I met Lyudmila at two events in different parts of the country. And in both cases, to invite her to an interview, you had to stand a long queue of people who wanted to buy a best-selling book and get an autograph.
Result: the Ukrainian bestseller from the negotiations is already in the library of Ribas Hotels Group and an exclusive interview for our blog with a successful business coach of Western Ukraine, an expert in the media and top business schools, the author of the best-selling book about negotiations “Start saying NO“ - Lyudmila Kalabukha.
— Lyudmila, imagine the call center of a large hotel company. Phones are already steaming from the number of people who want to call, clarify, ask again, specify, dot the "i". In touch with a potential guest who has already talked through all possible deadlines, broke all the scripts and will not make a positive decision in any way. So he says, " well, I'll think about it."
In our reality, this actually means that the client is lost. So, what are the words to keep him not only on the line, but also to make a buyer of your service?
— If the guest you described speaks again: ”I will think" and stops the conversation himself, but let him go with God to think.
But when he continues to call and take the soul out of you, and does not decide what he wants, but whether he wants something at all. When you have really exhausted all the limits of your arguments and the number of negotiations held, I recommend using the “simulated rejection of the client " technique.
It looks like this:
— Dear Ivan Ivanovich, we have already considered all possible options for cooperation, but, unfortunately, nothing suits you. To save you time, you should look elsewhere.
And this method in 90% of cases pushes better than any persuasion and additional preferential conditions to make a decision in your favor. You show that you do not hold your teeth for the customer, and whether they buy from you or not, does not depend on your business or your life. Your calm confidence and professionalism in conducting the dialogue are convincing here.
And if you encounter an objection “I will think” for the first time, it is worth applying the method of creating a stir:
- We have price increases starting tomorrow, and if you book and make a prepayment today, you will keep the old prices.
- This room/service/number/configuration in demand, and we have been negotiating with you for a week and this offer suits you perfectly, so it will be very insulting if someone else uses it. Are we making a reservation?
— And if you don't have to argue with the "no" of the client, guest, buyer?
— Any ”No" of the buyer must be worked out 3 times using different negotiation techniques. And since he refuses to buy something from you for the third time, you can safely let him go in peace. You are not all-powerful, but you did everything you could and "worked" the client.
But my experience as a business coach shows that 99% of managers, administrators, and sellers give up on the first” No " of the client. And this is wrong.
— Do you remember your first adult, conscious, professional "no"? Under what circumstances did you say it?
— I refused to work with a company as a business coach, which despised and deceived its staff. It wasn't the first adult “No,” but it was an iconic professional “No.” And I'm proud to have done so. I put my soul and skill into my work-training in the art of sales, so I don't want to become a part of the business of people whose values I don't share.
— Before you wrote the print edition, you published two e-books about sales. But the latter, judging by the reviews and resonance, can become a reference book for every Ukrainian, not only a business owner or top manager. After all, it includes tips on how to treat parents, children, and a loved one. Your work is in all possible book tops in Ukraine. Did you expect this result?
— The success is really impressive — 6 weeks in the top sales in all bookstores in the country, the book “Start saying NO "entered the top 10 best books of 2017 and was nominated for the best book of 2018 in the “Bestseller" category. When I wrote it under tight deadlines, I didn't even think about it. For me, the main thing was to write something wise and useful. Write it so that people who read it will immediately realize everything and get the result. And the fact that the third edition has already been swept off the shelves and in all online stores my book has been marked “hit sales” for more than a year is extremely pleasant to me. And even more pleasant — thousands of reviews that people write to me not only from all over Ukraine, but also from 4 continents, where my book was delivered/sent out. People write that the book changes their lives for the better. And I'm happy.
— In an interview, you say that the book "Start saying NO: how to confidently refuse and earn respect" is also about how to stop being comfortable for everyone and become comfortable for yourself.
How not to miss the fine line between common sense and self-centeredness?
— It's very simple - I write about this in detail in the Chapter on countering manipulation.
If you are experiencing discomfort and insincerity in communication, you are trying to cause a sense of guilt, then you are communicating with a manipulator. This is how you are used and pressed for unnecessary actions. As soon as you realize this, say no.
And if relationships with people you help, in which you invest morally and financially, bring you joy and inspiration, then everything is OK. And you don't need to refuse in such situations.
— Andrey Marenchuk, Executive Director of the Ribas Hotels Group management company, noted in an interview that the practice of sharing the acquired experience with colleagues has almost disappeared in the hotel business. Now useful information is stored behind seven locks and issued to the masses for a lot of money or services.
You also share valuable tips, at least you could use all your knowledge to scale your own Affairs. Why do you discover the secrets of your own success?
— I'll tell you a little story. At one of the seminars a business owner came up to me and asked:
— Lyudmila, you give so much useful information for free. Don't you feel sorry?
— Can you imagine what I will do with you and your business for money? I said.
Getting back to the point of your question. Over 23 years of entrepreneurial activity, I have accumulated so much experience that I am happy to share with people in social networks, in my books, articles, and interviews. People from all over the world write rave reviews about how they applied only a few of my technologies, but received incredible, simply explosive results in sales and negotiations. Why am I doing this? This is my ad. Not just promises, but specific effective tools with such a conditional mark "take and do". That's why I always have a lot of work to do and I'm proud of it.
— There is a lot of talk about communication with generation Z. What do you think, for them it is necessary to develop a new strategy for dealing with objections?
— They need to develop a new strategy for everything. They're just different. Let me remind you that there are many different classifications of generational theory. But I developed my own and adapted it to the realities of our country. So, in my coordinate system, these are people under 30 years old. Moreover, generation Z employers consider their curse as irresponsible, UN-motivated people.
But I found the key to understanding them: they need to be trusted to negotiate with clients of their age and their values, put the same managers over them, and clearly communicate which communication techniques and beliefs work with older people (generations Y and X) and which do not. And then everything is great-I have already implemented it in dozens of companies and everything works!
— Lyudmila, you are always an energetic, positive businesswoman on TV, at training and conferences. Always, without exception. Please share a secret: what do you do to avoid professional and emotional burnout?
— You may be surprised, but I am an introvert. After I "vydfontanuvala", I need to be alone with myself, with nature, be silent, avoid communication, read a good book in silence or watch a quality movie. And then I again gain strength and energy to go and carry a reasonable, good, eternal for the benefit of Ukrainian entrepreneurship.
— I know that the second printed book is planned. Please tell us what it will be about.
— I plan to write about how to build my own brand and why it is necessary. Our time to do this provides incredible resources, most of which are free. Why do you need to promote yourself and your business as much as possible and how to do it so that you have happiness and money!
