• Talking AT their prospects instead of talking WITH them;

• Telling instead of asking;

• Pushing instead of leading;

• Speaking to get the words out rather than to be understood;

• Seeking the limelight instead of providing the limelight for their customers;

• Answering the prospect's question the way they thought they heard it instead of the question the prospect actually asked;

• Rushing through instead of savoring the time with the prospect;

• Being product-focused instead of prospect-focused;

• Getting the prospect to pay attention to brochures and catalogs and flyers instead of the salesperson;

Do you see this in the marketplace? What do you think can or should be done about it? How can we change that?

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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As I see it, there are eight possibilities:

1. Be a man and zip it up.

2. Nonchalantly zip it up. This is especially effective if you do it during a very dramatic section of your sales presentation (This is a slightly less manly option than #1 above).

3. Excuse yourself and go zip it up. You could say you have to use the restroom, or you "Suddenly don't feel well" or "I just remember I forgot to put my egg salad sandwich in the refrigerator."

4. Hold your legal pad, product brochure, or if you need it, your laptop, in front of your groin for the remainder of your sales interaction. For some a cell phone or pencil will do. I did something similar to this back in first grade when I had a potty accident at school (although we didn't have laptops or cell phones in those days). I held a large wooden "4" in front of me the rest of the day (it was awkward during P.E. class, however). When other kids asked about it, I explained that four was my favorite number.

5. Distract your prospects and zip it up. Effective options here are to shout: "Somebody over there just got H1N1!" or "Look! There are Jon and Kate plus Eight." 

6. Tell your prospects how much you miss Michael Jackson, and while moonwalking away from them, grab your groin and confidently yank up your zipper while tipping your head down dramatically.

7. Exclaim, "They sure don't make mens' pants like they used to!" while pointing to the zipper, thereby implying something is wrong with the tailoring of the slacks. Either leave the zipper down for the remainder of the sales interaction, or ask your prospects if they have any safety pins or a stapler.

8. Pretend the zipper-down-thing was planned for dramatic sales effect. Reach into your slacks and pull out an order form and place it in front of your prospect (most effective when you do it with a sly smile). If you know any magic and can make it look like you're pulling a pen out of your ear, this is a good time to do this trick. Set the pen in front of the prospect and say "If you'll just authorize this, we'll get your order underway." Zip up your pants only if the prospect buys.

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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It didn't take me long to figure out that pitching was a skill. You had to throw the ball the right way to get the ball to go where you wanted it to go and to get it there taking the path you wanted it to take. Great baseball pitchers need to stay healthy, to be able to work when called upon, and to handle pressure effortlessly, but they also need the skill to get the ball to do what they want and need it to do.

I am a trained classical musician with two degrees in music. I played two instruments semi-professionally, and taught, and conducted and composed music. Performing music requires skill.

Just think about the number of hours that top music students in top music conservatories and universities across the world spend honing their craft. It's crazy. But anybody pursuing music at this level understands that performing music requires skill. It requires more than that, too, but it definitely requires skill.

Readers of this blog will know that I had surgery earlier this fall. My surgeon was very skilled - I know this not only by the quality of his work, but also by the checking I did before my procedure. But the only reason I needed surgery is because the surgeon that performed this surgery on me one year ago was unskilled. He had botched it. Surgeons need knowledge, but they require copious skill, too.

And so it is in the profession of selling. The mission of sales training is to improve the skills of professional sellers. Just as with pitchers, classical musicians, and surgeons, salespeople need to have their skills developed to a sufficiently high level to result in sufficiently high sales performance.

If you want to get better at selling, work hard. Treat people well. Be helpful. But make sure you have developed the skills you need to achieve what you want.

Read over 100 posts in this blog about sales skills.

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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As these customers enter your store, what can you do to maximize your selling opportunity with them? Here are five sales tips to help you give your customers happier holidays this year:

1. The recession is over, remember?

The economic gurus agree that our recession is over and we're entering a stage of economic recovery. Keep this in mind as you work with your prospects. Get over the recession and start looking beyond it.

2. Ask probing questions.

Your best sales tool is asking questions to gain an understanding of your customers' needs and desires. If you allow your furniture store to only be a "walk through and see what I like" destination, you'd be well served to install self-serve kiosks in the store and spend the next two months with your families at home. You're there to sell, so start by asking the right questions: What are you looking for in a table? Why is this a good time for you to get a good table? Do you have a dining table now? How about chairs? What are they like? What don't you like about your current table? You get the idea.

3. Remember, some won't get their new table by the end of the year.

Despite the wishes of some of your customers, they won't get their dining table for the big holidays this year. They'll have to special order a table and they'll have it all ready to go by sometime next year. Part of your selling challenge with these people will be to get them to be patient and to realize that it's worth the wait to get the table and chairs they really want, rather than limit their options only to products available in the next few weeks.

4. Sit at the table with your prospects.

Once your prospects have found a table they're interested, get them to sit down at it, and make sure you do likewise. Discuss their plans while seated at the table. Ask who in the family sits in which position at home, and have them sit in those positions while in the store. It adds allows a more realistic experience. Ask what they're going to serve for Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or whatever holiday they will celebrate with their new table and chairs. Ask who will be invited to join the family for dinner and find out where they will sit. 

5. Make the sales interaction fun and celebratory.

Many families will buy a dining table only once or twice in their lifetimes, so make this a festive occasion. Let your prospects have fun and enjoy the process.

Read dozens of other furniture sales training posts on the Selling to Consumers Blog.

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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.The young woman with hair down to her tail bone;

.The guy with the super cool glasses;

.When we're greeted by someone wearing a tux;

.Ferraris, Lamborghini's, and Rolls Royces; Smart cars, too.

In sales and in business, it is sometimes (often) helpful to get noticed and get remembered. What have you done to get noticed and remembered? What has your retail store or company done to do likewise?

.Any retail store can set out a platter of cookies for shoppers. But what about little cups of bread pudding? Or mini tartlets? Or your own brand of chocolates?

.There is (was?) a drive-through coffee establishment in Washington that had workers who wore bikinis. This definitely got the public's attention (unfortunately, the bikini baristas took it too far, apparently).

.If coffee shop baristas can wear bikinis at work, how about having guys at your surf shop go shirtless?

.When I was selling products in customers homes 10+ years ago, I would wear a dress shirt and tie on sales calls. All the competitors wore polo shirts or work shirts. I closed 82% of my appointments. They didn't.

.I know a retail sales guy who changed his name to Peter Pepper so he would be remembered. I met him over ten years ago, but I still remember his name.

.I sold a custom closet back in the 90's to the founder of Geek Squad when he lived in a modest South Minneapolis duplex. Parked out front on the congested street was a vintage car with black and white paint (ala 50's cop car) that had the now familiar Geek Squad logo on the doors. We all know Geek Squad now, and it all started with their distinctive visual presence in the marketplace.

Be distinctive, maybe even extreme. Do things differently. Don't be a "me too" salesperson or a "me too" company. Is there an opportunity to utilize "the extreme" in your business?

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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As badly as they want to be listened to, heard, and engaged, they also want a manager who is decisive and quick (but not too quick) to act. Decisive managers get team members to interact, to talk through situations, to hash things out, and to identify weaknesses and develop solutions.

Sometimes the wildly successful manager moves forward with an initiative even if the team members aren't on board with it. And sometimes changes need to be made. Sometimes direction needs to be changed. Employees understand this, but what they don't understand is when a manager is unwilling or unable to make a decision, to set a direction, to be clear, to take a stand.

Employees of great managers understand what the goals and priorities of their managers are and how the manager envisions the team will go about reaching these business goals. These priorities are the foundation of everything these managers do.

Great managers share copious amounts of sincere appreciation for team members who have done a job well. This is verbalized profusely (not implied, not hinted at, and not merely suggested). Employees need and want to be praised for wins big and wins small if they are going to remain engaged. Engaged employees promote company profitability. Disengaged employees create business losses.

Employees of winning managers know how their doing, because their managers let them know. There is no guessing if they're meeting expectations - they already know. They know areas that are expected to be polished or improved. There are no surprises at review time.

Great managers are consistent. Surprises are minimized. They don't have the "initiative of the month" but then not follow through with the new initiative; there is a steadiness to their leadership that provides stability to the entire organization. Poor managers don't have consistency; they lead people around in varying (and sometimes competing) directions that creates an uncomfortable randomness and unpredictability (like a yo-yo on the end of a string being directed this way and that way).

Listen to your employees. Engage them. Be decisive. Be clear. Take a stand. Praise others sincerely. Communicate. Be consistent.

What else do you think employees want?

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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