Archive for May, 2009
There’s not a lot known about Socrates, (469 BC to 399 BC), but it’s fairly certain he didn’t provide sales training for presentations.
However, he did provide a legacy of questioning used to solve a problem and produce an answer, which became known as the Socratic Method.
This method is now a commonly used teaching technique in law schools. Professors ask students a series of questions, eventually leading students to question their assumptions and beliefs upon which their original answers were based.
The Socratic Method teaches critical thinking rather than memorizing tons of data.
And the real Socratic power is that the student comes to their own understanding. They’re not told “this is the answer”.
By thinking through the questions the final answer is very much their own – expressed in their words, their thoughts and their feelings.
That level of ownership makes the answer a very powerful, memorable and important one.
And it’s these two points (asking-not telling, and self-ownership of the answer) that are fundamental to successful selling, and presentations in particular.
Socratic Sales Training
If Socrates was a sales trainer and sold a sales philosophy, I’d bet it sound something like this:
(or in English…)
In the discovery phase of a selling situation, the salesperson asks the customer a series of questions to define the customer’s pain points and desired benefits.
The salesperson would then go away and create their customized solution that rids the customer of their pain and delivers their benefits.
In the presentation phase of this selling situation, the salesperson questions the customer again.
This time to reconfirm their understanding of customer pain and desired benefits.
Only then does the salesperson present the features of their customized solution. Referencing each feature back to a customer pain and showing how it delivers a desired benefit.
2 Types of Questions
Socrates was a smart guy, the Oracle told him so. And being a smart sales trainer, he would lead salespeople to see there are two types of questions. Each used at different times for different reasons.
#1 Discovery Questions
These questions are used in the discovery phase to uncover the customer’s pain points and desired benefits. At this time the salesperson doesn’t know, and the customer kind of knows, but nothing’s really explicit. That’s a lot of discovery that needs to take place. But that’s what you expect.
2) Socratic Questions
Socratic Questions are used in the presentation phase, after the customized solution has been prepared based on the answers to the discovery questions.
First, the salesperson sets the stage, such as “this is what we understand about your situation”.
Then the salesperson gently, gently questions the customer again about specific pain points and desired benefits. Hopefully touching on the vital few only, and not all of them.
Socratic Questions are used by the salesperson to reconfirm their understanding of the customer’s pain.
But more importantly, they’re asked so the customer (through their answers) will reclaim ownership of their pain and desired benefits.
Through Socratic Questions customers recognize this is their situation, and not the salesperson making it up to sell them.
The Power of Socratic Sales Presentations
When salespeople lead customers through their own (customers’) thinking using Socratic questioning, customers own the answer to their problem.
And if the salesperson did their homework (discovery questions and customized solution), customers’ answers are right in front of them to buy.
Selling is Not Telling
As you can guess, Socrates was the first sales trainer to come up with that quote.
A great resource for sales questions is SPIN Selling, if you haven’t read it you should.
What are you questioning?
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
May 20th, 2009
The following story is true.
A security guard firm was bidding on a large, $1 million contract. The firm had successfully completed the customer’s RFP process, making the short list from 15 bidders down to 4 finalists.
The customer gave each bidder 10 minutes for a presentation. A questionable and mysterious length of time for a large bid.
As strange, and unlikely, as the 10-minute presentation may sound to bidders, it probably doesn’t to many customers.
In this true story that strict 10-minute clock started when a bidder arrived in the lobby. One bidder was down to 6-1/2 minutes by the time they reached the conference room from the lobby.
Although you may not come across many 10-minute drills, things happen and presentation times are cut short. Your scheduled hour can shrink to half that time, or less.
Sales teams would do well to learn from this story.
What to Do when a 10-Minute Scenario is Dropped on You
Here are things that will help you do more than just avoid embarrassment.
Heads up: The points presented below are in reverse order. We’re starting at the end of the presentation and working towards the beginning. This is because we’re placing the part you don’t want to do-but have to (preparation) at the end!
#5 Stop Short & Ask for Questions
Stop about 5 minutes before the end of your presentation.
Put customers on the spot. Ask them for their questions.
If they have them, congratulations. They were listening. Answer them and you’re done for the day.
If they have none, ask them if their #1 challenge is important to solve (it will be important if you’ve done your homework). Then ask if their #1 goal will result from solving that challenge (it will). Now you connect the dots describing your solution in one sentence that solves the challenge and delivers the goal.
Only do this for the #1. You’re wrapping up the presentation here. This will be the last thing you say (other than Thank You) and you want to leave on a compelling note.
So leave.
#4 Only the Absolutely Critical Takeaways
This is your presentation.
With limited time you can only talk about important stuff. And not everything in your proposal.
What do you talk about?
There are 1 or 2 unique aspects of your proposed solution that will have the greatest impact.
Impact on what? On solving the customer’s problems and helping them achieve their goals relating to the contract service.
Unique to what? These are your differentiators, the aspects where you’re better than your competitors. No point in discussing something you’re only as good as another bidder.
Don’t start with your solution. Set the stage first. Start by briefly (1-2 short sentences if you’re writing this out beforehand) describing the most critical challenges facing the customer’s business. If you’ve done your homework you’ll get their attention.
Now, present only the top few points of your solution. You don’t have time for the full proposal story. Exercise restraint here or you’ll burn up time and blow the good will you’d already gained.
Finish up by briefly listing the goals your customer will achieve by implementing your solution. This is the feel good stuff. Make sure they hear this immediately after your solution. You want customers to realize if they choose you, these good things will happen.
If you’re using a slideshow, follow these 10 Tips for Great Presentations. They’ll enable you to more flexibly say what you need to say in the time you have.
#3 Create a Powerful Opening
I usually throw something at the primary decision maker to start off a presentation (No, that’s a joke).
But ask a challenging question right at the start and wait for them to answer. That’ll get their attention.
Often there is silence while they’re waiting for you to answer your own question.
Don’t give in. Use that uncomfortable silence to leverage an answer from one of the customers. Now they’re listening.
What question to ask? You’ll select that question from the #1 absolute takeaways.
#2 Limit Who Speaks on Your Side
With very little time, too many speakers are distracting and increase the stepping-on-toes factor.
There are no hard and fast rules for the number of speakers on your side. It will depend on the time you have to present, and how well rehearsed your team is.
If you have a short time and little team rehearsal, limit the speaking to only one of your members.
A well rehearsed team may have 2 or more members speak in as little as 15 minutes. This team will know how long 2-3 minutes is when speaking, get to the point, and hand-off gracefully.
#1 Recognize Context when Preparing
Customers that spring 10-minute presentations on bidders have either:
- Already made up their minds and are just going through the motions, or are
- Having to deal with something unexpected; fire alarm, illness, or a thoughtless bidder abusing their allotted time, or are
- Really ignorant and/or inexperienced
That means customers may be distracted, tired, bored, or all three.
Plan accordingly.
#0 Prepare & Rehearse Before it Happens
Now that you know 10-minute scenarios happen, prepare for them.
This preparation makes your normal presentations better anyway, so make it part of every preparation.
And if it’s worth presenting, it’s worth rehearsing.
Conclusion –> Why the 10-Minute Scenario is Good to Prepare For
#1 It’ll force you to define your presentation into short but sweet specifics
#2 You’ll have practiced getting to the point
#3 When the 10-minute scenario does occur you won’t flop around on deck like a tuna that’s just been landed
Good luck. Go forth and wow ‘em
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: sales presentations, slideshows, sales proposals
May 12th, 2009
Mea culpa.
After writing Process at the Expense of Purpose I realized I was guilty of working a process without defining it’s purpose.
My error was not defining the purpose of this weekly blog, as compared to the monthly articles I publish.
As a result, confusion may have touched some readers, such as:
- Is the weekly blog for facility managers? Procurement? Business unit managers? Or service contractors?
- Are the topics in the monthly articles different than the weekly blog? Why?
Taking my own advice, here are two statements to clarify purpose.
WEEKLY BLOG
Name: Revenue-IQ
Frequency: …well, weekly
Primary Audience: Service contractors (any outsourced service providers).
However, facility and property managers, Procurement, and business unit managers will gain a greater understanding of their supply chain by reading it.You may even pick up some inside secrets in the process.
Focus: Attracting prospects, winning contracts, and retaining customers (aka marketing, selling & business planning).
MONTHLY ARTICLES
Name: Service Performance Articles
Frequency: …you guessed it, monthly.
Primary Audience: Facility and property managers, security directors, Procurement, and business unit managers – any manager of an in-house or outsourced service.
Also, outsourced service contractors will gain a better appreciation of their customers’ environment by reading it too.
Focus: Improving service performance, quality, measurement, reporting and communication (aka optimizing the value received from services).
WHAT’S ALL THIS MEAN?
By keeping to these swim lanes, you’ll know what to expect when reading our blog and articles.
If you’d like to adjust your blog subscription, there’s a link on the bottom of the delivery email .
Or, if you’d like to get our monthly articles by email, visit our subscribe page.
Thanks for reading
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: blogs, Revenue-IQ, Service Performance, free articles
May 7th, 2009
The multitude of social media is overwhelming. And trying to find their use in business to business (B2B) is even more confusing.
For example, what’s all the hoopla about Twitter? (14 million unique visitors in March ‘09, up 1,202% over last year)
What happened to MySpace? (55 million unique visitors in March ‘09, down 11% from a year ago)
Why is Facebook everywhere now? (91 million unique visitors in March ‘09, up 195% over last year )
New social media come and go, rise and fall in popularity, sometimes even before you’ve figured out if they’re worth learning.
This post is my attempt to understand the purpose of social media for business. And like the ever expanding universe, the web is evolving and so my perspective is a snapshot of the present, to eventually be eclipsed by the future.
If you want to learn “how to” use individual social media I’d recommend HOW TO 2008: How To Do Almost Anything With Social Media.
The Best Communication Tool Ever
Before getting to the point, here’s a personal, historical perspective to help frame things. In 1999 I was leading a startup of a web-based facility service. It gave me insight into the craziness that existed then.
At that time every business had to have not only a web site, but an Internet strategy. A strategy that would revolutionize the way humans lived and worked.
Remember Venture Capitalists throwing millions at programmers for anything Internet, without business plans, without any proven basis in reality?
Remember serious discussions about whether supermarkets, bookstores, and all retail stores would disappear, to be replaced by online shopping?
It was the biggest green-field, blue-sky day dreaming that’s occurred in the last 100 years. Anything and everything was possible if it involved the Internet.
In 2009, now that some of the glare and glamor has come off the Internet, it can be seen for what it truly is, and has been from the start: a communication tool. The greatest mankind has developed, so far.
And this tool, like all tools, is at the service of human needs. So what are the human needs this Internet communication tool serves?
Seekers by Nature
Despite all the changes the Internet has brought about, we’re still human by nature. And part of that nature is to seek (food, water, friendship, love, achievement, self-realization).
The Internet helps us seek. Whether we’re looking for information or relationships the Internet makes us better seekers.
The Next Big Thing for Seekers
The proliferation of social media is just another evolution of the Internet as a tool for seekers.
By looking at the Internet as a tool for seekers, it becomes much easier to understand where the plethora of social media fits with your work and business.
Social media as Critic
Some social media enable seeking the info first, and then using relationships from the media’s users to let you know if its valuable. Here social media acts like an enormous pool of critics.
This is seen in ratings, rankings and authority (number of links pointing to it) used by social media.
Social media as Guide
Other social media have you use relationships to guide you towards the info you’re after. This works only if the relationships are reciprocal – the back scratching thing. And it means that you have to develop relationships first before they’re willing to help you get what you want.
This is seen in the number of followers, friends or contacts in these social media. It also suggest that the more popular you are, the more others will help you get what you’re seeking.
With all that preamble, here’s my take on connecting web dots, understanding the purpose and therefore eventual usage and strategies for the myriad of social media out there.
Social Bookmarking
This is social media as critic.
Examples:
We use these social media to seek information that’s been noted by others. Those others can be people we know or anonymous users of that media.
We’re using others’ opinions (as rankings, ratings, or authority) to help us:
- Find information based on what others are looking at (the popular stuff)
-and/or-
- Determine if the information found is credible or valuable (if so many others say its good, it must be, right?)
In both cases we’re seeking information and using others to help us find it and/or evaluate it.
Digital Networking
This is social media as guide.
Examples:
These digital versions of old fashioned networking are used for seeking relationships (creating new ones or keeping connected). It’s from these relationships that seekers hope to get what they want, eventually.
In a B2B setting, it’s who you know and are known by.
Whether you’re a follower, friend, or contact, digital networking extends your reach beyond your geographical and time constraints.
In digital networking we’re seeking the relationship first, then seeking how to make that relationship beneficial for both sides.
For example, if we’re seeking new business, digital networking can be used to find someone who can help us with an introduction to a prospect. We’re working from people we know to get to people we don’t know, but want to.
A little about Twitter
Twitter is the hot social media of the moment. It’s based on a 140 character answer to the question “what are you doing”?
These tweets (read by followers) are a call for relationship. A tweet requires followers to ask themselves “why do I care what this person is doing”?
The answer to that question defines the relationship with the person posting the tweet. Followers are seeking information, entertainment and/or relationship with others. In a B2B setting, Twitter enables that on an almost continuous basis.
Search
Though search isn’t really a form of social media, it’s worth including here as it is seeking in its truest form.
Examples:
Search is the most direct seeking. We kind of know what we’re looking for, we type it in a search box, hit enter, and are sent towards a number of possibilities of what we were seeking.
Now, if we’re not seeking, but want to be found this way that’s another story, which is best achieved through a content rich web site/blog, that follows.
Content Rich Web Site/Blog/Squidoo
Although a content rich web site, blog, or Squidoo lens is a destination, it’s used in seeking too.
Content rich means there’s a lot of relevant content available on the site. And if that content is in a searchable format, seekers will find it via search and social media.
Seekers can be directed online through traditional marketing outreach, such as:
- Direct mail programs
- Printed brochures, business cards, fliers, etc.
- Email blasts
- Links in email signatures
These communications tell the seeker what they’re looking for is online, then point them there with either a digital link or printed URL.
All of these methods work only if they’re permission based. Meaning the seeker has given the marketer permission to send information.
Also, I’ve included Squidoo here, it’s a community website for users to create pages (lens) for subjects of interest.
How are you seeking? How are you being found?
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: new social media, twitter, content rich web sites
May 3rd, 2009
