Not Dressing Smart
Make sure your attire is suited to the organisation you are going to, if in doubt, keep it smart – a black suit never fails.

Lying
While it may be OK to gloss over certain details you don’t want to flag as the high points in your product, blatantly lying could land you in hot water. If found out, you will lose your integrity, damage the reputation of your company and the SALE.

Slating The Competition
Speaking negatively about your competitors communicates bad company ethics and shows un-professionalism. If you want to say anything about the competitors give them examples like “well competitor X has got some great products and have been around for a while, but we feel ours can do this and do that”. Keep it short and to the point. If you respect your competitors, your customers will respect you.

Acting Desperate
Don’t underestimate yourself or your products. A salesman must have confidence in their abilities and be positive, if you have a great product, your customers will think the same too.

Being Unprepared
Do your research! Get as much information on your clients including their markets; how many staff; who are their competitors, etc. During the meeting have their leaflets etc. in your hand (so they know you have done your home work).
If you go unprepared your potential customers will know it and will they will switch off and you will NOT GET THE SALE.

Popularity: 82% [?]

I am always amazed when products are sent to journalists for review or product comparisons, they get shipped by courier and are left to their own devices; when the review comes the result is only mediocre rating.

Rules for getting that 5 star review

• If possible hand deliver the product to the reviewer (journalist).
• Treat and journalists like gods- they can make or break a product.
• Once the review is under way- follow up with a personal visit or phone call or at worst email- don’t forget who you are dealing with…god!
  • Ask how the review went.
  • What else you can do for them.
  • Ask for 5 stars- if you don’t ask, you don’t get!

Finally do not ask for the product back unless it is one of a kind, let them keep it. If they like it that much, the results will be favourable.

Popularity: 100% [?]

“Silence is a source of great strength.”
Lao Tzu

In selling asking the right questions is essential in getting that sale.

One arsenal the sales person should have in their bag is the “power of silence”. I don’t mean totally keeping quiet; but even this has it’s uses in negotiations!

Silence when used well can enhance the power of any question. Many people feel embarrassed and awkward if there is a long pause in a conversation and they feel obliged to say something.

This normally occurs when a question is being asked and the listener does not reply instantly. What follows is the speaker will say something quickly resulting in distraction and frustration.

Salesperson: ” What do you think of the new features of product X”

Customer: pause

Salesperson: ” I can make you a great offer if you were to buy it right now, how does that sound?”

Silence is your friend use it or lose it!

As a sales person its only fair when you ask a question to give your customer the chance to answer; we all need time to think, reflect and react.
What your customers do not want is to be bombarded with more questions; to be made to feel under pressure or even intimidated.

Silence is golden

Silence is not a bottomless pit – it is a golden invitation to help your customers. It is to invite them into the sales process and encourage them into giving a clear defined answer.
It helps them value you as a person and shows to them that you are paying attention.
To harness the true power of silence:

  
• Speak and do your sales pitch.
• Be still, reflect on what you have said.
• Wait and give the listener time to respond- a few seconds can seem like an eternity; have patience.
• Respond in a calm and collective manner; not hurriedly.

 

 

 

Get that sale!

Popularity: 85% [?]

What makes a good sales person?

Ask many people that question and the majority will say; talk, talk and talk; wear smart suits; be extrovert; drive a nice expensive car.
Nothing wrong with engaging in the art of conversation, or wearing nice clothes and driving a fast car. This all adds to the persona.

However the single biggest skill is that of listening.

Two ears, one mouth

Good sales people should listen twice as much as they talk. Without effective listening skills, how will the sales person really know what their customers want?

Listen, listen and listen some more!

There are several listening modes.
Biased listening: The listener already knows what is going to be said next by the speaker and interrupts the speaker, before they have a chance to finish their sentence. The sales person may think he is trying to clever and second guess his client or he may want to speed up the negotiations.

Disregarding listening: The listener is not listening at all as they are being distracted by what’s going on in the background and are not paying attention, such as watching TV, reading a newspaper.

Subliminal listening: When you are at a party talking to a group of people and suddenly above the loud background noise you may hear your name being mentioned and your head perks up.

Sympathetic listening: This is when you are empathic to a listener, for example when you are listening to a friend. To offer empathy you may say, “I know what you mean” or “Yes I have been there”.

Affirmative listening: Here the listener will use positive reinforcement comments to encourage the speaker. Phrases like “I agree with you”, “That’s true”

Best kind of listening

The most important type of listening skill should be that of active listening.
Active listening is the ability to focus completely on what the client is saying; not saying, to understand the meaning of what is said in the context of the clients’ desires and to support the clients self expression. This type of listening will encourage the client to participate more in the sales process by offering active confirmations of understanding (e.g. nodding, asking them to go on, to add more information).

Level 3 listening involves the sales person paying attention to the dialogue and the client’s state of mind to offer a deeper meaning. This requires the highest form of concentration.

Level 2 listening involves the sales person paying attention to the words spoken in particular if he is making notes.

Level 1 listening, is when the listener is only partially hearing what is going on as they are focusing on their next response to the speaker.

Make sure you get 2.5 out of 3!

At this in-between level (of 2 and 3) provides the most flexibility for the sales person especially for note taking and more verbal dialogue. This will also give the client more clarity and a knowing that the sales person is interested in them.

Popularity: 100% [?]

How many NO’s can you take?

Imagine this – you need to make just a few more phone calls in order to hit your sales targets. The more you call your prospects the more “No’s” you are getting.

Go for NO!

Rejection can be hard; what you need to do is reframe on how you make that call.
Reframing will allow you to see things differently or look at a solution/outcome in another way.
Rather than anxiously expecting a NO, reframe and go for a positive NO. In your mind you want them to say  ”no” to you – this way you have an expected outcome which you have already experienced.

So next time you have that make that sales call, go for NO. You will be more relaxed, your expectations will not be so high and you will sound more positive.

Not all NO’s are good!

A word of warning, don’t over do it, going for NO every time will put you in a mind set for failure. Going for NO this is a tactic to help you gain your confidence back.

And Don’t forget- A NO is one step closer to a YES!

Popularity: 86% [?]

Smile, smile and smile!

Yes it’s true smiling on the phone does make other people happy.

How?
Smiling is a non verbal form of communication, but you do not need to see it to appreciate it……..just feel it

Smiling on the telephone to someone else comes across in the tone of your voice as warm and friendly. Smiling will also lift your mood.
So next time you are making that important sales call on the phone, take a deep breath, smile and talk.

The results will be outstanding and the other person will want to talk to you.
So smile and make yourself and other people happy……close that sale!

“A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside.” – Denis Waitley

Popularity: 89% [?]

Only take 5 minutes!

Have you ever thought, if I could meet this client, all I need is “5” minutes of their time and the sale will be done!

The 5 minute plan

• Call them and tell them you are in the area and would like just like to drop some samples/leaflets off.
• Follow on by asking if they have just 5 minutes to spare as you know how busy they are for a very quick hello. This way you are telling the client:
• You respect the fact that they are busy.
• They may have an interest in yours products and you do not want to take up their valuable time.
• You have gone out of your way to deliver these samples rather than post them.

It may be a NO!

The chances are they may say “no” – drop the samples off any way.
This way you have a follow up with them by asking for feedback on the samples, plus the fact you have also done what you said you were going to do !- which in sales is very important.

Yes means 5 minutes

If the client says “yes” then here is what you need to do:

• 5 minutes means 5 minutes; tell you client you appreciate how busy they are and you will keep to 5 minutes no longer.
• Look at your watch and start.
• If you run over your 5 minutes ask them if they would like to continue.
  By asking permission, you have put the “ball back in your clients court”, which shows respect and allows you to build rapport.

More than 5 minutes

Once the meeting is over follow up is so important with an email and phone call. Why phone call?
You will be able to gauge how interested he is, also if he has email overload, he may never look at your email or it may have got lost!

Yeah it only takes 5 minutes.

Popularity: 87% [?]