Guest Post: Do You Know Who’s In Control?

Joel D Canfield, The Commonsense Entrepreneur

***Note from Jerry: I’m looking forward to a lively debate on this one.  My friend, Joel D Canfield, wrote this post.  I’m guessing some of you will have an opinion you’d like to share with Joel.  I certainly do.  I’ll withhold mine for a couple of days to allow the debate to run its course, then chime in with a post of my own in response (just because we’re friends doesn’t mean we always see eye-to-eye).  Only one rule: play nice.  Let your voice be heard, but please do it respectfully.  Let the games begin! ***

As I sit here waiting for my computer to finally open this image for editing, I ponder my control issues.

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Two “Must-Read” Books for March

I had a little time to catch up on some reading last week, and I’ve gotta tell you about two fantastic books that you should make it your goal to read as soon as possible.

The first is Og Mandino’s classic “The Greatest Salesman In the World“, and it’s one of those “life-changing” books (so read at your own peril) filled with “a-ha!” moments and epiphanies.  I’ve been hearing about what a great book this is for years, and it did not disappoint.  Mandino, through a cleverly-written business fable, reveals ten principles that will fundamentally change the way you think about selling.  I was so moved by the “secret” principles revealed, in fact, that I’ll be dedicating a post to each of them in the coming weeks.  If you haven’t read it, grab a copy and prepare to be moved.

The second is one of the “new classics” for business: “Go For No!” by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz.  Richard and Andrea were kind enough to contribute a guest post here last week, and it’s a great introduction to the ideas presented in the book.  ”Go For No!” is another from the business-fable genre, and an incredibly powerful one at that.  It’s based on the idea that the difference between mediocrity and greatness, in sales or anything else, all comes down to the way you deal with hearing “No”.  Sound familiar? Now you know why I’m such a big fan!  Get your copy today, read it immediately, and start putting the idea into practice!

Be sure to check back here tomorrow for the first part of the new Og Mandino inspired series: “10 Secrets To Becoming the Greatest Salesperson In the World”.

4 Steps To Everyone’s Favorite Answer in Sales: C is not for Closing (and Neither is Coffee!)

Welcome to the 4th and final step in the Getting to “Yes” series!  By now, all your preparation is done and you’re ready to commence with the presentation of your perfect solution and the conversion of this prospect into a client.

I know you’re probably used to referring to this part as “closing” the deal, but I’m really going to encourage you to change that to “convert” in your mind.  ”Closing” conjures up images of hard-selling and manipulation, and you’ve invested far too much time and effort into this process to revert to those tired old methods now.  The second a prospect feels like they are being “closed”, your chances of getting a “Yes” are seriously diminished; it’s normally at that point that the prospect drops back into “Maybe” mode, and we don’t want to drive them there.

“Closing” also has a note of finality that shouldn’t exist in a selling situation.  In very few instances will this be the only time a prospect has a need for your product or service.  If you “close the deal” and quickly move on to your next kill, you may miss out on those future opportunities; take the time to form a relationship by converting them into a client, though, and you’ll be the one they call next time.

When presenting your solution, you need to make the atmosphere comfortable for your prospect.  Remember: uncomfortable prospects don’t buy.  The more relaxed you are, the more relaxed your prospect will be.  And you should be relaxed; you’ve got all the information you need and you’ve created a perfect solution, right?  There’s nothing to be nervous about!

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4 Steps To Everyone’s Favorite Answer in Sales: S is For Solutions

Alright: it’s time to get creative!  So far in the NEADS analysis, you’ve been gatering information: asking questions about the prospect’s current solution and observing their behavior to get a feel for their decision-making modality.  With all this information at your disposal (hopefully you’ve taken a lot of notes!), it’s time to enter the final phase of the NEADS process: the S, which stands for Solution.

WARNING: this does not mean it’s now time to pitch your pre-packaged, canned, one-size-fits-all, “pretty-good” solution.  No, my friend; remember, you’re trying to get a “Yes”, and one sure-fire way to miss that mark is to hit your prospect with a canned pitch!

I’m constantly amazed at the salespeople I encounter who don’t get this.  They listen politely while you talk about what you’re looking for, nodding their heads as if they understand and agree, then tell you why what you’re looking for isn’t really what you want, but they’d like to show you their featured product which is so much better for your situation.  No thanks.  When I encounter a salesperson like that, I say “Good day to you!” and go in search of a HERO instead.

What causes a salesperson to behave like this?  Mental laziness!  They’ve taken the time to learn just enough about their product to be able to regurgitate the company’s sales brochure.  They aren’t really listening when they’re nodding their pointy-little heads, either; they’re thinking of what they’re going to say to “overcome your objections” and waiting for an opportunity to butt-in and start pitching you.  It’s maddening!

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Guest Post: Turning “NO” Into a Powerful Positive

Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz of Go For No

The word ‘YES’ is so positive, encouraging… and it means we’re succeeding. ‘NO’ on the other hand, is bad, depressing… and it means we failed.  What if, starting today, the word ‘no’ didn’t stop you? What if every time you heard the word no, you became stronger, more powerful, and more resilient?  Well you can.

For most of us, we don’t like to hear the word “no” when it comes to selling our products and services. We fight our way through it every step of the way.  If you are working your business and when you get a “yes” you feel wonderful and when you get a ”no” you feel bad, then you are going to feel bad pretty often.  Because when you are in business, when you sell anything – especially today – the No’s are out there!  And if you are feeling bad about the “no’s” you get, you might slow down, get discouraged, avoid business building… you might even quit altogether.

Yet there is an irony about Yes and No (Failure and Success) and it is this: when you go out of your way to increase the number of “no’s” you get, the yeses will show up at your door in greater quantities than you ever could have imagined! This is the essence of the “Go for No!” philosophy.

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4 Steps To Everyone’s Favorite Answer in Sales: D Is For Decision Making

Each day that passes, we’re getting closer to “Yes”.  Are you excited?  Great! Let’s move on to Step 2 in the Getting to “Yes” series: understanding how your prospects make decisions.

Yesterday we discussed the first three questions of the NEADS analysis: what does the prospect do Now, what do they Enjoy about what they do now, and What would they like to Alter or change about what they do now?  That brings us to the D in NEADS, and the spot where I modify this Tom Hopkins piece a bit.

Tom suggests that the D stands for Decision maker, as in make sure at this point that you’re talking to a person who can actually sign on the dotted line when the time for conversion comes. I disagree for two reasons: first, this is a little late in the process to be finding out if you’re talking to the right person; you really should be trying to take care of that while you’re in Getting to “No” mode.

The second, more important reason is simply my belief that the only way you’re ever going to know whether the person you’re talking to is the decision maker is to ask them to make a decision. It’s true: we’ve all had the experience of asking the right question (“So if we’re fortunate enough today to find a solution that fits your needs, who else will be involved in making the final decision?”), getting the right answer (“Oh, no one else will be involved…this is my decision to make!”) and still hearing at the conclusion of the meeting, “Everything looks great! I just need to get my supervisor’s approval so we can move forward.”

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A Couple of Updates

First off, I’d just like to acknowledge that my American Idol predictions last week (here and here) were a bit off.  No worries, though…a 25% closing ration isn’t bad!  Tune in tomorrow for my thoughts on AI this week, including more predictions about who’s going home.

Second, I’d like to let everyone know that I’ve added a couple of items to the “Free Downloads” page, courtesy of my friends Skip Anderson (B2C sales genius!) and Jim Keenan (B2B sales dy-no-mite!).  Also, a shout-out to Joel D Canfield for his help in getting the page to behave.  Thanks for your contributions, guys, and readers, look for more great tools to come!

Last, but certainly not least, a big thanks to all you who are reading this blog on a regular basis.  You guys make my day!

Cheers,

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4 Steps to Get To Your Favorite Answer: The NEADS Analysis

So enough about “No” already; it’s time we take a look at the 4 steps you can follow to get you to “Yes” with those prospects who you’ve effectively qualified as good candidates for partnership.  If you’ve effectively avoided any treacherous “Maybe”s along the way, your shot at getting a “Yes” is starting from a much higher place already; now comes the fun part!

Any attempt at getting to “Yes” with your prospects should start with a complete NEADS analysis (yes, I know: it’s spelled wrong again…I’m getting there).  NEADS is an acronym I borrowed (and modified slightly; sorry Tom) from sales trainer extraordinaire Tom Hopkins.  Hopkins talks about the sales process as a series of questions leading to a logical conclusion, the proverbial “close” (or, as I like to think of it, conversion).  This post will discuss the first three letters of the acronym: N, E and A.

The N stands for Now, as in “How are you dealing with [insert specific challenge uncovered during discovery] now?”  The point of this question is to set a baseline for the rest of the discussion, the foundation on which your presentation will be built.  If you don’t know where you’re starting from , you’ll never know when you’ve arrived at your destination, or if you even needed to leave in the first place.

Finding out how the prospect is currently handling the problem you’d like to help them solve will also help you establish the thought process behind how they make decisions.  In fact, you might ask something like “Out of curiosity, how did you come to the decision to use that solution?”  This information will be critical later on, when building your solution.

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5 Steps To Get To the 2nd Best Answer In Sales: Know When To Say “No”

So we’ve finally arrived at Step 5 in our Getting to “NO” series, and I hope you’re prepared; this is going to be the most difficult step of all.  This is where you learn to exercise your power to say “No” to the prospect.  Yes, you read that right.  Sometimes, when all other measures to get a “No” have failed, you have to take it upon yourself to say it.  Why would you ever need to tell a prospect “No”, though?

Sometimes you have to say “No” because the prospect refuses to do it for you.  You did everything right: you got agreement from the prospect that they would tell you “No” if it didn’t seem like a good fit.  You asked all the right questions.  It’s abvious to you that your offering doesn’t align with the values and goals your prospect identified as important to them.  And yet here the prospect is, asking you for a formal proposal so she can look it over and get back to you.

You know in your heart that it’s just a stall tactic, and that she’s just trying to dodge a sale that you aren’t even trying to make.  And yet you still feel that tug of excitement because it sounds like a “Maybe”, and “Maybe”, despite my best warnings, is still pretty tempting.  After all, sometimes “Maybe” becomes “Yes”.

Remember, though, that “Maybe” is the siren song of the salesperson.  It’s calling you to shipwreck on its rocky shores.  Don’t take the bait.  Resist the temptation to play the “Maybe” game.  As difficult as it may be, it’s time for you to walk away.

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Claiming My Blog In Technorati (Finally)

Sorry for the random post here, but Technorati needs me to publish a code so they can verify that this is really my blog.

So here you go Technorati: E7U7KXK22CF8

Everyone else, just feel free to ignore this.  Thanks!