Greg's Right FIT #373

Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week. 

In this issue: 

- Thoughts on Selling
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Thoughts on Selling

• If a prospect identifies an important action, then follows it up saying they can take care of it internally, ask about it. If it's important, why haven't they taken care of it yet? "Important" rarely just pops up. This is why they need you. 
• When a buyer leads the conversation asking, "What can you do for us?" the appropriate response is, "I don't know." You're there to find out if there's an opportunity worth pursuing. Ask them to describe some outcomes they're after. 
• If a prospect has a hard time coming up with issues (problems or results) give them the magic wand. "I'm giving you a magic wand. It will quickly improve one thing in your business. What will you use it on?" 
• Rescheduling is a challenge. When a buyer reschedules twice it's okay to say, "I'm sorry. I was under the impression this issue was a priority. I misunderstood. I’m here if you would like to reopen talks, but I'll quit bugging you now. If I bump into information that may be of use to you, I'll send it your way!" (this tactic requires you to keep a full pipeline) 

Being Human - Note Cards

“True intuitive expertise is learned from prolonged experience with good feedback on mistakes.” – Daniel Kahneman

A key to effective sales communication is structured conversation. When the buyer is in the hands of a trained professional it's like watching Olympic level rowers working together. You can't tell who is leading and who is following, it's effortless. 

When I advise business development people on their conversations it's easy to hear when its working and identify where it goes wrong. As a listener I'm pretty spot on. It leads to the business development pro asking me, "how do you keep all this straight?" I admit most of my sales conversations don't go as well as my advice lets on, but within 24 hours my success rate is awesome. After sleeping on it, I know all the advice I would have liked to hear at the moment. It's why I use note cards. 

Reflecting on a conversation I'll come up with four or five questions I missed, two or three statements I would change, and a host of elements I left out. Missing bits are just part of being human. I remind myself of the things I did right, so I don't feel like a total failure, then I whip out the note cards and make notes. On one side goes the situation/statement the buyer made, on the other side goes my considered response. If I can think of multiple responses I put them each on a separate card. Then I flip through my stack to see how often I've written the same thing. It happens. A lot. 

Yes, at this point I have many hundreds, maybe a thousand cards. (I mess up a lot) This exercise helps me keep things straight when listening to others. I imagine the boat skipping across the water in record time and compare it to what I'm hearing. I pick one element, and we go to work on improving it. 

Note cards. Good stuff. 

Random Stuff

“Never did he fail to respond savagely to the chatter of the squirrel he had first met on the blasted pine.” – Jack London, "White Fang"

I'm happy to tell you the bulk of my book manuscript has been accepted. There is a punch list to be completed, but nothing onerous. This means I will be spending more time in front of the computer, trying not to be distracted by the squirrels. 

This is a squirrel's nest (a "drey," it's called) in my line of sight. See this view from just over my desktop:

Every time I look up I see it. Today it's windy and the branch it's anchored to is swaying. Very dramatic. I imagine tiny squirrel babies (a "kit," a typical litter is 4 kits) pink and huddled, holding on for dear life. It's going to be as low as four degrees, so I hope they're warm. The other day I noticed another squirrel sunning itself on the big tree next to the tree this nest is in. It was in front of a hollow, almost like it's blocking the entrance from cold winds. (they sometimes nest in tree hollows too) 

Knowing this swaying nest's next door neighbors are in a cozy tree hollow, I'm bothered by their choice of tree. I don't know trees well, but another neighbor has two mighty oaks in front. While walking Wilson up and down the block (the old man prefers short walks now) I found 2 nests there. That makes sense. Those oaks barely sway in the wind. There are dozens of strong oaks, lindens, and fir trees around. Whatever river-birch-like-thing I see from my desk is, well, it's the low rent district. With such a flimsy base, how are those squirrels going to make it in their brief stint on this competitive world? (American Red squirrels have a 3-5 year lifespan) 

Right now I see four of them jumping from branch to branch, up and down, then back again. Should they be frolicking? Have they gathered enough nuts? Are they a family of ne'er-do-wells looked down on by their industrious neighbors? Why don't they want more from life?

Whatever their disposition, Wilson the ABC hates them with a white-hot passion. When they scamper along the back fence his creaky old bones come to life, and he sprints at them, barking his face off. If he could read better he would chastise me for the time I've spent thinking about the tree rats.

Therefore, in his honor, I'll stop.