Creating The Right Foundation

Those involved in the sales process need a range of skills in order to be successful. These include a thorough knowledge and understanding of their products and services, knowledge of the market and competitors, an ability to build and maintain relationships and particularly they need to be skilled in asking questions.

This short article looks at the type of questioning skills that are required to build an effective relationship.

Clearly questions are a key component in the sales process and provide sellers, consultants, account managers or anyone involved in sales valuable information such as

• What are the needs of their organisation?
• How immediate or urgent are these needs?
• Can the needs be developed so they match your offering more closely?
• What are their feelings and thoughts are about your offering?
• How close are they to taking a decision?
• Who is involved in decision taking?
• What are the politics in the organisation?

There are many methods of questioning in the sales process that are suggested by training organisations from the very prescriptive and mechanical to the almost therapeutic approach.

In sales we need a combination of these techniques probing where appropriate to get the client really thinking about their situation but also gaining simple straightforward facts.

We believe at Dynamiq that a questioning approach is essential to success, but this needs to be an intelligent one, asking a range of questions. We want to take the discussion to a level where we get customers thinking about challenges they face and what they really want to achieve.

Gain Insight, Trust, and Understand Their Needs

What we are going to do is introduce a technique that will help you in getting to know the person over time and this will help us to create a foundation, really getting to understand the customer and their needs.

Later we will explore how to sell effectively to the customer.

Taken from the world of psychology laddering is a technique which can help develop rapport and find out about individuals motivations.

It is a technique for questioning that can help us to gain insights about others and in particular why they:-

• Do the things they do.
• Believe certain things.
• Act in particular ways.
• Say the things they say

The technique can only work if accompanied by genuine interest and curiosity about the other person. This means listening carefully and not interpreting what is said too quickly, and without any checking out.

Usually if we demonstrate that we are not judging the other person then they will feel OK about the conversation and feel more able to trust us.

Most of us like talking about ourselves when we feel there is sufficient trust and we feel valued if the other person is able to show a non-judgemental interest. These skills form a foundation that enables us to build and maintain effective working relationships.

The ladder enables you to go deeper and really understand your customer’s values and beliefs and factors which will influence their motivation to buy your services and products.

How To Start The Sales Process With Laddering

Start with simple and straightforward facts, for example:

• What did you do before coming into this job?
• How much time do you spend on various elements of the job?
• What do you understand as your key responsibilities?
• What do you find most challenging?

If we have listened carefully then we can then ladder down to a deeper layer and follow up what we have heard with further questions for example:

• What do you enjoy about your work?
• What do you find difficult?
• What specific events have you found exciting and why?
• What events have you found difficult and why?
• How did you feel on that occasion?

Again if we have held good attention and listened carefully we can go deeper still for example:

• Why do you think you felt that way?
• Would you normally respond this way?
• Why do you think this might be?
• Why do you think you find this difficult?
• What interests you about this so much?

Finally we may on a few occasions go a little further:

• What does that tell you about yourself?
• Why is that important to you?
• Why do you hold that belief?
• What effect does that have on others around you?

These are not the only questions you will ask but they will form the basis of a long term relationship and the customer will get the customer thinking about their real priorities.

Later we will talk about some questions that can be really useful in moving the sales process forward.

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What does the other side really want? Do we ask the right questions? What sort of preparation will give us the best advantage? Here are 9 tips that can have a direct influence on your next negotiations, be that regular internal meetings or complex contract negotiations. Even just a small change can reap great rewards.

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Recently I was asked to deliver some short sessions on influencing skills for a local client…

they were concerned that their people, whilst technically highly qualified, lacked the essential skills of influencing others. They had identified this was mainly in conversations with their clients and customers. Staff were agreeing to extra work within a project without additional charges to customers and tense relationships developed. So “what is the need here” is it ‘influencing skills training’, ‘communication skills training’ or ‘sales skills training’?

When I looked into this situation a little deeper, it was in a range of relationships where they had difficulties, not just with customers. They also had issues internally with each other, resulting in duplication and a real lack of co-ordinated work. This resulted in poor service delivery and tensions between the company and its customers. Not good news, I am sure you would agree.

So probably any training would help, but would it address the fundamental problem that was not just a lack of skill, but also a lack of confidence coupled with high anxiety.

Why does this happen and what is the solution?

Many people who are highly skilled technically develop their set of skills precisely because they enjoy dealing with certainty, for example; doctors, scientists and technicians. This expertise can really pay off for their patients, clients and customers, but when it comes to communication they can struggle because they are not dealing with such a predictable set of parameters.

This situation I describe above was compounded by the fact that they were also really busy and couldn’t give up a lot of time. Sending staff on an intensive course probably wouldn’t have worked in the long term and the company just couldn’t afford to release them for long periods of time. Part of the problem was their “busy-ness” they wanted to do everything really quickly and were often distracted by things other than the communication they were involved in. So the first thing was to get them to stop, slow down and think about the purpose of the next communication, think about the people involved and how they needed to behave.

We ended up running short sessions (2 hours max), in small groups on a series of topics i.e. Account Management, Negotiation, Sales and Influencing skills. We then continued to meet with them individually for 40 minute coaching sessions, once a fortnight. We also stayed in touch by email and telephone and this has continued for around six months now. These sessions offer the opportunity not only for coaching but enables us to introduce further techniques and skills that the person can apply individually in their practice so learning is personalised.

What impact did the training in sales, negotiation and influencing skills have on the company?

This intervention has been transformational for the company. The relationships with customers and each other, whilst not perfect, are a lot better. Perhaps we are moving to a different approach to development with more individual support and less attendance at traditional courses. This is having a more profound and long term effect on the people within the organisations we work with.

Working with this client has led us to re-evaluating the way we deliver our training in sales, negotiation and influencing skills. We need to think about training delivery and what would be the most effective way for the client that considers the underlying factors present in any learner.

If you want to discuss your teams negotiation and selling skills further, give us a call on 0114 236 3781.

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This is the first in a series of articles we will be publishing on a two weekly basis together with templates and tools which can be used for preparation. These articles and templates will help you to prepare for negotiations whether they are complex or simple.

They will be useful particularly when preparing as a team for negotiations and also in clearing your thinking prior to negotiations which you are undertaking alone. By definition, they tend to be of help in negotiations which are intended to be WIN – WIN, that is where both parties feel satisfied with the result and wish to continue to do business together.  However, similar process can be used to undertake Win – Lose negotiations, that is where you want the best possible deal and probably won’t do business with the other party again

The Essence of Preparation

Sometimes we assume we are just naturally skilful at negotiating. There are some people who are natural negotiators, but even those can benefit from doing some preparation. So does some preparation and prior thinking, avoiding blagging, even a little thought and preparation help?

• Preparation is really essential when you are undertaking team negotiations to make sure that the other side do not take advantage of unclear thinking and differences between you
• You need to thrash out differences and prepare who might ask and say what and at what points you might want to adjourn
• Plan what you want to achieve, firstly big picture in terms of the business relationship then detail in terms of the boundaries around the particular deal
• Prepare a detailed mandate which sets out what you want to achieve on certain issues but also what you are prepared to accept and where they might be possible trades
• Prepare great questions which probe the other sides’ position, uncover their reasoning and objectives and what they will be prepared to pay for
• Finally review the preparation and find out how it really helped you and how it can be improved for next time

The Templates

The templates will include:

• Tools for developing clear objectives
• Getting a clear mandate
• Questioning – Great questions to ask, questions which reveal the other sides thinking
• What are your negotiating preferences and what does this mean for your development
• How can you best review a negotiation

Watch out for part 2.  Bookmark our website or sign up as a subscriber and you will be sent them automatically as they are published, as well as receive a complimentary 15 minute audio training on negotiation skills.

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Click here to download a PDF copy of this worksheet

Nothing happens until we plan. We need a strong vision and some clear objectives. Setting these objectives correctly is important if we are to achieve the vision.

We need first to define the difference between a vision and an objective.

Let’s assume that I have a vision of becoming financially independent. Objectives are the battle plan, the stepping stones on the path towards the achievement of my goal. Therefore, a vision may have one or many objectives that I would need to fulfil to achieve my goal. For example, to become financially independent I might want to:

1. Get out of debt
2. Improve my saving
3. Start a business

So in terms of a negotiation you may have a vision to penetrate a new market sector, this will inform your Negotiation Objective, which may be to win the business at a small overall profit. This will then in turn inform your individual targets for issues that are to be agreed.

Examples of a poor objective might be:

• To win the business

This is too general and doesn’t give any detail so really doesn’t help at all.

• To win the business at a 5% margin over 12 months with a no return policy and delivery to a central point and payment terms of 20 days.

This example is too specific and doesn’t leave any room for a negotiation.

Examples of better objectives might be:

• We aim for a return on investment of at least 15% over the next twelve months.
• We aim to achieve an operating profit of over £10 million on sales of at least £100 million Cap the increase in prescribing expenditure at 2% whilst maintaining a generic prescribing rate above 70%.
• Commission services to cut average length of stay by one day, whilst ensuring no increase in re-admission rates
• Cap the increase in prescribing expenditure at 2% whilst maintaining a generic prescribing rate above 70%.

Therefore in terms of creating a useful mandate these may be useful questions for you to ask

1) What is the Vision of your Business and how does this inform your Objective for the Negotiation

Describe the Objective for the Negotiation

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

Now ask yourself the following questions

• Is it clear how success will be measured?
• Is it specific enough?
• Are there any circumstances where you may be prepared to revise this objective?
• Have you shared this information with fellow negotiators?
• Got agreement and full understanding across the whole team?

2) Now think about the other party and what you know or suspect about their vision of their business and what this may mean for their objective

Describe what you think their objective may be

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

Now ask yourself the following questions

• What evidence do you have for believing that this is their likely objective?
• Do you think there are any other possibilities?
• What possible trades may therefore be attractive to them?
• How can you best test this through skilful questioning?
• What is the rest of the teams/organisations views about this

Doing this thinking will help you to achieve a desirable outcome in any negotiation. It will mean that you are well prepared and will form the basis for more detailed preparation.

It will mean that you enter the negotiation with the right mind set and other partners in the negotiation will know what you are aiming for.

Later we will look at

• Getting a clear mandate
• Questioning – Great questions to ask, questions which reveal the other sides thinking
• What are your negotiating preferences and what does this mean for your development
• How can you best review a negotiation

Click here to download a PDF copy of this worksheet

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Positional bargaining by its very essence implies that you adopt a certain position and then proceed to bargain based on this position. The intention is to keep as close to this as possible so that you achieve a desirable outcome.

There may be several reasons for adopting this position, amongst them; a fear of the negotiation getting out of control, poor or hurried preparation and reluctance to engage in the creative process. Also there may be a strong desire to WIN the negotiation and not get taken advantage of.

Why Are We Negotiating?

Let’s go back to why we are in the negotiation in the first place. Presumably we want productive relationships with both our customers and suppliers, one where we genuinely feel we are getting value and we usually see as long term.

We know the cost of getting new sales is considerably higher than cultivating existing relationships and also we know that engaging new suppliers who don’t really understand our business has considerable costs in the early stages.

We want suppliers who care about the service they give and our perception of it, listen to our feedback, take action on it and really work for us. So it’s important that the negotiation is a win-win negotiation with both parties feeling they have a good deal.

What’s In It For Them?

If you are losing customers and suppliers are no longer keen to supply you,it’s worth asking why? Why are they are no longer happy working with you? Could it be they think they‘re not getting good value from the business relationship? Could it be that they feel they were taken advantage of in the initial negotiation?

So let’s look at some principles that can improve your negotiations

• Assess what the other person’s objectives might be and identify what is really important to them. What things might they be willing to give ground on easily
• Identify things that are clearly NOT negotiable, then think about positions where you might be prepared to move yourself, and what you would like in return. It might be the customer or supplier can give this easily. For example if you are a bit short of cash you might be able to give a small discount for guaranteed improvement in payment terms.
• The essence of skilful negotiation is creativity, so have several options around each of the negotiable issues. This will enable you to move positions so that you continue to have a negotiating position, rather than just concede.
• Listen to the other person’s ideas and ask questions to get their ideas. Remember, you are looking for a win-win situation, where they feel they have a good deal and can go back to their board feeling proud of what they have achieved and you are also happy with the deal.
• Be prepared to embrace ideas you have not considered, they might really work for you.
• Finally, develop your interpersonal skills. Most people say that it’s the face to face communication that counts, so relax and be confident; be tough on the issues and soft on the people.

In the next article we will look at preparation needed for effective negotiation. A podcast will also be available which you can download from our site.

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What is a SWOT Analysis?

SWOT Analysis originated from research done during the 1960s at Stanford Research Institute into why corporate planning so frequently failed. So it is used most effectively when deciding whether a particular proposition is beneficial or not for a company. Such propositions could include assessing the company’s position or viability; assessing a business idea; considering whether to outsource an activity; or changing a supplier. Similarly to PEST, SWOT uses a grid format. Strengths and Weaknesses look at internal factors and the company’s resources and readiness to move on the proposition. Opportunities and Threats look at external factors that can help or hinder the success or failure of the project. Those leading the SWOT Analysis need to be specific in the subject matter for the analysis, so those involved, properly understand the purpose and implications of the SWOT assessment.

The example follows on from the example used for the PEST Analysis.

Subject: To audit our present position, as an HR Consultancy

Strengths                             Weaknesses
Small co. – flexible response         Lack of national
                                      profile
Known as HR legal specialist          Profile only in small
in north of England                   & medium cos.
Two consultants have specialist       Lack of numbers of staff
knowledge                             if upturn in business

Opportunities                         Threats
A lot of new European legislation     Competition from
                                      larger consultancies
European funding available in         Cash-flow for new
regeneration areas                    staff, marketing etc.,
Are competitors interested in         Lack of knowledge
In this market?                       of European market
                                      needs.

Why is a SWOT Analysis important to your business?

• It can be used for a number of decision making requirements and enables proactive thinking rather than relying on habitual or instinctive reactions.

• It is versatile in that it can be used for both personal and business issues.

• It enables a team leader to define and develop goal-oriented actions, together with specific and agreed objectives.

• By getting collective agreement to the Analysis, the commitment of those responsible for any implementation to the proposition will be encouraged.

• It can uncover opportunities that the company is well placed to take advantage of and by understanding the weaknesses of your business, you can manage or eliminate threats that otherwise could have come as a surprise to you.

How to use a SWOT Analysis

• Similarly to the PEST Analysis, SWOT requires you to brainstorm items under the separate headings. For Strengths, consider what advantages your company has, what does it do better than anyone else. For Weaknesses consider what needs to improve, what should the company avoid and what would others see as your company’s weaknesses. For Opportunities look at the good opportunities that are available to take advantage of and what trends you can exploit. In Threats outline the obstacles, including what the competition is doing.

• A SWOT Analysis can be used for a personal issue, such as considering steps to develop your career. If only one or two people are involved in drawing up the SWOT Analysis it can be a subjective exercise, so where possible it is useful to gather others’ opinions on your Analysis.

• As SWOT is more company-focussed, it can be used as a team development exercise. The process is involving and once the different factors have been identified, it allows people to decide on suitable actions and objectives for the future. These objectives may include staff identifying what skills and knowledge they will commit to improve, to benefit the business.

• When the grid is complete you can decide what actions are appropriate. A company may not pursue the most lucrative opportunities, but may pursue opportunities that are a good fit to the existing company’s strengths, or spend time devising a defensive plan to prevent or overcome identified weaknesses that may have made the company susceptible to outside threats.

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Using a PEST Analysis

A PEST Analysis is an extension of the notion of weighing up the pros and cons of a situation and the Analysis is represented as a grid. Firstly, the subject of a PEST Analysis should have a clear definition, understood and agreed by all those involved in the Analysis. Typically, the subject would be concerned with considering entering a new market, or investing in launching a new product. An example of a PEST Analysis is given below. Questions should be addressed concerning each pertinent bullet point. The example is not exhaustive, each PEST Analysis may have additional points relevant to your business. Commonly occurring bullet points include the following:

Subject: To expand the range of HR Services we offer

Political                            Economic
Current relevant legislation          Taxation issues
Future legislation                    Home economy trends
European procedures                   Tax costs/savings
Regulatory bodies                     relevant to services
Likely change of Govt                 Market & trade cycles
Funding, grants & initiatives         Specific industry cycles
Local bodies & grants                 Market rates for services
Professional bodies’ interests        Customer financial drivers

Social                                Technological
Buying patterns                       Use of technology to
Brand image                           transmit services
Advertising & publicity               Maturity of technology
Existing customer attitudes           Information &
Potential customer attitudes          communications
Intellectual property                 Technical skills of
issues                                personnel

The 4 quadrants will vary in size and significance depending on the type of business you are involved in e.g. a multi-national oil company will be more concerned by “political” factors, than a business close to their customers, where “social” factors may have more significance.

Why is PEST Analysis important to your business?

• It helps you consider the context your business is operating in, to ensure changes you make to your business align with the positive, powerful changes impacting on the market and on global markets overall.

• On the other hand it helps you avoid taking actions that are likely to fail, because of factors beyond your control.

• It is a useful tool to use when considering expansion into new countries or regions, because it challenges your assumptions and helps you to consider how to tackle issues such as cultural differences in the way business is conducted.

• In a group setting, brainstorm the relevant factors that apply to your business.

• For each relevant bullet point you can pose a question for those in the group to analyse e.g. What grants are available to help to promote our business in a new country or region?

• Consider what information you have already about each bullet point. It is important to test your assumptions at this stage to ensure you have up-to-date and correct knowledge and information. If you don’t it may require group members to research the gaps in knowledge, in order to progress your analysis.

• Over time, with accurate and sufficient information, the PEST Analysis will change and additional factors may need to be included. But as a “living” document, the PEST Analysis can guide you and your company to make the most appropriate decisions about the future direction of your business.

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This series of 3 articles focuses on problem-solving and decision-making in the business environment.

It explores the use of both the PEST and SWOT Analysis models, when analysing the business environment in order to decide future direction and actions. The articles describe these familiar terms and outline how they can be used in the organisational context and why they are important to your business.

Both models’ titles are acronyms of the factors used in the models to describe frameworks to analyse business parameters.

What Are The Benefits a PEST Analysis?

PEST(Political, Economic, Social and Technological) focuses on the external, macro-environment in which your business operates. This provides the “big picture” framework, which helps business owners to build a vision of the future and to decide on appropriate actions that take into account, both the positives and negatives of the macro business context e.g. your product, or service may suit the global market (positive), but your company has little experience or knowledge of the cultural context of the business world beyond Europe (negative).

What Are The Benefits a SWOT Analysis?

Because the PEST model looks at external macro factors, it is useful to use before a SWOT Analysis. A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis is more micro-environment, providing a good framework for reviewing the strategy and position of an organisation, or considering a new proposition for the company.

Part 2 of this series provides more detail on the PEST model and how to use a PEST analysis in your business.

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