Plan Your Opening

A good opening creates positive momentum that enables you to set the stage for the customer interaction, creating a connection and building rapport. Opening well requires sales professionals to blend planning with the art of being personable and the science of establishing a legitimate purpose for the sales call. We're not talking hours of planning or a long-winded monologue when it comes to opening well. Just a few minutes—and a few critical skills—can make all the difference in the world.

Planning the opening requires you to think about your customer, whether it's a new prospect or someone you've dealt with numerous times. As we discussed in Chapter 3, planning is critical during each phase of the sales cycle. Planning for a good opening means that you need to consider your customer, his organization, and his needs. It means you have to remember that your customer likely has a fair amount of information at his fingertips, and that he's done his research. With that, it's also important to think about what resistance you might face and the information you plan on sharing. The precall planner form we looked at in the last chapter (refer again to Figure 3.2) is a perfect tool to prepare you for a solid opening.

Opening well helps position you to become a trusted advisor to your customer. Think about what you're going to say to the customer and how you're going to say it. Think about those first few words that will come out of your mouth. Too often, sales professionals rush through this phase of the process, just launching in to their shtick, regardless of whether the prospect is ready for the discussion or even interested in what you have to say. Too many sales professionals just start the sales process without telling customers why they're calling, how the interaction will unfold, or what's in it for them.

Top-performing sales professionals understand that the opening sets the tone for the entire sales interaction. The opening might be quick—just a small portion of the overall time spent with a customer during the entire sales process—but that doesn't mean it's not important. In fact, it's vital for sales professionals to open well. Doing so requires four critical skills: mastering the greeting, creating connections, delivering a Legitimate Purpose Statement, and confirming.

Master the Greeting

The way in which you initially open a call with a customer is vital. That greeting, whether in your first meeting or your tenth, is your chance to get the conversation started in a positive way. And now that customers are busier than ever, sales professionals need to make the most of each moment they spend with their customers.

The actual opening—that first minute or two of each conversation—should be more than just a quick hello and some casual banter. A solid opening is both intentional and flexible. That means you have to open with confidence in your voice and your demeanor. A firm handshake, good eye contact, a warm smile, and relaxed body language will help your customer feel comfortable.

Remember that people respond in kind. So, if you open your call with intention and confidence, your customer will know it. If, on the other hand, you come at this critical step feeling uncertain, your customer will know that, too. For a solid opening, you have to put on your game face. Put yourself in the right place emotionally and mentally (a positive mindset is crucial here) so that you can give your customer your best.

Demonstrate confidence and show genuine enthusiasm for your organization and your product or service. Make it clear that you're looking forward to working with this customer and that you're excited about the prospect of helping her find solutions to whatever issues she and her company might have. Let her know that you've planned for the call by doing a little research into her and her organization.

Setting the tone in the first few minutes of your opening also requires that you be in tune with your customer. Pay attention to how she responds and mirror that behavior. Don't force a boisterous atmosphere during the meeting if the customer is clearly more subdued. Be flexible in your approach and remember that confidence isn't just about projecting your personality—it's also about being able to quickly recognize and adapt to your customer's style. Top-performing sales professionals who understand this, and who make the most of each opening, are in a better position to build the kind of rapport that allows them to be viewed as trusted advisors with their customers.

Create Connections

Building rapport and creating connections is critical when it comes to accelerating the sales process and closing more deals. A lot of people think they're really good at this, but it's easy to fall into some traps when it comes to creating connections.

Top-performing sales professionals understand that building rapport goes beyond making friendly banter. Don't assume that because your customer is friendly or personable or pleasant that you've built rapport. Rapport is built over time, and it takes constant work—as with any relationship.

Top performers also understand that rapport need not be extraordinarily personal or built on common interests that go far beyond the industry, product, or service that you and your customer are discussing. Chatting about the fact that you both have middle school students who play soccer might be one way to build rapport, but there are plenty of other approaches that allow you to maintain that balance between professional and personable.

Of course, there's some nuance here. Building good rapport is as much art as it is science, and it doesn't happen by chance. Try too hard, and it feels forced, transparent, or obvious. Overly perky banter can feel too salesy. There are much better ways to create connections.

Again, this is where planning comes in. A little advance research can go a long way in creating connections with customers. For example, if you're meeting with a partner in an accounting firm, your research might reveal that she's just written a white paper about value formulas. Better to talk about that than stumbling around trying to find some commonalities around your personal lives that you can chat about. Rather than risking attempts at personal conversations that might misfire, use the opportunity to demonstrate that you took the time to do some research and plan for the call.

Note that this kind of conversation can serve as an advantage for you, not just in the fact that it helps build rapport but also because it likely will differentiate you from other sales professionals who are trying to make connections solely on a personal level. In demonstrating that you've planned the opening, that you've researched the customer, and that you're able to converse about things that are important to her, you're able to add value to the relationship right away.

Professional rapport should be carefully crafted and cultivated over time. Planning how you will open each and every sales call with each and every customer will make it evident that you've done your homework. It's just one simple but critical step in gathering the seeds that can be planted throughout various conversations you'll have with your customers—seeds that will help grow your relationships over time.

Deliver a Legitimate Purpose Statement

As you move deeper into the opening, it's essential to make clear to your customer why you are talking with him. After you've worked through a greeting and started to create a connection with your customer, it's time to deliver what we call a Legitimate Purpose Statement.

The LPS is an important part of the opening to get right. This is a critical skill, and it might seem simple on the surface, but executing it well is more difficult than you might think at first blush.

In this part of the call, you want to let your customer know the purpose of the conversation. Letting your customer know why you're calling establishes the framework for the call. This serves not only as your guide for what you want to accomplish during the call but also as a road map for your customer so he, too, knows what to expect. It's simple enough: state your purpose.

The trickier part of the LPS is ensuring that the purpose statement is legitimate. To make the purpose statement legitimate, you have to let the customer know what's in it for him. Why should he spend time with you on the call? Remember: the call isn't just about what you want to accomplish. You also have to let the customer know why he should spend time with you. You have to articulate the value for him.

By delivering a Legitimate Purpose Statement—instead of just diving in with your usual shtick or jumping straight to the discovering phase of the sales process—you are building trust and instilling confidence because you've given the customer the opportunity to hear and digest the “why” behind your call. Doing this will help you achieve buy-in, which will make the call more productive for both of you.

The LPS also helps you to avoid making pointless sales calls. Because you have to think about why you're calling the customer and because you have to plan what you're going to say, you avoid those rambling calls that go nowhere because your purpose isn't clear. This is especially true with follow-up calls.

We aren't big fans of the follow-up call placed just for the purpose of following up. In fact, one of the worst things a sales rep can do is check in just to follow up or touch base. Why? Because there's really no purpose to these calls and certainly no value to the customer. Generic, touching-base, follow-up calls aren't focused on the customer. They're all about the sales rep. Touching base just for the sake of checking in isn't productive. In fact, this call can actually backfire, costing you credibility because it provides no value to the customer and likely feels to him like an intrusive waste of time. That can shift momentum out of your favor, which isn't at all what you want.

If you're reaching out to a customer, you need to have a legitimate purpose, and you need to be able to articulate what's in it for the customer. If you don't have that, you should reconsider why you're calling that customer in the first place.

Each call needs to provide clear value to the customer. It has to advance the sales process. If it doesn't, it provides zero value—to your customer or to you. Even worse, it can result in the dreaded “let me get back to you” line from your customer, which can lead to a higher likelihood of stalled deals.

Instead of calling just to follow up or check in or touch base, deliver a straightforward LPS in a confident, concise manner:

• “As you may know, we help businesses such as yours [do this], and have been able to achieve [X] results. I'd like to spend a few minutes learning about your operations so I can provide you with the information you are looking for.”
• “Today I'd like to better understand your needs and requirements. Once I learn more about what's most important to you and your organization, I can provide a few recommendations for you.”

Top-performing sales professionals know how to articulate the reason for and direction of each call in a way that makes it clear that the conversation will be of value to the customer. They know how to deliver a strong LPS that is authentic and organic without feeling staged or rehearsed. At the beginning of each sales interaction, top performers establish what they want to cover, and they get feedback from the customer regarding that agenda. They do so by confirming with their customer at every step of the conversation, which is another key aspect of a solid opening.

Confirm for Feedback

Delivering an effective LPS is a critical component of a solid opening. But that doesn't mean you should just tell your customer what you want to talk about and then forge ahead with the conversation. You have to make sure your customer understands what the call is about and how it will be of value to him, and you also have to make sure that you're in sync with each other.

Top-performing sales reps take the time to make sure that the LPS they articulate to their customers is aligned with what their customers actually want to talk about. They understand that by preparing a discussion about X when the customer really wants to discuss Y, they run the risk of losing serious credibility.

The key here is simple but effective: confirm with your customer what you will discuss. Asking a simple question after you deliver your LPS is all it takes:

• “How does that sound?” or
• “Does that sound good?” or
• “Does that cover everything you'd like to discuss?” or
• “Will that work for you?”

This might seem really simple or even overly basic, but our research tells us that this tiny but critical step is one of the most powerful—yet overlooked—facets of an effective sales call. Many sales reps fail to confirm that their customers understand the purpose for the call, how it will be of value to them, and that they're on board with the LPS. Too many sales reps don't stop to bring the customer back into the conversation. Instead, they just push on through, assuming the customer is tagging along.

This is a mistake.

Sales reps skip this step for any number of reasons (none of them good). They might fear losing control of the conversation. They might fear what could happen if the customer, in fact, is not on board with the LPS. They might fear having to field an early objection that they're not ready to deal with. They might think they know better, operating under the common misconception that they know both what the customer needs and what the best way to go about meeting those needs is.

This kind of reasoning will get you nowhere fast. Top-performing sales professionals confidently and concisely deliver a strong Legitimate Purpose Statement, and then—right away—confirm with the customer that he's on board. And if he's not on board, it provides the sales rep an opportunity to incorporate the customer's own thoughts as to how the conversation should go.

For instance, the customer might say, “Yes, that sounds good. Let's talk.” Or he might say, “That sounds okay, but I also want to find out about how your team supports implementation.”

Right there is an opportunity for you to hear your customer, assess his needs, and tailor your LPS to meet those needs. By listening to your customer and adjusting your LPS as necessary, you not only make the call more productive but also further build rapport by showing your customer that you're taking his needs into consideration. So, if the customer does provide the kind of feedback that makes you rethink your LPS, be sure to reposition your approach accordingly and then reconfirm.

Confirming isn't something that happens just once or only during the opening phase of the sales process or only with new prospects. Top-performing sales reps do this at a few key moments throughout the sales process, and they do so with every customer. In fact, confirming is such an important tool that it is incorporated throughout the Critical Selling framework.

How does that sound?

Close the Opening with Some Reflection

When you think about all the things you need to do well during those first few minutes of conversation with your customer, you realize that there's actually a lot going on. What the impact of those first few minutes is on your customer depends on how well you plan the call, master the greeting, create connections, deliver a Legitimate Purpose Statement, and confirm that your customer is on board.

If you get the opening right, the rest of the call—and the rest of the sales process—will fall naturally into place, building on positive momentum. If you get it wrong, though, the effect will be detrimental (and possibly even ruinous) to the rest of the sales process.

How will you know if you get it right? By listening to your customer, getting his feedback, and confirming. Top-performing sales professionals go one step further: they reflect.

Remember our discussion in Chapter 3 about the importance of planning and reflecting. Don't waste all the work you've done by planning a good opening, getting feedback from your customer, and confirming with him by just ending the meeting and moving on to the next item on your to-do list. Think about how the call went. What worked well? What didn't work? What key takeaways did you get from your customer? What kind of follow-up work do you need to do? What do you next need to provide to your customer in order to move the process forward?

Remember that the process is always about the customer. Think of it not just as a sales process but as a customer-buying process: How can you best move the customer from one step to the next? Connecting with the customer and building a lasting relationship are what matters most at this point.

A solid opening is a critical step in the sales process. It not only opens the door but also provides you the opportunity to learn more about your customer, his needs, and how you can meet those needs. That kind of feedback is priceless.

Thinking about the feedback your customer gave you will put you in good stead when it comes to asking the kind of questions that help move the process forward. Asking the right questions at the right time is critical when it comes to creating connections with your customer. The answers you glean will allow you to discover more about your customer's needs, which is another critical step in the process. We'll discuss that next, in Chapter 5.

Critical Selling: Lessons Learned

• A poor opening is a lost opportunity that can hurt your credibility with your customer. A solid opening, though, helps everything else to fall naturally into place.
• Planning for a solid opening requires you to think about your customer, his organization, and their needs. It means you have to think about what you're going to say and how you're going to say it. And it means you have to blend planning with the art of being personable and the science of delivering a Legitimate Purpose Statement.
• Top-performing sales reps don't underestimate the simple power of a well-delivered Legitimate Purpose Statement. They make sure to state each LPS clearly, concisely, and confidently.
• Confirm and reflect. Top performers understand that confirming is important to ensure that the customer is on board and that they are aligned. Reflecting enables you to look back on how things went and how you might be able to improve the next time.