Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • May 21, 2018 • Hartford Business Journal 21 TALKING POINTS Strategic changes for closing more sales By John Graham F or most of us, what we learn first sticks with us for a long time, often throughout our lives, including nursery rhymes and what we consider right and wrong. The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree. It happens to salespeople, too. Because our early training is indelible, it stays with us to guide us. But new demands and expectations call for strategic changes to keep up, stay relevant and close more sales. Here are five of them: Change your thinking about what you know Salespeople are known for being sure (sometimes overly sure) of themselves. Although it takes self-confidence to keep going, it also has a risky down- side. It can lead to believing we know more than we do. And nothing kills sales faster than arrogance. A website de- signer's creativ- ity gave him an initial edge with a prospective client. In spite of his obvious talent, he lost the job. His presentation was his downfall. It was obvious he had not taken the time to understand the organization or its services. He was so focused on what he was selling, he didn't have a clue as to what his prospect wanted to buy. Change the way you prepare presentations Do you think you're at a place where you can "wing it" or all you need to do to get ready for a presentation is to make a few notes, a quick outline, or go over it in your mind? If so, you're delud- ing yourself and shortchanging your employer and your customers. You may be good, but you're not that good. Change the way you present While presentations may have several objectives, they all have one overriding goal: engaging the participants. Unless that happens, a presentation may be interesting and informative, but it's not a home run. Something is missing. For a presentation to be a winner, it must be interactive — participatory. To invite the participants to interrupt you by raising their hand to ask a ques- tion and then to pick up the thread and continue takes confidence. But it also sends the message that the participants shape the presentation. This may sound dangerous but it's well worth the risk. Change your persuasion strategy There are still salespeople who say, "If I can just get in front of prospects, that's all I need to close them." If you want to give it a name, call it "the power of persuasion." They build their case in a way that leads prospects to the logical conclusion that their only reasonable response is saying "yes." Such a sales strategy is still popular; however, more and more of today's con- sumers and business buyers don't buy it. They push back, feeling they're being "set up," "manipulated" or "pushed." Today, push is out; pull is in. To influ- ence buying behavior today takes a sales environment in which customers can de- cide if they want to do business with you. Change how you relate to customers Even though companies continue preaching a customer loyalty message, they may be deceiving themselves. For example, Accenture's research indicates that 99 percent of retailers claim their loyalty programs perform at or above expectations, even though 71 percent of shoppers argue that such programs do not result in loyalty. The trend is toward "tentative" or quid pro quo loyalty. "As long as you give me what I want, I'll be loyal. If that changes, so will I." This is the message. Clearly performance-based relation- ships are taking over. What counts today are consistently good customer experience, convenience, an easy payment process, new and innovative products, customer service (phone, in-person or online, according to a Blackhawk Network study). Even if they are an Amazon Prime customer paying $99 a year, custom- ers don't think twice about buying it for less elsewhere, particularly if there's free delivery. Clearly, perfor- mance-based relationships trump everything, including loyalty. They say change is inevitable. If it's true, then there's no better place to start than with ourselves. John Graham of GrahamComm is a marketing and sales strategy consultant and business writer. Contact him at jgraham@grahamcomm.com or johnrgraham.com. HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM POLL LAST WEEK'S POLL RESULT: Will higher gas prices make you travel less this summer? NEXT WEEK'S POLL: Will Connecticut adopt legalized sports betting in the wake of the Supreme Court's recent decision to allow it? To vote, go online to hartfordbusiness.com BIZ BOOKS How to turn ideas into inventions, startups By Jim Pawlak "Creativity Rules: How to Get Ideas out of Your Head and into the World" by Tina Seelig (Harper One, $14.99). Seelig, a Stan- ford University professor, invites you into her "Invention Cycle" class, which helps entrepreneurs focus from inspiration through execution. Here are my class notes: Imagination involves unmet needs, which are often based upon "there's a void" experiences. Logan Green found a void in the U.S. mobility market while vacationing in Zimbabwe. He observed drivers picking up and drop- ping off people continually along their route to wherever. Upon his return to the U.S., he started Zimride — which we now know as Lyft. Seelig advocates for rigid product- development time constraints. Less time forces people to think creatively, which leads to better products. By spending less time (without sacrificing quality) the product comes to market quickly and the company can obtain cus- tomer feedback. Customer input can be used to develop "new and improved." Visualization (i.e. vivid, highly detailed images and run-throughs of planned actions) plays a critical role. Seelig encourages entrepreneurs to write and illustrate stories about com- pleting their world. As people write, the depth of plot expands as does the detail of the illustrations. She provides a story template. Creating what's-next stories widens frame of reference because the plot demands more information; you can alter the storyline and the ending based upon the additional information you find. This translates to real-world flexibility and adaptability. As reality unfolds, it's time to write a sequel. Seelig's message: "Entrepreneurs can do much more than imaginable with much less than seems possible." 55.6% No 44.4% Yes READER COMMENTS: "The difference is not going to be significant enough not to travel." "It will mean that I'll spend less on something else — probably a cheaper lunch/dinner while traveling. There is only so much money and if more goes for something like gas, then there is less for something else." "Rising gasoline prices can be an indicator of an upcoming recession as it did before the 2001 and 2008 recessions." John Graham Jim Pawlak Book Review

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