Category: Articles

Blog posts that are articles.

Sales Funnel… Inverted

What if you turned the typical sales funnel upside down?

In the usual way of selling, prospects are dropped into the top of the sales funnel. The salesperson, with the help of gravity, pushes them down into a narrowing path.

The upside down funnel is more like a mountain, a mountain that some people want to climb. Prospects are outside of the mountain, and free to go where they want to go without constraints.

The salesperson is more like a climbing guide, showing various ways up the mountain for anyone who wants to climb and who wants a guide. Prospects move up the mountain under their own power, against gravity, with no pushing from the guide.

It’s a different metaphor, for a different way of selling.

Music… Inverted

A current HPS student remarked that High Prob is an inversion of traditional sales. And I was surfing YouTube shorts this morning and learned about another inversion that I found fascinating; Smoke On the Water by…wait for it…Beethoven?

Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AlSB7PCU2tM

What’s your metaphor for High Prob?

Relationship is Key, Right?

Ok, we can all agree on that one.

However, we might not all agree on the why, when, and how regarding building a relationship.

Here are some of my thoughts.

Why. If our purpose for creating a relationship is to get the prospect to buy from us, then we end up with a synthetic relationship. Too many prospects will see it as fake, which limits trust.

When. Same problem if we push for a relationship too early, while we are still strangers. Start with business, and let the relationship unfold over time. Don’t be in a rush.

How. Let the relationship be built on listening and acceptance, not talking and pushing.

We would all love to hear your thoughts and experiences regarding relationships and selling. Please put your thoughts in comments on this blog post.

High Probability Selling Versus Human Nature

High Probability Selling demands that we stop trying to control others, and this goes against some parts of our human nature. 

We begin life as babies who manipulate people in order to get the care that we need.  It’s a natural survival tactic that works. 

As we mature, we gradually learn alternative ways of interacting, ways that are less manipulative and more cooperative, but we never completely let go of trying to control other people. 

And this can get in the way of being successful with High Probability Selling.  Even the most proficient practitioners occasionally find themselves drifting into old habits. 

The trick is to learn to recognize when we are drifting, and to have a way of getting back into the High Probability way of being.

Different people have different ways of doing that.

How do you manage it?

What a High Probability Appointment Looks Like

by Jacques Werth, edited

We were in a large meeting room in a nice hotel, in a suburb of Seattle.  Twelve successful Realtors were attending a Real Estate Sales Mastery workshop.  They were an unusually well-dressed group for a two-day offsite workshop.

At our request, one of the participants had borrowed a sample front door and door frame from a builder.  It was in the front of the meeting room and it was braced to stand on its own.  The outside of the door was to the right, and to the left of the inside of the door we had a kitchen table and some chairs.  Those were the props that we needed to begin the first exercise.

One of the workshop participants was asked to role-play how she approaches a visit to a homeowner who wants to sell his house.  The instructor played the part of the home owner.

The first Realtor walked up to the outside of the door and knocked.  The instructor opened the door and said “Hello.”

The Realtor flashed a big smile, held out her hand and said, very cordially, “Mr. Smith, it is so good to meet you.  I am Pam Jackson with XYZ Real Estate.  How are you today?”

The instructor invited her in and offered her a chair in the “kitchen.”

“Your home is very lovely.  I really like what you did with the kitchen,” said Pam with delight, while looking all around.

The instructor stopped the role-play at that point and thanked Pam.  He asked her to switch roles.  She would now play the homeowner and the next participant would play the Realtor.  That participant was even more effusive than Pam.  Each successive Realtor tried to out-do those what went before them in their attempts to impress the prospect with their enthusiasm, charm and likeability.

During those role-plays, the other Realtors watched intently and remained very quiet.  Several preened their clothing and hair before it was their turn.

For the second part of the role-play the instructor played the part of the Realtor, with Pam playing the homeowner.  The instructor knocked on the door, and the Pam opened it.  “Yes?’ she said.

“I’m Joe Instructor with HPS Realty.  Are you Pam Jackson?”

“Yes, I am,” she said, reaching to shake his hand.  “Come in. I suppose you want to look over the house.”

“Before we do that, we need to get to know each other and determine whether we have a mutually acceptable basis for doing business.”

Homeowner: “Okay, we can sit in the kitchen, here.”

Realtor: “When we spoke on the phone we agreed this meeting would take about ninety minutes of uninterrupted time.  Have you arranged for that?”

Homeowner: “Yes, I turned off my phone and put the dog out in the back yard.”

Realtor: “We agreed that the purpose of our meeting is to determine whether we have a mutually acceptable basis for selling your home.  Is that your intention?”

Homeowner: “Yes.”

Realtor: “And, we agreed that if we can meet your conditions of satisfaction for the sale of your home, we will make a decision about that today.  Is that still your intention?”

Homeowner: “Yes, it is.”

The instructor thanked Pam and asked her to rejoin the rest of the group.  Then, he asked the entire group, “What did you notice about the way I just approached Pam, the prospect?”

They called out their answers:

“You were very straight-forward.”
“You were dignified.”
“You were very relaxed.”
“You were authentic.”
“You were not acting.”
“You were in control.”
“You asked for and got commitments.”

Pam then capped it off with, “I felt privileged to be your prospect.  I felt respected, and I felt respect for you.”

The above article was copied from an earlier post on this blog, and recently edited by Paul Bunn and Carl Ingalls. 

When Is a Sale Considered Lost?

by Paul Bunn

A student recently asked us what they should do with a list of “lost deals”.  And at what point is a deal or sale “lost”?  In their case, a lost deal equated to a person who didn’t purchase what the student was selling, in the timeframe the student wanted them to buy.

This inquiry got me thinking about one of the fundamental parts of High Probability Selling that is often overlooked; the words and language we use casually that either enhances or detracts from an effective HPS mindset.  Discerning this fundamental part requires listening to ourselves, specifically the words we choose.

My thinking and intuitive feel on the subject of a lost sale, is that a real loss only occurs if that person at that company says they never want to hear from you again.  Everyone else who doesn’t want your service now falls into “not now”.

And although we commonly use “lost” in our sales language, there is really no such thing.  You can only lose something you actually had in your possession in the first place. 

And quite clearly, although our long-conditioned sales brain may initially say otherwise, when a person says “not now” it’s obviously not about losing a sale that we had in our possession.  A sale we had in our imagination, a sale that existed in our mental map of the future perhaps, but an actual completed transaction?  I think not.

Back in prehistoric days (the late 1900’s), I would drive past a McDonald’s and the sign would say over 10 million sold.  The sign did not say that 50 million drove past a McDonald’s that century and never stopped.

What they paid attention to, and yes I used to work at McDonald’s, was the interaction with those people who stopped and bought a burger or two and some fries and a coke.  A Quarter Pounder that nobody purchased was not a lost sale.  It’s only part of an ongoing equation.

Another consideration is that sales is a person to person activity.  Companies and businesses and organizations don’t buy anything.  People are the ones who buy, or make the sale.  And they do it for their own reasons in their own time.  The goal of a High Probability Salesperson is to be in communication with them as close as possible to whenever their reasons align with the outcomes that our products or services provide, during the timeframe in which they are ready to buy.

So, at what point is a sale considered “Lost”?  So infrequently, we never really measure them.

And what do we do with a list of “lost” deals?  Continue prospecting to them like anyone else on your list.

How Often Should You Call?

First, get rid of the word “should”.  High Probability Selling is something you choose to do, not something you are supposed to do.

Jacques Werth recommended 3 to 4 weeks between prospecting calls to each individual on the list.  Today, I recommend a 3 to 6 week spacing between calls to the same person.

The main advantage for the longer spacing is flexibility for the salesperson making the calls, and especially if they have a long list.  Also, it may be less irritating for the prospect, and they may be less likely to tell you not to call them again.

The main disadvantage of the longer spacing is that it will take longer to deliver multiple prospecting offers to each recipient, and we know that the probability of a sale increases with the number of offers presented.  Second, calling less frequently means that the prospect is less likely to maintain that “front of mind awareness” of what the salesperson offers.  Third, it increases the chances that another salesperson will be in contact with the prospect when they are ready to buy.

Remember.  It’s not a should.  It’s a choice.

2 Marketing Guiding Principles that make no sense

Here are 2 guiding principles that make NO SENSE to most but are absolutely fundamental to really doing work that matters.

The marketing “tough” guys and gals out there will flick it off like a used-up virtue-signaling bandaid.

But, for those who want to know, here they are.

1.) Instead of obsessing over the money your customers or clients may give you…why not “obsess over” the service you bring to the table?

Bring back the humanity to what you offer.

Get in their world by calling a cease-fire on using your over-the-moon “results” that may or may not be relevant to their market, list, offerings, etc.
&
2.) Our best prospects need to be discovered (period). Your main gig is to find them. And for your truest top prospects, they won’t be “molded”, “gotten”, or “pushed” into buying.

They’re already educated about their needs, wants, and budget.

They know their business…well.

They’re even aware of the problem(s) they see hence their desire to buy from the right person if their conditions of satisfaction are met. (this one very few know to do or do it consciously)

Maybe that’s you and maybe it ain’t.

That’s ok.

If you start with service on the mind over dollars, you gain both.

And how you get there friends – is by being a market listener, leading with empathy, & determining IF what you have is the answer or not.

Want more?

Actionable Tip: Think about how YOU buy something…is it at first sight?

Or does it take some time to mull things over after watching a video, listening to an expert opinion, looking up reviews, having a few website ganders, and all that?

Until next time, keep learning, keep growing!

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