One of the very best closing tools that you all have in your back pocket is the ability to REALLY listen to a client. That’s correct: Really listening to a client will move you closer to closing the deal.
Why? Actually the answer is very simple. When we REALLY listen to a client, when they FEEL they are being listened to, when their need to be HEARD is being fulfilled, they move towards gaining intimacy with their salesperson which in turn moves them closer to closing.
On a weekly basis, I get to sit “chair-side” with many of my clients when they are sales pitching, either on a live one on one appointment or live during a phone call. It is very powerful, as a sales coach, to be able to sit back, listen, watch and observe “humanities 101” in process, the exchange between a salesperson and a potential client.
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It is amazing that something as simple as listening falls by the wayside and takes a back seat to the sales pitch. I am not talking about a back seat in the sedan; — I am talking about the back seat in a Boeing 747! We as salespeople have done this to ourselves. We are so engrossed in wanting to convince our clients, that in many cases we forget plain and simple mannerisms’. Typical things I see are unnecessary interruptions, speaking a mile a minute, fidgeting, no eye contact and other non-professional conduct.
A survey was conducted many years ago that showed us in a typical sales conversation of 100 words – We stop listening to the other person by the 7th word spoken and by the 10th word we have already formulated our answer. The survey went on to say that from the 10th word to the 100th word spoken by a client, the salesperson would “check out” of the conversation and for the most part ignore the last 90 words that a client would speak. Talk about a disconnect of the human spirit! Salespeople do it to clients, parents do it to their children, and spouses do it to each other.
Each week I am in a sales office in Dallas, consulting and coaching to what I believe is one of the very best sales forces I’ve ever come across. Their sales process and product are the most difficult I have ever experienced, and, certainly because of that, they only have highly trained sales professionals working there.
One of their top producers uses visual impressions in his office. When walking down the hallway towards his office, the first thing you notice is a large poster on his door. As you move closer to the poster, you see his monetary goals, both weekly and monthly. These income goals are written with a large colorful ink pen so EVERYONE in and around the office knows what his specific weekly and monthly income goals are. Furthermore, he has his main sales efficiencies metrics posted – basically, how many client calls and appointments he must make daily to be successful.
Waiting. And waiting. Yes, I have been waiting for a new electronic sales tool to arrive and it has finally made its way to the marketplace – video e-mailing, live video broadcasting and video training blogs! Best yet, it all works off my laptop and I can operate virtually!
I must admit, I have been an electronic junkie since the beginning days of e-mail (even before the days of Al Gore discovering the Internet). Using an electronic infrastructure is certainly a way to increase your sales efficiencies and profits, not to mention working smarter versus working harder. Most of my highest net profit sales coaching students totally understand what I mean. You should too!
Watching the e-mail world over the past few years – I have seen a dramatic decline in its overall usage. Mainly because of spam filters and blockers and I think that as humans we have grown tired of all the useless garbage that gets forwarded along in the electronic world.
I wasn’t sure what would be the next great move in electronic communication. Now we are on the cusp of a great new electronic revolution – and that being video e-mailing. Just look at the advancement of www.youtube.com and you know what I am talking about.
Know this – all my Students and High Level Sales Executives that I work with are always on the LQQKOUT for distinctive and cutting edge sales tools and the video communication tools suite is just one of the many new electronic sales tools that I have discovered.
Are your Sales Efficiencies hitting 50% each week? 60%, 70%, 80% or will you consistently hit over 90%? To find out how, read more . . .
Many of you are already familiar with my Weekly Sales PMS Chart- CLICK HERE to read Chuck’s article, Having Sales PMS ? The main purpose of the PMS Chart is for sales people/managers to “time log” their activities each week while at the same time track their forecast and actual numbers of their own self imposed sales/management metrics, mainly targeting revenue producing activities. Those that have used the PMS chart have found it useful for staying on track and on goal.
In an effort to help sales people and mangers take the PMS chart to the next level, I have now created the PMS Efficiency Chart. This new tracking system compliments the PMS Weekly Chart and actually goes one step further in allowing the sales person or manager to actually “grade” the salesperson. Beyond the grade, the user can find weak links in their sales processes which allows them to make changes before non activity become a revenue issue. Remember . . . W.G.M.G.D. “What Gets Measured – Gets DONE!”
A long time ago I sat in an audience listening and learning from Jim Rohn, one of the leading motivational speakers this world has known. Jim has been dubbed the title of “America’s Foremost Business Philosopher.” A titled earned, certainly not demanded. Jim spoke of what TIPS stood for. He stated that most of us share in a general misconception of TIPS. He used this simple example: “Enjoy a meal at a restaurant and at the conclusion of the meal leave a TIP for the good service that the waiter or waitress provided.” Okay Jim, sounds good enough for me, so where is the misconception?
Yet, Jim was talking about excelling, going beyond the normal, doing something different with TIPS. He defined it this way:
T: To
I: Insure
P: Prompt
S: Service
Hmmm . . . “To Insure Prompt Service?” I wasn’t sure what Jim was trying to get me to understand until he said “Tip in advance.” That’s’ correct, To Insure Prompt Service – Tip In Advance. Imagine for a moment . . . you sit down at a restaurant and while the wait staff is busy handing out menus, you tip in advance. Obviously you’ll have that wait-persons attention as you’ll be provided with superior service. Talk about a distinction!
When first meeting a client, whether in a face to face meeting, over the internet using video conferencing, or just plain e-mail, what type of first impression do you make? Take account of the wait staff at a restaurant. In a month’s time, how many customers do they really remember in a positive light? In your sales process, how many of your clients really remember you after a month? A year? What are you doing to create your own personal and professional distinction over your competitors? Or, is your lack of assertiveness or mental complacency earning you a slot as “just another table turn” at the restaurant? Ho hum.
Three major areas to pay attention to:
On a scale from 1 to 10, where does your client rank each category when you are presenting to them? Making the sale is easy, get a total score from each category of 30 total points and you made the sale!
Whether it’s making a sales presentation to a client, having a discussion with a loved one, attempting to get a point across to a young child, or speaking to an audience, it can be like a complicated puzzle with no solution in sight. Add to that different behavioral styles, left-brain/right-brain processing, and the fact that we are all different, expands the complexity of the puzzle and can make communicating quite challenging. Why?
I am asked many times during speaking engagements on what I do when I conclude a call with a client. Additionally, I do many “live chair-sides” where I am either listening to the sales pitch over a phone call and many times I do live one-on-ones with my students and THEIR clients. Often, the salesperson ends the appointment or the phone call the same old way, with a thank you (not distinctive) or a “SKILL” the client might remember you by.
Listen to Sales Student Jim Cauduro, a successful Dallas based Mortgage Consultant and find out what type of results he had after implementing . . . “Is there anything I can do for you?”
Related Article:
Questions That Will Advance Client Intimacy
Invest in yourself by purchasing Chuck’s SalesMastery Book of Quotes for only $2.00 per book. Click here to Order!
Lucky. Yes, lucky. I am lucky that week-in and week-out, I get to sit in and listen to various communication between salespeople and their clients. It never ceases to amaze me how as salespeople we are not aware of some of the things we do and how those actions affect the client-salesperson relationship. More importantly, how our actions with our clients either move us towards or away from closure.Here is a great example of what I am speaking about. I walk by a salesperson’s office and hear this comment when he is concluding a phone call – “I’ll call you back in a few weeks.” This comment sends me straight up the flag pole and if you are a sales manger reading this, it had better send you up the pole as well!
Imagine for a moment you are the client who just heard “I’ll call you back in a few weeks.” Consider the opinions that you might be formulating of that salesperson. What thoughts would be cultivating in your mind? Are your really being drawn to the salesperson?
Here are some possibilities that I came up with:
I could go on and on with this yet I will spare you all the other things that might possibly lurk in a client’s mind. Notwithstanding, I am sure that the salesperson that ends his client communication this way STARTS out his communication that way.
Remember what is taught in the SalesMastery Two Day Course. The three reasons why salespeople are given a “NO.” Here they are:
My belief, in ending a communication with “I’ll call you back in a few weeks” hits on #1 and #3. The salesperson does not MAKE his client like him or her and you end your call or appointment just like a typical salesperson. When you say “I’ll call you back in a few weeks” you end your call or appointment in a communication fog bank – thus triggering a negative past sales experience for that client.
Set Sales Processes . . . 95% of salespeople don’t have them or don’t understand the power of having them in place. 95% of Sales Managers . . . don’t enforce them, because they never used them when they were on the front line, SELLING. Listen to this very short video training by Sales Coach Chuck and find out about implementing SET Sales Processes, becoming precision based on follow up and gaining a few points on your sales efficiencies chart!
Using visual sales tool to forward your precision based communication.
1. 3rd Party – More Persuasiveness – Utilize the Believability Scale
2. Brian Tracy “97% of Americans are motivated by visual effects first.”
1. It is a fact that people remember:
2. Beyond that, the impact of a message has been attributed to the following
percentages:
“If your lips are moving, you had better be pointing or clicking!”
– Chuck Bauer
3. Sales Tools:
4. Increase Your Sales Efficiencies by utilizing visual aids in all aspects of your
sales presentations and sales communication.
If you need business help and have heard horror stories or think coaches are a waste of money, don’t worry—that is not the case with Coach Chuck! He has exceeded my expectations and I very excited about the months ahead!
Dr. Kristi Farrell
Aspire Health Clinic
