What’s the Purpose of this Call?

How many calls does it take for your reps to close a sale? Most reps will tell you “it depends” – on the market, the individual customer, the competition, and any other number of variables. But that’s the wrong answer. If your reps don’t know exactly how many calls it should take them to close a sale, and what the objective of each of those calls is, they’re just fumbling their way through the sale.

“The critical understanding that underlies all your selling efforts is that selling is not hanging around being nice to people in some random fashion. If you don’t establish a sales strategy and CAO (Customer Action Objective) for each of your sales calls, you will be wasting your time,” warns Ferdinand Fournies, business consultant to companies such as Merck, HP, and 3M, and author of Why Customers Don’t Do What They’re Supposed to Do … And What To Do About It (McGraw-Hill, 2007).

Consider this example. Fournies was recently speaking at a national meeting to salespeople whose product was a $25,000 chemical analysis machine sold to hospitals. He asked his audience how many calls it took to sell their product to a hospital and most people responded, “11 or 12 months.” Okay, replied Fournies, but how many calls? As a group, the reps argued that “it depends” because all hospitals are different. That’s when the company’s highest performing rep raised his hand and said, “Mr. Fournies, if I don’t sell the product by the third call, I don’t go back.” The room fell silent as this rep explained his strategy.

On his first call, he said he qualifies the customer. He finds out whether the customer needs the product and can afford it and who would make the buying decision. If the answers are positive, the rep schedules a second appointment. During that second meeting, he demonstrates the equipment to the buyer and all the users and gets them to make the buying decision. On the third call, he picks up the purchase order.

The key to this rep’s success, explains Fournies, is that he has specific, measurable customer action objectives for each sales call: On call number one, “the customer will describe to me the company’s diagnostic needs, identify the decision maker for equipment purchases, indicate the current budget status, and give me an appointment to demonstrate my equipment.” He outlines similar, customer-oriented objectives for calls number two and three. When Fournies asked other reps about their objectives for their first call, the answers were vague, varied, and focused on what actions they, the reps, would be taking – not the actions they wanted customers to take. Their goals included things like: establish a relationship, show them the product, get a foot in the door, sell one unit, and so on.

To create a multiple-call selling strategy, work backward from the objective of your last call, asking yourself, “Why can’t we go over there and do that now?” You’ll find out specifically what actions the customer must take on each sales call to advance the sale. And you’ll be able to determine the minimum number of sales calls you need to close the sale.

Once you do this exercise, challenge your reps to close sales in the minimum number of calls.

Using Positive Questions to Make Positive Connections

While I was traveling last week, I picked up a book that I have had on my buy list for a few years. It is called Encyclopedia of Positive Questions - Volume One by experts in Appreciative Inquiry, Cooperrider, Whitney, Trosten-Bloom and Kaplin.

At the beginning of the book they offer these 11 ways to use positive questions.

• Get staff meetings off to a good start
• Coach for high performance
• Transform "problem talk" into "possibility talk"
• Create dialogue to foster shared meaning
• Demonstrate positive intent and trust with customers
• Create a learning organization
• Build high performance teams
• Conduct project reviews that make a difference
• Build self-esteem
• Plan a course of action for the future
• Create your own interview guide

Positive questions can do all that?

Asking great questions can make a big difference to how your teams feel and perform. Here are just a few of the questions from the book. I think every manager ought to have a copy of this book.

• Tell me about a time when compelling communication allowed you and another person to really connect and to work together exceptionally well. What was the situation? What was it about you, the other person, and the communication that made this possible?
• Dream into the future...your organization and your community have a wonderful mutual partnership. What does this look like? What three things might have been done in order to create this partnership?
• Tell me about a time when you were part of an exceptional cooperation with a customer or customer group. How did this happen? What made it so special? What did you learn from the experience?
• When you reflect on your time with this organization, what is the greatest contribution it has made to you and your life?
• Where in the organization is participatory decision-making at its best? What contributes to it? How does it work?
• Tell me about a time that was particularly fun at work. What was the high point of this time? What made it fun?
• When people are in leadership positions, what two or three things can they do that will help you be the best you can be?
• If positive energy were the flame of the organization, how would you spark it? How would you fuel it to keep it burning bright?
• What trends and changes are you seeing in the world that excite you and give you a sense of the confidence in the possibilities for the organization's future?

Cool questions and just a sampling. I like questions like these, they help expand the mind and prevent us from going to that cold, dark, cynical small place we all have in our brains (some more than others!).

If you were building the project from the ground up and resources were not a barrier, what would you do?

What's the wildest idea that just might work?

Lead with Positive Energy!

Are you getting your daily requirements? Just like those recommended vitamin quotas for physical health, you could say that there are also "requirements" for our emotional health every day. With recent studies showing that negative emotions can actually affect our health and even our life span, it just seems to me to emphasize how important it is to become aware of our interactions with others on a daily basis, and keep them as positive as possible.

As a matter of fact, experts in the field of positive psychology have found that the frequency of small, positive acts is critical to our overall happiness. Maybe you might think that you don't really deal with that many people each day. But if you start to think about it, you could be surprised.

Whenever you travel anywhere, you're dealing with others. Whenever you buy something or a service, when you need information, when you need to make a complaint, when you need technical assistance, when you have financial transactions – there are so many times a day that we actually have contact with others, whether in person or on the phone. And this is not counting interacting with loved ones or co-workers.

Turning these encounters into positive ones can be very simple. Sometimes just a smile is all that is needed, or simply acknowledging someone's presence, according them the respect you yourself would expect. A "thank you" can work wonders. And, perhaps not surprisingly, when you approach others from a positive point of view, you become more open and more positive as well. Any negative emotions won't have a chance!

Set the example and lead with positive energy!

Situational Leadership

I've recently been searching for a new position with more and different managerial responsibility. During one of my interviews I was peppered with some really tough questions.

One of the final questions was, "If you were in a meeting and had a major disagreement with what someone was saying, how would you respond?" I said something about having to read the person and make a guess about which of several approaches would be better. Some people are fine if you just directly oppose them. Other people don't deal well with that, and you need to ask questions that get them to realize on their own why they are wrong. A lot of my answers were this way, and towards the end of the interview someone in the room asked if I had received "situational leadership" training, because that is the approach I seemed to take.

I went through 'Situational Leadership' training nearly twenty years ago and sent my managers through the same program just a couple years ago - and I try to be a situational leader. The 'One Minute Manager' gives a brief overview, if you've ever read it. New management fads come out every year. I always read up on them, but disagree with much of what they say. Many of these books always make management and leadership seem so simple, and imply that if you just focus on one thing (the fad) then you will be a great manager. I don't think that is true.

Management and leadership are complex because people are complex. Rather than stick to one style or form, leaders should be able to analyze a situation and determine what type of response is best given the parties involved. Sometimes you have to be more directive, sometimes a hands off approach and a pat on the back will get you further. Other times just being more of a trainer and mentor works best. No one will be as effective in each approach, but should at least have it in their repertoire.

I bring this up because I often get tired of seeing these fad books every year, and sometimes I think I should just quit reading all that hype. But now I see it in a little bit different light. Each fad, each style, each book, has some truths in it, and I try to go through it with an open mind and take away what is important. It's important to stay on that lifelong learning path.

I am making a mad dash to re-read my Situational Leadership books. It was one of the most insightful models of doing the right things, at the right time and being flexible enough to be effective with people at every level of their own personal development.

Do You Have the Luck of the Irish?

Are you "lucky"? Well, that may just depend on your state of mind – at least according to a British psychologist, Professor Richard Wiseman. I was reading about a study he had done of 400 people from all walks of life, half of whom considered themselves "lucky" and the other half classified themselves as "unlucky." It seems that those people who considered themselves lucky had certain differences in how they thought and acted from the "unlucky" group.

The lucky people were relaxed, open to new things and new people, and were quick to spot opportunities. Unlucky people tended to be more tense, stuck in routines and afraid of anything new, and unwilling to take a risk. Lucky people trusted their gut instincts and had a positive attitude – they expected good fortune or a good outcome. And, as you can guess, the unlucky ones always expected the worst.

When something unfortunate happened to the lucky ones, they were able to deal with it in a positive way. They did this by imagining that things could have been worse, and didn't dwell on their misfortune, but took control of the situation. The unlucky ones of course brooded on their misfortune, and it only confirmed to them how "unlucky" they were.

"There are only two types of person who cannot become lucky," Wiseman suggests. "There's the person who is happy to be unlucky, for whom misfortune is a central part of their identity. And there's the person who's not prepared to put the work in; there's a lot of effort involved in applying the principles."

So that old saying about "you make your own luck" could turn out to be true. Here are a few tips you might want to try, to increase your own "luck."

• Write down six new things to try out (anything from a new food, or a visit to a new place, or a new hobby) that you can accomplish in a month.
• Be more open to talking to people you don't know.
• Start your own "network." The more people you know, the more ideas and opportunities you have access to.
• When you get up in the morning, assume that the day will be a good one and everything you do will turn out for the best.
• Keep a "luck" journal. At the end of each day, take a few moments to write down only the positive and lucky things that happened.

After a month, you can't help but recognize all the good things that are happening.

Good luck!

Define and Deliver Your Elevator Speech!

As you know, an elevator pitch is a super-short explanation of an idea, a business, or a person which is designed to create further interest. Over at the Idea Sandbox blog, Paul Williams shares how the intros to television shows have mastered the elevator pitch.

Paul cites numerous examples from Star Trek to My Name is Earl to Bosom Buddies which all support his TV Intro as Elevator Pitch idea. Paul also highlights how the intro to every A-Team episode is a well-crafted elevator pitch. Notice how this intro quickly explains the premise of the show and compels us to watch further to see what happens.

A-Team intro:"In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem. If no one else can help. And if you can find them. Maybe you can hire... The A-Team."

Work on your elevator pitch before your next networking event, sales call or interview and you'll be halfway home to closing the deal!

Use Language to Mainain a More Positive Attitude!

As a citizen of planet earth, it's sometimes hard to maintain a positive attitude. Did you know that, in all languages, there are more words to describe negative emotions than there are to describe positive emotions? The ratio is about 5:3 - meaning that for every 3 positive words you might hear, you'll hear 5 negative words. No wonder it seems like its an uphill battle for all but the most pragmatic optimists. You can read more here and here.

I've noticed that sometimes two people describe the same experience—positive or negative—in two completely different ways Maybe you talked about a “pretty” sunset while your spouse called the natural wonder “breathtaking.” Or perhaps one of your co-workers “needed clarity” after a meeting that left another “very frustrated.”

Imagine how your life would change if you were able to take all the negative emotions you ever felt and lower their intensity so they didn’t impact you as powerfully! Similarly, imagine what your life would be like if you could take your most positive emotions and multiply them tenfold.

Start by writing down three words that you use on an ongoing basis to intensify your negative feelings or emotions. Then, come up with alternative words or phrases that have a lower intensity.

EXAMPLES:

Old word: depressed

New words: a little down, frustrated

Old word: overwhelmed

New words: in demand, full of opportunities

Now, write down three words you use to describe your experiences in a positive way, and come up with three alternative words that amplify those positive feelings. Get a friend to ensure you follow through by having her pay attention and tell you, if necessary, something like, “Are you okay, or are you fantastic?”

EXAMPLES:

Old word: fine

New words: incredible, outrageous, outstanding

Old word: cute

New words: delicious, gorgeous, unbelievable

Here's a game you can play at work to get more of your team aware of avoiding negative language. Play 'Negative Language Bingo' and see how fast your employees start avoiding negative statements. Make up your own 'Positive Language Bingo' game to see how fast you can get those around you focused on the positive possibilities rather than just exclamations of how bad the problem is. Solution oriented not problem obsessed.

Commit to using a more positive vocabulary in 2007!

Resolute Performance

Why do so many people make New Year’s resolutions only to be disappointed in their performance only months or weeks into the New Year?

It’s time to rethink our end of year rituals and do some strategic planning in our personal lives!

Many of us make New Year's resolutions, few of us keep them.
*25% of New Year's resolutions will be abandon in the first 15 weeks
*The average number of time's a New Years resolution is made is 10
*Those who manage to make a resolution that lasts for 6 months or more have often tried 5 or 6 times before finally succeeding

Tip on how to achieve the results you want:

Planning is your ally: Few plans succeed unless the ‘how to’ is built in. If one of your resolutions is to get in shape, put a detailed, specific plan in place to achieve that goal. Will you start with two workouts per week for the first month, building to three workouts per week in February? What exercises will you start with? What stretches will you do afterwards to minimize muscle soreness? Detailed plans will keep you on track in setting new habits for the New Year.

Write it Down: Put your resolutions in writing as well as your plans to achieve them. Keep these plans in a prominent place where you can see them every day. Your bathroom mirror, sun visor in your car or taped onto the side of your computer monitor are excellent starting points. Find one that fits your style and schedule. If we are constantly being reminded of our goals we subconsciously find ways to make progress.

Winners Keep Score: How will you measure your progress? Quantitative measures of progress are important. Find a way to put some hard and fast numbers to your resolution. If you want to be a ‘better parent’, how many hours did you spend with your children reading? How many evenings did you turn off the TV and play a board game or just a have good discussion about what your kids want to talk about? How many times in the last month have all your family been present at the dinner table? Any resolution can be measured if you put your mind to it. Aim to achieve your goals incrementally according to the numerical goals you’ve set.

Have a Plan B: Don’t expect perfection in the first few days or weeks. If your plan to quit smoking went up in flames Monday morning after that cup of coffee, don’t be discouraged. Review your plan and get back to it! Any good plan also has a plan to cope when the going gets tough. How will you get through that first, second and third urge to light up? Did you stock up on nicotine lozenges? Just like a toddler learning to walk, we need time to get good at what we know we can accomplish. Encourage yourself to do better next time and get back to your plan!

Praise Progress: On the first of the month take the opportunity to pat yourself on the back and brag a bit on the progress you’ve made! Those good feelings will keep momentum on your side and make the next stages of achieving your goal that much easier. Keep the focus, you can do it!

Make this year the year you attain your goals! Be resolute in your determination, disciplined in your execution, forgiving of setbacks and have some fun along the way!

Here are some plans for popular resolutions and some additional resources.

Leadership Secrets of Santa Claus

It's not easy being Santa Claus!
In a recent conversation with Santa (he was following up on a lost order) the jovial fellow shared a few thoughts with me. He had some very good advice for those in a leadership role in any organization.

"Believe you me, having to smile and be jolly every day when you're wearing the same thick, hot, red-wool suit (that itches like crazy) is no picnic."

"I am after, after all, running a business here. I'm a boss. I've got responsibilities - both to the gift-getters and the gift-makers. There are workers to lead, letters to read, orders to fill, processes to manage, stuff to buy, stuff to make, standards to maintain, new technolgies to adopt, skills to develop, elf problems to solve, and reindeer droppings to scoop (although I delegate that one). Trust me, I've got some big and not-always-easy-fitting boots to fill!"

How to get BIG things done in YOUR workshop all year long!

1. Build a wonderful workshop!

• Make the MISSION the MAIN THING
• Focus on your PEOPLE as well as your purpose
• Let VALUES be your guide

2. Choose your reindeer wisely!

• Hire TOUGH so you can manage EASY
• PROMOTE the right ones....for the right reasons
• Go for the DIVERSITY advantage

3. Make a list and check it twice!

• PLAN your work
• WORK your plan
• Make the MOST of what you have

4. Listen to the Elves!

• OPEN your ears to participation
• PAY ATTENTION to how you're percieved
• Walk awhile in THEIR shoes

5. Get beyond the red wagons!

• Help everyone accept the reality of CHANGE
• Remember: The CUSTOMER is really in charge
• TEACH "The Business" of the Business

6. Share the Milk and Cookies!

• Help them see the difference THEY make
• DO RIGHT by those who do right
• Expand the reinforcement POSSIBILITIES

7. Find out who's naughty and nice!

• Confront performance problems...EARLY
• COACH "The Majority in the Middle"
• DON'T forget "The Super Stars"

8. Be Good for Goodness Sake!

• Set the EXAMPLE
• Establish GUIDELINES and accountability
• Remember that EVERYTHING counts

Never forget that getting big things done all year long isn't about magic. It's about Leadership!

There wasn't space to share all of my conversation but you can read more from Santa and David Cottrell here!

Merry Christmas!

Be Proactive

Isn't it amazing how much energy some people put into complaining or whining about things? Think about the political climate across the country for the past several years. The complaints were almost visceral whether you're talking about local elections or the 'W' factor. It didn't matter which side you were on.

If you have a difference of opinion, state the facts and your position. Make a difference by offering alternative solutions that will make people consider them. If it's something you're not able to control, move on. Don't waste energy trying to change something you can't. Make a positive difference by working in your own sphere of influence.

Fault finding and playing the blame game help no one. It's time for all of us to ask the question, "What am I going to do about it?" That's when the real solutions to problems come about. That is when initiative, proactive leadership and resourcefulness are most valuable.