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 Paul Archer

Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? Do you dive in head first into business speak with customers or coachees? Here’s a simple reminder for us all.

I hear suit telephone sales are up so are fountain pen sales. It’s all the extra business meetings we’re having. British Airways is even offering free business class flights to anywhere in the world to small business owners looking to export abroad.

It seems that in these tough times, we’re all out drumming up business with face to face meetings. And that’s a good thing. It’s heightened our awareness to go back to the basics of selling.

And with the pressure on we’re getting straight down to business talk and this couldn’t be more dangerous. This is a big mistake when you’ve never met someone before. No, we ought to be holding back on business talk even in these pressured times and become even more interested in them, become curious about them as a person. People like to do business with people they both like and trust. OK you may not be fantastic buddies but you like and respect each other and only then will business result.

Do you know when you are with a friend, you get along really well and you become like them, you match their personality, their mood, their pace, their body language, eye contact…everything. But when you are with someone who wouldn’t be a great friend and is not like you, naturally you are not going to become like them are you?

In telephone sales though, you need to become a little bit like them so as to build trust and some likeness. For example, anyone who knows me can see that I’m quite bubbly and excitable and energetic, I like to be positive. My wife thinks I’m quite loud!

So if  I meet someone who is the opposite then I need to purposely become like their personality a little. I need to slow down, monotone my voice a little, speak like them, give them the same amount of eye contact as they give me.

I call it personality matching and it works. That way we will build a rapport, begin to trust each other and get on. Then we can start talking about business.

Mirror mirror on the wall…who is the fairest of them all? Not you, but the person you’re talking with, so let’s spend some of our attention on them and begin to match their personality before diving head first into business speak.

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

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.

On the train one spring morning to London I met three very interesting ladies who made me think about financial advisers or, in fact,
any phone sales people who want to differentiate themselves from their competition, so let me hare with you why.

These ladies are from Indonesia and live and work in Gloucester. They were dressed immaculately and were chatting and being excited about their trip to London. Being the day before Easter, the train was packed with day trippers looking forward to a day in
London and I expected these ladies to bedoing the same.

“No, we.re going to the Embassy to vote forour President”.
“Oh” I looked surprised.
“Yes”, the lady opposite me explained. “We could vote by post but we prefer to make a day of it, do some shopping, attend a show,
and enjoy each others company as well as vote”.

And that got me thinking about financial advisers and their competition. You see competition for financial advisers is not other
financial advisers, it’s the internet. But some see it as competition, some don’t. Those that fear the internet and see their products that they sell as a commodity.

And that’s dangerous. The internet sells commodities really well and will be more and more effective at this over the next few years.
If you see yourself as a phone sales person of a commodity such as a life assurance, health insurance, pensions and such then you are
doomed. Doomed to be discarded in favour of the internet that’ll sell this much better than you, and cheaper too.

Now my ladies on the train could have voted by post but preferred to enjoy the attractions of London – shopping, seeing a show.
In the same way a client meeting a financial adviser will enjoy what they have to offer. Professional advice, consultation, listening to
their goals and problems and then advisingthem from a plethora of products which ones would help them achieve their goals or solve
their problems.

Many people will prefer to buy these products quickly and painlessly on the internet, but equally many will prefer the longer advice
version.

So be crystal clear as to what you sell. Commodities or advice. And then ensure your clients know exactly how you work right
upfront to overcome the internet objection that will rear its ugly head later. And remember you.re in business to understand
your clients first and foremost. Your job is not to sell products but to understand your client.s position, so invest in your skills this
year and next to do this even better that you are right now.

Maybe the internet can give advice in the future but it will not be automated, this can’t be one. This is what will happen in the future.
Your hologram will be transported to the client via the internet, saving you physically travelling to them.

The technology is there right now to do this,but it costs a small fortune. The internet can transport holograms – pop stars and
politicians are doing it now. Robbie Williams was beamed to a concert recently, Prince Charles was beamed to a conference last
year, and CEOs of major corporations are using this technology to hold important summits without leaving their homes.

But at the moment it’s too expensive for everyone.

In 5 years time we’ll all be using the same technology but it will still be you that is giving the financial advice the client needs who
prefers to get from you rather than buying the commodity over the internet.

So beware that you don’t slip into commodity selling.

And my Indonesian ladies, they were really looking forward to their mini break in London. Poor me – I was on business.

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 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 Paul Archer

A few readers wrote to me just before Christmas asking for help. Both were struggling to get in front of new prospects to sell their services and products. Both had excellent propositions but found call reluctance to be as problem and prospects unwillingness to speak with them preferring to “weather the storm” and batten down the hatches.

Have you experienced this as well?

I think we all have to some degree and unless you’ve had your head in the sand, you’ll recognise that we are going through a downturn. Now I don’t sign up for the “business is better that it’s ever been, I’m busier than ever, what recession?” brigade; these people seem to be just massaging their egos when they print this stuff.

The plain fact is – we have to prospect more than ever before. Working harder and smarter at getting to speak with new customers, will help us succeed in this economy.

I think we’ve all got the phone sales skills but maybe haven’t had to use them so much over the last five to six years since there’s been plenty of business to go around.

So now’s the time to smarten up our prospecting tools, or client acquisition tools as this is now known as.

Here are some quick phone sales tips to help you.

• Examine your product and service and be crystal clear as to what problem it solves. Problems in recessions are all about saving costs and increasing revenue, getting invoices paid on time, preventing suppliers going bust and such like. Try to think like your customers and be totally clear as to what problems your product solves

• What is your customer segment? Be as precise as you can as to which type of customer has the problems that your product or service solves and then focus on these customers.

• Decide on your marketing to reach these customers. There are many routes to market that you can choose but the quickest and most decisive is still telephoning them to make an appointment to see them.

• Get over any phone sales call reluctance.

• Dedicate specific blocks of time in your diary to make calls to prospects.

• Aim simply for a face to face appointment nothing else. Don’t get into conversations, send out literature etc. These never work, although we think the do at the time, are easy to do, quite gratifying but divert your attention to the job of making appointments.

• Be up front with your prospect on the phone about the problem that your product solves and ask for an appointment.

• Don’t ask “if it’s convenient to call” you’ll lose sales if you do this. Instead say “if it’s convenient to speak right now I’d like to…” Subtle difference. And if you feel brave enough, don’t even ask, just launch into your opening.

• Learn how to politely persevere on objections twice and then leave the prospect alone. Keep coming back to the objective of asking for an appointment.

• Sticky tape the phone to your wrist and don’t put it down. Use the 60 second rule. This ensures you get onto the next call within 60 seconds, no longer.

• Spend a maximum of 60 minutes making appointment calls.

• Reward yourself when you.re done as making appointments is stressful, there’s no way around it. Yes alpha male macho types will tell you they enjoy it but you look at the burnout rate of call centre direct sales people.

It’s hard, full of rejection and people saying no, occasional rudeness and extremely easy to put off to-do another job.

We all need more prospects right now and making appointments via phone is the quickest and most effective method of doing so. Dig out all those customers that have connections to your company, old names and phone numbers. Those people who you never had the time to contact. Maybe buy some lists or leads and start to make those calls with the specific intention of making an appointment.

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