Friday, July 10, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
THE ONLY WAY TO BUILD YOUR TERRITORY
There really is only one right way to build your territory.
First of all you got to realize that you are an interruption
when prospecting, and you have to be comfortable with this
fact if you are going to be successful in sales.
You can't let this fact bother you. And you can't be too
polite about it either.
Because you know what they call polite salesmen?
Poor.
Anyway, I got an email recently from a new commercial
printing salesman. He said he has getting really frustrated
building his territory with prospects blocking access to
decision-makers and telling them that they'll never leave
their current suppliers. Here's what he wrote me...
"I'm new commercial printing sales representative trying
to build a clientele base. It's not going as well as I had
hoped it would - large accounts, insurance companies,
manufacturers and others only allow me to apply to a blind
format on their web site and then *maybe* they'll contact
me. Yeah right! And others proclaim their allegiance to
the printer they've worked with for the last century.
Please share your thoughts." -Greg Steeno
Here's the formula you gotta follow to build any territory,
client base, or business market:
1 - Identify Your Strengths,
2 - Create a Profile of Prospects Who Want Your Strengths,
3 - Advertise to Attract These Prospects,
4 - Sell a Desired Product to an Interested Prospect.
It's very simple, but too many people don't follow this. You
see as a professional salesman, you often have to be a
marketer and a business man too. Either you don't have other
sales-savvy people helping you. Or worse, the help you get
is wrong and full of dumb advice.
Start with identifying your strengths. Know what you do
well, and know what your competitors do well. Get specific,
get nuanced, and get into fuzzy things like the persona,
style and attitude of the company and products you are
selling (because these things attract people).
Create a profile, written down - yes written down - of the
people who will want what you got. This is hugely important,
and one of the easiest and most overlooked methods for
getting more deals.
Far too many sales careers have run out of gas for believing
that "everyone is my prospect." Focus on people who are
likely to want what you got and you instantly will see a
mega increase in your closing ratio.
Advertise to attract your desired prospects. Sales people
think that they can't advertise - that this is something
that "the company" is supposed to do.
Well cold calling is advertising. Emailing is advertising.
Mailing letters and postcards is advertising. Until you have
a relationship established with a prospect, your initial
contact attempts are "advertising".
"Advertise" a message about your strengths to a prospect
that is likely to want what you got, and you'll get some
interested people contacting you.
Then all you gotta do is sell them. And selling a prospect
interested in you, predisposed to think that you can do what
they want is they way to build your territory.
Build your territory on a strong foundation. Do it the right
way, and you'll have long term success in selling.
Friday, July 3, 2009
HOW PROSPECTS PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM YOU
It's a wonderful feeling when you ask a prospect a question,
and he tells you about a problem he's has that you can fix.
It's like having a woman you want tell you that she needs
someone like you.
It's a great feeling cause your prospect does need you when
he tells you that.
And when a prospect tells you that he needs something like
what you got, he's exposed himself and made himself a bit
vulnerable.
Which is why the average sales person doesn't hear such
needs so easily.
Instead prospects tell you either that they don't need
anything, or they tell you exactly what they think they need
to solve their problem.
Either way they are protecting themselves.
If they say they don't need anything that may be true. Or it
may be that they don't know that they have a problem,
because they don't know that there is a better way to do
things than what they are doing now.
Think about it. Every innovation creates a gap that new
things can be sold into. But before such sales can happen,
prospects have to become aware that there is a new and
better way, that there is a gap.
And once there is a new and better way, many people will
want that, and hence will have a "problem" that can be
solved.
Other times prospects protect themselves by telling you
exactly what they want (or think they need) to solve their
problem. This usually causes us difficulty as sellers though
cause the prospect typically figures out his solution by
looking at other products to determine what the
possibilities are. And if your product is not the main one
he looks at, then you are in for an uphill battle.
Most people prospects, men in particular, would rather speak
to you the seller as if they are in control and you are not.
You see most people's experience with sales people is not
good. Yours and mine included.
Most people think of sales people as poorly educated, not
that bight, and aggressive. So people put up their defenses
to protect against the idea that you are going to attack
them and try to get you to do something you don't want to
do.
This is not to your benefit however.
No. You need to be in control of the sale.
There is good news however.
Control over the sale does not have to be a battle between
you and the prospect.
You can respectfully take control of the sale by telling
your prospect what you are going to do.
You simply tell your prospect at the beginning of every
sales call what's going to happen, and 99% of the time he
will agree to it.
Tell him that you are going to start out by asking him
questions, and that after you get through asking enough
questions to understand his situation that you will answer
his questions for example. Your prospect will be relieved
that you are smart and respectful and that he doesn't have
to be in control.
When you run your sales calls this way, you will then have
the chance to probe and hear about the real true nature of
the prospect's problem, instead of his already thought
through and biased-against-you solution.
And you will experience that wonderful feeling of hearing
prospects tell you they need something just like what you
are selling.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Do more sales calls make you a better salesman?
DO MORE SALES CALLS MAKE A BETTER SALESMAN?
Does more activity give you more sales?
Well the answer is yes, and the answer is no.
More sales calls *can* bring you more sales.
If you have a systematic method for qualifying your
prospects, generating interest and desire, and getting
commitments then, yes, more sales calls equals more sales.
If on the other hand, you have a haphazard approach to
selling with no firm rules about who you will sell to, and
who you will NOT sell to, then making more sales calls will
not necessarily give your more sales.
How about becoming a better salesman?
Will more calls make you better?
Yes, more calls will make you better IF you are observant
about what's working and what isn't. And if you are always
studying and testing out new methods and skills to see what
can and what actually does make a difference for you
personally.
One of the habits I got into early on in my sales career was
to debrief with my sales partners after every call.
Being in business sales of computer hardware and software
systems, I almost always had a technical sales support rep
with me, or a manager, and sometimes both.
After every call, I would debrief with who ever went on the
call with me about what each person did well, what we
missed, and what we could have done better.
By doing that debrief, I and my partners got better over
time.
And if done when a manager was there, I am sure I got
unspoken bonus points for being the kind of guy who is
always trying to improve.
So what are you doing to improve your sales right now?
Discover the fastest way to get prospects motivated to buy
from you and fill your pipeline with deals that you can
close 90% of the time right here...
Saturday, June 20, 2009
6 FACTORS OF SALES SUCCESS
6 FACTORS OF SALES SUCCESS
What is it that makes some salespeople more successful than others?
Reflecting on the hundreds of sales people both weak and strong I have worked with and observed since getting into sales in 1987, I came up with the following six sales success factors.
** What Every Sales Person Needs To Be Successful **
1 - A METHOD
For every deal that you uncover, you need to have a reason to pursue it. Just because "they are going to make a purchase" is not good enough. You need to have rules for when you will pursue a deal, and when you won't.
Likewise, you need rules for "How" to engage your deals.
Following a good system of selling puts you in control of the sale.
Not following a system of selling (or following a weak one) puts the customer in control of you.
2 - DISCIPLINED EFFORT
Without discipline, you really don't have a method. You must follow your rules consistently, and you must put effort into working your system.
When you use a good sales system with disciplined effort, you will be successful.
It's the people who give up too early, or don't completely follow-through with a good system that are not successful.
3 - EXPERIENCE
Trying and failing really is the only way too learn in something as emotional as selling. Role-playing and practice are good too. But ultimately you have to "practice" on live prospects.
Once you do, you ingrain into your DNA what good and bad selling feel in a way that no role-play ever can.
4 - ACCEPTANCE OF RESPONSIBILITY
Don't blame your prospect.
Don't blame your territory.
Don't blame your competition.
Don't blame your company.
Don't blame the economy.
Take responsibility for your failures.
When you lose, it's because you got outsold.
Self-analyze every deal you engage, and look for what you did right and what you did wrong. Celebrate what you did right, and seek out solutions for improving what you did wrong.
5 - WILLINGNESS TO LOSE EARLY
Working hard is good. Selling smart is better.
Part of selling smart is a willingness to "lose" a deal early and walk away when rules of the sale are favouring the competition.
Prospect selection is one of the simplest leverage points for increasing your closing rate.
Sadly too many sales people I've seen are afraid to be selective about who they sell to.
6 - SUSTAINED VISUALIZATION OF SUCCESS
We program the results we get in our lives by the images, thoughts, feelings, and self-talk that we hold inside ourselves.
Successful athletes, business people, speakers, actors, inventors, entrepreneurs and so on all have a vision in their mind of the result they want to achieve before they achieve it.
I remember reading years ago about how the great golfer Jack Nicholas used to visualize in his mind how and where he wanted his shot to go.
What are you visualizing before you visit a prospect, make a presentation or a phone call?
Visualize what you want and you're more likely to get it.
Visualize failure in your mind and you'll what you've programmed yourself for.
There's always room for you to improve and get better.
And get better you will when you get discover my rules for getting more sales, faster, no matter how bad "the economy" gets. Go get my Persuasive Selling Skills Audio Program right now...
Friday, June 19, 2009
How Prospects Protect Themselves From You
HOW PROSPECTS PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM YOU
__________________________________________________________
It's a wonderful feeling when you ask a prospect a question,
and he tells you about a problem he's has that you can fix.
It's like having a woman you want tell you that she needs
someone like you.
It's a great feeling cause your prospect does need you when
he tells you that.
And when a prospect tells you that he needs something like
what you got, he's exposed himself and made himself a bit
vulnerable.
Which is why the average sales person doesn't hear such
needs so easily.
Instead prospects tell you either that they don't need
anything, or they tell you exactly what they think they need
to solve their problem.
Either way they are protecting themselves.
If they say they don't need anything that may be true. Or it
may be that they don't know that they have a problem,
because they don't know that there is a better way to do
things than what they are doing now.
Think about it. Every innovation creates a gap that new
things can be sold into. But before such sales can happen,
prospects have to become aware that there is a new and
better way, that there is a gap.
And once there is a new and better way, many people will
want that, and hence will have a "problem" that can be
solved.
Other times prospects protect themselves by telling you
exactly what they want (or think they need) to solve their
problem. This usually causes us difficulty as sellers though
cause the prospect typically figures out his solution by
looking at other products to determine what the
possibilities are. And if your product is not the main one
he looks at, then you are in for an uphill battle.
Most people prospects, men in particular, would rather speak
to you the seller as if they are in control and you are not.
You see most people's experience with sales people is not
good. Yours and mine included.
Most people think of sales people as poorly educated, not
that bight, and aggressive. So people put up their defenses
to protect against the idea that you are going to attack
them and try to get you to do something you don't want to
do.
This is not to your benefit however.
No. You need to be in control of the sale.
There is good news however.
Control over the sale does not have to be a battle between
you and the prospect.
You can respectfully take control of the sale by telling
your prospect what you are going to do.
You simply tell your prospect at the beginning of every
sales call what's going to happen, and 99% of the time he
will agree to it.
Tell him that you are going to start out by asking him
questions, and that after you get through asking enough
questions to understand his situation that you will answer
his questions for example. Your prospect will be relieved
that you are smart and respectful and that he doesn't have
to be in control.
When you run your sales calls this way, you will then have
the chance to probe and hear about the real true nature of
the prospect's problem, instead of his already thought
through and biased-against-you solution.
And you will experience that wonderful feeling of hearing
prospects tell you they need something just like what you
are selling.
Sell with Pride.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Create the Pain & Create More Sales
CREATE THE PAIN & CREATE MORE SALES
____________________________________________________________
One of the principles of Persuasive Selling is that you
can't sell someone something that they don't want.
This presents a dilemma for you if you want to sell to more
prospects than just those few that contact you asking to
purchase your product.
The temptation is to tell people about all the great things
about your product.
And that temptation is the source of your dilemma.
People don't want your product, whatever your product is.
People want what your product can do for them, they want the
end result that your product can give them.
People want to eliminate or minimize they pain they are
having in some area of their personal or business lives.
But what if prospects don't come to you asking you to
eliminate their pain with your product?
Or what if your product is new, and people don't even know
it exists?
I got an email asking me such a question the other day...
"You keep going on about pain! What pain would someone
have if I'm ringing them up trying to get them to buy
something that they have not asked for as I'm very
confused?"
-Michaela Campbell
Sometimes people don't have a pain until you show them that
they do.
When the prospect is not aware of your product, or any type
of product like yours, you need to get the prospect to see
what they are missing out on.
You do this by asking if they are experiencing similar
results that people who use your product are experiencing.
A good example right now is Apple's new iPhone.
With an iPhone, you can send an email and have a phone
conversation simultaneously. For serious multitaskers, this
represents a time savings.
Previous digital gadgets didn't allow this multi-tasking
capability. People had no pain in this area because no
device offered such a multi-tasking capability.
Once the iPhone became available, people who heard about is
new multi-tasking capabilities wanted it, and they now had a
pain that they didn't have before.
Apple created a pain where none existed before in the
emotions of digital multi-taskers.
And you can do the same. People won't ask about what you
have, until they know that you have something that solves a
problem for them.
And sometimes they won't even know that they have a problem,
until you open up the gap and show them what they are
missing.
Sell with Pride,
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