I was reading some blogs, email messages and newsletters regarding many different topics and I realized something about successful selling that is often overlooked. Sales is tough – I don’t think anyone would disagree with that premise. It requires a unique blend of abilities that are simply not common in the general population. Unfortunately, many underachieving salespeople look for a monumental solution to their sales struggles…a silver bullet, if you will. Rarely does one exist (I’ve yet to find even one). Success in selling simply comes from a series of small things that lead to something big. What I mean is that the most successful salespeople we evaluate are usually the… Read More
Continue ReadingTwo Weaknesses That Lead To Discounting
SellingPower.com offers an excellent article titled End Those Last-Minute Negotiations. The article quotes one of our favorite trainer/authors – Jeff Thull. Thull rightly ties together two critical pieces of closing a sale – value proposition and money. Many salespeople are clumsy with putting the right value proposition in play. If the salesperson is not asking the right questions, he or she will not know whether the value they offer through their solution is valuable to the prospect. To make matters worse, many salespeople struggle with the need to discuss budgets (money) with the prospect. Combine these two weaknesses and you have trouble. Thull€™s team conducted informal research of about 10,000… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Success Is In The Questions
A common myth – the best salespeople are great talkers first and foremost. Most people have heard that one yet it is simply not true. The ability to communicate effectively involves speaking and listening – it is difficult to find strength in both of these abilities. ManageSmarter.com offers The Power of Questions which is on topic for this discussion with a good analogy: The most effective way to control the sale is to ask more questions. Selling is like driving a car: The person who asks the questions sits in the driver’s seat and controls the direction of the sale, while the passenger€”the person who answers the questions€”goes along for the… Read More
Continue ReadingTeam Selling Today
We are experiencing a seismic shift of the sales process as it moves from a single salesperson calling on prospects to to a team-based approach. A recent article at Selling Power lays out the roles the varies team members should play. The article comes from The Fisherman’s Guide to Selling: Reel in the Sale €“ Hook, Line and Sinker, authored by Joe DiMisa. Here are the 6 basic roles as defined by him: The Leader: This ONE person pilots the meeting or discussions. Color commentator: This person will add “color” or important facts or statistics relevant to key issues. Note taker: This person records comments, decisions, agreements, needs, and action… Read More
Continue ReadingDeath By PowerPoint
I have read many posts about the scourge of PowerPoint and how it derails presentations. Being a PowerPoint fan, I have resisted these barbs. That is, until this morning. I sat through a presentation in which the speaker used PowerPoint during his 60 minute talk. Here’s what I experienced in the audience: -His laptop was turned perpendicular to the screen so he spoke mainly to his laptop with his shoulder facing the room. I was on the “backside” so I spent the majority of the time looking at his back. -He used animated bullets that would fly in, sweep in, float in, etc. On one slide, a bullet point slowly… Read More
Continue ReadingTake The Blame – Diffuse The Situation
The Sprint decision to part ways with its overly demanding customers is making news all around the web and rightly so. I truly enjoyed the story – you can read it here if you missed it. The best line from the letter Sprint sent out to these customers (my emphasis): “While we have worked to resolve your issues and questions to the best of our ability, the number of inquiries you have made to us during this time had led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs,” the letters said. The customers were told their service agreements were being terminated, they wouldn’t owe anything… Read More
Continue ReadingValue Is More Than Price
I had an revealing discussion with one of our client’s this morning. This gentleman is the President of his company and we are running our process for a second sales position (selected 1 salesperson already). The conversation centered on the problems he had with a previous salesperson who has since been let go. This salesperson was completely reactive – he possessed no selling system whatsoever. His process was to take a call and fish for a request for proposal (RFP). He would respond to the RFP and hopefully get the business. Sad, but that was his process. The President was hesitant to let this sales guy go because he thought… Read More
Continue ReadingDealing With Dealbreakers
ManageSmarter.com offers a well-timed article titled Top Ten Ways to Kill a Deal. I say this is timely in that we have been dealing with multiple employment offers over the past week. These discussions are similar to salespeople closing a deal and, in fact, we like to observe the salesperson’s technique in handling these topics. The first point in the article is the most critical to success in negotiating: 1. Don’t show emotions Emotion€”such as neediness, desperation, or excitement€”are immediate turn-offs. Keep your body language and style of speaking emotionally neutral. Prepare your state of mind ahead of time. Repeat the mantra, “I don’t need this, I don’t need this,”… Read More
Continue ReadingShow Up And Throw Up
As a continuation of my post from earlier this morning, I came across another Selling Power article that complements the point about the importance of asking the right questions. The Sales Intelligence Imperative provides detailed statistics regarding the point at which many sales stall. Interestingly enough, the researchers found that prospects were dropping out at a surprising time: New research from CSO Insights shows an €œalarming erosion€ in sales reps€™ ability to move the sale forward from that initial conversation. Specifically, 57.6 percent of companies in 2005 said more than half of their initial conversations progressed further into the sell cycle. There will always be salespeople who approach the wrong… Read More
Continue ReadingIt’s All In The Questions
Selling Power provides an excellent article regarding a sales ability that is often overlooked – The Art of Asking Great Questions. Listening is an important sales skill that leads to qualifying success. But as the article points out, listening ability it not worth much if you cannot ask the right question. You can€™t simply walk in a prospect€™s door and say, €œWhat are the issues you are struggling with?€ or €œWhat keeps you up at night?€ Today, you€™d be jettisoned out of the office by savvy executives who demand more researched, intelligent, and thought-provoking questions. This approach is true no matter what you sell. The ability to ask good questions… Read More
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