What you say can either help you sell, or cost you the sale. Here are strategies on what to say to sell more. Avoid long openings. Some salespeople think that customers need to get to know them before the customers will buy. Their strategy is to schmooze and get a feel good vibe going. You’re wrong if you think schmoozing is selling. You’re wasting time if that’s all you’re … [Read more...]
4 Questions to Build Trust and Shorten Your Sales Cycle
Sales is about the transfer of trust. Your prospect must have trust in you. You can make it easier and faster for a prospect to trust you by the questions you ask. Question #1. In the unlikely event of an error, how and when would you like to be notified?” Murphy’s Law exists. Things will go wrong. Do you know what your customer wants you to do when things go wrong? Here’s … [Read more...]
What to Include in Your Annual Value Delivery Sales Meeting
1. Present your work. Give a list of all the work you did for the account. Of course this means that you have to keep track of the work you do. Are you keeping track? Now is a good time to start. Here are some ideas of what you can track: • Time you don’t invoice. This could be planning meetings you hold and don’t charge your customer. • Deliveries delays avoided or on time … [Read more...]
How to Sell at a Lunch or Dinner Seminar
You should be selling if you’re going to be feeding your prospects. Seminars are a popular way to engage with your prospects. Just be sure you are doing everything you can to result in a sale. Make sure the equipment works before the seminar. Some venues provide audiovisual equipment. The last two presentations I saw had technical difficulties. Yes, you can learn the … [Read more...]
Curiosity is a great trait to have in sales
What comes to mind when you think of the traits that salespeople need to be successful? Maybe it’s being a clear communicator, or strategic thinker. Some might say being a good listener. You need all of them. Most people forget that a very useful selling trait is being curious. I talk about the importance of curiosity in one of my presentations about what traits make a … [Read more...]
Ask For Sales Help to Sell More
You should be asking for help whether or not you are making your sales goals. You will make selling a lot easier when you get help. Here’s what to ask for. Ask for selling tools. All too often I see salespeople who are tasked with figuring out how to sell. This is unfair to the salesperson and unrealistic for sales success. Your company’s management should develop your sales … [Read more...]
What makes a great salesperson? A great sales manager.
Behind many great sales professionals are great sales managers. A sales manager is someone who can make selling much easier---or a whole lot harder. Management defines the process. Too often management expects salespeople to do the impossible. They hire salespeople and say, "Go sell." You wouldn’t expect someone on the assembly line to figure out how to assemble a product. Why … [Read more...]
Always be closing? No way.
Digital Equipment Corp. founder Ken Olsen said in 1977, "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home." That might have been true back in 1977 for a variety of reasons, but certainly doesn’t hold true today. There are some sales principles that need to be retired because they are no longer true for selling today. “Always be closing.” I just heard a … [Read more...]
Metaphors to sell more
You must have heard the saying, "A picture is worth 1,000 words." Well some words are worth 1,000 pictures. I often say that the tools of a salesman's trade are words. Metaphors are word pictures and they are powerful words. They make it easier for the listener to listen because they involve more senses than just hearing. They do this by creating word pictures. When someone … [Read more...]
Sell More When You Build Trust and Rapport
People do business with people they like. So how can you get customers and prospects to like you? Think of selling as an art and a science. The science of selling can help you understand your customers and how they select their preferred suppliers. Their preferences start with rapport. What is rapport? Rapport is the feeling you get when you have an environment of trust and … [Read more...]