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Do You Procrastinate? Don’t Put Off Reading This Article!

Posted by: Michael Caron In: Sales Coaching, Sales Executives, Sales Managers, Sales Training, Salespeople, Training, Uncategorized 15 Mar 2023 0 comments Tags: consultative selling, growing selling skills, sales productivity, sales training, selling skill improvements, selling skills, time management

By Michael Caron, President, Northbound Sales

Congratulations for reading this! Procrastination has been appropriately called the “silent killer of careers” yet few people have ever had formal training on how to overcome this immensely costly habit. All of us procrastinate to some extent but while managing this problem is a constant challenge to me, I have learned some strategies over the years that have worked very well.

Urgency versus Importance: The first step in overcoming procrastination is to understand that by definition, urgent activities are done before non-urgent. On the surface, this seems to make sense until you take into account the additional factor of importance. In Northbound’s “Goal Aligned Time™” workshop, we train people on how to place every activity in their personal and business life on a quadrant with these two variables before they decide what to put on their plan. Important tasks are often not urgent and so get pushed off the agenda. Unfortunately these are also frequently “growth” activities such as prospecting and skills development on the career side and on the personal side, might be things such as exercise and building stronger relationships. Have the discipline to schedule these activities so they get done and start saying “No” to low value, urgent activities that are screaming for your attention.

The 15 Minute Strategy: Psychologist David Burns recommends simply making a promise with yourself that you will give some task you’ve been putting off just 15 minutes of effort. His point is that we often become overwhelmed by the sheer size of a task and talk ourselves out of it. We might tell ourselves, “It’s going to take soooo long” or “It’s too big to do now. I’ll leave it until I can really focus on it”. Instead, talk back and say, “OK, I’ll just give it 15 minutes and then I can stop”. How hard can 15 minutes of anything be? Once you get started, you will have broken that psychological barrier. Most often, you’ll find that it’s not nearly as hard as you thought it was going to be and you’ll either keep going or not fear it so much next time.

Think of the End Result: Instead of thinking of how difficult the process may be to accomplish something, think rather on the end result and all the great things that it will mean to you. Turn thoughts of “I hate cold calling. It’s not much fun” into, “If I make 2 hours of calls, I’ll probably book one meeting. I usually close one out of two meetings so I’m 50% towards a sale if I make some calls!” Once your brain clearly connects the doing of a task with major benefits, you’ll be unstoppable!

You and your team can learn dozens of other proven time management strategies with Northbound’s Goal Aligned Time™ workshop. Graduates report an average productivity increase of 12%! For more information or pricing, contact Michael Caron at [email protected], 416.456.1440

The Power of Testimonials

Posted by: Michael Caron In: Sales Managers, Sales Training, Salespeople, Uncategorized 16 Feb 2023 0 comments Tags: consultative selling, growing selling skills, prospecting, sales productivity, sales training, testimonials

Having a salesperson say your company is good is very different than someone else saying it.

Most companies vastly underutilize testimonials. It’s a big mistake because the fact is that they are very powerful in building credibility and trust in your product. Just as importantly, they provide proof of performance. A study by Yahoo revealed just how powerful they are. They found that if a salesperson makes a claim as to the capability of a company or product, it is only believed by 23% of people. That’s right, 4 out of 5 people think salespeople exaggerate or in some cases, outright lie. However, if the exact same claim of capability is made by a third party, over 80% of people believe it to be true. Do the math and you’ll see that by having a testimonial speak to your ability to deliver, it is 4 times more convincing! Northbound’s U.S. based partners, Corporate Sales Coaches, note below how to get a testimonial and how to use one in your selling process.

By Len D’Innocenzo and Jack Cullen, Authors of, The Agile Manager’s Guide to Customer Focused Selling
One of the problems we hear most often at our sales seminars is, “How can I prove how good I am to someone who doesn’t know me?” This is a real obstacle when approaching an account you never have sold to.
The power of a testimonial letter can be an excellent solution. A testimonial is a written communication from a customer that talks about the value added benefits your company and you provide. It is tangible, written evidence that says you are not just another sales rep trying to make a pitch. It allows you the opportunity to showcase the specific reasons you are different from your competition. Testimonials enable the smart sales rep to cement relationship with the author of the letter.

I’m sure most of you have been asked to give a reference or two when you applied for a new job. What was the purpose of providing a reference? Obviously, to show your new boss that you are as good as you said you were. You provide a personal reference to vouch for your competence and to attest to your qualifications. Most employers require at least three professional references and one personal reference before you can start working.
Doesn’t it make sense that a new sales organization should also provide references to a prospective customer? Why should a prospect spend money with you if you can’t prove it? Sales people can greatly increase their effectiveness by asking for and using testimonial letters. An example of the type of services you have provided and the benefits received by your customer will increase your credibility.

How to get one

How do you get testimonial letters? First of all, you need to have a base of customers that are satisfied with the products and support you and your firm deliver. These accounts must be living, breathing references to your value added service.
Who are your best customers? How many have you serviced that are really satisfied with your work? Everyone that has been in sales for a year or more should have at least one or two. If they haven’t sent you an unsolicited letter of thanks, solicit one on your own!
Yes, call them up and ask them to send you a letter that talks about why you are different. A letter that says you helped them save money, time or anything else of value. A letter that says you helped them increase or improve efficiency, throughput, control or anything else of value.
Why mention you helped them save, increase or improve? Because that is how a benefit is described. Benefits help people save, reduce, control and decrease costs or expenses. Benefits help people increase, improve, enhance or gain money, efficiency or time.
People want to know what’s in it for them when you approach them. A good testimonial letter will help you to tell your story. It also will show that you know something about a specific market, industry or business.

How to get verbal into written

How many times have you heard a customer say, “This system is great! We’re able to use your system to cut our order processing time.” Or, “Your system has saved us a lot of time and money! We love our new system! We’re very pleased with your service and support. You really saved our butt!”

If you’ve only heard it, if you delivered what you promised to a customer, ask for a letter. The more you do for an account, the stronger your relationship should be. If you have a strong relationship, capitalize on it. Get a letter that says you deliver what you promise, (not everyone does), that you’re good and your company is good (not everyone is), that you help people save money or time and that you are someone that. people should talk to! These are powerful words that you deserve and that you can use!
If your customers love you but have not had the time to write you a testimonial letter, write it for them. Yes, you write your own testimonial letter. Type up a “draft” for their review and approval. Ask them if this letter is a fair statement of what you’ve done for them. If they want to make any changes they can. If they change it at all, they will usually make your letter even stronger. Most of the time they just type it on their letterhead and sign it. It is that easy.
Don’t wait for that extra special person who goes above and beyond and sends you a letter unsolicited. Take control of your own destiny and draft your own testimonial. Besides, when you do it, you can say what you want to say. When they do it, you never know if the right message comes through.
Make this idea a reality. Give yourself a deadline before this month ends, and get a note from your best accounts. When you get one, share it with your associates. Any sales manager reading this article should collect testimonials from each sales rep. Email them around to every rep. A testimonial from one customer can be used for almost any prospect.

How to use one

What can you use testimonial for? Lots of things. Use them for approaching new accounts. If you did a good job for one business in your area, let other businesses know about it. Send a copy of a good testimonial letter to the same level (or higher) at another company. It doesn’t even have to be the same industry. The point is that you and your company are good. You can deliver what you promise. Someone also has checked you out.

(If you’ve ever gotten an email from me, you’ll see a testimonial in my signature on every one – Michael)

You can also use testimonial with your proposals. Put them at the end to serve as proof that you are worth the investment. Encourage your prospects to call and check your references. Make sure you call, before they do. There is nothing more damaging than providing a bad reference on yourself A testimonial will also improve self esteem. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing your name in a letter from a happy customer. Well, I’ll admit it would be more satisfying to see your name in a letter that came in unsolicited but who can wait for things to just happen? Make things happen!

3 Ways to Get Prospects to Call You Back

Posted by: Michael Caron In: Sales Coaching, Sales Executives, Sales Managers, Sales Training, Salespeople, Uncategorized 09 Feb 2023 0 comments Tags: cold calling, growing selling skills, prospecting, sales training, selling skills

If you use these 3 strategies, more prospects will actually return your voicemail!

You’ve left a couple of voicemail messages in the last week or two and haven’t had a return call from your prospect. What can you do? Here are some tips that work:

ONE – Script and master your voicemail message

Your voicemail should follow this rough outline (this isn’t the verbiage you’d use of course):

Here’s who I am
Here’s what company I’m calling from
This is what we do
This is how we’ve helped other organizations similar to yours (noting measurable results)
Here’s an example
“I don’t know if we can do the same for you or not.”
“Can I ask you a couple of quick questions to see?”

Your message should be around 45 seconds and 60 seconds max. While this might seem long, it’s important that you get your “elevator pitch” out in a clear, concise, compelling and complete manner (the 4 C’s) and this can’t be done in much less time. Most prospects will listen to the first voicemail message in it’s entirety and this underscores why it needs to be absolutely great. If you’re not happy with it, don’t panic. Hit the # button and most voicemail systems will allow you to re-record it.

TWO – Take the pressure off

An important rule in sales is that — Yes’s make you money. No’s make you money (because you can move onto more Yes’s) but Maybes cost you money because they eat up your time. It’s far better to get a fast no than a slow one. Sometimes prospects are reluctant to return prospecting voicemails because they feel that they are going to be subjected to a high pressure sales pitch. The fact is that with many salespeople, their fear is warranted! Let them know that this isn’t the case with you. You could say something in your second or third voicemail such as, “We’ve been able to help other companies accomplish X solution to problem and Y solution to problem but I don’t know if there’s a fit between your organization and ours or not. I was hoping to have a brief phone conversation to see and if not, that’s OK.”

Sometimes I get pushback on this language from people in my workshops who feel this type of language in a voicemail is weak. They say, “We should be totally confident that we can help them.” The paradox is that, by allowing that there might not be a fit, you’ll get callbacks more often and if you ask the right questions, will often find that there is a fit. Another reason not to claim that you know you can help them is that, in most cases, it’s simply not true. Until you have the opportunity to fully understand their current situation, their problems, preferences and goals, how can you know you can help? An added bonus is that it builds rapport and trust because of your openness.

THREE – Use professional persistence

Recent research finds that it takes on average 7 contact attempts to connect to a prospect. The same research shows that most salespeople give up after 2. See the problem here? Worse, most sellers leave far too much time between contact attempts. They’re fearful that they will annoy the buyer to the point that it hurts their chance of connecting. Sure, there’s a fine line between persistence and stalking! Most sellers are nowhere near that line however. Think of what you would do if you got 5 voicemails from someone spaced 1 or 2 weeks apart. Now think of what you would do if you got the same 5 voicemails spaced a couple of days apart. Would you be more likely to put a return call on your to-do list in the second case. I bet you would! At the end of your voicemail, say something like, “If you don’t get a chance to give me a call back in the next couple of days, I’ll try you again on DAY.”

With the recent anti-spam legislation in place, many salespeople who have relied on email to prospect will now have an added dependence on effective phone prospecting. These three strategies will help you connect more often with prospects and maximize your efforts. The percentage of prospects who call you back will still be low, but these tips will bump the number up for certain.

Six Steps to Negotiation Success

Posted by: Michael Caron In: Sales Coaching, Sales Executives, Sales Managers, Sales Training, Salespeople, Training, Uncategorized 01 Feb 2023 0 comments Tags: growing selling skills, increased sales, negotiation, sales productivity, sales training, selling skills

If you stay cool and follow these steps, your negotiations will produce agreements that last.

Contrary to what some think, negotiation isn’t something that only takes place at the end of the selling process. We are actually negotiating and laying the groundwork for further negotiation throughout the sale. When the customer has agreed that your solution fits with their needs but there is not agreement on variables such as delivery, terms and, of course price, good negotiating skills will bring the sale to successful completion. Here are six essentials:

One – Plan:

Never go into a negotiation without a plan. Do your homework. What do you know about the individual you are negotiating with? What is their personality style? How can you adjust your style to be more effective with them? What information do you want to disclose or keep confidential? What is the time frame for this negotiation? Go through some of the other points below and write this information down.

Two – Have a collaboration mindset:

Most negotiations involve parties with which you want to have a long term, mutually profitable relationship with. You will only be able to protect and nurture this relationship if an agreement is reached that is truly win win. Enter the negotiation with this in mind and test the commitment of the other party to a win win, collaborative solution. If both parties agree that an agreement will be easier to reach if creativity, openness and collaboration prevail, the negotiation will have a much greater chance of delivering a successful deal.

Three – Make a concession list:

Make a list of all the things that you could give up and all the things they could give up in the negotiation. Then put two columns beside each, one for cost and the for value. By doing this, you will be better able to give up concessions that cost you little (but have high value to the customer) while accepting concessions in return that have high value to you.

Four – Uncover goals:

Make a list of goals from your point of view and the other party’s point of view. These should include objective and subjective goals along with business and personal. If you’re not sure of some of the goals of the other party, make an educated guess for now and attempt to confirm them during the negotiation.

Five – Don’t counter immediately:

When an offer is made, resist the urge to make a counter offer immediately. A person’s resistance to another person’s idea is the greatest immediately after they’ve given their own. Instead, explore it with the other party. Ask questions like, “Why do you think this might make sense for both of us? How exactly would that work in this area?” Probe for this solution meeting the win win criteria and show that you are truly considering it. If it doesn’t meet win win, state why it doesn’t work and then slowly come back by saying something like, “Something such as (terms) might work because . . .”

Six – Know your walk away point:

The goal of the negotiation is not just to produce an agreement. It’s to produce an agreement that works for both parties and protects the relationship. Know what the minimum terms are for you to accept an agreement. Understand that no agreement might be the best alternative. We call this your “BATNA” or the Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement. By knowing your BATNA, you will prevent being driven into a deal that works for the customer but not for you.

You or your team can learn how to master these steps plus learn many more strategies to successful negotiation in Northbound’s “Goal Aligned™ Negotiations“.

4 Steps to Help Juggle Priorities

Posted by: Michael Caron In: Sales Coaching, Sales Executives, Sales Managers, Sales Training, Salespeople, Uncategorized 26 Jan 2023 0 comments Tags: time management

Most executives would say if there is one area of their life where there is a serious time and priority mismatch, it would be with their family. To juggle conflicting priorities between work and home is not a balancing act for the faint of heart. Most executives are a living contradiction in that, while surveys show that family is generally their number one priority, it rarely ranks number one in volume of time or in planning of commitments.

Why? Usually it’s because people have gotten into the habit of letting work related “urgent” activities bump family time off the agenda. Your son or daughter isn’t going to send you an e-mail or a text firmly stating that they want to have dinner with you or go play in the park at a certain time.

Turning your priorities into action starts with having a clear set of goals that reflect your values and emphasizes all the different areas of your life such as family, career, financial, health, social, spiritual and recreational. Think of these areas as being the spokes in a wheel with you at the centre. If one of more spokes are broken, the wheel doesn’t turn smoothly. If enough spokes are missing or broken, the wheel doesn’t move at all.

Here are some ways to get control of your life:

ONE – Set some goals: Ironically, the number one reason people don’t set goals is that they are afraid of failing to reach them. This flies in the face of reams of research indicating that having goals ALWAYS achieves better results than without! Goal setting must be accompanied by a realistic yet challenging execution plan. Start with your life goals, then break that down into yearly, monthly & even weekly goals.

TWO – Plan your time to match: Plan your week in advance. Each week, I pull out my month’s goals and ask myself, “What can I do this week to help drive me closer to my goals?” I break my monthly goals into smaller “bite-size” chunks and then plug them as to-do’s into a specific day. A goal without a plan is just a dream.

THREE – Categorize your actions: Goals and time management are inextricably linked. Effective time management is actually just goal setting in a short time frame. Take your tasks and mark them as A’s or B’s. A’s are things that must get done in the time frame that you’re planning for (i.e. day, week or month) while B’s can wait if necessary. Note: They are both important. The A/B distinction is only for urgency. If something’s not important, why are you spending any time on it anyway?

FOUR – Do it again! At the end of day, note how you did and plan for the next day. If you would like to learn more check out our Goal Aligned Time™ program.

Are Your 2023 New Year’s Resolutions Being Met?

Posted by: Michael Caron In: Sales Coaching, Sales Executives, Sales Managers, Sales Training, Salespeople, Training, Uncategorized 19 Jan 2023 0 comments Tags: goal achievement, goal management, goal setting, growing selling skills, sales leadership, sales management, sales training

Checking your progress is critical for success!

You might be thinking, “Why is he asking me how I’m doing on my New Year’s resolutions when it’s only January?” The reason is that 1 in 4 people don’t even make it through the first week on their resolutions or goals, whatever you want to call them! If you don’t get off to a good start, there’s little chance of you hitting your goals by the end of the year. Goals can be the source of motivation and drive yet they can also represent endless frustration if we fail to reach them.

Everyone knows that goals make a difference, an incredible difference in fact. We all know (and maybe even secretly envy!) our friends and colleagues who set and reach their goals. High achievers will rarely be heard saying things like, “I don’t know how I did so well. It just sort of happened!” Rather, they use a process that others don’t.

If goals are so powerful, why do only 5% of the population set clear goals for their career and their life? The biggest reason is the dreaded F.O.F.—Fear of Failure—an enemy I was ﬁrst introduced to many years ago in training as a summer student manager for College Pro Painters. The thinking seems to be “If I don’t have goals, I certainly can’t fail reaching them can I?” Of course, this is skewed logic leading to failure.

What these people might not realize is that failure is fundamental to growth and higher performance in the future. Further, research proves that having goals almost always leads to greater results than not having them — even if you fail to reach them!

Reaching goals is something you can learn

The second most common reason for not setting goals is not knowing how. Setting & reaching goals is more complex than many people may think. It is a process that needs to be taught. Strangely, most people have little to no training on this powerful skill. If you are one of the few who took the time to write down some goals for 2023, congratulations. You’ve taken an important ﬁrst step! Now let’s check to see if you have some of the other components that will lead to success. Effective goal management needs to be S.M.A.R.T. That is:

SPECIFIC. The more speciﬁc, the better. Saying, “I’d like to sell more this year,” isn’t good enough. How many more sales exactly? At what margin?

MEASURABLE. As the saying goes, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” You need to know if you’re winning or losing and you can’t tell if you’re not keeping score. It’s best to have major goals broken down into mini-goals that you can measure along the way.

ACTIONABLE. Hope doesn’t cut it. You need to have a massive action plan designed. And you need to be ready to change. How many more calls am I going to do each month, each week, each day? Are they scheduled in your agenda? Are you planning on increasing your selling skills? How? When?

REALISTIC. Goals need to be a delicate balance between too hard and too easy. Too hard and you’ll give up when you see it being out of reach. Too easy and you’ll feel like you haven’t really accomplished anything. R also stands for REVIEW. Reviewing your progress along the way allows you to adjust your tactics accordingly.

TIME PHASED. If there is no time frame, there is no goal. Would you really be happy if you finally hit your sales target in your last year before retirement? Of course not. Attach dates to everything. Pull out your goals regularly and “keep your eye on the prize”. Don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed by some of the uncomfortable steps along the way. Keep your focus on how amazing you’re going to feel when you’ve reached your objective.

A great thing about training and developing sales teams is that I get to work with salespeople who, by nature, are goal oriented and high achievers. If you would like to learn more about improving your skills in reaching goals, Northbound offers “Bulls Eye!”, a workshop dedicated to helping sales professionals get what they want out of their career and their life.

3 Reasons Why You Should Be Using a Phone Script

Posted by: Michael Caron In: Sales Coaching, Sales Training, Salespeople, Uncategorized 05 Jan 2023 0 comments Tags: cold calling, growing selling skills, prospecting, sales training, selling skills

Using a well practiced script for prospecting is a key to success.

In my prospecting workshops, I sometimes get push-back when I recommend the use of a phone script. The objections often come in the form of, “I don’t want to sound fake” or “You never know what the prospect is going to say, so a phone script won’t work.”

There are 3 strong reasons why you need one:

Reason #1: The words will be more powerful.

You’ve only got a few seconds to get the listener to want to keep talking. In fact, one study found that a listener will start deciding whether they want to continue a phone conversation or not in the first 8 seconds! Having a script allows you to craft the message in a clear, concise & compelling manner. In my experience, salespeople who try to “wing-it” end up in convoluted, weak conversations that end in failure. Rather, when you put the time in, you can craft a message that gets to the point – a point that will resonate with your prospect.

Reason #2: You can perfect your delivery.

Just like a professional performer, your delivery will get better and better when you know what you’re going to say and you practice it until it’s smooth. Can you imagine a performer who tries to do things differently every night? Most people’s experience with salespeople who are obviously using a script is usually negative. Why? Because they usually are hired, given a script and told to simply read it to the customer. Of course it sounds fake because they are reading it and haven’t practised it until it’s great. The irony is that the more practiced you are, the more natural you sound! You will never know that someone who is good is using a script because it sounds so natural.

Reason #3: You will have more confidence.

Prospecting can be nerve-wracking but when you know how you’re going to approach a prospect and have it well practiced, you’re confidence will multiply. And your increased confidence will benefit you in two ways: The confidence will come through in your voice and you’ll be less fearful of making more calls!

Northbound’s workshop, “Connecting to the Big Cheese” covers all the critical parts of prospecting skills including script development. For more info, click here or contact Michael at [email protected] or 416.456.1440.

Happy Selling!

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