The Selling Newsletter
The Selling Quote for the Month
“To me, selling begins with investing time in preparation and planning.”
Donald Trump
Love him or hate him, the Donald has a point. If you look at what Donald does you can see the planning. His Trump Tower, the 68-story skyscraper with six floors of shopping, 263 residential apartments and thousands of square feet of office space was completed on budget and on time. That took extraordinary planning. In 1986, Donald Trump proposed to take over the rebuilding of the Wollman Skating Rink in Central Park. It took New York City officials 6 years and millions of dollars and the project wasn’t complete. Trump took it on and in six months came in under budget. That’s planning. Selling is the same. If you want great things to happen, you have to plan them and then execute. What can you plan? Plan how you will open your sales call. Plan the questions to ask. Plan for the minimum and maximum objectives for each sales call. Just to be sure, plan for what can go wrong. And last, plan for a great sales call. Why not? If you’ve done the work, you are more likely to succeed than fail.
I’m now a guest columnist for the Dallas, Austin and Houston Business Journals. 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
Start the New Year Off With a Bang
Did your New Year resolutions include learning something new for selling? I’m trying something new and would like to invite my Selling Newsletter readers to a complimentary (that means no charge!) teleseminar on the Secrets of Persuasion. There is a long distance phone call charge unless you are in Iowa, but I’m thinking that since the seminar is no charge, that should be something you would want. Space is limited so if you’re interested, and unable to attend, email me and I’ll schedule a second program.
Here are the details:
What: Teleconference “Secrets of Persuasion”
When: Friday, January 18, 2008-01-14
9.30 Central Standard Time
(that’s 10.30 Eastern, 7.30 Pacific)
for 1 hour program
Where: wherever you are by a phone
What to do: call: Dial-in Number: 1-712-580-1100 (Spencer, IA)
Participant Access Code 84072
Program Description:
There are clues you can use when you’re selling that will show you how your customers buy. The clues are things you see every day. Yet most people are unaware of the clues so they are unable to use them. In this interactive program, you will learn what the clues are, what they mean and how to use them in business so you can close business faster and sell more.
Attendees will be able to:
Shorten their sales cycle by using the clues which show how your customer wants to buy Quickly create rapport with others so you avoid creating resistance and objections Negotiate more effectively using the clues other people give you Reduce the stress of selling by knowing how to prepare for each customer
Any questions: email: Info@Bestatselling.com
Hope you can attend.
THE BLOG S AND OTHER COLUMNS
I’m now writing The Real Deal, a column on women in business for Allbusiness.com https://www.allbusiness.com/3472033-1.html and for salesmecca.com
https://salesmecca.com/SalesCommunity/SalesBlogs
/tabid/60/Default.aspx
Leave your comments and I would love to respond to you.
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
The Selling Ideas for this Month
Say It Isn’t So
I recently attended a customer’s sales meeting before my presentation began. During the meeting one salesman angrily complained about a customer he was going to lose. The customer was part of a national chain and hadn’t paid an outstanding invoice. The credit department representative called this important customer and abruptly cut off the customer’s credit. What the sales rep later discovered was that the invoice went to the wrong address and the customer never saw it. Now the salesperson was faced with a customer who vowed never to buy from his company again.
Faster than the speed of light. When customers threaten to quit buying, suppliers are in a very perilous situation. The odds are against you keeping the business and you must act fast. When customers make a threat, they unconsciously feel obligated to keep it. There’s only one thing in your favor. The process of switching is usually a cumbersome process and most customers don’t want to change. This means there may be a brief window for a supplier to plead his case. Timing is critical. Any delay can cause a customer to get further entrenched into his decision to quit buying and more resistant to changing his mind about quitting.
Face-to-face. Forget about making a phone call to apologize. This is the only time when a face-to-face sales call is your only option. Your customer has to see you squirm. You have to show the remorse you feel. You must profusely apologize and have your customer see your anguish. When you apologize be sure to include the words, “I’m so sorry that this happened to you.” Remember that an apology expresses regret, not blame. Then demonstrate that you understand the feelings your customer experienced as a result of what happened. Was your customer angry? Was your customer inconvenienced? Was your customer embarrassed? You should talk about those feelings. One example is, “I’m sure this made you very angry.” Feelings are facts to people. You must demonstrate that you have heard your customer’s feelings. When you demonstrate that you have heard your customers’ feelings, there is hope that they’ll choose to continue working with you.
Don’t go it alone. When you go into a meeting like this, expect that your customer may continue to vent. He may yell or even restate what happened and complain about your company or products. Whatever you do, make sure that you remain calm, you listen and you never interrupt. For emotional meetings like these it’s better if you have some additional support. Why not take your manager with you? Having a manager present would show additional deference to your customer while providing you with additional support.
Make amends. You can’t take the problem you caused away. What you can do is attempt to make your customer feel better. Hurt and angry customers must be made to feel much, much better. Before the meeting, think about what you can offer to make your customer more than “whole.” Could you offer him a discount on an invoice? Could you offer product at no charge? Could you offer him something special? Be prepared with multiple offerings just in case you have to add to your initial offer. Your offer must appear to be generous and your customer must value it. It’s not about balancing the deficit you caused. You have to tip the scales in your customer’s favor. Then discuss with your customer what you are going to do to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
Hopefully, you’ll never hear a customer say “I don’t ever want to buy from you again.” If you’re creating good customer relationships, perhaps you never will hear those terrible words again.
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Action Items
1. Talk to the order and supply departments who work with your customers. Are they finding any of your customers difficult to work with? Now might be the time to smooth things out so they don’t create any future problems for your customers—and you!
2. Talk to some of the support staff in other departments like credit or accounting who do speak with your customers. Ask if there are any customers you are in jeopardy of losing business. What can you do to help your support staff so you don’t lose business?
Upcoming Programs
When: Friday January 25, 2008
8.30 -10AM
What: Power Persuasion For Marketers
Where: La Cima Club, Las Colinas, TX
For More Information: info@Bestatselling.com
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When: February 8 11.30 AM- 1:30 PM
What: Power Persuasion
Where: Small Business Development Center
4800 West Park Blvd.
Plano, TX
For more information: 972-985-3749 or
972-985-3758
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When : February 27
11.30 AM- 1:00 PM
Where: Blue Mesa Grill
Beltline Road,
Dallas, TX
What: Power Persuasion
For more information: 214-691-1948
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When : March 7
11.30 AM- 1:30 PM
Where: Small Business Development Center
4800 West Park Blvd.
Plano, TX
What: Effective Meetings
For more information: 972-985-3749 or
972-985-3758
Selling Tips
Get more selling tips from Maura’s ebook: 97 Ways to Sell More Now E-Book
https://www.bestatselling.com/e-books.html
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Looking for new strategies to improve your persuasion skills? This easy to apply Audio CD will give you many new ideas to easily improve your persuasion skills so you can sell more and close business faster.
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I’m always looking for success stories and other tips from sales professionals. Please feel free to email me at info@bestatselling.com with ideas that have worked for you.
If you want to build customer relationships for long-term business, you can easily do it using Exacttarget (www.exacttarget.com) and their CANSPAM compliant broadcast services.
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Need an Article for Your Newsletter?
Articles from this newsletter may be used in your free publications or posted on your web when given the following credit:
Written by Maura Schreier-Fleming, Best@Selling (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.
For free articles, selling ideas and morale boosters
visit https://www.BestatSelling.com
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About Maura Schreier-Fleming
Invite Maura to speak at your next conference or sales meeting! Contact: info@bestatselling.com
Maura Schreier-Fleming works with business and sales professionals to make it easier to sell more and be more productive at work. Her Best@Selling clients want to create long-term client relationships. They include Fujitsu, Fannie Mae and Dr Pepper/7UP. She has an M.S. in Textile Engineering from Georgia Tech and was Mobil Oil’s first female lubrication engineer in the U.S. With over 20 years of sales experience, she teaches the art and science of selling with a unique hands-on perspective and a great deal of real-life insight. She is the author of Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results (a book filled with ideas to make selling easier and more productive. Her business column ‘Selling Strategies’ appears in the Insurance Record magazine and her column ‘Street Talk’ appears in Jobbers World. You can contact her for seminars at company or trade association meetings at 972 380 0200 or info@BestatSelling.com
Privacy: At Best@Selling we take privacy issues very seriously. Your information remains with us and will never be sold, shared, or distributed in any manner, for any reason.
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Contact Information
1. Our Web site: www.BestatSelling.com
2. E-mail: info@bestatselling.com
3. Call: In Dallas 972 380 0200
4. Write us:
6757 Arapaho Rd., Suite 711-183
Dallas, TX 75248
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(c) Copyright 2007 Maura Schreier-Fleming. All rights reserved
All information is the sole property of Best@Selling and the right to distribute this content is based upon prior terms of service and agreements. To remove your address from this list, please unsubscribe. Please visit our website BestatSelling.com for more details. Mailing Address: 6757 Arapaho Rd., 711-183, Dallas, TX 75248.