Softer Side of Selling

Have you ever had a perfect sales call? One where everything went just like you planned? Spoiler alert: There is no perfect sales call. But with planning and preparation great salespeople achieve their sales call goals every time.

Do You Plan Your Sales Calls?

I’ve been reading The Seller’s Challenge by Thomas Williams & Thomas Saine (Tom & Tom for short). On page 31 they begin a discussion of “harsh realities of the sales call.” Tom & Tom encourage sellers to plan the sales call. If you have been reading my blogs for a while you may remember my favorite quote from General Eisenhower: “In planning for battle I have found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

I agree with Tom & Tom that the perfect sales call begins with a plan. Great salespeople know what they want to accomplish during the sales call and how they plan to reach those goals. But they are also students of history and know every sales call will take off in unexpected directions. Nevertheless, great salespeople are diligent planners….

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Do you have a mobile device? Of course you. Do you use it to make telephone calls? I hope so. The telephone is a salesperson’s most valuable tool.

Mobile Devices – Not Just For Surfing The Web

Yes, today’s mobile devices are more powerful than computers were just a few short years ago. But for the great salesperson, the telephone feature is still the most valuable. 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.

Are You Successful In Reaching The Decision Maker By Telephone? Prospecting is the art of finding good customers. Great salespeople realize the phone is a salesperson’s most valuable tool to begin the qualifying process. They have a script outlining their compelling reason for calling. Great salespeople either have a referral to the prospect or know who the decision maker is. They call with the intention to create interest and schedule a meeting. The prospecting phone call is one step in the selling plan to close a sale. Done well it will set up the process to convince the prospect to buy from you….

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Are all of your customers the “Best Customers”? Of course not! If you have a typical sales territory, a few customers provide most of your business. And you devote most of your selling time to them, right?

Who Are Your Best Customers?

Take a look back over the recent 12 months. Which customers have given you the most business? If you sell business to business generally you have a small number of best customers in your territory. These are companies where you have built a mutually beneficial, long-term relationship. I call this my “A” list.

All the “A” list customers have traits in common. For example when I sold custom fabricated architectural metal work to construction companies, the best customers:

• Had branch offices in major metropolitan areas,
• Focused on large custom designed projects,
• Worked with architects who included high end metal work in their projects,
• Appreciated high quality and attentive service,
• Would negotiate price and
• Paid on time.

…

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What do you know about your customer’s business? Do you know how their products are made and used? Who are their customers? What are the challenges for the market they are in?

Why Care About Your Customer’s Business?

Great salespeople understand the business model of their customers. They know what drives their business decisions. They follow the markets their customer serves. Great salespeople keep track of their customer’s competitors.

By getting to know your customer’s business you can anticipate their needs and changing needs. When you can be …

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Do you flit from one task to another? Are you easily distracted? When you set goals are they actionable and achievable? Great sales people focus on their goals and do the activities necessary to achieve their dream.

Three Steps To Achieving Great Things

In a previous post, Manage Your Day In Sales, I listed these three steps to achieve success:

1. Decide what you want to achieve – your dream
2. Determine what it will take to achieve your dream
3. Dedicate yourself to achieving your dream without distraction

Most of us do the first step and many do number 2. Where we fail is …

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Are you a planner? Do you set goals for each day? Or are you one to just “wing it”? To be the best you need to manage your day in sales.

Are You Just Average?

Is this you? Hop in your car. Stop at the end of the driveway. Wonder whether to turn left to the first prospect of the day. Right to go to the office to make phone calls. Or head to the local coffee shop to check out the new barista. Most average sales people just “wing it” figuring something miraculous will happen today. Do you manage your day in sales like the best salespeople by having a plan for the day?

Goals Are The Key To Success

Read the published literature on success and the common theme there is goal …

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How often to you plan social sales calls? Do buyers see you as Mr. or Ms. Hard Sell? Are you always pushing for orders? Ever just relax with a customer or prospect?

It’s All About Relationship

People buy from people who they like and trust. Let’s unpack that statement. First of all people really buy from people. Whoa, you think: “What about the book I ordered from Amazon?” Well, OK, some smaller personal purchases we just buy. But what about a car or house? Would you buy one without human interaction? Even when you “buy” a car on line, there is a dealership involved. In the B2B world where I spent my career there was always a buyer involved.

People buy from salespeople they like. Maybe not always but when the buyer likes you it is much easier to get the information you need to close the sale. Plus if you find the buyer unpleasant you may just pass on selling to that company. Trust is everything. When there is not mutual trust closing the sale is impossible. Social sales calls allow the buyer and seller to build and strengthen relationship. They develop a “business friendship”. And we trust our friends.

Social Sales Calls?

What are social sales calls? Sharing a meal together. A golf outing. Attending a baseball game. Perhaps an evening cruise on your sailboat. These are meetings with your customer which are outside the office and build the strong personal relationship. True, some companies forbid this kind of activity between salesperson and buyer. I think that is short sighted. Good relationships benefit both parties. And I’ve never gotten an order from a customer because I bought them lunch or took them fishing. Good buyers place orders when it is in the best interest of their company….

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Are your sales growing? Where are the new sales coming from? No matter what business you are in, there are only four sources of new business.

Only Four Sources Of New Business!?

Why are there only four sources of ways to grow your sales? Think about it and look at the chart with this blog. You can add new customers to buy your current product line or sell more of those products to existing customers. If your existing customers have needs for products other than what you currently sell perhaps you can add new products to your offering. By adding new products the possibility exists for adding new markets with needs different from current customers. See, only four sources of new business for your company or sales territory.

New Products and New Customers

This is the most challenging way to grow business. It’s a difficult enough task to convince a new prospect to trust you even when you are selling a proven product. Convincing a prospect to take a chance with an unknown company and unproven product is not impossible but more difficult than other options.

I worked for a company in the 1980’s when metal recycling was taking off. We made thermal processing equipment to heat various materials to high temperatures. The company had never sold …

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Do you set the stage for the next meeting before you end the sales call? For sales processes with long sales cycles and multiple calls to close, do you have a mutually agreed upon action plan at the end of each sales call?

Plan For The Long Run

Selling expensive, complex products are a particular challenge. Great salespeople always sketch out the sales process from first contact to close. Who are the key players? What are their individual needs? How do they affect the buying decision? At each step along the way to close great salespeople set the stage for the next meeting.

Selling Is A Process

From building rapport, to identifying the problem, to determining the budget, to finding the decision maker, to closing the sale, great sales people follow the process. At each step along the way great salespeople ask questions. Each answer leads to …

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How To Win A Sales Argument is the title of a book my father gave to me when I first started selling. The book was written by Richard Borden and Alvin Busse and published in 1926, almost 100 years ago.

Why Use The Term “Sales Argument”?

“Argument” comes from the Latin word “arguere” which meant to make clear or prove. Through the years into middle English the meaning changed to the process of reasoning. While in current use, “argument” has a negative connotation, perhaps in 1926 it was a more acceptable.

What Did Borden and Busse Mean By “Sales Argument”?

For years this little book remained hidden in a box of stuff collected after my father died. I had looked at the title many times and thought: “how negative could this book be?” And then put the book aside. Recently I was browsing the bookshelves looking for blog inspiration. I pulled the book off the shelf and started paging through it. Was I amazed! The authors put forth 5 principles for winning …

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