The Power Of Your Clothing and Scents On Others
Have you heard the saying, “ You only get one chance to make a first impression?” It is actually very difficult to change this impression as well.
Did you know that the color clothing you wear can affect this impression? Did you know that scents can actually trigger anxieties in people? There are several factors in building trust, but these two are the most subtle that people miss all the time.
I have been in sales for what is closing in on two decades at this point and it is interesting how much I have learned throughout this career. I didn’t intend on this becoming my career either, but was one of exploration as my career aspirations was to manage people. Yes, I wanted to be a manager and an advisor informed me that I needed to learn sales if I was going to lead others.
That is what kicked off my career in sales and I am glad I did venture into this sector of business. Many believe we need to be a certain kind of personality, good looking, have a strong sense of humor, etc, yet time and time again I have proved that to be incorrect. Yes, we need to have interpersonal skills and yes, we need to be able to laugh with others, but we need to do so much more and it does not mean we have to fit into one mold.
Since beginning in sales I have learned that there are some factors that impact likability and trust. The two I’d like to talk about today are clothing colors and scents. These don’t seem like they are impactful, but check out this data.
The Harvard Gazette posted an article in 2020 about how scents are associated with memories. Click here for the article. Basically, smell is the only sense in our body that does not have a filter to the brain. When we smell cut grass, we typically think of warm summer days. Unfortunately, some people like me are highly allergic to cut grass and the chemical released by the grass clippings. I go into sneezing fits and want to gouge my eyes out when I am around cut grass.
Others have scents that take them back to bad memories that when smelled make their body’s fight or flight mechanism jump into action. That means anxiety goes up. Now if we are the ones wearing that scent, then the people start associating the anxiety with us. They will associate us with danger and that first impression goes right out the window. Keep that in mind when you are spraying on your favorite cologne or perfume in the morning. We still need to smell clean though!
Colors are also associated with trust and likeability as well. Robert Caldini wrote a great book called Influence that depicts what each color does, why certain organizations used colors for their logos, etc. For help today know that light blues and whites promote trust and dark red power ties promote authority. Black typically means we are hiding something. Keep that in mind when trying to gain trust and likability. If we need to build trust and influence, we should be wearing light blues and whites when engaging others.
We do not need to be wearing power ties to show we are assertive and have authority. That does not lower anxieties. Power ties drives anxieties up. When leading people and trying to sell to customers we need the anxiety levels lowered. The lower the anxiety levels, the higher the likability and trust levels.
If we can not get past those two questions: Do I like You? and Do I Trust You? We will never obtain buy in for our cause, customers for our products, or an engaged staff for our cause. We need to take the focus off our wants and needs and focus on how we can connect with others.
I hope that helps! Have a great week and good luck shopping!
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training
How To Answer Your Customer’s Three Questions
Last week we talked about the three questions that our customers ask at every interaction. If you have not done so, feel free to go back and read that post. It should only take about 3 minutes. A quick read.
Today we are going to answer how we the professional sales person will answer these questions. We do this by uncovering needs. Yep, we are going to ask them questions. There has been a great deal of study on what questions to ask and old sales techniques always told us to ask open ended questions that are not answered with simple answers like “yes”, or “no”. What I have found is that there is no correlation to success with asking all open-ended questions as opposed to closed ended questions. Obviously if we ask all closed ended questions, we will lose interest from the customer and they will move along.
I choose to use a mixture of open-ended questions and close ended questions. I let the conversation flow well and make the customer feel relaxed. Keep in mind when we are asking questions, the customer is likely to have their guard up. Making the customer feel more relaxed is key at the beginning of the sales process. Making sure where we meet, colors we wear, and scents we spray on is also important. For today, we will focus on the questions.
In the Uncover Needs of the sales process we are looking to draw out information from the customer so that we can sell them the best solution. We need to find out their needs. Needs are grouped into three areas and I use the acronym SIR:
1. Situational
2. Issues
3. Ramifications
Situational needs are questions we use to draw out where the customer is. This is where they are at in the buying process, where they want to get to in the future, who is the decision maker, what is their process for making a decision, what is driving their need for looking at options, etc. These are very probing questions and customers are usually not wanting to discuss for hours on end. The more questions we ask that are situational the more risk we have of the customer becoming anxious. We will want to limit the amount of situational questions that we ask so make sure we are asking the best ones.
The larger the transaction there are likely more than one decision maker. I have had to address large teams of decision makers for deals in the multi-million range. When I was selling outdoor power equipment to landscapers it was usually one or two people. Keep that in perspective when you are in the situational questions to understand if you are speaking to the correct decision makers.
Issues are the needs we really need to focus on. They are the limiting factors for organizations that want to move forward, or the reasons why organizations may fail. These are highly motivating needs that we need to address with our product or service. Pain is a large driver in making changes so find out what pain they are experiencing and why. We also need to understand why these issues are causing them limits or pain. Asking what success would look like to the customer here would help them think in depth and confide in us a little more. They may also bring in the people that are actually experiencing the pain to help describe to us the issue not just the symptom of the issue. The key is to find the issues that we can resolve with our product or service.
Ramifications are also highly motivating needs that we need to know. If the customer is unsuccessful in finding an option to mitigate the issue they have, what does that look like? Does the organization have to close its doors, does it lose a large contract, or is it smaller to where the customer can not find a special gift for someone special? Husbands do not buy your significant other a treadmill. That is not a special gift.
When the stakes are high people are very motivated to find a solution and are more open to options. Make sure when asking ramification questions that we are building up the problem in the customer’s mind to drive a sense of urgency so they open up, bring in others that can help provide information, and help us find more information to drive the best solution. The more we elevate the issue the better influence we can have on helping our customers. Understanding the ramifications well will strengthen our sales presentation later and can move the customer to action.
Be careful not to jump into your presentation just yet. If we do not uncover all of the needs prior to presenting they we will miss the target and then we risk devaluing our solution. When I do half and full day trainings on the sales process I walk teams through the entire process including developing the questions that will derive larger impact with their customers. We really need to invest time to develop great questions for the sales teams to make greater impact which results in becoming the brand of choice.
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training
What Are They Expecting?”
If you have followed my blog posts for any length of time when we talk about what the Customer wants. You should know that the customer wants to have these three questions answered.
Do I like you?
Do I trust you?
How can you help me?
These three questions may seem simple and redundant, but if the customer does not know, like, and trust us, then we will not be doing business with them. Customers want to know that they will be served and helped to a better future. This is not just some thoughtless process they go. It is crucial for survival.
These three questions have been with us as part of our fight or flight mechanism to keep us alive. It has served us well and is a continued mechanism that has helped us as we evolve into better cultures. Having this mechanism work for us helps us stave off making poor decisions on products and services that may not meet our needs. It also keeps us away from those not so helpful individuals that just care about making money no matter the cost.
Customers are not just people who buy products and services either. They are the people we lead, work with, and interact with in social settings. If we use this filter in our view of others, we see that everyone is a customer and we are sales people. Even leaders are sales people.
We need to treat those that we interact with as customers of our own personal brand if we are going to be successful. Whether it is a sports team, political, non-profit, or a for profit organization we all need to serve each other and let others know that we can be liked, trusted, and help others.
If we focus on those three questions, we will be able to grow influence which is key in leadership and sales. Without influence we go nowhere together.
Our customers need us to help them solve their issues and move forward. They key is identifying that issue and how to implement the correct solution to help our customers. If we don’t then we risk being thought of as a commodity and low trust levels. That is why so many people do not trust governments anymore as politicians have forgotten who the customer is.
We need to serve our customers well and provide them answers to those three questions if we are going to move forward no matter what profession, position, or status we hold. Everyone needs to serve each other and then we can grow more trust with easier transactions.
Just remember the last time you had an amazing experience at a restaurant. What did you do? You likely told others why they needed to go visit the location. Just think what would happen if we served each other so well that they told others they needed to work with us.
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training
Why Your Team Needs Investment
Have you ever wondered why your team just seems to be stagnant? As the years go on the growth of the organization seems to hit a ceiling? No matter how you as the leader push, the sales and growth just seem to flat line?
When I first started in sales, I was thrust into learning by so many different programs to get me up to speed with the rest of the sales team. We had annual trainings that we took part in as a group every year. Most of the sales team would groan about the annual sales meeting that took them out of their market from seeing their customers.
It was odd because the owner of the organization would basically have the sales trainer from outside the organization come in and train us with basically the same message the owner constantly presented us with.
It was odd that someone would do this, but as I learned when sales people hear the same thing over time it becomes real. I’ve since learned that with all areas of our life that the more we hear the same message, the more it becomes truth. Having an individual come in from outside the organization annually that aligns with the organization’s goals will help solidify with this.
We would spend a couple days in sales training and at the end of the training from the individual outside of the organization, we would then be held back for a debrief. Now the organizational leader was ex-military, but it is the same thing as watching the game film from professional sports teams. The team discussing what they learned and what they can add to their tool box for becoming better is very useful.
When we discuss with others on our team that we trust and they give perspectives and items they learned that we may not have caught from the training it is very helpful. We are typically drinking from a fire hose with information that we cannot capture everything, so discussing with others will help us catch some things we missed.
By discussing this information, the team will form bonds and will become stronger together. This is crucial as the team will start calling each other instead of the leadership when the trust levels are high between each other to bounce ideas off of each other before bringing to leadership. This is crucial because as the team unites in trust, it becomes more efficient and drive faster sales growth.
The last thing we did was do competitive analysis and each person from the group chose one specific area to teach on. The easiest way for us to learn is to actually teach. It took time to prepare for this, but was very beneficial for all of us to learn.
Yes, this took us out of the market for a few days, but it was sharpening out axe to chop down the tree. If we sharpen ourselves, we will be able to cut mor efficient. Sales organizations need this investment to become better especially since they are so limited in actually selling these days. Typically, only 36% of sales time is actually spent in the sales process with customers with all of the other activities that are required. Sales teams need to be invested in if we expect them to grow sales!
Do you team this favor and invest. By doing so, you will benefit greatly!
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training
The Supply Struggle Is Real
In the past couple of years with a pandemic and supply chain issues, it has become crucial to make sure we still deliver at high levels with low costs. Organizations have had to pay higher costs to ship goods from overseas, weather has affected larger parts of the country, and there are constant requests from suppliers to increase pricing in the name of higher costs.
As sales people we don’t always want to go to customers with price increase after price increase. It sometimes feels like death by a thousand cuts as one VP states. Sales people want to sell and then collect a pay check in most cases and hate the constant requests to get price increases. It is a difficult balance between customer relationship and keeping our organization afloat.
If you are in leadership, or in sales these issues have been hitting all of us quite regularly. It seems everything is increasing and there is no end in sight. There are plenty of factors to blame, but pointing the finger never resolves the issue.
I’ve worked in organizations that do not want to hedge market stability so they set up raw material adjustments. Now it seems like there is a request for logistics adjustments that will be needed. A great deal of purchasing and sales teams are wishing things would go back to what they were, but unfortunately the reality is that it will take a market crash to really level set. Especially with the consumption of raw materials increasing to where even lumber mills can’t keep up with demand.
There will need to be quite a few things that need to change in order for us to make things get to a calm state and fluctuations to calm down. Better forecasting will be crucial with greater levels of communication from customers and suppliers. There will need to be a seize to just in time delivery imposed by some industries. There will also need to be some holding more materials to support the demand right now.
We all need to work together, customer and suppliers creating a better communication system with lower finger pointing if we are to get back to a better quality of life. Every industry is impacted with these issues so simply jumping to a new organization is not necessarily the resolution. We need to really work together to find a better way.
Yes some ideas that we try, will not work. But that is the great thing about the lightbulb. It took over a thousand attempts for Thomas Edison to create the lightbulb. We now have the technology to improve efficiency, but we need to look at how we can work together, team up, and give each other the benefit of the doubt. No one software package, communication tactic, or demand will cure this. We have to have empathy for each other and work together to solve the issues.
Greater levels of communication and transparency will be required to move forward. Those are crucial in building trust. Let’s stop the finger pointing and find solutions and we will all get to a better life soon enough.
Have a great week!
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training
Don’t Forget About Customer Service
I have walked into a local package delivery service and the customer service representative was obviously not having a great day. I was talked to as if I had just spilled my sippy cup all over their carpet. I was questioned as if I had put something inside that might explode with a raised eyebrow. Finally, after the interrogation I was politely asked if I wanted to complete a customer service survey.
I have been placed on hold and bounced between multiple departments of call centers and treated as if I was a burden on the representative from the other side of the phone. I’ve been rudely supported and told to have a great day in a sarcastic tone as well.
I have also experienced great service at organizations from IT people and have bought their product by the referral from that IT person. They walked with me through the entire purchase and guided me away from extras that were not needed. They did not leave my side until I was fully satisfied with the product and thanked me. That is right they actually thanked me for spending time with them.
The interesting thing is though is that does not matter what the position in the organization is whether it be CEO, a sales person, an engineer, or a janitor. We are a representative of the organization to the outside world. We have the opportunity to build up or tear down the reputation of our organization by how we treat others. We are ambassadors for the organizations we represent. We need to keep that in mind when we are sporting our organization’s name, at events, and even what we post on social media. We are all in customer service.
It also does not matter if we are not a paid employee of the organization either. When people see us representing an organization, they are making the association no matter our affiliation. People will make their perceptions based on the people they interact with.
I have had people in organizations tell me they don’t care if a customer likes it or not because they don’t have to interact with the customer regularly. It’s frankly, not their job. Unfortunately, what these individuals don’t understand is that the customer is buying products / services that are in turn funding the individual’s paycheck. Make enough customers stop buying from you and then you are looking for other employment.
When the customer has a bad experience now, they are able to send all over the world in a matter of seconds. The customer can influence their friend network faster than ever sharing their story. Organizations do not have the ability to respond to every negative comment on all of the social media platforms. There is just too much area to cover, but we can make sure we do our part and give the customer a great experience each and every time we interact with them.
No one is above customer service. We are all serving customers. Whether we like it or not, our organizations are judged by how we interact with others. Make the interaction a positive one. Be courteous, helpful, gracious, and humble.
Have a great week!
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with higher profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training
Influencer or Influence, What Do You Want?
Have you ever thought about how to build influence in your marketing efforts? Have you ever thought about using an influencer to endorse your product / service to gain more customers?
Marketing has made a shift in the past few years relying on those social marketing influencers to endorse their products / services. Marketers believe that followers of these influencers will buy whatever that influencer has mentioned. Unfortunately, there is a limit to this theory?
By using an influencer, we are essentially using social proof with customers. That is the basis of gaining trust from someone else’s endorsement that others trust their recommendations. It’s literally a exchange of trust. This will work for commodities, but if you are offering a service, you may find it difficult to capitalize with this type of marketing.
When it comes to influencers, they hold up products, but to show how a service works it may be difficult and take time for them to really show how it works. When getting our marketing plans secured, we really need to understand what we are offering before we just throw money at the effort. If we believe we have a commodity then we have already lost because a commodity is only differentiated by price. That is why we need to make sure we have figured out how we are different from others in our same product / service demographic.
Successful organizations that have focused their efforts on customer service have secured reoccurring customers. That’s right the customer experience is more impactful than having a super star wear our products. We need to focus on building customer service and trust with our current customers and yes this takes time. We live in an era with two-day shipping, moves on demand, and grocery shopping online world, but the one true way to gain reoccurring customers is to serve them consistently over time.
Ever try to get a chicken sandwich from Chick-Fil-A at lunch or dinner? It’s a chicken sandwich, not a new cure for cancer, but because they have focused on customer service over time, they have passed up the other fast food competition with fewer locations. That’s right the golden arches which have been a staple were passed by Chick-Fil-A. Their customer service has accomplished this cult following.
We need to focus on the long-term vision of building trust with our customers. Without trust we will not gain influence with our customers. We need to have high levels of trust with our customers before they will tell their closets friends and family members to use us. That is also still the best form of referral. I am also not talking about bribing the customers with a coupon if they share with others.
I am talking about natural raving customers that can’t help but tell others to do business with you.We need to serve our customers well consistently if we are going to having reoccurring customers and eventually partners that will only buy from us and all that we sell. Wouldn’t it be nice to not have to market because our customers are buying everything we sell and partner with us?
That is why I consistently post blogs every week for over three years and consistently post videos online to help customers gain more knowledge and understanding about sales and influence. I am here as a guide to help you become successful in your endeavors.
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”
Common Financial Mistakes Small Business Owners Make (and How to Avoid Them)
During the early days of their companies, many small business owners make financial mistakes. While they may seem harmless at first, enough missteps can be detrimental. Plus, even one big mistake could be enough to derail your company, potentially causing it to fail.
This week’s post is brought to you by Tina Martin from Ideaspired. She is passionate about helping others get inspired to do what fulfills them and helping people get their businesses off the ground.
This week’s post will help you avoid pitfalls when starting a new business. Enjoy!!!
During the early days of their companies, many small business owners make financial mistakes. While they may seem harmless at first, enough missteps can be detrimental. Plus, even one big mistake could be enough to derail your company, potentially causing it to fail.
Luckily, most of the issues are preventable. Here’s a look at a few common financial mistakes small business owners make and how to avoid them. Book a meeting with Kevin for more in-depth guidance in growing your business and becoming a better leader.
Not Creating (and Following) a Budget
Creating a business budget is a critical first step if you want to keep your small business on good financial ground. Along with accounting for various business expenses, you’ll need to factor in income and cash flows. That way, you can better understand how money moves through your company, ensuring you’ll be able to cover your expenses appropriately.
Once you set a budget, following it is a must. Avoid unnecessary spending at all costs. Additionally, if a new, unexpected opportunity comes with a price tag, don’t pursue it until you know it won’t break the bank.
Finally, make sure to treat your budget as a living document. As your company grows and changes, adjustments might be necessary. Just make sure to review the numbers and formalize any updates, giving you a new financial roadmap to follow.
Going Overboard When Setting Up
As you prepare to get your small business off the ground, you might be tempted to invest in the latest technologies, nicest furniture, or other high-cost versions of items you’ll need. The issue is, you’re sending a lot of money out of the door before securing any sales. Worse, if you buy on credit, you’re paying interest on the purchases, too.
When you first start, it’s always best to operate as lean as possible. Purchase only the necessities, choosing the lowest cost version that will reliably do the job. Then, as your business grows, you can look at replacements when the need genuinely arises.
Skipping the Emergency Fund
Having an emergency fund isn’t just critical for your personal finances; it’s smart for your business, too. By having money set aside, you’re better equipped to navigate the unexpected. For example, if a production machine breaks down, you may not have to turn to debt to get it fixed. Plus, you’ll be able to address the situation immediately, reducing the impact on productivity.
Forgetting to Plan for Tax Obligations
When you first start running a business, it’s easy to forget about your tax obligations. Your business structure plays a role in which federal, state, and local taxes you’ll need to cover, so you’ll want to research business taxes that apply to your situation.
It’s important to note that even if you’re operating as a self-employed sole proprietor, you’ll need to prepare for new taxes, especially the self-employment tax. That tax covers the Medicare and Social Security costs that employers typically handle. Since you’re your own employer, that falls on you.
If you’re struggling to manage your tax obligations, sharpening your accounting skills could help. By going back to school and earning an online accounting degree, you’ll develop your business acumen. Along with learning generally accepted accounting principles, they’ll teach you auditing, financial statement preparation, and more. Plus, you'll get more flexibility by heading to an online school, making it easier to balance family, work, and your education.
photo via pexels
Why all successful leaders know sales and how it can help you gain momentum
Have you ever wondered why certain friends, managers, executives just seem to have a certain way about them that people engage and follow them so easily? Ever wonder if you could have people working with you to that capacity?
Did you know that all the successful leaders know sales? Now before you stop readying because you got a cold shiver about sales people, let me ask you this. Have you ever been on a job interview, or a first date? In each case you were selling yourself as the best option. See that phrase, “selling yourself”. That is right you are selling during those two examples and many more scenarios. We are actually all selling anytime we are interacting with others. Whether it is our ideas, a product/service, or that your son to not stick his tongue to a frozen metal fence won’t end well.
I know the persona that is out there about sales people. Unfortunately, a few bad seeds and various movies have bruised the sales persona. Not all sales people are bad, just look in the mirror after an interview J We are not inherently bad are we? Most of the not so successful sales people is just plainly, they just don’t know how to sell well.
I am not what some people would think of as a sales person. Most people think of sales people as the life of the party, extroverts, and people that like attention. I am an introvert and hold an engineering degree. Not what you would think about when you think of sales person right? I can tell you that I have secured multi-year multimillion contracts in my career and all the way down to thousand dollar deals. Anyone can sell and everyone sells all the time, including leaders.
Here is how I got into sales which was something that I never thought I would do. I was sitting on a boat on one of the great lakes when a well-known business owner that wanted to have “the talk with me”. See I was dating his daughter so he was wanting to know what my intentions were. The question started with “where do you see yourself in five years.” I know, not the kind of question you’d think a father would have, but as a business owner and successful person he thought about business al great deal.
Being fresh out of college and in a job… I thought about it and said, “I want to be a manager.” I know high aspirations right… What he said next was definitely not what at the time I wanted to hear. He told me that I needed to know sales if I wanted to cast my vision and get people to follow my lead. I didn’t like that idea because I had that same mindset when it came to sales people.
What I learned through the process of learning sales has actually helped me to understand why people can build high levels of momentum in movements. It’s because they had influence. A great deal of influence. In fact, the more they have the more people wanted to follow these individuals.
What does sales have to do with influence?
Sales is actually the art of building influence. Not in a sleezy way, or creating leverage over people either. Selling is about helping people with their current situation and understanding their issues as well as helping to avoid the ramifications with not making the best decision for them. That’s right, sales is about helping people get to where they want to go. Helping them make a difference in their lives and others. I know at this point you may be thinking that this guy is on something, but hear me out.
People ask three questions at every interaction.
Do I like you? Do I trust you? How can you help me?
It has been programmed into our brains since the beginning of time. Not for selfish reasons, but for survival. We ask these questions and form answers in the first seven seconds of every interaction.
If we want to be successful and have momentum with others we should at least learn about sales. We should understand why certain colors, the environment, and how we interact with others affects trust. In the sales process uncovered training that I teach it is how we take the focus off ourselves and focus on helping others. Zig Ziglar once said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”
That is what sales is meant to do. Help people find solutions to their issues and avoid the ramification of making the incorrect decision. That is what a true sales professional is supposed to do. Help others and not focus on just selling something.
Selling well will start building influence with those that we help. It has worked for me with over 15 years of sales experience in multiple industries, in different demographics, and different regions.
If we focus on helping people through the sales process, we will gain influence and momentum with people. I’m not sure where you are and where you want to go, but if you want to go anywhere with others, you need to learn sales. There are tons of books, podcasts, and blogs out there. You don’t need to know everything, but having a basic knowledge will help you grow your influence levels and lead well.
Have a great day and if you need anything feel free to reach out with any questions!
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”
What is Your Why For Your Marketing Strategy?
Welcome back. Today I’d like to talk about what a good marketing strategy is in order to increase sales. I will also write about what doesn’t work and why so that you can figure out how you want to move forward with your strategy.
Since the creation of mail advertising, tv, and the internet there has been a great focus on marketing. Now that we as a society have evolved and become smarter, the old way of marketing features and benefits has had to evolve. Just buying the biggest ad in the yellow pages will not work these days.
When people meet us as sales professionals, organizations, institutions they are asking three questions. Today let’s focus on the third question with the assumption that we have answered the first two correctly. This third question is “How Can You Help Me?” If we are going to market to people about us being the best option, we better be focused on answering that question correctly.
If we don’t answer that question, well they will move on down the road to the next person in line. They will also start thinking about what we offer as a commodity if we are not answering that question. If we become a commodity then the only differentiating factor is price. There is no winning strategy for commodities. We need to differentiate ourselves from the competition.
People do not buy features and benefits as the answer to the question above. We must focus on answering the needs of the customer. That is right customers want a solution to their needs. To figure out what needs our offering answers, then we need to ask questions, but to who?
The answer to that question is ask our current customers why they buy from us. What is it that made them desire our offering? Why do they stick with us when there are other offerings out there? Why do people still flock to Apple for their products when there are other products out there that compete on the same performance as Apple? We need to understand why our customers love our offerings and stick with us as repeat customers.
To do that there are tons of tools out there, but I recommend two. Surveys and testimonials are what I recommend. Surveys upon purchase helps in the later steps of the sales process as I teach, but also help get fresh feedback at the time of purchase as to why the customer decided to do business with us. This is fresh insight without outside influence and time that will allow our customers to forget. The other is testimonials. These testimonials work so great because of the law of “Social Proof” that others will follow because of that influence.
That is right, we need to be asking our current customers why they are doing business with us because this is the key to understand how and what we should be marketing. We will see a trend as well with all of the surveys and testimonials that will show us the path to our marketing strategy.
I know this seems backwards in the process, but our customers are the ones that can tell us the why so that we can structure out strategy. Many organizations fail to understand why the customers do business with them and march in a totally different direction leading to mediocre results. We need to understand so we can chart out course correctly to attract more of our tribe.
Answer that third question by asking questions to current customers will allow us to win at this marketing game. Especially when there is so much noise out there to confuse and turn off customers.
Start today to understand your current customers and then you will overcome the competition and stay out of the commodity arena!
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”
Why You Need Customer Trust
Have you ever bought something from a salesperson you just didn’t like or trust? If you did, how did it make you feel afterwards? When is the last time you made a large purchase from someone you didn’t trust? Likely never.
Today we are talking about why building trust with the customer is important.
There are three questions that everyone asks themselves about us when they meet with us. Every time! These questions are:
Do I like you?
Do I trust you?
How can you help me?
See that second question? Trust is a highly important question that has to be answered by us for the customer. If we don’t answer that question with our actions and words lining up, then the customer will move on down the road to our competitors that offer similar products / services.
Trust is extremely important with most of our major decisions. I define major decisions as decisions that cost over $500, or life changing decisions. Some use gut feelings, some use research, and some use advisors. The fact remains that trust is a part of every major decision. If we do not have trust, we do not act. This is why most consumers ask friends and family who they should talk to about a product / service. They are searching for a trusted advisor.
Today it is so easy to find options for a product / service that we need. Just hop online and do a quick search. When the customer is coming in to talk to us, they are trusting that we will help them. We need to make sure that we have that in mind when we serve the customer. We as sales professionals need to be showing up to serve the customer and being open and honest of where we can and can not help them. Focusing on how we can better grow the relationship and trust with that individual / organization.
Customers are not just looking for a transactional experience. They want to be known and heard. They want people that will advocate for them to find solutions that will benefit them the best. Customers want a relationship. We as humans are born to crave a sense of community and value. Customers want that as well. Why do you think there are so many Facebook groups out there today? People want community.
When people trust us, they share more information with us. Not their deepest darkest secrets, but they will share more and more as trust is built. I have had customers tell me about future RFQ’s that I could look forward to and worked with my teams to be more prepared so I was able to achieve success. That would not have happened had I not built great levels of trust with these customers.
To build trust I use a simple equation that I call the Trust Equation. It uses variable such as credibility, reliability, vulnerability, and selfishness and puts them into a simple equation to help us build trust effectively and quickly with customers. This equation also focuses on a long-term approach to building a great amount of influence with the customers.
Now, there is a great deal to discuss on trust such as how to build it, the different levels of trust needed depending on proximity to others, and how to keep growing trust. That is why I created the “Trustworthy” training to help people like yourself understand and build trust quickly.
If you’d like to check out it click here to be taken to the training. It’s worth the investment.
Today, lets make sure we are focused on building trust with our customers.
Build trust with your customer and you will reap greater rewards!
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”
What is the Best Sales Strategy
Welcome back,
Today we are going to go through what a good sales strategy is because this comes up quite often with sales teams. What is your strategy to win the sale? Most of the time the sales person is thinking on the fly and often falters when pressed for details. This is also when the sales person is confronted that thinking on the fly is not going to work.
With the sales landscape ever evolving, sales people need to have a good sales strategy.
Here is what I have use as my sales strategy:
Have a plan to serve the customer with a process that walks with them through their five buying decisions
That’s my sales strategy. I want to serve the customer and walk with them through their five buying decisions in a way that allows them to buy the best product that meets their needs. In order to do this. I must do a few things.
I must build rapport and trust with the customer. If I know who I am meeting with, I can do research on them to learn about them and their families. If I don’t have that option, or want to learn more, I can ask questions. A great deal of questions to understand them and their needs.
The easiest way to build trust and rapport is to learn about customers. We need to make sure we are learning about the customer because if we are not doing so, the three major questions that the customer has will go unanswered. Do I like you? Do I trust you? How can you help me? These three questions if unanswered spell defeat for a sales person because the first buying decision for a customer is in fact the sales person. If we do not know, like, and trust the sales person, we are not going to buy from them. Especially when there are so many options out in the marketplace.
The sales person is essential in growing the product line. People buy from people.
To help sales people I have created “The Sales Process Uncovered,” to help the sales person use the roadmap on how to sell effectively to customers. It starts by asking a great deal of questions and the different types of questions needed to uncover the customer’s needs. This process has worked in different industries, in different markets, and B2B as well as B2C sales.
That is right I use a process to solidify my strategy. All the successful people use a process whether it for championships, expeditions to uncharted territories, or business. Even those amazing Navy Seals that are the elite of the elite use a process for preparing for a mission. Those individuals use a process to plan, action, review, and do it over again.
If you want to have a great sales strategy, you need to implement a sales processes that will help us walk with our customer. By doing so influence actually increases with the customer and if we do a great job selling, the customer will start telling others why they need to do business with us.
Who wouldn’t want that?
If we want to gain sales success, and achieve great goals, we need to have a plan and the easiest way to do that is have a process in place that is simple and repeatable for success.
If you want to gain some more insight about the sales process uncovered and how it can help you, click here.
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”
Sales People..., don’t fear it, embrace it
How many of you like to hear the word no? No is not typically something people want to hear when they are trying to sell a product or service. While working through the sales process with the customer we are envisioning the finish line, checkered flags waiving, confetti, and then we hear…”No”
Most sales people have had the experience early on in their careers to keep sitting in the selling phase of the sales process and not asking for the order. They do not want to hear the word “no” from the customer. During this buying decision far too many sales people will start spouting off more benefits and features, price dropping, etc. before the customer even provides feedback.
When we start justifying our price as soon as we send it, we immediately devalue our proposal. Now the customer has no other course, but to challenge the price. The old saying less is more applies here. When the sales person sends over the price, they need to stop speaking. Just like in a negotiation, the first person that speaks loses.
Now I temper that with a statement that submitting pricing is not an us vs. them situation. We are trying to help the customer here, but we need to also be paid for our services. What I am saying is that when we submit the pricing, we need to not devalue our proposition to the customer. Now the discussion should be on the customer to decide if they see the value of the investment, or if they have more questions.
Maybe the customer needs a little more information because we did not answer one of their needs that is high value. That’s okay because we can address that need quickly to help them make sure this is the best product / service they are about to purchase. Maybe the customer is in the research phase of decision making. This should have been discovered early on in the first buying decision, but maybe they are trying to budget. Then it is up to us to make sure we identify the next step for them to take and how we can help the customer.
There is nothing wrong with hearing a no right after we have provided the price. This is how we adjust and understand what may be limiting the customer from making the purchase. Just like shooting a rifle from 1000 yards away from a target. Sometimes a small adjustment needs to be made to hit the target in the center. This is our opportunity to correct and address the customer’s needs and help them see the value.
It is our job as sales professionals to help the customer’s needs get answered and help them win in this investment. If we simply walk away when we hear “no,” we are missing a large opportunity to correct and help the customer. Maybe a large need changed due to the organization’s direction. Maybe the purchasing team has been reshuffled and there is a new buyer. That happens quite often doesn’t it.
If we don’t sell the product / service right after the first time we submit a price, that is okay. Sometimes there is a better option for the customer, but if we have done a great job, the customer will tell us why we may have lost this sale, but they will tell others how we helped them if we walk with them through the five buying decisions correctly.
As a side note most sales people never go back and find out why they lost a sale. This is valuable information if that happens to adjust the sales approach going forward!
We just need to make sure we do no devalue ourselves, or our offerings while working through the sales process with them.
Have a great day!
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”
How Good Is Your Why When Goal Planning?
Ever wonder why 80% of new years resolutions fail? Ever wonder why your team just doesn’t seem to hit goals? Why do most people not even set goals?
The main reason is that growth whether it be personal, professional, or physical is painful. Growth is not easily achieved which is why there are so few people achieving the next level results.
I recently took my son to the orthodontist to start his journey for a better smile while getting braces installed on his teeth. He asked me what it was like since I had them twice. Yes, it typically takes me double to achieve results than most people 😊 I told him that the initial process is not very hard as they apply the torture devices to your teeth, but that he should expect to have a 6 out of 10 on the pain scale for his teeth for the following few days.
His response was that he was okay just not getting braces. He didn’t care that it would improve his smile, or fix some issues in his mouth that would help him. He just wanted to avoid pain and discomfort. It dawned on me in that moment that I am not alone. I don’t always want to do the hard things because it will cause me discomfort.
Most individuals will avoid pain at all costs to live an comfortable lifestyle. What I’ve learned is that nothing worthy is every easy. There is some level of pain and risk associated with any worthy venture.
If we want to grow financially for most cases, we need to gain education, work hard, and budget. None of this seems fun or comfortable either. My mother always said, “ nothing ventured, nothing gained.” I added to that that no pain, no gain. Okay I may have borrowed that from some weight lifter somewhere.
If we want to grow, we need to put in effort and accept levels of discomfort / pain. When we want to gain muscle, we are actually ripping apart muscle strands during weight lifting exercises that repair themselves when we are sleeping that increases their size. The same is true with anything we want to grow in.
We must accept that we will have some levels of pain to grow ourselves in whatever venture we take on. We need to review our why and figure out the cost of achieving that why. If the why is not greater than the costs, then we will have no chance at success.
We should be adding to the process of goal setting what our why is next to each of our goals to decide if this is a good goal or not. Otherwise, we are just hoping that we will make it and likely will fail to hit that goal.
Over the pandemic I had to review quite a few things I wanted to do with my business and had to go through quite a few pain points when I created all my videos, online trainings, marketing ideas, and personal decisions like losing weight.
Each and every one of these things required me to sit down and figure out my why. If I had a great why I have achieved my goal, but if my why was small or something superficial, I did not achieve that goal.
If you have a goal for yourself, it is a great step to review your why before setting out the goal. Yes, we need to make goals that are easy to understand and measurable, but we also need to make sure we factor in the pain level we will have to endure to make these goals possible before we set out. We risk a higher levels failure when things get tough if we have not done this planning.
As we are heading into the fourth quarter of 2021 lets start reviewing our goals that we created for the year and understand why we failed at some and why we succeeded at others. The why will be a great area of focus.
If you’re curious I did lose quite a bit of weight during 2021 by dieting which was very painful, but worth it!
If you have any questions, or would like to discuss this topic more, feel free to reach out, I’d be glad to have that conversation.
Have a great day!
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”
Making Great First Impressions
Hello Everyone!
Ever wonder why some people just seem to be able to make great impressions on others while others don’t? Ever struggle to make a great first impression yourself?
I have been thinking about this topic for a while now and decided that it was time to step up on my soap box. I firmly believe that we all need to know how to sell in order to make great first impressions. Whether we are going for a job interview (selling ourselves), out on a date (selling ourselves), leading an organization (selling vision and ourselves), or selling a product or service which means we need to know how to sell (ourselves), etc.
No matter what we are doing, we are selling ourselves as the best option for those around us. We share stories, build friendships, engage with coworkers etc. all of the time. Some people do this really well and some unfortunately do not. This is not simply determined if you are an introvert, or an extrovert to determine if you will do this well. What I am saying is that some just don’t sell themselves well enough.
There are three questions everyone asks at every interaction and they are as follows:
Do I like you?
Do I trust you?
How can you help me?
In seven seconds, a perception is formed about the other person based off these three questions. Now there are so many aspects to how one can affect those three questions, that it is key that we know how to sell and why these three questions are affected. Learning the sales process if even just for only buying decision 1, we are definitely on solid footing to move forward with other people.
How we are dressed, what environment we are in, our posture, our speech patterns, and many more aspects affect how people form their decisions about us. Have you ever heard the phrase. “we only get one chance to make a first impression?” This is because once someone makes that impression about us, it is extremely hard to change.
The sales process is the key to mastering the art of first impressions, building rapport, and likeability. Once we master the first buying decision of the sales process, we can build rapport with those around us faster! This will enable us to make great first impressions, obtain engagement from those around us, and create stronger relationships.
Wouldn’t it be nice to know how to sell and build relationships to make our lives better?
If you’d like to learn the sales process and how to gain influence, I have launched my online courses. It will enable you to master sales, implement the simple to use process, and become a top performer as well as how to build great levels of trust quickly.
Below are the two links to my online trainings to help you build rapport and influence with others. Both can be completed at your own pace and in the comfort of wherever you have a an internet connection.
Have a great week!
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”
Why Customer Service Reps Dislike Their Sales Reps…
Good morning everyone,
Have you ever experienced tension between customer service and the sales team? Has there been passive aggressive exchanges between the two groups in your organization?
Ever have a customer service representative blindsided by a customer agreement?
Today I want to dive into an area of opportunity to help serve your customer as well as your organization. In many organizations there are sales people and then there are account managers/ customer service representatives.
Two separate people supporting groups for the customer and if communication is not great, two separate messages being communicated to the customer. This drives customer satisfaction down as well as cross functional teams to argue and point fingers when issues arise. Anyone that has been in sales for a while will be able to relate to this tension.
After a sale the sales person rides off into the sunset never to be heard from again which I have preached about in the past as being the ultimate sin in sales! That’s right about 99% of sales professionals fall into this trap. This hurts the relationship with the customer, effects return customers, and puts the customer service representative in a bad position when the customer asks for their deal that the sales professional made with them.
Ever have this situation happen to your customer service team? The sales person negotiates something different from the standard terms and conditions leaving the customer and customer service representative in a sparing contest to see who will give in. The customer continues to get irritated stating, “ This is not what I agreed to!” I’m sure some other adjectives are also used. The customer service representative is also irritated and the customer experience has just blown up. It does not even matter if the sales person resolves this issue, the customer already has an opinion of how this organization will support them in the future.
Remember the organization is the second buying decision, even before the product is sold so we need to make sure we are all working together to make the customer experience exceptional.
I worked for an organization where the sales people were all over the place with making side deals outside of the normal parameters. The customer service representatives were processing orders without this knowledge and issues started popping up. Customer relationships were paying the penalty. Business was starting to erode and the owner of the organization was getting calls from large customers venting their frustration. This was a bad situation.
To remedy this, the sales people were brought in for a sit down to understand how to get sales done following the standard program. There needed to be conformity because there is something else that happens because our customers talk. They will brag about the deal they received only to make the other customers resent the sales person for not giving them the same deal. Profits were eroding and things were just not flowing in the organization.
When selling a product / service the customer service teams as well as sales teams need to have an understanding of the program and where there are opportunities to make small changes if needed. Sales people and customer service representatives need to be on the same page so there is one message communicated to the customers at all times. This helps when some of those slick customers try to get “a better deal.”
Communication is key! If sales professionals are not communicating terms of the deals and with the customer service representatives then there will be opportunities for misses with the customer. The sales professionals also need to address as much of the terms of the agreement in writing so there are no issues for others to action against. It is up to sales professionals to support their teams and not just hoping others will just figure it out.
Both teams are extremely busy! One idea that I have shared is to use a sharepoint directory so that our customer service and sales teams can reference the signed agreements so that way they can check what was agreed to. Having this one location is crucial to the success of the organization! This way we can serve the customer effectively, maintain relationships, and keep profits up! Everyone needs to be on the same page when communicating with the customer. Otherwise, the customer experience and profits suffer.
Have a great day everyone and happy selling!
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”
How Entrepreneurs Can Find Opportunity During the Pandemic Recovery
I am grateful for Curtis Fisher and his support of young entrepreneurs. This week’s blog post has been written by Curtis and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
Small business owners everywhere have dealt with the economic impact of the pandemic. If your small business was considered “non-essential,” you may have had to close your doors for a period of months, only to return to limited operations afterwards.
Now, as the world begins to open up again and restrictions are gradually rolled back, you can slowly prepare for a return to normal. Maybe you need to revise your budget, get in touch with business and leadership consultant Kevin Sidebottom, or change your approach to marketing. No matter what you plan to do next, these tips will help you navigate this period of the pandemic.
Administrative Items
Business might not be back in full swing yet, but you can take advantage of this lull by working on administrative tasks instead. For instance, this might be a good time to go over your business plan and determine how you can tweak it for the upcoming year. You could also spend some time getting your digital files and paper documents organized.
In addition, now’s the time to register your business with the state in which you operate. Choosing to structure as a limited liability company (LLC) is optimal for many small businesses, primarily due to benefits like reduced risk to personal assets, less paperwork and greater tax advantages. You can use an affordable online formation service to get this done quickly and easily. Zenbusiness not only walks you through this process and helps you file, the site provides information on items like getting a statutory or registered agent.
Budgeting and Finances
The past year may have been rather lean for your business. Some sectors have benefitted from the pandemic while others have struggled. And if your business was categorized as non-essential, there’s a good chance that you’re wondering how to make up for lost profits.
First, it’s a good idea to create new financial projections for the coming year to see what you can expect in terms of your finances. Next, you’ll need to update your business budget by cutting expenses. What can you reasonably cut? Clean Tech Loops recommends nixing any software programs that you do not use regularly, switching to paperless files whenever possible, and considering a long-term remote work plan or renting an office space in a cheaper location.
Develop a Safety Plan
Depending on COVID case counts in your area, it might be time to bring your employees back to work in-person. It’s a good idea to consult with your employees before you make this decision. If everyone is on board to come back, Work Design recommends spacing out workstations with six feet in between them, stocking up on hand sanitizer, and having the office cleaned regularly. And if you have a retail space or waiting room where you’ll be allowing customers, make sure to put signs indicating that they are required to wear masks.
You may find that some workers aren’t ready to ditch telecommuting, especially those who live with people who are particularly vulnerable to the virus or those who simply feel much more productive while working from home. If this is the case, you’ll need to develop a plan for permanent remote work. Virtual Vocations recommends working with your employees to establish codes of conduct and decide which communication tools should become standard.
Delivery and Pickup Systems
Even though restrictions on businesses are slowly coming to an end, some of your customers or clients still might not be able to conduct transactions in person yet. Some people may still want to take care of business online or purchase items through a delivery or curbside pickup system. Make sure that you continue making efforts to accommodate this for the foreseeable future so as not to lose any customers.
New Offerings
The world is turning over a new leaf, and this could be the perfect time to introduce new offerings from your business. For instance, you could invite your customers or clients to a series of workshops that are held virtually for the time being and will shift to in-person gatherings as soon as it is safe. If you run a retail business, you could launch products that customers can easily enjoy outdoors this summer, since people will be looking forward to getting back outside.
Sales consultant and speaker Kevin Sidebottom blogs about the importance of knowing what customers crave. “What is the customer really asking us each time they interact with us whether [it’s] face to face meetings, calling customer service, on social media, etc. What is it that the customer is trying to communicate to us? We need to be intentional to reach out to them to figure out what they need. It’s that simple.”
Marketing Strategy
As people continue shopping online while others venture out, you’ll need to focus on combining both digital and offline advertising in your marketing strategy. You can rely on social media marketing, email campaigns, and search engine optimization to bring in new customers through the internet. In addition, set up fun window displays to attract more foot traffic to your store!
As restrictions are rolled back during the recovery phase of the pandemic, small business owners will have some breathing room to expand. You may want to use this time for administrative tasks, reworking your budget, or finetuning your marketing strategy so that you can speak to what your customers need right now. By looking forward with an optimistic attitude, you can prepare for profitable months ahead!
The Customer Bought, Now What Do We Do?”
We’ve done it!
We have made it to the fifth and final buying decision for the customer which is “Buy”
The customer has now purchased our product / service and we celebrate! Unfortunately, this is where 99% of sales people fail in the sales process.
That’s right, they fail! I am not saying that it is not okay to celebrate the win and I encourage the celebration, but when the sales person stops the sales process after receiving the order, the customer is left to fend for themselves. This is wrong and we have not served the customer if we do this! If we leave the customer and don’t make them successful with their purchase then the customer soon will develop buyer’s remorse, not hitting the desired outcome from the purchase, and possibly thinking they were just sold something instead of purchasing a solution. The customer then associates us with the slimy salesperson that does not care about them.
Far too many sales people take the signed order and ride off into the sunset never to be heard from again. It’s a huge opportunity that unfortunately most sales people miss out on!
That’s right, when the customer agrees to buy, this is the time that sales professionals need to roll up their sleeves and move forward with the customer. The more this is done, the more the customer will brag to their friends, family members, social media, etc. about how awesome we served them and that everyone they know needs speak with us. Who wouldn’t want a salesforce of individuals selling of us without having to pay them?
I love having people that have taken my trainings tell others that they need to work with me because I know that what I am doing is working!
First and foremost, when the customer agrees to purchase, they will second guess themselves (buyer’s remorse) about the purchase. That’s right, they are not sure what they did was the right decision. This typically happens for purchases over $50. No, we are not talking about a pack of gum. The real-estate market has done a fantastic job overcoming this issue of “buyer’s remorse.” As soon as the customer agrees to purchase a property, they immediately begin moving the customer into the next steps.
When we confirm that the customer has made the right decision, they feel justified and will be set at ease. Getting the customer moving forward after this decision to buy and onto the next steps such as delivery date, onsite training, etc., the customer is reaffirmed and feels like they have made the best decision possible. They have a game plan for the next steps. The customer will be fired up and ready to begin moving forward with our help! They appreciate this, because most sales people do not do this! This simple step! Now we have a few other things we need to do as well.
The last step in the sales process is crucial. Again 99% of sales professionals do not do this. This is the most crucial step in gaining influence with customers. It’s the next 90 days after the sale that really makes the customer’s purchase a success, or a failure. That’s right, after the installation and quick run through, the customer is going to have issues. The faster we communicate how to resolve those issues the better the customer will feel. That is why organizations have had support lines waiting for customer to call, but the sales professional has an opportunity to take this one step further.
This is the sales process step in trainings that most organizations ask a great deal of questions on how they can get better. This is where I gain my consulting business and coaching for. Helping them gain the tools so they can make the customer successful 90 days after the sale. We figure out how to make the customer successful and the organizations see higher levels of business gains.
What do we have ready for your customers so that they can consistently win with our product / service? That is the question that we need to answer and if we do this well, we will be rewarded with greater levels of influence. With more influence comes greater growth in sales and increased revenue. At a certain point we become such an influencer that people stop focusing on price. Wouldn’t that be amazing to take the pricing discussion off the table?
We are in the service business no matter what we sell. Serve the customer well and reap the rewards. Underserve, and stay a commodity in the customer’s eyes.
It’s okay to have a little celebration, but then get to work rolling up your sleeves and help serve the customer!
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”
The Scariest Part Of The Sales Process
Welcome back everyone,
We have been walking through the buying decisions that customers must make before they will buy a product / service from us sales professionals. If you haven’t read the past few blog posts, I encourage you to go back and read them as they will help you understand how we got here. For today, let’s jump into this fun topic!
When I first got into sales, I actually hated this buying decision. I was so nervous that I kept selling the product as long as I could and would talk myself out of a sale in most cases. The reason was that I feared rejection. Just like asking that girl out in high school, I was nervous to ask for the order from the customer.
Back in high school I was literally under five-foot-tall, weight around 100 pounds and let’s be honest the wind may have been able to knock me down if it blew over 10 mph. Asking for a date seemed like a monumental task when I had to look up to just about everyone. Luckily, I grew taller and so did my confidence.
No one really enjoys rejection and I was no different when it came to sales. I did not want to find out if I had not done a good job at understanding the customer’s needs and addressing those needs. I did not want to hear “NO” just like a child hates the word no. I did not want the customer rejecting my request to move forward with the purchase.
Here is what I have learned through many years of selling. We as professional sales people need to hear the word no. That’s right, if we have not answered the customer’s needs, we should hear “NO”. We do not need the customer buying the product only to hate the purchase and then remember us as the ones that sold them that product / service. We need them to be glad they purchased the product / service and that it helped them. Otherwise, we are just another sales person that made a quick buck that did not help the customer. Serving the customer well leads to much more sales success in the long run.
Now, why is it okay to hear the word no? Once we hear the word no, we can go back to the uncovering needs and verification of needs steps to make sure we completely understand the customer. Which is what the customer truly wants. The customer wants to be known and understood. They want to know that this solution in front of them will actually help them move forward.
As professional salespeople, we need to make sure we have courage to ask for the order. We need to find out if we are on the right track or if we missed something. This is our opportunity to come back and help the customer better if we missed something. It’s our sign to make sure we are moving in the right direction.
You never know, the customer may actually say “Yes” and award us the business if we have followed the process correctly. That is when the real work starts!
Have the courage to ask for the order and wait for the reply from the customer.
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”
The One Decision Sales People Get Wrong
Ever have a customer answer your sales proposal with the following statement, “ That is great, but how does that help me?” I have had this experience and had to use those same words with some sale people when they tried to sell me something.
This part of the sales process is where most sales professionals believe they need zero help. Unfortunately, most sales professionals need a great deal of help with this part of the sales process. To show this I ask people to sell me their product / service. This is where the attendees have a reflection moment.
Most attendees start with firing features and benefits in rapid fire, their elevator pitch, or how their product is so revolutionary like they are in one of those late-night infomercials. Unfortunately, this is an incorrect process in selling your product / service. The reason I know this is because I started out selling my products this way which drove my lack of sales. The customer does not care about how many features and benefits we have to offer.
What the customer does care about is how this product / service will meet “their needs”. That’s right! How does what we offer help them? That is the question our customers are asking. Each customer is different and has different needs which means we need to be smart about how we approach this part of the sales process. We can not simply rain features and benefits all over them. We need to answer their needs.
To effectively answer the customer’s needs, the salesperson needs to do the work in the first buying decision by asking great questions to uncover the customer’s needs. By asking questions we are able to actually understand the customer, what they are looking to achieve, and why they are looking to achieve it with this purchase. If we assume that we know exactly what the customer needs we typically miss the mark in sales.
You’re probably asking yourself how do I avoid this mistake? The answer is simple. By making sure that the question I am asking aligns with my features and benefits. That’s right I use the features and benefits of my product / service to roadmap questions for the customer. If the customer is saying yes to those questions, then we know that we are on the right track to help the customer. Simple right!
One more point here and this is a big point!
If the answer is no to most of my questions about my product / service. I quickly understand that what the customer is looking for is not what I offer and I point them in the right direction to meet their needs. That is right, if my product / service will not help the customer I am going to do everything in my power to help them find what they need. Most sales people are shaking their heads in disbelief, but they are wrong. See I am playing the long game with selling that builds influence. Influence that will come back to me ten fold later on.
If my current product / service does not help the customer and I help them find something that does, I have just solidified my value and gained tremendous influence with the customer. Even if they do not buy this product / service today, they will tell their friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, etc. about the service that I have provided and how I helped them. They will tell those people that they need to come talk to me. It has helped me time and time again with references and grow my sales in the long run.
Yes, this is an internal decision to focus on helping more than just selling our products / service. I chose this early in my career which helped me gain more sales than I could have ever thought possible. Customers have come to me years later telling me that someone referred them to me because I was the best and helped in such a way that they needed to see me first.
Isn’t that where we want to be? To be the person everyone wants to come to for a solution to meet their needs?
If you need support on making sure you are hitting the mark on this part of the sales process, or any others feel free to click here to see my online membership that gives you lifetime access.
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”