sales tips & articles

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

You can expect your sale to stall. Business owners and Senior Executives only spend time on matters that directly impact their business. If cannot identify a business reason and you want to jumpstart the sale, try to meet with your prospect again to discuss their critical business issues rather than your solutions.

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!

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Did you come back from the New Year break invigorated and inspired to make 2012 your best year yet?

I love the saying "if nothing changes, then nothing changes" so in order to achieve bigger success this year, changes need to be made, and remember, it's not just the business which might need tweaking, ask yourself what you will do differently to achieve your goals this year.

Use these 5 quick tips and get motivated, get active and start taking the steps toward building your success this year.

Set Yearly, Quarterly and Monthly Goals.

What do you want to achieve each and every month? It can be related to sales figures, client numbers, performance, units sold or even the number of networking events & client meetings you would like to have. Ask your salespeople to write a one page plan and list their goals, what they plan to do differently and how they plan on achieving monthly and quarterly targets.

Regularly review progress

If you aren't already, hold weekly sales meetings to review the activity and performance of your team and ensure they are on track with their plans and sales achievements. 

Have you got a 'consistent' process in place to know where you are each month, identify red flags and ensure your salespeople are accurately estimating their potential? Receiving weekly forecasts and a pipeline from each person in the team provides much needed visibility into the future and allows you to provide feedback and take corrective action, if required.

Review your sales process

How easy is it for customers to buy from you? How long does the process take from first meeting to signed order to implementation and how many people get involved? How many leads or customer orders fell out half way through?

The sales process begins when you start discussing a potential opportunity with a new or existing customer. Review each step to streamline the processes and remove unnecessary steps or delays that may have caused the sale to stall or be lost. 

Knowing you are different just isn't enough. You might have the best product or the best servcie in the world but if no one knows about it, it's worthless. Additionally, staff who deal with customers tend to become bogged down in a world of negativitiy,  never ending issues and complaints and will lose sight of all the benefits and positives that the business has to over 

Analyse customer base and improve customer loyalty

The simplest and cheapest way of increasing sales is to look through your client base. Analyse your customer database to discover  what percentage of sales each customer contributed to the overall revenue. Classify your customers into A, B and C level depending on the spend, percentage or value to the business.

With particular focus on your A and B class customers, how loyal do you think they are? When things start to get tough and your competitors are knocking on their door offering savings, will they pay more to stay with you?

How will you demonstrate or communicate the value you bring, over and above what they are paying for?

Dig deeper and analyse what products or services each of your A and B  customers haven't bought and what else they could get some value or benefit from. 

Arrange to visit your customers and discuss their plans for 2012 and what they hope to achieve. Is there any products or services that you have that will assist them or make it easier to achieve? Use the visit to update them on your plans for 2012, how you plan to 'love them' this year, new products or services being introduced or talk about a product or service that they aren't buying that you feel they might get benefit from.

Lastly, let them know that your plans are to grow in 2012 and you would welcome any referrals or introductions.

Be different and yell it from the rooftops

Knowing you are different just isn't enough. You might have the best product or the best servcie in the world but if no one knows about it, it's worthless. Additionally, staff who deal with customers tend to become bogged down in a world of negativitiy,  never ending issues and complaints and will lose sight of all the benefits and positives that the business has to over.

Hold a staff or sales meeting and review the successes and positives from last year. Have a discussion on the differences between your business and the competition, as a group analyse your strengths and weakness vs their strengths and weaknesses. How can you use your strengths to highlight their weaknesses and how will you combat their strenghth over your weakness?

Keep focussed on the positives and discuss what is possible and what can be achieved when everyone stays positive and focused. This will help staff to forget the negatives of last year and see the potential opportunities of the future.

Assist staff who aren't comfortable talking about themselves by discussing ways these benefits and differences can be introduced into the conversation or how they can be used to overcome objections and negotiate. 

Understand and identify what new business you want

In the end, it all comes down to prospecting. When we know what we want, we know how to find it and prospecting is no different.

Don't leave it up to the salespeople to decide what customers your business should have in 2012. Share the new business strategy to the team and discuss what the business plans to do to support them and make the job of prospecting easier and more successful.

And remember................ if nothing changes, then nothing changes. Here's to great selling in 2012.

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

Product bundling is combining two or more complimentary products or services together that creates differentiation and offers greater value to the customer. The key to packaging your products and services is to ensure that the package price is less than buying all the individual items separately.

A bundle of products is sometimes referred to as a package deal and a well known example of this is the fast food industry 'meal deal' where you can buy burger, fries and coke for a cheaper price than purchasing all items individually.

Product bundling has many advantages apart from selling more products such as the cost savings and efficiencies in your business by selling multiple products in the one transaction, increased perceived value and customer loyalty.

Providing a bundled solution increases the perceived value of your offer and creates customer loyalty because the need to go elsewhere for other products is reduced.

Typically a bundled offer will include a product or service that has a high value but doesn’t get repeat purchased that often. When you bundle this with products or services that need to be repeat purchased you are turning what would have been a one-off purchase (or even a one-off customer) into repeat business.

Additionally, when you add-on complimentary products or services the price reduction is seen to be in the add-on products which means you can maintain the pricing point of the main product. For example:

• Selling computers and offering a start-up ‘start-up’ package that includes software, training and installation. Add-on items that are relatively cheap to provide but greatly increase the value of the offer.

• A Consultant offering their services for a fixed fee per month (say $1000) and includes an additional service for a total fee of ($1500). To get both of these services the normal price might be $1800 per month.
• Offering free delivery for orders over a certain amount
• Selling beauty products and bundling a cleanser, moisturiser and an eye cream.
• A travel agent selling a holiday offering a reduction on travel insurance for all bookings over a certain amount.
• Offering web design with an additional offer of HTML newsletters and ongoing monthly email subscription for a reduced price
• A lawn mowing service that offers tree trimming or rubbish removal for a small additional fee

Think about your business; what high value products can be paired with a lower value product to increase the value of the sale but also increase the value offered to the client.

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 virtual sales management.
 

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!

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Believe it or not, the best way to make sales is not to talk about how wonderful a product or service is or how great the features are because your prospects and your customers simply aren’t interested.

If you really want to be a successful and professional salesperson the best way to achieve that is to master the art of consultative selling.

Consultative selling qualifies and listens to the customer to help them to buy what they need. It focuses on the needs of the customer and how to improve or benefit them in some way. It is the complete opposite to traditional methods of selling because it isn’t about what the salesperson wants to sell them; it is about what the customer wants or needs to buy.

It a common fact that most people dislike being sold to but love the feeling and power of buying so the easier we make it for prospects to buy, the easier it is to win them as customers.

People buy from people they trust and who understand their issues. If you can get customers to think about the needs of their business and to really think about current or potential problems or challenges they may face, they start to see you differently and understand the value you can add to them or their business. This leads to long term profitable relationships rather than short term sales.

There are many times when prospects and customers know what their needs are. However, it is more than likely that they are not only unaware of having any needs for your product but also insist they are perfectly happy with how they are the moment and the last thing they want to do is;

• Change suppliers
• Spend money or increase investment
• Try anything new

Your job is to help your customers and prospect uncover needs they may not already be aware of or to simply consider an alternative to what they are doing now and the way to do this, is through questioning.

Questioning is an important component of consultative selling and the goal is to ask intelligent, high level questions that helps customers to think about their current situation and identify what they are looking for.

Think of consultative selling in terms of a visit to the Doctor. When you visit a Doctor, one of the first things they will do is ask you questions to identify your symptoms (fact finding/uncovering the need). Even if you tell them what you think the symptoms are, they continue to ‘probe’ and ask more questions to ensure they have a full understanding of your problems.

Once the Doctor has all the critical information they diagnose your problem and provide solutions which may be in the form of a prescription or seeing a specialist (providing a solution and the next steps).

If the Doctor doesn’t uncover all the relevant and important information, they will mis-diagnose your problem and provide the wrong solution which can be extremely dangerous.

Imagine how you would feel if the Doctor didn’t ask you any questions or listen to you but simply started talking and assume they knew what was wrong with you. Would you consider them to be an experienced, trustworthy, professional?

Consultative selling is no different, if you don’t uncover the real needs and the real issues of your prospects and customers you run the risk of providing the wrong solution or one that has little to no value to them.

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 virtual sales management.


 

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This week's blog post is from my very good friend and business mentor, Andrew Griffiths. If your not familiar with Andrew or his books, he is Australia's Number 1 Business Author with releases such as "101 Ways to Market your Business, "The Me Myth"and "Bulletproof Your Business".

Each week he writes a business bullet (well worth signing up to) on a topic relating to small business; this week it was all about sales and well worth sharing.

1. Being a great sales person starts when you get out of bed in the morning.

People who are really good at selling normally have a very positive outlook on life. They are energetic and enthusiastic about what they do, sincere with their customers, interested in their industry and passionate about their products. Every morning I take a few minutes to think about my day ahead. I visualise how it will look, the positive encounters I will have, the things I will sell and the great things I will get to do. Most of the time, this becomes the reality. How you think about your day is more than likely how it will turn out. So I suggest that you make it a fantastic day and it will be. A great attitude is always rewarded.

2. Take a few minutes extra to look the part.

I believe very strongly that looking the part is just as important as playing the part. When it comes to any kind of retail it is really important to take the time and make the effort to be well groomed and have clean and well-ironed clothes. Right or wrong, people form an opinion about you in the first seven seconds of any interaction. If you look smart it shows that you respect yourself and the people you will be selling to.

3. Have a big, warm and welcoming “hello”.

Many people are really terrible at saying a simple “hello” to their customers. My advice is very simple. Stop whatever you are doing, stand up straight, put a huge smile on your face and give them a big, warm hello. Most importantly look the person in the eye when you are smiling. We are rarely greeted so well in any store and if you do this, your warm smile will not only be remembered it will be sought after. Your customers will tell everyone they know just how nice you are. An added bonus to you is that it is really hard to feel anything but fantastic about life when you are spending your day connecting with people simply by smiling.

4. Stop what you are doing and focus on the person in front of you.

There is nothing worse than having a distracted sales person try and half sell something to you. Their focus is elsewhere, they mumble answers and they offer little help or advice. Whenever you are with a customer give them you full and undivided attention. Focus on them, listen to them, show them what they are looking for and make sure you have given them what they want. It really is simple yet less than ten percent of sales people do this. If you want to shine in the world of sales this is a great place to start.

5. Never judge a book by its cover.

It is surprising just how much we all do this. I have been caught out a number of times and now I make a point of treating everyone exactly the same. Who knows how much money someone has or doesn’t have? You certainly can’t tell that by what someone is wearing even if you think you can. Treat every single customer as your most important customer right then and there and I guarantee you will sell a lot more of anything to anyone.

6. Make someone’s day.

It is surprisingly simple to really make someone’s day. We all seem to be so focused inwards, thinking through the various issues and challenges that fill our day that often we are shocked and pleasantly surprised when someone makes our day by saying something nice. I suggest that you become really good at giving sincere compliments to people. At first you might be a bit uncomfortable with it but believe me, it will grow on you and it will start to feel fabulous in a very short amount of time. Tell someone if their hair looks nice, or their necklace is pretty, or if they have great taste in books, or if they have a great smile. The only catch is that you have to be sincere in your compliment otherwise it just doesn’t work. Make it your mission to make as many people’s day as you possible can.

7. Have some recommendations ready in each section.

Being a great sales person means being able to make a recommendation on the products you are selling. After all if you can’t do this, you are really nothing more than a money collector. Be clear about what products or services you do actually recommend and you have to believe in them 100%. If you don’t it shows. And always give a recommendation. If you do, you will be amazed at how many more sales you actually get.

8. Use every interaction to let the customer know more about your business.

All this takes is a few words at the end of a sale, or during your conversation, to let your customer know that you are open “seven days a week” or that you will be open on the public holiday coming up, or that there is a sale due to start in a few days and so on. Use every interaction as a wonderful opportunity to educate your customer about your business. Remember it is our job to tell our customers what we can do for them, it isn’t their job to find out.

9. Make it really easy for your customers to buy from you.

If you want to attract more customers and keep them coming back more often, develop a can do attitude that promotes making selling easy. What could be improved or streamlined to speed things up and to keep people moving? Is your sales area cluttered? Do you struggle to find a pen for people to sign credit card slips? Look for any way possible to make it easy for your customers to buy from you and they will.

10. People want to hear their own name.

We all like the sound of our own name and in the retail environment I suggest you try and use your customers name whenever you can. Make the effort to remember your regular customers names, they will appreciate it a lot, more than you realise. Think about how it makes you feel when you go into your favourite store or coffee shop and they know your name. When handing back a credit card thank the person using their formal name, Mr Smith or Ms Smith. They will notice it and remember that you did it. Even if the name is hard to pronounce, that in its own right a great talking point.

Next week I will give you another 10 top sales tips. If you can’t wait till next week visit a friend of mines website – Karen Andrews from Shine Sales – she has a pile of excellent sales tips and a sensational newsletter that is all about selling.

Read more of Andrew's Business Bullets by clicking here

If you are just starting out in business or in sales here are some quick tips and tricks you can use to get you in sales mindset, develop a sales language and start selling !

1. Be yourself
2. Have you ever bought anything of anyone you didn’t like?
3. People buy people, not companies so relax and just be yourself
4. Having a good Introduction/Elevator Story ready
5. This will help to give you confidence whenever you go into networking or face to face business meetings. Your introduction should only be around one minute and include who you are, what you do, your experience (if relevant) and what is the benefit of doing business you.
6. Ask questions, ask questions, ask questions
7. It’s the only way you will know what your clients really want. When you know what they want you will know how you can help them.
8. Think about the benefits of your business and its products and services. What makes then unique or superior to your competitors?
9. Why do I need to buy your products or services? How will they make a difference to me?
10. Talk more about the benefits or the ‘why’ elements rather than the features so your clients understand why they would want them.
11. Know where to find new clients
12. Get out there and find your potential clients, don’t wait for them to come to you. Networking is a good place to find clients and there are hundreds of groups around. Try BNI, Chamber of Commerce, and Women’s Network Australia, Australian Institute of Management or type ‘business networking’ into Google.
13. Sales takes time
14. Increasing your confidence in sales and the ability to win new clients takes time, it isn’t easy for everyone, so give yourself some time. Allocate some time each week to focus on building new sales.
15. Follow Up
16. One of the hardest elements of building a business is finding a constant stream of new clients. You have already done the hard work through networking, advertising or marketing so don’t waste it. Make that follow up call now! The biggest complaint that people have in relation to sales is that no one ever followed them up.

 

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

Well the holidays are definitely over and everything is back in full swing, with most of the people I'm coming across brimming with positivity and confidence about the year ahead. As always at this time of year, it's important to re-evaluate your goals and what you want to achieve this year.

Remember, if "nothing changes, then nothing changes" so it's important to reflect on what worked last year, what didn't work and what you will do differently.

I am currently recommending to my clients that they do some analysis on their existing customers, what revenue they have brought in, what they have bought and what opportunity there is to cross sell and upsell.

Many people spend so much time and effort trying to generate new sales that if they simply focused on cross-selling or up-selling to existing customers, the same results can be achieved.

Besides, you can find new customers from referrals within your existing client base.

Here is a couple of quick tips to help you build your revenue in 2010.

1. Analyse your Customer spend

Analyse your customer database and find out what percentage of sales each customer contributed to the overall revenue. Classify your customers into A, B and C level depending on the spend, percentage or value to the business.

Dig deeper and list out what products or services they bought and what else they could get some value or benefit from.

2. Love your Customers

When was the last time you sat down in front of your customers and had a strategic business discussion regarding plans and goals? tMake appointments with all your A class customers and those B and C customers that are valuable to the business or have the potential to grow and ask them

- what does 2010 have in store for your business?
- what are the goals of the business this year?
- how can we make dealing with our business easier?
- is there anything else we can do for you?
- are you aware we also offer (insert new product/service)?

We often take it for granted that our customers know all about our business and the products and services we offer. Take the opportunity to inform them of your plans for the year and what products or services they aren't buying that you feel they could benefit from, and why.

3. Develop an Account Management Plan
Based on your A, B and C tiers develop a plan on how often each of tiers should get a visit from yourself or your salespeople. This will strengthen or improve the relationship and help to keep competitors at bay. The goal should be to have not just satisfied customers but LOYAL and satisfied customers. The frequency of visit depends on the type of business you have but as an example:

- A Class must be visited at least 4 times year
- B Class must be visited at least 2 times per year
- C Class must be visited at least once per year or at least proactively contacted by phone

4. Go back in time

Go back through your records and do a comparison of sales from 2008 to 2009 (calender or financial year, whichever is appropriate). Are there customers that have reduced their spending? Are there customers that stopped spending with you?

Just because they haven't bought from you last year, doesn't mean they don't need you this year. Pick up the phone, make an appointment and get back in contact with your old customers

5. Never underestimate face to face time

Although we live in a time of technology, where just about everything can be done without meeting face to face, never underestimate the value of sitting in front of people. It may seem like a time-consuming, costly exercise but I can just about guarantee that sales will be made (and quicker) when you sit in front of new and existing customers.

It might seem easier to email a proposal but how many times do you play phone tag, wait for them to cal you back and suddenly two weeks has gone by and your still waiting to talk to them? When you sit in front of someone and present your solution in person, you have their complete attention, you can answer any questions and determine their readiness to buy. It really does improve your conversions (quote to sale ratio) and speed up the sale.

This sales article was written by Karen Andrews, Director of Shine Sales Solutions, a Sydney based Sales Coach, Strategist 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

* quotes were supplied by K. Rosen at allbusiness.com

Did you know that one of the biggest gripes against salespeople by decision makers is the lack of follow up?

Many people resist following up because they find it uncomfortable and don’t want to seem pushy or annoying and many people don’t follow up because they simply forget. This lack of follow-up presents a great opportunity for those who are organized and take the time to do it.

Follow-up is important because

• It lets people know you are interested and that you care
• It’s shows your level of commitment
• It keeps the relationship progressing
• It provides opportunities for new discussions and new ideas
• It reminds people you are out there and available
• It shortens the sales cycle
• It saves people time
• It leads to sales!

Some people walk a fine line between following up and being a pest so it’s important to know when enough is enough.

When cold calling, follow up can range from one to six months depending on the interest level, time of year and budgets (to name a few). Follow-up is not about pushing your products or services but rather developing a relationship and ‘earning the right’ to do business with people. When following up, don't simply call to "follow up”, add value in every call and think about what you want to say prior to picking up the phone. Is there something newsworthy that you can discuss that applies to them? Perhaps a success story with a client you've worked with? For example:

• "I was just thinking about our recent conversation and I have some new ideas that I'd like to share with you regarding how our [product/service] may actually complement and enhance what you're currently doing, especially when it comes to [state benefit/end result they could realize]."
• "I was thinking about another client who was in a similar situation as yours and thought that you might be interested in hearing about how we were able to eliminate the challenges they had, such as [state some problems your product/service could eliminate]."
• "We've made some interesting changes to our [product line/service/programs/packages] and thought of you and the results you were looking to achieve. There may be a great fit here worth exploring in more detail so that you can [state compelling benefit]."*

There are many, many examples of large sales being made after 6-12 months of calling just to get an appointment to discuss the opportunity, so don’t give up after the first call.

If people insist that they have no need for services and do not anticipate ever having a need, ask if they would like to be included on your mailing list so you can send them interesting information, tips (just like this one)and to keep them abreast of changes in your business or your industry.

If you need to follow-up after a client meeting, I find the best approach to take is to ask them when is the best time to call. This is particularly relevant if you need to follow-up a quote and you’re not sure when they will be making a decision. For example – Client “I need to look over your proposal and will give you a call once I’ve made a decision”. Sales rep “No problems, if I haven’t heard from you by Thursday (I usually wait 2-3 days) would you mind if I gave you a call?”

By taking this approach you are being told when to follow up and have been given permission to do so – it’s efficient, removes any discomfort of follow-up and it works.

Remember, follow-up takes organisation and good record keeping – not a good memory. There are a number of great contact management (or CRM) systems that will keep a record of all your interactions and allow you to enter follow-up calls or tasks. Many of these programs integrate with your Outlook calendar and your handheld so you can enter reminders in the office or out on the road. I use ACT by Sage to enter all my meetings, phone calls and reminders, which synchronises with my Blackberry. No matter where I am I always have access to my diary, my reminders and all my contacts. It’s fantastic when I need to follow someone up on a particular day that may have been weeks after the initial meeting.

So, impress your prospects and your clients and earn the right to do business with them; it highlights your commitment and your interest in having them as clients. You will be amazed at the results and just how much you stand out from the crowd.

This sales article was written by Karen Andrews, Director of Shine Sales Solutions, a Sydney based Sales Coach, Strategist 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

* quotes were supplied by K. Rosen at allbusiness.com

Looking at your business from a sales perspective and most importantly understanding your business from a client perspective, is one of the most important first steps in sales.

Most people hate being sold to but love the feeling of buying; so the clearer you can explain how your business helps and “what is in it for them” the easier it makes prospective customers to make a buying decision.

The consultative/problem solver approach qualifies and listens to the customer and helps them to buy what they need. The consultative approach focuses on the needs of the customer and how you improve or benefit them in some way.

Every potential prospect that you meet with has a different reason for meeting with you and may also have a range of reasons for using your products and services. These reasons are known as ‘buying reasons’ for the client and are related to what difference you can make.

You cannot see a prospect’s needs; they are inside the prospect and only they can tell you what they are. However, you can be reasonably sure they have a need when they use language like the following:

• I want
• I need
• I’d like to
• We are looking for
• We are interested in
• I wish
• I hope
• What matters is
• It’s important to
• We must

When you have an appointment it is important to listen for and recognise these needs. If you don’t, you risk making incorrect assumptions about what the prospect is looking for and waste time talking about things he or she isn’t interested in. It might sound obvious, but you need to get the prospect talking and you listening, rather than the other way around. I am constantly amazed at how many salespeople sit in front of someone for the first time and never shut up ! A simple measure of how good you are at this is to analyse your appointment; who talked the most?

Remember, if your product, service or business can't

• Improve a current situation
• Saved time or money
• Solve a problem, challenge or frustration, or
• Fulfila need or desire

Why would I want to buy it?

Think of a prospect you are dealing with at the moment, using the reasons above, why would they want to buy your services?

This sales article was written by Karen Andrews, Director of Shine Sales Solutions, a Sydney based Sales Coach, Strategist 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!

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For many people, just the thought of sales evokes terror and fear. Many business owners and salespeople that I have met and worked with have experienced some type of fear relating to sales or the sales process and typically, it’s a "fear of rejection".

When I started my sales career, I faced the similar fears but mine was around cold calling and the fear of rejection over the phone.

I would only cold call as an absolute last resort or when my Manager forced me to do it. Funnily enough, once I got through 2 or 3 calls I was on a roll and I would be successful in making appointments. The hardest thing for me was to just pick up the phone and start dialing the number. It didn’t take me long to realize that calls lead to appointments, appointments lead to quotes and quotes lead to sales. Over time, I got better and better and I knew how many calls I had to make to get appointments that would ultimately lead to sales. So my biggest fear became my biggest strength.

There are far too many people who are not achieving their sales targets, revenue growth or personal goals simply because they are allowing their fear to take over. When you learn to overcome this fear, back yourself and give it a go, you will be more successful. This success will inspire you to keep trying it again and again and again.

It’s also interesting to note that rarely, does the negative feeling or fear come true. For example, many people are afraid that if they ‘upsell’ or suggest accessories or add-on products (which is such a simple and effective way to increase sales) they may lose the sale. If it does, it would be extremely rare. The customer has already decided to purchase, so isn’t it simply good customer service to ensure they have everything they need?

Another fear that regularly pops up is asking questions. Just about everyone in sales knows that great questioning helps to overcome objections and progress the sale. However, many people don’t ask good, probing questions because they are afraid the prospect or customer might give them a negative answer or will feel like they are prying or being too pushy (when all you’re really doing is building a complete picture and understanding of their situation). It’s much better to know about these things during the sales process so you can do something about it, rather than finding out right at the end when it might be too late.

So what can you do to overcome your fear in sales? There is no magic answer or quick fix that will work for everyone but there is one thing that will absolutely make a difference.

Push your fears or concerns aside and just try

When you try, be realistic in your expectations as it may take you several attempts before you begin to get better.

Here are a couple of other suggestions that you might like to try:

1. Identify (and write down) the negative thoughts that come to mind when you have to do what you fear most.
2. Identify your underlying beliefs you have of yourself and the situation? For example, do you think you are bothering people and they will get annoyed when you call?
3. Write a positive belief that will empower you and to overcome it. For example: ‘What I have to sell is extremely valuable and can really make a difference to the business (staff/situation/life). This is a much better way of looking at it than believing you are annoying.
4. Ask a mentor, co-worker or friend to help you or role play with. Tell them what message you want to get across or how you want to sound and see what feedback or advice they can give.
5. Never assume that the outcome will be negative and it’s not worth asking or trying. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. For example, if a prospect is showing interest and giving buying signals simply ask the question “Would you to like me to arrange delivery for next week?” or “Would you be free on Wednesday to start”
6. Be realistic in your approach and understand that sales is a numbers game. Not everyone that you speak with or meet will have an immediate need for your product or service.
7. If you do encounter some negative comments, don’t’ take it personally, because it isn’t personal. It’s business.
8. Get inspired. It can be difficult to motivate yourself to do something that you are always putting off, so instead look for inspiration from those who have been through the same thing and overcome it. Ask them for advice and tips on how they overcame their fear and what success they got out of it. When you are inspired, you will be motivated to try.

There isn’t a person I know in sales or business that hasn’t experienced some type of fear they have had to overcome. So do as the author Susan Jeffers suggests and “feel the fear and do it anyway”

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