There are two factors that motivate customers to buy. They are pain or pleasure. Pain motivates more than pleasure. Unless your customers are experiencing enough pain there is no reason to do anything about it. Yet, just experiencing pain is insufficient to motivate a customer to do something about it and buy. You have to be very clear about how much pain he’s experiencing. … [Read more...]
A new kind of tweet aimed at customer service
You don't hear much about lost luggage any more. This customer turned his negative experience into an interesting use of social media. You may be tweeted about in ways you never thought of if your company provides less than stellar customer service. Here's more about this unhappy customer. … [Read more...]
Start your sale off right
What's the most critical time of your sale? It's the beginning. In The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter by Michael D. Watkins, he says that "if you promise too much and fall short, you risk undermining your credibility. Even if you successfully complete a great number of projects, but don’t do everything on your … [Read more...]
Sell more when you quantify a customer’s problem.
You probably know that for a customer to buy something from you, there has to be a problem or a need. The customer can do nothing (and often does) unless there is a problem to solve or a need to fill. If you’re executing an effective questioning strategy, you are uncovering your customer’s need or pain. You might have found that your products can reduce downtime, reduce … [Read more...]
Make it easier for customers to buy
People make decisions by comparing one choice to another. The persuasion principle is known as contrast. Do you ever notice that off-white fabric looks dingy only when it’s next to bright white fabric? That’s contrast. Contrast is used in business to make decisions. When there are multiple choices, we compare one to the others. When in doubt, if there’s only one choice, it’s … [Read more...]
Don’t Make This Sales Mistake
There are salespeople (inexperienced ones I think) who early in the sales call will talk about price. In the first 10 minutes of the sales call they will say, “I think I can save you some money on your (product). Can I get you a quote? Quoting prices isn’t selling. In fact, you don’t even need a human being to quote prices today. The only way you can quote prices early in the … [Read more...]
When is a referral not a referral?
I was recently asked this question for an upcoming column in SOLD magazine. Are there times or types of sales where referral prospecting is not worth it? Here's my answer. Yes there are. Are you surprised I said that? There are times when businesspeople think they're giving you a referral and it's not. That's when the referral isn't the value you think it is. What … [Read more...]
Customer Preferences you can use to your advantage
I just read in the Harvard Business Review daily stat that when simultaneously using multiple items, consumers prefer products of the same brand, a phenomenon that overwhelms their preexisting brand preferences. Here's what they report: Research participants who were consuming a nonfavored brand (of chips, say) chose the same brand of a complementary product (salsa, for … [Read more...]
Want better sales results? Here’s what needs to change.
In sales, your results speak for themselves. If something is not working, the only changes you can make are to yourself. Despite your belief that sometimes the customer is wrong (especiallywhen they don’t buy from you!), you cannot change your customers. You can only change your response to them and your preparation for future sales calls. What are you doing differently to … [Read more...]
What is your prospect’s problem worth?
I recently reviewed the proposals that a client was generating. Not only were they not customized to a particular prospect, but in none of them was there any indication of what the prospects' problem was costing them. If you're selling products or services for a substantial amount (you can determine that) then you had better be clear on what the problem is costing the prospect … [Read more...]