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“So what do you do?” they ask. You’re prepared (or at least you think you are). You know this “elevator speech” shouldn’t be more than 30 seconds. You even practiced the skill at some workshop you attended last year.
I‘m a sales manager for ABC, you start off.
With seconds left, you explain more: ABC has/offers/can do X and Y and Z and… you go on until your 30 seconds are up, or their eyes glaze over.
Stop. Now. Be smart!
Do you really think they want to know what you do? They want to know how they can relate to you. (Think of the Twitter question: What’s Happening? Do tweet peeps want to know exactly that? No! They want to know what’s happening that they’ll find interesting, helpful, useful!)
An elevator speech was so named because it was everything you could talk about before the elevator reached the other person’s floor. The (outdated) thinking was that you may have only one shot so spew it all out. Instead think of your response not as a data dump but as a conversation starter.
This approach works:
1. As soon as someone asks you a question about yourself: Thank them. This disarms them. They realize you aren’t launching into a memorized speech.
3. Next, engage them by asking a question they can relate to. Example:
Hi (hand extended). My name is Michael.
Hi Michael, Sue. Sue Hershkowitz-Coore.
Michael: So, what do you do? (By this time, he may have forgotten my name.)
Me: Thanks for asking! You know how companies are always looking for ways to keep their sales people motivated and focused on selling?
Michael: Uh-huh.
Me: That’s what I do.
Michael: Really. Tell me more. (Or maybe, Huh [thoughtfully]. We just had someone come in to work with our team and…)
Whatever Michael says next will allow me to continue a customer/prospect/other person-centric conversation. Try it because the elevator is out of order.
Want help with your conversation starter? Respond here. Then, tell me why your best customers use your services or buy your products. I’ll help you figure out your conversation starter so you’ll never lose business again. And when others see what we do, they’ll learn too.
Your comments about this morning’s post are wonderful! I can’t respond directly through Twitter or FB, though this blog seems to make it through the government scrubbing.
There are many wonderful customs here in China. At dinner, a tiny amount of wine is poured and to drink it, you must toast someone. Because there is only a sip’s full of wine, everyone keeps toasting everyone throughout the meal. Instead of interrupting the flow of the multi-course (and very delicious) dinner, it sets its on rhythm. So, Scott McKain, here is a toast to you and your comments about my earlier post, Presentation Mastery: Why being technically perfect may be the worst thing you can do <<”Sue – this is really brilliant information. People who want to be truly memorable speakers shoud read — and heed — your advice.”>> But pour an entire glass. You deserve it! Much love to all… on the way home Tuesday (your time).
There are a lot of technically perfect people in this world. Don’t be one of them.
I’m not saying that technical expertise isn’t needed. I wouldn’t want a brain surgeon without it. But if that’s all you have, you’ll always be less than great, no matter how proficient you are.
As a presenter, and even as a brain surgeon, if you don’t also show compassion, respect and even love for the other person, no matter how good you are, you aren’t.
The other day, we had a technically perfect customer service agent “help” us. She absolutely knew how to input information into her computer to offer us options to our weather related missed connection to Shanghai, China. But she didn’t care if we got there or when we got there.
Why am I writing about this? Because you can be the most prepared presenter in the planet but if you don’t care if the people you’re having a conversation with learn, if you don’t make the environment safe and friendly and respectful and loving and compassionate, all the expertise in the world won’t matter. Your listeners – your customers, learners, co-workers, owners, patients - want you to care about them, their success, their situation. The more they know you care, the more they want to learn.
Malcolm Knowles, in his book, The Adult Learner : A Neglected Species wrote, “As soon as the presenter makes the switch to being more concerned for the people in the seats than about him/herself, that’s when the magic starts to happen. When people… stop thinking about the way they look or sound, and become more invested in what the audience takes away, they become powerful presenters.”
Prepare and practice your next presentation so you can forget about yourself and focus on them.
Comments?
Short post today. Every single thing I research and know points to just one concept: Increase friendliness now.
But… and it’s a very large but… it has to be real. Pretending to care and caring are as similar as light cream cheese and the fat free (ugghhhh!) kind. One is worth the calories and the other isn’t even worth tasting.
What can you do to create more friendliness in the emails you send?
How can you communicate in a friendlier (more caring, more compassionate, more respectful) manner?
Can you care more about them than you do about your agenda? Whether you’re a sales person protecting your dates, a meeting planner protecting your duties, a teacher protecting your position… can you care more about the other person than you do about the results you receive? When you do, you get better results. Trust me on this one.
Increase friendliness now and watch your success grow.
Before you read this sales letter, please hope you didn’t send it to me. I have not been kind enough to remove or change anything (though I graciously omitted his contact info and name). Here is what’s wrong with it:
1. Hey Sue. Occasionally, I use Hey Name. Except I save it for my good friends and clients I know well enough to know they’ll take it the way I mean it. I don’t know this creep.
2. He says he is “eating the cost for me.” I don’t want him doing anything for me. Ever.
3. Pitiful punctuation, stupid spelling, and ghastly grammar. (Yes, I know this blog isn’t always grammatical. I do it on purpose to keep your attention. The thing is you have to first know rules of grammar to be able to take liberties with them.)
4. OMG! He writes, “Check out the video of me, celebrating New Years on my balcony by myself (LOL) drinking champagne out of a red wine glass…” The loser is on a balcony by himself on New Year’s Eve and can’t even find one champagne glass. I’m not LOL, I’m LAH (laughing at him!).
Here it is…
Hey Sue,
Just following up on last weeks email regarding sending you my new CD – and Happy New Year Present to your Coaching Business to ensure
2010 is the year you start generating passive income from the coaching space.
But because I am eating all of the cost for you… I have made it an extremely limited offer….
For the sceptic in you, yes the internet works for coaches to generate leads, close sales and facilitate the coaching process -
the video will explain how…
Check out the video of me, celebrating New Years on my balcony by myself (LOL) drinking champagne out of a red wine glass, and
explaining how to get your CD shipped to your door here…
You, dear reader, are so much better than this! Please, please don’t dare ever write anything so self-absorbed and ugly to read!
Good stuff to remember when you write:
• Write for the recipient. Love them. Make your message about the reader’s success. (“It’s called Karma baby and it goes around…” Alicia Keys)
• Get their attention in the first line (really, with the subject line) by writing about something that matters to them. (See #1.) Don’t disrespect me by wasting my time recapping the email you sent last week that I also didn’t read.
• Punctuation and spelling matter. You’re losing business if you aren’t paying attention to the details. If you don’t believe me, here is an excerpt from a LinkedIn conversation:
“As a planner, when I get an e-mail or a proposal from a supplier with spelling errors, I can’t help but question how much attention to detail they will pay when they are called upon to service my customer’s program if they can’t even spell check their own e-mail. I recently had a hotel e-mail me for follow up and not only did they have the dates of the program wrong, but there was a typo in their job title!” Lauralee Borrero
What bothers you most about emails you receive? Please tell us here or tweet your response. I’m compiling a list and will post soon.
Friends send me appalling emails all the time. It’s not that they write them; they receive them and forward them on to me. I love my friends.
Today, these two examples of “sales letters” were in my inbox:
The “less” bad one ended with:
Thanks, again for your hospital and providing ….
(My friend is an independent meeting planner, not a nurse.)
But the really bad one:
(Background: The sales person first sent the email and sales proposal to an incorrect email address, using .com instead of .org.) Here is the National Sales Manager’s response to my friend’s follow-up, in entirety:
Here you go
The sales person had attached a copy of her original message, the one with the wrong email address, to that message.
Her original email? It said:
Attached is our proposal. Please contact me with any questions. Thanks.
OMG! wrote the planner who received this. OMG is right.
About the typo in the first example…it’s not funny and it does matter! People think less of you when you don’t care if you’re sending your very worst. In fact, according to a Nov 2009 survey of HR managers, 57% of them agree that typos or grammatical errors are “deal breakers” in hiring (and isn’t that what the sales person was trying to do… get hired?). Typos were seen as “somewhat of a problem” to 41% of those responding to that Society of Human Resource Managers study.
The people you write to deserve respect and doing a quick review of your message is simply an honorable thing to do. Besides, if you’re selling attention to detail (any service) and you aren’t going to exhibit that attention in your email communications, when should the customer expect you to start?
But about the OMG example… bad sales people may have gotten by when times where different. Today’s customers expect to be treated as the valuable commodity they are. It’s up to you to show your prospect you care about her success.
How much time would it have taken for that sales manager if she had (checked the email address and) expanded her initial message to say:
Hi Name of Association Planner,
You can expect great attendance when you book at The ABC. Attendees love the convenience of the airport location and it’s especially perfect for your well-traveled members. I’ll follow-up with you next Tuesday to be certain you have everything you need to make a great business decision.
And in place of her “Here you go,” how about:
I’m so embarrassed! We really do pay attention to the details and you can hold me to it! Thanks so much for your follow-up. We look forward to welcoming you soon.
Email etiquette for sales people? Be clear, concise, correct. Empathy is your friend.
Do you have examples of really bad sales letters? I’d love to rip them apart here!
How to recession proof selling has somehow become a meaningful selling strategy for sales trainers. I’ve succumbed to this as well, so before going on, I ask for your forgiveness. There is no one way to recession proof selling. In reality, the best way to sell today (and yesterday and tomorrow) is to be relevant in the way that most helps your customer succeed. Regardless of how wonderful your widget/widget-service is, how well-priced it is or how good you, personally, are at listening or talking, the only thing that matters to the customer is the value they receive from that widget. The more helpful the widget is in helping them create success (success as defined by them), the easier it is to recession proof your selling even if it isn’t a recession.
The best sales tip then is to love your customer, touch their heart, embrace them. Tell your story in a way that puts them at ease, takes away the buying risk, helps them feel special or at the very least comfortable, safe and smart and you’ll always be in the position to serve them well and profit, too.
Social networking offers a new world of opportunity to offer value. To ignore the ability to connect authentically by providing valued and valuable information to prospects and clients is, to me, sheer madness. Staying relevant is easier when you’re constantly providing insightful information that helps people educate themselves and learn more about who you are as a company, brand, personality.
So what is the worst sales tip? Thinking that email is no longer king. The ability to briefly and persuasively email the business case for selecting your widget has never been more crucial to sales success.
It’s true that just as my generation rebelled loudly against what our parents’ generation said, did and enjoyed, generations younger than whatever age you are, will rebel against what you like, do, say. Email may very well become the fax. But it isn’t dead yet and smart professionals are learning how to elevate their conversation through email. Savvy sales people understand if they can “twitterize” their email – write concisely, clearly, directly and with love for their customer – they not only get through, they build business and drive sales. They don’t expect the luxury of sitting down face-to-face (and see that as a waste of time anyway) but learn to make their business case quickly through a well-written email. They know the on-line RFP is efficient and effective and learn to absolutely differentiate themselves with the email that transmits their well-written response. They define themselves and their brand – and beat their competitive set – because they use email as a sales strategy and not as something routine or unimportant.
Do you agree? Please leave your comment. What are your best sales tips?
Joe Duffy wrote, “Whether you’re an Iron Chef or a Top Chef fan you know points for ‘presentation’ are just as important as they are for taste.” His Fast Company post started me thinking about all the beautifully presented meals I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy, which made me realize how much the design of a presentation is like the design of a great plate. Unless the message is delivered in a way that is palatable, interesting, innovative and fun, the message isn’t nearly as memorable. The presenter needs to put as much time into how the audience will receive the message as she does into researching and compiling the ingredients of the talk.
This week I watched a presenter sit down (to not block the audience) and FACE THE SLIDES as she talked to the 100+ folks in the room. To make matters worse, she READ the bullet points, point by point (as if the audience couldn’t – which would have been true for one slide that had so many bullets on it that the font size must have been a .2). The message was so important but no one wanted to taste it because it didn’t look good.
I’m going to try my best to create a presentation that is as visually compelling as my dessert at Le Pichet, Paris, any course at Barton G, Miami, or the slider trio at the Hotel Sofitel, San Mateo. If I can design my message delivery to be as beautiful and remarkable as any of those plates, I know my audience will have little trouble enjoying and digesting what I’m offering.
Idea
It’s been a busy week working with three different and distinct organizations and yet all three had the same question: How do we get along internally so we can present our best and most meaningful “face” externally. Interesting question.
Here’s the answer: Hold folks accountable for getting along. Really. Give them the communication skills they need to say what they need to say. Teach them how to hold important conversations. Help them understand that a confrontation when approached in a respectful and solution-oriented manner, by another name, is simply good conversation. Explain to them that ignoring and working around others (and feeling resentful or martyr-like) not only hurts morale, it hurts productivity and profitability. Provide alternatives to people who say stuff like: That’s just the way I am; My style is to be direct; I can’t “confront” them.
With a masters degree in counseling, I can give your team a communication process so that you aren’t bothered with day-to-day stuff that keeps them from performing. They’ll laugh, you’ll breathe and yes, you’ll all get along better. Want more? Please call or email: Sue@SpeakerSue.com or 480-575-9711.
The alternative? Pretending that poor morale isn’t affecting profitability and your sanity.
A few weeks ago, I had the honor of speaking to a group of printers. As you can imagine, this is not a particularly booming industry right now with the entire world focused on being green, and communicating in ways that don’t require paper. (Just so you know, printer’s ink runs in my blood. My grandfather was an “itinerant” printer [I don't know exactly what that means either other than that he went where he could find work] until he could afford to start his own printing company in 1918. My daddy bought the business from my grandfather, my brother took over my dad’s business and my nephews now work for my brother. But ink can run even in a woman’s veins…) So this particular meeting was especially important to me (yes, they all are and this one was well, different). I admit I spent even more time than usual researching, asking questions, thinking and learning about what I could bring to this group that would motivate them to transform their business models to succeed and flourish…
I focused on communication skills and how using effective interpersonal skills can help you (and help you help those you manage and lead) successfully deal with change (because goodness knows, printers need to change from ink on paper to providing their customers with an entire package of promotional materials, including web-based [non print!] campaigns.) My keynote talked a lot about helping others feel safe and smart. And the industry professionals who spoke truly provided hope and direction to those who attended.
In no way, however, was I prepared to receive this email, after the conference, from Matt Feldman, brand owner of Xtreme Coated Cover? in NJ. He wrote:
” To my new friends,
It’s been a long and tough year for all of us. Many of us have had to face challenges that we never dreamed we would face. I know as 2009 rapidly comes to a close I can say that I am thankful for a great many things. First and foremost I am grateful to my friends and family who have stuck by me. Next I am thankful for meeting you. In meeting you, I have had the opportunity to learn something new or validate something I have learned in the past.
I have learned how to listen better to others during this past year. Previously, I was the type of guy who liked to hear myself talk. Truth be told, I am still a work-in-process on that point, but my 7th grade math teacher would always say to me, “Mr. Feldman, God gave you two ears and one mouth, use them in proportion.” I think this year it might finally have sunk in!
I want to leave you with a quick story. Last night I received a phone call from my wife and she was very upset with my two oldest kids. She explained to me that the kids had given our babysitter a very hard time while we were at work. When I arrived home, I asked my son to join me in his room for a “chat”. While walking upstairs I looked into my son’s eyes and I saw the fear mounting as we climbed each step. He knows that I am a big believer in respect and he knew he was “in for it”. Keeping myself poised and in control of my emotions was tough at the moment, but I knew that I needed to impart a valuable lesson to my kids. I said to Noah, “Please tell me everything that happened today with you and the babysitter, and don’t leave anything out intentionally because I will check up on you.” As he started telling me his story in detail I realized how thankful I was to be in that moment. My child, who could have broken down in tears for fear of being punished or could have lied to me to try to avoid punishment, looked me in the eye and gave me the whole truth. Once he was finished I asked him one simple question, “What could you have done better?” He replied, “Treated Norma with respect.” Once I heard him say those words I knew he understood the lesson.”
“What could you have done better?”
What will you do better?
Thank you for the lesson, Matt.
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