As
promised, today is the second, and final, part of my notes on Jeff Thull's
wonderful book Exceptional Selling.
Part two of my notes:
The
mind-set that supports Value Diagnosis is characterized by five
traits and capabilities: p58
1.
Value relevancy
2.
Change leadership
3.
Mutual self-esteem
4.
Mutual self-interest
5.
Emotional maturity
The
value of your solutions is only rarely obvious to the customer. p58
(it
is a) connect-the-value puzzle. p59
These
maps represent the same kind of diagnostic strategies that physicians
are taught. p60
Promise
to follow up as conditions change and move on to another opportunity.
p61
If
value relevancy expresses the sales process in the rational terms of
observable and quantifiable gain, change leadership is about
expressing it in emotional terms. p62
We
should be working smarter, not harder. The smart way to create change
in other people is to develop their awareness of the elements that
create discomfort and dissatisfaction with staying the same – that
is, focus on the emotional side of change. p63
Successful
selling is also about managing the customer's emotional acceptance of
change … This all dovetails nicely with the work on value
relevancy. Indicators of problems and the absence of value establish
and clarify the customer's negative present and provide the incentive
to change. p64
The
sales process has to reveal that the cost of staying the same is too
high not to change, p64
Customers
should always be fully involved, but they aren't qualified to lead.
p64
There
is no one better qualified than the sales professional and his or her
team to guide the change process. p65
Be
prepared to guide the customer along a more mutually productive path.
p67
Professionals
protect their self-esteem by respectfully refusing to participate in
sales that devalue their offerings and abilities. p68
How
hard should you be hitting the customer's pain? The danger is that
you are insinuating that the customer doesn't know what he's doing …
Our challenge is to make customers fully aware of their situation
without insulting them. p69
Help
customers focus intently on problems and costs without accusations
and blame, separate problems from people. p70
Always
be “going for no.” We want to identify as quickly as possible if
there are any conditions that exist that indicate that both our
customers and our companies won't succeed. p71
(Instead
of “Always be closing” it's) “Always be leaving” p72
It
always comes back to odds and opportunities. p72
Emotional
detachment is a critical necessity. p73
Interact
with integrity and discuss and solve problems as mature human beings.
p74
Just
as form follows function in good design, the sequence and phrasing of
credible conversations is determined by your system or process. p77
It
looks something like this: The sales professional locates a
prospective customer and makes some preliminary assumptions about the
problems the customer is experiencing and the value his company could
deliver relative to those problems. He contacts the customer to
discuss those assumptions and determines if the customer is willing
to invest the time to prove or disprove the value assumptions and
discuss the ramifications and potential solutions. If the customer
agrees to proceed, the salesperson works with the customer to
diagnose the customer's situation in greater depth, determining the
extent of the risks and their costs. If the costs are serious enough
to act on, it's time to conduct a similar inquiry into potential
solutions and determine their parameters, alternatives, and costs.
With the problems and the solution defined, the salesperson prepares
a discussion document for review followed by a formal proposal, and
if it is accepted, implements the solution and ensures that the
customer receives the value that was promised. p78
What
are the salesperson's goals in this process? They are: (1) to quickly
and effectively identify the customer who has the highest probability
of purchasing the offering; (2) to provide the customer with the
incentive to change; (3) to provide the customer with the confidence
to invest; and finally, (4) to ensure that the value promises made
are fulfilled. That's the four-step, sequential process to complex
sales success: Discover, Diagnose, Design, and Deliver. I call it the
Prime Process and it is the subject of my first book,
Mastering the Complex Sale. p78
A
memorized script sounds canned … The Prime Process offers a
conversational strategy … It gives us a mental map to follow
without imposing a fixed route. p79
Make
sure that our customers are rationally and emotionally prepared to
buy. p80
The
initial contact with a prospective customer is the most critical and
no doubt the least forgiving stage of the sale. You are considered
guilty until proven innocent and you must strike the relevance and
credibility cords simultaneously and instantly (within 25 seconds)
out of the box. p83
Face-to-face
selling isn't mass marketing p85
Start
with symptoms, not solutions. p87
The
symptoms (are) the physical evidence of the absence of our value. p88
We
are never covert; we are always open, honest, and straightforward.
p89
Make
a few phone calls to the victims. p89
Follow
the symptoms to value relevance. p90
You
can check for the absence of value with your customer's customers who
often represent the most valuable source of relevance. p91
(in
the beginning) You should be solely focused on the existence of the
symptoms of the absence of your value. You shouldn't be asking who
buys your offerings or who might be interested in learning more about
them. p91
There
is no reason to sneak around. p92
(The)
goal is to earn the “keys to the elevator,” that is, to achieve
conceptual buy-in on the value assumptions, gain the sponsorship of
the executive of our diagnosis, and receive access to individuals
within the customer's company who we will speak with to continue our
process. p93
The
substance of the engagement conversation is also anchored in
symptoms. p93
This
is a significant departure from the traditional approach where the
first contact is all about you. p94
We
need to create engagement conversations that are actually engaging.
p94
I
recommend you open every engagement conversation the same way (he has
a script that includes, “I am not sure if it's appropriate for us
to talk”) p94
None
of the CEOs complained about getting sales calls. What they did
complain about were calls that weren't relevant p97
(As
you move toward a diagnostic agreement) it is time to test your value
assumption. p97
If
this (the problem) isn't a priority, this company isn't a viable
opportunity. p98
(Jeff
basically states that hot leads can burn you, and he recommends that
you take prospects through a full qualification process) p101
Truly
viable customers are impressed by and attracted to this approach
(what he is saying is that the diagnostic process attracts rather
than repels) p102
When
customers are unwilling to answer questions, they are usually telling
you something very important. They may not be ready to take a serious
look at the problem or, if they are serious, they may well be working
closely with a competitor and need some ammunition to support their
choice. p102
Choose
to pursue better opportunities. p104
In
the Discover conversations, the sales professional is raising the
customer's consciousness with regards to the incentive to change.
p105
(Chapter
Five is titled Diagnosis Trumps Presentation Every Time)
Customers
need to be psychologically prepared before they decide to buy. p108
(they
are wondering/asking) What should I change? p109
Our
goal is to move them to the state of crisis. p109
Customers
can decide that they have a problem without having a solution
in mind. p110
Crisis
lives in the negative present, not the positive future. p110
The
real reason customers don't buy is that they don't actually
understand the scope of their problems or the consequences of those
problems. p111
Do
not allow the customer to self-diagnose … Even a doctor treating
another doctor would double check the diagnosis before prescribing a
treatment. p112
A
full investigation of each impact (is what you should be aimed at)
p115
What
are the consequences and costs of the absence of that value? p116
(You
want to establish) a credible, compelling portrait of the customer's
negative present. p116
No
matter how many times you repeat it, there in one fundamental format
for the diagnostic conversation. p116
The
diagnostic conversation is a dialogue with the customer that
progresses from job responsibility to indicator to cause to
consequence to priority. p117
This
dialogue is driven by questions. Questions are the levers for change.
The answers we get to the questions tell us the viability of the
business opportunity we are pursuing. p117
The
A to Z Question goes something like this, “Let me start out by
asking you this: As you look at the entire process of creating an
effective safety training program for your offshore employees,
starting with identifying the primary behaviors that are creating the
risk and ending up with an accident-free environment, even though
it's all been going well for you, which part of this process concerns
you the most? … The answers represent the major challenges. p121
Cast
members not only tend to cooperate, they are very open to discussing
problems … You'll never get all the votes in an election. p122
(Sometimes
the customer will use loaded words and you need to clarify and define
them. Otherwise you may misinterpret what they are saying) You need
to transform loaded words into crystal clear communications … When
we clarify, we should be asking for help (never be challenging nor
confrontational) p124
When
you and your customer have reached the level of process or subprocess
where the detailed symptoms of the absence of value exist, it's time
to begin asking indicator questions. Indicator questions are
used to check the customer's experience and/or knowledge or problem
symptoms. They enable you to drill down into an issue to
confirm that the symptoms exist, and to determine their causes,
consequences, and priorities. p125
–
Could you tell me more about....?
–
Could you give me an example of....?
–
When did you first notice....?
–
What seems to be the key contributing
factors to....?
–
How has this affected....?
–
Have you had a chance to look at what
this might be costing the business in terms of....?
Always
start by asking for observations rather than opinions. p126
We
are always moving from indicators to causes to consequences to
financial impact and priorities. p127
If
there are no indicators, there is no absence of value. p128
When
our customers reach the crisis mind-set, they have made the decision
to change/buy. p129
