Archive for the ‘Sales Success’ Category
Sales Success | July 1st, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Saving the Lost Sale
There is a powerful technique you can learn called the "I Want To Think It Over Close." This is the only way I know to save this kind of lost sale. You know by now that when the customer says, "I want to think it over," he is really saying "good bye." You know from your own experience that customers do not think it over. They do not sit there carefully studying your brochures and price lists with a calculator and a pen.
People Are Often Ready to Buy
On the other hand, as many as 50 percent of the people you speak to are probably ready to buy at this point. They just need a little push. They need some help. A buying decision is traumatic for them. They are tense and uneasy, and afraid of making a mistake. They may be right on the verge of saying "yes" and they need the professional guidance of an excellent salesperson. But if you accept the "I want to think it over" at face value and depart, you will probably never get a chance to see them or to sell to them again.
Be Agreeable and Prepared
This is how you use it. When the prospect says, "I want to think it over," you appear to accept it gracefully. You smile agreeably, and begin packing your briefcase and putting your materials away. As you do, you make conversation with these words: "Mr. Prospect, that’s a good idea. This is an important decision and you shouldn’t rush into it." These words will cause the prospect to mentally relax. He sees that you are on your way. His resistance will drop as soon as you stop presenting and trying to sell.
Win the sale with Superstar Selling!
Ask Curiously
You then ask, in a curious tone of voice: "Mr. Prospect obviously you have a good reason for wanting to think it over. May I ask what it is; is it the money?"
Remain perfectly silent, watching his face. Smile gently. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. This is a critical moment.
Wait Patiently
Again, you have nothing to lose. If you leave, you have lost this person as a prospect forever. The worst thing that he can say is that he has no particular reason but that he still wants to think it over. However, in many cases, he will reply by saying one of two things. He will say, "Yes, I’m concerned about the cost." Or, he will say, "No, it’s not the money."
Probe the Answer
If he says that "Yes, it’s the money," you immediately go into a series of questions designed to deal with concerns about cost or price. You ask things like, "How do you mean, exactly? Why do you say that? Why do you feel that way? How far apart are we? Is price your only concern, or is there something else?"
If he says that, "No, it’s not the money," you reply by asking "May I ask what it is?"
Remain Silent
Again, you remain perfectly silent while you wait for his answer. In many cases, he will think about it for a few seconds, even a minute or longer, and then he will give you his final concern or objection. He will finally tell you what is really on his mind. He will tell you the real reason why he is hesitating about going ahead.
If you can now satisfy him on this final condition, you can go on to conclude the sale. You can say, "Mr. Prospect, what if we could do this…?" Or, "I think there is a perfect answer to that question."
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, memorize the words of this closing technique and practice it as you would for a play or movie. Role-play this technique with someone else if you can.
Second, use this technique as soon as possible, the very next time you hear those words, "Let me think it over." You can save sales that might be lost forever.
Superstar Selling!
See Also
Posted in Sales Success | 1 Comment »
Sales Success | June 3rd, 2008 | No Comments »
The Sale is More Complex Today
The entire process of selling today is more complex than it has ever been before. It used to be that we would make a single call on a single buyer who would make a single decision on our product or offering. In this simple form of selling, we used the attention/interest/ desire/action (AIDA) model of sales presentation and focused intensely on numerous different ways of closing the sale. Then, once we had made the sale, in many cases we never saw the customer again.
Everything Has Changed
Today, however, everything is different. Today we must make multiple calls, an average of five or six, in order to make the sale. We deal with multiple decision makers in an organization, each of whom can influence the purchase. Much of the sale takes place when we are not present. Sometimes we never even meet the final decision maker who signs the check. And it is not unusual for a sale to be derailed at the last minute by something completely unexpected.
The Competition is Fierce
If that weren’t enough, there is more competition than ever before and it is more determined and resolute than it has ever been in the past. Not only must we compete on the basis of price, quality, services, capabilities, financing and warranties with many other vendors of our product or service, but we must also compete with every other vendor of every other product or service who is striving to get the same customer dollar that we are after. Our competitors are extremely determined, driven the same as we are by tight markets and careful customers. They are committed to starting earlier, working harder, and staying up later thinking of ways to take our customers away from us.
Customers Are Overwhelmed
Our prospective customers are beset on all sides by every conceivable sales offering. Because they are drowning in details, options and choices, they are in no hurry to make up their minds. With markets changing and contracting, the amount of discretionary funds they have available has shrunken and they are more careful today than they have ever had to be in the past.
Make more money closing faster, easier, better than you ever thought possible with 24 Techniques for Closing the Sale
The Key to Profitability
The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer. If a business does this in sufficient quantity and with proper cost controls, it will make a profit. The profit is the result of creating and keeping customers efficiently.
Create and Keep Customers
As the president of your own professional sales corporation, your job is to create and keep customers as well. And just as a company must continually restructure and redesign its product and service offerings to satisfy the changing tastes of a demanding and competitive customer marketplace, you as a salesperson must constantly upgrade the quality and sophistication of your sales procedures and approaches if you are going to create customers in sufficient quantity.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, be prepared to make multiple calls on a customer to close a large or complex sale. Plan your sales work systematically so you always have a new reason for calling back.
Second, think continually about how you have to change and improve your selling and your offering if you want to succeed in a tough market. Work on yourself every day and never stop getting better.
24 Techniques for Closing the Sale
See Also
Posted in Sales Success | No Comments »
Sales Success | May 28th, 2008 | No Comments »
Three Keys to Building Relationships
Top sales professionals see themselves as "Doctors of Selling." They see themselves as professionals, well educated, acting in their "patient’s" best interest, and bound by a high code of ethics.
The medical process is the same everywhere. Whenever you go to any doctor, of any kind, for any condition, he will follow the three part sequence of examination, diagnosis and prescription.
Begin With a Thorough Examination
Just as a medical professional would never think of treating you without following these three steps in order, you as a doctor of selling, would never allow a customer to force you to sell without your going through your three stages as well. This is as applicable to selling magazines door-to-door as it is to selling oil tankers to Exxon.
In the examination phase, you ask excellent questions, carefully prepared, in sequence, which are geared to give you a thorough knowledge of the patient’s condition, or the customer’s situation.
Find out exactly what customers’ need with The Art of Closing The Sale
Diagnose the Customer’s Need Accurately
The second phase is that of diagnosis. In the diagnosis phase with a customer, you would repeat back the results of your examination and double check to be sure that the symptoms that you had detected were the real symptoms being experienced by the patient. You would ask additional questions to confirm and corroborate. You and the patient would mutually agree that this diagnosis seems to be an accurate description of the condition or problem.
Make the Right Prescription
Once this mutual agreement has been reached, that a treatable condition exists and that you have identified it accurately, you can move on to phase three. This is the prescription phase, where you show the patient (customer) that your product or service is the best available treatment, taking all the factors of the patient’s situation into consideration for the ailment that you have diagnosed. You show that, on balance, what you are suggesting is the best of all possible solutions.
Professionals who sell in the way that doctors treat patients find that their sales activities proceed far more smoothly and result in better sales in less time.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, take the time to do a thorough examination by asking excellent questions and by listening carefully to the answers.
Second, repeat back and check your diagnosis with the customer so that you both agree on the need or problem – before you recommend a solution.
The Art of Closing the Sale
See Also
Posted in Sales Success | No Comments »
Sales Success | April 30th, 2008 | No Comments »
The Invitational Close is simple, low-key, classy and powerful.
You use it at the end of a sales conversation to conclude the transaction. It is preceded by a Trial Close such as: "Mr. Prospect, do you have any questions or concerns that I haven’t covered up to now?" Or, "Mr. Prospect, does this make sense to you, so far?"
Probe for Lingering Objections
You ask these questions to be doubly sure that the prospect has no final objections lurking in the back of his mind that would block the closing of the sales process. You then invite the customer to make a buying decision by saying, "If you like what I’ve shown you, why don’t you give it a try?"
Invite the Customer to Buy
Inviting the customer to buy is very powerful. This is a gentle way of nudging the customer into taking action. "Why don’t you give it a try?" If you are selling services, you can ask, "Why don’t you give us a try?" If you want to be more bold and direct, you can simply ask, "Why don’t you take it?"
Change Your Wording
One of my seminar graduates doubled his sales by changing his words in the endgame of selling. After his sales presentation he would ask the prospect if he had any additional questions or concerns. If the prospect said "no," he would then ask, "Well, if you like it, why don’t you take it?"
He was amazed to find that many prospects could not think of a good reason not to go ahead with his offering immediately. Both his closing ratio and his income soared.
Action Exercises
Here is something you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
The next time you complete your sales presentation, simply issue an invitation to the customer to make a decision. "Why don’t you give it a try?"
You may be surprised at your success.
The Art of Closing the Sale
Posted in Sales Success | No Comments »
Sales Success | February 13th, 2008 | No Comments »
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines charisma as “a personal magic of leadership arousing special popular loyalty or enthusiasm for a public figure.”
Become An Irresistible Person
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines charisma as "a personal magic of leadership arousing special popular loyalty or enthusiasm for a public figure."
Develop Personal Magnetism
Charisma is also that special quality of magnetism that each person has and that each person uses to a certain degree. You have a special charisma to the people who look up to you, who respect and admire you, the members of your family and your friends and coworkers. Whenever and wherever a person feels a positive emotion toward another, he imbues that person with charisma, or attractiveness.
Project Yourself Positively
In trying to explain charisma, some people speak of an "aura." This aura is a light that is invisible to most people, but not to everyone, and that radiates out from a person and affects the people around that person in a positive or negative way. The halo around the heads of saints and mystics in many religious paintings was the artist’s attempt to depict the light that people reported seeing around the heads of these men and women when they were speaking or praying, or in an intense emotional state.
Control the Impression You Make
You also have an aura around you that most people cannot see but that is there, nevertheless. This aura affects the way people react and respond to you, either positively or negatively. There is a lot that you can do, and a lot of good reasons for you to do it, to control this aura and make it work in your best interests.
Sell Your Way to the Top
If you’re in sales, this aura, reflecting your level of charisma, can have a major impact on the way your prospects and customers treat you and deal with you. Top salespeople seem to be far more successful than the average salespeople in getting along with their customers. They’re always more welcome, more positively received and more trusted than the others. They sell more, and they sell more easily. They make a better living, and they build better lives. Salespeople with charisma get far more pleasure out of their work and suffer far less from stress and rejection. The charismatic salesperson is almost invariably a top performer in his field and enjoys all the rewards that go with superior sales.
Influence People Around You
If you’re in business, developing greater charisma can help you tremendously in working with your staff, your suppliers, your bankers, your customers and everyone else upon whom you depend for your success. People seem naturally drawn to those who possess charisma.
They want to help them and support them. When you have charisma, people will open doors for you and bring you opportunities that otherwise would not have been available to you.
Enhance Your Personal Relationships
In your personal relationships, the quality of charisma can make your life more joyous, happier. People will naturally want to be around you. Members of your family and your friends will be far happier in your company, and you will have a greater influence on them, causing them to feel better about themselves and to do better at the important things in their lives.
Action Exercises
First, identify the people with whom you seem to have a lot of charisma – the people who know you, like you, respect you the most. How could you increase your charisma with these people?
Second, identify the people who have charisma to you, the people you most like and respect and admire. What is there about them that you could copy or emulate? If you think charisma, you’ll have more of it.
The Psychology of Selling
Posted in Sales Success | No Comments »
Sales Success | January 23rd, 2008 | No Comments »
If you make a perfect presentation, one that clearly explains the benefits and resolves all the doubts that a qualified prospect might have, the sale will often close all by itself, like a ripe apple dropping out of a tree into your hand.
If you make a perfect presentation, one that clearly explains the benefits and resolves all the doubts that a qualified prospect might have, the sale will often close all by itself, like a ripe apple dropping out of a tree into your hand. You will conclude your presentation, check to be sure that the prospect has fully understood the benefits and value to him of the offér and the prospect will say something like, "It sounds good to me, how do I get it? Will you take a check?"
Don’t Count on Miracles
When you are dealing with a prospect who knows exactly what he wants and you structure your presentation so that you demonstrate to him that your product fills his needs perfectly, he can make a buying decision and invite you to wrap up the sale. But this kind of result in selling is similar to a miracle: it’s not that miracles don’t happen, it’s just that you can’t depend on them.
Be Prepared in Every Situation
You must go into every sales situation prepared for the likelihood that your prospect will have questions unanswered, concerns unresolved and objections to be overcome. Simultaneously, you must know a variety of ways to ask for the order at different points in the sales process, and you must be capable of recognizing which closing technique is most appropriate at any given time.
Like a master craftsman, you need a variety of tools with which to do excellent work. The best salespeople are invariably those who are the most skilled in the fine points of bringing the sales conversation to a positive conclusion.
Build the Relationship First
Your first job in the sales conversation, and throughout all of your interactions with the customer, is to build and maintain a relationship. It is to come across in a friendly way, to be warm, supportive, knowledgeable and completely focused on helping the customer to solve a problem or achieve a goal with your product or service.
Be Positive, Polite, and Persuasive
Because of the importance of trust in modern selling, you are never pushy, obnoxious or overly aggressive. You never do or say anything that can be construed as manipulative. You never attempt to influence your prospect to act contrary to his best interests. Your job is to thoroughly understand his situation and to give good recommendations that enable him to make the right buying decision.
Action Exercises
Here are two things that you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, be prepared to close the sale quickly and smoothly, and get out, when it is clear the customer is ready to buy. This is your job. Don’t hesitate.
Second, be sure that you keep your eyes on the quality of the relationship throughout. Avoid using pressure or manipulation so you can always come back again later.
21 Great Ways to Become a Sales Superstar
Posted in Sales Success | No Comments »
Sales Success | January 15th, 2008 | No Comments »
Salespeople are different based on their values.
Salespeople are different based on their values. A higher order value always takes precedence over a lower order value. If you place one value higher than another, and you have to choose between doing one thing or doing another, you will always select the action that is consistent with your higher value. Once you are clear about your order of values, decision making becomes much easier.
What Are Your Real Values?
How can you determine what your values really are? Simple. Just observe your behaviors, especially the things you do when you are under pressure. Your values are always expressed in your actions. It is not what you say, or wish, or hope, or intend that expresses your true values. It is only what you do. If you want to know what your values are at this moment, you can examine your recent past and notice the choices you made when you could have gone one way or another. Your choices, and your subsequent actions, demonstrated to yourself and others what was of greatest value and importance to you.
Compare Different People
Here is an example. Imagine you have two people who have the same three values. The values are family, health and career success. The only difference between these two people is the order of importance that they placed on these values, their priorities. The first person, Bill, says that, "My family comes first, my health is second and career success is third."
Tom, on the other hand, has the same values, but he says, "Career success comes first for me, then my family, and then my health."
Determine the Difference
Would there be a difference in character and personality between these two people? Would there be a small difference or a large difference? Which of these two people would you like to get to know and become friends with? Would you be able to tell these two people apart in conversation? Which one do you think you would like and trust more?
Values Set People Apart
The answers to these questions are clear. The person with the higher values in a better order of priority will invariably be a better person than the person whose values are in a different order. Your choice of values determines the quality of your character. When you select values such as integrity, love, courage, honesty, excellence or responsibility, and you live your life consistent with those values, every hour of every day, you actually become a superior person. It is your values that determine the kind of person you really are.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, think about how you behave, how you choose, whenever you are under pressure. Remember, it is only what you do, your actions, that tell who you really are.
Second, observe how other people around you behave when they are forced to choose. You will only be compatible with people whose values are similar to yours. What are they?
Million Dollar Habbits
Posted in Sales Success | No Comments »
Sales Success | December 26th, 2007 | No Comments »
One particular self-image possessed by high-achieving salespeople is that they see themselves as consultants rather than as salespersons.
View Yourself As A Consultant
One particular self-image possessed by high-achieving salespeople is that they see themselves as consultants rather than as salespersons. They see themselves as problem solvers with their products or services rather than as vendors looking for someone who will trade them money for what they have to offer.
Approach Them As Clients
They do not approach their customers with hat in hand, hoping for a sale. They approach their "clients" with the attitude that they are consultants calling on the prospect to help him or her solve a problem or achieve a goal.
Ask Questions and Listen Carefully
Seeing themselves as consultants, they ask questions carefully and listen intently. They focus all of their energies on understanding the customer’s situation so that they can make intelligent recommendations based on what the customer really wants and needs.
Become An Expert in Your Field
As consultants, they recognize that they must be experts, authorities in their field. They know their products and services from one end to the other. They invest many hours familiarizing themselves with every single detail of what they sell, and of what their competitors sell as well. They know the strengths and weaknesses, the advantages and shortcomings, the features and benefits of what they are offering. They have excellent product knowledge which their customers can sense and which gives both themselves and their customers greater confidence throughout the sales conversation.
Differentiate Yourself from Your Competitors
Top salespeople, positioning themselves as consultants, see themselves as resources for their clients. They see themselves and carry themselves as advisors, mentors and friends. They become emotionally involved in their transactions and they are generally concerned that their product or service be the ideal solution to the real needs of the prospects they are dealing with. They differentiate themselves from their competitors by being more concerned with helping their prospects than with selling their products or services. Their customers often feel that they care more about them than they care about making a sale. And it’s true.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, see yourself as a problem-solver rather than as a salesperson. Take sufficient time to understand the prospect’s real need before you start selling.
Second, think of ways to tailor your product or service to your customer’s needs so that he sees what you sell as the ideal solution for him.
The Psychology Of Selling
Posted in Sales Success | No Comments »
Sales Success | December 19th, 2007 | 4 Comments »
Selling is hard work.
The Hard Work of Selling
Selling is hard work. It is one of the most difficult jobs in our economy. As a salesperson, you face continual rejection, potential failure, persistent disappointment, setbacks, obstacles and difficulties not experienced by most people. Selling is not easy and it has never been easy. It never will be easy. It will always have varying degrees of difficulty, from hard to very hard, to very, very hard. And to be successful in selling you must be tough, as well.
Your Attitude Makes the Difference
In selling, your attitude is probably eighty percent of your success. Your attitude is the outward expression of everything that you are, and everything that you have become over the course of your lifetime. Your attitude has the greatest single impact on the people that you deal with. The development of a positive mental attitude is the indispensable requirement for great success in your field.
Learn to Bounce Back
Psychologists have defined the "hardy personality" as the type of personality that is most suited to the rigors of the , modern business world. The hardy personality, the personality you need to develop, is resilient, optimistic, tough, strong, and capable of bouncing back continually from temporary disappointments and defeats.
Respond Constructively to Stress
A positive mental attitude is a constructive response to stress. It is a solution-oriented, objective approach to difficulties that you face every single day. A positive mental attitude is expressed as a general optimism toward life and the inevitable challenges of earning a living. A positive mental attitude is the most outwardly identifiable quality of a winning human being, and it is the characteristic most closely identified with success in selling of all kinds.
Practice Mental Fitness Every Day
To become and remain physically fit, you must engage continuously in physical exercise. To become mentally fit, to develop the kind of attitude that leads on to success and happiness, you must engage in continuous mental exercise. It is a never ending process. Just as you do not achieve physical fitness and then discontinue physical exercise, you can not achieve mental fitness without working on it regularly, every day, like breathing in and breathing out.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:
First, decide in advance that, from now on, you are going to respond in a positive and constructive way to each and every stress situation in your life. Be tough!
Second, practice mental fitness every day by forcing yourself to remain cheerful and optimistic in the face of difficulties and disappointments.
Remember, you can do it if you decide to!
The Psychology of Selling
Posted in Sales Success | 4 Comments »
Sales Success | December 12th, 2007 | 2 Comments »
Closed-ended questions allow you to get definite answers and move toward closing the sale.
Start Sentences With Verbs
Closed-ended questions allow you to get definite answers and move toward closing the sale. Closed ended questions start with verbs, such as "Are," "Will," "Is," "Have," "Did," and even contractions such as "Aren’t," "Didn’t," and "Won’t." This is often called a convergent question. It brings conversation gradually to a convergence on a single point or decision. It is answered with a "yes" or a "no." You use this question when you want to begin narrowing the conversation and getting specific answers that lead you to a conclusion or a commitment.
Solicit More Specific Answers
You can use closed ended questions to get more specific answers. "Will you be making a decision within the next two months?" "Are you considering changing your suppliers for this product?" "Is this the sort of thing you are looking for?"
Ask Them To Take A Position
A closed ended question forces the prospect to take a position. "Do you like what I’ve shown you?" "Does this make sense to you, so far?" "Would you like to get started on this right away?" You use this type of question when you want to get clear answers and bring the sales conversation to a close.
When A "No" Means A "Yes"
The third type of question is a variation on the first two and is called the "negative answer" question. This is when a "no" means a "yes" to your proposition. "Are you happy with your existing supplier?" If the customer says "no" it means that they are interested in considering a new supplier. "Are you getting the kind of results that you expected?" If the customer says "no", it means that the customer is open to considering your product or service as an alternative.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, begin closed-ended questions with verbs. Whenever you want the customer to be more specific or to take a definite stand on your product or service.
Second, ask closed-ended questions in a warm, friendly, curious tone of voice. Always be courteous, caring and concerned. Never use pressure or manipulation.
Super Sales Success Series
Posted in Sales Success | 2 Comments »
Success Newsletter
Follow me on Twitter
Fan me on Facebook
Join my Google circle
Get my RSS
YouTube
Mobile Apps
Linked In