Update: The link to the recording and the handout for this webinar “Timing: The Silver Bullet in Sales” will be emailed to you when you download the ‘Won Sales Analysis” template and instructions.

Join 1,000+ entrepreneurs, business leaders, and sales & marketing professionals at 10:00AM (Pacific) on September 17^th for a no-charge webinar being hosted by JigSaw. During this 30 minute webinar I will prove that there is a Silver Bullet in sales.

Webinar Details -There is a Silver Bullet in Sales

For years you’ve been told that there is no such thing as a silver bullet in sales.

But there is. It’s called timing – getting in front of the right person at EXACTLY the right time.

When you have the right timing the sale almost happens by itself – No challenges getting to the decision maker, understanding their dissatisfaction, presenting a solution, or closing the sale.

In this 30 minute webinar Craig Elias will show you how events that trigger the buying process – Trigger Events – convert someone who never would have bought from you yesterday, into someone highly likely to become your customer today.

When you leverage Trigger Events to get in front of highly motivated, buyers before your competition you dramatically:

• Increase your close ratios
• Shorten your sales cycles
• Sell at higher prices

This no-charge webinar will show you the secrets of getting to decision makers at EXACTLY the right time by:

1. Identifying what the right timing is
2. Learning how to get the right timing
3. Understanding what to do when you do have the right timing

You’ll also learn:

• The three types of Trigger Events that create highly motivated buyers
• The specific Trigger Events that create highly motivated buyers for what you sell

Register even if you can’t make the live webinar so you receive the recording of the webinar and a chance to win $1,500 worth of my time.

P.S. On September 2^nd the winners of the four tickets for the Art of Sales happening in Calgary on September 25^th – Terry Tudor (1 ticket), Tammy Dowd (1 ticket), and Kae Shoommugum (2 tickets) – were notified by email as were the rest of the over 120 who entered their name in the draw.

Jed (a hypothetical salesperson) keeps getting what sound like positive buying signals with his prospecting calls. Somehow, though, he’s not getting very far.

“People tell me to call back in two months, four months, six months, when they will be looking at this problem” he says, perplexed. “When I call back, I get people telling me how glad they are that I called … but my close ratio is low, and my sales cycles are way too long. What’s going on?”

In response, I would give Jed the following advice.

“Jed, when you cold call someone in an attempt to sell them something, you’re interrupting that person’s day. The dominant instinct is always going to be for that person to find any reason to get off the phone and get back to what they were doing before you interrupted them.

“Your goal has to be to maintain your poise and get past that first fifteen to thirty seconds of the initial call … which is always going to be a little bumpy.

“BUT — the reason you’re riding out those first fifteen to thirty seconds is not so you can try to turn the person into a short term prospect on the spot!

“Actually, you’re trying to discover if this person has experienced a Trigger Event. If there has been such an event you want to find out what it was and when it happened. The Trigger Event could have taken place quite a while ago, it could have happened only recently, or it could still be on the horizon.

“These Trigger Events typically fall into one of three categories:

1. Bad Experience: The buyer has a bad experience with a product/service, with people, or with a provider. For instance, there may have been a product/service change that creates dissatisfaction.
2. Change / Transition: The buyer has a change or transition in people, places, or priorities. For instance, there may have been a change in the buyer at an account.
3. Awareness: The buyer becomes aware of the need to change for legal, risk-avoidance, or economic reasons. For instance: The person may have a new understanding that buying from someone like you is less risky than continuing to buy the existing solution.

“During the first minute of your call, use the opportunity to understand which of the following three buying modes the buyer is in:

“Status Quo: The buyer is completely happy with what he or she currently has. There has not been a Trigger Event in the recent past, but there may be one on the horizon. You may think this person is a waste of time and may want to move on to the next person on your list. Actually, if this person has money, authority, and influence, this is a great long-term opportunity. A strategy for this type of call is to start the relationship building process. I would also suggest that you check back in on a monthly basis to see if a Trigger Event has recently happened.

“Searching For Alternatives: This person is unhappy with what he or she has, has spoken to several suppliers, and probably already has a favorite. A Trigger Event took place a while ago, and they’ve already taken action on it. You may think that this is a short-term opportunity … because the buyer is actively talking to a number of potential suppliers. This is in fact probably a medium term opportunity … because it is highly likely this buyer already has a first choice! Selling to buyers under these conditions typically results in a lower close ratio and a longer sales cycle – exactly the problem that you are experiencing. A strategy for this type of call is to position yourself as the buyer’s number-two choice — so you get called first if the buyer’s current favorite falters. You should check back every other week to see where you stand.

“Window of Dissatisfaction: A Trigger Event has recently taken place and this buyer knows that what they are currently using is no longer sufficient, but has not done anything about it yet. Because they tell you to call back in two months, four months, or six months you make a note to do that and move on to the next person on your list. Wrong answer! This is actually a short term opportunity, because the buyer is not talking to your competition — yet. When you call back a few months later, even if you call a few weeks early thinking it will give you and edge, it’s very likely they will already be talking to your competition. The strategy for this type of call is to identify the business opportunity and pursue it immediately — with as much happening on this initial call as possible and future contact taking place in the very near future. You must find a way to push a little bit and learn more about the Trigger Event, then try to set a near-term course of action.

“As it stands, Jed, you are focusing on those people who are already talking to your competition … and missing the biggest opportunities: those buyers in the Window of Dissatisfaction, who recently experienced a Trigger Event and have not started talking to your competition. That’s why your numbers are as bad as they are; that’s also why your sales cycles are so long.

“Jed, you need to do a better job of ‘staying on your feet’ for the first thirty seconds or so of the call — long enough to ask a couple of questions that will help you learn whether the person has:

• Not experienced a Trigger Event in a long time
• Experienced a Trigger Event a while ago and already doing something about it
• Recently experienced a Trigger Event and has done nothing about it –– yet

“Once you learn if, and when, a buyer has experienced a Trigger Event you can apply the appropriate strategy. When you do that, and focus FIRST on those people in the Window of Dissatisfaction, who recently experienced a Trigger Event and have done nothing about it yet, you will have a much higher close ratio … and you’ll have much shorter sales cycles!”

Other Trigger Event Resources to Consider

I scour the Internet searching for ideas, resources, articles, and success stories about leveraging Trigger Events to outsell the competition. This time I want to share with a resource over at Customer Think titled Seeing Through the ‘Window of Discontent’.

I encourage you to get together with others and brainstorm on ways to capitalize on Trigger Events to outsell your competition. Contact me when you have ideas, resources, or success stories about leveraging Trigger Events that you want to share with the over 2,700 entrepreneurs, business leaders, and sales and marketing professionals who subscribe to this blog.

This week’s winner of a no-charge webinar for 20 people is Steve Duncan. Since I don’t contact the winners, if you know Steve Duncan let him know he has won a custom webinar on Trigger Events for 20 people and that you would like to be one of the twenty participants. He has until 5:00PM Mountain time on Friday July 11th to collect his prize.

If you want to chance to win in the future you need to subscribe to the Trigger Event blog via email.

Have an eventful week!

Craig

A continuation on the theme of selective perception, how Trigger Events change what we see, and how you can create a Trigger Event that will help you close more sales…

No matter what you sell or who you are selling to, buyers are always in one of three buying modes. Most salespeople are quite familiar with two of them:

• Status Quo: We believe what we have is sufficient, and we see no reason to change, so we’ll keep buying from our current supplier.
• Searching for Alternatives: We know what we have is no longer sufficient and have started talking to several other suppliers.

In between these two, however, lies the buying mode with the greatest opportunity, namely the …

• Window of Dissatisfaction: We know what we have is no longer sufficient, and we’ve put doing something about it on our “to do” list, but we haven’t found the time to start searching for alternatives.

In other words: When you find a decision maker after they realize what they have is no longer sufficient but before they have started the process of searching for alternatives, you have found them in the Window of Dissatisfaction!

When you start ‘seeing’ the Window of Dissatisfaction, you’ve got the beginnings of a competitive edge – an unfair advantage that will help you close more sales, shorten your sales cycles, and increase your average deal size.

One way to create a Trigger Event that will help you ‘see’ the Window of Dissatisfaction, is a simple form of customer analysis. Take a few moments to reflect on the new customers you acquired in the last year. Jot down their names. Now break your list down a little further by putting a check mark next to those names where you:

• Enjoyed a short sales cycle,
• Found it very easy to make the sale,
• Sold at a higher-than-average price, and
• Ended up with a core, loyal customer who really saw eye-to-eye with you and was willing and eager to sing your praises to other people?

In all likelihood, you got to those with three or more check marks next to their names when they were in a Window of Dissatisfaction, your product or service resonated with the buyer’s selective perception, and they ‘saw’ value in what you sell.

The Trigger Event of doing this customer analysis will put the Window of Dissatisfaction on your mental ‘radar screen’! Once you “see” a Window of Dissatisfaction, and relate it to your own best customers, you will start noticing them everywhere.

So take a look at your new best customers and soon you will close more sales by seeing the Window of Dissatisfaction everywhere.

Other Trigger Event Resources to Consider

I scour the Internet searching for ideas, resources, articles, and success stories about leveraging Trigger Events to outsell the competition. This time I want to share with you two resources:

1. Over at CopyBlogger.com James Chartrand from Men With Pens expands on my previous post on Trigger Events and selective perception
2. Joseph Provenzano expands on James’ article even more over at CanIHaveThatWith!

Funny how when you write a post on selective perception and how Trigger Events change what you ‘see’, you start seeing similar posts show up everywhere!

I encourage you to get together with others and brainstorm on ways to capitalize on Trigger Events to outsell your competition. Contact me when you have ideas, resources, or success stories about leveraging Trigger Events that you want to share with the over 2,300 entrepreneurs, business leaders, and sales and marketing professionals who subscribe to this blog.

Have an eventful week!

Craig

In previous posts – Back on Track … Finally! & What’s The Big Deal About Trigger Events – I described how to increase close ratios, shorten sales cycles, and increase margins by getting to buyers when they are in the ‘Window of Dissatisfaction’ and the three types of Trigger Event’s that put buyers into the Window of Dissatisfaction.

In this post I will describe how to identify specific Trigger Events for the products/services that you sell. This can be done by doing a specific form of sales analysis.

Use Google to search for the term sales analysis – by using quotes around the words “sales analysis” when you search – and you’ll find around 3,000,000 pages on sales analysis. If you believe that when you lose the business you don’t want to lose the lesson and you use Google to search for the term “lost sales analysis” you will find around 1,750 pages on lost sales analysis.

I am looking to replicate my successes, therefore I want to better understand what it is that makes me win business. To do this I conduct a Won Sales Analysis. Here is what I find amazing, if you use Google to search for the term “won sales analysis” you’ll find, on last check, only around 50 pages that talk about how to capture more customers by analyzing the business that you have already won.

The Trigger Event method of Won Sales Analysis identifies the Trigger Events that resulted in getting new customers, when these Trigger Events happened, what made the customer choose you over your competition, and how you can close more sales in the future.

If you want to use the Trigger Event method of Won Sales Analysis you’ll find the Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) version of this tool at http://www.wonsalesanalysis.com.

Contact me if you want an explanation any of the aspects of the tool so you can use it to enhance your selling efforts.

Other Trigger Event Resources to Consider

I scour the Internet searching for ideas, resources, articles, and success stories about leveraging Trigger Events to outsell the competition. This time I want to share with you a blog post by Don Dodge called “Is your product a vitamin or painkiller?“. In this post Don shares his thoughts on what catalyst or event causes your prospects to actively seek your product or solution”

I encourage you to get together with others and brainstorm on ways to capitalize on Trigger Events to outsell your competition. Contact me when you have ideas, resources, or success stories about leveraging Trigger Events that you want to share with the over 1,500 entrepreneurs, business leaders, and sales and marketing professionals who subscribe to this blog.

Have an eventful week!

Craig