One-on-one is the best way to do your selling. Nothing beats one-on-one! However, to be successful it's crucial to understand the depth and complexity of one-on-one interaction. Every sales cycle will include three levels of one-on-one dialog.
In reaching any kind of result we move through three levels or stages. The mental picture was originally introduced by Dr. Sephen Covey where he highlights natural law.
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Sometimes we tend to think that social systems differ from natural systems, but really they don't. Just like growing a tree, moving from root structure to eventual fruit and harvest every human interaction has the same characteristics. Just like nature will not let you cheat, so it is with social systems. If you try to force the process, you'll fail.
Each level demands attention, and one-on-one is the basic most powerful and effective way to go about it: a) One-on-one to strategically position yourself, b) one-on-one to build a network of valuable relationships and c) one-on-one to skillfully apply tactics in reaching agreements.
We will continue dealing with this subject in the next post coming up.
In striving for excellence every so often we tend to forget the basics. It has always been like that... We see this in all sales people, too. When there's a dip in performance, you can be sure, 80% of the time it's due to forgetting some of the basics. What lesson can we learn from this? If we're careful to be aware of and stick to the basics, we can save ourselves an awful lot of pain and failure.
So what are those basics? There are a few! In stead of naming a number of them, let's just consider one and one only; face-to-face one-on-one conversation. Ultimately, the most basic interaction and sales activity is one-on-one contact with another individual. You can make a lot of mistakes, but if you fail to go one-on-one mistakes will usually do unnecessary and greater damage.
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I once had a CEO that intuitively understood the principle of one-on-one. It was a beauty to witness! Almost on a regular basis he would come for a quick visit in my office and discuss some of the difficult issues coming up in our next management meeting. By the time he left my office he would know perfectly my feelings and viewpoints. Knowing him well, he did the same thing with all the other managers, too. Then, when the time came to meet and discuss, he would have no difficulty reaching an agreement. | |||||||||||
In short, he exercised a form of one-on-one sales, and it worked very well for him.
The speed of trust
Make sure to keep in mind how today's screaming need for efficiency may lure you into a dead end. E-mail, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twittering and other similar online tools - even the phone - may increase the frequency with which we are in touch, but quality conversations can never be replaced. The time and place to share intimate or private matters is face-to-face. One-one-one may not be the only way to build trust, but it certainly is the most effective way, even-though it may feel oldfashioned and slow.
While recommending Stephen M. R. Covey's book The Speed of Trust, David Neeleman, Founder and CEO of JetBlue Airways says it so well: "With high trust, success comes faster, better and at lower cost."
Management and their sales people measure success mostly in monetary value. Of course, this is the main driver behind corporate sales activity. However, getting the money alone is a misplaced focus and will inevitably represent long term failure if you don't keep in mind the other five measurements of sales success.
Keeping track of results is everything!
Why don't we say it again. Keeping track of progress and results is everything! Whatever we measure receives attention. So what are we to measure and keep track of?
Personally I'm a fan of several programs, among others The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Franklin Covey. It introduces you to how we facilitate execution in individuals and teams. However, in generic terms, what is it we seek to accomplish?
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There are many ways to measure success, but we've found the most effective perspectives to be individual and organizational. That's both to keep it simple and focused on daily and weekly measurables.
Individual success
The perspective of individual progress is based on The 3 Energies (3E) Passion, Connection and Intuition. Looking at each individual they become:
- Personal insight (mission statement and goals)
- Improved balance (planning and personal considerations)
- Sharpened skills (empirical data based on observation and recordings)
Organizational success
The perspective of organizational or team progress is also based on The 3 Energies (3E) Passion, Connection and Intuition. Considering results from an organizational view they become:
- A better position and reputation (Key Performance Indicators - KPI's)
- An improved relationship with key people (CRM and personal considerations)
- Sales numbers (budget compared to actual numbers)
Measuring results is crucial, but measuring poorly or ad-hoc tends to demotivate individuals and teams. It can in fact hurt more than do good. The first steps of sales success is deciding WHAT to measure, WHO to measure, HOW to measure and then stick to it.
Without moderation, I believe Marit Breivik may well be among the best coaches in the world. Her management has brought about outstanding results. She's widely known for creating a phenomenal team spirit. What are some of the distinctive principles behind her success?
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I was asked to speak at the same conference as Marit Breivik last week and had the opportunity to ask her a few questions about her tremendous success.
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One of the key factors she points out is the importance of supporting each player individually, making sure to highlight key strengths that fit into the whole. Teamwork is not only about bringing each player to flawless expertise, neither is it possible to create synergy by itself --unless-- each player and the entire team knows WHY and WHAT they are about.
Humble and teachable
I also appreciate Marit Breivik's humble approach. During her career she has stressed the importance of taking counsel from others and making sure the entire culture is one of constant learning. There are few world champions, but as a team we can create complimentary strengths that collectively come close to world class performance and passion. Being the best takes daily effort, and staying ahead of the game demands ongoing and intense attention.
Last month I did a quick webcast on This is Selling. If you look closely you'll find that a complete summary on selling is grouped into three areas. If you focus on all three, you'll discover that your skills begin to work as they should.
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Regardless of what topic or expertise within sales you are looking into, it will always be one of the following three:
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Focusing only on technique is less effective
Context, feelings and technique are basic principles of communication. Context is WHAT you do to create the best possible setting and position. Feelings is WHO you talk with and the emotions you are filled with. Technique is HOW you say it and when.
These three areas are numbered because context outweighs feelings, and feelings in turn are more dominant than technique. Without context and feelings in place technique suffers. People often want to challenge the order of this, but without exception they fail.
Sales technique is not even secondary
Let's be very clear, especially because it really is this simple: Technique helps, but fails when feelings stand in the way. Also, feelings are powerful, but ultimately must give way to context and the bigger picture. If you want to influence others, even influence influential people, first work on context - your position, secondly work with feelings - your relationship with others, and thirdly practice technique - say it right and at the right time.
Remember this, unfortunately most sales training is aimed at technique only. Yes, technique indeed is poor out there, and technique is also mostly weak on a stand-alone basis. The deciding factor that gives technique real power is when context and feelings are taken care of first.
Helping to ask WHY is key --ultimately the only way-- to seriously motivating people. When we help people ask WHY-questions they will inevitably be inspired to self driven action. But asking WHY can also hurt, in fact, if we're not careful WHY may be counterproductive and do a lot of damage.
| The natural tendency for any parent, spouse, manager, colleague or coach is to ask WHY when something goes wrong. The "WHY did you...? approach" can be counterproductive when coming from another person in retrospect. WHY seldom rectifies the wrong when filled with blame and guilt. We drive the other person into a defensive mode. Just think about it... When we make a mistake, most of the time it's hard to explain WHY we made a bad choice, and it certainly isn't fun to elaborate on stupid mistakes.
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I see people doing this all the time. Let's be clear. It doesn't work.
Lesson # 1: How we tend to fail
When someone is to blame we tend to "ask WHY and tell WHAT".
Lesson # 2: How we can succeed
To inspire others to change we should "ask WHAT and discuss WHY".
By making a fairly simple switch from the ineffective "asking WHY and telling WHAT" to the effective "asking WHAT and discussing WHY" we make a meaningful difference in the lives of others. We get rid of blaming and fighting. Instead we introduce fruitful discussion. Just try it out. You'll quickly discover the positive effect it has!
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Asking WHAT means we establish objectively the things that went wrong. Once we've agreed what went wrong, then discussing WHY will be an opportunity to appreciate new and mutual learning. Suddenly asking WHY becomes positive and has meaning. It becomes a solution to problems to prevent them from happening again. It points the way to a brighter future and instills hope - it makes passion grow - makes mission become clear. WHY is the beginning of everything! | |||||||||
Few sales people are aware of the sales pulse and how it is the ultimate tool to measure whether you're headed for failure or success. Just like physical health, pulse indicates if you are leading a balanced effort in sales. Sales success doesn't come by chance. Consistent sales success largely depends on how you measure your sales pulse and whether or not you apply your findings to develop Passion, Connection and Intuition.
To explain the consept of "sales pulse" I usually share an eye opening experience of when I acquired a rather sophisticated pulse watch to keep track of my regular exercise. This watch helps me monitor my heart rate. If applied the right way, it also encourages me to balance the workout, specifically with the heart rate in mind. To make effective use of the watch it requires some basic information input, such as age, weight, resting heart rate (RHR) and maximum heart rate (MHR). This is to adapt all feedback to my actual physical state and condition.
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Before I start the timer it encourages me to select a so-called "heart rate training zone". My choice, of course, depends on the objectives of the workout.
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Slow down to increase performance
A balanced effort is not about going slower. It's quite the opposite. A balanced effort is going as fast as possible, but keeping the long term perspective in mind. We want high performance, always, not just haphazardly off and on. Just like me, replacing "too intense training" with slower running for an extended period of time, balance provided me the necessary oxygen I needed to gain a greater appreciation for aerobic exercise. In addition, slowing down improved my balance helping me perform better also in the Anaerobic Zone. In sum, it made me run a lot faster, but also, and this is the point, over longer distances I spent less strength to finish the race faster.
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In much the same way as no--body-- is able to run at maximum speed all the time physically, so it is with mental and social performance and capacity. To deliver both short term and long term results we need to vary our speed as circumstance requires - at different time intervals. Even though occasional sprinting is needed, most of the time a steady pace is what gets you the results you're aiming for.
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The sales equivalent of the physical heart, body and mind lies in Passion, Connection and Intuition.
The sales pulse
Just like it takes extra effort to keep track of your physical pulse (you have to measure it), so it is with the sales pulse. There are ways to measure your sales pulse to determine your current condition and what's needed to increase your capacity. Let me illustrate with an experience I had when I was brand new in sales:
I was a telesales rep in Oracle. Our team did extremely well and we sold licenses for millions of dollars. However, in spite of all the success we had, one of my colleagues clearly stood out. This made no sense to me. I would look at the call stats and find that his time on the phone was way below that of the others, especially mine. I was always leading the way when it came to putting in hard hours of work. It didn't seem fair to me that he should sell twice as much as me with "half the time and effort".
Having gone through this painful realization for several months, I finally decided to humbly ask him why this was the case: "Why are you selling so much more than me, putting in so few hours?" His advice, which I won't elaborate on at this time, caused me serious reflection. I realized that his pace was slow, that whatever he did was well thought through and that his focus was on quality, rather than quantity. This WHY question triggered an amazing chain of events which led me to asking WHAT questions, WHO questions and HOW. The results were staggering.
Why? I resolved to make deep and profound changes because someone helped me measure my sales pulse and pointed me in a better direction. Believe it or not, this type of fine tuning is constantly needed, regardless of how successful you are. Any good athlete keeps track of the condition of his or her heart.
How to measure the sales pulse
Slowing down represents the ability to pause and ask effective questions to increase self reflection about basic belief systems.
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The sales pulse is mainly measured by asking WHY and WHAT questions. Action oriented corrections are usually made by asking WHO and HOW questions. (And in case you're wondering, WHEN is part of HOW.)
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If you want to know more about the subject, you may want to read The key to motivation as well as other related articles.
Take a quick time-out. I encourage you to watch three YouTube clips that exemplify the power of WHY and WHAT - how it defies the expectations of our surroundings.
Did you have the privilege of following Paul Potts in the "Britain's Got Talent" show? This man inspired millions of people with his passion for singing.
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Notice how Paul Potts clearly states his WHY... "I feel it's what I'm born to do", followed by his WHAT... "I've always wanted to sing as a career". Watch the first appearance of Paul Potts.
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(Here's a bonus clip if you feel like watching more of Paul Potts.)
Said a famous philosopher: "Tell me WHY and I'll move heaven and earth to do it". WHY is the key to peak performance. Given this, you may be wondering: Is it possible to produce outstanding improvement through simple things?
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I have great news... Yes it is possible to harness dramatic change by simple means. In fact, keeping it simple is key to phenomenal improvement. Simply start by asking WHY and then listen. If you're asking yourself, listen to what thoughts come to mind. If you're asking a team member, pause and don't interrupt. Regardless, the right WHY questions will work wonders, I guarantee.
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We are about to switch to a new employer. The most effective question could be as simple as...
- WHY should I work here?
If the answers qualify for an overlap in mission and purpose, the first question you'll be looking into as a new-hire is also pretty self evident...
- WHAT is it that we offer?
Once we know our value to society or the market place, it's wise to clarify as best we can...
- WHO will care and want to collaborate?
Then, finally, the question that really brings every other question to full fruition is...
- HOW should we go about it?
Let's review each question category and look more closely at what their fruits are.
MISSION
primarily comes from asking WHY
Do you believe knowing WHY will make a difference in your job? I mean, really knowing why?! Most people, even when they leave a job in favour of another, never fully understood why they were there... and that's in fact partly why they switch to another company and/or position. When anyone comes even close to performing on the job, this someone has a serious WHY burning inside them. They're usually more loyal and stay on for a longer time. Check it out, if you will.
PASSION
primarily comes from asking WHAT
Some sales managers frequently are afraid of investing "product knowledge" in their team members, simply because they've experienced how a little knowledge easily makes sales people less inclined to being open and listen to client needs. Of course the tendency is there, but that's because they only get irregular and/or insufficient training.
It is my experience that the best sales people also know best WHAT they have to offer. If they're passionate about it, because they know WHAT they have, then that's a perfect foundation. But note this; if they're passionate and at the same time know little about the offering, it is very much likely that the sales rep is biased and you'd better be careful, both as an employer and as a client. A biased sales rep often has characterics such as dishonesty, hidden agendas, fictitious and fluctuating motivation and maybe most importantly little or no ownership to what is being delivered.
CONNECTION
primarily comes from asking WHO
So often I meet with sales people that have a fantastic product and/or service offering, but somehow they're unable to seriously produce results. On almost every occasion it's due to their not having done the simple exercise of finding out who they should be speaking with. Even when they are speaking with the right people, they know little about why the solution or offering matters to them.
INTUITION
primarily comes from asking HOW
Most sales training jumps straight into HOW, and because of that it is less effective. That's why most training, I'd even claim almost all training, only has short term results.
If, however, people also are becoming highly skilled in HOW, invariably something magical happens to them. Something inside them begins to glow. Some call it self esteem. Regardless of what it is, when skills become natural "the real person" seems to come out and uniquely influences the situation. This is when we begin to see intuition in action.
If you want excellence you need to start in the right place and then follow through. This text answers where to start. When you apply the principles described here and in other related blog posts, you'll find that current problems transform into stepping stones, and that the battle for success wasn't really where you originally thought it was.
There are two kinds of WHY questions. If you want to be successful, you not only need to ask WHY, but also the right kind of WHY. Should you ask WHY the wrong way your efforts will work against you and become counterproductive. Let's take a closer look at all this...
We've already pointed out how success might not be what you think it is. For instance, success is mostly quality, not quantity.
We've also clarified how most people tend to ask WHAT instead of first searching and scrutinizing WHY. Skipping straight to WHAT leads to a misplaced focus on having rather than becoming.
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With this in mind it's time to address what those "right WHY questions" really are.
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Every one of us is a public display of deep belief systems, and we cannot help it. Those are the facts.
Why the right WHY is crucial
Now, consider this: There are proactive and reactive WHY questions. Some WHY's seem to activate us positively while others tend to passify and depress. We're talking about positive and negative energy - how some activities seem to energize us through healthy reflection while others slow down or dull our momentum.
For instance, putting it bluntly, when someone we love dies, asking "WHY did this have to happen?" is likely to drive you into self pity and depression. A WHY of this kind is of course tempting to linger on, but it is of little help and to no avail.
A better approach might be to ask "WHY am I still alive"? Can you see how immediately this question brings us back to purpose? Can you see how it will make us search out positive meaning? Can you see how it will trigger subconscious activity that soon will inspire you back on your feet and running?
Of course, WHY is a process. In fact, WHY questions belong to the time-outs of life. Are you good at taking regular breaks to reflect on deeper questions? If you are, you'll find that it serves you well. Decide NOW to pull back for at least a few minutes once a day - slow down. It's the beginning of greatness.
Great things are emotional
If we have even just a tiny bit of ambition, what Brian Tracy calls "the belief that I can do better", then we'll strive to accomplish and somehow do "great things".
The conscious mind strives to do "great things". However, the conscious mind is logical and slow, seeking to logically work success. Remember, success is mostly emotional. But emotional results, the great things, are not controlled nor influenced mainly by the conscious mind. Emotions belong to the irrational and psycho--logical-- subconscious mind. The great things the conscious mind seeks to logically accomplish are emotionally accomplished by the subconscious. And what is it that trigger the emotions from the subconscious mind? It's so simple, it's almost scary: When you start the process of asking WHY - WHY in the right way. If there is such a thing as great things, then at least they are emotional.
"We can do no great things, only small things with great love." (Mother Teresa)
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