One of our Miller Heiman colleagues, Rolene Liebenberg gave me a good tip the other day on how to respond to an impromptu question. You know those times when you’re put on the spot. Use the mnemonic (memory aid):

MBE

M – make your point.

B- Because – detail the reasons.

E- Example – further information, maybe tell a story.

If you need more time to think, say something like “that’s a very interesting point” and be silent while gathering your thoughts. Nod your head, knit your brow or use other appropriate body language to show the audience that you are actively considering the problem.

Another weapon for your arsenal!

Miller-Heiman’s Strategic Selling Workshop (Blue sheet)is a fantastic process for organising your information about your sales opportunity, leading to an action plan to close the business.

Last week I delivered a program to group of technical people who had to convince customers to use their services. They were impressed with the strategic selling process because:

• the process was logical and sequential,
• it was not not just a series of opinions and inferences about the target account,
• although the information gathering requirement was much more complex than they were used to, the time saved overall was significant,
• they hadn’t realised that there were four types of buying influence, and this new understanding would help them close the sale.

The Strategic Selling process has been around for thirty years. Competitors and detractors might say that it’s “old hat”, but compare it to the automobile which has been around since 1769. The principles are still the same, but refinements are continuous. The same with Strategic Selling.

Strategic Selling works because it’s based on the continual analysis of the real life experience of successful sales professionals. What made them successful 30 years ago  makes them successful today; commitment, hard work, persistence, and above all, a superior constantly refined process!

For more information on strategic selling click here.

We often think – “been there, done that, got the certificate”, but it can be really rewarding to revisit old techniques. A few clients have asked me to help lead their teams to an inspired start to the year. A challenge is to find something fresh, but everything new is not automatically good.

With one team we kicked off the day with a session on Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats to analyse how they approached meetings, problem solving and time management. Read the rest of this entry »

An executive seeking a job promotion came to Catherine recently for mentoring advice. Among the many things she was apprehensive about was that she had to give an impromptu fifteen minute speech on a topic that would be presented to her just before the interview. Wow! This was a nerve-wracking requirement. How do you prepare for an impromptu speech? By its very nature it has to be off the cuff. Not so. You can make things easier for yourself if you follow these easy steps. Some of these principles come from a “Power Messaging for Demonstrations” course that I run. Read the rest of this entry »