‘FAKE IT TIL YOU MAKE IT’…….Is a mantra most people in business understand and one many of us have used as the cornerstone of our professional lives. Without occasionally ‘faking it’ along the way, we would never move up the corporate ladder or overcome the crippling Impostor Syndrome which afflicts so many people (myself included) in our daily lives.

The problem with faking it however, is knowing where to draw the line….For example when asked: “Are you proficient in the use of Excel”

The natural response would be…“Yes, I know my way around a spreadsheet or two” ….followed by a quick Google search and 2 hours of rapid, self-taught excel skills.

This strategy tends to unravel however when you try to fake your knowledge, credibility or authority in more important areas of business or life. I’m incredibly fortunate to spend a lot of time interviewing senior decision makers, shortly after they have made significant (often multi-million dollar) purchasing decisions. It never ceases to amaze me how frequently these individuals cite issues such as lack of professionalism, poor cultural fit or lack of emotional connection, as key factors for their decision not to pursue business with a particular vendor.

What they are effectively telling me is that these sales people were still faking it. They lacked the interest, the aptitude or worst of all the empathy to be create cut-through and connection with the stakeholders in these businesses.

What I’ve come to realise across these thousands of hours of interviews and countless Win Loss Reviews is that customers aren’t just buying the product or service that you are pitching, they are actually buying you. More than that, they actually see you as the personification of the product or service you represent. If you are professional, knowledgeable and responsive, by definition your company is seen in a positive light. Equally if you are sloppy, slow to follow-up or lack basic knowledge, by association the business you represent gets marked down immediately.

The harsh reality of business is that your product and price-point are simply your ticket to the dance, they get you in the door, but that’s all. At that stage the customer is wondering:

• Do I like and trust them?
• Will they be good people to work with?
• Do I know someone who can vouch for them?
• Can they help me mitigate my risks?
• What will happen when we run into problems?

For maximum effectiveness in B2B sales, you’ve got to be able to get past the feature/function conversation, to break through the walls of professional courtesy and form a real relationship. The power of a smile with intent, as Tony Hughes so aptly describes it.

For this reason, empathy is arguably one of the most important, though often neglected, sales skills. Neglected because in a formal sales training program, it’s easier for trainers to focus on more tangible IQ related skills and behaviours, than the softer, more esoteric character traits.

My own sales enablement activities tend to be a little different. When working with sales team, I prefer to focus on attributes like strong discovery and active listening skills, understanding and harnessing the power of storytelling and recognising the need to create an empathetic and authentic human connection. It sounds very warm and fuzzy doesn’t it…far away from the important, serious work of closing big deals and hitting quarterly quotas…but believe me when I tell you, as humans we invariably decide with our hearts and then justify with our heads.

“People prefer to do business with those they know, like and trust”

This sales truism has been handed down from generation to generation. Some sales experts will tell you that times have changed, that salespeople are far less integral to the process than they used to be, however my own extensive research simply doesn’t support this new reality. The vast majority of times I interview a senior decision maker about how they reached their purchasing decision, the quality of the vendor’s team and the cultural fit of their people are among their key decision criteria.

Typically, when you think of sales skills, your mind goes to meeting sales goals, lead generation and handling objections. But too often we neglect the most fundamental aspect of relating to another human? At the core of any relationship is the ability to understand another person and to find common ground. This is just as true for business as personal relationships, which is why empathy remains so important.

So how can human empathy really impact sales?

Empathy is the ability to perceive and understand how another person is feeling, to put yourself in their shoes for a time and feel what it feels like to be them. It’s the basis of many social interactions and explains how we create bonds with other individuals. Without it, business deals and most human interactions for that matter, would be devoid of humanity and become robotic, emotionless transactions.

Developing empathy is crucial for establishing rapport and increasing the trust factor. It sends the message that you have the prospect’s best interest in mind. Salespeople who harness their own empathy tend to be more successful, because they intrinsically understand their buyers at a deeper level and form more meaningful relationships. It’s human nature to naturally open up to someone whom you trust and you believe has your best interests in mind.

Empathetic individuals also recognise that every prospect has different motivators and objections and are adept at using empathy to unearth what their prospects are really feeling, making it far easier to find the best solution to their problems. In contrast, failing to display empathy or focusing solely on our own needs, triggers a silent alarm in most people, causing us to very subtly disengage from the individual displaying those traits.

Can I learn empathy?

With empathy being at the core of sales success, it begs the question, “Does everyone have empathy?”

It’s true some people are naturally gifted at displaying empathy, while others may struggle to tap into this emotion. No matter where you find yourself along this empathy continuum, virtually anyone can learn to become more aware of and empathetic towards those around them, with the right support and coaching.

My Top 3 Tips for learning empathy in sales

A well-balanced sales team is one that can see beyond the basics of sales: cold calling, performance metrics, handling objections, closing the sale, and actively infuse empathy-based behaviours into their sales process. Teams embracing this approach have a much easier time establishing rapport, progressing deals and ultimately converting sales.

Listen intently. 

You need to hone your listening skills in order to identify and accurately pinpoint your prospect’s point of view. This is the core of empathy-based selling. It’s quite simple: the better you listen, the more clearly you can replay what you have heard back to your customer and the more comfortable and trusting they will feel towards you. This won’t necessarily increase the likelihood of you closing a deal, but it will undoubtedly ensure your calls get returned and you get an accurate and honest picture of what’s happening on your deal. It may sound trivial, but creating a genuine connection with your prospective customer, is the best way to avoid being blindsided in a sale.

Pay attention to nonverbal cues. 

Closely tied to listening carefully is tuning into subtle nuances, tone, pauses, and nonverbal cues that can paint a more vivid picture of what your prospect needs or wants. There is plenty of valuable intel revealed when you slow down and pay attention to details. A simple way to understand this topic is to split the feedback you recieve from your customer into above the line and below the line information. Above the line is the kind of information that might be contained in an RFP document or vendor briefing, its factual, its specific and it speaks to the business reasons this customer has gone out to market. Below the line information is harder to garner, but often much more valuable in terms of understanding how a specific decision will be reached. Below the line includes the political and career motivations of your customers, any major frustrations or aspirations they may be experiencing. People are less likely to tell you this information outright, but over time, with the right relationships and intelligent questions, you can often get to the heart of these issues, which can often be the key to unlocking the entire sale.

Clarify and ask questions. 

After listening and gathering the facts, it’s time to clarify any uncertainty and confirm what you have just heard before strategizing. Try to step into their shoes for a moment and observe how they might see your product or service. It’s also the time to look for opportunities to demonstrate to your prospect that you are their ally not their enemy, by demonstrating you understand where they are coming from.

Empathy is an incredibly valuable trait not only to close more sales, but to bring a greater degree of human connection into business and elevate the perception of the sales profession. If empathetic-selling does become more pervasive in business dealings, perhaps we can begin to change people’s long-standing perceptions of salespeople. Maybe one day the word ‘empathy’ will be synonymous with salespeople and the negative stereotypes can finally be put to rest.

The post Could Empathy Be The B2B Key? appeared first on Head Of Sales.

Without knowing the questions – it is difficult to know how you are going to help them.

Before you do any of these steps, you must have this foundation to start:

1. You need to be sold on what you are selling. You need to know the value to the client.
2. You are practiced in each step so that its natural. You are being your authentic self.

There are two different stages of questions.

Stage 1: Qualifying Questions

The time for qualifying questions is when you are calling out/prospecting and you are determining if they are in the market for your offer.

1. You’ve done enough homework to identify this client may well need your solution.
2. Your intention is to show 1) you are out to help them and 2) when they are ready to be helped, you are the ‘go to’ person – the trusted advisor.
3. You understand you will need to frame why you are calling. They were not expecting you, they don’t know you, the problem must not be on their mind right now.
4. You have a clear, precise elevator pitch which explains what your solution does.
5. You are calm, reasonable and rational. You are speaking clearly and at the right pace.
6. Your question pool is large. You will draw in the most relevant questions at the time along the lines of these types of ‘other clients have found/statement & solution’ questions:

• Many of our clients are reporting problems with areas A, B, and C. How are these areas affecting you? What do you think about them?
• Some people are doing … as that’s the easiest or the way they know best. Have you considered another solution?
• Sometimes we find other people in your industry may be having problems with [insert a couple of pain points]. Is this the case with you or your company?
• How is your current solution working out, on a scale of 1-10? (10 being perfect, 1 being ‘it’s not working out’.) Ensure you are having two-way conversations by this point.
• What concerns do you have about switching/implementing a new solution?
• If you would like other ideas, solutions on how to improve – reduce costs, create time, make money, be efficient – I’m here and happy to assist. I’ve been working in this area for X years and know all the different options available to you to make your life easier.
• What are your thoughts on what needs to happen to improve/make progress/change?

1. You realise they may not be ready with the answers, have patience. Don’t answer your own questions or give multiply choice!
2. You are 100% present – you’re able to listen carefully to everything they are saying.
3. You take detailed notes.
4. The flow naturally moves to the next stage (channel two) which may progress then or further down the line – this is the exploration stage.
5. You are not quick to take a no. If they do actually need what you have but the timing is out – then the timing is out. Ensure you leave the conversation positive with something like: ‘If it’s not right for you right now, I’m happy to send over my email and a top line of how we can help. And then when you are ready to tackle that we can reconnect.’
6. Don’t take things personally. 99% of outbound prospecting is all about timing. Smile, breathe, be grateful for the opportunity to serve more people and get on the phone to the next person you might be able to help.

Stage 2: Exploration Questions

This is when you are certain they are in the market for what you have. You may have had some previous engagement and they are aware of you and know that they want a solution to a problem.

1. You’ve identified they appear to fit your ideal client profile.
2. Your intention is to a) help them and b) be seen as the trusted advisor and solution provider.
3. You are calm, reasonable and rational. Speaking clearly and going at the pace of the client.
4. Ask open ended, investigating, specific and clarify questions. These questions allow you to delve deeper with that prospect, ascertaining everything about their needs, wants, desires, beliefs etc so you can see how your solution can serve them. The questions will likely include:

• Walk me through: how you are currently doing xyz, or explain how this works…
• How: How long have you had the problem? How have you gone about fixing it? How does your team feel about …? How does X feel about the issue? …
• What: What do you think the solution is? What do you know about the different solutions available? What is your timing? What happened when you tried X? What are you looking for? What does success look like?
• When: When did it start? When did that happen? When did X do that? When this took place what was the result? When are you looking to get it solved or started?
• If: If this was to be a solution what would that mean? If you were to allow yourself to run a ‘best case’ scenario (regardless of any restrictions like money, time, effort etc) what would that be? Why would you say that? How close are you to that now? If you were to fast-forward to 18 months from now, what will you be doing differently?
• Closed questions:
  • Have: Have you tried anything before/Have you considered…?
  • Which: do you prefer X or Y, and ‘why’
  • Did: you enjoy zyx
  • Do: you prefer x or z

5. You are 100% present – you’re totally engrossed in what they are talking about. You are aware of what they are saying, doing, getting excited or concerned about. You are noting their language, their beliefs, their knowledge on the problem and its fixes, the urgency, timing, key decision makers, what they think will fix it.

6. You understand they will be doing most of the talking.

7. You take detailed notes.

8. The flow naturally moves to the next stage which is further exploration, meeting further individuals in that business and the sale.

Questions are the key. If there is one area we ask leaders to train their team on its all about seek to understand.  This means have a pool of many questions so you can keep that client discussing the situation—so you know how you can best serve them.

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Finding new opportunities and creating them are two different outcomes. Those who struggle to create enough new opportunities often believe that they need to find opportunities when they need to create them, something that requires a different approach.

Finding Opportunities

The idea that one is trying to “find opportunities” starts with the belief that your prospects are already unhappy and that they are open to changing their solutions and their existing partners to improve their results. The belief that your prospective clients are already compelled to change drives your approach.

The primary idea here is to ask questions that will elicit the client’s existing “dissatisfaction.” The question that best describes this approach is the question, “What’s keeping you up at night?” This question is an attempt to fish for some “gap” you can use to start a conversation about your solution. The approach requires that you get your prospect to acknowledge some areas where they need better results.

There are still industries where this approach is valuable. There are also occasions when your contacts are well aware of their problems and are looking for someone to help them improve their results. You should not believe that because more powerful approaches sometimes replace this traditional approach, it isn’t valuable. You need different approaches for different scenarios, and this approach is still available to you when it enables the right sales conversation.

This traditional approach to discovery is about eliciting the client’s existing pain points, or hot buttons, or dissatisfaction. Here, you are trying to find new opportunities.

Creating Opportunities

What do you do when your dream client doesn’t believe they are dissatisfied? How do you find an opportunity when your prospective client doesn’t think they have any reason to explore change and that speaking with a salesperson is a waste of their time? What do you do when your contact doesn’t believe there is a gap?

The world we now find ourselves in is very different from ten years ago, let alone the forty years that have passed since some of the processes and methodologies we use to sell effectively were observed and documented. Evolution tends to transcend what exists while including what is still useful, which is true about b2b sales approaches. When change is more difficult and more disruptive, when it requires more time and consensus, and when the risks are greater, you will not be likely to find opportunities. Instead, you must create them.

The realities of business now require access to a different approach, one that allows you to have a conversation about change. It opens up the possibility of exploring change and creating an opportunity. You do this by helping your clients understand why they might need to change, by showing them the future implications of their status quo and illuminating their future potential. Asking the client what they believe their existing partner might do better falls flat when the change is going to require time and energy and consensus and risk. Your contacts aren’t likely looking for disruption in their business without an upside worth the effort of change.

To create new opportunities, you have to provide your clients with a higher resolution lens through which to see their business, assisting them in making decisions about the future of their business. Without the ability to show your clients why they should be compelled to change, you lack an approach that serves your client—and one that would allow you to create a new opportunity.

How to Stop Falling Behind

One of the reasons you fall behind in creating new opportunities is that you have fallen behind by not updating your sales methodologies, processes, and approach.

The new role of sales is built on creating compelling, differentiated value throughout the sales conversation, which serves the client and causes them to prefer the person who helps them understand their world, the decisions they need to make, and how best to make those decisions. The new role of sales is to provide insight and a higher resolution lens that provides a new vision of their business, potential, and future.

The ideas here are necessary for creating opportunities. When your approach to new opportunities starts with the idea that your clients are already aware of their problems and all they need to do is get them to admit their “pain,” you will limit the number and quality of your opportunities. When you use an approach that allows you to shape your client’s thinking and their view of their challenges in light of all the internal and external factors they haven’t considered, you open the possibility of creating opportunities, improving your results. This is the only way to succeed in sales.

Not Mutually Exclusive

If you aspire to be a trusted advisor, you will need the advice to accompany the trust. One of the ways to create the trust that your advice is sound is by demonstrating why you are offering the advice and how you came to that conclusion.

You don’t have to choose between the traditional approach and a modern approach. You do have to recognize when one approach might be better than the other and how to execute the approach that most benefits your client.

The post Why You Need Create Opportunities and Not Just Find Them appeared first on Head Of Sales.

In his bestselling book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcom Gladwell wrote about the average number of hours an individual needs to become an expert in their chosen field. The 10,000-hour rule of “achievement [equals] talent plus preparation” has entered popular culture as the key to success in a field. Does this apply with sales? Yes. As sales leaders, we spend time coaching, mentoring, and developing our teams to ensure we give them the best possible opportunity for success.

I was never in the military. The closest I came to be was attending the Air Cadets with some friends from high school a few times. It wasn’t the most inspirational experience, as far as I could see it involved static drill and marching in formation for hours on end. Sometime later, one of those friends graduated from the Royal Military College in our nation’s capital. I distinctly remember that cold Canberra morning as the passing out parade occurred. My memory is of a dignified ceremony, a grand spectacle, an excellent brass band and the cadets all resplendent and beautifully drilled.

How many hours of rehearsal did it take to perfect those marches? Numerous.

The lesson for salespeople is simple, to be the best, practice is critical. Each step in a sales process has multiple intricacies and ensuring your team performs to their best level at every step along the way is critical. Like military cadets learning a quick step, we need to assess our processes and examine the skills and capabilities of each individual team member to home in on development opportunities.

In Learning and Development, we use various methods of practice, rehearsal, role-playing, and discussion to effect skills and competency development, and reinforce a sales training program. Educational theory gives us significant insights into the importance of practice to excel in skills, Psychologist Anders Ericsson famously studied violin students at the Music Academy of West Berlin. By the age of 20, the top performers had practiced an average of 10,000 hours; the good violinists an average of 8,000 hours and the least able only 4,000 hours. Gladwell took this research further. And though some have claimed flaws in his methodology, the key premise is the importance of practice. Is 10,000 hours a magical number? No, but it emphasises the fact that for most of us, natural skills and abilities are developed and improved upon through hard work, practice and skilful coaching and mentoring.

Is there a nature vs nurture debate in the world of sales development and enablement? Do some people just have the “it” factor? What does a successful salesperson look like? These are all important and powerful questions. Businesses I have been part of have attempted to analyse and theorise the ideal salesperson. In reality, it is near impossible to visualise and find the so-called “perfect” salesperson. Rather, an investment in an individual’s development to enhance certain skills is a far better strategy.

Let’s review three skills that can be taught, practiced and measured; questioning skills, social selling and product knowledge.

Learning how to ask relevant and salient questions is a skill that can be taught. The ability to learn when to ask an open-ended question or to seek clarification through a closed question is one such example.

Social selling, whilst it may cause fear and trepidation for some, is a skill that a sales professional can learn. Appropriate posting, commenting and engaging is a proven method for prospecting, rapport building and client engagement.

Finally, product knowledge. Learning the features, functionality and competitive benefits of the product or service you sell is of vital importance and builds credibility and confidence when dealing with a client.  An individual salesperson can practice all these skills again and again, and they all can be assessed and measured.

Though a salesperson may never achieve the 10,000 hours of practice on anyone of these, they can develop a degree of proficiency, expertise and fluency in that skill.

As sales leaders, how do we enforce practice and make it part of an ongoing professional development program?

Here are three practical scenarios you can implement immediately:

1. Understand the term, deliberate practice.

That is, when a sales professional is guided by an expert, skilled coach, or mentor, “someone with an expert eye,” as bestselling author Daniel Goleman would be inclined to say. Poor practice results in poor results. When coaching an individual in a prospecting scenario, for example, begin by asking three questions – Who are you calling? Why are you calling them? How are you going to open the conversation? Then ask the rep to practice their opening line, if it is not to an acceptable standard, have them practice again. By the time they make the call they are informed, confident and prepared. Is that a significant investment in time a for a leader? Yes. But once the mindset changes to follow this method the rep will instinctively follow these steps prior to picking up the phone.

2. Role Playing after micro-learning session.

Learn a new skill, competency or method and then rehearse. Enable your team to implement a skill immediately after it has been championed. Run the training, have the salesperson reflect on it and then immediately put it into practice. The power of practicing immediately after a new skill is learned is critical in slowing the forgetfulness curve. It also helps in the accumulation of a skillset. Proficiency is achieved in one area and then another is piled on until a full customer engagement scenario is explained, practiced and internalised.

3. Build a cohesive “we-are-all-sales” organisation.

Use real customers, other leaders within the business or members from non-sales teams to accentuate reality and to ensure that salespeople can communicate and practice with a wide variety of personality types and business roles. There is an additional benefit for other leaders within a business (think finance, ops and marketing), as this method provides greater insight into the daily experience of a salesperson’s life and builds a more cohesive “we-are-all-sales” organisation.

The motivational sales guru Grant Cardone, frequently espouses the mantra to Practice, Drill, and Rehearse. Practice cannot be simply repetition or rehearsing with obvious errors. It needs to be deliberate, guided by a coach or mentor, corrected where necessary. As we know from education if a fundamental step has not been grasped, go back to the basics and build up to that higher level of proficiency. If a member of the military learned a quick step march incorrectly, then on that Canberra morning there would have been an obvious flaw that would have stood out to the assembled crowd. We don’t want our sales people to be robotic, but we do want to give them the best possible chance to succeed in a competitive environment and to provide clients with the best possible engagement experience.

“It’s not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it’s what you put into the practice.” … Eric Lindros (professional ice hockey player)

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