top three ways to become a sales truth

Honest selling is not an oxymoron! These two words are seldom used in the same sentence much less the same breath when talking about salespeople. Maybe it's time for a breath of fresh air and the intake starts with you. Salespeople are typically characterized as fast talking, self serving and greedy individuals. Outdated sales training methods continue to create these types of salespeople by teaching outdated methods of selling such as overcoming the objection. I.e. The first objection is never the real one. Overcome the prospect's objection a minimum of three times before you let them up for air. No wonder internet sales are booming! Maybe it's time to incorporate the most powerful sellig skill into weekly and one-on-one sales meetings: truth telling. This skill takes courage, introspection and personal accountability. Here are three ways to apply the powerful skill of truth telling.#1: Look in the mirror. Truth telling begins with you.Be honest with yourself. Quit blaming the company, your price points, the boss and the economy. Are you doing everything you can to succeed in tough times? It's not the most naturally gifted salesperson that wins business. It is the committed and disciplined salesperson that consistently wins business. Take the quiz below to check your commitment level to success.? I have read or listened to an average of one business/sales book a month for the past five years.
? I have actively sought out advice from a mentor, my boss or a colleague.
? I slow down long enough to figure out gaps in my performance and what to do about it. (I.e. I turn off all my electronics and focus.)
? I give 110% to my clients, job and my team.
? I am optimistic and proactively work on positive self-talk.
? I have written down my goals with specific action steps and deadlines.
? I have increased my sales activity to compensate for longer buy cycles.
? I attend a minimum of two educational workshops each year that helps me grow personally and professionally.Be honest and answer truthfully. Are you doing all of the above to become a true professional in sales?#2: Tell the truth to your prospects and clients. There is an old saying, "character not tested is no character at all." In tough times, character is tested. It can be tempting to sell something you know isn't of highest value for the client. This is particularly tempting if your prospect falls in the "doesn't know what he doesn't know" space. For example, a colleague recently referred me to a project, walking away from the sale because she discovered the prospect needed sales training more than her offering of team building. She could have easily sold a day of team building; however, she told the CEO the truth. She didn't close a sale that day. She did close a relationship and is now regarded as a trusted advisor.Truth telling is a powerful consultative selling skill because when you tell the truth you get the truth in return. For example, a salesperson is asked to put together a proposal, however, hasn't heard real 'pain.' Truth telling is a simple as this: "I'd love to put together a recommendation; however, I haven't heard enough of a reason for you to change/do something. What am I missing?" Or, "I get the feeling this issue is important, however, I am not sure it's landing in the top five priorities of things to get done at your organization. Should we back-up and really figure out if you need to address this challenge at this time?" Truth telling sets the foundation for honest dialogue. The prospect will agree and give you a no (saving you from writing one more practice proposal) or start selling you (and themselves) on why it's important to change, improve or switch.#3: Be honest - have you lost touch with customer needs? Is it the economy or has your product and service run its' course? Is it the economy or do you have lousy customer service? Is it the economy or is there another delivery mode your customers prefer when making a purchase. Zappos is a 1 billion dollar on-line shoe store company. They offer free shipping both ways and returns up to one year. Zappos figured out that customers, like me, hate the hassle of going to the post office to return items. They changed the game of delivery and it's paying big dividends. Jim Collins, author of, "How The Mighty Fall," shares the five stages that companies go through on their way to extinction. One of the stages is denial and creating cultures of denial. Here's the truth: you might be lousy at what you do and how you do it. You may be selling a product or service no one wants or needs anymore. Or you could be delivering services/product in a mode that is outdated and inconvenient. Get out of denial and seek the truth.Truth telling is a powerful consultative selling skill and one that will close business for your sales organization. Don't create a denial culture. Be honest and take a hard look at yourself, your sales process and your product and service offerings. It's time to close more business.

Original :: top three ways to become a sales truth

what are the best books to sell online

Online book selling is one of the easiest and most inexpensive ways to start a business. All that is really necessary to start a basic book selling business is a computer with internet access, a few books of your own or consignment books from others. There are a number of venues where you can sell your books without paying a fee until your books are sold. At that time you will pay a small commission.If you become interested in this business you will first want to determine which books are the best to buy and sell. The last thing you want is to began buying books that do not sell. You will usually end up donating these unsold books to thrift stores and other institutions. While this is a gnerous act on your part and may give you a minor tax break donating books does not pay the bills.Start by becoming familiar with AddAll which is on online site that lists current asking prices and numbers of titles available. This is a good place to gather information prior to searching for books and an excellent resource to help you price your books. As you build knowledge of what sells best resist the temptation to buy current best seller fiction. Unless for some reason there is a shortage of this type they are only worth a couple of dollars. Out of print books can be a good choice. Out of print and some still printed books known as "how to books" that describe unique or specialized subjects are usually always a good choice and many can be purchased at garage and estate sales for under a dollar.Other categories would include fishing, auto racing, older civil war books, older sword and weapon books. Books on specialized trades such as blacksmiting, old word working tools, some sewing titles. Many college textbooks can be good sellers. You will need to do some research here though because colleges change the course books frequently. Auto, and motorcycle repair books will usually sell very quickly. Auto collectors books are a rich field.Another area which can be very lucrative are art books containing prints. There are people who specialize in buying these books and paying a good price for them. They then dismantle the books, mount the prints and sell the prints individually for a nice profit. This field will require some research. Check eBay often for the print category and take note of what is selling and then watch for books covering those artists.This article covers a very small selection of the best books to buy. Research is the secret to success in the online book business. This is a business where you can buy products for pennies that will resell for many dollars. However you should quickly learn what not to buy.Because so many books can be purchased for pennies this can be a lucrative business. Do your research, get out of that chair and hit a few book sales and why not read one or two of those things now and then?

Original :: what are the best books to sell online

sharepoint service an effective business

SharePoint is an effective tool to enhance and streamline your business in so many different ways. If you use the SharePoint service you will be surprised of how the latest technology from Microsoft Office's SharePoint platform helps in running your businesses with lots of ease and discipline.This latest service from Microsoft Office's SharePoint platform is the ultimate collaboration tool that can improve your teamwork performance, develop your business insights.How SharePoint Service HelpsAs SharePoint can be customized you can use this service in lots of ways. Different business can be customized and deploy to match its own business needs. It improves the business process, communicatioand lots more. You can use your SharePoint services to:
(a) streamline your business processes
(b) increase employee collaboration
(c) manage workflow
(d) find and analyze data
(e) publish reports
(f) search for content, people or expertise in business applications
(g) create portals, blogs or wikis to share and maintain documents, task lists and information.SharePoint HistorySharePoint Team Services (STS) was the first version released at the same time as Office XP and available as part of Microsoft FrontPage. It runs on Windows 2000 server or Window XP.Later Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 was marketed as an upgrade to SharePoint Team Services which was a redesigned application. While SharePoint Team Services stored documents in ordinary file storage, keeping document metadata in a database its Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 version stores both the document and the metadata in a database, and supports basic document versioning for items in Document Libraries.The latest avatar of SharePoint is the WSS 3.0 released in 2007 WSS 3.0 do not support Windows 2000 server. This version supports more features used in Web 2.0 solutions like Blogs, Wikis and RSS feeds.How To Build A SharePoint PageA SharePoint page is built by combining the web parts into a web page, to be accessed using a browser. Any web editor supporting ASP.NET can be used for this purpose, even though Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer is the preferred editor. The extent of customization of the page depends on its design.Further Microsoft changed its name with version 4.0 to SharePoint Foundation 2010.Ways SharePoint service can assist:
(a) custom workflow development
(b) custom applications
(c) data cataloging
(d) branding
(e) MOSS development
(f) Microsoft.NET development
(g) technical staff and user training.What Else SharePoint Can DoEasy to operate SharePoint is an "out of the box" solution that integrates with Microsoft Office. It can also be customised to suit your specific business requirements and maximise its value.SharePoint Consultancy Service HelpThere are consulting services that help you with SharePoint. These services will help set up your business needs for maximum benefits.These services can help you with:
(a) business analysis
(b) planning and design
(c) custom content
(d) taxonomy
(e) navigation
(f) usability
(g) branding
(h) deployment
(i) training.

Original :: sharepoint service an effective business

handling objections a valuable skill to

As professional sales people, we have all encountered our fair share of objections from our customers for the product or service that we are selling. When I first started in sales I took these objections that customers put up personally, wondering what I had done wrong and why they did not buy from me, especially when I found out that they had bought a similar product from my competitors. That can destroy your self esteem, and if not controlled has a disastrous flow on effect which will effect your performance, customer interaction, and your pay check.Have you encountered a similar situation? Not good is it?So why do customers raise objections, even after you as a professional sales persohas covered all the ground and created rapport?Customers object for many and varied reasons and the most common of these is affordability! Yes affordability. I know that sounds crazy, but is it? Have a look at your self, and analyze why you put up objections when you have gone into a store to buy an item, and the sales person has been great, yet you have taken an out put up an objection and then told the sales person "Hey I will think about it, and get back to you" and guess what you like most customers never do. So why did you do that?Your answer to this self analysis question will provide valuable information to assist you in handling objections from your customer and in particular the fatal words "I will think about it" the sale killer. Think about how often you as a customer have used these exact same words, and then look at how often your customers have used those words on you. Interesting isn't it?Yes objections are frustrating, especially when you desperately need the sale to make target. Objections are not the end of the world or for that matter the sale, in fact superb sales people welcome and are prepared for objections, it comes with the territory of sales. So rather than getting hot under the collar when you as a sales person feel your customer is about to raise an objection welcome it by being prepared, preparation comes with looking at all possible scenarios and then rehearsing how you will handle them. Remember Armies rehearse for battle; they just don't jump in and go to war. The majority of a soldier's military life is spent training and rehearsing for WAR. As a professional sales person how much time do you spend training and rehearsing to sharpen your selling skills one of which is handling objections?I find objections healthy and very informing as it allows me to gauge just how well my customer is listening and reviewing what I am proposing. Rather than getting defensive I use their objections to further build my credibility.It is not the scope of this article to teach you how to master the art of handling objections, so to help you along in turning objections into sales here are some simple pointers, which you can expand on.1. Openly acknowledge the customers concerns,2. Show empathy, establish the core of why the objection has been raised3. Ask Questions, strategically tuning your questions to be even more specific so that you can unearth the underlying reason. Often the customer themselves may not know why they have raised an objection it could be as innocuous as listening to a friend and thought well that worked may be it will work here as well.4. Appreciate your response. Be concise (try not to be verbose and waffle), Be Specific, customize your response to meet the customers needs, and ask more questions.5. Never take objections personally; the customer could be afraid of making the commitment.

Original :: handling objections a valuable skill to

make your customer feel comfortable ask

How often have you as a customer been asked for feed back during the sale process? As a sales person how often have you asked your customer for feed back during the sale?This is an important skill that you have to learn and keep honed, just doing it now and then will give you a now and then kind of income! Superb high producing sales persons ask their customers for feed back right through the sales process and before they move on to another point, this continual checking in effect keeps you focused on your customers needs and the customer focused on you and your proposal. Developing this skill allows a sales person to accurately gauge where they stand in meeting a customers needs, and howwell they are progressing, while at the same time provides the information that you require to navigate successfully in the sales process making adjustments seamlessly as you proceed.This skill takes away the assumptions that most sales people make when their customer is silent, by wrongly assuming that their customer is still focused, active, and interested in what they are proposing, this could be furthest from the truth as the customer may have zoned out and is in fact playing a round of golf in his mind instead of listening to your sales pitch!C'mon haven't you done something similar your self when you have been the customer? Actively seeking and asking for customer feed back keeps you in control and on track to achieve your objective. Checking also allows you the sales person to identify any mistakes that you may be inadvertently doing, it allows you to see opportunities, for a close, or obstacles that you may have to remove. Most importantly your customer feed back gives you an opportunity to refine your message to suit the particular customer making you confident to close the sale.Each time you ask a question or respond to an objection, check for feed back so you can gauge your customers reaction, if the customer understands and agrees, with your checking question it will save valuable time, as you will avoid going over unnecessary ground, should your feed back show that the customer is still unsure or worse confused it will allow you to seamlessly back track, make adjustments, and then move forwards again.This important skill is one that sales people resist the most. Why? In my years as a trainer sales people resist this skill as they fear it may be too risky and as a result jeopardize their objective, Or they believe that this skill makes them appear far to pushy, or manipulative, (this skill is neither) so they fail to learn, develop and keep this skill honed, as they have stumbled on and made sales with out utilizing this particular skill to it's fullest. Imagine how many more sales you would make form this one customer if you had taken the time to learn this skill and then rehearsed it honing it to perfection.So what are checking questions? Simply stated checking questions are open ended questions such as "would you agree...?" "What are the points....?" So questions that are open ended are checking questions and not leading questions, leading questions do just that lead the customer to make an answer in other words it forces the customer to say yes or no.

Original :: make your customer feel comfortable ask

what are the worst books to sell online

Any successful marketer will tell you that two of the most important tenants of a successful business are "Buy Low Sell High" and make sure that you only inventory product that is in demand and will resell fairly quickly. In the online book business the first is easy because you can usually purchase books any day of the week. There are many sources such as library book sales, estate sales, garage sales, thrift stores and others. You can bring home a trunk load of books many times for a dollar or less each.This benefit of the first tenant can be a problem in the building of inventory. Because books can be purchased so cheaply there is always the danger of buying stock that does not sell. Wen you do this you become a book collector instead of a book seller. This is fine if collecting is your goal. However to pay the bills those books will need to be sold. Book selling is a field where you need to do your research in order to be successful. Lets consider some books that are questionable at best as salable inventory.Current biographies about movie stars and current political figures are usually a bad prospect. Current fiction is another bad choice. These usually fall out of favor quickly and many titles now are being published in electronic form making the printed versions less popular. Literature can be very difficult unless you are knowledgeable in the field.Remember that old does not automatically mean valuable. While there are gems in those older books many while interesting simply because of their age just do not sell. While text books can be a very good choice you need to be careful here. Many sociology and political science texts can flood the market and make them useless for resale.Study guides and computer books lose their value quickly. While many how to books can be good choices computer books about programs that are outdated are usually worthless. Contrary to what many might believe many of the Time-Life type books will not sell. Readers digest and most National Geographic titles along with many sports and coffee table books usually will just clutter up your inventory. As with anything though there are exceptions to the rule. Again this is why research will make or break an online book business.Most cookbooks and baking books are usually not good choices. But if you were to specialize in this field and keep up to date on what is in demand many of these could be good choices. Romance novels and most paper backs will be poor choices. There are others that should be avoided but only research and experience will give you the knowledge needed to succeed in this exciting field. Remember that even if you don't succeed in finding a treasure while searching, every hunt is like searching for gold and you never know when you will hit the "mother lode".

Original :: what are the worst books to sell online

art of negotiation knowing when and what

As a professional sales person how good are you at negotiating? The answer lies in the size of your pay check, so don't kid your self and say you are great at negotiating if your pay check is consistently small, by small I mean less than $250,000.00 per annum! I personally would not be happy with a pay check of that size, so I would make it my business to learn this skill and hone my negotiating skill into an art form.Professional sales people must understand this simple truth: Selling and Negotiating are totally separate phases of the selling process, most sales people are poor to average negotiators, and believe that negotiating is all about reducing the price to finally achieve a sale,little wonder then that the customer expects this and tries to squeeze the last ounce out of the sale person that they are dealing with and usually are still not satisfied. Have you as a sales person experienced this?You definitely would have, as today's informed and savvy customer is continually bombarded both electronically and by the media and friends to never pay list price for any thing and in fact to ask the sales person these Fatal questions "What is your best price?" or "I have been offered this price from your competitor down the road, can you better it?" You may be asking at this point yeah I have so why have you called it a Fatal Question? Fair question and here is my answer, to a professional sales person this question is fatal, as the customer is taking control of the sales process putting the sales person into a price point corner, either way the sales person stands to lose once they allow themselves to be dragged into this quag mire, if they make the sale their commission is affected dramatically so a lower pay check and if they lose the sale their pay check and their self esteem is damaged. Lose- Lose, so can you now appreciate how important the skill of negotiating is?Here is another question, has a customer said this to you "Just tell me what the price is?" What is the customer doing? Do you know? If you do, do you know how to neutralize it? Keeping the customer happy and involved?How often has this happened to you? and how have you handled this situation? Have you gone straight into giving the customer the price and then had the customer say "Thanks I will think about iy and get back to you" Yup it has happened right?Negotiating is an art that right an ART, something that superb sales persons do extremely well, in fact none of my customers have ever paid less than the price I have asked for! Can you say the same?Before you enter the negotiating phase you must do so after you have answered these two questions, 1. Do I know the customers needs? 2. Does the customer appreciate what is on the table? If the answer to either of the questions is no, you are not ready to negotiate, slow down, regain control and go again. If the answer is yes, you are ready to start the negotiating phase. Let us just go back a step and see how we would handle a customer that is insistent and wants to know the price, the easiest way that I have found to handle this situation is to go along staying in control for example "Yes, customer, we can discuss price, could I ask a few questions to get the details I need to assist you better?" At this point the customer may still refuse to give you information that you require average sales people succumb at this point and give them the price, (either specific or ballpark) this practice is risky as you have now lost control, getting control back from this position is difficult and you will now get squeezed by your customer, resulting in a smaller pay check for you.If the customer is insistent, work to get below the surface to the customers specific need with out establishing the need. Why? Knowing the need allows you several ways to meet your objective whereas a Demand is narrow leaving you with few if any choices to satisfy. Selling on price is damaging for your pay check and your companies long term viability, companies need to make a profit to survive, so don't give it away freely!Negotiation is a tool that you use to preserve your price and terms. I learn't this when I went into our local Mercedes Benz dealer ship lately to purchase the new Mercedes SLS Gull wing I asked the sales person for the best price without allowing him the time to get into the sales process, he was a superb sales person and turned my question on price around seamlessly getting me to give him the reason "needs" at no time did he ask me to make an offer and when price was eventually discussed it was when he was ready for the negotiating phase and I was made to feel that the price was minor in comparison to what was on the table. I paid full price that is the art of negotiating by a superb sales person, little wonder he is the highest paid and holds the number one position for Mercedes Benz sales in Australasia.You can as well once you have mastered the art of negotiating.

Original :: art of negotiation knowing when and what

art of negotiation get to the need

Under every demand the customer puts forward there is a need, as a sales professional it is your task to unearth that need, for with out identifying the need, how are you going to meet your objective?As a professional sales person the last thing you want to hear your customer say to you is "I need to think about it and will get back to you" the customer seldom if ever will get back to you and when you follow up they will either not take your call or tell you that they have purchased else where!The main reason why a customer will not buy from you is because you have failed to identify and then satisfy their needs, instead you have become distracted by their demands and fear of losing the sle and conceded to their demand and presented price. At this point you are sliding away from the sale quicker than a land slip; basically you could liken your self to a motor vehicle spinning its wheels with no forward traction, not a good position to be in as a sales person, is it?Well I can hear you say OK this is all well and good but I have made sales even when I have presented price. Good for you. This event is rare. If you want to get a bigger pay check on a consistent basis you must get to and understand the customers' needs, not just give it a cursory thought. Make sure you have identified the need of your customer and not made an assumption as to what you have interpreted the need to be, you achieve this by getting the customer to tell you, by negotiating it from them.Tip: There is only one way to satisfy a demand. There are multiple ways to satisfy a need. There it is a demand does not give you room to move needs on the other hand give you several opportunities to work on, so get to the core need.When a customer enters your shop or yard to purchase, they are on the defensive, it is your task to make them relax and start talking about their needs and what specifically they are wanting solved, occasionally you may have a customer that becomes adversarial as this is the defense mechanism that they have taught themselves and it has worked in the past getting them what they want. An adversarial customer is trying to intimidate so they can take control, and usually this works when they are dealing with average sales persons, when they come up against a superb sales person this adversarial customer becomes putty and controllable in the hands of a superb sales person why? As superb sales persons remain consultative even with an adversarial customer during the negotiating phase, they never become adversarial, and eventually the adversarial negotiator runs out of puff and amenable when they realize that the adversarial method is not going to work for them in this instance.Tip: You do not have to be adversarial to be in and stay in control.

Original :: art of negotiation get to the need

art of negotiation do not give trade

Tip: Negotiation is all about trading not giving.This is where average sales people fail, as during this phase they get consumed with closing the sale so that they can chalk another sale up, only to have it fall over, and the excuse they use is "Oh the buyer had buyers remorse..." Oh please, these days there is an excuse for an excuse, c'mon be honest with your self you not the buyer failed as you failed to understand the need and assumed resulting in giving away more than you needed in other words you conceded to the customer and lost control, at this point the customer is left wondering "This sounds too good to be true... and if it does then what is the catch? Am I missing something? AmI being conned?" All this because you as the sales person conceded more than you had to losing control and the sale as a result.Think back to your own experiences as a customer where the sales person has conceded quickly, what have been your thought patterns? Have you gone through and bought from the sales person that has just conceded, or have you had similar thoughts as the customer described in the paragraph above? This is the problem with conceding (giving), rather than trading, when you trade the customer feels that they are getting some value for the concession that they have made, rather than feeling that this is too good to be true they feel rewarded, weird but that is how people think and react.With current affairs and news programs continually portraying sales people as the devil the buying public is wary and skeptical.Try this, go out and give a stranger some help with out any catches, or if you would prefer try this on your own close friends or family, the first question that will lave their lips when you do an act of kindness or generosity is "Why me? What have I done?" or "What is the catch" now if your own friends and family react like that what hope is there for a complete stranger to react any differently? See the problem, so do not give to quickly or more than you need to achieve your objective.Tip: Keep track of what you have given, and only give one at a time.By slowing down it allows you to control the negotiating process and take your customer to the objective in a delighted frame rather than in a questioning frame of mind.

Original :: art of negotiation do not give trade

art of negotiation the power of silence

We all love talking, and often we talk just for the sake of talking so that we can hear our own voices, perhaps it is insecurity built in to us Humans, in any case the urge to talk more than we listen is endemic with in our specie, this constant noise prevents us from picking up on opportunities that fleet by us.As professional sales people you have to master the skill of knowing when to "SHUT UP. Do you know when to shut up? In professional selling we call that knowing when to stop selling! That is shut up and keeps quiet.Try this test, next time you are in a meeting, sales process, or just out with friends, after you have said your piece just shut up, resist the urge to say something moe. I guarantee that you will find this task immensely difficult to do! As the pause lengthens the urge to speak will grow making resisting this urge to talk very difficult indeed, in fact one of the group will just have to say something, to break the silence. Go on try it and find out how challenging this test is.So how does this help in the negotiating process? It makes the negotiating so much easier, you as the professional sales person has stated your piece, be it price or product, now be silent. It does not matter how long you have to be silent, it may feel like an eternity, be assured you will be amazed to find out that it probably is only a few seconds, a minute perhaps, before some one will speak.Tip: The first to speak is usually the first to concede.The first to speak is the first to concede so make sure it is not you that speaks first but your customer, as this will ensure your objective is achieved. This is one occasion where you do not ask for feed back that phase is now over, this is the final game, the bit that fattens your pay check. If you check to see if the price is ok you have been the first to speak and as a result you have weakened your position.IT TAKES STRENGTH TO KNOW WHEN TO SHUT UP AND BE SILENT.The old clich?d saying silence is golden stands true for professional sales people. Learn the skill of knowing when to keep silent in the sales process and maintain this silence for what ever length of time is required and you will reap the benefits.

Original :: art of negotiation the power of silence

asking for the sale the art of closing

Easy. Right? Really think so? If all sales people were adept at asking for their customers business and succeeding their pay checks would be massive, unfortunately the reverse is true very few sales people have the courage to get out front and center and ask their customer for the business and for referrals.How often have you actually asked your customer for their business? How often have you just fallen into a sale? The latter is true with the greater majority of sales people, and you will often hear them recite the following mantra "Sales is a numbers game, win some lose some." Wouldn't it be better if every customer you saw turned into a sale? What would your pay check look like now?Iteresting, when you realize that a customer contrary to popular belief amongst sales people is not there to waste your time, rather they are looking for some one to assist them in finding a solution to a problem or to satisfy a need that they have. For the customer this is a stress full event which raises the fight or flight syndrome which is part of our evolution, so an adversarial or timid approach is often portrayed by the customer, they are crying out for help, you as the sales person are there to assist and have to know when to keep momentum going and when to ease up.You have to decide with the customer's assistance when to get the customer to take the action step and sign on the dotted line, or do some action that will take them closer to consummating the sale.End each strategic question with asking for an action, it could be a simple or a complex action, you still have to direct the customer to actually do it. Get into the habit of asking for an action step, at every opportunity till you feel it is the time to ask the customer for their business. If you do not ask you will not receive. This saying is over two thousand years old and is found in one of the greatest books ever written the Bible.Tip: Ask and you will receive.If you do not ask for the business, the customer will walk, and you will miss out on making the sale, instead your competition will reap the rewards of all your hard work as the customer will just walk in and buy, as they now know thanks to you how to meet their needs. This is played out across the world in the field of sales, often frustrating sales people desperate to make a sale to meet quota.Make asking for the business your master step in keeping momentum.

Original :: asking for the sale the art of closing

sales successes leverage build strong

Building strong relationships with your customers and colleagues is critical in succeeding with complex sales.Say you had a sale that was potentially worth one Billion dollars, could you get this sale home by going it alone? This is where leverage comes into the sales process, where you have no choice but to build strong relationships with your customers and colleagues, as it will be critical that you understand and gain access to decision makers and influencers. This is where you leverage your colleagues - your team of specialists, senior executives, peers and all support personnel that will be required to achieve your and the companies objective.This leverage can be used for your smallevalue sales as well, heck that is why a sales manager exists within a sales organization so get out there and use them, rather than trying to go it alone.Start leveraging your team early in the process, while at the same time creating strong relationships with your customer and the customers support such as their accountants, attorneys, auditors, bankers, brokers, and any other influencers, ensuring that you are present at all the steps keeping the momentum moving at a controlled pace. By leveraging your team early you will ensure the resources are available to you when you require them. This also creates a positive working relationship within your team, and management, well before you need them. Share credit and reciprocate in supporting them. An example of this team work is when your senior manager places a well timed call to his counter part in the customer's organization, this opens a door that may have been closed to you at this point, and this opening door gives you the edge over your competitors.You will also need to map and identify your customers decision making process that is who will be making the critical decisions and who will be the major influencers in this process. You will have to learn who has the power.To accurately analyze your customers decision making process you will have to craft carefully worded and strategic questions. When asking your questions and analyzing the responses pay careful attention to and observe the communication patterns, getting input from all parties involved. This will allow you to create relationships with the customer and key players within the customer's organization allowing you to penetrate deep within the organization at various levels. Do not be afraid to ask the critical questions to gauge support as well as opposition to your initiative, so that you can re phrase or make adjustments as you proceed to your objective.To summarize:
1. Map the customers' decision making process,
2. Leverage your colleagues by enlisting their support,
3. Identify and cultivate a respected person in the customers camp.

Original :: sales successes leverage build strong

asking for the sale the art of closing

Sales people always talk about the close, never about the open, to the sales person the close is what they want so that they can add another sale to the target board, yet these very same sales people are afraid and hesitant to close.I personally prefer calling this phase in the sales process asking for the sale, rather than referring to it as the close, the term close gives the entire process a finality, yet customer relations is far from final, as every customer is worth a great deal more to you as a professional sales person than just that one sale. A well handled and satisfied customer will if asked refer others to you, making these customers much easier to deal with.Rather than usinghe clich?d term of closing or close try asking. Asking the customer for the sale. The process has not changed just the terminology.The average sales person is afraid to ask for the sale for fear of being rejected, this will occur if you as the sales person has not properly identified the customers needs and provided the solution to satisfy those needs. Asking for the sale will let you know just how well you have identified and satisfied your customers needs if you are rejected, don't sulk, learn and profit from that rejection rather than taking it personally.Often sales persons tell me "Hey I don't want to be pushy, or come across as being pushy." My response to them is that if you have done your task well your customer is expecting you to ask for the sale; so far from being pushy you are in fact being helpful. Go figure! These types of average sales people have one thing in common mediocrity, and they view asking for the sale as an all or nothing dump. They believe they have to wait till the bitter end and then with great fear and reluctance they may ask for the sale or worse wait for the customer to say " hey where to now?"It is up to you to ask for the sale, and a superb sales person is asking for the sale often through out the sales process, they achieve this with out alienating the customer with a hard close instead they have a system of measuring each close and eventually they have landed the sale. This system is simple and sales people do it all the time with out even knowing it, and therein lies the problem they do not know where they are in the process, so try and close often with disastrous results. Next time a customer says to you "I need to think about it." Ask you're self what I missed during the process, and you will discover that you failed to set measurable objectives.

Original :: asking for the sale the art of closing

asking for the sale the art of closing

Feed back and adjustments are part of the closing process, as it lets you know how the customer will respond if you closed now. It is vital that you ensure you have asked all the checking question necessary for if you have done this well the close is easy.During my early days as a sales person I went through the process to wards the end my customer asked this question "Where do I sign? And what happens next?" As a new sales person I was stumped as no one in my training had taught me what to do in this particular scenario! So In stead of shutting up you guessed it I kept on talking.. In fact I talked my self out of the sale. Here is a quick question Have you had something similar happen toyou? If you are honest it has probably happened so often that you would be embarrassed to admit it, right?The above scenario happens to sales people every day they are in sales and unfortunately few if any even realize it has happened to them, it can happen in a variety of ways not all of which as obvious as the above scenario. That is why it is important that you are continually checking, by asking closing questions and when necessary making the adjustments this gives you valuable insight as to how the customer is feeling about their objectives being met and is necessary to achieve your objective. A win - win outcome.During this process if the customer rejects your attempt at closing acknowledge and by carefully crafted questions find out why the customer is saying No. This discovery will allow you to address this obstacle that you may have overlooked previously and when appropriate close again.For new sales people this skill is difficult to muster and they will feel like a fish out of water as it goes against all that they are used to, my suggestion is to go out and b e a customer of your competition and see how you are treated as a customer, how the sales person handles you and deals with the sales process, find out what it feels like take mental notes and then try using them in your attempt, if it was something you liked the chances are that your customer will as well, after all we are all Human. Being a sales person does not make you a non Human, now does it? Tip: Ask questions through out the process making adjustments where necessary.

Original :: asking for the sale the art of closing

activity sentence yourself

Most organizations operate by way of visions, mission statements, goals, and objectives. While all of these are extremely important, the foundation of actualizing these governing principles are behavior and activity. It is the everyday execution of owned competencies that translate theory into revenue. Deliberate activity is an imperative prerequisite to achievement. In business we frequently utilize lofty quotas as motivation to increase activity. Consequently, we often get the activity that we encourage without the results we desire. This is because we too routinely overlook and take for granted the accurate, efficient, and methodical behaviors required to produce favorable outcomes.Actvity as definitive work. As it relates to sales, work is prospecting, meeting, or following-up. If you are not engaging in one of these four, then you are not working. The most valuable quality regarding activity is, arguably, discipline. It takes focus, control, and will to do all of the things necessary for exceeding goals and objectives. Picture a day in your work life, what percentage of time do you spend prospecting (researching, preparing, telemarketing, cold-calling, networking, or referrals), meeting, and following-up. Let's be sure to include electronic communication and internet surfing as well. The timeless 'Always Be Closing' philosophy is still applicable today, defining 'Closing' as continually getting closer to mutually beneficial relationships. A perpetual hunger to connect through a thoughtful pursuit is essential in increasing relevant activity.Another prevalent scenario regarding activity is knowledge of what one should actually be doing and how they should be doing it, or the lack thereof. Not many organizations clarify and carry out roles and responsibilities like The United States Military. In the immortal words of Col. Nathan R. Jessep in A Few Good Men, "We follow orders or people die". The interesting thing about this quote is the deceptively simplistic implication of flawless execution. Just because orders are given doesn't guarantee accurate implementation, it takes the right instruction and application to assure favorable finales.Outcomes follow results which come from meeting goals and objectives. These are met through precise activity targeted at the proper possibilities. Always understand who your target market is, what you have to offer that market, and how to penetrate that market appropriately. As companies and sales people we must sentence ourselves to the daily grind of developing win-win relationships. Activity is definitive work, show me your outcomes and I will define your activity. Great Selling!

Original :: activity sentence yourself

sales successes follow up and follow up

When I first started in sales one of my greatest fears was picking up the telephone and following up a customer. My sales managers mantra was, "Follow up, and keep following up as flawlessly as possible" at every sales meeting he would ask all the sale team how our customers were and how often we had followed up and the result.Follow up is an area where sales people fail dismally and those that give a token effort do so half heartedly and with out any conviction so it is easy for the customer to say no. Why is following up a customer that you have spent time and built rapport with such a difficult task? Why sales people are so afraid to do this task and will make all forms of excuses to aoid making the call?The why is FEAR.. You as a sales person are afraid of rejection that is the customer saying no. I know that fear first hand and this fear of rejection held me back from making a large pay check!It was only after a customer called me back inquiring as to why I had not called, and asked me directly as to what was I afraid of/ Only then did the penny drop, there was nothing to be afraid of in fact the customer is more afraid than you and is actually looking forward to the follow up call, to help them overcome the fear of committing, it is the follow up call that puts oil on the surface of the fear calming and neutralizing it.Tip: The easiest way to over come this fear if you do suffer from it is by picking up the phone taking a few deep breaths and making the call.Rise above the average sales person (who at best is pathetic at following up) and set your self apart by being great at following up your customers both pre and post sales. Following up gives you the sales person a point of difference where you can differentiate your self from the other sales people and be in total control. I have found that the sales person that follows up consistently builds credibility easily, the customer grows to trust them even more, as if you have told the customer that you will call them and actually do so is a promise made and is a promise kept. The customer will be confident in referring friends and family to you who will grow your sales and your pay check.
Tip: Follow up is consistent and must be made during the sale, after the sale, and even when the sale has crashed.Here is an excellent example of the power of following up. "A customer that I was dealing with in 2008 on a property transaction, did not proceed, rather than discarding the customers details (LIKE MOST SALES PERSONS WOULD HAVE DONE) I put this customer on my email list, and followed them up both by email and on the phone, these follow up calls were general, and we just chit chatted, about the property market and how the market was unsustainable. Two years latter I was still communicating with them and offered them a property that had come onto the market, they asked me my opinion(This displayed great trust that had now developed) and bought the property sight unseen. That is the power of flawless follow up. Now if I had just discarded them or given up at any time over the two tear period I would have missed out on the commission and the fourteen great referrals that this customer gave me.Now put your self into customer's shoes and see how you react when a sales person promises to call you back and then fails to do so. How do you feel? Would you feel confident dealing with or referring any of your colleagues or family to this sales person? The answer would be a resounding NO. Right?Don't be an average sales person, work on being a superb sales person, by doing what you promise, and keeping your promises. I know you are about to make an excuse, "Hey I am really busy and plain for got, I will get around to it." Whoa that will not work your credibility has been damaged, to prevent this from happening make a to do list, and ensure you set time aside in your busy day to do all the tasks on your to do list no matter what.Tip: Be fanatical about following up your clients and completing each days to do list.If you have promised to call a client on the 14th of September and today is the 4th of august ensure that this is put into your to do list for the 14th of September with a reminder a day before so that you can get the info that may be required, prior to making the call. In this day and age of hi tech systems are available that will ensure that you do not for get so make use of them and watch your sales and pay check grow.Tip: Nothing annoys a customer more than a sales person not returning a call.When you receive a call from a customer and you could not take the call at that time ensure you call the customer or colleague back immediately you get a chance, in any event no latter than three hours after the call was made. Leave it any longer and your customer starts losing faith in you and as a result in your product - after sales service.I have often heard sales persons refer to a customer that has not committed immediately as a "Waste of time." I sincerely hope you are not that kind of sales person as no customer is a waste of time. Remember they have taken the time out of their busy day to visit your shop or dealership, and they do not do that lightly.In summary: Follow up when promised; Keep the customer informed as to what is happening ahead of time. If there is going to be a delay, or a problem let them no immediately and apologize for the delay and let them know specifically what you will be doing to resolve the issue and any next steps that the customer would need to take. Show genuine concern and a sense of urgency. Better than that just make sure you are never late.Ban the following from your vocabulary "Let me know.." and "Call me."Important Tip: It is up to you to call and follow up your customer, setting the specific steps that will be followed.

Original :: sales successes follow up and follow up

tip for sales successes beware of gut

I have lost count of how many times I have heard sales people talk about trusting their gut instinct, how their gut instinct lets them know whether or not they have a real, qualified lead, and whether this customer is a genuine buyer! Do you rely on gut instincts?Tip: Get the information from the customer, not from your gut.As helpful as your "gut" instincts may be, you cannot substitute your gut feelings for the best information that only your customer can give you. Your customer is the key source for the best and most important information. As simple and logical as this may be the majority of sales people, surprisingly continue making assumptions and using information that they have priarily manufactured them selves.You can not beat asking your customer the tough yet critical questions, that only they your customer can accurately answer, questions such as "What is the specific and important need of the customer?" "What time frame must this need be met?" "What are the compelling reasons or events that..?" "What is the budget that is allocated for this purchase?" "Can the customer make the purchase decision? Or does the customer need a second party to be part of the decision process?" Who are the competitors?" These are just a small sample of the type of questions that you as a sales person have to ask and the customer must answer, for the objectives to be achieved.The majority of sales persons make these classic mistakes when qualifying.1. Assumptions. They believe they know all the answers to vital questions.2. Don't allow for change. Sales people forget that the sale is a continually changing canvas, based on the customer wanting to make adjustments, changes and the competitors throwing out tantalizing morsels to lure the customer across to them.3.Don't change their message or strategy to accommodate the customers internal changes or the competitors messages.4. Failure to continuously validate,( sales people generally only do so once, instead of ongoing!)Are you that type of sales person? Do you delude your self into thinking that there is a sale when in fact there never was? Or assuming that there is no chance, when in fact there is. With out continual validation, it is nothing more than guess work.Sales people that rely on their gut instincts generally fail to validate on a continuous basis and as a result fail to discover and understand how the customer is thinking, and more importantly finding out why they feel or think as they do!Tip:
1. Assume nothing.
2. Do not rely on your gut feelings alone when doing a deal.
3. Allow for and anticipate change.
4. Have several perspectives not just one.

Original :: tip for sales successes beware of gut

sales success mindset how to sell

Everyone is looking for success. Why?We are convinced it is the shortcut to happiness. Forget the pursuit of happiness, we want happiness...and success is how we plan to get it. Assuming that success is determined by reaching goals that we have for ourselves, and assuming that happiness can be derived from success (an assumption which should not always be trusted), I'm going to share a 3-step strategy for achieving sales success (and your income goals) in such a way that it boosts your self-confidence, your personal freedom, and possibly, your happiness.Sales Success Mindset Step #1 - Sell yourself on yourselfIf you have ever struggled with self-confidence, you know how it feels not to hae the confidence to take on a big project, make a cold call or make a big speech. Self-confidence is absolutely necessary for success in business, relationships, your career and your life.In my coaching practice, I found that limiting beliefs about the implications of ones past history, experiences, and lack of achievement have a great deal to do with lack of self-confidence. By carefully examining your past experiences, you will find that you have greatly overlooked many of the skills you have, gifts you have displayed, and the wealth you have built in your intellectual pursuits, your social networks and your life triumphs.My coaching clients have learned to call this "the Wealth Capital Matrix". As you learn to appreciate your "wealth capital matrix", you'll realize that you are more valuable, more esteemed, and wealthier than you thought you were.Sales Success Mindset Step #2 - Sell yourself on sellingSelling is one of the greatest ways to contribute to the well-being of the people around you. It is the single skill that is most commonly found in the background of business leaders, political leaders and professional achievers in our communities. Selling teaches you how to think like a deal maker because you have to understand and empathize with a buyer before you can successfully sell them on an idea, a product, or a service.This empathy is the foundational building block of effective persuasion. If you can learn to empathize with another human being, you can learn to match them effectively to what they need to solve their problems, and get paid for doing so. That is the essence of selling.Every CEO, every hospital administrator and non-profit leader has learned to sell effectively as a basic pre-requisite to their attaining positions of leadership. Realize that if you have negative feelings about selling, you have not been exposed to the reality of just how much sales professionals have contributed to the lifestyle that is enjoyed today in economically developed societies today.Sales Success Mindset Principle Step #3 - Bundle your Wealth Capital Matrix into the saleNo matter how poor your product is, or how unreliable your company is, you can learn to sell them successfully to the marketplace. The secret is in the bundling of that sale.Take for example a used car salesman selling a somewhat mediocre car. If that used car salesman also represented the best, most reliable and most responsive service department in the city, he would find a lot of takers for his admittedly mediocre automobile product.To understand the power of what I'm sharing with you let's take a closer look at your wealth capital matrix. It consists of:Spiritual Capital
Social Capital
Intellectual Capital
Financial CapitalIn my executive coaching work with sales professionals, I emphasize the boundless possibilities in selling performance when you actively bring your wealth capital matrix into the transaction as part of the deal.In other words you would be saying,"I know this product, on the face of it, does not appear to you to be the best deal. But every client who buys from me gets 24 hour access to me, my business network, my million dollar resource directory, access to my client-only website with 200 help guides and the best personal service guarantee in the Denver metro area."Suddenly, you have bundled the product or service you sell with something that no other sales professional in your industry, company, or department can offer - your wealth capital matrix. Now you can offer a unique selling proposition like - "The Denver Real Estate Agent with the Largest Personal Network of Commercial Property Buyers".If you've found this little guide useful, I encourage you to share it. Everyone has a wealth capital matrix. I hope you leverage yours to the best of your ability.

Original :: sales success mindset how to sell

sales training that sucks 5 ways using

What passes for sales training in many selling organizations is hardly a laughing matter. Ask any business leader or executive what the most important part of his or her business happens to be, and they'll say "my people". But when you look into how little time, money and attention they invest into their training and development process, you'll be left with a much different impression.Far too many sales managers and business owners believe that they cannot afford to set aside the time or the money to get their sales representatives deeply and rigorously trained in a manner that is customized for their organization's needs.Instead, they send newbies on half-backed orientation sessions, stik a bunch of binders in their hands, and sending them out on "ride-alongs" with senior salespeople (internal selling mentors). While this may work here and there, the occasional success of this method when implemented alone has as much to do with dumb luck as with anything else.The Downside of Relying Mainly On Internal Selling Mentors For Sales TrainingIn a large sales organization, there may be as much as a 2100% gap in productivity between the top performer and the bottom seller. This wide range of variation in productivity means that sales managers usually pick out the top performers to be the "victim" of a sub-par mentoring process.Here are a few reasons why internal sales mentoring should never be relied on as a substitute for a more robust sales training system.1. Without special preparation, and with no special incentive for doing something that could potentially interfere with their own productivity, many of these top performers come to resent what should be a profitable and practical team-building (and business-building) process.2. Instead of a systematic process for capturing the knowledge, behavior and attitudes of the best performers, and then sharing it with the whole sales organization, this information is inefficiently dispersed one-on-one. The organization loses out on the aggregate power of this transfer of intellectual capital.3. Bad sales habits of the hapless "trainer for a day" may get passed on to an impressionable sales trainee during these unguided "sales training" sessions in a way that is damaging to the long-term success of the trainee.4. Many average or under-performing salespeople end up being assigned to mentor the new staff member because the top performers refuse to dent their productivity by doing a task for which they are unsuited and untrained.5. Training business development professionals in this way is potentially disastrous for overall production because different trainees get exposure to different training. Such a system is not duplicable or systematic, and therefore cannot be incrementally improved over the long haul. It is not improvable... so when a problem arises, no sale manager, executive or consultant can fix the system. It will have to be replaced wholesale - from planning, to scripting, to behavior.ConclusionI am not against using more experienced sales professionals in your organization as selling mentors. However, this cannot take the place of a robust and systematic sales training process.The most effective sales training systems are customized to the needs of your organization. They are built from the ground up to acknowledge the realities facing your business and your sales professionals when they knock on the doors of prospects. Such sales systems are integrated and into metric-based sales management systems so that you can improve on behaviors rather than relying on empty rhetoric (or even insults) to motivate.

Original :: sales training that sucks 5 ways using

sales training disasters when sales

Sales training through sales mentoring within a selling organization is only a good idea when it is well structured and complemented by a broader system. Unfortunately, many harried and time-starved business owners take shortcuts with sales training and assign new trainees to shadow current salespeople in lieu of more comprehensive and systematic preparation.Sales Mentoring can also be applied in a very dangerous and counter-productive way when the sales trainees are compelled to shadow the wrong mentors. There are a few problems that can arise when this happens. Not only do organizations forfeit many of the benefits that can be gained from a strategic sales training system, they also incease the chances of contaminating trainees with performance-limiting thoughts, attitudes and behaviors.You can save yourself a lot of grief and your selling organization a lot in lost profits if you keep in mind the 6 traits of salespeople who should never be involved in your sales mentoring process.1. They lack Self-awarenessThey lack the sort of self-awareness that generates integrity. They often don't filter their words or behavior very well, so they don't improve in the areas where they need development. Very often, these people may be among the top producers in terms of closing deals, and so their undesirable behaviors get tolerated.These people are very big risks for contaminating your new trainee because they probably are already in your selling organization and new trainees are likely to be assigned to shadow them.2. They are InsecureThis second type of undesirable mentor may not be as reliable a top producer as those in the first category. As a result, they have issues with insecurity around top producers as well as any others they worry may make them look lazy and under-performing. In the worst cases, they may even be prone to unconsciously sabotaging their teammates.Promising new trainees may be subject to their attacks if they threaten to make these types of incumbent salespeople look like the underperformers they often are.3. They lack intellectual curiosityThey do not keep up with the latest facts, statistics, and trends that affect their products, their company and their customers. They lack the drive to stay completely up-to-date on even the products and programs they sell. Lacking the correct information, they make up for it by sounding authoritative even when they don't know. The discerning ear may them arrogant and overbearing.4. They make excusesThey are not accountable for results. They spend a lot of time complaining and making excuses for why they do not get results. Generally, they do not hold themselves responsible for their failure to hit their goals.5. They resent customers.They have very unhealthy attitudes towards customers, and they betray these attitudes in their conversations and actions. They often will only do the minimum required to get by. You can identify them by the negative "nicknames" that they assign to their customers, their grumbling about having to manage customer accounts they have sold to, and other such behaviors.Again, such a salesperson should never find themselves in the role of mentoring anyone...in a perfect world. Unfortunately, when sales managers and business owners are strapped for time and other resources, decisions get made that have long-term negative consequences.6. They have unproductive personal habits and lifestylesTheir personal habits and lifestyles intrude on their ability to produce great numbers. They have a hard time keeping the consequences of their poor lifestyles out of the workplace. They give customers a bad impression of themselves and also of your organization.ConclusionAll the traits listed above may be found in one person. Or they may be the only trait that marks the salesperson. In either case, you should consider replacing such employees. The last thing you should do is assign a new trainee to shadow them.Prevention is the best medicine. You should have a strategic process in place for identifying exactly what you want out of a salesperson in terms of motivation, objectives and competencies. You should have a continuous ongoing process for sourcing talent, and then you should have a customized sales training program that helps your sales force communicate your USP and follow through in a superior manner.

Original :: sales training disasters when sales

but i hate sales 6 vital steps to follow

Sales and lead conversions are essential if you want your business to grow, but it will be tough to do this if deep down you believe that sales is bad or evil! There are ways to sell ethically, responsibly and with class and style! Here are some simple tips for small business owners who loathe sales and selling.1. Listen!
When you set your own needs aside and listen an amazing rapport can develop between you and your customers. Ask them questions, genuinely listen and reflect and then ask a few more!Build up a clear picture of your customer and what they are really saying to you. Once they have finished speaking, re-clarify what they have said and check your understanding.2. Know Your Proucts
If you don't know your products and services really well or you fail to match your customers' needs to your products effectively, then you will fall down under the heat of a few probing questions and you could lose the sale.Now you have understood your customer's particular wants and needs you should be able to run through the products or services that would best suit them based on what they have just told you. Explain the benefits of the product or service specifically for them. Avoid generalisation and remember that you are serving an individual and working to solve their individual needs. If you do this, you are already 90% of the way towards a customer purchase.Generally people are looking for reasons to buy, so if you just create a compelling argument, provide clear responses and cover all their questions adequately, your customer will open their purse or pocketbook and buy! Make it easy for them to make that positive decision.3. Tell a story
Provide a case study or recount a real life event relating to another of your customers and your product or service.People like to know about the buying decisions and buying patterns of others, so tell them how your product has helped Mrs Jones of Norfolk, East Anglia or Mr Smith of Fulham, London. How did s/he feel about that? What is s/he doing with the product now?And, now this is very important, so take note:
How has the product or service made life better, easier, more pleasant or more productive for those customers that have purchased it?Ultimately you must always remember that you sell a solution to a problem. Understand what problems your products or services really solve and you will have reached the very core of the sales conversation and this is about meeting your customers key need. Combine storytelling (point 3) and listening (point 1) for maximum overall impact.4. Avoid the 'hard sell'
Be real. Let your customers see you as a professional, but also as a human being. Speak plainly, be honest and cultivate trust. Steer clear of the grand gestures and outrageous claims that send people running. Simply explain how you know that your products work (see point 2) and which would you recommend to them having understood their needs (see point 1).5. Speak from the heart
Do you speak with passion enthusiasm and commitment about what you do? If not, go back to basics and revisit your vision or business plan or remind yourself about why you are doing what you are doing to get yourself fired up again! Alternatively recruit someone who can sell your product or service with the enthusiasm and energy required, because if you're not 'into' the thing that you are selling, no one else will be!On the other hand when you are passionate and authentic, people will be drawn to both you and to what you are selling and they will buy.6. ABC! (Always be closing)
Now, I hope you are starting to think 'I can do this!' And by the way, you are absolutely right, yes you can!You need to continually be working towards the sale and gaining agreement and commitment from your customer. This is what will build the momentum for the closure of the deal. This is something that all competent sales people do and here is a way for you to do it naturally.? Simply reconfirm what has been discussed. Cover what the customer needs and why, the products or services which match these requirements and why they are a good fit (make sure they are), remind the customer who else has bought the same thing and relate the conversation to a similar customer with a similar need remembering to describe how much they love and value the product
? Remember to stop and check for agreement at each stage (see point 1)
? Confirm dates, times, prices, fees, rates etc as is relevant to your field. Remember to mention any discounts or offers that are available to sweeten the deal
? Ask the customer if they are happy with what has been discussed and ask if they are ready to go ahead with the purchase
? If no, ask why and listen very carefully. Cover any questions and concerns as thoroughly as you can and ask if they are now happy to go ahead
? If no, listen again and if it is a matter of time-scales, take down contact details and agree a follow up date (which you will diarise.) Take on board any other feedback that you receiveYou should have your sale at this stage and if you don't you will have projected an image of a professional, level headed individual that knows their product well and was pleasant to liaise with.Remember that this is important and even if the customer does not buy today, they will be open to buying from you in future. They may tell others about your great customer service and make referrals to people that they know.That wasn't too painful, now was it?

Original :: but i hate sales 6 vital steps to follow

the value of sales work ethics

Some will say that it is because of their looks, who they know, that they are presented with the best opportunities, or that they are just plain lucky. How about the fact that successful people are more often than not HARD WORKERS and do not need others to motivate them to make their move to become successful. This concept is called Sales Work Ethic!When I was growing up I played many sports; baseball, basketball, volleyball, soccer, and football. I always wanted to be a professional athlete but knew it would not be easy. In high school I held my own as a pitcher and continued my baseball career in college. I had a coach my sophomore year (Coach Lee) who told me I would never be a professonal athlete. This comment alone moved my emotional state to a point where I wanted to prove to him, and anyone else who doubted me that they were WRONG. For the next 3 years I got up 5 days a week to throw to a tire. I threw 100 balls every 3rd day from center field to home to improve my strength and when the coaches told us to run one mile I ran two. I was motivated, driven and failure was not an option. In 2004, I made it to the pro league. People told me it was because I had a work ethic like no other, and it was because I learned a few things during those trying times that it lead to the value of my sales work ethics.1. Tell me I cannot do something and I will show you I can or die trying.
2. Doing most things that others are unwilling to do (such as sacrifice) will get you further.
3. Having a work ethic comes from within.Look at all the people you have worked with over the years and ask yourself this question; "The top 20%, what did they do that others did not?" I assure you the answers you will find look like this:1. They were always early to work and always the last to leave
2. They were confident and hated to lose
3. They had a positive attitude
4. They spent personal time searching for ways to become better
5. They accomplished all the things their employer asked of them and moreHaving a great sales work ethic starts and finishes with you. You have to go home to your family every day, look them in the eye and say "I gave it 100% today and this was my reward." Or "I did not give it 100% today and because of it I did not make the money I could have." You, your attitude, and your self-drive determine your outcome. Nobody can make you successful but you. So if you do not like where you are currently in your career, make a change. The first place I would look is at your work ethic and dedication, and if there is something you can do to make a positive difference in the outcome of your success.

Original :: the value of sales work ethics

what is selling

What is selling? Most everyone who has ever been in sales already knows that you never know what is going to happen in a normal sales day. In fact, there is no such thing as a normal sales day.� The truth is that selling always has a challenge and everyday is a unique one.No two sales people sell the same way and no two prospects handle the sales program the exact same way. This is why role play and sales training is so important. This gets us ready for real selling.The selling process should be�fun for you. If it is not fun, it will not be�worth it in the long run. I enjoy selling because it requires almost no start up capital and it offers high income potential.As you learn how to shrpen your sales skills, you will learn how to close more deals. The field of sales allows you to grow on a personal level as well as a sales skill way.In sales no one limits your growth but you. Tom Hopkins, one of the greatest sales trainers in the world today tells us that if we want to earn more we need to learn more and I find this very true. I read books on sales and marketing and try different things in my business to get better results.You can break sales down into the following: Prospecting, that is finding the clients. This step might be face to face or by using marketing or both. Contact, the act of setting up the appointment for the sale. Qualification, that is the art of makeing sure the prospect can use and is qualified to purchase your product. Presentation, which is the art or skill of showing them what you have to offer and why they should use it. Objections, that is...getting the prospects questions answered and their objections put to rest forever so you can enter the next step which is called the close.When you go for the close you are wanting the prospect to buy or try your product or service. Sometimes during the close you must reanswer an objection and go for the close once more. We have a saying, it's called ABC - that is Always Be Closing. Closing is a good thing isn't it? You would like to close every sales isn't that right? If there was a way to show you how to close more sales you would want to know about it wouldn't you?Yes, I think you will agree, it is fun to go for the close.

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the extra mile principle

In today's society, most people try to get by with what they have to do. I think this is being gracious. In fact, most people will give you the bare minimum. Today's employees expect to be paid inordinate amounts of money for producing the least work. This is why we see so many jobs going overseas and Americans losing jobs due to outsourcing. Our laziness is making other people more money.I hope to change this travesty. I believe that we all want to do an incredible job and be recognized for it in many different ways such as:A pat on the back
A thank you: verbally, an email, a voice mail or hand written note.
More responsibility
More money
A promotionPeople aren't given this type of rcognition without living the "Extra Mile" Principle. The "Extra Mile" Principle is very simple to understand. Don't expect extra without giving extra. That is the "Extra Mile" Principle in a nut shell.The problem is that most people don't understand PROI (Personal Return On Investment) for going the "Extra Mile". Everyone is looking for instant gratification and not realizing that anything worth something doesn't come without sweat equity and time. We want our fifteen minutes of fame without earning it. With the emergence of technology like the Internet, people can become famous overnight. I believe that these phenomenons are misleading. They may be famous, but that doesn't mean they will earn any extra.Use the "Extra Mile" Principle against your competition. See what they are doing and then to a little extra. That little extra will be noticed and talked about by others. The extra exposure is the type of advertising you need to place you into a position to succeed. When you begin to add the little extra you do to being ordinary, then you become extraordinary. That is what the "Extra" will do for you.The people that go the "Extra Mile" long term tend to make extra, get recognized extra, are appreciated extra and promoted extra. So the next time you can to something a little extra, do it.Remember, there is little traffic on the "Extra Mile", so drive freely.Article by Tim Scholze

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difference between features benefits and

Show me a successful salesperson and I will show you how clear he/she is of the features, advantages and benefits of the products he/she sells and how that has contributed to his/her success. This clarity not only helps in understanding customers better but also in communicating the value of our product to customers and thus getting more sales.Let's look at the definitions:FEATURE: A fact or a characteristic of a product.ADVANTAGE: Something that makes your product better than that of your competitor product or a substitute product.BENEFIT: What the customer is looking for [needs/wants] or something that will help your customer in getting the job done, easier or better or faster.When yourproduct has different features in comparison to your competitor, you can make your clients aware of the advantage of your products feature to your competitor products feature and get the sale.When products have similar features, the sales person who can help the customer in seeing the value in the features better will get the sale. When you help your customer in seeing the value in your product features, he is sold out not only on your product but also on you.You product may have several features and you may feel that all of them will interest your customer, but the fact is that every customer is different and you should pick the features that will interest them the most. It's important to find out what's important to your customer.During the course of your conversation with your prospect, as you uncover the needs you should ask yourself 'What feature of my product fulfills that need?' And to find what will interest them the most ask them the question 'What's important to you in a [product]?' The answer they give, will give you the clue to what feature you should present to your customer. So rather that mentioning all the features, just mention the features that are important to the customer.Once you have found the feature that's important to your customer, describe the feature of your product or the advantage your product has over the competition and tell your customer what it means to him and how it impacts and benefits him. Show your customer how the feature helps him get what he/she is actually looking for. By connecting the feature with the benefit your customer is looking for, you can close more deals and increase your commission.Make sure you mention the feature, advantage and benefit in a natural flow of your conversation. Let it become a part of your normal way of talking to your customers.As you use continue to mention relevant features and the benefits to your customers, you will be able to make your customer to see the value in your product, quickly and easily and as a result close more sales.When you close the sale, you should remind your customer all the features, advantages and benefits that he liked or considered important to make him a long team and loyal customer.

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sales skill training to improve your

If you are the employer or a businessperson or a simple employee in the sales field you need to know three basics skill to become successful in the field of sales. You need to know three core sales skills for the requirement on the way to success. They are three must have requirements for your sales career to gather Sales Competency.Such skills will be under your control. These are certain skills that can bring you to the peak of success as you can hold your potentiality of achievement.Corporate Sales Training helps a lot to acquire certain skills to prosper in the field of sales. Initially you need to focus on small steps, which can lead you to he success. According to many sales tycoonssetting big eccentric sales goals can be very harmful at the very beginning. This is the first way to your achievement avoiding unnecessary negative internal dialog. These are certain facts that you should take under consideration.Employers take notice on such of your specifications through Online Sales Assessment or Sales Assessment Test for a better accomplishment. It is very unfortunate that a number of new sales person or fresher make a bunch of cold calls for getting result in positive. Undoubtedly this is an action of foolishness. This is not the process to have proper and perfect result for your business or sales. Even some of the pretty rude interactions can hamper your confidence and time as well making all of your effort on a vague. Even it can happen that after calling so many people you do not get any perfect appointment that make any positive sense for your career. You need to go for one with the perfection rather spreading your hands over numerous places. You need to be right at one lace rather than being wrong at various fields.The very first step will be your convincing power to make people listen to your call and give an appointment to meet you. Getting a person to interact over telephone in a perfect manner is the first perfect step for your sales career for that time. Having one single person in a perfect manner can be judged as the realistic approach of your sales potentiality. After getting this initial potentiality a sales person should focus on the next step, which includes a commitment to daily progress. You need to compare your growth and success for all the time. From the beginning to you failure to the growth of you success you should know and acknowledge everything.This step definitely increases your potentiality and paves the path of your success. This comparison is essential for your career in a long run. If you really experience progress it is better to give a pause and make your self-compact to maintain the progress in a continuous mode. You must have the commitment to make you experience of progress certain and concrete. You should taste the progress in your career that does not mean the earning sales from day one. You can calculate the small actions producing measurable results.The last but not the least core skill is to gain the self-responsibility and self-accountability. You are the sole responsible person for your success or for your failure. No one but you are the only one to know the matter best. No one will help you in this regard. You need to learn, practice, adapt and implement all of your skills to become a success full person. This will lead you to the way of success and commitment in huge manner in the filed of sales while improving your potentiality.

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discover a secret on how the top sales

Have you ever wondered how the TOP Sales Performers do it, outperform everyone else - and make it look easy?First we need to look at how the typical Sales person does it. If you have ever worked in Sales you may have noticed that once you reach your sales quota you start to slow down. Maybe it hasn't occurred to you, but you have observed it in the other members within your sales team.She/he could be on a roll for a record week/month, and if they keep it up they could be on track to start on next month's sales quota. Yet their sales slowdown, and at the end of the week/month they make just enough to reach their sales quota?Why do you think this happens?It could be that once they approachetheir sales quote they slot into their comfort zone and avoiding the pain of rejection? What I mean by that is someone will face enough rejection to meet their needs, and then any more than that - is unnecessary pain or rejection.Let's face it, working in sales means you have to face your fare share of No's in order to find the Yes's.So let's say your sales goal for the week is to get in front of 10 prospects to close 2 sales, that's a 20% close ratio.Your typical sales person would stop once they reach their goal of closing their 2 x sales.What if it was Monday and you already had your 2 x sales, there are another 4 days that you will just waist doing stuff.A top Sales Performer may think about this completely differently, as well as having a goal for 2 x Yes's -they also had a goal for 8 x No's.What do you think would happen to their sales?Instead of slowing down once they reached their 2 x Yes's - they keep going until they reached their 8 x No's goal for the week. By focusing on the No's the Yes's take care of them selves, and by continuing with the prospecting they are sure to find another sale.You see - there is a direct relationship between Success and Failure or in this case Yes's and No's.In order to SUCCEED more you need to be prepared to FAIL more.Or put another way, in order to receive more Yes's you need to be prepared to receive more No's.It's a bit like panning for Gold, image for a moment that we are in the old Gold rush days.You don't actually look for the Gold, what you really do is remove the stones & rubble and the Gold is what is left over once the rubble has been removed.So you sift through the No's (rubble) as quickly as possible, and the Yes's (Gold) is what's left over.

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traditional sales training and

A question that surfaces in the sales training community every so often is whether or not traditional sales training has been rendered ineffective by changes in technology, economy, etc.Without an agreement on what is meant by "traditional sales training" and "ineffective" any discussion on the matter is likely to have a high probability of misunderstanding especially among participants who are not familiar with each other's communication patterns. So, for the sake of this discussion "traditional sales training" will mean "a specific practice of long standing" and "ineffective" will mean "not having the desired effect". With that being said, let us frame this discussion in the context offundamentals" which we will conclude to mean "basic components of effective selling". Hopefully after reading the meanings we are assigning to those words and/or phrases you will immediately see the rub (i.e. fundamentals being ineffective).In all fairness, times do change and much of what is fashionable at one point of time is outdated or no longer valid at a different point in time. Certain aspects of traditional sales training, which are specific to the era, industry, etc., are not exempt from this. However, sales is a people business and generally speaking people have not changed much through the years when it comes to self-interest or decisions so the fundamentals of selling are as valid today as they have been for much of the past.The basic components of effective selling are "self-interest" and "decisions". Lucky for us traditional sales training provides us with long standing sales practices that have been calibrated against these two (2) components and proven effective through the years by countless numbers of people engaged in professional selling. When viewed through these perceptual filters (self-interest and decisions) professional selling often becomes much easier to understand. As a side note, a key distinction to remember is that not everyone who sells is engaged in professional selling.Self-Interest: It is quite apparent that people are most receptive when they believe you have what they want or can help them get what they want. This is classic self-interest (WIIFM?). A common complaint I see among salespeople is that they cannot seem to grab the attention or hold the interest of the prospective buyer they call on. How can this example be applied to your own sales practice? As the saying goes, "Find out what people want and help them get it".Decisions: If you think about it everything in life is a decision (Do you want to do this or that?) and thankfully we have freedom of choice. In the context of buying the two (2) key decisions a prospective buyer must face are "Will I Buy?" (aka Buying Decision) and "What Will I Buy?" (aka Purchase Decision). The length of time it takes the prospective buyer to progress through these key decisions is known as the "Buying Cycle". How does this apply to your own sales practice? If you don't know the difference and/or how to facilitate the prospective client's progress through these decision processes you limit your own performance by essentially sending the prospective buyers away to figure it out on their own.In conclusion... the fundamentals of selling have not changed in recent times and traditional sales training offers those engaged in professional selling long standing sales practices that have withstood the test of time. If your own sales practice is not providing you with the outcome you desire then it might be time to look further into traditional sales training and the fundamentals of selling.

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why motivational sales training gimmicks

Motivational sales training as a discipline is highly suspect. Very often, no analytics are applied to these programs to determine whether they deliver ROI. Over the past few decades, some movements that began outside the sales management field have crept insidiously into sales training methodology and have given rise to the financial abuse that often passes for motivational sales training.1. Human Performance Movement DeceptionsLong established motivational research has repeatedly pointed to the futility of extrinsic motivation and the dominance of intrinsic motivation. However, other movements in popular culture have largely determined the types of investments that sales training progras have made in motivational sales training.2. Extrinsic Motivation Does Not WorkIn place of a well thought out strategic process that incorporates everything from how salespeople are hired, to how well they are trained, managers opt for the bribe as motivation. While these may work in very short time horizons, the numbers show that over time, they are absolutely limited as means of motivating a salesforce.Motivation that works and that lasts is based on a set of logical and mutually reinforcing beliefs and ideas on the part of the motivated person. For a salesperson who displays a relative lack of motivation to suddenly snap out of it takes a massive paradigm shift - or a major triggering event.3. Paradigm shifts are multi-layered (Intellectual, emotional, psychological)The sorts of paradigm shifts that bring about significant changes in a person's motivational profile are not based on a "good seminar" or good "motivational presentation". They take place block-by-block, step-by-step. They require some of the following:
a. A process based on robust dialog (sales managers often do not have that kind of time or training) rather than motivational training.
b. A process takes time, you sir, don't have the patience (it requires slight edge coaching, and you are a sales performance administrator - sales managers don't coach, and often don't lead - they preside).It takes a lot of coaching, counseling, training and monitoring for a person to evolve to the realization that fuels self-motivation. It is most often outside the scope of a sales manager's job or ability. It can only be consistently achieved in a larger context of a culture that supports in-depth coaching and training as well as brutally honest dialogue.4. Paradigm shifts and motivation are in the details.The most successful coaches of all time all had an eye for the greatest detail, and coached the minutest corrections until the proper adjustments were made. This is how all great coaching occurs. Unfortunately, many sales managers have poor coaching skills and end up exacerbating an already trying situation.5. Identifying and removing De-motivators is more effective than any motivational training.As a substitute for the standard motivational sales training, I recommend a systematic review of your marketing and sales process. Does your core marketing message align with everything else you portray to the customer? Does it represent a beneficial value proposition to them?Are the targeted clients and leads a proper fit? Does the sales process maximize the use of selling time instead of burdening down the sales professionals with outdated selling methods that trap them into low performance?As you continue to work on identifying and removing de-motivators, you may find that you get more than a few improvements in behavior and in performance from formerly "weak" team members.

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