• 78% of consumers say their most satisfying experience occurred because of a capable and competent customer service representative.

  • It is estimated that 80% of mergers and acquisitions that occur today fail to meet initial expectations.

  • People are the core strategic asset. To be successful, a company must listen, involve, encourage, nurture, support, empower, and reward all its constituencies.

  • The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. Vince Lombardi

  • Employee loyalty builds customer loyalty, which builds brand loyalty. It’s as simple - and as difficult - as that.

  • Learn something every day. Never stop learning.

  • Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught. Winston Churchill

  • The key to building a culture based on Trust and Personal Responsibility is getting all employees to be committed to the organization’s Vision and the Values That Build Trust.

  • 25 of every 27 customers who have a bad experience fail to report it because they don’t believe anything will change.

  • Corporations can work five times harder and spend five times more money to gain new customers, or they can keep the ones they have.

  • It costs 10 times more to gain a new customer than it does to keep an existing customer.

  • The number one fear in the world is public speaking. “You” vs. “I” messages are powerful tools for capturing your audience’s attention.

  • 70% of organizational changes fail and these failures can be traced to ineffective leadership.

  • The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving. Oliver Wendell Holmes

  • Leadership is being the best you can be, and helping others be the best they can be.

  • A survey of 350 executives across 14 industries, 68% confirmed their companies experienced unanticipated problems in their change process. – International Consortium of Executive Development Research.

  • Change is constant. To implement change you must listen, engage, and empower individuals in the change process.

  • Companies Don’t Solve Problems.
    People Do.

  • 85% of business leaders agree that traditional differentiators alone are no longer a sustainable business strategy.

  • "High performing organizations are constantly focusing on improving their capabilities through learning systems, building knowledge capital and transformational learning throughout the organization.” - Ken Blanchard

  • If you want 1 year of prosperity, grow rice. If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want 100 years of prosperity, grow people. – Chinese Proverb

  • First, people don’t grow and change much unless they’re in a supportive environment where people know what they want to do and encourage them to do it.

  • No one of us is as smart as all of us – when teams function well, miracles happen.

  • The brighter you are, the more you have to learn.

  • Leadership IQ being equal, it is believed emotional intelligence – how we manage ourselves, our emotions and the emotions of others – accounts for 85 – 90% of what separates the most outstanding leaders from their peers.

  • Effective coaching is a key method for increasing productivity and profitability in an organization. Recent studies have shown that 85% of the workforce wants holistic coaching so that they can continually improve and grow.

  • 50 – 70% of how employees perceive their organization can be traced back to the actions of one person – the leader.

  • The key to keeping customers satisfied and loyal is to value and train employees while making them an integral part of corporate success.

The Guide to Superior Selling Techniques - Ask And You Shall Sell

Master Salesmanship
The Guide to Superior Selling Techniques
Volume 26 - Issue 7

By Dianne Durkin

Professional sales executives clearly recognize that building rapport and truly understanding the customer's needs and buying criteria are critical to making the sale. Whether offering a used car or an integrated network solution, it is much easier to make the sale if you clearly understand your customer's goals and objectives, and have developed a level of trust and respect with the person, or people, who have the buying power. Once you have established that trust and respect, you can be sure that you will build a long-term strategic partnership with the customer who will, in turn, refer you to others. This is what helps you ensure success, both today and well into the future. The big question is, "How do you build the trust and respect that will lead to a long-term strategic partnership?"

Don't Jump to "Pitch Mode"
Being very excited and motivated about sales, salespeople often want potential clients to know all of the wonderful features, facts, and benefits about their company, products, and services. This leads many salespeople into presentation mode, or as some refer to it, 'pitch mode,' when instead, they should launch into a thorough Q&A session that will help them build rapport and gain the potential client's respect. Leave barraging the client with facts and figures to your competitors. Smart sales executives will ask questions so they can better understand the potential client needs. The clients will tell you how they perceive their situation by answering your questions. After listening, sales reps can then use the client's terms and tone of voice to represent their products or services, and use the client's words to explain how you and your company can best meet their overall needs and objectives. Let's look at how questions can build rapport, identify needs and uncover buying criteria.

Steps To Build Rapport
When building rapport, it is important to understand the four communication styles and the critical behavioral characteristics associated with each style. The four basic communication styles are sensor, intuitor, feeler and thinker. A sensor tends to be results oriented, realistic, pragmatic and time sensitive. An intuitor is conceptual, creative and projects into the future. A feeler tends to be very interested in how his or her people respond to the solution, while a thinker 's style is very analytical, systematic, objective and logical.

Matching the communications style of the individual to whom you are asking questions is critical to building trust and respect. For example, when dealing with a sensor who is very bottom-line oriented, the questions you might ask are 'How does this impact your profit?' However, if you are dealing with an intuitor who has a very global perspective, you might ask 'How does this fit into the overall vision of the organization?' On the other hand, if you are dealing with a thinker who is a very detail-oriented individual, you might ask 'What are the three most important factors to achieving the optimum results?' Lastly, when dealing with a feeler, who is very interested in how their organization is going to perceive the solution, you might ask 'What is the importance of the solution in satisfying the needs of your organization?'

Are You Identifying Client Needs?
Once a rapport has been established with an individual, it is important to understand the specific needs that he or she has. This can be achieved by asking a number of different types of questions including background questions, process questions, and detail and/or action questions. Background questions are used to encourage individuals to describe the current situation and give a clear picture of their problem. An example would be, "Can you tell me a little bit about your present situation?" Process questions create a common understanding of what the person has done to resolve the problem and how the problem impacts their business. An example might be, "Tell me a little bit about what you are doing today to resolve this particular situation." Detail questions are effective when gathering more specific information such as, "Have you allocated a budget for this project?" or "Do you have a specific time frame in mind to implement a solution?" Action questions are then used to identify, assign and gain customer agreement on the next steps; "Do you have some specific options in mind to resolve this issue?" or "Are there any other individuals who will be part of the decision that I should speak with?" In using a variety of the above questions, you will appeal to all four communication styles and have a full understanding of your customer's needs. The next step is examining and identifying the specific buying criteria for this individual.

Establishing Buying Criteria
Using a questioning strategy throughout the selling process will help to uncover your clients buying criteria, which will provide the framework for positioning the benefits of your products and services. Additional questions to ask are: "Why is it important for you to resolve this situation now?" or "Tell me more about what you have already done to resolve this situation" and, "If you had this resolved, what would that do for you and your organization?"

Asking questions provides you with a plethora of information as to what is important to this individual. You are now in a position to reframe your solution to meet the very specific needs and area of importance. You have also made your client feel comfortable, understood and important. As a professional sales executive, you have shown a sincere interest in your client and his or her needs. You have, therefore, built a level of comfort and respect that will go along way toward building a long-term partnership with this customer. In using questions as your secret weapon, you:

Have established perceived value. Through interaction, you have learned the specific client needs, established your value, the value of your company and the value of your products and services.
Know the customer's buying criteria. The customer has clearly identified what is important in their decision making process.

In summary, questions are your secret weapon. Customize your questions depending upon the style of individuals with whom you are working. Engage them in outlining their specific goals, objectives and needs, and while using their terminology, present your value added solution. It is important to remember during this process that people are influenced by those they trust. Developing a level of comfort and respect can go along way in building a long-term partnership with your customer.

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