There are 4 zones of awareness.

• White
• Yellow
• Red
• Black

When you are in the white zone you are in the zombie state.  The world around you is made up of fuzzy white noise.  You aren’t exactly clear about where you are at.  If you’ve ever driven from home to work and had no awareness of the drive you know exactly what I’m talking about.

In the yellow stage you are aware of your surroundings.  In the red zone you are sensing you need to pay attention.  The yellow and red zones represent the levels of awareness you should experience in any selling situation.  In the yellow and red zones you are cued in on what’s going on around you and alert to the potential opportunities around you.

The black zone is a state of super heightened awareness.  In the military this represents the zone you are in when you are ready to kill anything that moves.  If you need to protect your own life or the life of those around you this is an appropriate state of awareness.

However, when you get desperate to get a client… desperate to pay your bills… all too often you cross over into the black zone.  The black zone does you no good if you are trying to get clients.  The black zone is a very dangerous state of awareness for the wrong situations.

It’s why yelling “fire” in a crowded theater is so dangerous.  When you yell “fire” even a perfectly logical, intelligent, and capable person gets trampled trying to get to the exit.  Otherwise polite and considerate people will kill anything that gets between them and the exit.  Even though finding an exit would easy in a calm state… in the black zone you transition into a blind panic… the black zone is harmful for both you and those around you.

No one sets out to get themselves in the black zone.  It just kind of creeps up on you.  It happens because you get on this roller coaster where you keep doing the same things experiencing both highs and lows.  Eventually the highs get fewer and farther between and the lows get deeper and more frequent.

Some people never get off this roller coaster until they force to because they crash.  The hairier the ride… the steeper the lows… the more likely you are to get and stay in the black zone where you are determined to literally force people into becoming clients.  You set your jaw and refuse to leave until you have a check in hand.

Others realize you can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results so they make a commitment to get off before they crash.  Those people are in the yellow or red zones.  They are paying attention to the cues that are telling them something has to change and soon.

The problem is… sometimes selling your services feels a little like playing Blackjack with a dealer who’s stacked the deck.  You study all the cards.  You watch each hand dealt. You watch the dealer closely… yet you lose hand after hand.  At one point, in utter frustration, you grab another deck slam it down on the table and demand you play with this new deck.

Yet, you continue to lose because what you didn’t realize is the new deck is missing a few cards.

That’s exactly what’s happening to you.  You get that it feels like the deck is stacked against you.  Yet, hard as you try you don’t even realize what’s missing.  When you do recognize something just might be missing you start feeling like the kid who turns in his homework only to see his work come back with nearly every problem marked wrong.  The effort was there but the understanding wasn’t.

Heck, you may even try copying the competition only to discover your efforts bomb.

It doesn’t have to be that way.  You can completely avoid this black zone of desperation and gain control over your future… your destiny.  Here’s how… 

Coach Cheryl

If it hasn’t happened to you… it will, and there is no time like the present to think about how you will deal with it when it does.  At some point either you will do something, or something will happen that could potentially damage your relationship with your client.  How you deal with it determines whether it will be a disaster or a bump in the road.

I recently got a letter from LifeLock that reminded me about this important lesson.  The letter explained communications I could expect from the FTC and my states attorney general.  While those letters could have looked bad to the reader LifeLock explained what was behind those letters and why they were actually the result of some very positive things.  This preemptive strike on their part was VERY savvy.

The best approach is to face the challenge head on…

• if you’ve messed up apologize
• if something beyond your control happens fix it and tell the client what to expect
• if your client could hear something that might be misinterpreted tell them about it and explain your side

When you do it demonstrates…

• your honesty
• your concern for their needs and feelings
• your willingness to correct mistakes and hold yourself accountable

Who among us is without sin?  Because we all make mistakes, we’ve all had something we didn’t expect happen, and we’ve all been in a situation where things could be misconstrued… we all understand.  Plus we all appreciate someone stepping forth and owning up.

Take responsibility and accountability even if you just think you’ve messed up.  Doing so prevents a potentially emotional explosion and lasting damage.  Plus it reinforces the trust you have established with your client and their decision to work with you.

Coach Cheryl

Did you watch one of sports most watched televised events this past weekend?  This particular Masters probably had even more viewers than past events simply because of the Tiger saga.  Whether you enjoy watching golf, or not, I want you to think about something.

That throng of spectators ponied up $5,000 each to be in Augusta on the course watching the event happen live.  Now that is far from an insignificant amount of moolah.  Why at a point in time when people are clamping their purse strings tight shut would all those people eagerly lay out that kind of cash?  And correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that is $5000 per day!

Here’s why I want you to think about this.  I know many of you are whining that people just aren’t buying.  It’s true they aren’t buying anything where the perceived value isn’t there for them.  Yet they certainly are buying.

“There are two reasons for everything — a good reason and the real one”

Winston Churchill

Meaning there are two reasons people are buying… a good reason they can use to explain their decision to others, and the real reason they are willing to crack open that wallet and tell you to bang their credit card or bank account.  If asked a spectator at Augusta might tell you they traded their hard earned cash to be their because…

• it’s Augusta, the biggest event in golf
• it was the first event for Tiger after the scandal
• it’s just something they do every year
• history is being made
• etc.

Then there is the real reason.  The real reason is always directly tied to strong motivational drivers.  The real reason is probably something more like…

• it strokes their ego and makes them feel successful
• they get to associate with people they think can make them more money
• it makes them feel more likable
• it’s fun
• it makes them look good to those around them
• etc.

When they buy that ticket they aren’t thinking about how much it is going to damage their bank account to cough up $5,000.  They are thinking about the experience of being right there on the course.  They are imagining stretching their hand out and actually shaking hands with this years winner (Phil Mickelson).  They are thinking about telling their grandchildren about how they were there when (Phil) won his (3rd) green jacket.

There are two very important things happening here.  First, these very expensive tickets sell because everything about Augusta and the Masters is directly tied into the emotion of this huge golf event.  Second, the buyers focus is directed on the desired future rather than the current pain of paying for the ticket.

How do you tie your services to the emotion that is the real reason your clients buy?

How do you help your potential clients envision the desired future creating the perceived value that makes the cost well worth it?

Coach Cheryl

Hmmm, selling with purpose… Now that may strike you as a little odd.  Of course you are selling with purpose.  You are selling with the purpose of closing sales… right?

Stop the Presses!

Okay, that may be a little melodramatic; yet, it really is all fired important.  Before you lick another stamp and afix it to another letter you send to get a new client.  Before you create another page on your website.  Before you attend another mind numbing networking event hoping you’ll meet someone you can work with.  You must clarify your purpose.

Cock the Trigger for Action

When you swing forward on a swing you can count on swinging backward.  When stocks go up bonds go down… maybe that wasn’t the best example as it seems like all the rules have changed as far as the stock market goes.  So, how about this?  When you see your shadow there must be sunlight to create that shadow.

That means if you want action there must be something that produces that action.  The good news is, yes, there is.  Trigger this one thing and it produces a result you can count on just like a shadow cast from the sunlight.

What is this fail proof trigger?  It’s emotion of course.

Whatever you do.  Whatever connection you initiate… you must think about this first and foremost.  What emotion do you want to arouse in the other person?  Please understand…

Not All Emotions are Created Equal

Some emotions like fear, anger, and revenge trigger a reaction that motivates the other person to take the action you suggest.  Other emotions like too much fear, depression, and confusion trigger inaction.

You must deftly tie the emotion your potential client already has into a logical argument.  Then impel the other person to move forward.  They move forward by acting.  They move forward because doing so is tied to their motivation to move in a certain direction and either avoid something they do not want or gain something they do want.

All too many sales communications…

• Fail to create the right emotion
• Focus too heavily on the wrong emotions
• Fail to demonstrate a better path
• Fail to tap into the emotional drivers that help prospects act
• Fail to present the desired action as a no brainer decision

Mostly, because all too many sales communications are focused on ramming the offer down the other persons throat as though you could verbally force them to take an action.  To which I ask, “How’s that working for ya?”

Rather than working with the potential client, taking their side, paying attention to their wants and needs.  Then giving something they want before you ever ask them for something you want.

Hey, sales is always a step-by-step process so the best place to start is at the beginning.  With the beginning in mind, “What feeling should you arouse at that first point of connection between you and your potential new client?”

Then, “How might you do that in a sincere and motivating way?”

Coach Cheryl

Right now both you and your potential clients are in great pain.  You are Jones-ing for a sales fix so bad you are literally going through physical withdrawal.  You just need a sale… any sale… just enough to tide you over for a few days.

Your potential client, on the other hand, is suffering from terrible back pain.  It’s excruciating.  Your potential clients back pain is caused from that overstuffed wallet in his back pocket.  That well guarded wallet stretched to the max with both cash and credit cards just begging to be put to good use.

Right now most people have more money than they have had in years.  They’ve gotten off the spend roller coaster only to clamp down on their spending like a junk yard dog guarding their property line.  The problem, as you well know, is they are extremely reluctant to spend because they are so afraid of all the unknowns they perceive looming in their future.

Yet, those very same overly cautious savers are literally searching for the relief valve to remove that back pain they can no longer tolerate.  Translation…

Now is the Time for Huge Sales…

Now is the time to sell like never before.  However, few are prepared to take advantage of this momentous opportunity because they insist on doing the same things they have always done expecting different results.  These determined warriors have no clue how to take advantage of the future that could be theirs.

Buddy, It has Never Been about YOU or What You Sell…

Now is the time to come to grips with the harsh reality both your sales success and failures were never about you or what you sell.  The only way to remove your pain while removing the pain your potential client is also suffering is to clue in on what they need to hear to buy.

Sending a potential client a letter in the mail, or telling someone you just met at a networking event about you and what you sell is an utter waste of time.  It’s even worse than an utter waste of time because now you have given your potential client a reason to avoid you or get rid of you.  That letter or networking line where you let your prospect know about how you have expanded your business is a kiss of death.

You just triggered that potential clients “sales person alarm” and set it off ringing at a deafening decibel.  You did not have to do that.  You could have gotten the other person actually interested in speaking with you.  All you had to do was start off talking about the thing your potential client is interested in and lead off your initial contact with that.

The concept is easy.  Translating that concept into reality is damn hard.  However, the results are immediate.  You may understand it yet you can’t take that understanding and put it into words on the page or words that come out of your mouth.  That’s where your bread and butter will come.

This is critical.  If you can’t do it then you have 3 choices…

1. Study and practice every piece of marketing and copy writing information you can get your hands on.
2. Hire someone to do it for you.
3. Keep doing what you are doing and pretend like sales is just a numbers game while you work your ever love’n tail off.

If you choose option number 1… I suggest you make sure your library card is current and plan on spending every free moment studying and practicing.

If you choose option number 2… I suggest you fill out the “Done for You Services” box in the right sidebar on this page.

If you choose option number 3… Well… I have to commend you for your commitment to hard work.

Coach Cheryl

photo credit: Arenamontanus

In the last post I talked to you about the importance of studying the prospect first.  I talked about understanding them and their needs.  Knowing your prospect is more important than product knowledge.  Product knowledge is only important once you engage a prospect to help them make the best choices and options for them.

Okay, but what am I looking for?

That’s all well and good; however, you must be clear about what you are looking for as you study your prospects.  Look for clues that help you understand…

• Logical reason’s why the prospect would choose your product
• Motivating needs that simply drive your prospect to act
• Matching underlying desires to your product

You might say you already do all that yet something is missing.  Something is missing because your local landfill is full of…

• Your business cards
• Your letters
• Your brochures

Here’s why.  You either overlooked or completely missed the motivating emotion that gets your buyers so amped up they have to act.  You need to tap into the emotion that’s on their minds right now, keeping them from sleeping, and driving them nuts.

Let’s look at how one company does this really well.  Nike is just another shoe company, right?  Their shoes aren’t remarkably different than their competition.  So why do they sell so darned many shoes?

Nike tapped into a motivating emotion.  They know we all like to feel like a winner.  They crafted a message that communicates wearing Nike’s makes you a winner and then backed that message up with celebrity endorsements.

Many people confuse branding with an image like the Nike Swoosh.  However, you have to imprint the message first or the image has no meaning.  The more emotionally motivating the message the better.  Then you must tie that message to an image to reinforce and communicate your message with just the symbol.

Now back to you.  Right now your business cards, the letters you send, and your brochures are probably the standard business pablem that address you and how great you are.

Ahem… your prospects don’t care.  If they did your information wouldn’t be littering the planet.

Your prospects have a dominant motivating emotion they are eager to feed.  Tie your product or service to that emotion.  That’s how you get their attention and interest.  Show them a reason to care about you and they will.

Coach Cheryl

This mistake goes way back.  Probably to the very beginning in sales.  In 1937 Robert Collier mentions it in “The Robert Collier Letter Book”.  Funny how some things don’t seem to change.

To help you really understand this mistake I want you to think back to when you first started selling whatever you are selling now whether a product or service.  What was the first thing you thought you had to do?  If you have a sales manager they probably told you…

You Have to Know Your Product Before You Can Sell Your Product

This big fat myth sets you up to make the most costly mistake you will ever make in your sales career or in the life of your business.

So you study all the ins and outs of your products.  You think of objections prospects might have about your product and plan how you will respond.  Soon you are like a walking talking product encyclopedia and that is how you cost your self big money.

“Study your reader first — your product second”

Robert Collier

Now why would he make such a blasphemous suggestion?

Because Robert Collier, a direct response marketer, understood how to sell.  He knew until you understand human nature and human reaction you aren’t just leaving money on the table…

You Are Chasing Money Away!

Just think about how this plays out in everyday life.  Here comes a prospect already in the early stages of the buying process.  When I say already in the early stages of the buying process I mean they at least already recognize they have a need and now they are looking for options to take care of that need.

You greet them exchange a few niceties then you launch into a spiel about your product.  This automatically makes the prospect uncomfortable because they don’t like being sold.  They impatiently wait for you to slow down or pause so they can ask a question.

When they finally get their question in what do you do?  Why you launch into another diatribe about product details that answer their question.  Or at least you think you are answering their question.

In reality, you probably aren’t addressing the real question they have because you did not understand what they were really asking.

The frustration escalates in this back and forth exchange of you streaming the product catalog at the prospect and them trying to get you to shut up long enough to actually hear what they are telling you.  Even the ones who buy aren’t happy with their experience, they aren’t happy with you, and they tend to project their displeasure onto the product meaning you can expect returns.

Now if only you knew about Robert Collier and understood and applied what he suggests things would be so very different.  If you understood your prospect it would be so much easier to help them buy.  Both you and the prospect could relax and actually enjoy the exchange.

Your prospect simply wants to be understood and heard.  The only way they know if you do actually understand them and that you have heard them is if you ask intelligent questions.  Intelligent questions are simply questions that demonstrate your understanding and the fact you are actually listening.

The inexperienced sales person walks up to a prospect and asks, “What are you looking for today?”  The prospect hesitates to actually tell you because they don’t want you following them around pressuring them to buy.

The experienced sales person walks up to a prospect and asks, “What are you looking to accomplish today?”  This immediately snaps the prospect out of the sales person buyer mindset.  Now you are the person who is there to provide expert advice and assistance.

They may say they are just looking for ideas for an upcoming event.  Now you have the opportunity to actually work with them even though they are “just looking” because you can then ask, “What is your highest priority for that event?”  Then keep the conversation going asking questions, listening, and engaging further.  Show them options and have them tell you if this is more like they had in mind or less.

Once you allow yourself to think prospect first and product second things are a whole lot easier.  You stop leaving money on the table and you stop chasing money away.  You will find you make sales faster and the sales you make tend to have larger totals.  All because you put the prospect first.

Coach Cheryl

Both your sales successes and your sales failures are a matter of choice.  You make both unconscious choices and conscious choices.

Unconscious Choices Can Rule Your Life

If you aren’t careful your entire life can become the result of unconscious choices.  In fact, most people live their lives day in and day out like robots.  They get up in the morning and follow the same routine from brushing their teeth in the morning through brushing their teeth before bed.

Have you ever gotten in your car and the next thing you knew you were at work with no recollection of the drive there?  This is a clear example of unconscious living.  Thank goodness some things happen without a lot of thought.

If you had to think to take every breath it would be so exhausting you would never be able to remain that consciously aware of your choices to sustain life.  Yet, far too many of us take unconscious living too far and then whine in disappointment because we don’t get the results we want.

How Do You Measure UP?

I’d like you to consciously evaluate how you measure up in your sales efforts.  Now typically you measure your sales results by the dollars in your bank account.  However, when you aren’t selling you already know you aren’t measuring up.  This exercise is designed to help you get a glimpse into why you aren’t getting the results you want.

Grab a Pencil and Paper 

Focusing just on the hours you work in or on your business… how many hours a day are you unconsciously taking various actions like filing, filling out paperwork, or other similar activities?

How much time do you spend directly engaged in the activities required to accomplish your main objective?

List what those activities are and then assign a number to how much time you spend on that activity a day.

Wouldn’t you agree it makes sense to spend as little time as possible on activities that don’t have much to do with the actual accomplishment of your main objective?

So what can you do to take time away from the non-important things to give to the important things?

What are the things you are best at?

What do you need to do to concentrate on doing those things?

Who can you have do the rest?

The time you spend unconsciously and the time you spend on things that don’t move you toward what you want to accomplish is time WASTED.

Please don’t get the idea that I am telling you that you need to work 8 hours a day on just the actions that accomplish your goals.  In reality, it would probably be entirely too draining to do that.  I am telling you though that successful people spend anywhere from 2 to 4 hours consciously aware and completely dedicated to whatever they need to do to accomplish the result they want.

Could you commit to dedicating just 2 hours a day focused entirely on the activities you need to do to produce the results you want?

What could you accomplish if you did?

Did you know most books are written in just 2 hours a day?

Did you know that most highly successful people invest just 2 hours a day on marketing and sales?

Imagine how much freedom you would gain if you completely dedicated 2 hours a day to results producing work and then used the remainder of your time as you see fit.

Coach Cheryl

photo credit: Malenkov in Exile

Congress reminded me this Sunday of a fateful behavior pattern that can cost you, the business owner your business in short order.

As you probably know this Sunday the democratically controlled House of Representatives pressured, manipulated, and used every trick in the book… and some that probably weren’t even in the book, to ram unpopular legislation the voters do not want through.  Even though all Americans want health reform only a tiny percentage of Americans wanted health reform the way it was put together in this legislation.

Congress is jubilant they got the legislation through; however, they may not be as jubilant about what they also get as a result of their current behaviors.

Many sales people make this same fateful mistake in their behaviors.  They don’t care how they have to manipulate a buyer.  They don’t care if they have to lie to get the sale.  All they care about is getting the sale.

Sales people who behave this way will even boast about how they were able to badger a buyer into buyer.  They laugh at their buyers behind their backs, call them rubes, and treat buyers with utter disdain.

To sales people and politicians who choose to behave like this I say yuck it up because massive failure is in your future.

Yes, you got what you wanted today.  However, when sales people act that way they won’t get referrals and they won’t get repeat business.  They don’t just damage their credibility they damage the credibility of the company they represent.

The politicians might get voted out of office.  The sales person might starve out or get fired.  It’s the buyer who really suffers.

The buyer is the one who has to live with the long-term consequences of their purchase or the legislation.  The buyer is the one who is permanently damaged.  The buyer who is already skeptical of politicians and sales people has yet one more reason to never trust them.

As the business owner you have to realize it is never about the one time sale and always about the relationships you establish and the trust you build.  Relationships and trust are what will fill your bank account, not just today but everyday for the life of your business.  If your sales people are not emulating those values and practicing them in their behaviors you are better off firing them today, before they do even more damage, than you are looking the other way while they ring your cash register today.

Rather than celebrating getting the sale celebrate the way you got the sale.

Coach Cheryl

photo credit: Speaker Pelosi

The words you use and the way you use those words has a big impact on your ability to get clients.  The words you use may leave a potential client flat, turn a potential client off and end the conversation, or…

When you use the right words in the right way those words can:

• Evoke curiosity
• Open a conversation
• Generate interest
• Spark questions
• Make a positive impression

When the U.S. Hockey team, a rag tag group of amateurs and collegiate players; took the gold from the Soviet team, considered the best hockey team in the world, in the 1980 Lake Placid, NY Winter Olympics Sports Caster Al Michaels  could have simply said, “and the U.S. wins gold.”

Those words would have conveyed the end result in an accurate and truthful manner.  There would have been no flaws in his phrasing their win in that manner.  Yet Al Michaels said…

“Do you believe in miracles? YES!”

What a tremendous difference in the impact those words had on the audience.  Those simple words said it all in such an inspirational and quotable manner that even 30 years later this quote is one of the most often repeated quotes in the history of Sports Casting.

Al Michaels might have been lucky when he blurted out those words.  Yet, with his countless hours experience as a Sports Caster he has had a lot of practice at using words and phrasing things for a powerful impact.

What might happen in your business if you chose your words carefully and paid close attention to phrasing?

Might you start to gain appointments easily?

Would it be easier to help potential clients understand why they want to become clients now?

You have experience and knowledge in the service you provide.  Perhaps you could benefit from a little help with the words that convey your message.

Coach Cheryl

photo credit: quinn.anya