Use Customer-first Actions for Sales Success
January 21, 2011 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
“Success could care less about mistakes. Success loves action – and human motivation leads to action.” – Robert Ringer
Expect sales? Good. Most of us do. Action differentiates the winners from the others. Sales-oriented actions start with a customer focus.
First quarter looks terrible for Debbie, a coach, facilitator, speaker and trainer. She’s scheduled few prospecting appointments. Most of her regular coaching clients are taking a break. Don’t even ask her about cash flow. Debbie’s bummed because she needs to make the certifications she acquired last year pay off. As she says, “It’s not looking good.”
Just across the street, Allan, an IT service provider, is training a new employee. Business is booming, he says. He had to bring in help earlier than projected. He explains his goal is to work himself out of a job. His smiling attitude is backed with enthusiasm. You sense rather than hear that Allan solves problems.
To find the differences in these businesses, consider:
Debbie
• Problem focused
• Negative self-talk
• Little proactive scheduling
Allan
• Customer-focused
• Positive self-talk
• Action steps to move forward
Each story offers an insight to the heart of business, the reason that clients care.
What insight do you project? Do you worry about problems or get busy solving them for others?
“Client first” sets the tone for service. Priorities are in order. Daily activities begin with client contact and end with the same.
Take time everyday to put clients first. Contact them. Take care of their problems. Collect their stories.
Think clearly about one incident of a person using your product or service. Limit yourself to a few key words or sentences and practice telling the story of what happened.
What one action will you take today to put your client first?
Get Realistic Not Optimistic About Sales
March 23, 2010 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
Client care comes easily to some people. You see it in their body language and hear it in their voice. 
Sales guru Lenann McGookey Gardner, author of “Got Sales” provided a riveting demonstration about listening in an open question and answer session.
Her voice soft, her manner alert, Lenann interacted with participants. She got them involved, requesting permission to pick up a piece of paper, referring to facts divulged in earlier comments, using humor to poke fun at herself and point out a reaction for the group.
The professional came through at every point, from examples of leaving the perfect voice mail to calming the antagonistic prospect.
My light bulb moment came when Lenann talked about “pain.”
“The act of spending money causes pain,” she said. “These people are angry, even nasty, sometimes.”
“When you hear pain, ask about it.”
In “Got Sales” Lenann gives specific examples of what pain is:
- Things she’s having trouble with right now.
- Things she has had trouble with in the past.
- Things she is afraid she’ll have trouble with in the future.
- Things she has heard have caused trouble for other people like her.
“Selling is bringing his pain into your prospect’s front-of-mind awareness and getting him to focus on it. Pain is actionable when the prospect is aware of it and conscious of how much it’s costing him, whether that cost is monetary or just in reduced peace of mind.”
“People live where their pain is. Talk about their pain, and most people will get fully engaged in the conversation with you.”
Do you talk about the pain? Or, do you prefer a different approach, such as talking around it?
In a recent column entitled “Optimism not best cure” Corporate Curmudgeon Dale Dauten, syndicated columnist, said:
“If your company is failing and you need to find an optimist to cheer you up, you now know where to look – the bankruptcy court and the unemployment office are full of them.”
Dauten might have said: “Go where the pain is.” It just wouldn’t have sounded as good or read as well.
Pain can be pretty uncomfortable. It’s messy. It makes for tense conversations …unless you see pain as your friend, as a signal to discover more.
When you bump into pain, you have the prospect’s attention. Don’t waste it.
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