The Selling Newsletter
*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 NOTin sales!
My mission is to help make it easier for you to sell.
Best wishes for YOUR successful selling—Maura
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UPCOMING SEMINARS:
SEMINAR: SECRETS OF PERSUASION
Description
The best salespeople make selling look easy. What they do is know the clues to use to quickly persuade. You can learn the clues so you can more effectively persuade and shorten your sales cycle.
When
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
11.30AM -1.30 PM
Where
Holiday Inn Select
1655 N. Central Expwy. Richardson, TX 75080
(South of Campbell Rd. on the s-bound access road)
Cost Includes lunch(Buffet opens at 11AM)
$79 With advance payment by June 18
$99 after June 18
For more information call: 972 380 0200 or info@BestatSelling.com
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SELLING QUOTE
“Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds.” Albert Einstein
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” Leo Tolstoy
You may have thought like Einstein after an especially difficult sales call. You may forget to think like Tolstoy when you prepare for your next sales call. In sales, our results speak for themselves. If something is not working, the only changes you can make are in yourself. Despite our belief that sometimes the customer is wrong (especially when they don’t buy from us!!!) we cannot change our customers. We can only change our response to them and our preparation for future sales calls. What are you doing differently to modify your sales strategy for future sales calls? Tolstoy has the right idea for sales.
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THE SELLING IDEAS FOR THIS MONTH
Get the Job
Job seekers who answer interview questions well improve their chances of getting an offer. Salespeople who anticipate and answer their customers’ questions well also improve their chances of making the sale. Job candidates go to a job interview prepared to answer certain questions because they expect them to be asked. The answering strategies of preparing and participating in a job interview to get an offer are similar to conducting a sales call and getting business. Here’s what they have in common.
What do you know? In a job interview the interviewer wants to know you’ve thoroughly researched the firm. The questions you ask during the interview indicate you’ve done your research and you want to learn more. In a sales meeting, your customers expect you to know what their company does, how they’re doing in the current economy, and a general idea of where your products and services fit into their organization. Customers don’t want to spend time explaining what their company does. The questions you ask show you’ve prepared and demonstrate the interest a customer wants to see. When you learn as much as you can about your customer before the sales call, you can ask even more penetrating questions that produce valuable information you need to sell.
If you sell oil, and you’ve researched your customer who is a transportation account, you know how many vehicles they have. Rather than asking how much oil they use, you can ask about how their storage and handling of lubricants is working to facilitate vehicle maintenance. That question will open the discussion to their handling methods, container type, and usage. You’ll then know what services to offer.
What are your strengths? Interviewers need to quickly evaluate job seekers. One way is to ask about the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses. Customers also evaluate salespeople to see if they are the people with whom they want to do business. Your answers should include how you’ve helped other customers. Your customers will notice how your work or products reduced, avoided or saved costs. It’s a stronger message when you have the words of others who discuss your strengths. Try to obtain and use referral letters in your selling. Referral letters will include customers’ statements of the same things you are telling your customers. Your strengths are more credible when they come from another customer.
Before customers make a buying decision, they need and want to know a supplier’s strengths. Given that customers have many choices for similar suppliers; customers want to know what your uniqueness is. Decisions to buy are based on the strengths that buyers perceive. That’s an answer you’ll want to prepare in advance.
Do you work well under pressure? Almost anyone can do well when times are good. When challenges exist, some people are unable to keep up the pace. Just as an interviewer wants to see how a person works under pressure, a customer wants to know how a salesperson handles problems. Discussing problems before you get the business is a sensitive subject. One way is to discuss with a customer how you are responsive. You can then discuss all you do to prevent problems. This is helpful since most customers know that problems are unavoidable. A customer is always curious how you will handle their problem. Your history with other customers and methods to resolve their problems quickly indicates your abilities and will give your customer the confidence to choose you.
An interviewer may be curious to ask a well-prepared candidate, “Why haven’t you found a job yet?” The answer is, “I’m waiting for the right fit.” When you answer your customers’ questions well, your customer will say, “Why haven’t we worked together sooner?” Your answer will be, “I was waiting for the right time and it’s now.”
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SELLING ACTION ITEM
Have you thought about the things you say to your customers about yourself, your products and services? It’s more powerful if another customer says the same thing. Which customer has experienced what you would like to say? Ask the customer about the work you’ve done. Take notes. Then ask your customer if you could put those comments in an email, send it to your customer and get them to put it on their letterhead. They can modify it if they would like to. When the customer sends this back to you, you now have on their letterhead a powerful referral letter that talks about your work. It’s always better when someone else says wonderful things about you.
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Do you want to want to hear about Maura’s upcoming public seminars? Email Maura@BestatSelling.com with the Subject :Public Seminars. Include your email address.
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SELLING TIPS
Tip 1. Email is a very effective selling tool to keep in touch with prospects and customers. ExactTarget (https://www.exacttarget.com/) makes it easy to use email to sell. Visit their website to see how you can use email to sell more.
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Tip 3. Is it difficult for you to get your name in front of prospects? Why not have others sell for you? It’s different than what it sounds like. Here’s how it works. A website designer gives gift certificates for a one hour consultation for site improvement. The gift certificates are given to the website designer’s contacts to give to their customers to say thanks. The website designer gets recommended by a credible source and gets his name in front of new prospects with the opportunity to demonstrate his expertise.
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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. To thank you, you’ll receive a free subscription to The Selling E-Letter™, a bi-monthly selling newsletter. ($50 value)
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THE BEST@SELLING MISSION STATEMENT, PRIVACY POLICY, AND UNSUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
Mission: Best@Selling works with business and sales professionals to make THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD (selling!) easier and more effective. After all, how can you make a difference in the world if someone hasn’t bought something from you? And don’t forget about the ideas you’re selling every day.
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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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–To buy the book Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results, a book filled with ideas to make selling easier and more productive, go to https://www.bestatselling.com/
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Maura Schreier-Fleming works with business and sales professionals to make it easier to sell more and be more productive at work. Her 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. Her business column ‘Selling Strategies’ appears in the Insurance Record magazine. You can contact her for seminars at company or trade association meetings at 972 380 0200 or info@BestatSelling.com
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Need an Article for your Newsletter?
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Articles from this newsletter may be used in your in
free publications or posted on your web when given the
following credit:
*Written by Maura Schreier-Fleming, president of Best@Selling.
For free articles, selling ideas and morale boosters
visit https://www.bestatselling.com/
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Contact Information
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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 75248
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(c) Copyright 2004 Maura Schreier-Fleming. All rights reserved.