716 Dimmeydale Drive Deerfield, Illinois 60015 phone 847 924-2470 www.yastrow.com

 

   

AFS Supplier Summit February 17, 2016

Steve Yastrow steve@yastrow.com

     

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Ditch the Pitch! Replace sales pitches with persuasive conversations that matter to your customers

Sales Pitches Don’t Work    A sales pitch is not an effective way to get your customers to believe in you.

           

                         

 

  “The most eager speaking at one another does not make a conversation.”

— Martin Buber, Dialogue (1932)  

To create compelling customer beliefs, engage your customers in conversations that matter to them.

     

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Conversations That Matter

Martin Buber: “The Sphere of the Between”

 

What are the characteristics of a “conversation that matters?”                                            

 

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The Key to Persuasive Conversations: Improvise!

“Improvisation is the art of not knowing what you’re going to do or say next, and being completely okay with that.”

—Mick Napier Founder, Annoyance Theater

Author of Improvise You are already an awesome improviser- You improvise all the time!  

Human beings were born to improvise

In what everyday situations do you regularly improvise?

     

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How Do You Prepare to Ditch the Pitch?

To prepare for a sales pitch:

• Polish up your PowerPoint • Practice in front of the mirror

To prepare to ditch the pitch:

• Create a “toolbox of possibilities”

Your Toolbox of Possibilities

Knowledge about your customer

Knowledge about AFS

Your skills at improvising and persuading

Be ready for whatever might happen

 

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The Ditch the Pitch Habits

 

Habit #1: Think Input Before Output

Habit #2: Size Up the Scene  

Figure Out What’s

Going On  

Habit #3: Create a Series of “Yeses”

Habit #4: Explore and Heighten  

Go with the Flow  

Habit #5: Focus the Conversation

on Your Customer

Habit #6: Don’t Rush the Story  

Let a Shared Story Emerge  

     

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Figure Out What’s Going On The first thing you have to do when you enter a persuasive conversation is to figure out “what’s going on here?”

In your own words, Think Input Before Output means:

Practice: Say Less to Notice More

     

o The customer always does more than 50% of the talking

o The customer usually does more than 50% of the talking

o The customer sometimes does more than 50% of the talking

o The customer never does more than 50% of the talking

Think Input Before Output HABIT   1  

What can you learn in the first 60 seconds of a customer conversation?

Discuss: Think Input Before Output

Self-assess In my conversations with customers…

 

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Figure Out What’s Going On Each persuasive conversation is influenced by new factors. You will be most successful when you Figure out what’s going on.

In your own words, Size Up the Scene means:

First, it’s important to identify who you are speaking with: What are the “spices that define who this person is (or these people are)?

HABIT   2  Size Up the Scene

Exercise B: Listen for the Game

Exercise A: Know Who You Are With

Identify three customers with different relevant personality characteristics and describe those characteristics:

Customer A Customer B Customer C

     

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Go With the Flow A persuasive conversation only moves forward when both participants agree to it.

In your own words, Create a Series of “Yeses” means:

Create a Series of “Yeses” HABIT   3  

“A sale is a series of yeses.”

-- Alan Weiss

Exercise A: Say “Yes, and…”

Give an example of an instance when the answer is “No.” How do you avoid saying the word “No”?

Exercise B: There is always something to say “Yes” to

 

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Explore

Find out what your customer cares about

Heighten Talk about what’s important to your customer

Go With the Flow To create fresh spontaneous persuasive conversations, you must go with the flow.

In your own words, Explore and Heighten means:

 

Explore and Heighten HABIT   4  

Discuss: Find Your Customer’s Path

     

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Let a Shared Story Emerge The mantra of our customers:

In your own words, Focus the Conversation on Your Customer means:

Focus the Conversation on Your Customer

Make 95% of the Conversation About Your Customer

Obey the One-Paragraph Rule

Weave Your Stories Together

HABIT   5  

“If you want me to think you’re different, show me that you know what makes me different.”

Practice:

Practice:

Practice:

 

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Let a Shared Story Emerge From “my story” and “your story” to “our story”

In your own words, Don’t Rush the Story means:

 

Don’t Rush the Story

Leave Things in Your Pocket

Create Callbacks

HABIT   6  

The Goal: Have a conversation about the customer, at a pace that the customer can accept

Practice:

Practice:

     

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How well are you currently practicing these habits? Ask yourself: what do I already do well?

Where do I have the most room for improvement?

The Ditch the Pitch Habits My Rankings

(Number 1-6, with 1 representing

your best skills)

Habit #1: Think Input Before Output

Habit #2: Size Up the Scene

Habit #3: Create a Series of “Yeses”

Habit #4: Explore and Heighten

Habit #5: Focus the Conversation on Your Customer

Habit #6: Don’t Rush the Story

What is your personal action plan for improving your Ditch the Pitch Habits?

The first habit I am going to work on is:

My goals for Ditching the Pitch are:

 

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Improvement is like a dimmer switch, not an on/off switch. Think practice, not perfection. Every customer conversation is an opportunity to practice ditching the pitch.

     

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About Steve Yastrow

Steve Yastrow is the author of three books, Ditch the Pitch, We: The Ideal Customer Relationship and Brand Harmony. Management guru Tom Peters said, “When Steve Yastrow writes, I pay close attention.” Peters called Brand Harmony “compelling and powerful,” and We “a superb book.”

Steve’s passion is creating revolutionary marketing systems that yield major profit breakthroughs. As a

consultant, speaker and writer, he challenges his clients, audiences and readers to reinvent the way they look at marketing and sales, offering clear action steps to improve business performance through stronger customer relationships.

The concepts behind Steve’s ideas were developed in the “real world” through his work as president of Yastrow and Company, a consulting firm that has served many companies, in addition to such clients as McDonald’s Corporation, The Tom Peters Company, Discover Financial Services, Kimpton Hotels, The Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, Jenny Craig International, Great Clips for Hair, Cold Stone Creamery, Rancho La Puerta, Shea Health and many other organizations.

Steve was previously vice president of resort marketing for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts. He earned an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a B.A. from Indiana University. Home is Deerfield, IL, where Steve and his wife Arna raised three kids, Nurit, Levi and Noah. Steve and Levi play in a band, Shakshuka, which has released three recordings. Yastrow and Company’s website is www.yastrow.com, where you can sign up for Steve’s newsletter. Steve can be reached at 847-924-2470 or steve@yastrow.com.