Sales Training

Is Your Sales and Marketing Aligned?

2012-07-30T16:46:00.001+01:00

By Colly Graham, www.salesxcellence.co.uk

A hundred years ago the term marketing was unfamiliar. Sales was the only game in town and it incorporated everything we now call marketing. The Chartered Institute of Marketing was originally called The Incorporated Sales Managers’ Association. Marketing as a discipline has its roots in sales. Over time, with the new science of marketing, sales and marketing became estranged.

Philip Kotler, Neil Rackham and Suj Krishnaswamy said in a Harvard whitepaper entitled ‘Ending the War Between Marketing and Sales,’ “Salespeople accuse marketers of being out of touch with what customers really want or setting prices too high. Marketers insist that salespeople focus too myopically on individual customers and short-term sales at the expense of longer-term profits. Result? Poor coordination between the two teams – which only raises market-entry costs, lengthens sales cycles, and increases cost of sales”.

In changing times it is forecasted that in ten years from now there will be no such thing as separate marketing and sales departments. There will be one team comprising two interdependent disciplines. However, when we look at our local business schools, do we see a mention of ‘Sales’ on the curriculum?

When you bring sales and marketing together your company will experience rapid improvement in sales productivity. The quantity and quality of leads improve, sales cycles grow shorter and conversion rates increase. Your business will grow faster and generate more profit.

The abundance of web content, white papers, brochures and other marketing collateral effectively document product features. However, it fails
to provide sales professionals with the words and concepts needed to:

· Identify customer goals or problems.

· Link your product or service to the capability to solve their problems and achieve their goals

· Help customers envision how they would use those capabilities to
achieve their goals and solve their problems.

From the perspective of the sales force, one major problem is that most marketing materials stress functions, features, and benefits, things that say what the product will do for the prospective customer. Typical materials include claims that a product or service will reduce expenses, save time or improve productivity.

By leading with features, functions and benefits on a sales call, the sales professional leaves it to the customer to envision how to use the product or service. That's a leap that many customers cannot or will not make on their own.

While prospective customers certainly need to understand features and benefits, the fundamental questions leading to closing a sale relate to how the product or service will help prospects:-

• Achieve a goal.

• Solve a problem.

• Satisfy a need.

How can marketing create sales-ready messaging which the sales team can use to help prospective customers build a vision and shorten sales cycles and close more sales?

These are the steps you can take to achieve this:

· Study the potential buyer's roles and goals. Identify the decision maker in the target company who have the power to buy, fund and implement the seller's offering.

· Determine each of these executives' business goals and objectives within the organisation. What are their missions? What are the obstacles to achieving those goals?

· Consider how your company's products or services can help each customer achieve the goal, solve the problem or satisfy the need.

· Develop a set of targeted questions that will lead the prospect through the process of identifying one or more goals, problems or needs.

· Develop various scenarios that will help sales people guide the prospects to an understanding of how they or others within the company can use your product or service to satisfy that problem or need.

· Carry the message throughout the marketing mix, from the company Web site through brochures, sales sheets, and media relations.

By following this process, marketing can give sales professionals the tools they need to influence and steer sales calls to their advantage.

Our experience shows that companies who arm their sales people with sales-ready messaging have been able to shorten sales cycles, accelerate revenues and improve the profitability of each sale.

Colly Graham, www.salesxcellence.co.uk

The Complex Sale

2012-05-24T17:55:00.003+01:00

Back in the myths of time people bartered and exchanged goods and services. The word “selling” comes from Middle English sellen, from Old English sellan, to give, sell. The word “sales” come from Middle English, from Old English sala, from Old Norse. In the 1930’s the National Cash Register Company (NCR) with the growing need for cash registers had someone write a script for their salesmen. From this early script came the development of an early sales strategy. This same strategy has been used for some sixty plus years and is known as AIDA

Attention – do whatever it takes to get the buyer to listen

Interest – get the buyer interested in what you are selling

Desire – create a desire within the customer to own the product
Action – get the buyer to take action – close the sale

This model is still largely taught to students of marketing however it is no longer effective in to-day’s business world of the complex sale. Buyers’ to-day enjoy a multiple choice, they have expertise, they compare, they are trained negotiators and they demand professionalism and satisfaction. People love to buy but they hate to be sold, they want to be in control. Most customers work under the premise with sales people “you are guilty till proven innocent”

COMMON PROBLEMS OF THE COMPLEX SALE

Problem 1 - POOR QUALIFYING
"Customers smile and say all the right things. Then when I try to close the sale, they pull the rug out from under me. I feel used and strung along. But what really hurts is that I should have seen it coming." We need to acquire the skill to qualify our customers before valuable time is wasted. Know what to ask to determine a customer's sincerity. Discover a system to reach the decision maker from the start every time. Become a Doctor and Do a House Call
Often poor qualifying is the reason many sales fail. You need to act like a doctor and do a house call.

a) Discover.
You set the stage for a compelling engagement and a continuing relationship based on trust and respect. You push beyond the traditional boundaries of prospecting to create a solid foundation on which to build a long-term, profitable relationship. b) Diagnose. Understand the customer’s problem as it relates to your solution. You maximise the customer's objective awareness of their dissatisfaction, whether or not that dissatisfaction supports your company's offerings. You assist the customer in understanding their situation and, as a result, reinforce your credibility by refusing to alter the customer's reality to fit your needs

Problem 2 - PROSPECTS WON'T OPEN UP

I know I'm dealing with qualified prospects, but they won't open up and give me the information I need to help them." Become a Valued Resource and a Trusted Advisor. Here's the truth: In the minds of customers, salespeople are guilty until proven innocent. Discover the subtle behaviours that may harm your credibility and keep you in the dark. Set yourself apart from 90% of salespeople who reinforce the negative stereotype. Allow your customer to feel safe. How do you make your customers' lives better, easier, safer, more productive...? That's what will get your prospect's attention and that's what will enable you to have a good conversation. Discover how to establish trusting relationships that will provide an unrestricted flow of vital information.

Problem 3 - WEAK TEAM SELLING
All too often, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. We need to ensure our marketing is aligned with sales. Does marketing understand the ideal customer, do they understand the customers problems. Learn to use your internal people as a powerful support for your sales effort. Know how to judge when to bring in support people and when not to.

Problem 4 - PRICING PRESSURE
"Even though we provide a highly-technical and complex solution, we find our prospects and even our most knowledgeable customers are forcing us to compete as a commodity with severe pricing pressures and relentless negotiating." I keep hearing, "your price is too high” The answer is: focus on your value. If the value is worth it to the customer they will pay for it.

We need therefore to develop the knowledge and skill to effectively negotiate the complex sale.

Making the Complex Sale

Focusing on a total understanding of critical business issues faced by customers.

Demonstrate you capability of solving their business problems with your solution.
Develop potential value to be gained by your customers.

Understanding these three major issues in the complex sales will help you close more sales.

Colly Graham

www.salesxcellence.co.uk

Asking the Right Questions,

2012-05-24T17:38:00.003+01:00

By asking the right questions, you can learn how to elicit the outcomes or results the customers are seeking. The previous exercise told us how they bought in the past; this exercise will help us discover how they will buy in the future.

When your customers are thinking about buying something, they try to imagine themselves with your product or service in the future. They image the possible outcomes or results of using the product or service.

These images are influenced by past experiences customers have had with similar products or services. They are also influenced by the present - what they want and think their needs are.

By asking the right questions, you can learn how to elicit the outcomes or results the customers are seeking. The previous exercise told us how they bought in the past; this exercise will help us discover how they will buy in the future.

1. Reveal You Own Interest
You are really saying to your customer "I am here to find the best solution to your needs. If I can do that for you, then we can do business and that is what I want to do" Revealing your interest will allay feelings of suspicion. In a controlled test Robert Cialdini in his book on influencing, reveals when giving someone valid reason for doing something then they become more willing to listen and be empathetic.

2. Find Out What Your Customer Wants and Needs
There is an old sales adage which says
"Give them what they want first, then sell them later"
We need to be able to distinguish between wants and needs.
Wants help customers achieve their goals, why they are willing to listen to you and talk to you about your product or service. They some idea of what it is they want to buy. However what your customers want is not necessarily what they need.

3. Translating Needs into Benefits
People have wants and needs.
Products have features and benefits.
The word benefit comes from two French words; bein or bon meaning well or good, and fit from faire or fait meaning to do or to make, so a benefit is what does your product or service do that will fit well or do a good job for your prospect, how well will your product/service fit your prospects needs.

Another way to view the benefit of the product is to see how the product solves a problem the customer may have, and the customer will make a gain or avoid a loss. The need is the perceived value in the prospects eyes so you need to present the benefits of your products that will match the perceived values of your customers, how can you find the perceived value, by asking questions, features support the benefits.

4. Instant Replay
As we have already discussed people like to buy the way they have bought in the past. Return to the answers we came up with on the exercise we did on eliciting the decision making strategy, and we will add one more question:
"Just suppose, you were to do this all over again, what would you change in this product/service?

When putting your strategy together you need to present it to fit the customers buying strategy.

5. As If
As if and Just Suppose!
This is useful when you are dealing with customers who have never bought your product or service before. You elicit their buying strategy by focussing on what results they want to receive in the future.

"Just suppose you were to go ahead with Your company on this project, what would need to happen to let you know that you had made the right decision?"

The answer will tell you what your customer will hope to have achieved from Your company and must form the basis of focus for your proposal.

Colly Graham

www.salesxcellence.co.uk

Five Steps to Elicit Outcomes

2012-01-03T15:57:00.002+00:00

By asking the right questions, you can learn how to elicit the outcomes or results the customers are seeking. The previous exercise told us how they bought in the past; this exercise will help us discover how they will buy in the future.
When your customers are thinking about buying something, they try to imagine themselves with your product or service in the future. They image the possible outcomes or results of using the product or service.

These images are influenced by past experiences customers have had with similar products or services. They are also influenced by the present - what they want and think their needs are.

By asking the right questions, you can learn how to elicit the outcomes or results the customers are seeking. The previous exercise told us how they bought in the past; this exercise will help us discover how they will buy in the future.

1. Reveal You Own Interest
You are really saying to your customer "I am here to find the best solution to your needs. If I can do that for you, then we can do business and that is what I want to do" Revealing your interest will allay feelings of suspicion. In a controlled test Robert Cialdini in his book on influencing, reveals when giving someone valid reason for doing something then they become more willing to listen and be empathetic.

2. Find Out What Your Customer Wants and Needs
There is an old sales adage which says
"Give them what they want first, then sell them later"
We need to be able to distinguish between wants and needs.
Wants help customers achieve their goals, why they are willing to listen to you and talk to you about your product or service. They some idea of what it is they want to buy. However what your customers want is not necessarily what they need.

3. Translating Needs into Benefits
People have wants and needs.
Products have features and benefits.
The word benefit comes from two French words; bein or bon meaning well or good, and fit from faire or fait meaning to do or to make, so a benefit is what does your product or service do that will fit well or do a good job for your prospect, how well will your product/service fit your prospects needs.

Another way to view the benefit of the product is to see how the product solves a problem the customer may have, and the customer will make a gain or avoid a loss. The need is the perceived value in the prospects eyes so you need to present the benefits of your products that will match the perceived values of your customers, how can you find the perceived value, by asking questions, features support the benefits.

4. Instant Replay
As we have already discussed people like to buy the way they have bought in the past. Return to the answers we came up with on the exercise we did on eliciting the decision making strategy, and we will add one more question:
"Just suppose, you were to do this all over again, what would you change in this product/service?

When putting your strategy together you need to present it to fit the customers buying strategy.

5. As If
As if and Just Suppose!
This is useful when you are dealing with customers who have never bought your product or service before. You elicit their buying strategy by focussing on what results they want to receive in the future.

"Just suppose you were to go ahead with Your company on this project, what would need to happen to let you know that you had made the right decision?"

The answer will tell you what your customer will hope to have achieved from Your company and must form the basis of focus for your proposal.

Colly Graham
www.salesxcellence.co.uk

Become a Doctor and Do a House Call

2011-08-10T16:10:00.004+01:00

Often poor qualifying is the reason many sales fail. You need to act like a doctor and do a house call.

Discover.
You set the stage for a compelling engagement and a continuing relationship based on trust and respect. You push beyond the traditional boundaries of prospecting to create a solid foundation on which to build a long-term, profitable relationship.

Diagnose.
You maximise the customer's objective awareness of their dissatisfaction, whether or not that dissatisfaction supports your company's offerings. You assist the customer in understanding their situation and, as a result, reinforce your credibility by refusing to alter the customer's reality to fit your needs.

Join our webinair on lead generation
Design.
This is where you help the customer create and understand the solution. It is a collaborative and highly interactive effort to help the customer sort through their expectations and alternatives to arrive at the optimal solution.
Deliver. You begin with the preparation and presentation of a formal proposal, and the customer formally accepts your solution. Next is the implementation and support of the solution and the measurement and evaluation of results. Finally, the Deliver phase includes the maintenance and growth of the sales team's relationship with the customer

Colly Graham
salesxcellence

Sales Solution Workshop

Sales Strategy

2011-07-18T12:17:00.002+01:00

Vision without execution is hallucination
Thomas Edison

Sales Managers are prone to ask two questions of their sales team:-

How much? and By when?

I have jokingly made the remark in the past that is all that a sales manager needs to manage his sales team. Fortunately there is more to motivating, coaching and leading a sales team than these two questions. These two questions pre-suppose that the only thing to focus on is closing sales.

However that is like telling a pro-golfer all he needs to do is be a good putter, forgetting that there is a lot of work to be done before getting to the green. Driving off the tee up the fairway, avoiding the bunkers and getting on the green. So in sales it is a series of steps and agreements throughout the sales process.

The steps may look like this:
Initial Engagement
Qualification
Identifying Needs
Specifying the Solution
The Proposal
Commitment (the close)
Follow Through

Most sales are lost because one or more of the steps in the process are overlooked without any agreement before moving to the next step.

Each step needs to built on a firm foundation before moving to the next step. And each step requires a certain skills set of communication to enable the sales professional achieve a commitment and a series of agreements which will allow him to move the sales successfully forward.

In future blogs we will discuss each step in depth, in the meantime visit our workshops on Sales Solutions

Colly Graham

salesxcellence

Building a Winning Sales Team

2011-02-28T12:56:00.003+00:00

By Colly Graham

salesxcellence

www.salesxcellence.co.uk

Workshop Dates

Sales team effectiveness is the critical issue in determining business success. Business management are challenged to respond to market conditions, changing environments, whilst at the same time seeking to continuously improve their sales team performance.

Businesses can develop the effectiveness of their sales people through

Recruiting Talented Sales People

Building an Ideal Customer Profile

Developing a Sales Strategy

Recruiting Talented Sales People

The first step in recruiting talented sales people is to identify the ideal candidate. Clearly identify the attributes and experiences of the ideal candidate. The entire process is only as effective as its weakest or least utilised step. If you fail to apply an effective and comprehensive effort to the identification step, you will often be unable to find and/or recruit a strong salesperson that will succeed in your business.

If you have experienced any recruiting mistakes in the past, those errors were probably the result of an interview in which the candidate made a positive impression on you. Unfortunately, many salespeople are capable of making a favourable impression in an interview. Successful sales people have two major attributes:

Ability to feel – Empathy and Build rapport
Need to Win– Ego Drive

Ideal Customer Profile

Deciding which customers and prospects the sales force spends time with is an important sales effectiveness issue and where marketing and sales need to be clearly aligned. Creating an ideal customer profile will enable both marketing and sales to target those prospects most likely to buy and customers who can be developed as key accounts.

List your best customers.
List your worst customers
List the characteristics that are common to, unique to, of the best customers.
List your worst customers’ characteristics.
What are the characteristics that distinguish these customers?
Create your ideal customer profile, study the list of best characteristics and worst characteristics.

Developing a Sales Strategy
A Sales Strategy is basically a calculated and tactical plan for acquiring new business, growing existing business and making the company sales quota. Begin with the end in mind. What is it you want to achieve – be specific? Knowing what you want to achieve will allow you to formulate the necessary steps to achieve the results you are seeking.
There are four basic parts of a sales strategy:

1. Sales Quota: This critical element of plan sets the tempo of efforts throughout the year and provides quarterly, monthly, weekly and even daily sub-goals for you to achieve.

2. Sales Territory: Refers to the geographic area, list of named accounts or specific market niche you have been assigned to in which you are to sell products, services and solutions.

3. Strategy: The plan necessary to accomplish the company’s sales’ goal

4. Tactics: The steps necessary to carry out the plan.

Recruiting the right sales people, knowing who your ideal customer is and have a sales strategy for winning sales is the foundation for sales success.

www.salesxcellence.co.uk

Features, Benefits and Solutions - sales training

2011-01-21T16:04:00.003+00:00

A solution is, by definition, the resolution of a problem.

If you don't have a problem, you don't need a solution. Elementary? Sure, but it's amazing how often it's forgotten by salespeople intent on pushing their products. Major sales are lost every day by amateurish attempts to resolve nonexistent problems.

Actually, a better word than nonexistent would be unperceived. When a salesperson's solution fails to connect with a customer, it's usually because that customer has not perceived that he or she has a problem, and therefore feels no urgency about "resolving" it. This is true, of course, even when the problem is blatantly obvious to the salesperson, and it's why they so often are frustrated in attempting to demonstrate to prospects that their perceptions are wrong and they're actually in trouble. Think of how difficult it is to sell life insurance to people in their twenties: If you're still convinced of your own immortality, what problem is there to solve?

The unperceived issue is related to the old distinction between features and benefits. In order to sell a feature, you've got to show it has a benefit, that it has some value to the prospect or customer. No value, no benefit, no sale. Pushing a feature on a customer for whom it has no benefit is equivalent to pushing a solution for an unperceived problem.

In his book Solution Selling, Michael T. Bosworth adds a useful nuance to this old distinction by introducing an intermediary term: advantage. If a feature is something that exists in the product or service itself and a benefit is the value that a customer sees in that feature, an advantage is the feature's potential value -- an inherent value that may or may not be seen as such by a given customer.

Bosworth gives the example of a coffee cup. The handle of the cup is an existing feature. Its advantage is that it enables you to drink coffee without burning your fingers. Its benefit is that it prevents something you had wanted to avoid; it anticipates and provides a solution to a potential problem. But the handle is only a benefit to a coffee fancier. If you don't drink coffee (or some other hot drink), the handle feature is merely an advantage, not a benefit.

For a more sophisticated example, consider the caller ID feature than many telecommunications companies now offer their customers. It's certainly an advantage in that it enables customers who want to screen their callers. Is it a benefit? Only to customers who perceive value in that advantage. Is it a solution? Only to customers who believe that they have a problem -- in this case, a surplus of incoming calls that they don't want to deal with. If you're not bothered by such calls, if the tracing potential of this technology makes you uneasy, or if for any other reason you don't see a problem in unscreened calls, then by definition this feature has no benefit for you, and the salesperson who provides you this "solution" probably will get nowhere.

Effective selling always starts in the customer's mind, with some discrepancy to be resolved or some problem overcome. If the customer perceives there's no problem, you've got no solution

Solution Based Selling

All I Need To Know I Learned From Santa

2010-12-08T16:46:00.009+00:00

Encourage people to believe in you.
Always remember who's naughty and who's nice.
It's as much fun to give as it is to receive.
Some days it's OK to feel a little chubby.
Make your presents known.
Always ask for a little bit more than you really want.
Bright red can make anyone look good.
Wear a wide belt and no-one will notice how many pounds you've gained.
If you only show up once a year, everyone will think you're very important.
Whenever you're at a loss for words, say "HO, HO, HO!

www.salesxcellence.co.uk

All I Need To Know I Learned From Santa

Sales Call Objectives

2010-11-30T18:22:00.003+00:00

Imagine you are working with your sales manager and as you recap the daily schedule for him, he asks one or more of these questions.

What’s the purpose of the sales call?
What do you want to accomplish here today?
Why are we making this call?
What’s the reason for the call?
What are the primary sales objectives for this call

How would you respond?

To make a sale
Introduce a product
To demonstrate a product
To do a review
To find out about the customer’s needs

Or would you respond with very specific sales call objectives that are so specific and clearly defined?

There are several key advantages to preparing specific sales call objectives for every sales call. But first, when should you plan these objectives?

The best planners always try to set aside the same time each day to map out their objectives and strategies.

You may want to devote fifteen minutes at the end of each day preparing the objectives for the next day. Some sales people prefer to do it the evening before, and still others like to do it early in the morning.

How specific should you be when planning your sales call objectives? Consider this: how specific would you want to be if you knew there was a very high correlation between specific objectives and desired results.

When you plan exactly what you want to achieve during the sales call, you become incredibly focused and so does the customer.

Here are five reasons why you should spend at least fifteen minutes every day planning specific sales call objectives.

You’ll achieve "definition of purpose."
The objective will direct and guide the call.
The customer will know why you’re there.
Your focused efforts will save wasted time.
You’ll be able to measure results on every call.

Your sales objectives are clearly defined by where you are on the sales process. Knowing where you are on the sales process you ask yourself the simple question:

“What do I need to do to move this sale forward?”

Your answer will define your call objectives.
Colly Graham
Visit salesxcellence
Sales Solution Workshop

Sales Training - Pre-empting and Reframing Objections

2010-10-12T21:57:00.002+01:00

Pre-empting an objection means that you bring an objection that you expect to hear early in the sales call and then deal with the objection so it cannot be brought up again.

Make sure to answer any common questions and concerns before the client can ask. By pre-empting objections before the client can raise them, you decrease resistance.

For example: Want to think about it, you might say:

“I had one client who wanted to think about it, when he was taking his time to think the opportunity had gone, you wouldn’t want that to happen, would you? ”

List the Objections you normally hear:-

How can you pre-empt these objections?

Reframing Objections

A frame provides a context or focus for your thoughts and actions.

Just as a picture frame puts borders or boundaries on what you can see in a picture, the frames of reference that you choose as a result of your beliefs about yourself and others, your perceived role in life, your perceived limitations in skills/abilities, etc. can limit what you see as possible or can open up all sorts of possibilities.

You (and if you allow them, others) are continually setting time frames, boundaries, limits, etc. on what you can and can’t do - often without any real thought about the consequences or if the limitations are true.

Changing the frame of an experience can have a major influence on how you perceive, interpret and react to that experience.

The purpose of reframing is to help a person experience their actions, the impact of their beliefs, etc. from a different perspective (frame) and potentially be more resourceful or have more choice in how they react.

Reframing going on all around us:

Politicians are masters at reframing. It seems no matter what happens, they can put a positive spin on it for themselves or a negative spin for their opponents.
You may be frustrated at your wife for inviting the elderly gentleman next door for supper. Until she points out that if you were in his shoes, then you may find this simple act to be the highlight of your week.
Consider that old wooden table in the basement that you use as a temporary workbench for sawing wood, nailing things together, etc. Instantly, it is seen differently if someone tells you that it is a valuable antique.
Jokes are reframes - you are guided to think in one frame and then the frame (meaning or context) changes.
Fairy tales often use reframes to help children see different perspectives or the consequences of ‘crying wolf’.
An excuse is a reframe that attributes a different meaning or context to your behaviours.

Some more notable reframes are:
During the 1984 campaign, there was considerable concern about Ronald Reagan’s age. Speaking during the presidential debate with Walter Mondale, Reagan said “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience.” Reagan’s age was not an issue for the remainder of the campaign!

There is a story about Thomas Watson Sr., the first President of IBM. A young worker had made a mistake that lost IBM $1 M in business. She was called in to the President’s office and as she walked in said, “Well, I guess you have called me here to fire me.” “Fire you?” Mr. Watson replied, “I just spent $1 M on your education!”

A father brought his head-strong daughter to see Milton Erickson - the famous hypnotherapist. He said to Erickson, “My daughter doesn’t listen to me or her mother. She is always expressing her own opinion.” After the father finished describing his daughter’s problem, Erickson replied, “Now isn’t it good that she will be able to stand on her own two feet when she is ready to leave home?” The father sat in stunned silence. That was the extent of the therapy -- the father now saw his daughter’s behaviour as a useful resource later in her life.

Reframing an objection is taking the objection and putting in a different context.

Let's use the price objection -is the context of the price objection - too expensive or outside the prospects budget.

Mostly the problem with price objections - they need to be pre-empted and handled at the qualification stage of the sales and then reframe should they come up when you are at the commitment (or closing stage of the sale).

Colly Graham
www.salesxcellence.com
www.salesxcellence.co.uk

Voice Mail Friend or foe to the sales professional?

2010-10-07T13:35:00.007+01:00

Voice Mail Friend or Foe to the Sales Professional?

What is your instant response to the question?

If your belief is voice mail is bad.... it will be bad! You will validate that belief by making sure you get no value from it. If there is one thing guaranteed to drive consultants up the wall, it is trying to get prospects to return their calls. We are in a catch-22, you cannot drop in without an appointment, but we cannot get an appointment because nobody returns our calls. You just cannot win sometimes.

I estimate that over 50 percent of the time we are reaching voice mailboxes instead of real people. With those kinds of statistics, you would think we had be better prepared for the situation… but most of us are not.

We had better be prepared because, whether we like it or not, the telephone, voice mail, e-mail, and other technological roadblocks to reaching our clients have become a reality.

Many of us feel that prospects are hiding behind their voice mail or e-mail systems. Not so. They're not hiding behind them, they're using them to screen or filter out potential time-wasting activities.

Perhaps you put the phone down and say s*x!! And think I will call later.

What a wasted opportunity! In my mind, voice mail is great! Why?

Any idea how much people pay for a 30 second commercial during the FA Cup Final/Champions League Final...about £500,000 for 30 seconds.

So when Nike are paying that kind on money for 30 seconds, how much do they spend in preparing that commercial, making sure with market research planning etc that they will get the maximum number of people to take a good hard look at Nike products.....it might be even more!

Voice Mail is an opportunity if it is done right. No hmmmmm...ahhhhhhh. hmmmmm Or messages that are too short too long too fast. Ever left a message that rambled on and you regretted leaving message, should have just hung up. Ever hoped that the voice mail system would give you options to erase and start again?

Not unusual, if you did not have a plan, a repertoire of interesting, compelling messages, internalised, sounding natural warm and friendly. You probably have 15-20 seconds where you can leave a message that may differentiate your services from the competition. When you are driving in your car, listening to the radio, watching commercial television we are bombarded by 30 second messages that slip into your brain.

What do we want to get out of this voice mail message? Them to call us back so what we have to do is give them 2-3 reasons why it is in their best interest to return your call.

If they do not call back, you can leave a second and different message and even a third!

Make them interesting and yes even make them funny!

Sometimes people phone back just to congratulate an innovative fun and interesting way of getting their attention.

All of the above is applicable for e-mail messages too.

Good Selling!

Colly Graham
http://www.salesxcellence.co.uk/

Referalls - The Easy Way to Generate Leads

2010-03-21T15:41:00.002+00:00

Asking for Referrals

Imagine your business as an infinite web of relationships.

Every one of your business contacts has the potential to connect you to dozens of other contacts.

The relationships are out there, but they'll likely remain out of reach unless you actively pursue them. It may never occur to your current contacts to give you an introduction.

It's up to you to put the idea in their

Set a weekly goal for

Keep track of the number of referrals you ask for each day.

Create a spreadsheet for referrals, reflecting contacts and results.

Asking For the Referrals
If you just blurt out “Do you know anyone who could use my services?” with all the sensitivity of a game show host, what answer are you likely to get?
“Ohhh… mmmmm… no.”

Asking the question in that manner puts your client on the spot. End of conversation.
Instead, ease into it. Use very casual, but courteous, language to make a very specific request. Something like this:

“Referrals are the primary way we grow my business. And I wonder if I can ask you for the names of three people who might have a need for a similar type of product/service, either now or sometime in the future. Would that be alright?”

Every happy client will say “Certainly.” And then you ask for the three names.

Colly Graham
www.salesxcellence.co.uk
www.salesxcellence.com
www.collygraham.co.uk

Embedded Suggestions

2010-02-06T11:38:00.003+00:00

Embedded Suggestions and Commands

Embedded suggestions and commands work so effectively because, being almost invisible, they operate for the most part at the unconscious level, and thus are not likely to cause resistance. They are responded to below the level of awareness.

The tone of your voice and the emphasises you place on the embedded suggestions are also very important.

As you deliver the embedded suggestion, it is a good idea to tonally mark the parts you especially to what you want the other person to respond. Also by inserting the customer’s name next to the suggestion, you wish them to attend to ensure a response.

Embedded suggestions will be responded to at the unconscious level, so that resistance by the other person is avoided.

Using the embedded command: “Tell me, (client’s name)…….”

“Just suppose………..” will add weight to your embedded suggestions

“Just suppose you were to go ahead to-day and what need to happen for you to give me a decision right now”

“What would need to happen right now for you to place an order?”

“Are you happy to place an order now?”

“Is there anything else you need to know, or are you happy to go ahead right now?”

Colly Graham
salesxcellence

The Power of Questions

2010-01-14T19:42:00.006+00:00

By Colly Graham

Have you been to the doctor’s lately?

Did he invite you in, ask you to sit down? Then proceed to describe how he went to medical school for four years, go on to tell you how he became a junior houseman in a teaching hospital. However, he probably became quite serious as he pointed out his qualifications on the wall as he built your trust about his ability to treat your condition. He has not asked you about your condition yet, as he has more information to impart to you. Did he enthuse about the qualities of the new drugs?

And after all this he offered to write out a prescription for you.

No! Of course he did not do this; how many sales people go down this road, allowing their ego to carry them away on a wave of information and after imparting all the information they can muster on their organisation and product they offer a solution without understanding the problem and its impact on the organisation. In medical terms this is known as prognosis before diagnosis or in sales terms making a sales presentation before qualification of the prospects needs, problems and situation. Salespeople can no longer be talking brochures, according to Neil Rackman.

If your doctor is like my doctor, he asks questions, of course. Putting you at your ease, building rapport, he moves forward quickly to diagnose your condition with careful questioning.

Diagnosis comes from the Greek word meaning discernment, to distinguish: apart; to come to know, discern;

The doctor asks probing questions going from the generic to more specific questions, starting, perhaps with simple questions, such as, “What’s happening with you in regard to you well-being?”

You then start to describe your symptoms/pain as you understand them.

The doctor probes, framing his question that he can make a full diagnosis of your condition.

Once he feels that he has gathered all the information and makes his prognosis.

Prognosis comes from the Latin progn sis, from Greek, to foreknow: pro-, before; to know;

The doctor will continue to ask further questions to make you realise the consequences of his prognosis and of not taking action. He will make you realise the value of taking action; in some cases this maybe preventive action to reduce the likelihood of the symptoms causing further complications.

You value what your doctor has done. You know that he understands you condition and based on his assessment you are willing to take the action he suggests.

Can you become a doctor to your patients and get to the core of your customer’s problems and discover how these problems are impacting on the performance of their business.

Careful questioning will help you access the prospect’s understanding of the problems his business may be experiencing in relation to you product or service.

On Salesxcellence’s workshops we train sales people to gain a better understanding of the problems their products or services can solve. When we ask the question; “What problems does your product or service solve?” the majority of salespeople offer the solution. To help them grasp the problems that their products/services solve, we have them do the following exercise by completing this template:

Customer Industry Problem Solved Impact of Problem

Initially we ask the participants to list the problems they have solved, at a later stage in the training, we then uncover the solution to the problems.

i. It helps the salesperson identify the industries in which he or she should
be prospecting
ii. It clarifies the problems that exists within these industries
iii. It helps formulates the questions that need to be asked to diagnose the
problem and its impact on the performance of the business.

In conclusion, become a doctor and understand your prospect’s problems and ask questions which are formulated to diagnose the nature and the consequences of the problems from which businesses are suffering.

Only when you understand the problem can you offer your prognosis to your prospect which will enable him to see the value your solution.

salesxcellence was formed by COLLY GRAHAM in 1996 who has over 40 years' experience in telephone, field sales and sales management. salesxcellence has trained and consulted with over three hundred companies since the formation of the company, assisting companies to raise the level of their game.
salesxcellence focuses on businesses realising their real potential in sales.
Visit: http://www.salesxcellence.com/
Visit: http://www.salesxcellence.co.uk

The Power of Persuasion

2010-01-12T15:12:00.005+00:00

Power of Persuasion is the ability to influence others to take the action you desire

Every communication has a purpose

Aristotle’s Model of Influence
1. Ethos
The Credibility of the Message – which is more likely to be believed Mother Theresa or Richard Nixon
2. Logos
The Power of Words – the quality of carefully chosen words has the
power to manifest an idea
3. Pathos
The Emotions of the Audience

The Science of Influence
Dr Robert Caldini who has researched the power of influence states six principles of influence in his book “Influence, Science and Psychology”:

Dr Caldinini’s six principles
1. Reciprocity – give and take
if we give someone something they are subconsciously influenced to give something back in return.
(Example is the internet…most successful websites give something away)
Another side to this principle is the principle of
Rejection and Retreat – you make a huge request that you know will be rejected – after you are rejected you make a smaller offer (which you really want anyway) and this is accepted – the other party feels you have made a huge concession and accepts your second offer

2. Commitment and Consistency
Consistent people are seen to be trustworthy and honest – after making a commitment people will most often stay consistent to their commitment, that
is why it is necessary to ask for a commitment to reaching agreement today
at the very start of the negotiations. People want to be seen as keeping their commitments. High achieving sales people will open their sales presentation by saying “if you feel what I am showing you today will benefit your company and is within your budget will you give me a commitment today” of course the person with the power to make decisions (without reference to anyone else) holds the balance of power.

3. Social Proof
What are other people doing, people want to follow trends, complying.
(Example getting on the internet)

4. Liking
i. Physical attraction – appearance, dress
ii. Similarity
iii. Praise – genuine praise not flattery
iv. Familiarity
v. Association

5. Authority
those with the greatest knowledge wield the greatest power –
title and qualifications give people more authority and power

6. Scarcity
things, which are difficult to obtain, are perceived to have more value.

Keys to Convincing Communication
The Power of Listening - Listening Builds Trust
Active Listening

Reflecting Back what the other person is saying

Questioning for clarification

Questioning for expansion

Tone of Voice
Warm – Textured – Enthusiastic

Pretty much everything is worth more than words multiple studies have replicated these findings. When we communicate in person, a full 55 percent of what others hear us say is a direct result of what we communicate visually: our dress, posture, movements, facial expression, eye contact. The next 38 percent of the message we send comes from the sound of communication: tone of voice, accent, and rate of speech, volume, and timbre. Just think of the many meanings that can be attached to the simple words yes and no. Only the last 7 percent of our message is derived from the words we use, and the way we put them together. Add it up, and you might now be floored by the impact of nonverbal communication. Mastering the art of it is an obvious advantage.

Remember Win/Win

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Sharpen your sales skills – Selling in a recession

2009-12-01T23:54:00.001+00:00

Colly Graham of Salesxcellence offers some tips on Selling in a recession

Once people believe there is going to be a recession they start to feel negative about their selling prospects.

Do you have a clearly defined Sales Strategy?

A Sales Strategy is basically a calculated and tactical plan for acquiring new business, growing existing business and making and exceeding the company sales quota. As in all good plans you need to begin with the end in mind. What is it you want to achieve – be specific? Knowing what you want to achieve will allow you to formulate the necessary steps to achieve the results you are seeking.

• How Much?
• By When?

There are four basic parts of a sales strategy:
1. New business acquisition
2. New business acquisition tactics
3. Existing business growth strategies
4. Existing business growth tactics

Four Parts of the Plan
Sales Quota: This critical element of plan sets the tempo of efforts throughout the year and provides quarterly, monthly, weekly and even daily sub-goals for you to achieve.

Sales Territory: Refers to the geographic area, list of named accounts or specific market niche you have been assigned to in which you are to sell products, services and solutions.

Strategy: The plan necessary to accomplish the company’s sales’ goal

Tactics: The steps necessary to carry out the plan.
Analyse your existing customers – who has not bought in the last three to six months – go after them and bring them back into the fold.

Stop being a hunter and become a farmer – look at the activities of the farmer and apply it to your accounts.

With the farmer concept, you look upon your accounts the way a farmer would look at his land. The farmer cultivates, prepares, plants, seeds, waters, fertilises, weeds, protects, grows, develops crops, harvests and then starts the cycle all over again.

1. Cultivating – learning as much about your customer as possible to discover opportunities to see what you need to plant so that you can harvest the results.
2. Preparation – putting yourself in a better position to service the customer, building your relationship to understand his business at depth, asking questions to uncover and discover further opportunities.
3. Planting – using your skills as a problem solver to offer solutions for the further problems you have uncovered within the account. Helping the customer realise that he has further problems that you can solve.
4. Seeding – demonstrating how you can solve this problem.
5. Watering and Fertilising- showing how other customers have benefited by placing further business with you
6. Weeding – keeping your competitors out of your accounts.
7. Harvesting – requires that you get further business from the existing customer – you get more sales!
8. Continuous Harvesting – requires that you maintain excellent customer relations

And finally build and strength your relationships with your customers.
Build a relationship of mutual trust and respect with clients through rapport. Protect your accounts from competitors by adding value to the relationship by identifying opportunities that have a positive impact on their business. Today’s customers have become more sophisticated and demanding of higher levels of customer service than ever before. They want someone they can trust who understands their needs and wants.
Customer loyalty should be what we seek to give rather than what we seek to get.

As Zig Ziglar is famous for saying, “You can get anything you want in life if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

salesxcellence

Sales Training Creating Customers - Part 2

2009-11-27T14:45:00.005+00:00

Step Eight - Opening Statements Are the Keys to Successful Calls
The opening statement is the most essential part of your call. Without an opening that stimulates curiosity, and puts the listener in a positive frame of mind to participate, nothing else matters. You can't fly the plane unless it gets off the ground.

Prospecting Calls
The point you need to communicate in the first few seconds is, "We have something that might be able to help you, and I simply need to learn more about you to find out." The key is in using the right words.

Step Nine - Six Basic Elements in Opening the Call
1. Get the customer's attention
2. Identify yourself and the company
3. Give the reason for your call
4. Make a qualifying/question statement
5. Open the discussion
6. Ask the Hard Question

Step Ten - The Four Most Common Objections and Responses
1. "No thanks, I'm happy with what I am doing now"
2. "I'm not interested"
3. "I'm too busy"
4. "Send me some literature"

The sales person needs to be able to anticipate and handle these types of responses:
"No thanks, I'm happy with what I am doing now"
Most people do not want the bother of changing from what they are currently doing, if it's
working why change it plus they do not want the inconvenience of changing to a new supplier.
If they wanted to change they would have called you. Remember that he is already doing
something. And he sees your call as an interruption.
Simply ask: "What are you doing now in regard to ___________?"
"I'm not interested" This is perhaps the most common response you will hear.
"I'm not interested" Sales is selling to somebody who wasn't interested prior to your call.
If they were interested they would phone you.
Answer: "Well, (client's name) a lot of people had the same reaction when I first called - before they had a chance to see what we do, however when they had the opportunity to see what we do they did become interested……." (Tail your voice off and go to next line)
"You do want to ___________________________ don't you?
"Send me some literature"
This may seem the most difficult to handle.
"Look do me a favour send me your brochure"
On average when you phone back they usually haven't received your brochure, not had time to read it yet or read it and they are not really interested.
This does nothing to move your sale forward. Confirm information, his address, postcode etc.
Then ask
"(Client's name) So that I send you the most appropriate literature. Can I ask what might be of interested to you?"
And then you are back to gathering information again.

Step 11 - Five Requisites to Close the Sale
1. A Recognised Need Clients will only buy if there is a recognised need
Demonstrated when you asked questions to uncover the need
2. A Viable Solution
A viable solution, which will change the status quo.
When you linked benefits to solutions.
3. Value Must Justify Cost
Cost justification is the basis for every strategic decision. The need is never enough to justify a decision to proceed and a viable solution doesn't mean clients can justify the
cost. Perceived value must justify cost.
4. A Sense of Urgency
You've heard the phrase, "if it isn't broke don't fix it"
What will it cost not to proceed right now?
5. The Authority to Buy
Most sales fail because the person you ask for the commitment hasn't the authority to buy!
Four Keys
1. Know the Status of the Opportunity
Does the client like the offer?
How does it compare with the conditions of satisfaction?
What are they willing to accept?
What are their outstanding concerns?
Ask for their business - attempt a trial close
"Tell me, is there any reason why we cannot proceed to-day?"
2. Not Ready to Close
A sale represents a mutual exchange of values you may need to negotiate to win.
"Tell me, if we can agree on……….is there any reason why we cannot proceed to-day?"
3. Restate Your Value
In a situation where the client is expected to assimilate lots of information some of
the early discussion and commitments may be forgotten. Restate how the investment is adding value by solving the problem obtain agreement that this investment will add
value to the client.
4. Emotional Reassurance
Many decisions are highly emotional. Build rapport and use empathy.
"For you to proceed today what would need to happen?"

Visit us at
www.salesxcellence.com
www.salesxcellence.co.uk

Creating Customers - Part One

2009-11-20T12:26:00.008+00:00

Cold call and appointment making is usually the least liked part of any sales job. Prospects do not like receiving unwarranted phone calls resulting in rejection and frustration for the sales people.

Learn how to pick up the phone with confidence and an attitude of success. Learn how you can build rapport quickly on the phone. Identify and pre-empt the objections that prevent you from succeeding.

Step 1 Develop a Strategy for Success
How the Strategy Works It breaks down the process of creating customers into a series of simple steps Steps are organised into three powerful components: motivation - direction - evidence Tools and techniques to help overcome fear, procrastination and resistance

Step 2 Motivation is a chain reaction looking like this:
A. Programming creates beliefs
B. Beliefs create attitudes
C. Attitude creates feelings
D. Feelings determine actions
E. Actions create results
This is how your mind works. If you want to create more success in your life you must manage your success or failure sequence. The foundations of your success lie in your programming, so it makes sense to look at your programming first.

Step 3 Actions to Success
Action One Identify your customer database
Action Two Create a simple one page letter to warm up the cold call
Action Three Mail out a minimum of twelve letters per day to your prospects
Action Four Follow up the letters with a telephone call

Step Four Telephone Success
When you are face to face with someone you cannot invade their personal space however on the telephone you are right next to their ear and an inch from their mouth.

We can do things on the phone that are impossible in person, with the telephone we have the ability to reach out and touch someone and with the right techniques you can reach anybody in the world.

The first thing the Telephone Sales Person must recognise to become successful is that nobody buys over the telephone solely because of the information they hear. People buy over the telephone based on emotion. Telephone selling is an emotional industry and people react positively when they are emotionally motivated. The Telephone Sales Person sells feelings, word pictures, dynamic images, creativity, and solutions. Customers mask their emotions because they want to believe that every decision they make is a logical one.
People buy what they "want

Step 5 Identifying your Ideal Customer Profile
A List your best customers.
People you have sold to, not prospects. Use your definition of best, you set the criteria. Keep your gut feelings in mind as you do this exercise. These are the customers you feel good about. Start with your single best customer first then number two and so on.
B List Your Best Customers Characterestics List the characteristics that are common to and unique to the best customers you have identified. For Example
Industry
Size
Defined need for your Product or Service
Committed to Quality
Win/Win Relationship
CreateYour Ideal Customers Profile
Define the standards against which your customers should be measured.
Study the list of characteristics. List the characteristics below. C Compare this list to your current prospects
This will measure two things, the compatibility of the accounts you are working on and the problems you are likely to encounter.

Step Six Sell to the person who has the most influence
For business to be organised it needs to have a formal structure - an organisational chart represents the official structure. Whilst it is important to be aware of the official organisational chart of a business, which reveals the hierarchy, it does not reveal the political structure. Sell to the person who can make the sale happen.

Step Seven Warm-up your call
Warm-up your call with a letter to the top decision-maker, there are a few guidelines you need to be aware of before we start to compose your letter.
Most letters are unread by the recipients, they go in the bin! If you want your letters to be read and open the way to appointments follow these instructions.
a. The Headline Statement
b. The Opening Paragraph
c. Problems or Issues
d. Lead - In To Benefit Bullets
e. The Bullet Text: Benefits
f. The Closing Paragraph
g. Action P.S.
Be Prepared
Your letters have gone out and three to five days after you're certain the letters have arrived you call on the date specified in your letter. Now you are serious about having an equal status business partnership with the top decision-maker and you are ready for a rapport-building encounter. Before the call, prepare yourself mentally, you will need inspiration, to be inspired, you will need a clear head and focussed thinking without distractions.

Part Two to follow soon

An e-workbook is available to help you Create Customers register free at
http://tinyurl.com/ygzaxbs

Visit salesxcellence
www.salesxcellence.com
www.salesxcellence.co.uk

Sales Training - Reframing and Pre-empting Objections

2009-10-22T16:39:00.009+01:00

How can you pre-empt these objections?

Reframing Objections

A frame provides a context or focus for your thoughts and actions. Just as a picture frame puts borders or boundaries on what you can see in a picture, the frames of reference that you choose as a result of your beliefs about yourself and others, your perceived role in life, your perceived limitations in skills/abilities, etc. can limit what you see as possible or can open up all sorts of possibilities. You (and if you allow them, others) are continually setting timeframes, boundaries, limits, etc. on what you can and can’t do - often without any real thought about the consequences or if the limitations are true.

Changing the frame of an experience can have a major influence on how you perceive, interpret and react to that experience. The purpose of reframing is to help a person experience their actions, the impact of their beliefs, etc. from a different perspective (frame) and potentially be more resourceful or have more choice in how they react.

Reframing going on all around us:

Politicians are masters at reframing. It seems no matter what happens, they can put a positive spin on it for themselves or a negative spin for their opponents.
You may be frustrated at your wife for inviting the elderly gentleman next door for supper. Until she points out that if you were in his shoes, then you may find this simple act to be the highlight of your week.
Consider that old wooden table in the basement that you use as a temporary workbench for sawing wood, nailing things together, etc. Instantly, it is seen differently if someone tells you that it is a valuable antique.
Jokes are reframes - you are guided to think in one frame and then the frame (meaning or context) changes.
Fairy tales often use reframes to help children see different perspectives or the consequences of ‘crying wolf’.
An excuse is a reframe that attributes a different meaning or context to your behaviours.

Some more notable reframes are:

During the 1984 campaign, there was considerable concern about Ronald Reagan’s age. Speaking during the presidential debate with Walter Mondale, Reagan said “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience.” Reagan’s age was not an issue for the remainder of the campaign!
There is a story about Thomas Watson Sr., the first President of IBM. A young worker had made a mistake that lost IBM $1 M in business. She was called in to the President’s office and as she walked in said, “Well, I guess you have called me here to fire me.” “Fire you?” Mr. Watson replied, “I just spent $1 M on your education!”
A father brought his head-strong daughter to see Milton Erickson - the famous hypnotherapist. He said to Erickson, “My daughter doesn’t listen to me or her mother. She is always expressing her own opinion.” After the father finished describing his daughter’s problem, Erickson replied, “Now isn’t it good that she will be able to stand on her own two feet when she is ready to leave home?” The father sat in stunned silence. That was the extent of the therapy -- the father now saw his daughter’s behaviour as a useful resource later in her life.

Top Sales Experts Masterclass

2009-10-16T16:30:00.004+01:00

On Tuesday October 20th – 1:00 pm Eastern, Jonathan Farrington presents his first solo Top Sales Experts Masterclass of 2009, and you can be there, with my compliments.

So You Want To Be A Top 5% Player In The Game Of Sales?

Recent exhaustive surveys suggest that only 5% of professional salespeople reach and remain at the highest level, which we call Level 3. A further 15% attain Level 2 status, but the majority, i.e. a massive 80% remain at Level 1 in terms of potential achievement.

Level One salespeople sell products and depend on having the right technical solution for the customer’s specification.

This is probably you Level Two salespeople sell solutions, which changes their image from sales rep to business consultant and positions them as a potential strategic resource. Most salesmen and women manage to advance from Level 1 to Level 2 fairly easily but unfortunately; many find breaking through that final glass ceiling extremely difficult i.e. moving from competitive sales professionals to collaborative sales consultants. Or is this you?
Level Three salespeople are able to first identify and then capitalise upon the political component within the buying process. They develop and sustain strong commercial relationships at all levels within their accounts and these relationships endure because they are based on mutual respect and trust. Their clients feel secure, so secure, that they would be fearful of changing supplier.

Level Three salespeople rarely, if ever, lose an order that they really want because they are always in control of the sales cycle. They have identified that in marketplaces where product uniqueness and technical expertise are no longer enough, it is they themselves, that make the difference i.e. their superior skills.

This could be you!

What we can say for certain, is that successful selling has become an exclusive club of highly skilled professionals where, for example, product knowledge, time management skills, objection handling and closing skills are the cost of membership, not leadership.

Attendees will not only receive a FREE copy of Jonathan’s most recent EBook “The Changing Face of Professional Selling” (Value $19.95) but also the chance to take a FREE ASP Profile (Value $175)

Jonathan Farrington is Chairman of The Sales Corporation, CEO of Top Sales Associates and Senior Partner at The JF Consultancy based in London and Paris.

He is also the Chairman of the Executive Board over at Top Sales Experts, and heads up the selection panel for AllBusiness’s latest initiative to find the very best sales professionals on the planet.

You can find out more about him and what they are saying about him here

Then you can accept my invitation to claim your FREE place for this significant event and register here - http://bit.ly/4wW1fc

with compliments of www.salesxcellence.co.uk

Sales Training - Answering Objections on the Telephone

2009-10-05T17:01:00.003+01:00

Developing a Sales Strategy

2009-09-03T14:36:00.007+01:00

There are four basic parts of a sales strategy:

The sales plan should be short, simple and to the point. It's basically a strategic and tactical plan for acquiring new business, growing existing business and making and/or exceeding the sales quota within the sales territory. Typically, a healthy mix would include 75 percent of the sales quota from new business and 25 percent of quota from add-on business from existing customers.

1. New business strategies
2. New business acquisition tactics
3. Existing business growth strategies
4. Existing business growth tactics

Four Parts of the Plan

Sales Quota:
This critical element of plan sets the tempo of efforts throughout the year and provides quarterly, monthly, weekly and even daily sub-goals for you to achieve.

Sales Territory:
Refers to the geographic area, list of named accounts or specific market niche you have been assigned to in which you are to sell products, services and solutions.

Strategy:
The plan necessary to accomplish the company’s sales’ goal

Tactics: The steps necessary to carry out the plan.

New Business Acquisition Strategies and Tactics

Include the following four strategies in the sales plan.
Remember, these strategies are all designed to capture new customers and new market share. Important note: The strategies are numbered and the tactics are italicised.

1. Exceed quota

For example:
• Send no less than 50 letters of introduction to new prospects each week.
• Make no less than 50 cold calls of introduction to new prospects each week.
• Make no less than 20 face-to-face contacts with new prospects each week.
• Create no less than 10 proposals each week.
• Make no less than five presentations each week.
Important note: numbers will, of course, vary. What's important here is to calculate exactly how many contacts are needed to make in order to achieve the sales quota.

2. Increase awareness in the marketplace of products, services and solutions

For example:
Trade shows, exhibitions, seminars etc.

3. Obtain referrals from all my new customers.

For example:
Within 30 days of delivering my product, service or solution, I will ask each of my new customers for at least three names and phone numbers of someone they personally know who may have a use for my products, services and solutions.

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Overcoming Resistance in Sales - Sales Training

2009-08-28T13:32:00.012+01:00

As a general rule we should treat resistance as something the sales person has created.

As people can only resist something the sales person is doing or saying and we only have control over our own behaviour. So we need to remove our resistance to the other person’s resistance. If we push someone they will push back, to stop the other person from pushing back all we need do is stop pushing.

“When we change one part of the system (in this case your behaviour), we in fact change the whole system (which includes the other person’s behaviour). You might change your behaviour by agreeing with the other person. Look for and find an area of agreement.

The best way to deal with resistance is to get into agreement, or alignment with it, rather than fight it. This is foreign to people as we are taught to be competitive. In the Japanese martial art of Aikido the exponents are taught to align yourself with your opponent and use his or her energy to foil the attack. You move with rather than against your opponent. A much lighter opponent can easily overthrow a much heavier attacker by using the momentum of the attacker.

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Join our Webinair Masterclass

Understanding Benefits

2009-07-27T16:04:00.012+01:00

Selling the Benefits
Gain Product Knowledge Fast

The word benefit comes from two French words; bein or bon meaning well or good, and fit from faire or fait meaning to do or to make, so a benefit is what does your product or service do that will fit well or do a good job for your prospect, how well will your product/service fit your prospects needs.

Another way to view the benefit of the product is to see how the product solves a problem the customer may have, and the customer will make a gain or avoid a loss.

The need is the perceived value in the prospects eyes so you need to present the benefits of your products that will match the perceived values of your customers, how can you find the perceived value, by asking questions, features support the benefits

Here are two examples: The handle of the cup is an existing feature. Its advantage is that it enables you to drink coffee without burning your fingers. Its benefit is that it prevents something you had wanted to avoid; it anticipates and provides a solution to a potential problem.

But the handle is only a benefit to a coffee fancier. If you don't drink coffee (or some other hot drink), the handle feature is merely an advantage, not a benefit.

For a more sophisticated example, consider the caller ID feature than many telecommunications companies now offer their customers.

It's certainly an advantage in that it enables customers who want to screen their callers. Is it a benefit? It is only a benefit to customers who perceive value in that advantage.

Is it a solution?
Only to customers who believe that they have a problem -- in this case, a surplus of incoming calls that they don't want to deal with.

If you're not bothered by such calls, if the tracing potential of this technology makes you uneasy, or if for any other reason you don't see a problem in unscreened calls, then by definition this feature has no benefit for you, and the salesperson who provides you this "solution" probably will get nowhere.

To discover the features advantages and benefits of any product do this simple exercise;

List the features of your product /service.

Then keep asking yourself this question what will this feature do for my prospect or repeat the feature and ask "so what" keep asking "so what" till you have go no further examples – also ask the question what problems will this benefit solve.

Coffee Cup
Feature--------------------------------- Advantage---------------------------- Benefit
Has a handle------------------------Able to hold cup ------------------Will not get burnt

Problem - Can not hold container with hot drink

Solution: Handle allows you to hold cup without burning (Added Value)

Telephone System Caller id
Feature ------------------------ Advantage -----------------Benefit
See who is calling-------------Can screen calls------- Decide if you wish to take call

Problem: Getting an overload of unwanted calls
Solution: Caller Id shows who is calling (Added Value)

Now do this for your product or service.

Colly Graham
salesxcellence

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