Nancy Bleeke - Conversations That Sell: Collaborate with Buyers and Make Every Conversation Count

CONVERSATIONS THAT SELL

Collaborate with Buyers and Make Every Conversation Count

NANCY BLEEKE

American Management Association

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bleeke, Nancy.

Conversations that sell : collaborate with buyers and make every conversation count / Nancy Bleeke.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8144-3180-1

1. Selling. 2. Customer relations. 3. Sales management. I. Title.

HF5438.25.B5653 2013

2013 Nancy Bleeke.

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Printed in the United States of America.

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Todays buyers have changed, fundamentally and forever. They spend countless hours online researching their issues and challenges. Theyre highly knowledgeable about the numerous options available and see minimal difference between them.

Sound familiar? Its because were all doing it these days. We bounce from website to website, learning as much as we can about the problems were facing. We search for how others are solving them and what resources are available. We find out what others think of the various products, services, and companies were considering.

Then were finally ready to talk to a salesperson. But our guard is up. We dont want to be sold.

Neither do our customers. They detest product-pushing peddlers. When listening to our messages or reading our emails, they take great pleasure in deleting us as fast as they can. When we meet with them theyre in self-protection mode, waiting for our inevitable pitch and pressure to take action.

This scenario is a recipe for disaster. Were trying hard to sell. Were asking about their budgets and decision-making process. Were touting our features and capabilities. And were going nowhere fast.

Heres the deal. To be successful in sales, you need to get in much earliereven before your prospects are considering making a change. You also need fresh sales strategies that actually work in this volatile business environment. Todays crazy-busy prospects expect so much more from you. They want you to be both a valuable resource and to collaborate with them to help them achieve their objectives.

This isnt about selling. No one wants to be sold anymore. Its about leveraging your offering, the research youve done, your previous experience, and your customers knowledge to help them get where they want to go. When you do that, they want to work with youand will even pay more for the opportunity.

And thats exactly why this book is so darn important. When I first met Nancy Bleeke, we talked about her Genuine Sales training course. Of course, the title itself stood out in stark contrast to the manipulative sales techniques taught by the old-school gurus.

When I asked her about it, she said, Its about being real with your customers. So many salespeople hide behind their products and services. They think thats what matters. But its not. People want to work with you because of what you bring to the relationship.

Bingo! She hit the truth head on. Thats all todays prospects want. To back that up, check out the results of a recent survey by the Corporate Executive Board (CEB) of 6000+ corporate decision makers regarding what they valued most in their sales reps. The single greatest contributor (53 percent) to customer loyalty was sales experience. This led to their reps being able to offer them unique perspectives, educate them, and help them to reduce risk and make tough choices. Notice that its nothing about the product, service, or price.

Further CEB studies showed that reps who exhibited these same qualities in conversations with new prospects were significantly more successful than those who didnt. Notice again that its all about you, your knowledge, and how you leverage it.

Thats the good news too. While you cant do much to influence your companys offering, market position, or pricing, you have 100 percent control over you. Every bit of time and effort you invest in yourself has a lifelong impact. Its something you can take with you, no matter what direction your career goes.

So lets get serious about what really counts. It all comes down to the conversations that you have with your prospects. Will they capture their attention and pique their curiosity? Or will they be mundane and forgettable? Will they showcase you as a person who could bring value? Or will you sound like every other self-serving salesperson?

In this book, Nancy Bleeke does an excellent job of showing you what it takes to have those collaborative, engaging conversationswhether the conversation is an initial meeting with new prospects to sell them on your value or a meeting with existing customers to uncover new ways to help them.

As for getting by on your natural charm, thats simply not enough today. Instead, youll learn how to augment it with a planning process that leverages your pre-call research and your personal expertise.

Yes, youll be investing more time upfront getting ready, but it will be well worth it. Your meetings will go so much better because youve changed your focus. Youll need fewer prospects to meet your quota. And your sales cycles will be much fasterall because right-sizing your efforts and conversations for each prospect allows you to be smarter with your time and energy.