The Selling Newsletter
The Selling Newsletter
from Best@Selling
A free monthly newsletter of ideas to help make your selling easier.
Selling is the easiest job in the world…Just ask anyone who is NOT in sales! Best wishes for YOUR successful selling—Maura
This issue contains:
The Selling Quote for the Month
Upcoming Programs
The Selling Ideas for the Month
Action Items
Selling Tips
To Subscribe to the Selling Newsletter
Need an article for your newsletter?
About Maura Schreier-Fleming
Contact Informatio
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The Selling Quote for the Month
“The enemy of competence is surprise.”
Michael Grinder, Nonverbal Communication expert
This is what all sales professionals find out in sales sooner or later. Even the most talented sales professionals who are competent in many areas will find a surprise at some point in a sales call. What’s a sales professional to do? Technical competence, communication skills competence and business competence will help reduce problems and surprises. It may sound counterintuitive, but you can also do some planning for the surprises. And you should. Learn how to deliver uncomfortable information without increasing your customers stress. After all, you’ll have to deliver a price increase or other difficult information at some point in your sales process. Learn how to deescalate the stress when you are faced with an angry customer. There’s nothing worse than going into a sales call and being totally unprepared for a customer’s reaction. Difficult information produces emotions. If you have a strategy to deal with your customers’ responses instead of being surprised, you just might end up keeping their business. And that shouldn’t surprise you.
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Do you have a Sales Question?
I’m 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
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Winter Public Programs 2007 Winter Programs:
When : April 19
8.30 Am-11.30AM
Where: QUOIN Headquarters
What: Secrets of Persuasion for Project Success
For more information and registration:
972-647-0697
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When : May 25, June 1, June 8, June 15
11.30 AM- 1:30 PM
Where: Small Business Development Center
4800 West Park Blvd.
Plano, TX
What: Master Selling Series:
1. Persuasion
2. Consultative Selling: Strategic Questions
3. Laser Listening Skills
4. Selling Strategy
For more information: 972-985-3749 or
972-985-3758
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When : May 22
11.30 AM- 1:30 PM
Where: Small Business Development Center
4800 West Park Blvd.
Plano, TX
What: Power Persuasion
For more information: 972-985-3749 or
972-985-3758
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The Selling Ideas for this Month
And the Answer Is…
Making a sales call without a questioning strategy is like going on a trip without a map. When you get there, how you get there and most importantly if you get there are unknown. This haphazard strategy will get you sales results that are far short of what you want. What a shame! A sales call without well planned, effective questions is similar to a poorly planned trip. When you plan your questions, you get the information that you need to sell. Here are some important questions to include in your next sales call.
Why are we speaking now? The first time you meet with customers, you can’t directly ask them to tell you about their problems. That’s unfortunate since understanding their concerns and problems is necessary for you to figure out why they need you. You have to wait to ask this type of question because it’s too early in the sales process. There’s just not enough trust built up yet. Even though you may not be able to ask, you still need the information. Here’s how you can get the information. You ask your prospect why we are meeting now. The implication that now is different than the previous time gives the customer a safe way to discuss the current situation and what triggered the meeting. It’s a very powerful question that you can ask a customer who barely knows you. Asking the question this way instead of “What are your concerns?” makes it easy for your customer to answer and give you the information you need.
Why are you interested in that? At trade shows you can fall into the trap of thinking that handing out sales literature is the same as selling. It’s not. A customer asks for sales literature, often not with an immediate buying intention. It’s a safe way for them to avoid hurting your feelings when they leave without showing interest in buying. When the prospect asks for something the salesperson hears interest and hands out the literature. Most literature ends up unread, in a garbage pail. Instead of automatically giving out your advertising materials, the next time a customer asks if you have sales literature, say, “Yes. And I’m curious, what exactly would you like to see? They might tell you a particular area. When they do, follow with, “That’s interesting. Why are you interested in that?” If they hesitate with their answer or they don’t have an answer that will tell you about their real interest. By asking them “Why?” you’ll quickly learn who is truly interested and who is not.
Is that important to you? Customers may also ask you questions. Part of your questioning strategy should be the preparation of your response. Customers may ask you about your experience in their industry. You may not have had that experience or might not have exactly what they want to hear. The problem is that you don’t know what they want to hear or if you’ve built enough credibility to address your lack of specific experience. You should follow your answer to their question with “And why is that important to you?” With their answer you’ll uncover a possible objection that you can address right then rather than let it be your prospect’s negative perception.
Voltaire, the French philosopher was not in sales. Yet he could have been. He said, “Judge a man by his questions, rather than his answers.” He was right. Your customers certainly are when they decide to buy.
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Action Items
1.What questions have customers been asking you that you can give better responses to?
2. What question are you going to use to start your next sales call to get your customer to begin talking about his business?
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Selling Tips
Get more selling tips from Maura’s ebook: 97 Ways to Sell More Now E-Book
https://www.bestatselling.com/selling_tools.htm#5
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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.
https://www.bestatselling.com/Audio_CD.htm
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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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To Subscribe to the Selling Newsletter
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To unsubscribe, scroll down to the bottom of the newsletter and you can click on the “Go here to leave this list– (and why would you want to do that!!! š )
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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: https://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 752448
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(c) Copyright 2007 Maura Schreier-Fleming. All rights reserved
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