Welcome to the Whole Brain Selling Blog

Almost every one of Ray’s Rules are about the Research Phase of the Sales Funnel® because it is the most important phase. The presentation can lose the deal but not win it. The presentation should be to confirm what was already agreed to in research. Having said all that, here are six suggestions on giving a presentation that won’t lose the sale:

1. Use the 3-1-2 method, which means begin with the end in mind. People remember most what you say last so write your close first (3). Make sure it is compelling and incorporates the DBM (Dominant Buying Motive) with a call to action. If you only memorize one thing, make it the close.
2. Next write your opening (1). It sets the stage and should engage the audience (could be a committee or one person) immediately. The best way to open is with a great resonating statement that creates an immediate connection with the audience.
3. Restate the WITY and get confirmation that there has been no change in criteria. If you are unfamiliar with the WITY, refer to chapter seven in the book "Success Secrets Of The Sales Funnel." A future "RULE" will be on the WITY.
4. Deliver the body of the presentation (2) in the exact order of the WITY criteria.
5. Have your committee champion (I know you wouldn’t be giving a presentation without having at least one champion on the committee) ask a question about a topic that makes you look good.
6. Practice your presentation until you are 100% comfortable with it. Most salespeople do not practice and it shows. In the end, it is all about execution and you cannot execute under pressure unless you practice.

Always try to use your prospect’s business model to explain the value of your product/service. If I am talking to a prospect that is a Six Sigma company and they are trying to get my price down, I use the value triangle and compare it to the Six Sigma
criteria.

If they are number one in their industry and I am number one in mine, but they are considering a small local provider, then I ask them, “Why are you number one?” The answer is always that they are the best at what they do. Then I say, “That is exactly why
we are number one.

If they have low priced competitors that buy business I ask, “Why does the competition feel the need to lower their price when they are competing with you?” The answer is always “Because we are better and the only way they can sell against us is to lower their price.” What do you think my next comment will be?

You got it! Now use it.

What do Napoleon Hill, Norman Vincent Peale, and Earl Nightingale, have in common other than being dead? They all believed in the power of positive thinking, which is something in short supply these days.

The phrases; “You become what you think about,” “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve,” “Think and grow rich,” all tell us that success starts with a thought and the act will follow. Not the other way around. In my own personal quest for the secret to success, I would ask people how they became successful and I could only find one common denominator. Winners see an opportunity and think, “What if this works?” and the masses see an opportunity and think, “What if this fails?”

Do you see this economic downturn as an opportunity or as a disaster? Winners see this as an opportunity to increase market share and eliminate weak competitors. Bargains abound everywhere but consumers are saving more and spending less. Do you see a self-fulfilling prophecy here? The more we worry about the economy slowing down the more we help it slow down.

I know it is easy for me to say as my business is booming. But this was not always the case. Forty years ago I went through what many of you are experiencing now. I lost my job. My wife and I divorced and she took my kids. My car broke down on the side of the
road and was towed away as an abandoned vehicle. It doesn’t get much worse than that. Luckily I met Linda, my wife of thirty seven years. She did for me what I could not do for myself. She believed in me. Every day she would say to me “Remember how far you
have come. You can do anything.” Slowly, I began to believe it and success followed. But it started with the belief that it would turn around. The turn around did not precede the belief.

Start each day with a winner’s mindset. Expect to make that sale. Expect good things to happen and refuse to participate in the recession.

Quite often, especially in this economy, salespeople and companies enter into a contract that cuts their margins so low that every time they work on that contract they get angry.

I had a client that complained that he made no profit on his biggest customer. Then why do it? How many of you have a customer that you wish you did not have? I ask that question in every sales course I teach and every hand goes up. That customer generates
the lowest profit, requires the most service, and does the most damage to your reputation.

The next time you are negotiating with a prospect and he says the other guy will do it cheaper, resist the temptation to drop your price.

Here is a tip to help you. If the prospect wanted the other competitor’s service he would have already bought it. What they really want is your product or service at the other guy’s price or they would not be trying to get you to match the other guy’s
price. Go back and review Ray’s Rule on “The Value Triangle” to help you justify your price.

Conversely, never negotiate a contract with a supplier that they will be angry to fulfill. Why, you may ask? The answer is simple. Do you want someone installing your insulation, serving your food, fixing your car, or teaching you how to sell to be angry with you while they are performing any of those duties?

There are always two answers to every question; the one we want, and the one we do not want. Most salespeople are prepared for the one but not the other. In my training classes we do role plays and I act as the customer. When a salesperson asks me a question, I often give him the answer he does not want in order to see what he or she will do. Most of the time, the salesperson is at a total loss for words, or worse yet, gets angry and starts to argue with my answer.

Selling is like a chess match. You must think ahead. You must predict what may happen, including what you do not want to happen. Imagine playing chess and making a move and then waiting to see what your opponent will do before you think of your next move. You would never win a match. Salespeople that do not plan for all possible scenarios have a lower closing average than the salesmaster that has thought of all the possible answers to his or her questions and has developed a strategy to deal with them. For example, consider the Salesperson who asks “If I can get my price down to the other quote you received, will I get your business?” only to have the Prospect reply “No!”

As I have said many times, all of Ray’s Rules were developed after I lost a deal. This particular rule was developed after a very painful loss. I was meeting with a CEO of a very large company and I asked him the following question, “What people problems are you experiencing that are preventing you from achieving your goals?” His answer? “None!” I was flabbergasted. I was totally unprepared for his answer. Don’t let that happen to you. When you ask your prospect a question, make sure you are prepared for the answer you do not want and watch your income soar.

I received a call the other day from a client that told me he was about to enter a meeting with a very important prospect and he was a little apprehensive about his strategy. After he explained to me what he had already done and what he was about to do, it was clear to me that he had done a wonderful job of selling the prospect. This meeting was a negotiation, not about selling. I told him that the prospect would ask him for one final concession, because he knew that salespeople are always nervous about losing the sale, and will give something away at the last minute to “save” the deal. I told him to preempt the prospect by praising his negotiating skills and tell the prospect that he had already made more concessions than with any other client. He called back an hour later and said that he had contract in hand without making any more concessions. But that is not the point.

Make it a policy to run your strategy by someone that has no emotional connection to the decision. I could give him the proper strategy because I was not emotionally attached to the decision. That gave me a clarity that he did not have because he was too close to the deal and his emotions were clouding his judgment. If the roles were reversed he probably could have done the same for me.

The bigger the deal, the more important it is to get an unemotional analysis from someone that is not attached to the deal. By definition, that cannot be you.