Selling to the Power of Q4Prework Articles

PSYCHOLOGICAL

L E A D S O O N E R . S U CC E E D FA S T E R .®™

®A S S O C I A T E S

SELLING®

to the POWERof

A Dimensional Performance System®

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You don’t close a sale; you open a relationship if you want to build a long-term, successful enterprise.

– Patricia Fripp, Sales Trainer

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Rinnnnnnnnnnnnnng!Chris, a wholesale rep for a manufacturing company, is about to ski the steepest slope at Telluride. A crisp breeze blows through his hair when his cell phone starts ringing. Why won’t it stop?!

Actually, Chris has been startled from a deep sleep in his hotel room near the Interstate. He grabs his phone and answers.

“Chris, what the hell is going on?!”

Ah, the soothing (Not!) tones of his favorite (double Not!) client, Marie. Without letting Chris respond, she barks out the reason for her 6 a.m. call. Marie has just learned that one of her competitors recently purchased a product from Chris’ company for 30% less than Marie paid, and she wants to know what’s up.

Chris’s Odyssey

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Marie is not the easiest customer under any circumstances. She is smart and success-ful, to be sure, but also demanding, stubborn, abrasive, and a know-it-all.

“That can’t be,” Chris says. This seems to infuriate Marie. “What? Are you saying I made it up? You sales guys are all alike!” Chris backs off his comment and tries to pla-cate Marie. “Now just relax a second. This can be easily explained. Don’t worry about it!” Marie bellows, “That’s easy for you to say!” Chris quickly asks her what company got the better deal. Marie tells him that she’d rather not say. “Well, then, how the #$&% am I supposed to fix this if you won’t tell me the details!?” he counters.

After they go back and forth a few rounds, she says abruptly, “I gotta take another call. You’d better make this right!”

Chris sneers at his phone. He drags himself out of bed, leaving the ski slopes behind. Chris is like a lot of salespeople — doing all right, but wishing he could do better. Marie is a reminder of his desire to manage his clients and prospects more effectively. He feels he doesn’t always make the most of his sales calls or client conversations. He doesn’t get the best responses from people or build relationships that could really pay off.

Chris knows he works hard and prepares well for sales calls. He learns all about his prospects, their companies, and which products they’re likely to want. He’s a solid presenter, and usually comes prepared with a proposal and pricing.

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Then There’s DwayneAll of that preparation doesn’t seem to count for much with Dwayne, the prospect he’s in town to see. It took three months to land a meeting with Dwayne, and it cer-tainly seemed worth the two-hour drive to meet at his office.

Chris had heard from a business friend that Dwayne is dissatisfied with his current supplier, and the timing might be right for Chris to make a sale.

At their 10 a.m. meeting, Dwayne isn’t the most dynamic guy. But that doesn’t bother Chris; he’s confident as he launches into his well-honed presentation. He incorpo-rates facts and figures about Dwayne’s company to illustrate that Chris has done his homework. The semi-customized talk includes charts and graphs that appear right on cue on his laptop. He even shows Dwayne some preliminary pricing. He’s covering everything a prospect might ask about, even if he hasn’t given Dwayne a chance to ask anything.

But Chris can’t get a handle on this guy. Dwayne doesn’t say much or react to the presentation. He seems uncomfortable when Chris pushes the hypothetical pricing schedule across the table. “Uh, I think you might be getting ahead of the game here,” Dwayne begs off. “We’re pretty busy right now. How about I take your materials and look them over?”

Chris tries to hide his exasperation and attempts to pin Dwayne down. To salvage the call, he reveals that he has heard that Dwayne’s company is in the market for a new supplier. But this makes it worse. “Who told you that?!” Dwayne asks, a bit shocked, and becoming even less engaged. “Look, uh, I have to get back to work. Thanks for coming.” Chris is thinking, “Whatever!” Chris almost forgets to give Dwayne his leave-behind materials, but Dwayne doesn’t even pick them up, turning to his com-puter.

Chris is bummed on the drive home, reflecting on how rotten the day is going so far. Dwayne seemed to be a perfect prospect. What went wrong? His company needs Chris’ products, and Chris knows he laid it all out in a direct, easy-to-grasp manner.

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Next Up, AndyWell, at least lunch with Andy will go better. Andy used to be a salesperson in Chris’ industry. At their previous two lunch meetings, things have gone so well that Chris is optimistic about writing an order today.

Andy always has some gossip and good war stories, making this sales call a pleasant one after the rough morning. However, Chris has a little trouble getting Andy down to business. Once he does, Andy has good things to say about Chris’ company and products.

Chris tries to close: “Andy, let’s seal the deal here so I can start providing what you need.” Andy smiles. “Whoa, hold up, partner. I thought I said I’ll have to get my boss’s approval on this. Sorry if that wasn’t clear,” he chuckles.

It hadn’t been made clear. Chris says, “C’mon, Andy, you’re allowed to make some decisions, aren’t you?” Before Andy can answer, he adds, “Why don’t we take this to your boss right now?” Not prepared for this, Andy smiles weakly and says his boss is off today; he hates to bother him at home.

When Chris presses, suggesting that they schedule a meeting with Andy’s boss, Andy’s tone and expression change. With a cold stare, he says, “Chris, that’s not going to hap-pen.” A sheepish smile creeps back and he adds, “Look . . . let me be the one to bring this to him. I know how he thinks, okay?”

The best Chris gets is a promise that Andy will take the proposal to his boss and let Chris know. Chris feels like a deflated party balloon.

When Chris reaches his office, he tries to figure things out. His intentions were good, and he knows he can sell. Yet, he feels that he’s spinning his wheels with customers and prospects. What should he be doing differently?

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Figure 1

A Look at Customer BehaviorA fresh perspective about your sales process focuses less on what you are selling and how you present it, and concentrates more on your customers — specifically, their behavior.

One helpful tool that can provide new insights for better understanding customer behavior is known as the Dimen-sional® moDel of Behavior™, a convenient way to sort observed behavior into logical categories. The better we understand behavior, the more likely we will react to it effec-tively, to engage customers and close more sales.

This model is “dimensional” because it is made up of two dimensions, represented by two intersecting lines that form a matrix. The vertical axis in Figure 1 represents how custom-ers behave regarding tasks, for instance, a sales meeting. This behavior moves along a continuum, from being proactive and initiating at one end to avoiding or being passive at the other end.

The horizontal axis in Figure 1 represents a customer’s regard for others. The right end of this continuum shows a high regard for others, with the left side illustrating a low regard for others.

As these two dimensions intersect, we get four quadrants of behavior — a foundation for sizing up prospects or customers. But the moDel can also be used to evaluate salespeople and sales managers as well.

INITIATES (Dominance)

AVOIDS(Submission)

LOW REGARD(Hostility)

HIGH REGARD(Warmth)

Q1 Q4

Q2 Q3

Telland Do

Avoidand Abdicate

Pacifyand Socialize

Challengeand Involve

Each quadrant (Q) indicates one of four basic behavior patterns:

Q1Initiates

Low Regard

Q3Avoids

High Regard

Q4Initiates

High Regard

Q2Avoids

Low Regard

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Q1 Initiates/Low RegardQ1 customers try to take control of the sales situation right away — and they hold onto it. They often monop-olize discussion, are impatient, and will interrupt at any time. Q1 might be stubborn and argumentative because of a low regard for salespeople. Their know-it-all behav-ior results in frequent objections, and they might even be sarcastic and belittle others. Q1 needs to “win” the discussion.

Q2 Avoids/Low RegardQ2 customer behavior is marked by suspicion that the salesperson is trying to exploit and take advantage. Q2 often acts uninvolved and indifferent during the sales process. Q2 customers don’t volunteer or commit to much, acting tense or ill at ease. If they do engage, it is often to say something negative and to downplay deci-sion-making. Q2 is particularly resistant to any sales-person behaviors that might be interpreted as pushy or manipulative.

Q4 Initiates/High RegardQ4 behavior is pragmatic and wants to accomplish the goals of an interaction via engagement with the sales-person. Having a high regard for people, Q4 is open, speaks candidly, and really listens. At the same time, Q4 is analytical; Q4 will press for information and ask tough questions — but not to sound like a know-it-all or to impress the salesperson. Q4 is straightforward and businesslike, with an eye toward making the most informed buying decision.

Q3 Avoids/High RegardQ3 customer behavior is overly friendly, talkative, and enjoys the sales process. Q3 quickly agrees with what-ever the salesperson says, in order to be positive and keep the atmosphere pleasant. Q3 behavior avoids sen-sitive subjects, and compromises quickly. Q3 custom-ers may get off topic easily and ramble in conversation. Ultimately, a person displaying Q3 behavior wants to be friends, not rock the boat.

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What About Marie, Dwight, and Andy?Armed with this knowledge, it’s easy to see that Chris’ client, Marie, exhibits mostly Q1 confrontational behavior. Granted, she has a reason to be upset, but her style of dealing with it is combative and dismissive. But Chris’ prospect, Dwayne, takes a Q2 approach to the discussion; he is aloof, with a low regard for Chris’ efforts and the sales process in general. He doesn’t want to be in the customer role, even if it’s a requirement for his work.

On the other hand, prospect Andy really enjoys being a customer, even if he’s not anxious to buy — typical Q3 customer behavior. He is extremely genial; at least, until pushed. Then, a flash of Q1 pushback comes through. However, the moment passes, and he is friendly with Andy again, even though there’s no sale in sight at this meeting.

You already may be thinking of customers whose behavior fits one of the quadrants. Of course, we’ve exaggerated customer behaviors for this scenario. In fact, people normally show a blend of behaviors at any given time, even when one behavior domi-nates.

Sales Behavior Fits on the Model, Too Which brings us to Chris. The Dimensional moDel may also be applied to salespeople. What behaviors did Chris display? Let’s assume that Chris normally tries to exhibit Q4 sales behavior most of the time. He is usually sincere and inquiring when he initiates sales conversations; he also has a high regard for people. Chris tends to be focused on his customers and interested in helping them meet their needs.

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So, Chris first adopted Q3 mask behavior to smooth over volatile Marie’s problem. He wasn’t feeling particularly friendly, being startled out of a deep sleep. So he masked his true feel-ings, figuring that changing his usual behavior would serve him better in the moment. When he realized that Andy wasn’t going to focus on the sales call, Chris reversed direction and in a Q1 way, pushed for a solution, first by belittling Andy, then by trying to pressure a meeting with Andy’s boss.

What about when Chris started arguing with Marie — a client for goodness’ sakes! We call this shift secondary behavior. Secondary behavior is how we temporarily react when we become sufficiently frustrated. Since Marie castigating Chris was a temporary situation, he shifted back to his primary behavior when it was over. Can you find any other examples of secondary behavior in our scenarios?

When Chris goaded Andy, Andy’s usual Q3 demeanor switched to anger, a Q1 secondary behavior. Andy didn’t choose to cre-ate a tense moment; his behavior shifted to defend himself, then he quickly resumed his Q3 approach to people. Chris began his presentation with Dwayne in a Q1 manner, but the prospect’s Q2 responses brought Chris down — for awhile, he involuntarily slipped into a Q2, sullen posture.

All of Chris’ responses show us how one person’s Quadrant Behavior can affect another person’s behavior.

Primary, Secondary, and Mask BehaviorYet, Chris wasn’t exhibiting a lot of Q4 sales behavior as we watched him. When Marie confronted him on the phone, his behavior turned Q3 as he tried to placate Marie and smooth over the problem with easy answers. As Marie became more belligerent, Chris’ frustration ratcheted up to Q1, with an antagonistic response that reduced the conversation to an argument right before Marie ended the call. Chris began Dwayne’s sales call with high energy. But the way he con-trolled every aspect of the sales call and didn’t solicit Dwayne’s thoughts shows some definite Q1 behavior. He ignored what Dwayne might need from this conversation and tried to push what he was offering. With Andy, Chris began mirroring the prospect’s unfocused Q3 behavior by not getting down to business for quite awhile. When he tried to bring the conver-sation back to its purpose, he went in the opposite direction, leaning on Andy to schedule a meeting with Andy’s boss.

On the job, each of us behaves a certain way most of the time. It’s habitual, and people expect to see us behave that way. However, in some situations, we may purposely alter how we act. This is called mask behavior, because we consciously decide to mask our primary behavior, to cope better with a specific circumstance.

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Behavior Changes BehaviorThis last point is an example of a well-established principle that your own experi-ence can verify: Your own behavior has an effect on the people around you, and their behavior often changes in reaction to yours. What you may not realize is that those behavioral changes take place in fairly predictable ways, when analyzed in terms of the Dimensional moDel. Let’s see how this works in sales relationships.

Q1 Behavior. Marie displayed predominantly Q1 behavior. After Chris attempted to gloss over her complaint in a Q3 manner (purposeful mask behavior), Marie’s con-tinued Q1 belligerence pushed Chris to react in his own Q1 way. No salesperson really wants to fight with customers, but it may happen involuntarily out of frustration. So, we can see that Q1 customer behavior changed Chris’ behavior to Q1. It didn’t accomplish much — just two people going head to head without resolution — it’s not a productive behavior to use with customers.

That’s not the only possible effect of Q1 behavior. Customers may give in to a Q1 badgering, aggressive salesperson and slide into a Q2 or Q3 response. They may even cave and commit to a purchase. Isn’t a hard push to buy a desirable trait among sales-people?

Certainly, pushy salespeople can talk customers into buying. But since it’s often an involuntary customer response, customers might feel that they were pressured into buying something they didn’t want — not a good recipe for building repeat business or long-term customer relationships. “I’m never going back to that company!” is often the outcome; and thus, a sale in the short run may be at the expense of a highly profit-able long-term relationship.

Q2 Behavior. It’s difficult to imagine predominantly Q2 sales behavior. However, sometimes employees change positions within an organization and take on sales responsibilities that weren’t theirs originally. Or salespeople may, over time, come to regard customers in a negative way and act indifferently. It’s as if they are saying,

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“People will buy when they are ready. Not much I can do about it.” As you might imagine, a customer showing a lot of Q1 aggressive behavior would be calling the shots during a sales call. A passive, Q2 salesperson would probably struggle to close a sale with Q2 and Q3 customers.

Q3 Behavior. Many salespeople exhibit predominantly Q3 behavior. They like people and may have been attracted to sales because they enjoy sociability and want to make friends with people. It’s not that a Q3 sales approach can’t be successful. However, particularly for certain complex sales over time, the unstructured aspect of this overly friendly style may be ineffec-tive for getting down to business and keeping focus on meeting customer needs and managing objections.

Chris was influenced by Andy’s Q3 behavior, and for awhile, he matched Andy’s Q3 amiability. Sure, it can be fun to sit at the restaurant all afternoon, but will this meeting move either of them along in the sale? For awhile, Andy’s Q3 behavior kept Chris from learning that this prospect is not the decision-maker. Chris overreacted, spiking up to Q1 by belittling and trying to coerce Andy. It doesn’t work. As we said, Q1 behavior can cause an equal Q1 reaction, even from Andy, who in turn refused to put Chris in front of his boss at this time.

Q4 Behavior. By now, it should be obvious that we advocate adopting a Q4 selling style to increase your success. Q4 meets customer needs and offers the best opportunity for building long-term customer relationships.

As we saw when Chris adopted Q1, Q2, and Q3 behaviors (either as a mask or as involuntary secondary behavior), the

Salesperson Behavior Customer Behavior

Q1 Q1, Q2, Q3

Q2 Q1, Q2

Q3 Q1, Q3

Q4 Q4Figure 2

results were not productive. Why not? Because behavior influ-ences behavior. Q1, Q2, and Q3 selling styles are apt to bring out Q1, Q2 or Q3 behavior in others, as Figure 2 indicates.

On the other hand, a proactive Q4 approach is completely customer-focused. Q4 shows warmth and concern for others, but focuses on identifying customer needs and finding the best path to meeting those needs — for the short term, and for long-term relationships.

Since behavior changes behavior, if you adopt Q4 selling behav-ior, you’ll influence customers to behave in a similar Q4 manner. That’s not to say someone like Marie is going to become Chris’ new best friend, or that Dwayne will suddenly smile brightly and say “Let’s do some business!” But Q4 is Chris’ best opportunity to work effectively with almost every behavior he is likely to face over his career.

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Applying the DimenSional moDel to Customers How could Chris have used the moDel to get better results from these clients and prospects?

Working With Marie.Q4 Selling means Chris shouldn’t be a doormat — nor should he try to match Marie’s belligerence. Marie may be justifiably upset. Chris should acknowledge that and allow her to vent, but he should not allow her to be abu-sive.

Q4 sales behavior means showing concern, but also patiently questioning to discover customer needs and work out a mutual solution. Chris quickly gave up on probing, and in frustration, he pushed back. After Marie expressed her frustration, Chris should have kept his cool, soliciting as many details as possible to respond intelligently.

Practicing level-headed and analytical Q4 selling behavior would diffuse a lot of Marie’s Q1 aggression, because she’d recognize that Chris is on the case to get her an answer. Her angry out-burst would start to seem out of place as she saw that he’s working to solve the problem (if there even is one)!

In general, Q1 customer behavior isn’t easy to work with, and only a Q4 response creates an opportunity for a better work-ing relationship. Think about it. Q2 or Q3 willingness to let Q1 behavior run roughshod isn’t a recipe for a productive working relationship. Going toe to toe with Q1 doesn’t keep customers, either. You may think you can’t manage an impossible Q1-style customer, but give Q4 businesslike, focused behavior a try. You’ll be surprised at how disarming it can be.

Working With Dwayne. Patience is needed to help engage Dwayne, and Q4 customer-focused selling has plenty of it. Chris made the mistake of approaching Dwayne’s Q2 negative and indifferent behavior with Q1 attempts to control the meeting by launching right into his presentation. With Dwayne’s reluc-tance, the best approach would have been first to try to gain Dwayne’s trust.

Slowing down and asking Dwayne a lot of open-end questions could have engaged Dwayne. “Dwayne, what’s important to you when you purchase for your company?” “What can I do to make this process work for you?” Questions like these not only set the table for a discussion that draws out Dwayne, but then Chris will learn more about Dwayne’s needs so that Chris can tailor his own comments to satisfy those needs. That’s another aspect of Q4 selling that other styles can’t match — building genuine trust.

Chris shouldn’t have expected to get too far in the sales pro-cess at this initial meeting, but with Q4 behavior, he’d be apt to do better than being dismissed from Dwayne’s mind as soon as he walks out the door.

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Working With Andy. Because Q4 selling anticipates needs, Chris would have done better to be more businesslike and to help Andy focus. Sure, there’d be room at the start of their lunch for socializing, but if Chris didn’t want to waste his afternoon, it would be better to transition the conversation into establishing what he sees as the goal of the meeting and asking fairly specific questions to move that direction.

Pressuring Andy or making him feel uncomfortable won’t work. Chris needed to find out if Andy has problems with him or his company that the prospect didn’t bring on his own because Andy doesn’t like to bring up unpleasant topics.

Q3 behavior tends to avoid issues. Maybe Andy’s boss said he doesn’t like Chris’ pric-ing or delivery practices. Careful Q4 probing could bring any unstated objections to the surface — much better than pushing Andy into a Q1 defensive secondary behav-ior. Q3 may have unstated objections; it’s up to the salesperson to check for those as a key to moving Q3 further along in the sale.

Anyone Can Apply Q4 Selling TechniquesQ4 selling may take practice to be applied successfully, but it’s not about a superficial, cookbook sales recipe or a magic formula. You can apply the concepts of the Dimensional moDel right away to size up prospects and customers, then consider your appropriate Q4 response. You don’t have to change your personality or be a dif-ferent person. You can adapt your own sales behavior to the behavior you see in front of you.

Sometimes, we think salespeople must have some indefinable quality to experience success. But anyone can find added selling success by applying these common-sense concepts, as thousands have already.

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Behavior Is Not PersonalityIt’s important to remember that the Dimensional moDel describes behavior, not personality. Your personality is who you are — a unique mixture of hered-ity, environment, experiences, values, and more. Your behavior is how you act — what others can see and hear. But you know, from your own experience, that your behavior and others’ may change from one quadrant to another quickly, while personality remains the same. You can change your own sales behavior willfully, and use it to influence customer behavior. Don’t mistake behavior shifts for personality changes.