NLP and the Sales Cycle
NLP Sales Training Webinar By
Steve Boyley
August 18th 2003
Webinar Notes by Craig Eubanks
These notes are offered as is from the webinar with permission
from Steve Boyley of The Performance Institute of NLP. Minor editing
and article formatting done by Steve Boyley. Questions are in bold
indicated with "Q:"
NLP Webinar with Steve Boyley:
Get On Your Sales Cycle And Get Growing
Webinar references web page:
http://www.nlpmind.com/sales_cycle.htm
Often we become so focused on the skills to do these things
such as persuasion, rapport and sales, we forget or overlook the process.
So this will be to focus on the process, the sales cycle (see website), and
discover that it is actually easy. That following the process itself
is often enough, all you need to have a successful business.
It is a shame that someone doesn't succeed just because
they don't follow the process. "Plan your work, work your plan."
Having a workable plan is more important than having fancy communication
skills to execute a part of the plan. If you stick to the process over
and over, and feed in new information as you learn it, to improve the process.
Q: I notice you have called cold calls, hot calls...
what is the reason behind that?
For many people when they get into sales they are
told they must make "cold calls" whether in person or on the phone.
The term has served to send shivers up the spine of many a sales person.
So it is more descriptive of the process to call them hot calls, since by
the time you are done with them they are either "hot" for your services or
"hot " to get you out of there.
Q: What are the key points to "hot" calls?
1) State of mind and attitude about making
the calls. Avoid mind reading what the state of mind the customer will have
when you make the call, causes the result of what one experiences. Framing
what it is that you are doing in your mind effectively is likely the most
important element of hot calls. Check your state, what you are communicating
via non verbal means.
Note: the non verbal stuff can be communicated over the
phone by tone of voice.
2) Your presentation, including how you present
to yourself. The frame to use is "these people out there have a
need for this service/product/etc." that I am selling. When you have
this frame you realize you are doing a great service for these people out
there that have been waiting for this solution to their problems.
3) Qualifying: Do not waste your time as
a sales person. Qualify that you are speaking with the correct individual
as soon as possible: ask the first person "can you help me" (This is
the first question Steve asks everyone).
"Can you help me, I am looking for the person that can
sign my order for...." they will direct you to that person.
Note: keep asking this same question until a person says
yes I am that person. This includes asking if there are any other
people who also need to sign.
Then schedule time with that person, when you are sure
that this is the person who can okay the deal. Often the objective of
the hot call is to schedule time to do a presentation. When asking for
the time, always use the work "or". Is this week "or" next week good?
You want to schedule an opportunity for business to take place between you.
4) Check with the person that they
have the time to spend with you to do what you want to accomplish. It
is very useful when making hot calls. Do not feel that you have to get
the entire presentation in at that time. You can just show up and say
"I am here to make an appointment (for a meeting)"
So there can be primary objectives and secondary objectives
to the hot call.
This consideration you are showing can have benefits in
that most people want to do business with people who are considerate of them.
Q: How do you determine who it is that might have
a need?
Leads into product development, have a product or service
that solves a known need in the market place. This way you have an idea
of who has the need, and whether it is a specific need, or a general need
(i.e.: they are breathing and have the money to purchase what you offer).
Most products are developed in response to a need. Not always.
As you present the prospect with the product, the feedback
you get will determine and help narrow down who are the prospects more likely
to do business with you. (eg the 80/20 rule) 20 % of prospects provide 80%
of your revenue. Better to focus on the 20% first. Sometimes this is
not possible, and you must present to the full 100% in order to find the 20%
Remember this about prospecting and marketing: It
is a process of discovering those individuals who already have a desire
for your particular product or idea, and also those who, if they realized
it, would have a desire for your product. So you want to find
both those that have a desire, and those that have a potential need (and educate
them) to encourage that desire. This should lead you to have an 'interested'
contact.
Remember: What is in it for them? Why should they
take the time to read or listen to your presentation. Answer those questions
and you will reach your objectives.
Q: Can you give us an example of some prospecting
you have done?
Selling home renovation products
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They must own a home. Occasionally the resident, but
involves the owner. Multiple owners may all need to be involved.
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Use a reverse directory that list houses by neighborhood,
so can assess market potential of the hood.
-
Then call and ask "are you a home owner" If no,
say thank you. If yes, then proceed.
Another example:
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Looking for people interested in NLP, by Internet.
-
By describing the training etc. get a list of names of
people that do have an interest in taking NLP training at some point.
You want the list of people that DO HAVE AN INTEREST.
That is the criteria for the prospect list that builds.
Q: How important is follow up after the sale in your
opinion?
Depends on the nature of the product and potential future
business with client. If there is potential business it is much more important.
If they are unhappy and unlikely to contact you, then follow up is important.
Example: NLP training. as soon as it's over, the students
go into a mailing list with a request for feedback.
-
Request for feedback within 24 hours.
-
An email goes out to each one of the students reminding
them to review (thank you in it); 24 hours, 48 hours 1week, 2 weeks, month,
2 months, then every 3 months.
How important is this process? Imagine if a sales person
calls you and each time they start with the same pitch like they never met
you before.
Q: Can tracking too much mislead you into, "it is
just a numbers game" instead of calibrating?
People do track too much, but as long as it doesn't bog
you down, it's better to have a little to much and not use it all.... than
not have enough when you contact them next. Good to be able to
say "you know when last we spoke, we talked about X, and we agreed that next
we would do Y" establishes continuity.
Make the process be beginning to end. Whether it
happens all at once or over a number of different meetings and contacts.
Q:How can you determine if there is interest that
may be just displaced by an over crowded schedule.
Goes back to the comment, can you track too much?
Better off to focus on the numbers game than the calibration. The calibration
can mislead in this situation.
If you have submitted a proposal when they were interested,
then you meet again and they seem reluctant. If you have good records,
you can remind them of where you left off, and this can change their state
back to where they were enthusiastic at the last meeting. You can say
"Listen I know you have a tight schedule, when last we met you said you are
interested in this. I know now is not the best time, so when would
be convenient for you?"
(Recall where Steve said that someone with excellent
skills can miss out on the business, but someone with a good process and average
or even mediocre skills gets the result.)
Q: I often have to convince people to take an appointment
with me, to take the extra time to see another (real estate) agent and not
sign with the one they are seeing sooner. Then I try to close them when I
am there. Any ideas how I fight my own contradictory statements?
Point is, they are going to list with somebody. Remember
that the person makes the buying decision when they see maximum personal gain
at minimum personal risk. So hopefully as a result of your presentation they
will feel this way about doing business with you.
One of the ways you can maintain credibility... Check for
buyers remorse. This shows you have integrity. That you are going to
do the right thing for THEM. "Now remember what I've said, here it is (the
contract). If you are not happy I'm going to tear this up (start to
tear it a bit).
Works like a charm. Especially with something that has
a cancellation time frame.
Note: there are course after course taught on each part
of this sales cycle, and yet people are not following a systematic process
to get the business and keep it coming and growing.
Point: does matter your talent level, AND you need to
do the right steps to get the business.
Q: I have a client who won't sell his home because
it is $500 away from what he wants. He is living in a $144,000 and can afford
$250,000 and he won't make the stretch. I have dropped my commission dramatically.
He paid $8000 in costs and down payment and he isn't leaving without the $8000.
His home has been on the market for 1 1/2 years! Any ideas?
It has nothing to do with the price, it has everything
to do with him recovering his 8000.00 from when he bought the home.
How long was it he incurred the costs? (4 yrs) You have
to look at the invested cash value of that money, and show that it is more
than 8000.00 he should recover so he is behind on the inflation of that value.
Show him the time value of $. This will drive home that time affects
the value of money.
Then point out that the last 1.5 years he has refused the
$500.00, and show him that in that time his 8000.00 has gone up more than
that had he invested it. So the longer he waits, the more it
costs him, even if he gets the full price that he wants.
A reframe: Then say, you know if I were you, I would
take that $143,500 now before you lose any more money.
Step number 5.0, comes into play when you have a prospect
is interested, from either a hot call, or marketing campaign.
Do one of the following:
5.1) Gather intelligence, who is this that has contacted
you or you them. Find out the nature of the organization, how much they might
use, potential value of the business with this client. The intelligence
is not only about the company, but can be the history of the relationship
if they have prior business. May also be gathering referrals.
And gathering information about the individual (meta programs, hot buttons,
etc.) This is where NLP comes into play. do this on each and every contact
with the client, improving the intelligence
The info you gather gives you what you need to make an
effective....
5.2) Presentation. An effective presentation leads
to a proposal. You want a tailored presentation for that prospect.
Note: continue gathering intelligence.
5.3) Proposal that will work for both parties. mutually
beneficial business.
5.4) Order, ask for the business. This is where
you answer the question... did you get an order or not, if yes, then you will
go to order follow up. if no... go to...
6.0) Order follow through. Very Very important.
This is the continuation of the close. Can go into a loop here, but
to make sure it is not static, continue to gather information.
Note: this is the strategy of the most talented and
successful sales people. Follow through is crucial, this is not follow up.
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Intelligence gathering... then follow through
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Presentation... then follow through
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Proposal... then follow through
-
Ask for the business... follow through
This process will lead you to the outcomes that are
right for you. It can be that this is not the business you
were looking for.
Note: you can have a variety of skills to run the strategy,
your skills can be 'not so hot', but the strategy is.
The follow through and follow up are vital.
So many sales people do not do this. This leaves opportunity for
people that know how to work the system as we now do.
Q: How much should you push a prospect to work with
you. How do you calibrate with new people that they are going to turn
Until you get someone annoyed and angry with you, you don't
know.
You can not lose a sale you don't have! So go for it. Push
it to the limit from time to time so you know where the limit is. If you do
push it, back off and apologize and thank them for helping you determine where
the limit is. Explain that sometimes you get so enthusiastic that sometimes
you can be doing the wrong thing for the right reasons.
Besides how else can you calibrate a limit?
Important thing about a marketing plan, is knowing where
it is leading you to. Then the second marketing plan is the repeat business
marketing plan. (Steve has made this sales cycle "the bible" for any
companies he has managed. )
Remember: when you set it up right, it is driven by
your calendar.
If you take NLP skills and apply them to each step, you
can make it dynamite. The fact the companies can take this strategy
and do well with no skills at all is a testament to how well it works.
PART II 7PM WEBINAR
Comes down to the criteria that defines who your market
is, when developing a marketing plan.
Ground zero - the beginning where everything explodes from
there, where you determine who are the potential prospects. So you don't
waste your time on people who are not good prospects. You want people
who are interested in your product service and have the capability to make
a deal for it.
So you need to find the criteria about what makes a potential
prospect for you. Then you can asses the number of prospects in your
region, the number your marketing channels are likely to reach, and then the
number of those that meet your criteria. The better you can match the
marketing to your specific targets the better.
2 kind of analysis
-
what criteria for a client
-
what fits the target your marketing channel is reaching
example: an ad in the paper, your marketing channel,
reaches a broad criteria of readers (newspaper readers). If you think
your market consists of 15% of newspaper readers, then you can test your
ad and see if you are getting to those you are attempting to reach.
Big distinction; area might have 2 million people
in the region it covers, however the newspaper might only go to 1 million
of those, and of those maybe 30 percent take not of the ad, of those maybe
20 percent might be interested, and of those maybe 15 percent are ready to
take action.
This is actually true for many forms of marketing unless
you have more qualified leads. Niche marketing is more along the lines
of having qualified leads. marketing to business is like this, you can buy
lists.
Ya can have all the sales skills, but ya gotta find the
people who want what ya got.
This is true, people often think this about the Internet
since there are 6 billion people on the Internet, but it has nothing to do
with the size of the market, but your potential to get attention in that market.
So finding a Niche makes a big difference.
Plan your work, and work your plan. so having a strategy,
or a habit of behavior, can make you much more effective. When you have
a plan, even if your skills along each step of the way are not the greatest,
you will get the results. Then if you have great skills, you become
the kind of person/business the competition are worried about.
Hot Calls: In the past they called it cold calls.
The connotation of that is enough to send chills down anyone's spine.
Yet this is one of the hottest way to get new business. Called hot calls
since they will either be hot to do business with you or are hot to get you
out of the way.
Also people would go in cold, instead of going in hot,
if you want to get people excited, you have to be hot your self.
(Steve sings, "I got the juice, I got the fire, I got the burning desire.")
Better to go in hot and simmer down to where they are.
This goes for the phone as well, you must be in the state of someone you would
want to get a phone call from. Lead them into the state you want them to be
in, or pace them and lead them.
eg: as Steve tells us these stories he is sending his
energy to us over the Internet when he tells the stories.
Q: What are some motivation strategies for getting
your self into these states?
If you are not going to be there in the state you want
to be, when you are doing it, you might as well go home.
Doing their job vs having fun with it and being excited
in your state.
Note: at every step of this you should be gathering
intelligence.
The hot call can be just for setting a meeting for an intelligence
gathering session.
Important: some times people limit themselves
by saying such things as "I'm on the phone, that is only for making appointments"
entire deals have been done on the phone, you might be able to complete
the deal then.
Sometimes it is useful to walk in, in person and just ask
for an appointment at future time.
Q: so Steve how does one get over the "rejection
button" that results from a "don't want to talk to you" attitude?
Too many times sales people take it personally. They
have presuppositions about what will happen.
e.g.: a person has just had a huge argument with their
spouse when the sales call comes. The person calling has no idea what just
happened. So you can not take that personally when they hang up the phone.
If you can hit them with "what you can do for them" you
will get their attention. If you don't they will likely not listen to
you.
Steve tells another story: A customer that
told him to "fuck off" he made a note of it, knowing that his company has
a good reputation, he called him back a month later and said "Hi I just
wanted to let you know that I did exactly what you said last month, and
I wanted to know if you had a little time today so I could report the results
to you and tell you exactly how I can help your business"
Q: How do you get past the person at the front desk?
They actually take training on how to do this (screen calls).
So what you do is to phone and say this, "Hi, I wonder if you can help me?"
or "Hi, I would like to know if you can of help me?"
Note: if you are being passed from secretary to
secretary, you can phrase it, "I wonder if you are the person who can help
me answer a question about...."
Then.... when they say "I can", you ask "I am looking for
the person who can sign my order on X, do you know who that is?"
Q: What about correspondence?
So think of it this way... how does your correspondence
help the personal assistant? The PA can think, how dare you bypass me.
That belittles their position. You can include a thank you for them
forwarding it on to Mr. so&so. (Steve likes to form a great relationship
with the PA as they can often help you get more stuff done than anyone else.)
Q: How do you get them to open up about their needs
if they don't want to talk?
You wouldn't be there if you already didn't have some idea
of their needs, now you are more confirming their needs. Frame this
as a service to them. "your time is valuable and so is mine, let us make this
process efficient so it minimizes the amount of time that it takes for us
to come to a mutually beneficial business arrangement together"
(Steve repeats the phrase mutually beneficial
throughout the conversation to reinforce it in their mind.)
Follow up is the phase where you gather more intelligence
on a prospect, most likely you haven't done a proposal yet. The point
of the follow up is to move them from step 4 to one of the steps in 5.
Follow up moves it into active selling phase from marketing phase.
Follow through is in the sales phase. Think
of the sales process like a golf swing, you have made contact with the ball,
you still need to follow through to make it a good shot. If you have
done the proposal follow through and ask for the business.
If they are not interested in not going to the next phase,
you need to go back and follow through on more intelligence, a different
proposal, maybe even a different product.
You have their attention, follow through. Find the
objections, why aren't they doing business with you today. If they didn't
have concerns they would be doing mutually beneficial business with you right
now! Do your homework, find out what their concerns are. This
is the follow through, this is the selling.
The key thing is the process. If you follow
the process you will have success, regardless of your skills. Some companies
have specialists at each point in this process. You may
have fantastic skills and if you do not follow the process you may get no
sales at all.
(Steve always asks them to set an appointment for
follow through, and what the type of follow through they would like or need.)
Note: can use the study cycle
as a model for when to contact a person who you have given information to,
since it is as if they have studied with you. This allows you to use
the anchors in the memory to reinforce the learning.
Remember out of sight of of mind. So they will
push things out of the current data accessed if they are not encouraged
to access it. A newsletter is a way of keeping it in mind. But don't
become too frequent to the point of being ignored.
Metaphor of using this sales cycle to get someone
to go to the movies with you. You go through this exact same process. And
if you go through each step and get results you will move on through the process.
This process has
the tenacity built into it that good sales people really use
Think of NLP like this, it is something everyone has already.
Only the programmers are able to manipulate it and adjust it.
System for tracking: need three things
2 a-z indexes
1 calendar (day by day)
You gather a list of potential prospects and what ever
intelligence you have on them, and put them in the first a-z filing in the
binder or Rolodex. These you have not marked in the calendar for anything,
a mail out, or phone call etc. IF they are not in one of the 8 steps
of the sales cycle, they stay in this index.
Once you have decided to do something with them, mail,
phone, meeting etc. they go into the second index since they are now IN
the sales cycle.
Why this way? If you have a mix of prospects, you
will have to go through client by client to see where you are at. This
way you keep the ones you have future contact with separate.
e.g.: You have one that you send a mail out to. Once
that is sent, if you don't know what to do with them (meaning schedule next
event) then you can move them back to the first a-z, until you decide what
to do with them to move them back into the sales process.
The second binder is only for people that are in
the sales process. This way, if you have already covered all the people
in your second binder (plan of action) then you can go back to the first one
and start the cycle with new prospects, and move them into the IN process/calendar
binder. When you get a prospect you don't know what to do with, you
can move them into the not in process binder till you figure it out.
One of the greatest time wasters is having to flip through
a Rolodex of clients that have no info with them... no plan. It
takes so long to go through in alphabetical order that only the first half
of the list gets any attention by the time follow ups come around.
Primary difference with repeat business marketing
is; customer already knows you, so you can carry your credibility with you
and get to the sales much faster. Exceptions can be a new product line.
Initial marketing takes time to establish credibility.
So the nature of repeat marketing changes some what.
example: Think of the practitioner training. Before the
training the letters talked about the nature of the training, what you will
get etc. If we received them again we wouldn't be likely to read them.
We would expect to be treated differently having already been customers,
having given the performance institute the honor of having done business
with them.
Q: Good books?
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"101 ways to
close the sale" by Zig Ziglar.
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"how to master
the art of selling" by Tom Hopkins.
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"How to sell
anything to anybody" by Joe Girard.
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"the one minute
sales person" by spencer johnson.
Craig Eubanks is an Author, Trainer, and Communication
Skills Specialist
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