Posts Tagged ‘sales’

Business Activity is Starting to Stir — Are You Ready?

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

The signs are there that we’re pulling out of the recession and businesses are starting to see growth. While there are certain areas that are still feeling the squeeze from the downturn, optimism has become the prevailing outlook.

This is good news for sales professionals. With business activity on the rise, that means you’ll start closing more sales! Right? Right?

Well, that’s right as long as you go out there with an approach that works for the changing times. Remember that selling situations have evolved since the last time the economy was healthy. The business owner or executive with the buying power has developed a different mindset — they’re more focused on streamlining operations, being efficient and getting more bang for their buck. Gaining value as well as solutions is a primary goal and they’re more thoughtful about their purchases. They’re also more pressed for time.

Therefore, with the “new” economy, your old tried-and-true sales techniques won’t work. You need to start using fresh approaches and techniques, but also return to sales fundamentals such as preparation that are crucial to winning over prospects.

The Golden 120 Seconds of Every Sales Call offers a fresh approach to sales focusing on the critical junctures in every sales interaction in which what you say and do can most impact the outcome. The principles of this approach focus on what you do before (in preparation) and after as well as during the sales call or meeting. Most important are the initial critical junctures, which is when you make that lasting impression, establish trust and have the best opportunity to connect with the prospect by demonstrating what’s in it for them.

As announced in a press release last week, my Sales Training seminar that’s coming up on May 6-7 will highlight and expand on the principles in The Golden 120 Seconds of Every Sales Call. It’s the perfect opportunity to learn this fresh sales approach and gain new techniques that will maximize your sales efforts and ultimately boost your sales revenue.

Selling in 2010 is going to hinge on how you handle the critical junctures in your sales interactions. Are you ready?

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The Power of Listening

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Too many sales people get into a conversation with a prospect and can’t stop talking. It doesn’t matter whether they are on the phone or meeting the prospect in person — they just have this urgency to say everything they feel needs to be said to the prospect to make the sale. It’s the belief of many sales people that the prospect should know every piece of information about the product or service they are selling — every feature and every benefit.

What is really bad about this behavior is that the sales person, in his or her drive to get to what they want to say, is very likely not listening to the prospect. They are not letting the prospect explain their goals and needs because they are too focused on conveying all the great things they know about their product/service. Worse, they may even be interrupting the prospect in their rush to say what they want to say!

What’s almost comical about this behavior is that sometimes the sales person will have the sale (and the prospect will have even conveyed that), yet the sales person WILL STILL BE TALKING! How annoying to have someone continue to “sell” to you even after you have said “yes.”

What these overly talkative salespeople fail to realize is that the prospect is often only interested in hearing about specific aspects of the product/service; prospects are usually looking to address just one or two problems or needs. If these salespeople would stop and listen to their prospect, they would actually make the sales process easier. By learning what the prospect’s issues are, a sales person can then pinpoint what their sales pitch should focus on. By listening, sales people would not only learn what the prospect’s goals and needs are, but learn enough about the prospect’s business to discover what other areas need to be addressed (even areas the prospect might not even be aware of). They would discover what’s in it for the prospect, because that’s all the prospect wants to know — “What’s in it for me.”

Listening is the greatest gift you can give a prospect. It is how sales people can establish trust and start building the foundation for a lasting client relationship. Once a prospect knows you are listening to them and that you’ve heard what THEY want to say, you’ll have cleared a shorter and smoother path to winning their business.

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The Golden Moments in Business Development

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

There are many companies (notably, those in the business of selling professional services) who have a business model structured around “business development.” They use the term “business development” rather than “sales” because their focus is growing the business through expanding the base of customers or clients using their service and finding leads on potential customers/clients. Meanwhile, there are companies who may have a “business development” person or team as well as people in a “sales” capacity. In either case, business development people are also in the practice of selling and follow the same procedures as salespeople.

Typically, the people who are part of a company or firm’s business development team are sales people by trade; they have a sales background and a sales person’s mindset. Also, they use a sales person’s approach and tactics, such as cold-calling prospects, scheduling presentations and engaging prospects in follow-up discussions to win the deal or business.

Although my book, “The Golden 120 Seconds of Every Sales Call” and my consultancy look at the “sales” process, the principles I discuss also apply to business development.

The person engaged in “business development” (he/she could be the business owner or someone in the role of heading up business development) is “selling” themselves, their company, their brand and their value proposition as well as the key features of their service or product. They’re trying to make an impression as, like the salesperson, they are often trying to set themselves apart from companies who are competing for the business.

For those of you in business development, there are also those critical junctures with a prospect — those golden moments — in which what you say and do can impact whether you win the prospect’s business. These junctures are brief and can come and go before you have recognized them and grabbed at the opportunity and acted upon them.

Like the sales person, preparation prior to a call or meeting is crucial, including planning how you’re going to engage the prospect in the first 120 seconds. You need to employ proactive behaviors to move things forward in your business development interactions, however you want to make sure you observe proper protocol for dealing with and winning over prospective clients.

By using the approach of acting on “The Golden 120 Seconds,” you can gain the confidence, the focus and the edge you need to close more business.

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