Smart Communications - The Pathway To Your Prospect's Mind

Mentor Speak

This series of short write ups provide pearls of wisdom from Global Leaders and Mentors who are associated with us. They bring in a practitioner’s perspective and serves as an effective combination of advice that has authenticity, experience and most importantly – relevance.

We all understand that Sales is a complex interplay of customer need identification, objection handling, account mapping, articulating value propositions, et al. But the crucial component that is critical to sales success is communication. Smart communication is what determines whether you have worked your way into your prospect's mind or not.

I cannot help, but share a popular Jesuit joke that so clearly exemplifies what smart communication is all about.

"Jack and Max are walking from religious service. Jack wonders whether it would be all right to smoke while praying. Max replies, "Why don't you ask the Priest?" So, Jack goes up to the Priest and asks, " Father, may I smoke while I pray? "The Priest replies, "No, my son, you may not! That's utter disrespect to our religion."

Jack goes back to his friend and tells him what the good Priest told him. Max says, "I'm not surprised. You asked the wrong question. Let me try. And so, Max goes up to the Priest and asks, "Father, may I pray while I smoke?" To which the Priest eagerly replies, "By all means, my son. By all means. You can always pray whenever you want to."

So here we are, the same activity but different outcomes based on how the request was communicated.

Therefore, it is crucially important that we spend time to craft a communication strategy every time we interact with prospects and customers. To define one, we need to understand how the psyche of the buyer has evolved over time. Today "the gift of the gab" alone doesn't get you too far in the race.

The chart below is a good representation of how it has evolved:

While plenty has been written over time about each of the stages illustrated above, it is not one characteristic that determines success. It is an overlapping inclusion of all of the above.

Communication is at the heart of every sales opportunity. You win or lose based on it. Therefore, a strategy has to incorporate nuances of each of the critical components that play in the mind of a potential buyer. The aim is to be liked, trusted, and be seen as a value creator. In a nutshell, when you call or seek an appointment, you won’t get hung upon.

What are the approaches we can adopt that can help in achieving our aim to create a positive impression in a prospect's mind? A possible approach we could follow can be referred to as the C-4 Smart Communication Suite: a set of simple guidelines that make us think before we communicate, orally, or in writing. They are:

Connection:

The first minutes of your interaction with a prospect/customer sets in motion the human psyche of like/dislike – People Buy From People/They Like. It is imperative that you plan your opening salvo (KYP-Know your prospect, his/her background, business situation - past and current). There are public domain sites that help in getting this data. If you can work your way to a personal connection with the prospect, that is even better. This will help you create your "Ice Breaker" strategy. Also, don't ignore your personal ‘presentability’ and professional courtesies in your interactions.

Consistency:

You are the link between your organization and the prospect. Whatever you communicate is what is getting absorbed into the mind of the prospect - what your organization stands for, capabilities, services offered, and at some point, commercials. Therefore, it is, vital that the content of the communication is precise and consistent with no contradictions. Be consistent from a time perspective as well. Timely submission of the information requested is key, and following up persistently without being pestering is important. This is where you start “building the TRUST factor”. This is the gateway to a relatively smoother road in the sales cycle.

Creativity:

It is here that you start analysing the data and information that you have acquired via your meetings and other interactive sessions. If you were a "good listener", you would have understood what was said and implied, observed body language at crucial times during your interactions, made notes, and also requested for that you needed but was not overtly stated or provided. You now have the canvas to start "creating VALUE" for your prospective client. For opportunities that are dormant for a while, share snippets relevant to your target's business/industry, highlights of your organization's progress /wins that are relevant for the opportunity. This keeps you engaged while providing them with valuable inputs of a strategic nature.

Customization:

Customizing content is crucial in retaining a prospective buyer's interest. A Forrester Research study showed that 78% of buyers claim salespeople don't have relevant examples or case studies to share with them. An excellent salesperson has the ability to customize sales collaterals based on buyer needs to ensure that the time provided for communication is valuable to the prospect. By making the content applicable to the buyer's use case, you will "demonstrate VALUE" and enhance your win probability.

A good template to adopt in the entire exercise is the PASTA Model...

Problem definition - Analysis - Strategy - Tactics - Action (PASTA).

It was developed at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam by Theo Zweers. It provides the building blocks to create an operational plan to execute the C-4 suite.

This is its illustration:

The key to being a successful communicator is adhering to very fundamental principles of human interaction and comprehension:

• Keep it Simple

• Keep it Precise

• Keep it Honest