Salesprocess

Sales Skill: Getting to “NO”!

06/14/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

What you, great salesperson, are shocked that a sales skill is getting to “no”! Think about it. Do you win every sales pursuit? Do you want to convert every prospect to a customer? And aren’t you the one advising those new salespeople that selling is a numbers game? So the sooner you get all those “no’s” out of the way, the quicker you get to “yes”. There are three times in the course of getting the order when getting to “no” is important: Qualifying, Confirming and Presenting.

Go For The “NO”
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Qualifying: Looking For The “No”

Great salespeople know they have a qualified prospect when they have rapport with the decision maker, they have a problem you can solve and the budget is there. Any one of these is absent, then you don’t have a qualified prospect. So great salespeople ask good open-ended questions to qualify the prospect. If you can’t build trust and comfort with a prospect, chances are you won’t get good answers. Better to move on. When the prospect doesn’t have a problem they want you to help solve. Time to look for another prospect. No sense waiting to the close to find out they can’t afford your product or service. Get to the budget “no” quickly. Now you see that in the qualifying process getting to “no” quickly saves time.

Confirming

When great salespeople ask good open-ended questions, they hope for answers to lead them toward the successful conclusion of the sale. But we don’t often hear it right. So we ask confirming questions. These questions validate to the prospect we are listening. Confirming questions also help salespeople better understand the prospects mind. In short sales pursuits a confirming question can lead to the close: “If I can get it in blue, would you buy it?” Getting a “no” here gives the salesperson a chance to go on selling by asking other questions about color and other product features. In long sales cycles the “no” along the way offers insight in what it takes to get the “yes”.

Looking For “No” In The Closing Presentation

Now, Crawford, you’ve really lost it! Why put all the work into qualifying a prospect only to hope for “no” in the closing. Good question. Great salespeople are deaf to “no” during the closing presentation. It’s not they don’t hear the word but they interpret it as: “I have a question.” “No” is often an objection. In other words, an appeal for a clarification. So salespeople can find out the reason behind the “no” and go on selling.

The favorite outcome at the end of a sales pursuit is the “yes”. But the least favorite is not “no”; it’s: “I want to think it over.” The salesperson lives in limbo waiting for the prospect to think about it. And most times : “I want to think over” is a polite way for the customer to say “no” without hurting the salesperson’s feelings. Better to have the prospect agree at the beginning of the presentation to tell you “no” if they aren’t going to buy from you. But great salespeople work hard to get the “yes” and they understand the value of “no”.

What You Can Do Right Now Getting To “NO”!

Understand “no” is not personal
Realize “no” is a time saver for you
Treat “no” as an appeal for more information

To learn more sales secrets see Chapter Thirteen, Getting The Order, in Secrets of the Softer Side of Selling. For even more sales encouragement, join our FREE Sales Club! “See” you next week.

Good selling!
Don Crawford

Sales Skill: Successful Selling Behaviors

06/04/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

Ok so “selling behaviors” might not register with you, great salesperson. Maybe it’s an archaic term. So how about selling tasks or selling activities or just stuff we do to close more sales. Whatever you want to call it these are the things we do every day over and over to become the best salesperson we can be. In the last post I encouraged salespeople to focus on behavior and not be preoccupied with attitude. So what are the successful selling behaviors?

Successful Selling Behaviors Win
Image From Pixabay

In all aspects of life, we do the same things over and over and over again. In the kitchen, we cook, eat, clean up and do it all over again. A fisherman baits his hook, casts into the water, trolls the bait, hooks the fish, reels it in lifts the fish into the boat with his net. Then does it all over again. Salespeople prospect, qualify, close, follow up, ask for referrals and do it multiple times a day. And they pause periodically to measure how they are doing….

Sales Skill: Preparation, Practice and Performance

05/17/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

Hey there great salesperson, I know you are successful because you understand and use the 3-P approach to every sales call: Preparation, Practice and Performance. The 3-P approach gives salespeople the edge over the competition and leads to the sale. Whether it’s a one-call-close or a long sales cycle, use the 3-P’s at each customer contact.

Great salespeople do the 3-P's: Prepare, Practice, Perform

Use The 3-P’s To Be Awesome!
Image from Pixabay

Preparation

Closing the sale begins at the beginning. And that’s doing the research about the industry, the company and the person you will be meeting. Decision makers want to know you have done the research. What problems would their company have which you have solved for others? How does the prospect make buying decisions? Who is the decision maker and what drives them? These are some of the basic questions to be answered in doing research before the sales meeting….

Sales Skill: Achieving Goals

04/11/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

As great salespeople we are all achieving goals. How do we go about it? We focus on the most important task at the time. That important task is determined by the immediate goals we have for achieving the long-term goals. So we plan goal achieving activities. Next we perform them. Then we check to see whether we are achieving goals.

Great Salespeople Are Expert At Achieving Goals
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Achieving Goals Starts With A Vision

Pick a future time: 3 years, 5 years, 10 years. Where do you want to be personally and professionally then? This “vision” you have for the future is the basis for setting your goals. Great salespeople know goals must be realistic and measurable. You may want to double your sales in 3 years. If so you can measure current sales volume against previous to see the growth. If the market size is adequate for achieving your goal then it is realistic. As long as you know how to do it….

Sales Skill: Cold Calling

04/05/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

Well great salespeople I’ve been doing cold calling lately. Since the pandemic hit I’ve been working with our local Small Business Development Center. When a new program to help small manufacturing businesses was offered, I agreed to recruit companies for the initial cohort. So here I am again doing sales calls to create interest in the Innovation Commercialization Assistance Program for Existing Enterprises. I’m a sales professional who relies on the fundamentals of good selling. I’ll tell you how I prepared for this new challenge.

Be Happy! Make Cold Calls!
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What Is Cold Calling?

Great salespeople have lists of prospects matching their current best customers. They have done some research about the person they are about to call. There is a purpose to the cold call. Then they dial the phone. For the salesperson it’s part of their days work. For the person you are calling, it’s intrusive. I know the person who answers the phone is not sitting around idly waiting for my call. No when they pick up the phone and realize it’s a “cold call” they usually feel ambushed. That person on the other end of the phone wants to escape from this call as politely as possible. And you great salesperson, want to achieve your purpose for calling….

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
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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….

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 Skills: Using Compelling Stories

01/14/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

Every great salesperson has a collection of compelling stories. Some stories illustrate positive outcomes from using their product or service. Other stories challenge the status quo by describing consequences of not benefitting from a product or service. Compelling Stories give comfort to the prospect showing how others have benefitted from your product or service.

Great salespeople use compelling stories to highlight benefits

Compelling Stories Create Interest
Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

How To Tell Compelling Stories

Think about all the selling success you have. Each one of them resulted in a prospect changing their behavior in favor of your product or service. And they benefitted from the change. When they purchased your product or service they saved money, improved performance, or avoided a negative consequence.

So tell the story from the point of view of a successful customer outcome. Describe the problem you solved, how your product or service was applied and the benefit the customer experienced. Use words to paint the picture in your prospect’s mind. The story has a beginning which sets the stage by illustrating the current situation. In the middle is how the “hero” (you or your team) took on the “dragon” (the current situation). A strong ending leaves your prospect desperate to hear how you will save them from the “dragon.” Every great salesperson has a personal style of telling compelling stories. So tell stories in your own words, cadence and tone….

Sales Skill: Customer Focused Selling

11/06/2020 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

Why is customer focused selling so important? Take a look at any article on why a business fails. Failure to focus on the customer is always near the top of the list. It’s logical. Without income from sales no company can sustain itself, let alone grow. Great salespeople know focusing on the customer and their wants and needs is the most important skill they have.

Great salespeople focus on the customer first

Customer Focussed Salespeople Win Big!

What Is Customer Focused Selling?

The name of the skill says it all. Great salespeople practice putting the customer first. They do it by asking good questions and actively listening to what the customer tells them. I know what you are thinking: The salespersons goal is to get a prospect to buy the product or service. True. But to have a successful outcome, the salesperson needs to understand the customer. That’s where customer focused selling comes in….