If you want to be successful in sales you know what you need to do.   

• Find out what the customer wants. 
• Create a high value proposition for the customer. 
• Give the customer what they want. 

Step one is what trips up most sales people.

Why?

They never find out what they customer REALLY wants.

We are so focused on selling what we need to sell and making our numbers that we fail to do the things that will help us truly deeply understand our customers.  We need to engage them in a robust dialogue.

These days it’s hard to get a meeting so when you do, you’d better be prepared to engage.   Ask questions that take the conversation to a deep level, and tell stories that provide context for and enlighten the customer about how to work with you. 

When I say engage, I mean meaningful engagement. Telling jokes and asking people about their families is not selling.  It’s a first step to building rapport.  The next step is to engage the economic buyer in a  meaningful conversation about business. Ask the right questions and relate stories that show them how you can provide value.   

Let’s talk about stories.

I’m just back from the sales conference for a Fortune 100 company where I talked about engaging the customer in a dialogue and increasing sales through stories. Share a story about a solution you created for another customer and watch their eyes light up.  If it is relevant, applicable, predictive and true, believe me they’ll be all ears.

Here’s the formula again:  R.A.P.T. stands for:

Relevant - this sounds something like the challenge I face

Applicable - it may not be the same business or industry but the issues apply to my business too

Predictive - I see how that solution worked and it would work for us, as well

True - this isn’t just sales talk; I believe it really happened.

Once you have a story that passes the R.A.P.T. test what do you do with it? 

OPEN THE DOOR WITH A STORY:

Start the meeting with a story that immediately engages the prospect and demonstrates what you might do for them.  The well told story will lead to comments about their own situation.  This gives you permissino to ask probing questions that a few minutes earlier might have felt intrusive. The story establishes your credibility, creates trust, and opens up a dialogue to real client issues.   

CLOSE THE SALE

Rounding the corner during a meeting that’s going well is a perfect time to tell a story.  If they’re interested but on the fence, a story is worth a thousand bullet points on features and benefits.  Once they hear the story, and believe it’s true, they’re remember the story, and remember you.  That’s the great differentiator.  Now you have them thinking not just “this might work,” to “I believe it will work.”   

For the first time ever, we’re going to offer our Storytelling for Sales Professionals workshop to the public in 2010.  Up to now it’s only been available to our corporate clients.  If you want to know when we’ve finalized the date and location please contact Jay Ryan, Marketing Director: jryan@bates-communications.com or 781 235-8239.

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How many times have you listened to a sales presentation and wondered, is that story true?  Guess what.  Your instincts are probably right.  Most of us have radar when it comes to integrity.  We don’t know why we know what we know, but we still know.

Yet this should not prevent you from including stories in sales presentations.  Stories are a powerful tool.  Make a point through the experiences of your clients and customers and you can usually close the sale.   People don’t just buy data; they buy through the eyes and experiences of people like them.    

So great sales people know how to incorporate stories in their presentations and sales leaders encourage them to do so.  In a couple of weeks I’ll be giving a workshop on storytelling for sales people.  I was thinking about how to explain why some sales stories work and others don’t.  Here’s the formula:

T.R.A.P.

Truth:  Make sure your story is true.  See above.  People know when you’re stretching, straining or straddling.

Relevant: The story should have parallels to the clients current condition.  If not you may spin a good yarn but it will unravel quickly.

Applicable: The resolution to the story must show the client how he or she can use the product or service immediately to make an impact on their lives or their business

Predictive:  The story should explain clearly how it worked for someone else and offer proof that it will work for your prospect too.

This what you should hear a prospect “thinking” if your story passes T.R.A.P.

True: “This isn’t just sales talk, it rings true and I believe it happened.”

Relevant: “I can see clearly how this correlates to me and my company.”

Applicable: “This answers a key challenge in our company.  I see the benefit.”

Predictive: “I see how it worked in that case and I know what it could do for me.”

I’ll be gathering ideas at this sales conference to help sales leaders prepare their teams to deliver outstanding presentations.  Stay tuned.  And if you’d like to offer your suggestions on great sales presentations I’d like to hear from you.  Simply click on leave a reply. 

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Today I had my monthly meeting with a group of women entrepreneurs and I have to say this is a dynamic group.  While some are obviously having to manage through a difficult year, we decided that compared to the once big-three automakers, the shortfalls look like chump change.

You do have to laugh — especially in stressful times — and you also have to share.  That’s why we decided to talk about  “what works” when communicating with clients and prospects.  And we were able to generate a great list of ideas which you’ll find below.

You may recall a  few weeks ago, I gave a one-hour teleseminar on The Power of Adversity, Communicating with Clients and Prospects in Challenging Times.  This is part of our new sales success series.  It’s available now on CD and in a booklet.

I thought I would share the list of “what works” from this dynamic group.  We’re interested in hearing from you, too.  What’s working in your outreach right now?  What do people respond best to?

If you’re interested in purchasing the brand new booklet/CD program, The Power of Adversity, Communicating with Clients and Prospects in Challenging Times, please click here, or, if you don’t find it in the store (it should be posted soon) contact Shellie Dunlap: sdunlap@bates-communications.com

Here’s that list of “Best Practices” from my entrepreneur friends.  Enjoy!

1.  Make the call- you never know what’s really going on or why you haven’t heard from people - and they appreciate hearing from you

2.  Don’t assume you know what’s happening with any client - because half the time you will be wrong.

3.  Reframe the conversation - if you’re positive, they’ll be more positive and that gives you an opening to talk about how you can help them achieve their goals and solve immediate problems.

4.  Market aggressively without alienating people (if you get unsubscribes to your newsletter from people who you want to subscribe, that’s a clue )

5.  Make sure your marketing is content driven - write articles and provide real value.  Nobody cares about the news about your business - save it for your family and friends.

6.  Know your value in terms of how the customer thinks of you and offer what you can at “no charge” - use your brain and solve their problems!  That builds relationships!

7. Put an actionable item at the end of your newsletter - then you’ll know whether people are reading and test what works.

8. If you receive a PR leadds feed, scope it for leads your clients could use, and copy and paste into an email 

9. Handwritten notes - they are still special

10. Take people out (breakfast, lunch, drinks after work–whatever works in your industry–you need to be face to face with people –you learn so much more.

11. Go to see your clients at their place of business- you get a real sense of what’s going on in their business, how they like to work, interact with people.  And they really appreciate it when you go out of your way for them.

12. Keep track of the A-list people - those you want as clients, or have as clients.  Set aside an hour a week to comb the newspapers, cut out articles about them, clip a brief note and mail them out.

13. Take work off your staff’s desk - and make the call yourself- it makes clients feel special when they hear from you!

14. Listen and learn about their personal interest - mail them a magazine or article about skiing, golf, whatever they like to do

15. Track google alerts on your clients - it’s great “intel” and when there is good news you can be the first to congratulate them!

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