Greg Bennett Sales Blog

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought #25

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought on Successful Selling #25:  Sales Isn't for the Faint of Heart

Anyone can learn enough to BE in sales, but not everyone can survive there long term.  It's a tough gig that only a few can ride out for any length of time.

Not that it's necessarily "hard", or strenuous, or death-defying...it just takes a certain strength and perseverance to be able to get up and do it successfully day after day, in spite of all the rejection, ups and downs, and unknowns we all face as part of the job.

Sales isn't for the faint of heart. 

That doesn't mean you have to be mean, or ruthless, or arrogant, or pushy...you can be nice, and sweet, and a fun person...you just can't be "faint of heart", which to me means you have to have thick skin and a lot of inner drive and determination.

That last one is probably the most important ingredient...that inner drive and determination...you have to have an inner voice that is generally positive, believing and supportive of your efforts.   If you have an inner voice that translates rejection, fear and uncertainty into things to beat yourself up with...then you won't survive long in this game.

So the secret here is to work on your inner voice, and when you hear it talking you down, or trying to depress you just STOP and ask, "Are there any other more supportive voices in here?" 

GB

(Just one of Greg Bennett's "99 Rambling Thoughts on Successful Selling")

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought #24

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought on Successful Selling #24: "I Can't Wait to Start Prospecting"

This thought is short, simple, and very powerful.  Instead of lumbering in to work with a feeling of dread about "having to make my stupid prospecting calls"...try saying this to yourself..."I CAN'T WAIT TO START PROSPECTING"...then say it to others in the office, "I CAN'T WAIT TO START PROSPECTING!"

Yes, it's kind of strange...yes, co-workers will think you're a freak...but it WILL make an immediate impact on how you feel about making calls.  And chances are you'll be the only one in the office on the phone making the calls you need to make.

Give it a try.

GB

(Just one more of Greg Bennett's "99 Rambling Thoughts on Successful Selling")

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought #23

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought on Successful Selling #23:  Forget You Have a "Story" to Tell

This is a short tip but one we can't think about often enough.  A client of mine at a very successful consulting firm told me a good story about how they originally got started...

When we first started our biggest concern was that we didn't have a good answer for prospects when they asked, "So what's your story?  Tell us about your company".  And we were nervous about it because we were brand new and really didn't have a good story to tell.  So we had to stay away from that question if we could and turn it back on the client to ask about THEIR situation.  Well that worked...for a few  years anyway...then it  stopped.  Mainly because after a few years we HAD a story to tell people when they asked that question.  And we would tell it, and tell it, and tell it some more.  And our sales dropped.  What we eventually realized  is that most of our sales calls had turned from focusing on the client and his projects and challenges, to more about who we were and what we were doing.  And there's no doubt our sales suffered for it.   So now we try to forget our story (until the appropriate time) and go back to just asking questions and listening.

How many times have we heard this?   Remember the ol' "Clients don't care how much you know until they know how much you care"? 

Forget your story...find out about the customer's story first!!!

GB

(Just one of Greg Bennett's "99 Rambling Thoughts on Successful Selling")

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought #22

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought on Successful Selling #22:  It's Harder to Find Quality Than It Is To Pay For It

I believe this is a very true statement in almost all areas of business, especially in this day and age where truly exceptional sales and follow-up service are pretty tough to find.   

And where I find myself talking about this with salespeople is when a client is hammering them on their price.  The client may say things like, "Well...you're going to have to work on that price Jennifer"...or "Barry, you're going to have to sharpen your pencil a bit on this"...or "Peter, you guys are like 2% higher than everyone else"...etc etc...

My suggestion is that when you hear things like this you need to keep some things in mind about clients:

• For many of them it's just for show.  Part of their job is to say things like this...they may not really mean it, or even care if it actually happens...they're just supposed to say those things.  When I hear something like "Greg, can you sharpen your pencil?" I like to follow with, "Well I could do that or I could dull my deliverables" (yes, I'm a smart ass I know).  Or I like to make clients tell me what they mean by "sharpen your pencil"...and this forces them to say "well you know...you have to drop your prices" (which sounds kinda cheap, and it is).
• Also keep in mind that just because they comment on your "high prices" , doesn't mean they're not going to buy.  Everytime I go to a Morton's type restaurant I say..."Wow, these prices are too high"...then I order.
• Clients may be testing you with this...and they often respect the salesperson who says, "no...we don't drop our prices" .  It doesn't mean you won't work to add value, or provide additional items, or better terms, etc. 
• At  the end of the day people just want their needs met; they want to feel like they didn't get screwed;  and maybe even got a great deal in the process.  You can find ways to make clients feel those things without having to drop your price...maybe you add value...perhaps you educate them more on exactly what you're delivering vs the competition.

True professionals that deliver all the time are very tough to find...and I mean in everything from a plumber to a lawyer...a doctor to a roofer...a banker to a butcher.  When you find an exceptional person in any of these fields you're generally willing to pay what they ask for...because it's easier to come up with  the money than it is to find someone else as good as they are.

Don't apologize for your fees.  Don't drop your prices (more on that in an upcoming Rambling Thought).  And  on the flip side, when you're the client, be willing to pay more for exceptional service (might as well support business being done the right way).

GB

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought #21

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought on Successful Selling #21:  Just Admit You've Got Call Reluctance

In my live workshops I'll often ask "Who here suffers from Call Reluctance?"...and usually only a few people will raise their hands.  And I'll follow that with, "Well...then the rest of you are full of sh*t!!"  Crude yes...but everyone laughs a bit because we all know it's true.

We all get call reluctant from time to time...but boy are afraid to admit it.   We'd rather say things like, "Well...my problem isn't call reluctance...it's time management"...or "I don't mind making the calls, I just don't know who to call...or really what to say"

Again...BS.

I want you to try something for me...just take a deep breath and repeat after me..."My name is __________ (insert your first name)...and I can catch call reluctance". Go ahead and do it.  Then we'll all respond with "Hi __________!" 

Now doesn't that FEEL better?

The key to living with any affliction is to first acknowledge that you have it, and by doing so you're recognizing the hidden monster that, when left un-noticed and un-checked, will destroy you.   When you state reality, that you are susceptible to getting, or actually have it, you can then learn to manage the monster and actually thrive in spite of it!

You see. we ALL can get call reluctance, no one is totally immune to it...especially experienced salespeople who want to feel they're beyond having to make cold introductory calls, and just have so many other things they could and should be doing.

If your ego is still in the way this should help you feel better about acknowledging this disease...Call Reluctance isn't always a fear of picking up the phone, I believe it's usually just a feeling that "I should be doing something more productive" (something with more instant gratification).  Prospecting and "cold callling" have little instant gratification and can make us feel unproductive, rejected, and like a big failure. So it's easy to see why we can get call reluctant...in fact it makes sense to be call reluctant!   

So give yourself a major break and just admit reality...you can get call reluctant because it makes sense to get call reluctant...making new calls is the hardest thing to do in sale!   

My name is Greg Bennett...and I can catch Call Reluctance!    (Hi Greg...)

GB

...

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought #20

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought on Successful Selling #20:  Don't Surprise Clients With a "Ride Along"

This one came from a friend of mine who has spent most of her career on the client side of the sales situation.  As someone who has had to sit through hundreds (maybe thousands?) of sales calls over the years, she shared some great insight with me on what she found most annoying about salespeople when they came to call on her.   I think this inside info is great to know if you're a seller and you want to stand out from the crowd and form better relationships.

This particular pet peeve involved the surprise guest on a sales call.  You know, when the salesperson decides to show up with a colleague, or a supervisor, or a trainer, and they haven't warned the client about it beforehand.  My friend said she felt annoyed that the seller would just assume she wanted to meet with more than one person (especially if she really didn't want to meet with ONE person).

I think this is an interesting one to tackle because more than a few clients of mine have told me they actually prefer this "buddy-up" system when making calls.  And for good reason, there are lots of advantages for the salesperson when they can bring an extra set of eyes and ears (especially ears because we are SUCH poor listeners) on the call.

The key here is of course the "surprise" piece.   As well as the "relationship" piece. 

• First of all you should always ask if it's cool if you bring someone along (if nothing else it may alter where the client wants to meet).
• You should probably come up with a reason WHY this is happening...and if at all possible, make it something beneficial to the client (she is an expert in this area, she has some great insight she can share on the market, he can help me get a better handle on everything you're trying to do, etc.)  I try to make EVERYTHING I do or ask for come from a place of benefiting the client.
• Of course the level you need to do all this depends on your relationship with the client. For clients who are  true friends, it may even be okay to show up with a stranger unannounced (though I still wouldn't risk it), as the client trusts that if you like them they will like them...but if you have no relationship, you should make extra certain the client knows your intentions and that it will benefit the meeting somehow.

I will save the tips for doing an effective "Ride-along" sales call for an upcoming Rambling Thought.

GB

(Just one of Greg Bennett's "99 Rambling Thoughts on Successful Selling!")

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought #19

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought on Successful Selling #19:  Eat That Frog First Thing!!

Mark Twain once said:

“If you eat a frog first thing in the morning, the rest of your day will be wonderful.”

In other words, if you've got something hard to do (like making prospecting calls)...or scary to do (like calling to handle an upset customer)...or uncomfortable to do (like collection calls)...do it first thing in the morning and the rest of the day will be wonderful!!

And when you do sit down to eat your frog...we need to go back to Twain...

“If you have to eat a frog, don’t look at it for too long.”

This is really true when sitting down to make prospecting calls...if you think about it too much, you'll find several reasons why it doesn't make sense to call:

• "Now is not a good time to call...no one is in Monday morning"  (or Tuesday afternoon...or Thursday evening...etc.)
• "This is not an efficient way to do this...I should go to a leads group and talk to people live"
• "What if I get a question I can't answer...I better prepare for ANY and EVERY possible question I could ever get asked"

Don't think about...don't analyze it...don't imagine horrific outcomes...just grab the damn thing and shove it in...

GB

(Just one of Greg Bennett's "99 Random Thoughts on Successful Selling!")

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought #18

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought on Successful Selling #18:   Sales is Full of Opposites

I like to occasionally shut my brain down and think about ideas and concepts I've had in the past while - doing client work, training salespeople, or drinking in a bar.  One thing that popped up out of the abyss was that "Sales is full of opposites" -- what we think, imagine, or believe would be the truth, or the norm...is exactly the opposite when it comes to selling.

Here are some examples:

• We THINK the more we talk and explain our product the smarter we will appear...the exact opposite is true; the less we talk, and the more we let the client talk, the smarter we will appear...
• We IMAGINE we will burn out in sales by prospecting hard every day and filling the pipeline with new prospects...the exact opposite is true; we will burn out in sales by NOT prospecting hard every day and by not filling with the pipeline with new prospects...
• We BELIEVE clients will not like us if we go to NO in a sales call...the exact opposites is true; clients will like us MORE if we are waving around the reality of NO...
• We THINK we can save more sales by getting a MAYBE vs a NO...the exact opposite is true; we will save more sales by Embracing NO and getting at underlying reasons than we will playing the guessing-then-stalking game we play in the Neutral Zone...
• We IMAGINE we will be bothering clients if we contact them after they buy to see how they're doing...the exact opposite is true; what is really going to "bother" clients is when we DON'T contact them after they buy...or EVER!!

There are many more I could list, but you get the point.

While there are opposites in all areas of life, why are there SO many in sales? I believe the main reasons are -- the whole 'Role playing' thing: where we step into roles of seller and client and act out of the roles vs our "normal selves"...and the Conflict Avoidance issue...the fear of conflict causes us act in ways we normally wouldn't in order to avoid a particularly touchy situation.

So what do we do with this knowledge? I believe we stay aware of it and just do a "Costanza" (you remember in that Seinfeld episode where George decides to do the exact opposite of everything his instincts tell him to do?)...and what do you know, everything works out!

GB

(Just one of Greg Bennett's "99 Rambling Thoughts on Successful Selling")

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought #17

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thoughts on Successful Selling #17:   Focus First on the Patient's Lab Results and X-rays Before You Start Talking About Your Medicines

Why do almost all proposals focus mainly on the seller's (doctor's) "medicines"...aka their products and services...and very little on the client's (patient's) condition?   I mean these proposals are nothing more than page after mind-numbing page of features and facts and features and facts and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah....

Clients, like patients, don't understand all the gobbldygook we spew out...they just want to focus on their own situation. 

Did you comprehend that fully?

If not, let me make this perfectly clear...PATIENTS ONLY CARE ABOUT THEIR CONDITION...AND THE ONLY THING THEY CARE ABOUT YOUR MEDICINE IS HOW IT MIGHT IMPACT THEIR CONDITION!!!!!!!

So a simple suggestion I make to my training clients is to make at least the first page  of the proposal about their client's condition -- their pains, problems, hopes, wishes, dreams, etc.  Then I suggest they pull that page out and set it to the side as they roll through their features and benefits in the proposal...this way the "pain page" remains in the forefront of the conversation and allows the seller to directly tie features and benefits to client problems.

If you want a great sales movie watch Patch Adams with Robin Williams...Patch showed that being a great  doctor was more about bonding with the patient through knowing about their hopes and dreams, and about how their present sickness may have impacted those dreams...than it was about knowing everything about medicines.   

Powerful proposals should start not with a disertation about how wonderful we are, but with an understanding of what we know about the client's condition...for it's all  they care about.

GB

(Just one of Greg Bennett's "99 Rambling Thoughts on Successful Selling")

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought #16

Greg Bennett's Rambling Thought on Successful Selling #16:  Have Someone Else Help You Apply Pressure At the Close

I developed this strategy years ago after helping sellers deal with several slow, deceptive, neutral-loving clients (several meaning most of them)...that they just couldn't move across the goal line.

You know what this situation looks like, right?  You're working a prospective client through the process... you've done the Mini-Steps, you've written proposals, you're asking the client to take action... and they just aren't moving ahead to a conclusion (either YES or NO).  And you try asking...and pleading...and begging...and just about anything else you can think of...and still, there is no definitive answer.

You and the client are stuck in an endless circle dance...where you, the seller, continue to ask, and ask, and ask (usually the same quesitons)...and the client hears and responds in the same way, usually with being "VERY interested", then stalls, promises, deception, and delays.

At this point you need to break the circle-dance cycle, by introducing a 3rd party questioner to the equation...  someone else associated to your product or service, particularly with the execution of your product or service.   And this 3rd party arrives to ask the prospective client some questions about what they MIGHT be looking for...here's how it might sound:

You:   "Hi Bob...it's Greg Bennett...glad I caught you on the phone..."

Client:  "Yeah, Greg...what's up? I still can't give you the green light yet if that's what you're calling about"

You:    "I understand...I actually would like to get our service coordinator, Janet, on the line, because I know she had a few questions...hold a second please...hi Janet...it's Greg and also I've got Bob Edwards from ACME on the line...did you want to ask your question?"

Janet:  "Sure...first of all, Hi Bob...Greg said that you all were contemplating moving ahead with the large XYZ package this September...but that you still had a few questions or concerns...that's fine, I was calling more about potential training execution...we have several clients coming on in late August, so I wanted to see if you WERE TO MOVE AHEAD, what are your internal requirements for outside training?"

You then listen carefully to how your client responds to this person.  If they're on board and planning to go ahead (but just haven't told you), they'll respond in a more positive, participatory way...if they're not, chances are they won't give up much info, may be a bit elusive, etc.

Of course like all strategies, this one doesn't work 100%, 100% of the time...sometimes clients surprise you, but at a certain stage in the sales process you have try just about anything, right?

By the way, this 3rd party person can also be your manager or company owner, and he or she is just doing a ride along with the seller to who is realistically going ahead and who's not.

Have fun introducing a 3rd party, and let us all know how it goes.

GB

(Just one of Greg Bennett's "99 Rambling Thoughts on Successful Selling")