NZ Sales Manager Issue 12

ocT 15th 2008 / Issue 12

Product Knowledge How much is too much?

Mental Toughness: How Lessons From Salespeople Are Being Applied To The Rugby Field

Why Are Customers So Indecisive?

The Full Story Factor

ocT 15 th / Issue 12

4 INTERVIEW MENTAL TOUGHNESS Applying lessons in mental toughness from salespeople to the Canterbury Crusaders.

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THIS WEEKS MUST READ

WHY ARE CUSTOMERS SO INDECISIVE? The full story factor

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10 NZSM CALENDAR 11 TWO MINUTE TOP-UP PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE How much is too much?

12 BOOK REVIEW PRINCIPLE-CENTRED LEADERSHIP

13 SALES TRAINING DIRECTORY

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14 THE CLOSE

12 NZSM / oct 15th 2008 / 2

S

elling is often likened to competitive sport and many lessons and principles from the sports field have been applied in the boardroom.

Discipline, persistence, hard work and preparation are just some of the skills learnt by top sports people and not surprisingly many sporting greats have gone on to great careers in business. In fact, many of you reading this will no doubt credit part of your success in selling to lessons you’ve learnt through your own sporting endeavours.

However, when it comes to mental toughness, the one trait Kiwi sportspeople are most accused of lacking, it seems that top salespeople are now teaching sportspeople a thing or two.

Jamie Ford has been studying and working with salespeople in the area of mental toughness for the last two decades, and has recently been chosen to teach these principles to the Canterbury Crusaders rugby team.

Be sure to check out our interview with Jamie to find out how studies of salespeople are now benefiting the sporting world and why we love to hate those Aussies!

And just for a bit of fun, if you think your sales meetings are rough, check out this short scene from the movie Glengarry Glen Ross starring Alec Baldwin. Coffee drinkers take note!

(I would say “some language may offend” but knowing what I know about salespeople… it won’t!)

Richard

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.

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

NZSM / oct 15th 2008 / 3

INTERVIEW

Lessons from sport are often applied in business but Jamie Ford’s work with salespeople has recently seen his mental toughness training be taken from the board room to the sports arena. He explains to NZ Sales Manager the mysterious attitudinal ‘X factor’ and why seemingly positive salespeople often crumble under pressure.

NZSM: Cutting straight to the chase Jamie, in your experience dealing with sales professionals and business owners over the years, what separates top sellers from the rest?

JF: They have the mental toughness “X factor” attitude to continue persevering towards their goals when others fall by the wayside, and despite well meaning friends advising them to give up. If you ask any group of people what makes the difference when it comes to results, the vast majority will say, “Attitude!”

Thomas Edison and Colonel Sanders are great examples, as is Sir William Hamilton.

NZSM: You’ve done a lot to apply the work of renowned American psychologist Professor Martin Seligman in New Zealand – for those who haven’t heard of

NZSM / OCt 15th 2008 / 4

]

Seligman can you explain what he does and the significance of his work for sales managers?

JF: Professor Seligman is regarded as one of the ten most important psychologists in the history of psychology, and he specializes in motivation. His studies of over 1 million salespeople enabled him to unpack the “X factor” attitude in motivation that makes the difference between the average salesperson and the super stars. He also designed a test for this attitude, called the SASQ which is now being used by the Canterbury Crusaders and the Wallabies rugby teams, as well as business organizations such as ANZ National Bank.

to grips with this vital difference.

Most of us learn the importance of presenting ourselves with a “positive attitude” at an early stage in life.

But it’s a superficial front, and doesn’t indicate that the fundamental mental toughness needed to persevere against the odds and succeed, is present.

Mental toughness is something much more fundamental and valuable.

Think of it this way. Mental toughness

far is accidental learning when we are very young.

The impact of this accidental learning is huge. More than 1,000 studies with the Seligman test show that those salespeople with the more optimistic thinking style outperform those with the more pessimistic style, by 30% on average in sales results. In some industries it goes as high as 300%.

But the good news is that this old learning can be replaced by new learning.

Mental toughness is the foundation of the house you are building, while a positive attitude is merely the interior decorating

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of his work is that he proved that the X factor attitude is learned, and that puts us in the happy position of being able to actually help sales people can develop this attitude, with big improvements in their results.

NZSM: A “positive attitude” and “mental toughness” are always high on the list of managers when they’re looking for salespeople but many salespeople appear outwardly positive yet crumble under pressure. Is mental toughness part of a positive attitude or are they two separate things?

JF: No! They are not the same and managers will make progress faster with their salespeople if they get

NZSM / oct 15th 2008 / 5

is the foundation of the house you are building, while a positive attitude is merely the interior decorating. One is absolutely vital to everything that follows, while the other, the interior decorating, is open to personal preferences without creating any great risk of structural failure.

A positive attitude is a “nice-tohave”, while mental toughness is the “must-have” X factor attitude.

NZSM: You mentioned that this type of thinking can be learned - aren’t some people just born more optimistic than others?

JF: Optimism and pessimism, as styles of thinking, are learned. While we are somewhat pre-disposed to one or the other, the major factor by

NZSM: To date most of your work has been done in the business world with salespeople.

Can you tell us a bit more about your work with the Canterbury Crusaders? Many readers would suggest the Auckland Blues are the ones who need a bit more mental toughness...

JF: The work with the Canterbury Rugby Union and the Crusaders Franchise is focused on developing their resilience and optimism - that X factor attitude we talked about which is often referred to as mental toughness.

This involves assessing their present levels of that critical attitude; working with their leaders and coaches to embed that attitude into their culture and practices; providing coaching expertise and resources.

The intention is that optimistic and resilient thinking habits of high

performance become the norm.

training and individual coaching.

known as our “explanatory style”.

As for the Auckland Blues... Well all NZ sports teams would be wise to follow the Crusader’s lead! In fifteen years of using Seligman’s test we have come to the conclusion that pessimism is endemic in our culture and action is needed urgently on all fronts, including sport.

Those are the norm for top salespeople, and therefore the probability of a person who has excelled is sport excelling in sales is quite high, and the risk of another recruitment failure is reduced.

I’ve been using the All Blacks and Silver Ferns in case studies for many years now, and this provides insight into their thinking style habits. What makes this relevant to my predictions is that the science behind it proves, beyond doubt, that those with the more optimistic explanations beat those with the more pessimistic explanations.

NZSM: Some sales managers deliberately seek out salespeople those who have excelled in competitive sport – what’s your take on this?

JF: Sports people are comfortable with goals and targets. They are competitive and want to win. They understand the fact of failing and having to get up for next week’s game. They are also comfortable with regular NZSM / oct 15th 2008 / 6

NZSM: Last year you correctly predicted on national TV that both the All Blacks and Silver Ferns would lose their respective world cups based just on the language they were using. Can you explain what happened in a bit more detail?

JF: It’s as obvious as the nose on your face to a trained observer.

We give away clues to our deeply embedded thinking style habits in the way we talk about why we have succeeded or failed in our endeavours. Technically this is

With the Silver Ferns there is a strong pattern of more pessimistic explanations, while the Australian Diamonds are more optimistic in their explanations.

Similarly for the Black Caps (NZ Cricket Team) winning is an aberration while losing is the norm. It’s the other way around for the Australian Cricket Team.

In the fact the Australian cricket team were once asked to name the second best side in the world. Their answer was Australia B! Now they were not intending to be perceived as arrogant.

That’s the way they think.

NZSM: Kiwi’s versus Aussies… we often accuse Australians of being arrogant yet we praise their mental toughness… is this just symbolic of Kiwi’s being more pessimistic in general?

JF: My observation is that it is more than symbolic. I think that Aussie’s have a more optimistic thinking style, and this comes across as “arrogance” to Kiwi’s, but it’s not intended that way by the Aussie’s.

It’s an outcome of accidental learning at an early age. Fortunately for them!

Kiwi’s on the other hand are accidentally learning a more pessimistic way of thinking from an early age.

What ought to concern us all is the way that Australia has been able to maintain a high OECD ranking for many years. I think it is currently #3, while NZ has slipped to 23 from # 3 in the early 1950’s.

have noticed some improvements.

Unfortunately there are still appallingly low standards of sales practice being accepted, and I’m sure we have all been on the receiving end of some of that.

It’s my strong opinion that this has a lot to do with optimistic and pessimistic attitudes, alongside other factors.

In fact, treasury people are studying this connection. If we had a national optimism project, like Scotland, I think a surprising degree of improvement would be achieved in a relatively short period. A national optimism survey would be a good start.

A good number of corporate’s do provide their people with quality skills training. Unfortunately there is far too much reliance on “product knowledge training”, when the evidence is strong that sales go down after product training. Instead of asking questions to help define how to assist clients achieve their goals, salespeople engage in unloading all their newly acquired “product knowledge”, and turn off

NZSM: You worked as country manager for the international sales training organisation Learning International (now AchieveGlobal) quite some time ago – have you noticed any improvement in the way Kiwi salespeople sell since then?

JF: This was in the early 90’s. I

the customer.

One very good indicator of progress is the growing practice of appointing “sales coaches” to work with the sales team members.

In some cases the coach is a consultant, in many others the coach is an internal sales expert.

Jamie Ford is currently working on a new book called Mental Toughness – The X Factor In Your Attitude and you can find out more about his work at www.foresight.co.nz.

NZSM / oct 15th 2008 / 7

Why Are Customers So Indecisive?

The Full Story Factor

By Sean D’Souza

D

o you know why your customer won’t buy? You’ve given her the best price, possibly even the best options. Yet she fidgets. Maybe, maybe not, she ponders.

itty-bitty factor would have made it easy to decide, but it has eluded us completely.

You stand by the wayside and sweat, praying the sale will go through. Then almost inexplicably, it slips out of your hands, and you don’t even know why.

You curse, rant and rave silently at her indecisive nature. Yet ironically, the fault is all yours.

Oh boy! We have estimates up to

I Know What You’re Thinking, And It’s Not Price…

our ears. One quote is as high as $800 (aaargggh!), while the other one blushes at $250, and all the rest do a merry dance in between. You’d think the cheaper quote would get the thumbs up right away, wouldn’t you?

Well it didn’t.

Don’t agree? Hold your horses and you’ll learn a simple, fundamental psychological factor you’ve been missing in your marketing strategy, and how you can rectify it in a flash.

In fact, it has added to the confusion because we can’t understand why there would be such a huge difference for what is essentially the same job.

Why The Trees In Our Front Yard Are Still Looking For a Barber

And Here Is The Reason Why We Can’t Decide...

Let me tell you a story about our front garden. Any time now, I’m expecting Tarzan and a couple of chimps to swing merrily by. Like something out of a horror movie, the foliage has spread its tentacles, and now hangs menacingly over several parts of the house.

It’s a factor called the Full Story. While every single one of those arborists provided us with quotes, not one of them gave us a single reason to choose them. Any reason would have been better than none. Ten reasons would have clinched the deal, even with a higher price.

Yes I know we need an arborist to lop off those branches. And yes, we have called in at least half a dozen.

Incredibly, we haven’t made up our minds on whom we should choose.

Like deer caught in the headlights, we’ve been frozen in indecision. One

This is one of the main reasons why most deals seem to disintegrate before the eyes of most business owners and sales people. We fail (and fail miserably) to educate our customers about the unique advantages of working with us.

It’s An Impossible Puzzle If It Doesn’t Have The Pieces People need to be gratified psychologically. Our brains are dying to know more about the companies that bid and all we get are terms and prices. The arborists should have educated me about the quality of their cutting, their comprehensive insurance policies, their warranties, their skills, and their service guarantees in detail. I needed to know anything and everything that would help me decide in someone’s favor.

Not one of those bids included that kind of information.

Look at yourself. Let’s say you hire someone for your firm. How little

would you like to know about him?

Or say you go out on a date. How little do you want to know about your partner? Every piece of the puzzle is absolutely necessary. Don’t forget to give your customers a reason to buy from YOU. Tell them about yourself.

Provide all the juicy details, and you will leave your competitors crying in their beer.

What Is The Psychological Reasoning Behind The Full Story?

The strong, silent type is the one our mamas told us to watch out for. We instinctively trust people less who tell us less. Even if we do like the person, we want them to open up. If you want people to trust you, you have to tell

them about yourself.

Ta-Ta Risk

This instinct of distrust is hardwired in our brains, and you’d do well to pay attention to it. A lack of adequate detail doesn’t help to build trust, which is why customers go from hello to sayonara very quickly. Once you have their attention, stop saying stupid things like, “Buy from me,” and start giving them all the reasons WHY they should buy from you (read the article on The Power of Why). Add spices to your marketing strategy curry, and your customer will be captivated by the aroma. Churn the gastric juices in their brains.

Make them salivate. Get them to drool. And when they’re ready to eat, feed them well.

Telling the Whole Story eliminates a big hurdle called risk. The less your customers know about you, the more they are frozen in indecision. When faced with this scenario, they resort to the only thing they know—price.

Just like you, they make a decision on the cheapest, trashiest option available… because that’s all you gave them!

Abolish the hazard of your customer choosing to buy solely on price. Give her a first class education about why she needs to buy from you.

The worst thing you can do is leave her hanging without sufficient info.....

Sean D’Souza is a marketing strategist, speaker, author, and the principal of Psychotactics.

Visit Sean’s website at www.psychotactics.com

NZSM / oct 15th 2008 / 9

NZSM CALENDAR SAT 18 OCT

MON 20 OCT Sales Development David Forman New Plymouh Sales Planning David Forman Auckland Advanced Selling Skills (Healthcare Only) Pro-Formance Driven Auckland (Oct 20 - 22)

SUN 19 OCT FRI 24 OCT Prospecting & New Business Development David Forman Auckland Fundamentals of Selling Top Achievers Sales Training Wellington

SAT 25 OCT

WED 15 OCT Negotiation David Forman Auckland Sales Development David Forman Auckland

TUE 21 OCT Sales Development David Forman New Plymouh Sales Planning David Forman Auckland Sales Leadership Workshop Top Achievers Sales Training Auckland Sales Basics Geewiz Auckland

MON 27 OCT

THU 16 OCT Sales Development David Forman Auckland Negotiation Skills NZIM Northern Auckland Presentation Skills University of Auckland Auckland Fundamentals of Selling Top Achievers Sales Training Hamilton

WED 22 OCT Sales Development David Forman New Plymouh Sales Management Geewiz Auckland Networking Skills Workshop Top Achievers Sales Training Auckland Professional Telephone Selling David Forman Auckland

TUE 28 OCT

FRI 17 OCT Sales Development David Forman Auckland Negotiation Skills NZIM Northern Auckland Presentation Skills University of Auckland Auckland

THU 23 OCT Sales Development David Forman New Plymouh Professional Telephone Selling David Forman Auckland Cold Calling Workshop Top Achievers Sales Training Auckland

WED 29 OCT

Fundamentals of Selling Top Achievers Sales Training Christchurch

SUN 26 OCT THU 30 OCT

FRI 31 OCT

SAT 1 NOV

MON 3 NOV Sales Development David Forman Auckland Key Account Management David Forman Auckland

SUN 2 NOV WED 5 NOV Sales Development David Forman Auckland

THU 6 NOV Sales Development David Forman Auckland

FRI 7 NOV

TUE 4 NOV Sales Development David Forman Auckland Key Account Management David Forman Auckland

Prospecting & New Business Development David Forman Christchurch

SAT 8 NOV

MON 10 NOV Presentation Skills David Forman Wellington

Negotiation Skills Pro-Formance Driven Auckland

Negotiation Skills Pro-Formance Driven Auckland

SUN 9 NOV TUE 11 NOV

WED 12 NOV

Presentation Skills David Forman Wellington The Executive Healthcare Representative (Healthcare only) Pro-Formance Driven Auckland Sales Managing – Outstandingly Successful Sales Teams Geewiz NZSM / oct 15th 2008 / 10 Christchurch Presentation Skills David Forman Wellington

THU 13 NOV The Executive Healthcare Representative (Healthcare only) Pro-Formance Driven Auckland Advanced Serious Selling Geewiz Wellington Motivation & Attitude Geewiz Wellington

FRI 14 NOV The Executive Healthcare Representative (Healthcare only) Pro-Formance Driven Auckland Prospecting For New Business Geewiz Christchurch

SAT 16 NOV

SUN 17 NOV

How much is too much?

When too much product knowledge can hurt your salespeople

By Paul Newsom In the book, Business Think, a story is told of a furniture store that found its salespeople became less effective after 18-24 months on the job.

Researchers found that it took about 6 months to gain good product knowledge. For new salespeople with little or no product knowledge, they were keen to have conversations with clients, and asked lots of questions.

For the experienced sales people, they spent their time trying to impress clients with their fountain of product knowledge. In the end management attributed the problem to too much product knowledge. They solved the problem by rotating salespeople every 18 months to a new department to keep curiosity alive.

T

he problem of the self serving ‘sales patter’ inflicted by many salespeople on their prospects, stems from sales training and inductions for new recruits still being too focused on product features and benefits, rather than the problems and issues that clients have.

I learned this lesson myself the hard way many years ago selling scientific instruments in England.

During the first couple of weeks of my employment I was sent to the laboratory to learn the product. I soon knew the product range inside out and couldn’t wait to impress an unsuspecting customer with how much I knew.

A full demonstration took about half an hour. It took me a while to figure out that success of a sales call was inversely related to how far I got through the demonstration!

Understanding the problem the client was trying to solve, and demonstrating the relevant features of the analyzer was a much more successful strategy.

I don’t think the problem was too much product knowledge. Salespeople can’t have too much product knowledge, but they can misuse their knowledge.

No-one wants a meeting with a walking/talking brochure.

Brochures are for reading and on a first meeting, the feature and benefit information is usually best left in the brochure for the client to read in his own time.

Product knowledge should be used by salespeople to enhance the conversation about your clients business by: • Building the perception of value in the mind of the client • Asking insightful questions • Answering questions with an informed opinion • To further the conversation in the interests of both the salesperson and the client Product knowledge – aim to express no to impress!

Paul Newsom is Learning & Development Manager of the Rev Sales Network overseeing the content and quality of the RSN’s executive sales training programs.

NZSM / OCt 15th 2008 / 11

BOOK REVIEW

Principle-Centered Leadership

By Stephen Covey Published by Free Press

H

ow do we as individuals and organizations survive and thrive amid tremendous change? Why are efforts to improve falling so short in real results despite the millions of dollars in time, capital, and human effort being spent on them? How do we unleash the creativity, talent, and energy within ourselves and others in the midst of pressure? Is it realistic to believe that balance among personal, family, and professional life is possible?

Stephen R. Covey demonstrates that the answer to these and other dilemmas is Principle-Centered Leadership, a long-term, inside-out approach to developing people and organizations.

The key to dealing with the challenges that face us today is the recognition of a principle-centered core within both ourselves and our organizations. Dr. Covey offers insights and guidelines that can help you apply these principles both at work and at home -- leading not just to a new understanding of how to increase quality and productivity, but also to a new appreciation of the importance of building personal and professional relationships in order to enjoy a more balanced, more rewarding, more effective life.

NZSM / OCt 15th 2008 / 12

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“

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girl phoned me the A other day and said...

Come on over, there’s nobody home. I went over. Nobody was home.

- Rodney Dangerfield

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