Not Being Pushy Shouldn't Equal Not Selling

Once again, misconceptions about selling rear their ugly heads.

It's so fixed in the minds of many that selling equals "pushy" that many people who must sell aren't selling at all. They present their product. They'll tell you what's great about it. Maybe even ask you a question or two but leave it up to you, the prospective customer to take the lead. If the customer has no questions, makes no move to buy, then it's over. Sure, some of them will decide to buy later on, but all this technique does is leave money on the table.


Now I'm not going to advocate "pushy". It really doesn't work effectively as a long term strategy. Perhaps if you are working with a product that people will only need once, you could pull it off. However, if you're hoping for them to buy again - or give you referrals - pushy isn't your best choice.


Going in the opposite direction, isn't effective either. The goal should be to discover needs and concerns through careful questions and listening - discussing the pros and cons. If there are more pros than cons suggest the product/service as the solution.


But here's the kicker. To do this right and to be effective, you've got to practice. You need to know how to do this right. Not just a few meetings with your manager or (and this is really bad) being handed a binder or a pdf file and told to learn it.


You need to practice, you need to DO.


Only that will bring you the confidence, the results and the happy, satisfied customers who do not think you are pushy!




KRG Communications Group: we help you bridge the gap between knowing and doing. (www.krgcommunications.com) How can we help you?

Sales Process: Just as Important as Sales Skills

When most people think about the skills necessary for success in sales, they usually think about the interpersonal skills used to successfully close sales and generate business. After all, selling is all about how you deal with people, right? Well... it's not always that simple.

Sometimes the fault for poor or less than expected sales results lies not in the people skills of the sales or customer care reps in your company but rather the sales process that has been set up. Our processes can trip us up and make it harder for people to say "yes" to us. For instance:


Recently I received a call for a phone company, asking me to change my service. Now I'm always in favor of saving money so I definitely gave a listen. I gave my email address and promised to look over the information. I had a hard time listening to the rep as she appeared to be calling from a very noisy call center.


About an hour later I got a call (again from the noisy call center) from the original rep's supervisor asking for my business. I politely told her I prefer to think about this type of decision first. She offered to call me back in 3 days. The next day, I received her follow up call. No reference to the fact she wasn't supposed to call me for two days. She asked for my order again. Now, at this point, I had realized that this offer wouldn't be a good fit for me. I didn't like the length of the contact. She immediately offered a contract of a much shorter duration. I declined the offer.


Here's why I declined the offer:

• Why can't the first person conduct the entire sales process? Unless you have a brand new person or a very complicated product, there's really no reason for a second person to get involved. It smacks of poor training.

• Why is a "supervisor" calling back? Wasn't born yesterday... I've worked in industries where all the sales reps had business cards that said "vice president". Come on, we know you're the closer. There are smoother ways to handle that. (see my first point above)

• Inconsistency. If you're going to call back sooner, reference that to me. For instance "I know I'm supposed to call you back in 2 days, but I wanted to make sure you were aware of ....."

• Offered concession to fast. If you come down in price too fast, or make any concessions too quickly, it makes people feel uneasy. "What else can they compromise on? Would I have been taken advantage of if I hadn't brought that up?"

And oh yes, get a noise canceling headset...

Obviously, these techniques get sales, but how many sales are you losing? Sometimes, we forget there are human beings on the line with human reactions. We need to be able to walk the line between passive and aggressive in order to achieve our goals. Overly aggressive sales techniques increase the odds that buyers will cancel after the "aura" of the sales environment you're created goes away. For more sales and solid customer relationships, use assertive techniques that focus on your customer's needs.m

Poor sales processes can cost you just as many sales as poor interpersonal skills. Make sure yours are designed to help not hinder.

Sales or Service Success: Listening is Key

I spend a lot of time with inside sales and customer service personnel helping them improve their interpersonal skills in areas such as questioning techniques, reaching decision makers, dealing with difficult people, closing sales and so on. The key to all of it, however, is the ability to listen well.

Studies have shown that we spend about 9% of our time writing, 13% of our time reading, 23% of our time speaking and 55% of our time listening. What's staggering about that is not only do we spend most of our time listening but that we spend double the time listening as we do speaking.


Here are some things to keep in mind:
You cannot not communicate. Even when you are not verbally saying anything, you transmit messages through your non-verbal's. How you dress, your body language, we count on so many visuals to communicate.

Up to 80% of our communication skills are non-verbal. So, when you speak to someone on the telephone, in effect, you're only using about 20% of your skills.


In my work in inside sales and customer service training, I've used the phrase "Communicating Blindfolded". It's a good analogy. Think of phone work as being given a blindfold. You can hear - but you can't see. You don't have a choice, you must listen.

I consider listening to be one of the three legs of the communication stool we sit on when we communicate over the telephone. The other two are words and voice. When I began in inside sales, I only considered these last two - but the more time I spent in these activities the more I came to realize that I can never truly be effective - never really reach my potential - unless I acknowledge the need for, improved and used my listening skills.


One of the greatest obstacles to good listening, particularly over the phone is that meanings cannot be transferred from one mind to another - only words can be transferred. The challenge here is that you, as the receiver of the message, attach your own meaning to the words I sent you. This is why I'm a huge fan of using clarifying questions when I speak with someone. Just because I attach a particular meaning to certain words or phrases, doesn't mean that someone else does. Regardless of the stage I'm in the sales or service process, I need to make sure that I understand what you mean and that you understand what I mean. 

I do this by focusing only on the task at hand: listening.

Listening is affected by what's called "selective attention". This is almost as a survival technique because I can't' possibly listen to and process every sound I hear. have to use selective attention in order to listen actively - and that means I have to stay in the moment. I can't let my attention wander. If I'm on the telephone, I don't yield to the temptation of reading email, trolling the news sites online or reading that report on my desk, all while "listening" to you. Can't be done.

Remember my mantra: Multi-tasking is the enemy of good listening. 

Listen well and all will be well. 

Can I tell you a Secret about Sales and Service Coaching?

Yes, I know I look tired - but here's a short message worth listening to!

Click here for the video:

I've Got a Secret

Sales Experience is NOT all the Same

I've been reading a discussion on one of the Inside Sales boards I follow, the gist of which is that most sales managers would rather hire for sales experience than industry experience. I'm not going to disagree but I am going to posit that the issue is actually more complicated.


There are many different types of sales and most of them boil down to transactional vs. consultative. I've had the opportunity to work with both types and I've seen people go from being very successful in one and then failing when they take on a job in the other. They are usually dumbfounded and can't understand why. "I was a crack closer" they'll say. "I always exceeded my quota", they'll claim. They're right - they did. But that's not the whole story.

Let's face it, closing a sale for a car or a home improvement can be done in one call. Closing on a high dollar sale in a large business can not. Now, it's not that the skill set is different per se, but that the skills are used differently. I'll need to hand hold more people. I need to build consensus - on teams, across departments and divisions in some cases. It's a slower process. I'll ask the great questions, I'll be prepared to take my opening. However, if I don't understand how the sales process works, I'm not going to get anywhere. It works in reverse, too. If I've worked in high dollar b to b sales and now I find myself selling lower dollar, high volume consumer goods, it's going to take a while to find my footing. Unfortunately, some people never will.


So, my bottom line isn't just going to be sales experience, it's how that sales experience has been acquired and how willing the sales professional will be to learn and make changes as necessary. Everyone can learn, everyone can grow. We must be willing to take those steps and most importantly we must understand that those steps must be taken. Sales hotshot in Company A doesn't automatically translate to sales hotshot in Company B. 

As managers and trainers it's our responsibility to make sure this transition goes smoothly. On boarding and on going training and coaching are essential to the success of every salesperson who joins your team. 

Need some help making this happen in your organization? For more information, contact me at info@krgcommunications.com  

www.krgcommunications.com 

A Key Ingredient for Sales and Service Success

Can you feel the love? The like? The Dislike? The Frustration?

Do you have the ability to figuratively step into another's shoes and feel what they do?

Can you look up from your smartphone and connect with someone else? Can you stand not being the center of your universe?

Why do I ask these questions? Simple. Being able to communicate effectively requires the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes. Only when we can empathize and sympathize with others can we truly find the common ground necessary for any kind of relationship - either business or personal.

We need to connect with people. At it's very heart, sales and service is about forging connections - with suppliers, with co-workers, with customers and prospects. Companies who take a "this is what we sell, this is how we service" attitude without taking into consideration the needs of others will not find themselves successful in business for very long. Sales and service personnel will not find themselves employed for long either. 

Walk a mile in someone's shoes. 

Characteristics of Great Closed Ended Questions

Closed-ended questions serve a unique purpose in conversations. Done correctly, they require narrow answers to a specific inquiry.  The answers to these questions are typically "yes"-"no" or some other very brief answer.  Questions (or probes) of this nature perform the following functions:  

• They allow specific facts to be obtained.
• They are simple to answer. The buyers only need answer one question.     
• They are useful in a feedback process when the salesperson desires to check the communication accuracy.
• They can be used to reinforce positive statements.
• They can be used to direct the conversation to a desired topic or concern.
• They usually start with the following words: is, are, can, do,  would, could, should, may.

So, close-ended questions narrow your focus and open-ended questions broaden it.  Although sales and service training and coaching often spends much time focusing on open-ended questions, we should remember that close-ended questions also serve an important function in our efforts.