Archive for category SALES BEST PRACTICES
How Sales Teams Should Approach Price Negotiations
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on January 31, 2017
Sales staff face many challenges en route to closing a deal, but one of the most difficult can be handling those tricky price negotiations. In many cases, a buyer will look to try and squeeze a discount out of a sales rep, forcing a negotiation to take place. So how should a sales team approach this?
Negotiate From the Beginning
Too many sales reps think of negotiation as something that takes place at the end of a sales process, after all of the other work has been done. In reality, your sales team needs to be negotiating throughout the process. However, early negotiation should be framed in terms of trying to find a mutually beneficial solution.
A common tactic from buyers is something known as ‘anchoring’, where they attempt to establish their own maximum price early. When this is attempted, sales reps should enquire as to how they arrived at that figure, and try to learn about the buyer’s needs. Ideally, sales staff should also be the first to state a figure.
Sell Value Rather Than Price
One of the best ways to improve negotiating is to sell value rather than price, and this should be emphasized in sales management training and become a part of the sales culture. Your product may be more expensive than a competitor’s because it is better. Selling value means staff can approach negotiations from a position of strength.
“The reality is, there are solutions customers will pay a premium for,” MHI Global writes in their document, The Problem With Price Discussions. “Ultimately, customers decide to buy from you because they believe you brought to the table something that has value to them that they can’t get elsewhere.”
Know When to Walk Away
Finally, a sales team should know that there will be times when a mutually beneficial solution cannot be reached. This is unfortunate, but staff should have a clearly defined breaking point and should not be afraid to walk away from sales opportunities that have no real potential.
Where possible, sales training should try to teach staff to recognize early warning signs that a negotiation will fail, so that as little time is wasted as possible. However, this can be difficult. The most important thing is to remember that other sales opportunities will exist if this one isn’t right for either party.
This Article was originally posted to the EyeOnSales Blog on December 2, 2016
Sales Training – It Isn’t About “If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It”
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on June 26, 2016
It is also not about the elapsed time since you last did it. The strategic “it” in this case is the decision about whether you should make an investment in sales training.
If you traveled back in time and drop in on some of the conversations about sales training, you might hear: “We are not knocking the ball out of the park but things are okay plus we have a lot of other things going on so let’s think about that sales training thing next year” or “We just did some training three or four years ago – trained our entire sales team.”
It’s also true if you tune in with your other ear, you might pick up on comments such as: “Say, we have Thursday afternoon free at the national sales meeting why don’t we just fill that slot with some sales training” or “I just got a call from a training company, why don’t we just try them out in our southern region – we’ll probably get something out of it.”
Fast forward to the present – can you hear those same voices? Our experience says absolutely. But the really bad news is due to the present day competitive environment and the disruption in the markets, the negative consequences of those ideas are far greater.
The notion that one can develop and sustain a superior sales team in today’s buying environment without taking a more aggressive and forward looking perspective on when to invest in sales training and what that sales training needs to accomplish is at the very least questionable. The sales training discussion needs to be updated and reframed.
So, asking if something is broken or asking when was the last time we did it are not the right questions. What is the right question for determining if a sales training investment is appropriate?
Ask yourself: Is there a change occurring either internally or externally that requires your sales team to adapt and adjust their sales skills to continue to sell effectively? Let’s explore three examples of such a change.
Go-to-market strategy. Recently we were talking with a client that determined it was necessary to shift from being a low-cost provider to a value-added provider if they were to remain competitive. To execute this shift a number of changes needed to be considered ranging from the sales compensation package to the territory design to market segments – and the skill set of the sales team.
Most sales reps cannot easily move from selling on price to selling on value without some substantial help. Hence considering an investment in sales training is clearly warranted.
New product. Companies launch a dazzling array of new products annually. They run the gamut from innovative new offerings to minor upgrades of existing products. Yet, regardless of whether it’s a simple upgrade or a “bet the company” new product, the product launch strategy too often looks more like an escape plan than a well-devised blueprint to develop market superiority. The greater the innovation of the new product, the greater the need for the sales team to update their sales skills.
It is a safe bet that many new product launches fail to deliver the expected results because the investment in improving the sales team’s ability to sell the new product is inadequate.
Disruptive market changes. Companies in a number of markets are going through transformational changes in what they buy, how they buy, and what they are willing to pay for it. The medical sales industry is a striking example. If you are selling in the hospital market, winning is now about selling both the clinical and economic value of your product and you cannot just sell to the doctors, you also have to sell to Value Analysis Committees comprised of people who will never directly use the product.
If buyers change how they buy, sellers need to change how they sell and training needs to help.
There is an added benefit of reframing the need for sales training as a response to a strategic change. It enables a company to not only determine when an investment is warranted, it also helps you to define exactly what the sales training ought to look like. Case in point, the nature and content of the most effective sales training for the above noted examples would be significantly different.
It is unlikely that sales training will ever develop a better track record unless we do a better job determining the strategic reason why we are doing the training in the first place. The need must be clearly defined and it must be a need that matters.
This article was originally posted to the Sales Training Connection Blog by Richard Ruff on June 1, 2016.
Plan Ahead To Smoothly Navigate Pricing Objections
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on April 25, 2016
“That price is too high.”
“Why is this so expensive?”
“I have a better offer. You’re going to have to lower your price.”
It’s the dreaded pricing objection. We’ve all had to deal with it at some point in our careers. Regardless of what form it takes, it can be one of the most frustrating challenges sales professionals have to face.
As part of a series of articles, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at what you can do to overcome this most difficult of client objections. We start today by tackling the question of how to prevent the pricing objection before your clients bring it up!
Address it from the start
If price always seems to become an issue for you, one of the most effective strategies is to preempt the question by dealing with it up front.
Don’t be afraid to talk about price. Train yourself to bring it up first and put it on the table as early as possible in the sales dialogue. Try telling your prospective client something like:
“I want to be up front that our product won’t be the cheapest available. You will always find someone who is less expensive than us, and you will always find someone who is more expensive than us. We are always competitive. Knowing that we are not the cheapest, does it make sense for us to go ahead?”
When you ask this question, one of two things will happen:
One: The buying cycle will end immediately because the client only wants the cheapest product and you don’t have it. Don’t be alarmed. This is good news. There’s no point wasting your valuable time with someone who has no intention of buying.
Or
Two: The client will say, “No problem, we’re not making our decision on the basis of price alone.” This will effectively eliminate the client’s ability to raise this objection later on, and allow you to move forward with a high degree of certainty that price will not become an issue.
Give a ballpark figure ahead of time
Another way to reduce the number of times you hear “your price is too high” is by literally telling your customers your price (or an estimate of your price) before you give it to them in writing. This will allow you to deal with any potential pricing concerns in person, before your client receives a formal proposal.
NOTE: The estimate I give is always about 20 percent higher than I think the real highest price will be. This helps ensure I have a little breathing room later on.
Be ready with alternatives
When you’re ready to talk price, have several options prepared beforehand to handle your client’s response, whatever it may be. This will enable you to retain some control and momentum regardless of whether their reaction is positive or negative.
If the client reacts negatively through body language — such as flinching, shrugging, rolling their eyes, or falling off their chair onto the floor — you can say:
“I sense I’ve missed the mark. What were you expecting to invest?”
Or
“You don’t seem comfortable with that price. Have you found something lower?”
Notice that both of these questions have two distinct parts. First, you acknowledge that the client appears to be uncomfortable. This will help build trust and get them on your side. Second, you ask a direct question. You can use this formula every time you are faced with an objection.
If the client verbally tells you that your price is too high, your first move is to take a breath and remain quiet for a full three seconds. Then ask them, “I guess you’re looking only for the cheapest price?”
They will either say yes or no. If they say no, you can ask, “Really? What else is there?”
If they answer yes, you can say, “Okay, knowing that we will not be the lowest price, does that mean we will never get the chance to do business together?”
Utilize the key word for managing objections
When it comes to handling sales objections, “never” is the most powerful word in the English language.
Most people hate it. Very few are willing to commit to it. As a result, the vast majority of prospects will respond to it by saying, “Well, no… Not never!”
In that case, your job is to simply ask, “Really? Why?” The client will then either tell you what it will take to do business with them or ask you for something that you can’t provide. Either way, this puts the control back in your hands by letting you choose between making the sale or turning down the deal and walking away.
If a client is dead set on getting the lowest price and you know you can’t offer it, then you may as well end the conversation right now and get to work on deals that have a better likelihood of closing. Spending time trying to sell to someone who is never going to buy from you is a bad decision — and a costly mistake.
Create and fine tune your best responses
The final step is to sit down (on your own or with your team) and brainstorm your best possible answers to every potential objection.
Practice your responses out loud until you’ve mastered them. Make them your own. Then review your work each quarter to make sure that everyone on your team knows which responses are working best.
Overall, if you can reduce the number of objections you receive, you will sell more. Period
This article was originally posted to the Eye on Sales Blog by Colleen Francis on April 7, 2016.
The Importance of Understanding Buyer Needs
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on April 19, 2016
Virtually all companies claim to be “customer-centric,” but set many of their salespeople up for failure with the prodigious amount of product training they provide. Sellers’ comfort zones become talking about offerings rather than exploring business issues. While tolerated at low levels within organizations, it often shortens sales calls made on executives or abruptly ends them. Executives have neither the time nor the desire to be “educated” about offerings by salespeople.
Early in calls it’s important for executives to conclude sellers are sincere and competent (Steven Covey’s definition of being viewed as trustworthy). This conclusion is a prerequisite for executives to share their desired business outcomes or problems with salespeople. Buying cycles only begin when Key Players share desired business outcomes they’re willing to spend money to achieve.
As with many things in life, a seller may want to step back and realize there is work to do before Key
Players will be willing to share business goals. Sadly, many B and C players lack the patience to learn about buyer needs. Once a business outcome is shared they believe its permission to present their offerings and tell prospects how good it’s going to be. Some sellers have the audacity to begin product pitches with the words: Here’s what you need. In general, people don’t like to be told what they need to do, especially by salespeople. I believe sellers should earn the right to talk about their offerings by asking questions first.
Taking a step back, let’s look at it from an executive’s viewpoint:
- Executives are unaware of the reasons they can’t achieve business outcomes. In my mind the first step in learning buyer needs is asking questions in an attempt to uncover barriers to achieving goals that can be addressed by capabilities within a seller’s offering. If buyers knew the barriers to achieving desired outcomes, they’d try to address them without a seller’s help.
- Unless executives feel their needs are understood, they aren’t ready to have sellers tell them the solutions. Beyond that, unless sellers can quantify the cost of not achieving the desired outcome, prospects won’t understand the potential value of the offering being discussed.
- Without first asking questions, the solution will be the seller’s opinion. Given previous experiences with sellers, how much credibility does someone trying to make a sale have with a buyer? Sellers diving into product run the risk of wasting time by offering parts of their offering that aren’t relevant to the business issue being discussed. If sellers could be more patient in doing diagnoses first, they could shine a flashlight on buyer needs. Without doing so they blindly proceed.
- By asking questions first, sellers earn the right to talk about only those features that can allow the desired business outcome to be achieved. When done this way, sales can be viewed as a hurt (diagnose buyer needs) and rescue (offer relevant features based upon the way the buyer answers questions) exercise.
Executive buyers appreciate sellers that focus on business outcomes, help understand the barriers to achieving them and articulate the relevant capabilities that can be used to address them. Once compelling value has been established, buyers are incented to accelerate the decision process as they realize delays mean benefits are not being realized.
Simply said, the seller that best understands buyer needs is more likely to win the business.
This article was originally posted to the Sales Marketing Management Blog by Frank Visgatis on April 4, 2016.
Tell a Story Versus Pitch a Product
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on April 11, 2016
One of the most common traps in selling is talking too soon and talking much about your product.
Now, if you travel back in time there was good reason why many sales reps fall into the “product pitch” trap. They were constantly being taught the “101 tips for doing a perfect feature pitch.” They were just doing what they were taught.
Fortunately times have changed. Companies have completed the shift from a product-centric to a customer centric approach to selling. Lessons about great scripted product pitches are best viewed as historical tales to be told around the campfire.
So, if it is all about customer value, what is the substitute for the product pitch script? One answer to that question is – tell a story.
It is one thing to talk about a list of reasons why a customer should do business with you; it is another to be able to relate past success stories that bring that list to life. The latter is memorable and repeatable – the former is just another list of features.
So what are some tips for the art of storytelling in Sales?
- Make it personal. If you want someone to care about making sustained behavior change, you have to individualize the story. The more personal you can make the link between the story and the desired behavior change, the greater your chances of success.
- Keep it positive. A positive story narrative moves a customer along a path towards change. Interjecting negative outcomes that might result if the status quo is maintained are unlikely to be helpful.
- Probe why a customer would make a change. Learn early on why a customer would change from one product to another and why they won’t. Weave this information into the story.
- Stay on message. What is the primary goal that the customer wants to sustain over time? How can you craft the story so that it illustrates how working with you and your company can help them move closer to achieving their goal?
Storytelling allows you to translate your sales message from a feature pitch to a positive customer experience with business outcomes. It is worth noting that great stories are not usually created on the spot. Like most things that have high impact, they take time to develop and they require practice and feedback.
Here it is important to note that individual reps should not be the ones that have sole responsibility for creating the stories. Marketing needs to help for a whole bunch of reasons. This help is particularly important in companies where a lot of new reps are being hired.
This article was originally posted to the Sales Training Connection Blog by Janet Spirer on March 15, 2016.
How to Keep Your Clients Through Writing
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on April 1, 2016
It is a wonderful thing that you keep obtaining more and more clients for your business. You have a large number of clients. The question is whether you can keep those clients. Considering that you are probably using your content as a powerful tool to attract clients, you should also be using it to retain them indefinitely.
Learning to retain your clients
Of course, you must be well aware of the fact that your content is critical to your professional success. There are many different reasons why your content must be written and presented in a certain way in order for it to have the most impact on your clients and prospective clients.
The content gets the other people to start thinking about what you and your business can do for them. It is very important at this point to remember that no matter how wonderful you and your business are, the only thing that really matters is that you are able to solve the other person’s problem(s). With that in mind, it is essential that you write as effectively as you possibly can. After all, it is extremely important for you to keep your eye on the prize. That prize is being able to retain your clients forever (or whatever forever means to you and to your business).
What should your writing approach be?
First of all, it is important to choose quality over quantity. However, it is also very important that you don’t lose sight of each person with whom you are trying to establish a relationship. It is also important to understand that the value of a relationship to one person (or to two people) may not be the same for other people. Each connection that is established is slightly different. Not only is that true but if we don’t maintain the relationship and really keep it alive, even if the relationship was originally established for very good reasons, those reasons may not be enough to sustain the relationship. If you want to become much more successful than you are at this moment, you will need to step up and bring your business to the next level. So, how do you plan on accomplishing that?
There are two aspects of your content approach that you must consider. First of all, you need to make sure that the quality of your content is up to snuff. Second, you have to make sure that you content positively affects the people who are reading it. In other words, you need to understand why you are writing and sharing that particular content.
Before you start to write anything at all, you should have certain concepts in your mind.
- Getting your clients to pay attention: First and foremost, you are going to need to get your readers to stand up and pay attention to what you want to share with them. In order to do that, you need write your content in a certain way. You want to attract the right type of people, not just anyone. Remember, quality over quantity.
- Establish a connection with your clients: There are many different ways that you can establish a connection with your readers; however, one of the way is critical to your relationship with your readers and, therefore, with your success. That is the emotional connection. Without the emotional connection, you will have no common ground with your readers.
- Get your clients to buy into who you are and what you represent: As a business owner, there are some things that are extremely important to you. One of those things is passion for what you are doing. Another thing that is extremely important for you is; really believing in what you are doing. The reality is that the more they buy into what you are doing, the more likely they will be to sing your praises to other people.
- Your approach to selling your products and/or services: The reason that you write content, which you will not share until it is perfect in your eyes, is to ultimately sell your products and/or services to other people. Your content is the ultimate tool to selling your offerings. However, it is very important to remember that your selling approach must be soft. Otherwise, you will probably not succeed at selling anything. Always use the soft-sell approach.
- Figuring out how to keep your clients: You need to figure out a way to keep your clients coming back for more through your content. Not only do you want your clients to want to stay with you but you need to write content that makes them want to deepen the relationship that they share with you. That is the only way to ensure that the relationship will progress in a healthy manner.
Conclusion
If you are going to succeed at writing content that allows you to keep your clients, that means that you consider their needs above your own each and every time you write content that you intend to share with them. Of course, before anything else, you need to have a proper strategy in place. Part of that strategy must be to empathize with them and to be sensitive to how they feel and how they think. The truth is that you are going to have to keep working at keeping your clients. It may be challenging at times but it will become easier over time and it is certainly well worth the effort.
This article was originally posted to the Business 2 Community blog by Carolyn Cohn on March 13, 2016.
Ten Spring Cleaning Tips for Small Business Owners
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on March 29, 2016
We’re on the back end of winter, and many across the country are looking forward to the warmer temperatures and sunshine that come with spring. However, there is one chore that often comes with the new season that many aren’t always so excited about. I’m talking of course about spring cleaning.
Regardless of your feelings on spring cleaning, what many don’t realize is that taking part in doing so should go beyond the home. For small business owners, spring is an ideal time to make some changes around the company.
Here are 10 ways business owners can apply the spring cleaning concept to their company.
- Clean Up Your Website
If a small business’s website is due for an upgrade, spring is a great time to dig in. It doesn’t have to be a complete overhaul, and sometimes just some tidying up is all that’s needed. This can mean reworking the way information is presented to make it easier for Web users to digest, or aiming for a cleaner design. Pamela Springer talks about this in her piece for American Express’ Open Forum.
“Because more people browse the Internet these days before buying, it’s crucial that your website’s user-interface be friendly and easy to navigate,” she says. “Avoid providing all the information about your company—such as hours, offerings and location—on the homepage. Instead, list topics that link to different pages. When you’re updating information on the Web, make sure your network is also aware of the changes, since online connections can often help small businesses generate referrals and leads.”
- Consider the Cloud
Some small business owners may still be wondering, “What is the cloud?” Or perhaps they just haven’t had the time to analyze the different ways it may benefit their business. The flexibility cloud technology provides alone is worth exploring, Andre Lavoie writes for Entrepreneur.com.
“One of the most alluring benefits of cloud computing is being able to access work-related files and information from any device in any place at any time,” Lavoie explains. “We live in a mobile world. Long gone are the days where files are stuck on a single server on a single computer. As the workplace begins to cater to more remote workers and flexible working arrangements, being able to access work materials, when not at work, is essential for employees. Not only does cloud computing make it easier for employees to work outside of the office, it makes it easier for small-business owners to manage their business at any time of day, from anywhere.”
- Get Mobile
A simple website doesn’t cut it in today’s Internet-obsessed environment. Mobile sites should make it easier for people to view content from their phone or tablet, and mobile sites are arguably more important these days than desktop versions. Mobile has the potential to lead to additional revenue opportunities, which is why incorporating a responsive site for your business is so crucial. Rieva Lesonsky discusses this in a story for Small Biz Daily, which includes a 2014 study that shows mobile technology’s impact on businesses today.
“If your business is not mobile-friendly, you are likely losing revenue opportunities,” she says. “According to new research from hibu, SMBs that don’t accept mobile payments could be losing out on as much as $1 trillion in annual revenues. The study highlights the paradox of small business and mobile technology: While the SMB owners themselves predict mobile sales will grow an astounding 630 percent this year, 91 percent of them don’t have mobile-optimized websites. What’s worse is only 15 percent plan to upgrade and optimize their sites, which is a prescription for failure.”
- Upgrade Technology
If budgets allows for it, spring can be a good time to purchase equipment that improves a business’s processes and workflows. Sheen Chen talks about the impact this can have in an article for Business 2 Community, noting that these purchases are often eliminated during leaner times and can ultimately hold a business back in the long term.
“For your business spring cleaning, you should replace malfunctioning computers, monitors and other defective hardware,” Chen explains. “Having malfunctioning equipment can easily disrupt business productivity by potentially breaking at a critical time (e.g. POS system malfunctioning) and causing your small business to lose sales. If you have held back on regularly updating your software, your system may be susceptible to viruses, therefore immobilizing your business.”
- Inventory Assessment
Just as spring is a great time for homeowners to take on that long-delayed garage project or closet cleanup effort so too can small business owners with inventory. Set aside the time to examine what’s on hand and what should be cleared out, Madie Hodges explains in her piece for Kabbage.com.
“Spring is a great time to go through your entire inventory and get rid of damaged, aged, or expired products,” Hodges writes. “You are taking this time to make your business a better place, and your product or service is the bread and butter of your company. So taking this time to improve the options your customers have can really make a huge difference in your sales. This is also a great opportunity for you to look into new types of vendors and products. Spring is the best time to expand because it’s the start of a new, high volume-selling season!”
- Clean Out that Inbox
When emails go unread and begin to pile up, it can become a legitimate nuisance that damages your ability to be productive. A lot of it may be junk mail that just needs to be deleted, but it’s also possible that you’re missing important information in an email buried deep in that unread pile. Springer addresses some other problems of this in her American Express piece.
“It’s no surprise that you feel bombarded by quirky spam, given that an estimated 247 million emails are sent every day, according to Email Marketing Report,” she says. “If it’s difficult to decide what’s trash and what’s treasure, it’s time for a deep-clean of your inbox. This doesn’t mean sacrificing your weekend to delete junk mail; instead, take 15 to 20 minutes at the end of each day to sort emails into appropriate folders. Most email providers offer support for automating cleanup, through use of tools including searches, labels and filters.”
- Consider Security Measures
Hackers are constantly lurking on the Internet for people and businesses to take advantage of, so it’s a smart call to analyze your company’s security measures. Lesonsky examines this for Small Biz Daily, saying that small businesses are often easy targets for these destructive individuals do to the oversight of implementing strong security protocols.
“What do attackers want from companies as small as yours?” she asks. “Think about the valuable information you have, particularly customer lists, contact information and credit card or other sensitive data. And while the payoff is likely bigger when they attack bigger businesses, the fact is it’s easier to hack into businesses like yours, since you’ve very likely not kept your cybersecurity up to date. You need to make sure you install the latest security patches and updates as soon as they become available to keep attackers from breaking into your system.”
- Evaluate and Acknowledge Good Work
Spring brings with it a sense of renewed energy and intentions of improvement. This doesn’t just apply to business owners but to their employees as well, making spring a perfect opportunity to encourage their good work. As Hodges writes, springtime can be the right time for employers to evaluate their employees overall performance, and to reward them for all their hard work during the often stressful holiday season.
“Go through and do employee evaluations and reward those who deserve it for their hard work, and trim what doesn’t seem to fit,” she says. “Now is also the best time to adjust your budgets and find out where you can add bonuses to your payroll. The most effective way to handle employee evaluations is to sit down with your management team first and discuss your employees’ objectives. Then sit down with each individual employee and go over their measurable results. Remember to always ask for their feedback about your management styles.”
- Get Social
In addition to a cleaner website and effective mobile capabilities, social media presence has become a must for modern businesses in today’s world. The ability to connect and engage with consumers helps increase awareness of your business, which can translate to revenue gains from attracting new customers. Chen talks about this in his Business 2 Community story.
“When used appropriately, social media can be a great platform to attract new business,” he writes. “Depending on your business, you’ll need to find the appropriate social media platform to engage your customers. You can also help spruce up your company’s image by adding a blog to your website and keeping your customers informed and improving your website’s SEO.”
- Literal Spring Cleaning
Yes, taking the time to literally get into taking care of things that need some serious cleaning can be a worthwhile exercise around the office. This can apply to the overall cleanliness your equipment and the office, Lesonsky suggests in Small Biz Daily.
“Your hardware and peripherals are likely much dirtier than you think. Take some time to clean your keyboards (use compressed air), monitor screens and check the batteries in your mouse or wireless keyboards. Check your printer as well. Do all the parts move smoothly? Are you up-to-date on manufacturers’ updates? Is the printer free of paper bits? Make sure you have extra cartridges on hand, so you’re never caught short without ink.”
This article was originally posted to the Business 2 Community blog by David Kiger on March 12, 2016.
Six Thoughts on How to Sales Prospect More Effectively
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on March 22, 2016
When I first started out in sales, I didn’t expect sales prospecting to be so tough. I was a bit naïve and expected more instant success. I wasn’t prepared for strong objections and rejection.
I wish someone had said to me beforehand, “Look, this is going to be hard. You’re going to get knock-backs and rejections. The win rate is going to be low at first; you’ve got to expect that.” Now, I know how tough prospecting can be. If it’s not page one of the sales manual, it should be.
Here are six thoughts on how to sales prospect more effectively.
- Set an objective. Know what you want to achieve with every call to a prospect. The goal of the first call might only be to set up a second call during which you can have a needs dialogue. Or, the goal might be to have a physical meeting. You have limited time to get your point across, so know what you want to accomplish beforehand.
- Develop a really sharp elevator pitch. Yes, you will need an elevator pitch for your first contact, so prepare a compelling statement that grabs the prospect’s attention in 30 seconds or less. These days, prospects are so bombarded by sales calls and e-mails that you have mere seconds to establish a connection and pique their interest.
- Develop a few good lines. Let’s say you’re in a sales meeting with a prospect who has just admitted that there is an incumbent provider who is performing satisfactorily. You just might open the door to some new opportunities by pulling out a few broader lines of questioning. “If you had an unlimited budget, what else would you like? What would be the dream scenario?” Sometimes, this approach can lead to a wider discussion about what’s working well and what’s not and it can also uncover new paths of possible collaboration.
- Forget the formula. Most people don’t like being sold to or feeling coerced or pushed into a corner. They want to feel like they’re having a sensible conversation with someone about something that’s quite interesting to both parties. The problem is when the conversation begins to sound more like a script. The most successful sales professionals know how to have conversations with prospects without sounding formulaic. They hit all of their marks, following their targeted questioning techniques while making it all sound natural and conversational.
- Consider marketing colleagues as allies. There used to be a distinct boundary between marketing and sales. That boundary is now more porous, if it exists at all. I’ve heard it said that business development is really that strong link between marketing and sales. As sales professionals, we need to be much more aware and savvy about effective ways to work with our marketing colleagues. Even in recent years, sales professionals might have thought that e-mail or LinkedIn campaigns were marketing tools and that, instead of electronic communication, they should “just pick up the phone and see if anybody’s interested.” Now, the capabilities and work alliances are more fluid, and sales professionals are realizing how much more effective they can be when sales and marketing work hand-in-hand.
- Do your homework. If you’ve done all the hard work to get yourself in front of a sales prospect who’s interested in what you have to say, you certainly don’t want to blow it because you’re not prepared to engage in a proper needs dialogue and to discuss the value of what you can offer. Success in prospecting only opens the door. You’ve got to draw on your selling skills in order to walk through the following phases of the sales process: developing the opportunity, developing the solution, presenting the solution, negotiating and closing, and then maintaining and expanding the relationship.
This article was originally posted to the Richardson Sales Enablement Blog by Jonathan Craig on March 1, 2016.
The Best Elevator Speech is Not a Speech
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on March 17, 2016
As the story goes from time to time you are alone in an elevator, the door opens and in walks someone you have been trying to schedule a meeting with forever. You now have an opportunity for a 2-3 minute conversation – so what is your message?
If you find yourself face-to-face in a similar situation– are you prepared for a short conversation that your “new found friend” will find compelling?
Let’s review some specific ideas to keep in mind for the proverbial two to three minute “elevator” conversation:
- Remember the purpose. An elevator speech and a sales presentation are not the same thing. In fact, they are entirely different! Sales presentations are more formal, longer and delivered after a significant amount of work understanding the challenges faced by the customer. An elevator speech is a short, casual conversation that you hope earns you the right for setting up a subsequent meeting. So, in an elevator speech, don’t simply try to tell your regular product story twice as fast.
- One size does not fit all. There is no such thing as an effective “preparation” that fits all situations. This is why sales management cannot craft some generic “elevator speech” that fits all situations. But you can get a head start – sometimes sales management or Marketing can provide core talking points or salespeople can think about a message or two they would like to share and then modify as appropriate. The flip side is also true … you can think about a few questions your customer might ask. What would you say if asked the simple question – “What’s new?” If you’ve thought through a point or two, you can then adapt the message to fit the person with whom you’re talking.
- A problem-centered approach works best. Because issues and challenges have center stage in any customer’s mind, a problem-centered approach is preferred. As is always the case, the focus needs to be on the customer. When planning a meeting, organize what you know about the issues and challenges the customer may be facing.
- Share short success stories. Sometimes you have a chance encounter with a customer that you never thought you would encounter – so you have no plan for the interaction. Here, the best preparation is simply always being aware of the most current success stories your company has experienced.
Above all else – remember the best elevator speeches are not speeches at all. They are short statements that enable you to engage the customer in a conversation. In the first 30 seconds of a two-minute impromptu meeting relate your talking points to a problem that you know a similar customer would face, and then immediately ask a question to shift the conversation so the customer is doing the talking. If you can get the customer engaged, you just might end up with the customer saying – “do you have a few more minutes?”
One may think the elevator speech is such a small part of the interaction with customers that it is simply not worth focusing on. It’s true that elevator speeches don’t close sales. But they are opportunities to advance the sale – obtaining an appointment for the following week, or asking the best way to get on the customer’s calendar.
This article was originally posted to the Sales Training Connection Blog by Janet Spier on February 16, 2016.
Complex Selling Essentials: Focus, Systems and Talent
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on March 14, 2016
Complex B2B sales are usually characterized by lengthy, high-value buying decisions that involve multiple stakeholders and frequently end in a decision to do nothing and stick with the status quo. But that doesn’t mean they have to be complicated – far from it.
Over-complicated responses to managing the complex sales process have a woeful success rate. Sales people simply don’t see the value in having to enter reams of information into CRM systems that they doubt management will ever pay proper attention to – or conform to processes that they see as doing nothing to increase their chances of winning. And they are right to rebel.
I believe that the evidence is clear: mastering three deceptively simple principles turns out to be critical to winning the complex sale…
1: FOCUS
First, and at the risk of stating the obvious, your sales and marketing activities must be laser-focused on identifying, engaging and qualifying the opportunities that are most likely to want to buy from you. It sounds like a simple principle, but many sales people and the organizations they work for nevertheless manage to squander enormous amount of time and energy pursuing “opportunities” they have little chance of closing.
Focusing on the right issues requires that you identify and target critical pain points that – once they recognize them – your prospects will be forced to address, and for which you have a demonstrably superior solution.
Focusing on the right organizations involves much more than the classic demographics of size, sector and location: it requires a profound understanding of the common characteristics of your most promising prospects and the trigger events that will cause them to act.
And focusing on the right stakeholders involves identifying and targeting the people who are most likely to act as catalysts for change (also known as “mobilizers”) within these target organizations.
Any failure in any aspect of focus simply sets the foundations for failure.
2: SYSTEMS
Even if you’re focused, you can’t afford to leave sales success to chance. That’s why today’s most effective sales organizations have defined dynamic sales processes that mirror the way their prospects make buying decisions. These systems reflect the winning habits of top sales performers, and offer a simple but effective guide to all sales people as to what they need to know, do, use, share and avoid at each stage of the buyer’s journey.
This emphasis on the buying decision process is critical: it forces the sales person to think about what the prospect needs to achieve in order to achieve consensus around the need for change.
The best of these sales systems are based around simple, flexible frameworks rather than rigid guidelines – and they dynamically evolve to reflect the latest learning about how sales success is best achieved.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of having an effective sales process – they can help to dramatically bridge the performance gap between the best and the rest, and ensure that new hires become productive quickly.
Over-complicated or inadequate systems inevitably mean that your sales people will spend much of their time on things that fail to advance the sale.
3: TALENT
This leads neatly to the third key principle: no matter how clear your focus, and no matter how effective your systems, you can never achieve your full potential without the right people on board.
It’s disturbing to observe how often new hires with apparently highly relevant experience fail to make their mark in their new organization. It’s particularly apparent when people get hired out of large corporate into start-ups or expansion-phase companies – the cultural differences often prove to be unbridgeable wide.
Hiring for experience alone clearly isn’t enough. In fact there’s a wealth of evidence to suggest that, faced with a choice between hiring for aptitude, attitude or experience, experience is the least reliable predictor of future success.
In fact, aptitude and attitude turn out to be so important that they simply cannot be left to chance – and this explains the dramatic rise in assessment solutions for both hiring and employee development.
Without the right talent, any complex sales environment will surely fail.
ELIMINATING AVOIDABLE ERROR
When you think about it, these three principles are less to do with striving for perfection than they are about eliminating avoidable error: they are about not pursuing opportunities that are a bad fit, they are about not doing things that fail to facilitate the prospect’s decision process, and they are about eliminating poor hiring or staff development decisions.
Striving for perfection may be an inspirational goal: but eliminating avoidable error (and simplifying your focus, systems and talent management) is usually a far more practical – and effective – strategy.
This article was originally posted to the Inflection Point blog by Bob Apollo on February 23, 2016.
-
You are currently browsing the archives for the SALES BEST PRACTICES category.
Follow On The Web!
