Grand Intentions to Greater Sales
Grand Intentions to Greater Sales
“Anything in particular you’re looking for?” Tina asked. My wife replied that we’d just picked up a dog from the SPCA and needed a few supplies. The teenager’s response: “Really? You adopted! That is so sweet. You know, I’m working here because this is more than just a job to me. I’m doing this because I love animals. So, no matter where you buy your pet supplies from, I want to make sure that we get all of your questions answered, so that your little dog gets the best possible care.”
I glanced over at my wife and notice that she’s looking at Tina with the kind of expression that says, “You-are-a-child-of-God-who-this-world-needs-more-of-and-of-course-we’re-going-to-buy-all-of-our-pet-supplies-here-and-let’s-not-even-dicuss-anything-as-petty-as-price.”
Fifty-eight minutes later, I’m pushing a cart out the door with over two hundred dollars worth of pet supplies. The dog was only seventy-five.
We get it!
That part-time teenaged employee had done something refreshingly unique and convincing. She expressed what I call a “Grand Intention©.” She shared that she was there not simply to make a commission or sell dog food but to help people take better care of animals. By expressing her Grand Intention, Tina demonstrated that she cared about our big picture. In other words she proved to her customers that she gets it. The good news is that you can have the same impact when you bring this approach to your company.
Crafting your own ‘Grand Intention’
I’m sure that you care about your customers. Hopefully your employees do as well. The problem is, do you consistently tell your customers that you care? That’s why one of the goals of our Influence with Ease® training sessions is to help employees to clarify their “Grand Intention.” Usually, it involves expressing to the customer that you understand not only their immediate need but also their larger desire. An insurance adjuster, for example, might acknowledge the pain and hassle the customer is going through to get a claim settled. So, the adjustor might start the conversation with something like, “First of all, I want you to know that I understand what a hassle and inconvenience it is to be involved in accident. One of my goals is to make this part of the process as easy as possible for you and to ensure that you get every penny of coverage that you are entitled to.”
The Grand Intention can be used in other non-sales-type scenarios. An attendee of one of my training sessions, a manager of collections for a utility power company, said that he would urge his employees to use the Grand Intention for collections. So, rather than starting a conversation with a late-paying customer with a negative like, “We need to do something about your outstanding bill,” instead, using the Grand Intention, they would begin with, “Our goal is to help you to reestablish your good credit.”
Grand Intentions also work well for enhancing trust and cooperation with internal customers. Picture being in the Information Technology Department and receiving a call from a stressed co-worker who’s having computer problems. Early in the conversation, you say something like, “I understand how frustrating it is when you are in the middle of dealing with a customer and the darned computer crashes. I want to get you back up and running as fast as possible so that you can get back to those customers that pay all of our wages.” Again the Grand Intention proves to the customer—in this case internal customer—that you get it.
Disarming the cynical customer
You’ve probably noticed that today’s consumer is better educated, streetwise, and, frankly, more cynical about other people’s motives than ever before. Consumers seem to be taking the advice that parents give their children: “Come straight home, and don’t talk to strangers!” Beyond telling employees to be friendly with customers, managers need to equip their staff with tools for establishing trust. Expressing your Grand Intention is an easy way to break through the barriers. Not a bad lesson from a 15 year old.
Grand Intentions to Greater Sales - To learn more about this author, visit Jeff Mowatt's Website.
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I learned a powerful lesson about selling from a 15 year old. My wife and I had just picked up a dog from the humane society. On the way home, we stopped at a pet store to pick up some dog food, a dish, and a leash. I’m figuring this stop will take eight minutes. That was before we met the store’s teenaged employee, ‘Tina.’
“Anything in particular you’re looking for?” Tina asked. My wife replied that we’d just picked up a dog from the SPCA and needed a few supplies. The teenager’s response: “Really? You adopted! That is so sweet. You know, I’m working here because this is more than just a job to me. I’m doing this because I love animals. So, no matter where you buy your pet supplies from, I want to make sure that we get all of your questions answered, so that your little dog gets the best possible care.”
I glanced over at my wife and notice that she’s looking at Tina with the kind of expression that says, “You-are-a-child-of-God-who-this-world-needs-more-of-and-of-course-we’re-going-to-buy-all-of-our-pet-supplies-here-and-let’s-not-even-dicuss-anything-as-petty-as-price.”
Fifty-eight minutes later, I’m pushing a cart out the door with over two hundred dollars worth of pet supplies. The dog was only seventy-five.
We get it!
That part-time teenaged employee had done something refreshingly unique and convincing. She expressed what I call a “Grand Intention©.” She shared that she was there not simply to make a commission or sell dog food but to help people take better care of animals. By expressing her Grand Intention, Tina demonstrated that she cared about our big picture. In other words she proved to her customers that she gets it. The good news is that you can have the same impact when you bring this approach to your company.
Crafting your own ‘Grand Intention’
I’m sure that you care about your customers. Hopefully your employees do as well. The problem is, do you consistently tell your customers that you care? That’s why one of the goals of our Influence with Ease® training sessions is to help employees to clarify their “Grand Intention.” Usually, it involves expressing to the customer that you understand not only their immediate need but also their larger desire. An insurance adjuster, for example, might acknowledge the pain and hassle the customer is going through to get a claim settled. So, the adjustor might start the conversation with something like, “First of all, I want you to know that I understand what a hassle and inconvenience it is to be involved in accident. One of my goals is to make this part of the process as easy as possible for you and to ensure that you get every penny of coverage that you are entitled to.”
The Grand Intention can be used in other non-sales-type scenarios. An attendee of one of my training sessions, a manager of collections for a utility power company, said that he would urge his employees to use the Grand Intention for collections. So, rather than starting a conversation with a late-paying customer with a negative like, “We need to do something about your outstanding bill,” instead, using the Grand Intention, they would begin with, “Our goal is to help you to reestablish your good credit.”
Grand Intentions also work well for enhancing trust and cooperation with internal customers. Picture being in the Information Technology Department and receiving a call from a stressed co-worker who’s having computer problems. Early in the conversation, you say something like, “I understand how frustrating it is when you are in the middle of dealing with a customer and the darned computer crashes. I want to get you back up and running as fast as possible so that you can get back to those customers that pay all of our wages.” Again the Grand Intention proves to the customer—in this case internal customer—that you get it.
Disarming the cynical customer
You’ve probably noticed that today’s consumer is better educated, streetwise, and, frankly, more cynical about other people’s motives than ever before. Consumers seem to be taking the advice that parents give their children: “Come straight home, and don’t talk to strangers!” Beyond telling employees to be friendly with customers, managers need to equip their staff with tools for establishing trust. Expressing your Grand Intention is an easy way to break through the barriers. Not a bad lesson from a 15 year old.
Grand Intentions to Greater Sales - To learn more about this author, visit Jeff Mowatt's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson'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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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan'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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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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