Win Top-of-Mind Positioning (Part II)

Last week Fire Enterprises (FEI), Sales Tribe Leader Zoot taught Ganymede how to win top-of-mind positioning in the fire marketplace by becoming an “information donor.” This week, Zoot gives Ganymede two more tips on how to win top-of-mind position. Remember, fire = print.

Zoot and Ganymede sat down to a delicious lunch of fried gyros.

“Your first tip for winning top-of-mind position was great,” Ganymede said. “Got any more?”

“Do I?” Zoot asked rhetorically. He grabbed a napkin and scribbled on it.

Be A One Minute Manager
“Do not speak continuously for more than a minute, even in response to open-ended questions like, ‘tell me about your company,’” Zoot said. “When answering these types of questions, avoid the data dump. Make a short statement about FEI’s capabilities and ask an involvement question like, ‘Do you see your company needing this?’ If the answer is ‘yes,’ you’ve established need and your prospects can mentally involve themselves with FEI. If the answer is ‘no,’ you won’t continue down a non-fruitful path and lose interest! Feature-oriented sales reps frequently fail this one-minute rule.”

Zoot scribbled more on a napkin:

Ask More Questions
“Top sales reps ask 25 times as many questions as poor performers,” Zoot said. “Hard to believe, but true. Rather than stating bland nothings like, ‘FEI offers fast service,’ a top sales rep will ask a tie-down question such as, ‘You need your torches delivered fast, don’t you?’”

“Tie-down question?” Ganymede asked.

“A tie-down question is a short question following a statement,” Zoot answered. “Another example is, ‘details are so important, aren’t they?’ instead of ‘we are detail oriented.’”

“Every time your prospect nods in the affirmative, you are getting closer to quote and job opportunities,” Zoot continued. “If your natural speech cadence becomes: statement-question-statement-question, you will soon be asking 25 times as many questions as poor sales performers.”