It’s been a long week to say the least. You’ve been working hard, putting in extra hours. But it also feels like one of those weeks where it’s one step forward and two steps back. Yes, you know what I’m talking about. We have all been there.
It’s Friday afternoon and you’re tired. You are already thinking about a weekend of must needed rest and relaxation. You decide that today, you are heading home early. Why not? You justify it to yourself in several ways saying; “I deserve it, I worked hard all week.” “Beside most of my clients are doing the same thing.” “The proverbial great escape is under way and traffic will be bad.”
Yes, this was me this past Friday afternoon. Like most tired and sometimes frustrated individuals, I needed an early escape to de-stress. It’s 4:30 and I’m turning on to my street. Mowing the yard seems to help but from the looks of the grooming process taking place with many of my neighbors, I am actually late to the party. It appears that every guy at every house is mowing their grass. Now most of my neighbors are professionals. A lot of Sales people, Vice Presidents and the like. But today something was different. I guess I looked at it a little differently from the thousands of times that I drove down my street. I noticed that the people that were out, were the sales folks, not the VP’s.
Earlier tonight I replied to a posting in a LinkedIn group and then thought I should share some of the same information here with a bit more detail.
The question was about the account planning process and I shared some of the things I've developed and taught over the years. I call it Account Development Planning, but different people use different terms.
Overall, the process I've developed includes:
I was speaking to my brother Neil of Main Street Planning Group, and he was lamenting the fact of the difference in performance of two of his agents. One sales person is doing great. The other only has so-so results, and you are wondering where it is breaking down. You perceive their abilities to be the same. Where does the better sales person get the business? Neil and I compared notes and this is what we came up with.
We are often asked with closing sales and overcoming objections, and what magic words will make people sign up. Unfortunately, the fact is that closing sales can be very easy and even though there are no magic words, there is an approach that makes it easy. There are reasons that closing sales seems hard but you can overcome them all.
Closing Sales Problem - Abrupt Change Of Atmosphere
Many salespeople enjoy the presentation phase of the sale. They proceed along impressing the client with what they know and how much they care. The problem is that when it is time for closing sales, the atmosphere changes dramatically. It's time to ask the client to buy. This change is so scary to many salespeople that they do not ask for the sale. They give a card, a brochure or an estimate and leave without ever asking the customer to buy.
Gina Schreck explains what Pinterest is and how to get set up PINNING your favorite items (tips on using this new powerhouse for marketing as well!) Watch this video to start your pinteresting adventure to this new marketing source.
Recently, I’ve received a flood of cold calls from salespeople asking to “network” with me. The unanswered questions in my mind when I’m approached with a request like that are. . . Why? To what end? Why should I meet with you?
In order to ensure relevancy with your networking efforts, it’s important to have a purpose for any meeting.
One of the most common mistakes salespeople make is to think that all meetings are good meetings.
That’s just not the case.
Our experience in talking to buyers and clients has brought it home to us that there are some bad salespeople out there. When I say ‘bad’, I don’t mean that they are corrupt or nasty; just inept and poorly-skilled. Buyers have their top-5 ‘hates’ when it comes to what sales people do or don’t do.
Here are some signs that things aren’t as they could be: read further at http://www.soldlab.com/content/readMore1/infobox/featured_news/template/default/active_id/5
TA McCann from Gist.com spoke at the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals (AA-ISP) Seattle Chapter meeting, and among a number of really great insights he shared his 5-3-2 rule for social media content. It’s fairly simple – out of 10 Tweets or LinkedIn updates or similar:
• Five should be content from others, relevant to your audience
• Three should be content from you, relevant to your audience (and not directly selling your products)
• Two should be personal, something non-work related to help humanize yourself and/or your brand
Even if you don’t follow this to a tee, the gist (no pun intended) is simple:
• Focus on your audience more than yourself
• Humanize your voice, even if it’s from a branded social channel vs. an individual
Good advice.
by Matt Heinz
I remember the first time I ran a half marathon, I took off from the start line and ran, no pre-run strategy, no game plan, I just took off, and at about the 16 KM mark, I ran out gas and dragged myself to the finish line. While I still had a respectable finish for a 50 year old former smoker, I also knew there had to be a better way.
After a bit of reading, I discovered a process described as 10 – 1, the idea being you run at race pace for ten minutes, then ease off for one minute, allowing you to recover mentally and physically, and ready yourself for the next 10 minutes.
Many salespeople make the assumption that activity leads to results. “As long as I’m doing something,” they argue, “results will come.”
This is a mistake. It’s the best way to get stuck in the activity trap. The activity trap occurs when you begin working too hard to make the sale. Sales is much more simple than a lot of salespeople make it out to be.
Above all, your interactions must be meaningful. If all you’re doing on a call with a prospect is saying ‘hello,’ all you’ll hear is ‘hell no.’ Instead, your activities need to fall into one of these four productive buckets:
They educate your prospects.
They uncover essential information about your prospect.
They reveal pivotal information about your solution to your prospect.
They close opportunities (for the good or bad).