We fear what we don’t understand and there’s a lot to understand about selling, so let’s start with how you view the profession of sales ... read more
Digging For Gold
Why don’t most sales reps prospect? Simple. They don’t like it. They see it as a chore and a bore. The chances of rejection are high and nobody likes being rejected, do they? If you consider prospecting a waste of time, take a minute or two and think about it from a slightly different perspective ... read more
And the Question Is...?
The art of asking excellent questions is one of the most valuable skills you can have if you want to sell anything. The key to success in sales is to determine your clients' real needs and find a solution that will fulfil those needs. You do this by asking questions ... read more
Do You Look Like You Mean Business?
A young woman from a promotional products company recently came to see Abe, a wheeling, dealing entrepreneur and good friend of mine. She’d just flown in from Sydney especially for the meeting, so he knew she placed a priority on doing business with him and why not? If she pulled off the deal they were discussing, it would mean a large commission for her and a steady income for her company. She was a very pretty woman and Abe has a healthy appreciation of pretty women, but that’s not what he first noticed about her. All he could think about was how tacky she looked ... read more
Find a Need and Fill It
I was out walking the other day and happened upon a major electrical chain store. On impulse, I walked in. My clothes dryer had been making funny noises lately and it occurred to me that it might be time to get a new one. This delightfully charming salesman approached me and asked the ubiquitous...”Can I help you?”... read more
I'll Think About It
You’ve spent all this time, effort and money on getting the punters into your shop only to have them drift back out again murmuring something that sounds vaguely like “I’ll think about it”. You watch them wander down the street to your competition, trying to stop kicking yourself for spending all those advertising dollars that brought them right to your competitors’ doors. But wait a second, you’ve muttered the ubiquitous “I’ll think about it” yourself at some time or another, have you ever stopped to think why? Why do customers not buy? Or more particularly, why do they not buy from you? ... read more
The Trouble With Sales
The trouble with sales is one of perception. It’s so easy anyone can do it, right? Absolutely! All it takes is learning how to. Sure, you can wing it, muddle along on your own until you get the hang of it, after all, it’s not exactly rocket science. But it is a skill, or more accurately a series of skills, and like any skills, they can be learned, practised and perfected, all you need is to find someone who already has the skills you need and is willing enough and talented enough to teach them to you ... read more
Why Spend Money Training?
We’re all fairly certain there are rocky roads ahead. All the signs point to the fact that the time is ripe to take your business out of cruise control and really start to drive it. If you don’t, you’re left eating your competitors’ dust. So what are your plans to cope? You won’t have the fat advertising budgets to entice customers to buy your products and services. In fact, fat from every department inevitably gets trimmed when the accountants get a little nervous. You’ll need to become leaner and meaner just to survive, so where does that leave your ability to generate business? Firmly in the hands of your sales team. Are they up to it? ... read more
Next Question Please
You have a great product or service. In fact, it’s so good everyone would want to buy it if they only loved it as much as you do. Having passion for your product is wonderful. Believing in it is crucial. Expecting other people to share your enthusiasm may be a step too far. How then do you know when you’re pushing too hard, when you’re letting your enthusiasm run away with you? ... read more
The Profits of Doom
Now is the time to take advantage of your competitors’ downtime. While they’re busily trimming expenditure, carefully cutting back wherever they can, slashing advertising and training budgets because there’s no funding for “soft” projects like these, take the opposite tack. Aggressively grow your business, focus on increasing advertising, get skilled at negotiating hard for beneficial rates. Raise your training budget to make sure your salespeople are as ready as they’ll ever be to take advantage of every single sales opportunity ... read more
Who Do You Think You Are?
How powerful would it be if you knew how to communicate with people on their own wavelength, speak their language, be immediately understood and recognised as belonging amongst them? Personality profiling will help you do all that and more ... read more
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