15

From The Trenches

A few final thoughts about what it takes to become the best salesperson possible, and some questions and answers to help you achieve your goal.

Every morning, Cindy sends me an inspirational quote via e-mail. I enjoy them so much, it inspired me to include quotes at the beginning of every chapter of this book. Cindy is also my copyeditor, so, whenever I finish a chapter, I give it to her to find my mistakes and make my writing better.

Yesterday about 6 p.m., I handed her Chapter 14 for editing, and told her I’d be starting this chapter – the last – today. Then we promptly went out to dinner – in part to celebrate how far we’ve come, and in part to dream about hitting the top of the best-seller list.

This morning when I got to my desk, the following quote was waiting for me in my inbox.

I asked my publisher what would happen if he sold all the copies of my book he had printed.

He said, “I’ll just print another ten.”

– Eric Sykes, English Comedian

I could tell you at least 50 things that are “the most important thing you’ll ever learn about sales,” but the ability to laugh tops that list. And not only is enjoyment of your profession and the ability to laugh essential to your achieving success at selling, they can also help you get there faster than you may think – laughter is the best medicine for eliminating tension in almost any situation.

In 1994, I was programming computers as a consultant for a small Midwest telephone company. I had been assigned to the project for only about three months, when the chief information officer, Jerry, called me into his office to have a chat about the status of the project.

As soon as I walked into Jerry’s office, he introduced me to his boss, Ken, and said, “I was telling Ken how you said you’d be done with this project by the end of next week – which he was very happy to hear, by the way – and wanted to talk about what you’ll be doing next.”

 I immediately recognized a conflict that was going to create a huge problem for Jerry and me; we had miscommunicated about the status of the project. I was going to be finished with only one major piece by the end of next week, and now he had told Ken that things were much better than they were. So I carefully said, “Actually, I won’t be done with the whole project by the end of next week, only the conversion. After that I’ll still have to add the many enhancements we discussed two weeks ago.”

Quite nervously, Jerry replied, “But you said you’d be done with this next week” – and one glance at Ken told me this was going to go very badly for me, and for Jerry, if I didn’t handle things just right.

So with a gleam in my eye and a slight grin on my face, I reached into my pocket, pulled out a quarter and replied, “Well, either I misspoke or you misunderstood me – I’ll flip you for it.”

Ken was the first to start laughing – Jerry and I actually waited to see his reaction before we began to chuckle ourselves – and the moment turned from tense into fun and collaborative. And before you say, “But I’m not naturally funny,” know that I’m not a class clown myself. It’s just that I like to have fun when I can. And I can all the time, because I love what I do.

Bottom line: If you aren’t having fun selling, then you’ll never achieve success at selling.

Questions And Answers

The following are real-world questions from people who have participated in my coaching, mentoring and training program, and who have practiced these techniques in the trenches, and the answers I gave.

When you place a cold-call, why do you believe you have the right to butt into someone else’s life and disturb his or her day?

I’d say there’s a host of insight into the question itself. You obviously believe in your gut that you’re being disruptive and intrusive, so listen to your gut – perhaps you shouldn’t be cold-calling at all.

Here are two possible solutions for you to consider:

Necessity Is The Mother Of Invention

Assume for a minute that 100 percent of your prospects signed up for the do-not-call list. How would you market to them now that you can’t use the phone? Would you try cold-letters? Would you schedule a workshop and mail invitations? Would you start networking more and hope some of them show up? Would you go to current clients and say, “All my prospects opted for the do-not-call list, so I need referrals now, or I’m toast”?

What would you do if the phone were no longer an option?

Answer that question, then create your marketing plan around your answer. Implement the plan, and track the results. Who knows, it may produce enough business that you can stop cold-calling completely.

Change Your Attitude

Figure out how to change your offer so you genuinely believe you’re being helpful, instead of intrusive. That will allow you to feel good about what you’re doing and create success. However, you’ll still occasionally call someone who doesn’t like getting cold-calls at all, so you must be prepared for those reactions and be able to emotionally handle them. (Never call someone back who, in any way, indicated he or she does not want to receive cold-calls.)

Bottom line: You will not succeed if you employ an activity you despise. So you need to either do something else or figure out how to genuinely like the activity.

How long does it or can it take for people to start recognizing your name in an industry?

It’s not so much a factor of time as it is of energy applied, activity initiated and credibility established. For instance, if you could get an article published in The Wall Street Journal, I’d say you would get recognized fairly quickly.

On the other hand, if you only use cold-calling, some people will start to recognize your name after you take “No” for an answer a few times, but the industry as a whole may never come around.

The surest path to being recognized is through public speaking and writing, because, as a selected speaker or approved author, you have instant credibility – “The publisher chose you, so you must be good” – with a large audience.

It took me at least two years to establish Honest Selling as a recognized brand in St. Louis. By recognized, I mean that, at half the networking functions I attended, at least one person who heard my name said, “Oh, you’re that Honest Selling guy,” or “You do those breakfast workshops on sales.”

Another surefire method is to be absolutely consistent. Make sure every person in your prospect database gets something from you once a month or once a quarter, no matter what. Over time, you’ll create your personal brand.

My gut, however, tells me that, after a year of hard work, you should be getting some results, but it will take two years of concentrated effort before you look back and say, “Boy, am I glad I did all that!”

What is the best way to sell my sales abilities during a job interview?

Use the same sales call process with the interviewer that you would with a prospect, so the person across the table learns how you sell. Your goal should be to learn whether the company is a fit for you, and whether you are a fit for the company – just like selling a product or service to a buyer. Some ideas to help you get on track:

• Learn about the person with whom you’re meeting. What is his or her motivation? Is he or she the final decision-maker, or just part of the filtering process? 
• If just part of the filter, what questions must you have answered before you’re willing to answer questions from him or her? How about starting with, “Before we get going, I have a few questions I’d like to ask, because I’m slightly confused on one or two points. Is that okay?” If you get a positive response, ask about the hiring process: How many steps will it take? If it looks good, what’s next? What do you need from me to make a decision today? – stuff like that. 
• Create a list of questions you must have answered before you’re willing to move to the next phase of the interviewing/hiring process. I’d want to know about payment structure, advancement opportunities, and so forth. Who knows, the company may not be a fit for you. 
• Figure out how to take control of the interview without having the prospect feel that he or she lost control. 
• Or, how about taking control openly? “Joe, In my experience, the biggest mistake a salesperson can make in a sales situation is to do all the talking, so, instead of starting this interview with my answering all of your questions, I’d like to show you how I sell by asking my own questions. That way, you’ll be able to see how I would handle a sales call, if I was selling your [products/services]. Is that okay?”

Basically, don’t view this as somehow different from a “real” sales situation, because it is a real sales situation.

How do you walk into a room full of people you don’t know and just “network”?

Remember how I got the bird out of my fireplace? I realized we both wanted compatible things – the same thing, in fact. Well, what do people at networking functions want? They want to meet new people, and, fortunately for you, most want to talk about themselves. Become the person who asks all the questions, instead of the one who does all the talking, and you’ll never have another problem networking, because you’ll be the person with the crowd around you.

Of course, when you first get there, you’ll have to break into a group. The easiest way to do that is to stick your head into a “circle” and ask, “Is it okay if I join you?” Remember, they’re there to meet new people, so the worst thing you could do is not give them what they want – the chance to meet you.

And, when you’re in a group, try to position yourself so there’s a “hole” in the circle just to your right or your left – a hole big enough so that others who want to join in are encouraged to fill the opening.

Of course, you should create a plan around your networking activity by answering the question: “How am I going to leverage all these new relationships I’m creating, now that I’m the person interviewing everyone else and learning about them?” Think this through before you go to your next function.

A trick for creating your own elevator speech is to use the resources at a live networking function. The next time someone asks you, “What do you do?” answer with something like, “Actually, I’m trying to figure out a good way to describe what I do. Would you mind giving me your advice on that?” I can’t imagine anyone saying, “No.” You’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll come up with something that’s not only great, it’s in your prospects’ own words.

How long do you feel it takes to build new relationships, and how do you keep track of your prospects?

I believe totally in the theory that you get what you give. The faster you can help someone, the faster you’ll build a relationship that will help you.

That’s why the foundation of my selling and marketing model is to provide as much value as I can – even if I’m giving away the farm. The FreeConference.com service for telephone-conferencing is a perfect example of this philosophy. Yes, a great many people will use that service and never pay a dime, but I’ll bet the word-of-mouth marketing value the company receives is well worth the investment.

Back in my Y2K contingency planning days, I gave away 100 percent of the process and tools needed to create a contingency plan. Once company executives read my free “how to” guide, they realized they couldn’t or didn’t want to handle the problem internally, and that I seemed to know my stuff, so they’d hire me. My marketing budget was about $1,200 per year (for our website hosting plan and Internet access), and I was selling $40,000 to $80,000 engagements over the phone in 30 minutes.

As for keeping track of prospects, consider these three things:

1. Your contact-management system must be versatile enough for you to enter and track the various interactions you have with your prospects, clients, colleagues, vendors – everyone who can impact your ability to reach your goals. 
2. You must design processes for proactively and reactively communicating with prospects, and methods for tracking your activities. 
3. You must be diligent in your implementation of your processes.

The only thing in that list you may not be able to control is your contact-management system, because you may be forced to use the company’s tools or not have the budget to purchase a feature-rich system on your own. The good news, however, is that this type of tracking can be done on index cards if that’s what it takes, so you have no excuses for not keeping track.

How do I structure and communicate my offer based on trust, when my prospects are being lied to by salespeople all the time?

In an environment where whatever you say will be suspect, I find brutal honesty to generally be the best option. Have you considered showing your prospects what your costs and profit margins are?

When I shop for a car – after I’ve selected the year, make and model – I go to the Internet for a printout of the dealer’s actual costs. That way I know I’m not being lied to. What would happen if you gave your prospects this type of information? What if you looked for only prospects who wanted stable pricing and who didn’t mind your making a reasonable profit, provided you were totally honest with them?

It seems to me that if your prospects believe everyone is lying to them, you need to focus on squelching that belief by doing something totally outside the box. Look at how big the Saturn car company got just by offering fixed pricing on its cars. Did you know the company turns a profit of thousands of dollars per car sold; whereas, any other dealer will sell you a car at cost, or barely over?

What tools do you use to stay focused and on target?

I screw up as much as anyone, so don’t let the fact that I wrote this book and told you all the things I think you should be doing make you think I’m Mr. Perfect. In fact, unless I’m proactive about making things happen, my lazy streak takes over, and I never get anything done beyond strategizing and puzzle-solving. The key is to know your weaknesses, so you can build strategies to overcome them.

I keep my back against the wall as much as possible. Honestly, one of the reasons I started getting paid up front for consulting work and offering full refunds a couple weeks later is because I hate giving money back. So, when I’m faced with having to give money back, I get my work done.

I also use accountability. I make daily commitments to two different people who hold me to them and who take away things I like a lot if I don’t follow through. (I once had to give up my favorite weekend bike ride, because I didn’t get an article written. I haven’t missed a single article deadline since.)

Have your trusted advisors help you determine your true weaknesses and design methods for overcoming them. Then make commitments to these advisors, and give them power to hold you accountable if you don’t live up to the commitments you make.

People hate to lose things, so facing a loss of something dear can be a very powerful motivator when it comes to getting something done.

How can I persevere with my disqualifying system in a company and managerial atmosphere of a qualifying system?

Sell more than everyone else.

Seriously, the best way to tell a sales manager or boss to leave you alone is to outproduce everyone else. There may be some transitional pain here, because you might be getting measured on something like number of calls made using their cold-call offer, which would require you to make that number of calls the old way. So you may have to pick and choose where you use disqualification processes, until you start outselling your peers.

Start by using the disqualification process in your conversations, whether it’s setting appointments or conducting sales calls. Then, once you get that figured out, approach your manager with “an idea to improve our sales numbers” that you’d like to try. See if he or she will let you spend one month using your own cold-call offers or cold-letters, then track your results. If you can prove disqualification works objectively, meaning in hard numbers, odds are your sales manager will be so happy, he or she will stop looking over your shoulder.

I also recommend getting a mentor – a salesperson at your company who is liked and respected. Have this person take you on sales calls, if possible, so you can watch him or her in action. I’ll bet big bucks this salesperson isn’t really doing all the manipulative stuff the boss believes is happening – because very few top salespeople actually do. If you can prove that the top salesperson is using a disqualification model, you may be able to convince the boss that it’s the way to go for everyone.

How do I balance my love of excitement and creation with the reality of having to earn a stable living?

Leverage your strengths and outsource your weaknesses. Do what you find fun.

I mostly use marketing activities that allow me to use my creativity – like cold-letter writing – but that can be implemented by others once the process has been invented.

Most of my public speaking engagements include lots of “force Gill to think on his feet” activities, because that’s when I shine the brightest.

I use the creation of my marketing plan as the documentation of my idea. That way, about the time I’m bored with the documentation part, the plan is on paper and I’m ready to create the letters, cold-call offers, articles, and so forth – which is the next step in the creative process.

Answer your own question for yourself, and you’ll probably invent a way to sell that allows you to leverage your strengths and mitigate, or outsource, your weaknesses.

How do you clarify your goal and stay focused on it?

The difference between a dream and a goal is a time line and accountability.

– Dr. Philip McGraw

If I wasn’t the one saying it all the time, I’d be getting really tired of hearing it: the solution to achieving your goal – including becoming the top business producer at your company – is to write it down, put a time line to it, and create accountability that hurts if you screw it up.

A great accountability trick is to make it public. What goals can you write and share with a large enough group so that your motivation to avoid the embarrassment of failure is greater than your desire to give up?

Summing It All Up

As you create The [Your Name Here] Sales System, keep in mind that a primary reason for crafting a system based on your strengths is to have fun implementing that system throughout your career. I never enjoyed selling, until I stopped listening to people who told me to sell their way and started selling my way instead. I want that same level of enjoyment, and the success it brings, for you. So to help you in your mission to achieve success at selling, I’d like to give you some measurement criteria you can use to gauge your success at creating your own system for selling:

• If you can prove your ability to produce the positive ROI, you’ll likely close the sale. 
• Prospects will often pay you more to produce the ROI than you would normally charge, provided they know what that ROI is in hard numbers. 
• You will know that you’ve mastered the disqualification model of selling, when you have total control of the sales process, but let prospects control themselves. 
• You will know your system is designed well, when pushing yourself outside your comfort zone is something you enjoy, rather than dread. 
• You will have perfected The [Your Name Here] Sales System, when you look forward to starting each workday and regret having to stop.

As strange as this may seem, the number of sales you close is a poor measurement of success, because, as you create your own selling system, you will, most assuredly, suffer the transitional pain of decreased sales. But once you’ve achieved the subjective measurements above, the objective measurement of success – increased sales – will happen, because you’ll be having so much fun selling that nothing else could possibly occur.

Loving what you do is the key ingredient in the recipe to achieving success at selling.

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