Tag: Sales

Sales Tip – Crisis … Where Danger Meets Opportunity!

In Chinese the word “Crisis” is represented by two characters. One means danger and the other means opportunity. In sales, any crisis while dangerous it may be, also represents your best opportunity ever to gain a customer for life! Or you can lose one forever. This choice is yours. The key to comprehending this concept lies in our ability to understand customer expectations and how those relate to rating their buying experience.

When I buy a new product or I invest in a new service, I expect it to perform in a certain way. If it does just that, meet my expectations, this buying experience for me is marked “neutral”. I got what I expected. If  that doesn’t happen, mark my buying experience as “negative”. If the product or service exceeds my expectations we have a “positive” experience. Here’s the rub. Even with a neutral or positive experience, the cynic in me is always wondering … “What happens when this thing breaks? Will the service I receive be terrible, exemplary, or somewhere in between?” I simply don’t/won’t know the answer to these questions until that dreaded episode occurs and, trust me, it will. Continue reading “Sales Tip – Crisis … Where Danger Meets Opportunity!”

Sales Tip – Be Responsive!

You can take this tip to the bank! Salespeople have always displayed varying degrees of responsiveness to client needs but today, this quality damn near seems to be a lost art. And, if you are dealing with a client who demonstrates a high sense of urgency, this characteristic isn’t even optional. If you want their business, you too will need to step up your pace. Let’s look at this another way. In a competitive situation, with all things being equal, who will get the business? Will it be the “highly responsive salesperson” or the one who “gets to it when it is convenient”? If you chose the latter … I sure hope that you will be more successful in your next selection of  a career.

What is responsive? Actually, it is a lot of different things, It is … Continue reading “Sales Tip – Be Responsive!”

Sales Tip – Treat Your Prospects As Though They Are Already Your Clients

Quickly! Who do people buy from? They buy from those who they like and who they trust. Who do they like and trust? They like and trust those who treat them with respect and who they feel are looking out for their best interests. End of post:)

Today I wanted to discuss two aspects of the title of this article …

  1. How we might integrate this concept into the selling process and …
  2. Our overall mindset while dealing with prospective clients
The Selling Process – 
Treating your prospects as if they are already your clients, and doing so during the selling process, is a teachable and learned behavior. Much of this hinges on your choice of language used and a great deal of this is very subtle. What is the difference between these to statements? Continue reading “Sales Tip – Treat Your Prospects As Though They Are Already Your Clients”

Sales Tip – Clarify and Confirm

This will be the first of, hopefully, a weekly post devoted to short and simple sales tips. Where appropriate, we will also sneak in references to how this will apply in social selling situations. Thanks for visiting!

We’ve all been here. You ask a salesperson a question and before you have even gotten that question completely out, they are already off to the races answering … something that was not even related to your question. Then they merrily move along to the next part of their pitch. Now, be honest about this. How many of us will stop that person and raise the issue that this was not even remotely related to the question that you posed? The answer is … damn few. More likely, we just walk away and try to find someone who does listen. For our salesperson, this results in an immediate, and unnecessary sales loss. Continue reading “Sales Tip – Clarify and Confirm”

Are You Creating The Opportunities Or Just Responding To Them?

Or, to put it another way, are you proactive about creating deals or do you just sit back on your ___ and wait for the phone to ring? Are you a salesperson or are you an order taker? Sales pro’s are always, one way or another, out prospecting for new opportunities. Yes, I said prospecting.

I had actually set up a draft of this post several months ago (title only) and then had promptly forgotten all about it. Then a couple of weeks ago, one of our NetWorks! Boise Valley members, Justin Tarpley with CableOne Business, pipes up in the meeting and thanks everybody for the general shared leads that people had been providing and indicated that he had actually called on a number of these and had been able to successfully secure their business. I was floored. “Justin, let me get this right. You are actually calling on leads that were not specific referrals for you and you are making sales!!!???” Well, what a novel idea  🙂 Continue reading “Are You Creating The Opportunities Or Just Responding To Them?”

If We Were The Lowest Price, You Would Be A Trained Monkey

For the majority of my career, I ran sales teams. I was constantly amused and perplexed by the statement that most, if not all, sales managers have heard over and over again … “I lost the deal because our price is too high!”.

I can only speak for myself but, about the only time that I buy an item based on price alone is if I do not perceive that there is any value associated with paying more. Canned corn comes to mind. I buy store brands. So what do I tell these salespeople?

“If we were the lowest price, I wouldn’t need you. All I would need is a trained monkey to take the orders.”

And, if you could process the paperwork correctly, that would make you a highly trained monkey. Seriously, what are salespeople good for if they can’t properly justify the price we are asking for our product or service? They expect us to be the lowest price and still pay them the highest commissions? Don’t answer that (smile). Here is another one of my favorites …

“There is no honor in being low bid”

Why? See trained monkey. Conversely, there is great honor in being high bid. You have demonstrated that you have a superior product/service and that it presents a better value than that which was offered by your competitors. And regarding your competitors, they have been stunned! They are forced to go back to the barn with the full knowledge that they could not even make the sale based on being the lowest price. How demoralizing is that? Things that make me (smile). Continue reading “If We Were The Lowest Price, You Would Be A Trained Monkey”