impression.

The Boy Scout motto around the world for more than 100 years has been “be prepared.” It should be the motto of all consultants who believe that they can and will achieve their success goals. With all the information in the world instantly available today, successful consultants prepare by researching and understanding the prospect’s wants, needs, and motives.

A key to sales success is to increase business by building relationships and uncovering buying motives. An obvious first step is to gather information about the prospect’s products, services and company. That’s only part of what consultants need to do to get ready.  Information does not become sales intelligence until the consultant sincerely tries to understand what it’s like to walk in the prospect’s shoes.  The consultant is less informed today than the customer for the first time ever. For example, consultants who work for a car company may know all about Mazdas.  Most customers will have done research on the Internet and know all about Mazdas, Hondas, Chevrolets, and more.

Consultants need to prepare to be of value to customers.

•   They need to understand the buyer’s point of view and motives—and what will happen or what the outcome will be after the customer takes ownership of the product or service

•   They need to focus on the use of the product in the customer’s terms (vs.the features and technical aspects)

Elements of Sales Success

Preparation

There are three elements of sales success

preparation:

• Attitude and Belief—are you mentally ready?

• Buyer’s Perspective—how are you going to solve problems from the buyer’s point of view?

• Your Credibility—have you searched yourself and your company recently on the Internet? (Hint: The prospect probably has or will.)

Buyer’s Perspective

Information gathering forms the heart of the solutions you present. Turning information into sales intelligence helps determine how you create value for buyers.

“Try honestly to see things from the

other person’s point of view.”

—Dale Carnegie

 

Sorry to be a bummer, potential clients don’t care about you, your service or your products.  They care about themselves, their issues and their concerns.

These concerns may include:

Increasing revenues, increasing efficiencies, mission critical employees and processes, workflow and related operations, procurement, resources, customer service, reducing costs, staying compliant and of course many others.

Hint:  How do your products or services help your current customers in these areas?

If you don’t know, you should, ask them.

What do you think sounds more credible to a potential client?

#1  Good afternoon, Mr. Customer, my name is Joe Blow from ABC Company and we sell the best office equipment in the world!  We got copiers, printers, computers, what do you need?

Customer is thinking, how can I get rid of this person, I have all that, don’t need it.

#2 Good afternoon, Mr Customer, my name is Joe Blow and we help our customers reduce their office operating costs.  For example, we worked with a company similar to your size and industry and we were able to reduce their monthly office operating costs by 22%.  I’m not sure if we can guarantee you the same results, who would I talk to in your company to access your needs to see if working together would be of benefit to you?

 

I’m a business owner, I know which one I like better J

 

 

Happy Selling!!

 

Trusted Business Relationships

Relationships – A Key to Success

 

Too many small business owners think they can do it all themselves.  It happens every day, they take training in accounting, marketing and the list goes on and on, mostly technical and/or product training.  They believe that their success will come from doing or having, which I believe is a very dangerous assumption.  I learned, later than I should have, that how you do things and those relationships with others is often more important than what we do, especially as leaders.  Success starts with relationships, customers, suppliers, employees and again the list goes on and on.  You can’t do it yourself, and besides it’s so much more fun realizing your goals with others!!

 

How are you improving your relationships?  What tools are you adding to your tool box to build existing relationships and create long lasting new ones?  What you say, how you act and your enthusiasm all play a role in building those relationships.  Remember, it’s not about you.  As Dale Carnegie so keenly put it, “You will make more friends in 2 months by being genuinely interested in others than you can in 2 years by trying to get people interested in you.”

The diagram above clearly illustrates the value of relationships and what it takes to become a leader.  Before you can be a leader and even have influence, you must build trust and rapport to enhance those relationships.  An example of this is getting to know your people, I mean really get to know them, what are their aspirations and dreams, what drives them, what keeps them up at night, why are they in the job they are etc.  Employees will not follow your lead if they don’t think you care about them.  Only when they feel heard, feel like part of the team and know how their job fits in to the big picture will they follow you.  One aspect to change is asking questions instead of giving orders.  Sounds simple enough, you don’t know how many times I’ve heard leaders from organizations say they started doing this after taking the Dale Carnegie course.  The difference in engagement, morale and the flow of ideas is staggering.  Give it a try, see for yourself how things change.

Once you’ve built that trust and rapport you can move to gaining willing cooperation and having influence.  Are you in a position where you need to get things done and you need to accomplish this through others that don’t report to you?  I’ve heard many managers say this, they have no influence, I call them managers because they’re not leaders.  Being a leader is about gaining cooperation and having influence, it’s not a title.  Anyone can lead from any position.

Leaders help others get what they want, if you take the fundamental approach that your job as a leader is get those you lead what they want, you truly are a leader that people will follow.

Dale Carnegie’s human relations principles are the backbone to his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, recently named in the top 7 best business books of all time!!!

Download Dale Carnegie’s Secret to Success - http://bc.dale-carnegie.ca/secrets_of_success/

 

 

 

 

Are you developing customer satisfaction or customer loyalty?

For the Holiday season I wanted to share a customer service story with you.  This story is about delivering above customer expectations and what that really means.  You may have heard the saying; “customer satisfaction means nothing but customer loyalty means everything.”  I believe that this is so true and for any business to be truly customer centric we need to always be thinking about how we can empower our people to deliver above customer expectations.  In the Dale Carnegie business I’ve heard that Dorothy Carnegie once said that we need to do 3 things well, talk to the right people, ask the right questions and deliver above expectations.  Great advice for all business people!

About 10 months ago I decided to have corrective laser eye surgery.  The surgery did not go as planned and 10 months later, December 21; I had to get a touch up in one eye.  I had just spent 10 days in Hawaii for a conference and became deathly ill with a cold.  Upon my return we had our company Christmas party and of course I had my business to run.  Needless to say I didn’t get my prescription filled in advance.  I never procrastinate :) So, with my eye surgery scheduled for Friday morning, my wife and I went out Thursday evening to get my eye drops.  The first pharmacy we went to told me that they had one product that I needed but did not have the other one; they were not very busy and said sorry.  The next Pharmacy we went to was another Shoppers Drug Mart and they said the same thing, they had the one product but not the other, so sorry, again they were not very busy.

Lastly we went to a Wal-Mart Pharmacy.  The young pharmacist informed me after a short wait, they were busy, that they too had only one of the eye drop products that I needed.  The Pharmacist asked me when my surgery was, I responded, tomorrow morning. This was the first time anyone had even asked when my surgery was.  She said that they could have the drops in by tomorrow afternoon.   I said that would be ok, I could come by after the surgery; hopefully the courtesy van person would be ok with coming by the store first before dropping me off at home.  The pharmacist said if you have a few minutes please wait, I agreed.  She started making phone calls; she even talked to someone else that just arrived back after a break and that person continued to make phone calls as the young pharmacist helped other customers.  After a few short minutes she informed me that they had called many other local pharmacies and that the Costco pharmacy a few blocks away had what I needed.  I was very surprised; I had already agreed to wait until tomorrow to pick up my prescription at the Wal-Mart Pharmacy.  The young pharmacist had taken the approach that I needed this prescription now and she gave up a sale to get me what I needed now.  WOW, that was impressive!

Where do you think I will get my next prescription?

Anytime you can deliver above expectations your business will prosper, what is your target for exceeding expectations?  Ours is 85%,  are you driving more business or are you driving customers away?

 

Happy New Year!

Leadership - Serving those we lead.

I want to share a leadership story with you.  This was a moment in time where I think something got through my thick skull.  How do people really change?

I had become a sales manager and realized that the skill set required to be a successful Sales Manager was different than the skill set required for a sales person.  You still had to be results driven but you had to do this through other people.  I’m sure many other people have gone through this experience as anyone would, moving into a management and leadership type role.  The owner of the company said that my management skills and knowing how to move the business forward were solid; I just needed to add those leadership skills that would help us move everyone forward.  Our jobs as doers change drastically when we are expected to serve others. 

I decided to take a Dale Carnegie program called Leadership Training for Managers.  I quickly learned about myself and what skills I was going to need to improve on to be a successful leader.  I can’t say that I’ve mastered any of these skills, but we continue to learn and become better at what we do.  I realized that my style was not about relationships but more about doing and getting things done.  To become a better leader I needed to understand that my job was to find out what was important to those I lead, what motivated them, how I could inspire them to do more, be more and ultimately help them get what they wanted.  In business we exist to serve our customers and as a leader we exist to serve our customers, our internal customers and the people we lead.

In my opinion this is what today’s leadership lacks,  the serve others mentality, this is why our job as a leader exists.  Leadership is not about power or authority; it’s about influence and what we can do to help the people we lead get what they want.  As Zig Ziglar once said, “The more time we spend helping others get what they want our success will follow.”  Not the exact quote but I think you get the message.  This is what leadership is about, it’s not about you, it’s all about the people we lead.

So as leaders, how do we get engagement, how do we inspire others, how do we get our teams working at a higher level?  Simple, as leaders we need to know our people at a deeper level, we need to know what is important to them and we need to get them involved in bringing their ideas forward. 

We had a person in a Dale Carnegie course that called me half way through the program that said, even though I did a good job of selling him into the program he didn’t think that it was the right fit for him.  He wanted a program about leadership.  I suggested to him that the bulk of the leadership components of the program were later on and that if he continued to work hard in the program and he felt the same way once the program was completed we would have another conversation.  We never had that conversation, in fact, this person was so happy with the results he decided to come back and join us in the program as an assistant coach!

His realization was that he wasn’t listening to the people he was leading.  He was giving orders and telling people what to do.  Once he stopped giving orders, started asking questions he quickly realized how the culture with his team changed.  People started coming to him with ideas, they were more engaged, they put more effort into what they were doing.  The results were amazing; their warehouse efficiency rating improved tremendously saving the company thousands of dollars.

Leadership involves a mentality that how we do things are usually more important than what we do.  This was my aha moment and it has lead me down this path with Dale Carnegie.  I’m a better person for it and I thank those that have helped me along the way.

Strengthen Relationships - Personality Styles Part 3 of 3

In the last 2 blogs we discussed identifying your own style and then identifying the dominant style of others.  By recognizing our dominant style and developing the ability to identify traits in others, we can change our behaviors to interact with variety of personalities and tendencies.  Knowing our styles is the most important element to help reach across barriers and connect with others.  We need to identify our own strengths and weaknesses in order to take control of effective approaches to build collaboration.

“When dealing with people, remember that you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotions.”  Dale Carnegie

This discussion will focus on adapting our style so that we can adjust our tendencies to better connect with others.  We all have to be ourselves, we’re not suggesting that you try and be someone else but rather once you know your style and have identified the style of others you can adjust.

Here are some guidelines to keep in mind when working with the 4 different styles.

Driver – control, ambition, results-oriented

·        Get to the point quickly

·        Involve them in the decision-making process

·        Challenge them

·        Use facts when confronting them

·        Clarify their role/authority

·        Don’t waste their time

·        Give them recognition

If this is your style:

Realize that others need time to adjust to your quick decision-making style, balance your drive to get results with an awareness of your effect on others, in your attempt to get immediate results, do not lose sight of the long run, spend additional time checking the small details, learn to pace yourself better, be willing to delay your individual work to assist others, understand before you speak; let others finish speaking, avoid sharp criticism of others, involve others in the decision-making process, remember to listen to others more often and heed their concerns, try to develop more informal relationships, be considerate of the thoughts, feelings and experience of others

Expressors – social influence, positive expectancy, expressiveness

If this is your style:

Remember that even the most exciting task has its share of plodding details, guard against becoming so enthusiastic that you lose perspective, accept the importance of completing tasks according to priority, learn to be more organized, do not over-commit; be realistic in what you can  and cannot do, don’t overestimate ability to motivate others or to change their behavior, remember to move forward productively and with focus, become involved in the development and implementation of changes, listen to others.

·        Be friendly and personable

·        Include them in projects

·        Help them set goals

·        Communicate frequently on the status of a project

·        Find ways for them to use their verbal skills

Amiables – Patience, composure, team player

·        Chitchat often – be friendly and personable

·        Communicate changes and give them time to adjust

·        Ask them about themselves

·        Encourage them to speak up at meetings

·        Give them recognition

 

If this is your style:

Try new approaches and be willing to adopt those that are effective, avoid becoming so guarded that you lose touch with your creativity, try not to fear unpredictable change, move forward with a project while making adjustments along the way, accept conflict as a motivator for change and progress, remember to acknowledge the accomplishments of others, look for more innovative solutions to problems, don’t be afraid to take some risks in solving problems, look for solutions that a little flair to them, discuss your feelings about issues, stay focused and productive during a change process.

 

Analyticals – Precision, analytical, quality orientation

·        Get down to business quickly

·        Present facts and data

·        Ask them for their opinion

·        Define their role and responsibility

·        Encourage them to speak up at meetings

·        Let them know it’s okay to make a mistake

If this is your style:

Avoid becoming bogged down details, over-thinking decisions, look for shortcuts to make processes more efficient and productive, avoid becoming so guarded that you lose touch with your creativity, avoid becoming defensive to comments from others, accept that everyone makes mistakes, recognize that occasional failures must be accepted, learn how to handle the reality of unexpected change, consider listening to others more and developing more flexibility, learn to recognize that emotions can serve a purpose, be the first one to speak up; don’t worry about editing your ideas.

Take some time to use these concepts with someone that you know or work with that you want a better relationship with.  Identify their style and adjust your style to better communicate, connect and see how the relationships changes.

 

I’d love to hear how it goes!!

If you would like to have our style assessed, give me a call and we can complete for you!

Strengthen Relationships - Personality Styles

Last time we laid the ground work for identifying our own style, this time we will spend some time getting to know other people’s styles.  Just to review there are 4 different behavior styles, that most people have one dominant and one secondary style.

Driver (control, ambition, results oriented) – self confident, always in a hurry, very straightforward, take charge of meetings, tend to be blunt, tend to be impatient, tend to interrupt others, are aggressive and can be intimidating.

Expressors/Influencers (social influence, positive expectancy and expressiveness) – generally optimistic, a good promoter and motivator, enjoys freedom of movement, extroverted, people-oriented, good at persuading others and outgoing.

Amiable/Steadiness (patience, composure, and being a team player) – a dependable and steady team worker, a stable and predictable work environment, friendly and works to get along with co-workers, may need time to adjust to change and is dependable

Compliant/Analytical (precision and analytical/quality orientation) – appreciates working with details, enjoys working where critical thinking is needed, a conscientious person with a well developed idea of “right and wrong”, maintains high standards, tends to be organized.

Now that you have a good idea of your own style let’s move on to the styles of others

Identifying Styles of Others

Identifying Drivers - people that relate to the following terms – a realist, values-focused, reliable, meets deadlines, focused, knows what has to be done, solves problems, gets results and is prepared.  They tend to dislike being micro-managed as they see themselves as being self reliant, they are comfortable with change and are competitive by nature.   These types are driven by their ideas and often seek to be in charge and in control, they pursue problems with a sense of urgency and emphasize getting the job done and set high standards for productivity.  18% of the population have tendencies toward this style, and others may see them as arrogant, impatient and intolerable.  Donald Trump is an example of a typical driver behavior style

Drivers achieve success by taking decisive actions toward their goal.

Identifying Expressors or Influencers - people that relate to the following terms – generate excitement enthusiasm and hopefulness, prefer to communicate in person and mix personal talk and business, they are gregarious, open, talkative, approachable and make friends easily, they enjoy working in a team and motivating others, they are charismatic and entertaining, they display positive attitude, are optimistic and reassuring, they may be seen as a dreamer.  28% of the population are expressors and they maybe seen by others as being unorganized, sloppy with the details and being late with projects and due dates.  Bill Clinton is an example of a famous influencer.

Influencers achieve success by persuading others to work with them towards a goal.

Identifying Amiable or Steadiness – people that relate to the following phrases – dependable and steady team worker, likes stable work area and approaches change with care and temperance, friendly and works to get along with co-workers and is a team player, they respect authority and are comfortable working with a supportive and assertive leader, shows patience and loyalty are good listeners and like to help others.  40% of the population are amiable and may be seen by others as indecisive and resistant to change.  Mother Theresa is an example of an amiable type.

Works with others as part of a team to achieve success

Identifying Analytical or Compliant – people that relate to the following phrases – precision and quality orientation, appreciates working with details, conscientious and thorough, enjoys working where critical thinking is needed, maintains high standards, tends to be well organized, prefers systematic approach, are seen as dependable and are steady and consistent performers, they emphasize rationale, facts, data and logic.  14% of the population is compliant or analytical and maybe seen by others as overly concerned with perfection and overly focused on the little things. Bill Gates is an example of a compliant type.

Works within rules and procedures to achieve success

Next time I’ll discuss how we can work more effectively with the other styles.

Strengthen Relationships – Personality Styles

I was recently talking to a customer that attended our Sales Success program and he told me that he was having difficulties dealing with people that were direct, outgoing and aggressive in nature.  He said that he had decided that he wouldn’t work with these types of people any more.  In his business he often needs to talk to top level management and business owners when selling his solutions to customers.  I asked if it might be more beneficial to learn how to deal with these personality types than to ignore them, as many business owners and decision makers have this particular style.  He agreed.

To be better equipped in today’s business environments people need to be able to:

·        Know your own behavioral style.

·        Recognize your customer’s behavioral style.

·        Adapt for greater appreciation, communication and understanding.

We’re not suggesting that you need to be someone else on the contrary, we really need to be genuine and be ourselves.  To get real understanding and to connect to people we need to be aware that not everyone, thinks like we do. This is important, because people buy from people they like and trust and sales people tend to sell to people that are more like them, it’s easier.  What happens to sales if you’re able to connect and work better with more people?

The 4 behavioral styles are Dominance/Driver, Influencing/Expressive, Steadiness/Amiable and Compliant/analytical.  77% of the population will exhibit behavior by two tendencies 15% by one and 3% will exhibit one of 3 special stress-induced response patterns at any given point in time.  However, in every “fight or flight” situation, one instinctual or core tendency will control the actions of the individuals, D, I, S, and C.

D – direct, dominates others, high ego strength and task-oriented, driven by personal challenges, fears being taken advantage of, and can be impatient.

To communicate with D’s be direct, brief and to the point, focus on the task and stick to business, results oriented approach, identify opportunities/challenges, provide win/win situations, use logical approach, touch on high points, don’t use too much data, keep your distance.  18% of population are Drivers.

I – interact with others, optimistic and people oriented relaters, driven by social recognition, fears social rejection and can be disorganized.

To communicate with I’s allow time for socialization, lighten up, have fun, ask for feelings and opinions, use touch, friendly non-threatening environment, involve with brain storming new ideas and approaches, expect quick decisions and provide opportunities for recognition and reward.  28% of population are Influencers.

S – serve others, team player, loyal, concrete results-oriented, driven by traditional practices, fears loss of stability and can be possessive.

To communicate with S’s be patient, draw out their opinions, provide logical approaches to the facts, relax; allow time for discussion, show how solutions will benefit them, clearly define all areas and involve them in planning.  40% of the population are Steadiness.

C – to comply with their own high standards, accuracy and high intuitiveness, driven by correct or proper way fear of criticism of their work and may be overly critical.

To communicate with C’s use data and facts, examine argument from all sides, keep on task; don’t socialize, disagree with the facts, not the person, focus on quality, avoid new solutions; stick to proven ideas, do not touch, allow time for them to think.  14% of the population are Compliant.

 

Stay tuned, next blog I will share some insight on how you quickly and easily identify people’s styles.

 

Happy Selling!!