Steven and Tammy’s Story

Steven and Tammy wanted to have a new patio built in their back yard. They had looked at patio stone and brick products for several years, and finally decided this was the summer they were going to look into getting it done professionally. With Steven’s new health problems now in the picture, doing the project themselves was out of the question. If they were going to do it, they were going to have to hire someone to do it.

They had discussed the project enough that they both had a vague idea of what they were looking for, but both Steven and Tammy recognized that they needed someone to give them some guidance on the design and product selection for their patio. The first thing on Monday morning, Tammy did an internet search to find landscaping companies in her area that could come to their home and provide some information.

Tammy called eight landscaping companies that morning. She scheduled four in-home consultations with landscape consultants in the next two weeks. She was excited to take the project

to the next stage, but had some apprehension, too, since this would significantly tax their family budget if they actually had the work done.

Roger’s Story

One of the consultants called to Tammy and Steven’s home was Roger. His appointment with the prospects lasted forty-five minutes, and he left the home without a contract signed by the prospects.

Roger called his sales manager on the way from the appointment to tell him that he hadn’t sold the job.

“I think they will go ahead with it, but they just needed to talk about it a bit,” Roger announced to his manager. He estimated there was a ninety percent chance the prospects would eventually place a job order for the project.

Two weeks had passed and Roger had heard nothing from Tammy. He decided to phone her and check in with her. Tammy told Roger that she and Steven had selected another company to do the work.

Roger was frustrated. He felt he was that close [can’t you just picture his forefinger and thumb ¼” apart] to getting this one. But what happened? Why did Roger fail to close this sale?

The Law of “Incongruency of Expectations”

Roger failed to understand the Law of Incongruency of Expectations.

During most initial sales interactions, and for virtually all sales interactions of the one-call close variety, there is an incongruency of expectations of the prospect and the salesperson. The prospect usually has the “shopping around” mindset. They are “getting ideas.” They’re “looking into things.” They’re “getting information.” And, most of all, they’re “getting a price quote.”

Yet, the salesperson’s perspective is that he is on the call to make a sale.

There are two parties in the sales interaction with two different perspectives: one is investigative and one is closure.

Two Highways

Think of these two different perspectives as two parallel highways.

The prospect is traveling on one highway and the salesperson is traveling on the other. Both the prospect and the salesperson are moving forward on their own highway (and even in the same direction), but the space between the two roadways signifies the incongruence of the two parties’ expectations. No matter how far either party travels on their highway, they will never come together. In fact, the longer the prospect travels on his road, the more difficult it is for him to switch routes – this is due to the law of sales momentum.

With this in mind, the goal of the salesperson in a one-call close scenario, and really any selling scenario, is to get the prospect on the salesperson’s highway immediately! Once there, the prospect is likely to stay on the salesperson’s highway. And the farther down the road the prospect travels, the more difficult it is for him to switch routes.

The Sales Solution

The very nature of the prospect’s highway is explorative: It is open-ended, flexible, undetermined, and gray. It is difficult, if not impossible, to complete a sales to a prospect who is in this nebulous state.

The salesperson must take action quickly to counteract this strong force of indecision within the prospect. And the antidote is simply this: Get the prospect to start making decisions, even miniscule ones. The more decisions that the prospect makes, the more solidly the prospect is positioned on the salesperson’s “highway” toward the sale.

You could begin by having the prospect select which chair he wants to sit in at the table. Ask him before you sit down or direct him to a chair. Ask, “Craig, which chair would you like to sit in?” As you start the discussion, ask the prospect another simple and easy-to-answer question, such as, “Do you want to start by talking about the widget or the wadget?”

Later, as you identify the prospect’s needs and desires, write them down. Make sure the prospect sees you writing them down. Each of these items constitutes a decision. Review the needs list with the prospect before moving into the presentation phase of the sales interaction. Ask the prospect for confirmation of accuracy of your list. Don’t continue until you receive confirmation.  Go one step further and ask the prospect to rank the needs in order of importance.

Baby Steps

Each one of these actions is a baby step toward your highway of writing an order. It is the cumulative effect of many small baby steps being made that propels the relationship forward on the proper highway.

Let’s imagine that you’re selling storage sheds. As you begin your needs and desires investigation, you ask your prospect what size of shed they have in mind. “You know, we’re not really sure,” they say. “We haven’t thought that much about it.”

Do not go further until this decision is made by the prospect. Going forward, or making the decision for the prospect, permits the prospect to be on their highway that leads to a price quote. But getting a decision keeps them on your highway to the sale. Before the prospect can make this decision, a ten or twenty or thirty minute discussion may be required. In extreme scenarios, the prospect may have some other stakeholder he needs to check with before answering your question. That’s perfectly acceptable. Allow the prospect to get the question answered. But there’s no need to present color choices, styles, height options, siding materials, hardware, and other options, not to mention beautiful CAD drawings of a new shed until the prospect can definitively decide what size they need and want their storage shed to be.

If the prospect asks you to price out the shed in two sizes, let’s say 8’ x 10’ and 10’x14’, agree to do so, but quickly follow-up with this very important question:

“If you had to decide right now about the size of the storage shed that would be best suited to your needs, would you select the 8’ x 10’ or the 10’ x 14’?”

Once you get this answer, this becomes the focus of the remainder of your sales call. You can always price the other product later, but you are going to act on the prospect’s decision, and that will help the prospect act later instead of having to “think about it” (“thinking about it” is the mantra of the quote seeker).

Working For You or Against You

The law of incongruity of expectations can work for you or against you, because it is neither good nor bad, it just is. You simply have to understand it so you can deal with it in an effective manner. Yet thousands of salespeople head out into the marketplace every day without an understanding of this important law.

If you want to sell more, get your prospects on the right highway early in the sales interaction. Keep them on your highway – it goes to where you want your prospect to be.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Paying commission wisely is a big challenge for business owners and managers. Commission can either drive sales performance, or turn your sales team into a bowl of oatmeal. Designing a commission plan that drives sales performance isn’t as easy as it sounds. There’s a minefield there, and you have to navigate through it successfully to have a commission plan that works.

Here are nine thoughts about commission plans and compensation:

1. I hate the word “target.” I don’t like the word “plan” when used as a substitute for a job requirement. I even shy away from the word “goal.” These words sound too tentative. I had a target age of retirement at age 40. I planned to have $10,000,000 in the bank before I retired. I had a goal of buying a 10,000 square foot house. Yet, none of those things happened. So much for targets, plans, and goals. Did I mention I want to lose fifty pounds?

Why don’t you simply just say what you mean. How about “minimum acceptable revenue produced,” as in, “Derek, your MARP for 2010 is $1.2 million. Got it?”

2. Most commission plans are based upon a percent of something. But if the something is gray or unclear or inconsistent, the percentage amount will be gray or unclear or inconsistent. How can employees be clear and consistent in revenue production if you’re not clear and consistent in how they’re being paid? Clarity is king.

3. Don’t roll out a new compensation plan only to change it one month later because you had to rethink a bunch of stuff. Do your homework. Accurately predict your losses and other challenges that will arise with the new compensation plan. Plan ahead. Then implement it. No going back, no waffling, no negotiating – it is the new commission structure. If you must, review the plan annually and make whatever small tweaks are required.

4. Compensation plans should do the best job of compensating your best performers. It’s okay if your bottom 10% of sales performers quit every year because they’re not making enough money working within your commission plan. Hire a new group who won’t be in the bottom 10% the next year. Don’t worry about low performers. Do you really want them? Do you really need them? Make sure your structure compensates high performers.

5. No compensation plan will make every employee happy. Some won’t even make any employee happy. Do what you need to do to run your business. Compensation should drive performance. If it does that, you’re a winner.

6. Whenever an employee complains about your compensation plan and has a suggestion for you (“How about if we pay 12% instead of 10 %”), ask “What are you willing to give up to earn 12%?” They won’t have an answer. End of discussion.

7. Pay “super commission.” If your commission rate is, say, 8%, consider paying 9% once the salesperson meets their monthly sales requirement (or some other landmark), and only 7% commission when they don’t. That’s super commission, and better than paying everybody 8%.

8. Pay super-dooper commission. Add a bonus for making 10% over minimum expectations for annual sales production. That’s super-dooper. Use what you’re saving paying the low performers in #7 to pay your high performers (refer to #4).

9. It’s okay if salespeople make a lot of money…if they earn it. I’m amazed at the number of small and medium-sized businesses that believe, either consciously or unconsciously, that there should be a cap in salespersons’ commission earnings.

Sometimes it takes this form: New compensation plan is implemented > it works like it’s supposed to > the best sales reps make a lot of money > management thinks they made too much so lower how much reps can make the next year> high performers quit performing or leave the company. Let your plan work. It’s okay if salespeople make lots of money. Part of that money goes to you. What you want is lots of salespeople who make lots of money. That’s how you can make even more money.

Popularity: unranked [?]

I know the Sales Bloggers Union topic this month is “How Were Your March 2010 Sales.” Since this is December of 2009, the gist of the topic is that March 2010 sales are already being decided by salespeople’s actions this month (at least for those with a 3 month or so sales cycle).

But I want to take a look at your sales last March (March 2009). What can you gain by looking at your sales from last March? That was six months ago! How can it help your sales this month? Or next March?

Selling is a profession of immediacy. Commission salespeople get paid for what they sell today. The presence of weekly, monthly, and yearly sales goals stresses the need for immediacy. Given all the attention on the “What have you sold for me lately” mentality of sales executives and managers (I don’t disagree with it, I just think it gets out of hand in some organizations to the point that it is no longer healthy for the long term health of the business), it’s not common for salespeople to look backward to analyze performance of a previous month, especially when it is six months prior.

Here are five questions that will help you analyze your March sales from earlier this year, and then use that information to maximize your sales now.

1. Who did you meet with that is still a viable prospect, but who you allowed to drop off your radar screen?

Low-hanging fruit is tasty and accessible, and any salesperson would be a fool for passing it by for more high-maintenance fruit. But once all the low-hanging fruit has been consumed, a salesperson is confronted with either waiting for more low-hanging fruit to appear (thereby ceding control of his career to external forces), or going after fruit that requires more advanced  effort.

Follow up is a weakness of many sales professionals. They may have started with good intentions, but six months later, they’ve forgotten all about the follow-up and are pulling their hair out looking for new sales to meet the monthly target. What’s wrong with that picture?

The nice thing about letting customers drop off your radar screen is that you can quickly recalibrate and pick them up again. Radar is like that.

2. Who did you sell to, and why did they buy?

Salespeople are often just so darned happy to have a sale that they are energized to move on to the next prospect, hoping the magic will continue. But when we do this, we are overlooking the opportunity to identify the real reason each of our customers bought from us.

Were you in the right place at the right time? Was your pricing better than your competition’s? Did they like you or your company better? Did you do a better job of selling? What needs were met by you, your company, and your product or service that your competitor didn’t or couldn’t meet?

Completing an analysis to identify why your customer purchased can provide you with information that will help you over and over again.

3. What did you do to engineer a positive outcome?

Sometimes salespeople amaze themselves with the sales results they’re able to get. But a little constructive analysis can bring subconscious behaviors in to the realm of conscious thought. Conscious thought allows us to examine our behaviors, question them, and connect dots that may have been out of our consciousness previously.

If you can quantify your behaviors, you can repeat them. If you leave behaviors up to chance, they can’t be quantified. Find out what you’re doing that works so you can make it work better for you now and in the future.

4. What can you sell now to those customers that already bought last March?

Over and over again, I’ve seen sales professionals call upon their book of past clients to raise them from a quota deficit or worse. We need to cultivate sales from the fertile fields of our selling past to squeeze the most from our limited resources.

There just may be one or two or fifty customers you served last March who would buy from you again, if you’d only ask.

5. Have you extracted referrals from your March customers?

Have you asked? Did you contact them? Did you make it easy for your March customers to refer their contacts to you?

Maybe you intended to but never got around to it. Now’s a great time to get around to it.

- – - – -

Here’s to March of 2009, and to all the Marches of the future, too.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Selling to consumers in a retail setting can be challenging (I know, all selling can be challenging). In retail, we have little control over our prospects. They can exit our store at any time. We don’t have offices or desks or conference rooms to anchor our interaction. We typically don’t have any privacy with our prospect as we might in their office or in our office. They often have children or other family members with them when they need individual attention, or don’t have a family member with them in order to move ahead with a purchase.

But we have several collaborative selling devices available to us in retail that can aid our selling in the retail sector. Use of these devices can increase customer engagement and increase our sales effectiveness. Here are three of my favorite retail selling techniques that use collaboration to its best advantage.

1. The Turn-Over.

Sellers of big ticket retail items can benefit from having a system in place so you can turn-over your prospect to another sales representative (or sales manager) if things are not progressing appropriately. A turn over can be particularly helpful in one call close sales situations.

Let’s imagine you sell boats and watercraft, and a couple comes to your store. You spend an hour with them discussing their needs and desires and looking at a product that interests them, but then progress seems to stall. You haven’t been able to develop the rapport that you want, and the relationship between you and your shoppers seems to lack energy.

It’s time to bring someone new into the relationship! Prospects with different personalities sometimes have preferences for salespeople with certain personalities, and your personality may not be the right one for this couple on this day. So bring on “the turn-over!” Here’s how to execute one.

Excuse yourself from your couple and fetch another sales representative or your sales manager. Quickly tell them you want to do a turn-over. Bring him or her back to your prospects and introduce everyone. Then, summarize the action so far: “Megan, this is Linda and Tony, and they’ve been looking at the XRT-100. They really like its [insert feature or specification here], and they have some good friends who have an XRT-90 which they purchased about five years ago. We’ve talked about the [insert feature here] and the [insert feature here] and aren’t sure they would use them.”

Continue the summary until Megan has a very clear picture of what’s going on, and then be quiet. Megan should now take the lead and start asking questions of the couple to either clarify or confirm the information you just shared with Megan and then move ahead with the selling process. You hang out with Megan and the couple for a few minutes while quietly observing. Then, you quietly slip out of the picture. Megan is now the primary sales representative for Linda and Tony and you are free to move on.

Turn-overs need to be a part of the company culture and guidelines in place so everyone knows how to initiate one and how to step into one. It needs to be practiced like any element of selling.

When Linda and Tony buy, you split the commission. Since half commission from a buying customer is better than full commission from a non-buying customer, everyone comes out a winner when a successful turn over is executed.

2. Team Selling

In police work they have “good cop / bad cop.” In selling, we have “team selling.”

“Good cop / bad cop” is used to manipulate a suspect through intimidation and fear, and then removal of that intimidation and fear to achieve the desired result. Although some companies use team selling in a similar manner (to intimidate), team selling can be used in a more comfortable and ethical manner to help move the sales process forward.

Team selling is most effective not when you use it to gang up against your prospect and close the sale through intimidation, but when two salespeople bring different strengths to the table. These strengths might be contrasting personality types, contrasting knowledge, contrasting experience, or something else.

Although the team selling concept can be introduced to your shoppers at the outset of the sales interaction, it’s usually more effective if you wait until some level of trust and rapport exists between an initial salesperson and the prospect. It’s even better to wait until some progress is made at identifying the prospects’ needs and desires.

Here’s a team selling scenario: It’s a slow Tuesday morning at the car lot until prospect Ben enters the store. You greet Ben and introduce yourself. Within a few minutes, Ben feels some level of comfort with you and he’s explaining why he’s there and what he needs.

To begin team selling, you excuse yourself and retrieve the other team member. You bring Rachel into the conversation and introduce him to Ben by saying, “Ben, this is Rachel, and she also has an interest in hybrid vehicles, so she’s going to join us as we chat if you don’t mind.” Rachel and Ben shake hands, Rachel shares some niceties, and if Ben seems amenable to the situation, you have now successfully initiated a team selling initiative.

You selected Rachel for some asset that you yourself don’t possess. It might be her analytical nature, her knowledge, or her killer body, but team selling works best when each team member offers distinct advantages to the conversation.

You and Rachel split the commission for the sale.

3. The Product Expert.

John and Danielle enter your furniture store. You learn that they are looking for a pair of recliners for their new cabin. As you get into the sales interaction, you excuse yourself and bring Charles into the conversation like this:

“Charles, this is Danielle and this is John, and they’re looking for a pair of recliners for their new cabin they purchased on Lake Whisper by Big Falls. Charles and Danielle, I wanted you to meet Charles because nobody knows more about recliners than he does.”

You and Charles continue selling together. Consumers love experts, and the more specialized the expert, the greater the likelihood this will influence your shopper’s decision.

You and Charles split your commission for the sale.

Popularity: 31% [?]

Skip Anderson: So Retail, how have things been going for you since our last session?

Retail: I can’t seem to get better. I’m still feel I’m struggling to make it through this recession.

Skip Anderson: What do you mean?

Retail: I had to lay off people last fall, remember? Well as it turns out, I need to lay off some more if things don’t turn around quickly. And it looks like they’re not going to.

Skip Anderson: What have you tried to turn things around?

Retail: More sales and deeper discounts.

Skip Anderson: Has that gotten you to where you want to go? Is it going to do that for you in the future?

Retail: I don’t know, I just care about making it through this downturn and I’ll worry about the future in the future, you know what I mean?

Skip Anderson: I do, Retail, I do. It sounds like you’re really worried about this. Might you be better off taking a longer-term view of things; that way, maybe you could devise some plans that would do two things: get you through the recession, AND get you to where you want to go down the road. What are your thoughts?

Retail: Well, Skip, none of the other industries are really doing that, so why should I? Look at the transportation industry, for instance. And the auto industry, at least in the U.S., is only doing it because they were forced to do it, kicking and screaming to D.C. to beg for survival and making changes in order to get their bail-out. Would they have done it if they weren’t forced to? Pharmaceuticals, the insurance industry, banking, argh! I can’t change if the others don’t.

Skip Anderson: In previous sessions, Retail, you’ve told me that you were concerned about making it in the future. Does that give you a reason to rethink your position?

Retail: I need to cut costs. Period. Customers just aren’t coming through the doors. And when they do, they’ll only buy the most deeply discounted items.

Skip Anderson: I’m just wondering if you could increase revenue by hiring better sales people. Are there better people out there looking for jobs now, due to this recession?

Retail: I don’t know. I haven’t looked. We took our sales force off of commission eleven years ago. That cut our labor costs almost fifteen percent at the time.

Skip Anderson: Has it improved your sales results?

Retail: In some of my categories it has helped. Look, we can’t pay people on commission any longer. Commission salespeople require better and more training, and in today’s climate, we just can’t afford that.

Skip Anderson: What about in the other categories?

Retail: It hasn’t helped sales results.

Skip Anderson: Would a better trained sales force increase your average ticket?

Retail: Yes, but like I said, we can’t afford to train those people.

Skip Anderson: Sometimes one can’t afford NOT afford to train salespeople, Retail.

Retail: It goes deeper than sales. It’s all about distribution, and pricing concessions from vendors, and smarter marketing spending. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Skip Anderson: I can imagine there are many factors, Retail.

Retail: You’re supposed to be helping me through this! Why are you picking on me about my practices with my sales force?

Skip Anderson: Am I picking on you?

Retail: Look, I’m sorry, it’s just that it’s so confusing. [lays down on sofa]

Skip Anderson: Here, let’s walk through it together. Let’s say I’m a retail shopper, and I’m lucky enough to be able to afford a new dining table and chairs, and I need it because our old one fell apart.

Retail: [sits up quickly] That’s what we need more of! More shoppers like that, please!

Skip Anderson: Okay, but we’ve talked about that before, Retail. You can only create so much demand. At some point, you have to turn your attention to maximizing the results with that shopper, because if you don’t, they’re going to go somewhere else and buy, right?

Retail: Yeah, but like I said before, we just can’t afford to pay these people better, and training is out of the question right now.

Skip Anderson: But what if, by hiring better people, and paying them viable incentives, you get those shoppers to buy from YOU, rather than spend their money elsewhere?

Retail: I can’t afford it.

Skip Anderson: Could you afford it if you moved two or three times the number of units out of your store?

Retail: Yes, but I don’t see that happening.

Skip Anderson: That’s why I’m going to recommend a program we have for you. It’s for business sectors that need intense therapy, more than I can provide once every week or two. It’s a daily group for struggling sectors, and we’ll have time to give you the help you need. It will focus on helping you understand your options. You’ve got options, but when you’re this ill, you just can’t see them. We’ve talked about this before, but you need some more intense therapy to help you with it. Will you start in the program?

Retail: I’ll give it some thought. Do you have a brochure?

Skip Anderson: Retail, tell me what you want to think about.

Retail: How much does it cost?

Skip Anderson: Most insurance covers it, Retail. We can have our business office see if your insurance covers it.

Retail: We’ve cut our insurance benefits, so I don’t know if I’d be covered.

Skip Anderson: If you’re covered, can we move ahead with the program?

Retail: I need to talk to my partner, Online Selling.

Skip Anderson: Sure, that makes sense, Retail. But putting your partner aside for a moment, how do YOU feel about participating in the program?

Retail: I guess it makes sense. But I want to talk to Online Selling and see what she thinks.

Skip Anderson: What do you think Online Selling will say?

Retail: She’ll probably say go ahead.

Skip Anderson: So what you’re telling me is that you think the program makes sense. And you want to talk to your partner, but you think she’ll say go ahead and enroll in the program. So why don’t we get you enrolled today? Talk to your partner when you get home and if she doesn’t agree with it, just call me and we cancel your participation. But I’ll bet she’ll think it’s a good thing for you. Should we sign you up?

Retail: Okay.

Skip Anderson: Here, sign this.

Retail: Okay.

Skip Anderson: See how important sales training is?

Retail: What do you mean?

Skip Anderson: You never would have agreed to participate in the program if I didn’t know how to handle your objections.

Retail: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Skip Anderson: Don’t worry, Retail. It will all become clear once you’re in our sales training program.

Retail: It’s sales training?

Skip Anderson: Yes, it’s sales training. It’s just what the doctor ordered. Welcome to a new chapter in your business.

Retail: I don’t really see myself as a salesperson. I see myself as more of a customer service kind of guy.

Skip Anderson: We’ll get you help, Retail, we’ll get you help.

Popularity: 14% [?]

I’ve worked with thousands of salespeople in my career, first as a salesperson, then as a sales manager, then as a training manager, and now as the owner of my own sales training firm. Like most people in our industry, I’ve seen and worked with wildly successful salespeople, and also major failures. What makes the difference between a successful sales career and an unsuccessful sales career?

The truth is, there isn’t one factor, or trait, or skill set that will set you apart from all the others in your company or your industry. There’s a combination of qualities that, when combined, will yield exceptional sales results. I call this group of traits the “12 Qualities of a Wildly Successful Salesperson.”

While a discussion of all twelve isn’t appropriate in one blog article, we can do a nice job of discussing the first quality of the twelve: “A Burning Desire to Make Sales.”

The following are ten sales candidates with ten different secret points-of-view, along with accompanying strengths. Let’s imagine they’ve all applied for a sales position with your company, Mr. or Ms. Sales Manager. Read over the brief descriptions and decide which one you would hire.

I suggest you hire the first one:

Sales Candidate #1: Melissa is always looking for sources of revenue. She loves the thrill of closing the deal, and doesn’t feel complete unless she experiences that thrill on a very regular basis. She plays well with others, but knows when to break away. She follows the rules unless they stand in the way of a sale. She likes her customers but can put them in her place. She is driven by the desire to make sales happen.

Sales Candidate #2: Josie loves to be part of a group. She loved her last job where she and her seven colleagues would get together for potluck lunches and go out after work. She’s a joiner. Her motto? If I have to spend this much time at work, I want to have fun and enjoy the people I work with.” Josie is driven by relationships with coworkers and the feelings they create.

Sales Candidate #3: Martin is passionate about his product. He was a customer before he became a salesperson. He loves widgets. He’s sold them for 15 years now, and knows as much about widgets as just about anybody does. He knows all the product details, history, and information that other salespeople, and sometimes customers, look for. He’s driven by accumulating product and technical knowledge and sharing it with others.

Sales Candidate #4: Lexi is a helper. Lexi loves to be helpful, both to her coworkers and her customers. She’ll go out of her way to assist someone in need. “Compassion” is her middle name, and she shows it not only with her words, but also with her actions. She’ll spend her own time, and sometimes her own money, to solve a problem for a customer. She believes she was put on this earth to be helpful, and she lives this belief every day.

Sales Candidate #5: David is a great follower. If you need something done, you can ask David to do it knowing that it will be completed correctly and on time. He follows up on all sales and non-sales issues as appropriate. His talent is taking direction, and manager’s love him. He is reliable and steady, and does what he says he’s going to do. David is driven by making his manager happy.

Sales Candidate #6: Lenny loves people. He lights up a room with his charisma, good looks, and smile. You can often hear him laughing in the company’s facility, in the distance and often. He likes positive environments, loves people, and almost always has a positive take on things. He has a joyful outlook on life, and is happy to be here…or anywhere! Lenny derives great energy from being around others and prefers being around people to just about anything else. He’s always on the phone, out for lunch, or with someone. Lenny is driven to have contact with others.

Sales Candidate #7: Patty has a great sense of humor. Patty is a jokester who can’t pass up an opportunity to pull a prank, tell a joke, or make a sarcastic comment underneath her breath. She’s the life of the party, always seeking attention and usually getting it. People love her natural style, and she seems very comfortable in her body. Patty believes few situations can’t be made better with a little humor mixed in.

Sales Candidate #8: Lynn is the most organized salesperson in her current company. Lynn has the cleanest desk in the world. She’s created her own filing system and task lists. She knows where everything is and gets frustrated if someone comes in and screws up her system. She’s methodical and practical. She needs structure to get her job done. She’s driven by achieving order.

Sales Candidate #9: Liz has the traits of your company’s customer. Your company sells high end widgets to female consumers, and she’s purchased lots of widgets herself. Her husband is an executive in a well-paying job, and she spends her time with the right crowd. Money isn’t usually an object for her, so she thought it would be fun to sell widgets since she buys them all the time anyway. Liz is driven by owning widgets, just like your customers are.

Sales Candidate #10: Reese is a big talker. She always has a story to tell about a big sale she made or a deal in the works. She knows all the other competitors and knows who works where and why they left or why they hired every employee. She has her finger on the pulse of the industry, and she talks about everybody. Reese is driven by the attention she receives from knowing inside information.

- – - – - – - –

The truth is: any one of these candidates might make a fantastic salesperson. But, based upon the limited information provided about each one, I would be most excited about interviewing the first candidate, Melissa. Many other negative traits can be overcome, but if a salesperson doesn’t possess a core-level desire to make sales, other things will always come first, and sales will come second, and that’s not good.

If you want selling to come first in your sales in themployees, hire salespeople who put selling first. It’s who they are. It’s part of their DNA. Almost all top performers in athletics, business, and entertainment are there because of their burning passion and desire to make it bigeir chosen field. Selling is no different.

Burning desire is the difference that makes the difference in achieving selling success.

Popularity: 12% [?]

I was fortunate enough to start acting at a fairly early age by participating in school plays. As a senior in high school, I was presented with the “Best Actor” award at a state drama contest. I went on to begin college as a theater minor, and have since appeared in many theatrical productions.

Now, I’m no Anthony Hopkins, but training in acting and theater has definitely enhanced my sales career. With one foot in the world of theater and the other in the realm of business, I offer a dozen suggestions to help you perform effective sales presentations.

1. Speak deliberately.

When an experienced actor first begins to stage rehearsals, they are repeatedly reminded by the director to slow down their pace of speech. Speech carries differently on stage in a theater than it does in normal every day conversation, so it requires a different pace that is suited to the environment.

Although a great sales presentation can be very conversational in style, an effective sales presentation often requires more deliberate speech than does a regular chit-chat around your family’s dinner table or with coworkers at the water cooler. Speak deliberately.

2. Know your script.

Maybe your “script” hasn’t been created word-for-word (although in some cases it probably should be!), but you still have to know your backwards and forwards the essence of what you are going to say. Actors, above and beyond all else, are a purposeful lot. Whereas many salespeople fly by the seats of their pants, actors prepare, prepare, and prepare some more to create the desired performance. Know what you are going to say and how you’re going to say it.

3. Edit when necessary.

Playwrights are likely frustrated by this, but directors may edit scripts to meet needs of a particular time, place, audience, or actor, or may unilaterally and subjectively attempt to improve a script. Salespeople need to do that editing work, too. Just because words automatically come out of your mouth doesn’t mean they’re the best words for that particular situation. Select the words that will create the results you want.

And if your words don’t have a clear purpose in your sales presentation, leave them out. Wasted words create distraction.

4. Know your character.

Is it important to be yourself during a sales presentation?

Yes (see #12). But it is also important to become the character that can achieve the desired sales result. The “self” has so many facets in everyday life that we all play many different roles anyway. Depending upon many factors, we choose roles to play throughout our lives. Don’t be a one character salesperson. Be the right character at the right time.

Understand the role you’re playing in each and every sales presentation. At times, this role will change slightly or greatly depending upon who you’re presenting to, or depending upon what product you’re presenting, or even depending upon external factors (a sales presentation in much of the world the day after 9/11 would probably be much different than one the day after New Year’s Day).

5. Make eye contact work for you.

Draw prospects into your presentation with your eyes. Look at all participants, and time your direct eye contact appropriately to achieve the desired effect. One difference between movie acting and theatrical acting is that on-stage performers can more easily utilize effective eye contact. Even with hundreds or thousands of people in an audience, a skilled stage actor can use eye contact to create a memorable performance.

6. Position your body where it will have the most impact.

Stage actors spend hours working with directors to determine appropriate placement on stage for any given scene or portion of a scene. Salespeople should also create proper placement during a sales presentation.

You’re at the kitchen table with your husband and wife prospects? Sit or stand where it will have the most impact. You’re in a retail store at your widget display? Do the same thing. Meeting someone for a consultation in their office? The same applies.

7. Use appropriate body movements

Body movement can capture the attention of your prospects. Just as a struggling actor might work with a movement coach to refine on-stage motions, salespeople should create motions that are effective and seamless. Our body is really the only thing we have control over, so take control and create movements that will enhance your presentation.

8. Don’t just speak. Tell a story.

Don’t just present information, facts, figures, details, terms, product information, technical specifications and the like, but morph this information into a story-like journey. Create a theatrical presentation that leaves them wanting more. A closed deal is the salesperson’s standing ovation.

9. Create some drama.

What creates drama in a sales presentation? Pauses. Unexpected verbiage. Contrast. Twists and turns. Gestures. Stories. Anticipation. Tension. Intrigue. Humor. Suspense.

10. Know when to give the spotlight to someone else.

Most often, this would be to your prospect, but it could be a team seller, the prospect’s infant crying in the stroller, or the soup boiling over on the stove. Rarely do actors get to have the spotlight throughout an entire performance. Although the presentation phase of the selling process is the seller’s time to be “on stage,” sellers must understand that they sometimes have to share the stage with others.

11. Engineer an emotional response

Theatrical presentations can be merely entertaining, and that’s not a bad thing, but the best productions I’ve seen have touched my emotions in some way. The range of emotions residing in human beings is endless, and we can tap into those emotions to help our sales presentations have tremendous impact.

It’s not that we want our prospects to break down in tears in mid-presentation (or maybe we do!), but subtle presentation nuances can spark emotions which serve to engage prospects in our presentation, and therefore help us to more effectively position our product to meet stated and unstated customer needs.

12. Let the uniqueness of you show through.

Different actors play different roles differently. It’s fascinating to see two different actors play the same character in different productions. Each actor brings to their stage a distinct blend of personal traits and a unique point-of-view which shapes their performance. When presenting, don’t forget to let you show through.

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Actors act and we buy their act. Some salespeople may feel that acting is artificial, or perhaps manipulative. I disagree. As consumers, we gladly pay money to watch actors act on stage and screen, and we don’t care that they might be different than the character they’re playing. In fact, we embrace it. I think salespeople should embrace the premise that presenting is partially acting, and utilizing some of the principles of acting can help create convincing and compelling experiences for their prospects, and in doing so, create improved sales performance.

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This is what I overheard last week: “I had this bozo stop at my home yesterday from [company name]. He gave me a sales pitch for his new [product name]. Unfortunately, he threw four balls and no strikes so I took him out of the game and asked him to leave. All he cared about was his product, not about us.”

And so goes the role of the “sales pitch” in selling. A sales pitch, to me, has a negative connotation and I don’t like using the term.

What is a “Sales Pitch?”

Wordnet gives the definition of “sales pitch” as “promotion by means of an argument and demonstration.”

That doesn’t sound very appealing (at least from the customer’s point-of-view it doesn’t). A demonstration sounds like it might be okay (especially if the product or service being demonstrated is applicable to the particular needs and desires of the prospect), but an “argument”? I’d pass on becoming part of an “argument” with a salesperson if I were a customer.

An “argument” is a principle of debate where one side presents an argument in favor of a proposition before the opposing side presents their argument against the same proposition. These arguments are very one-sided by design: The opposing debate team is required to passively listen to the argument made by the first team before the opposing team gets its turn to present their argument. Is there anything about these dynamics that we want to associate with the selling process of a professional salesperson? I say “definitely not!”

Wiktionary provides this definition of sales pitch: “Remarks or demonstrations intended to persuade a customer to make a purchase especially when vigorously delivered or exaggerated.”

There’s nothing I like more than an exaggerated salesperson – except maybe a vigorous exaggerated salesperson (are you picking up on my sarcasm?).

Vigorous exaggeration may work well for Billy Mays in his role as a TV direct response “pitch man,” but there are few similarities between what most of us do in our role as a salesperson with what Mr. Mays does on TV [Just for fun, here’s a Billy Mays video remix for your viewing pleasure].

Ditch Your Pitch

If you want to do infomercials, pitch away. I’m sure Billy makes lots of money doing what he does because for some reason he gets people to pick up the phone to order his goods.

But if you want to be a non-infomercial sales professional, ditch your pitch. Cast aside your tendency to pitch and replace it with the skills to engage, learn, and connect with your prospects. The world is full of salespeople who talk only about themselves, their product, and their company. That’s pitching. Focus on your prospect instead: what they need and what they desire (even if they don’t know what that is).

Selling is finding your prospect, engaging your prospect, learning what will cause your prospect to give you money, presenting your product within the framework of the prospect’s needs, completing the sale, getting referrals, creating trust, being likeable, persistence, managing rejection, being helpful, being perceptive, having a burning desire to sell more, and so much more. It’s not about “pitching.”

I recently coached a salesperson who had memorized his sales script and was reciting it during his sales appointments. I’m not against sales scripts. They can be very helpful in appropriate selling circumstances. What I’m against are scripts that don’t allow (or encourage) customer engagement. If a customer is relegated to the role of passive observer during the sales interaction, how possibly can a salesperson sell effectively? And how can a customer buy effectively?

Unfortunately, a large portion of the consuming public views salespeople as nothing more than self-serving pitch men and women. Customers have been talked at long enough. It’s time we start listening and engaging instead.

So ditch your pitch. Sell instead. Selling requires a different skill set than pitching.

Tennis, anyone?

In baseball, the pitcher pitches the ball to the batter. It’s a contest: either the pitcher or the batter will win. When pitching to a batter, you’re doing something to the batter.

But in selling, you’re doing something with, not to, the prospect (at least in the type of professional selling to which I wish to be associated). Both parties can and should win: seller and customer.

I think a better sports analogy for selling than the pitching analogy is playing doubles tennis: you and your partner work together to get the job done. Playing doubles takes coordination, understanding, respect, trust, and knowledge (all helpful things in selling with a prospect) as you work together to achieve a common goal.

[Billy Mays is obviously very successful at what he does. As a raging entrepreneur, I say, "Awesome, Billy!" But as a sales trainer, there's a much better way to sell to prospects during face to face sales interactions. If you see yourself as a pitch man, I ask you to ditch your pitch!]

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Prospects often ask questions throughout the buying process. Sometimes these questions are simple, other times complex. The most common reason prospects ask us these questions is because they have an interest in our product or service, and they want to learn more about it or about us. But there are other reasons these questions are raised, too.

Beware of questions asked…

…to fill time. When I was a sales representative, I had a customer (a husband) ask me a series of interesting questions during my sales appointment in his home. His wife couldn’t be at the appointment, and I had to run the appointment according to my manager, so I had to make the best of this so-called “one legged” appointment. To make a long story short, he ended up not buying from me. I was able to find out the reason for his decision, and this was it: He wasn’t interested in my product (not just from me and my company, but from any supplier).

As it turns out, Mr. Dutiful Husband was following the directions his wife gave him, which were to spend two hours talking to me about my product, even though he didn’t want to invest in this product.

…to be polite. In Minnesota, we have a phenomenon that has been called Minnesota Nice. This is when someone is seemingly kind to another person, but not genuinely so. In Minnesota, salespeople have to be careful because people will show interest in a product even if they’re not interested in it; they do this to be nice and neighborly and to not offend. Then, when they don’t buy, these Minnesotans don’t come right out and say, “I’m not interested.” Instead, they say, “We’ll have to think it over, you know.”

Fifteen phone messages later, you finally find out that they had no intention from buying from you because the customer built the garage addition himself.

In my travels, I’ve learned that Minnesota Nice could also be called Colorado Nice or California Nice or Florida Nice or maybe even Winnipeg nice (albeit maybe to a lesser extent than we experience here in Minnesota). Some customers have trouble behaving assertively, so they behave nicely instead.

…to shop you. Wise competitors will shop you to find out more about your product, your operations, and your pricing. I’ve caught many competitors shopping me because red flags were raised by their [too] many questions.

…because they enjoy your company. I’ve seen lots of prospects who enjoy talking to salespeople. They really get into it. When they find someone they like at car dealership, they’ll chit-chat, and they’ll do it for a long time. They enjoy the attention, the fun, the humor, and the connection with another human being – even if they aren’t going to buy their product.

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Many of the corporate clients I work with have a sales process in place with their sales representatives, but the process doesn’t necessarily get them to where they want to go. In many cases, these processes have been in place for years, and either haven’t been managed well enough, or tweaked sufficiently, to maximize results. In some cases, the existing sales process is ill-conceived and should be scrapped.

Virtually every corporate client I’ve ever worked for has known where they want to go…but their challenge is getting there.

Some of the individuals I work with as a sales coach often haven’t effectively segmentized their sales interactions into manageable pieces, or steps. Some view a sales interaction as a casual conversation between two people, similar to the type of conversation you might have with a new friend in a pub. Some view the sales interaction as an opportunity to present their own thirty minute infomercial. But selling is more than casual conversation and infomercial-like presentations.

Processes: Part of Everyday Life

Successfully building a home requires a reliable process. So does going on vacation, making dinner, and having a baby.

An individual I once met had acted as contractor when he built home. He did much of the work himself. In a daze of tiredness and less-than-clear thinking, he attached drywall to the framing of his home. Suddenly, he realized that the home hadn’t completed the wiring phase of construction. This is incredible, but true. This guy used a process, but he didn’t use the right process to get the end result he was looking for. He had to remove the drywall so the wiring could be completed and the inspector could do his inspection.

In cooking, making a roux with butter and flour and then gradually adding liquid (chicken stock, cream, or whatever) will yield a smooth and silky liquid which can be used as the base for a soup or sauce. But if you were to add the liquid to the butter first, and then add the flour, you’ll end up with a goopy, lumpy mess that wouldn’t be fit for human consumption. Order matters, and the correct steps matter if you want the result to be a delicious dish.

I have an eight-year-old daughter who I love very much. But she only came to be because my wife and I followed a time-tested and proven process for having a baby. This is amazing, since, despite otherwise stellar academic records in college and graduate school, both my wife and I received a grade of “D” in Human Sexuality class in college (two different schools at two different times – clearly, we were meant for each other).

Thank God we figured out the correct process to get the job done.

Selling also requires a correct process to get the job done.

The Secret to a Successful Sales Process

So what makes a sales process a successful sales process? It creates sales momentum.

Each step in your selling process must create sales momentum which will in turn propel your prospect into the next step of the process. Without the presence of this momentum, sales will suffer, prospects will lose interest or get distracted, and maximum sales performance will never be the order of the day.

A Process that Didn’t Work

I invited a company to my home a number of years ago to give me an estimate on a custom in-home product. The sales call lasted two hours, and the first forty-five minutes of the sales call was a presentation of their product with the underlying message of “we’re the best…we know what we’re doing…we have a product you’ll love.”

The problem was this: this process didn’t propel me into the next step of the process, which was designing this custom product to fit my needs. When you’re caught up in nuts and bolts instead of needs and desires, you may be propelling your prospect into the “If it’s so good, perhaps I can’t afford it” mindset. This is the antithesis of sales momentum.

First, the salesperson didn’t show any interest in me, my home, or my needs. He only showed an interest in his product. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to create sales momentum without interest in your prospect.

Secondly, their order was wrong. They thought I wanted to learn about their product. I didn’t. [I would argue that, although many prospects think that’s what they want, they really don’t. They want their needs met.]

Does Your Process Work for You?

Analyze your selling process to see if your prospects are comfortably catapulted into the next step of your process. If they are, you’ve probably got a viable sales process in place. But if the prospect too often backs out, your process might need some re-engineering.

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