The Selling Sherpa

Sales Tip of the Day: LISTEN

2009-07-16T00:01:00-07:00

Not long ago, I did an open forum on marketing for a professional association’s conference. During the session, I mentioned more than once that I actually have an upcoming project that will require help from someone in their vocation.

Do you know how many follow-up’s I received from that meeting? Put it this way: if there had been any at all, there wouldn’t be much reason to share this story with you, would there?

There are clues and hints all around you for people who want or need what you sell.

Most of the time, all you have to do to find those people is listen.

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.

Sales Tip of the Day: TEMPTED

2009-07-15T00:01:00-07:00

What kind of experience are you delivering to your customers? Good? Average? Not terrible?

You really need to consider how you can deliver an exceptional experience, every time.

Whether you wow with visual in your packaging, or witty repartee in your communication, incredible value in your pricing, over the top personal touches, or a combination of all of these, you must provide your customers with a feeling that they’ll never experience like what you deliver anywhere.

Because your competition is courting your customers heavily and, honestly, some of them are tempted to try someone else.

It is up to you to make sure they never go anywhere else.

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.

Sales Tip of the Day: HOLD ON TIGHT

2009-07-14T00:01:00-07:00

So many sales managers and company owners are putting huge pressure on their sales teams to find more business from new customers.

Growth is always important, but counting on only new customers to provide it is a big mistake.

First of all, your existing customers already (presumably) know you, love you, and trust you. So it’s actually easier to up-sell those customers or find new ways to serve them than it is to convince someone who has never used your solution to give it a try.

Moreover, when you spend too much time chasing down new customers, your existing ones start to wonder if they matter to you. If ignored too long, they may start looking elsewhere for the solutions, the savings, and the attention they want and deserve.

Go ahead and look for new customers as you can, but always hold on tight to the ones you already have!

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.

Sales Tip of the Day: THE RIGHT TIME

2009-07-13T00:39:02-07:00

If you are having trouble reaching people on the phone, maybe it is because you are not calling at the right time.

When is the right time?

In the B2B world, lots of salespeople swear by early morning hours, before the regular day begins. Others claim that after 5PM is the best time to catch owners or managers, since most of the workers have gone for the day.

Actually, you can reach just about anyone by calling them 10-15 minutes before the top of each hour.

Most appointments, meetings or other time commitments begin on the hour. The few minutes leading up to it are usually wide open for a brief conversation with a decision-maker, who will also feel more open to taking your call since they know they can use the upcoming “on the hour” commitment as a reason to wrap up the conversation quickly.

Don’t just take my word for it. Start calling prospects before the hour and see how well it works for you.

By the way, if you want to reach a prospect’s voicemail, calling a few minutes after the hour works best for the same reasons.

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.

Sales Tip of the Day: THE LETTER

2009-07-10T00:01:00-07:00

Having problems getting decision-makers to take your cold call? Why not send them a letter first?

In the letter, give a brief description of what you can do and how you might be able to help the prospect, then close by telling them you will call next week to set an appointment.

Then, when you do call a week later, you can start the conversation by asking if they received the letter.

If the say “yes”, you are already half the way to getting an appointment, If the say “no”, you can simply tell them what the letter said and proceed to ask for the appointment.

Either way, you have already demonstrated that you are willing to do more than the average “cold caller” ever would just because you sent the letter.

Give this technique a try and let me know how it works for you.

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.

Sales Tip of the Day: PEOPLE ARE STRANGE

2009-07-09T00:01:00-07:00

A magazine publisher brought me in as a consultant to help their sales team (my sweet spot!) ramp up revenues.

During the initial phase, I spent some time with each of the individual salespeople to talk to them, assess their skills and attitudes, and generally get a feel for whether or not they are really right for the publication and the sales task at hand.

One of the younger men on the team came into the small office I was using and sat down. He wasn’t an impolite fellow, nor a poorly dressed one (although he was a bit casual, even by my standards), but he had two of the biggest decorative ear plugs I’ve ever seen. Not the kind that you wear to prevent hearing loss at a rock concert, but the ones that are worn in the ear lobes as a fashion accessory. These were so large that they had actually grossly stretched the natural length of his ear lobes.

And can you believe it? As small as his sales goals were, he had never achieved a monthly goal. Ever!

Now I completely respect anyone’s right to express themselves as they see fit.

But people are strange, especially buyers in the business world. They tend to believe people with shaggy beards, atypical body jewelry, copious tattoos or fashion sense that is less than conservative could not possibly be professional.

Is that fair? Probably not. But it is reality.

So you might want to think twice about those fashion choices before you start making appointments to sell, because you will probably sell much less than you could simply because you don’t conform to what other people think you should look like as a professional salesperson.

Yep, people are strange like that.

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.

Sales Tip of the Day: ARE YOU READY?

2009-07-08T00:01:00-07:00

It’s probably never happened to you, but have you ever overheard a colleague make a phone call, obviously reach a voicemail system, and stumble through leaving a message?

The problem is they didn’t plan the call before they made it.

Winging it is never a good idea. Sure, you might get lucky once in awhile and pull in a sale, but you’ll never get reliable results unless you prepare thoroughly and practice repeatedly until you sound natural.

Make sure that you thoroughly think through the call you are going to make. Plan in advance how you will handle a surly gatekeeper, a “get to the point” executive, an overly busy owner, an anxious prospect.....even a voicemail system.

Every time you think about picking up the phone to call a client or prospect, ask yourself: “are you ready?”

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.

Sales Tip of the Day: DRIVER'S SEAT

2009-07-07T00:01:00-07:00

I’ve seen way too many salespeople take a reactive role in the selling process, and they usually miss more sales than they make.

Because they are just along for the ride, they have no control. It’s like being a passenger in someone else’s car: you can try to influence the decision about the route, but ultimately the driver will determine the destination.

So, if you want to arrive at a successful close, you need to be the one driving.

Take charge of the meeting, presentation, or conversation, and ask thoughtful, probing questions designed to make your prospect really consider their situation, confidently share their buying criteria and, ultimately, make the decision to invest in your product, service, or treatment.

Want to make more sales? Stop being a passenger. Take your place in the driver’s seat.

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.

Sales Tip of the Day: SUPERSTAR

2009-07-06T00:01:00-07:00

Back in ‘69, Delany & Bonnie wrote and recorded a song called “Groupie (Superstar)”. It was the b-side of a single and did not chart at all.

But Joe Cocker heard the song, liked it, and added a version of the song to his concert set list in 1970, and it made it onto the “Mad Dogs & Englishman” live album but did not hit as a single.

Bette Midler, who was practically an unknown at the time, heard the song, liked it, worked it up and performed it when she was a guest on the Johnny Carson show in late 1970. And it STILL didn’t skyrocket to fame.

But watching the show that night was a young pianist/composer/arranger named Richard Carpenter and he knew it was a hit just waiting to happen. So he rearranged the version he heard, gave it to his sister Karen to sing, and the Carpenters took it all the way to #1 in 1971. Somewhere in all that transition, the name of the song became simply, “Superstar”.

Sometimes, a really great product, service, or treatment just needs a little adjustment to make it work for the market you serve.

Maybe something that doesn’t work very well for one person, will be a huge success in the hands of someone else.

The point is, if you really believe in your solution, don’t give up just because you suffer a setback or a failure somewhere along the line. Instead, try modifying your approach. And if that doesn’t work, modify your approach again and keep making adjustments until you find the right approach to make your solution a hit with your customers.

And once you do that, you will be a superstar too!

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.

Sales Tip of the Day: IMAGINE

2009-07-03T00:17:52-07:00

When you are making a presentation, you are a walking, talking advertisement for the solutions you sell.

I’ve been creating advertising for print and broadcast media for over 2 decades and, trust me on this, the most effective advertising leads people (listeners, readers) to visualize themselves using and enjoying the product or service being offered.

You can make all the promises in the world but, without a visual, you may not make the sale. So, whether or not you have any visual materials, you must guide prospects to create their own vision.

In my experience, the easiest way to do this is start a phrase with “Imagine this...” or “Imagine yourself...”. This phrase engages prospects and compel them to create their own mental image, which is more powerful and persuasive than any brochure or PowerPoint.

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.