In one of my previous blogs I discussed the importance of how we talk about our prospects or customers when they are not around.  I recently was having lunch with a colleague named "Jim" who told me the following story:

Jim had managed to work his way to the CEO of an organization to sell his solution.  After numerous meetings he was a bit discouraged because he didn't seem to be making much progress.  The only thing that was progressing was the amount of follow-up information he was asked to generate after every meeting.  So, he reached out via email to a colleague to get some additional ROI information for the prospect.  The colleague emailed back asking some additional quesitons about what he was trying to accomplish there.

Jim clicked back, "I'm trying to get this dumb-ass to buy something."

The appropriate ROI information was eventually sent back to the CEO of the organization and yes... the unthinkable happened.  The email was sent with the trailing thread that included the "dumb-ass" quote.  Jim said there was a second after that send button was pushed that he irked in horror "OH SHIT!" 

So what happened then?  Jim immediately called his boss to tell him what had happened.  They discussed a few options.  Since the comment was at the bottom of the thread, they could take the chance that the CEO would never read it.  Or they could 'fess up and take their licks.  They decided on the latter.

Jim went to the CEO and told him what happened.  He told the CEO that indeed, it was he that was the dumb-ass.  The CEO, who obviously was not a dumb-ass as accused and was actually quite a thoughtful person, lectured Jim that he needed to be more careful about what he said and wrote about his prospects.  After the lecture the CEO told Jim that despite this error he still wanted to consider Jim's product.

Jim got the order last week.

There are lessons to be learned here the least of which is to never put in writing derogatory comments about your prospects or customers.  More importantly, we should avoid the mindset where we are disparaging our prospects or customers in any way.  We (our products and services) are not the center of their universe.  It is our job to earn their mind share.  Somehow, in ways not necessarily as overt as this story, your attitudes about your prospects and customers will manifest themselves.

To me, this is what sales should be all about.  Finding a way to reach people at a personal level... a place that everyone has, but few, especially in the business world, ever reach out and grab. Establishing this kind of vulnerability and relationship with your prospect is what can make your profession meaningful... And as a byproduct, make you a whole bunch of money.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2bLNkCqpuY

In Ki-Aikido training, the question is frequently asked, "where is your/their power going?  Most commonly it is asked when the uke (attacker) grabs the nage (one being attacked) in any number of ways.  The job of the nage is to respect that direction, sense where the uke's power is directed, put him or herself in alignment with that direction and safely immobilize the attack.

I was thinking of this concept in the context of "closing" a deal.  As I wrote in a previous post, closing is purely a sellers term generated by a seller's perspective.  From a buyer's perspective there is an entirely opposite perspective on this part of the process.  For the buyer, "closing" is in fact "opening" or commencement of the journey to value for what they have purchased.

I would guess that 80% of all sales training, coaching, management focus, is directed towards closing.  But the focus on closing is way out of alignment with what the buyer's focus is on -- which is ultimately recognizing value for what is purchased.  Finishing up the initial agreement - closing -  is simply a step towards achieving the value.

One of the reasons that salespeople lose control of deals towards the "close" is because the prospect senses that they are not in alignment with helping the client generate value.  In your next sales cycle, constantly ask yourself where your power is going?  Focus your power on value and generate excitement about getting started!

I recently talked with a prospect who had been considering my product for over a year.  'I'm new to the position and territory so I picked up the opportunity in process.  Evidently, the purchase cycle was missed last year so I didn't want us to repeat the same mistake twice so I asked what happened.  There were 2 reasons why the prospect did not buy the prior year.  One was an internal process-oriented reason that is confidential.  The other reason was that the sales person, after being brought into the process by manager/director level sponsors, flanked and ignored them upon meeting the VP (power sponsor).  Turns out the the sponsors AND the VP did not appreciate it and along with the other reason had no compelling motivation to complete the transaction and implement the solution.

Much is said in the sales world about "calling high" and "the path to power".  And, it is mostly true.  However, what happened here was a breech of trust.  Instead of building the relationship with the sponsors and leading them to help build a relationship with the VP, the sales person took the easy road, went to the VP, and ignored the sponsors.  It was more than a bad tactical move.  It defied the trust that the VP had in his people and any possible trust that the sponsors and the VP had in the sales person. Ultimately, it costs the sales person any chance of moving the solution forward.

While there are some instances where this tactic might work, thinking through the culture of the company and the relationship between the sponsor(s) and the power sponsor(s) is critical.

This week in Ki class (class that focuses on Ki development before Aikido class), we worked on an exercise whereby one person is sitting seiza (kneeling) and another puts hands on their shoulders and tries to push them over.  If the person sitting stiffens up and pushes back with a fighting mind they are easy to push over.  If they are not centered and relaxed they are easily pushed over.  Even if their intentions are to be centered and relaxed, but they are not aware enough to prepare for the initial contact they will be off balance and pushed over.  It is only when the person sitting is aware and prepared at the time of initial contact that he won't be pushed over.

So it is with sales.  And I'm not just talking about making a good first impression.  I'm talking about the initial contact in any engagement... a phone call, a meeting, even a chance meeting.

Most of us have been in meetings where we had a specific agenda.  The customer will throw out an unexpected issue.  The sales team falls off balance.  The meeting heads in a direction that is ultimately unproductive.  One of the reasons for this is that salespeople often project an inferior mental posture.  They've been taught to agree and recapitulate any opinion the customer has.  This, like the example above makes it very easy for sales people to be moved.  Also, most sales people on't prepare adequately for engagements with customers.  This also makes them easy to "move".

Think about these things for your next encounter:

• Stay calm and relaxed - frantic people are easy to "move".
• Prepare
• Don't agree or recapitulate every negative opinion a customer has
• Lead your customer 

At this moment, no one was actually AT this meeting.  They were all somewhere else... thinking about or doing something else. 

This is the "other side" of technology -- the apparent inability of people in the business world to be present and contribute fully to the task at hand. 

The question is: what to do about it?  I'm still thinking about how I will handle it.  Perhaps you have some ideas.

When practicing the martial art of Aikido, one of the basic principles is to put yourself in the place of your opponent.  This creates a situation in which you are not colliding with your opponent, but are becoming one and agreeing with their power in order to neutralize the attack.  My Sensei, John Gilmore, when teaching an art will physically put himself facing the same direction as the opponent and happily say aloud, "Shall We Go."

Translating this concept into words that describe the sales environment is difficult.  The good news is that I found someone who did just that... without even knowing it.

I don't often get excited about business books.  There are a lot of good ones out there but more often than not 5 pages could do for the 200 that the author gives you.  But I've run into a book that so accurately describes what I think customer relationships should be about that I have to give it a plug.  It is called "We: The Ideal Customer Relationship" by Steve Yastrow. 

Steve describes how most companies (sales people) will settle for transactional relationships with their customers.  While he does not blame technology, he does blame companies for using technology to cheapen their interactions as opposed to using it to deepen their relationships.

Steve references Martin Buber's I & Thou frequently.  His writing is very thoughtful and he explores the very underpinnings of relationship.  He shows us the benefits of "We" relationships up against the pitfalls of "Us vs. Them" relationships.  He uses customer stories and specific examples to tighten up his arguments. 

This blog is dedicated to "selling in the new world".  Steve Yastrow is clearly a pioneer in this new world.

We spend a lot of time strategizing about how to win over our competition in a sales cycle.  We have entire departments dedicated to finding out the strengths and weaknesses of our competitors.  And we should study and understand our competition.  But not to the point where we are blinded to what our competitor can teach us in a sales cycle.

If we look at the ecosystem of a sales cycle as a whole, competitors are necessary for us to win.  In that sense, your competitor is your partner in the selling process.  For example, if we end up on a short list with a particular competitor we can learn a great deal from them.

Before we begin "setting traps" or "creating FUD" (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) about our competitor we should unbiasedly ask and answer these questions:  What about their product, company, sales team is attractive to the prospect?  What is cool about their product?  Are they providing something beyond the product or service itself?  Who in the prospects organization is their champion and why does their champion like them?

If we think of our competitor as a partner in the selling process and honestly and objectively answer these questions (and others) it will give us great insight into what the prospect is looking for.  And if we combine what we learn with what we have independently discovered about the prospect, we will have the information we need to win the business.