Author: Michele Foster

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5 Ways to Build Authority With Any Prospect

But while trust is necessary to a good working relationship, it’s not enough. You have to establish authority as well.

When you call a prospect for the first time, you probably haven’t given them any reason to care about what you’re saying. They’re thinking:

    • Who is this person?
    • Why should I believe anything they say?
    • Do they even know anything about me?

Authority is different from trust. Establishing authority requires showing that you’re a specialist in a particular subject matter or process, and possess a particular skill set that can help your prospect.

Establishing authority is also necessary to staying in control of the sales process. If you seem like a hot mess, your prospects won’t believe that you’re able to truly understand their problems, much less help them come up with a viable solution. Sales reps who convey authority come prepared to calls, think a few steps ahead, and project confidence.

Generally speaking, being authoritative usually requires a person to be forceful, confident, and direct. But authority takes on a slightly different meaning in sales, and is therefore expressed in different ways. Here are five techniques salespeople can use to build authority with prospects.

1) Start your calls with an agenda and a question.

Setting an agenda shows your prospect you’ve thought deeply about your business relationship and how to advance it in a productive manner.

Always ask your prospect to review your agenda and confirm it makes sense. Steamrolling your prospect is the opposite of authority — there’s a huge difference between being controlling and being in control (more on that later). Be flexible and willing to adapt if that’s what your prospect wants.

The question signals that while you’re in control, you’re not going to force your prospect into anything. You care what they have to say. Some examples of good opening questions include:

  1. “How’s everything going [in relation to discussed goals or plans]?” Ask for a status update early on to quickly surface potential roadblocks.
  2. “When we last spoke, we discussed X and decided on Y. Does Y still make sense?” Confirm that you and your prospect are on the same page. If you’re not, find out why.
  3. “Before we get started today, is there anything you think I should know?” A mix of #1 and #2, this question gives your prospect the opportunity to discuss information that’s important to them — and may wind up being crucial to your sale.

2) Demonstrate your experience.

If a salesperson said to you, “Trust me, I’ve seen your situation a million times — everything will be fine,” how would you respond?

If you’re savvy, you’ll say, “Oh, really? Give me an example.”

Your prospect has no reason to believe that you have a track record of success unless you show them what you’ve done. Whether it’s sharing anecdotal examples, setting up a call with a satisfied customer, or providing a walkthrough of the sales process, your prospect will be far more likely to listen to what you say if you’re able to prove you know your stuff.

3) Work how the prospect wants to work.

What’s the difference between being controlling and being in control?

A controlling salesperson is rigid and inflexible. He won’t change his approach no matter what his prospect says, because he believes his way is the only way. And guess what? He probably doesn’t close a lot of deals.

A rep who’s in control knows this isn’t an effective tactic. She’s not afraid to change her strategies if it turns out her prospect needs something a little different. By being adaptable, she’s demonstrating that she’s an expert seller — all while making her prospect feel as comfortable as possible.

The takeaway? Always ask your prospect if they’re in agreement with you before taking a step. For example, you might say, “What I’d like to do now is spend 30 minutes taking you through X. Is that okay with you? Will you let me know if I start talking too fast, too slow, or if you have any questions?”

By getting your prospect’s buy-in, you’ve automatically made them a stakeholder in the process and confirmed that you’re proceeding at their desired cadence.

4) Be businesslike with a personality.

I love making people laugh. When people are having a good time, they’re more relaxed and more real.

Authority doesn’t mean being so lofty and out-of-reach that your prospects can’t relate to you. I use analogies to make my prospects smile — “moving faster than a hungry dog to a hot dog cart” is one of my favorites. Humor allows me to foster a connection with my prospect, who is then more likely to tell me the truth.

Here’s another way in which I bring my personality to selling. I like to ask whether the process has been easy or hard, stressful or relaxing, fun or a pain. This tells me whether the prospect has done this before and is following a set plan, or is winging it and needs a bit more help.

Like trust, authority is easier to gain if your prospect believes you’re genuine. You can’t get by on likability alone, but I always bring my personality to the table because the rapport I build with my prospects makes them more receptive to my direction. Ultimately, prospects are more likely to be forthcoming if they feel you’re genuine. And unless you understand their needs, you can’t tailor the sales process to their unique situation.

5) Recap.

At the end of every conversation, clearly list next steps for both you and your prospect, and attach due dates. Email out a written summary after each call recapping what’s been done and what’s next, and ask for updates, changes, or questions.

Keep in mind that your prospects are busy people, and they depend on you to keep them organized and remind them of what to expect next.

It’s essential to stay in control of a sales process. You simply can’t close deals if your prospect doesn’t put stock in what you say. Moreover, you can’t successfully anticipate objections or accurately forecast deals without a plan and the ability to get your prospect to follow you. And to do that, you need to establish authority.

Source:  hubspot.com ~ By: Dan Tyre ~ Image: Canva Pro

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What Is Authority and Why Does Your Business Need It?

Authority is a term that gets thrown around a lot in the business realm. Clearly, most of us understand the concept of authority in a general sense. We’re supposed to respect people with authority, but how does this relate to businesses?

Your company must have authority, but why? What does it mean, and how come it’s so important?

What is authority?

In a business sense, companies with authority are seen to be on a pedestal above the rest. These businesses know a lot about their field – they’re experts. If consumers are looking for advice, or they want to know which business to trust with their money, then they’ll look for authoritative sources.

So, in many ways, your authority is your reputation. It relates to the amount of respect that everyone has for your company, and how people view your skills. If you’re not seen to have much authority, then you’re viewed as a business that’s low down in the pecking order.

Why does your business need authority?

We’ve already established one key reason – to gain respect and raise your reputation. As a consequence, this can have an effect on your sales figures. Imagine a consumer is faced with a decision. They want to buy something, and they’re looking at two businesses. One has been around for ages and has established itself as an authoritative source in the industry. The other is relatively new on the block, and nobody knows much about them.

Who will they choose?

Obviously, they pick the business with a sense of authority, because there’s more trust between the two parties. Think about it another way, you go to a doctor when you get sick because you know they’re qualified to help you over, say, your friend from down the street.

So, gaining a positive reputation is one reason, but there’s also another – SEO. Search engine optimization relies on authority. Google wants to display the best and most authoritative websites to its users. If you demonstrate this, then you get ranked higher. Therefore, you can see more traffic, leading to more leads, and more sales. The secret is learning how to build your authority in the first place. With things like Digital Score SEO, you can slowly build your reputation, alerting Google to your prowess. Then, funnily enough, as one of the higher ranking websites, you gain even more authority. People see you as a source of knowledge because you’re one of the top results. From here, the benefits grow!

Lastly, authority helps you develop better business relationships. Other companies are more likely to enter partnerships with an authoritative enterprise. They see it as a benefit to work with a company that’s already well-respected. As a result, you can start growing your business and entering new markets thanks to your new business relationships.

So, business authority means that you are highly respected, and people see you as an expert in your field. Your company should work on building authority as it can lead to the following benefits:

  • A positive reputation
  • Improved SEO
  • More leads
  • More sales
  • Better business relationships
  • Business growth

If you feel like something’s been holding your company back, then it might be down to a lack of authority. Fix it, then reap the rewards.

Source: robinwaite.com ~ Image: Canva Pro

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10 Top Ways to Recruit Mentors Within Your Business

Recruiting mentors is one of the biggest challenges organizations face when starting a mentoring program, so here are our top 10 ideas to help you out.

How effective your mentoring program is entirely dependent on the participants you recruit. Mentoring within an organization is becoming increasingly significant with 67% of businesses reporting an increase in productivity and 55% stating an increase in profits due to mentoring programs. Starting a program within your company is the start of truly exciting times ahead and a chance for real transformation.

Over the years, mentoring has proven extremely beneficial to organizations with the benefits outweighing any costs involved. However, one of the most frequent challenges faced is actually how to recruit effective mentors within your organization. You should be considering these ideas when it comes to recruiting and retaining your mentors:

1. Having a target audience and key objectives
The first step and arguably the most important factor in promoting your program and recruiting mentors is to understand your target audience and key objectives. You need to work together with your team to fully comprehend why you need a program and who it is targeted at. Are you looking to improve employee engagement? Is there a barrier between departments? Is employee retention low? These are just some of the more common reasons people implement a mentoring program in their organization. Once you’ve identified your key objectives and audience, you can begin acting on ideas to promote the program company-wide.

2. Get senior leadership involved
Creating a successful mentoring culture and program within your organization begins with senior leadership. You need to ensure the senior members of your business are advocates of the program and efficiently convey the importance of mentoring to their colleagues, their success stories, and positive experience. This will improve the visibility of the program and how it’s received across your organization. By engaging with senior team members and having them on board as mentors (or reverse mentees) is highly impactful on how the organization as a whole embraces mentoring and inspires your employees.

3. Success stories
When trying to relate with your staff members, personalized messages work great. Personal stories from participants of your mentoring program are the ideal way to showcase the influence and success of mentoring within your organization. Video testimonials and quotes about things such as how the mentoring program has allowed for promotions to be made, the new skills learned by the mentees/mentors, and the personal goals met are some of the things you should be convincing when trying to attract people to the program.

4. Case studies
Although considered similar to success stories, case studies also show the challenges faced and how the individual was able to overcome any obstacles. Case studies are a great way to showcase the success of the program within your organization. You can share the case studies with your organization through the use of emails, articles, and social posts.

5. Host mentoring events
With the lockdown being lifted, people are more eager than ever to attend real-life events, however, these events can also be hosted online. Hosting a mentoring program kick-off launch or ongoing events can be a powerful way of drawing people’s attention to the mentoring scheme you have in place at your organization. Hosting an event where an inspiring mentor can speak to your employees, a place where they can have the opportunity to network with other mentoring members and discuss their stories is highly impactful.

6. Be clear on commitments
It’s essential that you’re clear on the commitments and expectations of mentors, not only to recruit them but to retain them. Provide your employees with transparent and realistic guidelines of what’s expected, including things such as time commitments and how they can help. Some of your employees may not have sufficient free time outside of work due to other personal life responsibilities and need to ensure they have enough time left in their schedule to help mentees before signing up.

7. Email communication
The use of email is a popular communication technique used by companies worldwide. This popular method of communicating with employees is a great way to get the message out there, without taking up too many resources. To recruit mentors to your program you can send a company-wide email outlining more about the program, what’s involved and the value it adds for the individual. However, as it’s easy for employees to miss or ignore their emails, there are factors you need to think about such as the time you send the email or the subject line.

8. Instant messenger channels
Besides email, since the beginning of last year, more companies are using other means of communication such as Slack, Zoom, or teams. If your organization has any of these in place it would be advised to also communicate about the program via these channels by sending out a mass message to all the members of your organization.

9. Team meetings
Have the managers at your organization host team meetings to discuss the implementation of the new program. Your managers know and work with their team members and know exactly who would be a great fit for the program. Your team leaders can also be advocates of the program, conveying its significance.

10. Portray the value
The main factor in recruiting and retaining mentors is ensuring your company can express the value mentoring brings to the table. As mentoring is a voluntary experience, it’s crucial to showcase the impression it can have not only on them as an individual but the business in general. To illustrate the value, you need to have a plan in place to fully understand how you’re going to reach these members and what methods you’re going to use. Examples of this could be utilizing email, and producing videos and internal blog posts.

Final thoughts
When recruiting mentors for your program, it’s important to strategically plan your methods and truly understand how as an organization you’re able to demonstrate the value and impact the program brings to your staff members. Don’t wait until the last moment and leave the mentors to come to you, utilise these ideas to guarantee your mentoring program is as effective and thriving as possible.

Source: pushfar.com ~ Image: Canva Pro

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Data Shows Mentors are Vital to Small Business Success

A survey of more than 200 small businesses sheds light on the importance of mentorship among entrepreneurs.

Kabbage, Inc., a global financial services, technology and data platform serving small businesses, surveyed more than 200 small businesses throughout the US to understand the importance of mentorship to small business owners. The findings show:

Only 22 percent of small businesses had mentors when they started business. Another 17 percent indicated they have an advisor, which suggests a paid relationship for consulting and advice. This leaves a wide percentage of business owners, 63 percent, not pursuing professional guidance at the onset of their business.

92 percent of small businesses agree mentors have a direct impact on the growth and the survival of their business. A separate Kabbage report revealed that 84 percent of small businesses reach profitability in the first four years of their business, with 68 percent attaining profitability in the first year. The early years of any business is a crucial make-or-break period and most small businesses agree mentors are vital to success.

The study shows that 61 percent of small business owners mentor others, and 58 percent specifically mentor younger entrepreneurs. This shows that small business owners are taking the time and finding value in giving their time to mentor, and younger entrepreneurs are seeking mentors to help in their careers. This was most prevalent in industries such as real estate, property management, and construction.

Of all respondents, 89 percent of small business owners that don’t have a mentor wish they did. This represents the 63 percent of businesses that do not currently have a mentor, highlighting a need among the entrepreneurship community to easily find and connect with others that can deliver actionable advice and value to a business.

“A great mentor is someone who provides objective advice, provides counsel from a fresh perspective, is willing to collaborate, listen and learn, as well as remind you of your goals, your purpose, and what you’re working so hard to achieve,” said Head of People Operations at Kabbage, Amy Zimmerman. “Businesses have a great opportunity to provide everyone in a company the benefit of mentors—from the founders to the interns—as the data shows it’s critical for success. We began offering this perk at Kabbage and have seen great success as it can be an affordable benefit that businesses can easily leverage.”

Source: kabbage.com ~ Image: Canva Pro

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76% Of People Think Mentors Are Important, But Only 37% Have One

Many successful people attribute part of their professional success to having a mentor.

Mentors provide a wealth of knowledge and experience to us, they guide us through challenges and increase our likelihood of success, they lift us up and take our success personally.

They are invaluable.

So why do only 37% of professionals have one?

Olivet Nazarene University wondered why too. They recently surveyed 3,000 people about professional mentor-mentee relationships to see what they look like in 2019.

Here’s what they found:

  1. 76% of people think mentors are important, however, only 37% of people currently have one.
  2. Most people opt for same-sex mentors (69% women, 82% men)
  3. People with mentors are happier at their current jobs than those without.
  4. Only 14% of mentor relationships started by asking someone to be their mentor. 61% of those relationships developed naturally.

Would a mentor be beneficial for you? Ask yourself these questions to find out:

  1. Would you like to have a trusted and more experienced person to bounce ideas off, to discuss challenges with?
  2. Are you entering a new industry and would like access to an expert in this new field?
  3. Are you in a new role and would like access to a seasoned executive that has held the same/similar role for many years?
  4. Are you a CEO or at the top of your field and feel isolated because you don’t have peers to share problems/brainstorm with?
  5. Are you considering launching a new venture and are seeking expertise you don’t yet have?

If you answered “yes!” to any of the above questions, you’re ripe for mentorship. First, read my blog on networking. Now using that advice and a bit more below, you’ll be all set to meet the mentor of your dreams!

Here’s how to get one:

  1. The “friendly stalker” approach: Here’s how I got some time and advice from Steve Jobs. The relationship lasted for many years. Follow this approach as it works every time!
  2. The “met on a plane” approach: talk to whomever you meet on a plane, even just a little bit. People are interesting. Become curious about them! A month ago I struck up a conversation with a man on a plane. He has become an informal mentor and has already saved me tens of thousands of dollars due to the tax planning advice I received from him.
  3. The “friend of a friend” approach: one of our clients needed a board member with public company CFO experience, as he’s preparing for his IPO. I connected him with a CFO client of ours with this expertise. The CFO has now joined our client’s Board of Directors and is adding great value.
  4. The “prepared, then random meeting” approach: I was intrigued by Jerry Jampolsky and wanted to volunteer with his organization. I read all I could, reached out to them, and didn’t hear back. I was getting discouraged when, as fate would have it, I bumped into him at a restaurant. He’s been a mentor of mine now for over 20 years. Sure glad I studied up on him before we bumped into each other!
  5. The “I care about what you care about” approach: Countless times in my career I’ve reached out to total strangers offering to help them solve a problem. This is how I got my job at Microsoft (as a self-taught engineer without the required college degree), Lotus (remember them?), Apple (yep, before I stalked Steve), and more. Oh, and this is how I met Stephen Hawking (and got invited to the White House).

The Net-Net

  • Mentors can profoundly boost your career success and trajectory
  • There are a variety of ways to meet them that work
  • Be creative and curious, as you’ll be surprised where you can meet mentors

Source: Forbes.com ~ By: Christine Comaford ~ Image: Unsplash

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