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The Selling E-Letter®
Less Than 100
As
I left for school each morning, my mother would say goodbye to me. If I
were having an exam that day she’d add, “And don’t come home with less
than 100.” Does that sound cold in today’s environment of self-esteem and
self-expression? It didn’t to me. It was the beginning of my sales
training.
What my mother did for me was to define clearly the
limits of my objectives at school. In my case, A’s were both the upper and
lower limits. In sales we tend to know our upper limit of expectation.
It’s to make the sale. We sometimes forget to establish our lower
acceptable limit. Here are some ideas for setting lower limits to maximize
the success of each sales call.
Your sales objective. Begin
each sales call with at least one objective. Sales is a process. Setting
your objective is just one step in the process. Your objective will answer
the question “If this call is successful what will result?” And you can’t
say to get an order. Reasonable objectives are ones that move the selling
process forward. Reasonable objectives for a sales call are presenting a
solution and getting feedback, getting agreement for a product trial, or
meeting a key decision maker.
You may have found in your selling
that your customers follow a different script than the ones you write.
Because of this we also need to establish a minimum objective for each
sales call. This is what you leave the sales call with if you don’t reach
your first objective.
The minimum objective. If the key
decision maker is called out for another meeting, your minimum objective
becomes presenting your solution to a subordinate. You can then learn more
about how the key decision maker thinks and get the subordinate’s approval
for your solution. If the agreement for the product trial becomes elusive,
your minimum objective is to identify the steps to take before a trial can
take place. Then get commitment for a trial when those steps occur. The
key decision maker may tell you he is happy with his present supplier who
happens to be his brother-in-law. Your minimum objective becomes getting a
referral for another company who could be a satisfied customer. One
marketing executive of an international high tech company told me that 35%
of the customers who cannot buy from you, feel a desire to help, and will
make a referral. If you don’t ask, you won’t receive.
Reality
will get in the way. A’s were the objective in school. I knew what I
was expected to do to achieve my objectives. I studied and maintained a
positive attitude. Even with my objectives, the reality was I didn’t get
all A’s even though I learned a lot. Now that I’m selling I also know what
is expected to achieve my goals. I prepare sales objectives even though I
don’t make all of my sales.
We are hopeful to make a sale each
time we make a sales call. While making a sale every time is optimistic,
coming away with something more than you started with is realistic. Being
prepared to set maximum and minimum sales objectives will help move your
sales process forward to a satisfactory conclusion. Let me say goodbye and
wish you good luck on your next sales call. And if you come home with less
than 100, at least come home with something that makes the grade.
Maura Schreier-Fleming works with
business and sales professionals on skills and strategies so they can sell
more and be more productive at work. She is the author of Real-World
Selling for Out-of-this-World Results which is available at
www.BestatSelling.com. She founded her company Best@Selling in
1997. You can reach her at 972.380.0200.
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