SALES QUOTE
“No is not never, it’s just not now.”
Jeff Kurz, principal of Kurz Group, property tax consultancy
For Salespeople…
Kurz’ work saved clients more than $28 million in property taxes. He would cold call customers and say, “Please don’t hang up on me. Just indulge me for two minutes.” Most property owners own their property for a long time, so if they said no, he just called them back the next year. How about you? Which prospects are you letting fall through the cracks? Do you have a process to keep up with those customers who mean no for now? You have to remember that if a customer could buy at some time, you want them to remember you when that time comes. Keeping up by telephone, email, letter or face-to-face is the only way to be remembered when that customer is going to buy. Just remember, have a meaningful reason to keep up. It’s not, “Hi, are you ready to buy yet?”
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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
Are You the Best of the Best?
I worked for a lovely gentleman who always referred to his staff as the best of the best. Imagine how it felt to know that your boss thought of you that way! Do you want to be the best of the best in sales? You can when you do what they do.
They’re fast. No, not Michael Phelps fast, but fast in the speed it takes them to solve customer problems. From a customer’s point of view, there’s nothing worse than the endless delays it takes to solve problems. How do the best salespeople solve problems fast?
They may not know the answers to all their customers’ problems. It doesn’t matter. They know a lot of people so they have many resources to use to solve whatever problems arise. What happens when even they can’t reach someone who can solve their customer’s problems? They’ll know someone who knows someone who can.
The average salesperson is different. The average salesperson with a customer problem is thinking, “What should I do?” and in the same amount of time these sales greats have either solved the problem through their contacts or are well on their way to getting the answer before the others have even started. That’s fast.
They have great vision. Great sales vision has nothing to do with what you see. It has everything to do with what you don’t see. The best salespeople will be working with customers and as they listen to the issues that their customers’ face will be thinking of the root cause of the problem that the customer just can’t see.
I remember one industrial lubricants salesman who said, “Whenever I see hydraulic equipment failures, I never think it’s the equipment. I always look at how the maintenance guys are handling the oil. Usually, their handling practices are poor and they’re contaminating the oil which causes the failures.” The best of the best salespeople uncover what customers don’t know that they don’t know. They see big picture problems and the root cause of problems. Then these sales greats fix them. That’s great vision.
They’re pushy. How can pushy be good for sales? Most people think of pushy salespeople as what’s wrong with salespeople, not what’s right. The best salespeople are pushy though. How can that be? It’s what they push.
Instead of pushing their customers to buy things that aren’t necessarily in their customers’ best interests, these great salespeople push everyone else to serve their customers better. I know one insurance salesman who is the best of the best. His job is to get the best insurance coverage for his clients. He goes to his suppliers and explains his clients’ coverage needs. They give him a quote which he brings to his clients.
Do you think four quotes would be enough to give his customers a few good options? For most salespeople it would be. Not for the best of the best. He goes to ten suppliers before he is confident that he has done all that he can do for his clients to find the best options for them.
Other pushy salesman get other departments to function better to serve their clients. Deliveries are on time. Invoices are correct. It’s not magic. It’s because these great salespeople push other people to perform.
It was a great feeling being part of a team known as the best of the best. We became a more cohesive, loyal team. You, too, can be the best of the best in sales. When you do, you get to create the same feelings of loyalty in your customers. What could be better than that?
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ACTION ITEMS
1. What is delaying you from being quicker to respond?
2. What are you hearing that indicates a different problem than the one that’s described?
3. What more could you do for a customer that demonstrates the value you bring?
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Programs
You can check for current programs.
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Here’s a good rule of thumb, The PowerPoint Rule. When making a presentation have no more than 10 slides, no more than 20 minutes and no type smaller than 30 points.
Source: Target Marketing, April 2011
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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.