By Trent Leyshan - May 17, 2012 - Filed under:
Leadership
Influencing people is far less challenging when you can see things from their perspective.
Empathy, of course, is a magical human feature that helps us to connect with others to feel and share their emotions. This is a true gift. Imagine living in a world without it?
Along with empathy, there’s another potent quality that influential people possess. I’m talking about, fighting for a worthy cause. Some of History’s greatest thought leaders and innovators believed in a cause with such conviction, they died fighting for it.
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“Is the customer always right?” is an age old question that still baffles salespeople.
I’m all for carefully challenging a customer and re-framing the way they see things. In doing so taking them beyond their comfort zone, provided of course, it serves them; this is the mark of a truly virtuous salesperson. What I won’t swallow are people damaging their employer’s brand by dismissing a customer’s problem or worse turning it into a confrontation.
“The customer is always right!” Translation: The customer and their unique needs matter.
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Tim is an IT consultant.
Every week enthusiastic potential customers seek him out with a range of problems he can solve and of course the money to help him solve it. Today’s meeting is no different, they finish and shake hands. Tim parts ways with a fervent, “I’ll start our process and get a proposal to you by the end of the week!”
He struts back to his cubicle and nonchalantly invests his employer’s precious resources into another opportunity. He fills his sales pipe and adds the details onto his whiteboard. The potential gross sales figure is then inserted into his nifty little spread sheet. Life is good.
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“Let there be light…” boomed the bold voice from deep within the darkness.
Silence ensued for what seemed like an eternity, until… a careful voice echoed back from the dark shadows… “Why do we need light?”
God pondered the careful voice for some time before offering a reply. And it was from this enlightening exchange that the first ever sales pitch was born. Light soon followed.
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You’ve taken on a new venture and things aren’t quite going to plan.
You push forward with greater intensity hoping this will move you faster towards your goals. This approach soon stalls, so you tweak your strategy and refocus, but still no traction. You persist regardless. Finally you have a win… validation! Things are now looking up, taking your spirit with it.
Two months pass, another lag… “Damn it!” Cash flow is depleted, so too your morale. “This is crazy! I need help and can’t do it alone!” you proclaim, so you bring in a partner and raise money to get things really rolling. You invest part of the funds in a paid business mentor.
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Not all of us are comfortable with taking risks, but some people really thrive on it.
For the most part taking risks is a tense experience for a customer. Each client will have a varying threshold measured by a level of “perceived” risk they are willing to move towards but never cross over. Getting them to redefine their risk threshold can be challenging.
Customers by nature are cautious creatures. This mindset is frustrating for both the vendor and customer. The customer laments, “I really want to buy, but I just dont trust my ability to pay or the vendor’s capacity to deliver.” At the same time the salesperson grumbles, “I know you need my help, but what else do I need to bloody do to gain your trust?!”
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Small, frequent and pleasant interactions with your salespeople that fail to engage and guide customers towards your value proposition are hazardous for your business health.
Seemingly innocuous, when a customer initiates contact with your business and receives little more than a pleasant smile and welcome, you can be sure your business is drastically underperforming.
Mid last year, I walked into a commercial printer. I asked to speak with someone that could assist me with my regular printing requirements. The receptionist offered a pleasant greeting, but she couldn’t help me directly nor was there a person qualified in the office. I responded, that’s ok, I may call back in later. Her, response, “ok, thanks, have a great day.” I then trotted up the road to another print company, and we’ve been doing regular business ever since.
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By Trent Leyshan - March 15, 2012 - Filed under:
Motivation
When you’re passionate about what you do, you’re well within your rights to take it personally when someone lets you down.
I invest most of my time during the week into growing and developing my business, which often spills over into the wee hours and weekends. If you’re anything like me, business is not just a job, it represents a significant part of who we are as individuals.
As salespeople we can meet customers who lack a genuine passion for what they do. They dont have a duty of care to honour vendor relationships and frankly couldn’t care less about you. Their core purpose every week is to simply grind it through with their sanity intact.
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High-performing salespeople (hyper-salespeople) are on the edge, constantly pushing the boundaries to improve and gain an advantage.
Competitive by nature, they hate to lose. Every opportunity is a chance to express their skills and commitment to their cause. They value their time and take what they do seriously. To fail is to completely invalidate their efforts, and in ways, who they are as people.
For many hyper-salespeople their role is more than a job, they consider it a body of work. Insert just a few of these types of high performers into a sales team and you’ll see any business radically transform. So how do you develop and support your core sales to team to evolve to super stars?
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By Trent Leyshan - March 1, 2012 - Filed under:
Leadership
Can politicians keep their promises? For the most part our history tells us the answer is, no.
Former Prime Minister, John Howard’s un-prophetic words, “There’s no way a GST will ever be part of our policy.” As well as incumbent Prime Minister, Julia Gillard’s more recent declaration, “There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead.” echoes this point.
The political end game is vastly more important than the substance of their campaign. You can do more in power than you can without it. So whatever the game needs to be to gain office — will soon be replaced with whatever game needs to be played to retain it.
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