Let’s be honest. We’re not sales people. We don’t have a trained sales person. We are just people who are really really good at what we do. So how do we sell our services?
Today we had a vivid conversation about our elevator speech. Maria, Derrick, and Pinaki had the wonderful opportunity to be an exhibitor at a Johnson & Johnson tradeshow. This gave us the opportunity to practice our sales pitch.
We reviewed our thoughts with the team today and after talking about we came up with this. Some General Rules
Limit your “UM”s to zero or less
Keep eye contact
Smile (this is big)
The objective is to get a follow up meeting
If they look bored switch the conversation and have them talk about themselves
Everyone sells with their own flavor
Adding detail makes what you say more concrete
Limiting words that make you sound unsure will help (words like: about, approximately, etc.)
Be sincere, you are talking to real people and not autonomous robots. If you don’t mean it, don’t say it.
Stay positive, we don’t want anyone to associate something negative to you. “That’s the girl who always complains about her workload”
Here are the major steps:
1. Connect with who you are talking to Depending on the situation, you might want to start off with easy conversation that revolves around something you both share. Yes, the weather, sports, babies, food, travel, house work, are all easy conversations that we have everyday. We want to build a personal relationship with them as opposed to selling to them. We understand that no one likes to be sold to, people don’t really like to be talked to either, people to LOVE being listened to.
2. Listen The goal is to listen twice as much as talk. We’ve heard the adage, “… that’s why God gave us two ears and one mouth”. We want them to feel comfortable, secure, and in a trusted relationship.
3. The Local Wisdom Opening Here we give them some context around who you are, what you do, who you work for, and what your company does. It works something like this:
Hi, I’m [your name here] I work for Local Wisdom We design, develop, and manage websites I [brief explanation of your role] What do you do?
4. Listen Yes, we are listening again. Listen to what they do and open it up for discussion when they say something you can relate to. “Yes, I’ve faced that with IT.” “Yes, getting everyone to agree is tough.”, etc.
5. The Experience of Local Wisdom So, not only do we design and develop websites, but we have some real experience to back it up. Here are some quick facts that always raise eyebrows:
We’ve been in business for 10 years
We’ve been working with Johnson & Johnson for 6 years
We’ve been managing JNJ.com for the last year
Other customers include global companies such as: Berlitz, ELS,
We have 21 employees (half are project-based and the other half are full time consultants managing a portfolio of websites and interactive communications)
We are always at arms reach, located in Somerset, NJ (only 5 minutes up the road from corporate)
6. Listen Learn about their company. Learn about their experience with websites. Learn about how they update their websites. Learn about how they feel about their website. Learn about the last agency they’ve worked with
7. Closing Now, you’ve reached the end of your conversation. One of you has to leave or is uninterested in continuing the conversation. If its the latter, please don’t keep them tied to you, as you are wasting their time. If they are engaged and so are you, plan to meet up. Exchange business cards and let them know you will call them (and tell them when you plan on calling them).
So this is a work in progress. Please please comment and share your thoughts, critique, ideas, and experiences as you talk about us.
YouTube to post full-length MGM films New partnerships put YouTube in more direct competition with Hulu
NEW YORK – YouTube, the largest video-sharing website, will show full-length television shows and films from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s archives in its latest step to boost advertising revenue by adding professional programing, the company told Reuters on Sunday.
As an executive, supervisor, manager or team leader, you make daily decisions about everyone’s workload. Delegation is an excellent management tool to maximize your team’s performance; however, it is a skill that needs to be learned. To help maximize your delegation skills, we have put together 6 tips and 5 core competencies to improve your delegation skills.
6 Tips To Effective Delegation:
1. Give The Person A Whole Task To Do – People prefer to get the job done and not wait for someone else to hand-off a component of it. Likewise, connect everyone who is actively working on the project so they can all see the big picture.
2. Make Sure They Understand Exactly What You Want Them To Do – Take the time to manage expectations so things are done correctly. Establish performance standards with SMART goals. That way, it is crystal clear what and how the task or project needs to be done.
3. Share Your Vision With Them – People like to know what your vision is on a project so share it with them. If they understand the big picture and how the task or project they are delegated fits into that big picture, they are more likely to be committed to it.
4. Set Project Due Dates – Most people need to know due dates so they can effectively manage a project. By setting specific dates and milestones you will help your team better manage a project that has been delegated to them.
5. Give Them The Right Tools – Make sure your team has the right tools to do the job. This can range from computers to software and everything in between.
6. Reward Your Team – Rewarding people for their individual and group performance is a great way to motivate them. Although financial consideration is great, best-in-class leaders find creative ways to reward their team.
Effective Delegation Can Strengthen Any Organization
Delegating tasks not only fosters a team environment but can help individuals increase their level of performance. Doing so, you will find individuals increasing their responsibility, leadership skills and project management skills. Plus, it’s an excellent way for them to feel important to your organization.
The 5 Competencies To Help Maximize Your Delegation Skills Are:
1. Make Your Team Accountable – Leaders who delegate well demonstrate personal responsibility and hold everyone accountable for organizational outcomes.
2. Human Resource Management – Leaders who delegate well make sure there are resources available to meet the team’s goals and objectives.
3. Solid Interpersonal Skills – Leaders who delegate well build solid relationships of trust and respect inside and outside the organization.
4. Leveraging Diversity – Leaders who delegate well find ways to leverage capabilities, insights and ideas across diverse cultures, styles and ability.
5. Strong Leadership – Leaders who delegate know how to enhance their organization’s value, while tapping into their team’s skills and abilities, to help achieve the desired results.
SUMMARY – Effective delegation is all about sharing the workload, with the added bonus of developing skills and responsibility in others. A leader not only needs to look at the “final result” but also who worked, who didn’t work and what they should do differently next time. The 6 tips and the 5 competencies above will not only help you achieve a work-life balance but also become more productive.
“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” –General George Smith Patton, Jr.
If you want to find out more about how Dale Carnegie’s® Competency Based Development Solutions can make your business more effective, or need more information on this subject, please contact us.
Anita Zinsmeister, President Dale Carnegie® Training of Central and Southern NJ (609) 324-9200 success@dalecarnegie.com www.southjersey.dalecarnegie.com
