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Do Project Managers Need Sales Training, Too?

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(If you don’t have Project Managers in your firm–and instead, have Customer Service agents or Technicians, then substitute that title for PMs)

Well of course, you know the answer to that question before we start.

But I’d like to share some observations that may make it easier for you to train your PM’s in communication skills. It seems that companies are relying more and more on their PM’s to manage the client relationships and generate referrals so this topic might be relevant for your firm.

One chapter in Same Game New Rules is titled Process Makes Perfect, and it’s about how engineers and technical sellers make the best sales people. Mainly because they are in the right place to bring tons of value.

1. Need for Good Communication. In most projects, there are many tiny details that can spin out of control. Since the relationship is only as good as the project process, then it is necessary for PM’s to know how to communicate issues to clients. The PM must have a “relationship awareness” all the way through.

This includes: bringing up sensitive topics PRIOR to them becoming problems; knowing how and to whom to communicate these issues at the client; knowing how to keep the atmosphere open and honest so bad matters don’t get worse; and having a paper stream of promises so that there is nothing left to memory.

2. Having a Problem-Solving Attitude. I like to think of selling as problem-solving. And nowhere does that get stated like it does in project management. The PM is always solving problems and keeping things on course. It may be that they don’t want to be in front line sales (and they shouldn’t) but it doesn’t mean that they can’t have the same attitude that the top flight sales person has.

3. Referral Generation. Most times, the PM is the exact person who should be cultivating referrals. In most B2B businesses, referrals make up 60-80% of new business. It’s a bit of a stretch to think that a sales person who sold the deal, but does NOT have the relationship, can waltz in and get referrals. It should be the PM. So any training you do for that group, should have ‘how to generate referrals’ as part of the curriculum.

Fewer Sales People-More PMs
Many companies are hiring fewer new account sales people, and relying on their subject matter experts (the PMs) to do more of the value communication. I think it makes sense in certain industries. Just make sure you train those people on the principles of selling and good communication. They ARE trainable. Just don’t try to turn them into sales people.

What is Your Customer’s Mentality?

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Just like you have an outlook and a mentality of how you see the world, so does your customer. And many times that mentality they have does not fit in with your plans or your solutions.

Recently, I was asked to come in and do a half day training program for a group of 20 sales people. A manager “just needed someone to fill a slot” and thought I might be the right person to do it. However, in our business I don’t consider myself a slot filler. I consider myself a problem solver and until the customer’s mentality changed from how do I fill a slot in my sales meeting to how do I solve sales problems, he was not a prospect for me.

So the question becomes, can one change another’s mentality? I think you can. But it’s unlikely you will until you realize “the current state of the customer mentality.” 

In many instances the customer’s mentality is save money or get it for cheap, protect and defend my current status or laziness (doing as little work as I can on this). You might consider changing your customer’s mentality by writing down what you would like it to be. What would a client’s mentality have to be for him/her to be open to telling you about his/her problems and your solution? Once you write down the ideal mentality then you are on your way to being able to assess whether or not you see that in a customer.

Another example
I have a client that sells therapy equipment to clinics. When I asked him to do this exercise, he wrote down that the “ideal client mentality” would be to “find a way to leverage my patients and the relationships I have with them to grow the average per patient revenue per visit.”
Even though that wasn’t always the mentality of the prospect, when he was able to articulate that and say this is the kind of person we can help is one who has this “mentality” he immediately started to see change on how the doctors saw his value.

So, do the same thing. Write down that ideal client mentality and see if it enables you to change someone’s perception of what you do.

Why Prove Myself? (Part II-The Lost Journal)

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(This is another post from a Journal I found from some of my self work several years ago).

What is it inside us that tells us we have to “prove ourself” to others? What is it that warns us that we “just aren’t enough the way we are”? Fascinating questions–ones I ask myself (since I’m a bit afflicted with this condition).

We Are Enough.
My life coach says we all have a basic question, “Will my life matter when I’m gone?” WOW! That’s a bit too deep for this post, but when you think about it, that very question is at the root of why our behavior becomes “prove-myself-behavior.”

In our work with sales people, who I find to be massively afflicted with this condition, I find that we are all starved to be thought of as “credible.” Yet, the prospect cares a lot less about you than they do about their own struggles and pains (a lot less!).

And if you move into that space of “how can I get them to see my value?” then you’ll move away from where you should be, “how can I contribute value by solving their problems?”

So in a sick sort of way, when you are more interested in proving yourself (how smart you are–how great your product is–how valuable your company is) then you do a major disservice to your prospect–you’ve closed up space for him/her to tell you about their issues.

The very thing you’re working toward — a sale — slips away because your intent drifted from the prospect to your ‘self.’

So when you have this feeling that you aren’t enough the way you are, stop and think about your customer and their issues. And focus on those.

It’s Never Price!!

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In my observation of sales people, I’ve come to the conclusion that everyone falls on a continuum between highly skilled professional and poorly trained amateur. The people at the latter end of that scale are not bad people–they are just badly trained.

And nowhere does it become more apparent than when the sales person talks about the customer’s perception of “price.” If you want to move even one notch up the scale toward the highly skilled professional then, come to your own conclusion that if you’re talking about price with a customer you’re talking about the wrong topic.

It is never the price.

It is ALWAYS the perception the customer has about your value in relation to the price–but it’s never the price. Not only is it ‘never the price,’ but the words you will use to defend the price are irrelevant.

I could sit here for hours and give you all the clever moves and tactics upfront and in the eleventh hour negotiation process that will help you get out of that price mode, but if your “mind about price” is not right, then the words will never matter.

So I suggest the one thing you do over the coming weekend is get your mind straight about the price of your product/service. And get even more clear about the problem you solve for your customer rather than the price he pays to solve it. Dissect the value you bring the customer with the purchase of your solution–and forget about “justifying price.”

Rule #23 – Know Upfront…

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Have an upfront understanding prior to a sales call.

I’ve been called on by a lot of sales people over the years. And few–very few–ever tell me what the call is going to look like. They never send an agenda upfront–they never tell me the process they’ll use–they never tell me what the outcome could be.

Shame…shame…shame….

If you are in professional sales–and make face to face calls on prospects, Rule #23 says, always have an upfront agreement prior to the call. What that means is have a conversation with your prospect on the phone talking about the topics of conversation for the meeting–maybe some of the questions you’ll ask–and maybe what the potential outcomes are (we meet again, we abort the process). Have a “process” agenda.

We always speak the line, “I respect your time,” yet when it comes down to it, very few of us respect our prospect’s time by sharing an agenda for the call, upfront. Do it and watch the level of truthfulness soar.

Raise The Yellow Flag!

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It’s your responsibility as the seller to raise the yellow flags. What are yellow flags? They are those objections that customers usually raise–but in our method, it’s up to us to raise.

If you are going to control the sales process–which you should–then you have to be the one raising objections. The person with the power in the sales process is the one with the objections. That’s why we teach salespeople never, ever try to overcome the prospect’s objection.

Instead, think of all the things that could get in the way of the sale and make that your Yellow Flag List. Not talking to the right person? Yellow Flag it. Never bought from you before? Yellow Flag it. They haven’t convinced you they really have a problem worth solving? Yellow Flag it.

Stop using the old selling system of Persuade, Convince and Defend. Instead, be more discernng about who you work with. Make them come to you!

When Will They Learn Not To Close?

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What is there about health clubs that turns nice, normal people into hammering sales people. I visited a local (new) health club this weekend. I’d had it with rain, cold and snow and their interference with my health. Rachel was my “tour guide” (a.k.a. pressure sales person).

I know that she wanted to care about my well-being–that she was interested in me as a person–yet when a prospect walked in the door (me), all of that care went out the window, in favor of the health club sales training she had received. She wouldn’t tell me the price until she gave me the tour. (And she wouldn’t give me the tour until I filled out the paper work with 5 other sales people looking over my shoulder.)

She had to tell me all about the features of the equipment. She never let me ask any questions, for fear that I would take back control. After 10 minutes, she put the close on me: “Mr. Caskey, if you sign up today, I can knock $100 off the upfront fee” (she never told me what that fee was.)

As I looked around and saw one person working out — which told me their sales process wasn’t working too well (it was a Saturday morning at 9:00–prime time for a health club), I had a question: Why do they treat people that way? Do they really think they’re calling on bozos? Do they not think we know what they’re trying to do? She lost me and a lifetime value, perhaps in the thousands of my dollars.

If they paid me to come in for a day and work with them…I would have told them a) find out why the person walked in the door, b) offer me a drink, a coffee or something so I feel part of the family, c) tell me the price upfront so that I can spend the tour justifying the price, (rather than spend the tour wondering how she’s going to close me) and d) give me a weekend pass (or even a week- remember there was no one there so the week pass costs them nothing). With the pass, I can get to know the staff, get comfortable with the radios and tvs and equipment.

If I owned the club, I would even throw in a free hour of personal training (invest small money to make big money). Why is this so tough? It’s not. They make it that way. Everyone lost. I lost because I still don’t have a place to work out. And they lost because they didn’t get my money (and a new member, who can refer them to hundreds of others). They just don’t understand the economics. Have you had similar experiences?

Integrity Demands Integrity

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You get what you tolerate. Agree. But how can you limit what you tolerate from others? You can tolerate nothing but high integrity and high intent from yourself. Here’s how it works: You go see a prospect hoping to sell something. You are behind this quarter and need the sale.

He begins his ‘lying dance’ which results in you reluctantly agreeing to quote him on your solution. You want to get out of the ‘game’ but you can’t. Why? Because you are operating out of :low integrity: which is why you can’t expect anything more from him. We can only get what we give. You had an intent going into the call that was about “selling him something to meet quota.” How high is that intent?

That’s why when the sales people I coach come to me and say their customer is lying to them, I always say “Why did you force him to lie to you?” You force the behavior you get. Later we’ll talk about how to adopt the “high intent” mentality.