Friday, September 14 by Sabah Karimi in Presentation | 2 Comments
From sharing your latest sales strategy, to convincing potential investors to fund a new venture, knowing how to deliver your ideas with a persuasive message is the first step of any presentation. Public speaking or just presenting in front of an audience can be intimidating at first, but practicing your routine beforehand is a surefire way to get through it. Try some of these tried-but-true techniques on delivering your next killer presentation with ease:
- Watch your posture. Slouching can make you look intimidated, and standing up straight with shoulders back and chin up high will give you the confident look immediately—even if you’re feeling less than confident underneath it all. Think about how people are perceived on stage; how do they stand? Do they look poised and confident, or seem to be shrinking away? Your overall presence in front of the group will help you carry and deliver your idea with much more promising results.
- Use your hands to convey the message. Body language is everything when it comes to presenting to an audience, and you can use your hands to demonstrate and ‘show’ your ideas. Too many movements can be distracting, so keep it simple and practice in front of a mirror if you need to.
- Vary your volume (voice inflection). Maintaining a monotone voice is boring and encourages the audience to simply tune out. Keep things upbeat and move through your list of topics by varying your pitch and speed.
- Keep it short and simple. You’re delivering a message, not reading from a script! While it’s a good idea to use flashcards or notes as prompts, avoid reading directly from anything when you’re trying to explain something. Try ‘reading’ your audience instead, and talking as if you’re having a conversation.
- Breathe! It’s common to feel nervous at the prospect of speaking in front of people, and rapid breathing or shortened breathes can end up leaving you speechless. Breathe deeply and calm your nerves naturally. You’ll be much more likely to speak clearly and openly when you’ve got a steady flow of oxygen running through your system!
- Add some humor. This will depend on your audience and topic, but adding humor to your presentation is a great way to ‘break the ice’ and help people become more responsive and open to what you have to say. Laughing itself is an instant stress reliever and makes people relax; the more relaxed the audience is, the more likely they’ll be to tune in and listen. Successful marketing campaigns have plenty of humorous qualities—look at some of the most effective viral and ad campaigns, and you’ll see how humor is used to make people notice and deliver the marketing message.
A winning presentation can help you score that next deal and lead you to success, helping you overcome that next hurdle. A poor delivery can lead to less positive results, and probably leave you with less resources than you would have hoped.
What are some other ways to create a presentation that delivers results?
Sunday, September 9 by Sabah Karimi in Presentation | 2 Comments
As you’re preparing for that killer presentation, you soon find your focus is elsewhere and your mind is distracted with anxiety and tension. It’s a common case of nervousness, and you might need to learn some effective ways to calm down to present with confidence and ease.
Try any of these simple action steps before getting up on that podium or special event that puts you in the spotlight!
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Concentrate on your message.
Keep in mind that you’re delivering the presentation for a reason; whether it’s to motivate, persuade, encourage, or share some news, focusing on the reasons behind your appearance will help give you some purpose and direction to keep on moving ahead.
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Learn to channel.
Nervous energy can actually be something positive when you learn how to harness and channel it effectively. Try upping your enthusiasm or confidence factor by redirecting your extra energy, and you’ll breeze through that presentation much more successfully.
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Don’t forget to breathe.
Breathe deep, inhale, and exhale for a count of eight. This can instantly relax and ‘center’ your body, and will give your brain a fresh dose of oxygen to deal with the tasks at hand. Bottling up your energy or shallow breathing can make it very difficult to communicate with ease; take a few minutes before starting the presentation to simply breathe deeply and relax yourself.
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Get there early!
Getting situated in the room and being well-prepared will boost your confidence level immediately. Setting up with the right tools and resources you need will make sure your presentation runs smoothly, and you can even take a walk around the space to settle in.
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Release tension in your shoulders.
Many people don’t realize they’re doing this, but tension in the neck and shoulder area can give you a hunched posture and make it difficult to speak clearly. Pull those shoulders back, stretch your neck upward, and release any tension in your upper body so you can stand and speak clearly.
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Try visualization practices.
Even if you’re rehearsed your script and overall presentation points, visualize yourself actually delivering the presentation itself. This will help you preview how you’ll get through it, and makes the actual presentation much more natural.
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Yawn.
Not during your presentation of course, but definitely a few minutes before heading out on stage. A yawn can help relax any tense jaw muscles and give you a fresh dose of oxygen. With your facial muscles more relaxed, you’ll find it much easier to speak and easily calm your nerves in the process.
Even the most experienced presenter isn’t immune to anxiety, stress, and feelings of fear during their event. Confident and professional speakers have simply learned how to manage and calm their nerves as they move through their topics. Building up skills for public speaking and giving a presentation are great ways to boost your business opportunities, and getting over any personal obstacles offers a variety of benefits. Practice makes perfect, so get used to the idea of presenting as often as possible for ongoing success.
Monday, July 2 by Brian Armstrong in Presentation | 6 Comments
When I went home for Christmas last December, the first thing my parents said when I got off the plane was “It looks like you’ve grown, did you get taller?”
I hadn’t grown at all, not one inch. So why was this their first reaction after not seeing me for sixth months? One word: I had become more confident.
Confidence is a funny thing in human beings. When you’re feeling confident you tend to stand taller, hold your head up, and walk differently. It affects all areas of your body (eye contact, breath, stride, voice tone, etc).
What my parents were picking up on was not a change in my height, it was a change in confidence, and I believe Toastmasters was one important contributor to that improvement.
For those who don’t know, Toastmasters is an international non-profit organization that helps people improve their public speaking. It is fairly inexpensive (less than $100 per year), and puts you in a supportive environment with other people who are learning to speak in public, become better leaders, an improve their social interactions.
Toastmasters isn’t only about giving speeches, it can affect many other areas of your life.
It all starts with the fact that speaking in public is one of biggest causes of anxiety for most people. In fact, many people rate public speaking as being more frightening than death!
But one thing I discovered about overcoming anxiety and growing as a person is that every time you feel anxiety and STILL take action, you will build confidence. In fact, I believe that’s the only way to build confidence: doing the things that you fear the most.
This happens to be one of the most important lessons you can learn as an entrepreneur in my opinion, because you will be faced with scary moments frequently in business.
Here are a few ways that Toastmasters can help you become a better entrepreneur and get a similar boost in confidence.
1. You Speak In Public More Often Than You Know
You probably speak in public more often than you realize, and will be required to do so even more in the future. Each time you pitch an idea, rally you team to accomplish something, inspire others to join you, do an interview with the media, or meet a new person, you are speaking in public.
We all know how important it is the build relationships in business, and if you can be the person who fearlessly networks with big shots at a conference, wows the media with your eloquence, or inspires employees to gladly work overtime for the good of the company, then you will rise to the top faster than your peers.
One interesting part of every Toastmasters meeting is called Table Topics. The presenter will call out a short question and then randomly pick on someone from the audience to come give an impromptu two minute speech about it. It can be quite nerve-racking to give a two minute speech with zero preparation! I can’t tell you how valuable this skill is in learning how to interact with others, hold a group’s attention, and just become a more interesting person!
If you can’t effortlessly talk with anyone (man or woman) at a party for 10-15 minutes and have them remember you in a positive light afterwards, then you are missing out on valuable opportunities. Toastmasters can help you become more comfortable in those social interactions.
2. A Sense of Humor Is A Valuable Tool
At every Toastmaster meeting there is also a member selected to tell a joke. This is used as an icebreaker to bring the meeting participants together.
Guess what? The first few times I held this job, I got nothing more than a few courtesy laughs. I realized that I didn’t know how to tell a joke!
I decided to work on this area in Toastmasters (there is also a manual you can work through to practice giving humorous speeches) and eventually started to learn the structure of humor.
I even went to the “open mic” night at the local comedy club a few times (talk about anxiety!) after going through the Toastmasters manual. I certainly wasn’t the funniest person there, but I learned a lot in the process and once again built my confidence.
Humor is a powerful tool in your arsenal that can be used to defuse embarrassing situations and make others like you (and want to work for you).
3. Entrepreneurs Must Be Leaders
The third thing that Toastmasters will teach you is leadership. There are numerous positions in the club that need to be filled from time to time. They don’t require a huge commitment, but they do help you practice working with a team.
However, the most important lesson that Toastmasters can teach you about leadership is how to evaluate others.
After every speech in Toastmasters, you will be given an opportunity to evaluate the speaker and give them instant feedback (sometimes in the form of, you guessed it, giving another speech). One of the most important lessons I learned here was how to mix criticism with praise. Helping someone improve without crushing their spirits is a lesson every leader should know, and it’s better to practice it in a safe environment before you need it in the “real world”.
Providing constructive feedback and commanding an audience’s attention are indispensable skills that every leader must posses. If you are serious about becoming successful, and don’t yet consider yourself a powerful leader, this is one way to make progress.
4. You Must Spend Time With Right Type of People
Finally, Toastmasters does a remarkable job of putting you around the right type of people.
One of the most important keys to success in life is to surround yourself with people who are more successful than you are. Toastmasters is the kind of group that attracts people who are interested in improving their life and becoming successful.
In my group, for example, I’ve made friends who’ve taught me about real estate investing, web server technology, and sales. When you get around the right type of people, they will start to invite you to other events around town, introduce you to other clubs, and share inspiring books they’ve read.
5. Your Body Language Could Use Improvement
No matter who you are, your body language needs improvement. Many people are totally unaware of what message they are communicating with their bodies, and how fast people are making assumptions about them.
Some recent studies have shown that people form an opinion about you in as little as two seconds after meeting you. In one such study, evaluations of professors at a particular university were compared with evaluations of people who had only seen two-second video clips of the professors with the sound turned off. Remarkably, 78% of people who only saw the two-second video clips rated the professors the same as the class who had spent an entire semester observing them!
Your dress, your eyes, your hands, your stride, your expressions, your voice tone, and your posture are broadcasting out a strong message to everyone you meet (whether consciously or subconsciously). Do you know what it’s saying?
If not, you may want to get in a supportive environment where people can give you specific feedback.
Toastmasters is a brilliant concept that has provided quite a bit of value to me in the past year and half, and I’d encourage anyone (especially entrepreneurs) to join.
Many other seminars exist out there which cost thousands of dollars and provide similar classes to executives. Toastmasters can offer you many of the same advantages in a non-profit organization.
Remember that the way to overcome anxiety and grow as a person is right THROUGH that fear. Feel the fear, and take action in spite of it.
Brian Armstrong is an entrepreneur who achieved financial freedom working for himself at age 23. If you’ve always wanted to start your own business and work for yourself, check out his website on how to start a business: Start Breaking Free
Monday, June 18 by David Askaripour in Presentation | 4 Comments
part 1 | part 2
Last week I discussed some introductory ways to improve your public speaking skills. Keeping things simple (KISS), not using notes, and telling a story were all covered. Now let’s get into a few more finer techniques on how to effectively give a public speech.
Control the Audience
As a public speaker you always have to be aware that you are in control of the audience, not the other way around. If you make a mistake, forget a sentence, stumble on your words, etc… you have to remain in control. If you need to pause to collect your thoughts or even recover with a funny joke, then do that. What you don’t want to do is panic and lose control of your message. Even if you feel embarrassed and you get laughed at, it doesn’t matter. You have to keep your equanimity and remain in control of the stage. Breathe. Stay calm. And get right back at it.
Move Around
Make sure that you aren’t remaining stationary while you give your speech. It’s okay to walk around and animate yourself. You don’t want to come off as some sort of robot that is planted to the ground and just spitting out words. Use your hands to gesture and enforce what you are saying. Step around the room and keep your body fluid. This also let’s the audience know that you are comfortable and confident with what you are saying. If you don’t move around, then you will come off as being stiff and uptight — that’s not the message that you want to give off.
Eye Contact is Crucial
Always connect with your audience by looking directly at them. The worse thing a speaker can do is ignore the audience. You want constantly scan the entire audience and lock eyes with everyone that you possibly can. This will let the audience know that you truly care about conveying your message to them. You respect them enough to look them in the face and speak “to” them, not “at” them. If you stare off into space and neglect to give people face time, then they are going to care less about what you have to say. Credibility will be lost.
Smile
Smiling makes the world go ‘round. Be happy. Be passionate. Be enthusiastic. When you are in a positive mood when giving a speech, the audience knows it. You can really liven up your speech by smiling. Now don’t get carried away and have a big fake joker grin on your face throughout the speech. This will not only make you look silly, but it’ll probably scare a few people in the audience. (Geezz… is that dude possessed or something?) Just be genuine.
Finish Properly (strong)
Inexperienced speakers will finish a speech like this: “Now to conclude, I will leave you with this quote….blah…blah….blah…. and please remember to blah…blah…blah… and that’s it. Thank you.” No… you want to finish a speech strong! Don’t ever say “Now to conclude.” Before your conclusion you want to succinctly reiterate the main points in your speech (that will be the cue to the audience that you are wrapping-up). Then you want to finish with a bang. You want to leave your audience with a final message. A call to action. A new message that wasn’t introduced in the body of the speech. Something that supersedes everything that you have said up to that point. Something that you want them to go home a think about. After you drop that message, pause, and say “thank you.” And that’s it.
If you have any more speech pointers, please share them with us. I hope that you’ve been able to learn something from this series and good luck on your next speech. Rock on!
Friday, June 15 by David Askaripour in Presentation | 5 Comments
part 1 | part 2
KISS
Yes, please give me a kiss! I kid… no I mean “Keep it Simple Silly.” Public speaking isn’t about getting into every little detail; it’s about painting a beautiful and simple picture for your audience. I’ve given enough speeches to learn that trying to be overly complex and coming off as this sophisticated scholar is definitely the wrong move. You want to be to-the-point, concise, and succinct and possible. Don’t go off on tangents and or add unnecessary facts that add no value to your message.
Throw away your notes
Seriously, you shouldn’t be using notes at all. Don’t be one of those speakers with a handful of index cards who is constantly shuffling them around and reading off of them while you give a speech. Public speaking is about sharing your passions and when you are truly passionate about the topic that you are speaking about you’ll find that the words will just flow out of your mouth and your memory of what you are to discuss will be solid. Of course there are exceptions when you’ll need to use notes, but for the most part, you should never use them. The key is to be “passionate” and “knowledgeable” about what you are speaking about. If you aren’t, the audience will see right through you. It won’t be hard to tell when you are reading — word for word — from your cards.
Tell a story
The best public speakers always know to tell a good story. Everyone likes to hear a story. When preparing for your speech think of an applicable story that would add value and better explain your topic. When you tell a story, you are taking your audience on a journey with you — you are taking them outside of the room. This technique really livens up your speech and allows your listeners to image. This, of course, is fun and it’ll help engaged your audience and they’ll also retain more of your speech.
As an entrepreneur you should strive to become a powerful public speaker. Getting up in front of an audience and sharing your ideas, experiences, and knowledge is an experience like no other. Spoken word is so, so powerful. Public speaking is an art and working to perfect this art will make you a much stronger entrepreneur. Stay turned for part two when I get into more detailed techniques.
Tuesday, November 14 by William Quisenberry in Presentation | 4 Comments
This is the third and final Part of “Making a Solid Cold Call” and if you happened to miss the first two portions or want to briefly review them before moving on to the final section, you can catch up at Part I-The Introduction or Part II-The Body.
Yesterday we went through the body of the cold call, where you try to get as much possible information from the prospect while presenting them with as little data about your company.
Now it is time to wrap up the phone call and enter directly into an appointment setting mode. Once you have a solid appointment, you can then present a full sales pitch to the prospect and close the deal. This portion of the cold call is presented below.
Well Tina I know we’re both pressed for time this morning. ( Notice I said WE are pressed, not YOU are pressed for time. Always let the prospect know that your time is also just as valuable as theirs is, this way they won’t feel like they have the right to jack you around and waste it.
There are simple non-aggressive ways to do this, another method is never to say, “Thanks for your time” to a prospect, it immediately places you below them in a begging position).
Tina I definitely feel that Net Empire has very strong services we can offer you to allow your sales force more time to focus on generating and closing sales and also we can increase your portfolio status by funding many more deals on a monthly basis for you.
I would like to put a little literature in your hands so you can learn more about our financial solutions and also give you the opportunity to check us out before moving on and doing business with us.
Would you like me to email it to you or fax it?
(Always try your best to ask closed ended questions like this instead of, “would you like me to send you some literature,” because it is so much easier for a prospect to say no rather than yes).
Tina: Email would be better I think.
O K, what is the best email address for me to use,
(Write down information)
Also I would like the opportunity to get back with you and take a quick 10 or 15 minutes to explain the information I’m sending in more detail and also to answer any of your questions, would Tuesday or Wednesday be best for you?
(Try to give them the option of two days if possible).
Tina: Tuesday should be just fine.
O K, I’m available in the morning between 8:30-9:45 and then again that afternoon anytime after 2:45, is morning or afternoon best for you? (Give morning and afternoon options first, and then continue to narrow down a time from there until you get a specific time set).
Tina: Early mornings are usually best.
How about 8:45? (Use odd numbers like 8:35, 9:55 because they stick in peoples minds a little better and also it helps reinforce the notion that you’re busy instead of just saying traditional times like 8:30 or 10:00).
Tina: 8:45 would be perfect.
O K Tina, well I will put this information out to you today, be sure that you try to take a good look at it, that way you can already have an idea of the questions you need to ask me next week and I will be back in touch with you on Tues. at 8:45 am.
If something happens to come up between now and then, don’t hesitate to give me a call at 555-555-5555 and we can figure out another time to reschedule our appointment.
(This is yet another method of showing that you’re busy and that you take your appointments and time very seriously and that you expect them to as well).
Tina: Sounds good.
Great Tina, it has been good getting acquainted with you and I look forward to the possibilities of us partnering and doing business in the near future. Talk to you next week, goodbye.
Tina: O K William Goodbye.
This whole conversation will take no time when you’re actually engaged in it. Despite the short length, the fact that you have just made another contact, found a possible business associate, gotten your company literature out to another professional and gathered strong pertinent information on this company is a major plus.
Now you have time to investigate the company further, prepare a sales presentation and get back with them and possibly strike a deal.
Next time you call the prospect back, you would take an approach like you guys are already associates, like you know each other (which in reality you really do know each other). Obviously you would do most of the talking on this call, because your trying to now sell them on your venture’s product or service.
Nobody really enjoys cold calling, but it is almost essential for entrepreneurs both new and old. Cold Calling is a quick and personal way to introduce your business to many prospects in a short period of time.
With practice cold calling will soon become just as easy as calling one of your friends on the telephone. Conquer your fear and give it a shot today, simply grab the phone book, pick a business out of it and make a cold call, you never know what type of present or future business you may generate!
Monday, November 13 by William Quisenberry in Presentation | 2 Comments
This is Part II of “Making a Solid Cold Call” where I’m striving to identify main points relating to making cold calls by giving an example of an actual mock call. You can review the introduction portion of making the cold call by reviewing Part I of this series.
Picking up where we left off on Friday, I had just introduced myself and my company’s name to Tina in the beginning stages of our phone call. I ask her for confirmation to continue with our talk by asking, “I didn’t catch you at a bad time did I?”
Now Tina is answering that question and if it’s with a no, that’s when you move into the body of the cold call, which is presented below.
Tina: No I’m fine.
Well Tina the reason for my call this morning is that I really would just like to very briefly get acquainted with you.
You see my company provides unique financial consulting solutions for large corporations just like yours and one of our major areas of focus is providing equipment financing services.
Now I know your firm is a major dealer of construction equipment in the south eastern portion of the U.S., my question for you is are you currently using a primary bank or financial firm for your equipment sales?
Tina: Yes, we have normally used T.G. Financial Equip. and John Doe Banking.
Great, well Tina I’m sure you know just how competitive the financial industry is these days and it’s good for companies like yours to have as many possible banks and financial firms competing for your deals, simply because you can shop for the lowest rates and also increase your chances of closing deals.
What’s your average sales ticket at this present time?
Tina: Oh, around 85,000, we mainly do bulk orders many times to other vendors who are involved in reselling efforts.
O K, well approximately how many deals are you guys closing per week.
Tina: During our strong season, we are getting 35 to 40 deals written up per week and we’ll close and deliver maybe a little more than half of those.
Now you have gathered the pertinent information very quickly from the prospect all while taking detailed notes on the conversation. You still haven’t revealed too much information about yourself, so the potential client should still be fairly curious about your company and the services that you truly have to offer.
When you’re carrying an in depth conversation with a prospect it’s up to you to use your own personal judgment on how long the call should be.
I’ve experienced cold calls that were straight to the point and lasted all of three minutes, but beneficial information was exchanged and I was able to get an appointment set up for a sales presentation, so the mission was accomplished.
On the other extreme I’ve also experienced calls where I was on the phone for thirty minutes, but these calls are very unlikely obviously because business professionals are busy and don’t have a lot of time to spend on one phone call.
Also be careful about engaging in extremely long conversations, because before you know it the call can shift from an initial prospecting call to a sales call. If this is the case you might not have enough selling and negotiating leverage, you may be unprepared or not in the right state of mind to make a proper sales close, so your presentation will suffer severely.
Now all that is left is wrapping up the phone call, sending literature and setting up a sales appointment. I will cover this information tomorrow in the third and final portion of this three part series.
(Now that you viewed the second portion of this series you can also check out the final section: Part III-Wrapping Up the Call).
Friday, November 10 by William Quisenberry in Presentation | 6 Comments
In this piece I will be presenting an example of a mock cold call to an executive’s office. I will decipher the call and make points in between the conversation areas to help clarify why I said certain things and why they are important.
A couple of things to look for over the course of this series are how important it is to present yourself as a professional, don’t try to close the deal on the initial call and how to control the conversation and keep them talking as much as possible.
That would then mean that you try to talk about your firm as little as possible. Contrary to what people think, when you don’t talk about yourself or business much, but allow the prospect to talk about their company you can take notes and use them for negotiating and closing leverage on the second call, which is the presentation call.
So basically the purpose of this entire call (the whole series) is:
1. Introduce yourself and your company (very brief introduction)
2. Gather information on the client.
3. Get your company literature in their hands.
4. Set up another appointment for a full sales presentation.
In Part I of this series we will only cover point number 1: Introducing yourself and your company. This aspect of the call is very basic and short. It is just saying who you are and trying to gain confirmation from the prospect to enter into an extended conversation.
Scenario: This scene takes place at an equipment supplier/distributors company, after already speaking with the receptionist; I find out that I need to speak with Tina Ross who is the Sales Manager. I have now been transferred to Tina’s office by her assistant.
Ring Ring
Tina: Good morning TNT Equipment Suppliers, this is Tina, can I help you.
Hello Tina, this is William Quisenberry and I’m the Owner of Net Empire Consulting, how are you this morning
(Tell them you own the business, they will take you much more serious than if you’re just some telemarketer).
Tina: Good thanks for asking.
Great, Tina I didn’t catch you at a bad time did I?
(This is a very professional question that does many things: first it shows concern for others besides just your own selfish intentions, second it keeps you from starting your pitch and being interrupted by a “Sorry, but I’m very busy this morning!”
Third it gives the buyer a chance to weed out of the call if they truly have absolutely no interest from the start, because if that’s the case then pitching them will just be wasting your time.
Last and not least if they don’t terminate the call here, then they have just given you a confirmation to enter into a conversation with them, which is great!)
After getting past this introductory stage of the call, you would then move into the body of the phone call which is where most of the information is exchanged and gathered in a full fledge conversation. I will handle this section of the call on Monday morning.
(Now after reading Part I of Making a Solid Cold Call, be sure to check out Part II-The Body of the Call. and also Part III-Wrapping Up the Call)
Tuesday, November 7 by Justin Brooke in Presentation | 5 Comments
::No Does Not Mean No::
So you’re just about to go into your next sales presentation armed with all these new tools. You know that you should be assuming the sale is going to go through with no doubts as if you already knew the future. When the presentation starts the first thing you are going to do is fire off some questions to establish control and while speaking you are going to use your voice inflection to paint images in the customer’s mind. Finally, you ask for the money without hesitation or suspicion that they might balk.
The customer replies: “Thanks, but I’m not interested.”
Well, hey, you gave it your best shot right? Let’s move onto the next customer maybe your luck will be better next time. NO!!! If you are stopping your sales pitch at this juncture then you are nothing but a storyteller. If you truly want to be a closer then in your mind the word no, is just shorthand for “N-ot enough inf-O”
A lot of people think that this type of sales is shady or unmoral. However, any top sales professional will tell you, being a master closer is impossible if you stop trying to sell your product every time a customer gives a rejection to your product.
If that customer was truly not interested, why did they listen to your whole pitch? Why did they come in to your shop? Why did they visit your website? Why did they fill out that questionnaire that your lead originally came from? This is just a tactic customers use because they are uncomfortable and would rather just bail than get what they came for/ called for/ registered for.
It is your job when they post up that first objection, to find out what it is they are still uncomfortable with. Maybe they don’t know you can discount the price, or that you have other colors, models, upgrades. The objection they give you is usually not the true objection. The true objection is being hidden from you, sometimes even subconsciously, because they know if you find that out you will be able to solve that problem or concern they have. Then they would have to spend that money they worked so hard for all week.
To extract their true objection you’ll have to ask them some probing questions. Here are some great examples:
Me: John, what’s the P.O. # I should use?
John: Justin, I’m really not interested today, thank you though.
Me: I understand just one question before you go, so that I can help the quality assurance department do their job. What did you wish our product could have done for you, that it seemed unable to do?
John: Uhh…I guess the price is a little high for my likings.
Me: OOOH, John if that’s all why didn’t you just say so? I have the power to give you 10% off. How does the price look to you now?
Me: John, what’s the P.O. # I should use?
John: Justin, I’m really not interested today, thank you though.
Me: I understand just one question before you go, so that I can help the quality assurance department do their job. What did you wish our product could have done for you, that it seemed unable to do?
John: I was looking for something a little more industrial.
Me: OOOH, well then you should see product X, I bet that’s more along what you were looking for; come on I’ll show you/ pitch product X without hesitation.
Or maybe John says something like, “I don’t have time for this right now.” I would reply with “oh ok I’m sorry to hear that. See, today is the last day of our 15% off sale.” (quote nearest holiday for reason of sale) What about the most popular one, “I have to talk to my husband/wife/business partner about it first.
Me: Will you be using Visa, Mastercard, or Discover today?
John: Oh no, I’ll have to talk to my wife about this first.
Me: I totally respect that; I would have to run this by the boss as well. (laugh)
Me: {In fact I think it’s best if we all get on the phone, let’s give her a break at work and call her right now. I’m sure she’ll appreciate being in the action, and making the decision together.}
Me: {John, I hear that a lot from people just wanting to blow me off. I’m an easy goin’ guy; talk to me, what’s this product not doing that you would like it to do?}
Another technique that can work is let them go and then call them back in a few hours or the next day early and say “John, did your wife finally give you permission to spend?” This works on both sexes ego and I have pulled in quite a few with this tactic. Also never underestimate the word “why.” So many times I have just replied with that word only, and turned customers around. That specific single word question packs a lot of power.
There are lots of pretty ways to run around an objection and you could find book after book about them. The important part is that you make sure to ask the customer why s/he will not buy and what would have to happen to get him/her to buy. Assume the sale is going to happen no matter what, but expect to have to answer one or two objections to get there.
Remember from past articles that you should be envisioning yourself as a baseball player. The customer objections are curve balls that you just slam out of the park with a quick answer and closing statement.
5 Steps to Closing a Sale:
- Assuming the Sale
- Control the Conversation
- Voice Inflection
- Ask for the Money
- No Does not Mean No
Monday, November 6 by Justin Brooke in Presentation | 4 Comments
::Asking for the Money::
Often the scariest part of sales is not interacting with others; it’s the part where you have to ask that other person to give you a piece of their hard earned income. You have to learn to get over this if you plan to close sales like the professionals. In fact without asking for the money you are just an order taker, and not a sales person.
If you show the slightest bit of fear or hesitation when asking for the money, the customer will smell your weakness and back out of the sale. Imagine you just gave the greatest sales presentation of your life. You started out by assuming the sale, controlled the conversation, your voice inflection was spot on, and now you have to ask for the money.
When you ask your voice drops down and you speak a little too fast or ask in a round-a-bout fashion. The customer is going to think that it was all a big smoke and mirrors presentation, and there must be something wrong with the product if you’re afraid to make someone pay for that product.
You can slip a little in your presentation, but there is no room for timidity, mediocrity, or errors when you actually go for the close. (Close = asking for the money/sale/decision) You should develop three different ways to asking your clients to finalize the sale, pay, or decide.
When you are developing these simple closing statements, stay away from any questions that can be answered with the word “no.” If the client wants to say “no” let them figure out how to work it into the conversation, don’t help them! Also stay away from words that bring the thoughts of money back into play. (Words like pay, dollars, buy, spend, money, debt, or afford.) Here are some examples that I have used in the past.
We allow you to use Visa, Mastercard, or Discover, which will you be using today?
We accept all major credit cards, does your card expire 06, 07, or 08?
Will you be using a P.O. # or the companies credit card today?
Will you be able to take this with you today or should we deliver to your office?
In the mind of the customer these are much easier questions to answer than “how will you pay for this.” Most of my sample closes don’t even ask the customer for money. The customer knows he will have to use money but technically I am not asking him/her for their money. This nullifies the natural defense mechanism we all have right when we are about to part with our hard earned cash.
Now that you have seen examples copy the format and apply it to your scenarios. Take your new closes into the bathroom or in front of any mirror and practice pitching with them. Observe your body language when you go for the close, make sure you are direct but not confrontational, stern but nonchalant, and make eye contact.
I still shake like a cold poodle in a thunderstorm during every close, but I practice my closes so much that you could not tell what’s going on, on the inside. You MUST portray a person who does this all day, every day. That closing statement needs to just roll off you’re tongue as if everyone is buying and you are just the delivery guy.
The last part of this series is going to lay waste to fearing or floundering when customers begin throwing objections at your sales presentations. Before we get there fully, I want to explain why I told you to develop three different ways to ask for the money. When you go for the initial attempt the customer might still have a question or two. Just answer their question as simply as you can and fire off the next version of your closing statement. For instance:
Me: We allow you to use Visa, Mastercard, or Discover, which will you be using today?
Suzy: Do you back up your service with any guarantee?
Me: We are a member of the BBB, and we also provide a 100% money back guarantee should you not be satisfied. Does your card expire 06,07,or 08?
Go right into the next, let them just roll off your tongue. The more you speak the more chances you have of making a mistake or creating another question. You can also oversell your product which will make the customer think something shady is going on. So practice, speak simply, and ask for the money as if you were a delivery guy and not a sales professional. In no time you notice that you are now closing a lot more of those “almost hadems.”
5 Steps to Closing a Sale:
- Assuming the Sale
- Control the Conversation
- Voice Inflection
- Ask for the Money
- No Does not Mean No
Thursday, November 2 by Justin Brooke in Presentation | 5 Comments
Voice Inflection
Beyond any reasonable doubt if you’re going to build your sales career to the fullest, you have to do something that 95% of all sales professionals never do; deliberate voice training. – Zig Ziglar
If you sell a product or service for a living or if your new start-up depends on your sales ability, I highly suggest you start reading Zig Ziglar’s work.
Voice inflection is a natural part of human communication, which lets us vary the meanings of single words or sentences. The funny thing about voice inflection is that it is used almost perfectly in day to day conversation, but when a novice enters into a sales situation there voice inflection goes right out the window. They turn into a vocal robot pungent with fear and weakness.
This is why you need, if you’re serious about closing more sales, to go out and get a voice recording device. You will be surprised to find out what you sound like to others, because the voice we here is not the exact same voice others here coming from out of our mouth. This is because we are hearing our voice carried through our body tissue and bone vibrations which is much crisper. When we speak to others they hear our voice carried by air, think DVD quality vs. VHS quality.
You have to learn how you sound to others and adapt as necessary. After all when you give a sales presentation they are not necessarily buying the product they are buying your created view of the product. If that view of the product comes across as a monotonous tone, no matter what visual adjectives and emphasis on benefits you use, you will still sound like the product bores you. Would you want to buy a product from someone who is bored of that product?
Ok enough about why you need to be listening to your own voice on a recording device, let’s talk about how to use your new tool. Take the script you are using and record how you feel you would normally pitch to a client. Now listen to your recording, how did you sound? Most likely since you are untrained with voice inflection it sounded like a read through. Now let’s add some proper voice techniques into your pitch and see how it sounds, but first here are some great examples of using voice inflection to paint different pictures in the mind of a client.
Zig Ziglars 8 Ways to Say the Same Sentence
- I did not say he stole the money.
Normal factual statement
- I did not say he stole the money.
Implies that it was said, but by someone else.
- I did not say he stole the money.
A vehement testament of denial.
- I did not sayyy he stole the money.
Insists that you might have implied this but did not actually say this.
- I did not say he stole the money.
Implies that someone other then the person accused stole the money.
- I did not say he stole the money.
Implies that you meant he might have borrowed the money
- I did not say he stole the money.
Implies that he might have stolen some money but not the money in reference.
- I did not say he stole the money.
Implies that he might have stole something but definitely not the money.
So you see by adding voice emphasis to certain words you can change the whole meaning of a sentence. Using this correctly you can paint pictures in the client’s mind that would have taken paragraphs to explain. I am positive if you look through your script again with this in mind there are parts you can take out or emphasize for greater power.
Lessening the words you have to say lessens the time it takes to deliver your message, which increases customer retention.
Adding these emphatic words will not only shorten your pitch to keep 100% attention and make it more visual in the clients mind, but also break up your tone, show that you are passionate, and create a sense of excitement with the client.
Customers buy or not buy depending on emotions toward a product. The easiest way to create emotion in a client is to speak with proper voice inflection. For example here are two versions of a very simple script I use; one with voice inflection and one without.
Italics = speed up
Bold = slightly raise tone
Larger Size = strong emphasis
Version 1
ME: Hi John, this is Justin Brooke from Mpyre Marketing. Does your business have a website?
JOHN: No we haven’t really felt it necessary. We do pretty well for ourselves.
ME: Well John, This is what I am going to do for you. I will give you a free, no-cost, no obligation website demo. This way you can see what I can do for you, then if you like it you can buy it, if you don’t then I go back to where I came from. No pressure and no hard feelings. It takes my guys about a week, should I call back on Tuesday or Wednesday?
Version 2
ME: Hi John, this is Justin Brooke from Mpyre Marketing. Does your business have a website yet?
JOHN: No we haven’t really felt it necessary. We do pretty well for ourselves.
ME: Well John, This is what I am going to do for you. I will give you a free, no-cost, no obligation website demo. This way you can see what I can do for you, then if you like it you can buy it, if you don’t then I go back to where I came from. No pressure and no hard feelings. It takes my guys about a week, should I call back on Tuesday or Wednesday?
In the second version,to the client it will sound like I have said much less then I have, because I broke up the information and emphasized what both of us really wanted to hear. In reality only 50% of your pitch ever gets remembered anyways (and that’s for good pitches) so this helps the words you want to stick out…stick out!
To take your voice training even higher, record a live pitch. This way you can hear how you sound when rebutting objections and being thrown off guard.
So far we have learned to be assuming the sale from the beginning for confidence, controlling the conversation with questions that fuel our rebuttal arsenal, and now we have added voice inflection to create excitement and retention. Already sounds like we have a pretty slick sales presentation underway. Now we just need to cover the wrapping up parts of asking for the money and handling objections.
5 Steps to Closing a Sale:
- Assuming the Sale
- Control the Conversation
- Voice Inflection
- Ask for the Money
- No Does not Mean No
Wednesday, November 1 by Justin Brooke in Presentation | 4 Comments
Control the Conversation
If sales were a human, “controlling the conversation” would be its heart. Without control the sale starts to die. First it downgrades to story telling mode, then when the customer smells the weakness they will start asking their own questions. After they realize they are now in control and backing you into a wall, you will start getting sold as to why they shouldn’t or can’t buy your product.
It’s all over just like that, simply because control of the conversation changed sides. Notice whoever controls the sale makes the sale. When you have control on your side you sell your product/service, and when it’s on the client’s side you get sold on why they cannot make a purchase.
The definition of control as pertaining to sales is when the client is acting on your direction. Ways to achieve control are asking questions, standing your ground, and speaking with confidence. So before the presentation begins you should already be assuming your client will buy, then to immediately establish control, ask a question.
Always try to stay away from questions that can be answered in one word, especially questions that the customer can answer with “no.” You never want the customer to feel comfortable saying no during your presentation, absolutely NEVER! In fact it is a “best practice” among top sales professionals to ask mundane questions that the customer will undoubtedly say “yes” or other positive answers too. For example, “John, do you like saving money?”
(Complimentary tangent)
A popular formula is to coax the customer into saying “yes” three times, then going in for a “close.” This technique tries to play off the positive momentum that is being built. Although, techniques like this are for another article.
Back on topic: so you have assumed the sale, started the presentation off with a question to the client, and now you are in control. Keep it! Speak your pitch confidently, and stop every so often to ask “recon” questions. This re-establishes you as the dominant presence at the moment. Questions you ask should pry vital information or “ammo” from the client for later use against rebuttals. (Thus the term recon)
Information to gather:
- Do they like the product?
- Can they afford the product?
- What are their fears?
- What are their emotions?
Sample questions:
John, how do you see yourself using our product?
Cindy, how would you feel if you already had this product?
Tom, how long would it take for your budget to be able to handle our product? (Killer question, I try to always fit this in no matter how small the price. Not only does it size up their willingness to spend, but against males can kick their ego into gear for an impulse buy!)
If you feel yourself losing control of the situation, do not panic. When the heart stops working you still have time before the blood stops flowing, to revive the sale. Stand your ground against their questions and imagine yourself as a baseball player. Baseball player? Yes, imagine each question the customer asks is a baseball being thrown at you, and every confidently spoken answer is you hitting it straight out of the park!
To get your control back answer their questions confidently and as shortly as you can, then end your answer with a question, to flip the position of power. As you can see control is mostly about asking questions, knowing when to ask them and what to ask are the skills that come with practice. Before every presentation, I write down the questions that I will try to slide into my pitch. I do this every time even if it’s a pitch that I have done a thousand times. It’s not practice that makes perfection, it’s perfect practice that makes perfection!
Next up on the roster is voice inflection. I remember the day I learned how to use voice inflection properly in my sales presentations. I was just amazed at how versatile and powerful, a trained human’s, communication skills can become.
5 Steps to Closing a Sale:
- Assuming the Sale
- Control the Conversation
- Voice Inflection
- Ask for the Money
- No Does not Mean No
Tuesday, October 31 by Justin Brooke in Presentation | 5 Comments
As the title states this will be a 5 part series of articles on closing a sale. IF your business relies on direct sales for its cash flow, you will need to read all 5 parts. We’ll start off with “assumption” as it is trait that needs to be at the beginning of every sale. Let me explain:
Assumption is the mother of all sales closing techniques and often no other technique is necessary. To detail its power, think back to before Christopher Columbus, everyone was absolutely sold on the idea of the world being flat. It did not matter whether they knew the fact to be right or wrong, because everyone believed the assumption.
So powerful was this example assumption that even renowned scientists could not change the views of society. Nothing was changed until good ole’ Chris went out past the edge and came back to tell his story. That assumption worked for hundreds of years until there was absolute proof of a fact proving it wrong.
So what does assumption do for your sales presentation? Imagine a sale in which you lead off with an assumption to yourself that this sale is absolutely going to close in your favor. Assume to yourself that you have the greatest product this customer will ever see, and that there will be insurmountable benefits rewarded to the customer upon purchase.
When you start off a sales presentation already assuming the sale, you are now a full believer that you will make that sale until you have absolute proof of the assumption being wrong. That’s how assumption works; it is a believed fact until proven false. Taken seriously, assuming the sale will instantly grant you the confidence, to speak as if your product in fact, was the greatest ever created and that there really will be insurmountable benefits to the customer.
The last sentence of the above paragraph is the most important of this entire article. It can be a mouthful to a novice sales person, but with a couple re-reads can be easily understood. I could not reiterate enough how important that sentence is for you to not only understand, but to believe, and practice every call/presentation. Without assuming the sale your ratio of pitches/sales will suffer greatly as you just could not attain the right amount of confidence for a winning sales pitch every time at bat.
5 Steps to Closing a Sale:
- Assuming the Sale
- Control the Conversation
- Voice Inflection
- Ask for the Money
- No Does not Mean No
Tuesday, October 3 by Angela Gilltrap in Presentation | Leave a Comment
Obviously public speaking isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but it is an amazing skill to possess, one, we all have to work on to perfect. Becoming a guest speaker is a great way to get your confidence up, refine your pitching skills and raise your profile.
Whether it’s at your nephew’s school career day, charity function or teaching institution preparing a speech for others forces you to refine what you do allocating it to a poignant sentence or two.
It makes you have to practice your introduction speech and think of inspirational things about your line of work that inevitably will jog your memory about why you’re in this line of work in the first place.
A great place to look for opportunities for guest speaking is at craigslist.org also search for institutions that specialize in your field. Offer your time and expertise for a one off talk/meet and greet. The benefits far outweigh any nerves you may get.
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