Archive for the ‘Tips & Tactics’ Category
Monday, July 26th, 2010
Where is the tipping point in a sale?
In traditional selling, the close is the tipping point. It is relied on as the crucial element that makes or breaks a sale. Books have been published, articles written, and presentations made to illustrate the many hundreds of closes. Each is trumpeted as a powerful solution to concluding a sale successfully. Examples include: Impending Event Close (“the price is going up on Monday”), Ben Franklin Close (“let’s decide this in the same way that a great American made decisions”), Puppy Dog Close (“just hold this and get the feel of it, I know you’ll love it”), God Close (“it’s not between you and me if you buy it, it’s between you and your Maker”), Better Alternative Close (“do you want this delivered on Wednesday or Friday?”), Yes-Yes-Yes Close (get them to say yes to a series of questions to form the habit), and Enlightened Path Close (“if I can show you a way”). They all make us wince because of their artificiality. They all reek of “sales-y-ness.” Rather than being unique intellectual ploys, they are shallow traps. Closes like this are a sure giveaway that the salesperson is manipulating the prospect. (more…)
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Monday, July 19th, 2010
Being committed takes all the questions out of an activity. If you aren’t committed to doing something, then you always have one eye on your emergency exit while doing it. It leaves an out that ultimately will be a major distraction because you are looking for signs that you aren’t going to succeed… and the second you see one, you begin leaning toward your exit plan. This is a sure recipe for disaster in sales. (more…)
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Monday, July 12th, 2010
This is a collection of twelve simple steps all salespeople should live by.
1. Being genuinely interested in your prospect’s personal and professional opinions will do as much (perhaps more) to develop rapport as identifying his personality style or discovering if he is a football, baseball, or hockey fan. (more…)
Posted in Tips & Tactics, Tips & Tactics
Monday, July 5th, 2010
Whatever we do, whenever we interact with the world, we do so through our attitude, behavior and technique.
As managers, we must get to know our salespeople well enough to be conscious of how these three dimensions may appear to prospects and how they may affect the sales efforts of our salespeople. And that’s not always easy. After all, when we attempt to understand any of these traits, we quickly move into the realm of psychology or the social sciences. But there’s nothing to fear if we keep it simple. (more…)
Posted in Tips & Tactics, Tips & Tactics
Monday, June 28th, 2010
Let me tell you a story about eight-year-old Nancy, a student in the public school system. One day during art class, Nancy painted a picture. Considering her age and development as a young artist, the picture of a house and the setting sun was really quite good. However, it was obvious that the picture was unbalanced. Nancy had painted the house and the sun to the left side of the canvas. (more…)
Posted in Tips & Tactics, Tips & Tactics
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
Many salespeople believe that their particular industry doesn’t encourage referrals. Typically, this myth evolves because people expect that referrals will just fall into their laps. When these referrals don’t materialize, they assume that referrals are just not possible in their business.
Truthfully, there are very few industries where referrals just happen, so the rest of us have to work hard to get referrals. When salespeople help the referral process to move forward by being proactive, they often find that referrals are a great way to find new prospects. (more…)
Posted in Tips & Tactics, Tips & Tactics
Monday, June 14th, 2010
There is no room for the shotgun approach to selling in today’s customer-driven, competitive environment. Responding to a request for proposal (RFP) that falls within your company’s general area of expertise is costly and likely to be inefficient, at best; developing a proposal for every RFP that comes in can be foolhardy. (more…)
Posted in Tips & Tactics, Tips & Tactics
Monday, June 7th, 2010
David Sandler once said that the real challenge of selling was the ability to relate the unrelated. By that, he meant being able to relate the appropriate aspects of your product or service to your prospect’s situation when the connection is not obvious based on the prospect’s perception of the situation. (more…)
Posted in Tips & Tactics, Tips & Tactics
Monday, May 31st, 2010
Sales departments are not immune to the call to “do more with less.” With shrinking budgets exerting increased pressure on sales related expenses, closing sales opportunities requires a different strategy. Multiple sales calls and elaborate presentations are no longer the norm. Letting “opportunities” drag on, and chasing prospects endlessly until they make decisions is no longer acceptable (and should never have been). (more…)
Posted in Tips & Tactics, Tips & Tactics
Monday, May 24th, 2010
When hearing about a success in another business, most salespeople have found themselves thinking or saying, “That may work in other businesses, but not mine.” Don’t ever let yourself fall into this trap. This is generally nothing more than an excuse not to change. Are there differences in a business? Sure there are, but when it comes to selling, the process is the same for most of us. Find prospects, manage pipeline, win business, and retain clients. No matter what you are selling this is probably your outline. (more…)
Posted in Tips & Tactics, Tips & Tactics
