Tag: Sales

How to ask Great Questions (and Listen Actively)

I’ve been on my first long distance travels for the last 2 years. I am in Montevideo, Uruguay this week teaching at IEEM Business School. I’ve been coming here for the last 12 years (last year was a virtual visit via zoom). Many of my classes this week finished with participants commenting on the importance of listening to others before jumping to conclusions. A big part of listening is learning to ask great questions.

There are several good frameworks to structure your questions… one good framework is this one from RAIN sales. A longer explanation of their framework and approach to questions in the context of sales training is available in this pdf: Keys to Leading Masterful Sales Conversations (pdf from the RAIN group).

The 4 levels of Questions

The 4 levels of questions are listed and described below:

  1. Facts – questions about what is basically true for us both and we can agree upon.
  2. Opinions – questions about the other person’s opinion about the facts, the trends in the facts, what is important about the facts, what does it mean, who else is affected.
  3. Impact – questions about the short, medium and long term impact if we do or do not take action. The secret to a good impact question? it has the word “impact” in it.
  4. Change – questions about what it would be worth to achieve a change, what actions we are willing to commit to, what it would be worth to us if we could achieve a better future.

Here’s a list of 50 great sales questions divided into these 4 types of question from the RAIN Group blog.

If you liked this post, you will also like How to Take Better Business Decisions: 50 Great Questions for Critical Thinking and Jim Collins: How to Build an Enduring Great Company (12 Questions for Leaders).

Postcards from Montevideo

A few more images of my adventures in Montevideo

  • sunrise
  • asado
  • Montevideo
  • the classic tourist

Entrepreneurial Sales: Overcoming the 3 big objections

I’ve done a lot of sales over the last 16 years. I was bad at the beginning, but step by step have learnt how to sell.

There are always 3 big questions in the mind of any buyer that you must be able to address if you are to move forward with a contract.

The 3 Big Questions in the mind of the Buyer:

  1. Why buy Anything?
  2. Why buy from you?
  3. Why buy now?

Often I see salespeople and entrepreneurs have wonderful, powerful, clear answers and evidence for questions 1 and 2… but the buyer says “I agree the product is good, I agree you are a solid company… call me back in 2-3 months when we have got through this busy period…”

This response is worse than a simple No. A simple No, you close the opportunity and you move on.

If you liked this post you will also like How to Improve your Sales Process (Personally) and How to Sell a Pen.

Entrepreneurial Sales: 3 Keys to Successful Selling

This video is about 3 sales lessons that I have learnt running 5 businesses over the last 15 years as an entrepreneur and chief salesman. I thought I was good at sales when I first set up my own company. I was not. I had a lot to learn.

Sales is about getting in front of the right people, regularly engaging with people and keeping yourself in a positive, curious, interested mental state.

The 3 Keys to Effective Sales

In this video I share 3 keys:

  1. Is the M.A.N. in the room?  (MAN=Money + Authority + Need).
  2. Focus on Rhythym, not outcomes;
  3. Get into the right mental state.

Have a great week 😉

PS Here are 3 gems of wisdom from Rich Mulholland’s Sales tip video:

  • “If the audience isn’t listening, it’s your fault… not theirs.”
  • “Don’t change how loud you yell, change the story you tell.”
  • “Pick carefully who you are telling your story to.”

Don’t Sell to those who can’t Buy (NINAs, LILAs and DEMAs) from Rich Mulholland

A great short video on sales by entrepreneur and speaker Rich Mulholland. If you want to be successful in sales, don’t sell to NINAs, don’t sell to LILAs… focus on the DEMAs…

If you are reading this via email, check out the video: Don’t Sell to those who can’t Buy

A handy Glossary of Rich’s Sales Terms:

Here’s a handy summary of Rich’s acronyms so that you too can become a sales guru:

  • NINA = No Influence, No Authority
  • LILA = Little Influence, Little Authority (more dangerous than NINAs)
  • DEMA = Desire, Energy, Money and Influence

How to Improve your Sales Process (4 Personal Habits to Develop)

Today’s Rhetorical Journey video

I’m committed to sharing 1 new youtube video each week for the whole of 2017.  This is week 4 and my video today is “How to Improve your Sales Process (4 Personal Habits to Develop)”

PS As of last night…  I’ve updated my channel graphical look.  I’d welcome your thoughts on the new look Rhetorical Journey Channel page.  If you’re not already a subscriber to the youtube channel…  What are you waiting for?  Seriously…  people pay me good money to talk and here you get me for free and in your comfy home.

How to Improve your Sales Process (4 Personal Habits to Develop)

If you are reading this via email, watch the video on the blog here: How to Improve your Sales Process (4 Personal Habits to Develop)

How to sell a pen

There is a classic sales interview question where the interview pushes a pen towards the interviewee and says “sell me this pen.”  You might have seen the question in the movie The Wolf of Wall Street.

How do you Sell a Pen?

Don’t start with the pen.

Start with the person in front of you.

  1. Do they need a pen?  “Are you in the market for a pen?”  If not: go find someone else who needs a pen.
  2. Can they afford the pen?  “What’s your price range?”  If not: go find someone else who needs a pen and can afford one.
  3. Can they make the decision now?  “Are you looking to leave today with a pen?”  If not: go find someone else who needs a pen, can afford one and has the authority to make the purchase.

Don’t push pens at people.  “This is a great pen”, “This lasts longer than other pens”, “This is a better colour than our competition”…  all nonsense if the person in front of you is not interested in a new pen.

How to sell a Pen

Find people who need pens, can afford them and can decide today.

Advanced Pen Selling – AKA “Rainmaking”

There are times when you need to “make a market” for your product or service. You cannot just address existing demand, perhaps because your product is new or the marketplace is uneducated.

There was once a famous sales person, let us call her Anna, who was invited in to speak to one of the most senior politicians in the UK government. The Lord said “I hear you are an expert in sales. Sell me this glass of water.”

Anna, our sales expert, smiles. She takes the trash can that is in the room and slowly starts filling it with paper. When it is stuffed full of paper, she sits back down.

She takes out a match. She lights the match.

She looks directly at the Lord as she drops the match into the paper-filled trash can.

She waits a few seconds for the paper to catch fire.

As the face of the Lord starts to show panic, she now asks “How much do you want this glass of water now?”

Establishing the Context of the Decision

An advanced sales person is able to shift the perspective of the decision maker.

However, the focus remains on the person, not on the pen nor on the glass of water.

Sales is always about the person you are engaging with. What are their joys and what are their struggles? What is quality of life for them? What pains have they just accepted as normal and you can show them that they don’t have to just continue to suffer?

P.S. If you liked this post you might also like Fish where the Fish are and The 3 biggest Objections to overcome when Selling.

Sales Training 101: Fish where the fish are

…not where you would like them to be.

I spent over 10 years building entrepreneurial ventures that had a lot of selling involved (insurance, business services, restaurant franchises, aeroplanes).

Fish Where the Fish Are

I met a young entrepreneur last week at Startupbootcamp.  He told me “I am not good at sales”.  I said “What do you mean?”.  He said that he can’t seem to keep prospects interested.  I asked him how he selected his target prospects.  He returned a blank stare.

I said “do you try to sell to everyone you meet?”

He didn’t say anything but the body language was saying “well, yes of course”

This is how to die young as a salesperson.  

My daughter loves fishing.  To be honest, she loves the idea that she has of fishing, rather than the reality of fishing.  We have a small cottage by the beach in Costa Brava and often we will go and spend some time “fishing”.  I don’t really want to catch anything, I just want to chill out with her while we watch the sea and the sun setting and the changes of nature.  She wants to catch fish.

If I want to catch fish I go to one place.  If I don’t fancy cleaning and gutting a fish, I go to other places.

The place where I go to fish is the place where the fish are.

The place where I go to not fish, is any place that the fish are not.

Fishing Well, Selling Well

Fish wisely:  “Fish where the fish are” – not randomly, or where you would like to be.

Selling to a person who is not the M.A.N. is a waste of breath.  M is money, A is authority and N is need.  If the MAN is not in the room, be polite and leave.

Find People who Want to Change

Who are your best clients?  Where can you find more?  Target well. 

In my aviation business we discovered that the people that were most happy to regularly meet were often competitors interested in learning about our business (and copying our brochures, contracts and process). We learnt to be very careful and take time to bring prospects through a long (2-4 months) process before we would actually pitch the deal and put a contract in front of them.  It made a real difference – not only in more effective sales, but in a major improvement in my personal motivation and enjoyment of the sales process.

Photo Credit: Nicolas Valentin

How to Stop Offering Free Advice and Make the Sale

Over the last 10 years I have increasingly moved from product businesses towards a services business.

In the world of private jets we had simple rules: if the trip is not paid, the plane doesn’t leave.  It was policy, not decision.

In the world of coaching leaders to build cultures of disciplined high performance, there is often a wide grey area between free discussion and paid consulting.  I find it very difficult to mark that line clearly.  I love talking about psychology and high performance and getting the best out of people.  I am interested.

My landlord only accepts money for rent.  Not good intention.  So I have to do the same myself.

6 Steps to Stop Being “Free”

  1. Be clear on the results you can help them achieve – Can you explain what success looks like in a clear, concise, specific and compelling way?  in language that your target customers can really understand?
  2. Show testimonials, examples, logos of past successes – capture testimonials and make them as specific as possilble
  3. Find common passions or interests (liking) – build relationships that are broader than pure business
  4. Respect yourself – know where you draw your line (Let the prospective client know that you are the most capable, dedicated and solution-oriented consultant they will find and that you normally charge X-amount for your time.)
  5. Blog, write, speak, publish – direct your potential client there rather than give custom answers – thought leadership is free, customising the advice for a specific person and access to you should be expensive
  6. Ask for the sale – Make yourself a product, set clear prices – and ask for the sale.  “Look, I think you value my advice – lets set up a 6 month deal – two meetings per month for €XX”

More on the fine line between free and paid consulting

Setting Limits

How do you set limits on “Free”?

I teach communication skills.  I help entrepreneurs deal with leadership challenges.  I find it hard to effectively manage the gap between free advice and paid consulting.

“Would you listen to my speech?”

or “Can we meet for a coffee, I have an important meeting coming up?”

I find it hard to do the “American Lawyer” mode – bring a clock and start timing the conversation as soon as I talk about communications.

I like the little conversations, but I am conflicted about how to set some limits.

How do you set limits on your service?

Are you a coach – how do you distinguish between “free advice to friends” and “professional services”?  How do you have the conversation when someone assumes that they should get your help for free (and you’re not so sure)?

…And The Overly Complicated Sales Cycle

The other area that I have challenges is keeping the sales process under control.

I have a Swiss client that calls me, says they need a specific date, signs the contract and pays.  Minimal admin.  Zero hassle.

I had a Spanish client that asked me to come back and explain my services 11 times before signing the contract.  I would not have done the 2nd meeting if I had known that there were 9 more to come.

Sales: What is your Painful Problem to Solve?

What is your painful problem to solve?

Sales is not about describing your product, your process or your friends. It is about explaining to the buyer a problem that they have, and giving them a glimpse of a world where that problem has gone away.

What would it feel like to live in a world where that problem has gone away? What would it feel like to have your boss think you are a top performer? What would it feel like to have your kids proud of you? What would it feel like to see your body looking fit? What would it feel like to take your t-shirt off at the beach with pride?

What is your painful problem to solve?

By the way, you don’t get to talk to someone about their problem until you have a relationship of trust with that person. You can’t just dive in and say “we’ll make your pain go away!”. You have to begin a relationship of trust.

The best first step? Generosity. What can you give this person that they need? Often, it is your undivided, non-judgemental listening to what they have to say. Make them feel like they truly exist for you.

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