Heavy Hitter Sales Blog

Selling the C-Suite Using Sales Linguistics

 

In my new book Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology: How to Penetrate the C-Level Executive Suite and Convince C-Level Executives to Buy, I help salespeople learn  how to winover senior executives using Sales Linguistics. But what exactly is Sales Linguistics?

 

Every day, you speak and listen to thousands of words. Through the words you speak, you are able to explain your ideas, recount your past experiences, and share your personality with others. Since the communication process comes so naturally, you assume you are understood. However, the most important words you speak during the entire year are those you say to C-level executives during the make-or-break meetings that determine if you will win a deal.

 

Most of the time, you probably don’t think about the specific meaning of the words you are using. Since the words are so integrated with your being, they just seem to happen. However, your words represent your attitude, outlook, and perspective about life. But language doesn’t consist solely of spoken words, it has an entirely nonverbal dimension as well. You actually use a series of different languages to communicate to the others and to understand what they are saying to you. The seven languages that are at the foundation of Sales Linguistics are:

 

1. Word catalog language. The mind’s method for receiving and interpreting information based upon the three sensory channels—visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (feelings and a sense of the body).

 

2. Internal dialogue language. The never-ending stream of communication inside the mind that represents honest, unedited, and deep feelings.

 

3. Physical language. Also known as body language, the nonverbal communication that is constantly being emitted by the executive’s body posture.

 

4. Intersecting activity language. Interests, hobbies, and personal pursuits by which the executive displays his personality, beliefs, and values.

 

5. Technical specification language. The androgynous, nonpersonal, and technical communication that is based upon the nomenclature and technical terms of the executive’s industry. For example, the computer industry terms RAM, CPU an megabyte.

 

6. Business operations language. The language that is specific to the daily running of the executive’s business and his role in the organization.

 

7. C-level language. The most powerful trust-based language by which the executive explains his personal needs, desires, and plans along with the strategy by which he hopes to fulfill them.

 

The ultimate goal for the C-level meeting is simple: you want the executive to expose his internal dialogue to you. You want him to honestly explain what he is trying to accomplish and why he is doing it from a business and, more importantly, personal standpoint. You want him to tell you about his personal needs and career desires along with how he plans to fulfill them. You want him to speak the confidential C-level language with you. In order to do so, you must progress through the various languages represented by the figure below.

 

Unfortunately, the majority of executive conversations never reach the confidential C-level language. The discussion gets stuck at the technical specification language or the business operations language.

 

Remember, your most important competitive weapon is your mouth and the words you speak. While you will frequently meet with lower-level and midlevel employees at companies whose business you’re trying to secure, the rare conversations you have with C-level decision makers will directly determine whether you win or lose the deal. Therefore, it is critical that you understand how C-level executives think and how they communicate and that you are able to adapt your use of language to match C-level decision makers’.  Now more than ever, you need to understand and master Sales Linguistics.

 

Other Articles that Might Interest You:

60 Second Overview: Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology

Sales Linsuitics is the New Sales 2.0!

 

2 of the TOP 10 Sales Books

I was very excited to learn that my just released book Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology: How to Penetrate the C-Level Executive Suite and Convince Company Leaders to Buy and its prequel, Heavy Hitter Selling: How Successful Salespeople Use Language and Intuition to Persuade Customers to Buy were in Amazon's top 10 sales-related books (2^nd and 9^th respectively).

 

Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology is for senior salespeople, those who have been in the field for five, ten, and fifteen plus years. The goal of the book is to help them accomplish the most difficult task in all of sales: penetrate the C-level executive leader’s office and convince him to buy in the life-or-death meetings that determine whether the salesperson will win the deal. Here’s what sales leaders have to say about it!

 

“A fascinating instruction manual for securing meetings with C-level executives and persuading them to buy!”

Steve Clarence, Vice President of Sales, Convergys

 

“The first book that truly teaches salespeople how to converse with CEOs. Pray your competitors don’t read it first.”

Craig Eckstrom, Vice President of North America Sales, PayPal

 

 “This isn’t just another book, it’s an investment in your future. Whether you manage direct, indirect, inside, or major accounts sales, Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology break downs sales psychology into simple techniques that work.”

Joe Vitalone, Vice President of Sale, Shoretel

 

“Most sales books provide rudimentary sales tips for beginning salespeople. Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology provides sophisticated sales advice for senior salespeople on how to penetrate the C-level executive suite.” 

Chip Terry, Vice President and General Manager of Enterprise Solutions, Zoominfo

 

“Steve brings a whole new light to the golden rule of sales…  People buy from people who understand how they are wired!”

Gene Gainey, SVP Sales, Learn.com

 

“This not your typical book on sales scripts, it is a lesson on how to use language to create relationships at the highest levels of organizations.”

Tom Furey, Vice President & General Manager, Standard Register

 

“Steve Martin brings a new level of thoughtfulness to the psychology of sales. Understanding your own linguistic profile and uncovering the “bully with the juice” will help you achieve success in the ever changing landscape of complex selling.”

Sam Adams, Senior Vice President of Sales, Picis

 

"Now more than ever, you need an unprecedented understanding of the customer's perspective, motivation and true intent. Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology provides the path to build more meaningful executive relationships that will separate you from your competition."

Charley Knight, Vice President of Sales, Shaw Industries

 

 “Star salespeople are not always cognizant of how they go about closing C-level deals. Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology does a great job describing the foundation and process that comes naturally to successful Heavy Hitter salespeople.” 

Todd DeBonis, Vice President of Global Sales, TriQuint Semiconductors

 

“Steve’s latest book is a good combination of high brow science and tactical examples. Unlike most one dimensional sales textbooks, Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology will keep your interest throughout.”

Garth Moulton, Vice President of Community and Co-Founder, Jigsaw

 

"The key to any successful sales is understanding the individuals you are selling to.... and none more important that the C-Level. This book provides an excellent foundation and a step-by-step guide to ensure success at the highest levels of an organization"
Lisa Pope, Vice President, Global Sales Strategy, QAD Software

 

Other Articles That Might Interest You

 

Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology 60 Second Overview

Sales Linguistics: The Seven Different Languages C-Level Executives Speak

 

 

 

Sales Psychology - REPUBLICANS vs DEMOCRATS

There’s a very important lesson for both salespeople and marketeers to learn from the healthcare debate and these charts below are at the center of it. On the left is the Republican chart of healthcare reform and on the right is the Democrat’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to the New American, “The GOP chart reflects the complexity of at least 31 new federal programs, agencies, commissions and mandates that accompany the unprecedented government takeover of health care in America. Lesser known aspects of the Democrats’ plan are revealed by the chart, exposing big government’s burning desire to micromanage and impose its will. Federal mandates for website design will be imposed on the states, and cultural & linguistic competence training will be given to healthcare providers.”

 

Frankly, their chart accomplishes the goal of creating fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Everything about this chart causes chaos in the mind: the layout, color selection, different shapes, and massive amount of information.

 

The Republican chart was so effective that the Democrats were forced to respond. They created their own chart in order to provide a more ordered, reassuring view of the healthcare universe. They simplified the layout and used soothing pastel colors to "assuage the public’s fears."

 

Is the Democrat’s chart effective? The answer depends upon who they are trying to persuade. Maybe a graphic artist would appreciate the Democrat’s chart, but to the average American it means very little. It’s just a bunch of planets, crop circles, or bubbles. It evokes a different kind of reaction in the mind. It’s too nebulous and doesn’t explain how the program would actually work.  As a result, it won’t change anyone’s mind. In reality, it may even hurt their cause by validating their proposed program can’t be simply explained.

 

Here’s the main point... After reviewing hundreds of corporate presentations I can tell you that almost all include slides that are overly complicated are so simplistic they’re meaningless. Take a moment and open your corporate sales presentation. How many slides resemble the Republican or Democrat charts? Both types cause you to lose mental momentum with prospective customers. So while you think you are communicating something profound and persuasive, you are actually causing chaos and exacerbating the customer’s fear, uncertainty, and doubt. 

 

Other Articles That Might Interest You

 

Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology

Sales Psychology to Win-Over Customer’s Hearts and Minds

 

 

7 Sales Strategy Principles for Underdog Sales Reps

The annals of military history are full of examples where underdog armies vanquished superior arch-rivals. Outnumbered two to one, Hanibal Barca and his Carthaginian army defeated the powerful Roman army at the battle of Cannae in 215 BC. At the naval battle of Salamis in 480 BC, 360 ships of the Greek fleet were victorious over the Persian fleet of 780 ships.

 

How do underdogs defeat goliaths? The difference between winning and losing is strategy. There are two basic types of warfare strategy: Direct versus Indirect. In both examples above the victor used an Indirect Strategy.

 

In sales, the direct strategy is a full frontal assault on the customer to convince them to buy based upon features, functions, and business benefits. Conversely, the indirect strategy is out of the box thinking that is based upon intelligence, finesse, and the element of surprise, rather than frontal assault. This time-tested strategy involves understanding one’s own abilities and concentrating resources on the enemy’s weaknesses. Above all, the indirect strategy truly appreciates the importance of momentum and the role human nature plays in determining the winner. Seven principles underlie the indirect strategy:

 

1. The Indirect Strategy Is Based upon Psychology and Human Nature.

2. Communication Is the Cornerstone of the Indirect Strategy.

3. The Indirect Strategy Requires Privileged Intelligence.

4.  The Indirect Strategy Is Flexible, Employing Attacks, Retreats, and Defensive Fighting Based upon Circumstances.

5. The Indirect Strategy Employs Rapid Dominance to Defeat the Ultimate Enemy—Time.

6. Deception Is at the Heart of the Indirect Strategy.

7. The Indirect Strategy Seeks to Create a Turning Point or Moment That Determines the Winner and Loser.

 

The first and foremost principle is that the indirect strategy is a psychological operation (“psy-op” in military jargon) based upon understanding, predicting, and influencing human nature. Psy-ops include the manipulation of information, movements, and positioning to gain a strategic battlefield advantage before and during a war. On the battlefield, the mission of psy-ops is to cause the enemy to quit by inflicting mental and emotional trauma. The goal is to elevate the enemy’s combat fatigue and skepticism about winning because a halfhearted warrior is more than halfway to losing.

 

The second and third principles are based upon the elimination of the “fog of war,” the natural uncertainty and lack of knowledge that occur during the heat of battle. The word “war” is derived from the Frankish-German word werra, which means “confusion,” “discord,” or “strife.” The second principle is that effective communications are necessary to eliminate miscues and mistakes, while the third principle is that privileged intelligence is a requirement to win a war. Only through privileged intelligence can one determine the enemy’s position and find its weaknesses.

 

In battle, the only certainty is change. Constantly changing battle conditions require flexible tactics. A General’s success lies not only in his initial plan but in how he adapts his plans once the initial plan has become inconsequential. The fourth principle is tactical flexibility, knowing when to use the optimum maneuver—a surprise attack, calculated retreat, coordinated counterattack, or defensive position—at the appropriate time. The fifth principle acknowledges that time is the ultimate enemy. During a prolonged engagement, the relentless march of time depletes supplies, weapons, troops, and morale.

 

The sixth principle, that deception is at the heart of the indirect strategy, and the seventh principle, that every battle has a turning point, are intimately intertwined. The indirect strategy is based upon the creation of deceptions to confuse enemies. This confusion creates a critical turning point, causing enemies to lose momentum they can never regain (Click here if you want to read a detailed account of the application of these principles to the complex sales cycle.)

 

If you are in sales, you are perpetually in a state of war. All salespeople are warriors who must fight the relentless march of time and enemies who are trying to defeat them daily. Sales is an intense hand-to-hand battle fought between two people or two groups of people who are each trying to win over the customer. The victor outsmarts, outmaneuvers, and overwhelms his enemies. In sales, just as in war, there can be only one winner, and today’s conqueror can quickly become tomorrow’s vanquished. The deciding difference is strategy.

 

Other Articles That May Interest You:

 

What If General Patton Was Your VP of Sales?

Why Did We Lose? (5 Questions for the VP of Sales)

Selling in a Recession: The Value of E-Mail

During a recession you not only have to compete against your regular competitors, you must also fight the most dreaded enemy of all—no decision! During tough economic times the only thing you can count on is that you’re going to have to work three times as hard to close the same amount of business as before. Therefore, you must ramp up your prospecting efforts accordingly. 

But what is the best strategy to you penetrate new accounts? Prospective customers rarely return cold calls and sending letters usually fails to generate results. Today, the best method to reach new prospects is e-mail because they create immediate interest. Moreover, e-mails that are sent to executive leaders can be easily forwarded to mid-level managers and lower level evaluators for follow up.

The structure of your e-mail is critical to driving the prospect to respond. While the goal of your e-mail is introduce your company and its products, the underlying message should be about “value.” The perceived value of a product depends on the psychological, political, operational, and strategic value it provides to decision makers.  

At the root of every decision is one of four psychological values. People buy products they believe will help them fulfill deep-seated psychological needs: satisfying the ego, being accepted as part of a group, avoiding pain, and ensuring survival. All the other outward appearances of a customer’s decision-making process--the analysis, return-on-investment calculations, and other internal studies--are the means to achieving an overriding psychological goal. Therefore, the psychological value is most important when it comes to purchasing decisions and should be a key theme within your e-mail. 

The second most important value, political value, involves organizational power. Your product may enable a vice president to consolidate his or her power, help a low level employee become indispensable to the company, allow a departmental manager to satisfy an internal powerbroker, or enable a leader to maintain authority. Your product can make someone more powerful, or for those seeking power, it can provide much-needed visibility that enables them to be in contact with the company’s powerbrokers. 

The third most important value is operational value. People’s success in an organization is dependent upon the success of their department’s operations. Therefore, every department has inherent pressure to accomplish projects that successfully add operational value. The ways that operational value are determined is quite diverse. An ambitious project leader might consider your product’s operational value the ability to successfully complete his project on time. For a manager concerned about being laid off, you’re your operational value might be that your product enables the department to proliferate its services throughout the company, thereby making him indispensible. Satisfying internal customers in other departments might be the operational value for an underperforming departmental manager.

Strategic value, the fourth value, is based upon the appearance of rationality and impartiality. However, customers do not seek information that will help them make an objective strategic decision; they amass information that helps them justify their preconceived ideas of strategic value. In other words, your product’s strategic value comprises the reasons and arguments evaluators give to senior management and the other areas of the company as to why the product should be purchased regardless if they are real or imagined. Seven types of strategic value enable customers to

·         Gain a competitive advantage (increase market share, enter new markets, defeat competition)

·         Increase revenues

·         Decrease costs

·         Increase productivity and efficiency

·         Improve customer satisfaction

·         Improve quality

·         Standardize operations (increase ease of business)

                 

E-mail messages should be based upon these four values. You must communicate to potential buyers that you can help solve critical department problems, help them become experts and an internal source of knowledge. For example, here’s an e-mail (mass-market campaign) targeted at the automobile industry.

Subject:  How Toyota Maintains Its Critical Relationships

Dear Mark, 

Q. How do Toyota, Ford, and Honda maintain near-perfect dealer relationships?

A. XYZ Corporation has helped them automate and streamline all aspects of partner communications. As a result, they have increased revenues, accelerated time to market, and improved dealer communications.   

For example, Toyota distributes thousands of unique messages and memorandums to its worldwide dealer distribution channel on a daily basis. Toyota has drastically reduced turnaround times while increasing customer service and loyalty using XYZ’s solution. 

For a free dealer communication analysis or to learn how we can improve and standardize relationships with all your important business partners, please call or e-mail me at your earliest convenience.

Thank you,

John Johnson

The most important aspect of this e-mail is the psychological impression it creates on the reader. One reader might envision starting a grand project like Toyota’s for his own personal gain. Another might want more information so he could impress others with his expertise. Someone else might have thought, “If it is good enough for Toyota, it should work for us.” Finally, a bureaucratic manager might be excited about standardizing all the various communications the company must send to their partners. The psychological storyline of the e-mail speaks to different types of buyers.

In order to create your e-mail you should conduct research to determine what the psychological, political, operational, and strategic value are. Obviously, you want to study the company’s web site and their financial reports. However, there is another fantastic resource that I use which is quite unique called Zoominfo (If you are not familiar with it I recommend you visit www.zoominfo.com). While there are a variety of prospecting databases available, Zoominfo’s data is different. It not only allows you to research companies and find key decisionmakers, it also provides a profile for that person that can’t be found anywhere else. It does this by combing the internet for all information about a particular person and then combining it into an easily accessible, meaningful format.

For example, the other day I had a conference call with a vice president of sales for a software company whom I had never met. In order to prepare for the call I visited his company’s web site but there wasn’t any profile information about him there. On Zoominfo I found his job history, several articles that he was quoted in, his compensation, a presentation he gave at a user conference, and even where he went to college. This information was invaluable in crafting the themes and “values” I would discuss with him (just as I would have included in an introductory e-mail).  

Remember, every prospective customer, from the executive leaders to lower level employees, have different motivations and different perceptions of a product’s true value. More than ever, it is critical that the storyline of your introductory e-mails speak each type of value. By doing so, you will be able to refill that pipeline of deals that is continually being depleted because the customer made “no decision.”  

Other Articles that Might Interest You:

The Best Recession Sales Strategy

Recession Sales Strategies: You Must Have a Spy!

Sales Strategy Ideas from the Presidential Campaign

While every sale is competitive, in the most important deals it will boil down to just you and your arch-rival. These are the big deals. These are the most important deals that will decide whether you make your quarterly number, receive your annual bonus, and ultimately determine whether or not you will keep your job. Therefore, before you bolt into action you need a strategy to win the business. But the question to ask yourself is, “What kind of strategy?”

   

Since the beginning of mankind, arch-rivals have fought for dominance. Competing clans, tribes, and countries battled one another for supremacy. In 1954, famous war historian Lidell Hart detailed the indirect and direct approach to war in his classic book, Strategy. The direct strategy is a brute force full-frontal attack intended to overwhelm the enemy. Conversely, the indirect strategy employs psychology, finesse, and most importantly, the element of surprise. The indirect strategy is based upon out-of-the-box thinking that is intended to be a game changer. As a result, it confounds the enemy, creates confusion, and makes them unsure of what they should do next.

   

In painstaking detail, Hart described the superiority of the indirect strategy over the direct strategy using examples throughout the history of warfare. He theorized that the outcome of every major war from Roman times through World War II could be attributed to the grand strategy the parties selected. The victors always chose to battle indirectly.

   

When you are competing head-to-head against your arch-rival for an account you have to choose between using a direct or indirect strategy. And, over the past several weeks we have witnessed great examples of both strategies in action on the Presidential campaign. Putting political preferences aside, here’s my interpretation of what Lidell Hart would have to say about it.

   

Direct Strategy: McCain challenges Obama to visit Iraq.

In an attempt to highlight his foreign affairs expertise and stance on Iraq, McCain challenges Obama to visit Iraq and see for himself the success of the “surge” which he had supported. In a frontal assault McCain chided his nemesis, "It's been 871 days since he was there. It's long overdue.”

   

Indirect Strategy: Obama turns McCain’s challenge into a victory tour.

Instead of limiting his Iraq trip to an in-and-out fact finding mission, he used the trip to hob-nob with the foreign leaders of Germany, France, the U.K. and was treated like a superstar by 200,000 Berliners. He took McCain’s challenge and turned it into his advantage by showing he was “presidential.”

   

Indirect Strategy: McCain frames Obama trip as a celebrity lollapalooza.

Faced with the non-stop press coverage of Obama adulation, McCain’s camp needed a strategy that would turn lemons into lemonade. They ended up making lemon-drop martinis by capitalizing on the media’s swooning over Obama’s trip and celebrity comments like George Clooney’s, “Obama is like a rock star.” They took Obama’s strength and turned into a liability by framing him not as a leader, but a Brittany Spears/Paris-Hilton type pop-star. Shortly thereafter, most polls showed the race between McCain and Obama was tied.

   

Direct Strategy: Obama picks Senator Biden as his vice presidential running mate.

The direct strategy is a more predictable, safer course of tactical execution. A week before Obama announced his running mate the press said Senator Biden was on the top of the list. The candidate who based his entire premise for running for office on change, had chosen a 35 year Washington insider thus acknowledging he couldn't beat his Republican rival without help from a seasoned politician. News analysts agreed, this was a safe choice.

    

Indirect Strategy: McCain picks Governor Palin as his vice presidential running mate.

At the foundation of the indirect strategy is the element of surprise, unpredictability, and audacity. No one predicted McCain would tap Governor Palin to be his running mate. It was a bold move that blindsided the Obama camp. ``It's either a grand-slam home run or it'll turn out to be a bust,'' said Stu Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report in Washington.

   

Time will tell who will be the next President. However, the winner will most assuredly be the one who employed the indirect strategy most effectively. The same holds true for your important deals. Your strategy should be based upon finesse and the element of surprise, rather than frontal assault. Above all, the indirect strategy truly appreciates the importance of momentum in determining the winner. In the words of World War II general George Patton, a famous devotee of the indirect strategy, “Audacity, audacity, always audacity.” Because, “When everyone is thinking alike, someone isn’t thinking.”

   

Want to learn more about the indirect strategy, I recommend reading Heavy Hitter Sales Wisdom: Proven Sales Warfare Strategies, Secrets of Persuasion, and Common Sense Tips for Success. Visit www.heavyhitterwisdom.com for more strategy articles.

How Ronald Reagan Would Change Your Corporate Presentation

After reviewing hundreds of corporation presentations over the past five years, I can honestly say that they all are basically the same. You could almost take slides from one company’s presentation and insert them in another, and no one would even notice. They are all fact-based infomercials that approach customers with the same message—we’re the industry leader with a state-of-the-art solution that partners with our customers. The problem is all the competitors are making the exact same claims. As a result, nothing unique is communicated. Therefore, the real question to ask is, "How can you differentiate your sales presentation?"

The answer to this question may be found by studying "The Great Communicator," the late former President Ronald Reagan. In 2000, Ronald Reagan was ranked as the eighth-best president in U.S. history according to a survey of 78 historians. It's not surprising that he was ranked behind national heroes such as Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt. However, the most surprising part of the survey is that he was ranked as the most underrated president of all time. What made this president so unique was his ability to communicate and persuade.

So, how would Reagan change your sales presentation?

1. Reagan would add a great "cowcatcher."
Most people associate the term "cowcatcher" with the metal grill on the front of a locomotive. However, "cowcatcher" has an entirely different meaning in the entertainment industry. It's a show's opening moments in which the performers try to grab your attention and cause you to stop and look.

Reagan, the Hollywood star, knew the importance of a cowcatcher. Before and during his presidency, he wrote more than 600 radio addresses by himself in his own handwriting. They were not the work of a team of speechwriters. Perhaps the most impressive part of every radio address was the opening cowcatcher, the first sentences of every program. Some examples:

"It has been said a baby-sitter is a teenager acting like a parent while the parent is out acting like a teenager."

"How much do you miss dinosaurs? Would your life be richer if those giant pre-historic flying lizards occasionally settled on your front lawn?"

"It sometimes seems that we can get more emotionally aroused over mistreatment of animals than we can if the victims are human."

The best corporate sales presentations start with a great cowcatcher. A great cowcatcher engages the mind, appeals to the imagination and helps the presenter gain credibility.

2. Reagan would use a captivating "hook."
Following the cowcatcher, you need a "hook." Now that the listeners' interest is piqued, you need to hook them on why they should use your product. Your best hook is to tell them stories. For example, lets take a look at how Reagan opened with a provocative cowcatcher and then hooked the audience with a story about baby seal hunts:

"It sometimes seems that we can get more emotionally aroused over mistreatment of animals than we can if the victims are human. A few weeks ago, a writer in the Los Angeles Times did an article on the 1978 Canadian baby seal hunt. One line in the article was very thought provoking: 'If seal pups were as ugly as lobsters, their harvest would go unnoticed.' Accompanying his article was a photo that proved his point. It was a snow white baby seal with its black nose and round eyes looking like something you’d put in the nursery for children to cuddle."

The sales presentation should include six to eight slides of how specific customers are using the products, the operational results that have been improved, and the financial impact on the bottom line. In addition, it should include a quote from a customer whose name and title the audience can identify with psychologically. For example, include a quote from your customer's CFO when presenting to a financial department. Finally, this section should have some eye-catching graphics that tie the whole story together and “hook” the prospect.

3. Reagan would incorporate mental imagery.
It's not enough to say that to stand out; you have to be different. Rather, you need a more sophisticated, indirect approach that differentiates your solution in the minds of customers. You can't tell customers you're unique, different, and one of a kind. You must demonstrate it to them, starting with the imagery of the corporate presentation. Reagan naturally employed mental imagery to psychologically engage his audience.

"It’s nightfall in a strange town a long way from home. I'm watching the lights come on from my hotel room window on the thirty-fifth floor. I'm afraid you are in for a little bit of philosophizing if you don’t mind. Some of these broadcasts have to be put together while I'm out on the road traveling what I call the mashed potato circuit. In a little while I’ll be speaking to a group of very nice people in a banquet hall.”

These two sentences from one of his radio addresses help create a personal receptive state where the audience is open to his thoughts. The words, "nightfall," "strange town," "long way from home," provide the mental imagery that enable the listeners to be quickly transported to Reagan’s place and mood (in an unfamiliar place a long way from home).

The second sentence is an "operator" on the first sentence. It further defines where he is physically and forces the listeners to adjust their viewpoint to the 35th floor of a hotel room. Both of these sentences are "verifiable statements." Most everyone has experienced being a long way from home and feeling homesick. Most everyone has been in a high-rise building. As listeners receive information, they check with their past experiences to verify the statement's accuracy. Assuming the listeners have been homesick before, this statement is agreed to and considered truthful. The honesty of the statement is also passed on to the presenter. These types of verifiable statements enable the presenter to quickly gain credibility and rapport.

The creators of almost all of the hundreds of presentations I have reviewed over the past couple of years come not from sales but from marketing departments. Unfortunately, these people usually have had little interaction with customers and no direct sales experience. They assume that customers think like they do and that the selection process is completely unbiased. Therefore, their presentation is a point-by-point list of reasons why a customer should select their product. As a result, the corporate sales presentation provides little mental imagery. The presentations are slide after slide of boring bullet points of information, with very few graphics to break up the monotony. This is the true definition of “death by PowerPoint.”

4. Reagan would employ "softeners."
Preapologizing is one technique for developing a receptive state with an audience. This is one form of a "softener." A softener eases listeners into the next thought or can be used to set expectations. Usually, Reagan's radio addresses discussed the economy or issues of foreign and domestic interest. When Reagan said, "I'm afraid you are in for a little bit of philosophizing if you don't mind," he is signaling that the intent of this week's message is different. He's adjusting the listeners' frame of mind from being issue based to being more reflective and introspective. Basically, he's telling them to relax a little.

He's on the road, about to give a speech on what he calls "the mashed potato circuit." How do you interpret that statement? Speaking to a group of people in the heartland of America is quite different from speaking to people from the East or West Coast. What would you have inferred if he had called it the "steak and wine circuit"? Perhaps that he considers these dinner speeches less than important and feels he should be performing his "real" job of leading the land. There's an underlying meaning that he is trying to communicate. However, the interpretation of the statement is dependent upon each listener's viewpoint, and there is no right or wrong answer. Regardless of the answer, listeners empathize with the position he is in.

Too many sales presentations are built upon black or white, all-or-nothing statements. These statements force the customer to either completely accept or reject the premise or argument being made. In reality, customers reject far more statements than they accept and this lessens rapport. Therefore, the best sales presentations incorporate softeners to lessen the likelihood of rejection. For example, instead of listing "We provide the most state-of-the-art technology" on a bullet point, you should use "Our technology offers these advantages."

5. Reagan would be sure to include some humor.
When people laugh, at some level they agree with you. Humor helps relieve the stress that is inherent to all sales calls. Like a seasoned salesperson, Reagan had a knack for making pithy comebacks that rendered his opponents' political body blows ineffective, thus allowing him to escape his position on the ropes. In the 1984 presidential debate, age figured to be a big issue since challenger Walter Mondale was 17 years younger than Reagan. To counteract potential criticism that the oldest man to ever serve as president was too old for the job, Reagan said, “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience.”

Every salesperson should follow Reagan's lead and use humor during the corporate sales presentation. It shows you don't take yourself too seriously. If you tell jokes, the punch line should always be self-deprecating and at your expense. Remember, everyone is somewhat nervous during a sales call and humor lightens the mood and helps everyone relax.

Like every salesman, President Reagan had a product to sell. As a politician, his product was not only his policies but, equally important: himself. While each of his radio addresses had a political purpose, he also wanted to deliver a very powerful message that was camouflaged beneath the content of his story. Similar to the typical sales presentation, he wanted to use this special moment to motivate his customer to buy.

Click here to learn more about Ronald Reagan’s communication skills.

Improve You Sales Call Memory to Strengthen Your Sales Intuition

The average person only remembers about forty major events of their entire life. However, Jill Rose has a very unique talent. She can remember every detail about every day of her life. As a result, memory researchers at the University California at Irvine have been studying Jill's memory recall for the past eight years to understand how her memory works.

      

As salespeople, we spend most of our time trying to predict the behavior, intentions, attitudes, and feelings of our customers. In essence, the goal of every salesperson is to be able to anticipate the future. The "tool" you use to accomplish this is your "sales intuition." Memory plays a fundamental role in determining the strength of your sales intuition. Your ability to store more sales call experiences in your memory will actually strengthen your sales intuition. With this goal in mind, here are six principles to help improve your sales call memory:

      

Sensory information. During the sales call, consciously gather as much information as possible from your sight, sound, and touch senses. A vivid event is more likely to be memorized than a dull one, and the more sensory information that is incorporated into your memories, the higher your likelihood of recording it.

      

Association. Thoughts and experiences are more readily recalled when they are linked to a specific association. A very simple association would be the success or failure of the call. The association may be further defined by the customer's technical and business requirements or their objections to purchasing your product.

      

Specificity. The persistence of a memory is directly related to the precision of details that are input at the time of the experience. During a sales call, you may even want to tell yourself that some information is important and is not to be forgotten.

      

Unique events. Many sales calls are free-flowing events that lack a strict organization of facts. Therefore, it is easier to remember any unusual and unique aspects of a sales call that stand out from the ordinary and mundane.

    

First and last. Most salespeople are quick to remember how a sales call began (the big opening) and how it ended (the grand finale). This is a natural characteristic of memory, whereby we tend to remember the information that is presented first and last more than the details in between. This particularly applies to longer sales calls, more than an hour. One way to help remember all of the in-between information is to mentally break the sales call into smaller segments (or chunks) either by time, presenter, or topic of discussion.

    

The good, the bad, and the ugly. Be forewarned, your brain has been trained to block out unpleasant images. However, it is critical that all information during a sales call, both good and bad, be stored.

    

Never forget, how something is remembered will determine how much is remembered.

Selling in a Recession: The Best Recession Sales Strategy

 

I have no doubt that our economy is already in a recession. Whether or not they’ll admit it, the Federal Reserve’s recent actions surely prove this as well. However, I would like to offer two of my own economic indicators that truly reflect the dismal state of the economy.

1.    In my recent conversations with sales leaders across all industries (technology, finance, manufacturing, etc.) there is a foreboding sense of gloom about the coming months. In most cases, they tell me that sales are down or flat since January. Regardless of their past successes, they feel saddled with annual quotas they will be unable to achieve.

2.    Over the past ninety days an ever increasing number of VPs of sales and sales executives have contacted me because they have lost their jobs through “reorganizations”. They are panic-stricken they won’t find work. For them the old adage applies, “A recession is when your neighbor loses his job, a depression is when you lose yours.”

Selling in a recession is not only difficult, it’s downright scary. Knowing how to appeal to the “Bully with the Juice” is a mandatory strategy in tough times like these because even though you may win the selection process, you still haven’t won the business.

Who is the Bully with the Juice? The Bully with the Juice is the financial decision maker who will ultimately approve the purchase. It’s the person who controls the company’s purse strings. He could be the CFO, VP of finance, VP of purchasing, or even the president. Unfortunately, this person has the economy on his mind and is less likely to approve spending money more than ever.

There are many different ways to classify people involved in the selection process during the sales cycle including title, influence, and orientation (technical, business or financial). Another interesting characterization is a person’s insistence that things be done his way. This is called being a “bully.”

A bully will get his way at any and all costs. Being a bully is not necessarily a negative term, nor does it mean that the person is physically intimidating. It is simply the description of people who will tenaciously fight for their cause.

Another concept by which people can be measured is if they have “juice.” Simply put, juice is leadership, authority, and charisma. During the selection process you will encounter bullies and evaluators with varying degrees of juice. However, only one person within the customer’s organization can be the Bully with the Juice. Even after the vendor selection has been made, releasing the funds must be approved by the ultimate decision-maker, the Bully with the Juice. Single-handedly, he imparts his own will on the selection process and will approve or deny the purchase to be made.

The Bully with the Juice is the company’s equivalent of emperor Caesar. Only he can give his thumb up or down on the life-or-death decision to spend the company’s money. So even though you have won the evaluation and been assured that a purchase will be made, you are actually in the most critical part of the sales process. You must win the approval of the Bully with the Juice.

Some people believe that the economy has changed the way products are purchased. People will argue that some purchases are truly made by committee without a Bully with the Juice. While a committee does put more fingerprints of accountability on the product selection, behind every committee (and its creation) is a bully who has the juice. In addition, every committee has to present its recommendation to someone, and that person is the Bully with the Juice.

There are four important rules regarding the Bully who has the Juice. First, if you cannot accurately determine who the Bully with Juice is in your deal and none exists, be prepared for no decision to be made. It takes a Bully with the Juice to make a major purchase happen. This is a reality in today’s economy. Second, if there is a bully with the juice in your deal and this person will not meet with you, always assume they are aligned with someone else or are against the purchase from being made at all. Therefore, the deal is lost. Third, if a Bully with the Juice does exist but you aren’t able to identify the person, be prepared to lose. You are in a position of extreme risk because you have no idea which economic decision-maker you must win-over. Finally and most importantly, you MUST meet with the Bully with the Juice as early as possible during the selection process! This is the only way to know whether or not a deal really exists.

Salespeople are constantly placed in an environment where they must differentiate themselves and their product from other attention-getting solutions. Under these circumstances, the salesperson’s job is to create a relationship with detractors as well as supporters. Ultimately, there is one person who makes the final decision and truly matters. In today’s economic malaise, it is the Bully with the Juice who reigns supreme.

Read more about the Bully with the Juice...

What's Wrong with Sales Training Today

Almost all sales training programs today share the same fundamental flaw. None explain what is truly at the heart of all sales: how to build relationships between people, how salespeople incorporate the elements of human behavior into their strategy, and how to say the “right” words at the “right” time to persuade customers to buy. They don’t offer help where help is needed most--how to deal with the humanness of your customers and the internal politics of decision making.
   
The existing training methodologies do not explain or fully take into account the human characteristics of the people who actually make the purchase decision. They concentrate on the logical and procedural aspects of the sales cycle. In short, they offer frameworks that are limited to the “tangible” processes of the sales cycle. These may include the basic questions a salesperson commits to memory, such as, “What is your budget?” and “What is your time frame?” Other programs emphasize the business benefits and financial justification of the salesperson’s solution. They explain how to create a return-on-investment (ROI) model in order to show customers how much money they will save by selecting their product. However, every company supplies their own ROI and extols their unique benefits. Therefore, how do you stand out from the pack?

Somehow, “successful” sales training has become associated with a thick binder of material the salesperson lugs home from the class (never to open again). The classroom experience is based upon rote memorization of facts. There is very little interaction, exercises, or meaningful conversation about the difficult “real-world” obstacles that need to be overcome. The training classes are pre-packaged sessions that are taught the same way over and over again regardless of the audience’s unique situation. The goal is get through the material, not to learn how and where to win (and the skills needed to do it). When in reality, every training experience should be a one of a kind unique experience because every company occupies a different position in the competitive landscape.

   

Most importantly, today’s customers are smarter and savvier than ever. Technology has become a way of life. Our cars, appliances, and recreational toys have become computerized tools. Via the Internet customers can research products, prices, and opinions. Collectively, this has raised the level of sophistication (and skepticism) of the customers we must converse with and sell to. Today, the balance of power is definitely in the hands of buyers and the situation will only continue to get worse. Unfortunately, most training programs assume customers are the same as they were ten or twenty years ago.

   

Your competitors have not sat idly by either. They’ve educated themselves about your products and sales tactics, and they’re more focused on defeating you than ever. Fortunately, they still believe in the use of brute force and think the best way to defeat you is by frontal attack, when in reality, winning over the hearts and minds of customers carries the day.

   

For all of these reasons, a new generation of sales training is needed. Sales training that understands the new generation of smart buyers, acknowledges competitive realities, and offers entirely new strategies to influence the decision making process.