Ike Krieger’s Language of Success

Hello,

I’ve been away for a while. I hope your summer went well.

The sales tune-up program has been well received and I’ll let you know when it will be offered again.

Over the past couple of months I’ve been working with clients that wanted to present themselves and their business more profitably and more confidently.

You’re probably aware that the way you present yourself or your business can be the deciding factor between business success and unnecessary frustration and stress.

In this crazy economy you have to set yourself apart from your competition… in a good way.

How you present yourself, the words you use, the answers you give, and the questions you ask can make a big difference

My suggestion for this post is that you develop a set of talking points (at least two or three) that relate to the problems you solve. Your task is to develop information gathering questions that you can ask and responses to the questions of others that relate directly to those points.

Identify your “talking points” questions and responses and practice weaving them into your business conversations. (Remember… less is more.)

Contact me if you’d like coaching for you or your organization on the most effective way to complete this vital exercise.

Do you manage the buying process… before you start to sell?

If you don’t… you should.

When you manage the buying process… you’ll close more sales in a fraction of the time.

You don’t have to change the way you sell when you manage the buying process…but you do have to approach the sales conversation from a totally different perspective.

Selling is usually thought to be a process in which you give a pitch or a presentation that lets prospects know about the solutions you can provide… and then hope your solutions apply. This is the same mindset that compels you to offer a proposal without assurances that it will be accepted.

Here’s the tip:

Before you start offering anything… let’s put first things first… and find out if what you sell makes sense for the prospect to buy.

You want to discover early on if the prospect is a qualified candidate for your offering. Before you start to sell you must help your prospect identify the issues that would help or hinder the decision to buy.

This step must take place before you offer, or agree to prepare a time consuming proposal or give a stress producing presentation. And again… this step must take place before you start to sell.

To your success

Do you sell too soon?

If you start to sell too soon… YOU become one of the main causes of objections.

Although you may be effective at handling objections, I’m sure you’d rather avoid them.

In most cases you start the sales process by presenting information that you believe will lead to a sale.

Your prospects are listening, digesting your information, and trying to figure out how your ideas and solutions will impact their business… and their wallet. This creates a speed-bump in the decision making process.

Your information functions like an ignition switch that activates your prospects’ concerns and questions. These concerns and questions most likely show up in the form of objections and stalls.

Issues and concerns that might keep your prospect from buying must be addressed before you begin to sell.

Your willingness and ability to address these issues and concerns up front… by asking the right questions… is THE vital stage of a successful sales process.

Here’s the tip:

Enter into an authentic conversation with your prospect before you begin to sell.

Ask questions that provide both of you with enough information to clear a pathway to “yes”… or uncover a “no” that was going to happen anyway. You must do this before you start pitching, presenting, or proposing. This step will make your sales efforts less stressful and more profitable, guaranteed.

To your success,

Ike

I always talk about how you should stop selling and start helping your prospect buy.

The easiest way to help your prospect buy is through the use of well formed open-ended questions.

I think I need to be clearer on the role of open ended questions. Some think that these questions are to be used as a way to get your prospect to buy. Not so.

I’m on a quest to make this part of my system more understandable and easier to use… so try this on…

These well formed, open-ended questions are designed to help your prospect uncover and clarify any and all of the issues that might stimulate… or prevent a sale. Your questions should help them come to terms with all of the issues that are involved in their buying process.

These issues usually include perceived needs, past solutions, the decision making process, and current budget. All issues inside of what I call the “sales minefield” must be addressed before you start to sell.

This is what I mean when I say you need to clear a pathway to yes.

Here are a couple of questions to ask yourself:

What conditions need to be satisfied before your prospect would be willing to buy, and what help do they need in satisfying those conditions?

Your answers will help you identify the right questions to ask.

I’ll be sharing more about how to use good questions to manage the buying process over the next few weeks.

All my best,

Ike

P.S. I’m really interested in your feedback on this post. Please leave a comment.

You know the gut feeling you get when something just doesn’t feel right to you. I felt it yesterday. 

Half-way through a phone conversation with a prospect I decided that a fit was nearly impossible. 

Even though they were interested… my intuition and experience told me to pass on the job. I did.

The call reminded me of this excerpt from page 137 of the Language of Success Training Manual. 

You have enough problems with your non-problem clients.

To take on a client that you know is going to be a problem is insanity.

That’s why it’s so important to focus your energy, time, and money on those individuals who have the capability to make the investment in your product or service… and fully understand how it will benefit and affect their business.

You can probably think of a time that you took on a client because that was your job…

You felt you HAD TO take them on.

You KNEW intuitively that you shouldn’t take them on.

And… You did ANYWAY.

What are your memories of that relationship?

What was your profit?

Here’s the tip: 

Break the habit of taking on problem clients in order to solve YOUR problem… Unless your job description is RESCUE WORKER… you shouldn’t be a rescue worker.

Talk to you soon.

Ike

P.S. Remember to leave your thoughts or comments below

What do you say to yourself about your product or service?

What factor does this internal dialogue play on your sales results?

I had a client who sold Jaguar Automobiles. He was having a tough time meeting his own sales expectations let alone the expectations of his sales manager. It was suggested by his manager that he talk to me.

He called and we began a conversation. After a few minutes I asked this question.

“You seem talented and smart. What’s preventing you from selling more Jaguars?”

His reply was immediate. “They’re just too damn expensive”.

“Too expensive for whom?”, was my follow up.

“They’re just too expensive”, he repeated.

“Have you sold any cars yet?”, I asked.

He said “Sure”.

I asked him, “So, why did the people buy them if they were so expensive?”

As he replied his eyes lit up. He got it. “They weren’t expensive to them.”

See what I mean? His own internal dialogue was killing most of his sales.

I reminded him, “Just because you believe something is true— doesn’t make it true— It just makes it true for you.”

What internal dialogue do you have about your product or service that might be sneaking out and killing your sales?

“Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.”
– Bhagavad Gita (c. BC 400), Sanskrit poem incorporated into “Mahabharata,” classic of Hinduism

In my quest to make the world a safer place for salespeople, I realized that it’s been a while since I talked about one of my favorite topics… business networking.

Based on a recent experience, I thought now would be the perfect time to remind you of the following:

No selling at networking events.

I attended a Chamber of Commerce mixer a few days ago and was struck by how much “selling” was going on.

As I made the rounds I found my eyes drawn to one of the many “get acquainted” conversations in progress.

One of the participants in the conversation was a lady with a handful of tri-fold brochures. She was talking quickly and gesturing emphatically.

Read the rest of this entry »

I was the keynote speaker at a major Southern California conference of Realtors.

During the presentation I invited each member of the audience to write a specific piece of information on the back of their business card.

I asked them to write down what that they felt to be the number one factor that SET THEM APART from their competition… and then I asked them to pass those cards to the front of the room. I had my assistant compile the responses.

The result of this exercise turned out to be quite revealing.
 

Read the rest of this entry »

Television shows that do makeovers are the rage. Your house can get a makeover…. and so can your body. Your ride can get “pimped” (that’s what some slick TV exec decided to call a makeover on your car). On one MSNBC program…your business plan is the subject of the makeover.

What are these shows really providing? These surprisingly popular programs provide you with new choices. Some of these choices are different enough from what “you already know” that you might not think of them if you never view the show.

Well, how about a sales makeover? What benefit would it be to have at least a couple of new choices designed to make your sales efforts more enjoyable and more profitable?

Follow the link to download a sales makeover case study that will shed some light on the types of choices available.

Download your copy of The Make Over Story here

After you check it out, let me know what you got out of it by leaving some comments below.

The tele-seminar on creating a simple business plan was recently held.

Based on the types of questions, and the great comments from the participants, I think the session was helpful… and necessary.

We weren’t taught how to do this type of planning in school, and you know I’m accurate when I say that.

Bottom line, I get calls from people all the time who want to hire me… and when I ask them how my type of training fits into their plan…. there’s usually a long pause before they say, “I don’t really have a plan, I just know we need more business.”

If you have a plan before you hire me or another consultant, you’ll help us do a better job and you’ll save valuable time and dollars in the process.

Author, Lewis Carrol said it perfectly in his book Alice in Wonderland, “If you don’t know where you you want to end up… then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.”

It’s time to create your plan. Read the rest of this entry »