Thou shalt always remember to ask questions and listen. This commandment is critical if you truly want to be a great salesperson. This video is a part of our new series with Mark Trinkle: The 10 Commandments of Sales Success. Watch Commandment #7 now! 

Hello everyone. This is Mark Trinkle, Chief Growth Officer for Anthony Cole Training Group, and today we have worked our way to number seven in our 10 part series that we've called The 10 Commandments for Sales Success. Commandment number seven is Thou shalt always remember to ask questions and listen. In fact, I want you to get really good at asking questions and listening. And here's why. One of the key marks of difference between average salespeople and great salespeople is that great salespeople have figured this commandment out, and they understand that for them to be great, then they need to be great at asking questions and listening. Now, by listening, I mean listening with the intention to understand, as opposed to listening with the intent to interrupt the Art and Science of Asking Questions is critical. You might say, "Well, Mark, that's kind of obvious, isn't it?" 

Well, I don't know how obvious it is. Sometimes the concerning thing about obvious things is at the end of the day, they're not that obvious. But we do know that we ask questions to get information. We know that open-ended questions are the type of questions we want to ask, because those open-ended questions foster and promote dialogue. And while it's okay to open a conversation with easy questions, you make your money by asking the harder questions, the difficult questions, the questions that might be inconvenient, the questions that might be uncomfortable for you, and quite frankly, some questions that you maybe don't want to hear the answer to, but you absolutely need to hear the answer to those questions. Let me leave you with this. The light bulb really went off for me when I heard one of our clients say that great salespeople have this lasting impact or this lingering effect on their prospects.

What he meant by that was that they're so good in the meeting that the prospect can't stop thinking about that conversation, that discussion, even after that salesperson has left. How good are you at getting your prospects to the point where they can't stop thinking about the conversation they had with you? Here's what we know. People, prospects, they can ignore you. They might not reply to your voicemail. They might not respond to your email. They can ignore you, but they cannot ignore, they cannot escape their own thoughts. Do what you can to make sure that they keep thinking about that conversation even days after you've left them. Have a great day.

Thou shout always tailor your message for resonance! Does your prospect have a problem that they have to fix? And are you speaking their love language? This video is a part of our new series with Mark Trinkle: The 10 Commandments of Sales Success. Watch Commandment #6 now! 

Watch all of the Commandments Here

Register for our newest free webinar - 7 Keys to Building a High Performance Sales Team ->

Thou shalt never present without making sure your prospect is committed to making a decision. Are you certain you're getting the decision-maker to a point of clarity? This video is a part of our new series with Mark Trinkle: The 10 Commandments of Sales Success. Watch Commandment #5 now! 

Watch all of the Commandments Here

Transcript:

Good day everyone. This is Mark Trinkle, Chief Growth Officer for Anthony Cole Training Group. Today it is my privilege to bring you our fifth commandment of a 10-part series that we are calling the 10 Commandments of Sales Success. The fifth commandment is: Thou shalt never present without making sure your prospect is committing to making a decision.

Now, there are a couple of different parts to this. I'm going to assume for today's commandment that you are in front of the decision maker. If you're not, then your sales results are gonna be wildly erratic. You're certainly gonna lose a fair amount of the time. So, again, I'm assuming... and it's dangerous to assume, but I'm assuming that you are in front of the actual decision maker and that you've checked off all the boxes, that you've met with everybody who has a say in making the decision for your presentation.

The second part of this is that you've got to be certain. You've got to be certain that you are getting them to the point of great clarity so that they will make a decision. So, the secret to getting decisions from decision makers is no doubt they have to be fully qualified for the compelling issues. At least compelling enough to them that they'll make a change. You've gotta know why they're gonna make a change. You've gotta know what the problems are. You've gotta know how the problems are impacting them. You need to dollarize or monetize that, and understand what those problems are costing. You've gotta be certain that the prospect has the capacity to invest the appropriate or required amount of time, money, and resources. I mean, you've gotta know that the problem hurts so much that they're willing to go through the process.

They need to understand your process. What are you going to require of them? There has to be complete clarity. I'm gonna call it "beautiful clarity" on the decision-making process. You know that they will make a decision. That's what you're actually closing your prospects on. Don't worry about them picking you, or favoring you, instead focus your time, efforts, and energy on making certain that they are clear, that you are expecting them to make a decision, and that they will commit to making a decision.

I'll end with this. You should close a hundred percent of your qualified business opportunities, but by that I mean sometimes you're gonna get a no. And that's okay. But you know what your greatest frustration should be? That you spent an appreciable amount of time, you went through your sales process, you got your team involved, and you delivered a proposal or a presentation, and they didn't answer with yes or no. They answered with that dreaded TIA. "I need to think it over."

You can do something about that as long as you're willing to plant your feet and walk your prospect through your expectation that they will make a decision, that yes is great, but, but no is OK. Get your prospect to commit to making a decision. Have a great day.

In today’s world of marketing and sales, a significant key to generating leads is a company’s ability to get potential buyers to find them.  There is an entire industry dedicated to inbound marketing and social media management with companies such as HubSpot, Marketo and Pardot.

If you go to their sites you will find an endless number of free products and services that help drive potential buyers to your website, your blog, and any social networks you might be using.  My good friend Pete Caputo at Databox also has a company which provides a dashboard that helps you make sense of all the data collected.  All of this is important but the systems and processes don’t stand-alone when it comes to driving internet traffic toward your online resources.

Powerful messaging is still needed; Messaging that captures the attention of the market.  Messaging that helps the market become aware of one or two things:

• A problem or potential problem they were unaware of, or
• A growth opportunity or positive outcome that is available.

Mark Roberge, in his book The Sales Acceleration Formula, describes this first step in a prospect’s buying process as the Awareness Stage.  Effective marketing helps create awareness.  But there are many stimuli, which aren’t internet-based, that would cause someone to buy, change behavior or take action:

• A friend suffers severe water damage in their 25-year-old home, hires a company to repair the damage and relates the story to you– you call the company to inspect your basement to head off potential problems.
• A co-worker talks about completing a financial plan that will help them secure their future – you want to know who they are working with and you call that advisor to set up an appointment.

These “leads” for the movie, the basement sealant company and the financial advisor take place because of great reviews by current clients.  These informal introductions/referrals have always been, and probably always will be the best way to get GREAT leads.  But what else should you be doing, must you be doing to generate leads that don’t come from personal introductions and referrals?

You must have your own message that stands alone; a message that when read, heard or seen causes awareness that takes a buyer from passive to active. The question becomes – “What must that message say to procure this transition?”

Let me start with something that George Emmons, former president at Key Community Bank, described as a ‘blinding glimpse of the obvious’.

There isn’t a single marketing message that will tell a prospective new buyer:

• The company’s products are very expensive,
• Should you need support after purchasing, the support will be poor,
• Should the product fail to perform or should it break, there is no guarantee,
• The people you will be talking to are not competent, are biased in the approach and do not have experience

No one communicates to the market place the negative aspects of their products. Everyone has:

• Top of the line products,
• Great pricing,
• Unparalleled service,
• Guaranteed or your money back,
• Professional and courteous sales associates who care only about you and your family

With that as the back drop, the question becomes “What is the one thing I can do to get the market’s attention?”

The answer? “Deliver a message that doesn’t look, act or sound like everyone else’s message.  Communicate in such a way so that people instantly think ‘This is different’.”

• The elevator pitch
• The value proposition
• The 30-second commercial
• The Unique Sales Approach
• The brand promise

The message has many names, but it should communicate, in a brief, appealing and effective manner, how the company and product will work for the end user.

Apple – “We make great computers. They are beautifully designed and easy to use.”

The Late John Savage (Insurance professional) – “I deliver buckets of money when people need it the most.” 

Geico – “15 minutes or less can save you 15% or more on your car insurance.” 

Anthony Cole Training Group – “We help organizations close their sales opportunity gap.”

Your compelling message should elicit one of the three following responses.

• “Tell me more.”
• “How do you do that?”
• “That’s me (us). How can I fix it?”

The best way to create a powerful message is to listen to your message as if you are a prospective buyer.  When you deliver your message to you, do you look, act or sound like everyone else?   If so –change your message.

You want it to cause people to react— “Tell me more.” “How do you do that?” “That’s our problem. How can we fix it?”

If your message is not having this effect, change the message.