Lance Tyson of Dale Carnegie Training of Ohio & Indiana delivered a fantastic presentation during the monthly meeting on August 6th.  Tyson, a lively speaker who eagerly grabs the attention of the audience, was full of great ideas that caused the attendees to scribble notes as fast as possible!

He recommended two books to read, one old and one new

What They Don’t Teach You At Harvard Business School

No Man’s Land: What to Do When Your Company Is Too Big to Be Small but Too Small to Be Big

He emphasized that there is a difference between cost, value, price, and budget, and encouraged us all to look up the definitions of each so that we may better understand how they differ.

Lance hammered the concept of the value proposition and mentioned repeatedly how we must understand our value proposition because it is the key to selling.  He also highlighted the three most important factors in sales:

1. Building a rapport with your customers
2. Establishing and maintaining credibility
3. The ability to understand the needs of your client base

He gave an abbreviated talk about the sales process, saying that the topic alone could fill an all-day seminar.  But his truncated version included:

1. Pay attention to qualified prospoects
2. Evaluate the situation
3. Diagnose the problems
4. Prescribe a treatment
5. Get them committed to buy

There are three kinds of questions he says are key to being successful in this sales process, and they are:

1. Ask personal questions to get to know the client better
2. Ask questions about their problems and needs so you can better assess the situation
3. Ask questions about what their anticipated payout should be

I think the most illuminating thing he mentioned the entire afternoon was that “It’s never the product or service that the client buys, it’s the outcome of your service and the product of your product.”  That really puts it all into perspective!

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