Toughest word to say

Caution: Rant

When people get married and the priest says: “Do you take this person to be your lawfully wedded _______?” The person doesn’t say Yes. They says, “I do.”

When you buy a product/service from someone and you both agree that it is going to help you, I’m willing to bet you rarely hear the word “yes.” The litany of responses will be:

-Let’s go with it.
– When can you deliver it?
-This makes sense.
-I’m on board.

You know who will give you a straight yes or no? Children.

When we all were little kids, if we didn’t like something we weren’t shy to say how we felt. There were no filters. A child can say “No I don’t want to” and not feel pressure to be PR friendly. Now these filters are important as we get older, but why is it so hard to elicit a simple yes or no?

I can only think of the medical profession where people are given a clear two options but even then, you’re never given a yes or no. It’s positive and negative. Positive can mean a bad diagnosis. You’re given suggestions. (Thanks to insight from my friend in healthcare)

“No” seems to scare people because it signals the chance of losing an opportunity. Even if that person is not interested, the thought of saying No could mean never. Saying Yes shouldn’t be hard but if you say Yes too much, people question your backbone.

People avoid situations where they have to say Yes or No. If you were to google “Yes or No”, You will see blogs and articles with people giving advice on how to avoid saying Yes or No. ( I did the homework for you- “Yes or No”)

Rule of 3

Image result for Rule of 3

Ah, the rule of three. Marketers and Salespeople look through numerous analytics on how to best contact prospects that they end up in analysis paralysis. The digital marketing agency I work for has been guilty of this act. At some point, it’s something all businesses have done and it’s time to put an end to it! Applying the rule of three principle to all facets of prospect communicating can garner positive results in both business and personal.

According to copyblogger, the rule of three is a writing principle that suggests things that come in 3 are more effective and memorable than other number combinations. When writing to prospects, we don’t want to spam them with useless information-We want to give them valuable bite sized pieces of knowing who we are and why we contact them. Each level of communication we send gives us a sense of where the customer is in their buyer journey. Here’s how I communicate with prospects utilizing the rule of 3.

Level 1- Quick Introduction

Who are we? We want to give them a bite sized introduction stating who we are and what we do. The introductory email is simply used as a “feeler” to track the initial interest level for our product/service. They most likely do not know who we are, so we want to be clear and concise. Level 1 is a great way for us to recognize prospects that are immediately looking for what we offer. Sales and marketing can then work together to provide requested information to move them along the pipeline.

Level 2- Let’s Get Personal

We’ve now entered the “personal zone.” The chances they did not respond to our previous communication could be a multitude of reasons. Now we have to differentiate and reinforce why they should be speaking with us. At Level 2, being a researcher counts much more than being a salesperson. According to Appboy.com, personalized messages increase related conversion by more than 27% compared to other messages. Our personalized message should involve something about their business or industry and then a strong call to action.

Level 3- “Professionally Persistent”

Getting to Level 3 means we have to be creative and politely persistent. There’s a thin line between persistence and annoyance-We have to cross that line with extreme care. The chances of them not responding to our communication over a period of time could mean big changes in their organization or lack of interest. We make light of how busy prospects get and we send them one last communication in hopes they respond with or without interest. Tactful humor and a strong call to action will help you collect prospects who may or may not be worth “the chase.” If there is no response after level 3, we move on and continue to find the right prospects that would be of value.

The rule of 3 can apply to so many aspects in marketing and sales. You can utilize this principle in voice mails, emails, and field sales. Combining this with a total of 8-12 touch points is a good cadence to grab the attention of prospects.

Happy Prospecting!

Sales bootstrap

When it comes to products, ideas, services, we dream big. We all want to be the best and stand out from the crowd. As owners of business, mission statements and credos are created to make sure everyone is on track for sales growth and goals.

Unfortunately, it takes money to make money and it takes a lot of money to make a lot of money. Keeping costs down is something we all aim to do and with lean marketing, it can happen. If you are starting at the grassroots, you’re just trying to get prospects to notice you. First step, is being able to find and target the right people.

I speak from experience. Every advantage I’ve ever had was not always with a sales program or intelligence tool-It was resourceful thinking. If you are a start up company, it’s debatable if sales intelligence tools are worth the initial cost for you. While they may give you great and valid insight, this comes at an expensive cost. There are quite a few ways to find your target utilizing google and “bootstrap methods.” I found ways to find leadership and their contact information. Tips below.

Tip 1: Google is your friend

No Seriously. Google is your friend. This is the most rudimentary tip but get stronger at searching on google. There’s a certain way to find executives that you want to pitch your service/product toward. Just googling their company and title, I was able to find those key people that make decisions.

Bootstrap Tip: I’ve found that when I type an executives name and “trade-show” or “:PDF”, I sometimes am able to find out out their direct phone number and email. VP’s of Sales and Marketing become easy to find because of their involvement with various events and thought leadership related content pieces.

Tip 2: Take advantage of “Free trial” SI

Sales intelligence tools contain amazing data to help you find your prospects in a more efficient way. Most companies offer a free trial that will allow you quickly build a prospect list. While they are an operational cost, the advantages of using the trials are:

Seeing what’s out there on the market.
Getting several “free” accounts to conduct searching for leads.
Identifying lead patterns to see consistency and accuracy of each Sales Intelligence company.

Tip 3: Contact the Sales department

LinkedIn is a favorite of mine. LinkedIn offers “free” sales intelligence on key decision makers. While their sales navigator is helpful and affordable, you can find quite a bit of information on connected contacts from just their LinkedIn profile. You may have a prospect that is connected to someone you already know. The next step would be asking for a warm introduction. One step closer to getting to the decision maker.

Tip 4: LinkedIn

Tip 5: They tell two people..and so on..

Sometimes, you just need to pick up the phone and dial. Cold calling is not completely dead. Decision makers receive so many emails lately that calling them is still a good way to reach them. As I look back at my personas of each job title I’m calling, I aim to call 2-3 different contacts in sales and marketing that are senior director of higher. I call both marketing and sales leadership contacts and I aim to create a conversation and feedback loop.

To some, these tips may already be obvious, but sometimes going back to the basics, helps propel your thinking to newer heights.

Race to the best question!

It’s your 9:00 AM regular weekly meeting. The person in charge of the meeting is providing insight and facilitating action items and discussion. This isn’t your normal status meeting where people inevitably get off track, or fall asleep- A special guest speaker is in the rooml.

While the guest speaker presents, there’s a serious race going on. It’s the race to ask the perfect question.

There’s always two (sometimes three) people in a meeting that are secretly battling with each other for the title of “Best question asker.” See, a conference meeting can be competitive in nature, and bring out the best or worse in people. When people begin the battle for asking the best question, it’s like a buffet line, you pick what works for you, or before eating, you sit back and observe the situation. Here’s a typical run down I’ve seen.

Person 1: Asks a well thought out question around the Presenter’s discussion.
Presenter: That’s a great question! (encourage feedback dialog)
Person 2 (feeling slighted) : Asks a question that’s considered “deeper” than the previous question while indirectly challenging Person 1’s view.
Person 1: Now feels the pressure, it’s an official battle of wits and quick thinking.

Have you been in this situation?

Chasing appointments

Scenario

Alright Business Development rep, you’ve been talking with a prospect about why they should have a meeting with you. You understand a base line about their challenges and you know you offer a solution that solves that problem. The dialog reads in a very pleasant tone. The only issue is they are busy and they want you to call them back same time next month.

The run around

You want to respect their time so you nudge one more time and then you set a reminder to contact them the same time next month. Next month rolls around and now what was once an appointment, is now a pursuit. The month keeps getting pushed back. You’re like the hamster on a wheel. It’s a trap, don’t fall for it.

What’s frustrating about this situation is every time you call, you find out more information and it leads you into a chase.

Finding Waldo

Embrace that Waldo is in the room and you have to find them. You have to find the challenges and point them out. If the prospect had zero interest, they usually would tell you flat out they are not interested. There’s something more going on…

Completing the story

Interrogation is never a good feeling for a prospect. People naturally raise their defense if they are uncomfortable. TONE is everything and remaining calm is key. I like to feel that prospects “test” you with their personal evaluation of you. Naturally, I like to be the hero of their problem and push my story. We’re the protagonists and their challenge is the antagonist that is negatively disrupting their world.

Stop chasing but don’t lose contact. Every prospect has something that makes them “feel.” By feel, I mean get out of their programmed responses and demeanor. They care about something and it’s our jobs to figure out what that is.

Sometimes the fairy tale ending is not what people want. To paraphrase Steve Jobs,

” A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” Steve Jobs

Most people use….each other

I started thinking about how different people always say they hate “users.” When you sense you’re being taken advantage of, it’s not a good feeling. However, everyone is a user to an extent.

Is it bad? You want what someone else has and the question is: “How do I get it?”

Internally you ask: What is the strategy for me to leverage who and what I know in hopes of returned social-economic resources?

It’s a word EVERYBODY uses yet those same people hate “users.”

It’s called….

Networking. Embrace being a polite “user.”

Now Playing: Blues Traveler’s-Run Around

I’m in meetings most of the day

” I’m on my way to a meeting.”
” I’m in meetings all day.”
” I have a meeting.”

We all have said this at several times in a week. Sure, we all do actually have meetings, but are most of them productive? When’s the last time you had a meeting that solved every problem and had closure?

It doesn’t work that way…

Typical meetings normally consist of one meaningful productive one followed by several “meetings” to talk about future meetings. The future meetings then discuss future meetings that talk about a problem we know about yet decide to make another meeting instead of solving for that meeting.

Meeting has become a filler at times.

Disarm them with empathy and wits.

“I bet you can’t spend all that money in your pocket right now. I bet you’re too scared to even attempt a risk that could make you millions of dollars. You’re friends are doing it-I don’t think you even qualify for what I have.”

Sales is a chess game

If you say what I just previously typed, you definitely won’t go anywhere. Sales is not Russian roulette, but more a never ending chess game. It’s continual strategy and everybody has their tactics but after time, these tactics wear off. In my young sales career, I’m always looking at ways to be a better at persuading people why they should listen to me. Prospects are always prepared with responses to stop me in my tracks. Like a chess game, I have to anticipate the various moves they can make and counter.

Old sales books are rather archaic

I’ve never been the hugest fan of sales books because they are just sales authors trying to sell you on tactics that maybe worked at their peak. Approaching prospects with old school tactics is not effective anymore. The prospect has much more power and information at their finger tips. The word “value” gets tossed around so much but the guessing game is finding out what they value most. the digital marketing consulting firm I work with has been utilizing social media, nurturing, and true engagement to connect with prospects.

OK, I can recommend one book and that’s “Unleash Possible” by Samantha Stone.

I love sales and psychology behind what influences people to buy. Every buyer has their own motives that trigger their senses to go “Listen to what this person is saying.” It’s up to us to anticipate what they may say. It’s dangerous to do this because when we make assumptions..well you know how it goes..

How do you do it?

What we can do is take their objections and find buzz words that trigger their response to saying to NO to us. I usually like to take what they say to me and throw it back at them mirroring their concern. This doesn’t work unless you actually care about helping them more than just getting a sales quota. Once I do that, I usually think which services I can provide confidently to get rid of the “pain.” Add a little wit to make the conversation feel lighter and you’re one step closer to winning the prospect over.

Man on the moon

Who am I?

In my eyes, I’m that man on the moon. Trying to soar above mediocrity and routine. Able to take any risk and laugh at danger.

Reality: I take the bus every day to go to work and I follow a routine. My days are pragmatic with how structured everything is in my life. I know that if I miss the 7:42 bus there is one that comes at 7:47. If I’m late by 10 seconds, I’ve seen a bus driver wait for me because if I’m not there, he’s questioning his routine route. Now, I’m throwing him off his routine.

Structure is good, however, spontaneity makes for an exciting combination! My inspirations have always been creators that had one foot in the box and one foot out.

I HATE consistent routine. It’s one of the reasons I probably would never be a good accountant and also one of the reasons I excel at creative thinking.

Dare to be different is my mantra. I want to be that man on the moon.

Wednesday listening- Man on the Moon by Kid Cudi

Art by- Terry Cervantes – https://www.etsy.com/shop/tjCervantesArt