Increase your sales by debriefing yourself
An optimal salesperson takes the time for a debriefing after the sales call. Increase your business by acting as your own sales manager. Ask yourself after a sales call critical questions. Did you achieve your goal? Did you go deep enough into the conversation? What can you learn from your performance? How can you apply your sales techniques better next time to generate sales?
Increase sales by having conversations with the prospects
An optimal salesperson has conversations with prospects. The typical salesperson approaches a meeting with a prospect as if they are prepared for battle. Victory is a closed sale. The charts and presentations are the weapons in the battle to increase business. They are prepared for a cross-examination of the prospect. The prospect is someone to “overcome” and “defeat” in order to generate sales. The optimal salesperson views the interaction with the prospect as a conversation. Two friendly adults sharing information and perspectives back and forth. This builds trust in the prospect for the salesperson.
Increase sales by asking permission to ask questions
An optimal salesperson is not afraid to ask questions. The typical underachieving salesperson walks into a prospect’s office with all kinds of questions — that they will never ask. They are afraid to ask these questions, afraid they might embarrass themselves or offend the prospect. Imagine someone getting onto a bus, too afraid to ask the bus driver what city the bus is going to. Five hours later, they are in downtown Washington DC when they had planned to go to Boston, MA. Strike up the nerve and generate sales. Ask the prospect if it is alright to ask them a question. 99% of the time they will say it is fine. You will get the answer to your question and you won’t end up stepping off the bus in the wrong city.
Pay attention to what you say and do
An optimal salesperson is aware of what they say and do. There are things that we believe about ourselves that are deep inside of us. These beliefs have an impact on what we do and say. If a salesperson feels insecure, he may avoid closing a sale and generating business. As long as he doesn’t ask for the business, he will never be rejected. It is difficult to put our finger on such beliefs. We can’t see them anymore than we can see the wind. However, we can see the impact of what those beliefs do to us just like we can see the trees blowing in the wind. We have to look for the trees blowing in our sales lives. Did I just say that? Did I really just do that? Did I really not say that? Did I really miss that opportunity? If we pay attention to the things we do and say, we can spot those hidden beliefs that entrap us. Once we see those beliefs, we can take action to correct them.
Avoid eye contact with the prospect
An optimal salesperson does not look a prospect straight in the eye. What? Not look the prospect straight in the eye? Doesn’t that send all kinds of bad signals? Of course, eye to eye contact is essential for building trust and generating sales. However, there are certain situations when eye-to-eye contact could be bad as a sales technique. It is at those moments when you should not look the prospect in the eye. For example, if you know you are going to ask a question that will be difficult for the prospect to answer, looking him or her straight in the eye can put more pressure on them and even intimidate them. By looking elsewhere when you ask the prospect a challenging question, you are basically saying – “Hey, I know this question is difficult. I’m respecting your struggle with it and I’m reducing the pressure on you.” You can actually be helping your prospect feel more at ease and that is good when you are seeking to close the deal.
Cut Your Competition in Half
Use this technique when you know you are in competition for an order. Say the prospect tells you that there are two other competitors. Just ask who they would select if you were not involved. It’s a simple question and one they will frequently answer very quickly. Once you know that they favor A over B you know who the real competition is. It’s simple but effective. Watch the video for a little more detail.
Facts are not Consequencs
Facts are good as far as they go but they usually do not constitute enough of a compelling reason to get a sale. “The fact that I need a consultant” may or may not compel me to hire one. If the consequences of not having one are severe enough I will hire one. If the consequences of winging it without a consultant are fairly minor, I will go it alone and see how I make out. Uncovering fact on s sales call is not enough. You need to get behind the facts to uncover the consequences which will move the prospect forward in the buying process.
How to get more Money
The amount of money your product or service can command is in direct proportion to the value it has as perceived by the prospect. The prospect will see it as having more value if it solves big (and expensive) problems. So to earn more money, solve bigger problems. Of course this requires you to focus on the prospect and their problems and not on your product … but that is a video sales tip for another day!
Seeing Through the Prospect’s Lens
If you really want to have a better understanding of the prospect’s pain, you have to be able to see things from their perspective. That is not necessarily the perspective of a product expert or the perspective of an expert in the field. You need to see how they view the situation. That will entail changing how you look at the problem and how you interpret the facts of the situation. Once you can do that then you can have a better idea of how you can position your product to solve the problem. And you can do it in a way that will make sense to the prospect.
Objections are a symptom
Skipping steps in the sales process leads to the prospect raising objections. Most salespeople spend too much time handling objections needlessly. If you skip steps in your sales process the prospect will raise questions at the end you can count on it. Don’t gloss over topics that you know will be an issue in hope that it won’t matter to this prospect. If there are frequent objections that you hear, you should raise the issue before the prospect does you will be better able to handle it than if you wait until they bring up. Sometimes the sales process moves quicker due to the urgency on the part of the prospect. But no matter how quickly it moves you still have to “touch all the bases”. In other words, don’t short change the money step just because the prospect says money is no object. Don’t short cut the discussion of the decision process just because the prospect is in a hurry and you want to move to the close. If you do, you will most likely have to deal with objections somewhere down the line.