The Scrambled Egg - a blog every sales professional should wake up to.

Follow @KADscrambledegg on Twitter for wisdom about #sales #salesmanagement. 

There are several rules to negotiating but the first one is the most important, the easiest to abide by and the one most frequently broken.  

Years ago I had a manager who could never be found in his office. He was always outside smoking. For the two years I reported to him my biggest take alway was to quit smoking and to do it right then and there. Good lord he smoked a lot. I’m happy to report I’ve been smoke free ever since.

While The Marlboro Manager offered a good lesson in health, he also taught me the first lesson in negotiating. One day as I was walking in from lunch, I passed him as he was walking out for yet another cigarette. He asked if one of my deals was coming in (this was his form of a pipeline review). I explained I’d given my contact two options and waiting to hear back from them. Smokey The Bear replied in a very husky voice “he who says a number first loses” and he walked away. 

The 1^st rule of negotiating: He who says a number first loses.

With that one piece of advice I’d learned the most important rule of negotiation – never say a number (discount) or option (billing terms, shorter contract, etc.) first. Smokey was referring to leverage. If you’ve ever walked into a car dealership, the first thing you’ll be ask is “how much do you want for the trade in?”. The sales person is trained to get the buyer to say a number first. Don’t answer; instead tell them you aren’t sure. The most fun part is the sales person is not trained on what to do if you don’t give a number first.

Think of it as if it were a poker game. One doesn’t want the other player to know what cards are in your hand. As soon as you tell the other person a number, you’re essentially telling them one of your cards. You have now given them leverage. Instead you should find out what’s in their hand first. Here’s how:

When a prospect asks about options, promotions, discounts etc. there are two paths to choose from. The rep can either tell the prospect there are no options, discounts or promotions. The other option is to play ball. Here’s how:

1) Do Not Answer - The are asking you to break the first rule and show your hand and say a number or options firsyt. Hence giving them the leverage.

2) Acknowledge Without Committing - Don’t ignore the question but offer no details. Disarm them, reassure and seem accommodating by saying something generic “I’d be glad to come up with some customized packaging”. You’ve committed to nothing specific at this point.

3) Tipping the Other Hand First - Now get them to show their card and have them say a number or option first “What do you have in mind?”

This is a great way to have a more balanced negotiation. The last thing a rep would want to do is offer a discount when the prospect needed billing installments. Now the rep is stuck having to honor both! Knowledge is leverage and as a sales person you have the tables in your favor. 

Stay tuned! Tomorrow's Article:

5 Step Guide to Bombing Pricing Negotiations

Follow @KADscrambledegg on Twitter for wisdom about #sales #salesmanagement. 

Sales people only have so much time in a day and should utilize every moment. Rapport building goes far beyond “building relationships”, take the opportunity to gather more information about prospects beyond their kids’ names, the weather, etc. In order to be a top performer a rep must be methodical and calculated in every step, even rapport building. Here are other ways to use rapport building to elicit valuable information from prospects:

1) Lower the Tension – A rep should build rapport at the beginning of every call. This helps to lesion the tension the prospect might be feeling in addition to the anxiety the rep may be experiencing. If the prospect’s guard is down, they are more comfortable and more likely to share. Going straight into a call, without rapport building, can feel like a plane coming into the runaway fast and furious! Slow down….

2) Authority or Influence Level – Rapport building is an excellent way to learn how much power a prospect has internally.

Start By - The rep can make small talk. Ask how long the prospect has been with the company. Are they happy? What do they like/not like? The rep can share stories of their experience at their work place (always remain positive).

What is Actually Gained - Once the conversation is flowing, here’s what the rep can really gain from the chit chat. The rep may find the prospect was newly hired or promoted. If so, why did the company hire or promote for this position? Why was it a priority to do so? The rep can find out who hired the contact. Was it a person in the C-suite? How often do they meet with this person? In other words, while the rep is “building rapport” they are multitasking by lowering the tension, easing their way into the call in addition to finding out if their contact has access to power and how often.

3) Decision Making Process – There are opportunities in the rapport building stage to gather information about a prospect’s internal decision making process.

Start By - Opening the conversation by trying to learn more about their culture. The rep can share stories of their experiences (always positive). Is the prospect’s culture fast paced? Do they have red tape? Are things decided as a group or in silos? Is this a headache? Do they like the process? Why or why not?

What is Actually Gained - While this may seem like small talk, the rep can start to understand their internal process for getting things purchased. The rep is also discovering timeline for how long the deal might take to close.

4) The Slip – Sometimes a prospect will reveal information during rapport building which might be imperative to a sale and otherwise missed.

Start By - The rep can ask if the prospect received the information and what the prospect’s thoughts are. Discuss what they liked and ask for feedback. The rep should have sent product information in addition to information that is strategically helpful. Information offering strategy is more likely to get read and gains trust with a prospect. A sale should rarely be about product/service. 

What is Actually Gained- The prospect’s guard is down and they feel the discussion is more casual or “off the record”. The prospect will reveal information that might have otherwise not been shared in a more “formal” setting. Such information could include, other vendors being evaluated, who internally is for or against the purchase of the rep’s product/service, an impending acquisition which might slow the process down, etc.

A great example would be from when a prospect was 5 minutes late to a schedule call. They’d asked the rep to remain on hold as they were running late. When the prospect returned to the phone they apologized and explained the CEO had pulled him into a last minute meeting. The rep was smart and jumped on the opportunity to gather more information. The rep asked if everything was ok and was it a normal occurrence. The prospect revealed the CEO does this frequently and trusts him to assist in emergencies. Prior to this auspicious interaction the rep was unsure of the contact’s internal power. Now the rep knows the contact had direct access to CEO and the CEO trusts the contact. This is invaluable information to the sale that might have otherwise been difficult to get.

Sales people only have their time. They should be methodical and calculated at every step in order to ensure they’re being most efficient. Work hard and work smart. 

Next Article:

The First and Easiest Rule of Negotiations Learned From the Worst Manager

Liking these tips? Follow @KADscrambledegg on Twitter for wisdom about #sales #salesmanagement.

Replying to a prospect's email(s) is lazy and a sales rep should break the habit immediately. We’re all busy throughout the day and it can seem like the best way to communicate is to respond to emails. A rep might make the assumption that email is the preferred method of communication for the prospect and will follow suit in this manner. Instead of assuming this is their preferred method of communication, why not assume they’re in meetings and this is their only way to reach out. They are multitasking. Assume this is the case every time and do not reply. Instead view every email as an invitation to call.

Why view every email as an invitation to call? Consider these 8 problems with the email reply: 

1) Loss of Control – when a rep sends a reply the prospect can take the information and do what they want with it. The rep won’t know if the answer was satisfactory or if it wasn’t what the prospect was looking for. No response from the prospect now leaves the rep with nothing but guesswork.

2) Lost Opportunity – every interaction with a prospect is the opportunity to find out more information. Assist in whatever it is the prospect needed and then a rep has the ability to ask such things as, updates on the sale, legal process, decision making process, who else is inquiring (perhaps the email had questions), why is the prospect looking for additional information, etc.  

3) No Accountability – having a prospect on the line makes them accountable to answer questions like those in #2. If these questions are asked in an email it is very rare they will be answered. However, if one has the prospect on the phone, it is hard for them to ignore.

4) No Ability to Sell – additional information might be discovered during the discussion which allows for the rep to take another angle with the sale.

5) Tone Deafness – it is very difficult to understand an email's actual tone. While the prospect’s email may seem innocent in nature, the a phone call and might uncover that there are major hurdles to overcome. On the other hand, the prospect could seem angry and snarky, yet a phone call would have revealed they are very interested and that their office has simply been swamped. Bear in min, this is a two-way street. A sales rep’s tone has just as great a chance of being misread and prospects are not as forgiving with misread tone.  

6) Lost in Translation – it is very easy for things to get lost in translation even over the phone. Email amplifies this chance as you don’t have the ability to quickly ask for clarification and make explanations.

7) Easy to Forward – a rep can hope or assume their answers are only being passed around internally. Don’t make this assumption. The last thing a rep would want is for their email to be forwarded to a competitor and educating them how to sell against themself.

8) Does Not Stand Out – every sales reps replies to email. Don’t be that rep. Pick up the phone and offer assistance.

Ok so you're sold on the idea of viewing all prospect's emails as an invitation to call.  So how does it work? Always call first. If they aren’t there, your voicemail will be the below script and your email will match which will be sent immediately afterwards. Always re-assure them you have answers to their questions or whatever it is they need. In order to get what they need, they’ll have to connect via phone. Make sure to end the voicemail and email with a call to action. Here is an example:

Bob, per my message

It’s nice to hear from you. I’d be glad to help with/answer your questions below. It’s best if we connect over the phone in order to make sure I give the details you need.

I’m open today at 3:00EST or 5:30EST. What works best with you?

Best,

Me

Always leave two suggested open times. A rep should not say they’re open for the rest of the day or available at any time. It’s too desperate and needy. A top performing sales person is busy with other calls and lots in the pipeline. Remember the prospect needs answers to their questions and if those times don’t work they will reply with times that do work. This is also a good indication of their level of interest.

Knowledge is power. Take every opportunity to gather information. View every email is an invitation to call a prospect. Never waste an opportunity, take the invitation, run with it and close some business!

Next Articles:

The Most Common Mistake in Pricing Negotiations

The Hidden Secrets of Rapport Building Beyond "Relationships"

There seems to be an unspoken law not to discuss if territory affects the performance of one rep or team versus another. The express goes “there is no such thing as a bad territory”. I’ll be the first to say it.  Unequivocally yes, territory matters.  As a sales leaders, you are doing your teams and reps a disservice by not acknowledging this fact.

While not all territories are created equal, I should clarify on the heels of my previous statement, a bad territory is not an excuse. In fact, I’d argue a rep with a good territory are at a disadvantage. They will not have to work as hard or be as strategic as the rep with the bad territory. They’re missing out on skills and techniques they will later need if territories change or they move companies. A rep with a bad territory has the opportunity and motivation to improve their skills and development. Opposed to the rep with NYC who might have less motivation to make improvements because they’re more easily producing numbers. A successful sales career is a long term game with short term wins that are not always dollars. 

As a sales leader, by denying all territories are not created equal, you are missing the opportunity to develop your team and teach your reps how to yield more revenue from an underperforming area.

Here are the steps a rep can take to successfully work a bad territory:

1) Reverse engineer wins by running a report in your CRM over the last year of all deals closed and look for patterns. You will usually find there are certain industries in that area doing well. Some databases have this by SIC code. If you don’t have access to match SIC code with industry, you can Google the codes.

2) Call the customers who have purchased over the last year.

a. Explain you’re trying to understand their industry better and you’re not trying to sell additional services. People love to talk about themselves.

b. Ask why they purchased.

c. What pain does your product/service solve?

d. How has the current economy affected their industry?

e. Where do they see opportunities to grow?

f. If they are growing it means they have customers purchasing. Ask who their local (or whatever your territory is) customers are and if there is a particular industry they see the most success with. 

g. Ask for the most popular blogs, publications or thought leaders in their space.

h. Ask for a referral and do not call, yet.

i. Tell them you’ll be in the area sometime soon (even if this is not true) and ask their favorite lunch place that deliveries. Ask what’s good on the menu. Call and have that item delivered to the contact that day. Do not ask if they want it, just do it. Also send a handwritten thank you note. Do not email, take the time to write the note on nice stationary. A little goes a long way and the contact might be an additional resource of referrals for you.

3) Top 5 - figure out the top 5 industries between the list of customers who’ve purchased in addition to who’s buying from them.

4) Become a subject matter expert of the top 5. You should become a subscriber to those blogs, publications and follow the thought leaders on Twitter or if they have their own blogs. You should also understand what pain you solve for these companies and what opportunities there is to grow. This positions you as a trusted advisor and will yield more sales.

5) Start Calling. 

a. Call the referrals the current customers gave you.

b. Run another report in your CRM of companies in the top 5 industries who haven’t yet purchased. Provide them with up to date industry topics and offer free advice and strategy.

c. Pay attention for companies mentioned as you read articles and publications and add them to your call list.

While no one is excited to be handed a bad territory, there is only one NYC or LA to go around. Don’t let a territory be an excuse. Take the opportunity to work smart, it’s much more rewarding. Remember this is a long term career and the landscape of sales changes many times. At some point it will be your turn to have a good territory and you can apply the skills you’ve learned to be an unstoppable powerhouse.

Next Article:

4 Critical Techniques To Win The "Internal" Sale

 How many of you have noticed the increase in advertisements in your Facebook news feeds?  How many of you like the increased advertisements? I’m going to venture to say not many of us. 

As many of you may recall, Facebook was not the first big social networking site. MySpace was the market share holder prior to Facebook. However many users made the switch to Facebook from MySpace when their user experience became cluttered with banners and pop ups. Facebook needs to be careful not to fall into the same trap.

While our Facebook experience has more advertisements, I believe Zuckerberg is walking a fine line and he’s careful not to cross it. Facebook is generating revenue by selling space on your newsfeed and profile. The ads delivered to you are highly customized banners based on our personal data. We are not yet bombarded with banners which become as annoying as neon signs and I don’t believe we will be.

I’m hoping Facebook will take advantage of the massive and unique opportunity to take over another market leader and create a user experience larger than the sum of its parts. I’m talking about Facebook taking over Google’s market share by becoming the next search engine.

In order to understand how this would work, let’s first do a quick summary of how Google delivers results to you. There are 2 ways Google’s algorithm works to deliver the free/organic search results.

1) Keywords and Phrases. Websites have words and phrases in each page and each page of a website is the opportunity to rank for a new and different keyword/phrase.  Google looks in specific places on each page for those words or phrase to determine if that page should come up in the free/organic search results for that word or phrase. 

2) Inbound Links.  An inbound link is another website linking to the website in question. Let’s say two different websites had the same exact words/phrase in all the right places, Google then prioritizes by which of those websites has more inbound links. 

Now let’s think about the data Facebook knows about you. They know who you are, where you went to school, where you work, who your friends are, where your friends have eaten for dinner and heck even what they ordered sometimes. Every time someone from your network “likes” a business page, “shares” something or “checks in” somewhere, consider this a recommendation or a referral. Word of mouth if you will.

So where is the opportunity for Facebook to take over Google? This means Facebook can deliver results that are exponentially more relevant and personal than Google ever can deliver.  Instead of delivering results based on keywords and inbound links, Facebook can deliver results based keywords in addition to:

1) Who you are (your personal data).

2) Word of mouth recommendations (likes, shares, etc).

As an example, let's say you Google and look for "restaurants in London". Your first result will be the restaurant that has either paid an SEO firm a lot of money to get to the top or has been around a long time. Now compare that to getting results based upon restaurants in London your friends, colleagues or family have been to. The more “likes” or “checks in” a restaurant receives, the more search results it will appear in.

Take a look at the screenshot below I was able to grab from Facebook's graph search. Look at the blue bar above the picture on the left which reads “restuarants in London my friends have been to”.

Wondering how this will affect sales? First, your prospects are online doing research even if you’re a B2B company. If you don’t believe they do their research online – stop reading this article. I’ve already confused you and you’re so far behind you need to go figure out how to turn your computer on. 

Your prospects are using Google to research services and how to solve their challenges. Use the screen shot below and replace the word “restaurant” let’s say with something like “warehouse management services”. Also think about how many times you've received a word of mouth recommendation or referral from an existing customer. 

If Facebook becomes the next search engine, delivering results based upon keywords and word of mouth, you better hope your company has a good social media presence.

Next Article:

Do Territories Matter?

 You’ve all had the accounts you tried relentlessly to get into. You call multiple people in the company and try month after month. Many sales people do this as tenacity has great pay offs in sales. Sometimes the technique works and other times it works to no avail. There is a smarter way to work – dump your prospects. Yes, dump them. It’s over. Kaput. It’s not you, it’s me. Done. Adios.

Breaking up is hard to do. It’s even harder when you think of breaking up with a potential customer. Let’s think about it from a different perspective as it might actually yield the opposite result. In other words, breaking up with your prospects is a great strategy to solicit a response.

First, understand your prospects are busy. They have multiple meetings and many things on their plate. They receive many calls throughout the day and while they may plan to call you back, you’re pushed to the bottom of the list. The prospect knows you’re in sales and relies on you to be tenacious and to do your job by continuing to call and email. This allows you to fall further on their “to do” list.

At some point a sales rep will move on and stop calling the prospect without knowing if the prospect might have wanted to connect. So to make matters worse, the sales rep doesn’t communicate to the prospect you’re no longer going to be calling. Don’t make this mistake. This leads us to the first and most basic rule of breaking up.

Here are the rules to a successful breakup:

1) Communicate to the prospect you are giving up. This way they know they can’t rely on you to continue calling and emailing. If they had any interest in speaking you have now forced yourself to the top of the “to do” list because you’ve told you’re breaking up.

2) Do not breakup too soon. If you pull the plug on a prospect without legitimately first putting in effort the tactic seems, well, like a tactic. You should attempt to connect with your prospects at least 8 times (voicemail or email) before breaking up.

3) Include a tease in regards to strategic advice (not about your product or service) you would like to discuss. This will remind them what value they’ll get if they connect with you.

4) Make it short and sweet, but not too sweet. It should be to the point and don’t be abrupt or offensive. This will defeat the purpose and it will again seem like just a tactic.

5) This is the most import of all rules. You’re previous emails should include increasingly valuable information not about your product, service or company (it’s too soon to pitch). In other words, make sure they care you’re breaking up with them. If you’ve provided value in your previous emails they will care that they’re no longer going to receive them. The valuable information also peaked their interest enough to get you onto their “to do” list in the first place. Voicemail and email attempts solely about your products and service will never even get you to the bottom of a “to do” list. This article discusses how to increasingly add value in each effort to reach a prospect.

Here is an example of a breakup voicemail and email script:

Bob,

I wanted to reach out to you one last time. I have suggestions on how your facebook page and website can work harder in terms of generating new business. If I don’t hear back from you, I’ll assume the timing isn’t right.

My information is below should you have any questions.

Best,

Me

The response rate to a breakup is close to 33%. While most responses are positive and they’ll tell you they’ve been meaning to get back to you, sometimes you’ll also get a response from those letting you know they are not interested. A negative response is still as successful breakup. You now have an answer and can move on; it wasn’t meant to be as they were never going to buy anyway. Breaking up isn’t hard to do once the technique proves itself.  Happy selling and breaking up!

Upcoming Articles:

Facebook is Close to Missing the Boat. Why This Will Affect Your Sales. 

Do Territories Matter?

How can you be sure there is a 30% increase? I tested it and measured the results. I took 5 reps as the experimental group. They used the below technique with subsequent emails (which will be a blog post to follow). The control group was the rest of the sales team (about 45 other reps) who continued to use the same templates used in the past. I ran the experiment for 5 weeks and tracked the lead attempt to connect rates in Salesforce. The experimental group made 30% more connects than the control group. In data we trust, even in sales.  So here it goes....

In an early blog post I discuss the #1 rule to consultative selling. The below techniques follow the consultative approach by removing the focus from yourself, your product, company and/or service. 

1) The Subject Line should be about the prospect, not about you. The first step is to get the prospect to open the email. If it’s about them, it’ll be more interesting. If it’s an inbound lead, the subject line should be whatever they downloaded. If it’s an outbound or cold attempt, find something about the prospect. Look to see if they were recently in the news, updated or posted something on LinkedIn or Twitter. Make sure the recent news or status updated is related to business. Then make this the subject line.

2) The Length of the email should be short. Most of us are checking our emails via cell phones and mobile devices can make short emails look long. Send the email to yourself first and make sure it’s not overwhelm in length.

3) The 2 to 1 Ratio. In other words, you should reference their company and/or the word “you” at least twice as many times as you see the word “I” or your company name. Most importantly, start the email with the word “You”. This grabs their attention and it makes it about them. Starting an email with “I” is about you and quite frankly, who cares about you at this point.

4) The Give - you should also offer some type of tease alluding to strategic advice. It's best not criticize; add value by offering strategy and not about your product/service. Each subsequent attempt you’ll offer additional value by giving more strategies. I’ll talk about this more in my next coming blog article. Stay tuned.

5) The Get – the email should end with a call to action that stands alone. In other words, they’ll need to respond in order to get the strategic advice. This does not mean to end the email with “Let me know if you’d like to talk”. It's fine to use this with your friends and they get back to you because they like you. Prospects don’t like sales reps, they are not your friend and this is a waste of time. Instead, be very clear and end the email with a question “What time works best with you” or give suggested times (give a couple options as people are busy).

Here is an example of an email/voicemail template:

Bob,

You recently downloaded the whitepaper “Using Facebook for Business”. I've been to your website and your business Facebook page and noticed a few areas where you can increase the amount of business you’re generating from social media.

Would you be able to connect Monday at 1:00 EST or Tuesday at 11:00 EST?

Best,

Me

Your voicemail will match the same format, except you’d add at the end “This is (your name) calling from (company name) and my number is ____“. Yes, at the end not the beginning. As soon as you start a voicemail with “Hi this is so and so from…..” the voicemail is deleted before you can say the company name. If you have to introduce yourself, they know it’s a sales call and they won’t listen. Delete. Starting the voicemail without an introduction will seem very awkward at first. Practice until a it’s habit.

While many of these methods were derived from Jeff Hoffman's Basho Strategies, they've been augmented over time to stay relevant with the changing landscape of sales.   

You remember Fight Club starring Brad Pitt. What was the 1^st rule of Fight Club? You don't talk about Fight Club! This is also true in sales. The first rule to consultative selling and increasing sales is to stop selling.  Don't talk about your company or the products and/or services you offer.

You’ve probably heard the expression “it’s not about you, it’s about them”. For many in sales, this is easy to understand but it’s not clear how to execute. What the heck does one talk about if you can’t talk about the product/service you’re selling? Here’s the secret to not breaking the first rule of Fight Club.

1) What pain does your product/service solve?

If your answer is along the lines of streamlining this or that, more effectively does this or increases productivity, etc. Keep digging. Why would another company need that?  There are typically 3 areas in which a sale falls into: 

Makes money

Saves money

Reduces risk

Keep asking yourself why until you get down to one of the three listed above.

2) Become a subject matter expert in your industry. You’ll need to rely on this expertise so you can talk with your prospects about strategy. When you offer strategic advice and not about your product/service, you’ll gain trust and credibility. When they trust you they will tell you more about their problems and the REAL issues (which fall into one of the above 3 buckets). 

3) Stop selling. Put your product/service and quota to the side and genuinely try to help the prospect solve a problem through your expertise. Keep trying to solve their issues without breaking the 2^nd rule of Fight Club. While you offer a product/service that solves their problem, you will not need to bring it up. The prospect will ask on their ownif you’ve sincerely tried to help them.

This can be used in any example. Let's take an extreme example and say you're selling cake batter to a catering company. Why does a company need new cake batter? Perhaps wedding bookings have been down or their competition has a reputation for beautiful and tasty wedding cakes. Give advice on improving their current cakes and give ideas on how to increase bookings in other ways. You will gain trust with the prospect and they will be open with information about how one wedding cake collapsed an hour before a reception and several bookings were cancelled because of it. They might eventually disclose revenue is down 20%.

If you don't break the first 2 rules of Fight Club, the sale will naturally happen on its own. You may find the prospect doesn’t have a problem you can solve. While not the outcome you wanted, there was never a sale to be made in the first place. At least in this case the lost prospect is a great source of referrals. 

In subsequent posts I'll discuss how the rule of Fight Club is applicable in all stages of a sales process. 

There have been countless times I’ve heard “I am the Decision Maker” in my sales career and I’ve fallen for the line more times than I can count. While we’re ultimately looking to get to the Decision Maker, it’s one of the worst things a sales rep can hear.  If you do hear this, seller beware, this is a prospect you should be VERY skeptical of.  

There’s an expression, “if someone tells you how rich they are, it’s because they’re not really that rich”. I’m sure you’ve heard or seen these people talk about how much money they make or how important they are.  As many of us know, they are making up for something they lack. The same is true in sales. If you hear this in a sales process the person can be hazardous to your sale.

Here’s what to look for:

1) The Self-Proclaimed DM – the prospect who unsolicited told you they were the DM. If they offer up the information without you asking, they are toxic. They are being deceptive and gating you from the rest of their internal purchasing process. The prospect is not bought-in and you need to discover their objections and handle them or move on to the next. Do your best to gain trust, otherwise do not waste time with prospects that won’t be authentic.

2) The Misunderstood DM/The Recommender – the prospect has a different definition. Many times in sales we have our own definition of the DM but it doesn’t necessarily match that of the prospect.  I find this many times when a sales person is proactively discovering a purchasing process. The prospect actually thinks they are the DM. Yes, they actually think they are.  Their definition is they will be evaluating all vendors and bringing their decision to the committee, board, etc. By the prospect’s definition they are the DM because they are deciding what to recommend. This person is actually, what I call, the recommender.  In this scenario, the prospect is not being deceptive. However the sales rep is looking for the person who signs the contract and checks.  Don’t dismiss the recommender as they are extremely valuable in a sale. Spend time with this prospect, ask more questions and determine if it’s just a difference in meaning.  

3) The Decision Maker – the big kahuna, the person in charge, the person who signs the check. You get the picture.  This is the person who can say yes without having to check with someone, they can re-allocate budget on their own, they can (but don't always) work alone. I find it most common this person needs at least a C-level job title if not the President or Owner. A rep should be asking questions in order to determine if they have the ultimate DM.  For example, “If you decide you want to go with this solution, who else do you confer with?”

Working with the Decision Maker is the fastest and easiest way to get a sale closed. It would not be true if we said we work exclusively with DMs, the reality is many times we find ourselves working with non-decision makers as well. A sales rep can still be very success when using a non-DM to get to the real DM. Be smart with which ones you spend your time with and know the signs of ones who are a toxic waste of time.  Don’t take things at face value, dig deeper and seller beware!

There is an old expression you can tell a sales rep is lying because their lips are moving. While I don't agree reps lying, I will agree moving lips are not a sign of effectiveness.  In fact, the less a rep can move their lips, the better position they'll be in. This brings me to two of my favorite skills in a sales tool belt. 

1) Silence is one of the most unnatural to master yet yields the most results. Many of us, regardless of making a sale, feel the need to fill in the awkward moments of silence. In sales the knee jerk reaction is amplified. Reps tend to fill in the space with useless information that could risk the deal or completely talk a prospect out of a sale.

Be comfortable with silence and learn to embrace it. Sometimes it can be gut-wrenching and the sound of silence can be deafening. Get over it and get comfortable with the mute button. Once a rep can embrace silence, it's a waiting game. The prospect also feels the knee jerk reaction to fill in the silence. If a rep can be patient, the prospect's need to fill in the silence will take over. What the prospect will divulge during the "filler" time is MUCH more interesting and valuable than anything a rep has to say. Silence is a huge advantage in a sale. While it takes practice and patience, the sound of silence will be welcomed technique.   

2) Ask questions. When a rep is telling a prospect something or making a pitch it gives the prospect time to think of objections, check their email, hit mute, talk to their colleagues, day dream, etc. 

Instead of making a statement, pose it as a question. This does 3 things. First, it minimizes the amount of talking from a rep. Second, it keeps the prospect engaged and they need to think of an answer to the question asked opposed to thinking of objections, checking email, miming comments, etc. Third, it forces them to come to the conclusion on their own. It might also uncover a piece of information that would have otherwise never been discovered.

Here is an example:

Statement "We have a tool that tells you the best time to post a blog article".

Question "When do you think is the best time to post a blog article?" Even if one elicits the answer "I don't know" it still engages the prospect and divulges the prospect might need help. 

What do silence and asking questions have in common?  They both minimize the amount of talking one does during a sale. The less one talks in a sale the more effective you are. In other words, less is more. Stop talking and start listening!