-Monthly Selling Newsletter with Ideas to Sell More Now-
-Michelangelo
For Salespeople…
Do you think Michelangelo is in sales? He certainly has the right idea. You should consider removing everything from your sales call that you don’t need. Every sales call should be focused on achieving your objective that moves your sales process forward. How do you do that? Ask yourself as you plan your next sales call, “What do I want to accomplish?” and “What do I need to do that?” Like Michelangelo, you’ve just removed the unnecessary and helped your prospect see what you want to see—your sale.
To my newsletter readers: Thank you to all of you and those who send comments. I always enjoy hearing from you!
Get more selling ideas at Allbusiness.com
Selling Ideas for this Month
Just because you have a big salary doesn’t mean you always have great ideas. These C level executive actions give sales professionals some clear sales strategies to avoid.
JCP: Listen to your customers. Do you remember when J.C. Penney’s CEO, Ron Johnson declared JC Penney a discount free coupon free zone? You might have wondered where he got that idea because the results were disastrous. Penney customers soundly rejected the strategy and it didn’t bring in enough new business to offset what they lost. If only Anderson had asked the employees who worked for him what they thought before he implemented his idea. Better yet would be to try it on a smaller scale and judge the pilot before changing the entire company culture.
Companies who ignore what their customers want will suffer and often it’s sooner rather than later as Penney found out. In the oil business we had a panel of distributors who met quarterly with management. These distributors were our largest and smaller customers. They listened to management’s ideas before they were implemented.
Often, management uncovered unforeseen barriers to a successful implementation and could correct with the panel’s input. New strategies were developed if the panel pushed back. Many disasters were avoided because of this input.
YAHOO: Speak for yourself. Do you remember when Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer (the fifth in five years) banned telecommuting? The New York Times reported that out of Yahoo’s 14,000 employees there were 200 with telecommuting contracts. The telecommuting was put to a stop by a confidential internal memo sent to all employees and written by the new HR director, not CEO Mayer.
Mayer gets points for communication. They’re all taken away because she didn’t do the communicating herself. You need to deliver tough news yourself. In sales you’re going to have price increases, product performance problems and other tough issues.
Don’t have someone else do your dirty work for you. Either talk to your customers yourself or write your own letter. A sub point is to avoid creating problems. If in fact the New York Times story is correct and only 200 people are involved, then why is Mayer fixing a problem that doesn’t exist?
FACEBOOK: Don’t ignore a customer’s concern. You may have heard about Facebook’s CFO, Sheryl Sandberg, and her best-selling book Lean In. In it she discussed a presentation at Harvard. One woman asked about work life balance and Sandberg dismissed her concern because the woman who asked was neither married nor considering starting a family. I think that the woman needed to hear Sandberg’s answer so that she could be comfortable in the future pursuing a high powered career.
Never dismiss a customer’s questions. I’ve seen salespeople listen to customer questions and then say the question is unimportant. Risk averse customers ask lots of questions. When salespeople dismiss their customer’s concerns they’re not going to get the sale.
Even C level executives make mistakes. Perhaps that gives you comfort. Don’t get too comfortable. When you make these mistakes in sales you’re likely to suffer some painful consequences.
Best wishes for your selling success!
Action Items
1. Talk to a few large and medium sized customers and get feedback on a few of your products or programs.
2. Do you answer all your customers’ questions?
Did You Know?
Here’s a tip this week for your sales success.
So I never assume, here’s a brief list of services I offer.
A. Consulting/Coaching/Mentoring
By hour or by project.
- Plan sales call strategies
- Develop effective proposals that prevent “low price” shoppers from picking your competiton
- Reduce the stress of working for a difficult manager
- Shorten the time for a new hire to be productive
- Design customized selling tablet app
- New ideas to sell more
- Develop questioning strategy to shorten your sales cycle and increase sales
- 90 Day Performance Plan for new sales hires to be productive faster and increase retentionFor info, please see Consulting/Coaching.Call 972 380 0200 for a free initial consultation.
B. Speaking at Sales Meetings to Improve Sales Performance
Present Sales Performance improvement programs at sales meetings and conferences
RECOMMENDED IF:
- Your salespeople lose proposals based on price.
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Programs for Your Sales Success
Consultative Selling: Asking the Strategic Questions that Sell: Did a customer tell you he needs to think about your sales proposal? Your questioning strategy is flawed. You will learn to ask the questions that sell for you and not hear “I’ll think about it” any more. This webinar is key to your sales call success.
Sell More Now Programs: Selling Strategies to Sell More Now!Your successful selling is more than talking and listening. It’s developing the strategy to get in front of the right customers the easiest and most effective ways. This thoughtful, strategic approach to your selling will shorten your sales cycle and increase the profitability of your business. You will learn to develop your successful selling strategies in this one-hour (approximate) program.You will learn to make strategic decisions that help your customers make a buying decision and see you as the preferred supplier. Your strategy work continues as you demonstrate why they should continue to buy from you. This program will guide you to formulate your sales strategies so you get in front of the right customers, help them make buying decisions faster, and create long-term business relationships.
You will learn:
1. How to get customers to quickly understand that you are the preferred supplier.
2. How to identify the customers you can best serve.
3. How to get customers to come to you.
4. How to avoid wasting time on the wrong prospects.
5. How to be perceived as an expert so customers quickly trust you.
Sell More Now with Mentoray Marketplace
Delegated to Done can help you sell more especially if you’re a sales professional, solopreneur, or are looking to get more customers on line. You wil learn how to build the right plan, systems and team to free your time and catapult your income to make more money.
Build a High Performance Team the Smart Way: Outsourcing
Are you looking to build a team to do the work you need to do? You will learn how to with The Mechanics of Making More program. The answer is building and leveraging a team of capable support professionals that have talent and share your vision for building your business and changing the world. This is the program for you whether you want to start systemizing and outsourcing, but aren’t sure how to get started or if you’ve already got some help and systems, but you’re ready to grow your team and leverage their talents even more to grow your business.
You Can Still Learn!
| On-Line Webinar: Would Have Liked to Know That!: A Salesman’s Guide To Sales Success
If you’re new to sales or thinking about a career in sales, you will want to avoid the setbacks and obstacles that might be part of your career. Selling is a fulfilling yet challenging job. You can learn to maintain the selling attitude you need to thrive. You will learn to focus on the skill that’s most important to sales success (and it’s probably not the one you think.) You will identify the strategies to implement that will lead to your sales success.
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On-Line Webinar: Secrets of Persuasion to Sell More Now
Sales professionals who use persuasion and influence get better results in business. This seminar will teach you to identify the behavioral clues you need to effectively
persuade others. You will learn what the clues mean and how to use them with customers to shorten your sales cycle. You will increase your sales when you have the tools to persuade.
You can read my monthly selling column Ask The Sales Pro for SOLD magazine where I answer readers selling questions. You can subscribe to the magazine and read my answers to solve their selling challenges. You can also ask questions! Get answers to your tough selling challenges.
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Written by Maura Schreier-Fleming, [email protected] (https://www.bestatselling.com). Maura works with business and sales professionals who want to sell more and be more productive at work. She is the author of Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results and Monday Morning Sales Tips.