Opening a sales conversation effectively is important. Preparing how you will engage, turn the focus to them and earn the right to get into a good convereation helps ensure you oare successful.  Yet with all the time spent on opening conversations, I notice very little, if any, time is spent on how to close the conversation!

Closing the conversation may mean asking for the buy! Yet in today’s complex sale, the close of the conversation may really mean getting a commitment to what is next.

We call the end of the conversation the Consolidation versus the close. Consolidate means to ‘bring together pieces into a whole.’ Think about ANY conversation you have, isn’t that what you need to do at the end of every conversation?

to advance your sales cycle, build stronger value and save you TIME in follow-up efforts, Consolidate your conversations with these specific actions:

• Summarize what you covered in the conversations -what problems, opportunities, wants or needs were revealed?
• Check for readiness. Are they ready to end the conversation? Pay attention to body language, words and sounds, and responses to your trial close questions.
• Confirm value for what you are asking them to do.
• Ask for a decision or commitment to something.
• Identify next specifics, with specifics. What are you going to do? What are they going to do? By when?
• CLOSE - this is your final comment.  The ‘Thank you’ or ‘Thanks’ is so overdone, it doesn’t even register that you’ve said it. Be specific in personalizing the last comment. Make it about THEM, the value they are going to receive, something you appreciate specifically about them or the conversation.
  • “Sharon, I appreciate that you were able to take the time to explore your __________. I look forward to our next conversation.”
  • “Mike, thank you for the confidence that we can help you _________. i will do everything I can to ensure this is successful.”

I’m often told (just this week two different sellers mentioned this) that they run out of time and the end of their conversations become rushed and this miss pieces of consolidating.  A solution? PLAN in your agenda for the 5-7 minutes needed to consolidate. Set the expectation that you will need to identify what comes next at the end of the conversation.

Think about how much quicker your sales will advance and how much less follow-up or chasing you will need to do if you consolidate EVERY conversation in this way.

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Filed Under: Sales Productivity, Sales Tips, Success Tips
Tags: maximize sales productivity, Sales, Sales Tips, skills

Japan’s disaster may seem long ago to many of you. For those in the US, the hundreds of tornados and deaths in the last week have replaced the news of Japan.

But sales and marketing experts around the world are giving back to japan!  The give back begins the week of Monday, May 9 through Friday, the 13th.  During those five days you’ll have the opportunity to attend up to 35 incredible webinar sessions—7 every single day—presented by 35 of the top sales minds in the world. You pick your topics – for just a $5 donation for each topic – which is a donation to the RedCross!

Each session will be a quick, but highly targeted, 30 minutes of tips and information.

Who are some of these presenters?  Well, there’s Dave Kurlan, Jill Konrath , Kelley Robertson, Colleen Francis, Linda Richardson, Paul McCord, myself, and manyothers.  Topics covered will range from Sales 101 Isn’t Enough: Advanced Selling Capabilities For Outselling Your Competition to 7 Habits of Highly Effective (Social) Salespeople to Successfully Profiting from the New Buying Cycle to my session on Build a Successful Business on Referrals by Knowing Who Your Client Knows and, of course, many, many more.

You can see the whole list of sessions HERE

And here’s even better news—when you attend any given session you’ll be helping the Red Cross in their mission in Japan.

Jonathan Farrington, the host of the conference says,

Just four weeks after the Magnitude 9.0 Tohoku earthquake and a tsunami which delivered 46ft waves, we learn that the death toll is likely to top 25.000, and recovery is going to take not years, but possibly decades, maybe even a generation, at a cost of at least $250 billion.

This is our opportunity to show that the sales community – so often derided for being shallow and materialistic, amongst other things – actually has a very big heart.

We plan to charge just $5 registration fee per presentation, and we are limited to 1000 guests per session, so places will be allocated on a “first come – first served” basis.

Can I count on your support? Together we can make a worthwhile *contribution to the people of Japan.

That’s right, it only costs $5 to attend any one session and all proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross specifically for Japan.  At the end of each session you’ll be given an opportunity to donate an additional $1, $5, or $10 if you so wish.

Here is a tremendous opportunity to contribute to the efforts in Japan and get great training at the same time. 

What a great deal!!!

If you are a leader – who needs to engage and equip your sales team this year (and beyond) I encourage you to seriously consider attending my session Tuesday, May 10 at 12:45 Eastern time as I’ll sharing 3 Tips to Build the Skill and Will of Your Sales Team.  Here is the direct registration page for my session.

Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to help yourself improve your sales while helping those who are in desperate need of help.

View the entire list of topics and presenters – seriously, you will find MANY that will be ‘just’ what YOU need.

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Filed Under: Marketing Tips, Sales Productivity, Sales Tips, Success Tips
Tags: maximize sales productivity, Sales, sales conference, sales expert, Sales Meeting, Sales Tips, sales tools, Sales training, skills

Do you know the  story of David and Goliath?  David was the underdog – the small teen who agreed to take on the mighty ‘giant’, Goliath, for the greater good of his people.  The story ends with David using his brains to beat the giant. 

David’s will – or desire, commitment and focus – helped him win over the mighty skill – size, intimidation factor, reputation and strength – of Goliath. 

Why a David and Goliath story in a sales blog?  Well, many of my sales ‘ahas’ come from life outside of work. This latest tip comes from observing interesting human dynamics during the state basketball championship for the Lutheran church basketball league in Wisconsin.

All season, the Goliaths of SE Wisconsin intimidated all other teams with their size, forcefulness and ‘plays’ – all called by their coach from the sidelines. They showed great skill all season long.

During the first games of the state tournament they continued their domination – and never let up  on their opponents – even when they were up by 40+ points with seconds to go.

The crowds did not appreciate the total annihilation…they wanted Goliath beaten!  In the semi-finals games, the crowd vocally started slaying Goliath and worked on breaking their will.  How? They cheered wildly for the underdogs.  This confused the Goliaths at the time.  And yet they won by more than 40.

The following day was the championship game. The giants were facing the ‘Davids’ – a team with a good, but not great record – full of a mis-match of players in size, skill and backgrounds.  The ’Davids’ put on a brave face, vowed to ‘fight’ for the win and were supported by a crowd who WILLed them to win.  They fought hard, they used their skill to the best of their ability and with 6 minutes left in the game were still down by 19.  Victory did not seem possible.  And then….

The crowd cheered and encouraged and believed they COULD…and the WILL to win returned.

We watched in awe as the players drove hard, made unbelievable plays and showed they would not be beat. The Goliaths were confused by this burst of skill and will at the end of the game and eventually slunk away speechless as they were BEATEN by the smaller ‘David” team with seconds to go.

The field house exploded with energy and jubilation. The giant had been defeated.

Doesn’t it feel like that some days in sales? That the  ‘giants’ of the world are too much for us to win against? That all our skills are not leading to the success we thought should be ours?

Well, those are the days we need to find our will. We need to pull energy from all our sources to continue to make those calls, match our solutions to needs and ask for the decision!  In the long run, skill and will WIN in all aspects of life!

p.s. My 18 year old son was one of the “Davids’ in the basketball story. I can’t tell you how proud we are of this Hales Corners Lutheran team. They have shown us all that is okay to have FUN and still be winners. They have played basketball together for many years – and pulled it together, stayed focused and beat the big, bad Giants in their final-ever game as a team.  And proud for our Jackson, who put all the will he had into a game that has not always been his strong suit, to be named Tournament MVP   He’s #14 in the photo (my husband, Jon, is the coach in the white shirt).

Makes me more focused and thinking about my own will in certain situations recently. With more will, there are some giants I need to slay this week too.  

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Filed Under: Sales Tips, Success Tips
Tags: focus, Sales, Sales Tips, skills

There’s a TV show on HGTV called What Not to Wear.  Stacy and Clinton host and work with someone nominated from friends/family for a makeover. 

It’s fascinating to watch the transformation over the four day process.  And there IS a process to the transformation:

1. Video footage taken by friends/family is shown to the person for them to become aware of what others see. 
2. A 360 degree mirror is used with the hosts assessing what works for them and what doesn’t. The mirror allows the guest to really see themselves from all angles. 
3. What’s helpful about watching the show is they not only show the ‘guest’ what NOT to do, they lay out simple ‘rules’ for them to apply with their clothing choices.
4. Finally the guest can choose to adopt the new rules and look as they shop and then head home for a welcome party where they show their new look to their friends and family.

As a business/sales coach I watch transformations happen much more slowly.  Though the process is the same to building or breaking a habit. 

• Awareness
• Assessment
• Application
• Adoption

These four steps are necessary to get to the end result – adopting a new habit or skill!  You might not have a skilled coach bringing you along the way – and the process can be uncomfortable – the key is to get through it and stick with it. 

So, what can you do with the 4 A’s? 

1. Awareness – observe successful salespeople. What are the actions and attitudes they have?  Make a list.
2. Assessment – open yourself to honest feedback from others. Manager, peers who see you in action, customers.  Ask them for feedback on what you do and what you should not continue to do.  (If you would like a short, free assessment to look assess – email me at nancy@salesproinsider.com – I’ll be happy to send you a 80 question assessment you can use as a baseline.)
3. Application- decide on WHAT you need to do – and do it!  Act on the feedback.
4. Adoption- this happens with time, repetition and reinforcement. Ongoing application of the right actions will lead you to consistently adopt them.

To truly adopt or break a habit takes between 21 and 35 days (depending on the study) – plan for 4-6 weeks of concentrated efforts.  The payoff?  In sales, 4-6 weeks of the right actions will bring more sales!

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Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: focus, maximize sales productivity, productivity, sales success, Sales Tips, skills

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?

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Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: Open ended questions, Sales training, skills

What does it take to be successful in the sales world?  Intelligence, drive, a good work ethic, being customer and company focused, knowing ‘how’ to sell in your industry and so much more.  Yet all of this can be boiled down to two broader items:  confidence and competence.

In my sales training courses, we build competence and confidence.  When my prospects ask me which is more important – I’m stumped.  It’s both!  Being confident with competence is what is necessary.  Strengthening each of these lasts and gives a healthy ROI to the training!

Let’s look at the alternatives:    

• Confidence with incompetence:  You know these folks – lots of bravado and nothing to back it up.  They create a trail of destruction – inside and outside the company. Often these are what people label the dreaded ‘used car salesman’ type.
• Lack of confidence with incompetence:  Not much to say, hopefully they find another career quickly. The sad part?  Often they are the NICEST people – just miscast in sales.
• Lack of confidence with competence:  They know what to do and CAN do it – but their lack of confidence can rear its ugly head in so many unproductive ways – procrastination, lack of making contact with prospective buyers, and over preparing for everything.

A competent and confident sales professional knows WHAT to do, HOW to do it and does “it”.  They are consistent, productive and proactive.

It’s Friday – let’s have some fun with this one.  Please comment with examples of salespeople you have run into that fit into one of these groups. 

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Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: consultative selling, productivity, Sales Tips, skills

Looking for a new job?  The news out there is bleak these days as the Labor Department’s U-6 unemployment rate was 13.5% at the end of 2008.  That’s a lot of unemployed people!  On top of that, the newspaper is full of stories of companies who have or will soon downsize their workforce.  I wonder how equipped these unemployed people are to sell themselves for a new job.   With so many people are afraid of sales, what is scarier than selling yourself as you look for a new job?

Yet, some people ARE still getting hired – just last week I spoke with three people who just landed GREAT new jobs.  How did they do it?  They applied great sales skills to the job hunting contest.

Two sales secrets for job hunting:

1. Focus on What’s in it for Them!  Narrow the value you bring to a few specifics that help THIS company, this manager, this industry. Do not list or tell EVERYTHING you have ever done.  Make it relevant to them with information from the Internet on the company and possibly the contact. 

Translate your experiences and skills into a benefit to them!  Assume that whatever you state, the screener is thinking “So what?”  And answer the “so what” in your statements.  Examples:

• “I have developed marketing and graphics for my employer for 7 years.”  So what?  Try…  “I have developed marketing and graphics that allowed our sales force to close more sales.” 
• “My experience includes knoweldge of teh following software applications…..”  So what?   Try… “I hae worked with software applications such as _______ and that allowed me to increase efficiency by 15% and decrease the costs associated with getting the projects completed.”

2.  Make contacts every day!  Successful people do not let days go by without making connections.  I see job seekers take WEEKS to write and re-write their resume.  That is too long – most resume screeners only spend 30-60 seconds glancing at your resume.  Your resume will not get you a job, contacting potential hiring managers will.  But what do you say? Prepare a very short statement of what you can help them do.  And then ask for an appointment to discuss their company and a potential fit.

      “Mr. Manager, I am Nancy Bleeke, a sales professional who has improved sales processes resulting in 12% sales increases the last three years.  I am in the job market and may be able to increase sales for your company.   Can we meet to discuss openings in sales with your company and how I might use my expertise to  increase sales for you?” 

Want to get hired?  Do your homework to prepare a great contact and interview that differentiate yourself from the other seekers.  These two sales secrets will help you win that job!

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Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: Job Hunting, networking, skills

Want to increase your sales performance for the long-term?  Focus on fundamentals today.

Michael Jordan, undeniably a long-term example for sports performance, said that “You have to monitor your fundamentals constantly because the only thing that changes will be your attention to them.  The fundamentals will never change.”  

It’s the same in our professional business careers, if we want to increase our sales productivity, we need to give attention to the fundamentals of great communication, preparation and follow-up.  These are timeless, universal fundamentals.

As Michael said “Fundamentals were the most crucial part of my game in the NBA.  Everything I did, everything I achieved, can be traced back to the way I approached the fundamentals and how I applied them to my abilities.”

Today is Monday, the beginning of a new work week.  What selling fundamental can you work on today to set yourself up for “A” game success the rest of the week?  Got that action in mind?  Now just “Do It”!

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Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: Sales, Sales Tips, skills

Maximizing productivity is a key objective for sales people and sales managers. Time and money is spent on CRMs, planners, Blackberries, and more technology. And, when used appropriately, technology can help us with efficiency. Yet there is more…we also need to squeeze the most out of every contact and discussion we have. We need to continuously advance the sale WITH each prospect.

An effective sales discussion starts before contact. It starts with preparation that includes identifying:

• Who, what, why and when for this contact.
• Potential objections that may be raised.
• The decision needed at the end of the contact. Some sales are closed in one discussion, many are not, and the decision might be to schedule a next meeting, introduce you to someone else in the company, provide you information or specs, etc. We need to know what our decision at the “close” of this discussions should be.

After preparation we can maximize the actual discussion with the person by using the acronym WIIFT for specific steps and a road map. WIIFT is a 5 step sales process AND a philosophy of focusing on What’s in it for Them through the discussion.

Wait. Pause and mentally prepare before contact. Review the notes you made, think about this person and company and the value you can possibly provide them. And then…

Initiate the contact. Help the person break pre-occupation by asking them open ended questions that draw them into conversation. Connect with the person before jumping directly into your product information or your business questions. Put the spotlight on them by asking about their job, their history with the company, their interests (look for clues on this one). This step might take 2 minutes or 20, pay attention to time and move the discussion to business when appropriate.

• Tell me how you ended up in this role…
• How is your day going?

And then move the discussion into business…

Investigate. Use additional open-ended questions to allow them to discuss and clarify:

• What their objectives are
• What is happening now
• What are the risks of doing nothing
• What are the rewards of taking action

The gaps between these areas is your opportunity. Use great listening skills by summarizing what you hear, taking notes, and helping them clarify their responses. Once gaps are identified and clarified, you can move to explaining how you can help them.

Facilitate a discussion where you use your expertise to educate them on how what you do/have can eliminate the gaps discovered in your investigation. The more closely you match what you do to THEM, their situation, their needs and opportuntiies, the higher the perceived value (and the less they want to wait to get what you have).
Use YOU transition statements from WHAT you have to the WIIFT (what’s in it for them).

• Our service provides ongoing technical support and in YOUR situation that means that YOU will not have 2 a.m. phone calls from your users.
• We have 20 years of experience which means that YOU will be able to use proven processes that help YOU reach your goals quicker.

To facilitate means to “make it easy” for someone else. As you share your information make it easy for them to see how what you have fits with them…involve them, let them be a part of discovering how this fits with their situation, the value they see, make it a discussion versus a “pitch”.

Collaborate. Beyond consultative selling – collaborative selling is working with someone else to accomplish something. Ask what type of objections or obstacles they foresee in moving forward. Then work through the objections WITH them as a problem solver. Finally, ask for a decision and the next step to close the discussion (and the sale).

Following a sales system brings efficiency and consistency to each discussion. It allows us to keep moving the process forward and using “face” time most productively. Then we can use our technology to capture the order, schedule the next appointment and report to our managers. Productivity will increase as we maximize every discussion.

What do you do to maximize your sales discussions?

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Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: Collaborative Selling, collaborative+selling, consultative selling, maximize sales productivity, recession proof sales, sales process, skills, WIIFT

As I’ve been writing about all week, the Sales SheBang conference gathered successful sales pros – women AND some men – for sharing and learning sales skills. During the week, there was a particularly energetic and engaged member -Matt Donnelly.

Matt is 84 years and old lives in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. For two years, Matt has been the first to enroll in this conference. I heard about Matt in the Sales Expert Summit sessions the day before the actual conference. And thought “he’s just there to be with the women”. Was I wrong!

Matt has the energy and smarts of people half his age. With his blue blazer and a coordinating beret, his trademark, Matt was a willing participant for 2 days. I couldn’t resist talking with him to find out “is he really still selling”? Well, indeed he is! He started his business appraisal business 21 years ago and is still selling himself today.

He told me that he can always improve and he still has a lot to learn. His goal is to stay with it until he is 103 and a half years. But that is not the shocker, at the end of the conference, Matt wanted to address the 100+ attendees. He produced his check for next year’s conference to guarantee that he is again the first enrolled.

Lessons observed from Matt…no matter how long we have been doing something, we have more to learn. And when work is fun, who needs to retire?

What are some of the lessons you have learned from those that have been “at it” longer then you?

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Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: learning, sales conference, skills