This video from Selling Power discusses a unique look at the traditional sales funnel. The author in the video states that the sales funnel has to be thrown out and redesigned based on the prospect’s process. The 4 minute video is an excellent discussion on this topic: If you have trouble with the video, here is the link to watch it on the Selling Power website.
Continue Reading5 Keys To Credibility
Selling Power offers a short, but excellent article that provides 5 subtle ways to build credibility. We often talk about establishing rapport with prospects and then building credibility. This is sales 101, but it is surprisingly sparse in sales situations (emphasis mine): Of the five elements which are essential to building genuine trust (character, competence, confidence, credibility, and congruence), a Persuasion Institute poll found 44 percent of respondents said credibility was most important – yet it was established only 11.4 percent of the time. So here are the author’s suggestions: Admit weakness. Nothing’s perfect. Prospects know your company and your product are weak in some areas. You boost your… Read More
Continue ReadingA Quick Questioning Tip
This tip comes from the Selling Power archives: Never ask a question without first explaining why you’re asking. Nirenberg says, “Just asking a question puts the listener on the spot. However, if you let him know why you’re asking, it makes him a partner,” Nirenberg goes on to explain, “People with sales backgrounds often avoid asking questions because they think that the talker controls the conversation. That’s not true because the listener can always tune you out. In fact, you’d be surprised how often you’re talking to yourself during a sales call.” That is a good tip. Asking good qualifying questions is crucial for successful selling. However, most people have… Read More
Continue ReadingShortening The Sales Cycle
Salesopedia.com offers a good article this week on a timely topic – How to Shorten Your Sales Cycle. The author cuts to the quick on an issue we encounter frequently: To begin with, many sales people just don’t know how long their sales cycle is, we ask and we hear things like “depends” (sometime it fits), “it changes” (it always seems longer during Daylight Savings Time), and the all time favorite, “well you know it’s different in our business”. Well it’s not really. Underlying this is the fact that many reps and organizations do not know what their sale looks like, they have not deconstructing their sale, identified the basic… Read More
Continue ReadingTrap The Fat Words
The Northwest-Delta airlines merger is the talk of this town as you might expect. There has been much posturing up here as people and politicians realize that Northwest will probably leave this town as Atlanta becomes the new company’s headquarters. I was reading an article on the merger in our local St. Paul Pioneer Press when I came across this quote (my highlighting): As for the covenants Northwest signed with the state in 1991 on maintaining a certain number of jobs, the airport hub and Northwest’s Eagan headquarters, Anderson said “we think we can get to the spirit of the original covenants that were struck.” That is a fat-worded, or… Read More
Continue ReadingRelationships Drive Sales
Selling has always been about relationships, but it is becoming more significant in today’s world. According to a recent study referenced in this Selling Power.com article – The Relationship Imperative – product superiority is not as big a driver in customers’ decision-making process. “Product superiority used to be a big advantage for companies,” says Jim Dickie, partner at CSO Insights. “But collapsing product lifecycles is changing that. If a competitor doesn’t have a feature or function today, they can catch up a lot faster than they could in the past.” The result: product superiority has dropped down to the number three reason companies win deals with just 35 percent of… Read More
Continue ReadingWhen To Close
This topic comes up often in sales discussions – when should I go for the close? Or hiring managers often ask, “Is he a closer?” Or articles state that most salespeople fail because they don’t ask for the order (i.e. close). So what are we to make of this topic? Selling Power offers a bit of an enigmatic article titled Knowing When to Close. The responses are from a sales meeting from 1929 (I don’t know why). The pull quote: A still smaller minority expressed the opinion which I believe to be the correct one, that while there is undoubtedly one moment that is the best time to close any… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Power Of Seven
From Selling Power’s How Much to Present to Your Customer: Experience shows that to the human mind there is something peculiarly satisfying about seven pieces of information. Seven questions, seven benefits, seven anything define the optimal attention span for most people, regardless of education or intelligence. Is it coincidental that we talk of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the seven fat years and the seven lean years in the Bible, the seven days of the week, the seven primary notes on the musical scale, and the seven subordinates who represent the ideal span of control for their manager? Did you know that? I didn’t. Further into the article:… Read More
Continue ReadingCandidates That Do Not Wow
We’ve been on this topic a bit lately, but it is mission-critical to successful selling. Asking questions…asking the right questions is tantamount to qualifying prospects. Most sales managers know this, yet we often see them displaying selective amnesia when it comes to interviewing sales candidates. Case in point: Lee often observes sales managers who are underwhelmed with a candidate because the candidate didn’t “wow” them. That’s understandable, but many times the manager isn’t wowed because the candidate is qualifying the opportunity instead of spewing feature/benefits. It is at this point that Lee has to mention the different questions that the candidate asked in their responses and the information that candidate… Read More
Continue Reading6 Sales Myths
This article is from ManageSmarter.com and it debunks 6 very common sales myths. My absolute favorite from the short article: Myth: If sales understood the product better, sales would increase. Reality: Actually, if everyone in the company—e.g., marketing, product developers, IT, and fulfillment, to name a few—understood sales better, sales would increase. That reality is perfectly stated and true. Successful selling, or should I say unsuccessful selling, has more to do with sales technique than it does with product knowledge. However, we have encountered many companies where the other departments felt they could direct the sales department. The common theme in those companies is that these departments believe they know… Read More
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