Hammer’s recent post brought back the memory of a experience I had about 18 months ago. I was with a sales rep at a meeting hastily put together because a vendor’s VP of Sales was coming to town. Although we had several very good, qualified meetings on the schedule, our local rep wanted to make sure the VP was kept quite busy with appointments. So we walked into this last minute meeting not really knowing much about why we were there (man, do I hate that!!!). I asked the attendees to tell us what their role was within the organization, why they were attending the meeting and what they hoped… Read More
Continue ReadingWrong Way Prospecting
We post ads in many locations as part of our sourcing activities. Those ads usually lead to solicitations for services as a set response to new listings. We received one email today that caught my eye. Here is an excerpt: We can have qualified candidates available for you to interview, hire or work within 24 to 48 hours. Our extensive database of qualified candidates and team of experts enable us to provide you with candidates who exactly match what you are looking for. An interesting proposition, don’t you think? Here is the rub for me – how do they know what I need? 1 to 2 days and they’ll have… Read More
Continue ReadingValue – You Or Your Product?
Selling Power.com published an article entitled Six Sins of Selling that discusses modern changes in selling and sales people’s need to change and adapt to them. Certainly that statement is true, but item #2 especially caught my attention. Sales Sin #2: Selling personality rather than value Customers will buy from people they like. There is no question about it. Today€™s buyer, however, is much more sophisticated and has much more information at his or her disposal. The information revolution gives customers a global arsenal of data and an almost limitless number of options. In the past personality may have been your core value. Today it will deliver only a slight… Read More
Continue ReadingQualify or Just Bring Cookies
Through our recent assessment work, we have noticed a number of candidates with traits that are not considered desirable in a sales role. In particular, those who have high Social and low Utilitarian motivations. Often, these people have a need to be liked, accepted and helpful even to their own detriment. Those traits are desirable in many positions, but not sales. The main reason is this type of salesperson’s inability to qualify prospects by asking strong questions. A sales person that doesn’t qualify opportunities wastes valuable time, energy and company resources. They typically will take any meeting they can get, return with no particular purpose in mind and spend way… Read More
Continue ReadingTop Tactics For Every Sales Call
The stereotypical description of a “good” salesperson is his or her ability to talk. Granted, good communication skills are extremely important in successful selling, but there is far more to it than just that ability. Salesopedia.com posts What to Know Before Every Sales Call which details common sense goals for each sales call. A dramatic shift in selling today involves prospect expectations. A salesperson is expected to understand general market conditions for a prospective company before contacting them. The salesperson also needs to have a general qualifying system to discover the information needed to either move forward or move on. What doesn’t work is the salesperson who believes they can simply… Read More
Continue ReadingHow To Get Your Sales Copy Read
Writing effective sales copy is difficult, time-consuming and financially rewarding once you master it. We have not mastered it at Select Metrix. Earlier I posted on the effectiveness of using “P.S.” in your voicemails and written correspondence. Now MarketingProfs.com offers Want Better Sales Copy? Take a Tip From Zig Ziglar. There are many tips in this article, but I want to focus on one tip about what not to do: Want to set your sales copy and your business apart from the overwhelming majority of organizations you’re competing against? Here’s a simple but powerful strategy you can start implementing today. Specify exactly what you mean when you use such words… Read More
Continue ReadingHow To Get Your Voicemails Returned
ManageSmarter.com offers some excellent suggestions for making your voicemails far more effective. Their 15 tips include a couple that I cannot stress enough: 11. If you can’t say it briefly, don€™t say it at all. Voicemail is not “story time.” Leaving a long message is an invitation to have the entire message skipped. The optimal voicemail message is between 8 and 14 seconds. Few things in life are more tiresome than a rambling voicemail. My view is if the topic required a call to discuss, then mention the topic in one sentence, leave your contact info and hang up. And this gem: 13. Leave a “P.S.” at the end of… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Need To Cross-Sell Accounts
Team-based selling has become a dominant trend in the sales world due in large part to the information flowing through the Internet. Prospects expect knowledgeable salespeople to call upon them – the basic information they can (and probably have) learn from your website. ManageSmarter.com offers this article – Cross-Selling Takes Teamwork – which discusses team-based cross-selling to your customer base. Some might suggest that customers are irritated by cross-selling and perceive it as an aggressive sales approach. Interestingly enough, consumer research indicates that the reverse is actually true. Most customers prefer a full spectrum of products and services and appreciate the convenience that is provided through a comprehensive cross-selling approach.… Read More
Continue ReadingSmoke Screen Objections
Smoke screens are moves prospects use on salespeople that appear to be reasons for not moving forward with a deal. Many times these smoke screens sound something like this: We’re going to take a look at all options. We need 3 quotes before deciding. We need to think it over. Smoke, nothing more. If you have salespeople believing these statements are a precursor to a close, take them out to the wood shed on their qualifying. These “prospects” are not qualified and should not be on any forecast. Justsell.com offers up a simple, yet powerful web page that addresses the real objection from the prospect. Their objection falls into 1… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Robotic Nodder
I came across an interesting article from Selling Power titled “Stop Nodding and Ask.” A far too common mistake I make with my wife is nodding as if I am paying attention, understand and agree with her. This interaction usually occurs when I think I am just too busy to stop what I’m doing and listen to what she has to say. Unfortunately, she always catches me and rightly busts my chops. You would think after 23 years of marriage I would learn. Okay the article isn’t written for the purpose of having better spousal communication. It is written for salespeople to ensure that they don€™t fall into the trap… Read More
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