Softer Side of Selling | Page 2 of 15 | Secrets of the Softer Side of Selling

Sales Skill: Laser Focus on Selling Activities

03/29/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

Great salespeople know they have to maximize the time spent on selling activities. The salesperson’s primary job is to close sales. Any activity that interferes with selling needs to be either minimized or eliminated. Great salespeople are laser focused on prospecting, qualifying, closing and following up.

great salespeople focus on selling activities

Always Focus On Selling Activities
Image from Pixabay

Discipline Is The Key

First set goals for selling activities time and other stuff time. My goal was to devote 60% of my week to activities which resulted in sales. I measured the time I spent in meetings with prospects, other contacts with prospects (email, phone, text, etc.) and travel time to prospects offices. At the end of each week I evaluated my selling time. When it was less than 60% I refocused my selling activities for the next week. Great salespeople are passionate about focusing on selling activities….

B2B Selling: Then and Now

03/19/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

Only a generation or two ago the primary sales tools for B2B selling were a car and a telephone. Those great road warrior salespeople like my dad, got in the car and drove to their customers. Found a pay phone and called the orders into the “home office.” Now with a few clicks on a computer we can connect with almost anyone anywhere. But the fundamentals of B2B selling still hold: attitude, behavior and knowledge. Let’s look at how the fundamentals work today.

B2B selling fundamentals work in the age of COVID

B2B Sales Fundamentals Are Timeless
Image From PIxabay

Virtual Networking

Great salespeople know success depends on who you know. In the past we met in person whether one-on-one or in events. We shook hands, introduced ourselves and made arrangements to meet to share more information. Now we are isolated. Man, I don’t know about you but I really miss the personal interaction of sharing a meal or cup of coffee or just sitting together and discussing the world. So how do great salespeople now do B2B selling in this virtual world?

All the fundamentals are still in play. What’s your purpose in meeting? How does that benefit the buyer? What’s your attitude? Do you still have a passionate interest in helping the buyer? Is your persona inviting to others? We can still discuss March Madness either by phone or video call. We can still build the relationship with the buyer. And most importantly we still can plan and deliver quality sales calls. Even from the comfort of our own couch….

Sales Skill: Choose The Right Word

03/14/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

Great salespeople always choose the right word. The words we use when speaking with prospects and customers determine the outcome of the sales pursuit. It’s not only the meaning of the words we use but the emotional effect on the buyer. Think about and carefully choose the words you use to improve sales.

Sales people choose the right word to win a sale.

Great Sales People Choose The Right Word
Image from Pixabay

Proposal vs. Quote

Are you after a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship? Sounds a lot like marriage. Do we “quote” to the one we love or “propose?” A quote is just a document with a list of items and prices. A proposal includes all the information a great salesperson has learned about the buyer and their situation. It is a summary of the conversations between the salesperson and buyer. A proposal demonstrates the salesperson’s interest in the buyer. A “quote” says: “here are my prices.”…

Sales Skill: Buyer Listening Style

03/07/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

Your buyer has a preferred listening style. And you do too. Great salespeople know how to determine the buyer listening style. Then they use that style to make it easy for the buyer to understand the message. In a previous post, Fundamental Communication Styles, the four basic styles in which people communicate. In this post I focus on how best to present information so the buyer understands it.

Everybody has a preferred listening style

Know The Buyer Listening Style
Image From Pixabay

The Buyer Listening Style

Many studies have shown each of us has a preferred listening (or learning) style. Some of us prefer listening and speaking. We are known as auditory learners. When we learn from illustrations, graphs, written words, we are visual listeners. We learn best by seeing the information. Sometimes we learn best by actually touching or experiencing the information. Then we are kinesthetic or tactile learners. Kinesthetics learn best by doing. Great salespeople know when they present to buyers in the way they learn best they are more likely to favor us….

Sales Skill: Sticking To The Sales Process

03/01/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

Every great salesperson knows sticking to the sales process is the way to win the sale. The fundamental elements of the sales process are: building rapport, finding the pain, determining the budget, understanding the decision-making process, making the presentation, asking for the order and following up on the sale. Each of us has adapted the fundamental process as our own. We use the process in ways that fit our personality and skill set. So let’s explore ways to stick to the sales process.

Salespeople win sales by sticking to the sales process

The Sales Process Yields The Win
Image from Pixabay

Building Rapport

People buy from those salespeople who they like, respect and trust. So salespeople set about building rapport with buyers by getting to know them as a person. Everybody has dreams and goals. Your job as a salesperson is to find out what drives the buyer. At the same time building a relationship with them so they are comfortable with you. As an integral part of the sales process, each encounter with the buyer is well-planned. A salesperson who hears the buyer say: “I’m not interested” has a response planned. Perhaps it’s: “OK. Since you agreed to meet can we talk about (insert something of interest to the buyer)”. Great salespeople are prepared to respond to anything the buyer might say….

Sales Skills: Great Salespeople Are Adaptable

02/19/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

That salespeople are adaptable might seem like an obvious statement in light of what we have had to do since the Corona Virus pandemic created chaos. But weren’t we great salespeople always adaptable? The Corona Virus has affected the whole world. But for as long as there have been buyers and sellers, there have been disruptive events changing the status quo. Some events affected whole populations. How many of us now have a land-line phone in our home? Other events are more narrowly focused. Have you ever had to deal with your favorite buyer leaving a great customer only to be replaced with one who wanted to make their own mark?

Salespeople Adapt To Change
Image by PixelPixieStudio from Pixabay

What’s It Mean Salespeople Are Adaptable?

The world changes daily. Some changes are small others cataclysmic. Great salespeople understand the implications of the changes affecting them. And they react to accommodate them. But they also know the fundamentals of the selling process never change. How those fundamentals are applied and who the buyer is may change but the fundamentals are, well, fundamental. We say salespeople are adaptable because they continue to apply good fundamental selling practices even when the situation changes….

Sales Skill: Improve Your Closing Ratio

02/15/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

Great salespeople have an attitude of continual improvement. Have you ever looked at your closing ratio and thought: “I need to do better than this?” A salesperson is always tracking their performance. So to improve your closing ratio start by considering how well you do the three essential tasks to closing more sales: Prospect, Qualify and Follow-up.

Improving Closing Ratio Earns More Money

The Key To Earning More Is Boosting The Closing Ratio
Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

What’s Your Closing Ratio?

Simply put your closing ratio is the comparison of the sales you made to the sales you attempted. Say you presented an opportunity to purchase your product or service to 20 decision makers in a moth. Of those 20 presentations ten decision makers agreed to buy from you. Then you could say the closing ratio is 10/20 or 50% of the deals pursued. Another way to figure closing ratio is by the value of sales won compared to the value of opportunities presented. If the 20 pitches totaled $100,000 and the orders were $40,000 then the closing ratio would be 40%. Great salespeople have a consistent way to measure their closing ratio….

Sales Skill: Keeping Your Sales Plan On Track

02/08/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

So here it is mid-February 2021. Some six weeks into the new year. How are you doing? Great salespeople take time to review their personal sales plan. What’s working? What hasn’t gone according to plan? Take an inventory of recent successes and failures. How do those compare to what you had anticipated for this year?

Great Salespeople Check Their Sales Plan Often
Image from Pixabay

Refine Your Vision

There is a lyric from the song Happy Talk in the Musical South Pacific: “You gotta have a dream, if you don’t have a dream,
How you gonna have a dream come true?”
Vision or dream, whatever you call it, how you want to see the future is important. Your sales plan is written to make your dream come true. Take time every couple of months or so to reflect on and revise your vision. How long has it been since you wrote your vision? Yes wrote it! Of course it’s nice to have the dream but when you commit it to paper something happens. It might be magical but those who have taken the time to write out the vision and step-by-step goals to achieve it are those who succeed. The vision and goals are the substance of your personal sales plan….

Great Salespeople: Born or Made?

01/28/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

Are salespeople born with all the knowledge and skill needed to perform at the top of their profession? Of course not. I believe the fundamental qualities of a great salesperson are developed over time. So the answer is salespeople are made! When salespeople diligently practice their trade they master the important selling skills. Let’s begin with the foundation on which to build a great sales career: yourself. What qualities do great salespeople have?

Great salespeople learn their trade through diligent practice

Great Salespeople Are Made By Practicing Their Trade
Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

Three Fundamental Qualities Of A Great Salesperson

Ego strength, ego need and empathy. Great salespeople have healthy egos; either naturally or learned over the years. They are self-assured and confident. Being resilient in the face of rejection, defeat and lost sales yet keep on trying is the fundamental personality trait of great salespeople. Empathy, the ability to understand the customer, is fundamental to success in sales. In addition to these personality traits, great salespeople are driven to succeed. They use knowledge, attitude and behaviors to become the best they can be. Determined to achieve their dreams, great salespeople overcome any obstacles in their way….

Sales Skill: The Telephone

01/21/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

Great salespeople know the telephone is a time-tested tool for virtual selling. Even before the COVID pandemic changed the way “road warriors” had to sell, the telephone was the primary tool for salespeople. So now rather than the black phone with pushbutton dialing of years gone by you now have a mobile device. As powerful as these small digital devices are the telephone feature is still a practical sales tool.

Great Salespeople Master The Telephone Skill

The Telephone Is The Oldest Virtual Meeting Tool

Sure there are many ways to virtually contact prospects: direct mail, email, video chats to name a few. But for the great salesperson, the telephone is still the most powerful. And simple to use. Telephone conversations are real time dialogs. You can hear the nuances in the voice. And react to your prospects comments immediately. The phone is a salesperson’s most valuable tool because phone conversations move the qualification and sales process along quickly. You can create interest and desire real time using a phone. Often a successful phone conversation is the beginning of a mutually beneficial, long-term relationship….