Archive for September, 2006

17.* Mental attitude is intangible. As insurance and securities salesmen know, it’s difficult to present an intangible in a dramatic way. It’s difficult to present it at all. It can’t even be seen!
But here’s how to dramatize mental attitude. Your speaker shows a 10-foot plank, 2 inches thick and 4 inches wide. He places it on the floor and has two or three volunteers walk the length of it.
Then he states that the board will be placed on the tops of two adjacent buildings, each five stories high. It will connect the roofs of the two structures. Who will volunteer to walk it? No one.
“Everyone can do it. At least, he can when the plank is on the floor. When it’s high, you’re afraid you’ll fall. And that fear would likely cause your downfall, too.”
The point is then applied to selling. Where one is confident he will make a sale, he may make it. When he fears failure, he will experience it.

18.* Here’s another way the same thing can be demonstrated.
Your speaker distributes shiny new tin cans. In each can there’s a slip of paper on which the word “Success” has been written. He proves, then, that success comes in cans-not can’ts.

19.* Good mental attitude includes a willingness to look for the good instead of the bad. This willingness can also be dramatized.
Your speaker gets a large white poster and places a small black circle near the center. During his talk he holds up the poster and asks, “What do you see?” The reply will be, “A black dot.” Then he “lowers the boom” on them. “Here’s a fine white poster. It has quality and distinction. It can be used for many things. You could print directions on it and use it in routing customer traffic. You could print merchandise information on it and use it in sales promotion.
“But you didn’t visualize those things. You didn’t see the good. All you saw was the one little blemish-the bad!
“Let’s start looking for the good in everything. It’s a cinch we can’t benefit from the bad!”

20.* Here’s the same “song” but a different “verse.” Your speaker can show a glass of water that’s half full. He states, “The negative thinker will say the glass is half empty. The positive thinker will say it’s half full. Which way do you think?”

Keywords: Sales, Marketing, Business, Sales Training

13.* A speaker can easily fall Bat if he talks about personal habits. As one salesman said, “Any time I want to hear a sermon I’ll go to church!” Yet, habits such as smoking, drinking and gum chew ing must sometimes be covered. Here’s how the talk can be made interesting and effective.

A member of the audience is called forward to act as the prospect. Your speaker acts as the salesman. The speaker takes a couple of quick drinks from a bottle marked “Old Red Eye.” He then simulates a sales call on the prospect. The latter appears to choke on the speaker’s breath! Then the speaker unwraps a whole package of chewing gum and crams it into his mouth. His “sales presentation” becomes very hard to understand. Next, he lights a tremendous cigar and blows a cloud of smoke at his prospect’s face! Now the audience is loose and receptive. The speaker can end the skit and put across his ideas on personal habits.

14.* A talk on customer service is likely to “go in one ear and out the other.” After all, most salesmen have heard it many times before. A fresh approach is needed. For example, your speaker can explain the origin of a “baker’s dozen.” “Little Willie went five blocks out of his way each time his mother sent him to the bakery. Why? Because the baker would count out the twelve doughnuts Willie requested. Then he’d give Willie an extra to eat on the way home.” The point, service, should then be applied to your own method of selling. The story can be climaxed by passing out doughnuts. A break for coffee might logically follow.

15.* Or service to customers can be dramatized in the following way: The speaker shows a jar of dried beans. He says, “Each bean represents a customer. These little customers look very much alike, don’t they? Yet, each is different from the rest. And since every customer is different, each wants different treatment and service. Give each exactly what he wants.

“I found exactly what one of these little customers wanted. Then I gave it to him. I’ll show you what happened.” The speaker reveals a long green vine-visual evidence that a customer “blooms” when given the treatment he wants. The audience will then be receptive to a few words on customer service.

16.* Salesmen should like people. When this point is covered at a sales meeting, however, it’s usually to no avail. The idea is too general for specific results. The next time one of your speakers is slated to cover this point, he can be introduced this way: “Write down the names of three people whom you like. These three people can be friends, acquaintances, relatives, in-laws, outlaws-anybody.”

“All through? Next, delete the names of those who, in your opinion, do not like you. All done? Now let’s see the hand of everyone who deleted one or more names.” Probably not a single hand will be raised.
“This shows that the people you like, are the people who like you. Like, to be liked!”

Keywords: Sales, Marketing, Business, Sales Training

10.* A talk on courtesy to the customer could be very boring. But here’s how your speaker can put animation in it. He stages a demonstration. “Now we’ll enact a scene involving customer courtesy. This incident takes place in a grocery store. I’ll play the part of the customer. Fred Jones, approaching the speakers’ stand dressed as a grocer, will act as the salesman.” The customer asks three or four questions about the merchandise: “Where is the flour? Are these the best potatoes you have? Don’t you have cheaper tomatoes?” The clerk is indifferent, then discourteous, then extremely rude.

The climax is reached when the customer angrily declares, “If that’s the way you treat your customers, you can take your groceries and go to the devil!” The customer throws several grocery items, including a sack of flour, at the retreating clerk. The sack hits the wall. A hole in it causes flour to be strewn in all directions! Your audience will roar. They’ll then be receptive to your speaker’s remarks on the subject.

11.* A “dry run” given by one of your speakers may show that he’s planning to “preach” to his audience. If so, something should be done about it. An audience doesn’t like to be told, “You gotta do this and you gotta do that.”

Your speaker could animate his speech by introducing a “prospective customer” to the audience. He asks the “prospect” why he bought from another company. The “prospect” refuses to reveal anything except that he was given a better deal.

Then the speaker “hypnotizes” the “prospect.” When quizzed under “hypnosis” the “prospect” tells the truth. “I really wanted to buy from Johnny Jones-that salesman (he points to the audience) sitting there. But he gave up too soon. If he doesn’t sell on the first try, he gives up.” The “prospect” continues, using points the speaker had originally planned to use in his talk. “And I couldn’t buy from Ed Smith, because he doesn’t know his merchandise. As for Charley Brown, he always wants to argue!”

12.* Here’s another way to accomplish the same thing. Your speaker can lighten his presentation by using a hand puppet-the type worn like a glove. The puppet brings out the main ideas, the speaker confirming them. The speaker can operate the puppet himself. Since he’s not likely to be a ventriloquist, he could play a tape recording for the voice of the puppet. Better still, there can be a second person concealed from view. He operates the puppet and serves as its voice.

Keywords: Sales, Marketing, Business, Sales Training

7.* When one of your speakers appears in costume, color is added. The theme of the meeting will usually suggest costuming ideas.

Case in point: The National Society of Sales Training Executives used “Five Ring Circus” as the theme for a meeting. The emcee was dressed like a ring master. One speaker was attired as a tight-rope-walker, another as a clown. Still another displayed the costume and muscles of a circus strong man.

8.* Costuming can often be connected with the subject ofi the speech. “The Art of Selling” might be the subject. The speaker appears as an artist. He wears a smock and tarn, possibly with a thin mustache. He carries a brush and palette. Thus he “paints” a vivid, visual picture and he can actually paint his major points on a canvas mounted on a tripod.

9.* Even a talk on selling as a career can be spiced. Your speaker appears in work clothes of his prior occupation. If he was a brake-man on a railroad, he makes his talk while wearing the same over alls he wore before. A denim cap, red bandana, and brakeman’s lantern would complete the costuming. He connects his unusual attire by telling how and why he left a brakeman’s job to become a salesman.

Keywords: Sales, Marketing, Business, Sales Training

3.* Showmanship can be added to any talk by any speaker. For example, let’s assume your speaker has a subject that is drab. Let’s also assume he has examples of how the thing works. He could use balloons in presenting his examples. Thin, sausage-shaped balloons can be inflated. One is rubbed briskly on any clothing. Static electricity is created. The balloon is then placed against a wall. Surprisingly enough, it will stay there. Your speaker could paint the key word in each example on one of the balloons. As an example is developed, he rubs the appropriate balloon against his hip and places it “on” the wall.

4.* Props can help tell the story. When telling of a trip, the speaker holds up a suitcase. To represent a baby, he picks up a doll. While mentioning golf, he brandishes a mashie. To show he’d been dumb, your speaker puts on a dunce cap. Smart-a graduation mortarboard. Sleep-a night cap. Fishing- a sloppy felt. Bad weather-a rain cap. A hat that’s much too small can be donned to illustrate a sales presentation that’s too brief. A hat that’s much too large-a sales talk that’s too long. Point: a good sales talk fits the prospect.

5.* Sometimes a speaker will talk on balance. It may be a balance between selling the need for his product and selling the product itself. Or it may be the balance between selling the customer and servicing him. Regardless, it would be appropriate to show an old fashioned balance scale. It can be used to excellent advantage in making the point.

6.* Suppose someone were speaking on “The Road To Success.” He could use realism; signs of the proper color, size, and shape could be improvised.

A STOP sign is shown. “It’s the thing to do when you’re about to argue with a customer. STOP!”
A DANGER sign is shown. “When asked to cut the price-look out! There’s danger in price cutting.”
A DETOUR sign is shown. “When asked for an item you don’t have, make a detour. Suggest the nearest thing to it that will meet your prospect’s need.”
Signs saying SLOW, CURVE, SCHOOL, BRIDGE, DEAD END, and WASH OUT are easily adaptable.

Keywords: Sales, Marketing, Business, Sales Training

A dynamic speaker “took the stand” at San Francisco’s famous Cow Palace. He spoke on civil defense. With good organization of material, he held the audience spellbound. Nearly an hour later he still had the complete attention of an audience of thousands.

How did he do it? Was it organization of material alone? Or did his subject have an unusual appeal? Did he capitalize on basic emotions and urges?

The appeal to basic emotions and urges

Indeed his subject had exceptional appeal. It encompassed the first law of human nature, the first human instinct self-preservation! As he progressed, he also appealed to love of family, love of fellow men, love of country, and love of God. Further, he stimulated one of the most powerful of all human emotions-fear!

The most convincing speeches are usually like that one. They’re directed at basic emotions and urges. A spark already burns in the heart of the audience. The speaker needs only to fan the flame.

Such flames should be fanned when the opportunity presents itself, but the speaker at a sales meeting has little opportunity to appeal to emotions and urges. Systems and procedures are without emotion. Besides, it’s the prospective customer, not the salesman, whose emotions must usually be considered.

How to improve your speakers and speeches

Yet, there’s a means of putting sparkle in speeches at sales meetings. That means is showmanship. Speakers should dramatize their speeches, present them in a vivid manner, illustrate them visually, and bring them to life. The presentation of each participant can be previewed to determine whether enough life has been injected. Speeches, particularly, should be checked. Where more showmanship is needed, it can be added.

How to Put Sparkle in Speakers and Speeches

1.* To dramatize the qualities necessary for success in selling, your speaker could actually erect a miniature log cabin. “Here’s the bottom log. It represents a desire to serve others, which is the foundation of good salesmanship. Unless the salesman and his product will serve the customers in some way, there’s little basis for a sale. On top of that log we place the next, which represents enthusiasm. A good salesman has enthusiasm for people and enthusiasm for his product. The next log is knowledge of the product. We must know what we are selling . . .” Miniature log cabins can be purchased at toy shops. The logs need be only ten or twelve inches long but grooved so they will interlock. The roof is placed on last. It should represent a protective element, such as a code of ethics or a manufacturer’s guarantee.

2.* Perhaps you want your salesmen to be better sold on their own proposition. If so, assign someone the subject, “My Most Difficult Prospect.” Your speaker begins by stating that he once had a very tough prospect. After elaborating on how tough he was, the speaker passes out “pictures” of him. Each “picture” proves to be a small mirror. “Yes, there’s the most difficult prospect you’ve ever met. If you sell him on your product line, and if you keep him sold, you can sell your merchandise to anyone on the face of the earth! Let’s discuss the many reasons why we should be sold on our merchandise. . .”

Keywords: Sales, Marketing, Business, Sales Training

Watch out this nice slide show below…