Don't Telegraph Your Technique

People like dealing with people. True? I think so and more importantly people are more likely to buy from people they like. Putting them up against a sales system and they become nervous or resist being sold to.

That's why you sales presentation should be practiced to the extent that it becomes natural and that your training is not too obvious.

The time to make you training obvious is in the classroom. Your sales trainer will want to see that you understand and can use the techniques you've been given. It's like sitting your driving test when your trainer will suggest that you off-set your rear view mirror to ensure that it is obvious to the instructor that you are using it. Once you've passed your driving test, you'll put the mirror to a position that you only need to glance at it.

The same is true in the classroom. The sales trainer will want to see you use the techniques in an obvious way but.......that won't necessarily work for you in the real world. The secret is to understand and be able to use the sale training you have been given but to fine tune and introduce you own style to make it natural. So you don't become a script-reader or selling robort. No customer will feel comfortable with that.

In fact this 'selling by numbers' approach is like a red light to a customer. "Hang on, I know where this is going!" And the barriers go up. Keep it real.

Hand-outs - Fuel Up!

How To Sell Coach

Hand-outs, company or product literature are rarely written by sales people. Generally they are given to the marketing department and sometimes the junior person in that department. They can be very good but they can also be very bad. Sometimes they can be sent out late, or not at all.

But here's a question - who will be responsible for the lost sale? More often than not, the sales person. Presenters and electronic sales presentations are the same - they need to be right too.. I remember being given a presenter for my first field sales job. It was rubbish. The images looked like a school scrap book, the figures were out of date it even had spelling mistakes.

I know it is easier to say than to do, but don't tolerate poor promotional or sales literature. If you are in the fortunate position of writing its or influence who does, why wouldn't you make it the best it can be. Make it sales effective but not salesy.

It may be that you are working for a company who have spent thousands on producing what they believe to be outstanding sales literature. A masterpiece. But in truth, it it affects you job, it affects you!. Therefore do what you can to change it. The use of visuals in any form undoubtedly helps in you customer understanding and retaining information from your presentation so it must work for you.

Stupidly, in that first job, I decided to make my own and was royally roasted by the sales trainer for doing so. (And here was me thinking I would be rewarded for showing initiative. Well you live and learn.) But I went about it all the wrong way. I should have taken the opportunity to present some idea's and when I did take this approach, it was well received. Better than that, it was decided to have a brainstorming session after the next sales meeting and some of the team were sitting on much better ideas than mine. All to the good.

Little point going into a presentation without as much as you can have with you to achieve a successful outcome. It's like trying to drive you car with not fuel. Even if you're making the noises - you're still going nowhere!

Keep Your Goals In Front of You

How To Sell Coach

Isn't is strange that when you least expect it, life can give you lessons. Just little things, seemingly insignificant. Sometimes we miss the message and other times they can serve as a reminder that we need to do something, re-focus or take action. This week I had a moment like that.

I decided I needed a change. Nothing big, I just wanted to move my office around - make it work better for me. Make sure I had everything at hand. So that's what I did and spent Sunday morning moving furniture, filing cabinets and equipment so that everything was just right. When it was all done and looking good I sat back admiring my efforts and looking forward to how much better I was going to feel when I sat down to work the next day.

Monday, I was full of enthusiasm - good to go. As the day progressed something didn't feel right, but I decided to work on anyway. By the evening (not having had my most productive day I have to say) I decided to take a couple of minutes to reflect on this. I looked round at my newly laid out office. Everything was where it should be - in it's place.

Then it hit me. My Goals Board! I have a big white board on the wall. On one side I have my Goals and on the other, I write my daily actions. In my 'old' office, my desk was right in front of the Goals Board so every time I looked up, my Goals were in front of me. When I moved stuff around, my Goals Board was behind me. I had turned my back (literally) on my Goals!

It just didn't feel right. I had re-positioned everything apart from the one thing that was the most important. And it was in the perfect place. What to do? Simple - move it all back. But there was a clear message for me here. Keep your Goals in front of you at all times. Focus on them. Work on them. Make it a habit to study them every day.

This simple act of turning my back on my Goals in itself made me focus on them and I ended up re-writing them. All is good again.

Selling - Trust Your Swing

How To Sell Coach

Recently I read and article about Jack Nicklaus, undoubtedly one of the greatest golfers of all time. It explained that before every shot, Jack takes a few seconds to visualise the shot, more importantly, the successful outcome of the shot.

In his mind he would see and hear the club head making perfect contact with the ball.
He would watch the ball make a perfect flight down the centre of the fairway, resting in the exact position to make the ideal approach to the green. Guess what, no doubt he had the perfect lie as well!

Now that's visualisation and the success it can help bring. A valuable lesson we can all learn from.

It also reminded me of a guy I used to work with, Pete. He too believed (as I do) in the power of visualisation. A couple of times a year we used to have a company golf outing and this year I was partnered with Pete. I agreed to pick him up early so we could get to the event in plenty of time.

He loaded his gleaming clubs into my car but before taking a seat he took a half shaft of a golf club from his bag. I was puzzled. It just had a grip and part of the shaft - no club head! Odd I thought so I asked, "What's that for Pete?" To which he told me that he liked to practice his grip before playing and would use the time in the car to work on it before we arrived at the course.

Wow, I thought. That's dedication! Anyway, we were standing on the tee and Pete was up. Approaching the ball, he took three practice swings and then stood back. Like the great Jack Nicklaus he began to visualise the shot, it's perfect flight and exactly where it would land. After three more practice swings and a slight adjustment of his grip - Pete was ready.

Whack!! 50 yards straight into the trees! He did the same thing for 18 holes! Having spent more time looking for his ball than concentrating on my game, by hole 7 my round and nerves were in tatters. On the tee of hole 8, I asked Pete, "Pete, had much golf this year?" Turned out that the last time he had played was the same event last year!

Ah, so may we be beginning to see the potential problem here? Perhaps. While we would all agree that visualisation works in any walk of life including selling, it will not work if you don't practice your skills. Make the calls. Make mistakes, learn from them, make corrections and improve.

How many practice balls do you think Jack Nicklaus has hit in his career? Millions. So he didn't become successful by chance. Gary player once said, " The more I practice, the luckier I get." And that is also true for sales. You have got to make the calls, practice you skills, then make them better. As you practice the skills will come more naturally. You'll be able to trust your swing.

If visualisation we all you needed to be successful - I'd have the perfect six-pack!

Cold Calling - Don't be pushed off the ball

How To Sell Coach

I was speaking with a friend the other day who recently started his own business. When he opened the door of his new venture, he full of enthusiasm for the future and ready to take on the world but the person I was speaking to now was quite different.

Clearly something had changed. The conversation went on and from previous discussion I knew that he was planning a mailshot and follow-up phone call to prospective customers to drum up some business - so I asked how that went.

Ah, now the problem became clear. The mailshot went out and even without a telephone follow-up, he immediately had two enquiries which he converted to sales. Outstanding! Particularly as it wasn't a large mail out.

"That's great," I said. "You must be really happy with that. The mailer has paid for itself many times over and it is clear that people want what you're offering."

"Yeah, I am pleased with it," he replied "and I got some more business from the telephone calls - which was good."

"So, what's the problem?" I asked "Why are you not happy?"

"Well, it's the cold calling bit that I struggled with. Just picking up the phone and dialling the number was a real challenge - so much so, that I haven't done any calls for ages and didn't complete the follow-up calls from the mailer."

"OK, I totally understand the difficulties of cold calling, believe me but you had had some success. What pushed you off the ball?" I asked - and that was the killer question!

My friend then told me that he had been called by a person who had received the mailer. It appears that they went ballistic.
Where did you get my contact details from?
Why are you writing to me?
I want to be removed from your mailing list right now or I'll call my lawyer and write to the data protection people.

Woah! I asked my friend how he handled the call as clearly he had been quite shaken by such a reaction. He handled it perfectly. He apologised for any inconvenience receiving the letter had caused, told him that his contact details were publically available and confirmed that he would be immediately removed from his mailing list.

Better than that, my friend asked for his contact details to be passed to the customers lawyer and that he would be happy to speak to him and offered to buy the complainant lunch when next he was in town by way of an apology. ( I particularly like that the lunch offer. Many people are what I call 'Brave by Telephone.' You also get 'Brave by Email')

How to Sell Coach Top Tip - If you get a complaint by email, clearly try to resolve it there and then. But if it becomes clear that the complainant wants to play email tennis, offer to meet with them. I have found that even by just doing that, you can change their attitude quickly.


Anyway, back to my friend. "That all sounds good. You handled it well and did all you could." But the problem was that the call had 'pushed him off the ball.' Stopped him making further call because he didn't want that type of reaction again. In truth, one call was seriously affecting his business!


Let's get this into prospective. I said to my friend:

1. You run a good, ethical and professional business. I have no doubt that this person would have benefited from the services you offer but it's his choice not to and that's OK.
2. Very likely if he handles himself in this way, you wouldn't want him as a client.
3. You dealt with him in a professional manner.

And that's all good but lets get on to the important stuff:

1. You are letting him effect you.
2. Your are letting him effect your business.
3. You are letting him effect your ability to make money.

And trust me, he's not that important! You're making him important by allowing yourself to feel this way.

So if you're Cold Calling, yes you will get some negative reactions and some extreme reactions but you can't let that push you off the ball. In years to come, when you have made your money and achieved success - will you even remember this call (as they likely will not remember you) so why let it effect you in this way.

And while you are enjoying the fruits of your success, walking along the beach at you favourite holiday destination - what's the chances of you meeting this person? Slim to none. And what would it matter if you did?

"Come on," I said, "let's make some calls!" We did, there and then and got two further appointments, both were converted to sales later that week. 

So, keep you goals right in front of you. They are the only things that are important.