Unearthing a piece of the 'Profit Code'

With the marketplace bouncing, business owners struggle for answers.

One client nailed it when he confessed, “In the good times Chris, we burned a lot of leads.  You had to be tenacious to even get our attention!  Now we need every enquiry we can get”. 

Times are tougher, but this holds a great opportunity for you.

‘Crack the code’ on how to get leads and sales flowing for your business in the current environment, and own your market at the other end of the tunnel.

Today, I’m going to give you one simple insight that could help you crack part of that code:

Your market doesn’t know what you do, nearly as well as you may think they do.  In fact, they don’t even know that they DON’T know.  And therefore, they don’t care.

OK, you may have heard that before.  But what does it mean for your industry?  It should be a call to action for even the most astute and switched on companies.

Unearthing an opportunity

I canvassed this issue with a client of one of those very switched on companies.  In fact, I workshopped the question with his whole team of some 30 people.  First up, I asked them what the PERCEPTION of their industry was out in the market place.  The industry at large.

The responses came thick and fast as I struggled to keep up writing on the butcher’s paper…

Pushy, untrustworthy, misleading, expensive, nasty surprises, lack of knowledge,  promises that aren’t kept, a nightmare experience, no follow up, unhelpful, disinterested, …

Boy, THIS industry had serious perception problems!  Can you guess the industry?  Actually, it really doesn’t matter.  Do this exercise with ANY industry and chances are you’ll get feedback like this.

But here’s the kicker.  We then did the same exercise on their perception of THEIR company.   Again, the responses came thick and fast, but very different:

We care, ethical, integrity, we listen, team spirit, systemised, deliver on our promises, industry respect, family values, welcoming, professional …

Now, I hasten to add that this company actually DOES deliver on these things.  In fact, part of the reason I agreed to work with them was because they are quite extraordinary in their systems, performance standards, and all those other things.

BUT … and it’s a big but …

I then challenged them with this question:  “YOU know you do these things, and why they’re important … but how much of this does your market know?”

They simply weren’t COMMUNICATING the very things that should set them apart from the ‘chaff’.

Out of that exercise came a whole new strategy.  We’ve now worked with this company  to help them encapsulate their extraordinary story.  To make ‘the invisible visible’. 

Their ‘magic story’ is articulated in every piece of collateral, every letter, every proposal, every brochure, in the way their people position themselves with their clients, in the website, in a corporate video, in new TV commercials …

I can’t stress this enough.  The big thing missing for them, and for almost all potentially great companies, is COMMUNICATION. 

Your collateral has to tell your story in terms that the marketplace understands, and will get excited about, and will rave to others about.  It’s not hard.  It just needs to be done ...

It doesn't matter if you’re a large financial institution, a trade business, a professional adviser, a wholesaler, retailer, butcher, baker or candlestick maker for that matter … IF YOU’RE NOT TELLING YOUR STORY COMPELLINGLY, if you’re assuming your market KNOWS or CARES, you’re losing out on huge sales opportunities.

Finally, let me share an email I received …

This client supplies high end industrial pump solutions … the $5,000 to $50,000 variety … to sewerage works, pump stations, refineries, etc.  We’d helped him articulate his magic story through a series of very specific white papers.

He wrote (paraphrased):

“One of our resellers was having a squabble over pricing of an $8,000 pump with a prospect, and just couldn’t get the sale across the line.  However, then the customer got hold of one of our white papers and liked what he read.  Now he is buying not only pumps, but motors, valves and piping. And here’s the good bit …

- We did not compete against any other supplier. No quotes were called.

- We were past price now, simply providing a solution …”

Your market doesn’t know what you do.  And they don’t know that they don’t know.

12 Golden Rules to Effectively Handling Enquiries

The more I show clients how to handle enquiries from new prospects over the phone, the more I find myself coming back to the same dozen 'sobering' truths … truths that help you understand the mindset of the caller.

These truths may at first appear negative.  They’re not.  They are simply a realisation that everybody – including your prospect - sees life through their own ‘eyes’.  And having an insight into how they ‘see’ (and feel) can help us to better relate to their needs.  So let’s consider the following:

1. The enquirer, regardless of what they say, isn’t just after ‘information’.  They HAVE a problem or a need.  Often a problem/s so complex they don’t fully understand it themselves. They crave to have it solved, and they’re looking for a solution.

2. Just making the phone call can sometimes be a big thing for them, because they have their own uncertainties and insecurities to contend with.  You need to be empathetic and make the process painless.

3. They’ve probably been disappointed by past efforts to find a solution.  So expect them to be distrusting until they know you are ‘real’.

4. They ARE going to buy.  Whether it’s from you, or a competitor, whether it’s today or in six months’ time, they WILL ‘buy’ something. Your task is to educate them to why your solution is best for them  (That is of course, IF your solution is indeed the best one for their particular circumstances.  Otherwise, you should guide them ethically to an alternative.)

5. They will have pre-conceived ideas of what’s ‘expensive’.  BUT on the other hand, when they find their ‘answer’, they will pay whatever it takes.  So it’s your ‘duty of care’ to ensure you ethically educate them to your solution, AND to show that your solution isn’t expensive, but is good VALUE.

6. They will initially have little or no concept of what your business does, and will tend to pigeonhole you with other firms who appear to deliver what you do.

7. They may nod in agreement at things you say in the initial discussion, but in truth, they’ll understand and absorb only a tiny fraction of what you have said.  Which means you need to go slowly, never assume.  And most importantly, through questions, do a regular ‘temperature check’ on their understanding.  CRITICALLY important.

8. When it comes to the Information Pack, brochure, or perhaps even DVD you send them, remember they have no basis for appreciating the VALUE, or of the decades of research and development behind this information. So unless positioned correctly, there is a very real risk it will simply sit unopened for weeks, until they’ve lost interest.   And when you try to follow up after their interest has waned, you become a ‘pushy’ salesperson, not a professional with the answers to their perhaps years of frustration.  What’s the solution?  You must position the value of the pack correctly UP FRONT before you send it.  Again, they won’t give any priority to the pack unless you position it correctly on the phone.

9. Remember that the person who has the information IS IN CONTROL of the transaction.  If you give it (the Pack) over to the prospect prematurely, without first gaining a firm commitment that they’ll review it, you lose the control.

10. Getting that firm commitment means getting their undertaking that they will go through it in a pre-agreed timeframe, in preparation for a follow up discussion.

11. Even after all the above, they’ll often say ‘yes’, but then nothing will happen.  In 95% of cases, you WILL have to follow up.  When you follow up, even after all the great positioning, there’s a chance they’ll say they can’t go ahead ‘just now’, for any number of reasons.  Often these reasons are NOT the real reasons.  You need to get as many of these potential issues on the table and out of the way as possible, before you hand over the information.

12. Remember that none of this is ‘manipulative’ or unethical.  It is simply acknowledging the foibles of human nature, and helping (ethically leading) people to come to an informed outcome.
 
Some of these 'golden rules' may not apply to your transactions with new prospects.  However, that said, I’d be very surprised if you didn’t get some real distinctions out of these 12 points for you and your own frontline people.

Let me know your thoughts …
Chris Newton

If you know anyone who would find value in reading this article, please forward (or tweet) this link on to them.

Are your quotes losing you business?

You may have heard me say before: ‘tear up your quote forms!’

Now, that's a fairly provocative statement.  And for many businesses, doing quotes is the only way they get business.  Or that’s what they think.

There is a better way.  Not only that, it will earn better margins, win MORE business, and serve your customers better.  A different positioning in fact, that will leave your lower priced competitors scratching their heads as to how you're winning the business.

First, what does the word quote mean to your prospects?

It means: "Check my competitors. Shop against me. Find the best price."

Think about it.  If that's how you're positioning your business, solely focusing on price, then your business will forever be fighting an uphill battle.  Now more than ever, given the increasing influence of the Internet and the 'global village' market.

Let's re-think the way you position your 'quote'. 

Start by not seeing it as a quote.

See your quote as a job specification, an action plan, a specification sheet...  Call it what you will, but don't call it a quote.  Get that word out of your vocabulary, and the vocabulary of your team.

Second, where do you put the price on your quote now?

Right at the bottom, at the very end?

Hmmm, what does the prospect do when they receive the quote?  They go straight to the very bottom and take a look at the price before they read the details.

So how might you address that?

Think about putting it right up the top.  Thank them for the opportunity to work with you on this project, state that their investment will be x, and then take them through the value they'll receive - list out the benefits.  Like this:

"Based on our discussions and your specifications, your investment will be x dollars.  Let me spell out exactly what you will get for your investment..."

Guess what your prospect is focusing on now?  Suddenly you've turned the whole focus around.  They're focused on the value they'll be receiving.  And the price is out of the way.

And importantly, when you write your proposal, assume that you've got the job.

Now I don't mean you don't have to try.  Instead, have the mindset, the 'belief system' that your solution IS the right one.  And that your prospect would be crazy to go anywhere else.

And in truth, if you've done your fact finding and set up expectations correctly with the client, there's no reason you CAN'T be confident you've got the best price/value solution.

One final point...

Even in a struggling economy, buyers are more concerned with the value of what they're getting than the cost.  There's a bit of wisdom here:

The seller often has more problem with price than the buyer ever will.

Hard to accept but true.

Until next time,

Chris Newton

P.S. If you'd like more help on re-working your 'proposals' or 'job specifications', take a look at this article on our Results Corporation website:

http://www.resultscorporation.com.au/Articles2.html

How to own your market...

Here is a classic example of the power of creating a ‘reason for being’.  This case study is from our archives.  The concepts are as relevant today as then.  The client, of all things, was a grave headstone mason.

He'd approached us with a problem.  His Yellow Pages ad, he felt, did not do justice to his business and his life mission.  His ad was just like all the others ... page after page of sameness in the classification ...  Big logo up the top, the same bullet points as everybody else and a big phone number at the bottom.

It didn’t tell the full story ... his special story.

And when people called, what do you think they focused on?  Not surprisingly they tended to focus on PRICE.  Obvious when you think about it because all the ads were fundamentally the same, so price was the only thing they could focus on ... John Smith (not his real name) was convinced we could help him tell his story so he could break away from the 'price trap'.  And to be honest, the more we probed him about his business, the more fascinating the story became.  Our resulting headline read:

‘When you want a monument to your loved one that’s as special as they were ... speak with John Smith’

This ad created a very special personality around his business.

• It spoke of the fact that his monuments ‘are cut from stone, rather than pre-made blocks’ ...
• That ‘you must be 100% delighted with the finished work or you don’t pay’
• That you get to approve the layout BEFORE work begins ...

Compelling reasons to commission him.

But here’s the interesting part.  Do you think the OTHER stone masons listed in the Yellow Pages cut from stone as opposed to pre-made blocks?  They might …

Do they guarantee their work or does the client take the risk?  Do they let you see the drawings before work begins?  They might …

The point is, their ads DON’T SAY if they do or they don’t!

And what that means ... the one who DOES say these things, ‘owns’ those ‘reasons for being’.  The unique selling proposition of cutting from stone ... and the unique selling proposition of having a 100% delight guarantee.

This ad superbly pre-empted the market ... and positioned this company perfectly in that niche in the market that HE wants to serve.  (Below is a reproduction of the ad.)

 

Two things happened after this ad appeared ... first, the number of calls from the Yellow Pages increased.  Not dramatically, but they did increase.

Second, and FAR more importantly, the people who rang as a result were a different type of person ... they didn’t focus on price.  They simply asked, “When can you start?”.  They had been educated to what this remarkable stonemason is about ... creating beautiful monuments.

Want to 'close' more sales? Try 'opening' with more questions...

Here's an easy test for you to try next time you're in a one-on-one sales situation.  Consciously observe how much you’re TELLING … and how much you’re ASKING.  You may find the results of this experiment very interesting.
 

Unquestionably THE most powerful approach in selling is by asking questions: questions about your prospect, their situation, their needs, and what they're looking for.

The temptation however is to revert to TELL MODE.

A salesperson needs to be like an investigative doctor, asking about the symptoms of a patient to diagnose the problem before prescribing the treatment.  In the case of the doctor, doing it any other way would be professional malpractice.  Not asking questions in selling is malpractice too.

The great thing about asking questions and listening to the prospects answers is that you can then ‘prescribe’ the solution exactly for their needs, and use their language. 

Remember this phrase: “Based on what you've told me, 'X' would be the most appropriate service/product for you.  Remember how you said you are looking for …”

Easy.  Powerful.  And so few salespeople do it effectively.