SALES RESOURCES - SELLING TECHNIQUES, SALES TOOLS, SALES TIPS ...

You Know Your Sales Process Is Outdated When...

Fashions change, seasons change and so do customer needs. So when is the last time your company looked at your sales process to determine it was keeping up to date with the times? The information age has dramatically changed how businesses compete. Small businesses look and act big. New ideas are copied quickly and lead to service and products looking like everyone else. Customers have more options than ever before with access to the internet. The market has changed....has your sales approach? To quote late night host, David Letterman, "You know its time to update your sales process when..." Your sales process includes overcoming objections. Think about this archaic, distasteful selling technique that has been taught to salespeople for years. It sounds like this. "The first objection is never the real one. Overcome the prospects objection three to seven times. Keep overcoming the objections until you get to a yes." Its truly amazing that more salespeople have

Read Customers Better Using Proven Sales Techniques

Recently, I had a salesperson come into my office to try to sell me a service. He came in, sat down and asked me two questions: what I do and how I think the business is running. He then immediately launched into his sales speech. I sat back and listened as he made a classic selling mistake. I had no need for his product, but he was intent on selling to me. He had an "I have to sell" mentality. This is oftentimes where salespeople go wrong. If you have to sell, dont you think it would make the most sense to sell to people who have a need for your product or service? It is important that during any sales call we operate with a needs based selling mentality. People will only buy what they need; so, ask questions and listen to your customer. Find out if they are in the market for your product, and if they are not, then move on because you dont want to waste your time (or theirs) if you could be out making a sale to someone who is willing to make a purchase. In ord

Questions Are The Answer

"Everyone says to ask questions but how do I discover my prospects needs or problems without sounding like Im interrogating her?" I hear some version of that question on a regular basis. The idea that questions are the key to uncovering opportunities is well established but many sellers have difficulty in applying the principle and some question whether questions are even the appropriate technique. In a short article such as this we cant delve into the topic of questioning in depth but we can address the basic issue of the overall role of questions as a tool in the needs analysis phase of a sale. (If youd really like some in-depth discussion of questions in selling Id refer you to Secrets of Question Based Selling by Thomas Freese, OPEN Question Selling by Jeff and Val Gee, or Questions that Sell by Paul Cherry.) Even if weve done extensive research and believe we have uncovered an issue or a problem that our prospect may or may not know about but that they need to addres

Ask The Right Questions To Get The Best Answers

When I was a kid, one of my favorite games was "Twenty Questions." Remember the drill? Animal, vegetable or mineral? Living or not? Famous? Male or female? And so on, until you had either guessed the correct answer or exhausted your quota. Dont forget, they could only be answered with a yes or no, which limited the information drastically. The better the question, the better the chance of getting the answer. It took me a while to figure out how to best reach my conclusion. I had to think fast, and plan my questions so that they got narrower and narrower. I had to listen very carefully to the answers before I asked the next question, or I might waste a turn. Alan Freitas, who is president of Priority Management, challenged me with this question: What kind of questioner are you? Asking questions will get you information; but asking the right kind of questions will get you better information sooner, as well as help establish rapport and trust. Freitas doesnt like the Twenty Que

Question, Listen, Solve, And Presto A Sale Is Made

Most sales people still feel their rapport building or personality is the reason why sales are made, but customers want problems solved, in addition to saving time, money, or anything else that impacts their bottom line. Sales pros today are made up of people who can identify and solve customer issues, those who cannot will fall behind. Its simple, if you can solve or successfully address an issue a client has, you will gain a major competitive edge. Why do most sales people fail? - They love to hear themselves talk. - They simply cannot listen. - They think too much about what they are about to say versus actually listening. - They NEVER write things down. - They have no questions planned or written out. Sales could be simple, if we just take our ego out of the equation. Sales is nothing more than following the sequence below: Ask well thought out "Open-Ended" questions (questions starting with what, how, or why). Listen, I mean REALLY listen and do not