The Sales Workshop

The getting better at sales workshop My Great Marketing Works guarantee to you: Everyone of you will get an ‘aha’ moment Everyone will have at least three ‘takeaways’ Everyone of you will ‘benefit from’ this. You may even have your own sales pitch by 8:30 which you can use tomorrow!

Difference between sales and marketing : Usually popped together for ease… BUT marketing is leading people up to the moment….. Creating the awareness…. Getting people in through the door, making the phone ring etc. And ‘sales’ is closing that moment. Getting the money in. Marketing is a circle, a never ending process Sales is a straight line  to the bank.

‘ Sales’ is made up of key elements. Not always chronological or logical. And depends on the type of selling you are doing to how large each area is. However, each area is still important. Miss them out at your peril. Structure: how you sell to them, how you follow up etc Rapport: and gaining trust which is vital in all selling and influence. Dealing with objections and overcoming them to make the sale etc. Negotiating a good deal (haggling) maybe even up-selling. Closing the deal: and clever language use to get this done.

What does selling mean to you?

Selling can be seen as: a pain, a chore, something you would rather not do e.g. Cold calling. something that bothers people i.e. the nuisance of selling telephone calls during Coronation Street something pushy people do, like second hand car dealers An intrusion into other people’s lives like door to door sales people selling gas providers, something you don’t want to do, as we are somehow better than that….

How else could we look at sales? We got to look on the positive, PMA is the only way. Maybe we could look at sales as: Helping our customers make the right choices. Or even better: helping our customers make the right choices from our services or products. Even better: helping our customers make the right choices from our services or products helping them (and us) lead happier lives with both parties gaining more from life from that moment of connection. Paul Bryant: Show class, have pride, and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself.

What are the different types of selling? Selling depends on where you doing it, who to, and why. So what are the different ways of selling when you are a small business? Sales letters / flyers etc – kinda marketing and covered in a different workshop. Emails and through the internet with different copy: covered in different workshop. Telephone: including cold calling, the dreaded cold calling. With some hints and tips in this workshop. Face to Face: including networking and I would say 80% of small business sales are face to face, as even telephone calls establish meetings in the end.

What are the different types of selling? Different areas to sell to: B2C, B2B, B2G: What differences characterise them and from this what do they tend to need? Business to consumer: B2C: Inexperienced buyers Many small orders Highest margins Instant reactions Price concerned / conscious Needs: good personal skills

What are the different types of selling? Different areas to sell to: B2C, B2B, B2G: What differences characterise them and from this what do they tend to need? Business to business: B2B: Experienced buyers Larger orders with bigger investment. Not primarily price concerned as overset with tax etc Specialist subsection and quality important. Needs: good product and competitor knowledge

What are the different types of selling? Different areas to sell to: B2C, B2B, B2G: What differences characterise them and from this what do they tend to need? Business to government: B2G: Trust A knowledge of how funding and funders work Political awareness Lots of potential 1-2-1 contact Longer buy in times with tenders for several years. Needs: industry government know how.

Any Type of Selling: What does it need? What characterises it? People and motivation.

Sales, is another of those experiences best enjoyed by two consenting adults 

What motivates people to buy? Depends on the person: the 7 key motivations: Good ones: i.e. good for longer term business (GM) Need / problem solving: Impulse: Pleasure: Vanity: Greed: Bad ones: not bad as a moral moment but bad for longer term business Fear: some claim fear sells better than sex Fatigue: pushy sells people do this and it works

What are the attributes of a great sales person? Here are some: Good body language – stand tall, be proud, represent your company. Be Smiling – the most important thing even on the telephone. Looked good – nicely dressed – made an effort Happy and made me happy dealing with them Inventive and flexible, came up with new ideas for us Listened to the person’s problems and solved them How many of these are skills and how many are attitude?

What can we do better as a sales person? Learn to listen: real listening is one of the hardest skills for some in the world. 80% of business lost through not listening. It’s an art form not a science. Gain rapport with the person we are communicating with. No just through listening but other techniques as well. Change our attitude and always being positive in front of clients. Get to know them better. Ask for the order at the right time and with the right force. Get to know a tool of communication so we know their thinking processes better. We get to know NLP.

Rapport and the importance thereof What is rapport? A feeling of harmonious connection between people or groups of people or Relationship, a especially one of mutual trust or emotional affinity. Why is rapport important? People like people who are like themselves. Brainstorm on how can we establish rapport? Mirroring, body language, smiles, language use: Relevance: NLP: This is NOT an NLP lessons but this is the newest weapon. We may do more about this later…

Rapport and the importance thereof Different types of people represent the world in different ways Visual: Fast talkers, use arms a lot, phrases like I see what you mean, look up for inspiration Auditory: Very articulate, folded arms, head to one side, look side to side

Rapport and the importance thereof Kinetics: Slow speaking, place pauses in sentences, look down to access feelings How is this relevant when selling……………..? In face to face sales you should use their representational system. And when writing you should try out all the different system so you can appeal to everyone.

NLP – which one are you? More NLP – now it gets personal… Differences: Visual, Kino, Auditory, Audio digital There are a huge range of tests, to find out which one you are but not needed for today, simply pick from the sheet which phrases you say the most, for your representational system. Now find out your partners RS and practise selling to them with this way of thinking. This is ALWAYS tricky at first, but you will be able to.

Now we know more about ourselves and our customer, now let’s give them our offering in the best possible light. Features vs. Benefits.

What are your company’s benefits?

Features vs. Benefits Features: 4 wheels Big engine 10,000cc Bright red Prestigious badge Benefits: Safer than motor bikes or 3 wheelers. Goes very fast to get you where you want to go on time. Looks great and you get noticed, making you happy. Everyone will be jealous (making you happy?) For a very nice Ferrari.

Now can we bring them together? Your company’s benefits and your partner’s Representational system? So we can gain rapport whilst selling. Try both ways, try without the RS and with the RS and see, feel and hear the difference.

Break time: See you in 3 minutes

Welcome back: hang on to your hats

‘ Sales’ is made up of key elements. We have looked at rapport building and so now let’s get to grips with the rest, does that sound like a good idea? Rapport: and gaining trust which is vital in all selling and influence. Structure: how you sell to them, how you follow up etc Dealing with objections and overcoming them to make the sale etc. Negotiating a good deal (haggling) maybe even up-selling. Closing the deal: and clever language use to get this done.

Structure: One of the hardest ways of getting anywhere is going in direction you don’t understand and haven’t planned. The 5 P’s are: prior planning prevents poor performance. What’s your sales plan? What are your goals? It’s time to backward plan. And make these goals SMART. S - specific M – measurable A – achievable R – realistic T – timed

Prospects and Goals Where you going to get your sale prospects from? The best prospects have: the money to buy, the ability to buy now, the authority to make the order, the wish to past on your details to others. Create your sales goals in your pair: prospects and sales amounts, or meetings set up etc This person is going to be your sales boss / partner from now on. You are going to check up on them.

Sales structure Potential structure: with sales goal for Great Marketing Works: workshops Find main directory of potential clients (NGO’s) trade directory. investigate best time to call in the year through market research, read up on government’s business plans for the next 5 years, go to three events and network, get testimonial from old client, create sales letter, send to 30 NGO’s,

Sales structure contd. Potential structure: with sales goal for Great Marketing Works: workshops do 20 follow up emails, follow up phone calls to 10 NGO’s, make 5 appointments, phone day before to make sure, send final testimonial email, have meetings, get at least one referral and one new contact for new services, gain one new contract for workshops. 15 different steps in the linear sales process.

Sales structure simplified Find main directory – on the net, could be in trade magazine, if B2C then easier as people may come to you. (make sure you get their data / emails etc) Go to three events and network – a different workshop will teach you how to network effectively. Get testimonial from old client, create sales letter – different workshop will teach you how to do this as well. Follow up phone calls to 20 NGO’s - make 5 appointments. This workshop will help you do this.

Telephoning for meetings Telephone rules: for gatekeepers (not guard dogs) Get past the gatekeepers by always saying your name first. And ask who they are. Be polite and firm. No nonsense. Flirt only as a last resort, but do flirt. Have a mirror in front of you and make sure you are smiling. Especially when flirting / using empathy. Be sitting down. But not with the handset on your chin. Ask for the prospect by first name as well. Say you are calling on the suggestion of someone else. If you can’t get through to them, then ask if can ping them a quick email. This is classic.

When you get through to the ‘prospect’ on the call. Write down three keys things you want to say to that person, and where the conversation may go after this. Physically stand up and then explain your offers benefits not features. Get an appointment to see them – 95% of people who ask to be send something don’t want it at all. If you have sent something never ever say - we are following up the materials with a call to see if you are interested. Do not fill the silence, when you ask a question give the person time to answer. The first person to speak is the loser. Don’t leave voicemail messages unless you already have an appointment.

When you have the meeting. Appointment rules: Phone day before to make sure, always use sat nav, be smart looking, dress just over what you think they will wear. Stand up when you first meet them, and don’t be reading materials or on phone as they come to see you. Write down three keys things you want to say to that person, and where the conversation may go after this. Always be prepared.

The meeting itself. At meetings: face to face selling: How you start any meeting makes the big difference, the only problem with first impressions is that you can only make one of them. First impressions are created in around the first 30 seconds. Smile, do the double handshake, get a touch in there as soon as possible. Be warm. Be open. Due to psychology and the rule of consistency people will keep those first impressions for along while, and then use self fulfilling prophecy to reinforce them.

Face to face selling: Golden tips: At meetings: Mirroring them, matching predicates, gaining rapport, smile, magic nods, Don’t: sit opposite them or sit on a lower chair to them. Do: sit between buyers, especially if a buyer couple. Create yes ladders with clever language use. 3 yes’s usually means a 4th.

Directing the Conversation. Time to get chunking Often we find it hard to sell as the person we are selling to wants to not be sold to in a certain way. We need to control the conversation. We can start using our language very precisely to get the desired results. Time to chunk. Chunking up – head in the clouds – what is an instance of – what is the intention behind this? Chunking down - getting more specific and drill down into: - what is this an example of, how specifically, which one is that. Chunking laterally – giving more options – thinking out of the box. Never ask why – as why doesn’t control a conversation.

How is this useful in selling? Chunking down increases potential issues. Chunking up – gets us to abstract on the issue getting us to the over riding problem - which can give us agreement which can give us rapport so we can sell in another idea- by chunking side ways. Chunking laterally – gives us more options so we can then provide a solution to the original moment of disagreement. Chunking down – drills down into the moment – and allows us to close.

Read the example and then try it out with your partner.

With objections: Objections are great news, as they simply mean that someone would by from you ‘but’…. And if we get rid of this ‘but’ then we can make the sale. Do respect your client’s views, never laugh. Ensure you understand the exact issue, sometimes one issue is a smokescreen for the main reason. Understand the different between an objection and a condition. A condition can rarely be overcome, a objection is a buying signal. Use testimonials to give your opinion as then a third party emotion. Say something like ‘providing that we can……………. Then I take it we can…….

The agreement frame: Far too easy in selling to dismiss the other persons point of view especially if opposed to yours. Gaining agreement at this time, is crucial to keep rapport. Two words which kill rapport and create even more distance. Never use ‘but’ or ‘however’. BUT – builds barriers - ‘however’ is a polite but. I appreciate, I respect, I understand – gains rapport but doesn’t undermine you. Simply sincerely use one at a time. To link the two ideas together you must agree a little and then use ‘AND’ AND – builds bridges, rather than BUT which creates disharmony. i.e. I respect that you feel…….. and this is ……….. which means……….

Use the FFF method: Use the FFF method: when disharmony occurs. F – I feel that if that had happened to me I would be… F - I had a client of mine who felt F – And they found that This cleverly uses their energy like aikido in verbal form. It gains temporary agreement and then resells like the CLIPS format.

When selling use the CLIP’s Calm: so you don’t get emotional. Listening: so you can repeat what they have said, Indicate: temporary agreement to gain rapport, Pause: to give you and them time to think, and then Sell: to them another idea.

Open vs. closed Questions: when to use them and how? Open vs. closed Questions: Many people think that open questions are more powerful than closed questions – this not the case. Open questions at the start of the funnel to funnel in information. Whilst you are listening to the answers from open questions so you are learning more and more about the customer. However, if you use too many open questions you may find it hard to get the specifics of the deal / sale, so you use closed questions at the end.

ABC: the classic way of thinking in sales: Always Be Closing: The trail close: The trail close usually brings more objections which are just buying signals under another guise. Use ‘if’ questions to make this happen - if we did this would you do that. The assumption / presumption close: Focuses the person on the next level of the conversation. Use ‘when’ questions - When would you like to make the appointment?

ABC: the classic way of thinking in sales: Always Be Closing: The Alternative close: Works by giving them a choice with no choice: Use ‘or’ to give the illusion of choice: Would you like this in red or black? The Testimonial close: Works on the social proof theory by Caldini Company XYZ are happy customers of ours, and when you realise like they did what a great job we do, you could become one yourself. Can we think of any other closes?

Outcome based thinking in sales Outcome based thinking: What do you really want from the sales moment? Not always a sale. Try not to sell to them, but let them buy from you. Give them more than they expect. Remember as a small business you tend to lose 15 – 20% of your business a year from simply not talking to your customers enough. Remember parento rule: focus on the 20%, give your bad customers to your competition. Remember you can’t lose something you haven’t got, so go for it.

Some people can’t write sales letters – they do things wrong!

Be a person – and personable. Deadly sin No 1: People write for themselves not for their target market and write sales letters that aren’t human, they are not from them …. Write with only the benefits in mind, what are benefits of your company’s offering? Benefit vs. Features. What’s in it for the reader? How can start to address their concerns, emotions, needs and desires? Should we simply create solutions to problems? EXERCISE Create a sales paragraph for your company containing 4 benefits………..

Stay true to U….S.P’s Deadly sin No 2: The sales letters they write have many different themes and narratives and so confuse the reader. We all should know our company’s USP’s (unique selling points) and if not then we need to. RIGHT NOW! Discuss and write down your company’s 3 best most important USP’s. EXERCISE: These can then align to three sales letters. Now choose your favourite USP and this is what the sales letter will be about. Your very best USP.

KISS Your customers and make them happy Remember! Keep it simple stupid, one of the hardest things in marketing Great marketing should be ZEN like in its’ simplistic.

The next 11 minutes will make you richer… forever. Deadly sin No 3: They don’t use powerful headings …. If we have ten hours we spend nine of the header! Why? Examples of newspapers. Bring some in. EXERCISE Create a humorous header for the funniest company in the group Discussion: should we use humor and shock tactics in the header? Depends on the target audience, but does it? Conclusion a double edge sword, does it make you want to buy the product or just make you laugh?

We are rarely PAID to make people laugh Remember! As a small business, we direct response ONLY no brand advertising, we want people to respond, humor is an easy get out clause for them, its doesn’t pay us or reward us.

The next 4 minutes will make you richer… forever. The do’s and don’t in header creation Do remember your audience Use cliff hangers Experiment with headers that being with ‘New’ / announcing / introducing Speak directly to the reader Try putting a date in your headline Start to tell a story Use a testimonial? Use a one word headline Feature the price if you are proud of it Don’t think you are selling, you are just creating interest and don’t try to be clever..

The next exercise will make you more money ….tomorrow. If we have ten hours we spend nine of the header! EXERCISE Create three different headers for one company in the group then critically evaluate, what did it make you feel ? How can this be used to create a sale? Vote for your best one and then present all of them to the group. Is their any power of questions? Open questions vs. Closed questions…. Which is best? Is one better? What’s an open question? i.e. a question that gets more information e.g. how, why, when, what….

When are you paid to be original and creative? Deadly sin No 4: They try to be original and forget the golden magic words for sales writing. I love you never will sound trite when said right…. Magic words vs. Tragic words: Magic words Free, new, you, sale, introducing, sale, save, money, discover, results, easy, proven, guaranteed, love, benefits. Alternative, now, win, gain, happy , trustworthy, good looking, comfortable, product, healthy, safe, right, security, winnings, fun, value, advice, wanted ,announcing, your, people , why. EXERCISE Can we think of anymore? Add three of these new words in the paragraph.

When are you paid to be original and creative? Deadly sin No 5: They try to be original and forget the Terrible power of tragic words for sales writing. Tragic words: Buy, obligation, failure, bad, sell, loss difficult, wrong, decision, deal, liability, hard, death, order, fail, cost, worry, contract, try… EXERCISE Can we think of anymore? Are all negative / non action words tragic i.e. try. Are they in our paragraph we created? If so delete them and put in new words and present this better work to the group.

Repetition: the power of the power of the power of reps As we know its takes on average 9 different understood respond moments in the brain to recognize the needs for a product / service and the sale. So repeat, repeat, repeat. But remember you can repeat in different ways, but make sure your USP is as clear as possible. Discussion: can your repetition really offend the Intelligence of your target market? EXERCISE Add in your chosen USP in the paragraph several times in different ways, features and benefits if you have to. Present to 1 person in the group. Why do we repeat things? Words and phrases?

NLP – clever word time Deadly sin No 6: They don’t use NLP to covey the message over to the reader, they don’t include all the sense, deletions, negatives, embedded commands This is why you needed the break….. What is NLP – does anyone already do it? We all do. NLP is the system by which we learn about how other people see and express the world, in doing so we can market to their sub / unconscious mind. Question: why market to the unconscious mind?

NLP – clever word time Deadly sin No 6: They don’t use NLP to covey the message over to the reader, they don’t include all the sense, deletions, negatives, embedded commands Brainstorm on reasons why we market to the unconscious mind: unconscious mind is quicker has more resources, is the natural filter of all information 30,000 brand messages a day, unconscious mind makes visual pictures, controls internal dialogue, makes decisions before consulting the conscious.

And now we get devious with our language use Anchors : Anchors are some of the most powerful ways of communicating to the unconcious mind and they affect the way we act all the time. They are triggered by different stimuli and create different states of emotion. But these are not uncontrollable and therefore we can use them in marketing. Example of an anchor. Visual anchor using touch as an anchor Auditory anchor: the special…. slowed….. down voice. Even your name is an anchor or some sort.

And now we get devious with our language use Anchors : In physical selling we can use body language and tonality to create very powerful sales stimulae and good sales people do this subconciously (workshop later) In sales writing we have to do the same but with word anchors and triggers and do this conciously. With stylistic anchors: Use ITALICS and bold and even CAPITIAL letters and different colours if you have to do anchor in emotions, key point, and trigger moments. But this is just the start

And now we get devious with our language use Anchors: Creation of anchors: Develop a state that you wish to create later: this can be positive, excited, intrigued, happiness. Anchoring into a negative state is not good for the buying process and therefore should be avoided. As the state is increasing in intensity, set the anchor, use the word, use the stylised difference Allow the state to subside… then trigger the anchor Reap the rewards and sign off….

An example of an anchor Anchors: Imagine…. asadfa

Testimonials and case studies : Testimonials are from the people who have done business with you who loved your service, enjoyed your product, are regular customers and are people who are willing (very important) to be in your marketing materials to persuade other people to benefit from the offer. EXERCISE: Think of a testimonial person for your company: what would you like them to say? Discussion: What if we don’t have anyone? How do we get them?

Testimonials and case studies : Give you first lot of product / service away for free. Create your own adverts as a part of the agreement Give your testimonial a discount or a thank you prize Create a referral scheme which increases when they help you out i.e. Use your family and friends remember only YOU know these people have a personal interest in your product. If you can get PR from testimonials then do so vice versa i.e. have a reporter saying something positive.

Where to place – the space? The spacing rules: it’s measuring and marking lines across the page that are 0.618 of the way from the top to bottom. If you can understand that then fair play…. My much simpler version is: 1 quarter of the page down - place the heading 1 quarter of the page up from the bottom - place the call to action and your USP. In the middle of the page you place your benefits. At the bottom goes your PS. And somewhere you should have a box on there too. Discussion: where should testimonials go?

Discussion: where should testimonials go? Where should testimonials go? There is no real ruling, should they go on the side? Should they have a picture next to them? Could they go on the back for the page? The market is ever changing… so is this…

Sales letter essentials Writing for the person. Imagine you are reading it with the real voice you use in your head. Does this letter, make you want to find out more, have emotion, want to buy? Does it stress the benefits for you? Can you list the reasons why you would buy, NOW Does it have more than one sales message, if a 12 year old doesn’t understand it KISS it It must have in it a call to action, how do you buy, when do you buy, what else? Is it honest, does it have integrity, is it consistent, do you trust the person selling to you Has the piece repeated its USP and sales message so you can hear it and understand it. Is the headline really catchy does it make you want to read on? Does the PS as well? Have you used precision persuasion, NLP, presuppositions, embedded commands, anchors, have your related it to all the possible modality types and meta programs? Has the piece used classic magic words and phrases that capture the consciousness Does the letter look good, is it cluttered, can you clearly see the testimonials, USP’s CONCLUSION: However you have to make your the service / product interesting no matter what if you cant make your product / service interesting then no marketing can help, no matter how precise and genius it is. If its not interesting, make it so. NOW.

Sales letter essentials Has the piece repeated its USP and sales message so you can hear it and understand it. Is the headline really catchy does it make you want to read on? Does the PS as well? Have you used precision persuasion and NLP? Has the piece used classic magic words and phrases that capture the consciousness Does the letter look good, is it cluttered, can you clearly see the testimonials, USP’s

Sales letter essential… That you enjoyed the experience and that this shows through your writing …… go write and enjoy…

The Sales Workshop

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The Sales Workshop