I was chatting to a friend of mine who runs a sales team who are always on the road dealing with B2B sales.

He shared with me a brilliant tip that I’m sure isn’t new to any of us but is really quite simple and clever.

He encourages his team to have meetings with clients over breakfast and he always runs his sales meetings over breakfast as well. 

His reasons? Naturally it takes less time out of the working day but also breakfasts are cheaper than lunches so his expenses budgets are rarely breached.  He also feels good that his whole team are getting the most important meal of the day.

Clever stuff and very sensible.

Last month whilst running a sales training seminar in Ireland, I heard a really fab sales tip and I just had to share it with you.

It’s referred to as brain ache.

Not the kind you get after a heavy night’s drinking but the kind that customers get when they’re tired.

Sometimes customer or clients get tired when we’re face to face in a selling situation.  The answer then is to go into sales autocratic mode and lead them onto the next stage in your selling process.  Tell them what the next step is and agree it, even setting up dates and times for the next step.

Amazing tip and you just know that it’ll work.  It’s a confidence thing.

Oddly enough, it happened to me only recently and I never knew it.  Claire and I needed to get hold of a specialist slate tiler and we must have spoken to half a dozen.  When Dale came round I was exhausted and he just led me onto the next stage of his sales process.  And I was happy for him to do this because I had brain ache.

He did turn out to be one of the best slate tilers in the business though.

I use a virtual answering service for the office number when we don’t have anyone here. So rather than a message machine greeting callers, we provide a real life human being to take the call.

It works really well and one surprising benefit is how good they are at fobbing off cold callers.  You see they are highly trained and experienced to deal with salespeople.

Now when you are trying to talk to a new prospect, maybe following up a letter or other introduction, you need some tactics to be able to handle the gatekeeper.  I firmly believe you should be partnering them, particularly if they are the prospect’s PA, as they can help you rather than hinder you.  Treat them properly and as a partner and this will pay dividends in the long run.  However sometimes you need a tip or two to get put through – here are two for you.

Ask their name

Simply ask their name.  And how does this work?  Well most gatekeepers are trained to ask the questions of you and you autopilot by answering them correctly because you want to be put through to your prospect.

Instead ask them their name like this:

“Who’s calling?”

“Paul Archer and who am I talking to?”

“Uh…Jane”

“Is Brian in Jane?”

Use lots of empathy, don’t come across too confident and make sure your tonality rises on each question.  You do need to soften the questions you ask, make them palatable.

And it works; Jane will be put off her normal stride and will put you through.

The Maximum 3 Question Tip

This is a clever tip that is designed to use up the maximum number of questions a gatekeeper will ask before putting you through.  You see normally when asked who’s calling we give all the information:

“It’s Paul Archer, from Archer Training, I’m following up a letter I sent to Brian a week ago in which I promised to phone”

Instead limit your answers.

“Who’s calling?”

“I’m Paul Archer”

“From which company?”

“Archer Training”

“And what’s it regarding?”

“I’m following up a letter I sent to Brian a week ago where I promised to phone”

The gatekeeper is exhausted now from asking questions and has used up her “normal” allowance and will probably put you through if your prospect is available.

But remember the key to handling the gatekeeper is not to treat them as an obstacle but as a partner, work with them, share information with them, treat them as an ally and you’ll get lots of cooperation.

I’ve checked my online call sheet and it says 01/08/08 – 15:43:35 – Sales call – No message.  My virtual PA’s doing her job well.

I'm right in the middle of some excruciatingly painful dental treatment. Painful not in the treatment sense, but painful on my wallet.

But I didn't want to tell the Doctor at the time because….well I just didn't want to admit it was expensive. So I fobbed him off at the time with some other objection, I think I used the "I need to think about it"

"I need to think about it". Yes we've all heard that objection before, so here's a tip that's warm and sincere, and ideal when you hear it.

Suggest a possible problem.

OK, let's say you trial close with "Mike, if we were to get the paperwork going right now, might you be ready to go ahead?"

Taken aback a little by the commitment, Mike autopilots "I'd need to think it through first though"

Suggest a problem subtly such as "I do understand….tell me please Mike…is it a question of cost?

This will stir your customer into telling you the real reason for not going ahead…or that they really do want to think it through.

Next Wednesday my dental treatment starts.

Goodbye and think of me in great pain next week

Men are definitely worse at it than women. Many salespeople are guilty of it. I was once accused of it on a first date.

What is it?

Interrogation by a sales person.  The reason we do this is that we’re told to ask lots of questions to find out the needs and pains of our customers.  And we’re taught a myriad of question types to use.  Open, closed, assertion, comparative, yes tag….the list goes on.

And it can end up like an interrogation.

An easy way to get around this is to verbally soften the question and one of the best starters to use is:

"Is this a fair question to ask you…”

Then follow up the starter with the question you wanted to sound softer. Really simple and one you can use when you want to ask a tough question.

Others are:

“I’m interested to know….”

“It’ll be really useful if I can ask you….”

“Tell me…”

And the girl who accused me of interrogating her on our first date?  Well I was only 18, young, impressionable and she never went out with me again!

Watching the Wimbledon Tennis Championships recently reminded me of how much practise professionals have to do to compete with the world’s greatest tennis players.  None of the top players, or any player come to think of it, wings it.  Or sees how it goes on the court.

Now sales people can’t wing it either.

In sales and sales coaching we need to do be the same as professional sports people – we need to practise our skills continuously. But I have heard many a grizzled sales person growl out that they absolutely hate the practise methods that are provided for them – the dreaded role play.

So if you’re a sales coach fret not…role play does work…with a special ingredient which I’ll explain in a moment.

A couple of weeks ago my family headed down to Bliss Hill deep in the Black Country (that’s the West Midlands to you outsiders) and entered a complete Victorian world.  A whole village was re-created to match 1901.  Shops, streets, banks, people, horse carts, fair ground attractions.  It was so real that my son Lewis, who is studying the Victorians at school, said he learnt so much about their lives from the day. I tell you Lloyds Bank from 1901 was a hoot.

My point?  Recreate your sales environment as well as you can before embarking on role plays.  Make them as real as you can with situations gleamed from the real world.  Hire in some actors.  You don’t need to spend a fortune on professional actors, tap into your local Amateur Dramatic Society or the local drama college and use these people to become customers for you.  Fully brief them on how they should play and watch the role play bloom.

Sales people, like all skill based professionals, need to practise and improve their art.  Continuously. Let this happen through real-life simulations, and you’ll soon see sales revenue on the up.

Researchers operating in an American shopping mall demonstrated that a touch on the customer’s upper arm for about half a second had a miraculous result.

63% of those shoppers touched, shopped for more

23% of those shoppers touched, spent more money

Wow

So the tip here is to lightly touch your customer upper arm just before you want them to take some action.  Buy your product, refer you on to someone else in the organisation, or sign the contract.

Chances are it’ll increase your closing rates and help you influence your customer more.

Try it…go on…take a risk.

Standing amongst 70,000 people over the weekend, I was mesmerised by the band playing in front of me at the Pyramid Stage in Glastonbury. 

Now to capture the hearts and attention of the Glastonbury crowd you have to follow the two simple rules:

• Rule No. 1 – Involve the crowd in an easy way – don’t make it complex
• Rule No. 2 – get us singing along to a rousing chorus

One band I saw didn’t get this right at all - KT Tunstall, a great singer but she tried to get the crowd to do a complex manoeuvre that got a laugh but within 20 seconds 99% of the crowd gave up.

On the other hand, another band, The Hoosiers, got it so right.  During one number called “Cops and Robbers” the lead singer got us to shout Robbers every time he shouted Cops.  Over 60,000 people soon made the biggest noise shouting “Robbers” you’ve ever heard.  And he got us to do this dozens of times during the chorus.

It was so simple yet so effective and made their set at Glastonbury go down a storm.

The message for us?

When presenting to a number of people, and the reason doesn’t matter – selling a proposal, gaining agreement, training – follow the first rule of Glastonbury.

Rule No. 1 – Involve the audience in an easy way – don’t make it complex.

How can you do this?  I’ve made available an article that you can download for free called Getting Audience Participation When Speaking in Public – 18 suggestions to help you involve the audience.  You can download this now for free by clicking below

And if you ever get to present to 60,000 people, remember the rule of Glasto.

Here’s something really worth while to think about from my friend Pearl Nielsen.

One day, there was a blind man sitting on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet and a sign that read: "I am blind, please help."

A creative publicist was walking by and stopped to observe. He saw the blind man had only a few coins in his hat. He dropped in more coins, and without asking for permission, took the sign and rewrote it.

He returned the sign to the blind man and left. That afternoon the publicist returned to the blind man and noticed that his hat was full of notes and coins.

The blind man recognised the publicist's footsteps and asked if it was he who had rewritten his sign and wanted to know what he had written on it.

The publicist responded: "Nothing that was not true. I just wrote the message a little differently." He smiled and went on his way.

The new sign read: "Today is the first day of Spring and I cannot see it."

I just love this story.  It shows you how you can make a product simply shine out by providing enough contrast. Clever stuff.

The other weekend my wife and I took in the pleasures of Ikea in West Bromwich.  A store oozing flatpack furniture which looks great in the store all constructed, but when you bring the boxes home, the reality is completely different.

Three hours later, choosing, queuing and jamming all those boxes into my car, I headed off home with my flat pack furniture for my new office.

I’m certainly not the greatest when it comes to DIY but flat pack furniture I’m not at all bad at I must say. I just take my time. So I allocated a whole wet weekend to construct the complete office.  Joy of joys I hear you say.

One item consisted of 4 of the same construction part to make up a fancy book shelf with sliding covers. 

• The first one was OK but took me a long time with plenty of mistakes to correct.
• The second one shorter to construct with fewer mistakes
• The third one much shorter to make and I found a few nifty shortcuts
• The last one, the quickest, and my process was tuned to perfection.

Each time I had a go, I tweaked the procedure, improved the order and made it quicker and easier.

So next time you have an important business pitch to make, practise it live 4 times and when you do the 5^th one in front of the live audience, it’ll be crackingly good.

Repetition is the mother of all skill

Hire a room and present the pitch 4 times, present it live whilst driving in the car, run it through your mind 4 times in the gym, present it to your partner 4 times (not always easy I grant you).

Whenever or however you do it doesn’t matter, simply practise it 4 times, everytime to ensure success with the live event.

And my flatpack furniture?  Yes they turned out fine but I spent a whole weekend doing it and ended up with the biggest blister you’ve ever seen on my screwdriver hand.  I should’ve bought an electric screwdriver. But that’s another story for another day.

Speak to you next week and if you’re planning to go to the Glastonbury Festival, ping me an email and we can say hi.

How did a visit to an ancient castle outdo a 21^st Century experiential science museum with some of the best attractions ever invented?

Simple – the ancient castle was a better visitor attraction because they had learnt a vital lesson which we can use in selling.

I took a week off last month with my family and we decided to go visit some attractions for a few days.  I remember two places we visited and enjoyed as being completely the opposite to each other.  How were they so different?

One attraction let us loose in the place and the other carefully guided us along a pre-ordained path to enjoy ourselves.

And which one did we enjoy the most?

So where’s the moral here for selling.  Simple really when selling to a customer or presenting to an audience, you must take them along a path and explain what that path is and mention when you get to certain points in the journey.

Tell them that you’ll want to show them how the product might help them a little later on and they can make some decisions if they wish to.  Explain where you are in the process and what you want to do next.

The day out we enjoyed the most was Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire.  As soon as we stepped out of the entrance we were guided with signs and posters where to go.  At every junction we could see a map illustrating where our adventure was going next and I could see that I was going to enjoy all the sites the castle had to offer. Brilliant.

The other place, an experiential science museum in Bristol, just let us loose as soon as we left the payment counter.  I was faced with a myriad of decisions and options to choose and I didn’t know where to start.

So adopt a signposting culture the next time you’re with clients or presenting to a group of people and you’ll give them the best experience possible.

Standing in the middle of one of the biggest electrical stores I’ve ever seen, I was searching for iPod speakers and out of the corner of my eye I saw him approaching.

“Can I help you Sir”

“No thanks” I said, and off he went.  I’d fobbed him off easily but the weird thing was I would have quite liked some help to find the elusive speakers.  I wasn’t concentrating at the time, so went into autopilot to fob off the salesperson.

Had the salesperson persisted, he would have got a sale.  But he didn’t – he accepted my first “no”

The trick in selling is to challenge subtly every objection however large or small, and if the customer repeats it, then you can believe it.

Why? Because people are not always concentrating (like me) or they’re not confident to progress the sale and they automatically throw up a smokescreen, just like I did.  Challenge once and believe the answer then.

You do have to be a bit subtle when you challenge an objection.  Empathy is key:

“I appreciate that Sir, and I’m sorry if I made you jump.  It’s my new shoes, no one can hear me creep up on them in this store! Can I answer any questions you might have?”

“Totally understand you’re OK.  How have you found our new store?  It’s huge isn’t it?”

“That’s great you’re all sorted.  I’ve got to trudge all the way back to the entrance now and its miles away, are you sure I can’t help you in any way?”

Are just some ways of subtly challenging the first fob off.

Remember to subtly challenge the first objection and if it’s repeated, only then believe it.

Today my wife wanted me to shop with her for Slate Tile adhesive from Topps Tiles in Cheltenham. 

"Its a man's world was her plea and I feel so out of place in that testosterone filled place"

So I duly escorted her into the store, with my chest out and tummy in, trying to act all macho.  And I have to say I experienced the best customer service from a young chap I have ever come across.

He was knowledgeable about tile adhesive and the fact that we didn't need flexible this time but a certain thickness.  He was polite to us both and spoke clearly and succinctly without any unnecessary waffle.  He was professional and speedy.  My request for a VAT receipt was met with enthusiasm as he knew his way around the computer system without delay.

It was a Sunday and guys of his age should be doing other things other than working in a tile shop.

He wheeled the bags out on the trolley and helped me load them into the car.

A perfect shop with perfect customer service.  It just needs posting into my blog.

Well done young man and well done the training at Topps Tiles.  Although I don't suppose they have a large training department. But here's the learning.  Don't spend £000's of pounds on customer service training - just employ the right people who are naturally wanting to help.  Its that simple.

The other day I was on the phone to a prospective client and I needed to get through the gate keeper.  Their job is to help all enquiries and to prevent their boss’s time from being used unnecessarily.  And I don’t think I was top of their list that day.

And the gatekeeper’s name?

Voicemail.

So how do you get past voicemail?  The simple answer is you don’t.  Yes, leave a message if you get caught on one but don’t expect a reply.  Although I was taught many years ago to leave an intriguing message such as:

“Hi June, I have something really special which I know will benefit you, call me back and I’ll talk to you about it.”

It could work, but more than likely June will cotton on to the fact that it’s a ruse designed to get him to phone you.

No, the best advice is to call back and ask for June’s Personal Assistant and get this person on your side.  Friendship with the PA is time well spent.  Ask the PA for their help.  Ask how would be the best way to make contact with June. 

Treat them like a mini me of June and use the same language and tonality as you would with June. Deal with them as a partner and you’ll have far more chance to get to talk to June in the end.

So what is the greatest threat or barrier in a sales meeting?

It was September and we were enjoying a balmy Indian Summer. I was sitting in a meeting room in a very high tech environment about to discuss the client’s issues in wanting to increase sales revenue.

Everything was perfect – a round table to facilitate discussions – white board and pens – air conditioning being considerate to our welfare – strong coffee (roast and ground of course) fresh on the table.

In walked the Sales Managers consisting of four people.  Everyone shook hands correctly, we exchanged pleasantries like you do…and then…disaster.  3 of them opened up their laptops, connected to the Wifi and began to use them to make notes.  1 person sat down with his tablet PC.

3 barriers had been raised like drawbridges from an ancient castle.

Communication was blocked.

Until the Sales Director came to the rescue. “You 3 put those darn things away”

“Am I Ok with this one?” said the tablet owner “Yep can’t see yours that’s fine.”

The message?  Be wary of your laptop screen.  When positioned badly it does cause a barrier.  It also distracts eye contact and concentration.  Keep them to the side away from the space between you and the customer.  Use a pencil to draw the customer’s eyes to you, when they are fixated on the screen, like a fishing hook.  Clever trick is to point the pencil at the screen to capture their eyes and slowly move the pencil and their eyes will follow.

Any my learning from the meeting? Tablet PCs are cool.  It sat on the table like a piece of paper and the sales manager used a pen to write directly into the tablet.  It was unobtrusive and I thought that’s what all salespeople need when facing customers in meetings.

So next time you’re thinking of replacing your laptop, think tablet instead.  I am.

I’ve never been really good at DIY but I was watching our brickie, Brian, last week, laying bricks on our new wall.  He made it look so easy, so elegant and what a fab finished job he’d done.

I brought him a cup of tea since this brick laying looked like hard work.  And I found myself asking “how do you lay bricks Brian?”

So he told me step by step and it did seem fairly straight forward although I doubt if I could do it as well as Brian.

But it struck me there and then.  Maybe we could ask our customers how they do it?  How they like to buy the product or service we have to offer.  Why do we force our selling process on them when a simple question can find out how they like to buy.

“So Mr Brown, may I ask, how have you approached buying your mortgage before?”

“June, it would be really helpful to me if you might let me know how you like to buy products like these?”

“What’s the process here for buying this kind of service, Michael?”

“It would be very useful Bob, if you could let me know who else might be involved in the purchase?”

Try a question along these lines the next time you’re dealing with a new customer or company and you will be surprised how open people are to letting you know.  Make a brief note of their buying process and work along those lines.

And talking about lines, Brian’s brick wall is coming on a treat.

Reading the local paper recently I was surprised to hear of two local companies that have gone bust.  One was a large computer company and the other was a small coach firm.  The reason they both went bust is that they were both faced with changes – the computer firm by global market competition and the coach firm by a simple change in legislation.

Both failed to adapt when faced with changes.

So how does this affect you as a salesperson?

Recognise the biggest change affecting you right now – the internet – and how this will replace you now or in the future.

I’ve heard that some banks and building societies are going to use the 6 month credit crunch period we’re going through now, to invest in technology to remove the mortgage broker from the equation.  Whether this is true or possible, it makes salespeople get a tad worried.

So face up to the challenge of the internet and either use it or re-create your selling proposition.  If you sell in a transactional way i.e. deal with small ticket items and pretty much take orders, then the internet will replace you.  Period

So what extra value do you add to the chain?  Are you a consultative salesperson?  Do you help the customer make decisions, do you find your self asking lots of questions about them and their needs, do you tailor the service to suit, do you provide a bespoke solution?  Do you add value to their process, are you irreplaceable? Can the customer make a decision without you?

Face up to reality now and be aware of where you add value.

Are you a transactional salesperson or a consultative seller?  And survive the change that is the internet.

We’ve been enjoying Sky+ now for a couple of months and I have to say I couldn’t watch TV without it.

Being able to pause live TV to nip to the loo or to rewind a bit of a film that we didn’t understand first time around is just brilliant.

Wouldn’t it be great if our lives could also have a Sky+ remote control especially when we’re selling.  You know press pause to catch our breath and to think of some more questions to ask.

Lol. Not that we could do that in reality.

But there is a way.  When we’ve finished with a meeting with a client and we’re driving back to the office or walking to the rest room for some water or whatever.  Stop, pause and rewind in your mind, the meeting and ask ourselves:

•           What went well?

•           What didn’t go so well?

•           How could we have done that bit differently?

•           How else could we have said that?

•           What can I differently next time around?

Remember to Sky+ your client meetings to learn and improve.

Deeply engrossed in his new Xbox 360 game Call of Duty 4, my son momentarily looked up at Dad when I entered his room.  “What you up to son?” 

"I’m shooting the terrorists Dad, look I’m in the Blackhawk Helicopter, can you see me?”

Now is this is what the world is coming to?

Oddly enough it helps us enormously when we are selling or coaching people.

You see customers and coachees alike don’t go for features or processes, they simply what to get a result from the activity, just like my son in his Blackhawk Helicopter.  They want a result.  They want an outcome that solves a problem they have or achieves a goal.

It does sound a bit simplistic but we should just ask them what this end goal or outcome is.  And here’s a neat little tip, ask them what it looks like with them in the picture.

More and more of us are increasingly visually based so creating a picture in our head is very easy and if you can ask them to put themselves in that picture, you’re onto a winner.

“What does your aim look like Michael?  How does it appear with you in it?”

“Go on play a little, describe it to me?”

“I’m curious to know, what makes you want to do that?"  Or “I’m really interested to know why you want to get to that end result, do you mind telling me?”

And bingo, you know what it looks like for them so you can tailor your sales message or coaching programme to their needs and you get into their world a little bit more to find out more of their values and reasons.

Simple questions but really valuable.

And I’d better get my son out into the real world a little more often.  “Time to switch off the Xbox now Lewis!”

Out and about this week shopping for more items for our new conference room, I found myself and Claire in a big furniture store looking for tables and chairs. Now I can’t help myself watching salespeople in action to see if I can pick up some tips and ideas.  So I hid behind a large sideboard and observed this middle aged man helping a customer buy a three piece suite.

He’d caught the disease so I moved onto the next salesperson.

Again he looked quite experienced so I hid this time behind a wardrobe and watched him selling a large bed to a young couple.

And yes – he’d caught the disease as well.

So what is this affliction that tends to strike seasoned sales people? Interruptitis. Because they have heard other customers make similar comments in the past, they interject and finish the other person's statement or sentence. They think it is being helpful, but it’s annoying.

Everyone makes assumptions occasionally. Jumping in and finishing off sentences encourages you to make assumptions because you’ve heard it all before.  This is a terribly dangerous way of selling.

It’s easy to do but also easy to get out of the habit. I’m always preaching that good listening skills are essential to any salesperson so here’s a nice little tip to help you show the customer that you are listening to them.

After your customer has asked a question or given you some information, casually look upwards for a few seconds before dropping your gaze back to your customer.

This sublimely simple technique demonstrates that you are thinking about what they have just said and that’s the best complement you can give anyone.

If you want the science bit, about 65% of people think in pictures and images and research shows that when they are thinking, they look up.  This act of looking up proves that you are thinking.

If you can place your thumb and forefinger on your chin at the same time, then you’ll be oozing thinking gestures.

Try it, it works, and you’ll encourage your customer to speak more and you’ll never catch interruptitis again.

And what of me crouching behind the furniture in the store.  Did I get caught? No but Claire spotted me and told me to behave and stop being so nosey!

It was snowing heavily outside as I fell out of bed, thump.  I reached for my laptop and sat up trying to stir myself from a gorgeous sleep.

It was Glastonbury Festival time.  In 10 minutes I was going to log onto the special site to see if I could be one of the chosen few to get Glasto tickets for 2008.  The lottery started at 9am and previous years had seen tickets sell out in 30 minutes flat and much disappointment for me.

You see Glastonbury festival is probably one the most well known brands alive and each year their festival is flocked to by thousands of fans.  They operate one of the most effective influencing techniques going – that of scarcity.  You can use this when you’re selling.

Make something scarce and people will want it.  Its human nature to want something you can’t have and Glastonbury tickets are like gold dust.

They do it so well.  I mean create scarcity.  Firstly they have a great product, secondly you have to register one month before hand with your photograph and thirdly the tickets go on sale online at a certain time on a certain date.  The organisers make it known that each year 10 or 12 times the number of successful people apply, thousands are disappointed, like me for the last three years.

Which creates a huge demand for the product.

Clever hur?

So think about your service and products.  Naturally you are good at what you do and your products are first class but are they scarce?  Is your time scarce?  Could you:

• Put deadlines on special deals
• Put maximum numbers that can be bought
• “Whilst stocks last”
• “Sale ends Friday”
• Make appointments at 10.25 rather than 10 o’clock to appear scarce
• Say no to the customer’s first choice of appointment because you are busy with other clients
• Demonstrate your expertise via client testimonials
• Say things like “I can only fit in 3 client meetings each day”

Don’t be arrogant about things but make your product and service scarce and popular and clients will want it more.

And what happened on that snowy Sunday morning?  Frustration, annoyance I couldn’t log on and a desire to want a ticket raged inside me. 

Suddenly I was in.  The registration page appeared which I swiftly filled in, and hey presto, I was successful and I’m going to Glastonbury. 

But the ironic thing?  I heard this morning that there are tickets still available, and on sales again on a date next week.  They weren’t that scarce after all! But I was sucked into the hype.

They spring up almost everywhere where people have time to kill.  What am I talking about?  The kind of shops at airports and train stations where you buy stuff you don’t really need because you have an hour or so to kill.

Last month at Paddington Station in London, I had an hour to waste and was wandering around with nothing to do until I saw a shop that caught my eye.  A tiny little place that seemed to sell every nut possible in a Pick ‘n Mix style. Now I’m partial to a nut I have to say, so I popped my head in to have a look, not wanting to commit myself, since I had started a diet that week.

The array of nuts looked appetizing but I was about to turn away to find something healthier and less calorific to eat, like some celery, when the shop assistant caught my eye.

She smiled, said “how are you today” and “care to try some honey covered pecan nuts for free.”  Of course I did and boy were they tasty.

I felt obliged to walk into the shop, browse and bought a whole bag of mixed nuts, found a little corner of the station to nest into and wolfed the lot.

Now in sales, this little lady used one of the greatest influencing techniques ever known to mankind.  The principle of reciprocity or using the power of reciprocation to build a sale.  By giving me a smile and some free nuts, this powered up the in-built “click whir” human reaction of reciprocating or giving something back in return.  And it worked.  I spent £4 on a small bag of nuts.

My wife has a huge network of other mums and they are always reciprocating with each other to help each other out, constantly returning favours.

In sales, we should consider how we can give something to our customers to build this yearning to reciprocate.  Samples, corporate days out, information, newsletters, competitor analysis, training staff, sales aids, lunch….the list goes on.  Think of something you can give to your customer that is valuable to them.  Give it freely with no obligation and I guarantee you’ll start their internal clock to reciprocate to you sometime.

I have to say though, if you ever pass a little nut shop at Paddington Station, you simply have to try the honey covered pecans – they are to die for.

When waiting in reception, always stand and go to meet your client to shake hands.  Never shake hands whilst sitting down as this gives the wrong impression.  You’ll want to shake hands when your eyes are level with your clients, so as to easily engage in eye contact. Plus standing to greet is good practice and shows confidence.

 

When sitting in your client’s offices, be very observant of their seating posture and ensure your posture is never more relaxed that theirs.  Try to match their posture position, upright or relaxed and aim to get on their same energy level as theirs.  You can do this by observing their breathing patterns and matching these.  That will get you on the same energy level as them.  This is a tough matching skill but really works and sets up the whole meeting.

 

When sitting down, pull the chair back slightly – this indicates a non threatening gesture and allows your customer to see more of you so that the big desk becomes less of a barrier.  Is there anyway you can move the meeting to the sofa or round table in the corner?  If asked where you would prefer to sit, beckon towards those areas.

 

Do you ever have the feeling of encroachment when someone drives too close to your car?  You get all territorial right?  The same is for your client and their desks.  The space is theirs so be careful what you plonk on it.  Never place items on the desk unless you have their permission.  The last thing a client wants is your laptop placed on the desk and switched on without their go-ahead. I can just imagine them fuming inside whenever this happens. Instead put your notes and things on your lap and only use a laptop with their consent.

 

The desk territory issue is, though, a useful trial closing technique.  An important document or contract can be passed across the desk and if your client takes it and pulls it towards them, this could be a buying signal you want to make the most of.

Have you noticed it’s lawn cutting time.  Last Sunday my wife popped outside to listen for lawn mowers, now when she can hear them in the neighborhood, it’s time for Paul to get the mower out of the shed and carry out the most mundane task ever invented by mankind.

But my mower was in such a state I felt embarrassed to be seen with it. Dirty, rusting, chocked full of decomposing grass from last season, wires hanging off and a blanket refusal to start.

So this week I took it to the lawn mower service centre to be sorted and it was there that I was reminded, once again, what selling is all about.

As I backed my car into their entrance, dragged my old mower out of the boot…thump it went.  I pulled it across the forecourt towards the service desk to confront the owner of the store. A grizzled man and weathered, obviously been in the lawn mower business all his life he even smelt of grass

“Did you see it on your way in?”

No idea what he was asking, “sorry" I said. He pointed at her at the entrance and suddenly I was diverted. I saw something beautiful and fell in love in a man kind of way. She was sleak, dressed in red, curvaceous and Italian.

The ride on mower was totally beautiful and I adored her.

 “Isn’t she lovely sir….compact yet sturdy, cut your grass in no time at all, relax and enjoy the most humdrum of household tasks.  Get your kids to do the grass for you with that.  You so want that machine don’t you sir……”

At this point I was practically licking the piece of equipment, drooling over its contours.

This man was fab at selling.  He just was so enthusiastic about his Italian sit on mower and just spilled out advantages.  He just told me about his product.

Sometimes in selling we get caught up in structure and sales processes, needs analysis, questioning styles.  When occasionally we just need to tell our customers what we have to offer, and sometimes this sparks an interest and boy, was I interested.

So next time you have potential customers near you and you’re wondering what to say, just get all enthusiastic and just tell them what you have to offer.

Did I buy the sit on mower?  I was very very tempted but remember I’ve got some slate tiles from Fired Earth to pay for!

Our new conference and training room is coming on nicely and right now we’re planning to lay some slate tiles just to give it an authentic look.  Norman, our builder, wants to get cracking next week laying the slates so at the weekend Claire and I went shopping. Inside the Fired Earth store, I stared at hundreds of different slates, tiles and floor coverings, I was though, dreaming of watching England play rugby against Scotland on live TV.

I should’ve realised what was going to happen.  Coffee was offered, music was playing in the background, the displays were fantastic and I could not see a price anywhere.  I always get very concerned in a store where I can’t see a price on display.

But my wife was in her element chatting to the sales assistant about tiles and grouts and sealants. Meanwhile my mind was on England rucking the ball close to the Scotland line about to score a try.

I glanced over to my wife and the sales assistant and they looked to be putting some figures on a sheet of paper.  Ah money was being talked about….I thought I should wander over and have a look at the bottom line. I also wondered what negotiation tactics to use….

And then I saw the figure on the piece of paper.  Immediately my face contorted, my mouth stretched wide, I looked at the sales assistant and I exclaimed “How much!

The price on the piece of paper made me do it…I had no idea slates cost that much.  But what I had done is known as the “Visual Flinch” in negotiation circles.  Do this with your face and your voice and you’ll simply panic the seller into reducing the price or throwing in some sort of concession.

The sales assistant had never experienced this before, my wife was shocked and scolded me with her expression.  I just stood there and stared at the sheet of paper with the price on it.  Silent seconds went by….and the sales assistant broke the silence “Ok we could reduce the price to….how would that sound?”

Success, my inadvertent technique had worked and the price was reduced quite nicely.  I have to say my wife was so embarrassed but it was worth it I guess.

So next time you’re faced with a price from a supplier, swallow your pride and contort your face, open your mouth wide and exclaim “how much” and then button up and say nothing.  And I bet the salesperson will offer you a price reduction.

Really exaggerate the visual flinch, you might feel a little bit of a fool initially but, believe me, it really works.

The slates are coming tomorrow and Norman and his team are ready to lay them.  And boy was I pleased I didn’t see the rugby live – what a howler of a result.  How much did England lose by?  How muuuuuch?

I used to love watching Sesame Street as a kid.  It was an America TV show with Muppet style puppets.  Every episode had some major learning point for us kids but we loved the programme for its colour, fun and songs.

One of my favourite songs was the ABC song which ended.  “Now I know my ABC, next time will you sing with me”

Now this song always reminds me of the ABCD of presentations.  A really clever neumonic to help you with the first few minutes of any presentation to get it off to the right start and give you lots of confidence to continue.

• A – Attention
• B – Benefits
• C – Credibility
• D - Direction

Attention

“Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking….”

“Hello, my name is Paul Archer…”

“Uhm, OK, lets get started then shall we?”

What do these three have in common?  Yes of course they are bland, listless and terribly unexciting presentation starters.

Your first priority is to get the attention of your audience especially if you are selling and presenting at the same time.  We don’t have the luxury of time, so we need to grab their attention in the first few moments.

Now it helps if you’ve done your circulating with the audience beforehand and have done some homework on the people sitting in front of you.  This gives you some pointers as to the type of attention getter to use.

I’m not saying you should tell a joke.  Perhaps you could but make sure it’s a self effacing joke to show your humility and not embarrass anyone sitting down.

• Share a quotation.  You can get thousands of these from the Internet and one might fit the bill.
• Tell a story or metaphor which will link into the main points.
• Ask a searching question.
• A call to action
• This day in history.  Log onto the History Channel’s website and sign up for the email a day service.  It’s great and everyday gives you something that happened this day in history.  You might be able to link this in.

Benefits

Once you have their attention, tease them with some of the main benefits or the major one benefit they will get from listening and maybe staking action.

It might be obvious to you, but we have to think of our audience.  WIIFM.  What’s in it for me?  Think in their shoes and share some benefits.

“What I’d like to do is to give you some bang up to date pointers which will help you decide your direction over the next year.  These could give you a competitive advantage.”

Enough to intrigue, excite and make people want to listen more.

Credibility

Important to get this part done, if the audience have never met you before.  Sometimes, in more formal settings, the Master of Ceremonies will introduce you and help to build your credibility.

However in most business presentations, particularly sales pitches or “beauty parades” you really do have to cement your credibility.  Don’t overdo this bit.  Don’t fall into the trap of telling them all about you, your history, your qualifications.

That’s zzzzz time.

Instead use a reassurance statement.  This statement should include your name and your experience both in the customer’s industry or sector and your experience in dealing with similar problems to your customer.

“My name is Paul Archer, I’ve been working with salespeople across the globe for almost 20 years helping them to earn their bonuses.  For the last two years I’ve been helping businesses like yours get better closing ratios from their Key Accounts.”

Direction

I love taking my three children on car journeys.  My wife and I have a bet as to when the first one will ask “are we there yet Dad?”  Normally my wife wins.  So I reply “Not yet Euan, we’ve just passed Winchester and we’ll probably be at Nanas in half an hour.”

And they’re happy for the next few miles. 

Now someone gave me a brilliant tip the other week to help in this arduous purpose.  Keep telling them where you are and how long to go. 

“Hey guys, we’ve just passed Stonehenge.  Can you see it on your right? And we’ll be at Nanas in 20 minutes, in time for an ice cream”

Since that piece of advice we’ve never looked back and you can use the same idea in your presentations.

Tell your audience where you’re going to take them.  Give them clear direction.  Not an agenda. These are for books.  Presentations need signposts which tell you where you’re going.  At each junction the audience needs reminding where they’ve come from and then where they’re going to go next.

The best analogy is one of these property purchase programmes on the TV.  My favourite is Phil and Kirsty doing “Location, Location, Location”.  Just as they’re coming up to a commercial break, Kirsty will quickly recap the main points covered so far and one or two tempters of what you’ll see after the break.  This not only gives you clear direction, but tempts you to come back after the break.

And when you return from the break, Phil takes over and reminds you what they did before the break and then tempts you further with the major benefits of the next 15 minutes.

Brilliant stuff and certainly worth repeating in your presentations.

So give direction and then constantly signpost your way to the end. And as you approach the end signal that the end is in sight, summarise each of your key points, remember the power of three – three major points maximum. Invite questions; never ever finish on a Q&A because if there are no questions, you’ll go out like a damp squid.

Invite questions, deal with these and then restate your aim and purpose and end with a call to action.

With the end in sight:

1.     Signal that the end is in sight

2.     Summarise each of your key points

3.     Invite questions: don’t end on Q&A       

4.     Restate aim and overall purpose

5.     Definite finishes – call to action

And now you know your ABC…and D.  Next time will you sing with me…

We all slip into bad habits.

Mine is talking too much when I should be listening so I use a tactic to remind myself.  And it looks like this:

What do you notice?  It’s simply a finger to my mouth and it’s enough to stop me from talking too much, when I should be listening.

Another reminder you can give yourself when you just know you should be listening to your client or a team member is to say to yourself:

"WAIT a moment Paul”

Wait stands for “Why am I talking”

So when you find yourself talking too much and you know you should be listening more, just tell yourself to “wait” and then listen

A really interesting guy to talk to.  The head of the IT Conference that I was speaking in on my second day in Iran.  He was my age and we had so much in common – children of the same ages, similar hobbies – a really nice guy.

But suddenly I looked around and realised I was on in 5 minutes.  About to face 750 people in a huge auditorium, I was 5 minutes away from walking up onto the stage.

And what happened?  Adrenaline set in.  It always does and any professional speaker will tell you that this is quite natural so learn to deal with it.  My adrenaline levels started to rise and I wasn’t dealing with it. By the way I renamed nerves into adrenaline a while ago – it just sounds so much better.  But they are the same thing.

So I thought – “hold on Paul you need a tactic here to relax you before you go on stage.” So I immediately thought of one that I teach all my delegates on my public speaking workshops.

Peripheral vision.

Apparently the brain cannot process having too much adrenaline and focussing on peripheral vision at the same time. So I quickly focussed my attention on the speaker in front of me and worked my peripheral vision so I could see practically all around me.

And guess what? My adrenaline levels stated to decline, I relaxed and walked onto the stage.

It worked.

So next time you’re faced with rather too much adrenaline than normal, try the peripheral vision technique – it seriously does work.

Its day five of my speaking trip to Tehran.  Since Monday I have spoken for five more audiences of Iranian people and have had a great time doing so.  Hopefully my audiences have enjoyed themselves too.

The best part has been chatting to all my new friends.  So pleased are they, that we are here in their country, and so excited to learn new things.  They are hungry for knowledge and skills.  Such a well educated audience and enthusiastic to learn more. This is certainly a cultural thing.

Tomorrow is a day off as its the weekend here in Iran. I hope to visit the old Shah's Palaces, the ancient bazaar and do some shopping, with my hosts.  And a good lunch too.  The food here is tremendous and always so beautifully laid out. Again that is built into their culture.

Today over lunch with the CEO and some delegates of one of Iran's largest companies, we were chatting about Iran and how the world sees this country. 

I had one conclusion.

More people from our country need to visit just to see what Iran is really like.  Maybe not by conventional means like jumping on a plane, but by electronic means, like finding out about Iranian history or getting some friends here and MSN'ing to find out about them.

The more we did this, the less ignorant we would be.  And believe me, we are ignorant of this fine country.

Here's a picture of the gardens of the speaking venue

 

Here's the inside of the speaking venue.  Up on the stage is my colleague Sean Weaffer

Here's the building. And what a fine day as well

My first Blog posting for my speaking trip to Iran.  Its very cold here - but crisp and clear.

I'm staying at the Olympic Hotel near the sports stadium.  Tomorrow I'm talking in a conference about web based communications now and in the future.

Web communications is so exciting and enables anyone, anywhere in the world to talk and share with anyone else.  Tonight I held a web based IM session with my family.  My children, aged 6 to 12 were amazed how close they could get to Daddy although I am on the other side of the world.  I'm currently sitting in the hotel lobby typing into my blog and just 10 minutes ago this is a picture of our IM conversation.

 

 

Pretty cool hur?  The world is shrinking and it sure is a great place to be.

Everyone here in Iran is so hospitable as always.  Eager to help, chat and find out about me.  People are smiling all the time.  A young population eager to succeed in their chosen careers.

I'm looking forward to a great conference tomorrow.

For anyone who has met me will probable know that I’m quite a level headed, decent guy. Not brash or aggressive but sometimes this easy going nature can be disastrous when negotiating.

Try the Higher Authority technique when you want to put some pressure on someone but don’t want to upset the applecart on the relationship front.  You’ve spent time building a rapport with the buyer and you really don’t feel like putting on the hard image.

So refer to a higher authority and the more obscure the higher authority the better. A decision making committee based at head office is great since no one can touch them or your divisional manager who has the last say on discounts.

We’re having some building going on at the moment and my wife, who has a keen nose for detail, has noticed some blemishes in the quality of the building work.  Honest I just didn’t notice these. The other night she asked me to deal with the builders on this issue and to ask them to hurry up and finish the job.  Now Norman and his team have worked very hard since Christmas and I get on well with them all. But how was I going to deal with this issue?

I thought – Higher Authority I’ll refer them to Claire as my high authority.  But no that’s a little too obvious and one I’ve used before so it doesn’t wash with Norman anymore. So I created one.  The building work is to complete a meeting room on the side of the house so we can run conferences and similar in-house rather than hiring expensive hotels and to let clients use the room as an exclusive country retreat. 

So I told Norman I had booked a meeting for 28^th March.  “Sorry Norm” I said “I couldn’t put the client off I’m afraid – can you help me out and have the whole thing finished by then?”

Worked a treat and the builders have been galvanised into action and are well on their way to completing the project in time.

So next time you need to put some pressure on someone or to negotiate a better deal or just to say “no” to a discount request, refer them to a higher authority who you need to consult first. 

Works a treat