This month our Influencers from Around the World post comes from Marco Germani by way of Italy. Marco has been a guest writer for Influence PEOPLE from the start. He combines great knowledge (he wrote a book about persuasion in Italian) with real world experience (he travels the world selling wine). This month’s post is excellent because I can attest to the need for preparation in sales, or any endeavor in life, if you want to succeed. Read Marco’s words of wisdom and enjoy!
Brian Ahearn, CMCT® Chief Influence OfficerinfluencePEOPLE Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.The Importance of Preparation Before the SaleA professional athlete would never dream of starting a major competition without any warm-up. This would increase the risk of getting injured and, in the best scenario, drastically reduce the possibility of delivering a great performance. Similarly, a professional salesperson should never approach an important sales call, without the proper “warm-up.” What you do in the 10-15 minutes prior to a face-to-face or telephone conversation with a potential customer may determine the outcome of your presentation. It is therefore surprising how most salespeople completely ignore this principle and too often enter a meeting with a client having no strategic preparation of any kind. Far too many people just listen to the car radio on the way to the appointment filling their brain with commercials, low quality music and what I like to call “chewing gum for the ears.”Let us instead summarize, in three points, what a professional salesperson should do in the minutes leading up to a sales appointment.The first – and Golden Rule – when we are in front of a customer is not to ask any question where the answer can be easily found somewhere else. For example, if I ask my customer information about his company, which I could have found on his company’s website, I am just showing him I didn’t care to do my homework before the meeting. This is a very bad start for any salesperson. If, on the other hand, I say to the customer, “I understand your company has manufacturing facilities in three countries, sells about 80% of its production outside the U.S. and is one of the top three players in the market,” I’m showing my potential customer I’m a professional, serious and committed person who cared enough to learn as much as possible about his business. In addition to showing concern it also prevents wasting the prospect’s time. This is a very good start, which builds trust and opens the door to the possibility of starting a partnership. In the minutes immediately prior to the meeting, it is also a good rule to briefly review your marketing material (presentations, any samples to show, etc.) to make sure everything is in order. Mentally summarize the objectives of the meeting, recall any previous contact with the customer and how you initially met. This is necessary in case you need to refer to past details and it gives you a clear, ideal picture of how you wish your perfect meeting would unfold.Shortly before the meeting put yourself in an upbeat mood and be sure to establish a positive winning attitude. Picture in your mind’s eye the best possible scenario, in which everything goes as planned, and the sale ends in the best possible way, with great benefit to all parties involved. This positive attitude will be perceived by the customer, who will understand he is dealing with a sales professional, who is prepared, confident and ready to help him make the decisions that are in his best interests. These three simple steps, if carried out diligently before a sales appointment, can greatly influence the final result. Often I hear salespeople complain about how hard it is to “bring home” a sale, or how customers are difficult and never seem ready to make a buying decision. If they do not do the preparation I’ve described, or preparation of any kind, then they’re the ones to blame, not the customers! Preparation is 80% of success; let us never forget about it!
Marco
Don’t Ask, Don’t Sell
One of the biggest reasons salespeople fail to make the sale is simply because they don’t ask for it. It’s easy to tell someone all about your company, product or service. After all, a good salesperson will know about these things backwards and forwards. However, asking for the sale (a.k.a. “closing the sale”) can be scary because of the fear of rejection.Some of the biggest regrets people have are not when they stepped out and failed but when they failed to step out. When we don’t take a chance we’re often haunted by what might have been and ask ourselves, “What if…?”Studies show people who ask for favors often underestimate the number of people who would be willing to help. In fact, they underestimate it by a lot! In one study, when asked how may strangers they’d have to ask to walk them a few blocks to a location they’ve been unable to find on a college campus, most people assumed they’d have to ask seven or more strangers before one person would take the time necessary to help. However, when they actually asked for help, the number of people they had to approach was only two or three before they got the help they needed. If you knew people would most likely respond positively to you twice as often as you thought they would, you’d probably have a lot more confidence to ask.Having been a consumer all my life and teaching sales for the past 20 years, I can tell you most salespeople fail to ask for the sale. They might fear being seen as too pushy or believe the propsective customer can sort out all the product features, weigh the benefits against the cost, and make a decision that’s in their best interest.But here’s the problem – as consumers, when we’re making purchases sometimes we’re overwhelmed by all the choices and price points. And the more money we’re about to spend the scarier it can be because we want to make sure we make the best choice. We want to avoid “buyer’s remorse.” A salesperson can alleviate much of that anxiety throughout the sales process but in the end the salesperson still needs to ask for the sale.One way to lessen the fear and increase the odds of hearing “Yes” is to learn up front exactly what the customer is looking for. If the salesperson can meet the customer’s requirements, then simply asking the following should work: “If we can get you A, B and C at a fair price, would you seriously consider buying from us?” Most people will agree to that; then it’s up to the salesperson to show their product or service has all the required features. This is known as “the up-front close” in sales circles.The reason this approach can be so effective is because the principle of consistency comes into play. This principle of influence tells us people generally live up to their word because they feel a little bad about themselves when they don’t. If someone says they’ll strongly consider you, your company or your product/service, then odds are they will if you can deliver what you said you would. Once the salesperson has asked the right questions up front and then clearly shows how their offering meets the requirements it becomes much easier and more comfortable to take the next step and ask for the sale. It’s like dating. Wasn’t it easier to ask for a date when you knew beforehand the other person was interested in you?Here’s my persuasion advice. You don’t have to live with the regret of what might have been. Remember, people are more likely to say “Yes” than you probably think. If you use the up-front close the odds that a customer will say “Yes” are significantly better. So remember – Don’t ask, don’t sell.
Brian Ahearn, CMCT® Chief Influence Officer influencePEOPLE Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.Cialdini “Influence” Series! Would you like to learn more about influence from the experts? Check out the Cialdini “Influence” Series featuring Cialdini Method Certified Trainers from around the world.
High or Low? Comparing Makes it So!
William Shakespeare penned this famous line in Hamlet, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Two people can experience the very same thing and one person views it as good while another person sees it as bad. This happens because when we make judgments about good and bad we’re making them in relation to something else.If you’re in sales and I asked what objection do you face the most when trying to make a sale, I have no doubt the vast majority of people reading this would say, “Price!” When someone says your price is too high it’s because they’re comparing it to something else.Is $20,000 a lot to pay for a car? Some of you reading this don’t think so because you may drive a high-end car like a Mercedes or BMW, and your ride costs much more than that. Others might view $20,000 as expensive because you’re not into cars and therefore pay a good bit less than that for your vehicle of choice. In both cases, you’re comparing what you’ve paid in the past to $20,000.As a salesperson here’s what I want you to remember:
“There’s nothing high or low but comparing makes it so.”The next time you face the price objection, recognize this simple fact and then look for ways to ethically change the prospective customer’s point of comparison. In the end everyone wants to feel like they got a good deal or great value. In our sales training we define value as follows:V = WIG / PValue (V) equals what I get (WIG), divided by price (P). If I can get more for the same price I feel like I got a better deal. Or, if I can get the same thing but pay less, I still believe I got a better deal.This is where you’ll see advertisers tout “25% more” or “2 for 1.” In both cases you get more (WIG) for the same price (P). On the flip side we see sales all the time. During a sale we get the same item (WIG) for less money (P). I’ve often shared the following example in training. A company in Southern California sold spas and hot tubs. Prices ranged from $6,000 on the low end to $15,000 on the upper end. As you might imagine, most salespeople started low and tried to upsell customers. The problem with that approach is once you start at $6,000 the $15,000 spa seems very, very expensive…by comparison.During a consultation with Robert Cialdini it was mentioned that people who bought the $15,000 spa used it more than some rooms in their homes. The logical question was – how much would it cost to add an additional room to a home in Southern California? Most people said anywhere from $60,000 – $80,000. Ah ha! A potential new comparison point!Dr. Cialdini advised the spa client to start the sales process with the $15,000 spa and weave the room addition question into the sales conversation. It might go something like this:Salesperson – “Customers who bought the XP5000 spa love it. In fact, many say they use it as much or more than any room in their house and quite often use it to entertain. If you were to add a room to your home how much would that cost?”Customer – “I don’t know, maybe $60,000 or $70,000.”Salesperson – “Well I have good news. You don’t need to spend $60,000 or $70,000 to get that enjoyment because the XP5000 is only $15,000.”And how well did this approach work? Sales for the high-end spa rose 520% in the three months following the change in sales approach. In the three months before the change, the company only sold five high-end spas. In the three months following the change they sold 26 spas!No new advertising, no television commercials, and no price discounts were needed. All of those approaches would cost a good bit of money. Instead they simply tweaked their sales conversation to include a legitimate new point of comparison.So for my salespeople out there, here’s your take away when dealing with the price objection – “There’s nothing high or low but comparing makes it so.” Look for legitimate comparison points then weave them into your sales conversation. If you have a good product that’s worth the asking price you should see sales take a nice jump up as you reframe how customers view your price. 
Brian Ahearn, CMCT® Chief Influence Officer influencePEOPLE Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.
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