Jacques Werth

How to Be Confident Talking to Anyone – A New Sales Training Workshop

 Announcements, Blog  2 Responses »
Mar 302012
 

Like most people, you may feel discomfort when meeting someone for the first time in a business or social situation.  If you feel nervous, apprehensive, inhibited or merely uncomfortable when you meet someone, you’re not alone.

The Conversations with Confidence course can provide the skills for you to talk to almost anyone with confidence in your competence.  And, you will make real connections.

The course consists of 2 interactive Webinar sessions of 65 minutes each, 1 week apart.  During the first session you will learn how to communicate more confidently with anyone.  There are practice assignments of 10 to 20 minutes each day between the two sessions.  We will send you a copy of the Webinar materials via email at the end of the first session.

During the second session, the attendees will report the results of the practice assignments.  There will be discussions and role-plays.

The visual part of the Webinar requires an internet connection.  The interactive audio part may be accessed via telephone or computer.

The price of this workshop is $185.  For the current workshop schedule, please see our Calendar.  If you want to register and purchase the course now, please go to our shopping cart.

Note:  If you took the Powerful Listening course last year (2011), you will find that some of the material in this course is similar.

Posted by Jacques Werth at 4:03 pm

Turning the Fear of Selling into Confidence

 Articles, Blog  4 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.

Posted by Jacques Werth at 5:02 pm

How Scientific is “Scientific Selling”?

 Articles, Blog  3 Responses »
Mar 062012
 

I got my first college degree in 1955, with a major in Industrial Sales.  They were calling it Scientific Selling back then, which is just another form of needs based selling.  The “science” was from a real scientific study of how most people make buying decisions.  The result of that study was a simple buying decision model, showing how a buyer goes through these 5 stages:  Attention, Interest, Desire, Conviction, and Action (AIDCA).

The original scientific study did not include anything about how to use the AIDCA buying decision model to create a selling process.  Nor did it suggest that this model could be used as a basis for manipulating people’s minds.  However, that is exactly how most salespeople began using it.

The Information Age and the Internet have made the alternative to needs based selling much more attractive.  Today, most top sales producers use some form of wants based selling.

Posted by Jacques Werth at 6:11 pm

The “All Buyers Are Liars” Trap

 Articles, Blog  4 Responses »
Feb 202012
 

The belief that “all buyers are liars” is a trap.  It sets up the salesperson for failure.

“All buyers are liars” is also a self-perpetuating belief that makes itself true, once you’ve fallen for it.  The belief makes you do things that sabotage trust.  Salespeople who exaggerate the benefits and ignore the negatives can’t be trusted by their prospects, who often respond by lying about their buying intentions.

However, you don’t hear “all buyers are liars” from the top producing salespeople.  They know that they are more likely to get the truth from prospects when they themselves are completely truthful.

Mistrust breeds mistrust.  If you think your buyers are liars, they will probably think the same about you.

Posted by Jacques Werth and Carl Ingalls at 2:43 pm

Talking Differently Opens a New Market

 Articles, Blog  1 Response »
Jan 122012
 

A recent graduate of our High Probability Selling (HPS) and High Probability Prospecting (HPP) Workshops wrote to us about how his new mindset about selling has changed his sales career.

Jacques and Richard,

Thank you for the HPS and HPP workshops.  You have given me a new mindset that has changed the way I interact with people (both at work and at home) and that has given me a foundation to build the rest of my sales career on.  Before I took your class I wasn’t hurting or about to quit my job, but I was starting to plateau.  Your workshops have made my old ceiling my new floor.

Today I finished an appointment that I know I would not have been able to close using my old sales techniques.  Instead of presenting my product through my understanding of the prospect’s situation (i.e. guessing what they wanted), I was able to gain their trust and respect and to understand exactly what they wanted and what they were willing to live without.  The best part is that a number of my old “lost” sales fall into the same category as the prospect above.  It’s like I’ve opened up a whole new market simply by talking differently to my current market.

Thanks again

Note:  We have not identified the author of this email, because the High Probability way of thinking is not what his company currently believes about selling.

Posted by Jacques Werth at 5:37 pm

What I Learned About Sales from Robin Williams

 Articles, Blog  1 Response »
Jan 042012
 

On an evening in 1980, I was standing at the bar talking with Jo Anne Astrow, one of the owners of the Improv Comedy Club in West Hollywood.  As usual, the club was packed with a large spirited crowd, including several well-known entertainers.

Robin Williams came up and said “Hey, Jo” and gave her a hug.  His frenetic energy was like a burst of static electricity.

Jo Anne said, “Meet my cousin Jacques. He’s visiting from Philly.”

I said, “What are you up to Robin?”

“Trying to perfect a new routine – something that connects better and gets more laughs.”

I said, “You seem to be getting the hang of it lately.”

Robin said, “If I can’t do that I might have to wash dishes.  What do you do?”

“I’m in sales.”

“How are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m the sales manager of a company that just became the industry leader.”

Robin said, “Then we’re both up to the same thing – unless you wanted a career in dish washing.”

Yes, we are both up to the same thing.  In a way, all of us are in sales.  We each have to get very good at selling in order to be successful in doing whatever it is that we want to do.  Otherwise, we might as well be washing dishes.

Posted by Jacques Werth at 6:15 pm

What’s Right with Warm-Calling?

 Articles  14 Responses »
Dec 282011
 

Earlier this year, I answered the phone and a man said “I hate cold-calling.”

I said, “I’ve heard that from hundreds of salespeople. What about warm-calling?”

“Warm-calling, what’s that?” he asked.

I asked, “What’s your name and what do you sell?”

Ten minutes later, I knew Robert was calling lab managers, at myriad different types of laboratories, trying to get appointments to sell lab equipment and supplies. He had a good value proposition and he was trying to get the prospects interested enough to give him an appointment.  He seldom got appointments and, when he did, he rarely sold anything.

Most successful salespeople have been cold-calling for a very long time.  They are the survivors, the ones who stuck it out, put up with the pain and pressure, and hardened themselves to rejection. They learned how to get appointments with prospects who are interested in their products and services. Now, they get enough orders to earn a good living.

The first call that top producing salespeople make to a prospect is, by definition, a cold-call.  However, they don’t try to get appointments. They offer their product or service and ask the prospects if it is what they want.  Then, they call the same prospects every few weeks, again-and-again. They, change the wording of their offers each time.  Those are warm-calls. When a prospect is ready to change to a new supplier, it’s the prospect who asks for an appointment. A high percentage of those prospects eventually become customers. That’s just one of the results of “warm-calling.”

So, Robert learned warm-calling. “Now I make the most prospecting calls of all our salespeople, and the fewest sales visits,” he said. “And, my sales volume is  growing faster than I would ever have imagined.”

Obviously, there is a lot more to warm-calling than is explained in this article.

If you want to know more, or to tell me why you think it’s impossible, feel free to post your questions and opinions as a comment below.

Posted by Jacques Werth at 2:14 pm

How to Increase Sales With Your CRM System

 Articles, Blog  4 Responses »
Nov 072011
 

Why Most Top Producers Don’t Use CRM
Top sales producers (the top 2%) are typically ambitious, highly intelligent and pragmatic.  Most will use any available technology that enables them to sell more and better.  Top producers seldom use CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems because their own sales processes are different from the sales process that is installed in the SFA (Sales Force Automation) part of the system.  If the top producers’ actual sales process is installed in the CRM system, they’ll use it.  That will benefit them, most of the other salespeople, and the bottom line of the company.

Interviewing Top Producers Does Not Work
Most of top producers learned to sell intuitively, experientially, and individually.  They can seldom accurately communicate how they sell.  Most “best sales practices” studies fail to identify the sales processes of the best producers.  Most of the research methods are question based.  Thus, they are biased at several levels.

An Effective Research Method
The best way to determine your company’s best sales process is to base it on unbiased observations of what your best salespeople actually do.  Observing them while they are working with their prospects and customers will reveal your company’s actual best sales process.  Then, the sales process installed in your existing software system can create a significant increase in sales productivity.

Posted by Jacques Werth at 3:47 pm

Impact of High Probability Selling On My Life

 Articles, Blog  1 Response »
Aug 222011
 

Hi Jacques,

A lot has happened in my life since I took your High Probability Prospecting class.  I want to say that you’ve made a huge impact on my life and way of thinking.  And I thank you for that.

Doing business only with people I trust and respect has been a major piece to increasing my self-confidence and self-respect.  I know it may seem obvious and basic to you, but it was a brand-new concept to me.  It never dawned on me that I had a choice about who I dealt with.  It makes ALL the difference in the world.

Little things like always introducing myself as “Michael Henry” instead of simply “Michael” has definitely caused people to treat me differently.  Every time I hear my business peers introduce themselves only with their first name (which is most of the time) it makes me think of you and your excellent advice.

Using the phone strategies and etiquette that you taught me has made my business calls much more effective, efficient, and productive.  And just like you said, if people realize that I’m genuinely interested in who they are and how they got to where they are in life, they will pour it out.  It’s nothing short of magical.  People tell me all kinds of things about themselves if I just ask and honestly listen.  Jacques, it’s opened up an incredible new world to me!

Understanding — at a deep level — that people only buy what they want (not what they need) has helped me tremendously in dealing with people.  Realizing that a positive mental attitude is bullshit has also helped me chart a course in my life that gets me where I want to go.

Even though I am not currently in a sales position, I am frequently using many of the life philosophy and concepts that you taught me.  I am forever grateful to you for that.

Not a day goes by that I don’t put into action the life philosophy you taught me.  And I’m a much happier, healthier guy because of it.

Michael Henry

Posted by Jacques Werth at 3:13 pm

Dodging Price Creates Doubt

 Articles, Blog  3 Responses »
Aug 042011
 

Most salespeople avoid answering the price question until after they have built value in the eyes of the prospect.  How do you feel about a salesperson who dodges your questions about price when you are the buyer?  Most prospects know exactly what the salesperson is doing and they resent it.  That resentment ends in too many “I have to think it over” results.

At the beginning of the sales process many prospects ask about price.  Most salespeople conclude that price must be very important to that prospect.  However, less than twenty percent of major purchases (excluding commodities) go to the low price supplier.

Most of the top sales producers have a very different attitude when a prospect asks about price.  They respond without hesitation, and give the prospect an authentic price range.  Example:  “Depending on exactly what you want, the price range is between $16,000 and $24,000.  Are you able and willing to buy within that range?”

Top sales producers understand that most prospects who ask about price only want to know whether the price is in the ballpark of what they can and will pay.

If the prospect does not ask the price question early in the sales process, top sales producers bring it up.  They want to know the prospect’s answer to avoid wasting time and emotional stamina on a prospect that is very unlikely to buy.

Posted by Jacques Werth at 5:11 pm

Practicing What You Preach

 Articles, Blog  3 Responses »
Jul 282011
 

Here is an example of what High Probability Selling is like from a prospect’s viewpoint.  I received the following email in response to a telephone conversation about sales training:

From: Joseph Schoolland
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 5:26 PM
To: Jacques Werth
Subject: Thank you

Jacques,

Thank you very much for your time this morning.  In all honesty, before I called you, I was nervous that you were going to pressure me into signing up for a workshop.  Since I’ve already read your book I should have known that high pressure sales wasn’t your thing.

I’ve heard other sales trainers preach that you need to “remove the sales pressure” and “be yourself”, but they immediately turn me off because they start using high pressure tactics to get me to buy their stuff. You are the only person in this industry that I’ve met so far that truly practices what you preach.

Best,

Joseph

—————–
Joseph Schoolland
Populi

direct: 360.770.0776
fax: 208.904.3841
web: www.populiweb.com
twitter: twitter.com/populi

This email is posted here with permission from Joseph Schoolland.

Posted by Jacques Werth at 5:48 pm

A Story About Powerful Listening

 Articles, Blog  2 Responses »
May 242011
 

I got a call from someone named Ed.  “I’m interested in your sales training programs,” he said.

“What does it mean when you say you’re interested,” I asked.

“What would happen if I took your sales training courses?”

I said, “I don’t know.  Why do you ask?”

He said, “I’ve been in sales for over twenty years, and I’ve made a decent living.  But now we have a son who’s a freshman in college and a daughter who’s sixteen.  Tuition for both of them, even with student loans, might break us.  Frankly, I need to make more money.  What can you do for me?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I have been reading up on all kinds of sales training and yours seems to be the only one that is entirely different from the way I’ve been selling all along.”

“Why is selling differently important?” I asked.

“It’s like the difference between a tricycle and a Harley.  I need something with a lot more power.  And, your book describes a way of selling that has a lot more power.”

“Isn’t it a lot more difficult to learn to ride a Harley than a tricycle?” I said.

Ed said, “I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”

“I suggest that you fill out two questionnaires that will give us an estimate of how likely it is that you will be successful with High Probability Selling.  If they indicate that you are a good candidate for High Probability Selling, then you might want to take the starter course called ‘Powerful Listening.’  Does that work for you?”

“What does that cost?”

“There’s no charge for the questionnaires,” I said.  “The cost of the Powerful Listening Workshop is $165.”

“I’m in a hurry to get started, said Ed.  “Is there any reason you don’t want me to just sign up for the training immediately?  I’m at your website and I know what the costs are.”

“We would rather be confident that High Probability Selling is a good fit for you before you enroll,” I said.  “That would be better for us.  How would it be for you?”

“How long before I’ll get results from those questionnaires?” Ed asked.

“Between three and four working days is normal.  What do you want to do?”

Ed said, “If you tell me how to find your questionnaires I’ll answer the questions immediately.  And, thank you for being so helpful.”

I said, “You’re welcome.”

He said, “This whole conversation has been just like what’s in your book.  I can’t wait to learn how to do that.  Thanks again.”

I said, “You’re welcome, again.  Good bye.”

Links:

Posted by Jacques Werth at 12:55 pm
 Older Entries
© 2012 High Probability Selling Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha