Beyond Referrals Page 19

  The CPA agreed. Ramon put her through his process. She loved it. She begged him to become her financial advisor. He relented. He received seven referrals from her in the next four months.

  TEACH THEM HOW TO BUY WHAT YOU SELL

  When you have a prospect in front of you, one powerful strategy is to teach that prospect how to buy what you sell. Here are a couple of examples:

  A friend of mine, Dave, owns a very successful roofing company. He told me that his business really took off when he stopped trying to sell roofs. This confused me a bit, so I asked him to explain.

  “We used to go to the home, measure the roof, work up an estimate, hand it to the homeowner, and say, ‘We’d love to do your roof for you.’ We sold some roofs. Now, we go to the home, do all those same things, and then say, ‘Whether you go with us or another company, your goal is to get a good roof at a fair price, correct?’ (Yes) ‘So whomever you choose, make sure that they give you heavy-gauge flashing and that they use a proper nail pattern—some roofers out of ignorance or haste don’t nail the roof down properly.” He goes on to teach them how to buy a roof.

  Does this concept apply to you? You bet it does!

  Let’s say you’re shopping for a new mattress. One salesperson says, “Lie down on a few and pick the one that feels most comfortable. That’s the one for you.” Another one says, “Let me show you the differences in mattresses and what makes them different—why some cost more than others. You’ll need to try them out, but I want you to understand why one mattress may feel better to you than another.” Which person are you going to buy from? The one who teaches you! You may even pay a little more to do business with this person.

  ACTION STEP

  Make sure you have five to seven teaching points (or more) that educate your prospects so they can make an informed decision. Set your points down in writing. Go through them at your meeting (or send them in advance to help you secure the appointment). You will earn trust, and you will differentiate yourself from your competition.

  A CONFUSED MIND NEVER BUYS

  When’s the last time you went shopping for a flat-screen TV? If you went to a store like Best Buy or HH Gregg, you probably saw a wall of TVs from every major manufacturer and every current technology. If you didn’t research exactly what you wanted, then you were probably a little overwhelmed. If you were lucky enough to find a sales assistant who knew what he was talking about, you finally came to a decision—all the while wondering if there was a better choice for you. If you didn’t get the help you needed, you walked out. Can you relate?

  One simple truth of sales and marketing is, “A confused mind doesn’t buy.” Having many choices is not always a good thing. At one point my company had too many referral tools in our online referral store. We knew that this was confusing people. We took off many of the tools or bundled them into special kits and sales went up.

  Be extremely careful of offering too many choices to your prospects. As a general rule, offer no more than three choices at any one time. Sometimes two is even better. If you sense hesitation or indecision on the part of your prospects, it could be that you overwhelmed them with information and choices.

  Perhaps you should say, “I know I’ve thrown a lot at you; let me simplify this a little,” or “I know there are a lot of options; let’s go through each one and simplify the process as we go.” Then, if you feel you’ve learned enough about their situation and problems, and believe you have a good answer, you can recommend what you believe to be the “best option” or what you think “will work the best.”

  Assess the choices you give your prospects. Are you giving them too many options? Consider using a chart like software manufacturers do: “with A you get this; with B you get this; with C you get this.” Presenting your choices in a visual manner is often very helpful to your prospects.

  16 DEALING EFFECTIVELY WITH OBJECTIONS

  DEFUSE OBJECTIONS

  If you follow everything in this book up until this point, you will clearly reduce objections but never eliminate them. Sometimes you reach prospects at a bad time. Sometimes the introduction didn’t create enough value to pique their interest. Sometimes you get their knee-jerk reaction to someone “who’s trying to sell me something.” Sometimes you run into impolite people. Sometimes you didn’t ask the right questions or create enough value.

  Some sales trainers will try to teach you to overcome objections. I think this strategy can be dangerous. If your goal is just to try to convince people that their thinking is wrong, they will often dig their heels in deeper. In doing research for this book, I read more than one expert saying, “Objections are simply a request for more information.” Hogwash! Sometimes all the information in the world won’t create interest or action.

  The most important tool in diffusing objections is understanding the objections—sometimes before you even meet with your prospect. This chapter contains proven strategies to help you understand and diffuse your objections.

  NEWTON’S FIRST LAW OF MOTION

  Newton’s first law of motion states: “An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an outside force.” This means that there is a natural tendency of objects to keep on doing what they’re doing. All objects resist changes in their state of motion. In the absence of an outside force, an object in motion will maintain its state of motion. This is often referred to as the “law of inertia.” And inertia can play a huge role in your attempts to move prospects to take action.

  Brian Tracy, in his book The Art of Closing the Sale (Thomas Nelson), says, “Another major obstacle to closing is human inertia. If a person is comfortable using a particular product or service, it is much easier for him to continue with what he is doing than to make a change. People get into a comfort zone. They become accustomed to their current methods. You may have a cheaper or better product, but the advantages and benefits you offer are often not enough to get the prospect to change his existing way of doing things.”

  I believe that to get a prospect to change from one product or service to another, from one way of doing things to a different way, you have to disturb the status quo in some way. You have to become that outside force for a new perspective and new action. If this seems to be a prevalent dynamic with most of your prospects—your prospects seemingly stuck with their current situations—don’t avoid it. Bring it up early in your conversations. Just like any other objection, face it head on.

  Here’s one way you might address this dynamic with your prospects, sometimes from the very beginning of the relationship:

  George, I know that making a change can often be difficult. Even when things aren’t working exactly as you’d like, making a change takes an extra level of energy and courage. I liken it to Newton’s first law of motion, which deals with inertia. Essentially, something will stay the same, remain on its current path, unless impacted by an outside force. Consider me that outside force to help you take a critical look at your situation, make a few recommendations if I see places for improvement, and then—if everything makes sense to you—help you manage that process of change.

  DEALING WITH NO

  Nick Murray, author of The Game of Numbers, says, “The two physical laws of prospecting: (1) ‘Yes’ is only potentially available at the risk of ‘no.’ And, therefore, (2) any activity/behavior to which another human being might respond by directly saying ‘no’ to you is a valid prospecting behavior.”

  There may be nothing more powerful in stopping you from taking any type of proactive sales action than the fear of getting a no. The fear of rejection is a powerful demotivator.

  Anticipate the No

  One of the most effective ways to reduce the fear of rejection is to be fully prepared for the no. In fact, I suggest you think of all the places you are likely to hear the word no (in all its forms) and then be prepared for that rejection.

  While you should go into every conversation with positive expectations—expecting your ideas to be accepted—
you must be prepared for the rejection so that it doesn’t surprise you and throw you off.

  It’s Not Just the Rebuttal

  Being prepared for the no is not just about having a clever rebuttal. Merely rebutting an objection can often backfire by making prospects or clients become more entrenched. A big confidence booster is understanding the reason for the no—understanding the “why” behind the objection.

  The first response to any objection should be genuine curiosity, a genuine interest in learning more about the objection. Sometimes a simple “Tell me more” will get you to a deeper and more helpful level.

  Bring Up the No

  If you find that in your day-to-day prospecting and selling you get recurring objections, find ways to bring up the objections before your prospects or clients do. When a prospect stops the progress of your process with an objection, it can often create tension and cause you to lose focus or confidence.

  On the other hand, when you bring up the objection, you remain in control (or relative control) of the conversation.

  Long ago, I sold printing. I used to have fun cold-calling buyers of printing by saying, “Hi, this is Bill Cates with Thunder Hill Printing. My guess is you get a lot of calls from people trying to sell you printing.” (“You got that right!”) “Am I the first or tenth person to call you today?” (“Well, you’re the first on today.”) “I’m curious, what do you tell the others?”

  By having fun and hitting my most common objection, I get people to warm up to my call. I have now earned a few minutes of their time to distinguish myself and spark their interest in wanting to meet with me.

  George, as I go through this process, you may get the feeling that you want to think about my recommendations. And I certainly understand that. This is important work we’re doing here and deserves careful consideration. If that thought comes to you, let me know. Given my experience, I can probably help you brainstorm a bit—to gain more clarity.

  Since I work from referrals, most of the prospects I speak to either call me or are open to the first conversation because their colleague told them it would be worth their time. I hope that this dynamic is true or becoming true for you as you become more adept with generating referrals and introductions. With that said, not every one of my prospects is ready to move forward with the exploratory process—mostly because of timing. They don’t want to take on a training initiative until they are ready to support it full force.

  This is a good perspective on their part. So I often say to prospects early in my first conversation, “I know that if you decide to move forward with a referral training initiative, the timing has to be just right, so that the training can be delivered and supported in the best way. Can we talk a little about the timing of such a project?” Now, instead of getting the objection “The timing isn’t right for us right now,” I purposely get into a conversation of the timing. I hit it head on. In this conversation about timing, I make sure that we discuss some of the results they will see from the training—so the prospects often get excited about the opportunities and decide to get started more quickly than they had originally thought. There have been times when this conversation has actually delayed clients using me. However, this is what was in the best interests of the clients. By waiting for the right time for them, they were able to maximize their investment in what we offer.

  Alan Rigg, author of How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Sales Team Performance: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building and Managing Top-Performing Sales Teams (http://www.8020salesperformance.com), writes, “Although no one wants to go in to a sales meeting expecting objections, this mindset is actually the best way to close the sale. Preparing a thoughtful response to any and all objections will help you to confidently guide your prospect toward making the deal.”

  Go for the No

  As salespeople, we often get noes disguised as maybes. When you think a prospect or client is trying to tell you no in a very indirect manner, go for the no. “George, you said you were comfortable providing me with some introductions to your friends and colleagues, but I’m getting the feeling you may be having second thoughts. Is that the case? If so, let’s think through this for a minute.” Assuming a maybe is a yes can lead to the client feeling pressured. Gaining clarity is always the best course of action.

  Training for the No

  If you are a sales manager or are responsible for the selling success of others, I suggest that you schedule regular “training sessions” designed to help all your reps get more comfortable, confident, and effective in dealing with no. Host a monthly “No Clinic” where you brainstorm the best ways to explore and reframe the various noes you get.

  Delineate every area of your process where you might hear no. With the most common noes, think of ways to head these off at the pass, as described above.

  Clarity and practice build confidence. Confidence generates courage and more effective action. This sort of ongoing training and awareness building will have a direct impact on your sales production.

  ACTION STEP

  Identify any reoccurring objections; this is best done with your sales team or colleagues (if possible). Figure a way to bring each of the objections up before your prospects do, so you can have a more complete discussion of it. Now you, rather than your prospects, have control of when that objection gets expressed. This will allow you to handle that objection more on your terms. Doing this is not meant to be tricky or manipulative—it’s merely bringing up the truth and not trying to avoid it. Then practice this! Just talking about it may not give you the confidence you need to actually do it.

  17 ASKING FOR THE BUSINESS

  ASK FOR THE BUSINESS

  “You must ask for the business!” How many times have you heard that admonition? Plenty of times, I’m sure. So are you doing it? At some point in your process of attempting to turn a prospect into a client, are you asking the prospect to become a client? Are you asking the prospect to take action?

  In the introduction to this section, I shared my philosophy on sales—that selling is simply a series of seeking permissions: permission to ask questions, permission to probe further, permission to keep the process moving to the next logical step. Well, one could say this is the “ultimate permission.” You’re seeking permission to confirm the new relationship.

  I personally use every idea in this chapter. Am I perfect at it? Of course not, but I’m making constant improvement. Take this chapter to heart. Without using the ideas in this chapter, you will likely be missing many opportunities to confirm sales.

  USE FORESHADOWING

  Foreshadowing is a cinematic technique used in just about every movie to allow the movie to make sense all along the way. A character, weapon, or location at one point in the movie shows up again later to help the plot make sense. We can apply this technique of foreshad-owing in many ways as we sell and service our clients.

  For instance, there are many factors that play a part in converting a prospect into a client. One of these factors is, of course, asking for the business. There are many old-style “tricky” ways to try to convert a prospect into a client. I don’t believe in tricky methods. I believe in being straight, but not aggressive, by using the technique of foreshadowing.

  Some people even like to lay out those steps on the first appointment—foreshadowing the asking for the business. “Here’s how I see us proceeding. First we’ll get together to learn more about each other. One of my goals will be to bring you as much value as I can, so you will at least consider me as a resource. At some point, after we’ve learned enough and our questions are answered, we’ll see if it makes sense to work together. How does that sound?”

  I’m not saying you use those exact words. It illustrates one of many ways foreshadowing the next steps can play out and also be helpful in gaining commitment.

  Then, when it’s time to ask for the business—when it’s time for you to suggest that you begin working together—you can say something like, “George, I think we’re at that time for me to see if
you’re ready to go to the next step, namely, get this project under way.”

  Your words need to be genuine for you and fit your business circumstances. But using the technique of foreshadowing to ask for the business will give you confidence to do so and not surprise your prospect.

  ALWAYS MAKE A RECOMMENDATION

  I cannot tell you how many people I’ve seen present their ideas to prospects and then sit back wishing and hoping (and praying) the prospect will say, “Okay! Let’s move forward.” We must develop the habit of asking them to move forward. How you ask them to do this can make a big difference in your results.

  Personally, I almost always like to make a recommendation. I say things like, “Here’s what I recommend.” “Here’s how I recommend we move forward.” “If I may be so bold, I’d like to recommend what I believe will be the best solution [choice] for you.”

  If you feel a need to be softer (working with a more indirect personality), then you can change recommend to suggest. Suggest is fine. Recommend has more conviction in it.

  It’s not just for gaining the ultimate buying commitment. This idea can be used at any stage in the sales process. You make a recommendation or suggestion, and you wrap it up with a statement such as “What do you think?” or “Does that seem logical to you?” or “Are you okay proceeding in this manner?” or any other question that keeps the process moving forward.