Champion

Asking and Listening Even Through Email

I am often asked, “So, what are your sales conversations like?” My response is that I ask questions and share successes around two related themes: 1) How are you doing with getting new hires, new partners, new investors, etc. on-board with your sales process and how do you want folks to behave, communicate within that process; and 2) How are you doing with getting your existing team understanding your desired sales processes, patterns, or some might say, sales rhythms?

Below is the content of an actual email conversation I am currently having with a prospect.

I hope you will notice that I ask specific diagnostic type questions that map to my offerings.  My prospect’s answers, if I am listening, will guide me on where to take the conversation. I know, for example, that it’s a recipe for disaster if a manager or executive is not asking tough questions about individual opportunities during sales forecasting meetings. I also know from my experience that forecasting disaster is something I can help my clients avoid.

Do you know what answers to your questions indicate a need for your product or service?  Have you socialized these questions and highly probable answers internally?  Do they map to real world example which you or your teammates can effortlessly and confidently describe?

Although this was an email conversation, we could have had the same conversation over the phone, in person, or even over twitter.  The key is that I have been thoughtful ahead of time with the questions I want to ask.

____________________

I have been talking you up big-time around here, Adam. “Get our sales act together” has made it into the top 3 priorities for 2012. Pipeline, account planning, you name it….

So, how do we make this happen – me helping [company] out?

The timing is perfect. It’s now recognized and internalized that we need to get a number of areas of our act in order. (Pipeline mgt, real forecasting, account planning in particular.) Everyone on the exec team (about seven-ten folks) recognizes this. What kinds of things could you do? The urgency is that we know/want to crush it in the first half of the year. We’ve got a handful of big accounts (~12) and a myriad of dogs-and-cats. We’re trying to consolidate to go deeper/broader (both in portfolio of our services purchased, as well as number of BUs across BigCo’s like XXX) rather than try to service a gazillion clients. Gimme an approach I can take in. [key player] is here today, and I’m having dinner with him this afternoon/evening. 

(I responded with a series of questions to understand my contact’s situation more specifically and to indicate the sort of capabilities I provide my clients.  He replied to my questions with in-line answers.  Check it out.)

Is there any concept of a pipeline?

Yes. 

Do you have the stomach for a pipeline and business review to see where you are with particular opportunities that you hope will contribute to “crushing” it in the first half.

To wit:

1) What deals are in the pipeline with new or existing customers that can get you to “crush it” status?

We have a list.

2) With the identified deals – a subset of these must close – why do you think they will close?

There is the big question…it’s “gut feel.”

3) Defend the realism of these ID’d deals by undergoing an opportunity review:

• What has happened so far?
• Who do you know will champion us with the selectors, funders, implementers?
• Why should they? Have they agreed to the value, usage and implementation stories and what are they?
• What are the steps to gaining a signed contract?

This would be a hugely valuable exercise.

4) If you do not have enough real deals to gain “crush it” status, what are you doing to get more into the pipeline?

Need a plan.

5) What is your business development process and within that process, how do you execute each step?

Not that structured.

6) Have you identified the conversations you want to have – with whom and what IN PARTICULAR you are going to say - to generate interest to the point of gaining trust and having your prospect kick off an evaluation of your skills and capabiiities?

Nope. Need this, too.

I can help with all of the above.

#$%E!

No, I am not cursing at you!

What I do want to point out is one of the most often overlooked sales closing tools.

I know, “every one knows the key to increasing sales is a good cost v. benefit analysis.”  Then, ask yourself if you’ve ever had a terrific sales presentation, felt the deal was going to close, slacked off (maybe decided to play a round of golf or angry birds) and then NOTHING HAPPENED?

No Angry Birds until after you've inserted #$%E! into your Cost v. Benefit

Why?  Maybe because you were so confident the buyer would buy, that you neglected to put together and gain agreement on the Cost v. Benefit of your prospect using your solution.  The prospect did not feel attached to your capabilities and either chose to stay pat or worse, go with a competitor.

Notice that I did not call it a “return on investment”.  That expression is so yesterday.  ROIs seem so far in the future that buyers don’t believe them.  Even worse, “return on investment” might remind them of their meager personal investment returns and make them shudder.

Alternatively, Cost v. Benefit is upfront and factual.  ”Here’s the cost.  Here’s the short and medium term benefit using the information you told me.”  It may be semantics.  So what.  Inituitvely, a cost v. benefit sounds more reachable and less risky than an ROI.

The tricky part is the benefit side of the equation. How do you get there?  THAT IS THE SECRET SAUCE!!!  You get there early in the sales cycle by asking the right questions to gain clarification of what’s actually happening within your prospect’s environment that your capabilities could improve.

Once you both understand and agree on the frequency the challenge or issue arises (“#”), the amount of dollars overcoming the challenge is worth (“$”), and the percentage of time the challenge occurs or percentage of individuals who suffer with the challenge (“%”).  It helps then to know whether the prospect is emotionally connected to improving the situation or circumstances (“E”).  If you are not sure, then ask.

For example:

“How does it make you (your team, the effected group) feel?”

“How badly do you and your team members want to fix …?”

This gives you and your prospect an idea about the emotions of the situation. At times, all the hard dollar gain in the world may not help you close the opportunity if your prospect isn’t connected on an emotional level to your offering or solution.

#$%E!!!!

THESE ARE NOT SUBSTITUTES FOR SWEAR WORDS.

BURN THESE SYMBOLS IN YOUR MIND PRIOR TO TALKING TO PROSPECTS.

Even better, plan out the questions prior to the call that will draw out value or benefit, questions that will lead to your gaining agreement from the prospect on #$%E! of their current situation.  Now, what are you going to do next?  Take aim at some sheltered pigs or have a #$%E! conversation with your prospects?

Good Selling.

Intro to Cross-Selling

How do you leverage success with one customer into a cross-selling opportunity with another?
I hope the below presentation that I delivered earlier this week helps.

Are You Recapping your Sales Calls? Do You Know How?

Reviewing clients’ sales call recap letters – reinforcing the letter writing process: Goals/Objectives, current situation, capabilities needed, value, next steps.

Helpful Tips to Follow When Making Early Sales Process Phone Calls

Notes From Some Call Coaching Sessions

From time to time, my clients ask me to sit with sales reps and review calls with them.  Since I’ve had several such sessions already this year, I thought it would be helpful to summarize the notes the teams took and share them here.  I’ve edited them to maintain confidentiality.

Whether they are called Business Development Managers, Inside Sales Reps or Account Development Consultants, they all have one thing in common:  They are using the telephone with the goal of successfully crossing an early stage of a sales cycle.  Remember, early in a sales cycle, a seller is either prospecting to build credibility or interest, or processing inbound interest from a buyer.  Either way, it’s vital that managers help their teams prepare for and troubleshoot these conversations. Opportunities can be won or unwittingly lost here.

Now, to set the stage:  The client has purchased telephony and software that stores both sides of a telephone conversation.  With a gentle tone, I work the “coach’s clicker” – the mouse – starting and stopping the recording to ask questions and comment on what we are hearing.

1.   For outbound calls, prepare with research and practice.  At a minimum try to understand the
following prior to making a call:

a.     What does the company do?

b.    What is the role of the contact you’re speaking to?

c.     How can you make them more successful? 

d.    What are their highly likely objectives/goals/priorities?

2.  2.   On the call -

a.     DON’T SOUND SCRIPTED! Be conversationally comfortable.  If what you are going to say is not
something you could stand to hear coming out of your mouth when talking to
friends and loved ones then don’t say it.
Find a way that’s comfortable to you and practice.  Imagine you are on an airplane or
airport lounge and a fellow traveler asks, “What do you do?  What does your company do?”  Use the same voice on a prospecting
call as you would in answering in that imagined conversation.

b.    Ask open-ended questions that you can get specific on with gentle
probing questions such as:

i.     “How are you doing it today and how’s it going for you?”

ii.     “How do you track progress?”

These questions should be
diagnostic in nature meaning what is the situation the prospect is
experiencing, rather than prescriptive where the seller is telling or
recommending a course of action.

c.     Let the client speak, pausing to acknowledge the customer and letting them
interact with you.

d.    Also, be willing to adapt to what you are learning on the call.  For example, if the customer is already
familiar with you or your company, then you don’t need to state as many facts
as you would with unfamiliar customers.
So, be alert to what the customer is saying.

e.    **BE AN ACTIVE LISTENER!!
We can’t see facial expressions because we are not with them.  So, be very careful to listen for
grunts, sighs, or other auditory, but non-verbal noises coming from the
prospect.

f.      If the customer gives you a name to contact, ask for permission to
reference them when you try to contact the new name.

g.    Offer them something that could trigger a meaningful follow up.  Invitations to webinars or live events
are best if the prospect is not seemingly interested in starting a buying
process. 

h.     If all else fails, ask if you can begin (or continue) to send
information on how we are helping others like them. How can they turn that
down?

**If the customer feels
that you’re scripted, they will zone out**

**If the customer feels
that you’re being natural and personable, the doors for conversing will open**

Good Selling!

Ask Better Questions

From Michael Lombardi at www.nationalfootballpost.com on Leaders asking questions:

LEADERSHIP IMPROVEMENT IDEA…

“New opinions often appear first as jokes and fancies, then as blasphemies and treason, then as questions open to discussion, and finally as established truths.” — George Bernard Shaw

Learn to Ask Better Questions by John Baldoni

Every leader I know has at least one need in common: a need to connect honestly with others. One way to help foster improved connections is by asking good questions. Leaders who excel at asking good questions have honed an ability to cut to the heart of the manner in a way that disarms the person being interviewed and opens the door for genuine conversation.

Whether they are talking to customers, interviewing job candidates, talking to their bosses or even questioning staff, executives need to draw people out. And so often, it is not a matter of what you ask, it is how you ask it. Here are some suggestions.

Be curious. Executives who do all the talking are those who are deaf to the needs of others. Sadly, some managers feel that being the first and last person to speak is a sign of strength. In reality, though, it’s the opposite. Such behavior is closer to that of a blowhard who may be insecure in his own abilities but is certain of one thing — his own brilliance. Such an attitude cuts off information at its source, from the very people — employees, customers, vendors — whom you should trust the most. Being curious is essential to asking good questions.

Be open-ended. Leaders should ask questions that get people to reveal not simply what happened, but also what they were thinking. Open-ended questions prevent you from making judgments based on assumptions and can elicit some surprising answers. In his autobiography, talk-show host Larry King recalls asking Martin Luther King, who had just been arrested for seeking to integrate a hotel in Florida, what he wanted. To which King replied, “My dignity.” Using what, how and why questions encourages dialogue.

Be engaged. When you ask questions, act like you care. Yes, act — show that you are interested with affirmative facial expressions and engaged body language. This sets up further conversation and gets the individual to reveal information that could be important. For example, if you are interviewing a job candidate you want to encourage him or her to talk about not only accomplishments but also setbacks. An interested interviewer will get the person to talk in depth about how he or she rebounded from failure. That trait is worthy of consideration in recruiting. But interviewees will only open up — especially on sensitive subjects — if you actively show interest.

Dig deeper. So often, executives make the mistake of assuming all is well if they are not hearing bad news. Big mistake. It may mean employees are afraid to offer up anything but good news, even if it means stonewalling. So when information surfaces in your dialogue, dig for details without straying into recrimination. Get the whole story. Remember, problems on your team are, first and foremost, your problems.

Not every conversation need be on point and under the gun. There will be times when you’ll need a more solicitous tone and a more leisurely pace, especially when coaching an employee or listening carefully to a customer concern. There, taking your time might be most appropriate.

Asking good questions, and doing so in a spirit of honest information gathering and eventual collaboration, is good practice for leaders. It cultivates an environment where employees feel comfortable discussing issues that affect both their performance and that of the team. And that, in turn, creates a foundation for deepening levels of trust.

How to Start a Conversation by Slaying a Dragon « RareAgent’s Blog

While all the considerations around social media, marketing automation and email marketing are pertinent, effective and important, at the end of the day people buy from people and that buying cycle gets started with a “conversation.”

via rareagent.wordpress.com

I'll just add a few thoughts:

Your prospect must Identify with the hero
The Dragon has to have a brother or sister antagonizing your prospect
The fire the dragon breathes needs to be painful, more than just annoying

Channeling George Costanza….

Or "What to do about those prospects who seem to be ignoring you."

Maybe you saw this Seinfeld episode as a first run on NBC or a re-run on TBS - 

Hysterical, right? Sure.  But. George's "thing" is also a great conversation starter with a stalled prospect.

Of course, you have done nothing wrong in your sales cycle.  Ms. Prospect has just stopped returning your emails and voice mails.  The opportunity has stalled.  It never even got to the proposal stage, so there's nothing to withdraw.  What now?  You KNOW they would see major improvements and achievement if only they would buy from you.

It's time top pull out the "Costanza Tactic"  AKA the "it's not you, it's me" move.  Here it is in practice.  This is an actual email exchange from yours truly to a VP at a prospect of mine:

__________

Subject: How was 2009?  How does 2010 Look?

Dear [Peter Prospect]:

Of course, I have an interest in re-connecting with you.  But really, I am wondering where I went wrong or misstepped with you. Do you have 15 minutes or so to let me know?

Here's Peter's response:

Adam, 

Nice content.

No misstep, just priorities/timing/resources… the usual.

As always, feel free to reach out to [Connie] to coordinate.

After coordinating with Connie, I have a phone appointment "hard scheduled" for next week.

__________

I would like to think that taking the blame disarmed Peter and has made him feel a little bit guilty about ignoring me the last couple months.   Now, I have the opportunity to figure out if we can re-ignite our buy-sales cycle or know for sure that there is nothing there – it's disqualified.

My goal for the call, though, has to be low – I merely want to connect again with Peter.   Are the goals, issues and challenges still present as they were last year? What has he been doing about them since we last talked?  Has he learned of any new capabilities he thinks he needs? Basically, a restart of the CustomerCentric Selling(r) process.  

But what if I had misstepped at some earlier point?  Did I assume too much the last time we talked?  Did my mannerisms bother him?  Maybe he didn't like how I discussed his situation or my company's capabilities. Was I dressed inappropriately?  Too Casual?  Too Stiff?  My hope in sending the Costanza email is that through the reply email or on a subsequent phone call, Peter would shed some light so I can improve.

At the end of the day, I want to learn from my mistakes and grow my business.  The "Costanza Tactic" will help me either restart opportunities or help me improve.  Either way, I win.  After all, didn't Aristotle or Confucius say that man should always strive towards self improvement?  Or was that Kramer?             

Training New Hires – from a LinkedIn Discussion

From the Sales Training Practices Group on LinkedIn:

Matthew Kearns, a Sales Learning Consultant posted:

My company sells outsourced workforce management technology and service. I’m currently a sales trainer for their Major Accounts division (selling to companies with 50-999 employees). Over the past several years in the field and now preaching as trainer, its been mostly Value Based selling…meaning strategic, client centric to C-Level, finding out how we can help them to impact top line revenue and reduce expenses to stretch out their bottom line profit. This has been adopted very well assuming we’re talking to a true C-Level decision maker…price isn’t a barrier if there is opportunity to tie back our value to their TOP LINE initiatives…other factors come into play as well…The challenge is when there isn’t any other way into the account besides through a User, who in many cases can pull the trigger for change…this is were as sales professional you need to know when to call an auditable and get down to business, find out the buying criteria, strongly qualify the buyer and if it makes sense, take your seat at the table and position your solution and company accordingly…not always fun, gets more commoditized, however can be a quick turn especially if your replacing a like service. For new folks in my industry it is extremely hard to teach the latter. They want to talk strategic when their speaking with a tactical buyer…sometimes they’ll lose the sale because it could get over complicated. Any feedback on how to teach the difference would be welcomed!

I answered:

Matthew: 

Your challenge is real: Yes, often opportunities start as leads from “users”. You say, sellers must “find out the buying criteria, strongly qualify the buyer and if it makes sense, take your seat at the table and position your solution and company accordingly…”

What if we take the first task out of the equation? Is there really a “buying criteria” yet when starting with a user? Many sellers (“closers”) knock themselves out of alignment with users by assuming they have arrived at a point where there is a buying criteria. You are on the right track, though, by including “qualifying the buyer”, etc. There is a real difference between qualifying the buyer and qualifying the opportunity. For us, without a qualified buyer, you cannot have a qualified opportunity. For a “user based” lead, then, what does a rep have to do to qualify the buyer (as a champion)?

How’s this?

* Does the user’s company and user herself have goals and objectives similar to those we’ve helped our clients reach in the past?

* Do we have conversational and then correspondence-driven agreement with the prospect that there are real and measurable issues and challenges that are keeping them from reaching these objectives?

* Does she agree that with the capabilities (discussed) we can offer, the prospect can overcome these challenges or issues and reach objectives?

* Are they willing to introduce us to others who with them will evaluate these capabilities, allow us to prove ourselves and buy if there’s a strong enough cost v. benefit?

This probably seems like “motherhood and apple pie”. if I can re-phrase your question: So then, how do you teach “new folks in your industry” to have conversations so they can perform the above buyer qualification process?

The answer lies in how you prepare them for their sales conversations.

To prepare them, what if leaders from product marketing/management and sales knew how to get together and create tools to arm new reps with the actual questions to ask – by title – and the conversational process to follow to drive the building of visions of a) Usage (when would they need your stuff?) b) Value (what do I get out of using your stuff?) and c) Implementation (how do i get to where I am using your stuff at geat benefit?)?

If a user develops these visions (with the help of your sales rep) and can get to others who would be involved in an evaluation, then don’t we have a qualified buyer? Wouldn’t the rep be able to answer the four qualification questions above?

Too often, new reps try to mimic existing/successful sellers. They wing-it and fail without following any sort of process. Why? The good existing reps act intuitively out of experience and often succeed, but the new reps who do not have that experience fall back bad habits and behave badly.

By documenting the conversational model and the best practices of experienced reps, can you see then how sales, marketing etc. could clone the “intuitives” and create questioning templates for new reps? In essence the leaders will be “loading the lips” of the new folks who otherwise would be relying on their ability to figure it out for themselves. Think of these templates as product usage/value/implementation training tools.

In many companies, product folks teach new reps about the products or offerings as a separate process from new hire sales training. What I am suggesting above is that product and sales need to combine the two. “What a feature is?” is of less importance to a new sales hire than “how does a customer USE it?” or “how do they get VALUE out of it? and how do I have a conversation to build those visions.”

What if new hires could practice the buyer-qualification-conversation ahead of meetings? Can you see how they could qualify better?

This strategy will better prepare new reps when getting into an account through a user.

A Critique of an Outbound Prospecting email

A CEO at a CustomerCentric Selling® client of mine asked me to review an unsolicited prospecting email he received. I have changed the name of the seller’s company. I’m trying to be instructional, not confrontational. Here’s my take:

Hi Robert<

It has come to my attention that you have been doing some research on customer relationship management (CRM) software.

(Not bad, he is hoping you are still in the first buying phase – gathering and solidifying requirements.)

The purpose of my email is to introduce myself, open a line of communication, and to hopefully show you how “CRM COMPANY” can give you more visibility into your company’s day to day activities.

(If that’s the case, then the next sentence should be about the issues or concerns that “CRM COMPANY” alleviates for its customers. Instead, the seller goes for rapport, but no trust has been built. Buyers do not want to share rapport with someone they do not trust. Trust is built through exhibiting sincerity and competence SEE COVEY, STEPHEN. See this link for a thorough definition of Trust. Nothing terrible on the sincerity side, but competence cannot be promised or stated as an opinion. Only through success stories and plausible emergencies can the salesperson demonstrate competence.

He pins his rightful place in the CRM world on MORE VISIBILITY, we can only assume this is his strongest capability and an area in which Robert needs help. Not bad, but I am doubtful on this point. There has to be something stronger and more compelling than visibility vis-à-vis the competition. What are the best capabilities vs. the competition? The seller needs to punch that particular capability here.)

We released Version x.x in December and our customers have been raving of the new Robust Features. A web url follows.

(What is “ROBUST” about the new release? This adjective is overused and overly vague. It tells the reader nothing so it is meaningless He is praying that the prospect will click on the roadmap link and then comprehend the value of the description therein. I suspect the click rate is horrible because the tease does not show enough demonstrable competence to warrant spending valuable time digesting the web site.)

Please find my contact information below should you have any questions on any of our commercial offerings or when you are ready to move forward with CRM COMPANY.

(Move forward? That is rather presumptuous. How about “to find out more about how our customers are achieving/increasing/decreasing _____.”)

You can also find a Free 30 Day Evaluation of CRM COMPANY Professional here: [link follows.]

(If you are going to suggest a trial, how about suggesting why a trial would be beneficial? What have others gotten out of it.)

Have a great day,

(Thanks Bon Jovi.)