Are Stories Contagious?

Yesterday I attended a local Chamber lunch which is a great place to hear stories. The speaker representing the holistic health company providing the presentation told the story of an over-the-road truck driver who broke his hip and leg (in two places) after being blown off his rig by a large gust of wind while he tried to tarp his load. This truck driver went to the acupuncturist for treatment with a full leg cast, so the treatment was not provided directly to the areas where the breaks occurred, but he was still able to offer some indirect treatment to this patient. Not only did the patient get relief from some of the pain, but according to the doctor treating this man, he was amazed at the quick rate in which the swelling in the leg subsided after the acupuncture treatment.

The speaker went on to tell success stories about others who were relieved of back pain, leg pain and relief for people who have cold toes or feet. (Having neuropathy and continually cold toes myself, my ears perked up at this story!)

So, why do I tell this story? Because of the order of information in which the speaker decided to present his information and the response from the audience once he told his success stories. Let me explain.

The speaker started out saying he would hope the audience would forgive him as he was not a natural public speaker. This was unfortunate as he really turned out to be quite interesting and his apology was unnecessary. After this opening, he provided some basic information about acupuncture and answered a few most commonly asked questions of those in his profession. For example, he said that no, acupuncture does not hurt and is a pain reliever, not a pain inducer. Think of a salesperson who is a "feature creature" and simply gives product information to a prospective client. The acupuncturist then provided some additional information about his profession before launching into success stories. But here is the thing; the success stories were the most interesting part of the presentation.

That is why I opened this post with the success story he told. If I would have opened this post in the same order as the speaker opened his presentation, you might not have read this far. Don't get me wrong, I am not judging or criticizing the speaker. Public speaking is not something he has been trained in and being in front of a group of people is not something he is asked to do often. As I mentioned, he was quite interesting to listen to. But, I think salespeople can learn from these situations.

For example, the facts he provided at the beginning of his presentation could have been woven into the success stories. Using the examples above, he could have really grabbed the attention of the audience by launching right into the success story about the truck driver and then simply said something like; "and by the way, no, acupuncture treatment does not hurt, especially when you are dealing with the pain of a broken hip and leg!

The stories are really what made the presentation. But this even gets better, and maybe I should have moved this further up the order in this post, as an interesting thing happened when he finished telling his success stories, or what I would call "who I have helped" stories. A lady in the room raised her had and asked if she could tell a story of her spouse who had received relief from pain by receiving treatment from this acupuncturist and of course he said "yes." This was a very compelling story to hear from an audience member. Then to my surprise, the stories continued. Another lady told a story about how her friend had received treatment and relief from pain from a different provider, then there was another similar story told after that. To cap it off, another person told a story about a friend who had a dog that suffered from arthritis and the dog received acupuncture treatment and relief! (If you are a dog lover, you understand!) It was interesting to see how one story generated another story, and another, and another.

We can learn from this in the sales profession. Learn how to tell a good story, one that has a purpose, one that makes a hero of someone else (such as another client you work with) and see if you don't receive a story in kind from your prospect. That is the reason to tell a story in the first place, to get someone else's story. You do need to know how to craft a good story and I suggest the book "What Great Salespeople Do - The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story" co-written by Mike Bosworth. This book will provide you with the road map on how, why and the brain science behind the power of story.

Mr. Bosworth and his affiliates provide training on how to use storytelling as an influence strategy for business executives, salespeople and job seekers. If you would like to learn more, please feel free to contact me at rjs@mblstoryseekers.com

Now, let's see, where are those thin little needles....

Good Selling!

Don't Suffer from Premature Eloboration

"For the first time ever, I am very unhappy with the service I have received from some of your co-workers!" This was the first words out of a customers mouth to me when I happily picked up the phone. He also went on to say, "And I want you to do something about this! This customer was mad. No, more like livid!

So, the first thing I asked was "What happened that made you so unhappy with the service you received?"  He went on to tell me his story about a technical representative who provided  him with answers to some of his questions that he felt were unacceptable and how this person didn't seem to have the time of day for him. Since this was such a disappointing experience, he decided to call his Regional Sales Manager, who reports to me, and how he was very unhappy with the answers he also provided to some of his questions. I asked him to explain further.

This customer went on to tell me that the technical service representative did not know the target market for a new product recently released. He also provided some information that he knew was in error. He was getting no where. Then he contacted the Regional Sales Manager to try and get some of this information. All he received from him was advice that he needed to research the market more before presenting this new product as a solution!

So, I asked him, "Can you please explain to me why you are asking these questions?" He said that he had spoken with some experts in the industry he was approaching and they wouldn't use this new product and that no one in their industry would. Then I asked this irate customer, "Do you get a chance to ask these experts what they do use?" He said that no, he did not. "Did you explore other possibilities as to their needs? His response? "No." I then asked, "Do you know how averse they are to taking risks?" (Which is prevalent in this particular industry, depending on who you are talking to) "No."  I knew I had found the real source of his frustration. He  did not ask the experts the questions he needed to in order to find their needs. I provided him with some information on this industry and how some of these customers might look at this certain situation.  I suggested that the next time he has the chance, please ask these questions and find out what they do use to see if we have a product that can fit their very specialized needs. I then asked him if  he felt this advice answered some of his dissatisfaction and was fortunate to get a positive answer. I advised him to contact the supervisor of the technical service representative to discuss with him the level of service he received from that person as this was not something I would be able to address. I then told him that I would be sure to cover the advice I provided him with the Regional Sales Manager the spoke with. Would this make him happy? He again answered yes.

Now, you might think that this is the end of the story, but I also felt like there was something else, something he wasn't saying. So, I said, "It seems like there might be something else bothering you. Is there something else I can help you with?" He said that before he called in to the technical service representative, he had been contacted by two of his customers with complaints that he found to be unwarranted and did not quite know how to answer. I provided him with some suggestions on how he could answer these two complaints and he voiced his appreciation for this additional advice. You see, sometimes you also have to listened for what is not being said. Follow your instincts and your intuition.

The bottom line? It took me about 20 minutes to diffuse a situation that could have turned ugly if I had become defensive or listened with the intent to respond. I listened with the intent of trying to understand his situation. No judgments, no right or wrong, just to understand what he was experiencing. I could have labeled this customer as a complainer and one that would not take responsibility for his lack of question skills, but what purpose would this have served?

One of the main listening blocks that we all experience is the "being right" block. This is where we feel we have to show someone that we are right, which of course means they are wrong, when listening to their story. Now, you might say that this was not a sales situation, but I would push back on that comment. I had to influence this customer and point them down a path that would not only solve the issues he had, but to help him improve in situations like this in the future without alienating him. That is selling in my book.

If you are across from a prospective client and you offer a solution to their problem before they get their entire story told, you are experiencing what Mike Bosworth, in his book "What Great Salespeople Do-The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story" calls "premature elaboration." If you have enough experience with past customers to see the solution of a prospective customer before they get their entire story told, and you present this solution before they finish, you are experiencing premature elaboration. You can be right, and what my Dad would call being dead right. You will experience the feeling of being right, but the sale will be dead.

Even if, half-way through a sales call,  you have the perfect solution for that client, try to practice artificial patience. What is this? It is where you know you have to be patient enough to get to the end of their story even when you know where it is going to end up. If you do this right, it will end up with a unhappy customer being happy, or a new client signing the agreement.

Good Selling!

How Well Do You Listen? No, Not Glisten, Listen!

An interesting thing happened to me yesterday. I set up a lunch with two friends of mine, let's call them Bill and Ted, that had never met before. The reason for the meeting was simply because it was beneficial for them to meet each other. During this lunch, I did something that I normally have a hard time doing, and that was simply sitting back, letting the two of them carry the conversation so they could get to know each other and do nothing but listen. To let you know how rare this is for me, both of my friends made comments about how quiet I was being during this lunch and they wondered if I was feeling alright. Now, neither of them will be in stand up comedy anytime soon, so I told them just to ignore me and continue their conversation. Sitting back in an observation role was amazing! (I should do this more often to practice my own active listening skills.) The things that you realize about yourself when observing others can be surprising.

What I found was that one friend, Bill, was a much better listener than Ted. When Ted would speak, Bill would be sure not to interrupt. He would sit forward and kept great eye contact with Ted. If he was talking and Ted began to speak over him, he would stop his sentence to listen to Ted. He would nod in agreement when Ted made a point to show that he understood what was being explained.

If Bill was speaking and Ted wanted to have input, he would have a tendency to speak over Bill and cut him off half-way through a sentence. Ted was easily distracted and he would change the topic quickly to something that he wanted to talk about if he wasn't interested in where the conversation was going. He also committed the communication sin of pulling out his cell phone (more than once) and looking at it while Bill was speaking and explaining a point.

Now, don't get me wrong, Ted is a great guy and a very nice person. Bill even called me later to thank me for arranging the lunch and told me how much he liked Ted. I don't think Ted was doing anything that most people meeting for the first time wouldn't do. But, I can tell you who got the most information out of the conversation and that was Bill. He knows much more about Ted than Ted knows about Bill. Bill came across as the more interested of the two. I also happen to know that Bill has had formal training in how to listen and I don't believe that Ted has had this same advantage. After all, only 2% of adults in the United States has had formal training on using listening skills.

So, what is my point? Well, if you want to be a Salutary Sales Pro, you have to know how to listen. Active listening skills, or what Mike Bosworth in  his book, "What Great Salespeople Do - The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story" calls empathetic listening, are extremely important in the world of sales. If you don't know how to listen to what is being said, and to k now how to look for what is not being said, you can't reach the level of a Salutary Sales Pro.
Since I had the advantage of sitting back and simply observing this conversation, I saw a lot of listening inhibitors exhibited by Ted. Let's take a look at just three listening inhibitors that could cause us to miss some sure sales signs from your clients.

Being Right - This is a sure listening inhibitor. We all like to be right and show that we know what we are talking about. But, when I catch myself in this listening inhibiting mode, I think of a statement my Dad made to me (unfortunately in more situations than I care to admit) as a young man. Whenever I was adamant about being right with regard to a certain situation or conversation, he would say to me, "Rob, you're right. You are dead right and let me repeat that for you, you are dead, right. In other words, he was telling me that my desire to be right was taking over my vision as to what each party in the conversation was trying to accomplish. Not the course of action a Salutary Sales Pro wants to take.

Mind Reading - This one is pretty self-explanatory. You believe you know exactly what the other person is going to say, what their point of view is and you allow your mind to wander off to what you are going to have for dinner that night or the fact that you have laundry to do when you get home. Fight this urge! You really don't know where your customer might be going and you will miss important information. The best case scenario is that you realize you have entered this phase and you request they repeat some of the information they have already covered. The worst case scenario is that you miss important information all together.

Expertise - You might be thinking, What? Has Stenberg lost what little mind he had to lose? How can my expertise be a listening inhibitor? When you have seen a great deal of the situations many of your client's experience, you can, and will, have a tendency to cut them off and tell them what they need to do. Mike Bosworth calls this "premature elaboration." In fact, when Neil Rackham conducted the research for the book "Spin Selling" he found that new salespeople for Xerox would hit a sales slump in their 18th month of employment. In fact, he said you could set your watch by it. The reason? After 18 months as a salesperson for Xerox, the salesperson had seen just about all the different situations their customers would experience. Early in their sales career, the salespeople would listen to their prospective client's entire story and even sometimes have to go back to the office to retrieve an answer. But, after 18 months, they had encountered just about every situation they would face in the field. So, they would reflect back to other clients who had similar issues and cut their client off and tell them exactly what they needed to do to fix their issue. Now, the salesperson would not be necessarily wrong with their solution but they would not make the sale. Why? Because their client would not feel they were "felt" and never got to finish their entire story before being interrupted. Also, they did not like to be told what to do. No one does.

So, these are just three examples of listening inhibitors and there are many more. In a Mike Bosworth Leadership Sales Seekers workshop, we spend almost an entire day on the importance of listening, or what we call tending, to the stories of your client. We teach you how to listen and what to listen for. How to listen not only with your ears but with your eyes and with your heart. After all, what good is being a great storyteller if you don't also become great at being a story listener. Getting your customers story is the reason you tell your story in the first place.

Good Selling!