Selling all the time

Telesales - the bare essentials add up to emotional engagement

2011-04-07T02:54:00.000-07:00

I have been a bit naughty...

While administering my book for sale on Amazon, I noticed that "if you are interested in this book you may be interested in" several telemarketing companies were advertising their services.

This is common practice these days, I know but my book is all about enjoyable telesales that are pofitable and rewarding for customers, so I thought that I would investigate the telesales experience that is so closely related to my theory of emotional engagement.

My first call involved me in a conversation with the managing director who was challenging from the start. Now, I don't mind being asked pertinent questions like "what is it you do?" and even "how is it any good?", I understand that if they don't know, they have no hope of selling my services but when I strted calculating that he was expecting to have 50 'conversations' with my target managing directors to make one appointment, he actually became quite aggressive and patronising. Now I realise that times are hard and he probably has salaries to pay but I would question his MOTIVATION.

The second call was with the CEO of what I have to presume is a tiny company. Our conversation only lasted three minutes while he extracted the bare essentials from me to simply quote me a day fee. His tone was even paced, regular pitched and essentially quite boring, like a robot and I can tell you that I was ot ENGAGED in the conversation.

Next up was a business development manager who had clearly been trained to within an inch of his life. Like a professional, he told me what they do and how they do it and he even went on to say why they did it so well. What he forgot to do was ask me anything about my services so we had no RAPPORT whatsoever.

Finally, I had a lovely conversation with an everso complimentary lady who thought my idea sounded "amazing", even going so far as to say "I love it". Now I cannot argue with passion like that but, yes, you have guessed it, she didn't even give me a clue about how they would COLLABORATE with me to sell my service, adding that the managing director may give me a call before I receive a quote.

Taking all four conversations into account, I am satisfied with the service I received but on a individual basis they are not practising what I preach so I can see that my book will be improving how much telephone sales advisers enjoy their work and how much more rewarding calls customers can look forward to.

All this amounts to a great deal of profitability that is being wasted.

The weakest link may be you

2011-03-20T12:53:00.000-07:00

We are all subject to the constraints of our up-bringing which means that we act in a certain way, have a default sound, sell to a limited audience and therefore rely on a system to support our sales.

But what if we recognised a weak link in the system and that weak link was you?

What will happen if we remove your constraints and reduce your dependence on the system?

You will immediately save 33% (3 to 6 less 1 and 2) of the cost of sales, that's what will happen.

No longer will we need (1) marketing to preceed our calls and no longer will we need (2) customer services to tidy up sales that went wrong.

The most efficient company will rely on you to (3) sell their products and/or services, buy in the (4) materials and (5) labour, pay for the (6) fixed costs and let the satisfied customers come back to you when they awnt to re-order.

Of course on top of this saving, you will make another 33% when you are able to identify the customers emotional connection with what you are selling.

It hardly matters what you say, it's how you say it that matters.

Customer Engagement effects your organization's ROI, profit margin, and share price

2011-03-07T01:31:00.001-08:00

At last, someone has said it, recognised it and by all accounts, is doing something about it http://bit.ly/f0bxql

Kate Feather, Executive VP at PeopleMetrics has recognised that customer Engagement effects your organization's ROI, profit margin, and share price.

She goes on to say that few customer satisfaction programs train service representatives and front-line managers in reading and responding to customers' emotions. Providing these tools to customer service employees can be the deciding factor between mediocre and exceptional performance.

But how do we actually 'engage' with the customer and how do we actually train our staff to engage?

I have said it before and will say it again... "It hardly matters what you say, its how you say it that matters" http://bit.ly/geMACJ

Read Lucy works in Telesales http://amzn.to/e7Q5Gm because it explains the fundamental relationship between the sound we make with our voice and customer emgagement.

customer emotional engagement = employee emotional engagement = increased profitability

2011-01-31T23:53:00.000-08:00

As a seller, if I permit my potential customer to make sense of what I am selling 'in their own words' then they begin to buy which replaces my need to sell.

The obvious benefit of this is that they buy more, more regularly, recommend our products and/or services and rarely complain.

But the added and most significant benefit is that I, as a seller am involved in the process too. I know why the customer is buying from us and of course why they are not buying from us.

My employer can adapt the products, process of sale and/or services which means that I am involved in 'double loop feedback' making the whole procedure as satisfactory for everyone involved as possible.

Customers enjoy buying, employers make more profit and sellers are emotionally engaged in a sustainable process.

'winning' can be counterproductive

2011-01-27T01:15:00.000-08:00

If I beat you, you will probably feel bad about it.

If I beat you, I will feel sorry for you.

If I beat you, you may not want to play with me again or worse...

If I beat you, you may make it your 'mission in life' to beat me back and that would be a horrible game for both of us. Why waste our lives battling for a few meaningless points, maybe damaging ourselves in the meantime.

Boreham Wood FC seem to understand this http://yhoo.it/hmXSkU and I am sure they feel really good about losing in the circumstances, or did they?

So why do sales have to be considered such a battle?

The answer is that THEY DON'T. Sales and specifically telephone sales are all about identifying the potential customer's emotional connection with what you are selling. They win an emotional reward, the seller wins longer employment and the employer earns a little more profit for their investment in the process.

'winning' can be experienced by everyone who plays the game.

Losers are those who don't play.

Myers Briggs for customer servces but not sales

2011-01-02T04:43:00.000-08:00

I read in an excellent article by Tom Lamont of the Guardian http://bit.ly/i3hcN1 that call centres are now successfully using Myers Briggs psychology to serve their incoming callers and was surprised to think that this almost anciant theory works in modern selling (telephone sales) but it doesn't.

We are all a constantly changing psychographic profile - we are never just one the the '16 types' and can change that profile in seconds, even several times during a conversation.

This profile or 'state' is represented by sound - the sound of our voice which indicates the emotion (one of 18) we are currently feeling or 'driven by'.

Serve that emotion http://bit.ly/geMACJ and you will have made a sale.

What do you hope for at a New Years Eve Party?

2010-12-30T14:54:00.000-08:00

CONVERSATION - to express yourself knowing that thare is no wrong except not having that conversation.

MUSIC - making sense of the lyrics and beat in a way that satisfies you.

DANCE - connecting with others by responding to them as they respond to you.

ART - interpreting what you see from your own perspective so you can decide if you like it or not.

LOVE - finding that special person who likes what you are offering and is excited to collaborate.

JUST like 'good' telephone sales - Happy New Year with love from Simon Bell.

Matthew Vallance alerts us to an emotional crunch

2010-12-03T01:03:00.000-08:00

It was a very early interview (6.35 am) and perhaps he wasn't feeling on top form what with the snow and the cold but Matthew Vallance, Managing Director and CEO of First Source Solutions has drawn our attention to an emotional crisis in telemarketing.

I have never heard anyone completely unable to answer a question during an interview on Radio 4 and the few seconds of silence were excruciating. What Adam Shaw, interviewing wanted to know was, is outsourcing telemarketing jobs away from the UK damaging our economy.

No wonder he was stumped. Of course offering our telemarketing jobs to other countries is damaging our economy but in more ways than financial.

A good telephone sales call has to sound right. It is all very well providing a solution to a customer enquiry but these days we know how to allow the customer to enjoy the process too.

If an enquiry is handled by a telemarketer who speaks English as second language, they will not be proficient with the pace, tone, timing and attonation which amounts to not understanding our culture.

Bring customer services back to the UK, have our enquiries handled by telemarketers who will make you feel good about a call and for goodness sake, recognise that Emotional Engagement is what we like about interacting with other human beings.

Sheila Dillon (Radio 4) makes me feel embarrassed

2010-11-27T02:53:00.000-08:00

I have invented a new word and it is... attonation. This is like intonation which refers to the rise and fall of our voice during conversation but attonation specifically refers to the end of our sentences.

If we are in a directive mood our attonation goes down. If we are feeling logical, our attonation stays level and if we are passionate about the subject, our attonation goes up, like a child or Austrailian.

Attonation is one of four measures of the sound we make with our voice but in a way it is the most powerful measure because it is the sound that metaphorically hands over the baton to our listeners.

Sheila Dillon has a very regular extreme attonation that leaves me with a distinct feeling of embarrassment. Even though her sentences are well managed by pace, tone and timing and balanced with passion, logic and direction, she nearly always curls them into a sound that says "I am sad" to be saying this and that makes me feel embarrassed.

If you would like to know more about how the sound of our voice affects the behaviour of others, especially in sales, then please contact me.

Bruce Springsteen makes me feel sad

2010-11-20T02:27:00.000-08:00

Bruce Springsteen makes me feels sad!

No, I'm not trying to generate hate mail so please read on before you start planning to burn my house down.

I have recognised that there are 18 core sounds we make, like "Raghhh" for anger and "uuum" for sensual pleasure. These sounds can be measured by pace, tone, timing and something I call attonation.

If you make a sound and I listen to it, I will feel the same emotion if I am open to sharing that is. By the way, this is how humans have survived and dominated the planet.

So when I listened to Bruce Springsteen last night I felt sad but I, being me, genrally only listen to the singer and his pace was slow, tone, low, timing irregular and attonation down. That made me feel sad.

The tune behind his singing was, however, upbeat and exciting and I enjoyed it but it is this dichotomy of sounds that elicit a wide range of emotion in the listener and I guess is the secret to his phenominal success.

You see, I wasn't saying anything bad about him.

Poor David Willetts - university fees climbdown

2010-11-12T00:29:00.000-08:00

Poor David Willetts, university minister, he sounded so sad on Thursday morning.

No, I didn't really expect any politician to stick by their promise or even "pledge" to vote against university fee rises, did you?

Obviously someone did because a smoke bomb caused immense chaos in Millbank Tower on Wednesday.

When interviewed, David Willetts, wanted to voice is outrage at the violence but he struggled to let it out because the issue is so closely linked with the fact that he and his fellow liberal democrat's have made a humiliating climbdown on the issue of increased university fees.

So what came out of his mouth was a slow, low, croaky sound that made us feel sad (1 of 18 human emotions) and it was hard not to think "poor David Willetts".

Do you think he planned it or do we just adapt the sound of our voice naturally?

If you want to know more about the sound of success then please contact me.

Back to the gold standard - it's about time

2010-11-08T01:20:00.000-08:00

Oh, so apparently we are going back to the gold standard but I suppose if certain European countries are about to go bust then it is a good time to panic.

The financial guru's have studied us in an anthropological study and decided that it is time to go back to basics.

George Soro's has invested in "inet" to consider the alternatives to fuelling our ever improving lifestyle.

But if you want gold, I will give it to you...

It can be taken readily from every human being you truly connect with. Allow them to access their wonderful unconscious thoughts with regard to what you are saying and what comes out of their mouth is gold dust.

Stop selling them what you think they want and let them buy what they really want.

That is your true Gold Standard.

We may not have to take such drastic financial measures if we recognise the immense value that is right in front of us.

If you want to know more about my Theory of Emotioonal Engagement then please contact me.

How would you like News Corp to tell you what to think?

2010-11-04T01:56:00.000-07:00

Hooray, Vince Cable is stepping in to prevent/investigate News Corp becoming the sole owner of British Sky Broadcasting.

We can relax, we have a little longer to think what we want to think!

Can you imagine a world where all the press, papers, radio and tv have a combined approach to influencing our behaviour?

You shouldn't have to think too hard because this is the world we work in. A world where what we say and hear is influenced by our masters whether they be the government, company, or family.

The one freedom that will remain is the world of good telephone sales because when done properly, you can deliver a message in Audience Specific Language that requires your potential customer to dig deep into their unconscious mind and enjoy the emotions that have a relationship with what you are selling.

If you want to know more abour great telephone sales then please contact me.

The English speaking human voice is the most powerful weapon we have

2010-11-01T05:15:00.000-07:00

I heard on the radio this morning that the Foreign Office is more powerful than the armed forces and all the aid agencies put together.

They work with the carrot instead of the stick and this policy of diplomacy and building rapport is growing in strength these days, even in war torn and fairly lawless parts of the world.

Unfortunately the Foreign Office is cutting the World Service budget and the BBC has reacted by announcing 650 (out of 2,000) job cuts.

What could be more valuable than an English speaking platform that is known, respected and trusted by 6 billion people? How many listeners will we lose when they withdraw five specific languages and the short wave broadcasting? How will our relationship with the world change?

The BBC World Service is the most powerful tool of influence that Britain has and it is probably the only reason we retain any real influence in the world today.

The sound of the English speaking human voice is our ticket to the future, we need to keep exporting it and if we play our cards right, we may be able to tax everyone else for speaking "our language" ;-)

Easy to translate Lost in Translation

2010-10-28T23:53:00.000-07:00

I have only read some of chapter one but it seems clear that the way Eva Hoffman talks is a clear indicator of the life she has experienced.

"Sad" was the word I applied to her during an interview on Radio 4. Her pace was slow, tone low, timing irregular and attonantion downwards which all amounts to a negative nurturing parent in the world of Transactional Analysis.

So far, her book is painting a picture of a war suppressed child ripped from her family and home. I would be sad too.

Isn't it odd how our voice represents our experience?

If you would like to know more about how the Formula for Emotional Engagement helps you to present yourself most effectively, please contact me.

They make us eat and drink too much.

2010-10-21T01:15:00.000-07:00

Professor Steve Field, Chairman at the Royal College of General Practitioners, is adamant that we all stop eating, drinking and smoking too much.

But why do we do it?

Why are we so hell bent on killing oureselves?

Are we unhappy?

Assuming that we live in a society where a job is essential and a job is a process that has been whittled down from an activity that was once helpful, profitable and interesting. Isn't it a shame that most jobs are about processing an order for something like an ipod, your botox treatment or fast food?

We act like machines because our jobs demand it so when we are set free at 5pm, the human inside us is desperate to express it's individuality and the easiest way to break our bonds is to drink, smoke and eat too much.

When we realise, however, that a job does offer many opportunities to e human and connect with other human beings, we start to reduce our intake but to connect with others at work requires you to adopt the Formula for Emotional Engagement.

If you want to know how to satisfy your need to be human at work, then please contact me.

Vineet Nayer puts employees first and customers second

2010-10-18T00:43:00.000-07:00

I suppose it is really difficult when your company is huge, to see beyond "the process". It is all up and running and downtime costs money, so you do what you have to by feeding in new customers. Wise companies see that the machine will not last long as the customers become odd shaped, requiring different things and odd timescales so they try to put the customer first. This has problems too.

If someone asks me, as a customer, what do I want to spend, I always say "nothing", why would I? If I can have it for free then that will be ideal. If it costs then I want it just right and that meeans that a company may not stay profitable for long.

The solution to this dilemma is "employee first", a philosophy that has recently made the news via Vineet Nayar of HCL Technologies.

This really works and if you want to know how to introduce it to your staff then please contact me.

First episode of Phone Shop is a great lesson

2010-10-13T03:19:00.000-07:00

If you, like me, watched the first episode of phone shop, you will have been horrified to think that selling by macho domination still goes on but it can't really, can it?

I know we all hunger for good social placement but surely street culture hasn't reached the world of corporate commerce yet :-s

At least the new graduate, Christopher tried to put them straight, giving his lecture about being yourself and accepting that your are part of the system but then, oh no...

...it transpoired that his sale was to his mum so how true was he being?

The answer is simple. Show respect for and interest in your customers world, as a sales professional, you are irrelevant to the decision making process. All you have to do is "sell through" the customer and get inviolved with the solutions they need to life's tricky problems.

Ed Milliband may be the right man for the job BUT...

2010-10-02T00:11:00.000-07:00

David Milliband made the wrong decision by not applying for a seat in his brother Ed's shadow cabinet.

You can hear Ed trying everso hard to sound authoritative, too hard, so hard that you know he know's he is not the man for the job and that doubt will cost him and the Labour Party dearly.

By sitting on the backbenches, David is saying that he does not approve. He is clearly not willing to play Ed's game and that means that Ed will try too hard and make mistakes.

At least David Cameron will approve.

Selina Scott really "tells us" how the news is

2010-09-20T01:16:00.000-07:00

Ha ha ha, I have never felt so sepearted from the news. I feel like a naughty child who is partly responsible for the British troops handing over responsibility in Sangin.

Selina Scott, standing in for Moira Stewart, lierally shouted the news at us today and by doing so she took a directive position, naturally putting the listener into a passionate position. She was the parent and we were the child.

As children, I expect you, like me, do not remember the news issues so well today. In fact, you may not even care so much because we have "been told".

At least it makes a change from the pure (boring) logic of Moira but why can't we have a news reader who mixes the passionate, logical and directive sounds? More people would enjoy listening then and we might start to take ownership of important matters.

If you want to know how to get your message "heard" by a wider audience, please contact me.

the Chris Evans, Moira Stewart and Johnny Saunders Show

2010-09-14T00:30:00.000-07:00

Is Chris Evans getting old, lazy and/or tired? I love his passion and enthusiasm but whenever I tune in to the (and I say the and not his for a reason) all I hear is Mora Stewart and/or Johnny Saunders.

I do not enjoy Mora's directive tone on the radio in the morning. I know she is trying ever so hard to laugh and sound light hearted but it just deosn't work, does it.

I do not enjoy Johnny's logical sound either, in the morning by the way. Of course sports are all facts and statistics but this is no way to behave on a breakfast show that is meant to wake us up and get us going in the morning.

Perhaps someone clever at the BBC has recognised that if you have the three ego states represented then more people will be drawn to listening but this is a risky policy because, I for one, won't listen for enjoyment any more.

If you want to know more about how effective the sound of a voice can be to elicit emotion in others then please contact me.

Tony Blair in my own words

2010-09-06T00:40:00.000-07:00

In "The Interview" on BBC Radio4, Tony Blair talks about his book "In His Own Words" and rattles on about world peace, Gordon Brown and his new role as an author. It is all very impressive but somehow nothing to be jealous of.

While his policies and decisions have angered many, I am sure there are very few who would criticise the way he talks. He has a full range of emotions going on in every sentence.

He has passion for every new idea, issue or critism. He accepts the interviewers points with a logical manner and he always has an opinion or fact which he delivers in a wonderfully directive way.

I would say that he is the world's best communicator. If you would like to know more about how to be an excellent communicator, please contact me.

You should be delighted to be selling

2010-05-20T00:34:00.000-07:00

If your job is to sell things and you are a bit fed up with the constant persuit of customers, this should make you feel better. Barak Obama has turned his attention to immigration reform and Arizona is the test case because of its proximity to Mexico. Why? Because so many Mexicans are fleeing from the drug wars. Cocaine is the Western worlds drug of choice and demand is outstripping supply. Dealers don't have to "sell" it, they just negotiate price and how many tons the buyer wants. In a way that sounds like a sellers dream but naturally, there is a downside and that is that everyone with wants a piece of the action so the daily grind becomes holding on to your market share and as we all know, instead of flip charts and advertising banners, the drug dealers trade tools are fire arms. I know which I prefer to rely on. At least I can sleep at night and not live in constant fear so for one, I am delighted to be selling every day. If you would like to know more about enjoying sales then please contact me.