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Easy Selling
Steve Lentini
Sandler Sales
Just because the selling field is
changing doesn’t mean selling must be more difficult. Sales was never
meant to be synonymous with hardship. Yet ensuring sales success through
the coming century does require rethinking your selling technique. In our
modern, increasingly hectic business world, salespeople who rely on “sales
spiels” will talk themselves right out the door. Meanwhile, sales reps who
focus their efforts on getting and keeping the best customers will clean
up – easily. For easy selling, try these six strategies.
- Why aren’t you
doing business with me already? Thinking this when you first
encounter a customer or prospect builds confidence. Eventually it will
be an automatic attitude – a subtle air of confidence – that your
customers will perceive, and people like doing business with confident,
successful people. Then silently ask yourself “How do you know I want
you for a customer” to set the stage for step two.
- Ask questions!
Remember, you do not want everyone for a customer; you only want “good”
customers. (Good customers make a good company – and a good commission).
The only way to determine which of the many prospects you want for
customers is to get them to tell you about their company and
needs. They can’t do this if you’re talking. (You’ll have plenty of time
to tell them all about your company later.)
Prepare questions before the call that will
help you get useful information and allow you to match good prospects with
your company’s strengths. “What do you look for in a supplier” and “What
are the biggest problems you face now?” are good examples. Also, the right
questions, tactfully asked, such as “How many deliveries do you require?”
and “What’s your company’s average time frame for invoice payments?” will
help you structure viable business deals for good customers and discourage
frustrating habits such as late payments, small orders, last-minute
deliveries, etc.
Owning this information also allows you to
walk away from customers that have no business acumen. Remember to listen
carefully to the answers and don’t hesitate to take notes. If you can’t
recall the answers when you need them, why ask?
- Educate, don’t
sell. Tell prospects what makes your company productive, and
therefore, superior. Productive business agreements improve margins by
focusing on term, order size, product mix, and delivery frequency, not
mark-up!
- Don’t over
promise. The days of “Yes, we can do it all!” are over. Customers
don’t care about the size of your warehouse, the number of trucks you
have, or any of the other things that may give your company bragging
rights. What they want is for you to deliver what you promise. If you
cannot keep all the promises you make, you are over promising. Leave
yourself room by under promising, then really impress customers by
overdelivering.
- Forget
commission; think customer. If your first thought on every order or
presentation is commission, you will see dollars shrink over time and
much slower growth in commission dollars than your counterparts who
think “customer.” Do the little things: Fix annoying balances that
linger on erroneous statements; make that return the customer keeps
asking about. Take care of your customers’ business and your commissions
will grow, especially through referrals from happy customers.
- Cut out time
wasters. Set your goals high enough and be strong enough to
eliminate time-wasting customers and prospects from your list. Train
customers to respect your time or fire them! Your time is too valuable
to waste on people who lack the respect you need. You need the time to
respond to your good customers and good targets.
Thinking like a lawyer or an accountant can
help: Both track their time and charge by the minute. When you are in
front of a customer or answering an “urgent” call from a client, set the
clock and measure the financial return you are getting for the time
invested. The customers at the bottom of your list need a boost or a boot!
Contrary to popular
belief, selling does not have to be difficult. In fact, we are all
programmed by nature to succeed with the least effort. If you are having
trouble maintaining or growing your sales and commissions, give the steps
above a try. If you are still finding sales difficult, maybe your time
would be better spent elsewhere.
For more information on Sandler Sales training and how Steve can help you to sell more
effectively, please contact
Steve Lentini by
email or by phone at (978) 927-3399. ..
. .
Comments on this article appreciated
Article Copyright 2002,
The Acelera Group. All rights reserved.
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