R&R Business Development Blog

Selling Results and Principles of Attraction. What is the link?

It is no surprise that many people do not like to sell. Selling for many, feels too much like begging, pressuring or having to conduct "forced" conversation.

This idea of having unwanted conversations with prospects is contrary to our nature. No wonder people want to stay far away from selling situations.

There is a better way, and it has to do with the one thing you have complete control over - how you think and what you want. Since dominant thoughts attract  opportunities, there must be a correlation between sales results and your thinking.  It has to be true that your vision, ideas and expectations all have a tremendous affect on the results you enjoy (or not enjoy).

A good guide to use is that if you are not getting the results you want, look at the lack of congruence between your inner environment and what the external environment is telling you.  You can read your sales results as the primary indicator of what you need to learn next. Think of the universe as your own private teacher telling you that there is something you need to learn or do differently to get better response for your external environment.

The reality is you do have to interact with the environment to get your needs and expectations filled. It is a two way deal - you have an impact on the environment (think prospects) and the environment has a impact on you. It really is a great two way lesson plan.

As you stay open to learning, you expand your inner capability to think and see "new ways" and, in turn you attract new and better opportunities.

This attraction link does not mean you do not have to work, to decide, to act, or to be well prepared. You do have to do all of that.  Advancing is not free.

If you want new and better opportunities to serve prospects, change the way you think and feel about your product, your service, your process and the way you do business with new prospects. You can make that picture a lot better than you may think right now. New vision, new values, new end results expected, new processes and new self valuation bring about better prospects and increased revenues.

Attraction works both ways, great results or not so great results, are drawn to you. To get a closer look, take a full hour and write a detailed account of what you now think about selling and what you need to think going forward. Be sure to begin this exercise with a review of why you do what you do (passion) and how well you do it (excellence).

To your success,

Richard R

Powered by Qumana

1 Comment »

“I really do not like prospecting - that’s just the way it is for me!”

No one has ever quite said that to me but I believe it is how too many professionals think.  The problem with this outlook is that it locks you solidly into a cycle.  This is a cycle that will be impossible to break out of.

Since all ideas flow from expectations (“I will never be able to, because I don’t like it”), this outlook eliminates any new ideas, energy and solutions to the challenge of having to prospect.

Starting from the assumption that you do have the capacity to create new concepts, you also have access to new ideas any time you seek them.  The way is to want those new ideas as a starting point.  Not only will you receive new ideas, those ideas will be exactly right for what you are trying to accomplish.

This orientation is a skill that must be developed. It is effective in developing your selling skill because its orientation is exactly opposite from:

• I don’t expect a better way is possible
• I have accepted this condition as true for me. It is just the way I am.
• There is not much I can do about x.
• I can’t think of any new ideas on this topic.
• There is nothing that can be done to change it.

The need for high potential prospects

A big challenge for all professionals is maintaining a full and active list of valid prospects. Prospects are the new business life line. It has to be one of the most important factors in any business. Imagine how differently you would feel knowing that you have a steady supply of interested people wanting to learn about your service and how it might help them.  That is the end goal of good prospecting.

The results from your prospecting are directly proportional to the freshness of your ideas, expectations, vision and most of all, action plans.

Action steps – a creative exercise:

There is no problem in prospecting that a change in perspective, freshness in your actions and access to your creative ideas cannot solve.  If you identify prospecting as a being a problem for you, try this:

• Specify exactly what you believe the problem is.  Write it in question form.

• Brainstorm (alone) several answers to the question. Take your time, imagine what you want, create an entirely new approach that answers the problem defined.

• Create 10 to 15 ideas on how that problem could be solved. Give your creative imagination a stretch.  Get beyond your old worn out ideas and tired expectations.

• Make your solution (Let’s call it “The New and Improved 2008 Prospecting Process”) reflect your essence and your enjoyment.  This is quite important for if you don’t enjoy it, you will tend to avoid implementation. You must enjoy this solution. Enjoyment is key to this self-generated creative process.

• Choose one idea from the list, only one, and take action on it right away.

• Continue the process for 30 days. Be ready to add, revise or even eliminate the ideas you created. This is an open process. Do not look for a magic bullet. There is no magic, just good ideas.  Make this a commitment to see it finally solved through sustained action.  By the end of 30 days, you will have made significant progress.

Summary

You will be impressed with your native ability to transcend any problem and to go far beyond the challenge it presents. 

To your long-term success

Richard

Powered by Qumana

1 Comment »

Potential clients want to know only two things from you.

•  First: Can you help them?

• Second: How will you help them?

Your task is to be specific. The more pinpointed your focus, the better for your prospect.  If you are too general, it will be difficult for the prospect to understand what you can do.  Most prospects (assume 99%) will not do the work necessary to figure out your message. You must take the lead, plant the stake and see where it leads.  If nothing else, the client will have a clear understanding of you and your beliefs. That is always good, whether or not they become a client.

Tips to discover the situations you love:

1. Review the reasons you are a coach. What problems were you hoping to solve for others?

2. Review your top five skills. Write a one-page story on each.

3. What situations do you see in the five stories

4. Describe in detail a very good coaching project. What happened, and why did it happen?

5. Write a paper on what your client was experiencing before you started the project. Then write a paper on what the client was experiencing after you completed the project.

Chances are 100% that you can now answer "can you help me and how?”  Note, this may take more than one sitting to complete.  No matter how long it takes you, the benefit will be there for you.

To your long term success,

Richard

PS Your bottom line goal is to attract, screen and select high potential, high profit clients. Stop settling for prospects that are not ready for you. This process is one of your screening devices.

310 394 0200 Southern California

Powered by Qumana

No Comments »

It is no secret that your prospect will not act on your ideas if urgency on their part is low.

If you are able to tap into your prospect’s self interest, that’s a fast way to increase their level of interest and urgency.  When your sales conversation is about the sales prospect’s personal impact, you cannot get any closer to what is really of interest to your prospect.

The idea is to provide a gentle, unobtrusive method for your prospect to look in the mirror and self discover or determine how they are doing on six factors that impact results.  A tool that I use looks at their personal impact on six factors.  There is no coaching needed at this point since the tool is 100% self administered and self interpreting.  It is very useful way to open possibilities between you and your prospect.  Here are the six factors:

• Results orientation
• Flexibility
• Courage
• Collaboration
• Ability to anticipate
• Interpersonal skills

Try designing a simple audit tool based on the above or any other factors you choose.  Define each element so that the reader knows what you mean.  Add a statement that describes why you feel each is important.  The more descriptive and prescriptive the tool, the better. 

Powered by Qumana

No Comments »

Prospective clients frequently ask:

"How do we know if your program will be effective?"

It is a fair question, one that we should expect and that we must be able to answer. My approach is to answer it before it is asked. Bring it up early in your discovery conversation. For instance, say:

" Here is how we may want to measure results. First we could easily establish a baseline for the managers on these five elements. Then we can …. "

The conversation will flow from that point. The conversation you create around "will this be effective?" is a terrific opportunity to demonstrate to the prospect 3 things that will help your selling success:

    1. How you raise expectations with the client ( the team, employees, and managers, etc.) as part of your approach.

    2. How you, too, want to be sure the program/coaching is a success

    3. How important it is for you both to agree on the success criteria early.

What would you measure?

Just be sure you know what you want to measure. Do not allow the client to tell you. You can certainly have a discussion and make adjustments to include the client’s ideas, but, in the end it has to be your call. The measures can actually be fun and uplifting if you choose carefully and position it correctly.

Measure twice

Build into your process two check points.  Consider a pre-check and a post check. You need two measure to show progress. 

Competitive/Selling advantage

Thinking longer term, develop your own ideas on measures, and then build the discussion right into your sales conversations. You will be stronger and more confident.

Hope you will use this in your selling.

Richard

Powered by Qumana

No Comments »

In our work as professionals, we encounter people who want to make changes. Our bottom line is to help improve something. The problem is that people may want change, but they do not want to change. To improve anything means that the client has to change.

The idea of helping someone change surfaces the cause and effect principle which says that we are always getting what we want, even if we say we want something else.  It sound like a catch 22. " I want this change, but I also want what I have."

To address the dilemma allow both wants to coexist. Make them visable, bring them to life, and expand on them. Explore where each could lead. Watch for a week or so to see which one moves to the front of the line after scrutiny. This can be a fun experiment. Do not argue either side. Do not defend or explain.  Just figure out which want will move them forward toward their purpose (vision, improvement, desire, goal, etc.).

This process works only if they have a "place to go". If not, then conflicting wants really do not matter that much.

It is usually easier to identify the new want (the improved condition) then it is to identify the present want. If they are unsure of what they presently want in any area, look at what they already have. That will give you the clue you need.

Making these differing "wants" visable for scrutiny is very effective when you are working with managers and CEO’s. They have multiple demands that push or pull them in different directions which are very difficult to surface without the voice of reason (you). 

Let me know if you do try this and how it works.

Richard 310 394 0200

Powered by Qumana

1 Comment »

The more you can have your client describe the conditions that they want ‘in the future", the more value you create for that client.

As a sales person, the skill necessary is to learn how to go beyond the existing need as quickly as possible.  Many professionals dwell too long on the problem and then jump from the need to providing possible solutions.  It’s better to spend time creating distance between the current need and the desired future state.  This is true because the client is far more likely to be motivated to work with you when they have a better definition of the future and a strong belief that it is doable.

Be sure not to do this future scenario for the client.  They must do it alone with your guidance.  For example, you may ask, "Could you describe how it will look when "X" is addressed?"  "Can you tell me what negative conditions will be eliminated once you address this issue?"  "Can you tell me how you will personally benefit from this approach?"

Make sure that you are satisfied with what the client wants in the future before you describe your coaching, your approach, your service, etc.  Since your fundamental goal is to discover how you can help, the two of you must first see what the future state is to be.

Powered by Qumana

No Comments »

 While clients do not often ask directly for help to improve employees’ performance, they do need it.  Since performance reviews continue to be a problem with employees and executives, you may want to be pro-active in suggesting this approach.

The mind set required is that the manager and employee will be working together toward achieving the employee’s success.  While the employee takes 90% of the responsibility for results, the manager will be committed to providing all the support needed, when requested.

Here are the 4 steps which make up this approach:

1.  Employee and manager first reach agreement on specific performance goals for the coming 90 days.  Be sure that the focus is on outputs.

2.  The employee and manager must be on the same page as to how the goals will be achieved (no micro-management allowed).

3.  The employee is asked to monitor their own progress and determine if mid-course corrections are necessary.  Asking for assistance or advice, anytime, is encouraged.

4.  Both parties will be expected to monitor results and make necessary adjustments through weekly 15-minute meetings.  These meetings should be collaborative, constructed and forward moving in nature rather than a manager-driven review.

Once underway, goals and methods are agreed-on and the employee is progressing, sustaining the process is a matter of the manager asking these type of questions at the weekly meeting:

1.  What has happened since our last meeting?

2.  What did you expect to have happened by now?

3.  If there is a short fall, do you have a recovery plan?

4.  Do you need any ideas from me?

5.  What do you expect to accomplish by our next meeting?

Action item for you:  To personalize this information, put yourself in the shoes of the employee who would welcome support and guidance from the manager.  With that in mind, edit the above 5 questions to be more in line with you would want yourself. 

Hope this is useful,

Richard

Powered by Qumana

4 Comments »

If you have been coaching for a while, this will be familiar.  The client is under pressure from above to improve their leadership skill. You wonder if there is even a 1/2 of snowball chance of this person becomong a leader <g>.

Instead of coaching “leadership”, far easier to start much, much smaller. Have the client self observe (one week only) their tendency in these five areas:

How often does your client:

1. Seek opportunities to advance the goals of his/her department?  ( = a results orientation)
2. Understand and respond to the concerns of others (= caring about the interpersonal dimension)
3. Accept and act on suggestions from others (= flexibility & openness)
4. Anticipates problems in their early stages (= pro activity and cognitive skill)
5. Clarify the expectations of others in his or her work group (= collaboration)

It is good to start slow and build. I like these five. They are observable, actionable and do not take a ton of time to teach, coach or practice. Once progress is evident, you can go on to bigger, more challenging areas of “leadership”. If no progress…???

Let me know how often you run into people who really don’t want to “lead”.  I would like to know.

Powered by Qumana

7 Comments »

Speed your growth? Here is one way.

A great goal for your client is to have them Grow Beyond Their Current Role.  It is a sure way to expand and to learn.

As coaches, we really need to be on the top of our game every day and with every prospect/client. Think of your job as the primary vehicle for your own personal development.  Being a coach is a means to an end.

If we accept that your success requires you deliver more (expand beyond) than what your current role requires, we grow, serve the clients better and move ahead (psychologically as well as financially). The trick is to know exactly what your role requires in terms of inputs and outputs.

Since coaching is such an intangible service, it may be difficult to measure the soft skills needed for a successful assignment.  However, unless you establish your own set of hard measures for these skills (quantitive measures that indicate successful coaching), you will be uncertain of what caused your success.

Why you do what you do?

Your goal is to know what you are doing with your client, why, and how you will measure success.  Carefully choose the actions you take to produce the result  you are seeking. Get out a big sheet of paper and sketch it out. What do you do and why? You are looking for leading indicators, i.e.,   If  I do this action well (a), the resultant success will be (c).  Create your own list. Shoot for 7 - 10 actions you want to measure. This may look easy but it is not.

The main benefits of this process;

• Knowing your measures in advance gives you positive control
• Provides you a personal scorecard and template from which to grow
• Allows you to test various approaches and make refinements
• Keeps you focused on your own skill, not just the project
• Moves you from re-acting at the expense of the project goals
• Allows you to "reward’ yourself as you expand beyond your current role

Send over your ideas

It would be good to hear your view on this topic. Send along a few suggestions on how you would measure your own performance.

Thanks,

Richard  310 394 0200

Powered by Qumana

5 Comments »