Selling

Sales Wisdom from Spongebob Squarepants

Posted by

Ian Brodie on October 29th, 2008.

Spongebob Squarepants Ok, so perhaps not the person you'd most expect to be dishing out vital sales tips – but as it turns out, this year's Spongebob Annual (UK edition) has avery useful piece in it.

Here's the plot: Plankton's wife/computer has run away. Plankton, by the way, is the rather tiny, evil nemesis of Spongebob & Mr Krabs (Spongebob's boss). In order to win her back he writes her a love letter as follows:

Oh Karen, you are my computer
Crawl back to me, the world's best suitor!
I went to college, don't you forget
The smartest guy you ever met!
I am so great, I am so fine
And I own you, so you are mine
Remember though it may annoy you
Do as I say, or I'll destroy you!

Spongebob, of course, is horrified by this self-centred poem and so re-writes it. As it turns out, Karen much prefers Plankton's original. But in the real world, very, very few customers have Karen's tastes.

Unfortunately, a great many sellers do seem to have Plankton's writing style though. Perhaps not the “do as I say, or I'll destroy you” elements – but certainly the self aggrandizing, self-centred approach to writing.

Sales – particularly sales of large, complex or intangible products – is very similar to the process of courting: of attracting, maintaining and growing the attentions of another.

You can't demand that someone falls in love with your product, just like you can't demand someone falls in love with you. It has to be earned. And although courting often begins with a certain amount of attention-grabbing behaviour, if it is to succeed over time it must switch to attention-giving. A successful relationship is characterised by growing mutual giving and growing mutual trust. The self aggrandizing attention-grabbing must give way to thoughts and acts focused on the needs of the other.

And it's the same with sales. Once you have the attention of a prospect you must focus on their needs – and your communications must reflect this. As the old saying goes: Before They Care What You Know, They Need to Know You Care.

Onward!

Ian

Featured

Strategy

The Importance of Good Follow-Up

Posted by

Ian Brodie on October 20th, 2008.

For my new in-depth guide on follow-up strategies, click here.

We all know that good follow-up is vital in sales. According to the Gartner Group, almost 70% of leads are mishandled in some way. So great follow-up will give effective professionals, business owners and salespeople a huge advantage over less rigorous competitors.

But how many times have you come back from a meeting or networking event and received this sort of email?

Dear Ian
It was lovely to meet you earlier today. If you ever have need of our services in the future, feel free to contact me on xxxx xxx xxxx.
Yours, Mr Never-likely-to-get-a-call.

Have you sent out something similar? I hope not. How can anyone think this sort of follow-up is going to bring results?

Most people we meet casually, or at networking events tend to fit into the “might do business with, but might not” category. For most of us, we don't have time for a “follow-up coffee” with people in this category – we have to reserve our in-person follow-ups for people highly likely to give us business themselves or refer business to us.

And it's the same in reverse. Many people who we would like to build a relationship with may not immediately see the value in building a relationship with us. But we can significantly increase our chances of this if we follow-up effectively.

The best follow-up is one that adds value to the recipient. Perhaps some thoughts to help them, or links to useful resources. The more it's clear you've thought about them and how to help them, the more likely they are to classify you as “someone to trust”.

Of course, in order to do that, you need to understand what might be useful to them. And that means that you need to ask them questions during the event (and remember or take note of the answers) to identify what would be helpful. Understanding their business challenges or goals is critical to this.

If you can't add value straight away tell them you'll be looking out for them in future – and specifically name what you'll be doing. For example “…I found your ideas on growing your business through relationships with accountants in your local area really interesting. If I identify any accountants who fit the bill in future I'll be sure to pass on their names to you”.

And of course, you really must make good on your promise.

Personally, I keep a list of all my “interesting and important” contacts with bullet points on the sorts of things that would be useful and helpful for them. I review this list monthly so that my radar is always active and on the lookout for how I can be helpful. For high priority target clients I review this weekly and frequently build in time to my schedule to actively look for resources to help them.

It's not guaranteed to have impact – but it's a darn site more likely than the more common “…if you ever have need of our services…” email.

For my comprehensive guide to follow-up, click here:

>> The (Almost) Ultimate Guide To Follow-Up <<

Featured

Mindset

Thinking vs Doing : Thoughts on Different Personality Types

Posted by

Ian Brodie on October 14th, 2008.

In my experience, sales is mostly about doing – about taking action.

Thinking in advance is important, vital in fact, to focus action on the right things, and to make action “automatic” when it's time to act.

But at the end of the day, sales happen “in the moment” face to face with clients.

In line with this, most sales people tend to be action-oriented. So I find when I'm helping most sales people to improve their performance, my work often focuses around helping them with their thinking. Perhaps they need to better target and select their customers. Perhaps they need to identify better ways of generating leads. Or perhaps they need to rethink the way they hold sales meetings and interact with clients.

But when I work with the people who sell professional services – the lawyers, accountants, consultants and other professionals themselves – it's a different story.

Most professionals tend to love thinking. They'll analyse and debate a problem to death. So I find that my work with many professionals is to get them to be more action oriented.

The professional's seemingly inbuilt fear of rejection and losing face adds to this tendency to think rather than do. Doing involves risk – the possibility that you'll have an unpleasant interaction with a potential client. Thinking is safe – at least in the short term.

In sales, the second best plan implemented today is often much better than the best plan implemented tomorrow. But that really goes against the grain for professionals trained to search for the very best solution to any problem.

With professionals, the key to helping them improve performance is therefore often less about new ideas and insights – and more about coaching and coaxing to take action.

Ian

PS If you're wondering about the graphic – it's an Einstein Action Figure – the perfect combination of thought and action!