Hey Southwestern students, sales managers, alumni and executives!  Here is a short, pithy article from John Maxwell’s leadership blog.  This is great advice for people who have to present to audiences or make group presentations.  It is also great sales advice when you’re in a one-on-one Southwestern demonstration.   Avoid the ya-da ya-da’s.

Communicating 101 [read "Southwestern Company Sales Tips 101"]

“Instructions for making a speech: Be sincere; be brief; be seated.” 

~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

In Communication, Speaking Overtime Is a Crime, so…SAY IT SOONER

Mark Twain once attended a church service during which the city missionary passionately appealed for donations to aid the community’s poor.

“The appeal had so stirred me that I could hardly wait for the [offering] plate to come my way. I had four hundred dollars in my pocket, and I was anxious to drop it in the plate and wanted to borrow more. But the plate was so long in coming my way that the fever-heat of beneficence was going down lower and lower – going down at the rate of a hundred dollars a minute. The plate was passed too late. When it finally came to me, my enthusiasm had gone down so much that I kept my four hundred dollars – and stole a dime from the plate. So, you see, time sometimes leads to crime…”

The long-winded preacher had persuaded Twain, but then proceeded to drone on for so long that he nullified the appeal his message. The moral of the story? Be brief.

In Communication, Complexity Is Creepy, so…SAY IT SIMPLER

When communicators try to say too much they creep away from their main idea. Too many points and principles muddy the message. Communicators need to adjust their volume—not by raising their decibel level, but by cutting back on their amount of content. Our words purchase the most when spent sparingly.

In Communication, Audiences Are Forgetful, so…SAY IT STICKIER

Great speakers communicate memorable messages that stick in the minds of the audience. Don’t be lazy and merely share information; put in the energy and effort to say things in an interesting way. Couch your core ideas in catchy slogans that the audience can quickly latch onto and easily recall. Use shocking statements or statistics to lower your predictability and pique the interest of listeners. Finally, and most importantly, craft your speech in a way that connects with the wants of the audience. People perk up and pay attention when they hear something that addresses their deeply felt needs.

Get to the point!  Be succinct and memorable.  Then be quiet.  How many of us have talked ourselves out of a sale because we spoke too much?  Blah, blah, blah.  How many of us have watched entire rows of students fall asleep in Southwestern’s Sales School because we loved the sound of our voices?  I welcome comments or examples.

Southwestern Company students: Don’t saturate Mrs. Jones with too many words–take heed of this sage advice!

Whether you’re demonstrating a product, or conducting your 2000^th information session with The Southwestern Company, there comes a point in most salespeople/recruiter’s lives where your closing percentage drops off.  

“That’s a nice set of books, but…”

“The Southwestern program sounds OK, but…”

“You’re a real good salesperson, but…” 

Ouch.  We’ve all heard a variation of these.  Where are we missing the boat?  Chances are we are simply selling people logically, but not emotionally (see future blog).  What can be done? 

When I was a sales manager with Southwestern, I noticed my closing percentage declined—somewhere after spring break.  My Director, Roy Loftin, would fly in, watch my presentations, and then coach me, like this:  

“Boring.  No enthusiasm.” 

What!?  I thought I was doing a vibrant presentation; I thought I was holding them spellbound—evidently not.  So, I made adjustments.  Here a three ways to add zest to your presentations: 

1.  Get re-excited about what you do.  Don’t “curb your enthusiasm”—in fact, make a list of what got you fired up about your work in the first place.  My co-recruiter and I used to hold a psych-up session, complete with choreography, prior to our interviews: “Who’s got the jobs?!  We do!” etc.  (Not exactly Final Four excitement, but we got enthused.) 

2.  Add visuals.  I know many of you at Southwestern hold information sessions orally—without any Powerpoint or visuals.  Guess what?  1)  Most people are visual and 2) you are not a great orator.  You simply can’t hold their attention for over an hour.  So think about adding more senses to your preso or demo.  Some groups use video clips during presentations to enhance the experience.  Think: how can I employ more senses?  Touch? Smell? Taste? 

3.  Get your prospects involved mentally.  Have the prospect do something rather than just listening to your talk.  Let them touch your sample books (I always used to pass them around).  Have them figure out the profit on paper.  Ask lots of questions—this will also save your energy.   

When I got excited again, and made some creative adjustments, my closing percentage magically returned!  What are your ideas to stay fresh and enthusiastic?  You are a creative bunch.  What are you doing to remain zestful in your sales and recruiting efforts?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

I thought about it for a moment.  And replied, “First, you have to prepare, then you have to visualize what you want to happen, then you have to practice.”  

Before giving a talk at The Southwestern Company Sales School or anywhere else, I had to know everything I could about the audience: who they were, what their expectations were, what the main message should be.  In other words, I would adapt my message to the audience. You can’t deliver the same talk to a group of college students and to a group of Estonian real estate agents (more on that in a future blog). 

After drafting and redrafting, I would visualize the audience-how they would receive the talk-engaged, taking notes, laughing, enjoying themselves.  I would spend a few minutes picturing what I wanted to happen. 

Finally, I’d practice.  Sometimes in front of a mirror, sometimes outloud in my office. Always, I would look for opportunities to speak.  You have to try finally; you have to get in front of people and execute to improve. 

Later I thought this little 3 step formula for success in public speaking also applied to the art of selling.  First, you have to prepare-you have to spend time with your product.  It would be a great idea if the Southwestern students would read through and use the books they sell before the summer.  Also, knowing their sales presentations would be key.   Obviously, a good salesperson would sell books to a wheat farmer differently than to a university professor. In other words, they would adapt to their audience. 

Second, before each sales situation, it would be wise to visualize what you wanted to happen.  So many salespeople run the wrong DVD (or Blu-ray) in their heads before they knock on a door-instead of picturing success, they run a video of what might go wrong…not the best mental strategy.  We don’t get what we want, we get what we picture. 

Lastly, to be successful in sales you have to actually talk to a prospect-you have to try!  I can read lots of instructional books on golf, but until I actually pick up the clubs and attempt golf, well, it’s all academic.  Surely, you make mistakes, but these provide feedback as to how you can improve as you practice.  As Ken Blanchard said, “Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions.”

The metaphor for CPR comes from my “Bringing Your Presentation A.L.I.V.E.”  disc on my 6 disc audio program “The Audience is NOT in their Underwear”.

The C stands for “Cut” open the wound. You do that by simply bringing up a pain point or a point of dissatisfaction for your prospect or audience. Simply bringing up a topic like this in your presentation will generate some emotion in your audience. If in sales you could say something like “has it ever happened to you where [your last product] failed on you?” Or as a speaker you could say “have you ever had [specific negative experience] happen to you?” Most presenters make it this far.

However, where the real magic happens is with P which stands for “Pour” salt on the wound. Pouring salt on the wound means that you allow your audience to focus on the pain and to an extent re-live whatever that negative experience was. This of course is critical as a presenter because it generates a wave of emotion and we know people don’t buy on logic; they buy on emotion – regardless of whether you are selling a product or an idea. The way you “pour” salt on the wound is by asking a feelings question like “how did that make you feel when [specific negative experience]?” Or ask the audience to tell you more or at least think in detail about that experience. Only the best of the best presenters and salespeople ever do this.

The R is the simplest part which stands for “Remedy” the pain. Most of us are fairly good at naturally explaining whatever our product or idea is and that is what you do hear. The reason why we don’t have better results from our communication is because we haven’t prepared our audience for this part yet. The difference is that now you have emotionally prepped them to receive your message which is critical in any communication process.

Rory Vaden, former Southwestern Company superstar,  has accomplished much since graduation: he was the 2007 World Champion of Speaking 1st Runner Up, he has authored two books, and co-founded Success Starts Now!, a top-tier sales training organization.