Want to increase your sales and grow your business but worried you will come across as a pushy sales person? Not sure what to do or where to start to ensure your business is a success this year? The key to success, particularly in sales, is planning ahead and always be willing to try something new.
1. Review the previous year
Did you make enough money? Did you reach your goals? Compare your sales month to month. When were the good times and when were the quiet times?
2. Learn from your successes and your failures
And reinforce the actions and tools that generated results and those that didn’t. Maximize the good times and minimize the quiet times
3. Know who and what your best source of business is
Was it client referrals or word of mouth and if so, who were your best referrers? What networking events generated the greatest amount of business or provided the best opportunity to meet your target market? How many enquiries were generated from your website?
4. Develop a sales target
Takes into account your personal and professional goals and ask “how will this be achieved?”
5. Improve your sales and business skills
Not just your Industry and product knowledge. If you would like your business to change and grow, how will you and your staff need to grow and change?
6. Know your target market
Create a profile of your ideal client including what they care about, what challenges they face or what they would like to improve. If you know what you are looking for it’s easier to find them.
7. Ask for referrals
Tell your clients and your business network what type of clients you would like to work with and ask them if they know anyone that fits that description. Reward those clients that send you successful referrals.
8. Up sell your existing clients
How many of your clients know about all of your products and services?
9. Increase your networking activity
Expand your contact sphere and go out and meet more people. Networking can be the best form of advertising for your business because you are the promoting it.
10. Follow up, follow up, follow up
The last and most important point. So many sales are lost simply because no one bothered to follow up. It’s not about being pushy and arrogant to get the business; it’s about helping that client make a decision that will benefit them in the long term.
This sales article was written by Karen Andrews, Director of Shine
Sales Solutions, a Sydney based Sales Coach and Sales expert that works
with businesses to increase their sales through strategy development,
sales coaching and mentoring.
If you liked this article, subscribe to our monthly Sales Success ezine. You will learn...
* Easy ways to increase your sales and grow your business
* Simple strategies to sell yourself, even if your not in sales
* How to generate sales easier and quicker!
Enter your details at the top of the page or click here
sales tips & articles
10 Ways to Increase Your Sales
What to do when the sale stalls?
How many stalled sales do you have in your sales pipeline right now?
You feel as though you have done everything right. You have connected well with your prospect, they have explained their business and relevant personal issues and you are working directly with the person who has the authority and ability to make the decision. They have given you all the right buying signals but the only problem is you can’t get them to sign on the dotted line and now they aren’t returning your calls.
In order to jumpstart a stalled sale, you must first diagnose the reasons behind it. The problem may not be that the sale stalls, the problem is that we just don't recognize it soon enough and waste valuable time and resources on dead-end opportunities.
Little connection to a critical business issue
How is your solution addressing a business issue for your customer or prospect? For each opportunity in your sales pipeline answer this question:
Why does your prospect want to buy this product or service?
If you cannot communicate how your solution can
- Improve revenue, productivity, qualify or efficiency
- Save time or money
- Solve a critical problem, challenge or frustration that the business is facing
Customers Are Busy
The end of a sale often becomes difficult when your customer or prospect stops returning your calls and emails, overnight. It appears as though they have lost interest and the sale has gone cold...Or has it?
Many of us find it difficult to get everything done during work day or experience unexpected problems which take our focus elsewhere and your customers are no different. In fact, the better the prospect the busier they are likely to be.
It is important not to panic at this stage and let the customer or prospect fall away or to annoy them with endless phone calls and messages.
Keep momentum by maintaining regular contact, acknowledge your client is busy and perhaps ask them when would be an appropriate day or time for you to call and follow-up.
"I Want to Think it Over"
When a customer says, "I want to think it over," this may not always be the case. Some are actually saying "thanks but not thanks" to avoid a potentially negative and uncomfortable situation and some genuinely do want to think it over or talk to their business partner. The important thing is to know the difference between the two.
Some people just need a little push and a little help to make the decision. They may find making decisions difficult and are afraid of making the wrong decision. To many, no decision is the best decision.
When the prospect says, "I want to think it over," it is important to acknowledge and respect what the client says. Smile and say "that's a good idea, this is an important decision and I completely understand your need to think about it" which will help the prospect to relax.
It important now to leave now or you will lose this person as a prospect and being the never-ending game of phone tag and follow-up.
Ask the prospect "Obviously you have a good reason for wanting to think it over. May I ask what the reason is?”
This gives you the opportunity to see how genuine the prospect is and to uncover their real concerns and objections and say “If we could do this, would that solve the problem?"
Fear of Rejection
A major obstacle to selling is the fear of rejection or criticism. This fear can jeopardize all your hard work as your sales simply slip through your fingers and go cold.
Fear of rejection is a genuine emotion that many people in sales experience at one point or another and can be overcome through practice and by changing your mindset about sales and follow-up. Sales is not about being pushy and arrogant, it is about you communicate your ability to help and solve problems.
Did you know that one of the biggest complaints consumers have about salespeople is that they don’t follow up?
Your customers are busy too, so making a quick courtesy call to see how the decision is progressing may actually be doing them a favour. Who knows, they may have been meaning to call you all along but have simply been too busy.
This sales article was written by Karen Andrews, Director of Shine Sales Solutions, a Sydney based Sales Coach and Sales expert that works with businesses to increase their sales through strategy development, sales coaching and mentoring.
If you liked this article, subscribe to our monthly Sales Success ezine. You will learn...
* Easy ways to increase your sales and grow your business
* Simple strategies to sell yourself, even if your not in sales
* How to generate sales easier and quicker!
Enter your details at the top of the page or click here
Smooth Sailing or Storms Ahead ? How to use the Sales Pipeline to predict your future
I've spoken in the past about the Sales Pipeline and how to use it to increase sales but now it’s time to review it again to see just what the next couple of months will look like.
A sales pipeline is simply a forecast that you or your salespeople prepare monthly which lists the customers that are likely to buy in a given time frame, the value of the sale and when it is likely to close. It is an essential tool for business owners and sales managers to identify where you are and where you need to be in order to meet budget.
Even if the forecast is well below where you need it to be, at least you are aware of it and can take steps to improve it and stay on track. Don't wait until the 2nd or 3rd week of the month when you realise that sales are slow to come in and you need more because it's usually too late.
Typically, I usually ask for a forecast at the beginning of the month and then again on the 15th of the month to see how we are tracking.
The important thing to remember is to use a 'weighting'. You may $500,000 in your pipeline but it's very unlikely that you will be successful in winning 100% of them so the forecast will be inaccurate. A weighting is simply a % that you apply terms of the likelihood of winning the sale. Here is an example of how to calculate:
Using this example, the salesperson needs to add more sales into their pipeline to ensure they reach their sales target of $100,000.
As a guide to the Probability you could use
Initial Communication - 10%
First Meeting/Presentation - 20%
Proposal Given - 60%
Negotiation/Verbal Commitment - 80%
Closed - 100%
Most CRM/Database packages (I use ACT or Salesforce.com) include Sales Pipeline management but it can be as simply as listing them on an Excel spreadsheet. Here are a couple of examples from Excel to get you started
Solutions Sales:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-s/templates/TC011457101033.aspx
Product Sales:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC011457181033.aspx
This sales article was written by Karen Andrews,
Director of Shine Sales Solutions, a Sydney based Sales Coach and Sales
expert that works with businesses to increase their sales through
strategy development, sales coaching and mentoring.
13
tweets
Handling Sales Objections
Objections are simply reasons or concerns that a prospective client has as to why they won't make a decision when you want them to. You will hear statements such as:
• Sounds good, let me think about it
• It sounds great but not just yet
• We do this already
• We don’t get any complaints
• Our reps do that
• I’m really busy at the moment and just haven’t had a chance to look at it
• I need to speak to my partner before I can make a decision
• I’ll have a look at it and get back to you in a couple of weeks.
There are many reasons for objections and they are not always negative. Objections are a great indicator and qualifier as to whether you will get the sale - depending on how you handle them at the time. The best way to avoid objections is to ensure you ask the right questions in the first appointment that uncovers your prospect’s real need. This ensures that you are making the right recommendation and can talk about the related value and benefits this solution will address.
The more work you do up front understanding their needs and what they would like to achieve, the less you will have to deal with objections.
Firstly, hear them out don’t interrupt or try and answer their concerns before they have a chance to finish. When they have finished, acknowledge the concenrn by saying "I complete understand how you feel. Some of my best clients felt that way also" or “I completely understand how you feel, this is a big decision and it makes sense for you to think about this."
Secondly, you need to be sure that the objection they give you is 'really' the reason and if you provide a solution to that problem, they agree to buy from you (this way it's a win/win).
For example: “The Price is Too High”
“I understand you might feel that way. If you don't mind me asking, if price wasn't an issue or we can agree on a price that suits your budget, do you feel this is the right solution/product/service for you? or “if we can agree on price, is this something you could order today?”
Additionally, if they seem reluctant to move ahead, keep asking questions to find out why. You might say something like:
• “Is there something else we should talk about?”
• “Is there anything else I can do to help?
• “What needs to happen before you’ll be ready to make a decision?”
• “Can you tell me what your hesitation is?”
• “When do you think you will have a chance to look at it?”
• “If I don’t’ hear back from you by Friday, would you mind if I give you a call?
• “A couple of my clients thought the same thing, would you be interested in speaking to some of our clients to see what difference we are making to their business?
If the customer is willing to move forwards but at a slower pace, you can propose a lesser commitment than the one you originally asked for. Try to get the best commitment that customer is willing and able to make that day.
If you can’t get a customer to make a decision or commit to a next step, try to get a date by which a decision or commitment will be made.
Reminder:
The notes you made on the first appointment will be critical to the objection and closing process and I strongly recommend you have those on hand for each meeting with the prospect. These notes give you the ability to remind the client of the benefits they were looking for by implementing your product or service as well as other information such as problems and challenges that they were hoping to reduce or remove altogether.
This sales article was written by Karen Andrews,
Director of Shine Sales Solutions, a Sydney based Sales Coach and Sales
expert that works with businesses to increase their sales through
strategy development, sales coaching and mentoring.
If you liked this article, subscribe to our monthly Sales Success ezine. You will learn...
* Easy ways to increase your sales and grow your business
* Simple strategies to sell yourself, even if your not in sales
* How to generate sales easier and quicker!
Enter your details at the top of the page or click here
Why isn’t my salesperson selling - solving the salesperson puzzle
Hiring salespeople is a time consuming and costly exercise, so it’s important to get it right and keep it right. Unfortunately, not all salespeople are equal and managing poor performers is a common (and stressful) problem for many businesses, no matter what their size.
There are many reasons why sales people stop selling and why some just don't work out and it’s usually not the ones that they are telling you. Personally, I think the main reason salespeople fail to perform are due to lack of direction and little to no accountability. Salespeople, no matter how professional or how experienced need direction and need and expect accountability.
Salespeople can be your best asset or your worst asset depending on how you manage them. If you have a salesperson that is not performing, here are some reasons that might shed some light on the situation:
All care, no responsibility.
This is where you as the Manager or Business Owner don’t take responsibility for the success of your sales person and you simply dump everything into your salesperson's lap, hoping they will miraculously turn things around. You provide no leadership or support to the salesperson – just set and forget which is an extremely risky thing to do. I see this a lot in smaller businesses where the owner has little to no interest in sales or salespeople. If you employ salespeople, you need to be ask questions, be interested and be involved.
The Business Saviour.
Many business owners secretly hope that a salesperson will be the answer to their prayers; the saviour who will quickly start generating sales and increasing profits. While a good salesperson can make an enormous difference, it won’t happen overnight. You still need to invest considerable time and resources to market your company and to manage and develop your salespeople.
Not communicating expectations.
Salespeople need direction and they need to know exactly what is expected of them. Unfortunately, many Owners and Managers fail to communicate expectations clearly to their salespeople. When that happens, it's common for salespeople to think they're doing fine, whilst the Manager/Owner sees them as under performing and starts to get very frustrated. Communicate expectations (also known as KPI’s, key performance indicators) in writing from day one. Setting KPI’s on sales activities, customer meetings & networking events in addition to sales revenue, will ensure that sales remain consistent month to month.
Lack of Accountability.
When you are reliant on your salespeople to generate sales, why would you risk your business by not knowing how much and when the sales will come in? Holding a weekly team meeting to discuss the sales pipeline and sales activity is a simple way to introduce accountability. If your salespeople aren’t making sales at least your aware of it and can do something about it. Don’t wait until it’s too late. At the beginning of each month, have a performance review with each individual salesperson and discuss their performance for the previous month against expectations. If you have poorly performing salespeople, ask them to achieve specific revenue targets or tasks within a specified time frame. It will help you know whether to keep them or get rid of them.
Remember, if no-one cares what the salesperson is doing or whether they are making sales, why would they?
Hiring the wrong type of salesperson
There are two types of salespeople: those who can win new business (Business Development Manager or Hunter) and those who grow existing accounts (Account Manager or Farmer).
Most businesses want to employ salespeople who can generate new business, because they're already good at developing relationships with current clients. They want the type of salesperson who can make cold calls, build new relationships, and close a deal with a new client. This is much harder to do, requires different skills and has higher salary expectations.Be clear on what you want your salespeople to do so you can match the skills, experience and salary accordingly. If your salesperson isn’t selling, ask them what they have done in the last month to add to the sales pipeline and generate sales. This is where the majority of mistakes are made with salespeople – hiring an account manager find and close new business sales. They rarely have the desire or the skills to do so.
How much is enough?
Coming up with a fair and equitable commission scheme that works for everyone can be challenging. Giving away too much, too easily can make salespeople lazy and lose their hunger (not to mention frustrate the business owner or manager). Others can be too stingy or hard to achieve which does nothing to attract or keep the best performers. Remember, salespeople that win new business should be paid more than those who manage existing accounts. A commission scheme with an emphasis on commission rather than just a base salary will help to retain, reward and motivate ‘hunters’ whereas the security of a higher base salary will retain, reward and motivate ‘farmers’
Poor marketing and tools to support the salesperson.
Study after study shows that having a single approach to sales (such as cold-calling) won’t work on its own. Salespeople need solid marketing collateral, messages and campaigns that get prospects interested to meet with them. A well-ranked & effective website, email marketing and social media are great tools to generate leads that are completely free. They also need training and a solid understanding of the services and benefits you offer. The more time you spend training them and supporting them with marketing efforts, the quicker you will see them succeed.
If you liked this article, subscribe to our monthly Sales Success ezine. You will learn...
* Easy ways to increase your sales and grow your business
* Simple strategies to sell yourself, even if your not in sales
* How to generate sales easier and quicker!
Enter your details at the top of the page or click here
Achieve your Sales Targets with your Sales Pipeline
Being aware of and managing the amount in your sales pipeline each week, fortnight or month can have the single biggest impact to achieving your sales consistently from month to month and quarter to quarter.
It is an important forecasting tool that all businesses should use even if they don’t have salespeople, as it clearly shows how many sales to expect and when to expect them.
If your not sure what a Sales Pipeline or Funnel is; it is simply a list of all the prospective customers that have indicated some interest in buying your product or service. They will all be at different stages of the sale depending on their interest level and buying cycle and some will drop eventually drop out.
Information such as total sale value, probability of sale and expected close date should also be included to complete the picture.
The term “funnel” is used because you need to continually fill the top with new opportunities to ensure you have an even and consistent flow of closed sales coming out the bottom. The stages can differ from business to business (i.e. can be simpler with fewer stages), depending on how you sell to customers and what the buying cycle is.
It is important to make sure the funnel is always being topped up with new opportunities, that prospects are moving through the stages and sales are being closed. When you need to close some sales quick, it is easy to identify who is the closest to making a decision (thus easiest to close) by looking through prospects in the negotiation or solution evaluation stage.
The sales funnel is a great tool to help you determine if you have enough prospects and to reduce the impact of lost or delayed sales on meeting targets. It’s all in the numbers and that’s why sales is called a ‘numbers game’. To work out how much you need, follow my example:
- Start with your monthly sales target, lets say it is $25,000.
- Work out what the average sales value is, even if it is a rough estimate.
- Determine your sales conversion i.e. of all the first meetings you had or enquiries received how many of those where you successful in ‘converting’ from prospect to customer. e.g. If you received 20 enquiries and made 5 sales, you have a 1 in 4 sales conversion rate.
- So you will need ‘4 times’ the amount of your monthly target in your funnel at any time. If we go back to the example, you will need $100,000 worth of quotes or opportunities.
This sales article was written by Karen Andrews, Director of Shine Sales Solutions, a Sydney based Sales Coach and Sales expert that works with businesses to increase their sales through strategy development, sales coaching and mentoring.
If you liked this article, subscribe to our monthly Sales Success ezine. You will learn...
* Easy ways to increase your sales and grow your business
* Simple strategies to sell yourself, even if your not in sales
* How to generate sales easier and quicker!
Enter your details at the top of the page or click here
How can I make cold calling easier?
Typically a cold call is the process of approaching prospective customers (called prospects) typically by phone but it can also be done face-to-face (via door knocking). The term 'cold call' is used because the person you are contacting has not asked you to call, is not expecting it and is not known to you.
Cold calling can be a legitimate and successful way of generating new business, if it is done correctly and professionally. This article refers to 'business to business' cold calling to generate an appointment rather than make a sale over the phone.
- Use a friendly, conversational approach rather than a cold, direct approach.
- Don’t try and sell on the phone; you can’t. You can, however, get a meeting or permission to send information.
- Talk about how you can help that business or how you have helped other business. Don’t try and sell to them.
- Name other clients that you are working with who are in a similar industry or who are a similar size to the company you are calling.
- Set a goal for each phone call. Would you like contact information, a meeting or permission to send information.
- Write down all the possible objections that you are likely to encounter and have an answer ready for them.
- Target a particular Industry at a time so the script can be adapted and modified to their current situation, challenges or problems they may be experiencing.
- Always treat Assistants, Personal Assistants and Executive Assistants with respect; they have the power to get you in or keep you out.
- If you get through to the right contact and they sound busy or harassed ask them “is now a good time to talk?” should I call you at a later time?
- Make your calls from 9.30am to about 11.30am and then start again around 2pm and go through till 4pm.
- Set yourself a call target rather than a time target, it makes it easier to achieve.
- Don’t leave messages; it is rare that anyone would call you back.
- Ask or appeal for help rather than just going straight into a spiel.
- Don’t be fooled into thinking that a person asking you to send information means they are interested...they are simply trying to get you off the phone!
- If you send information by email make sure you follow it up the next day to confirm the person received it. This gives you the chance to ask them if they have any questions and gauge their interest in meeting.
- Try and do your calls in a block of time, one after the other, after the other. After you have finished 10 calls, for example, then send out information or do follow up. This saves you reliving the ‘fear’ or the ‘pain’ of picking up the phone. After about 3 or 4 calls you will have established a habit and you will be much more confident.
Stand out from the crowd when you cold call with our Do-It-Yourself Guide to Cold Calling.Click here for more information.
If you liked this article, subscribe to our monthly Sales Success ezine. You will learn...
* Easy ways to increase your sales and grow your business
* Simple strategies to sell yourself, even if your not in sales
* How to generate sales easier and quicker!
Enter your details at the top of the page or click here
Build your Sales Pipeline and Boost Your Prospect Numbers
Do you get frustrated constantly searching for prospects and contact information? The traditional methods of building a list of people that you can market and sell to such as purchasing databases, driving around business parks and noting the tenants of buildings that you walk past are great, and they do work, however, they are costly and time consuming. If your looking for something quick and effective that you can do from the safety of your desk, try these:
1. LinkedIn
If you do an advanced search on LinkedIn you can search for contacts in a particular industry, location, position or a mix of all three (e.g. All Sales Managers in Sydney). It will give you their name and tell you if anyone in your network is connected with them, so you can ask your contact for an introduction.
2. Google Earth & Google Maps
Google Earth and Google Maps are great tools to find concentrated areas of business and to avoid having to drive around or randomly call through the yellow pages. If, for example, you have a client in Building A and you would like to find out who else is in that building that you can sell to (always smart to sell to their neighbours, it’s known as sandwich selling) or that location, a quick search on Google Earth or Google Maps will give you a list of the businesses in the building, the street and the suburb. Google Earth will also let you pan around the area and see other buildings and other streets.
3. Industry Association Websites
I have used these for years and it has been a great way for me to target an industry sector and get new appointments. Quite a lot of the Association websites will list their members by location or profession. A quick search will give you a list of their name, address and phone number.
4. Franchise Directories
Selling to franchises can be a very successful and very lucrative way to increase sales and help you to consistently meet your sales targets. This is where volume sales come in and when you have a critical mass of franchisees as customers, they tend to do the selling for you and promote your business through word of mouth and referrals.
5. Your Website
This one is mentioned a lot these days but I’m still amazed as to how many people don’t utilize their website to generate new enquiries or build their contact lists. Offering free tips, e-books or access to free resources and tips is a great way to build a marketing and prospect database. I send out information every 2-3 weeks on sales techniques, sales tips and free resources just like this blog article! It has been a great way of accessing people I would never normally come across as well as building my profile.
If you liked this article, subscribe to our monthly Sales Success ezine. You will learn...
* Easy ways to increase your sales and grow your business
* Simple strategies to sell yourself, even if your not in sales
* How to generate sales easier and quicker!
Enter your details at the top of the page or click here
This sales article was written by Karen Andrews, Director of Shine
Sales Solutions, a Sydney based Sales Coach and Sales expert that works
with businesses to increase their sales through strategy development,
sales coaching and mentoring.
Sales Tips for the First Appointment
It’s all about planning and preparation
It’s amazing how many sales people and business owners I talk to who under-estimate the value and importance of planning and preparing for a first appointment.
In the early days of my sales career making this change had the single biggest impact to my sales success. Besides, there is nothing worse than leaving an appointment without having the information you require simply because you forgot to ask the question.
The objective of the first sales meeting is to build rapport with the buyer and understand not only their needs but the priority of these needs.
Planning your appointments and taking a strategic approach helps to:
- Reduce the chance of surprises in the appointment
- Create a more professional impression
- Increase the likelihood of achieving objectives, and
- Reduces stress
What value are you offering your prospect by having this meeting? What’s in it for them?
What would you like to achieve in this meeting (keeping in mind it is often difficult to close the sale in the first meeting)
What situations or events are occurring in their business or industry that could create an opportunity for you?
What ‘high-level’ questions will you need to ask to uncover their needs, current problems or areas they would like to improve? For example
“What has prevented you from addressing the problem before and what has changed now?”Are there likely to be any objections or reasons that the prospect may not be interested in pursuing any further? If so, what can you say to overcome these objections and move it to the next stage?
“What would be the consequences of not dealing with the problem at this time?”
Having a list of pre-prepared questions written down in front of you keeps your appointments effective and efficient, for both parties. Many of you may think this makes you look unprofessional, however, in my opinion the opposite is true. It makes you stand out from the crowd and shows the prospect how serious you are and how important this appointment is to you.
Explain at the beginning of the appointment, the reasoning behind it; that you don’t want any pertinent information to be missed or forgotten.
Having these questions written down will also help to:
- Improve your listening skills. You give the prospect your undivided attention because you don’t have to worry what to ask next.
- Keeps the appointment flowing in the direction you want and keeps everyone on track. Particularly if the conversation or prospect goes off on a tangent.
- Obtain all the key information you need to move to the next step.
- Keep you focused and stop you from “selling” too early in the appointment
Interrupting stops the train of thought, stops them from sharing further information and stops you from getting a complete understanding of their needs and their priority of these needs.
When you have finished asking questions, go back and clarify anything that you need further information on to ensure your complete understanding. In addition, paraphrase the buyer's concerns to indicate your understanding, and clarify the problem that needs to be resolved. For example;
"So what you would like to do is improve the conversion rates of your sales team so all members are consistently meeting their budgets, is that correct?”
Once you have a complete understanding, you are ready to move to the next stage.
This sales article was written by Karen Andrews, Director of Shine Sales Solutions, a Sydney based Sales Coach and Sales expert that works with businesses to increase their sales through strategy development, sales coaching and mentoring.
If you liked this article, subscribe to our monthly Sales Success ezine. You will learn...
* Easy ways to increase your sales and grow your business
* Simple strategies to sell yourself, even if your not in sales
* How to generate sales easier and quicker!
Enter your details at the top of the page or click here
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