SALES QUOTE
“You learn from people saying ‘no’ by asking them why they didn’t say ‘yes’.”
Ron Gonen, founder of Recyclebank, No. 4 on the Wall Street Journal ‘s top 50 venture-funded companies list
For Salespeople…
That’s what Gonen said when he was asked what he learned about what it takes to be successful. What he learned is a useful lesson for sales professionals. You certainly hope to win all the sales you are working on, but you know better than that. So what do you do when you lose a sale? Do you just walk away? I hope not. Instead, why not learn something? Find out why that customer didn’t buy from you. Sometimes you even get lucky enough to make a change and turn a no into a yes. Even if you don’t, you still get the opportunity to learn why that customer picked someone over you. You need that information. You may encounter the same concern the next time you sell. You can make sure to address that customer concern this time. You’ll not only have the answer, you just might even get the sale.
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THE BLOG S AND OTHER COLUMNS
I’m now writing The Real Deal, a column on women in business for Allbusiness.com Hope you’ll read more ideas so you can achieve your success in business.
You can get RSS feed for the blog.
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THE SELLING IDEAS FOR THE MONTH
New Ideas for Selling
Are you ready for some new ideas for selling? As I work with sales professionals, one thing I’m focusing on are the things they can address, not the things they can’t. You can’t change a sluggish economy. You can try some new ideas.
Have a plan. One thing you can do to make each sales call more successful is to plan your strategy before each sales call. It’s amazing to me how many sales professionals think that the sales call starts as they’re sitting down in the chair in their customer’s office. Far from it! Each sales call starts back in your office with a plan to move the sales process forward. Where are you in the process? Where do you want to be? What information do you need to move your process forward? Answer those questions and you’ll see the gaps in your sales process and what gaps you need to fill. You’ll quickly see what questions you need to ask your prospects and customers. Be sure to include in your plan how you will prove what you say in the sales call, too.
There are a few benefits of having a sales call plan. First, it guides your questioning strategy. Second, it will save you time. You’ll avoid leaving sales calls forgetting what you needed to do. Third, it’s the only way to determine if the sales call was a success. You succeeded if you implemented your plan.
Ask don’t tell. Even successful sales professionals sometimes forget this. It is far more effective to engage a customer with questions instead of telling him what you want him to think. Let’s say you want a customer to understand that his current situation is costing him a lot of money in downtime. You could tell your customer that the downtime is a bad situation for him. Instead, why not ask your customer a question like, “Is it difficult for you to operate now with your current product?” Your customer will answer, “Yes, it is. We have a lot of downtime with it now.”
When your customer answers with his problems, he owns the problem, not you. There’s less resistance later in the sales process when you present your product as the solution to your customer’s downtime. Think about asking questions so your customers tell you their issues. Don’t tell them their problems.
Use persuasion strategies. There is a great deal of research on persuasion. Sales professionals are supposed to master ethical persuasion strategies. Sometimes they forget. I saw this the other day when I was buying some new software. Dragon Naturally Speaking is a voice recognition program. (It’s fabulous, by the way.) There are several different versions from about $100 to several hundred dollars. When I went to the store, I looked to the salesperson for some education on the different versions. He started with the lowest price first. Then he described the next higher and went on to the highest priced product. Wrong! He should have gone from highest to lowest. I noticed what the persuasion research shows. In contrast, the highest priced version seemed much higher than the lowest priced version.
Also, he showed me too many versions of the product. He should have asked me questions first about my use and then presented 3 of the versions. I was thoroughly confused after his presentation. I had to leave the store, do my own research and then come back to make my purchase. Don’t offer so many options that you confuse your customers!
Yes, the economy is different now. Maybe now is the time for you to execute some different selling strategies. They just might make you more successful, too.
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ACTION ITEMS
1. Review your questioning strategy BEFORE your next sales call. What do you need to know?
2. Practice asking questions instead of telling customers the answers
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Programs
You can check for current programs.
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95% of people in the U.S. watch TV or use other technologies such as computers or cell phones in the hour before bed at least a few nights a week. The National Sleep Foundation, which surveys people on their sleep habits, says exposure to light from screens enhances alertness, making sleep more difficult. 60% of respondents experience sleep problems (snoring, waking, not feeling refreshed) every night or almost every night, the organization says. Let that not be you!
Source: Annual Sleep in America Poll Exploring Connections with Communications Technology Use and Sleep
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Here are some selling tools to help you sell more now. Click on the photo to find out more!
Monday Morning Sales Tips : A book that has quick ideas for you to be more successful in sales. Real-World Selling: A book with selling skills and strategies that work in the real world of sales. Secrets of Persuasion: Audio CD for the clues to use to speed-read people and close more business.