Why do people really like you and do business with you?

Exceptional Sales Performance Monday Motivational Minute

Why do people really like you and do business with you?

November 26th 2012

By Gregory Ferrett


Current research tells us the average person thinks about themselves, and how the world impacts them as an individual, almost every minute they are awake.  Their brain is constantly monitoring the environment alert to physical and emotional danger and opportunities. In less than a second the brain can flood the body with chemicals driving a ‘fight or flight’ or a ‘this sounds great’ response.  

As funny as it sounds, in business I continue to find people who think a person’s response to a sales pitch or a request for support will be different just because it is not a social situation. This is dangerous thinking and can lead to wasteful expenditure of money and emotional capital.


What we see is what we want to see - not what others see

My business partners and I were examining a great product developed by people with outstanding credentials and who seemed to know their target market. Despite good promotion and a strong message which brought in some early wins, it remained languishing as an ‘also ran’ product. At the same time a less developed product with fewer capabilities had grown to dominate the market.

We quizzed the developers who were consistent in their responses.

• They had developed the most advanced product in the market – no one else could come near it technically
• They always made a big effort to deliver a great presentation
• They seemed to be in the right place at the right time early on – now they seemed to be always catching up in the sales process

The consistent message we noticed was our client was focusing on how good they were.

Place yourself in their mind

When you need to influence an outcome or want someone to purchase your product or service the first thing you need to do is understand their situation. The research we mentioned earlier tells us the person you are trying to influence cares very little for you or your company, only for them.  Your telephone call, email or letter is an interruption. You need a way to help the person you want to influence see your product or service making their life better. If you can do this they will start to consider what their life might be like with you or your product or service in it.

This is easier said than done as you also spend most of your time considering yourself. After all you are a human being as well. You think of yourself as someone special, with intelligence and you know what is good for your customer.

I have watched with interest advertisements for the iPad and new Intel Surface computer. Both show people in real situations with their lives enriched because of the device. While they talk about the quality of the display, the discussion is about the way your life will be if you use the device. Not the fact one has so many mega pixels. Each time the advertisment shows my whole family wants one - each one for their own reason.

There is a painfully simple yet important lesson to be learned here. When it comes to influencing people or getting them to make a buying decision it is their expectation of what you are asking them to do or buy which will make their mind up. Not what you think is right or wrong.

You can tell the story enthusiastically and with passion, using the best multi-media presentation with endorsements by the best personalities. If you do not know what the person thinks about you are, at best, putting on a show in hope someone listens.
People decide to buy on the basis of expectation – what they perceive the decision will do for them and in their life. If your product or service fits into that perception you have a sale. If not then you don’t. It is as simple as that.

The company was investing enormous amounts of time and effort into selling the inventors idea. He had come up with the idea and made a number of initial sales. Now the company was talking with people who were unfamiliar with the inventor and the concepts he presented.

By changing the perception of the company owners and the way the product and services were presented made an immediate and enormous difference.

People like you and do business with you because they can picture you and your product or service working in their life. The better you are at helping people place you in their life the more successful you will be.

Questions and this weeks activities

There is nothing mysterious about what we did. It required a few simple changes. Try these and you will see your level of influence change quickly and dramatically;

• Engage your customer in a discussion about their business and their life using a reflective questioning style. You will be surprised what you will find simply by  being genuinely interested and scratching under the surface.

• Once you have established some rapport ask questions like “Have you considered …?” and “What happens when…?”

• Paint a picture using words like “Can you imagine leaving the office early confident …?” or “Can you hear your team celebrating knowing …?”

Leave your own ideas at the office – even better, in the shredder. They are great ideas if you are buying – but you are selling and you need to become a part of the buyers concept they are thinking about all the time.

Exceptional Sales Performance

P.S. More inspiration on our BLOG here.

Reprint permission
Permission is granted to reprint this article with the condition it is republished unedited and in full with full attribution to the author and the authors bio. Please provide a link to the reprint to the following email; greg.ferrett@exceptionalsales.com.au

Selling to the Seven Emotional Buying Styles Discover how to link your product to buyers emotion. In this very practical book you will learn everyday tools to take advantage of proven scientific evidence linking emotion to every decision. You will meet; the Hustler the Artist the Normal the Engineer the Politician the Mover, and the Double Checker This is one book you will refer to time and again to help you plan sales calls and to close sales.

Buy your Kindle or Hard Copy version here

 

How can you take a commodity and turn it into a vital requirement for your client?

Exceptional Sales Performance Monday Motivational Minute

How can you take a commodity and turn it into a vital requirement for your client?

November 26th 2012

By Gregory Ferrett

“How can you take a commodity item and turn it into something critical to your clients' business?” is one of the most common questions I am asked.

To date I have never come across a product or service which can not be linked to something of value - even common things.It just takes a little effort and planning.

Here is an example of how disposable nappies and rubber gloves, in a mature market, turned two businesses into industry powerhouses.

Disposable Nappies / diapers

The first question territory reps of this company were always asked was "What is your best price". They were in a tight competitive aged care market where every dollar counted. The business was going nowhere fast.

With a bit of effort and market research they discovered one of the more significant costs an aged care facility has was laundry.

With a bit of smart thinking they were able to demonstrate by using their incontinence pads laundry costs were reduced significantly due to leakage reduction.

Instead of calling the purchasing manager they were now able to call the CFO and ask this question “If I could show you a way to reduce your laundry costs by 22% would that be something of interest?” The answer was always “How?” and of course the appointment was made.

Rubber Gloves

(Reported in ‘The Age’ – Monday April 15th 2002)

Ansell moved its stake in Ford’s occupational glove business form 25% to 100%, a deal that it sees as a template for future company arrangements.

The Ford contract is worth close to $20 million a year, and is an example of Ansell’s approach to large customers, in which it will enter a contract to assume responsibility for protecting the hands of it’s customer’s workers.

While Ansell has really interesting technology (knitted Kevlar gloves coated with a nitrile polymer) technology alone would never maintain a long term competitive business advantage and they would have easily been caught up by competitors.

Ford used to spend $20 million a year on gloves, however they also had medical costs of $40 million a year for hand injuries. With the use of the new gloves and a partnership with Ansell for ongoing development in the first full six months there was a 50% reduction in injuries.

Ansell were able to link a commodity produuct to a critical business issue and demonstrate the value of working with them alone.

Today's Questions and Actions

Here are some questions and actions to help you uncover how important your product or service might be to your client.

1. Ask yourself ,and others involved with your clients business, what the challenges they face? List the top few and keep going until you have twenty or more. Be creative and think about the issues their competitors face as well as they are likely to have the same challenges.
2. What is the press saying about their industry?
3. What are the opportunities opening up?

For each item list two or three ways your product or service makes it easier to deal with the challenge. From this list you should have at least one, if not more, compelling reasons why a client should talk to you and not just ask for a price.

Have a great week.

Exceptional Sales Performance

P.S. More inspiration on our BLOG here.

Reprint permission
Permission is granted to reprint this article with the condition it is republished unedited and in full with full attribution to the author and the authors bio. Please provide a link to the reprint to the following email; greg.ferrett@exceptionalsales.com.au

Selling to the Seven Emotional Buying Styles Discover how to link your product to buyers emotion. In this very practical book you will learn everyday tools to take advantage of proven scientific evidence linking emotion to every decision. You will meet; the Hustler the Artist the Normal the Engineer the Politician the Mover, and the Double Checker This is one book you will refer to time and again to help you plan sales calls and to close sales.

Buy your Kindle or Hard Copy version here

 

How can you generate curiosity and keep your clients engaged

Exceptional Sales Performance Monday Motivational Minute

How can you generate curiosity and keep your clients engaged?

November 19th 2012

By Gregory Ferrett

Welcome to Monday

An account manager, during a review of his sales performance and knowing his numbers were down, said, by way of excuse to his manager said, “Richard, I can lead a horse to water, but I can’t make them drink.”

“Make them drink?” Richard retorted. “Making customers drink is not your job. Your job is to make them thirsty! When they are thirsty they will drink.”



The most common challenge business and sales people face is coming to an understanding that selling is not something we do that makes a sale occur – it is something the client does. At some point in the sales process the client decides what it is we are selling will satisfy a need and quench their thirst.

So the question is, “how do you create the thirst?”

Curiosity!

There are four main strategies we can use to create curiosity – and to remain curious through the sales process.

1. Be provocative with questions and statements

 

Provocative questions and statements are the most powerful ways to generate curiosity.

When you make that first call what can we say that is provocative, bold and will shake your client out of their current mind set and pay full attention to you?

You may want to try something like this;

“Hi Ben, this is Greg from Acme Jones Associates. I have a question. I was reading about your company …. and was wondering if you had ever thought…?”

Or perhaps

“Hi Mary, this is Jenny from Acme Jones Associates. I was talking to Merna Balwin of Main Main & Main and wondering if you have experienced the same market challenges as they do?”

2. Provide some of the information

Another challenge business and sales people face is the urge to tell someone everything straight away. I call this ‘showing up and throwing up’. Once there is nothing let to give what value is there in a follow-up call? The key to building and maintaining a long term relationship is to continue adding value with each conversation. If you leave the client curious after the end of each call there is always a reason to call back or to schedule another meeting. Try things like these;

“Hi Mary, we met with Mohammed and ran those tests on the production line over the past few days and I think there may be some serious problems.”

Or

“We have evaluated the supply chain process and compared it to the industry norms in you market sector and found some anomalies.”

These statements tell a part of the information and are designed to stimulate curiosity. A typical response would be “What kind of problem?” or “What sort of anomalies?”

Of course we do not want to tell them all so we move into something like the following;

“Yes – I will get to that. Would you mind if I ask a few questions first?” and move into a conversation with the full attention of the client. Of course we need to share some of the information – but always leave something on the table to come back with.

3. Provide a glimpse of value

In this technique we dangle an idea that could deliver value and then move to start a conversation. It could go something like this;

“Well, John, with just one small change to the manufacturing process you could dramatically improve your return on investment. Would you like me to show you how?”

The response “Sure – what do I need to do?”

“Before I launch into that do you mind if I ask you a few questions?” and the conversation is on its way…

4. Are they a part of the herd

If everyone else is moving in the same direction most people want to know what direction that is. This is classic ‘herd mentality’. Try something like this;

“Well, Mr Jones, we solve a very important problem that most of the companies in your industry have.”

Almost without fail the response is “What problem is that?”

Today’s questions & action

Curiosity is a powerful tool to get conversations started. Here are some ideas to get you started.

1. What are the most unusual applications for your service or product?
2. Call your best clients and ask them the question “What is it that keeps you buying from me / us?” or “What are the key problems / issues our product solves for you?”
3. Turn the question around and ask yourself “If I were being called about my product or service what would the person need to say to grab my attention?”

Use the answers to these questions to create conversation starters. Develop the habit of creating curiosity and you will always have a valid reason to call on your clients.

 

Have a great week.

Exceptional Sales Performance

P.S. More inspiration on our BLOG here.

Reprint permission
Permission is granted to reprint this article with the condition it is republished unedited and in full with full attribution to the author and the authors bio. Please provide a link to the reprint to the following email; greg.ferrett@exceptionalsales.com.au

Selling to the Seven Emotional Buying Styles Discover how to link your product to buyers emotion. In this very practical book you will learn everyday tools to take advantage of proven scientific evidence linking emotion to every decision. You will meet; the Hustler the Artist the Normal the Engineer the Politician the Mover, and the Double Checker This is one book you will refer to time and again to help you plan sales calls and to close sales.

Buy your Kindle or Hard Copy version here

 

Can Taking the Road Less Travelled Make a Difference?

Exceptional Sales Performance Monday Motivational Minute

Can Taking the Road Less Travelled Make a Difference?

October 15th 2012
By Gregory Ferrett

Welcome to Monday

“I took the road less travelled and that has made all the difference” Robert Frost


In his poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ Robert Frost spends most of the day contemplating a fork in the road trying to decide which one to take. He observes most people take the well worn path, the sure way. This is the same in business and sales. We look to see what works and use this idea ourselves. Can taking the road less travelled, however, help establish a business or make better sales?

The Road Less Travelled

I was picking my parents up at the airport last week. On the way out we joined a very long line to pay for our parking. I was interested in this as there were two machines where you could pay for parking, but for some reason there was no one lined up at the other machine.

The second machine looked to be working so, being a bit of a maverick, and seeing there would be a long delay waiting in line, I decided I would try it. As I was about to move over, however, the person in front of me said “I wouldn’t try it, mate. It wasn’t working this morning as well.”

I saw the line stretching out the door behind me and I relented not wanting to loose my position in line.

I waited a few more minutes as a few people looked with longing at the other ticket machine with not a sole in line - but no one dared make a move.

I could see the video display on the machine seemed to be working normally, but my mind kept saying to me ‘there must be something wrong if there is over a hundred people lined up here and no one there’.

This was ridiculous. I plucked up my courage and all my parents’ luggage and walked over to the machine and paid for our parking. You guessed it; within a few seconds there was a mad rush to get to the front of the line for this machine now it was obviously working.

The world is full of naysayers and people who line up with the crowd.

When you are building a business or selling it is your courage to be a bit different, to set yourself apart that creates the value for you and your clients.

I had just started working for an Australian systems integrator and observed one of their long term clients, a subsidiary of a global resources organization, had spent nothing with them for sometime. During one of our sales meetings I asked if I could have this account. When the laughter in the room died down and I was asked if I was sure I wanted this account with no potential I said “Sure, a company that size always has a requirement for our type of services. You just need to help them discover it.”

My first visit to this account confirmed what my colleagues had said. They had signed a global deal to implement a new  enterprise wide system at head office and their Australian subsidiary was to be an early adopter. After meeting a few of the local players and understanding the business better I discovered the Australian operation was the only part of the global organization running well and they were concerned this very expensive project was going to drive them to the wall.

Here I had an Australian manager, being paid based on profitability of the local subsidiary, being told to accept an expense that would take money from his bonus - perhaps even all of it. Together we put a plan that would allow him to meet the global objectives of the company as well as keep his local costs reasonable. Instead of spending tens on millions with an overseas company he invested hundreds of thousands with a local company.

 

At the end of the year this company no one wanted as an account, who I was laughed at for asking to take it on, was again in the top five client list in terms of revenue and number one in terms of profit.

 

Can taking the road less travelled make a difference? It sure can. And it can be very profitable as well as there are fewer competitors and clearer measures of success.

Today’s question & action

The next time there is a decision to be made ask yourself, "What can I do differently to make what I do stand out?"

 

• Make it a habit of always look for one more alternative.
• Pose a contrarian view to help see other potential ways of doing things.

Being different does not always mean you will be better off. Taking the road less travelled, however, can make all the difference.

 

Exceptional Sales Performance

P.S. More inspiration on our BLOG here.

Reprint permission
Permission is granted to reprint this article with the condition it is republished unedited and in full with full attribution to the author and the authors bio. Please provide a link to the reprint to the following email; greg.ferrett@exceptionalsales.com.au

Selling to the Seven Emotional Buying Styles Discover how to link your product to buyers emotion. In this very practical book you will learn everyday tools to take advantage of proven scientific evidence linking emotion to every decision. You will meet; the Hustler the Artist the Normal the Engineer the Politician the Mover, and the Double Checker This is one book you will refer to time and again to help you plan sales calls and to close sales.

Buy your Kindle or Hard Copy version here