I’m finally reading The Age of Propaganda about the everyday use and abuse of propaganda in today’s society. Not the blatant concepts like leaflets during wartime, but in messaging and advertising people, products, and ideas.
A foundational book of persuasion, right up there with Cialidini’s Influence If you haven’t read these, it is probably as necessary to personal life as understanding debits and credits are to business. Okay maybe the CPA in me is exaggerating a bit…but not by that much. Point is: read these.
Many other authors and researchers have built upon these books, and most importantly, the studies in these books. The reason: they’re key strategies to persuasion, influence, and selling.
But, as I learned the hard way, selling isn’t an academic strategy exercise, it’s about applying the principles in a systematic way with tactics, metrics, and constant effort….as much as digital advertising would like to make it as simple as a push of a button, for 99.999% of the situations, it just isn’t so. On Friday, I consulted/educated/consoled a team of super-bright developers who launched their product and incorrectly assumed the invisible hand of the internet would carry their product to fame.
While the world has yet to catch up to a place that removes the necessity of a salesperson, I want to share with you another foundational book, this one in sales: The Ultimate Sales Machine I want to add a caveat that the world is quickly evolving into a more sophisticated selling arena, but the book’s principles are nonetheless relevant and full of value, even more so considering many millennials like myself are clueless on how to actually setup a sales team and process, because…I mean…just SEO that shit, by some Google Ad-words, and Facebook paid posts…
Well, what if your company is more B2B than B2C, or you are actually selling something that isn’t optimized for the digital arena? WHAT?!?!? Ce n’est pas possible! It is, and sometimes these tactics are exactly what you need when you’re just starting out…
- It’s not about doing 4,000 things twelve times, but a few things 4,000 times (that’s kinda what computer code/a website does)
- It’s about pigheaded discipline and determination (no tiring a website from being called up at any point, from anywhere)
- Great at sales means doing seven things well
- Less stress and higher efficiency if everyone knows what they’re to do (common sense sometimes does get lost in all the chaos)
- Any company can build sales dramatically by adding market data to their sales pitch (make sure to add both emotional and logical appeals)
- Spend 1 hour a week focused on improving 1 thing for 6 months (mastery)
- Need to be great at managing, leading, and marketing in addition to sales
- Set email notification to staff about “have a minute” meetings
- You are busy and in flow, and then….someone comes into the office interrupting you with “hey, do you have a minute” (no, go away)
- Break down company into bottom line areas and have 1 hour meetings each week where focus is on improving it (if it’s a dysfunctional company environment, this is going to be a fun one for you)
- Have each person write down on pad what they would normally interrupt you with and bring up during those weekly meetings
- Make pad for each area: to do’s, timelines (simple and realistic)
- Touch it once: don’t open email if can’t deal with it in that moment
- Institute descriptive subject lines
- Concentration is a muscle
- Make lists: 6 most important things to do: do night before (I like doing just 3, #underachiever)
- List when you will do it (6 hours max as rest of time is interruption time)
- Be specific in slotting time and stick to it no matter what
- Prioritize
- For sales people: 2.5 hours a day prospecting/cold-calling (4 hrs a day if new)
- If you have a receptionist there, put him/her to use and not just sitting there, have her help in other ways like prospecting
- Inspect what they are listing, prioritizing, and planning everyday
- Group together your reactive work and do all at once
- 80% files that are saved are never used again
- “Will it hurt me if I throw it away, could I get it again if need be”
HBR: only 1 out of 10 people have a learning mindset where they seek out and enjoy learning
This one blew my mind, read it again….9 out of 10 people don’t like learning…consider that when you’re trying to teach them about your product
- Informal training method is bad, need formal training
- Call reports, hot seat (run down of who contact was, what efforts were, what they said, have upsales, and have president to watch them)
- People with RESPECT what you INSPECT
- If you don’t train, can’t get people to the next level
- Training boosts confidence and reduces stress because sets a clear path for performance and expectations
- Training is proactive: when a situation arises, either have trained for it with information on how to deal with it or not trained them and they are going to guess
- Repetition of training is key: most time at these conferences get thrown so much information on sales that when go back, can’t implement it or what covered doesn’t stick
- Training session Agenda: should be fun, how long it will take, how will cover the info, objective of session, skill or knowledge they will obtain
- All sessions will be mandatory and try to incorporate role playing
- Lecture, group questions, group discussions, role playing w/ obnoxious client, hot seat, case studies (one where everything goes wrong and then everything goes right)
- Give before and after tests to show what they learned
- Spot quizzes: small tests give constantly until they get it
- An effective tool for a “CEO Bunt” (assist) to a VP you are targeting is to give CEO a tool they can pass on to the VP you really want to meet in a follow up memo
- Have an ongoing technology training program for efficiencies
- Fully interactive: small stepsà5 shortcuts for 3 weeks is better than 20 that don’t work
- Create weekly workshops that brings everyone together to fix 1 problem and then draft procedures, test, test, and set in stone
- 3 P’s: planning, procedures, and policies
- Document everything as you go
- Example: well planned and executed follow-up procedure after sales call
- CEO doesn’t have to come up with all solutions, in fact better if others come up with them
- Workshops allow company to have 1 way to address everything
- Schedule weekly, make mandatory, ask to write down how they can improve company (3 mins), make it a positive experience, restate and write down on white board, if they repeat something ask for any others that haven’t been repeated (can do this by phone if need be)
- After first meeting will have long list of things you can improve
- Can assign “to do’s” and areas people “own” to get done before next meeting
- When finalized suggestions, write memo and put in “training binder” when revised, take out and replace
- Do continuing workshops to reinforce policies
- Id issues:
- Appoint person to lead group
- Write down focus question
- 2 minutes everyone write down solutions
- leader writes on whiteboard
- prioritize by voting 1-3
- tally up marks
- implement
- Implement:
- Get everyone to feel the pain and intensify pain of not fixing problem
- When it’s their pain they want to learn
- Show examples of how not serving their clients
- Matrix of $ they lose out on
- Workshop to generate enthusiasm
- Develop conceptual solutions/procedure for servicing not selling customer
- Test with leaders and top performers to refine and master
- Make deadline so can change procedure if bad (revise if not working)
- Document step by step process
- Show and tell role playing demonstration/record live to show it in action
- Another workshop to improve; ask their opinions perfect and practice
- Monitor weekly or daily in implementation
- Measure and reward outcome and make big deal of reward and recognition
- Get everyone to feel the pain and intensify pain of not fixing problem
- Tactic: short term gain that’s a method or technique
- Strategy: carefully defined and detailed plan for long term goal
- Best execs combo tactics with strategy
- Offer education to buyer to develop brand loyalty
- Usually buyer is uneducated which allows you to set criteria for them
- Make pitch that’s for stadium (hit all types of customers)
- 3% buying now, 7% open to it, 30% not thinking about it, 30% don’t think they’re interested, 30% don’t know they’re not interested
- About: save money, mistakes people make; it’s about teaching something of value, not selling something
- Gets buyer interested, asserts your expertise, allows you to position self to pitch product gently
- Be focused not on your unique selling proposition (yourself) but on your buyer
- When you sell you break rapport, when educate you build it, so try building as much as long as possible
- Any change/improvement must stop at top and work way down
- Stadium pitch also referred to as core pitch because all marketing materials stems from the pitch
- Market expert means knowing more than all your competitors
- Market data is way more motivational then product data, so find some to make any product more important
- Smoking gun: market data that makes competitor unable to win and you always better choice (there’s always one)
- Ultimate sales machine: think and plan like strategist, implement like tactician
- In ad for sales person put highest income sales person can make to get highest quality people
- Superstar: able to dominate within a few months even with no tools, training, etc.
- Not about age or experience, about personality
- DISC assessment:
- Dominance is strength of ego, assert self, and wanting to control outcomes (crucial to convey in ad)
- Influence: how you interact in social situations and how much and how well you communicated: need empathetic, energetic, and work well with others (also important for top sellers)
- Steadiness: good listeners, patient, persistent and thoughtful
- Compliance: high compliant, plan ahead, and cautious
- Takes around 8.4 rejections to get to a meeting with prospect and persistence is based on strength of ego
- Build in procedures that make it expected to be rejected 8 times (make them expected to be rejected 12 times)
- High dominance candidate may seem too eager or aggressive, but good thing
- Test staff and new hires ego strength at chetholmes.com
- Steps to obtain to talent
- Design ad to attract top performers
- No request for resume or minimum number of years
- All about personality profile, not age or background
- Pre-screen with rejection: superstar will argue and continue they are qualified: testing ego in 30 seconds
- Don’t be too harsh or nice but make them qualify or keep trying
- Interview: relax, probe, attack
- Relax: they think their guard is up, so be kind and they’ll be in shock because so different from the phone
- Ask them to write down 5 ?s they want to be asked to show their best side
- Probe: disclaimer (discrimination), agreement, personality not background, childhood (empathy test)
- Best if you are relaxed and not tense
- Good candidates usually allowed to try things as a kid, parent’s weren’t quick to caution
- More they talk, the more stories share better the candidate
- Ask them to rate themselves compared to other sales people
- Should be relatively high, if low ask why
- Keep pressure: either they fold under pressure or rise up
- Ask who is the best salesperson they know
- If say themselves, hire
- Top performers are always focused on self-improvement and self help books
- Be constantly positive with them, if they sense judgment or negativity will shut down
- Start with their childhood then go business to get more honest
- Attack: don’t be soft but e tactful
- Might have to prompt them to come back into room, but they really have to believe you don’t think they’re qualified
- Reward: top producers handsomely: show how much they can be making in 3 years
- Reduce repeat customer commissions after 1 year
- Retain star: be strategic, never say no to them, just give them more hurdles before doing their idea and make them in charge of that
- Be grateful of their egos and compliment them when they meet or exceed challenge
- Compensation can build better performance
- It takes 8 sales people to find 1 star, so burn them out fast
- Ask who is the best salesperson they know
- Relax: they think their guard is up, so be kind and they’ll be in shock because so different from the phone
- Design ad to attract top performers
- There’s always a small number of “best buyers” who buy more, faster, and more often
- Need to have additional efforts to capture them
- “Dream 100” effort: list of 100 clients you’re constantly contacting
- Focus efforts on these that go above and beyond your efforts for others because such a huge upside
- Create “market data” education program: since our success depends on our success
- Use fear with market trends as a motivator, social proofing, don’t lie
- Make sure first objective is to truly serve client
- com business search
- If you keep marketing to person repeatedly, he will know who you are and almost feel obligated because you spend so much time
- Build list, organize approach, and never say die
- Dream affiliates: ride on someone else’s well-established relationship
- No or low market cost so can share profits vigorously
- Don’t compete directly with these people with similar products
- Create a list of top clients and how you will treat the best specially
- Core story then gets translated into a unified marketing approach
- Make sure to have a meeting 1x/month to look at these 7 musts of marketing to improve upon them
- Connect marketing with tools for salespeople and sales people give feedback on what works and what doesn’t “stacked marketing”
- 1 page sheets that address counters to claims/objection person might make
- Advertise multiple times versus 1 time, in color instead of B/W
- Advertising: must attract attention/be distinctive; have a screaming headline with focus on prospect (you) not company (we) and make them want to read on; throw in a benefit; body keeps them reading with a story and WHY—not what is valuable, include a call to action (coupons), and make into a story
- Radio: brain can take 400-500 words per minute, so make ad 350-400 words
- Direct mail: use color on envelope with message on it and looks like a greeting card not spam
- Corporate literature: congruent with story, ads, etc.
- Brochure become tool to make prospect into your own advertiser
- Most brochures are a waste of time b/c not focused on buyer
- Make 5-10 major sales point, create 1 page reason why
- Good headline, curiosity-driven copy, lots of teasers, and enough info to make you want more
- Public relations: trade show parties, press releases, press affiliates, trade associations
- Press release: focus on important issue and more likely to be picked up
- Create dream 100 of press companies and ask/bug them if there’s anything else I can do to help
- Look at core story and make list of data that’d be great interest to readers
- Also if can include a fortune 500 company, that’d be great
- Personal contact: most important
- Trade shows: get noticed, drive traffic, capture leads
- Get noticed: be the fun booth, theme that ties into ad story
- Drive traffic: raffle and food/drink that ties in to message
- Capture leads: to enter raffle, give business cards and fill out 4 multiple choice questions (size of company, how often buy x—thing selling)
- Have models, throw party that’s fun and exclusive at night club that’s hot
- Club: call ahead get no door charge, no wait in line, standard drink price with vouchers you hand out, make sure not same night as another big event, make them all feel comfortable and talking (magician, casino, fortune teller, etc.)
- Focus on Fun
- Charity events get people to join for free
- Internet: capture leads, build relationships, interaction, free webinar, convert traffic
- Shy “yes” page, ask for name and email and give 4 min follow up with newsletter
- Mimic Brochure (focus on them and education) think of site as community you focus on, not you/your project
- Hear retains 20% of info, see 30%, both 50%: use visual aids
- More retention and people pay more for product
- 85% of info comes through eyes, so have a visually rich presentation
- Color helps and images of any part of our body draws our eyes (human figure)
- Use historical data and stories (recall up 26%)
- When deals go bad, most people draw back, lean in with the data more to stand by it for sales
- Keep them curious and anticipating “my next thing I’m going to talk about in a bit is…”
- Each headline should be as intriguing as possible
- Confident, not obnoxious, simple presentation and fast paced 2-3 panels/min
- Use “wow” facts and statistics, get them to stand up and stretch (movement/bonding)
- Focus on them, not you
- Most mature man in room is one listening
- Words, tone, and body language
- When present, have person presenting to step out from behind desk so you can “show” the presentation
- Make exciting, move fast, dynamic experience, know it cold, draw conclusions for audience, don’t read bullet point mindlessly, patter between the panels
- Don’t pitch your product, but bring it as an example
- Mistakes in presentations
- Thanking or apologizing for time: means you aren’t providing them value and your times is less than theirs
- Hands in pocket
- Presenting while sitting
- Not taking the lead: being distracted by a question, reverse back on him and have him lead
- Letting materials upstage you, make bullet-points roar with excitement
- Keeping too serious
- Fail to practice each and every time before presenting
- Test this before hand
- Not knowing what comes next in the presentation
- Brochure become tool to make prospect into your own advertiser
- 1 page sheets that address counters to claims/objection person might make
- To get dream clients, you need relentless program that accounts for rejection several times
- If really want to serve market, do research that is valuable to them and expect a 7% response rate
- Role playing with sales people 1x/week: test on what they said, how turned down, why, and how turn un-interest into interest
- Send cute mailers/cheap presents that tie in with pitch: flashlight, compass, tape measure, etc.
- Steps
- Choose dream 100: think what qualifies them, zap data, who at the company can say yes to your product
- Choose gift: give every 2 weeks-month: something useful they’ll keep in drawer
- Create letter: short and tie to gift give: not get sale but get them ready for your phone call
- Focus on the prospect
- If keep approaching will get in their minds
- Offer something of value with sunk cost to multiple leads vs 1 (party vs 1 on 1)
- Make great affiliates
- Create calendar: setup every 2 weeks, not always a gift, but every 2 weeks hit them with your core story
- Dream 100 phone call follow-up: to schedule an appointment to get core story out there
- Don’t say want to come and present
- Letter offers free report they call you for it at which point rep an get a meeting
- “speaker will present to you”
- Get around gatekeeper: don’t ask how day is going, sound important
- Tell assistant what to do don’t ask her, try giving as little info as possible and leading the call
- Never lie, get as much info as possible
- When get target on the phone don’t ask how day is going, go right into pitch
- Present executive briefing
- All sales people are trained speakers: have a competition of make appointment and best presenter presents
- Make sure all reps pay attention to rep speaking in the meeting
- When they commit, send instant material validating, and 2 days after testimonials
- Create sales process with spot quizzes and role playing until information is synthesized: made a part of your own
- 7 steps:
- Build rapport: make part of the job description
- Don’t bash the new guy or competitor “if he proves he’s good, go with him, don’t let him prove he’s good with your money”
- If friends with clients, hard for another to take them away so setup procedures to have fun
- Be more knowledgeable in topic than any other company’s sales staff can be
- Selling break rapport, education builds it: they’ll call and ask you what to do
- Ask great questions, use humor (like joke of week), commiserate/empathize, find common ground, mirror
- Workshop rapport/how much they know
- Qualify the buyer: find the need, find their criteria and set it so yours is positioned as favorably
- Build value: then give 1-2 min pitch on why build value
- Create desire: lead through a series of questions that intensify their needs
- Present killer data that truly motivates buyer to act now
- Pain their future not your product: features tell, benefits sell
- Tell them what matters to them and how benefits them
- Overcome objections: what are most common reasons you lose a sale
- Toughest objections are ones you don’t know
- Use questions to qualify buyers: criteria and needs so that they make decision to buy even before you try to do so
- Every objection is an opportunity to close: agree with their objection (drops their guard) turn it on them, but isolate the objection
- Close the sale: people need help making decisions
- If you believe that what you have is good for them “take them out of their misery”
- Assume the sale: Want shipped today or Tuesday, where ship
- Weak ego = bad closers = fear of rejection
- Workshop ways to close and test staff
- Can reverse the risk: money back guarantee plus keep the bonuses
- Follow up
- Build rapport: make part of the job description
- It costs 6 times more to get a new client then to sell additional items to existing clients
- Clutter factor: so much out there that have to constantly be in touch and remind them
- Make procedures to stay in touch (awards shows, parties, newsletters)
- What are your steps to stay in touch?
- Enthusiasm is contagious: but it cools off, keep them enthusiastic about you and the sale
- Trust and respect = influence = potential for control = more market share at every mutually beneficial opportunity
- Must reiterate your connection with buyer in follow-up correspondence
- Put pain points, hot buttons that made them want to buy in first place
- Create a constant touch point like a VIP card which gets discounts and early sales
- Enter email for chance to win something
- Follow up must be personal and set apart from junk mail
- Share sales success stories with sales staff, top performers love sharing
- Ten Steps
- First follow-up: letter to client ASAP (1-2 hours after meeting)
- Personal connect, compliment, pain point and benefit, personal close
- Template this follow up letter
- First follow-up call: right after first letter, no selling, add value with their other challenges “I was thinking about what you said on x and…”
- Share something amusing or personal interest
- Party, meal, bond (dinner is best) where not too pushy to get it, but what is valuable you can offer them
- Send another card/email
- Something fun that includes family (gambling night with each client on the money) 10 fun events
- Offer something else to help their business
- King of networking?
- Be a resource to them somehow
- Another card/email
- More help to succeed: seminar, sales/management training
- At this point won’t betray you for another company
- Invite or be invited to home
- What can you do to make it too irresistible
- Goal is to make biggest clients your best friends
- Personal connect, compliment, pain point and benefit, personal close
- First follow-up: letter to client ASAP (1-2 hours after meeting)
- Make procedures to stay in touch (awards shows, parties, newsletters)
- Goal setting and measuring effectiveness = mastering your focus
- 12 things you do 4,000 times, not 4,000 done 12 times
- RAS: Reticular Activating system: attitude programmer in brain/body
- Thoughts affect every cell in your body
- If think can’t you won’t: Failure reinforcement
- All you can control is your perception and attitude—nothing else
- RAS tunes out everything else that you’re not focused on and focuses on what you are
- Shopping for a car you like, will now notice it everywhere
- Have everyone focus 1 hour per week on finding solution to improve business
- More you say things in positive (I am vs I am not) and present tense, stronger subconscious brings it forth
- Mind is more receptive when less busy: morning and night
- Never go to sleep without a request to your subconscious (Edison)
- Record void and play when going to bed (train mind to listen to your voice)
- With nice music in background, tell self to relax in beautiful spot
- Count down from 10 to 1 and each number relaxing you more
- Have a series of positive affirmations (10)
- Have sales staff recite daily affirmations
- “I love cold calling in the morning”
- 27 lifetime goals on medicine cabinet
- Measuring effectiveness: keys to increasing performance
- Capture all data and contact information from call to make follow up easier
- Faxes: harder to delete and will read if kept short
- For testimonial, delegated contact, promotion, confirmation
- Recording all activity takes 5 minutes a day
- Contests and competition: 1 better than best salesperson
- Put up status every 2 hours on board to track
- Thoughts affect every cell in your body