Communication Skills

Bryan Neale, Brooke Green,
and Bill Caskey

Value is the relief that your prospect feels when you can find and solve a pain they have.

Excerpt from post on:
December 14th, 2007

Communication Skills

September 4th, 2008 Your Customers Are Talking About You. Do You Know What They Are Saying? A friend of mine is a scout for Division I basketball. He told me a story that should draw the attention of everyone reading this ...READ MORE: Your Customers Are Talking About You. Do You Know What They Are Saying?
Thursday, September 4th, 2008

A friend of mine is a scout for Division I basketball. He told me a story that should draw the attention of everyone reading this blog.

It has to do with text messaging—and the promise of your brand.

It used to be that when a coach came to recruit a kid from high school, one of the things they’d talk about is playing time. After all, what kid wants to sit on the bench for two years waiting for “his chance”?

So coaches would promise all sorts of wacky things like, “You’ll get playing time as a freshman!” Or, “We’re building for the future so freshmen will be a key part of the strategy.” (Whatever that means.)

But then when he got to college, the story changed. And most freshmen who got big promises—got no time.
But what could they do? Nothing.

Now it’s different. Now, all of these high school seniors know people from all over the country due to the AAU schedule. These relationships have been built since 7th grade—and they text them constantly.

So now, when a HS senior is thinking about going to a certain college, all he has to do is text his buddies to see what they’re hearing about playing time. And the frame of reference is set.

It doesn’t matter what the coach promises anymore. It’s what the kids hear from their friends.

And isn’t that the way it should be in marketing? Don’t listen to the promise of the company trying to sell you something. Listen to the buyers who have experienced that promise.

Which brings up the lesson: Are you treating your clients like they’re texting your prospects? Because they are.

It might be casual. And it might be infrequently. But in the next 10 years, you’ll begin to see a quickening in the connection between the value you bring a client and the referrals coming from that client. People won’t refer average solutions. But they’ll talk forever about valuable solutions.

So read our blog. Find the pain. Link the pain to the solution. And make damn sure that you don’t leave that client until he is ecstatic with your value.

And if you have a sales team, make sure they are competent at problem-finding and problem-solving.

Tags: Bill Caskey, communicating value, problem solving, sales process, sales training
Posted in Bill Caskey, Communication Skills, Expression of Value | No Comments »
May 7th, 2008 How To Handle A Buyer Turned Non-Buyer? We get this question a lot in our training. "I've got this prospect who keeps saying he's 'in' but he then avoids me when I ...READ MORE: How To Handle A Buyer Turned Non-Buyer?
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

We get this question a lot in our training. “I’ve got this prospect who keeps saying he’s ‘in’ but he then avoids me when I try to close!”No sweat. Let me dial it down with you.

You may have a suspect masquerading like a prospect. You see, people can come into and out of your prospect funnel. If you expect people to be prospects all the way through the sales process, you’re naive. I know you better than that!

Like we say, “Don’t expect much and you’ll never be disappointed.” (The arrogant hate that saying, coz they think that means you’re giving up. Quite the contrary–but that for another post.) I never expect anything–not because I want to cushion the fall–but because when you begin expecting something to happen in a certain way–then you close yourself off from being flexible–or to having it happen in other ways.

So, when someone who you thought was (and I mean “was”) a prospect, now tells you they’re in “think-it-over-land,” you have to handle it correctly. Don’t beg. Just say, “Kind of thought that was the case since I didn’t hear from you. This is not unusual when considering a purchase like this. Sounds like you’re having second thoughts. Let me ask you this. Are you having second thoughts about solving the problem we discussed or second thoughts about who you want to help you?”

Now this assumes that you’ve been following my process–that you can’t sell someone something unless there is a compelling reason for them to change (problem they’re wanting fixed, or a solution they’re urgently dying for).

If you have neither of these, then you never did have a prospect. But that gives you something to work on.

Tags: Account Executives
Posted in Bill Caskey, Communication Skills, Mechanics of Selling, Uncategorized | No Comments »
February 13th, 2008 How You Do Anything Is How You Do Everything If someone followed you around, unbeknownst to you, for a week, what would they see? What would they observe? What impression would your methods leave ...READ MORE: How You Do Anything Is How You Do Everything
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

If someone followed you around, unbeknownst to you, for a week, what would they see? What would they observe? What impression would your methods leave them with?

Kind of a scary thought, isn’t it? The actual “following you around” might cause you to behave differently, so it’s probably not an option to engage someone to do that. However, the thought of “what would they see?” is an interesting one.

They would probably see things like how you keep your workspace, how you keep your word, how you organize your thoughts, how you respect people, how you communicate your ideas and many other things. And chances are, how you do any one of those things is how you act in front of a prospect.

How you write is how you think

There are exceptions to this rule, but I find that how people write is typically how they think and therefore how they communicate. If you can’t pull your thoughts out of your mind and put them on paper in a cohesive, logical, understandable, compelling way, you’ll probably not be able to verbalize those thoughts any differently when you get in front of a prospect.

Yet sometimes when I ask our clients “to write it out” they come back quickly with “I’m not a writer.” Bob Bly, who is a friend and colleague and has written many books on writing, told me a secret once that confirmed a suspicion: The better you are at writing out your thoughts, the better will be your verbal communication style. End of discussion.

So my encouragement to you–go write something. Write a letter–a letter to a prospect, but don’t send it. How would you introduce yourself? How would you expose your vulnerabilities? How would you logically lead them from not knowing who you are to believing they need to invite you in for an appointment? How you write that letter will be how you speak and the vibes you give off when you get on the phone. Good luck.

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January 15th, 2008 One Hour a Week, Be a Detail Person Okay, full disclosure. I'm not a detail person. In fact, on any personality chart, my "attention to detail" quotient is off the chart - on the ...READ MORE: One Hour a Week, Be a Detail Person
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

Okay, full disclosure. I’m not a detail person. In fact, on any personality chart, my “attention to detail” quotient is off the chart - on the low end.

But there are times that every sales professional needs to be a “detail person” in how they approach the prospect and the message.

I recently assigned one of my clients the task of writing a 300- to 500- word article about a case study of a solution they recently implemented. Now, I know that writing an article is not what you hire a sales professional for, however, I find that if a person cannot put in words their thinking and their methodology, they’re going to be hard pressed to verbalize it to the client.

As I started getting these articles back, I realized that I had missed a key instruction (okay, another detail) in the assignment, and that instruction was to “Be Specific.” Most articles were written from the standpoint of “we sold ‘em some stuff, they liked it, so you should buy from us.”

Not nearly enough detail. When writing a case study or article (or communicating your message), you have to lead the customer step-by-step through the sequence of events that happened between the time they felt pain, explored the solution, and are ecstatic with the results of that solution.

Every good copywriter will tell you that “the value is in the specifics” not the generalities. So, when you’re writing a message, a letter or an article, be as specific as you can. You can always go back and cut out what is irrelevant, but I find that’s seldom the problem. Usually the problem is we just don’t pay enough attention to the details.

And that hurts your customer, because they fail to understand the value that you bring to them.

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July 30th, 2007 Do Your Ideas Thrive Or Die? I recently interviewed Dan Heath, Made To Stick, Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. It was on our Advanced Selling Podcast. I thought Dan ...READ MORE: Do Your Ideas Thrive Or Die?
Monday, July 30th, 2007

I recently interviewed Dan Heath, Made To Stick, Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. It was on our Advanced Selling Podcast. I thought Dan had some salient points. He talked mainly about how to communicate with people–so that they actually hear you! Novel idea, huh?

Hope you enjoy the podcast. We’re going to use this blog to advise when there is a new podcast worth listening to. You can also subscribe via email so you can be notified when there’s a new podcast episode.

Tags: how to communicate
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June 13th, 2007 “Sorry I Lied to You — But You Made Me Do It” Probably not something you'll ever hear a prospect say, "Sorry I lied, but you made me." But just because they don't say it, doesn't mean ...READ MORE: “Sorry I Lied to You — But You Made Me Do It”
Wednesday, June 13th, 2007

Probably not something you’ll ever hear a prospect say, “Sorry I lied, but you made me.” But just because they don’t say it, doesn’t mean it’s not the truth.

At our training company, we take very seriously the idea of ‘creating space’ with a customer. What we mean by that is the sales professional has a profound responsibility in the sales transaction to get the truth. And that won’t happen if there is no trust/environment created for that.

To that end, I’ve made a list of “5 SureFire Ways to Get Your Prospect To Lie To You” (a bit tongue-in-cheek, but remarkably, we see these in action all the time. You can laugh at these, but make sure the joke isn’t on you.)

1. Start Pitching and Convincing Early. This is a favorite of the amateur sales person who fancies himself as a studly seller. They paste on the charm (which we all can see through) and go to work. “Pitching” is great because it quickly forces the prospect into a defensive mode, right where you want him, so you can close quickly. Advertising agencies and the media are great at ‘the pitch.’ In fact, they’re so good at it, they actually call it that. It really forces some great lies. Good luck with this one.

2. Ask A Lot of (Meaningless) Bonding and Rapport Questions. This is wonderful because you can ask questions about their vacation, their business–anything that you really don’t care about. And the true amateur never realizes that the prospect knows exactly what they’re doing to them. This is a surefire way to get the prospect to mislead you.

3. When Talking Money, Discount It’s Importance. You’ll be great at making people hide the truth when you brush over their concerns about money. In fact, even better, make them feel a little shame that they don’t understand how valuable your service is. It’s not up to you to explain the value–it’s up to them to take your word for it.

4. Close Hard and Often. This is one of the greatest pieces of training I got in my first sales job. This really makes prospects run away quickly. Or, if they stay in the process, you can blame them for continuing to lie to you. Buy all the books around on closing skills and watch the lies flow!

5. Don’t Make Your Sales Message About Them-Make it About You. This is one of my favorites. A salesperson comes in and explains to me how great he and his company are–and makes no effort to relate his value to my problem. There are a lot of sales training companies who teach this method. It works wonders to create atmospheres of lies and hidden agendas. This is a great time waster for sales people–for some prospects won’t tell you they have no interest, they’ll lead you on for months, living rent-free inside your head.

Sometimes the absurd works better than logic and reason, thus my crazy list. I was in a training this week where a supposedly-well-trained sales person laid the “if-I-could-show-you-a-way” move on me in a role play. Made everyone in the room almost vomit. That’s when I knew I’d made progress. Those old sales moves really should make you sick to your stomach.

Tags: sales, sales professional, sales training
Posted in Communication Skills | 1 Comment »
February 15th, 2007 THINGS YOU SHOULDN’T SAY ON A SALES CALL By Bryan Neale As a professional sales trainer, I’m exposed to hundreds of “magic” quips, phrases, closing moves and techniques each year. I decided to take ...READ MORE: THINGS YOU SHOULDN’T SAY ON A SALES CALL
Thursday, February 15th, 2007

By Bryan Neale

As a professional sales trainer, I’m exposed to hundreds of “magic” quips, phrases, closing moves and techniques each year. I decided to take the time to share some of the most outdated, overused, ineffective versions of those with the hope that you’ll either stop using them, or completely avoid them if their temptation ever finds you in a weak moment. I thought I’d start this exercise with the caption NEVER SAY THIS:

“If I could show you a way……….would you be interested?” Welcome to 1954 sales training class.

Tags: sales trainer
Posted in Communication Skills | 2 Comments »
January 29th, 2007 Closing Skills. Necessary? Or Just Annoying to the Prospect? I was reading Jill Konrath's blog on closing skills. Thought I'd add my 5c to it. There's actually nothing I don't agree with in it. Here's ...READ MORE: Closing Skills. Necessary? Or Just Annoying to the Prospect?
Monday, January 29th, 2007

I was reading Jill Konrath’s blog on closing skills. Thought I’d add my 5c to it. There’s actually nothing I don’t agree with in it.

Here’s my spin: In professional sales, you are a catalyst for change. Your role is to create an atmosphere with the prospect where truth can occur. If you’re reading this, it’s likely you’re in a relationship sale (vs. a one time sale). The absolute worst thing you can do is ‘get needy’ near the end of the sales process by focusing on closing the deal.

If your prospect–for one nanosecond–feels that neediness (or desperation) then their sixth sense kicks in and they begin to wonder, ‘what is this person’s intent?’

That isn’t a good sign. In most sales training, there is a fair amount of learning around closing skills. We are opposed to that. If you’re doing everything in the sales process well, upfront, then the close should be a natural part of the decision cycle. Not something that requires a move of some kind.

Here are three closing tips:
1. Get better at finding the problem. Sales is focused on problem solving. When you are poorly trained at finding the problem, then closing skills won’t help you.

2. Have a sales process. The close should be nothing more than the next likely thing to happen as you’re guiding your prospect through the process. No magic moves needed. Most sales people have no process.

3. Ask the prospect when they want to begin solving this problem. You should be asking the prospect what he wants to do next in order to get his problem solved. Your wishes should not enter the picture. (Now, remember, I suggested in #1 and #2 that you should get better at finding the pain the prospect has–then the close is when the prospect asks you, “how quickly can you fix this for me?” Isn’t that better?

In Same Game New Rules, I talk about the process of selling and how vital it is if you’re going to acheive any sustainable sales success. I also say that the prospect needs to be selling you–and therefore, closing you. That comes along with having a Problem Orientation to your sales philosophy.

Do it the right way and closing skills cease to be an issue. If your sales training program stresses ‘closing skills’ as an important part of the process, then they’re stressing the wrong thing.

Tags: closing skills, professional sales, sales process, sales training
Posted in Communication Skills | No Comments »
August 25th, 2006 Podcast Guest Famous!! Congratulations to Kevin Eikenberry (Eikenberry Consulting) who was quoted in the NYTimes. He's a friend of ours who has been on our podcast, The Advanced ...READ MORE: Podcast Guest Famous!!
Friday, August 25th, 2006

Congratulations to Kevin Eikenberry (Eikenberry Consulting) who was quoted in the NYTimes. He’s a friend of ours who has been on our podcast, The Advanced Selling Podcast.

Here’s the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/jobs/20advi.html?_r=1&oref=slogin.

While not a big fan of Times political stance, I do admit I get Sunday version and Kevin’s input was well done. His comment was about “what do you do when you’ve bungled the presentation?” I can’t resist a quick comment:

1. Oh well. The more pressure you feel to do it perfectly, the more likely you are to screw it up. Be in the moment. Get detached from what people do or don’t do with it.

2. Be focused on them, not on you. I see this all the time–the presenter really wants to make an impression on people. So much so that he’s self conscious to the point of ignoring the audience.

3. Know you’re screwing it up as you’re doing it. You should be aware when something’s not going right. If you’re too self-absorbed you won’t be in the moment — and you’ll be blind to the fact that people are falling asleep (don’t laugh, I’ve seen that. And the presenter went right on talking). And if you become aware of it (here’s the $100,000 move), call it. Say, out loud, “I feel like I’m not connected with you. Can we stop and take stock of where we are?” For God’s sake. If it’s not going right, the worst thing you can do is keep digging a deeper hole.

Oh, and 4. If you’re presenting your solution too early in the sales process, then that’s a mistake in and of itself, even if it’s smashingly good.

Tags: presentation, sales process
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July 21st, 2006 “How Do I Start The Sales Process?” Question From Blog Reader: I'm assuming that you mean: "how do I start the process so that I can control it all the way through?" That's ...READ MORE: “How Do I Start The Sales Process?”
Friday, July 21st, 2006

Question From Blog Reader:

I’m assuming that you mean: “how do I start the process so that I can control it all the way through?” That’s a better question. In this post, I give you several components of how to handle the very first call.

(more…)

Tags: sales, sales training, sales training programs
Posted in Communication Skills, Inner Game, Mechanics of Selling | 1 Comment »