Once you sense that you have closed the sale, it makes sense to
immediately stop selling!
One of the biggest mistakes people make in interviews and in sales is that
they oversell. If you do this, your buyer will think that there is something
wrong with your product or that you are desperate to make the sale; caveat
emptor. Once you think that the buyer wants the product then stop talking.
If you oversell, then the buyer might see blood in the water and talk your
pricing point down and destroy your margins or commissions. More often than not,
they will simply not buy your product.
However, what do you do if you have no idea if the sale has closed? The best
salespeople are relentless until the customer expresses interest in the product
they are selling or, more importantly, until they hear no.
You have not failed at selling your product or service until the prospect
says no. Until then, keep trying different angles to sell your product or
service. Be creative and don't ever give up on this lead until she or he says
no. Until then, all you heard was "not no".
It is also imperative to bring up the largest risk with your product within
the first 5 minutes of pitching it to prospects. The rationale is that it is the
ethical thing to do and your potential customer will likely uncover the risk as
they do due diligence on the product;transparency builds trust.
It's crucial to disclose all other significant risks to your clients or
prospective clients before doing business with them. The only reason you might
not offer 100% disclosure is in the rare situation when you can't divulge an
issue due to confidentiality reasons. If this is the case and if the investment
or product/service has significant risks that outweigh the potential returns,
then don't sell the product/service.
In business, relationships are always more important than product knowledge.
It doesn't matter how good of a salesperson you are if your prospect doesn't
trust you. Life is too short to destroy your or your company's reputation and
compromise your values. I love Warren Buffett's quote of "It takes 20 years
to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that,
you'll do things differently."
Remember that your customer needs your product and you are helping them by
giving them the opportunity to purchase the product. The key is to never ever
oversell. Once you sense that a potential customer or interviewer is committed
to purchasing your product or hiring you, simply shut up. : )
Before the deal is done, you need
to ask yourself 4 basic questions.
Chicago's O'Hare airport is one of the largest airports in the world and the
namesake of the "O'Hare Test"--a personality test that you must pass in
order to get hired, promoted and be a superb salesperson I created 4 test
questions that you must pass in order to win a deal or take your career to the
next level.
What is the O'Hare Test and why does it matter in business? The O'Hare test
is this: if you are stranded at an airport for 8 hours between flights with a
colleague, can they tolerate and enjoy your company?
When we are interviewing for a job or trying to close a deal, we often forget
that in business, relationships are always more important than product
knowledge. Here are 4 questions you must ask yourself before getting a job or
closing a sale about your potential colleague or business partner:
1: Do they enjoy your company?
There is a good chance that you will be spending more time with this person
than your own family. As such, you need to ensure that they really enjoy hanging
out with you. What's the point of working if you deal with people that you don't
enjoy hanging out with?
Years ago I was having issues closing customers. I was frustrated because
after every failed sales call I kept working harder and harder to no avail.
At that point in my life I was reading a lot of business books and I had just
finished reading Sun Tzu and the Art of War; I recalled the passage that every
battle has been won before it has been fought. So I kept working harder and
harder and I kept failing.
I was so frustrated that I said screw it and I started going to meetings much
less prepared. Then something amazing happened which was I started closing every
single deal. I thought that perhaps it was because I didn't care anymore? Was I
trying too hard? No, it was because I was just being myself instead of trying to
act like a perfect sales robot person.
I started having a lot of fun getting to know my customers and this is when I
first thought of the O'Hare test.
2: Do they spend more time talking than you do?
I love this quote from Larry King: "I remind myself every morning:
Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I'm going to learn, I must
do it by listening." The best business people are superb listeners.
3: Do they enjoy answering your questions and telling you their life story?
When you are in a job interview or a meeting with a potential customer, you
are interviewing them as well. Ask them about their life story. Make sure that
their core values are similar to yours or that you respect and appreciate their
core values. I have learned to really enjoy hearing about the lives of my
clients and prospective customers. They are so much more likable once you get to
know their awesome stories (maybe they even think the same of me)!
4. Do they trust you?
It is always important to disclose all material risks or potential issues you
might have or your product might have before conducting business. Transparency
builds trust. Once you really get to know people from a personal level, an
incredible amount of trust and goodwill develops.
If the answers to the 4 questions above are yes, then congratulations, you
passed the O'Hare Test! When you interview at a company or meet with a potential
customer or conduct an informational interview, the first half of the initial
meeting should be conducted like it is the O'Hare Test. Once you pass this test
and earn their respect and admiration, then the rest of the meeting should be a
breeze.
Turn Your Business
& Communications Weakness into a Strength and Obliterate the Competition.
None of us were born great public or interview speakers You need to practice
a lot as repetition is the mother of all skill. Steve Jobs was the best
presenter I have ever seen in my life. However, watch this video of Steve Jobs
in his first televised interview (he was just as nervous as many of us early in
his career when it came to presenting):
Run to your interview
and business fears and you will be much more successful than the competition.
If something scared the heck out of you in business, chances are it also
scares your competition. As a result, run to your fears. Don't get too
comfortable in life. Always challenge yourself and focus on continuous
improvement.
When I was younger I was terrified of public speaking. This fear was holding
me back and stopping me from growing professionally. I then did something
radically different and incredibly uncomfortable.
I thought how can I challenge myself to conquer this fear while helping
people? I decided to volunteer with my church and go into the prison system here
in the San Francisco Bay Area and help mentor younger inmates that were
incarcerated for minor drug/other offenses. I don't do drugs but I feel bad for
these young people that didn't have parents or positive role models growing up
and, as a result, committed a minor crime and are in jail; this could have been
me had I not had two wonderful parents raising me.
I remember the first day I went into the Maguire Correctional facility in
Redwood City, California. I was terrified while presenting to just a few
inmates. I remember one of them had a tattoo above his upper lip that said #&@#
you! I thought WTF (which means why the face) and how the heck am I going
to get through this? It was uncomfortable the first time, but I came back again
and again and again and I got used to it.
The seminal moment that helped me to conquer my fear of public speaking was
the time I showed up at the prison on a Sunday and the priest that was supposed
to conduct mass and give the speech before communion didn't show up! I was told
by the warden that I must give a 20 minute speech to the inmates with literally
no time to prepare.
I was so terrified. The speech according to the Gospel lesson was supposed to
be about faith, hope and confidence in yourself. I stood up there in front of
many incredibly intimidating inmates and started speaking. I was able to wing it
and a few minutes later I started enjoying it.
I will never forget that mo
3 Hiring (and Firing) Secrets That All Top Leaders Have Mastered
Section 23, Lecture 170
Protect Your Corporate Culture as a Small Leak
Can Sink a Great Ship.
Michael Bloomberg would never have been the
Mayor of New York City or started his financial
empire had he not been fired early in his
career.
Take a long time to hire the most passionate,
proactive and smart people that you can find. If
you hire both lazy employees and smart
employees, then the smart employees will
eventually quit; it takes time to build a superb
corporate culture.
Here are three reasons why:
1. Hire slowly so that you are
confident that the candidate fits into your
corporate culture.
Make sure that each of your employees that
will work with the person you are considering
hiring meets with them at least 3 times and in
different settings (i.e., your office, then a
coffee shop and then a restaurant).
It's important that you don't ask for
references as this process is ridiculous. Who in
the world would give references for people that
will say bad stuff about them anyway? Rather,
find your own references, which includes
companies the candidate has worked at before or
contacts that you have in common with the
candidate in LinkedIn, etc.
2.
Fire quickly as a disgruntled employee can ruin
a corporate culture.
If you let a disgruntled employee stick
around for too long, then he or she will destroy
your corporate culture; a small leak can sink a
great ship.
The best way to let somebody go is to sit
down with them and start by giving them a
genuine compliment on their accomplishments.
Then tell them that they are being let go in 2
sentences or less and the reason(s) why. Then
pause to see what their reaction is. Less is
more. You don't need to sound apologetic at all
(harsh I know, but please read on).
3.
There is a good chance that you are helping
people in the long run that you fire quickly.
The first time you let someone go is always
the hardest but it gets a lot easier
(unfortunately). If necessary, have a security
guard be present if the employee seems
incredibly erratic, which is rare. Quite often
you will be helping this person out in the long
run as it will guide them to do something they
are more passionate about.
There are so many amazing examples of
executives that have failed or have been fired
which forced them to realize their dreams by
starting their own company. Frustration often
leads to breakthroughs in careers. As odd as
this sounds, firing people that work for you can
be very helpful to them in the long run.
Here are some incredibly inspirational
examples of people that were fired. Thank
goodness they were fired or we wouldn't enjoy
the benefits of their future business empire
creations:
Tomas Edison was fired by
Western Union.
Michael Bloomberg was fired
which made him get his revenge
by starting his financial empire
Bloomberg. Without getting fired
he wouldn't have ever become the
Mayor of New York.
J.K. Rowling hated her job
as an administrative assistant.
She later found her passion,
which was writing the Harry
Potter books.
Walt Disney was fired by a
publication he worked for.
Madonna was fired from
Dunkin Donuts.
Robert Redford was fired
from an oil company.
Lee Iacocca was fired from
Ford. So he turned around and
led Chrysler.
All of these amazing people lost their
jobs because of a lack of passion. They then
became incredibly successful later in life
because they focused on their passion. In
hindsight, they are all incredibly grateful that
they got fired and many likely think that their
lives would have turned out even better had they
been fired faster.
If you find yourself in the difficult
situation of having to let people go, consider
telling them that you think they need to find
out what they are most passionate about in life.
Consider even discussing with them a few of the
people mentioned in the list above.
Hire slowly by gauging whether or not the
candidate is passionate about your company and
can enhance the corporate culture. Then
understand that once they lose that passion, you
might be helping them by firing them quickly.
