In sales, we definitely need a Credibility Statement.  Buyers are always worried about buying what they don’t need or paying too much for what they do buy.  The subterranean vibe is one of distrust toward salespeople.  So we have to work hard to overcome that fundamental doubt.  Salespeople without a solid sales process won’t have this valuable persuasion tool at their disposal.  In fact, they will be like lemmings leaping off a cliff, running headlong into the explanation of the features of their solution.  We need to create an atmosphere of trust, before we start asking questions to understand buyer needs.

We may love our solution, we may know about it in-depth and we may know we are a great company, but the buyer doesn’t have a clue about any of this.  They are sceptical, uncertain, doubtful, cautious and basically afraid of being conned.  Early in the sales conversation, we need to put all of that to rest and set up for permission to ask questions.

The Credibility Statement is needed when we make the first contact with the client and this may be in person, by email, phone call, Zoom call etc.  It is sometimes called our Elevator Pitch because it has to be concise, clear and attractive.

How do you start when you introduce yourself?  What can you say about your company in one sentence, so that the buyer is very clear what you do?  Do you have a set formula for this to build trust with the client or are you winging it every time?  When you have a well thought through structure, it takes a lot of stress off the sales process.  How does this work in reality?

In my case, I would say, “Hi my name is Greg Story.  I am the President of Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo.  We are global soft skills training experts and masters of delivery and sustainment.  Do you have a moment to talk”. 

This tells the client who I am and gives them some insight into the intention of the call by telling them what I do.  Next we need a strong hook to grab their interest.  We need something that will strike a nerve with them, something that will grab their attention and tell them it is worthwhile continuing this conversation with us.

“We have heard from our clients that salespeople are really struggling with virtual selling and getting through to their buyers.  Have you found the same thing?”.  This is currently a very common problem for sales teams, so the listener can immediately relate to this being an issue.  Because the solution is so difficult, there is also a strong probability they have not been able to solve this issue by themselves, so they will be curious to hear how to fix the problem.

Now we need some evidence of what we have done for other clients which is relevant for this buyer.  Ideally, the other client referred to should be as similar as possible to the client we are now discussing business with. “Recently, we worked with a large service provider like yourself and focused on helping their salespeople make the adjustment to selling online.  They reported that their appointment rate went up by 25% after the training and their closing rate tripled”.  When we quote these numbers and we should quote numbers, they have to real and provable.  If the client asks for proof and it becomes obvious we are using spurious data, then the whole trust comes apart and the relationship is dead.

We need to suggest we can help and we do that in a special way.  We say, “maybe, we can do the same for you.  I am not sure, but if you will allow me to ask a few questions, I will know if we are in a position to help you or not?”. This is a very important bridge, because we want to receive permission before we start digging into all of their problems and strife.  As human beings, we normally would never share our troubles with a stranger, so this is a critical step. If they have the time during the call, we will begin asking our quailifying questions right there and then.  If not we will ask for the appointment, which could be face to face or it might be a Zoom call.  We ask for the appointment in a simple but effective way by offering an alternative of choice.

I would say, “Shall we get together?  Is this week fine or how about next week?  I see ‘next week’, then how about Wednesday or Friday.  I see ‘Thursday is better’.  How are you suited at 10.00am in the morning?  Great, thank you, I look forward to speaking with you then”.

Salespeople who miss this vital step of the Credibility Statement make life hard for themselves unnecessarily.  It is simple and effective.  We should all be drawing on its power to set us up for the questioning stage of the salesnmeeting.  If you are not asking any questions and just jumping into the features explanation, then we need to talk!!

What is your pre-approach regimen before you meet the buyer?  We cannot do everything and our time is finite. We should be trying to save our valuable time for meetings with the most qualified clients who can buy.  This might be new clients or existing clients who have more capacity to buy from us. It is always disheartening when you analyse the existing buyer activity and realise we are only selling a small amount, compared to what we could be selling.  It is even worse when you discover, they are buying something you do, but they are now getting it from your competitor.

We can research the company, looking at their recent business activity.  Are they expanding, are they doing well financially, have they bought any other companies or have they been bought by someone else?  We can check the company annual report and see what the President has to say about the future direction of the company.  Annual reports are a gold mine really, because they have the direction the company is taking plus a breakdown of the financials.  Unlisted companies are more difficult of course, because we cannot get access to this type of information.

We can look for champions within the company. Perhaps we know someone who has moved to this company recently who can supply us with some insights.  We can check their press releases and see what journalists have to say about the company. We can use social media to check out buyers within the company.  Maybe we have some things in common.  Maybe we went to the same university or studied the same subject or have lived in the same location.  It is amazing what we can do today with a few mouse clicks.

The person we are selling to has something going on inside their head.  Can we anticipate what the conversation is which is going on in the mind of the prospect?  We may have talked with other companies in the same industry and the chances are high that this company will also share some of the same challenges. When we are thinking about those possible challenges, what solutions do we have to meet them?  What do we have in our line-up of products and services which be of most interest to this buyer?  What would be some massive interest hooks we could snag the attention of the buyer with?

One great source of information is an existing client.  We can ask them some key questions which may help us to better position our meeting with the prospect client. 

For example:

Why did our existing customer buy from us? 

What do they like about our solutions? 

How have they used them and what have been the results?

Can they identify the ROI from using our solutions? 

If we could do more for them, what would that look like?

Where does our buyer sit?  Are they the CEO, who is worried about the future and concentrating on strategic issues?  Are they the CFO, who is worried about cash flow and investing in the business?  Are they the Technical Buyer, who is worried about the spec?  Are they the User Buyer, who is worried about ease of use, after sales service, warranties, etc.? 

Depending on who we are talking to, the area of deepest interest will vary.  We need to anticipate their interest and come prepared to cast our solution in terms which will resonate the most strongly with them.  For example, it is no good talking about the spec to the President.  They are big picture focused and want to know how your widget will help deliver their strategy.  How can we show the CFO that the profits from our solution will build additional income they can stack away as a fund for emergencies.  How can we show the technical buyer that our spec and what they want are a match made in heaven and we have everything they need.  The user buyer has to be assured they won’t be on their own after purchase.  For example, I own an iMac computer and I really appreciate the online help I get when things go wrong.  There is just no way I could ever work out the solutions by myself.

There is no point turning up to present the solution, if you don’t know what is uppermost in the mind of the person you are speaking with.  If it is a buying group, then you have to cover off all of the different interests of the people in the room.  They all need assurance you have the thing of most importance to them.  The preparation phase is the mark of the professional.  The days of winging it as a salesperson are well and truly gone.  That will not work in modern business.  You are winging it and your competitor has thoroughly researched the company and prepared in detail for who they are going to present to.  They will get the business and you will get nothing. Frankly you deserve to get nothing too.  So let’s be professional and work on our anticipatory skills and WOW the buyer when we get in front of them.

In this episode we will look at KPIs or Key Performance Indicators.  These are activities which when carried out effectively lead to revenue results.  There are also behavioural aspects to KPIs which are important and shouldn’t be neglected.  Everyone has their own business area, so the construct of the KPIs will vary across industries and sectors.  What are they for you? 

Has your company already defined them for you and you were given them when you came on board?  If we haven’t been given KPIs already, then we can create them for ourselves.  They provide good markers to know what we are doing and what we should be doing.

First of all, we have to recognize that we cannot do everything, but we can do the most important things in our sales activity.  So let’s start thinking about what are the highest priority items we need to be doing, to boost our sales.

These could include things like the following:

How many qualified leads do I have to work with each week?

How many calls to clients do I need to make each week?

How many of these calls are leading to appointments?

How many of these appointments lead directly to agreed deals?

How much am I selling on average per appointment gained?

How many of my buyers become repeat buyers?

We can be setting our own targets for the ratios between each step.  It is a good practice to break big revenue targets down to activities, which upon completion will get us to the target. For example, if I have 100 leads to follow up, how many calls do I actually need to get through to the buyer?  We can have a long list of numbers to call, but they are not answering, we get a message service, the gate keeper faithfully promises they will pass on the message so that they will call back, as they gracefully slide it straight into the bin. Of the small number of calls which get through to the buyer, how many leads do I need to get an appointment?   Talking to the buyer and getting a meeting are planets apart.  We have to be persuasive and spark their interest to allow us to take things to the next stage.  What is my target for success in this area? What is the closing ratio I want for deals coming from meetings with buyers?

These are very specific targets we are setting and often we will fail.  Over time, however we will start to build up some reliable statistics, which tell how strong we are in various stages of the sales process.  We will begin to see that there are some areas of weakness, which we need to work on.

Our goals can have a range.   We might have a number range that we can achieve comfortably.  We might have a higher number which is more difficult but realistic and then we might have stretch targets.  So, let’s set some targets for ourselves and once we establish some ratios, we will know how much activity is needed to reach our revenue targets.  For example:  100 calls leads to 80 calls making contact with the buyer. Of these contacts, we meet 50 buyers.  From these 50 buyers, we close 20 deals.  The deals achieved from these 100 calls attempted add up to one million yen.  If our revenue target is two million yen, then we know we have to make 200 calls and so on.

Having specific targets for our activity activates our time management skills.  We know we have to schedule calls throughout the day, in order to get to the number of people we need to make our target.  It is no good just calling everyone from 9.00am to 12.00pm, because some can be reached, but others will be better to call during lunch break, others after 6.00pm, when the gate keepers have gone home, others from 8.30am in the morning.  The point is to keep calling and keep trying different times of the day until we can make contact. 

Starting the day with targets for activity and starting with no targets, are such completely different approaches.  Sales is a diabolical art, where mostly you fail, so you need supreme discipline to do what needs to be done.  We have to force ourselves to do the activities or we will never make enough activity effort to be able to hit the revenue targets.  Once we know the ratios, we have a guide on how much we need to be doing.  As we keep analysing where we are struggling, we can work on our weakness and improve on them, thus advancing the overall ratio of success.

We know that our attitude determines everything.  Henry Ford is often quoted for saying, “if you think you can or your think you can’t, your right”.  In the 1920s, psychologists understood that we can change our futures by changing how we think.  Up until that time, everyone talked about God’s will or fate and as individuals we had no options.  Today we understand the power of our mind to drive our behaviour in ways which will help us to realise the goals we have set for ourselves or which have been set for us by our boss.

We all have sales targets to achieve, so our sales attitude is key.  We have to find ways to remain positive in the face of failure and setbacks.  Sales is a roller coaster of elation and despair.  You make your presentation to one client, with the same conditions of price, terms, etc., and they buy.  The next client presentation is a disaster and they don’t buy.  What happened to us between these two extremes? Often we have no clear idea but we have to pick ourselves up and call the next client.   How do we pick ourselves up though?

I love these Winston Churchill quotes, “when you are going through hell, keep going” and “Never, never, never give up”.   But in sales, we do want to give up, because rejection and our feelings of failure are brutal.  Everyone faces negativity and we all suffer from different degrees of imposter syndrome, even if we have some degree of success.  Dale Carnegie has another useful quote, “It isn’t what you have, who you are, where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy.  It is what you are doing about it.”  So what are you doing about it? 

Let’s find ways of occupying our minds with positivity.  I was fired from my sales job once upon a time and it was doubly depressing, because I had been working so hard, I thought the big boss was going to give me a raise.  It was a cold Friday evening at 5.00pm, when he called me to his office.  I had read somewhere that a lot of job related suicides result from being fired on a Friday.  The next morning I got up early and went straight down to the biggest bookstore in town and bought a couple of hundred dollars worth of books.  I had just lost my source of income, but here I was spending money like a drunken sailor.  Why?  I knew I had to push out every self doubt, and nagging, negative thought that would otherwise occupy my mind and replace those “bad” thoughts with positive, “I can do it” information.

Misery loves company we say, but in the sales business, absolutely avoid negative people.  When failing sales colleagues invite you to a “whine” party, don’t accept the invitation.  Keep your mind pure and undiluted by any negative people and their toxic talk.  In the classic sales movie, Glengarry Glen Ross, Al Pacino plays Ricky Roma who is in a bar closing a buyer, while the rest of the salespeople are in the office, whining about they don’t have any worthwhile leads. Ricky Roma keeps his eye on the prize and doesn’t spend time with failing salespeople colleagues. 

Design pep talks for yourself.  As a karate athlete, I remember getting to the final bouts, everyone was watching me and that nasty old imposter syndrome would start telling me, “You shouldn’t be here in the finals.  You should have been eliminated out in the earlier rounds”.  It happens in sales too.  You have an unexpected good quarter or half year and the doubt sets in, that this isn’t you and then you sabotage yourself to get back to where you see your mediocre self. One formula I use is very simple. Whenever I am doubting myself, I keep repeating “you can do this, you can do this, you can do this”.  Another one I use is “I feel strong, I feel sharp, I feel terrific”.  Find your word or your set of trigger words which set off positive thought processes in your mind.

Our self image flows across to how we present ourselves and how we interact with buyers.   Buyers judge us on our first impression with them.  Until they get to know us, they simply look at how well we dress.  If you have given up on yourself it will show immediately from how you carry yourself to how you present yourself. In that same legendary movie referred to earlier, Alec Baldwin plays the part of hot shot salesguy, sent down from the Mitch and Murray headquarters to motivate these failed salespeople.  He is very well dressed, wears a heavy gold watch and drives a expensive BMW.  He oozes the part of sales success. What are we oozing when we turn up in front of the prospect?

Once we open our mouth, clients start to evaluate how smart and consistent we are.  They do that by noting by how well we can communicate.  Clients subconsciously fear being conned by smooth talking salespeople.  We have to be highly fluent, without coming across as slimy.  The client will throw up objections to see how we deal with them.  If we seem reliable, they may start us with a small deal to test us. When problems arise, they are looking for how we handle tough situations, how strong is our self-control and do we have persistence.  They are looking for how well we can relate to different people and how professionally competent we really are.  Clients will partner with us, if they see we are genuinely doing our best for them to succeed.

We have to get our mindset correct, our personal presentation on point and deliver value and outcomes for the client.  It isn’t a multi-choice selection – all three are required for sales success.

Usually gaining access to the big company President is a real coup.  We now have the ear of the decision maker and if we can convert the Prez, then we are going to get the sale.   In Japan, unless the President is also the owner, then gaining access and then a sale is usually a mirage.  There is a particular species of President in Japan called a wan man shacho or the dictatorial President who decides everything. Convert them and you will get the sale.  If we are talking to a larger company or a listed company though, then our sale’s life gets hard very quickly. 

I painfully recall attending a French Chamber of Commerce “Back from Summer” party in the Ginza shopping area in Tokyo.  Quite a crush of people and I happened to start talking with this senior Japanese gentleman.  After we exchanged business cards, I recognised he was the President of a very large lumber business.  We were chatting about his staff issues and I asked if I could pay a business call and he agreed.  Naturally, I was thinking, “this is very good. I have the top decision-maker agreeing to meet with me to discuss business”.

Direct Reports Rebel

I arranged the meeting day and time and was soon ushered into his large Presidential office overlooking Tokyo Bay.  I was using my well crafted consultative sales methodology, especially tailored for Japan.  The meeting was going very well.  So well in fact, that he got on the phone and ordered his two HR heads to join us in the office.  He then instructed them, in front of me, to follow up the discussion about buying our training services.  I am getting very enthusiastic by this point, anticipating a sale is coming.  I dutifully follow up with these HR heads.  Nothing.  I call, they never call back.  I write, they never write back.  How could this be?  I heard the President instruct them to meet with me.  How could they ignore the President’s command?  They did so without compunction.

This is just one example of my many experiences trying to do “top sales” or President to President sales in Japan.  It does work for wan man shacho style companies and I have made sales.  But the scale and complexity correlates with the increase in the size of the enterprise.

The Decision-Making System Is Not Your Friend

What is going on here?  Why wouldn’t you get a sale, once you have had a business discussion with the President?  The structure of corporate decision making in Japan is quite different from the West.  I chuckle when American sales gurus explain how to get around the client when they say, “we will think about it and get back to you”.  There is usually a lot of aggressive pushing going on, trying to get a decision.  In Japan, they really do need to think about it.

Here is what happens after you have had your meeting with the big company President and have been escorted to the elevator.  The President says to one of the direct reports to take a look at the possibility of doing business with your company.  There is no top down “make this happen” conversation going on.  This is important, because the President’s role has now finished.

One Piece Of Paper Determines All

The command is conveyed down the organisation.  A very young person in the relevant Division, at the bottom of the hierarchy, is given the task to do the due diligence.  Any sales materials are passed to them and they begin to research you, the company and the offer.  They next pass their research results to their section head boss for consideration.  If the section head boss doesn’t think much of you, your firm or your offer, then the deal dies a quiet ignominious death right there.  If the section head thinks this might be useful, they attach their personal hanko or seal to a piece paper called a ringisho, which is attached to the materials. This signifies they have read the content and are okay for the process to move to the next stage.

If it gets to the Division Head level and there is no interest, then your deal is silently taken out the back and garrotted.  If it looks useful, then all the other Division Heads who may be affected by the buying decision are circulated the ringisho and the materials.  They in turn hand it to a very junior person in their team, for the due diligence check.  Each Division does this independently.  If all of the Division Heads attach their seals, then the lead Division will be in touch with you to arrange the next meeting.  Every subsequent change requires a repeat of this process and fresh ringisho will be circulated around again.

All of this takes time, a lot of time.  We never get to influence any of the process and we have no idea who are the main players.  We are still labouring under the mistaken belief that the President is personally involved in shepherding our deal through the system, because we had our meeting together.  The busy President has completely forgotten who we are by this time.

Once you understand the system, you realise there is not point in trying to battle “we will think about it” or imagine the meeting with the President is still meaningful.  Patience is a virtue anywhere, but absolutely essential when doing business with big Japanese corporates.