What’s keeping you from developing and maintaining a positive revenue flow in your business? Have you been doing the same things over and over, expecting different results?
Could it be that your customers are in a trance? They’ve seen and heard the usual sales pitches and are immune to them. What must you do to get people to notice you? What must they do to get you to notice them?
The more unusual and curious your approach, the more flexibility you have to break away from the crowd and catch the interest of potential clients. Get some attention by paying attention to what your client is really paying attention to. (Hint: it isn’t you!)
A.Stop Selling!Begin thinking about managing the buying process. The first goal is to determine whether there is a mutually acceptable basis for doing business.
B.Stop Hauling Gravel!Mine the gold. Your clients know where the gold is. Get them to show you the way to the entrance. Listen not only to what they are saying, but also to what they aren’t. Ask questions for specifics. Customers will give you clues to their needs and desires and pain. Pay attention. If you don’t, you’ll be exhausting yourself digging up dry river beds.
C.Stop Following the Rules!Stop following, period. Lead and direct the conversation based on the buyer’s desired outcomes, with your own objectives in mind. You have strengths and skills to build on. You are your own best model of excellence most of the time. Think of a time when you did a similar task easily and elegantly. What specific processes worked for you? That’s your success formula.
D.Stop Focusing on Product FeaturesFocus on your customer’s features! Are you making eye contact with the person or I-contact with your own agenda? The moment you notice that the buyer is disengaged - or you are – stop! Take a few deep breaths and refocus. What’s happening? Clarify the buyer’s agenda. Ask permission to proceed, and be prepared to walk away if there is no interest.
E.Stop Telling!
Words are an effective tool, when used in meaningful dialogue. Too much information and too little interaction, however, can signal that you are afraid to shut up and find out what the customer wants. Is that the pattern you are most comfortable with? Customers are often too polite to stop your train of thoughtlessness.
Risk involves exposing yourself to discomfort or loss for the sake of moving beyond present limitations. Kindler
F.Stop the Spiel!
Does anyone else care? Start with the intermission. During a show customers are just bums in seats. During the intermission, they’ll share their opinions, feelings,
and views. The good stuff happens when everyone in the process feels comfortable and at ease. Build rapport first. Pass the popcorn, then get down to business!
G.Stop Pushing, Pulling and Tugging!Be pushed, be pulled, or dragged. Flow into and through the customer’s conversation. Let the client do the work of building ownership for the solution. Be flexible, adaptable, and responsive.
H.Stop ‘Too Nice’!The ability to develop rapport with a customer is a definite strength, and like all strengths, becomes a weakness when taken too far. Move forward with clarity and direction. What specifically is your objective - professional relationship or professional visiting? Move into business objectives quickly.
I.Stop Closing the Sale! Open up to the Customer!The customer has a need. The customer looks. The customer asks. The customer invites. The customer listens. The customer decides. The customer pays. How important do you think you are?
J.Stop Getting in the Way!
Start noticing everything you say and do. Study your language, your mannerisms, your inconsistencies – learn your patterns. Which ones are useful and which ones prevent the buyer from buying? Show him the dotted line. (If you don’t trust yourself or the product, get out of the business. If you’ve lost passion
for the work or for the people you are serving, streamline your role or get out entirely and into something you can love. You aren’t getting any younger.)
K.Stop Working the Net!Jump in the water and talk to the fish. Focus attention on the individual in front of you, rather than the whole room or the whole marketplace. Be in the conversation, rather than the game. Stop trying to keep the little fish from escaping through the holes in the net. Spend less time on paperwork and more time with your clients. Focus on the fish you’re with.
L.Stop trying to do it alone!Get the support you need when you need it. Find someone who thinks highly enough of you not to lie – someone who won’t fall for your excuses and blaming, and won’t autograph your crutches. We know some great coaches who will hold you accountable for the results you say you want.
Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men, as a whole, experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure. Helen Keller
M.Stop ‘Telling the Truth’!When people hear the words, “Honestly….” or “To tell you the truth….” They know at some level that you have been lying up to that point. And you can be assured that they won’t believe the truth now, either.
N.Stop Stopping!
Move. If you think it, see it, wonder if…, then it’s yours to do. Get out of your comfort zone and take a risk. Focus on Failing Fast. Persist. Get up one more time than you fall down. Learning
isn’t about being perfect; it’s about catching our missteps faster each time.
O.Just Stop!Stop when you’re not being heard. Stop when you’re not listening. Stop when you have nothing worthwhile to say. Stop to breathe. Stop when you don’t understand. Stop when you are lying to yourself. Stop when you are making things up. Stop when requested. Stop when you are most afraid to stop. Stop and Breathe! In silence, truth emerges.
P.Stop the Technique!Scripts and formulas might be great for building your self-confidence, but are insufficient for building the kind of mutually beneficial agreement you want. Manage the buying process your way! Find the strengths you already have and build on them, expand them, nourish them – they’ll work because they are true to who you are.
Q.Don’t Believe a Word We Say!Break all of the rules we made up for this report. A box is a box is a box. All boxes are confining. The box that protected you yesterday can be a jail today. Question everything! Examine everything. Assume nothing.
"One of the keys to effective communication and dispute resolution is understanding ourselves and how we think and also understanding how others are wired as well. Each of us has personality styles that are unique to ourselves - however there are also patterns as well. When you understand the differing personality styles and their blends - you begin to see people as they are with more understanding! For more information on understanding personality styles please contact Mandie at president@roaringwomen.com."
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Mandie Crawford is a marketing expert, business coach, trainer and motivational speaker who was recently awarded Calgary Business Woman of the Year for her contributions to the business community.
Mandie also has skills and expertise in providing high quality guidance in time management and system implementation for small a medium sized businesses. Her passion as a business and professional development coach is to helps women recognize their value and self worth.
She is the President of Roaring Women Ltd which is Canada’s premier national business support group for women in business that focuses on connecting, promoting and educating women in business. In her goal to encourage and educate women in building business across the country, she launched and completed a 6 week coaching tour in partnership with Staple Business Depot in 2008 where she coached over 600 women in business.
Mandie is mother to four children and 3 stepchildren and one highly energetic chocolate lab! Ms Crawford is also a former award winning police officer with Halton Regional Police.