Are You Living In The World Of Comfort?

It's often easier to rationalize away an issue or a concern rather than address it, particularly when the issue or concern is related to a personal failing of yours. Regardless of the facts or truth, you make yourself feel good by justifying why you do not need to do the hard thing that makes you uncomfortable. Living In The World Of Comfort applies to everyone, but especially to sales folks who are frequently required to do the hard thing such as meet someone new, ask for a sale, get to the final Decision Maker, tell a customer about a problem, present in public, etc.

If you can expand your comfort zone, you will gain skills and abilities by pushing yourself to do hard things that make you uncomfortable. Though recognizing an area to improve upon can be uncomfortable, it's how an individual gains personal growth and improves their skills and abilities.

You will either pay the price of discipline or the price of regret. You can't avoid paying one of those prices; and the price of regret is many times higher than the price of discipline. Doing the hard thing now prevents you from being in a worse situation later. For example, if you don't say "no" to junk food now, you'll pay higher prices later. You'll feel sluggish, you'll gain weight, your health will decline, you'll have to buy bigger clothes, and you'll develop low self-esteem.

How To Expand Your Comfort Zone
1. Apply constant pressure until you become comfortable with the activity. Extending your comfort zone by engaging in activities outside of your traditional comfort zone requires risk that can cause pain. As a result, it's human nature for people to want to rationalize away an issue or a concern. Consistent pressure and teaching expands the comfort zone.
2. Perform more repetitions. The more times you perform the difficult activity, the more comfortable you'll become with it. The more comfortable you become with the activity, the more your comfort zone expands. The more successful you are, the more likely you are to do that activity again.
3. Be cautious of trying to make too much improvement too fast. This can cause more harm than good, resulting in you losing confidence. Don't catapult yourself outside your initial comfort zone.

For example, a Sales Rep is afraid of public speaking and presenting to a group of prospects. They must frequently put themselves into public speaking situations (outside their current comfort zone) so they can gain the skills and repetition necessary to be comfortable with the activity. As they gain more repetitions and learn new skills, public speaking becomes part of their new comfort zone.

The Erie Sales Club is a joint effort of three leading local businesses: Jameson Publishing, Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services, and VertMarkets.

Sales Reps Need Skepticism

Skepticism is important because it ensures that a sales rep operates on facts and truths, allowing them (and their company) to make the right choices. Conversely, a rep won't achieve desired outcomes if he or she doesn't operate on facts, and they'll waste time and money.

As answers or information surrounding a topic or situation are presented, continually ask yourself:
1. Do I have the full story?
2. Do I need to know more?
3. Do I believe the information being presented?
4. What holes can I poke in this?

Avoid saying the words, "I don't believe you." Find a more palatable way to question the contact, such as, "That's great if that's the case ..."

Validating your skepticism is important because it ensures that you gain enough facts to ensure an answer is clear and accurate. There are three steps to validating your skepticism:
1. Ask questions to gain a full understanding of the situation until you are satisfied that you know the truth.
2. Hold our for specific facts as opposed to words conveying feelings or vague explanations.
3. If needed, look for other sources or data to compare with what you know so far. This will help you confirm what you know so far or lead to additional questions.

For example, the contact tells you, "I like your product. If the budget is there, I think I'll give it a try. Give me a call later and I'll let you know." You can apply skepticism (and ask validating questions) to almost every phrase of what they said.

"I like your product": Do they really or are they just saying that to be nice to you? What specifically do they like about your product?

"If the budget is there": Who determines the budget? How and when does it get approved? How big was the last budget? Do you expect it to increase or decrease? Have you ever allocated budget for a product like this before?

"I think I'll give it a try": Why are they non-committal -- why aren't they more excited about your product? What is there to think about?

"Give me a call later": Why do we have to have another call? Why can't we close the deal now? Can we look at the current budget and cut something less valuable so you can reap the benefits of the product now? When is later?

"I'll let you know": Let me know what -- that you are going to buy right then or that you'll still consider my product? What would cause you to say "no" when we talk again?

The Erie Sales Club is a joint effort of three leading local businesses: Jameson Publishing, Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services, and VertMarkets.

19 Best Quotes: Let's Get Real Or Let's Not Play

If you haven't read the book "Let’s Get Real Or Let’s Not Play: Transforming the Buyer/Seller Relationship" by by Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig, I recommend you get a copy today. Or, if you don't have the time to invest in reading it cover-to-cover, these 19 best quotes from the book should be of value:

1. Trust = Intent + Expertise
2. Intent counts more than technique (and technique is still important).
3. Sales is the process of helping clients succeed in a way they feel good about.
4. The degree of trust has hard economic consequences: as trust goes up, speed goes up and costs go down.
5. There is no one way to help customers succeed.
6. “Not a good fit” is a great conclusion, if arrived at early.
7. It’s not a problem or an opportunity until the client says it is.
8. If our intent is to help clients succeed, we have both the right and the obligation not to guess about the key elements of that success.
9. The greatest enemy of communication is the illusion of it. – Pierre Martineau
10. We are always listening. However, we are often listening to the voice inside our own head.
11. Evidence defines problems and measures success.
12. We wait to establish rapport before asking the hard question, yet asking the hard question can help us establish rapport.
13. Do not confuse organizational authority with buying authority.
14. For clients, how we sell is a free sample of how we solve.
15. If we don’t treat clients like prospective clients, they will become former clients.
16. Focus, execute, succeed, repeat.
17. One obvious key to always having a referral is to always engage in actively developing them.
18. It’s almost always possible to get a referral if you’re determined to do so.
19. The single largest determinant of profitability is account retention.

Top 7 Lead Gen Methods

We had a great discussion last night at the Erie Sales Club Workshop. The topic was Generating New Leads, and the attendees and panelists crafted a list of the Top 7 Lead Gen Methods that have been most effective for them.

1. Previous happy customers generate the best leads. Make sure your current customers are thrilled with your product and service.
2. Use a variety of communication methods to connect with prospects (e.g. phone, email, personal letter, direct mail, social media, advertising, etc.). There's not a one-size-fits-all communication method for any industry or any individual prospect.
3. Reach out consistently. You don't know when the prospect will be ready to buy. One attendee sent out a letter to prospects 5 months ago and then received a call back last week reading straight from the letter. They weren't ready to buy 5 months ago, but they are now.
4. Be persistent. Ordinary salespeople give up after one phone call. As we said before, some people might not be ready to buy during the period of time you left 9 voice mails for them. But they may be ready to buy after you leave voice mail #10.
5. Tailor your message and include a benefit statement for the prospect. This is especially important if you are going to reach out to a prospect consistently. For example, don't say, "Your name came up on my list again so I wanted to call you." A better message would be something like, "We talked at the open house last week. I might have found a house that fits what you're looking for."
6. Write down your next step. After an initial contact with a potential lead, put in your calendar the next action you want to take with them so you don't forget to follow-up.
7. When someone reaches out to you, call back immediately. If you can't call back that moment, call them back within 48 hours.

The next Erie Sales Club Workshop is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 10, from 6:00-7:30 PM at the Knowledge Park (near the Penn State-Behrend campus). For directions to Knowledge Park, click here. For more information, send an email to Newsletter@ErieSalesClub.com.

The Erie Sales Club is a joint effort of three leading local businesses: Jameson Publishing, Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services, and VertMarkets.

A Lesson In Professional Presentation

I recently purchased a new vehicle, so I got to experience the sales process of several local dealerships. The biggest impression I was left with was the importance of professional presentation, not just by the individual salesperson, but by the company. The biggest contrast was between Bianchi Honda on Upper Peach Street and a dealership in Erie County that I'll call ABC to protect their identification. (No reason to bash a local company.)

I know everyone reading this article has visited a car dealership at some time in their life, but I'd never been to a facility like Bianchi's before. Click here to check out an outside view of their building. I couldn't find any indoor shots online -- this was the best I could do -- but the showroom was spacious, bright, and clean. When my wife and I met with veteran sales rep Bill Donor (pictured above) at his desk, we all sat in comfortable chairs and had room to move around if necessary. Oh, I didn't mention the best part of the buying process: the lounge in Bianchi's service department offers FREE Oreo cookies! They didn't just have a couple sitting on a styrofoam plate; there's a plastic case on the counter filled with what had to be 100-150 Oreos. (I think I ate half of them during one of my visits.) Basically, the atmosphere at Bianchi's was one of professionalism. You couldn't help but feel confidence in their organization after spending half an hour there.

The ABC dealership was a complete contrast. The showroom, which looked like it hadn't been updated since Reagan was President, was stuffed with vehicles -- so many that you felt cramped just being inside the building. A couple unused cubicles had collected assorted junk -- promotional signs, manuals, dirty car parts, etc. On a bookshelf in one cubicle was a CD that someone had labeled "The Best of Christmas and Crazy Sh*t." When we met with the sales rep, his cubicle measured maybe 6 feet wide by 6 feet long. And instead of sitting at a professional desk, he was crammed behind a secretary's desk like this one. His wall was decorated with several "Salesperson of the Month" award plaques, but none of them were recent. While my wife and I were hanging out waiting for someone to look at my truck I was planning to trade in, I asked our rep and another about the award plaques. "It looks like I haven't been working very hard the last 10 years, doesn't it?," our rep said. When I asked why ABC stopped awarding plaques, both reps basically said, "I have no idea. Now we just get our paychecks and they want us to be happy with just that."

Back to Bianchi. I purchased my car in March and had some extras added to the vehicle the first week of April. While waiting at the service area (and stuffing Oreos into my mouth), I noticed a memo from Bianchi owner Lou Porreco on a staff member's desk. Porreco was congratulating his team on setting an all-time sales record for March and announcing that every Bianchi employee would be treated to a on-site catered lunch.

If a friend asks me about my car-buying experience, I'll be sure to mention Bianchi's professional presentation and how they worked to make everyone who stepped onto their property feel like a valued customer. And I'll let my friend know that even if they're not interested in a Honda, they should at least stop by for the cookies!

-- Jim Roddy, President, Jameson Publishing

The Erie Sales Club is a joint effort of three leading local businesses: Jameson Publishing, Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services, and VertMarkets.