4 Strategies for Beating Your Competition

Strategies to beat my competition? Yes, please! Here's some great advice from sales trainer Tessa Stowe.

Today's marketplace is getting more and more competitive. It's because there are more and more players, some of whom will offer ridiculously low prices in an attempt to make a sale. So how can you stand out and differentiate yourself, even if your product is a commodity? How can you beat your competition without having to lower your prices? It can be easier than you think if you start using the following four sales strategies.

Strategy One: Sell only to those that are going to buy.

Competitors will be bending over backwards to do whatever the prospect says in the hope that they can persuade them to buy from them. Your competition will make presentations, give demonstrations, write proposals and jump through any hoops the prospect puts in front of them. This is true even if the prospects do not intend to buy anything from anyone right now, or if their solutions are not the right fit.

You are a professional and your time is valuable. So you can only afford to spend your time selling to those who are going to buy from someone now and if your solution is the right fit for them. You need to effectively interview - qualify - your prospects before starting your sales process. Even if a prospect asks you to come and present your solution, convey that you are happy to do that but they need to answer some questions first. Be polite but firm, and be prepared to walk away if they don't qualify or will not spend the time with you to see if they do. You'll stand out from your competition with this approach. Let them waste their time, but don't waste yours.

Strategy Two: Do not try to persuade or convince.

Instead of being persuasive and trying to convince your prospect to buy, explain how you can help them solve their problem and why you are the best one to do that. Be completely unattached as to whether they say yes or no to you. You'll stand out by the fact you are not trying to push them into a sale. Instead you are trying to help them make the best decision for them. Your confident approach will pull them towards you while your competitor's desperate approach will push them away.

Strategy Three: Sell unique results, not your products.

Your competition will have no doubt fallen into the trap of selling their products as they think that is what people buy. They'll be trying to show how their widget is the best widget as it has the "x" feature etc. You can stand out by selling what people really want to buy: an end result or a business outcome. Your product is only one component of that outcome. Sell all the other components as well. Even if your product is a commodity, how you deliver the outcome can be unique. How you deliver and assure support and service can be unique. How you make your customers feel can be unique. Convey and sell this uniqueness. If you are not sure what your uniquness really is, find out fast so you can sell it.

Strategy Four: Do not focus on the sale.

Your competition will be focused on making a sale. Their sales process will reflect this intent. They'll probably be skilled in persuading, in answering objections, and in going for the close with a variety of techniques. They will not care if the customer does not buy from them again or refer others. They are only focused on getting the sale no matter what the long term consequences.

Stand out from your competition by having your sales process and your focus be about making a customer for life. To you, the initial sale is small in comparison to the additional sales that will result from this customer in the future and the referrals that will result. It also means that if you don't get the initial sale, you keep growing the relationship with the prospect until you do secure that first sale.

Just follow these four strategies and you will easily beat your competition. Your prospects will pay a higher price for the greater value of the results you are offering. Your new customers will want to see you again and will remain loyal over time. Try these strategies and see!

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up now at www.salesconversation.com.

Why You Resist Selling...And How You Can Lose That Resistance

Sometimes it is hard to be a salesperson - and some of that difficulty could stem from internal resistance to selling. This article from sales trainer Tessa Stowe will help you get inspired again to get out and sell!

Are you having fun selling? Are you enjoying it - or do you dread or resist it? If you aren't having fun selling, then I have a hunch that you think selling is all about persuading and convincing people to buy something they may or may not want or need.

If that is what you think selling is about, then it will automatically and naturally create huge resistance and tension on your side as it is simply not in one's nature to try to persuade or convince people. You don't want people to think of you as someone who acts in this way as it makes you feel like a phony. You feel you can't act with integrity using this type of sales approach. So it's fairly easy to convince yourself not to sell at all - or if you do, then you only do it half heartedly.

If you think selling is about persuading and convincing, you'll be asking yourself "How can I do that?" You'll be thinking that there is a lot to learn. You'll believe that you have to master a lot of techniques like how to overcome objections and how to "close." You'll be thinking that you better put off selling until you've practiced all these techniques. But actually you don't really want to use these techniques - as you don't want to be a phony persuader or a convincer - so you put off learning these techniques as well.

If you think selling is about persuading and convincing, you'll also be expecting (and getting) a lot of rejection experience. You really don't like rejection, so it's much easier to simply avoid or minimize doing the thing that is causing it. Therefore, you minimize and avoid selling - problem solved!

So what is the solution? How can you easily and quickly go from resisting selling to actually enjoying it, and as a consequence, make a lot more profitable sales? The solution is quick and easy. Ready? Simply change your definition of selling. Instead of persuading and convincing, define selling as helping people get what they want.

If you believe selling is about helping people get what they want, there will be no resistance on your side as you enjoy that. You like it when people think of you as someone that will help them get what they want. When you are helping people like this, you are acting with integrity as the "real you", and it makes you feel good.

If you think selling is about helping people get what they want, then you'll naturally know how to do that. You'll know that first, you need to find out what they want. If you can help them, then you show them how you can help them. Finally you give them the choice of whether they would like your help or not. Some will and some won't. All of this can be the result of a normal comfortable conversation - which you know how to have.

If you think selling is about helping people get what they want, then you know that not everyone will want your help at this point in time. Maybe in the future they will. Even if they need your help now, it is their choice to decide if they want you to help them. Your role is to simply help them make the best possible decision for them. With this view, there is no rejection because it's not about you. It's simply about them making a decision that is best for them.

Can you feel your resistance to selling go away when you think about selling as helping people get what they want? There is a great sense of fulfillment when you can help someone else get what they want. You'll enjoy sales more with this approach and you'll also make a lot more profitable sales!

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up now at www.salesconversation.com.

Seven Powerful Strategies to Increase Sales

I love articles like this - clear, great advice to help you sell more! Put these tips from sales trainer Tessa Stowe into practice today.

If you want to increase your sales, read and put into action these seven powerful sales strategies.

Strategy #1: Stop Selling
Stop trying to convince or persuade people to buy your solution. Stop trying to get a sale. Instead, focus on how you can help the person you are talking to get what they want - whether it's your solution or not. Focus on how you can give them value. Amazing as it may seem, with this approach over time, people will be interested in you and in what you have to offer. Even if they don't need it themselves, they will refer others to you.

Strategy # 2: Throw Away Sales Gimmicks
There are lots of sales gimmicks to attract attention or increase appeal. You can learn 50 ways to close. You can learn how to overcome objections. You can learn how to give the best and most persuasive presentation. The problem with most of these approaches is that they are focused on persuading and convincing and getting the sale. Your prospects sense that it's all about you - you getting the sale. They feel that you don't really care about them. They pick up that you are trying to persuade and convince them and their automatic protective reaction is to get away fast - and they do.

Strategy #3 : Qualify, Qualify, Qualify
If someone does not have a problem that they want you to solve now, they are not a prospect. So it is a waste of your time and theirs if you spend time now trying to help them buy your solution. Spend your time helping those that want to benefit from what you have to offer now. Put in place a qualification process and only sell to those who qualify. Then you will have more time for those that are ready to buy, and this will increase the probability of them buying from you.

Strategy #4: Answer Two Questions
Prospects want to know the answer to two questions: "Why should I be interested in your type of solution?" and "Assuming I am interested, why should I buy it from you?". Can you answer both these questions in 30 seconds? If you can't, how can you expect your prospect to want your help? Make it a priority to give clear and concise answers to these two questions fast.

Strategy #5: Increase Your Price
If you always use strategies #1 and #2, trust will be present. Since trust is there, your prospect will feel more comfortable about committing to a longer term relationship with you. So you should offer them a longer term commitment option that is in their best interests and clearly benefits them now.

Strategy #6: Appreciate Your Customers
The easiest, fastest sales are to your current customers if - and this is most important - you have consistently shown that you appreciate and care about them. Just doing a great job is always expected, and you can't anticipate repeat sales and referrals from this alone. If you conscientiously recognize and are grateful to your customers, they will buy more from you and also become loyal fans and refer others to you. What you appreciate will show gratitude in return, so appreciate your customers.

Strategy #7: Build a TRAC record
If someone does not need or want your solution now but it is likely they will in the future, put in place a system. You need to build Trust, Relationship, Awareness, and Credibility (TRAC) so that they will remember you and contact you when the time is right. Do this consistently over time, and your pipeline will overflow with people contacting you who want what you have and already know, trust, and like you.

All these seven sales strategies are easy to do. They are also easy not to do. So if you commit yourself and consistently use them, you will make significantly more sales faster. THEY WORK !

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up now at www.salesconversation.com.

5 Reasons Why Persuading Prevents Sales

Do you think selling is all about persuading and convincing? Are you trying hard to get people to agree with what you tell them? If that is the essence of your sales approach, it will lose you sales. Here are five reasons why, from sales trainer Tessa Stowe.

Reason #1: You will resist selling.

If you think selling is all about persuading and convincing, you will resist doing selling as you probably don't enjoy the experience of having to get people to agree with you. Doing that is difficult and can feel like fighting. You may also be concerned about what people will think of you. As a result, selling will be something you do rather reluctantly, and really wish you didn't have to do at all. If you resist selling, you are not going to be selling as often as you need to. Consequently, the less time you spend selling, the less sales you will make - plain and simple.

Reason #2: You will experience sales resistance from your prospects.

The moment you start trying to persuade or convince is the moment your prospect identifies you as a "typical salesperson." As soon as they reach that conclusion, they go into protection mode to prevent themselves from being sold to. They put their sales resistance barrier up. When a sales resistance barrier is present, the chance of getting a sale goes down.

Reason #3: You will miss out on the larger sales.

If your prospect trusts you, it is fairly straightforward to make a much larger initial sale. You can do this by giving them an option which assumes they will be with you for the long term. If they trust you, they will give serious consideration to this longer term, higher priced option. However, if you are persuading or convincing your prospect, it is unlikely they will trust you. They'll think that you care more about making a sale than you do about helping them. When there is little or no trust present, your prospect will be very cautious about making a long term commitment to you. Hence, they will probably not be interested in your higher priced option.

Reason #4: You will miss out on the easiest sales of all.

The easiest sales of all should be from your current customers. However, and this is very important, if you acquired a customer through persuading and convincing, it will affect the trust between you and your prospect. He or she will probably not be too keen on repeating the last sales experience with you. So next time they need something that you can offer, they may go look to someone else who cares more about them than about themselves.

Reason #5: You will have few referrals.

If your prospects and customers did not enjoy the persuading and convincing sales experience with you, they are definitely not going to give you referrals. They will want to protect their own reputation within their network of friends and associates.

So what is the solution?

Instead of thinking that selling is about persuading and convincing, approach selling as helping people to get what they want. If you approach selling in this way - and use a sales process that matches it - then there will be little sales resistance on your side and from your prospects. As you successfully build rapport and trust, your prospects will be more open to higher priced initial options. Finally, you will get more repeat sales and referrals from your customers.

Starting today, stop persuading and convincing, and intently focus on helping people to get what they want. Both you and your prospects and existing customers will feel the difference. This simple change in your sales approach will result in more sales and customer loyalty.

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up now at www.salesconversation.com.

Three Steps to Double a Sale

We all want to make more money, and today sales trainer Tessa Stowe tells you how!

Step One: Be completely trustworthy

You need to be a completely trustworthy person when selling. In part, that means you need to be an active listener, be your word, be open, be honest, be authentic, be non sales-y, be appreciative, be caring, be a giver, be passionate and persistent about helping them. If your solution has a weakness, they should know about it, so tell them. If your solution really is not the best one for them, tell them and recommend a different one. If you are trustworthy, prospects will start selling themselves to you!

Step Two: Use a sales process which conveys trust.

It's all very well if you are being completely trustworthy, but (and it's a very big but) if you use a sales process that does not create trust, it will negate that personal trust.

You need a sales process that is focused on helping people get what they want vs. what you want. If you are using a sales process that is focused on persuading and manipulating and being clever with objection handling and closing techniques, it is obvious whose interests you really care about. Such an obvious sales process will destroy trust. You may get a "one-off" sale, but they'll pressure you on price and probably won't come back for more.

Take a critical look at your sales process and ask yourself if it does convey trust. Ask yourself if you were on the receiving end, would you trust you? If not, then find and implement a sales process that conveys trust. You'll know it when you come across it, as it will align with the trustworthy person you are being and it will feel good. You'll actually be excited about selling when you use such a sales process. Sales resistance from both the seller and the buyer side often comes down to the type of sales process.

Step Three: Make a longer term offer

Since you have created trust, they will want to be your client for the long term. This will be the first of many sales. Since they are going to be with you for the long term, make it worth their while to make a long term decision NOW.

When you present the pricing, give your clients both immediate and longer term options.

Option one is for their immediate requirements. This is what all your competition will be giving pricing for as well. It is also what the client expected to receive from you and your competitors.

Option two is for what they will need for a longer term and asks for a much bigger commitment. With option two, you are simply asking them to make a future buying decision now rather than later. In exchange for making that decision now, you will give them some additional value in return. This could be a reduced price on one of the items or you could add extra items. Perhaps it is a creative pricing and invoicing strategy that solve a client's short term cash flow problem.

Your clients are probably not expecting a second option, and your competitors have probably not offered one. Since they will be spending a greater amount over time anyway, it will be logical for them to buy more now. This is your chance to be creative and come up with an offer that is in their best interests and compels them to commit now. It leverages the personal trust you have worked so hard to build with another offer that confirms your intent to provide your clients more value over time.

When you win the larger sale with the second option, your competitors (who were probably focused on lowering their price to win) will be flabbergasted when they find out about the size of your sale! But even if the clients turn down the second option this, they will remember that you offered an attractive alternative, and that in turn helps to build more trust in you for the future.

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up now at www.salesconversation.com.

Coffee Shop Selling

Sometimes a change in setting is all you need to make people feel comfortable and ready to talk. Today sales trainer Tessa Stowe shares the power of the coffee shop meeting - and really, who doesn't want to get out of the office for a piece of coffee cake?

Just imagine that you have a senior position in a company with quite a few people reporting to you. From the moment you walk into the office, you automatically act and talk your role. You have lots of responsibilities and you take them seriously. When people meet you in the office, you play the role as that is what people expect of you. Your days are very full, rushing here and there.

Now suppose that in the middle of your hectic day, you are invited out for a coffee with a friend where you know you can relax for a moment and just be yourself. How good is that? How re-energizing is that in the middle of your busy day?

Years ago, I was selling a multi-million dollar billing system to a telecommunications company. I needed to meet with a lot of different people to put all the pieces of the sales "puzzle" together. Scheduling meetings was always difficult as they had very few meeting rooms.

So as a matter of necessity, I started inviting people out for a coffee meeting - with cake if they wanted it. As we stepped out of the office environment and into the coffee shop, a curious thing happened. More often than not, the person I was having coffee with left their role behind and I had coffee with just that "person."

We would spend the first few minutes just enjoying the shop environment and discussing what they were up to personally. As a result, they would begin to unwind, relax, and start to be themselves as opposed to their roles.

Then when we came to getting down to business, I'd be in a place of greatly appreciating their help and any insights or tips they could give me. It would be as if a flood gate had opened up, and the information and help would flow. They would be very open with me.

At the end, I was always thanked for the coffee and told how much they had enjoyed the conversation, and that we must do it again soon. They had valued the experience and getting out of the office. When I next rang them and said "Let's catch up over coffee", they would do their best to fit it in their schedule. They wanted to get out of the office and go for a coffee. My colleagues were constantly amazed at the ease with which I got meetings, and with just about anyone.

So what are the lessons that I learned from coffee shop selling?

1. If you meet people in their office, they will more than likely act the role they play in that environment. Take them out of that office and into a coffee shop type environment, and you will have a higher chance that they will relax and be more like themselves.
2. If people feel relaxed in your company, they will open up to you.
3. If you make it enjoyable to meet with you, people will meet with you.
4. If you show that you appreciate someone's help, they will help you.

So when you can - and I know it's not always possible - instead of having office meetings, invite your prospect out for a coffee and make it an enjoyable experience for both of you. Do this and you'll be amazed at how much your prospects will go out of their way to help you and to meet with you - for a coffee and chat.

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up now at www.salesconversation.com.

Are You a Chameleon When Selling?

Sales trainer Tessa Stowe has years of experience in sales, and today she shares a story of a dinner went wrong. The sales lesson that follows shows the importance of being a chameleon and blending in to different situations. Read on to see what we mean!

Several years ago, my former boss Peter and I went to dinner with the Chairman of the company we worked for. On that occasion, the Chairman talked and talked all evening. After the Chairman had finally left, Peter turned around to me and said "Tessa, we could have been anyone this evening." We felt that the Chairman had just talked at us all night. He would have had exactly the same conversation whether Peter and I were there or not.

The Chairman was not at all interested in Peter or me. In fact, by the end of the evening he knew absolutely nothing about us. It had not been a two-way conversation with us, but instead a monologue directed at us. His words would have been exactly the same no matter who was sitting opposite him.

Without realizing it, you may be acting like the Chairman. If your prospect would start daydreaming while you are speaking, would there be any difference in your conversation? You don't need their input for the conversation if you say the same things no matter who you are talking to.

Think back to the last time you spoke to a prospect. Did your words specifically change for that person, or were they the exact same words you have with all your prospects? Would a neutral observer think your prospect or you were at center stage?

So, what is the cure? It is actually quite simple. Become a facilitator of the conversation by asking powerful questions and quickly blend into the background and the conversation. Become a chameleon in the conversation.

For you to become a chameleon, blending into the background and the conversation, your prospect must feel comfortable about being at center stage. Hence it is critical that you ask your prospect questions about things they care about and know about. If you don't, your prospect will not want to be at center stage.

For example, a CEO cares about increasing revenues and decreasing costs, so ask questions around them. A marketing manager cares about standing out from the competition, so ask questions around that. When you ask questions, use the prospect's language - not yours.

When you are selling, you need to be a master chameleon and adapt your questions and your language to the person you are talking to. You want to blend into the background and make them center stage.

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up now at www.salesconversation.com.

Five Strategies to Minimize Risk

With most people tightening their belts nowadays, it's essential that you minimize their perceived risk of purchasing from you. "Prospects want to know that you are capable of delivering the results they want and that you will actually deliver them. No matter how good your product is, if you are perceived as risky, your prospect will not buy from you," explains sales trainer Tessa Stowe. "Conversely, people will knowingly buy inferior products if they perceive the risk is less and that there is more of a guarantee they will get the outcome they are looking for."

Risk is a huge deciding factor, so how do you convey that you are the lowest-risk solution? Here are five ideas:

Brainstorm all the reasons why you are the lowest-risk solution for your prospect.

Why are your prospects assured of getting the outcomes they want from your solution? What support do you offer that ensures they will get that outcome? Why should they feel assured you will be around next year to support them? You must be crystal-clear in your own mind about why you are the lowest-risk solution before you can explain it to your prospect.

Brainstorm all the reasons why your prospects might perceive you as a risky solution.

Put yourself in their shoes. Be honest with yourself. If you were your competition, what would you say about the risk of your solution? Now reframe that risk so it is not a risk. Turn it completely around to something positive. De-risk the risk!

Here's an example. In 2002 I was selling a billing solution to a telecommunications company. We were perceived by the prospect as high-risk as we had no references and we were using new, very advanced, technology.

I reframed that risk and told my prospect that we were actually the lowest-risk solution because we had the advanced technology that no one else had implemented. I went on to explain that, because this new technology would help them get ahead of their competition, it represented the lowest risk because it minimized the risk of competition in the future. They saw my point, and this was a major reason for their decision to buy the solution. You must name the elephant in the room, so to speak. Turn the perceived risk around to your advantage.

Be prepared with customer testimonials and case studies that talk about specific results.

The more customer testimonials and case studies you have, the more comfortable your prospect will feel and the less risky you will be perceived. Even if you have only one or two, they can be powerful risk-minimizers.

Make sure your true intent is to help your prospects get what they want, not to sell them something.

Always - and I mean always - act in alignment with this intent. If you do, your prospects will trust you. When your prospects trust you, they will perceive you as less risky.

Have a very open conversation with your prospect and tell them why you are the lowest-risk solution.

Go into as much detail and depth on each point as you need to in order to make them feel comfortable. Ask them if they are confident in the reasons you have mentioned or if they still have questions. If you have built rapport and trust, they will tell you in what areas they still perceive you are risky. This conversation can be a very revealing - and rewarding - one.

Implement these five ideas and your prospects will see you as the lowest-risk solution - and maybe even the no-risk solution. More sales are sure to follow.

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up now at www.salesconversation.com.

Why Should I Buy From You?

Here's a challenge from sales and business coach Tessa Stowe: Tell me in 30 seconds why I should buy from you over your competition. Don't read any farther until you do this.

How did you do? Did you include any of the following in your response?

-We have been in business for x years.
-We have great support and care about our customers.
-Our products are proven, best of breed, flexible, etc.
-We are industry leaders.
-We have lots of clients.

Look back at what you said. Does your competition say any of these things as well? Be totally honest. Put a line through each item you listed that your competition would also say (whether it is true or not), because your prospect will ignore it when he or she compares you to your competition.

I'm not saying that having great support, experience, products, clients, and so on is not important and absolutely essential. I'm saying that, if your competition also says they have those things, your prospect will probably not take them into consideration when comparing you.

So, after putting a line through each "me too" item, what are you left with? What you are left with is what your prospects will see as the differences between you and your competition.

Now ask yourself:

--Do your prospects care enough about these remaining differences to choose you over your competition?
--Do these remaining differences make you the obvious choice over your competition?
--Would you choose you over your competition if these were the only differences?
--Have you been conveying these differences in all your interactions with your prospects?

If you answered "no" to any of these questions, your prospects will have to struggle to work out why they should buy from you, and you will have to struggle to make sales.

To eliminate this struggle for both you and your prospect, work out a crystal-clear answer to the question, "Why should I buy from you?"

Then, when you have your crystal-clear answer, make sure you convey all or parts of it in every interaction with your prospects - in meetings, in demonstrations, in presentations, in marketing materials, in proposals...everywhere you come into contact with prospects. Your objective is that, when you win the sale and someone asks your prospects why they chose you, their answer will be identical to your crystal-clear answer!

When you have a crystal-clear answer as to why prospects should buy from you, your enthusiasm and confidence will soar. You will be enthusiastic about helping your prospects because you will be confident in why you are absolutely the best solution for them. Enthusiasm and confidence are contagious: Your prospects will pick them up, and they will become enthusiastic and confident about working with you and becoming your client.

To work out the answer, try brainstorming first. Then ask your current clients why they bought from you. Then brainstorm a bit more. If you want to try some "out of the box" thinking, take what you perceive as your biggest weakness and reframe it so it is your biggest strength in the eyes of your prospects. For example, if you are small, how could that be a strength?

Make it a top priority to work out the answer to "Why should I buy from you?" If you do, you will make more sales faster and at higher prices.

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her free monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up now at www.salesconversation.com.

7 Reasons Why You Must Zealously Qualify Prospects

Limited hours in the day and an unstable economy make it imperative that you qualify your prospects ahead of time. Spending valuable time, money and resources on a deal that will never happen is a waste of your selling potential. Sales trainer Tessa Stowe has put together a list of seven reasons why you must dutifully qualify your prospects - your closing ratio will rise as a result!

Here are seven reasons why you must be zealous about putting your prospects through a qualification process before you sell to them:

Qualifying ensures that you only sell to people who are going to buy.
By qualifying you can determine if your prospect is going to buy and, more importantly, if they are going to buy now. By qualifying, you avoid wasting time, money and resources on selling to prospects who do nothing.

Qualifying tells you where to focus.
On which prospects do you spend your valuable time? Qualifying gives you that answer. By qualifying, you identify high probability opportunities and these are the ones you need to focus on.

Qualifying enables you to win more sales.
As a result of qualifying, you only sell to prospects who are going to buy and you only focus on high probability opportunities. Just by having this focus on high probability opportunities, you increase your probability of success, if that makes sense.

Qualifying speeds up your sales and results in a shorter sales cycle.
As a result of qualifying, you will find out the reason why your prospect should act now. You find out their 'compelling event.' When you find out your prospect's compelling event, they will be motivated to take action now. They will be motivated to buy your solution now rather than later and your sales cycle will be reduced as a consequence.

Qualifying reduces your wasted costs.
If you routinely sell to people who are not going to buy or have a low probability of buying from you, then you are wasting a lot of time money and resources. By qualifying, you stop these wasted costs.

Qualifying enables you to choose who you want to become your client.
Do you have a client that you wish was not your client? They require so much time and energy that they really are not worth having. Also more importantly they distract you from serving your ideal clients and from winning new business. With qualifying, you will identify these non-ideal clients straight way.

Qualifying attracts prospects.
If you share your qualification process with your prospects, they will see that you are a professional and selective about whom you have as your client. When you become selective about who you work with, people want to be 'selected.' It's human nature. Your prospects will be trying to sell you on why you should sell to them! Even if you both agree that you are not a good fit for them right now, this process will leave them feeling impressed by you and they'll probably refer others to you.

"Right now make it an unbreakable rule that you will zealously qualify prospects and you will only ever sell to qualified prospects who will be ideal customers," says Stowe. "So find, learn and implement a sales qualification process straight away and watch the impact on your sales results."

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up now at www.salesconversation.com.