So, what did I learn?

A lot about myself and the beliefs that are holding me back from achieving my purpose in life. I learned I need to think much bigger than I am. I learned that I need to start taking my business much more seriously, because I have a message that only I can deliver to the sales people of the world.

I learned how important all of you are to me and how much I want to help you to be not only the best sales person you can be, but the best husband, wife, mother, father, sister, brother, etc. I also want to help you spread your message, your product or service and help you reach every person who can benefit from it.

I learned that I’m doing you a disservice if I’m not the best I can be and to communicate my message to you so you understand it and buy in to it, because I know what I have to share with you will change the way you sell and will touch the people you sell to in a way they’ve probably never been touched before.

So, I’m opening my heart to you and asking you a very important question…

“How can I be of service to you”?

Let me know……

6 Keys To Successful Prospecting Calls

Are you planning properly before making your prospecting calls?

Imagine you make an announcement to a friend you’re going to take a vacation in a couple of weeks. Your friend gets excited and asks, “when are you planning on leaving?” Your reply, “I don’t know”. She asks, “where are you going”? Again you reply, “I don’t know”. Now I know you would never decide to go on vacation without first making a plan.

However, that’s the way many salespeople begin to make prospecting calls. With no clear plan of what they are doing. I’ve found there are six key ingredients which must be carefully prepared for your prospecting calls to be successful. By the time you finish reading this article you will have an understanding of what they are.

Target Your Market

You must first begin by determining who’s your target market. Many salespeople try to be every thing to all people instead of targeting a particular market. Every product or service is desirable to a definable group of people. One way to determine the characteristics of that group would be to look back at the people who have already purchased from you or your company.

By looking at past and current clients you can determine the characteristics they have in common. Then you can develop a clear picture of your ideal prospect and you won’t waste time on people who won’t have an interest in buying.

Know Your Objective

The second key to making prospecting calls is to know your objective when making the calls. Do you want permission to drop off literature, make an appointment to talk about the benefits or maybe send them a sample.

Understanding the objective of the call will help you to stay focused. Another way to stay focused is to…

Have a Memorized Script

Many salespeople wing-it when they make prospecting calls. This practice can lead to lost time and a whole lot of unnecessary rejection. Having a well designed script will help you to focus on your objective and keep you on track. Your script should be well thought out, written and memorized so it seems very conversational.

You should keep the script in front of you when prospecting on the phone so you can refer to it when needed.

Smile

Whether your making prospecting calls on the phone or in person, it’s important to smile. People would much rather deal with a friendly smiling face than someone who looks like they just sucked on a lemon. Even over the phone people can tell if your smiling or not by listening to your voice.

Be Prepared for Rejection

Fear of rejection holds many salespeople back from performing the activities that will rocket them to sales success. Most salespeople take the prospects rejection too personally. If you analyze the reason for a prospect not wanting what you’re selling you’ll find it’s clearly they have no need.

That should not be considered rejection by any salesperson. Take it for what it is, and move on to the next call.

Have Fun

Finally, have fun while your selling. No one wants to work at something they don’t enjoy. It makes it difficult to get out of bed in the morning if your not enthusiastic about what your doing. So make it fun. You can have fun and close sales at the same time.

By taking the time to plan your prospecting calls in advance, you’ll save time, make more appointments and close more sales.

See you next week…

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Make it a great week, everyone, and I’ll have lots to tell you about my trip as well as more sales training.

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How different would your business be if your current customers were enthusiastically seeking out prospective customers for you? Imagine how exciting it would be to talk to people who already know about you and your products or service. How difficult would it be to close those sales?

Selling to those people would be simple. So why aren’t your current customers bringing you referrals? Perhaps it’s because you have not shown them how, motivated them, made it easy for them, asked them or started the process.

Getting good quality referrals requires planning and preparation.

Start by making a list of all the people who might be a referral source for you. Start with your current clients. Which ones are currently sending you business? Which ones are very satisfied with your product or service and the results they are getting?

Next consider people you know who would have access to people who would be ideal prospects for you. People such as your attorney, accountant, banker, broker, etc.

Now, go through you list and pick out the top ten to twenty percent of your best referrers. There’s a good chance you already have some people who regularly recommend prospective customers to you. Start with these potential referral sources. You’ll have better results developing stronger relationships with a few referral sources rather than shallow relationships with lots of sources.

In order to help your referrals sources to give you good, qualified referrals, you need to get crystal-clear about what you are looking for. Who is your ideal prospect?

What problems do your products and services solve? It will be easier for your referral sources to spot potential clients for you if they are clear about what problems to look for.

When you are clear about describing the recommendations you want, you make it easier for your referral sources to identify prospective customers for you.

Now that you have identified several possible referral sources and you are clear about the types of clients you want, it’s time to create a customized plan for each referral source. One important aspect to remember is, what does your referral source gain by referring people to you? People want to know what’s in it for them.

Some of your referral sources will do it just because they are so sold on your product or service. Others will need some other benefits in order to become good sources of referrals. So think of as many benefits as you can for those people to referr business to you.

To instill confidence in your referral source, you need to let them know exactly what you will do when given a referral. Your referral source has surely developed valuable relationships over the years and will be reluctant to do anything that might jeopardize those
relationships. Be specific as to what will happen when your referral source gives you a referral. A simple, step-by-step process that shows how you will represent yourself will provide assurance that the potential customer will be treated with respect and dignity.

Next, discuss the specific actions you want from your referral source. Do you want them to call the potential customer? What do you want them to say? Would you prefer they arrange a three-way appointment? Often, people want to give you referrals, but don’t know exactly what to do or how to do it. Train them; coach them; help them get clear on what’s expected of them.

When a satisfied customer sends someone to you the sender should immediately receive some recognition and appreciation. Possibly a quick thank you note or telephone call at bare minimum. That should happen right away. Some type of thank you gift is usually
appropriate and effective.

I’ve sent steaks, books, clocks, calculators, small electronic items, knife sets, all sorts of things. I recommend gifts that you do not ordinarily sell and a different gift each time the person refers. You will be surprised by the positive results from this kind of action.

You’d also be surprised at the negative results of not doing this. The client who refers once and fails to get recognition and appreciation will probably won’t say anything to you, but to himself and often to a friend or associate he does say, “Can you believe it? I sent that guy a customer and didn’t got as much as a thank you.” And then he won’t ever refer any one again.

From the new referrals and clients you obtain from those referrals, you can start the process all over again and develop new referral sources. This is a great way to dramatically boost your business without the time and effort of cold calling and cold prospecting.

Developing and implementing an effective referral strategy can produce a steady stream of new business for years to come. You can achieve your professional goals faster and easier through effectively targeting referrals.

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This week I will teach you the final steps in your presentation and how to assume the sale.

At any point in your sales presentation, if you receive a strong response to a trial close, and you feel the prospect is ready to
buy, close the sale. Some sales people will not close at this time thinking “I haven’t finished my presentation yet”.

Many times they will then proceed with the presentation and talk themselves right out of a sale. There’s an old saying, “strike while the iron is hot”.

Trial closes are an excellent way to see if your prospect is ready to be closed, or if you need to give them more information before they’re ready.

You have gotten the prospect involved in feeling and experiencing your product or service. She understands the benefits and how they will solve her problem and either relieve her pain or give her pleasure.

Now it’s time to;

- Summarize the primary points in the body of your presentation.

- Review the major benefits.

- Tell her about any bonuses or discounts she may receive for
buying today.

- Assume the sale and ask the prospect;

“What do you see as the likely next step”?

“When would you like to take delivery”?

Shut your mouth, and wait for them to answer. Even though it may seem like an eternity, don’t speak until the prospect speaks first. Remember, the first one who opens their mouth and speaks loses!

This is the time in the presentation when the prospect will be either sold on your product or service, or raising some objections. One important point to remember; objections are not as bad as many sales people think.

An objection is actually good. It means the prospect needs some more information or clarification before they can make a decision. If the prospect is raising objections it means your still in the game.

However, what’s not good is if at this point they are trying to get rid of you. That means you haven’t done your job properly at some point in the sales process.

If the prospect is not raising objections and is in agreement with what you are proposing, move on to the final step in your
presentation and assume the sale.

Don’t ask for the sale, don’t close the sale, ASSUME the sale.

Move forward and begin filling out the order form, or what ever paper work is required to finalize the sales of your product or service. Keep moving through the steps you would take on any sale until the prospect stops you, or the sale is complete.

Don’t wait for the prospect to ask you where they sign. This is a mistake many sales people make, because they are afraid or don’t know how to ask. Some prospects will ask you how to proceed, however, most of the time this won’t happen.

If you’ve done all the steps in the sales process and the prospect is sold on your solution to their problem, you have earned the right to assume the sale and earn your commission.

When you are sitting with a prospect either building rapport, qualifying or presenting your product or service as the solution, you are in the heart of the sales process. The heart is where your personal preparation meets selling opportunity, where you are in front of someone who can say “Yes” to you and your product or service.

With all this at stake, wouldn’t it make sense to make perfecting these skills one of, if not your highest priority? The average
sales person doesn’t think so. They spend their free time watching TV instead of working on bettering their skills.

If you want to be among the top 5 or 10 percent of sales people, put down the remote and get to work studying and perfecting your skills. I know I talk a lot about practicing, and practicing is good to get you prepared to go to battle so to speak. However, the best way to really hone and fine tune your skills is in front of real live prospects.

Next week, I will share with you the major reason why prospects don’t buy. You won’t want to miss this!

See you next week…

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And…

Tim Rohrer has a post on his blog, Sales and Marketing Loudmouth about the stupid things sales people say to themselves.

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To Your Success,

Jim Klein
www.fromtheheartsalestraining.com

Let’s face it, selling isn’t rocket science. It’s harder …

To penetrate space, scientists need master only the immutable laws of mathematics and physics. Simple. So simple, in fact, the basics are taught in high school.

Selling, on the other hand — prospecting, pitching, negotiating, closing and more — demands understanding the dynamics of the human mind and how to influence the myriad forces that inform its decision-making. Obviously, to succeed you have to know what you are doing!

This book will transform you from a sales person with an average sales IQ (and income) to a brilliant top dog producer. Top Dog Sales Secrets is packed with real-life examples, successful scripts, and powerful, proven advice to rapidly increase your sales. You’ll learn how to:

* Double your income by changing a few words
* Grab your prospect’s interest in 15 seconds orless
* Sure-fire ways to beat the price objection
* Leave voicemail messages that have prospects calling you
* Read your prospect in 60 seconds or less
* Be the big winner at the negotiating table
and much more!

You are guaranteed to increase your sales IQ with this remarkable book! Get your copy today. It’s a genius move for your organization and your career.

Click this link to get smarter: http://tinyurl.com/6oqjbs

P.S. When you get your copy today, you’ll receive immediate access to over $3,000 worth of bonus sales tools from top sales and business growth leaders. You’ll get downloadable e-books, complimentary access to tele-seminars, audio programs, trial memberships, special reports and white papers. Take a look at your complimentary bonuses here.

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This week I will teach you how to create tremendous value in your product or service and eliminate the objection that your price is too high.

You see, what you need to do during your presentation is to create tremendous value in your product or service. By creating more value you will eliminate the objection that your price is too high. You need to create enough value so that by the time you get to the end of your presentation your prospect is thinking they would be crazy not to buy.

There are many ways to increase the value of your product or service.

Does your company offer a guarantee that would reduce the risk of a purchase?

If you offer a guarantee, a prospect will be more comfortable making a purchase knowing if they’re not satisfied, they can return it for a full refund.

Do you work for a large company?

A large company would show the prospect you are financially sound and able to provide a higher level of support.

Maybe your company specializes in a particular part of an industry.

When you specialize in a certain portion of your industry, people feel more confident in your ability and expertise handling their particular problem. For example, if you have a problem with your heart, would you feel in better hands going to a General Practitioner or a Cardiologist?

When you are designing your sales presentation, make a list of everything about your product or service, your company, the people you work with, anything that you can think of that will be of value to your prospects. Then incorporate these points in to your sales presentation.

If possible, I would highly recommend having a sample of your product with you during the presentation. After you’ve painted a vivid picture for your prospect, you can hand them the product they will be using. This practice gets all the senses involved, and it will be easier for them to assume ownership.

And give a live demonstration whenever possible. There is no better way to help the prospect understand what your product can do, than to demonstrate its capabilities right on the spot.

The prospect can see exactly what the finished product would look like, and they are able to examine it in detail. They can also ask questions and see how they will use it.

You should make a list of the most common objections you receive from prospects. Then mix the answers to the objections in to your sales presentation. In this way you will disarm the prospect. You will have taken away many of the reasons they will have not to move forward with the purchase.

Be careful not to bring up too many objections. You don’t want to open the door to objections that don’t come up on a regular basis. You could end up causing yourself unnecessary problems.

Also, make a list of the common questions that prospects have regarding your product or service. Answer as many of these
questions in your presentation. The more points you can handle during your presentation, the fewer objections you will get when it comes time to ask for the order.

Be sure you demonstrate to your prospect the differences between you and your competition. This should be done without talking your competition down. There is a tactful way of showing how you’re different without knocking down your competition. Again, make a list of all the advantages you have over your competition.

You’ll find that many of the advantages are the same things you listed from the previous exercise of establishing value. Tell your prospect what they will get by using your product or service versus your competitors.

When making your sales presentation be sure and get to the point. Business people are far to busy to listen to sales people who ramble on. Know what the keys points are and learn how to make them quickly.

When I was in the mortgage business I worked with a guy who had many people who were ready to buy. Unfortunately, he would go on talking, and many times talk himself right out of a sale.

Remember to pause and give the prospect time to think about the points you’ve just made. If you’re rushing to crowd in as much information as possible in a certain period of time, you need to shorten your presentation. Pausing at different times in your sales presentation allows the prospect to understand what you’ve said, or to ask questions if they don’t.

Another good reason for having a well practiced sales presentation is the elimination of ah, err, um, and ‘you know what I mean?’ Practice your finished presentation in front of your sales manager, a colleague, or a voice recorder to get rid of the irritating non-words.

Yet another item to pay close attention to in preparing your sales presentation is the use of fluff or filler words. When we speak and write, many times we add words that are not absolutely necessary. The shorter the sentences and key phrases are in your presentation, the more powerful they’ll be.

A great technique I was taught was to imagine you were being paid $1000 for every word you could eliminate from your sentences. It gives you a whole different way of looking at your writing.

Get agreements along the way to the benefits of your product or service. These trial closes will bring up any additional questions or objections that can be handled prior to closing the sale.

When you prepare your presentation, decide where in the presentation you will insert your trial closes. Then decide which
trial closes you will use, write them out word for word, and then commit them to memory. Then when you come to the point in your presentation to trial close, you’ll know exactly what you will say.

By proceeding in this way, the only points left to cover are to present a summary and set action steps for yourself and the prospect.

Next week, I will teach you how to summarize the primary points in the body of your presentation, review the major benefits and assume the sale.

See you next week…

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The group is called the Sales Bloggers Union, and our goal in a short is to help each other rise to the top. Now imagine a group of sales people helping each other succeed. What a unique concept. I’m giving you the links because I believe you can learn something from each one of these guys.

Here’s the list:

Skip Anderson

Ian Brodie

Craig Elias

Karl Goldfield

Tim Rohrer

Tibor Shanto

Nesh Thompson

Brad Trnavsky

Colin Wilson

Check out all their blogs and then go sell something!

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Many sales people have the tools to make them a success, however, very few actually use them. They go back to doing things the same way they always have, getting the same results.

Well, I’m going to extend to you a chance to make a quantum leap in your sales.

I’ve slashed the price on my personal sales training program, “Make Your Living In Sales” for one time only. The skills I teach in this program are literally changing the lives of people who put them in to practice.

If you don’t have enough qualified leads, are struggling to make quality appointments and would like to close more sales the rest of this year and beyond, then visit the link in this email and act now. You will only get to see the page once so make a decision now to join the sales people who are making a living in sales, instead of just getting by.

Or you can ignore this offer and continue doing what your doing, and you’ll continue getting what you’ve been getting.

Go now to: http://www.personal-sales-training-program.com/onetimeoffer.php

I’ll even let you pay in 3 easy payments.

To Your Success,

Jim Klein - From The Heart Sales Training
Sales trainer, Coach and Speaker
Helping salespeople achieve mastery,
come “from the heart”, and positively impact
lives with perfect solutions.
www.fromtheheartsalestraining.com

P.S. If you close the page on this offer, it will be gone forever, so make a decision to be one of the elite sales people and take me up on this offer. I’ll be with you every step of the way to help you achieve whatever you want to achieve in sales. That’s my promise to you.

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They go on to tell me how they can’t afford to invest in my personal sales training program “Make Your Living In Sales”, however, they will when they can afford it. What they don’t realize is they’re paying for the program whether they invest the money or not.

What do I mean?

Whether you realize it or not, you are worth so much money per hour. Let me explain.

If you are making $50,000 per year and you work 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, and take two weeks vacation per year, each hour you work, you are making $25 per hour.

If you wanted to make $75,000 (a 50% increase) per year working the same schedule, each hour you would be making $38 per hour or 50% more. So what does this mean? Well, if you could increase your sales volume by 50% this year using my personal sales training program, “Make Your Living In Sales”, you would get back your investment in less than 25 hours of work and the rest would be pure profit to you.

Even if your increase in sales volume were only 10% that would be an extra $5,000 in your pocket this year, for a very small investment. If you look at it a different way, it is costing you $2 per hour not to invest in this program.

You’re probably wondering if I will guarantee you will make an extra 5, 10, or 25 thousands dollars if you invest in my personal sales training program, “Make Your Living In Sales”? What I will guarantee is that if for any reason you are not totally satisfied with the program, I will refund all your money for up to one full year.

Click on the link below, read about all the benefits and bonus’ I’m offering with this program, read the testimonials from satisfied clients and then place your order via my secure online server or you can call us toll free at 1-888-858-8718 to place your order.

http://www.personal-sales-training-program.com

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