Are your prospects MAD?
Are your prospects MAD?
One of every salesperson’s most important responsibilities is to keep the top of their respective sales funnels full of potential opportunities. Some of the opportunities might be new. Some might be from existing customers. Either way, they both count based on the prospecting you’ve done to drive business.
Whether you are at a trade show, on the Internet, the phone or face-to-face at a customer’s facility, you must quickly determine a prospect’s legitimacy. Wouldn’t it be great if legitimate prospects wore buttons that said “I’m the Legitimate Prospect!” Of course, selling is not that simple and the challenge of identifying a legitimate prospect is part of the fun and excitement of selling.
We believe the best way to identify legitimate prospects is to question your prospects to see if they’re really MAD! No, we don’t mean that they are angry or crazy, although sometimes crazy can be helpful. We mean that they are MAD enough to be convinced of your specific value proposition. We mean that they believe what you are selling solves a pressing need they have.
The first part of being MAD enough is to determine if your prospect has Money. Is the project funded or budgeted? If not, it could be an uphill battle to acquire the funding; therefore your sale is in jeopardy. If the prospect does not have the Money, you’re probably not talking to a legitimate prospect, at least for the immediate time frame.
Even if funding is available, does your prospect hold the second key to truly be MAD…the Authority to approve the funding for the project? Are you talking to the economic buyer (the person who can approve the purchase without needing permission) or someone who reports to the economic buyer? Your biggest clue is the pronouns your prospect uses. If you hear something like “They will have to review this,” you are not talking with the economic buyer. Pay very close attention to the pronouns prospects use.
Lastly, is the prospect MAD enough to have the Desire to get this deal done! Is your ROI compelling enough to save the prospect significant capital or allow the company to grow revenues? If the prospect is MAD then you do indeed have a legitimate prospect!
Being MAD requires that your prospects have the Money, Authority and Desire to buy from you. Ask targeted, specific questions to determine if your prospects are MAD.
Assume everything you know is an assumption!
The Internet is a very powerful tool for sales people. Like most power tools its use drastically reduces the time it takes to do a job manually. However like most power tools, it requires respect and understanding to avoid disaster and do the job well. More and more sales people are using the Internet to acquire information about their prospects, customers, and markets. This is truly a wonderful thing. However, this creates problems, or more specifically assumptions.
There is a myth in selling that assumptions are bad. Assumptions aren’t bad in themselves. It’s our unconscious reliance or defense of them that cause problems. This manifests when we believe we have facts when indeed they are assumptions.
Let’s face it. We all have to make assumptions about our customers. There is no way we can possibly know everything about our customers. We must assume. One of the traits of a great sales person is someone who can distinguish the difference between facts and assumptions. Knowing the difference between fact and assumption is critical to success in selling.
Assumptions come from many places: the Internet, misinformed people, your beliefs, biases and experience to name a few. Once you label something as an assumption, you have to determine its impact on your ability to win business. If you are not sure, you must ask questions to resolve any misunderstandings. This is a very tough thing to do. If you don’t realize something is an assumption, it will not cross your mind to confirm it. This is especially hard for new sales people. They just don’t know enough to have a thorough understanding of the environment or situation into which they are selling. This is also difficult for experienced sales people because, “Hey, I’ve seen it all. I know exactly what this customer needs!”
So what must you do to guard yourself against the assumptions on which you rely? First, assume everything you know is an assumption! Then, test your assumptions by asking questions to overcome ambiguity. Ask yourself, “How do I know this?” “How have I verified this?”
When you first meet a prospect ask general open-ended questions. Narrow the focus of your questions later in the conversation. This leads you to ask better and more meaningful questions. The more you practice this the better you will become. Remember, the hardest part about knowing the facts is recognizing what assumptions you are making.
As a final step, review every customer encounter. None of us like to lose business, but one rewarding activity to do after losing any business is to assess your actions. What assumptions did you base your approach on that were inaccurate? What could you have done to confirm you have a thorough understanding? How will you recognize that type of assumption in the future? Your best defense against assumptions is to be prepared.
It’s the unrecognized assumptions that harm us, not the ones we know.
The Best Leaders Can Be Replaced!
Who can replace you?
This is certainly something you don’t think about every day, but succession planning, even in a small organization, is important to sustain momentum, continuity, and growth. It is not always effective to bring someone from outside the company. Have you begun to identify the leaders on your team? Is the individual you have in mind ready to take the helm?
Having a replacement ready is the hallmark of a truly competent leader. What type of a crisis would ensue should you have to leave your position on short notice? By having a well-developed succession plan in place chaos and crisis can be averted. Even though you may be gone, your legacy will remain intact. A documented plan differentiates you from others competing for a promotion. Managers who have well-groomed replacements ready to assume their positions are much more likely to get promoted than those who don’t.
Do you have a plan in place? If not, now is the time to assess your people and begin development of candidates. Truth is there are very few “natural born leaders” who can assume your role. However, leadership skills can be learned, developed, and practiced to help sales people achieve at their highest levels. Effective managers recognize how leadership principles improve their personal productivity and those of their high performers.
Based on our customer’s requests we have designed and launched the Sales Concepts Leadership Institute. We are delighted to have Dr. Tom Cocklereece, a professional leadership coach certified by world renowned leadership author John C. Maxwell, heading this initiative. The curriculum of the Institute is designed to empower people to reach their full potential by maximizing their strengths and improving areas of challenge in both business and personal situations. The three-pronged approach of focused leadership webinars, targeted One-to-one Personal Leadership Coaching and a two-day leadership program Applying the Laws of Leadership provides the foundation for growth. Participants are empowered to develop and implement sustainable action plans to maximize their leadership skills.
Our first webinar Leadership-What’s Holding You Back will be July 18 at 2:30PM EDT. The first 50 people to register may attend for no cost. Please comment below and let us know what are you doing to prepare for the future. We’d love to hear from you.
Aspirations
You get what you expect.
It’s interesting how people respond when I tell them I work for a company that trains sales people. Almost always the conversation quickly leads to responses such as “Oh, you mean motivational stuff?” or “Yea, my uncle’s cousin is a motivational speaker as well.”
Why is it that selling is so closely tied to motivation in most people’s minds? If instead, I had said “We train people to drive trucks.” The response would not be “Oh, so you motivate people to drive trucks?” The difference is, selling involves working with people, with all of the rewards and frustrations that brings. When your livelihood depends on the behavior of other people it is important to understand people. An important concept to help you understand people is Pygmalion’s Principle. According to Pygmalion’s Principle, the most important person to understand just may be yourself.
Simply stated, the Pygmalion Principle means that what you expect comes across to others. The result of this taken one step further is you get what you expect. Your actions follow your beliefs. Henry Ford said it best “Whether you think you can or think you can’t – you are right.” Studies have been done; the theory has been tested and validated. There is no better way to improve your selling or negotiating ability than to improve your attitude and your beliefs. Pessimistic sales people seldom set sales records.
The biggest obstacle to achieving your sales numbers is to realize how your attitude affects your ability to sell, or as we like to call it, your aspiration level. The first step to improving your aspiration level it is find out what it is doing to you. Is it encouraging you or discouraging you? To find out, you have to listen to yourself. If you think it is hard to listen to other people – that’s nothing! Try listening to yourself. I mean really think about what you say to yourself – your inner most thoughts. How do they sound? Do you hear things like “He will never buy this because…” or “There is no way she is going to pay this price” or “I can’t make this quota. My boss is out of his mind.”
Careful! This is what sets your aspiration level, and I guarantee the people with whom you work and sell can sense the way you talk to yourself. So now you know how to identify what your aspiration level is, how can you improve it? Like the recovering alcoholic, the first step is to admit there is a problem. Then real change begins.
Take control of your thoughts. The next time you catch yourself thinking “The customer will never go for this” or “There is no point in calling on that company” or “I can’t do whatever” STOP! Stop right there and say to yourself “This can and will work, I just want to figure out how.” Think of three ways to overcome the challenge. It may take awhile, but over time you will achieve results. Methods to help you raise your aspiration level include:
- Review past successes with other customers. Why did things go well? How can you leverage those experiences to this current situation?
- Take a break, exercise. Get the blood going through your body. It will help you think and be more creative. It will also energize you and make you more alert.
- Get prepared. Many times we are negative because we are nervous or scared. Preparation is the best cure.
- Spend some time with the best sales people in your company. Watch what they do, say and think. Learn from them.
Do you have any other ways to improve your aspiration level? If so please share them with us in the comment section. We’d love to hear from you.
Listen to yourself. Do you encourage yourself or discourage yourself? Remember, you are in control.
8 Myths of Selling Debunked
Many salespeople have come to accept certain myths as though they are truths. These sales people needlessly limit themselves by buying into ideas that just aren’t true. Let’s arm ourselves against accepting roadblocks that don’t exist. Here are a few examples. Can you think of any others? Please let us know, we would love to hear from you.
Selling = Telling
Have you been forced to endure a fast-talking, slick salesperson trying to sell you something you don’t need? It doesn’t work when you’re buying and probably won’t work when you’re selling. How do you feel when someone doesn’t listen and doesn’t answer your questions; because, they are doing all the talking? Make sure you’re not doing something to your prospects you wouldn’t want done to you.
The budget is the most a customer can spend.
Think about this. It’s late July. The temperature and humidity are both 99. Your air conditioner breaks. Do you have a budget specifically for AC repairs? Suppose you have $500 set aside for home maintenance and the cost to fix it is $725. Bet you find a way to come up with the extra $225. Why, because the situation is urgent. The budget excuse works because your prospect does not see what you are selling as urgent. Fix that and the budget issue magically disappears.
Customers always want the lowest price.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Is it always the case when you are the customer? Just look in any parking lot. Is it full of the cheapest cars? No! If price were the only consideration, more than half the cars you see in the parking lot would still be on the showroom floor. Price becomes less of a factor when value is understood. Help your prospects and customers understand why you are worth the difference!
The customer is always right.
Customers may think that way, but customers may not have all the information needed to make a sound decision. Our job is to help them make a decision based on facts, not assumptions or prejudices. Generally speaking, educated customers are good customers. Let’s be sure we’re doing our job to help them make better decisions. If we do that, our own success will surely follow.
The worst thing a customer can say is “No.”
It’s certainly not the best answer, but is far from the worst. “No” is actually the second best answer you can get. The natural response to “No” is “Why not?” Now you can discover the real concern. With “No”, you have something to work with. “No” enables you to search for alternatives. Remember some prospects are not a good fit for what you are selling. The need may not be there, or the timing may not be right. Either way, the sooner you discover whether you have a qualified prospect or not, the better.
Cold Calling and Prospecting are dead.
Who in their right mind believes this? The surest way to have the sales well run dry is to skip or delay the constant process of prospecting. The need for prospecting is as strong as ever. The means of prospecting have changed dramatically with, among other things, the advent of the Internet and social media. If you stop prospecting, your sales eventually stop. If you prospect the same old way your sales eventually stop. Don’t let your sales stop. Always be prospecting!
Salespeople aren’t needed anymore.
Even with the transformation brought about by the Internet and social media, there will always be the need for a salesperson who serves as a resource for his or her prospects. Relationships still count. Providing helpful and unique solutions always separates professional salespeople from mere peddlers. Are you a trusted resource for your prospects and customers?
Prospects don’t trust sales people.
Undoubtedly true, provided your definition of a salesperson is one who looks out only for him/herself to the detriment of prospects and customers. What prospects don’t trust is a stranger. The question is, how much of a stranger are you to your prospects and customers? Here again, being a valued resource for them ensures you are both needed and trusted.
We hope debunking these myths helps you think about selling in ways that are more positive and rewarding. Have you been fooled? At the very least, we hope some of these selling myths might lend themselves as good discussion points for you and your team. Can you think of any others? Please comment. We’d love to hear from you.
Why accept “No” from someone who can’t say “Yes”?
However, all too many times we do! Why? There are a number of reasons. The biggest reason is we may not know who the true decision maker is. We call this person the economic buyer. The economic buyer is defined as the person who can approve your solution without having to get permission. In other words, the economic buyer is the final decision maker. The road to reaching the economic buyer can be a long and winding one. While it would be nice if we only had to call on the economic buyer, we must deal with people at all levels and departments of our customer’s organization and institution. To increase the chances of winning business one must deal with all of the various influences within an account. Their risks, both real and perceived, must be addressed and resolved.
Prospects and customers can be classified into four segments: Users, Technical Influences, Coaches and Economic Buyers. This holds true for large corporations, small businesses, educational institutions and governments.
Let’s take a look at each one of the influences and how to reduce both their real and perceived risks:
User:
Users are the people who directly use products or services. To reduce their risks, discuss and demonstrate training, convenience, comfort, ease of use, error correction, time savings, and technical support. Show how you and your company will support them on a daily basis. If users are not on board with your solution, they may sabotage it or create resistance. They can often say no, but seldom can they say “Yes.”
Technical Influence:
Sales people often spend a great deal of time with technical influences. Technical influences are people who evaluate your product or service based upon their area of expertise. They may include engineers, technical experts, general counsel, purchasing, and others. To reduce their risks present data, specifications, white papers, performance benchmarks, research, studies, charts, graphs, testing procedures, logistics, contracts, pricing, references etc. Make sure all questions have been answered. As with users, technical influences can block a sale but seldom can they approve one.
Coach:
Anyone who can provide information about the customer or project. A coach can be anyone and can be found anywhere. By definition coaches generally want to see you win. Their risk is that you don’t win the business. Develop and listen to your coaches. Yes, you should have more than one. The best coach is the economic buyer.
Economic Buyer:
The person who can say “Yes” to spending money on your product, service or solution without having to have permission. They are usually found in the management or executive levels within organizations. To reduce their perceived risks cover cost of ownership, return on investment, positive impact on cash flow, cost justification, alignment with corporate objectives, payback, etc. Deliver a sound business case.
You may not always be able to secure a meeting with the economic buyer, but hopefully you will know why not. That may serve as an indicator as to where you stand. This information helps you provide more accurate forecasts. When you do win a meeting with the economic buyer, be sure to address risks and concerns early in the process.
