The Answer is Always NO!

“Don’t ever let survey results of your business show that you didn’t ask for the sale. Ask every customer, every time.”

Tom Hopkins

Here are the top 3 reasons customers don’t buy.

• The salesperson lacks confidence in the value of the product.
• The salesperson lacks the requisite knowledge of how and when to ask for the sale.
• The salesperson doesn't really care whether or not I buy.

1

IF YOU:

• Discovered the customer’s problems and motivators by asking questions.
• Have the customer agreeing that your product and services would  solve his/her problem and needs.
• Gave value your product and services convincing the customer that they are worth more to him than the selling price. And it fits the investment they are comfortable making in their home.
• Resolved all objections.
•  Engaged this customer without compromise. They need you and you proved that to them. You are the person they must buy from.

1

DID YOU ASK?

• Are you with me so far?
• Do you see what I mean?
• Does that make sense?
• Would that work for you?
• Would that be a benefit in your situation?
• Do you have any questions so far?
• Does this seem to be the kind of solution you are looking for?
• What haven’t I covered yet that is important to you?
• Am I getting close to having a new client yet?

The bottom line is that asking questions - and then shutting up and listening – is still one of the most important things you can do either during the qualification stage or during the close.

The answer is always “NO” until you ask for the sale.

Otherwise what is the point? The customer may be left wondering “Does this salesperson really think I have nothing better to do with my time than hearing about this product?”

How does a customer say “NO”? Do you recognize them? Let’s discuss indicators. What have you learned to recognize as a NO?

Is it a NO or is it:

1.      An unresolved objection.

2.      Lack of confidence in you.

3.      Your body language when asking for the sale.

4.      Or something else.

It is vital for you to find out. You know where you stumbled during the engagement and where you nailed it. Fix it. If you need to know more about a product – do it. If you need to build your confidence – build it. If you need to listen more and talk less – do it. If you need to be asking more questions – practice. If you didn’t lead the process and left your customer take it like a runaway train – learn how to remain the guide. Hone your skills. Your customer is the winner! They are looking for someone like you! They work hard for their money and want to find someone who they trust to invest this money with.

How do you ask for the sale?

Give your customer the feeling of control by asking their permission and using choices for everything you want them to do. When you want people to act in a manner you wish them to, make it appear to them that it was their idea.

For example:

Which day would you like to meet next week, Monday or Tuesday?

Which would be better for you, to come into the store on Thursday or Friday?

Sally, with your approval right here (point to line and hand her your pen), we’ll welcome you to our family of satisfied clients and begin providing the finest in service and home furnishings.

Call it a standoff if you must.

Once you have given the price and ask for the sale then stop talking. Do not distract the customer from the instruction you’ve just given. Smile sincerely and wait expectantly. Expect him to hesitate, but don’t jump in and try to continue selling. You’ve already said and done everything necessary for him to rationalize the decision to go ahead. It’s time for your customer to do their part by putting his name on the invoice.

Sources: Entrepreneur.com, Eyes On Sales, National Association of Sales Professionals, Web Strategies Inc.

Game Changer Series No. 4 - Becoming More User Friendly

 

 

Why wouldn't we want to be user friendly? 

If the experience we provide isn't a happy one how, then are we serving our purpose? This applies to both our internal and external relationships.

Keep it simple and add value with every engagement. 

What matters?

Become intentional on adding value in our internal and external relationships. Internal meaning your fellow team members. External meaning our relationships with our customers, sales reps, subcontractors, network contacts, etc. Jim Rohn says the five people you spend the most time with is who you become. Who's in your network? Are you adding value to them?

How do I add value to others?

John Maxwell defines the five essential values of adding value to others:

• To add value to others I must first value myself. The more you consider yourself to be a valuable and worthwhile person, the more you consider others to be valuable and worthwhile as well.
• To add value to others I must value others. Every person has value, and to be people who live lives that matter, we need to intentionally value others and express that value to them. It's not optional if we desire to be significant.
• To add value to others I must value what others have done for me. Gratitude is the motivation for doing good things for others, and a positive attitude is what drives that action.
• To add value to others I must know and relate to what others value. Find a common ground. Be available to listen, ask questions, be thoughtful about connecting, be open to let people into your life, be likable, be humble - think of myself less so I can think of others more.
• To add value to others I must make myself more valuable. The idea of adding value to people is dependent on the fact that we have something of value to give them. To do that, you must continually grow and become more valuable.

Whew! Seems simplistic, but takes daily devotion and dedication. Adding value is a game changer is practiced daily. 

The Game Changer Series is a discussion-based series that I recently wrote and completed with a team of interior designers.

 

Sources: Intentional Living - Choosing a Life that Matters - Choosing a Life that Matters - John Maxwell, 6 Step to Creating a Game Changer - Mike Myatt (Forbes), The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin, Start with the Why - Simon Sinek, Visual Intelligence – Amy E. Herman, The Trendmaster’s Guide: The Trendmaster’s Guide from A-Z – Robyn Waters, 3 Questions to Ask Yourself About Everything you do – Stacey Abrams

Game Changer Series No. 3 - Ignite a Higher Caliber of Design

What is a higher caliber of design?

Higher caliber means achieving a greater level of quality, distinction, excellence, talent, expertise, and capacity. This needs to create a significant shift in the current manner of doing or thinking about something.

How does a person build a high caliber of design?

1. Create a voracious appetite to add to what you know regularly.

• Where will your significant shift be if you do this? (Quality and excellence.)
• "Sit with the winners, the conversation is different."
• "If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room."
• Expand your resources of learning.

2. Develop intentional anticipation.

• Where will  your significant shift be if you do this?
• "Anticipation is a wonderfully proactive and intentional word for seeking out significance." "People with anticipation plan to be significant." - John Maxwell
• Anticipation helps us generate good ideas.

3. Spend time in new places.

• Where will your significant shift be if you do this?
• Check your default mood before you visit.
• Make these places that have nothing to do with your industry.
• Look with fresh eyes. Listen with anticipation. A more astute observation can be subtle yet invaluable.

4. Find your verve.

• Where will your significant shift be if you do this?
• Practice approaching each day with zest, sparkle, fizz, dynamism, vigor, spirit, enthusiasm, gusto!
• What are your "aha verve moments" you can write down at the end of your day?

Create an experience that is so enticing that people look at it and say, "I want that"! Deliver the WOW! Resonate!

 

The Game Changer Series is a discussion-based series that I recently wrote and completed with a team of interior designers.

Sources: Intentional Living - Choosing a Life that Matters - Choosing a Life that Matters - John Maxwell, 6 Step to Creating a Game Changer - Mike Myatt (Forbes), The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin, Start with the Why - Simon Sinek, Visual Intelligence – Amy E. Herman, The Trendmaster’s Guide: The Trendmaster’s Guide from A-Z – Robyn Waters, 3 Questions to Ask Yourself About Everything you do – Stacey Abrams

Game Changer Series No. 2 - Becoming More Visually Intelligent

 

What is being visually intelligent?

Increasing your visual intelligence strengthens your ability to visualize, remember images and details, and your awareness of your surroundings.

We are not referring to the application of visual-spatial intelligence which refers to the ability to visualize and represent the outer world in your mind and replicate those images in the exact way that they feature. This is duplication. For example - someone who is good at directions has see the route of a trip for from a GPS-directed path, but has visually memorized the nature of the path - so will refer to landmarks, curves in the road, know the number of traffic lights, and so on Their directions repeated to someone will be filled with these vivid details.

Becoming more visually intelligent in relation to a game changer - a significant shift in the current manner of doing or thinking about something has a different application more relevant to sales and design. This refers to learning to look. Really look.

Strengthening our visual intelligence is to "make it a habit to notice, really notice what takes your breath away, stimulates your senses, ignites your passion, inspires awe and delivers delight.".

Why become more visually intelligent?

Quite simply - it means leaning into your "why". We cannot do this without evolving our sales and design approaches. Stale and tattered does not deliver our purpose. Mundane and ordinary is not a catalyst to change an environment. The wrong default mood does not create our purpose.

How do we become more visually intelligent?

As Robyn Waters writes, "Make it a habit to notice, really notice what takes our breath away, stimulates your senses, ignite your passion, inspires awe and delivers delight." Then we "keep track, write it down, make a sketch, start a file, but whatever you do, don't lose it."

We ask ourselves:

• what do I have in front of me?
• what isn't there?
• what's important?
• what do I need?
• what don't I need?

Then we: 

• articulate - put it in writing.
• make a decision.

"Find visual connections where they may not be apparent. We need to understand the consequences of what it is we observe. And we need to convert observable details into actionable knowledge. It's easy to miss or even dismiss what's obvious as being of no great consequence." Amy E. Herman

 

 

 

 

The Game Changer Series is a discussion-based series that I recently wrote and completed with a team of interior designers.

Sources: Intentional Living - Choosing a Life that Matters - Choosing a Life that Matters - John Maxwell, 6 Step to Creating a Game Changer - Mike Myatt (Forbes), The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin, Start with the Why - Simon Sinek, Visual Intelligence - Amy E. Herman, The Trendmaster’s Guide: The Trendmaster’s Guide from A-Z – Robyn Waters, 3 Questions to Ask Yourself About Everything you do – Stacey Abrams

Game Changer Series No. 1 - Default Mood

Game Changer Series Module No. 1 - Default Mood
Let's start with talking about a default mood. What is yours when you begin each day or face a new challenge? What is yours right now as we begin this series? How much of your default mood do you allow to be controlled by others around you?

Do you know that the power of action changes our thoughts? Gretchen Rubin calls it "fake it until you feel it". It is a scientific fact that we can rewire our brain, reshape our mindset. So as we move through this series to discover our individual to discover our individual game changers, as well as our team game changers let's be aware of our default mood and whether that is a roadblock to game changing.

"Ever wonder how people come up with the proverbial big idea? They work at it. Put simply, the best leaders proactively focus on pursuing game changers. They're never satisfied with the ordinary and mundane." Mike Myatt

Together let's have the guts to do something different. I want stark raving fans. I want loyal customers. I want every experience for our clients to be filled with verve. It takes game changers.

Significant Shift
A game changer "effects a significant shift in the current manner of doing or thinking about something."

In order to determine our game changers we need to know our "why" - our purpose. Now what are the game changers that will affect a significant shift in how you do that?




The Game Changer Series is a discussion-based series that I recently wrote and completed with a team of interior designers.

Sources: Intentional Living - Choosing a Life that Matters - Choosing a Life that Matters - John Maxwell, 6 Step to Creating a Game Changer - Mike Myatt (Forbes), The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin, Start with the Why - Simon Sinek, Visual Intelligence – Amy E. Herman, The Trendmaster’s Guide: The Trendmaster’s Guide from A-Z – Robyn Waters, 3 Questions to Ask Yourself About Everything you do – Stacey Abrams

Forecasting - Why in the World do we Need a Weatherman?

Forecasting: v. calculate in advance, to contrive or plan beforehand, prearrange a statement of what is most likely to happen in the future, a planning tool.

It is important to note that forecasting is a verb, an action word. And most importantly, a planning tool.

Every one of us relies heavily on a forecast. For example, how often do you check the weather on a daily basis?  There are websites devoted to nothing but weather, cable channels dedicated to weather 24/7, and a demand for a weatherman with a personality (and sometimes appearance) so alluring and attractive that we forgive them when we don't like what they are forecasting. But why in the world do we need a weatherman?

Let's review life without forecasting.

Example #1

At a recent visit to your doctor a variety of tests were run to determine a prognosis for your aliment. His/Her office called to set up an appointment to talk about the results. Here is what the doctor tells you at that appointment: "based on the test results I recommend we schedule you for surgery. What date and time works for you?" The surgery is scheduled.

(Obviously there are unknowns. Isn't a bit of forecasting needed? Isn't it expected?)

Example #2

You have worked hard and saved every extra penny, you meet with your travel agent to book your dream vacation. Your travel agent says okay your vacation is booked here are the dates. 

(Wait, what? Where am I going?)

Example #3 

She said Yes! You tell your wedding party the outdoor wedding and reception are next weekend. 

(Alrighty then.)

Example #4

I visited that store this weekend - the one I have been struggling to find the time to visit and saw beautiful things. I was so overwhelmed; in the past I purchased things for this room and just have never been happy. But, yeah! I met this friendly designer there and we chatted about my room, we even sketched it out! The designer said they could help me with the design of the room, so I scheduled an appointment for them to come out to my home, because that was what the designer suggested.

(It's the same night as the landscape designer is coming. Look at me kicking butt with my schedule!)

These examples seem humorous and maybe a tad absurd. But why? Because in sales our expectations have become buried in our routines. To guarantee success we know listening is key. Add to that forecasting. Whatever the product we are selling, forecasting is an important step. If we are planning for a successful close there are several factors that are the predictors and one is whether the forecasts can affect the thing we are trying to forecast. 

Review the examples above again. Doesn't it ring true that the success of any of these events depend on how well things have been forecast? How well we understand the factors that contribute to it?

Forecasting is about predicting the future as accurately as possible, given all the information available. Forecasting is not to be shrugged off; otherwise you may as well just toss a coin. 

Don't confuse forecasting with planning and goals. Goals are what you would like to happen. Goals should be linked to forecasting and plans. Planning is a response to forecasts and goals.