If Anthony Hopkins Was In Sales…
Me: Acting ?
Him: Acting.
The question before I asked before this astonished answer was:
What other profession does selling most closely resemble ?
Me: But a salesperson isn’t an actor.
Him: A good one is.
Me: How so ?
Him: They both control their emotions don’t they ?
This is getting tougher, so I’ll let the sales manager I was talking to tell you what he told me.
An actor or a salesman must control:
- His emotions
- His facial expressions
- His body movements
- His voice
Without control of all of these an actor can’t portray drama and if he doesn’t control all of these a salesman may create drama.
About now, the principle was starting to sink into my often closed, never quiet mind, so I asked:
In what other ways does a salesperson resemble an actor ?
A salesman or actor must be able exude confidence.
Not necessarily playing dumb, I asked - How ?
By the tone of his voice, the expression on his face, the words and facts he uses and how he weaves them into the conversation.
Basically, he said, by being sincere.
Suppose, I said, the salesperson isn’t all that sincere.
An honest salesperson never tries to sell anything that the prospect doesn’t really need, no more than an honest actor will take an phony part.
Hey Will Farrell, you listening ?!
Will The Slowing Economy Slow Your Sales ?
The economy is slowing, so you need to accelerate your knowledge.
March 27th is fast approaching. Have you registered for the teleseminar with Bill Caskey and his tremendous team ?I just noticed that there were several bonuses for attending:
- A copy of Same Game, New Rules
- A 60 minute audio about making that first call
- A copy of The Sales Playbook
Each one of those is worth the price of admission by itself. Easily.
Some of the other topics include:
Another selling strategy that is so simple yet so rarely followed by sales professionals. It has to do with your “Basic Orientation” of selling.
A series of customer questions that you absolutely MUST put in your arsenal during a slowdown. (If you get these, they will change your perspective of professional selling.)
How to be relevant to your prospect. This strategy works in good times and slow times, but if you don’t understand “Value Relevance” then you’ll be pushing a rope uphill.
What the “Imaginary Budget” line is inside companies. Do you know some people in companies are not hindered or limited by budget. If you’re getting the objection, “It’s not in the budget,” you’re talking to the wrong person.
How to inventory your assets. (You have assets you don’t know you have). But its’ hard to leverage something that isn’t identified. We’ll give you 5 ways to do this. You’ll be pleasantly surprise and inspired when you make this list.
15 actions items that you will begin implementing the next day. We’ll give you lists to make, thoughts to think and words to say - so that this call will change how you sell during 2008.
That’s more than enough incentive to sign up, so head over and join in on making profits when others aren’t.
Use The S.A.L.E. Method To Sell More
” On the road again ….”
Driving down the road today, doing my thang - selling - I was thinking about, uh … selling.
Naturally.
I was thinking that a large percentage of sales people don’t study sales or marketing. I know the one’s I run across sure as hell don’t study or they wouldn’t be as awful as they are at selling.
They don’t even come close, for the most part, to anything that faintly resembles a sales person.
They mostly are lazy order takers or maulers.
Lazy Order Takers just wander around and hope that enough customers call them and do all the work for them.
Maulers show up, mostly unannounced and ask you what you want to buy.
If you don’t want to be like either of these groups, all you have to do is learn The S.A.L.E. Method.
Stop. Ask. Listen. Elevate.
Stop - You absolutely must find a quiet place and think about the ways your product or service can alleviate some type of pain that your customer has.
If they have no pain, you have no shot. Literally.
Your product or service must be more tolerable than the pain they’re experiencing.
People email me every week and ask about how to fight the issue of pricing.
It’s pretty simple. When you figure out how much their pain is costing them, price your solution accordingly.
If you can’t find out how much their pain costs them …
Ask - Simply sit down with them and say something like this:
” I’m not sure our product/service is a good fit for you, so I’m just going to ask you to tell me what causes you the most pain. If my product can alleviate that pain, we can proceed, if not, I’ll move on down the line. “
If the company you work for or are thinking of going to work for won’t allow you to work like this, find one that will.
You’ll enjoy life a helluva lot more and you’ll make more money.
Don’t try to sell your product, just try to cure pain.
Think about it this way:
You go see your physician. Does he come out with a prescription before he finds out what your symptoms are or does he sit down and ask you a few questions first ?
Does he start pricing you right away or does he run a few tests and get back to you ?
Simple.
Listen - Just like a great physician does, you need to really listen to your customer.
How many times have you heard someone say their doctor is the best ever because he sits down, looks them eye to eye and listens to them.
There are doctors out there who make six-figures for listening. Just listening.
Don’t listen and try to think of an answer, just listen.
Don’t listen and look for a place to try and interject a great feature of your product or service, just listen.
Listen.
Because when you actually listen your sales will …
Elevate - You’ll complete ( I refuse to use the word close ) more opportunities than you ever have. You’ll elevate your standing with your customers. You’ll elevate your standing within your organization.
Nothing makes your confidence grow like success. Nothing.
Try the S.A.L.E. Method for 30, 60 or 90 days and if it doesn’t work for you, I refund every penny you paid for this post.
What have you got to lose ?
Sometimes The Two Lane’s Better Than The Interstate
It’s new ! It’s easy ! It’s fast !
Is it better ? Maybe not.
Notice I said maybe, so save the crucifixion comments.
I had an interesting conversation, thru the comments section of a blog, the other day. I’m not going to link to it here, not because I’m mad, but because I don’t want them to think I’m picking on them and calling them out. I read that blog every time they post. Always have, always will.
I’m also going to use some off topic quotes that aren’t so off topic, from Seth Godin. The blogger noted that he would respond to text messages in 15 minutes, but hated voicemail. Wow. That, to me, in my industry, would be equivalent to death. And I’m sure a LOT of below thirty-somethings feel the same way.
The basic problem with this is it’s circumvents one of the basic tenets of selling, which is learning how to interact with, deal with, respond to and work it out with human beings.
Voice transfers emotion, text does not. Smileys are cute, but they don’t allow someone to say, ” Did you mean thisorthat ? ”
Being unable to stop a text message in the middle and say waitafreakingminute means you’re shortchanging yourself, the other person, the conversation and the product or service.
Here’s a recent quote from Seth:
” I don’t use Twitter. It’s not really me. I also don’t actively use FaceBook, and I’m not adding any friends, though I still have an account for the day when I no doubt will. I also don’t use Flickr or MySpace or Meebo. “
Me neither. This example by Thom Singer is one of the reasons why you should think about avoiding these like the bubonic plague.
Another reason that you might consider not using social media if you’re a professional sales person is simple - You can’t do 55 things and do them all well.
If Seth can’t do it, you can’t either:
” My reasoning is simple, and it has two parts. First, I don’t want to use a tool unless I’m going to use it really well. Doing any of these things halfway is worse than not at all. People don’t want a mediocre interaction. Second, I don’t want to add a layer of staff between me and the tools I use and the people I interact with. I think both of these ideas go together, and unfortunately, they’re also a paradox. If you want to be in multiple social media and also have a day job, you’re going to need a staff. Scoble is the poster child for being everywhere, all the time, but it’s all he does. “
Just because they build it doesn’t mean it’s good. There are millions of products and services launched every year that should have never seen the light of day.
Technology’s great, but learning the basics of your profession first and then making an intelligent decision as to whether or not to use a piece of technology is better. By far.
” In 1993, we installed a primitive form of chat on our network at work. I think it was called SnapMail. I discovered pretty quickly that I was spending three or four hours a day using it. I was really good at it. And I also didn’t get as much done as I needed to. So we ripped it out. Just because it was stimulating doesn’t meant it helped with our goal. “
Don’t get caught up in technology. Use it if it improves the customers experience, not if it makes you feel like you’re ahead of the curve.
Use it if you can create a better atmosphere for your support staff, not just because it means you can have fewer exchanges with them on the phone.
My support staff needs to hear my voice, even if it’s voicemail. If I call and let them know about a potential volcano-ish problem on a jobsite, they need to hear, feel, smell and experience the emotion in my voice, so they can drop the things that can wait and immediately attend to the customers need.
Exclamation points in a text message won’t get it done. They’ve been there done that and are now ignored, because they were used improperly and conditioned people to ignore them.
Sorry. I didn’t cause it, but I know it true.
Tools and technology are wondermous thangs. I love ‘em. But in the B2B and professional B2C world, you’ve gotta know the basics before you can try to change the way people have been buying and interacting for eons.
And don’t change anything that doesn’t benefit the customer or your support team.
It ain’t all about you, whether you believe it or not.
Two Selling Secrets Revealed
I get a lot, no…really, A LOT of emails asking me the secrets to sales success.
I’m going to reveal two of them today, wrapped into one neat, no…simple, little package.
You ready ?
It’s about asking, not telling and listening , not talking.
Simple, but true.
I like simple.
EDIT 1-17-08 7:30 PM - I added a little gem that you can sample by clicking on the word listen.
Here’s A Little Used, But Highly Profitable, B2B Sales Tip
Do you take the time to query the employees of any of the firms you sell to ?
If not, you’re not alone.
When I’m doing phone consultations in the evenings, I always ask this question and most of the time, the person on the other end of the line goes silent for a few seconds.
They know they should, but they haven’t been doing it.
Mike’s Technique : Don’t interrogate ‘em. If you do, they’ll tell their boss. Just use the casual ol’ Dr. Phil technique and ask, ” How’s that workin’ for ya ? ” They’ll do the rest of the heavy lifting for you.
Since I go to construction jobsites all over the state, I’m fortunate enough to get to talk to the employees of the firms I sell to without the owner being anywhere near us.
I get my best intel while the wind whips around us, while the rain pours down or while the sun bakes our brains.
They tell me the flaws of the products supplied by my competitors.
They tell me what they like and don’t like about my products.
They tell me what their boss likes and dislikes about each of the companies he buys from.
Those are million dollar tips, just like the one in the graphic at the top of this post.
If you’re reading this post in an RSS feed reder and can’t see the graphic, you really should click thru and see this one.
Yes, that’s a shameless way to try and get page views and I may try to do more of it 
Mike’s Moral : Don’t discount the facts and figures you can glean from the lower ranking, yet incredibly insightful, employees of a current, potential or former customer. The smartest person in it doesn’t always own the company.
SalesMarks.com Makes It Easier To Find Sales Related Ideas
Via my friend Brandon Hull over at Sales Team Tools, I found out about a new location to store and share sales related info, ideas, tips, posts and much, much more.
It’s called SalesMarks.com and is the brainchild of Jan Visser.
I joined immediately and got the tool added to my Firefox browser.
Now all I’ve gotta do is go out looking for sales related info to add, so I won’t feel bad about going over there and scarfing up all the links that other people have added for me to soak up like a sales sponge !
If you live to sell or sell to live, you need to join up and join in, so head over and tell ‘em Mike sent you. Or join and don’t say a word, just join.
Warning ! More Really Stupid Salespeople Ahead !
Here’s Round 2 of the stories my friend Debbi Bressler sent me.
A guy and his wife walk down from their NYC condo to a restaurant for Sunday brunch.
Two little elderly ladies are seated next to them.
Waiter: Hi ladies ! Can I start you with some soup ?
Little Lady: That would be great ! What are the soups of the day ?
Waiter: Well, we have chicken noodle and vegetable right now. Our really good soup won’t be ready for another hour.
Little Lady: ………… ( speechless).
Okay. So the guy doesn’t have a career in sales ahead of him. But what would you say to that … besides:
” Okay thanks. I’ll be back in an hour. “
Again, why do salespeople, and waiters are salespeople, cast doubt, confusion and anger into a situation containing a prospect ?
Again, the answer is, they don’t. Not everybody in sales is a salesperson. Just as not everybody who walks into a garage is a car.
Warning ! Really Stupid Salespeople Ahead !
What would you think of customer service like this ?
A really good friend who knows sales, marketing and customer service called me today and dropped two bombs on me.
She knew I’d write about ‘em and she didn’t have time to write ‘em up herself.
A guy and his wife go into a furniture store for a mattress. Here’s the gist of their conversation with a sales associate.
Them: Hi. We’re looking for a king size mattress.
Salesman: Ooooh ! Too bad you weren’t here 2 days ago. We had them on sale for 15% off. Today they’re $999.
Them: Uh… yeah, that sucks. Can you get us that price ?
Salesman: Nope. Sorry.
Them: Can we talk to a manager ?
Salesman: Sure thing. I’ll get him.
They tell their story about having cash and wanting to spend it, but since the mattresses were on sale only 48 hours ago, can you sell it to us for that price.
Manager: Nope. Sorry, but I don’t even get an override on sales, so it won’t help me at all to do that. Can you believe this company doesn’t pay the manager on the sales made ?
Them: Never mind. We’ll go somewhere else.
Why would a salesman ever tell a prospect about a lower price that isn’t in effect any more ?
And why would a manager ever tell a prospect about his compensation plan ?
The answer is neither would, which means that neither are.
In case you didn’t catch that, there are a myriad of ways to converse with a prospect besides instigating anger, confusion and doubt.
Why Cut The Price ? How About Adding Value Instead?
Over at BloggingPro.com I saw the first of many posts about WordPress’ plans to set up a marketplace for themes.
I personally don’t mind if someone wants to create a professionally designed theme and them maintain and support it … for pay.
I’d rather pay for professional products and support than wait 3-7 days on someone who has a day job, a social life and an unprofessional attitude.
But that’s not the main reason I wrote about that post.
The first comment is. Check this out:
” … I tell you what, ill split profit 25/75. “
That was in response to the news that Automattic might charge 50% of the sales cost for their fee.
Why is the first response of an unskilled marketer/salesperson always a price cut ?
I’m thinking the unskilled, unlearned part of that equation is the main reason.
That and the fact they didn’t read this post .
There’s about 30 comments, as I write this, with people telling us they want quality, not necessarily the cheapest price.
Instead of cutting the Automattic price by 50%, why not sell the themes at the same 50% split, but add value in some way.
For instance, a tutorial on installing and pimpin’ your purchased theme.
Or you could offer free installation.
Or add value in any of 103 other ways.
Just don’t cut the price … unless you’re Pete The Price Slashin’ Pirate Parrot !
