"Mental Pictures Can Help You Sell More Goods"

This mental technique looks interesting.
I found it in:

• 'Psycho-Cybernetics', by Maxwell Maltz, 1960, Pocket Books.

Hope is useful!

I'll allow the author to explain it with his voice:

"-In his book, How to Make $25,000 a Year Selling*, Charles B. Roth tells how a group of salesmen in Detroit who tried a new idea increased their sales 100 per cent. Another group in New York increased their sales by 150%. And individual sales men, using the same idea, have increased their sales up to 400%."(Charles B. Roth, 'How to Make $25,000 a Year Selling', Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice Hall, Inc.)

"And what is this magic that accomplishes so much for sales men?
It is something called role-playing, and you should know about it, because if you let it, it may help you to double your sales.
What is role-playing?
Well, it is simply imagining** yourself in various sales situations, then solving them in your mind, until you know what to say and what to do whenever the situation comes up in real life.
It is what is called on the football field 'skull practice'.
The reason why it accomplishes so much is that selling is a matter of situations. One is created every time you talk to a customer. He says something or raises an objection. If you always know how to counter what he says or answer his question or handle the objection, you make sales...
 A role playing salesman, at night when he is alone, will create these situations. He will imagine the prospect throuwing the wildest kind of courves at him. Then he will work out the best answer for them.
No matter what the situation is, you can prepare for it beforehand by means of imagining yourself and your prospect face to face while he is raising objections and creating problems and you are hanlding them properly."

*I know, but the book was written around the 1960s.
**May I expand on this: imagining can be potentialized when you are able not just seeing images or better, watching movies but, listening to the conversation. The more rich the situation is, the more it has not just images, but sounds and feelings, the more useful will be.

Sales Management and Power

As you may know, I have had thousands of sales coaching conversations with hundreds of sales professionals. From almost every industry and from Mexico, Canada, the United States, Italy and Spain.
Among these professionals, I have had the opportunity to coach sales managers. They too, have their issues, as other sales professionals.
One of them is communication. In the cases that I've shared with you previously, I've talked about what happens when sales managers don't have communication with sales representatives. And I don't mean the classic: "Do you need anything?"

In this post I want to address another issue that arises frequently in my conversations with them. Here in Toronto, I coached recently a sales manager from a manufacturing company.

Let me go directly to the conversation:

SM: -"I don't know what to tell them, I have said almost everything. I have been thinking in having guest speakers but I don't know, what do you think?"

C: -"I have two questions before answering yours:

1. What exactly do you want accomplish by talking to them?
2. What happens when you talk to them? It doesn't matter if you talk to them in a group setting or individually. Please."

SM: -"What? It isn't obvious?  Every time that I speak to them, in my meetings for example, I want to motivate them to do something, particularly those that are not selling. And if I call one or two of them individually, what I want is to 'motivate' them, to make them sell."
C: -"And it happens? Do you provoke them? They change?"
SM: -"Sadly no, nothing happens. In fact, they leave the weekly meeting 'motivated' but nothing changes. And when I meet with them individually, the same, nothing changes."
C: -"That means that you don't have power."
SM: "What??!!" (I get this intense reaction almost every time that I tell a sales manager that he/she doesn't have power.) Yes I have it!  (And at the same time he tells me this, I can see in his face that a question is starting to form.)
C: "-No, you don't have. Any."
SM: "-(Angrier) Yes I have. OK, tell me, what do you mean? Why do you say that?"
C: "-Let me explain. One of my definitions of power is: the ability to produce action in yourself and in others. Given the examples that you have given to me it's clear that when you talk to most of your sales reps they remain the same. They don't move. They don't take the actions that you either suggest or the ones that they say are going to take. They don't do anything different from what you tell them to do. Not enough to break the inertia. So, you are powerless and THEY are powerless. I use the previous interpretation to affirm that this is why there are no results in your sales organization, at least the ones that you want.
SM: "-(He's in shock, astonished. Nobody has told him ever that what it's lacking in his sales organization is power.) "OK, that's not easy to swallow. Lets assume that you are right. No power. What's next? How do I get this power? Where do they sell it?"
C: "-Before I answer that, let me ask you this, do you agree in that you have a problem?"
SM: "Well, yes. No doubt about it.
C: "-That's the first step. To accept that there is a problem. Now, what you can do about it?"
SM: "(Smiles) -Find who has problems and talk to them... but, you say that that doesn't work any way."
C: "-Yes but what can you change about the way that you talk to them? What am I doing?"
SM: "-Asking questions..."
C: "-Yes. asking questions. When you talk to them, how do you do it?"
SM: "-I tell them what to do or I try to pump them up. You know, motivate them...
C: "-With slogans, "Selling is a numbers game!" or "You can't control results, just activity so do more!"
SM: "(smiles) -Yes, something like that.
C: "-...but never ask a question."
SM: "-Rarely... except the common 'How are you doing?' or 'How's everything?'
C: "-Yes, but never something that could address the problem.  OK, in order for you to have power and them to feel and leave conversations with you empowered, and more important, to take the agreed action you can have...
SM: "-...this type of conversations! What you mean is that if I coach them, I will and they will be empowered? OK, I see it.
C: "-The most important aspect of coaching them is to really find out whats stopping them to sell and assist them in finding their solutions to sell more."

After several weeks of trying, my client introduced his coaching practice to his office and he started to see, what exactly was happening with some of the sales reps. He acknowledge me later that he didn't have a clue about this. In his words: "Training is so superficial but I thought that with some standard training and some good meetings and some motivational speakers, everything was going to be OK but it wasn't. Now I can see that I was managing my office "blind". And you know what? Now, after some weeks, I can say that I have power. Why? Because now they are doing what it's needed to be done after they find themselves what's needed to be done... in our coaching sessions."

Multiple Perspectives and Selling

One of my favorite scenes is this:

Imagine a sales rep that arrives to a sales interview. He is motivated, smiling, his teeth are shining white and everything in him is in place. The shoes, the breath, the nails, the hair, the shirt and the tie. He oozes confidence. His prospect receives him and points a chair inviting him to have a seat. He sits and extends his business card and, after some pleasantries, starts his presentation.

Motivated, impeccable, perfectly rehearsed, he flows through it. He starts with a brief introduction, talks about the company he represents, then moves to talk about the features, then the advantages and closes with the benefits of his product. He talks non-stop until the moment arrives and asks the client if he has any questions and then, ask for the business. He knows that when he tries to close the sale it is 'objections' time, the moment for which almost every sales rep has prepared for.
'This is the most important part, to learn how to overcome the objection,' says one manager. 'The more objections the client makes the closer to the YES you are', says another manager.  'Objections are not solved, are dissolved', says a third one. The seller has prepared thoroughly how to handle them, how to answer them. It's like if he's waiting for this moment. Now, here he is and after waiting for some seconds, with a big smile, asks: 'So, what do we do Mr. Client?', and the client replies: "Please leave your information with me, I will review it and I'll call you if I have any question or if I need anything. Thank you for coming." Of course the seller insists: 'When do you think you are going to review the info?', 'When can I call you back?' or 'Please let me know if you have any doubt.' And the client says: 'Yes, sure! Let me review it and I will call you back. Thanks again for coming.' And while he's talking he's is walking to the door inviting our sales rep to leave, kindly.

Then comes the analysis with another sales rep or with the sales manager:
-"He was interested. He told me that he was going to review the info and then call me back."
-"When I was talking to him, he was nodding all the time, that means that he was paying close attention to what I was saying and that he liked my presentation and my product, he will call."
 And some more. Given that he's well trained he will call back to the client in one or two weeks, strict follow up, and no sale will be closed.

Now, this is not an exercise about what went wrong in this sales interview or what sales techniques he is not using and could have used to get better results. No. Why? Because I know that you can, while reading, guess what happened and what exactly he could have done different to get different results. Of course, if you want to go that way, we can do that but in other opportunity. You can write a comment in the 'comments' section and we can go from there. I want to approach this scenario from a different perspective.

Perception, perspective and understanding.

Let me go directly to a question:
-from which perspective did the seller make his presentation?
Let me tell you: from his own.  A lot of sales reps never consider that, while doing their presentation or while conducting a sales interview, there will be at least 2 perceptions. One, his and two, his prospect's.  Yes! His prospect perceives too. Two different perspectives, two different ways to perceive the world.
Sales reps assume automatically and unconsciously that theirs is the only one that matters and counts and most of them, never stop to ask themselves these questions:

-'How is the prospect perceiving me?'
-'How's he perceiving/experiencing the presentation?'
-'Is he going to understand my words?''
-'How can I craft the one that will match his understanding?'

No, they just go on and on and on. They do the perfect presentation according to... themselves. Others do their presentation based on what they have told them to do and not with what it's happening in front of them.
His presentation, in anyway, included any type of participation of the client but, what's more important, didn't include how the prospect perceives. The seller presents from his view, his understanding of the world.

Now, how do you think his presentation could have ended if the sales representative considered for one minute the prospect's perspective? Lets explore further, what would have happened if the sales rep were able to, not only to perceive the client's perspective but craft his sales presentation according to it? 
You think it could have been a different one? With different results? Not only experts, but clients and data confirm that when a sales rep crafts his presentation according to the prospect's communication style, the probabilities of closing the sale go from 13% to 75%.

This is one of the main reasons why sales training is useless.  It doesn't train them to 'read' the prospect so they can craft their presentation accordingly. No need to remember that not only every sales rep is different but that each one of his clients have different internal strategies to buy.
Not everybody perceives the same nor buys the same.
Using the client's perspective helps the seller, experience confirms, not only to have a positive presentation, but to increase his closing ratio.
If you think that this is something that you want to learn more about, please write to: ramon.ruizg@gmail.com

"Can you tell me why they don't sell?" Part II

Now, the other side of the coin.

Some time ago, I had several conversations with a sales manager from the financial industry in Canada.  My purpose in this post is, while in my previous post I wrote about a sales manager that was willing to find out why her sales team wasn't able to meet their goals and do whatever was required to solve the situation, to describe the opposite situation: a sales manager that wasn't and didn't.

When we first met, his question was, in essence the same: "Why they don't sell?" but articulated in a different way:

"-I still can't believe why they don't sell! Look, I have four sales reps. From these four, only two sell something, the other two don't sell anything. In fact, both have been without production the last 6 months. I don't know how they are paying their bills, how they live. Maybe they have a different activity, I don't know."

The last sentence was the one, that again, revealed what's happening with him and his 'team'.

When a sales rep is promoted to sales manager, is because he is an excellent producer but, sometimes, the company doesn't verify if he has the right and very basic communication skills. They don't know if a sales manager is able to articulate a question, to find out what's happening with the ones that are not selling, to do something with his blindness and the sales reps'. You know, an excellent producer doesn't mean an excellent sales manager. On the other side this sales manager lacks power. What do I mean? He doesn't have the ability to produce action in himself or in others. But lets go to the main dialog.

I'm the coach (C) and he is the sales manager (SM).

SM -"Really, I don't know how they pay their bills. Really. Two of them haven't closed anything in the last 6 months. Could you believe that?"
C - "Do you know why they haven't?"
SM - "No, not really." (I notice that my question surprises him a little.)
C -"Why haven't you asked them?"
SM - "I don't feel OK. The last months have been rough for me. My mood isn't the appropriate one and besides, the company doesn't like us to fire anyone."
C -"I'm not asking you to fire anyone, not even suggesting it. Just asking why you haven't asked them yet."
SM - "Well, I don't know, now that you ask, I don't have an answer for that. Well, maybe because I haven't felt well in the last months and for fear that, if I talk to them, they're going to quit. The company doesn't like that."
C - "What do you think could happen if you ask them?"
SM -"Well, the company doesn't like losing people. It's a very painful and long process to hire one financial advisor so if I talk to them, it could be interpreted that I'm going to fire them."
C - "What do you know about coaching?"
SM -"The company sent us to Palm Beach, California for a coaching training but, we didn't take it seriously, I must confess."
C - "And what do you remember from that training?
SM -" That I need to talk to them. Honestly, I don't know what exactly I'm going to find."
C - "Really? What do you think you're going to find?"
SM - "Why don't you coach them? I see that you like doing it. Do you want to coach them? Maybe we can do something. Let me talk to them and see if they're open to receive coaching from you. How much per session?"
C - "Before we consider that possibility let me explain you something. Experts and experience confirm that one of the most important things that a sales manager can do to mobilize his sales organization is to 'talk' to them. Why? Just to persuade them to do the things that are required to be done. What I have found is that if a sales manager doesn't talk to them, their little voice is. What voice? You know it don't you? Well, if you don't talk to them, this voice is going to and you are seeing now the results. Now, about me coaching them, is better if we design for you this 1st conversation with them instead of me having it. You are their sales manager.
SM - "I know but sometimes it helps if it's somebody from outside..."

...and finally, we agreed that if I was going to coach them, or at least to have an initial conversation, he was going to be present and then I was going to coach him to coach them. But, he was going to call me when he had the OK with his sales reps.

Nothing happened. I called him to follow up and he say that they didn't want to pay and that one of them, the girl, finally quit. He promised to call me in the future.

He didn't.

He's no more a sales manager.

If you think that you or your company experiences this type of situation and want to solve it, write to: ramon.ruizg@gmail.com

"Can you tell me why they don't sell?" Part I

This is one of the best questions a sales manager can ask me. Why?

Because, it reveals all the dysfunction that exists in a sales organization. Also, if a sales manager is asking this question it means that she is not a leader. An essential feature of leadership is communication SO if a sales manager doesn't know why most of the sales people on her team is not selling, it means that she is not talking to them, something else is, but not her.

In this opportunity, I'm going to share the dialog that I had with a sales manager after she asked me if I knew why her sales reps weren't selling.

She's the sales manager (SM), works in beauty industry and I'm the coach (C).


Our conversation:

SM -"Can you tell me why they don't sell?"
C -"How many sales reps you have?"
SM -"10"
C -"How many of them have problems?"
SM -"7"
C - "Have you asked them?"
SM- "Yes, well... no. What I have asked them is that if they need anything. Normally reply that no, that they have everything or they start complaining and that's when I stop the conversation."
C -"Any other place where you try to talk to them besides the aisles?"
SM - "Well in the meetings but normally what I try to do is to 'motivate' them. I talk to them, play movies,  I give them prizes. That's what they tell me to do... our bosses. The problem is that I'm running out of themes. I don't know what else to say in the meetings and nothing happens. No change."
C -"Have you asked them, directly, why they don't sell, in an appropriate environment to have a conversation?"
SM - "Two or three times but again, they start complaining, blaming everything, from the product to me."
C - "OK, What can you do to know why they're not selling?"
SM - "Ask them... but, how? Yes, I can ask them but how?"
C -"OK, let me ask you this, in order to find out the info that you need  what type of conversation do you require to have?"
SM - "Well... (she pauses and imagine the conversation), first, it has to be in private. No interruptions, no noises, no other people. In my office. With enough time. If I don't give myself time, I'll feel pressured and will start pushing the meeting."
C - "Exactly, and what do you want to get out of those conversations?"
SM - "Information remember? Why they don't sell. The causes."
C - "OK so, do you mind telling me what are you going to say?"
SM - "Ask them, directly, why they are not selling."
C - "That's OK. Nothing more? With whom are you going to have these conversations?"
SM - "Well no, for now. I want to see how the conversation goes after I ask them. With all of them!"
C -"With whom are you going to start?"
C - She gives me a name. "And that's it?"
SM - "Well no. I think that's better to start with three and see what happens."
C -"OK, you are going to ask that question AND my suggestion is to ask and keep asking. There's no defense against questions."  I gave her two or three more questions to keep asking and to find out the causes of this situation.

After this conversation she talked to 3 sales reps, privately, in her office.
In our next session she told me what  happened.

Some highlights:
-she talked with 3 of them for more than 30 minutes each individually
-all of them thought that they were going to be fired
-she brought with her the numbers of each the sales rep
-she asked and asked and asked
-in one case, the mood shift from tension to a desire to meet again
-she avoided to get hooked with the complaints, excuses and negativity
-and yes, in two of them she find out the causes of their bad performance
-1 quit
-1 wanted to keep having private talks with her
-1 will think about what they talked, promised to do what was talked and not sure about this format... 'too personal, too close'

This is what she told me what happened:

SM  "-Main causes? Mostly fear and lack of training, sales techniques. I can say that they don't have any order. Very chaotic, messy. That blinds them. No follow up. Also, I perceived that all of them have forgotten what brought them here in the first place. They're like lost. No sense of direction. Of course they have goals but they have forgotten them."
C -"Then, what do you plan to do?"
SM -"What do you suggest?"
C -"Before suggesting, please tell me your thoughts while you were talking to them."
SM -"Well, I will talk to the rest. I learned a lot with these meetings. I met with these three reps and all the people at the office thought that they were going to get fired. One quit, no problem with that but... one of them told me that if he was going to be punished or fired. So, I want to talk to everybody and find more answers."
C -"And with these two?"
SM- "I will meet with them again. With one, I already have an appointment to meet next week, like a follow up. With the other, we need to talk again.  Maybe on a regular basis... click! (I saw her face, suddenly she saw the Light!") Like you and me! I'll coach them! You'll help me don't you?"
C -"Yes I will help you to coach them. Nothing more?"
SM -"I'll talk to all of them and from what l find l will see and will tell you. It looks that I'm finding my answers."
C - "Later you will find that it's like a battle. If you don't talk to them, something else will. And this 'something else' is one of the causes of their situation."


Results
These conversations helped her to find out what was happening in her sales force. Why they were not selling.  Why they weren't arriving to their sales goals. Lack of selling skills, of following up the sales process.What she found took her sometime to solve it. Two more sellers quit and even though she found resistance, most of the sales reps that were required to have coaching sessions with her, had them. The mood in the organization shifted from one of resignation and negativity to one of ambition and most important, after doing this for more than 4 months, results started to get better. At the end of that year she meet her sales goals. So, coaching pays!