What are your relationships built on?

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What are your relationships built on?

March 3, 2011 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Communication, Ethics & Values, Self Development

If you are in business for the long haul then you know the value of building your business relationships on solid foundations. Too many times people have fallen foul of the broken promises and pipe dreams offered by those people whose only intention is to make money at your expense. I can recall a few incidents in my career where I have given people the benefit of the doubt only to be let down and in some very rare incidents, ripped off.

In sales and business we meet people every day and need to be able to size up and make quick judgments about their bona fides. Are they a viable prospect? Can they afford this product or service? The promises they make; can they keep them? The stories about forthcoming funding; can they produce evidence of its existence? Do they keep their word?

I admit it is in my nature to see the best in people and want the best for them and me. However, that positive expectation can be sorely tested when people do not follow through. Some people have the ability to say the right things but you are left feeling uneasy. Something is not quite right. There is doubt as to the existence of any real substance behind their claims.

Over the years I have become more wary and cautious about people’s claims and promises. I have taken to being more discerning and tend to question people more thoroughly about the substance of their offering. After doing so there are some people you never get to speak to again and probably for good reason.

With the ease of connecting and entering into relationships being facilitated by technology of the likes of Linkedin and Facebook, connecting with anyone sounds great but could be a risky move if you do not know the person in question and their intentions. Why do they want to connect with you? Whenever I get an invitation to connect on Linkedin by someone I do not know, I check out their page first then I ask them how we met and why they would like to connect. It is quite interesting the responses I get. Some are genuine in that there is a connection via various means that is mutually beneficial while others are purely after my connections list or are using Linkedin as a spam opportunity.

Personally I prefer my relationships to be built on solid foundations, which includes substance (having something of real value to offer) and trust (knowing I can rely on that person). Substance and trust underpin everything in relationships. Here is a checklist I have found useful when checking myself and others as to how we build trust and manage relationships. They may seem straight forward but you know that not everyone practices these.

Be predictable – Be consistent and reliable.
Do what you say – Your words should match what you do.
Trust others’ instinct – They may have different views, perspectives or experiences you haven’t seen before. Be open to exploring them and check for facts. However, sometimes you do need to trust another person’s judgment. Just make sure you can verify their claims at some point in the process. If you can’t, then trust your judgment and move on.
Don’t lie by omission – Don’t lie or keep secrets from people.
People are not mind readers – Tell people what you want or need, clearly and promptly.
Be willing to say “NO” – It’s okay for people to ask. Remember you don’t have to say “YES” to everything.
Continue to grow relationships – A relationship is a living and breathing thing. It takes conscious effort and daily work to grow a fulfilling relationship. Don’t be afraid to deal with crisis, emotions and questions. You should embrace them and look for solutions that will bring you closer.
Check intentions – are your or the other person’s intentions clear and honourable? Always check your intentions and ask yourself “is this healthy and helpful to me and the others involved?”

None of us work in isolation, so relationships are with us every day in some shape or form. Are the relationships you are currently forming worthwhile to you and the other people involved? Are you all better off for having met each other? Or do some of your relationships feel a bit one-sided either in favour of you or them? Relationships work best when they are open, fair and equitable. You never need feel like the victim if you chose to take control of your relationships and own your place in them.

All relationships are messy and some are messier than others. However, we can work towards creating healthy and profitable relationships on many levels with clients, work colleagues, suppliers, friends and the like. And it starts with us and our willingness to dig deep and be clear about what we want our relationships to be. Any worthwhile relationship takes effort to grow and develop and nothing is risk free. Your clients, colleagues, suppliers, family and friends depend on you to be clear about what you want and offer in a relationship. So what are your relationships built on?

Remember that everybody lives by selling something.
Author: Sue Barrett, Sales Training at barrett.com.au

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Having a sales monologue instead of sales dialogue with your customers?

February 10, 2011 in Communication, Prospecting, Sales Relationships, Social Media, Social Sales

Have you ever noticed your customers getting that glazed look when you tell them how fabulous you and your company are?
Have you ever had your customers seem very agreeable in your sales meeting but never seem to follow through with an order?
Have you ever found yourself doing all of the talking whether in a client meeting or over the phone?

If so, chances are you are having a sales monologue and not a sales dialogue with your customers – you are nothing more than a ‘talking’ brochure and are wasting yours and your client’s time.

We all know what it is like to be in the presence of someone who only talks about themselves with no interest in anyone else. They do not enquire about others’ wellbeing or interests; they seem totally concerned about their own needs and ambitions.

Imagine being one of your clients sitting there unable to express your concerns or be able to discuss ways to solve your challenges or achieve your goals, or get a word in edge ways. Frustrating isn’t it?

Sales monologues were standard fair at the height of the ‘product selling’ days of the 1970’s and 80’s. ‘Show up and throw up information’ was how many sales people sold back then, and some still do it today. You would think we would have shifted our focus to a more enlightened sales approach by now, yet sales monologues still happen more than you think. Where we are seeing it most often is in online community groups.

Take LinkedIn Discussion Groups as an example: watch and listen to the discussions on these forums and see what happens to anyone who tries to promote their business or tout for business in this space – they are set upon by the Group Community and read the riot act because they are not engaging in a discussion. Engaging in sales monologues is causing people to be shunned by their online communities.

The new world of social media and sales is about sharing, educating, giving of yourself and working to enhance the communities you find yourself in. Blatantly advertising yourself is frowned upon because it’s just the same as being a talking brochure and people don’t want that, and quite frankly, never have.

The key to conducting a successful sales dialogue is to start listening and tune into what people are saying. You can get insights galore about peoples’ opinions, preferences and ideas at online communities like LinkedIn and Facebook. This, in turn, will give you more ideas about what you need to do to engage in meaningful dialogue with others and develop the opportunities to produce something far more fruitful. Let your customers or contacts do the talking, ask them questions, find out what they are after and then work with them to give them what they want and/or need.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, www.barrett.com.au

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Transitioning from the old sales paradigm to the new world of social sales

February 2, 2011 in Communication, Sales Relationships, Sales Skills, Sales Talent, Self Development, Social Media, Social Sales, Strategy

When I began my career as a professional sales person in the early 1980’s we were trained in product and client communication skills focusing on handling objections. We were given business cards, product brochures, a geographic territory of clients to manage and grow, and a car to get around in. We did not have mobile phones, let alone smart phones / tablets, laptops, or CRM’s. There was very little coaching and we were expected to make sales and make it work.

For a while there, let’s say 20+ years, it seemed like business as usual as many companies still clung to the Product Paradigm of Selling – ‘show up and throw up information’, however there were fundamental shifts of seismic proportions happening around us even back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. The transition from product to solution selling was one significant shift, however, this was just a pit stop on the way to the far more complex selling world we find ourselves in today.

28 years on the sales terrain is a very different proposition – the new world of social media, social selling, the importance of collaboration and the centrality of the customer – we are truly entering a customer focused world.

Product and Solutions (the aggregation of products) no longer offers the competitive edge in the sales process, the shift in value, beyond product and product solutions, lies in ideas, creativity, collaboration, interconnectedness and innovation and means that the types of conversations we have with customers, suppliers, referral partners and the like is at the centre of effective selling and business relationships.
And buyers are way ahead of most sales people. The conversations they are having about their suppliers, research they do before they buy, the journeys they take to purchase without any sales person’s involvement are important to watch and pay attention to. And that’s not all – we need to pay attention to what they do and say after the sale, how they talk about us, their points of view, the influence they have over others ideas and opinions and the circle just keeps getting wider. But are sales people and businesses keeping up.

According to Brian Fetherstonhaugh, Chairman and CEO of OgilvyOne Worldwide, Social media is having an enormous impact on buyer behaviour. OgilvyOne’s survey of a 1,000 sales professionals in US, UK, Brazil and China reported that 49% of sellers see social media as important to their success and amongst the most successful sales people, over two thirds believe social media is integral to their success. However most companies are not adapting fast enough. They are not providing training in how to effectively use social media to sell and nearly half the sales professionals surveyed believe their companies are afraid of letting employees use social media.

Only 9% of US sales people say their companies train or educate them in social media while in contrast 25% of sales people surveyed in Brazil said they received training and education in social media.
This rapid change is unprecedented. With the rapid rise of social media, the focus on innovation, value beyond product and the increasingly complexity of business networks and communities, I have found myself looking back and looking forward working out what I need to leave behind and what I need to take with me into the future.

For those sales professionals who started their careers in the last 5-10 years this article may not mean much to you, however for those of us who have longer careers in selling we are faced with significant change.

What have found to remain true and I can carry forward from my early days in selling are the following:

Keep Prospecting – it is vital to make contact and keep in contact with customers, prospects, influencers, suppliers, partners, etc.
Review and Strategic Action– always review where your market, customers and competitors are and check for signs of change so you can adapt and take strategic action. Most people would call this planning but with change happening so rapidly it’s more like review and strategic action is a constant daily occurrence
Prioritisation – even more so now than ever before is the important skill of prioritisation. There is so much information: emails, special interest groups, new innovations and the like to keep on top it can be overwhelming without some form of prioritisation skills
Questioning and listening – always a main stay in any person’s, especially a sales person’s tool box. The listening acuity we now need means we need to pay more attention to the details of our clients’ conversations, needs and priorities while keeping a keen ear and eye on the broader landscape. Asking the right questions is critical.
Problem Solving and Prevention, Creativity and Innovation – again the idea that product was king is now dead; one of the key skills is to prevent and where necessary solve problem for people, but that is only part of the game now – we now need to generate ideas and create opportunities, imagination and innovation now stand tall.
Adapting to different Communication styles – with global reach comes the need to interact with a wide variety for people and adapt to difference, not difficulty
Manners and courtesy – despite what people may say about the current state of the world, manners and courtesy are the glue that hold our relationships together. No matter what we call it, courtesy and manners are NOT trivial. Here is how Edmund Burke (1729-1797) described it: “Manners are of more importance than laws. Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe in.”

So what do I have had to integrate from the new, so far:

Digital communication, destinations and New Listening Skills. The need to look out for the digital footprints of buyers as they trawl the digital world. Mapping buyers journeys before they talk to sales people and setting up the right forums, websites, blogs, connections, opinions, etc. for them to connect to before we even speak as human beings is critical.
Interacting with special interest groups on the internet – looking to exchange ideas rather selling or blatant self promotion.
Selling is a Team Sport – marketing, sales, and customers are all in it together
Prospecting online – the shift from lists, Yellow Pages, etc to avenues such as Linkedin where a rich vein of data, contacts, prospects are available to be researched and connected to.

Much has change in the world of selling and more changes are afoot. I’m holding on as best I can, trying to get my balance as I transition from the old paradigm of selling to the new world of social sales. So watch this space.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, www.barrett.com.au

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Why hiring or keeping the 600lb sales gorilla is a mistake

December 2, 2010 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Communication, Culture, Ethics & Values, Performance Management, Recruitment, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Teamwork

For many years the legend of the 600lb sales gorilla or Alpha sales superstar has been strutting the hallways and boardrooms of businesses. Often revered for achieving top of the league ladder sales results, yet feared by many for their aggressive, manipulative, ego centric, demanding, intimidating antics, countless CEO’s and sales managers have allowed these sales prima donnas to remain in their sales teams but at what cost to their sales team and their business?

Too scared to confront them about their behaviours or sales tactics for fear of losing their sales contribution, many sales managers and their sales team have simply suffered in the presence of these sales bullies. In my many years of working with sales teams and sales managers I have met my fair share of sales gorillas and their distressed managers and sales teams. Here’s what I have observed:

They have the ear of the Managing Director/CEO who thinks they can do no wrong.
They won’t let the business anywhere near their customers.
They tell tall tales about their legendary sales conquests.
They refuse to be coached, counseled or trained.
They are very demanding, always complaining about the lack of resources and taking up the time of countless people to do their bidding, leaving the other sales people to fend for themselves.
They often exhibit bad behavior, and may be heard swearing or making inappropriate comments to their colleagues or other staff who are often too fearful to report them (see point 1).
They can engage in questionable sales tactics, yet claim that they are pristine and operate with the utmost of integrity.
They claim to know a lot of people and be very well connected.
They use actual or implied intimidation to get their way with internal team members.
They use charm and manipulation to get their way with key stakeholders.
They act with righteous indignation if you question anything about them.
They don’t think they need to comply with company policies so often refuse to complete paperwork or keep up to date CRM’s if they think it’s a ‘waste of time’.

You only have to watch the movie ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ to see your fair share of sales gorillas. This type of sales culture was revered by a number of industry sectors in the 70’s and 80’s, including real estate, car sales, stock broking, etc. Watching it makes me feel ill, but many sales teams got off on this and even use ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ as a model of how they should sell in some quarters today.

Yet most people watching ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ or meeting their very own sales gorilla feel repulsed by them. Often very wary of them, others wonder why they have to tolerate them and why management won’t act. Truth is these sales gorillas have never been pulled into line. Their outstanding sales results have somehow bought them immunity from behaving in a civil manner. The smell of money they can bring in has condoned behaviour that has often outweighed the need to act ethically and uphold team values and respectful behavior. Their bad behavior has been allowed to manifest without restrictions, ‘oh let him get away with it. Look at the results he pulls in’. These sales gorillas are the direct result of poor quality leadership, lack of clear standards and bad decision making.

What most businesses do not know is that these sales gorillas, for all their so called sales success, actually fall well behind the real sales superstars in terms of achieving high level and sustainable sales results who, by contrast, are open minded, curious, collaborative, team oriented, open to learning and aim for partnerships on every level. And these real sales superstars are humble too which is a direct contradiction to the behavior of the sales gorillas.

So are you currently letting fear hold you and your team hostage by allowing your sales gorilla to persist?
What would happen if you got rid of the sales gorilla?
How would the rest of your team respond when they left?
What would happen to sales and the clients?

In my experience when the sales gorilla finally departs, there is an initial sense of shock which quickly gives way to relief and the opportunity for the sales team to really pull together and prosper. The biggest fear of losing the sales gorilla’s sales power and their clients doesn’t eventuate in the vast majority of cases. In fact it is often revealed that the clients are happy the sales gorilla has left and look forward to a more open and prosperous relationship with the company concerned and sales grow even more.

I am not suggesting that most leaders intentionally hired these sales gorillas or intended for them to manifest however, without clear codes of conduct or values and a proper understanding of what you want by way of ‘good sales performance’ you cannot hire or develop the right sales people to do the right things in the right sales culture.

In his book ‘The No Asshole Rule’, Leigh Buchanan writes about bosses behaving badly. Its thesis – don’t hire jerks, has become public policy in many companies around the world. I would suggest we think clearly about what we want manifested in our sales teams and take a leaf out of Leigh’s book and make sure we employ ‘The No Asshole Rule’ and don’t hire sales jerks.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, www.barrett.com.au

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Are your listening skills costing you or making you money?

September 29, 2010 in Communication, Sales Skills

Who is really listening? … Genuinely, sincerely and honestly listening? I’m noticing a lot more telling and a lot less listening lately. You only have to watch the ABC program ‘Q&A’ to see the number of politicians who have great trouble listening – to anything except themselves. They interrupt others giving answers to questions that were never asked. No wonder we are a bit jaded and cynical.

If we reflect on our own approach to communication I suspect many of us would shudder if others described us in a similar fashion to those politicians. I am sure it is not how we would like to be remembered.

So this then begs the following questions: How many of us are effective at listening? How long does it take us before we start interrupting another person? How quickly are we formulating our thoughts, thinking about what to say, before the other person has finished speaking? How often do we interrupt the person to give our own opinions thinking what we have to say it more important? Why is practicing effective listening so tiring yet so profitable (beneficial and critical in developing and sustaining good relationships, personal and professional)?

Poor listening creates numerous problems everyday – interpreting messages or instructions incorrectly, missing details in orders, wrong solutions being offered, misunderstandings, etc. Poor listening creates unnecessary hostilities, resentment, mistrust, bad impressions and poor relationships.

For instance, one research study examined different parameters of emergency medicinal residents taking a medical history of patients. The study concluded that only 20% of patients completed their presenting complaint without interruption. In other words, 80% of the patients were interrupted during their initial presenting complaint. The average time to interruption was only 12 seconds!

In sales, listening is one of our most critical skills and without it we are simply ineffective. It has been shown that engaging in effective listening habits can improve workplace performance significantly.

Here are a few important facts about listening (reference Jan Hargrave, Listening Skills in Business):

The average person speaks at a rate of 100 to 200 words per minute. An average listener, however, can adequately process 400 words per minute.
Studies of communication have routinely found that nearly everyone listens more than they talk, reads more than they write, and spends a lot more time receiving messages than sending them.
Most employees spend at least 60% of their work time involved in listening.
Reports from the USA show that senior managers in major corporations are likely to spend up to 80% of their working time in meetings, discussions, face-to-face conversations or telephone conversations.
While listening consumes about half of all communication time, research indicates that most people only listen with 25% of their attention thus creating many listening mistakes with significant effects on productivity, profitability and overall performance.
Hearing is a physical perception; listening is a mental activity. It requires concentration, cooperation and an open mind.
It is estimated that 75% of all communication is non-verbal so we need not just listen with our ears we can listen with our eyes and feelings, and hear beyond the words i.e. posture, facial expressions, tone of voice, eye contact, etc.

We cannot underestimate the importance of listening as a vital skill to enhance relationships of all kinds, enhance our careers and grow the top and bottom lines of our businesses. Listening enables us to gain important information and be more effective in interpreting others’ messages, feelings, needs, fears, priorities, goals and desires. Listening allows us to gather data to make sound decisions so we can respond appropriately for the benefit of all.

So are you a teller or a listener?

How many of us are really effective at listening? Could working on improving our listening skills actually make us more sales, and have more productive relationships with our staff, customers, suppliers, etc.? I suggest that yes it can.

I therefore challenge us to take a 28 Day Listening Challenge and focus on our active listening skills for the next 28 days and see what happens when we pay real attention to what is being said and act wisely in accord. I look forward to hearing how you go.

If you are not convinced, remember these words by Epictetus, an ancient Greek philosopher, and you are guaranteed to improve your listening skills: “Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear twice as much as we speak.”

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, www.barrett.com.au

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