How do you get them to invite you in?
Are elevators getting faster, or are buildings getting shorter?
Do you ever feel that listeners won’t even take the time to listen to your elevator pitch?
I love elevator pitches. When they’re done right, they can provide crystal clarity and command instant attention. They can encapsulate your value message so that your listener will be more willing to continue into a more detailed conversation about their needs and your solutions. In addition, just going through the process and discipline of distilling the essence of your idea into one or two minutes, is enormously valuable.
Elevator pitches aren’t just for entrepreneurs chasing investment capital. They’ve also become important in sales, partly because it’s so much harder to get anyone’s attention for very long. With more competitors clamoring for a share of ever-shrinking and increasingly jaded attention spans, you don’t stand much of a chance if you can’t cut through the clutter long enough for a prospect to give you their undivided attention. That’s why busy prospects may not even give you the one or two minutes you need for an elevator pitch. That’s why it seems like buildings are getting shorter.
So, what’s the best way to get someone’s attention long enough to deliver your pitch?
Judging by the title, you would think that Quit Whining and Start Selling is one of those motivational books that is long on exhortation and inspiration and short on practical advice. At least that’s what I thought when Kelly Riggs asked me to review his book.[1] I was skeptical—not because I’m opposed to motivation but because you’re not likely to find it in a book.
The book is actually very engaging and motivational, but, the title does the book a disservice, because its real strength is in its practical, solid sales advice. Reading this book is like having a wise and experienced sales coach looking over your shoulder providing guidance on the critical performance factors at each stage of the sales cycle. The book is arranged in eight parts, roughly in the order of the sales cycle:
Part I frames the discussion by defining the elements that lead to sales success. Riggs reminds us that none of us is destined to success or failure—“you are destined to whatever you have the desire and the discipline to create.“ The discipline part comes in the form of the next six parts: defining what your customers are buying, analyzing and planning your work and your sales approach, and improving effectiveness at each stage of the sales cycle.
Part II, What Are You Selling?, gets you thinking about what your product or service means to the customer. Kelly reminds us that superior products do not just sell themselves, and the standard trite talk about quality, service and value does nothing at all to differentiate you in the customer’s perception.
Part III is the shortest in the book, comprising only two chapters, but in my own opinion it’s the most important concept of all. It’s best encapsulated in the quote by Deming: “If you can’t describe what you’re doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.” An effective sales process is the key to consistent sales performance, and the only way to know what is working and what isn’t.
Parts 4-7 show how to improve your effectiveness in each stage of the sales process: Planning, Discovery, Presentation and Delivery. This is where the meat of the book comes in with specific face to face selling ideas and techniques.
Part VIII is about personal success habits, and is the most “motivational” part of the book. It’s a useful reminder that you have to work smarter and harder to reach the top 1% of your profession.
Quit Whining and Start Selling is also a good read, full of engaging stories and examples that illustrate important points. I also appreciated that each chapter is book-ended by excellent quotes that set the stage at the beginning of each chapter and brief “1-on1 principles” that sum up the principal lesson.
I wrote earlier that you’re not likely to find motivation in a book, but upon reflection that’s not quite accurate. Motivation does not come from hearing things you already know; it comes from learning new things that you know can improve your results if you implement the process. Process plus discipline will carry you through even when short term enthusiasm fades away. If you look at it this way, Quit Whining and Start Selling is a quick read that can have lasting impact on your sales career.
Note: You can purchase the book in soft cover directly from Kelly’s web site, or a Kindle version from Amazon.
[1] That’s my subtle way of introducing the fine print disclaimer. I provided a promotional blurb for the book. (Not that it made the cover.)
The recommendations in this post will challenge your cherished instincts as a salesperson and presenter, so if you’re uncomfortable with doubt, don’t read any further.
Our instincts—and our compensation plans—pressure us to make the most persuasive and confident arguments that we can devise, get from Point A to B as surely and efficiently as possible, and shorten that sales cycle. We focus on the key decision maker in the room, marshal all the facts on our side, and prepare carefully to crush any objections from any potential blockers.
We want to make the sale, we want to be right, and we want to “win”. Books that teach presentation skills (including my own) emphasize this.
But the problem with this “Always Be Closing” approach is that even if your proposal is absolutely perfect in every way for the client, there is a high probability that it may lead to an unsustainable agreement, one that will be implemented improperly or incompletely. That can lead to a lot of value being left on the table for the client, customer dissatisfaction, and big demands on your time down the road.
In my own sales experience, I can admit to deals I sold because I won over the decision maker, but then had to contend with lower level people who were less than enthusiastic in their efforts to support the training, if not downright hostile in some cases. And I’m not alone: In his book, Why Decisions Fail
The process of decision making is often more important than the content of the contending arguments. Processes that widen the search for alternative early in the process, take into account political factors, and think realistically about implementation challenges are much more likely to succeed. In short, they will be sustainable. Paying attention to the process is especially important when you’re dealing with complex projects that carry important results for the client and have a wide span of impact within the organization.
What makes for a sustainable agreement?
People will buy into an agreement for two broad reasons: either it aligns with their self-interest or it is perceived as fair.
Integrative proposals. Any time a company makes an investment decision it is allocating resources, and causing more work or risk for various parties within the organization, so objectively there are winners and losers. But with a little imagination, it’s sometimes possible to make the pie a bit larger and give more to all concerned.
Sense of fairness. People are realistic and are team players, so they will get behind agreements that hurt their individual interests—as long as they perceive that the process to reach that agreement was fair. It’s called procedural fairness: did the process allow them to voice their disagreement and be heard, or did they feel like they were railroaded into it? Was there serious attention paid to diverse points of view? Were all reasonable alternatives given a fair hearing?
How do you adapt your presentation preparation, content and style to achieve it?
During the preparation phase:
Spend time truly understanding all points of view; reach out to potential blockers as well as your allies and champions. Strategically, you run the risk of tipping them off and giving them time to organize opposition, but here’s what you get in return:
- You make people feel included in the decision, which increases the chance for shared ownership.
- You give people time to grow used to the idea.
- You might actually learn something that will help you improve your proposal. As Nutt says, at this stage “Doubt can be a powerful force pushing you to think more clearly about what is needed.”
During the presentation:
Show both sides. Intelligent audiences are more swayed by two-sided arguments that demonstrate that you’ve thought about more than just your own interests. Acknowledge different concerns and interests.
Be prepared to show your thinking. I often warn people away from providing too much context, because it takes a lot of time. But sometimes you have to show the background, context and how you arrived at your ideas, especially when you have a lot of analyticals in the audience. (Or at least be prepared with backup material in case you sense it’s necessary.)
Make it more interactive. People need to feel that they’ve been heard to perceive the process as fair, so encourage questions from the audience. Ask a lot of questions—in fact, if you sense that someone is holding back, you can call on them by name. Of course, this means that you have to pay close attention to audience response. By showing that you’re not afraid of dissenting points of view, you’re setting an example of open-mindedness, and they may return the favor.
During Q&A:
If you haven’t already done so in an interactive presentation, build plenty of time into the agenda for discussion so that everyone who wants to comment can feel that they’ve had a fair shake.
Don’t be afraid of getting disagreement. In fact, you should be more afraid if no one disagrees, because it may mean that they’re just biding their time to sabotage you later. If there is going to be opposition, it’s best to get it out in the open.
Be prepared to “negotiate”. Ideally, you would like to be able to integrate opposing viewpoints into a perfect solution for everyone, but this is not always realistic. If you think ahead, you can have some minor modifications or concessions in your proposal in your back pocket that you can trade for agreement.
If you want to learn how to write prospecting emails that work, one of the easiest ways is to pay attention to those that are sent to you. In some cases, one will pique your interest, and you can analyze it to see what worked.
In the huge majority of cases,however, the best way to learn from them is to figure out what not to do. An email I received this morning is a case in point.
Ironically, it’s from a company that purports to improve my marketing and help my company “GET NOTICED!”
“My company (deleted) specializes in getting attention for our clients. Clients like, Google, ESPN, Intel, Intuit, Discovery Channel, etc., but our services and solutions work for any size company.”
There are four things right off the top of my head that I can find wrong with this message:
- They clearly know nothing about my company.
- If they did, they would know it is microscopic compared to those cited, so why in the world would I be interested in the same thing that they use? If they were smart, they would have at least checked out my web site, combed through their customer list, and put in some names that would at least have a realistic chance of getting my attention.
- If they’re doing things for those guys, whatever they’re selling would be way out of my price range.
- It also sends the message that if I hire them, I’ll be competing with some very important clients for their attention and best work.
Attention marketers: anything you send to me may be used in my blog for teaching purposes—usually as a cautionary example of what not to do. I may even start leaving in your names, just so you can GET NOTICED!
