Who Wants to be a Sales Millionaire?

All of us do, of course!

Well, keep reading to find out how.

As you may recall, the once popular game show would award $1 million to anyone who could answer 14 consecutive questions correctly. One wrong answer and you went home with nothing. To help the contestant along the way, they were given three lifeline tools. However, a contestant could only use a lifeline once in their quest to the million. Those tools were:

Phone a friend
Ask the Audience
50:50

Only a few contestants in the decades of the game show ever went the distance to win the million without using a lifeline. Contestant after contestant, show after show, every one of them employed their lifelines. However, they had to be judicious in their use of their lifelines as they could only use it once.

In our sales game of Who Wants to be a Sales Millionaire, we are going to make it even easier. You will be allowed to phone friends. Yes, that’s right, you can phone not just one friend as in the TV version, but you are allowed to phone as many as you want. Polling the audience is also available as many times as you like. Combine both lifelines at the same time if you so desire!

Could you imagine how great that would be for the contestant if the TV version allowed lifelines to be used like that? That’s probably what it would take for me to get past half the questions that are asked on that show. Do you think contestants would use them? Of course! Who wouldn’t?

Why then, in the sales game do so few of us use our lifelines? Why don’t we phone a friend? Better yet, why don’t we just bring the friend to the show with us? Every business has an audience. But, does every business poll their audience for answers? If they do poll the audience, do they accept the answers they get or do they explain away how the audience must be wrong? By the way, the audience on the TV show is 95% accurate.

Who and How to “Phone a Friend”?

Literally, phone your peer – establish strong networks with your peers so you can reach out when you need each other.
Ride along on a sales call – Ask them to join you on a sales call that involves their expertise.
Your manager or other members of your leadership team who have experience with your situation.
The previous salesperson who had your territory if they are still available to talk with.
Department People: research, tech, operations, trucking, customer service. If you think the customer is struggling in one of those specific areas, then call your resident expert for help. Better yet, bring your expert out to meet with the customer. If that’s not possible, then maybe you and the customer can go meet them. Either way, most people are excited and feel engaged in the business when they can directly impact a customer.

Don’t be afraid to reach out and use your external network as well.

Trade Associations: These are great resources for support with your customer. If your customer is not part of the local association, then network them with several members who can help.
Peer vendors: No, not your competitor. If your customer is struggling, they might need the expertise of one of your industry connections like another vendor. As you network in your territory, you will meet other salespeople for sister products. It’s a good idea to learn about them so you can help each other out if the situation arises.
Your trusted customers: As you build your personal brand with customers, you build loyal trusted customers. I was in many situations where I could have one of my customers call another customer to help each other. One critical point on this method. You have to have a solid understanding of the competitive nature of your customer base and respect privacy when using this lifeline.

How to Poll the Audience!

With electronic versions and social media, it is easier than ever to hear from your audience. There are numerous apps and web sites that allow for surveys to be done electronically. Survey Monkey is an easy one to use. You can also send out mass forms to be completed and sent back in for manual tabulation.
The “Take out a piece of paper” Method: I employ this survey technique frequently with audiences. It’s a great way to get immediate feedback and involve your audience. If holding a customer meeting, don’t miss the opportunity to get real-time feedback on a particular topic. It might be about the meeting, but could also be about relevant products you offer or your customer service level, etc.
The Customer Advisory Panel method: This is effective for bigger decisions in your company or territory. Selecting several representative customers by segment, you gather them together for a discussion on your company’s performance. This group usually consists of your better customers. Often, you have a genuine working partnership with them. So, asking them to meet and spend time helping your company is also in their best interest as well.

The secret to Asking the Audience is to do something with the information you get. In my experience, companies are fairly good at asking for feedback. However, they typically fail miserably at doing any real work with the results. Too often, they will explain away the negative feedback or those recommended changes that don’t fit their opinion. Big mistake! While you don’t have to do every suggestion, you should follow up with a reply to those that spent the time to give their opinion. Secondly, try as hard as you can not to go into denial on negative feedback. After all, you know you aren’t perfect. So, hear the feedback, discuss it and then decide. And keep in mind, the TV audience is right 95% of the time. Maybe, your audience is equally as accurate.

So, here’s a challenge for you. Which one of your lifelines will you implement first? Which friend can you phone right now to help you with your most difficult customer situation? When will you have the next chance to be in front of a group of customers and could collect some feedback (ask the audience)?

Now, all you have to do is do it!

Good luck on your way to your “Final Answer” to become a Sales Millionaire.