Sales Training Motivational Speaker | Gavin Ingham» Ask Gavin

Has Selling Changed? Is It Time For Out With The Old & In With The New?

Gavin Ingham — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 10:43:23 +0000

A lot of people over the last few weeks have been talking about “the best ways” to locate new customers and clients. A lot of people think that the strategies required have changed and that many of the old strategies don’t work anymore.

Out with the old, in with the new?

Not really. I agree that there are many “new ways” of reaching prospects and customers…

I have a LinkedIn account and a LinkedIn group (Sales Psychology & Performance if you want to have a look). I have a Youtube channel, I Twitter, I have a sales training blog and was blogging well before most other’s in the market place. I have numerous other social media profiles which I don’t use as much and I am also looking at the newest trends all of the time. I love to use the new ways and embrace change…

However, I think there is a real danger of throwing out what was and is still good about the old in chasing the new with comments like this one that someone made on one of my groups the other day when talking about traditional sales methods in particular prospecting…

“…you’ll be missing the 90%+ of the market that don’t buy like that…”

I am always suspicious of statistics but that one just looks wrong to me. To start with, if I only look at my own stats, I can see that my business comes from multiple sources. It does not just come from cold calling, or from blogging, or from videos, or from article marketing, or from networking, or from referrals, or from sales meetings…

In fact, most of my clients and prospects travel through multiple touch points before buying i.e. “Well I saw you on a video programme where you were a guest expert, then I read one of your articles in a (traditional print) magazine, then someone said something about you at a networking event. I always thought I might book you for my team but then I changed roles and someone sent me a copy of your newsletter and so I came to one of your seminars and then I thought “Wow!” I need this guy for my next sales conference.”

Furthermore, it is indeed amazing how much of it still comes from traditional sources… speaking, referrals (proactive and reactive), word of mouth, recommendations, networking, traditional sales… with a kicker that most have read my blog after they found me, or watched my Youtube videos or checked me out on LinkedIn etc.

There are some markets where many sales are made using totally new ways of selling and there are some where no-one is buying this way. I am constantly amazed by how many of my paying clients do not have video enabled on their PCs, do not use Twitter and have failed to respond to invites to any of my online groups or communities.

The only “new way” they respond to is my email newsletter (permission based but the only one that interrupts them) and then they won’t post a blog answer on my website, they prefer to email me their thoughts and questions instead.

The new way of selling is here. The new way of making contacts and differentiating yourself from the market is here but it is not about new methodologies…

The new way of selling is about adding value for your clients. The new way is about better engaging your clients. The new way is about caring about your clients and their businesses. The new way is about focusing on your clients and not on you. And if you can use new media to do this, that’s great.

But the new way of selling is not about activity, it is about mindset. Selling is an attitude that leaves behind a trail of techniques.

It is misleading to assume then that the old methods do not work anymore. When you apply the new mindset to them they work incredibly well but too few people (know how to) do this and therefore fail miserably.

After my cold calling seminar of last week, someone Twittered the next day to say they had already set up 4 meetings. After my cold calling seminar of Tuesday this week, someone already emailed me to say they would never have thought that they would be the person emailing me at all let alone saying that they had set up 5 appointments the very next day.

The old ways still work when you use the new mindset and new technologies to pimp them up.

It is also worth noting that many people using the new technologies do not have the new mindset and are just spamming anyway. The vast majority of comments and discussions posted in my communities are by people who ought to know better saying “go look at my seminar” or “see this article I wrote and spammed across every group”. They are no better than old school, bad, cold callers and I believe will be looked upon as the same in time. They add no value to their groups, no value to their communities, no value to their readers and this approach will not work long term.
Someone said to me the other day that I am the only person who consistently gives away stuff of value. This is clearly not true and I could name others who do too but it says a lot about the state of how people perceive the way people are using these new mediums.

People are unsubscribing from social media. People are clicking off from newsletters. People do not have the time to take part in discussions a lot of the time. I only need to look at the number of people who ring me and speak to me about booking me for a conference and who then fail to respond to emails. When I pick the phone up to them they invariably say, “I meant to call you,” and then book me.

And if every person out there started blogging, Twittering, Facebooking and videoing, firstly, many would just be no good at it and, secondly, no-one would be able to find anything worthwhile through the white noise…

So...

The expectation of salespeople has to change. The approaches you take have to change. The mindset you have has to change.

We have to add value. We have to utilise multiple routes to market. We have to employ new strategies, old strategies and hybrid strategies.

We have to use what works.

It’s not out with the old in with the new. It’s embrace the new, pimp up the old and mash up the lot to come up with a viable approach that connects and adds value for your clients. And this should include whatever strategies, old or new, that work best for you.

Does Cold Calling Work, 2?

Gavin Ingham — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 01:32:02 +0000

I hope that you’re having a good week, speaking to lots of new clients and winning lots of new business. I want to start this blog post by asking you a question, “What do you think about cold calling?” Now by asking that, what I don’t mean is do you like being rung at home when you’re eating your dinner (tea for us Northerners) and someone trying to sell you timeshares? No, what I mean is, “Do you think cold calling works?”

Now I know that this is a very divisive question. It’s divisive for a whole variety of reasons. It’s divisive because everyone has so many opinions, ideas and beliefs about whether cold calling is coming, going, works, doesn’t work, is ethical, is unethical, is powerful, is a waste of time…

And not everyone can be right, can they?

Or can they? As a sales motivational speaker and sales author I get to work with salespeople of all flavours and I have clients from all industries from car sales to insurance sales, from park home sales to engineering sales, from pharmaceutical sales to financial sales and pretty much everything sales inbetween. And on my travels I see people who win lots and lots of new business by picking up the phone and making appointments with key new prospects and many, many people who fail miserably too.

And whilst I agree that cold calling is more relevant for some industries than others and more relevant for some products than others and it is most definitely not right in all situations, I have met salespeople from all walks of industry who use it effectively. I’ve also worked with them and seen the results.

You see, most of the time, it’s not the industry or the product, it’s the salesperson and the sales system that makes the difference.

Melody proved this on The Apprentice (UK) last night when she picked up a mobile in the back of a car in France (!) and set up 6 appointments. But could the others Apprentices repeat her success?

Nope.

What did she have that the others didn’t? How did she approach prospects that got results where others failed?

Why do some people in your office get great results on the phone and others get only mediocre results… or worse?

Sure, we could get into an argument about what a cold call is. We could debate whether your call should be called a cold call at all if you’ve done the right research and weaved it into your call effectively. We could discuss the percentage of your time you should spend on the phone versus utilising other methods of contacting or attracting new clients…

And that would be useful but it would not change the facts. Cold calling works when done right. And you may not want to do it. And you may not want to hear it but that’s the way it is.

Someone once asked me why I blogged and why I used Twitter and why I networked if cold calling was so effective? And that’s the problem here. People want to say something has replaced something else. It’s black and white. It’s either or. But it’s not…

My answer was simple. “I do what works. I do a combination of things designed to consistently bring me in business. I do the ones that work. As long as they work I use them. And when they don’t, I will change what I am doing or stop.”

I have a highly refined new business sales system based on sales mindset, structure and language. The call engages clients by focusing on them not you. If you’re interested, read some more of my blog posts on cold calling and selling in general or watch a video or two. Better still, why not come to one of my No Fear Cold Calling seminars? If you want to eliminate fear of cold calling, get the mindset for success, better engage with your clients, set up more appointments and win more new business then it is a must attend.

Have You Got A Question About Sales?

Gavin Ingham — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 09:53:09 +0000

On my travels as a sales motivational speaker I meet a lot of salespeople, entrepreneurs and business owners who have questions about sales or selling but no-one to ask to get the answers. Some questions I get asked on a seemingly daily basis whereas others are rarer, more specialist or more complex. On of the challenges salespeople have is not knowing who to ask or where to look for the answer.

To try and help with this I am currently creating a list of questions that you have about sales and or selling. These could be on any subjects from mindset and motivation to prospecting and cold calling, from sales 2.0 to creating a sales message, from engaging clients to negotiating, from making sales presentations to closing the deal, or from how any of my specific sales approaches work to how to utilise the power of sales linguistics to make more sales.

Whatever your question (or questions) I’d love to hear them. You can let me know about your questions in multiple ways but the two simplest would be through the comments section below or via the contact page.

Ask away!

Question: “In A World Of Social Media, Is There Any Room For Cold Calling?”

Isn’t Under-Promising Going To Cost Me The Deal?

Gavin Ingham — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:29:05 +0000

On my recent Sales Apprentice blog, I was asked the following question (see below). I get asked quite a lot of questions via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and of course my success blog and it would take up all of my time to answer all of them however I do try and utilise the themes for later blog posts.

Some however are best picked up separately and this I felt was one of them as it is a question that I get asked in one form or another quite a lot when I am speaking at conferences or talking with clients…

Long time reader of these blogs but first time posting. I’m a big fan of the Apprentice, although I think the programme’s claims that the contestants rank among the ‘best business brains in Britain’ is a little far-fetched! That said, it’s one of the only shows that I and my better half can watch together (Desperate Housewives doesn’t do it for me, nor is Top Gear or Match of the Day really her cup of tea!).

My question to you, based on the above blog, is this. ‘Under-promise and over-deliver’ is often cited as one of the key strategies of successful salespeople, and in theory it makes perfect sense. However, when selling in a highly competitive marketplace (recruitment for me, although I think this applies to any competitive, non-commodity based selling) I can’t help but feel that by under-promising there is plenty of potential for a salesperson to lose out by appearing to fail to offer the same quality of service that the competition are offering. Agreed, those competitors are probably over-egging their ability, but how is the client to know this? Surely if one person is saying to a prospect ‘I can deliver this with bells on’ and the other is saying ‘I can probably deliver but I can’t guarantee anything at this stage,’ the client is more likely to go with what looks, on the face of it, to be a safe bet.

Thanks for taking the time to ask this question. I would totally agree with you about the claims made on The Apprentice (and in real life). The programme really should come with one of those fast, low-talking, legal messages like they have on the finance ads, “Warning! All claims made by Apprentii may or may not be true. Viewers may be disappointed by candidates’ inability to follow through on any of their plans.”

As an aside, I understand the frustration of looking for joint programmes. In our house Desperate Housewives vs Match of the Day sit firmly on opposite sides of the fence and The Apprentice is a safe bet. We also like legal stuff and quite enojoyed Silk recently…

Regarding your question, and it’s a good one…

I understand your fear about the “under-promise, over-deliver” mantra. And your fear about losing the deal to someone promising the earth. Leaving aside the fact that if a company constantly promises the earth and fails to deliver they will create a poor repuatation and consequently will lose business in the long term, we also have to consider the fact that companies are sick and tired of hearing bragging, boasting salespeople.

It’s not what we say that makes the sale, it’s the sales process and the sales conversation.

‘I can deliver this with bells on’ vs. ‘I can probably deliver but I can’t guarantee anything at this stage.’

Under-promising and over-delivering is a way of living it is not a line! If you constantly deliver more than you promised then your clients will become raving fans. But all of this takes time and commitment and needs to be attached to the right sales approach. It needs to be attached to the right conversations. It needs to be attached to the right relationships.

Most clients start from a place of thinking that salespeople are going to add little to no value to the sales process. They start from a place where they believe salespeople will get in and close the deal, saying anything to secure the commission to fund their next BMW or their caffeine habit. For this reason, they pay little attention to your claims or your details and therefore postitive “exaggeration” as you put it can sometimes seem more useful than simple honesty.

But this need not and should not be the case.

The best salespeople come from an ethos of wanting to help. They come from a land of “how can I add value?” They hail from a hometown of openness and honesty.

This is not a matter of using one line or another, it is a powerful philosophy and a way of being. Sales superstars genuinely don’t focus on the individual deal because they know that they add value and they know that they will form powerful relationships with the right clients. And they do enough prospecting / marketing / awareness / adding value that they always have opportunities.

So under-promising starts with mindset and genuninely caring about your client or prospect. It follows through with understanding why someone would buy not convincing them to buy. And it continues by knowing your market, knowing how you add value, working hard and never pushing people to buy when it’s not right.

When you have lowered the barriers to communication normally present in the sale and your prospect trusts you, they will respect your your honesty and connect with you to work out together whether or not you should do business now or in the future…

What Is Brainstorming?

Gavin Ingham — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 22:48:11 +0000

What is brainstorming? What does it mean to you? What does it actually mean? Who uses it? And why should you care? Let’s start off with a Dictionary.com definition shall we…

Brain•storm•ing
Spelled[breyn-stawr-ming]
–noun
a conference technique of solving specific problems, amassing information, stimulating creative thinking, developing new ideas, etc., by unrestrained and spontaneous participation in discussion.

Origin: 1955–60

OK. So, and just incase you haven’t got it, brainstorming is a way of coming up with ideas, the whole point of which is to throw everything out there so that you can chew on it and see what you come up with.

Some of the things you come up with will be nonsense (unrestrained and spontaneous). Some will be great. Some will be rubbish. And some might be useable somewhere at some point… or not.

Brainstorming is a fantastic technique, not only for the ideas and concepts that it throws up but also for the way it can and should involve everyone (participation). Brainstorming is a “safe” task to perform for everyone involved because you can do and say no wrong.

Apparently, no-one bothered to tell Lord Sugar, Nick Hewer and Karen Brady this and tonight, and not for the first time, they introduced “blame culture” to brainstorming on the TV show The Apprentice (when one of the contestants was blamed for the failure of a task due to coming up with the idea in a brainstorming session).

As a business leader, as an entrepreneur and as a salesperson you have to harness the power of your team and their ideas… without blame and without censure. Your team need to feel that they can say anything, that they will be heard, that their participation will be valued and that they will not be disciplined for saying the wrong things.

And then they will get involved. They will share their ideas, the good and the bad. Censure them and they will shut up and then you will get nothing from them.

Once you have ideas, it’s down to you to work out which ideas work, which don’t, develop the right ones, lose the bad ones, do due diligence and take the right decisions and actions.

Rant over.