There’s something wrong with a sales process when a sales manager sees a prospect sitting on a prospect list month after month and there’s never a sale. The reason is the manager is asking the wrong questions and the salesperson is reporting history, not creating the future. Here are the questions that sales managers should be asking. Why should the customer buy? The first … [Read more...]
A Quick Way to Lose a Sale
Not too many things surprise me. This one did. Here is one of the fastest ways to lose a sale and I’ll bet this salesperson didn’t even notice. I was at a business lunch this week where the presenter was talking about her business. She developed business presentations for companies. She showed her work and it looked very impressive. Her work product was professional, … [Read more...]
Are women discriminated at work?
I was surprised recently and I’m not often surprised about what goes on in business. Just imagine you were working in an organization and you were being discriminated against. Only you didn’t know it. Here’s what shocked me so it hopefully won’t happen to you. I was meeting with a prospect. He mentioned that the ways that men disenfranchise women at work are subtle. He told … [Read more...]
Sales Strategy: Think About How You Buy When You Sell
Think about how you buy the next time you sell. I recently became a buyer to make two major home renovation projects. You want to make the best buying decision when you’re spending tens of thousands of dollars. Here’s where a few salespeople went wrong with their sales strategy. Too much personal information. I’m looking for a contractor, not a new best friend. I don’t want to … [Read more...]
Focus on the Sales Process Not Sales Results
Some people think selling is easy. If it were really so easy then everyone could do it. Selling is not easy. Your job is to reduce your sales frustrations and make your selling easier. That’s why you should focus on the sales process, not sales results. Accept that you cannot control what other people do. What makes selling so hard is that you can only accomplish your sales … [Read more...]
Why Engineers Can Make the Best Salespeople
When you think of a salesperson, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Is it an introverted, detail oriented, thoughtful individual like an engineer? Probably not. The biggest myth in sales is that the best salespeople are the best talkers. Great selling requires more than just talking. That's why engineers can make the best salespeople. Engineers are thoughtful. Engineers … [Read more...]
Product Pricing based on what your customer thinks.
Do you think customers perceive a difference in a product that's priced $40.00 versus $39.72? Of course they do. Here's why. Research participants were more inclined to buy champagne if its price was a round number ($40.00 versus $39.72 or $40.28) but more inclined to buy a calculator if its price (the same numbers were used) wasn’t round, say Monica Wadhwa of Insead and … [Read more...]
Do NOT trick customers to make them buy from you.
Great selling means you don't have to trick customers to buy. I just got off the phone with Jim. The call started with a warm greeting of “Hey Maura. It’s Jim. Great to talk with you.” His friendliness seemed sincere. I replied, “Hi, Jim” wondering the whole time who this Jim was. I quickly learned. He was an inside salesman. Once I realized that I didn’t know him, I felt … [Read more...]
When should you stop selling?
You’ve identified a viable prospect. You make the sales call. During the sales call you get resistance from your prospect. Do you push for the sale or do you realize it’s time to stop selling? Sometimes it’s time to stop selling. Sometimes you learn the unexpected. When you decided to make the sales call, there was a reason you thought that the prospect could and should buy … [Read more...]
Sales and Operations=More Sales
What's sales have to do with operations? Everything if you want to sell more. Think about who you could invite to your next sales meeting. Are you thinking you should invite people from operations? That department might not be the one that comes to mind. You may be thinking, what would operations people have to contribute to a sales meeting? That’s not the point. Salespeople … [Read more...]