Forget You: Think Them, for Sales Success

Forget you and forget your standard sales presentation.

Let me explain…all of us have our own unique way of perceiving the world. This map has been created from the moment you were born to this very day…all your experiences have gone into the pot and created your map. Nobody else will have had your experiences in exactly the same way. They will have had their own experiences and will perceive the world in their very unique way.

 

So what does this mean to you and importantly how can you use this to increase your sales success?

It’s really important to get into the map of your potential client, really understand them, their problems and desired objectives. Only then can you deliver an offering that is irresistible and create the desire to buy from you.

Why is it then that so many people pitch their offering before finding what the buyers ‘map’ is?

This causes so many challenges when it comes to sales:
- You get objections
- Not everything you pitch will be relevant
- You may leave relevant information out
- You’re not able to close based on the map of the buyer so closing is more random

It’s so much more effective…and easier, not to start with your pitch. Start by asking well crafted open questions. Any that start with who, what, when, where or how. Avoid ‘why’ questions as they are so confrontational. Find out what’s going on in their world, from their perspective. 

Do they want to solve a problem or do they need something to move them forward?.

Forget what you think they need until you’ve got every last scrap of information from then. Then you can tailor your pitch exactly to their needs…using their words, values and beliefs.

It’s also crucial to use ‘YOU’ language. This is so much more engaging for them and shows that you are really in their space…their map! Whenever you use ‘WE’, ‘I’ or your company name, you are in your map and focusing on yourself, your offering or your company.

Do this and the benefits will be enormous:
- No objections because you’re only responding and not pitching
- More engaged buyers because you’re focusing on them
- Greater depth of information from your ‘YOU focused’ open questions
- More tailored close
- Higher conversion rate…more sales is always good :)

In short you’ll be increasing your selling skills - and increasing sales!

One more thing…give your buyers lots of time to answer, really listen and pause when you think they have stopped. It’s often in these pauses that you’ll get the golden nuggets of information. 

 

Until next time.

Leigh

results@sales-consultancy.com

020 7903 5426  

www.sales-consultancy.com

For previous 'Tricks of the Trade' go here

"Excessive Weing" syndrome - and why it kills your sales‏

Here’s the scenario...  

 

You go to a party of a good friend at their house. It’s not very lively but, hello, who’s that over there, they look interesting. You decide to go over and introduce yourself.  

You ask one question – and bam, the person talks for ten minutes without pausing for breath. They talk non-stop about them, their interests, their history, their achievements. They ask you nothing!  

 

How do you feel?  

 

Pretty uninterested might be a kind way to put it. If you’re like me you’d probably devise a snappy reason to make yourself scarce or visit the restroom! And you avoid them like the plague for the rest of the evening!  

 

And yet how close is that to any of the networking events you might attend? Only recently I went to a networking event and within ten minutes had four business cards thrust into my hand by people who didn’t know me, didn’t know about my current and future challenges but were only too willing to smother me with information about their company  

... “we are this, we do this, we’re brilliant, we can do that for you” and so on.    

 

This affliction is commonly known as ‘Excessive Weing’. It will certainly be costing you sales success. You’ll be pleased to know there is a cure.  

 

Make sure you’re ‘clean’

 

Do you suffer from Excessive Weing? In your pitches? On your website? In your sales conversations? In your ads? In your brochures and flyers? In your emails? Oh yes, and when networking?  

 

Most ‘weing’ offences take place on a company’s website. Check yours. Is the language something like “we’ve been established 125 years”, “we’re an award winning company”, “we’re the world’s leading xxx” “we do this” “were great at that”? Yes? Oh dear.  

 

If it is, there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that, if your website is stuffed with those types of “we” statements, then sadly, up to now you’ve been turning off a massive proportion of those who visit your website. The good news? Well, you’re here, you survived, think how much better it will be once you’ve sorted this!  

 

Who are you boring?  

The words you use and how you use them are telling your prospective customers where your focus is. So if you’re talking just about you and ‘weing’ everywhere, well guess what, you’re the boring one at the party that everyone avoids.  

You might be thinking “well it’s our website how are we supposed to promote our products and services”? Great question. You just need to think up new ways of demonstrating your expertise and value to the browser. 

Examples  

 

Examples of how you could re-write your web copy...  

 

Instead of “We’ve been established 125 years” ... change to something like  

“you’ll get the benefit of 125 years of experience in your industry” 

 (You, You’ll, Your are all acceptable)  

 

Instead of “We’re an award winning company” ...change to something like  

“You get the expertise of an award winning company”  

 

Instead of “We’re the world’s leading xxxx” ... change to something like 

“You’ll get the added benefit of working with the world’s leading xxx"  

These are subtle but very crucial changes – losing the we's and adding the you's - and I urge you to make it a priority to make them. And though I’ve emphasised the importance of getting your website language right, the principles I’ve outlined today are just as valid in all of those other communication tools I mentioned earlier.  

 

Remember, however you communicate with your potential customers, it's not about you, it's about THEM.  

It’s all about 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

Mentors: Worth it?

Cards on the table – I’m a massive fan of mentoring!  So it’s a big yes for mentoring from me.
We all need help now and again. Help in the form of unbiased support, a friendly prod to move things along, maybe just an understanding ear. I’ve found that those who say they don't need help often need it the most!

Whatever your role, whatever your level, I’d strongly recommend you consider working with a mentor. I have a fabulous mentor myself and as a result feel like my business is getting the support it needs, when it needs it, to realise the goals we've set.

Mentoring

Who have you got to bounce ideas off that doesn’t bring their own baggage into the equation? Do you seriously believe that someone, somewhere hasn't had the same challenges you're experiencing right now? If you listed your top three current challenges, I would bet that these are issues that many other business owners, business leaders, sales professionals have experienced in the past.

Whether you're running a small business, managing within a larger organisation or working for others within these types of organisations, seriously consider getting yourself a MENTOR.

Everybody's at it - top sportsmen, business leaders, entrepreneurs.

What's a Mentor?

• Someone who you feel can help you in your pursuit of your career objectives, whatever those objectives are - more sales, a promotion, improved leadership skills, more self control, better networking techniques and so on.

• Someone who can give you a neutral take on your latest challenges - they should have no axe to grind.

• Someone with a vast bank of knowledge that you can tap into - who's been there, done that...and collected a few T shirts along the way.

• Someone you check in with now and again to bounce your latest ideas off.

• Someone you trust to challenge you, to prod you, to ask you searching questions.

A good mentor...

...will use a variety of different approaches and move seamlessly between them - coaching, counselling, mentoring, advising, training, guiding, whatever you need. Critically, you can learn from the mistakes they have made earlier in their career!

Getting yourself a mentor isn't a sign of weakness. On the contrary it's a sign of strength, a sign that you are willing to garner all the resources you can in your pursuit of your goals. It's not about copying them, it's about using their experience and advice and adopting it in a way that works for you.

How does mentoring work?

Any way you want it to! You can go the formal route. Have regular scheduled sessions with a paid professional coach or mentor who can offer you the level and breadth of experience you need to tap into.

More informally you might find someone in your organisation that can help (bear in mind it can't be someone you report to). Ask them if they would be available as a mentor and offer to take them for lunch now and again in return for picking their brains.

You'd be surprised...

...how experienced achievers like to be asked about how they have achieved success -they will be impressed by your drive and initiative! You and your mentor need to get on well. Choose someone you have good rapport with. Get away from your normal place of work. No phones, no interruptions, it all helps. Look upon it as an investment of time and money in YOU.

How long should you and your mentor spend together? Anything from an hour a month upwards – it really does depend on your needs. You may need more time at first and top up mentoring sessions further down the line.

So - don't plough that lone furrow. Tap into an external source of support - and watch your increasing sales!

Until next time...

Leigh

PS - Here's the early heads up on a fabulous event taking place later this year. There are some juicy discounts for early bookers so I would suggest you have a look NOW and grab a ticket.

Click for details and to secure your place.

results@sales-consultancy.com

020 7903 5426 

www.sales-consultancy.com

For previous ‘Tricks of the Trade’ go here 

Get Mental: Are You Fit to Sell?

Companies are storing record cash amounts. They’re hoarding their revenues for more rainy days ahead. They’re spending little at the moment. They’re making do.

One day though – one day they’ll will be ready to spend big. Their cash reserves are colossal – after all, profits have held up well and companies have cut out lots of costs.

But when they do decide to spend, YOU have to be right up there in their consciousness, right in the forefront of their thinking, if you are going to maximise the inevitable opportunities that are going to arise.

Well then – are you ready? Have you got what it takes? How motivated are you? What state are you in? Where will you be when the gold rush starts?

 

Your answers to these and other similar questions will determine your success as we come out of the economic downturn. Remember – you cannot succeed and make it happen on the outside before you’ve already made it happen on the inside.

 

Have the Right Mind State
Your mind and body are part of the same interactive system. What you’re thinking will determine your behavior so you need to be thinking positive, motivating thoughts. If you find your thinking or internal dialogue is not helpful to your state you need to change it – and FAST.

Think about times when you were in the flow, sales were easy, conversations flowed and you felt great. It feels great doesn’t it?

What about when things didn’t go that well, you weren’t moving forward, something stopped you from taking action. How did you feel during those times?

The objective is to stay in that first, happy productive state, and if you find yourself less resourceful, to change back into that productive state quickly and easily. Put simply you will achieve more sales and success generally from being in a positive state.

Anchoring
So how can you capture and draw on the best bits? Anchoring is the technique which enables you to recall those moments when you were totally motivated, lock them in, and recall them when required. It sounds simple and it is and by following the exercise below you can have an effective anchor available to you in minutes.
 
Limiting beliefs
A big subject, very important too. For now take notice of those things you say to yourself that are not helping you. That little voice inside, that makes you doubt your ability and stops you from taking action, or the right action. Some people call it their inner critic.

You need to take on that inner critic. After all – how many of the messages it gives you are based on fact? Not many usually. Yet these negative thoughts promote your limiting beliefs, in turn stopping you performing at your peak. So notice those messages from within, and where they came from.

Remember – sales come when you are in a really great state. Oh and smile too. It’s really difficult to do ‘depressed’ when you’re smiling! Sales isn’t a process, or about what you say. It starts in your head and how you’re feeling. Get that right and you will succeed in sales.
 
1 Anchoring Exercise
Think of a time when the conversation flowed, when you were in deep rapport and felt unstoppable. Get right into that moment, turn it up – and bottle it. Then think of another great selling moment and do the same. And again, three times in all. Design yourself an anchor to lock in the fabulous state you are now in – maybe a piece of music, maybe a clap of your hand, something that, later by playing the music, or clapping in the same way, you can reproduce that motivated and unstoppable feeling.

2 Countering limiting beliefs exercise
During the course of a day, notice those negative statements you think and say. Write them down. For each limiting belief write down three counter examples to each. Three examples which demonstrate the limiting belief not to be true. This will shake the roots of those limiting beliefs and ultimately eradicate them.

Summary
- Your thoughts will determine your behaviour and your results
- To maximise your potential you need to stay in, or get in, a happy productive state
- Anchoring is a powerful tool to capture and retain and reproduce those moments when you are most motivated and resourceful
- Limiting Beliefs are those inner voices that tell you what you cannot do or struggle to do
- Limiting beliefs should be countered and destroyed to achieve maximum sales success

Until next time…
Leigh

PS: Be sure to download my complimentary report “The 9 Biggest Sales Mistakes” here
results@sales-consultancy.com
www.sales-consultancy.com
020 7903 5426

7 Steps to ACTION

Frequently during my sales workshops I get asked “what’s the biggest contribution to success?” Now that’s a tough question to answer. There are so many things that determine whether you are destined for success. If I had to pick one, it would probably be taking ACTION. Without it, you will never get the results you want.

I’m reminded of the quote ‘All know the way; few actually walk it’ (Bodhidharma). We’re all guilty of not doing the stuff we know we should be doing.

So if you’re procrastinating on ACTIONS that you know will better your results, this exercise could really get you moving.

7 Steps to ACTION

Get yourself a writing pad and a pen you like writing with! Take your time in answering the following questions as fully as you can.

1. Write down one thing that you are procrastinating with

2. Come up with 10 reasons why you must change this now

3. What will it cost you if you don’t make this change?

4. What will you gain from this change?

5. How do you know you can absolutely make this change?

6. Create a new association with this change

For example – If you’re not making enough calls you may have an association that not making calls equals less rejection…a new association might be that making more calls equals more chances to make sales and all the kudos and money that comes with that.

7. What is your first action that you can do immediately?

This exercise will really get you in touch with the motivation to take ACTION towards what you want and contribute to your sales success!

It’s great to hear how you make these strategies work for you, so please do let us know how you get on.

Leigh Ashton

results@sales-consultancy.com
 
020 7903 5426

www.sales-consultancy.com

For previous ‘Tricks of the Trade’ go here