Part 5 of 8 Hiding

Hiding

Nobody ever built a great career just by sending out a whack of collateral after every first contact and then waiting for the deals to come rolling in. That’s a good thing, too. If collateral alone could close every sale, we sales people would be out of a job.

Yet so many sales people still hide behind the material they send out, thinking they’re making progress with a prospect when they really haven’t got a clue what he or she actually needs. Surely you’ve used the “just send me some of your information” ruse to get off the phone with a few telemarketers. So why do you keep falling for this trap yourself?

Never send information without doing a qualification first. Okay, okay – if you have a simple product and a sales cycle you can measure in days instead of weeks or months, sending information may be the right thing to do. If so, do yourself a favor and send as many testimonials as you can that might be relevant to your prospect.

These testimonials are the proof your clients need to trust you. No one or nothing sells better than another customer saying that they’re happy they did business with you.

Part 4 of 8 The Wrong Focus

The wrong focus

Your focus during a sales conversation shouldn’t be on “pitching” your products. It should be on getting the client talking about their problems, so you can figure out what you can do to help solve them. If you’re spending more time crafting the perfect product pitch than you are establishing the right questions to ask, your sales will suffer for it.

Instead of creating statements about your products, create a list of engaging questions you can ask during every sales call. Remember, you are at your most productive – and most profitable – when you are talking only 30% of the time, and spending 70% of your time just listening to what your client has to say.

Pt 3 of 8 Outdated Tactics

Outdated tricks

Here’s a simple rule every sales person should commit to memory: If you’ve heard it on TV, seen it in the movies or if it has a really cute name like “the puppy dog close,” don’t use it. Period. End of story.
If these outdated tactics have made it to your local Cineplex, odds are, your prospects will know them just as well or better than you do. This is particularly true if you’re selling to someone from an older generation. And as soon as your prospect realizes that you’re trying something they consider to be a sales tactic, you’ll lose all the trust you’ve worked so hard to earn.

Instead of trying to show how clever you are, try focusing your time and effort on building rapport by asking questions, creating customized presentations based on your client’s specific needs and aligning yourself with their buying process. In short – as you’ve probably heard me say a thousand times before – be nice, stay focused and get to work!

The top 10% of sales people spend 100% of their energy during sales calls on building the customer relationship, not trying to figure out which tactic they’re going to use. Tactics build resistance. Focusing on the customer builds relationships.

Remember: rapport leads to like, like leads to trust, and trust leads to a profitable relationship. In every sales call you make, ask yourself: “Is what I’m doing right now enhancing or eroding my relationship with the client?”

Stay Tuned for Pt 4

PT 2 of 8 Fearing the "NO"

Fearing the "NO"

Many sales people are so afraid of hearing the word “no” that they make the mistake of accepting “maybe,” “let me think about it” or “I need a couple more weeks” as an answer instead.
Let’s face it – “maybe” (and all of its counterparts) is just a nice way of saying no. Wouldn’t you rather know that upfront so you could move on to other business, rather than being endlessly dragged along by the false hope that your prospect might, could, possibly buy… one day?

If you want to close more business, you must train your customers to believe that saying “yes” or “no” is allowed. Saying “maybe” is not. Try starting your sales meetings with this simple phrase:
“Ms. Prospect, at the end of our meeting today, I don’t expect that you will pass me a cheque and say ‘Let’s go ahead!’ I do expect that we will have gathered enough information about what you need and what I can offer to determine if there is a fit between our businesses. At that point, we can decide together what the next steps will be. Make sense? (wait for answer) Super. Also, if you really feel that what I offer is not a good fit for you, I am OK with you telling me No. Is that OK for you?”

If you are afraid to hear no, you will waste too much valuable time with prospects who are simply reluctant to hurt your feelings, and too little time with clients who are more serious about wanting to buy.

Stay Tuned for PT 3

AC LINKS SALES TRAINING SYSTEM

8 ways to close more sales

This will be an 8 part blog. In my coaching practice, I work one-on-one with sales people to help them close more business, faster and increase their profit margins. Over the past few years, I’ve been able to identify a number of the key reasons that can stop even good sales people from closing a sale (many of which I have been guilty of in the past myself!).

We’re going to take a look at some of the biggest challenges that come with sealing a deal, and what you can do to dramatically improve your closing skills. These eight mistakes are ones that many make, but few realize. Even if you think you’re doing well, test yourself. You might be performing below your potential.

1. Fail to build trust

If your prospect doesn’t trust you, 98% of the time, you won’t make the sale.
There are two important things to remember about trust. First, trust extends from you. If you begin the sales process by building rapport so that the prospect starts to like you, they will soon begin to trust you as well.
Second, trust is not earned overnight; it is built through consistent behavior over time. In other words, if you want the prospect to trust you, you need to consistently speak and act in a way that earns their trust throughout your entire relationship. This includes everything from the big things such as never lying or hiding information from them, two little things like calling back when you said you would, sending proposals on time and showing up for meetings prepared with the right information.

All of these actions lead the prospect to believe that you are a person of your word, a person they like and a person they can trust. When they like and trust you, there is a much better chance they will do business with you.

Trust can also be built in a new relationship by giving your prospect testimonials from other successful and happy customers. Use testimonials frequently throughout your dialogue as examples of the great work you’ve done in the past. Encourage your prospects to call your current customers and share with them the letters you’ve received singing your praises.

Stay tuned for part 2.

AC LINKS SALES TRAINING SYSTEM

Very Important Networking Tip

Imagine you have a friend or relative that you only hear from when he needs money. Do you take their calls? Do you look forward to hearing from him? Very quickly, you have no desire to do anything to help him.
The same goes for networking.

If you only get in touch with a contact when you need something a job, a reference, etc.—their desire to help you will be quickly vanish. Remember, these people are under no obligation to lend you a hand, they want to get something out of the relationship too.

What to do? Make a point of sending an e-mail periodically to just say hello, ask how your contact is doing, or send her something interesting. Not only will this prevent you from being a networking mooch, it will strengthen your relationship so when you do need something, you’ll get it.

AC LINKS SALES TRAINING SYSTEM

Lets talk Body Language

An interesting method for selling clients on you, your company and your services is to use nonverbal communication, subtle messages conveyed without words. These include posture, facial expressions, gestures, mannerisms and your appearance. People buy based on their senses, and everything that you can do to positively affect their senses can and will affect your ability to sell to them.

Psychologists claim that the impact you make on others depends on what you say (7%), how you say it (38%), and by your body language (55%). Since how you sound also conveys a message, 93% of emotion is communicated without actual words.

The master speaker, S.I. Hayakawa once commented that “In this era of television, image is more important than substance.” Some believe that Richard Nixon won the presidency because he was a master at using color to convey character. He wore a dark blue suit at a television debate in which the set background was light blue. The light blue background with Nixon in his dark blue suit produced an aura of honesty, integrity and sincerity. He won that election.

 It's often not what you say that influences others; it's what you don't say. The signals that you send nonverbally suggest attitude, understanding, empathy and ethics. The moment you meet a prospective client, they judge you by what they see and feel. The process takes less than 10 seconds but the impression is permanent. Whether you make or break a sale can literally depend on the silent signals that you send during this first contact.

It's critical for entrepreneurs to understand and use body language. Once you know what to look for, you can literally read your client like a book. Court room trials could be decided quickly if the judge and jury could read body language. One group skilled in this technique are oriental business people. They are usually expert at recognizing and using nonverbal signals. This ability makes them formidable negotiators. Many entrepreneurs fail to recognize and use body language, although women are inherently better at sensing emotion and intent than men.

The human body can produce over 700,000 unique movements. These movements have been partitioned into about 60 discrete and symbolic signals and around 60 gestures. Knowing just some of these can help you communicate better. A nodding head can signal yes. Pointing two fingers at your eyes can mean “watch”. Running your fingers through your hair can indicate frustration. A smile or a grin is a universal signal for happiness. Likewise, crying suggests sadness or, in conjunction with a smile, extreme delight. However, some nonverbal signals have several meanings.

Crossed arms can indicate defensiveness, or simply a comfortable position. Touching the nose can suggest doubt in what the person is hearing. Or it could be a response to an itch or soreness from a recent cold. Likewise, an unbuttoned jacket can signify openness and cooperation. It could also be an overweight person trying to fit into an old jacket. The hitchhiking pose, arm extended with thumb pointed up, can give a negative message in other cultures. The key is that a nonverbal signal is not a complete message.

Watch for a pattern of signals that all have the same meaning. The body language should match the verbal expressions. It should also match the context of the situation. So look for body language in clusters of signals with common meanings. Once you understand body language, you can use your own voice and body to help make a sale.

AC LINKS TRAINING SYSTEM