"The Navigator" News Blog

Monthly Archives: June 2014

Five Ways to Make Your Questioning More Effective

One of the minor ironies of my profession is that, when I’m booked to speak at trade shows and conventions, one of the most popular topics requested is “How to Give a Great Sales Presentation,” or something of the like. It’s also one of the most requested articles. The problem is that I can’t teach people how to give a truly great presentation without teaching them how to be great questioners. The key to the great sales presentations is in the questions you ask beforehand.
That’s because great sales presentations make the customer feel like it’s their sales presentation and not yours. Customers buy from their presentations – not yours. And the only way you can do this is by asking great questions beforehand to build your presentation. So, consider this the supplement to so many of those speaking programs I give. Here are five ways to make your questioning (and therefore your presentations) much more effective:
1. Be direct. I’m always amazed at salespeople who will come up with five indirect questions to get (or, in many cases, attempt to derive) a piece of information when the customer would be more than happy to answer the direct question. Your customers understand that these questions are key not only to your success but to theirs; why not enlist them as a partner by asking them questions that get directly to the heart of the matter? One of my favorite questions is, “What will make this a successful purchase for you?” It’s hard to get more direct than that.

2. Be thorough. Along with the above piece of advice, being thorough is key to effective questioning. What I mean by being thorough is this: Don’t leave key questions unasked or important information unknown. From time to time, salespeople will describe a particular situation or response to me, and then say, “What do you suppose he meant by that?” Don’t ask me (or your boss or co-workers) – ask the customer. Your customer has all the information you want – or can get it.

3. Drill down. This follows from #2. Drilling down is one of the most important, yet least used, skills in questioning. Sometimes customers will give incomplete answers to questions – not because they’re trying to deceive but because it doesn’t occur to them to give a more complete answer. Now it’s on you – drill down. Drilling down is simple; “Can you tell me more about that?”; “Why is that?”; and the like will get you where you want to go.

4. Use set-up questions. “Set-up questions” can be very important, particularly when you have a specific feature or benefit that you want to accentuate in your presentation. Set-up questions work like this: Let’s say that you have a particular credential that your competitors don’t; perhaps all of your salespeople are degreed engineers and the competitor’s aren’t. You can aske a question like, “How important is it to you that your salesperson is also a qualified and degreed engineer in order to help you implement this program?” Notice I didn’t ask, “Is it important (a closed ended question)”, I asked “How important is it (an open ended question).” Set-up questions should be open ended whenever possible to allow your customer to degree and prioritize.

5. Lose the fear! This might be the most important. Salespeople who bypass good questions oftentimes do it out of fear. They’re afraid that they might ask “too direct” of a question and offend their customer. Stop it! There is no penalty for asking direct and probing questions, as long as they relate to the business situation at hand. The worst your customer will do is refuse to answer. That’s OK. It just means that you haven’t earned the trust that goes with that answer yet. You’ll get there in time.
Do you want to really give great presentations? Then be a great questioner. Great questioners beat great presenters all the time. And if you’re wondering if I say that during those presentation programs – yes, I do. And now you know some ways to be much more effective with your questioning.

“The Unconventional Truths of High Performance Management” at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market – August 8, 2014, Salt Lake City

I’m pleased to announce that I will be presenting “The Unconventional Truth of High Performance Management”  at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market, August 8, 2014, in Salt Lake City!

Presentation Title and Description:

The Unconventional Truths of High Performance Management, Friday, August 8, 2014 from 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Most managers perform three activities: Hiring, Firing, and Dictating. In this program, Troy Harrison shows the “unconventional truths” of a management method based on relationships and persuasion – one that generates better results, lower employee turnover, and higher performance from your staff! Troy’s approach is different than what you’ve seen before – but by implementing his four-step process, any manager can improve their management skills and the performance of his/her staff. Topics covered: • Four steps to better employee relationships • Persuasive management – how it works • Why Communication is Key • Managing the Emotional Bank Account • And More!

I Was Interviewed on Motorcar Marketing

I had a fun experience a few days ago.  I was interviewed for a podcast on Motorcarmarketing.com.  Ashley reached out to me after reading some articles that I’d written for Dealer Marketing Magazine, the trade magazine for auto dealers.  It was a great conversation that, as Ashley said, “gave great value to the owner of any car dealership.”  You can listen here.

The Worst Cold Call Ever.

shutterstock_152196302If you’re looking for a guide to “how not to do it” when it comes to cold calling, a real-life call can help.

I’ve maintained for a long time that cold calling can be a good, predictable way to bring on new business -and that there’s very little downside to it other than the fact that most salespeople don’t like to do it.

I may have to revise that – at least the part concerning the downside.  I am now very much anti-Sage.  You know, Sage, the accounting people?  They have been blowing up my phone with cold calls.  Each one is worse than the last.  In fact, if you’re dedicated to making the worst possible cold calls, here’s a step by step guide.

1. Use an auto-dialer.  I HATE auto dialers.  And you always know when they’re in use because of that little hesitation betwee answering the phone and hearing someone – perhaps surprised at getting an actual vlice – picks up and begins the call.  Nothing says “I don’t care about this call enough to dial the phone myself” like an auto-dialer.


 

2.  The “person who” call.  I’ve said many times that the “person who” call is a sales killer.  This one was.  “May I speak to the person who handles your accounts payable?”  As the President, CEO, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer, and Accounts Payable Dude of Troy Harrison and Associates, that tells me that they didn’t even take a second to figure out who they were calling.


 

3.  English as a fourth language.  I’m going to offend some people here.  Sorry, folks, but it’s true.  I have nothing against those who are from other places and learn our language.  But – If I can’t understand you, I’m not going to buy from you.  I could barely understand the person who called.


 

4.  Hang up when the script isn’t followed.  I attempted to say, “Stop for a second.  I’m not a prospect for you.  Please take me off your call list.”  By the time I got to “for a,” the line went dead.  That’s just plain rude.  This is where I go from being an inappropriate customer call to being, frankly, pissed off at having my time wasted and then being treated rudely.


 

5.  Repeat – again and again.  Now you can send your customer into orbit.  Having denied them the opportunity to politely request that they be taken off your list, simply call them back – again and again and again and again.  I only wish I were kidding; I’ve received at least two calls a day for the last week and a half.  And never once have I been able to finish the request to be taken off their list.  Worse, they constantly change up the number they’re calling from, so they call faster than I can block the numbers in my phone.


Really, this is absolutely the worst teleprospecting effort that I’ve ever seen or been the victim of.  And my overriding impression is that if this is how awful Sage is when they’re trying to get your business, how bad will they be when they have it?

Moral of the story:  If the above five points are part of your teleprospecting program, STOP.  CHANGE.  DO SOMETHING ELSE.

“Sales is the Solution” at the Lee’s Summit (MO) Chamber of Commerce – July 1, 2014

Tuesday, July 1, 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM

The environment for professional salespeople has changed more in the last 10 years than in the previous 100.  Today’s Internet-driven information society has produced a more educated, savvy customer base that demands more than the old, tactic-heavy sales techniques.  Today’s salesperson must earn his or her way into the customer’s buying process; if they do not, the customer can simply buy over the Internet.  In this workshop, Troy Harrison shows salespeople the way forward into the brave new world of selling.  Topics covered include:

· What’s different about selling today
· The three categories of salespeople
· What your customer demands from you (and will cut you out if you don’t provide it)
· What your customer demands that you NOT do
· Becoming an All Around Profit Center
· And More!

Who Should Attend:  Professional Salespeople and Sales Manager

Learning Objectives:  Attendees will learn a new approach to selling that will allow them to survive and thrive in today’s Internet driven sales environment.

Click here for more information or to register!

Three Places Good Sales Go to Die

Three places good sales dieDo your sales die an early death?  Here’s how to avoid it.

With Memorial Day Weekend upon us, it’s time not only to grill burgers, go to sporting events, and open up the swimming pools, it’s time to honor the veterans who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country.  Those brave men and women have made many things possible – including giving me the ability to sit here blogging on my laptop instead of digging a ditch somewhere.  I give a hearty “thank you” to each and every one of them.

I decided, in that spirit (and yes, it’s a huge stretch, but bear with me) to memorialize the places where good sales go to die.  In my career, I’ve seen many great salespeople open sales dialogues, have great conversations, and never get the business.  That’s when a good sale dies – and here are the three most common places and ways that good sales die.

  1. Never knowing the result.  The most common place a good sale dies is here, with a salesperson who never asks the right questions to understand the result that the buyer has in mind.  People don’t buy products.  They buy the result of using or owning that product. Unfortunately, too many salespeople never know the buyer’s desired result because they don’t ask what it is.  In fact, too many salespeople don’t really ask any substantive questions – they just ‘show up and throw up,’ giving the buyer a laundry list of specifications and features.  When you do that, you force the buyer to interpret those features and benefits into his/her own result – and many times, the buyer instead simply finds another salesperson or product.  Even a highly motivated buyer can have his purchasing momentum killed by a sales call that isn’t focused on his desired results and needs. Solution:  Ask plenty of results focused questions before presenting.

  2. The Chase Cycle.  We all know what this one looks like.  You have a buyer who appears to be motivated.  You’ve had a great sales call.  Maybe you’ve asked the right questions, made the right presentations, and gotten commitment to evaluate a proposal.  Then……the buyer goes silent.  And never comes back.  What in the heck just happened?  You call, you leave messages, and those messages are never returned.  That’s not good.  You just found yourself in the “Chase Cycle.”  The “Chase Cycle” happens when a sales communication ends on an open-ended promise to “get back with each other,” and one party doesn’t fulfill.  Think of your communications as a chain.  One link leads to the next link, and the easiest time to forge the next link is while you’re on the current link.  Solution:  End each sales conversation with a firm commitment, including time and place, for the next contact – and put it on each other’s calendars.

  3. No close.  I’ve maintained for most of my career that, done correctly, the close is the natural conclusion to the selling process.  I’ve maintained that because it’s true.   If you go through my “Sell Like You Mean It” sales training program, the unit on closing takes about 20 minutes – of a 16 hour program!  That doesn’t mean that the close itself is unimportant; it just means that the closing technique is unimportant.  Make no mistake, even in today’s world with today’s educated and informed buyers, the question that confirms the sale still needs to be asked.  The reason that salespeople don’t ask it is FEAR.  They’re afraid that they’ll offend the customer, that the customer will cut off the relationship, etc.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  After you offer a proposal, you owe it to yourself and to your customer to ask the closing question.  The proposal signifies that you and your customer have exchanged enough information for the customer to make a buying decision – so ask then.  Solution:  Never offer a proposal without asking for the business.

These, of course, aren’t the only places that good sales go to die – but they’re the most common, and if you can avoid them, you’ll increase your likelihood of winning business.  And you won’t have to “memorialize” as many lost sales.

Five Signals That You Have a Maximized Customer Relationship

I like CRM. If you’re a regular reader of this space, you know this; however, what you might not know is that I have another version of CRM. Instead of Customer Relationship Management, I prefer to think of Customer Relationship Maximization.

You see, too few salespeople really understand what a customer relationship really is. They think, “Hey, they buy from me – we have a relationship.” Not necessarily. They might just be an Occasional Buyer (they shop you every time) or a Habitual Buyer (they buy from you out of habit without really understanding why). A Maximized Relationship is what we should be shooting for, and below, here are the Five Signals That You Have a Maximized Customer Relationship.

  1. You can make mistakes and still keep the business. There’s really no larger indicator that you have a real customer relationship than this one. Mistakes happen. That’s because people are imperfect – yes, even your humble author. In fact, I had such a meeting today. I was meeting with a client to discuss a particular service offering that hadn’t gone as well as it could have. IN the midst of the meeting, my client gave me the highest compliment that they could: “Troy, regardless, we want you to continue to be involved here. You’ve been good for us and to us.” Mistakes happen. If one mistake costs you the business, you didn’t have a real relationship.
  2. They buy most of what they need from you. This is actually a bit of a revision from my contention of the past. I used to say that you have a maximized customer relationship if they bought everything from you that they could buy. I’ve backed off that to a certain extent. Today, I like to see at least a 75% market share as a maximized relationship, simply because customers like to diversify – few buyers these days are willing to put all their eggs in one basket, no matter how good you are. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t always be shooting for 100% market share – you should – but it does recognize that sometimes it just isn’t possible.
  3. You have multiple contacts. This is more important now than ever. Good customer relationships require multiple contacts. The reason is simple – employees are more and more mobile, and stints at jobs get shorter and shorter. If you put all your relationship eggs in one basket by having a single contact, that means that when your contact changes jobs, you’re back to square one and selling on an even keel with your non-incumbent competitors. In building your relationships, go High, Wide, and Deep. “High” means as high on the company organization chart as you can get. “Wide” means many contacts. And “Deep” means that your contacts have more than a superficial relationship with you.
  4. They give you referrals. Referrals are one of the greatest indicators of a maximized customer relationship. A referral is an expression of trust. When your customer refers you, they are saying that they trust you so much that they are willing to place their other relationships in your hands. It’s also an expression that your customer cares about you, your business, and your continued prosperity. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – your best customers want you to prosper. You earn that level of trust and confidence; it’s not given to you. But when it’s earned, it’s a wonderful thing.
  5. They evangelize for you. What I mean by “evangelize” is that they are willing to give testimonials, and serve as a reference when necessary. One of the toughest parts of selling a new customer is offering proof that your promises aren’t just empty words. Testimonials do this – they allow new customers to see you through the eyes of happy current customers, and in so doing, they are the most valuable sales tool that you have.

When you evaluate your customer relationships, think of the above five touchpoints. Chances are that most of your relationships won’t measure up. That’s okay; it gives you something to work toward. Get strategic. With each of your key customers, pick one of the above signals (where you are deficient) and work toward improving or achieving the signal on each call. When one signal is achieved, work on the next. It’s likely that you’ll find that one signal achieves another (for instance, the customer that will give you a testimonial will also likely give a referral or tolerate a mistake). Make no mistake – a Maximized customer relationship is money.

Social Media – I’m Taking My Stand

First, a warning – this particular article is long enough that it will be split into three installments. So, if you have a short attention span, this is notice that you’ll need to make sure to read the HotSheet the next two weeks to get the full story. These articles will be a little wordy; I’m laying out a complete case here. And with that, let’s dive in.

I have commented on Online Social Networking numerous times within this space, as well as in live events. However, until now, I’ve never really laid out where and how I feel Social Networking should fall within a comprehensive sales strategy, and more importantly – where it should NOT fall. That’s what I’m going to do here. I feel almost forced into making this declaration, but it’s time that someone combats the increasing level of hysteria and even silliness surrounding social media and online social networking.

That silliness has reached its height with recent writings by the man that I consider to be the top sales trainer in the USA, Jeffrey Gitomer. Now, don’t waste your time e-mailing me about how much more famous he is, how much more he makes, etc. than I do. I’m painfully aware. That said, I think Jeffrey (and many other trainers, he’s just the top of the heap) have gone off the reservation. His latest stance (summarized) is that, “Social networking is today’s cold call; stop cold calling and start Tweeting.”

Nonsense. In fact, let me go further: If you are a professional Business to Business Salesperson, and you take that advice as written, you are committing professional suicide. Period.

First of all, let’s define Online Social Networking. Online Social networking is the communication with others, through sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other such sites, with the objective of generating business interest. Online Social Networking – which I will hereafter refer to as OSN – can be a good piece of a selling strategy, depending on what you are selling. For most business to business salespeople, it is not a strategy in and of itself.

Now, let’s talk about why my stance – which will surely get me criticized as a technophobe or some other nonsense – is the correct one. For most of us, one of the big pieces of appeal to a selling career is the fact that you can control your income; i.e. through your own efforts, you can increase your income by increasing effort and achievement. There’s a basic equation that expresses this, which I teach in my sales training courses:

(Quantity of sales activity) x (Quality of sales activity) = RESULTS.

In other words, the more you do it, and the better you are at it, the more results you get. For most sales environments, we express that in terms of ratios – i.e. X amount of calls leads to X amount of appointments, which leads to X amount of proposals, to X amount of sales. Even Jeffrey still recognizes this principle; his common putdown to those who believe in cold prospecting is, “Go ahead and make 100 cold calls. You’ll sell one of them.” What doesn’t follow here is the crucial element in my argument against OSN as a primary selling strategy.

There are no ratios with OSN. No one can tell me (or you) how many Tweets lead to an appointment, how many “likes” on Facebook leads to a Proposal, or how many videos on YouTube lead to a sale.  The basic principle and appeal of professional selling – controllability of achievement and income – is gone if you rely on OSN as a primary selling strategy.

So why are people preaching it so hard? Simple – it’s marketable as all get out to salespeople. The reason is simple: Ever since cold prospecting has existed as a method of new business generation, there have been (a lot of) salespeople who disliked it, and looked for a way around it – a “magic button” to new prospects, if you will. And there have been trainers who have capitalized on this tendency by claiming that they had the “magic button.” They’ve been wrong in most cases, and continue to be. There’s no rejection when you Tweet; there’s no hang-up when you put up a Facebook page. Hence, there’s a ton of appeal to salespeople about OSN.

Now, I’m not totally against OSN. This Blog is a form of OSN, and it’s been great for reputation-building for the past six years. In fact, that’s where OSN should fall for most salespeople – as a reputation builder. And before this sequence of articles is over, we’ll talk about doing just that.

And with that said, we’ve used up this space for this week. With everything that I said, you should remember that I do believe that OSN plays a part in the business-building activities of most salespeople. We’ll talk about that in upcoming weeks. Next week, we’ll move into live face-to-face networking, which should be your second priority. After that, we’ll get into OSN and how to use it.

Face to Face Networking as a Sales Strategy

Face to Face networking is, or should be, a salesperson’s second priority after real prospecting efforts.  But there’s a lot that salespeople don’t know…

After last week’s article, hopefully you recognize where I stand in terms of business building activities. When building your business and/or territory by adding new customers, your first priority should be active data-driven prospecting activities (i.e. telephone cold calling). Your second priority should be live, in-person networking efforts. Your third should be Online Social Networking, or OSN. Today, we’ll talk about live, in person networking efforts.

First of all, let’s define “Networking.” Networking is the process of meeting people and forming relationships with a defined result in mind. What separates “networking” from “socializing” is the goal; i.e. the defined result. In our case, the defined result is that we want to find potential customers. But what kind? For that, we need to understand that there are a few levels of contacts we can make (through any of our efforts), and that those levels of contact have different levels of desirability. We’ll rate that desirability by Buying Power (i.e. the cash availability to make purchases) and Buying Authority (i.e. the level of ability to make a purchasing decision independently). Not all contacts rank the same, and it’s important to understand which is better. So, here are the basic levels:

Level One: Implementers: These are the foot soldiers of the business world. Look in the mirror, Champ – if you’re a salesperson, this is probably you. It’s also office clerks, maintenance technicians, etc.   Implementers are the “doers” of the business world. They are also, not coincidentally, the most commonly available contacts in a networking environment. The problem is, at least in a B2B environment, Implementers typically have low Buying Power and even lower Buying Authority. So if your main contacts are Implementers, your hope of making a sale is wrapped up in your Implementers’ ability and willingness to introduce you up a level.

Level Two: Influencers: Influencers are mainly middle managers, department heads, and other people who may have high Buying Power (departmental budgets) but low Buying Authority (they need to get the approval of others before making a purchase). If you’re hearing “I have to ask my boss”or “It’s not in the budget” a lot, you’re selling primarily to Level Two contacts. Single-employee entrepreneurs can also fall in as a Level Two contact, since they have high Buying Authority (nobody else to ask), but lower Buying Power (low cash reserves).

Level Three: Decision Makers: Decision Makers are Presidents, CEO’s, VP’s, Owners, and other C-level people. They are the people in the building who have high Buying Power (i.e. money to spend) as well as high Buying Authority (they don’t need to ask anyone before cutting the check). These are the most beneficial contacts for you to be dealing with. They are also the least common contacts for you to deal with. Why? Lots of reasons, but fear of approaching people at this level is right up there near the top. There are also levels above Level Three, but they are characterized by size of checkbook rather than authority.

Ideally, you’d all rather be dealing with Level Three and above, right? So why don’t you? Simple answers – your own fear and the fact that the deck is stacked against you.

Fear comes into play in your own cold calling approaches. Many salespeople (you?) get scared to call the person in the corner office, thinking they will be “too busy” or are “too important” to talk to you. Most of the time, they’re not; most of the time, other salespeople are just as scared as you, and the field is clear.

The other reason is that, in networking, the deck tends to be stacked against you. Remember the old saying, “Birds of a feather flock together?” Well, it’s true – more importantly, they network together. Go to any Chamber event. What percentage are Level Ones? Probably 70% or more. Level Two is another 20%, and if you’re LUCKY, maybe 10% will be Level Threes. That’s because middle managers and owners have their own networking venues, and many of those venues don’t allow salespeople to join. So how do you get to network with Level Threes? Here are a few ways:

  1. Cultivate a strong relationship with a Level One who has the ability and the willingness to introduce you to his/her own Level Three contacts.

  2. Analyze your own contacts and customers. Do you have any Level Threes? If so, start by cultivating relationships with them, and work for introductions.

  3.  If you don’t have any Level Threes, get some! Start by cold calling on Level Threes, sell them, impress them, and then network through them.

Well, that’s about all the space we have for this article. Next week, we’ll be back to talking about OSN, and this week’s column will probably get more meaningful to you.