If You’re Confused, What The Heck Do You Think Your Prospect Is?

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If You’re Confused, What The Heck Do You Think Your Prospect Is?

I spend a lot of time looking at, and experiencing training these days.     And sometimes it’s clear that the things we train our own employees, like some of the products and services we sell,  can be …well …..confusing.  Not every service or product as everyone well knows,  is tangible or simple.  Some,  like financial products or online marketing products can feel particularly abstract and complex.

And if it’s confusing to my Trainers when they first start to learn the products and then later for the Sales and Service people who then have to present in front of customers, do ya think it might be that much more confusing for prospects and clients when they are first are approached or exposed to these things? 

And if you’ve ever read anything in this blog before, you already know that confusion kills sales.

Here are 3 ways to alleviate that confusion when you represent a complex product or service:

  • Teach your Sales people to teach.  Get past the idea that sales of complex or non tangible products / services begins with the pitch.  It doesn’t.  It begins with the teach.  It’s OK to build teaching into your sales cycle despite the fear of lengthening the sales cycles.  You aren’t lengthening the sales cycle – you are starting earlier – you have to.    It’s OK to get all your sales people to a level where they become experts with online webinars under their belts, with  killer LinkedIn pages and Twitter followers who look to them for as much insight as they do for what’s on sale. 
  •  3’s:  Everything in 3’s:   The mind is not wired to remember more than 5 numbers, let alone 5 points.   If you have a service for example that manages your online marketing spend then even if it has 12 steps to get started, it should sound like “…Only 3 key steps to getting you started.  In the first step we’ll interview you around 3 important areas like…….  Then after that, we get to tackling 3 areas of your current website like…..” You get it.  “3” sounds simple.  Simple eases tension and sales can keep on moving.
  •  Analogies:   Nothing simplifies better.  Are you a marketing consultant? Nope, you’re a marketing GPS that gets the business to the destination of 25% more customers.  Are you a website developer?  Nope; you are building an automated employee that works 24 hours a day taking orders and that never sleeps.    Think hard about what you sell or service and find that perfect analogy that makes it click and stick. 

This blog is not complex but I kept it to 3 points.  More than that and it gets confusing who the heck wants to read that?

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Blog

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Punctuation Free (For a Reason)

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Punctuation Free ( For a Reason)

When you look closely, there is no comma, slash, semi-colon, parenthesis or period between the title words “Sales Representative.”  And that’s on purpose.   You have to do both at the same time. 

You have to sell but you have to represent the company simultaneously.  It’s not one or the other.  You can’t sell for selling sake and set unreal expectations or pound out fishy phone calls or phishy emails because then you are not “representing” the company well.   Conversely, you can’t be all Kumbaya and go harvesting customers with super friendly experiences and never broach filling the unmet needs of the customer. 

There is no comma, slash, semi-colon, parenthesis or period between the title “Service Representative” either.

You have to give great service but you have to represent the company simultaneously time.  It’s not one or the other.  If you don’t take ownership (“I don’t know why they did that in shipping..”) or apologize for real (“sorry that happened to you…what’s your account number?” ) you are leaving an awful impression as a Rep of the company.   Conversely, your reliance on policy or procedure or terms and conditions do little to evoke the “service” part of a service call. 

There is also no comma, slash, semi-colon, parenthesis or period between the titles of “Sales Manager” or  “Service Manager” so you best know sales and service at an expert level and likewise need to know how to expertly support your people at the same time. 

Punctuation between words has its place – a means often to stop, pause, reposition and separate.  But if it ain’t there it ain’t there – that means when the words go together; they belong together. 

 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

 

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7 Things Your Prospect Won’t Tell You

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7 Things Your Prospect Won’t Tell You

 

Whether I, your prized business prospect, is calling you or picking up your phone call, there are things I just won’t tell you.  

 

1) I used to be in sales too.   You’d be surprised how many of us decision makers started out, or are still in, sales.   And I can still smell a trial close, a rotating yes and min/max close from 50 feet away.  Don’t use tricky closes on me.

2) Don’t make me feel stupid even for a second.  I know my world very well – not your world and if you make me feel like I’m an idiot presuming I know or like your acronyms, buzzwords and fast talking pitches- I’m gone;  I’ll just go to your competitors website and read and email- – that way no one has to talk to me.

3) Tell me what everyone else is doing.  I hate to admit this sometimes even to myself but I do want to know what my competitors or even my industry is doing lately and haven’t had any time to dig in.  But I’m not about to go ask you — yet I wouldn’t mind hearing it if you wanted to just shout it out.   Am I missing out on something or some trend?

4) I know more way more about you than you think.   I’ve been to your website; I’ve Googled your reviews.  Heck I’ve Googled you and saw you on LinkedIn and Twitter (or didn’t- and what does that mean?)    I may have seen a few opinions about your company on Twitter already. So don’t waste my time with the basics about yourself – I got it.  I called you because I want something more than the internet can give me. 

5) I don’t expect much from you.   I just never know if you really work for this company I am calling or am getting called from.  Are you a contractor, an outsourced support, brand new employee, who knows?  I don’t have high hopes but if you can assure me quickly you know what the heck you are doing then maybe I’ll listen.

6) I’d rather do nothing.  Seriously, I hate change.  I wish everything I do today would just work better.  Change is costly, risky, takes forever it seems and I am busy enough already.  I won’t tell you that of course.  I’d rather just flat our say no or compare you to someone else or put you off but honestly; doing what I do today is just easier.   If you can’t make me do something “different” and get me to get off the dime and essentially hate what I am doing today- then don’t bother. 

7) You’re 7th on the list.  I respect you dear supplier but my family, my boss, my colleagues, my customers, my pastor and my pets all come before you my trusted partner.  Nothing personal- you can be very valuable to me but everyone else here is getting something for Christmas next year just so’s ya know.

 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

 

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Important Sells

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Important Sells

  • Isn’t a meal more important when it is perceived to be a means towards losing weight or is it when it is consumed because you are hungry?

 

  •  Isn’t a car more important when you plan on passing it on to your teenage kid or is it when you just need to get from A to B?

 

  • Isn’t a business card more important when it helps you rebrand yourself or your business or is it when you just need to leave something behind so they can reach you?

 

  • Isn’t a website more important when you need to stop the competition from stealing your customers or is it when everyone keeps saying you should have one?

 

It’s always the former, not that latter.

If you sell meals, cars, business cards, websites or anything else for that matter, you’ll sell more of them when you get at how those products can help a person achieve something bigger.  When that happens, those products and you become more important.

Get at it.  Most people and businesses are not shallow.  There’s some dream, some pursuit they are after.  Tie your products and services to that dream or a goal and your stuff becomes more important.

Important sells. 

 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

 

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No Fear in 2013

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No Fear in 2013

This is the year to quit being afraid.   Let’s start with these 7. 

  • Don’t fear having to memorize all your product specs and prices.  What matters is you remember how the darn thing helps them do what they really want to do.
  • Don’t fear social media.  Embrace it.  More people, customers and employees talking to each other is way better than silence.
  • Don’t fear the so called demise of the offline marketing world.  I don’t know any business that is moving totally away from it.  Blend is always the key.  In fact, that integrated offline/online mix might get a little more attention than it used to these days.
  • Don’t fear the board game.  It’s OK to make eye contact with your kids now and then. 
  • Don’t Fear the Reaper.  Classic tune.  Have a Listen.  I heard they played at my High School way back in the early 70’s.  Yup they did.   
  • Don’t fear going back to school.  In fact, everybody should be in school.  If you are not dedicating to  learning something new at least an hour a day at least (and I don’t mean watching or reading “news”, timelines or posts) you are behind your competitors tomorrow.
  • Don’t fear Neuroscience and Neuromarketing.  Get into it.  How you think, why you think the way you do.  Why your clients and team react to things the way they do is important to know .  As someone once said… “Just because it is your brain, doesn’t mean you know what it is doing”. 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Blog

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A Can’t to Change

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A Can’t to Change

And so yet again many of us come upon moments we can’t understand.   We come upon moments we can’t watch or can’t even think about.  We come upon moments we just can’t bear.

But these moments, these times when we simply can’t are wrong.  They always are. 

Nothing changes in can’t. Nothing.   

It’s in these moments where can counts.

I do not care what side of can you care about.  I do not care what can means for you at home, for your children, at work, in our towns or in our nation.

I do care that you know that things do change when can’t is retired in moments like these and is replaced by can.    For whatever the change – whatever the change! – it is certainly better than what exists today.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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Are You Scroll-Worthy?

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Are You Scroll-Worthy?

I have a colleague, someone I also consider a friend, who said something recently that I just can’t shake.

“If I have to even scroll down a tiny bit to get to the end of a post, I usually won’t do it.  I have other things to do.”

“What about my blogs?” I asked.  “Are they Scroll -Worthy?”

“Not all of them.” he smirked.

Is this what we’ve come to?  Is this Scroll thing (or lack thereof) the new thumbs up or down about the value and intrigue of your content?

Forget about views and impressions I guess, it takes almost no effort “scroll” but now  it must be earned?   Is being “Scroll-Worthy” now a measure of success?

My friend says he’s not alone; that others feel the same way about the scroll.  What else does this mean?

  • That being on the first page of Google results is great – but you better be above the “scroll”???
  • That you’d better be more thoughtful about how large the picture is at the top of your blog post is because you may not get a single swipe??
  • That you need to march out there and protest the smaller IPAD mini and the death of PC’s and large monitors because your content needs more time to be seen and deemed Scroll Worthy?
  • That Eye tracking glasses are next for all and forget the scroll issue – just looking down and left to right will some day need be earned?

With this post at just 306 words, I’m praying it stays above that scroll line dear reader, so you needn’t pass judgement on the quality of this post.  I used to think the fact that you just viewed the post was a sign of worthiness but alas if if I could get you to just scroll a bit….

 
Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Blog

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No Wins, Not Quite

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No Wins, Not Quite

This High School football team didn’t win a single game this year.  Not one. 

But you’d never know it looking at the faces of the kids and everyone else I saw at the season-ending banquet on Saturday.  

I didn’t get to see many Varsity games this year with the kickoff times being mostly held at 4pm on Friday nights.   But I know that what had to be tough games to watch, would likely carry over into a somewhat depressed pall cast over the season ending banquet. How could there not be, having gone this year without a single win and having just one win last year.

But what I saw was a room full of cheering parents, proud young men and a half a dozen coaches who spoke of their players as if they were their very own kids.

I saw a Head Coach who talked glowingly and positively about every player from Freshman to Senior as they were introduced.  It wasn’t what you think; time flew.  He found something unique and great to say about each.   He found affirmative things to say about their work ethic, their progress, their spirit, their unselfish willingness to help each other and refreshingly for many, their outstanding grades. 

My son didn’t play a down this year having suffered a pre –season injury requiring surgery but he had his name called and was acknowledged for his commitment to supporting the team throughout the year.  He wore not only a tie (that was as required for all players) but a broad smile shaking the hands of coaches and teammates as he walked onto the floor.

There was continued talk of overcoming more injuries and obstacles, of learning new positions and new offenses, of learning a new culture and of responsibility and accountability.  There was talk about the honorable values and the unique contributions of team captions, assistant coaches and supporters all around. 

There was talk of shunning the individual accomplishment and focusing on bonding as a team, in a concerted effort with a common focus.   There was talk about reaching out to each other and encouraging each other to work together not just during football season but all year round.  And finally, there was talk that in the end of all this important stuff, one of many great results, (but not nearly the only one), will be some games to be won.

It’s trite of course, but these games are not the lead story – at least for the gatherings of these young men who yearn to push a ball across a goal line just a bit more than their competitor.  My guess is that if there were two seasons of winning records already under his belt, this Head Coach would have talked about the same things.  

I sat there thinking how wonderful these presentations and speeches were and asked myself how different are they than what the gatherings of families, groups or even companies in good times or in bad should be hearing?   These messages are the ones that we and not just our sons benefit from.   These messages are at the root of what is valuable, at the root of what drives achievement across a wide swath of life.  

Thanks for the pep talk Coach.   Thanks for the shot in the arm of prioritization and principles.  Better luck next year in that win / loss thing but regardless, there’s no doubt you’ll truly win. 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Horrid Phrases

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Horrid Phrases

Don’t know if any of you fly a lot.  I kind of do – at least of late.  At the airport,  there is one phrase gate agents of a certain airline sometimes say ( actually proclaim over the loudspeaker) that just crushes me.  It’s horrid. It makes me instantly hang my head in depression.  It ruins my flight, my day and my mood immediately.

“Our flight is completely full today..”

I’m not a small man; (thankfully not ready for the seatbelt extension just yet) but Lordy, when you hear that phrase, thinking about getting into and sitting in those seats and aisles built for middle schoolers, is now horrid on a grand scale. 

I think there are some other horrid phrases agents of many industries say these days that can give that same kind of instant feel of dread and depression.

“OK, let’s see what they did here..”.  Are you kidding me?  As soon as your client with a question hears “they”, the horridness kicks in:   Oh my, you are not in charge.   Oh my, I’m gonna have to talk to someone else.   Oh my, I’m talking to an idiot with no authority.  Oh my,  this place is so big, I’m never going to get the answer.

“Can I have your phone number in case we are disconnected?”   It’s 2011! The only disconnections are when someone does it on purpose.  Your client or prospect is in the horrid zone immediately:  Oh please, you want my number to pester me at dinner or in a middle of a meeting to sell me something with your silly outbound program.   Oh please, now I’m in your database and all I had was a darn question.   Oh great, they have crappy phone systems with disconnect issues, can’t wait to do business with them.

“Mark”, “Mark” , “Mark”  Yeah that’s right,  my first name.  You say my first name more than twice in a conversation on the phone or face to face and a horrid sickness overcomes me and your customers too:  Oh I get it,  someone trained you to use ” the customer’s first name” often in your calls- that feels genuine!  Oh I get it, you are as slick a sale rep as I’ve ever seen – you make me wanna take a shower.  Oh I get it, you think using my first name a lot makes us like family or brothers and I will buy your stuff- lol!

 

The thing about horrid phrases is the emotions they elicit have staying power.  They linger.  They stick. They can even leave a lasting impression about you or your company as a brand that is as uncomfortable as seat 28B. 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Mark’s Blog

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Real Small Biz – Good News

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Real Small Biz – Good News

Go golfing when you want.  Play with the kids more.  Coach a team.  Be around so I can act in a play.  Get a new truck.  Sleep late when I want to.  Don’t want to be told what to do.   I like my life now.   I can change it up every couple of years.  I could always do it better anyway.  Leave an impression.  Make my wife proud.  I can fire my clients.  Work from home.  Help my brothers and their kids.  Be the boss.  Take control.  Have some fun.  Challenge myself. 

“What is the good news about having your own business?” was the question.

These are the real answers by real small business people.  I know because I’ve heard them say it first hand.    And these answers aren’t so unique or rare.  These are, when you really get down to it, what real people who own businesses say. 

And now that you know that, what the heck do you have to offer that helps these people keep rolling in this good news?   

Yeah, you’ve got some thinking and reworking to do.   Have at it. 

 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

 

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