Grow Your Training Business

What's So Special About Your Training Business?

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It has never been easy to build a corporate training, speaking or coaching business from the ground floor up, but in today's tough economy it is more difficult than ever for two reasons:

• Budgets for "nice to have" training have been cut. Sometimes even the "need to have" training budgets have been reduced or eliminated.

• A large number of recently laid off corporate training staff and human resources professionals have given up looking for employment, and have decided to try their hand at building an independent training business. So you now have more competitors than ever. It is relatively easy for them to pop up a website, print business cards, create a presentation on a specific training topic, then start marketing their corporate training "expertise."

So you are going to need to do more than ever to differentiate your training business from both traditional competitors and these new entrants into the corporate training marketplace. So with that goal in mind, here is a series of of practical tips and strategies to retain existing clients and maximize your potential to acquire new clients.

1. Speak up, be heard and be known. Speaking is one of the best ways to leverage your natural talent, establish you as an expert and generate qualified leads. If you put your mind to it, you will be able to identify dozens of speaking opportunities. Local business groups, school groups, community organizations and church groups - find every venue possible to share your expertise and spread the word about the passion and capability you bring to your particular corporate training arena.

If you have already identified a certain market to target, relentlessly appear before them in as many ways as you can. Appearing in different speaking venues reinforces a strong impression that you are the person to see when any need related to your expertise arises.

2. Start writing. Writing is another effective way to tell people that you are the obvious expert and increase your visibility. Magazines, trade journals and newspapers are some of the publications that you can write for. Make sure your articles are interesting and easy to read (e.g. use shorter paragraphs and bullets). Focus on practical tips for improvement rather than broad philosophy or perspective.

Your writing, along with your speaking engagements, will help establish you as an expert available to take calls from reporters and editors. Develop relationships with them, and let them know you are a good source that they can turn to for information and story ideas. Once you are able to achieve that, your name will show up everywhere, and readers will notice and remember you as the expert that they can rely on when they need your services.

3. Get referrals from existing clients. This is by far one of the easiest and the least expensive marketing strategies. If you are not already getting most of your business from referrals, you need to work hard in this area. Getting referrals is not that difficult--you just need to ask for them. A simple question such as, “Do you know any other organizations that might benefit from a similar program?"

At least once a year you should conduct an "annual impact review" with each client organization. If there are several key individuals within the organization, meet with all of them (either together or individually) and go through a series of questions to help you gauge how much of an impact your training is having on the company, and where there might be room for improvement. This review meeting is a perfect opportunity to ask for referrals.

One of the best ways to get referrals is to give referrals. Help your client organizations gain new business, and they will be even more highly motivated to do the same for you.

 

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How I'm Stealing Your Training Clients

An open letter from one of your competitors:

To whom it may concern,

I want to thank you for allowing me to cultivate business relationships with many of your best training clients and ultimately acquire them as clients of my own training business. You may have been wondering why they don't do as much business with you as they used to, and hopefully you have been blaming the bad economy - because I wouldn't want you to blame me. In fact, I really don't want you to think about me at all, until after I have squeezed every possible training dollar out of every one of your current clients.

How am I doing this? It seems impossible really, since you have such strong relationships with most of them. They tell me how much they truly like you and respect you. In fact some of them actually feel guilty about working with me, so they never mention it to you. It is more comfortable for them to just say that their training budget has been cut this year.

I really shouldn't be sharing this information with you, but since you haven't done much about it up to now, I probably don't need to worry too much about you getting all proactive on me. So here is my 5-point plan for stealing your best training clients.

 

My 5-Point Plan for Stealing Your Training Clients

1. I talk to them more than you do.

Do you remember what it was like back when you were acquiring them? Remember all the follow up calls and deep "needs analysis" conversations? Remember how hard you worked to earn the right to ask questions and learn more about their business? Well that was a long time ago and as you have become more comfortable, your conversations with them have become more shallow.

Plus you never seem to call or engage with them unless there is some specific training event on the horizon, or the potential for some new business. Your clients never mention this to you, but the truth is they NOTICE that you have started to take them for granted. Oh sure, you send out the holiday cards and tins of popcorn. You call occasionally to chat and find out if there is anything potentially coming up. But you don't REALLY talk to them any more. Not the way you used to.

And frankly, I'm just making more of an effort to call them more often. I WANT to talk to them, I WANT to meet with them, and because I'm the "bright shiny new penny" my conversations with them seem to be more enjoyable and compelling.

 

2. I talk to them about issues you never discuss.

I don't limit our conversations to any specific area of training expertise. You are a known quantity to them, because you have delivered training on specific topics, so they tend to peg you as the resource for that particular topic. And since that's all you ever talk to them about, they naturally assume that is all that you do. But I don't talk about me as much as I talk about THEM and what they need to achieve their business objectives. And whatever they need, I'll find a way to flex my background and perceived expertise to deliver a relevant solution.

Also, I talk to them about YOU. But you never ask them about me. Naturally the training you have delivered comes up in our conversations and I ask them to highlight your strengths and, ahem, your "growth opportunities." I gently ease them into a discussion of what's "not perfect" about the training you deliver. And after I have a list of potential improvements I ask them if they have ever had this conversation with you. The answer is almost always "no." Then I explain to them that with each of my training clients, we conduct a quarterly review and a more in-depth annual review, essentially giving me my "report card" on how well I am doing for them. Your clients seem to love this idea - of course, once they hear it from me, even if you try to do the same thing yourself, you'll just come off as a copycat.

 

3. I bring them new ideas and resources.

I try to connect back with every one of your training clients at least once a week. Sometimes by email, sometimes by telephone, and occasionally with an in-person meeting. Every time we connect I try to provide them with a new idea or resource that is relevant to our previous conversations. It may just be an online article related to their business challenges. It may be an actual training resource, or sometimes just a single PowerPoint slide they can incorporate into their own training materials if they want to.

The point of all this is that I want them to see me as a constant fountain of new thinking and new ideas. I don't want them to see me in a limited way as only focused on a narrow arena of corporate training. Yes I know that traditionally trainers have been advised to specialize, to develop the deepest possible expertise in a specific area. That works great when the economy is booming and expanding. But when the economy is contracting, and I'm having to fight for every possible new training dollar, I need to have the widest net possible.

Fortunately for me, since I'm brand new to them, it is easy to frame myself up as a broad generalist with a wide range of expertise. It would be much tougher if I had already sold myself to them as narrowly focused on just one area of employee development. Sort of like you did.

 

4. I "work" for them before I work for them.

I let them know that I'm always looking for ways to help my clients gain a competitive advantage, especially in this tough economy. And while I am certainly interested in generating revenue for my business, I know I need to earn my way in. So I am willing to do more - even offer free workshops or programs or resources - and I know there is a natural desire to reciprocate. If I go out of my way to do more for them, they will tend to (eventually) do the same for me.'

Plus of course they need time and exposure to get to know me and become comfortable with my training style. So I am going to leverage every possible opportunity to work with them, to deliver compelling training, to provide useful resources, so they get a strong sense of what it is like to work with me, before they ever actually work with me.

 

5. I try harder, and they appreciate the effort.

Your clients know I'm "hungry" for new business. I'm not desperate. I'm not needy. And I have no interest in asking them to do anything just because it would be good for ME. My focus is on what is good for them. But with that said, I tell them (and more importantly show them) that no one is working harder than I am to gain their business.

You on the other hand seem to want to emphasize how successful you are, which is totally fine. You drive a nicer car than most of your clients, you dress better, and take them to restaurants they couldn't afford on their own. And they are truly impressed by your success.

With me, they don't see me as having "arrived." They see me as someone very much like themselves, working hard for every training event, earning every dollar, etc. And no matter how much money I make, I cultivate that perspective with them. Because I know they have a natural instinct to want to help the underdog, the person who will push themselves farther and harder.

 

So let me wrap this up by once again expressing my gratitude for the doors you have opened for me. In such a tough economy it means a lot to be able to cherry pick the best training clients of a successful professional such as yourself. I would like to say that maybe someday I can return the favor, but I don't think so. Once I have them, I'm going to work very, very hard to retain them.

With deepest appreciation,

One of Your Competitors

 

Rich Trainer, Poor Trainer

In this tough economy, it has obviously become more difficult for virtually every independent corporate trainer and OD consultant to make a living. And since I have numerous friends and acquaintances in this industry I've had many conversations about the challenges they are facing.

Existing clients are tightening their training budgets. Prospective clients don't even want to talk to a new training vendor (they have plenty of existing vendors, all of whom are working hard to retain their business). We all know that when the budget is tight, training is one of the first items on the chopping block.

But I have also noticed that a few of my friends in the training business are doing quite well. Some are having the best years they have ever had. Some are landing huge contracts and monster elephant clients. While another trainer just down the road is taking his LCD projector to a pawn shop. One could make the assumption that those who are doing well are actually providing better services to their clients - but I know many amazingly gifted trainers and consultants who are struggling. And I know quite a few, shall we say, less-then-gifted folks who are pulling in serious dollars.

So what is it that truly separates the rich trainers from the poor ones?

I can't claim to know the full answer to that question, but I got a clue when talking to several individuals about how they handle situations where the client asks them to adjust their fees downward because of the tough economy. Three training consultants had three dramatically different perspectives and approaches:

1. Give in and lament.
2. Hold firm and let go.
3. Partner and prosper.

Give in and lament - This training consultant was clearly depressed as he talked to me about how he has had to reduce his daily training fee in order to remain competitive in this market. He hated the idea that he was diminishing his perceived value in the client's eyes, and of course he also hated the reduced revenue.

Hold firm and let go - This training consultant was adamant that he was not going to reduce his fees, and if he lost a few clients so be it. He was definitely not depressed. But clearly frustrated and annoyed. He had in fact lost a few clients, but was determined to stay the course.

Partner and prosper - This training consultant spoke about partnering with his clients, understanding their financial constraints, and developing true win/win outcomes. For example in some cases where he had to reduce his fees, the clients agreed to provide audio and video testimonials that he could post to his web site. One client agreed to participate as a reference in a few telephone calls with large prospects. And another agreed to provide a significant number of referrals. So while this training consultant did in fact have to make some financial adjustments, he made sure to get something of value in return. This not only diminished the negative financial impact, it also helped him maintain his confidence and perceived value from his client's perspective. They had to "earn" the reduction - it wasn't just given.

So which of these three do you think is doing the best financially during these tough times? Without question it is my "partner and prosper" friend. He had a few other interesting ideas which I will share in future posts.

Cross Your Fingers?

When selling in a tough economy, there are often many temptations to be less than fully truthful with our prospective customers. Salespeople of course have always had this temptation, from the time when the first Neanderthal persuaded a fellow cave dweller to trade fresh meat for a pile of stones.  

And the hard truth is that sometimes salespeople who lie, cheat and steal actually get away with it. Salespeople who are willing and able to tell an amazing story of features and benefits, proven impact and fantastic customer results (with no connection to reality) are often, sadly, able to do quite well for themselves.

One of the reasons that salespeople (and lawyers) have such a bad reputation with many people is that we all know of at least one who isn't especially honest, but who is doing quite well financially. And when times are tough, these folks have no qualms about turning on the "charm" and the BS factor to get new business.

So if it works, shouldn't we all be doing it? Just tell the prospects what they want to hear, make the sale, cross your fingers and hope for the best?

Not so fast. There are five practical reasons why you should never be anything but totally truthful with your customers. Even if it means losing the sale. And even if THAT means tough economic circumstances for you and your family.

5 Reasons for Total Sales Honesty when Times are Tough

1. You are more likely than ever to get caught in a lie. Customers and prospects are more suspicious than ever, and will check out your testimonials, research reports, case studies, and any other details you provide.  Competitors, if they hear about any of your "less than truthful" claims, will be happy to share the facts with your customers. In fact competitors may even turn your unintentional errors to their advantage by pointing out the erroneous information to customers.
2. The penalty for getting caught is greater. Because finances are tight for nearly everyone, businesses and consumers alike, if you are caught telling a lie (and the customer has made a financial decision based upon your lie) you can expect the customer to come at you with everything they can. A refund won't be enough. They will want your head (metaphorically) and are more likely to take legal action. 
3. Honesty can be a differentiator. Because customers are EXPECTING salespeople to be less honest, and because unfortunately they are right in many cases, your commitment to absolute truthfulness can be a differentiator. How can you communicate this to your customer without seeming too self-righteous? Be willing to share tough information with them - details that don't necessarily work in your favor, but that a customer should know when making a fully informed decision - your willingness to tell the WHOLE story, not just the part that makes you look good, will show the customer your commitment to integrity without you having to explain it.
4. Your reputation for honestly will serve you well when the economy heats up. Even customers you have not been able to sell to during these tough times will remember you and when they are ready to do business, you'll be the person they think of. 
5. You will feel better about yourself - and this will drive more sales activity. While there are a few psychologically twisted individuals who truly prefer to win with a lie, most of us want to be honest and worthy of trust. When your actions are in alignment with your deeper values, you are likely to be more action-oriented - making more calls, working longer hours, thinking deeper about every sales opportunity. However, when your actions are not in alignment with your deeper values, when you are being less than fully honest with customers, even if you manage to "win" and make a few sales this way it will have a negative impact on your action-orientation. You will instinctively be less motivated to take action - so you may find yourself taking longer coffee breaks, making fewer follow-up calls, spending less time thinking deeply about sales strategy, etc. You probably won't realize that your lack of extra effort is driven by the conflict between your actions and your deeper values. So your lack of activity will make you even more desperate for every sale, and more willing to lie in order to "win." All of which is a downward spiral that ultimately leads to disaster.

Notice that in the five reasons above I have not mentioned that begin truthful is also simply the right thing to do. Of course it is, but those who understand that already get it - and for those who don't "get it," it usually does no good to just remind them to do the right thing.

In the next posting I'll provide some additional practical ways to help your customers understand your commitment to honesty and integrity, without you having to came right out and say "hey look at how honest and trustworthy I am!"

Is "Word of Mouth" Enough?

 Last year I met a (relatively) young man who had just launched his own independent sales training business. He had lost his job as the lead sales trainer for a large local company and decided that now was the time to finally pursue a long-held dream of owning his own company.

His first client was his previous employer. His second was a company owned by a friend of a friend. Only a month into his new life, he was feeling pretty good. When I asked about his marketing strategy to acquire additional clients he smiled and said "word of mouth, that's the key."  He had talked to a number of other independent training professionals in the area who had all built successful businesses (decades ago) and many had horror stories of the money and time they wasted on marketing and promotions.-their advice to him was simply "word of mouth, that's the key."

Recently I caught up with the intrepid entrepreneur to ask how things were going, and it was clear that he had been struggling. His first two clients had faded away, and he was barely getting by with a string of short-term speaking and training engagements. Feedback from his clients was exceptionally positive; they all loved his work and were more than willing to "spread the word." But the word just didn't seem to be enough.

And I think that is the experience of many in the corporate training business today. While it is great to have enthusiastic clients who are willing to tell others how wonderful you are, it just isn't enough to sustain a business. Especially if you are just starting out.

At the same time I would hesitate to reccomend spending significant time or money on traditional advertising and marketing strategies. When your funds are limited and the economy is exceptionally tight, you have to leverage the one thing you have that no one else does: your creative mind.

Start with the question: Are there, right now, organizations and individuals in your market who would benefit greatly (in a tangible, measurable way) from your training services? And would they benefit to such a degree that it would make sense for them to PAY you for your services? Remember, when money is tight, a business needs to justify every dollar spent. So if you were the client business, would you realistically be willing to pay for the type of training that you - the trainer - are providing?

Think about these questions carefully. I know too many people who are struggling to selling soft, mushy, feel good training that "empowers" people and "engages" employees.  And when I suggest that they consider something a little more tangible (sales, negotiation, telephone skills, customer service, etc.) they turn up their nose. That stuff is boring to them. But... it is not boring to their prospective clients.

So the first thing to do is think clearly about the training services you are offering. And whether or not they are the right services for the times were are living in today. If not, make a change (more about this in a later posting).

Assuming you are providing a compelling training service that produces tangible value for your client organizations, the next question is - where is your PROOF? Not referrals, not just testimonials, but actual cold hard PROOF that you can deliver that value you are talking about? In today's world everyone is talking a good game. What will truly separate you from the thundering herd of average desperate trainers is solid, tangible evidence. 

Write three brief case studies of your most successful client engagements. Describe the initial situation, your training solution, and the ultimate outcome in terms of tangible business results. Get quotes from your clients to back up everything you are saying.

If you want to know how to structure a good marketing case study pick up a copy of the Harvard Business Review and emulate their caste study structure. Except that you want to use fewer words and more graphs.

Click here for several good examples of marketing case studies. The key is to build a rock solid, bullet proof case that you absolutely can produce the results you are talking about. Then build another. And another. I'm not totally sure why but in my own experience, presenting a single case study to a prospect is interesting and effective, but presenting three case studies is far more powerful.

So let's assume you have amassed the evidence you need. Now what? Pick the prospect organizations you want to work with (more about this in a later post as well) and start at the top. Call the CEO, the President, the Executive Director - whoever is ultimately in charge. Lead with the OUTCOMES and RESULTS you have produced for others and ask for a BRIEF conversation to determine if this organization would benefit from the same OUTCOMES. 

"Mr. Jones, I was hoping to talk to you for just a few minutes about how I worked with Dunbar Corporate and two other local companies to reduce unplanned employee turnover by 12% and increase employee job satisfaction scores by more than 20%, even as their benefits packages were being scaled back. Would you have time for a brief conversation to talk about how we did that?"

This approach - starting at the top of the corporate food chain, leading with compelling RESULTS (that you can back up with tangible evidence) and asking for just a brief conversation to talk about how you did it - will almost always get you either a meeting (or telephone conversation) with the top person, or they will refer you down the food chain to someone else.

Now of course you have to convert that first conversation into a second, deeper discussion. More about that in the next post...

Referral Strategies

Gaining new business through referrals can be a highly effective and powerful way to drive sales growth. It is also an approach that less than 8% of salespeople employ to full advantage. It is a shame that so few salespeople use an effective referral process as a key part of their sales growth strategy, because meeting people through other people is the warmest, most natural way on introducing ourselves into the lives of others.

But if gaining new business through referrals is such an obviously effective approach, why do so few salespeople utilize it? One reason many salespeople are hesitant to even mention that they would appreciate any referrals a customer could provide is that they don’t want to appear too “needy.”

We all want to project an image of success, achievement and confidence—and many salespeople feel that asking for referrals may somehow tarnish the impression they have made on the customer. But in their effort to build credibility they may be sending an unintended message that they don’t need or value the customer’s help.

Do your customers know you would value their help? Do they know you would appreciate their advocacy? Many of your customers have the potential to become effective “evangelists” for you, but do they even know that this is something you would value and appreciate?

Step 1: Let Them Know

This is easy and natural. At some point during your conversation with a customer, say something like “If you ever think of anyone who would benefit from our services the way you have, we of course would appreciate you referring them to us.”

You can take this a step further by providing a specific incentive. This gives you a reason to talk to the customer about referrals. For example “I should let you know that we have a special incentive program for our current customers. If you refer someone to us who becomes a customer, you will receive…” You get the idea. It almost doesn’t matter what the specific incentive is. You just want to have a practical reason for talking to the customer about the potential for referrals.

And just because you have talked about this once, don’t think that you should never mention it again. In fact, the opposite is true. If you want to create a true referral awareness in your current customers, you will need to mention the value of referrals quite often. Do it pleasantly and with no pressure, but definitely mention again and again how much you would appreciate any referrals they might be able to provide.

Step 2: Let Them Make First Contact

Let the person who referred you make the first contact, and talk about you as a third-party endorsement. Maybe even set up a three-way meeting or a three-way lunch. If somebody gives you a referral and tells you to call them, but has not called them him or herself, it’s nothing more than a lead (and an awkward one at that).

A referral is the easiest sale in the world if it’s set up properly. You must get your customer involved as an additional salesperson. This will remove any hesitation and any barrier.

The problem is that salespeople are so anxious to call the referral on the phone, that they do it the wrong way, and lose half their potential sales.

“Working a referral” may not be the best way to look at it. “Partnering with referrals” gives you a much clearer idea of what you need to do to maximize your percentage of sales.

Strategy for Partnering with Referrals:

1. Encourage/motivate your customers to provide referrals.
2. Ask your customer to call and make an introduction.
3. Get your customer to tell you everything you need to know to make an impact.
4. Get your customer to set up a three-way call or "get acquainted" lunch.
5. The customer or person who gave you the referral is the best resource to help you make the sale. Once you have all the information you need, and the customer has set a meeting and helped you in every way possible, thank them by getting THEM a referral or providing some other tangible benefit.

Selling Skills for Trainers: Telesales Tips

The REAL Selling process an be applied to every type of sale: business-to-business, business-to-consumer, face-to-face and telesales. While selling over the telephone has many advantages, it does require that your selling skills are finely tuned. Here are a few tips from the REAL Selling program to help your teleales efforts:

PRE-CALL PLANNING

• Have an advancement objective for every telesales call, defined as, "What do I want them to DO as a result of this call, and what do I want to do?"
• Prepare questions for your telesales call using your call objective. Ask yourself, "How can I persuade them to take this action as a result of asking questions, as opposed to talking?" Remember, people believe more of their ideas than yours.
• Also have a secondary objective for each telephone sales call...something you'll strive to accomplish, at minimum, every time. Pick something you'll have a reasonably good chance to succeed with, such as, "Getting their agreement they will accept my literature and place it in their 'Backup Vendor' file." This way, you can enjoy success on every call you place, and that does wonders for your attitude.

BEFORE REACHING THE DECISION MAKER

• Treat the screener as you would the customer--this person determines whether or not you'll even have a chance to speak with the buyer.
• Gather as much information as you can from whomever you are able, prior to speaking with your prospect; busy decision makers get bored when they have to answer your basic qualifying questions. Use the "Help" technique: "I hope you can help me. So I'm better prepared when I speak with Ms. Big, there's probably some information you could provide me..."
• Before cold calls, think of a good reason for needing to speak with the decision maker, and be prepared to sell this to the screener. What they're thinking about you: "Does this person have anything of interest, or of value for the boss?"
• If leaving a message on voice mail, or with a screener, be certain it offers a hint of a benefit/result that sparks curiosity, but doesn't
  talk about products/services.

INTEREST-CREATING OPENING BENEFIT STATEMENTS

• The objective of your telesales opening is to pique curiosity and interest so that they will willingly and enthusiastically move to the questioning. You must answer, "What's in it for me?" for the listener, or they will immediately begin the getting-rid-of-you process.
• Don't use goofy, resistance inducing phrases on your telesales call, like, "If I could show you a way to _____, you would, wouldn't you?" The only decision you're looking for in the opening is the one to continue speaking
  with you.
• When cold call prospecting, don't start the call with, "I was just calling people in your area..." People want to feel like they're the only person you're calling... not just one of the masses from a list of compiled names.

 

• Open your cold prospecting calls with phrases like: "depending on," "might," "maybe," "perhaps," and "possibly." These are non-threatening words that intimate you MIGHT have something of value for them, but you really need to ask questions first. For example, "Depending on what you're now doing in the area of employee benefits, I might have something that could potentially increase the number of options you offer, while possibly decreasing your overall contribution. I'd like to ask you a few questions to see if this is something you'd like more information on."
• Have something of value to say on every telesales call. Particularly those regular calls to existing customers. Avoid, "Just checking in with you to see if you needed anything," and, "Just calling to touch base." These are more nuisance than service. Be certain they're able to say they are better off after your call than they were before it, even if they didn't buy anything. Call with news they'll have an interest in; ideas you've heard from other customers they might be able to take advantage of; mention that you were "thinking of them" and tell them why. One of my printing salesmen called to say he "just came back from a trade show and saw something interesting, and thought I could benefit from it." It's little things like that, that cause customers to say, "She always has something good for me when she calls," as opposed to, "Every time she calls she's just looking for an order."

EFFECTIVE QUESTIONING

• Get information before you give it. How could you make an effective presentation otherwise?
• Don't use a "benefit list" to present from. Instead, use it to create questions to determine if those "benefits" truly are of value to your prospects and customers. Some "benefits" could actually be liabilities.
• Avoid asking go-nowhere questions like, "Is everything going OK?", "What are your needs?", "Are you having any problems now?", "How's service?", and, "What are you looking for in a vendor?" These all force the person to think too much. Instead, get them emotionally involved in seeing and feeling the pain or problem that can be solved with your product/service-especially problems you know they're likely experiencing. For example, "What do you do in situations when you need parts shipped overnight, but are unable to get them?"
• Ask one question at a time. That's how many they'll answer at a time.
• After asking, be quiet. Resist the urge to jump in if they don't answer immediately. Don't be intimidated by silence. They're likely thinking about what they're going to say.
• After they've finished, count to two (silently, of course). This ensures they're done, plus they might continue with even better information.
• Be confident in your questioning. One reason reps ramble with questions is that they're not prepared or confident. Prepare your questions. Role play them-with yourself if necessary.
• Always know where you'll go with answers. Regardless of the answer.
• Follow up their answers with related questions. Too often reps work from a rigid list of questions, losing the opportunity to pick up on prospect statements which are just the tip of the iceberg of their real feelings. For example, if a prospect said, "I believe the main reason production isn't higher is a lack of motivation. The best move is to follow up with, "I see. What specific signs of poor motivation have you noticed?", or, simply, "Tell me more."
• Quantify the problem whenever possible. "How often does that happen?" "How much do you think that is costing you?" "How much time does that take?"
• Resist the tendency to present. Some reps get so excited when they hear the slightest hint of an opportunity, that they turn on the spigot of benefits. Hold off, ask a few more questions, get better information, and you're able to craft an even harder-hitting description of benefits, tailored precisely to what they're interested in.
• Learn more about the decision-making process. There could be many behind-the-scenes influences on the decision. Ask about actual users of your products/services, anyone else who could influence it, who has to sign off on the ultimate decision or OK the money for it, and perhaps people who would rather not see it happen.

Use a Buddy System to Grow Your Business

We can all agree that business growth is tougher when the economy is pushing against us. And I know more than a small number of business owners who are just focused on survival. They aren’t even considering a growth strategy because they are just hoping to keep the doors open. I think that is their first mistake. If you play the game toward a tie or draw, you are likely to lose.

One interesting approach is to find a (non-competitive) business or a group of businesses, and enter into a cooperative promotion and marketing agreement with each other.  If you can find a small group of businesses whose customers are essentially in the same demographic, and who do not directly compete with one another, try some of these ideas to drive business growth in both directions:

• Print joint promotional offers on your bills and/or receipts.
• Offer a reduced price, special service, or convenience if customers buy a minimum amount of services or products from you and your partner. Make a much better offer when they buy a larger amount.
• Hang signs or posters promoting one another on your walls, windows, or products.
• Mention one another’s benefits when you speak at local events, write an articles or are interviewed by the media.
• Describe the situation where you and your partner’s products or services work well together.
• Pool mailing lists and send out a joint promotional postcard.
• Promote your partner’s products during their slow times, and ask them to do the same for you.
• Share inexpensive ads in local shopping papers or a nonprofit event program.
• Give a joint interview, demonstration, or Q & A session to local media.
• Put  one another’s promotional messages on Lucite stands on counters or floor stands in waiting areas.
• Encourage your staff to mention how your partner’s products can be used with yours.
• Give your partner’s product to your customers when they buy a large quantity of your product, and ask your partner to do the same.
• Use door hangers, posters, flyers, or postcards to promote special offers for one another’s products.
• Co-produce an in-store or office event, a demonstration, celebrity appearance, free service, or lecture.

The bottom line: when partners serve their mutual market better together everyone wins. At the very least you get introduced to your kind of customers through businesses they already know and trust.

"Suck It Up" is Not a Strategy...

But sometimes it is good advice.

This blog is dedicated to stories of individuals who have managed to drive sales growth during tough economic times. And most of the examples we cite have reinforced the perspective that it is rarely one single good idea or strategy that works, but instead the most successful salespeople generally employ a broad range of new ideas, experiments, messages and strategies. Some work out exactly as planned. Some flop. And some are staggeringly effective beyond anyone’s expectations. And in the excitement of sharing this bounty of innovation and out-of-the-book thinking, I must admit I have tended to ignore one of the simpler solutions available to all of us: Just suck it up and work harder.

I have not just ignored this solution. I have actively derided it because I have seen too many salespeople and sales leaders fail because that was their only solution. “Suck it Up” is not a strategy. “Work harder” is not a plan. But I was recently reminded of the raw value of exceptional effort when I met Lavar Manchek, who works at Javana, a small coffee shop in South Florida.  This area of the country had been experiencing a housing-driven downturn at least a year before the rest of the country.

Levar was a real estate agent, had a nice run of business for several years, but when the Florida market tanked, his career plummeted with it. “I went for almost four months without selling a single home. No income. No unemployment insurance. Nothing. Which wiped out my savings, and I ended up borrowing money from my parents,” he says. 

He has three children, and his wife was working full time at a Javana. There was an opening for a part time position at the shop, working a different shift than his wife. Out of desperation to bring in even a small amount of cash, he took the job. “I hated every minute of it,” he says. “I had a bad attitude, and it showed. One day the manager of the shop sat me down and said I was about to be fired unless my attitude changed immediately.” If Levar had felt low before because he was working a job he felt was beneath him, being fired from that same job for poor performance was even worse. “My manager was almost ten years younger than me, but she said something very smart,” he remembers.

“If you are going to do this job, then do it, “the manager said. “If you’re not, then go somewhere else and do that job, whatever it is. But don’t waste your life and someone else’s money pretending to work someplace you’re not.” 

Levar’s wife worked a different shift at the coffee shop, which allowed them to take turns watching the kids. But she still heard about his bad attitude from other employees. He came home from his chat with the manager to find her both angry and scared. “We need the money,” she said. “So I don’t care if you think this is beneath you. If it is, then it must be beneath me too. Unless you think you’re better than I am.” Her last words out the door as she left for work were “This job is not beneath me. Putting food on my kid’s table is not beneath me. Or you. So be a man. Suck it up.”

 It was tough talk. But apparently it was what he needed. From that day forward, Levar became a model employee. He worked hard, put in extra effort, and both employees and customers noticed. He stayed late, sometimes without pay when there was work to be done. He even took a second part time job at another coffee shop a few miles away, and again, he was a model employee there.

Both jobs eventually became full time, and he still tried to sell real estate on the side. “That was the hardest I ever worked,” he says now. “Two full time shifts at two separate coffee shops, my parents watching the kids when we both had to work. All I did was work and eat and sleep. Barely saw my kids or wife. But we were paying our bills,” he says with pride. And he did manage to close one real estate deal. After paying back his parents there wasn’t much left from the commission, but he kept plugging away.

As his attitude and work ethic shifted at the coffee shops, he found himself coming up with ideas to generate more business for them. A lot of the businesses in the area offered free coffee to their employees and customers. Several national vendors own most of this corporate coffee market, and the small local shops rarely even try to break in. But Levar got permission from Javana’s owner to try, so he started making sales calls. He quickly opened accounts with businesses in the immediate neighborhood. They were happy to support a small local business as long as the products, services and prices were equivalent.

The coffee shop owner agreed to pay Levar a commission on every business account he opened. Fast forward almost two years later, and today Levar Manchek is the Corporate Sales Director for Javana, with 8 salespeople covering all of South Florida. And while it has taken a lot of innovation and out-of-the box thinking to grow this business, none of it would have happened without that original “pep talk” from his manager and his wife.

• When I asked Levar what advice he would give to someone in this tough economy who has had to take a job which is a few steps lower on the corporate ladder, here is how he summarizes his perspective:
• If you’re going to take the job, then DO the job. Nothing is beneath you. Paying your bills and putting food on your table is not beneath you.
• Every job in every business has greater potential than most employees are able or willing to see. Look harder for that potential and be willing to do more than anyone else to achieve that potential.

You can work harder and longer and deeper than you are now. So do more. Think more. Be more. And eventually you will get more.

It's Going to Get Worse Before It Gets Even Worse

I am by nature an optimist and an opportunist. And since I spend much of my time ferreting out stories of individuals who are managing to drive real success during this economic slump I tend to always have a cup-is-half-full perspective. I’m usually the one looking for the silver lining in every cloud, the pony in every pile of manure.

But I have to admit that lately it is getting harder and harder to see anything but a big pile of excrement in our economy. It is more challenging than ever to find salespeople who are achieving real sales growth. And when I do manage to find great stories, most of the people I talk to don’t want to share their "secret sauce" with anyone else.

Which is why it is important that you hear about Brian Pike, the owner of a small pool cleaning service in Tampa, Florida. With five employees who handle most of the service and operations end of the business, Brian is chief salesperson. Over the course of eight years he had built up a nice clientele riding the Florida housing boom. But about three years ago Brian saw the end of that trend.

As the real estate market began to soften throughout the rest of the country, in Tampa it nosedived. Median home prices today are about half of what they were just a few years ago. Unemployment is among the highest in the nation. Everyone is looking for ways to save cash and it’s pretty easy to go from having your pool cleaned every other week, to once a month, or maybe every other month. Or just have the neighbor kid do it. Or just stop cleaning it altogether, especially if you are letting the home go into foreclosure anyway.

“I definitely saw the downturn coming,” Brian says, “but I thought I would be able to work my way through it. I made more sales calls. I did more advertising. I joined networking groups. I worked harder than ever to keep the business alive.”

But nothing Brian did was enough. There just wasn’t enough business. And his competitors were doing many of the same things. Everyone was scrambling and some of them were pricing their services so low, Brian couldn’t figure out how they were surviving.

“Eventually I had to let two of my people go, because we just didn’t have the work for them. They had been with me for years, and with a small company like this, it really tore us all up,” he says. “But that was also the point at which I realized I had to figure this thing out.”

Brian tried a lot if new strategies. Some ideas helped a little. Some didn’t. He offered discounts to groups of neighbors who agreed to have their pools serviced on the same day. He offered three months of free pool service to any client who gave him a successful referral. He spent many weekends selling door-to-door in upscale neighborhoods.  ”I hated every minute of it,” he says. “Knocking on doors, introducing myself, seeing that how-hard-up-must-you-be look in their eyes.” But at the end of the day, every day, he drove home with a few new clients. “Unfortunately I would get home and usually have an equal number of current clients who had left messages to cancel their service. So I was just treading water.”

 Brian came up with his best idea during a drive through a very nice residential neighborhood filled with more “house for sale” signs than he had ever seen before. Some of them were clearly unoccupied and not looking particularly well tended. Putting himself in the minds of these homeowners, he realized they needed to keep their pools crystal clear and ready for a showing at any time. But they also were probably not interested in laying out a lot of cash as they waited for their home to sell. This was especially true for the owners of unoccupied homes, who were often bleeding cash until their home sold.

So Brian contacted several large successful realtors with an offer. If they would recommend his service exclusively to all of their clients, he would provide pool cleaning and maintenance service with a special deal for owners of unoccupied homes =E2=80=93 for them, he would defer all payment until after the home had been sold. That’s right. He would incur all of the upfront cost, and would wait to be paid at closing.

 This could mean deferring payment for 6 months or longer. In some cases more than a year. It might seem like a high risk endeavor, but Brian had thought it through. “I could never afford to run my whole business this way, but I could defer payment on about 30%, as long as it was new business, and still get by. Of course there was the risk that the home wouldn’t sell,” says Brian.

But he worked through the details and  was confident that his default risk was minimal. He didn’t have to discount his rates at all for this new business, and since most of his regular customers were getting a good discount just to keep their business (he had matched the offers from some low-ball competitors), those who deferred payment were effectively paying a premium.

Almost from the moment he made this offer to a few agents he had more takers than he could handle. He was nervous for the first several  months. “Suddenly about a third of the jobs we were doing weren’t paying a dime right away,” he remembers. “Even though this was all new business, I was getting more paranoid every month, until seven months into it, the first house sold and we got a nice check.” Then the revenues from this strategy began to flow in regularly.

Brian had hit on a formula that he could scale up, as long as he made certain that there was enough pay-as-you-go business to pay his monthly bills.

He was able to hire back the two laid off employees, and his business has grown significantly over the past year. It also helped that the new homeowners typically stayed with his pool service, of course becoming pay-as-you-go customers in the process.

One of the real estate agents asked Brian if he would be interested in expanding to a similar arrangement for lawn care, allowing owners of unoccupied homes to defer their lawn maintenance expenses. So six months ago he expanded his business to include lawn maintenance, and those checks are just starting to come in.

Brian Pike has been willing to work hard and do things that he finds distasteful. He still takes one weekend a month for door-to-door selling. “I still hate it,” he admits. “But there is some business that I’m just never going to get unless I knock on those doors.”

He has been willing to think differently than his competitors, putting himself in the minds of his customers to develop a truly unique business building strategy.

He has been willing to take more risk. And all of that effort is paying off.

Brian Pike is having a very good year.

And so, while I still think our economy is going to get worse before it gets even worse, people like Brian Pike give me hope. These are the business entrepreneurs who will find a way to succeed no matter how challenging the business environment may be. And ultimately these are the people who will turn this economy around.

Prove Your Claims

When selling to practically any customer in today’s economy it is important to understand the increasing level of skepticism (sometimes bordering on paranoia) among today’ consumers and business decision makers. We just don’t believe each other the way we used to.

Call it the Bernie Madoff factor. Anyone with an investment advisor today has to be wondering “can I really trust this person?” And not just investment advisors - anyone buying anything from any salesperson is likely to be more skeptical than ever before. Of course in general most of us never fully trust a salesperson - but like politicians, we trust to distrust them as a whole, but the ones we like and work with, we have tended to trust a lot. Not anymore.

Everyone I have been talking to lately tells me they are more careful than ever to verify any claim made by a salesperson. And if the claim can’t be verified, they don’t believe it. This means that if you are including testimonials in your marketing materials or on your web site, to have any impact at all they should include the actual name and company or location of the person making the testimonial. I know this is hard - sometimes impossible. But understand that if you don’t do this, a lot of people are just going to ignore the testimonial altogether.

I believe we have moved into the “proof of performance” years, where all salespeople (or anyone else trying to persuade others) will have to do more than just say it, they will have to prove it.

So if you are applying for a job, make sure your past accomplishments are highlighted, and also make sure you provide rock solid evidence to support all of your amazing achievements. This is what will get the attention of a hiring manager. Give them proof, not platitudes.

If you are selling a product to consumers, provide them with solid evidence. Testimonials are good. But makes sure they provide specifics of performance or results, not just a general endorsement. Even better, provide them with links to YouTube videos where they can watch the product in use and see the results. Of course the best proof of performance is to let the customer actually use the product for a period of time and see the results for themselves.

If you are selling to businesses, this issue is even more critical. Business purchasers are looking for any possible reason to NOT spend a single dime on anything. So of course your job as a salesperson is to provide them with compelling reasons to make a buying decision ,but conversely, the more powerful and compelling your message is, the higher their skepticism may be.  So make certain that you provide proof of every claim you are making. Again, testimonials are OK, but a much more effective approach would be to have a prospect speak directly with an actual customer. Not always easy to accomplish of course, but this may be what it takes to close the sale.

Perhaps you can provide some sort of incentive or reward program for current customers who are willing to occasionally act as spokespeople for your product. Or, some of them may be happy to do it. Never hurts to ask.

The key takeaway here is that it is more important than ever to SHOUT OUT the benefits of your products and services ,then to back up every claim with evidence. Strong, irrefutable proof that your claims are authentic.

Because this is difficult to do, most salespeople are not doing it. Because most salespeople are not doing it, this can be a powerful way to for you to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Selling to the New Mattress Stuffers

The new Mattress Stuffers are active Baby Boomers who, until just a few months ago, were heading happily into their 60s with inflated assets, unlimited second-job opportunities, and IRAs crammed full of stocks.

Now, nothing seems secure to them. And they view every = purchasing decision with increasing paranoia. Consumers are asking if they REALLY need a new product or service. Maybe it would be more prudent to repair the old one. Or just do without. Business people are essentially asking themselves the same thing. Do we really need that equipment upgrade right now? What's the near-term downside if we don't hire that new Director of HR? What of we end up needing = these funds for something really serious - like survival?

Among these Matttress Stuffers, there is a hunger for security literally and emotionally. Literally, sales of home safes and vaults are surging. Sales of guns this year are up 8 to = 10 percent. Emotionally, people are turning to traditional sources of = emotional comfort: religion, food, movies and Oprah = Winfrey.

So if you are a salesperson, how do you recognize them, and = how do you sell to them? Recognizing them is the easy part. First, just assume that everyone you deal with has a little but of the Mattress Stuffer mentality within them. And if they are clearly hesitant, cautious, asking a lot of questions but not sure = they want to spend the money, you probably have a bona fide Mattress Stuffer in your hands. Here are a few tips to help you:

Use written evidence, not verbal words. They will tend to distrust what you say, but believe what they see in print. Especially if it comes from a credible source.

Align with their fears. Tell them "In this economy, I am being very careful and cautious with every dollar I spend."

Emphasize short-term benefits. If they won't be experiencing some tangible benefit immediatly or within = the next 30 days, they will struggle to justify the decision.

Use testimonials from credible sources (they will tend to distrust anonymous testimonials) and make sure the = testimonial is specific, not just a general endorsement.

Give them at least two financial options. If they are forced to decide between purchasing and not purchasing, they tell tend to not purchase. But if they are given two or three (four is too much) financial options, this allows them to make a purchase AND = choose the most conservative, prudent path.

Final thought - don't try to "overcome" their fears. You can't. These are deep seated psychological traits that are not going to be changed by a few clever words from a salesperson. In fact, any effort to counter objections and overcome their fears will tend to drive them further away.

Instead, align with their fears. Embrace = their fears. Let them know you understand their caution, then provide them with inforamtion and evidence they can trust, to provide them with reassurance.

 

Selling to the Survivors

A number of large U.S. employers announced layoffs this week, including Dow Chemical Co., 3M Co., Anheuser-Busch InBev, National Public Radio and the National Football League. I have a number of friends who sell various products and services to a number of these companies, and they tell me that many of the survivors are shell-shocked.

Selling the survivors after a layoff takes a tremendous professional ability. You have to acknowledge what has happened, show the proper level of seriousness, but also move things forward. Geoff Hartnell sells office equipment to Dow Chemical, and he captured the sentiment perfectly when he said "I know that the day after the layoffs were announced was probably the worst day to be making a sales call on them, So I visited other customers. But I did make a few phone calls to my key contacts to offer them support and encouragement. I just wanted to let them know that I was thinking about them. Unfortunately one of my primary buyers was layed off, so his voice mail had been shut down. But I called his boss who I have met several times and = made sure that I reinforced my connection with him."

Goeff also provides a great example of how critical it is that = you have multiple contacts in every key account, both up and down the chain of command. Because if you have only one good contact and that person is laid off, you may create a big opening for your competitors.

Monica Haines has an interesting approach to prospecting when she has called on companies that have recently experienced layoffs. "Since I know that virtually no salesperson would consider calling on a company right after a layoff, I've decided that is exactly when I should call," she says. "I am professional and sensitive to the situation, and I make it clear that I am calling because I understand their situation and I think I can help them save money." While this approach is somewhat dangerous, it has helped her open a solid number of new accounts in the past 6 months.

A New Era of Uncertainty for Salespeople

First a reality check. Yes, times are tough for many people. And times may get tougher for many more. But it is not true that we are facing the “worst economic crisis since the great depression” as some of our political and business leaders are fond of saying. What we are facing is a difficult, uncertain economic environment, exacerbated by other global uncertainties. And the reason it feels like the worst financial crisis ever is because we are coming off of an extraordinary period of stability and prosperity. Many who have been selling for 12 years or less have never experienced a downturn like this. So for them, this is the worst they have experienced.

Perception is reality, and sometimes a self-fulfilling prophecy. In our interdependent, rapidly changing world, there are many uncertainties beyond our direct control:

• Global competition, both in business and geopolitics.
• Highly contentious national and local politics
• Climate change (whatever the cause) and diminishing natural resources
• Changes in our particular industries ranging from new competitors to new inventions
• Changes in our particular organizations ranging from downsizing to restructuring, to new leadership, to new people on the team.

So in the midst of all this uncertainty, where does an individual salesperson stand? Since this blog is dedicated to helping salespeople drive sales growth when times are tough, this is an important issue to address.

Stand Together and Stand Alone

During tough times it is important to have a solid support structure of family, friends and coworkers. But it is equally important that you stand alone; rely on your inner strength, don ‘t let the hysteria of the mass media affect your mental or emotional state, set bold and aggressive goals, then set about achieving them.

But how can we plan in the midst of such uncertainty? And how can we build if we cannot make plans? How can we set aggressive goals when we can ‘t even meet our minimal sales objectives? I don ‘t have a clear answer, but I know that this is our only option. Face into the chasm of doubt, create a plan and execute. Adjust instantly as circumstances change, and keep moving forward. 

More specifically, here are a few guidelines to help individual salespeople and sales organizations navigate through these troubled times:

Sales organizations must be ultra-flexible. During times like these, everyone gets to see what your real organizational values are, so the first step is deciding what will not change under any circumstances: What are the essential components of your sales organization ‘s values, mission, and identity? Don‘t be too high-minded unless you ‘re truly willing to live up to the soaring rhetoric.

Step two is evaluating everything within your organization for its change-readiness.

Step three is being vigilant about building change-capability throughout your sales organization: Make the necessary adjustments and reversals in policies; create new systems, practices, and competencies; discard anything and everything that doesn ‘t drive optimal performance within your sales organization.

 Step four is transforming sales organization around your high-performers. Build structure, processes and culture that works for them, not for the average masses.

Salespeople must be totally self-reliant. Don ‘t expect anything from anyone. You alone will create your destiny in this environment. So you have to learn. Grow. Develop new skills. Try new approaches. Work every day to adjust your sales approach based upon what the market is telling you. Every sale will be harder, and when you lose a sale sit will be easier to blame the economy. Don ‘t. Take full responsibility for every last sale. Not to beat yourself up, but to keep yourself mentally engaged. The moment you blame some outside force for losing the sale you stop working to “crack the code” on how you might have done things differently to win the business. You stop learning from that particular experience.=

 Your job is to make it happen, no matter what. You are the elite soldier on the front lines of the battle, and it doesn ‘t matter if the enemy has better weapons. Your job is to win. So fend for yourself aggressively. Stay fit and healthy. Sell every day. Keep your options open. Make no apologies.

 Sales managers must negotiate the competing interests of the organization and high-performing salespeople. It is the manager on the front lines who must roll up his or her sleeves and do the hard work of driving sales productivity and quality: Keep the talent pipeline full and then recruit and select the best talent for every position at every level. Get new people on board and up to speed very quickly. Identify and develop the best people and draw them into the organization ‘s core group. Coach, cajole, bargain, inspire, motivate, and reward. Engage in personal retention planning in order to keep the best people-one person at a time, one day at a time.

 Understand and accept that your role is difficult ; plenty of accountability, but probably not enough resources to ensure you can achieve your objectives. You have to figure out creative and innovative ways to make things happen while pushing uphill against corporate lethargy and trying to manage high-performing salespeople, who by their nature are unmanageable. But you do it because when you manage to orchestrate everything properly, it is a thing of beauty and you are able to drive amazing levels of sales productivity, even during tough times.

Why Should I Buy Now?

With an economy that is contracting and prospects for a near-term recovery diminishing, the ultimate question most of your clients and customers are asking themselves is “why should I buy anything right now?” And unless they have an immediate tangible answer to this question, they are not spending a dollar. They are putting all non-essential purchasing on hold, locking down budgets and closing their wallets or purses (either literally or metaphorically). And when they do have an essentially need, they are negotiating tougher than ever, knowing they need to squeeze as much value as possible from every dollar they spend.

It has always been an important role of the professional salesperson to provide buyers with compelling reasons to make a decision. And in today’s economy, this role is more important than ever. But to do this effectively in a down economy, a salesperson has to understand that the customer’s buying psychology has changed. A year ago, a salesperson may have been able to be successful emphasizing long-term benefits (or cost savings) of a product or service, and other factors such as:

• Higher quality
  
• Better service
  
• Pride of ownership
  
• Lower end-to-end (long term) cost

While these types of benefits are certainly still valid, they are usually not enough to drive a purchase forward in today’s down economy. Because clients and customers are in a defensive, protective and paranoid mode. So the benefits you are emphasizing need to speak directly to their fears. Here are the types of benefits that are resonating today:

• Save money now
  
• Reduce risk
  
• Improve job security
  
• Take advantage of the economic downturn

These four benefits are the strongest drivers of buying behavior in today’s economy.  A fifth compelling driver is to reduce stress, however it is not usually effective on its own. You need to combine it with one of the other four primary drivers in order to be effective. Here is a real world example of how shifting the benefits emphasis during a sales presentation has helped salespeople drive sales growth recently.

Business-to-Business Example

Roberta Hastings sells photocopiers and other office machines. She has been among the top salespeople for her company during the past 5 years. Her products are not the cheapest in the market ; in fact, they are among the most expensive. But they also incorporate the latest technology and productivity-enhancing features. One of the keys of her success has been her ability to work with business managers and purchasing agents to show them how her products improve employee productivity and job satisfaction while reducing long-term costs with regular preventative maintenance. She does a careful needs analysis and then links the client’s needs to these benefits.

However, Roberta admits that her approach began falling flat with business managers about six months ago. “They were still nodding their heads and agreeing with me,” she says, “but they were not executing purchase orders. I knew something was wrong, and at first my approach was to sell harder. I dialed up my presentation and emphasized those benefits even more. But the bottom line is that they just weren’t buying.”

Roberta could have easily convinced herself that with a tough economy, she would just have to accept that her business was going to shrink. Even her sales manager began talking in sales meetings about “just doing enough to survive and stay above water” until the economy turned around. But Roberta didn’t want to just survive. In fact she had recently purchased a new home and had planned on increasing her commissions by at least 10% in order to easily pay the mortgage. She tried a lot of new ideas and approaches over the course of several months, most of which did not change a thing. She did prospect more, so she had more leads in her pipeline, but she was still struggling with actually closing deals.

Then one afternoon she was making a presentation to a prospective client, and the purchasing agent seemed agitated. He was impatient not especially interested in her “pitch” as he called it. And finally eh interrupted he and said “Look, you seem like a nice lady. But I’m not interested in long-term efficiency right now. I’m interested in saving money now. Today.  And saving my own job. Period.  You got anything in your PowerPoint slides about that?” She didn’t.

As she was driving away, Roberta played through the presentation in her mind. As rude and abrasive as he had been, the purchasing agent also had given her a gift. His blunt words stuck with her. She went back to her office and re-engineered her sales presentation by asking and answering the following questions:

• For the customer who needs to save money today, what do I have?
• For the customer who is worried about his own job, what is my recommendation?
• For the customer who has a tight budget and is worried about the economy, why should he buy today?

She didn’t have immediate answers to these questions. But her sales manager agreed to discuss them at the next sales meeting, where the entire sales team brainstormed specific ideas and messages. They came up with a value proposition that focused on immediate savings, and built a presentation around short-term benefits. Here are some of the benefits she now presents to her clients and prospects:

• “In a tough economy like this there are always companies that need to cancel their equipment leases, even though there is a significant financial penalty. We end up with almost-new equipment being returned, which has a much lower cost structure for us. And if your company is in a position to make a purchase, you can end up with a significant cost savings as we pass that lower cost structure on to you.”

• “If your company is absolutely committed to no additional purchasing for the near term, it might make sense for us to enhance the preventative maintenance agreement so that we can make sure your older machines don’t break down. This would prevent you from getting into a stressful situation where a machine breaks down and you don’t have the budget to repair or replace it.”
• “Because the economy is so tight, we are offering an amazing financing option that will save you money, get you the best maintenance agreement at no additional cost, and ensure that you are able to operate effectively through the downturn, while keeping your costs down.”

Of course just adjusting the sales message doesn’t guarantee closing the sale. And Roberta’s numbers are down slightly from a year ago. But they are significantly up from where she was before she adjusted her messaging. Now she no longer avoids talking about the economy with her clients., She embraces it.

This is what they are thinking about anyway. So she draws out their fears and concerns, then positions her products and services as a direct answer to those fears and concerns. While this is really just basic consultative selling, the challenge many salespeople have is that they got into a cetain pattern of communication that worked for them when the market was up, and they haven’t yet recognized that this pattern of communication is now hurting them when the market is down.

So the final recommendation is this ; ask yourself what you customer’s greatest concerns and fears are, then develop sales messaging that speaks directly to them.

Creating Growth During Tough Times

During the economic free-for-all of the past 12-14 months, many companies consider themselves successful if the "open" sign still glows. But undoubtedly, conditions will improve just as they historically have, and it will be those companies who seize the opportunities inherent in the current conditions, and position themselves for future growth, that will dominate their markets in the future.

Two core strategies can help position your organization for growth now and in the future.

1. Close the back door - retain your current business.

Retain your current employees - especially those who are most productive. Employee turnover losses can cost a company more than $100,000 per mid-level employee when costs such as recruiting, interviewing, hiring, training, and lost production are calculated.

Retain traditions and culture - the essence of what made you who you are today.  There are many key reasons why a company is successful, and often it's the core values, company culture, and other differentiators that are undoubtedly important, yet don't appear in a product catalog.

Retain retain your customers. It's much easier and more cost effective to retain a customer than win a new one. Additionally, the longer you keep your customers, the more you set their expectations and cement your company's image as an industry leader.

Research shows that it's five to six times more costly to gain a new customer than retain an existing one, making it absolutely critical to retain customer during a recession.

Remember that outside of a quality product or service that's delivered on time, the single most impacting tactic you can employ to retain customers is to reinforce your company's position, along with the sound business reasons why the customer chose - and is continuing to choose - doing business with your company.

2. Open the Front Door; Develop and Grow.

Develop your employee's knowledge and skills. Help them become more effective at what they do. Provide every employee with training specific to his or her position. Gain new people that bring talents that don't exist today. Partnering the talents and ideas of 'fresh thinkers' with your proven talent is a solid success principle.

Grow the number or products and services you provide customers -  As you serve your customers, you can partner with them to fill their needs. And as you move closer to partners than suppliers, you can add even more value by anticipating your customers needs before they even realize them, and then filling those needs as a course of your service. Such forward thinking and a customer-first approach makes you a highly-prized consultant - and partner - one not easily let go.

Grow your top line - This might be the most challenging of the recommendations, but it can be highly impacting. What typically happens during tough economic times is that company's become misers, and focus solely on protecting the bottom line. The true leaders will view such tactics by competitors as an opportunity, and invest in their company's ability to exploit the economic upturn when it assuredly occurs.

Gain new ideas for products, services and offerings that don't exist today by engaging your customers. Your company should always be anticipating your customers' needs and asking each directly, "What else could we do to help you achieve your objectives?"

Accordingly, anything that a company can do to retain their people, grow their knowledge, and gain new people, the more likely they are to have stronger relationships with their customers and become an industry leader.

5 Essential Negotiation Principles for a Tough Economy

The way that you conduct yourself in a negotiation can dramatically the outcome, and there are 5 essential principles you should remember. These principles are always at work for you and will help you smoothly get what you want.

1. Get the Other Side to Commit First. Top negotiators know that you're usually better off if you can get the other side to commit to a position first. Several reasons are obvious:

• Their first offer may be much better than you expected.
• It gives you information about them before you have to tell them anything.
• It enables you to bracket their proposal - present a counter-proposal which creates a "middle ground" that happens to be exactly what you ultimately want.

If they state a price first, you can bracket them, so if you end up splitting the difference, you'll get what you want. If they can get you to commit first, they can then bracket your proposal. Then if you end up splitting the difference, they get what they wanted. The less you know about the other side or the proposition that you're negotiating, the more important the principle of not going first becomes.

If both sides of a negotiation have learned that they shouldn't go first, you can't sit there forever with both sides refusing to put a number on the table, but as a rule you should always find out what the other side wants to do first.

2. Act Dumb, Not Smart. To effective negotiators, smart is dumb and dumb is smart. When you are negotiating, you're better off acting as if you know less than everybody else does, not more. The dumber you act, the better off you are unless your apparent I.Q. sinks to a point where you lack any credibility.

There is a good reason for this. With a few rare exceptions, human beings tend to help people that they see as less intelligent or informed, rather than taking advantage of them.

Of course there are a few ruthless people out there who will try to take advantage of weak people, but most people want to compete with people they see as brighter and help people they see as less bright. So, the reason for acting dumb is that it diffuses the competitive spirit of the other side. How can you fight with someone who is asking you to help them negotiate with you? How can you carry on any type of competitive banter with a person who says, "I don't know, what do you think?" Most people, when faced with this situation, feel sorry for the other person and go out of their way to help him or her.

Do you remember the TV show Columbo? Peter Falk played a detective who walked around in an old raincoat and a mental fog, chewing on an old cigar butt. He constantly wore an expression that suggested he had just misplaced something and couldn't remember what it was, let alone where he had left it. In fact, his success was directly attributable to how smart he was-by acting dumb. His demeanor was so disarming that the murderers came close to wanting him to solve his cases because he appeared to be so helpless.

The negotiators who let their egos take control of them and come across as a sharp, sophisticated negotiator commit to several things that work against them in a negotiation. These include being the following:

• A fast decision-maker who doesn't need time to think things over.
• Someone who would not have to check with anyone else before going ahead.
• Someone who doesn't have to consult with experts before committing.
• Someone who would never stoop to pleading for a concession.
• Someone who would never be overridden by a supervisor.
• Someone who doesn't have to keep extensive notes about the progress of the negotiation and refer to them frequently.

The highly effective negotiator who understands the importance of acting dumb retains these options:

• Requesting time to think it over so that he or she can thoroughly think through the dangers of accepting or the opportunities that making additional demands might bring.
• Deferring a decision while he or she checks with a committee or board of directors.
• Asking for time to let legal or technical experts review the proposal.
• Pleading for additional concessions.
• Using Good Guy/Bad Guy to put pressure on the other side without confrontation.
• Taking time to think under the guise of reviewing notes about the negotiation.

Warning: Be careful that you're not acting dumb in your area of expertise. If you're a heart surgeon, don't say, "I'm not sure if you need a triple by-pass or if a double by-pass will do." If you're an architect, don't say, "I don't know if this building will stand up or not."

Win-win negotiating depends on the willingness of each side to be truly empathetic to the other side's position. That's not going to happen if both sides continue to compete with each other. Effective negotiators know that acting dumb diffuses that competitive spirit and opens the door to win-win solutions.

3. Think in Real Money Terms but Talk Funny Money. There are all kinds of ways of describing the price of something. If you went to the Boeing Aircraft Company and asked them what it costs to fly a 747 coast to coast, they wouldn't tell you "Fifty-two thousand dollars." They would tell you eleven cents per passenger mile. Salespeople call that breaking it down to the ridiculous.

Haven't we all had a real estate salesperson say to us at one time or another, "Do you realize you're talking 35=C2=A2 a day here? You're not going to let 35=C2=A2 a day stand between you and your dream home are you?" It probably didn't occur to you that 35=C2=A2 a day over the 30-year life of a real estate mortgage is more than $7,000.

Effective negotiators think in real money terms. When that supplier tells you about a 5=C2=A2 increase on an item, it may not seem important enough to spend much time on. Until you start thinking of how many of those items you buy during a year. Then you find that there's enough money sitting on the table to make it well worth your while to negotiate.

Here are some other examples of funny money:

• Interest rates expressed as a percentage rather than a dollar amount.
• The amount of the monthly payments being emphasized rather than the true cost of the item.
• Cost per brick, tile, or square foot rather than the total cost of materials.
• An hourly increase in pay per person rather than the annual cost of the increase to the company.
• Insurance premiums as a monthly amount rather than an annual cost.
• The price of land expressed as the monthly payment.

Businesses know that if you're not having to pull real money out of your purse or pocket, you're inclined to spend more. It's why casinos the world over have you convert your real money to gaming chips. It's why restaurants are happy to let you use a credit card although they have to pay a percentage to the credit card company.

So, when you're negotiating break the investment down to the ridiculous because it does sound like less money, but learn to think in real money terms. Don't let people use the Funny Money Gambit on you.

4. Concentrate on the Issues. Effective negotiators know that they should always concentrate on the issues and not be distracted by the actions of the other negotiators.

Have you ever watched tennis on television and seen a highly emotional star like John McEnroe jumping up and down at the other end of the court. You wonder to yourself, "How on Earth can anybody play tennis against somebody like that? It's such a game of concentration, it doesn't seem fair."

The answer is that good tennis players understand that only one thing affects the outcome of the game of tennis. That's the movement of the ball across the net. What the other player is doing doesn't affect the outcome of the game at all, as long as you know what the ball is doing. So in that way, tennis players learn to concentrate on the ball, not on the other person.

When you're negotiating, the ball is the movement of the goal concessions across the negotiating table. It's the only thing that affects the outcome of the game; but it's so easy to be thrown off by what the other people are doing, isn't it?

Effective negotiators concentrate on the issues, not on the personalities.

You should always be thinking, "Where are we now, compared to where we were an hour ago or yesterday or last week?"

Secretary of State Warren Christopher said, "It's okay to get upset when you're negotiating, as long as you're in control, and you're doing it as a specific negotiating tactic." It's when you're upset and out of control that you always lose.

That's why salespeople will have this happen to them. They lose an account. They take it into their sales manager, and they say, "Well, we lost this one. Don't waste any time trying to save it. I did everything I could. If anybody could have saved it, I would have saved it."

So, the sales manager says, "Well, just as a public relations gesture, let me give the other side a call anyway." The sales manager can hold it together, not necessarily because he's any brighter or sharper than the salesperson, but because he hasn't become emotionally involved with the people the way the salesperson has. Don't do that. Learn to concentrate on the issues.

5. Always Congratulate The Other Side. When you're through negotiating, you should always congratulate the other side. However poorly you think the other person may have done in the negotiations, congratulate them. Say, "Wow-did you do a fantastic job negotiating that. I realize that I didn't get as good a deal as I could have done, but frankly, it was worth it because I learned so much about negotiating. You were brilliant." You want the other person to feel that he or she won in the negotiations.

Don't think of this as being disingenuous or manipulative. Look upon it as the ultimate in courtesy for the conqueror to congratulate the vanquished.

When the British army and navy went down the Atlantic to recapture the Falkland Islands from the Argentineans, it was quite a rout. Within a few days, the Argentine navy lost most of its ships and the victory for the English was absolute. The evening after the Argentinean admiral surrendered, the English admiral invited him on board to dine with his officers and congratulated him on a splendid campaign.

Effective negotiators always want the other parties thinking that they won in the negotiations. It starts by asking for more than you expect to get. It continues through all of the other tactics that are designed to service the perception that they're winning. It ends with congratulating the other side.
If you let these five principles guide your conduct when you're negotiating, they will serve you well and help you become a highly effective negotiator.