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When You’re in a Dip, Do These 7 Things

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Since I coach people, I’m privy to their psychology. Often, my coaching clients come to me in a bad state of mind. They’re in what I call, “a dip.”

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Let’s get this straight, the dip is a signal that your state of mind is off. You are out of sync. There is nothing wrong with you. There IS something wrong with the conditions you’ve created. Oh, and something else – I am not a psychiatrist. If your dip lasts longer than a few weeks, probably should get professional help.

But for most of us these few ideas can get us started.

Here are seven ideas I gave to a client who came to me about a month ago. He was a super high achiever, but he wasn’t in the right mental framework, and he felt it.

1. On Outcomes. Stop trying. Stop trying to make friends. Stop trying to get deals. Stop trying to get the outcomes that you believe you deserve. We call this “detachment.” The more emphasis you put on your outcomes, the less likely you are to run the process well. Let outcomes come to you. Go out and be interested in others. Be a good listener. Be curious (which I know you are), but let it happen if it’s supposed to happen. Read more

Find Your Own Voice

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The Advanced Selling Podcast with Bill Caskey and Bryan NealeIn this podcast, Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale give their advice on finding your OWN voice in a sales situation. This is a very important step in improving in many different areas of your life. Follow Bill and Bryan’s steps in finding yourself and tapping into your own heart.

Also mentioned in this podcast:

Hot Tip Thursday Episode #1 – How To Close A Sales Call

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Hot Tip Thursday Episode #1In the first episode of Hot Tip Thursday, Bill Caskey teaches a couple ways to close a Sales Call and ask the right questions before ending the conversation. Don’t miss this episode or the next, free of charge to all users.

 

 

Please Download the Advanced Selling Podcast App to continue receiving Hot Tip Thursday and other Exclusive content FREE of Charge. Available on iPhone and Android.

Problems and Solutions In Talking Money With Prospects

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To say that the discussion of money is the most important part of the sales process might be an over-reach. BUT, the fact is that if you aren’t willing to embrace the conversation about money, then you will be at a disadvantage further into the sales cycle.

Why do so many people have so many qualms with talking money? Well, in this Whiteboard Wednesday, Bill Caskey deals with it head-on, discussing the problems, the causes and the solutions that await you. As with any roadblock in the sales cycle, it all begins with “the inner game.”

Biggest Challenges Facing Customers

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OK, here’s yet another list we want you to make. The reason for this list is prod you into paying attention to the pains that your customers have.

The shift here is that you should be constantly focused on their issues – not yours. And you can’t do that if you don’t know what to listen for. So make the list, then take the top 3-5 most common issues and insert that into your story.

How Do I Stay In Front of My Clients Without Pestering Them?

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This is from a Question & Answer call our team recently did in our program called The Accidental Salesperson. We thought we’d give you a peak inside our thinking when we answer client questions.  (This is a transcription of spoken audio so forgive some of the clunkiness).

Q: What I know is that clients give me referrals and therefore I need to be in front of my clients, but I don’t make time to do it. How do I do so?

A: Well there are two things here. One is the making time and two is what I do with that time that I make.

I’m going to give you a couple of ideas.

If you really believe that you have something of enormous value for your clients and let’s say it’s July and tax season is over and as a CPA, you’re kind of back in the swing of things because you’ve taken the month of May off to just recharge. I think it’s OK to call people up and say,

“Look, we don’t really have any kind of imminent issue here but I was wondering if you would mind if I stop by sometime. I’ve got something I would like to show you.”

I think you should make a call where you’re actually going to be giving value.

You’re not giving a sales pitch. There’s no value in that. You’re stopping by. You’re either writing an article and this is where it gets to number two. You’re either writing content of some kind:

  • An article
  • A white paper
  • A case study
  • Or something where I, as the client, am interested in knowing it.

It could be how somebody does something. It could be new ways to save money on taxes. It could be updates from the IRS on things that I should be concerned about as a business owner or as a taxpayer.

You Must Think About An Expert Strategy

This gets back to being an expert and positioning yourself as an expert. In your profession, there are tons of things that you can do so you have a reason to go meet with them. The issue in a lot of this stuff is, “Do you have a good, compelling reason?” Stopping by to say, “Hey!” is probably not a good, compelling reason and that’s why we don’t do it. It’s also why we can’t make a phone call to bring ourselves to do it.

So the question is: “How are you going to bring value when you show up?”

That’s why I suggest some kind of an article, a white paper, a document. It could be something as simple as a website article that you print off and then you interpret in some way or you add your perspective to it. Don’t just send them a link to an “interesting article” you saw. That’s the coward’s way out. Add to it. Enhance it. Offer your perspective on it. That will differentiate you. Read more

Goal Setting for Accidental Salespeople

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This is from a Question & Answer call our team recently did in our new program called The Accidental Salesperson. We thought you might like to hear the kinds of questions coming from non-traditional sales teams.

“I seem to set goals, but then do not hold myself accountable for achieving them.”

This has a lot of potential starting points here. Many times, the reason we don’t accomplish the goals we’ve set is not in the how-to. It starts in the, “Why did you put it as a goal?”

So, let’s say you set a goal of generating 10 new clients in 2013. And le’ts also say in past years, you’ve generated only 3 new clients. Then going from three to many more than that in one year is big. I’m wondering, “Well, how did you arrive at that?”

So I think the first question you have to ask on your goals is, “Are they realistic?” We’re not big fans of the whole, “Are they measurable? Are they achievable? Are they realistic?”

Just look in the mirror and ask yourself ,“You know what? I’ve only accomplished this once in the last 10 years, but I’m going forward again times two,” and if you really believe it, then that’s fine.

 The second thing is I think sometimes we don’t flesh out the goal.

A lot of times, companies will come to us and say, “OK, we want to grow our business 25 percent next year.” We say OK or we say, “What’s that based on? What gives you the feeling like that’s achievable and possible?”

“Well, the market is expanding and the economy is getting better and we’ve added a new salesperson and we’ve got a new product…”

OK, fine. Then, sounds like it’s in your comfort zone. It’s not too far out of our comfort zone. The 25 percent is possible. Then the question is, “Well, how?” How are you going to do it?

Brian Tracy mentioned this a lot in his work. Tracy has some good and some not-so-good points. This is one good one. He says the most important part of a goal is how to.

So I have this goal of getting 10 clients. OK. How am I going to do that and what do I need to learn to do that? What new skills do I need to do that?

This is the thing that I would probably ask you: If your goals are right, then the question is the how-to. How, specifically, are you going to accomplish that and what skills do you need to accomplish that?

So it’s the how and the skills. Then there are probably two sides of the same coin. For example, if your goal is to make 10 calls a week to past clients, then again I’m also going under the belief that you’re not in front line sales so you also have other responsibilities.

That’s not all you’re doing. You’re delivering. You’re answering phones. You’re negotiating for companies, whatever role you play. Then sales is probably a secondary role.

“What skills are going to make me better? What skills are going to make me want to pick up that phone?” Because here’s what I know: Fear will stop you. Fear stops all of us from achieving our goals. It’s not so much the goal scares us. It’s the how-to that scares us. Read more

A Great Man Is Always Willing to Be Little

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“A great man is always willing to be little.”

Not sure where I heard that first, but it makes sense in sales.

Rather than playing the game of ‘impressing’ the prospect (which we all do, albeit unintentionally), why don’t you be insignificant. Let their pains and dreams take center stage, instead of yours.

It just might be that they develop so much rapport with you from being heard, they actually buy something.

Prospect Pains

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What kinds of pains/problems do you help people solve? Do you have a list of those? No? Shame on you.

How can you be a problem solver if you don’t even have a menu of the kind of problems you fix?

Start that list today.