Amateur Salespeople Don’t Take Notes – That’s One Reason Why They’re Amateurs

I was on a sales call with one of my colleagues last June. As we drove away in the taxi, he ridiculed my note taking during the call (it was his customer) and bragged about his good memory. He said “Look, if I am taking notes, I am not focusing 100% on what the customer is saying.” This arrogance can cost you. Rule #1: Take good notes.

My colleague’s misguided confidence in his IQ and memory reminded me of Jeffery Fox’s book: Secrets Of Great Rainmakers. In the book, Fox tells a story about waiters who write down their customer’s orders vs. those who don’t and the differences in the gratuity each receives as a result. The waiter who writes down the order earns significantly more in tips. Why? The waiter, who thought he was impressing the customer with his great memory, was really making the customer anxious and uncomfortable. Deep down, the customer was worried that the waiter might not get it right and if he did blow the order, the customer was especially annoyed because the error was preventable. So it goes with a sales call.

When the customer is talking and you are taking notes, the customer is feeling more valued. The fact that you are writing it down, in detail, makes the customer feel that what he or she is telling you is important.

Taking notes signals to the customer that you are a professional and that you are organized. By the way, invest in a high quality portfolio and spend a few hundred dollars on a good pen. I use a Raika sewn bound leather portfolio with gold-edged ruled pages and a Montblanc rollerball pen. Make an impression.

Taking notes helps sharpen the customer’s mind. When the customer knows you are writing it down, she will subconsciously work harder on getting you more detail and greater accuracy in the information she is transmitting. I have seen customers pick up the phone and call other departments to get me more detail during a call. Wow! They WON’T do that if you are just sipping coffee, nodding attentively, and making eye contact.

Taking notes also gives you a great way to summarize as you close out the call. You really focus the customer when you say “let me review my notes with you and make sure I have this requirement clearly understood.” Then, take the customer through what you have written down ... point by point. Finish with “Did I miss anything? Was there anything else you wanted to cover with me?”

Here is a final excellent reason to take good notes. You can re-play the sales call later, in the solitude of your hotel room, and discover fresh insights that maybe you missed on the first pass. You can triangulate with notes you made from a previous call with another executive in the same company. You can share the notes with your team and see what new ideas the notes stir up in their minds. Here is another one. When I refill my Raika, I make a point of re-reading every page of the old diary. Without fail, I find something I missed, an action or request that I need to follow up on, or a note that at the time, seemed unimportant, but now, in light of new developments in the account, are key to achieving my objective and closing a big sale.

Look, if for no other reason, because a lot of amateur salespeople never take notes, you will immediately stand out from your competitors by doing it.

Good Selling!!

Salesman’s Checklist Can Lower Your Competitive Death Rate

Teams Using “Cheat Sheets” Always Produce Better Results

There was a recent story in the Washington Post by Ceci Connolly claiming that surgical teams following a basic cockpit-style checklist in the operating room, from confirming the patient's name to discussing expected blood loss, reduced the rate of deaths and complications by more than a third. I claim that your sales “death rate” can also drop dramatically if you take a lesson from pilots and now, surgeons, and use a checklist of your own during sales calls.
Connolly’s theory is that the human brain can't remember everything, so it's best to focus on the complicated challenges and leave the simple reminders to a cheat sheet. A salesman’s checklist is a cheat sheet...a basic form of pre-call planning. The sales call can get intense and dynamic. The professional salesperson must focus 100% on what the customer is saying. Listening skills are a salesperson’s most important attribute. You can’t listen effectively if your brain is working overtime to think of the next question you want to ask, or trying to figure out how to get the sales call back on the road and out of the ditch. Here are some ideas:
-Plan and write down your opening statement. Make it a “killer” question or phrase that grabs attention and focuses the client on the problem.
-Ask why it is important to solve this problem.
-Uncover the decision criteria. Rank them in order of importance.

-What is the decision process? Who is involved? (Get introduced to the people you don’t know that have a role in making it happen).
-Has the budget been approved?
-Which other solution providers are competing?
-Interest rate being used to arrive at NPV and IRR
-Carrying cost of inventory/Cost of capital
-Other financial ground rules?
I think you get the idea. Write them all down. If you are involved in complex sales for expensive things, it’s likely that you make sales calls with a team of subject matter experts. Involve them in the checklist planning and execution. That way the team stays more coordinated during the call.
You will get the most out of your sales call checklist if you build it around the potential problems that the customer may be having. Most problems tend to fall into what I call my “basic dozen categories”. Here they are:

1) Profitability
2) Cost
3) Productivity
4) Competition
5) Quality
6) Ease of Operation
7) Reliability
8) Credibility
9) Safety
10) Morale
11) Customer Satisfaction
12) Reputation/image

Think of the basic dozen as a “checklist for a checklist”. Build your checklist around these categories and your sales call death rate will decrease dramatically.

Good selling!!

Planning

Steve’s Sales Coaching Tips

Presenting with Power and Getting Results! - Part 1

Careful planning for your sales presentation pays off. It helps you avoid false starts, expensive rework, and last-minute scrambles. Thinking through your presentation from beginning to end ensures an outstanding performance.

A-C-I-B

Analyze your customer audience

-Identify your listeners.
-List their biases and expectations.
-Assess their knowledge and interest levels.
-Determine their attitudes toward you and your subject.
-Define how your presentation benefits them.
-Anticipate questions you might be asked.

Clarify your purpose

-Know why you are talking about this subject to this audience.
-State your objective in one sentence.

Identify your message

-State it clearly.
-Don’t depend on subtlety.
-Don’t assume your audience knows your message.

Brainstorm

-Write down everything on your topic that comes to mind.
-Pay no attention to grammar, spelling, or punctuation.
-Do not judge or attempt to sort, just write.

Remember:
Effective presentations are the result of intelligent planning. By using a step-by-step approach, you divide the task into manageable segments and ensure that you have the basis for a well organized presentation.

Good Selling!