Time to take it out for a spin

How to migrate from a “tell mode” to a “seek mode” in sales;
Sixth in a series
By Jerry Stapleton, for Small Business Times
Throughout this series we’ve talked about “Knowledge Calls.” Knowledge Calls are intended to gain you valuable insight into your customer’s organization and business. They also are intended to move you from Vendor/Problem Solver to valued Business Resource in the eyes of your client.
Last month, we looked at controlling the logistics and location of your Knowledge Call. Now it’s time to actually conduct a Knowledge Call.
The rules of the road
You’ve finally arrived at the customer’s office and you’re ready to start the Knowledge Call. This doesn’t require fancy skills, but it does demand discipline. Keep several things in mind as the call progresses:
1. A Knowledge Call has a tone all its own.
A Knowledge Call is conversational and informal, yet business-oriented and focused. It’s unstructured, yet organized. It’s a good idea to consider what a Knowledge Call isn’t so you can best capture that unique “Knowledge Call tone.”
Caution: A Knowledge Call should never create the atmosphere of:
— a vaguely positioned information-gathering meeting
— a survey
— a needs assessment
— interrogation
— espionage
— an interview
— fact-finding
— research
— snooping
— a “sales” call
— random listening
By contrast, here are some things that describe what the atmosphere of Knowledge Call should be:
— clearly positioned
— steered by the salesperson
— comfortable, conversational, informal
— seemingly unstructured
— of mutual value
— a business meeting
A good way to summarize this atmosphere is “aboveboard/under the radar,” meaning that you are clear about what your purpose is for the meeting (aboveboard) while having it viewed as a minor occurrence (below the radar).
2. Warm up the contact to an appropriate level.
Sometimes that appropriate level involves no warm-up at all, because you know, either from experience or from on-the-spot observation, that this person prefers to get right to the point. But it’s still risky to avoid some amount of warm-up at the beginning of a Knowledge Call, however brief.
By contrast, certain contacts require a lot of warm-up time, with talk about sports and other peripheral subjects, before getting into the heart of the meeting. Gauge what’s appropriate and allow enough time for warm-up as the situation warrants.
3. Clearly position the meeting — no matter what!
At the right moment it’s critical to move seamlessly but definitively from warming up the contact into positioning the meeting-that is, setting a clear direction for the meeting.
Such positioning almost always begins, “Jack, as I mentioned on the phone ….” and repeat the same wording you used when you first set up the meeting. Even if the contact gets ahead of you and begins to discuss the company and where it’s going before you can clearly position the meeting, you must look for a spot to jump in and do so-without killing the momentum.
One really useful tip: Don’t start to take notes until after you’ve done this positioning. It can be a formula for disaster to allow a Knowledge Call to simply drift from warm-up into the call itself.
What can happen is that several minutes into the call the contact abruptly asks, with a trace of annoyance, “So, where are you going with all this?” At best, the contact fails to fully appreciate the purpose of your questions-meaning that you fail to score those valuable “Business Resource points” that a properly positioned Knowledge Call makes possible.
I repeat: You must clearly restate the direction you want to take with the meeting early in the call, no matter how clearly you might have done so when you set it up originally or how receptive your contact might have been to the idea at that time.
Before moving ahead, it’s a good idea to check for any urgent issues that might be on the customer’s mind. One of my clients won’t ever forget the time that he spared his own backside (and mine) by doing this. We aborted a Knowledge Call in favor of a product discussion once we discovered, by way of a quick reality check, what was really on the contact’s mind. She hammered us with her frustration that someone else at my client’s company still hadn’t gotten back to her with product information she urgently needed for a meeting the next day. If we hadn’t given her that chance, we would have been toast.
After experiencing a reaction like that a few times, you learn very quickly how critically important it is to set a clear direction at the start of the Knowledge Call.
Here’s one way to flush out issues and get a read on how receptive the contact is to the direction you’re planning to take. At the end of your positioning of the call, say something such as, “So, that’s the direction we’re hoping to go in this meeting. Make sense to you?” Then, after only slight pause, add something to this effect: “Having said that, do you have any pressing issues that you want to make sure we discuss while we’re together today?”
If the contact responds in the affirmative, either get her issue out of the way immediately or ask if you could circle back to it before leaving. Whatever you do, just make it clear that you’re going to address her issue.
4. Avoid any references to confidentiality.
By bringing up confidentiality, you make it an issue where it would not otherwise exist. You should also be sensitive to moments when the contact confides in you before telling you something-as for instance by saying, “You know, you didn’t hear it here,” or “Don’t repeat this, but ….”
When that happens, you must put down your pen. At other times the customer won’t say directly
that he’s talking about a confidential subject, but you’ll notice that he begins speaking much more quietly, indicating that he doesn’t want coworkers to overhear what he’s saying. In that case, stop writing.
5 . Avoid over-structuring or formalizing the Knowledge Call.
Don ‘t go in with a list of questions. Your customer will wonder what sales training program you just came out of. Keep your language informal, light, and conversational. Aim for a lively discussion, not a
structured survey.
Most Knowledge Calls jump frequently from one topic to the next-say, from the customer’s business to the customer’s organization-and back again. This is normal. It usually indicates that the meeting has that Knowledge Call tone.
So far, so good …
We’re not done yet. Your mom always told you to be a good listener. Next month I’ll tell you why.
Selling in a seek mode:
Time to hit the road
We’ve talked about the importance of knowing your client’s business and how Knowledge Calls can help you do that. We’ve talked about who your best contacts are and how to set up the meeting. We’ve even talked about where to have that meeting. Now it’s time to take the Knowledge Call out on the road and see how it performs.
In this sixth in a series based on his soon-to-be-released book, “From Vendor to Business Resource,” Jerry Stapleton takes you step-by-step through your first Knowledge Call.
Free on the Web
For an excerpt from Jerry Stapleton’s book, “From Vendor to Business Resource,” go to www.FV2BR.com
Jerry Stapleton is president of the IBS Group and author of “From Vendor to Business Resource: Transforming the Sales Force for the New Era of Selling.” For more than ten years, he has been showing companies of all sizes, from start-ups to Fortune 500, how to sell to large accounts.
November 23, 2001 Small Business Times, Milwaukee