"Opened Dawes" Podcast Ep 9: Two Vital Sides to Sales Communication

Show Notes

This is the podcast of  “Opened Dawes” Live, which runs weekly as a live video show on YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn at 11 am on Tuesday mornings so that we can throw open the doors and welcome you in for a relaxed sharing of information, tips, thoughts, and answering any questions about public speaking and presentation/communication skills you may have.

So, make sure you set the reminders for the shows on Facebook or YouTube (links below) as they are scheduled online and get involved.  The stream is designed to be interactive, with comments/questions able to be shown and attributed on screen.

This week’s show looks at what, from my experience in B2B sales, are two vital sides that need to come together in sales communications, whether that is presentations, demonstrations, pitches, or the initial or ongoing general communication.

Whilst the discussion will of course include listening and speaking (in a ratio many forget), the title two “sides” in this show are actually EMOTION and LOGIC.  Tune in to see why they are so important, what each of them achieves, and how you can make sure of their presence in your sales communications.

This show can be watched live (and previous shows recorded) from the following locations:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/OpenDawesTraining/live

YouTube:
www.youtube.com/channel/UCnwlPiWylgEDLrwemI8ZZjw (or search YouTube for Open Dawes Training and click subscribe to be notified)

Thanks to:
www.opendawestraining.co.uk
www.chrisdawescomms.co.uk
www.opendawestraining.co.uk/connect

What is "Opened Dawes" Podcast?

Open Dawes Training is a public speaking, presentation and communication skills coaching company, with the key motivation of the company being to help people open doors that they may not even know exist yet, with increased confidence, willingness, and skills to present and speak in front of/with others. The podcast is taken from the live weekly "Opened Dawes" Live video show, where founder Chris Dawes dives into the key areas that make the difference with "public speaking", whether that is for those who are too nervous to do it or those who want to "up their game", whether that is for presentations, presence and participation in meetings, delivery of training, sales pitches, demonstrations, or even just communication with others in the best possible way. Chris Dawes: "My key ethos when I formed the business is that we are not, and should not be trying to create the mythical blueprint of the "perfect presenter", but unlocking each person's own personality, growing their confidence, helping them to be in control, organised, and of a quality that will make them become asked to do it more often, and no hesitation in their acceptance to do so. Apparently, public speaking is a soft skill, but it is a soft skill that gives your core skills a voice! Everyone owes it to themselves, and it is priceless to all of us that get to listen to them share their knowledge, experiences, passions, enthusiasm, and opinions. It gets them, their organisation, and their product/service recognised and appreciated, and helps us to grow and become more empowered from what they have to share."

Good morning, welcome back to
Opened Dawes Live or should I

actually be welcoming myself
back to Opened Dawes Live

apologies, there's been a little
bit of a gap there, I dare to

take a bit of a vacation. And I
feel a whole lot better for it

and away campaign and seeing
family, all of those kinds of

things. And I'm locked, reloaded
and ready to go again. And I'm

glad that we're getting into
some specifics now really, with

with some of the Opened Dawes
Live that I'm planning over the

coming weeks. And the first one
I want to touch on is, is around

sales communications. And that
is kind of my background, before

I got into all of the the media
work, the Motorsports

commentating the event hosting,
my background was sales and

marketing, I've always said that
university was where I first

realized that I was terrified of
standing up and presenting and I

went into it, sales, and we
stood up and presenting at

seminars, or in meetings, or
whatever it might be. And it's

probably, I would imagine,
probably the one of the core

customer base for me where
people are needing to try and

sell. But if you think about it,
we're always selling, I kind of

probably sell at home as well
convincing the wife that, that I

make sense, and I rarely do but
you know, just try to convince

her anyway. But we're always
trying to get people to buy in,

I always remember even I was
training a group at an

organization. And they, they,
there was one person in there,

that was the warehouse manager.

And I asked him why he felt
that, you know, public speaking,

presentation skills training was
so advantageous for him to be on

this course for a day and a
half. And he said, amongst other

things, of obviously
communicating with his staff,

and, and between department
heads, but he had to pitch to

the powers that be the
directors, the board, all of

those kind of things. And they'd
have to actually hit he'd have

to pitch for investment, new
ideas, new ways of doing things

or possibly even pitching with
excuses, not excuses reasons,

sorry, for why something didn't
go quite to plan, maybe. And

it's always sort of in that same
mentality that we are pitching

to somebody for them to
hopefully get on board with what

you are recommending, you know,
if I if I kind of really grind

it down, it's probably along
those kind of lines. Now, in

terms of, of selling what I
genuinely feel are two key

areas, two, sort of different
sides that both of them have to

be included in your sales,
communications, whether that's

presentations, pitches,
demonstrations of your

solutions, or your service, and
even your initial and ongoing

communications with prospects
that you're trying to sell to.

And I'll base it around that
prospects that we're trying to

sell to because it's the easiest
one, but as I say, that could be

boards of directors or people
that you want to employ you to

promote you anything at all that
we are trying to sell something,

an idea, a product or service
ourselves, whatever it might be.

And that is to remember that
people buy on emotion. justify

with logic. So they buy on
emotion, as in buy into

something, but they justify that
they're going to spend money

that they're going to make this
effort, they're going to make

this investment, whatever it is
with logic. Now, let me go into

a bit more detail of what I mean
by those two sides. By the way,

if you've got any comments,
questions, please do put them in

the comments or questions of
wherever you're watching,

whether that's on Facebook,
YouTube or LinkedIn, because I

can put those comments questions
your own experiences your own

thoughts up on screen and it's
great to get the interaction

from you all as well. which
varies whether we do or not, but

that's fine. If somebody stands
up and does a presentation or a

demonstration or or just a
discussion about their product,

their service and they feature
dump everything A to Zed, and

they just go through they know
their product, they know their

service inside out, and they
just make a point of telling

everybody all about their
product all about their service.

All we've done there is put the
logic if you will, the features

that isn't going To get the
emotional side of somebody's

brain going, you will get some
sales because they'll go Yep,

matter of factly. This is my
problem. This is what I'm trying

to achieve. That does it, fine,
square peg square hole, let's do

it. But what you're not doing is
play into their emotional side

and really getting them to
connect and buy into the notion

of what you are recommending
what you are putting in front of

them. So the emotion side that
they buy into something on the

emotion side, that's the
pizzazz, it's the part I enjoy

the most where you really make
something come alive, you really

make it sing and dance, I've
always said my biggest claim to

fame is that I was accused of
making it entertaining.

Brilliant, you know, our
software was document management

software. And was and still is
absolutely incredible. It's got

some magic wow factors to it.

And I love demonstrating. And I
still do it, you know, I

contract to an organization and
I still get to go and do that

now. And really make it sing and
dance and make people go, Wow,

that's incredible. But it
doesn't always mean if I did

just that, they kind of go That
is amazing. And they then need

to go and justify, especially if
you're not getting the decision

there. And then they're going to
go away, they're going to go and

think about it. And they then
sit there with none of those

logic elements that make them
go. It was amazing. And I've got

to have it because of x, y and
Zed. I'm going to go back to an

example that I remember my my
father sharing with me. And it

was that he was in the market
for for a new car. And he went

to this particular manufacturer,
and he was looking at this car

and the salesperson there was
like, Oh, you know, look, it's

got this new widget, it's got
that amazing thing. And look,

you can put your your your fob
in that bit there. And it

automatically sets to your, your
all of your settings for your,

your mirrors, your your seat,
all the different ways and see

it's really, really cool. Yeah,
it is a very clever, brilliant,

and he kind of went away and he
at the time, he was kind of

like, Wow, that's really good.

And he's then weighing it up,
right? What do I need a car at

all just yet? Can I survive
without buying a new one? Is

this the right car for me? Wow,
that was quite cool that really

do I need it? It's not
particularly important. There

was no logic for him to kind of
go. That's why I've got it.

That's why it's helpful. That's
why it's useful. It's not just a

fad, or or whatever it might be.

And this went on for a little
while. And this isn't just about

whether a decision is made. It's
how many times have you been

involved in a massively
protracted sales cycle? And

you're thinking what what is
stopping this from going ahead?

And you step back and you look,
have I covered all of the steps

of the sale and, and everything
else? And it could be that there

is not quite the logic there for
them to get hold off to use

their logic of going. There's
the facts, that yes, I love it.

This is why it's going to work
and how it's going to work. So

the sales cycle went on and on
and on. And eventually, my dad

got a call from the the boss of
this particular dealership. And

he said, Mr. Dawes, I know that
you've been chatting with my

colleague, he's no longer with
me on Friday, but I'm just

picking up all the bits and
pieces. I want to get an

understanding where we are. And
he just kind of said, Oh, yeah,

you know, I like it. I just
can't decide whether I really

want to go ahead with it yet. He
said, Well, let me go through

and you know, and he went
through some of the cool things

about this car. And he included
a big thing about this fob. And

it would suddenly set
everything. And this is back

when this was new. You see, I
know some of us are going. Yeah,

that's quite common. It wasn't
meant it was quite a new thing.

And I'm not that stop you there
your guy was was making a big

point about this is really cool.

But I'm not sure I really
understand why you're making a

big point. It's cool. But why
does it mean I need to buy this

as well. So imagine this, you go
to a party and event a gathering

whatever it might be, and
yourself and your wife, so my

mum, you go there, you've driven
there. And the evening goes,

Well, you're relaxing. And then
suddenly, the next thing you

realize you've actually had two,
maybe three drinks, and so you

can't drive. And let's just make
an assumption that your wife

hasn't done that. And she could
write How many times have you

done this that you then switch
over that the other person gets

in and they suddenly change the
front and back on your seat, the

back on the seat, the hardness
of the seat, the height of the

seat, the wing mirrors then all
get changed. You sit there for

ages waiting to go home, and
eventually you get to go home

and happy days, you're back. You
go to bed, you whatever. Then

Not only did that take a long
time but you get up the next

morning. You go to get back in
your car

and it's all shot to peace.

Isn't it the seat is changed its
direction in so many ways. And

you cannot find your sweet spot
again for love. Normally you

cannot get it into that sweet
spot, and you spend ages messing

about. And with the wing mirrors
getting it the right set up for

you. What if suddenly that
happens on the evening, someone

else takes your keys, puts it
in, they have a memory mode to

and it automatically and
instantly sets the seat the

mirrors everything to exactly
what you need it to be they need

it to be. Next morning, you go
out to the car, you put the fall

bed, it's you that's in there,
set it to your memory set in

your seat, go straight back to
your sweet spot, you don't mess

about you don't never find it
again. It's there instantly.

Wow. You know what, that sounds
really good. That is a good

point. Because actually, some of
my staff occasionally use my car

and they mess about with it. So
this is even more, yeah, this is

this is it, bang, the logic was
given to go with the emotion

about how cool it was. My dad's
like me, we love cars, and all

of that sort of stuff. So he
certainly loved that element.

But it didn't make him part with
his cash, the logic made him

part with his cash. But you've
got to always make sure that you

have both sides, if you just
feature dump, there'll be no

emotion for someone to make a
decision on. If you just give it

the pizzazz, they won't
necessarily be able to justify

it and, and it will just drag on
and on and on, they'll go away,

they'll think about it, they
talk themselves out of it, or

they'll continue to an AR and it
won't necessarily work

necessarily work. The key things
for me now, I made a point in my

notes is that it's not
necessarily the two key things

that you would think of, and one
of them is first thing first,

listen. It goes without saying
in sales communication, you have

to listen to these, one of them,
use them in that order, a mantra

that I've always been bought up
on. Listen to your prospect.

What do they do? How do they do
it? What problems are they

encountering? What impact do
those problems have on the

organization? The cash flow, the
profits, the operations,

anything like that? What are
they their objectives? What are

they trying to achieve? going
forward? And you know, now,

tomorrow, next year, next
decade, what are they trying to

do as they go forward? And you
digest all of that? And take a

pause? Because I tell you what
every company, every person will

happily talk to the cows come
home about their business about

their themselves, whatever, let
them do it, encourage them to do

it, and sit there listening and
making notes and taking it in

and thinking right? How can my
product or service? or How can I

help this person this
organization, overcome those

things achieve those things? So
how can we solve or provide all

of this with my product service
or myself? Then you move into

showing that could be an hour
say showing it could be telling

because it might not be
something that physically you

show but more often than not,
it's going to be showing them

something, but refer to the bits
that allow the glib statement is

relevant to them. But even more
so is going to help them

overcome their issues to achieve
their objectives. And keep

referring back to those as you
are going through you are

deliberately taking them on this
journey going. Right. Okay, I've

got
a couple of fundamentals, I do

need to make them aware of this
is critical to what they've

shared with me already. And I'm
going to keep referring back to

what they have already said to
me what they've already said,

keep referring so you remember
that you mentioned this, if you

see this, that will make sure
that never happens again, etc,

etc. and you work your way
through showing them now as

you're doing it, you're giving
it the pizzazz so we're now

adding the logic based on what
I've heard from from this

prospect, the facts, the
features, but I'm giving it the

pizzazz with the benefits, the
making it sing and dance with

the emotion, the enthusiasm, the
conviction, you know, some of

the critical things when it
comes to demonstrating because

they will carry people along. I
have once did a closed up pretty

reasonable size software
solution sale. Were got it

closed after doing a big seminar
presentation and the CEO of the

organization bought it. My
technical guys then went in to

do the installation. They had
the full implementation. And the

first conversation is right.

Okay. What are you going to use
this for? And how are you going

to use it so we know how to set
up? And his answer was, I have

no idea. But Chris made it looks
so amazing. I just had to have

it. And I knew in some way it
would help my business and I had

to get involved and we had to
Step it back. But that is very,

very rare that will happen. That
was a lovely, lovely compliment.

And not something that happens
very often when it's actually

spending cold, hard cash. So we
add the pizzazz to what they've

told me taking them through this
journey. And you know, I get

into this whole towel show
towel. So tell them what about

what I'm about to show them and
why it's important for them,

show it in action, and then tell
them remind them. So what you

just saw there, imagine your
organization using this, and

that you would be overcoming
these issues, you would be

achieving these objectives.

Okay, yeah, I've got that right
on to the next element. Right?

This was critical, because I,
when you said about x, y, and

Zed, I realized that we needed
to achieve this. Look, this is

it doing it, right. So you see
that if you're using that you're

going to overcome this. So you
are now taking them on a towel

show towel journey, that is with
enthusiasm, conviction, it is

referring to the logic that they
have given you that the read the

raise on their thrusts, excuse
my friends, but you get the

idea. You What you are doing is
you're showing them how good

things will be when they have
this product or service. And you

are planting the fear of how bad
it will be, or continue to be.

If they don't, there's nothing
underhand about this, because

what you are doing is that you
have listened to their problems,

their objectives, and you've
gone right? Does my product or

service work? Yes, it does. I
truly believe it. Because of

this, right? These are the bits
I've got to show, this is the

sizzle, that I've got a wrap
around it to make them

understand what I'm showing
them. And you do, look how good

this will be. Look how scary it
would be if you didn't take this

on, you have to have this you
take it from a nice to have to a

must have. And that's the
critical thing. So what we've

done is we've gone through three
stages, listen, think, show,

Okay, listen, think show, that's
three stages that we then make

sure we play, but we work on
their emotional side, and their

logical side so that they're
going to buy into it, and

they're going to justify it that
it gives you more chance of

actually securing the business
legitimately. And in a shorter

sales cycle, because invariably,
an elongated sales cycle will be

as a result of them not quite
getting it in, or, or us not

quite getting it that we're kind
of trying to put this circular

peg in a square hole, it will
go. But there's a lot of gap

around the edges. And that's
where this it's not quite. By

the way, that could also mean
that you then identify some

areas where you actually have to
educate because they've picked

up on information in magazines,
or online, we're all as bad as

each other. And they go, Oh, I
want to do this. Even worse, if

they only understand it a little
bit, and they've sort of

misinterpreted it slightly. And
you step back and go Look,

I understand what you're trying
to achieve and why we don't do

exactly what you're saying.

They're the reasons being x y
Zed. And therefore what we

actually do is this, this is it
in action. And you'll see that

it is actually going to achieve
what your objectives are. It's

not doing it in the exact way
that you're saying, but it is

achieving them in this way. And
then you're giving yourself that

fighting chance, but they are
understanding why you are

suggesting it, how it's going to
work for them what it's going to

do for them. And they can then
make a both emotional and

logical decision of whether to
invest in it. Now obviously,

we're living in a in an age
where we're doing so excuse me

so much by video conference,
including having coffees

together on these Opened Dawes
Live sessions. I forgot I had

mine didn't know. But what we
need to accept is it's exactly

the same when we're doing it via
video conference. I think video

conference is going to stay
we'll still meet face to face

now. But let's say for example,
there's three or four meetings

in the sales process. Well,
maybe only one or two of those

are actually face to face. Who
knows, maybe even the initial

exploratory one may be via video
conference. Now, we can achieve

all of these things that we've
talked about here very easily

via video conference. You know,
we can certainly get them to

have a conversation and talk
we've all done it socially

during lock downs and what have
you. So we can talk about their

organization, their their
processes, their problems, their

objectives, and making my notes
and thinking about it, I can

then position something
verbally. I can share screens

and and whatever else and show
them the things that I want to

show them relevant to What I'm
recommending, and I can still,

you know, I make a key point, I
train a lot of people these days

on how to present or have
meetings and how to provide

training via webcam, because you
you do you need to have this

enthusiasm as if you've got a
crowd of people, you have to

create it in your mind, but
still do it. So we still have

the right levels of pizzazz, the
logic is very easy to do the

same level via webcam doesn't
really matter, I, you know, it

might even be easier to show it
via shared screen rather than

being in front of them. In some
cases. What it does do is it

kind of enforces us to be that
little bit more precise, which I

think is a good thing, instead
of, you know, waffling and going

around and going off the subject
or whatever else is that we're

more likely to be precise, I
except by the way, the one thing

we do lose is at the end of a
video conference, everyone goes

right, I've got to go by and it
ends And you don't get that free

flow chat, which I genuinely
feel is very, very important. So

just as important, even if you
via webcam, just be a bit more

concise with what you're saying.

Be mindful of your connection,
you know, have are they missing

some points? If you're darting
all over the screen with with a

mouse with a cursor? Are they
suddenly seeing this coming up?

You know, make sure are you
seeing this now make sure you're

still getting the emphasis over.

And it may be that you're just
planting that seed for them to

realize, you know, this is what
I'm recommending. And this is

why. So the next time you will
actually be face to face with

some additional people from the
organization's and you're

listening even when you're
demonstrating or, or presenting

because and making notes because
by the time you then face to

face, and you've got these extra
people, they've bought into it

emotionally and logically,
they're now telling you Yeah,

that's going to work because of
this, this is and this and in

fact, this department heads
going to love it because it's

going to help them with that.

Okay, yep, keep going, keep
going, tell me more. Because

that is what then forms what I'm
intending to then present when

I'm face to face with all of
those department heads, I've got

more knowledge more collateral
to play with in terms of getting

the logic and getting the
emotion over. And really making

them realize that I can help
them with my product or service,

or myself. Of course, including
promotions, or whatever else it

may be. Even your ongoing
communications, the final bit

that I'm going to touch on,
whether it's via phone, whether

it's just a quick catch up via
video conference, heaven forbid,

even via email, I guess, to a
large extent, is always be

thinking the same way.

They buy on emotion, they
justify with logic, therefore,

what all of your future
communications refer back to the

logic that we have been able to
establish in our conversations.

You know, don't forget, I know
that you said that, you know,

you're having this problem. And
we really need to find a way to

stop that for you. And I know
that we're getting closer to

when you're hoping to be, you
know, achieving this as your

objectives. So we need to get
this in place. And remember,

this is how we're going to do
it, you're reminding them, they

may have forgotten, they've gone
and done 1,000,001 things, but

you're reminding them of the key
elements to it. And you have

also bring in the emotion back
into it in those conversations

don't feel just because I'm not
presenting, I don't need to

still be have that conviction
and conviction and enthusiasm

and passion in a telephone
conversation. I still will,

because I truly will be
believing that this is going to

help this organization. So yes,
it's vital to listen because

it's what's going to enable to
do this. And I say that because

some people, when I say the two
most vital sides of sales,

communications, they will
automatically go, you know,

listening and speaking or
whatever, and in the order of

Listen, then speak and yes. But
for me, it's about remembering

that somebody will buy or buy
into something based on emotion,

they'll then justify to spend
that money to take you want to

promote you, whatever it might
be, based on logic, it's exactly

the same when we're delivering
training as well is that you

don't just go well, they're in
front of me now they're going to

give this training, if you want
them to truly pay attention to

digest the training, that might
not just be something they

bought, it could be something to
make sure they use your product

or service properly. And that's
what you need, then don't just

kind of go right deliver my
training, make sure that they

have bought into it. Not just
with the emotional side, but

with the logical side again, and
you are going to get them paying

full attention to your training
to to implement in your training

to therefore making use of
whatever it is that you're

training them to use or do after
you've left them to their own

devices. So that's the key
things for me the two most vital

sides of sales can be vacations.

I hope that's been really
useful. Thank you very much for

joining me on on this episode
nine of Opened Dawes Live. I

will be back again next Tuesday.

And I think the plan is that
we'll get back into it being

every single week after I dare
to take a little bit of a break

over the last couple of weeks.

But we're back and gotten so
many subjects to cover if

there's anything that people
suggest would be a good one to

cover. I'm hoping to try and get
some guests on the shows going

forward as well, which would be
really interesting to sort of

almost interview some experts on
particular areas. Again, any any

people that feel that that
they've got something to add to

this, that would be good to be
part of the Opened, Dawes Live,

please do drop us a line. You
might even be listening to this

now on the podcast, if you're
watching and wondering what I'm

talking about. This is available
as a podcast as well, audio only

podcast via all of the usual
whether it's Apple, Amazon,

Google, you know, they're all
all of the podcast platforms.

Just do a search for opened
doors. And you will find the

open doors podcast on there as
well. And you can listen as

you're walking with your
headphones, and hopefully it

just can help you or just that
little bit to have that

confidence to have the
willingness and you know,

hopefully so even further
improve skills with your public

speaking presentation skills,
meetings, training, delivery,

interviews, media work, whatever
it is, because you owe it to

yourself and everybody that can
listen to you. So for myself,

Chris Dawes, the founder of Open
Dawes Training. Thank you so

much for your time. It's been an
absolute pleasure to have your

company for the last what was it
just under half an hour. And I

look forward to seeing you
again. Next week. Many thanks.