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Yes, there are sales skills you can learn. (Just as there are sales skills that can’t be taught—but that’s the topic of another post.)

Today’s post focuses on what you can do to make your sales efforts more effective, with a tip of the hat to Dan Ross, former SVP at Salesforce, for his article “The 7 Sales Skills that CAN Be Taught.”

Those of us who have never sold before may consider the sales process mysterious and ultimately  unknowable, practiced by those who know tricks of persuasion the rest of us don’t. Selling, though, is not really esoteric, but like so many things in life, success requires self-discipline and the ability to apply what we’re taught.

Mr. Ross breaks down the teachable sales skills into seven elements, summarized heres:

Filling the pipeline

Here, you evaluate an existing pipeline for cross-sell and upsell opportunities. If your mom ever bought Avon or Mary Kay, I’ll bet the sales person was a master of both. I mean, how can you buy moisturizer when you also really, really need cleanser and toner? You can also go back to what Mr. Ross refers to as “dead opportunities,” because there’s a good chance they can be resuscitated.

Managing your time

Calendar time to get organized. At Salesforce, reps are trained to spend 15 minutes at the end of the day planning what they will do tomorrow. If you’re a mother, I bet you’ve got this one down. Reps also learn to schedule time to work current accounts. After all, repeat sales aren’t guaranteed, and the competition is probably calling on your accounts too. And, then there’s self-development. If you don’t calendar it, it may not happen.

Developing business acumen

As Mr. Ross says, “I love when sales professionals have the business acumen needed to understand all lines of business within their customer’s organization, understand the biggest challenges and priorities, and speak executive language.” (I believe storytelling builds business acumen.)

Developing sales acumen

Sales is a multistep process, and you must master each part. The scenario of the cub salesperson stepping into a big account and selling a big deal in minutes is Hollywood. I add that I dreamed of that as a  young, dumb sales rep, because—despite teaching us that sales is a process—the higher-ups were always pressing for fast results.

Winning big deals

Mr. Ross reminds us that “Larger, more complex sales cycles require additional sales skills that go beyond general sales acumen.” Amen to that. Probably explains why organizations have pre-sales people, sales engineers, etc. With more people involved it the process, it’s likely that you won’t overlook important influencers, relationships, or organizational politics that can trip you up.

Knowing your product

When I worked at Dictaphone, product knowledge reigned supreme. Why? Our products were relatively small and lightweight, “relative” being the operative term here. We were expected to check a machine out of inventory and demonstrate it to the customer. We learned a specific protocol, but it was critical to be prepared for any questions the prospect threw at us. Mr. Ross says, “If you do not understand the value of each of your products, it is very difficult to sell the value of the product and you will definitely miss out on opportunities within your territory.”

Forecasting  intelligently

This is all about looking at your pipeline and determining if you’re on track to make quota. Mr. Ross uses the expression “goals,” but I think “quota” is the better term. Quota is an inexorable force there’s no escaping. He believes, and I agree, that forecasting helps you prioritize, know when to ask for help, and when to walk away from a deal.

This article, which will take you five minutes or less to read, is all about sales. But because I believe we’re all selling in one way or another, I think it applies to real life. And on that note, I leave you with his real-life focused quote: “The best sales professionals know when to walk away from a deal.” Substitute relationship, potential high-ticket purchase, and you’ll know what I mean.

Antonio Guillem — 123rf.com

FAQs. Are they an afterthought? Or a vehicle for selling your product or service? If you’re not using FAQs to engage your prospects, you’re missing out on a valuable sales opportunity.

Direct marketing guru Ivan Levison thinks that “… all too often, they’re an afterthought, a throwaway.” I agree. As a copywriter, I’ve been asked to make FAQs sound less cumbersome, which is quite different from transforming them into a sales tool.

Think about the times you’ve visited a website and wanted to get a picture of the product you were interested in. Didn’t you look for the FAQs, perhaps before the solution description? Mr. Levinson notes, “… copy research proves that FAQs get high readership … Prospects go to FAQ pages because they know they’ll get to-the-point information … “

Here are ways to jazz up your FAQs, so they don’t sound like Legal Drafting 101. Thanks to Mr. Levison for these suggestions:

Use a title

 That is, don’t just use the header “Frequently Asked Questions” and let it go at that. Mr. Levison suggests adding a subhead to warm things up a bit. For example—and these are my words—how about something like “Here’s what you need to know” or “Why you’ll save money and make your life easier with Product X.”

Be friendly

Or as Mr. Levison would put it, “Use a conversational tone.” He suggests creating a question that the way a prospect would phrase it. For example, “I’m concerned about the way supply costs are escalating. How can your product help me keep them under control?

Use FAQs to deal with doubts

 If you know your prospects’ concerns—and you should—here’s the right place to address them. As Mr. Levison points out, you’ve already covered features and benefits elsewhere, so don’t waste your prospects’ time by reiterating them in the FAQs. Mr. Levison might not agree, but I think FAQs are where you can reinforce your credibility and integrity by also talking about why your product or service might not be the best choice for a customer with specific needs.

Don’t go on and on

 Or as Mr. Levison says, “Use the right number of FAQs.”

The right number of FAQs will likely vary from one product or service to the next. Mr. Levison thinks that five or six is about right if you’re limiting FAQs to one page. And, of course, you can add questions with links to unique pages. That’s a great idea for handling an extensive library.

Promote your guarantee

 If you offer a solid guarantee, definitely mention it in the FAQs.

Now here’s a confession: Before reading this excellent post by Mr. Levison, I tended to treat FAQs as sort of a pro forma. Now, I regard them as an important sales tool, a great way to get in a pitch that sounds (and should be) credible and reassuring.

Adzicnatasa — 123rf.com

People’s fear of change can make it difficult, if not impossible, to persuade them to your point of view and move them to take action. Business, education, and real estate writer Stephanie Vozza (@StephanieVozza), the author of “How To Get People To Agree With You,”  believes that adopting a hard sell approach to overcome fear of change and new ideas doesn’t work very well. Instead, she offers six tips, based on the ideas of respected writers in the field of human behavior, to get people to say yes.

Herewith:

1. Be clear. To be clear, you need to know what you want. So write that down and what you’re willing to compromise on. If you don’t, it will be a lot harder to be persuasive when dialogue heats up.
2. You’re really interested in getting your ideas across. But you need to ask questions and really listen to the answers. One expert says that people tend to own a problem when—by answering your questions—they can articulate it. And if they feel your interest, their resistance goes down.
3. Create a foundation for agreement. Do that by creating or removing social tension. Create social tension by giving a gift others feel they must reciprocate. One example I can think of is charitable solicitations accompanied by money attached to the response form. Remove social tension by stating a position that allows your target to strategically retreat. An example is the Patagonia “Don’t buy this jacket” ad campaign, which essentially tells consumers that the company is not trying to hustle them.
4. Be inclusive. When you use words like “we,” you establish that you and your prospects are “in it together,” which makes it more likely that they will agree with you. I add that you should not only sound sincere, you should actually be sincere.
5. Timing is everything. People will be more inclined to agree if they’re relaxed and not on the defensive. If those you wish to persuade are stressed—up against a deadline or passed over for a promotion, for example—they will probably back away from youe.
6. Be open-minded. The more rigid you appear, the less likely people will be to engage with you. That means your success in persuading them goes way down. If you’re perceived as being open to different ideas, then the greater the possibility your persuadees will come around to your way of thinking. Of course, you also need to acknowledge that others may have better ideas than yours.

In my opinion, this article is about selling. We all need to develop the skills that will allow us to sell our ideas to others, whether we sell for a living or are simply functioning in the normal, everyday commerce of life.

iqoncept — 123rf.com

 

Is your workspace cluttered, do you maintain a tidy work environment, or do you fall somewhere in between?

In a recent article, Professor Libby Sander of Australia’s Bond University (@BondUniversity) says, “The physical environment of the workplace has a significant effect on the way that we work. When our space is a mess, so are we.”

A mess, eh? That’s quite an indictment. Yet, based on research, it doesn’t seem to be going overboard to say that “our physical environments significantly affect our cognition, emotions, and behavior, affecting our decision-making and relationships with others. “

A few examples of the negative effects of untidiness

Clutter can increase our stress and anxiety levels. (Workplace stress in the U.S. costs around $190 billion  per year, a horrifying sum.) It can make it harder for us to focus. It can affect our food choices—junk food, anyone?­ It can interfere with our sleep.

Clutter, with its constant visual presence, depletes our cognitive resources. Our brain, it turns out, likes order. Professor Sander points to a Princeton University Neuroscience Institute study that revealed  when participants cleared out clutter in their work environment, they focused and processed information better and ended up being more productive.

A study found that people surrounded by untidiness at home feel overwhelmed and tend to procrastinate. They develop negative coping mechanisms such as TV watching and (as mentioned earlier) snacking on empty calories. Professor Sander guesses that this behavior generalizes to the work environment, resulting in employees who delay making decisions and may spend less time working.

Perhaps as important as any of these other factors is how clutter affects our relationships. In one study, messy participants were seen by others as “less conscientious, more neurotic, and less agreeable.” Ouch. Clearly, those perceptions affect how others behave toward them and may affect the course of their careers.

So what is to be done?

Professor Sander recommends tidying your workspace regularly and, interestingly, “Avoid letting things get so bad that you start cleaning as a form of procrastination.” A side note: a graduate school colleague once commented that her friends always knew when an important test was coming up: They’d drop by and find her cleaning her oven. Professor Sander also recommends work-sponsored “spring cleaning” days bolstered by pizza and an office-wide clean-desk policy. (Maybe this works in Australia? Not sure I see it working here)

During graduate school, I earned much-needed cash by cleaning houses for a couple of professors. One guy was brilliant, but both his home and his office looked as though a bomb had gone off in them—an analogy with unfortunate connotations these days—and were really challenging to put in order. And this is where Professor Sander throws us a bit of a curve—a study reveals that messiness is linked to creativity—before coming down on the side of the tidy work environment.

Iculig — 123rf.com

Has your perfectionism brought more misery than joy to your life?

Sure, most of us get satisfaction from a job well done. But often the process of delivering that job can make us miserable. In “How to Manage Your Perfectionism,” freelance writer Rebecca Knight quotes coach Matt Plummer, who says, “A lot of perfectionistic tendencies are rooted in fear and insecurity.” We’re perfectionists because we fear that if we’re not, we won’t end up performing well and we’ll damage our reputations. (I recommend reading the article because two case studies at the end present people who have dealt with perfectionism in real life and won.)

In this article, Mr. Plummer and Alice Boyes, author of The Healthy Mind Toolkit and The Anxiety Toolkit talk about understanding and dealing with the consequences of perfectionism and accepting that you will not be able to do everything perfectly.

“See the big picture”

Mr. Plummer and co-author Jo Wilson note that it’s important to consider the opportunity cost and time of perfectionism, asking yourself if you’re making smart use of your time. Focus on what’s important and look to maximizing your impact rather than on polishing every project to a high gloss. Be aware of the law of diminishing returns.

 “Adjust your standards”

Get feedback on your efforts early in your process, and you may well discover that you’re doing fine. Feedback, of course, will help you improve. And Ms. Boyes point out that your work “doesn’t have to be the final word, it just has to contribute something useful.”

“Create a checklist”

Without a checklist, you’ll likely get lost in the weeds. So build a checklist for each task you’re working on. When you check each item on the list off, you’re done, which defeats your tendency to keep at a job long after diminishing returns have kicked in.

 “Break the cycle of rumination”

Do you ruminate? I sure do, and though we used to laugh about it in my family as the fruit of OCD, it’s really not pleasant or productive. Ms. Boyes points out that rumination is anxiety-related and that ruminants are less forgiving of themselves than others. Rumination is a cycle that requires disruption. You can—and should—figure out your triggers, find ways to divert yourself, realize that you probably can’t trust your ruminations, and make a point of thinking of all the tasks you’ve done successfully. The article goes into further detail on each of these techniques, so I recommend checking it out.

“Get perspective”

For heaven’s sake, talk to someone with whom you can be open and comfortable—definitely not the office smarty-pants. Ms. Boyes suggests that you be clear that you want the person you choose to be honest. Promise you’ll think about what they say, even if you’re initially defensive. And then, of course, don’t renege on that commitment.

“Monitor your progress”

Review your progress every week, so that you can learn where your perfectionism has positive and negative impact. Negative impact, for example, is when you avoid doing something or procrastinate because you’re afraid of making mistakes. Mr. Plummer points out that in addressing perfectionism you’re “redirecting your personality,” rather than “changing course.”

Helpful?

I found this article helpful because I tend toward perfectionism. This can hinder a freelance content creator, though I have not generally found that it gets in my way. Where my perfectionism is hardest to overcome is with this blog. It’s not difficult to come up with an editorial calendar filled with valuable topics, but getting the writing done can be a lot harder. What I found helpful in this article is the suggestion to focus on sharing information that make a useful contribution.

We’re all insanely busy. I like to think that I come across great thinking that readers may not have time to ferret out and that I may be able to encourage them to seek out more from a writer whose ideas they like.

Photo credit: Andriy Popov – 123rf.com

 

What is emotional resilience and, just as important, how do you develop it?

I bet we all have days when we don’t feel emotionally resilient. As the day comes to an end, we feel thrashed, and sleep doesn’t come easily. Perhaps we dread the next day, because we fear it may not be any better.

What happened? Someone denigrated our efforts on an important project at work. Perhaps we had yet another encounter with someone who always seems unpleasant or snippy. Maybe we’re in the middle of a trying family situation. The list is endless, really. And we need to find a way to crest the waves of stress more easily.

Coach Leo Widrich (@LeoWid) acknowledges that emotional resilience isn’t a skill acquired overnight, but he believes that a practical understanding of how the brain functions can put us on a path that will help us “stay present under challenging circumstances and remain positive during stressful days.”

Here are some things you need to know about your brain to help you get started:

• It’s all about your body. Widrich notes that most of our signals—some 80% in fact—go from the body to the brain. Our vagus nerve runs from our gut through our heart and lungs, to our face and ear canal and into our brain. The vagus nerve is the source of bodily sensations, that sinking feeling you get when things aren’t going well, for example. And, on a more a positive note, it’s also the transmitter of happiness. Mr. Widrich suggests that you ask yourself what your body is trying to tell you and “hold space for that experience,” instead of trying to exert control over it.
• Be aware of your amygdala. This tricky little guy is “sometimes called the emotion center of our brains,” and it can kick in, in a bad way, when someone criticizes you and you respond with anger or feel fear or anxiety. Your amygdala becomes active and takes over from your neocortex—the thinking part of your brain—and you say or do stupid things. This is sometimes referred to as “amygdala hijack.” Mr. Widrich notes that Dr. Dan Siegel, clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA School of Medicine, has written a whole book about “flipping your lid.”
• Our voices provide important signals to our brains. It appears that our brains rely on the emotional content of our voices to assess our safety. I remember watching a documentary about the Iditarod and hearing one of the participants talk about the high-pitched voice she used to praise her dogs. Mr. Widrich says, “The safety signal was a medium to slightly high frequency pitched voice. This is often the voice we make when talking to babies, where we naturally raise our voices and speak making cooing sounds. It calms and soothes them, as it does for us.” Interesting, eh?
• Understand how stress changes brain chemistry. This is a really important one. The evidence is out: being in a stressful environment diverts your brain’s resources. “To keep the body running, the brain removes and even shrinks areas of your mind that you use for goal setting, being creative, and making decisions.” Mr. Widrich uses the term “prolonged,” which I interpret as “chronic.” I’m guessing that refers to the stress we face daily, the stress we have grown to think of as normal, the stress that the late, great Gilda Radner, in her guise as Roseanne Roseannadanna referred to as “It’s always something.”

 Mr. Widrich believes you can cultivate emotional resilience by understanding how your brain works. He says, “Next time you feel stressed, anxious, or worried, think about it in the context of these four facts. You might find that it helps you deal with it better.” I believe that understanding your brain, coupled with a simple technique such as counting to 10 before you open your mouth or taking a short walk when you feel frightened or angry can help, too.

Marigranula — 123rf.com

 

How do you “just say no?” You’re a hardworking consultant or enterprise employee. Your day, your week, your life is replete with tasks and deadlines, and it feels as though there’s just not enough time to get things done. Yet you’re under pressure to dive in and say “yes” to everything that comes done the pike?  In an environment where you feel that your performance and your attitude are under scrutiny, how do you manage your time better? How do you relieve the sometimes-overwhelming sense of stress you live with?

Elizabeth Grace Saunders (@RealLifeE), a time management consultant, has excellent suggestions in her article “9 Ways to Say No to Busywork and Unrealistic Deadlines.” This piece is a real gem, because it not only points out the traps to avoid but also suggests some politic, but non-smarmy ways to “just say no.”

Ms. Saunders notes that her clients struggle to manage three areas: time commitments, tasks, and time frames. Consider these scenarios.

Time management

You’re sitting innocently in your designated space and you’re asked to volunteer on a committee. Your commitment could add up to as much as 60 hours a year for something that doesn’t really grab you. (Yes, it’s a good initiative but … ) So you smile sweetly and say something like, “Thanks for thinking of me, but I must respectfully say no, because I’m maxed out right now. I’m sure you can understand.”

Ms. Saunders says, “Saying no to time commitments that don’t align with your priorities or needs can lead to a small amount of initial discomfort but save you hours of time in the end.”

Tasks

We all have a list of daily tasks as long as our arms and the more contact we have with our fellow human beings, the greater the potential for that list to expand. Ms. Saunders notes that you have “every right to say no” when someone asks you to do something that’s not on your list of responsibilities. But you may need to retrain others not to look to you as their first resort.

She suggests saying something like, “Gee, that’s not one of my competencies, but I know someone who can help. Here’s her contact info.” She also proposes that the next time you’re in a meeting and tasks are discussed, keep your mouth shut. “Not offering to help is one of the best ways to say no.” All this assumes of course that you can’t genuinely can’t take on anything more. My thought: Saying no is a professional responsibility, not a matter of caprice.

Time Frames

Everyone wants everything yesterday, and they can come to you with deadlines that are somewhat arbitrary and negotiable or just plain unreasonable

For a deadline that can shift a day or so without issues, you can propose an alternate deadline. I’ve done this, and it works. For a bigger project with an unreasonable timeframe given the other things you must do, try asking your boss to create the priorities. Or respond with a counterproposal. The key, from what I read in Ms. Saunders’ article is to sound calm, not frantic. Here’s her suggestion: “I hear that you would like this by the end of the month. But with the other projects we have going on, it won’t be possible to meet that deadline. I would like to propose a deadline of mid-next month. Does that sound reasonable?”

I believe we will always have too much to do. (A business coach I worked with for a while said that small business owners will always feel “overwhelmed,” and I think that’s true of any employed person these days.)

But as Ms. Saunders says, “The difference between living a life of peace and productivity versus a life of stress and resentment could lie in one simple skill: Learning how to say no.”

Tatiana Vasilyeva — 123rf.com

As a freelance copywriter and editor who lives life on the clock, I’m always interested in better time management. So I paid particular attention to a recent post from Patty Azzarello (@pattyazzarello) titled “Protect your time: And don’t feel guilty.” Aha, I said to myself, I bet there’s some good stuff here that I should share with my LinkedIn network. And I was right. In fact, I recommend reading her post yourself—it will take you about three minutes—and subscribing to her weekly wisdom. It’s definitely worth your time.

Before her tips—and there are just two, but they are powerful—here’s what’s Ms. Azzarello believes is behind the trouble you may be having protecting your time.

Dealing with Interruptions

Most of us deal with interruptions. Whether we’re in a cube, an office, one of those dreadful open plan work environments, or working at home, we all get interrupted. All the time.

Ms. Azzarello talks to people who try to schedule their time but still can’t manage to get a few uninterrupted hours to think during the work week. And she says, “You need to give yourself permission to schedule this time, and then you really need to protect it.”

She notes that many of us respond to interruptions because of the pressure we put on ourselves to be always available.(This pressure may be much greater than what others place on us.) Ironically, folks who are chronically busy because they want to be perceived as super-responsive get laid off anyway. And sadly, “Your company can absorb an unlimited amount of work from you and not really care.”

Here’s what you need to do

Ms. Azzarrello recommends hiding. Yes, hiding. Making yourself “physically out of sight.” I am here to tell you that this simple, but not necessarily easy, tactic works, whether you work for yourself or for a company.

When I need to think about how to say something or simply need to stop compulsively checking email, the best thing I can do for my clients and myself  is to take a 30-minute walk. Even though I’m listening to birdsong or patting my favorite neighborhood pup, my brain is still working subliminally as my Fitbit records my steps.

Hiding is great, but you also need to change people’s expectations of your behavior. Ms. Azzarrello says, “What you need to do is change those expectations with new habits. And that can be difficult…but maybe not as difficult as you think.” (I think you also need to change your expectations of yourself. If you’ve kept yourself super-busy for years and prided yourself on responding quickly to others’ requests, you need to retrain yourself, too. )

Ms. Azzarello suggests that you start small and repeat what you plan to do—working without interruption for two hours on Thursdays—so that it sinks in. As she says, “You need to train people how to treat you.”

At the heart of her post, I believe, is the message that only you can manage your time. (“Do or don’t do,” said Yoda. “There is no try.”) And time management is important because you want to be involved in activities with great value to your company and yourself.

Ion Chiosea — 123rf.com

 

Building email relationships is similar to building relationships in general. You want to avoid doing things that annoy your target audience, confuse it, or cause it to distrust you. (Tricking your audience is high on the “causing distrust” list.)

Kaitlin Westbrook (@kaitwarren) has written a great article about five things not to do—based on a fun, perky little video featuring Elizabeth Duffy, professional services team lead at Emma.

Leave bait-and-switch behind

Let’s say your subject line mentions that you’re going to ask an important question, but there’s no question in the body of the email. This is bait-and-switch exemplified. If your readers click and see no question, they will distrust you and may be unlikely to open any more of your communications. Go for a “realistic hook,” instead. See my posts on better subject lines and preheader text.

Say goodbye to batch-and-blast missives

If you send out an email that’s relevant to only part of your list to the entire list, you risk being perceived as irrelevant. Ms. Duffy’s example is sending a message with the subject line “It’s sweater weather” to Florida residents. The whole effect is “one size fits none.” Instead, segment your message for location. Segmented, targeted emails make sense, and they generate more revenue than traditional blasts.

Ditch CTA choices

That is, offer your readers a single, clear-cut choice. If you offer two choices, they will be confused about which one you want them to make. Too much choice can be paralyzing, as your readers consider which one is the most desirable. Kind of like the lady or the tiger, though on a lower  level. As with segmented emails, limiting choice to one option generates more revenue.

Avoid friction words

Along with limiting choice, you will want to make your CTA really appealing. Many of us have been brought up on commands, which are supposed to be desirable, because they’re so, well, commanding. But being ordered to do something can create an undesirable sense of friction. Ms. Westbrook says, “It’s better to make the CTA an opportunity, not a command—and make converting sound beneficial.” So soften things up a bit. Instead of “buy now,” for example, you might want to say something like, “See what awaits you.”

Go for buttons, not links

Busy people—and aren’t we all? —scan emails, and you should make it super-obvious what they need to do. Buttons are a boon. Ms. Westbrook notes that click-through rates increase by 28% with buttons rather than hyperlinks. I think they have the same irresistible quality as that little “Drink me” sign in Alice in Wonderland.

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: we all complain about email, but we couldn’t do business or conduct our personal lives without it. So it’s incumbent on us all to make our electronic communications as pleasant, pointed, and concise as possible.

alexmillos — 123rf.com