Submitted by Jeff Katz:

I cant believe i wore a sombrero to a sales call! 

Roughly 15 years ago, I was the Sales Manager for a company that provided services (translation, language training, Cultural awareness training) to companies to assist them in communicating, reaching, conducting and expanding business with their international counterparts. 

Being based in Detroit, Several of my accounts and sales targets were within the automotive sector, Tier 1, OEM's, fortune 500 companies. By this time, I was already 5 years experienced in this industry, and had developed a solid "stable" of clients. I had been chasing a sales lead for at least 3 years at one major OEM, to no avail. as time went by, a college friend was employed there. My friend got me a meeting with the decision maker (V.P. of HR). before the meeting, I did my usual needs analysis on the phone so i could be prepared for my sales call. I was told that they were opening an office in Mexico, and they were looking to train the American employees, Spanish. 

Easy enough. 

We did that countless times before. I was also told, that there is no way im getting the business, because they have had a long lasting relationship with a competitor, they were meeting with me, to fulfill a vendor quota. Thinking that we werent EVER going to get this business (or future biz), we wanted to make a lasting impression. My meeting was set for November 1. (i know this because it was the day after halloween, part of my fall back plan) My co-worker dared me to wear a sombrero to the sales call. As im waiting in the lobby to be called into my meeting, I was gaining attention by several people walking by. 

I finally get called into my sales call, my heavy sombrero and all. As I walk in wearing my suit, tie and sombrero, the VP of HR is just staring at me, The jaw of my college friend who arranged the meeting, dropped. horror in her eyes. We start the meeting, and 2 minutes into it, The VP of HR says " will you take that damn thing off"? 

We finish the meeting and say our good byes. As previously warned by my friend, Im confident that im not going to get the business, but that i made a lasting impression. I get back to my office, and my friend left me a msg on my VM saying that i embarrassed her tremendously. 2 weeks later, we were awarded that business opportunity, at a higher rate than our competitor that had a long lasting relationship, all because the decision maker, laughed and saw us thinking out of the box. 

That account grew exponentially over the next 4 years. To this day, i cant believe i did that, and no, ive never done anything remotely similar to this, since. 

This was not only my most embarrassing sales call, but most memorable.  Ole!

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Have a great weekend!

Mike

Last night, I was watching a Simpson's episode with my wonderful son, Matthew.

The image to your left came up, and it got me thinking.

The Status Quo is pretty powerful.  So powerful that you will not sell to your client if the status quo is working.

For example, I saw an awesome looking brand new Cadillac the other day.  I loved it.  It has everything that I want in a car.  The only problem is that I have a 3 year old Cadillac in my driveway.  it runs, it looks nice and more importantly it costs me less money than a new one.  Sure, I want the new one, but the status quo is going to win every time.

Let's say that my car starts to wear down.  The tires need replacing, it doesn't run as well as it used to, and I see a rust spot forming near the drivers door. 

The status quo is now looking less advantageous.

Many times, I go out to a prospect's office and discuss their needs.  We seemingly come up with many reasons why their current process isn't working well enough.  I dig deep into their pain points in order to figure out what is broken and what I can do to fix it.  Many times, we as salespeople fall short.  We just don't probe deep enough. 

We don't dig and stir enough to get to the things that aren't working at all.  We miss the point that the only thing that is going to drag your prospect away from the status quo is pain.

Which brings me back to this blog post

To make the sale, you must battle the status quo, you must find those rust spots...you must find a reason for your prospect to need to make that switch

• Open Ended Questions:  You must ask these questions n order to get to your prospect's pain
• You must also ask probing questions.  Questions like "So if you continue to spend 45% of your time researching the market, what kind of effect will that have on your bottom line?"
• Don't try to close the deal until you have dug deep enough to unseat the status quo.
• I once heard some crazy statistic that you must be 150% better than the status quo to get someone to change.  Not sure where this number came from, and I am sure that it is made up...But the point remains that you must be a whole heck of a lot better solution than the one you are trying to unseat in order to win.

TO ENTER JUNE'S CONTEST, CLICK HERE!
 

Today, I saw a license plate as I was pulling out of my office parking lot, and it gave me a thought.

No Pain, No Sale.

Sure, what this guy probably meant was No Pain, No Gain: A popular saying amongst people who work out in the gym.

No Pain, No Sale means something different.

When I go out on a sales call, I dig deep to find my prospect's pain.  What is bothering them about their process?  What is holding them back from achieving their goals?.  What is keeping them awake at night?  I am looking for their pain, and then, like a knight in shining armor, I will swoop in and fix the pain.  I will show them the "3 Wows", 3 things that my product does that can alleviate their ills so much that they say "wow!"  If I can do that correctly, I can earn the sale. 

If there is no pain, then I cannot possibly sell my product or service to them.

1. Before discussing yourself and your company, discuss their needs.  Try not it make it an inquisition, but make it a discussion. 
2. Ask insightful questions like "What do you find is the toughest part of your sales process" or "When you are looking to hire new sales talent, do you find that you get too many unqualified applicants?".  Follow up with questions like "If you spend that much time spinning your wheels with unqualified candidates, do you feel that this inhibits you from getting new business?"  Use silence to have them go deeper into the thought.
3. During this discussion phase, find three things that your company or service can do to alleviate their pain better than any other solution.  Keep track of these.
4. When discussing your product in the next step, be sure to address those pain points while discussing your solution.  Use phrases like "One of my current clients was having similar difficulties as you, and now finds that this feature has really changed his business for the better"
5. Always be conversational.  Too many times, I hear salespeople run through their questions like a list.  Nobody wants to be questioned. 
6. My favorite question is "You have seen our product before...why aren't you a current client?"  That elicits a great response, and a way for me to address an honest objection.