Brave New Sales

The Book: Sales Pitches That Snap, Crackle 'n Pop

Now available on amazon!

In a B2B pitch, you're not there to close a deal, you're there to open a relationship. The three objectives of a pitch, therefore, are to Snap, Crackle 'n Pop: stimulate interest, start a customer-focused conversation and build trust.

If you achieve these three objectives, your prospects will not see you as another vendor, but rather as a trusted advisor.

Sales Pitches That Snap, Crackle 'n Pop shows you how to achieve this in straight-forward and sometimes hard-hitting language.

Dr. Tobias Kiefer, Global Learning & Development Head at Booz & Co says, "Jack slaps you in the face with best practices and makes you laugh...

Sell Benefits, But Make Sure Your Customer Agrees!

I'm All For Pitching...

... and with a book called "Sales Pitches that Snap, Crackle 'n Pop," I'd better be... right?

Right.

But please pitch me in a way that is focused on me. Pitch all your prospects in a way that focuses on them.

Just because you "sell benefits, not features" doesn't mean you're really doing so in a customer-focused way. So here again:

Snap: stimulate your prospect's interest.
Crackle: start a (customer-focused) conversation, with and about your prospect.
Pop: Earn your prospect's trust.

 

Even Big Brands Get It Wrong

I just stepped into my bank for a quick transaction that required a bit more than the ATM, and sure enough before I left the counter, I was being pitched.

I'm fine with that.

The teller... um, the customer service rep... at this big-brand bank began pitching me on a new credit card offering. They were actually offering me two credit cards, from my choice of three big-brand credit card brands.

"Just think what you can do with two credit cards?" she insisted.

"Nothing more than I can do with one," I shrugged.

She kept insisting that two credit cards, from the same bank, were twice as good as one.

"I'm sorry, I really don't see the double-benefit. But thank you," I smiled.

And on and on she insisted. "You can leave one card at home, and only use it when you need it."

"What good is having a credit card at home?" I asked.

"Imagine if your wallet got lost or stolen. Then you'd have another card."

"Well, if I lose my wallet, maybe it would be a benefit then," I surmised. "But if I were travelling, the second credit card would be at home, and I'd be somewhere else, so... no... it's a stretch. It has very little benefit to me."

As the customer service rep kept digging for more more benefits, I realized two things, and one was actually a liability: two credit cards from the same bank would be twice the accounting work.

And the other thing I realized? The customer service rep was not customer-focused.

She had been taught the long-held sales tactic of "Don't sell features. Sell benefits."

But One Size Does Not Fit All

Herein lies the rub: It's only a benefit if the customer thinks it is!

And therein lies the lesson for salespeople in the brave new world: Until you know what the customer wants, desires or needs, don't over-play your product's benefits.

When it comes to your customers' perceived benefits, one size does not fit all.

This customer service rep had indeed stimulated my interest. But she then failed to open a customer-focused conversation with me. She did not explore and learn what my needs were.

As she insisted that the second card was a benefit to me, she was actually alienating me.

I'll be clear. She was irritating me.

So while "don't sell features, sell benefits" is a golden rule, don't skip the fundamental step of having a customer-focused conversation and learning what the customer perceives as a benefit.

Otherwise, you'll be pushing glorified features, and probably irritating your prospects, too.

Sure, sell benefits. But make sure your customer believes they're beneficial.

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Hey! I'm always happy to discuss my reader's sales challenges and successes. Send me an email at jack(dot)vincent(at)focus360(dot)ch to set up a phone or VOIP conversation.

Photo courtesy of 401K, http://www.flickr.com/photos/68751915@N05/6355848263/

Nine Steps To Selling At Trade Shows

You're all set...

... for your company's trade show.

Stand, decor, brochures, business cards, smile.

Sorry, but deep inside, you know you're still not prepared.

You need a sales approach, a tactical plan of engagement.

While a beautiful stand, a great product and an edgy brand might help you stimulate interest, one of the most overlooked tools to achieving your objectives at a trade show is solid salesmanship.

You've heard all about the elevator pitch. But an elevator pitch to stranger after stranger? It still feels... pitchy... disingenuous... used-car-salesman-like.

What to do?

1. Know The Paradox of a Pitch.
   Pitch is a word that we will never replace in business vernacular, but don't let vocabulary drive you to behave like a pushy salesperson. You're a valuable professional... and herein lies the paradox: the best pitches should not feel pitchy. When the pitch is over, for both parties it really should have felt like a helpful interaction.
   
2. Move The Conversation Toward The Customer
   Pushing your product sends the wrong signal. It alienates more than it attracts. Instead, ask passers-by a question about their company that aligns with your product or service.
   - "Are you folks pursuing opportunities in....?"
   - "What are you guys up against in the area of....?"
   - "What's keeping your CEO up at night?"
   
3. Qualify Quickly
   There's nothing worse than wasting people's time. And guess what... there's nothing worse than wasting your time. Let go of false hope. Not everyone you engage will be a qualified buyer, nor will they be motivated to put you in contact with one. Are they motivated? Are they able? Can they provide a name? Fine. If not, smile, thank them and politely let them know that you won't take up more of their time. Move on.
   
4. Listen
   You've determined they're a qualified buyer. So don't launch into your product spiel. If you haven't listened to them, you won't know how to really address their needs, will you? And they'll smell that like a forest ranger smells smoke! So listen. Really listen. Make eye contact and search for the meaning in their words, search for the importance in their tone. Ask further questions to drill deeper. You're the professional in this area. You must have good questions, especially if you're listening intently.
   
5. Now Pitch, But Tailor It
   The key here is not to pitch everyone the same way, but to adjust based on what you've discovered so far. "That's interesting. Last year we helped a client with a pretty similar issue..."
   
6. Case Study
   Real results from other real clients are one of the best sales tools. This lends credibility and builds trust.
   - "That client had this situation..."
   - "We were called in and did this..."
   - "Their results were these..."
   
7. Explore A Little Bit More
   Ask them to make a link between your case study and their business. Don't worry if your case study is a bit different from their situation, because they'll tell you and, by listening, you're being customer-focused... and you'll be garnering valuable information about precisely how you can help them. Keep exploring. Keep encouraging them to talk about their business challenges.
   - "Oh, so in your case, your end users would require...?"
   
8. Suggest A Follow-Up
   Perhaps you invite them in to your trade stand's back office for a product demo, or to the trade show's cafeteria for an impromptu meeting. But even then, you'll want a course of action after the show. The extent to which the buyer contributes to the next steps is a strong indicator of their motivation. And by getting them to contribute to the next steps, you're also getting the buyer to become emotionally engaged with you. This is powerful stuff.
   
9. Then Follow-Up... Promptly!
   Follow-up not only with your agreed course of action, but also with a quick communique as soon as you know the buyer is back to his/her office. A quick email reiterating your understanding of their situation and summarizing next steps keeps you fresh in their mind. Buyers don't dislike sales professionalism. In fact, they like to know that you care about their business, that you're pro-active!

The beauty of planning customer-focused approaches is that it not only makes you more effective, but it also makes you more comfortable.

Comfort and effectiveness then become a virtuous cycle.

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I love to talk about my readers' sales challenges and opportunities. Feel free to arrange a conversation by emailing me at: jack.vincent@focus360.ch

Check out my book "Sales Pitches that Snap, Crackle 'n Pop." http://amzn.to/tzrwMp

Photo by Irina Kremin, KGS Global

Muscle Memory & Selling

When It's Life Or Death

Imagine for a moment your life is on the line, and you've hired some guy to watch your back.

Would you want him to "know" a lot about security, even though he doesn't have any experience in the field? 

Or would you want him to have "drilled" your life-threatening situation and his tactical response 3,000 times or more?

I recently met Scott Biggs at a networking event and was immediately impressed with his confident, direct style.

Scott's been in some very dangerous environments and has experienced life or death moments with clients. Life has prevailed.

Scott and guys like him at Lethics don't just know their stuff. They practice it... drill it... until it goes in to Muscle Memory.

What Is Muscle Memory?

The concept is quite simple, as Scott explained it to me, but don't confuse simple with easy. The discipline is grueling.

When you learn a skill, you have to practice it at least 3,000 times before it becomes so engrained as an auto-response practice that your probablity of doing it any other way in the heat of a chaotic, life-threatening moment is virtually zero.

In high-anxiety moments, fear takes over via your brain's amygdala and all rational thinking goes out the neurological window. Even mental memory shuts down.

Knowing about that skill isn't enough to ensure you exercise it. Practicing it a few times is good. But for life-threatening and high-stakes situations, a few times ain't good enough.

What's Sales Got To Do With It?

Everything. Are you leaving your sales execution to just knowing it?

As a sales consultant and trainer, I've seen more than my share of sales people who come into workshops or coaching sessions and profess to know it all. Sometimes they know a lot.

Many times, however, these same know-it-alls resist role plays and simulations. They claim that it's silly to sit with mock buyers in mock situations.

Force these salespeople into the simulation, however, or go out and visit clients with them, and they rarely "perform" to the level of their "knowledge."

In the heat of the moment, they get reactive... and best practices go out the window.

Would you want your airline pilot to have turned down stress situations in the flight simulator?

Pitch Workouts

And that's why pitch workouts are so effective. While they may be uncomfortable for salespeople to perform, especially in front of peers, two things happen when you regularly run good pitch workouts:

1. Imperfections become more apparent and awareness increases.
2. Practice makes perfect.

The best salespeople and the high-performance pitch teams go through the motions frequently. Then when they get out in the marketplace, when they sit face-to-face with customers and prospects, they sparkle.

Perhaps if you're a route sales person making 20 stops a day, you can actually practice during your visits, and that's not a bad idea provided that you're trying out those skills that should help you improve.

But if you're like many business-to-business salespeople, you know your numbers, and customer visits are a lot fewer than 20 per day!

So why squander these calls? The attitude of "We know how to sell" is not the same as, "We're ready to sell."

Practicing three-thousand times may be unreasonable, but are your drilling the tough sales situations? Do you do pitch workouts?

Perhaps Muscle Memory is just a fancy term for habit... but who cares?

The true masters of sales, the real rain-makers, don't just know about customer-focused selling techniques. They do the customer-focused things.

It's Not About Knowledge

It's about performance.

If you were in a situation with kidnappers blocking your exit, would you want me to be watching your back? Or would you want a guy like Scott Biggs, who's practiced and performed every conceivable situation thousands of times?

Don't leave your sales activities to chance. Develop best practices as habits. Drill, baby, drill.

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For more info on how to improve your sales activities, feel free to contact me at +41 76 43 43 043, or send me and email at jack(dot)vincent(at)focus360.ch

The Love Coach, Revisited

Happy Valentine's Day!

I couldn't resist dusting off my speech from the Toastmasters 2006 European Humorous Speech Contest, apropos to love... and sales.

That's right! A sale is a love affair, and storytelling works in engaging the human heart and mind at many levels.

Here's to love... and successful selling!

 

 

 

Thanks again to Toastmaster extraordinnaire, Bill Monsour, for shooting this video way back when on very short notice!

Sell With Your Head High: Differentiation

Stop Pitching Away Your Assets For Free

I just saw this post, To Hell With The Sell by Blair Enns via my great friend Ken Jacobs who helps PR agencies grow business and develop staff.

This post resonated with me because, I have to admit, it aligns with some of the material in my book, Sales Pitches That Snap, Crackle 'n Pop, particularly the second, third and fourth points:

• We will replace presentations with conversations;
• We will diagnose before we prescribe; and
  
• We will re-think what it means to sell.

That last point resonates because it reinforces a timeless adage that great salespeople do not push their product, but instead facilitate the buying process; they help the buyer buy.

 

We Shall Hold Our Heads High

Following that, Blair moves into high gear with respect to communications and ad agencies.

The overriding theme is that if you don't differentiate, and if you don't proactively lead conversations, you will find yourself playing "against" your prospects as foes... and on a slanted playing field, at that.

While Blair and I define pitches a little differently, our approach is aligned.  In my book I actually say that the paradox of a pitch is that it should not feel pitchy. In early-stage opportunities, whenever you can move away from your presentation toward a customer-focused conversation, you should "ditch the pitch!"

So definitions aside (and Blair does use "pitch" in many other blog posts), I highly endorse Blair's book, The Win Without Pitching Manifesto.

As salespeople in the B2B world, we really should hold our heads high. We should consider ourselves experts in a field where we can best help clients if we take control of the selling process, and don't chase low-probability and low-profitability RFP's.

Awesome stuff, Blair. You're probably not winning all your pitches, but I bet you're winning a healthy portion of those that are more profitable to operate and more exciting to work on!

 

Photo/Illustration of Blair Enns from his website, link above.

 

Sales & The Power of Apology

Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word

It was so early in my career that the fax machine was still the business medium of choice.

We had pitched a potential partner on an exciting marketing platform, and they liked it. We were now negotiating deliverables and returns.

A cantankerous lawyer on the other side of the table fired a shot at our team. "You guys were supposed to fax us the payment schedule. We never received it!"

A thousand negative impulses went through my body and mind in a split second. I had drafted the fax for my boss, but due to travel schedules, a stressed-out personal assistant and plain ol' high work loads, it never got sent.

 

Would this turn into finger-pointing?

Would this slow us down?

Before the next split second could start, my boss shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sorry. That was my fault. I saw it on my desk but didn't act on it. Let me call the office right now and see if my assistant can dig it out."

You could almost hear the pressure in the room drop.

My young head was telling me to shut up and play it safe, but my gut told me otherwise. So I leaned forward.

"I have it," I said. "Sorry, I should have followed-up to see if it got sent."

My boss smiled and said, "No, no. You left it with me and I dropped the ball. Shit happens." 

There were chuckles around the room as everyone focused on the payment schedule that I was passing out.

 

The Future Is More Important Than The Past

It wasn't about the payment schedule, really. It was about everyone moving forward, not staying stuck in the proverbial shit that had happened.

If we hadn't apologized, if we would have made up some stupid excuse, the mud would most likely have risen above everybody's knees and soon covered the meeting room table.

Our prospects would have been looking at us as though we were either incompetent, unreliable or both. Instead we seemingly formed a bond with them, that we're all imperfectly human, and little shit happens every day. Onward and upward.

 

Easy, right?

Indeed, to some.

But to many, sorry seems to be the hardest word, thank you, Elton John.

"Sorry" shouldn't be the hardest word. It should be one of the easiest words, because you win when you use it genuinely.

"Sorry" doesn't mean "I'm wrong, you're right." It doesn't mean "I should be penalized, you should win the point." If you're stuck in that mindset, then you'll aplogize too infrequently, especially in business, and especially in front of prospective customers.

You can tailor "Sorry" to mean what you want it to mean, because the spirit and tone in which you say it counts, too.

"Oops. Too bad this has happened. I'm BIG enough to admit I had a role in it; I'm excellent enough to focus on accomplishing something big here; Let's move on."

 

A Little Competitive Advantage Doesn't Hurt Either

And here's what I really (and a bit selfishly) love about apology: It often puts you in a stronger position.

When you deflect or over-explain, the tension usually rises in the room. Defenses go up. Bonds are broken. Trust is lost, and if you'e the seller, you're the loser.

When you apologize, tension usually drops. Defenses go down. Bonds are built. Trust is gained, and you're the winner.

Apologize quickly, and others not only let you off the hook, they often give you the benefit of the next doubt.

The Sooner The Easier

The sooner you apologize, the easier it is to do so. It's that simple.

Think of any situation in your professional or personal life when it really was incumbent upon you to apologize, but you delayed. I'll bet you my last buck that it would have been easier to do so shortly after the incident, or even immediately.

All that negative energy is a drain on your karma, and damaging to your relationship.

The sooner you say, "Oops, sorry," the less collateral damage is done. Not only will you move on sooner, you will leave less wreckage in your wake. You'll have good karma.

Go easy on yourself. Be secure in your imperfections.

Sure, customers want to deal with competent people, but they also want to deal with secure people. If you never admit to even the smallest mistakes, they will admit them for you.

If you apologize and move on, they'll admire you, like you and trust you more. You'll experience less pain in your sales cycle, and probably more sales, to boot.

If you don't believe me, well, I'm happy to leave it and move on, sorry.

Now where were we?

 

Photo by butupa: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25792994@N04/

 

"Offers That Wow!" Guest Post, Ann Soderblom

I'm delighted to have my good friend and fellow entrepreneur Ann Soderblom of Soderblom Design guest posting in Brave New Sales this week.

In her recent newsletter, Ann wrote about getting to know your customer target group and more specifically what they really like and want. If you have done all of that research it is time to put it into practice. 

Offers That Wow!

It is time to create an offer that will make 100% sense to your customer. So how can we do that? Well, by using the data you already collected and by considering something as fundamental as human nature.

Interested? Let's get started!

The structure of your (written) offer could have the following parts: 

1. Introduction 

2. Identified problem

3. Solution 

4. Call for action

5. Testimonials

When writing the offer consider the following points:

1. Does it say "we" and "us" all the time or "you" and "yours", only focus on the one person who is reading the offer: you.

2. Use the exact same terminology as you heard in your interviews and research with prospects. The language you use is not necessarily the same as of your customers.

3. Formulate the problem you know that they are experiencing (and that your business will help to solve), and add a little extra salt. Maybe even touching on some underlaying frustrations that you know this problem is really about.

4. Is your product or service something that solves an urgent and important problem? Make it urgent by talking to the underlaying desiree. E.g. more money, freedom, happiness etc. Always clearly state the benefits of your offer.

5. When offering your products and/or services, be very specific about what it really includes. E.g. 10 hours of make up consultation, 1 make up box from L'oreal etc. People normally value things more that are specific and can be measured.

6. It may sound like a worn-out concept but Free is wonderful. Make a package and include something for free, make sure to specifically note the value of what your customer is getting. E.g. 1 Free make up box from L'oreal (Value 100 USD).

7. Read through your offer and ask yourself if it talks to the prospect in a respectful and maybe even in a flattering way?

8. Quantify it. If you can show a specific number of how your product or service helps your prospect, add it! E.g. Increase your conversion rate of paying customers up to 70%. Do this carefully and only based on your real track record. You could even add how you got to this number. "Our last 10 customers in 2011 increased the conversion rate of paying customers with 70% from January to March."

9. Make the offer time limited. E.g. offer available until May 10, 2012.

10. Address all the concerns and remove all obstacles. If you have done your homework of actually talking to people (taking them for coffee) you should have a pretty good idea of common concerns and doubts people have. Use the exact same wording as your prospects in their interviews and answer them. E.g. "A personal trainer might feel like a very posh and costly thing to have but compare that to the medical costs of being ill later in your life due to poor health." 

11. Everybody wants to feel important. Can you send your offer to an exclusive group? a VIP membership group?

12. Call to action. Make it extremely easy to say yes! Don't do this: "Send us an email with the answers to the following questions xxx, then register for xxx on the xx page. We will then get back to you with xxx, and" blah blah… Don't ask more than one question at this point. Do like this: Interested? register here: (email form). You can also create a simple email link with a pre-written subject line and message. 

13. There is something magical about a "Ps." - section right after the end of your offer. For some reason we tend to like a little extra info, right after the end. This could be a good place to have your Free product or service. E.g. answer already today and we'll send you a Free t-shirt.

14. Testimonials. The prospect has just read your offer and it makes a lot of sense, it sounds great actually BUT.."how will I know that this is really going to work for me?" 

By asking your customers to give you testimonials you show the following things: 1. That your company really exists 2. That some people have actually experienced this 3. That you actually have a successful business and much more. Testimonials means trust, your prospects also need to know that this is not fake: write the name of the person, maybe even with an image, professional title and city where he or she lives. If you want to really create a mind blowing testimonial, combine this with point no. 8.

Remember to use as many of these techniques in your offer as possible. Always in a smart way, your prospects are not stupid and nothing is so un-attractive as a too direct hard-sell. Make the points from this list subtle but still there, in a classy and thought-through way.

Jack's note:  If you want to see Ann's services, check out: Soderblom Design

Thanks Ann!

 

 

 

Pour Your Soul Into It

What do presenting and DJ-ing have in common?

As I recently discovered... a lot.

If you love your content, want to give it generously to the audience, and you arrive prepared, presenting and DJ-ing are both a blast!

A Little Background

Two months before the Toastmasters Fall European Conference (D59), the Basel organizers bought into my pitch: let me be the DJ for the post-gala dinner dance party.

Yep, DJ Jacko would spin the tunes.

Over the years, I had taken over the turntables and stereo equipment at many a party. But in Basel, this wasn't just a party. This was 250 people wanting to let it all hang out after a day-and-a-half of workshops, competitions, a gala dinner and award ceremony.

 

Outcome?

In my own view, it went great. A few things to improve upon, but overall a big success.

You may chuckle and say, "Come on, Jacko. A little more self-awareness." But I have three reasons for believing it went well.

1. It felt good.  Be as analytical as you want, but your own gut is something to be contemplated, too.
2. The dance floor was filled from the third song right through to the end.  (The first two songs were mood setters by design.)
3. The feedback was positive... and some of my fellow Toastmasters just couldn't believe an old guy me could rock the house! 

That doesn't sound very humble, I know. But back to Point 1. I had a tremendous buzz from beginning to end and, yeah I admit, from the feedback and comraderie afterwards.

And that's one of the great things about Toastmasters: the more you give, the more you get. I not only got compliments, I got great memories and a first DJ job in my CV. Yeah, look out DJ Bobo. DJ Jacko's on the rise!

So what are the similarities between a good presentation and a successful night of DJ-ing?

Content Is King

Yep. This has been my big focus as a Toastmaster specifically and as a presenter generally in recent years. Delivery is important, but it's my belief that great content is what puts you over the edge.

It's the same thing in DJ-ing. You could play it safe and just bang out cookie-cutter club music. You could boom-boom-boom the same beats and similar rhythms all night so that the masses just keep on keepin' on. Or you could inspire people with music, and content, that pulls at the heart and soul.

I went with music that has inspired me over the years and even over the recent weeks. And I didn't play it safe.

 

Sequence & Organization

A great presentation takes the audience on a journey. Why shouldn't a DJ's repertoire do the same thing?

I put a lot of preparation into selecting the music, and I put even more into sequencing it.

As soon as the award ceremony was over, I didn't want to force the dancing on everyone... at least not in the first two songs. The segue should be easy and unpretentious. So I started with a bit of loungy pieces with the type of rhythms that, I believe, built an expectation that something big was coming.

By Song 3, the train had left the station... and my fellow Toastmasters had left their chairs... for the dance floor. Fun, upbeat tunes to express one's self on the dance floor, a bit of Latin, a bit of funk, there was no turning back. We were partying.

But you can't hold that pace all night. So toward the middle, the journey had a sensuous, slow section so that humans could do what we long to do.

And then it was time to build toward the finale... a crescendo that had the place screaming past the moon, with no hope of earth's gravity holding them down.

Houston, we have a problem. We just passed Pluto!

 

Preparation

I alluded to this above, but I can't emphasize this enough. For a presentation, a pitch, or spinnin' music to inspire people to shake their booties and party like there's no tomorrow... preparation is critical.

If I would've shown up with a bunch of good songs and then started to assemble my playlist and sequence on the fly, it would've been a disaster. I had all of this prepared, including the cues -- the points at which you cut into and out of each song.

We had a few challenges just before "going live." But because I was prepared, I didn't have to worry about the actual presentation of the music at that point; I could focus wholly on solving the problem.

It's the same thing in a presentation or a sales pitch. Improvise at your own peril.

Pour Your Soul Into It

I'm sure you've noticed passion in a presentation or pitch. There are those who just go through the motions of getting the job done, and those who love their content so much that they want you, the audience, to love it, too.

Well, it's the same thing in DJ-ing. I love music. I love to dance, and I have so many dear friends and inspiring colleagues within Toastmasters District 59, that I gave this every ounce of my soul.

By the fifth song, I was enjoying it so much that I often went out and danced with everyone. I was inspired... and I couldn't hold back.

 

Don't Obsess Over a Mistake. They'll Forgive You!

I made a few errors. Early on, I wasn't happy with my fading/transitions between songs. No one seemed to notice, and I got better by that fifth song. And twice, while cueing up the next song in my headphones, I abruptly crashed away from the heart of the live song in progress into the middle of the cued up song.

What do you do in this situation? What else can you do? Push on.

Yep, when you're presenting and something doesn't go perfectly, don't belabor it. If it's minor, just push on. If it's major, acknowledge it with good humor and... yep, push on!

And so it was when I miscued. I looked up and saw an entire dance floor with startled looks and some even a bit disappointed because they were just finding their own groove with the previous song.

I just looked at everybody, laughed, shrugged my shoulders and yelled, "Oops!"

Within a few seconds, the next song had found its way into their souls and the journey continued, speed bump forgotten!

If your delivery is solid and your content is inspiring, your audience will forgive the small stuff and appreciate the big stuff.

 

It's a Virtuous Cycle

And that's just one more thing I love about Toastmasters. We're all there to bring out the best in each other. It's therefore inspiring to just keep giving.

So thank you Basel organizers again. Thank you District 59, Euro Toastmasters. And thank you fellow Toastmasters.

I poured my soul into it, and I felt your friendship and warm support every second of it.

And I have to admit, it was a blast watching everyone shake their booties, too!

 

Photo taken spontaneously by friend and Fellow Toastmaster Douglas MacKevett. Damn, I wish I would have thought to take a photo to show my view of all that booty shakin'.

 

Pitching & Presenting: If You're Not Smiling...

"Smile and the whole world smiles..."

My father has said this ever since I can remember. "Smile, and the whole world smiles with you."

It's good advice when pitching and presenting. If prospects smile with you, it's a safe bet that they're more engaged with you.

I know many presenters through Toastmasters, TEDx and my work in sales improvement. The best presenters openly admit they're not perfect, that they're continually improving something.

Humble self-awareness is the first prerequisite to improvement, and I hear more and more presenters say they sometimes catch themselves with serious looks on their faces.

I'm the first one to admit this. One positive of my presentations, I've been told and I believe, is that I'm intense and I usually deliver with high-impact. The downside of that is that I sometimes appear too serious and unapproachable.

I'm working on it, though. Are you?

If you're not smiling, you're probably scowling.

It's that simple.

A smile goes further than being visually noticed. It transcends into the voice.

Studies show that, over the telephone, we respond more positively to someone who delivers the same material while smiling than while being serious. Perhaps this is where the cold-calling best practice of "Smile and Dial" comes from.

So while you're rehearsing a pitch, pay attention to your facial expressions. They will send both a visual and verbal signal to your prospect. While a disingenous, forced smile will only hurt your cause, an occasional, genuine smile will make you look, sound and feel more engaging.

That's a subtle but powerful advantage.

Smile, and the whole world smiles with you.

More prospects might buy from you, as well.

 

Photo by Hiking Artist: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hikingartist/3515471358/ and http://hikingartist.com/ 

Another Killer Question

Three Things To Improve?

I had a great time chairing the Enterprise Marketing 2.0 Conference last week in Amsterdam, organized by KGS. Many of the speakers I introduced over the two days were leaders in social media and inbound marketing, so I learned a lot of relevant stuff!

When the conference was over, I was asked to present at a Meetup.com event, Influence Ecosystems, where I could discuss some of my own mojo.

So I highlighted my upcoming book, Sales Pitches That Snap, Crackle 'n Pop, because I firmly believe that as valuable as online marketing is, ultimately you have to get in front of prospects, physically, that is, if you're going to sell anything of significant value.

It led to an open, group conversation about face-to-face selling.  The topic of the killer question came up; that is: What are the best questions that a salesperson should ask a qualified buyer?

The answer is, it depends. It depends where you are in the sales process or, better yet, where the buyer is in her buying process.

One question I particularly like is, "What three things would you like to improve here?"

Of course, any such question should be within the scope of your product or services, as well as within the context of the conversation.

Asking for three things is effective because it's not too exhaustive, on the one hand. On the other hand, the answers could provide you a range of issues, allowing you to align at least one of them with your offerings.

Another benefit is that you might prompt the prospect to think in new areas and, consciously or unconsciously, she will feel that having you around is a benefit, that you are a resource.

Such questions also position you as the go-to partner instead of just another vendor. They earn you the subliminal title of trusted advisor.

Prepare questions like this as you prepare for meetings with prospects. Then use them as and when they fit into your customer-focused conversations.