Speaking Your Prospect's Language

When presenting a proposal, it is crucial that the language you use reflects the prospect's interests. While your vocabulary may reveal the knowledge you have of your industry or your company’s products and services, its specialized terms may not be in the same language spoken by Mr. Big. Every industry has its own argot, or set of words, acronyms, and code phrases that serve as a verbal shorthand for insiders. Some of this jargon has become fairly well-known in the general version of English we all speak—but most of it hasn’t.

For example, most people know that a “spot” on television means a short commercial message. But how many know what a “donut” means in TV-language? (It’s a commercial message where the beginning and end remain the same from showing to showing but the middle—the hole in the donut—is changed frequently.) Your industry has its own jargon, too.

It’s important that you identify the specialized terms you use in your presentations and make sure they are ones that Mr. Big will understand. Be especially careful of acronyms—those collections of initials that are taking over our language.

“We are offering you only Bb+ rated or better NYC GO’s, Mr. Big, so your 1099 will be very simple.”

This may be perfectly clear to a stockbroker or an accountant, but what does it mean to simple folk like you and me—or Mr. Big?

One of the biggest dangers of using specialized terms is that not only are they not understood, they can make the prospect feel ignorant. And few people enjoy that feeling or appreciate the person who gives it to them. Most of the time, the prospect will never let you know that he doesn’t understand what you’re talking about. After all, who likes to admit their ignorance? In the worst case scenario, you’ll lose the sale and never really know it’s because Mr. Big didn’t comprehend just exactly what it was you were trying to sell him.

The specialized language you do need to know, though, is the prospect’s. Sprinkling a few well-chosen (and correctly used) phrases from Mr. Big’s line of business into your presentation will help you gain credibility. If you’re selling to a car dealer, you should know what an “up” is. Furniture stores carry “case goods” and appliance stores sell “white goods” and sometimes “brown goods.” Almost all retailers keep track of their “SKU’s.” If you’re going to sell to prospects in these categories, you need to know their language. Just make sure you use the terms correctly—and don’t overdo it.

You’ll pick up a lot of your prospects’ jargon when you do your research. You can also learn a lot by reading the trade publications from their industries and browsing the web sites of their trade associations. Many of them offer a glossary of industry terms that you’ll find particularly useful.

If you suspect that your prospect doesn’t understand something, by the way, there’s nothing wrong with pausing in your presentation to clear up the confusion. This holds true whether it’s because of your use of an unfamiliar term or any other cause of lack of clarity. When the prospect gets that quizzical look, stop the pitch and offer to clear up the misunderstanding. Just make sure you blame yourself for the problem by saying something to the effect, “I sense that I’ve failed to make something clear. You look like you have a question.” Then give them time and space to ask their question.

Communication that is not received can’t be understood, so it doesn’t occur. I don’t know if a tree that falls in the forest when no one is there makes a sound—but I can guarantee that no one is going to buy the lumber. Sales don’t happen if the prospect doesn’t receive the message.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Don't Run from the Voice Mail Battleground

Hello Again

What do you do if your prospect doesn’t return your first call? Call again, of course. And unless there’s some specific reason not to (like the prospect is on vacation), don’t wait a week to do it—call within two or three days of the original message. If they haven’t returned your first call by then, they’re not going to. It’s essential on the call back that you say nothing about your previous call! If you do, no matter how hard you try, it will sound like whining. Instead, put a slightly different spin on your first pitch or add some useful information that they can get by calling you back.

Call backs are also where you really use that information you got from the human operator. Try the other phone numbers the company may have—especially direct ones. Call during non-business hours. This can be particularly effective when using direct-dial numbers since many people will answer their own phone when the switchboard is closed.

Don’t run from the voice mail battleground. With a little preparation and a positive attitude, you can win the battle!

Little Things That Count

There are a couple of other things you can do to improve your voice mail results. Always mention the date and time of your call even though most voice mail systems do this electronically. This will underscore your professionalism. Also at the beginning of the message, give both your first and last name (it’s shocking how many other people are named Dave) and spell your name if it is difficult, unusual, or of foreign origin. Give your telephone number at the beginning, too. Repeat both your name and your number again at the end of the call so the prospect doesn’t have to go back to get it if they like the message in the middle.

Attitude counts big time in a voice mail message. You want to sound like a winner, so speak energetically and confidently. That doesn’t mean speaking fast! One of the worst things you can do is rattle off your message like you can’t wait to finish—especially when it comes to leaving your phone number. Sit up straight or even stand while you are talking. Smile and use gestures—the prospect can’t see them, but they most certainly can hear the energy they create. It really pays to rehearse your message out loud a few times before you leave it. Get rid of the “downgraders” in your speech. These are those little words that move your message to the bottom of the pile because they tell the prospect even you don’t think it’s important! “I’m just calling…” “If you have a chance…” “Nothing urgent, just a message about…” If you don’t think you use these phrases or others like them, try listening to that message you just recorded!

Which brings up another good tactic. Before you hang up, try pressing the pound key (“#”) to replay your message and re-record it if necessary. If there is any stumble, hesitation, or glitch—no matter how small—do it over! A poor message will make a negative first impression that you may never be able to overcome. Not all systems have this feature (or make it readily known), but it’s worth the effort. You may also be given some other options like marking your message as “urgent” or transferring to another number or person.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Can't Pay or Won't Pay?

Every one of your customers wants a lower price—or at least they say they do. For some, the price is really a deal-breaker. For others, it’s just part of a game they play to test your limits.

If you believe that a customer is not negotiating, you need to probe to find out if it’s a matter of not being able to pay your price (their eyes were bigger than their budget) or if the price itself, in their opinion, is too high. In other words, they can pay it, but they don’t feel they’re getting enough value for their money. The way they answer questions like “What’s stopping you from saying ‘yes’ today?” will tell you which fork to take.

If the price is beyond their means, you may want to remove some components to make the total package smaller. Or, depending on the product you’re selling, you may be able to install one component at a time, building up to the full system as your customer’s bank account allows. You can also try to work out some payment terms, if your company finances allow carrying the customer on your books. These tactics can also be used when you’re dealing with a negotiator, of course.

Then there’s always the option of cutting the price by forgoing some of your profit, too, although there’s a hidden cost to that: if your shop is busy doing this low-margin job, you may have to delay taking on a full-profit one, since there are only so many hours in the day, technicians on the staff, and facilities in the shop. Putting the full-profit job off until later has a cost, too, in terms of that customer’s satisfaction.

If the problem is an imbalance between the price and the value in the customer’s mind, you can either build up the perceived value, decrease the perceived cost, or both. To build perceived value, talk up the benefits of what you’re selling; how much faster it will solve the customer’s problem, how much more power it will provide to his application, how many more of his competitors will be eating his dust. Sell the sizzle along with the plain facts to get the customer excited about what they’re buying and what it’s going to do for them.

You’ve probably already listed all the advantages your product offers for the customer, but don’t hesitate to repeat them at this point. Open your presentation to the idea page, put it between you and the customer and point to each feature as you talk about it. As you highlight each one, ask the customer an open-ended agreement question (“What do you think of that?” or “How do you think that would work for you?”) to keep them talking about the value of the product instead of its price. A small tactic like that makes the product benefits more tangible and increases their perceived value.

You can also use the bandwagon effect. Talk about how many top performers are using the equipment he’s considering or the product’s record in other markets. The point you’re trying to make, of course, is that he can be as good as them if he has the same equipment. You’re not selling a product or service, you are giving him membership in the exclusive club that meets in the winner’s circle.

To deflate the perceived cost, quantify it differently. How many times a year does the customer use it? If the life of the product is three years and the customer will use it ten times a year, divide the cost by thirty, and point out that it’s only costing him X dollars per use. Lead him to the conclusion that it’s a small price to pay for success.

Another option is to talk up the value your product or service adds to his company. Point out that he’s making an investment in an asset, not buying some transient gratification. Those widgets you’re selling will be in his production line for a long time. Someday, he’ll want to sell his business. He’ll be able to recoup at least part of the cost of your product at that time in terms of a higher price for the business he’s selling.

As you can see, the key to handling price objections isn’t just to give a standard reply and hope for the best. You have to find out what kind of price objection you’re dealing with, then answer it appropriately. Engage the customer; talk to them; above all, listen to what they’re saying about your product and your price. They’ll tell you which fork in the road leads to a sale.


Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Demand Stage Selling

“The salesperson who carefully listens to their prospect avoids mistakes.”

Wouldn’t it be great if you could read your customers’ minds? You know, get inside their heads and walk around a little bit? The very best salespeople seem to have that ability—it’s as if they know what customers are going to say before they say it. They have a sixth sense about which objections a particular customer is most likely to raise. They know which ideas offer the specific benefits that really ring the prospect’s bell.

Some of this clairvoyant ability comes from experience, of course. Even more of it comes from advanced listening skills. Top salespeople really listen when their prospect is talking and pick up small cues that many others miss. Many good salespeople are also students of human psychology. They make it a point to study human nature and learn a lot about their customer in the process. As we get ready to make the actual oral presentation, let’s put it in context.

One important talent top salespeople have is the ability to recognize the prospect’s state of mind and shape their presentations accordingly. They determine if the customer is getting ready to place an order or just starting to comparison shop. They can tell whether the prospect has already decided to buy the product and is negotiating for the best price or whether he or she is weighing other options. They understand that different things are important to the customer at each step in the buying process. They practice Demand Stage Selling.

Demand Stage Selling is a technique that identifies how far along in the buying process a customer has progressed. This tactic dictates that you deliver the type of presentation that appeals specifically to someone at each particular stage. Demand Stage Selling immediately helps block out irrelevant objections and tremendously improves your closing ratios.

Three Stages Of Demand

Prospective buyers go through several stages in the decision process—unconsciously, to them. First, they have to recognize a need and decide to buy something to fill that need. This decision creates primary demand. You can equate this stage to that little pang of hunger you get in the late afternoon. Your hunger is the need—the first stage of demand.

The prospect then has to decide on a type of product or service that will fill the need they’ve identified, which creates secondary demand. In our example, what are you hungry for? You have choices—a candy bar, a piece of fruit, or some microwave popcorn (which invariably creates more demand from everybody else within aroma range—but that’s another story).

Finally, the customer must decide which service provider or product brand to buy. This is third-level demand. In our afternoon snack example, this is when you decide whether to buy the Snickers or the Milky Way. Your prospect decides whether to buy from you or from one of your competitors. In sales, this third level of demand is the one concentrated on most heavily.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Be Persistent Over and Over Again

When you’re dealing with hard-to-reach prospects, persistence is key. According to Stewart Intagliata, Director of Operations, and owner of St. Louis-based Unispot, Inc., the solution to your problem is simply not giving up. “If a guy won’t return your calls, just keep calling him," he suggests. "Keep calling. Keep calling until you get him. Some guys are just that way.”

Intagliata outlines some other methods he’s used. “I’ve stayed outside of places and waited an hour, hour and a half, for people to come out so I can talk to them,” he says. “Or you’ve got to know somebody. A wholesaler can get you in a lot of places you can’t get into just by cold calling.”

The machines may have made it more difficult, but they haven’t taken over completely, according to Steve Hill, Sales and Marketing Manager of Blender Products, Inc., of Denver, CO. He says Blender Products works on “Maintaining direct relationships with end-users, with specifying engineers, while at the same time maintaining a sales force to echo our message. The importance in this industry of continuing to have that face-to-face relationship, which only a local person can build, still holds a lot of weight.”

Attention Can Be Bought

“Sometimes you have to put yourself outside of the box,” according to Jerry Moechnig, Sales Representative for Architectural Energy Corp. in Boulder, CO. “So many people get so many calls everyday, and people just don’t have all the time they need to do all the work they have to do. Fresh baked cookies is probably the best door-opener that comes to mind.”

“You grease the wheels,” Intagliata says. “You send them a shirt, a handwritten note, news clippings. If it’s handwritten, they’ll open it. It’s the soft things. It’s the relationships.” But there are limits.

“We haven’t sent any hookers over to customers or anything like that,” says Bill Nowak, Vice President of Martin Walshin, Inc. in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY.

Moechnig, too, follows a straighter path to get the customer’s attention. In fact, he has a very systematic approach. “Typically, we’ll do a mailing, then an emailing. Then we make an effort to call those individuals with whom we had prior contact.” And what happens after numerous calls? Moechnig says he makes just one more. “When you reach that point when you’re finally ready to throw in the towel,” he says, “I find it very beneficial to leave one last message that reiterates what I’m trying to say, then tells them that this will be the last call I’ll make to them. That gets a response 15 to 20% of the time.”

It’s Still About People

Establishing relations with a new customer isn’t the only part of the sales game that can be problematic. Unfortunately, existing customers sometimes drift away and it can be even harder to get their attention than to get an appointment with someone that doesn’t know you. After all, they know (or at least think they know) what you have to sell. As Intagliata explains, “I was one of those people. I wouldn’t listen to anybody. How much can you tell me about a humidifier? You turn it on, you add water, and you’re ready to go.”

To get back on the past customer’s radar screen, Moechnig recommends trying something different. “We did a mailing campaign to previous customers to re-intrigue them,” he relates. “We went to an old record store and bought some cheap LP’s. We brought them back to the office and broke them with a hammer and stuck them in an envelope with a mailing that said ‘we hate to sound like a broken record….’”

It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling sheet metal, diagnostic software, or million-dollar multi-work-station cooling systems, you still have to get the customer’s attention first. The best way is on the human level, because, despite a wide-spread opinion to the contrary, customers are people, too. You need to understand their foibles. As Intagliata says, “They’re all crazy, but I like crazy people.”

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Free Sales Promotions Ideas

I love eBooks, so I'm celebrating Read An eBook Week by making The Dynamic Manager's Handbook Of Sales Promotions: 23 Ad Campaigns and Sales Promotions You Can Use FREE at Smashwords.com. Just use the coupon code RE100 when you check out!

The Dynamic Manager's Handbook Of Sales Promotions offers 23 ad campaigns tested by businesses just like yours. Each idea includes step-by-step instructions as well as helpful do's and don'ts--including how to get others to pay for them! Use these ideas as is, adapt them to fit your business, or present them for staff brainstorming. They'll pump up sales today and build your customer base long term.

Act fast--the promotion ends March 12! There are thousands of other books at the site with special offers this week, too, so celebrate Read An eBook Week at Smashwords.com.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Getting Your Foot In The Door

You’ve researched your prospect’s needs, estimated his potential spending, and written a proposal that’s worthy of a Pulitzer Prize. It’s time to make the sale!

Right about here is where most new salespeople (and plenty of experienced ones, too), make a major mistake. They’re eager to get the process started, they’ve got a lot of things to do, and their sales manager has been bugging them about all the time they’ve been spending in the office working on proposals. So they rush out and drop in on the prospect, saying something like, “I was in your neighborhood, so I thought I’d stop by and see if you wanted to buy something today.”

This is not a great way to impress the prospect with the careful thought that went into your proposal.

Or they try to make an appointment by calling ahead with a pitch like, “Hello, Mr. Big. I’d like to show you our newest line of widgets. When can you see me?” Then they wonder why Mr. Big is too busy to fit them in. And why they always seem to get his voice mail when they call back.

At least the second salesperson made an attempt to demonstrate some professionalism by making an appointment. The first one apparently didn’t place enough value on the prospect’s time to reserve some of it in advance.

When you just “drop in” on a prospect, you and your proposal are placed in the same category as the other salespeople who work without appointments. These include people like political pamphleteers going door-to-door, cute little girls selling cookies, and route sales operators who fill up vending machines. All of these people serve perfectly respected functions in the grand scheme of our economy, but do you really want your $120,000 idea considered along with the proposal for a new gum-ball machine in the employee’s lounge?

Making cold calls in this day of voice-mail-protected, work-over-loaded executives isn’t easy. It’s about as much fun as changing a flat tire on the New Jersey turnpike during rush hour in the snow. Done correctly, though, it doesn’t have to be a chore. It’s also helpful to remember there are many ways to skin a cat—or to get an appointment.

“There are people who like the bizarre and the strange, and those are the people you do bizarre and strange things for.” That’s one of the marketing tips from Stewart Intagliata, Director of Operations, and owner of St. Louis-based Unispot, Inc. Like many (if not most) HVAC salespeople, Intagliata has faced his share of difficulties getting appointments to see prospective customers. It’s the first hurdle in selling—the one popularized by the cartoon with the salesperson’s foot stuck in the prospect’s door. If you can’t see them, you can’t sell them.

Fortunately, not every prospect is stand-offish. Intagliata says there are big differences geographically. “If I’m in Mississippi, I can get in to see anybody I want. They might not do business with you, but they’ll sit there and talk to you for an hour.” New Yorkers tend to be more brusque; Californians less focused, in his opinion.

South of the border, though, there’s another factor at work. Intagliata says you have to establish a friendship before you can do business. “I remember flying down to Mexico, my first time, and walking off the plane and the guy kissed me on the cheek. That was his way. What are you going to do? You just sort of stand there and say, ‘I appreciate it.’”


Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Alternative Proposals: A Do or a Don't?

An old sales theory says that you should offer the prospect three alternative proposals: one for more than you think they want to spend, one for much less, and one in the middle which you really expect them to buy. The reasoning behind this theory is that the prospect won’t buy the little proposal because that will make them look cheap. They won’t buy the biggest one because they can’t, and they will buy the middle one because it looks like a bargain relative to the biggest one and it’s the safest, middle-of-the-road choice.

This approach may be fine for some types of products or services, but I’ve always felt that using it seriously undermines your credibility. When you practice creative selling, you’re really presenting yourself to the prospect as an expert in your field. You’re sending the very clear message that you have studied their situation, analyzed their opportunities and problems, and used your expertise to come up with the optimum plan just for them. Your proposal is that optimum plan.

How can there be three best plans? When you give the prospect three different proposals, aren’t you subconsciously saying that you’re not sure enough of your own abilities to make a positive strong recommendation?

Another similar tactic is to give the prospect proposal “A” while keeping proposal “B” in your briefcase for use “just in case.” Proposal “B” is always smaller, of course, and it’s the one you whip out at the first sign of a price objection. This tactic sends two really bad signals to the prospect. The first one we’ve already covered: what kind of an “expert” is so unsure of himself that he can’t decide which alternative is best? The second signal you’re sending is a real killer, though. Having seen proposal “A” and then proposal “B,” the prospect will be sure to think proposal “C” is waiting in the wings, and if they give the salesperson enough price resistance, it will appear as if by magic. Way to go! You just created your own price objection.

There’s another big danger in using either of these methods to give the prospect alternative proposals to consider. Faced with choices, most humans delay making a decision. In fact, many people hate to make decisions so much that they will actually welcome choices that have to be made so they can use them as an excuse to delay giving you a final “yes” or “no.”

Anyone who has been selling for more than about a week knows that the most frustrating customer isn’t the one who says “no,” it’s the one who says “maybe.” So why would you ever intentionally give the customer an excuse to “think it over?” Give them one proposal so they can give you one answer. It’ll simplify your life tremendously and you’ll be absolutely shocked at what it does for your time management.

A common excuse for offering alternative proposals is that the first proposal might be too expensive, so you should be ready with a fall-back position. There’s nothing wrong—and many things right—with changing your proposal at the prospect’s desk.
After all, you’re still on the first call on a new prospect and you’ve basing your proposal on some estimates you’ve prepared, not on hard data. It’s unreasonable to expect that you’re going to be right on target every time. You can make alterations in the proposal along with the prospect as part of your closing strategy.

Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, hiring, firing, and motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.