The More Clients Blog

Getting to Yes - Part II

Last week I explored the first steps in getting to "Third Base" in the selling process. Third Base is when your client is ready to buy your service. Next week I'll discuss getting from Third Base to Home.

But in this issue, I'll cover the final steps in getting to Third Base. Once you've made a connection, gotten focused, understood the prospect's situation and discovered their challenges, you need to learn their desired outcomes.

Desired Outcomes
This transition in the selling conversation is pivotal. Why? Because your prospect starts using a different part of their brain. When you talk about their situation and challenges, they're just reporting on what's going on. When you get into desired outcomes (the future), you're calling on a more creative part of the prospect's brain.

This part of the brain has less exercise so it can take longer to answer questions such as: "If you could really have things the way you want, what might it actually look like?" or "If you get that result, where will it lead you, ideally?" and "What will it mean to you (or feel to you) to reach that goal?

Remember, people ultimately are buying the feelings attached to outcomes. So you need to get your prospects to talk about their feelings - ideally what they are excited about achieving.

Key Mistakes:
- Failing to even ask those future-oriented questions
- Not getting more deeply into what those outcomes mean
- Talking too soon about how you'll help them get those outcomes

Presenting Your Services
Only when you've learned the situation, challenges and desired outcomes of your prospect, do you talk about what you can actually do for them. That's the presentation.

Your presentation or overview of what you offer needs to be based on the foundation you've covered so far: "To sum things up, this is your current situation, here are your challenges and here are the outcomes you're looking for... Does that give a pretty accurate picture?"

If yes, move on, if no, find out more.

What you do next depends greatly on the kind of service you're offering. If it's a weekly bookkeeping service, it should be rather cut and dried; if it's a multi-national change initiative, it's going to be much more complex.

But whatever your service, your objective in this meeting should be to present something they can take action on. For the bookkeeping service, you'll present what you do, how and when you do it and what it will cost. And then you close. Simple.

If it's a much more complex service, you can't usually close on the large-scale project right then; but you can discuss the details of the initial stage and get agreement on that: "To help you get this result, it will be a long-term project, as you know. But what we do first is a detailed project plan. This would entail the following... It would take this long and you'd get these results."

Key Mistakes
- Pulling out your computer and doing a one-hour Power-Point Presentation. Please, spare us all.
- Being vague and uncertain about what you will do.
- After asking all your questions, saying "OK, I'll put together a detailed proposal and get back to you in a week."

The Close
Sometimes the close is for the business itself, sometimes it's for the next steps you'll take. You can only close if the offer you've presented closely matches the objectives of your prospect.

A close is asking for a commitment from the prospect to move forward. If they say, "Yes," you are solidly on third base; they want to start, they want to do business with you.

So make it easy for them to say yes. Even if there are other details to work out such as timing and pricing, get agreement on moving forward in some way. Only then can you start the next step of going to Home Base.

Simple Closes

"OK, that gives you a good idea of how I work and how this service will meet your objectives. The fee is $XX. Does that work for you?"
or
"The initial strategy plan will take about three weeks. The fee is $XX. Shall we look at our calendars to set up the first meeting?"
or
"I believe we agree on your objectives and how we can help you achieve them. Next we need to meet with your top managers and lean about their objectives. Shall we set that up now?"

Key Mistakes
- Forgetting to close or leaving things open-ended: "OK, let's both think about it and I'll get back to you later."
- Being too blunt in how you close: "Do you want to hire me?"
- Making the close too complicated: "If you agree to these seventeen steps, sign a non-disclosure and make a one year commitment, we can get started."

Next Week: Getting to Home - Pricing, proposals and negotiation.

*

The More Clients Bottom Line: Your presentation and your close need to be based on the objectives your prospect wants to achieve. Put the focus on helping them achieve their objectives and they'll want to work with you. Focus on your process and they'll want to think about it. Usually forever!

*

How do you present and close during the sales conversation? Please share on the Blog. Just click on the comments link below.

Getting to Yes - Part I

A few years ago I was working with a client who was doing very good marketing. She was generating a lot of interest through networking, publishing and speaking. Prospects were calling her to explore if she could help them.

And, with very few exceptions, she blew it every time! She made every mistake in the book when it came to the selling process and lost most of the prospects she talked to.

With a little coaching, and by making a few changes in her sales approach, she was able to convert most of her prospects into clients. She filled her practice completely in about three months.

In the past five issues of More Clients, I outlined the many steps in the marketing process. In the next three issues I'm going to be focusing on the steps in the selling process.

First, a quick review:

The job of marketing is to turn strangers into prospects who have a positive experience of you and your services. Your marketing is successful if you can get a prospect to "Second Base" where they want to explore working with you. (See the Marketing Ball Model in the InfoGuru Manual.)

That's where selling starts.

There are two more bases to touch before you have a new client. Third Base is where a prospect wants to work with you. They are ready to buy. Fourth, or Home Base is where you have agreed on details, price, proposal, etc. and have received your first payment (which has cleared the bank).

As with the marketing process, the selling process can go very quickly or very slowly, but you can't skip any steps.

Starting this week, I'll give you an overview of the steps in-between Second and Third Bases (continued next week), and also give you the Key Mistakes for each of these steps. In the third installment I'll explore getting from Third Base to Home.

The Steps between Second and Third (4 of 7)

Making a Connection
Selling, like marketing, is based on relationships. People buy from people they know, like and trust. If you've done a good job of marketing, you've paved the way for selling.

But you can't jump into trying to make a sale.

You need to connect with the prospect who is now ready to explore working with you. They are not just interested in buying your services; they want to know that you care and that you understand what they really need.

So, the foundation of any sales conversation is empathy and listening. You don't need to push, you need to be open. Your attitude could be summed up as: "I hope I can help you. Let me learn more about you and together let's see what's possible."

Key Mistakes
- Thinking the sales conversation is about you, not the prospect.
- Doing all the talking, with little active listening.
- Connecting only at a business level, not a personal level.

Getting Focused
You want to set the groundwork for the selling conversation by reiterating the key elements of Marketing Syntax: Who you work with, the challenges your clients face and the outcomes you produce for them.

I'm talking about a very, very brief introduction, followed by, "But before I know if my services are right for you, I need to learn more about your situation."

Even though someone is meeting with you and supposedly has absorbed your marketing message and materials beforehand, it's still important to get your prospects focused on what this sales conversation is about.

Key Mistakes
- Jumping into questions before getting focused.
- Assuming they already know about your business.
- Failing to take charge and lead the sales conversation.

Understanding the Situation
Once you've focused the meeting (and this could be on the phone or in-person), your next job is to find out about the client's current situation. To do this, you need to ask a LOT of questions. They need to feel you really know them and what's important to them.

I've often asked my clients what they had learned about their prospect's situation, and was surprised that most of them didn't know the basics: How the business got started, what the business sold, size of the business, number of people, revenues and key competitors.

In fact, if you're selling to a company, you'd better know all of that going in!

Key Mistakes
- Asking questions as a formality, to get to the "important part of the meeting" (your wonderful service).
- Not going into questions in sufficient depth.
- Not showing real interest in the answers.

Discovering the Challenges
The selling conversation then needs to morph seamlessly into the reasons your prospect is meeting with you in the first place. What are the challenges, problems, predicaments and pain they are experiencing?

You're looking for that nerve, that thing that is irritating them enough to seek the counsel of a professional. What's missing? What's not working as well as it could? What keeps them up at night? What is this challenge costing them?

Key Mistakes
- Failing to find the ONE key challenge your prospect faces.
- Assigning equal importance to all the challenges.
- Jumping into your solution too quickly.

When you've covered these four steps, you're just getting started. Next, you need to know where they want to go.

Next Week: Outcomes, Presentation and Closing. The week after: Pricing, Proposals and Negotiation.

*

The More Clients Bottom Line: Selling, like marketing, is a process. Make a misstep and you lose. Create a solid foundation for the sales process with the steps above, and you eliminate most of the struggle and effort.

*

What are some of the biggest mistakes you've made in the selling process? Please share on the Blog.

Crossing the Grand Canyon

This eZine is the fifth and final in the series of steps that make up the marketing process. For Independent Professionals, marketing often converges into one crucial action step: The Follow-Up Call.

You can follow up at any stage of the marketing process:

If you meet someone through networking and they show some interest, you can give them a call to explore that interest.

If you forward some information to a prospect, such as an article or a link to a web page, you can follow up to get their reaction and then discuss their need for your service.

Or if a prospect has attended a presentation or teleclass, you can follow up to see if they're interested in taking the next step.

OK, we all understand this... but if this is so simple (and it really is) then why is the average Independent Professional so awful at actually doing it? Admit it, you've let a lot of business slip through the cracks because you haven't made that follow-up call.

I call that crack the "Grand Canyon" because it feels like a mile wide and a mile deep!

Today, I'm going to give you some badly needed perspective on making those calls.

Seven Pointers for Crossing the Grand Canyon

1. If you don't call, it won't happen. Period. The chance of them calling you back from any of the scenarios above is minuscule. If they call, great, that means they are very qualified. But if you don't follow-up, the chances are high that you will never turn them into a client. Never, ever.

2. Remember, the purpose of a follow-up call is not to sell them your services, but to continue a conversation or to set up an appointment. Take it one step at a time. You're playing Marketing Ball, remember? You're moving towards second base where they are willing to explore working with you. Take it easy.

3. If you make a follow-up call, bad things won't happen. They won't send a hit man to take you out. They won't even hang up on you or say bad things or yell at you. Won't happen. Relax. About the worst thing that can happen is they won't be interested right now. You can survive that.

4. If they don't return your call, it doesn't mean they are not interested. It just means you are not a priority right now. Or they are out of town or their cat just died. You are not at the top of their list and, like you do when someone leaves a message, you think to yourself, "Gee I can't get back to them today, I guess they'll call back if they're serious." Be serious and call back.

5. You can leave messages, but never leave the ball in their court. Don't expect them to call you back. Instead, let them know you'll be calling again later in the day or tomorrow. This way you can call several times, because you're not expecting them to return you call. Ever. It's not their job. It's your job.

6. When you finally reach them, be prepared. You always need to start from square one and use the language of marketing (problem followed by solution): "When we talked you said you weren't happy with ABC and wanted more of XYZ. I just wanted to lean more about your situation. Is this a good time to talk?" It just might be.

7. You know a follow-up call is going well if your prospect is doing most of the talking (about their problems and desired outcomes). You are in trouble if you're getting too deeply into the features and benefits of your service. Don't go there now. See if there's a need and an interest and then ASK for and GET an appointment.

That's all you need to know to get started. Any prospects needing follow-up calls? There's the phone!

*

The More Clients Bottom Line: If you realize that you need to cross the Grand Canyon to turn prospects into clients, and you just accept that as a reality, you'll find a way to make it happen.

*

What do you do to cross your Grand Canyon? Please share on the Blog.

Give Them a Taste

This eZine is the fourth in the series of steps that make up the marketing process. Experience is the step that follows Familiarity and Information. However, first let's review all the steps:

When you start marketing, every prospect is a Stranger.

Your first marketing task is to create Affiliations with Strangers through groups and associations. Your next job is to get their Attention through a focused marketing message. Then you need to develop Familiarity with your prospects so they feel comfortable with you. And the next-to-last step is providing Information that educates your prospects about what you do and how you can help them.

The purpose of all these marketing activities is to get prospects up to "Second Base," where they are ready to meet with you and explore doing business with you. Often just getting them to Familiarity or Information is enough. But not always.

Giving prospects more of an Experience or taste of what you do and what it means to them, is often necessary. With this Experience, a prospect is often ready to take the next step and engage in the selling process.

It's important to realize that a prospect doesn't usually get very interested, let alone excited, about using your services, until they have a deeper sense of who you are and what you can do for them. Giving them an Experience accomplishes this.

What kind of Experience am I talking about?

A live presentation, an executive briefing, a telephone consultation, a teleclass, a video, or an audio recording are all effective mediums for providing this Experience.

The Experience step provides that last missing piece between Information and Second Base. And one reason is because it gives more of an emotional connection between you and your prospect.

Note that most of these Experience-oriented marketing activities are interactive, not static. They are deeper and less superficial; they are dynamic, not one-dimensional. When a prospect has an authentic Experience of you, they are drawn towards you. They are more willing to take the next step.

In many cases, you need to create a multi-step marketing process that includes all the steps above, culminating in an Experience-based marketing activity. And then you simply follow-up with those who show interest in taking the next step.

In other cases, you already have many prospects who are further along the process, such as long-term prospects, past and existing clients. For these, you can create an Experience-based marketing activity and get results almost immediately.

In the first situation, a scenario might go something like this: Meet through networking, discuss your business, connect regularly, provide information, add to your mailing list, send an invite to a presentation or teleclass.

In the second situation, all you need to do is send the invitation to prospects who are already at the Information step. Over the years, I've seen this work amazingly well.

Two clients I worked with were introducing new services.

For the first, we put together an introductory workshop in their conference room. They mailed an invite and did follow-up calls. They filled two events in a matter of days and converted many attendees into clients for the new service.

The second client, an established management consultant, had been certified in a new program. Simply by calling past clients and meeting with them to introduce this service, he had more business than he could handle in a just few weeks.

The mistake I see all too often is that we get prospects up to Information, put them on an eZine or newsletter list and then wait for them to call us. Great if they do, but by adding that Experience step, you can convert a larger percentage of prospects into clients much faster.

I've been doing this for years - even before the Internet.

I developed a list of Independent Professionals through my contacts with the chamber of commerce and other networking. I mailed a newsletter twice monthly and sent monthly postcards inviting people to introductory events. Those who attended were the ones I followed up with and turned into clients.

I've simply expanded my reach with email and this eZine. I now offer one or two teleclasses a month to those who already have Information and are ready for an Experience. Those who attend are the ones who purchase my products and programs.

As they say, it's not rocket science!

Are you stopping your marketing before you get to the Experience step? Big mistake. Build the Experience step into all your marketing and I predict you will attract more clients with a lot less effort.

Next week: How to use The Follow-Up step to convert even more prospects to clients.

*

The More Clients Bottom Line: To get the best results from marketing, you need to follow a process that moves prospects from Stranger to Experience. If you adhere to this path faithfully, you'll find marketing easier and whole lot more productive.

*

What Experience-based marketing activities have you found effective in your business? Please share on the Blog.