Insthinktive Influencing
Learn to handle price Firewalls with ease
At insthinktive we are always astonished with the reaction the majority of those selling have, when they are challenged over price. They often experience ?rain freeze?and fumble their way through a justification for their prices. This is a recipe for disaster. You must be able to handle the ?uaranteed to come up firewall of ?rice? It’s a banker.
So if price is a standard ?rewall you can extinguish it, by focusing on value. Prospects generally react negatively to price if you haven? demonstrated sufficient value. Full stop.
Your job is to ensure that you can adequately demonstrate value. And the only way to achieve this is using the EXAMINE phase in PRESENT ( ask us about the insthinktive PRESENT sales presentation methodology).
By asking the right questions, we can determine what the prospect values most. Then armed with this knowledge we can overcome this ?rewall more easily. Not always but we are talking about improving our odds substantially.
You shouldn? be selling to those without a need !!
I? going to make this brief. It is one of the 4 main Firewalls but let’s cut to the chase. If you are selling to someone with no need, you haven? qualiWed them properly.
There are lots of other objections mostly in my experience of a technical nature or industry specific nature.
Using the EXAMINE lessons, and having great questions you should be adequately able to deal with anything thrown at you.
Your Biggest Firewall? You
Firewalls are effectively constraints to you getting your sales. And 80% of all constraints are internal. Your own core beliefs, your habits can be major ?rewalls in your progression.
If you find that you’se just not making progress, you need to look closely at what is holding you back.
Are your thoughts consumed by fear rather than opportunity?
– Do you focus on your lack of money?
– Do you focus on your lack of planning?
– Do you focus on your lack of knowledge?
– Do you listen to others as they undermine your strategies?
– Do you have habits that prevent you from focusing on the key actions that will really create forward momentum?
– Do you struggle alone with your challenges?
– Do you persist with marketing strategies that just aren’t effective?
– Do you lack the time to execute on your marketing and sales?
Money as a Firewall.
If you are a high growth company it is likely that you?l never have enough money to do the kind of marketing campaigns you dream of, but why should that stop you?
Money may not be the challenge it’s a lack of creativity that may be the challenge.
Successful leaders of high growth companies just get moving with small amounts and squeeze as much as they can from their resources. They use their phones, they network strategically, they use free email marketing software like MailChimp. They focus on getting referrals, they focus on getting speaking events.
Planning as a Firewall.
Why is that you instinctively know that when we plan better we execute better? And don’t do enough of it. Is it because we feel it is too difficult, or we just haven? valued our time enough to realise that when we think better, we plan better. When we plan better, we
execute better.
Without your plan you are simply in reactive mode. You need to be proactive and this requires more planning.
Don? get hung up on the picture you have in your mind of these endlessly boring sessions where you sit with your team and discuss the minutiae for hours on end. You then produce a document that is so long, so complex and so boring that you can never motivate yourself to read it, let alone do any of it.
Planning doesn? have to involve lengthy documents, or lengthy discussions to clarify every step. It can be a pen and paper for 20 minutes in a Cafe while you tease out your thoughts. Whatever and wherever you do it, it will help you move forward faster and with
more con?dence.
Knowledge as a Firewall
In many ways knowledge is not the true Firewall, it’s our ability to execute what we know consistently. However as a student of ongoing personal development you must upgrade your skills constantly, in marketing and sales. We have over 50 years experience in the business of sales and marketing at insthinktive, and we are learning more every week. We never assume we know it all.
The great news is that the knowledge you need is available easily and cheaply in most cases. Just google. Buy books. Listen to audio programmes. Read the trade magazines.
Talk to the experts. Learn from the experts. Most experts have written about their experiences. Beg, borrow and steal their ideas and implement them.
Not listening as a Firewall
You are a top performer. You think differently from others. You have bigger plans, dreams and goals. You are an outlier. You are different.
And people don’t respond to this as positively as you? like. In fact they can sometimes be outright hostile to your big
dreams.
You have to avoid these people and associate with like minded positive people. People who will challenge you and push you forward. And those who can relate to your challenges and share experiences that help.
Poor habits as a Firewall
Your habits ultimately determine your results. Great habits generate great results. Lousy habits generate lousy results.
Great habits are focused on executing against your key weekly actions, that must simply get done.
Lousy habits are focused on just clearing your desk, your emails and your backlog.
Remember 80% of your results will be determined by 20% of your tasks. Great habits are those that focus on the 20%.
Struggling alone as a Firewall
You are a business owner. It’s a lonely place. You shoulder a huge responsibility and far too often you shoulder it alone. But why?
I am constantly drawn to John Paul Getty and his motto ?’ll take 1% of 100 minds, than 100% of my own?
What better way to highlight your need to get help. It’s ok to ask for it. And you?l bene?t enormously from it. The great news is your reading this which means you understand this key concept. Never struggle alone.
Continuing with faded sales strategies as a Firewall
YouWe been doing it this way for 5 years now (remember you are a creature of habit).
And you’se not getting the results you want. And you’se not changing either.
You need to constantly assess, review and critically analyse your results, regardless of your sales strategy. Trial and Error is key here. You need to constantly look for new ways to engage your prospects. They move on, so should you.
Time as a Firewall
The greatest single challenge business owners seem to have is that of time. And the consequence of this is a lack of planning. The results are often a scatter gun approach to marketing and sales. And the outcomes are obvious. Frustration and poor results.
The first step is how you position selling in your business and your mind.
You must see yourself ?rstly as a sales person/marketer and secondly as an accountant, a solicitor, a software developer etc.
This is important as you must consciously elevate sales and marketing above all other activities you perform as a business owner. When you do this you will learn that your focus needs to be limited to the key activities that get clients and keep clients. This is your primary role.
You need to avoid the trap most business owners and leaders fall in to, of prioritising everything else over marketing.
The result of which is that you never fully leverage your time.
What you can do to overcome your personal Firewalls.
Set yourself specific goals with timelines
Work on your own mindset to develop a personal positioning statement that positions you as a marketer ?rst and an entrepreneur second.
Scheduling time in your week ( literally making appointments with yourself) to plan.
And to do your key marketing activities. Create a marketing calendar.
-Schedule time in your week to upgrade your skills.
In many ways you are in a very lucky position. You are an SME and as such you are less vulnerable to economic conditions than large corporates whose exposure is much larger.
You cannot blame the external factors like the economy, the IMF, the Eurozone on your own performance. You can make a decision to overcome these as in reality there is more business out there than you could every handle.
Key Takeaways
– Identify your key firewalls preventing you from growing your sales
– Create an action list of tasks you?l need to help you overcome the firewalls. And take action immediately
– Set clear IMPACT goals for all areas of your sales and marketing and track them weekly.
Next we’ll look at what goals to set yourself..
Simple, but not easy…..
Need help with these challenges? Call us
