A picture is worth a thousand words is a phrase everybody has no doubt heard all their lives. Today I want to add to that phrase that a demonstration is worth a thousand (or possibly thousands of) dollars.
Your offering may contain many differences and advantages, but if you don’t demonstrate them to your prospects, how will they ever know and remember how superior it is? Additionally, it might not have occurred to you, but insightful demonstrations will also reduce the frequency of hearing, your price is too high! Here are three examples you have no doubt seen in the past.
The photo above is a SodaStream 3D demonstration depicting the volume of wasted plastic and can material that can be saved by a typical family over a 5-year period by using their device instead of purchasing beverages in bottles and cans. This one sits permanently at the Tel Aviv airport, graphically strengthening the product’s value proposition without making a sound.
Dawn dishwashing liquid ran ads that demonstrate how the product was used to clean ducks with oil embedded in their feathers after the 2010 Gulf Coast Oil Spill. It’s brilliant because this demo powerfully illustrated how effective Dawn is at removing grease, while at the same time showing how gentle it is at protecting these delicate creatures.
Febreze embarked on an ingenious challenge campaign during the 2012 London Olympics by sponsoring the Azerbaijani Olympic Wrestling Team in the smelliest sport possible. They sprayed sweaty jock straps and wrestling boots of team athletes with Febreze, and then dangled them in front of the noses of random blindfolded Londoners while asking them to guess the smell. Videotaped guesses included “strawberry milkshake,” “passion fruit,” “citrus,” and “floral bouquet.” The demonstrations were highly memorable and convincing that the product was extremely effective.
The good news is, since many of your competitors are too lazy to stage demos, by providing them you will stand alone as the rep who illustrates what your product or service really can do.
Here are some tips to help effectively demonstrate your product or service:
- Choose aspects of your product to demo that are relevant to your buyer’s needs.
- Decide in advance what you will say about the item your demo, and then discuss it from the buyer’s perspective, needs and wants.
- Choose demonstrations that will produce a WOW and involve the largest number of the buyer’s senses.
- Plan ahead to ensure you have everything needed and double-check that all the components work properly.
- Make sure your demonstrations are completed in as much of a controlled environment as possible, so as not to leave anything to chance.
- If possible, involve the prospect in the demo. If they try it, they’ll buy it!
- Hold a demo dress rehearsal, including any planned comments that will make it more effective.
About five years ago my wife and I were watching TV when a commercial began for a brand-name water filtering system where not one word was spoken. In pantomime fashion, a guy poured like amounts of red wine into two containers of water and then ran them through competing filter systems.
What blew us away was how only the featured filtration system produced completely clear water. That really brought on a WOW since red wine is pretty hard to hide. It was obvious to us from this simple silent demo that the 5-stage filter system did the job, so that item immediately went on our Christmas list!
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a demonstration really is worth thousand(s) of dollars.
—————Read Joe K’s Comment—————
“I was in an audience where Doug was speaking about ways for salespeople to improve their communication skills and he was spot on. He was interesting, witty, to the point, and made some suggestions that I will definitely share with my employees.” Joe K. – Huntington, W.V. Preview Doug’s DIY sales training.
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©2018 Robinson Training Solutions, LLC
From time to time, everybody puts off doing things because they “don’t feel like doing them.” Over the Christmas holidays you promised yourself you would start exercising as soon as the ball dropped. Then you committed to getting a jump on your taxes as soon as the W-2’s arrived, rather than doing an all-nighter alongside a stale pizza and a bitter pot of strong coffee in mid-April. But you didn’t do either one, along with many other chores and projects on your radar screen.
In the spring of 1967, shortly before I graduated from high school, Dad acquired the Biscayne. If that doesn’t ring a bell with you, you’re probably just too young. The Biscayne was the low-end model of the Chevrolet nameplate. This one was a 1963, stripped down, 3-speed on the column model in baby-poop brown.
possess the skills. If that’s the case, show them a picture of what it should look like; that’s what leaders do. Afterward, conduct some test driving with the rep and chances are their confidence will quickly increase, unless it doesn’t. If it doesn’t move following that, then look into the attitude side of the issue.
Victor Borge, a renowned 20th century Danish comedian (affectionately known as the “Clown Prince of Denmark”) was famous for saying, “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.”
Today is the kickoff of “Thanksgiving Week” in America, so I’ve decided to pull back from writing sales-related drivel in order to devote today’s post to simply being thankful.
Every year about this time I encourage outside salespeople by discussing and reminding them of the dozens of creative selling sources and prospecting methods available to them. These are all designed to help sales folks become armed and dangerous with resources to help remain productive during the lean lead months. Today I want to look into some behind the scenes logistics to help make that happen.
Finally, if you maintain a commercial customer list it will be easy and convenient to stop by and place some flyers detailing employee discounts in the break areas or near the time clock. Do this for any commercial customers that are in the footprint of where you are working that day. Make sure to explain to the owner or manager that this is a FREE benefit for his employees, for being a customer. You will eventually get some phone calls as some of these employees develop a need for some of your services at their homes.
You know it seems like everybody grows up with the feeling they are special and different. During the 1960’s my generation watched Art Linkletter ask children what they wanted to be when they grew up on a TV show called, “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” In the 1990’s my kids watched Bill Cosby do a remake of that same show, and the answers were always zany and varied across the board, everything from President of the U.S., to Hollywood movie star, to Olympic gold medalist, to astronaut, to Super Bowl MVP quarterback.
The fourth principle he shared was that you must realize that you can change. Your friends, relatives and maybe even spouse may not believe in you, but if you believe in you, nothing else matters. Ever heard of these “losers?”…
7 – Tinkering – 20% of salespeople produce 80% of the sales. Therefore, be very careful who you listen to and insulate yourself from the non-producers. Do you really think the losers in your office want you to succeed? Stop tinkering with the turkeys in the barnyard and start flying with the eagles overhead.
Questions are your best friends – When your prospect says they really want to buy, but can’t because of (whatever), simply verify it by responding with some version of “If that wasn’t an issue would you proceed?” If that is truthful they will simply agree. If there is something else, they will bring up the additional objection. Either way you have isolated an honest concern you can respond to.
Now before you dis the above suggestion, let me explain how I came up with these numbers. I’m visualizing a rep who receives one company lead per day and generates another lead per day personally. That would generate 10 points. Secondly I’m expecting this rep will complete two proposals per day, generating another 20 points. And finally, since “Selling is like shaving; if you don’t do a little every day you will soon become a bum,” let’s say this rep closes one sale per day, for an additional 15 points, totaling 45 points for the week.
In today’s post, I want to remind salespeople to never give up, by sharing some ideas to ensure that never happens. Anybody can quit, and frankly most people do. If this were not so, the winners circle would be a lot bigger, and far more crowded. Therefore by simply hanging on and refusing to give up, you dramatically increase your chances of winning.
A friend of mine, who is also involved in sales training in the Midwest, told me that recently she and her husband were shopping for a graduation gift for their favorite niece. They found an attractive ladies’ sport watch and decided to buy it. After telling the store salesperson they wanted the watch, the clerk violated a selling no-no. He volunteered a 30% discount although they didn’t ask for one, and had already told him they wanted the item.
As an example of what I’m talking about, here’s a response I’ll bet you hear a lot: 
So that is the first and main thing. But there are requirements for your work to be a career:
Instinct – Wayne Gretzky often said, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” A salesperson must possess that level of anticipation and drive and always operate by “the little bit more” principle so they don’t have to be told every move to make, because business moves too quickly to try to teach that skill.
Let me first share this short yarn about “trust” and then I’ll get back into this important topic and discuss the final two types of objections.
No ($) Money
No Urgency
Art Sobczak, a renowned phone sales trainer for the last 35 years, says people often assume that where there’s a pitch, there’s a catch. “If you say, ‘Here is my pitch,’ people will look for something to object to,” he says. “You really shouldn’t even use the word ‘pitch’ outside of baseball. Instead, call it a recommendation. That sends the message to prospects that you want to engage in a conversation and help them.”
At that point, regardless what you are thinking, stop talking and listen to what Glockenspiel says next.
The last bit of advice I’ll give you is very simple, but I think it could make a big difference in your life. Once a week, you should write a note to someone. Not an email. A note on a piece of paper. It will take you exactly 10 minutes. Talk to an adult, let them tell you what a stamp is. You can put the stamp on the envelope. Again, 10 minutes, once a week. I will help you right now by dictating for you the first note you should write. It will say:
A few years ago my wife wanted and needed a new car. She had been talking about a full size SUV rather than another sedan. The good news was that it was early fall and time for the change of model year, meaning a good chance for a deep discount. The bad news was that for the first time in history gasoline was over $4 per gallon. We discussed it and decided a perfect storm had been created for us to go ahead and purchase the vehicle, because we felt that gas prices would come back down to reasonable levels within a few months.
Several months ago I wrote a post about technician selling and received many favorable comments, telling me a lot of subscribers are either service managers or business owners who realize how critical tech sales are in blue collar businesses. This week I’m going to broach that topic again, primarily from the perspective that techs know they are expected to sell, but often they aren’t getting the traction, and results that are expected, even when they work hard at the selling part of their job. If this sounds familiar, take the load off, prop up your feet for a few minutes and look through this list of possible reasons you aren’t hanging “W’s” on the scoreboard. Following each of these suggestions are some comments describing what might possibly be happening:
Are you likable to people? For the 1,000th time, people buy from those they trust and like.
If you didn’t get a chance to read Part I of this post from last week, go read it right now 
After completing your comparison, you might consider putting an exclamation point on your discussion by making a bold statement like one of these; “We charge more because we do more, in every area of the package.” Another attention-getter statement is this one;
I was once told about a very unusual place in Solingen, Germany called Museum Plagiarius. This site supposedly only showcases knockoffs of various items by exhibiting the fakes alongside their authentic counterparts.
You must know how to quickly and surgically point out the crucial differences between companies. Don’t be afraid to state that, “We charge more because we do more, in every area of the package.” 
My (Doug) favorite fast food place to eat is Chick-fil-A. Their food and their service consistently beat the pants off all their competitors. When I’m whizzing down an Interstate highway and it’s lunch time, I’ll go out of my way, passing a dozen of other fast food places to find one of their stores (although they are usually close by major exits). A few weeks ago I stumbled on the article below, which was written by John Eades, CEO of LearnLoft in Charlotte, N.C., and I thought Selling Point readers could glean something from the “leadership lessons” Eades discusses. Here is his article in its entirety.
Do Common Things in an Uncommon Way
Be Driven by Purpose
If you’re familiar with any of my work you know I’m big on advocating for salespeople to perform pre-call preparation before every sales appointment. Today I want to go one step further and discuss crafting a backup plan, because circumstances often change. Football quarterbacks are always prepared with an “audible,” every time they approach the line of scrimmage and see a change in the defense that spoils the play they called in the huddle. And I don’t know anybody that hasn’t heard the line from the Robert Burns’ poem that states, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”
My PLAN B was to ask my wife to grab a blanket as I told her and the kids we would open the doors, toss the blanket over the critter, and grab the blanket bundle and head for the front door, where we would shake the flying squirrel from the blanket and back into the wild. The kids excitedly said, “Awesome,” and my wife, who is an RN, warned me to be very careful because this animal could have rabies. So as my kids each opened one of the glass doors, I lunged forward with the blanket in hand, only to get a blurry glimpse of the creature sailing over my shoulder into the family room. I’m pretty sure the rodent was the only one in the room who didn’t let out a squeal! For the next several minutes we chased this little fellow unsuccessfully through both the family and dining rooms of our house, trying to bag him with the blanket. Finally we got him, but as my wife opened the front door for me to throw the blanket containing this intruder into the front yard, I felt a sharp stick on my left hand. That little joker bit me just as I was evicting him, and BTW the next morning I got a tetanus shot to ensure I wouldn’t morph into a werewolf.
That last night we gathered in a huddle and committed, “Tonight for sure.” We staked out and waited…and waited…and waited. About 2:30am he finally ambled around the corner of our house, scratching and tearing away at the turf, feeding his nasty face with insects from below the sod. When he reached the agreed-upon spot we exercised the PLAN B I described earlier and, believe it or not, the six of us corralled him so that his only “exit” was to duck into the culvert. We knew then it was just a matter of time. We positioned the trash can as described earlier and about a half hour later our “Jericho shout” sent him running through the culvert, out the other end and into the trash can with a dull thud. My son immediately stood the can upright and we immediately began to fill the can with water from the garden hose. When the can became half-full we took turns holding him down underwater with a broom, waiting for him to breathe his last. Seven minutes later he finally stopped moving around and the Robinson’s celebrated.
How many times have we all heard that “timing is everything?” I can certainly attest to that and will give you an example from my past. In 1980 I made a career change into a sales field totally foreign to any of my past employment experience. The reason I did this was due to a personal encounter I had that completely changed my outlook about how I viewed the way I, and most other Americans, purchased their insurance and savings-related products. I was so enamored with how much these concepts improved my financial situation that after aligning my finances this way I decided to go to work for the company that was offering this radical financial approach.
When you answer objections that have yet to surface, since you won’t be put on the spot to address them, you are actually taking them away from the buyer. You should be aware that if you choose to conduct a pre-emptive strike with a particular objection, you’ll need to introduce it into evidence, something like this:
The vast majority of you who are blue collar salespeople in the services industry are in the midst of your busiest season of the year, working like one-armed wallpaper hangers! No one can possibly accuse you of not working hard, as you “swarm” around your sales territory trying to beat the clock and check every box on your schedule. But, as you erratically bounce from one task to the next, are you keeping the main thing the main thing?
In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen Covey says that every task falls into one of four categories or “quadrants.” An urgent matter is usually visible; a ringing phone, your manager standing next to your station in the sales room, or a posted deadline. Urgent matters create pressure on you but may not be important to your big picture. But since importance relates to results, by contributing to your mission, values, and goals, it’s easier to identify.
most important to you look where the sticky notes are posted, which is also where you are spending the most time (which may surprise you). So just like learning to make better eating choices for meals, if given the choice of spending time on a wasteful Quadrant 4 activity, why not choose something from Quadrant 2? If someone asks you to continually solve their Quadrant 3 problems, why not decline and move on to a task in Quadrant 1?
There are times when it is impossible to alter your circumstances, and definitely being enthusiastic and positive is important, but it can’t change the facts or erase history. As an example of this, in today’s post I’ll share a series of personal health events from my own recent past, that are also very applicable to your business life as a salesperson.
2. 
Concentrate fully on the buyer, not faking attention – How do you feel when it appears people have to force themselves to talk with you?
Have you ever asked someone what time it is, and ended up being told how to build a watch? Sounds comical, but some people don’t know how to give brief responses.
In order to do that, you might picture yourself on an elevator as the door opens and your boss steps in and asks, “Nate, where are we on landing the Nebula account?” Realizing he is only going up two floors to his office, which only takes about fifteen seconds, you must respond surgically. “Sir, I met with the economic buyer yesterday, and she committed to a final decision by close of business Tuesday, and I feel really good about our chances.” As your boss walks out of the elevator and the doors are closing, he says, “Good report, email me the minute we know their decision.”
with emails, snail mailings, internet article links, even a drop-by. To remain professional, just ensure that each connection educates, informs or adds insight.
My dad bought our first house in 1955, the year I started school. Until that time we lived in several different rentals, including my grandmother’s basement.
Being a good sales talker certainly doesn’t make you a better communicator, but empathy and understanding will. This is especially important considering that many of today’s buyers want to stay 180⁰ away from hard-selling, fast-talking reps, making it even more difficult for you to avoid being castigated as one of them. That’s why, in order to completely understand others, you must proactively turn your back on your emotions and identify and focus on your prospects or buyers and their circumstances.
Several years ago Lanorris, an experienced blue collar sales inspector with a large national company, shared with me his account of responding to a lead in the small town of Americus, Ga., where a frantic homeowner had a face-to-face encounter with swarming termites. Like most folks in that situation he called three companies to come and provide estimates. Although Lanorris says he conducted a thorough inspection and assessment, and gave a complete presentation of his offering; the homeowner didn’t buy from Lanorris, but rather from a small, one-branch business with much cheaper prices.
I’ve just got to share another piece from 
I keep a daily list of every task I want to accomplish. When I complete each task, I cross it out (or change its color on my screen) to “signal” that I have accomplished it. This little gesture is like a tiny shot of endorphins. It picks me up and gives me energy to attack my next objective.
Regardless whether you make your living as an inside salesperson, a selling admin, an upselling service tech, a call center sales rep, or an outside residential or commercial seller; proficiency on the telephone is as critical to you as air and water. Phone skills are vital for proposal follow-up, appointment setting, prospecting, and who knows, maybe one day you’ll even field an inbound call from somebody who you gave a business card to.
Request
Because your job as a salesperson is repetitive when it comes to prospecting, over time you can easily become stuck in a number of comfort zones related to attitudes, techniques, behavior, and performance. If you have read my book, 
Have you been listening to the “elder statesmen” in your sales room who have informed you that with very few office leads during the off season that it’s just not possible to sell as much as during the “on” season? Has that become your belief and therefore one of your comfort zones?
It’s pretty incredible how often you hear managers complaining about their best employees leaving, and they really do have something to complain about—few things are as costly and disruptive as good people walking out the door.
They hire and promote the wrong people. Good, hard-working employees want to work with like-minded professionals. When managers don’t do the hard work of hiring good people, it’s a major de-motivator for those stuck working alongside them. Promoting the wrong people is even worse. When you work your tail off only to get passed over for a promotion that’s given to someone who glad-handed their way to the top, it’s a massive insult. No wonder it makes good people leave.
While riding with a sales rep one day during some free style drop-in prospecting visits, I decided to turn our time together into a teachable moment. Upon leaving the office, I told the guy when we stopped for lunch that day he should expect me to administer a pop quiz about our touches that morning. He agreed but had a, what’s this all about look on his face.
Here are some verbal signals to recognize, coupled with examples of how they may sound coming from a buyer:
On the other end of the spectrum, here are some non-verbal hints to watch for, which often signal buyer intentions.
Who hasn’t watched Miracle on 34th Street at least once during the Christmas season? Here’s the quick and dirty…Kris Kringle was indignant to find that the person assigned to play Santa at Macy’s was intoxicated. When Kris complains to the event director, she fires that guy and persuades Kris to take his place. He does such a fine job that he is hired to be the Santa for Macy’s flagship New York City store on 34th Street.
Having been married for well over 30 years, I live by the mantra that “I don’t care about being right, I want to be happy.” And I know that when my honey isn’t happy, nobody is happy at our house!
If the problem is left unresolved, the customer will surely find your competition, so remember that the customer’s perception is your reality. You will be amazed at the unexpected sales that can occur when you begin to approach customers with “heartburn” this way. Determine today to stop avoiding and deflecting customer complaints as you work daily in the office. Realize that the extra few minutes and effort that it will take to resolve problems will come back to you tenfold in new sales and referrals, not to mention feeling better about yourself because you are now part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
The following dialogue occurred between a former customer support rep and a new customer:
5. Help Customers
Now that you’re caught up, today let’s look at seven helpful telephone techniques:
In today’s world it’s not unusual to get calls from people whose primary language is not English, which takes longer on the telephone, so consider these ideas:
I heard about an irate patient who called the pathology group, demanding that that they explain every lab test on her statement. “Of course,” said the nurse’s assistant. She pulled up her bill and started: “Number one, urinalysis …” The patient immediately interrupted her saying: “I’m a what?”
Received this message recently from Tony Iverson, Salt Lake City, UT. “Doug, I finally accomplished something in 2016 that I’ve been striving for since I went into sales. At the end of November I surpassed the $100,000 earnings mark, and you have a part in that through your years of teaching me…THANK YOU! I am ranked number 23 of all sales people at Rollins and number 8 in my category! My friend you’re very special to me!” 
After hearing these results, it’s easy to see why the buying public dislikes the tactics of many sales reps. I use the term question fatigue as a descriptive way to visualize how easily confused and frustrated buyers can become when they are hit with these staccato bursts, without adequate time to think and respond.
Would you rather tell your crew your hunting saga of how you tracked a gray squirrel and blasted him out of a pine tree with a .22 rifle, or would you prefer to recount your big game hunting trip to Colorado, where you stalked and bagged a 1000 lb., 6½ ft. tall elk with your Browning BLR ’81? OK, that’s a rhetorical question, so quit scratching your head, Bucky. Likewise salespeople always want to recount the BIG sale because who doesn’t want to have a “Donald Trump moment” as often as possible?
Additionally, you certainly realize you’re not the only game in town, and that there will be proposals from other providers. That said, you will be better served by not asking which competitors are in the hunt, but rather focusing on all the options the buyer may be considering. This is the best way to ensure closing the door on the competition, by offering everything the client wants to evaluate, thereby demonstrating a concise understanding of the prospect and avoiding incorrect assumptions.
Mind control is the result of self-discipline and habit. You either control your mind or it controls you. There is no half-way compromise. The most practical of all methods for controlling the mind is the habit of keeping it busy with a definite purpose, backed by a definite plan. Study the record of any man who achieves noteworthy success, and you will observe that he has control over his own mind, moreover, that he exercises that control and directs it toward the attainment of definite objectives. Without this control, success is not possible.
IF I were not so fat . . .
It seems to me that the beginning of a new year is a great time for salespeople to be reminded how fatal negative influences are, along with how to avoid them. To accomplish this I’m reaching back eighty years ago to Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich.
Doubting Thomas’s scoffed scornfully when Henry Ford tried out his first crudely built automobile on the streets of Detroit. Some said the thing never would become practical. Others said no one would pay money for such a contraption.
What’s your game… HVAC service tech, Pest Control/Termite specialist, Lube Store technician, or Lawn Care applicator? Common sense says service folks like these, and all manner of technicians in dozens of similar professions like these, should be the world’s best sales people simply because they are trusted by the customers they serve.
At the beginning of 2006 I began a gig as the sales coach for one multi-state division of a large environmental services company. One of my assignments was to improve technician sales. Of course we conducted regular sales training each month, but more importantly we reinforced the understanding of the two concepts discussed in this post. Here is a recap of our accomplishments, from the inception of the project in January 2006 to where we were four years down the road, at the end of 2009.
If you are over 40 or watch the TV Land channel, you are familiar with the bumbling, trench coat clad, Italian-American detective Lt. Frank Colombo, played by the late Peter Falk. He was the absolute best at gathering information to solve murder cases by asking questions, since his suspects didn’t volunteer much information. His most famous line was always heard after he had turned to leave. Although his suspects thought he was finished, he would wheel around and add, “Oh, dere’s jus one more ting.” The answer that followed would always provide the clue that Colombo needed to solve the crime committed in each episode.
You will only succeed to the degree that your buyers succeed. Buyers tell you how to help them win when they communicate their requirements, which salespeople call needs. A need is a requirement to achieve or enhance something.
©2016 Robinson Training Solutions, LLC 
A father and son went fishing one day, and after a short period of time in the boat, the boy became curious about the world around him. He decided to ask his dad some questions and began with, “How does this boat float?” 
Don’t forget that as valuable as open questions are they are only part of the equation. They will provide you lots of information, but they must be followed up with closed questions to confirm conclusions so you will know what direction to take next.
I hope you had a fantastic sales year and made a bucket of money, and are ready to take some time off around the holidays. The bad news is that most salespeople aren’t in that position and are scrambling to find some folks to talk to during December in hopes of selling something before year-end, so they can pay for Christmas expenditures and gifts.
Second on or about December 22, conduct both an email and a telephone blitz, announcing to your prospects and customers that you’re going to be at your post, available to conduct business as usual during the holiday season. Follow that up with a phone blitz, a couple of days after Christmas Day, to let them know you’re open. Even though there are many customers who won’t be there in person, you should leave a voicemail so that when they return, they’ll be impressed with your level of customer service and support. Will this strategy work? Of course it will.
One October afternoon, after the brutal summer temps and high humidity had subsided, a sales rep was canvassing through a neighborhood of middle-class homes. The rep knocked on a door and it was answered by a woman who cut him off right after “hello” and slammed the front door loudly in his face. Instead of walking away he simply went around to the rear of the house and repeated his knock at the back door. That door swung open and the same lady answered very gruffly, “Weren’t you just at my front door?” He simply smiled and said “Yes but the lady there was having a bad day so I thought I’d come around back and see who else was home.” She got a kick out of that as her angst was disarmed, and a few minutes later he made a sale. Now handling that level of grumpiness is pretty smooth, like watching water rolling off a ducks’ back!
Typical canvassed sales follow the same sales cycle pattern:
This particular week is one of those few times each year when I don’t offer up 700-800 words of sales coaching, customer service training, or sales management related fare, in the form of a blog post for your consumption, at no charge I might add. Of course I’m alluding to Thanksgiving.
the blessing required a response. He sees, he turns, and then he praises.
You have heard me say many times how important it is to be a good active listener. Just as important is the display and understanding of body language because often it contradicts what is being said. How salespeople carry themselves on sales calls can be just as important as what they say. Because of that, today I want to discuss some common body language mistakes for salespeople to avoid, with the help of some information from Square, Inc.:
Getting in their grill
Opportunity Ahead – As God’s people, we have the same opportunity as our forefathers did, to fight for the right to be salt and light. We need to know and believe that when many are pulling on the same yoke, it is easy and will be of God.
If you have been in sales for any length of time, you have certainly been advised to develop an “elevator pitch”, which is a conversation starter used to describe your business, product or services. The name comes from the fact that it takes 30-60 seconds to complete an elevator ride. Therefore in order to describe what you do prior to someone reaching their destination floor and exiting the elevator, you need to be lean and mean and say it quickly. It’s the answer to a prospect asking, “What do you do for a living,” or “What does your company do?”
Your closing rate has dropped. Your pending proposal stack is getting taller. Even though you don’t want to admit it, your weekly proposal output is declining. The competition is kicking your butt more often than they used to. You’re not hitting your budgeted sales numbers and you’re worried you won’t catch up.
Have an out of body experience – For an additional perspective, benchmark with others outside your company to help you define the problem and gain confirmation of what you are experiencing. Consider talking to trusted vendors to gain an additional perspective. These same “outsiders” might be able to give you some valuable input, maybe even noticing weaknesses or roadblocks you have overlooked in your position, where it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees.
Many of you are familiar with legendary salesman and author Frank Bettger (1888-1981). Somewhere along the way I heard a story recounting when he was a green insurance salesman, struggling daily to get appointments (sound familiar?).
I don’t want to try to play shrink with you in this post, but I think it’s important to remind you that there is an accepted hierarchy of human needs that people tend to follow throughout their lives. This concept was introduced by Abraham Maslow in 1943. These needs are listed here in ascending order, meaning that once people satisfy their needs at one level, they move to the next level and do the same. This process continues until all five are accomplished. Here are those categories of needs:
I read an interesting article pointing up the importance of having customers that are willing to buy from you over and over again. In the article, a survey reported that a fast food restaurant determined that a repeat customer was worth about $11,000 over their lifetime, while a large automobile dealer said for their firm the figure was $332,000.
You should train your ears to listen carefully to EVERYTHING your customers say in conversation, since you never know when an add-on opportunity may present itself.
Habit #7 – Sharpen the Saw
It’s time for a gut check, meaning every salesperson needs to look squarely into the mirror and admit that their results are solely dependent on the person who is looking back at them. Yes, your company provides many resources to help you succeed, but you still must pull your own little red wagon and continually seek out enough folks to have productive selling conversations with each day.
“To… (What you want to achieve, do or become)…so that… (Reasons why it is important). I will do this by… (Specific behaviors or actions you can use to get there). I value… (Choose several values) …because… (Reasons why these values are important). As a result I will… (What you can do to live by these values).”
…Now that we’re on the same page, enjoy reading about Karen, a CSR at the cable company that provided the internet and television to our aforementioned North Georgia residence. I was told in order to close my account, I needed to physically bring in the 3 digital converters and the internet modem that belonged to them. Apparently I had been “renting” these devices for 7 years. After that investment, those items should have been given to us as “parting gifts.”
Karen’s answer was very tentative; telling me that I should not pay anything, but simply wait another month for my “final bill,” after the clerk got around to crediting me for my equipment turn-in, and then call her back and we would see where things stood. Somehow I don’t think she heard that response in a training class.
To bring it closer to home, here’s one that just happened to Bonnie and me around the fourth of July. I won’t give the War and Peace version about our property, but nearly seven years ago we purchased a cabin in the north Georgia mountains. We poured thousands of dollars into enlarging and upgrading it from a cabin into a mountain home, as the plan was to make it our sole residence at our full retirement. Well, we began to get cold feet about moving away from the grandkids, and then a family tragedy last summer really caused us to rethink; and so this June we put that property up for sale.
We ended up being very fortunate when a contractor, not an employee of the electric co-op, heard the call on his radio on his way home, and relayed that he was close to my community and would swing by and get us powered up. A few minutes later he arrived and saved the day (the night), as my grands and I gave him a round of applause.
I know a guy who lost his job as a construction company VP during the great recession, so he took a step back and joined a service company as a manager trainee. After months of training, he became location manager of a branch in one of the hardest hit areas of the country according to USA Today. The office ranked 7th out of 8 in sales in its region. This guy decided to build a little pride by buying a few new sales tools for his people and by putting a fresh coat of paint on the building. He became an example of what success is supposed to look like, and he encouraged and incentivized his team. Less than two years later, that location was selling five times the dollar amount they were when he took over; and although the economy hadn’t improved much there, his four reps were the top four producers in the entire region. That guy knew the unwritten law: For things to get better, you must get better.
-Go back to basics, just like athletes do. In 1958, the Green Bay Packers finished their season, 1-10-1, although the team roster contained five future Hall of Fame inductees. Vince Lombardi became head coach in 1959. At his first meeting, he said, “Gentlemen this is a football,” as he held one up. Paul Hornung replied, “Not so fast, coach.” If you know anything about football, you’re probably familiar with what happened over the next eight years under Lombardi’s leadership.