Bob Urichuck's Blog

Someone I was coaching recently asked me: Is asking for help a sign of strength or weakness? I didn’t give them the answer. If I had, who would have owned and been committed to the answer? And how does that relate to life and business?

It‘s a simple but important factor in human communications—the person who answers the question owns and becomes committed to the answer.

As a leader, business owner, sales professional and coach it is a skill that you must master— to never answer a question, but to engage the other person into self-discovery so that they themselves come up with the answer. This way they learn, own and become committed to the answer.

Apply the 3 R’s

Get in the habit of using the 3 R’s: Respect, Repeat, Reverse .

Show Respect when a question is asked of you i.e. “That is a great question.”
Repeat the question.
Reverse the question back to the other person.

What you will find is one of two things – they will ask another question either clarifying what they really want to know or answering their own question.

When you get an answer and then question their answer, you are digging deeper. We call this the rule of 3+. Never accept someone’s first answer—although it may seem to be the truth it never is. You will also be helping them to discover their true needs and you to determine if and how you can meet them.

An example of the rule of 3+ in action:

Why do you go to work?
To make money
Make money to do what?
To live life
What kind of life do you want to live?
Lifestyle answers that will be different every time.

Yet work is nothing but a stepping stone to helping you get where you want to go. The problem today is most people are so busy in the outside world that they have no time for the inside world to discover where they want to go. There is a big difference from living your life from the outside-in and from the inside-out.

More questions

Let’s continue with the questions:

Is success internal or external?

Is permanent motivation internal or external?

When you ask yourself a question, is it coming from the inside or outside?

When you ask for help, is it motivated externally or internally?

Does asking require courage?

Is having courage a strength?

Is the simple act of asking a strength or a weakness?

Want to learn more ways to improve your effectiveness? Sign up for a free 7-day trial offer of our online sales training at velocityselling.com.

The post Is Asking for Help a Sign of Strength or Weakness? appeared first on Bob Urichuck.

Have you seen the Discover card TV spot “We Treat You Like You’d Treat You” that shows the caller talking with a mirror version of themselves on the other end of the line. That “awesome sauce” is hard to forget!

Or how about the one in the car showroom where the salesperson morphs to match the way the customer talks and dresses?

Both are clever takes on matching and mirroring, a sales technique to establish rapport. Building rapport is an ongoing process that is only beginning early in the sales effort to:

Make the buyer comfortable
Begin to find out why the buyer is there—gain a sense of the buyer’s need and how you can learn more about that
Ensure that you will be able to continue the sales effort beyond its opening moments.

Many salespeople do this naturally and don’t even know they are doing it.

Physiology is the biggest contributor to building rapport—there are many ways to match and mirror…
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Pressing hands

When you first meet someone, what is the first thing that you do with them, physically? You usually walk up to them and shake their hand. When we shake hands with someone, we have always been told to have a firm grip. Now pretend for a moment that the person you are meeting has a very soft handshake and you give them a firm grip. Do you think you make them feel comfortable and important or overpowered and intimidated? The answer: the latter. What is important in this first step is to let them squeeze your hand first and within a second, match that same squeeze back.

I use this technique all the time, especially when I speak before large audiences. I will greet people at the door as they come in. They don’t even know who I am most of the time and I am just standing there greeting them and shaking their hands. The funny thing is I am matching all of their handshakes and starting to build rapport with them. When I get introduced and appear on stage, they are saying to themselves, “Hey, I know him, he was the guy at the door; he is just like me.” Why? Because I made them feel comfortable with me by matching their handshake.

There are many other physical acts that can be mirrored and matched. You can walk at the same pace as the other person, stand like they do, sit, lean, point or match their hand and facial gestures. The most important part is that they see themselves in you, without you mimicking them. So be aware of the other person’s physiology, and over time, mirror and match.

Matching tone and pace

Tonality can be matched by speaking at the same rate and the same pitch. This technique is similar to the handshake. How do you think a soft slow-speaking person will feel with someone who is a loud fast talker? Do you think the buyer is feeling comfortable?

When doing telephone work, tonality is your greatest asset because it is the person at the other end that answers the phone and speaks first. You have to clue in and match their tone and pace. Mind you, although they can’t see your physiology, you should still be standing tall and speaking up. Too many salespeople lean on their arm on the desk, holding the phone and speaking down. They sound depressed. Try standing up and looking at yourself in a mirror on the ceiling and you will notice how much better your voice sounds. You will find that it is clearer, more confident and enthusiastic.

Choosing the right words

Although words play a small part in building rapport, they are still important to match and mirror. All you have to do is listen to the words the buyer is using and use them yourself. Listen for and use their buzz words and their terminology. For example, if they refer to a hotel as a resort, use the word resort. If they say “correct” or “right” a lot, use the word “correct” or “right” with them when you are speaking.

Get the buyer talking about themselves and keep them talking, while you mirror and match their physiology, tonality and words. Listen to them, question their answers, show interest and concern and keep them talking. The more they talk, the more you listen, the more you learn, the more they will like you, trust you and buy from you.

Bob Urichuck is an internationally sought after speaker, trainer—founder of the “Buyer Focused” Velocity Selling System—and best-selling author in six languages. His latest books, Velocity Selling: How to Attract, Engage and Empower Buyers to Buy, and Motivate Your Team in 30 Days are new in 2014.

Sales Velocity.  Your Bottom Line.  Our Passion

 

The post Match and Mirror—Someone Just Like Me! appeared first on Bob Urichuck.

What are the three most important things that you want from your job? If you don’t know or if you can’t answer this question, you are not taking control of your life or your future and you are leaving life to chance and circumstance.

Your job or business has expectations of you. You should have expectations of your job or business in return. Make sure you know what these expectations are, and make sure the people you report to know them as well, and are in agreement. Then, together, everyone can win.

Reviews of these expectations may follow a pre-determined quarterly or annual schedule. But you need to be monitoring and measuring your progress regularly to make sure you are on track, even if the people you report to don’t.

Ben Stein said, “Nothing happens by itself… it all will come your way, once you understand that you have to make it come your way, by your own exertions.”

Map organizational targets

In most organizations the expectations of management for salespeople is revenue- or volume-based, while salespeople’s expectations are to have the freedom and support to do their job, and to be well rewarded or recognized for doing it.

Let’s take a look at the organizational goals that you are expected to meet or surpass.

Let’s pretend your goal or target is to sell and deliver $1 million of new revenue within the fiscal year for your organization. How do you intend to meet it?

In detailing your action plan, you have to take history into consideration. What can the past tell you about seasonality trends, favorable market conditions, competitive activities, your call-to-close ratios, etc.? Knowing these and other sorts of information can benefit you considerably.

You should first review the past, as it is likely to repeat itself. Then map out your target as finely as you can by periods—quarters, months, weeks, days.

Each of these periods becomes a sub-target or sub-goal and should be monitored and measured accordingly.

But in order for you to meet these sub-goals, you have to do something. That something is your behaviour.

As a salesperson you have to demonstrate appropriate behaviour. You have to be constantly filling the funnel with suspects (potential buyers), qualifying them to become prospects, making presentations, acquiring new business to become buyers, and following up.

You also have to maintain and develop more business from existing buyers, handle requests, go to meetings, complete all kinds of reports and maintain a positive and enthusiastic attitude, no matter what.

Keep your GPS set towards your organizational goals and assess your progress at each stage. You may have access to custom reporting via a CRM or other sales system. One way or the other, you need reliable metrics to track your progress to a timetable. Can you be sure of your conversion ratio or the best method you reach your customers?

Adjust your behaviours to achieve greater results

If you don’t have a CRM and don’t know your ratios, you will first need to track your daily behaviours, which is not all that difficult and worth the effort in the long run. Create your own daily behaviour tracking worksheet. Summarize the numbers monthly to determine the time spent and your averages, or ratios. This in turn will help you in determining the selling habits that will make you more productive and more successful.   See an example of how I applied this in Good Selling Habits.

Back to the organizational goals that you are expected to meet or surpass. Each should be smart, measurable, attainable, relevant and trackable to a timetable.

If you don’t have an online system to help you track these goals, a self-made goal log with short-, medium- and long-range goals can help. You’re welcome to use/modify my goal log form for this purpose. Complete one for each of your organizational goals for the fiscal year.

You can also download a Goal Chart and Monthly Monitor Chart on my Free Resources page. Just scroll down to the Documents section.

 

Bob Urichuck is an internationally sought after speaker, trainer—founder of the “Buyer Focused” Velocity Selling System—and best-selling author in six languages. His latest books, Velocity Selling: How to Attract, Engage and Empower Buyers to Buy, and Motivate Your Team in 30 Days are new in 2014.

Sales Velocity.  Your Bottom Line.  Our Passion

The post Own Your Sales Targets—Assess Your Progress at Each Stage appeared first on Bob Urichuck.

To be successful in sales you need to communicate effectively on the telephone.

Salespeople know that:

You build relationships and make more sales when you pick up that phone more often.
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As Matt Heinz recently reported:

93% of converted leads are contacted by the 6th call attempt (Velocify) Tweet this
78% of decision makers polled have taken an appointment or attended an event that came from an email or cold call (DiscoverOrg) Tweet this

But what happens when call reluctance strikes?

That’s the question multi-award winning sales and telesales trainer Jenny Cartwright answers in What to Do When Sales Reluctance Strikes. She notes:

If you are someone who procrastinates about making calls, it could be that you fear rejection, have no goals or too little knowledge about your product or service to sound confident. One of the most important things to be sure of is that you never allow negative thoughts of failure to even enter your head.

Whenever you get a negative thought about calling someone, quickly write it down and change it to a more positive thought.

For example if you think ‘I can’t call them again, they have said ‘no’ twice now’. You change to think positively. ‘I must call them again to give them a chance to buy. They will know I really care that they don’t miss this great opportunity.’

Always expect a ‘yes’ because if you expect a ‘no’ you will certainly get one, Jenny writes.

She concludes that

…one hour of procrastination per day equals 225 ‘selling’ hours wasted a year (based on working 45 weeks a year). You can simply choose to change your behaviour to make more telephone calls and more sales in 2015.

Read all 10 tips in What to Do When Sales Reluctance Strikes, one of the articles in Motivating Your Mind-Inspiring Your Spirit 2015, a 115-page e-book with stories, tips, insights and case studies from 95 industry experts, CE0s, CFOs, company directors and business owners, including me and my son David. Download your complimentary copy here.

Find all 15 inside sales statistics from an AA-ISP Front Lines Conference here.

 

Bob Urichuck is an internationally sought after speaker, trainer—founder of the “Buyer Focused” Velocity Selling System—and best-selling author in six languages. His latest books, Velocity Selling: How to Attract, Engage and Empower Buyers to Buy, and Motivate Your Team in 30 Days are new in 2014.

Sales Velocity.  Your Bottom Line.  Our Passion

 

 

 

The post What to Do When Call Reluctance Strikes appeared first on Bob Urichuck.

For some organizations, employees are now finding out what “bonus” or “incentive” payment they will receive based on 2014 financials. Figuring in the results are performance reviews dreaded by employees and their managers alike, no matter what level of the organization each is at.

For most, personal and corporate goals have little in common. And so the quarterly or annual reviews are a largely unwelcome exercise that happens according to schedule to meet the rules.

But what if these mandated meetings began with meaningful discussions around the employee’s own dreams and desires?

Let’s back up a bit.

I would like to see more organizations helping individuals meet personal objectives, not just corporate objectives.

The pairing benefits both:

If you take care of your people, your people will take care of your bottom line.
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The bottom line is a result of their ongoing behaviours. However, an employee will not demonstrate the appropriate behaviors if they are not motivated to do so, and the best way to get those behaviours demonstrated is to make the performance review more personal in relationship to their dreams, not your corporate dreams.

Make the discussion about them

Therefore, when you meet with each individual team member, lead the discussion to be about them and what they want out of life. Do not discuss corporate goals or performance at this time. From that discussion, ask them how they plan to realize their dreams, beyond career desires, and how you can be of assistance to them. Recognize their values and strengths at this point and if anything, build their self-esteem and encourage them to make their dreams a reality.

Now that you know where they want to go, how they are going to do it, and how you can be of help, do you think they will now be more motivated to assist you in reaching your corporate goals? I think so.

Next, you can introduce the corporate objectives and ask how they can contribute towards the accomplishment of them. Once again, recognize their values and strengths and align the objectives in that direction.

Get to know them better. Check in often. There should be no surprises when the mandated reviews come around.

Keep in mind that people go to work to make money. However, it is not truly money that motivates them, it is the lifestyle dream that they have deep down inside.

Work is nothing but a stepping stone to help them get where they want to go. When they know where they want to go, they become more motivated to go to work.

Your job is to help your team members realize that each day of work brings them closer to the realization of one of their internal and personal dreams. That is the foundation to permanent self-motivation.

Self-motivation drives commitment. And commitment fuels engagement and results—a win-win for both the individual and the organization.

Want to learn more about self-motivation and team motivation and boost morale, productivity, and effectiveness in your team in just 30 days, or less?
Read Motivate Your Team in 30 Days .

 

Bob Urichuck is an internationally sought after speaker, trainer—founder of the “Buyer Focused” Velocity Selling System—and best-selling author in six languages. His latest books, Velocity Selling: How to Attract, Engage and Empower Buyers to Buy, and Motivate Your Team in 30 Days are new in 2014.

Sales Velocity.  Your Bottom Line.  Our Passion

 

 

 

The post Create Inspiration Not Perspiration with Your Performance Reviews appeared first on Bob Urichuck.

The nominations for the 2015 Small Business Book Awards are in and voting is now underway! Which will you vote for?

Now in their 7th year, the Awards celebrate the best business books that entrepreneurs, small business owners, CEOs, managers, and their staffs should read.

Two of my books are in the running:

Velocity Selling: How to Attract, Engage & Empower Buyers to Buy
in Economics, on the following page:
http://bookawards.smallbiztrends.com/economics-2015/

 

 

 

REVIEW of Velocity Selling: Chris Atack, manager, Sales, Ottawa Senators Hockey Club: Velocity Selling provides you with a simple step-by-step process that is the opposite to telling and selling (asking and buying). Not at all salesee! Perfect for all selling and non-selling professionals when you want to engage buyers to buy from you online, offline, over the telephone or face-to-face.”

 AND

Motivate Your Team in 30 Days
in Motivation, on the following page:
http://bookawards.smallbiztrends.com/Motivation-2015/page/2/

 

 

 

REVIEW of Motivate Your Team in 30 Days:
Martin C. Zwilling, business executive, entrepreneur and author: I recommend the book to every first time manager and entrepreneur with a new team of people working for them. The authors are clearly experts in this area, based on numerous talks and sessions they have hosted with business leaders around the world.

VOTING: Community Voting for 2015 Small Business Book Awards takes place from March 11, 2015 through April 2, 2015 at 11:59 a.m. Los Angeles time.  Anyone can vote, one vote per book.

ABOUT THE AWARDS:

The 2015 Small Business Book Awards, now in their 7th year, celebrate the best business books that entrepreneurs, small business owners, CEOs, managers, and their staffs should read. They also recognize important resources supporting authors and the publishing industry. The small business community plays a key role by nominating, showing their support for, and voting on their favorites.

A Judging Panel will also judge the nominees, separate and apart from the Community Voting. The Judging Panel will determine the top Overall and Category Winners.

 

Bob Urichuck is an internationally sought after speaker, trainer—founder of the “Buyer Focused” Velocity Selling System—and best-selling author in six languages. His latest books, Velocity Selling: How to Attract, Engage and Empower Buyers to Buy, and Motivate Your Team in 30 Days are new in 2014.

Sales Velocity.  Your Bottom Line.  Our Passion

 

The post Voting for 2015 Small Business Book Awards Underway appeared first on Bob Urichuck.

One of the Motivating Your Mind contributors, Australian real estate director Frank Mazer, writes about the importance of taking time with family and friends to create memories that will last a lifetime.

I treasure the wonderful memories I have of times with my wife, Joan, and my sons, Michael and David as they grew up. They learned to live without me far too many days, evenings and weekends while I was travelling and speaking. In the last decade, though, David— also a motivational leader and international speaker—has joined me travelling and speaking in 10 countries.

This past weekend, Joan and I were proud to celebrate David’s wedding to Julie Nielson. As I toasted the couple, I recalled some special moments that spoke to David’s character. David is an avid skier and loves winter, including winter camping.  He would visit us and then hike up the mountain and camp overnight in the middle of winter, every winter.  One winter he took our dog, Seamus, a golden retriever, with him.   Before long the dog was crying and cold.  Dave got him into his sleeping bag and warmed him up.

Two years later David went winter camping again, but this time it was his first date with Julie. Julie had never camped in the winter or done any winter sports. Did David qualify his buyer, or what?

Julie has since become an avid skier as well, so a winter wedding suited them both.

Welcome to our family, Julie!

The post Celebrating a Winter Wedding appeared first on Bob Urichuck.

One of the Motivating Your Mind contributors, Australian real estate director Frank Mazer, writes about the importance of taking time with family and friends to create memories that will last a lifetime.

I treasure the wonderful memories I have of times with my wife, Joan, and my sons, Michael and David as they grew up. They learned to live without me far too many days, evenings and weekends while I was travelling and speaking. In the last decade, though, David— also a motivational leader and international speaker—has joined me travelling and speaking in 10 countries.

This past weekend, Joan and I were proud to celebrate David’s wedding to Julie Nielson. As I toasted the couple, I recalled some special moments that spoke to David’s character. David is an avid skier and loves winter, including winter camping.  He would visit us and then hike up the mountain and camp overnight in the middle of winter, every winter.  One winter he took our dog, Seamus a golden retriever, with him.   Before long the dog was crying and cold.  Dave got him into his sleeping bag and warmed him up.

Two years later David went winter camping again, but this time it was his first date with Julie. Julie had never camped in the winter or done any winter sports. Did David qualify his buyer, or what?

Julie has since become an avid skier as well, so a winter wedding suited them both.

Welcome to our family, Julie!

The post A Winter Wedding appeared first on Bob Urichuck.

Have you ever watched Survivor? After 29 seasons, don’t you think competitors would come into the game knowing how to start a fire? Yet clearly many still don’t. It’s all about being prepared.

Knowing our buyers’ needs and how we can best meet them is basic to success in sales. It is up to us to kindle and develop the relationships that are central to attracting, engaging and empowering buyers to buy. New tools and insights can help.

Kissmetrics provides data-driven insights for customer acquisition and decision-making. One of the “secrets” they included on a recent infographic was the best time to cold call—between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. AND between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. The worst times to make cold calls? Between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., your prospects’ time zones of course.

But even if you succeed in reaching your intended target, your chances of kindling the connection go cold if you can’t quickly offer them something that is relevant to their needs.

Provide a major benefit statement

Start by defining the objective to the call; provide a major benefit statement— what is in it for them. Ask if it is a good time to talk— a telephone call is an interruption. If they say no, it could be that your benefit statement is weak; on the other hand, they may truly be busy when you called. If so, ask them when would be a good time to call back.

Setting the parameters is a good practice with respect to your return on time invested (ROTI)—likewise, asking questions, not answering them.

And unless you immediately engage the receiver of the call, they will quickly conclude that you are about to waste their time—the top buyer complaint about salespeople.

Remember, it is about the buyer and their needs and if there is an opportunity to do business together or not. 

A good benefit statement helps get a prospect’s attention and their permission to move forward.
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Basically, what are the benefits to the receiver of your call in terms of saving money, increasing performance, exposure, their bottom line and so on?

Here is an example:

Hello, my name is… and I am with… We work with organizations like yours to increase the performance of your salespeople while contributing to your bottom line. Is this a good time to talk?

The benefits are “increase performance and contribute to their bottom line.” Note that the statement doesn’t explain how. It is a spark, just enough to kindle interest and get permission to proceed.

Only after you have established rapport will you question further to determine whether or not you can help the buyer.

Know your audience and their needs

Of course, before you even dialed their number, you would have done your homework on these prospective buyers and their industry to know whom you’re speaking to. The Internet provides a wealth of information as do annual reports, association reports, government reports, present customers and suppliers.

While you can check any number of individual channels for “people” insights, I’ve just been introduced to Refresh, a free app that aggregates such data from social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google+. It provides an amazing amount of information including recent touch points, photos, activities, interests, and has a place for you to take notes.

You can also download the Buyer Information Form from my recent book Velocity Selling: how to attract, engage and empower buyers to buy to record details about individual buyers. The template includes questions to help you formulate action plans with respect to the relationship.

Bob Urichuck is an internationally sought after speaker, trainer—founder of the “Buyer Focused” Velocity Selling System—and best-selling author in six languages. His latest books, Velocity Selling: How to Attract, Engage and Empower Buyers to Buy, and Motivate Your Team in 30 Days are new in 2014.

Sales Velocity.  Your Bottom Line.  Our Passion

 

 

The post Spark Interest with Your Cold Calls by Using the Right Words at the Right Time appeared first on Bob Urichuck.

Where can you access insights from 95 individuals with a combined 2,700 years of business experience and 4,600 years of people experience? Right here!

Motivating Your Mind-Inspiring Your Spirit 2015 is a 115-page e-book with stories, tips, insights and case studies from industry experts, CE0s, CFOs, company directors and business owners.

My son David and I each contributed an article.

Some contributors, like New Zealander Andrew Fleming, overcame life challenges at a scale most of us never face. Andrew’s story is very powerful in changing perceptions on everyday challenges we all face to moving us past our mental blockages.

 

Going back to study can be daunting. Simple, yet effective strategies make all the difference, like the five study tips provided by Karen Boyes.

Looking for help with delivering presentations? Check out David Goldwich’s Three Tips to a Powerful Message.

These three examples are just a small sampling of the contributions you’ll find in this e-book that we’re sharing as a gift for your benefit.

Go ahead! Download Motivating Your Mind-Inspiring Your Spirit 2015 here.

 

Bob Urichuck is an internationally sought after speaker, trainer—founder of the “Buyer Focused” Velocity Selling System—and best-selling author in six languages. His latest books, Velocity Selling: How to Attract, Engage and Empower Buyers to Buy, and Motivate Your Team in 30 Days are new in 2014.

Sales Velocity.  Your Bottom Line.  Our Passion

The post Motivating Your Mind – Inspiring Your Spirit 2015 appeared first on Bob Urichuck.