Guts

The customer's always right… Right? That's great in theory, but it's not always feasible in practice. Promises made and unkept are worse than promises not made. But not making the unreasonable promises of an angry client or prospect can seem like the makings of a fight!

You've probably been asked before to discount your services. If you agree to the discount, you may gain that prospect as a client. If you say no, it may cost you in the short run-but could lead to better opportunities in the future...

One thing that David Sandler always taught was how powerful it was when you combine guts and humor. An experience a client of mine had a while back demonstrates that. A client of mine had been calling on a potential referral partner...

Sometimes, prospects you're working with will feel uncomfortable. Maybe a question you asked made them feel that way. Perhaps it was someone else involved in the conversation. Or it might just be the situation itself. Of course, different people feel uncomfortable in different situations. But the more you can do to make them feel comfortable, the better! A client of mine...

One of the things I often see in salespeople is nervousness about asking people for their contact information. Too often, they accept, "I'll get back in touch with you," from their prospects, when they should really take more ownership for the next step. I've got a simple method I use that gets me the right contact information every time. In fact, with CEOs, it's gotten me their cell number every time but one!

If you're really honest with yourself, you probably don't always take ownership like you should. You probably have an opportunity to improve there. We all occasionally get caught up in the things we can't control, and don't spend the time and energy looking at the things we can control.

It may seem counter-intuitive, and its definitely counter to traditional sales. One of the concepts we have in Sandler is that of the pain funnel. While traditional sales asks questions to get more yes's, Sandler asks questions to get more pain.

Think for a moment about the most respected professions. What comes to mind? Chances are that a profession like doctors came to mind. On the other hand, it's very unlikely that salespeople came to mind, much less insurance salespeople. One of our clients defies that stereotype with just one major difference...

Prospects come in with different behaviors, and different expectations. Sometimes, prospects make up their mind before you ever interact directly with them. It may be that they want to do business with you, or it may be that they don't. Or they may not know yet. Regardless, the earlier you can figure it out, the better.

In Sandler, we have the concept of pattern interrupts. Pattern interrupts are doing something unexpected to stand apart from your competition. A lot of times it's something simple. If someone asks, Why should I do business with you? you might answer, I don't know that you should. Sometimes it can take on other forms as well, like it did a while back with one of my clients.

One of the frequent issues people raise during any sales interaction is price. The price is higher than they expect, or they can't afford the price. But by using some disarming honesty, you can strip away the "price excuse" and either make it irrelevant, or uncover what the real issue is.

When talking to prospects or leads, have you ever heard someone say something like, "Oh, my brother-in-law does what you do"? If that's something you hear on a fairly regular basis, especially during sales meetings, it's time to start disarming that bomb before it goes off, not after. So how do you do that?

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there in sales that promise the world to their prospect, then either under-deliver, or charge more than they claimed they would. It's amazing how you can set yourself apart simply by doing what you say you'll do, and not over-promising. One of my clients was recently...

We've all felt pressure, like we're under a spotlight. Maybe our prospect asks a difficult question, or one where we don't think they'll like our answer. Do you stick to your system at that point, or abandon it in the hope we can get better results from winging it?

In Sandler, we recommend a somewhat different approach to talking to new prospects. If your approach is to try to get as many meetings as you can and sign as many clients as you can, you end up with a lot of bad fits, and that can result in bad situations. Instead, we recommend making every attempt to disqualify new prospects.

There's danger in letting your prospect end a sales call or sales meeting. Often times, they do it for the wrong reasons. You need to pay close attention to their behaviors, because those are signs of underlying expectations they have. And they may not be based in reality!

I've written a number of sales articles, but also many articles on the topic of management. This should be no great surprise, since management is one of the areas I coach and train in. Let's take a look at the top five management articles over the last few years.

As a salesperson, you've probably been taught that if you want to sell more, you have to have more sales meetings. Nothing could be a bigger waste of your time!

In sales interactions, if you ask enough questions, and you ask the right questions, you'll end up uncovering pain that your prospect has. At Sandler, we call that putting someone through the pain funnel. It's extremely powerful! And if we do the pain funnel right...

Have you ever had a sales meeting, only to lose the deal later to a competitor? It's fairly common. But what's even worse is when you thought it was a sure deal, and didn't even know your competitor existed. So how do you find out?

Too often, I talk with people that are working with clients they shouldn't have. It could be that their client doesn't pay on time, can't invest the time needed to solve the problem, or just plain isn't a good fit. If you're honest, it's happened to you at some point in the past! There are two reasons people take on business they shouldn't have.

Disqualification is completely up to us. Just because somebody comes in, wants what we have to sell, and has their checkbook ready, doesn't mean we have to sell it to them. For those that really like to help people, that can be a challenge. You can see your prospect is in pain, so it's hard for you to disqualify them, because you know you can help them.

Most salespeople operate on a scarcity mindset. They believe that there's not enough business out there for everyone. So the tendency is also there for your competition to bad-mouth you, whether it's really true or not, and whether you're really even their competition or not. The key is ...

It's fairly common knowledge that you should know what a good prospect for your organization looks like. But do you know what a bad prospect looks like?

You can't be more committed to fixing a prospect's problem than they are themselves. If you are, you'll end up in a bad situation at some point. A client of mine...

There are two things everybody brings to every communication situation: Behavior and expectations. Understanding those can lead to sales, and not understanding them can lead to missed opportunities. You almost have to be a detective!

Because traditional selling is so bad, prospects often have their defenses up before they even meet with you. I like to use the analogy of a castle. They may have the drawbridge drawn, they may have the moat filled, they may even have alligators in that moat. The trick is to be aware of that, and to work through it.

If your role has anything to do with sales, you likely spend a lot of time networking, and maybe even prospecting. It's not unusual to meet someone who may leave you feeling a little intimidated. If you're not careful, that can lead to lost opportunities. A client of mine...

LinkedIn can be a great tool for prospecting, but only if you invest time and resources in knowing what it's really capable of, then actually taking time to utilize it on a regular basis. A client was recently on LinkedIn, and saw someone had looked at his LinkedIn profile. He then took five seconds to...

Traditional sales is not the same as the methods we teach at Sandler. And often times, the way we teach is not easy. It's hard work! Someone that has been exposed to Sandler often comes to a moment where they can implement what they've been taught, or they can retreat into the traditional methods that they're more comfortable with. We call that wimp junction. As an example...

We've been publishing helpful sales, leadership, and management articles on a regular basis for the last two years. One of the things we're able to track is which of those articles is the most popular. Since you may not have been a reader of ours for the entire two years, I thought it would be beneficial to share the 5 most popular sales articles.

Having the guts to ask the important questions can really pay off. In the case of one of my clients, it recently dramatically increased his importance to a referral partner.

Some of you probably struggle to actually ask for someone's business. I was recently working with a client who lost a major opportunity because of that very issue. I was in a meeting with about twenty salespeople. They were all talking about...

Often, others ask me to help them pre-brief before a sales call, and debrief after a sales call. When I was recently asked to do so, I discovered a huge waste of time, energy, money, and resources. Fortunately, I also knew how to avoid that waste.

Equal business stature is a concept we've talked about applying to interactions with doctors. But it can also apply to interactions the other way around as well. Let's see how one of my fellow Sandler offices saw this first-hand.

In Sandler, we have a concept we call equal business stature. When you're talking with a prospect, you really have to believe and get them to believe that your stature, from a business level, is equal to theirs.

Here's one situation where we can see that play out.

Often, the difference between you and your competitor can be obvious to your prospects. The key lies in asking a lot of questions, and not confusing surface pain indicators, or symptoms, with the actual cause of the pain.

It's very common for executives, CEOs, and VPs of Sales to come to me and say, "Our people need to get better at closing." And nine times out of ten, it's not a closing problem, but another specific problem.

Have you ever wasted your time with a game of phone tag? Not only does it waste your time, but the other individual's time as well. Having a clear next step at the end of every communication interaction is huge! And it's all too common for it to not be there. But if you don't have it, you can lose out on a lot of opportunities.

You never know who around you is a potential prospect and who isn't. Because you can never know without having a conversation, it's important to engage in conversation with those around you. And in order to make it memorable for the other person, you have to make it much more about the other person than yourself.

If you get nervous about cold calling on prospects, you're not alone. It doesn't matter whether it's in person or over the phone, plenty of people don't like cold calling, and it makes them nervous. In Sandler, we have a rule about prospecting in general:

Sandler Rule #7: You Don't Have to Like Prospecting, You Just Have to Do It.

When a prospective client shares that your competition is way cheaper than you, how do you respond? Your response can make all the difference in the world. It's all about knowing your own value.

Why do you think so many of your buyers and prospects like to haggle on price? Because salespeople give in! But when you give in on price, you're really letting people know you're nothing more than a commodity, and all of a sudden they'll be going to whoever can get them the best deal. Do you really want to be the cheapest option?

When someone tells you repeatedly that they're fine, and don't need your services, then changes their tune, do you jump at the opportunity? If so, you're setting yourself up for failure. It's not uncommon...

If I'm talking with someone, especially someone who is very direct and analytical like I am, I'll often start out the meeting with reasons we won't work well together. In other words, why they won't want to work with me. Rather than waste time, I want to get all that stuff out of the way! And it's amazing what it does to the conversation.

Have you ever had someone really excited to buy from you, then it derailed quickly after that when they went to talk to someone else? It could have been their business partner, spouse, boss, or someone else entirely. How can you avoid that?

Have you found yourself making assumptions when it comes to how your prospects make decisions? Recognizing and stopping that are huge, and the key is in asking questions. A client of mine was having trouble connecting with a lead for about a month. His general philosophy was, If I haven't followed up with someone within a week or so, why would they want to do business with me? Thankfully, this time he...

A salesperson's value is more about what information they discover from prospects, as opposed to what information they share with prospects. And nowhere is that more apparent than in budget. Recently a client shared a story with me about how discovering a client's budget made all the difference.

Have you ever been in a sales situation where someone was trying to beat you up over price? There's a technique you can use that, in my experience, is the absolute best thing you can do. You've got to be ready to walk away from the sale, but it's a phenomenal tool to use in situations like that.

In Sandler we have a concept called the three foot rule. Put simply, if someone is within three feet of you, talk to them, because they're a potential client. It's a habit that when practiced, can lead to a lot more opportunities, without the need for presentations. In fact, I recently experienced this myself while on vacation.

Talking about price too early in the conversation is dangerous! If you concentrate on giving a better price during the sales cycle, you can fall into the trap of discounting and becoming a commodity. But how often is price the first thing a prospect wants to talk with you about?

Dress can play a huge role in sales and customer service. If you're not dressed right, it can make or break whatever piece of business you're working on. So how do you make sure how you dress contributes to what you're doing, rather than detracting from it?

In sales and in customer service, it's frequently the little things that matter. There may be sales you've made where something very small tipped the scales your way. Or possibly you've lost a long-term client over something you didn't even know had happened.

Regret is, unfortunately, all too common in the sales world. Sales professionals, managers, leaders and business owners often wish they had asked a certain question during a meeting, and wonder how it would have turned out differently if they had. Fortunately, we have a philosophy or tactic in Sandler that can make it much less uncomfortable.

Robert was at the doctor's office to get a shot. The only problem was, Robert was not entirely comfortable with needles. Robert was called back into the exam room. As they were getting everything ready, he thought he was pretty calm and relaxed. But he know that any moment, that needle was going to come out.

Finding out and using your customer's preferred method of communication is huge. I've seen it make or break a deal more times than I can count. Just recently, I had a client share a story about how it nearly ruined a relationship.

There's a technique you can use to help discover what remaining concerns your prospect has. It's called the thermometer technique, and it is really powerful. If you're not familiar with the thermometer technique, here's a story to explain how it works.

It doesn't matter whether we're meeting with a prospect or talking to an existing client. When we meet with someone, we need to get enough information from them to know whether we can help them or not. It should be all about asking them questions.

If you're like many salespeople out there, you may have been guilty of winging it during a sales call. Maybe you just did it once, maybe you do it more often. You may even do it every time you make a sales call. If that sounds like you, you're in trouble!

Have you ever had a prospect bring you a problem that you knew you could solve, you decided to business together, and it all fell apart? Often that's because the prospect brought you what they thought the problem was, but it turns out that the real problem was completely different. Is that really their fault? Or should you have taken steps to discover that ahead of time?

If we don't ask questions, we can waste time, energy, and even money. It leads to unpaid consulting and making assumptions. Some people are much more comfortable than others at asking questions.

How often have you asked a prospect about their budget, and they tell you they don't really have money for your service or product? Do you give up then? Plenty of salespeople do. But there's no reason to throw in the towel!

How you view money is something we at Sandler refer to as your money concept. When looking at your own weaknesses in sales, it's a key issue to be aware of. Your money concept can really screw you up!

We all know that sales is no place to get your needs met. But some of us are wired where we want to be liked more than we want the sale. That can really goof you up! It's a major, major weakness.

It's very common to get used to the way things work in your world. For example, in your world, you may do a lot of free consulting. But this can hurt you, sometimes in a very immediate and drastic way.

The old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. The parallel in the sales world is that you can show a prospect the solution for their problem, but you can't make them take it. Instead, you've got to do something much more powerful.

When clients and customers come to you for your help, you're probably the expert. Like a skilled doctor, you can look at their symptoms, find out what the underlying problem is, and prescribe the best solution.

First impressions are huge. If you mess up in the first few minutes you're in a meeting with a new prospect, you may set yourself up for hours of unpaid consulting. So how do we avoid that type of situation?

How many of you would like to double your sales? If you are like most people you answered a quick yes to this question - let's look at the 3 ways we can do that?

We often get asked by clients (or prospective clients) how do you help our people get ready to be more successful in sales, business development, or client relations. Although it may sound like this could be a huge mystery - it is not quite that elusive. It can be broken down like this; to live your life as a champion salesperson, you have to go through the same training process as other top professionals whether they are athletes or astronauts, fire fighters or fighter pilots. Training conditions you to act and react in certain ways. This conditioning becomes a way of life based on rules, principles, and systems developed to ensure your success.

If only I would have asked … (fill in the blank)...? This is one of the most costly questions professionals have. It is also an extremely common thought that sales professionals, managers, leaders, and business owners share. How often have you left a meeting and thought to yourself I wish I would have asked………... or wish I would have said………....? If you are like most people these thoughts cross your mind on a regular basis. We find that many people know what they should ask or say – they just do not do it, or they are not comfortable doing it. This is a frequent issue that holds most people back – it keeps them from achieving the goals they have and the growth they seek. The big question is why does this happen? You might be surprised to know...

How often have you listened as someone rationalized his or her mishandling of a problem by externalizing its source: I can't meet my projections because . . ., My territory isn't large enough, or Our prices are too high? Closer scrutiny almost always reveals the source of the problem to be internal, stemming from the salesperson's concept of self specifically, a state of mind that prevents him or her from trying to break through his/her success barrier. This state of mind is their comfort zone.

Do you want more out of 2013 than you got out of 2012? More money, more free time, more respect, more friends, more whatever? If you are like over 90% of the population there is something you said you would achieve in 2012 that you fell short on why do you think only 10% did not fall short? It is because they have desire, commitment and follow the 6 simple steps we outline in this column.

A client of mine recently told me a story. He was starting to work with someone who he had worked with in the past, and it hadn’t turned out so well last time. In the initial conversations, he felt like the past incident was hanging over his head. Fortunately, he was able to take care of the elephant in the room with a straight-forward solution.

He gathered up his guts, and brought it to the prospect’s attention.

It went something like this...