Never "Check In"

We're often told that it's imperative to maintain contact with customers and prospects so that they don't forget us, so that we stay top of mind. Intuitively, this makes sense. After all, "out of sight, out of mind" is a saying we've all heard since childhood. So it would seem to make sense that being "in-sight" (or "in voice") would - in and of itself - be a smart strategy for us in Sales.

Well, maybe. Like a lot of things, it depends.

Put yourself in the shoes of one of your customers. You're in the middle of an important project, and your phone rings. You pick it up.

"Hi, this is Bob from Acme Company. I was just checking in to see how things are going."

What's your reaction? Gratitude? Exhilaration? Appreciation? Or...annoyance? You get the picture.

Simply calling to "check in" is not going to score you any points. It's not going to advance your agenda. On the contrary, it may lose you a few points. You may become the sales rep whose phone number customers dread seeing on caller ID, because your call represents an unwanted interruption - instead of the welcome break you want it to be.

So how can you ensure that you're perceived as that welcome break, and not the unwanted interruption? By making sure that every contact with your customers contains value. And what kind of value can we provide? Information. Insights. Ideas. Connections. Stuff you believe your customer doesn't know, doesn't have access to, or may but is too busy to dig it up himself - but which he should be aware of, because it'll help him do his job better, gain a competitive advantage, or accrue some other benefit. It could be a piece of industry scuttlebutt that didn't make its way into the industry press yet, let alone into the general press. An idea you picked up at a seminar or webinar. Some nugget that was tweeted by an authority you're following - that your customer likely isn't (because they don't tweet). Or a person you met whom you believe would likely become a customer of your customer. What you're accomplishing is solidifying your relationship with your customer (which helps to stave off competition) or, in the case of a prospect, positioning yourself as a useful and valuable resources, which elevates you in their mind from an average vendor to the preferred one.

Set aside some time - an hour, perhaps - to think, really think, about what's important to each and every one of your customers and prospects (especially those you find yourself chasing). Review your notes to see what seemingly innocuous comments were made that in fact might present an opportunity for you to address. Then think about what you can provide them, or advise them on - that would be beneficial to them. Make this a regular part of your prospecting/account management repertoire, and you're sure to see a higher closure ratio with prospects, and a higher retention rate (and greater up-sell and cross sell revenues) with customers.

Craig James is president of Sales Solutions, a sales productivity improvement company. He helps sales organizations get increased production out of their sales people, and entrepreneurs and individual sales people to be more successful at selling. Learn more at http://www.sales-solutions.biz.

You Can Get What You Want - Just Ask For It!

We often think asking directly for what you want is rude...but sales trainer Craig James begs to differ. Read his advice on asking for what you want - then go for it!

The Rolling Stones had a hit tune back in the day called, "You Can't Always Get What You Want". Many of us in Sales can relate to that. We don't always get the call back. We don't always get the appointment. We don't always get to meet the decision-maker. We don't always get the order. Now it is, of course, unreasonable to expect to always get what we want. But wouldn't you agree that it is reasonable to believe that we might get what we want more often than we do if we changed the way we asked for it?

The sad fact is one of the reasons we don't get what we want more often is because we simply don't ask for it - or don't ask for it directly. We sort of kind of ask for it, but we don't really ask for it. For example, I was debriefing a sales rep one day who had just finished an initial exploratory meeting with a prospect. I asked him, "How did you end the meeting?" He replied proudly, "Do you think we could arrange a meeting with the other participants in the decision process?" I really didn't want to burst his bubble, because some reps wouldn't even ask that - but I couldn't in good conscience applaud that response. "And?", I said. He replied, "She said, 'Yes, I think we could.'" I then asked him if asking something like, "The typical next step that customers take is to get all the decision makers together for a meeting in order to evaluate our solution for themselves. How about we pencil in a date - say, next Thursday?" might not have been a better response. (A better solution, I have since discovered, is to use a handy, free, web-based tool called Doodle.)

Do you see the difference? The rep's response was not one that took control of the next step. Can you guess what followed for our rep over the next ten days? Not having attempted to pin down a date right there when he had the opportunity, he spent those next ten days chasing after his contact. He finally did get her, but only after wasting all that time - not to mention losing valuable momentum.

This begs the question - why not just be direct more often? Why not ask for what you want? In this example, if you were the rep, is knowing whether or not a meeting could be arranged with the other participants really what you want to know? No! It's the meeting itself that you want. So ask for it!

How about "closing" a sale - or as I prefer to say, asking for a commitment to do business together? When you sense the time is right (gee, that sounds eerily like an overplayed TV commercial I know!), are you bold enough to ask for what you want? And do you then ask for it - directly? Or do you dance around it and serve up some wishy-washy kinda, sorta request to maybe do business some day? Or worse - do you fail to ask at all?

You can't always get what you want. But you will get what you want more often if you start asking for it directly. Start by writing down phrases you could ask at the end of different kinds of interactions - a cold call, an initial meeting, a multi-participant presentation, responding to an objection, and closing a sale. Then practice with a buddy (or with a microphone, if you have no buddies - which is something I'm not qualified to help you with!), having him or her be the prospect, and you be the rep. First use responses that are not direct, and have your buddy respond. Then use the direct response for the same situation, and see how your buddy responds this time. I'm pretty certain those responses will, more often than not, get you what you want - the Rolling Stones' contention notwithstanding.

Craig James is president of Sales Solutions, a sales productivity improvement company. He helps sales organizations get increased production out of their sales people, and entrepreneurs and individual sales people to be more successful at selling. Learn more at http://www.sales-solutions.biz.

Paint a Picture to Make the Sale

If a picture really is worth a thousand words, sales trainer and consultant Craig James is right on target when he asks, "Why is it, then, in our conversations, in our written correspondence, and in our presentations, we act as if the opposite is true - that a thousand words will create the picture we want?"

If you're having trouble getting the point across, James suggests you try using a metaphor or analogy to paint a picture in your prospect's mind. By doing this you will "create a visual image of your concept; in doing so, you ensure that it sticks with your prospect better and far longer than would a litany of industry- or product-specific terms," says James. "You can also use these tools when facing objections: the images that metaphors and analogies create cause prospects to pause and think, and to see the situation from a perspective different from their own (yours)."

Wondering how to start using metaphors and analogies in your sales conversations? Try this action tip from James:

Write down the names of three prospects with whom you're currently engaged, or are trying to engage, and who are having difficulty "getting it." Next to each name write down the aspect of your offering that the prospect is having the most difficulty understanding, and hence, buying into.

Then make a list of all the things you know about this person that could serve as the basis for a metaphor or analogy. Your list could include the industry they're in, their personal interests and hobbies, family situation, achievements, challenges, news and facts on them that you might find in trade journals, on blogs, or on social networking sites such as LinkedIn. Pick one of these and relate it to the obstacle you're facing - the concept you're having a tough time getting across.

Craig James is president of Sales Solutions, a sales productivity improvement company. He helps sales organizations get increased production out of their sales people, and entrepreneurs and individual sales people to be more successful at selling. Learn more at http://www.sales-solutions.biz.