Intelligent Conversations

Asking Questions-Tips for Dealing with Confrontational Customers

By: Danielle Gaquin

The opportunity to teach becomes available everyday in our job.  Whether it’s comprehending the next step in your project or dealing with a confrontational customer the lesson can be large or small and is always connected by one important task; asking questions.   Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, recommends the following strategy when it comes to teaching: “Don’t try to come up the right answers, focus on coming up with the right questions.”  If you are confronted with an upset customer, asking questions can be key in calming them down and focusing the discussion on their issues.  By allowing the customer to do the majority of the talking, you lower their defenses and increase their trust level with you and your company. 

The most important part of asking questions is knowing what questions to ask.  In order to maintain control of the conversation and place your customer most at ease it is best to use:  Open-Ended Questions and The Boomerang Process. 

1.  Open Ended Questions are broad and unrestricted questions.  Giving the customer a chance to answer these questions will relieve some of their frustration while educating you on what is needed to help solve this issue.  Some examples of open ended questions are:

• What problems are you having with this program? 
• What were you hoping we could change to help you today?
• It sounds like this is frustrating to you.  Could you tell me more about the situation?
• Can you tell me more about what you’re calling about so I can better inform my supervisor before he/she calls you back?

2.  The Boomerang Process is used to gather more information from a customer when they start asking you questions.  It will also help avoid addressing more issues than are directly affecting the customer at the time.  If you rush to give the customer an immediate answer when they address you it can make them feel as if you are not really taking them seriously, and could place your relationship in further jeopardy.  Keep in mind the best way to use the Boomerang is by inserting “strokes,” or positive comments about your customer’s qualities.  Here is an example of a Boomerang Process:

Customer:  How do you expect me to stay on track with this program when I have so many other aspects of my business to worry about?

Business Representative: You know that is an interesting question.  Not a lot of customers take the time to contact me about this and just fall of track.  Can I ask you a question?

Customer:  Sure

Business Representative:  In an average day how many times do you check your e-mail?

Customer:  X times a day

Business Representative:  Is that a lot?

Customer:  Yes

Business Representative:  Do you find it distracting?

Customer:  Sure

Business Representative:  It's an area a lot of people struggle with.  Do you feel that by setting a time to check your e-mail twice a day you could find alternate time to dedicate to aspects such as your online learning modules?

A frustrated customer can be a stressful issue but when you’re prepared with a tool, like better questioning skills, it can make it a lot easier to handle.  Can you describe a situation where open ended or boomerang questions could help you diffuse an upset customer?  Take the time to sit down and list three recent issues and what you could do differently in the future to easy the situation.  

Danielle is the Office Manager at Intelligent Conversations.  In her dynamic role she is able to see many different aspects of the sales force development business.  Her periodical blogs cover the best practices that she has found and implements on a day to day basis.

Catch Them Being Good

My wife is a pre-school teacher and is always taking classes and reading articles on early childhood development to keep up with current ideas in her field.  She recently shared with me an interesting article on discipline strategies for toddlers and I was struck by how easy it is to apply the same principles to sales management.

During coaching calls over the past week I had three separate conversations with sales managers who expressed frustration with their sales teams.  Their concerns were not unusual – a lack of motivation, poor follow through, not hitting agreed upon calling targets, not complying with company policies, a perception that some sales people are just doing the minimum to get by, etc.  What struck me is all three sales managers were focused on the negative.  They were focused on what was NOT happening rather than what was being accomplished.

For example, one of the sales managers we work with has set a goal for her sales team of scheduling 12 new prospect appointments per week.  It’s a big goal for this team considering they never measured that metric before they started working with us.  For the third week in a row, nobody is hitting this new goal.  But they’ve been improving every week and I’m convinced they will all get to this level of production within the next month (at which point we’ll shift the focus to measure the positive outcomes from these initial prospect meetings).  But my client isn’t seeing the obvious progress toward this goal and is instead focused on the negative. 

“Bill, my best sales person, only scheduled eight new appointments this week,” she said.  “This isn’t working!”

When I asked her when was the last time Bill had scheduled eight (8) new appointments in a week, she said she was not sure that he ever had.  “Isn’t that great?” I asked.  I then encouraged her to make a big deal out of it during their next accountability call and to focus on the steady progress the team is making toward the goal.  Focus on the 8 appointments that he set rather than the 4 that were not set.

Many parents and pre-school teachers already know this approach.  If you want a 4-year old to color in the lines, compliment the areas where they did that rather than focus on the areas where they didn’t.  “I like how you stayed in the lines on the balloons.  That’s really pretty!” rather than “What happened?  I told you to stay in the lines!  You’re terrible at coloring!”

Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?  You would never say that to a child.  And yet we see sales managers do basically the same thing when they focus on the negative.

Instead, focus your attention on catching your sales people’s successes instead of their stumbles.  Compliment their positive behaviors, and small victories, rather than the negatives.  Find the bright spots and your sales team will continue to improve.  Why not make a conscious effort to find something positive for each sales person this week and praise them for it? 

Keep It Simple

I’m currently reading Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, a best-selling business book looking at change and how people make decisions.  I’m enjoying this book because it provides a new framework to consider and an easy way to look at the issues related to change.  And it reinforces one of the key concepts we teach our clients as we work with them to implement change across their sales organization – keep it simple.

The Heath brothers explain how too many choices can cause analysis paralysis.  They also say that what looks like resistance is often just a lack of clarity. In our experience working with sales organizations, a relentless “keep it simple” philosophy dramatically improves focus and drives awesome results.  Here are a few specific (and simple) examples:

• As a sales person, give your prospect a clear and concise proposal.  Recommend your best solution and let them say yes or no.  What happens when you bombard your prospects with choices and options?  They freeze and disappear.
• As a sales manager, give your sales people clear direction.  Identify the daily behaviors that will drive results and focus relentlessly on those activities.  Hold them accountable to keep them focused.  What happens when you constantly change direction, measure different things, or ask them to pursue opportunities unrelated to your strategy?  They freeze and get frustrated.
•  As a President, CEO or Business Owner you are ultimately responsible for revenue growth.  Align and focus your entire organization around a few key concepts and priorities (think 3-5 per quarter at most) and then get out of their way.  What happens when you have too many “Number One Priorities” for your team to pursue?  They wander off track doing what they think is most important and your company stalls.
•  As an employee anywhere in the company, drive productivity by simplifying your day.  Focus your daily activities by following this simple three-step process for a massively productive day:

1)     Identify the 5-6 top priorities for your day.  Ask yourself what needs to happen to make it a truly excellent day that will make you feel great when you leave to go home. 

2)     Once you have your list, identify how long you need to spend on each accomplishment on the list.  Write down the time required in terms of minutes (e.g. 30 minutes, 50 minutes, 90 minutes, etc.).  If the total time adds up to more than six (6) hours, cut your list so you can allow some time for unexpected interruptions.

3)     Schedule when you will do each task, building in time between accomplishments for interruptions, responding to e-mail, returning phone calls, checking with colleagues, etc.

These are all concepts we work with our clients on and the results can be remarkable.  The Heath brothers take this concept much further in their excellent new book and I’m grateful I’ll be able to use it as a way to reinforce the work we do with our clients.  Keep it simple for your prospects, your sales team, your company and your day.  What can you start doing today to “keep it simple?”  What can you stop doing today to “keep it simple?”  What will happen to your revenue velocity as you implement a “keep it simple” philosophy that improves your focus and clarity?  Why not start right now?

Calling all Brian's and Kevin's

Yesterday, in celebration of St. Patrick's Day, my new sales person sorted his prospect list to create a sublist comprised of Presidents, CEO's and Business Owners named Brian or Kevin.  I think he also searched for executives named Bridget, Molly, Liam and Fergus, but he couldn't find any in our database.  The calls sounded something like this:

"Hi Brian, it's Everet Kamikawa."

"Hi.... Everet..."

"Brian, it doesn't sound like you know who I am...."

"No, I don't."

"That's ok, I'm not sure we've met.  Can I tell you why I called you this morning?"

"Sure."

"I'm calling everyone in my database named Brian to wish them a Happy St. Patrick's Day and tell them about some trends we're seeing in the market.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!"

"Thanks, that's pretty funny.  So tell me, what do you guys do?"

And that's how most of the calls went.  This approach was both funny and unexpected, which lowered their "sales defense shields" and allowed Everet to get into productive conversations about how we help growing companies grow even faster by fixing the people, systems and strategies that impact sales.  Out of 39 cold calls he had 7 conversations and booked 3 appointments, which is a pretty good day when calling the C-level.

Who says you can't have fun while making cold calls?

The 7 devastating sales mistakes #5 - Sales team strengths

 

Over the past year we noticed a lot of sales organizations that did not know or utilize the strengths of their sales team. This is an important function for sales managers to understand.

The 7 devastating sales mistakes #4 - Systems

Over the past year we have noticed 7 devastating mistakes that sales organizations are making. The 4th mistake that we observed was a lack of systems. Systems are everything that does not deal with people such as a sales process map, pipeline and recruiting process. 

Here is the link that I discuss in the video: http://intelligentconversations.typepad.com/b2b_sales_intelligent_con/2010/02/upcoming-events.html

Hiring a sales superstar: What's holding your company back?

 

The 7 devastating sales mistakes #3 - Day to Day Activities

We observe too many sales managers and executives measure their sales teams simply by their wins or losses. It is much more important to monitor the day-to-day activities of the sales team to ensure they align with your strategic objectives.

The 7 devastating sales mistakes #2 - Hiring mistakes

Hiring the wrong sales person can cost your company thousands of dollars. This video highlights what those mistakes are and how you can avoid them when hiring a sales person. You can also assess what a hiring mistake is costing you at: http://ow.ly/17AoC

Upcoming Events

April 18th (4-5pm CST):  Sales Management Mastermind Webcast

This month’s focus will be on prospecting.  Prospecting is the lifeblood of any sales organization.  This webcast will outline ways to get your sales team focused on productive prospecting activities that go beyond just making more cold calls.  For more information on joining this group please contact Danielle at danielle@intelligentconversations.com, or 414-771-9814.

April 28 (7:15 am Breakfast, 7:30-9:00 Program):  Breakfast Seminar

In 90 minutes you'll learn:

• If your existing salespeople have what it takes to grow your company;
• To see the difference between salespeople who might sell vs. those who actually will sell;
• Whether your salespeople have the crucial elements necessary for sales success;
• How to spot the sales winner in the first twenty minutes of the first interview; and
• Whether your sales manager is doing everything possible to grow the organization.

Held at:  M&I University, 401 N. Executive Drive, Brookfield, WI

Register at:  http://www.regonline.com/Checkin.asp?EventId=836549 OR contact Danielle at danielle@intelligentconversations.com, or 414-771-9814 for more information.

The 7 devastating sales mistakes: #1 - The right people

Introduction to the 7 devastating sales mistakes

Year End Closing Tactics

First, all of these suggestions assume you have a “closable” opportunity.  That means you’ve established trust and rapport, you’ve explored all of the issues and have identified six to eight (6-8) compelling reasons for the prospect to take action, you understand the consequences (from the prospect’s point of view and in their words) of NOT taking action, you have qualified the opportunity (that means you understand their budget, their timeline, their decision making process, who your competition is, etc.), and they have agreed to make a decision.  If you cannot say yes to all of these conditions, you do not have a closable opportunity and these tactics will not work.

 

1.       Tap unused budgets – if you are selling to larger organizations, chances are pretty good that they have budgets they have not used in 2009.  For example, did they cut back on the number of trade shows they attended?  Are there unspent marketing dollars available?  Do they have money set aside for new office furniture they never purchased?  Be creative and explore all potential funding sources that may be available.  In larger organizations, their budgets are typically “use it or lose it” and can often be used to start a project.

2.       Start now, bill in 2010 – if they have not budgeted for your product or service in 2009, you can get them committed by starting in December with the understanding that you will not bill them until January.  Why not position it as a “head start” and get their commitment before the end of the year?

3.       Bill now, start in 2010 – maybe they have unused budgets, but they don’t have the other resources available to get started (people on their team, etc.).  Can you get the signature now, invoice it and then start it in January?

4.       Be persistent – make extra calls, ask follow up questions, keep the conversation going, and focus like a laser on your closable opportunities.  The sales person who can push through the initial resistance they encounter by asking for their commitment and finding creative ways for them to get started, will usually get the order.  Don’t give up.

5.       Last tip – DON’T discount.  Carefully monitor the temptation your sales people will face to offer last-minute discounts to close the deal and get it on the books this year.  It sends the wrong message to your clients and will reduce the lifetime value of these customers.

Follow this advice and you can still close some opportunities this year.  And staying in front of your closable opportunities can only help you.  Even if they don’t buy in December, you’ll enter the new year with a stronger pipeline.  Good luck and good selling!

Be Grateful for Tough Objections

My youngest daughter is learning how to read and everything clicked this week.  It’s really gratifying to see her reading increasingly challenging books with greater comfort and ease.  Over the past few weeks I’ve sat with her as she struggled to make sense of which letters (or combinations of letters) make which sounds.  And how certain sounds combined to make words and how words combine to make sentences.  As she’d sound out challenging words I’d offer helpful hints like “you’re getting warmer….nope, now you’re getting colder….try again, what sound does T make...that’s right, now put it together….” 

How do you view the objections you get from prospective clients?  How do you feel when you get a really tough objection?  Do you get mad?  Frustrated?  Impatient?  Angry?  Irritated?  What goes through your mind when you encounter severe price resistance?  Does it make sense?

Instead of getting frustrated or losing your composure, what would happen if you were truly grateful for the helpful clues your prospect is giving you?  Why not view their objections as an opportunity to discover whether you’re “getting warmer” or if you’re “getting colder?”  Can you use the valuable information they are giving you to understand the underlying context and make sense of what their objections really mean?  Can you piece it all together like words combine to make a sentence?

We often lead our clients through an exercise where we have their sales people start tracking their most common objections and interruptions.  As the sales team begins sharing this information, we find there are typically about eight to ten (8-10) primary objections they might encounter.  We then have them brainstorm five (5) different responses or follow up questions to ask for each issue raised.  All of this information goes into a grid they can keep handy and review as needed.

Knowing how they are going to respond in advance helps these sales people stay present, focused and “in the moment” when a prospect raises an objection or asks a tough question.  And staying in the moment allows them to really listen – not just to the objection, but to the issues that are driving the objection in the first place.  Being equipped with the knowledge required to meet the initial objection enables them to ask the key follow up questions that drill down to the important issues.  It often takes three or four (3-4) follow up questions to really get to the heart of the matter.

Have you documented your most common objections and prepared multiple responses to each?  If you’re a sales manager, can you run this exercise at your next team meeting?  What would happen to your sales productivity if you shifted the way you view objections?  How much would your income increase if you saw objections as helpful hints that will lead you to the sale rather than frustrating delays you need to overcome?  What can you do this week to begin to change your attitude toward objections?

Investing in Your Professional Development

The average auto mechanic in America earns a median income of $38,000 and spends approximately $120 per month on new tools.  In total, they typically own about $15,000 worth of tools to perform their job of repairing cars (Source: Autorepairadvisors.com).

The average sales person in America earns a median income of $68,000 (Source: Salary.com) and yet most sales people are reluctant to spend as little as $20 on a sales book, let alone invest in sales training or a professional development program (unless of course their company is paying the bill). 

Note that I said “most sales people.”  In our experience, it’s easy to spot top performing sales professionals – they’re the ones reading two books at a time, listening to audio books or sales tapes in their car, and signing up for workshops or on-going sales training programs.

Let’s assume that you are a top performer or aspire to be one – what should you look for in a sales development program?

· Seminars/Workshops – these types of events can be highly effective and produce a short term improvement, but without sustained follow up the benefits quickly evaporate.  A workshop (and we host them from time to time) can be a great way to jump start a new sales team or refocus and re-energize an existing team.  But understand that this approach will have a short term impact and is often more edu-tainment than true sales training.

· Reinforcement – have you ever read the same book or watched the same movie more than once?  If so, you probably noticed things the second (or third) time that you didn’t pick up the first time.  Having the opportunity to review sales development material a second or third time has the same impact.  This reinforcement training provides the opportunity for additional clarity and real world application.  Consistent review combined with the opportunity to put new ideas into action is where true change takes place.

· Ownership – the more you practice and perform your sales techniques (from making prospecting calls, to opening questions, to handling objections, to qualifying budgets, to presenting solutions) the more natural they become.  You probably didn’t need to think about checking your blind spot when making a lane change on the way to work this morning.  It was automatic.  Ownership happens when you don’t have to consciously think about what you are doing or what you’re going to do next.  It takes time, effort, continuous learning, and the right lessons from failure to get to this stage.

If you would like information on the type of program that can move you up this learning continuum, please contact us about the Intelligent Sales Circle™ and our Sales Development track.  But only call if you’re truly a top performer who is willing to invest at least as much as an Auto Mechanic spends on tools every month (actually, a little more).

Why sales people need training

Download

Sales Management – Toughest Job in the World

It’s difficult to imagine a position that can have a greater impact on the growth of a company.  And yet it’s one of the most overlooked and least understood positions in the business world.  Sales managers are in a tough spot.  They’re stuck in the middle between high-maintenance sales people and highly demanding senior executives.  When their team is successful, they rightly point the spot light on the sales people.  When the team struggles, they often take the blame and shield their team.

Here are some of the reasons good sales managers are hard to find (and keep):

• Sales Managers need to have mastered all of the things they ask their sales team to do, from making cold calls, to generating referrals, to holding great meetings, to closing deals.  If they have not sold in the past they generally have a tremendous credibility issue to overcome.

• Sales Managers need to have “board room presence” so that when they share their results and update senior managers, they can quickly highlight the most important issues without getting bogged down in the details.  I once saw a sales manager try to update senior management by going line-by-line through a 1,100 row spreadsheet showing all the opportunities in their pipeline – it was like watching a car crash!

• Sales Managers need to be master motivators.  They need to understand each personality on their team and know which buttons to push to get the best results.  It’s different for every sales person and a great manager understands this and knows how to adjust their approach accordingly.

• Sales Managers understand that growing the team is their responsibility.  Every quarter they can look back and say “Yes, we’re asking better questions, getting better appointments, looking at better opportunities, retaining better clients, hiring better people for our team, and we’re getting better results.”

• Sales Managers know that they can be friendly with the people on the sales team, but they can’t be friends.  They maintain the separation necessary to hold people accountable and have mastered redirecting a sales person’s focus to engage them in the right behaviors and activities.

• Sales Managers know that the hiring decisions they make will have long-term consequences.  They understand that they need to recruit constantly and are effective at getting A-players (sales superstars) on their team.  They know the cost of a sales hiring mistake is too high and they’ve built systems to help avoid them.

The trouble is, there’s nowhere for Sales Managers to go to learn, maintain or upgrade these important skills.  They have no place to turn when they get stuck, need to sharpen their saw, or just want to talk with a peer group that can understand their unique challenges.  This month we’ve launched the Intelligent Sales Circle™, which includes a Sales Leadership track.  If you have or are a sales manager who is looking for ways to improve, please contact us and ask for more information.

Is your sales team ready for the economy to bounce back?

"Talent alone won't make you a success.  Neither will being in the right place at the right time, unless you are ready.  The most important question is: Are you ready?"     - Johnny Carson

When companies and consumers begin spending money again (and they will spend again), you could be in a significant windfall.  You may even have some record breaking revenue months if - and it's a big if - you have your sales team doing all the right things even while companies and consumers aren't spending money.

We are at the beginning of an enormous opportunity to seize business as the economy gathers strength.  There may never be a better time to grab market share!  Are you ready?  Right now you can:

• Learn the ten (10) requirements for having and continuing to have record-breaking months as the economy bounces back.
• Download these requirements by going to intelligentconversations.com/bounce
• Contact us for a free thirty (30) minute executive briefing to find out the seven (7) challenges that may be holding your sales team back and what you can do about it.

We are Intelligent Conversations, the leading sales force development firm in Southeastern Wisconsin.  We specialize in maximizing the sales growth and profitability of companies.  

The decision you make and actions you take today will determine whether or not you are ready for the bounce - Are you ready?  intelligentconversations.com/bounce

Sales professionals needed!

I’m speaking at Sales Club in Waukesha next Thursday, 9/3 (http://www.waukesha.org/develop.asp?ID=Develop-Sales_Club) and am looking for 5-7 brave souls to participate in a quick self-evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses as a sales person.  First you will evaluate yourself by completing a brief survey I’ll send to you, and then I’ll run you through a more formal evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses using our proprietary Sales Snapshot Report™.   I’ll share the results of this report with you (a $300 value) as my way of saying “thank you” for participating.  The purpose of this is to get a sense of how self-aware sales people are of both their strengths AND their hidden weaknesses that can neutralize those strengths.

To participate you must:

• Currently be in a sales position (no consultants, marketing people, sales managers, etc.) 
• Consider yourself a “top performer”
• Allow me to share the results of this experiment during my presentation at Sales Club on 9/3 (I will only share the results, no personal  information will be share
• Be willing to invest up to an hour of your time to complete the survey and online assessment 

Again, you will receive a FREE Sales Snapshot Report for participating in this exercise.  Not only will this report give you new insights into your strengths and weaknesses as a sales person – it will also help you be more effective and make more money (if you take action to address the issues identified).

If you qualify and would like to participate, please e-mail me at mike@intelligentconversations.com.  Thank you!

Are you committed to sales success?

Sales success is something every sales person is striving for.  But in an environment where the resistance to buy is higher, decisions take longer, and the competition is fierce,  the goal of achieving sales success can be elusive – which can lead even the most level-headed sales person to reach for ideas, tactics and techniques that will not serve them.

There is a tremendous amount of sales training material available.  If you are the type of person who believes in continuous learning and are always looking for ways to improve your skills or gain an edge, you’ve probably already purchased many of these books, tapes, DVDs and other programs.  Have you ever purchased a sales program that sounded great when you bought it but once you received it you discovered you are not able to implement the ideas and tactics it recommended?

Before you spend another penny on a sales training program (whether it’s your money or your company’s money), make sure it is based on these four principles that will provide an infallible road to your professional development and sales success. 

Know your strengths.  If you’re serious about improving as a sales professional, it pays to have a detailed understanding of your strengths and the skills you’ve developed.  Many sales training programs take a “one-size-fits-all” approach.  What would happen to your results if the program you used was designed to help you build on your strengths (rather than just assume everyone is starting at the same place)?

Understand your weaknesses.  Half of being smart is knowing what you’re dumb at.  What weaknesses are holding you back?  More importantly, do you have any hidden weaknesses that can neutralize your strengths?  Do these weaknesses get in the way when you try new sales moves or tactics?  What would happen to your results if you could have a sales training program tailored to help you address your specific weaknesses?

Blended learning delivers better results.   Getting new information into your brain multiple ways will help you increase results.  Repetition is critical to learning and it is even more powerful when you receive the same information in a visual setting, reinforced with audio, and then reinforced again with live learning.  What would happen to your results if you had access to a training program designed to deliver information in a blended learning environment?

Ownership.  Nobody else is responsible for the results you produce.  It’s up to you and only you.  The decisions you make today will have a profound impact on the results you produce tomorrow.  Are you doing everything you can to improve your skills and upgrade your sales knowledge?  Do you want to improve your results and are you willing to do whatever it takes to get better?  What would happen to your sales results if you really took ownership of your destiny and made the commitment to build on your strengths and address your weaknesses once and for all?

Now that you know these four bedrock principles, take ownership of them and apply them when you make the decision to be committed to sales success.