Controlling Toxic Behavior

In this day and age of hundreds of TV channels to watch as well as internet videos, I have found a particular show that I run across every now and then. I must say that this television series really fascinates my wife Julie and I.  The show that I am talking about is called the “Dog Whisperer” and it features a gentleman whose name is Cesar Millan. This man who has a such a “magic touch” with our canine friends came, from humble beginnings growing up in Mexico before he eventually transformed into the mega-star he is today.  He counts people like Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith as some of his closest friends.

Each week Cesar faces a seemingly out of control dog whose owners have given up on trying to train their pet and cannot cope any longer with this “toxic” behavior.  These dogs are driving every one crazy, except one person.  An that person is Cesar.

Never Uses Force

His techniques to tame these wild and dangerous beasts never include force.  Instead, his amazing arsenal utilizes principles such as leadership, positive energy, relationships, self-discipline and change. It is truly amazing to see the difference he makes in the lives of those he touches.  He basically helps these dogs feel like a productive member of their family by giving them responsibilities.

I am drawn in by the calm and poise that Cesar maintains in the face of what seems like insurmountable problems that we have all seen in dogs that appear so mad and angry and that tend to do the wrong thing. His amazing arsenal utilizes things like “Giving the dog a job” or “Walking in front of the dog at all times.”  It is truly amazing the difference and the transformation he makes in the lives of those he touches.

Sales Pros Could “Whisper” Too

As a sales manager or a sales person you could learn from watching Cesar and the way he goes about his job. Every week like you, Cesar helps his people (dog owners) overcome their greatest challenges by helping them and their pets find their true potential. He does this not by force, but instead by helping our canine friends “discover” the right thing to do to become the dog they were always meant to be.

As he says at the beginning of each show, he “rehabilitates dogs” and “trains people”. While his approach is meant exclusively for dogs, I have found a lot of his philosophy applies very well to sales people. You will never succeed by forcing anything but by discovering the right thing to do. Here are some of the principle I have “discovered” in his system that may help you reach your dreams.

1. Be calm, poised and assert positive energy.

Cesar tells his clients to establish a leadership role with their dogs by projecting states of both calmness and assertiveness. As a salesperson, no matter how your customer is behaving, you must remain dettached, calm and maintain your poise.

After all you have seen this situation before haven’t you? Why be shocked by what clients are doing to you. Just stay calm and respond assertively and keep your poise. Maintain these states no matter what the situation and problem, customer behaviors “miraculously” evaporate. It’s what we all know to be true: Change yourself and those around you will change too. When you give off a aura confidence and capability, people will tend to go with the flow since you seem so consistent and in control.

2. Live in the state of NOW.

Like dogs, you too can live in the moment. Apparently, dogs don’t care about what happened yesterday. Every day represents a fresh start. Don’t worry things in the past because you cannot control those things any longer. If you keep focusing on bad things that you think are about to happen then you create a self fulfilling prophecy which will indeed make those things come true.

Instead, forget the past, and be like the person who remains focused on getting this job and what it will take to do just that. They key is to listen, and then have a response that makes sense as to why you should do this job. Think in terms of the present and the future and you are well on your way.

3. Practice every day, discipline and passion.

This is Cesar’s secret formula for a balanced, healthy dog. He realized along time ago that a dog without a job is an unhappy one that will act out in terrible and unproductive ways. I would say the same applies to sales people. Remember to never think you are failing. If you lost a job, learn from it and get back home later and practice the technique that will stop the bleeding. Practicing your sales skills, techniques and strategies will release frustration and stress. Have the self-discipline necessary to achieve your greatest potential.

What Is Your Passion To Help Your Team?

Reflect on your passion for doing this work of providing solutions to your customers that are higher quality than your competitor. If you have the passion to think that you are a better choice for your customer then you will hang in there during the toughest objections and get the job when others with less passion would have quit.

Watch the Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic Channel. Watch how the principle of what this show can do for your sales. The one lesson I know you will be amazed at is that even an old dog can learn new tricks.

Using Fear as a Barometer

Fear can disable the best of us.  Many times the fear we face in service and sales situations start to make us create assumptions that lead us to dysfunctional behaviors.  Sometimes the fear begins with finding a huge problem that the customer didn’t expect on a typical call.  The problem is viewed as small or routine by the client but after you diagnose the whole system you find the problem is bigger than anyone anticipated.  The fear that the client may think you are trying to sell them something they don’t need  may paralyze some into covering up the problem instead of solving it.

Indeed service or sales people who fear things like the economy, high prices, their ability to sell, close or handle objections usually blame the fear itself which stops them in their tracks, instead of trying to sculpt an effective response to it.

Fear As Your Friend

Imagine if fear were your ally instead of your enemy. How can fear our feeling of fear be our greatest asset? The first thing to remember is that fear is not real and that it is only a feeling we get. It exists in our minds and not in reality. Although fear can paralyze some, it can also be a powerful agent for change. Let me illustrate this point by using two unique situations.

In situation #1, I want you to close your eyes and think about a 10 foot long steel I-beam laying flat on the ground. Most of us could walk across that 4 inch wide I-beam with no trouble at all if asked to do so. We probably could even do this blind=folded if we really concentrated.

Now in situation #2, take that same 10 foot I-beam and imagine if it was a bridge between two buildings and the beam was placed 80 stories high. Now imagine yourself attempting to cross this same surface. For some, it would be frightening, too risky and they would be paralyzed. Most likely your fear would prevent you from even trying to cross this seemingly easy walkway.

Focus On What You Want

To be successful, you would have to re-focus on the thing you wanted and not on what you don’t want if you really wanted to cross the 80 story high I-beam. Most people would focus on the ground 80 stories below and imagine themselves falling.

Those people would no doubt fall as they imagined. Instead, of focusing on the ground below, you would easily cross the beam if you focused only on the 4-inch surface or even the building on the other side of the beam. If you thought about that 10-foot span you would realize that it would probably take as little as three easily well placed steps to cross it.

What is the difference between the two situations? In reality, nothing has changed but our focus and perception. We focus on failure and so we fall. If we focus on what we want we will most likely succeed. Understand that I am not saying that you should not feel fear or be fearless and possibly reckless.

The feeling of fear does exist, even if only in our minds. If you listen to that feeling of fear and use it as the warning sign to make changes and create a better reality, it can be our greatest ally. Think of the feeling of fear as your internal barometer telling you to do something to take action before your fears become a reality.

Remember that fears are just nightmares and are not real. When first feeling fear think about what that fear is trying to tell you. Think about what is real right at that moment and then take action immediately. Remember to not focus on that fear but instead focus on the opposite of that fear and how you want that instead.

If you do that, you are on your way to getting anything you desire.

Living In the State Of Now

Most of the struggles that sales professionals have stem from the fear inside to take action at the critical time when it is needed.  Fail to ask the tough questions about your competitor, the buyers expectation of pricing or even why people think they need your service and you will certainly crash and burn at the end.  Or at best you will leave with a whimper instead of trying to help your buyer through objections they may have.

What Are We Afraid Of?

Why are service techs and sales people afraid to ask these questions?  I believe that most of our fears stem from events that either have occurred in the past or have yet to happen to us in the future.  Many of us focus 80% or more of our time thinking about the fantasy of the past or future and not on the present.

Again, remember that the past and future are not real and exist only in our imagination. They are simply dreams or nightmares that have no impact on what is happening in the “state of now.”

Here are some symptoms that we may not be living in the moment:

Mind Reading

These are moments where we think we know what others are thinking about us.  Or we may imagine what others may say if we ask them a question.  To base your success on reading the mind of others is not very smart. How do we really know what others think unless we ask them?

Any ideas that we may have that assumes we know what is in the minds of our clients is only constructed by things on the outside that we have seen in the past. We look at their age, facial expressions, their home, car and other belongings and think we can profile the thoughts of this person.

If you do this, you are wrong. How many times have you been surprised that someone who was looking like a real strong prospect just faded away and did NOT purchase from you? How many times have you thought you had no chance and then they DID buy?

Believe me, in sales there are no mind readers. Leave your crystal ball at home and instead ask yourself if you found out what your buyer was really thinking right at this moment. How to you find out? Easy just ask them.

Assumptions

The graveyard of lost sales is filled with assumptions that sales people make about their buyers. Where do we form these assumptions? Usually they are created in our minds, based on past experiences we have had with other clients. Assumptions are not based on reality. Our experiences in the past have no impact on the way your buyer wants to purchase from you at this moment.

Always challenge your assumptions about the buyer. Share your thoughts when you think you know something about them. Most likely, you will find out how wrong your assumptions were. Find out if your assumptions are correct, or better yet, don’t make any in the first place.

Live In Reality, Not Fantasy

The only time that is real is right now. This is the only moment we can take action to create our future. Stay in the moment a maximize you opportunity to be effective right now and you will create the success that you desire

What Is a Professional?

The difference between a REAL professional in any occupation and those who aspire to this status is not the talent level or even any of their great achievements.

The main difference in my opinion are the times when they struggle or find themselves in a slump. The true professional does not lose their enthusiasm when faced with a setback or challenge.  On days when the normal person would rather call in sick, the professional shows up and gives the same effort they would give on their best days.  What then do professionals do when they go into a slump or suffer a poor performance? They always go back to the fundamentals and remember the little things that mean a lot when the pressure is on.

Think about what you or your sales team do when you are faced with tough times when you struggle to gain even modest results.  Do you “not show up?”  Or, do you go back to the basics to “stop the bleeding” and turn your sales results around.

Here are some things that you should consider when you are stuck in a rut of poor performance:

#1 – Are you customer focused or self focused?

You should focus 90% of your energy on getting information about the buyer and reserve 10% of your energy on giving information about yourself. “Brag-books,” Presentation binders and literature can kill a sale fast.  Sales is about finding what the right answer is from your buyer and then passing the test during your presentation.  Ask yourself how well you knew these people?

Did you even know their first name? Are they married? how many kids are there? What are the names of everyone in the home? YES even the dog!  Knowing your buyers perception of important factors like the “green” movement are essential before you start to prescribe any solutions for them.

#2 – Be different than your competitor

Differentiation is one of the key foundations to any sales situation. In effect if all of you line up and essentially give the same presentation the buyer has no way to tell who is better other than price.

Use different verbiage, services, warranty and solutions than your competitor. Also, make sure that in every presentation you are telling your buyer something that no one else has told them. Never present “apples to apples” to your buyer. Include some oranges, grapes and bananas too.

#3 – Get buyers to commit before giving prices

Do you feel pressure when you are presenting your options? Selling is a series of commitments followed by an agreement at the end. There should be no pressure at the end. If you fail to get the necessary commitments up front then you will have to deal with all of them when you attempt to close.

Always ask “what if?” questions before you decide to give people solutions.  Questions like, “What if I put together some solutions for you today. what would happen then?” are great ways to predict the outcome of your interaction.  What good are your solutions if the buyer is not committed to purchasing them?

#4 – Deal with perceptions of your competitor

Although you should never talk bad about the competition, you DO need to find out the buyers perception of them. Have they used other companies before? If so, why did they switch. You must find out how others have failed or you are doomed to repeat the same mistake they have made.

Remember that success leaves clues and so does failure. It is much more fun in sales to learn from the crash and burn stories of others rather than learning from your own setbacks.

#5 – Be a system renovator not a fix it man

In today’s uncertain economic times buyers are not going cheaper as you may think. Instead, they universally want the problem to be completely over and done with after you finish. Small, cheaper solutions are temporary fixes that lead to lost customers. Include complete overhauls or renovations in your presentation and your buyer will discover the value in your services.

Don’t be afraid to take what seems like a small opportunity and create a major event out of it.  Bigger solutions equal larger purchases in one chunk.  It is simply better service to get everything done today than make your buyer wait until tomorrow.

#6 – Do you sell tomorrow’s solutions today?

Can any of us argue that your services won’t cost more five years from now? With the rising cost of transportation, labor, insurance, energy, gasoline, copper, steel and brass the price of what you are selling now is sure to rise. Your customer would appreciate if they could buy tomorrows service at today’s prices.

Always offer multi-year follow-up service, warranty and maintenance plans with your best options. Think of it as an “inflation buster” package. It’s a simple investment in their comfort and peace of mind that they will thank you for.

#7 – Show buyer’s their best & worst options

I know that top professionals present what they think is the best option for their customer. What if you suspended your judgment and got out of the way to let your buyer decide what is right for them? If you fail to offer your buyer the worst thing they could do, then they feel compelled to look elsewhere for a point of reference.

First offer your buyer the premium solutions with a system renovation, multi-year warranties and services and at then take away the quality and services in each subsequent solution until your sixth option at the bottom is a band-aid with no warranty. Stop assuming that you know how they will buy and let them choose for themselves.

#8 – Present to the right person at the right time

How many calls have you gone on where you painstakingly diagnosed the problem and created a “bonzer” solution only to find out that you were not talking to the buyer at all? Or perhaps the buyer was not ready to decide today.

Always make sure you align the time you present with the day people will decide. By all means also make sure that this is the person who can make the final decision as well. Just ask who owns the home and what they are hoping to accomplish today and the answer will reveal itself.

#9 – Let your buyer choose what’s best for them

You have no doubt heard the phrase, “Silence is golden” before. In selling nothing is more true that that simple axiom. Listen to your buyer and then diagnose the problem, finally create a presentation with all your solutions. After that just ask, “What should we do?”

Then remain silent and let your buyer make their decision. Many times the best way to handle an objection is to just let the buyer handle it themselves.

Stop trying to over-convince your buyer to purchase from you. Just stand there after your presentation and wait without talking. Your silence will be interpreted as confidence. The best thing to say is often nothing at all.

Stop Amateur Night On Your Calls

Vince Lombardi once said, “Being a champion starts with the ability to take a hard look at yourself.”  Try to remember than even the most seasoned professional baseball players always take batting practice before every one of the over 200 games they play from spring training through the world series.  Don’t you think that someone at that level know how to bat already?  How much “batting practice” are you taking or skipping before each day starts?  My advice to bust a slump is to get in the cage and practice your fundamentals every day and you will always win.

What Is Confidence?

Wikipedia describes confidence as “A state of being certain, either that a hypothesis or prediction is correct, or that a chosen course of action is the best or most effective given the circumstances.”

What is the value of confidence in your sales approach?  It’s huge.  If a customer doesn’t think you believe in either your diagnosis of the issues as well as the solutions you have created, they will not purchase from you.  In essence, the first person who must be sold is YOU the service or sales person.  You must believe in what you are telling a client or they will se right through you.  I was recently doing a ride-a-long observation in the field with a service tech and what I witnessed was a pathetic string of verbal fumbling.

Weak Words Kill Sales

The person I was observing proved to be a very bright, smart and knowledgeable tech with over 15 years of experience in the field.  His verbal skills did not reflect his level of competence however and so he was left frustrated and angry at the end of the call.  The customer told him that they had to “shop around” to get more information on repairing the problem.  So he left defeated.

The difference between him getting or losing the job was just a matter of using “weak” words when conveying the problems and solutions.  Let’s go over this call and see what “weak” things he did to make himself look like he had a low level of confidence in his approach.

1. Diagnosing – After he diagnosed the problem, he explained what he found to the customer.  Here is what it sounded like… (Weak language in bold)

“Hey I think I found the problem here.  At this time you got a bad ignitor.  It’s probably due to lack of maintenance.  I really don’t know if there are other problems because I’ll have to try and fix this problem because I can’t tell if there are more problems or not.  This is probably the only problem though so don’t worry too much.”

2. Pricing - Of course the above information lead to the customer asking, “Well how much will this cost to get it fixed?”  The answer…

“I don’t really know right now. I’ll have to try and find the price in my flat rate book first.  Hopefully I’ll have the part in stock.  I’m not sure if your service contract is up to date so I’ll see if I can find that out for you.  I could call the boss to see if he could give you the contract price though.  Let me go out to my truck and try to get a hold of him to see if maybe he knows something about your contract.”

3. Solutions - Once he went to the truck to come up with the pricing he returned to the home owner…

“Okay I got the bad news for you. (Really? Getting the heat back on is bad news?)  Before I tell you how much this will cost, I gotta tell you that there is no way of knowing if there are more problems or not.  I’ll see what I find once I try and get this up and running first.  Then we can hopefully get you the full diagnosis after that.  I don’t have the exact OEM part on my truck but I have a generic part that most likely will work.”

Forget what You “Don’t Know”

During the ensuing discussion with the customer he uttered words like, “maybe, we could try this, could be, I’m not sure” and many other weak phrases.  Once in the truck, I quickly let him know in no uncertain terms that his lack of confidence was killing his results.

I simply told him that customers do not care about the things you DON’T know. They only care about what you DO know. For instance, if you were an electrician were not sure about an electrical problem and the exact location of the short, keep that to yourself. Instead emphasize what you CAN tell them for certain. For instance you CAN say that the system is old and the electrical panel is obsolete and over loaded. You can also say that you have ways to renovate this system and take care of the problem permanently.

This tech took my words to heart.  He said he would eliminate these weak words. (Not try to) What impact did this minor change in language have? It was huge. The past two weeks, this tech who could barely achieve as little as $1,500 per week has done over $20,000 per week in the past two weeks. Remember to only talk about what you know for certain and leave out the rest. Your sales results will be the better for it.

Selling To Beancounters

I received a desperate sounding phone call last week from a sales manager at a service company in the mid-west. He informed me that he thought our material was great and that he wanted to send several techs to one of our upcoming Total Immersion Summits and 5-Week after coaching experience.

There Was One Problem

When he tried to raise the prospect of investing in sales training for the techs, sales people and himself the CFO of the company gave a host of reasons why they could NOT possibly invest in such a program at this time.

He called me to ask if their was a “business case” for sales training that he could present to the owner of the company to convince him that the “Bean Counter” was a bit off in his thinking. I then thought about it for a few hours and came up with this e-book below. Enjoy it and use it by all means to sell your company’s bean counter on this important message.

Click Below To Instantly download the Free E-Book

Your Personal Economy

What can you do to bust your personal recession? One thing for sure is that the economy always improves whenever a good service or sales person shows up at the door.  The same is true of your personal economy. It always gets better when we create better results.  Yes there are stories of carnage in the contracting industry with record numbers of businesses failing.  But there is one thing to remember.  This truth is undeniable.  That truth is that a sale is never lost.  It just goes to your competitor.

Because of this truth, ironically there are a few contractors who have grown enormously when they grab this seemingly “lost” sale.  That’s right.  When you lose an opportunity to capture a customer, you not only lose the customer and the money but your competitor is fueled by getting the immediate dollar and the long term relationship.  A relationship that if managed correctly can result in between $30,000 to $50,000 in opportunity over the next 5 to 7 years.

Can’t “Cutback” Your Way To Success

With this much at stake, you would think that the average contractor would be scouring the globe looking for a way to at the very least, know how to sell more on each opportunity.  But alas, if you thought this you would as disappointed as I am to say what I am about to tell you right now.  The plain truth is that most contractors who are faced with a tough economy, implode and “cutback” on their staff and their services instead of taking advantage of the weaker competition, or as i like to call them, “the herd.”

In the history of successful companies, there has never been anyone who has increased their service, their market share and their profit by cutting back.  Each employee represents a profit center that businesses must hold accountable for a result.  So if you are cutting back in profit centers, you are then cutting back on profit.  You simply can’t save or cutback your way to success.

Who’s Getting Rich?

There are many stories of success in the midst of this dark and depressing economy.  In fact, those that are succeeding are hoping the bad economy will last so that the limited amount or opportunity will put their competition out of their misery.  Each week I hear story after story about contractors who have never made so much profit.  What is the common thread that runs through all of their stories?

I have taken the liberty to share this with you…

They Capture Customers - These contractors have a “zero-tolerance” policy to lose opportunities.  When an employee makes a decision to solve problems, they are determined to not leave until it is brought to a conclusion.

They Eliminate Competitors - They find out how other contractors have failed, essentially finding out what NOT to do on each call BEFORE they give a solution.

They Diagnose Whole Systems - Great service is not just doing repairs one-at-a-time. Offer options to RENOVATE the whole system as well just a band-aid. They give options not ultimatums.

They Create Bundles & Packages - They differentiate their services by offering and bundling more of them. They make it very easy for customers to purchase more premium options because they are not afraid to offer them.

Once you know how to sell to your customer everything will change for you and your company.  Your economy will certainly improve. Your average call will increase to over 3 to 5 times of the average contractor.  You will have happier customers who are buying more premium options. NOTE: You will not be selling the same thing you are now at higher prices, instead you will be selling services warrantees and renovations that you currently DO NOT sell right now for more.

Here’s an idea.  Instead of cutting back or waiting to long, why not invest in yourself.  Do you believe in yourself enough to do that? If you do, your family, your company and everyone you know will be glad you did.