This is a guest post from Paul Archer

With the credit crunch biting many of us are keeping a close eye on our bank accounts lest they go into the red. If you do, be prepared for a hefty fine from the bank.

But what about our customer care bank account?

Keep your Customer Care Bank Account in Credit.

It’s a clever analogy really because it really helps us to focus on continuous good customer care. Let me explain Last month I was on business in Ipswich and stopped off at a Travel Lodge just outside of town on the ring road. The next morning I had to be in the centre of town for a 9am start. So how do I get into the centre of a very old city? Drive? Train? Bus?

No I thought I’d try the Park and Ride. And what a surprise. Easy to get to off the ring road with its own dedicated slip lane. Free and plenty of parking. A modern station where you could buy your ticket using credit cards and at only £2.80 return, a major bargain compared with parking costs and petrol.

A smart, modern and clean bus turned up every ten minutes and whisked you into the city centre within 10 minutes as this lucky new bus had its own bus lane. How cool. Especially when I watched all those angry drivers cooped up in their cars on the journey in.

I hopped off the bus and they’ve even thought of this. The exit was exactly the same level as the pavement so no hopping required. Brilliant.

And I was at my venue for 8.15 refreshed and ready for the day.

Ipswich Park and Ride has their customer care bank account well in credit.

Expecting an equally pleasant ride home I was mistaken. Road works meant the busstop had been re-sited but no one had told the bus driver this as he sped past us all waiting at the temporary stop. Very frustrating. So I trudged to the next stop to catch the next one. On the way out, there was no bus lane so it took double the time to get to the station.

But do you know what? I didn’t mind. Yes these were problems; some would say deal breakers, but the park and ride were well in credit with me and I let these two items flow over me. If they hadn.t built up a credit, I doubt if I would be as so lenient. The lesson. Make sure you always keep your customer care bank account in credit and your customers might let you off the odd slip. Would I use the Park and idea again? You bet I would.

Paul Archer is an international sales speaker, sales trainer, author and coach based in the UK. He specializes in rapport selling and rapport coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small. For more information on Paul and his training courses, visit www.archertraining.co.uk or his sales  blog at www.paularcher.com.

This is a guess post by Paul Archer

Be careful of speaker phones or hands-free mobile phones as they might be giving your customer the wrong message.

This afternoon I was sitting in Starbucks enjoying a double espresso and the guy on the next table was using his mobile phone with his speaker enabled. I appreciate that mobile phones are supposed to give us all radiation poisoning if we press them to our ear, but the information he was giving his customer was terribly public. He didn’t seem to mind bless him, but I bet the customers did, if they knew.

Worse than that are conference facilities built into many landline phones. It might be more convenient for you to use this feature when contacting customers but again the same negative message is being given to your customer. Who else might be listening comes to mind. Besides speaker phones sound like you’re in a public lavatory.

A final phone tip for you. If you find yourself working from home and need to make prospecting or client based calls and the background noise just doesn’t work for you. Children making a noise, dogs barking and such…then download a sound file from the internet which mirrors a busy office noise and play it on your computer.

I use one and although my customers probably don’t mind where I am, the comforting office sound made me feel more relaxed and I perform better on the phone as a result. Try it – it works.

Paul Archer is an international sales speaker, sales trainer, author and coach based in the UK. He specializes in rapport selling and rapport coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small. For more information on Paul and his training courses, visit www.archertraining.co.uk or his sales  blog at www.paularcher.com

This is a guest post by Jill Konrath

What are the main issues you face when you target new vertical markets where you don’t  have any experience in that area. Also, how do you overcome these problems?

I get asked those questions frequently. But usually it’s after the decision has already been made and the poor salespeople are struggling to gain a foothold in the new vertical market.

If you’re considering moving your company in a new business direction, here are my suggestions:

Your biggest issue will be credibility. Corporate decision makers don’t want to be your first client in a vertical market. They don’t want to have to educate you since it takes up their precious time.

Even though you’re a good company, they know that your lack of experience could lead to time-consuming and costly errors. They don’t want to risk this happening.

1. Move into the market slowly.
Don’t bet your company on success in the new vertical. Study the industry. Learn their terminology. Know their competitors. Double check for “fit”. I’ve seen way to many companies leap into new markets because they sense greater opportunity there than in their current market space.

2. Define the business case.
Uncover how they’re currently handling things related to your offering. What are the common status quo scenarios? What business objectives will they have difficulty achieving unless they change the status quo? What are the financial ramifications of these? Then define the value they’ll get from changing to your product/service.

Potential clients need to hear a strong value proposition that clearly articulates the business outcomes they’ll realize by using your offering. Use business terminology, not techie talk.

3. Create linkage.
If possible, try to create a link between your current customer base and your new one. If all your clients are schools and now you want to move to theme parks, you need to be able to clearly articulate why it’s relevant.

As an example, last week I had lunch with a good friend who spent over 20 years in marketing with a large accounting firm. She was laid off a while back. Now she wants to work with technology companies.

After analyzing both industries, combined with her experience we realized that her expertise was in helping company’s implement strategic changes in their marketing. That positioning makes sense to potential decision makers – and minimizes the “you don’t have any experience with companies like mine” objection.

4. Pursue smaller opportunities first.
This significantly reduces the decision maker’s perceived risk in moving ahead with a new player in the market. Then, make sure you do a superb job on delivering on what you promised. After that, pursue additional opportunities within the account to expand your footprint.

5. Train your salespeople on all the above.
Without this knowledge, they will flop. That I can guaranteed 100%. Ultimately these people have to make it happen. Don’t send them into the field with some worthless PowerPoints explaining your technology in excruciating detail. They need to be able to have intelligent business conversation with decision makers.

6. Create field-ready sales tools.
Focus especially on the early stages of the sales cycle. Your sales reps are going to have a tough time setting up meetings. Show them how to integrate their value proposition into phone calls, voicemails and emails.

Give them relevant white papers and case studies that are closely aligned with this new market segment. They must be able to show your company’s expertise to customers, so this is a necessity – even if you’re moving to a new market.

Create a “question matrix” that outlines what they should be looking for on calls and the questions they should ask to uncover this information. Develop customer-focused PowerPoints to use on follow-up meetings.

7. Pray!
It takes a lot of hard work to succeed in a new marketing segment. Implement the above suggestions and your chances of success increase. Rush blindly ahead and you’ll most likely waste tons of money, put your firm in financial distress, frustrate your sales force and create incredible internal animosity.

Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies, helps sellers crack into corporate accounts, shorten sales cycles and win big contracts. She’s a frequent speaker at annual sales meetings, kick-off events and professional conferences. For timely and provocative sales advice, visit www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com

This is a guest post by Paul Archer

I’d like to show you a great tip when you really need to appreciate what your customer is thinking. Ideal for the consultative salesperson and sales coach.

I’ve never travelled on a rollercoaster. Honest, I know it sounds remarkable, but I’ve never had the courage to climb in the small cab and ride the heart wrenching and stomach churning experience.

Until one afternoon over Christmas when my youngest son dared me to get on the ride at Poulton’s Park. Now if you ever want to motivate me to do something, you only need to dare me. I think it’s hard wired into most
men.

I watched Euan first and thought I’d use the 1st, 2nd, 3rd position that we use all the time when selling. Now this clever little tip helps
you see, feel and fully understand what it’s like for someone else and in sales, is a really useful way of exploring the customer’s point of view.
1st position is where you look at things through your own eyes and as I stared at Euan on the rollercoaster all I could think of was fear, trepidation, how foolish, help! 2nd position is where you step out of your
shoes and move into the customer’s shoes and look at thinks through this person’s eyes, in other words see and feel their point of view.

So I tried this and moved into Euan’s shoes. Initially I could still feel my fear and trepidation, but I kept at it and began to see how Euan saw the ride. He was smiling and cheering, so loud I could hear him from where I was standing. As he approached the top of the loop just before he was to plunge downwards at breath-taking speed, his look was of apprehension but total excitement. He was enjoying the thrill of the ride and I started to feel what this was like for him. 3rd position is where you stand back, disassociate yourself from both viewpoints and look objectively at the situation. With customers, we get to see their views and yours in tandem. On the rollercoaster I could see Euan’s viewpoint, mine and the other passengers on the coaster. I realised that everyone seemed to be having fun and that this miserable father was seeing the rollercoaster in a very blinkered way.

And did I enjoy it? Yes I did, and I had to go on it again and again. In fact since it wasn’t too busy I went on the same ride 3 times and Euan now thinks his Dad is real cool. So next time you really want to appreciate your customer’s point of view, go from 1st position, to 2nd and then finally to 3rd position.

Paul Archer is an international sales speaker, sales trainer, author and coach based in the UK. He specializes in rapport selling and rapport coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small. For more information on Paul and his training courses, visit www.archertraining.co.uk or his sales  blog at www.paularcher.com

This is a guest post by Paul Archer

Have you ever given your negative emotions away with your body language and wish you had stayed in control? Then you.ll be aware of your leakage. Read on to see how you can make this body language principle work well for you in selling and coaching.

Cold yet bright, London can be a great city to do business in. But eventually we all like to get home. Except I.d missed my train by a whisker. Now trains run from Paddington Station to Cheltenham every two hours so I had a long wait.

So I settled down to a long strong coffee at Starbucks and began to watch people. I love watching people, recognizing their body language, guessing what they.re thinking, don.t you just love that pastime.

In walked this young chap and he began to queue looking at the various coffees and goodies he could buy when he caught sight of the extremely good looking girl sitting in the corner sipping her latte.

What I saw was amazing – not the girl but the boy.s body language which reacted dramatically as a summer storm. His eyes widened, a big smile appeared and his stomach shrank as be pulled his stomach in and his chest out. His body language showed leakage.

I call it leakage when someone suddenly changes their body language for a reason – it really is quite spectacular when it happens and can be very useful in selling and coaching.

It.s useful to know about leakage for yourself and for your clients. Observing your client.s leakage is vital if you want to look for non verbal buying signals, which I always believe are the best ones. The body never lies but people have been known to tell them instead. Use “test” closing to check for body language leakage. “How does that sound?” or “What do you think so far?” Watch them carefully for those sudden changes. Focus on the face as that.s where we can.t hide our feelings.

Calibrate what normal looks like for them and compare with the leaked facial expressions and you can tell instantly whether they.re happy or not, or want to buy from you or not. Be aware of your own leakage as well. When you.re presenting to clients and you.re posed a tricky question, don.t give away your position by leaking your body language. Ask someone what happens to you when you are put under some pressure and learn to mask this the next time it happens. I.ve often seen this with people who are presenting in public and get a difficult moment, such as a question or their remote breaks down or they forget what to say next.

Leakage observation can also help you if you want to see how someone reacts to you. Now this chap in Starbucks would have been better off if he kept his eye on the pretty girl as her body language leaked as well. She couldn.t keep her eyes off him and her leakage was striking. If only he.d read my article and glanced at her – they might have had a great future together. But instead he left with his skinny latte in a rather rushed manner. The innocence of youth or is it body language naivety.

Paul Archer is an international sales speaker, sales trainer, author and coach based in the UK. He specializes in rapport selling and rapport coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small. For more information on Paul and his training courses, visit www.archertraining.co.uk or his sales  blog at www.paularcher.com

This is a guest post by Jill Konrath

Cold calling is tough. We all struggle with it. That’s why I laughed today when I talked with Sara, who works for a New York-based PR firm. She’d just seen my new video clips where I’m speaking about the challenges of phone sales and connecting with corporate decision makers.

Sara understood exactly what I was talking about! That’s when she told me her story:

I was calling a major media outlet to “pitch” one of our clients. Of course, I got voice mail. About half way through my message, my mind went totally blank. So I hung up.

As soon as my memory returned, I recalled the client and picked up exactly where I left off …

“Hi. This is Sara calling again. We must have gotten disconnected. As I was saying…”

Now that’s quick thinking. I wish I’d thought of it!

Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies, helps sellers crack into corporate accounts, shorten sales cycles and win big contracts. She’s a frequent speaker at annual sales meetings, kick-off events and professional conferences. For timely and provocative sales advice, visit www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com

This is a guest post by Paul Archer

Test closes are brilliant ways of testing the water with your customers. We all use them probably without even knowing it as it’s

something you always hear top performing sales people doing.

Tell me the difference between these three

test closes:

• How do you feel so far?
• How does it look to you so far?
• What are you saying to yourself so far?
• What are you hearing so far?

They all attempt to do the same thing, in other words, test the customers’ views and thoughts so you can continue with the meeting. Classic test closing. I wonder which one you tend to use with your clients or when coaching.

And I bet one of them really hit the mark with you, or resonated with you more, or was a question you could personally relate to.

You see the four test closes are carefully scripted to appeal to your thinking style. NLP gives us visual, kinaesthetic, auditory and digital thinking styles and everyone has a preference to think predominantly in one fashion although we’re quite capable of using all of them. We just prefer one.

If you can gauge your customer’s preferred style, then change your language to suit their favourite. Do start with one of the four test closes from above because it’s easy to do so, gets you into the habit and you could start tomorrow, couldn’t you?

The best way to calibrate your customers’ preferred thinking style is to listen to their language or keep an eye on their eye movements. There’s a great article on eye movements in our knowledge bank.

Paul Archer is an international sales speaker, sales trainer, author and coach based in the UK. He specializes in rapport selling and rapport coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small. For more information on Paul and his training courses, visit www.archertraining.co.uk or his sales  blog at www.paularcher.com

This is a guest post by Jill Konrath

In Part I: We focused why asking the “How Can I?” question is the key to getting unstuck and achieving your objectives. Part II continues with more examples.

Creating an Entirely New Revenue Stream

Several years ago, I lost my two bread-and-butter clients when the investment community demanded better financial results. Both these firms immediately suspended all “extraneous” projects – which included all my work with them.

While in the process of rebuilding my business, I did some free consulting for a small magazine serving the entrepreneurial community. I became enamored with the vitality of these firms as well as their contribution to the economy.

But the failure rate was sky high. Good businesses being run by well-intentioned people were closing down because the founders didn’t understand how to sell. It about drove me crazy.

For months, I kept asking myself, “How can I share my expertise with these people and make some money doing it?”

It was a real conundrum. Entrepreneurs don’t have deep pockets. When they hire consultants, they want to squeeze as much advice from them in the shortest possible time. In short, despite the apparent need, I couldn’t figure out how to make a living.

But I kept the question open, choosing not to say ‘no’ yet. Instead, I kept researching and asking the question repeatedly – in multiple variations.

One day, the answer came to me: I’d create a website called Selling to Big Companies where I could give away lots of good sales advice for free. Plus, I could offer some premium content such as ebooks, emanuals and teleseminars. While doing this, I could still serve my corporate clients.

I knew I’d finally hit on a viable business model, and, as they say, the rest is history.

Trust the Questions

Over the years, I’ve come to trust this “How can I” strategy implicitly. Whenever I pose these questions to myself, the answers always come.

They’re better ideas than I could have ever thought of myself. While that sounds strange to say, it’s really true.

Right now, I trust the question again with the Sales SheBang – my online resource, conference and community for women in sales. I’m asking myself questions such as:

• How can I attract savvy saleswomen to the 2008 Sales Shebang Conference ?
• How can I fund this project so that I can make it bigger & better?
• How can I make it an incredible value for the women who come?

The good news is that the ideas are already streaming in. The bad news is that I appear to be a bottleneck in my own system. Too much is on my plate right now, so I’m adding resources to help out. In truth, it’s really not a bad problem to have.

But it all starts with that “How Can I…?” question. Without a doubt, it’s the best strategy in the whole world for reaching your unreachable goals.

Invite others to help you answer your questions. Track down a top salesperson and ask for their insights: How can I be more successful? How can I close more business?

Ask an entrepreneur: How can I create the company of my dreams? How can I get more done in the same amount of time?

The answers are already out there. You just need to ask the questions!

Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies, helps sellers crack into corporate accounts, shorten sales cycles and win big contracts. She’s a frequent speaker at annual sales meetings, kick-off events and professional conferences. For timely and provocative sales advice, visit www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com ]]> http://www.telesalesmagic.com/prospecting/part-2-tips-on-what-to-do-when-youre-totally-stuck/feed/ 0 http://www.telesalesmagic.com/prospecting/beware-of-the-status-quo/ http://www.telesalesmagic.com/prospecting/beware-of-the-status-quo/#comments Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:57:51 +0000 Chris Ducker http://www.telesalesmagic.com/?p=2356

This is a guest post by Paul Archer

Welcome to the most widespread objection today and its not price.

Apparently they’re starring at Glastonbury this summer. I’m talking about Status Quo the rock band whom my 71 year old father is going to see in concert later this month. That shows you how long they’ve been around.

But the status quo have recently become quite a problem for sales people and I’m no longer talking about the band – I’m referring to lethargy or not taking any action.

Apart from the Internet, it’s the status quo that is today.s newest and biggest competitor. Customers are inclined to take no action unless we allow them to see the danger of this course and maybe the cost of doing nothing.

This extra competition that we’re now up against, doesn’t allow us to use our traditional objection handling strategies as we’re not having to compare our product or service with the competitors or justify its value. Instead we have to make sure we let our customer see the problems of not taking our advice.

And we must weave this into our sales patter.

This is particularly important for financial services salespeople who sell an invisible product. There’s an old adage that life assurance is sold and never bought and this is even more prevalent today. Make your customer aware of the dangers of the status quo; ask them what might happen if they don’t protect themselves in the event of their partner’s death, the issues this might bring up in their lives.

Questions, questions, questions – that’ll help them see the perils on inaction.

Let them explore in their mind the consequences of doing nothing and treat the status quo as just another competitor that you need to avoid during your selling process.

And Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt from Status Quo can keep rocking all over the world until they’re ready to pick up their pension. I do believe Francis is 60 next birthday. Fantastic.

Paul Archer is an international sales speaker, sales trainer, author and coach based in the UK. He specializes in rapport selling and rapport coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small. For more information on Paul and his training courses, visit www.archertraining.co.uk or his sales  blog at www.paularcher.com

This is a guest post by Jill Konrath

You’ve been there before. And, so have I.  Perhaps you have aggressive competitors who  you just can’t seem to beat. Maybe the economy is hitting your territory pretty badly. Or, perhaps you’ve been slacking off a bit lately and it’s catching up to you.

It doesn’t much matter what the reason though when your goals seem unreachable and you don’t have a clue how to achieve them.

Stuck is stuck. If you knew what to do, you’d have already taken action.

When you’re struggling, it doesn’t help to have your boss say, “You need more sales.” Duh! Comments like that just add additional stress to the difficult situation.

Nor does it help to continually tell yourself, “I have to get more business” or “I must come up with a better plan.” All that does is push the panic button.

Did you know these statements actually cause your brain to freeze up?

It’s true. They literally immobilize your creative juices, enabling you to see fewer solutions to your dilemma. Plus, the ideas you do come up with are typically stale (e.g., make more calls) and don’t give you an edge in today’s competitive marketplace.

So, if you’re in a rut, what can you do? Or, if you have an audacious goal, how can you get there?

The Answer: Ask, “How Can I …?”

This is the start of a simple, but powerful question that unlocks your thinking and enables you to see fresh perspectives where none existed before.

Look for different ways to finish the “How Can I” question. Play with it. Why? Because when you phrase the question in new ways, you’ll come up with different answers. For example, you might ask yourself:

• How can I increase my sales?
• How can I get bigger contracts?
• How can I focus on customers that are more profitable?
• How can I free up time to pursue more business?
• How can I leverage new offerings to get my foot in the door?

As you can see, each of these questions leads your thinking down a whole different pathway. And, instead of feeling like you’re carrying an insurmountable burden, suddenly the creative YOU jumps into action, ready to help you out. Your “oomph” returns, along with a whole slew of ideas.

Let me give you a couple ways I’ve used this “How Can I” strategy in my sales career.

Dealing With Slumps at Xerox

Much as I hated slumps, there were times when my pipeline was nearly empty and I had no idea how I was going to make my quota. When that happened, I’d go to breakfast alone, carrying only a notebook and pen.

Over a couple hour discussion with myself, I’d pose and answer questions such as:

• How can I get more business from my existing customers?
• How can I find prospects who are ready to buy now?
• How can I leverage my relationships to find more opportunities?

At first, I’d jot down whatever thoughts came to mind. Then, I’d expand on each of the thoughts, adding more detail and flushing out the concept. Before leaving, I’d evaluate & prioritize the ideas and then create an action plan to move forward.

The best part of this process is that it was re-invigorating. Rather than feeling stumped or at the mercy of slow-moving decision makers, I felt empowered again. With a renewed sense of momentum and an action plan, I always got results. Big results.

… and speaking of “big,” I’ll continue on that theme in my next post.

Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies, helps sellers crack into corporate accounts, shorten sales cycles and win big contracts. She’s a frequent speaker at annual sales meetings, kick-off events and professional conferences. For timely and provocative sales advice, visit www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com