30Sep/112

The Real Reason Salespeople Should Use Social Media

The days of salespeople saying "that social media stuff is useless" haven't gone away, yet. There are a lot of people who don't think they need to use these tools. But salespeople who know how to take advantage of these tools put themselves at a real advantage.

Using Social Media provides salespeople with an opportunity to generate a positive first impression. That's a good thing since the first impression is the most lasting.

Here's what I mean...

It’s now common practice for prospects to “Google” a salesperson before they agree to meet with them. Because Google really likes Twitter and LinkedIn, those sites rank highly in search results. That means you, as a salesperson, have the chance to influence what your prospects think of you before you meet with them.

Why would you NOT take advantage?

WHAT TO DO:

A LinkedIn profile ought to do the following things:

  • Explains what you do for your customers.
  • Provides specific results you’ve produced.
  • Offers recommendations from happy customers.

A Twitter feed should do these things:

  • Shows you engaged with your area of expertise.
  • Reveals information that’s valuable to prospective customers.
  • Leads your customers to information that they'll find valuable.

WHAT NOT  TO DO:

A LinkedIn profile is not a resume.Why would I decide to buy from you if it looks like you're planning to leave at the next opportunity?

By the same token, a Twitter feed should not reveal too much of your mundane day-to-day life. I don't care what you had for lunch. And neither do your customers.

So, get going on this! It's free and easy.

@JebBrooks

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28Sep/114

Customer Satisfaction v. Customer Loyalty

The other day, I was talking to one of our sales trainers who told me about a great conversation he had with one of his clients about the distinction between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. It seems members of their sales team were confusing the two. It made me realize that I might be doing the same thing, too.

  • Satisfaction happens when a salesperson (or company) fulfills a customer’s needs, wants, or expectations.
  • Loyalty, on the other hand, occurs when a customer offers consistent support or allegiance to a provider (or salesperson).

Satisfaction is dispensed by you to your customer. Loyalty, on the other hand, is a gift from your customer to you. You satisfy; they're loyal. Satisfaction typically occurs sooner than loyalty.

Simply providing customer satisfaction doesn’t necessarily engender loyalty. A customer who is merely satisfied won’t necessarily remain loyal. After all, satisfaction -- simple fulfillment -- can probably be supplied by virtually anyone.

It's also easy to slip up. In fact, in his book "Generational Selling Tactics," Cam Marston says that 75% of members of younger buyers (those born since about 1977) will switch to a competitor after just a single bad customer experience.

On the other hand, loyalty, is generated after providing consistent and successful satisfaction. It's a process. Here's how we, here at The Brooks Group, think it looks:

  • Suspect (Completely unaware of you)
  • Prospect
  • Qualified Prospect
  • Opportunity
  • Customer
  • Preferred Customer
  • Loyal Customer
  • Advocate
  • Zealot (Fiercely loyal)

At each stage, you’re earning more commitment from your customer. It proceeds from the stage where you aren't even known all the way to the time when your customer tells everyone they know about how great you are.

Notice that we’re talking about individuals here. This level of engagement is given by people, not entire companies. Remember that, both B2B and B2C selling is really about P2P!

However, you're not going to gain loyalty from every single customer. You're seeking -- at least -- satisfaction. After all, it's impossible to earn zealousness from everyone you encounter. Indeed, there are even people who don't like Apple! (I know, can you believe it?!)

So, how can you effectively satisfy your customers? A good start is to simply learn what satisfaction means to them and do your best to provide it.

@JebBrooks

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22Sep/112

Make Every Word Count in Your Sales Presentations

When making sales presentations, every word counts. That’s because most sales are lost when your lips are moving, not when you’re listening.

That means that when you’re in face-to-face (or phone-to-phone) interactions with prospects and customers, you have to carefully choose every word you use.

I fall victim to wasting words, too. I say “sort of” too much. I guess it’s a way for me to soften my recommendations.

“Our approach is to begin by sort of working to understand your process.”

That sort of adds nothing to the conversation. It’s wasteful and (probably) distracting to some people. I’m working to stop it. We don’t sort of understand your process. We do it. Plain and simple.

I’ve also kept my ears open for the phrases that other salespeople use. Here’s a list of the most common ones I’ve heard during recent observations:

  • Stuff: We have addressed stuff like that for clients in many cases.
  • Right: The problem you’ve discussed is fairly common among companies like yours. Right?
  • At the end of the day: At the end of the day, our solution will fix this problem.
  • The Bottom Line: Bottom line is this: We’ll fix the problem you’re facing.
  • Key: The key to the problem you’re facing is to do this.
  • Like: It’s like almost the same as this other situation I ran across.
  • So: So, if you were to describe this, how would you do that?
  • Does that make sense?: Here’s a great article about not using that one. As well as some others that waste space.

Are you using these phrases? Or others that waste space? Try recording yourself, or begin paying more attention to what you say. By doing that, you may pick up on some “throw-away” phrases you’ve been using that distract from your message.

The takeaway? Carefully consider the words you use.

@JebBrooks

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21Sep/114

Is It Better to Beg Forgiveness or Ask Permission?

In my office, I have a framed cartoon about “sales.” It’s made up of a lot of smaller cartoons about our profession. I noticed one of them this morning and it got me thinking.

It’s a salesperson who’s got a typical attitude about new product development. He says, “If you folks in engineering could just invent something even close to what I’ve already sold to customers, we’d be in fat city.”

How many times has this happened inside an organization? Here's a typical story...

Salespeople in the field make a sale. They return to the home office, hat in hand, explaining what they sold. They beg forgiveness because it's not something that can be built, designed, or delivered.

Where's the disconnect? Unfortunately, it's probably sales management (or sales leadership). Why? Because it's up to them to hold salespeople accountable. A truly gifted salesperson has the skills to sell something that doesn't even exist (an intangible, non-demand service, for example). Naturally, there's a sales ethics component to consider, but there's also accountability.

Salespeople need to understand the consequences for such action. Unfortunately, selling something that doesn't exist will almost always end up with a disappointed customer. But it's up to sales leadership to ensure accountability for actions.

Granted, it's a cartoon (in a potentially common situation), but what steps can this guy's sales manager take to ensure compliance?

@JebBrooks

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20Sep/110

How To Use Motivation to Sell More

The two types of motivation can help you sell more effectively:

  1. Extrinsic Motivation and
  2. Intrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation comes from managers, paychecks, or even spouses telling you what to do. It’s less effective than intrinsic motivation, which comes from within you and tells you what you want to do. We need extrinsic motivators to do the things we don’t want to do.

Intrinsic motivation can stand on its own. All you have to do is listen for it. Unfortunately, it can sometimes send you in a bad direction. For example, I might be intrinsically motivated to have the cheese danish at the back of a meeting room, but the extrinsic motivation from my doctor encourages me to eat the apple.

However, if you’re able to focus your intrinsic motivation on achieving the “right” things, you’re a much more effective person.

Using intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to help you sell better works like this:

Focus your intrinsic motivation on understanding what your customer wants. Your primary motivation should be: “What do they want and how can I deliver it?” You’re stopping short if your motivator is your commission check.

Once you discover their motivation, make it your extrinsic motivator. What motivates them? What makes this buyer tick? Listen for it! Is it career growth? Are they motivated by independence? Maybe it’s the idea of staying out of the spotlight? In any event, if you discover what motivates your prospect, you are much better able to deliver it.

Awhile back, we did some research to determine motivators for particular types of buyers.

@JebBrooks

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