When I was rebuilding my life back in 1996 I set a few sales goals.
#1 I would rank in the top 20 by the end of my first year.
#2 I would rank in the top 10 by the end of my second year.
#3 I would rank first by the end of my third year.
Setting lofty goals is the part us sales folk are good at but;
Putting together the action plan (and sticking to it) can be challenging.
So I decided to model a rep who was holding strong at #2 and the best part was that he worked out of our office in Long Island, NY.
He was very gracious and wanted to give back so he invited me along to “shadow” him.
On our way into our first appointment, I noticed he was wheeling a small piece of luggage. I asked him what it was for and he said “You don’t use ‘props’ during your presentation Castain?”. I had no idea what he was talking about and tried to get in closer to determine if he’d been drinking.
Once the meeting started (and the needs analysis had concluded) Tom opened the magic carry on bag and went to work.
In that bag were samples that he used to make the intangible things we offered;
Become more tangible.
For example:
He would say something like “You mentioned how tiresome it is for you to have to babysit your cleaning company. Here’s what we have in place to take you out of the cleaning business”.
Then he would start with how well our teams were trained and show samples of the training manuals, DVDs, a flowchart illustrating the training process etc.
He would show samples of the checklists our cleaning teams used to check their work, the inspection forms the supervisor had to complete, the surprise inspection forms our operations team utilized, etc.
But he didn’t stop there.
He married the sample with a story.
When he spoke of the training our teams went through, he shared a story of how he went through the same training so he could understand how thorough it was. He used our bathroom cleaning schedule as an example and told a story about how he flunked the first night of bathroom cleaning because he didn’t follow our 12 point system for cleaning bathrooms.
He did this with almost every sample he showed.
By the end of the meeting, the prospect had a firm grasp on all the intangible things we brought to the party and;
A head full of stories that helped to create an emotional bond.
None, and I me NONE of our competitors were doing this!
And that’s how Tom ranked #2 and part of how I ranked 12th during my first year.
I never made the top 10 and before you shed a tear for me (or break my balls for missing the mark);
I never ranked higher than 12th because I was promoted to Director but;
I taught my sales team to use samples and stories and wound up having 2 sales reps in the top 10 who;
Never let me forget that while I was 12th;
They made the top 10 🙂
Are you using stories?
Are you using samples to make your intangibles tangible?
Are you marrying the two together?
On Thursday, October 11th, at 11:30 am EST, I’m going to share 7 very specific types of stories YOU need to have in your sales arsenal.
These 7 stories are designed to help you gently guide your prospect by the hand to a magical place called “a decision”.
Here’s what you’ll gain by joining us;
- The 7 Frameworks For Compelling Stories.
- The 7 Sales Stories.
- The 5 Things That Add Credibility To Your Stories.
- The Technique I Use To Remember EVERY Story In My Arsenal.
- How To Use Stories When You Prospect.
- How To Take A Complex Selling Point And Use A Story To Make It Easier To Comprehend
- How To Use Stories To Sell Change In An Organization
- How To Captivate Your Prospect With Your Delivery.
- How To Leverage The “Theme and Variation” Tactic.
When?
Thursday, October 11th, at 11:30 am EST.
Can’t Make It Then?
Sign up anyway and I’ll send you the webinar replay. View it whenever you’d like!
What Do You Get?
(1) 90 Minute Webinar
Worksheets
How Much?
$99
Click HERE to join us!
