Sales Podcast – Closing Bigger Sales Blog Entry
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Today’s sales podcast by Shane Gibson is focused on the importance of value added frequency in closing big or complex sales. You can download the file directly or subscribe to the podcast by choosing one of the many options on right hand navigation bar of this blog.
Shane Gibson is the author of Closing Bigger the Field Guide to Closing Bigger Deals and President of Knowledge Brokers International Systems Ltd. a leading sales performance and leadership development organization. Shane divides his time between his entrepreneurial projects, speaking at major conferences and mentoring salespeople and entrepreneurs.
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Sales Podcast of Tele-conference
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Today I was invited to do a tele-conference for a group of network marketing leaders in the Innerlight corporation. I was asked to share how the concepts in Closing Bigger applied to their industry. Following is a 9 minute MP3 recording of what I had to say.
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Do You Get It? Closing Bigger Sales Blog Entry
Sometimes the deal is already dead before we even realize it. At times it’s a function of price, technological fit, deployment time, track record etc. These are all measurable, quantifiable reasons for losing a big deal. Too often though when the deal has died it has nothing to do with a specific quantifiable issue.
I often work with clients, coaching and mentoring them through a large deal. At the end of the sales cycle; and I mean the “bitter end.” I sometimes get the question “What happened?”
“My price was right, we’re superior to the other guys in deployment and technology…why did he stop returning my calls? Why did they go with someone else?”
In several cases recently the answer to “why?” was the would be big deal closer didn’t get it. They got the features, advantages and benefits of their solution. They even identified client needs, pains and specific outcomes desired. What they didn’t get…which was the deal killer…was the person and what approach, type of communication, and behavior was appropriate with the prospect or prospects.
It boils down to “Emotional Intelligence” and presence. Sometimes it’s the little things and sometimes it’s one big mistake. It can be an off color joke, aggressive hand shaking that physically shocks the prospect, excessively loud talking, or crossing boundaries (often not even knowing they were there).
People can get the buying language and think they’re “in”. Their prospect Robert is positive, his head is nodding, he’s asking questions about payment terms. Then the sales person moves into his personal space, puts their hand on his shoulder and calls the prospect Bob. Sounds minor I know, but Bob may feel that the sales person is getting too personal and assuming that the relationship is somewhere it isn’t, he may even feel that he is being closed. Bob then pulls back physically, brings up some great objections to slow the sales person down and then taps on his watch… “Send me a revised quote”, he says…and that was the last of Bob.
Deals crumble when we’re unaware of personality styles, values, and cultural nuances. Be just as detailed with the relationship as you are with the mechanics and details of the deal. The relationship is the deal.
Shane Gibson is President of Knowledge Brokers International Systems Ltd. and author of Closing Bigger the Field Guide to Closing Bigger Deals and High Impact Mentorship – The Transformational Mentor’s Field Guide. e-mail shane@kbitraining.com or call 604-331-4471
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Tips on Building Strong Transformational Mentorship Relationships
As one can imagine depending on the
personality styles and values of the individuals involved the mentoring
relationship can take many forms and follow many processes. As long as the
people within the relationship find it rewarding and effective we really can’t
say that any one process or format is more effective but it is important that
both people fully understand and are agreeable and committed to it.
Expectations
It is important in the beginning for the
mentor and mentee to explicitly confirm what one another’s expectations of the
relationship will be. How do they personally define mentorship? What goals or
outcomes would they like to achieve? How involved will they be in each others
life professionally or otherwise?
Structure and Process
Do you meet in person? On the phone? Mentor
while golfing or skiing? How often do you meet? For how long are the meetings?
All of these questions should be agreed upon early on.
Some of the foundations of the mentoring
process are important are:
r
To identify each person’s values, style and
preferred method of communication
r
Set SMART regularly to focus the
relationship
r
Remember that mentoring is transformational
and that most of the goals should be focused on building the mentee’s talents
into strengths
r
Have a way of recording and checking on
commitments made
r
Set a regular time or frequency of time to
check in; you may not need to meet every three weeks but at least check-in with
each other to keep the relationship strong and current
Commitments & Rules
It is vital to confirm and agree upon what
commitments we require from one another. Some mentors have no problem working
through in-action or continually broken promises by the mentee while others will
end the relationship if the advice they give isn’t heeded. Neither of these
mentors is wrong, it’s a values thing. The key to ensure that both parties are
aware of each other’s personal rules and that commitments are firmly put into
place and recorded.
Shane Gibson is President
of Knowledge Brokers International
Systems Ltd. and author of
Closing Bigger the Field Guide to Closing Bigger Deals and High Impact
Mentorship – The Transformational Mentor’s Field Guide. e-mail
shane@kbitraining.com or call
604-331-4471
