Barking exec summary

Perficency a sales and leadership effectiveness organization www.perficency.comPerficency a sales and leadership effectiveness organization www.perficency.com

Executive Book Summary

Barking Up A Dead HorseTom Batchelder

The Summary in Brief

Progressive business leaders are struggling to win enough of the right kinds of new business. They are tired of outdated, manipulative, aggressive approaches to selling and negotiation. These people seek an environment where sales is a process of efficient and meaningful conversations rather than a demeaning series of encounters where they are begging prospects for business.

In Barking Up a Dead Horse, Tom explores an approach to sales and new business development that blends sophisticated, real-world business strategy with a deeper discussion about interpersonal psychology and finding meaning at work. By examining and adjusting your thinking, language, and process at a deeper level, you can grow your business and sell more without having to change who you are.

Perficency a sales and leadership effectiveness organization www.perficency.com

Are your efforts to grow your business working?

Be Yourself and Sell MoreMost professionals make the whole process of sales or business development much too difficult and thus extremely inefficient. What is most astounding is how difficult it is for individuals and organizations to recognize, accept, and correct these inef-ficiencies on their own.

Today, more than ever, people want business relationships they can trust, that add value, that can be measured at the bottom line, and that are also interesting, challenging, and rewarding at a personal and professional level. People are responding to a more human, authentic approach.

Most professionals who are responsible for attracting, retaining, and growing new business struggle to achieve their full potential. Even the most successful are leaving money on the table. Although every company leader and organization we work with has their own unique set of sales challenges and opportunities, there are three common areas where most are underachieving:

1. not fully understanding, believing in, or effectively communicating your unique value. Your unique value is what you naturally do well that your clients most value. The more effectively you communicate this, without empty buzzwords, the less time you will waste, the more people you will help, and the more you will get paid.

2. not having a client engagement process that allows you to be in control. He who has the most effective and disciplined process wins. Your process for engaging prospects is an opportunity to differentiate yourself from the competition and avoid negotiating on price.

3. Having an emotional attachment to getting the business. When you care more about getting the business than your prospect cares about solving their problem, you try to persuade and pursue. When you are too attached to closing the deal, you waste energy and lose control of the process.

Most sales and sales training models are outdated and/or broken. I have created an approach that blends sophisticated, real-world business strategy with a deeper discussion about interpersonal psychology and finding meaning at work. Selling is something that most people hate to do, are inefficient at, or avoid entirely. By examining and adjusting your tHinking, LAnguAge, And Process, you can grow your business and sell more without having to change who you are.

For a detailed view of this model & approach, visit our website: www.perficency.com


tHinking

Attachment to AmbiguityMany business and sales professionals have told me that, at times, they actually prefer ambiguity and fear clarity. If they don’t have a “No” then they are still in the game and can keep doing things to persuade a prospect to buy. Most people who sell are deathly afraid of “No.” I’m telling you, “No” is your friend. By NOT taking the steps needed to get the truth about what is going on and what your prospect is / is not open to, you create a recipe for wasted time and effort. Your primary job is to get the truth from your prospects as early in the process as possible. The more quickly and clearly you can categorize you prospects (and clients), the more efficient you can be with where you spend your time and energy.

Communicating Your Unique ValueTo distinguish yourself from your competition, you must get beyond buzzwords and cliches and clearly express what is unique about the products and services that you offer. Often the best way to speak to this is to talk about why your clients hired you: What was going on for them in their business situation? What kinds of challenges were they facing or what opportunities were they were looking to capitalize on? What were they open to? How did you help them change? By sharing this information, you are showing your prospects how you’ve helped others rather than just telling them how you could help them. Make it easy on yourself; stop selling, pushing, and performing - this is completely unnecessary.

You Attract What You DefineAs you are looking for new business, make certain you are clear about exactly what you are, and are not, looking for. What clients are currently fueling your business? What are the qualities of these clients? What clients, in turn, suck up your time and energy, but contribute little to your bottom line? Being clear about what bad business looks like can be as important and financially beneficial as understanding what ideal business looks like.

Below is an example of how a client of mine, a professional services firm, defined what kind of clients they wanted more of.

new clients that are the best fit for us are…

• Big enough to afford us ($5-50 million business or high net worth individuals)

• Strong industry background overall, weak in business finance

• Profitable, growing, good capital base

• Ethical

• Willing to work with us as a team

• Want to grow, care about the future

• Open to take risks (or at least not too risk averse)

• Business owner passionate about success of product and company. View their work as important (not just a job).

• Willing to listen to our advice and apply it

• Do not complain about money / invoices and pay in timely manner

• What kinds of clients would you like to have more of?

• What is keeping you from defining, writing down, and talking about the qualities you want your clients to have?

ExpectationsAs you are defining and clarifying the kinds of people and companies you want to attract “more of,” it’s important to get comfortable with the idea that you have expectations of your clients and prospects. Your business relationship is not a one-way street. Just because they pay you for your services doesn’t mean they have all the control and call all the shots. You have solutions and resources that are useful to them. Your time and energy are valuable. The earlier you orient them to this, with authentic confidence rather than ego, the easier it will be to work with them moving forward.

categorizing your Prospects

q Yes, they are open to talking now.

q Yes, they are open to talking, but not now.

q No, they are not open to talking now, but may be at a later date.

q No, they will never be open to talking.

some buzzwords to Avoid

• World Class

• Competitive Price

• Full Service

• Passion

• Customer Is King

• Out of the Box

• Cutting Edge

• Exceed Expectations

• Market Leader

• Value Added


LAnguAge

Effective LanguageIn my experience, most business professionals are lazy with their written and spoken language. I believe we must be more disciplined about the words we use and the subtle messages they send – especially since it’s harder to speak directly to someone these days and we are forced to rely on voice and e-mail to communicate.

The most profound change you can make in your sales-related communication is to STOP doing and saying the things that put you in a “one-down” position (i.e.: a position of weakness, “not good enough,” just happy to get the opportunity to win the business, etc.). Review the list below and consider the impact these words and phrases can have.

Phrases that Put you in a one-down Position

“Please let me know if this sounds acceptable.”

“I will call tomorrow to show you how we can help you win more business.”

“Thank you for taking a few minutes to speak with me today.”

“ I look forward to working with you.” (When there isn’t an agreement to go forward.)

“Thank you for the opportunity to serve you.”

“Hopefully.”

“Please.”

I believe in selling 180 degrees differently than most have been taught. You can close more business by not selling, not pushing, and not assuming. You just need to give enough information to get the next meeting or move to the next step. Offer clear and concise statements about what you do and who you do it for. As quickly as possible talk about something that might draw your prospect’s attention and is relevant to their world. This message must be delivered in an authentic, honest, human way. I’m suggesting that you strip away all the b.s. and be honest and direct with people.

Creating Space to Get the TruthWhen you use words that create space with a prospect, you eliminate the wall that comes up immediately if someone doesn’t know you and isn’t sure what you want from them. When you create space instead of pushing for what you want, you allow your prospect to meet you half way, which in turn

enables you to move the process forward and waste less time with prospects that are not open minded.

Phrases that create space

• You probably don’t know me…

• My intention is…

• Does that sound appropriate?

• If you are open to…

• This is what I know…this is what I don’t know…

When you use phrases like these with strength and confidence, people will be drawn to talk to you, to learn more, and to do business with you.

The “I’m Going Away” E-mailWe waste time and energy by holding on to prospects too long when it’s obvious that they are not motivated to act right now. Look at your pipeline of “lingering deals,” where you don’t know how things stand or your prospect won’t return your messages. Consider sending them what I call an “I’m going away email” and see what happens. This will generate a response 50% of the time—even if you had not heard from them for weeks or months. Here’s an example from one of my clients:

An “i’m going Away e-mail”

Rob,

The last time we talked you mentioned you were interested in getting

together to talk further and have me meet with some of your new Financial

Planners. Before doing that you wanted to discuss with your branch

manager first. I sent an email at the end of August and I have not heard

from you.

I’m going to assume that something has changed and this is not of interest

to you at this time. If I’m mistaken, let me know. I’d be happy to schedule a

time to talk further with you. I’ll assume we are done for now, and wish you

nothing but the best. If at any point in the near future you’d like to talk,

feel free to email or call at 203-***-1093.


While I can’t guarantee using this technique will always help you win the business, it will help clarify where the true opportunities are and what deals you need to purge from your pipeline, letting you move on to more promising situations.

Key QuestionsThere is nothing more important in the process of selling and serving clients than asking good questions. There are some questions we are comfortable with and easily ask all the time. There are other questions that we think about but don’t ask. Why? Because we are uncomfortable. We don’t want to put anyone on the spot, appear rude, or are afraid of the answer.

In order to close more deals, you have to say things that your emotional brain will fear might jeopardize the deal and risk making someone mad. In my experience, it’s actually more risky to NOT ask these questions. If you don’t have certain information early on in your process, you risk wasting time and energy on opportunities that have little chance of ever becoming new business.

key Questions to Ask

• Why is now a good time to be talking? Is there any reason why now may not be a good time?

• Related to _________ what is currently not working as well as you’d like?

• What is the cost of your problem?

• Why change? Why not keep doing what you’re doing?

• Who else cares about this?

Process

Creating an Effective ProcessIf you have experienced a prospect’s process for making buying decisions that is haphazard and inefficient, you have an obligation to lay out other, better options. The stronger and clearer you are about your new prospective client engage-ment process, the better chance you will have to keep control, be efficient, get the truth, and come to a mutually beneficial conclusion in a shorter period of time.

Many of my clients struggle with the idea that they do not have to blindly follow their prospect’s process, but rather can push back and offer their own process. Think of the time, effort, and money wasted each time you follow a prospect’s lead.

Ultimately, your client engagement process will be determined by your organization’s specific needs and goals. Remember that this can be thought of as a list of things that must occur during each prospect encounter in order to move on to the next step.

Orient the Prospect Every Step of the WayChange is hard for people and there are always forces of resistance at play. The more structure you give a prospect the better. People like to know what’s coming next and where they stand. Reviewing at each step where you are in the sales process keeps everyone clear. Letting them know what to expect next keeps them calm.

Structure & SpontaneityProfessional athletes, musicians, and other people at the top of their game talk about being “in the zone.” It’s the same thing in high stakes sales calls, business negotiation, and presentations. To succeed, you need to be able to drop down into the zone, where you are at a different level of awareness. From this place there is less emotion and fewer distractions from hyperactive thoughts. You are focused, present, and your heart rate is normal.

Having a structured client engagement process leads to more freedom. It frees you up to be more present, more sponta-neous, more human, and more yourself. People must get a sense that you understand them, can help them, and have something unique to offer before they determine if they want to do business with you. To effectively uncover and convey these things you must be present - fully in the


Process (continued)

moment, not thinking about other things or worrying about your next “move.” The more present you are with your prospect, the more business you will win.

Learning & ChangeGet radically honest with yourself and those around you about what really is working in your efforts to grow your business. Most importantly, have an honest conversation about what’s not working, without blame, fear, or judgment.

Set up a culture that supports and challenges you and your team to execute new behaviors and get different results. Look deeper than the surface symptoms and quick fixes. Is your approach really getting to the heart of the matter? Does it have a chance to create some level of sustainable change? Or, is it just going through the motions, checking off boxes, and having everyone robotically do what they are supposed to do without true engagement or legitimately duplicated results?

Everyone knows there is no quick fix. The true path to sustainable success is through sticking to your system, repetitively and consistently, over time.

Praise for Barking Up A Dead Horse

“Since reading Tom’s book I have been able to step back and address the looming issues that face not only me, but everyone in sales. His approach to business to business sales has helped me to establish a process that qualifies prospective accounts earlier—resulting in less time wasted with accounts that do not fit our model and focusing

more of my efforts and time with accounts that truly fit.”— Matt Kistler, Insurance Sales Representative

“I was searching for a new language with which to speak to prospects and clients that was aligned with our values and how we actually conduct business. Tom’s book reintroduced me to a confident way of speaking and thinking that has positively changed our approach to sales and client management. The core language fundamentals

resonated so well with my client management team that every employee now has a copy of the book and we practice Tom’s

approach in our internal communications. Our new language has motivated our employees and increased their confidence level.”

— Will Burke, CEO, Creative Director, Brand Engine

About the Author

Tom Batchelder specializes in coaching progressive business leaders

in the areas of sales excellence and life success. He has over 17 years

experience in sales, management, entrepreneurship, and coaching.

Working with Fortune 500® organizations and emerging small businesses,

Tom helps clients control their sales process, shorten selling cycles,

and effectively increase profit margins.

Tom received a B.A. in Communications from

Indiana University and has completed extensive

graduate level studies in Counseling Psychology

at the California Institute of Integral Studies in

San Francisco. He lives with his wife Lisa and

son Nicholas in Indianapolis, IN. Learn more

about Tom and his approach at perficency.com.

Order copies of the book atwww.BarkingUpaDeadHorse.com

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