Is your current clientele holding on tight to their purse strings? If you answered yes to that question, then sales trainer Elinor Stutz suggests you take time for reflection. First, Stutz suggests you ask yourself the following questions:
1. Is this still the right target audience?
2. Which other demographic(s) should I consider?
3. Will new strategies bring in better results?
"Read marketing materials, speak with your network to find what they are doing, and keep your eyes and ears open for repetitive suggestions," says Stutz. "You just might catch the early wave for the next new idea."
"Be open to trying a new idea to determine if it is right for you providing it is affordable and has a high likelihood of bringing in your desired results," continues Stutz. "Take the calculated risks."
"Try, Test and Make a Decision about continuing on this new path. By trying new avenues you will attract a wider audience. At the very least you will maintain the same level of business and when the economy turns for the better, you will be in a great position for bringing in a much larger income."
Elinor Stutz, CEO of Smooth Sale and author of "Nice Girls DO Get The Sale: Relationship Building That Gets Results", has transformed her highly successful sales career into a sales training company. Her clientele is comprised of Entrepreneurs, Network Marketers and beginning salespeople with 0-5 years experience. Learn more at www.SmoothSale.net
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Recognizing "Problem Trigger Words"
When someone contacts you after visiting your website they will often say, "Our issue is that we need to..." If this issue is something you can help solve, most people will jump in with, "let me tell you how we can fix that."
If you were to respond that way, "that would be pitching, in a non-sports sense, as opposed to finding out exactly why she said what she did," says telesales expert Art Sobczak. "And that will give you the reasons why they will buy from you. Plus, then they are selling themselves, which is much better than you trying to sell them."
"Too often sales reps hear what I call "problem trigger words" and then begin puking out a presentation," continues Sobczak. "These words are signs that your prospect/customer has, or perceives, a problem. They might not explain it fully without your prompting."
Listen for:
"We need to ..."
"We're thinking about..."
"We're considering..."
"We're noticing..."
"The challenge is..."
"We're planning on..."
"The problem is..."
"These are all invitations for you to zero in on these areas to root out the specific reasons they will buy from you," says Sobczak.
Follow up with phrases like:
"Tell me more about that..."
"Let's discuss that a little more..."
"What do you think is causing that?"
"What other effects is that having?"
And quantify their pain or problem whenever you can, by asking questions like:
"How long has that been going on?"
"How often does that happen?"
"What is that costing you?"
The keys to success here?
1. Listen as if your livelihood depended on grasping every word that comes from your prospect/customer.
2. Take notes and write down the SPECIFIC terminology they use, so you can repeat it back to them in your questioning, and eventual recommendation.
3. Do NOT jump in with your recommendation until you have fully developed an understanding of their issue. This also carries the benefit of them thinking more about the problem, therefore making them more receptive to your suggestion.
Art Sobczak, President of Business By Phone Inc., specializes in one area only: working with business-to-business salespeople--both inside and outside--designing and delivering content-rich programs that participants begin showing results from the very next time they get on the phone. www.BusinessByPhone.com
If you were to respond that way, "that would be pitching, in a non-sports sense, as opposed to finding out exactly why she said what she did," says telesales expert Art Sobczak. "And that will give you the reasons why they will buy from you. Plus, then they are selling themselves, which is much better than you trying to sell them."
"Too often sales reps hear what I call "problem trigger words" and then begin puking out a presentation," continues Sobczak. "These words are signs that your prospect/customer has, or perceives, a problem. They might not explain it fully without your prompting."
Listen for:
"We need to ..."
"We're thinking about..."
"We're considering..."
"We're noticing..."
"The challenge is..."
"We're planning on..."
"The problem is..."
"These are all invitations for you to zero in on these areas to root out the specific reasons they will buy from you," says Sobczak.
Follow up with phrases like:
"Tell me more about that..."
"Let's discuss that a little more..."
"What do you think is causing that?"
"What other effects is that having?"
And quantify their pain or problem whenever you can, by asking questions like:
"How long has that been going on?"
"How often does that happen?"
"What is that costing you?"
The keys to success here?
1. Listen as if your livelihood depended on grasping every word that comes from your prospect/customer.
2. Take notes and write down the SPECIFIC terminology they use, so you can repeat it back to them in your questioning, and eventual recommendation.
3. Do NOT jump in with your recommendation until you have fully developed an understanding of their issue. This also carries the benefit of them thinking more about the problem, therefore making them more receptive to your suggestion.
Art Sobczak, President of Business By Phone Inc., specializes in one area only: working with business-to-business salespeople--both inside and outside--designing and delivering content-rich programs that participants begin showing results from the very next time they get on the phone. www.BusinessByPhone.com
Monday, November 3, 2008
Quote of the Week
"The ability to communicate with everybody, regardless of who are you are, is a great thing." -- Bobby Bonilla, Baseball Player
Being able to talk to people is one of the most important things you can learn as a salesperson. After all, if you can ease into a conversation, people will feel comfortable with you - and if they're comfortable they're more likely to buy.
How do you get better at any skill? Practice. The next time you're out running errands, try to connect with the people you meet. Ask them a question or comment on what they're looking at. I've found that if you can talk to a complete stranger at the grocery store, then you can definitely talk to a prospect about something you're passionate about - your product!
Being able to talk to people is one of the most important things you can learn as a salesperson. After all, if you can ease into a conversation, people will feel comfortable with you - and if they're comfortable they're more likely to buy.
How do you get better at any skill? Practice. The next time you're out running errands, try to connect with the people you meet. Ask them a question or comment on what they're looking at. I've found that if you can talk to a complete stranger at the grocery store, then you can definitely talk to a prospect about something you're passionate about - your product!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Practice Makes Perfect
The best sports legends have always been those that took their talent and developed it, day in and day out. Practice is what made them successful, and it's the same for top sales professionals. This story from sales trainer Dave Kahle is a perfect example.
"Having spent most of my adult life in Michigan, I have naturally grown to be a fan of the Detroit professional sports teams," says Kahle. "Basketball is my favorite, and I've been a Pistons fan since before the Bad Boys. As you may know, the Bad Boys were world champions for a couple of years in the 80's. Isaiah Thomas was the leader of the team. He was at the top of his game - most valuable player on the world championship team."
"During that time, he built a house in Detroit, and added an indoor basketball court. When asked about it by a local newspaper reporter, he replied that he often woke up in the middle of the night and used the basketball court to practice his free throws."
"Imagine that. The most valuable player of the world championship team practicing the most basic shot in the game in the middle of the night. Why would he do that? Probably because he was not a 100 percent free throw shooter. No matter how good he was, he knew there was room for improvement, and that he could become better yet."
"That belief, that you are not as good as you could be, that there is always room for improvement, is one of the marks of the best salespeople," says Kahle.
"The world is full of mediocre salespeople who don't care enough about their own performance to spend any time or money improving themselves. My own experience is that only one out of twenty salespeople has spent $25 of their own money on their own improvement in the last 12 months."
"While that certainly is an indictment of their lack of professionalism, it also represents an incredible opportunity for those who want to excel. Image how competent you could become, relative to your competitors, if you regularly spent time, money and effort improving your sales skills! What an opportunity!"
Vince Lombardi once said, "We will pursue perfection, knowing that we will never attain it. But in the striving for perfection, we will catch excellence." "The best salespeople continually pursue perfection, knowing that in the striving for it, they will catch excellence," says Kahle. "And excellence is rewarded by greater competence, greater confidence, and a more robust standard of living."
Dave Kahle is the President of the DaCo Corporation, specializing in helping business-to-business companies increase sales and develop their people. Learn more at www.davekahle.com
"Having spent most of my adult life in Michigan, I have naturally grown to be a fan of the Detroit professional sports teams," says Kahle. "Basketball is my favorite, and I've been a Pistons fan since before the Bad Boys. As you may know, the Bad Boys were world champions for a couple of years in the 80's. Isaiah Thomas was the leader of the team. He was at the top of his game - most valuable player on the world championship team."
"During that time, he built a house in Detroit, and added an indoor basketball court. When asked about it by a local newspaper reporter, he replied that he often woke up in the middle of the night and used the basketball court to practice his free throws."
"Imagine that. The most valuable player of the world championship team practicing the most basic shot in the game in the middle of the night. Why would he do that? Probably because he was not a 100 percent free throw shooter. No matter how good he was, he knew there was room for improvement, and that he could become better yet."
"That belief, that you are not as good as you could be, that there is always room for improvement, is one of the marks of the best salespeople," says Kahle.
"The world is full of mediocre salespeople who don't care enough about their own performance to spend any time or money improving themselves. My own experience is that only one out of twenty salespeople has spent $25 of their own money on their own improvement in the last 12 months."
"While that certainly is an indictment of their lack of professionalism, it also represents an incredible opportunity for those who want to excel. Image how competent you could become, relative to your competitors, if you regularly spent time, money and effort improving your sales skills! What an opportunity!"
Vince Lombardi once said, "We will pursue perfection, knowing that we will never attain it. But in the striving for perfection, we will catch excellence." "The best salespeople continually pursue perfection, knowing that in the striving for it, they will catch excellence," says Kahle. "And excellence is rewarded by greater competence, greater confidence, and a more robust standard of living."
Dave Kahle is the President of the DaCo Corporation, specializing in helping business-to-business companies increase sales and develop their people. Learn more at www.davekahle.com
Thursday, October 30, 2008
What to do When the Prospect Says YES and Then Does NOTHING
Getting a verbal commitment from a client is always exciting - things are moving forward! Well, not necessarily, says Bryan Neale, a consultant at Caskey Training in a recent blog post. "If you're a professional salesperson, you probably already know this," says Neale. "If you're new or struggling, here's the tip - It's nothing until it's something."
"Deals go bad," continues Neale. "Prospects lie. Things change. All of these events can change the verbal in a New York minute. So what should you do?"
1. Watch what they do, forget what they say: If someone gives you a verbal, take it at face value and keep your own emotions and expectations in check.
2. Drive the process: Once the verbal comes, it's your job to drive to an end. Share the crystal clear steps: i.e., Thanks, Joe. Here is a document that outlines specifically what happens next.
3. Stay mentally behind the deal: Everyone around you will want to "get excited." Not you. You stay even-keeled. You get excited when the money hits your checking account.
Bryan Neale is a speaker and consultant with Caskey, a firm specializing in training and developing B2B sales teams through face to face training, teleconferencing, written material, custom podcasts and one on one coaching. Learn more at www.caskeyone.com
"Deals go bad," continues Neale. "Prospects lie. Things change. All of these events can change the verbal in a New York minute. So what should you do?"
1. Watch what they do, forget what they say: If someone gives you a verbal, take it at face value and keep your own emotions and expectations in check.
2. Drive the process: Once the verbal comes, it's your job to drive to an end. Share the crystal clear steps: i.e., Thanks, Joe. Here is a document that outlines specifically what happens next.
3. Stay mentally behind the deal: Everyone around you will want to "get excited." Not you. You stay even-keeled. You get excited when the money hits your checking account.
Bryan Neale is a speaker and consultant with Caskey, a firm specializing in training and developing B2B sales teams through face to face training, teleconferencing, written material, custom podcasts and one on one coaching. Learn more at www.caskeyone.com
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Float Like a Butterfly
Getting someone to see your point of view can often feel like pulling teeth. Everyone's wired to think differently, and some people really think differently. So what do you do when your client doesn't see your point, no matter how you explain it? Use a metaphor! Sales and communication trainer Anne Miller recently relayed a story that perfectly fits this situation - read on to see how you can use a metaphor to get your point across.
A reader of Anne Miller's newsletter recently wrote in with the following situation:
As Reed wrote, "I was talking to the Vice President of Sales for a California software company that I am assisting in marketing in Japan. He seemed interested of course in numbers, units sold, and where they stood in terms of lower-priced competitive products."
"I suggested that rather than getting into a features fight and the inevitable price comparison, that they brand their product in terms of their company image, people, and the cool projects they are involved in."
"My client stubbornly insisted we stay focused on the numbers. Realizing that logic was not going to persuade him, I sketched my idea on a piece of paper showing ants on the ground fighting it out over the small stuff, the individual features, vs. the insects with wings flying above the melee, the larger branding. I compared it to Muhammad Ali, and his 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.'"
"Not only did that seem to work for him, but he came back with an intriguing metaphor of his own seeing my strategy as a way of separating themselves from what he called, 'the bottom feeders.'"
Reports Reed, "The metaphor took our conversation away from the dry numbers and performance stats, into the more interesting and emotional world of metaphors, which ultimately led to his acceptance of my ideas."
"An idea forced on people with logic alone rarely sticks," says Miller. "An idea expressed in images changes a listener's perspective and most often gets the results desired. What result do you want? Who doesn't quite see things your way? What metaphor or analogy can you use to shift that person's perspective?"
Anne Miller is the author of Metaphorically Selling. Check out her site at www.annemiller.com.
A reader of Anne Miller's newsletter recently wrote in with the following situation:
As Reed wrote, "I was talking to the Vice President of Sales for a California software company that I am assisting in marketing in Japan. He seemed interested of course in numbers, units sold, and where they stood in terms of lower-priced competitive products."
"I suggested that rather than getting into a features fight and the inevitable price comparison, that they brand their product in terms of their company image, people, and the cool projects they are involved in."
"My client stubbornly insisted we stay focused on the numbers. Realizing that logic was not going to persuade him, I sketched my idea on a piece of paper showing ants on the ground fighting it out over the small stuff, the individual features, vs. the insects with wings flying above the melee, the larger branding. I compared it to Muhammad Ali, and his 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.'"
"Not only did that seem to work for him, but he came back with an intriguing metaphor of his own seeing my strategy as a way of separating themselves from what he called, 'the bottom feeders.'"
Reports Reed, "The metaphor took our conversation away from the dry numbers and performance stats, into the more interesting and emotional world of metaphors, which ultimately led to his acceptance of my ideas."
"An idea forced on people with logic alone rarely sticks," says Miller. "An idea expressed in images changes a listener's perspective and most often gets the results desired. What result do you want? Who doesn't quite see things your way? What metaphor or analogy can you use to shift that person's perspective?"
Anne Miller is the author of Metaphorically Selling. Check out her site at www.annemiller.com.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Don't Use My Name!
Getting a referral from a friend is great - up until the moment they ask you not to mention their name! All of a sudden your referral is a cold call. Check out this story from business consultant Diane Helbig and remember her advice to make sure you have a good quality referral.
I have a friend - we'll call him Bill. Bill told Ralph that he was targeting CPAs. Ralph said, 'One of my clients is a CPA. Here's his contact info.' So, Bill called the CPA and left a message. A day later Ralph called Bill and asked how it went with the CPA. Bill explained that he had left a message. Then Ralph told Bill that the CPA had called him and asked him not to give his name out anymore. Yikes!
This kind of story is being played out every day all over the world. And the damage it does is deep and wide. My other friend Betty was in a leads group the other day and said she was targeting Human Resource professionals. Roger passed her a lead but had written on it 'don't use my name.' Huh? Don't use my name? Again, this happens daily. 'Roger' doesn't realize the harm he is inflicting - on himself!
How are these referrals? According to the dictionary, a referral is 'a person recommended to someone or for something.' The dictionary definition of 'recommend' is 'to praise or commend to another as being worthy or desirable; endorse.' 'Recommend; worthy; endorse.' Interesting words.
First I'd like to address the damage caused by these actions.
The referrer (and I use the term lightly) damages himself for the following reasons:
--The person he gives the referral to feels that his referrals are empty.
--The person he refers others to becomes unhappy with him.
--People talk and his behavior will be shared with others, thereby damaging his relationships with them.
The person who received the 'referral' is damaged because:
--In the first example he can't approach those referrals again. They have just experienced him in a negative way.
-- Now his pool of referral sources has gotten smaller. He knows now that he can't trust that guy to provide him with quality referrals.
--Getting a referral that says 'don't use my name' is really getting just a name. It's a cold call. He's no better off than he was before.
So let's talk about quality referrals.
The best way to get quality referrals is to be known as someone who gives them. Certain elements must exist in order for a referral to have quality.
They are:
1. You know the person you are going to refer very well.
---You are aware of their professionalism, their performance, their customer service.
---You believe in them completely.
---You would do, or have done, business with them.
2. You know the person you are referring to very well.
---You know what their needs are.
---You know how they feel about being contacted by strangers.
---You know what they look for in a vendor
3. You know the best way to conduct the referral.
---Do you make an introduction?
---Do you contact the person for them?
---Do you provide background information to your associate so they are equipped when approaching?
"Knowing the answers to these items will help you in creating a referral system that works consistently and productively," says Helbig. "Then as you work your system, you'll position yourself as a networking pro. In addition, you'll find you are referred more often because you can be trusted. Did you notice? This system treats everybody fairly and respectfully." Quite a difference from 'don't use my name!'
Diane Helbig is a Professional Coach, and President of Seize This Day Coaching. She works one-on-one and in groups with business owners, entrepreneurs, and salespeople. Visit her website at http://www.seizethisdaycoaching.com
I have a friend - we'll call him Bill. Bill told Ralph that he was targeting CPAs. Ralph said, 'One of my clients is a CPA. Here's his contact info.' So, Bill called the CPA and left a message. A day later Ralph called Bill and asked how it went with the CPA. Bill explained that he had left a message. Then Ralph told Bill that the CPA had called him and asked him not to give his name out anymore. Yikes!
This kind of story is being played out every day all over the world. And the damage it does is deep and wide. My other friend Betty was in a leads group the other day and said she was targeting Human Resource professionals. Roger passed her a lead but had written on it 'don't use my name.' Huh? Don't use my name? Again, this happens daily. 'Roger' doesn't realize the harm he is inflicting - on himself!
How are these referrals? According to the dictionary, a referral is 'a person recommended to someone or for something.' The dictionary definition of 'recommend' is 'to praise or commend to another as being worthy or desirable; endorse.' 'Recommend; worthy; endorse.' Interesting words.
First I'd like to address the damage caused by these actions.
The referrer (and I use the term lightly) damages himself for the following reasons:
--The person he gives the referral to feels that his referrals are empty.
--The person he refers others to becomes unhappy with him.
--People talk and his behavior will be shared with others, thereby damaging his relationships with them.
The person who received the 'referral' is damaged because:
--In the first example he can't approach those referrals again. They have just experienced him in a negative way.
-- Now his pool of referral sources has gotten smaller. He knows now that he can't trust that guy to provide him with quality referrals.
--Getting a referral that says 'don't use my name' is really getting just a name. It's a cold call. He's no better off than he was before.
So let's talk about quality referrals.
The best way to get quality referrals is to be known as someone who gives them. Certain elements must exist in order for a referral to have quality.
They are:
1. You know the person you are going to refer very well.
---You are aware of their professionalism, their performance, their customer service.
---You believe in them completely.
---You would do, or have done, business with them.
2. You know the person you are referring to very well.
---You know what their needs are.
---You know how they feel about being contacted by strangers.
---You know what they look for in a vendor
3. You know the best way to conduct the referral.
---Do you make an introduction?
---Do you contact the person for them?
---Do you provide background information to your associate so they are equipped when approaching?
"Knowing the answers to these items will help you in creating a referral system that works consistently and productively," says Helbig. "Then as you work your system, you'll position yourself as a networking pro. In addition, you'll find you are referred more often because you can be trusted. Did you notice? This system treats everybody fairly and respectfully." Quite a difference from 'don't use my name!'
Diane Helbig is a Professional Coach, and President of Seize This Day Coaching. She works one-on-one and in groups with business owners, entrepreneurs, and salespeople. Visit her website at http://www.seizethisdaycoaching.com
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