Sales Training To Grow People. And Grow Businesses

In this episode, Bryan and Bill dissect a deal from an actual client phone call. The issue is what do you do in the 11th hour of a deal when everything that you thought was true—was untrue? You’ll hear both hosts weigh in on the situation, then hear the advice that Bill actually gave.

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We teach a class called MasterMinds (www.caskeymasterminds.com), and it seems that on a regular basis one of our clients is ticked off at a prospect. Why? Because the prospect has lied to them, lead them down a wrong path, or given them busy work and then not come through with business. After talking our students down off the ledge, we turn the mirror around, dig into the situation, and realize they’ve created their own crappy karma.

How?

The sales professional has a huge responsibility to create an environment where the prospect can be honest about what is going on—reveal processes that are broken, the vision that they have for their business.

We talk about this in our classes as a “safe space” or “keeping your prospect okay.” What are some of the things that sales professionals (term used loosely in this case) do to create the crap they get back?

1. Show up and throw up.
   Unfortunately, we can all remember being on the other side of this and we know how it feels. Of course, that doesn’t keep us from doing it to our prospects. Start talking, get out all of your features and benefits with uber enthusiasm, don’t breathe, don’t let them object or tell you they aren’t interested, don’t ask any questions, assume they will love what you’re buying, assume they have been waiting for you their entire life. Stop, uncomfortable silence, repeat.
2. Equate 1 hour of chit chat with a “great meeting.”
   We hear this all of the time. “I had a really great meeting…he told me all about his kids, his golf game. We spent an hour at lunch, and I know how busy he is. When I left, he gave me a list of products to quote. I feel good about this!” Uh, what. I’m sorry, where is the part where you found a reason that he would do anything different than what he is currently doing? Did I miss the “great” part about him sharing his thoughts on his business?? Who’s going to be mad when this prospect doesn’t return calls or e-mails to go over the pricing he asked you to put together?
3. Avoid the money conversation at all costs!
   Now, this can be tricky. I’ve seen salespeople avoid talking money the entire conversation, or jump right into lowering their price at the first sign of discomfort from the prospect. Please remember: It’s never about money! It’s about their belief they have a problem, they want to invest money to fix it and that you are the lucky dog that gets to help them do that. When you brush past their money questions, or discount your value because it’s easier than educating the prospect, you’re screwed—trust lost, your value depleted, conversation over.

Sadly, I could go on for days about what people do to blow
their chance at success. I would like to give a couple of insights that
might keep you from getting ticked for your stupidity:

1. Keep your intent on helping your customer.
   When you make it about them, and keep your intent on discovery of things you can help them with, you will do and say the right things. BE PRESENT! Your prospect knows when your mind leaves the conversation.
2. Don’t be needy and desperate.
   Trust me, trust the universe. The deal you might not get will not be the last opportunity you ever have for business. Mortgages, braces, revenue goals—all realistic pressures; however, your prospect doesn’t care and doesn’t want them invited to the meeting.

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Are you, by nature, a curious person?

Having worked with thousands of sales people–and hundreds of managers–I honestly believe it is a pre-requisite to income success to be curious.

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.”

• When someone says to you that they have mastered something–or they are experiencing success in a field that you, too, would like to have success–do you sit them down and pepper them (nicely) with questions?
• When you’ve learned that someone has figured out a way to get to the CEO, do you stop them in their tracks and invite them to dinner?
• When you’re at a sales meeting, and you learn one of your associates has figured out how to find the pain of the customer better, do you handcuff them until they tell you EXACTLY how they did it?

“Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.” ~James Stephens

You probably don’t. And I’m not sure why that is. Is it because we’ll feel stupid? Is it because we wouldn’t want to puff up the other person? Is it because we’d rather do it the hard way, learning it on our own, rather than the easy way–learning from someone who’s done it?

Is there some kind of guilt that kicks in when we get the shortcut?

“Millions saw the apple fall, but only Newton asked why.”  ~Bernard Baruch

So the next time you hear of someone who has been successful at something, call them up, congratulate them, and invite them to tell you EXACTLY how they did it.

It will make you rich.

“Curiosity is only vanity.  Most frequently we wish not to know, but to talk.  We would not take a sea voyage for the sole pleasure of seeing without hope of ever telling.”  ~Blaise Pascal,

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Have you seen the new GM ads that tell you about a new car company? We’ve seen them, and they are actually quite nice—soothing and relaxing. But have you seen the local dealer ads about wanting to sell you a new car? They haven’t changed much, have they?

Wouldn’t you think that if GM really wanted to convince us they were a new car company, they would change their approach to local car advertising?

Wouldn’t you think they would lose the screaming announcer?

Wouldn’t you think they would stop selling on price and on terms?

You would think that. But it will never happen. And it won’t happen because GM has not changed its “thinking” about what it means to be in the car business.

You might think that I pick on the auto business a lot in this blog, but I do so only to prove points and help you see your business in a different light.

It’s Hard to Change Thinking

When you grow up in an industry and what you’ve done for years stops working, it’s easy to reach out and change tactics, but it’s very difficult to reach in and change thinking. After all, we define ourselves by how we think about the world, our product, our opportunity, etc. When someone comes along and says: “you’ve got to change your thinking about this,” it throws us a little bit.

You May Need to Change Your Thinking About Your Business

I challenge you to look at your business through the unbiased eyes of an unemotional observer. If you were to start your business over again, knowing the success of certain companies in creating a new world of opportunity, how would you design it? Would you create the same website; would you create the same brochures; would you pay your salespeople the same; would your approach to the market be the same? Probably not.

And then there’s that old saying: “you can’t get to second, if you keep one foot on first.” That is a perfect quote for our time. We will try to keep everything the same and make minor changes. And the fact is we always default back to our old philosophies.

Assignment:
Over the next few weeks, check out the things you do in your business to pursue new clients and see if it really has changed much in the last 20 years. If it hasn’t, you may be up for some new thinking.

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This week on the Advanced Selling Podcast, Bill and Bryan talk about the ethical consideration that keeps you from moving forward. What to do? What to do? Intent (a core principle on the ASP) comes to the forefront in this discussion. You are invited to weigh in by emailing Bill and Bryan at listener@advancedsellingpodcast.com.

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ANSWER: When he leaves home in the morning.

Why? You ask.

Simple. In today’s confusing, overwhelming economy, you might be the only one that comes along today to teach your prospect something. And learning is power.

What exactly, can you teach them?

• How to use your product/service better (how to make more money, save more time, conserve more energy). Isn’t it amazing how most vendors disappear the minute you buy something? Think of how many referrals they’d get if they just showed up occasionally to teach you something.
• How to get more value out of the relationship they have with you.We sellers are naive. We just expect that a client of ours knows exactly how to best “use” the relationship to their advantage.
• How to understand their business better (That’s right, you should know their business so well you can teach them a thing or two about it–that is, if you’ve done a good job in the sales process.
• How to recognize if they have pain that you can fix. (What??!! You aren’t doing that right now? Shame on you. Your competitor probably is or will).
• How to understand the high cost of doing nothing. It’s what we call the “phantom cost.” Yes, inaction has a price. If it doesn’t, then they weren’t a prospect in the first place.

Don’t think about lecturing them, though. That won’t do. You must help them consume this knowledge the way they want to consume such knowledge.

Some of them will use the web. Some will use DVD’s. Some will need you to show up physically. Some will consume through audio. Some are visual. Just because you learn a certain way doesn’t mean your prospect will, doo.

And just because you can’t show up in their office doesn’t mean you can’t teach. For God’s sake use the tool you’re reading this on. It’s the best learning tool invented and it just happened to be invented in your lifetime. What a windfall.

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Women do big deals every day – with grace, strength and passion, with teamwork and teaching and inclusion, with partners and allies and friends. Sometime we don’t think our big deals are big enough; sometimes we take them for granted.  Sometimes we let our heads get filled with “minnow minded” stuff.  This podcast is my story of hunting MY whale.

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Bravo to Tom Watson for yesterday’s ‘almost win of the century’ in the British Open. If you were glued to your TV as I was, you might have been emotional. Not at Watson’s loss–but emotion at the guy coming from nowhere a week ago and putting on a performance of a lifetime–at a time in his life when he shouldn’t be playing majors. (Actually, I don’t agree, though some say that.)

Watson gives those of us in our 50’s belief that it’s “never over.” Thanks Tom.

The Mental Side of Golf

But another comment that we at “inside the sales mind” heard was Stewart’s speech. He thanked his coach, Butch Harmon, his conditioning coach, and — get this — his two mental coaches. I’ve always heard Tiger has one ‘mind coach’ but two? Oh well, if that’s what it takes, go for it.

In a game that is as mental as golf, why not.

But what about business and sales? Isn’t that mental? It’s not just about activity–but the right activity–with the right mental framework.

Do you have a mental sales coach? Preposterous right? Well maybe not. Here are some thoughts about where a mental coach can help us.

1. When we’re in our comfort zone. Actually, we’re ALWAYS in our comfort zone. So we really need someone there all the time to keep us moving to the outer reaches of that zone. This applies to our income, sales goals, activity levels and how we look at the market.
2. When we call too low. I believe calling too low is a mental issue.  If you continue to call at a level where the decision is NOT made, then don’t blame others for mediocre results. Who you call on has more to do with your self-image than you might think.
3. When we see ourselves there to ’sell.’ Wrong. We’re not there to sell. We’re there to find and solve problems. But, beaten in to our heads, from our first sales job to our current one, is this notion that the  ‘harder we sell’ the better we do.  We need an impartial, unbiased 3rd party there to keep our head right on this one. (A sales manager cannot be a ‘head’ coach–too much invested in the game.)

So, hopefully, we can take a lesson from Stewart Cink. Maybe mind coaches aren’t such a waste afterall. No one’s laughing today.

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My Dad recently had emergency surgery to remove his gall bladder. Now, I realize that the gall bladder is a part often removed. BUT, not from MY Dad who is 72, had 2 heart attacks and quintuple coronary artery bypass surgery!

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.

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