How can mentioning a Ferrari expand your sales opportunity?  By using it to make a point of reference/connection. 

So often in trying to communicate our ideas, our value and our ‘goods’, the other party does not ‘get’ what we are explaining. That’s why metaphors are such a powerful way to help make a point.  A colleague of mine, Anne Miller, helps all of us understand how to use metaphors in our sales conversations.  The message in Anne’s newsletter today is a timeless reminder of the power of metaphors.

What’s a Ferrari For

How many of your clients buy the full range of your services or products? Probably fewer than you would like. It is very frustrating to be aware of what clients could be getting in value if only they would invest more with you, not to mention how much better it would be for your bottom-line.

That was Kelsey’s situation. Kelsey works for a leading high profile financial services firm. He deals at very senior levels in Fortune 500 companies. He is a seasoned expert at what he does, enjoys his work, and has excellent personal relationships with his clients. But, it bugs him that they pay premium prices and some of them don’t do more business with the firm.

One day, in conversation about doing more business with his firm, he became so frustrated with the client that he said, “Look, Joe, you’re paying for a Ferrari in our service and all you do is use it to drive to the grocery store. That’s not what a Ferrari is for!”

To his surprise, the client actually stopped to consider what that really meant and then began a conversation to explore broader ways to use the “Ferrari” services Kelsey’s firm offers.

Take-Aways

When we are frustrated or angry, we sometimes swear, but where swearing is not appropriate, we usually reach for a metaphor to express our feelings or point of view (Angry Mom to teens: “What do you think I am–your maid?” Driver stuck in traffic to friend on cell: “I’m sitting in a damn parking lot!”) Get frustrated enough about a situation and the apt metaphor might appear that you can use when you are face to face with the client.

Can you use a version of Kelsey’s metaphor with your clients who are not taking full advantage of your premium services?

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If you haven’t signed up for Anne’s newsletter, I suggest you do!  Personally, I LOVE the great reminders and information on metaphors that she shares. 
 ©2010, Anne Miller, author, “Metaphorically Selling,” amiller@annemiller.com

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Filed Under: Sales Tips

Wouldn’t it be great if sales opportunities truly ‘dropped in your lap.’  Well, sometimes they can … if you are looking for the opportunity!

Some people call them ‘trigger events’ others call them ‘golden opportunities’ and still others say ‘I was in the right place at the right time.”  All great things when you are on the positive end of that luck!  But the very successful find their luck – they don’t wait for it!

In my hometown, we are recovering from strong storms and a tornado that hit Monday night. Much of the damage is literally 250 yards from my back door!  It was that close!  So yesterday as I watched dazed people try to take it all in and stand and ponder,,I also noticed people finding their luck in the situation!

Proactive contractors and ’handymen’ were on the scene, offering help and services.  Within hours chain saws were whining, dump trucks were hauling away debris, and roofs were being repaired. Tornados are NOT common in this area – did these people have this included in their annual ‘plan’ this year? Most likely not.  

How do you use this approach in your work?  Well, its time to start FINDING your luck and opportunities!  Some tips:

• Set up Google Alerts for terms, companies, names of individuals who you want in your sales pipeline.
• Read the blogs, magazines, publications that relate to the industry, type of business and geographic area that they operate in.
• Set up and then follow a system to regularly review what is going on and then…
• Act and make contact when you can.

A company I had a meeting with a while back was not ready to do anything – they definitely have a need for our sales and leadership training, but they had a Senior Executive who was not wiling to do anything.  Last month, there was a Google Alert for the company that said he had left the company!  I didn’t pounce right away…I gave it two weeks for the dust to settle and then called the next-in-command.  It was the perfect opportunity to open the door of opportunity again!

If you want to make the most of the rest of this year…make the time to find your luck today!

Catastrophe or Opportunity?

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Filed Under: Marketing Tips, Sales Tips

Yesterday I had a sales appointment. The pre-communication with the prospect was challenging - no return phone calls, one line responses to emails, an abrupt “I can’t talk now.” when I reached him by telephone.

I was a biT apprehensive about what I was walking into. So, the evening before I opened my trusty Quick Prep tool and followed it step by step.  As I answered the questions, planned questions and used the Internet to research the contact, company and industry, my confidence increased that I did have something of value for this person and company.  That even if he was an ‘ogre’ (I just saw Shrek last weekend   I wouldn’t be eaten alive.

The confidence I gained from the prep allowed me to engage in a meaningful sales conversation from the beginning.  He had good questions to start and then we got into the flow of a sales call – needs analysis first, then a discussion on how we might help and a commitment to the next step.

As a sales professional who teaches/coaches other sales professionals – its rewarding to see the processes and actions work! 

That’s why I am offering the valuable Quick Prep Tool to you FREE!  Just send me a note and tell me why you want a Quick Prep Tool of your very own – its an interactive pdf so you can type right into it to save time – print it out and you are ready for success!  That’s the power of prep!

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Filed Under: Sales Tips

If you’re a Sales Manager or Trainer, a Company President or an HR Manager, then you know the importance of keeping your sales team performing at their highest level. 

You also know that in today’s economy, sales training is absolutely crucial. But do you know which training techniques are the most effective in today’s economy? Do you know which techniques have lasting power – and have worked time and time again?

I’m hosting a FREE webinar with Alice Kemper, my co-creators of Sharpenz. Together we’re sharing 37 years of experience and our work with thousands of sales professionals to bring effective, actionable tips to you.

“Get Your 2010 Back on Track – 3 Simple Steps to Double or Triple Your Sales“ is scheduled for Tuesday, June 15 at 10 a.m. Pacific / 1 p.m. Eastern.

We’ll present several must-know pieces of information – like how to get your salespeople to want to take action, how to occupy the attention and efforts of your sales team, how to give them the resources they need and how to help them find their motivation (and you’ll be surprised to hear what it isn’t!).

Here’s what we’ll cover during this powerful webinar:

• 2 Critical Needs to Get Your 2010 Back on Track – how to get your salespeople to want to take actions that lead to more sales, and when they do, how to turn what they do and what they offer into success.
• 3 Simple Steps to Succeed – by occupying the attention and efforts of your sales team, giving your team members the resources they need, and helping them find their motivation.
• Why MONEY isn’t the main motivator for the salespeople on your team – and what IS. 
• A 4-step process salespeople need to go through to build better selling habits.
• 5 skills critical to a sales professionals success in this economy.
• How to engage with the people on your team to keep them motivated and moving forward.
• And much more. . .

It’s easy to register here.  We hope you’ll join us!

Please note:This webinar is designed for those in a position to help their sales team – not for individual sales professionals.

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Filed Under: Sales Productivity, Sales Tips
Tags: Leadership, maximize sales productivity, Sales training

I am constantly amazed at the transparency that now exists in our world. The likes of  LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc. allow us to find out nearly anything we want about others.  That is why when people act without integrity, their surprise at people’s reaction to their actioin is always interesting.

This past week, in the sales expert world, a plagiarizer was ‘outed’.  Michael J. Roman’s blog was FULL of directly ‘ripped off’ articles from Jonathan Farrington, Kelley Robertson and others. (Both have amazing bodies of work and expertise – visit their blogs too!) What is more appalling is that his apology to Jonathan contains this explanation:

It seems that one of my employees who is my “Creative Director” in fact is not as creative as I presumed he was. All this time I was complimenting him on his articles, which in fact were approved by me for publishing. Clearly this comes down to me no inspecting or researching his work more carefully. Basically, I was taking it for face value. We just started this blog a few months ago, and when we did, I was writing my own articles. Shortly thereafter I assigned that task to someone else. Apparently he (and I) found your articles very well written. I however did not know that he was basically stealing your information as well as the information of others.

What?  My Creative Director was writing articles – yet Michael is also claiming those as his own on his now-closed-down blog.  Am I wrong, but that isn’t being yourself, is it?

The wrath of the sales expert community has been mighty and swift. Within 24 hours of Jonathan sharing the plagiarism news, authors and bloggers were ALL over Michael J. Roman.

For me, it is personal too. Last fall I had a plagiarizer take my Do Your Sales Meetings Stick article published on Salespodia and use it as her  own. My reactions included:

• How dare she?!
• Really, didn’t she think I would ever find out?
• Who does this in today’s world?
• Wow, I must write good articles if someone is willing to claim them as their own

And then I thought, how easy is it to ’steal’ from others without really knowing it? 

In the late 1990s, early in my consulting career, I emulated a successful consultant – the way he talked, his approach to all things sales, etc. His style was not quite like mine – but I thought that was how I needed to act. In essence I was stealing his style.  And I did earn business with HUGE companies.  But months into most engagements, I would hear a comment like “I never realized you were so funny!” or “Your expertise or advice is so much more than we expected.” Not bad comments, but it seemed there was more to the words.

I finally asked a trusted client what she meant.  Her response – even 10 years later – is still embarrassing.  She told me that during the sales process, they loved what I was offering, the results that had been achieved, etc. but that I was seen as a “Vanna White’ without much additional value. And that the product/service was what they bought, not me.

Huh? They saw me as a TV game show side-kick? Wow!  Then she went on to say that I need to be myself because my expertise and personality were truly valuable and she is sad that she almost missed out on it.  I thanked her for that information and took time to reflect on it.  I was putting all my efforts into showcasing WHAT I offered in a manner that was not genuine to me.  Though I was winning sales, what was I losing that I didn’t know?

In addition to losing my ’self” I was probably losing sales as well.

And that is when my resolve to help sales professionals stop FAKING it and be themselves was solidified.  That in this transparent world, the more you are yourself, the more successful you will be.  Acting like someone else or taking the words of someone else will STOP you at some point. It might not be as swift and public as Michael J. Roman – but it will happen.

Now, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t learn from others and ethically borrow best practices. What it means is that we need to give credit where it is due and then use the ideas and actions in a manner consistent with who we are.

Being yourself – even if that means showing some of your quirkiness -  will win you more friends, loyal customers…and success in the long run.  And these are biggest WINs of all.

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Filed Under: Sales Tips, Success Tips
Tags: sales success, Sales Tips, Social Media

“What’s new?”  I was asked that question yesterday from someone I hadn’t spoken to in a while.  Talk about an open ended question!  It doesn”t get more open than that, does it?

Problem is..I was tongue tied. I had no idea of where to start to answer that really open-ended questions so I said ‘Not much.” And the conversation pretty much ended there.

‘Not much.’ was my response to a really open ended question?  Surprise, surprise. Of course, this might be the “How ya doin’? question that people ask as a greeting instead of a real question where they want a response.  But maybe not.  I just wasn’t going to work that hard to figure it out or ask for a clarifying question.  Instead of connecting us and starting a conversation, this very open-ended question left us with silence. 

Open ended questions – and  the power of asking for information and listening – is central to great collaborative selling.  Yet asking a Who, What, Why, When, How question takes more skill and expertise than just the way the question is worded.  The value to the prospect, and you, the sales pro, comes when the open questions are used with intent!

To be effective and valuable, great open-ended questions need to be:

• Targeted to the situation and person
• Open, but not too broad where the person doesn’t know where to begin
• Prefaced with the intention of the line of questions and a why you are asking
• Relevant and timely
• Followed by open ears and a paraphrase of what you heard

Let’s go back to the opening question ‘What’s new?” to initiate contact with someone you haven’t seen in a while.  Following the tips above, a more effective approach is:  “Hi Nancy, I haven’t seen you in a while. How is your new Sharpenz business going?”  or “How is the end of the school year wrapping up for your family?”  or “Last time I saw you, you mentioned that Kevin was in college. How have you adjusted to him being out of the house?”

Now, those are open questions, targeted to me, open and clear, and timely based on something they know about me (or better yet, tied into something we discussed in the past showing they listened the last time we were together) that connect me to something I can talk about!  They are a great conversation starter – and in business a great conversation and connection leads to sales opportunities.

The intent of these opening questions might not be stated, but the action of asking a relevant, personalized and meaningful clearly shows the intent of wanting to really connect with me and begin a conversation.

When you want to start a productive conversation, skip the “What’s new?” common greeting and make an intentional great connection.

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Filed Under: Sales Tips
Tags: Open ended questions, Sales Tips