NZSALES

NZ’S E-MAG FOR SALES LEADERS | WWW.NZSALESMANAGER.CO.NZ

SEPTEMBER | ISSUE 98

Page 10

The Only Skill Every Professional Needs

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From the EditorI n this issue, Jeff Haden’s excellent

article, ‘The Only Skill Every Professional Needs’ might seem

obvious for a sales magazine, but I particularly like the point that Jeff makes that whatever work we do, if things are not working, we should take time out to get better at selling.

No matter how good our product or idea, success with it can come hard until we learn how to sell it.

ABOUTShort and sharp, New Zealand Sales Manager is a free e-magazine delivering thought provoking and enlightening articles, and industry news and information to forward-thinking sales managers, business owners and sales professionals.

In sales, as with most things, we only get better with practice, and knowing what skills to work on. Check out the articles on getting the phone to ring, and the top ten sales hunting skills for lots of ideas on how you can become a better sales person.

PNCONTACT/SUBSCRIBE&SHARE

W www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

E pauln@nzsalesmanager.co.nz

EDITOR Paul Newsom

ART DIRECTOR Jodi Olsson

GROUP EDITOR Richard Liew

ADDRESS NZ Sales Manager, C/- Espire Media, PO Box 99758, Newmarket, Auckland 1151, NZ

RICHARD LIEWManaging Director

021 123 456www.espiremedia.comrichardl@espiremedia.com

ISSN 2230-4762

CONTENT ENQUIRIES Phone Paul on 021 784 070 or email pauln@nzsalesmanager.co.nz

ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES Phone Jennifer on 09 522 7257 or email jenniferl@espiremedia.com

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SEPTEMBERcontents

THIS MONTH'S MUST READ...............................................................................................................68 TIPS TO MAKE THE PHONE RING

THE ONLY SKILL EVERY PROFESSIONAL NEEDS......................................................................10

HOW TO USE COMPLIMENTS EFFECTIVELY....................................................................14

QUICK FIX..........................................................................................................................................17It’s not what you sell, it’s how you sell

TWO MINUTE TOP-UP.......................................................................................................................18THE TOP TEN SALES HUNTING SKILLS

BOOK REVIEW...................................................................................................................................20Never Be Closing by Tim Hurson & Tim Dunne

CALENDAR.......................................................................................................................21

THE CLOSE........................................................................................................................................22

Lewis Road Creamery is a Kiwi dairy business that started with the belief that New Zealand could do better – believing that, as the world’s biggest exporter of dairy products, we should have the world’s best branded dairy products, too. Recognising the opportunity for a dairy company to offer the best that our dairy industry can produce, Lewis Road Creamery CEO and founder Peter Cullinane set out to create a quality brand, living by the mantra that the branding should be brilliant and the product should be better.

As a business, Lewis Road Creamery is focused on quality, innovation, speed to market, customer satisfaction and partnerships. In choosing a telecommunications provider, these core attributes and shared beliefs shaped the decision to partner with 2degrees.

Cullinane says that 2degrees shares a similar ethos in terms of innovation and he loves that it’s a Kiwi company with a can-do attitude, which shines through in all aspects of their relationship.

“2degrees is less about process and more about progress. Their focus on customers is really important to us and, like us, they are all about simplicity. 2degrees doesn’t over-complicate things – they deliver what they

promise in a way that’s incredibly customer friendly and customer centric.”

From the ease of switching, through to the Business Connect plan itself, Cullinane says everything is simple. “I don’t want to worry about data, I just want everyone in the business to have the data they need when they need it, and that’s the simplicity 2degrees offers.”

For Lewis Road Creamery, their customer connections are what make the business work, so the service 2degrees provides is “utterly critical” to their daily operations.

“The technology that 2degrees provides is exactly what we need and, as our requirements have grown, it’s all been a very simple process,” says Cullinane.

Like most businesses, Lewis Road Creamery just doesn’t have time to deal with issues when it comes to their telecommunications, but with 2degrees the dairy company hasn’t encountered a single problem.

“What I’d say to other businesses considering the switch to 2degrees is ‘rock along’ – it’s the easiest thing in the world to pull off, and you can do it with a smile on your face, which is a great test.”

“They deliver what they promise in a way that’s incredibly customer friendly…”

Peter Cullinane, Founder of Lewis Road Creamery

Join NZ’s smartest businesses switching to 2degrees Talk to a Business Specialist today on 0800 022 249 or visit your nearest 2degrees store. 2degreesmobile.co.nz/store-locator

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MUSTREAD

One option is to understand the value of your time and organise your day to earn more. Here are eight concepts to help you do just that.

1. Money HoursOrganise your day around the 'money' hours. These are the hours that you can and should be talking with your prospects and customers. Going out on appointments. Calling on the telephone. Finding new customers and seeking opportunities with existing ones. The money hours are too valuable to waste on non-revenue generating activities. Confine these activities to before or after your money hours. This requires discipline, doesn't it? How much easier is it to do a bit of paperwork rather than picking up the phone?

Words by Debbie Mayo-Smith

8 Tips to Make the Phone Ring

06 | www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

Your phone is not ringing as much as before; companies

are taking longer to reach a buying

decision and referrals are slowing. Combine

this with poor time management and

what do you have? Disaster. So what can

you do to maintain sales and income?

www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz | 07

2. Best time to callWhen calling, persistency pays. Sometimes up to six calls are required. The best time to call to get real people willing to do business is between 3:30pm and 4:45pm. The best time to get a 'live' conversation is between 3:30pm and 5:30pm. Friday is the best. Monday is the worst. The best results are obtained within 24 hours when returning incoming phone calls. And leave a good message.

3. Prospecting HoursDedicate a certain percentage of your money hours to prospecting for new business. Vary the time of day when you contact individuals to increase the probability of reaching them. As this is an activity most people hate, put it in your schedule. Then do it. Pick up the phone and - as all telemarketers are told - call with a smile on your face.

4. Follow-upDo what you say you'll do. Ensure you document your follow-up immediately. If you set it aside for later, you'll either forget to do it, or you won't remember all the details.

Documentation can be your paper diary or, even better, your computer. Your proprietary or email software has the ability to be your memory and prompt you automatically. In Outlook, you can use the Tasks or Calendar function, or To Do in Lotus Notes. When creating one, you can write notes, add attachments – but more importantly, you set a date and time for it to pop up and remind you to do the follow-up.

Use this prompting function to help you to maintain your follow-ups when faced with a continuum of 'not yets'. Persistency pays heaps, yet very few people persevere when they don't get an immediate 'yes'. The prompt is also superb for those longer-term 'call me back in six months' follow-ups.

To make it easy, standardise your most frequently used follow-up pieces for easy production and distribution.

A little extra advice: with so much email clutter and spam filtering, if possible post the marketing or proposal material in addition to emailing. Emailing allows recipients to share and forward it. However, many large corporations and government departments strip attachments or limit mailbox sizes, so the recipient may never see your email or attachments. Posting a print version ensures they do.

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5. Keep improvingMake sure you schedule non-money hours for professional development such as sales skills, people skills or improving industry and/or product knowledge.

6. Know your statisticsSales don't appear magically out of thin air. The "yes" you got today from a customer was generated by an activity that occurred in the past. One of the biggest problems for small business owners and the self-employed is being too busy and allowing marketing and business development to slip off the radar. In other words, not following point one – using the money hours correctly. If your sales funnel is four months, and you were busy in February, neglecting to create activity, June will be unusually quiet.

Here are other statistics you should know: How many phone calls or emails to make contact with an individual? How many contacts to a qualified lead? Qualified leads to proposals? Proposals or contracts to customers? Calls per hour? Follow-up attempts before dropping?

Debbie Mayo-Smith (BSc Hons Econ) is an International Motivational Business Speaker and Managing Director of SuccessIS!

www.successis.co.nz

7. Productive down timeAlways, always have something to read for flight delays, waiting rooms, standing in lines. Use your time driving to listen to educational, business podcasts or CDs. With headphones, you can also use the time to make call backs.

8. Just one moreIf you can discipline yourself to make just one extra contact a day with someone new, you'll have about 250 extra contacts in a year. •

If you can discipline yourself to make just one extra contact a day with someone new, you'll have about 250 extra contacts in a year.

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The Only Skill Every Professional Needs

Words by Jeff Haden

I asked about twenty business owners and CEOs to name the one skill they feel contributes the most to their success. What did every one of them say?

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www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz | 011

I asked about twenty business owners and CEOs to name the one skill they feel contributes the most to their success. What

did every one of them say?

Sales skills. Each and every one felt success is almost impossible -- in any field -- without solid sales skills. Here’s why:

To many people, the word selling implies manipulating, pressuring, cajoling -- all the used car salesman stereotypes.

But if you think of selling as explaining the logic and benefits of a decision, then everyone needs sales skills: to convince others that an idea makes sense, to show bosses or investors how a project or business will generate a return, to help employees understand the benefits of a new process, etc.

In essence, sales skills are communication skills. Communication skills are critical in any business or career -- and you’ll learn more about communication by working in sales than you will anywhere else. Gaining sales skills will help you lead teams, line up distribution deals, land customers, build important connections... in every stage of building a career, most of what you do involves sales.

Understanding the sales process, and how to build long-term customer relationships, is incredibly important regardless of the industry or career you choose. Spending time in a direct sales role is an investment that will pay dividends forever.

012 | www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

Jeff Haden is a ghostwriter, speaker and LinkedIn Influencer. He has ghostwritten over fifty non-fiction books, including seven Amazon category number ones.

HERE ARE A FEW OF THE BENEFITS:

You'll learn to negotiate.Every job involves negotiating: with customers, with vendors and suppliers, even with employees. Salespeople learn to listen, evaluate variables, identify key drivers, overcome objections, and find ways to reach agreement -- without burning bridges.

You'll learn to close.Asking for what you want is difficult for a lot of people. Closing a sale is part art, part science. Getting others to agree with you and follow your direction is also part art and part science. If you want to lead people, you must be able to close. Great salespeople know how to close. Great bosses do, too.

You'll learn persistence.Salespeople hear the word no all the time. Over time, you'll start to see no as a challenge, not a rejection. And you'll figure out what to do next.

You'll learn self-discipline.When you work for a big company, you can sometimes sleepwalk your way through a day and still get paid. When you work on commission, your credo is, "If it is to be, it's up to me". Working in sales is a great way to permanently connect the mental dots between performance and reward.

Find Jeff Haden on Linkedin

You'll gain self-confidence.Working in sales is the perfect cure for shyness. You’ll learn to step forward with confidence, especially under duress or in a crisis.

Still not convinced? Think of it this way: The more intimidating or scary a position in sales sounds, the more you need to take one. You'll gain confidence and self-assurance, and the skills you gain will serve you well for the rest of your business -- and personal -- life.

So if you’re a would-be entrepreneur, set aside your business plan and work in sales for a year or two. If you’re struggling in your profession, take a part-time sales job. Part of the reason you’re struggling is probably because of poor sales skills.

Successful people spend much of their time 'selling'. Go learn how to sell. It’s the best investment you will ever make.•

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How to Use Compliments Effectively Words by Ian Segail

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Both great and poor sales people have told me that paying someone

a compliment is an easy way to establish 'instant rapport' with a customer. If a great sales person tells you that compliments are the way to go, then as a student of effective selling techniques I sit up and take notice.

However poor sales people have told me the same thing, with equal conviction! So what is it that the great ones do that the poor ones don't?

The 17th century French philanthropist and social reformer Francois Duc De La Rochefoucauld gave us a clue with his insight that: "We sometimes think that we hate flattery, but we only hate the manner in which it is done."

From this viewpoint we can deduce that great sales people pass on a compliment in such a manner that the person being complimented takes on the praise, whereas those sales people who use compliments to build rapport and fail in their quest, do so because their compliment is perceived as phony.

Customers obviously feel that they are being flattered just so that the sales person can score points off them. The poor sales person's 'flattering' approach backfires leaving the customer feeling fearful and wary rather than open and trusting. On the other hand when compliments are made with grace, being on the receiving end feels good, even if we don't feel completely worthy of the commendation.

Salespeople who use compliments to build rapport and fail in their quest, do so because their compliment is perceived as phony.

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Ian Segail is one of Australia’s leading sales turn-around strategists and authorities on sales and sales management.

www.iansegail.com

In watching and listening to those great sales people who use compliments so effectively I have noticed that in most cases they never seem to actually compliment the person rather they tend to admire something about the person. They compliment with an action or something they see. Then they go on to tell them why, describing its effects and impact. In other words instead of flattering with, "Oh, what stunning eyes you have", they will pass on a compliment by saying: "What a great coat that is, it makes such a statement!".

When you compliment a 'thing' you're admiring, comments are easily accepted by the customer (stranger), as they are not personal. When you tell me that I am wearing a great coat, it is the coat that is great not I. I am one degree separate from my coat, yet because I chose the coat I am being praised indirectly. As a customer I will feel good about myself and, by default, you too.

To pay tribute and compliment the thing when the relationship is new is less threatening and less invasive. This is because most people are not easily able to accept direct compliments and many will actually feel embarrassed if they feel the accolade is too personal. This is not a good way to begin building a 'trusting friend' relationship.

So next time you want to use this powerful rapport building technique, do as the pro's do and find something about the customer to admire. Focus on the customer; see if you can quickly discover at least three to five positive observations around and about them. Then genuinely pay the compliment to them, go on to explain its impact and watch how they will begin to open up under your tribute.•

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QUICKFIX

Lacking Motivation

Better still, it’s time to ask yourself some questions. Ask yourself why your motivation is waning. Maybe it’s because you have targets that you are not

reaching, you are not getting on with your boss, meetings with prospects have become mundane and you are just going through the motions, your incentive package does not work for you, or any other reasons.

Whatever the reason you need to start by being honest with yourself, admitting there is something that needs fixing, and pausing for a while to figure out what. Then you can do something about it.•

If you are lacking motivation, maybe it’s time for a pep talk.

1. Self-starters. By nature, natural sales hunters possess an inherent desire to hit the phones, pavement, social networks and email to drum up new business. You’re always looking for the next opportunity no matter where you are (my personal favourites are airplanes and ski lifts) .

2. Get Visible. Great hunters want to meet new people, ask for referrals, call a prospect on their cell phone, and send email calendar invites. These activities are arrows in your quiver and you’re not afraid to use them even when your peers pull back.

TWOMINUTETOPUP

The Top Ten Sales Hunting Skills

Words by Kendra Lee

018 | www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

There are a handful of critical skills every successful sales hunter possesses. With lead generation and prospecting in high demand, how do your skills – or your team’s skills – stack up?

3. Social and web savvy. In today’s world, social selling and the internet are critical to identifying and researching potential prospects. Great sales hunters understand this. You use these tools to uncover and engage with qualified prospects.

4. Prospect. The best sales hunters have their own plan for executing the activities that will generate the leads they need. If your company has a lead generation strategy, that’s even better — but as a great hunter, you don’t hesitate to supplement them to blow away your quota.

5. Disciplined. Excellent hunters set their own quotas, self-monitor key metrics and hold themselves accountable to uncovering and working qualified prospects. When you do these things, you know precisely where to focus your energy.

www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz | 019

6. Don’t take no for an answer the first time. When great sales hunters reach a prospect, their goal is to extend the conversation long enough to establish a relationship through good discussion. You know that the longer you engage prospects, the better your chances are of scheduling an appointment.

7. Great listeners. Contrary to the previous point, most sales reps talk too much. Top sales hunters, on the other hand, know when to be quiet and listen because it will allow them to learn enough about the prospect to get in the door and make the appropriate recommendation.

8. Inquisitive and insightful. Skilled hunters have a keen ability to ask smart, insightful questions. Your queries make prospects think about their situation, needs, and criteria, which almost always leaves a lasting impression. If they aren’t ready to meet with you now, they probably will be in the future.

9. Progressive qualifier. The best hunters progressively qualify sales prospects throughout the sales process. You space your qualification questions throughout the sales process, continually learning more while also re-qualifying that the opportunity has not changed. Your closing ratio reflects your finesse.

Kendra Lee helps clients get more customers.www.klagroup.com

10. Comfortable with uncertainty. In sales hunting, you never know how deep a prospect may want to take a conversation. You thrive on the unknown and are capable of carrying a conversation long enough to schedule an appointment or get the right person on the phone.

So how do you stack up?When you perfect these 10 skills, your ability to achieve your personal sales goals skyrockets.•

Skilled hunters have a keen ability to ask smart, insightful questions.

020 | www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

RESOURCECORNER

Speaker and consultant Tim Hurson presents 12 techniques that benefit both the seller and the client. Never Be Closing expands

on the principles of Tim Hurson's first book, Think Better, to teach salespeople how to improve their strategy and sell anything to anyone using a simple, repeatable framework.

This isn't a book full of mundane tactics for cold-calling or techniques for closing a deal. This is a problem-solving approach that is more beneficial for both the seller and the client. Selling better isn't just a one time thing; it's a way to become a more valuable long-term partner. With their 'Productive Selling Model', Hurson and Dunne offer business people a set of 15 tools to pull apart their current techniques, analyse them, and re-assemble them in a dynamic way.

The authors include practical advice mixed with helpful anecdotes to build mutually productive relationships between seller and client, including: the Rashomon Effect, which teaches readers how to bridge the gap between different perspectives; the Hitchcock Method, which offers readers strategies on developing a script about themselves, their

Never Be ClosingHow to sell better without screwing your clients, your colleagues, or yourself

Available from fishpond.com By Tim Hurson & Tim Dunne

company, and their products; and the Sales Conversation, a three step structure to explore the client's needs, establish credibility, and deliver value. •

EVENTSCALENDAR

DATE NAME PLACE COMPANY

22 September Sales PerformerPalmerston North

David Forman

22 September Sales Basics Wellington Geewiz

29-30 September Essential Marketing Boot Camp Auckland The Marketing Company

13 October Strategic Sales Leader Auckland David Forman

13 October Sales Performer Christchurch David Forman

14 October Key Account Management Auckland David Forman

15 October Cold Calling and Prospecting Auckland Top Achievers Sales Training

16 October Key Account Management Christchurch IMNZ

16 October Sales Training Seminar Wellington Top Achievers Sales Training

20 October Sales Basics Auckland Geewiz

28 October Sales Management Hamilton Geewiz

29 October Advanced Serious Selling Auckland Geewiz

29 October Sales Management Auckland Top Achievers Sales Training

29 OctoberFatal mistakes we make in sales presentations

Hawkes Bay Sales Impact Group

022 | www.nzsalesmanager.co.nz

THECLOSE

“It isn’t the mountains

ahead to climb that wear

you down, it’s the pebble

in your shoe.” - Muhammad Ali

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