Sales Machine

It’s been over ten years since the Seinfeld show left the television airways, but it remains the undisputed classic television comedy. But here’s a little known fact: did you know that you can learn a lot about sales and selling from watching Seinfeld clips? It’s true!

I’ve gathered 10 ten clips, each of which illustrates a basic principle of selling, sales technique, or sales psychology. As usual, I’ve included polls so you can vote on your favorites.

CLICK HERE for the first Seinfeld sales tip »

Gatekeepers are a persistent and annoying reality in Sales.  Unfortunately, many sales pros make their interactions with gatekeepers more difficult by using their voice ineffectively.  To get a gatekeeper to open the gate, you’ve got to sound as important as the person you’re trying to reach.

Here are four simple rules to follow:

• Rule #1: Express authority in every word. You are not trying to wheedle, cajole, or convince.  You’re calling on important business, so you need to sound as if you’re the boss’s social equal.
• Rule #2: Speak from your chest. Many sales professionals  talk so that the sound resonates in the throat or (worse) whines in the nose.  Powerful people always speak from the center.
• Rule #3: Use statements not questions. “Please put me through to Warbucks” is more likely to motivate a gatekeeper than “Can I please speak with Ms. Warbucks?”
• Rule #4: Never up-tilt your sentence endings. If you end a sentence — even a statement — with a rise in your voice, it ends up sounding wimpy and weak.

Needless to say, you also need a a good reason for the gatekeeper to put you through.  But if you’ve got the right tonality in your voice, you’re halfway there.  On the other hand, if you sound like a supplicant, well…, you’re probably not going to get through, no matter what words come out of your mouth.

The above advice is adapted from a conversation with Wendy Weiss, aka “The Queen of Cold Calling”.

Today’s New York Times contains an article explaining how some businesses are locating next to “medical” marijuana stores, as well as advertising to attract “medical” marijuana users.  The businesses in the article sell “munchies” appropriate for the suddenly ravenous, but I know a trend when I see it.

For millenia, sales professionals have used alcohol to loosen up customers, build rapport and move a sale forward.  So, with marijuana going legal, how long do you think it will be before sales pros and prospects start lighting up a doobie before (or after) doing some serious business?

And I’m not entirely sure that’s a good idea.

I must admit that my specific experiences with marijuana fall into the general category of “if you can remember the 60s you weren’t really there.”

However, I do recall that pot smokers were dull conversationalists.  The typical example either talked about 1) how stoned he was; 2) how stoned he was last time he got stoned; or 3) his ear.

That last item might require a bit of explanation.  For some reason, every time somebody took a hit of pot, they’d hand the joint to the next person and say “Ear.”  I never did figure out why.

Anyway, I’m having trouble imagining what kind of business deals will emerge from these smokey powwows.  I do know one thing, though.  The stock prices for potato chip firms will rise through the roof!!

Anyway, here’s an (anonymous) poll so you can express your opinion freely:

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I’ve been rereading Jeff Thull’s book “Exceptional Selling“.  He’s peppered the book with interesting observations and insight about selling, many of which have sparked me to think about key sales issues.

Here are some of his gems, with my own interpretation of their deeper meaning:

• INSIGHT #1: Salespeople are guilty until proven innocent. While you and I know that selling is the soul of business and a good way to help people, most folk (even in business) tend to look upon the profession with suspicion.  The minute you walk into an office, you need to prove that you can add value and that you’re not trying to pull a fast one.  Sad but true.
• INSIGHT #2: When you’re feeling pressure, you’re doing something wrong. If you’re constantly end the quarter with a flurry of activity, trying desperately to make your numbers, you haven’t managed your time, or you’re not thinking your sales process through.  Selling is not an “unnatural act.”  It’s supposed to be easy, not a struggle against time and fate.
• INSIGHT #3: Never answer an unasked question. It’s all too easy to scuttle a sale by raising issues that haven’t yet entered a prospect’s head.  Such behavior usually occurs when the sales professional is so afraid of losing the sale that he begins surfacing (and answering) objections that exist only in his own paranoia.  Remember, you can’t read minds, so don’t try.
• INSIGHT #4: One opinion does not make a consensus. It’s human nature to take one opinion (usually the last you just heard) and turn it into a final judgment.  However, one opinion is meaningless.  Just because the last prospect thought your offering was a waste of time, doesn’t mean that the next prospect will feel the same way.
• INSIGHT #5: Always protect the customer’s self-esteem. It’s absolutely true that EXACTLY half of all the customer you meet will be of below average intelligence within their demographic.  Even so, it’s your job to help them make good decisions and advance their careers.  And you have to do this gently, without making them feel foolish.
• INSIGHT #7: The purpose of a proposal is to reinforce already-made decisions. While proposals can sometimes help to develop an opportunity, in most cases, the proposal requesting (and writing) process happens after the prospect has already defined the problem and (probably) defined the solution as well.
• INSIGHT #8: Remain professionally involved and emotionally detached. This is perhaps the best advice that anyone ever gave a sales professional.  Taking things personally is the surest way to make yourself miserable.  You can care about the customer, your career and your own firm, but it’s crazy to use any of those as a proof point for your self worth.

READERS: Got any additional insights to share?

Today New York’s attorney general Andrew Cuomo filed a federal antitrust lawsuit Wednesday against Intel, charging that Intel violated state and federal laws by abusing its dominant position in the chip market to squelch other CPU chip makers, especially Advanced Micro Devices.

I haven’t read the legal briefs, but I have discussed this issue with two former heads of two major PC manufacturing units — when they were not longer employed in the PC sector.  If what they’ve told me is true, that lawsuit is a load of bull pucky.

Here’s the real scoop.  From what I’ve heard, the reason that PC manufacturers keep choosing Intel over AMD is that Intel does a better job of building relationships with PC makers. And, more importantly, Intel invests in making sales easier for the PC vendors that use their chips.

John Harris, former head of Panasonic’s U.S. PC business told me: “Intel was extraordinarily generous and helpful.  If we put the ‘Intel Inside’ logo on our ads, they’d reimburse us between 50% and 70% of both the cost to produce and the cost to run the ad.”  Harris said that it was Intel’s willingness to spend big bucks to make its partners successful that made the difference.

Rod Keller, formerly head of Toshiba’s U.S. PC business (and now a top exec at Cisco) told me: “A PC company may be able to save a few dollars buying from AMD rather than Intel. But Intel is willing to offer tens of millions in marketing dollars to drive demand which offsets the potential savings in PC manufacturing costs.  While I was at Toshiba we entered into a conversation with AMD but decided that we could make more money if we maintained an exclusive position with Intel. ”

I don’t know about you, but that just sounds like Intel is outselling AMD, by using its own marketing dollars to help its their partners successful.  Frankly, I fail to see what’s wrong with that.

Of course, it could be that Intel has since strayed from that path and, if so, I’m sure we’ll hear all about it.  However, until I hear differently, I’m going to have go with my gut, which is that Intel is just better at selling and marketing than AMD.  Nothing against AMD.  Their execs are smart guys.  But Intel…  They’re one of the hottest companies on the planet when it comes to creating product preference.

The New York lawsuit is supposedly based upon the European lawsuit, which is (on the surface) completely absurd, since European PC manufacturers make, what?, about 1 percent of the PCs on the planet.  It seems perfectly clear to me that Cuomo hopes to follow in Spitzer’s footsteps and use a high-profile antitrust suit to build national recognition.

But Intel isn’t Microsoft.  Microsoft’s operating system DOES lock out other technologies.  CPU chips from other manufacturers are 100 percent compatible.  There’s no technological lock out, so all Intel is doing is using it’s deep pockets to fund marketing efforts and offer CPUs at lower prices than the competition.  They can do that because they have economies of scale and, frankly, no competitor has managed to establish a clear reason to dump them.

I was recently looking through Jeff Thull’s new book “Exceptional Selling” and came across this little nugget of wisdom:

When in doubt, do the opposite of what a salesperson would do.

That’s good advice, because in most cases acting like a “salesperson” is a great way to annoy a prospect.  In fact, you should check your entire shtick to ensure that you don’t sound and look like somebody that’s in Sales.

Not that I’m against Sales!

However, like all professions, Sales has acquired a particular “voice” that’s supposed to be “how a sales pro sounds.”  If you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself talking in the overly-glib, fakey-flakey “sales” voice, because you unconsciously consider it part of the identity as a sales professional.

Same thing with your appearance.  There’s a dressed-too-much-for-success look that screams “sales pro” and which, frankly, turns off many prospects.

Am I saying you should mumble all the time and dress like a clown?  Of course not.  But I do believe that you should distance yourself from the stereotypes, because those stereotypes work against you.  They put the prospect on guard and create barriers to closing the deal.

Nowhere is that more true than when you’re at a loss for what to do next. The big danger is that, when you’re in doubt of what to do next, you’ll trap to some “salesy” behavior, like giving a sales pitch or attempting some kind of rapport building.

In such cases, you’re probably better off doing the opposite — like ending the meeting prematurely or even openly questioning whether the prospect really needs your product. I know that sounds crazy, but if you TRULY don’t know what to do, you’re better off doing something completely off the wall than simply continuing to sell.

Ford Motor company amazed the business world yesterday by achieving nearly a billion dollars in profit — despite a down economy that clobbered its US-based competitors.  However, the sales professionals who work for Ford are fooling themselves if they think happy days are here again.  The truth is that there’s no real reason to have commissioned sales reps if you’re selling automobiles retail to consumers.  They just don’t add enough value.

Now, everyone who reads this blog regularly knows I’m on the side of the sales professional.  Even so, I’m not going to pretend that every product requires a sales rep at every point in the sales process.  When a product becomes sufficiently standardized, and there’s little differentiation between competing products, a commissioned sales rep is needless overhead.

That wasn’t true in the past.  Before the Internet, customers needed commissioned sales reps to provide information about the products they intended to buy.  And commissioned sales reps had information (like the wholesale price) that the buyer lacked.

Today, however, consumers can find out everything you need to know about an automobile on the web, including where the cars are located, how much they cost the dealers, the average price of the vehicles sold, etc.  Naturally, you’d want to test drive a car before you buy it but (and here’s the important part) you don’t need to pay a commissioned sales professional to take down your name and license number, and then hand you a set of keys.

On a car lot, commissioned sales reps no longer add enough value to justify their existence. I’m sorry, but it’s true.  What’s more, car salesmen (and women) have over the years garnished such an unsavory reputation that most people would rather not deal with them.  So here’s a case where the sales pro is not just unnecessary, but actually acting as a brake on the sales process.

I hate to be the one to bear the bad news, but retail commissioned car sales are about to go the way of retail commissioned computer sales.  People are going to buy cars and get financing over the Internet… after they’ve taken a test drive a “test drive center” that will probably be located where the defunct dealership used to be.

That’s the future of car sales.  So here’s my memo to the sales pros at Ford: “Get out of the car business while you’re ahead of the game.”

That’s how I see it.  I’m curious what you guys think:

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The sales world is full of misconceptions that have wriggled their way into what passes for “common sense” in the business world.  This post contains the five most persistent (and pernicious) myths about selling that bounce around inside most companies.  These stupid myths have wreaked more havoc and ruined more careers, than any major economic crisis in recent times.

Believe in them at your peril.

CLICK HERE for the first myth »

Want to avoid a margin-killing price war?  Simple.  Focus on the “cost of not buying.” Don’t present features and benefits, overcome objections, and then try to close the deal. Instead, research your customer and craft questions that will uncover areas where the customer does not yet understand the cost of a problem.  Then help them estimate the financial impact of that problems.  Here’s how:

• STEP #1: Identify the Customer’s Problems. The majority of business purchases are made to solve some sort of problem, e.g., productivity problems, delivery problems, quality problems, etc. These problems consume resources and drive costs within the customer’s organization.  Find areas in the customer’s business model where your offering can solve problems.   Best case, your offering should do this in a unique way that competitors can’t imitate.
• STEP #2: Estimate the Financial Impact of the Problems. Depending on the size and sophistication level of the customer, they may — or may not — be aware of the true economic impact of these problems. If not, then you must use your expertise and experience to help them determine how much the problems are actually costing them.  You want to uncover accurate dollars-and-cents information in order to quantify the total economic worth of your offer.
• STEP #3: Determine the Root Causes of the Problems. It’s not enough just address the “presenting” problems.  You want to provide a long-term solution that will create more economic benefit for them. This is not only better for them, it also allows you to increase the total economic worth of your offer, because the root causes may spread financial problems throughout the entire organization.
• STEP #4: Estimate the Financial Impact of those Root Causes. Find opportunities where you can help the customer address these root causes, either with your product offering alone or with a combination of your product and additional information, or services and support, such as problem solving, application engineering, start-up assistance, etc.  The most opportunities you can find to help, the greater the economic value of your solution.
• STEP #5: Create a “Cost of Not Buying” Statement. Based upon the above, create a summary statement of what it will cost the customer if they do not buy your product. Once you’ve got the customer to agree on the impact, you’ve already closed.  The rest is just detail work.  In most cases, the “cost of not buying” will be so great that the price of your offering will be rendered entirely irrelevant.

BTW, the above is based on a conversation with Robert Nadeau, a consultant who helps companies with pricing issues.  Very smart guy.

Sales pros spend vast effort honing their meeting chops for sales pitches, but what about all those other meetings — especially the ones inside your own firm?  Wouldn’t it be great if you could twist those meetings into something useful — rather than just a waste of your valuable time?  Never fear, it’s pretty easy to hijack a meeting and make it go wherever you think is useful.  Here’s exactly how it’s done:

• STEP #1: Decide if you want to hijack that particular meeting. Compare your goals to the stated purpose of the meeting.  Can you bend it to serve?  If not, you might as well bail out, ’cause it’s a waste of time.  Otherwise, it’s hijack time…
• STEP #2: If there is no agenda, offer to write one. “Help” the meeting holder by writing up an agenda that hits the holder’s points, but has places for you to work your issues.  That feel too baldfaced?  Then make some “suggestions” with neutral-sounding placeholders where you can segue into your own issues.
• STEP #3: Provide a list of people who should also attend. The more allies you have in the meeting, the easier it will be to take it in the direction that you want.  Have a plausible reason on hand why they should attended — other than the fact that they’ll back you up on the hijack.
• STEP #4: Pre-frame the meeting with key attendees. Call key attendees (and not just the ones you invited) and lay the groundwork for discussing the issues you care about.  Make sure that you state your issues within the context of the declared reason for the meeting.
• STEP #5: Volunteer to be the official recorder. If you’re the one who’s taking notes, you are the one who defines what happened.  Memory is shifting sand; the written word is solid rock.  If there’s already somebody taking notes, take your own notes anyway.
• STEP #6: Send an immediate follow-up email. Frame the meeting so that it serves your goals by being the first to publicly define what happened and what was decided.  Unless your memo says the exactly opposite of what happened, most people will think that you’ve described the meeting accurately.

Here’s an example:

The marketing team invites you to a meeting to discuss the text of their latest brochure.  Your first impulse is to blow the meeting off as a waste of time.  However, it’s politically valuable for you to look like you’re cooperating with marketing, so you decide instead to hijack the meeting to work on something more useful.

The issue you decide to work is getting the marketing group to go attend sales training so that they can better hone their lead generation efforts.  So you get “potential customer impact” added to the agenda.  Then you make sure that the meeting list has some attendees on whom you can count.

Prior to the meeting, privately brief your allies on what you’d like to accomplish. Get their agreement that this is a good idea.  Touch bases with the other players who are supposed to attend.  Within the context of the meeting’s stated purpose, plant some seeds.  (E.g. “As we look at the brochure copy, it might be a good idea to see how well it fits with our sales training methods.  Otherwise, we might be selling at cross-purposes.”)

When the meeting starts, volunteer to be the official recorder.  When the meeting reaches the “potential customer impact” item of the agenda, bring up the issue of having the marketing personnel take the sales training course. (E.g. “This brochure is pretty good, but I think it would be easier for marketing to write ‘on-target’ if they understood our sales process.  How about making sure that everyone in marketing attends the next sales training seminar?”)

Your allies, of course, chime in and back you up.

As soon as the meeting is over, you send off a “this is what happened” email which documents whatever nonsense happened about the brochure, but emphasizes the “decision” that was made about sales training.  Even if there was dissent, your memo should say something like “a robust discussion took place, but the general consensus was that the idea had merit.”  Make sure your memo also contains the “next step” that need to happen to achieve your goal.

That’s how it’s done.  I’ve seen cases where this technique steamrolls over the poor sap who called the meeting. Sometimes they don’t know what hit them and think that they owe the hijacker a favor because he “helped out”.

BTW, if you don’t want your own meetings to be hijacked, write your own agenda, control the list of attendees, line up your “ducks”, record your own notes and be the first to issue to the meeting report.  If you’re not doing this, I’ll bet every meeting you’ve ever called has been hijacked, probably without you even realizing that it happened!

READERS: Any other political tricks you’d like to share?