Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Networking "Notworking?" Here are Some Reason's Why

I meet a lot of people. Whether they are clients, business partners, or people with common interests and goals. I am in the business of meeting people. Actually, I am in the Telecom business, but 80% of what I do is meet people & build relationships. So when I talk to people that tell me that "networking doesn't work" or it's " a big waste of time" I say they aren't doing it right. What I find more surprising are the number of people that take weeks at a time to respond to a message I send them through social media & when they do finally get back to me, they tell me "sorry Mike, I rarely log in to that."

I'm sorry? You don't log in? You don't check messages? "Well yeah Mike, I get so much spam from people trying to sell me stuff that I just ignore it." Okay, we are all adults here. I understand wanting to ignore message from people you aren't interested in talking too but SERIOUSLY? You just ignore all of it? First off, most social media gives you the option to receive email alerts when someone makes a post relevant to you. When people send you a message, it can also be sent to the email box of your choice. I have people tell me "I'm just too busy to check in multiple times a day." This objection I can understand (somewhat). If Sales isn't your only role in the company I can understand that being logged in all day long to to see what updates come across may not be the best use of your time. I will say, that EVERYONE has time either at lunch or after normal business hours to check in and see what's going on.

My personal opinion is that Social Media is like your own personal newspaper, with all of the articles directed right at you. Whatever your industry or interests, you surround yourself with people that have similar interest and may even be in the same industry. It is one of THE best ways to keep up to date with what is going on. In addition to that, building a network isn't simply connecting to people to claim that you have the  biggest network, you must engage these people. Drop a note to say hello. Compliment them on a new profile pic or a new promotion or job change. Maybe they just finished earning a new degree. By staying in contact with your network you keep yourself relevant and it helps keep you and your company on the mind of your customers and contacts, so that they can refer you to others.

So here is the summary, You're not too busy. You need customers just like the rest of us. Keep relevant by reviewing your social media streams once a day. Be proactive in contacting people. You will stand out and differentiate yourself

Thanks for reading today

Mike Shelah

BTW please check out my fundraising blog

www.40milesforautism.blogspot.com

Monday, July 11, 2011

"Not as Advertised"

I think we all can identify with this situation. You see an add in the paper for a "great deal" and when you rush to the store you find out there are a bunch "qualifications" that go along with getting the product for that price or you find out that the product for sale really doesn't match what you thought it would be. This is really a common occurrence and MOST of the time it is because we didn't read the fine print or we didn't ask the right questions. This scenario is all too common in sales and it usually is poor communication from the customer, poor communication from the salesperson, or both. The really bad part is this poor lack of communication can help your competition.
So you go to meet with a client you ask a bunch of questions, they answer, you build a proposal, they seem to like it and then you get that phone call that they went with your competitor and YOU KNOW that their product/solution is inferior to yours or just does not do what the customer told you they need it to do. So what happened? Quite a few things could have gone wrong here.
First, it is very possible that the customer had an agenda that they did not share with you. Meaning they already picked out their vendor of choice but "the boss" or some other "3rd party" (that you will never be allowed to speak with or meet) told them to get 2 other quotes just to be sure. Or this same "boss" has a friend in the industry and they came along after you did all of your work. This scenario is very annoying, but also very real. If you are blindsided like this, a good way to verify is simply say to the customer "Thank you for getting back to me, I understand you chose my competition, which one did you chose and where did you feel their product was a better fit than ours?" Now, here is where being a good listener is very important. If indeed they went with your competition, this is your only chance left to win the business. If they give solid well thought reasons for why, then wish them luck and tell them you will gladly assist them in the future, should they need help again. If they tell you that your competition was less money it is in your best interest to see that quote. Many times if your competition beat you on price they changed the design and it no longer matches what you originally discussed with the customer. If you built a good relationship with them then this should be an easy objection to overcome. If they are close-minded to the idea, either you didn't do a good enough job of connecting with the customer or they feel they are past the point of no return and no longer want to be bothered. Now here is the worst scenario. You get to speak with the customer and they told you they went with the competition and when you ask why, their answer is VERY vague. They won't really say why. They WILL go so far as to say it's really none of your business or that information isn't pertinent, AH HA! We have a hidden agenda! Move on, no more good can be done here.
So, if we put our conspiracy theories aside for a moment we can get back to relevant sales items. If you ever played the "telephone game"  as a kid you know how quickly a statement can be interpreted and then misinterpreted and distorted in such a way that the original message is almost completely lost. So when  you meet with a potential customer a great question to ask is "who started this initiative?" Are you meeting with the person heading up the the project? Are you meeting with someone who solely is gathering information? What other vendors have they spoken to? What is their relationship to them? Who are the people involved in making the decision & can you present to these people and answer their individual questions? Now, it is very common that you wont get these questions answered. If that is the case you haven't built enough trust with the client or they have no intent of doing business with you. Either way you have more work to do.
When it comes to communication, you must be sure that you understand what the customer is saying. whenever possible, paraphrase what the customer just told you and ask for agreement. Not only are you verifying that you understand the customers needs, but often times you are getting the customer to answer "yes" and any old school sales trainer will tell you that getting the customer into the habit of saying "yes" is a good thing." The flip side is, that when you explain something from your industry to a customer you need to verify engagement. Did the customer understand what you said, not just the actual words but the concept behind those words? If they say yes but the look on their face says otherwise it's important to go at the topics with another question or another direction so you don't make the customer feel uncomfortable or that you think they are stupid. What else does their body language tell you? Are their arms crossed, meaning they are defensive? Are their hands balled into fists meaning they really don't like this? Are they looking around the room because they are disinterested? Diffuse the situation. If it's obvious that they don't want to be there, you really aren't talking to the right person, get them to introduce you to the person that will handle the process, let them off the hook.

So Here is the summary: make sure you have the right person, make sure you and the customer are "on the same page" regarding needs and goals. Understand that sometimes your won't get the final person, so just make do. And lastly, understand that customers will flatly refuse to let you in because they have no intention of doing business with you. Once you figure this out, GET OUT! Find a good customer to talk to.

Thanks for reading today

Mike Shelah

BTW please check out my fundraising blog www.40milesforautism.blogspot.com

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The Gatekeeper isn't Evil, You're Just Doing a Terrible Job Explaining Yourself

I wrote a piece last week and had several people bring up the topic of the gatekeeper and how to "get by" them or how to "make them your best friend." I am here to tell you that the answer is quite simple. If you don't get by the person who answers the phone then you are doing a poor job of presenting who you are and why you are calling. It's ALL YOUR FAULT! So lets go over some of the things you need to do for effective calling. I want to be very clear that these are not magic bullets and no concept works 100% of the time but these concepts will get you a 1000 times farther than what you currently do.

First: be honest. Simple, I know, but often overlooked. When the receptionist asks who you are, tell them. I am "name" with " company name" and then be quiet. Listen to their next question. "What is the purpose of your call?" Here is where most people fail. They try to bully the receptionist or they come up with some crazy story. All bad ideas. Now I know many of you are saying "but Mike, if I tell them that I am a salesperson, they will hang up on me." Then don't tell them that. I said be honest not stupid. "But Mike what do I tell them when they ask why I'm calling?" That depends on why you called them and leads to my next step.
Second: target your calls. Opening the yellow pages or buying a calling list does you almost no good if you don't research who you are calling to determine how you are connected. If you look long enough you can find some common ground. I use LinkedIn for this research all the time. Do we have a mutual contact? Did we go to the same school? Are we from the same town? Are we members of the same social or professional groups? If you can't find some common ground with this person, then find out if they have a pending event. They are moving. They just opened a new office. They are planning to hire 10 new employee's.  They just let go of 25% of their work force. All of these actions are cause for doing business.
If you cant target your calls because you can't find any common ground at least identify that you have the right contact name for your product or service. So when the receptionist asks "what is the nature of your call" your response should be " Actually I need your help. I was given "name" as the person to speak with regarding "your product or service" is that correct?" they will either say yes and transfer you or they will ask you "is this a sales call?" You should respond by saying " I actually wanted to introduce myself and see what projects are coming up in the next 6 months that we could help with." you'd be amazed how effective this can be.

Here's the summary: Be honest, know who your calling, ask for help.

Thanks for reading today


BTW, please check out my fundraising blog www.40milesforautism.blogspot.com