To Help Others Develop, Start With Yourself
Published July 22, 2011 | 
I’m often asked “Why did you agree to chair a group of 8-16 CEOs for Vistage?”
Follow my career and you’ll see that my passion is helping good people unleash their potential. I’ve studied human psychology, strategy and organizational systems in order to facilitate efforts by good people to be consistent winners.
Vistage is for leaders who want more for themselves and their companies. They agree with Jim Collins’ insight that Good is the Enemy of Excellent. They understand that one of the best ways to encourage leadership development by their team is by openly developing themselves.
Marshall Goldsmith commented about this, after hearing General Mills’ CEO Steve Sanger talk about his development to 90 of his colleagues. Dr. Goldsmith noted that twenty years ago, few CEOs received feedback from their colleagues. Today, many of the world’s most respected chief executives are setting a positive example by opening up, striving continually to develop themselves as leaders. In fact, organizations that do the best job of cranking out leaders tend to have CEOs like Steve Sanger who are directly and actively involved in leadership development.
Michael Dell is a perfect example. As one of the most successful leaders in business history, he could easily have an attitude that says, “I am Michael Dell and you aren’t! I don’t really need to work on developing myself.” But he, has taken the opposite approach: sincerely discussing his personal challenges with other leaders.
Vistage New York isn’t for everyone. It’s for leaders at all levels who are committed to improvement by being open to new ideas and perspectives, willing to make public commitments to peer advisors and being held accountable by them and an expert coach. The CEO Game Changers, as our CEOs call themselves, proudly announce that they want to be the best they can be and will change when appropriate.
If you haven’t yet applied to be part of Vistage New York, think about how you and your team and your family spend their days, and ask: “Is that all there is? Could it be better? Am I prepared to find out?” If you want more, let’s meet and see if you qualify for one of our groups.”
Structuring Your Presentations – Connect With the Audience!
Published July 18, 2011 | All too often, when a client calls us to help close more deals, it’s because the client is using a “one type fits all” presentation, rather than a focused series of presentations that address specific needs within each stage of the sales process.
A sales strategy typically calls for identifying prospects’ needs, and demonstrating how the company’s solution meets them. But to connect with the audience, an effective presentation should take into account the client’s receptivity needs: the ability to absorb the information and make a decision. Studies have shown that people’s sales attention spans generally last about 20-25 minutes. So don’t overload the presentation if you want the desired impact.
For this reason, sales presentations often consist of several coordinated pre-planned, two-way conversations in which you identify the client’s product and buying needs, including:
- what benefit does the product/service provide?
- how does it fit into the clients’ bigger business picture
- what cost, value, and risk taking issues will affect whether they will buy an appropriate solution from you?
The first presentation, therefore, focuses on building confidence. You need to demonstrate:
- your product/service will meet the client’s needs
- your company has the capabilities to meet and exceed these needs by adding additional value and reducing related risks
- you, as the sales representative, will also add value and reduce risks to make sure the client gets what he/she needs
Given that the goal of the decision is whether or not to proceed to a second presentation, the first will need to be succinct and powerful.
Subsequent presentations, which may include new parties with more detailed concerns, build upon prior presentations, but shouldn’t duplicate them. We had a client who, knowing this rule, was about to board a plane for an important sales meeting, and felt something was wrong with his presentation. He asked us to review it while in the air and give him our analysis when he landed. When he called us we reminded him that this was his third presentation to the group (and the first designed to close), yet the initial set of slides were the same ones from both prior presentations!
Another example. Imagine you’re selling an investment opportunity. In the first presentation you’re focused on the nature of the investment product, the track record of the sponsor, and (most importantly) “the secret sauce” – how management uniquely uses proprietary decision-tools to achieve excellent results. The second presentation should focus on demonstrating in-depth how the managers have made excellent decisions in the past (e.g., picking and managing prior portfolio companies) and how they will do the same in the future. But spending time going through all 25 portfolio companies in the initial presentation would be distracting.
If you have only one meeting at which to present your entire story, consider breaking the story into two parts. Have the initial sales presentation focus on demonstrating your Unique Sales Proposition. Then, offer a second presentation booklet, that the prospect can read later, to reference the details.
In sum, today more than ever, it’s not what you say, but how you say it that counts. You must structure the presentation process to connect to the audience’s decision-making process, which includes a readiness to accept different types of information over time, and the ability to conclude that they want to work with you to get your solution.
7 Tips For Killer Sales Presentations
Published July 4, 2011 | Are your sales calls compelling and generating “buy” decisions without a sweat? Or are they unfocused, inefficient, meandering sales calls, where you’re not even sure you’re getting the sale till the very end? Excellence is achieved when your presentation is client-focused rather than vendor-focused.
• Do your homework: Know why prospects should buy from you. Before the sales call, identify what information you need about the buyer’s current situation to determine the need for your product/service. How is the current solution inadequate? What pain does the prospect experience which a better solution could alleviate? What benefits would the prospect like to get from a new solution? Which gains would motivate the user to take the risk and start using your product?
Ideally, you know all this before the sales call, so you can use the initial client-focused Needs Assessment stage to validate assumptions. Remember, people buy for both rational reasons (it’s a better product) and emotional reasons (I feel this vendor is really going to support me as our needs change). While validating the assumptions, you need to help the prospect feel the current product’s pains and appreciate the gains that an alternative product (yours) offers.
Since it’s rare to have all this information available before the initial sales call, your real homework is to be prepared to collect it quickly at your initial meeting. This means you need to analyze your other customers’ experiences and develop an educated guess as to which pain and gain points are most applicable to the prospect. Write out a list of the issues you want to explore in advance of the meeting, so you know which ones to ask. There’s nothing wrong with having the Needs Assessment Form in front of you to guide you; in fact, in fact it sends a message of professionalism and thoroughness to the prospect!
The order of the questions is important – because they form the basis for building a persuasive presentation. As you comment on the prospects’ answers, noting how your product avoids pain points and offers the desired gains, you’re building your case. The goal is to make the case cumulative and overwhelming – that you have a solution which will eliminate many nasty pains and/or offer sought after gains.
• Organize your Competitive Advantages, so you can present them in an order which brings the client to the natural conclusion: if the vendor’s products can really do all these things, then we really should be using the product! This means you need to know your entire product’s Competitive Advantages, group them by those that go together, and present them succinctly and powerfully. Remember, a truly client-focused presentation means only presenting those which matter to the prospect. WINning means knowing What’s Important Now.
• Build trust and confidence as you tell your company’s story. Nothing speaks like success, and relating relevant case studies make your points most effectively. The key is to demonstrate not just what your company did, but how it did it, because what the prospect is buying is your ability to analyze problems and solve them in the future. So while having a great client list and testimonials is very useful, demonstrating how you went out of your way at 10PM to save the client thousands of dollars is what builds confidence that you’re the ideal vendor.
• Counterpunch your competition, without ever bad-mouthing them, so the prospect appreciates your Competitive Advantages. For instance, if responsiveness is an important feature and your company is the only 24/7 operation in the industry, you can counterpunch the competition. “Many companies say they’re available 24/7 to take your calls; that means they are taking your call and passing on your request for help to the morning shift. Our firm is open 24/7, which means our technicians are there to solve your problem, even at 3 AM.”
• The Demo is really a Proof-of-Concept. You should start the demo after you have a “conditional sale”, meaning if you can demonstrate that your solution actually does all the things you said, the prospect will buy. It’s your chance to reinforce the most important buying points you’ve already made! (Unfortunately, many sales people think that they are supposed to make their entire presentation during the demo; this makes the sales demo take too long, especially as there are natural interruptions and waters down presentation’s impact.)
• Don’t let your sales kit distract from your sales pitch. Have your sales kit available, but give it to the prospect when looking at it won’t distract him/her from listening to you (e.g., at the end of the sales call). Often a good strategy is to let the prospect see it and know you will give it at the end of the sales call.
• Ask for the sale. Know what next step you want to take. If you’re selling a product, which will require another meeting with people, be prepared to tentatively schedule the follow-up meeting immediately. If the next step is to do a test, set up a time to begin the test and an estimated time schedule for completing it. If the next step is to have the person sign on the dotted line, don’t forget to bring the contract and a pen!
Cross-Cultural Communications
Published June 27, 2011 | Think of all the miscommunications you experience in an average week – and realize that most are with people who share your culture. You can then appreciate how much more complex it is to be an effective communicator in a world where we interact with people in China, India, Latin America, Russia Mideast, etc. who don’t share your cultural norms and business traditions.
Different cultural values, beliefs and norms
Every culture has its own set of shared values, beliefs and behavioral norms. For instance, while Americans generally value individualism/independence, focus on time to control the future, tend to be direct, open, honest and practical, other cultures are more concerned with the group’s welfare, respecting the past, people’s rank and status, indirectness and ritual. People’s value of time, deadline, accountability, etiquette when engaging others of differing ages and characteristics, all impact on direct and indirect communications, relationships, decision making, motivation, leadership and organizational structures. Most of us develop our personality and communication styles as we grow up within our culture. But when we interact with people from different cultures, conflicts can occur unless each party is sensitive to the cultural discrepancies and language differences, and adjusts to them. For instance, when doing business with people in India, it’s advisable to be properly attired (wearing non- leather products), avoid beckoning with the palm up, wagging a finger, whistling, winking or pointing one’s feet at a person, and know when and how to use words like “no” and “thank you”.
Each medium has its own communication dimensions
In face-to-face situations, what you say, how you say it, your physical appearance, body “language”, listening skills, and manner of response all play a role. In phone conversations, the importance of verbal and listening skills is magnified, because there is no visual feedback. In e-mails, the power of each word or phrase, the document’s organization and formality, response time, and how you use technology (e.g., instant messenger) all have meanings. Finally, how each party interprets the use of the medium is based on cultural values (e.g., urgency and importance), also determines the impact.
Do Whatever It Takes!
Published June 5, 2011 | Last year, SUNY was hosting a special program for Colombian government officials. At the last minute, they had a cancellation and asked me if I could fill in and do a presentation on Leadership Challenges in the 21st Century. They agreed to have a translator present to convert my English into Spanish for the audience. I agreed. Then, I followed the Number One Rule that I teach in all our presentation workshops and coaching – BE AUDIENCE DRIVEN.
- I developed content to be valuable for the audience
- I created an organizational structure and style that would allow for interaction, even if there was a language barrier.
- I decided to have the slides translated into Spanish, so while people wait to hear my English translated, they could at least read the words in their language.
- Before I started, I “met my audience”. I knew Spanish was their first language and expected many to also speak some English, allowing them to get something from my speech, if I spoke more slowly, and get the rest from the translator. I discovered that virtually no-one spoke English.
- Recognizing that if the audience and I had to wait for each and every sentence to be translated, that would significantly reduce the impact of the presentation. Since I had learned Spanish many years ago, I asked the audience if they would let me try to present in Spanish, with the translator filling in when I was stuck. Knowing that the technical words were in Spanish on the slides, I figured I could probably cover about half the presentation in a broken and often grammatically incorrect Spanish. The audience overwhelmingly told me “ Go for it”, and I did.
- Turns out I presented almost 90% of the presentation myself – and built a terrific rapport with the audience (and received compliments later).
At Presentation Excellence, and all the other companies with which I’m involved, our approach is to do “whatever it takes” to meet the client’s needs if possible. A partner once gave a client a fresh shirt he happened to be carrying for an afternoon investor meeting when an accident spoiled the one he was wearing. Good thing I took all those years of Spanish many years ago!
May all your presentations be excellent!