Want to give EXTRA value to your customers in tough economic times?  Give great business gifts (free or low cost) now!  With cost cutting in most industries and everyone trying to do more with less, its refreshing to know that there are still easy and inexpensive ways to give value today.  And giving value today allows you to receive sales tomorrow.

Giving value to customers does not necessarily mean discounting your price, buying large gifts, or giving more of your product or service at no charge.  In the long run, giving value to the PERSON is more important than all of those things.

Three Extra Value gifts you can give:

Information.  With time pressure listed as one of the biggest stressors and constraints to further success, many people struggle with not enough time to keep up with the “latest”.  It could be the “latest” topic or information in:

1. their industry trends
2. what their competitors are doing
3. something that is unique and specific to them (hobbies, interests)
4. resources

Find useful information and send it them directly.  Books or links to articles, podcasts or forums that are helpful to them all work.  I sent a group of financial advisers I had worked with an ezine link for an expert on getting referrals in their industry.  Months later one of them wrote to me that they are still finding value in that expertise and getting more referrals for it.  They attributed the success to me, though all I did was make the “link” for them! 

You can send the information electronically or surprise them and send them a hard copy of an article in the mail! 

A caution on this tip is to make sure you verify the quailty of the information first to check the relevancy.  You don’t want to send them information that doesn’t fit and waste their time. 

Tools to help them do something better, quicker or easier. A client that liked photography commented on the price of PhotoShop.  I found an article about Paintnet - a free download that does many of the same things as PhotoShop – and sent it to him.  He was so happy when I sent him a note with the link!  

There are so many legal free-ware items available that can help people with nearly everything.  Do they like to travel?  Do they need to do something more efficient at work? 

Think about specific customers and what you know about them, do some research and send them the tool.  Whether it be an electronic link or a “concrete” tool. I had a client trainer that loved my scented markers but her company wouldn’t let her purchase them.  She was thrilled when I sent her a box of scented markers!

Time.  Don’t underestimate the value of your time and attention.  Getting time from customers might be tough, unless they find that time with you is valuable to them! 

Most people value someone taking an interest in them, asking some great open ended questions that aren’t directly tied to what you sell and then having the opportunity to talk.  The questions might be about the current status of their company, the security of their job, the effect of the economy on people they know.  If you are trusted, you may find you will hear about challenges, fears and “new” news because they want to talk to SOMEone about it. 

Demonstrate restraint and don’t jump into “selling” them something right then and really listen. The perceived value of your relationship will increase.

Customers want value – even when they do not have budgets to support it.  They also want sales people to pay attention to THEM – not just when there is a sale at stake.  The type of attention they want is going to be very different depending on the person.  The closer you match what you give to what is important to them (because it still is about What’s in it for THEM?) the more VALUable the gift.

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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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“Our value proposition” is becoming the phrase in sales these days. But what is it? And how do you maximize and use it to increase productivity? A value proposition is the end-result benefit statement of what you offer. Though this seems straightforward, how you have described your value in the past needs to be overhauled to better fit what is happening today.

In an unpredictable economy, more concrete specifics around decreased costs, increasing productivity, and reducing risks and unpredictability are necessary to get attention. You will need to adjust your value proposition statement to make your point most POWERful

POWER up your value proposition by:

Preparing a value proposition that is directly linked to the situation. Generic propositions such as “We save our clients money” can be so much better when it is relevant to them! Take time to research something about this person or company and find a specific value or benefit that will fit them.

Observing how the statement sounds and looks as you practice it on paper and out loud. The word choices and length of what you include may be very different if it is stated verbally or in writing.

Working specific metrics into the value statements whenever possible. Numbers speak!

Explaining the What this means for YOU  is… Spell it out – don’t make them work to make the connections between what you provide and what it will mean to them.

Restating the value throughout your discussion. Don’t dump all the benefits on them in one statement. Sprinkle them in when appropriate – during your introduction, prefacing some of the questions you ask, during your presentation and especially before asking for a decision.

A value proposition is not a one-size-fits-all statement. And overhauling yours to best fit the realities of your customers and prospects within today’s economy will help you continue to move sales through your funnel.

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What a way to start our week in sales as this morning’s headlines continue to paint a grim financial picture for the global economy! We don’t have to let the economy dictate OUR success though. Following are tips that will help you make the most out of the next 90 days. The actions you take now are the ones that will set you up for a better 2009.

The foundation of success in ANY economy is having clear goals. A former post gives a simple process for the #1 tip of goal setting. And once you know where you want to go, following are 10 additional tips that you can put into action:

1. Overhaul your value proposition. Think beyond the WHAT of your specific product and service to the value you offer to THIS person, company, situation?
2. Prepare strategically. Research industry trends, use Google alerts to know what is going on with THIS person, company, situation.
3. Maximize every sales contact. Prepare, prepare, prepare. Not only with research on what is going on with them, prepare for the WIIFT. Using a focus on What’s in it for THEM and following a process within the discussion to connect with the person, ask awesome questions, facilitate their understanding of what you do and what it means to them, work through objections and ASK for a decision.
4. Identify alternative prospect streams. Think creatively on who might use your product that currently isn’t. There are some industries that are positively impacted by a slow economy.
5. Give something of value today. Information is free. Find an article, a reprint, a cartoon that you can share and stay in front of them. Give a cup of coffee, a lottery ticket. Find something positive to contact them about.
6. Use the power of one. One more action each day can make a difference later. One more phone call, one more email, one more note sent, one more plan, one more question…you get the idea.
7. Reevaluate your prospect list. Categorize and find out where you are spending your time. Identify actions you can take to move the most likely prospects to the next step in your sales process.
8. Reintroduce yourself to customers you’ve “lost” over the years. Maybe they are ready to return if they were asked. Research what is going on with their company and then reconnect.
9. Ask for referrals. Tap into reciprocity generosity. As you provide something of value its the best time to ask “Who do you know that might benefit from what I do?” It’s amazing what contacts you might make.
10. Tap into social marketing. There may be a whole group of prospects that you can now connect with. There are many webinars and articles about how to use the many tools.

Each of these tips will have its own post in the upcoming weeks. But don’t wait! Good intentions will stall you, find something you can do today.

“You cannot change anything in your life with intention alone, which can become a watered-down, occasional hope that you’ll get to tomorrow. Intention without action is useless.” Caroline Myss

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During every customer interaction, whether it be 3 minutes or an hour, you leave something behind…a person who is either better or worse off than before their contact with you. To build customer loyalty we need to leave each person better. How?

• Ask them questions.
• Wait for the answers – some people need 20-30 seconds to formulate their response!
• Listen to the answers – really listen.
• Summarize what you hear -without judgment or adding your “story”.
• Help them in some way. Can you solve a problem for them? Introduce them to something that they did not know existed? Answer a question?
• Close the discussion with a recap of actions or commitments that happen next.

This is the part where most authors say “treat your customers how you’d like to be treated”. I disagree! We need to treat each customer how THEY would like to be treated. We need to focus on WIIFT (What’s in it for Them?). That is what makes the seemingly simple actions listed above so tough.

How do we treat them the way they would like to be treated? Pay attention to the pace in which they speak, the words they use (are they thinking or feeling words?) and what is important to them. Adjust your language, pace and focus to them.

Use a simple scorecard for yourself at the end of each customer interaction, “Is this person better or worse than before?” A yes/no will allow you to adjust for your next contact.

What actions do you take to ensure each interaction with you leaves them better?

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Cold Calling is not usually high on many sales pros’ To Do lists. There are so many reasons I hear for doing almost anything else before picking up the phone to call people you don’t know about your product or service.

In a workshop on The Golden Keys to the Gatekeeper, Top Sales Dog Leslie Buterin, shared some powerful ideas on getting appointments with high level decision makers and executives:

1. Have the mindset that it is your obligation to reach out to start a relationship so that this person/company can benefit from the wonderful solutions you offer. You are not interrupting them to kill time, you are contacting them to help them.

2. Prepare to get to the point.

3. Make sure you speak their language. Executives have three main concerns:

• Increase profits
• Decrease costs
• Mitigate risks

4. Be able to succinctly state what you can do for THIS person or company. Giving them a 3 minute, or longer, blah blah blah does NOT excite them to want to meet you. Instead, state a specific result that you could achieve for them.

“We can increase your profitability by ___%. I’d like to meet with you to discuss.”

“We can reduce the liability inherent in your hiring processes…”

“I’m calling to see if we can decrease the costs of recruitment process by 50%.”

5. There is some debate on this next one…skip the niceties when they pick up the phone! You should only be on the phone 90 seconds – they don’t want to waste more time being asked about their day, the weather, do you have time (how do they know they have time if they don’t know who you are or why you are calling?) Respect their time.

In reading this list I noticed an overlying concept – that even when cold calling, the subject and focus should be on What’s in it for THEM!

As you contact your prospects, what are some things you have discovered?

In a future blog I will lay out more on the emotional aspects of Cold Calling.

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This week I had the opportunity to work for nearly 2 days with the best of the best sales pros in a client company. We spent our time together focused on taking their game up another notch with Powerful Presentations. One thing I noted is that really successful people generally are very open to new ideas and skills that will allow them to be even more successful!

A Key Idea I shared in this workshop was that our presentations are more powerful when we focus on WIIFT – from the open of the presentation through the close. Who wants to listen to 10 or 15 minutes of background on the speaker and their company? Do you really care if they have been in business for over 75 years? About three minutes into the “background” about you, they have disengaged – you can see it in their body language. Tie the message about YOU into what it means to THEM and they will engage! WHY is it beneficial to them that your company has been in business so long? Will it mean a better product? Or more expertise that will solve a problem for them?

Initially there were some skeptics who weren’t sure the WIIFT was THAT important. Until…the first practice presentations began and each professional had to sit through all the other presentations. Being on the other side allowed them to feel what its’ like to have a lot of information shared AT them and not tied specifically TO them.

As we ended today, these successful people commented that it IS powerful to make our message not about us – but that it is hard to do! The more successful and experienced we are, the harder it may be to do something different. To send a message adapted to our audience, with only enough detail that is important to them and then to link WHAT we do into WIIFT statements is not easy.

How much effort does it take to link the WHAT of your message to the WIIFT? Post your comments and let the rest us know we are not alone!

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A powerful question isn’t it? What would happen if you reflected on this question before any interaction?

It’s exciting to start this blog for sales and service professionals to discuss and discover ideas and tools to help us be more productive, create stronger customer and employee loyalty and feel good about what we are doing! This blog will be successful with your comments, opinions and suggestions.

Our first topic is one of the foundational components of What’s in it for Them? – communication!

As the sender of any message, consider that the message sent is filtered by the receiver’s past experiences, style, mood and many other individual factors. As we identify the message we need to send, we should also consider how to best communicate it so that the filters will not distort it and our message is mis-read or mis-heard.

A phrase that I use to keep this focus is Communicate with people the way THEY want to be communicated with. It may not be grammatically perfect, but it works!

Consider your customer interactions – whether they are internal or external – what do you do so that your message is best heard by THEM?

Post a comment, share your knowledge, and let’s get the discussion started!

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