Getting people to laugh helped me close more deals than every other method combined. Steve and I were negotiating our first deal. He was pushing me to the wall for a big discount. First, I was unwilling to cut my price. Second; I didn’t need to, because he had already made the emotional commitment to buy, which was why he was pushing so hard.

It got tense. You know the type of tense negotiations I’m talking about. This wasn’t a poker faced, behind the shades, all in Texas old ‘em negotiation. This was an in your face, blood on the wall, last man or woman standing deal.

Finding an opportunity to raise a smile seemed impossible, but Steve finally gave me the opening, “You have it and I want it, so let’s make this deal.”

Without hesitation and a smile I said, “Steve, having is better than wanting, and I have it and you want it.”

He had a hard time catching his breath and nearly laughed himself to tears. I knocked off less than 1% on a six figure sale and we did plenty of business together down the road.

A father and son team tried working me over on $60,000 piece of equipment we were dying to sell. The son offered me $48,235.61 or some hokey number very close to that. Our deals are rounded off to the nearest zero, so this smelled fishy.

“Do you mind if I ask how you came up with that number?”

“My dad told me to offer you that.”

“Do you mind if I speak with your dad?”

“That’s an interesting number” I chortled. “Do you mind telling me how you came up with it?”

“It sounded good to me” he laughed.

“Well, $60,000 sounds better to me.” We laughed. He then explained that he was teaching his son how to buy. We agreed that I would give his son a small discount and a feel-good moment. We settled at $57,000, which I was very happy to get. His son felt like a hero and his father appreciated the discount and my handling the situation with a good sense of humor.

Of all the closing tips, tricks, and manipulations, nothing works better than authentically making someone feel good. And the best way to do that is to put a smile on their face and a laugh in their belly. Joke telling isn’t the only way. Most often, when we’re in tight negotiations, there is something in the situation that is truly funny. Try not to take yourself and selling too seriously. When all else fails, self-deprecation works very well.

When you laugh, the world laughs with you, and so do your customers.

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Imagine you’re running a retail shop. Twenty or thirty times a day, your front door opens and the entry bell rings “ding-ding.” You trace the path of depressions in the carpet and see products shuffled around your shelves. Most of these journeys through your store end with an invisible departure.

This is what internet marketing looks like. Marketers view internet analytics and see which landing pages are creating the best results. Marketers trace the navigation paths to see what material is being read and downloaded. But unless a visitor fills out a contact form, they are just an anonymous phantom.

Salespeople are entering the buying process 70% of the way through.

The affordability and wide reach of internet marketing has established passive selling in the B2B world. Digital marketing machines are powerful tools, but will never equal or outperform live networking and prospecting. When I found myself in a new sales opportunity that was at the end of the process, I invested little and hunted fresh opportunities.

Entering the buying process late in the game pits salespeople against each other in feature and discount wars. I believe this is one of the reasons sales reps are complaining about the quality of marketing generated leads.

Before I began using sales and marketing automation in 1982, I called from the yellow pages and Dunn & Bradstreet contact cards. I regularly visited trade shows that potential customers attended. They say I made selling look easy, but it was hard work.

Red Motley said, “Nothing happens until somebody sells something” so I made things happen.

Sales and marketing automation did not make cold calling obsolete for me. It helped me make higher quality calls and deliver better messages. When inbound calls or sales activity waned, I was on the phone or out where my customers were.

What looked easy were my results. Heavy calling and networking developed higher quantities of opportunities, so I could be picky about which opportunities to work on. Because I got in early and established my position with customers, my negotiations were easier.

Early in my career, I found that marketing generated leads were lower quality than the leads I created on my own. This idea was confirmed by the constant complaints by me peers.

In 1982 during the last great recession, while working my way back from California to NY, I worked for a large home improvement company in Colorado for a couple of months. They generated leads for a dozen or so salespeople with a telemarking team. The leads were barely better than going door to door.

They paid telemarketers $7 per hour plus a bonus for any leads converted to sales. I was used to making my own calls as part of my job, so getting paid for qualifying my own leads was gravy. My closing ratio on my own leads was over 80%. I made enough money to move back to NY in 2 months.

Within a couple of weeks, I took a position in NY selling manufacturing automation. They had a sales and marketing automation system that strategically delivered content. They had a telemarketing team for lead development and list cleaning

The economy was horrible. Unemployment was over 10% and interest rates were double digits. Century old manufacturers were closing left and right. Our sales cycles were complex and generally long; 6 months on average. I hit the phones and trade shows. With the odds stacked against me, I closed my first two sales in six weeks.

It was hard work with great rewards and I cold called and networked until I retired. 

There is a widespread myth that cold calling is dead. Well, it is a myth. I know top producers who are still using the telephone successfully and have no intention of giving it up. Cold calling has evolved to what is now being called warm calling. With research, preparation, strategy, determination and persistence, the phones are still the most effective way to create sales opportunities.

There are a lot of no’s to get one yes. I love talking to people, so for me it wasn’t grueling. Cold calling and networking may be laborious, but it beats the heck out of digging ditches and scrubbing toilets. I know, because I’ve done both.

If you want to hit your sales goals, go where your customers are and make something happen. If you wait for customers to come to you, you may just see the faint depressions from their feet in your carpet.

Here are a couple of resources to put some people in those footprints.

Wendy Weiss is an authority on cold calling who leads salespeople to be successful in today’s sales environment. Her site is filled with incredible resources: www.wendyweiss.com

Cold Calling Techniquesy by Alen Mayer http://www.alenmajer.com/2011/11/cold-calling-techniques/

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The importance we place on first impressions overshadows our last impression. Most people dress and check their front and maybe a side view in the mirror. Because we don’t have eyes in the back of our head, we pay little attention that side of ourselves. But it’s the last thing people see when we leave.

A few of us were discussing appearance and dress habits. Steve explained to us why one of my habits was so valuable.

In the days of pounding Manhattan streets in a suit, I had a daily ritual. Each morning I dropped off a suit at the cleaners and picked up one freshly pressed with a clean shirt. Riding the train into the city creased
my clothes, so I changed at the office. On my way in, I stopped at Penn Station for my morning shoe shine. Jimmy cleaned and shined everything from my heals to the tip of my sole.

Steve said he polished his shoes multiple times a day in the Air Force. They taught him that your heels are the last thing everyone sees.

Casual dress has become common and accepted over the last few decades in many industries. But that should not diminish the quality of your appearance, especially your shoes. People want to know you are “well-heeled.” It breeds confidence. Worn out shoes breeds the opposite.

What does your customer see when you leave their office?

Are your heels worn or soiled?

Here’s a tip. Have rubber taps placed on your heels. Not only are they less expensive to replace, they protect the original heel, which is never replaced with one of equal quality.

The last impression is a lasting impression.  

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Guest post By Mark Hunter

Too many marketing departments are still living in the 1990s with how they feel salespeople should be making presentations. Marketing departments are notorious for making slick presentations that do nothing but extol the virtues of how wonderful their company is.  I call these “capabilities presentations.” Really they should be called “look at me – I think I’m perfect” presentations.

The reason they are lousy is because all they do is waste time and make people angry.

Why should any customer have to sit through a lousy presentation that does nothing but share stupid facts and information about the vendor – especially when it is nothing but old news?   The main reason it’s old news to the customer is because they’ve already had a chance to see the very same information on the internet.

Today’s customer does not wake up in the morning looking forward to having their time wasted by salespeople.   Customers have far more important things to worry about. One of the easiest ways customers are cutting down on the amount of time they spend with salespeople is by using the internet before they even meet with the salesperson.

Customers are using the internet to gather the information they want to know, including specific facts and general knowledge. The reason customers do this is because they feel it’s a better use of their time.  (This alone is a sad comment about the perception customers have of salespeople, but that’s an entirely separate issue.)

If the customer is knowledgeable before the salesperson meets with them, then there’s no reason to waste anyone’s time with the boring presentation from marketing.

I’m not saying salespeople should assume the customer knows everything. On the contrary, the salesperson needs to now verify  everything.  It’s for this reason I’m a strong advocate of what I refer to as the “modular presentation.”

The modular presentation is comprised of many small presentations, with the premise that any single piece can be used by itself. The value of the modular style is it allows complete flexibility on the part of the  salesperson. They’re able to focus on the parts the customer needs to hear, not on what they already know.

To make the modular style of presentation work, the salesperson must be highly skilled at being flexible in asking the customer questions and listening for their responses.  In addition, for the modular style to work, the marketing department needs to be willing to let go and allow the salesperson to know what is best.

This in and of itself is the hardest part of the move, but in the end, it is essential. Failure to move away from the “capabilities presentation” and to the modular style will only result in upset salespeople, upset customers and lost sales.   The choice then is really quite simple.  Either marketing is going to remain in control or sales is going to have the flexibility they need to close sales and maximize profits.

Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter,” is a sales expert who speaks to thousands each year on how to increase their sales profitability.  For more information, to receive a free weekly email sales tip, or to read his Sales Motivation Blog, visit www.TheSalesHunter.com. You can also follow him on www.Facebook.com/TheSalesHunter, www.Twitter.com/TheSalesHunter and www.LinkedIn.com/in/MarkHunter.

Reprinting of this article is welcomed as long as the following is included:

Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter,” www.TheSalesHunter.com, © 2011

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Sally and I love pistachio nuts. We always race for the meaty ones bursting out of the shell. They’re the easiest, best tasting, and give the most for the least effort.

When the best picks are gone, we fish through the bowl and pick the promising nuts. They take a little more work for a little less meat.

Finally, only the tough nuts are left, the airtight sealed nuts that take more work. Out of desperation we may try cracking some to the disappointing hint of pistachio mixed with shell.

Are you working on meaty sales opportunities?

Are you picky about your sales opportunities?

Are spending too much time on tough sales that leave a bad
taste in your mouth?

Want to fill your pipeline with meatier sales opportunities?

Take an objective look at your sales opportunities. If the economy was hot, which ones would you ignore or completely discard? The remaining opportunities, the meatier prospects, are what you should be working on, but there are probably not enough to achieve your goals.

If you don’t want a pipeline laden with tough nuts, here are three guaranteed solutions.

Prospect, prospect, and prospect.  

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Sally recently learned the difference between value proposition and cost benefit when one of her dance students did not return this fall. Jenny had been studying at her school for two years and was ready for a more advanced level. Sally told Jenny’s mother the exciting news and penciled her in the schedule after their conversation. But Jenny dropped out.

Advancing a level includes means more classes and geometric growth of time and money for the student. Sally assumed that progression through the levels was natural. The family opted out because the cost benefit was too low and advancement was not presented as optional.

Jenny’s cost benefit outweighed Sally’s value proposition.

After the announcement arrived in an email we had a meeting and developed a solution. By the way, Sally is my wife and client. Sally called and apologized for making the assumption. Jenny’s mom was happy to know they were welcome to return at a recreational level, but not this year because Jenny had already committed to another activity.

Sally’s dance career with the Joffrey Ballet led her to create a value proposition from a narrower lens than the wide angle lens of her market.  90% of the students at Sally’s school do not have professional aspirations; they come for a myriad of reasons. Parents put their kids in dance for recreation, social activity, performing opportunities, role models, professional dance aspirations, and more.

Sally no longer sells her business through the eyes of a professional dancer. Her value proposition has evolved to leverage this wide array of customer cost benefits. She recognizes that each student and parent has a unique set of desires and needs. She and the instructors learn what each student  and family expects from the program – their cost benefit.

In the future, when a student gains the ability to move up, the improvement will be expressed as a compliment for achievement with an open invitation to advance without expectation.

The school has not changed their product. The program was already meeting these diverse needs in a fun, nurturing, environment that does not sacrifice quality.

Our products and services often provide a broader set of benefits and meet a litany of needs and wants unknown to us.

So forget your value proposition.

The marketing collateral your customer responds to is only an indication of interest. Even if you have done tons of research, your value  proposition is generalized. Your value proposition gets you in the door, but at the end of the day, your customer buys their unique cost benefit.

Never assume to know your customer’s cost benefit.

Your customers expect unique outcomes, some of which are hidden in a back room few salespeople ever enter. Your goal is to earn a seat at their cost benefit analysis table in that backroom. When they ask you, “What do you think?” you’ve moved inside their circle of trust.

To sit on the customer’s side of the table you must convince them that their needs and desires are your priority. Crafting questions and listening with your eyes, ears, neurons, hormones, and instincts is the key to the well-guarded door to the private decision making room.

What are the pros and cons to the entire organization, departments, and team?

What are the hidden expenses?

What changes do they face and how can they manage them?

What are the negative impacts and how do they weigh against the positive results you’re promising?

What is the personal effect of your offering to each member of the buying team?

Are you selling to your customer’s cost benefit?

Need help identifying your customer’s true cost benefits and how your products and services meet them? Give me a call @ 434.906.5045

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Back in the 80’s, I was fortunate enough to spend the evening with an icon in the machine tool industry at our monthly association meeting. Jay was an old school, NY sales pro in his 60’s. When I saw him, I told him I liked his tie. He immediately took it off, handed it to me, and invited me to sit with him.  Jay turned to me and asked, “Do you know what day it is?” As I shrugged my shoulders he said, “National Sales Day”.  As I pondered how that escaped me, he quickly asked, “Do you know what tomorrow is?” In New York harmony we both said, “National Sales Day”.

Barring Sundays, holidays, and vacations, every day is “National Sales Day.” The purpose of Sales Du Jour is to help you achieve your sales and marketing goals every day.

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A linguistics professor was lecturing to his class one day.

“In English,” he said, “a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, a double negative is still a negative.  However, there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative.”

A voice from the back of the room piped, “Yeah, right.” – From the Houston Chronicle via Aristotle Bancale

Words + Inflexion = Real Meaning

Anyone who does not know colloquial western English would not get this by reading it. They may understand if the heard it with inflexion, but there is no guarantee.

While this example is obvious, there are countless subtleties in conversation that are easily missed.

In the heat of a sale, are you listening between the words?

Do you listen with your eyes?

Do you really know what your customer means and are you acting on the right beliefs?

How much meaning is lost in email and other text based conversations?

The Next Prong in Sales 2.0 is “E2E”

Buyers Want Sales Reps Kept Behind The Keyboard

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Whenever I needed money, my dad’s no took the form of there’s a time and place for everything sermon followed by now is not the time or place. I rarely got any money, which is one of the reasons I went into sales. My poor sense of timing transferred to the early part of my sales career.

What I learned about timing at 21, I later taught our children. They learned to wait until I was comfortable. When the timing was right, they went for the close. I rewarded their good timing by feigning acquiescence to what they believed were masterful negotiations.

Last night my memories were revived by a Wired Science article posted by my sales Pisan, Nick Bianchi. The study supports my method of madness – M.O.M. not to be confused with MO.

When I needed a sale at the end of the month or quarter, it was time to go for the close.

Pushing is costly, like unnecessary discounting. Bad timing.

Most of my sales calls were made at peak times of the day. More bad timing.

Prospecting happened in my left over time, the morning and late afternoon. Guess what, there’s no such thing as leftover time.

The desired results were not achieved because my timing was bad. A pattern emerged that led to my M.O.M. I recognized that people tend to be happier, positive, and more receptive at certain times.

I excelled at prospecting, but did not do as well on sales calls. Successful sales calls require quality time and undivided attention, both of which are difficult to get during peak hours. But prospecting calls are shorter, requiring less attention. So I flipped the timing of these two activities.

Prospecting at peak times was successful. The client has less time to think, so if your approach is good, clean, and direct, appointments are made. Be patient. Waiting a couple of weeks or more to leverage the value of a favorable time slot for your appointments pays huge dividends.

My favorite time is meeting first thing in the morning to avoid the onslaught of freneticism, interruptions, and problems generated by people running at full speed. My second choice is the end of the day when life is less turbulent. The outlook of an oasis, which may simply be the quiet of their office, adds to their positive state and receptiveness.

The quality of my sales calls improved. Clients were more amiable to meetings, more objectives were met, and the velocity through the sales process improved dramatically.

The improvements from my timing change filled my pipeline with more high quality sales opportunities. There was less pressure to push a deal that wasn’t ready. The result was more sales with less effort, less discounting, better negotiations, and less groveling.

Another pattern that emerged was a spike in Friday closings. My surmise of this phenomenon, although not scientific, was people are happier when the week is behind them and the weekend is on the horizon. The stormy corporate sea is calm, peace is restored, and the oasis awaits.

There is something else unique about Fridays that I often leveraged to close a sale. When the deal was near the end and most of the terms had been negotiated, I used this simple suggestive question, “Jill, wouldn’t you like to put this to bed before the weekend and have one less project on your plate when you come in on Monday?”

There’s satisfaction in finalizing a project and relief from one less thing on next week’s plate, like this pesky sales guy.

From Twitter-Mining Captures Global Mood Patterns

509 million tweets generated over two years by 2.4 million people in 84 countries were studied using a text analysis program that quantifies the emotional content of statements.

Trends: positive moods starting high in the morning and declining through the day, peaking overall on weekends — held steady around the world.

These aren’t silver bullets or tricks, nor are they universal rules. You may find some clients prefer lunchtime for sales calls or Monday morning for signing a deal. Know thy client.

When all the cogs, gears, and levers are in place and you select the right time, selling is easier.

Understanding timing is essential to be a top sales producers.

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Paul Castain’s post “Should We Connect With Strangers In Social Networking?” inspired this thought:

Outside of family, everyone else I know was a stranger first.

Some of the people I have met over the years are just as strange as me, if that’s possible, and in a very good way (tongue-in-cheek). But now I know them as acquaintances, business associates and friends. And I hope they don’t think of me as too strange.

My wife and I just returned from visiting our new granddaughter Olivia Piper Hart, our son Bobby, and daughter-in-law Emily in San Diego. At the Christening party I met a bunch of their friends.

Joe and Bobby know each other for nine years. Joe is in R&D for a company that creates autoimmune disease tests, is a recent cancer survivor, and is engaged to be married to a lovely woman. All of the guys going to their wedding are growing beards and wearing the ugliest Hawaiian shirts they can muster up. The story is longer, wider, and deeper, and there were more friends each with a great story.

We stopped in Minneapolis for a few days to visit our daughter, son-in-law, and his family who were visiting from their home in Brazil. While I was there I got together with two people whom I met on Twitter, Jill Konrath and Lisa Grimm.

Jill and I chatted over coffee and tea for a couple of hours. Learning about her life, family, career, her future plans, and listening to her insights was more than fascinating, she inspired me. She also told me about her upcoming book and new website. I’m sworn to secrecy, so all I will say is it’s very exciting stuff and keep an eye out for both.

Lisa and I met on twitter when she was the PR person for a sales training company. I had the privilege to watch her chase and acquire her current dream job.  Talking over coffee in Barnes & Noble and listening to her powerful story and aspirations gave me hope. She’s a wonderful writer with a great message and I’m expecting to see more from her keyboard.

These brief meetings changed my life simply because I got to know these living, breathing, amazing people. But remember, they were strangers first. There is very little more invigorating for me than meeting someone new and hearing their story, their dreams, their ideas, and opinions.

This is how it works. You meet new people. Some you like and some you don’t. Some like you and some don’t like you. It’s all good. You continue reaching out, meeting new people, expanding your circle, growing as a person and enriching lives, including your own.

People aren’t really strange; they’re just friends we have yet to meet.

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