Seth Godin’s blog this weekend about Vague Claims was about the realtor who advertises “Top 10 Realtors In Nation.” He maintains, if you can’t be specific about something don’t claim it.

We say, “If you have to lie to get noticed, then don’t expect the rest of the sales relationship to be based on honesty.”

This is especially true of you sales people who come in to the prospect’s office making un-demonstratable claims. “We can save you money!” “We’ll enhance your business.” “We’ll get you on the first page of Google.”

Lies, all.

Then, we sales people flip out when we make yet another unsubstantiated claim–and the prospect doesn’t believe us.

Don’t you understand that you started all this lying by putting forth something without proof?

Solution: Make No Claims

Then, its easy. Besides, why are you so intent on making claims the prospect may care nothing about?

• The Realtor above says he’s Top 10 In Nation, but maybe I don’t want that. Maybe I want someone down the list that I feel can take care of me. Someone who has more time (and isn’t as arrogant).
• You say you want to cut costs for me. Maybe that’s not my #1 concern. (Be careful about that assumption.) Maybe it’s more important for me to know what those costs even are–before I can cut.
• You say you can “grow my business.” Maybe I don’t want that. Besides what “grow the business” means to you is totally different than what it means to me. (And you haven’t even taken the time to ask me about it)

Find out what the prospect wants–where their mind is–what’s on it–and why they invited you in. (Oh, you begged to get in? Trouble. We’ll have to deal with that one in the next post.)

I rushed home—a 5 hour drive—very emotional. I got to the hospital just in time for the doctor to share the process of the surgery with me, my Mom and my sister. And that’s when it hit me. The (instant) minute the doctor laid out his process, our minds went from emotional to logical.

AHHHHHH, relief.

We preach “process” like crazy when working with our clients. It’s all you’ve got really.  You can’t control outcomes or people, but you can control your “process.” Just like the doctor. Now, the sales process isn’t surgery, but it (can be) is very emotional—both for the seller and the buyer.

Have you incorporated elements of your sales process to calm the emotion of the buyer?

Do you treat your sales process as a way to calm the emotion of your buyer? No one likes surprises. Your prospect is looking to you as the expert. You must lead them!

Your process should include a step to get both your head and your prospect’s head in the right place. Do you both feel safe? Do you want to share information? Is your intent to help or to wring them dry of money, time and resources? Do you know how to really communicate how you work with your clients (and get paid for it)? How is their life better with you in it? Do your prospects know the cost of their problem? Better yet, do you know how to help them figure that out? And do you have a procedure for all of these things?

If you want to make a huge impact in the lives of your prospects and clients, handle them with care. Keep them okay by having a process, walking them through it, and trusting that it is the best way to do what you do.

Proposing is one of the most misunderstood sales elements we know.

Insights on the Sales Proposal 2.0

1. It should always articulate the specific PAINS, PROBLEMS or OPPORTUNITIES. The proposal is about THEM not YOU. It should be specific. If the client said, “Our current system sucks!” then you type in your proposal: “Tom thinks the current system sucks!” More than anything else, this demonstrates that you’re both listening and hearing. Novel idea for a salesperson.
2. It should be free of surprises. I got this from one of my clients. He calls it the NO SURPRISE PROPOSAL. That flipping to the back of the page stuff stops when you’ve talked about everything in your previous conversations. Let them flip. They should find exactly what you’ve talked about. If you agreed to a $560 a month fee, they should flip to the back and see: “Fee-$560/month.” This isn’t Christmas morning. It should be boring.
3. It should include ALL ALTERNATIVES—including competitors AND doing nothing. This is the best new idea I can share with you. Too often proposals are done too soon and in a limiting fashion. They leave no room for tweaking, creativity or input. We actually title this ALTERNATIVES DISCUSSION DOCUMENT. It used to be called a proposal. Proposal sounds so final. Labeling it alternatives/discussion allows buy-in and input. It helps the prospect write the “proposal” and sell the deal for you.

Take a look at your proposals. Are they full of lots of useless fodder, or are they short, meaningful and relevant to the person reading them?

But, that doesn’t mean I’m not above continuous learning. I learned a great lesson from one of these extraordinary clients about how actions sometimes scream so much louder than words.

Here is what you need to know:

• My client is part of a HUGE organization. One of those organizations that everyone wants on their resume. (I know, it makes me happy!)
• The vendor had all of my client’s business. Probably upwards of $250,000 of annual revenue. I don’t care who you are, that’s a nice piece of biz!
• The vendor made a pretty major mistake. Apologized. Proceeded to make the exact SAME mistake again within a couple of months. OOPS.

So, there’s the background.

Shortly after the second “oops,” my client was asking for contributions to the company’s holiday party from all of their valued partners. Of course, they asked this particular vendor to help them, as well. Look at the 3 points above, really look at them.

Okay, now that you have the background clear in your head, what do you suppose they contributed—electronics, trips, major $$ gift cards?  Nope, you’ll never guess. They donated 2 cookie platters—nothing fancy, not even with cookies, just the platters.

Is it me?

Here is the lesson (in case you haven’t picked up on it already).

• My client isn’t about being bought by vendors. I don’t want you to miss the point. What he is about is feeling important and valued. Cookie platters don’t cut it.
• You can say “thanks” and “I’m sorry” until the cows come home.  Do you say them with the intent that lets your client know it’s from your heart and not because it’s what you’re supposed to do?
• PAY ATTENTION!!!  Don’t make your clients a “to do” on your task list. Think about them often. Care about them. Be generous with them if you value them. This doesn’t necessarily mean in dollars. Be generous with your brain power, your time, your gratitude and appreciation.

This is not the time to panic. In fact, it’s a great time to gain clarity and work smart.

When is the last time you looked at your network and used it to grow your business? I know you might have a lot of “business friends” and clients that love you—you go to lunch, you invite them to a sporting event, meet with them once a month to take care of business. When was the last time you asked them to help you grow your business? I don’t mean the casual “Hey, if you know of anyone else I should be talking to…” I mean, giving them a process from start to finish that puts you in front of qualified prospects. I’ve recorded the steps in an audio. Take a minute to listen.

1. THEY THINK BIG: High performers think beyond the transaction—they think long term, big picture and any other overused corporate jumbo you can think of. You get it.
2. THEY WORK: While I don’t believe effort = output, I do believe there is a positive correlation. The one basic element that we’ll never be able to disprove: the more people you talk to, the more clients you’ll have. Period.
3. THEY ARE TERRIFIED OF FAILING: The highest performing salespeople (surprisingly to me) are often driven by fear—not a paralyzing fear, but a motivating fear. It could be a fear of failure, a fear of going backward or a fear of stagnation. Whatever, they do an amazing job channeling that fear into focused effort that produces results.
4. THEY MAINTAIN ECONOMIC INTEGRITY: High performers know that THEY are a part of what their customers buy. They also tend to have very high self worth. Because of that, elite performers rarely discount what they do. They may negotiate, but they have a true, strong, intrinsic belief that they and their service command a premium fee.
5. THEY EXPECT TO BE A HIGH PERFORMER: When the stack order ranking comes out, the best performers expect to see themselves on top. Average performers just hope they’re not in the bottom 1/3.
6. THEY WORK AROUND FACTORS OUT OF THEIR CONTROL: High performers look objectively at situations and work around conditions they have no control over. Average performers tend to see these factors as insurmountable road blocks, excuses or paralyzing detriments.

You’ll not likely become a top performer by reading this, but it might spur you to e-mail me and ask what you CAN do to start to move yourself into the elite club. bneale@caskeytraining.com if you’ve got the burn.

Seen one lately? Used one in the last 11 years? The answer above is “probably not.” If you had polled an audience in the 1960’s and asked if they thought typewriters would someday be “extinct,” I’d suspect the vast majority would say, “NO WAY. How could we ever live without typewriters?” And here we sit 40 years later and 99.8% of the people on the planet couldn’t find a replacement ribbon to save their lives.

So, what if I told you that salespeople will be extinct? NO WAY. IMPOSSIBLE. Aah, be careful. I predict that salespeople as we know them WILL be extinct. The antiquated process of rapport selling, relationship building, presenting slide decks, consultative sales—you name it—will all be replaced by unbelievably efficient data-based tools that will make today’s salesperson and sales process obsolete.

For us, that won’t be a big deal. In 40 years, I’ll be long retired and enjoying time with my grandkids. But what about them? What can we do now to ensure that our grandkids still have the opportunity to become effective, productive sales professionals? Here are some ideas:

1. Knowledge and Wisdom: Accumulate these and you become inherently indispensable.
2. Live technology: Utilize technology in your sales process. The role of technology in the sales and buying process is going to exponentially increase to levels we can barely imagine.
3. Be a business person, not a salesperson: This is one of our primary objectives with our clients. Be a business person first and a salesperson second. 90% of salespeople have it backwards.

Do what you can to save our profession from extinction. My grandkids will thank you.

The idea here is that you, as a sales professional, should never lead with a brochure. In fact, you should never lead with “all of the great things you can do for your prospect.” (There seems to be a tone of John Kennedy in there “Ask not what your country can do for you…” but I can’t make it work.)

You only tell them what you can do for them after the prospect tells you everything about his business, his issues, his pains, his dreams….

I’ve seen it happen where a salesperson is actually invited in to a prospect’s office, and the first thing the seller does is slide a brochure across the table to him. WRONG MOVE. You’re toast if that’s your approach. A high school kid can do that.

So withhold your desire to prove to her how valuable you are–and how hip your product is. Hold your ego in check long enough to find out about them. Then, and only then, can you talk intelligently about how you might be able to help.

And when it comes to “brochure sliding” don’t do it.

In the “money” portion of our sales training programs, we often ask the question: “who wants to double their income?” or “who wants to make a million dollars this year?” It’s amazing and puzzling to me how EVERYONE wants to make a $1,000,000 a year, but very few do. Why is that?

Here are a few observations I’ve made in my little petri dish (I mean sales training room):

1. Belief they are worth it: Those who earn more tend to have a different economic self image than average commission earners. They tend to value their time more and are more discerning of clients.
2. They expect it: Spend some time with a person who makes $100K and then with another who makes $250K. The difference: the $100K person HOPES that they’ll make $250K and the $250K person EXPECTS to. Expect it vs. hope for it.
3. They don’t THINK about it: While high commission earners are always aware of where their income is, they don’t let their income enter into the sales process. They are typically very PRESENT in the sales interaction with a buyer and not sitting there adding their commission in their head and then mentally spending it before the deal’s even done.
4. They HANG OUT with others who earn high incomes: Most average commission earners hang out with other average commission earners. High commission earners hang out with other high commission earners and senior leaders. You’ll see this in action at your next national sales meeting.

If nothing else, be aware that you and your thoughts are in control of your income–not your territory, your experience or grand economic conditions. Those all INFLUENCE your income, but YOU control it.

1. Start from the TOP. If you want others to be accountable, guess what, you have to go first. Every single business success or failure includes responsibility from everyone. Think about this. Tom is a salesperson. He’s been struggling—hasn’t hit quota in 5 quarters. Most would say Tom’s the problem. ERRRRR (Price is Right Buzzer). YOU’RE the manager. YOU hired Tom and YOU kept him. I’m not letting Tom off the hook (read below). I’m just trying to help you get in the mindset of accountability.

2. “What did YOU do to affect the outcome?” Ask this question over and over and over. If you display behaviors of accountability, you give yourself permission to ask the same of your sales group. DON’T LET THEM OFF THE HOOK. Keep asking until they give you an answer that comes back to them. Not the market. Not your pricing model. Not their territory. THEM!

3. GIVE CREDIT and TAKE BLAME. Encourage your entire company to practice this saying, “Give credit and take blame.” Make it a slogan that you live by in your firm. Don’t just say it, DO IT.

I’d be happy to come into your company and take your group through an accountability boot camp. Just be sure you’re ready for it before you call. Oh, and I’ll take accountability for its success or failure. Call me-317-440-6391.