It’s 4AM – don’t ask why I’m up @ this hour. My mind is racing with thoughts, questions and ideas. Random things mostly, like how did English become the most used language in the world? It is one of the most complex languages with more exceptions and contradictions than rules. Take the word “Bow.” Is it pronounced BOW, as in Bow and Arrow? Is it pronounced BOW, as in the bow of a canoe or the courtesy you show to someone of honor or royalty? Oh, wait, what about the word bough, as in a branch of a tree. That’s pronounced the same way. It’s a confusing language with seemingly endless twists and turns.

And how well you understand the words and choose them to communicate your thoughts, dictates how well you will exchange ideas and information. And isn’t that the very basis of selling? It’s how effectively you conduct dialogs with others.

Ronn

Some weeks back, I sat in the audience with 150 or so of my close associates and strangers, listening to a presentation on the importance of business planning. The slide deck employed stunning scenes – beautiful naturescapes with few titles or bullet points. One slide showed a broad, slow-moving river under a bright blue sky. You could barely make out the speck of a rubber raft floating lazily downstream. The second slide was a close up of the craft, caught in class 3 rapids, complete with white-knuckled rafters. The third slide showed the steep waterfall. And the message – you must have plans to turn your company around in these troubled times and row together to get back to calm waters. Those who do will lead.

Social CRM is essential to avoid going over the edge of the waterfall.

Another evening, another networking event. Seems like a nice crowd. Some friends and familiar faces. Many are milling around aimlessly, looking for someone to talk to. A few appear to know what they are doing; they are here with a plan and a purpose. They obviously know how to get the most out of the time investment of attending. And they are worth observing. Others can learn from them.

Here’s what I see:
* They bring their own name tags – professional looking, legible, easy to read and memorable. It helps you stand out and won’t end up on the floor half way through the evening.
* They sip Club soda, or tonic. Don’t get me wrong, I like a cocktail or three myself, but you are here on business. Ever see an attendee with one too many? It’s not the impression you really want to make, is it?
* Have their business cards ready in a pocket, not hidden in a deep inside some fancy card case – hey I’ve got a couple of those too, but trying to shake hands, swap cards and juggle a glass or a plate of food is quite a trick.
* Show interest in others and ask good questions. Not the just boring ones, like who do you work for – okay, I’ll fess. I ask that myself. You almost have to. But asking things like what are some of your challenges at work, or who do you want an introduction to. It builds a relationship much faster.
* And here’s one that really works – when they hand you their card, look at it for a moment. Comment on their title. And when the conversation wraps up, turn their card over and ask how they like to communicate. Write it down on the back of the card and then follow up. Nothing like making someone feel special to make even a brief encounter memorable.

And isn’t that what business networking is – strategically building a group of diverse professionals who share interests with you?

Another unsolicited invitation just popped up in my Inbox. Something about closing the Marketing and Sales Gap. It started me thinking, usually a dangerous thing. Why would anyone think I am going to be interested in attending a Webinar about this? Why would they believe I will be willing to invest an hour of my precious time, especially when the event kicks off tomorrow morning…and this the first I have heard of it?

Obviously, whoever in marketing put together the schedule announcing this Webinar believes that the topic is so compelling I will shuffle my calendar to accommodate it. Either that or they think I am just sitting back spending my time blogging away, waiting for their invitation. Hmmm?

My next thought is what is the gap between Marketing and Sales. The former is tasked with creating ways to get more leads to the top of the Sales Funnel. They strategize, plan and come up with creative ways to get prospects interested in finding out more about the products and services that my company offers. Sales, on the other hand, is responsible for taking the leads from the top of the Funnel and moving them through the process of qualifying and closing as quickly as possible. The higher the closing ration the better. So, when you boil it down Marketing gets paid to generate leads; Sales gets paid to convert those leads into revenue. The company logo on everyone’s check is the same, isn’t it? So why is there a gap in the first place? Aren’t both Marketing and Sales responsible for delivering the same thing – the success of the company? Or am I missing something?

Guess I will just have to sign up for the Webinar and see.

Free. That’s the Bold word in the subject line of the invitation I just got in my Inbox. Free. It doesn’t really matter what is Free. Apparently the fact that it will not cost me anything is enough to make these folks think I will take time away from my agenda to read the rest of the message. Wrong!

If something is Free, what’s it’s value to me? Why should I care? After all, it’s Free. It’s not going to cost me anything, except time to read the message, sign up for whatever they are pitching me on and then fend off the inevitable onslaught of junk solicitations and spam. It’s Free. Do they think my time has no value? It takes far less time to click delete or move it to my Spam folder, than it takes to fill in the information they are asking for.

But wait. Here is another email announcing another webinar, and, yep, it’s free too. Guess where that one goes. Spam folder, you’re right. Oh, there’s one more. How did I get on this list? How do I get off the list. This is really annoying! And so it goes. But wait…here’s one that says it is complimentary. Hmmm. I know it probably is just like the others that I junked earlier. But at least someone has thought enough about their message to offer me something that is complimentary. Does that make it better? Maybe. Maybe not. But I will take a few seconds to look it over and decide.

Google “Sales Funnel.” You get a long list of colorful jpegs, websites and blogs about a set of steps in the sales process. They are well defined and, yes, they comprise a very important management tool. When used correctly, the sales funnel is a key to accurately forecasting the life blood of your business…Cash Flow.

Google “Buying Funnel.” Again you get pages of colorful jpegs, sites and blogs. These detail the process that your sales prospects adhere to when they progress through their purchase cycle. Both funnels look similar – they identify key milestones in the process of moving towards a successful transaction. As the process moves to completion it narrows. Not every sales prospect becomes a client; not every vendor earns the business.

Sellers need to acquire more qualified prospects at the top of their funnel. Once they are at the top, the plan is to move them through the steps of the sales process as rapidly and efficiently as possible. The result is a higher close ratio at higher margins. The objective is to control the selling process.

The Buyers’ Funnel is a set of well defined steps a company goes through when they make a purchase decision. When executed correctly, it guides the evaluation process and helps companies make the best decision in a timely manner. It saves time and overhead; it helps to avoid making costly mistakes and keeps the process on track. The objective is to control the buying process.

Sales’ and buyers’ funnels are not always aligned. In fact the two are often considerably different. Sellers are not fully aware of the entire buyers’ process, but are keenly focussed on moving their own process forward. Buyers frequently anticipate what sales is trying to accomplish – close the deal. And buyers often are frustrated that sales does not understand or respect their process. The result can be unsatisfactory for both.

So I ask…Whose Funnel is it, anyway?

You enter my office at exactly the scheduled time. You introduce yourself with a firm handshake and a smile. You sit across from me, and we chat for a few moments about fluff – the kids’ pictures on my desk, the signed football on the bookshelf or the award on my wall. It’s step one of the sales process – establishing rapport with the Prospect.

Our conversation quickly moves to a string of questions. Probing. Looking for the needs of my company. You want me to admit where my pain is, so you can show me how your band aid will fix it. You pull out your glossy brochures and slide them across the desk, blabbering nonstop about features, crowing about the great and wondrous benefits we will realize. You drop a trial close into the conversation. You silently wait for my push back, ready to rebut any objections I may have. I let you sit in silence, while I watch you squirm just a bit. Shame on me! Then I stand up – you follow my lead, of course -gather your collateral and hand them back to you. “Not today, thank you,” I say. “I will let you know next week,” and I walk you out the door.

You did an okay job of doing what you were trained to do. You followed the sales plan as your were taught. The problem is we have an agenda too. We have a process which we adhere to when we are considering purchases. And you never took the time to find out anything about that process. Don’t feel bad. Neither did the person who was in my office puking their features and benefits on my desk just before you. I hope the next person is a sales professional who will take the time to understand our processes.

We want a partner not a peddler. Today that is more important than price.

I signed up last week for the Webinar. It sounded like there was some good information available. The presenters were well respected and the company sponsoring this event was top notch. So it sounded like a good investment of my time. They emailed me the login instructions and even pinged me with a reminder. All very professional.

So, with high expectations, I pulled up my chair, put my cellphone on vibrate and even had a clean pad of paper and a pen that works all ready to go. You know what’s coming next, don’t you?

I logged on 3 minutes prior to the advertised launch. Up popped the first slide and nothing. No elevator music, no announcer, no one home. Okay. So by 5 minutes after, I logged out and tried again. Again nothing! 3 minutes later, and miraculously I see the slide change and, shortly thereafter, a voice says, “Good Afternoon. We apologize for the delays.” At last. So go ahead and educate me, please.

First Slide – 5 bullet points, each with 12 or more syllables in a tiny font over a wildly busy background. My eyes are scanning the words on bullet point 3, while my brain is trying to make sense of them. Meantime, I am listening to the presenter drone on about bullet point 1. Oh, this is not good!

Still, I blocked out an hour, so let’s suck it up and see. By the fifth slide, things have not changed for the better. Too small graphs. Too much data. Too hard to read information. I don’t think the presenter has asked a single question. No polls, no attempt to engage the audience. My eyes are glazed, and I just don’t want to waste more time. I am so out of here.

Why do so many professionals butcher their presentations? It’s an investment on their part to prepare and market the webinar to their desired audience. It’s an investment they hope will repay them with a higher profile and the opportunity to upsell me with additional services. If that was their intention, they failed miserably.

Oh, and the title of the Webinar that caught my eye originally “10 ways to improve your webinars!”
NOT!

What’s the well-known definition of Insanity? Doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different outcome. So why do sales people not believe it?

Think you don’t fit that broad generalization? If it’s true you don’t, Great! But let’s test that idea, shall we? What is the first step in your sales process? Find a prospect? Check. Good for you! You can’t move to step two, until you have identified one. Step two is what? Qualify your prospect? Check. That’s what we all learned in the sales courses, the books, CDs and seminars. Step Three? Uncover their needs. Probe for Pain. Again, check. And your next step? Of course, give your prospect a proposal, one that addresses their needs and overcomes their pain. Does any of this sound familiar? And the next step in your sales process is? Overcome the prospect’s objections. Negotiate. Try to Close the deal, of course. And next? Try to close again – heck we all have lots of different closing techniques in our repertoire, don’t we? And where do you go from here? Well, every sales opportunity is unique, I know. But we have been taught to chase the prospect and continue to try to close the deal. We are invested in getting to this point. You have established rapport, identified the needs, done the demonstrations the due diligence and the meetings. You crafted a proposal, negotiated, handled objections and followed up as promised.

So what’s wrong with this picture? Where does Einstein come into this discussion? We are doing exactly the things we were taught to do by the experts, our mentors and bosses. But here’s what is wrong. Our prospects know what we are doing. They have come to realize what our steps are. They anticipate it, and they don’t like it. Remember, people Love to buy, but they Hate to be sold. Yet we pursue the same course of action. That’s Insane!

Words. What unique things they are. Each has a meaning or, in many cases, multiple meanings. Sometimes those meanings change over time. The common interpretation of some words today is vastly different than 10 or 15 years ago. Spam used to be meat in a can. A firewall was the sheet metal between the engine compartment and the front floor board of my beloved 1967 Chevy. There is also a steady stream of new words, like I-Pod, ringtone, spyware and Blog.

How well we employ words in our sales presentations is key to how effective those presentations are. This is especially true when working with different demographic groups. What do I mean? Well, if I was working with a group of 30 year olds, it would be reasonable to assume they know what a Troll is. But someone who is in their 60s might think of a scruffy, bearded dwarf who lives under a bridge. There’s an obvious trap here – that what I say is heard and understood.

So how can you avoid falling into that trap? Engage your audience. Ask questions. Include polls in your PowerPoints and Webinars. Make all your sales communications a dialog, not a monologue. By simply converting a few of your bullet points and sentences into questions, can have a significant impact on your audience. It converts them from attendees to participants. Asking questions gets your sales prospects to pay attention, stop and think about what you say…Doesn’t it?

I have always believed that effective selling is a dialog. An exchange of words that move parties towards a point of mutual understanding. Sometimes that point is where they agree that what you are selling is a match for the buyer’s needs. Sometimes the point is where the product or service you are selling is not the right match for the buyer’s current needs. The challenge is how do you get to that point in an efficient, expedient way.

One of the best tools to do this is questions.

And a question I always ask my clients, prospects and even those I meet at Networking events is “Who are the top three accounts or people you need an introduction to.” Amazing how frequently the response is an incredulous stare and a stammering answer. Wait a minute! If you are in sales – and I believe that just about everyone is in one way or another – you must be providing some form of an activity report or forecast to the boss. You must have some sort of prospect list. And, especially in today’s market where networking and Social Media help you connect, you need to be able to say, “I am looking for someone who can introduce me to the CExec @ ABC company. If you cannot do that without pausing to think it over, perhaps you need to find a good coach and maybe so should your boss.

You know the famous Einstein definition of insanity, don’t you?

Like so many others, we have been trained as a professional sales people. We attended the classes, read the books, listened to the tapes and bought the CDs. They taught us how to ask the questions, focus on customer needs and make stellar sales presentations. Sell the benefits, not the features. Some of the best, most highly recognized experts – Zig Ziglar, Gitomer, Hopkins, Rackham among them – have enjoyed great success telling us how to become better at sales. They all have one thing in common, too…the tactics and methods they teach are well known to our prospects. The people we sell to have learned what we do, and they have figured out how to turn that to their advantage. Our customers and prospects know what we are doing – Many of them have read the same books and attended the same seminars too. So how do you stand out from the competition? How can you avoid doing the same old thing over and over again, hoping for a different result?

There is a different approach to selling that I am just beginning to investigate. It is a selling system that, at first glance, is a bit counter-intuitive to what I learned from tapes, book, and seminars over the past 20+ years. Does this system work? Stay tuned. I will update this Blog as I continue to dig deeper into this. But at first glance, it is worth investing my time and effort to understand this fully.