Selling Authentic

From Randy Sullivan’s Blog at https://armorypitching.com/just-when-you-think-you-know-it-all-why-every-player-deserves-a-coachs-best-always/

About 12 years ago, my son’s little league team needed a coach so I volunteered.

I had just completed 2 books, which have since heavily influenced my coaching career: “Positive Coaching” by Jim Thompson and “Championship Team Building” by Jeff Janssen.

I was eager to try some of the fresh ideas.

Anyone who has been around Little League knows the tryout drill. 3 fly balls, 3 grounders, 5 swings, and run the bases.

They give you a spreadsheet to grade each player on a 1-5 scale. The columns are labeled “Glove, Arm, Bat, Speed”
and the widest column, “Comments”.

Then there’s a draft where coaches choose their team members.

As the draft progressed, I was running out of guys to pick.

For my last selection, I was left with a choice between a 12 year old no one had chosen named Lance, and 3 guys with “DIA” beside their names –my code for “Dad is A**”.

In the comments block beside Lance’s name, I had written:
“Tall, gawky”

I chose Lance.

We began our practices, and I was feeling really good about myself for implementing many of the ideas I had read.

I was building a team!

After a few practices, it became clear Lance had never played the game before. He hardly knew which hand to wear his glove on, and he couldn’t throw, run, or hit … at all.

Other than that, he was a pretty good player.

I became frustrated at how much extra time I had to spend with Lance on the simplest of skills. I was bitter and a colossal failure at trying to help him get any better.

I remember coming home and venting to my wife:

“In Florida, these kids have all been playing baseball
since they were 4 years old!”

“What kind of parent sends their kid out to play baseball
for the very first time at age 12?”

“Don’t they know they are setting this kid up for failure?”

“Why didn’t someone teach him at least to catch and throw
a little before they sent him out there?”

“After practice tomorrow, I’m going to speak to his parents.”

When practice ended the next night, every player was immediately picked up by a parent–except for Lance.

We waited on a picnic table for about 20 minutes.
I organized some papers. Lance said nothing and barely made eye contact. He was incredibly shy.

By the time Lance’s Mom arrived in an obvious hurry,
I was fuming.

As she approached our location I thought, “This is my chance. I need to let her know the deal!”

But she disarmed me with an oozing apology about how she had gotten tied up at work and caught in traffic, etc….”

I was about to ask her why the boy’s father hadn’t properly prepared him, when she abruptly stopped her apology, sent Lance to the car,
and said the following:

“Coach, can I tell you something?”

“This team has been the best thing to happen to Lance in a long time. I can’t thank you enough for the impact you are having on my son.”

“See, last year Lance’s dad committed suicide.”

“He took it real hard and has hardly spoken to anyone
or even come out of his room in almost 10 months.”

“I was driving by the ballpark a few weeks ago and saw the sign for registration. I thought it would be good for him to get out of the house and make some friends.”

“Since joining your team, he actually comes home from every practice happy. He talks to me all the way home about all the things you are teaching him.”

“This team is just what he needed.”

I felt like I had been punched square in the solar plexus.
The air left my lungs and I felt all the blood leave my head.
My brain was spinning.

These are the brilliant words I came up with in response:

“It’s my pleasure. He’s a good kid.”

That was it…..that’s all I had.

As Lance and his mom drove away, I came up with one more penetrating thought:

“I suck.”

I was utterly ashamed of myself.
Who was I to presume to know anything about this young man’s situation? Who was I to pass judgement on him or his family?

I went home and thought about it all night.

At the next practice I redoubled my efforts to help Lance
and spent an extra 15 minutes after every practice
throwing tennis balls to him in the outfield.

Our team went undefeated that year.
Won the championship.

Lance made an incredible game saving catch in right field
in the semifinal of the league tournament.

I couldn’t complete my closing comments in the meeting after the game. I just broke down in tears and gave him the game ball.

Ever since that day with Lance and his mom, I have made a pact with myself.

1) I will meet every player exactly where he is
physically, mentally, and emotionally, and will do everything in my power to help him improve himself as ballplayer and a person.

2) I will always respect that every child, teenager, or grown man I teach or coach is someone’s baby—their pride an joy.
Every guy matters.

3) I will always give every player entrusted to my tutelage my very best effort every second of every day, no matter how I might feel at that time. They all deserve it.

I always take special interest in the players everyone else has labeled as “not it”. I relish the opportunity to help the underdog, the one they said couldn’t get it done or would never amount to anything.

We’ve had dozens of them come through the ARMory, and many have developed into incredible pitchers.

We truly have some GREAT players training at The ARMory.
I won’t take up your time with our resume.
Let’s just say, WE HAVE SOME STUDS!

But let me tell you what I am the most proud of.

At The ARMory, we have fostered an environment
where the most skilled and the least skilled train side by side, and everyone takes delight in the accomplishments of all.

Our students celebrate a guy breaking a personal record at 70mph
with as much joy and excitement as a guy busting 97mph.

Our highest achievers enjoy sharing their ideas
with even the youngest and weakest performers in the program.

It’s a beautiful thing,
and it creates a training synergy I think is largely responsible
for much of our success.

My friend Randy Sullivan posted this. Please read. I’ve changed the Coaching “ethos” to reflect my work in sales coaching.

1) I will meet every seller exactly where he/she is
physically, mentally, and emotionally, and will do everything in my power to help him or her improve himself as a seller and a person.

2) I will always respect that every person I teach or coach
is someone’s Mother, Father, Wife, Husband, Significant other, Son or Daughter, someone truly special — someone’s pride an joy. Every seller matters.

3) I will always give every seller entrusted to my tutelage my very best effort every second of every session, no matter how I might feel at that time. They all deserve it.

“Show me.”

One of the greatest steps forward that mankind ever took was the creation and adoption of the recorded document.  Documents create the foundation of societies and systems of government.  From Hammurabi’s code to the 10 Commandments to the U.S. Constitution, to every major world religion, they serve to align people and their agreements with other people.  They are the cornerstone of how we live within a social system.

The legal industry, which is a $300 Billion a year industry is funded by the need to document in order to clarify and align people to their agreements.  Billions of pages of documentation are required to specify the details of these agreements.  Even at that, there are still disagreements and misunderstandings between parties involved in a transaction.

Much has changed in the Buying Process (formerly known as the sales process) over the last 5 years.  One thing that has not changed is that the Buying Process is riddled with expectations, action steps, timelines that can be misunderstood, misconstrued, or blatantly disregarded by either party.  Yet, many salespeople and sales managers are resistant to summarize, gain agreement, and document their agreements at each stage of the Buying Process.  Why?  There are a number of reasons.

1) It takes time and good listening to effectively summarize a communication. Salespeople often don’t take the time.

2) Documentation holds people accountable and some Salespeople resist accountability.

3) Most importantly, (and most easy to fix) Sales Managers don’t make documentation a part of their inspection process.

Something I learned from Steve Bosworth and Mike Kenney… If you are a Sales Manager, two words can change your sales culture.  Instead of saying “tell me where you are with this opportunity”, say, “show me where you are with this opportunity.”  Here are the steps you must take to make this happen:

1) Find the 2 or 3 critical junctures in the buying process where strong alignment indicates a more predictable outcome.  For example, some B2B best practices say that documents for both Qualification and Discovery (before Proof) are important indicators of a predictable timeline to value for the prospect.

2) Create a “best practices” template for these documents.  Allow Reps to adjust to their own style but make sure the basic components of these templates remain intact.  All documents are 2-way documents that ask the prospect for their acceptance and invite them to correct, delete, or add components to the document.

3) Use these documents as not only alignment between you and the prospect but between you and your internal team–pre-sales, post-sales and management up the chain.  Ask for input on the documentation from others on your team.  This strengthens your team and shows the prospect that you are leveraging your companies resources.

4) Start every opportunity status update conversation with “show me where you are on this.” Better yet, ask to be copied on these documents. Relentlessly, lodge this into your sales culture.

Human nature is to see things from one’s own perspective.  The Buying Process is no different.  Our very nature is to get out of alignment.  Our best hope is to rely on what civilization has always relied on to stay in alignment…

a document.

Your prospects are looking at your Social Profiles – especially Linkedin and in some cases Twitter.  As always, their first impression is key.  Presenting yourself as a thought leader in your space gives you a leg up by giving you the foundation to provide INSIGHT to the prospect as opposed to just asking questions.  I ran across this

Linkedin profile and wanted to share it with you.  This is an excellent representation of how you use your social profiles to break the sales stereotype and create Thought Leader status.

Do your social profiles for business reflect your thought leadership?

http://www.linkedin.com/in/coriblackburn

You should be an expert on how your products’ capabilities help your prospects or customers.  Your pre-sales person may know more about the technical features of your product but you should be a thought leader in applying your product’s value to the circumstances of your prospect.  And you should express that expertise often and in many different ways.

For example, one of my favorite blogs is Chad Levitt’s  blog called New Sales Economy.  He always has interesting articles on Sales 2.0 strategies.  He also guest blogs on other sites and has interesting guests write in his blog.  He is a thought leader in this space.

But guess what…

He is a sales guy for Hubspot, a company that sells inbound marketing software which helps grow traffic to your site, get leads, and make sales in this new environment.  Chad’s story is in alignment with what he does and who he works for.  Chad is part of that big conversation out there.  He gets leads by virtue of who he is and what he is passionate about.  Chad is in alignment with his story and there is a tremendous amount of power in that.

Think about ways that you can amplify your thought leadership and become part of that big conversation out there.  Be more than sales – be an authentic Thought Leader.

Your prospect knows that you are a salesperson. But what is your story?  Why do you work here?  What are the themes and events in your life that have brought you to this company?  Why do you want to spend a third or more of your life working at this company, selling this product or service, providing these benefits to your prospects and customers?

I’m surprised at how few salespeople know and tell their own story. As stated in my last post, they prefer to just hand over a business card.  People authentically connect through story.  Prospects want to know that there is a reason, other than a commission plan, that you are invested in your company.

One of the greatest sales minds of our generation, Mike Bosworth, has recognized this.  His life’s work has been about helping improve the lives of salespeople.  In the early 80’s Mike noticed that a typical salesforce adhered to the 80/20 rule.  Essentially 20% of the salesforce was responsible for the high performance of bringing in 80% of the revenue.  Mike wanted to help the bottom 80% perform like the top 20%.  He new that authentic connection was essential, but the general consensus was that this connection wasn’t teachable.  So Mike created a diagnostic needs-development framework in his book Solution Selling.  Many companies implemented it and garnered positive revenue results.

Then Mike noticed that their was a misalignment between sales and marketing and he addressed that in his next effort which was Customer Centric Selling.  CCS continues to be a world class sales methodology for many major corporations all over the world.  It consistently generates positive results for companies that implement it.

But the results still weren’t good enough.  Mike realized that NO MATTER WHAT YOUR SALES PROCESS IS – YOU CANNOT EXECUTE IT SUCCESSFULLY UNLESS YOU HAVE AN AUTHENTIC CONNECTION WITH A PROSPECT.  So, he and his partner, Ben Zoldan went on a journey to find some answers in the field of Neuroscience.  They talked with  people outside of sales like, detectives, storytellers, therapists, and cognitive scientists.  They discovered that that there was a way to teach connectedness.  And this way was through Story.  He and Ben created StoryLeaders.  And in this effort they are already seeing very positive results.

Steve Bosworth from Bosworth-Kenney Selling says that the effective combination of a strong sales process and the ability to authentically connect drives exceptional sales performance.  I agree.

Try this:

What were you passionate about in high school?  What are the common themes between your passion then, and what you do now?  What about your product, service, or company really excites you?  What in your role is your favorite activity?  What about each place you have worked attracted you?  What have been your low points in your career?  How did you overcome them to be where you are today?

The answers to these questions will give you clues to your story.  And once you figure it out, go out there and tell it!

This is by far one of the most controversial ways to break the stereotype.  Business cards have a traditional and cultural place in our business environment.  But we have all been to the meeting where someone on your team, usually the domain expert or tech guy is struggling to hook up the audio visual.  You and your boss are waiting for people to show up and here they come… one by one.  You and  your boss rush over to the other side of the conference table, stepping all over each other to hand these people your business cards.  It is like a race or something.  If you don’t get your business card in their hand, it is as if you don’t exist.  Is the sum total of your existence described within the 4 corners of your business card?  And more and more often prospects aren’t even giving out their cards.   Probably because they’ve already been bombarded by your company with emails and phone calls and they don’t want to be added to yet another marketing list.  There are better ways to handle the business card that will move you away from the sales stereotype.

• Instead of handing them a card, tell the prospect about what you do and why you do it.  Tell them your story.
• Give the prospect your full attention as opposed to attending to the physical logistics of handing over a card.
• Consider handing out your card to a selected group of people after the meeting
• Send your card a few days after the meeting with a handwritten “thank you” note

Use your business cards to break the sales stereotype, not to reinforce it.

“The VP plays golf with my brother-n-law!” exclaimed the salesperson as he left the meeting.

Why do salespeople get excited about these outlying connections?  Clara Shih, a thought leader in Social Networking, calls it Transitive Trust.  Salespeople get very excited when they discover that they have a relationship in common with a prospect or customer.  When you are referred or have a trusted connection to someone you don’t know you temporarily step out of the sales stereotype.  Transitive Trust gives you a temporary unfair advantage over your competition and tools like Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Google and others help track and manage these connections.   Other tools like www.mypeoplemaps.com, help you aggregate them.  Your personal connections and friendships will do more to get you into an opportunity and out of the sales stereotype than anything else.  According to Nigel Edelshain, CEO of Sales 2.0, being introduced into an account by one of your connections makes it 8X more likely that you will get in the door.   Build and use your social capital.

In my recent webinar — I discussed ways that Salespeople reinforce the sales stereotype that has been created over the years. One of those ways, simply put is “being cheesy”. I define cheesiness as the act of playing into low and jaded expectations of salespeople that most prospects have.

1) Manipulative Tricks and Techniques: Techniques like “are you available on Monday or Tuesday, 2 or 3pm?”   I still see salespeople do this.  I’m not a big fan of “closing techniques” either.  Business closes when a preponderance of future value has been realized within the buyer’s time frame. Manipulative tricks and techniques have run their course in sales process and should be thrown atop the ash heap of business history.

2) Assuming an emotional reaction from the prospect before you’ve earned the right to do so – an example of this would be asking discovery questions and when the prospect admits pain that you have capabilities to alleviate, you say something like,

“You’re going to Luuuuuuv what we’re going to show you”.

This actually happened recently and I watched the prospects eyes roll back into her head.

3) Self Denigration – Saying things like “I’m just a salesperson”.  Or allowing your teammates to jokingly denigrate your role.  I used to believe that statements like this were self-deprecating and endeared the prospect to you. They don’t. The prospect simply says to herself, “ok, you’re just a salesperson — who has the real value here”.

4) Being a “Yes Man” – simply means this:  Your prospect does not believe that every single one of your customers is happy.  She doesn’t believe that there are absolutely no problems with your product or services.  In fact, she probably already knows the bad stuff. The answer to every question is not yes.  Talk about your company in the best light possible but don’t insult your prospect’s intelligence.

5) Lolly-gagging – Getting to know people is crucial.  However, prospects know when you are talking in order to create an inauthentic relationship.  Don’t overdo it. Lolly-gagging is a dead give-away that you are a typical sales chump.

Way 2 is “Ditch the Pitch”… coming soon….

I had a presentation today at one of the worlds largest entertainment companies.  There were around 10 people in the room.  I got to the site early and made sure there were no technical issues.  The crowd came in and the words, the confidence, the passion just came flowing out like a well-played piano concerto.  How did that happen?

Preparation.

While this presentation was different in many ways, the concepts were not new and they had been rehearsed many, many times… out loud… by myself…in other presentations.

Now, this presentation wasn’t exactly the presentation I rehearsed.  I reserve about 10%-30% of my discussion for improvisation based on the spirit of the room, content that the audience brings in, and cues that I pick up at a very intuitive level.  All this was working today.

It’s almost like that great golf shot that keeps you coming back.  Preparation doesn’t guarantee a successful outcome, but it does remove significant risks.  Looking forward to the next opportunity.