Top 10 Secrets to Fully Embrace Sales and Exceed Your Goals Forever!

1.- REMAIN VERY CLIENT FOCUSED! Not Company focused. Your clients are what is to be watched, monitored and known inside and out. Ask them questions about your service quality and listen by responding to their answers. They will continue to be your loyal client when they know you hear them and care.

2- IT'S ALL ABOUT ATTITUDE! Love your work and show your passion for what you do! Take the lead of Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar and many others. Excitement sells! If you aren't thrilled with your product/service offering, why would anyone else be? Share your excitement!

3- GOAL SETTING KNOW-HOW IS KEY TO YOUR SUCCESS! Revenue targets should be identified regularly with daily/weekly action plans put in place to ensure goals are met. If you don't have your own goals, you will most assuredly become a part of someone else's. Wouldn't you rather be working on your own goals than someone else's?

4- QUALIFY PROSPECTS, IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD, IT PROBABLY IS! Ask questions to ensure there is a genuine need for what you are offering and that the prospect is not simply shopping and/or wasting your time.

5- KEEP YOUR EYE ON YOUR SALES PIPELINE (FOLLOW UP WITH PROSPECTS IS ESSENTIAL!) According to Bob Leduc, Sales and Marketing Expert, you can increase your sales by 50% or more if you regularly follow up with prospects. If you give up after the first contact, you will lose significant potential sales! Patience is the key here. Do not be so naive to think that your prospects will be able to decide to move forward with you upon your first meeting. The average "touches" needed in order to close a sale is 7. Therefore, come up with a consistently regular follow up plan that communicates with your prospects (and existing clients) regularly. This will build your place in their mind as the top for whatever you are offering, be it product or service. When they decide to buy the category you offer, the one who is top of mind will win. Position yourself to be the top of mind winner.

6- THINK "SO WHAT"! Don't focus on selling, rather spend time stimulating the customers' natural urge to buy. Many entrepreneurs and salespeople love their products and services so much, they don't take time to step back and think about the many reasons someone would want to do business with them. When you come up with your list of reasons, ask yourself, "so what?" And then answer the question with how that will benefit the client. Then ask yourself that questions again and once again answer it with how that will benefit them. The more benefits you can demonstrate or speak to with your prospects, the higher your chances of closing the sale.

7- FOLLOW UP EVERY SALE WITH A FOLLOW UP OFFER! One that is related to their original purchase. Many salespeople are so happy for one sale, they would cringe at the thought of following up with yet another offer and I admit, there is a finesse to doing this correctly. Here is the premise:

8- LOOK AT YOUR BUSINESS THROUGH YOUR CLIENTS' EYES AND NURTURE EXISTING CLIENTS! Align your business with your customers' goals. Remember it is key to WOW your existing and past clients regularly. This will take some creativity, but it is absolutely imperative to your success in sales. I had a client who outdid herself: She sat down and documented her top 25 clients and thought long and hard about each person in an attempt to capture something personal that she had learned about each (i.e. kids, favorite hobbies, sports, etc.) and she then went out and put together care packages for each of those top clients. I am sure you can figure out what happened... You guessed it! Many came back and either made another purchase and/OR sent referrals her way. You see, success in sales is not brain surgery. It actually falls into one main category: Relationships and making people feel important. Showing people that they matter!

9- SELECT YOUR CLIENTS CAREFULLY! Build long standing relationships with your clients who can help you as much as you help them. This may sound rather odd, but think about it. You know that as a sales professional or entrepreneur, it is up to you to continually broaden your sphere of influence, right? Well then, it follows that it would be most effective to form close bonds with those clients who will gladly refer additional business to you..... and to do business with those clients who will share a testimonial for your website or brochures....and to partner with in terms of events and the like which will be mutually beneficial. Instead of going after anyone, take the time to think about who you want to do business with. How old? What vocation? What special interests? Won't sales be much easier if you are seeking out and spending time with people you want to be around? Of course.

10- ENTER INTO A JOINT VENTURE WITH SOMEONE WHO SHARES YOUR IDEAL CLIENT! Share cost of a mailing and combine your lists-- to both win! Whether your sales is global or local, keep the idea of entering into joint ventures alive for you. The old saying, "two heads are better than one" has been around for thousands of years for good reason: The synergy of two can get much more done in a optimal way than one person could ever do. So, look around your next chamber meeting or networking event. Who serves a similar client to you? Then go and ask him/her how you can help him/her. It all starts with a smile and a good intentioned heart. You can do it! I know you can!

3 Steps to Immediately Improve Sales

Want to increase sales within your company? It’s not as hard to do as some might have you believe. Though we as a nation are in the midst of an economic downturn these past two years, your company does not have to be. What follows are three simple steps to increase sales, no matter the economic conditions.

1. Simplify your advertising

Consumers today are inundated daily with advertising campaigns and solicitations. Frankly, most of these advertising campaigns are not worth the money spent on them. Why? Because they continue to use the same methods as their competitors (direct-mail, billboards, internet advertising, television advertising, and radio advertising) and in the same manner. What has resulted is a society immune to “pitches”, “angles”, and “tricks” that get them to become consumers of your products. Some tips to simplifying your advertising:

-Avoid cliches. Most are overused anyway.

-Be better, not best. Most products are pitched as “the best” of their kind. Consumers don’t always need the best, however. They just need products that are better than most.

-Less is more. Don’t allow your message to become lost in the tidal wave of stimuli thrown at consumers. Shorter, succinct messages work well.

2. Target the few

Once you have begun to simply your advertising, focus your message on those few people who begin trends rather than follow them. Perhaps you have friends like this-they revel in finding new products to love. They enjoy having the “newest” product, the “coolest” ideas, the “different” gadgets. These types of consumers become walking billboards, and should be the focus of your advertising. They actually do most of the advertising work for you. Some tips:

-Know what makes your product better. Make it the theme of your advertising message.

-Know what makes your product different. Emphasize this.

-Worry less about those who are apathetic towards your products. Worry more about those that are extremely enthusiastic. Cater to them.

3. Build the relationship rather than the sale

Becoming a better salesman is easy: improve your relationship skills. Most consumers are looking for peace of mind rather than products anyway. Seek to first build trust and understanding in your relationships with consumers. There are over a dozen hair salons within five miles of my house, yet I always drive twenty minutes longer to get my hair cut each month. Why? Because I enjoy my relationship with the individuals that cut my hair at this particular shop. We talk, we laugh. I enjoy the experience. Thus, I return, even though it is over ten miles from my house, and somewhat inconvenient. I don’t pay for the haircut as much as I do the relationship. Im a loyal consumer.

Some tips:

-Focus on producing value more than selling products. Make quality products, hire quality people.

-Learn about your customers at every opportunity

-Talk price last, not first. If price is the determining factor for buying your product, you’ve lost control of the sales conversation. Focus instead on the consumers needs and wants, then seek to meet them.

Customers Do Not Know How To Ask Good Questions - That Is Your Job

Customers will ask you a question and you’ll proceed to talk about your product. That is why you are not making more sales. It is your product knowledge that keeps getting in the way. Not that you do not have enough product knowledge – trust me you have plenty. It is that you are not listening to what your customer is truly asking you. You are taking their questions or statements literally instead of trying to clarify what it is they are truly asking you.

Customers do not know what questions to ask. So instead they ask a question that they are comfortable with hoping that you will find out what they truly want. By getting to the heart of the matter and finding out why they ask what they ask, you will unlock the key to the sale.

If you are able to focus your presentation on the customer and how the customer will benefit from a product and your competition has focused their presentation on product knowledge; you will win the sale every time. Customers buy emotionally and they justify their purchase logically. This means that you have to sell emotionally and validate their decision with logic. It will never work the other way around.

When you focus on the emotional reason that the person is listening to you today and speak in terms of how the product will benefit them, you are giving the customer what they want; solutions!

Don’t get me wrong, product knowledge is necessary, but you are very likely bringing it up too soon in your presentation. Your customer does not care about you, your product, or your company. They only care about themselves and fulfilling the need that they have today. Therefore everything that you talk about should be in terms of them and how they are going to benefit from your product. So put your product knowledge aside for one second and focus on your customer’s needs.

The only way to find out the customer’s needs is with good questions. If a customer immediately asks a specific technical question about your product, then you need to ask yourself why they are asking that question. Think about it for a minute. Most salespeople in your industry will immediately go into a product puke session about nuts, bolts, and widgets instead of asking the customer “why do you ask?” Remember, they are not having a conversation with you today to buy nuts, bolts, and widgets. They are having a conversation with you today for some other reason and it is your job to find out what that reason is.

The next time you are getting ready to launch into a presentation about why your product’s specs are better than the product specs down the street; I challenge you to ask yourself, will this customer truly NOT benefit from the other product?

How To Get Clients To Take Immediate Action

Are you tired of excuses? Looking for a persuasion technique to get people to take immediate action? Are prospects saying things to you like: "I'll think it over and get back to you?" "I need to talk it over with my wife." "Call me next week and we'll set up an appointment." Then create a sense of urgency and get your clients to want what you have now!

The first step in getting people to take immediate action is for them to perceive your product or service as being in demand or in limited supply. People want what is "hot" right now! Psychologists have proven, people find more value in things they have a difficult time obtaining. If you're told you can't have something, you want it even more.

Infomercials tell you that if you call now they will give you another one free or knock $20 of the original price. Shopping networks use a time limit or tell you they only have so many left. Marketers know how to create a sense of urgency.

Have you noticed when you are starving for new business you have an attitude that you would do anything to get business. You make promises you normally wouldn't make. You're practically on your knees begging them to do business with you. You can feel it and so can your customers. They see the look in your eyes and hear the tone of your voice and will do anything to get rid of you. People figure if you're desperate for business then you must not be any good, because if you were you would be in high demand. People want to do business with successful people.

How do you put this persuasion technique in action and create a sense of urgency?

First, don't be so accessible. Make it difficult for people to get an appointment with you. What I mean is, don't say I can do it any day this week. Instead use a more persuasive technique by saying, I'm very busy this week, however, I might be able to squeeze you in. Give them a deadline. If people think they have unlimited time to make a decision about your product or service they will stall and procrastinate. Set a time limit for your offer and stick to it.

Be selective about who you work with. Set standards for the type of client you are willing to work with. You will give people the impression that you are busy and that you don't work with just any one. Some people will even go out of their way to conform to your standards to work with you.

Use the persuasive technique of "take away selling". What I mean is say something like, I'm not sure that our product is right for you. Or maybe our service isn't the right match for your company. Remember, people want what they can't have. By taking it away from them they will search for reasons why they want it now.

Creating a sense of urgency in sales is a win - win for both you and the client. For the client it helps to move them to make a decision to buy something they wanted anyway. For you, it means more sales and the sense of accomplishment for moving people to make a decision that will benefit them.

10 Expressions to Avoid in Sales Communication

Keeping up with what words are in and out isn't hard. Yet,
with all the other more important things on our to-do list,
it doesn't get remembered easily.

1. Any archaic, stilted words, such as: hitherto, whereby,
thereby, herein, therein, thereof, heretofore.

2. "Kindly advise." As opposed to not kindly advising.

3. "Whereas." Instead use "where" or "while."

4. "Pursuant to." This is too informal for 2004. The
express expired in the 1980s.

5. "As per your request." As per any other way...dah?
Shorten to, "as requested" or "as your requested."

6. "As of today, we are in receipt of" or "we are in receipt
of." Instead, "Today we received."

7. "Please don't hesitate to call." Again a term that went
out in the 1980s. Update it with, "feel free to call."

8. "When time permits." This is great language for a poem
but not sales information. The adjective "time" doesn't
have anything to do with permit. It needs to match people.
Only people use time.

9. "Enclosed please find." Honestly, I don't know when this
one expired, yet it did, so don't use it.

10. "Of even date." This one I thought went out in the
1950s and I couldn't believe my eyes when I received not one
but two sales letter with it included last week. So, I
thought I would put this one for those that missed it back
then.

Bonus: Yet and so -- use them conservatively and only for
impact. They are on their way out as well.

Turning Sales Techniques Into Sales Success!

The goal of all sales training is not just to teach solid selling principles and techniques, but to actually help participants increase the number of new accounts (products and/or services) they sell and improve their multiple sales ratios. Unfortunately, many sales and service industry professionals gain an intellectual awareness of the methods of selling from the sales training they receive, yet fail to improve their bottom line sales results by systematically using the concepts in their daily transactions. See my article, The Processionary Caterpillar Syndrome Costs You Sales?

There are a number of methods you can use to move beyond an intellectual awareness of sound sales techniques. By applying some of these ideas, you can begin to see a steady improvement in the number and scope of your sales transactions. These concepts can help any sales professional drill-for-skill the vital selling principles needed to become a sales leader. Really all it takes to be successful in sales is just a little practice and perseverance.

Give Yourself Permission To Succeed

To become a sales leader in any kind of business only requires that you give yourself permission to succeed. In sales, as in every endeavor in life, it is your attitude not your attributes that count. There is no reason you can not be extremely successful at selling your company’s products and services, if you make up your mind to do the job.

William James, a Harvard Professor and the man many view as the father of American Psychology, wrote in 1895:

“The greatest discovery of my generation is, that a human being can alter his circumstances in life by altering his attitude of mind.”

James also gave people a formula for achieving an altered attitude of mind. He simply told them to “act as if” they were already successful and this act alone could make them successful. If you act as if you have changed or act like a different person, according to James, you must change or become a different person. If a sales professional acts as if she can sell, her sales ratios and product account closings can do nothing but improve.

By releasing your “inner brakes” and seeing yourself using the sales and customer service techniques you have learned, you can become extremely successful in your efforts to sell your company's products and services. If you want to consistently produce multiple sales transactions, just let yourself go and you will start to see the success you are seeking. You have the right to be successful. The only thing that can stop your improvement and ultimate success is yourself. Tell yourself that it is all right to produce outstanding sales results; and then, begin envisioning the success you expect to achieve.

Use Affirmations To Produce Success

To help you consistently execute the sales techniques you have learned, use affirmations to change the way you think and perform. Affirmations can also help release your internal breaking system.

We gravitate to our dominant thought patterns. By using affirmations (“I can,” “I am,” etc.), you can create dominant thoughts about specific sales methods that will help you to move away from your fears (the fear of failure or of looking foolish) toward successful sales transactions. Write down a series of positive affirmations about the sales process or a specific technique. Then read them over until you create the dominant thought patterns that produce success.

As we teach in all of our Sales Success workshops and discuss in detail in our published training material, it is vital to your sales success that you regularly affirm your selling skills and visualize successful transactions using the techniques you have learned. To succeed you must see yourself as one of your company’s top sales producers by regularly performing mental dress rehearsals for the position.

Repeat The Technique Until It Is Yours

As you are taught new sales techniques you need to practice them on the job as well as in your mind, until you can use them in each transaction without even thinking about their use. We call this level of sales proficiency “unconscious competence.”

Many sales professionals, try a new sales approach only once or twice before rejecting it out of hand or deciding that it will not work for them. True professionals; however, diligently practice a new sales concept until they can execute it without even thinking about it. This approach (going beyond an intellectual knowledge of a sales method) sets top producers apart and can be seen in their extraordinary closing and multiple sales success. It is also quite noticeable in their pay checks as well!

Role-playing at each new sales technique with a co-worker is a powerful way to gain the ability to consistently use these concepts on the job. Remember; however, that practice does not make perfect. Only “perfect practice” makes perfect. So as you practice with other employees, try to be as accurate as you can in the execution of a given sales concept.

Set aside some time each working day to drill in the sales concepts you have been taught. Take them one at a time and master each one. It might surprise you how much more you will enjoy coming to work when you become truly proficient in building sales and long term customer relationships for your company.

Saturate Your Mind

Saturate your mind with sales and motivational materials. As you do this, you will move from an intellectual understanding of the sales techniques to a daily working knowledge of the methods you need to succeed, and you will have more than just an occasional thought about what you are trying to accomplish. What is needed to help you change your behavior is a constant positive saturation of your mind by reading over the materials you have been given or the notes you have taken on the subject.

In his tapes, The Psychology of Selling, Brian Tracy tells his listeners that one of the best methods to increase sales success is to read then reread one of the best books on sales for 30 minutes each day. He feels this type of saturation will have a tremendous impact on the sales activity of an individual. Research from Stanford University indicates that you can learn more from reading the same book six times than you can from reading 40 books on the same subject.

Work Smarter Not Harder

Outstanding sales results come to those sales professionals who correctly follow and apply sound sales principles. They won’t do the work for you but they will lighten your load and give you an edge. All it takes to be successful at selling your company's products is to want to improve the way you perform, see yourself using new selling techniques, give yourself permission to use the concepts and regularly practice them until they become second nature.

Do You Want Fries With That? - Using Suggestive Selling to Increase Your Sales

Suggestive selling is a powerful tool that can increase your revenues—and your bottom line—significantly. We are all used to the order taker at a fast food place asking if we want fries with our burgers, or if we would like to "Jumbo-Size" our orders, but suggestive selling can work in any business.

Shoe stores suggest socks or polish to go with your new sneakers, hair salons recommend styling products, and stores selling electronics offer an extended warranty on the gadget you just bought. In each case, the business encourages the customer to add on to the purchase they are making.

Upselling can be done in person, on the phone or over the Internet. Many online shopping carts allow you to set up a product-specific upselling page. That means that when someone orders Product A, they get the suggestion that goes with that product. Someone who orders another product receives a recommendation appropriate to that product.

Here are some tips to make suggestive selling work for you:

Make the suggestion after the customer has made a commitment to buy. Don't try to add on to the sale before the customer has made a firm decision and is in the process of buying.

Upsells should be related to the original purchase. An upgrade, a warranty, accessories, or something else that adds on to what the customer is buying can be effective. The customer is more likely to see such a suggestion as helpful than as simply a sales ploy.

Consider making the upsell a "two-fer" offer. Because the customer bought one item at regular price, they are able to get a second at half price.

The add-on product should have a lesser cost than the base purchase. Suggesting batteries to go with a radio works. Recommending a radio to go with a battery purchase doesn't.

Don't hit customers with a lot of upsells. One (or possibly two) is enough. Badgering them to buy more can backfire and maybe even kill the sale completely.

Make sure employees and order takers are making upsell offers to customers. Remind them of the importance of doing so, and consider rewarding them for great results, or even when you "catch" them upselling. Give telephone order takers a script that includes a suggestive sales offer.

Done properly, an upsell is helpful to the customer and builds your profits as well.

Sales 101: Asking for the Order

“Ask, and you shall receive”, a biblical principal that offers some of the best sales advice for beginning salespeople and experienced sales professionals alike. The best sales presentation imaginable generally will not yield the desired results unless the salesperson asks for the business.

Is this advice just for persons who make their living offering products and services to others for a commission? Yes, of course, but it is actually for all of us. After all, everybody sells! Surprised? Everybody does sell, although many people may not realize it at the time or think of themselves as salespeople. We sell ourselves and our ideas everyday.

In the job interview setting, we are selling the potential employer as to why we are the best person for the job. The boy who desires to date the girl he is enamored with must sell her as to the benefits of going out with him. The man proposing marriage to his sweetheart is selling her as to the lifelong benefits of being with him only. We all sell, in one manner or another, although possibly not in the traditional sense.

Selling, distilled down to its most basic roots, is simply the matching of benefits to needs and desires. The salesperson acts as the broker who is simply bringing the product or service to the table so that the buyer can be shown the personal benefits of ownership or use. Under ideal circumstances, the salesperson’s purpose is simply to help the buyer purchase what he needs or wants. It is a win-win scenario for both. There is no coercion.

What is missing in many sales presentations however, is the final close… asking for the order. I have witnessed countless sales presentations during my career where the salesperson has done a magnificent job in making her presentation. She answered all of the objections. She probed and used trial closes along the way. At the peak of the presentation, the crescendo… she says “have a nice day” or “I’ll see you next time” or “call me when you are ready” or some other lame comment and then turns to walk away. She never asked for the order!

My sales motto has always been, “Ask, or the answer is always no”, and it really is. We must always perform the next natural step in the progression of our wonderful sales presentation, after the objections have been answered, and that is to ask the customer to make a buying decision now. This is the reason why there are salespeople. We would not be needed otherwise.

After all, an interested potential customer can go to the internet these days and learn just about every fact imaginable concerning our products or service. He can also examine our competitors. The customer is better educated than ever before. The salesperson must be at least as well educated as her customer as to the features, advantages and benefits of her own products and services, as well as those of her competitors. Keeping these facts in mind, what then is the role of the salesperson? Salespeople exist to close the sale. That is all.

As salespeople, if we fail to ask for the order, seldom will we actually receive the business and related commissions we desire. So... "Ask, and you shall receive."

Closing The Sale

Several weeks ago I asked my Newsletter subscribers to send me their biggest sales challenges. So far, I have received 275 challenges. While I am still in the process of categorizing them, Inoticed that a number of them mentioned "Closing the sale" as yourbiggest challenge.

Closing the sale, cinching the deal, tying up all the loose ends, and getting to a yes decision is an important skill in the selling process. Even getting a "No" decision is better than holding onto an everlasting pending one.

Joe K., a friend and former client, discovered the importance of an effective close at an early age. Joe has been the president of major corporations and currently serves on several corporate boards - so pay attention to his comments.

Here's what he has to say about closing the sale . . .

"When I was in high school in downtown Philly, I went into a men's clothing store to buy a new suit. Obviously, many of the salespeople are career salespeople, and know all the lines and closing techniques. After trying on one suit, I came out of the dressing room and looked into the three-way mirror. The salesman approached me, smoothed out the back of the suit, tugged a little on the cuffs, and told me, "On you it looks good." I continued to look in the mirror, and moved from side to side, and he sensed some reluctance on my part. That's when he came up with the best close I have ever heard. He said," If you don't buy that suit, you are insulting yourself." So, not wanting to insult myself, I bought the suit."

Finally, it's not as important how you say what you say. What's more important is that you know exactly what you're going to say - during the "Close." Preparing and practicing in advance will always, and I mean always beat out on-the-spot improvisation.

Optional homework assignment - if you want to improve your closing technique and take it up to the next level grab a pen and a yellow legal pad. First think and then write how you plan to ask for the order in the future. Review and edit what you have written each day for four consecutive days. My guess is you'll have an incredible and powerful closing statement by the fourth day.

If you skip the assignment your approach to closing the sale will continue to be a "Wing it and sing it" one. It's not a big deal for me. But I guarantee you every customer/prospect can tell the difference between "preparation and improvisation."

7 Sales Techniques To Differentiate You From The Competition

You have a choice. You can stand out or blend in with your competitive landscape. Differentiation doesn't come naturally, blending in does. We all want to fit in with the crowd, we want to be like everybody else, and we've been that way since we were kids. As a professional sales representative you should focus on what makes you different because the similarities will take care of themselves.

When selling there are three principle things you can differentiate: You, your products, and your company. My observation is that most sales representatives do an adequate job of differentiating their products and their company. They neglect, however, to develop a personal brand. Before a customer considers buying your products, they must buy you.

Here are seven ways to separate you from the competition:

1. Your appearance matters. Look the part because your appearance influences your image. You are walking billboard and how you look is what your prospects see first. Belts and shoes should be the same color. Shoes and shoe heels should be shined - every day. When it comes to your wardrobe buy less and spend more.

2. Prepare an effective e-mail signature. Your e-mail signature of course should include your name, a keyword a short phrase - describing your expertise, a telephone number, and your web site. Also periodically include a P.S. and a P.P.S. to emphasize new product introductions, special sales, and special events. In this way, every email provides a branding and promotional opportunity for you.

3. Getting people to return your telephone calls is challenging for everyone. Using a different approach can make all the difference in the world. Mike, a client, shared this with me and it's guaranteed to be different. If someone very important is not returning your telephone calls use this approach. Buy a coffee mug and print these words on the mug. "Let's talk business over a cup of coffee." Put a packet of Starbucks coffee into the mug and include a note with your business card and the times you'll be available to take his telephone call.

4. Here’s a business card idea. Why are business cards printed one side? Use the blank side of your business to differentiate yourself. You can stamp an inspirational quote. You can stamp the 7 reasons why customers like doing business with you. Use red ink to make it stand out.

5. This is a small tip though it's an effective one. Most promotional literature is produced on standard size 81/2” X 11” paper. Since most people are overwhelmed by the amount of work on their desk - they simply create stacks of sales rep literature. Go to an Office Depot and buy brightly colored 9 X 12 paper. Affix your literature to the 9 X 12 paper and it’ll standout in any stack of literature. Use the open space on the colored paper to write a note, a reminder, or even your phone number.

6. Visibility is more important than ability. Every contact counts. Develop a (one-two-three) follow-up system every time you meet and/or talk to a new prospect. Here’s my recommendation - within 24 hours send an e-mail, within 72 hours send a handwritten note, within 10 days send a handwritten note with an article to your prospect. Within two weeks you have a total of four exposures with your new prospect. Now that's impressive.

7. Prepare creative organizational charts for your biggest proposals. In your business, if you do proposals especially for larger deals, consider using a very creative organizational chart. Think about the five to seven people in your organization who interact with your customers; you, your sales manager, your Vice President of sales, customer service, technical service, you get the picture. Create an organizational chart using boxes and include in each box the following: name, title, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address, and a digital photograph. This introduces your entire team with photographs to your new potential customer. It's easier for a prospect to say no to a salesperson than it is to say no to the entire team.

The real difference among salespeople is what's inside their heads - their ideas. To offer generalities when customers are begging for specificity misses the mark completely. Don't permit generalities to skewer the real differences between you and your competitors.

Being boring, bland, and benign won't cut it in today’s very competitive marketplace.

If you want to make a difference you have to be different.

Objections Are Buying Signals... Usually!

How well do you handle objections?

The fact is, most people think they handle objections with ease. The reality paints a different picture. I claim that you could have closed as much as 25% of last year’s lost sales by simply understanding why the customer is objecting. Oh…and by keeping your noisy trap closed for a minute or two.

“I really don’t understand why this upgrade costs extra when Acme doesn’t charge for it.” Right off the bat you want try to get across to your customer why that is not a valid objection. Often times you will go into a puke session about why your product is better or why your company is better than that of the competition. Whoa, easy there. You need to slow down and take a step back before you start puking all over your future customer. Who cares that the people down the street offer that spec for free but then charge the third world’s gross domestic product for delivery and assembly. They do not need to know this right now. Good news – your customer is interested!

Objections are usually a good thing; your future customer brings them up because they are interested in buying. If they were not interested in buying they would just ask for a brochure or ask you to leave them the information.

Since they are interested in buying, you need to make sure that your tone and your demeanor reflect the positive attributes of the objection. Do not become discouraged or become defensive about your product or your company. They ARE INTERESTED in buying from you. They simply want to know more.

The secret lies in understanding exactly what they want to know more about. When the objection is in the form of a question, you must decipher what it is that they are truly asking and what it is that they truly would like to know more about.

Let’s take, “Is that the best price you can offer?” This has to be my favorite objection and one that is most often fumbled by the salesperson. How would you respond to this question? What are they truly asking you? When a customer asks if that is the best price that you can offer, it does not automatically mean that they are objecting to the price. Think about it; they asked you if that was the best price you could offer. What are the possible motives for asking this question?

Yes, of course one of the motives for asking this question could be that the price is too high and that they are interested in that product. So be it. However, a more likely motive for this question is that they are interested and they want to make sure that they are getting the best deal. Or they may be testing the waters to see if this is the type of buying situation where they are expected to haggle. Which type of motive prompted the question becomes very important at this point if you are going to answer the question correctly.

If you immediately offer a lower price and the true reason that they asked was because they wanted to find out if this was a buying situation where haggling was expected, then you may have instantly turned them off and pushed them further away from pulling the trigger on the sale. I realize that it seems strange to think that by sticking to the higher price, you may have had a better chance at getting the sale. However, that is usually the case.

When you get a question about a product feature, you need to be careful in how you answer the question. If they ask you about a certain spec, they may be asking because they heard a different feature on a competitor’s model was more appropriate for their specific use. However, they could just be asking about the feature because they are curious about it. Again, it is important to understand which type of question it is.

Using treadmills as an example, a customer could ask, “Are those small rollers?” A salesperson can respond in a variety of ways. They could respond with a puke session about roller size and why it is or is not important in the operation and enjoyment of the treadmill. Or they could respond with “Yes, they are.” In either situation, the “yes, they are” response is more effective because it will allow the customer to further explain their question.

If you naturally assume that your customer’s question was an objection that could prevent you from making the sale, you may end up talking them out of the sale by the inappropriate response. This is why you need to be sure that you understand the nature of the objection before you start blabbing about nothing.

Then there is the objection that is completely unrelated to you or your company. A customer may have other factors in their life or in their business that would prevent them from making a decision about your product. You need to understand that this objection has nothing to do with you and respond to it in a way that solidifies the relationship and the rapport that you have built with them. If you respond inappropriately, you will diminish any rapport that you have built up to that point with the customer.

For example, “I really need to check with my spouse before I make a decision.” There are many sales books out there that teach you to try to close the sale anyway, but there may be circumstances that you are unaware of that may make your hard close completely inappropriate. What if there was a personal and legitimate reason that they needed to check with their spouse? I know I would never, on this green and blue Earth, make a thousand and some odd dollar purchase without my wife giving the go-ahead. Make sense? Point being, you do not know the circumstances behind the objection so you should instead make a friend at all costs and try to gain agreement on something that furthers the process without having to make a decision. If you try to hard close you may be pushing them further away from saying yes to you.

All objections are unique and must be treated differently given the circumstances. You will never go wrong by asking more questions and by keeping your responses short and sweet. The best outcome of a response that is too short is another more specific question from your future customer. These questions will lead you and your customer closer to agreement and closer to a completed sale. “Is this the best price you can offer?” “Yes.”

How to Get Prospects to Return Your Call

How effective are the messages that YOU leave for your prospects? Your prospects form an opinion about you and your company every time you contact them. In fact, the messages you leave on their voicemail or e-mail may be a determining factor in their decision to call you back and consider doing business with you. So make a good impression!

The Voicemail Message

Recently, I had the experience of shopping for a car. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the pleasure of buying one. Although I knew the exact car I wanted and was ready to buy, not one car salesperson was willing to give me any personal attention.

To begin, I followed a “get a quote” tool that was available online and filled in exactly what I wanted in my next car: the type, the color, the features, and even additional comments. I couldn’t have made it much easier for a car salesperson to sell me a car that I already knew I wanted.

With the five requests that I sent online to different car dealerships in my area, I received five phone calls within 12 hours of my request. All of them went directly to my voicemail.

Here is the basic script to four of the messages I received:

“Hello, this is (insert name of salesperson) calling from (insert name of car dealership). Please call me back at (insert telephone number that I have yet to call).

BOOORING! And talk about impersonal! Did they even read my request? Do they even know what kind of car I am interested in?

When a prospect goes out of their way to contact you in regards to a sale, the last thing you want to do is leave them an impersonal or automated message!

What’s the purpose of a voicemail message?

There is only one objective to leaving a voicemail: get them to call you back. Be creative! Use humor! Show them you are different from the competition!

Distinguishing yourself from others DOES NOT mean telling your prospects how great and wonderful you and your company are. DON’T tell them that your company is the biggest, the best, that it always puts the customer first, has a 99.6 percent customer satisfaction rate, was the first to do something, or how long you’ve been in business and how many awards your company has won. In fact, don’t tell them ANYTHING remotely similar to anything on that list!

True Story: While attending college at Bowling Green State University I made a significant observation: all seven pizza companies in town printed “voted #1 pizza in town” right on their pizza box. Why? The same reason you tell your customers how great you are—because you think people actually care.

How do you differentiate yourself from the competition?

Your prospects know what they like and what they want. They don’t want to dance around with you or play games. They want to be treated like an important customer and not like the next sale towards quota.

So try leaving a message that is actually to the point. Try to sound like a human being and not a salesperson. Leave a message of value, where you tell your prospect something they might actually want to know. This will entice them to return your call. (Want more examples? Send a blank e-mail to voicemail@tomrichard.com)

The e-mail message

After sending in my online quote requests for a car, I also received an automated e-mail. I know that you’ve probably received one sometime in your life, too. They’re easy to spot as soon as you open the message: a letter full of misspellings, asterisks and exclamation points; sent from a nameless person promising to give you an incredible deal on a sale.

These types of e-mails almost always end up in the trash folder. Why? Because they’re garbage, and you know it! So, why are you using this garbage to reach your prospects?

Voicemails and e-mails should always be sent personally from a real human being, with the intention of creating a relationship with your prospect. Get to know your prospect so you will understand them and discover their motivation for their interest. When you know why they are interested, you will find out how they will make the decision of whether or nor to buy from you.

Be persistent!

Although all five dealerships reached out to me within the first 24 hours of my inquiry, not one person has followed up with me since then (with the exception of automated e-mail blasts, like I mentioned).

A clear and simple way to separate yourself from the competition is to be pleasantly persistent with your follow-up. You are NOT creating a favorable impression with a prospect if you can’t take the time to contact them on a personal level after your first attempt.

When I sent out my initial online inquiries, I was ready to buy a car. I took the first step to contact five different car dealerships in my area. However, the impersonal and ineffective follow-ups of these dealerships have reminded me of why I don’t like purchasing a car, and now I am considering keeping my old one.

I didn’t make the sales process difficult, the follow-up system of the car dealerships did!

So consider this: is your follow-up system killing your chance of making sales? Do you send messages to your prospects? Are they personal? Are they effective? Remember, the point of the follow-up is to establish a relationship that will eventually lead to a sale. So be personal, be persistent, and be happy you’re changing a prospect into a customer!

The Top Five Traits of a Successful Salesperson

If you're looking for a successful salesperson to hire, a salesperson who not only can sell but will sell, look for a salesperson with PRIDE.

PRIDE is an acronym for 5 characteristics that will help ensure that the salesperson you hire will get the job done for you and make the revenue results you desire a reality. PRIDE stands for:

• Proven
• Respectful
• Innovative
• Decisive
• Enthusiastic

Proven refers to the candidate’s track record. Have they delivered results? More importantly, who else says so besides them? As you know, resumes can be fact, or they can be fiction. How can you tell the difference?

A person who has been successful producing results should be able to provide you with third party proof. Have the candidate bring in their sales awards. Have them show you the stack-ranked sales reports showing their name at or near the top of the field.

More importantly, what do their customers have to say about them? Can the candidate produce testimonial letters from their customers, indicating they were satisfied with the buying experience? Candidates should be able to furnish written recommendations proving that they were able to deliver tangible results.

Salespeople should approach being Respectful from two positions. First, they need to be respectful of others. Careful listeners, these salespeople would never be regarded as pushy because they take the time to hear their prospects out. They keep their egos in check, remembering that everyone can make a valuable contribution in their own way and that other team members deserve respect, too.

Second, your salespeople need to respect themselves. Expect them to have a quiet confidence in their own abilities, and a strong desire to use their time, talents, and skills to produce optimal results. They'll respect their health, physical needs, and family commitments, and as a result be refreshed, well-balanced, and ready for work each day.

Self-respect allows salespeople to be assertive, ensuring that they won't allow themselves to be used as a doormat by prospects who want to waste their time or abuse a relationship.

An Innovative salesperson is a problem-solver. They're able to quickly assess a prospect's situation, and then come up with an approach to help the prospect accomplish their objectives. Reactive salespeople need not apply. Proactive salespeople spontaneously look for ways to do the job better, to improve on past successes, to show better results even faster than before.

Innovative salespeople are easy to manage, because they don't require instructions. They're pretty much point and shoot; give them an objective to aim for, and they can creatively approach obstacles and move past them.

Because they are innovative, they tend to look at the world through fresh eyes, and hence have a good sense of humor. A willingness to be playful and funny is a good clue that you're talking with an innovator. Good news! Your buyers would prefer to do business with someone who can make them chuckle and lighten up their day.

A Decisive salesperson can make up their mind. They have effective analytical skills that allow them to rapidly size up a situation and decide how to best approach it. Decisiveness is truly important for a salesperson, for how can they expect the buyer to make a decision when they can't make one themselves?

Decisiveness is often related to owning a clear set of key moral values. It's easy for salespeople to consistently do the right thing when it's clear to them what the right thing is. You want decisive salespeople who know when to walk away from a bad deal, and can separate good prospects from the time-wasters.

Enthusiastic salespeople have become a cliché for all the wrong reasons. Enthusiasm must be more than an induced rush spawned by a rah-rah motivational pep talk. If you want enthusiasm that lasts, you need to find salespeople who are eager to help your customers.

You want salespeople who are excited about what they do and how they do it, so their curiosity is stimulated and they are inspired to continually learn on their own. Enthusiasm comes from believing that you can make a difference, that you can improve someone's lot when they do business with you.

Enthusiastic salespeople are motivated when they understand the strategy that will help them succeed, when they have access to all the tools they need to allow them to do their job and serve the customer, and when tactical training is available to allow them to skillfully serve the customer as well as the company. Enthusiastic salespeople have every right to believe they can win. And they do.

PRIDE is about feeling good about your job. It's about believing in yourself and your ability to deliver. It's about enjoying yourself, helping the customer, and making the most of your God-given talents and abilities. It's about recognizing individual contributions and abilities while respecting the value of the team. When you hire salespeople with PRIDE, you, your salespeople, and your customers all win.

Tips to Become a Super Salesman

It’s age of marketing. What is the use of a quality products if you are unable to sell it? Moreover, there is so much competition in market that you can’t even sell a quality product easily. The world of business is changing fast. Unless you are able to adjust with the new trends, and mould your techniques accordingly you will find it very difficult to get success. However, you needn’t worry. We are arming you with some new and tested ideas, which will transform you into a SUPER SALES MAN (a very successful marketing executive).

1. DON’T BELIEVE IN ‘NO’

It is true that in a sales strategy you often have to agree with your customers. Customers are always right. Beware of antagonising your customers. Nevertheless, never believe them if they say ‘no’. In case you believe you will have to resign from your post soon or you will have to close your business. Most of them have a natural habit of saying ‘no’. So learn to maintain your calm and try again with better words. If you still fail then leave in a good mood showering a couple of sentences for his better life and future. Moreover, after a mouth or two contact him again. You will be surprised to know how most of the customers convert their ‘no’ into ‘yes’.

BE ORIGINAL

Most of the prospective customers aren’t interested in copied things or duplicate items. They prefer it genuine/original. You should enhance your own plus points instead of copying others blindly. Genuine and fresh items always attract others. Therefore develop your own unique style of selling. Originality adds attraction to your personality that helps you to sell more items to more people.

THE BENEFIT OF YOUR CUSTOMERS

Most of the sales persons have a habit of keeping their minds on their own profit benefits. That is a poor sales-strategy. Others are not there to help you live a good and affluent life. Instead you are there to help them make their life better. Concentrate on how you can provide a good deal to a customer. In that case you will be bombarded with more purchase orders without much effort. What else do you need?

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND YOUR PRODUCTS

If you believe in yourself and your product (which is the utmost sales strategy) it will naturally vibrate through your words and sentences, having a positive impact on your target. Moreover, you get a winner’s edge – the most sought after marketing trait. Some persons are negative thinkers. They expect failures. It is impossible for them to believe in themselves. Consequently they are unable to convince others and sell their items. The principle of forced belief can start bringing a change. Firmly believe that you are a super salesman and you will definitely succeed. After a period this forced-belief becomes a habit.

DREAM-TECHNIQUE WILL DO WONDERS

You can use dream-technique. It is the easiest technique in the world to give a miraculous transformation to your personality. Give your imagination a free hand. Try to fly in a dream world every night that you have become a super salesman. You are selling your product everywhere. People are flocking to you to become your customers. Just dream, expect nothing, and await the wonders to happen in future.

SENSE OF HUMOUR CAN HELP

Anger and aggressive emotions never bring success in marketing. It is better to sit at your home and break household things to get a relief. Don’t pour away these emotions on your prospective customers. They will run miles away from you. Practise sense of humour if you can. It will inject a spark of friendliness in them, making their minds fertile for your sales pitch. In case you are unable to practise this technique even after repeated efforts forget it. At least practise controlling your aggressive emotions. If your mind is determined to achieve its aim it will help you to keep your emotions under control.

KNOCK AT THEIR DOORS AGAIN

It is one of the most effective sales strategies. In addition, the most profitable and the easiest one. Knock at the old doors again. If you really sold quality goods that satisfied the customers then you don’t need new customers everyday. You can revert to your old customers again and again to sell them more and more. Wise salesmen must follow this golden rule of marketing. Many companies forget their old customer by emphasising too much to get new. New ideas and techniques are devised to woo more and more new customers. A feeling of resentment starts building in old customers and it is always harmful for the company.

RUSH UP TO NO-COMPETITION ZONES

Everyone is running towards the areas where there is already too much competition. People start feeling bore with repeated requests from all sides. They often opt for well-known brands. It is very difficult to sell new or less-known products here. So pull your neck up the crowd and watch for new territories. Your life may change after a couple of months because you improve your chances of getting many new customers.

PRAISE THEM EVEN IF THEY ABUSE

Certainly it’s the most difficult task you have to learn. The most powerful marketing gun that most of the salesmen are unable to handle. Whomever you want to sell always find in him something to admire. It seems easy, but becomes the toughest whenever you have to face aggressive, impulsive or abusive people. Now the real test begins. You feel like you are in the oven and you want to make yourself cool with a burst of anger. Instead if you learn to have a shower of cool feelings it will make you a tougher sales person afterwards. Like steel you will become harder. So praise even the hot bricks. They will value you more.

PASTE ‘GOOD NEWS’ ON YOUR FOREHEAD

Who wants to listen to the same old news or eat the stale food. In the same why people are fed-up with the same old things being sold to them again and again, and of course in the same old repetitive sales pitch. You can learn a lot from the following two principals of human nature: a) they want new and good things, b) they want some old things to be sold to them in a new way. In fact you should be like good news to them every time. You must have something good to say about your product and for your customer. You will get warm welcome everywhere.

These 10 golden rules will make you a super salesman if you follow them seriously. With their help you will earn millions.

7 Phrases You Can't Say in Sales

7 Phrases You Can’t Say in Sales

(Because They Will Undermine Your Credibility

and Drop Your Closing Rate)

Copyright 2004 by Doug Smart

Years ago, George Carlin listed seven words you can’t say on television. Then HBO came along, said all the words, and the world of television changed forever. Now, I know that even before you read the seven no-no phrases in sales, you might be tempted to think, oh, whatever these are they will eventually become acceptable, too.

There are two big problems with this reasoning.

1. Television has been around for about sixty years so it is still a youngster experiencing growing pains; sales started way back when the inventor of the wheel made a few extras to sell to friends.

2. The seven sales phrases are already being said by salespeople and they are delivering decidedly mediocre results. They live on because veteran salespeople say them and novice salespeople ape them. The cycle continues.

The big challenge with these words is that they undermine the credibility of salespeople and they encourage defensive barriers to spring up in the minds of the prospective buyers. Talk about salespeople shooting themselves in the foot! These phrases either degrade what could be a great sale down to a pedestrian transaction or they scare off buyers. And worse, less experienced salespeople think they are supposed to say these phrases in order to entice buyers. Here is a word to my sales colleagues: No matter whether you are selling products, services, and/or ideas, avoid using these phrases! They will make buyers distrust you.

As you read these seven, think of yourself as a buyer not a salesperson. (Did you ever stop to consider that over the course of your life you will most likely buy more products and services than you will sell?) As a buyer, imagine you are in situation in which a salesperson has recently made your acquaintance. Test your gut reaction. Do any of these seven make you want to buy – or do they make you want to run?

Here are the seven deadly phrases in sales. Actually, one of these is a pair of words, not a phrase. But all of these leave the same unpleasant after-taste as one bad word.

Trust me. Instructing people to trust a salesperson is pretty much like setting up a too-familiar joke whose punch line is going to be “you are an idiot so just give me lots of your money now.” The pairing of trust and me signals buyers to put up their defense shields and turn on their BS filters (for Better Sense, of course). Trust is one of the two concepts that the more somebody asks for it, the more elusive it becomes. Trust – like love – cannot be requested effectively. Although it is plentiful, it has to be earned to be genuine. And besides, it is the buyer’s prerogative to decide whom to trust, when, and how much. Asking for trust will actually hinder the salesperson from getting it. (P.S.“Believe me when I say…” is in the same league.)

I’m your friend. It is tempting for a salesperson to think a buyer is a new friend after the two share fifteen minutes excitedly discussing a mutual experience or passion. This happens, for example, when both share an obsession for golf and both once played the course at Pebble Beach in their youth. However, too many salespeople mistake rapport for friendship. The two are not the same. Friendship requires an emotional investment and real commitment. Friendship takes time, energy, and some sacrifice. Friendliness is a great way to ease any tensions in the sales process but over-friendliness can raise resentment in buyers’ minds.

Nobody can sell this cheaper than me. Nobody? First off, the world is a big place with a lot of others selling things a lot like what other salespeople have. If the salesperson really has the world’s lowest price on something and can do business both legally and profitably, instead of wasting time one-on-one with prospects, he or she should put up a website and rake in the dough. And second, the problem with bragging about being cheapest (besides triggering buyers’ skepticism) is that it is a lousy way to make a profit. A more satisfactory approach is to show the value of the product, service, or idea. Value takes into account integrity, experience, service, reliability, trustworthiness, uniqueness, desirability, return, and how the buyer will be better for buying. Promoting value ahead of price is a rock-solid strategy for long-term success.

We are the best! Okay, maybe there are a few situations in which this is credible. And I am not opposed to the power of positive thinking as a confidence builder. But the truth is buyers have learned that ninety-nine percent of the salespeople who say it are lying. A phrase like this turns on their BS filter. Best, like beauty, is in the eye of the buyer – not the salesperson.

Always and never. This pair stands on the same quicksand as “We are the best.” They sound like exaggerations and are frequently perceived as stretching the truth. For example, how truthful do these two statements sound? “We always provide quality service.” “Our delivery drivers are never late.” Many people simply don’t take always and never at face value. A few years ago I did a series of training programs for engineers from several Miller Brewing locations. I asked each to write the words always and never. Then I asked each to express as a percentage what the words meant. As you would expect, some saw always as a one hundred percent occurrence and never as zero percent. But the unforgettable thing was that twenty-five percent saw them as somewhere in between. To many, always and never were so abused they became synonymous with frequently and occasionally. For example, “I never lie” was readily perceived as a lie and was reinterpreted to mean “I occasionally lie.”

What you need is... This is actually a great phrase after high levels of rapport and trust have been developed. But even then this is pretty presumptuous on the part of the salesperson because he is not the one who has to live with the purchase. Just a few days ago a salesperson, with whom there was not much rapport or trust, told me “What you need is this computer.” That may have been so, but the salesperson did not ask questions -- so he knew little about me, my situation, or what I wanted to accomplish. I didn’t care what he thought I needed. I listened, learned a few things, walked out the store, and bought one elsewhere. (See number one.)

This is perfect for everyone. This is another statement that is hard to accept as true (Is H&R Block perfect for everyone?). Before adding this one to the list I tried hard to think of one commercial product or service that really is perfect for everyone. The closest I could get was bottled water. But then I thought, “If the brand of bottled water you sell is indeed perfect for everyone, why do you have competition? Doesn’t the mere existence of stiff competition indicate that for some buyers other brands are more perfect for them?” Okay, you don’t sell bottled water. But re-read the above substituting your stuff for bottled water.

Some other phrases, such as “The check is in the mail,” undermine rather than build. No matter how well intentioned, when salespeople use these seven phrases, and related phrases, buyers hear something that is questionable. This can cause buyers to react protectively and be selective about what they choose to believe. That results in fewer closed sales. A smart strategy for salespeople is to steer clear of these seven toxic phrases.