GAINING COMMITMENT AND CLOSING - are you actually asking for the order?

WHY DON'T WE CLOSE?

- Salespeople know how to close so why don't they?
- Skills, timing, relationships just a good excuse
- The real reason not enough prospects and poorly qualified prospects
THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND THE WEAK CLOSER

- Salespeople are always under pressure to find new prospects
- Always pressure from sales managers to generate and maintain a healthy "prospect list"
- Ask for the order, get it and then t ... Read more

SELLING BENEFITS AND VALUE

Delivering meaningful value

- Through skillful questioning technique you have uncovered the prospect's needs
- It's very easy to bombard your prospect with the many features that your products offer
- However, not every feature is of benefit to every customer
- Features and USPs are meaningless if they do not deliver value in the customer's eyes
Features, Functions and BENEFITS

- Feature - anything you can touch, feel, s ... Read more

Sales Tip No. 29 - Who are you really competing against?

We frequently hear sales people saying "there's no competition on this deal".  When we dig deeper we find that there is competition after all, but not from where they think.  The "competition" is coming in the form of 1) lethargy, the easiest decision is no decision, do nothing or 2) competition for use of the funds earmarked for your deal - not a directly competing product, service of solution.   Lethargy is always a challenge - remind the prospect of why you are there in the f ... Read more

Sales Tip No. 28 - New Year Rapport Building

New year, new accounts, new opportunities for many sales people and account managers. Then, as we enter 2017 many markets seem to be heating up and so some sales people start to get a little complacent, some even aggressive (thinking they are being assertive!).  Even in an up-market taking time to build rapport is still important, so here are 5 reminders for building rapport: 1.     Be empathetic - put yourself in the customer's shoes. 2.     Use go ... Read more

Sales Tip No. 26 Negotiation - are you really in a position to negotiate?

The current presidential election campaign in the US has me talking to quite a few clients and participants about negotiation skills.  As one candidate claims to be such a good negotiator it has become a hot topic!   In any real negotiation there has to be two conditions in play.  Both parties must have the will to vary the terms and both parties must have the authority to vary the terms.  So here is the challenge in many negotiations - unless you have true executive author ... Read more

Sales Tip No. 25 - Cold calling, no names policy?

Are you cold calling (yes many people still do it) or following up on leads or cleaning lists - but can't get hold of the right contact, especially when the target company has a "no names policy" on the switchboard?   Try this - it sounds counter productive but its not.  Do the research call and the sales call as two separate calls.   Call the target company's switchboard - in a  very friendly non threatening tone say "I wonder if you can help me, please do not put me thr ... Read more

Sales tip no. 24 - No pain? Sell the gain!

Interesting situation with a sales team I am coaching at the moment.  They have been taught to find the technical, business and personal pain - exactly the right thing to do.  Recently on a particular campaign they were finding the people they were approaching had "no pain". When we dug down into what their solution actually did we found they delivered benefits that could be "of gain" - not just "address a pain".  So when their prospects were saying everything is great we don't ... Read more

ARE YOUR SALES CALLS CONVERSATIONS OR INTERROGATIONS?

How many sales visits do you make where YOU do all the talking? Especially on a first appointment! Its back to basics but you may want to take a look at the importance of questioning techniques.  You need to ask open questions (how, what, why, where, when, who) and then listen. There is a time and a place for  closed questions (will you, would you, do you, did you and have you) but as they typically get "yes" or "no" answers if you are not careful and you ask closed questions t ... Read more

Sales tip No. 23 - Winning over the decision influencers

Getting the "Go To" people on your side When the decision maker does not understand something they are buying who do they ask?  Their "Go To" people - the decision influencers.  Typically we do not spend enough time seeking out these particular decision influencers, we are too busy trying to sell the decision maker something he or she does not understand!   We need to spend more time finding the "Go To" people and then getting them on our side. Ronald Reagan once [allegedly] ... Read more

No 21. Build rapport - don't pitch to early

BIG, BIG debate on LinkedIn prompted this one!  It is very easy to pitch products and services too early - before we have sufficient information or have built any real rapport.  How do you avoid this trap?  Use this structure - get the prospect talking about 1) themselves, 2) their organization, 3) their present application / useage, 4) their technology / method.  Dont forget - use open questions HOW WHAT WHY WHERE WHEN WHO. Make it a conversation not an interrogation. ... Read more