The other day I had to pick up something at my local mall. I dislike malls. And so I was ecstatic to find a parking spot “spitting distance” from the main door. Ten minutes later, mission accomplished, I clicked my car’s remote door opener and jumped into the driver’s seat.
I was about to turn on the ignition when I realized, “This is NOT my car!” Worried the owner would appear and mistake me for Angelina Jolie (I wish) in the auto theft action movie “Gone in 60 Seconds,” I scrambled out to find my car parked in the next bay. OK, admittedly the winter coat of dry snow and salt made both cars look that same shade of “blah.” But seriously – who leaves their door unlocked in Toronto?
And who doesn’t recognize their own car? Apparently me.
Good news is I’m not crazy. Nor am I turning to grand theft auto to make my next million. I made this mistake because, in that moment, I had been on “auto pilot.”
It got me thinking. We all shift into auto pilot periodically. Consider your drive to and from work. How many times have you completed the journey without giving the route a single thought?
And it got me thinking about selling. And specifically about a couple of sales teams I worked with earlier this year. Both teams comprised experienced sellers who were well entrenched in their communities, “knew” their customers, and were delivering good sales results. Yet without exception each rep left the training with a new realization – that they had been missing real opportunity to support the success of their customers, and to dramatically enhance their own sales results. They had been on auto pilot for some time – and we had just flipped the switch to manual.
Has your sales approach become stagnant? Are you flying on auto pilot? Check out these few indicators that suggest it’s time for you to switch back to manual…
- Your long term customers are like your best friends. You know what’s right for them without having to ask.
- You hate it when new players join the buying process and disrupt the status quo.
- You’re taken by surprise when you lose a customer to your competitor.
- You consider people rude when they don’t respond to your calls.
- Your customers don’t seem to understand the full value of your offering.
- You don’t have time to prepare for customer meetings until you are in the car.
- Your customers are happy with your work but rarely offer you referrals.
- You learned all about selling from the boss, who learned from his boss…
- You’re less than inspired with your role and looking for a change.
If you relate to any of these it’s time to take hold of the controls. Here’s my quick “Start – Stop – Keep” formula to get you flying high above the competition.
START sharpening your customer IQ and EQ.
Good sellers have strong customer IQ. They know what the customer buys, when they buy, how they buy and, most importantly, why they buy. They understand the customer’s business objectives and they know who is involved in the decision making process.
Extraordinary sellers know that change is the new status quo. And they intentionally use every single customer interaction to deepen and broaden their customer IQ. And they don’t stop there. Top sales pros develop their customer EQ … they listen beyond the facts for what’s important to each decision influencer both professionally and personally. They seek out the customer’s perception on tough issues because they know perception can, and will, affect buying decisions.
And when new players enter the buying process a top seller embraces this opportunity. Her approach is one of curiosity, not judgment. Her goal is to understand why the need for change. And to learn about this new buyer’s priorities so that she can offer support in ways that will contribute to his success. She builds competitive advantage while other sellers fight to retain the status quo.
STOP blaming the customer.
Ever catch yourself thinking, “This prospect’s a waste of time – he never returns calls.” Or “This customer is a fool. We’ve got the best solution for his need. Why did he choose the competition?” Listen to some sales reps and you’d think that most customers are obnoxious morons.
My advice: If you’re pointing the finger of blame at the customer, take a moment to point it back at you – and see what you find.
If customers don’t respond to your calls then it’s one of two things. Your message missed the mark … or you are not a priority to this customer now. Either way, the only person that can fix this is you. Do your homework and find out what’s on this customer’s plate now, and re-craft a series of “customer centric” messages that focus on supporting his priorities, not yours.
Customers aren’t seeing the full value in your presentations? Then get ruthless with your presentation. Are you still packing the same 20-slide PowerPoint deck that painfully takes every customer through a list of irrelevant features, benefits and case-studies about your offering? Relevance sells. Prune your presentation. Focus on what’s relevant. And clearly connect your offering to this customer’s critical priorities.
Disappointed your happiest customers don’t give you more, or better, referrals? Why should they? It takes mental effort and time to do this. You need to do the work, not them. First you need to ask. And at the right time. Second, you need to make it easier for them by providing a clear profile of your target customer so that they can quickly scan their mental data-base and provide you a valuable contact.
I could fill a book with the blame piled on customers by sellers operating on auto pilot. But you get the message …. Watch where you point that finger.
KEEP re-inventing yourself.
The pace of change today is so fast I often feel like I’m hanging on by my finger nails. No matter how good we are today, we must continuously look for ways to build on our success if we want to be good tomorrow.
Regularly review your results against your activity. Leverage those activities that deliver. And dump those that don’t. In 2009 I took one of my training exercises and applied it to my own business. I did an analysis of where my new business was coming from. Over 75% came from referrals or speaking engagements. So in 2010 I put considerably more energy into these two activities. I saw a 37% increase in revenue in 2010. Coincidence?
Watch and learn from other great sellers. While I read a lot of books, articles and blogs on selling and business, some of my most profound learning has come from listening to, or being out on the road, with talented sales pros. Tag along with your top sales pro for a day. Use your sales meetings to share successes – the results and, more importantly, the activities that have led to these results.
Learn from sales pros from other industries. My personal sales capability grew exponentially when I started doing this. If you rely solely on sales techniques that have been handed down through generations of sales managers and trainers within your company or industry, you’re at risk of getting stuck in a rut and mistaking the sides of that rut for the horizon.
Auto pilot is an extremely valuable tool. In airplanes. But if your sales career is on full-time auto pilot, it’s time to take a step back and grab hold of those controls.
Good selling!
