At our company we examine every customer interaction and decide how we could take that experience as far as we can. We call this our Service to the Nth degree value. Can we take every moment of interaction to an extreme? How could we make it better for that person? For example, how can we answer a phone call with Nth degree thinking? Try getting to the caller quickly and eliminating voice mail. Or perhaps, always answer in three rings – or better yet, two. (Maybe even one!) Why keep that customer waiting? Create the best Outside-In experience you can.
However, today’s blog is about extending that service impression to the process of sales. In fact to put a fine point to it, for those of us that have to introduce ourselves and our companies to prospects, this is about the first 30 seconds of an interaction! Sales people struggle with the first introduction. Most of us spend hours preparing and researching our target. We know about their last annual report, we have read the press releases, we know about our competitors. My guess is that you’re loaded up with marketing materials. You have brochures, white papers, and case studies coming out of your ears.
So what do you need to focus on during the first 30 seconds? First off, your words.
1. Be crystal clear with your purpose. Sales people of the world… face it – we’re not crystal clear with our purpose in the first 30 seconds! We wander in these early conversations. We try to connect and “build relationships”. We try to impress with our knowledge of our offerings. We ask for the “order” when our prospect barely knows us. Be direct without being pushy. Be authentic.
2. Don’t ask for a relationship right out of the gate. It is weird to ask to build a relationship in the first call. It did not work in the hallways of high school, and it is just as well, creepy when selling. This is just too much of a leap of faith for an audience that really is still paying attention to their email or the project they were working on when you called them and interrupted them.
3. Differentiate yourself. Oftentimes, we act like and conduct business like everyone else. You could insert any product into your introduction and you would sound like the other ten voice mail messages your prospect deleted this week. Make yourself stand out. Think about how your company differentiates itself and how you can communicate it. Don’t let your introduction be “one size fits all”.
4. Make sure to speak in terms of customer benefit. As sales people, if we’re not careful our opening conversation sounds something like this to our prospect, “I am Chris Burkhard, I work for my company, I am interested in getting to know you so I can sell you my product so that I can meet my monthly quota, because I am falling behind on my bills, and I really need this sale now, you see. Truth is, I need a a quick hit to stay on track, and keep my sales manager off my back.” Does your introduction sound like me, me, me? It is subtle but true. Until we learn to speak in an Outside-In way and in terms of the customers benefit, we will always sound selfish. Who wants to build a relationship, ever, with someone that is all about themselves?
Sales people of the world, if you’re on plan then you can ignore me. If you’re falling behind, I bet I know why, and I have the answer – it starts with your first 30 seconds. How good are you and your company at first impressions?
Sales is not an easy profession. By the very nature of the role you have to be able to deal with a lot of negativity and rejection. Most buyers say no. This is simply a fact. The job requires so much hard work – busy work, really – research, preparation, meeting planning, detail follow-up with emails and phone calls, all for brief “performances” with your prospect and customer. Sales is 99% hard work, planning and preparation, and 1% actually selling.
There is so much we can do to be better sales people. Reading about sales and going to workshops on sales technique is a must. Being prepared and planned everyday is critical. Many sales people sometimes wing it; they count on their strengths too much, and they don’t prepare to to maximize their time. They do too little in the way of the activities that are necessary to produce the volume of output their quota probably requires!
However, I have come to grasp that sales people can’t do it alone! Your company has to work hard on your behalf. I believe a company must work hard on its brand, and that the brand must be an honest representation of what the company stands for, whats it personality and character are like, and what promise you can make to your prospects.
This is always a brand challenge for any business. Every business has a brand. Sometimes the brand is intentional; sometimes it is the absence of a plan. In all cases your company gives the marketplace an impression of what it is all about and what it stands for.
In my experience, I have found that being an Outside-In® company matters. Our brand is about being all about the customer. Our brand is our culture, and our culture is how we view ourselves. You can call this our overall personality! This personality is how we help our sales staff add value and clearly how we stand out in a world that is terribly the same! We are definitely not the same. However, we are not different for the sake of being different. Our difference is because we chose to turn ourselves inside out. We are what our customers need and want us to be!
Our culture and our values? 100% a reflection of employee behaviors that will best enable each employee to be the best they can be in the unique business landscape we all operate in today. Our brand is our culture. Our culture is our values.
Remember, good marketing helps you amplify the truth, not pitch something that you wish exists. That is the difference!
I think it is incredibly challenging to have true awareness as a sales person. Things like ego, attitude, and personal life can get in the way of having true awareness in sales. We need to be aware of other people and frankly we need to be aware for others in sales. This awareness is about understanding what prospects want and what this selling situation might require. This is about intuition. This is about knowing yourself. This is about knowing your products and services. And this is about having the interpersonal skills to observe and respond to your audience’s many verbal, non-verbal, and other environmental cues that happen in every interaction. Even if you have these things, many lack the self-confidence and trust required to go in a different direction if it warrants it. We march forward on sticking with the plan; and we wonder why we are not closing deals or meeting our quotas. It all comes down to awareness.
Having true awareness puts your focus in selling on the true needs of your audience. But it is more than simply identifying needs. Sales people have been doing fact finding for needs for decades! I am talking about being so good at what you do that your entire focus can be on your audience. We sell with our external needs in mind. Goals, sales, finances, reports to be turned in. And it shows. Not directly of course. This comes out in meetings that turn into next steps. Phone calls and emails that do not get responses. Sometimes, some sales people march blindly forward with “their” agenda. Their needs and wants take center stage. But their reception can be blocked by lack of awareness of their surroundings and what is actually happening in the moment.We simply cannot get out of our own way to be truly aware.
When it comes to awareness, there’s something to be said for Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow’s Heirarchy is a part of the Theory of Human Motivation, proposed by psychologist Abraham Maslow. It represents Maslow’s proposed pattern that human motivations and curiosities generally move through, that humans need to fulfill their basic, fundamental needs (food, water, shelter) before they can move on to higher level needs (self-actualization).
Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs, interpreted by graphic designer and creative guru Stefan Sagmeister:
In sales, employees face issues that impact their well-being around basic needs like a roof over their head, money to pay bills, food in the fridge, etc. and this makes it extra challenging to be aware and to be “self actualized”. This is where the rubber meets the road as they say. All of us have issues and challenges. Some of us work through them and can work on our awareness. Others, must work on it. But take it from an entrepreneur that has boot strapped a start-up company more than a few times. Some of us can handle the pressure and the issues and compartmentalize them and be aware. Some cannot.
If this notion of sales person awareness is not clicking for you than think about how you might prepare for an upcoming meeting with a prospect. Are you so focused on your monthly targets and your need for income? Is your Sales Leader coming with you on this appointment and this requires more and different levels of preparation and performance? Or perhaps you simply have issues at home, the car broke down, or your children are not doing well in school. All of these things combine to make it hard for us to get to the spot where we can do our jobs. We carry this burden around like a mask we might wear and hide behind, and it occupies our every moment. These internal thoughts block our thinking and prevent us from even thinking about being aware of the prospects we are meeting!
My advice? Make sure you know yourself. Don’t meet prospects when you know you can’t shed your internal focus.Be present. The key is to know yourself, so that you can know your sales. Once you know your strengths, your weaknesses, and your boundaries you’ll be able to really build that outward awareness that is invaluable to a sales person.
This is the time of year that runs you ragged. We have frayed nerves, tired feet, pounding temples, and it seems like we beg for time off from work only to work harder at home to get ready for festive times with others. However, if you have sales responsibilities – and many of my readers do – then you know this is a time of procrastination. Year end planning. Cleaning out those old files. Getting that database in order, documenting all those meetings, updating all of those opportunities, etc., etc., etc.
If you are not careful you can fall victim and coast through the responsibilities. And that coasting really only hurts you. You think, “No one really will notice because the world is a little sleepy for a few weeks!” However, you have a choice. Work hard today or take the day off. Work hard or play hard. In my book, there is no middle ground. My favorite one liner here is, You cannot stand with one foot in the out house and one foot out of the outhouse! This simply does not work!
So my friends, I am letting you in on a little secret I was taught. It is not my original thinking, but I live it every single day. This is just about work ethic. Make one more call. Send one more email. Plan your day thoroughly. The difference between your success and the person next to you? Well, I just gave you the secret. It’s not updating databases. You must put the time in, know what you’re doing, and be good at what you do, of course.
I have had an ongoing standing bet with my company for years that the easiest appointment to set for new business is the appointment over the Holidays. If you get a decision maker on the phone, they are working for a reason. They are working on real problems, running real departments, buying real solutions from folks like you. But, they won’t if you spend the next two weeks cleaning out your desk. And they can’t if you are convinced that no one does business over the Holidays. Trust me, I will be in. Trust me, I will be making vendor decisions. Go make one more call. Send one more email. Make it count!
I am feeling giddy these days. This is the time of year to count our blessings and to give thanks for all that we have around us. I am blessed with friends and family, my health, and a company full of employees, partners, and customers that work together in relative harmony. Business is good. The harder we work, the luckier we get.Now that the barn fell down we can see the moon.When I go slow I go fast. These are all my favorite Burkhardisms that I use to explain our winning formula. Regardless, we just try to get a little better as individuals, as teams, as functions, as departments, and across our three companies. Alas, this blog is about selling or as I would say, customer’s buying habits, so let’s get into it.
First off, I would like to address the behavior of those that sell and serve a customer base. What is your language like as you talk sales in your company? Do you “stalk” your targets? Do you find an “angle” to create conversation? Do you talk about your “pitch” or work on your “ four corner” or “Ben Franklin” close? I would challenge our choice of words as sales people. A mark of a successful salesperson is how they act when the customer is not watching! We need to learn to be authentic, to rid ourselves of stereotypes, and bad one liners. You know what I mean, too. Reflect on your last sales meeting internally. Just how much of your conversation could a prospect or current customer listen too without making you cringe or be embarrassed. I listen for inside-out behavior all the time. That is a leader’s job. Words matter. Values matter. How we act and behave inside our company is hard to hide once we enter our customers place of business.
Why do you ask those questions so early in the meeting? Prospects hate you for it. They don’t throw you out because they don’t know how to do it fast. But they do wince on the inside when they hear them. Those stupid, early qualifying questions leave their scars. And you know that you know better. But, you do it anyway. You can’t help yourself. This meeting was so hard to get. You need to qualify to know how much time to invest in this relationship right? You have a target to hit. Your so busy with activities. And networking. And meetings. You have forgotten something paramount to your success. You may be likeable. Your company may be impressive. Your service might even be something that the prospect needs.
Salespeople are, in general, so shortsighted and have so much urgency, that they simply can’t slow down and think. We are like three year old’s that want a cookie. We can’t delay gratification to do things right. DOING THINGS RIGHT means that you cannot ask any question of your prospect that is only in your best interest. Try this Litmus test. Think about why it is of value for your audience to answer your question. My guess is this: your question is a fine question. The problem is when you choose to ask it.
Prospects want to buy, they do NOT want to be sold.
Every organization, at least the ones that succeed, works hard to figure out what they do better than their competition and they know how to articulate it. This is called the brand promise. The reasons why some may prefer Nike over Adidas, or Coke over Pepsi, is that those companies’ potential customers identify with their brand promise – it is how customers make decisions. This got me thinking. Do we all have a personal brand promise? If you serve customers, work in sales, work on a team, or want your manager to get the best out of you, you need the answer to this question.
Every one of us serves a customer base and has real opportunities to convey our brand promises. I think this is not as hard as we think. You may just have to take the risk. Don’t know who you are or what you want to stand for? What makes you stand out is usually the quality that folks notice the most. I am told my unique personal brand promise is sincerity. I believe that being authentic, honest, empathetic are my brand. And I don’t even have to say it for customers to see it, notice it, or be apart of it.
So in defining brand promise, think about what you do better than anyone else. What is your competitive advantage over others? Why would someone buy from you personally? And how do you convey and keep that advantage? When a customer considers buying a product or service, they inevitably get to your company through a sales and or marketing process. Perhaps they have seen your website or heard of your company before. Or perhaps, your service was recommended. These are all things equally considered in a buying decision between two companies; and, the final decision often comes down to the people and/or experience that you create.
Many products appear very similar. What makes something better? Was it delivered on time? Were there hassles along the way? How were the inevitable problems handled? Your company also has a role here. Serving customers requires that all of the organizational systems and operating philosophies focus on the customer What is your specific role and how do you convey it? What do you do better than others within that role? For example, are you responsive? If so, feel free to use it in a sales situation, “Mr. Customer, I’m known for my follow-up. Can I get back to you at an agreed upon time with the answers?”.
So, in short, how do you go about defining your own brand promise? Take a few minutes to go through the steps below, and send me your own personal brand promise!
1. Brainstorm what others have said about you.
2. Ask your best friend at work.
3. Listen to what customers say.
In the 1980s, Microsoft set a lofty goal to get computing power everywhere: clothing, watches, phones, tablets, refrigerators, you name it. Microsoft wanted to be everywhere. In essence, they achieved their goal. Thirty years later, computing technology really is everywhere: GPS navigation systems in cars, computerized registers in stores, and you may even be reading this blog from the Internet… on your cell phone.
As of late, my companies have had a real revelation with the notion of pinpointing when someone makes the decision to do business with us. We do a postmortem on all of the possible reasons they found us, they bought from us, etc. For a company that is Outside-In® and cares deeply about customer experience, this probably does not seem too unique.
However, what we have learned is that we sell and customers buy — when there is a sense of ubiquity about our presence. CBI Group, Placers and Barton Career Advisors are everywhere! Well, not really. But that is what it must seem like.
Marketing and sales are about impressions. Is it the newsletter that got someone’s attention? A new website? An outgoing call from your company? A traditional billboard? Or a chance encounter at a networking or trade show event? Or maybe…just maybe, it is about business ubiquity. You get to know several of your customers involved in the business and in turn, they get to know you.
I no longer question this theory of ubiquity. I know it is true. People do business with whom they like. But in order for people to get to know you and like you, you have to be front and center to capture the mind share of your prospects.
Microsoft’s ubiquity reflects an unprecedented revolution in technology, and many may not be able to match that level of omnipresence; but then again who really knows? Anything is possible. So, ask yourself this question: What can you do to put your company front and center…and keep it there?
The stereotypes and cliches about sales people and their antics are truly a part of our every day lives as we go about the act of procurement for our homes and business. The most common feedback I observe (which is sometimes good, mostly awful) is the style of a sales person. I often coach that we should learn to “sell from the heart.” Selling from the heart is about being honest, authentic and flawed in doing your sales job.
Most contemporary sales people know that they need to be “likeable” and build relationships with their prospects, ask consultative questions and have good follow-up in all of their interactions.There is much theory and debate on the “how” side of all of this. My thoughts are relatively simple and express how to sell from the heart.
People don’t generally care for plastic. Being overly formal and distant (predictable behavior) does not allow the “you” to shine through. This does not mean you should be who you are on a typical Saturday night, some secrets are best kept. However, people generally do better intuitively when they think the real person has “shown up” on the call or in person. No ones like a plastic facsimile of what you think a sales person should do and say.
Be wonderfully and terribly flawed. I hate perfection in a buying moment. It makes me nervous. It is OK for a sales person to not know every answer. The true magic happens when you commit to how you will get the answer and you deliver on that promise! If you are presenting and you flub, admit your mistake. A flaw or two is normal. And the typical buyer, deep down, would rather buy from reality.
Selling from the heart is about being human and transparent. Corporate America requires a certain amount of method acting to fit in; I know so few people who say, when I go to work, I can be myself! Not every company requires you to adapt to the way things are done. Culture influences this, leadership style has an impact, even the clients you serve mold the company’s way of being. That is why it is so hard not to look and act like a corporate drone. But sales is different. With sales, you need moments with prospects that help establish trust. You need to be credible. Some of the best ways to earn these things is to sell from the heart. Don’t be a method actor practicing what you think your prospect wants and expects from you. Be you.
Change up the selling steps. This one is so easy. When you cold call and ask for anything from your prospect, shift the paradigm. Don’t ask questions. Don’t qualify. This is what every salesperson does. It is how we as sales people are taught typically taught to sell. We can only spend time on qualified prospects and we have to ask them questions to qualify them right? Well with research tools today, qualifying is easy. Why not ask to share your company story. See if they like you and your business. Then ask to come back to gather information? Be consultative. Be different from the pack.
When you go slowly, you move fast! The best way to sell from the heart is to be student of how relationships evolve. Sales people have quotas and targets. Your customers don’t care about your quotas and targets. Sales people think they have relationships. Or perhaps don’t care because they need to sell things, so who cares about the person buying? Well, I’ll bet you’ll sell a lot more when you have more meaningful relationships – relationships come when you bring value to your prospect or when you have earned credibility through your actions. So when you take the time to foster strong relationships, your start to notice the change in your sales numbers down the line.
The point is so basic and so easy. Yet not. So few go against the grain. But when you do, you stand out. Dare to be authentic and you’ll learn to sell from the heart.
Did you ever tell a white lie and then someone asked enough questions that the little white lie turned into an entire winding tale? Or catch a toddler with chocolate all of their face and they say with confidence I didn’t eat the last cookie?
Sometimes we put our sales and marketing people in the same spot within our companies as that toddler. Sales people want to have great ideas and stories to talk about. They want to build relationships and talk about mutual things of interest. People matter in the sales equation. Building Business Relationships That Last is where it is at.
Once a month a local copier sales person calls me and leaves me the exact same message every single time. I can set my watch by the call. It never varies. It never changes. Even when I try to return the call I get a pitch about document management. Never once did I say I was interested in hearing about the product. There is no attempt to learn one thing about me or my company. I don’t know the name of their company. Never have. And I certainly am never given a chance to decide if I even want a relationship with this person, this product and this no name company.
Every Monday morning the phone rings for me and the calls says, Mr. Burkhead I am calling my best clients with an inside line on a unique stock play, or some gobbledygook like that. First, it might help if you get my name right. And excuse me, when did I become a client? Who are you? And when I hang up, what do they do? They call back, often forgetting they had even called me in the first place! Like déjà vu.
We want our sales people to talk about our companies. Funny thing is, you have to be a great company to tell a great story. If you do not have a great culture it is hard to talk about greatness. I am not saying that your business must be perfect to share a great story, however, it better be customer centered. Without that there is very little customer value. And that lack of value shows up.
Which is why sales people prefer to talk about products. They have spec sheets, features & benefits and technical language to share. They can show demonstration or give you samples. Sales people love to give you a free trial or a lifetime guarantee… It is so much easier to talk about the product than take the time to ask about the customer. Hi, want to buy some software? Or as I like to say, “Do you want to buy a duck?” It all sounds exactly alike to me, like all sales people are sent to the same sales class on how to pitch our wares!
So I say, give your sales people something different to talk about. Work on being a great company. Work on being Outside-In in your actions. Customers like customer centered because it is about them! Teach them a process to build and track meaningful relationships in your targets. There is a science here. But most importantly, these things will help you avoid the dreaded product dump…
Thousands of people hours later, we are proud to show off our new e-home at an old address. We’ll keep this brief because our site mostly speaks for itself, but we hope you enjoy the new design of the site, a look and feel that better represents who we are. Our aim was to build the site from your perspective – to help you, our visitor, have easier travels through our site so you can find what you want and learn about us along the way.
Please send any comments, both good and bad! While this is site is a vast improvement from our last…
