Chat Log: Featuring Steve Boyley on Sales
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IRC Chat Log, August 15, 1999
| Jonathan | Tonight! Without further ado! We bring to you the sales experience of... Steve Boyley of the PERFORMANCE INSTITUTE OF NLP -- in Prince George, British Columbia! Please welcome "NLPMIND!" Thanks for agreeing to do a chat, Steve!
| Dluzi | Woo Hoo!!!
| Paolo | Oh yeah!
| tranzpupy | (incessant clapping)
| Paolo | Thanks, NLPMind!
| NLPmind | Thank you for that wonderful introduction. The future is so bright, I have to wear shades!
| Jonathan | Haha! Steve, the floor is yours!
| NLPmind | First of all, I would like to find out what part of the planet all those here tonight are on. I am on the West Coast of Canada.
| Jonathan | Tampa, Florida
| Care4 | Clearwater, Florida
| Paolo | Los Angeles, CA
| MetaMAN | San Francisco, CA
| MrGordons | Near Los Angeles.
| Dluzi | New Jersey. Is there someplace else?
| Insider | England, midnight
| Synergi | DC Metro
| tranzpupy | Arlington Virginia near Arlington Cemetary which is near Washington, DC.
| aviatrix | Richmond, VA, here.
| NLPmind | Fantastic. Now that we know were every body is at... where is every body from? I am from South Africa.
| Paolo | Los Angeles
| aviatrix | Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia
| tranzpupy | LOL
| Care4 | I am originally from New York
| Synergi | Baltimore, Maryland
| Jonathan | ROTFL -- New York City, Mt Sinai Hospital
| tranzpupy | I am from a planet long long ago or far away...
| Dluzi | LOL
| NLPmind | Have you ever noticed that when you ask Canadians where they are from, they will tell you the country their family originated from. Even if the family has been in Canada for many generations. In contrast, when you ask people in the United States where they are from, they will tell you the state that they are living in. Even if they only recently emigrated.
| Jonathan | State of: Wanton Curiosity
| tranzpupy | I'm living in a state of joy.
| Dluzi | Enjoy? Or in Joy?
| tranzpupy | No, Joy is the girl my x-friend is living with.
| Jonathan | I agree with you about the contrast, Steve. Go on!
| NLPmind | At the beginning of each sales opportunity I like to take the opportunity to know a little about the prospect. And now it's time for my definition of sales: To motivate, persuade and influence someone into making a buying decision that is mutually beneficial! To do this requires three areas of knowledge. Usually these areas are drawn as the sides of a triangle. The base is your attitude, the two other sides are product knowledge and people persuasion skill, all three of these areas are dramatically affected by a knowledge of NLP.
| NLPmind | Starting with the structure of product knowledge, each product -- no matter what it is -- has features, which have advantages, which in turn are translated into benefits for your prospect. | NLP provides the tools to transmit these benefits to your prospects. When you decide to sell anything tangible or intangible begin examining these three aspects of the product. Any questions about this so far? Insider | Is the seller part of the product?
| NLPmind | Sell yourself; sell the provider of your product or service; sell your product; ask for the order.
| Insider | I agree.
| NLPmind | Continuing the discussion on product knowledge: As well as knowing the features, advantages, and benefits, you must be able to visualize your prospects actually benefiting from the purchase of your product service or idea.
| Care4 | So attitude is number 1, product knowledge is 2, and people skills is the closing?
| NLPmind | First see other people getting the feelings and they want, then see yourself getting what you want. See the benefits of what you are selling actually helping others get the feelings they want. | One of the area of knowledge about the product that is important is the history of the relationship between the product and the prospect, and between the prospect and product supplier. Going in blind is a sure way to find yourself in embarrassing situations. One-day I was asked to visit the buyer of a large lumber operation. Their mill had burned down, and they needed new hydraulic systems for the new mill. Because I was able to point out the history of excellent service, I gained the contract for the firm that employed me, to provide the specifications for all the new equipment. A week and a half later, I delivered those specifications to the buyer so that he could send them out for bids. Jonathan | Excellent :)
| NLPmind | He expected that I would have our bid with the specifications.
| Jonathan | It was also service knowledge and persuasion skills.
| NLPmind | I explained that our high level of service dictated that I bring him the bid specs as soon as they were ready, without any delay for our bid to be produced. And speaking of delay, I knew that they had schedule the start-up date sooner than they should have. | I politely explained that in order for his mill to start-up on-time, construction of the hydraulic systems would have to begin immediately, that he had not even allowed himself enough time for the bid process to take place. Based on the honesty of our past relationship and quality of service and my promise that my price would not be the lowest, but that it would be fair, he released the purchase order to supply all of the hydraulic systems to me -- before he, or I, even knew what the price was. We started construction that same afternoon. I gave him a price two weeks later. It was $92,000! JonathanA, Paolo | LOL
| NLPmind | Using rapport skills to feel your prospects position allows you to sell to the prospect the way that the prospect likes to buy. Now. There is an old saying: If your prospect has the resources you want and you can demonstrate a need, and you can justify the price, you can sell poop with purple specks.
| Jonathan | ROTFL! And by the way, that was $92,000 in Canadian Dollars, which is 150 Dog-Years to you & me!
| NLPmind | I have made this brag often over the years, and one-day I was called to task on it. I happened to make this comment while training some insurance people in Calgary; they asked me to prove it.
| Jonathan | HAHAHAHAHAHAH Oh no!
| NLPmind | So, armed with zip lock bags, we went to local cow pasture to collect some nice dry patties. The Calgary Stampede was in town, and all manner of vendors were parked outside the gates to take advantage of the crowds. | I dressed in Western gear, & adorned each bag with calligraphy penned tag. They said "Genuine Alberta Beef cow patties". At $5 each I sold 20 in 1 hour! Jonathan | I wonder how much the movie rights to this event would be worth!
| NLPmind | LOL! People were absolutely amazed that I was selling cow patties. The insurance guys stood across the road and laughed every time I made a sale! The way I sold them was to call out "Get your cow patties here, only five dollars each!" People came to see out of amazement; they exclaimed "I can't believe you're actually selling these!" I replied "neither will your friends when you tell them, so you better buy one, so you can prove it to them!" | Most of them were sold for this reason. One lady from England bought one so as to turn it into a clock! I could just see her trying to get it through customs! Jonathan | Speaking of product knowledge, I wonder what that says about the cow patties! "I know a lot of shit." "I know a lot about shit." "Man, do I know my shit!"
| tranzpupy | "I can *sell* my shit!"
| NLPmind | Sales, many times, is a numbers game (or so they say). And to a great extent, it's true! The old 80 / 20 rule: 80 percent of your business will come from 20 percent of your prospects. One reason many salespeople waste time is because they forget to remember to qualify the prospects. Asking questions is the basis of people persuasion skill. "I am looking for (want to speak to) the person who can sign my order for ____ ?" Qualifying is as simple as finding out who has the resources to buy your product service or idea.
| NLPmind | When you have a prospect that you believe is qualified, ask them if they are. If you detect any hesitation, ask them if there are others that need to be involved in the decision. Save your information about the benefits until all those required for the decision are present. What is the point of doing a fantastic presentation only to have the prospect say, "That sounds great, you should be talking to..." My point is simply. Find out who all the decision-makers are before starting.
| Jonathan | That is such an important point! Otherwise they invite you into a game of "how much can we get for free?" (re: know who the decision makers are).
| NLPmind | Yes! Many salespeople waste time selling to the wrong people. Ask 'have' questions, and 'want' questions; the difference between 'have' and 'want' questions is your opportunity. Listen; listen intently; listen and repeat back what you have heard. Relate your product service or idea only to what the other person wants to feel. The best way of doing this is through stories. A very simple way is to state a feature and the advantages it has, along with the benefits it offers to the customer. Then tell the story. Paint word pictures in their minds, causing them to hear the sounds and feelings associated with the benefit, making sure in the process to explain possible objections and the reasons those other customers bought anyway. I will give you an example of demonstrating need.
| Jonathan | Questions are a GREAT sign. Questions are usually their buying strategy in operation!
| AccessNLP | I'll share an interesting sales story! I had a guy who was trying to sell me some advertising space on a bulleting board in a fitness center.
| Jonathan | Those are good places to advertise, by the way, especially if you staple little flyers to your ad.
| AccessNLP | I already had an ad ready and printed, and when he came over to show me "what I could place on his board," it wasn't what I was interested in (wrong size). I could have given him my objection, but I decided I'd let him work for the sale. After all, "life is the metaphor!" So he became flustered, and actually told me, "I feel like I've wasted my time, because you don't seem very interested!" He walked out the door.
| Jonathan | Not what I'd call tenacious!
| AccessNLP | All he had to do was ask me what he could do so that I would buy. And I was ready to buy, all it would have taken was one client to pay for the ad! I would have told him, too!
| Jonathan | Amazing how many opportunities are lost by salespeople without increased flexibility & awareness. I'll share an interesting experience I had recently with advertising as well. Someone who DID get my sale! Ad space, again. | I advertised in a small monthly journal here about a year ago, with a bizcard sized ad. And it produced nothing! Nada! So, why advertise there again? They told me, "well, it was a small ad, why not consider a bigger ad?" As though that's good reasoning. NOT! I stayed on the phonecall, and I thought, "hm, a bigger ad MIGHT be useful but how would I know?" I told them "you'll have to provide me a big space ad for free for one month, and if it produced results, I'll keep advertising, no worries!" They said, "not for free, but we'll give you the 24-ad-run price (FAR lower) for just one month, and, we'll give you lots of free mentions in the calendar." And the sale was made. Make your sales prospects decisions EASY, and they will buy from you again & again! NLPmind | As to your example, Jonathan: I was sales manager for a company that sold storm windows. Once in the prospects home the salesperson would ask "What would your reaction be if you found out that the contractor who built your house had left out the insulation in an entire wall?" They understandably agreed that they would be upset. | Then they'd ask: "Would they leave it that way or would they do something about it?" <= Here is the COMMITMENT question! The salesperson then asks them questions about the effects such a problem would have on them. Each question designed to get a yes answer. "You would feel a cold draft biting into your muscles and bones wouldn't you?" "Would you find that uncomfortable?" Jonathan | Don't you find rhetorical questions useful? They're excellent for building YES responses, or "yes sets."
| NLPmind | The objective is to begin conditioning the customer to say yes. And we already have commitment from the customer that they would take action. For those that you notice are uncomfortable going down the "yes" road... you can ask commitment questions where "no" means "yes". "You wouldn't leave it uninsulated would you?" Justification begins to take place; proof is supplied.
| Jonathan | You wouldn't need to more easily overcome resistance from polarity responders, would you?
| NLPmind | An uninsulated wall would be cold in winter, just like the glass in your Windows. Cold means no insulation. We would then measure all windows, add up the total square footage and divide by 8. | Now the customer knew exactly how much wall the contractor left without any installation! In most homes the glass is equal to a 16 ft. long wall! Half of it is the living room windows. By explaining what the most futuristic windows would cost, the customer begins to cry inside at the size of the possible expense. The whole time we're explaining how expensive it is to produce the benefits of our product, the price to do all of the windows is written in the space that represents the living room windows alone. The customer begins to estimate in his mind what it will cost to do the whole house. When our salespeople observed that they had justified as much as they were going to be able to, the salesperson explained that this price is for the whole house. By now the customer had already justified the expense well beyond the actual price. Sign here. If I say it, you will tend to doubt. If you say it, you will tend to believe. Stop telling and start asking. Ask the right questions. note: they must know the answer. Leading people to a decision requires knowing the options, and rehearsing the questions. Not pushy, pully. Alternate advance questions have multiple choices, any of which you desire. "Do you prefer the red or the blue?" Tie down questions - questions at the end of a statement: Isn't it? Doesn't it? Wasn't it? Wouldn't you? Couldn't you? Feedback questions: take minor objections, feed them back in the form of questions. Eg: Is ___ important to you? Remember there are six motivators: money, achievement, recognition, security, acceptance, self-acceptance. The de-motivators: self-doubt, loss of security, fear failure, pain in change. These factors affect your attitude. Understanding the good feelings your prospect will get from your product, service or idea is extremely important. AccessNLP | What is your overall direction when you are selling?
| NLPmind | Pick the objectives and alternatives beforehand. Sometimes the alternative is to get referrals, or to find time when the sale can be made.
| AccessNLP | What if you do not know all the objections and alternatives before hand?
| Jonathan | Is your direction towards a long term mutually beneficial business relationship, regardless of what you actually walk out with from any given meeting?
| NLPmind | My attitude is that all I have is my reputation. I treat people with respect and understanding. I'm bold when it comes to asking for referrals; this keeps time spent prospecting to a minimum. I might as well have all those I meet contribute to my success.
| NLPmind | I let them enjoy participating in my success.
| Jonathan | AccessNLP's question is a good one about not knowing all the objections beforehand.
| NLPmind | There are always new objections. I recommend making a list and also writing out possible answers to those objections.
| AccessNLP | So then, you are always selling, so that customers have all their needs, wants, likes to be met or exceeded so that they in turn do the selling for you?
| NLPmind | When they are on side with you it goes a long way. One mistake that is common is to answer each objection when you get it. Start making the list, and ask if there are any other reasons preventing them from buying right now.
| Jonathan | The "Talking Pad."
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