Recent Work With Emerging Sales Leaders

In late January, I was invited to work with some emerging sales leaders at a local branch of a major international firm. The company identifies high potential employees and then has the attendees progress through a series of weekly meetings focused on skill development and skill practice.

I was invited as the first presenter on the topic of public speaking because public speaking is a broad, foundational skill.  In the business environment, public speaking encompasses formal speeches, off-the-cuff commentary, participation in team meetings, professionally voicing differing opinions, and to some extent even small talk. In the sales environment, effective communication includes addressing objections with a prospect who isn’t sure she needs your product or service.

My Training Approach

I led the group through some basics including asserting their credentials, a basic speech structure that is adaptable for any speech but especially off-the-cuff commentary, with some tips on managing nerves, content selection, and preparing longer presentations. I ended with a video I use to illustrate the art of recognizing personal stories that support other content. Audience members remember solid, illustrative stories.  I wrote about finding stories here https://gycz.blogspot.com/2022/10/comfort-zone-leap-from-829-feet-great.html

Adapting to the People in the Room

It was a pleasure to lead these dozen employees through a one-hour workshop. It’s fun to lead sessions such as these.  This was the first time these attendees had gathered as a group, and surprisingly to me, most didn’t know each other. Some had been with the company 7 months and some 26 years.

With smaller groups, early in the engagement, I usually invite brief participant introductions for my benefit and the benefit of all attendees. During this session we later built in some round table public speaking practice, which offered an opportunity for more thorough introductions. 

My simple question inviting this was “how were you selected for this development program?” Some of the attendees were very nervous to answer this, while seated around the table, within their supportive team.  All of them survived the exercise, and all sounded credible and professional, although some judge themselves critically.

Conclusion

It used to surprise me to encounter people who feel they should be skilled at public speaking, but they’re not currently confident in their abilities. People will make comments such as “I’m terrible at public speaking.”  

It no longer surprises me to hear such comments. I work hard to remind these folks that public speaking is a skill, and if they haven’t had the opportunity to practice the skill, there is no reason that they should feel bad about lacking the skill.

Skills need practice.  The best athletes in the world practice basic skills. Public speaking is a skill that requires regular practice.

 

 

My Process for 30-second Speeches

 During the week of August 14, 2023 I prepared a series of 30-second speeches. Each of these will be recorded for later use.  At our Toastmasters International annual conference in Nassau, Bahamas, a few of us have been asked to record some short instructional videos offering tips about leadership and public speaking.

I find it easier to prepare a 15-30 minute speech than to prepare a 30-second speech. A longer speech enables me to identify speaking points, select among them, then sequence them and practice speaking to each point for two to three minutes. With this approach, I figure out how to best fit the points together for a smooth flow.

30-second speeches need to be very focused. Short speeches such as these are typically recorded as video assets, for re-use and re-play. For me, these short speeches require more planning effort than a longer form speech.

My Process for Short Speeches

My process for short speeches and longer speeches do have similarity. 

1.    Identify the broad topic area and identify sub-themes

2.    Answer the question “what is my purpose with this specific audience at this event”

3.    Select only the pertinent points to address the purpose (In a 30-second speech this means 3 or 4 sentences)

4.    Organize the points into a presentation and practice the flow

30-Second Speeches

As I’m preparing 30-second speeches, the brief video content means I only have time for three or four sentences. As these videos will be instructional, I need to address the why and how, that is, why this technique is helpful and how to execute.

 

My Planned Leadership Topics

In preparing my topics, I draw from my experience, and select key points from some longer presentations.  I plan to speak on;

1.    A basic, repeatable speech plan leaders can use and re-use

2.    Helping team members understand core values by utilizing the Toastmasters technique of Table Topics

3.    The immense cross benefits to leaders of speaking and writing

 

My Planned Public Speaking Topics

For public speaking tips I plan to speak on;

1.    My favorite, and fallback, speech plan structure

2.    Mixing logical and emotional appeal in a speech

3.    How speech purpose must determine content

4.    How practice and participation enable improvement

 

Results

At a later date I’ll update this post with links to the videos. The actual videos took the form of brief interviews, where a question was asked related to the planned topic area.

Regardless, planning made the process easier, as the interviewer was able to frame a question around the planned topic area.

Managing Q&A Sessions and “Bad” Questions

Late last year I wrote about serving as a judge at an MBA competition and made some observations about the performance of the groups, and generally about professional presentation habits.  Here is a link to that post should you wish to see it https://gycz.blogspot.com/2022/12/nervous-energy-and-dancing-during.html

In this previous post, I commented on the management of questions and answers by the groups. While I thought this was a relatively minor point in the post, I received some follow-up comments regarding this.   

During the event, teams of students delivered individual presentations, and then the teams were required to take questions from a panel of judges from the business community.  I noted that in most professional situations someone skilled should field each question initially and either answer the question, or invite a specific team member to address the question.  Someone skilled should manage and control the Q&A session.

At the competition any student on the presenting team was able to jump in and answer, sometimes exposing the line of questioning to a new area. This is not a huge issue during student presentations, but in a professional environment could perhaps expose an area the larger team would prefer not to discuss.  Or perhaps a participant not fully developed professionally manages the question poorly. I’ll offer an example.

“Why Would You Want To Do That?”

In the late 1980s, I worked in information technology holding a variety of positions over a ten-year period. One day, we were pitched some software that wrote new software after the programmers provided a few variables.  I’ve seen other variations of such software in more recent years, but I’ve never seen any version that truly worked well.  But perhaps the industry has evolved, perhaps Artificial Intelligence will finally deliver on this long-promised capability.

On the day we were pitched this product, the salesperson brought along a product demo expert, a technical expert, to demonstrate the application and answer any technical questions. Their well-rehearsed product demo went swimmingly, and a few questions were asked and fielded well.

Then a human resources manager in attendance asked if the product could be developed by the product, that is, could the software actually write itself.   That’s an intellectually curious question. I was early in my career and had some rough edges professionally, but I did appreciate the beauty of the question, although I thought it was a bit odd.  I didn’t state that of course.  But the product demo guy did.  He said “that’s a dumb question, why would you want to do that?”

Then, the sales professional jumped in to try to salvage the sale, but at that point, the demonstration and potential sale was over except for professional niceties. The sales pitch failed.

Experience Must Manage and Control

The point of this story is to illustrate that in most situations, someone skilled should take control of the Q&A session, to answer the questions, or to frame any response, and only invite other team members to comment if required.

In my story, if the sales professional had quickly acknowledged the question, commented that it was an unconventional thought, and managed the question to completion, a sale might have been possible. 

Elements of Public Speaking

There are many elements in public speaking. Team presentations introduce another layer of complexity. There is no replacement for experience in managing presentations professionally.

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.

The Gift of Someone Else’s Enthusiasm

Today I had a conversation with a new member of our Rising Tide Toastmasters club.  She joined last week and is eager to start participating, receiving feedback, and developing her skills.  The first speech a member delivers is always an Ice Breaker, a four-to-six minute speech to introduce herself to the group.

New Customers and New Toastmasters Members

The new member clarified our modest expectations. Although Toastmasters isn’t a pass/fail organization, she wanted to discuss the expectations, the general approach to her first speech, and also asked for some more advanced tips. I offered a couple including to always focus on what she as a presenter desires the audience to do differently, think about differently, or what action she wishes them to take. She will deliver her first speech at our weekly meeting Tuesday 7:15-8:30 a.m.

After our chat I thought that it’s an absolute gift to be exposed to someone else’s enthusiasm. When we offer a product or service that we play a part in enabling, and someone is excited to participate or buy, that is very energizing. It will be fantastic to see her first forays into public speaking, and watch and support her development.

Sales -  Recognizing Enthusiasm And Asking For The sale

An element to this is recognizing someone’s enthusiasm and then supporting and nurturing it, whether we’re developing their talents or offering a product or service. I remember many years ago moving to a small town.  When I was getting the television service connected (yes television - this was many years ago), I chatted with the installer about the move.  I mentioned I liked the town, but I had a few disappointments including being out of range of the college radio station I liked to listen to back in Saint John.  This was before such services were available on the internet. 

When I indicated I missed that station the installer said his company had a service that made this available.  I responded with a simple, delighted "really?!?!”

“Yeah, we just grab the signal, run it through some amplification and then rebroadcast it on one of the channels." I didn’t really care how it worked, but he felt a need to explain this.

I was pumped to know that I might be able to receive that radio signal. I was ready to buy. But there was only silence between us.  An overly long pause.

Finally, I offered "how much does that cost?"

"Something less than $10 but I’m not sure of the exact amount."

I could afford $10 a month. I was ready to buy, but again there was silence.

After another extended pause I said "can I get that?"

And he said "sure, no problem."

Years later I still recall this interaction as an example of asking, or not asking, for the sale.  Perhaps the technician didn’t recognize he had made the sale and only needed to close. As a customer I was enthusiastic, and ready to pay for this additional service, and the installer just needed to ask. I’m sure he wasn’t trained in sales, but I continue to wish he had recognized my enthusiasm, and asked, but instead I had to ask to purchase.

Recognizing Enthusiasm

I’m pleased that our new Toastmasters member is so enthusiastic.  It’s a gift for me to witness such enthusiasm. I’m sure it’s a gift for you when you’re greeted with spontaneous enthusiasm. To be successful at sales, marketing, and working with people in general, we need to show enthusiasm for our products and services, and recognize, acknowledge and nurture it in others.

Comfort Zones – A Sales and Decision Making Model

How do people make decisions?  A helpful way to consider how people progress through decision making is with decision making models.  A long time ago I learned about a model that works for marketing, sales and public relations.  I know the model as AKIDA, although it’s usually simplified as AIDA.

What is the AIDA model and the AKIDA model?

The AIDA model is comprised of

-         Awareness

-         Interest

-         Desire

-         Action

Here’s how it works. If a prospective customer isn’t aware you exist, he doesn’t buy your product obviously. If the prospect is aware you exist, he may develop interest in your product. A change in his needs and life circumstances may drive desire to purchase your product. And finally, a further life change, or a sales promotion you offer, may drive action to purchase your product.  Moving through these stages may take minutes, but it may take years.

The AKIDA model inserts knowledge after awareness.   This makes sense to me because without some knowledge of product features, benefits, and success stories it makes progression difficult. I suppose knowledge may be implicit with awareness, but I find it helpful to see it clearly called out.  It becomes obvious that part of our roles in sales, marketing, public relations and leadership is to drive awareness and knowledge that develops interest, desire and action.

An Example of AIDA (AKIDA)

Here's an example.  I’ve been an avid cyclist for years, and have a couple of nice bikes.  I’m generally aware of e-bikes, which are not terribly new, but are becoming much more popular these days.  I have awareness, but little knowledge about price, benefits, and I haven’t had discussion or thoughts about how they might fit my lifestyle or my transportation needs. I have awareness.  I have little to no knowledge.  I have no interest, desire or action to purchase. But it may be the case that an e-bike would be a great option for me now. So vendors need to be effective at driving messages to prospects like me to see us progress along the purchase decision.  

How To Expand Your Comfort Zone

I share this because I’m interested in how people make progress in expanding their comfort zones, which is in itself a decision. I’m interested in how you make such progress. Do you have awareness of what holds you back from making progress on goals and aspirations?  Do you have knowledge on options and alternatives that will set you on a path to making progress?  If you have awareness and knowledge how strong is your interest and desire to take action.

I spend a lot of time developing speakers both professionally and in Toastmasters. Toastmasters is a low-cost high value option to develop improved overall communication skills, public speaking skills, soft skills and leadership skills.  I’ve seen people join Toastmasters who say that they’ve known about Toastmasters for years but a life change drove them to take action.  Often there’s an urgent need to address a skills gap. Sometimes it’s a retirement speech, or a speech at a wedding, or a desire to play a role in their community.

The AKIDA model helps in planning how to reach prospects and offering solutions to their needs.

Ask For The Sale

 

Over the past couple of years I have written two books.  One book is on public speaking and the second about my experience on a road trip visiting hockey towns during a Canadian winter.   For reference the books are available here amazon.com/author/jimkokocki

I’m delighted that I’ve produced these books, but I don’t enjoy marketing and selling the books. This is ironic as I spent much of my career in marketing and sales, primarily to large business customers.

Nonetheless, this weekend while visiting family in Sydney, Nova Scotia I dropped into the local shop for the national Chapters Indigo to see if they’d stock some copies.  The manager wasn’t present but I emailed her and she is taking the books on consignment.   

I was in the mall.  Visited the store.  Sent an email.  Now will receive (relatively) passive income.

The lesson is ask for the sale.