Debriefing Your Sales Calls

Professional football teams watch the game films the day after the game.  They’re trying to determine what went right, what went wrong, and how they can improve for the next opportunity (game). Professional salespeople always conduct a post-mortem of their sales calls as well.  This activity is just as important as call preparation.  Here is [&hellip

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Pre-Call Preparation

The best-prepared salespeople are often the most successful.  All of us have experienced that empty feeling of nervousness on a sales call when we’re not prepared.  Proper preparation will help build your confidence with the knowledge that you are ready for any eventuality and that confidence will come across to your prospect.  You’ll look more [&hellip

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I Need To Get Some Other Quotes

You’ve just made your million-dollar presentation, and your prospect counters with “I need to get some other quotes.”  What do you do now? The traditional salesperson will frantically go back in his memory bank and come up with one of the following snappy one-liners, none of which is going to win the Pulitzer Prize for [&hellip

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Selling to Steady Relaters (S)

Steady Relaters (amiables) are great team players, yet more reserved by nature than influencers.  They like stability, and are warm and accommodating to others.  They dislike risky situations and place trust as a high priority in relationships.  They make up 40% of the population. Initial Impression They tend to be reserved, but friendly and cooperative. [&hellip

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Keeping Customers Satisfied

Winning the business is hard work.  Keeping it is often taken for granted.  Lots of attention is lavished on the prospect during the “courting stages” prior to the sale being consummated.  Once the product or service has been delivered, attention to the customer often falls by the wayside as the salesperson looks for new opportunities.  [&hellip

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Maintaining Your Price

Dealing with price objections is a constant challenge for salespeople.  It’s part of the territory, and here’s why. We, as buyers, seem to be culturally conditioned to ask about price. You will always be tested.  It’s part of the game. As salespeople, we often send signals that we are willing to negotiate price in order [&hellip

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Eliminating Pressure with Easy Exits

In martial arts the defender uses the attacker’s momentum against him.  This involves doing the unexpected – beating the adversary at his own game.  In selling, this technique, called “going negative,” is quite counterintuitive, but incredibly effective. Instead of following the traditional selling tactic of trying to push the prospect into buying, the salesperson does [&hellip

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Understanding the Decision Process

Once you’ve qualified the prospect for pain and financial issues, simply ask one of the following questions to lead into the decision process. “What process will you go through to make the decision on selecting a vendor for your widgets?” “How does your company go about making a decision to invest $ _____ to fix [&hellip

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Poor Listening Habits

Great salespeople are good listeners.  But most would concede that being a great listener would not be commonly attributed to the stereotypical salesperson.  All of us have some poor listening habits that we may be able to get away with when talking to family or friends, but in a business environment, it’s a different story.  [&hellip

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