The Selling Newsletter
SALES QUOTE“Suppose we settle for half of what you would be willing to give me if the bone were still lodged in your throat.”
British Surgeon Joseph Lister after removing a fish bone stuck in a rich man’s throat and when asked what the charge was.
The next time you are talking with prospects, try listening to yourself. Are you only asking questions about their business during the sales call which add to your knowledge of their business? Or are you asking questions about issues that might concern your customers? If you’re only asking questions about the business—how many people are employed, how large the plant is, when the purchase is going to be made—these questions about your customer’s business motivate no one to buy. Why? There’s no pain—no fish bone stuck in the throat. Customers respond to products and services when they need or want what you have to offer. Have you noticed customers buy when there’s a sense of urgency? You can’t put fish bones in your customers’ mouths. What you can do is make sure you’ve identified a need or problem that concerns your customer. You do this by asking questions to uncover needs and wants. When you ask these questions and your customers answer, your customers understand that they have a need, it’s important and they have to act—buy—from you now. Your questions—the ones that uncover important customer concerns– can create the same urgency as a stuck fish bone. Bon appetit—or rather good selling!
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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
The Power of One
What do you think you should hear when you do a better job than your peers of managing your budget and exceeding your goals? I did both and my boss told me that I was "cheap to keep." That was the last straw. I knew I was a top performer and already knew that I was long being underpaid. I had not done anything about it. Hearing that insult made me finally take action.
I’m also writing a sales blog for Salesmecca.com. I’m now a guest columnist for the Dallas Business Journal. My column is called “Customer Connections.” I’ll be answering readers’ questions about selling. Do you have any selling questions? Send them to info@bestatselling.com
What’s sales tip has helped you be even more successful in sales?
Send your helpful tip to tip@bestatselling.com
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The Selling Ideas for this Month
As the World Turns
I was recently interviewed by a radio show host about the changing world of sales. Selling today is not the same as selling was 15 years ago. Some of the changes mean that salespeople have to do different things. So if you’re doing the same things that you did years ago, you might not get the same results you got in the past. Here’s how to sell in today’s world of sales.
You’re on your own. Today’s organizations are flatter and fewer people are doing more. That means even great sales managers have more to do than ever before. With their own responsibilities growing, they have less time to coach their sales team on skills and strategies. I also see organizations that hire people to sell and then give them no sales training. What this means for your selling success is that it’s often up to you to be constantly looking for role models and mentors to help you with your selling. You’ve got to be proactive to look around and ask others how they’re doing what you’re trying to do. Ask them who they prospect for. Ask them how they manage their time. Ask them specifics about how they manage their business. You could also ask the less successful salespeople what they’re doing. Just be sure you know not to do what they’re doing. It’s not working and it probably won’t work for you either.
You’ve got to make yourself better. I am amazed when companies invest in training and never use what they learn. One would expect a manager to reinforce the training by incorporating it into the company’s sales process. Most good sales managers do make sales calls with their sales staff. The training techniques could be applied during those sales calls. Yet often it never happens. I’ll send out follow-up for four weeks after a program with ideas for management to reinforce what was taught. If management is too busy to help apply the new learning, then it’s up to you to choose to implement what you’ve learned. Here’s what you can do. At the end of every training program, set objectives for how you’re going to apply what you have learned to your selling. Set no more than 3 objectives. Make them specific and measurable. After all, you want to keep the objectives manageable. Then pick one objective at a time and just do it! You’ve taken time away from your selling to learn the skill. It’s now up to you to do something with it.
On the go. As younger people enter the workforce they bring different attitudes about employment to the workplace. Recent retirees had far fewer jobs during their careers than is predicted for today’s workforce. Studies show that the average working American will have three to five careers and between 10 to 12 jobs during his or her lifetime. Selling before meant you had some assurance that the person you were successfully selling to would be around a while. In the old days you could catch your breath and not worry so much about the threat of competition. You also saved a lot of time by not having to prove yourself over and over again with each new customer who came in to the position and had loyalties to another supplier. Those days are gone. You are more vulnerable to competition today because you don’t have the long periods of time where you’ve built trust and created customer loyalty. Today you have to build strategic alliances within accounts with more people so you can hedge your bets when people leave or change jobs within the company. People won’t stay forever today. Don’t expect them to.
Much has changed in the world of selling. The more things change the more they stay the same. Successful selling is still about building trust with your customers and helping them make the best buying decisions. That’s one thing that should never change and hopefully it never will.
Action Items
1. Make sure you are regularly contacting at least 3 different people at different levels or your most important accounts. If one leaves, you’re less vulnerable.
2. Implement one new training idea.
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Programs
When: February 20 9-12noon
Where: Great Plains Technology Center, Lawton, OK.
What: Real-World Selling: Influence Strategies To Sell More Now
More information at 580-250-5551 or 580-250-5556.
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Here are some selling tools to help you sell more now. Click on the photo to find out more!
Sales Quotes: 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.