If you live in the U.S. you may be hearing about March madness.  No, it isn’t people trying to hold on to their sanity as they wait for spring – its all about NCAA basketball!

As the hype begins and the country (or maybe its just the Bleeke family) gets ready for the tournament, we can all think about our own March madness at work. 

In March the reality of the year starts to sink in.  People have a lot of optimism in the month as companies and sales managers set goals.  February follows with lots of activity and a belief it will pay off.  And then March starts…and people start scrambling to make quarterly numbers, and wondering whether they have committed to more than they can deliver. 

Today I received an email from a professional friend wondering what I am noticing as a I talk with companies. Do I see ‘hope dissipating,’ he asked. Well, NO,  I don’t believe  hope is dissipating. I just spoke with two company presidents this week that said February ended with better than expected results. They believe the momentum will push the March numbers even higher.

The real question is, what do you believe?  Do you believe you are positioned for a great quarter-end? What you believe matters:

Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman -                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          not the attitude of the prospect.

W. Clement Stone

W. Clement Stone is a GREAT role model for those of us in sales. His story is told in his book “The Success System That Never Fails“.  W. Clement was also known to say that he never made a ‘cold call’, he made ‘gold calls’. 

But back to March Madness.  Strive to be MAD this month!

• Motivated
• Assertive
• Determined

With the right attitude and a MAD approach, you will succeed. And then your results (and your sales manager) will thank you.

P.S. Today starts a different March madness in my family. All three of my children’s birthdays are this month – starting with Jackson who turns 17  today.

Need some sales tips? Better yet, some top sales tips from experts who live and breath sales?  Besides this blog and my Timely tips ezine, a great resource for you is the Top 10 Sales Articles site!

Each month a panel of judges selects 10 articles from around the sales world to spotlight.  This month’s articles are written by Jill Konrath, Kelley Robertson, Dave Kurlan. Tom Ninness, Ivan Misner  and many more – including me!  To make it even more interesting, you can Vote for your favorite!

Please visit the site and have a look – you will definely benefit from great information.  And, if you would, vote my article titled the 3 “I”s of Open Ended Questions. I’d like to win this month!   

Though its great to hear from experts, some of my best learning comes from YOU. If you have a sales tip you’d like to share – send it to me – I’ll feature YOUR sales tips in a future post.

March 1-7, 2010 is National Write a Letter of Appreciation week.  Wow – a whole week dedicated to appreciating – in writing – others! 

A national holiday like this is a PERFECT reminder for us to reconnect with prospects or customers.  The key tips are:

1. WRITE the letter. It’s not a phone call, email or text. Pen to paper. The recipient can hold it in their hands and for tactile people, that’s a good thing! Last month I got a thank you note from a prospect for the follow-up message I sent – on a quality note card and addressed just to them.  I knew this Doer type person appreciated it, or he wouldn’t have taken the time.
2. Be specific in your appreciation. “You are great to work with.” is okay – but something like “I really appreciate how you respond so quickly to my messages.” is much stronger!      I really believe in specific appreciation and as I completed my drive-thru banking transaction last Saturday, the teller said “Nancy, thank you for writing your account number of the back of the checks, it made it so much easier to pull up your account.”  I drove away as the recipient of specific appreciation – and felt how great that is. And the benefit to that teller?  I think I will always write the number on the back of the check now.
3. Do not SELL to them in this letter. The note is  to appreciate them and nothing more.
4. Hand write the address on the envelope. It’s much more personal.

Making time for writing these letters or notes will set you apart, get your name in front of people again and increase your energy!

The hardest part is DOING this.  Schedule an hour or two later this week to appreciate others.  Customers, your manager, assistants, colleagues, spouse, children, parents – everyone will appreciate it!  Set a goal of the number of people you will write a letter to this week and then WRITE them.

My appreciation to each of you?  I very much appreciate the comments that are left to blog posts. It helps me know that I am not just writing to the ‘universe’ – that real people have connected and are adding to the conversation of the posts.  Thank you commenters!

Right now I am flying high.  Literally flying at 33,000 feet – probably somewhere over Indiana. I’m on my way to work with Alice Kemper, my Sharpenz.com partner, for the rest of the week.  (For those of you who have used Sharpenz – we’ll have three new boosters ready-to-go next week!)

I’m chuckling because the last post was about You Won’t Get if You Don’t Ask - well I asked the flight attendant the cost of wifi on the airplane – not because I really wanted to use it, just because I was curious.  She told me that she wasn’t sure but that I should go to the site because you can sometimes try it free.

Well, the Go Go site was more than Try it Free – they had a game you could play to earn free wifi for the duration of the flight. I tried it and won!  How cool is that?

So now today I am feeling lucky, confident and like a winner. How will that translate to my success today? I believe it will translate into energy and productivity leading to success.

If you aren’t flying high today like I am, how can you get your energy and confidence up?  A few things come to mind:

1.  Do the thing you are dreading the most for today. Tackle it head on and get it out of the way.  The rest will seem easier.

2.  Review your goals – what are you working toward? What progress have you made? Take one full minute to think and feel that progress. Doesn’t it feel good? Don’t beat yourself up over what you have left to do – acknowledge what you have done.

3.  Contact someone you have been meaning to. You know who the person is – just pick up the phone or send an email NOW!  They’ll be glad to hear from you.  It’s amazing how much connection we need as people.  Don’t want it to be work related? That’s okay!  Amanda shared with me that she found someone she had completely forgotten about on Facebook – they now have reconnected and she is so grateful.

Sometimes the little actions we take early in the morning can give us that boost of energy and confidence that will keep us ‘flying’ a winner all day!

p.s. For someone like who bemoans the speed of new technology, I’m loving it today!

Closing more sales. It’s the goal for sales managers and professionals alike.  And both are frustrated when it doesn’t happen.  How do I know this?  I ask!

During the needs analysis with a prospect, we always ask “What are the barriers to getting where you want to be?” or “What is keeping you from achieving the goals that are set?” Nearly 90% of the time, one of the reasons given by sales managers is that “My people aren’t closing sales. They do all the work and then the final decision is stalled. They don’t move them through the pipeline.”

If I ask sales people, “What keeps you from closing more sales?” I often hear, “The buyers don’t make decisions timely.”

When I ask buyers why they haven’t decided, they have said “They never asked!”

Okay, so what can be done to get buyers to decide and sales pros to close?  It may be more simple than you think – you need to ask! 

I can’t count the number of times I have observed or coached a sales pro to find out that they do a LOT of work to build the relationship, identify the wants/needs and demonstrate their value.  And then wait. And check in. And wait. Then check in again. But they never have asked to find out the answer!

Instead, there are important questions to be asked after the recommendation is made!  They questions fall into two groups:

• Objections
• Decisions

Unless we ask for their opinion on concerns/objections, we may never know where we really stand.  Until we ask for a decision we may never ‘win’ the deal.

What can you do to close more sales?  First, find out where they are in their thought process and if there are any objections, ask,

• “How does what we’ve discussed sound to you?”
• “What concerns do you have about this solution or me/my company?”
• “What barriers do you see in implementing this?”
• “How does this align with your goals?

Notice these are open ended questions that ask for opinions, ideas and feedback?

Then after listening and responding appropriately, ask for a decision:

• “What is the next action for you in the decision making process?”
• “Have we covered everything you need to make your decision?”
• “Are you ready to move forward?”
• “Can we initiate the paperwork today?”
• “Should we wrap this up?”

Some of these are still open ended to allow you ‘test the water’ before asking for a decision.  But then you HAVE to ask for a decision!

Want to know if this works?  Try it and you will see that it does.

The reason I am writing this post today is because I just used this process with the IRS. Yes the IRS!  They never say ‘yes’.  But I looked at appealing a penalty charge as an opportunity to sell – to build a relationship with the agent, ask for concerns, and then ask for the removal of the penalty.  The charge was relevant – in switching the Sales Pro Insider accounting systems last June, one of the federal tax payments was not made.

It took me two letters and a phone call – which is what sealed the deal. During the call I focused on building rapport, working through the situation together and then asking for the penalty to be removed. The agent cheerfully – really cheerfully – said he would recommend a removal.  I just opened the letter that said it had been approved! A large penalty was removed from the account.

This situation is a great reminder for us all – you don’t get what you don’t ask for. 

My recommendation to you?  Look at your pipeline. What prospects are stalled?  Which situations did you maybe not ‘close’ with the right questions? Then determine how to initiate contact with the prospect. Your objective is to first identify if there are concerns, find out if what you have discussed is of value to them and then ASK for a decision.  The decision might be the buying decision or a decision that they will take an action or talk with  you at a specific time.  And if you get a ‘no’?  Then you know where you stand and can move on to more probable prospects.

In the spirit of asking today – I ask you – who do you know would find value from this blog? Send them a link please!

And if you haven’t already done so, what keeps you from signing up for the Timely T ips ezine here?  Every few weeks you will receive the ezine with helpful tips and fun tidbits. Just for signing up you receive the Timely Tips to Achieve Your Goals eBook – a great roadmap and toolkit for you!

In 2009 All Business initiated a new sales contest – Sales All Stars.  The goal is to promote the career of sales and to recognize those that excel in this very tough business!  I hope you have taken time to look into recommending someone you know for this award.

Yet, can’t we all become a Grand Champion in what we do?  What does it take?  The following Success Factors:

• Skill to perform to your best
• A strong work ethic to use your time and resources wisely
• A goal that is clear, written and attainable
• Competitive spirit to dig in and give it all you’ve got
• Emotional intelligence to weather the ups and downs

The following are also immportantk though not indivudal factors

• Having the right ‘goods’ that fit the situation
• Collaborative teammates who are supportive, skillful and in the right roles

I saw all of these in place last weekend – not in a sales situation – in a sporting event.  We spent 16 hours on a bus and 24 hours in a convntion center for the Jamfest Super Dance Nationals.  My daughter’s team came in as the unknown team from Wisconsin and were determined to make their mark.  The competition is over two days with scores only posted after Day One.

In their two genres – jazz and pom – they did well after Day 1.  Fourth place for Jazz and First place by a tiny margin in Pom.  We thought it was a good first day. Then were told that Day 2 is worth 2/3 of the total score at the end.  The coach, Kate Fabbri did a great job in coaching the girls and explaining what they need to do to advance to the win in poms and place in jazz.  She expressed her belief in them, review the judges’ comments and then got them practicing – they even raised their level of difficulty the week before.

On Sunday, the dancers (24 of them) spent time together getting ready to ‘bring it on’.  After the jazz, we knew they did well.  And for poms they performed better than they had all year (which is saying a lot since they haven’t yet lost this season).  It was energetic, spot on and the dancers looked like they were having fun.  The short story?  They placed with a 3rd medal in jazz and WON pom.  More importantly, they scored so well they were also named junior champions.

It doesn’t end there. The top scorers are also in contention for the GRAND champion award – which involves judges selecting the team they feel had entertainment value, etc.  The girls were named the Grand Champions!

Isn’t it the same in sales? We need all the Success Factors listed above to be the Grand Champion and win the big deals. And still having the right ’scores’ isn’t always enough. We need to bring that ’something extra’ to our sales calls that makes us memorable, trusting, and respected so that the prospect WANTS us to win with them. 

I hope you will make time this week to strengthen one of the Success Factors so you can be a Grand Champion in your sales this year.

Think about the most successful sales pros you know – do you see these Success Factors in them? What else would you add to the list?

I’ll admit I’m a scrapper.  Yes, a scrapper.  A word that has more than one meaning – a scrapper is “a fighter or aggressive competitor” and/or someone who makes picture scrapbooks. Both are true in my case.  And both have interesting sales lesson opportunities!

Sometimes when I hear objections or a customer didn’t do something they committed to, I want to fight!  When things don’t go certain ways, I am aggressive and take it head on and am direct to get to the bottom of it.  As with most things, there are good aspects of this approach…and bad.  People know where they stand with me.  Some people appreciate that, some don’t. 

My approach is that none of us have extra time to waste in business, why not get to the real point and see if we can move through or over it?  What I always need to remind myself is that doesn’t work for everyone. Being an aggressive competitor is okay but being an ‘assertive’ competitor is better.

I’m also a scrapbooker. Not a fanatical scrapbooker, but I have been creating scrapbooks for 11 years now!  I have made family albums, anniversary albums, hostess gift albums, etc. The process is slow and tedious.  But I enjoy it because it gives me the opportunity to take a lot of ’scraps’ of this and that and photos and put them together to tell a bigger story in an attractive way. The journaling, writing about the photos,  is even more important sometimes than the pictures. My hope is that these become part of my legacy and help my children understand the ‘why’ of situations they experienced.

Years ago I found a ‘process’ to sorting, organizing and laying out my pages. It saves me a lot of time and I get more pages done than all other scrapbookers at events. (Oh, doesn’t that sound like an aggressive competitor comment And it works. The efficiency of the process – along with the right tools – allows me to ‘close’ my scrapbooks.

Now doesn’t that sound like sales? Taking pieces of information from the customer and what we offer, then matching them together into a collage that tells a bigger story or takes us and the prospect to a new state of understanding, is what consultative sales is about! 

Sometimes this approach to sales is tedious and slow – and finding a process to help is important.  This is very important in selling services because there isn’t something to really ’show and tell’ on demand. I gather information and then use a process to create the outline and ‘picture’ for the prospect. Often the picture is a beautiful vision of what can be and the path to get there. 

I feel like I just had a ’self help’ group meeting and that I stood up and said “Hi, I’m Nancy and I’m a scrapper.”  Kind of a fun way to start my day.

How about you? What’s something you scrap about?

p.s. Even scrapbooking has gone ‘digital’ and many of the tools are now online.  Though I use the e-tools to create some books, the creative aspect is limiting so I identified which tools work in different situations and apply the ‘right’ tool to get the job done.  Same with sales tools – finding the right tool for the job is what is important.  Miles Austin of Fill the Funnel writes about different tools in his blog.   He even has an eBook to help use LinkedIn more effectively!

Ever notice two people whispering to each other and as you get approach them, they suddenly stop talking?  How do you feel?  Uneasy? Confident?Annoyed?  Curious?

Well, when I saw this quote by the actor Erroll Flynn I thought – this is so true in business!

It isn’t what they say about you, its what they whisper behind your back. 

Not to make you paranoid – but it is TRUE!  What people – customers or colleagues – say behind your back is a good indication on how well you are building value for those around you.  Are the ‘whispers’:

• Stating how valuable you are?
• How full of integrity and honesty your actions show?
• Questioning some of your recent actions?
• Saying to others ‘You HAVE to work this person, they are so great!”

To build long lasting relationships – meaningful business relationships that provide value to you and them - you need the whispers to include only the best things about you. To be statemetns that you wish they would SHOUT from a megaphone for all to hear.  When you consistently act from a place of genuine care, integrity and honesty you’ll never have to worry about the whispers, because you know they are good.

What can you do this week to generate GREAT whispers about you?  Are there unplanned contacts or actions you can take?  Think about – there probably is something you can do. And hopefully the recipient will be willing to share a loud whisper of the value you brought.

TGIF -  Thank God It’s Friday!  Do you feel like that this week? You don’t have to.  Let’s make today – FUF!  Follow-up Friday. 

Fridays are great days for follow-up.  Many people are at their desk today trying to wrap up their week and tie up loose ends before the weekend starts. It’s often a GREAT opportunity to for you to catch them!  You can make it a very productive day to:

• Send information of value to a prospect
• Telephone contacts in your pipeline – prepare in advance what to leave as a voicemail message (just checking in doesn’t cut it)
• Respond to emails that have been sitting for days
• Complete the paper work that you have not had time to do the rest of the week
• Prepare for next week’s calls
• Set appointments for next week and the week after
• Review your goals and decide what you will focus on next week
• Take 60-90 seconds and just sit and breathe thinking about what you HAVE accomplished this week.

For me today is about preparation and opportunity.  I have a really great sales appointment this afternoon that I am excited about.  It’s with a long-time customer of my sales training. Today we are broadening our discussion to see how I might help them meet their broader human resource objectives of recruiting, training and coaching a top notch sales team. I know I can help them move that needle to save time, money and their effort! 

A good sales appointment today will mean I have a follow-up Monday

What do you do on Friday to wrap up your week?

Every effective sales training course teaches sales professionals to ask open-ended questions.  These are the questions that start with who, what, why, when, how, etc.  Why are open ended questions so universally taught? Because:

• They solicit great information
• Get the person talking
• Allow you and them to find out if there is an opportunity
• Can show your expertise, IF you ask the right questions

All that sounds great, doesn’t it?  They really ARE effective.  But not 100% of the time.  Sometimes they can make a needs analysis seem like an interrogation.  Even though they are open they can be leading, forced, narrow, product focused and irrelevant.  Sales pros can come off like a robot reciting their list of questions so they can get to pitching their product! 

When we use the 3 ‘I’ approach, our open-ended questions include: 

1. Intent
2. Intelligence
3. Interest

Intent.  I’ve seen sales pros launch right into a list of questions that might seem irrelevant to the prospect.  The prospect thinks ‘What’s this have to do with anything?” Instead, we need to explain the intent of the line of questions so the prospect can put it in perspective and answer thoughtfully.

An example: Yesterday I received a call for someone who had something to offer.  They immediately asked me “So, what are you working on?”  My response?  “Wow, that’s broad, in what context?” They responded, “Whatever context you choose.”  Well, I was confused.  I knew what this person was selling and thought, should I answer my question based on that narrow interest or is he really trying to find out more?

So, I turned it back to him and said, ‘What are you working on?”  And then he responded. After 15 minutes I knew the flavor of his focus and we continued.

But why should I have had to work that hard?  If I knew where the discussion was going we could have both saved time.

To share intent can sound like this.  “We are going to talk about your human resource needs. What we have learned is that understanding  how this fits into the overall company’s goals and objectives helps us narrow down the approach and we will be able to give you a more accurate picture of how we might help.  The first questions are focused on that broader picture. Then we’ll get more specific.”  Then we go into our list of questions.

Intelligence.  Your questions reveal a LOT about you. Here’s how to raise your ‘perceived’ intelligence level:

• Explain the intent  of your line of questions and ask questions that broaden the dialogue to a bigger more strategic discussion. 
• Focus on the solution or value desired versus just the product.
• Wait to LISTEN once you have asked  a question. When you ask more intelligent questions, the person may need to think before responding (this is usually a good thing).  How long? According to research, they might need 15-25 seconds to think and respond.  That’s a long time to wait, but it can payoff.

Interest.  The questions should be ‘of interest’ to the person. How?  Make the questions relevant to the situation and person. When it’s about THEM, it’s interesting TO them. Every aspect of the sales process should be wiift focused – What’s in it for THEM? – and this includes your questions!

There you have the 3 necessary “I”s for making your needs analysis informative and not an interrogation. 

Of course I have learned many of these things the hard way.  With confused looks from prospects as I took a direction that surprised them. What have you learned about open ended questions?