Category: General

They are still out there.

For those who read my blogs, they will know that I am firmly against bullying in business (or anywhere for that matter).  Despite great strides from good HR experts, I note from recent posits on LinkedIn that it is still rife and is still causing trauma and mental health issues. 

See Denise Pickburn’s post.  Over 90% of around 450 that responded to the question said they had experienced bullying in business. The results for those on the receiving end can vary from lack of confidence to significant mental health problems.

Rightly, the focus of such posts is on the effect of bullying on the individual.  However, little is mentioned of the results for the companies involved.  Bullying is not limited to bosses, but they set the ethos and the culture of the company.  Their behaviour sets a precedent that can be adopted by others within their field of influence.  But what are the results?  I suggest these are likely:

• Good employees will leave to go to more caring competitors.
• Those who stay may have lost a level of confidence sufficient for them to believe they would not be considered for employment elsewhere.
• Those who stay may have adopted the same bullying ways and, therefore, are likely to have the same approach to business, in order to survive.
• Those who stay maybe of the same mould as those with bullying ways, i.e. it becomes self-perpetuating.

Bullying in business is often in the form of pressure on the employee to achieve targets at whatever cost to themselves or others.  It requires a ruthlessness that is not natural to most people.  Bullies will target the less confident, as easier prey and less likely to stand up to them.

Those with more confidence are less likely to be employed as they would not respond to the bullies and may even become a threat to them.  Less experienced or generally timid people are perceived as easier to intimidate and control and so are more likely to be the target of the bully. 

I have read a few great posts where the target looks likely to be easy pickings, unfortunately these are often small, young and female, only to find that they have the confidence and bite of a terrier! See Fiona Scott’s recent post for just such a case.

To all confident people: if you see anyone being bullied; if you can, please call them out on behalf of the victim.

When it comes to the Sales Process, the development of the relationship between buyer and seller can be viewed as three distinct actions: Educate, Influence and Persuade.

Just as we have shown that education and influencing can both be positive and ethical, they can also be manipulative and cynical, sadly, the same is true of Persuasion.

Time for the final step: Persuasion

Your influence may have been positive, but that does not automatically lead to a sale.  Countless times I have experienced the response, ‘yes, I see how that can be useful to us, but not just now’.  This could hide a range of thoughts from the prospect, from meaning that they cannot move forward for various practical reasons, or another way of declining without saying ‘no thank you’.  It could be that they have too much going on at the moment.

Whatever their reason, it is up to you how far you press them to find the real reason.  You could take that as a firm no and cross them off the list, but this is potentially a missed opportunity, they have after all said that they can see the benefit.

At the other end of the scale, if you press to hard you can undo all the goodwill you have developed and they may never buy from you. How can you at least keep them interested and possibly persuade them to change their mind?

The first answer is to simply ask them. ‘What is it that’s stopping you using these benefits now?  There are again, a number of ways this can go:

If they say, ‘no money’. Don’t give it away, ask them when they think they could afford it.

If they say, ‘I’m not sure it’s a good fit’, go through the advantages and benefits again.

If they say, ‘too busy’, explain how easy it would be to install/supply/provide and for them to reap the benefits.

Are you coming on too strong?

The key to all this is to know when to stop, when to take no for an answer.  If you have challenged their ‘no’ once or perhaps twice, stop there.  Any more challenges and they will begin to leave the conversation, possibly for good. If you back away it helps to maintain your credibility (you are not desperate!), as long as you agree a frequency of contact in order to keep them warm and to be available when they DO want to place an order.

My preferred tack is to focus on the value and the benefits:

‘When would you like to enjoy these benefits?’

‘What do you lose (or win) by postponing this purchase?’

‘How much could you lose by postponing this by 6 months?’

Adjust the wording for you own products or services. I am sure you understand the principle.

Anyone who delays investing in something of value to them is effectively losing out until they do purchase it from you.  You want to give them this opportunity and to demonstrate how that now they have seen the value, it’s ‘the sooner the better’ for them.

What’s next?

To discover our sales training and coaching packages, see the Salient Sales website or get in touch with us for more tailored options.

When selling, the development of the relationship between buyer and seller may be considered as three distinct actions:

Educate, Influence and Persuade. 

Part 2: Influence

This is the second part of the series. In this blog we will be looking briefly at Influence.

Influence is key to selling, but how do you influence ethically?  Clearly, from the ‘spin’ comments in my previous blog, it is very easy to stray over the line and end up misleading the prospect. ‘Positive Ethical Influencing’, as promoted by Salient, is an approach aimed at maintaining focus on being fair and honest with the customer. 

The way you influence prospects and customers is key to the business relationship you are trying to develop.  This relationship will define whether the customer will buy, and if they do, whether they will come back for more.  Any evidence of exaggeration, hype, misdirection or simple lies will result in nothing coming your way and the likelihood of the door being closed to you for good.  Be careful what you say!

This is not just true of sales, but also of life in general.  What you say and what you don’t say; what you do and what you don’t do, all have consequences.  Sometimes these consequences can be very positive and fulfilling. Likewise, depending on what you say or do, the results can be catastrophic.  Be careful of what you say, and what you do.

Influence plays a great part in life, and in selling particularly.  I have simply scratched the surface here.  I will develop this theme in the future, but in the meantime, beware of misinterpretation or misunderstandings. Never mind business, wars have broken out on the strength of a misunderstanding or unfortunate phrasing.

What’s next?

To discover our sales training and coaching packages, see the Salient Sales website or get in touch with us for more tailored options.

When selling, the development of the relationship between buyer and seller may be considered as three distinct actions:

Educate, Influence and Persuade. 

In this blog we look briefly at Education.

Education is an important start in selling.  Your prospective customers need to know what can be done to fulfil their need and specifically, what you can do for them.  They need to know the facts and it is your job as salesperson, to make sure they have all they need to make an educated decision. 

Can you ‘spin’ it?  Spin used to be a balanced and accepted term meaning a way of describing things with emphasis.  This could be a positive emphasis or spin, or negative, according to how you wished to influence the prospect.  As an example: ‘the car seemed keen to accelerate and be exciting to drive’ has a positive emphasis or spin to it. Alternatively, to say: ‘It was too easy to reach and exceed the speed limit as the accelerator was very sensitive’, paints a more negative picture of the same characteristic.

Spin should be used with care as it is very easy to begin to exaggerate a point to make it in your favour. The ethicality of this is questionable as you are moving quickly from educating to influencing, and likely not in the right way.

Buyers are not idiots.  They are most likely trained to counter spin, misdirection and all pressure selling techniques.  Those in sales that give honest answers and deal fairly with the customers, are the ones most likely to win the available business, both short and long term.

Education is the first of the 3 distinct actions on the development journey between buyer and seller. In the next we will look over Influence. And in the final, we will go over Persuade.

For more tailored sales training and coaching, see the rest of our website or get in touch with us.