Tag: Sales

Stop Selling, Start Asking: 3 Questions That Will Improve Your Results

On By Joe DeRosaIn SalesLeave a comment

Ask

For many companies January represents the start of a new year.  A new beginning when all numbers are at zero and the uphill climb to reach the new year’s sales quota gets under way.  And whether your company sells cars, computers, insurance, or consumer staples it’s likely its increased its goals in 2015 from the prior year, and to you that means a bigger sales quota.

How do you reach that new number when last year’s number seemed big enough?  Where will you find the time to sell more and still have a chance to see your family, hit the gym, travel a bit, or simply sleep a little?  The fact is, making more calls isn’t the answer.  The more calls you make, prospects you talk to, emails you send, or LinkedIn invites you issue won’t be enough to hit a higher quota.  You’ve got to operate differently.  You’ve got to change your approach.  The most effective way to increasing your sales results is by asking better questions…the right questions.  Start with these 3 questions below when meeting with a prospect for the first time.

  1. In looking back on your results last year did you accomplish what you hoped?  Asking this question provides insight into the prospects priorities and values.  It also offers you a glimpse into how likely they are to provide you with the critical information you’ll need to construct a proposal or recommendation that adds tangible value to their business.
  2. What are your top goals or priorities for this year?  If you don’t understand your prospect’s business you have little chance of doing business with them.  Likewise, how much time, effort, and energy is wise to spend on a prospect who doesn’t know where he or she is headed?  With limited hours in the day, and that big goal in front of you, your best chance of success lies in working with people who all have clear goals…grow revenue, reduce expenses, improve turnover, etc.
  3. How do you currently determine if you’ll buy again from one of your providers?  It’s important to know up front if the prospect makes their decisions based solely on price, service, future product improvements, or ease of use.  Whatever their criteria is in sending you more business, be sure to take note and not only build it into your proposal but more importantly deliver on that expectation.  If innovation is important to the prospect don’t promise product changes if your product hasn’t changed in years or has no planned changes on the horizon.  Once you lose trust and credibility your reputation becomes worthless.

If you’re not comfortable asking these questions there’s likely a good reason which most of the time will be due to the lack of rapport built immediately on the front end of your interaction with the prospect.  Remember, if you approach a prospect like a typical sales person their natural defenses will be up, but if you approach them as a business person who has passion around your product and deep-rooted beliefs and experiences that showcase the value of that product you’ll find your prospect will be more open, more engaging, and inclined to forge a relationship with you.  Authenticity is your key to success and its something that has to be real and heartfelt, it can’t be pretend.

The Coercive Contactor Versus the Caring Connector

On By Joe DeRosaIn SalesLeave a comment

Sales people have been taught the importance of the numbers. The number of dials made each day, contacts made, and presentations scheduled, are all metrics sales professionals have had baked into their thinking. You want more sales, make more dials. You want more presentations, make more contacts. We grind it out every day focused on persuading, manipulating and influencing the prospect just enough to get them to see things our way and then…BAM…a sale is made. I refer to sales people that fit this description as coercive contactors…make the contact and then through sheer force of will, or fear-selling, make the sale.

But times are changing. The buyer today is far more educated than in the past thanks in large part to the internet. Most agree that a majority of the buying process is completed before a buyer ever meets with a sales person. How did this happen and what does it mean to you as a sales person?

Google has changed our world. In a couple clicks of a mouse we can find information on virtually any topic or question that we could dream of asking. Volumes upon volumes of data and content reside on the web, there for the taking. In the comfort of our homes and offices, cars or restaurants, we have 24/7 access to all the information we could possibly need to make informed decisions.

For the typical sales person this poses a huge threat. Most of us were trained in the art of persuasion, manipulation and influence, in order to bring the pain the buyer is feeling front and center. And while shining a light on the buyers pain isn’t wrong or inappropriate, it is a less effective selling tool if the sales person doesn’t know what to do with the buyers pain once they’ve identified it. You see, buyers have a much better sense today whether your solution will actually help them. They’re no longer completely reliant upon the sales persons power of persuasion and instead draw from their own research and education as to what may improve their circumstance.

Whether it’s an outsourcing solution to improve business performance or a new medication to improve your health, just about any information you’re looking for is available via the web. As such the dependency on the sales person has evolved from a pitch person to a “caring connector”. A caring connector is how an authentic sales professional presents themselves in what they say, how they say it, what they do, and how they act. Forget about the super slick, fast talking sales dude. Today the successful sales pros are ones who take the time to listen, ask thoughtful questions, and perhaps most of all, be honest enough to tell the prospect just how helpful their solution will be. They demonstrate genuine care in how they connect with the buyer. This is a huge mind shift in sales. In fact, many recent studies conducted by Harvard Business Review, as well as, in many books authored on sales including Jeff Thull’s recent Exceptional Selling, show proof that being willing to walk away from a sale because there’s simply not enough value there, actually enables you to sell more. The premise is that once someone trusts that you have their best interest at heart, and in mind, they’ll come back to you again and again. Additionally, once you’ve determined that there is little value to the prospect to move forward with your solution you stop forcing a sale and move onto the next opportunity, again freeing your time to engage with a buyer whose needs and circumstances better align with the value you provide.

So try it. Try shifting from that coercive contactor to the caring connector and watch your sales grow.

Your Doctor May Be Your Best Sales Coach

On By Joe DeRosaIn SalesLeave a comment

doctor

In my previous blog post I talked about a selling strategy that helps to eliminate lost sales.  Lost due to a disconnect between the prospect and the sales person.  A communication miss fire on either end is responsible for every sale not made.  If the sales person is communicating and observing the prospects response, or reaction, there should be no last-minute surprises of lost business.  In fact, if you were really honest about it, most of the time you knew deep down that sale was going nowhere.  But the sales gods have been clear for decades that you never give up, never walk away, always be closing, and never take no for an answer.  If you’re into self-deprecation that might be exactly the approach you’re looking for.  But for those of us who are interested in transcending the age-old image of a product pusher to one of a true sales professional, looking for the “no” is how you should approach each sales opportunity.

For years I have taught and coached sales teams across a variety of different industries to approach a prospect as a doctor approaches a patient.  Curious, thoughtful, prescriptive and honest.  Here’s how:

  1. Curious.  The first thing a doctor does when he/she enters an exam room is begins asking questions.  What’s going on?  When did it start?  Is it like this, or like that?  Do the symptoms increase in intensity during certain times or are they constant and unchanging?  The doctor is beginning to diagnose your problem.  Asking questions, no matter how uncomfortable they may be, is the first step to a proper diagnosis.
  2. Thoughtful.  In my experience (and to be completely honest I believe I have the world’s greatest doctor) great doctors never provide knee jerk responses.  They go through their diagnosis phase and take a moment to process the information they’ve just gathered.  Sure this process step may take seconds, but in most cases pay attention the next time you go to the doctor and watch for that “medical processing pause”.  This refers to the time it takes for the doctor to thoughtfully provide their assessment and prescribe next steps.
  3. Prescriptive.  Depending on the assessment of what’s wrong with the patient the doctor may have one to many different prescriptions to offer the patient.  The prescription may not be solely medicine related.  A doctor may prescribe physical therapy, or eliminating a specific food from your diet.  He/she may also prescribe a mobility aid such as crutches or a walker, or even a sling or splint depending on the injury.  The point is that in many cases there are a variety of paths forward and the doctor presents these options in the form of prescriptions.
  4. Honesty.  This element of the doctor-patient relationship is the most important.  No matter how good the doctor is, if there is no trust that exists between him/her and the patient the above 3 ingredients are useless.  By the time the doctor gets to the prescription phase of the patient examine, he/she is presenting options along with their personal choice.  How many times have you heard a doctor say, “if you were my son”, or “when my mom went through this we decided to do…” The trust and honesty that exists between a doctor and patient – their ability to communicate transparently with one another – is the ingredient that results in the patient’s ability to improve their condition.

The relationship between a doctor and patient exists for one of two reasons:  to fix something currently broken, or to avoid something breaking in the future.  Isn’t that the relationship between you and your prospect?  The prospect has either agreed to meet with you because something in their business is currently broken or because something may be changing that may cause something to break that they’re trying to avoid happening.  Regardless of whether it is a current problem or future, follow the 4 steps above and you’ll find a more engaging, trusting, and action-oriented relationship develop between you and your prospect, soon-to-be customer.

Are You Losing Sales? It’s Probably The Last 3 Feet.

On By Joe DeRosaIn SalesLeave a comment

table

Successful outcomes are the result of many different elements including preparation, practice, and skill.  With every action comes a reaction and the intensity of that reaction can be linked to the effectiveness of the originating action.  If you walk at a slow pace for exercise it will take longer to work up a sweat as opposed to a brisk walk or even a jog where you will sweat much quicker.  Action versus reaction.

How often have you left a sales call wondering where things went wrong?  You didn’t get the business.  The prospect seemed on board but decided to go in a different direction.  That reaction, whether we’d like to admit it or not is the direct result of an action we took at some point during the sales process.  In fact, the primary action that results in lost sales is communication.  Clarity of communication, followed by the ability to process that communication, is where many sales people fall flat.

In his book Exceptional Selling, Jeff Thull talks about “the last three feet” as being the distance that separates a prospect from a sales person sitting across a table from one another.   How often have you felt you’ve done everything right and in your final meeting – in that last three feet – with the prospect, you learn they decided against doing business with you?  It’s happened to us all at least once.  If you have been selling for years it’s most likely happened hundreds of times.  But why?

The main reason for this disconnect centers around a miss fire in communication.  You either said something to the prospect that turned them off, or you said the right thing that disqualified them as a prospect but you were too stubborn to see it.  We’ve all been taught to never walk away from a sales opportunity.  Further we  have been told for years that everyone is a prospect.  These ideas are just flat-out false.  Not everyone is a prospect and the quicker you find out who presents a real opportunity the better you’ll become at selling.  Remember your time, money, and energy are only of value to you so protect them.  The faster you can sort the real opportunities from the imaginary the better.

Watch for my next blog when I’ll present a sales strategy I have used with great success that eliminates the risk of the last three feet.

 

The Most Important Sales Question You Need To Ask

On By Joe DeRosaIn SalesLeave a comment

important

Selling is a combination of both art and science.  It requires intelligence, curiosity, study, and practice.  Unfortunately too many books have been written by self-proclaimed gurus who are running around promoting persuasion, influence and manipulation.  As a life-long sales professional I cringe when I hear these tactics being promoted as the Holy Grail of selling.  Learn how to persuade a buyer and you’ll be golden.  Wrong.  Persuasion is only temporary if it’s not grounded in something more significant or substantive to the buyer.  While beating the buyer into submission is one way to approach sales I’d suggest a much different path.  Something that requires a fair amount of mental horsepower, patience and agility.  This approach can be summed up in one question…So What?

Sales people have been trained…brainwashed…into force feeding a prospect through a rigid selling process.  The problem is that most sales processes are inward focused and aligned to what their organization does and is capable of delivering.  They rarely take the customers viewpoint into consideration.  This results in the sales person trying to find a way to wiggle into the prospective buyers wallet, often times not knowing or caring whether there is a real or tangible need for their product.

So how can you avoid falling into the stereotypical sales rep persona?  Ask this one questions before and after your customer interactions – So what?  This product has  a 98% satisfaction rating!  So what?  My company has been around for 100 years.  So what?  We pay the highest commission rates in the industry.  So what?  I’ve helped many business owners like you improve their profits.  So what?

I’m sure many of those statements sound familiar.  You may have even used one or two of them before.  But so what?  What does your satisfaction rating mean to me the buyer?  Why should I care?  Too many times sales reps lob a one-liner out there and let it hang.  They believe that it’s such a powerful statement that the buyer must believe it too, yet we know this isn’t the case.

Once you begin to challenge yourself with the “So What?” question you’ll find yourself having different conversations with your customer and asking different questions.  You’ll begin to interact with your customer on a different level.  Your genuine new-found interest in what’s important to your customer will be seen and felt.  And while this may not guarantee a sale it will guarantee that you’ll be better prepared to separate the true prospects versus those who simply clog our pipelines who are not fits, matches, or beneficiaries of the value we provide.  Having this power will help you close more business that is a true fit while quickly sorting through the business that isn’t, saving you time, money, and energy that you can then direct toward those prospects who can truly benefit from the value you offer.

Happy selling!

Tunnel Vision – A Salespersons Secret Weapon

On By Joe DeRosaIn SalesLeave a comment

TunnelVision

As the internet-of-everything continues to grow, and social media becomes more robust with each passing day, professionals in every industry are forced to embrace the art of multitasking. In fact, so much so that our society places the skill of multitasking on a pedestal – a Holy Grail if you will of those who are super-efficient. Look at a handful of resumes today and you’ll find candidates advertising their ability to perform a dozen tasks with accuracy and proficiency. But can they really? Can any of us be really good at anything when we’re focused on everything?

Successful salespeople do many things well but one common area of frustration that plagues many is the never ending struggle to focus. To have a singular focus – perhaps tunnel vision – on only one or two things at a time. Tunnel vision leads to a laser focus on what really matters. Would a golfer think of his/her next drive while still on the green putting for birdie? Would a heart surgeon be thinking of office payroll with a patient on the table and chest open? Let’s hope not. Tunnel vision, laser focus, or concentration can all be attributed to those who excel in their particular craft.

Try these 3 Tunnel Vision ideas to improve your performance:

  1. Shut off email while making prospecting calls. Email is one of the biggest distractions a salesperson deals with. What if my customer needs me? What about my referral sources calling me with a prospect? The human mind often tends to work in extremes. A “this or that” mentality. The reality is that things are rarely this or that. Start out by shutting off your email for an hour while making calls and then check it after an hour to see what items require your immediate attention or response.  You’re ability to stay focused on your calls in the absence of the “You-Got-Mail ding” will yield better results.
  2. The early bird does get the worm. Start your day early setting aside 20 – 30 minutes to read. Glance at the news, read some blogs, or finish a chapter or two of a sales focused book. Starting the day early allows you to tunnel your vision on tasks that will enhance your conversations and activities throughout the day.  If your calls begin at 8 am, start your work day at 7:30 am.  Notice I didn’t say start your day at 7:30 am as my assumption is that your day is starting somewhere around the 6 am hour if not earlier anyway.
  3. Prepare your call list the night before. Being able to start your day focused on making calls rather than preparing for them is another way to focus your attention on action-based tactics. Preparing a call list requires a different energy than making the calls themselves. Be sure when you’re making calls you’re focused on nothing but the calls themselves. Multitasking will be heard and felt by the receiver of the call and will most likely lead to poor outcomes.

Be confident in knowing that acting with tunnel vision will produce better results while multitasking only produces diluted results.  The power of focus will help you prioritize your tasks for the day by applying the most amount of energy and skill possible during those activities.

5 Things Every Salesperson Should Focus On

On By Joe DeRosaIn SalesLeave a comment

focus

Sales people are an interesting breed.  They’re high-strung, often funny, and witty, sensitive and many times high maintenance.  I know this because I am one.  I’ve sold, managed, led, and built sales teams for the better part of the past 2o years.  I’ve had months when I hit my numbers and months when I’ve missed.  I’ve had sales teams that have blown the number out of the water and those who have drowned while trying to hit the number.  Yet over the years I have heard one question that continues to be asked over and over again…”what is the secret to success in sales?”.  Here’s the answer…there is no secret.

The difference between successful sales people and those who fail in this profession is simple.  Over the years I have identified 5 traits that separate those who succeed from those who fail.

  1. Clarity of goals – knowing exactly what you want to achieve and when.
  2. Discipline – being committed to perfecting your skills.  Starting your day before others and ending it after they’ve long given up.  Putting in that extra time when others are out having fun.
  3. Curiosity/Inquisitiveness – an insatiable thirst for knowledge.  Betterment.  Desire to outsmart, or out-understand others.  Constantly absorbing, learning, refining.
  4. Time Management – successful people know that time is their biggest asset.  They don’t waste it.  In Sales this means selling when people are available to be sold to.  Don’t do paperwork at 10 am.  That’s a waste of time.  Sell at 10 am and do your paperwork at 10 pm.
  5. Self-Reflect – 15 minutes a day to reflect on what you did, what results you generated, what you learned, what you’ll do different tomorrow.

Make these 5 things part of your life and success will find its way to your doorstep, not because it simply wandered over but because you attracted it through these strong and powerful habits.

 

Where Chemistry and Leadership Intersect

On By Joe DeRosaIn Leadership1 Comment

Chemistry

Chemistry focuses on the relationship between atoms and other phenomenon. Cause and effect. How does an atom change when external factors are introduced. Had I only known then – 30 years ago when I took Chemistry in school – what I know today, I would have paid more attention.

Team building is all about chemistry. After all, the human body is made up of atoms and when two bodies are interacting it represents millions of atoms interacting with one another.  Interaction reactions are just as varied between atoms as they are humans.  Sometimes you just don’t know what will happen.

From our early childhood, to adult life, chemistry is at work in the choices we make and the outcomes they render. Remember those days on the school ground picking teams? Who did you pick, or at what point in the team-picking process were you picked? When you got your first management position how did you feel about your team? Were you able to make changes or new selections? If so, how did you go about doing that?  If not, how did you assimilate to your team?

I’d submit that chemistry is one of the single most important factors in establishing a successful team. The team’s ability to interact with one another given internal and external influences is a necessary requirement for a high performing teams. And like explosions that can occur when atoms are rammed together with great force, so too can human interaction experience similar explosions if not careful.

Here are 3 points to be aware of when navigating team chemistry:

  1. Have a clear vision.  Make sure that you’ve created the “destination postcard” for the team.  This represents where you are headed, why, how you’ll get there, and by when.
  2. Have clear rules of engagement.  Demanding honesty and input must be balanced with diplomacy and humility…even if it must be forced.  The team must understand what is expected, as well as, how they are expected to accomplish the “what”.
  3. Have clear values.  Stating your values and then demonstrating those values on a daily basis…walking the talk…is critical for your team to see.  You can’t state that you despise cussing and yet at every meeting use language to the contrary.  Your actions and values must be aligned at all times.

Be careful to not confuse good chemistry with the belief that you can only hire those that “think” like you.  That’s not the case.  Instead focus on attracting people to your team that “feel” as you do, hold similar values, work ethic, and attitudes.  Specific skills sets MUST be varied across a team but common values must be woven into the team’s fabric to succeed.  And that’s chemistry.

 

5 Ways to Improve Your Teleprospecting Results

On By Joe DeRosaIn SalesLeave a comment

 

telesales

Sure it’s 2014 but the phone is still a big part of making sales.  In light of the internet, social media, and digital content, many products and services still require human interaction with the sales process.  If you have a product or service that requires lead generation through the use of teleprospecting here are 5 ways to improve your teleprospecting results:

  1. Write out your script.  I didn’t say read from a script, I said write it out.  Knowing what you need to say is important.  Making sure you have the salient points identified prior to a prospect answering the call is critical to your success.  Select your words carefully.  Forget the “$7 dollar Scrabble words”.  Focus on delivering a simple, clear message without the typical sales jargon.
  2. Practice the script.  Record your voice as you walk through your script.  Do it over, and over, and over again until it begins to sound natural as opposed to a forced message.  Get a mirror and watch yourself as you speak your pitch.  Try it sitting down and then standing up.  Often times you’ll be surprised as how much more relaxed you sound when your standing up.  Your diaphragm is elongated and your breathing and oxygen flow is much more streamlined than when sitting.
  3. Use tone and inflection strategically.  End your very first sentence on a high.  Be conscious not to end sentences on down tones.  When your voice drifts it comes across as boredom, lacking energy, or worse just plain unhappy.  Remember, when you’re on the phone your voice is your suit.  Since you’re not in front of someone you can’t wow them with your $2,000 Armani suit.  Instead you must have a $2,000 Armani voice.
  4. Have a list of client testimonials handy.  Referencing key clients or partners within the territory you are calling adds credibility to you, your product and your company.  You can be as general or specific as you’d like but be sure you have names to back you up.  “I work with more than X number of businesses (brokers, accountants, bankers, etc) in Philadelphia.”  If the prospect decides to challenge or question who you work with be ready with names.
  5. Set goals for calling.  A rule of thumb is 100 dials a day for teleprospecting, or 15 dials per hour.  This requires having a list ready that has this number of prospects on it.  Close your email, shut off your cell phone and start dialing.  Eliminate all possible distractions…just call.

Focus on these steps and watch how your productivity increases by 25% a month.  It really works.

 

Taking The Lead Vs. Being a Leader

On By Joe DeRosaIn LeadershipLeave a comment

leader

I’ve built many sales and marketing teams over the years.  I’ve led many to success and some to failure.  Throughout my career I have learned a great deal about leadership and leading people to achieve a desired goal.  One of the important facts I’ve learned over the years is that there is a clear difference between taking the lead and being a leader.  Having a true understanding of this difference helps to effect the best possible outcomes.

The difference between taking the lead and being a leader is quite simple.  When you take the lead you exert control.  You see examples of people taking the lead everyday throughout the world.  Kids take the lead to be the captain of the kickball team at lunch.   Executives maneuver to take the top spot in a company that may be floundering.  Yet these examples and others like them do not demonstrate leadership.  They simply showcase situations that arise where there is a vacuum at the top and any opportunistic person has the chance to step in and take control.  But that’s not leading.

Taking the lead involves control.  It often times results in a new regime rising to the top that is less focused on the team and much more  focused on an individual or small group of individuals.  This is not to say that in times of need that someone with noble intentions can’t rise to the top and become a leader.  Those situations do happen but are less likely when there is a leadership vacuum at the top.

The most significant difference between taking the lead and being a leader boils down to one ability.  The ability to inspire.  Great leaders inspire.  They get people to dream big, to not accept the status quo, to challenge conventional thinking without fear of embarrassment or disappointment.   The best leaders inspire people to own their own destiny.  To not settle for mediocrity.  To live the change we want to become, as Gandhi said long ago.  Leaders who are able to inspire possess a quiet confidence.  A sense of conviction that is both strong but flexible.  Strong leaders are learners and adapters.  They are able to see things as they are while formulating a plan to shape the future they intend to create.  They are driven by the need to be of value, and of service, to others and they inspire the very best from each of us while doing so.

These highly favored leaders are those  individuals that we all like to follow, to watch, to cheer on.  These are the people who make us feel confident in the value of our personal contributions, and are able to rally a diverse group of folks to charge off in a common direction.  They inspire each of us to reach for, and obtain greatness.  They are the real leaders.