Sell More Using Sales Psychology

True sales pros use psychology to sell more, the psychology of urgency, time, choice and stories. Let’s look at each.

The psychology of urgency

Another typical sales scenario involves the salesperson doing everything right – until after the first appointment. Then, suddenly, the emails stop, messages don’t get returned, and the lead runs cold, leaving you scratching your head wondering how that nice, friendly, responsive, involved prospect dropped off the face of the earth.

Does that ever happen to you?

What you’ve just experienced is a good sales process gone bad for the lack of a key ingredient: urgency.

As Stephen Covey says, there is a big difference between the “urgent” and the “important.”

In everyday business, the urgent category includes soothing angry clients, “putting out fires,” production stoppages, surprise inspections or audits by regulators, labor problems, media blowups, and things of that nature.

The important category includes things like making employees feel appreciated, upgrading to new office technology, listening to someone’s ideas, increasing your industry knowledge, developing good corporate citizenship (charitable, environmental, etc) and so on.

Guess which category is at the top of every executive’s agenda each morning when they walk in the door?

If you’ve positioned the product or service you’re selling as a “nice to have” instead of a “have to have,” – or even better a “have to have now” – your leads will run cold. Simply put, buying from you (even if it’s important) takes a backseat to the urgent matters of the day.

If you as a salesperson haven’t identified the pain, then you will get a less than urgent response. If you walk up to someone on the street and they have a nail sticking out of their knee- they would have a high sense of urgency to have the nail removed. This is the same with the prospect. When you can identify their “nail” they will want to move on it quickly.

Cheap Mortgage Leads Equal Bad Leads

"You get what you pay for," the saying goes, and that's the real problem in the mortgage industry. A lot of mortgage lead companies sell leads to other mortgage lead companies which results in recycling leads within the mortgage lead industry before it even gets to the average mortgage loan officer or broker. The aftermath is not pretty, 20-40 calls a day for the prospective borrower just within the first 4 days if the lead being generated.

Obviously this creates a headache for the potential borrower who is being bombarded with endless phone calls, and unnecessary competition for already frustrated loan officers.

The Solution:

* A. Real-Time Leads

* B. Exclusive Leads

* C. Timestamped Leads

* D. Origin-stamped Leads

A. Real-time Mortgage leads are received within seconds of the borrower completing a short online form. These are perfect leads since the prospect is usually able to be contacted within 2 minutes of them filling out the form. The prospect takes the time to fill out a form so are not cold calls nor recycled. Just Fresh Leads. Also the prospect loves the fact that a loan officer got back to them so fast.

B. Exclusive Leads are leads that not only are designated for you but cannot be resold as a semi-exclusive or non-exclusive lead. Make sure the lead company you deal with is a reputable company has timestamped and origin-stamped the lead.

C. Timestamped leads are the only leads that should be bought. If a lead is not timestamped then there is no proof of when the lead actually was submitted. This is the problem that allows crooked lead companies to sell you recycled leads and waste your hard earned money.

D. Origin-stamped leads are leads that are stamped with the website that originated the actual lead. You should look for lead companies that obtain their leads through websites they own and operate themselves. If they won't tell you their website or don't have them posted then it's time to look else where. Otherwise they are obtaining them from third party companies and recycling them.

How To Deliver A Professional Sales Presentation

All professional salespeople have to be involved in a presentation at some time in their sales career and Top 5 % players present their proposals every time.

Presentations allow us to : -

• Influence a group of important people.

• Gain consensus and commitment.

• Find out who the real players are and the real status.

• Set ground rules for a major sale.

• Make a lasting impression of professionalism.

When it comes to the enthusiasm that sales professionals have for making a presentation, they broadly fall into four categories, (as I highlighted in a previous article - :”When It Comes To Making Presentations, The Very Best Salespeople Are Seekers”)

The Avoider:

An Avoider does everything possible to escape from having to stand in front of an audience; in some drastic cases salespeople may seek positions that do not involve making presentations.

The Register:

A Register is also extremely hesitant of speaking in public, however Registers may not be able to avoid speaking as part of their job but they never encourage it. When they do speak they do so very reluctantly.

The Acceptor:

The Acceptor will give presentations as part of their job but does not seek opportunities to do so. Acceptors occasionally give a presentation and feel they did a good job. They even find that once in a while they are quite persuasive and enjoy the experience.

Real Time Hot Mortgage Leads

The fresher te lead, the better the quality, so it makes sense that Real-Time mortgage leads are the hottest they come. Think about it, mortgage borrowers looking to refinance or do some home improvements find a broker that is looking to give them a great rate, perfect match?

Of course it's a perfect match. The truth is that if a lead is not real-time then it might as well be a dead lead. Even a one day olf lead is useless if the potential borrower has already found a mortgage company while your 1 day old leads was making it's rounds through the different lead companies, and then getting to you. How many hands touched that lead being delivered in the next day's bulk lead email? There is no way of telling unless, one it is timestamped and origin-stamped.

Why Real-Time? Borrowers want to get info now! They want to be impressed when you call them within 2 minutes of them filling out the online application. What that says is yeah this loan officer and mortgage company has their heads on straight and can quickly take care of my needs. Usually a prospect starts working with th first person to contact them.

Real-Time Exclusive Mortgage Leads are the answers to your prayers. Real-Time leads need to be generated from a source which you can trust and actually visit yourself. You should be able to tell exactly what website generated the lead, and exactly what time. Real Time Leads should not be from some unknown 3rd party company your lead company buys leads from, and resells to you for a profit.

How to Close More Consulting Business With Less Effort

Far too many consultants spin their wheels chasing leads that just won't pick up the phone or return calls. In the beginning of your interaction it seemed the prospect was initially 'hot' for your services. You sent literature, did your song and dance… and now nothing. The prospect has turned cold to all attempts to further the sales process.

Why?

They suffer from a serious case of salespressuritis: a fear of being sold.

The cure for this ailment is a simple one. Avoid "selling" in the first place. I don’t mean stop all interactions. I mean toss out the gimmicky, 1980s talk-your-head-off, push-for-a-close techniques the 'gurus' of the past preached. Sales gimmicks DON’T WORK in consulting situations!

Today's market is too sophisticated. Hard selling especially doesn't work with big ticket items, the type of selling you are faced with as a consultant.

What does work? Talk less and listen more.

Let me explain. Some time after 1992 I came across a small case of booklets labeled, Xerox’s Professional Selling Skills System III. It was unlike any sales system I had ever seen before. It did not rely on talking, but relied on asking questions and determining expressed needs. I had no clue if it would work or not. I reserved judgment. So like Mikey, I tried it.

The results? My sales doubled and my confidence quadrupled.

Here's an overview of the Xerox selling system:

1. Uncover an expressed need or desire for the benefits you provide. If your prospective won't acknowledge a need, then they won't buy from you. The chance of a successful outcome are next to none. You actively listen to recognize the difference between a complaint that they don't like their current situation and an expressed need for a change. Have you ever met someone who complains about their lot in life to anyone who will listen, but refuses all attempts or suggestions for help? Your prospect may be the same way. If they don’t acknowledge wanting a change in their situation you might as well forget about trying to sell to them.

2. Memorize a number of Probes for different situations and attitudes (see #5 below).

3. Actively listen and verbally SUPPORT positive remarks about your services.

4. Follow a specific structure for CLOSING (this is bad because you are focused on what you want—a sale—instead of focusing on honest and open communication.

5. Listen for attitudes of indifference, acceptance, skepticism, outright objections, and stalling... and then use specific techniques for dealing with each attitude type differently.

Though effective, the Xerox system is a tedious process. And even worse, it often causes objections where there weren’t any before. How? By focusing on yourself in the beginning of the call, and encouraging you to work towards a close. Even if you don’t articulate a desire to close your prospective client, your prospective client will pick up on it in your attitude and efforts to move them along. Not good.

That’s why I started looking for something that’s just as effective but less mentally taxing -- for me and the client. Did I find something? Yes. But it’s not a single selling system, it’s a combination of two. SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham (available through Amazon) merged with Reverse Selling by Ari Galper (www.unlockthegame.com).

SPIN Selling makes the process of needs-based selling much easier to use because there are only four elements to focus on: situation, problem, implication, needs.

Since it’s such a simple selling model and all of my client interactions are by phone, I've broken the SPIN Selling process down into individual tabs in Microsoft One Note. One tab for each of the SPIN elements. I also have tabs for common concerns and I a tab for how to initiate follow up calls.

For each of the areas of the SPIN process I focus on the needs of the prospect, not lame sales closing gimmicks. Fortunately I learned early what works in the real world of selling is asking questions -- and listening. Not pushing people to do stuff they don't want to do.

The SPIN Selling method has holes that Ari's Reverse Selling method plugs. The underlying focus of Spin Selling is closing. That mentality is a disaster for consultative selling. Reverse Selling focuses attention on determining if you and the client are a true match. The focus is NOT closing. It's helping people.

That's why I use the Spin Selling only for its structure. But I recommend using Reverse Selling mindset of being truly accommodating and concerned about the client's needs and objectives, instead of SPIN Selling's view of working towards a close by "Sharpening Your Skills" (chapter 12 of SPIN Selling Fieldbook). Preparing a bunch of features and benefits in advance and then 'vomiting' that noise onto a client is the cause of skepticism and objections.

The Three Reasons Your Sales Stink

Is your organization currently meeting its sales goals?

Besides your market's leaders, who continually meet and surpass their sales goals, a good majority of those in your industry are failing to meet their productivity, sales and revenue expectations.

Although they give many excuses for this (the economy, too much competition, seasonal business, the sun and the moon aren't in alignment, etc.), there really are only three reasons for poor sales. Here they are:

1. No Demand for Your Product or Service

The first reason is nobody wants your product or service. This is rarely the case.

There is a simple test to figure out if this is the reason for your stagnant sales.
- Have you been able to sell your product or service in the past?
- Is another salesperson successful in selling your product or service?
- Is another organization successful in selling your product or service?

If the answer to any of these questions was "yes," there is a market for your goods. Therefore, it must be one of the other two reasons.

2. Ineffective Marketing and Advertising

The second reason for poor sales is your ads and marketing are ineffective. The goal of your advertising is to get your phone to ring, hits on your website or walk-in customers.

The only way you'll accomplish this goal is to distinguish your organization as the one to do business with in your industry. By tracking and measuring all of your ads, you should know which ones are working and which ones you should modify or cancel immediately.

3. Your Salespeople Don't Fit their Jobs

The third and most common reason for poor sales is the 80/20 Dilemma. Unlike your Market's Leaders, you haven't beaten the 80/20 Dilemma; where 80 percent of your sales come from just 20 percent of your salespeople. The dilemma robs your managers of their time and energy and is the most costly issue in sales.

To improve your sales, your number one goal this year is to beat the 80/20 Dilemma. Let me reword that: Not only beat it, but conquer it.

To do so, you must first understand why it has seized your sales force. Here's the hones truth: You simply have hired the wrong people to sell your product or service. Perhaps not all of them, but 80 percent of them.

A recent study of salespeople found that half of the people in sales should have never been hired in the first place. I'm sure you'd agree that the sales profession requires natural qualities that not everybody has.

Of the remaining 50 percent, only half of them will achieve their potential. There are two reasons for this. One, they are trying to sell the wrong product or service. Two, their skills are never properly developed.

That leaves the 20 to 30 percent who are in jobs they fit. They are the people who sell 80 percent of your products and services.

Why the Bottom Line Isn't

Recently, I've been coaching a number of clients who work in highly competitive industries. It's not uncommon for these clients to have upwards of 30 direct competitors apiece - and that's just in the same town!

One subject that has been coming up a lot lately is what to do when the competition keeps dropping their prices. If you and your competitor sell the exact same product, this can be an extremely difficult situation. Regardless of how many times you remind them that "you get what you pay for," customers do tend to put the pressure on when they think they can get the same thing for less with someone else.

To counter this objection effectively, you must first believe that you are adding extra value for your customers, or providing a better service or product than your price-dropping competitors. If you aren't truly convinced that what you have to offer is better - in other words, if you can't justify a higher price to yourself - then you'll never be able to justify it to your customers.

Get the bad news out of the way first If your competitors always lower their prices, often the best thing you can do is bring it up early in the buying cycle with your prospects.

Yes - I'm suggesting you tell your customers that they can find what you're selling cheaper somewhere else. The key is in what you say, and how you say it.

For example, I usually say something like:

"Ms. X, I want you to know right up front that you will always be able to find a product similar to ours for less. While we are always competitive, we are not always the lowest price, and we are not always the most expensive. Knowing that we are not always the cheapest, does it make sense for us to move forward?" The answer you get will determine whether the customer is looking for value, or just looking for the lowest price.

The choice is yours

With the exception of Wal-Mart, no one wants to look cheap. As a result, the vast majority of clients will tell you that they're not interested in buying just the cheapest product or service.

In these cases, your response is simple: "Thanks for letting me know that. How will you be making your decision?" This takes you past discussing price, and onto a discussion of their true requirements.

But this approach is also highly effective even for those few people who will look you in the eye and say that if you aren't the cheapest, they don't want to do business with you.

Why?

Because it puts you in control. When someone tells you they only want to deal with you if you're the cheapest option, it gives you a choice. You can stay and play the discount game if there are good strategic reasons to do so. Or you can choose to walk away, and let your competitors lose money serving this prospect.