Einstein was afraid that technology might outrun our humanity. Not sure he was talking about email and info overload, but his concern certainly applies in high stakes communication situations.

Technology has us all rushing around working faster and faster. Time to think has been lost.  In a business world of increasing complexity, commoditization of offerings, and limited attention spans, failure to push back and protect your time to think can be fatal to your bottom-line.

Here are two examples of how  failure to think strategically results in an inability to execute brilliantly.

In Presenting… I see people failing to think in these basic, but critical, areas:
1.     What is the clear, crisp, memorable message I want to leave with my listeners?
2.     What is the specific appropriate next step I want from my listeners?
3.     What are the best ways to visually support what I am saying?
Poor strategic thinking leads to confusion, longer sales cycles, and/or no sale.

In Negotiating… I see people failing to think in these, again, basic, but critical, areas:
1.      What will I ask for, what will I accept, what will I walk away from?
2.      What can I trade to prevent deadlock?
3.      What does the other side need to feel good about our agreement?

Poor strategic thinking here leads to weakened relationships, money left on the table, or no deal when one was possible.

Slow Down. You Move Too Fast… Years ago, before our current tech info deluge, I used to say, laughingly, to seminar attendees, “Engage mind before mouth.” Now, I say that in total seriousness. The stakes are too high to waste those precious face-to-face opportunities you have with clients. Think first. Execute second.

Anne Miller

P.S. Did you know that when you work and constantly interrupt yourself to answer a phone, respond to the ping of an email, or jump from proposal to proposal that it takes you about 17 seconds to re-focus yourself on your task? Multi-tasking is a myth. You can only concentrate with complete focus on one item at a time (Try talking on the phone and watching TV with EQUAL attention. You can’t do it.) If you want to be more productive, give yourself permission to finish one activity before jumping to the next.

Guest Blog: Think Strategically. Execute Brilliantly. is a post from: SharonDrewMorgen.com

You think you know what your problem is. But you don’t know what it is. And that is a problem!

Whenever I work with sales teams I will ask them what their sales process is. They’ll usually say something like ‘lead generation, meet with prospect, identify the problem, propose a solution, keep pushing (and offering more “value”) until they decide.’

Though there is something inherently wrong with that whole process, the problem I’d like to talk about today is “problems” themselves.

The Salesperson’s Problem

Today salespeople are being pushed hard by their companies. They have to deliver ever increasing sales quotas with less and less support. So they fear wasting any time with a prospect.

To that end, when they get into the “identify the problem” stage of the sales process they look for the first “problem” the client presents, at which point the salesperson kicks out a solution-proposal and is off to the next appointment.

Will they win most of the proposals they put out there? No. in fact they will get anywhere from 5% to 15% if they are lucky. Such low closing ratios only increase the belief that they need to see “more prospects”.  After all with such miserable ratios, how else are they supposed to make quota?

The Problem with Solving Problems

But let’s step back and look at this logically. The client obviously had the salesperson in because they believed that the salesperson could help them solve a problem. And the client will ultimately buy (or do) something to solve a problem. So, was the problem with the solution offered OR was the problem with the “problem” itself?

As I tell my clients, “people’s biggest problem is that they don’t know what their biggest problem is.” This means that the problem people tell you up front is not the deep problem they need or even want to solve.

A Story about Problems and Levels

A few years ago I was meeting with an HR manager. After we had built some rapport we began to discuss the problems of the company. She said their biggest issue was “turnover.”

“Turnover” is what I call a “Level One problem”. It is generic and meaningless. It describes a current result, not the real problem of the company and certainly not the real problem of the HR Manager. However, most salespeople would try to sell a “turnover” solution at this point…and they’d get shot down.

The Problems beneath the Surface

In this case “turnover” acted like one of those Russian nesting dolls (one inside the other) that held all of the deeper problems and kept them out of sight. In order to determine a useful solution for the HR Manager I had to open the “doll” and see the deeper problems.

I discovered that a deeper problem was the fact that they were suffering a large turnover in their mid-level managers. The average staying time of a newly hired mid-level manager was 18 months.

We were now at a Level Three or Four Problem.

As I continued, I found out that it cost $60,000 to hire each Manager, $25,000 to train them, and $150,000 to compensate them annually. This meant they were out $310,000 each time a manger left. And they had lost 12 managers a year for the last two years. A net loss of $7,440,000.

We were now at a Level Five or Six Problem.

Picking Apart the Problem Pile

The work teams in the company were built around these managers. Each time a manager left there was chaos in the team. There was also a lack of faith on the part of the team members every time a new manager was assigned to them.

This chaos and loss of faith had created a 10% drop in productivity in the teams, which meant a 10% drop in profitability. This equated to a $14,000,000 loss for them.

We were now at a Level Seven or Eight Problem.

The loss of productivity and profitability had lost them customers and, ultimately, led to them dropping from second place in their market to a distant fourth.

The Real Problem

We were at the Level Ten Problem for the company. However, I still had to get to her Level Ten Problem, so I kept asking questions.

Finally, I learned that they had already done two rounds of layoffs in the company.

The HR manager knew if things didn’t change soon there would be more layoffs. She realized her staff, all of whom were paid significantly less than she was, could cover her work if she was gone, so she knew she’d be gone in the next round of layoffs.

She was a single-mom of two boys, and she couldn’t afford to lose her job.

Now we were at her Level Ten Problem.

A New POV on the Problem

From this new vantage point, level ten versus level one, I was able to see a much bigger picture of what was going on, and the HR manager also had a new perspective. This allowed us to have a completely different conversation then she had with any other salesperson she’d spoken to and it allowed me to offer a different solution, which was accepted with little effort.

The moral here is that no one, not even you, knows what their “real problem” is. It takes an outsider with the curiosity, compassion and, most importantly, patience to help us see it.

So, forget about trying to meet with 10 prospects so you can propose 10 solutions to 10 problems. Instead focus on one prospect and take their “problem” 10 levels deep.

—–

Erik Luhrs is the author of BE DO SALE and the creator of The GURUS Selling System.

Guest Post: You know what your problem is? is a post from: SharonDrewMorgen.com

Anne Miller will tell you how to do it – and do it right. With grace and brilliance, Anne tells stories that will teach you how to say what the buyer wants to hear, in the way s/he wants to hear it.

Her new book “Make What You Say Pay!” is chock full of  stories and Take-Away tips to help you say the right thing at the right time.

According to Anne (and I believe her), the book (and Anne’s coaching and training) will show you how to ”increase business success multiple times over using the power of metaphor to cut through clutter, confusion and complacency.” Here is a link to 2 free chapters of the new book: www.makewhatyousaypay.com

Your friends and clients will welcome the chance to see how easy it can be to create a world of livelier and more profitable business conversations for themselves.

 There’s even a story about my Pick-up-Sticks metaphor that I use when explaining to sales folks where in the organizational structure their ‘problem’ lies (Hint: it’s the black one.).

Read the free chapters and then go buy the book. And then write me and thank me — after you send Anne a kiss. Tell her I told you to do it.

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Anne Miller is the Queen of the Metaphor! is a post from: SharonDrewMorgen.com

My jacket designer (Michael Warrell of Design Solutions) assured me (before he called his lawyer and stopped talking to me) that it was all circumstantial, but when anyone looks at the two books together, it seems they are almost identical: same color, same lettering, same typeface and size of type face, same basic layout, same envelope theme. If it was circumstantial, it was an act of God.

Indeed, it looked as if Michael had done a search, liked the design of Seaman’s jacket, and slightly adapted it. And, given that our titles are so similar, the books look so similar they could be mistaken for being part of a series.

I was in a panic. I had just spent 5 months of 17-hour days writing my new book, and 2 months of doing 1-1 marketing, writing blogs and guest blogs, doing interviews and being interviewed, to create a pretty professional launch week. I had cajoling discussions with Amazon to delay fulfillment of their pre-sale orders until THE LAUNCH DATE. I had books here, ready for fulfillment for non-U.S. orders. Indeed: I was ready for success. Ready for the next day. Was there going to be a Next Day?

SCRAP THE LAUNCH?

Did I have to scrap my marketing? Start again with a new jacket design? It felt like it was going to be a train wreck, and I felt I couldn’t stop the train a day before the big launch date. It was an ethical dilemma: I wasn’t responsible for the jacket design, having trusted my professional designer to give me a fresh design and not even considering the possibility that the jacket might have been ‘borrowed.’

And yet, and yet, I was responsible. Was I supposed to have researched other jacket designs? In my haze of writing around the clock and choosing a jacket design in the middle of writing, I guess it never occurred to me to not trust my designer and do some research on my own. At the end of the day, the buck stopped with me. It seemed I had trusted the wrong person.

I wrote Dave Seaman a note immediately, and he had his publishing house contact me. Needless to say, there was a mess that ensued for days. Should I pull the book? Didn’t seem to be an option. Sue the jacket designer? I got a legal note from his lawyer denying any culpability but offering me a settlement to not sue (and they didn’t even pay me the settlement fee!). I couldn’t reach Seaman to discuss, and I was leaving for Australia.

Two friends/colleagues showed up to help: Eric Wolf of Gravity Free Radio, and Stone Payton of The High Velocity Radio Show, both sent Seaman a note suggesting some interesting ideas: get me and Seaman on the radio to do a program on Dirty Little Secrets in Marketing and Sales. They figured we might as well make lemonade, and help each other sell books.

In the end, it all seemed to work out: Seaman and I are supporting each other and have decided not to make it a legal hassle. But it could have turned ugly for sure.

When publishing houses do a jacket design, they have internal folks who do it. But as a self-publishing author (for this book, anyway), here is my question: how does a client know to trust a vendor? How would I have averted this problem? How would I have thought to NOT trust my book jacket designer (given the odds that just maybe he was influenced by Seaman’s jacket design while doing research for ideas for me)?

Given that in this day and age, everyone seems to be borrowing everyone else’s material (someone recently sent out electronic copies of my ebook to her team after purchasing one copy, then contacted me to help her discuss the book during a conference call. In our discussion – and she was quite lovely and excited about the book - she said she wanted to stay in integrity and thought that maybe she was in the ‘gray zone’ from sending out copies she hadn’t paid for, finally recognizing the integrity in actually purchasing copies for each person). For some reason, people seem to think that because a book is an ebook that it’s legally possible to send copies without paying for them. Would they make copies of a physical book? Of course not.  And the difference is….. what?

Here is a rule: don’t copy anyone else’s material, either as a design or a book. It took us a while to realize that musicians should get paid for their music. I hereby request 1. jacket designers come up with fresh designs, and 2. that people pay for each copy of an ebook you buy and do not share it unless it’s paid for. We authors would like to get paid for our IP also.

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Integrity in Book Publishing is a post from: SharonDrewMorgen.com

Selling with Integrity was my nascent attempt to explain the idiosyncratic way buyers buy behind-the-scenes, and our jobs as sellers to serve them by being neutral navigators, GPS systems, and decision facilitators. But I wasn’t that clear, and I ended up writing about our spiritual values and how we, as sales professionals, can actually use our positions to actually lead buyers through their own criteria and values. I actually wrote several articles with titles such as ‘The Seller as Servant-Leader.’ Indeed, an article with that title was the most requested reprint from Leadership Excellence magazine.

It is with great joy that I am now seeing the words ‘selling with integrity’ all over the net these days. Sure, twelve years after my book came out, but now in the publish consciousness nonetheless. It is with dismay, however, that I hear the words being used as part of the ‘sales’ effort – how to gather data nicely, really CARE about a client. In other words, same-old same-old with a NICE twist.

At no point have I seen any focus on the other part of the decision process that buyers must address before they can consider making a purchase – those sniggly, private, silly, political, relationship-based, confusing, and definitely confounding steps that they must take off-line before being in a position to actually make a purchase choice. Sales doesn’t handle this, and so we’ve sat and waited, pitched and Tweeted, developed strategic content and white papers, designed SPIN and trust-values-relationship-question-based selling models to do all we can to make a sale. All, of course, to mitigate the truth: sales gives us absolutely no way to control or influence whatever the hell is going on within the buyer’s buying system behind-the-scenes — and without us. So now we’re calling it ‘selling with integrity.’

I’d like us to consider going back to the original meaning of my title: by actually becoming a neutral navigator, by having the skills to be a decision facilitator, by truly leaving behind sales until the buyer has managed all of their internal crazy stuff  (the old vendor appears, a partner wants to take over the initiative, one of the department heads threatens to quit if they choose you as a vendor, etc.) and is ready to make a purchase and ensure stability within their system. I’d like you all to consider that there are actually two parts to a buying decision, and sales gives us hundreds of tools to help with the info-gathering, solution-placement part…. and none to help with the behind the scenes part.

I’d like you to consider that ‘selling with integrity’ might mean adding a new skill set to what you are doing and making it your job to wait with the sales skills, and instead SERVE the buyer by having no bias or intent around solution placement, and instead be the gentle, off-line laser or GPS system that leads the path through the internal decision issues. It’s not the sales model you’re used to (see my new book that discusses this www.dirtylittlesecretsbook.com). But it’s ‘selling with integrity.

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Selling with Integrity is a post from: SharonDrewMorgen.com

I have longed for this moment. Worked hard, hoping that the silence and resistance, doubt and annoyance I’ve experienced since the 80s (and sometimes still do), would someday open to change. As my old mentor Willis Harmon (the beloved futurist who started Institute of Noetic Sciences and wrote the book Global Mind Change in 1990) used to tell me, “Sharon Drew! You can’t get there from here!” And I knew he was right – I just didn’t know what to do about it. So I did the only thing a cockeyed optimist knows how to do – keep the faith, keep writing and speaking, and trust that some day I’d make myself heard. On my desk I used to have a large sign that read: “Behind every might oak was a nut that held its ground.” I was almost proud to be the nut. But the truth was, I didn’t know how to do anything else.

But now, it seems as if it’s happened, that the world is ready and I have a place in it. Someone recently asked me if I was proud of the contribution I”ve made (‘You weren’t ahead of the curve – you MADE the curve.”). I realized that I’m not proud. But I sure am relieved. How fortunate I am to know that my life has made a difference.

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Is the world ready for a new sales model? Yes! is a post from: SharonDrewMorgen.com

Folks who are just starting out using the internet as a social networking tool have lots of choices. Geert offers you many of the possibilities, the ups and downs of each, what they look like, what you need to do, and great stories to learn from. One of the best features of the book are the personal stories he recounts.

One surprise for me: I opened the book and there I was! My picture and an article I’ve written about sales and the new economy! Fun stuff.

Here is a link to Geert’s book:  Have a look, and enjoy.

What is a Pro-Active Networker – and how does he do it? is a post from: SharonDrewMorgen.com

If you do business writing to help you get business, this is a good book to have handy. Not only does it walk you through every single aspect of every single thing you need to do to be successful, it also gives you definitions, examples, illustrations, summaries, tips, warning, charts, to-do lists – everything that you’ll need to do a good job.

For those of you who are already using Buying Facilitation™ the book focuses on conventional sales strategies (I’m convinced I’m going to get Neil to include something about how Buying Facilitation™ shifts the direction and focus of proposals to include how to influence the behind-the-scenes non-solution-related decisions), you’ll need to add some Facilitative Questions, and do your up-front work differently. But the basics are all here in detail and with great clarity.

What’s so interesting about this book is how it breaks apart everything you need to do and actually helps you think through how to do it: how to brainstorm, how to edit, how to do mind maps. For those of you who resist writing, or who have a hard time, or who do a lot of business writing and could use some additional tips, or for those just starting out, pick up a copy of this book. It’s one of those you should keep on your shelf.

http://howtowriteproposals.com/

sd

Business Writing: How to Write Like a Pro AND Get the Deal is a post from: SharonDrewMorgen.com

I’m proud to announce the launch of my seminal work, my most prized issue (after my wonderful son, of course), and the gift I am here to offer. In this book, I think I’ve finally found the voice to do that – to write about change, and decisions and serving. It’s taken a few books to get here, but I believe I’ve finally learned how to say what has been in my head for decades.

This book is good. I’ve said what I wanted to say. I am proud that I wrote it. And now it’s yours to enjoy.

Writing this book – like writing any book – is a journey. Along the way, I met some amazing people and made many, many new friends. I’ve made one or two enemies, had one or two arguments, learned to love a handful of interesting people of all ages, began collaborations with new people and companies and partners. I’ve cried and screamed, giggled and passed out from exhaustion. And it’s been a helluva ride, more than with any other book I’ve written.

I now pass it over to you. Please enjoy it, start conversations about it, write about it, and use what’s in it to serve others and create the collaborations that will help the world heal.

This book is seemingly a ‘sales’ book, but the systems/change material in the book is applicable in any relationship or change process. Please let me know what you think, or contact me with (simple) questions (I can’t answer the harder ones with brief emails. Sorry.). Together, we can bring in new skills into sales, and figure out, together, new ways to use the material – in technology that makes decision choices more available, or in recruitment to make sure both candidate and company know for certain, how to hire the exact right person, or questionnaires to gather the consumer’s criteria rather than just information, or… What fun is that!

Thank you all for your care and your respect over the past few months. You’ve read while I’ve played in the rain in Scotland, wanted to do bad things to my proof reader, introduced you to colleagues, and danced with my shoes off. And I’ve possibly offered a few cogent ideas occasionally. Now you get to read the results of my work during that time. And now it will be a great joy to stay in touch as I move to a personal ’implementation stage’ and go back again to training folks in how to DO Buying Facilitation™, give some keynotes…. or whatever!

Let’s not lose touch. Let’s keep the dialog going about this unchartered territory outside of the sales purvue. Let’s change our expectations of what’s necessary and possible. Let’s put the new material into the ‘typical’ set of sales skills and change the field. In fact, why don’t we just set about to change the world.

And then I can keep having fun! Enjoy!

Sample Chapters | www.dirtylittlesecretsbook.com
Testimonials | Table of Contents | Purchase Book

Consider purchasing the bundle: Dirty Little Secrets plus my last book Buying Facilitation™: the new way to sell that influences and expands decisions. These books were written to be read together, as they offer the full complement of concepts to help you learn and understand Buying Facilitation™ - the new skill set that gives you the ability to lead buyers through their buying decisions.

Currently Amazon.com is not selling books outside of the US, but we are fulfilling all non-US orders here.

“Dirty Little Secrets: why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what you can do about it” is a post from: SharonDrewMorgen.com

An answers for those of you who have asked how this book differs from some of my other books, and then I’ll give you 3 more ‘secrets.’

This book is very very different from Sales on the Line, Selling with Integrity and Buying Facilitation™. While those books talk about the buying decision process as being separate from the sales process and introduce some new skills, none of my previous books delve into exactly, EXACTLY what happens behind the scenes. I have thoroughly explained

• how systems maintain dysfunction and don’t want to change – and what they need to do to unlock possibilities (and how you can help);
• how the behind-the-scenes political and relationship issues are a far bigger indicator of purchasing p0ssibilities than need;
• the 10 steps to a buying decision (any kind of decision for that matter), and how to help influence them as an Outsider;
• the three phases that all decisions go through.. proving that buying is NOT an emotional decision but very very rational (even if we don’t agree with their decision);
• the problems closing sales using Sales 2.0 and how to mitigate them;
• the new Buying Facilitation™ model (you might want to get the bundle from my site and buy this book as the companion to the new one - www.buyingfacilitation.com), how it differs from sales, and the new skills and tools to tack on to sales to help influence the buying decision;
• very details Case Study that shows the behind-the-scenes details of a purchasing decision, and how to move a buying decision from a 36 week close to a 12 week close – and be part of the Buying Decision Team.

Now: here are 3 more ‘dirty little secrets’ from my new book. Enjoy. And BUY IT TOMORROW!

11. Information doesn’t teach people how to make a buying decision. Learning details of our solution is the last thing buyers need.

Sales has focused on having the solution to meet the need. As a result, sellers spend time and effort honing the appropriate messages for their pitches, presentations, and marketing. But buyers don’t know what to do with the data that early on in their decision process because they haven’t managed their buying criteria yet.

Now we can help buyers discern all of their decision criteria and buying criteria. When it’s time to pitch or present, we can massage our message to fit with the buying criteria and values.

1. Sales focuses on solution placement and has no skill set to help buyers maneuver through their off-line, internal, behind-the-scenes planning and decision making that must take place before they can buy.

It is impossible for any change to happen (including a purchasing decision) unless a system has identified the elements that need to buy in to the change. Our current sales model has ignored this invisible challenge since its inception. Rather than realize that a piece was missing, it instead builds in assumptions that maintain its status quo, provides work-arounds to manage the fall-out of the onedimensional approach, and accepts low close ratios.

Now we know all of the elements involved in how buyers buy, and can help them manage both ends of their decision making and change management. We can close sales in half the time since we will be severely shortening the buying decision cycle.

6. Until buyers have managed their internal systems, they have limited ability to use the solution information you would like to give them.

We’ve never been taught all of the issues that need to be managed before a buying decision can happen. Our buyers haven’t known that either. As a result we have unwittingly focused on solving their problem, giving them vast amounts of data about our solution, and have not realized that buyers haven’t known what to do with that data until later on in their buying decision process.

Now we can help buyers discover their systems and change management issues, and help them figure out their buying criteria that will match the values of their system.

8. Helping buyers maneuver through their buy-in and systems issues require a different focus and a different skill set from the one sales offers.

The typical sales scenario overlooks the systems issues that must seek homeostasis. Focusing on our solutions, we’ve created the rejections, the objections, the long delays, and the ‘dumb’ decisions. Not to mention the abysmal closing ratio of under 10% (from first prospecting call).

Now we have the skills to enter the buying decision end of the equation without bias and as a decision facilitator. We can help the buyer focus first on finding all of the right people, discovering the historic precedents, changing the rules, and getting buy-in so they can all figure out what needs to happen to achieve excellence.

——

Did the book provoke you? Excite you? Anger you! Cool beans! Let the discussion begin!

sd

Listen to Sharon Drew Morgen speak on MaestroConference on Oct. 14 at 12P.M. PST

Check out my new book coming out October 15: Dirty Little Secrets: why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what to do about it. Read two free chapters. Pre-purchase the book or buy the bundle.

Or consider purchasing the bundle: Dirty Little Secrets plus my last book Buying Facilitation™: the new way to sell that influences and expands decisions. These books were written to be read together, as they offer the full complement of concepts to help you learn and understand Buying Facilitation™ - the new skill set that gives you the ability to lead buyers through their buying decisions.

“Dirty Little Secrets” launches tomorrow: 3 more secrets unveiled is a post from: SharonDrewMorgen.com