I have been in sales since 1992 and have seen the marketplace change in drastic ways. Today, we are in the midst of the information age where knowledge is king. Preparedness is a necessity for successful selling. In all honesty, this trait has never been one of my strengths. However, I have made changes to my approach (in order to survive!). The reason is found in this SellingPower.com article – Pre-Call Planning: It’s More than Just Research. The author shares a frightening sales story: G.A. Bartick remembers the day he called on a large wire house in San Francisco. He’d just completed a project for another brokerage firm that went… Read More
Continue ReadingQuoting Is Not Qualifying
I run into this topic often and it is one worth defining. Many companies value quotes as strong sales activity. Now don’t get me wrong, quotes are a step in the sales process and typically one that occurs before a close. However, companies that have under-defined sales processes often choose to substitute quotes for qualifying. Here is what I mean – just because a suspect asks for a quote does not mean that they are a prospect. This applies to customers too. First, let’s define suspects and prospects. A suspect is a company that shows some interest in your product or service but you are not sure of the level… Read More
Continue ReadingProbing For Pain
Saleshq.com has an excellent article for any salesperson in any market – Do You Probe For Pain? We use the term “pain” in our discussions though it sounds a bit dramatic. Even so, it is the most descriptive word for qualifying. The article explains why: People are fundamentally motivated in two main ways: 1. What problem or pain they can avoid and move away from 2. What pleasure or benefit they can move towards That is absolutely true. The key here is that people move away from pain faster than they move towards pleasure. As described later in the article: If a prospect feels content with their current supplier or… Read More
Continue ReadingPrice Perception
I have seen the price issue play out among many salespeople and there seems to be one simple, philosophical difference between those who close high margins deals and those who are serial discounters. The key difference is understanding that pricing is based off what the buyer will pay for the product or service, not what the cost is to produce it. I’ve seen this difference first-hand as one salesperson prices his product at a fairly high margin. However, the product is highly engineered and relatively unique in the market. One last helper – the company has a strong reputation in the market which certainly helps…greatly. The other salesperson for the… Read More
Continue ReadingAsk The Tough Questions
In talking with sales managers over the past month or so there is one reoccurring statement that I am hearing – their sales cycle has been extended in this economy. It isn’t that they are not closing sales, it is just taking a bit longer. Buyers are certainly more deliberate, but as we discussed some of their opportunities, it was clear that their sales people are not asking the difficult questions that lead to a qualified deal. I came across this article from Kelley Robertson quite some time ago and passed it on to one of these sales managers – it is worth bringing it up again. The article provides a… Read More
Continue ReadingStereotypical Features And Benefits
I am not fan of features and benefits selling. I don’t even think that approach belongs in a retail sales environment. The better approach is to qualify the prospect for need – What are they looking for? What is it they need to have/do? What is their time frame? You get the idea. Unfortunately, many features/benefits salespeople exist in the marketplace and they seem to be everywhere. This approach leads to the negative stereotype salespeople – pushy, talkative, bad listener, etc. Managesmarter.com provides an excellent tip within an article titled Transcend the Negative Stereotypes of Sales: Tip No. 3: Understand how your customers market services and generate profit. Don’t assume… Read More
Continue ReadingSimple Sales Skill – Attentiveness
Justsell.com offers up a reminder about a critical sales skill that is often overlooked – attentiveness. This skill is less frequent in salespeople who lack empathetic abilities or are overly task-oriented. I have seen this first-hand on a number of occasions. What happens is the salesperson tends to something else during a discussion. Typically, the actions seems fairly innocuous – a cell phone alarm, looking through some notes, checking a text message, even adjusting the height of an office chair. All of these tasks seem inconspicuous, but they are an immediate tell that you are not fully attentive to the speaker. The better approach is to ignore the task if… Read More
Continue ReadingWhen Selling To Executives…
Executives are a tough sell and it takes the right sales skills to match them. One of the toughest skills for me has always been the money topic. I personally like to buy not negotiate and it shows in my sales role. But there are ways to handle the negotiation as you will learn in this ManageSmarter.com article – Back to Basics: Think Before You Offer Discounts. The pull quote (emphasis mine): However, professional buyers and key decision-makers know that many sellers will drop their price at the first sign of resistance, so they ask everyone for a discount and can be aggressive in their approach. Plus, experienced negotiators lose… Read More
Continue ReadingBelieve In Your Price
G.L. has a great post over at What Would Dad Say where he references a sales book from 1922 titled Modern Salesmanship. Here is the pull quote: Believe in Your Price When a man ask the price, you’ve got him interested. But the attitude of your answer largely depends the sale. Too many salesmen quote their price in fear and trembling—in their own inmost heart they feel it is too high. And the commonest remark in a buyer’s mouth is, “Price is too high. I can buy the same thing for less money.” Pity the salesman who feels that the buyer is right. He’s going to lose the sale or… Read More
Continue ReadingSecret Traits Of Top Salespeople
SalesHQ.com offers up an article that discusses the “secrets” of top sales achievers. A couple of the secrets: • Position themselves with the real decision-makers and avoid those without ‘approval power’. They are able to first identify and then access the formal decision making unit. • Recognize when to treat an old account as a new prospect and keep the relationship fresh, alive and maintain profitability And then there is the most important one: • Never entertain business they do not want because they recognize that it takes just as long to work an unprofitable opportunity through the sales funnel, only to lose it at the death, as it does… Read More
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