Imagine What Your Customer Thinks!

By Ed Albertson
Vice President, National Accounts, Carew International, Inc.

In his book "Words That Work, It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear", published in 2007, Dr. Frank Luntz offered this valuable advice to his readers, “Every message you bring into the world is subject to the interpretation and emotions of the people who receive it. Once the words leave your lips, they no longer belong to you.” (1) Throughout his book, Dr. Luntz elaborated on the concept that others use a personal set of “filters” consisting of fears, needs, beliefs, values, assumptions, goals, and past experiences that result in a unique and selective perception of the world around us. Though it is quite human to do so, such a process interferes with clear and accurate communications in a way that can severely hamper a sales professional who is attempting to understand their customer’s world.

This interference has two liabilities: First, our own selective perception limits our ability to perceive others’ views and drives us more toward a self-perceived understanding; which could overlook some very important issues or points made by our customers. Second, the solutions we offer and the words we choose may not make the correct connection for our customers, leading to delays, resistance and objections that could have been avoided or decreased had we chosen a better description of our solution.

The best defense against the first condition (self-perceived understanding) is to engage in Active Listening with the intent to fully understand what our customer is saying and, maybe just as importantly, how they are saying it. Listening to understand is quite different from passive listening and is characterized by generous amounts of acknowledging and questioning before responding and confirming our own understanding. Armed with a more accurate understanding of what our customer needs and why they need it, we are better positioned to offer an appropriate solution that stands a better chance of being accepted and perceived as having value by our customer.

With the second perception challenge in mind, we would be well-served to carefully select the words we use to make our case for our solution, both in terms of what our customer actually said they needed and wanted, as well as how we describe the various features, advantages and benefits of our solution components. Recent research in the field of neuroscience has produced starling evidence that memories and responses are every bit as motivated by our emotions as they are by the facts. Those findings suggest that the facts must be accurate and clear, but also that the emotional response by our customers to our words weighs heavily in the decision-making process and must be taken into account.

At the conclusion of that very same book, Dr. Luntz produced “Twenty-one Words and Phrases for the Twenty-First Century,” (2) a listing he developed through a rigorous polling process and which represents the twenty-one words he believes will convince and inspire all of us for years to come. Topping that list of twenty-one words is the word “Imagine” and it is that one word which he finds the most persuasive and personalizing in the entire English language. How might the use of “Imagine” help legions of sales professionals become more effective in the execution of their daily role as solution-providers, especially in this challenging, 21st Century business environment we must all navigate?

Imagine a customer-centric solution that focuses on what your customer really wants and is convinced is valuable to her or him, from their own point-of-view. Now imagine your customer telling you how that solution can make their worst problems manageable and their best outcomes achievable, rather than you telling your customer how that will all come about. Such a convinced customer means less negotiating, less pricing-pressure, less delay, less resistance and fewer objections to your offerings and ideas, making business life easier for both of you.

Perhaps John Lennon captured this thought best when he once famously said, “Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.” Make sure what you leave to your customer’s imagination is what you really intended to convey to them.


(1) Words That Work, by Dr. Frank Luntz, p.xiv: Hyperion Books, 2007: New York.

(2) Words That Work, by Dr. Frank Luntz, p.239: Hyperion Books, 2007: New York.

The Leadership Imperative

By Chuck Terry, Executive Vice President & CSO, Carew International, Inc.

One of my all time favorite books on leadership is The Leadership Engine by Noel Tichy, a professor at Michigan and former consultant to Jack Welch. Although I read the book in 1998, I recently re-read it while doing research for a project.

Noel made the point that a key value of successful leaders was the ability to tell compelling stories that engage their followers emotionally and rationally. Not just random stories, but stories that weave together the ideas, values, and modes of behavior embraced by their organization. These are also stories that allow their employees to clearly see the future envisioned by the leader and how that future is a better future for them.

As I look around, I see many leaders of companies becoming more withdrawn. But the place to lead the battle is not from the rear, especially in difficult times. General George S. Patton, the flamboyant yet highly successful leader from World War Two, said, “A piece of spaghetti or a military unit can only be led from the front end.” Many of us in the ranks of leadership are being forced to make gut wrenching decisions that may have negative impacts on the lives of our employees, but are necessary for the good of the business. It is an unfortunate reality that sometimes comes with the role of leadership. Now more than ever we MUST lead from the front, not the rear.

While there is no escaping the reality of what sometimes must be done for the good of our companies in turbulent economic times, we need to remember that all whom are being impacted by our decisions are also looking to us for inspiration. Communicating our vision of what we are doing, why we are doing it, and where we going in the future is more critical now than ever. Story telling can be a medium for how we illustrate the future for our team and inspire them in process.

One of the training technologies regularly employed by Carew International is the practice of using “Hooks and Punches” to leverage stories and bring key points of learning to life in the class room. A “hook” is a story that sets up the next learning point, while a “punch” is a story that illustrates how the learning point is valid and then links it to a real situation. This same tactic can be applied to telling inspirational stories as leaders of our companies. According to Mr. Tichy, our stories should contain three essential elements: the case for change, where we are going, and how we will get there.

What I am talking about here is not blogging or “tweeting” or any other popular social communication vehicle that encourages stream-of-consciousness musing. What I am talking about is one on one, personalized story telling… leading from the front. Look into your own experiences or the experiences of others to find the source for your inspiring stories.

Here is an example of how one might be crafted in the form of a “hook”:

Many companies are being forced to lay people off in an effort to reduce overhead. The remaining employees are being asked to “do more with less” while trying to cope with the harsh reality that some of their former team mates are no longer with the organization. A leader’s story that might precede announcing the layoffs (the hook) would be based upon a situation where fewer people banded together and overcame the odds to achieve great results. It would clearly focus on the fact that in doing more with less, greater opportunity will be available for each team member to try new things. These new opportunities will help them add more value and grow as individuals. Center the story on what good will come out of this for THEM. This story could be built from events in your own past or from a story you found doing research on the subject. It should be as compelling as possible, while weaving in the three elements of making the case for change, illustrating where your organization is going and painting the picture of how you will get there.

In these uncertain times, the art of executive story telling can be a great source of inspiration in seeing the glass half full versus half empty. We are living in a country with 7.6% unemployment; but also a country where 92.4% of the citizens ARE employed. It is up to us to help our people see the hope, opportunity, and prosperity that lie just around the next bend. Sounds like the makings of a pretty great story to me!

Networking - A True Story

By Jeff Seeley, CEO, Carew International, Inc.

How many times do we retreat from asking customers who love us to tell people about us? Networking is truly one of the lost arts in the business world. Think about it for a moment, LINKEDIN is a networking dream because you can do it from the comfort of your computer. Embarrassingly, I have found that I am linking with people I should have stayed connected to for years. These are folks who are just not Rolodex fillers, but real substantial relationships that were developed over years of working together.

When sales are strong, as they were prior to September 2008 for almost all of us, networking and referrals were afterthoughts in all areas of our companies. As we try to expand our networks it is similar to doing dental surgery without anesthetic; not very enjoyable for either party. Asking for referrals is like asking people to help you network when you are job searching, it seems a little embarrassing and that you are not capable of keeping yourself busy with your lead generation or prospecting skills.

The reality is that every individual inside of an organization knows people, who know people. The internet and social networking tools have made tremendous strides in our marketing approach but for a lot us the networking and referral world has had less emphasis. Now is the time to dust off your contacts and more importantly the customers who love you and leverage them to help you. If you have customers who absolutely love you, have them spread your word. The reality is that once you start the process, one contact can turn into ten and expand dramatically. If they don’t love you it is time to change your product or service.

I have a friend, Chris, who works for Northwestern Mutual (life insurance and financial planning, yikes! and we think we have it tough). He has built a multi-million dollar business, one and then three at a time. Every customer he meets with he asks for three names he can contact about his offering, at his customer’s recommendation and only to the extent that he is a trusted advisor to his customer, THAT’S IT. Heck they do business with him so they must trust him. He makes prospecting calls everyday, but not one of them is cold, they are all at least lukewarm as he has gotten them as a referral from another customer or prospect. He does all of the work, and will even give suggestions to the customer on the type of referral he is looking for (doctor, lawyer, people with children or businesses, etc).

I know Chris is making at least 5-10 calls a day, even when his business is doing well, just to make sure that he keeps his skills sharp for times like now. Referral business is the life blood of all organizations and for small companies it is everything, often accounting for as much as 80% of new business.

Ultimately, we need to leverage our fans and leverage our systems to create a tidal wave of connections. Your business grows and you are no longer marketing to people anonymously or making the dreaded cold call. In reality, it is in every job description to help build and sustain your business. This is not about spending marketing dollars to spread the word about your company, it is about spreading the word virally. Social Networking can provide you with the contacts – but only you can leverage that opportunity, turning contacts into connections, connections into referrals and referrals into new business.

QUICK Coaching for Better Results

by Ed Albertson, Vice President - National Accounts, Carew International, Inc.

In a recent survey on Sales Management and Leadership, 81 % of the respondents said they utilize one-on-one coaching sessions (in-person and on the telephone) as a strategy to bring out the best in their sales team. Additionally, while 79% reported accompanying their sales people on sales calls, 74% admitted to a role on the sales call of meeting the customer and advancing the sales relationship. Combining those survey results, a picture emerges that suggests there is significant coaching going on, but not necessarily when sales manager and sales professional are making sales calls. That’s not surprising in a challenging economy where business is harder to come by, sales managers and sales people are doing more with less, and competition is about as intense as it gets.

For the besieged sales leader who is expected to deliver tougher-to-come-by results with fewer people, being able to leverage the capacity of each sales person is critical. With less time to devote to sales coaching and more time being committed to developing business opportunities themselves, sales leaders might need some help with their approach to this important aspect of their job, while still playing an active role in a sales call. Relief may be available in this “get-to-the-point” coaching approach/model called “QUICK Coaching.”

Quick Coaching has three outcomes that can benefit sales people and sales managers:

1) Developing sales skills and behaviors
2) Reinforcing learning
3) Achieving sales call objectives

Whether enacted in-person or over the phone, QUICK Coaching provides a memorable set of guidelines for efficiently and effectively taking advantage of sales call activity to improve sales performance, both tactically (by the call) and strategically (by the opportunity).

Consistent with its name, here is a “quick” overview of QUICK Coaching:

Question more, tell less
More learning and awareness occurs through self-discovery than through other-directed information. In addition, self-discovered learning endures longer. That is not to say if the wrong learning is taking place, one should not correct; but the default approach is most optimal when questions are used in place of statements. Simple questions like, “How did you think that went?” “If you did it over again, what, if anything, would you do differently?” and “Where might we learn from this particular experience?” can result in far more applicable development than merely telling a person what we think.

Use commonly understood terms, models, and concepts for discussion
For clarity and understanding, there is no substitute for a commonly accepted set of terms, models and concepts when discussing behaviors, skills and results. If such do not exist, agreement should be reached before any discussion to avoid misunderstanding and unpredictable outcomes.

Inspire confidence (genuinely), stay positive, reinforcing
The point of coaching is to build confidence and competence. Negativity does little to advance knowledge, skills and behaviors and, in fact, goes a long way to suppress the openness that is critical to exchange information and perceptions that can be helpful to improvement.

Confirm a next step
Productive sales interactions should be identifiable within a broader strategy to achieve a specific objective. Lacking that characteristic in planning and execution has the potential to delay the advancement of the sales process and diminish sales effectiveness overall. As with top-ranked chess players, masters, top-ranked sales professionals tend to have a strategy that identifies several action steps in advance by which they manage their effort and gauge their progress.

Keep focused on one skill at a time
In spite of our indiscriminate use of the word “multi-tasking,” we are less effective in each activity whenever we attempt to do more than a single “thing” at a time. For the best coaching results, mutually identifying one specific skill or behavior allows both the coach and the sales person to have greater focus on the skill or behavior being examined without distracting from the sales call and desired outcome.

With time and results at a premium for all sales professionals, a high-impact method for coaching sales performance can result in more consistent application and better results. So, with this in mind, let’s do more Coaching and be QUICK about it!