In the end, what distinguished George Washington from the ordinary man was not his towering intellect or great military genius. It was his character.
Credibility Matters
People evaluate not only the content of what a person says, but also the character and trustworthiness of the person saying it. As Stephen R. Covey expresses in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “It is character that communicates most eloquently… In the last analysis what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do. We all know it. There are people we trust absolutely because we know their character. Whether they’re eloquent or not, whether they have the human relations techniques or not, we trust them, and we work successfully with them.”1
It’s really no different in sales. As I discussed in Chapter 8, buyers form immediate impressions about sellers. They determine whether or not sellers sound intelligent or ignorant, professional or pushy, even forming a mental image of what sellers might look like. Yet, of all the impressions they make, none is more critical to the success of the seller than credibility because it is the most important judgment buyers make.
Credibility is the impression people form about you, your company, and your product or service. It’s a sense of believability, trustworthiness, and perceived competence, and it resonates from your voice, your language, and your tone.
There are two reasons credibility is important to successful prospecting:
1.Credibility helps establish salespeople as consultants rather than biased product “pushers.” Credibility is a prerequisite to any buyer-seller relationship and forms the foundation of long-term relationships. The key to building effective relationships in any sales situation is establishing credibility early in the selling process.
2.Credibility sells. The greater the credibility of the seller, the more value prospects attach to the information presented. Without credibility, buyers won’t trust the motives, intentions, or recommendations of sellers. In any sales situation, credibility must be firmly established for the sale to advance. Sellers who don’t create credibility won’t make it to the investigation stage of the sales cycle.
Unfortunately, establishing credibility appears to be easier than it really is. Buyers are automatically suspect of the intentions of sellers. If a buyer feels a seller has less than forthright motives for making the sale, the credibility of the seller is diminished and so is the likelihood for making the sale.
Note: Sellers are subject to Napoleonic Law—guilty until proven innocent. Most buyers are automatically suspect of salespeople. Sales professionals must overcome this stigma by establishing credibility early in the sales call.
The Buyer Method
Buyers consistently evaluate five things when deciding on a particular product or service, normally in this precise psychological order:
1. The sales representative
2. The company
3. The product or service
4. The price
5. The value
The first evaluation buyers make is not about a product or service, it is about the salesperson. Outside of purchasing shelf products from retail stores, the first thing buyers instinctively do is size up the sales representative.2
I received a cold call from a salesperson in New York who attempted to sell me financial services. Within thirty seconds of the call, I ascertained I was dealing with a dishonest person. His tone was synthetic and phony, and his use of manipulative, closed-ended questions gave me an immediate, distasteful impression of his character. As a sales professional, I always take cold calls. Unfortunately for him, he earned the distinction as the first salesperson I’ve ever cut off and said, “Never, ever call me again.”
What did this guy do to invoke such a harsh response from a person willing to listen to just about any cold call on Earth? He oozed with duplicity, projecting an image and impression that lacked character. He seemed slimy. He asked me how my family was doing despite the fact this was the first time he had ever spoken to me and had never met my family. He attempted to corner me with closed-ended probes designed to get me to tell him my annual income. When I refused to take the bait, he began telling me I could trust him, that he was my friend. Since this guy was a classic “what not to do” case study, I wish I had tape-recorded his call to use as an example of how not to cold call.
What was interesting was that this guy never got to the point where he could tell me about his services. For all I knew, he had the most incredible financial services on the planet. He might have been able to make me millions of dollars, but the quality of his goods and services didn’t matter because without building trust and credibility, he never made it to the point where he could actually explain what he did that was of value to me. Without trust, I had no confidence in his proposed product or service.
There is nothing intrinsically wrong with engaging in conversational discussions about non-business related issues such as the weather, sports, etc. However, early in the sales call small talk should not dominate the conversation. While small talk and conversational “chit-chat” might seem more comfortable to the seller, it can sometimes smack of insincerity if it’s not quickly turned into “big talk.” Effective sellers cordially get down to business.
The Buyer Method
Figure 18.1
The Point? You validate your trustworthiness by who you are, not necessarily by what you say. The kind of person you are sends loud and clear signals to people. It is communicated on an intuitive level, but it does communicate.
Character
It is character and honesty that give life to professional prospecting skills. Without sincerity and character, potential clients interpret prospecting techniques as manipulative and duplicitous.
One key to success in sales is motivating people to like and trust you. You have undoubtedly heard the oft-repeated selling adage, “People buy from people they trust.” A person with character is a person who can be trusted. Far too often this simple reality is overlooked. In the initial stages of the sales cycle, too many sellers focus on selling their products instead of selling themselves.
Recipients of sales calls need to feel that sellers are honest and trustworthy. If sellers use manipulative prospecting tactics or pushy cold calling techniques, buyers won’t trust them. If sellers sound like oily opportunists, or if they sound phony or insincere, doing anything that indicates a lack of character or integrity, buyers won’t trust the seller’s motives or recommendations. Without trust in the seller’s character, there will be little-to-no confidence in the value of the proposed solutions or disseminated information.
Early in the sales cycle, buyers make quick assessments about the honesty, character, and experience of sellers. Prospective buyers typically decide within the first sixty seconds of contact whether they trust the seller enough to proceed to the next level of the selling process. This is especially true when selling over the phone.
The Point? The most important assessment buyers make surrounds trust and character. “Am I dealing with Vinny the back slapping, plaid-jacketed, used-car salesman trying to sell me a pink Yugo, or is this someone I can trust?”
Industry Related Knowledge
Industry related knowledge is the second component of sales related credibility. In order to establish credibility, sellers need to demonstrate in-depth industry knowledge and utilize correct terminology as it relates to the buyer’s business. When sellers don’t display adequate industry or market knowledge, buyers feel uncomfortable advancing the call and accepting recommended proposals or solutions.
What if I told you I am a big fan of tennis? You have no reason to doubt it. For all you know, I was once a professional tennis player. You would probably believe me, right? What if we were conversing about tennis and I said to you, “Wasn’t that great when Andre Agassi came back after being down four to nothing?” Now do you believe tha
t I’m a huge fan of tennis? For those of you familiar with how tennis is scored, you will quickly see that I do not know what I am talking about.
Sellers not only communicate their level of industry related knowledge with language, they also communicate expertise with conversational content because words, language, questions, and comments reflect the level of experience a person has in any particular industry.
Familiarizing yourself with appropriate market terminology is mandatory. By studying product literature and memorizing key words, concepts, and market specific phrases, sellers enhance their ability to establish credibility early in the sales call.
With telephone selling especially, the person doing the selling must be knowledgeable about the product, market, and/or customers he is contacting. Salespeople need to be able to answer questions, address objections, and provide detailed information about the proposed product or service as it relates to the prospect’s interests.
I once heard a salesperson say, “I don’t know crap about my product, but I can sell the crap out of it.” I was astonished at his false bravado and lack of character. If he didn’t know anything about his product, how could he honestly and effectively communicate capabilities of value to buyers? He couldn’t.
Demonstrating industry-specific knowledge is crucial to establishing credibility just as understanding industry needs and using market specific terminology indicates expertise that will be of value to buyers.
Testimonials and References
In our trainings, I frequently ask participants, “How many of you provide buyers with testimonial letters or references to support the success of your products and services?” I am always amazed at how few hands go up. And yet, what better evidence can a seller have than a statement by a satisfied customer? When sellers attempt to build credibility and provide buyers with evidence that validates product or capability claims, what better proof can a seller offer than a testimonial or reference?
A testimonial is nothing more than a type of evidence. In a court of law, witnesses are called to testify to the truthfulness of certain facts or disputed claims. Client testimonials serve a similar purpose by illustrating how the proposed product or represented business has benefited other companies and organizations. Used appropriately, testimonials communicate similar benefits available to the targeted audience.
Testimonials and references are extremely powerful and help build the credibility and reputation of the salesperson, company, product, price, and value of the offering.
The Point? Establish credibility early in the sales call by projecting character, demonstrating industry and product related knowledge, and providing buyers with client testimonials or references.
1. Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. (New York: Simon and Shuster, 1989) 22.
2. The buyer method is discussed in detail in Chapter 6 of Sales-Side Negotiation.
Chapter 19
Cold Calling Behaviors to Avoid
Thomas Edison was fiercely competitive. Some would even say maniacally competitive. In 1889, one of Edison’s competitors, Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla, appeared to have succeeded in creating an electrical system based on an alternating current (AC). Edison viewed the AC current as a competitor to his own invention, direct current (DC). Envious of Tesla’s creation, Edison decided to ruin his competitor’s reputation by making the public believe that the AC current of electricity was dangerous, unsafe, and irresponsible. To prove his point, Edison captured an untold number of household pets and electrocuted them to death with an AC current. When this failed to sway the public, he convinced the New York state prison authorities to use the AC current to conduct its first execution by electrocution, but to the shock of the authorities (pun intended), the AC current was not strong enough and only half killed the man, so the procedure had to be repeated. It was an awful scene and the credibility of Edison was damaged far more than Tesla’s.
The mistake that Edison made was “charging in” without giving due consideration to the consequences of his actions. His reckless arrogance and cold competitiveness led to one of the most embarrassing episodes of his life.
The Five Prospecting Behaviors Buyers Despise
Like Edison, many salespeople fail to adequately consider the consequences of their behavior. They just pick up the phone and start dialing for dollars without giving due consideration to the methods and techniques they are using.
There are many annoying or irritating behaviors that can lead to lost sales. However, there are five specific behaviors buyers despise most about sales calls. Each of these five behaviors should be completely avoided:
1. Long-winded sellers
2. Cold calls that sound canned
3. Being interrupted
4. Sloppy pronunciation
5. Sellers with inadequate product or service knowledge
Long-winded Sellers
There are few things worse than taking a call from a long-winded seller. Long-winded sellers talk themselves out of sales every day. When sellers blabber on and on, buyers grow irritated and annoyed. Even if they are interested, buyers worry that the time it will take to maintain a relationship with the seller may exceed the value of the proposed good or service.
Cold Calls That Sound Canned
People have developed immunities against canned cold calls. No one likes to talk to an automated human being. There is a natural resistance to sales calls in general, but especially to calls that sound like the caller is reading. As soon as buyers recognize callers are reading directly from a script, they find a way to get off the phone.
To avoid sounding canned, be yourself. Be sincere, genuine, and personable. Let your natural personality communicate to the buyer. Remember that people like dealing with people, not corporations, not brand names, and certainly not robots.
Successful sellers avoid sounding canned and obviously scripted.
Being Interrupted
Immature and inexperienced sellers believe that talking is more important than listening. How often have you been interrupted by a salesperson excited to tell you about a product or service? How often have sellers put the beginning of their sentence in the middle of yours? It’s highly disrespectful and irritating. When sellers consistently interrupt buyers, they lose sales. The product or service may be terrific, but it doesn’t matter because once interrupted, buyers feel annoyed and even manipulated by sellers. Remember, telling is not selling.
Note: When buyers talk, listen. Don’t interrupt.
Sloppy Pronunciation
There is a clear connection between the quality of a salesperson’s speech and the perceived quality of the product or company being represented. When sellers use slang, poor language, or sloppy pronunciation, prospects (rightfully so) interpret these to mean that the seller is ignorant, uneducated, undisciplined, or careless.
I received a call from a person selling long distance services. I am certain that she offered a terrific service, and I’m sure I would have learned about it—if I had been able to understand her. During the call, I kept interrupting her saying, “What did you say?” or “Say that again please?” I finally hung up the phone and thought to myself, “What idiot hired that person to make cold calls?” She was probably a great person, but it didn’t matter because her enunciation was so sloppy and slurred that I could not understand her.
As previously mentioned, when I talk about appropriate pronunciation, I am not talking about accents. Accents, in fact, are interesting and lead to conversations about national origin, travel, vacations, trips, countries, etc. Accents are interesting, but sloppy pronunciation is not. When I refer to sloppy pronunciation, I am talking about slang, lazy speech, incomplete sentences or incorrect diction such as, “you guys,” “we was,” “ya know?” etc. The issue is carelessness.
If you are serious about making su
ccessful prospecting calls, use clear language and avoid sloppy pronunciation.
Sellers with Inadequate Product or Service Knowledge
Prospects who are intrigued by opening cold call statements often ask sellers preliminary questions about their company, goods, or services. In a way, prospects reverse qualify sellers by asking questions that ensure it is in their best interest to continue the conversation.
Whether you are selling mortgage loans, high tech software, or life insurance, adequate product or service knowledge needs to be demonstrated. We have all been put on hold by sellers who could not answer fundamental product or service related questions. Not only is it time consuming for both parties, it is unprofessional and irritating.
It’s an undeniable fact that you cannot prospect well if you do not have adequate product or service knowledge. You have to know what you are selling and how it benefits customers.
If you lack product knowledge, study printed material, marketing collateral, or ask for company training. Do what it takes to learn and demonstrate adequate product knowledge so that you don’t waste the time of the prospect and undermine your selling opportunity.
The Point? Avoid the aforementioned cold call behaviors like the plague. They are the fastest ways to sink your opportunity to sell.
Chapter 20
Measuring Success
You will miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.
—Wayne Gretzky
In 1202, Leonardo Fibonacci published Liber Abaci, in which he introduced to Europe what we now refer to as Arabic numerals (even though the Arabs borrowed the numerals from India). This simplified system offered a great advantage over the clumsy Roman numerals, which were difficult to add and subtract and which virtually defied multiplication and division. The introduction of Arabic numerals eliminated the need for the abacus, a manual computing device consisting of a frame holding parallel rods strung with movable counters. With the Arabic numeric system, merchants could calculate the new numbers more easily in their heads or on paper.
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