value our relationships in selling

My affirmation of intention this week is one that we ought never need reminding of, and yet as it came up in my diary it immediately put a smile on my face.  The affirmation is “I value my relationships.”

It doesn’t really matter whether you want to focus this affirmation of intention on work relationships, family or friends, because a truth that we all know is that our very humanity is about the depth of relationships we have.  That’s not to say the number of relationships – but the depth of relationships.

Let’s focus for the moment however on work, and let me ask you this question….

How much and in what way do you value your work relationships?

For those of us in sales, this is an extremely important question to consider.

I believe the people we meet and form relationships with, pick up on our truth.  I believe they get a sense of who we are and a sense of our intention.  They pick this up through a range of ways; our body language, tone of voice, words we choose, questions we ask and actions we take.

If you’ve seen me present at a conference or workshop you’ll know part of my favourite quote from Aristotle (which I often quote in my writing here as well because of its relevance to so much of our lives).  And part of the quote is that “our actions and our behaviours are our morals shown in conduct.”  In other words, people pick up on our morals, our beliefs, our truth.

Yep – fairly heavy as a topic, but important because we can’t escape it.

For that reason, coming back to my original statement that the value we place on our relationships ought not be something we need to be reminded of, paradoxically maybe it is good to remind ourselves how important our relationships are.

Here’s my challenge for you (as it is for me as I consider this affirmation of intention).  Answer these questions…..

1. Why do you value your relationships?

2. How do you value your relationships?

3. What might you do with a damaged relationship today to start to mend whatever caused it to fracture?

4. What might you do today to strengthen a relationship even more than you already have?

I know whenever I revisit these questions, magic tends to happen in ways that are often unexpected, but very welcomed.

Let me know how you go.

This wonderful program invites high school students in years 11 and 12 as well as first year university students to form small teams and create a company, finance the development of a product, market the product, sell the product, with the aim to make as much profit as possible, then at the end of a 3 month period, to close the company down.

Fascinating!

Each student is allocated a company position including, general manager, finance, human resources, marketing, sales, production/distribution etc. I get to present to the sales people. And what an energetic bunch they always are…..keen to learn….lots of questions they want answers to….and mostly, looking for ways to ‘close’ as many sales as possible.

While many of them have been put in the sales role because they are good talkers and confident, some have ‘landed’ the role because all of the others were taken.

What has been most inspiring for me, is that in each of the three years now that I’ve been invited to present my sales workshop for the program, there have been a number of students who believe that even when they close the business down as part of the program, that they have a future in sales…..and that their business idea that they have been part of creating, just might be the business that they continue with when they complete their education.

The tough part for many of the students as ‘salespeople’ is that they really are focused on just getting the sale and making a profit…..and for many, because the start up and close down reality of the business is so short, there’s a danger that almost anything goes. Each year, I’ve been impressed that the winning company that makes the most profit, has been a company that has really identified a problem that they can fix for people, and have focused on fixing the problem with the best service they can provide in the short time that the program is in operation.

In Our World

In the current economic environment, I sense that for many salespeople, there is pressure for them to have a short term focus and that this can cause some internal conflict with their values – especially when most if not all of us understand that selling is about building long term trust.

The reality is that in sales, having a short term focus IS important.

That doesn’t mean do things that will jeopardise the long term relationship. However, it is incumbent on us all in sales to keep up the sales and marketing activity levels to ensure that we are creating sufficient revenue and cash flow for our businesses to remain healthy.

I was recently reminded of a great question that all of us in sales needs to be constantly asking.

The question is…. “What am I doing to make some cash today?”

It’s a really good question.

It’s even a better question when you ask

“What can I do to create value for my existing or potential clients today that will result in me increasing my sales?”

Who haven’t you been in contact with for a while?

Whose situation might have changed recently that could put you and your product or service offerings in a different light?

Who have you been meaning to contact, but just haven’t got around to it?

 What value can you discover for your potential and existing clients, other than your products and services, that they would be interested in?

Where’s Your Low Hanging Fruit Of Opportunity?

Sometimes the low hanging fruits of opportunity are so close to us that we don’t see them. So just a gentle reminder for all of us in sales, that there’s nothing wrong with a short term focus as long as it’s building on long term trust relationships.

My first ever training course….way back in the early 1980’s (how time flies) was called the A.B.C.’s of Selling.

The ABC’s of selling stood for….

Always….Be…..Closing

and the mantra was something like, “close early, close often and close hard.”

What a load of rubbish it all was…..well at least the hypey ‘technique based’ part of it was anyway.

I learned the puppy dog close, the press hard there’s 3 copies close, the getting to yes close, and the “if you’re not feeling guilty now you will be soon close.”

I was relating this at a recent multi-speaker event in Melbourne where I was presenting and a number of business owners and sales people approached me at the end of the program, eager to tell me there ‘horror stories’ of when they’d tried to use some of these manipulative type of closing techniques, and how bad they felt and the poor results they actually achieved.

So I thought it was time for some new A.B.C.’s of selling…..and here they are, and when you first see the key words, keep reading because the true meaning behind them is not necessarily at first obvious:

The New ABC’s of Selling

We first of all need to be Attentive

We also need to be Branded, and finally

We need to be Consistent.

Let’s look at each in turn.

We need to be Attentive:

This is all about being absolutely clear and able to articulate who our ideal client is and who are the influencers of our ideal clients’ buying decisions.

More importantly, it is being attentive to their individual and collective needs, wants, problems and situations.

Here are three questions for you to consider:

1. Who are your ideal clients?  Define them in as many ways as you possibly can.

2. Who are the influencers of your ideal clients’ buying decisions?  Think beyond just partners and advisers…..what about media, social networks etc.

3. Where can you be seen by your ideal clients and their influencers?  Again, think beyond just client visits or when they come to you at your office or place of business.

Let’s move onto our B in the newly defined ABC’s of selling.

We need to be Branded.

This is all about taking the concept of traditional branding of our products, service and company and extending it to something at a much deeper and more inspiring level.

Here are three questions for you on being Branded:

1. What’s your premise about what you do?  Write down you personal beliefs and philosophy about why you are in the role that you are and about the value that your products and services create for your customers when they buy from you?

2. How would you like your customers to describe their buying experience?  Map out the ‘moments of impact’ that your prospective and existing clients experience.  A process map of the customer buying experience through to after they buy, can be an extremely revealing exercise.

3. What are/could you be doing with your personality, style, and/or business processes to help your clients, when they buy from you, to have incredible buying experiences where they will want to recommend and refer others to you?

And finally let’s move onto Consistent.

We need to be Consistent

Consistency is about having the discipline and process in place to be able to do answer and act on the A and B.

Here’s just one question for you to answer…..

1. To what extent are you managing your A’s and B’s?

Now, I’m aware that none of this is new, but perhaps a refocus on these areas might just be the ignition you need to spark some new, repeat or referral sales.

Let me know what you think!

While chatting with some of the delegates during a break, it quickly became evident to me that some of the business owners were really struggling in the current economic downturn, and yet others were having some of their strongest results in years.

Floods And Drought

At the time of writing this article, most of the east coast of Australia is being hit by torrential rain – and it’s been raining here in Sydney, non stop for 3 days.  Many towns are flooded with 9000 people being evacuated from the township of Grafton.

And yet, at the same time it’s being reported across the press headlines that Australia’s crop production is one of the lowest in five years due to the lingering effects of the drought.  The city of Melbourne in Victoria hasn’t seen much rain for years, and are on high level water restrictions.  I understand that there are some towns in the central west of NSW where there are children under the age of ten who have never seen rain fall on their farmland.

Why the weather report and what’s it got to do about selling?

Well, I was flicking through my original copy of Awaken The Giant Within by Anthony Robbins the other day, and as key messages that I need to receive always seem to find me just when I need them most, Robbins, like many other developers and coaches of human potential wrote about the four seasons as a metaphor for personal motivation.

Rather than looking at the economic downturn as all gloom and doom, using the seasonal metaphor suggests that we focus on the fact that spring always follows winter.

O.K……I’m not sure the metaphor really works that well, because the means after Autumn things are going to get real cold and potentially that could mean another downturn…..not sure I’d be looking forward to that.

However, what is a reality, is that some businesses are booming at the moment, and yes, others are struggling.  And yet, I’m wondering how many of the businesses who are currently struggling and how many of the salespeople within those businesses are currently struggling because of their ‘buy-in’ to the tough-time-syndrome?

Here are a couple of questions for you to consider – What if times weren’t tough?  What would you be doing right now if times weren’t tough?  What would you be doing differently, if times weren’t tough?

Selling Defined

My definition of selling is an important reminder to us all about what it really means to sell.  The definition is “Selling is a process of building trust relationships, with the aim to create reciprocal value on a continual basis.”

As you consider this definition, allow me to finish the article with some further questions for you to challenge yourself about the ‘season’ that you’re currently operating in:

1. Are you following a sales process?  Are you actively building rapport, asking questions, showing value, identifying obstacles, confirming and closing sales and staying in touch to create advocacy?

2. Are you building trust relationships? Who are you contacting?  Why are you contacting them?  Other than those you are currently seeing, who else do you need to be seen by to build your sales success?

3. Are you creating reciprocal value?  How are you creating value for your clients before, during and after a sale? What is your reason, purpose, your bigger WHY that will ignite the power of the universal law of reciprocity?

4. Are you planning, preparing and implementing value-focused contact initiation strategies on a continual basis?  Is your diary filled with sales development meetings and opportunities? Are you confident that you’re doing everything you need to give you the best opportunity to succeed at the levels you would like to achieve in your sales?

As we approach the 2nd half of 2009, these are timely questions for us all to be asking of ourselves and answering.

My Dad had some wonderfully simple bits of wisdom that he often would surprise me with.  One of my favourites was “There’s no such thing as bad weather – just bad clothes and choices.”  This always brings a smile to my face when I remember it.  If it’s raining – put on a rain coat.  If it’s hot, dress lightly.  If it’s howling a gale keep indoors and get busy.

What ‘season’ are you operating in?  How much of the season are you creating? What choices are you making that are creating the outcomes and results you’re currently achieving?

As Tony Robbins and most of the wisdom literature keeps telling us – it’s the choices we make that determine our destiny.

Onwards!

I was discussing some training and coaching strategies with a client yesterday. The company provides financial services and advice. They have a large number of Advisers who they categorized as Farmers. The majority of their Advisers were excellent with client service and always looking for ways to create value for their clients. This was evidenced by the high percentage of client retention.

The problem the company faces is a lack of growth through new and referral business.

“Can we turn our Farmers into Hunters?” was the question that I was asked.

Now this is a question that I have been asked in a number of different ways over the past two decades….. “Can you really teach someone to sell?” and “Can service people become salespeople?”

Yes…..but….

I am convinced that the answer is yes……but only if the ‘farmer’ is significantly motivated and energised to want to become a hunter. If they are not, and the decision is to ‘force train’ them into learning and implementing the skills and strategies of sales hunters, they may become de-motivated and stressed about the pressure being put on them to implement proactive selling strategies and as a result, become less effective in their more comfortable role of sales farmer.

So what’s the answer?

There are two approaches. The first is a long term process involving a series of training and coaching and mentoring interventions focused on changing the sales farmers’ belief about the value of the sales hunter strategies….the value that can be created from proactive sales and marketing strategies for their clients.

The second is to not try and turn the farmers into hunters, but rather help them become Sales Trappers.

The Sales Trapper strategies look at using the individual strengths of the Sales Farmer and creating sales and marketing strategies based on those strengths, that the Sales Farmer will be comfortable and confident in implementing.

For example, if a Sales Farmer is not comfortable in making ‘cold calls’, perhaps they are comfortable and confident in running client meetings. Therefore, we build on their strengths of client meetings and create some ‘public meetings’ where small groups of prospects are invited and the Sales Farmer chats about the value that can be created for those prospects through their products, service and advice.

This is just one example for illustration purposes, and by completing what I refer to as a ‘sales skill and comfort audit’ many Sales Farmers can identify proactive sales and marketing strategies that they are confident and comfortable to implement, that they enjoy, and more importantly, that will result in more new, repeat and referral sales.