Archives for February 2013

I recently posted the saying “Selling is Not Telling” on my Facebook business page and received many questions asking me what I meant exactly.

I thought it created enough questions to discuss the concept in more detail here on my blog.

Let me start by saying, I applaud salespeople who are passionate about their product or service. I believe you need to be in order to be an effective salesperson. However, being passionate about what you sell can be a double edged sword if you, as a salesperson are more interested in extolling the virtues of what your product or service can do than learning the needs and wants of your client and tailoring your sales presentation accordingly.

For example, let’s say…

I sell sales training services that I am very passionate about; especially as my clients typically experience an increase in sales of 15-35% within the first 6 weeks of working with me. So, I am always excited to talk about my programs and how I think I can help.

Now, I have an appointment with a prospect. If it starts something like this…

I say, “Thank you for your time today! I am going to share with you how I can deliver increased sales revenue of 15-35% for your company by helping your sales people with their presentation skills over a short 6-week period.”

I’m in trouble.

I am not selling my client in this scenario. I am telling my client. Some of you may believe that they are one in the same from this example; after all, I am sharing a solid benefit with a supporting feature – this is a powerful technique, just NOT at this early stage of the sales process. The challenge here is, I am so passionate about the benefit of what I have to offer, that I am not going through the process of being an effective salesperson!

Although there are many steps in the sales process, the one I will focus on for this example is probing, i.e., asking questions and listening. In the example above, I assumed I knew what the client was interested in.

But, what if my prospect is not interested in sales presentation training? Or, increasing sales revenue? I effectively TOLD my prospect what I think she should buy from me.

To sell to her, I should find out what her real needs are and what results she wants to generate with my help. This is where selling begins. Asking lots of questions so I can define the problem and what kind of solution the prospect is seeking. It is with a clear understanding of this information that I can then sell my service.

In the questioning process, I may find out that the prospect’s problem is that she is not trying to increase sales revenue, but profitability. If sales remained the same, but profits increased by 5%, the company would add $2 million to its bottom line in 12 months. Maybe she thinks the presentation skills are fine, it’s the ability to fight off the “Little Voice” in the sales people’s heads saying that if they try to command more money for their products, their customers won’t like them and therefore won’t buy from them anymore. Wow! What a different situation than the one I presented in the initial example!

A true sales person is interested in helping his or her prospect solve a specific problem or fill a need. He should only discuss the solutions that he can provide. If he doesn’t have the right solution for his prospect, he should recommend someone who does if he knows of the right resource. This way, he will strengthen his relationship with both the prospect and the alternative resource allowing for new referrals and opportunities with both parties in the future; vs. trying to manipulate a prospect into buying a product or service that is actually a poor overall solution and having customer service issues and a dissatisfied customer down the road.

So, don’t tell your customer what they should want or need. Instead, use good probing skills to determine what your prospect really wants or needs. Then, sell them on your best fitting solution!

Recently I was asked what the difference is between processes and systems, and how to create systems via my Facebook Fan Page. Thanks for the question Manuel!

When I use these terms in the context of building a business, I am referring to them in the following way:

The process is the act of doing whatever the action is, such as hiring a new associate, picking and packing a product in your warehouse, or making an outbound sales call.

The system is the documentation of how you do the process so that it can easily be taught to others and they can then replicate the process generating a consistent result. The format of this documentation can include:

Video
Audio
Written
Training others to train people

Once you have a process that delivers the results that are effective for your company, create a system that allows anyone in your organization to be able to replicate the process to get the same results. This way, you will deliver consistent products, services and experiences to your customers, vendors and staff as you grow the size of your company.

I am a big believer that an attitude of gratitude goes a long way in helping you realize your hopes and dreams, and enjoy your lifes journey along the way. Gratitude helps you fully enjoy the experience of attaining that which you desire. By being grateful for that which you have, you pause to reflect on the happiness, joy, love, peace and other positive things that what you are grateful for bring to your life. This allows you to be present for your own happiness, instead of letting challenges and unimportant distractions steal your experience of these positive things away from you.

I also subscribe to the philosophy that what we focus on expands. So, if I spend my time focused on what is wrong in my life, that which I am focused on by default takes a larger role in my daily experience, simply because it is where I put my attention. I also believe that if I spend most of my time thinking about what I dont have, I will be reinforcing that who I am is the person that lacks these things that I want or need. The more I define myself as that person who is lacking, the more I become that person.

Instead, I practice one of many gratitude exercises I have learned over the years that helps remind me of all I have to be thankful for in this life. The main point of all of these gratitude exercises are to move you to the emotional place where you can be present for the happiness, love, joy, peace or other positive emotion that these people, places, things or concepts brings to you.

Gratitude Exercises
Some people will write down in their journal everything they are grateful for as it happens throughout their day, so that they pause and become present for that special moment.

Some people will write what they are most grateful for in a journal at the beginning of the day, to start their day off in a positive way and remind them that no matter what challenges life sends, they have many things to be grateful for.

Others replay in their minds what happened in their day right before they go to sleep and relive the feelings and express their gratitude in the form of a prayer, or they capture it in a journal.

I am sure there are many other methods, as well. People need to choose the one that works the best for them. I just suggest taking time to cultivate some sort of gratitude practice. It will help you bring more into your life to be grateful for and help you enjoy that which is already going so well, even more!

Do you have a practice, comment or suggestion you would like to share? Please post it on my Facebook Fan Page!

Looking for testimonials and referrals? Here is one of the fastest ways to get them when you are new on the scene and no one knows anything about you or your business.

Try to connect with people who have a strong network in the community that you want to generate leads from. Offer your services or products for free or a significant discount. In return, ask for their commitment to provide you with a testimonial and act as a reference for you once they have received the promised benefit(s) from your organization.

Of course, be sure that you deliver to them an experience with your products or services that are what you want this person to say about you. If you run into a problem while delivering your goods, resolve it efficiently and get back on track. In many studies, loyalty is stronger among customers that experience a problem and have it resolved to their liking than customers who never have any issues that need resolution. And no, I am not suggesting creating a problem to drive stronger loyalty, just know that issues with service during this process do not have to be deal breakers.

Make sure you and your customer track the benefits they experience from working with you. While you are reviewing the improvements in profits, sales, productivity, or wherever the impact has happened is also a great time to ask the client to provide the agreed upon testimonial; just by putting a pen to paper confirming the great things you have achieved together.

Checking back regularly once you have delivered your services or products will help you stay in the loop for upcoming opportunities and allow you to seek referrals to people in the clients network, based on their experience with you.

Consider the costs of providing these services or products at such a discount as an advertising expense. By the way, this is not a long term strategy – it is a product or company launching strategy.

Now, go get recognized for the value you bring to your customers and watch your business grow!

Do you happen to know someone that is willing to “do whatever it takes” to accomplish a goal? Being in the personal development field, I am fortunate to know many people that are willing to do so. However, I had a great example of this that I wanted to share.

For those of you who listen to my All Access Club calls, you may remember the one with my coach, Mack Newton, who has coached many famous baseball and NFL players. Well, one of those listeners took what was said on that call to heart. Not did he only take it to heart, but he decided to put it to the test.

Steven, an 18-year old from Western Pennsylvania, had found me through his cousin who suggested Steven read a book from the Rich Dad series. From that book, The ABCs of Building a Business Team that Wins! Steven signed up for the All Access Club call and listened to the 1st recording he found, which was the “Chat with Champions” call featuring Mack Newton.

Long story short: Steven was so moved by what he heard on that call, that he traveled 3.5 DAYS by train to take a class with Mack Newton and see if what was said on the call was what was delivered in person. I know this to be the case, because Steven came to the class I happened to be attending that day, so we got a chance to talk.

Steven explained that he chose to take a 3.5 day journey after listening to that call because, “I dont like where I am in life and Mack said a lot of things that were true and made sense. I came to see if he was all talk or if he was for real.” Now, this is an example of what I think taking action is: You hear about something that you believe can help you make a significant improvement in your life and decide to do “whatever it takes” to make that improvement!

Steven went on to describe his experience as: “I was in a room with very successful people and I have never been challenged that way before in my life. I liked it, but it was so painful, I did not know if I was going to be able to go on. But, I pushed through it just like everybody else. I did not even notice at first but my legs were shaking – it was like I was having seizure! But, I DID it!”

When asked how Steven found the strength to prevail, he recounts the words that were part of the lesson during the training that day from Mack: “You can throw up, you can faint, you can die… but you cannot give up!” Steven then went on to say, “I usually give up fairly easily. But Mack really holds you accountable. Now, I realize, I can’t just give up! Mack explained that there are no shortcuts in life, so, if I want something, I need to stay with it, not give up so easily.”

Steven stayed around long enough to grab something to eat and then boarded the train for his 3.5 day journey home with an experience that will last him a lifetime. He learned that even when it feels like you can’t do it, if it’s important to you, don’t give up – you can surprise even yourself and come out stronger and happier on the other side.

He plans to come back and visit Mack Newton’s gym again in the Spring, bringing his father with him. Until then, he’ll keep doing the workout Mack showed him and making himself stronger mentally and physically so he can prevail in life the way he did in Mack’s class that day.

If you would like help setting and reaching for your goals, download Champion Level Goal Setting Program by visiting: http://www.ChampionLevelGoalSetting.com.

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