Next Sales Training Workshop on High Probability Selling Starts 4 June 2013

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Apr 042013
 

The next Sales Training Workshop on High Probability Selling starts on Tuesday 4 June and ends on Tuesday 16 July 2013 (changed from a previous schedule).  This workshop covers the High Probability Selling process, a non-persuasive method of selling that is based upon mutual trust and respect between the salesperson and the prospective customer.  There will be one workshop session per week for seven weeks, and exercises will be assigned between sessions.  Workshop sessions are conducted by teleconference and will be every Tuesday from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM (Eastern Time, USA).

Tuition is $945 (USD) per participant.

To register for this workshop, you may do any of the following:

  • Call us at +1 610-566-1535 Mon-Fri 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Time USA.  Toll free number is 800-394-7762
  • Email us (to Enroll@HighProbSell.com) with your name and phone number, and tell us when we can call you for additional info.  Please do not send credit card information by email.

Please note that we require all workshop participants to read our Confidentiality Agreement and agree to its terms before they participate in our workshop.  These terms are explained on our Confidentiality Agreement Webpage.

For more information, please visit our selling workshop description page.

Don’t be a consultant

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Mar 282013
 

The following is copied from a comment left on this blog by David Ross, and is republished here with permission.  We believe that his words will be valuable to all of our readers.

For me the hardest part of High Probability Selling is “Don’t be a consultant.”  A consultant, according to Webster’s, is “one who gives expert or professional advice.”

At one time or another most salespeople feel an urge to share their wisdom and expertise with prospects.  But I can tell you from painful experience that trying to be a consultant will eventually drive you out of sales.  Prospects know that a salesperson’s pay depends on a sale being made, so prospects discount, ignore, or “take with a grain of salt” almost everything that a salesperson says.

The most dangerous of all prospects are the “interested” and the “curious.”  Like the Sirens of Greek mythology, who lured unsuspecting sailors to their doom, the “interested” and the “curious” will engage you with questions that will be almost impossible to ignore; and you will be consumed by a desire to educate and inform.  When you’re done, these “Sirens” will pat you on the head, thank you for your time, and be gone.

Don’t educate.  Don’t inform.  Don’t tell people how great your company or product is; instead, tell them that not everyone will benefit from what you sell and, in fact, some people shouldn’t buy your product or service at all.

Be the un-salesman: instead of trying to convince prospects, let them convince YOU.  This is the essence of High Probability Selling: after saying ‘yes’ to a legitimate offer, the prospect has to answer a dozen or so questions to prove that he’s serious.  All that is required of the salesperson are the guts to disqualify those who don’t make the cut.

Lastly, concerning your reply that “it is hard not to start selling when someone engages in conversation,” remember this rule: there are no conversations with prospects.  There is nothing to talk about until the prospect says “yes” to an offer.  If the prospect does not say “yes” to your offer, the call is over.  Contact the next person on your list.  If the prospect’s reply is vague, ask for clarification: “Does that mean you want ________, or not?”

High Probability prospects will not allow themselves to be easily disqualified.  Let everyone else go in peace; for many are called, few are chosen.

David Ross

How to Say Ok Goodbye When a Prospect Says No

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Feb 252013
 

There are just three things to do when a prospect says “No”.  First you say “Ok” and then you say “Good-bye” and then you hang up.  However, the way you do each of these makes a lot of difference.  The meaning that the listener perceives is greatly influenced by your tone and timing.

The tone should be emotionally neutral, matter-of-fact, as if you were making a simple statement that has no “attitude”.  It should not convey your frustration about hearing “no” from yet another prospect.  It should not reveal your boredom with the process of making call after call.  It is also very important that your tone does not communicate an enthusiasm or friendliness that the prospect is likely to presume is faked.

The timing should clearly separate the “Ok” from the “Good-bye”.  Say these two words as two separate statements, with a pause in between.  Do not act like you are in a rush.  After you say “Good-bye” wait a while in silence before you hang up.  It’s best to let the other party hang up first.

Keep the intended meaning of each of these three things clearly in your mind when you do them.

  • Ok means that you acknowledge and accept what the prospect has just said.  It means that you are not going to argue.  It demonstrates that you did not have an emotional attachment to that particular outcome.  It demonstrates that you listen.
  • Good-bye means that you are done with this call.  It means that you have nothing more to say.  It demonstrates that you are moving on in a businesslike manner.
  • Waiting for a while before you hang up means that you are not dismissing the prospect.  You are not “slamming the door”.  It also gives the prospect an opportunity to ask you not to hang up yet.  This does happen, especially after you have called that prospect a few times.

To hear a sample of how to say “Ok … Good-bye”, you can use the audio player below:

or click on this link

Next High Probability Prospecting Sales Training Workshop Starts 12 March 2013

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Feb 202013
 

The next High Probability Prospecting Sales Training Workshop starts on Tuesday 12 March and ends on Tuesday 23 April 2013.  This workshop covers the High Probability Prospecting process, an alternative to traditional cold-calling.  There will be one workshop session per week for seven weeks, and exercises will be assigned between sessions.  Workshop sessions are conducted by teleconference and will be every Tuesday from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM (Eastern Time, USA).

Tuition is $875 (USD) per participant.

To register for this workshop, you may do any of the following:

  • Call us at +1 610-566-1535 Mon-Fri 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Time USA.  Toll free number is 800-394-7762
  • Email us (to Enroll@HighProbSell.com) with your name and phone number, and tell us when we can call you for additional info.  Please do not send credit card information by email.

Please note that we require all workshop participants to read our Confidentiality Agreement and agree to its terms before they participate in our workshop.  These terms are explained on our Confidentiality Agreement Webpage.

For more information, please visit our prospecting workshop description page.

How to Hire a Sales and Marketing VP

 Articles, Blog  2 Responses »
Jan 242013
 

Many years ago I was being interviewed by the Executive Vice President of a publicly traded company.  I asked a lot of questions about his personal and business background.  Then, he said:  “What’s going on?  I’m supposed to be interviewing you.”

I asked:  “Why are you hiring a new Sales and Marketing VP?”

He said:  “We’re starting a new division and our guy, the current sales VP, is going to head up that new division.”

I said:  “What qualifies him to run the new division?”

He said:  “He’s a top notch manufacturing engineer and manager.”

Me:  “How come you had him running sales and marketing?”

Him:  “We fired the previous sales VP because he couldn’t get much of a sales volume increase out of the sales force.  He had been one of our better salespeople, but he couldn’t seem to get the hang of managing.  His salespeople didn’t make enough sales calls and we lost too many opportunities to the competition.  So we stuck the present guy in the job of pushing the sales force.”

Me:  “What about the guy before the previous sales VP?”

Him:  “It was pretty much the same story.  He didn’t know how to lead the sales force.”

Me:  “You said the company has been in business for 18 years.  How many sales managers have they had?”

Him:  “About a dozen.”

Me:  “You said that you’ve been with the company for a little over five years.  What was your first job title?”

Him:  “I was on the assembly line.”

Me:  “And now you’re the Executive Vice President of a company that has almost 2,000 employees.  How many direct reports do you have?”

Him:  “Six vice presidents and a few senior managers.  Before we go on, do you want the job you came here to discuss?”

Me:  “I don’t know yet.  First I need to know who I would be reporting to.”

Him:  “Just me.”

Me:  “If I take the job, are you going to tell me how to run the sales force, or will you support me in making major changes in the way the company does business? That will include a shakeup of the sales force, the marketing department, pricing, and whatever else needs fixing.”

Him:  “I’ll have to think about that.  What kind of changes do you expect to make?”

Me:  “I’ll take that non-answer to mean ‘No’.”

Him:  “Not necessarily, what kind of changes do you anticipate?”

Me:  “Since the company has had so many sales managers, and they were all less than satisfactory, it’s clear that top management has their own requirements about how sales should be managed.  I certainly would not conform to the way top management has wanted the sales VP to do his job in the past.  I don’t push salespeople, I get their cooperation or they get replaced.  Are you willing to take risks like that, which come with real change?”

Him:  “How soon can you start?”

Me:  “You didn’t answer the question.  Will I have your total support in changing the way the company does business?”

Him:  “Yes.”

Me:  “What about the President and the Board of Directors?”

Him:  “I’m on the board, and I’m a maverick too.  And, I have the board’s complete support.  I suppose you want a contract, right?”

I said:  “Yes.  My lawyer will draft it.”

He said:  “Son, we’re going to have a lot of fun.”

 

Don’t Try to Sell High Probability Selling to Your Boss

 Articles, Blog  8 Responses »
Dec 142012
 

Our office manager rang me and said “John Richardson is on line 5.  He took our workshops several months ago and he has a problem.  Can you talk to him now?”

I said, “Sure” and picked up the call.

“What’s the problem, John?”

He said, “Since I did your courses I’ve increased my average monthly sales volume by over forty-percent and it’s still climbing.  So, when I was talking to my sales manger last week I told him that he should have all the salespeople take your workshops.  He told me to describe how High Probability Selling works, so I did.  He listened, took notes, and said he would think about it.”

I said, “I can guess what happened next.”

John said, “He called me today and said that what I’ve been doing can’t possibly work and he wants me to stop immediately.  He insisted that I to go back to using the company’s standard sales process.”

I said, “We always tell salespeople who participate in our workshops that they should never try to convince anyone to use High Probability Selling, and especially not their boss.  Trying to convince people creates resistance.”

He said, “I thought he would love the idea of everyone increasing their sales the way I have.”

I said, “First, it’s not true that all the salespeople will increase their sales – some can’t or won’t.

“More importantly, most sales managers have a big personal investment in having everyone do whatever they believe in.  It’s very hard for them to change, especially if they don’t discover it themselves.  That’s why we ask everyone not to tell their mangers what they’re doing, but wait until they are asked.  Then, you should just say “It’s too complicated for me to explain, but I’ll give you the book if you want to read it.”

He said, “I was so excited about the results I’ve been getting, I forgot all about that.”

 

We Are All Salespeople At Birth

 Articles, Blog  7 Responses »
Sep 062012
 

As new born infants, our survival depends on how well we can manipulate adults, usually our parents, in order to get what we need to thrive.  We are instinctively programmed to keep trying all kinds of tactics to get nourishment, comfort, and safety.  Fortunately, our parents and most other adults are programmed to respond well to this.  We then continue to learn manipulation and persuasion techniques as our lives go on.

By the time we are in our teens, we have been inundated with hundreds of different marketing, advertising, and sales tactics.  In response to those tactics, we learn how to resist the techniques that others use on us to try to make us do what they want.  This is the origin of sales resistance.

Sales experts are constantly developing new methods intended to negate our sales resistance.  However, no matter how subtle or persuasive their methods may be, most people have learned to intuitively sense it when they are being pushed or preyed upon.

Nevertheless, we have to buy stuff that we need and want.  Given a choice, we prefer to buy from a person whom we trust.  We also want to be trusted by others.  It’s not easy to become the kind of salesperson that people feel like trusting.  There is so much unlearning to do.  However, when we succeed at that we are far happier with our lives.

Totally Truthful Salespeople

 Articles, Blog  5 Responses »
Jul 092012
 

I have been in sales, sales management, and sales training since 1955.  From the beginning, I observed how top sales producers actually sell, intent on becoming one of them.  In 1961, I started to manage a sales force.

The first thing I noticed in my new job was that our salespeople all had an underlying sense of insecurity about selling and being believed.

Lou bragged about how his magic words and wise appearance closed his last sale, even though his sales were infrequent.

Steve kept revising his sales pitch, sure that all he needed was the right words to convince his prospects to buy.

Art was good looking, charming, and had a great sense of humor.  His lynchpin was rapport.

Bill knew far more about the services we sold than anyone, and he was sure that his expertise would close the sales.

They all constantly tried to come up with the best way to convince prospects of the benefits of our services.  However, most of them were barely making a living.

That was my first shot at managing salespeople and I didn’t know how to get through to any of them.  Then, one day, Wilbur joined our sales force.  He was quiet, self-assured, and a very good listener.  He reminded me of some of the top sales producers I had observed before I got into management.  In his first month with our company he became the top sales producer and his sales production kept improving.

When the other salespeople asked Wilbur how he did it, he said, “I just tell my prospects the truth about everything, the good and the bad.”  However, the other salespeople continued to sell the way they always did.

At that point, Wilbur’s sales accounted for almost 40% of our total sales volume and I was determined to find another Wilbur.  So, I began recruiting and interviewing salespeople, but I didn’t hire anyone until Stan showed up.

Stan didn’t seem to be like Wilbur in any obvious way.  He was friendly, energetic, and gregarious.  However, like Wilbur, he was a stickler for telling the whole truth.  After several months, Stan’s production was getting close to Wilbur’s and the less successful salespeople wanted to know how he did it.

Stan may have had a better understanding of why his sales process worked so well.  He told the other salespeople that he always told his prospects about the benefits and the detriments of our services, including everything that could go wrong.  He also explained how we guaranteed our services, but if service was required, it would not be a pleasant experience until everything was fixed.  However, the poor performing salespeople did not believe Stan either.

By the following year our company’s sales volume had almost doubled, most of the original salespeople were gone, and I was still recruiting salespeople like Stan and Wilbur.  That is how our company became one of the largest in the industry.

The lesson in this story is that you can make a lot more sales by telling the whole truth, and not just the parts that you think will help you persuade your prospects to buy.

What’s Wrong With Cherry Picking?

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Jun 282012
 

We teach salespeople how to be “cherry pickers.”  They learn how to find prospects who want to buy what they are selling, and are ready to do so, with no convincing required.

So, what’s wrong with “cherry picking”?  Many salespeople will tell you that it’s not really selling – it’s just order taking.  Perhaps it’s too easy.

Are you getting paid to work hard, or are you getting paid to bring in business?

5 Toxic Behaviors that Kill Sales

 Articles, Blog  5 Responses »
Jun 222012
 
1. Assume the Sale.  Treat everyone who might buy from you as if they will.  Persuade and convince them.
People who are that easy to convince are probably unwilling or unable to buy.  Many more people will resent you making assumptions about what is theirs to decide.
2. Get Out There and Sell.  You can’t sell ‘em if you don’t meet ‘em.
You will waste a lot of time that way, yours and theirs.  That will probably be the last time you get to meet them.
3. Act Like a Consultant.  Present yourself as an expert and trusted advisor about what they need.
Most prospects know better than to believe that a salesperson can be an objective advisor.  Salespeople who pretend to be consultants are trusted even less.
4. Find Problems and Solve Them.  Uncover the prospect’s needs and persuade them that you have the solutions.
Most prospects have more problems than they can ever get handled.  If it’s not a top priority for them when you call, they will not buy.
5. Overcome Objections and Close the Sale.  Convince prospects that their objections are wrong, or are actually benefits.
Objections are usually caused by the salesperson’s lack of authentic disclosure or by the prospect’s lack of a commitment to buy.

 

We Need Your Help with a Marketing Question About a Call to Action

 Articles, Blog  23 Responses »
May 162012
 

We need your help.  What would a Call to Action from High Probability Selling (HPS) look like and feel like?  We want to hear your thoughts, and even more importantly, we want to know how you feel.

Marketing experts tell us that every “pitch” should contain a clear Call to Action, something that we want the reader or listener to do.  But they live in a persuasive world, where marketing and selling is all about pushing or nudging or influencing people into buying something.  High Probability Selling is not in that world at all.

We don’t pitch.  Instead of trying to get someone to buy, HPS is about finding someone who wants to buy what we are selling, and then communicating with that person in a way that is completely consistent with this purpose.  So, what would a Call to Action look like in order to be compatible with High Probability Selling?

It can’t be pushy.  We’ve tried that.  Our website used to say “Get Started Now!” in big bold type on the home page.  It just didn’t feel right, and one of our readers pointed this out to us recently on Twitter.  So we changed it to something else.  We thought about it, and made a guess about what might work.

Our thinking went like this.  In the world of persuasion, a Call to Action is a push in a direction chosen by the seller.  In the world of HighProb, it’s replaced by a map, so that the potential buyer can make an informed decision.  People want to know what direction to go, but they don’t want to be pushed.  What we have now starts with “What’s next?  We offer the following suggestions”.  This is followed by our best guesses about what a reader might want.

High Probability Prospecting contains a good example of a High Probability version of a Call to Action.  Another Twitter friend pointed out that we are asking someone to make a decision (a type of action) when we are prospecting and we ask, “Is that something you want?”  When we do this, we make no attempt to steer the prospect toward a particular answer.  It’s a Call to Action without a direction.

We need to be creative.  High Probability Selling contradicts conventional wisdom about marketing and selling.  We want creative people to tell us what they think and feel.

 

We thank our readers, especially Linda Sgoluppi and Russ Thoman (@Linda_Sgoluppi and @RussThoman on Twitter), for calling us into action and for helping us clarify our thoughts on this.

Turning the Fear of Selling into Confidence

 Articles, Blog  9 Responses »
Mar 292012
 

In my first sales job, I visited over 100 potential customers a week.  Every time I walked into a company and asked to see the person who could make a decision to buy the kind of product I was selling, I did so with trepidation.  Each time, it became harder and more nerve wracking.

When I occasionally got to talk to decision makers, I was uncomfortable just trying to build a little rapport with them.  After 4 months, I had sold nothing, I was thoroughly discouraged, and I was ready to quit.

Then I got lucky.  The top salesperson in the huge company that employed me agreed to let me go on sales calls with him.  I learned a new way of selling by carefully observing how he worked.  I also learned that his truly relaxed way of communicating set him apart from other salespeople.

He did not do any of the typical rapport building techniques that salespeople are taught.  He knew how to control the conversation confidently without controlling the prospect.  After watching him for a couple of days, I learned how to do that by practicing his way of communicating with everyone I met.

Five years later, I was a highly successful salesperson and managed my first sales force.  Since that time, I have hired, trained, and managed hundreds of salespeople.  Most of them exhibited the same kind of anxiety that I did as a neophyte salesperson, even after they had been in sales for years.  I taught many of them how to be relaxed and confident, and they became much more successful.

Just as I did, people can learn to talk to almost anyone with confidence in their competence if they get the right kind of training and practice.

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