People have a negative opinion of sales people but let's take some time to look at who exactly a sales person is. For me a sales person is someone who goes through the sales process, so they generate interest, they qualify there audience to ensure that the solution is for them and they gain commitment to the solution from the audience. Is it only sales people that go through this process or are these skills used day to day in all environments to gain commitment, do you go through this process when trying to convince a friend to accompany you to the cinema for example?
It is not unusual for us all to find ourselves in a situation where we are being sold to, if we forget that sales is all about a physical product and consider that what we can be asked to buy into could be anything from an idea to a way of life it is apparent that we are a potential customer daily and are the target of a sales pitch.
A hairdresser will regularly offer you a product to help get the best out of your new style, this will be pitched as a recommendation but it is not unusual for a hairdresser to receive commission for selling retail products.
A bank clerk will discuss account upgrades and finance packages with you, this will be pitched as an opportunity to get the best out of your money but it is not unusual for a bank clerk to be targeted and receive commission on selling finance products.
A politician will talk at length about new policies, this will be pitched as a way to a better life for you and your fellow nationals but they want you to buy into their party and make that vote.
A lawyer sells a scenario to an audience of jurors, the lawyer's sole aim and objective is for the jurors to buy his story or interpretation of events.
A manager ensures a team's timely completion of work, this will be achieved by selling the benefits of the work's completion.
Who's buying? We as individuals will buy into something every day as a result of the influence and sales skills of another. Today I was offered the solution to a problem, it was pitched to me as something that would answer many questions and something that would take a problem away, whether this is true or not is yet to be proved but I bought into it. That is a good job done.
Without knowing it there are many professions which require the skills of a sales person, it may be difficult to accept but how often have you found yourself in a situation even with friends and family when you are keen to participate in something that you have had to gain agreement on, how do you gain agreement? It's Simple you selling to them.
But how does this translate to every career? Anyone who is an employee will find them offering an solution to a colleague, manager or client at some stage. This may be a great solution but your success will depend very much on your delivery, you need to sell this solution to the recipient to ensure that it is agreed and implemented, you need to exercise your sales skills to gain buy in to the solution.
Consider how often you go through this process on a daily basis without even considering it selling, consider how many times you have lost that sale and consider the feeling of making a sale on every attempt!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
How to sell more and generate more business
If you have a sales team or call center at your office, it is important for you to understand just how much a team atmosphere influences positive attitudes amongst employees and how much it motivates employees to sell more and generate new business. However, some business owners are faced with a conundrum. How do you create this team atmosphere in the office while keeping costs controlled and making sure everyone has adequate space to work?
Every great sales team or call center needs office cubicles that provide privacy and space, but also allow team members to work in a functional and upbeat atmosphere. There are a variety of companies that can help plan and implement office cubicles that will specifically fit the needs of your office now and as you grow, as it is important that you are able to adjust the cubicle components to accommodate new employees or open up an area if you have to let employees go.
When you have an office cubicle system that is well thought out and one that functions in such a way to allow employees the ability to have uninterrupted phone calls as well as generate a great team atmosphere, you will see your investment pay off in terms of increased sales and new revenue generation.
The wise business owner knows that their office has to be a comfortable place for their employees to come to each day. Employees need to feel as if they have their own space to do their job in and when this is attained, employees will be more positive, motivated, eager to work and ready to make the sales that will help your company succeed.
What do you mean by closing sales? I believe a lot of business man, sales person and entrepreneurs knew about what closing a sales means and how it works and how it is done.
Closing a sales means that a sales person is making an agreement with the customer on the product he is selling. This is the most critical part in selling because this is the part that will distinguish if your product will be bought or not.
There are a lot of persuasion techniques in closing sales but I will give you the top 5 most effective.
The first is persuasive adjournment closing. During your persuasion, it doesn't mean that you need to do all the talking and you are not giving time for your client to respond and think about it. This might irritate them and they might not like you. After doing the closing sales, give time for your client to think about it and if they ask for more information about your product then start talking again.
The second is a persuasive bonus closing technique. I myself found this technique being used by a lot of sales person. This technique means that you are offering a delightful bonuses or additional free items to clinch the deal. Example on this is when you persuade a customer, you can give a free bag with the name or logo of your business and this might add advertisement to your products or an additional free item if the customer decided to purchase one.
The third is a persuasive economic closing. In this technique, you must offer your customer to pay less for what he purchased or help your customer pay it not in full. What i mean about this is for example you are selling a $1000 item and your customer cannot afford to buy that at that time but he shows willingness to it, so you can offer him to pay it in monthly bases without interest. Your customer will really love to buy it the time you said it and that words paying without interest helps a lot.
The fourth is the persuasive emotional closing. During your closing sales, you can add some emotional persuasion that can trigger the emotion of your client. There are a lot of things that are hidden behind the emotions of a person. Sometimes you need to touch that in order to get what you want.
Every great sales team or call center needs office cubicles that provide privacy and space, but also allow team members to work in a functional and upbeat atmosphere. There are a variety of companies that can help plan and implement office cubicles that will specifically fit the needs of your office now and as you grow, as it is important that you are able to adjust the cubicle components to accommodate new employees or open up an area if you have to let employees go.
When you have an office cubicle system that is well thought out and one that functions in such a way to allow employees the ability to have uninterrupted phone calls as well as generate a great team atmosphere, you will see your investment pay off in terms of increased sales and new revenue generation.
The wise business owner knows that their office has to be a comfortable place for their employees to come to each day. Employees need to feel as if they have their own space to do their job in and when this is attained, employees will be more positive, motivated, eager to work and ready to make the sales that will help your company succeed.
What do you mean by closing sales? I believe a lot of business man, sales person and entrepreneurs knew about what closing a sales means and how it works and how it is done.
Closing a sales means that a sales person is making an agreement with the customer on the product he is selling. This is the most critical part in selling because this is the part that will distinguish if your product will be bought or not.
There are a lot of persuasion techniques in closing sales but I will give you the top 5 most effective.
The first is persuasive adjournment closing. During your persuasion, it doesn't mean that you need to do all the talking and you are not giving time for your client to respond and think about it. This might irritate them and they might not like you. After doing the closing sales, give time for your client to think about it and if they ask for more information about your product then start talking again.
The second is a persuasive bonus closing technique. I myself found this technique being used by a lot of sales person. This technique means that you are offering a delightful bonuses or additional free items to clinch the deal. Example on this is when you persuade a customer, you can give a free bag with the name or logo of your business and this might add advertisement to your products or an additional free item if the customer decided to purchase one.
The third is a persuasive economic closing. In this technique, you must offer your customer to pay less for what he purchased or help your customer pay it not in full. What i mean about this is for example you are selling a $1000 item and your customer cannot afford to buy that at that time but he shows willingness to it, so you can offer him to pay it in monthly bases without interest. Your customer will really love to buy it the time you said it and that words paying without interest helps a lot.
The fourth is the persuasive emotional closing. During your closing sales, you can add some emotional persuasion that can trigger the emotion of your client. There are a lot of things that are hidden behind the emotions of a person. Sometimes you need to touch that in order to get what you want.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Sales meeting is very important for your sales team
Brand empowerment and brand awareness can be achieved easily with promotional products. If you have launched a brand and need to create awareness about your new range of product, you can make use of corporate gifts. Your clients, customers, retailers, suppliers or distributors are indispensable to your company. It is important to inform them about your new products and services. Make use of innovative gifting ideas to bring about this awareness.
The next step would be to use such products to retain your customers and to have repeated sale of the same product. Gifts can be customized with your company's logo embossed on it along with the company's name if it is required. Make use of some generic items if your budget is low such as calendars, pens, umbrellas, key chains and coffee mugs. Personalized pens, personalized travel mugs, and trade show giveaways may also be considered. If you wish to have a message on your gift item, it must be a legible one. The message should be specific and clear if your brand has to be recognized. Choose an appropriate one and have a proper timing to gift them. Use it to motivate your staff, increase employee retention, bring about brand awareness with the use of logo.
Consider such products as giveaways in a consumer exhibition. The best way to start creating awareness for consumer products among the masses begins there. Be a part of a conference, business seminar, exhibitions or trade shows. People are always looking to give out freebies and gift items to customers for repeated sales. This way you can attract a new customer towards your product.
Ah, the dreaded once a week sales meeting. Usually a once a week ritual in most sales oriented companies whether retail, indirect sales or direct sales its always a must have. I have never known a manager who loved to have these meetings with their staff every week. They usually saw them as ritualistic requirements imposed on them by upper management and their sales staff. If you have that attitude, then that really sucks! I'm probably one of only a few managers that really enjoyed taking these meetings on a weekly or when needed, bi-weekly basis. Maybe if you don't like taking them, you might find some helpful ideas on how to turn your weekly sales meetings into a more enjoyable experience for you but more importantly, for you sales staff.
First of all, what should be discussed at these meetings? All the obvious things for a start like sales techniques, sales processes, how you are tracking for the month as a team. Also sales planning as in how you are going to achieve your goals for the month is an important matter and lastly, miscellaneous matters that came up the week before.
Preparation is the key to a successful sales meeting. You need to know what to talk about and how you are going to present it. It's not as difficult as you think it is. Our meetings were on a Monday morning at 8am so that gave me the weekend to think about things. I just basically started off by saying what a great team it was and thanked everyone for their contribution for the past week. I outlined how we were tracking for the month, our highs and our lows and asked for suggestions on how we are going to meet our target for that week. I got them involved and you would be surprised at what ideas came out when everyone felt their input was worthwhile.
Sometimes I would ask someone from upper management to do a sort of guest speaker role and the topics were usually how the company was tracking so that it made the team feel that they were appreciated 'from above'. Once a month or so we would have our breakfast meeting at McDonalds or somewhere like that where they have a small private area and that usually went down really well. Other times we would have fresh muffins and take away coffees brought in from the deli. It made it a far more enjoyable experience for everyone. Lastly we would cover any issues anyone had that could be relevant to other staff members and left the floor open for discussion. But, I was always in charge of where the meeting was heading. If it was going off on a tangent, I'd bring it back on topic. Sometimes people would thank me for an interesting and inspiring meeting which made me feel good about it.
The next step would be to use such products to retain your customers and to have repeated sale of the same product. Gifts can be customized with your company's logo embossed on it along with the company's name if it is required. Make use of some generic items if your budget is low such as calendars, pens, umbrellas, key chains and coffee mugs. Personalized pens, personalized travel mugs, and trade show giveaways may also be considered. If you wish to have a message on your gift item, it must be a legible one. The message should be specific and clear if your brand has to be recognized. Choose an appropriate one and have a proper timing to gift them. Use it to motivate your staff, increase employee retention, bring about brand awareness with the use of logo.
Consider such products as giveaways in a consumer exhibition. The best way to start creating awareness for consumer products among the masses begins there. Be a part of a conference, business seminar, exhibitions or trade shows. People are always looking to give out freebies and gift items to customers for repeated sales. This way you can attract a new customer towards your product.
Ah, the dreaded once a week sales meeting. Usually a once a week ritual in most sales oriented companies whether retail, indirect sales or direct sales its always a must have. I have never known a manager who loved to have these meetings with their staff every week. They usually saw them as ritualistic requirements imposed on them by upper management and their sales staff. If you have that attitude, then that really sucks! I'm probably one of only a few managers that really enjoyed taking these meetings on a weekly or when needed, bi-weekly basis. Maybe if you don't like taking them, you might find some helpful ideas on how to turn your weekly sales meetings into a more enjoyable experience for you but more importantly, for you sales staff.
First of all, what should be discussed at these meetings? All the obvious things for a start like sales techniques, sales processes, how you are tracking for the month as a team. Also sales planning as in how you are going to achieve your goals for the month is an important matter and lastly, miscellaneous matters that came up the week before.
Preparation is the key to a successful sales meeting. You need to know what to talk about and how you are going to present it. It's not as difficult as you think it is. Our meetings were on a Monday morning at 8am so that gave me the weekend to think about things. I just basically started off by saying what a great team it was and thanked everyone for their contribution for the past week. I outlined how we were tracking for the month, our highs and our lows and asked for suggestions on how we are going to meet our target for that week. I got them involved and you would be surprised at what ideas came out when everyone felt their input was worthwhile.
Sometimes I would ask someone from upper management to do a sort of guest speaker role and the topics were usually how the company was tracking so that it made the team feel that they were appreciated 'from above'. Once a month or so we would have our breakfast meeting at McDonalds or somewhere like that where they have a small private area and that usually went down really well. Other times we would have fresh muffins and take away coffees brought in from the deli. It made it a far more enjoyable experience for everyone. Lastly we would cover any issues anyone had that could be relevant to other staff members and left the floor open for discussion. But, I was always in charge of where the meeting was heading. If it was going off on a tangent, I'd bring it back on topic. Sometimes people would thank me for an interesting and inspiring meeting which made me feel good about it.
Friday, November 6, 2009
How to increase your sales Transaction figure
Retail businesses are all about selling products and services. Of course, selling quality products and offering top-notch services is your key to long-term growth. There's a lot of competition for the consumer dollar in the marketplace. It's a constant battle to increase sales each year to take your business to new heights.
One method for garnering consistent increases in sales is to increase your average sales transaction. You can calculate your average sales transaction, and then work at increasing that figure via different means. As the name implies your average sales transaction is the amount, on average, that you sell to each customer. This measurement lets you know how well your business as a whole, and your employees individually, are doing promoting the inventory you have on hand.
How do you increase this figure and therefore your overall weekly and monthly sales? The best way is through suggestion selling. When you suggest additional products and services to a customer who is already buying a product or service from you, you garner those extra sales. For example, in a gift shop you may sell a certain brand of candle to a customer. You then proceed to offer them a candle accessory to go along with it, such as a wick trimmer and wick dipper set.
Here are a few things to consider concerning suggestion selling to raise your average sales transaction figure:
Suggestion selling is not high pressure selling. You are "suggesting" an additional product or service to your customer. They decide whether your suggestion is appropriate for them at the time. You present the opportunity and they calculate whether it's beneficial for them to take advantage of the opportunity.
Suggestion selling means fulfilling your customers' wants and needs completely. They may need the additional products or services you're suggesting, but didn't know you carried or offered them. Your suggestions educate them. If you don't make the suggestion, they may go elsewhere searching for these additional products or services.
Suggestion selling is a cost-efficient method for highlighting new products and services you have. You're already spending time selling; why not suggest new lines, as well as new services, at the same time. This is wise use of your selling time.
It's important to get your employees involved in raising your average sales transaction through suggestion selling. After all, you can't do it all alone. Here are a few tips for inspiring your employees onward to productive suggestion selling. The results will be a higher average sales transaction number:
Post the average sales transaction number in your backroom. You can post an overall number for the store. You can also post individual numbers (per employee). Individual numbers are the total sales an individual achieves in a week or month divided by the number of transactions they process. You can gauge an employee's progress as a sales associate with this number. You can help them work on suggestion selling skills if you see their number stay the same or even drop.
Offer rewards to your staff as a whole if the overall store average sales transaction figure increases in a month. Offer individual rewards to those sales associates who increase their personal number.
Remember to make the effort to increase the average sales transaction via suggestion selling a healthy competition. Have your employees concentrate on meeting your customers' needs, not badgering them to buy extra products through high-pressure tactics. Teach them to suggest wisely. This means offering additional products and services that they feel a customer may truly benefit from. Teach them to suggest relevant additional products that match a customer's original purchase and can enhance their use of the original purchase.
Using suggestion selling to build your average sales transaction is a way to measure your employees' selling skills. Look at this is a positive way. Those who work hard selling your quality lines will receive nice rewards for increasing this figure. Those who are not increasing this figure will receive the knowledge and training to improve their skills so they too can earn rewards. In the end, you, your business, and your employees benefit.
One method for garnering consistent increases in sales is to increase your average sales transaction. You can calculate your average sales transaction, and then work at increasing that figure via different means. As the name implies your average sales transaction is the amount, on average, that you sell to each customer. This measurement lets you know how well your business as a whole, and your employees individually, are doing promoting the inventory you have on hand.
How do you increase this figure and therefore your overall weekly and monthly sales? The best way is through suggestion selling. When you suggest additional products and services to a customer who is already buying a product or service from you, you garner those extra sales. For example, in a gift shop you may sell a certain brand of candle to a customer. You then proceed to offer them a candle accessory to go along with it, such as a wick trimmer and wick dipper set.
Here are a few things to consider concerning suggestion selling to raise your average sales transaction figure:
Suggestion selling is not high pressure selling. You are "suggesting" an additional product or service to your customer. They decide whether your suggestion is appropriate for them at the time. You present the opportunity and they calculate whether it's beneficial for them to take advantage of the opportunity.
Suggestion selling means fulfilling your customers' wants and needs completely. They may need the additional products or services you're suggesting, but didn't know you carried or offered them. Your suggestions educate them. If you don't make the suggestion, they may go elsewhere searching for these additional products or services.
Suggestion selling is a cost-efficient method for highlighting new products and services you have. You're already spending time selling; why not suggest new lines, as well as new services, at the same time. This is wise use of your selling time.
It's important to get your employees involved in raising your average sales transaction through suggestion selling. After all, you can't do it all alone. Here are a few tips for inspiring your employees onward to productive suggestion selling. The results will be a higher average sales transaction number:
Post the average sales transaction number in your backroom. You can post an overall number for the store. You can also post individual numbers (per employee). Individual numbers are the total sales an individual achieves in a week or month divided by the number of transactions they process. You can gauge an employee's progress as a sales associate with this number. You can help them work on suggestion selling skills if you see their number stay the same or even drop.
Offer rewards to your staff as a whole if the overall store average sales transaction figure increases in a month. Offer individual rewards to those sales associates who increase their personal number.
Remember to make the effort to increase the average sales transaction via suggestion selling a healthy competition. Have your employees concentrate on meeting your customers' needs, not badgering them to buy extra products through high-pressure tactics. Teach them to suggest wisely. This means offering additional products and services that they feel a customer may truly benefit from. Teach them to suggest relevant additional products that match a customer's original purchase and can enhance their use of the original purchase.
Using suggestion selling to build your average sales transaction is a way to measure your employees' selling skills. Look at this is a positive way. Those who work hard selling your quality lines will receive nice rewards for increasing this figure. Those who are not increasing this figure will receive the knowledge and training to improve their skills so they too can earn rewards. In the end, you, your business, and your employees benefit.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Business to business sales
Whether we realize it or not every one of us is selling to every other one of us. Consider this; you are trying to get a better job. What you will have to do is persuade that company to take you on. Sell them on your qualifications. You want to get your child into the proper school. You must point out your childs' attributes to the person in charge. Sell those attributes. You are an executive in your company and want to take that company in a certain direction. You have to first convince your coworkers of the validity of your position. Sell them on it.
Pause and think of your daily activities and you will realize how many of them involve convincing someone of your point of view. Selling them on your point of view.
Take this one step further, if you are in any type of sales like retail sales or in home sales; or business to business sales, and it involves selling something to someone, should not you be adept at it? Should not you be good at it? Your livelihood depends on it. Take a selling course. Read as much as you can about the art of selling. If you have salespeople as friends; practice with them, talk selling with them. Make selling a part of your life. Hang around with some seasoned salespeople they have great stories to tell and you will learn quite a bit.
Selling is the only discipline in business where someone will give you a product or service that you can make a living from and it does not cost you one red cent not one thin dime. It is like being in business for yourself. Where else can you get a deal like that?
The friendly talkative prospect can be the nicest person you know -- easy to get along with, and agreeable to a fault. He or She is so sociable that it is almost impossible to get the sale going in the direction you want it. They talk endlessly about everything but the sale. So how do we get them on track without injuring this nice set of circumstances and making them feel uncomfortable?
Let these nice people talk until you find a good opening. They are relaxed so you be relaxed do not be overly aggressive, but take advantage of any pause they allow you and lead them into the sale. Be firm but subtle. Each time they stray bring them back, say something to the effect of "I agree" or "As I was saying" and lead them back into the sale. (Refer to my blog July 1st, under interruptions)
Try to tie the prospects own words with the sales story. "You said something there which ties in with exactly what I know will be of benefit to you". Then make the correlation. (Remember it is always about benefits for the prospect) Make sure what you say then holds their interest and attention.
Pause and think of your daily activities and you will realize how many of them involve convincing someone of your point of view. Selling them on your point of view.
Take this one step further, if you are in any type of sales like retail sales or in home sales; or business to business sales, and it involves selling something to someone, should not you be adept at it? Should not you be good at it? Your livelihood depends on it. Take a selling course. Read as much as you can about the art of selling. If you have salespeople as friends; practice with them, talk selling with them. Make selling a part of your life. Hang around with some seasoned salespeople they have great stories to tell and you will learn quite a bit.
Selling is the only discipline in business where someone will give you a product or service that you can make a living from and it does not cost you one red cent not one thin dime. It is like being in business for yourself. Where else can you get a deal like that?
The friendly talkative prospect can be the nicest person you know -- easy to get along with, and agreeable to a fault. He or She is so sociable that it is almost impossible to get the sale going in the direction you want it. They talk endlessly about everything but the sale. So how do we get them on track without injuring this nice set of circumstances and making them feel uncomfortable?
Let these nice people talk until you find a good opening. They are relaxed so you be relaxed do not be overly aggressive, but take advantage of any pause they allow you and lead them into the sale. Be firm but subtle. Each time they stray bring them back, say something to the effect of "I agree" or "As I was saying" and lead them back into the sale. (Refer to my blog July 1st, under interruptions)
Try to tie the prospects own words with the sales story. "You said something there which ties in with exactly what I know will be of benefit to you". Then make the correlation. (Remember it is always about benefits for the prospect) Make sure what you say then holds their interest and attention.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Lead Generation Tips
Voice broadcasting provides a unique type of lead generation that gets prospects calling you instead of you making cold calls. If you've always been nervous about making cold calls for business-to-business sales, voice broadcasting empowers you to phone thousands of potential customers within moments without speaking directly to the recipient. It is the preferred method of many successful businesses to generate leads by phone. Let's explore lead generation through voice broadcasting and see how it can benefit you.
A great feature of phone leads software is you can target your market. Many voice broadcasting services offer targeting to narrow your calls to those who might be interested in your services. For instance, if you want to offer staffing services to those in the business office environment, you can target these phone numbers. If you wish to reach executives who travel by plane or bus often, you can create a targeted list to offer your travel agency services. If you want to target certain industries to help with their marketing campaigns, it's easy to do so with phone leads software.
The more targeted your audience, the better results you'll reap from your voice broadcasting message. That's why lead generation by phone is well worth the investment even if you have to pay more to target your calls. Once you choose a target of potential buyers, you can tailor your broadcast message to grab their attention.
Your message should be carefully thought out and written down. Practice a few times before recording, and be sure to record with enthusiasm....but not overkill. Your voice broadcasting message should not sound like a "broadcast" but you should talk as if you're actually speaking with an individual. Talk slowly and confidently without pressuring. Your goal should be to get a response - stir curiosity just enough for an inquiry. Make a short, simple offer they can't refuse!
Another major advantage of voice broadcasting is you can choose the method of response offered to your recipients. Perhaps you'd like them to call you back at a certain number to hear further instructions or to speak to a sales representative. Or, maybe you'd like them to respond by pressing a certain button on their phone that will transfer them to a salesperson or voice mail. Getting a response is the key to successful lead generation campaigns. Make it as easy as possible for them to learn more about your offer.
Keep in mind that there are challenges you'll face. Many companies have secretaries that screen all calls. The secretary may or may not listen to your offer or even tell the boss about it. If you can phone the owner directly, great. If not, develop your message to intrigue the secretary so he/she will at least pass on the information to the owner.
Whatever phone leads software you choose, be sure to abide by the laws concerning telemarketing and voice broadcasting. New laws are now in place that prohibit certain types of calls to homes. Thankfully, you can still make business-to-business calls through voice broadcasting. It's a great way to fine tune your marketing campaigns and lead generation efforts while reaching a greater audience.
A great feature of phone leads software is you can target your market. Many voice broadcasting services offer targeting to narrow your calls to those who might be interested in your services. For instance, if you want to offer staffing services to those in the business office environment, you can target these phone numbers. If you wish to reach executives who travel by plane or bus often, you can create a targeted list to offer your travel agency services. If you want to target certain industries to help with their marketing campaigns, it's easy to do so with phone leads software.
The more targeted your audience, the better results you'll reap from your voice broadcasting message. That's why lead generation by phone is well worth the investment even if you have to pay more to target your calls. Once you choose a target of potential buyers, you can tailor your broadcast message to grab their attention.
Your message should be carefully thought out and written down. Practice a few times before recording, and be sure to record with enthusiasm....but not overkill. Your voice broadcasting message should not sound like a "broadcast" but you should talk as if you're actually speaking with an individual. Talk slowly and confidently without pressuring. Your goal should be to get a response - stir curiosity just enough for an inquiry. Make a short, simple offer they can't refuse!
Another major advantage of voice broadcasting is you can choose the method of response offered to your recipients. Perhaps you'd like them to call you back at a certain number to hear further instructions or to speak to a sales representative. Or, maybe you'd like them to respond by pressing a certain button on their phone that will transfer them to a salesperson or voice mail. Getting a response is the key to successful lead generation campaigns. Make it as easy as possible for them to learn more about your offer.
Keep in mind that there are challenges you'll face. Many companies have secretaries that screen all calls. The secretary may or may not listen to your offer or even tell the boss about it. If you can phone the owner directly, great. If not, develop your message to intrigue the secretary so he/she will at least pass on the information to the owner.
Whatever phone leads software you choose, be sure to abide by the laws concerning telemarketing and voice broadcasting. New laws are now in place that prohibit certain types of calls to homes. Thankfully, you can still make business-to-business calls through voice broadcasting. It's a great way to fine tune your marketing campaigns and lead generation efforts while reaching a greater audience.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Some sales coaching tips
It's been my observation in training sales professionals, that if there is any weakness to uncover in missing sales opportunities or not closing them at the last minute, it is the quality of questions! The quality of your questions will give you all the answers you need to make the right pitch to your clients and close the sale. It is a fact that the best sales people ask the most powerful questions. They take their clients beyond situational analysis, to the place where they make their buying decisions and explore that with their clients.
If there is one skill to really develop in meeting the current climate head on, it questioning and coaching your clients. If you were a sales professional, who wanted to become better at coaching, how would you go about it now? Here are some thoughts on that and a few sample questions to use over the next month and see the difference it makes to your sales conversations and your sales close rate. Coaching is all about asking very powerful questions. It gets right to the core issue of what's not working for the client OR what they want more of from your product and service. It digs deeper than order taking. It opens up a whole world of possibilities for you as a sales person and for your client as the buyer. It helps you and the client understand what's really going on in the sales conversation. It tells you the story behind the story the client is articulating.
Firstly, instead of telling a client how great your product is (which I am sure it is), you are exploring and getting curious and finding answers for yourself and client about how they are going buy a solution, hopefully yours, if you work in the right way.
With coaching, you bring their mind to a place they may have never been before - a new reality - out into the future where they have the answer to their problem, which if you do it right, should be your product or service! You, as a great sales coach, will work with the client from a solutions mind-set, rather than a problem mind set. Solutions mind set, changes everything, from your behavior to the client's decision-making process.
Using questions activates much more of your power of persuasion and your client's engagement in the process. Not only does it bring you more confidence, because you ask the question; you can then sit back, listen to what you have heard and then ask more questions to uncover the whole picture. You become the facilitator of a decision-making process, rather than pitching for business. And it makes your sales conversation far more enjoyable, not to mention putting you ahead in your sales game.
To look at what you OR your client are not paying attention.
What am I not seeing?
What questions has the client not asked?
What's my result from this conversation for my client/myself/my business/their business?
What haven't we thought of yet?
What can I discover today that will confuse or enlighten me a little more about my selling techniques?
To get the client to think harder about the implications of their decision out in the future.
What will happen if you decide to implement this immediately?
What won't happen?
What will happen if you don't?
What won't happen if you don't ... and what will that mean for your business?
To invite the client to imagine making the decision to buy and having their team on board, this is a great way to test for any objections the client may face with the organization.
What's important to you about getting all your team on board with this new solution?
Who else need to be involved for you to make this decision?
If there is one skill to really develop in meeting the current climate head on, it questioning and coaching your clients. If you were a sales professional, who wanted to become better at coaching, how would you go about it now? Here are some thoughts on that and a few sample questions to use over the next month and see the difference it makes to your sales conversations and your sales close rate. Coaching is all about asking very powerful questions. It gets right to the core issue of what's not working for the client OR what they want more of from your product and service. It digs deeper than order taking. It opens up a whole world of possibilities for you as a sales person and for your client as the buyer. It helps you and the client understand what's really going on in the sales conversation. It tells you the story behind the story the client is articulating.
Firstly, instead of telling a client how great your product is (which I am sure it is), you are exploring and getting curious and finding answers for yourself and client about how they are going buy a solution, hopefully yours, if you work in the right way.
With coaching, you bring their mind to a place they may have never been before - a new reality - out into the future where they have the answer to their problem, which if you do it right, should be your product or service! You, as a great sales coach, will work with the client from a solutions mind-set, rather than a problem mind set. Solutions mind set, changes everything, from your behavior to the client's decision-making process.
Using questions activates much more of your power of persuasion and your client's engagement in the process. Not only does it bring you more confidence, because you ask the question; you can then sit back, listen to what you have heard and then ask more questions to uncover the whole picture. You become the facilitator of a decision-making process, rather than pitching for business. And it makes your sales conversation far more enjoyable, not to mention putting you ahead in your sales game.
To look at what you OR your client are not paying attention.
What am I not seeing?
What questions has the client not asked?
What's my result from this conversation for my client/myself/my business/their business?
What haven't we thought of yet?
What can I discover today that will confuse or enlighten me a little more about my selling techniques?
To get the client to think harder about the implications of their decision out in the future.
What will happen if you decide to implement this immediately?
What won't happen?
What will happen if you don't?
What won't happen if you don't ... and what will that mean for your business?
To invite the client to imagine making the decision to buy and having their team on board, this is a great way to test for any objections the client may face with the organization.
What's important to you about getting all your team on board with this new solution?
Who else need to be involved for you to make this decision?
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