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
What do you think?
To Subscribe to the Selling Newsletter
Need an article for your newsletter?
About Maura Schreier-Fleming
Contact Information
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The Selling Quote for the Month
“Everything that can be invented has been invented.” Charles H.Duell, Director of US Patent Office, 1899
“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.” Bertrand Russell
I couldn’t resist these two quotes paired together. In sales so often we are given advice by others who appear to be knowledgeable and wise. Often their judgments are wrong. Should you stop asking for other people’s advice? No. There’s nothing wrong with asking for advice. In fact you should be gathering information from the experiences of others. Just remember, that you are the one who needs to take the action that’s right for you. When do you know when to take advice and when not to? How will you know if the advice is right? You first listen to others and then you listen to yourself. Your gut will tell you when to take the advice and when to pass. Your unconscious mind has more information than the conscious mind. It’s on the order of 10 million pieces of information to 1. That’s a lot more information to tap into and that’s what your gut is using to report to you. It’s acceptable to tell a trusted advisor that you appreciate the advice, but you will be doing something else. Remember, you are the final decision maker and it’s your business that will have the impact.
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Upcoming Programs
When : Friday, November 18, 2005
11.30 AM- 1:30 PM
Where: Small Business Development Center
4800 West Park Blvd.
Plano, TX
What: No More Meeting Madness: Effective Meetings
For more information: 972-985-3749
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The Selling Ideas for this Month
Sales and Ethics
Why are discussions of sales and ethics mutually exclusive? When you talk about sales, ethics are not necessarily part of the conversation. Dr. Richard Mason is the Director of the Cary Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility at Southern Methodist University. He works to promote ethics in the business community and on campus. Ethics is good for selling. He cited a university study that looked at companies that had values oriented codes of ethics (values) and companies with compliance codes (following the rules). The companies with ethics did better on average.
What is ethics? Dr. Mason says that morality and ethics are often used interchangeably. But when he thinks of morality it’s the obligations we have to all humanity. With ethics, you are thinking about particular relationships and your obligation over and above what you owe to everyone. In sales, your special relationship is with your customers and you have additional moral and ethical obligations to them.
Sales professionals are obligated ethically to tell the truth. This means not misrepresenting your products. You also must charge a fair price, treat people with respect and keep your promises.
What questions do you ask to see if it’s ethical? Dr. Mason says, “First ask yourself how it feels. Usually your gut tells you. If it doesn’t feel right, that’s something worth thinking about.” Next, Mason says, “How would you feel if it’s on the front page of the newspaper? Would you want everyone to know? Follow with ‘What would someone you respect say if you did this?’ Then end with ‘Is it legal?’”
Dr. Mason points out that once you’ve gone through these questions you’ve probably satisfied ethical issues. You can go further. You can ask if it’s fair to everyone involved. This question takes you beyond the relationship. Disclosure is also part of ethics. How do ethics guide you here? Practically, you can’t disclose everything you know. You disclose the crucial things that might affect the customer in the relationship. For example, if you have obsolete equipment to sell, you lower the price and tell customers that you’re not going to make this equipment anymore. Customers can balance the cost with the obsolescence.
What if you don’t have the answers? With ethics, is it acceptable to say ‘I didn’t know? Dr. Mason says, “There is an obligation to try to know. In sales you should know about the reasonable performance of your product since you represent it. You should also know how your customers should use it.” Mason mentions that companies who explore ethical issues try to ferret out what is their responsibility to know both about their customers and the products they sell. Mason adds, “When someone says ‘Don’t tell me so I can deny it’ that’s really culpable ignorance.”
Do most people know they have a problem? Dr. Mason says that most people realize they have ethical issues with really big things. Many people think other things are business practice issues and not ethical issues. As a result, he says it’s important to step back and examine your practices and see if they are ethical. To do this, ask “Have things changed? Do we need to think of these differently?” A company that examines its ethics will say, “We have integrity. We say we’re going to be honest with our customers. How are we doing? What’s come up?” When you look at specific cases it might not be as clear.
Dr. Mason points out that you can determine if you have an ethical issue by seeing if someone is helped or hurt. Mason says, “The people you’re doing business with have their life values. If you somehow harm that person or keep them from reaching their goals, that’s a good indication it’s an unethical issue. If you promote someone to reach their goals, that’s a highly ethical issue. If what we do doesn’t affect someone negatively or positively most people would do it.”
An ethical approach to selling gives you the framework to make the best decisions for your customers. This will be what’s best for your business.
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Action Items
1. Think about your selling tactics. How do you feel about them? Do they pass the ethics gut test?
2. Do you treat your customers fairly?
3. What has changed in your selling process that warrants a look at ethics?
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Selling Tip
From Maura’s ebook: 97 Ways to Sell More Now E-Book
https://www.bestatselling.com/selling_tools.htm#5
Tip 29. Be clear about what a customer can expect from your product or service. Don’t exaggerate your claims. Underpromise and overdeliver.
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What do you think?
Here are the results of the selling survey:
1. What part of selling do you find most challenging?
Reaching prospects on the telephone 46.9%
Maura’s comments: Are you leaving a message that sounds confident? Does it include a compelling reason to call you back? (A good reason is what you can do FOR your customer.) Are you persistent?
2. Where do you get sales support and guidance from?
Other sales professionals 43.3%
Reading books 33.3%
Manager 13.3%
Maura’s comment: Isn’t it interesting that managers are the last source of guidance?
3. What would be most helpful to make selling easier?
More customer feedback 29.4%
Maura’s Comment: Then why don’t you ask? Why is a powerful question and salespeople need to ask it more.
Let me know what you think about selling.
Click here to take the selling survey
You can email: info@bestatselling.com for the responses.
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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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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 2005 Maura Schreier-Fleming. All rights reserved
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