4: Becoming a Sales S.T.U.D.
The author uses the acronym "STUD" to suggest actions that will improve sales performance, and takes a chapter to explain what he means by it.
Specific Next Step
To be productive, a conversation with a prospect must end in a specific next step. When the prospect is motivated to buy, the process for taking and filling the order are clear. When there are a number of conversations leading up to a sale, or when it becomes clear that the prospect won't buy now but might in future, many salesmen leave the customer in a haze, and may well be in one themselves, about what to do next. As a result, nothing happens - the sale isn't made, contact with the prospect trails off.
To maintain the relationship and move it towards a sale, the salesman must have a next step in mind, whatever the contingency. Do not leave it to the prospect to decide what to do (the easiest thing for them is to disengage), but instead suggest a specific course of action. Instruct, don't ask: name a specific time to follow up - and if they balk, suggest another date.
Outlook comes in handy for managing follow-up: you can schedule tasks and reminders for yourself, and even schedule a meeting with a prospect. If they Outlook, it will send a message to add it to their calendar as well, and there are built-in functions for rescheduling that can save a lot of back-and-forth communications. It's also recommended to use meetings, even for a brief telephone call, to ensure the prospect remembers the appointment.
A loose tip is to use the word "commit" when setting a follow-up: "can you commit meeting?" is more effective than "can we met?" as it gives the prospect the sense that they are making a commitment - a person may want to dodge a sales call, but will be reluctant to break a commitment.
Takeaway
The "take-away" is a powerful psychological trick that salesmen can used to generate interest in a prospect. With a physical product, it is effected by placing the product in the mark's hands, then threatening to take it away from them unless they buy it. Physical contact with an object creates a sense of attachment, and the threat to take it away triggers defense mechanisms. Where no physical product is involved, the take-away is simply the opportunity to buy, which will be "taken away" if the mark doesn't act.
There are variations on the takeaway tactic, such as setting a deadline by which the mark must act, or suggesting the market might not be qualified for an offer. In the latter case, the suggestion of exclusivity is an affront to their personal dignity, and a mark will provide information (that they might otherwise balk at sharing) to "prove" their worthiness for the offer, which then ties their self-esteem to being qualified to buy what others are not.
Urgency
The core of the sales pitch is that the mark is better off with your product than without it - that they will profit by owning it, or suffer loss for the lack of it. The credibility of this message wears off if they can wait to buy - if they can wait a day for it, then another, then another, their sense of need will fade to nothing, as they will eventually recognize that they are getting on just fine without it.
Even when your product is something they legitimately need, the delay in purchasing could lead them to buy from a competitor, or to find an alternate method for achieving the benefit they might derive from your product.
The notion of urgency is, in some instances, a derivative of the take-away tactic, giving the mark the sense he must act immediately or he will lose the opportunity to act. Television pitch-man Billy Mays did this virtually every time: if you call within the next thirty minutes, you'll receive some special bonus. They didn't know when the spots were running, and frankly didn't care - the offer was good for all buyers, at any time, but giving the mark a sense that they must act now or lose the bonus offer created a sense of urgency to act.
Deadline
The last of the factors is giving the mark a notion of a deadline. (EN: which is a method of creating urgency, and urgency is a kind of take-away - so this "system" is pretty much about one thing: how to put pressure on the mark).
In general, people put off doing things until the last minute - anyone who doubts this should take a field trip to the post office on the last possible day to mail tax returns, or to any shopping center on Christmas Eve, to see the throngs of people who knew there was something they needed to do, but chose to delay until the very last minute.
Fishing (Bonus Tactic)
Invariably, you will have a long list of clients and prospects with whom communications trailed off. A good use for any "spare" time is to "fish" this list, twice a day - each time, identify a prospect with whom you'd like to resume contact, and send them an appointment for a "quick" call (stress "quick to overcome resistance).
Doing this has a much higher success rate than cold-calling new leads (the author suggests a 20% to 50% success rate in resuming conversation).
Chasing versus Being Chased
In sales, you may be chasing after clients to get them to buy, or they may be chasing after you to get you to sell to them. Naturally, your chance of success is much higher with the latter group.
The salesman who chases a client seems needy and is in a weak position to negotiate. It suggests to the mark that you need them more than they need you, that you're desperate to make a commission and aren't really interested in their needs. That you are, in effect, a pest to be gotten rid of.
To be effective, and to get clients to chase after you, you must present them with the sense that you can do something for them - that your product has genuine value, and that they should want it. You must do this in a firm and confident manner, not groveling for a favor. To do this, you'll have to do your homework - know your product, know your customer, and use this knowledge to match the customer's needs and interests to the benefits your product provides. Do this well, and the customer will give chase.
A specific tip is to avoid badgering the mark. While a good salesman is persistent, you can take it too far. There's a difference between asking for someone's business and begging for it. Leave one message, send one e-mail, then wait for the client to respond. If they don't respond, you can contact them again, but you must try something different - don't repeat the same tactic, as it obviously didn't work. Maybe a different message, maybe a different channel. There's no simple solution, as it depends on the product and the customer, and they're not all the same.
If you find that you're not having much success in getting customers to respond, your time might be better spent on training - learn different tactics and techniques, develop your sales skills. Then try again.
And then, another list of thins a salesman can do to get people to chase him:
- Project an attitude of confidence that borders on arrogance. Giving the mark the sense that "I don't care if you do business with me or not" is not altogether a bad thing, and definitely preferable to seeming needy and desperate.
- Schedule everything. Using a calendar makes you master of your own time, and helps ensure that you don't procrastinate or "forget" things that need to be tended. "Sometime" turns into "never" until you set a specific time.
- Be bold. Prospects can smell fear, and tend to react by assuming there's a reason for it - specifically, that you're hiding something that you're afraid will make them not want to work with you. They will not place their confidence in a salesman who is not confident in himself, and clearly projects it by their tone, posture, and demeanor.
- Develop, and improve, your selling skills. Sales is not easy, and it is a competition, so you will constantly have to devote time to honing your skills to discover new and more effective ideas.
- Have a set follow-up program. The author refers again to Outlook, which keeps his schedule and automates many communications.
- Treat VIPs differently. The notion of "fairness" isn't about giving equal treatment to everyone, but giving each person "fair" treatment for the amount of business they give you. Spend your time and your budget where it will get the best results - and roll out the red carpet for customers who most deserve it.
- Be precision-based. (EN: The author doesn't really explain this one very well, and refers obliquely to a few other items in the list.)
- Stay in control. Remember that if you leave it up to the mark to decide when and if to touch base, it won't happen - take control by setting a time, and take control by setting the agenda for the conversation. If you're in a position where the mark is running you, you're losing the battle, losing control, and losing the sale.
- Work for referrals. When you have a satisfied customer, ask him for referrals. The people he sends your way are eager to get the same level of satisfaction, and believe you can deliver it. They are chasing after you, right from the start.