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You are here: Home / Newsletters / Don’t Over sell

Don’t Over sell

November 16, 2014 By maurasf

Selling Ideas for this Month

 

  Don’t Oversell

What you do to make your selling thrive is a lot like growing plants. Most die from over watering, not under watering.  Are you over selling?

Selling takes time.  I’m all for having a positive attitude.  It’s beyond having a positive attitude to expect a complex sale to close on every first sales call. Yet, you don’t want to drag out your sales process needlessly. 

How long do you think your sales process should take? You need to be patient and not push too hard too early in the sale.  Complex sales are like dating.  After all, what would you think of someone who took out a first time date and asked the woman to marry him on that first date? 

Probably not much.  Do you think the woman would say yes? Probably not.  You would wonder about her if she did. In sales, if they buy immediately they probably have credit problems. 

Chunk it down as you design your sales process.  Figure out how long it should take you to sell now that you know your sale will take time.  How much time do you need to establish credibility? What needs to happen so a customer can make a buying decision?  How long would it take? 

Let’s say your sales process takes 3 sales calls to build rapport, your credibility and customer comfort and understanding of your product.  Create objectives for each sales call.  The first sales call objective could be to get the 2nd meeting.  At the first sales call, you don’t have an expectation of closing the deal. 

At the meeting you would ask a few specific questions to learn specific information.  You ask about your customer’s concerns.  At the first meeting, you learn whether there is any customer interest and you clearly know if you can move forward in the process. Before you leave, you can say, “It sounds like we have a reason to move forward. I suggest we set up the next meeting where I can go into more detail. What do you have available in the next few weeks?” 

Slower is better.  By breaking down your process into more manageable chunks you avoid customer overload.  You also give your customer some additional information about how you work. 

After the first sales call you can send some additional relevant information. You might see an article that specifically relates to what your customer said.  When you send it to your customer you demonstrate that you are a good listener.  You’ve increased your persuasion ability since good listeners are liked and people are more persuasive when they’re liked. 

At the second meeting, you can bring in a technical expert to discuss and answer any specific questions.  Your third meeting can be the contract signing and start of your work.  Answering what needs to happen so you can close your sale, forces you to look at your process and incorporate those steps into each sales call.  Be sure to meet your sales call objectives before you move on to the next step in your process.

Start slower with your prospects if you find that you’re driving business away. Just like plants suffer from too much water, your prospects don’t need all that pushing either.  Stop killing your deals. 

Best wishes for your selling success!


Action Items

1. Calculate your ideal sales cycle time. Build in a cushion for each step, but have a general idea how long it will take to make a sale.

2.  What are your objectives for each sales call that are steps in your process?

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About the principal

Would you take auto mechanics classes when you buy a car? Maura did because she wanted to be able to work on her car. She takes that same approach to selling. She can show you how to get below the surface of selling to learn why and how different strategies work. She will show you which skills to implement that will shorten your sales cycle and increase your sales. She was Mobil Oil's first female Lubrication Engineer in the United States and one of Chevron's top 5 salespeople in the country. She knows what works for sales.

"I would recommend your work to other sales organizations who want to get better results from improved selling strategies."
Jamey Rootes
President
Houston Texans

Sales Expert at Allbusiness.com

Selling is the easiest job in the world. Just ask anyone who is not in sales. Read Maura’s ideas on “more brain…less mouth” selling to make your selling easier and more successful.

Maura’s Allbusiness blog posts

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