We will use this above comparison table in our examples to follow.
Also, in my experience the more complex the sale, meaning the more points of comparison
(over 20), the easier it is too overcome objections. So, if you are ever looking at a new
sales job, don’t be afraid if the product or industry looks too complicated; by really
studying the points of comparison, you will be able to excel in the role.
Know the Best and Worst case scenarios for each point of comparison
Before talking to the prospect you should already know what the best and worst case
scenarios are for each product comparison point. Have a look at the following table.
Points of
Best Case Scenario
Worst Case Scenario
comparison
Price
Save money
Waste money
Teacher Experience Have an expert teacher and
Have a an inexperienced teacher
Mentor
School Reputation
The school name opens doors
Has a bad reputation and could
for you in the job market
affect your job prospects
After hours course
The teachers are available for
You don’t get the support you need
support
you when you need them
when you need it
After course
Get long term mentors into
Be on your own with no support
completion support the future
Library access
Have access to all the facilities
Not have access to all the facilities
when you need them
when you need them
Exam pass success
You pass your exam with a
You fail the exam and you waste
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high mark
your time and money
Change to network
Meet all the other alumni and
Meet only a few people and miss
make professional connections
the change to make professional
for life
connections
Job Help
The College introduces you to
No Job help and you spend months
an employer and you get a job
and months looking for work.
In the qualification stage of the sales cycle, you need to determine what is important to
the prospect in relation to the points of comparison.
Examples of what may or may not be important for these two prospects; have a look at
what the prospects said:
Points of
Mark Jones
Bill Jobs
comparison
Price
Price is not an issue
I’m not working at the
moment so I need to save
money
Teacher
As long as they are patient and can
As long as they are qualified
Experience
explain complex issues with ease
School
I’m not worried about that
I think it’s important for
reputation
getting job interviews
After hours
I need after hours course support, as I
I have free time, so I don’t
course support
work at odd times, and may be
really need after hours
studying at night
support
After course
I will need after course support, as my
Yeah that would be nice
completion
company is funding this course
support
specifically so that I can run a major
company project. I’ll need all the
support I can get.
Library access
I don’t care about library access; I’ll go
Yeah it’s very noise where I
to the scheduled classes and then study live and I need somewhere
from home.
quite with all the recourses
to study properly.
Exam pass
Yes it’s somewhat important
I have to pass this exam
success
Chance to
Yeah that would be nice
I’m new to this city so I
network
really need to network and
make as many professional
contacts as possible.
Job Help
Not relevant
Yes, as much as possible. If I
don’t get a job in the next 12
months, I really don’t know
what I will do
In the qualification stage you have to discover this through your questioning. To overcome an objection effectively this understanding is a pre-requisite.
Use Best and Worst case scenario visualisations to overcome objections
Now you have to craft a best and worst case scenario visualisation for each point. This will be used in the conversation to overcome competitor comparison questions.
Using the previous example, look at the following price objection.
Price Objection
Sales Rep from Delta College:
How did you go with the proposal I sent over?
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Bill Jobs:
Yeah it was good but I decided to go with the Alpha school, it’s $500 cheaper and you
know I want to save as much money as I can.
Sales Rep from Delta College:
Yes, it is $500 cheaper but they don’t help you get a job. I thought that is what you
wanted.
Bill Jobs:
Um, yes it is but I also have to save money.
Sales Rep from Delta College:
Yes, I understand you want to save money. But the end result for you is that you must get
a job.
You know that as part of our package, we help optimize your resume then introduce you to
two of the best recruiters in the city. On average our graduates get a job within 9 weeks, with the Alpha school there is no job help at all, who knows how long it would take you to even get an interview, do you see what I mean?
Bill Jobs:
Yes, I know what you mean.
Sales Rep from Delta College:
You see the fear I have for you is that, I could call you in 12 months from now and you are still looking for a job. Imagine you’ve paid all that money for your course, you’ve studied hard, did what you have to do, but in the end you’re still out of work.
So, this is the plan with us, you study hard, you finish the course and get certified, then we help optimize your resume, then you go to see the recruiters that we organize for you.
Does that sound like what you want?
Bill Jobs:
Yes sounds good.
Part 2: Sales Style – What Works
Script or no Script
Many sales managers ask me if their sales reps should be using a script or not. This
question applies mainly to telephone only sales.
In my experience, when a sales rep is just starting out or really doesn’t know what they
are doing, it is better for them to use at least some scripts for parts of their conversations.
But this can only take them so far. Eventually they will need to master all the information in the script, master all the product knowledge. When they have done this they should
then just follow a pre-determined conversation structure.
Unless you are a top actor, scripts sound fake, and the customer will intuitively know this.
Unless, you can craft a truly natural sounding script, then I would stay away from them.
Also, scripts are really only for the beginning of conversations. If you feel more confident reading from a script the very first time you speak to a prospect then that is ok. Just make sure you practice it over and over, and make sure it sounds natural.
Your voice intonation is critical. Imagine Robert Di Nero or Meryl Streep delivering your
lines. You have to make the words come alive; you have to make them believable.
So this is what I recommend.
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If you are just starting out in sales and your sales manager wants you to use a script, you should take the script and memorise it. Then practice with a friend or family member over
and over until you master it. Basically if you have ever had acting training, it is exactly the same. You are learning your lines. But saying the words is not enough; you have to make
it believable, you have to make it come alive.
Scripts are good for the being of a conversation or to give answers to standard product
questions. Nothing else can be scripted, and certainly closing a sale can’t be scripted. This is why real sales can never be automated. (On the other hand customer service jobs can
and are being automated)
I haven’t used any scripts in 15 years. But I still have a conversation structure at the back of my mind when I’m in a long sales conversation. That’s over the phone or face to face. I am always directing the conversation.
Natural Business Conversation
The more you can make a conversation with a prospect natural sounding the better. There
is nothing that will turn off a person more than if they feel you are trying to sell to them.
They clearly will know you are a sales person, but that doesn’t mean you have to act like a stereotypical one.
The goal is to have a business conversation. It should be friendly, interesting and
informative.
I say business conversation, because it can’t quite be the same as talking to a friend.
Steer clear of controversial topics religion and politics (unless you already know where
they stand on those issues).
You should be a trusted advisor, a person they can rely on to tell them the way it is.
Avoid clichés and hyperbole they don’t work and you’ll lose
credibility
Don’t use sales clichés. They make you sound sleazy and people just turn off when you use
them.
There are still many sales books (generally books written pre 1990’s) that push these
clichés, don’t use them, they don’t work and make you look ridicules.
There are some cases where TV advertising campaigns use these clichés, but almost
always it is in an ironic or self-mocking format. For a TV marketing campaign it may be ok; it is not for sales people to follow this example.
Sales cliché examples:
But wait! There’s more!
Once in a life time
Never to be repeated
These are crossing over to the cliché category:
One-stop shop
Industry leader
Breakthrough
Groundbreaking
State-of-the-art
Cost-effective
Next-generation
Disruptive
Cutting-edge
Mission-critical
Leading-edge
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Turnkey
Best-of-breed
Outside the box
Game changer
Customer-centric
Break through the clutter
Always be on the look out for clichés. Whenever you feel yourself cringing at what you or
someone else is saying, it means those words have now crossed over to cliché; time to
start being creative again.
Cliché Questions
What keeps you up at night?
What question haven’t I asked?
Is price your only objection?
Effective questioning is all in the framing. What I have found highly effective is framing it with a current issue the company is facing, the more controversial the better. For
example:
Given yesterday’s article in the Wall Street Journal about your HR issues in Japan, how do you intend on further expanding into China with out facing the same problems?
Is much better than: How do you intend on expanding into China?
I read the Federal government is about to reduce the subsidies on Solar Energy, how will
this affect your budget for your IT integration?
Is much better than: What is your budget for the IT integration?
How do you think the ruling in your Supreme Court case will affect your expansion plans?
Is much better than: What are your expansion plans?
I saw your CEO on the late news last night; He’s very passionate about your new acne
drug. How are you planning the logistics for the anticipated demand spike?
Is much better than: Are you planning a review of your logistics?
The key is specificity; the more specific you are with the prospects situation the more they will listen and the more the questions and conversation will resonate with them.
Confidence and Certainty
Sounding confident is paramount. Notice I said “sounding confident”, not only “confident”.
When you are just starting out in sales or have just started a new sales job, quite often
you are not confident at all; actually you might be the exact opposite.
I can remember in a job interview for a fairly high level sales job, the sales manager told me my sales target was $100,000 per month, and asked if that will be a problem for me.
My answer of course was “Yes, No problem”. The reality was that I was thinking “That’s
seems a lot for this product, but if other people can do it, there is no reason why I can’t”.
All sales people at some stage lack confidence, or lose some confidence. The key is to not show this to the outside world. To a prospect never show a lack of confidence, or doubt
yourself publicly. People can loose faith in you instantly.
I’m not implying that you should never say you don’t know something. I say it quite often, but it’s how you say it that matters.
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People love to buy from confident people. I can think of many times, I have wanted to buy
something and the salesperson seemed really unsure of them self; this made me very
nervous about them, their company and their product.
Below is a conversation I had while trying to buy a plane ticket.
Me: I can change this flight with no extra fees right?
Sales person: Um, yeah I think so.
Me: You think so or you don’t know?
Sales person: Um well, I am reading through the terms and conditions and I can’t
see anything about it.
Me: Um, ok, let me think about it, I’ll talk to you later.
In this situation the salesperson clearly didn’t know the answer to my question. Instead of hesitating and seeming confused they should’ve just put me on hold and got a definitive
answer off their manager. They would have then given me the definitive answer and I
would have purchased my ticket there and then.
Reputation
You must always protect your reputation. You do this by always telling the truth.
If you start to get a bad name, eventually no one will trust you and you will be
unemployable in sales.
Losing your reputation doesn’t happen over night, it is usually over a longer period of time, where you have not been telling the truth. Basically if you lie to someone they won’t buy
from you again, and no one they know will buy from you. Eventually if you lie to enough
people, no one will want to deal with you at all. Unfortunately I’ve seen sales people look at short term gains while ignoring their longer term careers.
Telling the truth makes you feel good, and above all else it is the ethical and right thing to do, if you have to lie about your product than you should find another company to work
for.
Quite often I am in situations where clients ask me things that I know we can’t deliver. I never exaggerate; I know that it is kryptonite for our company and long term future. And
the amazing thing is that, many times, the client will come back to me days or weeks later and buy from us. Telling the truth is great for sales!
Regain Attention with difficult questions
As discussed earlier having an in-depth knowledge of your own product, your competitors’
product and your industry in general is a pre-requisite for sales success.
On top of that; if you feel your prospect isn’t paying full attention to you, it’s always good to ask them something that you think they don’t know.
You only need 2 or 3 of these questions ready. When the client is not paying attention or is generally not engaged in the conversation, asking them shocks them into a defensive
response.
So, have your 2 or 3 questions memorised, concentrate on some obscure study or some
obscure fact that could really affect their decision.
They will respond to your difficult question with something like:
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Um, well, no I didn’t know that
Or they will ask a question.
What do you mean?
So, how will that affect me?
In most cases they will re-engage with you, and you can drill down with your questioning.
Some examples in different industries are below:
So, how will you deal with Microsoft’s certification exam expiry policy?
So, what’s your plan for the Google Chrome Version 35.0.1916m upgrade?
Mesmerise with repetition – Close like the President
The way you structure your sentences has an incredible impact on your message. Sales
people can take many of the techniques of good oratory and incorporate them into their
day-to-day sales conversations. There have been mountains of books written on effective
speaking and speech writing, I suggest you do as much reading as possible on the subject,
it will only help you.
This book is all about practical steps sales people can take to improve, so here we’ll look at some of the most relevant techniques for sales people. One book that stood out for me
was “Say it like Obama and Win” by Shel Leanne. It focuses on his speeches leading up to
his win in the 2008 presidential election. His extraordinary speeches with a strong call to action were instrumental in his election win. He simply couldn’t have won the election
without them.
Yes, used in the right circumstances and with the right artfulness sales people too can
resonate and connect with prospects like a political pro. The first technique I have used for years is repetition.
At this stage, you should use YouTube to listen to and watch these speeches, a book can
only describe the feeling; you need to watch these speeches to fully appreciate them.
One of the most famous speeches of all time was by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963. Have
a read of part of this speech and see how he nicely uses “I have a dream”. His speech was
so powerful that it galvanised support for the cause and was a catalyst for change. The
phrase “I have a dream” basically is now owned by him and still to this day guides minority groups to action.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former
slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the
table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed
into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their
character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and
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"nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and
mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked
places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."
Do you want to know how to create urgency in a sale? First see how the President does it
at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner 2007. He combines the use of repetition with the worst
case scenario visualisation perfectly.