Now Here’s a Thank You Note

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Attention: All adults who still think it’s corny to write a thank you note.

Here is a thank you note I just received from an intern candidate who didn’t get the job. I thought you’d like to see what a real thank you note sounds like. Remember, this kid is 19.

_______________________________________

I just want to write to you and give you my formal thanks. Your recommendation of my name to xxxx is extremely flattering. You were very professional and respectful with our interview and phone and email conversations. I mainly appreciate that you took me seriously and that, despite my age, you gave me a legitimate chance to potentially work for you.

To update you on the internship xxxx referred to: I did not land the internship unfortunately. It is disappointing, to be sure, but my head is still up! I will surely find something this summer. Once again, I cannot express the degree of my gratitude toward you and your willingness to help me. I sincerely hope the project this summer excels and that your summer is fantastic. Have a great day, Mr. Caskey.

Sincerely,

AW

_______________________________________ 

 

 

When It’s Showtime, Will You Be Ready?

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“All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.” – Shakespeare, As You Like It.

Last week, I was coaching a salesperson who was getting ready to give a talk in front of 20 VPs of Marketing, his target audience. I asked the question, “What are you going to present to them?” His answer was, “I’m just going to give them a little thumbnail of our company.”

As he told me more about his presentation, I could see this was a recipe for failure. I was afraid that he was going to discount the company value by merely giving a “thumbnail” of it. His was in danger of diluting his company’s value.

And I was afraid it was going to sound like every other presentation that audience will hear over their lifetime.

What Is Your Showtime?

Recently I had a chance to attend The Story Warrior Workshop in San Diego presented by Bo Eason. Read more

5 New Ways To Think About the Selling Profession

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I wake up nights thinking about why I so detest the idea of ‘convince and persuade’ in the sales process. In fact, Bryan Neale said in a recent podcast, “No place in selling for persuasion or convincing.”  A bold statement, yes. But one I agree with.

So why is it so detesting to me?

I think I’ve always felt like persuasion and influence are something you do TO someone, not WITH someone. When a salesperson comes back from a sales call, the sales manager typically says (or thinks), “Did you convince them to use us?”

Or, if he doesn’t actually say that, it is an understood question.

And so begins the spiral of “doing it TO someone.”  Even the very word “SELL” is an active verb that implies you are doing it TO another person.

So let’s try this another way…

Instead of thinking, “How do I persuade, convince or influence someone?” let’s ask the question in another, more passive voice:

“What do I need to do so that the person becomes persuaded, becomes convinced, becomes influenced by me so they make the decision that they want to make?”(Not the decision I want them to make.)

I think if we use the passive verb of ‘become persuaded,’ it’s much more positive and powerful than it is to do something TO someone – as in the active voice of persuade.

Here is a list that I’ve assembled of the things I think you can do to help the prospect become persuaded. 

1.) Be sincerely curious and interested in their issues.

How many times have you been called on by a salesperson that is only interested in your issues in as much as it will lead to a sale for them?

  • Old Persuasion: Seller is interested in prospect because prospect gives them money.
  • New Persuasion: Seller is interested in prospect, whether they give you money or not.

2.) Fully understand the kind of pain they’re feeling.

The fact is that your solution probably solves a problem of some kind for most clients.  Even though we can suggest that “every client is different” (naturally, we don’t want to assume anything), we also have the luxury of experience in our businesses.

For example, in the sales training and coaching business, there are but a handful of problems that arise that we can help people with.  And we know what those are going in so that we can spot them when they become issues.

  • Old Persuasion: Seller pitches and convinces the buyer.
  • New Persuasion: Seller seeks to understand the prospect.

3.) Understand the economic impact of the problem.

A person can become persuaded pretty quickly if they discover, through your questions, that the problem is costing them $1.5 million per year.  If they come to that conclusion, you don’t have to be very “persuasive” or “convincing.”

  • Old Persuasion: Justify your price.
  • New Persuasion: Give attention to the cost of the problem-let them justify your price. Read more

3 Reasons You Should Share Your “Why” with Customers

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You’ve probably seen the TED talk with Simon Sinek on the Golden Circle.

He discusses the fact that all of our businesses have an outer circle of “what” (what do we sell or do), the mid circle, which is the “how” (how do we do what we do and is it distinguishable from anybody else who does what we do), and an inner circle is the “why” (what is our purpose for being in business, what attracted us to this business in first place, why are we so passionate about our work).

Simon’s premise is that our customers buy the why we do what we do just as much as they by the how or the what.  And yet, most of the time the why is the last thing we talk about with our customers or prospects.

I believe there are three reasons you should get very clear about the why in your business.

1.  It helps you with your own motivation. 

It’s hard to get up every day and do what we all do without the why behind our actions.  And I think it’s better if the why is about the customer and their business and the work that you do rather than just the income you make.

In other words,”I get up every morning to do what I do so my kids can go to college” is really not relevant to your prospect.

2. The thinking through of “why “do you do what you do will help you communicate your value in a better way.

It will set your inner game right so that you’re not as vulnerable in tough, tight situations.  My sense is that if we operated on a belief of a “solid why” then we’re not as apt to deviate from our process and take some of the crap we take in the market. We will hold firm on our process and our price. Read more

Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action

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Our team is meeting with a strategic planner today an before we meet with him, we were instructed to watch a few videos.

This one in particular really hit home for me!  I can guarantee it will inspire you to look at yourself, your business and your message in a different way.

About the Video

Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question “Why?” His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers …

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!

Do you agree with Simon?  Why do you do what you do?

 

3 Strikes and You’re Out – How Bad Impressions Can Cause A Prospect To Run!

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I’m sure we’ve all heard that saying, but it’s important because it applies to many aspects of life – interviews, dating, networking and presentations.

A few weeks ago, I reached out to a company via email to determine if their services fit our needs.   The owner contacted me a few days later and we discussed the purpose of my email.   I clearly explained what we were looking for and we then set a time to meet.

 

STRIKE ONE!

Upon arrival, the entire staff greeted me, that’s all fine and dandy, but I was blind-sided because I didn’t expect them to join us for the meeting.

So how did that make me – the prospect – feel in this situation? Confused. If your prospect is confused within 5 minutes of meeting you, then you’ve struck out.

√ THE LESSON: HAVE A CLEAR AGENDA AND MENTION ALL THE KEY PLAYERS PRIOR TO A MEETING WITH A PROSPECT OR CLIENT.

Before you meet with a prospect and even a client, send them a CLEAR outline.  The idea is to share the content of the meeting and inform them of other people who might join the meeting.

In our eBook, Email It – A Seller’s Guide to Emails That Work, we lay out the framework of how it might sound.  One of the pre-written emails, specifically Email The Agenda Upfront, we lay how to write this email.

Here’s a checklist of things you should put in the upfront agenda:

  • What you’d like to discuss in broad terms
  • Ask them if there is anything else they’d like to discuss
  • Introduce other people who might join the meeting
  • Anything they should bring (if this applies)

**This gets back to the premise that a person with a plan will be in control of the process and will create a great impression! After all, I’m sure you don’t want to confuse or surprise your prospect.

 

STRIKE TWO!

At the beginning of the meeting, each employee stared at me like a deer in headlights.  Clearly none of them knew what we were meeting about.

√ LESSON: EMAIL THE AGENDA TO ALL PEOPLE ATTENDING THE MEETING.

Use common sense.  If you’re bringing a colleague, your boss, a friend or whomever into a meeting with a prospect or client– always fill them in on ALL the details beforehand!

 

STRIKE THREE!

Don’t suggest the FULL enchilada unless you know all your prospect’s problems.

The company recommended the entire enchilada—after blindly diagnosing my pains and problems.  Little did they know, the tasty taco would have fixed my problems.

√ LESSON: ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS BEFORE YOU OFFER SOLUTION.

One IMPORTANT part of the sales process is to find the Compelling Reason for change.  As sales professionals, we have to get to the bottom of why a prospect would change what they are doing now to a new solution.

Here are some optimum questions we recommend you ask to find pain:

  1. “What do you see as the biggest issue keeping you from your vision?”
  2. “Why is that a problem?”
  3. “What have you done in the past to fix it?”
  4. “What happens if you decide not to take action?”
  5. “How much does it cost you to have these problems?”

Babe Ruth said, “Don’t let the fear of striking out hold you back.”  But if you only have three chances to hit a home run, then why not put your best foot forward and make a great impression?

 

When One Picture Equals 62 Slides

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When we have a big presentation, why do we reach for the slide deck?

Isn’t it funny how distasteful we find PowerPoints to be when we’re on the recipient end, but how intriguing and inviting they become when we’re the ones giving the presentation?

I was speaking with a potential client the other day and asked them what their typical process was when a customer called and wanted information. He sheepishly said that they went out and gave a slide deck presentation.  When I asked how many slides there were, he responded, “62 – and growing.”

Sixty-two slides and growing!?  “Yes,” they said.

They began presentations a few years ago with a deck of 12 slides, but the Marketing Department and the subject matter guys were always wanting to add slides to be more specific about the results that a customer can expect. And now it’s up to 62 slides.

The Antidote for the 62-Slide Deck

Yes, there is an antidote for this slide deck disease and that is the Cornerstone Slide.

This is the one slide that you reveal at the beginning of any presentation that depicts the typical pain the customer will go through in the absence of your solution.  Preferably, it has no words on it, but instead, a graphic illustration or a drawing of your customer’s problem.

This could be a stick figure illustration or a high-end graphic illustration, but regardless, when a customer sees the slide and hears your explanation, they should be able to pinpoint exactly what their issue is.

We’ve watched organizations do away with the 61 other slides and just use the Cornerstone Slide because it’s the thing that engages the prospect at a deeper level of the brain than a slide with 1,000 words on it.

So rather than continuing to add slides so that in two years it becomes 102-slide deck, go back to the basics and do one really good slide up front.  You may find the rest are irrelevant.

Caution: Your marketing people may not like that (they actually will NOT like that), but your customers will and probably will buy more.

What Happens When Neediness Permeates Everything You Do?

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Are you desperate for results?  Do you really need a sale to feel good about yourself?

When we ask those questions in our sales programs, we get a resounding “NO!!!”  But the fact is, that when you listen to most people’s sales pitch and sales process, it is threaded with an element of neediness and desperation throughout.

It’s not the sort of neediness that’s exhibited by begging.  It’s much more subtle than that.

It’s that time during a presentation when you say, “So what do you think?”  Or that time at the very beginning of the process when you fail to plant your feet on solid ground and instead, follow the customer’s process and do so gladly because you think the odds will increase of you making the sale.

Here are three things you can do immediately to end the pitiful approach of neediness:

1. Want nothing.

The more “want” you have in the process, the more likely you are to slip and sound needy.  (Actually, you don’t just “sound” needy, you are needy.)  We say in our work, the only selling that should be happening in the sales cycle is the prospect selling you on why they have a problem that they need solved.

The idea of you selling them is antiquated.

2. Stay detached.

In my book, Same Game New Rules, I devote a chapter to it called “Detachment Increases Power”. I mention:

“Unfortunately, detachment and the ability to let go are not natural characteristics in any of us.  From the time we were kids, we were taught to hang on to what we had….”

Amateur salespeople always tend to have their eye on the prize – the order – the close – the commission.  But as long as you’re focused on that end result (your prize), the less apt you are to be detached during the cycle and therefore, the less power you have.

Why are we always the ones squirming?  You would think if we really believed in our solution the way we say we do, it would be the prospect squirming because they may not get access to it.  But that’s not the way it usually is.

3. A REAL Belief in Your Value.

There are two faces to this thing that we talk a lot about called “value”.  One is the product or service representation of value.  That might be the results that a customer can expect to see as a result of using your service or the distinguishing characteristics that make your product truly unique.

But there’s also another phase of value and that is your value.  Yes, as a sales professional or as a technical resource or as a subject matter expert.  This is the one that we take for granted and rarely work on and yet, this is the exact one that will make it easy for you to distinguish yourself from the pack. 

What are you doing to bring value to the relationship, not through your product or service, but through you?

Neediness is deadly.  When exhibited at the wrong time, it can turn a perfect sales process into a loss.

The instant you become needy, the prospect gets uncomfortable because deep down, their lizard brain is asking themselves, “Why should I buy from him if he seems so needy?  There seems to be danger here.” And there might be.

So lose the neediness and desperation.  Really lose it and watch your control of the sales process increase.

3 Tips On Selling A Premium Product in a Commodity Market

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A few years ago, I did a Webinar called “How to Sell A Premium Product in a Commodity Market.” It was one of our best attended webinars we’ve ever done.

Lots of interest in the topic – and I believe I know why.

In this article, I want to update some of the content and give you a couple more ideas.  I picked this topic because it is an ongoing area of concern for sales people – how to sell a premium product into a market that sees price as THE main driver.

Why it’s so tough.

Think about it. We live in a “price leads” society. Advertisers have led us on a race to the bottom by the constant drumbeat of, “Lowest Prices In The Industry!” Or, “We’ll Beat ANY Price!” I know you’ll say, “But I’m not in the retail game.” No, you aren’t. But do you see the attitude that they’ve placed in the minds of buyers?

So the context is that even though your buyer might not jump to “What’s your price?” they certainly have it on their radar.

Here are four notions that I suggest you consider as you extract yourself form the “commodity dungeon” where the only important issue is price:

1. Position Your Self Properly.

Interesting thing about positioning is that it’s not just about what you say – it’s about how you say it. Sales people spend so much time concerned with the “what” and ignore the “how.”

And that’s wrong.

Regardless of your word choice (you’ll have to decide that), the essence of your message should be centered around ‘the types of problems that you solve.’ That’s right – no enthusiastic sales pitches about how great you are – or how smart your team is. None of that.

Frame your ‘premium value’ around the pains and problems that prospects face. Some of those problems they know they have. Some they’re oblivious to. But either way, begin the conversation there.

Be a problem solver not a product seller. There is a trap waiting for you. The prospect sets it and you fall right into it. It happens when the prospect shows interest and you default to “the pitch.”

Instead, when your prospect shows interest in the types of problems you solve, refrain from pitching the product and spend more time diagnosing what that problem means to him. This one thing can do more to change your position (in the prospect’s mind) and help them see that your premium fee is worth it.

Read more