This is in response to a comment I received about the “Smash the God Belief” article I posted a couple of weeks ago.  Thanks for your patience while I got organised to make this post.

I’ll often in a position in my work when people will attempt to waste my time.  They’ll drain my productivity if I let them.  So I use this “sales” policy and approach when dealing with them and also with others who wish to discuss other subjects I’m not interested in.

I question and qualify before I invest my time and efforts in them.

If there’s something positive for me to gain from taking the discussion further, then I’ll proceed by gaining something first before I give anything in return.  This is a method of qualifying them.  It’s not good “debating” technique (ie, answering a question with a question), but it’s a great way to get control of the conversation back.

The reason why is this: If someone’s talking to me, they’ve got the impression I’ve got something they need.  I then know that I’m (or my knowledge) is of value to them and therefore there’s grounds for us to trade.  Otherwise, I’m not interested, and they don’t talk to me.

If they do present themselves with a question, I qualify them by asking them to clarify their question, their wants, their needs and often what specific problem they are trying to solve with their approach.

By doing this I gain the best position to find a solution to their problem/question.  Remember, I’ve already established the fact they [think they] need me for something by the fact that they’re talking to me in the first place.

I make my decision based upon the clarification questions I ask.  If there’s something I can gain from the exchange, then I’ll continue.  If not, then I redirect them, politely, to a more likely solution.  (I’ll sometimes even ask them to provide me with something in return for the recommendation.  ie, referrals, or a small purchase, or a free subscription so I can continue to make them similar offers etc).

The point is, nothing I do I do for free.  Including verbal exchange.  In fact, a verbal exchange with a devout religious fanatic would bring little value to me as I’m not in the business of conversions.

To succeed in a down economy, you’ll need to step up your sales game. Here are eight adjustments you need to make to keep selling during these tough times.

The affects of the 2008 economic stimulus package presented by the President and Congress are long gone and there’s talk of another one. The news about the $700 billion dollar “bailout” and global recessionary trends are dominating the headlines. Add to that the distress caused by election year politics and we, as professional salespeople, have been challenged to remain focused and productive in a slowing economy. Economists are predicting a tough calendar 2008 fourth quarter and a sluggish 2009, but our role in sales dictates that we need to attack rather than react.
Selling in a tough economy requires extra effort, better planning, more control of your sales cycle and tenacity. Remember one thing: The top 2% of all salespeople automatically turn up their activity a couple more notches when things get tough. By doing so, they’re the ones who’ll be standing tall when the economy turns around. The top 2% do this because:

They are true competitors and hate to lose. They have been in this position before and learned what it takes to win in an economic turndown. They refuse loss of income.

Below are eight ideas to help you sell like a “top 2 percenter” in a tough economy:

Double and triple your call activity
Honestly, your competitors do not have the stuff to compete under these circumstances. Average salespeople buy into the “woe is me” philosophy and decrease sales activity. The top 2% know that an economic slowdown is an opportunity to edge out competitors.

Re-allocate your field time
Work more with your “A” accounts and in lieu of your “B” and “C” ones. Your purpose should be two-fold: 1) Your top producing accounts have the capacity to buy more from you; that’s what makes them “A” accounts; and, 2) You’ll be securing your position with these accounts from potential attempts by the competition to wrest them away. Don’t allow that to happen! Remember, this business cycle is affecting your competition too and they’ll be aggressively looking at your “A” accounts as a source of new business.

Examine prospecting efficiency
Both rookie and veteran sales professionals tend to let their prospecting slide when times are good. As a result, their prospecting skills and prospect targeting abilities get rusty. This is a good time for you to hammer out your prospective customer dimensions. In other words, delineate what your ideal prospect looks like. Then, identify key prospects in your area and proceed to develop your capture and execution plans.

Fire stalled prospects and move on
Your income and success depend upon calling on true prospects and current customers who can (and will) do more business with you. Assess the prospects you are calling on and don’t be afraid to “fire” them, particularly if your extra effort is not showing any results. Remember that you have a business objective for every call you make. If you don’t, your call will be reduced to a social nature and you don’t get paid for those.

Go the extra mile for customers and increase value-added activities
You need to be creative in low or no-cost ways to help your accounts cut costs or stimulate new business. Go out of your way for your top accounts. Now is the time to establish yourself as a source for best practices. Share ideas on how your other accounts have benefited.

Make every call count
Be prepared to make the most of every call. What value are you deriving from each customer visit? Who is controlling the call – you or the customer? Experience and research have demonstrated that formal pre-call planning generates more successful outcomes for all sales activities. You should never take sales call effectiveness for granted – especially in tough economic times. The days of “blowing through” a call are over. The simple fact is that you are paid to move the customer to the next stage in your sales cycle. In today’s economic climate, you’ve got too much at risk not to plan for success.

Now, more than ever, craft a strategy to overcome such objections as:

“Until things improve, we’re not undertaking new projects.” “Now is not the time to change. We need to stay with our current supplier.” “With economic conditions as they are, we’re looking for low-price suppliers.”

Write a long list of discovery questions that will uncover hidden opportunities.

Plan to succeed
You will not survive an economic slowdown by simply hoping that you sell more or your current customer base buys more. Account planning, territory planning, and pre-call planning are the keys to efficient selling in a down economy. It’s time to review account plans or develop them, if you haven’t already. Account plans are your road map to selling more to your “A” accounts. It may be time to reassess pricing or bundling in order to pick off some of your competitors’ offerings.

In addition, you should ask yourself the following questions:

How efficiently are you managing your territory? How much time do you spend traveling? Are you touching all of the accounts you need to? How many of your prospect calls are interspersed within current account visits within your territory? What accounts are at risk and what actions have you taken to reduce that risk? What value added activities are you planning for your key accounts?

Reassess your priorities
This is not the time to perfect your golf swing or take extended time off. This is the time to dig in and take charge of your sales activities. By doing so, you’ll be able to survive the current tough times and will be positioned to reap the benefits when the economy bounces back because you’ll be ahead of your competitors who didn’t!

Jim Kasper is the founder and president of Interactive Resource Group. Mr. Kasper has over 26 years of practical experience in direct sales, sales management, sales training, and marketing. Contact him at www.salestrainers.com or call 800-891-7355.

Hi guys,

I was just reading a bit about this whole “change people’s minds about God” thing, and the best approach is one where the individual becomes responsible for their own change. As with any decision, it’s easier to influence someone to change their own mind, than it is to change it for them!

Here’s a wonderful nugget of logic to test your own mental flexibility…

Just for fun.
This method first requires an acceptance of the axioms of existence,
identity, and consciousness. If the person understands that A is A, at
least is a general sense, they will have trouble countering this
argument with anything.
For the purposes of this argument “O” is the Objectivist, and “R” is
the religious individual. You could substitute the Christian Religion
for any religion I suppose, but I’ll just use Christianity as the example:
O: “Can God do anything?”
R: “no”
Discussion over.
O: “Can God do anything?”
R: “yes”
O: “Can God create a mathematical equation so complex that even He
cannot solve it?” or “Can God create a boulder so large and massive in
size and scope that even He cannot move it?”
It doesn’t matter what the answer to that question is. An answer of
“yes” means that God is not omniscient or omnipotent. An answer of
“no” reveals the same fact.

$D$

David C Lewis, FMM, RFA is the founder of Twin Tier Financial – a financial services company based in upstate NY which specializes in retirement for self employed individuals.

Now I ask myself, was that line of questioning too early for me? (no), was it just right and helped me make a decision based on good reasoning? (yes!) or was I already there (well yes, but I sometimes need a reminder! haha)

I love little chunks of logic like this because they represent not the approach, but the form of the approach. It’s the method that works, not just the specific argument.

For example, this argument presented to a devout religious man will have no effect due to his unyielding faith. However, if the person has been introduced to a train of thought that presented cognitive and verifiable facts leading up the ultimate conclusion that God does not exist (or that their current definition contains a contradiction) then it would be more readily acceptable. Especially if they quite naturally came to the successive conclusions themselves.

It’s simply a matter of presenting the correct question at the right time, and letting the mind of your inquirer do the work. Ultimately, with the correct information, and enough stimulation to change, everyone grows. In my experience it’s the emotional response to some kind of dissatisfaction that has the best effect. (It’s similar to a sales industry approach: looking for a clients problem, stimulating an emotional response to the situation, and relieving it with a product solution)

It’s a liberating thought, and I personally find freedom in the knowledge that people around me posses great value to me as free thinking individuals along their own path of self discovery. Yes, some progress slower than others, some go backwards at times. But their desire to solve their problems is somewhat innate, whatever path they choose. It’s there in all of us.

The question is who to invest your time with? Who is best exploited for their current beliefs (yes, I said exploit! – it’s logical and rational but not within the scope of this post), and who is best to invest in for future growth. Indeed, who should one avoid completely?

I think Neo-Tech published their “silver bullets” but I never read them. Maybe it’s one of their projects that went on the back burner and never came out. I’m not sure (but if anybody has a copy I’d be very interested in getting my hands on it!). These silver bullets were most likely individual arguments or approaches, somewhat like a script based upon sound rational concepts and demonstrable ideas. Similar to the 114 advantages. (if you haven’t read them, go and read them now: http://www.neo-tech.com/advantages/

These would be gold in my opinion. Somewhat like a futuristic “cheat sheet” for how to handle any situation. Absolute gold. BUT, better than that is the ability to create your own. How to disassemble any situation to it’s basic elements, understand how it works, put it back together, view it in it’s widest context and take action to position yourself for your desired outcome. Scripts are great, but the method behind the script is better. He who remains the most flexible in their approach gains more options to influence others (and the world).

Chris West
ProfessionalSales.com.au

Stop Wasting Time on Prospects Who Won’t Buy

Learn how to qualify prospects beyond just money, authority and need so you can focus your time and energy on opportunities you can win.

Do you have blind faith that, if you can somehow convince a prospect to engage in a sales cycle, you will eventually make a sale? If you do, watch out! This belief can waste your time, effort, and company resources.

How many of the opportunities in your pipeline have been stalled at the same step in the sales cycle for weeks or months? In how many opportunities have you and your company invested enormous amounts of time, energy and resources (conducting product demonstrations, writing lengthy proposals, providing product evaluations, etc.), only to have the prospect decide they don’t want to buy, or prove incapable of funding the purchase? Even when you make sales, how many turn out to be nightmare customers who are always dissatisfied and consume huge amounts of post-sale resources? Unfortunately, simply investing your time and resources does not necessarily produce the results you want.

All prospects are not created equal
As a sales professional, you need to help your prospects explore whether their business problems are substantial enough to justify investing time in a sales cycle. However, you also need to figure out whether each prospect is worthy of your time and resources. If a prospect is not a good fit, gracefully exit from the opportunity.

How can you determine whether you have a worthy prospect? Many sales skills training courses teach an acronym, M-A-N, that stands for Money, Authority, and Need. The basic idea is to determine whether:

The prospect is willing to commit enough budget dollars (Money) to pay for the product or service; The key decision-makers and influencers (Authority) have been identified; and The prospect’s pain (Need) is severe enough to justify investing in a solution.

Unfortunately, even when you do a good job of M-A-N qualification, you can still be blindsided by issues that delay sales cycles or destroy opportunities outright.

For example, some prospects may prove incapable of securing financing. They may have a budget, but they are not credit worthy, so they can’t fund the budget. In other situations, decision-makers may need to have specific information provided in a specific format before they can authorize a buying decision.

Here are some of the best sales books available now:

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NEW Nu Dolphin Lite Waterproof 2 GB 3G MP3 Player Silver

Nu Technology Dolphin Lite 2GB Waterproof MP3 Player


Sometimes you may invest considerable time and effort in troubleshooting complex problems and designing solutions, only to be informed that the prospect must take the proposed solution out to bid. This can lead to your losing the opportunity to a low bidder or the profitability of the opportunity being cut.

To avoid these situations, add additional questions to your M-A-N qualification process. The acronym that I have assigned to this revised process is M-A-I-N BP, which stands for Money, Authority, Information, Need, and Buying Process. Here are some sample M-A-I-N BP questions::

Money

How will your prospect pay for the product or service? Has a budget been established? Are they creditworthy?

Authority

Who in the prospect’s organization needs to approve an acquisition of this nature?

Information

What information do the decision-makers require before they can make a decision? What format does this information need to be in?

Need

What are the prospect’s business problems? How compelling are they? In other words, can you quantify or associate dollars, percentages, and time frames with the pain the prospect is feeling? Are these quantified business impacts substantial enough to warrant investment by the prospect’s organization (and your company) in identifying and fixing the problems?

Buying Process

What is the prospect’s buying process? What impact might this process have on the profitability of the transaction? What competitive advantage will you receive if you invest your time and resources in designing a solution that goes out to bid?

If you decide to add M-A-I-N BP qualification to your sales opportunity qualification process, here are some final thoughts to keep in mind.

If you don’t know the answers to all of the M-A-I-N BP questions, it is highly likely you are wasting your time and resources.

Opportunity qualification is not a one-time event. As an opportunity advances through the sales cycle, you should frequently ask whether any of the answers to the qualification questions have changed. If an answer has changed, it could affect the length of the sales cycle and even destroy the viability of the opportunity. At minimum, an answer change will probably require a change in focus and/or reprioritizing your planned activities.

Never feel bad about disqualifying a particular opportunity because the amount of opportunity in most sales territories is virtually unlimited. If you carefully qualify and re-qualify each opportunity, and only invest time and resources in qualified ones, you will maximize your return on your investment.

Sales performance expert Alan Rigg is the author of “How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Sales Team Performance” and “How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Selling.” His 80/20 Selling System™ helps business owners, executives, and managers end the frustration of 80/20 sales team performance, where 20% of salespeople produce 80% of sales. For more information and FREE sales and sales management tips, visit www.8020SalesPerformance.com.

Here’s a simple negotiation technique to help you give up less and get more of what you want.

When I look around my basement, I realize maybe I’m hanging on to too much stuff. On the positive side, when I trade for goods and services, I’m also pretty good at hanging on to my stuff, namely my profit when I’m the seller, and my money when I’m the buyer. So, how good are you at hanging on to what you have? Here’s a simple technique that can make you much better at this aspect of negotiating.

Bad negotiating exemplified
Let’s imagine for a moment you’re a seller engaged in a dialog with a potential buyer:

Buyer: “You’re higher than your competition. What can you do when you sharpen your pencil?”

Seller: “I am authorized to match our competition’s price.”

Buyer: “Great! Unfortunately, I see your standard shipping is two weeks, and I need it on Tuesday. Can you do that?”

Seller: “I can expedite shipping for you. You can have it by Tuesday if you order now.”

Buyer: “Nice! But I won’t be able to use it without the accessories kit. Will you include it at no charge if I buy?”

Seller: “Sure, I’ll do that just for you, because you’re special.”

Let’s stop our example there, although the dialog, and the concessions, probably didn’t stop there. Notice that at no time did the buyer commit to the purchase, despite the fact that the seller discounted away profit and increased costs by expediting shipping and giving away accessories. The buyer is on a roll; why wouldn’t he keep asking for more concessions?

He will because he is grinding, a negotiating technique that enables buyers to continue to sweeten the deal until they take pity on the seller and stop, or the seller makes them stop.

A fair turn
Stopping a grinder is easy: simply replace concessions with trades. Whenever you are asked to give something up, prepare to trade for something of perceived value.

This method works even when no money is trading hands. Perhaps just your time is involved. For instance, maybe your boss wants you to take on “just one more thing.” Instead of automatically saying yes, ask what can come off your current projects list to make room for the new one. Or, say you’ve been scheduled for one more meeting. Ask which deadline can be pushed back to accommodate the new unplanned need for your time. Similarly, when your buyer asks for a price concession, ask for… well, what can you trade?

Bring in your trade-offs
When negotiating, it pays to be prepared. So, anticipate the potential concession requests you may hear from your buyers. Prepare a list of possible trade-offs, which might include:

Reduced feature set Slower (less expensive) shipping Accepting delivery (and making payment) sooner Faster payment terms Cash instead of credit	Adding a bonus Increasing the order size Testimonial letter Referral to a new prospect Booking the order now

Preparation is key. When your buyer asks for a discount, you had better have something ready to trade. When your boss asks for “just one more thing,” it will help to have that list of current projects ready so you can agree on which one to cross off or postpone. When you’re prepared, your dialog can sound like this:

Buyer: “You’re higher than your competition. What can you do when you sharpen your pencil?”

Seller: “I’d be happy to discuss reducing the price. Which features of my offer would you like me to delete so that I can deliver only what my competition is quoting?”

Buyer: “Well, we need everything you’re quoting but, unfortunately, I see your standard shipping is two weeks, and I need it on Tuesday. Can you do that?”

Seller: “I can give you expedited shipping to hit your Tuesday deadline for free, if we can increase your order quantities by 10% to hit our free shipping minimum.”

Buyer: “Well, OK, but I won’t be able to use any of it without the accessories kit. Will you include it at no charge if I buy?”

Seller: “I’d love to do that to get a great new customer like you. Tell you what: if you buy now and agree to give me a glowing testimonial letter when you decide you’re thrilled with us, I’ll get the accessories kit included for you. Have we got a deal?”

Here are some of the best sales books available now:

The DJ Sales and Marketing Handbook How To Guide Book

Negotiating the give and take
When you make trades instead of concessions, you can walk away from both formal and impromptu negotiations with more of what you want. Notice that you never have to say “no”; you simply have to be prepared to say, “I’ll give you what you want if I can have what I want.” Prepare, and become a trader that stops the grinding in day-to-day negotiations. You’ll find you’ll have more of what you want, including more deals that are more profitable.

Paul Johnson the Trouble Breaker works with organizations to convert trouble into double and triple digit performance breakthroughs. Discover breakthrough concepts at http://ShortcutsToResults.com. Visit http://ConsultativeSelling.com for more insights about Consultative Selling.