Sales Training Blog

Is Relationship Selling Dead?

Guest blogger, Jill Konrath, author of SNAP Selling and Selling to Big Companies makes her case that is is:  

Is Relationship Selling Dead? It sure feels that way today! You rarely reach your prospects on the phone and when you do, they quickly brush you off. When you’re in meetings, they want you to get right to the point.

Sometimes they’re so busy multi-tasking, that you’re not even sure if they’re paying attention. Even your long-term customers fail to return your calls for months, making you wonder what you did wrong.

Welcome to the new normal! Your prospects are suffering from Frazzled Customer Syndrome, a debilitating condition brought on by increased expectations, excessive workloads, unrealistic deadlines and fewer resources.

They’re good people who are doing their very best to survive in a frenetic workplace. Their calendars are overflowing, they’re constantly falling behind and they feel powerless to stop the escalating demands on their time.

The truth is, they don’t need another “relationship.”

They barely get to see their best friends anymore. They even eat lunch at their desk everyday so they can get more done. It’s all work, work, work. New relationships are a low priority.

But you want a relationship! Of course you do. You’re a relationship seller. Your best customers love you. They value your work. They refer others to you.

And, you love them back even more and take great care of them. Working with people like this feeds your soul – and pays well too!

Wanting to replicate these strong relationships is natural. But establishing that great connection can be a real challenge when dealing with stressed out people who seem more intent on pushing you away than inviting you in.

Here’s the good news! Underneath all that rude, brusque behavior are normal human beings who desperately want relationships with people who they can trust to help them achieve their goals.

That person could be you. But first, you need to understand what’s going on in their mind in order to create the connection you want.

What Your Prospects Think
Whenever you deal with frazzled prospects their brains immediately start firing off alert signals: “Warning. Pay attention. Salesperson.” While you may not see yourself that way, they do and that’s what matters.

They evaluate your voicemails, emails and initial conversation to determine if having a more in-depth conversation with you is worthwhile. They make lightning-quick decisions to allow you access to them based on these criteria:

Is this aligned with what I need to accomplish?
How big a priority is it? What’s the urgency?
Does this person provide value?
How simple is it? Will it take lots of effort?
Unless you can convey all this very quickly, you won’t get your foot in the door. But it doesn’t stop there. To retain or grow a relationship, you have to keep your focus on these decision-criteria at all times too.

Relationship selling today goes far beyond the warm fuzzy feelings that you get from working with people you like and vice versa. It’s about creating partnerships where you’re a contributing team member, working towards your client’s short- and long-term success objectives.

SNAP Rules Change the Game
You need to follow the new SNAP Rules to be successful with the “new” relationship selling. Here they are:

Rule 1: Keep It Simple
Your goal is to ensure maximum simplicity in everything you do. That’s going to require you to look at all aspects of your interactions with your prospects to see where complexity can be eliminated or minimized.

When you keep it simple, you make it easier for your them to buy from you.

Rule 2: Be iNvaluable
Today’s crazy-busy prospects want to work with sellers who “know their stuff” and bring them fresh ideas on a regular basis. Perhaps you’ve never even seen that as your role. But today it’s essential to turn yourself into the competitive differentiator.

When you become invaluable, people choose you over competitors, are less price conscious, and remain loyal.

Rule 3: Always Align
This is all about relevance and risk. At the onset of your relationship, clients need to see an immediate connection between what you do and what they’re trying to achieve. As they move through their decision-making process, they need to know that the alignment extends into core beliefs they value in the people they work with.

When you’re aligned with their critical business objectives and core beliefs, clients want to work with you.

Rule 4: Raise Priorities
It’s an absolute imperative to work with frazzled prospects on their priority projects. With their limited capacity, that’s all they can currently focus on. Because your prospect’s priorities are constantly shifting, you need to be alert to what’s going on in their organization.

When you raise priorities, your sales process goes much faster and you get the business with less competition.

Relationship selling isn’t dead. In fact, it’s more alive than ever before. You still need to connect with your prospects on a personal level, but it’s no longer sufficient.

You have to earn the right to have a relationship with them first.

They want your expertise focused on their priority business objectives, issues and challenges. They want you to continually bring them fresh ideas and provocative insights. They’re looking for you to simplify the complex and make their life easy.

When you do this, they’ll be friends forever.
To download two chapters of SNAP Selling, visit www.SnapSelling.com

Different clients, different anger styles

Steven Flannes, Ph.D., of Flannes Associates has a great white paper posted that gives us a multi dimensional view of the angry client.

Flannes shows several ANGER "BEHAVIOR STYLES" and them offers tips on how to handle each one:

THE AGGRESSIVE-CRITICAL CLIENT
When you encounter a client displaying aggressive-critical behavior, you will notice the following:

When encountering this type of client, consider this list of things NOT to do:
·  Do not expect that this person will be able to show empathy for you
·  Do not appeal to their sense of fair play
·  As much as possible, do not take their behavior personally. Assume that others also
receive this form of treatment
Instead, try these approaches:
·  Try to contain the flow of their aggression by clarifying a very specific goal or agenda for
each discussion with this person. For example, if on the receiving end of their free flowing
aggression and criticism, actively insert a statement like this early in the conversation:
"Mike, I hear your dissatisfaction with the work product. However, what tangible steps can
we focus on RIGHT NOW that will help address your concerns?"
·  Make a conscious decision, in the moment, about whether you want to respond in an
"active' posture (as illustrated above) or in a "passive" posture. A passive posture, which
can also be very effective in certain situations, is to just allow the aggressive-critical
person to blow off steam, assuming that once they get their anger out, they will become
more rational and will be able to focus on specific actions steps.
·  Develop competence, and therefore a reputation, for being good at using active or
passive approaches with the aggressive-critical client. Your having competence in both
approaches allows you to feel more empowered, while also serving the goal of keeping
this type of person off guard, which helps alter the dynamics between the two of you
when you employ different responses.

THE PASSIVE-WITHHOLDING CLIENT
When encountering this type of behavior, do NOT do the following:
·  Do not confront the person directly about their behavior, implying that you know they
must be angry because you see them doing x, y, and z. Confrontation usually increases
this type of passive behavior.
·  Do not assume that this behavior will just go away; it's often reflective of an ongoing
personal style.
Instead, try these approaches when dealing with this situation:
·  Help the client review what is realistic for them in terms of their behavior or commitments
("Kevin, you mentioned you could get the information to me by Friday. Would it be more
reasonable for us to assume that next week might be a more realistic time frame for
you.")
·  Arbitrarily assume a “fudge factor” when dealing with this person's commitment to
deadlines ("I will automatically add three days to Kevin's stated timeline so I won't naively
be waiting for things to be delivered as promised").
·  Work to develop "backdoor" sources of information and assistance that you can access
when you are working with someone with this form of passive anger.

THE WOUNDED-INSECURE CLIENT
The wounded-insecure client is a person who, for whatever reason, has a current or ongoing poor
self-concept...Often, the anger that you receive from this type of client is a manifestation of their fears about being
discovered as inadequate.
To reduce your chances of receiving anger from this client:
·  Find ways to let them know you are on their side
·  Comment on their successes when you become aware of them
·  Avoid sharing many of your successes unless asked
·  When possible, let them feel they created the solution, even when you know you have
been the key contributor

THE TRIANGULATING CLIENT
An angry client can also express his or her anger through “triangulation.” This is a process in
which anger is expressed indirectly. Rather than the client being direct with you about the anger,
he or she shares it with a third party (their manager, or your manager, or another stakeholder)
with the hope of putting indirect pressure on you to take a certain action or possibly as a means
of damaging your credibility and reputation.

As a rule of thumb, the triangulating client tends to be someone who is indirect and has trouble
with situations involving conflict. Hence, they distance themselves from the target of their anger
(in this case, you!) by passing the anger through a third party, whom they hope will get the
message to you. In extreme, this triangulation behavior can be very manipulative.
The most successful strategy for working with a triangulating client who is not direct with his or
her anger involves:
·  Your frequently checking in with them to sample their satisfaction/dissatisfaction on your
work product
·  Use open-ended questions (such as “Karen, can you describe what you’re liking about
the work to date, as well as what areas need attention?”)
·  Avoid closed ended questions (“Karen, are things going well on the project?”) because it
is too easy for the triangulator (who by definition tends to be indirect) to answer with
evasive answers in order to avoid possible conflict
Presented below is an overview of these four angry styles, plus suggestions for what you can do
to address the angry behavior and increase your productivity.

There is a more detail in the paper. If you have a lot of angry clients I recommend reading it.

Read the whole paper

You can't get defensive

Problem customers can be difficult, especially when things go wrong. But the worst thing to do is take their behavior personally and become defensive. That is what happened on a recent American Airlines flight to New York when the crew showed up over an hour late. Passengers upset over the delay gave the crew a "Bronx Cheer" causing two crew members to refuse to fly. As result, the flight was canceled and a lot of bad press generated for the airline. 

What if the crew arrived, acknowledged the inconvenience they caused, and them apologized? It is likely an unfortunate incident could have been avoided. It is easy to take bad customer behavior personally and get defensive. But better results come from acknowledging feelings and inconvenience.

Watch the TV news report

 

 

Cut by Wal-Mart

This January Wal-Mart cut over 1,000 magazines from it's  racks. Their goal? To streamline buying and maximize profit. If you published a consumer magazine this might have been a bad month as Wal-Mart stores account for 15-17% of all national retail magazine sales.

Axed were high and mighty and the humble alike; Better Homes & Gardens, Town & Country, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, along with Boar Hunter, Cabin Life, and Log Home Living.

One source said the cuts were done by by the numbers, "the formula Wal-Mart used to determine the cut list was based on a ranking of magazine titles by sales. Any title that was not in the top half of sales in any Wal-Mart store was cut from the list."

The key to staying off the cut list was to understand the metrics of evaluation prior to the cuts so you could react to them. Magazine publishers who could realize the danger could have boosted their sales through promotions or if they published multiple titles, adjusted the mix of publications at different stores. But when the metrics come down, it is too late to react.

This happened at Wal-Mart but cutting happens in every sales territory. Your best defense is to have a trusting relationship with a client who can tip you off before the axe comes down so you can react constructively before the cuts.    

Read about the cuts in the NY Post

Story in Media Buyer & Planner 

 http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/2008/01/21/wal-mart-cuts-1000-magazine-titles-from-eligibility-list/

Meet a real power buyer

Every industry has a power buyer. They buy like Wall-Mart does, purchasing a big piece of your entire product category's annual inventory while demanding huge concessions. You cannot ignore them because it is hard to maintain competitive volume if you don't sell to them.

Calling on them can be scary. If you sell toys to Wal-Mart and your call goes well you sell a lot of toys. If not, someone else does.

But the people who do the buying are still people. Meet Danielle who really does buy toys for Wal-Mart. If you read her own description of her job she sounds very human. Never forget, power buyers are still people!

"I currently buy games, puzzles, youth electronics and musical instruments for the Toy Department at Wall-Mart. I have the fun job of sorting through thousands of great toys to find the best ones that will bring smiles to the faces of children and a few minutes of peace to parents everywhere. I have been in the Toy Department for about 2 years, buying everything from Monopoly to Play Do and Easy Bake oven. Prior to that I bought video games, but managed to resist the temptation to spend all of my free time with a controller in my hands. I started my Wall-Mart buying career in the movie category. I have been with the company for 4 1/2 years and look forward to a long career here."

Read Danielle's entire post on Wall-Marts blog

Angry clients in 9 steps

 You gotta love Tom Hopkins. One of the top sales gurus of our time Tom migrated out of insurance sales into the mainstream. Back in 2005 Tom posted his timeless nine steps for handing an angry client:

1. Acknowledge the other person's anger quickly. Nothing adds more fuel to someone's fire than having their anger ignored or belittled. The faster you verbally recognize their anger, the better.

2. Make it clear that you're concerned. Tell them you realize just how angry they are. Let them know you're taking the situation seriously. Make notes of every possible detail they give you.

3. Don't hurry them. Be patient, and let them get it all out. Never try to interrupt or shut them up. In many cases, the best move is to simply listen. They'll wind themselves down eventually. In some cases, they'll realize they blew the situation out of proportion and feel foolish for it. They're then likely to accept nearly any solution you offer.

4. Keep calm. Most angry people say things they don't really mean. Learn to let those things pass and take them up after you've solved the present challenge--only if you feel it's necessary to do so.

5. Ask questions. Your aim is to discover the specific things that you can do to correct the problem. Try to get precise information about the difficulties the problem caused, rather than a general venting of hot air.

6. Get them talking about solutions. This is where you'll learn just how reasonable this client is. By the time you get to this step, their anger should have cooled enough to discuss the challenge rationally. If it hasn't, tell them you want to schedule a later meeting, even if it's in an hour, to come up with some reasonable solutions. Let them do the rest of their fuming on their time.

7. Agree on a solution. After you know exactly what the challenge is, you're in a position to look for some kind of action that will relieve the challenge. Propose something specific. Start with whatever will bring them the best and quickest relief. Don't get into a controversy over pennies at this point.

8. Agree on a schedule. Once you've agreed on a solution, set up a schedule for its accomplishment. Agree to a realistic time frame that you know you can handle. The biggest mistake you can make is to agree to something that can't be done. If you do, you'd better be ready to face another bout of this person's anger when you don't come through.

9. Meet your schedule. Give this schedule top priority. You've talked yourself into a second chance with this client, so make sure you don't blow it. Once you've satisfied the client with regard to this situation, you'll have earned another opportunity to serve their needs in the future...and the needs of those they'll tell about how well you handled it.

Read the whole article:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/sales/customerservice/article77404.html

Do retail salespeople create problem customers?

 Could retail salespeople be creating problem customers who leave retailers and do not return?

The Retail Customer Dissatisfaction Study, conducted by The Verde Group and the Baker Retail Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, show that sales staff are the single biggest detriment to the shopping experience, resulting in more lost business and negative word of mouth than any other shopping problem. The study also estimated that the defections caused by a lack of sales help or a poor associate experience ultimately results in a 6% loss of business for retailers.

Retail Customer Dissatisfaction Study, conducted for the second year in a row by the Verde Group, a leading customer dissatisfaction consulting firm, and the Baker Retail Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.  Researchers compiled data from 1,000 American consumers surveyed in March, 2007. 

Our goal was to find out what annoys American consumers most when they shop and the answer came back loud and clear:  SALESPEOPLE, especially those who don’t have the product knowledge they should have,” says Paula Courtney, President, the Verde Group.  “A host of issues – including the disappearance of salespeople when they’re needed, long check out lines, over-solicitous and insincere salespeople, and being ignored by sales staff – is alienating shoppers and losing big bucks for American retailers.”

"Equally damaging to business is that 25 percent of all consumers who report a problem when they shop are ignored by sales staff, receiving not so much as a smile, greeting or even eye contact.  This turns three percent of customers away from the retailer permanently and is the number one problem customers are likely to share with others."

http://www.verdegroup.ca/default.asp?action=article&ID=46

Zig Ziglar on complaining customers

A quotation from the great Zig Ziglar, the greatest motivational speaker of our time: "Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business." Zig Ziglar

Learn from the customers who hate you

 Great article in the March 6th issue of "Business Week" by Jeff Jarvis who talks about using customer complaints to improve your business.

"Here's some free advice: Go to Google (GOOG), enter any of your company's brands followed by the word "sucks," and you will see the true consumer's reports. Brace yourself: It won't be pretty. Wal-Mart's (WMT) unofficial Google Sucks Index turns up 165,000 results; Disney's (DIS) 530,000; Google's 767,000. What's your number?

Now don't get mad at these people. Instead, help them get even with you. These angry customers are doing you a great favor. They care enough about your product or service to tell you exactly what went wrong. Other customers may just desert you and head to the competition. But these are telling you what to fix. Listen to them. Help them. Respond to them. Ask their advice—and they'll give it to you."

Read the whole article on the Business Week website