Lenann McGookey Gardner

In the Media

• Philanthropy Journal Article Publication Date: 10/03/2011

Philanthropy Journal Article

Many nonprofits and values-based organizations face challenges - too few volunteers, small donations, budget shortfalls.

Is the answer to the problem that such organizations need to get better at selling?

No one in the nonprofit community, in my experience, wants to think of themselves as a salesman.

The thought conjures images of conniving, manipulation, pushiness - all incompatible with the principles on which nonprofits were founded.

Is there a middle ground? Does an organization have to get aggressive about salesmanship in order to survive?

The answer is no.

But the approach taken to become better at outreach - to volunteers, donors and others who may participate in creating the future you envision for your organization - should be carefully thought through and implemented with sensitivity.

The good news is that the best selling today is done in a way that is deeply respectful of the “buyer.”

This has come about because people’s tolerance for disrespect has declined dramatically. That’s an appropriate development. While no one wants to be “sold,” people “buy” things all the time.

So the challenge is to make the “buyer” - that is, the potential participant, volunteer or donor - aware of the opportunity you represent so they can decide whether they would like to take advantage of the opportunity.

Be careful about assuming that such people already understand the opportunity you offer.

Your organization may have been around for decades, but if people are not involved with you now, the chance that they fully appreciate the opportunity your organization represents to them personally is slim.

Look at your messages. Do you have short, powerful, provocatively-expressed ideas that will create interest where none now exists?

Developing such ideas is a process called “positioning,” and it’s crucial that you do it.

Once you have your positioning messages, it’s time to get those messages out to people you’d like to attract.

You may be buying advertising or supporting a website, but don’t assume that those things are being read. The best vehicle to share your messages is a human being.

So you’ll need to have people who are able to go out and share those powerful messages, build relationships and handle conversations in such a way that maximizes the likelihood that the appropriate people choose to become involved.

The skills to do that are selling skills, adjusted appropriately to fit the type of organization you represent.

These are not the selling skills of the past - nor the depictions of salespeople we see in the movies.

The approach to handling such conversations most effectively today begins with a “clean heart position,” which is a sincere desire to see the other person get where he wants to go.

So to have an effective conversation about engaging with your organization, we begin by trying to understand where the individual with whom we are speaking would like to go.

Be prepared to learn that, while most people have some idea that community involvement is a good thing, they lack specific ideas about how to bring such involvement into their lives.

And since they perceive themselves to be busy already, they worry that they won’t be able to find the time, so they simply do nothing.

Handled properly, a conversation in which we offer them some structure makes it possible for them to see specifically how they might live their professed commitment to their community.

There are several skills for handling this type of conversation, and doing appropriate and timely follow-up on it, that will maximize your effort to attract appropriate people and donations to your organization.

These skills should be based on recent sales research and writings on the subject.

We know that how people like to be approached these days is quite different from the approaches that were effective just a few years ago.

By getting up-to-date on what’s working now in selling, and applying that knowledge appropriately in the context of your organization’s history, goals and values, you can grow your organization, even in challenging economic times.

But be careful: Reading a couple of articles about selling doesn’t make you an expert on what’s working now in selling.

And relying on what you think you know about selling - from a class years ago or a movie you saw - is a classic error.

Lenann McGookey Gardner volunteers as a Stephen Minister and Stephen Ministry Leader. She served on nonprofit boards for Cuidando Los Ninos and The Harbour School in Maryland.

• Reinventing Email and Phone Client Communication Publication Date: 08/11/2011 Name of the Publication: Business Review USA

Reinventing Email and Phone Client Communication

Email – a great means of keeping in touch with your colleagues, and for routine communication with your customers.

Email for keeping in touch with people whom you would like to have as customers – or customers who aren’t happy—not so good.

If you’re building trust and a relationship, email is of marginal value. (I don’t feel I have a relationship with a Nigerian prince who just needs my help to get money out of his country. Do you?) And if you’re trying to right a perceived wrong, email is less effective than a personal connection.

The problem: email is getting used for ALL KINDS of communication now, including communication with prospects, and in delicate client-care situations. If you’re addicted to email as the answer to every communication need, stop a moment and ask yourself if your addiction is hurting your relationships.

Sometimes I get the sense that people would prefer not to deal with humans – so they put out one-way email messages to make their points and then return to the sanctuary of their computer screens, rather than getting involved in the messy business of dealing with other people.

To quote a polarizing American media figure, “So, how’s that workin’ for ya?”

What we know is that some people refuse to communicate through any means other than email. For those people, your email communication is appropriate.

For everyone else, though, take a moment to think before you click “New” and start typing. Is this a prospect who hasn’t yet decided whether to trust you? If so, can you meet briefly in person, or, at the very least, pick up the phone?

If you leave a caring voicemail, and offer something compelling in that voicemail to encourage the person to return your call, the voicemail itself is closer to a personal touch than the email.

Keep in mind the very high proportion of customers who list themselves as “Satisfied”, but then change suppliers. Give your customers the personal touch, too, whenever you can, but especially when they are less than delighted.

We know that time spent face-to-face and phone-to-phone (F2F and P2P) with prospects is strongly positively correlated with success in selling. I suspect the same is true in caring for clients.

I’ve seen no data about a correlation between E2E communication and selling success. And I, for one, don’t feel particularly cared for when a supplier of services emails me a response to a complaint!

The next time you need to communicate with prospects or customers, move away from the mouse and pick up the phone. You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes.


Lenann McGookey Gardner, CSP, is a Harvard MBA and a seasoned industry executive. She works with professionals in accounting, consulting, research, consumer products, telecommunications, banking and technology industries.  An international speaker, she is the author of Got Sales:  The Complete Guide to Today’s Proven Methods for Selling Services, which was nominated for the Axiom Business Book Award as the best sales book of the year. Profiled in Who’s Who in America every year since 2004, she serves as an executive coach to professionals around the world. Visit her websites: http://YouCanSell.com and http://YouCanLeadCoaching.com.

• Lenann McGookey Gardner Earns Certified Speaking Professional Designation Publication Date: 07/18/2011

Lenann McGookey Gardner Earns Certified Speaking Professional Designation

• Close More Sales with New “Proposal Process Excellence” Workshop Publication Date: 07/07/2011

Close More Sales with New “Proposal Process Excellence” Workshop

Albuquerque, NM – With a stunning 90% of business proposals failing to generate any new revenue, a new workshop is turning sales figures around. The new “Proposal Process Excellence” workshop by Lenann McGookey Gardner teaches how to dramatically improve proposal success rates by applying state-of-the-art selling principles appropriate for today’s fast-paced business world.

Explained Gardner, “In my work as an international sales consultant, I am seeing the typical proposal success rates for services providers declining – often to single-digit levels. Such a high failure rate is demoralizing, since most proposals take a great deal of time, effort and energy. The good news is that there are specific ways to improve.”

Many of the mistakes Gardner sees companies making can be avoided by changing how a proposal is utilized in the sales process. Here are five mistakes to avoid:

1.  Emailing proposals to people you barely know. “Sales research is clear – proposals that are presented are more successful than those that are sent,” said Gardner. “You say your prospect asked you to send it? Of course he did; that way he won’t have to look you in the eye and say no!”

2.  Proposing too soon. “Just because someone asks for a proposal, that doesn’t mean you have to write one,” said Gardner. “Sometimes their asking can simply be seen as a sincere expression of interest, and an opportunity for you to begin working hard to understand their situation, their options, and how you might be of help.”

3.  Rotten follow-up. “Don’t assume that your proposal is being discussed just because you have delivered it to your prospect. It’s up to you to get your prospect to pay attention,” said Gardner. What’s an optimal interval for follow-up on a proposal? Typically no more than four business days, and usually sooner.

4.  Relying on email to learn more. Email isn’t a bad thing, but it also doesn’t go far toward helping your prospect trust you. When you’re reaching out to a prospect, pick up the phone – or make a visit if at all possible.

5.  Thinking that your proposal will be read. “We know that, often, only the Executive Summary and the price may actually be read, so that makes your Executive Summary crucial,” said Gardner. “Put yourself in your reader’s shoes, and think about what they most want to know. Put that first.”

Gardner brings her “Proposal Process Excellence” workshop to businesses worldwide, with an update on selling skills that repeatedly earns organizations the highest ROI on any training effort ever!

Lenann McGookey Gardner is a sales consultant who helps professionals who sell services, or product-and-service combinations, achieve never-before-seen sales success. A Harvard MBA and 2010 “Top Performing CEO” award winner, Gardner has worked with professionals on five continents to help them get more clients and drive new revenue. Winner of the American Marketing Association’s Professional Services “Marketer of the Year” award, Gardner is the author of Got Sales? The Complete Guide to Today’s Proven Methods for Selling Services, which was nominated for the Axiom Business Book Award as the best sales book of the year. She is also an Executive Coach. Learn more at www.YouCanSell.com.

• McKinsey Report Confirms Executive Coaching Helps Women Advance Careers Further Publication Date: 04/13/2011

McKinsey Report Confirms Executive Coaching Helps Women Advance Careers Further

• Does In-Person Networking Beat Social Networking? Publication Date: 10/19/2010 Name of the Publication: RedOrbit.com

Does In-Person Networking Beat Social Networking?

• Reaching for Better Leadership Qualities? Take This Quiz on Executive Coaching! Publication Date: 08/09/2010 Name of the Publication: StreetInsider.com

Reaching for Better Leadership Qualities? Take This Quiz on Executive Coaching!

Albuquerque, NM – Business executives challenged by stalled growth who want to move their careers forward, and those who need greater work/life balance or an impartial mentor, can get an insightful assessment at the new www.YouCanLeadCoaching.com website.

The YouCanLeadCoaching online assessment provides information on how to get a mentor, stand out for promotion, change behavior for enhanced work/life balance, improve communication skills with high-powered people, deal with politics in business, and much more.

Executive Coach Lenann McGookey Gardner has worked with hundreds of professionals, including scientists, engineers, consultants, accountants, attorneys, entrepreneurs, and hospitality industry leaders, to hone new skills and generate millions of dollars in new business. She is a management consultant and trusted advisor who provides fresh ideas for moving executives and their teams forward with professional coaching in leadership, sales, communication, and marketing skills.

“I spent 20 years as an executive in corporations, 18 years as a consultant to companies worldwide, and have been an Executive Coach for over a decade,” says Gardner. “In all that time, I’ve observed what works and what doesn’t. I’ve experienced major successes and major mistakes, and observed what follows from both. I offer encouraging support as well as the benefit of all that experience, and can give ideas as to how other professionals have dealt successfully with many, many challenging situations.”

Those who send a message to Gardner through the YouCanLeadCoaching.com Contact Page can get a free 30-minute telephone session with her to determine if an Executive Coach could help their individual situation.

As a corporate executive, Lenann McGookey Gardner rose from an Associate Marketing Representative of a Fortune 100 company – where she was #1 sales rep worldwide in her first year selling – to Vice President of a major diversified corporation, mentoring and developing hundreds of subordinates along the way. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

In addition to her successful career as a management consultant, she is the author of Got Sales? The Complete Guide to Today’s Proven Methods for Selling Services, an update on research into what’s working now in selling, which has helped professionals, most with advanced degrees, to develop powerful business relationships. The book was nominated for the Axiom Business Book Award as the best sales book of the year.

For more information, visit www.YouCanLeadCoaching.com.

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• Marketing Mistake: Missing a Positioning Statement Publication Date: 10/01/2009 Name of the Publication: Sales and Service Excellence

Marketing Mistake: Missing a Positioning Statement

• Got Sales? Manage for Results Publication Date: 07/01/2009 Name of the Publication: Sales and Service Excellence

Got Sales? Manage for Results

• How One Advisor is Succeeding in a Struggling Economy Publication Date: 05/01/2009 Name of the Publication: Agent's Sales Journal

How One Advisor is Succeeding in a Struggling Economy

• When to Lower Your Price Point Publication Date: 04/01/2009 Name of the Publication: Entrepreneur Magazine

When to Lower Your Price Point

• The A List - Lenann McGookey Gardner Publication Date: 03/01/2009 Name of the Publication: Albuquerque The Magazine

The A List - Lenann McGookey Gardner

• Your Bias Against Selling is Gonna Kill Your Success! Publication Date: 11/01/2007 Name of the Publication: Wisconsin Professional Agent Magazine

Your Bias Against Selling is Gonna Kill Your Success!

• Your Clients Aren’t Loyal : Try nurturing loyalty Publication Date: 08/01/2007 Name of the Publication: Sales and Service Excellence

Your Clients Aren’t Loyal : Try nurturing loyalty

• Sales Killers: They Ruin Your Results Publication Date: 09/01/2008 Name of the Publication: Sales and Service Excellence

Sales Killers: They Ruin Your Results

• Positioning: The foundation of your firm’s marketing strategy Publication Date: 05/01/2005 Name of the Publication: MarkeTrends

Positioning: The foundation of your firm’s marketing strategy

• Boost your sales by smoothing egos rather than bashing them Publication Date: 07/29/2005 Name of the Publication: New Mexico Business Weekly

Boost your sales by smoothing egos rather than bashing them