Why are your Customers O’s or P’s? (You need to know)

When you purchase something, do you have a procedural preference or an options preference? 

Or are you wondering what on earth I’m talking about?

 

I promise to explain, but firstly I wanted to send the message of just how much of a benefit it would be for you to know which of your customers buy with a procedural preference v those that buy with an options preference.

Stick with this...answer the following question with your immediate response...even if it doesn’t make sense to you.

 

Why did you choose your current job?
If you have a procedural preference you are likely to say something like you saw the job online, applied for it, went for an interview and go on to tell the story of how it happened...even though the question is ‘why’.  

If you have an options preference you will have responded to the questions with the criteria or reasons you chose your job ie not a process.

Subtle, but crucial differences. People BUY this way too and if you can identify the correct options or procedural trait in your customers and potential customers, quite simply you'll generate you more sales. 

Customers with a procedural preference
Your procedural customers are more likely to follow orders, requests and instructions to the letter. They will often get so caught up in how to do a task that they will sometimes forget why they are doing it. They will often refer to "the right way" to do things. 

Selling to a customer with a procedural preference
When you interact with a procedural person you need to pay attention to the information you give, be exact and unambiguous. They will like clear cut steps...preferably those that are already tried and tested. Bear in mind they are likely to follow what you say verbatim. They need to know exactly how the relationship will go and what happens at every stage. Be sure to set out the stages that the sales process will follow.

 

Customers with an options preference
Your customers with an options preference will want to experiment and continually ask "what if?" or "what else could we do?" questions.  They will sometimes seem compelled to be inventive and explore all the options. They don’t follow rules easily, they like to make their own.

 

Selling to a customer with an options preference
Give options people a couple of choices, three maximum. Give them too many options and they get stuck knowing what to choose. Clearly set the boundaries, the musts and constraints.  Options people are not interested in following a process. Emphasise various possibilities and let them know that the decision to buy will expand their choices.  Then stand back and watch the results!

That question again?
Oh and if you’re thinking that “Why did you choose your current job?” may not be the right question for your customer, simply replace ‘job’ with something that would work i.e. car, holiday, printer. The important word in the question is “why” so make sure you start the question that way.

 

It’s all about the psychology of selling.

 

As is always the case this is just a snapshot of the options/procedures “meta- programme” which is so useful in sales, so if you have any unanswered questions or want to know more ways to reach sales success then do pop me an email.

Until then

 

Leigh

  results@sales-consultancy.com

020 7903 5426   

www.sales-consultancy.com

 

For previous 'Tricks of the Trade' go here

The ten things that dictate your results

I’m beginning to think that our sports stars have cracked this psychology thing. First we have last year’s Olympic tales of success. Then  Andy Murray finally wins at Wimbledon. The England cricket team secure the Ashes.

 

Now, Mo and co are doing their stuff at the world athletics championships.

Do they expect to win? Well I’m a big believer in you get what you expect, not what you hope for. So yes I believe they did. Do they work on building their positivity before a performance? Definitely.

How do you put yourself in a positive state? What about your team?

It could be photo’s of loved ones, pictures of beautiful places you want to visit...or stuff you’ll buy with your bonus, it may be a piece of music or a speech that inspires you, or it may be your cuddly teddy bear! I don’t know what these things are for you but YOU do and that’s what counts.

Why not make a list now of all the things you already know put you in a positive state of mind. Be sure to write things that you have control over. I know 14 hours of sunshine a day works for many people but there’s not too much chance of that in the winter months! You need things that help you at any time...regardless of what’s going on in the world!

What TEN THINGS put you in a positive state (keep it clean, then again maybe not!)

Go on...write ten things down, before you read on.

Whatever these things are for you, have them close at hand so you have access to them whenever you need to 'buzz up' - or sense your state dropping.

There are also some physical things you can do when you’re feeling unresourceful. A great tip is to stand up and look upwards...smiling. It’s impossible to feel down when you do this. Go on try it now. Stand up; look at the ceiling with the biggest smile you can manage. Now without moving a muscle, pretend to be depressed!

 

Told you...it always works. You may get some odd looks but who cares when you feel this good!

A sales person I once worked with...

 

...had a huge insight when I covered this topic in a training session. He told me he always arrived for work positive and ready for action. Except on a Monday. Monday was different. It took him ages to get in a good state of mind and in the meantime his Monday performances declined. He’s just put it down to the fact it was Monday...you may relate to this :-)

What he realised during this exercise is that every day, apart from Monday, he travelled to work listening to upbeat music on his iPod. It really set him up for the day. On Friday he went out for a beer with his work colleagues and left his iPod at the office. Being without his iPod on the Monday morning had taken his motivating and uplifting music out of his routine!

 

He solved the problem by buying another iPod so he always had access to his music.

 

So whether it’s to get you buzzed up each morning, or to get you back up to a positive state when you’re flagging, make sure you always have some of those top ten tools right by you and watch them increase your sales success.

 

And what does your team need to do to ensure they're ready for action?

 

It's all part of The Psychology of Selling

Until next time 

Leigh

  results@sales-consultancy.com

020 7903 5426

www.sales-consultancy.com

 

For previous 'Tricks of the Trade' go here

The psychology of your emails

It’s not many years ago that email marketing was the next big thing. Now, many say it’s a spent force.

It isn’t a spent force – but your results will very much depend on the quality of your contact and customer database.

And on the content of your email...

It is true that you have to work harder now to get your sales and marketing emails opened than say three years ago. Once opened, the next challenge is to engage the reader, make an impact – and prompt some action on their part.

And that brings us nicely back to the psychology of selling.

If you’re sending your promotional email to hundreds, maybe thousands on your database, how can you write content that is unique and appeals to each and every one? After all, “everyone has their own unique map of the world”. Every person is different. Everyone is unique. Tough assignment eh?

The truth is – if you’re sending out a mass email it’s mighty challenging to make everyone of those recipients feel unique.

But...

 

...there are things you can do to make those recipients feel that the email is just for them.

Here’s my take on the language you should be using in your emails – and for that matter your website, your written proposals, your one to one emails, your brochures, your pitches and presentations and so on.

‘You’ not ‘We’

Don’t write “we can do this”, “we can do that”, “we are an award winning company” etc. It won’t work. Instead, use lots of ‘You’ (i.e. them!) language. For example, instead of “we design great websites”, use “if you’re looking for a great website”. Same message, more impact. They don’t want to hear about how great you are. They want to know how you can help them. Big difference.

“Towards and Away”

Some of your potential customers will be motivated towards goals and challenges. When buying, they focus on what they want! Yet many other potential customers will focus on the obstacles and problems that are getting in their way...these people are motivated away from what they don’t want. Your content should therefore include towards (what they will get) statements and some away (what they will solve, or avoid) statements.

Like or dislike change?

Some of your readers embrace change and are motivated by constant change. Others will dislike change with a vengeance. You need to cover both extremes in your email. So, for those who like change, make sure you mention how different your offering is from what they are currently using. To appeal to those who detest change, you’ll also need to accentuate the commonalities and similarities with the status quo before introducing ‘small’ differences.

 

Hang on a minute...

You may be asking if having statements and counter statements contained in the same email cancel each other out? No. For example anyone who is motivated ‘away from’ will only home in on the statements designed to appeal to them, and won’t notice those goal-focussed statements at all. Goal focussed statement will pass them by – and vice versa.

 

Forget you - think them.

So, forget your natural tendencies when writing your email and make sure you reflect these language differences. If it’s too challenging to incorporate all of these changes at once, then introduce them one at a time.

Remember too to experiment with subject lines which reflect these differences. Email open rates can change quite dramatically when you, for example, alternate between a ‘towards’ subject line and an ‘away from’ subject line.

As usual there’s lots more to say on this subject and if you need to ask any questions then do get in touch.

Until next time  

 

Leigh

-->PS: By the way, remember to connect with The Sales Consultancy on Linkedin and Facebook

 

results@sales-consultancy.com

020 7903 5426

www.sales-consultancy.com

 

For previous 'Tricks of the Trade' go here

What's your reaction to these news headlines?

What do you make of these recent newspaper headlines...?  

The bad...  

 

“Lending figures add gloom to concerns about economy “  

“Disappointing’ data add to economic gloom”   

“Voters 'Gloomy' About Economic Prospects, Almost Half Believe Living Standards Will Fall By 2015”

“Industry survey confirms gloomy data”

 

And the good...

 

“UK business confidence 'at six-year high'”

“Consumer confidence at three year high”
“Economy is the best in Europe! We're leading the way, say experts, and will do until at least 2015”

“Economy set to surge ahead for rest of year”

 

Two different countries? No. You guessed it. Both set of headlines are from the UK newspapers. All of them are recent, genuine headlines. 

Be honest, which list do you believe in the most?

  

Your answer will tell you a lot. Your answer will reflect your mindset. And it’s your mindset which will ultimately be reflected in your behaviour, your actions – and your results. If I went on to reveal that most of the positive headlines above were from the last month and most of the negative headlines were from earlier in the year, how would that change your thinking?

Well the general thinking is that after a long wait, the ‘recovery’ is on its way. The pace of recovery may not be as fast as we’d like, but then again many of those ‘in the know’ suggest a slow-but-sure sustainable recovery would probably serve us all better in the long run.

 

The big question is... How ready are you and your team for the economic recovery?

 

I’m not talking here about whether your building is big enough. Or whether you have enough staff. Or whether you need to upgrade your IT.
 

My interest is in your mindset.  
 

So...when you really give it some thought, how ready are you for take off?
 

How confident are you in your ability to make this recovery work for you?
 

How confident are you in those around you?
 

What do you believe, deep down, about your ability to make those calls, produce those fabulous proposals, give those killer pitches, attract those customers, close those deals?

 

What about 'The Others'  

If you have other people you rely on in your business to generate sales, how ready are they, mentally, to generate the leads, sales and conversions you need them to achieve to succeed?  

Is your current thinking based around the economic circumstances you’ve found yourself in over the last five years? Or the circumstances you’ll be finding yourself in during the next five?  

And what are you doing all this for? Seriously?  

Remember, if the answers to that question aren’t compelling enough for you, deep down you’ll probably never give it 100% and you’ll probably not get the sales success you deserve. It's that important. 

If you really feel you and your colleagues have a “100% ready mindset” – ready to maximise the coming recovery, ready to rumble (!) then give yourself and them a pat on the back - and get stuck in!  

If you’re not ready, there’s still time. If you’re nervous, there are things you can do. There’s action you can take. Resolve to take it. You’ve just survived one of the worst recessions probably in your lifetime. Make sure you’re ready for the good stuff!  

Think about where you need the most help. Is it your confidence? Your fear of selling? Your motivation levels? Your resilience? Challenge yourself to get what you need to fill those gaps.

 

If you do nothing, where will that leave you? As they say...you’re worth it. 

And as I say...it’s all about the psychology of selling...  

Be ready. 

  

Until next time

Leigh

 

 

PS: By the way, remember to connect with The Sales Consultancy NOW on Linkedin and Facebook

 

results@sales-consultancy.com

020 7903 5426  

www.sales-consultancy.com

 

For previous 'Tricks of the Trade' go here