Sales Blog - Why prospects won’t do business with a sales person.
According to a North American study, here are some of the reasons given for not dealing with a salesperson:
• Not following the company’s buying process (26%)
• Not listening to customer’s needs (18%)
• Not following up (17%)
• Being pushy, aggressive or not respectful (12%)
• Not explaining the solution objectively (10%)
• Making exaggerated or inaccurate claims (6%)
• Not understanding the company’s market (4%)
• Being too familiar (3%)
• Not knowing or not respecting the competition (2%)
Harvard Business Review, July/August, 2006
This is an affirmation of some of my past podcasts and entries on the endless line-up of sales gurus claiming to have the ultimate sales process to sell you. The best process is the process the client uses to buy. This comes getting good at rapport, asking the right questions, an being mindful of the stage of relationship development we are in with the client.
Shane Gibson
June 12, 2008 · Filed Under Sales Blog |
Sales Podcast and Blog Entry - Sales Proposals - Steve Woodruff
Steve Woodruff of the Impactiviti Blog on Pharmaceutical sales, marketing, and management writes a great tongue-in-cheek blog entry on how not to write a proposal. This entry really echoes what we talked about in last week’s podcast on “Selling Beyond the Bottom line”. Customization and listening are key to closing the deal and building long-term relationships with clients.
Here’s come of what Steve had to say:
Vendors: How to Lose the Business
Sep 6th, 2007 by impactivitiIf you’re a vendor, there are lots of ways to lose business opportunities. Here, some free advice on how to make sure your proposal remains at the bottom of the stack at decision time:
1. Don’t ask questions to try to clarify, and draw out, what the client really wants and needs. Just slam out that proposal and cross your fingers that you hit the mark.
2. When you cut-and-paste from prior proposals that you’ve submitted to other companies, be sure that you leave the wrong company name in once or twice. Also, bad grammar and misspellings are recommended to help assure the client that you are, indeed, detail-oriented.
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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September 9, 2007 · Filed Under Sales Management Blog |
Sales Blog Entry - From My Mentor Fred Shadian - “Imagine life being………”
My mentor Fred Shadian sent this to me…I thought it was great…
Imagine life being exactly the way you would like for it to be. Imagine working easily and naturally through the challenges that each day presents.
Imagine creating real and lasting value as the result of your efforts. Imagine moving steadily in the direction of your most treasured dream.Imagine reaching that dream and then building an even more magnificent dream to take its place. Imagine the sense of fulfillment and purpose that comes from living true to the authentic person you are.
Imagine spending each day making a positive contribution****ion to the world in which you live. Imagine making a difference in the lives of those around you.
Imagine the beauty and richness of a life fully lived. Imagine a world in which that fulfillment spreads quickly and easily from one person to another.
Imagine life at its best, and in your imagining experience every detail, every sound, every color, every texture, every feeling. Then take a deep breath, hold your head up, step forward and truly make it happen.
– Ralph Marston
July 10, 2006 · Filed Under Leadership |
The characteristics of an effective M.E.N.T.O.R.
Models success
Expands Vision
Navigates
Truth seeker
Optimizes
Relationship Building
M
Great mentors model success. Authenticity and transparency are much
sought after but rarely found characteristics in today’s society. People listen
to what we say as mentors but we have to be cognizant of the fact that we tell a
story about what we truly value by our actions and daily disciplines.
Mentorship provides a pillar and a model of possibility for those who follow us.
Our example of success and constant movement forward is what makes us credible
and creates an environment of faith where the mentee feels safe to take risks
and move outside of their comfort zone. Another important trait of modeling
success is that we too need mentors to help us continue to grow. After all,
it’s pretty difficult to follow our lead if we’re no longer moving.
E
Effective mentors constantly expand their mentee in
all areas possible. When I look back at some of the business and personal goals
that I have achieved there where a number of times where when I began the
process I personally lacked the vision or belief that it was actually possible.
I was actually working on faith, and borrowed vision and belief from a mentor.
Respondents in a survey done by Robert Half Technology were asked to name the
single greatest benefit of mentorship relationships they had been in and:
- 37% said that a mentor provided insight into a
particular field or industry - 32% said that the mentor served as a confidant or
advisor - 16% said the mentor provided encouragement and boosted
morale
As a mentor we have already ascended to a place of insight
and vision, because of the distance we have traveled we can naturally see
further and more than our mentees. Great mentors often help formulate and paint
a bigger picture than people can conceive on their own. The mentor’s conviction
in the vision and belief in the mentee fuels the faith and conviction that the
mentee needs for spurn them forward. Great mentors expand their mentees,
vision, self concept, and standards consistently. Spend time teaching people
how to think bigger and set goals that are slightly out of their grasp.
N
The ability to navigate and provide a proven
strategy for success is what people look for in a great mentor. The feeling as
a mentor to be able to give this gift is fantastic. Navigation has three
components, a destination, a place to start and as a mentor we provide the third
ingredient – the path in between. People will always have unexpected obstacles
during their journey but it’s the fork in the road that shows the true value of
a mentor.
T
Truth seeker. A mentor isn’t there to coach or
counsel someone. There is no fee, rarely a contract, and the only reward is
often the reward of legacy, contribution, and mentee transformation. The
mentorship relationship is a transformational one where we focus on helping
someone reach and become their full potential. In navigation we talk about
needing a starting point. Great mentors through relationship development can
peel away the layers of persona to find the person, and the truth of the
situation. The truth of any situation is where we can begin to map a path
forward. They also help the mentee develop clarity and evaluate murky
situations to find the real truth and reality to build life strategies that are
based upon accurate assumptions and wise choices. Transformation can only truly
begin with a truthful beginning. Seek and insist on the truth.
O
Optimizing is about taking something that is already
effective and improving it significantly by making a series of subtle calculated
shifts. Transformation rarely happens all at once. It usually occurs through a
series of smaller changes and shifts in focus. As a mentor when we work and
develop others we can see a hundred things they could improve. Optimization is
about prioritizing based upon strengths and talents. Help your mentee delegate
or remove the activities and behaviors outside of their core talents and
values. Get them to focus on what they are truly good at and what they truly
enjoy doing. (if there ever was a place for a coach this is it, investing in a
coach who can help them turn their talents and passions into strengths will pay
dividends) On purpose people have more energy, hardly feel stressed, and are
more productive.
R
Relationship building is the key to having real
impact and leverage in the mentorship relationship. Through relationships we
gain the trust of the person, once they trust us deep truths, fears, and goals
are shared. We gain permission to give them much needed feedback and
direction. We have all been in the situation where someone offers advice to us
when uninvited, we can feel that this person is assumptive and pushy and more
often than that we don’t feel that the advice is credible… after all we hardly
know the person.
Bill Gibson founder of Knowledge Brokers International
developed a very straight forward formula for relationship development. Time +
Genuine Assistance = Relationship = a commitment from both parties. There is no
shortcut here, the more time we put in and the greater the assistance and
positive intent the stronger the relationship and ultimately the better the
results.
We can genuinely assist people in many ways; we can:
- Believe in them
- Help pick them up when they have failed
- Commend them when they have succeeded
- Help expand their network
- Make them part of a project you are working on
- Recognize them publicly
- Keep commitments
Another critical component of building relationships and
effective mentorship is listening. Listening seems simple enough but most
people don’t really listen, they just wait for their turn to talk. People spend
a good portion of their day being talked at and competing for air time. People
can tell when we truly care about them and what they have to say. Authentically
listen to people, be totally present and sincerely interested and the
relationship will flourish.
Shane Gibson
January 19, 2006 · Filed Under Leadership |
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