Sales Skills – Often Unappreciated

Recently I attended a planning session for a not-for-profit service organization. There was much discussion about how to improve their service delivery, and some discussion on their marketing and promotion efforts to make people more aware of the group’s services. 

One of the participants mentioned that the group needed to improve how they market and sell their modestly priced services. There was some quite negative reaction to the term ‘sell.’ One participant said, in a disparaging tone, that he doesn’t ‘sell’ what the agency offers, he lets the prospect decide.

Doesn’t a customer, or prospect, always decide? I don’t understand the negative reaction to selling, and I certainly don’t believe that anybody in that organization bullies or tricks prospects, but instead does allow the prospect to decide.

Ensuing discussion revealed some further negative attitudes towards sales, and particularly towards “hard selling.”   I did my best with the group to reframe the act of selling, which I’ve seen best described as ‘the generous act of offering a solution to a customers problem.”  Previously I wrote about a problem I had, learning about an available solution, and waiting and wanting to be invited to buy.

https://gycz.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-gift-of-someone-elses-enthusiasm.html

The Hard Sell

Does hard selling exist these days?   Best selling author Daniel Pink doesn’t think so.  In the article below he states that we’re all in sales these days, and the wide availability of information makes hard selling obsolete;

          “Pitching ideas in meetings, asking the boss for a raise, trying to raise money from investors. … at some level, we're all in sales now."

 

On information parity killing the “hard sell” and the emergence of the buyers market;

“"Most of what we know about sales was built for a world of information asymmetry — the seller always had more information than the buyer. Twenty years ago, when [David] Mamet wrote that play that [was] made into a movie, when you walked into a Chevy dealer, the Chevy dealer knew a heck of a lot more about cars than you ever could ... you didn't have the adequate information.”

https://www.npr.org/2012/12/31/168132488/death-of-the-predatory-salesman-these-days-its-a-buyers-market

 

Open Ended Questions

I have worked in sales.  In other roles I’ve recognized that part my responsibility was to sell ideas, investment, participation and more. 

The most successful sales people are skilled at asking open ended questions.  For example, a question to a prospective customer such as “what questions do you have?” invites the prospect to share interest areas or concerns.  Simple follow-ups such as “why,’ or “tell me more about that” will enable further clarification.

Discovering Needs

If your organization offers a product or service that addresses the need of a person, then every employee should have some interest in discovering those needs, and presenting the organization’s solution in some manner. Not every employee will be aware of all details of pricing, options and service, but all should be able to state with confidence that the organization offers a solution, and then connect the prospect with someone in the organization who can offer the required detail.

Offering a solution to someone’s need is rewarding.  Call it what you like, but that is the essence of sales, the generous act of offering a solution to someone’s problem.

Readers Digest - 7 Magic Phrases to Help You Nail Public Speaking

Around six years ago I was contacted for this linked article in Readers Digest to offer one phrase that is helpful to public speakers.  I remember that I had to think for a moment about a phrase that I find helpful.  What would you have suggested?

I’m impressed with how Readers Digest reuses material.  This content remains valid. It was republished on January 23, 2023.  

https://www.rd.com/list/public-speaking-tips/

The linked article on listening skills is very good as well https://www.rd.com/list/how-to-listen/

 

 

A Very Brief Keynote - Outside of my Comfort Zone

Recently I was asked to keynote an online event for a group in the United Kingdom. The event was organized to inform and inspire volunteers to offer for available roles.  After my keynote, there would be a series of past leaders, who had served in the positions, and each would offer reflections on the position and how it aided in their personal development.  My job was to broadly inspire desire in people to step forward.  The event was recorded and a link to the content is provided below.

While preparing to construct the speech, I knew that I had much scholarly material to draw from, and more personal experience and stories, which resonate best with most audiences.

When I sought to better understand the organizers specific needs, I asked how long they’d like me to speak for, what was my time allocation.  I was a little taken aback when I was told I had five minutes to deliver the keynote. This might be the shortest keynote ever. 

Constraints Inspire Creativity and Motivation

I wasn’t offended as I knew the organizers needed to manage an agenda, and they soon sent a copy of their very full agenda.  However, I was surprised - and newly motivated.  Sometimes a constraint does that for us. A constraint can inspire creativity and new motivation.

Instead of casually selecting amongst several talking points, I needed to be super focused on delivering high value in just five minutes. This assignment was outside my routine, and I was a little outside of my comfort zone of developing a twenty-to-forty minute keynote.

When the parameters are set, I’ll work to accommodate them.  In some cases, I might try to negotiate some more time, but these organizers had shared their agenda, it was tight, and ultimately the event did run longer than planned. When all was said and done, I spoke for almost six minutes, almost one full minute over my time allocation, while other presenters were more significantly over their allocation.

 

Typical Keynote Durations

A keynote speech is intended to set the scene, to emphasize a theme, and get an audience engaged and receptive for the remainder of the event. Typically, a keynote speech is at least fifteen minutes long, and this is my preference. Some can run to ninety minutes. I tend to organize my material in eight-to-ten minute components, so constructing and assembling for twenty-to-forty minutes or longer isn’t an issue. 

The challenge becomes researching and understanding the audience needs, selecting content, ensuring relevance, and then planning transitions and the emphasis of key points. I work to ensure relevance by briefly reviewing a speech plan with one or more of the organizers.

For a sample of an excellent keynote speech, or in this case a commencement speech, take a look at the text of Steve Job’s work at Stanford in 2015. This speech is fifteen minutes long, is comprised of three stories, and offers many lessons for speakers. The text is available here https://news.stanford.edu/2005/06/12/youve-got-find-love-jobs-says/

 

Using Time Constraints

Self-imposed time constraints can be helpful. I sometimes impose a time constraint on myself in order to trick myself into making some small progress when I’m procrastinating on a project, or I’m unsure of what direction to take a project. I’ll allocate fifteen minutes and commit to doing something. Surely, I can spend fifteen minutes to get something done.

Here's an example of how short time constraints work for me. I recently used this technique again for an upcoming project I had been avoiding. During that fifteen minutes, as is typical, I started with some silent muttering to myself that fifteen minutes is very little time.  I quickly moved to the realization that I needed to talk with a specific person to clarify a project objective, and I emailed that person to arrange time to talk. Then I thought once that conversation was complete there were two probable directions the project might take, and I began to map what each path might look like.  I made progress.  Not significant progress, but some momentum is helpful.

I ended up spending forty minutes to achieve that progress, more than the fifteen minutes to which I had committed myself. However, I was energized and didn’t mind spending more time. This often happens for me.  I end up spending more than my fifteen-minute allocation because I become excited with the plan that was now in motion.

The recent keynote imposed a different time constraint, one that required me to deliver impact for the audience in a very short time.

 

Video Content

The event was recorded and a link to the content is below. The feedback I received after the event was good. I stayed for the entire event and was delighted that some of the later speakers made reference to content from my keynote. 

Kudos to Daniel Sanders and all of the organizers as they inspired applicants for every one of the available positions. That’s a tremendous success. A key part of that success, in my opinion, was being very clear on their purpose and goal in planning the event.

Should you wish to see the recording please visit this link (My section starts at the 5- minute mark)  https://youtu.be/kpCPdoFb28Q