How NOT to Handle Customer’s Objections.

 

It is tempting to immediately share

30 years of research with you, and say
Buyer’s Objections Cannot be Overcome!

 

But, that would cause you far too much emotional distress. You don’t want to believe that is true, or you would not have started to read this Blog.

 

 

How to Handle Customer’s Objections?

 

The BEST way, by far, is to AVOID Objections completely!

In order to do that, you must first learn:
What causes objections?

YOU DO!

Yes, that’s right; Sellers CAUSE Buyers to Object!

In thousands of Sales Calls I have logged the Customer Objection,
AND what the Salesperson said  before  the  Customer Objected:

The Sellers gave the price,
then the Buyer said “that’s too expensive!”

The Seller gave the dimensions,
then the Buyer said “that’s too small!”

The Seller gave a delivery date,
then the Buyer said “that’s too late!”

The Seller asked for the order,
then the buyer said “I am happy with my current supplier!”

 

In fact, evidence based fact, the two primary causes of Customer’s Objections are:

1. The Seller giving features, Price, Size, style, speed, feed, location, colour, compatibility, etc.
2. Or, The Seller asking for the order.

If Objections were GOOD things (Buying Signals),
then the best way to get Objections is: to ASK for the Order,
early in the Buying Cycle as this is almost certain to cause an Objection!

 

Are Objections GOOD things, are they buying Signals?

If you look at the straightforward evidence of:

What is the relationship between Customer Objections and Sales success?

This is easy to measure, just COUNT them!

Then,

the MORE Objections you get,
the LESS you sell !

 

Remember:
YOU caused the Objection
by Talking Features or Asking for the Order.

 

ONE Objection?

for example: Price, this MAY be overcome if a ‘trade-off’ is made [often this is Value]

TWO objections?

You are unlikely to get the business, even if you have one good trade off.

 

THREE objections?

You have mis-sold your product or service and you won’t be getting the business.

Hopefully one of the three objections was PRICE,
now you can report to your Sales Manager,
that the Price is too high, rather than YOU cannot sell!

 

Objections are OBSTACLES.

If you believe Objections are welcome ‘buying signals’
then you have given up Rationality, rather than just giving up the sale [or selling].
When you extrapolate fiction, it then becomes fantasy!

Persistence is a trait of many Salespeople,
but continuing to repeat something with little chance of success is “Irrational Perseverance”

Objections are best Avoided.

You can avoid Objections by showing how your Product or Service meets the Buyer’s needs,
and by NOT Asking for the Order, until they are ‘Ready to Order’

 

OK, how do I Handle the one Objection I did get,
by giving them my Price BEFORE I gave them their Value?

First of all 99% of Sales “Objection Handling” techniques DO NOT work.

They are nonsense. I repeat, the techniques taught, and written about DO NOT WORK.

 

I have measured ‘overcoming’ Objections on thousands of occasions,
thousands of objections and the “Skills” to overcome objections DO NOT work.
You can easily measure them too.

Let’s take a widely taught Objection Handling technique “Feel, Felt, Found”.

I understand why you Feel the price is too high.

And other customers have Felt the same way.

However, when they saw the money they saved with it they Found it was really good Value!

I measured this against 300 uses for various objections,
it succeeded less often than just ‘ignoring’ the objection all together!
And, that was only “successful” in less than 15% of the time.

It does NOT work.

Or, “Preemptive” Objection Handling

using a “Script” to introduce a known shortcoming of your product or service,
then attempt to offer a scripted ‘answer’. 

“By presenting these shortcomings or negatives, our aim is to create credibility and gain trust”. 
The actual effect on Buyers is the opposite!

The Seller ‘introduces’ additional Fears, Uncertainties and Doubts in the Buyer’s mind,
then uses a “Rebuttal” or “argument” to overcome it!  Nonsense!

Again, research shows that “When you extrapolate fiction, it then becomes fantasy!”

 

What does sometimes handle an Objection is a Trade-off.

In this case trading better Value for a higher Price

 

Let’s take three houses.

 

If we were selling the New House A, the most expensive,
then we would have the “That’s too expensive option”.

We have to Trade Value, for the higher Price.

Against the other house B our ‘Value’ is in a Better Location, with Good Schools.

 

Is it better to have a Good location?

Yes, because this property will increase in Value faster and further than House B, 
So it will be in demand, therefore it may work out cheaper overall!

 

And, what price do we put on having our children happy at school?

If taken over a 10 year period it would be 20,000, or 2,000 per year, or 40 per week.

This money will be recovered in a higher Price when we choose to sell!

 

Against, the current house which, after the new baby, is now too small,
it’s the increased cost of the mortgage 263 per month or less than 10 per day.
However, ALL of this money, and more, will be recouped when you sell the new larger house,
i.e. the extra bedroom will be free!

Trade-offs, against Drawbacks [objections] may convince Customers to buy.

Here are a few Key thoughts about Objections:

• Objections are BEST avoided
• Objections are Caused by Salespeople
• Objections cause lost sales, they are NOT ‘Buying Signals’
• Objections are “Drawbacks”
• Objections can be traded off, sometimes!
• Objections are Statements, they are NOT Questions.
• Objections cannot be overcome with flim-flam,
  psychological nonsense, and 99% of taught techniques do not work

 

BMAC Consultants have developed an Evidence Based Objection Handling model,
based on Avoidance and Trade-off.
This is a Sales Skill, an Interactive Skill based on the ACTUAL Sales Situation. 
If you wish to see other examples e mail Brian.MacIver@Gmail.com

Book Review Dan Pink’s To sell is human

 

Pink asks a profound question about the basis of selling:

“Who is doing who a favour?”

Is the Salesperson doing the Customer a favour,
by bringing much needed goods and service to the table?

Or, is the Customer doing the Salesperson a favour, by buying their goods and services?

After reading the book, I do not think it matters,
as this is not the Basis of Selling, anyway.

His final advice is: “Treat everyone like your Grandmother!” This is a loaded concept.

 

I would have just stuck to the Golden Rule:

• One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself. Or.
• One should NOT treat others in ways that one would NOT like to be treated

The Golden Rule contains the essence of Selling, Selling is reciprocal,
and Selling and Buying are done together.

Selling is NOT something we do TO Buyers,
Selling is something we do WITH Buyers!

The nonsense themes in the book are:

• Everybody sells. No they don’t!
  What he means is everybody TRY’s to influence or ATTEMPTS to persuade,
  and mostly we don’t do a very good job of it!
  
• The “Fuller Brush” story is a red herring, it is not relevant.
  Door to door is “hawking”, always was, always will be.
  I speak from experience, something which Pink’s lack of shows throughout the book.
  
• ABC never worked, Pink’s ABC will NOT work either. Selling is not about simple rules.

The end theme is the Salesperson’s Burden: “Leave the world a better place”, to sell is human.
This may be countered by another cliché “to err is human”

 

Pink does deliver some good, if not common, sense

•  Improvisation. Although in the Behavioural Approach to Selling
  we have called it “Interactive Competence” for 4 decades.
  The ability of the salesperson to align their behaviour to their objective.

BUT, in Sales it is NOT about ACTING (improv),
it IS about INTER-ACTING, Inter Active Competence.

Selling is about what you DO, not WHO you are.

• His writing on Greenleaf’s “Servant Leadership” should be encouraged for Sales Managers!

Conclusions:

Although the book lists extensive references
and refers to “research” his conclusions are fundamentally speculative.

Pink ‘sows’ together a Patchwork to offer his ‘view’ of selling [or moving people]
from Brush Salesmen to pay rises.

There is no method, or system, just ideas and thoughts.

I read the book twice, firstly as an Evidence Based Sales Consultant,
then secondly through the eyes of a Sales Novice.

As a Sales Consultant, I would have score it as a Red 3/10
i.e. slightly more DYSFUNCTIONAL than FUNCTIONAL,
an experienced Sales person would be worse off after reading it.

However, as an ‘empty vessel’ I would have scored it as AMBER 6/10
because of the section on IMPROV.

This could be a solid base from which to learn Interactive Competence.

Dan Pink’s ‘To sell is Human’, would not be in my Top Ten,
but it is in the Sales Section in my Library.

Challenging - The Challenger Sale

 

The recent RAIN Group Report,
purports to ‘Challenge’ The Challenger Sale.

http://info.rainsalestraining.com/free-report-what-sales-winners-do-differently

It is based on a survey of “Buyers” talking about “Sellers”.

 

Paradoxically they ignore their own advice:

“Sales research methods often focus on asking sellers, sales managers, and leaders what the top performers do versus average performers. Unfortunately, people’s perceptions of what they do and what they actually do tend to be quite different.

Our research looks at sales from the buyers’ perspective. Our objective was to find the answer to the following question: What are the winners of actual sales opportunities doing differently than the sellers who come in second place?”

Their “research” ignores the very flaw which THEY highlight earlier!

Unfortunately, people’s perceptions of what they do
and what they actually do tend to be quite different.

This applies equally to both Sellers AND Buyers. The perceptions of what Buyers ‘believe’ Sellers DO will actually tend to be quite different from what Sellers actually ‘DO’! We are helped in this by having a body of research of 35,000 sales calls, carried out in 23 Countries, over a period of 12 years!

The second Paradox is using a Comparison of ‘winners’ to ‘losers’.  
N. Rackham and (Dick) Ruff published this flaw in their book ‘Managing Major Sales’ in 1991.
However, the ‘flaw’ of using this approach was widely known since the early 1980’s.

Learn from Neil Rackham:
“And to not waste any time comparing Exemplar Performers (what I call Master Performers) to
Poor Performers. To Moderately Successful Performers, yes.
To see what truly ‘differentiates’ the true Masters.”
Written by Guy W. Wallace, CPT, performance-based Instructional Analyst Architect - Since 1979 and Consultant - Since 1982 [from http://eppic.biz/2013/01/04/1st-friday-favorite-guru-neil-rackham/]

 

 

RAIN Group highlight the Winner/Loser flaw by showing what they top rank in ‘winners’
“Educate with new ideas and perspectives”
compared with ‘losers’ who have this as their 42nd from the top, or bottom Rank!

With this combination of two fatal flaws in their basic research approach,

no credibility can be attached to their conclusions

which, paradoxically, they claim contradict The Challenger Sale Model.
This is a surprising claim as they state Salespeople
“can’t inspire buyers unless they ‘educate them with new ideas and perspectives’”
which sounds like a rephrasing of “Teach with Insights” to me!

In other words, they appear to endorse The Challenger Sale approach.

The SIX Hour Sales Call

 

“What’s the ruling?” he asked.

I gave him the rule straight from the Rules of Golf.

“It’s an unplayable lie, you can move the ball [after marking it] under penalty of one shot.
Rule 27-1 lets you play your shot again from where you last played.
Or drop a ball on the line between your marker and the pin, as far back along the line as you wish.
Or, drop a ball no more than 2 club lengths from the marker NO nearer the hole.”

“It’s your choice!”

While he was thinking,

it occurred to me that Golf has RULES which make it fair and enjoyable.

 

What, I wondered, were the rules of SELLING?

When, like me, you have a Prospect [or Customer] with you on the golf course for six hours?

It is probably best to begin with a few DON’Ts:

1. Do NOT try and have a six hour Sales Call!
   This will strain both you and your Client to breaking point
   
2. Do NOT just have a ‘social’ round of Golf 
   Play a competitive round, which fairly tests both of you
   
3. Do NOT play at your rhythm and speed of play but at the Client’s pace, Play READY Golf
   it’s their day If you are a fast golfer, take your time, if slow then get a move on!
   
4. Do NOT drink alcohol DURING the Game 
   It will not improve either your game or, your behaviour!
   
5. Do NOT talk business for the first six holes, or the last six,
   only the middle six and then in the bar afterwards.  That is a TWO Hour Sales Call,
   but it is best done between the Green and Tee, so it is only 20 minutes on the course.

Before talking about the DO rules,
its best to consider WHY you are inviting your client to a Golf Day.
[and why they are accepting]

 

It is Classic “Relationship Discovery and Development”,
getting to know one another, it’s about building Trust.

 

Fair Play on a Golf Course may not indicate fair play in Business.  But, unhelpful, unfair and aggressive Play on the Golf Course, may indicate to a Buyer,
what you are like in business.

Demonstrate Fair Play, helpfulness and collaboration.

It’s important that you KNOW, and abide by, the Rules and, just as importantly, the Etiquette of the Game. The purpose of the day, no matter the actual Goal for the day is to establish that they would want to do business with you!

The Five DO’s are:

1. DO Only invite People who matter.
   You want key people from the Decision Making Unit, NOT their best Golfers!
2. DO have Goals for the day.
   Rehearse any Suggestions, or Requests, you may make, DO NOT be spontaneous!
3. DO Play the best Golf you can on the day, do not play to lose.
   This is obvious manipulation, a fair win is better than a ‘planned’ loss.
4. DO Be a good Golf host
   ENTERTAIN on the course have some great Stories, and tasteful jokes, be Great Company
5. DO Play for the 20^Th hole, not the 19^th, it is what happens next that counts.
   Send a follow-up letter, a photo or souvenir of the day, to remind them of their Golf Day.

A Client Golf Day is all about Relationship and Trust,
it is NOT about Product or Company.

You have an ideal opportunity to observe [close-up] your Client’s Problem Solving,
their Decision Making process, and their Interpersonal Skills.

There are a number of models you can use:

One is the Socializer, Relator, Director, and Thinker model

http://www.mindspring.com/~lindaross/audi/pdf/personality_types.pdf

Make use of these insights to appeal to your Client’s Personality Preferences.

 

 

 

The Perception YOU make
with YOUR Customer,
will be their view of you,
and of your Company
…..Manage Yourself.

 

 

 

Non-Golfers can participate in Golf Days by being ‘Hosts’
both before and after the game. 

 

If you are thinking of learning the Game of Golf,
then learn from a Golf Pro, that’s your advantage.

Self-taught Golfers, like Self-taught Salespeople, often don’t play by the rules and have more bad habits than good habits. So, take lessons!

 

BMAC Consultants run Business Golf Training sessions in both Spain and Scotland: 
“How to get the best from your Company Golf day”

Closing is a Dysfunctional Selling Skill

 

In his blog http://thesaleshunter.com/never-leave-a-sales-call-without-closing-on-something/

Mark Hunter offers advice on how ‘Closing’ [asking for continuance in this case] should be done when a Sales Call is going badly. The premise he uses for this is the “Try Harder”, “persist longer”,
the “never give up” Sales school.

 

Mark writes:

 

“It is essential to always remember there is no such thing as a final sales call. If a sale can’t be made, there is still a sale that can be made and that’s selling yourself and creating a next step.”

 

 

 

What is the Evidence Basis for this view?

Well, Top Sales Performers use the opposite approach.

They ask themselves what is the likelihood of winning this business?
Unless their chances are high [the algorithm they use I will write about at a later date] they cut and run.

Their most important resource is their TIME, and they don’t waste it, on unlikely sales.

Poor Sales Performers, on the other hand, don’t give up.

They flog dead horses. Poor Sales Performers appear to lack judgement,
they do not use an Algorithm.
They spend 4 times as much time on No-sales as Top Performers.

Mark then writes:

“Minimally, strive to agree on what is keeping the customer from making a decision to buy.
Doing this helps to clarify in both your mind and your customer’s mind where the issues are.”

This is a highly Dysfunctional Selling Skill!

Agreeing with a Customer’s Objection is called “Objection Reinforcement.”

This was used disastrously with the Positive-Negative Close.

“You’re too expensive!”
“Yes, we are expensive, and it’s this Price ‘exclusivity’ which many of our Customers enjoy!

Agreeing with ANY Customer objection reinforces the Objection.

Xerox PSS in the 1970’s used a step in Objection Handling called “Confirm and Isolate”
e.g. “You believe we are expensive, is this the only reason why you won’t go ahead?”

Salespeople who used this were found to be 10 times less likely to get the business,
than Salespeople who missed this step out!

 

First of all recognise,
that YOU have most likely made mistakes both before, and during, the call.

Poor pre-call qualification, poor proposition or insight preparation or just poor selling skills during the call.

Don’t make it worse by “Reinforcing the Objection”,
or by causing further Objections through more ‘Closing’ or Commitment requests.

 

So, how can you manage the ending to a ‘difficult’ call?

DISAGREE with what is keeping you apart,

ask for a time-out and a new appointment.

 

 

Give a positive reason for the next meeting,
see three great selling skills that really work.

 

http://brianmaciver.blogspot.com.es/2012/02/three-great-selling-skills-that-really.html

And, finally if you did a good job in the Call, and it did not payoff, use the Algorithm “Move on!”

Sometimes Your Cheese really has Moved!

Be the Type of Salesperson who uses an Evidence base to Support their Sales Behaviours, not speculation.

Sales, a Job for Life! Part Two

 

Why some Sales people consistently outperform others.

Transferable Selling Skills are not COMMON sense.

If the skill is just “COMMON” in Sales then it is usually “Common Nonsense.”

 

“The last thing the Sales Manager saw and heard
before the Salesperson won the business was the Salesperson Asking for the Order.”

The Sales Manager used inductive reasoning
and made note of what he had seen. 

He saw it again soon after.
Then, again and again.

 

 

 

 

 

Considering the “evidence” he had seen, the only conclusion he could draw,

by INDUCTIVE REASONING, was Asking for Orders, CAUSED Buyers to Buy!

 

He labelled this Sales Behaviour “Closing” –

Closing the Sale or Asking for the Order.

The Sales Manager left his job and became an independent Sales Trainer.
He called himself an “Expert” and claimed to have discovered the “Secret of Selling”.

He promoted his Master Class in Selling under the Title

“Close the Sale!”

So sure was he about his “secret” that he offered a money back guarantee, if you did not win more sales by learning his secret!

Some people tried to claim their money back.
But, he simply said “It works for everybody else!”
And, then he added
“You are not doing it properly,
with great confidence and a positive mental attitude”.
So, he did not refund their money.

But, he did carry out some more research.

He found that Closing did NOT always work, the first time,
so he altered the “secret” and said you have to ‘Close’ FIVE TIMES to win the Business.

His Training now said “you can’t close too early and you can’t close too often!”
He developed many ‘types’ of Closing to give variety to the repetitive close five times!

The Assumptive, and the step by step,

The direct ask, and the indirect ask,

The alternative, and the trial close,

The Ben Franklin, and the Half Nelson close,

The Sharp-angle close, and the Positive-negative close.

His original 2 hour session was now a TWO DAY Sales Workshop called:

“101 ways to Close the Sale, the SECRETS to Sales Success.”

He performed in larger and larger venues.
He was a Rock Star, and the show went from Teaching to Theatre.

 

He trained over 200,000 people.

 

His Sales Training ‘heirs’ have passed his secret on to Millions of Salespeople,

through several generations of Salespeople.

But, He never conducted the simplest of all research, a behavioural experiment:

“Do Salespeople who Close MORE often, SELL more,

  than Salespeople who Close LESS often?”

If he had conducted that experiment,
then he would have uncovered that:
People who ‘Close’ LESS often SELL MORE, and
People who ‘Close’ MORE often SELL LESS.

What he had been selling as “The Secret to Selling”,

was in fact, a DYSFUNCTIONAL Selling Skill.

THE MORE YOU DO, then THE LESS YOU SELL.

If he had used Evidence Based Research, simple behavioural research,
instead of Inductive Reasoning, then he would have found that:

The most likely Buyer response to an “Early Close” is an OBJECTION.

He would have also been able to observe that:
the more often you close, the more objections you get!

And, he would have been able to empirically measure that:
the MORE Objections you get then, the LESS YOU SELL!!

When a Positive Attitude to Closing is displayed
by “Closing” too Soon and too Often then:

You do NOT succeed in Sales!

Do NOT spend money on Sales Training without doing a Sales AUDIT first

 

Dealing with Recession and Market Downturn
is causing many Companies to consider expensive or extensive Sales Training and Coaching Makeovers.

Do a SALES AUDIT first, before you throw good money after bad!

“Our research [ The MAC Group, no connection to BMAC ] shows that in most firms,
more than half of all Customer accounts are NOT profitable.
Moreover, between 30%-and 40% are only marginally profitable.
It is only a mere 10%-15% of a Company’s Customer-Sales relationships
that generate the bulk of the profits”.

A Sales Audit MEASURES your sales force,
its individual and their total capability.

It measures your ABILITY to SELL your Product,
to your Market, against YOUR Competition.

 
A meaningful Sales Audit is a PORTFOLIO of appropriate
Sales MEASURES, for your particular Product-Market.

 

 

The Sales Audit is the baseline score (100) against which future Sales Performance, both Positive or Negative, can be measured and compared.

 

THIS IS NOT A QUESTIONAIRE OR PERSONALTY TESTS.

 

Sales Audits and Sales Assessments

The purpose of the Sales Assessment is to measure Key Performance Indicators and calculate the likelihood of Sales Performance Success. The process producing a Sales Assessment should involve a Sales Audit by an Independent Sales Assessment Professional; its purpose is to provide a measurement rather than to express an opinion about “quality” of Sales Performance.

Sales Audits should always be an Independent Evaluation, which will include some degree of quantitative and qualitative analysis, whereas an
Sales Assessment implies a consultative approach.

The Sales Audit includes both LEADING and LAGGING indicators as well as an overall Performance Benchmark.

 

 

A Sales Audit is an ESSENTIAL part of:

• Due Diligence, Pre-Acquisition, Merger or Joint Venture
• Pre-Training Project Management
• Pre-Investment (or Re-investment)
  the Sales CAPABILITY is a key indicator of likely future success.

Contact brian.maciver@gmail.com for details it’s a LOT cheaper than a mistake!

Putting the Challenger Sale to Work (SIX)

 

Making a Challenger Sales Presentation or NOT?

I love Flip Charts the fresh white surface, the smell of the permanent marker Pens! If you have been to one of my “Early Closing” days, then you know the room fills with Flip-chart pages 20 or more blue tacked to walls, windows and doors. Flip charts filled with 3M post its which are sorted, listed grouped as we identify HOW we will win the sale, and WHAT we have to do to win it!

I do not like “Whiteboards” so much, you cannot bring them with you,
and you are not allowed to take them away after you finish!

The content is temporary, like their Dry Marker Pens (more Dry than Marker) with almost no smell.
The main use I put whiteboards to is as a Projection Screen for presentations, and they are not very good at that either.
They always have a glaring, reflective “hot-spot” which prevents the viewer from seeing the best bit!

It has been with some interest that I have watched the FAD of “Sales White-boarding” grow.
Like all FADS, numerous people claim its invention. Moreover, even more “licenced”
or “accredited” to run a “White Board Sales School” Training Courses.

There is a wide range of Claims for “white boarding”, the basic claim is it’s “better” than PowerPoint.
Additional claims are its memorable, creative, flexible and persuasive.

The CLAIMED out comes of white boarding are SHORTER Selling Cycles, BETTER Sales Margins and
more acceptable to C level Buyers. Most Firms would want these.

What is the reality?    Have a look at this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_CAZkris4Q

Are their Claims met?    Is it ´operator error´ or is it the concept?

Let us compare this to a simple PowerPoint Presentation on a similar subject.

http://www2.bt.com/static/i/media/pdf/secure_internet_teleworker_presentation.pdf

There is a “script”, which the presenters are trained to “tailor” to their audience.
If it is no better, it is certainly no worse.

 

Let us look at some static images

   then this one      

 

Which is a C-level graphic, which is a play ground doodle?

 

These are two BLOG graphics from one of my favourite bloggers, a really smart guy…….

     or   

 

 

 

Many smart people are being mesmerised by this approach,

especially in MARKETING, but MOST Sales people CANNOT use it effectively,

only a very few who do use it, use it even fairly well.

 

What you did………

         what you tried to do…….  

 

My conclusion: if you have an arty degree,

especially in the graphic arts this tool may help you.

If you do NOT have any talent in lettering or drawing,
if you always lose at Pictionary,
then remember the Saying

“A fool with a tool is still a fool!” (Thanks Tamara)

 

What does all this have to do with Challenger Selling?

I have watched a series of great opportunities being blown due to inappropriate amateurish,
even childish efforts to whiteboard.  And, at the same time as the CMO is sending
more and more people of for “Training” in the ART.

Buy a copy of “The Challenger Sale” for your Salespeople instead, it’s cheaper,
the outcomes are SHORTER Selling Cycles, BETTER Sales Margins and
more “Challenging Selling” is a lot more acceptable to C level Buyers, than DOODLES.

If your PowerPoint Skills are poor, then get trained.

If your PowerPoint Presentations are boring or extra-long then buy the book “Beyond Bullet points”,
and realise the power of Great Storytelling, together with great graphics
in a really SALES PROFESSIONAL way.

 

In Challenger Selling,
you do a lot of hard work to earn your Presentation Opportunities,
DO NOT BLOW IT,
Tailor and Control it instead.

Putting Challenger Selling to Work–One

 

Top Performer Challenger Salespeople BEHAVE differently from Average (or Core) Challenger Salespeople. What is it that Challengers DO which either holds them back or makes them more successful?

One of the differences is in HOW they Challenge the Customer!

 

 

I have just reviewed a quantity of recorded sales calls.
I was running Behavioural Analysis on BOTH the Customer and the Salesperson.
Running the recordings both Forwards and Backwards

i.e. WHAT did the Sales person say to CAUSE the Customers response and

HOW did the Customer Response ENABLE the Challenger Process.

Let me share with you an Insight gathered from the recordings.

Some of the BEST Customer responses, which enable a Challenger Process,

Teach, Tailor, and Take Control were questions 
prefixed by the Salesperson with the word “HOW” in their question.

 

“How” is a very challenging question!

• HOW do you do that currently...HOW would you like it to do it in the future?
• HOW does that work...HOW should it work?
• HOW could it add more value?

Some of the WORST Customer responses were to Sales Questions prefixed with WHY.

• WHY do you do it that way?
• WHY have you not considered making Changes?
• And “any Customer Statement” then the Sales person responded WHY?

WHY, seems to put Customers into a defensive “Justification” mode,
explaining WHY they do things.

HOW, seems to put Customers into an open “Explanation” mode,
HOW things are (or How things work)

The Power of “HOW” was published in 1987 by Miller & Heiman in:
“Conceptual Selling” (P. 119), in a slightly different context.

 

Sales Challengers should be aware of HOW

it can increase their effectiveness.

Sales Challengers should be aware of WHY

they might struggle!

.

Selling is life or death.

I have been asked by a Sales Manager who I mentor,

"What’s the best way to sell life insurance?"

 

In the old days it was

“Reverse a hearse into their drive way, and then let them smell the flowers!”

 

Life Insurance was sold on a “Peace of Mind” Value,
“think of how your loved ones would be able to cope after you’re gone”. 
The Policy Holder inevitably, paid in but was not paid off.

I had identified with the Sales Manager his staff member with most success. 

She was a New Hire a Graduate Trainee, selling the product well. 

What was her secret? 

“I focus on women with new babies!” 

Every time a Pram comes in I ask
“Have you thought of increasing your own and your husband’s life cover to include the new baby?”

The most frequent answer is “We hadn’t thought about it yet.” 

Then, I give them a short overview on Fatal Illness and Life Cover. 

She was having the most success in the office!

There are a couple of really useful points. 
When “Change” happens we are more open to other “Changes”. 

Responsibility is just as good a “motivator” as fear. 

AWARENESS is the first stage in any Buying Process. 

Spot the market, prepare the offer, give the insight,
construct the Value and let the Customer Buy.

We reviewed “CHANGES” in people’s lives that might provoke an Insurance review, we found 7. 

We ran a short workshop for five staff,
on identifying changes and when identified how to introduce an “Insurance Cover Review”. 

The most successful "change" now is “empty nesters”,
over-insured Parents whose children are no longer dependant on them. 

The product?  
A reduced cost policy which meets their current reduced needs.

 

Insurance really is a cradle (or Pram) to grave business. 

So too, I think, is Selling!

The Challenger Sale and Evidence Based Selling

 

When I talk about
“Evidence Based Selling Skills”,

it begins with a blank sheet,

 

then, a list of Sales names.

 

 

 

 

 

Then, we look at what those Salespeople actually DO with Buyers,

(300 sales calls minimum)

then, we look at the results they generate,

(immediate, short-term, mid-term and long-term)

 

 

then, we identify Behaviour “difference” between
Average Performers (“core”) and Top Performers,

then, we have Average Performers
CHANGE Behaviour  what they do (or don’t do)

then, we measure if it made a “Performance” difference

(immediate, short term, midterm and long term)

 

 

 

 

 

After we have distilled (SPSS)
"What Works or Does NOT work!"
We argue a lot over the research,
was it impacted by
“Halo Effect”,
“Hawthorne Effect”,
or the “Pygmalion effect”?

Was it reliable, is it valid?

THEN, we have all Performers change,
increase (or decrease)
Evidenced Based Sales Behaviours.

 

But, we keep measuring just in case there is MORE to learn.

 

 

that’s why it takes a really long time,

that’s why it’s difficult and expensive to do and,

that’s why it WORKS!

 

Or, we could just do a quick survey on LinkedIn, about 5 days,

then read the free text boxes and promote it as insight!

 

Or, even faster, we could just think about our own selling retrospectively,

our experience and casual (not Causal) observations

then mash it up and put it out as insight!

By writing some Sales “Proverbs, Rules or Laws” of Selling.

 

Just try a proverb as an “Insight”

in a Challenger Sale and

see how long YOU last!

 

.

Three Great Selling Skills that really work.

 

Opening The Sale

is becoming a lost art.

During recent Sales Field Coaching
I have watched a few Rookies and some Veterans fumble the opening ball pretty badly.

We are in the Customer’s office;
the social pleasantries have been completed now it’s time to

OPEN THE SALE!

· “Right then, down to business!”

· “How’s business?”

Both are equally BAD,
even though one is a statement and the other a Question they BOTH immediately lose you control of the call.

You are now on the Customer’s Agenda (usually ill-prepared; as you had asked to meet them so they thought you were going to prepare an agenda.)

 

 

There are three evidence based techniques to OPEN THE SALE.

They are:

1. Initial Benefit Statement

2. Initial Problem Statement

3. Initial Value Statement

None of these are elevator pitches.

An elevator pitch is a general statement about
What your Capabilities are and How that may be of general interest to Suspects.
Keep Elevator pitches for chance meetings with strangers and elevator journeys.

Bob Apollo has written a useful guide to Elevator Pitches on this link 

http://tinyurl.com/74xggs3

Do NOT use Elevator Pitches in face-to-face sales calls, they DON’T work!

1. Initial Benefit Statements,
take a LIKELY need and show how your capability can fulfil it.

“Many Commodity Traders need the LOWEST POSSIBLE LATENCY (time delay) to make their trades early. We offer the lowest Latency from the City of London to the Frankfurt Market.”

“Would this be of interest to you?”

(36 words) with TWO simple ideas: The need for Speed and our ability to deliver Speed.
The Client was a the Head of Trading in a German Investment Bank

 

2. Initial Problem Statements, take a LIKELY Problem and show

how a Capability we have is being used to overcome the Problem.

“Recently we are being asked by more and more Clients

to help them REDUCE STAFF TURNOVER, without increasing Payroll costs.”

“Could we show you how we would be able to help you do this?”

(34 words) with TWO simple ideas, lower staff turnover and no increased costs.
The Client was the Head of HR in a Call-Centre.

3. Initial Value Statement,
are clear statements of DELIVERED Value in similar situations.

“Typically our Inventory Management System increases stock turns in a business like yours from 6 to 7 or even 8 times a year. This has delivered a 13% up to a 25% stock cost saving.”

“Is this something you would Value?

(40 words) with TWO simple ideas Increased Stock Turns and Cost Savings.
The Client was the Head of Merchandising at a large store.

In all three cases we are INITIATING The Sale with an Idea,

that is LIKELY to be of interest to the Client,

and then we ask for the Client’s agreement to continue.

In the Research none of the three techniques worked ALL the time.
Each should work about 4 out of 5 times.
If they don’t work then review your CONTENT,
it may not be relevant to the Client or the Client doesn’t understand it!

The total words used should not exceed 40.

The Initial Statement should contain only TWO ideas, THEIR need and YOUR capability.

OTS	First:	Then:	Finish
Initial Benefit Statement	NEED	BENEFIT (possible)	Question
Initial Problem Statement	PROBLEM	HELP (never a Solution)	Question
Initial Value Statement	CAPABILITY	RETURN (indicative)	Question

 

Proof Statements, if appropriate, can be used if less than 40 words from Client referrals, Testimonials, Editorials or Articles.

 

In Golf you may “Open for Show” (Drive), but “Close for Dough” (Putt), but

in Sales if you don’t “Open for Dough”, then you never get to “Close for Dough” either!

Which Sales Skills DON’T work?

 

An expression I am using more and more with Clients is
sorting the "Wheat from the Chaff".

And there is more "Chaff" in Sales “stuff”
than in the RAF and the USAF combined!

I have tried to form a set of Beliefs based on “Sales Values”

Since my Values are that all people have near infinite potential, then all people given the right opportunity and encouragement can sell.

Like most worthwhile things learning to sell, like learning to speak a second language, is a lot of hard work but we are all capable of doing it!

 

I use a winnowing process on Selling Skills, when you throw both the Grain and the Chaff in the air, then because the Grains are heavier they fall straight down but the Chaff is light weight it just blows away in the wind! The Sales “grains of truth” are heavier because they have the weight of evidence but the “Chaff” has no weight, its a Lightweight Idea and blows away!

 

 

A. Selling is a Skill set which can be learned.

B. No one is a “natural sales person”, it’s not DNA based.

C. It is NOT Personality or Trait based, either.

D. Successful Selling Skills can be observed, it is what we DO, or don’t DO, which makes us successful.

E. Show me the proof, what evidence supports the “stuff”.

F. Never take a Salesperson’s word, ask for Proof.

G. People who have never sold for a living (and gone Hungry) don’t really get Sales!

H. People (like Marketers and HR) who drink beer with Salespeople don’t really get Sales either.

Based on these Values and Beliefs there are no easy answers, no short cuts, no magic moves, no silver bullets.
Finding new stuff that is not “Chaff” is like panning for gold in a mountain stream. You find the odd nugget,
but mostly you just get wet feet, cold hands and a whole load of sludge!

 

Then, there is the good day when you come across a Masterful mother load, like Neil Rackham’s work, not just SPIN but BA, Sales Management and the Buying Process and evidence based Negotiation Skills.
Or, there is Practitioner Stuff that Holden, Miller, Heiman and Tuleja as well as TAS have produced.

We were treated last year with “The Challenger Sale”, which my Clients in Big Data, Big IT and Big Telecom are already putting to work very successfully. At the lower end (B2C) TCS is working well for Property Sales in a depressed market and Home Furnishings and Fittings, where Value counts.

However, once you start SNAPing “sales stuff” of the Airport departure lounge’s book shelf you fall into
Crazy, Facilitation, Fable, Mystery, Myth and Magik.

I have never read a “Selling My Way” book of any worth or which presented any evidence other than “Popularity”. Remember we use the expression “Popular Misconception”,
to see how stupid this is have a look at :

http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrismenning/20-popular-misconceptions

 

You could add:

1. “Cold” Calling,
2. A.B.C.,
3. Objection Handling,
4. “Pain-Point” Questioning,
5. Value “Creation”,
6. Selling By SFA, APP, CRM or Numbers,
7. Sales “forecasting”,
8. the Sales “process”,
9. “Hunters and Farmers”

but if you did then many Salespeople would have NO skills,
and Many authors would have NOTHING to write about.

 
My favourite is “Sell, without selling.”
The long awaited sequel is “Golfing, without Clubs!” should be out soon.
Or, did Wii already do it?

So, I continue to read, books and blogs, found via Twitter, about selling.
The most popular ones are written by people who don’t get it.

They offer quick tips, easy answers and proverbs,
none of which will enable you to sell;
any more than “keeping your head” down will enable you to play great Golf
or learning a few irregular verbs will help you to speak Spanish.

Then there are a few who DO get it, Dave Stein and Dick Ruff for example,
but they still want to earn a living so they are nice guys, much nicer than me! 
So, they don’t always argue when they read nonsense, even nonsense that has been registered, trademarked and copyrighted.

We don’t know the whole story, which is “How the Buyer buys”,
and HOW we as Sellers can impact, effect and influence their decisions.

Sales is the next best game to Golf, Sellers like Golfers come in all shapes and sizes, nationalities and backgrounds.
You learn how to play, you avoid the chaff, you manage your own game and you succeed.

I wouldn’t have it any other way!

 

.

7 ways to detect a Phoney Sales Trainer

 

1. Do they quote from well known courses? 

   But fail to grasp the Meaning of the Material, e.g. TAS or SPIN

   
   
   
   
   
   

2. Do they quote from self-appointed Gurus?

   Who come from the ‘self-help and actualization movement’
   e.g. Brian Tracy

   
   
   
   
   
   

3. Do they offer clichés like “feel, felt, found”
   or “people buy from people”

   dysfunctional sales skills which never worked.
   

   
   
   
   
   

4. Do they clip images from from expert blogs

   to give an air of pseudo-science and proof to their nonsense?

   
   
   
   
   
   

5. Do they confuse pseudo-science about Personality,

   Psychometrics or Emotions for Real Selling Skills?

   
   
   
   
   
   
   

6. Do they offer worthless Software Sales tools

   to help “Sell by Numbers?”
   

   
   
   
   
   
   

7. Final proof, when you read THEIR LinkedIn Profile
   did they spend 20 years in Marketing or

   does their “profile” suddenly begin 3 years ago?

   
   
   
   
   .
   

Can a 21st Century Sales Methodology be built on Proverbs?

 

I had the great fortune to know my wife’s Grandmother. Born in 1900, at the province of Soria, Castile and León, Spain. She lived to be 93 years old. She left her village Castillejo de Robledo for the first time when she was 65 years old. Leaving behind the three story house which had been the family home for 4 generations, without the benefit of running Water, Gas or Electricity. The family had lived off the land for 200 years, a few acres of Vines which made the fine Ribera de Duero Wine, a few pigs, chickens and goats in a “corral”, a Burro to help till their wheat field and a “huerta” to grow vegetables besides the river.

It would be easy to label her a Peasant Farmer or even “Peon”, and she had had no formal education being unable to read or write.  Yet she and her husband had raised and ensured that her three children were well fed and educated. All of her children left the village and they came back to take her and her husband with them when they were able to. The house now with all utilities including Broadband, has passed, along with Vineyards, to her son who summers and harvests the grapes with some of his family.

http://www.cellartours.com/spain/spanish-wine-regions/ribera-del-duero.html

I met “Abuela Germana” in her early eighties, by turns she could be talkative or silent. She was a very interesting Old Lady.
Although she had no formal education, she could neither be described as ignorant nor un-educated. She was wise.
Her wisdom was expressed by Proverbs.

“You know a person by the company they keep.”

She repeated this to her Children, her Grand-children, and Great-grandchildren.
She would deliver the saying then explain what it meant, and how to apply it to life.

We reckon, for nobody ever counted, she had more than 500 proverbs. I first noticed that her “recipes” for Cooking were expressed this way, to give the ingredients and their ratios. She recounted Proverbs for Life, for married life and family life, for Farming, relationships with the land and water, when to sow and when to harvest, the best time for the “matanza” to turn Pig into Chorizo and Jamon, for relations with friends and neighbours:

“Good walls make for good neighbours!”

Many sayings were derived from the Biblical Book of Proverbs,
but even more clearly came from folk wisdom,
garnered through centuries living and working in the same part of Spain.

You will be glad to know that I will spare you from lists of examples,
mainly because she spoke them in Castilian Spanish, but often in a dialectal form.
They were understood by her and were “her way of thinking”.

So, I am no stranger to Proverbs.

My question is “Can a 21^st century Sales Methodology be built on Proverbs?”

We could use expressions like :

· Haste makes waste

· A stitch in time saves nine.

· Ignorance is bliss

· Better late than never

· You can catch more flies with honey than
   you can with vinegar.

· You can lead a horse to water, 
   but you can't make him drink.

 

 

 

 

· Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

· A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

· A little learning is a dangerous thing.

And easily make them apply to Sales and Selling,

“People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones” could apply to relationships with the Competition.

A commonly used proverb is “Don’t knock the Competition”
but what does that mean in a 21^st century “Modern Selling” setting.

Is it glib? Has it become a cliché?

Does “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” mean that in Sales we should only pursue “sure things?”
or only take small deals or stay out of the sales underbrush and beware of Poison Ivy?

Could a Salesperson justify keeping damaging information from a customer by declaring
“Ignorance is bliss?”

Can unethical behaviour by Salespeople be justified under cover of Hyperbole
“All is fair in love and war [or sales]”

Or should we use the nemesis to successful Selling “ABC Always be Closing!”

In these “modern times” the anti-proverb is more widely used:
"Nerds of a feather flock together” could describe Facebook or perhaps better Twitter!

My answer to the question is NO!

A 21^st Century Sales Methodology,  CANNOT be based on Proverbs.

 

It leads to Sales Myopia and a Dysfunctional Selling situation.

Sales time and energy is wasted on a simple quick answer inappropriate to a Complex Selling. The basis of all FUNCTIONAL Sales methodologies is in Sales Behaviour. DOING the right thing, in the right way, at the right time, during the right circumstances not regurgitating a cliché.

 

Evidence Based Selling Skills

rest in Identifying FUNCTIONAL Selling Behaviours,
in LEARNING how to execute those Behaviours
and in actually DOING them.

Here is a little evidence, a BMAC Study of 150 Salespeople identified as Sales “Poor Performers” by their Manager and Peers’ opinions, as well as by their actual Sales Results and confirmed by the results of Sales Skills Assessment;

90% described themselves as “Skilled in Sales Methodology.”

Almost all long-term “Poor Performers” describe themselves as able to sell,
yet the evidence is overwhelming that they cannot!

 

The use of Proverbs as a Sales methodology
I would simply describe as:

“A little learning is a dangerous thing.”