Posts from — October 2005

Dogs are great teachers of how to sell easier and better. And if you think about a dog’s life, it’s quite a pampered and easy one. Some dog behaviors can serve as models for do’s and don’ts for salespeople.

Dogs mark their territory.
Do what you can to stand out in your industry or in your working geography. The better you customers and prospective customers know you, the more you control your territory. That’s as much as anything can be controlled!  Read more...

We are all in sales. We are all selling in every role we have. Whether you are in sales, marketing, home business, looking after your kids, dentist, athlete or whatever your chosen field is – you sell.

When you are “selling an idea” or pitching a business proposal or offering a product or service – it is all selling. You can choose to avoid it or be good at it.

Have you ever met natural sales people and admired them? Have you wondered how they do it? It is simple – you just need to be in the “know”.  Read more...

Learn To Listen Well
A vital key to sales success is listening. The ability to listen well is absolutely indispensable for success in all human relationships. The ability to be a good listener in a sales conversation is the foundation of the new model of selling. It leads to easier sales, higher earnings and greater enjoyment from the sales profession.

Being A Good Talker is Not Enough
Many salespeople have been bought up with the idea that, in order to be good at your profession, you must be a glad-hander and a good talker. You have even heard people say, “You have the ‘gift of the gab’; you should be in sales!”  Read more...

As business owners we all know that in a ideal world prospects would just pick up the phone and give us an order – but for most of us sales is not like that! Yes it would be utopia however have you considered the difference between order takers and sales professionals? Firstly they are two completely different animals.

Lets face facts order takers are less likely to be skilled in sales technique. This includes the ability to easily up sell, cross sell or add on services. Order takers are by there very nature just waiting for the phone to ring and do not work on a pro active basis. If we left everything to the client then so many additional products would never have been sold.  Read more...

I am writing this at the Philadelphia Airport on my way back from meeting with one of my clients. Three weeks ago, we offered a training program for their staff in basic selling skills. She reported that they saw an immediate increase in sales after the program. Since these are all telemarketers, she listened in on their calls to see what had changed.

To her pleasure they were asking good, open-ended questions. They were taking time to listen to the client’s responses and using their comments to match them with the right product. They were even closing right at the correct time. She was thrilled.  Read more...

We all make mistakes and some salespeople seem to make a lot of them. What scares the vinegar out of me is that most salespeople keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Now in my book – that’s just plain STUPID!

Maybe this list will serve as a helpful reminder. Maybe it won’t. But at least you’re curious to learn what these blunders are or why would you keep reading this?

In any case here’s my list of the 12 Dumbest Things Salespeople Do:  Read more...

Sales resistance is a fact of life for most sales people. We encounter sales resistance in 5 specific areas. In any sales transaction we must negotiate these 5 barriers. They can be real and permanent, which means no sale. Or they may merely represent perceptions that the prospect currently entertains through lack of knowledge. These perceptions can be changed through the sales process resulting in a sale.

The 5 barriers are:

1. No need: the prospect is not aware of any problem and how the type of product or service you provide can be of benefit.  Read more...

Do you find yourself making these kinds of assumptions?

- “I lost the sale because my price was too high.”

- “I know exactly what my customer wants.”

- “I can’t hold a member of my team accountable for the delays in our project because she won’t like me if I do.”

- “I don’t delegate often enough because I know I can do the work better myself. “

These assumptions may be correct. However, they also might only be partially right or they might be absolute bunk.  Read more...

Training your salespeople to not waste time working unqualified accounts, or building relationships with the wrong people in qualified companies is imperative to the long the term success of your sales team and your company.

By understanding your salespeople’s natural fear of qualifying, you can better coach them to ask the seven critical qualifying questions early in the sales cycle. Their productivity will improve, and you will achieve more sales in less time.

Why Don’t They Qualify?  Read more...

1. Be on time. In fact, arrive a few minutes early, so you can mentally prepare for your sales presentation. When you arrive on time, your professionalism shows your prospects that you value their time as well as your own.

2. Ask specific questions. Find out exactly what the prospect needs and wants from your company’s product. If you get the details early, than you can avoid possible misunderstandings and delays later on.  Read more...