Showmanship In Sales
Tricky area in sales, showmanship. The word has a certain odor about it that reeks of fake, duplicity, con game, spruker, carnival barker, etc. Yet, like storytelling, this is an important part of the sales professional’s repertoire. Clients are card carrying members of the Great Guild Of Skeptics. They are highly doubtful about salespeople’s claims. We need to bring some powerful persuasion techniques to the fore.
Just making a statement is not going to do it. “This widget will improve your revenue by 15%”, is a statement whose veracity buyers question or worse, just ignore as fluff from salespeople. Having a need and doing something about it, are not the same thing for buyers. Everyone would welcome a 15% increase in revenues, but that doesn’t mean clients are going to take up our widget to enjoy the gain.
They have to be convinced and how do we convince them? We might offer a trial or a demonstration. We might marshal testimonials from satisfied buyers. We might provide data from independent studies, that back up our claims and assertions. All good stuff, but how do we make sure we can break through the wall of disinterest, doubt and distraction. This is where showmanship comes in.
This isn’t making up information to snow the buyer or doing a bait and switch, between what they think they are getting and what we actually deliver. This means using our communication skills to highlight the key points that will persuade the buyer, that what we are offering will help them and is in their best interests. What we say has to be true, but we don’t need to say it in a flat, lifeless, mundane or boring way.
When we offer to sell something, it has a cost associated with it. There is a difference between cost and price though, which may not be apparent to the buyer. They use the terms interchangeably. We as sales professionals should never use either word if possible. We should be talking about the investment. If price as a term comes up, we need to show the difference between price, a one time exchange and cost, which is a long term calculation.
If you buy something today with a cheaper price, how do you judge the value when you have to keep replacing it, because of some fault or defect? The real cost is the money you paid, plus the time you have lost, plus the opportunity cost of not being able to do something more beneficial with your lost time, plus the transportation impost required to go back and get a new one, plus the frustration and stress incurred. Now we salespeople know this, but are we communicating this to the buyer in an effective manner? Are we using showmanship to pile of the elements of the real costs of making a mistake by buying our competitor’s item, because it seems cheaper than ours?
Showmanship would involve using persuasive word pictures to draw out the scene of the client becoming frustrated when the cheaper model broke down, destroying the moment at hand or the lost opportunity it should have provided. It would include talking about having to lug the item back to where it was purchased and then wasting valuable time hanging around to get served.
Maybe describing the annoyance of having to line up to take a number or sit on a hard, uncomfortable bench or getting tired legs, because you have to stand. It would mean describing the opportunity cost of how that irreplaceable time was being spent on a totally unnecessary, useless task, at the expense of higher priority, more valuable items. We should be raising pertinent questions about how costly their time and focus are and mention the complete irritation of the interruption to their day.
Showmanship may involve the use of mathematics to reduce a cost down to a comparison where the purchase amount isn’t that substantial, when amortised over time. The price consideration is in the now, but the cost can be strung out across years. This makes the additional cost of our widget seem reasonable and more convincing as a wise decision. If our purchase price is three times the competitors, but because of the value we provide, the financial returns will be better by ten times when measured over the next five years, then the original price objection becomes weaker in the mind of the buyer. Clients can understand investing for the future, but we have to use the right word pictures to draw that out, so that it is pertinent and relevant to the buyer.
A favourite example of showmanship is the car tyre puncture repair story. This is used to illustrate to salespeople the importance of showmanship, when explaining choices of action versus no-action to clients. As mentioned before having a need to buy and buying are not always well paired together in the mind of the client. The example of the gas stand is used, where the service attendant notices the front left hand tyre of the car has a slow leak and offers to fix the puncture in 10 minutes. The client refuses the offer, because they are in a hurry and drive off.
The same scenario is used again, but this time the attendant employs some word pictures and showmanship. Now let me make a very key point here. The example must be a true and not some fiction dreamed up by the sales manager to con clients to get more sales.
So the attendant says:
“Mr. Customer, I notice your front left hand tyre has a slow leak. We can repair that puncture in 10 minutes”.
The client refuses, because they are too busy to spend the ten minutes repairing the leaking tyre. At this point the attendant doesn’t simply let the buyer leave, but says instead:
“Previously, we had another customer here with the same issue – a slow leak in their tyre. Unfortunately they were also too busy to fix it. We saw a report later on the nightly news about a terrible accident.
Apparently that same car tyre blew out while they were on the highway. It caused the car to flip and roll over three times. We saw the tangled mess of what was left of the car from the television station’s helicopter video. It was total tragedy.
The television reporter said the whole family of four, including the two young kids, died in that accident. When we heard that, we all felt really bad, because we didn’t get them to fix the leak when we had the chance.
We could have prevented that accident…. It will take us ten minutes to fix your puncture, let’s do it now, so we will all feel a lot better and safer”.
I don’t know if that story is an urban myth or true, but it does illustrate the importance of helping the buyer to see the full ramifications of the decisions they are going to take, both positive and negative. Notice the use of very emotive language to drive home the cost of no action. The tone is subdued but still powerful. We need to be looking for ways in which we can contrast the plus of using our solution, against the minus of doing nothing or using our competitor’s solution.
Think about what you sell and what are some ways you can illustrate to the buyer that there are opportunity costs to not buying from you and buying now. Look for powerful word pictures to draw this out for the buyer. This is showmanship and we must become masters of communicating value to the client.
Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com
If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.
About The Author
Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan
In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.
A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.
To Push Or Not To Push?
Pushy salespeople are very, very annoying. They try to bug you into buying and we really don’t like it. We may actually buy, but we don’t like them anymore and probably won’t become a repeat buyer. Fair enough, but what about when you are the salesperson? At what point should we give up on convincing the buyer that our solution is the best for them?
It often happens that we meet a potential buyer, follow up and get a meeting. We listen carefully to what they want. We even try to leverage our experience and deliver some insights about relevant issues they haven’t thought about yet.
In all of this we are trying to tailor a solution to the needs of the buyer and to add value. We want to become a trusted partner for the client, however we are not looking to make a “sale”. We are looking to make a “re-sale”. We want to have a long-term relationship with our client.
Having made the presentation, listened carefully to what they want, we go back to the office and put together our proposal. We survey the broad range of possible solutions available, select from that treasure trove and painstakingly assemble a logical, pertinent and convincing roadmap for moving forward. This is when the problems start.
If possible, we meet the client again to present the solution. In some cases the client says, “email it to me”. With every once of strength in our body we should resists this default to the modern convenience of email as the messenger. We must present it, in person and in a way that really clarifies what is written for the client. We do that and the client invariably says, “okay, we will study it”. This is when things can go silent.
We hear nothing, so after a week or so, we email a gentle nudge to the client. We could phone them except that today trying to get hold of busy decision-makers is fraught with difficulty. They are in permanent meetings or travelling. This is usually not some subtle avoidance tactic, “tell him I am in a meeting”. Rather it is part of the genuine plague of modern business life – numerous and endless meetings. Also today, nobody bothers to ring you back, so the cadence of communication can either really elongate or go very cold.
So our first email yields nothing. No response, no answer, absolutely zero, zilch. We are so brazen these days, as business manners become more informal and the rules less defined. What do we do? One preventative idea with that previously mentioned first email is to create a thread. Go back to a previous email exchange pre-dating presenting the solution and copy that into this email, so the email trail is there. This implies, “hey, I have been emailing you, but you didn’t respond this time”, without saying it directly. This is the “guilt them into responding” tactic. They still don’t respond, so what do we do now?
Some clients may genuinely not be interested and prefer silence to end the discussion, rather than having to confront you with a “no”. Maybe the situation changed internally or maybe they went with your competitor? This happened about 12 months ago. I had a great meeting, the buyer was keen and we were looking good. Then radio silence. No response at all. I kept on following up but nothing. About a month ago, I met the new head of that company and then the penny dropped. My enthusiastic guy got killed in an internal power struggle and was being forced out of the company. My little problem lost all relevance and interest but I had no idea. It was going on in secret, so the situation can change and hurt us, but we can’t tell why. In other cases, they are just drowning in emails, spiced up with all their time being sucked into meetings and traveling. They just don’t have the time to get to your questions.
The rule in sales is “don’t say no for the other guy”, but what are we looking at here? Is this “no interest” or is it “no time”? We don’t want to be relegated to the annoying, pushy sales guy or gal bin for permanent disposal. We want to preserve our good reputation and personal brand, so we want to avoid becoming a pain. On the other hand, we may be not serving the client well, by giving up too early. Their problem still needs solving. This is the dilemma.
I believe, we should try once more. We should give them a call, knowing the chances of connecting are low to miserable. We might try phoning around 8.00am in the morning, before their gate keepers arrive, to improve our chances of catching them in person. If we fail to connect, we should absolutely leave a message on their answering service, even though we know they won’t call us back. Next we should send that email thread again and add to it, asking about the next steps, have they made a decision, what is the current status?
What if they still don’t respond? We are now into the pushy salesperson territory. I recommend we wait for a week. If there is no response, then try to phone again and if that fails, leave a message and send a final email. In this last effort, say that we take their no response to mean they are not interested in our proposed solution for this problem, at this particular point in time. We look forward to catching up with them at some point in the future and remain ready to help them when they have an issue that needs solving.
We may have lost the battle, but we don’t want to lose the war by burning the relationship with the client by being pushy and becoming annoying. They are saying no to our offer – in this current format, at this point in time, in these business and organisational circumstances, at this price against the perceived value. They are not saying “no” to us personally. We need to come back and fight again another day. We need our good name preserved in the market place, when they talk about us to other potential buyers. We need them to feel comfortable to deal with us in the future. We have to play the long game.
Action Steps
Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com
If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.
About The Author
Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan
In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.
A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcast “THE Leadership Japan Series”, he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.
leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.
Real World Negotiations
We have many images of negotiation thanks to the media. It could be movie scenes of tough negotiations or reports on political negotiations with rogue states led by lunatics. Most of these representations however have very little relevance in the real world of business. A lot of the work done on negotiations focuses on “tactics”. This is completely understandable for any transactional based negotiations. Those one off deals where there is no great likelihood of any on-going relationship between buyer and seller. This is false flag.
The aim of sales is not a sale. The aim is repeat orders. If you want to be permanently in 100% prospecting mode then transactional selling is fine. That gets tiring tough as you have to spend all of your time hunting because you can’t farm. Now there will be some cases where that is how it rolls and there is not much you can do about it. The majority of salespeople though are trying to strike up a lifetime relationship with the buyer, so that the orders keep coming rain, hail or shine.
The style of negotiations for this play is completely different to the one-off, transactional occasion. In this world “tactics” are only partially relevant. Going one up on the buyer isn’t sustainable in a continuing relationship. They remember and they don’t like it. They either dump you as the supplier or they even it up down the road. They don’t forgive you though.
Technique has a role in the sense that there are certain best practices in negotiating which we should observe. The philosophical starting point is key. What are we trying to do here? Are we trying to build an on-going business relationship where we become the favoured supplier or are we after a one –off smash and grab deal? If you want the lifetime value of the customer to be your main consideration, then you have a lot of commitment to win-win outcomes.
The consideration of the communication style of the buyer is another important negotiating consideration. How we communicate with the buyer will vary, if we know what we are doing. Clueless salespeople will have one default mode – the way they personally like to communicate and that is it.
Professionals understand that if the buyer is micro focused, we go with them on facts, detail, evidence, testimonials, proof etc. If they are the opposite, then we talk big picture and don’t get bogged down in the smaller details. We describe what success looks like. If they are conservative, self-contained and skeptical we drop the energy level to match theirs. We don’t force the pace, we spend time having a cup of tea to build the trust in the relationship. We mirror what they like. If the buyer is a “time is money” hard driving type, we don’t beat around the bush. We get straight down to business, we lay out the three reasons they should buy and then we get out of their office pronto.
With this analysis in mind we prepare for the negotiation by analyzing the buyer’s perspective. We use what we know to build up a picture of what they will need from the deal we are negotiating. We match that with what we can provide and we amplify the value we bring to the equation. We set out our BATNA – the “best alternative to a negotiated agreement”. This is our walk away position.
We have analysed the potential of this client by looking at their lifetime value as a buyer. This can have a big impact on how we see the pricing. When negotiating with a big multi-national buyer I had to take a painful hit on my pricing. I only agreed to this though, because the volume in the first year was very substantial and the understanding was that this would be repeated annually. It may not become annual, who knows, but if it does then this is a major feast of guaranteed farming that allows a better balance to all the hunting required.
In another case, I “fired” the buyer because their pricing requirement was too low. There was no prospect of any on-going business and the volume was not attractive. We all have our positioning in the market. If we want to maintain that then we have to be prepared to reject low ball offers that damage our position and our brand.
In most cases, sales negotiating requires a holistic approach rather than a “mechanical” tactics driven approach. Decide what type o relationship you want with the buyer. If it I win-win, then we are looking at trade offs for pricing against volume and repeat business. Leave all that tricky negotiating palaver to the fantasy world of Hollywood movie scripts. Let’s negotiate in the real world.
Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com
If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.
About The Author
Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan
In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.
A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, THE Sales Japan Series and THE Presentations Japan Series, he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.
Boozing Your Way To Sales Success in Japan
A LinkedIn post I read recorded how an American sales guy got off the booze and the client entertainment rat race. It got a lot of coverage and comment because it obviously struck a chord with many fellow salespeople. It got me thinking about the same conundrum for those of us selling in Japan.
This is a tricky issue here because, traditionally, so much client entertainment was involved. “I gave my liver for my company” is a common refrain amongst Japanese salespeople. The other one is “I gave up my weekends for golf with the client”. What about foreigners selling here? Do we have to donate our liver to the cause and get divorced, because we are never spending any time with the family?
There is a difference between bribing the buyer through entertainment and having a business relationship. I think we can provide a quality service and leave it at the professional level. You might be spending your evenings wining and dining the buyer, but every couple of years they rotate positions within the company and your guy has moved on.
Also, depending on the sector where you are working, your “guy”, could well be a “gal” these days and being taken out by you, may be of very little interest. Younger people value their private time more than previous generations and don’t necessarily want to be spending it with salespeople.
If we concentrate on providing a reliable and quality service, then we can make sales here. We can have a business relationship that doesn’t have to cross the boundaries of bribery to get the business. I have noticed some firms in Japan are applying a stricter compliance aspect to their dealing with vendors and typical client visit gifts are being refused. I visited Mazda recently and took some cookies for the people we were visiting and they politely, but very firmly, rejected receiving the gift. In the finance business, compliance rules are very strict and staff entertainment is very carefully monitored.
For many Japanese companies, the good old days of big expense accounts for staff have gone. When I was visiting Japan from Australia to sell in the 1980s and 1990s, I thought I was a really popular guy with my Japanese clients. Every visit, everyone wanted to take me out at night to restaurants and night clubs. We would have our sales meeting and they would say, “What are you doing tonight” and then the invitation would be extended. I was a slow learner. I eventually realized, rather than my considerable charm being the draw card , I was the excuse these guys needed to have a great night out on the town on the company’s dime.
Golf is also a killer here. The travelling distance to and from the course sucks up time. The game tee off isn’t until 9.00am after you had your obligatory coffee, then there is the hour for lunch, then the obligatory bath afterwards, then dinner together. There goes the whole day and night. Sadly, if you are a hacker like me, you hardly see anyone on the links anyway. You are hunting for your ball in the rough all the time. I found I only occasionally bumped into people in my party when we had the tee off or when doing the putting on the green. I thought “so much for the networking, relationship building opportunity!”. It is very hard to justify the time these days, given the demands of business. Yes, it is always pleasant to get out of the city and enjoy some nature, but can we really justify the time anymore.
Lunches are a good way to get to know people. Usually, they are booze free or are imbibed in very moderate amounts. The infamous Australian contribution to Tokyo culture, the B&B (Beefsteak and Burgundy Club) long luncheon monthly gathering on Fridays would be the exception. It may seem an anachronism in this modern age, but it still has diehard fans who keep it going. Usually though, we can get together with the client for a lunch and get to know each other a bit better. The check is often split these days, again because of compliance regulations. Breakfasts are not big with Japanese clients, usually because they are traveling long distances in the morning to get to work. Your 7.30am breakfast probably means for them a 5.30am departure from home to get there in time.
Rather than trying to buy business through entertainment, we can do very well here in Japan, if we concentrate on being the best at satisfying the buyer’s needs. Ultimately the person being entertained has to answer to their boss and the latter is all about results. Their interest in their staff ‘s good times being paid for by us is minimal.
Understand the client’s real needs, deliver value, follow up, do what you say you will and clients here will continue to do business with you. Your liver will thank you!
Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com
If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.
About The Author
Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan
In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.
A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.