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...

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* Simple strategies to sell yourself, even if your not in sales
* How to generate sales easier and quicker!

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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!

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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

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

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

Many people in business and in sales find discussing price very confronting and very uncomfortable, yet it' one of the most important aspects of the sales process and can be a significant indicator as to whether you will be successful in winning the business. Whether you prepare a written proposal or a simple one page quotation, whatever you do, don't try and avoid discussing the number that is on the page or skip over it onto something else. It's is one of the most significant factors that influences the buying decision and you want to make sure that your prospective client understands what tangible and intangible benefits they are getting for their money.

I have compiled a list of tips that will help you win more sales and to win them quicker but also to help reduce any anxiety or discomfort when talking about price.

1. Avoid nasty, uncomfortable surprises when the price is discussed or when you ask for the business. Before you start discussing the proposal, ask if anything has changed since your last meeting.
2. Insert a “Current Situation” or “Executive Summary” to the beginning of your proposal. A short summary of the first meeting to demonstrate your understanding of the business and what they would like to achieve
3. Where possible, present your pricing in person rather than sending via email. It may seem like a waste of time but it gives you the ability to read an immediate reaction to your proposal and your price. It also saves you the time and hassle of having to phone them later and ask if they would like to proceed.
4. Take a copy for each person in the meeting, however, have ONE copy that is not stapled or bound.
5. Present one page at a time to the person or the group, taking the time to reinforce the key points in each section. This allows you to talk about the value you can offer and the benefits of dealing with your business, before it gets to price.
6. Close the sale. Don’t let the opportunity go by because you feel pushy or are worried they might say no. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Besides, they might have been meaning to call you but have been caught up.
7. If you are uncomfortable asking for the sale, use an Assumptive Closing technique. For example: “to get started all we need to do is” or “if you could send over the files, I can go through them” or “I’m free on Wednesday, if that works for you”.
8. Read a book on Body language. Having the ability to read a person’s reaction through their body language is very useful when presenting pricing and negotiating. You can immediately see a positive or a negative reaction to the price.

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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There is something about hearing the definition of madness that reminds me of sales and makes me smile.
The definition I'm referring to is "doing the same thing, over and over, for ever and ever, expecting a different result". A mental picture pops into my head and I see Salespeople and Business Owners communicating to clients the same way they always have and saying the same things but hoping to get a better response!

Just as the change of season brings changes to the temperature and to the landscape, the GFC (global financial crisis) is also bringing about some change.

• Attitudes are changing
• Businesses are changing
• Customers are changing
• Markets are changing and
• People are changing

The world as we know it, is changing which is pretty obvious - but have you noticed the change that's been lurking in the shadows and hiding out behind the GFC?

It's called the NEW ECONOMY and you are currently living in it, working in it and now you or your business is going to have to sell to it.

• The new economy has new needs and new wants and brings with it new opportunities and new challenges.
• The new economy will respond and react to new messages and new approaches.
• The new economy will stop responding and reacting to old messages and old techniques.
• The new economy will need to be marketed-to and sold-to differently.

When was the last time you reviewed your sales and marketing plan to see if your ready to seize the opportunities and generate sales from the new economy?

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.

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* 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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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.

1. Use a friendly, conversational approach rather than a cold, direct approach.
2. Don’t try and sell on the phone; you can’t. You can, however, get a meeting or permission to send information.
3. Talk about how you can help that business or how you have helped other business. Don’t try and sell to them.
4. 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.
5. Set a goal for each phone call. Would you like contact information, a meeting or permission to send information.
6. Write down all the possible objections that you are likely to encounter and have an answer ready for them.
7. 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.
8. Always treat Assistants, Personal Assistants and Executive Assistants with respect; they have the power to get you in or keep you out.
9. 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?
10. Make your calls from 9.30am to about 11.30am and then start again around 2pm and go through till 4pm.
11. Set yourself a call target rather than a time target, it makes it easier to achieve.
12. Don’t leave messages; it is rare that anyone would call you back.
13. Ask or appeal for help rather than just going straight into a spiel.
14. 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!
15. 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.
16. 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.

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.

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