Pack, Push off or Provide

October 4th, 2016

There are only three possible outcomes after a sales pitch:

  • Pack – pack the order and send it out
  • Push off – Go away
  • Provide – give me samples, specs and pricing

Most companies have strategies for two of these three outcomes.

Pack is customer nurture. Push off is start again

Provide is where it is let down. Most companies have a 2 strategy approach for follow up. They are:

  • Begging (I’m calling to see if you’ve made a decision)
  • Advertising (here is a copy of the latest brochure).

Neither approach offers value to the customer, or dignity to the sales person. After all, who likes begging!

You’re better off to offer the customer value so they want to talk to you. (A discount is not value – it’s prostitution)

 

This is an edited extract from my new book “Better Positioning Deeper Conversations More Sales”. To find out more or to purchase copies of this book click here

 


Go High

September 27th, 2016

If you want an audience (buyer) to engage with you, you need to communicate from their world – not yours.

But many sales people will ask about the content they sell (e.g. Do you need any blue widgets?). If the buyer says yes they have a chance for a sale. If the buyer says no, they ask another content question (e.g. How about red widgets?).

These sales conversations are usually short and produce nothing.

This happens because subject matter experts love their content. They spend their time thinking about what they have and how it can benefit their customers. Their passion is clear.

The draw back is that they can see problems that the buyer is not yet aware of and go straight for it. They are selling a pill for a problem that the customer does not know they have.

If they don’t know they have a problem, they have no need to buy your pill.

 

This is an edited extract from my new book “Better Positioning Deeper Conversations More Sales”. To find out more or to purchase copies of this book click here

 


Information Is Not Power

September 20th, 2016

It is said that information is power. But that’s not the case.

It is only the application or sharing of information that gives power. When you apply information it shows your level of knowledge/expertise. Sharing information shows you are an insider – a very powerful position.

From a power perspective, the fatal mistake is to share information when it can’t be applied – this is simply giving away your power to show you are an insider. But giving it away makes everyone else an insider to – or you an outsider.

But the paradox is that unless you share information, others don’t know you have power. If they don’t know you have some power, do you really have it?

True power is about knowing that you have information that gives you power yet refraining from sharing it.

That’s why people let secrets slip, leak information and like to gossip. It’s how they show they have information and therefore power.

The irony is that when they share the information they lose any power that it had given them.

Become comfortable holding information that gives you an edge on others without giving into the need to share it. This will be true power.

Would love your thoughts on this.


How to Influence others

September 13th, 2016

 

There are three areas you can focus on to influence others. These are:

  • The environment. Robert Cialdini and his book Influence: The psychology of persuasion is the gold standard here. The techniques work but can feel a little like manipulation. They can also be hard to create in the real world.
  • Relationships. The greatest author in this are in my opinion is Robert Greene. His books The 48 Laws of Power and The Art of Seduction illustrate how we can influence each other through relationships. These techniques are thorough but can take a while to implement.
  • Yourself. The easiest way to influence others is through what we do. Focus on
    • What do you think – your beliefs, motivations and thoughts
    • What you do – your actions, habits and behaviors
    • What you say – your eloquence, the words you use and how you sound.

These areas are the easiest to control and can be upgraded when needed. They are also what other use when forming an opinion about you.

If you need to influence others when you speak, focus on yourself first. I am running a 1-day intensive workshop that will upgrade your skills when speaking. You can get all the details here.

Cheers

Darren


Delivering a case study

September 6th, 2016

Case studies are a great way to showcase how good your solutions are. Done properly, they are a way of promoting yourself without the hard sell.

Most people focus on the wrong part at the wrong time. They talk about themselves first when that’s the last thing the customer wants to hear. When you put together a case study in the wrong order, it can harm your ability to generate new business. However, when you put together a case study in the right way, it becomes something the customer wants to read.

If you would like my template on how to put together a case study, just hit reply and let me know and I’ll send it through to you.

I’ll also be discussing this at the workshop on presentation skills.

If you’re interested, you can get the details here.

Cheers

Darren

 

 


The most important presentation

August 30th, 2016

The most important presentation in any organisation is the sales presentation. If nothing is sold there is no money coming in and no business to continue.

Contrary to popular belief (and demonstration by countless sales people) presenting your offer is not about telling the customer what you have. The customer does not care what you are selling, why you are selling it or how much it costs.

They want to know why they should listen to you, why they should give you the next 10 minutes of their day…and life. If you can’t give them a good enough reason they won’t listen to you. You will be labelled as a Time Waster.

How do you know if you’re a Time Waster? Look at the first three minutes of your sales presentation or pitch. If it is about you, your companies’ history or your products you are most certainly a Time Waster and you are missing out on deals.

To avoid this you need to know how to position your message so you can engage your audience and influence them to buy from you.

I’m running a 1-day program to show you how to do that. You can get the details here.

If you are opening by speaking about yourself you need to change that.

 

Cheers

Darren


Position | Engage | Influence

August 23rd, 2016

There are three things your audience expects when you speak to them.

  • That you are confident. If you’re not confident you look as though you don’t believe your message
  • That you will respect their time. If you want their time and attention you must be engaging. If you’re not, they have every right to check Facebook, e-mails or just fall asleep.
  • Have something of value to offer them.

These expectations hold true for one on one conversations and small team meetings just as much as they do for formal presentations. If you cannot be confident and respect the audience’s time and give them value they will not see you as a leader – no matter what the title on your business card says.

If you’ve ever had a presentation that has flopped or not been as effective as you’d like it to be, you will usually find the reasons in these three issues. If you have experienced a poor presentation, check out my latest course Position | Engage | Influence. This course could just be the answer you’re looking for.

If you’re interested you can get the details here.

Cheers

Darren

 


A$$ and Ego

August 9th, 2016

Most (not all) buying decisions are based on either covering our backside, or positioning ourselves favorably in the eyes of others.

No one wants to be known as the person who bought on the dud supplier that ruined production. As such, many people stay with the status quo even when they know it’s not working.

Similarly, we want to be the person who looks great in front of our colleagues. This causes some to make buying decisions based on how good they will look when it all comes together.

What is common between these two? They are both based on emotions.

No amount of logic will convince me to take a risk if the emotional side is not covered off.

Are you covering off emotions with your buyers?

 

 

This is an edited extract from my new book “Better Positioning Deeper Conversations More Sales”. To find out more or to purchase copies of this book click here

 


The Buyer Doesn’t Care

August 2nd, 2016

The buyer does not care about you.

They don’t care how old your company is, how long you have been working in your position or how many awards your company has won.

They have no reason to care. They don’t wish you malice – they just don’t care what you have done. The buyer only cares about themselves.

They care how they will be better off after listening to you, how they will be able to use what you tell them to make better decisions in the future and to take better actions. They care about what is important to them.

We know this is true. Just look at the biggest movement in history – Facebook. Facebook is nothing more than a platform to tell other people what you are doing. (There is a secondary bonus to this that you can see what others are up to as well.)

Present your message to market in a way that means something to the buyer. That way they will care about it and then they’ll care about you.

 

 

This is an edited extract from my new book “Better Positioning Deeper Conversations More Sales”. To find out more or to purchase copies of this book click here

 


How Your Customer Feels

July 26th, 2016

The role of any person in sales is to meet the buyer, understand their problems and guide them to the sale.

The role of the buyer is to evaluate the sales person, their product/service and the value it brings them.

What - How Customer feels.001

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the buyer meets the sales person they feel guarded about them, “Will you rip me off?” They see everything as a commodity “They are all the same” and measure you against the competition based on the common currency – dollars.

When the sales person seeks to understand the buyer, the buyer feels respected, sees the offering as being relevant and can appreciate the features as to why they would buy.

It is only at this stage that the sales person has the permission to guide the sale to the next stage. This is because the customer feels they have been understood (the sales person is not just trying to sell me anything), they see that there is a fit for what is on offer and can now understand the benefits of buying.

Problems occur when sales people try to guide the sale to the next stage before going through the meet and understand stages. This is why they have to argue on price – because that is where the customer still is.

 

This is an edited extract from my new book “Better Positioning Deeper Conversations More Sales”. To find out more or to purchase copies of this book click here

 


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