Step Up Results

How do you get customer’s attention and make them think?

Making prospects and customers curious about your product or service is a highly effective way to engage them in a productive conversation. This is just simple logic based on recent research (2002): People who become engaged in curiosity-based thinking want to hear more about the solutions you provide, while those who are not engaged in such thinking won’t.

Curiosity is created when the customer recognizes he has a knowledge gap that could have unfortunate consequences for him. When the gap is manageable or marginal, the customer is more comfortable initiating action to close the gap. On the other hand, if the gap is too small, then the customer is unimpressed.

The question is, “How do you pique someone’s curiosity?” Simple. Ask him an intriguing question related to something personal, something he seeks to gain.

• Did you know that the bottles your entire industry uses could be causing cancer?
• Did you see the Wall Street Journal report on small business failures?
• Two questions: how many competitors do you believe you have? And, how much money would it take to buy them all out?
• What have you learned about franchise start-up costs?

The key is, make the knowledge gap moderate and relevant.

What strategies or techniques can you add to improve the curiosity factor?

Do you use questions effectively?

Questions are the keys to your success in sales and life.  Why?

First, they help engage the customer, and an engaged customer is more likely to buy, than one who is not engaged.  This is why so many direct mail packages contain an “involvement device.”  The research has shown the marketing firms that when the customer gets the slightest bit involved, he ends up buying the product, more often than not.

Second, good questions provide you with important information you need in order to frame your benefits, value proposition and solutions.

Third, when the questions imply that the customer has a “knowledge gap” that could have negative consequences, he seeks more information.  Thus, he becomes more proactively involved in the conversation.

If questions are so great, why don’t more people use them?  Perhaps because most of us have been taught to make presentations, to have a one-way focus which is mostly about the company, product or service.  We already know about those things;  we’ve memorized the fact book.  Presenting is easier than asking questions because the presentation materials are already made.  All we have to do is go through the drill when we’re in front of the client.  The problem is, this is a totally ineffective approach.

On the other hand, while questions require more effort, they represent a much more effective approach. Think of pealing an onion.  Each question removes another layer, and with each layer you learn relevant information about the person.  With such information, you are better able to position your product or service to show greater value.

Sometimes it’s as simple as using phrases such as  “Tell me more…..” or “What do you mean by that?” or my favorite – “Help me understand.”  Asking good questions doesn’t mean memorizing a list of questions (yet another script).  It means learning to think in questions, so they become a natural part of how you converse.

What questions or questioning strategies will you add?

Do you give a true and objective accounting or are you focused only on you / your product or service?

Objectivity demonstrates character and credibility.  That’s because it is so easy to “spin” your conversation to sell, rather than help.

There is a Geico Insurance TV commercial that shows a conversation between a customer and an agent.  The agent actually recommends the competition.  Not only is it memorable, but it bolstered Geico’s credibility.  Why?  Because it leveraged the psychological power of both objectively and the unexpected.

We expect salespeople to recommend their products or services as the obvious and best choice.  So, we are caught off-guard when they recommend the competition, or anything other than their own product or service.  It causes our trust level to immediately spike.  It is how some sales people sacrifice a single sale to build credibility and generate referrals.

How can you demonstrate objectivity?

How much do you really know about your customer’s business?

I am amazed at how many people set out to sell to customers they know very little about. It is easy to assume that all customers are the same, that everyone in a particular industry is the same and has the same challenges, opportunities and risks. You do yourself and the customer a disservice by assuming such.

The bottom line is this: If you don’t clearly understand your customers’ business, and in particular the specific challenges, risks and opportunities they face, you will not be able to position yourself as the solution or response to these challenges. It’s all relative, and by that I mean, your solution(s) must be directly related and relevant to each of your customers.

A second reason for learning about the customer’s business is this: It increases your credibility and builds trust. Customers want to know you’ve done your homework, that you’ve taken the time to learn about their industry and their particular business challenges. This knowledge is key to your ability to “connect” with the customer, ask important questions, build trust and craft winning solutions.

What steps will you take to learn more about your customer’s business?

Hey, I get it.  It’s tough out there!  Demands are increasing, opportunities are decreasing.

So how can YOU achieve superior results in your business?  The answer is simple, but it’s not easy.  You’ve got to Step Up!

Step Up is the acronym for excellence.  It’s about being at your best when it matters the most.  But your results, in business and in life can only grow to the extent that you do.  In order to win more business, you have to deliver more value.  And since the client buys YOU, the value you create starts with the value YOU can deliver.

These 6 Steps make 80% of the difference in business:

S – Raise Your STANDARDS.

T – Align Your TALENTS.

E – Conduct Superior EVALUATIONS.

P – PREPARE Properly.

U – UNLEASH Your

P – POTENTIAL

I invite YOU to stand up, Step Up and Invest in YOU!  Committ yourself to the principle that perfection is the goal, but excellence will be tolerated.