Lords of Light! Customers will only happily answer your litany of questions if there’s value to them in doing so.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
Lords of Light! 20 Words on Questions
self development
2 Little Things Driving Me Nuts about Sales Advice
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2 Little Things Driving Me Nuts about Sales Advice
I’ll pontificate with the best. And there are a couple of things I don’t agree with regarding sales advice of late that are bothering me enough to do just that.
Difference here of course is that when I pontificate I am right. 🙂
Presentations Should Never Lead With Info About Your Own Company. Wait, what? If I had a dollar for every post, newsletter, tweet, LinkedIn post and e-book of late that said this I would be rich and then actually I would be poor cuz’ I wouldn’t sell anything.
I get it. Everyone says your presentations should lead with and be about your client, the result of your research, your discovery and how your company solves problems or drives revenue. Yes, I get it. But the reality is your company, its credibility, its experience, the friends it hangs out with and the intelligence of its people are always a concern for a prospect especially in this democratized world where a 1 person operation with a slick website and a social media presence can look like a big boy that has done nothing but looks like it has. Buyers and prospects are more wary than ever because while a national and global marketplace is advantageous to buyers, it is no assurance that providers are inherently credible.
I’m not saying blather about your years of experience, testimonial and client lists in slide after slide in your presentations but you must at least lead with stories that build the trust and credibility of you and your company with like clients and prospects and then move into your key learnings and what your company brings to the table for the client.
The Client Should Do All (or most) of The Talking: Really? I’ve heard and read this like from the beginning of time – and I still see it and hear it daily. But talk to the best sales reps out there. It’s not true. These sales people who are killing it are experts, challengers, loaded with insight and play a consultant role with prospects and clients. They do a lot of talking, a lot of teaching, a lot of the story telling, and a lot of the credibility building as well as some of the listening. They don’t just sit back 80% of the time and just take notes through the sales process. The key here is these sales folks inspire their clients to share and talk honestly about their needs and their ambitions as a result of sharing their insights and by asking great questions. It is far closer in effective sales to be ~ 50%/50% between client and sales rep than 80%/20% in favor of the client.
These reps know that Interrogation is Not a Sales strategy. These reps know that what they provide has to be different and more worthy than what the client or prospect can find on the company website or brochure and that requires communicating. These reps know the mastery of communication and conversation is not excelling at a mute Freudian analysis absorbing the soliloquies of the prospect or the client.
***
You may disagree with my take on both of these nagging feelings about sales advice. In fact, I expect many of you do. But you would be wrong. (Or maybe, it is possible, remote-though possible, that I am wrong).
Either way – only good comes from thinking about these two or discussing with your teams or colleagues; They are important places to focus
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
Hear Them Play
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I didn’t expect to break down. Heck, I didn’t expect anything.
Last Wednesday, I had just walked in the door after work with bag in tow and sunglasses too dark for the basement door I entered through, and saw my son standing next to the old stereo.
“I fixed it” he said. And he gently put the needle down and a vinyl album began to play.
And I lost it.
I’m not a hugger. I’m not a crier. But I remember that stereo. I remember that sound! So I did both hug and cry; hanging on to my 17 year old confused and somewhat concerned son. I held on for a good 2 minutes. He’s way taller than me and it must have been quite a sight at 6 O’clock at night on a Wednesday in the basement.
That stereo has been sitting in my basement for over a year. It is more than 50 years old and was my mom’s, who passed away three years ago. And it was glorious. I remember it being just about as tall as me though it is not more than 3 feet off the ground. I remember the music it sang: the operas, the arias, even country and western music and Anne Murray at Christmas. I remember it all.
But I didn’t quite remember it all like that till I heard it play standing there in that basement last week. The sound, the crackle of the hi – fidelity speakers, the soft dance and hum of the needle on the record. It all came back. And it was too much. But it was not sadness that made me cry. It was happiness. To hear that sound again, to look at that stereo in awe and wonder again like I did as a kid. To remember in a flash how much time I spent with that stereo through grade school and high school. It was a good thing to feel. Wonderful, actually.
I got to thinking about the things we hold on to. I got to thinking maybe just holding onto things isn’t enough.
I wonder if that old hand carved cribbage board from grandpa needs to be taken from the mantle and put front in center for Friday night game night. I wonder if that 8 mm camera with the black and white family films needs to be carefully and gently opened and then played for all to see. I wonder if the dusty photo albums that never get looked at unless someone dies needs to get hoisted out of the crawl space and spread out across the kitchen table offering a backdrop to some great storytelling.
I got to thinking about things we hold onto at work. I got to thinking maybe just holding on to things there isn’t enough either.
I wonder about that book you’ve had since you were first promoted and that you keep carrying with you from space to space; perhaps that book needs to be pried open and read again as it must have some gems. I wonder about that dear and trusted relationship with a mentor you always remember fondly, if that needs a rekindling with a phone call or a joyful visit. I wonder if those memories of the greatest successes you’ve had, faded though they may be, may need your undisturbed and thoughtful review for they have most certainly left lessons worthy to play again.
I’m not sure my son completely understands what happened to his father last week. I’m not sure I do either. I know this now for sure;
It’s nice to hold on to things but it’s magnificent to hear them play.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
That Hero Formula
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That Hero Formula
In a recent post, Haven’t You Changed Yet? 3 Things Sales People Must Do Now I got a few questions about the 3rd piece of advice around storytelling, particularly about the Hero Formula.
- The customer who feared/resisted change or was down on their luck.
- Took the leap of faith.
- Ran into some unexpected challenges.
- Recommitted to the effort.
- Achieved mastery and had awesome results.
The hero formula has different iterations and is hugely popular in movies of course (think Rocky, Good Will Hunting, The King’s Speech and a dozen more). But it is great in sales (no matter what you sell, be it products or ideas). And it is great in marketing and business (think Apple/ Steve Jobs, the band Aerosmith etc.). Good stories stick and help you sell whatever it is that you do.
I got some questions about how it really sounds with a product or service. Here is an example and it is true – I’ve heard it first hand from people in the trenches. That is the key- don’t make stuff up. Instead, craft (as I did here) the truth leveraging the formula- you’d be surprised how often success follows the formula.
- “An electrician I know lost most of his commercial business in a bid. CVS stores were his life and now they were gone. He needed to get into residential work in a big way and started smartly to build an online presence like a website, a Facebook page and trying to blog etc. as he knew the way word of mouth works is changing. But he did it on his own and it was a huge amount of work for him and his family- much more than he thought. He called us for a reorder of business cards one day and I started sharing how we could do a lot of that work managing his online presence making it so much easier for him and 4 months later he’s got close to 1000 followers on his Facebook page and gets about 30 solid leads a week off his website for residential work.”
The nice thing about hero stories is they don’t have to be yours. You can share regardless. “One of my colleagues has a client that…” will work just fine. Hero stories are sticky sticky sticky. They are centered on the Hero and how your product/ idea or service helped the Hero in their journey to success. That’s nice. And better, that’s effective.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
5 Phrases You’re Not Using Enough
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5 Underrated Phrases
Words matter. Don’t let anyone tell you different.
“Tell me more about that…” Great at client meetings, great in customer conversations, great in coaching sessions and great at parties! You don’t lead unnecessarily, you don’t shut someone down and you don’t force anyone down any path they don’t want to go. You learn and they get to talk and share. Great sales people know this. And any of you actors out there know this is the one of the keys to great improv acting—it always keeps the conversation moving and don’t we all want that?
“We love you…” What is wrong with us? Do you think your customers give a flying hoot that you “value” them or “appreciate” them or “thank” them? Blah Blah Blah. Don’t you really love them? And if not, shouldn’t you? (Their business puts food on your table). Use “love“, “adore” or “cherish” in your print materials or email marketing and even those live conversations or voicemails. There’s nothing wrong with saying “You folks are one of our absolute greatest customers”. Make it your own—but make it different and real. Get above the clutter and stand out.
“Let’ me figure out what I can do.” Who knows why we humans default all the time to what we “can’t” do. It’s maddening and so hard to break. But you say the same thing except far better by saying “Let me think about it and come back with what can be done.” Vs “I can’t do this.” It’s a world of difference be it at work in service, sales and even in your personal relationships. Positive Resonates; Negative Detonates.
“Who besides yourself…?” Add any ending to Who besides yourself as in “has a say in the decision”, “wants to review”, “would like more info”, “would benefit from a demo”? Too often we push our contacts away (whether we know them well or they just answered your call) instead of protecting them, their contributions and frankly their egos. Always include, never insult unintentionally by presuming they do not play a role in the next step.
So you’re all set, this will get you (insert pursuit, dream or goal)”: Easier than it seems but sadly at the end of most meetings, transactions or purchases we limp along and wrap up the pricing, the purchase order or the specifics of the next contact instead of inserting how what just happened is so critical to what the client or the business wants. They don’t want the copier you’re selling; they want more time to focus on real work. They don’t want business Facebook page built; they want to get more customers because they’ll be found more easily. They don’t want to just list out action items for the next meeting; they want to know how what they did today is going to make a difference. Tie off each meeting or interaction that way no matter what you do—you’ll solidify the value and strengthen the partnership.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
Essentialism: Holy Cats!
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One way to make sure no one reads a blog post is to publish it late on a Friday afternoon.
And even better, have that post be an esoteric, academic brain bender.
Check and Check 🙂
But before you close this window out, shut down your computer and otherwise skedaddle, take this with you into the weekend.
“In a few hundred years when this history of our time will be written from a long term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology is not the internet, is not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time – literally—in substantial and rapidly growing numbers, people have choices. For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it.”
Holy Cats that’s deep. (Actually I never say “Holy Cats”. One of my smart colleagues in Minnesota does though when her mind gets blown, so I thought it was appropriate).
The quote is Peter Drucker as retold in a superb book I am reading by George MeKeown called Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.
Get the book.
- It’s not about doing less work; it’s about doing the right work.
- It’s not about just making choices; it’s about making them so nobody else makes them for you.
- It’s not about process and practice and structure; it’s about valuing time to think, even time to sleep.
- It’s not about prioritization; it’s about priority.
I don’t do the book content justice in this short post and truthfully, I haven’t even finished reading it ( but it is sooo good) ; suffice to say go get the book and have a Holy Cats moment or two.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
Haven’t You Changed Yet? 3 Things Sales People Must Do Now
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Haven’t You Changed Yet? 3 Things Sales People Must Do Now
You know it’s true.
You know that when a prospect calls, fills out a web form or pings you with an email these days that they have already and absolutely done research about you, your products and your company. Like a lot of research.
I’ve read a dozen studies that say most folks are 50% to 75% through the sales process by the time they get to you, the live breathing sales rep.
Well that stinks. It’s sure not like the old days.
Remember the days when prospects or clients needed you to tell them all about your company, the products, the pricing and the options? Yeah, I do. It was like the early 2000’s was the last time that was real life. But now there is the internet, the websites, the blogs, the reviews and all that good stuff. What do the prospects need you for? (Answer: to confirm pricing, terms and other such mundane stuff it seems).
But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are three things you should be doing all the time now dear sales person, before and during that time when that phone rings, that load leads or that email arrives.
- Differentiation is Your Lead Story: If the prospect is contacting you – they already have a need; so ease up on hitting the needs discovery so hard up front for criminy sakes. Instead, focus on differentiation and do it presumptively. An old colleague of mine taught me the critical question sales must always answer for prospects; “Why with all the competitive alternatives available to me, should I buy from you?” OK – you know that is important but you need do this presumptively without being asked. “Yes, it runs around $60 a month and what makes that unique versus others that may offer the service is….” Or “My guess is you’ve looked hard at options here, one thing to consider unusual but awesome about how our products delivers is…..” Your job with differentiation as your lead story is to snap the prospect out of price or terms shopping – that’s where they think they are when they call you – and that is what you must change.
- Teach Existing Customers Something New Every Single Day: Some of the best sales reps in the world don’t like the leads they get today. They really don’t. The leads they get today as I’ve said are often folks who have so much research available to them that by the time they contact you – you’re just a talking head sometimes confirming stuff they already know. The best sales people create their own leads. They educate and teach before the need arises or do so in such a way that they create the need and therefore are front and center playing the role of a human (and way more engaging) source of research and information than the web. And they teach about new products and services for sure but in such a way that they are problems solvers and industry challenge averters and hurdles faced but that help to succeed. Maybe you’re in the lead generation business in your role, maybe you are in the closing end of it too. It makes no difference – teach, teach, and then teach some more.
- Be a Story Teller: You know what doesn’t work all that well on the web? Customer Testimonials. They really don’t. No offense to any of the talented marketing folks who nurture, create and publish testimonials. Some are effective for sure; some are even emotionally moving videos about using a product. But by and large, the quotes, the blurbs and the statements supporting the products and services on a website or brochure are let’s be honest, not always believed to be credible to the prospect. But a story told by a real sales person like you who had a real interaction with a real customer who better yet, looks a lot like the prospect you are talking to; A story told well that way – now that has influence! Get good at telling stories. You all have them. You have those real success stories with real customers. (Bonus tip; Fit your story into the Hero model for greatest impact; 1) the customer who feared/resisted change or was down on their luck 2) took the leap of faith 3) ran into some unexpected challenges 4) recommitted to the effort 5) achieved mastery and had awesome results!). Story telling was never part of anyone’s sales training class – that I can assure you; but it darn well should be now!
Times change. Technology changes. Buying processes change. Make sure you are too.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
Scrabble
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You can call it volunteering if you want but I just call it “an old fashioned whoopin’ that keeps on giving”
It’s true I’ve been known to head to the local Sr. Center and um… volunteer to play scrabble with some of the folks that hang out there. My objective is twofold: give of my time and talent to these wonderful folks and of course, to win.
Scrabble is a great game. It’s a great game for anyone. It keeps the mind sharp.
Let’s all agree to that helping drive interest in the playing of Scrabble is a good thing – especially at a Senior Center. Let me make an argument that it’s even better when I do it. Scrabble in my hands for a mere hour a week, is a series of important life lessons for all of us.
- Losing never gets old. Chances are overwhelming that you will lose to me. (Ok, well 2 weeks ago was an exception – but I’ve got my eye on you Betsy). There’s no age when losing should stop. Life is funny like that; the only time losing stops pretty much is when you’ve given up trying something or are no longer literally getting in the game. My trouncing you is therefore, good for you.
- Chi is good, really good. Chi is a word that means vital internal energy. Good chi is exactly what you want in your Senior Center and exactly what you want in Scrabble. With me as your Scrabble guide, you’ll get vitally energized when you learn that you can spell “chi” for immense points in two other ways with just two letters as in “xi” and “qi”. What fun! When I did this for 31 points, Kathy shot me a look and then spewed out two other choice letters tied together that I can’t mention, but nevertheless, this is a teaching moment! – Teaching never grows old, even if we do.
- Without rules there’s Chaos. Just because we may have a little more life experience doesn’t mean rules get lax. I have a lot of personal rules about Scrabble I think are endearing and truly in the spirit of the game. One rule is that you should never put down a word that you cannot use in a sentence. Nancy disagreed when I asked her about “el” and then slammed down her 4 page print-out of acceptable 2 letter Scrabble words and said “That’s stupid- it’s a word! But to make you happy, how about you shutting the el up?” Funny now but she’ll think about it later and realize how much I’ve taught her.
This week at my suggestion, we’ve added a Scrabble trophy for the winner of the weekly matches. The winner keeps it for the week, snapping and posting photos of you and your trophy around town. A nice incentive to work hard every week and improve your game I say. My Scrabble mates liked the idea but suggested if I win, to take a photo of myself and the trophy at the end of a long walk on a short pier.
Not very nice but chi is xi baby– bring it on!
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
Inherently Suspenseful
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Inherently Suspenseful
The Wall Street Journal published an article touting the growth of golf on play-by-play on radio. “So what” you say? Well, hear me out – there’s a lesson for us.
It’s true that golf on radio is growing – but that wasn’t what struck me as the most interesting point of the article. The article touted how popular golf is on TV and I admit I’m a huge fan. I’ve always told people that I like to watch TV golf because it’s relaxing and frankly, being from New England, the weather is always better there than out my window.
That’s why I think I like TV golf. But I know now that’s not the reason.
The writer of the article (John Paul Newport) said this about golf on TV, “Television discovered that watching the little ball sail through the air for several long seconds, to land who-knows-where, was inherently suspenseful.”
Brilliant insight.
So that’s why I watch it. It is inherently suspenseful. And sure I like the physics and geometry of it all; playing angles and surfaces and the wind which by the way, adds to the suspense of where that little white ball is going to land.
And I got to thinking about those fleeting moments every day that are inherently suspenseful for us; getting the mail ( what’s there?), getting an email ( what is this about?) , a comment, a poke, an update or a post ( I wonder what this is?). And what about the scratch cards, the monopoly tickets, even the daily specials – we are suckers for this stuff. We love small things that are inherently suspenseful.
Add up a bunch of those inherently suspenseful moments and maybe you get to be like golf on TV with some eyes watching you. How good would that be for business?
Each Apple IOS release is inherently suspenseful ( what new features and benefits to me are there?). Each TED series talk is inherently suspenseful (where will this go?). These days even the smaller businesses are getting in the suspense game; will the pizza place write out a joke inside the box cover? Trade shows are inherently suspenseful ( what will be in the booth? What’s new?) and of course social media tools done right deliver suspense ( FourSquare, Facebook and YouTube).
Inherently suspenseful is attractive. There’s surely a ton of great ways people are doing it today you can discover, but keep your head down and that left arm straight and look for those moments in your personal interactions with clients or in your business’s interactions and string some fleeting moments of suspense together.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
Rethink
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Rethink
If you want to totally rethink what you are doing in business you need to get your customers to rethink what they’re doing.
And if you really do get them to rethink what they’re doing – that’s a huge win for you.
Apple did it. Like for the last 10 years.
Advanced Auto Small Engine Repair in my little town did it on Friday.
It’s a tough world out there. Most of us in sales and service know that even when customers love us – they are, by the time they call about that new service you’ve been pitching or your flyer or your email, – they’ve done the research and while you’re still in the game- it’s a price war between you and your competitors or them sticking with the status quo- just doing what they’ve always done.
Disrupt the thinking upstream. Teach. Preach. Challenge.
Be that person or that company.
Apple did it –blah blah blah we know that. And their disruptive tech did make us rethink what we are doing but it extends elsewhere too. Do you think they did some research and asked you and me if when you go in the store, that we wanted some 6 foot 3 bearded technical guru to greet you in the first 8 feet, get your name and ask what you are here for? Heck no.
They just did it. And that’s the way it is. We have been taught. But we had been taught before by Apple. They reshaped our thinking. We believe. We trust.
I had a first world problem Thursday night. My snowblower after a total of 3 feet exploded. Well I thought it exploded: the chute shot into the air about 10 feet. I don’t have a clue. Next day, my wife got a recommendation from a friend about Advanced Auto and they drove up, loaded the snowblower on the truck and then plowed my driveway. Plowed the driveway. They didn’t ask, they didn’t check, they just did it.
3 hours later they returned with a fixed blower, an education about the machine, a conversation about what I should watch for, an invitation to learn more and not a word about plowing the driveway except humble acknowledgment of my thanks.
While Advantage Auto didn’t wholly disrupt my thinking – they did reshape my thoughts about service expectations and education in a small way. It’s a great start for them. I grabbed 6 of their business cards and a promise to myself about saying a few things on social media.
The perfect world for changing your business or your approach is realizing and then innovating on changing the way your customers not just think and work with you, but changing the way they do their own business for the better.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
Mark McCarthy's Blog 
