Today’s Sunday Snippet is a preview of business book NAIL THE SALE: Sales Training for Entrepreneurs by Rick and Nancy Monsipapa. The chapter in this preview was provided by the authors’ agent.
About NAIL THE SALE: Sales Training for Entrepreneurs by Rick and Nancy Monsipapa
“Having known Nancy and Rick for several years, I know they have decades of experience in the world of sales. Their wisdom will jump off the pages into your heart to inspire entrepreneurs around the world to get into the fight.”
– Chris Krimitsos, Chief Creative Officer, Tampa Bay Business Owners
“When I first met Rick and Nancy, I had a successful software development company but did not profit enough to quit my day job. I told them my goal was to be making enough to quit within a year and they helped me get there in two months. They helped me build a sales process, a pipeline of potential clients, and taught me how to close. I owe my success to Rick and Nancy as they taught me how to nail the sale!”
– Brian Kornfeld, Founder and CEO, PopkornApps
“Rick & Nancy have been coaching and mentoring my wife and I for over three years. Skill set development and positive mindset improvements have helped me successfully prospect, negotiate, and close business in the seven figures, increasing sales by 75 percent in less than one year.”
– Rick Weijlard, Structures CPM, Inc.
• 1 on 1 coaching
• Team Sales Training
• Key Note Speaking
• Tailored Sales Training for your company’s needs
• Workshop presentations along with lunch and learn
The Snippet: CHAPTER 7
The Art of the Deep Dive: A Fact Finding Mission
“Successful people ask better questions, and as a result,
they get better answers.”
– Tony Robbins
When some people hear the words “deep dive” they think of
SCUBA diving. Since Nancy is a Dive Master that would be
a natural assumption in our household, as well. When we are
in the realm of the Entrepreneurial Sales Professional, deep
dive takes on a completely different meaning.
There is an art and a science to the deep dive. The science
of the deep dive is about asking the same questions over and
over, creating a systematic approach to understanding your
potential client, similar to an assembly line in a manufacturing
facility. The art of the Deep Dive is gathering information
from your prospect in a conversational manner, knowing
when to pivot like a basketball player moving around a
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defender to a different line of questioning when a certain
answer is given, feeling the conversation like a downhill skier
senses the moguls on a great run or an artist paints a canvas.
Conversational fact-finding is using all of the social, people,
and sales skills you have in your body. Learn to pull
information from a prospect who is filled with facts,
emotions, and insider information and you will begin to
understand their business from their perspective and not your
viewpoint. This process is truly an art form; you are building
valuable rapport and the empathy that you convey during this
mission will pay massive dividends further down the sales
cycle with this future client.
If you listen to show number five, “The Art of Discovery” in our
Nail the Sale podcast, you will hear in our own voices how we
gather crucial information in this key step of the sales process.
When you start a fact-finding mission with a potential client you
need to have a clear game plan and strategy going into the
meeting. Preparation is the key and again, this is the science part.
What information do you need to gather in order to
understand if moving to the next step of the sales process is
prudent? Our first recommendation is always have a scripted
ten-question survey that you use with about ninety percent of
your clients. This is for gathering basic information regardless
of their industry, product, or service. Use questions that
revolve around some of the following areas:
Where do they see themselves (or their company) in
six months to three years?
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What are the two biggest challenges facing them
today and how long has this been a problem? Have
they tried to solve these challenges in the past?
On a scale of 1 to 10, what is their urgency to move
their business forward?
What is the biggest opportunity to grow in their
current business model?
Are they currently looking at other vendors that offer
similar services?
What we are doing here is finding some common ground,
creating an opportunity to develop a transparent dialogue
between professionals, and building a valued relationship
between sales consultant and business owner. It is imperative
that you move from entrepreneurial sales person to
recognized expert and a valued resource for your client, hence
the sales consultant role.
When Nancy was first told that it was mandatory that she
do a deep dive with each of her potential clients in one of her
sales roles, she pushed back. She really didn’t believe that
anyone would spend 30 minutes answering questions that she
thought she already knew the answers to. She thought the
person she was talking to didn’t have time for that and she
was afraid they would see her as pushy. But she soon realized
the more comfortable she got with the process, that exactly
the opposite was true. She actually had individuals and groups
tell her she wasn’t like most sales people; she really seemed
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like a consultant who truly had their best interest in mind.
They told her she seemed to care and were thankful she
understood that their business was different. She can
remember one conversation in particular where a company
was doing research on 25 different competitors, and this
gentleman said, “Would you help me understand what is good
and bad about each of these?” She said sure, and they spent
the next 45 minutes going through each of them. This
gentleman, after three years, still calls Nancy as a resource
and has become an incredible referral source.
Let’s start with some of the basic attributes of a master deep
diver. To have mastery in this phase of the process means that
you tune in your ears and close your mouth. By that I mean
your prospect talks at least eighty percent of the time and you
speak twenty percent of the time, and a better ratio would be
closer to ninety/ten.
Here are some key phrases to use during the course of the
conversation:
How did you get started?
What happened next?
Why did they do that?
How do you move on from here?
Who is your next target?
If everything was perfect, what would that look like?
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55
These are just examples of open-ended questions that will
keep the prospect talking and stop you from interrupting.
When the prospect is talking about various aspects of their
business or challenges, you are never to offer a potential
solution during the course of this deep dive; you will have
plenty of opportunity to share your solutions later in the sales
process. It would be fine to offer a cursory overview statement
such as, “We may have some solutions for that challenge.”
However, do not ever stop a prospect from laying out his
challenges and his information to you. The best thing to do is
show your total engagement. This is accomplished in several
ways: eye contact, note taking, nodding of the head, body
language, facial expressions, and asking follow-up questions.
Sometimes asking for clarity on a topic you are discussing
will give you better insight to this client and it may sound
something like this: “Help me understand the point you just
made about the current challenge you face…”
“Help me understand” is our favorite three word phrase in
selling because it will always bring you back to the client and
their position and point of reference. If your potential client
uses a term you aren’t familiar with, let them know it’s a term
you haven’t heard and ask them to teach you what this means
in their industry.
Give your client your full attention. Put away your cell
phone. This will keep you from looking at it because the blue
light is blinking which makes your client feel unimportant.
Do not let your eyes wander to the people walking by the
store front window you are facing, avoid any storytelling on
your part or worse, story topping. What is important is to
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keep an open mind about the person in front of you and
determine if this prospect is a great fit for your product or
service. Focus. Focus on them and try to decide if they will
be someone that you will want to do business with ten years
from now.
We once heard a motivational speaker say that so few people
ever get a chance to tell their whole story. Asking someone
how they got started and actively listening to them and turning
off your inner voice, sets you apart from the masses of other
entrepreneurs who are pushing their product or service to
anyone with a pulse.
Rick once consulted with a couple who was considering
buying into his coffee franchise. After several discussions
with them, it was apparent that they wanted to build their own
stand-alone coffee concept. Rick listened in meeting after
meeting to what it was they were trying to achieve and,
because of that, an incredible friendship ensued. Rick
assisted them by becoming a consultant, ensuring their
success. This is a perfect example of having a mindset of
abundance and seeing yourself as a servant. If Rick had not
allowed them to tell their story and really listened to what it
was they wanted to accomplish, he would have steered them
down the wrong path.
Part of this art form is being able to discern people’s
opinions, attitudes, and their overall outlook on life in
general. We are constantly amazed when we sit down with
entrepreneurs by how like-minded they are to our view
points on business and living an inspired life. Being able to
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57
come around to their side of the table and view their business
world as they see it will give you a tremendous edge on the
competition. Drawing people out of their shells and getting
them to discuss business and life in an engaging and open
format is a social asset that you can use in many areas of
your life.
***
There you have it! If you like this Preview of business book NAIL THE SALE: Sales Training for Entrepreneurs by Rick and Nancy Monsipapa, you can buy your own copy of the book on Amazon.
