The Sales Lead List and Why You No Longer Need It

Three elements of modern advertising and sales have recently passed on; unfortunately, only a few of us heard about the funeral, leaving the rest of us to lead our daily business sales as if nothing ever happened.

Gone: the influence of big media advertising over the hearts and minds of the people. People are far too smart these days and know when they're being sold something; TV watching hours are down across the board, and who doesn't choose to download their music over listening to the radio these days?

Only the very, very creative pieces will survive. Follow-through sales are plummeting.

Gone: the poster age. Even the simple act of aggressive sales advertising in any media, where fancy images or a catch phrase used to win people over and lead them to the carrot, is now considered so repulsive that people will go out of their way to avoid it.

Definitely gone: the act of using a sales lead list to phone call / email / hit with Direct Mail those who you believe (and don't know) want your stuff. You're letting bad advice lead you astray.

If people aren't willing to sit through a 30 second commercial to hear its selling message, do you honestly think they're going to sit through a half-hour phone conversation and surrender their hard-earned money? Or read a 5 page long sales letter? Or weed their email list just to read your pitch?

Only if you're interested in evapourating sales.

What about those who do you want your stuff? How do you lead them in the right direction?

There are obviously those out there whose needs could be fulfilled by what you're offering, but the big problem is that they don't know how to find you. They're not going to be on a sales lead list, but I can guarantee you that they'll be on their computer surfing the web. It's a paradise of sales, and all you must do is lead them through the maze.

What you need to then do is use search engines to your advantage by matching what people type into them to what you have to offer. Think of it as a no pressure sale; they're literally coming to you because they need a solution to their problem! Direct them and you could be compiling a prospects list in no time.

How a good SEO writer can help you get things in order:

Good SEO writers will have special tools that lets them see exactly what people are typing into Google (and we're talking word for word) and the rest of the search engines. What they're able to do is to hook up the popular and valuable phrases people are typing in to your personal or corporate site so that when online consumers express their desire for what you're offering, their searches will lead them directly to you. There are hundreds of such opportunities for businesses in any category.

Negotiation-Dealing With Price And The Closing Stages

Overcoming the Price Objection:

Price is an issue in most negotiations. We need to deal with the price issue confidently, but with an understanding of the needs of the other side. Here are some notes to help you:

• Be specific. State the exact price rather than ....well, it will be about £5,000.

• Maintain eye contact. It makes you look confident.

• Ensure the tone of your voice is confident and your body language is also confident and relaxed.

• Use silence. Once you have stated your price, stop talking and wait for the other side to speak. Give them time to think.

• Deal with price objections and defend your price, but don’t over argue your case.

• Close down your body language.

• Focus on price and benefit differences.

• Begin the bargaining phase.

The Closing Stages:

The closing stages of any negotiation are vital to the overall success of the final deal. There will come a time when both parties can sense an outcome is possible, and each negotiator needs to be careful not to be too eager to close or else the other party will be tempted to hold back for further concessions.

Once a likely outcome is seen, either party may define outstanding issues, compare arguments and objections, review the position to date and agree a deadline for agreement. If one side avoids making these decisions, the other must probe to find out the reason and deal with it effectively. Negotiators must be careful at this stage to identify tactical delay which deliberately attempts to force further concessions.

The best solution to aim for always, is one where both parties feel they have done well despite having to concede on certain issues. This is called a “win-win” solution. Once either side feels they have arrived at the final deal, it is important to signal this to the other party.

Body language can say as much about what you are thinking as speech. If you have made your final offer, look as if it is your final offer. Simply gathering up your papers, looking at the other side directly in the eye and saying “That is my final offer”, can do this, and silence can be a powerful tool in convincing them you mean what you say.

Be wary of "splitting the difference": If you offer to split the difference, you have, in effect, given the other side a concession that is one-sided. You have said you are prepared to move without asking for commitment in return.

The final consideration is when you have done the deal and both parties are in agreement. Record the details and agree with the other parties involved that your interpretation of events matches theirs. That way there will be no unexpected comeback in the inevitable post-negotiation period when either side reviews how well or badly he has done. Again, this will be minimised if the solution you have arrived at benefits both parties.

Ego? At What Price!

It would seem that some salespeople would rather protect their ego than help a customer and make a sale.

Todays customers can make purchases without ever seeing a human - if they choose to do business that way.

To truly succeed in the future, sales professionals will be well served by knowing how to handle customers, and all their concerns and complaints.

If not, more than ever before that customer may simply go elsewhere.

So how would you deal with a disgruntled customer, who has a complaint about your product, or the service they received?

Allow me to tell you about an experience I had with a multimedia organisation. I wrote an article about it to demonstrate a point and the article found itself in the hands of the two salespeople I had mentioned, but not identified.

One of the two salespeople who came along to demonstrate the projection unit represented 3M Australia. The other, an authorised distributor.

Both companies telephoned to ask about my article.

3M’s representative called when I was away from the office, and left a message for me to return his call that afternoon if possible. When I spoke with him he said he had read the articles, was concerned, and wanted to make a time to meet with me. I told him that I had still not purchased a unit, and would be glad to see him the following day.

Meanwhile the proprietor of the distribution company was furious She called my office and demanding to speak to the person who has been slandering her company.

“He can’t go around slandering my company and not be available for me to speak to him”.

Clearly I was meant to interrupt my meeting with a client and run to the phone. (Pity her sales people weren’t instructed to do that when someone called to make an enquiry for a $14,000 piece of equipment.)

Returning the call later that afternoon,I was told, “Look I’m very concerned. Business is tough out there and if you haven’t bought something, I sure want to sell you the projector. Do you want to buy one?”

“Well yes I do”, I replied. “Well I’ve got one right here. What do we need to do?” At this point, the process moved from selling to negotiation. “OK, how about the price, what’s the best you can do?” “It’s the end of the financial year, and if you fax me an order tonight I can let you have the unit for $X, and I’ll throw in a travel case worth $1,000 give you one hour of training and will deliver it free”.

Now you and I both know that “value is a perception”, and I perceived no value in the free delivery. That’s a given.

Given my experience with an earlier model, training was not a bonus, and their travel case was not the one I wanted. So I asked, “How much if I don’t take the training, delivery, or the case?” “The price will be the same”, came the reply. “I’ve given you my best price.”

“Hang on - one minute you tell me the case is worth $1,000, then if I don’t take it, it’s worth nothing?” “It’s a value added deal.”

Interesting concept. A value added deal - from who’s perspective?

The distributor told me she had to rush to get to an appointment, so I suggested I would call back in the morning. At 9.30am the next day my p.a. received a call from the distributor demanding to know why I am not available to take the call and why I haven't call as promised. My p.a. explained I was away from the office in a meeting and that I will be available at around 11. At 11:30 a call came in, by which time I had a client in my office.

This seemed to further infuriate the distributor, who again demanded to speak to me, asking my p.a. if I am serious about buying this projector or not!

Explaining the situation again, and assuring the distributor that I would call as soon as I was free, my p.a. again heard how busy this person was, and how my behaviour in not calling her first thing in the morning was just not good enough.

A little after midday, I was able to call. “Well have you decided to buy this projector or not?” she demanded.

“Before we get to that, I understand that you have been a little less than pleasant with my p.a.. Can you help me understand.” “Well you said you would call me back first thing - are you serious about buying this unit or are you just playing games - I cant see why we have to keep making apologies.........” - and so it went on.

“I see. Well I certainly do want to buy this unit as I have for the past eight weeks AND I am also certain that I don’t want to buy it from you!” Herewith ended the conversation - along with any chance this company had of making a sale.

Later that day, as previously arranged, I met with the representative of 3M Australia. What a difference! “Firstly let me apologise for the experience you have had. We have learnt from this and believe we can improve in certain areas. How can I now help you with the projector?” I asked him to let me know the price for the unit minus any “bells and whistles”. As he could not directly sell me the unit he would arrange a price via one of his distributors. (No not the one I had been insulted by!)

In calling the following morning, he apologised for the delay and gave me the price. That afternoon I faxed him an order. I imagine the distributor who has benefited from the sale has had the easiest time of all - all they have to do is bank the cheque! Cheers!

4 Secrets of Hula Hoop Selling!

I admit it.

On the week-end, I had an Endurance Hula-Hoop contest with my 8 and 11 year old nieces! They had a fabulous time laughing at their aunt as I fumbled with the purple hula hoop.

Of course - they had NO PROBLEM keeping that plastic tube flying!

In fact, neither of them even broke a SWEAT.

They both said " Auntie - we could do this for hours!"

One thing I have on them is old age so I watched carefully what they were doing. (Observation goes a lonnnnnnnnnng way in life.)

It took a few tries but before they knew it - their "old" aunt was giving them a run for their money!

As my stomach muscles were screaming in holy terror, I thought ..." This would make a great article on how women approach selling!"

The 4 Secrets of Hula-Hoop Selling:

1. The Hula-Hoop Has To Be The Right Size. It's true! If the hoop is too big or too small - then you're going to struggle. In selling - you struggle when your daily goals are too big or too small. Either way you'll end up feeling frustrated and yet you're not getting anywhere.

2. You Have To Consistently Move! Just as the hula-hoop won't start rolling unless you get those hips going...your sales won't gain momentum if you don't "move" every day. The Stop/Start strategy doesn't work for hula hoops or making money.

3. You Have To Commit To The Right Moves. Putting the hula-hoop on the floor and jumping over it is not the purpose! If you want to play the game, you have to do it right and be willing to make mistakes. Selling is all about commitment. Where are you at?

4. Don't Quit. Yup - sometimes the hula-hoop falls from a bad manoever or from lack of movement. So do your sales. The numbers don't lie honey! So if you have dropped the "hoop" just pick it up again and start moving.

Momentum Is Never An Accident!

I first watched my nieces in amazement as they made keeping the hula-hoop up look EFFORTLESS.

Then I realized what they were doing.

They had found the rhythm of it. Once they had the "formula" for what worked - they hardly had to work at all to keep the momentum going.

Sales Success: Four Critical Steps

It’s been said often, “Some folks can’t seem to see the forest for the trees.” Perhaps that’s true in any arena, but it seems that it’s rampant in sales, especially when sales are down. Time after time, when sales start to fall we find sales people becoming so caught up in the “slump” that they fail to focus on the four critical steps to consistent sales success.

Motivational speaking is a multi-million dollar a year business and, in large part, it is attended by those who need that inspirational reminder of what they already know. Not that speaking for a living is bad. I do that. The audience, however, through years of experience already knows the answer. They just need to be reminded.

Sales people tend to be motivated by immediate gratification. Those who have been in sales successfully for years understand that seeds planted today come to fruition later. Although there are moments of immediate gratification, frequently the fruition will take time. Motivational speeches are, perhaps, that little nudge to focus them not on the slump, but on the outcome.

Let’s define the four critical steps to sales success, in order to re-establish successful habits. Mind you now, once you read this you’ll know just how simple sales success can be, if only you’ll focus on these four items and ignore all other distractions.

Question One: If your income comes from sales, are you making as much as you want or need?

If you answered, yes - Stop reading! You obviously are practicing the fundamental principles that create success and reading further is a distraction. Go back to doing what you do best.

If, on the other hand, you answered No – then you don’t have enough sales. Sales create income and not enough income equals not enough sales. Solution – go get more sales.

Now, I know from making hundreds of presentations to countless sales professionals, some of you are a bit perplexed at my simplistic approach. How, you say, do we just go get more sales? We’ll get to that, but for now stick with me. The first step is increasing your sales volume. Simple. There is nothing hard about this concept. It is critical to grasp, however, because the solution is always to the left. That statement will make sense a bit later.

Question Two: If you don’t have enough sales to support your income needs, then aren’t you lacking in enough people to see – enough presentations or appointments?

This one seems obvious. If you are not generating enough sales volume either you lack people to see (enough appointments) or your closing skills need improvement. More times than not, the issue isn’t just closing skills, it’s people to present to and close.

Sell More: Having A Defined Sales Process

Some of the salespeople reading this article book may be muttering to themselves “face to face selling... I wish! If I could only get more in-person time with my prospects, I wouldn’t need to be reading this article!”

If that’s your situation – that once you’re with a prospect, you’re home free and you do really well from there on out in your sales process – then pay careful attention to what we’re about to share with you.

Your challenge is linkage. You don’t start each phase of your sales process with a clear picture in your mind of what the next step is going to be.

Perhaps you feel that your selling process should be different with each prospect or that if you had a template or a system you use with everyone, that would be insincere or it would somehow ring false when you put different people through that same process.

Let’s turn away from sales for a moment.

Let’s talk about brain surgery. Or dental work. Or flying an airplane. Or doing someone’s tax return.

These processes all have the following characteristics in common:

•They are executed by a professional
•He/she has had a good deal of training
•This professional has had plenty of opportunity to practice under the supervision of someone more knowledgeable and experienced
•This person is required to continue their professional learning throughout their career
•This person uses a clearly defined, proven, documented system for making incisions, using anesthetic, take offs and landings, or amortizing expenses
•Many of these processes are system-atized to the point of using simple checklists, logs, and computer programs to ensure the proper sequence and completeness of steps
•Any significant variation or omission in these procedures is at the risk of injury, death, lawsuit, bankruptcy, prison time, or all of the above

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.

In my seminars, I ask people to think about these questions:

•Why is it urgent for the prospect to ACT NOW?
•What is the incentive?
•How can you create meaningful deadlines?
•How is buying both an important *and* an urgent issue?


Again, I’m not going to supply you with gimmicky stock phrases or clever comebacks, but rather suggest that you spend some time and energy thinking about how to intelligently and professionally address legitimate buying obstacles such as “We have no budget,” “We have no need for this product/service,” “We’re happy with who we’re using,” and “This is bad timing for us.”

I don’t believe in the process of “overcoming objections” – sounds too much like fighting. And if salesis a battle, you’re going to lose.

One method I like to use is simply turning objections into objectives. In other words, if you can intelligently address the objection in terms of reaching a goal, agreement, or solution that addresses the problem, you will be well on your way to collaborating with your future customer on buying your solution.

For example, if the objection is “it’s too expensive,” you can show, in clear dollars and cents terms (and using numbers supplied by your future customer!) how your solution will save money, generate sales, increase profits, reduce costs, etc.

You’re turning the price objection into a value objective.

The psychology of time

A lot of sales trainers suggest using the personal touch: handwritten notes, personalized gifts, etc.

We think these are powerful tools, but for different reasons. Whether a note is typed or handwritten makes little difference in and of itself. Whether the note comes with a small gift (personalized or not) also doesn’t really matter.