The Selling Newsletter for Sales Professionals
“Slump? I ain’t in no slump. I just ain’t hittin.” Yogi Berra
For Salespeople…
It’s July. Are you on track to make your sales goals this year? The first step to make your goals is to realize you have to do something different if your numbers are off. Maybe Yogi doesn’t realize that he’s not going to make it. You don’t have that luxury. If you do your forecasts now—and be realistic– and see that your numbers are low, start doing something different. Figure out what’s not working. Is your prospecting flawed? Is your presentation not effective? Get help from another great salesperson or ask your sales manager for help. Either adjust your efforts upwards or face reality that this year is going to be off. It’s not too late to get back on track, but you had better start now.
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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 TO SELL MORE NOW
Are You Saying Something Stupid?
Some salespeople do some stupid things on sales calls. That’s why salespeople are the Rodney Dangerfield of the business world. I just finished reading one of the funniest articles about the 14 stupidest things said during a sales call. You are probably wondering how these salespeople ever got hired. In my recent presentation on How to Hire Great Salespeople, I started my presentation with a highlight of some of the ones that I thought were funny and incredible at the same time. Here’s what these salespeople did.
Get a good night’s sleep. There was one sales dynamo. He said that he fell asleep during the sales call. If that wasn’t bad enough, he started sawing zs while the client was talking. Did that wake him up? Nope. They finally had to poke him to wake him up.
Then there was the customer who asked a customer an acceptable question. He asked him what his job title was. In my program on Strategic Questions That Sell More Now that question would not have been totally acceptable. Why? He could have found out the answer to it before the meeting by asking the operator what the person’s title was. He then would have saved himself a question during the sales call and perhaps given himself more time to ask a better question. He asked the question anyway. Then things went wrong.
After asking the customer what his job title was, this charmer said, “ We usually present to someone higher up than you.” Do you think that’s likely to happen at that account after he made that comment? I don’t’ think so.
Delivering the Unexpected. You may have heard that people like to hear their name. It’s true because they listen better when they hear their name. One’s name is important. That’s why salespeople pay attention to a customer’s name pronunciation. Spelling it right is important, too. You would think that’s an easy thing to do. Nope. Another salesperson spelled a customer’s name wrong in a presentation. What was the customer’s name? It was Smith. It would be funny, but I’m not making this up.
Another unbelievable one was the sales rep who resigned while presenting. The salesperson just stopped and said, “I don’t really think I want to be in this business.” She then picked up her bag, and left.
My own personal favorite didn’t make the list because I didn’t submit it. It happened while I was making a joint sales call with a new sales rep. We were selling to a very risk averse customer. As a result, he was asking question after question. At about question number twelve this new rep looks at the customer, right in the eye and says, “You don’t need to know that.”
If you’re ever looking for the quickest way to end a sales call, that statement would do it.
What’s mind boggling is that someone selected these people for sales. What did they see in the interview that made them consider these people for sales? I wonder. I hope you’re shocked at these behaviors, too. They show a lack of attention to detail, preparation, and empathy. All are needed skills for successful selling.
If you think these behaviors aren’t so bad, then may you are not right for sales. Worse, you may be adding to the stupidest things that are said in a sales call.
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ACTION ITEMS
1. Plan your questions for your next sales call. 2. What questions might you be asked at your next sales call? Do you have the answers ready?
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Programs
You can check for current programs.
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If you are writing sales proposals, know how to use charts. Use charts to get the reader’s attention. Use charts particularly for data points that you want the reader to take notice of. Charts stand out well in a document, so you can use that to your advantage.
For non-scientific audiences, use easy-to-understand charts, such as pie charts, bar charts, line graphs, and tables. Avoid using complex charts, such as stacked bar charts, scatterplots, etc.
Source : NEDARC (The National EMSC Data Analysis Resource Center
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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.