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The Big Overall Principle
You will see this over and over and over again in the sales training program here. All our sales come down to one easy saying. It is what our whole eval process is based off of. The saying is simply this… Make a friend, make a sale.
The Postures & Tensions In Persuasion
The 4 Metaphors
1) Headaches = Troublesome Dog Behavior
Dog owners come to us for training for 2 reasons - either because they have problems (typically dog owners), or because they have goals (typically puppy owners).
Imagine that at any given time in this city, that 1 in 50 people have a headache. Some are low-grade and some are migraine-grade. They are all in pain at various levels. Some are ready, right now(!), to get some medicine and we have that medicine. But we can only give it to people who are ready, can afford it, and have the kind of headaches that our medicine treats.
So, our job is merely to screen the folks who come to us to see if they qualify, and then we offer our medicine. It’s that simple.
If they tell us to wait, or they want to think about it, then the problem remains. There are others who offer medicine, but our primary concern is WHAT EXACTLY do they plan on doing about their headache? (Of course, most people don’t have a plan. They are merely stalling.)
However, there is another reason that they will say no to us or will stall. It’s because they have misunderstood something or don’t see a way around a barrier in the way. So while our first posture is cautious (because we don’t know if we are a good match for them yet), the second posture is one that is welcoming them in to try our medicine and trying to remove the barriers in their path as they try to come in. For instance, if they don’t have the money, then we can do a payment plan. These are barriers that we want to remove if they fit our ideal client.
2) The Trophy Dog
While dog owners mainly want to “fix” their frustrating dog problems, most puppy owners want to get ahead of the curve and train their dog so well that it blows the minds of their friends and family. That is, they want a ridiculously trained trophy dog.
This isn’t just a preventative measure to protect stains on the carpet, but a status-raising accessory, no different than an overly expensive pair for shoes, or watch, or sunglasses. They want their friends to say, “Oh my gosh! What did you do to your dog?! It’s amazing!”
3) The Old Tick Hound
Each morning a milkman walks up to the porch to drop off the daily milk, and each day this ol’ boy is just rocking in his chair with his trusty old tick hound lying there beside him, howling.
One day, the milkman says, “Mister, can I ask you a question?” “Sure,” the fella says whittling down a stick with his pocketknife.
“Well, each day I come by here and deliver the milk and each day your dog seems to be howling in pain and I just don’t understand it.”
“Oh,” the old man says looking at his dog beside him, “that’s because he’s sitting on a nail coming up out of the wood.”
"Well I’ll be! Why doesn’t he just get up already?!”
“Oh, well, because it don’t hurt bad enough yet.”
And there you have it. 1000’s of people in your town have headaches and might need our medicine (just notice how many dogs pull on leashes at the local park or how many dogs jump on your at your friend’s houses), but until it “hurts bad enough” then they aren’t ready for us.
4) The Hunter versus the farmer
There are hunters and there are farmers. Hunters go out to see what they can kill today, and drag it back home. These would be our Eval Pro’s who help us dog evaluations. They go see who is ready to get started TODAY. If they aren’t ready, then we move on.
However, there are also farmers who plant seeds, nurture sproutlings and reap a harvest in due time. It takes longer, but it feeds their families 100x more than hunters (that is a true number). This is why we hang our coffee-shop fliers, do our weekly Games, do our festival shows, do our special events for dogs in the city, send out weekly emails, post our social media pics, publish our blog articles and give away free training videos.
Farming is all about planting seeds, nurturing them and waiting to see when and how we can serve these dog owners who are lingering around us. Maybe they will buy training, maybe some product that we recommend, maybe a Tribe subscription, or maybe they will just recommend us to a friend - but we must stay in front of them for a while to do this.
We are both hunters to find who’s ready now AND farmers who are here for the long-haul.
The 3 Standards
1) 3 New Dog Evaluations a Day. To pay the bills and payroll, we have certain budgets and sales goals that we must hit. When you break it all down, it means that we need 3+ dog evaluations each day. More is even better, but we need at least 3 a day.
2) 5-Star Qualified Evaluations. A 5-star qualified appointment is one where: 1) All decision-makers and decision-influencers will be present, 2) a credit card is put on file, 3) the dog is not aggressive, 4) they are ready to start a dog training program and 5) they are either credit-worthy and can afford the payments.
3) Protect the Time of the Dog Pro's. Because of value #2, This One Matters, we must apply this to EACH of our Dog Pros’ hours. They are, after all, stopping their day, often getting dressed and driving across town for just this one appointment which means that they forfeit working on other tasks…plus there is the emotional toll of hopes dashed when the appointment is not set up correctly.
Therefore, to send a Dog Pro to an hour long appointment that is not set up correctly is simply a waste of time and a morale-killer. A 4-star qualified appointment is JUST as bad as a 2-star appointment, because neither has what is needed to help a new family. Again, its a total waste of time.
The 9 Tensions
1) Many Are Called, Few Are Chosen. We want to attract the many through our ads and giveaways and festivals, but actually set appointments with ONLY the few who are qualified. So we call everyone to reach out to us with a huge welcoming YES, but actually filter most of them out with a gracious NOT A GOOD FIT to most because they just aren’t ready for us….and so there is a tension.
2) TOM vs SW4. Value #2 is “This One Matters” (TOM) and it does. This dog and dog family matters and so you need to take it seriously, give them the dignity that they deserve and give your all to them. On the other hand is the flippant old saying, “Some will, some won’t, so what, so who’s next?” (SW4) That is, you can’t win them all, so if they say no, then move on to the next one. It’s good to let people have the freedom to choose, even if its a bad choice for them. Like a gold miner who digs out 1000’s of pounds of dirt in the mountain, we aren’t looking for the dirt; we are only looking for the gold. Likewise, we aren’t looking for the No’s, but just for those who like/want/believe what we do and are ready to buy the things we are offering…and so there is a tension.
3) Affection & Trust. The rule is, “If people LIKE you, then they will listen to you. They will at least hear you out. But if they TRUST you, then they will buy from you, they will follow you, and they will stay loyal to you.” So our job is merely to get people to like us (be friendly, smile, look sharp, make them feel great about themselves, listen with empathy, etc), and to trust us (be confident, be credible, look them in the eye, don’t flip flop, speak with belief and authority, etc).
4) Personable vs Professional. Because you are on the phone and they can’t see you, you very much need to become a normal person who they can like, relate to and get to know quickly as you journey together over the next 5 minutes. All of your quirks, laughter, even mistakes (like the dog barking in the background, your ascent, dropping your pen, etc) all make you seem real and not like a robo-caller in a distant land. However, we must be professional and upright, sharp and dignified. We need them to like us (this is where your personality comes in) and trust & respect us (this is where professionalism comes in)…and so there is a tension.
5) Pressure vs Pressure. There is a pressure on us all to produce, to get the job done, to make things happen. This is a business after all and bills/payroll/taxes need to be paid. So there IS a level of internal pressure on us to sell. However, we cannot let this internal pressure COME OUT of us so that our prospects feel it.
That is, there is no need to pressure anyone or persuade anyone. The rule is that people HATE to be sold something, but people LOVE to buy. The first is something is that being done TO them; while the second is something that they are doing and are IN CONTROL OF - do you see the difference? So we merely need to lay out options for people and let them freely choose.
6) Push vs Invite. Enthusiasm is the key to influence (and sales). If you are excited about it and think it’s the greatest option, then your belief and enthusiasm will most likely be transferred to whoever you are talking to so that they believe and are excited about it as well. However, you must control the way you channel your enthusiasm because you can either push people to what you think is so great or you can invite them into it. The first one is the bad kind of pressure from above (even though you are doing it in love and excitement), where the second one is someone everyone loves…really, don’t YOU love to invited into great things by friends? “Hey, you have GOT to come see this new movie with me!” “You have got to come try out this new app/restaurant/city that I’ve found!"
7) Personal Offense. When someone says no when we offer our services, they’re not saying no to YOU, the person, because you didn’t offer you. They are saying no to our offering from the company you work for. But many times they’re not saying no at all, they’re just saying no not right now.
8) EGO vs Empathy. Compare the photo-typical car salesman to yourself. That guy has commission-breath and only cares about himself and his money, while you are the guy who actually cares about dogs and dog families and helping them get the right training program (even if that means referring them to another trainer!). Why? Because we actually care about people. This is Value #2 in action. Again, this is not about you, but about them. If you take care of them, then your commissions and goals will take care of themselves.
9) We Connect With Humans, Not Walk Through Scripts. We all love a track to run on, a process to work through and a script to get us started, but to be sure, more important than any of that is that we are connecting to a person. Remember Values #2 and #7 - this one matters, even if its the 4th eval of your day, and let’s do this together, because you are moving through even this eval together. So, when going through the eval worksheet, SLOW DOWN and let them know that you are moving to a new section of the evaluation so that you are moving through the transitions TOGETHER. Sales isn’t something you do TO them. It’s a journey of discovery that you two are taking together. We start together, go together with them through training, play the Games together and we graduate together, congratulating each other on completing the journey! We are offering them connection and TOGETHERNESS - the With-Me Life, a partner to train their dog with. Everything else they can find on YouTube. We sell a partnership…so SLOW DOWN and relate to them. It’s literally all that we have to sell.
The Old Way Vs. The New Way
If you look into sales and watch sales trainings from even 10-15 years ago there has been a drastic shift in how things are sold and how business is conducted. The old way is very one-liner-ish and the new way is very much more relational by nature.
There are a ton of differences between the old way and the new way. At Wonder Dog we want to wholly embody the new way of doing things because it aligns with us as a company.
The old way uses 1 line closes to try to persuade and pressure people into new sales. The new way uses relationship, connection and value proposition to help people make purchase decisions.
The old way is very “Me” based and focused on the sales person and the commission. The new way is about serving and helping people and as a by-product of that there is a commission to be gotten. The focus of the new way is to make money through serving.
The old way is very pressure based. The new way is very much a non-pressured way. Meaning that there isn’t a pressure to buy. Rather we want people to make decisions they are comfortable with. This isn’t to say we don’t have objection overcomes and use them, but rather we don’t pressure people to buy.
The old way is sell and get it over with. The new way is about making friends and making sales.
TIme kills All Deals
This is an old school saying used by sales managers. And while we are focused on a new way of doing things and the new way vs. the old way, this saying still rings true.
Time Kills All Deals simply means that well… Time is the killer of all deals. This happens at each stage of the sales process.
The killer of booking appointments for our Eval Pros is time. If we can call a lead within 1-15 minutes of them filling out a form, the likelihood of booking skyrockets.
Then the quicker we can put them on your calendar to go out and meet them, the higher likelihood they buy.
The killer to closing ratio is time as well. If you can close quickly when you are there, then you are much more likely to get the deal. If they have to talk to a spouse or “think about it”, time is allowed in the deal. This causes the likelihood of the deal closing to go down by quite a bit.
So when we are doing sales and call prospects, the quicker we can call, book and then do the deal increases the likelihood of success.
Missionary v. Mercenary
When we sell there are two major mindsets we can be in. The mindset of the missionary and the mindset of the mercenary.
The missionary goes out and is there to serve a greater and higher purpose and spread a message about something they believe in. The money is cool, but the missionary isn’t driven by the money. The missionary is driven to serve, to educate, etc. In our world this means that we want to see people get their dogs trained. Period. Ideally after spreading the good news of Wonder Dog at an evaluation they will choose us, but if they don’t, we’re not upset. Instead we give some tips, send some guides and videos, and maybe even recommend others. The missionary goes in with the mindset you learned above of “Make a friend, make a sale.” If we go in without the close in mind and make a friend, we learn about them, educate, ask questions and actually listen, etc. We will be MUCH better off than if we are in a mercenary mindset…
What is the mercenary mindset? Well, the mercenary mindset is one that isn’t focused on them and it is focused on you. It is money motivated and ultimately short sighted. Mercenaries reek of commission breath. They aren’t there to learn about their person and their dog, they are there to make money. They feel the pressure coming down from their sales manager and need the close and reek of desperation. They have short time on calls, especially the ones who don’t buy same day, because why would a mercenary get to know their clients and actually take the time?
Do you see the difference? Almost all the sales problems we’ve encountered as a company come when our Eval Pro’s go into mercenary mode and stop being the missionaries they started as.
Be a missionary.