“Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work.” -H. L. Hunt, Oil Tycoon A mentor of my mine said to me when I was in my thirties and just starting out in sales, “Forget trying to sell your prospects, let them buy!” He went on to say, “Remember this Mark, people buy YOU!” It took me a while to understand what he meant. When I first started in sales, all my appointments were face to face. Now, when I close a speaking engagement, it’s on the phone followed by email and ending in a last phone call or text. When I am talking to a new prospect, I am concerned about their number ONE objective. Having your questions memorized is a good idea—here are mine—I hope they help. What are your ten or eleven questions? Do you have them written down? Do you have them memorized? Are they in the right order? It’s a good idea. Why leave your questions to chance? Chance always favors the prepared. The dialogue should flow. Dominate the listening, let him or her talk. Keep asking questions until you get to the prospect’s number ONE issue, the main interest or need, and stick to it. The one question most new sales people never ask is WHY? Reasons matter. Most actions are taken for one of two reasons: fear of loss or desire for gain. You need to know WHY! My late mentor and publisher, Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, was adopted. Because of that, he had a soft spot for orphan children. One day, Charlie took me on a tour of Hershey Park, the extraordi-nary little town Milton S. Hershey built for his employees and the orphans he sponsored. Mr. Her-shey had three failures in business before age 40. He eventually made millions selling his famous candy bars. The turning point in his life came when he asked himself, “WHY is it that other men succeed and I fail?” Putting himself through a rigorous thinking session, he narrowed the answer down to ONE reason: “I was going ahead without having all the facts.” From that day until he died at age 88, his whole life was dedicated to the philosophy of asking WHY? If someone said to him: “It can’t be done, Mr. Hershey!” He’d ask, “Why” or “Why not?” He kept asking until he had all the reasons. Then he would say, “Now one of us has got to get the an-swer!” “The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.” -Vincent Van Gogh When I started my speaking business, ONE giant reason emerged for making it a success: Putting three boys through college doing what I love. That was enough. I worked 14-hour days, six or seven days a week the first five or six years. There is no substitute for understanding your WHY? What is your ONE Thing? Ready to learn more about sales and the sales process? To download a free package of sales training resources, including an online course, how-to documents for everything from sales presentations to salesperson-hiring outlines, industry research, and much more, visit EGIA.org/CBS-Sales.
Every one of us is in sales. And, all of us are good at sales. Let me give you an example. You are in a relationship with another person. You are dating, engaged or married. Some of you are single but you want to be dating, engaged or married, right? To have that significant other in your life, you had to make a call or ask them out in person. For you to even get to that point you had to be someone they would want to see more of. Be someone of value on a regular basis long enough for them to see you as a potential long-time companion. You had to clean yourself up, look good, smell good enough times so they would look at you and say, “Hey, I want that!” And “that” was you. You sold yourself to that person. You have probably done it many times in your life. Over and over you have helped other people get what they want. YOU! You are what people want. They want your charm, your knowledge, your help. Your service customers want you too. No, not like that. But they want and need you to help them get what they want. So, what does a service customer need and want? First, they want their comfort restored. When you do that you are already the hero. We have to look around to find out what the next need is. Did you just repair a 23-year-old furnace? Is the water heater old and inefficient? Is the ductwork falling apart? Is the thermostat old? Is there mercury in it? Just look around. Many of us miss these opportunities to help customers save money and become more comfortable. Let’s be clear. A 23-year-old furnace is costing them way too much in utilities and repairs. They will save money if they replace it. That old water heater is not only costing more than it should to heat water but because it is probably full of sediment, it could break and spill hundreds of gallons of water on their floor creating an expensive mess. And ductwork issues make the system work harder. Programmable thermostats save approximately 10% off their heating and cooling bills every year. Hundreds of dollars wasted until it gets replaced. Are you allowing your customers to waste their hard-earned dollars? Let’s say your mother takes her car into the shop for a tune-up. The mechanic fails to tell her that her tires are worn and are becoming dangerous. His shop does not sell tires so he does not think it is his responsibility to address tires. But he knows they are bad. A professional mechanic had the opportunity to explain to your mother how she could be safer and he said nothing. How does that make you feel? Would that upset you? Don’t be that person. Don’t be the one who could have helped someone save money and said nothing. Don’t be the one who didn’t say anything about the old leaky water heater. Don’t be the one who did not address the flue piping issue because you were there to fix the air conditioner. Talk to people. They will appreciate what you have to say when you are compassionate and helpful. If you are just trying to make some extra money by creating a lead for the sales department they will see through you. If they need to consider a new system, then let them know why. If they don’t need a new system, don’t talk to them about one. When you do it for the right reasons you will be successful. Truly care about people. Think about what you would want to know after having a professional look at your equipment. You would want to know whatever they observed and what should be done. Give your customer options to keep what they have. They will appreciate that too, but let them know the cost of keeping what they have. They have the right to know either way and you will be amazed at how many people will choose to do the right thing. Establishing good relationships with customers and turning those relationships into ongoing leads and sales starts with the technician communication process. To learn more about tech communications and selling, and to download a free training package complete with an online course, step-by-step in-home presentations, industry research and much more, visit www.EGIA.org/CBS-Techselling. .