Words, like nature, half reveal and half conceal the soul within. -Alfred, Lord Tennyson
with Scott McKain, CSP, CPAE
What if you could find a way to make the fluctuations in the economy have a less-than-significant impact on your speaking business? What if there was a way that you could stand out and move up, even while others are facing difficult times? What does it take to differentiate yourself, so you become a “movie star” of speakers, rather than merely one of the pack?
We’ll look at the three “Destroyers of Differentiation” and the three levels of recognition and why you want to avoid the first two.
Scott McKain, CSP, CPAE has been studying what makes some professionals stand out — while others are adrift on a “sea of sameness.” He’ll take the findings from his new Amazon.com and 800-CEO-READ bestseller, Collapse of Distinction: Stand Out & Move Up While Your Competition Fails, and apply it directly and specifically to speakers. Add this to the fact that Scott was the first speaker to center his business on using the entertainment industry as the metaphor for every profession — his “ALL Business is Show Business” dates back to the early-1980s! — and you will discover what it takes to attain a level of distinction beyond your current position.
You’ll learn:
- the Three Destroyers of Differentiation — the dangerous elements common in every speaker’s business that pull you back to the undifferentiated pack like a magnet.
- why Level One is the WORST place for any speaker to be — constant fee pressure, difficult clients, endless prospecting — and how to escape.
- why Level Two is where many speakers settle — a lot better than lower; infinitely less rewarding than the top.
- how Level One speakers transcend transaction and build lasting careers. Ever wonder why the same speakers are the “superstars” at NSA? Here’s the answer...
- the four steps you MUST take — and take in a specific order — that will make you stand out and move up, even during a challenging economy and a difficult time in the meetings industry.
- how to create a place for yourself at the absolute top of the profession!
Register or order the CD or MP3 recording. Note: people who register for the teleseminar will get the MP3 recording of the session for free.
What do you need to know about the prospect’s business to engage?
I mean if you just walk in the door and say, “Tell me a little bit about your business,” how unprepared does that make you look?
Answer: TOTALLY UNPREPARED.
Prepared is going to their website and printing out several strategic pages, reading them, and making notes so you can ask about what you don’t understand, or need elaboration on—not asking about them from TOTAL IGNORANCE.
NOTE: Just so we understand each other, “Tell me a little about your business,” is the third dumbest thing you can say to or ask a prospect. The second is “Let me tell you a little about my business.”
The prospect couldn’t CARE LESS about you or your business, and probably already knows enough to not want to hear it again. The first most dumbest? I’ll tell you later. Let’s talk about where to find out information about a prospect and his or her business before your sales call.
1. The Internet. Don’t just look up their site. Enter their company name on Google or other search engines like dogpile.com and see what pops up. There may be an article or other important information. Then enter the name of the person you’re meeting with. Then enter the name of the CEO. Then tell me why you’re not meeting with the CEO. (Just a little jab there.) By the way, if you look up the name of the person you’re meeting with and you find nothing, that also tells you something.
2. Their literature. Even though it’s we-we, it has the basic “brags” covered and may talk about shifts in emphasis and market coverage. It also tells you what they think of themselves and their products.
3. Their vendors. Usually reluctant talkers, but they can tell you what it’s like to do business with them and all about how you are going to be paid—valuable information to say the least. Vendors are a rarely used resource.
4. Their competition. Oh man, talk about dirt, here it is. Just ask casual questions about how they win business—it will tell you what it will be like to negotiate with them. By the way, the more their competition hates them, the better they usually are. Competitors hate the people who take business away from them.
5. Their customers. Customers talk. And they are the real word on delivery, organization, quality, and the subtle information that can give you an insightful competitive advantage.
6. People in your network who may know them. A quick e-mail to your inside group asking for information will always net a fact or two and may just be the bonanza you were looking for.
7. Their other employees. Occasionally the admin will help, but don’t count on it. A better bet is their PR department or their marketing department.
8. The best and least used resource: Their sales department. Salespeople will tell you anything. You can get details you won’t believe.
8.5 Google yourself. Want some pain? Look up your own name. Where are you? What’s your Internet position? Suppose they are looking you up. What will they find? If it’s nothing, that’s a report card on you.
And it’s not just Internet preparation. It’s other research, such as finding mutual friends, calling a few vendors, maybe a few customers. Getting VITAL information as it relates to the buying of your product or service. There’s one more thing in preparation: Be prepared with an objective or two about what you want to accomplish in the meeting.
Proper preparation takes time, but I assure you it’s impressive to the prospect. He or she knows that you have prepared, and is silently impressed. It’s an advantage that very few salespeople use. They make the fatal error of getting all their own stuff ready. PowerPoint slides, samples, literature, business cards—you know, all the same things the competition is doing. Biggest mistake in sales. And almost every salesperson makes it.
And it’s not only preparation about the sale—it’s your personal preparation for sales—your personal training. How ready are you? Get ready baby. Turn off the TV and get ready.
—Jeffrey Gitomer
Click on this title to Buy the Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness
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