As Paul “Bear” Bryant once said, “It’s not the will to win that matters, everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.”
The link below provides my personal Sales Person’s Pre-Appointment Preparation Checklist. Feel free to print, hang at your desk and improve your success rate. Good Selling! Prepare To Win – 13 Step Checklist 2010
Michael Braswell in San Antonio is really taking social media networking to new heights. He posted an informational slide show and gained the attention of people that want to know more about SIP based technology. Nicely done Michael.
Check out this great SlideShare presentation on LinkedIn titled Dyip Sip. Click on the link below to view the presentation.
Last week I had a sales person, let’s call him Vinnie Bag-a-Donuts. Vinnie told me he looked on LinkedIn but too late.
Vinnie waited until AFTER the appointment went in the wrong direction. Then when back in the office, disappointed that the customer was going to RFP and Vinnie wasn’t going to help write it, that he then looked on LinkedIn only to discover that Vinnie and the potential customer both belonged to the very same small community church.
Sincere common interests help you look more the like person instead of a sales person. This lowers resistance and enables effective communication. It’s not like you have dig through newspapers, magazines and phone books. It’s just a few clicks.
So take a few minutes and go to Google Advanced Search or LinkedIn for starters.
If this step was not already completed before you made the first phone call – you work too hard and probably made calls that didn’t but could have gone better. Don’t neglect to do this homework before the appointment.
More on Linkedin Profiles … The Value
Small steps in research can save you BIG on time, effort and commissions.
Before you pick up the phone! Before you go on your first customer appointment, do all you can to prepare.
In today’s competitive market, the prepared succeed. It’s just that simple. Get some intel on your prospect before the call and before the first appointment.
Check out Google Alerts for updates on your target audience/customers and use the Google Advanced search to gain a plethra of information – based on the criteria you add to the search. Wow! When I was in direct sales there was ONLY cold calling, door knocking and surfing the printed copy of the yellow pages and printed (hard copy) news articles.
Today I played around in Google Alerts, Google Advanced Search, LinkIn and JigSaw just to name a few great sites that provide information on your prospects . It’s amazing how much information you can find with a click. I love Technology!
Sometimes we forget that as individual buyers, we EXPECT to negotiate. We know that if we don’t ask, we won’t receive. Come-on — pay full price for that couch? No way! Let me see if I can get a discount first.
The same thing applies to your customers. So expect them to ask, but don’t offer a reduction without the initial request and don’t offer a reduction without asking for something in return. (a longer term, additional services, 5 qualified referrals that the customer calls and introduces you to, etc.) And be certain they know that their price reduction request is a BIG request.
Don’t be afraid to say, “No, I’m sorry that we won’t be able to do business together today.
In order for us (my company) to be here long-term for all my other customers it is my job to ensure a win/win for us both.
As Tom Hopkins use to say, when you ask the closing question, “the first person to talk loses.”
To update for today’s market – it is more important as a front-end seller, before the closing question, while in probing and negotiating, that the first person to talk price and/or to make price an issue is the very same person that turns your products or services into a commodity. Customers just expect to negotiate. Don’t commoditize yourself and don’t shop with your wallet on their behalf. Take your price sensitivity out of it!
Most customers won’t admit it but they respect a sales person that has business savvy and understands the value of WIN/WIN.
Share your experiences and help others in your profession.
The Sale Professional’s - Tip for the day:
Sometimes you just have to say No!
I hope to create a place to help sales teams succeed in a new world and economy. If you or someone you know is in sales, (admitting it is the first step) have them join us to contribute and learn.
Become part of a forum to help others in the profession of sales.
Today our continued sales success is largely dependent upon an openness to embrace both historic techniques and newer ways of achieving sales success in a rapidly changing world.
On this blog we hope to:
Perhaps together we can help others shape their sales strategies to achieve success in the challenging and rewarding career of Sales. I look forward to your questions, ideas and success stories.
Sales Coach Debi
A management consultant answered a question on Linked-In about what not to wear to work simply because she’d had a recent opportunity to coach someone on the subject. Her answers turned into an interview with Forbes Magazine which she was able to post to generate more consulting work. It’s amazing what a little Social Media can do when your prospecting for new opportunities.
Which ever social media business sites you visit, donate some of your online time to help others with your area of expertise.
I spoke with a sales person this week that said,”I used LinkedIn with great success to get information about a large company I was targeting.”
As we all know sometimes finding out who to talk with in a large organization can be challenging. Through social media, this sales person found several influencer’s and the decision maker. He also learned about the schools they attended and associations they belong to.
The sales person used this information to find areas of commonality and the pain points in this organizations industry. He then incorporated his new found knowledge into an opening for his call and email messages.
This sales person works for a little-known company yet he gained access to a large organization and he now has a 20K opportunity on the prospects planning table.
I already consider this a success. This seller did his homework. Being seen as an expert so that you can get to the customers planning table is a huge accomplishment.
I’ll keep you posted
How have you succeeded using Social Media?
A place to share your ideas and successes
Ask for or provide advice to others
I am a Corporate Regional Sales Trainer by day and a Blogging Sales Coach by night. I coach my teams on using tried and true techniques because they work. But one thing I tell them not to do to generate new business is COLD CALL.
At the very least, cold calls need to be warmed up before you pick up the phone. In fact, this year I’ve seen a significant decrease in the number of decision makers my sales teams are able to reach. This alone, sends a strong message and should not be ignored.
I believe the reasons are many but for starters NO ONE wants to be sold and many prospective customers won’t answer the phone if they don’t recognize the Caller ID. The customer is in control. They get their information when they want it and from where they want it. The internet, social media, on-line communities, and user published sites that rank any company’s products and services, means we have to revise our sales techniques. It’s time to get in touch with your creative side in order to build genuine business relationships.
Trying to connect with a C-level prospect in your target market? Turn your cold call into a warm call by doing just a few clicks of research. No excuses. It only takes a minute.
This week one sales person I worked with said, “I can’t break into my target market. I’ve written VITO letters, made calls, sent emails and NOTHING. “I suggested she look on LinkedIn for starters and put the C-level’s name into the search field. And CLICK, there it was… She had a connection that knew her target customer. Had this sales person done this CLICK three weeks ago, she’d be engaged in a win/win with her prospect by now. With lots of places to access information today, it takes less time not more to turn a cold call into a warm call.
Answer a question, build trust, and discover opportunities. Look at what questions are being asked in your chosen on line community or communities. Think you have some information to share that can help someone else? Share it. You’d be surprised at how your willingness to help can turn into a plethora of business relationships that will also see your value when it comes to engaging you in their buying decisions.
Build your relationships with your target market’s suppliers . Don’t know who their suppliers are? Phone a friend in that industry, ask someone in your on-line community or ask someone you don’t know in your targeted industry via an online community.
Even if you don’t know that person, most people are willing to help you gain the insights you need to become proficient in a new area of your business. Remember you are simply looking for information so that you can build supplier relationships to help your clients gain better economies of scale. Don’t try to sell them something. That pushy sales thing will close more doors than it opens.
Ask a question, build trust, and discover opportunities.
There are many places to do this but one place is LinkedIn. People notice if you are asking questions with genuine curiosity verses asking questions to promote yourself or your business. Keep it genuine. Remember, the goal is to build trust and relationships. People buy from people they know like and trust and whether you want to accept it or not, relationships are being developed TODAY as we speak – on line.
Ever struggle with building rapport on the first appointment? Before you go on your sales appointment, Google your contacts name, you may find papers they’ve written, events where they’ve spoken, etc. Look on LinkedIn and see if you can discover where they went to school, worked previously. To build rapport you must first lower their resistance to you as a “sales people”, (we all have it, even sales people). If you find an area of commonality or something that really interests you, you can talk about it with sincerity and you transform yourself from a sales person to a person.
More ways to finding common interests with potential customers: If you find your contact on LinkedIn, see what groups they belong to. I play golf and I’m into photography. Guess what groups I belong to on LinkedIn. If you have those interests and we meet on business, these are topics we will both probably enjoy talking about. But don’t be fake. If you don’t care about it, don’t bring use that information.
How to combine on line communities with face to face business networking : How about MeetUp.com? In most cities, you can access Meet-up and find areas of interest to you. You’d be amazed at how many good business contacts you can make while you enjoy life in your own city or town. Make sure you have a powerful way of exciting people when you answer their question, “What do you do for a living?” more on that later.
Need advice? Have a question? Ask here. I update my blog every 2 days but if you need immediate assistance, tweet me http://twitter.com/salescoachdebi and I will get your question on my cell phone.
Also, I am very interested in what you are you experiencing in your sales world today?
Share your thoughts or successes and tell us how you use Social Media and On-line Communities to prospect successfully.
