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A Reactive and Bad Way to Deal with Objections (#video)1

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

There are times when an objection is not what it seems, but by treating it as an objection we could inadvertently create a scenario and situation that is risky when it didn’t have to be. Often, prospects’ questions at critical points in the sale sound like objections, when they are just the buyer thinking out loud.

Sellers need to slow down, step back assess, then deal with the situation, statement in a way appropriate for that situation.

Take a look at what I mean. Then download the Objection Handling Handbook.

What’s in Your Pipeline
Tibor Shanto

What if you could defeat the Status Quo0

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

All this week I have posted clips from a recent interview with Ago Cluytens, for his Coaching Masters Series. We dealt with a number of issues around selling to buyers who are traditionally referred to as being Status Quo. Being the weekend, I thought it a good time to post the whole interview for your weekend lounging pleasure.

Always interested in what you think, and whether you are more prepared to go forth and sell where many sellers and pundits fear to go. Take a look, and let me know.

If you enjoy this there are more on Ago’s site.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Apr 27th, 2013 Ability, Accountability, Action, Attitude, Business Acumen, Buying Process, Change Management, Client Life Cycle, Communication Strategy, Don't Wait, EDGE Sales Process, Emotion, Emotional Intelligence(EQ), Events, execution, Gap Selling, Interactive Selling, Interview, Leadership, Listening, Next Steps, Planning, Play to Win, Proactive Triggers, Sales Interview, Sales Leadership, Sales Process, Sell Better, Selling to Executives, Status Quo, Trigger Events, Triggers, Video

Accountability, Attitude, Change Management, Client Life Cycle, Commitment, Communication, Don't Wait, EDGE Sales Process, execution, how to sell better, Interview, Listening, Planning, Play to Win, Proactivity, Renbor Sales Solutions Inc., Sales Process, Sales Success, sell better, Selling to Executives, Trigger Event Selling, Trigger Events, Triggers, Video

Dude, You’re Gonna Need More Than 15 Minutes3

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

Sales people are constantly working at communicating value to their buyers, especially in the early stages of the cycle, lead gen to prospecting and engaging the buyer to where they could complete an effective Discovery process. After sellers have done all the work involved in getting to the point where they can engage with a buyer, I am always surprised at how easily they are willing to undermine it, and risk their opportunity by saying something completely unnecessary, and serves only to sooth their nerves.

The expression that does this most is “I just need 15 minutes of your time” or “A quick 15 minutes”. Both are stupid and useless, the second is one I never did get, how is a “quick 15 minutes” different than 15 minutes, don’t all minutes have 60 seconds, it is just the quality of the content that seems to make some minutes last a lifetime.

I know why it is used, generally comes down to two things, both can be dealt with more intelligently and effectively. First is the popular notion that if you can get 15 minutes, and do well, they’ll give you an encore and you can stretch it out; I guess we all think we can do a good job. On the other hand I used to work for a VP of Sales who managed his calendar down to the minute, busy guy. He would ask you how long you needed, and would book you in for that time, if you said 15 minutes, he would end the meeting right at 15 minutes. He wasn’t rude, he had to get to his next scheduled meeting, if you couldn’t live up to the expectation I set, it was your issue, not his, you had to deal with it, not him.

Which brings us to the first contradiction, most decision makers have more than what to do in a day, how realistic is that they don’t have other meetings behind your, or other things that require their time and attention. Yes, no doubt we have all had instances where we were able to extend 15 minutes in to 45 or even 60 minutes, but an occasional anomaly does not make for a sound strategy.

The other issue with this approach is that you are in fact misleading the prospect before you have even met them. Think about it, do you really want to start things off by lying to the prospective buyer? Any way you rationalize it, that is exactly what you are doing, not a good foundation for a trust based relationship.

The second reason sales people do this is linked to the first, and just as weak. Specifically they are trying to minimize the apparent impact on the buyer, trying to make it “easy” on them, “Your time will not be wasted”, is the implication. But unless you are selling a coffee service or window cleaning, how much real or tangible value can you effectively communicate. More so, when you are selling what you would call a “solution”, where information has to be exchanged, 15 minutes is not going to get you there, you can pretend all you want, you are going to pitch, worse, you are going to ‘speed pitch’.

Some will tell me, “I can at least get things started”, sure then comeback and continue, with a bit of recapping, you are costing you and the buyer more time. By asking for 15 minutes you are undermining your so called “value proposition”. What the prospect hears is that this is so basic and unimportant, what they are asking themselves is as follows: “we’re going to make real progress in 15, can’t be that important or unique, maybe it can wait, or I can delegate it to someone who deals with unimportant things.”

Think about it, assuming things get started, small talk, while you assume they checked out your web site, you have to validate; if they did, you still need to create context, if they didn’t you have to do a bit more than that. From here, you need to at least go through the motions of gather information or executing a Discovery of facts and objective. Ah, look at that time is up! I remember someone trying to sell me an ad in local board of trade directory, they said they just need 15 minutes, I pointed out to him that he will need to ask me some questions, I will certainly have some for him, so let’s get real, how much time will we really need, he was honest enough to come across with a real time frame.

What’s worse, it is usually the seller who brings time in to the equation, not the prospect, again communicating a lack of confidence in their offering, or their ability to sell, or both. Just stop this juvenile practice, and sell.

Now I know that there times when you will be asked by a prospect how much time you need; in my case I gear my first meetings to about an hour, I am the one that gets antsy after 50 minutes. But rather than saying “one hour”, I pause, and ask, “how long can you give me?” They usually come back and say “is an hour enough?” Touch down!

But assuming they ask again, I just say “I usually need about 30 minutes for Discovery, I assume you’ll have some questions, so 40 minutes is safe.” If I feel they have a sense of humor, I add “any longer than that I take as interest on your part.”

I do have people who say “I can give you 30 minutes.” Great I can work with that; if they offer 15 minutes, I say no, I know what is going to happen, it is not a good use of my time, my most important resource. Either we can find a mutually better time, or on to the next one. If you have lots of prospects, this is not an issue, if you only have one or two, you may have to settle for the scraps that a quick 15 minutes represent.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

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Short Cuts – Do it Now or Do it Later0

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

The pressure of time, or more specifically, a lack of time, for sales professionals continues to build for sales professionals. Sales people often ask me for ways to achieve something by skipping steps or finding short cuts for critical steps of the cycle. Especial when there are specific things that have to be executed in one stage of the cycle/process before you can move to the next; some may not seem important at the time, but are fundamental to a successful sale, and there is no escaping them. In some ways in sales it is very much like the old Fram commercial, you can do it now, or you can do it later.

In an environment of declining resources and increased demands and expectations, utilization of time continues to grow as one of the most critical skills for successful sellers. Given the choice between someone who is a good seller or a good user of time, give me the time skilled individual any day. Doesn’t matter how good you are, if you can’t get around to using the skill. Notice I have avoided the term “time management”, because it is never about managing time, but about how we choose to allocate and use time for critical activities; activities are what need to be managed. In most instances, with all things being equal, it is more likely that you miss deals because you ran out of time, rather than running out of skills.

With all the pressure growing each hour and day into the depleting selling year, it is not a surprise that sellers are always seeking short cuts, or tips to reduce time. While I understand what’s driving the desire, I would caution you to focus on the objective and desired outcome(s). Better to look at a sale as an exercise in building. You need to build a solid foundation before you erect the house on top. If you rush things, opt for a short cut and start before the foundation is dry, you’re going to have to go back and do it again, do it right, which will cost time, resources and money.

One example is the propensity to present proposal way too soon, long before key facts are uncovered. I know sellers face tremendous pressure, especially when others are willing to submit at the drop of a hat, but in the end, a bad proposal is a bad proposal no matter how fast you get it in, which why so many come down to price, no foundation.

I was taught that there are five things that have to be in place in order for a proposal to be properly underpinned and solid. Sure I can submit with only four, but more times than not, I have to go back and resell that missed portion or the whole thing. Slowing me and the sale down, if not risking it all together. Again, I know there is pressure, and the other guy is in, but I am will to bet they usually win on price not based on value or the merit of the product or proposal.

The problem with short cuts in sales, is the same as the oil filter, you can do it right the first time, or you can do it later. Problem with later is that it ends up sucking up more time, money and nerves.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Open Ended Sales Meetings?4

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

Not long ago I posted a piece about the positive side of “closed ended” questions, and their place in the sale cycle. As with many things it is rarely the case of one versus the other but more of which is more appropriate for the scenario, and in sales for achieving the objective you set out to accomplish.

Sellers can and should take the concept of open ended and closed ended, and apply it to actual sales meetings. What you’ll find is that sales meeting properly executed should be more of a closed ended event, but all too often they end up being an open ended, in fact too open-ended, often becoming ever meandering affairs. The kind meeting which seem like they may never end, especially when you add a torturous layer of PowerPoint; or they end without a specific conclusion or direction. The meetings which follow frequently seem to be another try at getting it right, instead of moving things forward.

The problem usually comes down to what the objective is going into the meeting. I have written in the past about sales people not having a handle on the length of their sales cycle, saying things like “It depends”, or offering an unrealistic “oh 3 – 6 months”; that’s a big variable given that time is your most precious resources, and non-renewable to boot. Taken a step further and asking them how many meetings it may take to close the deal, they answer with less confidence and more ambiguity.

Well if you don’t know how many meetings it may take, (live or by phone, webinar, smoke signals), it becomes really hard to have specific outcomes or objectives for each meeting. This is why sellers at time lose control of meetings, leaving the client to take the meeting to a conclusion, one with no real next step.

Knowing what you want out of each meeting allows you to plan objectives, primary and secondary, plan next steps, and build a structure for the meeting, including questions, that will help you and the buyer meet mutual objectives. Absent that, it begins to look like an experience with the “Be found” camp, having abdicate their role as sellers, they are hoping the buyer will find something to continue for, something to buy. I propose they are hoping the client has a need, hoping they can strike a relationship based on something other than the buyer’s objective, hoping for the order.

Having clear objectives, measures and next steps defined and planned in advance will also allow you to do one other thing with great confidence, that is disqualify buyers. If you cannot achieve your stated objective, having executed your plan, you have to seriously consider that you are not dealing with a real buyer, real like the ones who buy when you achieve your mutually stated objectives.

I remember working with a “rock star” in Boston, he confidently told me his deals on average take four meetings, great, what was his measure of success for the first meeting, his objective? With expected bravado, he proclaimed “to close the deal man!” He did not have an answers as to why he bothered going back three other times if he was going to close the sale during the first meeting. Although there is a prospect I have, who will never buy from me, but he loves the same bands I do, and makes a great espresso, I love going there, but I leave my order pad in the car.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Buyers are Not Liars – Sales eXchange 1899

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

A few years ago I did a three day program in California, the first day one of the participants, a very likable fellow, kept repeating a common phrase used by sellers – “buyers are liars”. I told him I did not agree and moved on. The next day, same guy, had switched phrases slightly, and he was reminding me of another popular falsehood that “sellers are liars”; again I questioned the accuracy of the statement. By the third morning I was a bit worried because the only one left in the equation who had not been accused of lying was me, the trainer, all day I waited for him to state “trainers are liars”, while he didn’t, I am sure he thought about it.

There are too many sales people who believe and will tell you that buyers are indeed liars; sadly there are some sales leaders who will reinforce this myth. Buyers are people, and in general people are not liars (can’t speak for politicians), therefore buyers in general are not liars.

The reality is that prospects who do not buy, who lead you on, who go radio silent at a point, and fail to tell you why, are often lying. Not in the evil way that many sales people in the heat of the moment believe, it is more the case of these prospects seeking a merciful way letting a seller down, while they have less than zero intentions of buying, they find it hard to come right out and tell you and break your heart. If they did buy from you, you would overlook a white fib or two, after all you closed the deal, you got the “right” result, they bought. It’s when they don’t buy that you get all out of sorts and resort to calling them liars; so if we’re going to resort names and labels, let’s get it right: prospects sometimes lie.

Most of the time they are not lying, they may be confused or undecided, or again, not sure how to let us down, but in any case the problem is ours, something many in sales do not want to face.

Did we ask the right questions? A common occurrence is a seller going down the path with a buyer only to discover that the person is not empowered to make a decision. Sure I can tell myself they lied, or I can ask myself how I could have discovered it earlier, and moved to engage the right people.

Another is when you “know” they need your product, or “know” they are looking, hey after all you were referred to them, yet they insist that they are “all set”. Are they lying or are we not fully engaged, and conducting an effective discovery process? Just because we are not getting the answers we want does not mean we are being lied to, I think it is more often the case of the wrong or bad question, rather than a bad answer.

As stated above, buyers are people, and people generally do not lie, unless they feel they have no other option in the situation, lying is easier than the alternative. It is up to us as sellers to offer the alternative, and leave the buyer with lying as the only option to stop our assault. Takes work, but pays off too.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Just Do It NOW! – Sales eXchange 1850

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

I often think that Nike got their famous tag line only half right, they should have added the word Now to Just Do It!

If you are a follower of this blog, you know I am big on process, a structured approach and a tight approach to time and what activities we spend time on. Many mistake this for rigidity, and often push back on how it limits their creativity and spontaneity. I beg to differ and here is a specific reason why.

I have been working with a group of experienced (or at least tenured) sales people. Many too experienced to learn new tricks or skills, they know what they are doing and resist new things, man that sounds a lot like some prospects we all know, don’t it. Working with one fellow, I noticed he had a running list of names on a note pad, when I asked he explained that these were people who popped into his head during that day, people he should call. Either because he “had an angel on something” or he had not thought about them, and thought “I should give them a call”. When I asked him when he calls them, he said “as soon as I get around to it”; when was the last time he did, “just before Christmas”, why the wait, hadn’t gotten around to it yet, nor did he get around to getting quota, coming in at about 83% last year. What was he busy with that he could call them, was the initial thought still valid, no answer.

Personally, I call these people right away, hand held laws be damned, if I think of a good reason to call a prospect, or an up-sell potential client, I do it right away. Before the thought and ENGERGY fade. Call Now is my mantra. If I am in a meeting, I make a note in my note book and it is the first thing that gets done when I am out of the meeting.

Waiting has a lot of risk. First and foremost, is the call not getting done. Even if it gets done later, it lacks the urgency and energy of a call made right there and then. This kind of energy is just electric over the phone, the prospects feel your excitement and get caught up in the moment along with you. There is few things as effective as telling a prospect “Hey Jon, I was just thinking about you!” People love to be thought about, and if you tell them why and what you see happening next, it just gets through and makes a clear and powerful point. The spontaneity, the excitement in your voice is contagious and effective.

I attribute my ability to make these calls, and succeed in making them to my process, the time I build into my day to experiment with selling and do off hand things like this when they present themselves.

So here is the challenge, next time you think about calling someone, call them, don’t make a note, don’t rationalize, call them, you never know what will happen, but I can predict what will be the outcome if you don’t. So just do it NOW!

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

This time of year is an interesting time for the retail trade. As memories of the holiday season begin to fade and the last of the Boxing Day (week, month) sales come to a close, retailers begin another annual ritual, the “Inventory Clearance Sale”. Makes sense, retailers want to clear old and non-selling inventory, freeing up cash, so they can reinvest it in more profitable inventory. In the process the can also open up shelf and storage space, again to make way for newer more salable goods; not so much out with the old in with the new, more like out with lower potential goods and in with better margin and turnover potential.

There are some lessons here for B2B sales people as well. Consider your pipeline as your inventory of prospects and opportunities, add to that the notion of time representing your shelf space, both finite, both needing active management. As such, applying the concept of inventory clearance could be very beneficial for B2B sellers.

When you look at your inventory of prospects, the reality is that no matter how much potential they had when you first decided to carry them, over time and as a result of a number of factors, the likelihood of that inventory turning over changes, usually diminishes, often to a point where they have a negative impact on your pipeline and success. Prospects are similar, in as much that some will close, many more don’t. Either way they need to be removed from the pipeline, or else you can’t bring in new inventory.

This is why sales people need to develop rules for purging their pipeline of bad prospects. Sales people hang on to bad inventory, many look at their pipelines emotionally, the fuller they perceive their pipeline to be, the lesser the propensity to prospect for new opportunities, fresh inventory, confusing a lot of inventory with quality salable inventory.

Bringing shelf space into this in the form of time, you can begin to remove bad inventory before it hit “best by date”. Prospects and opportunities time out, if 80% of your sales close in 75 days, what’s the point in keeping it in the pipeline on day 121; if 80% of the time you can complete the Discovery stage in 3 weeks, should you really continue the Discovery into its 10th week?

It is important to remember that these concepts also apply to your account base, not just prospects. How many low margin accounts are using up resources that if applied to other accounts or new ones would make for better revenues, margins and all around customers. Putting those accounts on the clearance list would allow you to achieve more, be happier, and probably have a better attitude towards new opportunities.

Clearing out bad inventory, be they clients or prospects, should be an ongoing process throughout the year, but even for where it is not year-round, doing it at least once a year, at the start of the year, can bring immediate and yearlong benefits. So good ahead, develop your policies, and hold that “Inventory Clearance”

The Art of Sales Contest Winners!

Congratulations to:
Kristin Geenty and Alan Hart, they are the winners of the tickets to the Art Of Sales, in Toronto next Tuesday January 29.

Enjoy and profit!

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Solving The E-Mail Black Hole1

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

I have always been a fan of Star Trek, and intrigued by some of the possibilities presented in the original and even Star Trek NG. Interesting how some of the things that seemed farfetched, now are not. One that always fascinated me was the black hole; little did I think we would experience it in selling, specifically when using e-mail.

We all wonder when we hit that send button “what will happen with this e-mail?” Will it reach its desired destination will it invoke the desired reaction, what reaction will it initiate, what will its fate be, ignored, read over and over, create action? Hard to tell in the black hole that is e-mail.

Sure, you can ask for a “read receipt”, so what, the is still an information void because all you know is if the opened it, you don’t know if someone read it more than once, where, if they read it on their phone or office or both, or if there is any interest. For salespeople, this creates “prospect paralysis” because they don’t know whether to follow up and, if so, when and how.

But recently I discovered a tool that helps me have a better grip in the black hole. ContactMonkey, a new smart email tracking service for Outlook and Gmail that tells me in real-time if, when, how many times and where a message is opened, as well as what device or browser was used.

Armed with this knowledge, a salesperson has valuable and actionable insight to make better and more informed selling decisions and actions, so they can focus on the most promising prospects and opportunities.

The idea for ContactMonkey emerged when Scott Pielsticker, a serial entrepreneur, was frustrated with not knowing if his sales pitches were getting read or were resonating. To solve this problem, ContactMonkey’s developers created the software, which was recently launched.

Here is an example, a seller fires off an e-mail to a prospect. After the email has been sent, the salesperson will be able tell if and when the email has been opened, which is a great starting point. The more the message is opened, the more interest someone likely has in the proposal.

But there’s even more insight that can be gleaned. Where was it read, what device was it opened on. ContactMonkey allows you to know if a message was opened on a mobile device, within the Chrome browser or Outlook. If an email is originally opened on an iPhone, and then opened on Chrome or Outlook, it could mean the e-mail and or any attachments generated solid interest.

The same approach works for location. An email opened by recipients in Toronto, Boston and London is another indication of good interest. Especially if you are working with prospects with decision makers in multiple locations, as it makes its way around you gain insight.

For salespeople, this information makes it easier to focus on better prospects interested in their email, while they can quickly ignore or reformulate plans for prospects that paid little or no attention to their email.

For “warm leads”, you can figure out the best time to follow up. If there’s a lot of interest in a message in a short period of time, the salesperson can strike while the iron is hot — knowing that they will likely get a good reception.

ContactMonkey allows you to add a new layer of intelligence to email so salespeople — and other people who want to know if their email attracts any interest — can work better, more productively and close more deals.

I speaking with the team, they tell me they are planning to add a dashboard to let people take a holistic view of their email activity to extract key trends and best practices.

If you are a seller and you want to get more out of your email, check out ContactMonkey and see how it can help you Sell Better.

Please note – I get no commission or compensation from ContactMonkey.

Enter the Art of Sales Contest – Win Tickets

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

While I have always supported the concept and the focus behind the three R’s of academics; although I never understood why the academic community would go for the label, given that only on of the three words in question start with an R.

We in sales hold to a higher standard, and therefore the three words that make up the three R’s of Sales, all do indeed start with the letter R!

Reciprocate – It should not be news that the most successful sales people look at sales from a giving standpoint, rather than a what can I get standpoint. Unfortunately, the latter makes up the majority of the sales population, often this is a result of the “message” and “motivation” they get from their management. While I do not shy away from the sales rep as a “hunter”, the prey is not the buyer.

While most of think of reciprocating as giving back, you can also think of is as just giving; specifically giving to you buyers and prospects. The notion of giving is not new, but often sellers give in return for something they “have gotten”, like a next step, an introduction to a decision maker, or an order.

But if you can think of it in that if you give value to buyers in any number of ways right through the process, the buyer will reciprocate. At time this may be in the form of a referral, next step, or the order. Reciprocate forward as it were.

Reinvent – This may seem straight forward, but is probably the most difficult for many sellers. It involves two disciplines, one is reviewing sales to see what’s working, what’s not, and what needs to be done to change that. The second is change itself, sellers find it hard to change, even though they spend their time and effort trying to get buyers to change in a number of ways.

The need to review every or a significant sample of your transactions is crucial. I have spoken about it extensively on this blog, the need to review all sales initiated, win – lose – draw. You can still download the 360 Deal Review tool, and start what is an easy but valuable exercise. The key is what you identify as working, what is not, and more importantly, what you are prepared to do about it.

There a many teams I see who review, note, but do not implement change. Without the last step, it’s just a validation exercise with little or no value.

Change is an interesting thing, it does not have to be wholesale or instantaneous, and it is exponential, sometimes it is the smallest things that have the biggest impact. Meaning you can start small, limited risk, and tangible benefits. The hardest is always the first step; so pick something easy, develop an action plan, a period of review, and do it a bit at a time.

Reputation – There is one thing you have to hold on to throughout your career, that is your reputation. Skills, clients, successes come and go, they can all be rebuilt or reinvented, reputations are a bit more delicate. They can be rebuilt, but there is always a cost. Reputation not only precedes you, which is crucial to success, but it also lags, people have a way to remember more of the bad than the good. Of the three R’s this is fundamental, and without which the other two R’s are difficult to execute.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

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What's In Your Pipeline?

A Reactive and Bad Way to Deal with Objections (#video)1

What if you could defeat the Status Quo0

Dude, You’re Gonna Need More Than 15 Minutes3

Short Cuts – Do it Now or Do it Later0

Open Ended Sales Meetings?4

Buyers are Not Liars – Sales eXchange 1899

Just Do It NOW! – Sales eXchange 1850

Inventory Clearance B2B Style0

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

Solving The E-Mail Black Hole1

Please note – I get no commission or compensation from ContactMonkey.

Enter the Art of Sales Contest – Win Tickets

The Three Rs of Sales – Sales eXchange 18243