5 Excuses Sales People Need to Stop Using

Posted on May 10, 2012 by admin

Sales people make a number of excuses why they can’t reach their sales targets or why prospects and customer don’t buy. Here are just a few:

1. The competition is cheaper. While there will always be companies who sell the same or similar product as you, very seldom is the competition as cheap as you think. However, smart buyers will often try to get a better price by indicating that a competitor is cheaper.

2. We don’t have new products. Many sales people lament the fact that their company has not issued or released a new product. However, this is seldom a concern form a buyer’s perspective unless a competitor has a newer product that offers additional benefits that are important to the buyer.

3. The economy is still bad. Yes, the economy is still challenging but companies are making buying decisions. They are purchasing products and implementing new systems. The goal is to identify those companies and target your efforts accordingly.

4. The company expects too much. I remember talking to a district sales manager who lamented the fact that her company was expecting a twelve percent increase in revenues in the upcoming year. However, I have never known a company to say, Well, we just finished a record year so let’s coast this year, shall we?” Do shareholders expect a lot? Of course. You would too if it was your money on the line.

5. My sales targets are unrealistic. Let’s face it; most compensation programs do not reward sales people when they fail to reach their quotas or targets. As a result, sales reps often believe that their sales goals are unrealistic. However, top performing sales reps set their own targets which are usually higher than the quotas established by their boss. If they can do it, so can you.

You can make all the excuses in the world but it doesn’t change the fact that you and only you are accountable for reaching your sales targets. This may sound harsh but if you don’t want the responsibility, find another career.

How to Lose a Prospect’s Attention in 5 Seconds or Less

Posted on May 9, 2012 by admin

When you make contact with a new prospect—either by telephone or in a face-to-face meeting—you have an extremely short window of time to connect with them. If you fail to achieve this they will quickly tune you out. Here are several things you can do to lose your prospect’s attention in the first five seconds of the conversation:

1. Start a telephone conversation with, “Hi, how are you?”

2. Open your conversation by introducing yourself, your company and what you do.

3. Make small talk about “stuff” you see in their office (awards, plaques, photos, etc).

4. Give them an overview of your products and services.

5. Explain how your product or service will benefit them.

6. Tell them what other companies you have worked with.

7. Show them the awards and accolades your company product has received.

8. Give them a brochure that outlines your key products or services.

Unfortunately, most sales people fail to effectively open the sales conversation with a new prospect. Most of the sales calls and meetings I have been subjected to over the years have started with one or more of the above. However, the moment your prospect senses that you are trying to sell them something that they don’t need or want they will tune you out and look for a way to disengage or disconnect from the call. They don’t care about you. They don’t want to know about your company. They don’t want to listen to you talk about your products or service. They want a solution to a problem. They want to know how you can help them improve their business. Here is how you do that.

Focus your attention on the prospect!

It may sound simple but most sales people don’t get it. They still believe that selling means talking at great length about their company, their product or their service. However, truly effective salesmanship is all about asking the prospect the right questions and demonstrating that you can help them solve a particular problem or issue. That means you need to direct ALL of your attention on their situation and resist the opportunity to talk about your company or your offering.

If you are making cold calls you can accomplish this by modifying your opening statement or voice mail message. State a specific problem they are likely facing (based on your experience or research). For example,

“Mr. Big, if you’re like other companies in ABC industry, I suspect that you (fill in the blank with the problem). If this is the case, call me at 800-555-1212 and I might be able to suggest a solution. By the way, it’s David calling and my number is 800-555-1212.”

This also applies to face-to-face meetings as well.

When you meet with a new prospect for the first time, the last thing you want to do is to start blathering away about your product or service. Instead, open the conversation by asking, “Mrs. Prospect, many of our clients are currently experiencing (insert the problem here). How does that compare to your company’s situation?” This demonstrates that you are knowledgeable of their business and/or the industry and it gives your prospect the opportunity to tell you about their chief concerns.

Over the last fifteen years I have learned that most people will tell you anything you want to know providing you give them a reason to do so. Launching into a product demo does not achieve this but showing interest in their business does. The key is to develop and ask high-value questions.

Several years ago I worked with a company who regularly participated in industry trade shows. I observed them at one show and noticed that their sales reps simply talked about the products that people showed interest in. Not surprisingly, their closing ratio was low because in most cases they gave information that was not relevant to that prospect’s situation and that they talked to people who had little or no motivation to buy. After some training, they began asking people a few high-quality questions to determine the people who had problems, challenges, and were seriously interested in their products. They were instructed to let “tire-kickers” look around and focus their time on people who had pressing concerns. At the end of the show their sales were slightly higher but they also had a list of highly-qualified people to follow up with and many of these individuals ended up buying from my client.

Here’s the bottom line. The more time you spend talking about your product, the less inclined a prospect will want to continue that conversation. The more you focus your attention on their situation, their problems and demonstrating how you can help them improve their business, the more you differentiate yourself from the competition.

You only have few moments to connect with a prospect so keep it brief. Keep it focused.

Keep it about them. And you will keep their attention.

Why Companies Hate Sales People Who Cold Call

Posted on May 6, 2012 by admin

Bring up the subject of cold calling with a group of sales people and you are assured of a lively conversation as they lament about the challenges associated with this task.

There is no question that it is difficult to connect with the right person in a company. It can be frustrating dealing with gatekeepers, receptionists, and executive assistants. Not to mention that decision makers seldom return voice mail messages. And, if you happen to connect with them, they often brush you off before you get a chance to tell them about your product or service.

However, let’s turn the tables for a moment and take a look at cold calling from a company’s perspective. Many companies hate sales people who cold call. Here are six reasons why.

1. The sales person is uninformed.

While people in sales will argue that one purpose of a cold call is to gather information about the company, employees in that organization will tell you that calls like this only demonstrate that the caller is uninformed and ill-prepared. Very few people in a company have time to answer basic questions that could be found on the company’s website.

2. The call is an unwelcome interruption.

Virtually every cold call is an interruption and because most employees are extremely busy, the calls are unwelcome interruption. Certainly, some people will say that if you don’t want to be interrupted that you should not answer your telephone. However, when the call originates from an inside extension, the natural impulse is to answer the call. This leads us to our next point.

3. The sales person uses manipulative tactics to make contact with the decision maker.

Because of the challenges associated with cold calling many sales people resort to using a variety of tactics to connect with the key decision maker. These can include asking for a different department and then asking to be transferred or misrepresenting who they are or the reason for their call. It may also include how they represent themselves. Here are two examples.

a. An executive once told me that a sales rep called and told his executive assistant that he was a close personal friend of the decision maker.

b. A sales rep called my office inquiring about one of my training programs only to pitch me on his products.

These types of approaches may work—once or twice—but ultimately they cause decision makers to become more skeptical about accepting receiving calls from people they don’t know.

4. The company has no use for the product or service that is being pitched.

Some sales people will say that the purpose of their call is to determine whether or not their product or service is applicable to the company they are calling upon.

5. The sales person refuses to take no for an answer.

Certainly persistence is an essential sales skill. However, hanging on like a pit bull and refusing to take no only serves to piss off the other person. And any chance you had of meeting or connecting with that person goes down the drain. You need to know when to let go and when to hang on.

6. The sales person is rude to the receptionist, gatekeeper or executive assistant.

Although this is the last point on the list, it is one of the most important. Too many sales people treat the gatekeeper with disdain or like a second-class citizen. These individuals fail to realize that many gatekeepers can influence who the decision maker meets with.

So, what does this mean for you as a sales professional?

It means that you have an uphill battle.

It means that cold calling is becoming increasingly more difficult.

It means that you need to avoid using the tactics mentioned above. Cold calling is not easy but you can stand out from the crowd and separate yourself from the competition by doing your due diligence before you make your calls and by acting like a true professional.

Rewarding Customers Through Gamification

Posted on May 4, 2012 by admin

People are hard-wired to enjoy positive reinforcement. And, well, play is fun.

Consider golf: Social interaction aside, why would anyone go to a course and attempt to hit a tiny ball into a far-away hole? “If we were thinking of standards of productivity, we would just invent a machine that stands over the hole and sort of shoots the balls into the hole,” explained game designer Jane McGonigal, who studies the social and mental impact of gaming, at her South by Southwest Interactive festival keynote speech this year. “Instead, playing the game is something entirely different.”

Gaming reinforces players through positive feelings generated by achievements, which are perceived through points, badges, discounts, or any award—tangible or not. Game mechanics are, simply, ways of generating those positive feelings.

“Foursquare was a really great early example of this happening,” McGonigal says. Foursquare started this whole trend of making achievements and giving people badges for doing stuff.”

Giving customers something positive encourages additional interaction with your brand, service, or product. For this very purpose, LinkedIn added a progress bar that documents user-profile completion. But that’s not its sole purpose.

“Filling out your profile, that’s a behavior LinkedIn wants to motivate. The progress bar is this total insight to your progress as a user,” says game designer Gabe Smedresman, who designed the Facebook game Crazy Boat, and who is working on a social-interaction app called Meet Gatsby. “That taps an innate human desire to complete things, and not leave things undone. That’s what games do—they are systems that give people pleasure.”

For LinkedIn, the benefits are straightforward. Giving users even perceived achievements harnesses users motivation in a way that gives the company more loyal users who are more invested in the service. As a bonus, it collects more data on its users.

If you would like to learn more about how Salesboard can be used to reward your employees please visit the site today.

8 Tips for Productive Sales Calls

Posted on May 3, 2012 by admin

Sales is a numbers game. The more potential clients you reach, the more sales you will make. But this doesn’t mean you can ignore quality in favor of quantity. Deploy a few basic strategies and you can make every sales call count.

1. Get Their Attention in 10 Seconds or Less.

That’s how long you have before your prospect realizes that this is just another lousy sales call and stops listening to you.

2. Create Excitement.

Think yourself into this mindset: you have a fantastic product that will make a great improvement in your customer’s lives. You’re about to give the person on the other end of the line a huge present by telling them about this wonderful product. Then make sure that energy and enthusiasm comes across in your tone of voice. Think about how you can entertain and engage the prospect.

3. Mirror the Prospect.

People are most comfortable dealing with other people who are like them. Jot down a few words or phrases that your prospect uses and work them into your pitch. Try to match their volume, speed and tone of voice as well (without taking it to the point of caricature). Many aspects of NLP take this approach.

4. Use Their Favorite Word.

Studies show that a person’s favorite word is their own name. As soon as the prospect tells you his or her name, write it down and then use it at least three times during the call.

5. Don’t Take “No” for an Answer.

Many prospects will reflexively say “I’m not interested” or “I’m too busy” without really hearing what you have to offer. Instead of hanging up, try asking an open-ended question to jump-start the conversation. Possibilities include “What is your biggest problem right now?”, “What are your goals?” or “What are you interested in?”

6. Use Emotion.

Benefits sell because they inspire emotion in your prospect: happy feelings about your product, bad feelings about not having it. Storytelling is very effective so toss in an anecdote or two about your customers and how your product improved their lives. But not lies.

7. Provide Value.

Offer the prospect something useful regardless of whether or not they buy your product. This can range from a free sample to a no-strings-attached trial period. Giving something valuable to your prospect creates the feeling that they “owe” you.

8. Close Every Prospect.

If the prospect won’t talk, ask about a better time to call back. If you get a chance to make your phone pitch, ask when you can come over to make a full presentation. Close every single call, even if the prospect seems completely uninterested. You really have nothing to lose – and a lot to gain – by making the attempt.

5 Types of Salespeople

Posted on May 2, 2012 by admin

There’s no one best way to sell. Your personality and background will determine which type of sales technique is most effective for you. Even if you have a methodology that works well, it’s a good idea to try a different approaches from time to time – if you feel comfortable, try one of the personas below – or a combination of all 5.

The Instant Buddy

People will be more willing to buy from someone they like. Salespeople who use this approach are warm and friendly, asking questions and showing interest in their prospects. They try to connect on an emotional level with a prospective customer.

This approach can be very effective, but only in the right hands. Don’t try to make friends with a prospect unless you really mean it – people can tell if you’re faking it, and they’ll be very unhappy with you. You’ll also need to do some follow-through to demonstrate that you really do like the prospect. For example, if you chat about the prospect’s eleven-month old baby during your appointment, you should follow up by sending a card and/or small gift on the child’s first birthday.

The Guru

Salespeople who prefer a more logical and less emotional approach often set themselves the task of becoming experts in anything and everything related to their industry. They position themselves as problem-solvers, able to answer any question and tackle any issue that the prospect lays before them.

The guru approach requires plenty of work learning the relevant information and keeping up with changes in your industry. But if you’re willing to put in the time it takes, you can do very well both in selling to your prospects and generating plenty of referrals. Once customers realize what a great resource you are, they’re quite likely to send friends and co-workers with questions straight to you.

The Consultant

This approach combines the ‘guru’ and ‘buddy’ approaches. The salesperson who elects to use the consultant approach presents herself as an expert who has the customer’s best interests in mind. She knows all about her company’s products and by asking a prospect a few questions, she can match him up with the best product for his needs.

As an approach that combines the best qualities of the of the first two methods, it’s extremely effective. But it also requires a great deal of time and effort on a salesperson’s part. You must be both knowledgeable and able to make an emotional connection with your prospects. If you can manage both of these feats, your sales will take off like a rocket.

The Networker

Networking can be a big help for any salesperson. The dedicated networker takes it to the next level, setting up and maintaining a web of friends, co-workers, salespeople from other companies, customers and former customers, and anyone else he meets. A strong enough network will create an ongoing flow of warm leads that can provide most or even all of the salesperson’s needs.

With this approach, you’ll spend a great deal of time cultivating people. It’s a highly effective technique for salespeople who enjoy attending various events, parties, and so on and meeting new people. Just remember that you’ll need to reciprocate by doing favors and sending leads back to the people who’ve helped you in their turn.

The Hard Seller

Best described as “scare the prospect into buying,” the hard sell approach is what gives salespeople their bad reputation. Hard selling involves getting someone to buy a product even though he doesn’t want or need it. Methods range from bullying (“Buy this now or you’ll feel stupid tomorrow”) to manipulation (“If you don’t buy from me I’ll lose my job”) to outright deception (“This product has a much better safety record than the competition”).

No ethical salesperson should use a hard sell approach. Sadly, there are still salespeople who use this type of sales strategy, even though the result is customer who never buy again and, sooner or later, a bad reputation for the company as a whole. Stick with one or more of the first four approaches – they are all both effective and ethical.

Dress for Success

Posted on May 1, 2012 by admin

I know a number of successful Silicon Valley clients who dress in ripped denim, Vans shoes and t-shirts. They are worth hundreds of millions, even more, but it’s a status symbol to dress like you’re homeless to attend board meetings. Conversely, I have worked with market traders who dress in suits and ties every day of the week (DT springs to mind). And this contrast shows the dramatic shift that has occurred in business attire in recent years, as each industry has developed its own rules.

So how do you learn the rules? Back in the early 1990s, as a young exec, I read Dress for Success by John T. Molloy. It gave me a clear understanding of how to dress to impress. But the “business casual” dress movement has turned all of that books ideas into quaint nostalgia. But fair or not, dress still has an impact on how you’re seen. For sales people, especially, first impressions matter.

My daughter will confirm that I am not a fashionista, but I do have some simple rules for successful dressing if you are in sales.

Know your prospect’s uniform.

Before you meet with a prospect, you should know that company’s dress code. “Business casual” has a lot of meanings. Call the front desk at the company and ask what the company’s dress code is and what the men and women wear. Or ask your contact. The point is, part of your responsibility is to understand that company’s culture, including its dress code. Ask for examples, especially of the senior most person who will be in your meeting.

Dress one step up.

If your prospect is in denim, you wear khaki. They wear sport coats without ties; you are in suits without ties. The point is that you always dress one step further up the clothing ladder than your prospect, but not two. One step says that you respect and value them. Two steps can send a loaded message.

It’s not just what you wear–but how you wear it.

Polished shoes, pressed shirts and well-fitted pants always. At this point, some of you are thinking, “Does he really have to say this to people?” while others are saying, “Why do I have to tuck in my shirt?” But when your clothes are pressed, buttoned down and well-fitted, you convey that you are a person who pays attention to the details and are professional

Grooming trumps style.

Even if you’re wearing a great suit, if you’ve got a terrible haircut, you’ll give a bad impression. As crazy as it sounds, everything on the grooming punch lists – fingernails, facial hair, haircuts and oral hygiene–matter.

Know your company’s uniform.

One of my clients makes sure that when his sales reps are making their sales calls, they wear a very specific uniform. (His company’s clients accept this because they see it as an extension of the brand; the company sells safety products.) It doesn’t matter if the reps are presenting in a board room or on a manufacturing plant floor, they wear the sample simple uniform. Obviously, if you work at this company, you follow this dress code in order to fit in.

Remember, you can dress in a way where your attire is the only message people remember, or you can dress in a way that takes nothing away from the message of value your company brings to them.

Is Gamification Something you Should try for Sales?

Posted on April 30, 2012 by admin

Is Gamification Something You Should Try for Sales?

Gamification has been tossed around a lot in the marketing world lately and has become very popular for B2C. However, it’s also become a little muddled by overuse. Think of it as the writing term “personification” except instead of overlaying personal attributes to non-human characters it’s when you use game attributes to describe non game type activities.

We’ve all been to sites where people earn badges right? Gamehouse.com has a great gamification setup. Now of course they sell games so it makes sense for them that their audience would be into game-like marketing. Downloading products, visiting a site and making purchases is not competitive…unless you decide to make it so through gamification.

Gamification is a solid technique, but only for the right companies. It’s the kind of thing that could get really bad, really fast. Remember that just like anything else in marketing, have a solid concept of your entire plan before you start rolling it out. Otherwise you will be up a creek without any sales.

Ding Dong – China Calling

Posted on April 28, 2012 by admin

We are meeting partners in Beijing this week, so here’s some insight into Chinese sales culture.

One of the main reasons that China’s distribution networks have been so fragmented is that they have been based on guanxi or relationships which are simultaneously personal and professional. In a traditional distribution model, this guanxi holds you back because you are limited in they amount of personal relationships that you can maintain at any one time. In other words, if my hometown is in Wuhan, all of my guanxi will likely be from that place because I grew up with many of these people, our families know each other, we went to school together, etc. However, if I try to expand that guanxi network out to, say, a city like Chengdu (probably over 1,000 km away from Wuhan) it will not be possible to develop the same depth of relationships in that region.

Historically, sales in China have been based on this guanxi … I get the sale, not necessarily because I have the best price or the best quality product, but because I have good guanxi with you. However, this is rapidly changing in China: while good guanxi is a necessary condition to successful sales, it is by no means a sufficient one — I now have to bring good products to the market at good prices. And for most industrial and consumer products companies, this is a good thing because it means that they can develop more “professional” distribution channels and get a broader sales footprint in China.

How to Prepare an Incentive Game Plan

Posted on April 27, 2012 by admin

An incentive must support specific business goals or it is meaningless. From the beginning, it’s important to establish what the performance incentive program is designed to achieve and how those objectives tie in with the company’s overall growth strategy.

To design effective objectives arrange a brainstorming session with colleagues who will be involved. If possible, also include a few employees who will be participating in the final business incentive group.

This mix of people will provide valuable insight into changing market conditions or special characteristics of your customers.

Make a list of the company’s most pressing needs or issues, both sales and non-sales related. Some of these topics will pop up every year, others will be new. As your team works, keep the following questions in mind:

What are the company, industry and overall economic climates?
What factors may affect our business today and into next year?
What are my competitors’ strengths and weaknesses?
What are my product’s or service’s strengths and weaknesses?

Based on the answers to these questions and the list of specific corporate issues, you and your team will develop a clear picture of what business goals your company incentive will support. Make sure the objectives don’t contradict other company goals. For instance, if an objective could adversely affect safety or quality, you’re creating trouble. Overall, incentive program goals should be:

Simple and specific

Steer away from broad terms like “increase sales”. Rather, state “increase sales of computer systems 10 percent between June and December;’

Realistic

Have an ambitious agenda, but don’t go overboard. Also, compare your goals to past history. If your company has never come close to its objective, make sure you can support why this time will be different.

Measurable

If you can’t measure incentive performance in specific terms, it will be very difficult to prove to management the program was a success. Also, you want to be able to compare the incentive solutions against past and future initiatives.

Well-timed

Incentive promotion programs should be run when they will do the most good. For instance, a safety incentive award program should operate during peak rush periods. Also, adjust your objectives to suit fluctuations in the business cycle. A sales force incentive program aimed at increasing sales during a slow period won’t come close to peak-period numbers.

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