The less paranoid may feel you cannot adequately keep the conversation flowing, pay attention, and take notes. That is probably true if you are trying to steer their conversation toward your products. In addition, most salespeople focus only on decision makers, deadlines, and budgets; there is not a lot to remember or jot down.
Given these considerations, do you or do you not take notes? If you plan on writing down specifics of customers’ goals, filters, measurable benefits, and systems of evaluation you should take notes. Explain to customers why you need to accurately record their details. Most people will appreciate your keen interest in what they are saying. Offer to summarize your notes at the end of the call to verify that you did not “miss anything.” This recap affords you the opportunity to build momentum by highlighting their conditional commitments right before you leave.
Use Quick-Entry Sales Management (Q) sheets specifically tailored for your use during MP 1 and MP 2. Think of them as loose-leaf paper with empty boxes on them that you fill out—if you can. You use them to measure, manage, and maximize your sales progress and results. You also use an updated sheet for MP 3: Cement Solution and MP 4: Implement Agreement.
You probably take notes on a loose-leaf pad now, so why not use a better note pad? With Qs, you quickly insert and retrieve information, complement your sales process, and evaluate each call using the same benchmarks. Additionally, show customers a Q sheet before you begin MP 2. Let them know how everything on the sheet helps them and you make well-thought-out decisions on how best to achieve their goals. There is nothing to hide when you work with measurable value. The case study at the end of this chapter illustrates how to use a Q sheet.
Note Generate the appropriate Q sheets with the MP 1: Spark Interest section filled out before you make your MP 2: Measure Potential call on the customers—not afterward. Then complete the blank sections in MP 2 as soon as you can.
You Forgot Something
When you are back at your office trying to fill out your Q sheets, you sometimes find you missed a filter. When you notice a miss, make sure it is not attainment measurement. Find this out before you propose products to avoid any misses. Without the attainment measurements, it is difficult to make your customers’ conditional commitments measurable—and difficult to figure out what it takes for them to say yes.
After reviewing your Q sheets, plan your follow-up questions (review Chapter 5) before you call the customer. The table in Exhibit 6-7 shows how Steven would plan his clarifying questions if he found out that his Q sheet had fluff in it (it doesn’t) and he had to call Olivia back. It is divided into four columns as follows:
Q sheet remarks that lack details or measurable data (in dollars)
Clarifying questions you need to ask to make the data measurable
Reasons why you need to know this information
How you would handle the situation if the customer asked you to explain the reason for your question
Q sheet boxes that lack details or measurable data (in dollars)
Call-back question to seek specifics
Reason for asking the question
Response to the customer asking, “What do you mean?”
Decision Makers: Olivia has final approval if it stays within her budget. Otherwise, she needs to get corporate approval.
What’s involved with getting corporate approval?
Make sure Olivia knows what we need to do if we can achieve her goals, but we go over budget.
Let Olivia know that corporate approval procedures and timing might affect her ability (and yours) to meet her deadlines.
Exhibit 6-7: Call-back questions.
Note As a general rule of thumb, do not call customers unless you have new, relevant information for them. Give them new information before you try to obtain specifics from them. Make the exchange of information mutually beneficial. The customer should end the discussion by saying, “Interesting, I did not know that. Thanks.” (A follow-up question planner can be found at www.measuremax.com.)
Handling Selling Situations with Multiple Decision Makers
You probably have sales opportunities in which you need to find out information from different decision makers. And some situations arise in which different salespeople are working on the same sales opportunities. Each salesperson is probably at a different stage in the process. It is important that you coordinate your efforts and follow one simple rule: Make sure the salesperson dealing with the lowest-level decision maker conducts MP 2: Measure Potential first. Then, you can always verify the requirements of that person’s conditional commitments with the next-highest-level decision maker before conducting MP 2 with that person. For instance, salesperson number one verifies MP 2 information gathered from a gatekeeper with salesperson number two before she starts her MP 2 phase with the advocate.
You want to ensure that you proceed with accurate information. You build momentum by not having to return to a previously completed MP because of inaccurate or incomplete data. Make sure all conditional commitments are accurate. Verify all previously established goals or filters with your contact before starting the third phase of MP 3: Cement Solution.
Regardless of how many salespeople are involved, only one proceeds with product selections to MP 3 and MP 4 with the final decision maker. With gatekeepers and advocates, you still go through all four MPs with them until you reach MPC 4: Agreement Confirmed. Their commitments will not be purchase orders. More likely, they are recommendations, endorsements, and arranged meetings with the FDMs. These agreed-upon MPCs and calls for action by the gatekeepers and advocates signal their support for you to the FDM. Furthermore, you get to use their MPC commitments whether they participate in your meetings with the FDMs or not.
Note Q sheets are especially valuable when there are various buying influences on the same sales opportunity. They record all the necessary information in one location. The more specific the information, the easier it is for you to determine a decision maker’s authority and influence.
Case Study
To illustrate this point about different decision makers, Olivia, for this example only, is now the gatekeeper and advocate, not the final decision maker. Her role is to qualify suppliers’ technical capabilities and then pass their proposals on to Ronald Reuters, the CEO.
Steven Smartsell completes MP 2: Measure Potential with Olivia Ontime. Steven’s sales manager, Bobby Bigticket, is working with Ronald Reuters, the CEO of Positron, and the final decision maker. Steven makes sure his manager reviews a copy of his Q sheet with his MP 2: Measure Potential specifics and conditional commitment from Olivia before conducting MP 2 with the CEO to ensure consistency.
Bobby Bigticket will start his MP 2 meeting with the CEO by restating Olivia’s conditional commitment he received from Steven to verify its accuracy.
Why Care If Customers Understand Their Purchasing Decisions?
You might be questioning the need to invest so much time and effort to ensure that customers understand their purchasing decisions. They are smart enough to know what they want on their own, right? It is easy to understand a mentality of “Who cares why customers make purchases as long as they buy from me.” In both the short and long term, you care because sales are at stake.
You want your customers to buy for the right reasons. You do not want customers to feel their goals were not met. They should be able look back at any time and still be able to measure how your products met or exceeded their expectations. When customers can measure your achievements and their own, they act like long-term customers. Remember from the Introduction that the top-selling salespeople are the ones who have the most long-term customers. Additional sales become easy to obtain from long-term customers when you are in the relationship selling mode. In addition, documented and measurable successes become competitor-proof references to help you earn and win your next sale.
The following page shows how Steven fills out the front page of his Q sheet after completing MP 1 and MP 2 with Olivia. (See Exhibit 6-8.)
Exhibit 6-8: Quick-entry sales management sheet.
Note In this example, Olivia is the gatekeeper, advocate, and final decision maker. She is also the technical, operational, and financial person. If Steven met with her boss, Ronald Reuters, he would verify the data on a copy of this Q sheet to confirm the accuracy of Olivia’s information. He would seek clarification on any differences, note them on Ronald’s Q sheet, and then discuss them with Olivia.
Case Study: MP 1 and MP 2 Business-to-Consumer Transactions
John Peters is a salesperson for Water Heaters Inc. He sells high-efficiency water heaters. Brian Walters is a homeowner who might need a water heater. John Peters will illustrate how to apply the steps of MP 1 and MP 2 in business-to-consumer transactions in which the salesperson must take the lead in suggesting the goals and SOEs. Most consumers are not as technically oriented as businesspeople. After all, their position as homeowner is not a technical one. So, salespeople must also use everyday terms. In addition, commercials and advertisements condition consumers to think in terms of perceived value, emotions, or low price, not measurable value and objective decision making. What a great opportunity for value-driven salespeople!