November 5, 2009
Toronto, ON
ramon.ruizg@gmail.com
Introduction
I know that the term 'ethnic silo' can sound strange to people that live outside Canada. 'What's that?', you might say. I'm going to explain, among other things, the term few lines below. The purpose of this article is to describe one of the most important sales coaching conversations of the coaching process that a Financial Adviser of one of the biggest Canadian Insurance company and I had. This helped her to start selling outside her 'ethnic silo'. She is originally from one Latin American country and arrived to Canada few years ago. What happened in this conversation and in the whole process brought her more money, a bigger, much more bigger market and a lot more opportunities to sell.
A Brief Note About the Format of this article.Toronto, ON
ramon.ruizg@gmail.com
Introduction
I know that the term 'ethnic silo' can sound strange to people that live outside Canada. 'What's that?', you might say. I'm going to explain, among other things, the term few lines below. The purpose of this article is to describe one of the most important sales coaching conversations of the coaching process that a Financial Adviser of one of the biggest Canadian Insurance company and I had. This helped her to start selling outside her 'ethnic silo'. She is originally from one Latin American country and arrived to Canada few years ago. What happened in this conversation and in the whole process brought her more money, a bigger, much more bigger market and a lot more opportunities to sell.
I wrote this article trying to be precise in the details of the coaching conversation that we had. Also, I added comments, where I judged appropriate, about the reason why I asked the questions I asked.
What's an 'ethnic silo'?
Briefly, when immigrants arrive to Canada, some of them, ''tend to live in 'ethnic silos' and use their native language'' (Here I'm quoting Naeem Noorani: this is his web site).
Regarding sales, they tend to sell only to people that are at their own 'ethnic silo'. Why? Several factors but the most important are fear and assumptions (false, most of them) about what is outside of it. In this case, this Financial Adviser, was only selling to Hispanics. She was selling only to Spanish speaking clients therefore, her market was very small compared with the size of the clients she could get outside her 'ethnic silo' in Toronto, ON.Briefly, when immigrants arrive to Canada, some of them, ''tend to live in 'ethnic silos' and use their native language'' (Here I'm quoting Naeem Noorani: this is his web site).
The Coaching Conversation
When we started our coaching process, she told me that one of her main goals was:-"To sell to Canadians, not only to Hispanics. They love me and they keep referring business almost all the time and I have built some important networks with them but I want to start selling to other cultures, particularly to native English speaking Canadians."
(She used that term, is not mine and I didn't start a conversation trying to explain to her that we are all Canadians, some are new, some are old and/or some are natural English speakers. I'm a sales coach, not an immigration expert. For me it was clear that what she was saying was that she wanted to sell to a bigger, much bigger market.)
Coach: - "And how do you plan to do that?"(I always, as maybe you have read, ask this question. They come to me asking a lot of 'hows' but almost always they know them and when they don't we design together and when we don't I tell them exactly what to do.)
Financial Adviser: -"Well, that's exactly why I'm talking to you, you are supposed to tell me how."Coach: -"Right. We need to create a specific strategy that you can execute in order to start selling outside the Hispanic community, particularly to Canadians, as one of your main selling goal."
Financial Adviser: -"Yes"
Coach: -"Now, I must ask you this, lets say that you can start selling right now outside the Hispanic community, particularly to Canadians, do you know to whom exactly are you going to sell? Do you know where to start?"
Financial Adviser -"Yes. Our manager gave us several lists with qualified prospects. I can start calling them, you know, cold calling."
(In the moment after she said this, I noticed that she started to rub her hands, she crossed her arms and legs and started to breath faster.)
Coach: -"When does the manager gave you the list?"Financial Adviser:-"He gave us the list more than three months ago."
Coach: -"And?"
Financial Adviser: -"Yes, I know but..."
Coach:-"What is your plan? How are you going to sell to this desired market?"
(I want you to notice two things. First, I repeat the question 'how' on purpose. My experience tells me that, frequently, the first time I ask, they want to keep their Ego protected and not to risk saying something useless and/or to be exposed: 'why, if I know how to do it, why I haven't started or done it?' Second: If I insist, they are going to tell me exactly what they are going to do and normally their plan is the one that's going to work. Third, it's a matter of appropriateness: if the solution comes from them, it belongs to them and them are going to use it.)
Financial Adviser:-"Let me tell you: I have the list so the thing is to start calling and that's it."
Coach: -''Now, what exactly is stopping you or has stopped you from doing it since you have those lists three months ago?''
Financial Adviser: -"I don't know. Could be fear. No, I don't know.
Financial Adviser: -"I don't know... (sighs)... no, I know: one is to froze in the middle of the phone call... to arrive to a point where I don't know what to say."
Coach: -'But a lot of other things could happen, besides frozen yourself, like positive ones, right?'
Financial Adviser: -'Yeah... sure...' (As if she hasn't ever consider the possibility of something different, besides freezing in that moment, could happen.)
Coach: -What other fear do yo have or has you? Yes, you don't have fears, fears have you, if not what's the whole point? Right now they have a grip on you that's why I have to keep asking: what other do you have?
Financial Adviser: -To freeze in the sales call, to freeze in front of my client during the interview because I don't know what to say next or because I can't find the right words in English.
Coach: -"Aand, how do you plan to solve them?
Financial Adviser: -"Mee?! OK, me. The freezing during the phone call can be solved with a telephone script specially designed for those phone calls... and (like an AJA moment) our manager gave us one when he gave us the lists. He said, 'don't improvise, only Beethoven improvise. (She feels relieved after she says this.) But, I have almost never used a telephone script, almost all my clients come from referrals, networking events. I have never or in very rare occasions used one. But well, it seems like I'm going to use one.
Financial Adviser: -"No, I don't think so. I speak English very well. When we meet with my manager and in other places I speak English and remember that I have been here for more than 8 years so I don't think the language could be a problem and I know that if at any moment I have problems with words they will help me. When I spoke to native English speakers and I can't find the word or the expression that I want to use, I explain to them what I want to say and they help me and no, I can't think in other reason rather to explore a new territory."
Coach: -"And you think you can do that while you are at the sales meeting? Because we have solved the problem, at least part, with the cold calling, now, do you know exactly what to do during the sales meeting to close the deal?"
Financial Adviser: -"No, but I don't think that it would be too different from the ones that I do in Spanish. I do my presentation, I ask the client several questions, I make rapport and at the end, I ask them for the business or they decide by themselves to sign."
Coach: -"...too different..." well no, you will find that too. (I smile.) That they are not 'too different' and I think that that's one of the causes of your fear. I don't know why you are making them "... too different..." from your Hispanic clients... they are just clients and you will find that they are alike, too alike I must add, with their differences but not too many."
Financial Adviser: -"Yeah, you are right! Just clients. I feel like it's going to be tested, like if I am going in search of their approval, not their business. Sometimes I see them too big and not, as you said, they are just clients (sighes and smiles).
Financial Adviser-"Start calling to the prospects that I have on my list tomorrow and rehearse mentally the sales interview but now in English and write an agenda, in English too. Lets say, I'm going to build a template in English. I'm going to ask my manager if he doesn't have one. He gave us the telephone script but nothing for the interview. Also, I will use the telephone script, at least at the beginning. After some phone calls I think that I will be able to go on my own. (smiles)"
Coach -"Sounds good. Another question: I know that you have a long selling career and you have sold insurance for sometime ago (she nods) and I know that your portfolio is mainly 90% Hispanic and we know that there is nothing wrong with that but my question is: have you ever sold to an native English speaking prospect? And if yes, what happened?"
Coach: -"So, what are you going to do?"
Financial Adviser: -"Again? OK, prepare the telephone script, take out the list, rehearse a sales meeting in English, take some notes and start calling. Other thing that I should do is to ask one of my colleagues to go with him and watch him selling, ask my manager if he has some tool or guide to handle the meetings and like you said (I never said this but it doesn't matter.) I just need to start. Thank you. Thanks a lot. I feel a lighter and excited!"
Coach: -"That's great!! See you next week."
Final Comments:
Immediately after that session, she made several cold calls. She was surprised when two of her clients went to her office to buy the insurance. After several false starts she is now selling to new markets, earning much more money than before and finding more interesting markets for her selling career.
November 5th, 2009
Toronto, ON
info@salesconsciousness.com
Coach: -''Now, what exactly is stopping you or has stopped you from doing it since you have those lists three months ago?''
Financial Adviser: -"I don't know. Could be fear. No, I don't know.
(All her non verbal communication tells me that she is experiencing the fear that stops her to call the prospects on those lists. She starts feeling exactly what she feels when she imagine herself doing the phone calls OR having sales meetings with her prospects. Are their assumptions and perceptions the ones that are scaring her not what she's going to do. Her interpretations about this new project are the ones that are keeping her from selling not what will happen in 'reality'. She's having a strong reaction. Also, she confessed later that one of her most scary thoughts was: 'What would happen if I discover that I can't sell but only in Spanish?' She didn't wanted to deal with that 'reality'. She was having a strong nonverbal reaction.)
Coach: -"I don't know, could be. Now, answer this, if that's the case, to what exactly are you fearful? What exactly do you fear?"Financial Adviser: -"I don't know... (sighs)... no, I know: one is to froze in the middle of the phone call... to arrive to a point where I don't know what to say."
Coach: -'But a lot of other things could happen, besides frozen yourself, like positive ones, right?'
Financial Adviser: -'Yeah... sure...' (As if she hasn't ever consider the possibility of something different, besides freezing in that moment, could happen.)
Coach: -What other fear do yo have or has you? Yes, you don't have fears, fears have you, if not what's the whole point? Right now they have a grip on you that's why I have to keep asking: what other do you have?
Financial Adviser: -To freeze in the sales call, to freeze in front of my client during the interview because I don't know what to say next or because I can't find the right words in English.
Coach: -"Aand, how do you plan to solve them?
Financial Adviser: -"Mee?! OK, me. The freezing during the phone call can be solved with a telephone script specially designed for those phone calls... and (like an AJA moment) our manager gave us one when he gave us the lists. He said, 'don't improvise, only Beethoven improvise. (She feels relieved after she says this.) But, I have almost never used a telephone script, almost all my clients come from referrals, networking events. I have never or in very rare occasions used one. But well, it seems like I'm going to use one.
(These questions are designed to provoke precisely the answer that she gave me: to detach her to the only one possible outcome she thinks is going to happen. As she answers, she acknowledges that there are several other different outcomes that could happen and will happen. The other question, about the telephone script, belong to the domain of selling tools and skills. Later, she proved in action that using a telephone script helped her to get the positive results that she got.)
Coach: -"Now you are aware that it's possible that instead of something negative, a lot of positive things could happen if you start selling to this list, don't you? I can bet that you felt nervous when you started selling so now you will going to have a new beginning so it's normal that you are there before you start. Just wait and see... I want to go back to your fear: can you find another reason behind it? How is your English? I know that 90% of your portfolio are Hispanic clients and most of your friends are Hispanics, do you think that your English level could limit you while you do your phone calls and handle your sales meetings?"Financial Adviser: -"No, I don't think so. I speak English very well. When we meet with my manager and in other places I speak English and remember that I have been here for more than 8 years so I don't think the language could be a problem and I know that if at any moment I have problems with words they will help me. When I spoke to native English speakers and I can't find the word or the expression that I want to use, I explain to them what I want to say and they help me and no, I can't think in other reason rather to explore a new territory."
Coach: -"And you think you can do that while you are at the sales meeting? Because we have solved the problem, at least part, with the cold calling, now, do you know exactly what to do during the sales meeting to close the deal?"
Financial Adviser: -"No, but I don't think that it would be too different from the ones that I do in Spanish. I do my presentation, I ask the client several questions, I make rapport and at the end, I ask them for the business or they decide by themselves to sign."
Coach: -"...too different..." well no, you will find that too. (I smile.) That they are not 'too different' and I think that that's one of the causes of your fear. I don't know why you are making them "... too different..." from your Hispanic clients... they are just clients and you will find that they are alike, too alike I must add, with their differences but not too many."
Financial Adviser: -"Yeah, you are right! Just clients. I feel like it's going to be tested, like if I am going in search of their approval, not their business. Sometimes I see them too big and not, as you said, they are just clients (sighes and smiles).
(This part of the conversation reminded me a movie with Gene Hackman: "Hoosiers". This is the story of an always losing basketball team of a rural town in the US. Gene Hackman does the role of a coach that has had problems in other towns and cities and is hired to coach this team. To make the long story short, with his coaching, the team arrives to the State Finals but the players, as soon they enter the Indianapolis Arena, where the final is going to be played, the became panicked of the size of the place. Then, the coach started, with the help of his players, to measure the size of the basketball play zone, just to help them to understand that it's exactly the same size that the one in which they play at home. Just this exercise reduces a lot the fear in the players and finally they win this State Championship.)
Coach: -"So? What are you going to do?"Financial Adviser-"Start calling to the prospects that I have on my list tomorrow and rehearse mentally the sales interview but now in English and write an agenda, in English too. Lets say, I'm going to build a template in English. I'm going to ask my manager if he doesn't have one. He gave us the telephone script but nothing for the interview. Also, I will use the telephone script, at least at the beginning. After some phone calls I think that I will be able to go on my own. (smiles)"
Coach -"Sounds good. Another question: I know that you have a long selling career and you have sold insurance for sometime ago (she nods) and I know that your portfolio is mainly 90% Hispanic and we know that there is nothing wrong with that but my question is: have you ever sold to an native English speaking prospect? And if yes, what happened?"
(I made this question just with the purpose to help her to see that she has been there before and that she closed those sales. I was searching a resource reservoir: experience, skills and emotions. She sighed and smiled.)
Financial Adviser: -"(Smiling) Yes, I have. I have some clients that are native English speakers and the sales meetings went well, they are still my clients and if I remember well, I was nervous BUT I closed them. I remember feeling relieved after I left their homes but almost all of them bought from me. You are right. It doesn't have to be a problem. (Sigh)"Coach: -"So, what are you going to do?"
Financial Adviser: -"Again? OK, prepare the telephone script, take out the list, rehearse a sales meeting in English, take some notes and start calling. Other thing that I should do is to ask one of my colleagues to go with him and watch him selling, ask my manager if he has some tool or guide to handle the meetings and like you said (I never said this but it doesn't matter.) I just need to start. Thank you. Thanks a lot. I feel a lighter and excited!"
Coach: -"That's great!! See you next week."
Final Comments:
Immediately after that session, she made several cold calls. She was surprised when two of her clients went to her office to buy the insurance. After several false starts she is now selling to new markets, earning much more money than before and finding more interesting markets for her selling career.
November 5th, 2009
Toronto, ON
info@salesconsciousness.com
