Referral Authority E-ZineThe Biggest Mistake That Most Salespeople MakeDate: 07/30/2007
Date: July 30, 2007 The Biggest Mistake That Most Salespeople Make People are generally not interested in what YOU want; they are however very interested in what THEY want. Often I talk about how the value you bring must be something that is of value to the OTHER person, not necessarily of any value to you. Last week I was re-visiting Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People and he used a very helpful expression/metaphor: "Bait the hook to suit the fish." He mentioned that he liked to vacation out east and enjoyed eating fresh strawberries and cream. He continued that he also liked to fish but that his favorite 'bait' (strawberries) worked miserably - the fish wanted worms. THE BIGGEST MISTAKE that most salespeople make that assures no referral business: Most salespeople write, email, network and prospect for business and only talk about THEMSELVES and their product or service (send us worms when they should be sending us strawberries). Yes, they may show a passing, often fairly superficial interest in what the other person does, but ask yourself: how often does someone ask me about my business and really seem engaged? Why do we hear so much about creating stunning elevator speeches to get people falling over themselves to ask you all these questions (yeah, right), when the reality is people think about themselves 95% of the time? It isn't a bad idea to have something more engaging to say about yourself BUT If you show enough interest in others, and they are legitimate prospects, they will start to think more highly of you and reciprocate your attention. We know people hate to be sold to; why is so much marketing just that? If somebody wanted to engage YOU and build a relationship with YOU most on YOUR favorite sport, would it work if they talked about fly fishing because that was their passion? Or English Premiership soccer (my favorite)? How to Avoid It: 1. Show sincere interest in the other person , ask lots of questions about their interests and listen attentively. 2. The absolute key question here for you to ask yourself from now on about any important prospect or potential center of influence: What is the bait? OR How can I most add value to this person? Because it's not the company brochure! Again, value is defined NOT as something valuable for you, but value for the other person - something that will enhance their life, their business, their revenue, their personal happiness or wellbeing. Examples of Three of the Biggest Mistakes and How to Avoid Them To exceptional people, like those in our network, I expect I'm over-stating my point; but when I look at my inbox, mailbox, and attend networking functions, almost all I see and hear is "me, me, me" and "buy from us" when it should be "you, you, you". Here are three examples just from the last three days! Marketing Death by E-Mail Three days ago I got an email from a west-coast company. Notice the first words in each paragraph: This is Jerry from ABC Company How to Avoid: Jerry has a long wait. Why not take two minutes and skim my website to notice that someone passionate about referral business is unlikely to do business with a total stranger he does not know, like or trust? Am I likely to embrace a cold call from the west coast or appreciate junk email full of bad grammar that says 'unprofessional' to me? I can handle an occasional cold call but why not focus on what my needs might be? Marketing Death by Mail In the mail yesterday, I got a letter saying: "Dear Chamber Member (Carnegie discovered long ago that the most important word in the world to each of us is our name!), The XYZ Restaurant would like to proudly introduce the arrival of their outdoor patio seating for lunch and dinner!" It then went on simply to talk about how great the restaurant was. The biggest mistake: me me me - I don't like worms! How to avoid: Why not focus on my needs? "Mr. Anderson: Are you ever looking for a new and business-oriented place to meet and impress prospects or centers of influence? Because you are a chamber member, we have a special offer to introduce you to our restaurant and in particular to our new outdoor patio etc." Marketing Death by Networking I was at a business after-hours event a couple of days ago. Of the people I met for the first time, not one of them asked me a follow-up question after I told them I helped sales professionals generate more referral business. Nobody was interested in hearing anything about me or my business. No one asked me how I got started, what I liked most about my work or what kind of business I was looking for (a great way to set yourself apart). It's the biggest mistake: me me me. And most of us are used to this, right? That's pretty normal; I was a total stranger to them and I certainly don't expect business that soon from someone who does not know, like or trust me yet to say; "Oh, now we've been talking for five minutes you must come and present at our next annual convention" (unless they've had too much to drink). Seldom is someone going to put their integrity on the line like that. Instead we talked about their favorite topic: themselves! How to Avoid: show sincere interest in the other person and focus on their needs. On one occasion, I asked someone who was not too happy with her job where she saw herself in five years and she exclaimed: "Now that's an excellent question!" And even though this person works for a national association that organizes 10 conferences around the country every year that could all potentially benefit from a speaker like me, all I did was recommend a good book to her - one that addressed her needs. With the others that I met (and made a connection with), I did my best when I could to find a reason to follow up about something that would benefit them in their professions or make them look good in their professional organizations- again, nothing to do with The Referral Authority. And now I have the business cards of several people who will be happy to hear from me, so I can start building a relationship with some of them. And I am pretty confident that 12 months from now business will have resulted from one or more of these contacts. If this were purely a technique, I'd fail at some point because people would know. So, yes, we have to be sincere - the one misgiving I have about the word 'bait'. As Mr. Carnegie himself said: "You can make more friends in two months by being sincerely interested in others than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you." Action Plan: The absolute key question here for you to ask yourself from now on about any important prospect or potential center of influence: FORGET ABOUT ME, What is the bait? OR How can I most add value to this person? *Who else would get value from these ideas? Please forward this on! |
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