When you get to the question part, what do you say? - SpeakerSue

Archive for the ‘Selling Skills’ Category

When you get to the question part, what do you say? January 25th, 2013

I called a highly recommended doctor to see if I could schedule an appointment for a physical because other than the yearly stuff that every woman does, I haven’t had a complete physical in a decade or two or…

It turns out that the doc doesn’t see random patients. To see her, I have to join their concierge medicine practice. Fair enough. So I wanted to know more about it. Without asking me one question, here is how the phone call went:

Me: Okay, can you send me info?
Her: Sure. What’s your email address?
Me: Sue@SpeakerSue.com,
Her: Great. Thanks.
Pause
Me: Is there anything you’d like to know so that what you send will be relevant to me?
Her: Oh no, I’ll just send you general information.
Me: How will that help me?
Her(still very perky): Well what would you like to know?
Me: Umm, I’m not sure what I should be asking you. Pause. Is the doctor part of a network so that if I need a doctor while I’m working internationally or in another part of the country, that I can get to someone?
Her(Perky): Oh no. There are companies that offer that but we handle our own service so that we don’t have to pay administrative costs to the company.
Me: How does that help me?
Her: Pause.
Me: Okay, please send the stuff and I’ll review it.
Her (Most perky): One thing I should mention is that we focus a lot on good nutrition because our doctors find that often it’s bad nutrition that causes all sorts of issues. For instance, we try to prevent heart attacks and other ailments by recommending a change of diet for our patients and we’ll schedule an appointment for you, included in the concierge fee, with a dietician so that you can prevent heart attacks and other ailments and …
Me (cutting her off): Yes, thank you. Nutrition really isn’t an issue for me right now…

Here is my challenge to you. Record your next sales call. (Seriously, record it because if you don’t you will swear that you don’t do what the doc’s sales person did, but you may be surprised, if you record.)

•Did you sell or stimulate with possibilities?
•Did you listen or talk?
•Did you engage the other person and help them want to discuss issues with you?
•Did you focus on the past or the future?
•Did you prescribe without examining the patient? If so, it’s a sales killer!

To thank for a LinkedIn endorsement or not to thank: How to Sell Yourself January 18th, 2013

Within the past few days, five people have emailed to ask me etiquette questions about social media. I’m not an expert in social media but with my expertise in writing and selling skills, I have some ideas that may help you increase your influenc and ability to persuade through social media:

Q. When someone endorses me, should I send a thank you?
A. Why wouldn’t you? Social media is supposed to be SOCIAL and if someone is kind enough to take a nanosecond out of their life to say that you are somehow special, it seems reasonable and smart to take a full 30 seconds out of your life, to show gratitude. Influence is a collection of perceptions about the benefit you/your product or service will bring to the other person. You add to that collection by being appreciative.

Q. Do texting “rules” or email “rules” apply on LinkedIn?
A. Email. Your reply comes to the other person in the form of an email and it should be business worthy.

Q.On LinkedIn, what etiquette rules should I follow?
A. See above. But more specifically, here is a starter list:
•Begin with a salutation – a greeting. It’s a casual medium so Hi is preferred by most people. Please do not just begin with the recipient’s name. It’s like grunting at them!
•End with a show of warmth. Besides taking the time to type your name, add a close. I prefer Warmest regards because it’s not just warm, it’s warmer (hot?). You want the other person to think well of you; not that you’re so busy that you don’t have time for a bit of thoughtfulness. If Warmest regards isn’t authentic for you, use something that is: Thanks! (if you have something to thank them for!), Best regards, Wishing you the best, All the best. Avoid using just the word Best. A few years back, the WSJ said that was an offensive close. Whenever I ask in real time, how many people don’t like the closing Best, and it’s amazing how many don’t!
•Spelling counts. It’s an email and shouldn’t read like a secret code.
•Keep it brief. How one wants to read a lot. Unless the other person has asked you for information, be very sparing in a LinkedIn response.

Q. How can I sell with LinkedIn?
A. You can’t. Well, you can but only after you establish a trusting relationship. How does that happen? Don’t bother them! Instead post articles that you think might be helpful or send them articles with a brief note: Thought this might be of interest – link, and signature. Done! Most likely, they’ll send you a thank you (see #1!) and then you can respond – without selling – to their kind note. Don’t stalk them. The very first part of selling is caring about your buyer. Stimulate them with insightful information to help them gain additional success and they will be thrilled to talk with you.

What are your questions?

3 Tips to Avoid Wasting Your Time Selling – or Your Prospects December 30th, 2012

How often does it happen to you that you’re fully prepared to help your customer but they aren’t prepared to move forward? They don’t have answers to questions important to their success or worse, they ask you to leave your hard work (your complete proposal or whatever) so that they can show it to their decision makers (and why weren’t they in on the meeting to begin so maybe you weren’t fully prepared…).

Stop wasting your time and theirs!

1. No one gets to keep your hard work until they agree to work with you. If that is your mantra (we’d love to leave it with you and with a signed agreement can do so; our policy is to keep it until then), you never need to worry about them borrowing your ideas without being compensated for them.

2. Help them be prepared. Don’t wait until the meeting or conference call to ask if the decision maker is on it. Ask when the decision maker is available to meet or be on the call. When they push back, you’ll know they aren’t ready to make the decision.

3.Require them to work by answering questions! (If you’ve been reading my blog, you know I never make them work to set up the next step. Once it’s agreed upon, however, you both want it to be a good use of time. So find out how you can help them the most.) Likely questions might be:
What are the 3 main outcomes you’d like this investment to accomplish?
What 3 results can be gained with this investment?
What 3 negative outcomes would you like this investment to make irrelevant?

Make 2013 your best ever by valuing your time and approaching each prospect in the most prepared, professional and profitable way! Make it great!

10 Warning Signs that Your Team Needs to Update Their Email Selling Skills December 27th, 2012

“The Times They Are A-Changing,” Bob Dylan sang about a million years ago (or 40). And those people wise enough to change with the times will not just survive and thrive, they’ll also be happier (once they’re comfortable with their new skills), less stressed and more productive.

Here are 10 warning signs that indicate your emails are past the Use by date:

Fake rapport: Opening an email with something like, How are you? or I hope this finds you well, broadcasts to the universe that you didn’t have a more meaningful or compelling way to open.

Feature focus: You may have the snazziest features in the planet but if they don’t mean anything to the buyer, they’re just noise and in the way.

Lack of clear customer benefit: Your customer tells you that they want early check-in for their group or they want their VIPs pre-keyed. Why does the customer want this? It isn’t the fact of the early check in or pre-key that matters but the benefit of the early check in (get to their meetings quickly?), and the benefit of the pre-kay (feeling pampered, saving time?) that matters.

No touchpoint: This is particularly important in a prospecting email. The worst possible thing to do is to start selling me without telling me why you have the right to do so. (Okay, the worst possible thing is starting with a question you haven’t even earned the right to ask – How are you? – and then selling me!). Yes, you want to get to the point quickly but unless the client is engaged, they will never get there. Engage them with an authentic touchpoint.

No clear follow-up: “What do you think?” is not clear follow-up!

No control: Sales professionals who want to help their customers succeed are the most successful. Knowing that, it’s most helpful and smartest to keep control of the next step. Tell your buyer when you’ll take the next step and give them a reason that matters to them to except it.

No emotion: You’ve heard it a gabillion times: We buy with emotion and justify with logic. Yes, even your customer, whether that person is a New Yawker or a Hong Kong-ite, in procurement or government. Create a quick emotional bond with the customer by painting a word picture of their success.

Inauthentic language: Even marketing probably doesn’t believe all the stuff they’ve created for the website. Use that over the top language and you’ll struggle to engage any buyer.

Inconsistent messaging: Your emails are friendly and conversational but your out-of-office messages are abrupt and uncaring. Or, your brand is formal and conservative and you write like you’re writing to your BFF. Or the opposite.

Lack of confidence: Your team hides behind email, shuns the phone and doesn’t respect the customer or themselves enough to appropriately ask the questions to dvance to the next step in the customer’s buying process.

How much are your poor emails costing you and your organization? How many sales are you not getting because your team doesn’t write persuasively and professionally? How much time – selling time! – is wasted reviewing what others write? Hundreds of thousands of dollars! Recover lost sales, set yourself apart and gain the financial advantage. Ensure that your entire team writes in a customer-centric manner to help your prospects and customers feel safe and smart selecting you as their best option.

6 ways to make training work December 12th, 2012

If the training session you attended was any good, you learned at least one thing that you knew – at the moment you were learning it – would help you create greater success and/or happiness. At that moment, you were determined to apply what you learned because you knew you’d be better off/a better person because of it.

When you got back to work/home, you applied the principle. And then one of three things happened;
•it didn’t yield the results you expected
•you couldn’t do it as well as you could during the training program and it didn’t feel right/honest/mind-blowing
•it was too much work to put it into action.

Or maybe you applied the principle and it worked beautifully. But it took more time than the way that you used to do it and you had a ton of work to get through, so you may have said to yourself, “Self, it’s okay. Do it the old way just to get done with this and when there is more time, I’ll use this awesome but time consuming new way, and anyway my old way wasn’t that bad.”

End game? Nothing changes. Not you nor your results.

Here are 6 ways to incorporate your new training into your everyday routine – and create greater success/happiness more easily.

1. Decide which one concept will help you achieve your goals/dreams.
Select just one principle to incorporate into your life. If you try to apply everything you learned – no matter how cool – you’ll just overwhelm and frustrate yourself.

2. Write down why it’s important/of value to you to incorporate the new idea. Needlepoint it if you want. The reason why it’s worth the effort to change your behavior. Write it clearly and concisely and be as specific as you can, but don’t stress it. You’re not writing your life goal; just a reminder why it is important to you to make the effort to learn a new skill. (I will sell more; I will feel calmer. I will be less distracted.)

3. Change your backstory.
Instead of reminding yourself of the way you used to do it, or how hard it is to do the new way, change the story you tell yourself. When I started running, I spent half my run reminding myself why I shouldn’t be running. Now I tell myself I’m a runner. Is it true? Now it is but at first it was simply aspirational. Your brain doesn’t know the difference between fantasy and reality so program it with the new thinking: I’m a Power Sales Writer and get great sales results. I stay calm at home and at work. I’m organized and …)

4. Buddy up. Call someone you attended the training with and ask them if they’ll help you stay accountable for applying the principles learned. They’ll not only be helping you but themselves too. If this isn’t feasible for you, then ask a counterpart, mentor, boss. You won’t want to let them down and they’ll want you to succeed.

5. Celebrate success. For the first month, do something for yourself every time you apply the new skill. It could be that you pay yourself a dime (keep a pile of dimes on your desk and shift them from one pile to the other to save time and be motivated) and treat yourself to a great coffee or adult beverage at the end of the week. Take a FB break to reward yourself, without feeling guilty about it. Keep score!

6.Celebrate victory! When you are selling more, feeling more peaceful and content, organized, or whatever it is that you went to training for, do a happy dance. You can do it quietly or not, but remember that you took control of your future and that you created greater success/happiness for yourself. Bravo!

3 A’s of Social Media Success for Sales Pros December 5th, 2012

“It’s just a time sucker and it gives them an excuse to not be selling,” the Director of Sales told me. “Really. Does anyone actually get any business from telling people what they ate for breakfast.”

Yes, sort of.

What does it take to make social media work for you?

1. Attitude
Social media, no different from attending a cocktail party or networking event, is all about wanting to be there, or at least wanting to be there once you’re there. If you think the night is going to be a waste of time, you’re probably right. Same with LinkedIn, Twitter and FB.

2. Approach
Being successful at social media may require a different sales mentality to be successful because it isn’t about selling. It’s about adding value for others. One client didn’t understand why no one participated with them on LinkedIn. After reviewing what they were posting, it was easy to see why every post was about them; their property, their “exciting” news, their everything. They used LinkedIn as their elevator pitch – a way to feature puke – instead of as a conversation starter. By posting information that creates greater success for your intended social-mates, you earn happy social mates. Those are the people who are likely to participate in a conversation with you and become truly interested in learning more about how you can help them at your property, etc.

3. Action
Trolling the internet for qualified prospects is a time sucker. It is a valuable use of time only when you know EXACTLY who benefits from what you offer (focused search) and what educational content will pique their interest. Job #1 is to get on their radar and provide content that will help them. By developing trust – over time – you earn the right to advance.

One quick way to develop trust is to have a referral. Beginning your email with: Hi Name, Bill Williams suggested I contact you is, as they say, priceless. Of course, it will go down hill from there if you start to sell. It’s about building trust so that the other person wants to be involved with you and what you offer. (See cocktail party analogy above.)

And about breakfast. It really does help to let people get to know you on more than a professional level. That doesn’t mean telling them about every meal you eat (or even most) but helping others feel comfortable with you is all part of building a comfortable relationship.

Oatmeal with cinnamon, nuts and crasisins. Wanna link?

THE 3 most embarrassing business emails/texts: Can you beat it? November 18th, 2012

In my selling skills programs, I almost always spend at least a few minutes with the group talking about what email etiquette is today. One thing groups always ask is how to deal with humiliation like when you send an email/text to the wrong person.

Here are some examples of the most embarrassing messages sent (but you may be able to beat these!):
As a new catering manager, figuring out attrition charges seemed really difficult. So when her client emailed her asking about the costs due, she wrote the following email to her director: “I am so dumb and I am sorry. Can you figure this out for me?” But instead of sending it to her director, she sent it to the client. Wait, it gets worse. She didn’t realize she had sent it to the client until she received an email back saying: “I’ll try but I really thought this was your job.” What an amazing client!

And there is the text-er who intended to text her husband, “Why am I still at work? She won’t let me leave. FML” and yup, texted it to the boss. Her boss texted back, “What does FML mean?” Neither she nor I knows how she kept her job, but she did.

My worst story happened years ago (but I still cringe big time): I worked on a proposal until about 2a for a new client. I was so proud of myself for getting it done, and still awake, so I rewarded my good behavior by writing a long email to a friend asking if she agreed that it was time to break up with my then boyfriend. I was extremely graphic in my descriptions of why I thought it was time to break up. Then I sent the email to the new client. In the morning, I received a brief email from him that simply said, “I concur. Break up.” No, I didn’t book the business but it was a good thing because there is no way I could have met him face to face!

What about you? What is your most embarrassing email/texting story?

Oh, and the solution? Check the to line before sending or be smart enough to add the recipient’s name after you write and review the email. It is so worth it!

And if you do send the wrong email to the wrong person, immediately – do not stop to talk this over with your manager, your BFF, yourself – pick up the phone and fess up. “Hi Name, this is me and I am mortified that I just sent you an email that was intended for someone else.”

Do not try to recall. That just makes it worse and doesn’t make the message disappear.

Depending on your relationship with the person (like with my new prospect, all I did was send a thank you for being gracious about this and I never followed-up, and neither did he), you can continue speaking the truth, “Can we talk about the email? I was feeling really frustrated and never should have said what I did.”

Let them talk. It’s very likely that they’ll say something like, “Thanks for your honesty. I did this myself once and know how it feels. By the way, I still want my concessions plus X and Y.”

Business and relationship saved!

What is your most embarrassing email story? The best one gets a free copy of the ” title=”Power Sales Writing: 2nd Edition”>Second Edition: Power Sales Writing. It may be too late for you for the last time but you’ll learn lots of awesome ideas for your next email!

Tips to Better Prospecting with Hosted Buyer Appointments November 5th, 2012

“We don’t need to prospect,” my client said, “Our funnel is overflowing but we aren’t getting new business. We go to these hosted buyer things and come back with a boat load of new prospects. But how do we convert them?”

By prospecting.

Hosted buyer appointments can be an awesome way to start a trusting relationship with a new customer. By using the time to uncover what matters to them, provide a snap shot of what you can offer to help them achieve success and building an emotional bond (not, do you have kids?!) but an authentic understanding that you are there to help them succeed, sales people can make the next step easy for themselves.

Unfortunately, most sales people don’t do that. From talking to buyers, many sales people start the appointment by asking questions and then quickly go into their feature dump. They pull out the ipad and start flipping through photos explaining as they go. Occasionally, they stop to ask questions but rarely do they just stop. Instead of starting a relationship – one that they can be comfortable following -up after everyone has returned to work – they focus on providing information.

Stop.

Even if your prospect says to you, “Yes, please tell me about your property,” please don’t – other than very quickly and in general – until understanding what about the property she wants to know. Here is how I might answer:

“Thank you for asking! ABC has a depth of experience taking care of important events that you can rely on. It’s absolutely war and welcoming/fun and energizing/luxurious yet totally comfortable and so that I respect your time, may I ask you a few questions about what makes your meetings a success?”

When you have the answers to those questions, whether you are the sales person who follows up the lead from the hosted buyer appointment, or you hand it off to someone in another office or with a different vertical, you can develop a meaningful relationship and business.

But prospecting doesn’t end at the show floor.

What do your follow-up emails sound like? Do they revert to transactional zombie-like messaging? And what happens after that?

If your sales funnel is overflowing at the entry point, but not paying off, think again about your prospecting conversations and follow-up.

Is it time for your team to update their skills?

You may need to get out of sales if you… November 1st, 2012

(With a nod to Jeff Foxworthy…)

You may need to get out of sales if you:
•Say “Please tell me about your main objective” and then don’t use the information you’re given in your response
•Talk more than you listen
•Talk more about your features than how the benefits will benefit them (specifically)
•Don’t offer an alternative solution when you don’t have the exact solution
•Use tricks instead of respect and concern for the buyer
•Send emails that are self-focused rather than customer-centric
•Think great features trump an emotional bond with the product
•Ignore qualified prospects after just one attempt to engage them. Or two.
•Stalk prospects and customers.
•Offer concessions as a wild &^* strategy to close the sale
•Expect your client to want to give up his valuable time so that you can talk about your product/service
•Expect your client to want to read your 59 page brochure
•Expect your client to follow-up with you without a good reason for them to do so
•Expect your client to have to take time out of her busy day to do anything that you could have done for them
•Write long rambling emails
•Write pushy, inauthentic emails
•Email without a clear next step – and a reason for your customer to take it
•End presentations with a procedural or transactional comment
•Think your competition doesn’t offer something equal to what you offer
•Help your buyers feel safe and smart selecting you, your product and service
•Want only to get but not give away
•Think price is the decision criterion
•Ignore the phone and rely only on email to start and maintain relationships
•Forget that when all things are equal, relationships always win the business
•Create emails that sound like spam
•Value your customer’s time more than your own
•Don’t do your “homework” before each call/email
•Believe prospecting is old school
•Don’t help your client envision her success with your product or service
•Forget that you are the virtual bridge that connects what your customers read on your website, TripAdvisor, etc with your brand
•Forget that every interaction should extend your hand and help your customer feel comfortable and confident with what you offer
•Don’t follow up when you say you will
•Don’t have a customer-focused strategy to follow up
•Rely on your product to sell itself
•Aren’t able to diffuse and negotiate difficult situations so that the customer feels valued and special
•Become complacent with the way you’ve always done things
•Attend training to prove the way you’re doing things is best rather than listening for fresh ideas to help you engage today’s buyers
•Too busy selling to improve and polish your skills
•Ignore leads because you’re too busy to respond with complete information.
•Think that how you say it is less important than what you say
•Think gold isn’t in the follow-up
•Believe that loving your customer isn’t the best way to close sales
•Think selling is harder today than ever before.

Sales professionals, have I been too hard on you? Fight back! Tell me what you agree with and what you don’t.

5 Ways to Make Voicemail Your New BF + a bonus script October 28th, 2012

As a hotel industry sales trainer, I often am asked/told the same story: No one returns my voice messages anyway so why should (should I) leave a voice message?

Yes and Yes! You just have to know what to say and “>how to say it to make the voice message count.

First to all the sales people who are frustrated with voice mail: You’re right. Many prospects will not phone you back. Unless you can make your message so compelling and relevant to the buyer, it is unlikely that they will take the time out of their crazy busy day to phone you back. It doesn’t matter. Leave a great voice message anyway.

Next – and this tip is important to remember before you pick up the phone: Be prepared for your prospect to answer the phone! Yes, most likely, he or she will see your caller ID pop up and let your message go to voice mail. But what if she doesn’t? What if she picks up the phone and you aren’t prepared to start a trusting, engaging conversation? Always be ready with an authentic touchpoint (why you’re calling) and a reason for her to want to talk to you (this would be information that will help her shine – not you or your product).

Then, prepare yourself to talk on the phone. Remember that old, old thing about “Put a smile on your face when you pick up the phone.” It may be old but it rocks. People really can hear when you are confident and happy and excited. Of course, they hear the opposite too.

Next, consider what you want from the voice message. Most likely you’re calling because you want them to know that you are authentically concerned about their success and that is the reason you’re calling. No, you can’t say that (Hi Prospect, I’m calling because I’m authentically concerned about your success…),but you can very, very, very quickly let them know that you are calling to talk about exciting options to help them save, accomplish, achieve, receive, enjoy, experience…. you get the drift.

Finally, leave your phone number – twice – and tell them how (email or phone) and when you’ll follow up again. (Don’t stalk!)

Bonus: Try starting your call like this:
Hi Name, This is Sue with High Impact Presentations and I am sorry to miss you. My # is 480-575-9711 and I was calling to talk about how your sales team might be able to convert more leads to booked business. I’ll follow up early November if we don’t connect before then//I’ll send you a quick email because that be better for you. Again, my # is 480-575-9711 and your sales team will thank you for training that sets them up for success!

Do I promise that they’ll listen to the entire message. Absolutely not! Do I promise that you’ve started a trusting, engaging relationship? Only if you put a smile on your face!

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