Archives for May 2013

Are You Suffering From Magical Hearing?

May 19, 2013 by Dan Caramanico Leave a Comment

Miscommunication is rampant among unsuccessful sales people. They know what they want to hear and they know what they think the prospect needs. Then they magically convert what the prospect says into what they were expecting if the two are anywhere close to each other. What happens next is they stop asking questions and just assume that they are on the same page as the prospect. They don’t verify that there is a compelling reason to move forward, they don’t confirm that there is enough money available to address the issue, and worst of all, they move through the sales process too fast. This causes pipelines that are bloated with prospects that are never going to buy. It also causes lots of wasted time writing quotes and proposals for unqualified prospects.

The problem is not only “magical hearing”. One of the primary culprits of miscommunication leading wasted time and pipeline bloat is being too accepting of what prospects say and not being skeptical enough to ask more questions. I am not suggesting that you disbelieve everything the prospect tells you … but keep an open mind … and verify what you think you heard by asking for more clarification. When you think they are saying what you want to hear, ask for more details. When you think you heard what you were hoping they would say, ask them why they believe that, or think that, or need that.

You don’t have to be confrontational, in fact you shouldn’t be (that’s a whole other subject for a future article). But you need to be curious enough to get deeper, to get behind what the prospect is telling you and get enough detail or enough of the rationale to be sure you are not just suffering from “happy ears” … hearing what you want to hear. Remember that prospects are Leary of salespeople until the salesperson earns their trust. They don’t intend to mislead (most of the time) but they do want to maintain control of the sales process and they do want that information that you can provide them. So they tell you enough to keep you in the game and let you draw (or jump to) you own conclusions. Sometimes they are just too nice to tell you no forcefully enough … and you get the wrong idea on your own.

So the lesson for today is to be skeptical about what prospects tell you. You will be surprised how that will change the nature and depth of the conversations you have with prospects. Watch this video to understand more about how that works and get more examples.

Filed Under: Management Tips, Pain

The Benefits of Taking Time Off – Taking A Vacation

May 18, 2013 by Dan Caramanico Leave a Comment

ISNSLogo150x53

By Patricia Quigley

(ISNS)—Rae and Bruce Hostetler not only work very hard, they also relax just as well. Numerous vacations help the suburban Indianapolis couple to maintain their health and emotional well-being—and it’s no surprise to health care professionals.

“Rest, relaxation, and stress reduction are very important for people’s well-being and health. This can be accomplished through daily activities, such as exercise and meditation, but vacation is an important part of this as well,” said primary care physician Natasha Withers from One Medical Group in New York. Withers lists a decreased risk of heart disease and improved reaction times as some of the benefits from taking some time off.

“The impact that taking a vacation has on one’s mental health is profound,” said Francine Lederer, a clinical psychologist in Los Angeles who specializes in stress and relationship management. “Most people have better life perspective and are more motivated to achieve their goals after a vacation, even if it is a 24-hour time-out.”

The Hostetlers combined short and long breaks in 2010 and 2011 that included a cruise, a ski trip, two beach trips, a weekend in Chicago, and have another cruise trip scheduled this upcoming fall. Counting the weekend days that buffer some trips, they’ll have been on vacation for 38 days since October of last year. Read the rest of the article here

Filed Under: Lifestyle

Prepare Your Mindset Before The Sales Call

May 17, 2013 by Dan Caramanico Leave a Comment

Beliefs are more important to sales success than sales techniques or sales processes. Everyone knows that if you don’t believe in your product you will not be very effective at selling it. Not everyone knows why that is true. Part of it has to do with the fact that you will not be willing to stretch the truth by saying something is good if you don’t think that it is. But it is more important to understand how beliefs affect everything you say and how believable or effective your words are. It well established that we communicate more by our tonality and body language than we do by the actual words we say. One study showed that as much as 93 percent of communication is non-verbal. If you think about it we all learned to communicate non-verbally first because we did not know any words until we were about 18 months old.

What we believe will be communicated non-verbally whether we want to communicate it or not. For example, many salespeople believe that a client will not be willing to give them a referral. Suppose we train that salesperson to ask for referrals by teaching them what to say and how to say it. But, we do not address the belief that he has. When he goes to a meeting with a client and asks for a referral in exactly the way he was taught, the chances are that the salesperson will return home empty handed. The reason is that when he asked for the referral 7% of what he communicated was “please give me a referral” (more or less). However 93% was screaming out at the prospect (through his tonality and body language) “there is no way you are going to give me a referral”. His belief was not congruent with his words.

Before you go on a call you must get your mindset straight. If you are going to ask tough questions make sure you believe you have the right to know the answers or else the prospect will either refuse to answer or dodge you by dancing around the subject. If you are not sure your product is the right fit or is worth the money, then work on selling yourself first so that your beliefs can match your words. If you don’t, your tonality will try to “un-convince the prospect” in very subtle almost undetectable ways. If you have ever had someone from your company come in behind you and close a deal you failed to close and said to yourself “but how come he didn’t buy when I said that?”, now you know the reason. Before you go on a call make sure your mindset is congruent with what you are planning to do on the call. Click this link to watch a short video for more explanation.

Filed Under: Management Tips, Sales Process

Step Into the Spotlight

May 17, 2013 by Dan Caramanico Leave a Comment

This book is very funny and it delivers good messages page after page. It purports to be about publicity and getting noticed but it is full of helpful advice about how to present your information in a way that is very powerful. The Author with the unlikely name u Tsufit, was a stand up comedienne and she keeps you entertained throughout. I am in good company recommending this book because Tom Peters, and Robert Cialdini and many others endorse it also.

Get the book on Amazon.

Filed Under: Bookshelf

To Sell is Human

May 17, 2013 by Dan Caramanico Leave a Comment

To sell is human is not a sales tactic book. In fact it is aimed at people who do not carry the title of salesperson. His main thesis is that everyone sells. The reason it is interesting to me is that it gives a really good picture of how the population at large views sales professionals. See page 45 for an interesting info graphic. He has done some unique research and claims that the most successful people are neither extroverts nor introverts but what he calls “ambiverts”. The author is not a salesman but his book is worth reading for the insights he gives. His chapter on buoyancy is really about our own self-limiting beliefs which is one of the reasons I like the book so much.

Get the book on Amazon.

Filed Under: Bookshelf

Baseline Selling

May 17, 2013 by Dan Caramanico Leave a Comment

Baseline selling is one of the best books on sales process you can read. I loved it so much I made it the basis for all of the sales training we do. You don’t have to know anything about baseball to get a lot out of this book. Dave Kurlan THE best salesperson I know and he has taken that expertise and turned it into a very readable and instructive book. He does not overcomplicate sales as most authors do nor does he give simplistic advice. Every page is packed with tactics you can use on you next sales call.

Get the book on Amazon.

Filed Under: Bookshelf

Credibility is misunderstood

May 16, 2013 by Dan Caramanico Leave a Comment

You will not increase sales by increasing the focus on yourself. Most salespeople go about establishing credibility incorrectly. Telling about yourself and your awards and accomplishments will not help much. Closing sales depends on the credibility you establish by focusing on the prospect. Increase your focus on the prospect’s problem and it will do wonders for your own credibility.

Filed Under: Sales Tip Videos

Closing sales without a plan for your sales calls is magical thinking

May 16, 2013 by Dan Caramanico Leave a Comment

This video describes how to improve sales by including the elements of a good plan for a sales call. It doesn’t have to be complicated or extensive … but you have to have a plan for every call.

Filed Under: Sales Tip Videos

Increased sales result from empowering beliefs

May 16, 2013 by Dan Caramanico Leave a Comment

To increase your sales dramatically work to improve your belief systems. Selling skills are not enough to guarantee success in sales because you can only execute sales techniques that your belief systems will let you execute.

Filed Under: Sales Tip Videos

Relax

May 15, 2013 by Dan Caramanico Leave a Comment

Have you ever over-prepared for a sales call? When you do you tend to over-think everything. You go into the call worrying about what you will say. You worry about what the prospects will say and how you will react. You start to choreograph the call by thinking “I’ll say this then he’ll say that. Then I will come back with …”. The problem is that you do your part but the prospect does not have a script. So, pretty soon you are “off script” and you are lost. Your plan for the call goes awry and you end up not making the impression you were hoping for.

This is a terrible mindset to take with you on a sales call. You are internally focused and not focused enough on what the prospect is saying. You will miss the cues the prospect gives you and you will fail to get to the prospect’s compelling reason to buy. So, the solution is to relax on the call and have a conversation with the prospect about what issues and problems they have which you can address. Don’t worry about anything else. Let me address a couple of the things salespeople tend to obsess about on sales calls that prevent them from relaxing.

SALES TECHNIQUES – I teach them but they are overrated by most salespeople. The fact is you should not worry or even think about techniques on the call. If you have internalized the technique it will be there when you need it without you having to consciously think about it. If you don’t have it internalized yet, concentrating on it will not make it be there when you need it and you will most likely miss other important stuff while you are concentrating on looking for a place to use the technique.

PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE – Salespeople who worry about this are definitely focused on the wrong part of the problem. If you are worried about how much you know, then chances are you are looking for a place to tell the prospect what you know to either impress them or to convince them you have the best product or service. That is not why you are there, at least not on the first call. You are there to determine whether they have a problem that you can fix, and whether they have enough of a compelling reason to address the problem at this time and enough money to hire you to address it. You do not need a lot of product knowledge to do that. Anyone with at least a few weeks on the job should know what problems they are looking for. If they have a big enough problem with enough motivation and money to move forward, then you can bring an expert back to explain how you can do all of that. So, there is no need to worry about product knowledge.

The moral of this story is RELAX! Worrying and obsessing on sales calls is counterproductive. Simplify your life. Learn what problem you are looking for. Then go have conversations with some nice people who may have those problems. This approach will be much more fun, and, as a bonus, your sales will increase dramatically.

Filed Under: Management Tips, Motivation