NZ Sales Manager Issue 14 by Espire Media

NOV 12TH 2008 / Issue 14

Networking

Does Not

Equal Selling

Handling Objections Dealing with objections and buyer resistance

Courageous

Patience

The acid test of leadership

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HANDLING OBJECTIONS So how should sales professionals deal with an increase in objections and buyer resistance?

THIS WEEKS MUST READ

NETWORKING DOES NOT EQUAL SELLING Not getting a return on your networking efforts? Jean Caldwell explains how networking is more effective when you stop trying to sell yourself. 11

NZSM CALENDAR

TWO MINUTE TOP-UP A Special Kind Of Courage Courageous patience, the acid test of leadership

BOOK REVIEW Practice What You Preach What Managers Must Do to Create a High Achievement Culture.

SALES TRAINING DIRECTORY

THE CLOSE

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ost salespeople believe that the type of selling they have to do is about as hard as it gets. Selling is undoubtedly one of the toughest jobs in business. But one group of salespeople are often forgotten when it comes to bragging rights for the toughest sales job – door-to-door charity collectors. Picture this… It’s 6pm and Dad’s just pulled up in the driveway grumpy after stopping off at the supermarket following a long day at work. Mum’s inside on the phone while cooking dinner for the two kids, their friends, and two school billets up from the King Country who are all yelling to be heard because the Playstation’s up so loud. Just as Dad’s heading inside with arms full of groceries it starts to rain and who should stop him on the way to the door – two grinning collectors for the WWF (the wild life one not the wrestling one). Even ignoring the fact that they’ve got nothing to sell except the chance for donors to feel good, it’s hardly the ideal conditions for an easy sale! But despite the chaos they were both professional, purposeful, charismatic and sincere – how could I say no to joining the Panda Club? So “big ups” to James O’Caside and Rebecca Brownlie from the Cobra Group and remember, whatever doesn’t kill ya, just makes you stronger!

Richard

ABOUT / Short and sharp, New Zealand Sales Manager is a free fortnightly e-magazine delivering thought provoking and enlightening articles, and industry news and information to forward-thinking sales managers, business owners and sales professionals. EDITOR / Richard Liew DESIGNER / Jodi Olsson ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES / +64-9-361 1375 or email richardl@nzsalesmanager.co.nz CONTENT ENQUIRIES / +64-9-361 1375 or email richardl@nzsalesmanager.co.nz ADDRESS / NZ Sales Manager Magazine,127a Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby, Auckland, NZ. +64-9-361 1375 WEBSITE / www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

Got any thoughts on this topic or articles in this week’s issue? We’d love to know what you think. Email your comments to richardl@nzsalesmanager.co.nz and we’ll share the best ones in future issues.

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If your sales methods are built around a numbers game, (20 calls for 5 appointments for 1 sale) then rejection and/ or objections will be par for the course. Thick skin, quick thinking and a repertoire of prepared answers to counter the buyers’ resistance will be essential to survive.

Handling Objections \\

Salespeople across all industries are talking to increasingly nervous buyers who are delaying purchasing decisions while they wait for the politicians and banks to try and sort our economies out. So how should sales professionals deal with an increase in objections and buyer resistance?

By Paul Newsom hat do we say when the buyer raises an objection?

For those salespeople who concentrate their efforts on selling product and persuading a customer to buy you can expect objections, and lots of them.

Part of the problem created by the sales industry itself is that traditional sales training has included so much material on objection handling and closing that sales people are actually being trained for battle. It creates a mindset of preparing for sparring, and trying to win over the customer. Buyers expect it and are prepared for it. Worn out myths such as, ‘Selling doesn’t start until the buyer says no’ must be condemned to the gallows if you are to succeed in developing any sort of sustainable relationship with a buyer. Buyers have changed the way they are buying and old school objection handling techniques have little effect. Competition should be against your competitors, not with your customers! I recall participating in a sales training session just a few years ago where they brought in professional actors to try to teach us how to ‘Always Have A Better Answer’ (Ahaba), whenever the customer raised an objection. It was perhaps one of the most entertaining yet completely ineffective NZSM / nov 12TH 2008 / 5

training situations I have experienced. If you are good at acting, you should perhaps be an actor. Better answers are no longer the answer to the problem. Savvy buyers have heard them all before and switch off. When looking at how to deal with customer objections, focus on the cause, not the symptom. You, the salesperson are the cause, the symptom is the customer objection.

When looking at how to deal with customer objections, focus on the cause, not the symptom. You, the salesperson are the cause, the symptom is the customer objection.

Here are 4 ways you can focus on the cause, you, and how you sell: Understand how and why the customer buys Know the game that you are playing before you start. Selling starts by understanding the customer before you even talk to them. It continues throughout the sales cycle by finding out what it is that the customer values. You do this by asking questions. As influential French writer and philosopher Voltaire said 300 years ago, ‘Judge a man by his questions, not his answers.’ • Let’s be real, price will always be somewhere on the list of buyers criteria, but find out what all the decision criteria are, how they go about selecting suppliers and what their top suppliers do well. • Get agreement that you meet these criteria as you progress the sale. • Get better at qualifying that the prospect actually has the issue or problem that the benefit of your product or service fixes. We call this “Discovery” - to identify a valid business reason or establish relevancy.

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The over eager sales person who focuses on selling product features and benefits too early in the conversation is sure to get objections. You are going to come up against resistance if the customer is thinking, ‘Sure, I could always go bigger, faster, better, but that’s not what I need right now - the cost of going bigger, faster or better is higher than the value it will provide to me.’ And all too often, also going through the buyers mind is, ‘This sales person has no understanding of my business, they are only concerned with their own interests, and I don’t trust them’. Of course they are going to object! How often do we think we have lost a sale when really we should never have been selling there in the first place because there is no valid business reason to be talking with the customer?

Slow down for yellow lights, and stop for red lights This concept is covered really well in Mahan Khalsa’s excellent book, Lets Get Real, The Demise of 20th Century Dysfunctional Selling and The Advent of Helping Clients Succeed. Khalsa says: “When you are driving along, particularly when you are anxious to arrive somewhere important, and you encounter a yellow light, what do you do? If you are like most people I know, you go faster. Unfortunately we use that same response with our clients. We hear something that concerns us, see a reaction that spells potential trouble, feel we are running into difficulty, and we speed up to avoid running into our own worst fears. Ultimately we are afraid the light will turn red. We don’t want to fail at a red light, so we speed up, hoping we’ll make it through. If we can’t slow down for yellow lights, it’s hard to get real.” You have to stop when you hit a red light, but hitting a red light is not failure. Unless of course you have repeatedly crossed through yellow lights and committed time, money, and resources to hit a red light that you should have been at weeks ago. If you hit a yellow light, pass it to the customer and see whether it is going to change to red or to green. Ask the question, ‘If I understand this correctly (explain the situation as you see it)...so what should we do at this point?’ Eliminate the red lights (objections) before you get to them by slowing down for each yellow light.

Create an air of cooperation with the customer

Be there to help the customer to buy, not to sell them something

Be there to help the customer to buy, not to sell them something. Try to understand the world from their perspective. In their view, they will believe they are right, and you know what, they probably are. Selling is something you do with people, not to people. That is, if you value the relationship and want repeat business anyway. In summary, your biggest competitive advantage is you, the sales person, not your product or service. The secret to overcoming buyer resistance is to change the way you sell, not come up with more and better answers to handle objections.

Paul Newsom is Learning & Development Manager for the Rev Sales Network overseeing the content and quality of the RSN’s executive sales training programs. NZSM / nov 12TH 2008 / 7

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T H I S W EE K ’ S M US T R E A D

Networking Does Not Equal Selling \\

Not getting a return on your networking efforts? Jean Caldwell explains how networking is more effective when you stop trying to sell yourself.

hen I first started out in my business I was urged by a well known sales guru to network my heart out; “Put yourself out there Jean, give everyone you meet your business card.” Scary stuff for one stepping out on a limb already! For a bright woman it took me a long time to get my head around the fact that networking is not about sales, or selling me and my business. In fact I know now that my business card is the least powerful tool in my networking tool box. People remember you for what you give; your time, attention, interest and a genuine invitation

to get to know them and their business better. As a consequence of building and maintaining a relationship, you and your business, product or service become inextricably linked in the mind and memory of the person you link to. Having become somewhat of a serial networker, no longer uncomfortable or wary of the unknown, I am now excited and stimulated by the amount of truly interesting people out there. I am also forever reminded of what a small world it is. Auckland is small, New Zealand is small and the world now is also small. Not only do I keep bumping into people I know at an event or meeting when I least expect it; I am NZSM / nov 12TH 2008 / 9

constantly meeting people who it turns out know people I know and hey presto an immediate connection is made. People are 100 times more comfortable with “strangers” when a common link presents itself, putting you, the sales person, in a far stronger position than if you were contacting them “cold”. While not everyone is going to be a prospective client or sale, they might instead become a valuable supplier or contact for your own clients or customers. A good networker is also a good match maker and ‘marriage’ broker! Regardless of whether your own business will directly benefit from a sale to a new contact, you must realise that they will potentially know people who could become your clients or customers in the future. Networking is nothing more than people needing people in action. Fill the need and your needs will get filled in return. It may take a while but the return on your networking

‘investment’ will oil the wheels of your business growth and success. Whether you are a sales person, self employed, a business owner or manager, networking is vital to the expansion of

While not everyone is going to be a prospective client or sale, they might instead become a valuable supplier or contact for your own clients or customers your influence and profile in your industry as well as being the ideal opportunity to give others a step up or the support you were given.

Jean Caldwell is a contract Executive Assistant and Business Administrator working with a variety of small to medium business managers and owners. You can visit her website at www.pa2go.co.nz.

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WED 12 NOV

NZSM CALENDAR SAT 15 NOV

MON 17 NOV Sales Development David Forman Christchurch

Presentation Skills David Forman Wellington The Executive Healthcare Representative (Healthcare only) Pro-Formance Driven Auckland Sales Managing – Outstandingly Successful Sales Teams Geewiz Christchurch

TUE 18 NOV Developing & Managing Business Relationships NZIM Auckland Fundamentals of Selling Workshop Top Achievers Sales Training Auckland – North Sales Development David Forman Christchurch

FRI 14 NOV

THU 13 NOV The Executive Healthcare Representative (Healthcare only) Pro-Formance Driven Auckland Advanced Serous Selling Geewiz Wellington Motivation & Attitude Geewiz Wellington Hit The Ground Running Sales Seminar Top Achievers Sales Training Hamilton

WED 19 NOV

SAT 22 NOV

Sales F.U.E.L EMA Auckland (20, 21 Nov)

MON 24 NOV Presentation Skills David Forman Auckland

SUN 23 NOV

THU 27 NOV

FRI 28 NOV

Sales Basics Geewiz Christchurch

SAT 29 NOV

SUN 30 NOV WED 3 DEC

THU 4 DEC

Sales Development David Forman Lower Hutt

FRI 5 DEC

Prospecting for New Business Geewiz Christchurch

THU 20 NOV

Developing & Managing Business Relationships NZIM Auckland Sales F.U.E.L EMA Auckland Sales Development David Forman Christchurch

Sales Development David Forman Christchurch Sales Basics Geewiz Auckland Fundamentals of Selling Workshop Top Achievers Sales Training Auckland – South Hit The Ground Running Sales Seminar Top Achievers Sales Training Christchurch

SUN 16 NOV

FRI 21 NOV

The Executive Healthcare Representative (Healthcare only) Pro-Formance Driven Auckland

WED 26 NOV

TUE 25 NOV Presentation Skills David Forman Auckland Hit The Ground Running Sales Seminar Top Achievers Sales Training Wellington Sales Basics Geewiz Christchurch Sales Recruitment Rev Sales Network Auckland

MON 1 DEC

Presentation Skills David Forman Auckland Sales Prospecting NZIM Auckland Sales Skills Level 1 EMA Auckland

TUE 2 DEC

Sales Basics Geewiz Christchurch

Sales Development David Forman Lower Hutt

Advanced Sales Development David Forman Auckland

SAT 6 DEC

MON 8 DEC

SUN 7 DEC TUE 9 DEC Hit The Ground Running Seminar Top Achievers Sales Training Auckland

WED 10 DEC

THU 11 DEC

FRI 12 DEC

SAT 13 DEC

Fundamentals of Selling Workshop Top Achievers Sales Training Auckland

14 DEC NZSM / novSUN 12TH 2008 / 11

TWO MINUTE TOP-UP

A Special Kind Of Courage //

Courageous patience, the acid test of leadership

By Brian Tracy

here are several different aspects of courage. Perhaps the most important is the courage to endure, to persist, to “hang in there” in the face of doubt, uncertainty and criticism from others.

// Allow Honest Mistakes The second thing you can do to help alleviate the fears of failure and rejection in others is to encourage them to take calculated risks and allow honest mistakes.

// Practice Patience in Adversity This is called “courageous patience,” the willingness and the ability to “stay the course” in the face of uncertainty, doubt and often criticism from many quarters.

// Build People Up

// Stay the Course In my experience, there is a critical time period between the launching of a new venture and the results that come from that venture. During this hiatus, this waiting period, many people lose their nerve. They cannot stand the suspense of not knowing, of possible failure. They break and run in battle, they quake and quit in business.

Give the people who look up to you regular praise and approval. Celebrate good tries as well as success, large and small. Create a psychological climate where people feel safe from censure, blame or criticism of any kind. Then do things that make people feel terrific about themselves. // Become Unstoppable Courage comes from acting courageously on a day-to-day basis. Your personal development goal should be to practice the behaviors of a totally fearless person until you become, in your own mind, unstoppable.

// The True Leader But the true leader is the person who can stand firm, who refuses to consider the possibility of failure. The turning points of many key moments in human history have been the resolution, or lack thereof, of one person. Courageous patience is the acid test of leadership.

Action Exercises Here are two ways for you to develop courageous patience.

To encourage others, to instil confidence in them, to help them to perform at their best requires first of all that you lead by example.

Second, resolve in advance that you will bounce rather than break and continually encourage others to think and act the same way.

First, prepare yourself in advance for the inevitable disappointments and setbacks you will experience on the way to your goal. Don’t be surprised when they occur.

Brian Tracy is the most listened to audio author on personal and business success in the world today. Visit his website at www.briantracy.com for more ideas on leadership, sales, managerial effectiveness and business strategy. NZSM / nov 12TH 2008 / 12

BOOK REVIEW

Practice What You Preach What Managers Must Do to Create a High Achievement Culture By David Maister Published by Free Press

re employee attitudes correlated with financial success? Unequivocally yes! according to consultant and bestselling author David Maister.

Based on a worldwide survey of 139 offices in 29 professional service firms in numerous lines of business, Maister proves that companies perceived by their employees to practice what they preach in matters of client commitment, teamwork, high standards, and employee development are more successful than their competitors. Put simply, employee dedication causes improved financial performance.

$29.97 from

Through in-depth interviews, Maister explores the crucial role of the individual manager in promoting high morale among employees. Practice What You Preach boasts specific action recommendations from the managers of these â&#x20AC;&#x153;superstarâ&#x20AC;? businesses on how to build an energized workplace, enforce standards of excellence, develop people, and have fun -- all in the name of profit. As a result, Practice What You Preach can help any manager increase profitability, and provides proof that great financial rewards come from living up to the standards that most businesses advocate, but few achieve.

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 NZSM / nov 12TH 2008 / 14

“ Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.

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Barack Obama

NZSM / nov 12TH 2008 / 15