by Nick Miller of Clarity Advantage

In which we are reminded that a certain amount of flexibility in sales conversations is helpful, even if it ain’t what we expected.

“Who knows how to get to the airport from here?” asked our client 

We had finished our meeting a little early and walked slowly from the office tower to the parking lot, a distance of several blocks, enjoying a softly warm early Spring day – our client, one of my colleagues, and me.

We eased into the rental car, me in the back, client (driving) and colleague in the front. 

 Neither I nor my colleague knew the way to the airport so our client pulled out her GPS device and programmed it. I did the same with mine in the back seat, saying something like, “Oh, I’m happy to do this so you have your hands free to drive, here we go.”  

She finished her programming a little before I did and her GPS voice instructed us to “continue on” for two blocks and turn right. Mine, on the other hand, suggested a left turn.

by Nick Miller of Clarity Advantage

In which we are reminded about the subtle cues we use to control conversation and how they affect what we learn from clients. 

“It’s in how you ask the question, the eye contact, your body language. Are you really wanting to hear the answer or do you want to move on?”

My wife and I had just returned from a neighborhood pre-Christmas party. 25 people, folks that we see every year at this party plus new neighbors who had moved in during the year. Each of the families contributes food to the table and hors d’oeuvres. It’s a magnificent spread. People are happy, glad to see each other, catching up on up to a year’s worth of news.

I consider myself fairly sociable and conversational in these settings. However, when we came home, my wife returned with all kinds of information about the neighbors’ mothers, sisters, jobs, husbands, former husbands, kids, and on and on. “I got nothing” would be too harsh an assessment of my own learning during the evening and there was a dramatic difference between what I had learned and what my wife had learned.

by Nick Miller of Clarity Advantage

In which we are reminded that there ain’t no such thing as a commodity if we consider buyers’ preferences and their buying experience.

The golden New Hampshire morning sun was three hours old. Under a perfect sky, the campus and her students lay still on a Sunday morning. And, then, we were awake.

Dee-dah-dee.   Digga-digga-deeeee-deeeeeeeee.

The powerful opening strains of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor played at Led Zeppelin volume. I’d never heard it before.

by Nick Miller of Clarity Advantage

In which we are reminded of the value of over-preparing for high stakes sales calls.

Long ago in auditoriums far away, thousands of my closest friends and I competed in the Toastmasters International annual public speaking contests.  Best training ever. 

These were five round single elimination contests, speeches five to seven minutes long, played out over a few months every spring.  Only seven of the many thousand contestants appeared in the final round. 

While some speakers were very cool about the contests, most of us were not.  Our bellies churned, our shirts moistened, our skins felt cold and clammy, our throats … got… very…. tight… and our hands shook.

In which we discuss strategies to draw attention and attract  prospects and referrals.

During a training session for branch managers and small business bankers, I shifted the focus from typical networking and prospecting to “attraction marketing” – attracting prospects to us rather than stalking and chasing them.

Feeling a little frisky, I asked, “Remember when you were dating? What strategies did you use to attract people to you?” Virtually all eyes in the room went straight to the floor. Silence.