When it comes to sales, relationships trump everything else. But today the reality is prospective customers already have established relationships with partners and vendors. So how do we get the opportunity to establish the same kind of relationship our competitors already have with our prospects so they can benefit from our offerings? What are your attractive qualities that will get their attention in order to see the value you have to offer? Having great products and services and representing a world class company help, but why are some sales people in the organization successful while others aren't?

To build successful sales relationships, there are 3 critical components: expertise, enthusiasm and empathy, all of which lay the foundation for the even more critical component, trust. Unfortunately any of these 3 individually or any combination of 2 won't make much of an impact. It's the three legged stool approach that really works - if one is lacking the stool won't stand.
Let's look at how customers define expertise. How knowledgeable are you not only with your products and services, but with your customer's business, their industry and the challenges they're facing? How involved are you in their business? Can they turn to you for advice when it comes to future trends? Have you written any articles that have been published in their business trade publications? Have you given any speeches at conventions or tradeshows in their line of business? Do you understand the economic trends that impact their future? When a customer has a critical problem and they need advice, do they call you to provide valuable information that meets their need? If you can answer yes to any of these questions, you're most likely viewed as an expert. Customer's value business and industry expertise more than sales technique.

How about your enthusiasm? When I think of enthusiasm I think of the donkey in the movie Shrek. Constantly jumping up and down screaming pick me, pick me! Customers are attracted to sales professionals that are enthusiastic about them, their business and solving their problems. Enthusiasm equates to high energy and hustle. Hustle leads to strong follow through which earns you the right to their business. Customers are attracted to sales people who are passionate about what they do and obviously enjoy the profession of sales.

The last point that customers are concerned about is empathy. Empathy is the emotional appreciation of someone's feelings and yes, customers have feelings. Empathy is displaying curiosity about what is important to the other person. It leads to better listening which leads to more focused questions about the customer and their business. It touches the subjective side of the customer which can be the reason they decide to go with you and not your competitor! Expertise focuses on the customer's objective side, while empathy touches the subjective. Customers make decisions based on objective and subjective criteria. We need to remember that customers make decisions based on emotion and then justify it with logic. Empathy can very well close the deal when the customer sees who cares most about their business and their success.

What do customers really want, really? A sales professional that has expertise, enthusiasm and empathy. It shows the customer they have character and competence which builds the foundation of trust and that's what customers really want, really!

Look at your sales process and make plans today to integrate the benefits of expertise, enthusiasm and empathy.

Good selling!

If you take a look at the differentiating factor when it comes to winning new business, you will find that people always trumps process. Customers buy from sales professionals that take the time to build a long term relationship. I define that as a relationship that is based on solving their issues and delivering value. All customers know the difference between being sold to and having someone truly understand their issues and how they can best be solved.

When you are looking to recruit "A" players to your sales team, what are you looking for? Is it experience in your specific field; is it a great database of contacts, someone with a great track record and references? More specifically, what talents are needed to be successful in your sales environment? You know there are many responsibilities in a sales position. You will typically expect the sales person to do all of them including: prospecting (networking, cold calling, developing sales campaigns), presentations, proposals, qualifying the prospect, knowing the competition, overseeing the response to a request for proposal, handling objections, gathering the right resources, closing, account management and post sales support. Whew! While the sales person is the primary interface with the customer and acts as the team quarterback, many times they are treated as the water boy! Is it really possible to be good at all of these? No, yet all sales managers expect it.

Another question that needs to be addressed is what are the characteristics of your sales environment? Is it long sales cycle or short; are there multiple decisions makers or just one or two? Does the sales person need to be better at asking questions or presenting? You probably know the answers to these questions, but are you hiring the right talent for your environment?

Knowing the sales skills needed is a critical start, but as stated earlier, people trumps process which means we need to assess three key characteristics that "A" players bring to your sales team.

- First and foremost is relationship development. Customers buy from people they are comfortable with. So when you are interviewing a sales candidate put yourself in the shoes of a customer and ask yourself how attentive the person is to what you are trying to accomplish. Are they affable and would you take the time to develop a relationship with them. Do they appear to be trustworthy and sincere when addressing your goals and needs - that's what every decision maker will be evaluating. Bottom line: are they focused on you?

- Second are they flexible? Are they open to new ideas and are they creative? Do they go with the flow of the conversation and balance asking questions with presenting their views? Are they displaying confidence when they bring up possible solutions to your goals and needs? How do they handle objections? Are they defensive or do they welcome customer concerns to better understand what's really going on in their mind?

- Third point is, would you take their advice? Many sales professionals make recommendations but not all customers take them. Why? Because they haven't proven their credibility. This can occur if there is pressure from the sales person to move the sales cycle along not understanding that it's not their cycle but the buyer's cycle that matters. We take advice from those we trust. Trust comes down to character and competence. We usually have no problem taking advice from someone we know is trustworthy and knows their business. Think about this, if a sales person gave you three options to choose from and they asked you which one you thought was best, I would say your fired! You should be telling me which is best for me since you're the expert!

If you want to build an all star team, hire "A" team players. Understanding what your sales process and environment needs, and then finding the right match will get you over the goal line much more often.

Good selling!

Many sales training programs miss the mark since it's all about the company, their products and services and cookie cutter sales methodologies are taught without considering the specific sales environment. Is it a long sales cycle or short? Multiple decision makers or one? Complex solutions that span across the entire company or point solutions? How does this impact what our approach should be?

You can't convey your value until you understand the real needs of the customer. When sales people lead with their solution all they can convey is product features. Features will lead to the same customer response every time "how much does it cost"? When opportunities are lost from the sales person's pipeline, they'll repeatedly hear the same reason - either wrong product or wrong price. Or as Michael Bosworth says, "Warning! Objects in the forecast may be further away and smaller than they appear." This is what's called being product or solution focused. Leading from our perspective and what the company has trained us to do. The close dates in the forecast have nothing to do with the buyers' agenda, but correspond to the sellers' agenda. There is a better way- being customer centric.

Let's look at 3 key points that will help you be customer centric. The 1st is to understand the customer from their point of view. We all get excited about how unique our solutions are in the industry and we immediately want to get into presentation mode. Hold off! It should be the last thing we do. First ask the customer to share their goals and objectives. Once you understand those you can eventually ask what challenges they have. It's easier for the customer to share their goals than to admit their problems. Now you can better understand if there's a fit (our solutions that can meet their goals) so that you can convey what they value.

The 2nd point is to ask relevant questions. Qualifying is the easy stuff, but getting to the heart of the matter takes great listening skills and going deep instead of wide. Good questions will even help the customer discover their own reasons for not being able to achieve their goals. If you want better answers from the customer, ask better questions. The goal of the sales person is to guide the customer to what they think the solution should be-hopefully yours!

The 3rd point is to meet the decision maker(s). You cannot sell anything to someone who can't buy. Many years ago I was building a relationship with the Chief Technology Officer of a large firm. We met each week and when it was time to present our proposal, he said he would not be the one making the decision. Shame on me! I'm supposed to be the sales professional. I guess you can say I was more of a "professional visitor". Being customer centric means understanding who will make the decision to buy. The higher up in the chain of command that you call; the chances are your sales cycle will be shorter than starting at the bottom of the totem pole.

Remember that being customer centric defines the buyer's cycle, while being solution centric defines the sales cycle. Customers don't follow the sales person's cycle!

Good selling!

If we want to move up the priority chain with our prospects we must not just convey our value, but create the perception that our products and services are something they can't do without. It has been said that perception is reality. No one ever got fired for buying IBM, so they say. Mark Joyner is the author of The Irresistible Offer and talks about the three necessary components of such an offer. They are a high ROI offer, a touchstone and believability. Let's look at each of these.

A high ROI offer as Mark explains is 90% of the game. Giving the customer more than their money's worth is a high return on investment. To the customer every purchase is an investment. So if your customers are not getting something from you that is perceived as greater in value than the amount they are investing, they are getting a negative return resulting in a short term unsatisfied customer-not good for your credibility! Bad news travels way faster than good news, so you need to not only satisfy our customers but delight them. When your customer is getting great value for the investment your marketing becomes a lot easier.

A touchstone addresses what you are selling, how much it will cost, what's in it for your customer and why they should trust you. What the touchstone says is "here is such a great offer; you would be a fool to pass it up". A touchstone is a very short version with little detail of your value proposition. Like your value proposition, it is tied to your corporate strategy. A touchstone must have the following four key elements to drive home your point.

- Clarity- don't make it hard for the customer to figure out what you're saying.
- Simplicity- it should be a simple statement that your customer can easily understand.
- Brevity- keep it short and sweet with just a few words.
- Immediacy- if your offer is strong enough you don't need to pitch it.

The customer either wants it or not and if they don't, you just saved yourself and the customer a lot of time. The touchstone gives you 75% of the high ROI offer. Mark mentions Domino's that has one of the best touchstones ever created- "Pizza hot and fresh to your door in 30 minutes... or less ... or it's free". In my own company, I use the touchstone - Superior Sales Results - clear, simple, brief & immediate! After all, who doesn't want their sales results to be superior?
The last component is believability. How do you prove to your customer that you can be trusted? It's good to be bold with your statements, but the bolder you are the harder it is to make yourself believable. There needs to be "proof" to gain credibility. There are three types of proof:

- Social proof - testimonials from customers
- Technical proof - the effectiveness of your product or service
- Factual proof - research that shows your value or popularity compared to competitors?

Lastly, believability must be credible - can you be trusted or do you have endorsements from a highly regarded authority who vouches for your product or service? As a process, your customers will first have their interest piqued by your Touchstone that should excite them to dig deeper. Second, they learn to trust you, your products and services because you are Believable - and now they dig deeper still. Finally with your High ROI Offer you show that your touchstone does capture the spirit of what you are offering and you get the sale.

I like the way Mark Joyner provides these simple steps to making irresistible offers. His ideas support my Sales Intelligence System, which is based on the premise that when we understand what our prospects value, we can more effectively serve their needs - we do provide that important touchstone - we are believable and we naturally offer a high ROI.

First, your value proposition needs to be specific. What you uniquely claim that set's you apart from your competition? Everyone talks about increasing revenue, decreasing costs and improving customer retention, but what makes you different. What do you specifically deliver that the customer will see as a benefit to their business? Here is what Dell has put together:

Dell Computers began with a unique value proposition that it would custom build a computer, exactly as and when a customer orders it, and deliver it at a very competitive price, because it's "just in time" system eliminated the cost of overhead and mistakes in calculating demand.
Dells makes their value proposition specific by talking about the uniqueness of their just in time system which has set them apart from their competition by delivering exactly what the customer wants and when at a very competitive price.

The second component of your value proposition needs to be targeted. Who are you addressing? Are you trying to go and inch deep and a mile wide or a mile deep and an inch wide. Can your products and services be for anyone as Wal-Mart touts- Everyday Low Prices? Or are you addressing a very specific market niche like BMW- The Ultimate Driving Machine? As we said early it's all about the specific needs of the customer. Do they have a need for low prices (what they value) or prestige (high price and luxurious as a BMW)? Again, knowing your target audience is critical to your success by understanding it's not about selling your products and services as much as it is about meeting your customer needs.

Other great examples of companies that were targeted in 7up- the uncola, McDonald's-consistency, Avis- we try harder and my favorite is Domino's Pizza-fast delivery in 30 minutes or it's free! There is so much competition in the pizza business that in the Yellow Pages Pizza is its own category set apart from the restaurants, yet Domino's targeted those that wanted their dinner immediately in less than 30 minutes. The funny thing is, in the beginning Domino's tasted like wet cardboard. Getting fast was more important to the customer than good tasting pizza!

The third component of your value proposition is that it must be tied to your company's strategy. You would be surprised at how many companies develop a value proposition without taking into account their strategic direction. Without a clear strategy you cannot define your value proposition. What many companies do is merely a positioning statement which does not convey value in the eyes of the customer. A great example of this is MasterCard. Many years ago their corporate strategy and tagline line was "Accepted Worldwide". The convenience of using your card in Europe 40 years ago was a hassle with many of the credit cards and MasterCard addressed the need for hassle free charges around the world. As time moved on their strategic direction changed as the other credit card companies gained the same capability. Today MasterCard helps you achieve your dreams- "For Everything Else There's MasterCard".
Having a value proposition that is specific, targeted and tied to your company's strategy is critical in capturing your customers.

Customers buy when they perceive that the value outweighs the cost of the investment. There are three components of value; economic, business and personal that all have an impact on the customer's view of the investment.

Economic value is the financial impact of the investment. What will be your return on investment? What will it do for the company financially? Will it cut operational costs, increase inventory turns, increase revenues or cash flow? Economic value is of most importance to the economic buyer - someone who makes decisions based solely on the financial elements of the solution.

Business value is the primary consideration to the user of the solution. What can the investment do for the organization and how can it increase productivity, efficiencies and effectiveness for those that use the solution. Even those sold on this value can meet obstacles when they try to convey the value to the C-suite. In other words the business value needs to be conveyed in economic terms to other involved decisions makers.

Personal value is the third type to be considered. This is more of an intangible value, which answers the question, what will the decision do for me personally? Will I get a promotion, a bonus, peace of mind, or improve my influence with other organizations? Personal value is equally as important as the business and economic, and sometimes can be the determining factor in the decision. Why? We need to understand that in the brain emotions always trump logic. We make decisions based on emotion and then back them up logically. Personal value can only be uncovered when there is trust and a strong relationship with the decision maker. We also need to realize that personal value will be different for each person involved in the decision making process since personality styles influence what is valued.

As sales professionals we need to understand all aspects of value and how they impact each of the decision makers. There is not a "one size fits all" for value. Asking the right questions will help you understand what's most important to the customer.

Here are some example questions that address each type of value:

- What do you consider being the most important benefit of this solution?
- What is the most important financial consideration for this investment?
- What are the benefits of this solution for you personally?

Understanding the importance of customer value is just one element of the Sales Intelligence System. As you master it, you'll want to consider the elements of relationships and how to build trust.

Customers also buy for both business and personal reasons. The business reason is tangible and objective, the "Result." It's to increase productivity, decrease operation expenses, improve market share or their competitive position. The personal reason is the "Win." This is the intangible and subjective result which says what it will do for the decision maker. Will it give them peace of mind, a promotion or a bonus? Both business and personal reasons drive the decision, but understanding which reason might move the customer to decide is key.

In Rick Page's book "Hope Is Not A Strategy" it says this about pain. "Pain doesn't come from the business problem; pain comes from the political embarrassment of the business problem." I believe this is so true. Customers don't make decisions until the pain hurts to a point that it must be alleviated, which includes their own embarrassment for not taking action. Pain needs to be heightened from both the business and personal perspective. We need to explore with the customer which need is hurting the most. Pain is a present existing condition, which is easier to address than exploring potential gains, which is a promise in the future. Rick also says that to create a sense of urgency to close business, we must creatively take the invisible costs and make them visible and politically painful. In other words we must put a price on the customer's procrastination. Giving out more price cuts or discounts doesn't create a sense of urgency to buy unless it's for a stereo system on sale just for the day! With complex sales situations emotional issues usually override cost justifications.

I agree with Rick Page that emotional and political problems drive buying activity more than logical ones. That's why we scratch our heads when our pipeline forecasts look like a cloudy weather report. Customers make decisions emotionally and back them up with logic to justify their decisions. Our goal then is to ask the key questions that get to the heart of the decision maker and build trust and confidence leading to a long term consultative relationship. We need to be a partner to the customer and not a vendor. Vendors sell hot dogs. When we become a trusted partner the promise of the "gain" in our solution becomes a reality to the customer based on their confidence and our track record to deliver.

We should always prepare questions prior to our meeting with a customer which can gain us credibility and earn us the right to continue down the path to winning the sale. Most sales people don't ask the tough questions since it will ruin a perfectly good forecast. Some example questions that I like to use to engage the customer are:

- How have these issues impacted your business?
- What are the critical success factors you expect from the solution?
- What is most important to you for this project?
- What other impacts might this problem have on your business?
- What do you see as the benefits in solving the problem?
- For you personally what's most important?

These are some examples of some pain and gain questions that can help us to dig deeper into the real issues the customer is facing from both a business and personal perspective. Asking our customers better questions gives us better answers and a leg up on our competition.
Good selling!

Whether we are looking to win new business with new companies or build our existing customer base there are three musts for sales success in the future. The first one is to have a mindset of building long term business relations. In other words if we want to develop a customer for the future we must be strategic based on their long term needs and not for the immediate sale. The first sale should be the start to gaining credibility, trust and respect as we move forward and prove ourselves over time. Proving ourselves starts with the customer's needs and not ours. We need to understand that even though a customer is asking for a specific solution it is based on two needs-business and personal. When more than two decision makers are involved we need to understand that their individual personal needs can be quite different. So how do we find them out?

Finding out all the needs of the decision makers comes down to the second must which is asking critical questions. Asking questions that go deep makes the difference. Presenting a solution in the beginning of a sales cycle is solution suicide. You don't know what they need until you get all the information. In other words you need to be strategic in the questions you ask. We need a plan that shows the customer we are more concerned in understanding their needs than selling our products and services. If you want better answers from the customer-ask better questions!

The third must which is the result of asking critical questions is-differentiate or die! This happens to be one of the titles of Jack Trout's books. If we don't differentiate ourselves from all the options the customer has, we'll lose every time. If we can differentiate our solutions based on asking excellent questions, we can propose a solution that will more closely meet the needs of the customer. Each time we obtain a critical piece of information it can put us a step ahead of our competitors and earn us the right to come back and ask more. Decision makers respect sales professionals that ask the tough questions. Proposing the right solution is directly proportional to better performance thus leading to repeat business. Remember that products don't develop relationships, people do. You the sales professional make the difference in a world customers have many options.

If you want this next year to be your personal best, have the mindset of building long term relationships, prepare and ask the critical questions and remember we must differentiate or die! Sales is such and exhilarating profession where you the sales person makes all the difference in the world to the customer. We are the quarterbacks, the first person the customer always calls when there is a need. What a privilege we have to nurture and help our customers to improve their business environment!

- Emotional Intelligence account for 58% of performance in all job types
- 90% of high performers have high emotional intelligence
- Only 36% of people can identify emotions as they happen
- The brain is hardwired to give emotions the upper hand over logic

If this is the case then being aware of what's going on in a sales meeting emotionally is critical for success in moving the sales process forward. People buy based on their emotions and then justify their decision with logic, which means we need to connect emotionally with our prospects and customers. People buy from people who take the time to build a relationship. Sales people that are good at building relationships understand what the customer needs, what they value and what's important to them in the long term. It's all about putting the customer first and truly caring for their interests and not about prioritizing the sale of your products and services. The sale is the by-product of successfully building a trusting relationship. So when it comes to the initial meeting with a prospect what should we focus on to improve our social awareness?
I believe there are two points to consider that can improve our social awareness in a sales meeting. First is to be clear on your intentions for the meeting. It's not about trying to make a sale, it's about looking for the opportunity to show the prospect you are interested in them and how you can potentially add value to their business initiatives. What expectations can you set at the start of the meeting that will get them to see you are interested in helping solve their challenges or achieve their goals? As an example, "What I'd like to do during our time together is understand your objectives as it relates to your operation to see if our company might be of value in helping you accomplish them."

The second point is attentiveness. Be aware of both your energy level and that of the prospect. Enthusiasm is contagious and the customer will be more apt to listen if you are excited about the opportunity to support them. Selling is the transfer of enthusiasm and their energy level will be influenced by ours. One thing we must be aware of is not just our outward energy but our inward attentiveness to how they are interacting and that we are intently listening to what they are saying. A customer can tell whether or not you are tuned into what they are saying. An important characteristic of attentiveness is eye contact. Maintaining consistent eye contact with the prospect will help you to see that they are engaged with your conversation. Ask questions that are pertinent to the conversation. Maintain a dialogue where the prospect is doing more than 50% of the talking. The result will help you to determine if the prospect is positive, negative or indifferent towards the conversation and then you can adjust accordingly.

When prospects clearly see that our intention is to add value and support their goals and objectives they will be open and willing to converse. When they see that you are truly attentive to hearing what they have to say and you're asking impactful questions, your chances of getting the next meeting drastically improves. Remember selling is all about people wanting to do business with people they enjoy and trust.

As Dr. Michael Cox states the number one skill needed today in business is people skills and emotional intelligence. Of course you've heard it many times that the best sales people have great people skills. Having great people skills is about having the ability to read the other person's emotions and behavior and taking this into account during the flow of the conversation during the sales meeting. It's also having the ability to identifying how they prefer to communicate and understanding what's important to them. Emotional intelligence is the assessing, expressing and management of feelings while interacting with others.

Travis Bradberry in his book Emotional Intelligence 2.0 talks about the four components of emotional intelligence. The first one is "Self Awareness". Self awareness is the understanding of who you are. What you assess to be your strengths and shortcomings as a person. Most of us are already aware of our attributes but the challenge is to know when to leverage them and when to hold them back. For example, if you like to start a sales meeting with small talk and you have a prospect that also enjoys socializing before getting down to business, most likely you will be off to a good start. But if the prospect wants to get right down to business and you continue with small talk, most likely the outcome will not be as favorable as the first scenario.
There are three important components we need to understand when it comes to self awareness and selling. First, we need to understand our preference when we communicate in a sales meeting. Communication is about speaking, listening and asking questions. Which one is your strength and where can you improve? Some sales people like to go into present mode while others prefer to start by asking questions. We need to assess what the customer prefers.
Second, we need to assess the communication style of the prospect. It always helps to walk in with an agenda to set the expectations for the meeting. Ask the prospect if the agenda is acceptable and get their permission as to how you would like to proceed. This will give you an indication as to whether or not you're on the right track and it will give you a hint to their preferred style of communication. Assess if the prospect is flexible or rigid, casual or formal. Do they like to control the conversation or prefer you to? We need to learn to adjust our approach.
Third, you need to put the prospects communication style first. Let them lead with what's comfortable for them. It never makes sense to try to gain control of a conversation with a prospect that enjoys talking. Let them talk. If they prefer to ask questions, let them ask and invite more follow on questions.

The first meeting is always the most critical when meeting a prospect for the first time to gain trust and respect and for the opportunity to be invited back. The best approach we can take is to view the prospect from their point of view and not ours. That's critical to improving your emotional intelligence.

2. Not leaving voicemails, or leaving long winded ones - the advertising industry says that it takes seven touches for someone to even remember our name, so why waste the effort involved in making the call and not leave a message? Leave well thought out, concise voicemails.

3. When leaving voicemails, not saying our phone number s-l-o-w-l-y and repeating it.

4. Not letting the suspect know when we're calling for the last time (in this cycle) - users of The Formula get more returned phone calls from a 'Move On' message than any other. But in order to do that, we have to have a plan as to how many times we'll call, how often we'll call, and leave messages when we call.

5. Calling the same day and/or time of day over and over again, or calling the same person over and over again the same day - it just might be that we're calling at a time when they're never there! And with the advent of caller ID, do you really think they don't see that the same person has called multiple times today?

Remember that cold calling is about making an appointment and not trying to sell the prospect over the phone. Having a methodology that can be repeated consistently will significantly improve your ratio of turning conversations into appointments and that is what it's all about. It's about combining efficiency and effectiveness through using best practices. When you have a method that works that angst that goes along with cold calling diminishes considerably.

In this day and age we are all looking for new business opportunities. Many sales professionals are very good once they get in front of the customer. They feel pretty comfortable in moving a sales opportunity through their "funnel." The tough part as we've seen many admit is getting that initial appointment to get the prospect into the funnel!

Over the years they've seen lots of different approaches and talked to lots of people who make their living setting appointments over the phone or by canvassing. Therefore they've been able to craft a methodology with techniques that truly work. They've also seen many techniques that don't. This article covers five of the top ten mistakes they have seen being made while attempting to set appointments. Next month we will address the other five mistakes Barry has seen. These mistakes are doubly painful as they not only drain away those precious few hours we've got to make appointment making calls, but crush the spirit as well.

1. Believing the first (negative) response we hear is true and attempt to counter it with logic - suspects play by two ground rules that we must acknowledge or perish:

a. The rule of the 'Status Quo' - our research indicates that less than five percent of our universe of suspects is currently in the market for what we sell when we call them... so they don't think they need to talk to us
b. The rule of 'Workus Interruptus' - no matter when we call, we are interrupting that person from doing something...so they don't want to talk to us

Ergo, until we get them beyond the initial 'conditioned knee jerk' reaction of saying anything (including lying) to get us off the phone, logic doesn't work as well as we think it should.

2. Tell the suspect all about what we can do for them - remember, they don't think they need what we're selling, so why do we think this approach will work? Instead we should tell them about the results someone else got from using what we sell. (All of us - ok, maybe just most of us - think that there are others who know some little secret we don't.)

3. Assuming we can help them do what they're doing better than they're currently doing it - "I can save you money over what you're paying today." "I can make you more productive." How do we know what they're paying or how well they're doing? For that matter, how do we even know they use what we're selling in many cases?

4. Not 'owning' or internalizing our message so instead of sounding conversational, we sound like the proverbial telemarketer reading a script or delivering it in a monotone voice - only 7% of effective communications is derived through the words we use. The biggest percentage of effective communications on a phone call comes from tonality (38%). Therefore we must not only 'own' our message, but we must deliver it with passion. You do believe in what you sell, don't you?

5. Winging it on each call so that our message is different each time - if we deliver a different message each time, we can't predict and control the responses we'll get, making the task of handling those negative responses even more difficult.

Barry Caponi, a friend and colleague, is President of the Caponi Performance Group. Barry has developed a comprehensive program for cold calling that truly works. Barry says that it's imperative that both efficiency (reaching out to as many targets as possible in the shortest amount of time) and effectiveness (converting more conversations into appointments) be addressed simultaneously. Today, most companies attempt to solve the efficiency challenge with technology (CRM) that was not designed to impact the front end of the selling process. They also attempt to address the effectiveness challenge with the same techniques (selling skills) they use in second half of the selling process (handling objections, etc.). And when neither has worked, they returned to the mantra uttered by sales management everywhere, "Make more dials!" Reality is that more dials does lead to more appointments, but no one has the time, or the desire to solve the challenge in that fashion.

Barry's method for cold calling works (I've seen it). It's called Coldcalling101 (www.coldcalling101.com) and focuses on a comprehensive combination of Art (skills), Science (tools) and Best Practices (processes) for the pursuit of each group of targets.
Just a few short points for you to consider that Coldcalling101 addresses:

- What is the purpose of the call? It's to get an appointment-period, not to sell.
- Understand that when you call someone, they are playing by a different set of rules than you think they are:

1. They don't believe they are in the market for what you are selling so they don't think they need to talk with you.
2. You are interrupting them so they don't want to talk with you.

- Hence, they will initially do anything, including lie to you to get you off the phone.
- You must ask a specialized type of question (Bridge Questions) designed to get them past their knee jerk response and into an open conversation in order to regain control of the conversation and still secure an appointment.

Many companies talk about the Art and Science when it comes to selling. Art being the selling skills and Science being the process to move the sales opportunity forward. We would like to introduce you to our Sales Intelligence System. This system takes a look at the three critical components that are needed in sales today when approaching potential customers.
They are:

• IQ- the Intelligence Quotient for product knowledge, techniques and process to approach customers who have a need for a solution. The emphasis here is aptitude and the ability to know how to craft the right solution to the customer's problem.
• EQ- the Emotional Quotient is being aware of what is going on emotionally in a meeting between all parties involved. What are the feelings with the individuals interacting? Are they positive, negative or indifferent and how can this be influenced? You can call this intuition or people skills. It's being aware of what is going on emotionally with the decision makers.
• Personality Style- being able to understand the personality type of the customer to leverage and anticipate what is important to their temperament. We can gain insight into the person's behavior based on the preferences of their personality style such as what they value, how they prefer to communicate and how they make decisions.

What typically happens when we interact with other is that we size up what's happening in a conversation from our perspective. We make judgments and evaluations of the other person based on what we are like and what we prefer. Therefore if the other person is not like us we formulate an opinion that is either positive or negative and sometimes indifferent. We consider them to be warm and friendly or possibly cold and unsociable. Our perceptions of others are not always accurate since we do not consider their preferences based on their personality style, but on our own preferences which quite often can be different. Our perception will impact our emotions which is how we feel about the other person. Our emotions will impact our behavior which will either be negative or positive, defensive or aggressive, proactive or reactive. Finally the way we behave will be directly proportional as to how the other person will behave towards us. So if we behave not that interested in the other person, they most likely will behave the same way towards us. This can all be avoided if we take into consideration that everyone is not always of the same personality style.

We believe that the only component of the Sales Intelligence System that can truly be altered is the EQ or as Dr. Michael Cox calls it People Skills and Emotional Intelligence which is the number one business skill needed today in the US. If we can better understand someone's personality style we can improve our people skills and emotional intelligence (the EQ), which is critical in having a successful sales career. Remember that people buy from people!

If you want to better understand Emotional Intelligence we highly recommend Travis Bradberry's book Emotional Intelligence 2.0 where he discusses the fact that emotional Intelligence is the only part of the three components that can be improved upon. We discuss and share with you how to apply personality styles to sales in our book Four People You Should Know.

1-Where are you now? What is your position of power and what are your costs? As Robert mentions the favorite saying of a client- "We will get the lowest price no matter what it costs!"

2-Where are you going? What is the outcome you expect from the negotiation? As the rabbit asks Alice in "Alice in Wonderland", where do you want to go? Alice replied, "I don't know," to which the rabbit responds, "Then any road will take you there." Develop the road map that will help you get where you want to be.

3-How are we going to get there? Robert says, this controls your negotiation strategy. This is the approach which in a way is similar to the game of "Ping Pong", known as demand and concession in negotiation terms.

As we approach the negotiation with the client we need to know beforehand those items of product, service, warranty and price that we can concede to and those points which are non-negotiable. I'd like to cover three recommendations that will help move the negotiation down a smoother path to success.

Recommendation #1- Set expectations up front with the client. What are the aspects of your solution that you are not willing to move on? Where does the majority of your profit come from and how will you protect it. This needs to be communicated up front. It's like going to the Toyota dealership to buy a Prius when gas was $4.00 a gallon. With the Prius getting 45 miles per gallon and a three month wait for delivery, it was justifiable for the dealership to say "Our price is non-negotiable". You would expect that with short supply and high demand. This is an upfront exclusion from the negotiation. You're saying this point is not up for discussion. It's like telling you fiancée before you set the wedding date, by the way "I don't do windows". Properly setting the client's expectations will save time and narrow down those points that can be negotiated.

Recommendation #2- Know what elements of your proposal you can concede to the client and those that would be more painful to give into. What have you experienced with other clients in a similar situation? Will the client perceive what you concede as value and will it bring you closer to an agreement? Try to put yourself in the client's position. Do they see your concessions providing tangible benefits that would impact their business in a positive way?

Recommendation #3- If you concede, always do so by showing some pain. The client wants to see that you've made a sacrifice which is of value. We also want to give the reason and logic behind what we concede so it doesn't come across like we're giving away the farm. Once you give a concession you need to tie it to a counter demand which is asking the client to concede to what you're asking in return. For instance, if the client demands a 5% discount and an extra 90 days on the warranty, you can acquiesce to this by saying you will agree if they will provide the purchase order by Friday and that there are no more demands. It's a matter of give and take to gain a mutual agreement where both parties view the agreement as a Win-Win.

Setting expectations, know what you can and cannot concede, and when you do concede show some pain and tie it to a counter demand. These recommendations will help shorten your sales cycle and increase you chance of success for both you and the customer. Good selling!

In our model this all translates to:
Analyticals = Greens
Amiables =Blues
Practicals = Golds
Extraverts = Oranges

The Green style for negotiations is high reason and low assertiveness. They think carefully and methodically and ask the tough questions. The will read up in advance and have all the information prepared when getting ready for the negotiation. They hold their cards close to the vest and battle with logic.

The Blue style is high emotion and low assertiveness. They follow the rules and value the Win-Win result in order to build a long term relationship with the client. Blues are more likely to acquiesce to satisfy the needs of the client.

The Gold style is high assertiveness and high reason. Golds will go point for point and can get aggressive when negotiating. Deadlines and timeframes are critical to their needs. Golds also tend to fall into the profession of finance, purchasing and procurement therefore making price, service level agreements and terms & conditions of high importance.

The Orange personality is high assertiveness and high emotion. Oranges look at the negotiation as a game. They need to score points and feel like they have won. It's important for the other side to win, but the Orange must have their needs met. Oranges also lack patience if a negotiation takes a long period of time.

Negotiating is a common practice in the business world both between buyers and sellers and also internally throughout the various organizations within a company. There are two aspects to a negotiation. There is a business component as well as a personal one. Both are equally important but if you can determine the other side's personality style you will be able to discern which might actually be more important. Your right brained negotiators are Orange and Blue and tend to focus on the personal aspects of the negotiation, the subjective criteria and the intangibles. Your left brained negotiators will lean towards the business aspects and focus on the objective points and the tangibles.

When you enter a negotiations keep the following in mind:

- What are the critical points of contention that are keeping you from gaining agreement?
- Take into account the other side's personality style to determine what is most important from their perspective- Total cost of ownership, Quality, Service or Delivery?
- What can you give up that is important to the other side that is not much of a sacrifice to your position?

Sometimes intangible points are just as important as the tangibles. It all depends on how they are valued by the client. Knowing their personality style can give you that extra edge to make the deal happen!

One of the best examples is going back to May of 1991 when we bought our house in Garland, Texas. Being an Orange personality style which makes buying and selling more of a competition I had to find out information that can help us leverage our position. The house was exactly what we were looking forward and in our favorite neighborhood. The house was listed at $219,900 which gave me the perfect opportunity to start the negotiation with the most elementary of tactics "the price is too high". But before I can counter with a lower amount I needed to gain information to shift power to our side. The only way to shift power is to ask questions. The questions that will impact gaining inside information in a negotiation are around time, economic considerations and sense of urgency. Let's take a look at these as it related to buying our house and the questions we asked.

We asked how long the house had been on the market and the response was nine months. Obviously the house was not moving at the going price. To further the questioning we asked what the original price was nine months earlier and to our surprise in was $259,900 a drop of $40,000 and the house was still sitting. The economy was in a recession at the time and there was more supply than demand. It was as we all know a "buyer's market" which was a great position to be in. Based on this information the power was shifting to our side which would justify a lower bid. The icing on the cake was finding out the sense of urgency. We all know when mortgage rates drop or three people bid on a house there is an increase in the sense of urgency. When there is a shift to greater demand and lower supply the seller has the advantage.
Coming up with the right questions to uncover the sense of urgency requires a little thought to uncover information that can give you that final competitive edge to make you offer. We finally asked why the house was not occupied and there was no furniture. We found out that the owners were living in a townhouse in McKinney. If the house had been sitting for nine months you would think they would want to sell since they were living somewhere else. We also found out that they were retired and the final piece of information was that they owned the house outright. Knowing that they had equity tied up in a house that was in a down market for nine months we finally offered $180,000 and we were told we couldn't go that low. We came to an agreement at $187,000 and the house was ours.

Gaining inside information is critical when shifting power to your side and if you can't you need to re-think whether or not to enter the negotiation. Important considerations as we mentioned are timing, the economy and the sense of urgency. Every industry and business has other points to consider. The most important thing to do is your homework. The more information you have on the customer the more leverage you have. Taking into account personality styles can also impact the negotiation. Oranges will always negotiate since life is a game. Golds focus on going item for item and being left brained will have the financial details figured out. Greens will find out more information that most with their thirst for research and asking the tough questions. Blues will build a relationship that will be very convincing to move forward gaining a win-win.

Quality is often the most important element of TCO but it depends on the product you're purchasing. Quality is very important in the purchase of a fault tolerant computer system. Service depends upon the type of service contract you purchase and the coverage. For maintaining a computer system for a mission critical application like an airline reservation system you would want an immediate response time. Delivery's importance varies depending on the industry. If you need to replace an air condition system in a hospital in Phoenix during July, immediate delivery would be critical and you most certainly are willing to pay for it.
The importance of Price depends on the product or service. A buyer will typically rank Price higher in the case of a "commodity" purchase. For instance, a Fortune 500 company buyer of ten thousand plain ball point pens determines that Price is has a far greater impact on the TCO than the service (none), quality (all pens are pretty equal) and delivery (no sense of urgency).

We must rank the most important cost elements to the buyer to determine our negotiation strategy. By doing so, we can concede on a point of low actual cost to to us but of high perceived value to the customer. For example, an upgrade may cost us pennies but may be extremely important to the customer. We can afford to stand firm on Price if our service is perceived as high importance and critical to the customer's success and we can sacrifice delivery if the cost of it is negligible to us. We must know where we can concede without hurting our bottom line and how to provide the lowest TCO to the customer.

The objective of every negotiation is a win-win for both parties involved. Understanding the personality style of the customer can help us in anticipating their negotiation strategy.

Blues will focus on making sure a win-win is established for both parties with minimal negotiation and gaining agreement as soon as possible.

Golds will focus their negotiations on all of the financial aspects of gaining agreement. Give and take with excellent documentation along the way will be their approach.

Greens will negotiate by asking for reason and justification for each and every aspect of purchasing the solution. Greens need to know all the information and what they are getting in regards to service, delivery, price and quality in regards to the overall cost of ownership.

Oranges will focus on getting a great deal and rely mainly on service and price. If the Orange scores points they will feel they have accomplished their objective for making the purchase.

Going into the negotiation with information about the company and their issues, along with knowing the personality styles of the decision makers involved can give you the insight you need to close the sale as a win-win leading to a long term partnership. I highly recommend Robert's book!

Whether it's buying a multi-million dollar software solution or buying a house, understanding where the power lies and who holds it is crucial. Who has the power in the negotiating parties? Your perception of where the power lies will determine how you react in the negotiation.

Establishing a perception of power is itself a negotiating tactic. As an example, if I walked down the street of a dangerous neighborhood I would certainly be in jeopardy of being attacked. If I walked down the same street wearing a Karate gi with a black belt I would significantly reduce my chances of getting harmed based on the perception that any attacker would think I am more than capable of defending myself. What the other party perceives is their reality.

What the other party perceives from your actions and image is their reality. When they feel you have a better bargaining position, their negotiating position is perceived by them as weaker than yours. In this case, perception determines reality.

In other cases, need determines the reality of power. Who has the power is inversely related to "who has the greater need"? Greater need equals less power. Do you have a greater need to sell your products/services or does the customer have an issue that must be solved immediately and your product is key to their solution? One way need is expressed is "who has the greater sense of urgency?" Remember back to the last time you went shopping for a car. Who had the greater need to make a deal that day, you or the car sales person? How quickly did you need to buy the car: your old lease was coming due next month vs. your old car had thrown a rod? Conversely, how badly did the sales person need to sell the car: for example, in order to make their monthly quota? So how do we assess who has the greater need to take action, the seller or the buyer? The relative balance of urgency vs. patience: sometimes this is obvious. Sometimes personalities add extraneous influences that shift the perception of need. And as we said, perception is reality in negotiation.

Urgency: Both parties must have a need to enter into a transaction in the first place. The party with the most urgent need is the less powerful party in the negotiation. Let's look at supply and demand. The greater the demand for your product and service, and the fewer avenues for supply, the greater your power in the negotiation. A perfect example of this was the Toyota Prius when the price of gas hit $4.00 a gallon. Everyone wanted the Prius (high demand) and there was a three month backlog (low supply). Did buyers get to negotiate on the price? I don't think so. Having a vehicle that gets over 40 miles per gallon at a time when the price of gas jumped gave Toyota dealers the power to stand by the price of the Prius, or even add on surcharges. Buyers, reacting to escalating gas prices, wished to get the Prius as soon as possible; they perceived an urgency to react to events and therefore enter into the transaction.

Personality plays a role in the perception of urgency and also in ones reaction to urgent situations. Blue and Green personality types, being intuitive, are more concerned with the process (Greens) or experience (Blues) than in the results. There is no driving need to bring a negotiation to closure, so these personality types will not have the urgency of Golds and Oranges. Golds usually start the negotiation with a preexisting timeline of when things should be checked off; it is in their nature to schedule things and put timeframes in place. They will be procedural in a negotiation. Find if their timeline requires your product now, if so, there will be urgency on the part of the Gold to tick off this box. On the other hand, Oranges will shoot from the hip and like to score points and win. Oranges are naturally urgent ("gotta win") I need it now.

Patience: Who can wait the longest? Marketing is all about generating urgency, convincing the public that "they want it now". Think of this when you next look at TV commercials. A great historical example of this is the Paris Peace Accords with North and South Vietnam in the early 70's. First the Vietnamese argued over the shape of the table: round or rectangle. You can see how this negotiation would shape up. But the clearest indicator was when the US team checked into some hotel rooms in Paris and the North Vietnam team placed a 2 ½ year lease on a villa! Who was in a hurry? The party with the most patience has the power.

So in a negotiation (1) determine the perceived ratio of patience to urgency and (2) who has the greater real or perceived need - the buyer or the seller. These will allow you to see where the power in the negotiation will lie. Yet a special negotiating skill comes from understanding how different personality styles will react to pressure and urgency and what each color perceives as a need. Using the color personality tool by Insight Learning we have the advantage of knowing that:

- Oranges are natural negotiators since they look at everything as a competition.
- Golds will always negotiate for the best financial deal based on their comparison study.
- Greens will look at every possible alternative and negotiate the best price based on quality and capability.
- Blues will leverage the relationship they have with you to get a concession.

Remember that when it comes to negotiating you have a choice as to whether or not you want to enter in to the negotiation. You are much better off assessing where the power lies before you engage!

First and foremost, we need to revisit our value proposition during these times. What worked prior to 2008 might be the wrong strategy moving forward. Customers have different priorities and strategies when economic times are challenging. Your value proposition is what uniquely differentiates you from your competition. It needs to address both the real and the self-perceived needs of your customer. What is their main priority - beyond survival? How do they plan to pull ahead in these turbulent times? Is it their plan to increase revenue, cut expenses, or increase customer satisfaction?

Fine tune your value proposition specifically to each and every customer, knowing that each customer has a unique set of needs and plans for their projects moving forward. Be specific in what you are offering and make sure you can be explicit with tangible value. Provide references that back up your statements on short term successes inside your customers. Show them how your product and services increased revenues 15% or cut expenses 10% in the first six months of use.

Second, customers buy for two reasons - personal and business. Overall these split 50/50, but specific to your customer personality style and their current circumstances this weighting varies. We know that people that are right brain dominant usually lean towards the personal side: looking more at the intangibles and the subjective reasons to purchase. These are the Orange and Blue personalities. The Green and Gold personalities, being left brain dominant, will lean more towards the business side, the tangible and objective reasons in their decisions. However, the economic issues we face today can change behavior in personality styles. In periods of FUD and downturn, all personality styles lean towards the business issues at hand.

Why? Executive management mandating cut backs in budget and a refocusing of their efforts can cause a change in priorities. Their personality styles have not changed, but the environmental pressures on them have changed. Discover what has changed for them. Perhaps, with revenues uncertain or turning down, cash is king and keeping expenses under control is paramount with your customers. Alternatively, perhaps they see the downturn as an opportunity to gain ground against weaker competitors. Understand your customer's priorities and don't present benefits of your solution that don't matter right now. Find and present the benefits that do. Your value proposition is your trump card.

However, decisions are still made by people and people also react individually to our economic downturn and increased pressures from management. It is more important than ever to discover who makes the buy recommendations and the ultimate buy decision - and ease their worries. How does each personality color respond to fear?

- Blues fear lack of safety and security: for their business, their colleagues, and themselves. More than ever they want clear, positive messages and directions. Blues despise fear and worry the most; focus on alleviating their fears with compelling value and building trust.
- Gold's business fears center on financial stress, but their personal fears are about things being out of their control. Golds will overcome these fears themselves; give them the actionable levers to pull.
- Greens business fears are about missing key information but their personal fear is about being wrong with resulting dire consequences. Greens will analyze and assess their fears, over and over again, captured in a loop; give them the information needed to pull out of this loop. Then they will act.
- Oranges fear losing the business and also losing face. Oranges will face their fears head on; leverage their optimism.

Third, remember that it is an easy trap to view each and every sales opportunity through your own eyes: 'how will gaining this business benefit me?' More than ever this year, we need to view the issues through our customer's eyes. How will our service benefit them! Put yourself in their shoes and understand the issues from their perspective. Our priorities are never the same as our customers. Rather than dwell on how long they are taking to make a decision, find out why the delay is occurring. Do not just assume it is the bad economy. Find out their response plans to the bad economy. Look at the situation from their perspective and understand what's going on internally.

More than ever the internet can be extremely advantageous in finding out inside information on a prospect company: what are their priorities and what changes are taking place. The sales tools and messages that worked in 2008 may not be the tools that work today. If necessary, get your company to engage researchers or business development specialists to help tune your message. A relatively small investment can help focus your value message. Just as investment drives the economy, strategic focus and clear market intelligence information can drive your company's success via your successful sales.