What better way to spend a Fathers Day weekend

Happy Fathers Day to all you Fathers out there…

Another week has raced by..

And the Fremantle Dockers had a fantastic win against Hawthorn yesterday… Cath, I, James and my old mate Symo were there to see some brilliant footy played by Pav, Hill, Mayne and the boys.. (and I’m not really a Dockers fan.. just a fan of great sport…) anyway… let’s get on with it.. 

 LESSONS AND SALES TIPS FROM THIS WEEK IN THE WORLD OF BLUE ROCKET SALES TRAINING, SALES COACHING AND SALES CONSULTING…

SALES TIP #1: STAFF INCENTIVES – TO PAY OR NOT TO PAY?

Was with a client today and we were talking about sales staff incentives.

He was against it because he said ‘but what about the rest of the team that are needed to service the sale. You can’t have the sales team getting all the money and the rest not getting any bonus.. You’ll have them at each other’s throats..’

My point to him was that ‘without the sales team doing the hunting, the rest of the tribe don’t get to eat..’

We also discussed a way that you could incentivize both the sales team and the support team.

The real objection this client had came shortly after when he said, ‘it’s all very well for the sales team to get the bonus when they make sales, but they still want their wage even when they don’t meet target and budget (and we still have to pay them even if they don’t hit target)’

That’s when we introduced the idea of a risk/reward scheme. You make money when you hit and exceed target, and you make less when you don’t.

This is a system South West Airlines and many others have pioneered.

It relies on people choosing to either be part of the programme or not. It also involves a lower base salary but a greater share in the upside when the company does well.

Want to know more. Give us a call.

Lesson: Use the right targets and incentive structure, and watch your results skyrocket.

SALES TIP #2: SALES SYSTEMS – THE BLUE ZONE CAPTURED BRINGS GOLD

In a Sales Breakthrough workshop with a media advertising client group this week showing them the Sales Questioning System we use and advocate to our clients.

As the great Buckminster Fuller said (I’m paraphrasing here)  ’don’t try to convince people to change their behaviour… change their environment by creating an artefact that makes it obvious they should abandon their old problem producing, inefficient behaviour and take on the new behaviour using the artefact because it’s the easiest thing to do.. (Don’t try to convince people to stop swimming across a roaring, flooded river… build them a bridge…)

So we have built our clients a SALES BRIDGE.. THE POMVIC SALES BRIDGE…

We showed them the questions, written down in our POMVIC document template system and how they could apply that tool to gather better information, get the prospect realising just how much they wanted and how valuable the clients advertising products were, and how that information could then be used in their proposal documents to CLOSE MORE DEALS at a HIGHER AVERAGE SELL PRICE..

The team were over the moon..

Lesson: If you don’t prescribe to your sales team the questions and the words to use in the right order (especially in the Blue Needs Discovery Zone), they’ll make up their own questions and their own order.. and in 99% of cases, I guarantee it, they will stuff it up.. (and you will lose sales as a result)

If you want help scripting your Selling Questions, or want access to our POMVIC document, contact us and enquire to see if you qualify as a client. This tool has taken us 20 years to develop, and is now making our clients $100,000’s extra per month… IT WORKS.. AND IT PAYS OFF BIG TIME!!

It is a closely guarded secret we only share with our clients and people who attend our Sales Mastery Bootcamp.. Stay on the lookout for when we next run one..

SALES TIP #3: HOW DO YOU CLOSE? NICE WORK M.

With our Office Furniture client today and one of their sales guys tells me how he closed a deal the other day (without giving away a huge discount which he normally did..) using a technique we taught him in the last training session.

He’s over the moon..

He used our Value Build then Price Drop (without the price drop) Close..

He also used our ‘Breathe and Face Screw’ technique to close the sale, avoid discounting and maximise the margin.. (a technique one of my mentors has used to build a multimillion dollar retail operation…)

I can only reveal these secrets to clients (sorry about that) but safe is it to say….the great thing about sales training is that we can teach you something in the morning that WILL actually make you money in the afternoon..

I said to M ‘you’ve made my day…’

John and I just love hearing the success stories of our clients..

As we say in our newsletter, ‘selling is at the centre of the economy… the better we all sell, the better the economy functions..’

Pass on a referral that becomes a Blue Rocket Client and You Get a New Apple Ipad.. It's that Simple

PS: make sure you get yourself a copy of the latest newsletter and … see how you can win yourself the latest Apple Ipad …

If you know someone with a Sales Team of 5 people or more.. who are keen to take their sales to the next level… Click Here and pass on their details.. We’ll send them a powerful pack of FREE Sales Breakthrough Tools valued at $597.. follow them up.. and if they become a client of Blue Rocket.. they win.. and you win.. Guaranteed!!

See you next week..

Cottesloe Sunset - the view while I discussed the contents of this post with John on the phone

I was on the phone to John last night on the way back from a meeting in Fremantle.

We were talking about the weeks client coaching and sales training sessions.

John is suffering from a bad bout of the flu (so I was glad he was at the other end of the phone while I was driving past the setting sun at Cottesloe Beach on a lovely West Australian Winter’s clear blue sky  Friday afternoon..)

I was telling John how the previous night in a sales training session with a client I had to make two very important points. Points you might use with yourself or your team at some point.

1. I can either be a SOFT COACH or a HARD COACH.

What are you paying me for?

Do you want me to say ‘oh you poor thing, you didn’t do any of the projects you said you were going to do. But that’s all right. Or do you want me to say, ‘you’re paying us to help you get results.

You can either give yourself and me (and your family) EXCUSES or RESULTS?’

EXCUSES OR RESULTS?

They really are the choices aren’t they?

As the old Irish Proverb goes ‘”You will never plough a field if you only turn it over in your mind.”

Get into action and DO SOMETHING…

Nike put it well with their ‘JUST DO IT…’

‘Sometimes I think he thinketh too much..’

If you want RESULTS you actually have to DO something..

Sitting around THINKING is useful.. but not if you spend more time thinking of EXCUSES rather than making the list of the TOP 3 things you need to DO to move ahead.

(I now have to stop using the words MOVING FORWARD as Julia Guillard has now burnt their use in the Land of Oz vernacular for at least the next few years).

2. DON’T DO THE KNEE JERK PRICE DROP

Another client during the week told me of a client negotiation where he immediately offered a 10% discount just to speed up the deal.

I said ‘Don’t drop you pants at the first sign of a wink..’

(Actually I didn’t say that, but I am trying to make the point. Don’t drop your price at the first sign the customer is interested.)

Actually I said something like ‘what do you think was wrong with that?’

He had to stop and think for a moment.

‘I offered a discount before the client even asked for one..’

‘That’s right…. You just ripped yourself off…’

In 90% of cases, the seller is more concerned and focused on price than the buyer..’

Make it a rule, let the customer ask for a discount.

Don’t you offer a discount UNPROVOKED.

(In most cases they are just trying it on.. they will buy anyway. I tried it on when buying my son a pair of Adidas tracksuit pants in Rebel Sports the other night…The girl at the cash register did the right thing.. She did what I’m about to tell you to do..).

Then, give them reasons why it is good value and restate the price and why it is a great buy today anyway.

50% or more of customers will take your reasons and buy – so you’ve just saved a ton of money there.

The other 50% might need a sweetener.

ADDING A SWEETENER THAT COSTS YOU LITTLE OR NOTHING

We recommend, offering value add rather than price drop. Eg: free home delivery, free installation, free cleaning, free something that doesn’t cost you hard cash.. rather than REAL, HARD CASH IN THE FORM OF A DISCOUNT..

Value build first, then talk price, then talk benefits, then ask the check question..

People buy value.

In fact they buy PERCEIVED VALUE…

They buy how they imagine using that product or service will make them feel..

THE POWER OF ‘IMAGINE’

So use words like ‘imagine …..

‘Imagine what it will be like to drive that car..

‘Imagine sitting in your lounge room listening to that sound system..’

‘Imagine this office furniture in your office. How much better you will feel. How much better you will be able to operate and get things done.. What will that be worth to you?

Now you have got them in a state where they are far more willing to part with their hard earned (or not so hard earned) cash..

VALUE BUILDING is far more profitable than PRICE DROPPING.

A 10% discount might mean a 50% reduction in profit (depending on your margins..)

Don’t just throw away margin. Train your people (and yourself) to Value Build.

Anyway. I’m off to a meeting, but get ready for our latest newsletter. There are some brilliant tips and tools, give aways and rewards in there.

HOW TO WIN AN IPAD

You’ll discover how you can win a free Apple Ipad… so stay tuned.

It's all interesting, but tomorrow we all still need to Sell

It’s election weekend in the land of Oz..

It’s raining outside… but the TV on every channel analyses, reanalyses and competes for who has the best computer generated graphics and who has the oldest, most wise heads on their panels.

Peter Costello is either being happy, smarmy or clever on Channel Nine.. (I can’t tell)

Lisa Wilkinson is still a glamour..

Carl does his best to keep some semblance of control..

But what the hell did Barnaby Joyce do to the National Party?

4 of the Independents who are going to control the Parliament are ex Nationals.. and they all seem to hate him…

A 20 year old wins a Seat and the Greens are calling it all a ‘Greenslide…’

Are we having a ‘Greenslide’ because people are so bored with both the other major parties and at least we’re clear what the Greens actually stand for?

The Greens USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is pretty clear. While the Liberal and Labor USP are about as clear as mud….

Anyway enough of political chatter…

In the meantime, the sales training lesson for us all is, whoever wins, we in business still need to make sales, serve customers and get on whatever the political environment..

Its all really just noise and wallpaper… (but still way better political noise wallpaper than behind an Iron Curtain or somewhere in Africa or the Middle East….don’t get me wrong..)

More importantly.. Sales training and Sales Management lessons from the week in Blue Rocket land..

STAFF REWARDS

I went to a Sales Team Awards dinner here in Perth last night with a client sales team.

It was a ripper..

Fun… great production standards…rewarding achievement and excellence.. and a great job done showing sales staff the company really does hold them up as heroes and really does care about them.

As the CEO said to me, ‘the previous administration were all about share prices and return to shareholders… forget the staff… (even screw the staff.. I’m paraphrasing there..)

The new administration were about investing in staff, investing in training, investing in better processes and being a good corporate citizen. These weren’t just words, these guys really are doing it. And the sales growth and financial growth has followed.

These guys have had a brilliant sales turnaround in the past 12 months. Over 20% growth.. smashing old sale records. Why?

Because they followed the STAND OUT, SELL, SUCCEED principles we at Blue Rocket teach.

‘Use the right process, get the right result’ goes the principle.

‘Don’t focus only on the results… focus on the processes that will get you those results.. and the results will take care of themselves..’

‘Reward the behaviours you want repeated…’

Want great sales achievement… measure and reward it.

Want people to stretch themselves and achieve stretch targets… measure and reward it..

Want great teamwork…. measure reward it…

‘It’s not Rocket Science.. but it is Science..’

You can do exactly the same if you have the courage to make the same decisions this client did.

Reward your staff (and get rid of those who don’t want to play the game….)

BACK FROM EUROPE

The pre game huddle

Just got back from the European expedition early Monday morning.

Besides re-arranging my sleeping patterns..(Why am I waking at 3am and reading my book for an hour before finally getting back to sleep again?), getting back touching base with all our clients.

Once this election over, hopefully the marketplace will get back to normal activity and start buying, selling and investing again…

Wherever we went, I was on the lookout for Sales Champion behaviour..

I have posted some European Sales video lessons on Facebook and will put them on Youtube for you to access..

But here are just some of the lessons and reminders:

1. Being friendly, confident, humorous and human makes ALL the difference. The Orange Zone is where the sale is set up for success. Wait till you see the video footage of Toby from Modefabriken (and Nudie Jeans) in Boras or Jeremy Cowan from the Bang and Olufsen store in Knightsbridge in London.. These guys were masters at rapport combined with positioning (plus their product knowledge and confidence in themselves and their product value) making them real sales champions (without being rude or pushy). They had cracked the million dollar sales code. They lived the core values of STAND OUT, SELL and SUCCEED.
   1. PS: if you want to check out how a retail store uses Blogs and social media check out www.modefabriken.com (and convert the language to English to get the real message..) Nice work Toby and Adam in Boras, Sweden..
   2. Talking of Nudie Jeans, how they add value and create upsells just by adding a simple catalogue/ guide book in the back pocket of every pair of jeans. What if you did the same with your wine, your bedding, your furniture, your car, your computers or product??? Check out www.nudiejeans.com to see how product uses the web to reach their target market. See what you can learn.
   3. Being passionate and confident about your product. Jeremy at Bang and Olufsen was a Master of passion, information and confidence in talking about his product. ‘We are THE VERY BEST in the world..’ he said it with such confidence and passion, no wonder customers part with $20,000 and more for his systems..

Study masters, no matter where they are. Soak up their mindset, their rules, their discipline. Success does leave clues. Plant the same seeds, reap the same harvest.

Anyway.. enough of me..

Look forward to seeing the result of the election..sometime in the next week…

Either way, we will continue to work with Sales teams around Australia and beyond, because it is the Sales teams that really make things happen no matter what Government is in power.

Nothing happens until a sale is made, and the more sales that are made, the more things CAN happen.

Step aside Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard, make way for the army of sales people that actually make things happen in this country. Sales people make the country run.

See you next week… (or see you at our seminar in Perth on Monday night – if you haven’t registered do so NOW at www.bluerocketlive.com )

It’s Sunday night and I am writing to you from my living room table as my wife Shannon and daughter Mischa watch “Dancing with the Stars”.

This week was a real eye opener.

I had preliminary meetings with 3 businesses with 15 plus sales people who have never done any
structured, on going training or coaching with their sales teams.

Opting only for “product knowledge” training.

WHY SALES PEOPLE CANNOT THRIVE ON PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE ALONE

Now don’t get me wrong I agree that product knowledge is important, but let me give you a real life example of how
too much emphasis on product knowledge to the exclusion of all else can go horribly wrong…

I bought a new vacuum cleaner today from Harvey Norman in Busselton.

Normally, I wouldn’t have made the purchase out of principal because the service was so bad, but today I was on a pretty tight schedule so I put up with it.

So here’s me turning a negative into a positive (almost)

So here’s what happened…

I walk in and immediately have the feeling of being pounced upon by the sales guy.  “Can I help you with anything”

He hasn’t read my personal space requirements and has an impatient “I really couldn’t care less about you I’m just
trying to flog as much as I can today” way about him.

Points for greeting me in the first 30 seconds, sure, but I would have preferred to have the chance to at least walk to the vacuum cleaners first before speaking to him.

After replying that I’m after a new vacuum cleaner, this guy immediately tries to “sell” me a $1000 Dyson vacuum cleaner.

Now couple of points to note here…

Firstly, if I could have seen the value I wouldn’t have a problem buying a $1000 Dyson vacuum cleaner.

Secondly I didn’t buy the cheaper vacuum cleaner out of spite, I simply purchased to the level of value that I perceived.

Thirdly, in principal, starting from the top of the price choice and working down is normally a good thing in retail but not before you have found out what your client wants and only in the context of what would work best for the client (based on their needs).

Here’s what he could have done better…

The only question he asked me about my situation was “how many carpeted areas do you have”.

Sorry buddy – if you want me to spend that kind of money on a vacuum cleaner you’re gonna have to do better than that.

To make matters worse, he established no rapport with me at the front end and therefore planted no seeds for me to return and purchase anything else from them (or him) in the future.

This dude was so “hell bent” on “selling” me a Dyson Vacuum cleaner that I literally had to step over him to look at the vacuum cleaners on display (he was literally trying to stop me looking at them!!).

He even used the old “this is the one that I use at home” line.

Buddy – I hate to be the one to tell you this but… this is 2010 people won’t fall for that BS anymore.

I can think of about 7 key questions he could have asked that would have given him more than enough info to make me an informed recommendation.

Here’s a couple straight off the top of my head…

What vacuum do you have now?
How long have you had it?
Why are you replacing it?
Do you have children?
What percentage of your home is carpeted?
Do you use a vacuum to clean your car?

If he’d done this, he’d have learned enough information to make a great recommendation.

He’d have also positioned himself as an expert – and not a “neck bone” who probably gets some type of extra commission from Dyson for selling their cleaners (unfortunately if they are it backfired on this occasion).

Sadly, this is pretty typical of the type of sales people many of us encounter everyday.

You see if you give sales people product knowledge but don’t give them training on how to insert that knowledge into a sales conversation and sales process, all they will do with your clients is give them the “product spin”.

I would love anyone’s horror story of bad sales experiences – please leave a comment on the Blog at  http://wp.me/prejD-hM and I will put the best ones in the next update.

SO – HERE’S WHAT WE ARE DOING ABOUT IT – and how you can do something about it.

We’re running a New Sales Science Seminar on the 23rd August at the Parmelia Hilton Hotel in Perth City 6.30pm -9.30pm.

If you have a feeling you’re sales system is in dire need of an upgrade please take us up on this offer – it’s a rare opportunity for you to discover for yourself the secrets we normally only share with a
select few clients.

http://www.bluerocketlive.com

We had rave reviews from the last one we ran – in fact moving any further
into the new economy we are experiencing right now without this knowledge
could be likened to sending your troops into battle unarmed.

http://www.bluerocketlive.com

Have a fantastic week.

Regards,

John Blake

Ebony Snoozing on a Sunday

Sitting here at 7.14 on a Sunday morning…

The dog is snoozing on the other couch in the loungeroom… all is quiet….

Reflecting on the sales lessons of last week I can share with you..

I flew to Sydney last week to work with a team of 25 franchisees for a hygiene, equipment cleaning company.

These guys are on the up and up… but they had some goals, some areas they wanted to take to the next level…

1. LEAD GENERATION

2. SALES CONVERSION

Their story is not so dissimilar to many prospects and clients we come across.

Great product…

Great track record..

Not telling their story using SALES SCIENCE.. Sales Process way too loose..

Not converting interested prospects with SALES SCIENCE.. Sales process in need to capturing and drilling..

Little or no training of the team in SALES SCIENCE strategy and techniques…. New team members in particular need SALES PROCESS Masterminding and drilling..

By the end of the day, they had at least 15 powerful new strategies and techniques to GENERATE MORE HIGH QUALITY LEADS… and CONVERT MORE SALES AT HIGHER AVERAGE DOLLAR TRANSACTIONS AND HIGHER MARGINS… as well as be doing their clients a better, more high value service..

It trully was another SALES BREAKTHROUGH day..

So what’s this got to do with you?

As the great Scott Peck wrote in his best seller ‘The Road Less Travelled”.. (and I will add to and paraphrase..)

“The Truth will set you free… but first it might annoy you..(and make your undies go tighter…challenge your comfort zones… upset your status quo…. ask you to do something different so you get a different result…)

So let’s do a mini audit to see what you might need to do different if you want a different result in your LEAD GENERATION or SALES CONVERSION…

Let’s put your SALES PROCESS under the microscope..

A QUICK SALES BREAKTHROUGH AUDIT

1. How good are you and your people at telling your story? Your companies story? In such a way that it demonstrates the power and value of what you do for clients?

2. How well trained are your people in SALES SCIENCE? Have you trained them in how to develop rapport? Have you trained them in the top 10 questions they should be asking EVERY time they meet with a prospect? Have you trained them in how to handle the top 5 objections people have to investing in your product or service?

3. How well trained are your people in how to actually ASK FOR THE BUSINESS? How good are your people in CLOSING THE SALE?

4. Do you have a documented SALES SYSTEM? Have you actually mapped out the steps your people (and you) should be following to make a sale?

5. Have you trained your people in what to do when someone asks for a DISCOUNT?

6. How often do you get your team together to share best practices and MASTERMIND new strategies to generate more leads and close more sales?

7. Is your quoting/ proposal system following NEW SALES SCIENCE principles or is it more like a Plumber or Carpenters quote?

I won’t go on with more questions…

If you answered any of these questions and your undies went a bit tight..

If you answered them and you realised you have a gap between what you have and what you should have..

IT’S COSTING YOU BIG….. LARGE….. HUGE…. MORE THAN YOU REALISE… AMOUNTS OF MONEY..

That’s money you could be using on more marketing… new products.. more staff…. new office furniture… school fees.. taking your family on a holiday….etc….etc…

Get onto it NOW..

If you have a sales team of 5 or more (and you’re not already a client of Blue Rocket) FreeSalesBreakthroughPack.com and fill out the details to get $637 of FREE Sales Breakthrough Information and Coaching that will get you moving in the right direction.

If you have a boss or business owner or Sales Manager who might have answered the above questions poorly… send them this link or get the pack and give it to them..

Anyway.. the dog is still snoozing..

And I’ve got to keep moving..

PS: Off to Sweden this week to play in the World Masters Water Polo Champs… Over 50′s..

John will do the next few posts…. I’ll stay in touch via Facebook and John… See you when I get back on Aug 16th..

We have another of our New Sales Science Seminars on August 23 in Perth… Make sure you register to come at www.bluerocketlive.com

When No is Not NO

It’s early Sunday morning…

We went out to dinner last night with our old mates Pumper and Janine and Steve to Subiaco..
A cold night in Perth. We hadn’t booked anywhere but ended up at a nice Italian (my favorite food) restaurant in Hay St.

Had a drink waiting for a table..

Nothing special so far.. (other than I finally get to go to an Italian restaurant)

The maitre de was very friendly.. sat us down, got us our drinks.

‘Can I get you a tasting plate to nibble on something while you have a drink?’ she asked very helpfully..

We said ‘no thanks, we’ll wait for our meal…’

(Plus, in the fantasyland of our heads we think – we are all young athletes and we wanted to look after our figures and not overeat….)

We have our drinks and about 20 minutes later she ushers us to our table..

We continue talking about life, business, the trip to the World Masters Water Polo Champs later this month, our kids, and the last 30 years of playing water polo and spending large chunks of our lives together.

The maitre de comes again and asks ‘can I get you a tasting plate while you wait for your main meals?’

By now, as a Sales Coach, Sales Trainer, Sales Consultant, I can see this maitre de is GOOD..

(At this point I wish I had a video camera to capture this lady in action. I would love to have it to show in our Sales Training, Sales Coaching sessions. Here was a top athlete at work..)

PLAYING THE GAME TO GET TO THE YES (WITHOUT BEING RUDE OR PUSHY)

She is not only friendly, she knows the game…

‘If I ask enough times, at the right times, I’m going to get a YES sooner or later…’

She realised, she was not in the taking orders, serving meals business, she was in the sales business..

She realised the power of SUGGESTIVE SELLING…

She realised, if I ask the right question when they are hungry enough, they will say YES..

She realised ‘you can never step into the same river twice’

(The actual quote from Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus in 540-480BC is “ You can never step into the same river; for new waters are always flowing on to you.”)

She realised, each time she asked us, we were getting hungrier and she was developing a stronger relationship with us.

She was using the R factor Formula – R = F x Q (The strength of the Relationship is a function of the Frequency of Contact times the Quality of the Contact.)

Each time she made contact with us it was always helpful and friendly..

Guess what?

After the THIRD time she asked us……..
We finally said YES….

And the tasting plate was terrific.

Squid, olives, cooked salami, and other bits and pieces we consumed rapidly..

SO WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF THIS TASTING PLATE TALE?

If you’re asking this question… let me sum up..

1. ASK

2. ASK AGAIN

3. ASK WITH FRIENDLINESS AND HELPFULNESS AS YOUR INTENTION

4. ASK WITHOUT BEING PUSHY, BUT KNOW THAT NO IS NOT NO…. ITS JUST NO AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME

5. The River keeps changing… you keep changing… your client keeps changing… They will get hungrier… you need to ask them the right question at the right time..

6. The hungrier they are, the more likely they are to say YES…. So get them hungry for what you offer.. Remind them of times they were hungry.. Remind them of times they are likely to be hungry..

7. The hungrier they are, the more they will pay for what you are offering…

8. Train yourself, your team to ask the right questions… in the right way… at the right time… and how to handle NO.. how to rebound from NO….

If you want to get some FREE information on how we can help you and your team script, drill and embed these skills with our Blue Rocket Breakthrough Sales Training and Coaching click here and write GETTING PAST NO in the subject line…

We’ll touch base…. ask you some questions.. some of which you will say YES to.. and some of which you will say NO to..

Then some of your NO’s will turn into YES’s…. at the right time.. when you are hungry enough…

See you then…

PS: If you haven’t listened to this months CD of the month interview with John and Glenn Twiddle on ‘Hypnotic Selling..’ you really must get a copy..

Go to Free Gift from Blue Rocket (click here) and we will bonus gift you all 10 CD’s in our Free Gift Pack PLUS this months interview..(which was so good, it ended up 2 CD’s not the usual one CD..)

So as a special gift… you’ll end up with 12 CD’s valued at over $697 absolutely FREE (you just pay shipping costs..)

PPS: Had a great coaching session with one of our clients on ‘PITCHING Your Sales Pitch’. This was a media advertising client… Even people who had been in the game 15 and 20 years were getting new insights into how to better pitch their business better than they ever have..

A real Sales Breakthrough Coaching session.. We are making some Sales Breakthrough Coaching videos and CD’s especially for the Media Advertising business at the moment. If you want copies click here and we’ll put you on the pre-registration list and give you a super special pre release price…

You're either Attracting or Repelling

I was on the phone with a client today who was telling me a story of a meeting he and a senior colleague went to this week..
It was an important meeting with a large company they were looking to do more business with.
He had been working on the relationship for the past 6 months.
Things had been going well..
Then, in one foul swoop, the colleague stuffs it all up..

How to Stuff Up a Prospect Meeting…. (Don’t Try this at home folks.. It takes practice..)
And the worst part of it, he was not even aware what he was doing that stuffed it up..
He was completely unconscious about what he was doing..
Let’s just go through the list and make sure you don’t do any of these:

1. Firstly, all he did was talk about himself. Not once did he ask anything about the client, the clients business, the clients interests outside of work. He was a self obsessed bore with no idea of the importance of rapport, connection, relationship – orange zone – in opening the relationship to then close the sale.
2. While the client was talking he started taking and making messages on his Blackberry.
Am I the only one, or does that not only show disinterest but break any rapport you may have developed with another human being?
3. He made disparaging remarks about the clients business and business model and the amount of business they had put with his company over the preceding months.

Can there be MORE?
Now if he had rapport and had positioning, he may have been able to get away with that.
But with no positioning, already being a bore and disconnecting via the Blackberry, he had NO RIGHT and NO POSITIONING to say anything like that.

4. He consistently interupted the client when they were giving their view or expressing a need or concern. Not once, but a pattern of interuption.

My client said he was ‘cringing’ …

Do you get the picture?

ASLEEP ON THE JOB

I could go on.. but the real point here is that he was completely UNCONCIOUS of the impact and effect he was having on the client.

It reminds me of the time I was out on the road shadowing a sales rep who was selling sports shoes to retailers.

In the very first call on a retailer the young rep stood there nervously twirling his car keys in his hand as he asked the retailer ‘how is everything going? Is there anything we can do for you?’

What message do you think he was giving the retailer?

“I don’t really care.. I just want to get out of here…’

When I asked him what did he think he was doing, he had no idea.

He too, was completely unconscious of his actions and behaviours.

It was WAKE UP TIME..

In the words of Harvard University Professor Howard Gardner (author of the classic Frames of Mind. The theory of multiple intelligences) both these fellows had low to very low Interpersonal Intelligence (and probably very little Intrapersonal intelligence)

What do we mean here?

Interpersonal intelligence is concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. It allows people to work effectively with others. Educators, salespeople, religious and political leaders and counsellors all need a well-developed interpersonal intelligence.

Intrapersonal intelligence entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one’s feelings, fears and motivations. In Howard Gardner’s view it involves having an effective working model of ourselves, and to be able to use such information to regulate our lives.

for more information on this go to http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm

Bottom line – make sure your sales team, your executive team, anyone who is out there representing your company is tuned in, trained in, selected for their ability to know themselves and know other people.

Good sales training will teach people about this…

This pompous, boring nit wit just cost his company literally millions of dollars in direct income and referral business unless one of his colleagues can recover the situation.

But he would be way too clever, brilliant and superior to involve himself in anything as junior as Management Training or ‘sales, persuasion, influence or communication’ training. He would have ‘done that years ago….’

It sounds to me that he was so full of it he was overflowing…

Barry Jones once wrote a book called ‘SLEEPERS AWAKE’…. and that is a pretty good theme for many Executives and Sales People out there who need to WAKE UP and be aware of what they are doing and should be doing.

Message: Folks.. there is a SCIENCE OF INFLUENCE AND PERSUASION..
You are either using the laws and principles of influence and persuasion to work FOR you or AGAINST YOU…

Make sure you are AWAKE and using them FOR YOU..

Don’t let people loose on prospective customers who are ASLEEP to the DUMB THINGS they are doing that are destroying your business and they aren’t even aware of it..

Make sure your sales team and your exec team have been trained in the Science of Influence and Persuasion and that they are awake and concious of what they are doing and the impact of what they are doing on both prospects and team members.

Remember – ‘You Cannot NOT influence someone’.

Its just a question of HOW you are influencing them. They are either moving TOWARD you or AWAY from you.

If you’re in sales, you want them moving TOWARD YOU.. or they may well be moving TOWARD YOUR OPPOSITION..

If you haven’t used these principles in your Sales Training or Sales Coaching recently give us a call or email and we will give you some tools to help you get moving.

Maybe you’d like us to run a 2 hour NEW SALES SCIENCE SEMINAR in house with your team.

If you want more information on that click here and write NEW SALES SCIENCE SEMINAR in the subject line.

See you next week.

Me and the Best Negotiator I have ever met - My darling wife Catherine

I am sitting here at my desk asking myself the question…’How many times in the last week did I need to negotiate?’
There was the client asking for a discount on Thursday.
There is my wife asking me right now to stop this writing and listen to her story from last nights dinner party.. (She is a top negotiator so I’d better listen. She doesn’t give up….)
There was one of my team mates in water polo on Wednesday night who was taking ridiculous shots at goal and causing turnovers which cost us goals..
There was my son ringing me up asking to take him to the beach..
There was my daughter wanting to borrow my car..
In fact.. the list goes on and on and on..
We are negotiating about all sorts of things almost every hour of the day.
So why would anyone need negotiation skills training?

Should negotiation skills training be part of any sales training plan you put in place.
As one of my clients said to me the other day ‘Leigh, I think we are giving too much away..’
He felt his team were not maximizing sales and profits because they were not negotiating with any real science or principles of persuasion.
How about you?
How well do you and your team negotiate?
Do they give too much away?
Do they give nothing away?
Could they close more deals if they did give something away?
There are so many principles to effectively negotiating a good outcome.
Let’s look at just a couple here..
1. ITS NOT HOW YOU CLOSE,ITS HOW YOU OPEN
As we teach in our Blue Rocket Super Closer Programme, you need to connect, develop rapport before you start to talk about business. To the degree you are in rapport with the other person is the degree you can influence and lead the discussion.
Match and Lead is the principle here.
Plus, you need to be positioned as professional, proven, helpful before you walk in the door. That is why you need a powerful Shock and Awe Pack strategy. (If you want more information on how to do this touch base with our office or click here)
2. DON’T NEGOTIATE A DEAL UNTIL YOU KNOW THE OTHER PARTIES REAL NEEDS
My wife didn’t really want to just talk to me about anything just then. She wanted to talk about the funny conversation we had with our friends over dinner last night. She wanted to get my opinion about one of the funny things that happened.
Once I had that humorous chat with her, she was happy. Now I am back writing this.
Her real need was that chat.
My client this week had a need for 12 months of sales training but a real need to reduce expenses in the new financial year. We agreed that they pre-pay next years training this year.
Your job is to dig down and discover the REAL need, not just the SUPERFICIAL NEED. Only then can you create a win-win result.
3. FOCUS ON WHAT YOU AGREE ON, NOT WHAT YOU DON’T AGREE ON
All good negotiators focus more on what you both agree on rather than what you don’t agree on.
Barack Obama in his book ‘Audacity of Hope’ talks about how this strategy has worked for him over and over again in political life and political history.
‘We have more things in common than things that divide us’ is the principle here.
‘What do we both want?’ is a powerful question.
(When I spoke to my goal shooting team mate we both agreed we wanted to enjoy playing in Sweden at the World Masters Water Polo next month. We also agreed we wanted the team to work well as a team. Which also meant we agreed we should stick to the agreed game plan rather than do our own thing… Result – He agreed to stick to the game plan and I agreed to work with him to correct his shooting pattern.)
4. ASK FOR THE BUSINESS ONLY AFTER YOU SUM UP THE PAYOFF
This is a powerful strategy to drill and practice.
Sum up what you agree on, future pace the payoff, then ask for the business.
That way, your prospect is buying the imagined outcome not your product or service.
As Ken Blanchard writes in the One Minute Salesperson
‘People do not buy your product or service.

They buy how they imagine using your product or service will make them feel..’
Make sure you are taking them to that place called the ‘imagine how our product or service will make you feel’ zone.
If you want more information on how Blue Rocket can help your team become Super Negotiators and Super Closers (without being rude or pushy) click here and write ‘Negotiate’ in the subject line.

I haven’t even touched on the fact that we negotiate with ourselves every day too..

Will I go to the pool and swim this morning?

Will I have Sultana Bran or will I have a cooked breakfast or not?

Will I have sugar in my coffee or will I go sugarless today?

It goes on and on doesn’t it?

Let me know what you think?

Asking Great Questions Gets You Great Sales Results

Wayne and Mary recently went to a Financial Planner.

They had some Superannuation, some Life Insurance and a few other bits and pieces, but basically, their finances were all over the shop..

To Wayne’s pleasant surprise, the Financial Planner asked if he could ask a few questions, some of which might be a bit personal, (but then again, if you’re talking finances, it probably needed to get personal).

Barry (the Financial Planner) took out a document that looked about 10 or more pages and began working his way through.

He’d ask a question, get an answer, share a bit about himself or other clients in similar positions, then he’d ask another question.

The interesting thing about it from Mary and Wayne’s point of view was that Barry was helping them get insights into their finances they hadn’t had for years.

Barry had at last got them working ON their finances rather than being at the EFFECT OF their finances.

Barry was leading them to the inevitable conclusion that they had to take some serious action… and NOW..

So what is the sales training lesson in this for you in your business?

1. Do you have a structured, scripted sales system that inevitably draws your prospect to the conclusion they need to do business with you.. TODAY?

If you don’t have such a system you can be sure you are faking it.. making it.. flying by the seat of your pants and in most cases probably either not closing as many sales as you should be, or you’re leaving money on the table because you haven’t asked enough of the right questions.

You need to ask questions to get people to work ON their problems rather than be at the EFFECT OF their problems..

Here is a simple affirmation to help you

“I am an expert at getting people to work ON their ______________ problems (insert the name or product of your industry eg Health, Finance, Home Furnishings, Car, Relationships, Recruiting, Marketing, IT)  rather than being at the EFFECT OF their _______________________ problems(insert the name or product of your industry eg Health, Finance, Home Furnishings, Car, Relationships, Recruiting, Marketing, IT) .”

2. Are your questions designed to bring up emotions? Emotions like fear, pride, guilt, love, security, confidence, hope or anxiety are all weapons of persuasion you as a sales professional should be comfortable and confident using at the right time of the sales process.

If you’re not using those emotions in a strategic way, you are missing out on business and you seriously should be looking at yourself in the mirror.

A sales professional who doesn’t practice engaging those emotions is like an actor who has only one facial expression.. a brain surgeon who can only use a chisel… a musician who can only play one note..

3. If you don’t have a structured NEEDS DISCOVERY SYSTEM you are leaving your living to chance..

What do I mean by that?

The Needs Discovery Process needs to occur in a certain pre-determined order.

If you ask the wrong questions at the wrong time, you are setting yourself up for failure and may not even know it.

Barry the Planner asked broader, dream, retirement questions first, before he went into the ‘how much money will you need to make those dreams happen?’ questions.

Once he had the ‘how much money answers?’ he could then move into the ‘how can WE make this happen for you?’ questions.

(Notice the pre-supposition… WE make it happen for you…

‘We will get your business. You will sign with us. You will become our clients. You will pay our fee. You will make it happen. We will do the work for you. You just have to sit back and we will do it all for you.’

All these pre-suppositions are embedded into this one question.

We recommend to our clients becoming very strategic and intentional with their Needs Discovery questions.

We produce Needs Discovery Questionairre Documents and Systems for our clients.

We then work with them to drill, drill and over-drill the use of those documents and questions.

How well you operate in the Needs Discovery zone sets you up and determines how well you operate in the Closing Zone.

If you want to be a Super Closer, you’ll be a Super Needs Discoverer..

If you want some help and guidance in this area click here for a FREE coaching session on Needs Discovery Zone Structuring. Write NDZ in the Subject Line. We’ll know what you’re looking for.

PS; We are in the process of making sure we have all the entries to the ‘What is John Thinking’ Competition. We’ll announce the winner on Tuesday next week.

There are some absolute classic lines… some of which I can’t reprint here.. Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far.

Leigh and Roberta just before the "NLP and New Sales Science" Presentation

So many great Sales Training, Sales Coaching and Sales Consulting lessons from last weeks consulting to clients..

Here are just some in a nutshell.. (maybe I will write about them at some point in the future)

1. THE POWER OF PERCEPTION MAPPING FIRST – DIAGNOSE BEFORE YOU PRESCRIBE

Our Perception Mapping Process showed yet again the power of doing an online Diagnostic of Sales Teams attitudes, issues and areas they request Sales Training in before you begin a Sales Training programme. Sales Managers at one of our new clients just loved seeing their results. It mobilised them into action.

‘What are my team saying?’

‘How do we compare to the other teams?’

‘What are the top 3 issues we need to fix?’

‘Let’s get on with it..’

They were fully engaged and committed to making a change to their sales processes, sales systems and sales results. It was all GREEN LIGHTS FOR GO!! ‘Let’s get on with taking sales to the next level…’

A very good place to start a major sales improvement intervention..

Visit www.perceptionmapping.com or click here and write ‘online sales diagnostic’ in the subject line and hit send to find out more.

2. NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and Sales Improvement

I just presented last night at a 4 day NLP certification programme with QC Seminars here in Perth.

(In fact, if you click on that link you can get a Complementary ‘Mindset for Success’ DVD valued at $67)

I made a point of integrating many of the NLP principles into my presentation on Lead Generation and Super Closing Strategies.

The people loved it..

Key points included:

- how to use rapport and calibration in the sales process to close more sales

- how to influence the ‘internal world’ in the sales process to increase buying temperature

- how to use ‘hypnotic’ words to ‘auto suggest’ and lead the prospect to a YES

- how to manage your STATE so you automatically influence the BUYING STATE of the prospect and get to a YES Faster

- how to use the POMVIC Sales tool and NLP to ‘slide’ automatically to a sale

If you want more info on this presentation or want us to present at your next seminar, team meeting or conference, click here and write ‘NLP info’ in the subject line and hit SEND.

3. QUOTES, PROPS, TENDERS  AND ACTION PLANS

Finally, with another client late in the week putting a major tender/ quote together.

They asked me to sit in on the final review meeting.

Now, they had done a lot of work on it and by the time they asked me to get involved they thought they were at the fine tuning stage..

As they began to discuss ‘should that be a ‘the’ or a ‘a’…. I said, ‘I know you’ve done a lot of work so far on this, but if you want my input here, you need to look at the structure of the whole document..’

They asked for my input..

In a nutshell, here are 3 major mistakes not only this client but many clients (and most likely you) make:

1. The quote, the pitch, the tender talks way to much about you and your product BEFORE it talks about the clients PROBLEMS.

You must remind and REAGGRIVATE the clients problems BEFORE you talk about your solution.

(DON’T TRY AND SELL A GLASS OF WATER UNTIL YOU MAKE THEM THIRSTY)

2. Most quotes, tenders and proposals do not use the POWER OF SOCIAL PROOF.

You are crazy if you don’t include testimonials, logos and other social proof that you have satisfied many clients JUST LIKE THE ONE you are proposing to.

The more relevent the testimonials are to the prospect, the more compelling your pitch. (Using a surf shop testimonial when pitching to BHP won’t have the same impact as a testimonial from Rio Tinto)

3. Most quotes, tenders don’t use proven COPYWRITING principles like:

- the use of subheadings to make it easier to scan the document for main points

- the use of bullet points and ticks so its easier to read (So often the paragraphs are 5 and 10 line chunks of text that are so hard to understand that the major selling point or benefit is lost..)

- No summary table – so that all key features, advantages and benefits over the competition are clearly stated

- Bonus tip – link the features, advantages and benefits of your product to the original problems and issues stated by the client with words like

‘So what that means you’ll be able to do is solve..’

‘and that will solve that problem you had of ….’

Anyway, it’s almost time to go.. but… if you’d like us to review any of your props, tenders, or quote systems, the PAYOFF can be astronomical..

Our client is in the running for a multi million dollar order…

He is over the moon at how we have helped him JUMP in the CHANCES of converting it..

In other cases, as a result of the changes we have made to the PITCHING process, clients have literally generated MILLIONS in extra revenue..

Click here to touch base and we’ll give you the inside info on how you can use these strategies in your business.

Just write ‘Quotes and Pitches’ in the subject line, hit send and we’ll get back to you.

See you next time.

PS: If you like this blog post, pass the link onto your friends and colleagues.

PSS: Dont forget our NEW SALES SCIENCE SEMINAR in Perth Monday May 24th – Go to www.bluerocketlive.com to book your FREE seats.