A Buy-Product of Your Product

Any professional sales person will tell you that they can best sell a product or service that they believe in. We rightly spend time researching our industry and determining the competitive advantages that we have, and detailing the important facts and benefits that we have to offer. Yet, often when the real pressure to prove the value of our product or service hits, we stumble.

So, here’s a quick tip to dramatically increase your ability to promote any product or service you represent: Be a product of the product. Once you are a customer of your own product, it is much more natural and credible to recommend it.

Buy some of what you are selling and you will sell more of it. Done.

Sensational Words

Do you ever see with your ears? Of course you do, not literally of course, but words that we hear often create pictures in our minds. We know the power of words. A single word can often make or break a sale. Just ask someone who is a little undecided to ‘sign’ your ‘binding’ ‘contract’ and see what happens.

Sensational words are words that vividly describe an aspect of our product or service. They are words that build images in the mind of the hearer and make real the final affects of their choice. Your copier doesn’t just make clear copies, it makes brilliant copies. That new car won’t just look good in your driveway, it will look luxurious. Your service won’t just help your client respond faster, it will expedite their success.

Build some sensational words into your presentation, but don’t over do it. One or two carefully placed sensational words will make your presentation stellar, while too many will make it a glitzy, gaudy, gregarious, giant, goosy, gunk – and who knows what that is, much less wants it?

Networking Tips - PIECE!

If you have been around sales for any time, you have heard various presentations on the selling process, or the steps in the sales process. In one form or fashion these steps usually include:

1. Prospecting/Lead Generation

2. Qualification

3. Initial Engagement (1^st Impressions)

4. Presentation or Engagement skills

5. Dealing with Objections

6. Closing Strategies

7. Referral Generation

The process or cycle begins again with generating new leads from referrals.

I would like to spend this post on one aspect of Lead Generation: Networking. For the purpose of this post we will define Networking in terms of attending events or meetings that are specifically designed for Business Networking (i.e. Chamber events, Networking group socials, Trade Shows, etc.) 

Networking is best handled as brief social interactions that involve the exchange of information in such a way that we can turn conversations into prospects. I like to think of several steps in an effective networking exchange: Personal presentation, Inviting conversation, Empathetic listening, Card exchange and Enticing introductions. I recommend the acronym P.I.E.C.E for remembering this process.

Personal presentation – One of the most basic components of networking is to remove the outward and visible obstacles to your success. Old sayings stay around because they are often true and such is the case for saying “You only have one chance to make a first impression.” Take care to groom and dress appropriately for the event. I have found it very useful to consult with a clothing retailer to learn about current styles and fashions. Traditional hair styles change gradually and the advice of a good barber or stylist can be worth much more than the price of a hair style. Beyond these sources, speak with a close family member or friend and let them help you identify any grooming or habits that you have that might make a less than favorable impression. Use little or no perfume or cologne. You might enjoy the scent, but there are as many disliked aromas as there are people – so any fragrance will offend someone. I certainly don’t want a haircut, suit or perfume getting in the way of helping someone to benefit from owning products and services they need! 

Inviting conversation – Most 'networkers' make the mistake of thinking they need to tell people all about themselves and their product or service. Break the pattern and ask someone what they do and how you can help them. In addition, develop a short list of probing questions that will invite your future client to talk more about themselves and their business. Become well versed at asking questions. Remember, this part is all about how you can help them. NOTE: leave your cell phone behind, or at a minimum place it on vibrate. Nothing truncates a good networking conversation like an interrupting ring tone.

Empathic listening - There is one significant key to meaningful and productive conversation – listening. Be the sales representative that breaks the persona of being a chatty sales person. Listen to others, repeat their comments back to them, and let them know you are paying attention. Most importantly realize that your success will come by helping others. You need to know who they are and what they need in order to help. Remember the words of Zig Ziglar, “If you help enough people get what they want, you will have all and more of what you need.”

Card Exchange – Your most tangible networking tool is your business card. Clearly your card should present you clearly, but most importantly you must get and give cards to access relevant information. You need a reminder of who you met and they need to take you (your card at least) home with them. Get their card and make short notes about your conversation on the card. NOTE: some business cards today are filled with text, or made of products that don’t allow for notes, so you might want to have a small note pad handy.

Enticing introductions – At some point in the conversation, you will get asked about yourself. If they don’t ask about you, dig further into who they are. There is natural law of reciprocity in conversation so be ready for it when they ask about you, your product or service. Every sales person should have an enticing introduction ready to present at anytime. Sometimes called the “Elevator Speech,” these introductions have a variety of components including, but not limited to: 1. your name and the name of your company, 2. a brief list of the two or three most significant facts about your product or service, 3. a reference to one or two of the benefits your clients receive and 4. a wrap-up sentence with your company’s name and a tag phrase summary. You can get more detailed instructions on how to craft such an introduction by searching resources online (see side bar links). The point here is to give the future client a whiff of what you can do for them and leave them wanting more. When you are asked for more detail, politely request that you contact them at less rushed time and visit more with them. With permission to contact them later, you have been successful and can move on to the next future client and offer them a PIECE!

Happy Networking!

Sales Management 2.0 Guest Pod Cast

Please click over to Sales Management 2.0 and enjoy hearing my guest presentation on Relationship Sales.

"Over a decade ago, Kim discovered a passion for the art of selling. According to Kim, sales is really nothing short of a way of communicating and relating successfully to others.  He discusses three key aspects of relationship building: clear communication, personal integrity and having a servant mindset." -Sales Management 2.0

Keeping Selling Time Selling Time

I work with a wonderful group of sales people. Most of their time is spent selling and doing selling related tasks. These are versatile people with excellent communication skills. It is amazing how quickly they can be rendered powerless by a customer service complaint or any non-sales issue.

 

Selling is, in part, a people pleasing activity. We want to successfully engage others and getting them to like us, trust us and want to listen to us is a powerful tool to sales success. The mind set of most successful sales people is to offer products or services that are pleasing to the client. Most sales personnel are good at this process because they, in fact, want to be liked.

 

Customer service and complaints are often about conflict resolution. Conflict resolution, while drawing from some of the same skills used in selling, isn’t about being liked – it is about clear communication, negotiating and drawing boundaries.

 

Ideally, sales people should be left to sell and there should be someone else to handle the customer complaints and conflicts. However, in the real world, many of us in the sales profession are called upon to handle at least some of the customer service issues. For our own sanity, we can follow these tips:

 

1. Schedule a designated block of time to handle any customer service issues together. Grouping similar tasks together is not only a good time management technique, but we can pick up the negotiator hat and wear it a while. Once we are ready to move back into our selling tasks, we can be aware of the shift and move forward strongly to sell, leaving the negotiator behind.
2. Enlist help. If possible, let someone else gather some of the initial information from the client. This will allow them to defuse some, and become more amicable to resolution when we call.
3. Handle customer service issues quickly. The longer a client has to wait to have a complaint addressed, the more difficult they will likely be.
4. Have a plan. If we have a clear plan, a written list of your options for negotiating a given situation, it makes the process easier and usually faster.
5. Listen. Step one in dealing with ANY customer service issues is to listen. No matter how much we may already know about the situation and no matter how clear we may be about possible options, we need to give the client the professional courtesy of listening to their story.

 

Most importantly, remember to shift roles quickly and keep selling. Don’t get distracted and spend too much time or emotion on a non-selling task. The more time spent devoted to sales related tasks, the better sales person we will be. We are a sales person, keep selling.

Don't Try Anything New!

Don’t try anything new! 

“Think outside the box,” “Ideate new solutions,” “Color outside the lines,” “Try something different,” – we hear these and  countless other calls to change our approach to selling or modify our presentation. I say, “Don’t try anything new!” 

That's right. Well, honestly it is 50% right. Too often we seek new and entertaining ideas and techniques to add to our skill set before we spend anytime evaluating what we are doing. This quick to change attitude comes with at least three potential pitfalls. 

One risk here is that we change something that is already working. Figuratively speaking we might throw out the baby with the bath water. Before we add a new technique or element, we need to make sure we are not eliminating what we are currently doing with the time or space in our presentation. If asking three or four specific questions is getting us good results, why should we change those? Newer is not always better. 

We can also get too lengthy with our approach to our client. One small addition today doesn’t change much in terms of presentation quantity, but over time five or six additions can make your tidy presentation into a laborious discourse. More is not always better, either.

Finally, rather than asking what I should do new in an effort to improve, we might be better served to ask, “What have I stopped doing that I should be doing?” It is a common failure of sales people to inadvertently drop a key element of our skill set. Sometimes the change we need is to remember the change we already made that has proven successful.

So, if you are feeling the need for something new to spice up your game, first take some time to make sure the game you have and the game you know is being played with all of the skills you have already mastered. 

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sale

Don’t loose it! Sure the personal success and financial reward of selling is a big part of why we do this every day, but if we ever loose the fun in the art of selling, we are doomed. How much fun is this, anyway?

You get to meet a diverse and intriguing, often down right hilarious, assortment of people. You have massive freedom to learn and experiment with techniques and approaches. You can fail more than you succeed and still be a winner! You can help your clients.

What we do is fun. If you aren’t having fun, there is a pretty certain expectation that your clients aren’t enjoying your presentation either. Lighten up.

Try this. Today, make a commitment to ask someone to tell you a joke or share with you a funny story. Let them teach you something fun. Share a laugh and enjoy the selling experience. Fun makes fantastic selling. Spell sale – FUN.