Jeff Standridge:
Hey guys, welcome to another episode of the Innovation Junkies Podcast. I’m Jeff Standridge.
Jeff Amerine:
This is Jeff Amerine, glad to be back.
Jeff Standridge:
Man, I’ll tell you what, we have had five weeks of intense focus on everything having to do with selling, marketing, building client relationships, acquiring new customers, retaining customers. It’s been really enjoyable. How about you?
Jeff Amerine:
Yeah, I agree. I mean, businesses rise and fall with their ability to do sales and marketing well. So it’s an important topic.
Jeff Standridge:
Nothing happens until you sell something or until somebody sells something. Glenn Crockett, CEO of Dave Creek Media and I always are using that adage. Nothing happens until somebody sells something. And oh, by the way, don’t confuse sales with delivery or engineering. We’ll sell it and then we’ll figure out if there are delivery constraints along the way, we’ll figure out how to overcome those.
Jeff Amerine:
That’s for sure.
Jeff Amerine:
Absolutely.
Jeff Amerine:
Right, right, exactly.
Jeff Standridge:
Well, you know, I was looking back through our notes and our podcast notes, episode notes rather, and I figured out that there’s really about four essential skills that I wanna make sure that, we’ve touched on them a little bit, but I wanna make sure we leave no doubts in the minds of our listeners as to the four critical skills that they need to develop if they’re going to be a high performing salesperson. And so I thought that’s what we would focus our episode on today, and we’ll close out this series on sales and marketing. How does that sound?
Jeff Amerine:
You know, it sounds great. And, and the four things that you’re going to cover are also a way to set the right expectations if you’re hiring new salespeople, right? I mean, there’s kind of the four essentials that they have to be good at.
Jeff Standridge:
That’s right.
That’s right, or they have to develop the skills out. That’s exactly right. And the first one is to really master a selling process, to know how to build this process. And, you know, Glenn and I like to use one that’s predicated on the acronym SALE, S-A-L-E. We’re simple people, like to make it easy for folks. But always keep in mind that credibility is at the core of this selling model. Credibility’s at the core.
Jeff Amerine:
Exactly.
Jeff Standridge:
And every interaction you have with a client is the opportunity to either build your credibility with them or erode your credibility. You never walk away with your credibility intact. It’s either better or it’s worse. And so this selling model that we use, SALE is you start with building a relationship and that accounts for about 40% of the selling process. So start with building a relationship. The second one is A, is assessing the client pains, issues, and needs. So really developing a really good mechanism or methodology to go about understanding and assessing the client needs, pains, and issues. And that’s about 30% of the selling process. Then once you assess those needs, you lay out a solution that maps back to those needs that the client confirmed with you that he or she had. And I laid that out, I believe, in the first episode in this series about how to get the client to, to affirm for you or confirm for you the issues that you’ve uncovered. You lay out a solution and you tie it back. This is what you told us was your issue number one and here’s how our solution addresses that. And that’s about 20% of the selling process. And then the last part of that is the E, which is you end by asking for the business. And if you’ve done the 90% right, the 40% which is building the relationship, the 30% which is adequately assessing the client needs, the 20% which is laying out a solution and mapping it back to those client needs, then the remaining 10% which is asking for the sale or end by asking for the sale or closing as the skill is called, it comes much more naturally. So understanding that process and implementing that process is the first skill that we want to talk about today.
Jeff Amerine:
And having a framework like that is really important because other, you can’t count on personal heroics. It needs to be a process.
Jeff Standridge:
No, you can’t. You know, Glenn and I had a sales person in common that we had worked with over the years. And he said, you know, he made a comment one time about, Glenn likes to talk about that the battle is won in the preparation. And so having a model like this is part of the preparation. And this person made a comment multiple times where he said, yeah, you know, I don’t usually prepare for a sales call because I’m a good dancer.
And that was kind of a reliance on personal heroics that, you know, it might work one or two times, but it will get you in the long run.
Jeff Amerine:
No doubt, no doubt. There’s some belief or assumption on people that aren’t very good at it, that they can count on charisma, or the gift of gab, or just interpersonal. And it still has to be a scientific process you follow if you wanna be successful.
Jeff Standridge:
Yeah, that’s right. That’s right. So the second skill that I want to talk about is this skill of actually of qualifying prospects and having the confidence and the comfort to ask questions of your prospect that help you determine, are they qualified or are they not? And one of the things that I will tell you that goes into building relationships, but also helps you in the qualifying process is that
You as the salesperson should really not be talking the majority of the time. You should be asking open-ended questions that gets the client talking. The person who’s asking the questions is the person who’s controlling the conversation, not the person who is speaking. And so understanding as a salesperson that you shouldn’t be running a PowerPoint pitch in every meeting that you have, you should really engage in a dialogue where you’re asking open-ended questions. And oh, by the way, while you’re asking those diagnostic open-ended questions, you should also infuse into that these qualifying open-ended questions as well. And we like to use another model called NAMIT, N-A-M-I-T, NAMIT. And N is need. Assessing during your diagnostics, your diagnostic open-ended questioning, does the prospect have an urgent business need or an urgent business problem? And do they have the associated pain and discomfort with that leads you to believe that they will take action with your solution? So do they have a need? And if you can’t ascertain that they have a need, you would be much better off not trying to sell them than trying to press on through and sell them anyway because you’ll end up with an unhappy customer, somebody you’ll lose and somebody who’ll probably take one or two customers with them. The second one is authority. Is the person with whom you’re speaking authorized to actually make a purchase decision? If not, you’re not talking to the right person. Do we know the decision maker? Do we know who they are? Are we in direct contact with the decision maker or at least a high ranking influencer with that decision maker. We talked about a few episodes ago, having that champion within the organization. Uh, number three is M money. Do they have the money? Do the, does the prospective client have the adequate budget for our products or services, uh, and do they have the ability to spend that budget? In other words, if you’re coming up on the end of the fiscal year and they have no budget, but they might in the, in the early on in the next fiscal year, do you need to kind of manage that process effectively. So do they have a need? Is the person with whom you’re speaking, does that person have the authority? Do they have the money or the budget? Number I, do they have the intention or the interest in doing business with you? Is there a solid reason for you to believe that the prospective client has a good intention or at least a significant interest in actually moving forward with you? And you need to ask some questions relative to that during your diagnostic phase. And then finally, timing. Do we know a timeframe in which they will need a solution or a timeframe that’s reasonable and acceptable to them? And is it also reasonable and acceptable to us? And what are the next steps, the clear set of next steps or key actions that actually progress that timing or progress the actions toward that timing? So name it, need, authority, money, intention or interest and timing. Those are critical questions that you need to get answered during your discovery phase to make sure that you’re not wasting time dealing with clients that really aren’t qualified and aren’t going to be qualified.
Jeff Amerine:
This type of process is a more efficient use of your time as a salesperson, the organization’s time, and your potential client’s time. You’re not wasting time aggravating a bunch of people that ultimately are not going to be qualified.
Jeff Standridge:
That’s right. That’s right. There’s no harm or no foul in being told no by a client. The harm or foul is being told no after you’ve spent three months in the sales process with them. And so we like to use this concept of red light, yellow lights. If red light, yellow light, green light, obviously. What happens when you come up on a yellow light as you’re driving down the street? I asked the question.
What do you do when you come up on a yellow light? People say, oh, we slow down and proceed with caution. I said, no, you don’t. You hit the gas. And that’s exactly what we do in the selling process as well. We don’t slow down and proceed with caution. We hit the gas and hope they don’t actually bring it up. And that’s the absolute wrong thing to do because it’s better to have a yellow light turn red in conversation number two than to have a yellow light turned red in conversation number 12.
Jeff Amerine:
Exactly. Yeah, getting to an early disqualification is a whole lot better than having a perpetual, maybe we’re thinking about it, we’re not sure, right?
Jeff Standridge:
That’s right. So when you encounter a yellow light or you perceive that there might be a yellow light, if you see it, you hear it, or you sense it, then you actually just say it tactfully and say, hey, I’m sensing that there may be a real concern about moving forward because of X and Y. Did I get that wrong or did I get my own target there? Do you think there’s a way for us to overcome that? And if they tell you no, dust off your sandals and move on and say, well, I tell you what.
It looks like the timing may not be right now, unless you see otherwise. I’d say let’s not waste your time or my time either. And, but I want you to know that at any point in time that you think that yellow light might turn green, then, uh, then, or that red light might turn back yellow again, then let’s revisit. But right now I don’t, you know, I’d rather leave here friends than to, uh, get down to the point where I’ve frustrated you and you frustrated me.
Jeff Amerine:
It’s actually going to be a relief for that person that’s on the buy side as well. Because you, you sometimes they’re going to be uncomfortable with straight up sayings, particularly where you are in the country, they may not want to. Upset you. Right. So they’re not going to tell you absolutely no, or, you know, anything you can do to get to that qualification moment of truth is really important. I think that name it is a, is a good framework for sure.
Jeff Standridge:
That’s right. That’s right. Yeah, so we’ve done that. We’ve done sales process or sales model. We’ve done qualifying it using naming. Now let’s talk about overcoming objections. You know, generally I like to ask the folks that I’m working with when I’m doing coaching or training or what have you, what their objections that they commonly hear are. But here’s what I think that people need to understand, salespeople need to understand, is that objections are actually buying signals. Because think about this, if someone comes to your house and tries to sell you a Robo vacuum cleaner and they’ve intruded on you and you don’t really wanna be there, are you gonna raise any questions or any objections if you have no intentions of buying? No, you’re not gonna ask any questions. And I used to tell that to my wife, don’t ask any questions, you’re just prolonging the inevitable. Let’s get them out of here. They just go away quietly and they’ll let you finish. And I say, okay, well, we’ll think about it, you, as a salesperson, should try to draw out as many objections as you can because they are actually buying signals. They are actually the prospect saying to you, I am interested in what you have and if you can help me overcome this challenge or this question or this obstacle that I have, I’m going to be much closer to buying than I am right now. And so one of the objections that I tend to hear is, well the price seems to be too high. I like to always counter an objection with another question. And so they say, well, you know, the price is too high. And I said, well, do you mind if I ask you a question? What’s too high? And on what basis are you making comparisons to the highness or lowness, if you will, of the price? And really trying to understand what is it that’s causing them to say that the price is too high? Or they say, you know, yeah, give me some time to think about it. And then I ask the question, well, do you mind if I ask what… What are the major things that you’re thinking about? The key to overcoming objections is no guessing. It’s no guessing. If I don’t know what they’re thinking about, I can’t address it. If they tell me what they’re thinking about, I can go away. I might be able to address it right there in the room, or I might be able to send them a follow-up 48 hours later and say, hey, I know you said you were thinking about so-and-so. Let me just give you a little bit of additional information here regarding that. We’re happy with our current vendor.
Jeff Amerine:
Right.
Jeff Standridge:
I get that a lot. Well, you know what? We’ve already got a partner. My response to that is, you know what? I’ll tell you what, good partners are hard to find. Good trusted partners are hard to find. And I would never, ever, ever attempt to step in front or step in between rather, you and a good partner. But are you completely and 100% satisfied with what they’re doing for you? And I just let the silence. If they say, yeah, they do a pretty good job. Then I say, is there one area that you think that they could do better. And if they identify that area, then I usually come in with, you know what? I would never ask you to walk away from these things that they’re doing really, really good. But if you’d let me have a chance to step in here and help you with this, I’d be eternally grateful. And I think that I could solve that problem for you right there. And you could continue working with them in that regard. And then we get our foot in the door, we land, and hopefully over time we expand. Those are generally some of the common objections and so I think the real skill here that gets developed is no guessing and number two anticipate ahead of time what are the objections that you and your sales people in your business hear relatively commonly and go ahead and craft responses for those and train all of your sales people on those responses.
Jeff Amerine:
It becomes a collective database of the typical objections you get. And it’s going to fall in the, in the, in the category on performance or on cost or on budget or whatever. But over time, as you develop that, you know, you can immediately come back with. Here’s typically how we overcome that particular issue, et cetera. And it, you know, this is another thing that oftentimes gets overlooked and people will get an objection or two, or they won’t know what the objections are. And they’ll just give up.
Jeff Standridge:
That’s exactly right.
Jeff Amerine:
No, no exit at that point and never get to the next thing we’re going to talk about.
Jeff Standridge:
That’s right, it’s closing the sale. You know, salespeople tend to worry the most about overcoming objections and closing the sale. They feel like they’re gonna be put on a spot and they won’t know what to do when they’re in that scenario. And my response is slow down and back up and change the psychology of selling because an objection is actually a buying signal, so treat it as such. Back up, ask them a question, don’t guess on what they’re objecting, ask them a clarifying question to understand what their objection really, really is, and then either try to answer it there in the room or tell them you’ll get back with them on it. And then how do you know when to transition to closing the sale? Well, if we go back to that model, S-A-L-E, start with building a relationship, assess the client needs, lay out a solution that meets those needs, and then E is end by asking for the business. Well, if you’ve done all those other things very, very well, then the, the fourth step of asking for the business comes very, very naturally, and it’s only about 10% of the selling process. And so I like to use a number of closing techniques. I don’t like the word technique, but it kind of is a technique. And the first one is what’s called the presumptive close or the assumptive close. You can use either word, but always assume that you’re going to walk out of there with a deal from the point you go in until the time that you learn whether you did or not. And the assumptive close is, okay, do you have any other questions? So you’ve laid out the solution. Do you have any other questions, anything that we need to address? OK, well, then the next step is for you to sign this agreement or this is how we this is how we get started. This is the next step in the process. How would you like to how does next Tuesday at two o’clock look for a for a kickoff meeting? How would how soon would you want to get started? Who should I send the agreement to for a signature? I mean, that question that assumes that they’re going to take the next step is the assumptive close, so to speak. The preference close. This one is one where you’ve bought a vehicle before and they say, do you want leather cloth? Do you want red or you want tan or black interior? Well, the preference close is. And I like to do this a lot of times if I think that there’s some question on whether the client’s going to move forward. When I lay out a solution, I will lay out a basic solution, option one, and I will lay out a more advanced and costly solution, option two. And then I will, when it gets to the point where I say, are there any further questions, I’ll ask the question and they say, nope, no other questions. I say, well, would you like to move forward with option one or option two? Or.
Maybe if you just had one solution that you laid out, then you asked the question, would you like to move forward with a one-year agreement or go ahead and lock in a 24-month agreement? And so you give them the opportunity to make a preferential choice. That’s the second one. The last one that I’ll cover here is the if I will you close. And many times I have clients that will throw up an objection and I can counter it with a bit of a closing, they’ll say, well, you know, if we’re gonna do this, we gotta get started next week. And my response to them is, well, if I can get started next week, does that mean you’re ready to go ahead and sign the agreement today? Because to launch next week, I’ve got to line up my bench of resources and I need to have confirmation today or no later than noon tomorrow that we’re gonna be moving forward.
And so that’s, and then sometimes they may come to you, they’ll throw an objection. Well, if you can help me a little bit on price, I’ll be able to move forward. Okay, how much do I need to help you on price? Well, I feel like we deserve a 10% discount. Well, if I can get you a 10% discount today, does that mean you’re ready to move forward and you try to lock them in based upon that? But the point here is that if you’ve built the relationship, identified the needs and laid out a solution that specifically meets those needs, closing the sale is a much more natural process to a car.
Jeff Amerine:
It’s a logical conclusion to a methodical process you’ve gone through. And there typically won’t be a lot of surprises. You’ll have a pretty good idea at the end of which way it’s going to go.
Jeff Standridge:
That’s right. And the very last tip that I will leave, we’ll call this one a freebie, at the end of the series is when the prospect says yes, stop talking. I have seen people talk themselves out of a sale because they could not, they were not comfortable in nervous silence and they kept talking and talked themselves right out of a sale.
Jeff Amerine:
Yep. Yeah, and you do that a couple of ways. You volunteer information that’s not relevant, that raises new objections, or you plant a seed that maybe I don’t want to spend a lot of time with this person because they don’t know when to shut up. And either one of them can be negative.
Jeff Standridge:
That’s right. That’s exactly right. And both. That’s right. So this has been a good series. Five or six episodes. I think this is sixth episode now on everything, sales, marketing, client acquisition, client retention. Good stuff. I hope it’s been beneficial to our listeners. I’m confident that it will be. And would love to answer any questions that you guys have. Hit us up via innovationjunkie.com.
Jeff Amerine:
It is.
Jeff Amerine:
Sounds good. We look forward to hearing from all of you.
Jeff Standridge:
This has been another episode of the Innovation Junkies Podcast. We’ll talk to you soon.
Jeff Amerine:
See you next time.