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!

You can set yourself apart from these cro-magnon sales brutes by doing one simple thing: give your prospects what they ask for!  By taking all the information you’ve gathered so far and putting your mind to work to come up with an offering that exactly fits your prospect’s needs, you’re immediately in a better relationship with the prospect.  Trust me: the majority of your competitiors are not doing this.  In fact, you may be the first salesperson this prospect has ever encountered who presented him with a solution tailored to his needs instead of trying to cram him into a pre-packaged product.

But what if you don’t have a solution that exactly fits the prospects needs?  You have two choices: you can either get creative and come up with one or you can be honest, tell the prospect “We don’t have what you’re looking for”, and refer him to someone who does.  Those are really you’re only two legitimate choices; if you manipulate the prospect into settling for a solution that doesn’t exactly fit his needs, you’ll damage your relationship permanently.  You’ll lose trust.  You’ll be dealing with buyers remorse, and possibly a cancelled sale.

Don’t be afraid to be creative.  Just because your company might not currently offer an exact solution, talk to others and see if you can come up with a way to do it.  Don’t walk away from the deal just because you don’t feel like thinking!  After all, you have all the information you need: you know what they’re doing now, what the Enjoy about it, what they’d like to Alter and how they’ll be processing the information you present to make their final decision.  If you and your team can’t come up with a perfect solution that exactly fits your prospect’s needs, maybe sales isn’t the right career for you.

Sales isn’t about pitching product; it’s about solving problems.  Again, that’s why you get paid the big bucks!  If you’ll take the time to create a perfect solution for your prospect, “Yes” is just around the corner.  All that remains to be done is present your solution and convert the prospect into a client (AKA “close the deal”).  That’ll be the topic of tomorrow’s post, the 4th step in Getting to “Yes”.  Until then, happy selling!

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And for those of you who just can’t live without it, here’s the take-away from American Idol this week: don’t be forgettable!  When you have an opportunity to be in front of prospects, make it a memorable experience for them.   Instead of the same pitch-fest they’ve heard from every other salesperson they’ve ever seen, be different.  Engage them in a conversation.  Listen to what they have to say.  Be more concerned about helping them solve a problem than in making a commission.  If you can get them to remember you in a positive way, your job is halfway done.

And as for this week’s predictions, I say it’s time for Jermaine, Tim, Haeley and Didi to be “Leaving On A Jet Plane”.  We’ll see if I do any better this week.

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,

Jerry

OK.  I’m a little disappointed.  So far, American Idol Season 9 is off to a weak start.  I’m not sure what’s happening, but there really haven’t been any stand-out performances so far.  I hope it get’s better; I’m really starting to miss Adam.

One thing did stand out though: Simon told one of the contestants (who looked like he was terrified throughout his entire performance), “If it’s uncomfortable for you, it’s uncomfortable for the people who are watching you.”  And that’s tonight’s American Idol business lesson: your mood is catchy.

Like it or not, the people around you are tuned in to your mood.  This is especially true in a sales situation.  If you’re nervous or desperate or distracted, you’re going to make your prospect uncomfortable.  And people who are uncomfortable don’t buy.  So what can you do?

First, determine what’s making you uncomfortable; then figure out how to overcome it.  Is it a lack of preparation?  That’s easy to fix: prepare better.  Is it a lack of experience?  That’s okay: it’ll get better with time if you don’t give up.  Is it because you’re afraid they’re going to say “No”?  Get over the fear of “No” by having more people say it to you.

I don’t know what to tell the hapless contestants on American Idol this season, other than to step up their game.  I do know what to tell you though: learn to make the people around you (whether co-workers, family or prospects) comfortable and they’ll be happy to help you succeed.

And what’s the outlook for the guys this week?  I say it’s time for Jermaine and Tim to call Southwest’s reservation line to book their return flights.  Have a safe trip home guys, and try again next year!

We interrupt this blog’s 5-part series about getting to “No” to bring you this special “American Idol” update:

American Idol kicked off their “Top 24″ phase tonight, and watching the ladies perform tonight got me thinking.

This is supposed to be when the contestants bust out their “A” games and show the audience what they’re made of.  It didn’t happen tonight.  Instead, I saw 12 girls make the same mistake made every year: instead of engaging with their audience, they picked songs they thought would make them look good.  Do you smell a business lesson coming?

At this point in the competition, the audience hasn’t had much of a chance to form an opinion about the contestants. There’s no history, no relationship.  We don’t know them yet.  This is really our first impression; we’ve yet to hear a full performance, only snippets played between clips of their family or kids or dogs or whatever “human” element the producers thought would make for good TV.

That being the case, these folks need to make a connection and start building a relationship with us pretty quickly.  The absolute best, most effective way to do that is to show the audience a good time.  Yet year after year (and tonight in particular), you see contestants missing that opportunity to connect and make us like them.  Instead, they go for the close with a vocally challenging song and end up falling flat.

Look: unless you have a truly, truly amazing voice, singing a Leona Lewis or Ann Wilson or Stevie Nicks song is suicide at this point.  To quote Simon, the performances are “forgettable” at best and “horrible” at their worst.  They’d be much more memorable if the performer would just pick a song they were comfortable singing, one that’s in the right range for their voice, and have some fun with it.

So here’s the business application: if you’re going to make a memorable first impression on a sales call, think fun.  Don’t try to impress a new prospect with how smart you are by regurgitating every last detail about your product and going for a premature close.  Prospects hate that, and it makes you look like every other poser that’s shown up in their office in the past five years.  You’re “forgettable”.

On the other hand, if you show the prospect a good time by engaging her in a lively conversation that puts the spotlight on her and the needs of her organization, you’ll probably survive to the next appointment.  Be interesting.  Be fun.  Hell, be OUTRAGEOUS…if nothing else, at least she’ll remember you!

And my predictions for the ladies this week?  Sorry Janell and Lacey, but I think it might be time to pack your bags.
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We now return you to our regularly scheduled blog series “5 Steps To Get To the 2nd Best Answer In sales”.

OK.  I admit it.  I’m a huge fan of American Idol.  I haven’t missed an episode since Season 3, and it’s not likely I’ll lose interest anytime soon. I don’t care what anyone says: it’s just great entertainment.  And since it’s (finally!) Idol season, I thought I’d share three business lessons I’ve learned from AI over the years.

#1: Know who you are

One of the things we’ve heard over and over from the judges is “you need to figure out who you really are”.  In other words, the contestants need to be able to take someone else’s music and sing it like it was their own, to give it their own unique brand.  And there’s business lesson #1.

I don’t know what business you’re in, but I’d be willing to bet that the product or service you sell is available somewhere else at a lower price.  That’s OK; a lot of bands make a great living playing covers.  But every now and then, along comes a singer or a band who can make a cover sound like an original.

Think of what Whitney Houston did for the Dolly Parton song “I Will Always Love You”.  Dolly wrote a fantastic song, and so long as she was the only one singing it, everyone knew that.  The second Whitney’s version hit the airwaves, though, it was “Dolly who?”  Whitney made the song her own, and every person who sings it from now to the end of time will be compared to Whitney, not Dolly.

So here’s the question: what can you do to make whatever product or service you sell, no matter how long it’s been around or how commoditized it is, your own?  How can you make sure that when customers think of your product, they think of you?  How can you create a situation where you are the industry standard by which all other suppliers are judged?

#2: If you’ve got it, flaunt it

Another common criticism from the judges is “You sang that well, but I felt like you were holding back.”  The most common cause?  Lack of confidence on the part of the performer.  They allow their fear of failure to hold them back.  They don’t take risks, and as a result their performances are a little bland.

Then along comes a performer like Adam Lambert, and things get interesting again.  Adam did things with familiar songs that no one on the Idol stage had ever dreamed of doing before.  He dressed like a glam-rocker from outer space, went for impossible notes without any hesitation, and owned the stage.  You couldn’t take your eyes off him, and every week you wondered what kind of magic he was going to do.

So here’s your homework assignment: What risks have you avoided taking because of your fear of failure?  If you weren’t stuck in fear, what would you do differently that would set you apart from the crowd?  What makes you outrageous?

When you figure it out, go do it.

#3: At the end of the day, it’s not just about how well you sing

The judges are always quick to remind the performers that Idol is ultimately a singing competition, but I think Chris Daughtry, Jennifer Hudson, and Adam Lambert might disagree.  All three lost out to performers who are nowhere near as talented as they are, while performers like Sanjaya Malakar and Jasmine Trias survived on the show much longer than their talent warranted.

The same is true in your business: being the best at what you do doesn’t always mean you’re going to be on top.  Business is, ultimately, a popularity contest.  Don’t be mad about that, and don’t try to fight it.  It is what it is.  Just realize that you’ve got a decision to make.

If you want to get the most votes (make the most money, sell the most product, beat the competition), you have to give the voters (customers) what they want.  Remember, though, that the voters are fickle: what they say they want isn’t always what they really want and what they really wanted last week is entirely different than what they want this week and in a different universe than what they’ll probably want next week.  Confused?  Get used to it.  If you decide you’re going after the popular vote, this will be your job: figuring out what to sell to people who have no idea what they really want.

Of course, the other option (and the one I’d encourage) is to just do what you love and be really great at it, no matter what the majority might think.  You run the risk of alienating some of the voters, but the ones who like you and like what you do will stick by you (again, just ask Daughtry, Hudson and Lambert, who’ve sold millions of albums in spite of “losing” on the Idol stage).

There are many other business lessons AI has taught me, but these are my top 3.  What business lessons has American Idol taught you?

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I know this is really late, but I wanted to let you know that the winner of last week’s Social Media Fable Pick-a-Moral contest is Jim Keenan, who said that the moral of the fable was “Act online as you would offline. Being social is being social no matter where you are. It’s still about people.”  (I know, that’s technically three morals, but all three were really good!)

Congratulations, Jim!  If you’ll direct message your mailing address to me on Twitter (@jerrykennedy), I’ll get your autographed copy of “Motivation 101″ sent out right away.

Thanks to everyone who contributed a moral…all of them were great!