Sales Training Tip #173: Be Intriguing

Does what you say when you introduce yourself to someone beg them to want to know more about you? Consider how you can make them more intrigued when they are formulating their first impression of you.

Professional Selling Skills Training: Trade Show Leads, Closing the Sale

This past week, I was in Las Vegas for a major trade show called Global Shop (You can read more about it in my Emerging Trends blog). In talking with companies who were displaying there, I ran across a wide range of comments when I asked how they were doing. In the end, the ones who captured my attention were those who said that they would have no idea how good the show was until they turn some of the leads into business. How true! The real work of a trade show is not the show itself, but what takes place after it's over. If you do not follow up with your trade show leads within 72 hours, you've lost the vast majority of opportunities. It's a shame that so many companies spend significant sums of money participating in trade shows only to have their investment fail them because of their lack of follow-up.

Learn how to avoid this pitfall by listeneing to an interview I recently recorded with author Susan Friedman for NARMS Radio. Susan has written the book on how to get the most out of trade shows. You can download the interview from iTunes (keyword: NARMS), by following the link on my homepage (www.thesaleshunter.com), or from www.NARMS.com.

Professional Selling Skills Training: Sales Office Politics

Selling Tips and Sales Advice Reader Feedback:

Readers of Selling Tips From The Sales Hunter are always sending in questions about sales. I'm not able to reprint most of the questions. However, here is one that I'm sure is of interest to a number of readers:

"I am a top-performing sales person who recently changed companies and in the new organization, I'm having to deal with a lot of office politics arising from lower-level sales people shooting arrows at me. How should I respond?"

Answer:
(Before you read the ideas below, never forget your skill set that got you to where you are or allow yourself to do anything to diminish your selling skills as a way of trying to get other sales people to like you.)

1. First, don't expect to be able to quickly change people's attitudes. Rather, your best approach is to befriend one of the sales people and, as your relationship with them grows, they will convey to others the fact that you're a great person and a team player.

2. Spend as much time as possible away from the office. It's hard for people to shoot arrows at somebody if they don't see them. Don't take this to an extreme and never show up, but pace yourself to be in the office less time than the others.

3. Food / drink: It's amazing how a little food or drink can change another person's opinion. Bring in some doughnuts on occasion or have some candy at your desk. It will often soften things up.

4. Offer to be a sales coach to the newest person in the office. But when you do this, don't allow your ego to get in the way. Rather, convey your skills with an incredible sense of humility. A key thing to keep in mind when coaching somebody is if you have to tell somebody how good you are, you're really not very good. People should know your skills simply through the results you obtain. (Donald Trump never has to tell anyone how rich he is...his problem is he has an ego.)

5. In sales meetings, avoid dominating any discussions. Take a more quiet approach and when asked your opinion, answer humbly by stating something like, "Well, an idea that may work might be something like....."

6. Become a cheerleader to the office. Anytime somebody else in the office does something, be sure to compliment them and ask them how they did it. If they're looking at you as a super sales person and you take the time to ask them how they did something, it will elevate their thinking about themselves. (The key is to bring the others up to you, rather than you dropping down to them.)

Sales Training Tip #172: The Key To It All!

Remember: people buy solutions, not products! Frame your questions around how the customer will either use your product or how they can see your product or service helping them achieve their goals.

Professional Selling Skills Training: Voice Mail Messages

Selling yourself via voice mail is difficult in any circumstance. In response to several requests from readers, here is my perspective:

First, accept the fact that very few voice mail calls will be returned if you don't have a relationship with them. This means that the voice mail message you leave will wind up being only the first part of your sales process.

Secondly, never leave any more information than you need to. The more information you leave, the less likely the person will call you back. People use voice mail messages as a screening tool, so if you leave too much they will use it to validate in their mind why they don't need you. Keep your message concise by providing only your name, phone number, and a very short statement. You are opening the door for you to contact them again under the premise that the first voice mail call is probably not going to be returned.

The exception: If you're dealing with an opportunity that has a very low chance of ever coming to pass, then go ahead and leave them a lot of information (enough to disqualify you). With this strategy, they'll only return your call if they truly do have a reason for doing business with you. Keep in mind that this should only be undertaken if you have the ability to leave thousands of voice mail messages and you don't care how poorly people view your name and company. In other words: keep your messages short and be sure to repeat your phone number slowly, saying it at least twice.

Sales Training Tip #171: Help Them Describe Their Problem

The key to understanding how much you can be of benefit to a customer is to ask questions that allow them to quantifiably describe their problem to you. When they are able to explain the size of their problem in dollars, you've hit a home run.

Sales Training Tip #170: Analyzing Fear

The level of a customer's fear drives more sales and loses more sales than any other single factor. What are you doing in your sales process to decrease your customer's fear? What are you subconsciously doing that may increase a customer’s fear?

Professional Selling Skills Training: Better Questions to Close More Sales

You will close more sales when you ask better questions. To help with this on-going problem, I've created a spreadsheet designed to help you develop better questions. You can download it from my website: www.TheSalesHunter.com. Scroll to the bottom of the home page to find the links. By following the instructions to complete the spreadsheet and using the process for two weeks, I guarantee you will improve your closing ratio. Please use this blog to let me know your results. Also, if you have any questions about how to use it, feel free to email me or pose your question on this blog. For additional ideas on how to use it, I encourage you to download the free audio from iTunes (keyword: The Sales Hunter).

Professional Selling Skills Training: Lessons From NASCAR

The start of the NASCAR season is just days away with the biggest event of them all: the Daytona 500. This past week, we've watched several teams be penalized for trying to cheat. Then today, some of the drivers explained how you have to cheat if you expect to win. Too many times in sales, I hear the same thing about how you have to hedge the numbers or not tell the full story to win the sale. Why is it so difficult for us to realize that sales is a long-term event and we'll never create long-term customers if we make false statements to win a short-term sale?

Far more long-term profit will be made from customers who continually buy from us and, even better, refer us to others based on our integrity.

Professional Selling Skills Training: Phone Calls "vs" Advertising

Never allow yourself to be fooled into thinking your marketing efforts are so good that you don't need to make phone calls. Marketing or advertising might be very good at reaching a broad market, but 9 times out of 10 it still takes the phone call to get the person to move. If you're not following up on your advertising or marketing efforts with phone calls, then you're wasting your money on advertising. In fact, I'm a strong proponent of ensuring that you're making the right number of phone calls before you start looking at spending time and money developing an advertising program.

Sales Training Tip # 169: 4 Keys To Understanding Your Sales Process

• How much does it cost to get a lead?
• How many leads become customers?
• How much do you make on the first sale?
• How much long-term profit do you make from a customer?

Sales Training Tip #168: Are You Curious?

Great sales people have a sense of curiosity about their customers, their prospects, and their industry. How curious are you?

Professional Selling Skills Training: Have You Heard the Latest Podcasts?

The following audios were recently posted on iTunes. You can access them through our website (www.TheSalesHunter.com) or by doing a search of "The Sales Hunter" in the iTunes podcast category. Check them out for more information!

1. Sell the Future: Don't sell what your product is. Rather, sell what your product can be.
2. Prospecting for Big and Small: Close more sales by focusing your efforts on a cross-section of prospects.
3. Weekly Improvement: Improve your selling skills every week throughout the year.

Sales Training Tip #167: Respect the Gatekeeper

Always treat the gatekeeper in the same manner and with the same level of respect you will use with the person you are desiring to meet. The gatekeeper is analyzing your demeanor and approach with them to determine if you’re worthy of meeting with the person they’re working to keep people away from.

Sales Training Tip #166: Great Probing Questions

Some examples of great probing questions are:

• What goals are you trying to achieve?
• How are you going to achieve them?

Professional Selling Skills Training: What is the Best Way to Begin a Cold Call Sales Pitch Over the Phone?

Why spend time making a cold call when you can make warm calls instead? Avoid cold calls altogether by using the following strategy. When making the call, you need to first identify why the customer would be interested in you. In addition, your second goal should not be to close the sale, but to be able to earn the right, privilege, and opportunity to continue the discussion with the prospect.

It’s important to keep in mind that you're talking to a prospect. When you’re making a cold call, don’t view the other person as a customer. Customers are those who have provided you with information that is not normally known by others. Prospects are those with whom you have not been able to develop a detailed dialogue with and, as such, they have not provided you with some key information.

When making the call, keep in mind that you have only 10 seconds to convey your passion and interest in desiring to serve the person on the other end. Begin by addressing them by their first name only. Using the person’s last name makes the call more formal. Second, state your name clearly. Don’t waste time by giving the person your title or company name, unless it is compelling enough to generate their interest. Next, you should make a single statement that both serves as a compliment to the person and peaks their interest. An example of this might be: “You’re fortunate to be employed by one of top 100 companies to work for in America and the reason I'm calling is that I assist companies in making sure they stay ranked there.” You would then follow it by saying, "May I ask you a question?" If the prospect doesn’t allow you to do so, ask if there might be another time when they would have 3-5 minutes. This communicates that you're not looking for a lot of time. Often, the person will ask you to continue right then. If they don’t and won’t give you another time, finish the call and move on. Always avoid getting sucked into the trap of allowing the prospect to drive the outcome with a response like: “I don’t have time right now, but go ahead and send me some information.” This of course is the kiss of death!

When the customer allows you to ask your first question, keep in mind that it must be short and open, while, at the same time, beginning to convey your expertise. An example might be: “We often work with companies like yours that know the value of being a great place to be employed because they understand what it takes to be great. What are you currently doing to help your sales people be more productive?" A follow up comment might be: “Lately, I’ve been talking to a number of buyers who have shared with me some concerning information and I’m struggling in know if it’s accurate. May I share with you a couple of their comments?” Keep in mind, I’ve only made two comments / questions and, as a result, I will most likely be able to either keep the conversation going or will have earned the right and privilege to contact the person again. Either way, the cold call has been successful since I’ve achieved my goal of being able to continue the dialogue.

Voicemail, of course, is where the vast majority of phone calls wind up. When making the first call to a prospect, if you are connected to voicemail, do not leave a message. The chances of getting it returned is extremely low unless you’re a doctor, attorney, or banker. You should only leave a message on the third attempt, assuming you’ve varied the time of day and day of the week when you’ve made the other two calls. (The best time to prospect call is from 7:30 – 8:30 AM and the best month is late in December.) When you leave a message, don't give enough information to allow the prospect to rule out why they don’t need you. Your message should be upbeat and enthusiastic. In no more than 12 seconds, you need to leave your name, phone number (slowly), and one interesting comment to get them to remember you. An example I might use would be: “Hi, I’m Mark Hunter, The Sales Hunter, and I’m calling you to compliment you on being named as one of the best companies to work for in America. You can reach me at 402-445-2110.” Notice I didn’t try and sell anything. All I did was let them know who I am and compliment them. I have also accepted the fact that the customer will probably not return the call, but the compliment I left will serve to make them more receptive to me the next time I contact them.

Professional Selling Skills Training: Why Buy Now?

Each day we're faced with far more demands for our time, and all of us have to make decisions as to how to allocate it. With this in mind, do we know how to leverage time to our advantage when making a sales call? More importantly, do we know how to use time to our advantage when closing the deal? In both instances, we have to make sure the customer understands why it is important to buy right now.

Every sales call must create a need for the customer to realize how much time they will lose if they don't buy today. This does not mean every close comes with a discount if they buy by a certain date. Rather, it means that we must seek to help them understand how they will be making better use of their time if they buy now. When the customer understands the value of time and how much their own time is worth, then they will be far more likely to make a decision right away.

Many salespeople spend too much time with people who are not driven to make a decision. In the end, they wind up making a lot of sales calls with not a lot to show for it.

Sales Training Tip #165: You’re The Expert

Never forget that you are an expert, not because of what you sell but because of how you sell. You play a very important role to your customers and that includes listening to what they have to say. Be an expert of your industry in general and your customers in particular.

Sales Training Tip #164: Defining Failure

Is failure a set level, or is it a level we set on ourselves? Failure is not a word. It’s a state of mind. Are you setting yourself up for failure in 2007?

Sales Training Tip #163: Defining Success

Success is not measured by what you do. It is measured by what you do with what you are given. Never allow the appearance of having a bad territory, bad marketing materials, etc., ever stand in your way. Consider where you might need an attitude adjustment so that you can be more successful in 2007.