A Sales Tip You Can Use: Don't Step On Your Buyer's Toes!

I’m getting really impatient with articles and their authors that tease you with a great title and then fail to deliver even a single tip we can use.

Yesterday, I read a promising piece about staying positive. It did a fine job of developing the problem of creeping negativity, but it didn’t offer a single antidote.

So, let me disclose up front, something you can use every day in selling. It’s a simple idea, but powerful:

Stay out of the way of genuine buyers!

These are folks that enter a typical retail store or who call you on the phone and they’re MOTIVATED. Obviously in a buying mood, they’re scanning your wares or your mind for something to take home.

All you have to do is be pleasant, and be available to answer their occasional questions.

But don’t ask them where they’re from, or if you can help them to find something.

If they’re motivated, or they want something from you, they’ll talk.

Just stay pleasantly within range, so when that small buying question comes up, such as, “Do you have these boots in size 12?” you’ll be Johnny on the Spot with an affirmative reply or a suitable alternative.

Speaking of boots, I was shopping for a pair because my Lama lizards were cracking from a little too much exposure to the elements. It was time for a trade-in, so I found a retailer through the web and spent a half hour on the highway to try on some replacements.

The salesman HOVERED, something I can’t stand. He pestered me with questions. I couldn’t get a second to myself to calmly evaluate the pair I was settling on.

Snapped right out of a definite buying mood, I saddled up and sped off.

No sale for that guy!

The following day, I selected a better outfit where the buying tone was just right, and so was the selection, and at this very moment I’m wearing the results on my feet.

Here’s the tip-off.

If the buyer is scanning your inventory with laser eyes let him take the lead, and his good, old time.

Develop your sensitivity.

Recognize when further involvement on your part will only result in stepping on your buyers’ toes!

Selling, a Great Career Choice, Part 8 of 8, Virtual Selling for Multiple Income Streams

Selling takes place everywhere, not just in stores or on the telephone. By far, the area of fastest growth in selling is 'virtual' selling or internet selling. Make no mistake about it, if you want to sell anything on the internet you will need to possess virtually all the same skills that are needed to sell successfully in a regular brick and mortar outlet.

In fact, I suggest that in some cases, selling online successfully requires master salespeople. Consumers shop online for two main reasons. They are searching for a product or service that is not readily available in their local marketplace or they are so fed up with dealing with 'average' or 'poor' salespeople that they choose to bypass them altogether.

Complete well rounded sales training will give the online marketer the edge and tools to avoid many of the mistakes that plague undertrained salespeople in the physical marketplace.

If you master selling in a regular business, you can develop multiple streams of income easily and inexpensively by selling online in addition to your regular job. What you offer may be completely different from how you earn your living day to day.

It might be information or a product that you create or have access to. It might relate to something that is of special interest to you or something that you are passionate about. You might even simply sell as an affiliate without your own product at all. The possibilities are endless, but one thing is certain virtual selling can be set up to pay you 24/7 because the internet never sleeps.

Selling as a career can unlock so many doors and so much potential for you if you simply choose to explore it, get yourself properly trained, prepared and take necessary action to make things happen. Yes, you can succeed!

This is the final article in an 8 part series. I invite you to check out the others to discover if a career in selling might serve you or someone you know.

Selling, a Great Career Choice, Part 2 of 8, Easy and Inexpensive to Enter

There is no doubt about it. It's a fact of modern life. Formal education can be very expensive and literally bury individuals and whole families under a mountain of debt. The bad news is, that even with the pricy education, your future may not be secure.

Please don't misunderstand, I'm not suggesting that post secondary formal education isn't the way to go. It's extremely valuable for many. What I am suggesting is that it isn't the exclusive path to financial security and it's not something that everyone can obtain for a variety of reasons ranging from financial pressures to grades that don't quite measure up.

Becoming successful in a selling career need not be expensive or even all that time consuming. You don't need the post secondary education. In fact you don't even require a high school diploma, although it helps. You definitely don't need the burden of the of massive student loans and you need not spend years learning before you begin earning. It can easily be a 'learn while you earn' process.

By now you maybe asking a few questions such as,

1. What will it cost to learn how to sell?
2. How long will it take to learn?
3. Who should consider selling as a career?

Let me try to answer those questions for you. If you want to be successful, you will want solid, well rounded training before you begin on your career path. Please don't set yourself up for failure by having less than sufficient skills when you begin. By well rounded, I mean training that not only provides you with techniques, tips and strategies on the actual selling process but most importantly, the emotional tools you will need. Tools to understand and handle what is taking place in the mind of your customers and your own mind throughout the selling experience. Many training programs completely ignore this critical mental aspect of selling. Excellent training can range from a couple hundred dollars to several thousand. Live seminars vary in price as well. You can get started quite modestly and keep layering on your knowledge as you go.

If you can devote a couple of hours every two or three day, you can have the skills needed in a couple of months. If you can go at it bootcamp style, in a week or two you can get be prepared to get started. Then it's a case of ongoing practice and upgrading. A word of caution for you, you can never allow your brain to be so full that you can't learn something new.

Selling is a great career option for a vast cross section of individuals. Let me suggest just a few.

* someone who is looking for a career change
* someone looking to return to the workforce after a number of years
* someone leaving the military
* someone looking to boost his or her income potential
* someone seeking a first job
* someone seeking a career with a future
* someone who is being downsized
* someone taking an early retirement package but still wishing to work
* someone involved in a homebased business
* someone considering selling 'anything' online
* someone forced into a career change because of illness or injury
* someone desiring to be in business for themselves
* someone who is a student seeking lucrative parttime income

Perhaps you see yourself on that list. Please check out all 8 articles in this series. A career in the selling profession just might be right for you or someone close to you.

To Be Successful...You Must Make Calls Everyday

One of the hardest things for new salespeople to grasp is the fact that calls have to be made everyday, even when it seems as if they don't matter. It's Murphy's Law or something, but when a person is just starting out, it's tough to drum up any real interest in anything. Not to mention interest in whatever product or service you are trying to distribute.

The "pot of gold" at the end of the sales call rainbow only appears if calls are made everyday. A critical mass must be reached, and the only way to reach a critical mass is to make those calls everyday. Those calls can be phone calls or actual interactions in front of prospects; the point is that it must be done everyday. I'm sure you've heard the analogy, but much like a snowball, this is how the critical mass starts.

Does this make it any less frustrating when you are being told NO, over and over again, and not making any money? It sure doesn't, but it also doesn't make it any less true. If you're a salesperson (and who among us isn't) prospects are going to tell you NO a lot. That's just the nature of the game. This is another reason that calls must be made everyday. The more no's you hear, the closer you are to that YES.

This is all simple sales jargon, but again, it's true. The bottom line is that calls must be made every single day if you want to accomplish anything. If you're making calls here and there, you're not going to get anywhere and you'll feel like your spinning your wheels. Focus becomes a key. If staying focused isn't your strongest attribute, I would suggest getting to work on that as well. There are thousands of books and CD's on the subject, so get in there. Just make sure that while you're learning how to stay focused, you also make calls everyday, because that's where the business comes from.

Small Mistakes Cost You Big Money

My wife and I were shopping for a new lighting fixture to hang above our dining room table. We wanted something relatively contemporary, and in our quest, we visited over a dozen stores in search of the perfect light. This experience uncovered a wide variety of mistakes that are costing retailers big money in the form of lost sales. Here's an example of some of the situations we have encountered.

1. We walked into one store early in the evening and were greeted with a heavy rock station blasting over the speakers. Although I like rock music, it is definitely NOT appropriate for a retail environment unless you are selling music, extreme sporting goods, or cater directly to a demographic that appreciates this type of music. Based on the selection of product on display, I suspect this lighting store's target market is someone between the ages of 35-70. This means their music choice was a huge blunder, one that could easily have been avoided.

2. Another store promised the region's largest selection of lighting fixtures which definitely intrigued us. We dropped by the store, and indeed, they did have a fantastic selection of lights, including several that appealed to our individual taste. However, very few of the lights were operable which meant we couldn't see what they looked like when lit. Call me silly but when I buy a lighting fixture I expect to be able to turn it on so I can see exactly how it looks when it is lit. Plus, the apparent owner of the store didn’t bother to leave the comfort of the counter and make any attempt to help us.

3. We ventured into another store that had a very good selection of lighting fixtures. We were looking at one in particular and there was an employee standing nearby as we considered it. She mumbled something to us about the light—I guess to help us—but what she said was incomprehensible and she didn’t stick around long enough for us to clarify what she had said. Instead, after making her comment she left us to retreat behind the sales counter.

In the same store, they had a designated sales person roaming the floor but at no time did he approach us even though he had overheard us tell another employee what we were looking for.

4. The website of store number four appealed to my wife for a variety of reasons and it sounded like this might be the place we might find our ideal fixture. Unfortunately, as we opened the door we were assaulted by the smell of stale cigarette smoke. In fact, the entire store smelled like an old gentlemen’s club, and as non-smokers, this definitely turned us off. This store had given us the impression on their website that they had an extremely large selection of contemporary fixtures but their actual selection did not match their advertising. Although there were a few wall hangings and paintings that were attractive, we did not want to bring home the smell of stale smoke, so we left. Oh, did I mention that we were greeted by a small dog who barked at us the entire time we were in the store.

5. We went into another store and noticed several employees standing behind the sales counter, chatting with each other. We wandered around the store and looked at lighting fixtures for approximately seven to ten minutes but at no time did any of these employees make an attempt to assist us. I guess they figured that if we needed help we would ask for it. I can picture their boss questioning them the next day about the lack of sales and can hear them saying, “Oh, it was really quiet last night; we didn’t have anyone in the store.”

I could keep going but I think you get the picture. Each of these retailers made some type of blunder that cost them potential sales and profits. What is extremely unfortunate; is the fact that they probably don't even realize they made these mistakes or how money it cost them.

Who's Calling?

One of the most frightening challenges many people have is to pick up the telephone and speak to a decision maker they don’t know, and make an appointment.

And when you think about it, you are calling a decision maker, who is generally a very busy person, with numerous, weighty responsibilities, and asking them to spend some time listening to you. It’s asking a lot when you look at it that way…

So, the question is, why should they agree to see you or I? In answering that, it’s useful to ask ourselves a question: If a total stranger were to call and ask to set a time to see you, what would it take for you to agree? I’m willing to wager, they would need to get your attention and tell you how meeting with them was going to show you a way to either ‘avoid pain’ or ‘gain pleasure’ through your product or service – and tell them confidently and quickly!

Examples of this may include how they could avoid loss (of money), gain time/money. Or avoid losing customers to competition. Increase their customer base. Prevent loss of market share. Increase market share. And if you can’t, do any of those things, why would they want to meet with you? What’s in it for them anyway? If you don’t know the answers to those questions, from your customer’s perspective, find someone to help you brainstorm some ideas and find the answers. It could be the best time you invest in your business this month!

One of the greatest challenges when new business phone calls need to be made is, people have often already worked themselves into a less than useful state of mind. You may done this yourself. Time comes to make the calls. Just before you do, you’ll grab yourself another coffee. Then someone you asked to drop in some artwork calls in, so you look at that. Back at your desk, there’s a message from a friend, so you’d better return that call. Then before you start, you need a tidy desk. Of course, if your business cards aren’t alphabetized, that may slow you down. Your pencil looks a little blunt, so best remedy that. Actually, now is probably a good time to check your stationery supply and get a new pen, because you don’t want that failing you. OK, a quick visit to the bathroom and you’ll be ready to go…

Oh, look at the time! They’re probably at lunch now. Better diarise a time this afternoon to get right on to those calls. OK, so I’m exaggerating, but you get the picture. If we are not prepared, and don’t have a structure that allows us to confidently make the calls, of course we are likely to delay the process.

Many years ago when I started out in my own business, I was selling a US designed product that came complete with a structure for making cold calls. I read through the scripts and thought, “There’s no way I could say that. That’s not my style. Things are different in Australia.” So instead, I started doing things ‘Franks way’. After a period of time not achieving the types of results I was after, I went back to those scripts and thought, “Well, I’ll try it once. Can’t do much harm trying it once.” The difference was immediate!

In Australia we have something of an aversion to working from scripts, and there are a couple of reasons for that. One is, the script wasn’t written by us, so it may call on us to use slightly different language – and that feels uncomfortable. The other thing is, we have no doubt been on the receiving end of a call from a telemarketer who was so determined to stick to their script, they didn’t hear a thing we were saying.

Neither of those those things should prevent us using a well-crafted script as our base. The key is, to learn it so well it becomes second nature, so you can listen to, and work with the person on the other end of the phone. In avoiding making a start, people only deepen their unresourceful state of mind. Before picking up the phone, that state of mind needs to be changed. There are a number of ways to do that, and often individuals know their own system best of all.

How to Close Larger Deals by Effectively Qualifying Your Sales Prospects

Qualifying your prospects is a critical step in the overall sales cycle. Creating situational awareness for your potential client will increase your probability of closing the sale. Having a better understanding of your prospects needs will also allow you to maximize your deal size.

In qualifying your prospect, you are determining three basics things:

1. What is your customer’s situation now?
2. What would they like it to be?
3. How can you help them get from where they are to where they want to be?

Before initiating a buying process, customers have to:

1. Recognize and understand that they have a need
2. Conclude that the need is significant enough to take action upon

When qualifying opportunities, probe to see how you can make truly valuable contributions to their organization. Help your customers to:

1. Discover opportunities they weren’t aware of or thought insignificant
2. Expand awareness to those opportunities to generate excitement
3. Intensify customer’s dissatisfaction with unsatisfactory situations

You should implement a qualifying process to allow you to gather customer information quickly and efficiently.

Begin your qualifying with broad, general questions about the prospect’s situation and narrow the conversation down to specifics when appropriate. Formulate questions in a way that promotes continuing dialogue, using descriptive words such as explain, describe, explore, tell me about, share with me, etc.

“Would you mind explaining more about your current situation and your strategy for the next 6 months?”

To encourage an open and productive dialogue, transition into qualifying by letting the prospect know why you are asking for the information.

“To be sure we’re recommending the right solution for your needs would you mind if I get your answers to a few questions”

Find the “pain” – explore problems and the impact those problems have on their business.

“What do you feel are some limitations of your current situation?"

Below are some qualifying questions you can customize to your specific product or service.You’ll be amazed of how much information prospects will give up when asked the right question!

* Mr/Mrs Prospect, to be sure we explore areas of mutual interest, what can you share with me about your current environment?
* Could You Describe What Your Current Environment Looks Like?
* What Does Your Ideal Solution Look Like?
* Any Thought on Budget Range?
* Would You Mind Explaining Your Current Situation and Your Strategy For The Next 6-12 Months?
* What are your objectives for the next 3-6 months?
* If money was not an issue what would your ideal situation look like?
* How much growth do you foresee in the next year or two?
* How much do you want to increase your profit this year?