Plan Each Sales Interaction

We talked a lot about planning in Chapter 3, examining the importance of planning ahead when connecting with customers, from the initial call throughout the process to closing and beyond. When most of today's customers have already done their homework—looking into you, your product or service, and your organization, as well as your competition—it's critical to plan accordingly. Sales reps who launch into their spiel without accounting for this fact will quickly find it difficult to engage with their customers in a meaningful way. Top performers understand the importance of planning for each phase of the Critical Selling framework and for each and every customer interaction.

Planning goes well beyond conducting some research on your customers in advance of your initial contact with them, although that is an important part of the process. It is, of course, crucial to plan for your opening, for discovering, for presenting, and for closing. Planning is critical to the entire Critical Selling framework.

In Chapter 3, we shared a precall planner form (see Figure 3.2) that many top-performing sales professionals find useful. Whether you use this form or one like it, or whether you simply jot down some thoughts on a piece of paper or your mobile device, planning is crucial. It's important to make a note of whom you will talk to, what you will talk about, what you hope to achieve during each conversation, how you will follow up after each call, and so on and so forth.

With that, a critical part of planning includes setting objectives that are specific, appropriate, and measurable. As we have discussed, SAM objectives help you clearly identify what you want to accomplish so that you can build an approach that will help you get there. Setting such objectives helps you focus each of your customer interactions so that you can use your time—and your customer's time—wisely, ensuring that you tackle all the important issues you both want to cover. Without planning, it's all too easy to lose focus, get sidetracked, and suddenly discover that your selling conversation has been derailed and, as a result, ended up being inefficient. This isn't good for you or for your customer, and it's no way to build the kind of credibility that will help you become a trusted advisor.

Also important when it comes to planning is to think about how you will approach each customer. For the initial call, some research into your prospect, her organization, and her industry will provide you with crucial insight that will help you plan for that conversation. In subsequent dealings, think about the approach you will take. Take into consideration your customer's style. Is she friendly and personable? Business oriented? A visionary? Cautious and skeptical? How will your customer's style affect how you interact with her? Plan your approach based on what's best for your customer.

As your conversations progress through opening and discovering, planning also will help you prepare for the presenting phase of the Critical Selling framework. In fact, planning here is critical. Why? Because a carefully planned presentation will allow you to share with your customer a solution uniquely tailored to her needs, goals, priorities, and values.

As we discussed in Chapter 6, planning a presentation personalized for your customer is critical. Customers don't want to sit through the same canned presentation that they know (and you know) everyone else got, too. Planning helps you highlight the specific ways in which your product or solution will meet your customer's unique needs. It ensures that you discuss key points; that you accurately report data, specs, features, and benefits; and that you emphasize the information that is most relevant to your customer. On the other hand, winging it—that is, not planning—almost certainly guarantees that you'll forget to discuss critical information, whether because it slips your mind, because your customer derails you with an interruption, or because you run out of time.

Of course, all the planning in the world does little good if you don't also reflect on what you've learned during each sales interaction. Our research indicates that top performers take time not only to plan ahead but also to reflect after each customer interaction. They take notes during each call, and they jot down their thoughts afterward. Doing so provides valuable information and insight that can be helpful during future customer conversations. Planning and reflecting are part of a virtuous circle: without planning, a sales call could be unproductive; without reflecting, it's difficult to plan for the next call.

Top performers make it a practice to plan for each selling conversation, from initial call all the way through closing. They understand the risks of not planning, instead taking the time to think about how to best approach each customer and what to focus on during each call. By doing so, they not only maximize their time but also better connect with their customers.

Connect and Reconnect

When you get down to it, sales is very much about the relationship between you and your customer—not about challenging or confronting your customer but about connecting. Products and services are important, too, of course, but although features and benefits vary from one provider to another, they're often quite similar, and sometimes the discernible differences can be negligible. As a result, success in sales often boils down to how well you connect with your customers.

Throughout these pages, we've discussed the importance of connecting with your customers—finding common ground, establishing like interests, and building rapport, as well as staying in touch. In Chapter 4, for example, we looked at ways to connect with your customer in order to set the stage for a solid opening. Connecting with your customer doesn't end once you've opened the sales interaction well, though; connecting with your customer is something you do throughout the sales interaction, from opening to discovering to presenting to closing—and beyond.

Connecting with your customer helps you establish rapport, build credibility, and earn trust. It helps you discover critical information about your customer that you can use to tailor a unique solution that meets his needs, sharing relevant data, features, and benefits about that solution in a winning presentation. And it helps you accelerate the sales process and close more deals.

Top-performing sales professionals make it a habit to practice connecting with their customers. They research their customers in order to find unique and differentiated ways in which they can establish rapport. They make a practice of asking questions and actively listening to the answers. They continually ask for feedback. They confirm understanding with their customers before moving forward. They find ways to keep in touch and stay front-of-mind with their customers.

Keeping in touch with your customers might take any number of forms. Phone calls, e-mails, and face-to-face meetings are typical ways to stay in contact. Top performers use these methods and others to stay connected. Articles, blog posts, newsletters, and white papers also help sales reps connect with their customers. Engaging in conversations on social media venues such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn also keep customers and sales reps connected, as well. All of these approaches can be effective ways to let your customers know that you're thinking about them and that you're interested in the issues that concern them. It's important to keep up with this. Practice making it a habit to stay in touch with your customers.

Of course, connecting with your customers isn't just about what you do; it's also about how you do it. The method you use should be the one that is the most effective at that stage of the sales process and also the most likely to resonate with your customer. Whatever approach you take, you should keep these two things in mind. It is important not only to let your customers know that you're thinking about them but also to do so in a way that makes them feel comfortable.

Just as important as the medium is the message—what you say and how you say it. When connecting with your customers, keep in mind their communication style. Make sure your vocal presence is n sync. And, as we discussed in Chapter 6, use the customer's own words when talking with him. Repeating his key words and phrases can be a powerful way to connect: it shows your customer that you have been listening to him and that his concerns have been heard. (We'll talk more below about the importance of listening.)

Of course, the connections you make with your customers should stretch well beyond the selling conversation. Our research reveals that one major, common mistake that typical sales reps make is disconnecting with customers if they don't get the sale, dropping the customer like a hot potato after hearing that final no. Top performers, on the other hand, understand the importance of staying connected, regardless of whether the deal is closed.

Part of the reason for this is that once you've established rapport, built credibility, and earned trust, it's easier and more efficacious to stay connected than to have to reconnect and start all over again—trying to build rapport, credibility, and trust a second time. Staying connected provides opportunities to discuss other needs your customer might have, or needs that his colleagues, friends, and peers might have. It keeps you front-of-mind so that if and when he's ready to purchase again, you're the one he turns to first.

In fact, connecting and reconnecting with your customers provides myriad benefits, both tangible and intangible. Top performers practice staying in touch with customers through different avenues of communication, keeping themselves front-of-mind by sharing news and information of interest to their customers. They also practice finding ways to connect with their customers on a visceral level, finding areas of common ground and common interest in order to build rapport.

Ask Questions (and Listen to the Answers)

One of the key tools top-performing sales professionals keep in their arsenal is the question. Asking the right questions at the right time in the right manner of the right individual can be a powerful tool when it comes to accelerating the sales process and closing more deals. Top performers practice making the most of this critical component of successful selling.

We've talked a lot in these pages about asking questions. In Chapter 5, for instance, we discussed the importance of asking open-ended questions during the discovering phase of the Critical Selling framework. Open-ended questions do much to help you learn about your customers' needs, goals, priorities, and values. Asking such questions (and listening to the answers) not only helps you gain priceless information about your customers and how you can meet their needs but also further positions you as a real person who is truly interested in hearing what your customers have to say—which speaks to your position as a trusted advisor, not just an order taker intent on making a sale.

As we've noted, our research tells us that when you ask the right questions in the right ways, your customers will tell you exactly how and what to sell to them. The challenge, of course, is in asking questions that are, in fact, the right questions. A lot of sales reps pepper their customers with quick, closed-ended, yes-no questions designed to lead to a specific outcome. This approach rarely works and does not drive the deal toward a win. It does little to position you as a knowledgeable, credible expert to whom your customers can turn again and again for valuable advice. Instead, asking open-ended questions leads to information that is much more revealing. Questions that begin with “what,” “where,” “which,” “who,” “why,” “how,” “tell me about…” and the like prompt your customers to confide in you, sharing their current situation, their desired outcome, and what it will take to get from one to the other.

Of course, you can't just run through a generic checklist of open-ended questions, moving from one to the next as soon as you hear an answer you like. That's not how it works. Instead, it's critical to listen to the answers. Pay attention so that you can ask any appropriate follow-up questions. Ask for clarification if needed. Make it clear to your customer that you really want to discuss his needs and goals with him. This will further cement in his mind your concern for him and his organization and your willingness to help him meet his objectives—rather than your desire to make a sale.

Listening to your customers is critical if you want to connect with them. By asking questions and actively listening to the answers, you will go far not only in gathering important information that will help you close the deal with fewer objections but also in building credibility and earning trust. As we've mentioned, listening may, in fact, “be the single most important skill that salespeople can possess.”³ In addition, as noted earlier, “customers' perceptions of the quality of salespeople's listening [skills] were found to be positively related to customers' trust in salespeople, their satisfaction with them, and their desire to do future business with them.”⁴ Remember, too, that failure to listen is one of the most important inhibitors to successful selling.⁵

Top performers regularly practice good listening skills so that they can better connect with their customers. Researching your customers, asking good questions, keeping in touch—none of that matters if you don't listen to your customers' responses. Listening is critical when it comes to connecting with customers, whether for the first time or the hundredth, whether at opening or at closing, whether you get the sale or not.

As you move through each selling conversation, it's critical to keep asking questions, to ask for clarification, to ask for feedback, and to ask for confirmation. We discussed asking for feedback in Chapter 6 during our look at best practices for presenting tailored solutions to your customers. In Chapter 7, we looked at the importance of asking for confirmation at closing, making sure that your customer understands and is ready for the next steps as you move from suggesting a solution to advocating for one. We also talked about the importance of, when the moment is right, asking your customer for his business.

“Ask and ye shall receive.”

Note that this old adage isn't “Talk a lot and ye shall receive” or “Make it all about you and ye shall receive.” Asking is what makes things happen. Top-performing sales reps understand that there is power in asking, not least of which because it furthers each sales interaction; but also because it allows you to identify not only known needs but also unknown needs of the customer. Asking questions assures the customer that the selling conversation is about him, discovering what he needs, and finding out what will help meet those needs. The selling conversation isn't about you as the sales rep touting your experience, or expertise, or the quality of your product or service, or the superiority of your organization. It's not about overtly trying to convince your customer that what you can offer him is the best option. It's about asking the right questions in the right manner so that together you can discuss what's best for your customer.

Top performers understand the importance of practicing the art of asking questions and actively listening to the answers. They make a point of incorporating open-ended questions into each phase of the sales process and of using closed-ended questions at key junctures in order to secure agreement from their customers. They're not afraid of asking for feedback and for confirmation. In fact, top performers aren't afraid of much when it comes to sales and selling.

Adjust Your Attitude

If it's true that top-performing sales professionals aren't afraid to ask questions (and our research tells us as much), that fearlessness has a lot to do with attitude. In fact, attitude has a lot to do with success in general.

Throughout these pages, we've talked about the importance of a positive attitude. In Chapter 2, we focused on the importance of adopting an open and growing mindset when it comes to embracing the kind of change required to follow through with each and every phase of the Critical Selling framework. Attitude is crucial when it comes to implementing change, because not only are most of us reluctant to change in the first place but also we need to understand, accept, and believe in the changes that face us. If we don't open our minds to change, if we're not willing to shift our attitudes, if we won't commit to altering our behavior—well, then, change isn't going to happen.

In essence, most of us take a “what's in it for me?” attitude to change. Most of us weigh the costs and benefits of change against the costs and benefits of maintaining the status quo,⁶ and if the perceived impact of change isn't in our favor—well, then, again, change isn't going to happen.

Top performers, however, are open to change. They're confident that change will benefit them and their organizations. They're willing to try new things to improve their performance. They're open to the idea of changing their behavior in order to see better results from their efforts. They're inclined toward lifelong learning, continuing education, and ongoing training. They're willing to practice, practice, practice—doing whatever it takes to gain that edge.

This attitude is critical when it comes to improving sales performance. Sales isn't about talent or luck. It's not just about how many hours you put in or how much effort you expend. Nor is it just about how many customers you call on. It's about practicing, training, and applying proven methods designed to help you close more deals.

Changing times require new processes, and today's savvy customers have different expectations than they did even just a few years ago. The pace of change is so fast that if you cling to yesterday's methodologies, you're going to get run over.

What we're talking about is what it takes to become a top performer who connects with customers and becomes a trusted advisor. Top-performing sales professionals are those who are willing to learn new skills and strategies, to train, and to practice so that they can have successful sales interactions with today's customers.

We're not asking you to become someone else. We're not insisting that you buy in to a cult of personality. What we are suggesting is that it will be easier for you to change your behavior for the better not only when you understand how doing so will benefit you but also when you open your mind to adopting the intuitive strategies, skills, and best practices that our research tells us works. Our research also tells us that practice is important, that working on skills is valuable, and that top performers fully understand the need to continue evolving if they want to be the best.

Most of us tend to resist change. We tend to feel that we already know what we need to know, especially if we're tenured professionals who have chalked up a few successes during our careers. But if in 2016 you're selling the way you did in 1996, or even 2006, chances are you've developed some bad habits that could be improved upon. And if that's the case, it's probably time to change.

Is it time for you to think about embracing the kind of change that will help you improve your performance? Let's see.

Take a look at the list below. Think about each item and consider whether you agree or disagree. Be honest with yourself (no one else has to see this but you!).

• Meeting or exceeding my sales performance measures is as easy as it's ever been.
• When I lose a sale, it's usually because the customer didn't understand what my product or service could do for him.
• Customers are essentially the same as they've always been.
• I don't have the time to ask my customers too many questions before telling them about my product or service.
• It's important to be assertive with my customers.
• I can usually assume that I know what my customers need.
• My regular presentation works just fine for all my customers.
• It's never too soon to ask my customer for his business and close the deal.
• What my competitors are doing matters less to me and my customers than what my own organization is doing.
• Being a friendly, personable sales rep is the most important thing I can be for my customers.
• I don't have time to attend training workshops and seminars.
• I've honed my approach into a reliable one that works with all my customers.

If you found yourself agreeing with these statements more than you disagreed, it's likely time for a shift in attitude and behavior. Why? Because each of these statements speaks to the kind of outmoded thinking that leaves sales reps mired in the status quo, while those around them are moving ahead and keeping up with the pace of change—and with their customers.

Are you ready to do what it takes to keep up with the pace of change? Are you ready to establish credibility with your customers so that they see you as a trusted advisor they can turn to again and again? Are you ready to rethink how you open your sales calls? Are you ready to use new skills to discover more about your customers? Are you ready to employ proven strategies to present tailor-made solutions that meet your customers' needs? Are you ready to work with your customer toward a natural close?

We hope so. Because ready or not, change is coming. Whether you're willing and able to keep pace with the changes that are shaking the world of sales and selling is entirely up to you. If you want to become a top-performing sales professional, if you want to accelerate the sales process and close more deals with fewer objections, it's critical that you adopt a positive mindset; embrace change; seek out training; and keep practicing the skills, strategies, and best practices that will position you as a trusted advisor with all your customers for years to come.