Dirty Dozen

The Dirty Dozen!
12 ways sales professionals screw up sales meetings –
and how to fix them

In this issue of our Inner Circle, we show you 12 of the most common mistakes advisors make in new business conversations. We wrote this article because we see these same mistakes over and over and over again. From the wealth managers to the insurance agents, the same mistakes pop up in just about every person.

The results can be catastrophic to your income: tenuous relationships, timid investors, lack of trust, clients who jump ship - the research proves this in every report we read. Why have sales trainers failed to equip advisors with the most fundamental skills? Perhaps they focus on What instead of Why. No matter. Over the years, we've learned what the problems are and how to fix them. When you overcome them, you'll instantly become more attractive than most of the advisors practicing today. So, when their clients jump ship, they'll jump to you!

But folks, this is just the beginning steps. Selling isn't a script or a closing technique. It is a psychological process. It requires that you become effective at building a relationship, and relationships are the result of a broad, complex strategy filled with specific skills and knowledge. If you want to elevate yourself into the realm of being a true relationship-focused professional, there is much to learn. Question is, who can you trust to teach you all these skills and knowledge?

Now the article...

Can you relate to this?
You’re looking across your desk into the face of a couple who would be perfect clients for you. You know what is perfect for them and you’re confident they will accept your proposal. Then things turn sour. They walk, and you don’t know why. Sound familiar?

Worse, many sales people will continue to face that situation, not understanding the problem or the solution. The good news is, as disappointing as that is, analyzing it serves as an outstanding learning experience. By identifying the problems, you free yourself to do better and better. If you want to fix your own selling problems, read on. Now, let's look at the 12 ways advisors screw up sales meetings and see how to fix them:

1. Focusing on yourself
You, your product, and your company are only valuable to the client to the extent you can solve his problem or give him what he wants. The client doesn’t want to hear your presentation of who you are, where you come from, what you value and what you do. All of that is completely irrelevant to the client because it falls outside his specific needs and wants. Those are what the client wants to talk about. Get to them quickly. There really is one hard and fast rule: It’s never about you – it’s always about the client! Make yourself the facilitator, not the center of attention.

2. Talking too much
Nearly every advisor falls into this trap. You’ll be on a roll and realize that you’ve been talking for a long time. Unfortunately, when you’re talking, you’re not doing the most important thing that is the critical to the sale – focusing on the client! The safe rule of thumb for the ratio of listening to talking is 80-20. If you’re in a meeting and find yourself talking more than 20% of the time, just switch to a question and be quiet. Remember, the key to selling (actually any situation involving influence or motivation) is to ask questions and help people come to conclusions on their own.

3. Not asking questions
Questions are the heart of an effective selling situation. They serve two purposes: 1) The primary purpose is to involve the client and help him come to his own conclusions. Often, that’s the conclusion you would have presented. The difference is, if the client comes up with it, he believes it, but if you present it, the client questions it. 2) The other role of questions is to elicit information that will help you frame your product or service inside the client’s criteria and values. You have to learn what he values before you can appeal to them. The irony is, you can't ask him to name his values because he really doesn't know. They reside in his subconscious mind.

4. Asking the wrong questions
Some advisors ask irrelevant questions, or worse they ask manipulative questions. The client must perceive the questions as valuable and relevant to his situation. The client must believe that your questions are important, objective and that his answers will enable you to create a relevant result for him. The best, most relevant questions are always the follow-up questions based on information the client just gave you.

5. Confusing them
Our research indicates that the most common way for sophisticated advisors to screw up client conversations is by confusing the client. Here’s how this happens: you deliver too much information, use terms and references that aren’t familiar to the client, or you do a “data dive,” overloading the client with a pile of details. Remember this – a confused mind will always say NO. Further, most people go into an analytical mind set when they’re talking with someone who is a professional in something they’re unfamiliar with. The analytical mind set always says NO until it has gathered enough information to make an informed decision. When in doubt, simplify. And, the best way to do that is to read the client, then give your explanation in terms that are important to that person. (See our book Face Values)

6. Excluding the real decision maker
When you see more than one person across the desk from you, it is your responsibility to connect with each one. At the very least you must identify the primary decision maker and address that person. Never assume you know who the primary decision maker is. Too often in a situation with a husband and wife, the sales person will assume that the husband is the primary decision maker. Big mistake. Give equal attention to each person. (See Your Reward below)

To get the complete article, please link to:
http://www.aboutpeople.com/Newsletter/Archive/September_2008.php

In Conclusion.
You can’t get to where you want to go until you know where you are. You can’t fix a problem until you know what the problem is. And, you can't fix the problem until you learn better skills! What you’ve just read are the descriptions of the most common problems made in selling situations. The good news is, the solutions are simple, and when you implement them, you become a higher quality professional, attracting higher quality clients - and getting higher quality referrals!

Your Reward.
One of the major problems we see advisors make is failing to connect with the prospect. This is so amazingly simple to do. In fact, we wrote a book on it titled Face Values. If you have not already read this book, you're most likely misunderstanding and miscommunicating with 75% of the people you meet. If you want to get a sample of what the Face Values program can teach you, send us an email (include this paragraph) and we'll send you (FREE) a short class on how to read America's decision influencers. These are the people who will most likely out live the decision makers and then inherit all that wealth. If you can't read them and "speak their language," you're probably going to lose that business!

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AboutPeople book Credibility & Likeability
to be published
by Morgan James of New York.

Over the past year, you've seen our articles on Credibility. They have been taken from our book titled Credibility & Likeability. Great News! The book has been accepted by the prestigious publisher Morgan James. When it's released, you will find the book in all major bookstores across America. Or, you can buy it directly from us once it is released.

Until then, Pam and I will be training and coaching this unique body of knowledge and the related skill sets. If you'd like to learn how your branch or firm can gain this tremendous advantage, please give us a call at: (509) 465.5599.

- Michael Lovas

Find AboutPeople resources at:
http://secure.megatrans.com/aboutpeople/Catalog