This article will appear in my “Selling Points” column in the February 2011 issue of TLT Magazine.  You get a preview; after all, membership has it’s privileges!

With the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) a little over a week away, I’m being bombarded with email requests from companies and publicity firms asking me to “stop by our booth” to see the latest blah, blah, blah…

I’ve got all the emails flagged for follow-up; I know I need to get back to all of them and make the appointments and yet I can’t quite bring myself to do it, mostly because I just don’t care.  Don’t get me wrong: I’m really looking forward to the show and getting the chance to see, touch and play with all the new toys that will soon hit the shelves of your local Best Buy.  And I’m really looking forward to four days in Las Vegas.  What I don’t care about is the hype.

I have some bad news for you: nobody, and I do mean NOBODY, cares about your new products nearly as much as you do.  I know that probably comes as a bit of a shock; after all, your company may have dumped hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of dollars into researching, developing and testing that new product.  You may be prepared to spend millions more on marketing it to the public.  It’s sad, I know, but it doesn’t change the fact that I don’t care.

Here’s how you can change that, though: tell me a story.  That’s right.  You can move me from a shoulder-shrugging, disengaged suspect into a bona fide prospect by telling me a good story.  And you’ll get bonus points for making the story all about my favorite subject: me.

Here’s a little insight into human nature: as much as we tout our sense of adventure, for the most part we’re in love with the status quo.  If we can get away with using something tried and true, we will.  That being the case, if you want us to try something new you need to give us a reason.  A really good reason.  Most importantly, an emotional reason.

You can talk to my logical, conscious mind all day long, listing all the fantastic features of your new gadget, giving me all the reasonable, left-brain-centric arguments about its benefits and how it will change the world, but until you engage my unconscious mind through the gateway of the emotions, everything you say will literally go in one ear and out the other.  Don’t be mad at me; it’s just the way I’m wired.

As logical as we pretend to be, we all make decisions emotionally.  Some (but not all) of us will then justify those decisions rationally.  Consider the spread of MP3 players, specifically the iPod.  The iPod didn’t succeed because it made music sound better; it didn’t.  It didn’t catch on because it was cheaper; it wasn’t.  And it certainly didn’t succeed because all of us were excited to rush out and buy our music collections in yet another format; we weren’t.

The iPod literally infected the world because the folks at Apple told us a great story about how unbelievably cool it would be to carry our entire music library with us wherever we went.  Game. Set. Match.

It’s time to get re-acquainted with the art of storytelling or, as super-hero blogger Johnny B. Truant calls it, storyselling.  Because that’s all good selling is, after all.  Tell me a story about how happy I’m going to be when I have your shiny new gadget in my possession, how relaxed I’ll feel when I know your new service is monitoring critical business functions for me, how much fun I’ll have playing your new game with my nieces and nephews.  Those are the kind of stories that will have me reaching for my wallet.

Until then, all I’ll hear is “blah, blah, blah…”

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!

Make the presentation a conversation.  Don’t be so caught up in what you’re saying that you neglect the prospect.  Ask questions, engage with the prospect, and make it a two-way interaction.  Resist the urge to regurgitate information; this is your turn to talk, but that doesn’t mean you have to blow through the presentation without feedback.  Asking questions during the presentation is a sure-fire way to unccover anything that might have been overlooked during your discovery phase.

Now comes the easy part: conversion.

Yes, that’s right: conversion is the easy part.  Once you’ve gathered all the necessary information, created a perfect solution, and presented it to the prospect, conversion should be a cinch.  In fact, I really believe that there is only one question you need to ask after your presentation: Does this make sense to you?  If you’ve done all your homework right, there’s a pretty good chance that the answer will be “Yes”, at which point all that remains is to complete the paperwork.

And if the answer is “No”?  Chances are pretty good that you’ve missed something critical along the way.  It may have been a question that you didn’t ask, or you may have misread the prospects decision-making modality.  Don’t panic!  Simply start asking questions again.  ”You know, Mr. Prospect, I think I must have missed something.  Can you share with me what part of this solution doesn’t make sense to you so that I can understand whether I need to clarify something in the presentation?”  Re-engage in a conversation, find out what you missed, make any necessary adjustments, and set up a time to re-present.

And what about those times when you haven’t missed anything and the prospect still says “No”?  It happens.  Sometimes, for whatever reason, the answer is going to be “No”.  Maybe the prospect has a brother-in-law in the business, and getting your input was just a formality.  Maybe something in your personality rubbed him the wrong way.  Maybe he didn’t get the last jelly donut in the breakroom.  Whatever the reason, “No” happens.  Let me ask you though: would you rather have a “Maybe”?   I didn’t think so!

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, have a good cry if you need to, AND MOVE ON!  I love the phrase SWSWSWN, and I repeat it to myself often.  It means Some Will, Some Won’t, So What, NEXT!  Adopt that philosphy, learn to love “No”, and you’re guaranteed to succeed.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these two series as much as I have, and I’d love to hear your feedback.  Please leave your comments on any of the posts, and I look forward to our conversation.

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.

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.”

My suggestion is to stop worrying so much about whether you’ve got the decision maker and start paying attention to how the prospect makes decisions. That’s why I think that the D in NEADS really stands, not for “Decision maker” but for “Decision-making modality”.

Essentially, a prospect’s (or any other person’s) decision-making modality is the way they receive and process information before making a decision. There are four modalities: thinking, feeling, knowing and sensing. All of us use all four modalities, but there is usually one that dominates the way we decide on a course of action. As Jeremy Marchant and Kay McMahon of Emotional Intelligence At Work put it (in their article “We Make All Our Decisions Based On Feelings“):

They make the distinctions between the four modalities abundantly clear (better than I could) by relating what it would be like to have dinner at a restaurant with one of each of the types:

Got it? Good. If you can remember these differences the next time you’re talking to a prospect, you’ll have the inside track on getting a “Yes” because you’ll be able to present your solution in a way that appeals to the prospect’s decision making modality. But how can you tell which prospects use which modalities? Following the logic above, you might take them out for lunch; if that’s not possible, have a look around their office and really pay attention to the way they speak.

See lots of piles of papers in neat stacks with tons of data on them? You’ve probably got a thinker; bring lots of charts and graphs to support your presentation. She keeps talking about how she’d like to “cut to the chase” and “get down to brass tacks”? Likely a knower; make your presentation quick and impactful, using bullet points instead of paragraphs. Keeps getting misty-eyed when he’s talking about how happy he was the day he bought his first home? Sounds like a feeler; tell lots of stories during your presentation. Wants to see the pictures in the brochure or asks to touch a sample? Definitely a senser; a multi-media presentation would make his day.

If you can tune in to the decision-making modality of the prospect and design a presentation that speaks to that modality, you’re well on your way to getting the coveted “Yes”. Now all that remains to be done is to finish up the NEADS analysis by creating and presenting a Solution ( the S in NEADS) that exactly fits the prospects situation.

And of course, we’ll be talking about exactly how to do that tomorrow.

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.

In the meantime, you should be aware that sometimes the answer to the Now question is … nothing.  Sometimes, you will be the first at bat, the first one to take a stab at curing the prospect’s pain.  Of course, other times you’ll be up against a deeply entrenched incumbent.  Both situations have their particular challenges, so you have to know up front what you’re dealing with.  Thus the importance of the Now question.

The E stands for Enjoy, as in what does the prospect enjoy, like or even love about their current solution?  Sometimes we get so excited about sharing our solution, we don’t take the time to find out whether the prospect really wants a radical change.  That may be what we think is best, but we’re not the one in the decision-making seat. Find out what the prospect enjoys (and why!), and plan to give them more of the same.

This is pretty basic when you think about it: if a prospect really digs certain aspects of the solution they have now, who are you to rock the boat?  Wouldn’t it be better to find a way to integrate those aspects into your offering, maybe even improving upon or enhancing them in some way?  Remember: human beings aren’t always fond of major change, and past buying habits will have a significant impact on future buying decisions.  You’ll get your chance to be creative in the next bit.

The A stands for Alter.  In other words, what would the prospect, if they had the chance, like to change about their current solution?  Would they like it in a different color?  Perhaps a sleeker design?  Maybe friendlier customer service reps?  Listen to everything they have to say, and take copious notes…this will be the core of the solution you’ll eventually present!

What happens, though, if you ask the A question and your prospect says “Nothing; we like it just the way it is”?  At that point, you may have to do a little coaxing to tease an answewr out of them.  One of the best ways I’ve seen to do that is the technique presented by Randy Schwantz in his book “The Wedge“.  In it, Schwantz tells salespeople to come up with something they do better than their competitors, then use that difference to create a question that will drive the thin edge of a wedge between your prospect and their current vendor.

You might ask something like “So when your current vendor does monthly audits of your network security, how do they present their findings to you?”, knowing full well that their current provider doesn’t do monthly audits of their network security.  Suddenly, the prospect has discovered that there’s something they’d like to alter about their current solution after all!

These three question will form the basis for the solution your going to create for the prospect, but you’re not quite there yet.  First, you need to understand the D in NEADS: how your customer makes decisions.  That will be the topic of tomorrow’s post.  Cheers ’til then!