Successful Salespeople - Sell with Passion and Manage by Process - The Interview
Successful Salespeople - Sell with Passion and Manage by Process - The Interview
For a successful first call we need to do many things. The same way a professional ballerina will perform certain preparatory exercises before a performance, and the same way a professional surgeon will go through certain routine steps before performing an operation. The professional salesperson goes through certain preparation before going on a call to a prospective customer for the first time. As with the previous activity of securing the first interview over the phone, before the first interview we must Think, Prepare and Rehearse.
In this section we look at two scenarios
1. The structure of first interviews for sales with long lead times. In this scenario various sales activities follow the first interview.
2. The structure of first interview with short lead times. The seller plans that the sale is to be concluded at the end of the interview.
1. Structure of the first Interview – Sales with long lead times
Preparing for the First Interview
The sales aid that we use to prepare for the call and use during the call is a PPPP.
PPPP? Prospect Pre Planning & Preparation or QP4. The QP4 helps us with being professional and prepared. It is our flight plan for every journey. Each sales team should design their own QP4 to suit the type of industry, product and general customer profile. When we start filling in our QP4 our Thinking Ability will be activated and we can start to plan and strategize our call. What can be extremely useful is that we can use our QP4 as a data capture sheet to update any computerized sales or marketing system we might have. Our QP4 can also help jog our memories about issues that our client has formed an opinion on, which can help us prepare for the negotiation stage.
The first section of the document (one page if possible) must be able to give us at a glance, all the vital statistics relevant to our progress. The second section of the document is a list of discovery questions that we will use in our interview/s to discover both needs and wants. So it is important that the questions are put down and asked in such a way that we can get the prospect to tell us what the current situation is, plus what the desired situation should be if things were to change. It might even be advantageous to ask each question twice.
Examples are:
Currently how many new uniforms do you issue to each employee a year?
Ideally, how often would you like to issue them with new uniforms?
These questions have to be well thought out and must be angled away from product specifications if possible and focus on the use of the product or service.
How much warehouse space do you currently use to distribute your merchandise?
Do you feel that less space would be needed if the layout was arranged differently?
What date of the month do you process the statements?
Ideally when should they go out?
How much inventory do you hold?
Is this level ideal?
What insurance do you currently have?
In the event of a catastrophe where everything is lost, is it sufficient?
Do you currently comply to the ISO9000 standard?
Would it be of benefit to comply?
Do you a have an alarm system?
What are your thoughts on having it linked to a response center?
How many order clerks do you have?
Ideally, do you think there should be more or fewer?
How many meals can you prepare in an hour?
Ideally, how many meals would you like to be able to prepare in an hour?
The way this section of the QP4 is laid out is going to help us as professionals
in many aspects of our job. It will ensure that we don’t take anything for granted and cover all the aspects that need addressing. It needs to have all the questions of discovery that relate to benefits that the features of our product or service address.
It may help us to uncover a desire.
AND -- MOST IMPORTANTLY
As we ask the “ideal questions,” the prospect will form a desire for the ideal situation. If we have phrased the questions correctly, is the ideal situation which they are describing can become reality with our product or service.
Example of a PPPP (QP4)
Prospect Pre-Planning and Preparation
Company Name : Date :
Speak to: Phone :
Fax :
email
Street Address : Fin. Yr End :
Postal Address :
Group/Branches :
Co Activity :
Referred By :
Size of operation :
Existing System:
New Objectives:
Evaluation plan:
Decision
Time Table:
Action
QP4 second page
Questionaire:
Current Situation: Ideal Situation:
How many Trucks:
How many Drivers:
How many Accounts:
No. of Entries:
No of Shifts:
Size of Warehouse:
No. of Cartons pd.
No. of Users:
Wage Bill pm:
Type of Insurance:
No. of Rooms:
No. of Shelves:
Loading Time:
Unloading Time:
Payment Time:
BENEFITS OF THE IDEAL SITUATION
Salesperson’s Activities and EI Actions
Now to the call itself.
The first thing we cannot be is late. Late is rude, unprofessional and inconsiderate. The prospect will correctly assume that, we feel our time is more important than his. This invokes a negative emotional drive.
Our prospect will probably fetch us from reception or have us fetched. When we first make eye contact with our prospect we . . . SMILE. If he or she puts out their hand we put out our hand. If they do not . . . DON’T. Don’t force them to shake hands. If he or she puts out their hand and says their name, put out your hand and repeat their name.“Good to meet you Mr. Peters. I am the James you spoke to on the phone” Confirm your name in case they have forgotten. The initial seconds, when meeting a person face to face for the first time, are crucial.
Your prospect will form an opinion of you in a very short space of time.
It will be extremely difficult for you, or anyone else to change that opinion later in your sales interaction. So our actions and speech are all positioned to have a completely neutral impact. Right at this point we are warm, not overly friendly, and allow them to take control of all the dynamics and aspects of the meeting. We don’t lead. We don’t offer opinions or comments. We listen. We obey. We allow them to establish their Emotional Security in this new relationship.
He may not welcome us or even greet us. He or his secretary may just issue an instruction . . . “Come with me”. Obey. Don’t offer small talk. Don’t ask personal questions like:
“Is that your Mercedes in the parking lot?”
“Do you own this lovely building or are you just renting?”
Don’t make statements like
“I like the uniforms your staff wear”
“Those are good display cabinets you have.”
Understand that the urge to make small talk is a normal response to you being in an unfamiliar environment. The sound of your of your own voice is comforting to you only. The emotional need/urge that you have is to be accepted by these strangers in whose company you find yourself. Remember, you can only establish your own “security” at the cost of negatively impacting your customers “emotional level.”
Once in the office where the interview is to take place WAIT. We will receive an instruction or welcome “Sit there” Or “Take a seat make yourself at home” NEVER make yourself at home. Sit down and WAIT. Once in the prospects office there is no
point in starting your interview until he is ready to listen to you. If he is attending to papers, taking calls, instructing staff we must wait in silence until he has stopped. The opening seconds and minutes of our discussion are vital with regard to the “feeling” our prospect will associate us with on a subconscious level and will affect all future interactions. Don’t speak, don’t dive into your briefcase, don’t get out your business card, and don’t comment on the weather. We don’t want to instantly become a “fool” or a “smart alec” or an “idiot” in the customers mind. Our own emotional drive will be “driving” us to establish ourselves in this new relationship. It is the natural response to the stimulus We must use our thinking ability, apply CORTS and COSTS and override this urge and display humility. We are new, we are in the customers “space”. We cannot be the ones establishing our own security. Our product, company or educational qualifications can only serve our own needs of establishing ourselves. It is of no interest to our customer at this stage and can only set up subconscious resistance. We wait until he says, “What can I do for you?” or instructs us to continue. The prospect may resort to many ploys to avoid listening to us. We have to wait in silence for the signal that he is now ready.
Once you have been acknowledged and asked to state your case we have to have prepared a well thought out presentation that – contains not too much detail, does not take too much time and ends with an open ended question. This will allow (not force) your prospect to state his opinion. Remembering our telephone conversation, we could start by saying “There is a concept (or idea) (remember it’s not your idea) that I would like your opinion on.”
Or
“May I sketch an idea for you to comment on?”
If we use the latter we must WAIT FOR THE PERMISSION TO DO SO.
We all have strong drivers and fears when meeting people for the first time, our customers have the same fears and drivers. Let them establish their own security by giving them control.
One of the biggest fears a salesperson normally harbors is that of a situation
of SILENCE. Silence is Golden don’t break it. Once we have asked a customer a question -- we have to wait for the answer. Don’t answer the question yourself and don’t proceed without the answer. If the customer wants to think about allowing you to get his or her opinion and there is silence, let them think about it and let them come to their conclusion. The problem is if we break these rules the customer is not going to tell us, but later in our interaction we are going to encounter what we perceive to be irrational behaviour. We are the ones that will have subconsciously deflated our customer by making ourselves comfortable in his space before he was comfortable with us being there.
By asking for his opinion we had better be genuine in our request otherwise it will show and once again we set up resistance before we even start.
One of the main reasons why customers delay getting the interview started is:
a) They need the time to adjust to you in their “space”.
b) They are so accustomed to salespeople getting started and not stopping that they are reluctant to bring the unpleasant experience upon themselves again.
If the prospect wants to talk about the weather and his family, the political situation, the latest news, his holiday . . . whatever . . . let them.
Don’t interrupt. Even if they have their facts wrong. Only support. Don’t offer your own opinion. I know from experience that sometimes the customer may talk about something that you may know more about. You may have heard the latest news on your radio on the way to the appointment. Your brother may play for the club he is talking about, or work for the company he is complaining about. Dont interrupt. Dont contradict. You own sub-conscious and emotional drivers will be wanting recognition. Resist. Apply CORTS and COSTS. The prospect at this stage is not concerned about you at all. All he wants is to establish himself and get acknowledgement from you. Let him “establish” himself and get comfortable with you. Remember this is a new relationship – let your prospect define the rules of engagement. If you allow him, they will become very “comfortable” with your presence. In the future he will automatically revert to that comfort level when dealing with you.
LISTEN, (part of effective communication) Support, nod your head.
If asked for your opinion, don’t give it. Say “I know little about it”,
“I’m listening to you because I’m also interested in …..”
“I’m listening to you because I also have kids”
“I’m not up on politics, so I’m interested in what you are saying”
“I’ve never been in the situation, so I don’t know”
All of us feel secure when we are talking . . . and talking about something where we believe we have more insight and understanding than the person we are talking to. So our instinct and urge is to do exactly that, especially as salespeople when it comes to talking about our products.
We have to control this urge. We have to be humble!
At a point, we as the salesperson will be asked to proceed with the sales interview. If we have asked the prospect for their opinion the customer may ask
“Why do you want my opinion?”
You can genuinely answer “Because it’s important to me” (And it had better be).
More often that not the prospect will say “OK”, “Shoot”, “What’s the question?”
At this stage the prospect is skeptical because he/she is waiting for a “sell”. We however by behaving in the manner outlined above will have ensured that we have not invoked a negative emotional drive.
Now our sincerity has to come through, as we genuinely ask an opinion question. This will be easy if we have prepared with the customers’ best interest in mind.
Each of these initial contact characteristics and mannerisms are vital to our establishing a relationship that the customer will value. We must obey all the rules. By doing so we are guaranteeing that we have not done our young relationship any harm. All we are really doing is adhering to good manners.
The presentation of the idea or concept must be simple, uncomplicated and free of elaborate detail.
Remember, we asked for his opinion so our presentation to him must end in the form of a question that invites his opinion. Now we must now be prepared to listen to the answer, for as long as it takes.
So we sketch a scenario for comment.
Example 1:
“We have had some experience in the manufacturing of uniforms for companies whose staff have to work in environments that can be tough on clothes. More recently we have had requests from our customers for all uniforms to be manufactured with waterproofing as standard”. “What do you think of waterproof uniforms?”...
Example no. 2
“In many display projects that we have done for retailers, our customers chose to use armour plate glass.” “What do you think of using armour plate glass in retail displays?”
We must avoid asking a question that is close ended, i.e. a question that invites a “yes” or “no” answer. Yes or no is hardly an opinion and it does not get the customers to establish themselves in the relationship.
‘So do you think armour plate glass is practical in a retail store?”
Answer “No.” End of discussion.
What do you think of using armour plate glass in retail displays?” . . .
“Do you think that it will be of benefit for everyone in the company to be responsible for their own computer?” Answer “No.” End of discussion.
“What do you think of everyone in the company being responsible for their own computer?” . . .
“Do you think waterproof uniforms are practical?” answer “No.” End of discussion.
“What do you think of waterproof uniforms?”...
We see the value of practicing and rehearsing.
Our opening presentation to the customer must be a pencil sketch. Our prospect must fill in their own colors and details. If he fills in his own details he will believe them. On the other hand if we don’t give him the opportunity to fill in his own facts, he will believe that you don’t understand your own product. This becomes vital when selling to doctors and other professional people.
It is a fact, while we are listening to other people, we are mentally formulating our reply. This is intended to show that we know what the other person is talking about. More often than not, we may wish to show that we know more about the subject under discussion. If the customer interrupts us at any stage WE MUST STOP TALKING. Allow the interruption to run to its full completion. We then come back to our original theme and continue. This will result in us saying very little on many occasions, but will also create a positive feeling. Our prospect having a positive feeling is the end game.
We must not comment favorably or unfavorably on the customers’ premises, furniture, or business methods. There is a chance that his unattractive or attractive secretary is also his wife or sister. Passing any comment will torpedo the opportunity before we even set sail. It may be that he cannot afford the mortgage repayments on the premises he has just built. In all innocence we make a comment and set up a subconscious resistance. As far as we are concerned any statement made by the prospect is correct. If the customer makes an incorrect statement about your product and you realize that it is not going affect the operation or envisaged benefit, leave it. The customer will either come to the correct understanding later in the sales interaction or they will tell you at a later date that you told him that it did this or that. His ego will still be intact though. All these rules need to be obeyed for the first initial interaction. Once the relationship is formed we can be more natural and adventurous in offering opinions or comments. Our comments and opinions are more likely to be listened to, and acted on, once the customer has a positive opinion of us.
Once we have asked for the prospects opinion and he/she has expressed it, - we can move on to the “questions section” of the QP4 on the second page. The prospect will have no problem with this as we have extended the social courtesy of allowing them to establish themselves as the undisputed expert in his field. We will be accepted in their space, and they will be well disposed to us. We have not offered any products or tried to sell him anything. We can move straight into our information gathering stage and fill in the questions on the second part of the QP4 with:
“That’s interesting, I wonder if you could help me with some further information?”
As we ask the questions that get the prospect to describe the ideal situation, we will be helping them define their own desires. At this point the quality of honesty has to come through. If the prospect describes to us something that does not suit our offering or that describes that he/she is very happy with the current situation – that’s fine. We know in time things will change, but the information they give us today is still valuable and we will be able to build on it at some time in the future. Should the interview at this stage reveal that their needs are catered for and that there is no benefit in the prospect moving or changing from their current situation – leave it. Do not try to sell at this stage. If the prospect describes a situation where they want to move and also indicates a tendency to want to invest with our competition . . . then what? Stick to the “flight plan.” Don’t jump ahead. Stay with the process. It might be that we know we are better than the competition, but stick to the information gathering and desire creating/ uncovering questions. We will get to the presentation/negotiation stage soon enough. Shortcutting at this stage will just compromise our chance of success.
As we come to the end of our interview, and have a clear view of the desired ideal situation, we can propose a further course of action that we have pre-planned and rehearsed-- in the form of a question. If we have done nothing wrong so far the customer will be willing to go along with our suggestion. It will be the normal response to the stimulus. This should in most cases be the pre-planned objective that we had for the call.
Concluding the first interview for sales with long lead times
Once we have the prospects opinion and have explored the current situation and have an idea as to the ideal situation, we are in a position to qualify the prospect. (More about control and qualification for sales with long lead times in the next article). We qualify the prospect by seeing if we are able to identify with the prospects idea of the desired ideal situation. If we are able to agree as to what the ideal or desired situation is, the next thing we do is – propose a course of action, if possible by means of a question. This is sometimes referred to as a “trial close.” This is interesting, as we have not yet introduced anything that we want to sell, and here we are closing already. What we are doing though, is qualifying the prospect in terms of evaluating their acceptance of our potential product offer and gauging their acceptance of our offer to assist them with their purchase.
Examples of how we “trial close” at qualifying are:
“If I understand you what you are saying is, the uniforms serve the purpose of identifying the employees in the market and are a form of advertising. Your employees consider them a perk as they do not have to invest in work clothes.”
Our statement will either be confirmed or modified.
LISTEN. Don’t interrupt.
Ask questions if necessary.
Conclude: “Would it be possible for us to supply a free uniform or two to find out what your employees feel about our product?”
Or
“So you are concerned about using armour glass in your retail displays because of the expense and the fact that your customer may not be able to see the merchandise clearly”.
Our statement will either be confirmed or modified.
LISTEN. Don’t interrupt.
Conclude:
‘Would you mind if I arranged for your jewelry merchandiser to look at the quality of our latest display glass?”
Or
“So what you are saying is that you don’t see it being practical that everyone in the organization decides on what computer to use?”
Our statement will either be confirmed or modified.
LISTEN
Conclude
“Would it be possible for one of our technical people to install our new network monitoring system to demonstrate how such a situation could be controlled?”
The prospects standard response to the stimuli we have offered more often than not, will be in the form of acceptance with certain reservations. This is true because the prospects ego is intact and he has no desire to go against our wish. Put another way, we have made a positive contribution to their state of well-being. The reservations are just a normal response to the stimulus. We need not be concerned about the reservations because our idea has been accepted and we have agreement to proceed with the next action. As we have not tried to sell anything yet, there can be no true objections.
Our recommendation at the end of a first interview will depend on our industry, product and customer situation. Our pre-planned objective could be to get the customer to try a sample of our product, or to come to a presentation, or to visit a site, or to commit even to working along with us on a concept or strategy. Whatever it is, we should present
that proposed course of action as a suggestion or recommendation in the form of a question. When the customer accepts it, it is his idea. In answering the question and voicing reservations our prospect will feel that they are the ones controlling the sequence of events. Our objective for the call is achieved and the customer feels good about events and proposed actions.
So far in this chapter we have looked at PPSS sales Techniques as they apply to a sales interviews where the sale is not expected to be concluded at the end of the first interview. The beauty of using the PPSS Sales process is that the rules and process for sales that are transacted immediately on the first interview are not different.
2. Concluding the first interview with a sale (for sales with short lead times)
In the first two articles we compared the typical buyer / seller sales interaction model to the PPSS Selling Model. The purpose of the PPSS Selling Model is to change selling behavior in a buyer / seller interaction. What typically occurs with transactions that have short sales “cycles” (i.e. sale is concluded at the first interview) is: - The sales person listens to the prospect for anything between 5 seconds and 3 minutes – jumps to a conclusion – and starts what is in the salesperson’s mind is the process of selling, usually a “show and tell” exercise, and the normal response to the stimulus is “Thanks, I’ll come back to you”.
What should occur is that the sales process should be followed;
After waiting for the appropriate invitation; an invitation could be a customer holding an item in their hand with a questioning expression on their face. It could be a person looking through the window of a vehicle showroom. It could be the customer arriving at a counter. It could be in the prospects office and the prospect saying “Right, make it quick”. The salesperson asks for an opinion in the form of a question.
Depending on the situation we open with:
– “What sort of accommodation are you looking for?”
– “We are finding more and more these days . ..” Then an opinion question . . . “What is your overall opinion of . . .”
– “We have come up with some new concepts on our….but first I would like to ask…”,
– “Everyone these days seems to be concerned about crime and violence, what do you think can be done to improve security?”
– “You mentioned that you are interested in a fiberglass pool, why fiberglass if I may ask?”
– “If I may ask why, have you decided to replace this paving?”
– “What do you feel the benefit of a home computer system is?”
– “Would you like to try it on?”
– “Would you like to test drive it?”
– “What are your thoughts on the standard of education in the country?”
We ask the question and listen attentively to the answer so that the prospect establishes the relationship. If the prospect establishes the relationship, it is very unlikely that they will terminate it. At this stage the prospect is still unqualified even though they may have approached us. After the prospect has laid the foundation by expressing their opinion we should ask exploratory questions. The phrasing of the questions must also help the prospect to describe the ideal situation. The questions are obviously not as extensive as in the case of the QP4 and long lead time sales, but are one or two well rehearsed pointed questions.
Examples:
Is the location of the school important?
What’s your idea of the ideal house?
What kind of design did you have in mind?
As in the previous scenario with sales with long lead times we qualify by trial closing
– “May I show you something of interest?”
– “May I show you a Picture… Video… Brochure… Catalogue.”
– “May I show you a House… Different model… Colour… Design. ”
As stated, if we have performed our sales activities demonstrating the characteristics of sincerity and humility the standard response to our stimulus will be to accept the proposed course of action, with reservations. This is the first time in the course of the sale that we as the salesperson contribute to the relationship by offering anything. Up until now we have been nothing but obliging, attentive, interested, asking questions but not introducing any products, solutions or opinions.
As in the previous scenario, typical responses to proposed courses of action are:
“We will look, but we don’t want to waste your time because we may not move into this area.”
“You can show me but I want to get some competitive quotes first”
“I would love to drive it but I’m sure I can’t afford it”
“I’ll try it on but I was actually looking to buy something else”
“You can tell me about your product but I want to see it before I make my decision”
“You can give us some samples but we are quite happy with our current supplier”
These are responses to stimulus – NOT OBJECTIONS to what we are trying to sell. These responses cannot be objections because we haven’t tried to sell anything yet.
We can handle these quite easily.
“I appreciate that you are not going to buy unless it fits with what you need”.
“I appreciate that you are not going to buy unless we can get you a special price”.
“Because I don’t know ...(the size… what model and options… all of your requirements… what volumes… area, . . .) I cannot give you a price indication at this stage. Once I’ve shown you a few options and have a feel for what is best suited to you, I will be able to give you a good price. May I show you . . .”
Remember, objections are addressed later in the sales process.
So a typical PPSS Sales Process at this stage of the sale looks like this. It is the sales process for all types of sales situations and scenarios.
1. Prospecting
2. First call and introduction
3. Exploratory Questions – Definition of the Ideal Situation
4. Qualification
5. Propose and Agree on a Course of action
6. Present
Interesting facts about the above model are:
1. Time taken to perform all 6 steps could range from 60 seconds to 6 months depending on the product and circumstances.
2. No product sell, pricing, or any other transaction related issues, have been finalized or even discussed (perhaps at a very high level) before the presentation stage.
3. Only opinions and answers have come from the prospect, no product or solution information has been contributed by the salesperson.
4. Objections are noted and if possible not resolved until after the presentation.
We always either just note and ignore or use “if we can overcome this issue are you willing to proceed”. If we are involved in a long sales process, many of the objections that crop up will automatically be addressed in follow-up interviews or in the presentation itself.
Following this model, we allow the prospect to create the platform for us to ‘Present’ whatever we are selling, irrespective of the environment or product. Only at the end of the Presentation will we “close” the sale or go into negotiation mode.
So if we are selling homes, swimming pools, insurance, uniforms, paving, encyclopedias, or any other commodity where we can secure the business on the first call, we flow from the exploratory questions into qualification and then presentation. We do an On the Spot Presentations – see article on presentations
Responding to Stimulus by Interrupting and Educating.
There are always situations (stimulus) where the customer has got their facts wrong. We will experience a huge urge/desire/drive to correct the incorrect perception. Or, in some instances, we think we have an opportunity to form an opinion for the customer. So we respond by interrupting and completing the thought, or even worse, interrupting and educating.
Resist the urge to interrupt when your customer is speaking. Especially when they raise a subject that you know a lot about or have a strong feeling or opinion about. I personally am sure that you have jumped to the wrong conclusion in many situations.
Your prospect says “You know these vagrants in the parking lot . . .”
We interrupt “I know, they are a total pain, I’m sure they are responsible for all the thefts that happen in this area”
What the customer was going to say was “I feel so sorry for them without homes and jobs it must be very hard for them”.
Your customer says “These business consultants . . .”
We interrupt. . . “I know. Why pay them their outrageous consulting fees to tell us something we already know”.
The customer was going to say, “I don’t know how we would run our business without them.”
The Danger of Education
We must at all costs try not to put ourselves in the role of educating our customer on the broad subject that is relevant to our product or service.
We may feel that we have done the customer a great service. He may even express appreciation. What happens next though is very confusing to us. We are given a secondary excuse, something along the lines of;
“This is great, I’ll bring it up at our next strategy meeting and get back to you”.
“Fine, I just need to juggle the budget priorities, I’ll come back to you”.
The prospect now calls in our competition. Our prospect is now educated and asks all kinds of questions, which show exactly how clever he is. The competitions salesperson answers some questions acknowledges how clever the prospect is. Gets him to “feel good” and closes the sale. When we were doing the educating we were setting up a subconscious barrier, because both parties accepted that the salesperson knows more than the buyer. In such a situation (unless we have had an existing strong relationship built on trust) the prospect will never buy from us. This is because at a subconscious level he will feel insecure because we know more than he does, and the reasoning will be that we as the salesperson are in a position to gain unfair advantage because of our superior knowledge.
The most important skill to develop is to understand what phase of the sales process you are in? What step in the sales process am I busy with? What is my objective for this step? What activity must I perform? How do I target the buyer’s emotional drivers?
The opinion questions and exploratory questions in both short and long timeframe sales scenarios need to be constructed in such a way that the buyer is guided by means of the questions to:
a) Form the dynamics of a positive relationship
b) Describe the ideal situation where he or she will be motivated to buy.
We design and customize the PPPP/QP4 document that we will use in the case of long sales timeframe engagements to achieve these objectives. In the case of short timeframe sales scenarios we rehearse and practice the questions that will achieve the above two objectives.
Once we understand the ideal situation from the customers’ point of view and the motivation to buy, we move to the next step. We qualify.
Successful Salespeople Sell with Passion and Manage by Process The Interview - To learn more about this author, visit James Gracey's Website.
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The First Interview
For a successful first call we need to do many things. The same way a professional ballerina will perform certain preparatory exercises before a performance, and the same way a professional surgeon will go through certain routine steps before performing an operation. The professional salesperson goes through certain preparation before going on a call to a prospective customer for the first time. As with the previous activity of securing the first interview over the phone, before the first interview we must Think, Prepare and Rehearse.
In this section we look at two scenarios
1. The structure of first interviews for sales with long lead times. In this scenario various sales activities follow the first interview.
2. The structure of first interview with short lead times. The seller plans that the sale is to be concluded at the end of the interview.
1. Structure of the first Interview – Sales with long lead times
Preparing for the First Interview
The sales aid that we use to prepare for the call and use during the call is a PPPP.
PPPP? Prospect Pre Planning & Preparation or QP4. The QP4 helps us with being professional and prepared. It is our flight plan for every journey. Each sales team should design their own QP4 to suit the type of industry, product and general customer profile. When we start filling in our QP4 our Thinking Ability will be activated and we can start to plan and strategize our call. What can be extremely useful is that we can use our QP4 as a data capture sheet to update any computerized sales or marketing system we might have. Our QP4 can also help jog our memories about issues that our client has formed an opinion on, which can help us prepare for the negotiation stage.
The first section of the document (one page if possible) must be able to give us at a glance, all the vital statistics relevant to our progress. The second section of the document is a list of discovery questions that we will use in our interview/s to discover both needs and wants. So it is important that the questions are put down and asked in such a way that we can get the prospect to tell us what the current situation is, plus what the desired situation should be if things were to change. It might even be advantageous to ask each question twice.
Examples are:
Currently how many new uniforms do you issue to each employee a year?
Ideally, how often would you like to issue them with new uniforms?
These questions have to be well thought out and must be angled away from product specifications if possible and focus on the use of the product or service.
How much warehouse space do you currently use to distribute your merchandise?
Do you feel that less space would be needed if the layout was arranged differently?
What date of the month do you process the statements?
Ideally when should they go out?
How much inventory do you hold?
Is this level ideal?
What insurance do you currently have?
In the event of a catastrophe where everything is lost, is it sufficient?
Do you currently comply to the ISO9000 standard?
Would it be of benefit to comply?
Do you a have an alarm system?
What are your thoughts on having it linked to a response center?
How many order clerks do you have?
Ideally, do you think there should be more or fewer?
How many meals can you prepare in an hour?
Ideally, how many meals would you like to be able to prepare in an hour?
The way this section of the QP4 is laid out is going to help us as professionals
in many aspects of our job. It will ensure that we don’t take anything for granted and cover all the aspects that need addressing. It needs to have all the questions of discovery that relate to benefits that the features of our product or service address.
It may help us to uncover a desire.
AND -- MOST IMPORTANTLY
As we ask the “ideal questions,” the prospect will form a desire for the ideal situation. If we have phrased the questions correctly, is the ideal situation which they are describing can become reality with our product or service.
Example of a PPPP (QP4)
Prospect Pre-Planning and Preparation
Company Name : Date :
Speak to: Phone :
Fax :
Street Address : Fin. Yr End :
Postal Address :
Group/Branches :
Co Activity :
Referred By :
Size of operation :
Existing System:
New Objectives:
Evaluation plan:
Decision
Time Table:
Action
QP4 second page
Questionaire:
Current Situation: Ideal Situation:
How many Trucks:
How many Drivers:
How many Accounts:
No. of Entries:
No of Shifts:
Size of Warehouse:
No. of Cartons pd.
No. of Users:
Wage Bill pm:
Type of Insurance:
No. of Rooms:
No. of Shelves:
Loading Time:
Unloading Time:
Payment Time:
BENEFITS OF THE IDEAL SITUATION
Salesperson’s Activities and EI Actions
Now to the call itself.
The first thing we cannot be is late. Late is rude, unprofessional and inconsiderate. The prospect will correctly assume that, we feel our time is more important than his. This invokes a negative emotional drive.
Our prospect will probably fetch us from reception or have us fetched. When we first make eye contact with our prospect we . . . SMILE. If he or she puts out their hand we put out our hand. If they do not . . . DON’T. Don’t force them to shake hands. If he or she puts out their hand and says their name, put out your hand and repeat their name.“Good to meet you Mr. Peters. I am the James you spoke to on the phone” Confirm your name in case they have forgotten. The initial seconds, when meeting a person face to face for the first time, are crucial.
Your prospect will form an opinion of you in a very short space of time.
It will be extremely difficult for you, or anyone else to change that opinion later in your sales interaction. So our actions and speech are all positioned to have a completely neutral impact. Right at this point we are warm, not overly friendly, and allow them to take control of all the dynamics and aspects of the meeting. We don’t lead. We don’t offer opinions or comments. We listen. We obey. We allow them to establish their Emotional Security in this new relationship.
He may not welcome us or even greet us. He or his secretary may just issue an instruction . . . “Come with me”. Obey. Don’t offer small talk. Don’t ask personal questions like:
“Is that your Mercedes in the parking lot?”
“Do you own this lovely building or are you just renting?”
Don’t make statements like
“I like the uniforms your staff wear”
“Those are good display cabinets you have.”
Understand that the urge to make small talk is a normal response to you being in an unfamiliar environment. The sound of your of your own voice is comforting to you only. The emotional need/urge that you have is to be accepted by these strangers in whose company you find yourself. Remember, you can only establish your own “security” at the cost of negatively impacting your customers “emotional level.”
Once in the office where the interview is to take place WAIT. We will receive an instruction or welcome “Sit there” Or “Take a seat make yourself at home” NEVER make yourself at home. Sit down and WAIT. Once in the prospects office there is no
point in starting your interview until he is ready to listen to you. If he is attending to papers, taking calls, instructing staff we must wait in silence until he has stopped. The opening seconds and minutes of our discussion are vital with regard to the “feeling” our prospect will associate us with on a subconscious level and will affect all future interactions. Don’t speak, don’t dive into your briefcase, don’t get out your business card, and don’t comment on the weather. We don’t want to instantly become a “fool” or a “smart alec” or an “idiot” in the customers mind. Our own emotional drive will be “driving” us to establish ourselves in this new relationship. It is the natural response to the stimulus We must use our thinking ability, apply CORTS and COSTS and override this urge and display humility. We are new, we are in the customers “space”. We cannot be the ones establishing our own security. Our product, company or educational qualifications can only serve our own needs of establishing ourselves. It is of no interest to our customer at this stage and can only set up subconscious resistance. We wait until he says, “What can I do for you?” or instructs us to continue. The prospect may resort to many ploys to avoid listening to us. We have to wait in silence for the signal that he is now ready.
Once you have been acknowledged and asked to state your case we have to have prepared a well thought out presentation that – contains not too much detail, does not take too much time and ends with an open ended question. This will allow (not force) your prospect to state his opinion. Remembering our telephone conversation, we could start by saying “There is a concept (or idea) (remember it’s not your idea) that I would like your opinion on.”
Or
“May I sketch an idea for you to comment on?”
If we use the latter we must WAIT FOR THE PERMISSION TO DO SO.
We all have strong drivers and fears when meeting people for the first time, our customers have the same fears and drivers. Let them establish their own security by giving them control.
One of the biggest fears a salesperson normally harbors is that of a situation
of SILENCE. Silence is Golden don’t break it. Once we have asked a customer a question -- we have to wait for the answer. Don’t answer the question yourself and don’t proceed without the answer. If the customer wants to think about allowing you to get his or her opinion and there is silence, let them think about it and let them come to their conclusion. The problem is if we break these rules the customer is not going to tell us, but later in our interaction we are going to encounter what we perceive to be irrational behaviour. We are the ones that will have subconsciously deflated our customer by making ourselves comfortable in his space before he was comfortable with us being there.
By asking for his opinion we had better be genuine in our request otherwise it will show and once again we set up resistance before we even start.
One of the main reasons why customers delay getting the interview started is:
a) They need the time to adjust to you in their “space”.
b) They are so accustomed to salespeople getting started and not stopping that they are reluctant to bring the unpleasant experience upon themselves again.
If the prospect wants to talk about the weather and his family, the political situation, the latest news, his holiday . . . whatever . . . let them.
Don’t interrupt. Even if they have their facts wrong. Only support. Don’t offer your own opinion. I know from experience that sometimes the customer may talk about something that you may know more about. You may have heard the latest news on your radio on the way to the appointment. Your brother may play for the club he is talking about, or work for the company he is complaining about. Dont interrupt. Dont contradict. You own sub-conscious and emotional drivers will be wanting recognition. Resist. Apply CORTS and COSTS. The prospect at this stage is not concerned about you at all. All he wants is to establish himself and get acknowledgement from you. Let him “establish” himself and get comfortable with you. Remember this is a new relationship – let your prospect define the rules of engagement. If you allow him, they will become very “comfortable” with your presence. In the future he will automatically revert to that comfort level when dealing with you.
LISTEN, (part of effective communication) Support, nod your head.
If asked for your opinion, don’t give it. Say “I know little about it”,
“I’m listening to you because I’m also interested in …..”
“I’m listening to you because I also have kids”
“I’m not up on politics, so I’m interested in what you are saying”
“I’ve never been in the situation, so I don’t know”
All of us feel secure when we are talking . . . and talking about something where we believe we have more insight and understanding than the person we are talking to. So our instinct and urge is to do exactly that, especially as salespeople when it comes to talking about our products.
We have to control this urge. We have to be humble!
At a point, we as the salesperson will be asked to proceed with the sales interview. If we have asked the prospect for their opinion the customer may ask
“Why do you want my opinion?”
You can genuinely answer “Because it’s important to me” (And it had better be).
More often that not the prospect will say “OK”, “Shoot”, “What’s the question?”
At this stage the prospect is skeptical because he/she is waiting for a “sell”. We however by behaving in the manner outlined above will have ensured that we have not invoked a negative emotional drive.
Now our sincerity has to come through, as we genuinely ask an opinion question. This will be easy if we have prepared with the customers’ best interest in mind.
Each of these initial contact characteristics and mannerisms are vital to our establishing a relationship that the customer will value. We must obey all the rules. By doing so we are guaranteeing that we have not done our young relationship any harm. All we are really doing is adhering to good manners.
The presentation of the idea or concept must be simple, uncomplicated and free of elaborate detail.
Remember, we asked for his opinion so our presentation to him must end in the form of a question that invites his opinion. Now we must now be prepared to listen to the answer, for as long as it takes.
So we sketch a scenario for comment.
Example 1:
“We have had some experience in the manufacturing of uniforms for companies whose staff have to work in environments that can be tough on clothes. More recently we have had requests from our customers for all uniforms to be manufactured with waterproofing as standard”. “What do you think of waterproof uniforms?”...
Example no. 2
“In many display projects that we have done for retailers, our customers chose to use armour plate glass.” “What do you think of using armour plate glass in retail displays?”
We must avoid asking a question that is close ended, i.e. a question that invites a “yes” or “no” answer. Yes or no is hardly an opinion and it does not get the customers to establish themselves in the relationship.
‘So do you think armour plate glass is practical in a retail store?”
Answer “No.” End of discussion.
What do you think of using armour plate glass in retail displays?” . . .
“Do you think that it will be of benefit for everyone in the company to be responsible for their own computer?” Answer “No.” End of discussion.
“What do you think of everyone in the company being responsible for their own computer?” . . .
“Do you think waterproof uniforms are practical?” answer “No.” End of discussion.
“What do you think of waterproof uniforms?”...
We see the value of practicing and rehearsing.
Our opening presentation to the customer must be a pencil sketch. Our prospect must fill in their own colors and details. If he fills in his own details he will believe them. On the other hand if we don’t give him the opportunity to fill in his own facts, he will believe that you don’t understand your own product. This becomes vital when selling to doctors and other professional people.
It is a fact, while we are listening to other people, we are mentally formulating our reply. This is intended to show that we know what the other person is talking about. More often than not, we may wish to show that we know more about the subject under discussion. If the customer interrupts us at any stage WE MUST STOP TALKING. Allow the interruption to run to its full completion. We then come back to our original theme and continue. This will result in us saying very little on many occasions, but will also create a positive feeling. Our prospect having a positive feeling is the end game.
We must not comment favorably or unfavorably on the customers’ premises, furniture, or business methods. There is a chance that his unattractive or attractive secretary is also his wife or sister. Passing any comment will torpedo the opportunity before we even set sail. It may be that he cannot afford the mortgage repayments on the premises he has just built. In all innocence we make a comment and set up a subconscious resistance. As far as we are concerned any statement made by the prospect is correct. If the customer makes an incorrect statement about your product and you realize that it is not going affect the operation or envisaged benefit, leave it. The customer will either come to the correct understanding later in the sales interaction or they will tell you at a later date that you told him that it did this or that. His ego will still be intact though. All these rules need to be obeyed for the first initial interaction. Once the relationship is formed we can be more natural and adventurous in offering opinions or comments. Our comments and opinions are more likely to be listened to, and acted on, once the customer has a positive opinion of us.
Once we have asked for the prospects opinion and he/she has expressed it, - we can move on to the “questions section” of the QP4 on the second page. The prospect will have no problem with this as we have extended the social courtesy of allowing them to establish themselves as the undisputed expert in his field. We will be accepted in their space, and they will be well disposed to us. We have not offered any products or tried to sell him anything. We can move straight into our information gathering stage and fill in the questions on the second part of the QP4 with:
“That’s interesting, I wonder if you could help me with some further information?”
As we ask the questions that get the prospect to describe the ideal situation, we will be helping them define their own desires. At this point the quality of honesty has to come through. If the prospect describes to us something that does not suit our offering or that describes that he/she is very happy with the current situation – that’s fine. We know in time things will change, but the information they give us today is still valuable and we will be able to build on it at some time in the future. Should the interview at this stage reveal that their needs are catered for and that there is no benefit in the prospect moving or changing from their current situation – leave it. Do not try to sell at this stage. If the prospect describes a situation where they want to move and also indicates a tendency to want to invest with our competition . . . then what? Stick to the “flight plan.” Don’t jump ahead. Stay with the process. It might be that we know we are better than the competition, but stick to the information gathering and desire creating/ uncovering questions. We will get to the presentation/negotiation stage soon enough. Shortcutting at this stage will just compromise our chance of success.
As we come to the end of our interview, and have a clear view of the desired ideal situation, we can propose a further course of action that we have pre-planned and rehearsed-- in the form of a question. If we have done nothing wrong so far the customer will be willing to go along with our suggestion. It will be the normal response to the stimulus. This should in most cases be the pre-planned objective that we had for the call.
Concluding the first interview for sales with long lead times
Once we have the prospects opinion and have explored the current situation and have an idea as to the ideal situation, we are in a position to qualify the prospect. (More about control and qualification for sales with long lead times in the next article). We qualify the prospect by seeing if we are able to identify with the prospects idea of the desired ideal situation. If we are able to agree as to what the ideal or desired situation is, the next thing we do is – propose a course of action, if possible by means of a question. This is sometimes referred to as a “trial close.” This is interesting, as we have not yet introduced anything that we want to sell, and here we are closing already. What we are doing though, is qualifying the prospect in terms of evaluating their acceptance of our potential product offer and gauging their acceptance of our offer to assist them with their purchase.
Examples of how we “trial close” at qualifying are:
“If I understand you what you are saying is, the uniforms serve the purpose of identifying the employees in the market and are a form of advertising. Your employees consider them a perk as they do not have to invest in work clothes.”
Our statement will either be confirmed or modified.
LISTEN. Don’t interrupt.
Ask questions if necessary.
Conclude: “Would it be possible for us to supply a free uniform or two to find out what your employees feel about our product?”
Or
“So you are concerned about using armour glass in your retail displays because of the expense and the fact that your customer may not be able to see the merchandise clearly”.
Our statement will either be confirmed or modified.
LISTEN. Don’t interrupt.
Conclude:
‘Would you mind if I arranged for your jewelry merchandiser to look at the quality of our latest display glass?”
Or
“So what you are saying is that you don’t see it being practical that everyone in the organization decides on what computer to use?”
Our statement will either be confirmed or modified.
LISTEN
Conclude
“Would it be possible for one of our technical people to install our new network monitoring system to demonstrate how such a situation could be controlled?”
The prospects standard response to the stimuli we have offered more often than not, will be in the form of acceptance with certain reservations. This is true because the prospects ego is intact and he has no desire to go against our wish. Put another way, we have made a positive contribution to their state of well-being. The reservations are just a normal response to the stimulus. We need not be concerned about the reservations because our idea has been accepted and we have agreement to proceed with the next action. As we have not tried to sell anything yet, there can be no true objections.
Our recommendation at the end of a first interview will depend on our industry, product and customer situation. Our pre-planned objective could be to get the customer to try a sample of our product, or to come to a presentation, or to visit a site, or to commit even to working along with us on a concept or strategy. Whatever it is, we should present
that proposed course of action as a suggestion or recommendation in the form of a question. When the customer accepts it, it is his idea. In answering the question and voicing reservations our prospect will feel that they are the ones controlling the sequence of events. Our objective for the call is achieved and the customer feels good about events and proposed actions.
So far in this chapter we have looked at PPSS sales Techniques as they apply to a sales interviews where the sale is not expected to be concluded at the end of the first interview. The beauty of using the PPSS Sales process is that the rules and process for sales that are transacted immediately on the first interview are not different.
2. Concluding the first interview with a sale (for sales with short lead times)
In the first two articles we compared the typical buyer / seller sales interaction model to the PPSS Selling Model. The purpose of the PPSS Selling Model is to change selling behavior in a buyer / seller interaction. What typically occurs with transactions that have short sales “cycles” (i.e. sale is concluded at the first interview) is: - The sales person listens to the prospect for anything between 5 seconds and 3 minutes – jumps to a conclusion – and starts what is in the salesperson’s mind is the process of selling, usually a “show and tell” exercise, and the normal response to the stimulus is “Thanks, I’ll come back to you”.
What should occur is that the sales process should be followed;
After waiting for the appropriate invitation; an invitation could be a customer holding an item in their hand with a questioning expression on their face. It could be a person looking through the window of a vehicle showroom. It could be the customer arriving at a counter. It could be in the prospects office and the prospect saying “Right, make it quick”. The salesperson asks for an opinion in the form of a question.
Depending on the situation we open with:
– “What sort of accommodation are you looking for?”
– “We are finding more and more these days . ..” Then an opinion question . . . “What is your overall opinion of . . .”
– “We have come up with some new concepts on our….but first I would like to ask…”,
– “Everyone these days seems to be concerned about crime and violence, what do you think can be done to improve security?”
– “You mentioned that you are interested in a fiberglass pool, why fiberglass if I may ask?”
– “If I may ask why, have you decided to replace this paving?”
– “What do you feel the benefit of a home computer system is?”
– “Would you like to try it on?”
– “Would you like to test drive it?”
– “What are your thoughts on the standard of education in the country?”
We ask the question and listen attentively to the answer so that the prospect establishes the relationship. If the prospect establishes the relationship, it is very unlikely that they will terminate it. At this stage the prospect is still unqualified even though they may have approached us. After the prospect has laid the foundation by expressing their opinion we should ask exploratory questions. The phrasing of the questions must also help the prospect to describe the ideal situation. The questions are obviously not as extensive as in the case of the QP4 and long lead time sales, but are one or two well rehearsed pointed questions.
Examples:
Is the location of the school important?
What’s your idea of the ideal house?
What kind of design did you have in mind?
As in the previous scenario with sales with long lead times we qualify by trial closing
– “May I show you something of interest?”
– “May I show you a Picture… Video… Brochure… Catalogue.”
– “May I show you a House… Different model… Colour… Design. ”
As stated, if we have performed our sales activities demonstrating the characteristics of sincerity and humility the standard response to our stimulus will be to accept the proposed course of action, with reservations. This is the first time in the course of the sale that we as the salesperson contribute to the relationship by offering anything. Up until now we have been nothing but obliging, attentive, interested, asking questions but not introducing any products, solutions or opinions.
As in the previous scenario, typical responses to proposed courses of action are:
“We will look, but we don’t want to waste your time because we may not move into this area.”
“You can show me but I want to get some competitive quotes first”
“I would love to drive it but I’m sure I can’t afford it”
“I’ll try it on but I was actually looking to buy something else”
“You can tell me about your product but I want to see it before I make my decision”
“You can give us some samples but we are quite happy with our current supplier”
These are responses to stimulus – NOT OBJECTIONS to what we are trying to sell. These responses cannot be objections because we haven’t tried to sell anything yet.
We can handle these quite easily.
“I appreciate that you are not going to buy unless it fits with what you need”.
“I appreciate that you are not going to buy unless we can get you a special price”.
“Because I don’t know ...(the size… what model and options… all of your requirements… what volumes… area, . . .) I cannot give you a price indication at this stage. Once I’ve shown you a few options and have a feel for what is best suited to you, I will be able to give you a good price. May I show you . . .”
Remember, objections are addressed later in the sales process.
So a typical PPSS Sales Process at this stage of the sale looks like this. It is the sales process for all types of sales situations and scenarios.
1. Prospecting
2. First call and introduction
3. Exploratory Questions – Definition of the Ideal Situation
4. Qualification
5. Propose and Agree on a Course of action
6. Present
Interesting facts about the above model are:
1. Time taken to perform all 6 steps could range from 60 seconds to 6 months depending on the product and circumstances.
2. No product sell, pricing, or any other transaction related issues, have been finalized or even discussed (perhaps at a very high level) before the presentation stage.
3. Only opinions and answers have come from the prospect, no product or solution information has been contributed by the salesperson.
4. Objections are noted and if possible not resolved until after the presentation.
We always either just note and ignore or use “if we can overcome this issue are you willing to proceed”. If we are involved in a long sales process, many of the objections that crop up will automatically be addressed in follow-up interviews or in the presentation itself.
Following this model, we allow the prospect to create the platform for us to ‘Present’ whatever we are selling, irrespective of the environment or product. Only at the end of the Presentation will we “close” the sale or go into negotiation mode.
So if we are selling homes, swimming pools, insurance, uniforms, paving, encyclopedias, or any other commodity where we can secure the business on the first call, we flow from the exploratory questions into qualification and then presentation. We do an On the Spot Presentations – see article on presentations
Responding to Stimulus by Interrupting and Educating.
There are always situations (stimulus) where the customer has got their facts wrong. We will experience a huge urge/desire/drive to correct the incorrect perception. Or, in some instances, we think we have an opportunity to form an opinion for the customer. So we respond by interrupting and completing the thought, or even worse, interrupting and educating.
Resist the urge to interrupt when your customer is speaking. Especially when they raise a subject that you know a lot about or have a strong feeling or opinion about. I personally am sure that you have jumped to the wrong conclusion in many situations.
Your prospect says “You know these vagrants in the parking lot . . .”
We interrupt “I know, they are a total pain, I’m sure they are responsible for all the thefts that happen in this area”
What the customer was going to say was “I feel so sorry for them without homes and jobs it must be very hard for them”.
Your customer says “These business consultants . . .”
We interrupt. . . “I know. Why pay them their outrageous consulting fees to tell us something we already know”.
The customer was going to say, “I don’t know how we would run our business without them.”
The Danger of Education
We must at all costs try not to put ourselves in the role of educating our customer on the broad subject that is relevant to our product or service.
We may feel that we have done the customer a great service. He may even express appreciation. What happens next though is very confusing to us. We are given a secondary excuse, something along the lines of;
“This is great, I’ll bring it up at our next strategy meeting and get back to you”.
“Fine, I just need to juggle the budget priorities, I’ll come back to you”.
The prospect now calls in our competition. Our prospect is now educated and asks all kinds of questions, which show exactly how clever he is. The competitions salesperson answers some questions acknowledges how clever the prospect is. Gets him to “feel good” and closes the sale. When we were doing the educating we were setting up a subconscious barrier, because both parties accepted that the salesperson knows more than the buyer. In such a situation (unless we have had an existing strong relationship built on trust) the prospect will never buy from us. This is because at a subconscious level he will feel insecure because we know more than he does, and the reasoning will be that we as the salesperson are in a position to gain unfair advantage because of our superior knowledge.
The most important skill to develop is to understand what phase of the sales process you are in? What step in the sales process am I busy with? What is my objective for this step? What activity must I perform? How do I target the buyer’s emotional drivers?
The opinion questions and exploratory questions in both short and long timeframe sales scenarios need to be constructed in such a way that the buyer is guided by means of the questions to:
a) Form the dynamics of a positive relationship
b) Describe the ideal situation where he or she will be motivated to buy.
We design and customize the PPPP/QP4 document that we will use in the case of long sales timeframe engagements to achieve these objectives. In the case of short timeframe sales scenarios we rehearse and practice the questions that will achieve the above two objectives.
Once we understand the ideal situation from the customers’ point of view and the motivation to buy, we move to the next step. We qualify.
Successful Salespeople Sell with Passion and Manage by Process The Interview - To learn more about this author, visit James Gracey's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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