How To Avoid Sales Mediocrity – If You’re New In the Profession
We get a lot of emails and requests from our Advanced Selling Podcast listeners about how to break into the profession of selling.
There is no shortage of tips and techniques out there, but here are five things that we believe you really need to “get” for you to be successful out of the gate. As a new salesperson in 2012, you have platforms and technology available to you that older people like us would kill for when we were starting. So one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to not take advantage of what’s been handed to you.
1. Get clear. This could pertain to many things like your personal goals, your income goals, the number of new clients you want in a 12-month period etc. But I think the biggest thing you can get clear about is “the problems you solve.” Clarity in that area will help you communicate your value and your intentions to your customer in a much more savvy way.
2. Get a method. 90% of sales people don’t have or don’t use any kind of a selling system or method to help prospects walk through the process. My contention is that most methods are just manipulative enough that sales people don’t like to use them. A great method should be less about convincing someone to buy from you and more about a process of sorting those who are tire-kickers and curious only, to those who are serious buyers. Sorting is the thing. Amateur sales people close 15% of their proposals; professionals close 80.
3. Get a coach. I know what you’re saying, “How can I afford a coach when I just started in sales?” My reaction to that is “It doesn’t matter. You must have a coach.” You must have someone there that you can confide in, whose shoulder you can cry on and who you can party with when things go well. But don’t make the coach your sales manager. They have too much skin invested in your success. Find someone, pay them if you like, who is unconditional about your success and doesn’t benefit in any way from it other than just the sharing of feeling of success, other than the feeling of knowing the coach contributed to your success in some small way. 
How To Manage The Sales Process
One of the most common issues companies have is in managing (controlling) the sales process once it begins.
In this episode, you’ll get advice from all angles!
- Brooke talks about how to begin the sales process.
- Bill addresses some trends that both sales managers and sales people should pay attention to.
- And Bill and Bryan address the finding of customer problems in a clip from their live Advanced Selling Podcast event. (You can listen to the podcast “Roadmap to Revenue – 10 Components To Sales Growth” from the live event at: http://www.advancedsellingpodcast.com/roadmap-to-revenue-10-components-to-sales-growth/)
Enjoy!
The Four Stages of The Customer’s Buying Cycle
Well, if that doesn’t make you stop what you’re doing and watch this episode, nothing will. All kidding aside…while the concept of as customer’s buying cycle may sound a bit tedious, it’s really quite important that you understand the cycle the prospect goes through when they buy from you. Otherwise, how will you ever be able to communicate the right things at the right time? Brooke Green leads you thru that.
Meanwhile, Bryan and Bill address one of the hidden secrets to “modern prospecting” and that’s the idea of marketing with content. Bill tells a story of how one client uses ‘expertise’ as a marketing tactic.
(Interested in modern prospecting? Download the FREE report 20 Rules For Modern Selling at http://www.caskeyone.com/20-rules-of-modern-selling-free-report/)
Stop Asking “What’s Your Problem?”
They won’t have an answer for you…so stop with the asking.
We teach the concept of finding the problem when we guide sales professionals. Yet, how often we hear our clients come back and say “They didn’t have any problems. I asked them and they couldn’t think of any.”
OK. One gold star for asking the question. But two BLACK stars for not asking in the right way.
If your prospect is unaware of problems he/she has then asking them about them doesn’t help them much.
A better approach is to have a list of the 5-10 problems you help companies solve (or address). Make a list of those and put them in a document. Then, as you begin your sales conversations with people, bring out the ones that are the most relevant.
Some will look at this as some kind of cheap trick–or crutch. We say it’s a great way to keep the conversation focused on the problem the customer has rather than on the product you have.
I Hope You Aren’t KEEPING Buyers From Buying – Like One BMW Dealership
My wife really needs a new car. She just went back to work full time for her (telecom) company and she needs a new ride.
Since I have a BMW, I suggested she go and drive the X3 (small SUV).
We walked into the BMW dealership and asked if we could test drive one. We were told that our name in the database was assigned to a sales person who was busy with a prospect at the moment so we wouldn’t be able to drive one.
WHAT??!!!
“You mean if I had $40,000 cash and wanted to buy that car, I couldn’t because “my salesperson” was busy?”
“That’s right, sir.” (And here I thought the auto market was struggling. Guess not). So we gave her our number and told her to have “our salesperson” call us. He never did.
So here’s my question to you: Do you practice “sales prevention” anywhere in your company? I know your answer will be a quick “NO!” But think about it for a moment. I’m sure the BMW dealer would answer “No”, too. But he actually does prevent sales…by his systems (or lack of).
Think about the following ‘points on the path to a sale:’
- When the prospect first calls in to talk to someone….how does that sound? Does the prospect get “engaged” or just passed through? Does your voice mail system work to ‘help the caller?’
- When you go out to the first call–do you send an agenda in advance? Do you have an agenda with you? Do you follow up with notes after the call? (I find most sellers fail miserably at these.)
- When you come back to the office, so you take a few minutes to take notes so you don’t forget to follow up, or the important points?
- When you go back out to meet with that person, do you lead with an ‘historical review’ of what you covered the first meeting–and any open items? Or do you just start in and hope you’re in the same place?
- Are you constantly educating the customer as to where they are in your sales / their purchase cycle? Or, do you just assume he’ll follow you blindly?
- And, when I go to your company website, does it help me sort out what I’m looking for…or give me mountains of links?
So, before you answer NO to my question above…answer those. I hope you’re practicing “Sales Facilitation” rather than “Sales Prevention.”
By the way, we ended up at the VW dealership, test drove a Tiguan (Oh, how I hate their model names) and she loved it. No X3 in her future.
Selling Skills For Money Raisers
Have been getting calls from Universities and other non profit organizations recently. Seems there is a pressing need to be more effective at raising money–given the economy and the loss of state of revenue on some fronts. And most of them are now using the “s” word in their language (“Selling”).
Here are a few things I addressed when I recently spoke to the Dean of a university Science Department who feels the economic pinch and knows fundraising/development is necessary today. In fact he’s so committed, he’s training his seven department heads in the skill. Pretty enlightened, huh?
(By the way, I’m going to use the word fundraising occasionally, even though you may refer to it as “development.” )
1. Most fundraisers aren’t very skilled at the art. Most have lists of people they sort through–then call–then ask–then move on. It’s not a very strategic process. And they go to symposiums with a lot of other people who do it the same way–and thus, no new ideas come out. So they all sound the same.
2. Most non-fundraisers–when asked to do so, are even worse. That’s not their competency. And then we put them in a place where they have to summon very different skills–then we’re disappointed when it doesn’t work. The silver lining is that these people are valuable. Find their ‘skin in the game’ (what juices them about the cause) and have them tell their story. Stop teaching them closing skills and start teaching them story telling skills.
3. The plan is the thing. One must have a plan that includes many components. What is the message you’re sending? How will you contact them? What, exactly and precisely, will you say when the prospect answers the phone? (It’s amazing how few have thought through this). How will you land the large deal? How do you use your current assets? (Students, faculty, alumni, friends, past donors).
4. Change the thinking. I worked with University of Illinois Technology/Licensing department years ago. One of the things I recall about that is their reluctance to see how much value they had in the ask. Their prospects actually WANTED to donate, but the U of I people felt they had to “sell”. I don’t buy that. The more you try to convince someone to give, the less likely they are to do so.
5. Work exhaustively on the message you communicate, including, why do most people give? What does it do for them? What value are you bringing to the world by doing what you do–and why should they be a part of that?
6. Don’t buy in to market ‘lack.’ We call it the Theory of Abundance in our training. It dictates that there is plenty of money in the market. If it’s not showing up in the quantity you want it to then you must look in the mirror and figure out what you’re doing to cause the stoppage. (One clue is if your pitch is all about you–and not about them. That’s a show stopper!)
7. Have high intent. When you make the calls, make sure your intent is right. As we say in our sales training, high intent means you’re thinking about your prospect. Low intent means you’re thinking about yourself. Make everything you do about them and watch results change.
Bottom Line
Be prospect-focused!! You must understand that there IS something in it for them–the feeling they get when they help a cause bigger than themselves. But the message has to be created correctly. (Advertising agencies don’t usually do well at this. They come at it from the “pitch” angle).
So, if you’re in the development business, you’re in tough times. But if you follow the seven points above, you’ll at least be on the way to changing the game and increasing your results when those around you are crying ‘foul.’
They’re In Your Sales Funnel. But Are You In Theirs?
Isn’t it interesting how we sales types are always talking about our sales funnel–always predicting when something will ‘close.’ Yet, have you ever wondered why we have no discussion about whether they prospect is having meetings at their office talking about dates their problems will get solved? (Or when they plan on buying).
Why not?
Our sales philosophy is that the optimal sales process is when the prospect is selling you on why he/she needs to spend their money to solve their problem.
So, why is it only our funnel that gets attention?
Here’s an interesting thought: Next time you’ve forecasted a sale closing within 30 days, call the prospect and tell them that’s what you have in mind. See what they say. If they say, “Whoooooaaaa. Hold on. We’re not going to make the decision in that time frame, then take them off your 30-day report.”
Just a thought.
