In a recent interview, I was asked how we selected the women we interviewed for Wingtips for Women. As I thought about it, I realized it was a pretty straightforward sales process. We had to do some research to identify our prospects, qualify them, present the premise and the features-benefits-results case, then close the “deal.” Appropriate for a book about women who made it to the top of the sales career ladder!
Identification: From earlier blog entries, you know the power of networking in identifying the women. If your grandmother told you, “It isn’t what you know, it is who you know,” she was speaking an ageless truth. We started off identifying women we already knew and then asked them who they knew and so it continued.
Boldness also played a key role. This was after all a book about sales executives, so it seemed appropriate to do a little cold calling/emailing. Cold calling is one of those universally dreaded activities of the salesperson. To this day, my goal is always to make cold calling unnecessary. In the age of Linked-In, Zoom Info, and Plaxo and a host of other networking tools, it hardly seems appropriate to cold call. If someone calls me, I am no longer surprised at what they know about me. Indeed, if someone knows nothing about me, I am likely to abort the conversation since the person obviously didn’t even take the time to Google me. So, warm calling played a huge role in our discovery process. People are a lot more likely to open up if you are calling as a friend of a friend. Put yourself in the situation.
Qualification. Kindred spirits is the way I would describe the next step in our selection process. Once the purpose of our book was clearly stated, the person at the end of the email or phone call would either “light up” immediately or we would be transferred to a secretary or communications person. I am happy to say this later option rarely happened to us even in the largest corporations. The book’s premise of finding out why these women are so rare and what to do about it along with the warm intro almost never failed to gain instant conversation momentum. (Note: how can that translate to the sales role you may be in today?)
Kindred spirits were sparked because we were also calling women who were validated superstars. We read the news, read their bios in the company websites and in general already knew they were among the elite we desired to hear from. They had to be women who were in the top sales leadership (not just sales) role in their company. The company had to be of some size, the larger, the better, to give credibility to their stories. Bigger is not always better, but when you are only speaking to a few leaders, it does count.
FBRs (Feature-Benefit-Result): The case was not hard to make. Feature—you have a story we want to tell. Benefit—the book can help you get out the story you want to tell. Result—the next generation will be better prepared in a shorter time to fill your shoes. These women got it and ran with it after little or no discussion.
Close: Once the spirit was well lit, the close was assumptive—by both parties, I believe. There was not only an agreement to participate, but a sense of urgency to get the story told. Indeed, while the editing process dragged on, many of these women contacted us to be sure we were indeed finishing the project. That in itself was increased motivation for us to finish what we had started. (Believe you me, during the editing process of a book, there are indeed moments when you question what in the world you were thinking to write a book!) These women were not out for an ego trip. Our first time author book was no big web-worthy addition to their bios. They were, and remain, eager and even passionate about sharing what they have learned “the hard way” with as many younger people, men or women as they can. These women have children, remember, whom they want to prepare for the world of business, sales or otherwise. I believe that as women, that weighed on their minds during this project than it might have on businessmen. I make that assumption based on the number of comments women made about how their stories applied in some way to their own children and families.
So as I thought about it, we really did do what we call “the sales process.” Sometimes, by a different name, it is a lot more fun! Try that, too!
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