The quality of your questioning and listening skills can have a profound effect on your professional success in sales. Ask most prospects what skills they most admire in their suppliers’ representatives, and you can rest assured that ‘listening to our needs and wants’ will be high up their list.

But why is listening such a valued skill? And what are the benefits of active listening in the collaborative relationship? Here are some reasons why you should hold this key communication skill in high esteem:

Top quality listeners make their prospects feel cared for and special

Questions show that you care, and listening adds to that impression. It shows your deep respect for the other person’s opinion and helps you understand their reasoning behind their statements.

The fifth of Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People revolves around ‘listening to understand before making yourself understood’. When your clients are made to feel special, they are more likely to open up to you, confide in you and trust you. Remember; no-one ever lost a deal by listening too much!

Top quality listening reduces the chances of mistakes

How many times have you finished a conversation then realised there were several points you weren’t that clear on? Or even some points that you thought you understood, but afterwards leave you puzzled and confused. Quality listening means you are able to back-track, ask clarifying questions and confirm your clear understanding of what’s being discussed, with less chances of mistakes.

Quality listeners actually appear more intelligent

When you have asked appropriate questions of your prospect and got quality answers, you are able to dig deeper and request more information, as the prospect opens up and trusts your viewpoints on ideas for their business. This increases your value to them and makes you appear trustworthy and intellectually and emotionally more intelligent.

Qualty listening opens up opportunities and problems that you didn’t know existed

Deep listening will create a bond between you and the prospect, allowing you to find out more about the problems they face, especially if you probe deeper to uncover the problems and rewards that your services could deal with.

By identifying the reasons why listening can help you in the collaborative interactions you have, very soon you will reap the benefits of trust and respect that create long-term business partnerships with your key clients.

Happy selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

Do you know how many brains you’ve got? Some people I’ve asked that question of look at me kind of strange! Surely it’s just one, isn’t it?

Or have I been duped all these years?

Well, most people think we have one brain in our heads. Actually, that’s only partly true, as our heads contain three parts of our brain, and it’s important you know what they do, if you are to appeal to as many prospects as possible.

Many salespeople are excellent at describing their products in such a way that they can answer any question the prospect may come up with.

Their product and service knowledge is second to none and they would win any quiz show about their offering. That’s great. But that only appeals to one part of the prospect’s brain…the thinking brain, or cerebral hemisphere. This is where we logically think of answers, using rational thinking.

Another part of the brain is the reptilian brain, responsible for our fight or flight responses, and a part that, as the name suggests, we share with reptiles.

But the area that plays the biggest part in decision-making with our prospects in mind, is the second brain, the limbic brain or commonly called the ‘emotional brain’. This is where our emotional decisions are made and, interestingly, it overrides the logical thinking brain in many decision-making roles.

What does this mean to us as salespeople?

Well, we have to be aware that our client’s thoughts are being over-ridden in many areas by the emotions that drive decisions.

They may think they want the lowest price (and their thinking brain is probably telling them that), but how many times have they chosen something that looks like a rational decision, but is, in fact, based on how they really feel about something?

Emotions are the key drivers of choice and those drivers may well be influenced by how you elicit positive feelings for your products and services, creating an emotional need in your prospect that they hadn’t considered before.

We had an example of this when discussing a training programme recently with a prospect. He had compared our services with another training company, and said that we were more expensive. If we had simply discussed price, we would have been appealing only to his rational thoughts, and logic would have dictated that we negotiate.

However, we asked what was most important to him to achieve as a result of the training, and he stated that he wanted a partnership that would work in the long-term, a programme that would guarantee results and sessions that would be energising and interactive.

All of these were linked to the emotional brain, and we discussed how these would be delivered. Our prospect was so pleased with the planned programme that his wants overcame his needs and we agreed on a complete programme at our original price.

So think how your prospect could be driven by their emotional brain to agree with your suggestions. You may be surprised how powerful those emotions might be!

Happy selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

If you didn’t know already I offer one off sales coaching sessions either face to face or over the telephone to cover certain aspects of your selling if you need a boost.

Call it “Pay as you go!” sales coaching!

Anyhow, last week a sales person wanted me to come out with him on a couple of visits so I could analyse his technique and give him some coaching after each visit.

I played the role of a new starter shadowing the sales person! I found it very difficult not to step in!

Anyhow, this sales person was very detailed, talked very slowly, was analytical and very techy. He knew his stuff big time.

But in each of the sales visits he treated the prospect exactly how he would like to be sold to. He was baffling them with jargon, getting all “techy” on them, he was going into great detail about things etc

And that’s fine if the prospect is like that but they weren’t!

I’ve never seen two prospects glaze over so quickly before.

And here’s the lesson.

You’ve heard of the expression do unto others as they do onto you?

Well, in sales that’s strictly not true.

You need to weigh up what type of prospect they are in terms of:

- Detailed v Big Picture thinkers
- Straight Talkers v Fluff
- Analytical v Gut Feeling thinkers
- Move towards people v Move away people

There are many other factors!

And then you adapt your style to fit their style.

It’s not one size fits all with selling.

Try it out and see how you get on. You will find it makes a huge difference to your sales and how you connect with your prospects.

And don’t forget, you don’t need me to come out and shadow you to benefit from my sales coaching. You might just want a 45 minute session with me over the phone to go over a couple of things and to get my views, opinions and approach on something.

If you want me to help just reply to this email and I’ll send you how it will work.

Why don’t you give it a try?

Thanks again

Happy selling!

Sean

PS Here are 3 additional ways to help you to improve your sales!

1. Check out my 5 CD Sales Programme “Drive Time Sales Strategies: 39 Practical “HOW TO” tips while you’re on the way to the sale!” Click here: http://www.drivetimesales.com

2. Attend one of our sales training open courses run at different locations throughout the UK. Click here for the latest schedule:
http://www.mtdsalestraining.com/opencourses.htm

3. If a number of you require training to help you to close more business then we can come to you and train you together. Click here for details on our in-house training options:
http://www.mtdsalestraining.com/inhouse.htm

_______________________________

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training International

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Website:
http://www.mtdsalestraining.com

Address:
MTD Sales Training
Business Innovation Centre
Binley Business Park
Harry Weston Road
Coventry
CV3 2TX
United Kingdom

My biggest fault as a salesperson is when I oversell our services and products.

There you have it! I’m opening myself up to you!

I feel like I’m at confession! (Not that I’ve been to confession before I hasten to add! )

You see, I am so passionate about what we do and the results that we get for our clients that sometimes I oversell and talk too much when the deal is already done or is about to be made. It stems from my belief that I cannot understand why anyone would want to use any other sales training and business development provider other than MTD (That might sound arrogant to you but that’s how much I believe in what we do – do you feel the same about what you sell?)

These instances are getting fewer and fewer nowadays but I wanted to make you aware that bad habits can creep into everyones selling approach and that includes me too.

Sometimes you can get swept along with it all that you get so enthusiastic and passionate about helping your prospect that you do talk too much. Please note, I’m not saying that everyone that talks too much is passionate about what they sell and that’s the reason why they do talk so much! Some salespeople just do not know the questions to ask and think that by talking and talking that the prospect will not have a chance of throwing any objections into the ring because they wont have the chance to do so!

I’m very aware of when I’m talking too much now and I can reign myself back in when I feel I am going down that road and that is a key strength of mine too – self awareness.

So my takeaway action for you today is this:

Confess!

Confess and open up to yourself about your shortcomings and do something about it. Many salespeople oversell like I do on occassions and if you do then admit that fact and put processes, triggers and checkpoints in place so those times are highlighted and you know the symptoms, so you can do something about it.

Silence is golden at times and when in doubt I always revert back to the “Two ears, one mouth – use them in that proportion when you sell” approach.

Happy Selling

Sean
Sean McPheat
Managing Director

MTD Sales Blog
MTD Sales Training

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again but those first few moments in ANY sales interaction will either set youself up for success or failure.

Here are 7 ways to guarantee that you’ll really hack them off in your first encounters with them:

1. On the telephone – you manage to get through and then with a big cheesy voice say “How are you?”

Oh come on! Most people just hate this and know that it’s just lip service so don’t use it

2. On the telephone or face to face – don’t launch into a monalogue about you and your company, it’s way to early for that, they are not interested yet.

3. On the telephone – lose the smile and dial. This is the over enthusiastic tone that you use.

Come off it, you don’t even know them yet! Why should you be so happy to talk to them? Is it because you want their money….

There is a time to up the ante with the enthusiasm but it’s not at “Hello”

4. On the telephone or face to face – don’t use pointless “chit chat”. Make your rapport building focused and meaningful. They’ll see straight through this.

5. On the telephone or face to face – you’re too nervous or lack the skills so you just talk, talk and talk with the viewpoint that they can’t object if they can’t get a word in!

Just don’t do it!

6. Face to face – “And here’s another one of our product lines” BORING! Don’t sit and go through a brochure or information if it’s of no interest to your prospect. Use it when the time is right and then only scan it briefly

7. On the telephone or face to face – don’t talk too quickly! Don’t be like a whirlwind or this will really hack your prospects off. Slow down and gauge the pace of your prospect and then match them.

Those first encounters make or break the sale so make sure that you can generate and keep your prospect’s interest and attention and you will be way on your way for a successful sales interaction.

Happy selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Blog

MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

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Let’s assume that you’re meeting with a prospect for the first time…

Now do you know exactly what you’re going to say to open the conversation?

You see, what you say and how you say it will either make the prospect want to open up and tell all or they will feel that they need to keep things close to their chest.

Your prospect will want a non threatening environment and above all they want to know:

•Who are you?

•What do you want?

•Why are you here?

•Who do you represent?

•What’s in it for me?

•What can I expect from today’s meeting?

If you can open up your conversation by giving a brief overview to each of those questions then you will not go far wrong and you will condition the mind of your prospect and put them at ease.

It’s those meetings where your prospects do not know what’s coming next that makes them clam up because they are just “waiting for the time that you start to close”

So you could use something like this:

“Thanks for seeing me about your sales teams’ training requirements Jo. As I mentioned on the phone I’m the MD of MTD Sales Training and we specialise in the areas and topics that you covered in the briefing document that you sent me and we’ve helped hundreds of similar companies increase their sales by 30%+. What I’d like to do today, if it’s ok by you, is that I’d like to get to understand your requirements in greater depth so I can go away and put together a draft proposal of what the training programme could look like. Does that sound okay to you?”

From this initial statement the prospect knows what to expect from the meeting and knows there will be no “hard sell”.

Adapt it to your selling situation and watch how much more productive your sessions are.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The Sales Jedi
MTD Sales Blog

MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

How To Develop Your Communication Skills

Communication skills are vital if you are going to be a top sales person.

But improving those communication skills is easier said then done.

Without doubt the two most important skills are questioning and listening.

Let’s have a look at some questioning techniques you can use.

Open? Closed? Which questions should you use?

I don’t really care as long as they have a purpose!

Questioning With SOAR

Being able to SOAR
An analysis of many thousands of sales has directed us to an acronym that helps us remember the process of questions within the sales call.

The underlying philosophy is for sellers to ‘think buyer’ and help them to understand their needs and potential solutions.

The acronym SOAR stands for SITUATION, OBJECTIVES, ‘ANTI’ and REWARDS

Situation Questions ask about the customer’s operating context and business situation. What is the current business situation that the customer is in? Who else is involved in this decision?

Objective Questions ask about the customer’s goals, visions and ideas that will take them from their current situation towards a solution. What would be the ideal solution for you, Mr Customer? What changes would you like to see in your supplier of services?

‘Anti’ Questions ask what stops you from achieving this, or what is against this happening at the moment. It elicits possible objections without you having to deal with them later.

Reward Questions probe for explicit needs, either directly or by exploring the value or importance to the customer of solving a problem. Would a faster back-up service reduce backlogs? How would a more efficient claims service help? Would x also produce savings with y?

So, asking effective questions is a surefire way of how to develop your communication skills.Keep improving, keep getting better at what you do and the results will come.

The little 1 percenters make a huge difference when added up.

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

Sales Managers Need Good Communication Skills

If you’ve been in management for any length of time you will already know it doesn’t take much to cause animosity, resentment or even real distaste with people that you manage simply by answering a question. I mean just by answering a question, you can cause a host of serious problems. You have to remember the old adage, “It’s not what you say, but how you say it.”

The wrong word or the tone you use to deliver the word can cause misunderstandings, ill feeling and resentment, which create barriers that will cost your organisation lots of money, time, employee retention and eventually unsatisfied customers. It is essential that you approach and communicate effectively with your Front Line People.

First, keep in mind that it is extremely easy to inadvertently make people feel belittled or even stupid, when you speak because of your position and experience. When people you supervise feel that you talk “down” to them, it makes them fear talking to you or asking you questions. Then, small problems you thought you’d resolved suddenly spiral out of control, they fester and grow into major obstacles before you know it. So how do you communicate comfortably with people without sounding like the big cheese? Developing effective communication skills requires serious and practice. However, here’s a few tips to avoid making people feel inferior:

Listen.
When someone comes to you with that question you’ve heard and answered a million times. You know! that one you know what they’re going to say before they say it question; do you have a tendency to “cut them off” with an answer that goes something like this “I know what you’re going to say, It’s a stupid question which I’ve answered a thousand times, go away and stop wasting my time”. BIG MISTAKE. What you need to think about is, ‘OK, YES’, I’ve been asked this question lots of times, along with many other questions which I know the answer to before the question is even asked, You know though, no matter how tempting it is to be abrupt and cut them off because you know you have far more important things to do, you must let them talk. Let them get it out, look them in the eye when they ask the question, yes the question maybe one asked many times before but not by them so LISTEN—HEAR IT!

Wait.
When someone comes to you with a question or situation they feel is important, don’t be too quick to answer or provide a solution straight away, let them SPEAK and you LISTEN. You may well have the answer on the tip off your tongue, but slow down, don’t blurt it out, you can gain a lot of respect and credibility by simply delaying the response, wait a second or two and in-between a “yes, that’s a good question”, gives you time to think about the tone and attitude you use to deliver your response. Your response, if well thought out won’t be patronisng or demeaning, instead it will make them feel valued and important and WOW they will even think they’ve asked the BOSS a question he’s had to stop and think about!

Can I get back to you?
Let’s face it though, sometimes we’re too busy to employ such tactics. However, you don’t have to say, “I don’t have time for you now, go away.” You can still build value and camaraderie if you accept and understand that any question is important! You need to get across that ‘YES’ you appreciate the value of the question but in order to give it the attention it deserves you need more time than you have right now to deal with it. As an example, (you don’t want to cut someone off and make them feel un-important so you might say something like;) “Listen, Steve/Sue, I think I know what you’re getting at, and it’s a really good point; which we do need to talk about, but, I need more time to figure it out. I’ve only got a few minutes now so let’s meet first thing Friday and we can give it the attention it really deserves.”

Can you help me?
You can give commands and orders all day long. However, it is often better to ask for help instead. For instance when you have to delegate tasks, especially tedious or labor intensive ones, people can feel “dumped on” They’re at the bottom of the pecking order, the lowest employee, so you dump the worst jobs on them. No one wants to feel worthless and it’s never your intention to make them feel this way, so why not try a different approach and ask for ‘HELP’ with a ‘PROJECT’ it humanises you, ‘the BOSS needs my help Instead of Graham/Ann, make sure you empty the shredders in the accounting department and dispose of the rubbish correctly…” Why not try something more like this: Graham/Ann, I really need your help… You know the shredders in accounts have been down for a few days, there fixed now but there’s a backlog? It’s really important we handle the sensitive information properly, can you make sure it’s disposed of properly? thank you” People respond when asked to ‘HELP’ instead of being ‘TOLD’

Ineffective communication is like a cancer, if it isn’t detected early, it will grow and spread quickly throughout your organisation; directly and indirectly it will cost your company precious time and a lot of money. Effective Communication is a process, and an ‘Effective communication skills will increase productivity, bring down costs, thereby enhancing your bottom line!

Happy Communicating

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

http://www.mtdsalestraining.com

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

Why say only five words when a thousand will do!

Sounds like any salespeople in your company? It might even be you!

Do you tend to waffle when answering questions from your prospects?

The thing is, we waste far too much time in explaining what we mean.

What we want are precise and concise communications right?

Of course we do!

Well, here is a useful exercise to use to really focus your key messages to really hit home what you want to say to your prospects and clients.

Here’s what to do:

Take one of the key questions you get asked the most like “Who have you worked with?” or “What makes you different?”

Then, write down an answer to the question using 50 words only.

You MUST use all 50 words up.

Then, analyse what has been written.

Next, answer the same question but this time you can only use 30 words and you must use them all up.

Analyse what you have written and explore the challenges and difficulties that you have had in reducing the number of words.

What did you miss out and why?

Did you end up with something completely different?

Did it make more sense than the 50 word explanation?

After you have completed this task do exactly the same process but this time you have got only 15 words to play with.

Go through the results again but this time compare it to the 50 word answer.

I’ll bet that the 15 word answer better explains in a nut-shell what you wanted to say. Obviously you will need to expand on your answer but this will clarify the main points you need to make.

Until the next time, take care of yourself and happy selling!

Sean

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s I always remember that my Nan always used to love watching a comedy programme called "Mind Your Language".

For those of you who do not remember the show it was about a night school class that taught English to ethnic minorities.

For those of you who do remember the show you are showing your age along with me!

Thinking back about the show I don’t think you would get away with airing the programme now in our very politically correct environment.

The reason why I mentioned that is because I was driving back home from Capital One Bank in Nottingham having just had a successful one on one coaching session and I was
reviewing over in my mind what we had just covered.

We were talking about the language patterns that he was using when communicating to people and how to improve this.

I said to him "You need to mind your language!" and hence I thought of that show!

Now, it’s not language as in swearing or slang or anything like that.

The language I mean is the intensity of the words that you use with your prospects and clients.

Let me give you an example from the session:

My client said to me that he wanted to talk about how good his team were to his boss and what their current workloads were like so that he could ask for an additional member of staff.

"I’m going to show him all of the work we complete and what achievements we have made and then I am going to ask him to attend an issues meeting with me to discuss the additional headcount"

"Issues meeting?" I said "That sounds like trouble to me?"

"Oh no" replied the client "I just want to go over my plan of what additional resource we need and why"

"So why are you calling it an issues meeting?" I said "Issues to me mean problems and BIG PROBLEMS at that"

"I don’t view issues as problems" said the client

"I appreciate that, but I DO and your boss might do as well"

The learning from that example:

You need to be very careful with the terminology that you use when communicating with people.

What do issues mean to you?

Small problems?

Big problems?

A challenge?

Niggly problems?

There are no right or wrong answers here It all depends on the meaning that you give to the word.

You see, if I were asked to an issues meeting I would think that we are going to cover some major issues!!!

If I were asked to attend "A meeting to discuss resourcing" I would know why I was attending and would have some idea of what we would be covering.

Let me give you an additional example of where the use of the wrong word can lead to all sorts of assumptions!

Many years ago, just before I set up MTD, I was project manager for a new company launch. Everything went so smoothly it was too good to be true and to be honest I was the talking point of the company of how well
the team had done under my leadership.

The Chief Exec flew over from Canada and sat me down to review what I had done.

"Yes, well done" he said "You did a reasonable job"

At that point I had to bite my lip!

"REASONABLE?" I thought "Is that all he can say REASONABLE?"

I was so angry it was unreal!!

"What sort of a word is reasonable?" I thought afterwards

Reasonable to me was never good enough, reasonable was not even a good job to me.

Well, to cut a long story short, I went to one of the break out areas for a "calming down coffee" and proceeded to tell one of my fellow Directors what had just happened who replied with..

"Reasonable? Is that what he said Sean?"

"Yes!" I said in a really miffed voice

"You got a reasonable out of MR X? – WOW, you must have done an awesome job! He never gives praise to anyone and when he says reasonable it’s the equivalent of AWESOME to us"

And with that I learned a lesson and I would like you to learn the same lesson as well…..

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE!

Be careful with the words that you personally use and be mindful of the words that others use to you.

What does good mean to you?

What does excellent mean to you?

What about reasonable?!

By saying the right words with the right tonality and inflection in your voice you can literally move mountains or start wars within your company and can AFFECT your sales dramatically in either direction!

Latch on to the kind of words your prospects and clients use and then use the exact same words

And on that note, all that’s left to be said is to have a great day………….if great means anything to you that is?

Live, love and laugh!
 
Sean

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…