Business Coaching

Stop "Think It Overs" In Your Sales Presentations

Marcus Cauchi of Sandler Sales Institute® in London explains that you must stop accepting "think it overs" from your prospective customers if you intend to close the deal.

No More "Think It Overs"

Get Tough - Get an Answer

Professional selling can be cruel.

Prospects are frequently better conditioned than the salespeople who call on them, and consequently they can destroy a salesperson in a phone call or during a chance meeting. On a day-to-day basis, even a good salesperson hears "no" more often than any word.

Can you think of a worse profession for people who thrive on acceptance?

It's OK to Fail

The word "no" comes with the territory in sales. So does failure.

Unfortunately, traditional sales trainers teach you that it's never OK to fail, or that you should stop when you hear the word "no."

But top sales performers know better.

They learn from their failures. And if they can't hear a "yes," they'd rather get a "no." They want to avoid anything in between. And that requires them to remain tough mentally and emotionally.

The 4 Possible Outcomes

Four things can happen to you in a selling situation. 

You can get;

• a "yes,"
   
• a "no,"
   
• a "no" with a lesson,
   
• or an "I want to think it over."

A "yes" always feels great. It pumps you up and motivates you to find another prospect.

A "no" doesn't feel great, but at least you know where you stand.

A "no" with a lesson isn't so bad. You know where you stand, and when you get off the phone, or back to your car, you may be able to turn a negative into something learned.

Avoid those TIOs

You want to avoid the "I want to think it over" answer because there's nothing worse in sales.

What does it mean?

When you go back to your car and begin to critique yourself, what do you say? "What happened in that sales call? Where do I stand? Could I have closed the sale with a little more perseverance? Should I have done this, or that?"

Self Deception - the Killer of Careers

The sad thing is that most salespeople are satisfied to hear an "I want to think it over." It gives them a false sense of security. After all, will a sales manager fire a guy who says he's got 84 proposals on the street? He will eventually, if those proposals don't materialise into sales.

Always go for a "yes" or a "no."

Marcus Cauchi
Sandler Sales Institute® London
Sales Training London
All rights reserved, (C) Sandler Training (SM) and Marcus Cauchi 2008

Thanks Marcus.

This is an example of the counter-intuitive style of the Sandler Sales system but isn't it so true?

"I want to think it over" is such an easy excuse to give and it keeps the lead in the sales pipeline statistics but how much time do you think your prospect is going to give to your proposal when faced with their usual day-to-day activities?

What happens?

You follow up again in a few days and you are told that your prospect is still "think it over." It's the same answer after a week and then another week. One month later when you call, the prospect has just signed with your biggest competitor.

I will be featuring many more articles from Marcus but if you want to learn more about the Sandler system I recommend the Nightingale Conant audio program "Close The Deal".

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

How To Profit In A Recession

If you are gloomy about all this talk of recession then today I have the perfect antidote to help you  to see these tough times as an opportunity and learn how to profit from a recession.

If you think that's a tough sell then I've found just the man for the job, so let me introduce you to Marcus Cauchi of the Sandler Sales Institute® in London. I've been chasing Marcus for permission to re-publish his articles for the last six months. I've now got it and he starts with a blockbuster.

So over to Marcus (and Eastenders is a popular but particularly gloomy soap on BBC1 in the UK).

Why Aren't You Refusing to Participate in the Recession?
A guide to having more fun than watching Eastenders

Inflation, stagflation, depression, downturn, slow down, bankruptcy, liquidation, repossession! I never thought I'd say it, but real life for many businesspeople seems to be even more depressing than an episode of Eastenders.

Ministerial blunders around red tape and blinders around National Security, onerous tax tampering that demotivates small business, the Governor of the Bank of England is gloomier than the Grim Reaper, Alistair Darling has a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp, suburban towns like Camberley are like frontier ghost towns, next stop is Tumbleweed.

Don't You Just Love A Good Downturn?!!

Hasn't this been the best 9 months of your business life?

Your competition are dropping their prices like they can't give their products and services away fast enough. Many are racing towards the liquidator with their eyes wide shut, others are buying business by bending over backwards like a Khasak contortionist and if you dropped a bomb on any hotel in town you'd annihilate about 20% of the entire salesforce and they're licking their wounds over a gin and latte after having been brutalised by the procurement team.
You on the other hand have been steadily increasing your close ratios while more prospects are coming to you and asking you to help them. You're probably raising your prices by 30%, 40%, 50% every Quarter because you've chosen not to play in this recession by falling into the trap your competition has.

You're keeping a tight hold on your cashflow, you are turning down invitations to tender where you have little or no chance of winning because the prospect has already decided who they're going to use or they're so early in their research that they're just fishing for free consulting.

Of course you have your 90-day strategic sales, marketing and referral marketing plans in place and you have invested the time you really need to in those relationships which you want to become your closest referral partners.

I know you've gone back to your clients to ask them what it'll take to lose their business and of course you've done your strategic reviews with each of your coaches, sponsors and key decision makers to explore their plans for expansion over the next 2 years so you can work together to develop your 2-5 year roll-out when they ask you to do so.

Heaven knows you're forward thinking enough to structure the turnover in your sales team so that you're only losing the weakest people and your best people are staying and thriving in your company while all around you are gnashing their teeth, laying people off, eating into their margins, incurring ludicrously high costs of customer acquisition and allowing buyers to treat them as a supplier of commodities not like they treat you ... as a trusted advisor delivering multiples of value each time they work with you.
So what makes you different from the rest of your emaciated, scared and ever so occasionally blinkered competitors?

1. Cash is king.
    
   Get paid upfront, early and often. Keep money in the business. Don't be greedy? Be picky and do business with people willing to pay your fees not the fees they tell you you can have. Make sure you're in profit and protect your time, resources and cashflow like your business depends on it. It does.
    
   
2. Identify the reasons why your customers will pay you premium for what you offer.
    
   Decline generous offers to take on work that will cost you money to deliver. Disqualify hard to avoid wasting your time, money and resources let alone sapping your morale by being led by the nose by tyre kickers, time-wasters, prevaricators, gnomes, lemons and numpties.
    
   Remember not every suspect qualifies to become a prospect.
    
   If they don't, why would you ever waste time developing let alone presenting your ideas for solutions to problems they have, that are costing them a lot of money and you can fix. Instead they want you to tell them how they can fix them without paying you.
    
   Tell me you're not so naive as to believe they'll feel morally obligated to bring you in to help them and pay you what you're worth once you've let the baby out with the bath water?
    
3. Charge what you're worth and do it with conviction.
    
   If someone discounts they tell the buyer "I didn't really think it was worth that much" and they train the buyer to think "Well she dropped her price once, I wonder ..... what if I say "it's still too expensive" again will they discount more? How often can I ask for a discount before they stop giving me concessions and price breaks? Actually I'm nervous now; they've gone so low I get the feeling they NEED this order. Can I smell fear and despair on them? I think I'll go somewhere else but if I keep pushing I can use their lowball offer and free ideas to beat up the next salesperson I speak to."
     
4. Take all the money not just a fraction of it.
     
   I was with one division of a major global company recently and learned to my horror that they are usually only selling 1 product when they have a portfolio of products that mean the salespeople are guilty of "selling and running".
     
   Chances are they're order taking and only talking about the stuff within their comfort zone because they're too ignorant, idle or scared to discuss why the customer should buy the dozen of so other services and products they offer.
    
   No cross selling, no upselling, no strategic account development, no effort to spot the potential of an account on the basis of their paltry wallet-share.
    
   And the arrogance of account managers who for 3 years have been lucky to hit 60% of target (and still keep their jobs ..... he says shaking his head in utter disbelief) in treating marketing's efforts to analyse and understand sectors, lines of business and individual accounts that show genuine growth potential - and the account managers telling marketing they know all they need to know about these accounts!!!
    
   What's needed is a good pile of Semtex, a detonator and some lubricant!!
     
5. Ask for and take the help that's all around you.
    
   You need your network more than ever now. Take the time to invest in the key relationships that will help you thrive in the nasty recession that lies ahead.
    
   Keep your head. Even stagflation means rising prices while the economy remains stagnant. i.e. Germany Plc continues to have a GDP of €30 trillion with inflation running at 8% or UK Plc has a GDP of £27 trillion with inflation running at 18%. Yes credit is tighter so run checks before you incur costs but €30 trillion in sales are still happening and £27 trillion are still happening.
    
   People are still buying (only they may not be buying from your competition .... or you). Money is changing hands, transactions and deals are being done.
    
   So it's not doom and gloom all around. It is time to really pull out all the stops and make sure you are as good as the promises you make.
    
   Fulfilling on those promises is much easier if you ask for help before you need it not when you have the bailiffs dropping around for a quick cup of tea and a repossession.
    
   Ask for help. Take the help. Apply it. Recognise it. Thank people for their help. Give help to others. BUT QUALIFY IF THE PEOPLE YOU ARE ASKING FOR HELP ARE WORTH ASKING!!
    
   A sales trainer who can't sell isn't much cop to pay money to let alone attention. A telemarketer with no pipeline is probably a waste of space. A marketer who isn't generating automated, regular leads with qualified prospects in their clearly defined target market and who can't tell you who they help and why they are different enough to consider changing to them is probably not someone I'd turn to for advice, or an e-book coach whose e-books don't sell or help them generate enquiries and the SEO expert who isn't at the top of web searches for even difficult and highly sought after key words let alone the obscure ones that someone in Outer Mongolia looked up in 2002 once, is it worth you handing over your hard earned cash or giving up your precious time to listen to their trite advice which either they can't swallow themselves or dare I say it(?), is a lie and never worked.
    
   If these people only managed to take orders in the past when times were good and their stuff only seemed to work because the economy was strong enough to hide their ineptitude ..... RUN! Hang on to your wallets. But flee, quickly!
    
6. Buy from people who are expensive and have a lot of customers.
    
   They are holding firm on their prices because they can. In this type of market there is a run to quality.
     
   It's worth paying for good advice. Bad advice is very expensive even if it looks cheap (value for money or a bargain). OK not everyone who is expensive is good, but it's a pretty reasonable indicator that they're doing something right. If they budge on their price without making you give something back and they discount early, your nose should twitch (a lot).
    
   AND ......
    
7. Your state of mind determines the health of your business.
     
   Sure, your bank balance and order book do to, but if you've already decided you're going to have a hard time ... you're right. If you've decided you have to discount .... you're right. If you expect your sales meeting to be tough .... you're right.
    
   Your state of mind, your self-concept, the subliminal scripts you're running, your need to be liked over your intent to go to the bank, your need to comply instead of respect yourself enough to expect to be treated as your prospect's equal, when you have all these in check and you are able to separate who you are from what you do so you don't take rejection personally and your self-concept is always protected .... all these play a visceral part in you becoming another statistic of economic mismanagement and global recession or being one of the survivors and thrivers who makes it out the other side bigger, leaner, stronger and much much much more profitable.

You pick which camp you want to be in, decide and then pursue your decision with total conviction. This is not a time for half-hearted, half-measures.

Carpe colei!
Regards    

Marcus Cauchi
Sandler Sales Institute® London
Sales Training London
All rights reserved, (C) Sandler Training (SM) and Marcus Cauchi 2008

Thanks Marcus. This is a remarkable article and puts the opportunities from the recession into context.

First I want to pick up on the Sandler Sales Institute® in case you are not familiar with their ideas for sales training which are very different from those advocated by the traditional sales people.

I own "You Can’t Teach A Kid To Ride A Bike At A Seminar" by David Sandler but I always believe that audio learning suits the sales lifestyle so well with all that time in the car so I also own and recommend the Close The Deal audio program from Nightingale Conant which is an excellent and the Nightingale website has audio clips to give you a flavour of the material. It is also very funny.

I want to pick up on a number of things that Marcus has covered.

Pricing is key

The easiest thing in the world to do when times are tough and you are worried about making a sale is to cut your price. You know it and your buyers know it. They also know that your price cut is their cost saving/profit boost.

Cutting prices to stop you going bankrupt could just mean that you go bust even faster. It is tough to resist the pressure but that is where the Sandler system is so effective.

Qualify and focus on quality

Time are tough. Costs are an issue and opportunities are unlikely to be as plentiful as the past but that just reinforces the importance of spending your time with customers who have a strong need for your product or service and are ready to buy now.

If you waste time with the tyrekickers and the "might buy in six months" crowd, while your competitor is with the juicy lead with one hand already reaching for the cheque book, you will miss out.

Marcus is right that even if the economy enters an official recession, we may be talking about a drop of 2% but that still means there is 98% remaining.

Some industries will be more badly affected than others, customers will go through de-stocking exercises and as I explain in the Beer Game, the supply chain can become unpredictable.

Taking The Right Advice

I am fascinated by the fact that telemarketers use email marketing or direct mail to attract my attention. The copywriters who send me a letter that is all about them and not about me and how they can help me achieve what I want. The business consultants who don't have a healthy business. The accountants who don't have any money. The doctors who smoke.

You get the idea. There are people who say one thing and do another and can't demonstrate their knowledge and ability.

"If You Think You Can Or You Think You Can't, You're Probably Right"

A famous quote from Henry Ford that emphasises the importance of how you think.

Prepare for tough times by removing and unnecessary costs but don't see profit erosion as inevitable. As the saying goes "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."

Now is the time to step up and improve your skills and really show your worth.

Once again thanks Marcus for a great article that shows with the right approach and mindset you can profit from the recession. I will be publishing more from Marcus soon.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Rapport: How To Build Rapport Quickly & Easily

Today I am featuring an excellent article I found by business and management coach Martin Haworth on how to build rapport quickly and easily in eight steps.

So over to Martin

By building rapport quickly, you instantly create excellent relationships for your business success. In this article you will find eight simple skills to get your quick and easy relationship building off to a great start!

Building quick rapport is all about creating a relationship, in the moment. And this is vital in business, education, friendships and many other areas of life. We need relationships to help us get the things we want for ourselves in our lives, like money, promotions, success, partners and above all to feel part of society.

You see we are social animals, us humans and if we find it challenging to make relationships, then we feel excluded. And that ain't comfortable.

So, let's build rapport quickly and easily in the just eight easy steps. Try a few; try them all - print this out as a reminder - have fun with it and see the difference!

1. Pay Attention

Now some will say that you must make continued eye contact, but, you know, some folks find that invasive and threatening. So match what they do, if they look at you, look at them.

But whatever you do, ensure that you give an appropriate level of attention to them. In Dale Carnegie's wonderful book, 'How to Win Friends & Influence People', he tells a story of how he sat next to someone at dinner one evening. All night his fellow guest talked; all night Carnegie listened.

A few weeks later, he was amazed to hear from a mutual friend how interesting his dinner companion had found him - even though Carnegie said virtually nothing all evening!

2. Value Them

..which leads us to how you relate to them. If someone is talking to you about something, make sure you show you value what they are saying, by asking them at least one additional open question about what they are talking to you about.

Remember these? The 6 W's of HoW, What, Where, When, Why or Who. Six easy, helpful, interested open question types that start quickly to show you are interested in them, building a really fast relationship..

3. Be Like Them

By matching physically, you will make a far greater impression. So, if they are standing, stand, leaning forward, lean forward.

Ever spoken to a child? What did you do - you crouched down, didn't you. Why? Because you felt more able to communicate. It works well for big people too!

4. Follow Up

How often have you discussed something and then it hasn't been followed through afterwards. Promises not kept. And how did that leave your relationship with that person? Not good eh?

Following through on what you promise is not just good practice, it is vital if you want to build a strong, trusting relationship. People notice, even when you don't. Also remember to underpromise and overdeliver.

5. Laugh a Lot

Laughter is a powerful tool in building relationships - you are sharing the same emotion, in the same moment. Ever seen two people in fits of laughter? How strong was that bond then? Pretty strong, I guess. Ever been there yourself? Yes, you know the feeling. It works, so share the fun and joy of the moment.

6. Hear Them

It is not about listening, it's about hearing them. So what's the distinction here? It means being so with the person that you sense other things beneath the words. This is a very powerful tool you can use.

Further sensitive questioning then adds into your evidence, which can give you great clues to help build the relationship.

7. Be The Audience

Remember that when you are talking, you might be using the same language, but you hear it with different ears, different experiences and altogether a different 'take' on the words.

A great coach I know, Elaine Wylie, had a problem with her cell phone one day and heard a serious echo. She heard herself fully before her caller responded. It was very revealing. So hear what you are saying from your audience's 'ears'.

8. Give space - Listen up

Have you ever spoken to someone uninterrupted for as long as it took to say all you had to say? Were there spaces where it went quiet? What did you say next?

In Nancy Kline's wonderful book 'Time to Think' she explores great exercises to do just that. The experience is magical. Give your listener space to talk and let them fill the silences. You will have pure rapport and a recognition that you care so much.

So that's all there is to it. There maybe a few other things, but get these ideas somewhere like right and it will create relationships of value for you all over the place - through the rapport you have built in the moment.

Daunted? Don't be. Try one or two at a time and see the reaction - play with these ideas. Build your confidence. Enjoy the learning to Build Rapport Fast!

(c) 2008 Coaching Businesses To Success. Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. There are hundreds of hints, tips, ideas and articles at his website,    http://www.Coaching-Businesses-To-Success.com 

Thanks Martin for letting me republish your great article on building rapport. Soft skills like rapport building are so important when working towards success.

Have you ever noticed how some people (perhaps friends from school or university) have always been popular and then when they entered the world of work, they were on the fast track to success?

It's because they have developed this wonderful ability to build strong, lasting relationships with people who can and do help them because they are liked and trusted.

Some people just have the special knack of putting people at ease and within minutes of meeting a new person are then chatting away like best friends and that's because they have honed their natural rapport building skils.

Working with people you like makes business easy and fun while working with people who you dislike and don't trust quickly becomes extremely stressful.

Business growth expert Peter Thomson has a saying:

"When the relationship works, all the major problems are minor. When the relationship doesn't work, all the minor problems become major."

If you trust someone you know that they will be fair and see that any problem is put right and solved equitably. If you don't trust someone, you waste time looking for the problems and the catches in a deal and then try to protect your corner.

So How Can Rapport Building Help Your Business?

The first obvious place is in your sales process.

Some sales trainers (including Chet Holmes) teach that building rapport is step one in the selling process.

But I'm not talking about the cheesy rep who picks up the photograph of little Johnny on your desk and says "What a beautiful little boy" but genuine rapport as explained in Martin's article.

People buy from people they like and they like people like themselves

You show the prospective customer that you are interested in them, their problems and finding the right solution and not one that "will do" and makes you a fast buck.

The next place is with the relationships with your employees and team members. The more they like and respect you, the more willing they will be to help you to work towards your business vision.

Next are your suppliers. You may see your suppliers as people to be squeezed as hard as possible but often there are all kinds of extra concessions and favours you can receive if you are liked.

I recommend that everyone grade their customers and one of the factors determining grading is how much you like working with them. I perhaps take this further than most but one of the prime factors in me agreeing to work with a one-to-one coaching client is that I must like them and really want to help them.

Martin also mentioned a book (also available as an audio) called "How To Win Friends And Influence Them" by Dale Carnegie. It is a classic although I should say that it is also quaint. It was published back in 1936 and it seems strange to read stories about Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt.

Wikipedia has a short summary of the key factors from "How To Win Friends" which is well worth reading and learning the techniques.

Building rapport is the first step to creating great relationships and that will put you on the fast track to success, however you choose to define it.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Selling Pain Relief Or The Promise Of Gain

I had lunch with business growth expert Peter Thomson earlier this week and to help prepare for my meeting I listened to two of the modules from his excellent Accelerated Business Growth System.

In the modules Peter was shared his interpretations and twists on the work of Robert Cialdini and the factors of influence and persuasion. This is a fascinating subject but Peter repeated one of his favourite expressions;

"Away motivation is the catalyst for action, towards motivation is the continuation of action."

What does Peter Thomson mean by this?

Simply that the relief from pain (or the avoidance of future pain) is a bigger factor in a person's decision to buy than the promise of reward, pleasure or gain.

So when you are in a sales process, you need to find your prospect's pain - their fears, worries and problems- and then show how your solution can stop the pain.

The Other Experts Agree - Pain Is The Key Motivator To Make Sales

David Sandler and the Sandler Sales Institute strongly emphasise the importance of helping the prospect explore their underlying pain (see "You Can't Teach A Kid To Ride A Bike At A Seminar" or the excellent "Close The Deal" audio program) because prospects start by telling you about a surface symptom.

The first problem a customer will admit to is not the real issue and it's certainly not the motivating force. People will start with logical reasons which they feel OK to admit to but there is no emotional connection. Only by mining their pain will you create the emotional force and urgency to persuade the prospect to buy.

Tony Robbins takes a similar approach in his excellent "Power To Influence" audio program. A prospect in pain will buy, a prospect sitting in their comfort zone will think it over. Tony Robins talks about the need to find ERBN (pronounced "urban" and standing for emotional reasons to buy now).

In SPIN Selling, a similar approach is taken with the P referring to the problem the customer is having and I standing for the Implications so that you can help the prospect see the pain, damage or cost of doing nothing.

Isn't Selling Pain Relief Negative Selling?

You may have some concerns about the process of selling pain relief and I can understand.

Let's just take a little look at the process.

You meet a prospect.

They seem nice and you first work to build rapport to help them like and trust you.

Then you start asking about their problems ... and you dig, and dig some more ... and your prospective customer feels worse and worse about the problem.

They see how the problem is affecting their lives, holding them back, stopping them achieving their goals. They discover with your help how the problem  badly affects other people they care about. They start feeling guilty that they haven't done something about it in the past.

Your prospect becomes desperate. They need a solution and they need it NOW.

You carefully explain how your product or service will stop the pain.

Just as you would want someone to stop hitting you with a hammer, your prospect wants the pain to stop. Their emotions are heightened and they will buy almost anything, just in the hope that it will stop the pain.

You don't have to close, your prospect is desperate to sign on the dotted line.

Is This Manipulation?

Difficult question.

You can't create pain for people. They will quickly tell you to go away so the literal "hitting your prospect with a hammer" won't work.

But you can unearth pain that they are already feeling but have suppressed. You have to do it tactfully and sympathetically through the art of effective questioning.

Trying to sell a dietary product by telling fat people that they don't look good and can't get dates is a big step too far (and of course not true in many cases).

People are very sensitive and if you go for the pain jugular badly, you will be insulting and make people very defensive. There is no chance of a sale because people will actively resist your ideas. I know because I am about 30 pounds overweight and don't like it when my Mum tells me that "I must do something about it."

Slimming product advertisements may show the difficulty of getting into your best pair of jeans or the disappointment of finding that your favourite outfit doesn't fit but they don't major on the physical and emotional consequences of being overweight.

Still using the weight loss/body re-shaping industry as an example, if you can gently help your prospect explore what being overweight and out of shape means to them by carefully questioning, your concern and empathy come over favourably.

How they feel about themselves. What they think other people think of them. How other things they have tried before didn't work.

You have heard the saying "a problem shared is a problem halved" and I think it was Peter Thomson who said "it's not a good talking to that many people need but a good listening to."

All these emotions are there in your prospect, just waiting for you to tap into.

You can't create pain. The prospect already has it but their self defence system may have suppressed the full impact to make life easier. If something hurts  and you want it to stop there are often two options:

a) Do something about it to relieve the pain

b) Try to put it out of your mind by deliberately ignoring it and concentrating on other things

The first solves the problem, the second relieves the symptom but leaves the problem festering away to reappear again in the future.

So helping your prospect to find a great solution to a serious problem is a great service and can be seen that you do really care about their wellbeing. Using the thinking behind Jay Abraham's strategy of preeminence, if you can help them, isn't it your duty to do what you can.

The manipulation problem comes if you don't have a great product.

If you use a pain relief selling approach to sell a poor quality product which won't benefit the prospect, then you are manipulating the situation. You are acting in your own self interest, rather than for honest, mutual benefit.

Does Selling On Pain Always Work?

I don't think so all some people don't agree. I think it depends on the product and the problem/situation.

Some products are not problems to solutions but celebrations and exciting opportunities.

I've just come back from a safari holiday in Africa and I can't see a pain based selling approach persuading me to buy.

Using pain to sell a wedding dress to an excited bride goes against the whole idea of living the dream since childhood.

Some situations don't need the pain to be increased.

Housing repossessions are increasing in the UK because of mortgage arrears. If someone contacts a debt management company for help, they are facing up to their problems and don't need extensive pain exploration. Yes, it may be necessary to clarify what the ramifications are, but they can already imagine the shame of being homeless and unable to provide for their children.

What Happens After The Problem Is Solved?

I have read research that indicates that a customer who has bought to relieve pain is likely to stop when the pain is solved while a customer who bought to gain benefits, will continue.

This makes sense because the comfort zone creates so much inertia. When something stops hurting, there is no motivation to go on.

This is why Peter Thomson's phrase says:

"Away motivation is the catalyst for action, towards motivation is the continuation of action."

Peter recognises that relieving pain will make someone start buying but there needs to be a positive outcome for the buying to continue.

Going back to the slimming analogy, the desire to look good, feel good and be healthy is the motivation for continued action once you've hit your weight loss target. But if you don't have the gain clear in your mind, the pain of the continued diet and exercise program may tilt the balance when you've reached your weight comfort zone.

Peter Thomson Reveals The Seven Big Mistakes

A few months ago Peter released a great report called the Seven Big Mistakes which revealed areas where owners of small businesses and sales people were causing their own problems and causing lost sales, lower profits and reduced personal income and wealth.

Just click on the link above, fill in the form and you will have instant access to Peter's revealing report.

Click on this link to find out more about Peter's Accelerated Business Growth System.

What Do You Think About The Issue Of Selling Pain Relief Or The Promise Of Gain?

This is a controversial subject but what do you think about selling pain relief. Have you found that it works for you as a seller or buyer?

To Your Success

Paul Simister

Your Profit Coach, business coaching for the customer focused entrepreneur

© Planning & Control Solutions Ltd 2007-2008 All Rights Reserved
 

Why People Want But Don't Buy

I have started reading "Why People Buy" written by John O'Shaughnessy back in 1987 and it seems to be a classic case of forgetting much of what we already know. Chapter 2 talks about the fascinating idea of why people want but don't buy.

I haven't read much of the book yet but I already believe that it will be important in shaping my thoughts about custompreneurs (customer focused entrepreneurs).

The book starts with the premise that people have a vision of what "the good life" means to them and that subconsciously translates into a set of spoke or unspoken goals. These goals then drive a want, desire or need for various products and services but because people's visions are hazy, their goals can be shaped by effective marketing.

Why People Don't Buy What They Want

The book gives three reasons why people don't buy what they want:

1. The want may be latent - the potential customer is aware of the product or service but doesn't realise the how the potential benefits link into their own goals for a desired life.
    
2. The want may be passive - the potential customer may be aware of the benefits from the product but feel inhibited from buying. There is something holding back the desire.
    
   It occurs to me that this is particularly true for owners of small businesses and the entire topic of business advice.
    
   Their goal is clear. They know that they want a more prosperous business which often translates into more profits for fewer hours worked but they have a reluctance to pay for business advice, training, consultancy and coaching in all the different varieties and forms.
   
   It may be a concern over the benefits v costs or more often a concern about the extra time it will take out of their already over-stretched working week.
    
   It may even be an issue of pride - "I don't want to admit I don't know how to do things - the business adviser will think I'm stupid." (No they won't, the adviser can't do what you do in your trade or profession) or "This is my business. I'm not paying someone else to tell me what to do." (Again a misunderstanding, any adviser will be focused on helping you to achieve the goals that you set at the beginning, the adviser's role is to make your journey easier and faster.)
    
3. Purchase may be held back for exclusionary reasons which may be temporary or permanent. These include the lack of money and I have blogged before about the "ability to pay" as a key issue in your lead prospecting or it may be an existing commitment to other people.

It shows that sometimes it is so useful to go back to basics in your marketing and ask the most basic of questions:

Why don't people who want buy?

and

Why don't people want what is good for them?

Instead of finding new ways to send out the promotional message, just stop and put yourself in the prospective customer's shoes. Try to "be the customer."

I will be reviewing the full book "Why People Buy" John O'Shaughnessy when I have finished it but don't be surprised if I don't blog about a few other exerts that fire my imagination.

The more the customer focused entrepreneur understands their target customers and all the issues which surround their purchasing decisions, the more effective they will be at designing, communicating and delivering customer value.

To Your Success

Paul Simister

Your Profit Coach, business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

© Planning & Control Solutions Ltd 2008 All Rights Reserved

Business Book Reviews 1

My new Business Books blog has been active in the first week with a combination of book reviews and book summary reviews.

Book Reviews

The Ultimate Sales Letter Dan Kennedy - 4.5 Stars

I review my well thumbed guide to copywriting by non nonsense copywriter Dan Kennedy.

Instant Team Building Bradley Sugars - 3 Stars

I plucked up courage to read another of Brad's Sugars books and this time it does have some good points but not enough to recommend it as a buy.

Ebooks

The Secrets Of Getting Your Bank Manager To Say Yes by Rob Warlow - 4.5 Stars

Excellent guide to convincing your bank manager to give you a loan.

Book Summaries

Success In Small Business Is A Laughing Matter Phil Johnson

Business advice with humour.

Creative Marketing Communications

Compendium of articles from the big creative agencies ran into my scepticism of brand advertising.

How To Close Every Sale Joe Girard

Hard nosed sales book from the Guinness Book of Records top salesman. Not for the squeamish who prefer consultative selling but ideal for those people tired of being walked over by prospects.

New Leaders Wanted Now Hiring Leandro Herrero

Thought-provoking and unusual book about leadership

Built To Last Jim Collins & Jerry Porras

Other people love it but I can't see what the fuss is about.

Articles

Michael Porter Five Forces Update

Latest Harvard Business Review article updates the classic with recent examples but the basic theory stays untouched.

Free Ebooks

Download these free ebooks while you have the chance as I intend to refresh the contents regularly.

Internet Marketers Guide To FREE Traffic, Sales and Profit by Raam Anand

Making A Living Off Your Blog by Terry Jett

AdSense Income Blueprint by Kurt Chrisler

To Your Success

Paul Simister

Your Profit Coach, business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

© Planning & Control Solutions Ltd 2007-2008 All Rights Reserved

The Magic Matrix - Peter Thomson

"The Magic Matrix" named by Peter Thomson is a great way to identify and exploit opportunities for extra sales and profits from your existing customers.

Two of the saddest words in a person's life are "if only" said with yearning for a lost opportunity. "If only I'd taken that job opportunity..." "If only I'd asked that girl out..." "If only I'd had the courage to start my own business..."

Some of the saddest and most frustrating words in your business life also relate to missed opportunities and these are "I'd have bought from you but I didn't know you did that..." The Magic Matrix is designed to make sure that you stop hearing those words.

What Is The Magic Matrix?

The idea is simple.

The Magic Matrix is a table with your products as the column headings and the names of your customers in the rows. To prepare your basic Magic Matrix all you do is mark off who is buying what product.

By showing clearly on a table who buys what you also get the opportunity to see what they don't buy. Since you have a relationship with the buyer and you have proven yourself, you can now see the opportunities to promote and sell additional products.

I have used this basic concept for many years but Peter Thomson has given it the snazzy title of the Magic Matrix and added a few twists that I hadn't thought of. However now that i have been exposed to Peter's thinking I have found extra ways to enhance the idea.

The Importance Of Looking With Fresh Eyes

The Magic Matrix is one example of how important it is to find new ways to analyse your business.

Every time you look at it in a different way, from a new angle you are likely to gain new insights and see new opportunities.

One example I have used in the past is the product/customer/competitor matrix.

The purpose is for you to identify the share of your customers wallet in the products you sell and help you to identify new competitive strategies targeted at particular competitors.

If you sell various main product groups to customers who also buy from competitors then try this thought-provoking exercise.

1. Pick one of your product groups
    
2. Take a piece of paper and list your customers in rows and competitors in the columns but leave two columns blank at the start.
    
3. The title of the first column is "Total Purchases" - this is the value the customer buys from you and your competitors.
    
4. The second column is "Our Business" so record how much you sell to this customer.
5. Identify who else the customer buys from.
    
6. Estimate how much they buy from each.

You now have the competitive map for your customers so add to it the major non-customers to make it a comprehensive competitive opportunity map (is that my new name for this matrix?)

You have identified which customers give you the greatest opportunities to increase sales value by increasing the share of their wallet and by considering your competitive strengths against your competitors you can target the weaker players.

This isn't the place to talk about all the different strategies that you can use but the important thing is that you now have new competitive insights because you see your market in a different way.

How To Find Out More

If you would like to find out more about Peter Thomson's thoughts on business, I recommend his free report The Seven Big Mistakes.

The Magic Matrix is the first module in Peter Thomson's Accelerated Business Growth System.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

© Planning & Control Solutions Ltd 2007-2008 All Rights Reserved

Presentation Skills: How To Make Better Presentations - Free Report

I have a free 15 page report for you to improve your presentation skills called "How To Make Better Presentations" as part of my commitment to moving the free-line.

Have you always wanted to be the person who holds an audience spellbound as they listen with intense concentration while you make your case?

Or are you someone who avoids speaking in public whenever possible?

Do you know someone who is a hopeless presenter and needs to improve their skills?

How To Make Better Presentations will help.

Presentations Are Scary

In one study, public speaking was considered to be the scariest thing and death came third!

I admitted in my review of Michael Port's excellent book "Book Yourself Solid" that I was scared of talking to large groups of people and that this fear has held me back from promoting my business using speaking. It's a bit strange because I love small group training as it gives me a real buzz but the thought of moving from an audience of 10 to 100 or even 1,000 is just too much.

I had better point out that I didn't write How To Make Better Presentations but I have read it with great interest.

Your Presentation Skills May Be The Difference Between Success Or Failure

Whether you are presenting to existing customers, in a selling situation to prospective customers, to employees or to a networking group, your presentation skills could be the difference between success and failure.

The difference between people buying into your ideas or rejecting them out of hand.

What You Will Learn From "How To Make Better Presentations"

• The 4 types of presenter
   
• How the components of the communication process fit together
   
• The many different elements of speaking -it's not just what you say or how you say it
   
• How to prepare yourself for the audience
   
• 14 tips to help you talk to your audience including the 5Cs of platform excellence
   
• 6 tips for setting up your presentation
   
• 7 questions to ask yourself before you rush to prepare a multi-media presentation
   
• 9 general tips for presentation including how you can use colour to influence the mood of your
  audience
   
• How to use a microphone
   
• 11 tips for creating better computer presentations
   
• How to open your presentation and what you must avoid
   
• 6 tips on how to answer questions
   
• And much more

All You Have To Do To Receive "How To Make Better Presentations"...

...Is sign up below or if you are already one of my newsletter subscribers, the link will be sent out to you with the April 2008 Better Business Focus in about a week's time.

This is a double confirmation system because I hate spam as much as you do and I would hate to think that someone doesn't want my emails.

Name:

Email:

I will also send you my very popular email newsletter.

I usually email to my subscribers two or three times a month so this is not a subscription list that sends you two emails per day every day. My emails also include an unsubscribe option to take you off the list if you do not find the information invaluable for your business.

Isn't it time that you improved your presentation skills?

Update - Cure Your Public Speaking Fears

Thanks to Michael Port, author of Book Yourself Solid, I have posted links to two teleseminars Michael did on public speaking.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

© Planning & Control Solutions Ltd 2007-2008 All Rights Reserved

Win/Loss Analysis - A Key To More Sales Success

Your lead conversion rate (the proportion of orders you receive from leads for prospective orders) is one of your most important determinants of your profit. Win / loss analysis is the process of investigating why you win some leads and enquires but you lose others. It explains why your lead conversion rate is the level it is.

Your Lead Conversion Rate - Bigger Is Not Necessarily Better

Some performance metrics give a very clear indication of how a business is performing.

Just take your business.

Do you want 100% of your current profit or 200%?

With profit, bigger is usually better, much better.

But do you want to increase your lead conversion rate from 20% to 35%?

Yes probably.

But to 70%? 80%, 90%, 99.9%?

Probably not.

I know.

On first appearances it sounds crazy but provided your customers have a free choice to buy your product, your competitor's products or not to buy at all, as your lead conversion rate gets closer to 100%, it is a sure sign that you are leaving money on the table because your prices are not high enough.

So low prices mean high sales but don't maximise profit and we agreed earlier that more profit is nearly always good.

Successes Are Internalised, Failures Are Externalised

Human nature means that if something good happens, you attribute your success to something that you did. Success is your reward for making the right decision and for taking the right actions.

That sounds sensible doesn't it?

But if something bad happens, it is very common for people to attribute that problem or failure not to their actions but to something which happened outside of them. Someone else did something sneaky or unfair and that's the reason why they failed.

So successes are internalised while failures are externalised.

Unfortunately this is one of the causes of the blame culture which the UK is importing from the US. If something bad happens, people look for someone to blame, to take them to court and seek compensation. It means more people are learning that it pays to deny taking responsibility for their own actions.

Fortunately entrepreneurs are a slightly different breed. You became an entrepreneur because you believe you can influence far more factors than the average person who is locked into a victim/blame culture where things happen to them.

As an entrepreneur, you can and do make good things happen.

Look Back At A Recent Non-Purchase

First let me explain what a non-purchase is.

It is when you go out intending to buy something but you don't. You are not browsing or fact-finding. You want to buy but you are stopped or discouraged.

Ask yourself why?

I urge you to try the exercise for yourself as a learning experience.

For the sake of an example, let me talk about the experience of going out to buy a car.

Imagine you had done the research and decided that you were going to buy a Ford Focus for your wife.

You get to the car dealership but you find it difficult to park. There are no parking spaces because the area is full of used cars for sale. Eventually you find a tight space to squeeze into but you start to become irritated by the dealer's lack of interest in customer service.

You walk into the showroom and there is the model you want so you browse over to take one final look.

Unfortunately the car has sweet wrappers on the floor and on the passenger seat. Not very impressive for a car showroom but this car isn't the colour you want so it doesn't really matter. This isn't "your car" being abused but it still leaves a tarnished impression.

The two sales staff are chatting and watching sport on a television and you try to attract their attention. They ignore you.

You walk over and stand by the desk. They continue to talk to each other about a recent incident in the game.

Eventually one looks up and with a disinterested tone says "What do you want?"

You suddenly realise that you don't know any more.

You were going to buy a car but you're not going to reward these rude, ignorant, inconsiderate people with the profit on your car so you make up a question before leaving.

You could drive to another dealership but you are no longer in the mood to buy.

You drive home and decide to visit the dealers 10 miles away tomorrow after doing more price checking on the Internet. Someone is going to pay for wasting your time so you will make sure you have the information to drive a better deal.

Our Failure Is Someone Else's Success

In a sales situation, a prospect who is serious about buying has a very limited choice of things they can do:

1. They can buy from you
    
2. They can buy from someone else
    
3. They can decide to postpone their purchase, or
    
4. They can decide to buy something else

Depending on the product or service you sell and whether it is a need ("there is a big hole in my roof which must be fixed") or want ("I want a pretty new Alfa Romeo but my current car is still working fine") the spread of leads across those categories will differ.

In the need situation, there is a compulsion to buy so your success is someone else's failure. Alternatively your failure is someone else's success.

So if you employ a salesperson their reasons for losing the order will be externalised ( "despite my best efforts our competitor slashed the price so what could I do?") while the successful salesperson employed by your competitor has internalised their success ("I did a great job of looking after that prospective customer.") Same deal but totally different attributions.

The truth may lie somewhere in between.

Win / Loss Analysis

A win / loss analysis is an investigation into why you won or lost a particular order based on interviewing the customer.