Customer engagement is a hot topic.  Thousands of articles present their “secret decoder rings” about customer engagement.  Sales and marketing people get into serious conversations about customer engagement.  Lots of it is good stuff, but I always wonder, “What’s all the fuss about?”

Somehow, there seem to me to be a couple of fundamentals to customer engagement:

• Get the customers to talk about themselves, what they do, and what they want to do.
• Talk to customers about what they want to talk about.

People like talking about themselves and what they do.  They like to have an audience that is genuinely interested in them.  They listen to things they are interested in.

If it’s so easy, why is it so difficult for sales people to do?  I think there are a bunch of reasons:

• The same rules apply to us, we like talking about ourselves, we like talking about what we do.  What makes it worse, is that we’ve been professionally trained to do this, so the urge to pitch, present our products, talk about our solutions overwhelms us.  We take over the conversation and put our mouths into autopilot.
• We’re goal directed and focused on winning deals.  Part of what makes sales people great is the overwhelming desire to win–to close the deal.  Point us to a customer, we’ll charge ahead, 200mph (330+kph for some of you).  We want to achieve our goals.
• We’re time pressured, we have more to get done than we have time to do it.  We jump to action, trying to move deals aggressively through the funnel.  The talk button gets pushed, and we go.

Focusing on what the customer is interested in and talking to them about that is the secret to customer engagement.  When we let the customer talk about their issues and goals, when they can tell us their problems, when we probe to understand how these issues impact them, we engage them.  Think about when someone has done this with you.  Suddenly you think, “Here’s a person interested in me and what I have to say,”  “Here’s someone that really wants to understand my point of view,”  “Here’s someone who is telling me things I am interested about–that can help me.” 

Things change when we’ve engaged the customer.  We get into conversations where we are really listening to each other.  The relationship deepens, trust levels go up.   

Engaging the customer makes our job of selling much easier.  First, the customer has laid out a road map for us–they’ve told us what they are trying to do, what alternatives they are considering, how they will make the decision.  All we have to do is respond to what they’ve said, demonstrating our solution is superior to all other alternatives.

Engaging the customer isn’t really that difficult, it’s putting them first, being interested in them and what concerns them, and encouraging them to talk about it.

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Engaging with potential clients is one of those things that requires sales people to both suck and blow at the same time; not easy, but doable.

On the one hand you want to be client focused, thinking less about the ultimate sale and more about fully engaging with the buyer. This involves a full Discovery of the buyer’s objectives and environment, and more.  On the other hand, you also need to drive revenue for your company, acquiring new accounts which by nature are either already buying from someone else, or are not buyers at the moment you are trying to engage them.

The bridge between the two is in the preparation in advance of the initial call, and the entire Discovery process.  At the minimum you have to have a strong grasp of two things, first the specific value your product or service has delivered to other organizations similar to the buyer you are trying to engage.  Second, understand the specific issues and objectives your buyer is dealing with and is trying to achieve.  These two are not sequential, but unfold in a single flow, this is key, because you have to allow the buyer to get involved, engaged, which means you need to adopt a fluid approach rather than a linear step by step approach.  How do you do that?  Once you have handle on these you then need to connect them by formulating questions, the kind of questions that will indeed fully engage the buyer, not just get them interested, but engaged as in wanting to go further with process on their own rather than being pulled along.

We all know and accept that questions are the tools for success in engaging clients.  Questions, the right questions, get people to reflect and think, and once you get them thinking about something relevant to them, they respond and add questions of their own, which leads to conversation and engagement. 

The first, knowing successes and value delivered may seem easy, but there is more to it than many sales people are willing to do.  Most will rely on leveraging the “value propositions” prepared marketing departments.  Good start, but often too high level, you need to spend time and understand what the specific outcomes for your clients have been and talk to those.  The more quantifiable you can make it the better.  Now here is the twist, once you know, you have to develop a questioning routine that will raise the issue you want to target, and in he conversation that ensues you will be in a position to “demonstrate” (this is why specifics and quantifiable, data based examples are needed) the value, and get the customer to engage.

The second helps you set up questions that will help the results captured above resonate with potential buyers.  People often talk about solutions, but by definition, solutions address a objective, or in common sales speak, a “need”, a “pain”, etc.  Unless you talk to issues that are core to the buyer, they will not give you the opportunity to engage, because they will not want to have a conversation about things that are not core to them then and there, they have too many other things to do.  Either you talk about things on top of their hit parade, or you won’t be talking for long, which is not engaging.

When you are able to combine and maser these two, you will find two things.  One is that you will feel much more confident in your approach and resulting conversation.  Second you will be in a much better position to truly listen to the buyer, which makes for better conversation and by extension engagement.  When you have these under control your interview technique will evolve to where instead of thinking about what you are going to say next, you will be listening to the other person, and thinking what you can ask next based on what they said and your experience.  As a result each question builds engagement.  Feel free to contact me if you would like specific examples of this technique.

The process is straight forward, but don’t take that to mean easy.  It requires that you understand where you have delivered specific value to your customers, why they buy from you, what makes you different, and why despite of price or other factors you continue to win deals.  I guess what I am saying is you will have to do some work, talk to existing clients, understand trends, and be aware of business or role based issues.  But once you do the work, and get into the habit of understanding what makes you successful, it will pay dividends.

One last thought, if you are a new sales person, or new to a product line, you can still use this, you just have to use some of your colleagues and some of their clients to learn the data.  In some cases you can use testimonials or case studies, but just make sure they have some meat, as opposed to high level flowery statements.  Talk to the successful sales people to understand what the issues facing buyers are, talk to existing clients, even if you just adopted them, hey, they will se it as customer care, someone taking an interest in their world and trying to sell something right then and there, wow.  The goal is to learn, prepare, review, and do it again, often.

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In the context of selling, to me “Engagement” means to connect with customers.  To establish a relationship with the customer and agree to various next steps toward mutually agreeable goals.

There is plenty of wisdom and advice out there about the three main segments in the life of an engagement with a customer:  Targeting and making contact to get engaged; deepening the engagement, establishing trust, agreeing to mutual goals, etc.; maintaining the engagement or nurturing the relationship after the “sale”.

Much technology has been introduced in recent years to make the “getting engaged” stage more efficient.  “Attraction marketing”, web search optimization, etc.  Today a smart organization can structure things such that the sales person’s first one to one contact with a prospect comes only when the prospect is ready to get engaged and after they’ve proven themselves “worthy”, in the sense that they’re “qualified”.

Of course, a smart sales organization can also employ social networks to get connected with hard to reach prospects and to perform pre-call research on prospects.  Again, the idea is that when you first get on the phone with the prospect, you know very much about them at a business and personal level.  Ultra-busy executives expect sales people to have already figured out what their company needs from them and why before there’s ever a meeting.  When I was still wet behind the ears and plying my trade in the energy business, I’d spend weeks and weeks talking to engineers, geologists and mid level managers to get the entire picture before meeting with the VP.  Now making all those connections and putting the big picture together takes far less time.

And then we can leverage email marketing, newsletters, online events, etc. to maintain engagement with customers after the sale.

But in my humble opinion, while all this technology can certainly save time and increase “connections”, it will just lead to more “pseudo-relationships” if the sales person does not then take advantage of the opportunity to REALLY engage with the customer.  In other words, we’re using our web based crm software, LinkedIn connections, website offers and conversion forms and other technology to filter through many possible prospects and find the few that are a good match for our companies.  That’s keeping us separated from one to one contact with customers (phone, in person) until we’re confident our investment of one to one time will be profitable.

So, when that phone appointment or in person meeting comes around, we have to work even harder to truly connect with the prospect.  Just having done your research ahead of time isn’t enough either.  After all, that’s expected.  You won’t be seen as unique or special just because you know what you’re talking about.

The word engagement is more commonly used to refer to a commitment marry.  Well, short of a love relationship, we do desire a very close relationship with our customers don’t we?  Don’t worry, this isn’t going to get weird…

I’m just pointing out that the most loyal customers are those that respect you and your company and have a high level of trust in you.  These are things that no amount of technology can create by themselves.

I’m a big fan of the Og Mandino classic, “The Greatest Salesman in the World“.  If you haven’t read it, you’ll be glad you did.  It’s more of a story than a self help book and it’s very brief.  Two qualities I admire in a book!  The theme of The Greatest Salesman in the World is that the person who puts the needs of others before his own will in turn see his needs and dreams fulfilled beyond his wildest dreams.

And that is how I believe you get engaged with customers and stay that way.  You show up ready to help them.  Of course, you should be ready to help through your company’s products and services but, you should be equally, and perhaps a bit more-so, willing to help in non-business related ways.

First, you have to listen and learn what they need.  This is where your research and preparation can help.  Not everyone is willing to open up and share their most painful and pressing needs on the first meeting.  Smart questions based on your research can earn respect and your willingness to listen and show empathy will earn trust.

Then its about closing the deal on respect.  If your conversation has illuminated some what that you can help, then offer it and be sure to over deliver.  This is where it really can be best to find non-business needs of the prospect.  Are they chairing a fund raiser?  You could offer money but, even better to volunteer to help out with the preparations or the event itself.  Is their kid starting to investigate colleges?  Offer to contact your alma mater and arrange a personal tour.

This may sound calculating and certainly could become so.  The real idea is to open your mind and your heart to hearing what each person really wants and needs.  The right way to be there for them will appear.  You’ll know if you’re doing it right.  Just like you know in your first couple of dates if this could be “the one”.  You’ll know that the feeling of genuineness between you is real and that it is invaluable and everlasting.

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There’s a dozen bad analogies about selling and sex.

All that “take it slow” and “close the deal” double-entendre that is a distraction from the real task of explaining how you need to expertly engage your customers.

See.  That’s the real issue — engaging with you prospects, leads, and customers.

Getting past the nonsense.

Now when I say engage, what’s the first thing that pops into your head?

You probably think of engagement, right?

And if you know anything about that, then you know pretty much all you need to know to build a ridiculously amazing relationship with your “soon to be” customers.

Engagement isn’t so much an act as it is a process.  You don’t walk up to random hotties and ask them to marry you (unless you happen to be vacationing in Vegas).  While it might make a great National Lampoon storyline, it’s pretty darn creepy.

Aren’t you appalled?

The same applies to your sales process.  Have some standards, people…  You’re not out to whore yourself out to anyone who will pay for your services. Despite what your sales manager just told you, you don’t want to land every deal.

Some them flat out stink.  They’re the craznots of your pipeline.  You bust your ass to bring them in and then you regret ever cashing their check.  Some customers are too much trouble to bother with.

So stop acting like a chump and start planning  to put in the effort to romance the customers that you want.

Do something about it.

Here are few ways to do a better job of romancing your customers:

1. Be clear about what you expect from your customer
2. Be careful that you don’t sacrifice your standards
3. Be choosy about who you are targeting with your messaging
4. Be complete about your research of each prospect
5. Be captivating with your messaging
6. Be concerned about your prospect’s success
7. Be casual with powerhouse cold-calling script
8. Be courageous with your goals for closing
9. Be crisp and timely with your follow-up
10. Be comprehensive in your strategy

And there are three dozen more life lessons that I could offer you as you work towards a better concept of engaging your customers.

Drop the crazies.

Find some real customers to start dealing with…

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Many businesses, organizations and professional sales people believe the first contact is where the engagement between the potential customer (a.k.a. prospect) begins and this may be why 30% to 70% of all sales targets are missed. This engagement also begins before what some call the Points of Connection which are those points that are seen, touched, heard, smelled, tasted or felt by your target audience.

Customer engagement begins with you and your ability to demonstrate your value because people buy from people they know and trust.  Until you can prove your worth, which is what value really is that being the worth of something, then and only then can you showcase the value of your products and services.

We have all heard about sales professionals who can sell igloos to Eskimos. These are the folks who can truly sell value. I realized this once again when attending a local airplane show sponsored by The Collings Foundation I heard and saw a lot about this misunderstood word of value and specifically value selling.

One overheard comment was “I cannot believe he paid $20,000 for a rotary engine for a $3,000 plane!” The salesperson who sold this $20,000 rotary engine understood his or her selling value to the owner and pilot of this home built airplane as well as the value of the engine in relationship to the plane and its performance.

Another instance of worth was the 30-minute ride in a P51 pursuit aircraft where the rider could actually fly the plane because it was the only aircraft of its type still operational with dual controls. This $2,200 ticket price was literally priceless to the WWII pilot who had flown 94 missions between the P40 (Flying Tigers) and the P51 (Mustang) in the Pacific Theater. When he came down from what could possibly be his last opportunity to relive those memories of over 60 years ago was indeed priceless.

For the others who took this rather expensive flight, their value beyond the experience of flying a $1,000,000 aircraft with a 1,800 horsepower engine that with just a little pressure on the throttle (stick) had the plane up or down 200 feet was being able to ledger the flight time into their log books.  For how many pilots in the 21st century have logged 30 minutes on a P51 Mustang?  Very few. Again, the worth of this investment was incalculable because of value selling.

So what worth or value do you as a professional salesperson, bring to your customers or potential customers?  Can you identify the specific behaviors that help you to determine that value?

For example, let’s imagine for a moment you that are a consultant or better yet an executive sales coach who has been contacted via email because of the offer for a free strategy session that you placed somewhere on the Internet.  The sales lead leaves his or her full contact information including name, phone number and company. What is the first behavior you demonstrate?

Many might say call the prospect because leads get cold at the speed of light. This fact has been documented by sales leads research to be true. Customer engagement potential opportunities are essentially hot to warm in 10-30 minutes.  However, what would happen if you quickly invested 5 minutes to research this person and his or her organization using:

• LinkedIn?
• Facebook?
• Twitter?
• Google?

Sales Training Coaching Tip: You should already have knowledge about the industry given your marketing message and where it appears on the Internet.

Then when you made the returned call you had some knowledge about the person on the other end.  Even if you are forced to leave a voice mail, you can follow up with an email.

Of course this knowledge alone may not demonstrate value selling.  So what would you say or write to engage that person?

My answer to that question is “What do you specifically wish to discuss?” I then would add, “Would our conversation be about your business, your people or yourself?  By answering this question ensures your time is well invested.”

As Jill Konrath has noted in her just released book, SNAP Selling, people are very busy, almost “crazy busy” as she puts it.  This is why showcasing the value you bring to the table before that very first returned contact is so critical to you eventually achieving the goal to increase sales.

The truly top performing sales people have the talent intelligence to be able to successfully peel away the value from the need.  Think of value has the pulp of the fruit such as a banana. The yellow skin comprises all of the needs.  Since you already know the banana is a fruit, this is your knowledge about the:

• Customer
• Organization
• Industry
• Traditional challenges
• Marketplace
• Trends
• Competition

Then your only challenge is to be careful not to slip on the discarded banana peel (disengage the customer) as you walk through this selling phase of the overall sales process.  When you can appreciate and articulate your worth nd then the worth of your products and services, you will find yourself engaging a lot more prospects by selling value and then realizing your goal to increase sales.

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Engaging with new customers has always reminded me of a fine musician approaching an new piece of music or composition, there is a delicate balance of forces, energies and expectations.  Add to that the fact that these emanate from and impact multiple participants in the process, the musician, the composer and the audience.

Playing the role of the musician is the sales professional.  He has to balance his knowledge of the market, product and selling with the fact that he does not want to push the prospect or over sell.  As a result a great challenge a rep has is to first master each of the above, if he is weak in any of the above, the balance cannot be achieved and you have a bad engagement and sale.  Often this is the case, some reps have strong product knowledge, but lack basic sales skills, which alienates the buyer, and causes the engagement to either go bad, or the sale to take much longer than it should.  We always tell sales people and sales leaders that sales is a lot like music in that you need to master the basics, just eight notes, before you can be great.  Even Charlie Parker and Ian Anderson had to learn those before they could wail and improvise like they do.

Even after the musician/seller has honed his skills, for both a never ending process, they need to sit down and learn each piece, interpret it with in the confines of the composer’s original, and then set out a plan.  The plan needs then to be executed, and reviewed, and revised, and repeated. 

The other big thing that links good musicians and good sales professionals is practice, practice and more practice.  This is one of the real things that separate great sales people, their willingness, in fact need to practice, get better and not rest on their laurels.  Always adding to their repertoire, i.e. new prospects – new clients – new genres.

Playing the role of the composer is the company and sales organization.  They like the composer have specific vision and expectations from the music, read product, and the sales person.  Consider revenue targets, market share, company image/reputation, and more.  While these might be easily communicated, but alas, unless you play the piece yourself, it is always open to interpretation, by the musician and the audience.  Short of doing it doing/playing it themselves, they need to ensure that there is a proper and evolving sales process in place, clearly documented, a sheet music, so that improvisation is limited to those things that add to the sale rather than detract from it.

Finally the role of the audience is left to the buyer, looking to be entertained, but not always clear on what they want.  Even when they know which music the want to or need to hear, they have choice, sometimes too much choice, which may lead to confusion or just a resignation to stick to what they know: the status quo.

So as the lights dim, the excitement builds as the sales professional takes the stage and begins the process of creating the balance, the dynamic tension that when performed properly not only entertains, but draws the audience in, involves them in a shared vision with the player and the composer.  When the balance is struck, the crescendo leads to an equally great experience for all three participants.  You know, on a good night Frank Zappa could have sold me anything.

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