One of the critical components to Butler Street’s methodology is our Continuous Improvement Series subsequent to our live training. It serves as the foundation to reinforce key skills learned in the training and ensure the new habits get the required “stickiness”. It also allows the opportunity for practical application of the tools and learnings in real customer situations, along with role practice. However, this blog is not really about that, except as a basis for the rest of the blog.
On one of our recent calls, one of the salespeople mentioned they executed a “Butler Street” on their sales call. Well of course, this was the first time I had ever heard that used in such a context, so I had to ask, “What are you talking about exactly?” She went on to explain that she used one of our techniques (LACR): Listen, Align, Clarify, Respond) to handle an objection that arose during her call.
It got me thinking more deeply. What are the areas where our best partners would say the same thing to their customers... what does it really mean to execute a “Butler Street”?
A few things come to mind:
Four Cornerstones of Success
Attitude - 100% in our control and the foundation of all successful people
Personal Accountability - there’s either performance or excuse
Perseverance - being a constant learner
Habit - successful people are in the habit of doing the things unsuccessful people do not
Being in the Customer's Operating Reality
Being able to see problems and opportunities as they appear through the client’s eyes.
We must solve current problems, prevent future problems, drive accelerated or optimized outcomes and provide a frictionless experience.
If we solve our customers’ problems, we will solve our own®
Understanding the Customer's Decision Process
What creates defect in the buying/decision process is not what you know, it is what you don’t know. We must have complete focus on the equation all buyers go through when making the decision to change.
Effective Questioning
Because the truth about selling is this:
Prescription Before Diagnosis = Malpractice
We MUST ask deep, meaningful questions that help turn implied needs into clearly articulated challenges
Create gap and bring our customers to a NEW recognition of needs
Handling Objections
Being able to handle objections is key to advancing through the Decision Process.
The way you handle objections is one clear way to set yourself apart from the competition
Mastering the LACR technique will allow you to overcome most objections whether in the Prospecting/Value Creation stage or when you are working to close the deal
You won’t waste your time or the client’s time
You will know if you were successful
Call Planning helps to think about the person with whom you are meeting, their specific goals/outcomes, your specific objectives for the call, the questions you need to ask to achieve both and to anticipate any objections that might arise.
Another client refers to the group of people that are executing upon the strategies covered in the training as “Butler Streeters”. And guess what? The “Butler Streeters” are outperforming the others!
Butler Street thrives on helping companies and their people grow. We offer multiple learning channels to help “Butler Street” your sales team – eLearning is a fantastic option for organizations with a smaller salesforce, or for larger organizations looking to create a structured onboarding or reinforcement solution for their team. Our live 2-day sales effectiveness workshop and continuous improvement series delivers on average 4X market growth for our partners. Contact us to learn more.