The Four Most Annoying Habits of Salespeople
Below is a list of habits millions of sales people do that annoy the hell out of most other human beings. If you partake in any of these, please stop. If you don’t, let’s keep it that way.
1. YOU TALK TOO MUCH AND DON’T THINK YOU DO.
In the movie When Harry Met Sally, Harry Burns said to Sally Albright, “You’re the worst kind; you’re high maintenance but you think you’re low maintenance.” I can’t tell you how many new clients have talked for 20 straight minutes on the importance of being a good listener.
My advice: Be quiet. Be quiet. Be quiet.
2. OVERLY ENTHUSIASTIC.
Here’s a conversation at national sales meeting between two territory managers who haven’t seen each other in a while:
- “Bobby Z whasssup dog? Still killin’ it in Hotlanta?”
- “Dude we killed it this year, up 28%! How are things on the left coast?”
- “Same bro numbers this morning had us up 32″
- “…Great! Fantastic! I’m finer than a frogs hair split three ways!”
My advice: You annoy the hell out of people if your energy is too high. Relax bro. Watch the two bulls on a hill story in the movie Colors with Sean Penn…just walk down.
The High Hazard of High Emotion
We love emotion don’t we? When we see a coach ranting and raving on the sideline, we say, “Boy, look at that passion!!” Usually, what we mean is “He’s come unhinged-but it’s for a good cause.”
But is out-of-control emotion all it’s cracked up to be in the sales cycle? I say, “No.” Here’s why.
We have a saying in our business when we’re working with clients: “The only emotion that should be seen is the prospect’s demonstration of emotion of why they need to fix their problem.” Not only does your emotion (desire to sell the product, desire for the resulting income, ego satisfaction) not help, it hurts the process.
You want the prospect’s emotion to fill the air and the space between you and him. The more your emotion is on display, the less room there is for theirs to play out.
Catch Yourself
Believe me, this is hard for me to do…and I see it difficult for others. When your points are falling flat and your customer resorts to “Your price is too high,” you WILL get emotional. But it won’t come out as passion…yelling…screaming. It will come out as defensive. And the instant you go defensive, you’ve lost the battle.
Write down the thing that your prospect commonly says that drives you crazy. Then come up with a strategy/device so that when they say it, you stay calm and in the moment. Then you can, logically, walk thru how they got to that decision/conclusion.
And, of course, practice detachment. If it is not meant to be, then you must move on. But don’t use detachment as a way out of the process. Detachment is merely a ‘way of being’ so that you can logically sort out the truth.
Sales Misconceptions
Enthusiasm is contagious. It’s actually more annoying than contagious.
People don’t want to be sold to, they want to buy. What they really want is a trusted relationship with someone who makes their life better off.
It’s all about price. It’s never about price. (If it’s all about price, I don’t need a sales force, just a computer and some temps from Manpower.)
You have to start at the top. It’s REALLY hard to start at the top. You need to include the top but don’t kill yourself starting at the top.
CEO’s don’t really care about what I sell. Oh…contraire mi amigo. They don’t care about what you SELL, but they care deeply about how you can help them and their company.
Objections are to be overcome. Objections are to be discussed “objectively.” (Overcoming objections is so 80s.)
People buy from people they like. Almost…people buy things that make their life better off—typically from people they like OR a computer (soon to be mobile device).
You have to get to THE decision maker. There is no longer such a thing as THE decision maker. Many influence. Few decide. Get everyone’s perspective/opinion/input.
Cold Calling is a MUST do. Nothing further from sales enlightenment. Cold calling makes NO sense at all. There are too many tools (Jigsaw, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.). Get out of the cold calling business this year.
What is Getting in the Way of Better Performance?
As sales trainers, it seems like we’re always out there to “help improve skills.” Yet, after my conversation with Ralph Reiff, who oversees the St. Vincent Sports Performance Center in Indianapolis, he reminded me of something we often forget about in sales training.
When Ralph looks at an athlete to decide what kind of training he/she needs, he looks at “what is getting in the way of better performance?”
He claims there’s always something that if remedied/fixed/addressed would improve the athlete’s performance considerably.
What is Your Sales Distraction?
I equate that to some of the work we do in our work on sales strategy with clients. The bottom line question is: “What do we do that gets in the way of the sale?” Here are some thoughts that you can chew on.
- We talk too much. I’ve literally heard salespeople talk themselves out of a sale, because they don’t know when to shut up.
- We fail to uncover the hidden pain. It’s easy when you walk in and ask the prospect what their problem is and it’s on the table in front of you. But what if you have to dig a little bit? What if the problem they have is something they’ve lived with for so long that they don’t even see it as a problem.
- We forget to have the economics discussion (or more conveniently, we ignore it). The money discussion is hard to have, because it can be emotional. But you must have it up front to see what the prospect feels about paying a premium (if in fact your product sells for a premium), or at least how he feels about the financial commitment that he needs to make.
- We never show up in “get ready position.” Are you ready for anything when you show up at a sales call? Or, are you hoping that the prospect says and does the right thing based on your prompts? You have a long tedious future in sales if you’re not ready for anything the prospect says. The best way to be ready is to be “detached from the outcome.”
- We think old thoughts. The most common place this shows up is in prospecting. Continue to think that billboard advertising and cold calls are what are going to help you generate more business. The fact is, social media and the entire method prospects use to consume information has changed, and you’d better be attuned to it.
In conclusion, these are some things that you can either start doing or stop doing, depending on whether they’re getting in your way. Good luck!
Does Your Customer See Your Value As a 3? Or a 10?
Just completed training for a company where most of their customers see them as 3′s rather than 10′s. Allow me to explain.
In the graphic, you’ll see two boxes…a 3 box and a 10 box on the outside. This is an illustration I drew today in a training for a company who often gets defaulted into a commodity. In other words, when it comes to “proprietary value” their customers see them as a 3 on the proverbial 1-10 scale.
In other words, what you really are is a 10–but your prospects and customers fail to see you there. You do “big box” work but they see you as a “small box” supplier. So what will you do about it?
One method is to educate your customer so they know “how to see you.” If they’ve become accustomed to you showing up when there’s a bid–or begging for business–or just answering calls, then it’s no wonder they see you as a 3.
As I told me client today, if you get the call when your customer is thinking about expansion or strategic planning or the highest level of value, then you are close to a 10.
But if you’re one of five bidders, then you have no relationship…and you’re likely a 3–or lower.
Recommendation
Make a list of the things that you do that most customers fail to see. Don’t overlook the little things…like one of the account execs today schedules quarterly meetings with their clients to make sure the client is getting the most out of the equipment they buy. That’s huge. Do they know that? Do you send a report of your findings up to the C-suite?
What are the other things that you do for your 10 clients? Now, go to the 3′s and educate them a little. Tell them how others use you–how they get the most value out of you.
And remember, if you’re thought of as a 3, it’s your fault, not theirs.
How to Write the Perfect Sales Proposal
How many times does this happen? You build the perfect DECK. (That’s slang for SLIDE DECK for some of you—LONG, BORING, MEANINGLESS POWERPOINT for the rest of you.) You rehearse it. You know it in and out. You anticipate OBJECTIONS and have an armory’s worth of ammunition to overcome them. You get to the meeting to present your proposal. You hand it to the two buyers. They completely ignore your attempted opening and turn to the price page and start reading.
Proposing is one of the most misunderstood sales elements we know.
Insights on the Sales Proposal 2.0
- 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.
- 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.
- 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?
Get Smart
I imagine most people are freaking out about the start of 2009. If you’re not, your mind will start to play tricks on you as people ask: “How does this economy affect your business?”
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.
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