Wouldn’t it be nice if your customers paid you to make a sales call? Just think, every time you made a call, you would know that a check would be in the mail. The funny thing is if your customers are going to buy off on your value, they have to feel at the end of the call that it was so valuable they are willing to write a check for it. If there’s no value, then there’s no deal. And no deal, means no check.
So, how can you make sure your sales calls are valuable? How do you get every customer to write the check? For one thing, you need to forget you are on a sales call! Stop thinking in terms of features and start thinking about the problems that you are going to solve!
If you want to make a lot of money, you need to create vs. compete. No matter what services or products you are selling, if you continue to compete against others your ability to make a lot of money is greatly diminished.
In competition, the conversation usually turns to money and everyone gets commoditized. Pressures are mounting to cut prices in order to get the deal. The late Bill Brooks, my mentor and coach, did research in which they interviewed 6,000 buyers in all industries and asked them why they continue to beat sales people up on price. Their answer was simple. After meeting with six sales reps on average a day selling the same “stuff”, how do you differentiate one from the other? The answer is price!
The key to making lots of money is not by competing, but by having different conversations and providing solutions to problems that are not being solved. In a competitive environment, this means talking about challenges the customer is having and explaining how your products/services can address those challenges. Even though you may be competing with a similar vendor, the fact that you are talking about issues not raised by your competitor is a form of creation. That alone can lead to a sale with no discounting. This means asking your customer about their challenges before you start “selling” your stuff.
Another form of creation is packaging your core competencies into a mix of services that produces the best result for a customer. In this case you become so valuable that whatever you are asking for in terms of price is considered to be a drop in the bucket based on the value they are receiving.
Finally, creation also means being the first to market with solutions no one has thought of. Think about brands like Google, Xerox, FedEx, etc. Not only were they first to market, their brand names are now used to describe the act. Example, let’s Google this term. When this happens, is there any competition? And are you making money? Just look at today’s stock price for Google to answer that question.
Creation vs. Competition – which game are you playing?
This also applies to leadership in selling ideas. Do you create arguments that motivate people to act or are you competing for their time and attention?
If you are seeking ways to become more successful, you have to eliminate the concept of becoming and act like you are there already.
The key to achieving success is acting like you have achieved it. If you want to be a top producer, you must act like one. Do the things top producers do, think like they do and have the same expectations.
Acting like a top producer means having the confidence and belief that you belong at this level of success. You engage people in conversations that top producers have. They are not self-serving conversations. They are genuine attempts to get to know people and figure out how to best serve them. Top producers know it’s not always about them. They know the key to their success is helping others achieve their success goals. Helping people get to where they want to go will pay more in return than you could ever imagine.
What do top producers do? They plan, act and think strategically. They don’t waste time with actions that do not lead to their desired results. They make sure there is a proper return on investment for their time and other resources. They are not looking to meet minimum expectations. They are looking to lead the pack and stay on top. They make sure that all actions support their purpose in life.
What are the expectations of top producers? First, they always go into situations with the belief that failure is not an option. Even if they do not have the answers up front, they don’t let that stop them. They continue to think about the outcomes they want to produce and figure out how to make it happen. They hold themselves accountable and will do whatever it takes to succeed. If they realize success is not possible, they fold those cards and move on to new situations. Being successful means you need to know when to fold as well as being tenacious.
Here is the bottom line: You want to succeed, stop thinking about how you are going to do it and start living the life of a successful person.
Getting people to accept your point of view or proposals depends on how well you portray confidence to the person that you are trying to influence. To close more deals and get people to do what you are asking, learn the mindsets from which you need to operate! (more…)
Want to Increase Your Level of Influence in All Areas of Your Life? Watch this video and avoid common catch phrases that will demotivate people from acting on your ideas. Please leave comments on the phrases you hear that just irritate you. (more…)
Tim Seale, president of Timber Trading had built a successful wholesale lumber business. However, he realized there was going to be a limited premium that customers would be willing to pay to a middleman to facilitate deals between lumber yards and mills. The only way he would remain profitable was to add value to the process.
Tim decided to buy lumber and bring it to a warehouse where he could regrade it and create a product that exceeded industry acceptable standards. His company created a whole new packaging and labeling system that actually drove down inventory costs. He added a few more innovative products and services, until one day, his competitors realized Tim had created a new way of doing business.
Tim Seale is a visionary. He realized that a new vision was needed and that a whole new set of actions were required if he was to succeed in turning that vision into reality. It wasn’t easy, but he succeeded.
In these difficult times, what steps do you need to turn your vision into a reality?
How to Plan for the Future in Difficult Times
Timber Trading survived the housing downturn that crippled the building industry and the lumber industry. They understood the importance of visualizing the future and building a plan based on that future.
Here are questions to consider:
1. What changes do you see in your industry?
2. What ways can you improve your business and its way of doing business?
3. What can you do to set your company apart from competitors?
If you think the problem through, you’ll see the hidden opportunities that will help you reach your goals.
The key to your success is the ability to influence others to accept your ideas, requests, etc. The good news is everyone has the capacity to influence others. All you have to do to harness the capacity is remove three self imposed obstacles that usually get in your way.
First obstacle is your belief that you cannot influence others. Anytime you think about what you cannot do, most often you will create that dreaded result as a self fulfilling prophecy. The mind cannot process the negative. If you think you cannot get that person to say yes, the mind is only thinking about that person saying no. Everything you do will be centered on that result and that’s how you produce a self fulfilling prophecy. On the other hand, if you think about how this person is going to agree with you, then your mind is now thinking about a different end result and your actions will be different. Influence starts and ends with your mindset. Click here to read more on the beliefs that will enhance your success in life.
Second obstacle is your need to put your self-interests ahead of others. People act on things and ideas for their own reasons, not yours. Find out what people are trying to accomplish. Then show how your ideas/requests are going to help them achieve their goals. Do this often and your level of influence will increase significantly. Your ability to influence others does not lie in the words you use, but in the context in which you say them.
Third obstacle is the propensity to take rejection personally. When someone does not accept your ideas, they are not rejecting you. They simply do not feel it is in their best interests and that the risk vs. reward is too high. Stop allowing the stories in your mind to take over. Simply find out what’s missing for the person you are trying to influence and fill in that gap. Remember, people do things for their own reasons, not yours.
Bottom Line: Many times ideas are rejected not because they are bad, but because their value has not been properly communicated. Influence is about meeting the needs of others and helping them achieve their desired results. Concentrate on eliminating the three self imposed obstacles and watch your level of influence skyrocket. Click here to download three free chapters of a book that will help you increase your sphere of influence.
Please comment on this post and let us know what you have done to help incresae your sphere of influence.
If companies are to survive today, they must convince customers and prospects that their products/services are not just nice to have, but are a “must have.”
That’s the position Karen Cone found herself in at the beginning of the Great Recession when she was President and CEO of TowerGroup, the leading research and advisory services firm focused exclusively on the financial services industry. Having to cut expenses in all areas, her clients were wondering if they truly needed those services. Her competitors were losing clients as well so Cone started working with me.
“We needed to change the sales strategy and find a way to deal with clients in crisis. And we needed to communicate and sell our value proposition in a way that was different and more compelling than what had worked before,” she said. “In other words, we needed to move from being considered a “nice to have” to a “must have.”
We both agreed that if her sales force was going to succeed, it had to move from selling a product to selling an end result. That way they could raise the importance of the service in the minds of the buyers.
The results were extraordinary.
“Many of our competitors were being cut out all together,” she said. “We actually retained the vast majority of our clients. And we retained them at a level of spend that was extremely respectable.”
“As budgets loosened up, TowerGroup was really well positioned to take advantage of that,” she said. “These methodologies and approaches made a big difference in helping that happen.”
To learn more about this subject, please join me on Monday, October 3rd at 2pm ET for a free webinar where we will show you how to engage alliances as well as other strategies to immediately grow your sales. Click here to reserve your free seat now!
Check Out the November Sales Success Summit ’11 in Orlando Florida, an event destined to dramatically increase your sales success. Spend two days with me and I will personally customize ideas that have generated millions of dollars for my clients to your selling environment. This is a small group. Two days of personalized attention. Reserve your seat today by clicking here!
Please Comment on how you turned your products/services from a nice to have to a “must” have
Yesterday I was sitting in the exit row on a flight when the flight attendant came to all three of us sitting in that row and asked if we would assist in helping to evacuate the plane in case of an emergency. Two of us replied yes. The person sitting next to me incredibly said NO! The flight attendant was stunned. Then he asked if anyone would change seats with the guy.
I asked the guy why he wouldn’t help. His reply: “I am not sticking around to save people. I am only concerned with getting my butt out.” How selfish can this guy be? I then told him “Dude, all you have to do is open the door and get your butt out. Everyone will be following you.” He then accepted his mission.
This self focused mindset is one that I often see occur with sales executives, managers and business owners at one time or another. It is often not meant to be self serving as it is in an attempt to protect one’s self interest and achieve one’s goals. It is also perceived as being arrogant and self absorbed and does get in the way of one getting rich and growing one’s business.
The key to growing sales and a business is to be dedicated to helping people achieve their goals. Help others get to where they want to go safely and you will in turn get more than you ever thought was possible. Customers do business with people who help them succeed. Not with people who are only interested in saving their butt at all costs.
You most probably do care about your customers. But please stay vigilant and do not let your actions position you as a self centered and arrogant individual like the guy sitting next to me in the exit row. It can be the difference between have a good year and having a great year.
In building your business, whether you are a sales person, CEO, VP Sales, Entrepreneur, Provider of Professional, etc, you have two options. A) Start from scratch and spend lots to time and money in achieving your results, or B) Acquire the knowledge you need by learning from the mistakes of others and using proven techniques to shorten your ramp up.
These two options are similar to what executives and CEO’s deal with in deciding on whether or not to bring in an outside expert to speak at their conferences or use internal experts. Experience shows that outside speakers generate different and sometimes better results than internal speakers.
Internal speakers gain instant credibility as the audience already feels they understand their environment and needs. They already have a relationship developed and can help fill the gaps. But that is as far as they can go.
The downside of using an internal speaker is limiting the viewpoints and strategies to a certain way of thinking. Outside speakers bring a new viewpoint and best practices from other organizations and industries that provide invaluable insight into new ways of thinking.
Some internal speakers are quite good in their ability to speak and move an audience. Yet, for them, it is a part time job as they only do it when asked. Professional speakers hone their craft on a daily basis with a variety of audiences. They know how to move an audience to action. They bring new ideas through personal stories complete with examples of implementation.
There are three phases to adult education: Awareness, transference of skills and measurement of results. External experts/speakers not only provide their audiences with awareness, but they also help them with implementation through powerful examples of how their ideas are transferred into action. The value of a professional speaker is the ability to tell these stories in a motivational and powerful manner to not only keep the audience’s attention but to move them to action.
The challenge for professional speakers today is that there is no patience on the part of audiences for generic presentations that do not take into account the clients environment. There are greater expectations on the part of clients for professional speakers/outside experts to tailor their content to the needs of the client. Professional speakers need to research the client’s environment, goals and obstacles. They need to prove to the audience from the first word that they do understand their world. When a professional speaker tailors her content to the needs and environment of the audience, there is no better presentation available to the client.
So when you plan your next conference, please don’t just look at the budget. While there may be an expense to hiring a professional speaker, you can easily see that by hiring the right professional speaker, the fee for their services is miniscule as compared to the time and money you save by acquiring the right content that will move your audience to action and achieve their goals. Plus, getting an outside perspective brings a sense of reality to the organization and breaks the cycle of limited thinking.
When it comes to building your organization, do you want an apprentice or a pro?
Buy The Book At one of these online retailers or your local bookstore.
In today's sales world there's no room for followers. But there's plenty of room for leaders. In Lead, Sell, or Get Out of the Way, Ron Karr outlines a repeatable process based on the powerful idea that great sellers lead relationships in the same way that great leaders sell ideas.
Wouldn’t it be nice if your customers paid you to make a sales call? Just think, every time you made a call, you would know that a check would be in the mail. The funny thing is if your customers are going to buy off on your value, they have to feel at the end of the call that it was so valuable they are willing to write a check for it. If there’s no value, then there’s no deal. And no deal, means no check.
