Month: September 2019

Here’s a revelation about the sales process from our Director of Technology, followed by a few ideas on leveraging the power of rapport and becoming a valuable asset.

There Is No Magical One-Call Close. Prospects Must Go Through Their Buying Process

I remember a situation from years ago when I worked as an outside sales rep during the day and taught presentation programs in the evening.

I had just finished a sales call, closed the deal, gotten the order, and I was ecstatic. The lead coordinator told me that this lead was hot and he was right.

When I got back to the office, I began entering the information into our CRM system. At that time, we were using individual copies of ACT synchronized to a central database. Seems like stone-age technology compared to how we coordinate our sales and marketing activities today with SalesForce and Hubspot.

Upon synchronizing my activities in ACT, not only did I find another record for this customer, but discovered that a fellow sales rep, Bob, had been working with them. He had sent out literature by the box load, made dozens of phone calls, contacted the client numerous times, and still made no headway in moving the prospect through the sales process.

Yet, on this day, I had walked in, met the customer once, and closed the deal.

I’ve never been a believer in the “one call close”. No one walks in a new account cold and sells the management team on the first day. In those instances, there’s always some unseen prep work and relationship building. It can happen from another sales rep, your competition, some marketing material, or a whole lot of online research from the prospect.  If you are meeting with a prospect for the first time and they buy, someone else did the heavy lifting to get their attention and spark their interest. And in this particular case, that person was Bob.

Becoming a Valuable Asset Begins With Achieving Rapport and Leaving a Favorable Impression.

I felt low. I liked Bob. He’s a stand-up guy. The last thing I wanted to do was sneak in behind him and grab the sale after he did all the heavy lifting of educating the customer.

So I approached Bob the next day and told him what had happened.

His comment was “That’s alright. If they couldn’t remember me after all the time I’ve spent with them, then I wasn’t effective in making a lasting impression and I don’t deserve the business.”

Over the past few years I’ve often thought about that situation. I can remember similar sales calls where I did all of the heavy lifting with a prospect, spending time building rapport and educating them. And at the 11th hour, another sales rep swooped in behind me and closed the sale.

It didn’t feel good.

Still, I think of Bob’s statement and his attitude often:

If I don’t do enough to achieve rapport and leave a favorable impression with the prospect, then I don’t deserve the business.

Of course I’ve had those other conversations with clients that sounded like this:

“Yeah, we got a call from someone in your company yesterday, but we told them that we had a rep from your company taking care of us.”

Now if the client said that to another rep in my company, I can imagine what they said to a competitor trying to bring in alternate solutions or quick fixes.

There Are No More Order-Takers. 3 Rapport Ideas to Making Yourself a Valuable Asset

Using rapport to becoming a valuable asset doesn’t have to be an exotic blend of special tactics. In our training and consultation sessions, we tie it to a process involving three simple ideas:

1. Identify. Connect with your prospect as a person. Remember, people do business with people, not businesses.
2. Understand Their Needs and Wants. In order to understand what they want, you need to get out of your head. Selling is an away game. It happens in the customer’s mind.
3. Credibility. Bring to bear your unique insights, and ideas as they relate to the client’s situation.

Three simple ideas to having your customers telling your competition, “We already have a rep taking care of our needs”. You don’t like it when you hear a lead say that phrase to you. But it sure helps you sleep at night when your prospects and customers use it in your defense.

Ultimately, it comes down to your prospects and customers viewing you as a valued addition to their business model.

In this Internet age, your customers and prospects can buy anything they want online with no hassles at all. And they have access to all of the information, recommendations, and social referrals they will ever need. So ask yourself, what value do you bring to the table that justifies your customers spending time with you?

But for now, simply jot down 5 activities that you do to get your customers and prospects to remember you as a valuable asset when you aren’t there with them. Because I can guarantee you, your competition is actively looking for ways to unseat you.

Don’t make it easy for them.

Good Selling!

Want More Powerful Ideas on Opening Sales Calls?

Because the two are so similar, many of the ideas we use when opening a sales presentation are similar to those in opening sales calls. For additional ideas on getting your audience’s attention, from a single prospect to a room full of decision makers, download our digital publication, Persuasive Sales Presentations, here.

Increase Your Team’s Sales Performance by Integrating Sales Emails into Their Opening Strategy.

In one of my sales coaching sessions, someone asked how to follow-up with a buyer after sending an introductory sales email. He asked because, according to him, no one was opening—let alone reading—his emails.

Here’s the deal. If we strategically combine a sales email with a phone call, we can create a solid framework that works well for opening a sales call and increases your team’s overall sales performance. Incidentally, this strategy also works with direct mail campaigns or as a follow-up to a white paper download.

Structure for Incorporating a Sales Email into Your Team’s Strategy When Opening the Sales Call

When coaching your team on using a sales email this way, remember the following fundamental building block. When your sales team is making their follow-up calls, they need to know enough about their buyer’s organization, business, and challenges to begin a conversation. That’s never going to change in the overall sales strategy. We addressed this in a prior post on using the Affinity Rule to get a buyer’s attention.

However, your sales rep is now using a sales email as a lead-in to the conversation. So, when you help them compose their first draft, make sure the message incorporates relevant information that’s of value to their buyer’s business. In the past, we have used a number of tactics in this email. Highlighting three benefits from our other clients is one that always works well. Another is to use the Impact Statement in email form.

Don’t let Your Salespeople Make the Email the Focus of Their Sales Call

Now, when your salespeople follow-up on that correspondence, the one thing you don’t want them to say is “Hi Bob, did you get my email?”

By asking this yes/no question, your salespeople put the buyer in a state of mind that shuts down any chance of building a conversation. Your salespeople must come to grips with the fact that their buyers don’t care about the email. They aren’t even thinking about the email. By itself, that initial email has no value to the buyer.

So instead of letting your salespeople ask their buyers if they got the email, have your people reference something in that sales email that their buyers will find interesting and relevant. Remember, your people have done their research, so they should have some idea of the challenges facing decision-makers in the buyer’s industry. And those elements should be outlined in their email so they can reference them in their call. For additional ideas on opening your sales call see this post on 4 Adaptive Selling tactics.

An Example of Opening a Sales Call Referencing an Email

Here’s an example of a call opening referencing an initial, simple email that outlined three ideas pulled from customer interviews.:

“Hi, Bob?

I understand that you are the VP of Sales – is that correct?  

Bob, in an email I sent your way last week, I outlined three methods our customers have found to help their salespeople improve their effectiveness when selling on the phone. These methods are public speaking programs, taking a psychology class to learn how to ask better questions, and taking an improv class to learn how to speak extemporaneously.  

Bob, which one of these methods do you think will best benefit your team?”

With this kind of opening, your salespeople are directing their buyers’ attention. Their buyers are now thinking about the three options your salesperson just offered in addition to how they will affect their team. And if they didn’t read your email, the buyer is now wondering what other business-relevant information is in it.

The sales email, like any white paper, is an entry vector into their relationship with their buyers. The sales email exists to facilitate their conversation, not to be the focus of it. Your people are not selling the email. They are selling themselves, building credibility, and their ability to identify and solve their buyers’ challenges…and thereby increase their sales performance.

Use the Sales Email to Enhance Your Team’s Communication

Here’s the summary: If your salespeople are referencing an email in their sales calls, coach them to talk about items that will focus their prospective buyer’s attention on specific challenges outlined in the email. These conversations will build rapport with your client, increase the number of meetings created, and improve their overall sales performance.

In sales, we use the technological tools to establish and strengthen the human-to-human connection. Be sure to order Lance Tyson’s upcoming book, The Human Sales Factor: The H2H Equation for Connecting, Persuading, and Closing the Deal on Amazon for an in-depth review of additional ways your team can improve their powers of influence.