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Guardrails #1
In the very simplest of terms, as a sales professional, our job is to make it easy for our customers/clients to say yes… and to buy from us.
To do that, we need to truly be responsible for the entire sales interaction and how it goes, and where it ends up.
Guardrails help that.
By guardrails, I mean guiding the conversation so that it doesn’t veer off course and stays in the lane for the intended outcome. Guardrails include asking questions that will direct the discussion and get the answer…
GRATEFUL FOLLOW-UP
For many salespeople (including myself) follow-up is the weakest skill. It takes scheduling, organizing, and consistent action for follow up to be effective. It takes doing things you don’t want to do. It takes failing – a lot! – and trying again. It takes rigorous evaluation and measurement to improve and build the follow-up muscle. And it never, ever ends.
Whether cold or warm calls, managing web leads or referrals, follow-up is a skill and a practice of patience and persistence. It will ALWA…
GRATEFUL GREETING
This is where gratitude matters most…when we welcome clients, customers, and prospects into the showroom and collectively and individually create an environment that is warm and inviting.
Our thinking and conversations internally impact the experience that we create for our ‘guests’ and when we understand the impact that we have, we can be responsible for it and be
intentional with it.
What do you do to prepare yourself to be welcoming and grateful to incoming guests?
What do you do to rem…
GRATEFUL THINKING
In the season of Thanksgiving, I thought it might be helpful to bring gratitude to every element of the sales process and to see where we can expand our effectiveness. And since thoughts impact words and words impact deeds, it’s a great place to start.
Grateful thinking is a process and a practice that starts with prompts and reminders to begin building the practice. Personally, I notice that when I let my practice and structure lapse, my thinking follows, and I am not ‘operating’ from a place of…
Practice – the rewards
I need to bring the topic back around to selling.
Ah, the practice of selling. It is a practice. There are so many elements: the practice of setting goals, the practice of connecting with strangers, the practice of asking discovery questions, the practice of presenting solutions to customer priorities, the practice of handling objections, the practice of asking for a commitment, the practice of being silent and still, the practice of follow up and outreach, the practice of organizing your bus…
Practice – the resistance
There are times when I am writing or teaching or coaching that I need to check my “Imposter Syndrome.” Maybe it’s the syndrome or maybe it’s that I really don’t do what I am preaching at the level that my communication would indicate.
That’s how it is for me with practice. I must recognize my resistance and manage it, which includes accepting it as part of MY process of practice. Even when I want something, my ego will resist the actions needed to achieve what I want. And it’s sneaky.
I s…
Practice - the practice
It sounds funny…but practice is a practice. Medicine is a practice…as are yoga and meditation.
Practice practicing. Some of that is thinking of practice as a repetition to develop a skill. Or through practice, to develop an understanding of the nature of practice…the emotions that are part of it, the stages to be experienced, the discomfort and awkwardness that is PART of the practice and of development.
Practice allows us to build a relationship to discomfort so that we can see it for w…
Follow Up…enough to get a result?
As an industry, whether retail or trade home furnishings showrooms, we tend to be weak in follow-up. Not everyone, but as an industry, this is a shortcoming. Please consider that there is room for growth here.
Start by planning to schedule follow-up and outreach actions into your work week, not letting them fall into 'when you get to it' status. AND plan them at the best time to produce the desired action –to connect and to get a sale or an appointment.
Notice: When do you give up? When i…
Asking Confirming Questions
This step leads back to the first blog on this topic…assessing versus assuming.
Confirming questions solidify what was discussed and even decided, by asking a question that removed any doubt. As an example, a salesperson is working with a customer and asks them if there is anyone else who wants to participate in the project…as a way of identifying the decision-maker. The customer says, “I make the decisions about furniture.”
We all know that there are several elements to consider in making…
Asking Summarizing Questions
Summarizing is a questioning step to see if we are accurate, in alignment, and on track. It’s a good step when the conversation is going on too long, is getting confusing (or going into areas that are less important), or when YOU have gotten distracted by too much time spent or too many details and distractions.
It’s simple: “Let me see if I understand…” then review what has been agreed to. Not every detail, just what has been agreed to.
If there is anything that is outstanding and needs…
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