Advanced Sales 101: “GOING FOR THE NO” Knowing When to Walk Away Increases Revenue (… and Inner Confidence)

“You must be fully prepared to lose a great deal in order to make a great deal.”    – Unknown

 

Either through spending more efficient time with prospects or finessing the sale (through all avenues known to humankind of getting the holy yes), the fine Art of Closing would not be complete without knowing when to go for the final-final sh*t-or-get-off-the-pot moment during negotiations. My sister, a great sales coach, calls it Going For The No.

It is scary to do. Mostly because we don’t always know if we can trust our own internal timing and tempo. Maybe we mis-judge a prospect’s comments about money, and bring up the subject too soon (or too late!) for their liking. These are the tiny-random things that unfortunately orchestrate many make it or break it moments in the sales life cycle. Closing with a Going For The No approach works, sometimes more than other techniques. And here is, I think, why…

During the point when your instinct knows it is time to Go For The No, you have most likely already spent a substantial amount of time with the prospect. No doubt, you have already offered free stuff, free time, free advice in one form or another. By the time your gut says go for it, the prospect will probably be more approachable because s/he knows that you (your services / products) are of value, and you have therefore earned the right to play a little hardball.

The entire vetting process for the prospecting life cycle needs to be seriously analyzed and handled with alert observation. This is the MOST important time. Not only because, as Frank Herbert, author of the Dune series, said: “Beginnings are such delicate moments,” but also because mistakes at the front-end of any endeavor are usually not fixable further down the line. The process of beginnings: of gathering the correct information, at the right place and time, with the best people, with all the tools needed to do the job right first time around… is where  sales professionals can save a lot of time and resources right now. The first moments when your gut knows this is a dead-end street, make a swifter choice to walk away sooner than later. Go For The No before walking out the door, just to be sure, but yep, decide to walk away.

Overall revenue can increase if we do two things: decrease costs, increase sales. So, think about the hours you have wasted not closing a sale, when you knew on some gut level that this prospect was a bit off or problematic … if you had walked away sooner than later, you would have been free to continue filling and maintaining your more valuable pipelines. Your time becomes more effective, as your pipelines lead you to prospects that are HOT rather than just WARM. You get the picture, right? And at the end of the sales life cycle, Going For The No before walking away offers the prospect a chance to jump in and spend the money, because they like you and they like what you are selling. Starting today. I read an article that stated approximately 32% of the prospects in their study said Yes when the sales pro Went For The No before walking away. This doesn’t prove anything, but it is certainly food for thought.

The courage to Go For The No, and the finesse needed to pull it off are maybe lacking in each of us. But it is possible. My heart pounds way faster when I am doing it, and I feel the testosterone in my body pumping through the veins as I play hardball with a touch of humor, adding facts and figures if needed… whatever it takes.

• And sometimes, I say to them: This is what’s called: Going For The No in sales, Mr/Ms Prospect, so I would like to know if you are, indeed, interested in moving forward with the project?
• Or I might try something like: Based on (X number of hours) of work with me on this project, would your answer today be a yes or would your answer today be a no?

Very often, you will see how much they actually do value you and might be inclined to close the deal. Try it. It has worked for many.

As we all know about negotiations – having absolutely nothing to lose puts one in the highest position of power. Going For The No and knowing when to walk away also create a level of inner confidence and ease that nudge prospects towards trusting you. More yes moments come from it. Note: if you are uncomfortable saying No in your life, in general, then you might be more challenged doing this in your sales / prospecting job. So, learn how to say No, too.

Another, more politically incorrect way to say all this is simply: don’t let anyone dick you around. In the end, you have a great service or product they want. Going For The No when you are finally done going back and forth, lets your prospect know where you stand. It shows a solid backbone, too. Be willing to walk away and move on. With or without them. Professionally and diplomatically state the truth about this, and then onwards. You don’t need to be around business people who (consciously or unconsciously) suck time and energy out of your precious work life, no matter how impressive their suits and credentials are.

Spend more time with prospects whose voices brighten up when they talk to you, then watch your revenue (and inner confidence) grow.

For more info, please visit: www.VeloCityCoachingServices.com

The Art of Authentic Public Speaking: Seven Points to Consider for Reaching the Zone

“Say not always what you know, but always know what you say.” – Claudius

We all have a mind, an imagination and words which are produced from combining language, syntax and grammar. This is mechanics. We put stories down on paper, offer metaphors for hitting a point home and in the process, we hope to get a moment of a totally silent audience. This is finesse. Embracing the art of authentic public speaking is a magical mixture of both.

Before I dive into this most fascinating topic, I wish to offer a disclaimer: my approach is unconventional. It will not work for those who enjoy their successful comfort zones – and more power to them. I am a fan of many things “guerrilla”, doing things differently and realize that often, I am speaking to an already rather SAVVY audience. I am always refining the message and offering new twists on conventional wisdom. I keep it fresh not only for the participants, but also to remain engaged myself. Otherwise, I would get bored with my own words. I call this Going Off Script.

And inner ennui will always show. This shows a lack of authenticity in its worst form.

VeloCity Coaching Services is the kind of company which pays attention to trends while creating new ones. I am the kind of entrepeneur who listens to my gut when it says: low tech, high impact, interactive and insightful presentations are filling seats, and eventually creating revenue for the bank account. This is not my bottom line – however, it is worth saying. Many business owners like me who happen to have a talent for public displays of insight, use this medium as free marketing. Yes, I love to speak and act and perform and make a difference. Pay it forward. All that. Also, the exposure created by getting the company brand out into the open air is invaluable. This creates positive forward momentum. For the readers who are in sales, you know how vital positive forward momentum truly is. Without it, we not only stop – we tend to go backwards.

Onwards. These points to consider are worth a few moments of your time and energy. Because as one LinkedIn user recently wrote, it’s all about energy: “The tone of somebody’s voice alone is enough to engage or not engage an audience.  If the energy is there, then you can get away with all sorts of other faults. If not, then no amount of content, relevance or story-telling can save you.” Ahhh, more unconventional wisdom. Does this resonate for you? It does for me, and helps calm my natural stage fright and creepy inner voice that says: no matter how awesome you are, they might not like you.

As public speakers, our backgrounds are diverse. Some of us started in theater arts, others in sales and Dale Carnegie methods, yet others in training or teaching. One thread, which I sense is of utmost importance, is: energy fueled by a commitment towards authenticity is key. This is as close to sharing a “secret” as I will ever come. The other “Secret” advertised on Oprah is actually old wisdom and is also worth adding here. It’s the idea that our thoughts, feelings, words and actions need to be in alignment. This is authenticity, too. Simple to understand. Complex to put into action.

Seven Points to Consider for Authentic Public Speaking

Here are some of my favorite myths and methods. Hopefully, this will resonate for you, your team, your company, so that you can use some of this information to make your next public speaking engagements extraordinary. Enjoy!

1) It’s All About Them… Another LinkedIn user wrote: “The best speakers I have ever heard seemed like they were telling the story for the first time, as if they were telling it just to me.” Our natural human egos and filters create separate satellites of meaning. Audience members are at the end of a speakers beam of light, as if sharing an inside joke with a stranger. Never underestimate the power of the human ego and identity. I accept this reality, and it shows in how I will first take a moment and read the room before I begin. This changes my entire approach sometimes and sometimes a part of the content as well.  Too many public speakers stick to their own scripts and forget to pay attention.

2) The Signs Are There… Pay attention. No matter what, pay attention. A group of high-caliber professionals in transition, dressed for success, polished, on time and ready to network their network were recently offered a free presentation by a local “career expert”. She was a recruiter for 20+ years and 4 years ago, jumped on the career coaching train. She had a polished power point presentation ready, a book at the back of the room to purchase and an impressive testimonial via the event organizer. One hundred sixty four people created a high decibel of noise before the presentation, and it took the organizers a good nine minutes to get everyone seated and ready to listen. And what did this expert do? She launched into a very remedial presentation with the first slide saying: Dress for Success. Sigh. She forgot to pay attention. She lost the audience (you could almost hear the light swish of eyes rolling). A notch on her credibility belt went down, and her book sales were less than impressive. Pay attention.

3) Stories… We all love stories, and we love to use them in the anecdotal part of our content. Pedagogical theory says that we will remember information when it can be applied to the present moment. What people will remember are not the stories, but the images and metaphors that connect to their present lives and experiences. This bleeds into the pay attention advice. And so, tell your stories, but keep in mind that your images will be valuable to the audience only when they can be applied to their own experiences. I recently saw the 2010 President of the National Speakers Association, Phillip Van Hooser, present here in Detroit. He nailed it. His story telling was not only vivid and unique, but he constantly connected his content to how we can apply it to our own personal and professional lives, starting right now. He has a strong training background and it showed. His approach is unconvenional – a wonderful sight to see.

Side note: watching others speak is valuable because it shows you vital statistics: what  works, what doesn’t, what resonates for the audience by how they respond to a certain point, approach, tempo. I recently spoke to a group of Business Analysts and Project Managers who tend to be analytical introverts. I changed my approach the first 12  minutes to get the “buy in”. Then, I continued at a SLOWER pace than usual. It worked.

4) Free Marketing Has a High ROI… I moved from San Francisco to Detroit during an ice storm in January 2009 to be near an elderly parent – and therefore I often refer to my company as a “geographical start up”. Recently, I was asked by a group of start up business owners how I have created such high visibility in a rather short period of time. Along with sweat equity and having been in business for 26 years across the globe, I simply said: Free Stuff. If you are invisible or emerging and not yet able to “set your price”, leave your own ego at the door and give it away for free. I have 11 public engagements in the next 6 weeks, one of which is paid. And I BLESS my lucky stars!

5) Bragging Rights… More about sales and positive forward momentum. Last month, I gave a four-hour workshop on Leadership for Women. I arranged a deal with the American Cancer Society to get the space for a small donation in exchange for them offering a 10-minute commercial to the attendees. By the way, I am a big fan of equitable service exchanges. Apparently, one of the staff members heard a section of the workshop while getting coffee in an adjacent room, and was impressed by what she heard. After the workshop, they asked about VeloCity’s services and approach, and after some negotiations, we are now strategic partners for 2010 – free space in exchange for professional leadership and customer service coaching and training. Not only do I get to offer workshops and events in a beautiful facility in an excellent location in Detroit… not only does the American Cancer Society get high-performance professional coaching and training… but the bragging rights to be able to say that the Great Lakes Region American Cancer Society is a client, are priceless. Talk about positive forward momentum. And… I get warm fuzzies by contributing to a worthy cause.

6) Writing Up a Storm… One very wise man once said: if you are working in the public eye and not writing up a storm, then you are missing opportunities staring at you in the face. Even if you are not a good writer, write. Or hire someone to do it for you. Writing and public expression go hand in hand. It hones your craft by getting your thoughts to flow in a creative and unique way. Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg is the best book I have found to “free the writer within”. Write it, blog it, article it, pod cast it, link it in, face book it, twitter it and say it out loud. It all starts with the written word.

7) The Art of Authentic Public Speaking… Carl Jung analyzed common threads of behavior, and came up with Six Human Needs: security / variety / significance / love and connection / personal (and professional) growth / contribution. They are all-important and shape our world. As we grow and change, our human needs and priorities shift as well. I find it interesting that Contribution is at the pinnacle of the human experience. And not the conventional kind that says: it is blessed to give. I am talking about the Law of Reciprocation here. The giving AND getting that happens without effort. This is my version of contribution, since we seem to forget that contribution includes US, as well!

Getting up in front of perfect strangers, with all those internal egos and voices clouding up our minds… it is hard enough to be good. What does it take to be extraordinary? When our message hits home and becomes significant for the audience, they are silent. The resonance in the room is like a distant yet clear bell bouncing off their imaginations, and you can almost see their synaptic connectors having internal dialogues. This is the ZONE. The authentic moment in time when we have nailed it, no matter the outcome. This is peace of mind and freedom of expression unlike anything our forefathers and mothers ever dreamed possible. And at the core of this Zone are contribution, energy and authenticity. To take the risk to pay attention and leave our own filters at the door, even for a brief moment, is art. In its purest form, it is creative art at its best.

But a word of warning: this is “guerrilla” public speaking – without laptops, electricity or white boards. This is raw and simple and the most effective approach for my own, authentic public speaking contributions. It also happens to be the most difficult style to pull off.

But when it works, it is magic.

For more information: www.VeloCityCoachingServices.com

This is an article written for Kelle Sparta of Sparta Success Systems, and the basis of a podcast featuring Michele Wilke on the subject of Public Speaking. The podcast will be published sometime in March – so stay tuned. A Boston-based entrepreneur, Kelle found us on LinkedIn after we answered a question about advice for rookie public speakers. For more information: www.WorkshopLeadersResource.com

Be Not Afraid of White Elephants: The Art of Soft-Selling with an Edge

If you tell the truth, then you don’t have to remember anything.

– Mark Twain

The “Competition”: As much of my time and resources go to creating leads and prospects for my growing coaching and training business here in Detroit, I also spend an almost equal amount of time checking out the “competition”… I write these quotation marks because I actually believe that there is enough to go around: enough business, enough money, enough clients, enough opportunities.

Music for my Ears: Recently, I have noticed a SIGNIFICANT SHIFT in what many “main stream” speakers, presenters and world-changers are saying. Finally, I am hearing music for my ears:

• It is time to do things differently.
• There is no “secret formula” for success.
• Authenticity is the way to create what you want.
• Get out there and network your network.
• Tell the truth, pay attention and trust your gut.

If I Ignore It, It Will Go Away: Ahhh, I am NOT alone after all. That is good news, indeed. And yet, I am still not hearing information in the main stream or even off-off broadway in the alleys of my profession, about creating real change through talking about those darned White Elephants. It’s as if we think that if we don’t talk about them (or money, or our sexual problems, or the fact that we libertarian types think that Obama might not be doing a good job right now…), then the White Elephants will sprout Dumbo Wings and fly away.

The “No” Brick Wall: I had lunch this afternoon with a new strategic partner who is selling services to help reduce copy machine costs to larger companies. She has been doing this for almost 25 years and has created success in her life. We think alike in that we both know that personal responsibility is where it’s at, so we always have lots to talk about. She has hit the NO NO NO NO NO wall. You know the one, we all do. And I suggested that she go ahead and actually talk about the White Elephant in the room, as a part of her pitch to leads and prospects.

Soft-Sell with an Edge: “Do you think that will work,” she asked. All I said is that I do it regularly, and it seems to work for me. In order to sell her services, her clients have to first go through an evaluation phase before she can quote them how much money she can save the company. And she confided that she notices that decision-makers cannot take ONE MORE THING onto their over-flowing plates. So I suggested that she START with that – and so talking about the White Elephant for her clients would sound something like this:

Pitch Number One: Ms Decision-Maker, I get it, really. You don’t have one more nano-second of time to spend, you cannot add one millimeter of energy to your plate, even if you are totally convinced that my services will 100% guaranteed save you 2.3 million dollars. (The actual estimate of her usual cost savings for clients!)… Then she can pause and see if she hits a chord.

For me, it looks like this:

Pitch Number Two: Joe, I am in the business of selling services to people that will initially make them feel extraordinarily uncomfortable for a period of time that is unknown, in order to get them shifted out of their comfort zone addictions… and at the end of the sessions, people actually PAY me for this! Can you believe it?!

Pitch Number Three: You see, I have this self-deprecating, authentic way of talking about the White Elephant. I even say directly: Look, Joe, the White Elephant is that you are stuck and miserable in your marriage and your health is suffering. The fact that you are talking to me right now tells me that something about my approach to coaching resonates for you. But here’s the deal (I like to say that expression…), I have never seen anyone, including myself, change and get out of their own way without being deeply uncomfortable. If you want to stay in your world and be comfortable, I can recommend a wonderful book, and it will only cost you $19.95!

I Love the White Elephants: I call this the Soft-Sell Authentic Approach with an Edge – or the White Elephant Sales Approach. I love the White Elephants. They are helping me get more YES moments, and they are getting people off their butts and into a new paradigm of change, doing things differently, paying attention and moving forward. So the next time you are at a loss for words or ways to pitch your services or fabulous ideas, take a chance and talk about what is so. The White Elephants are there to help you.