happy selling

The single biggest void in professional sales today is the skill needed to cultivate meaningful customer relationships. Ironically, making customer connections has never been easier, thanks to social media, email, and texting. But, because our ability to connect is never more than a few keystrokes away, we have a false sense of our position with customers and prospects.                     

Making Connections via Technology Is Not a Relationship

As I told Selling Power publisher Gerhard Gschwandtner in the video interview below, we often confuse a voicemail, email, or one-way texting with productive progression in a customer relationship. This level of engagement may or may not help us get or stay on our customers’ radar, but it does not create opportunities for problem-solving conversations and needs assessment. Nor do these connections drive purchase decisions, displace competitors, or facilitate influence. For these outcomes, you need a bona fide relationship with a degree of influence with your customer. Such relationships are based on trust, credibility, rapport, and respect; all four are the building blocks to a long-term, productive, and profitable relationship.

How do you move your position from remote engagement to a deeper relationship, such as trusted resource and advisor? Consider these tips.

1. Create Curiosity. Make yourself interesting and valuable to your customers and prospects by giving them information related to them and their interests. This information includes competitive information, industry-specific insights or news, or general business information. 
   
   These materials may have no direct connection to your products or services; they may not always have a direct connection to the customer’s business, but they must provide new insights of interest. Be a strategic resource: you should provide detail and thoughts on why the information impacts their organization and market. Research articles related to industry trends or concerns specific to your customer. Share insights from blogs, articles, or the latest business/leadership books – these can be leveraged across all of your customers and prospects. Customers often miss published coverage about their own company, and are appreciative when it is shared. Even when the subject matter isn’t of direct interest to your customer, you are demonstrating your insight and that you have your finger on the pulse of current events and thinking in business. You are positioning yourself as a credible information resource with insights that can help achieve their business objectives.
2. Be Curious. 
   
   The best sales professionals always have an authentic interest in their customers and the business reality in which their customers live and compete. It is often surprising how little sales professionals know about their customer’s worlds. In our everyday struggle to become more networked, we have to be interested to gain and keep access to the higher levels of an organization. Cultivate your own intellectual curiosity. Understand more than is required to hold your own in discussions with customers. Doing so will not only improve your insights and progress your position with customers, it will make your professional life more interesting and fulfilling.
3. Create Opportunities to Listen, Not Talk. 
   
   This perspective is often counter-intuitive to sales professionals, but it is the time spent listening, not talking, that deepens our relationship with customers. Think about the most significant relationships in your personal life. These were not cultivated with one-way conversations in which you continually talk about yourself, your assets, and your strengths. They are the culmination of reciprocal contributions and emotional investment. 
   
   Customer relationships are different only in that the investment may not be reciprocal at the outset; initially, you need to do the lion’s share of the work. Invest in the relationship. Stay focused on the customer. Nothing is more disingenuous than listening for advantage to launch into your own agenda. This is a one-way ticket to the exit. Every meeting or conversation in which you learn more about your customer – his/her competitors, concerns, goals, and personal interests – is a meeting in which you have increased the depth of that relationship and improved your position with the customer.

Don’t make the mistake of considering unanswered voicemails, emails, or even text messages as evidence of quality interactions, or assume  that customers are just busy and will get back to you when they have time. Although these  conversations of good intent get shared with sales leadership and added to the CRM as customer contact, no real progress was made in developing the relationship.

Scroll through your “connections” or “friends” lists. For each name, ask yourself what you know about the individual. Do you really know this person at all? The answer will help you understand your own professional gap and provide the starting point for deepening your customer relationships.

18 Phone Sales Skills Tips You Can Use Right Now

18 Phone Sales Skills Tips You Can Use Right Now - www.v4all.org 

1. Your tone of voice matters more than you think. If your tone of voice is flat and lacks any sense of enthusiasm, how do you expect the other person to ever show interest in your call? 

2. Use the person’s name. People always love to hear their name, so use it.  In a typical telephone call, I want to use the other person’s name (almost universally that means the person’s first name) three times.

3. Unless there is no other way, avoid negotiating anything over the telephone. Since you can’t see them, you don’t have the advantage of using body language as a tool to help you negotiate.

Click on above image for a free infographic on negotiating skills!

4. If you do have to negotiate over the telephone, use pauses and your tone of voice in the same manner as you would in a face-to-face negotiation. Don’t allow yourself to be sucked into a quick negotiation just because you’re on the telephone.

5. Show the same level of respect to the gatekeeper or other any other person who answers the phone as you would show to the person you’re looking to talk to.

6. Use descriptive words that paint a picture when you’re talking. Remember, the other person can’t see you, so it means the picture you paint has to come with the words you say and how you say it.

7. Always have the person’s name and the name of their company on a piece of paper in front of you as you call. Last thing you want to do is to accidently forget who you’re calling just as they answer.

8. Limit the background noise. Some background noise if fine, but the last thing you want the other person to hear when you’re calling is loud music or the sound of informal activities going on in the background.

9. If the phone call is important, stand up when you make it. It’s amazing how much energy and focus you’ll have if you stand to make an important phone call.

10. Never be the first person to hang-up the telephone. Always allow the other person to disconnect first.  You never know when the other person might just share with you one more important piece of information.

11. Be quiet when the other person disconnects. Many times a person will think they have ended the call when they have not actually disconnected.  You might just surprise yourself with what you hear from the other end.

12. Don’t be distracted by email or other items popping up on your computer while you’re making a call. Be focused. Because you can’t see them, it’s easy to become distracted with your eyes.  Allowing yourself to become distracted may easily cause you to miss a key point.

13. Reaffirm everything. Again, because you’re only communicating with your voice means you must very reaffirm everything.

14. Use open-ended questions as a way to build the dialogue. Just because you’re talking with someone on the telephone does not mean you can’t use open-ended questions.

15. Don’t make an important telephone call from a telephone that is not stable, whether that be a cell phone with spotty coverage or a weak handset. Quality counts and it represents you.

16. Always answer the telephone with both enthusiasm and at a pace (words per minute) that allows the other party to know exactly who it is they’re talking to. Too many times people who answer many phone calls each day get into a habit of answering quickly, resulting in their words slurring together, making it hard for the other party to hear who they’re talking to.

17. Keep a mirror on your desk to allow you to see yourself talking. It’s amazing how much energy you’ll put into a phone call when you can see yourself.

18. Talk with your hands, as it allows you to convey more energy in your voice. Use a high-quality headset to allow you to talk with your hands.

5 Sales Training Tactics that Really Work

5 Sales Training Tactics that Really Work - www.v4all.org

Today's post is by Matt Tuson, EVP of Sales at NewVoiceMedia. 

Do your sales training efforts change the behavior of your sales reps and make your business more money? In many cases, sales training amounts to a booklet of old-fashioned ideas that have little to no impact on your business culture. 

However, proper sales training is essential – not only as a way to ensure you’re getting the best out of your team, but also to make sure processes are uniform across the company. And training isn’t just about new recruits. Every member of your team needs training from time to time.

Here are five tactics for effectively training your sales team – from beginners to experienced sellers.

1. Role play is still effective!

Most people learn best if they’re actually doing something, as opposed to just listening. Role play can give your team practical, hands-on training that forces them to think on their feet. Here are some good situations to role play:

• how your team works in CRM
• how they overcome objections
• elevator pitches
• cold calls
• negotiation tactics

This is also a great opportunity to look for common selling mistakes, such as talking too much, over-educating, or failing to ask questions.

To make the most of role plays, record them. For example, ContactWorld for Sales allows you to record calls for training and legal compliance; this means you can analyze real calls with your team to see how they’re performing and whether they’re putting their training into action. Sometimes it’s only by evaluating what you do on a day-to-day basis that you can truly learn and improve.

2. Set up a peer mentor system

Peer mentoring is obviously essential during ramp-up for new hires, as there’s so much about the company itself to learn before you can begin selling effectively. But having input from a senior sales professional can also be useful later on in a sales person’s career.

3. Ensure your training covers why people buy

Too often, sales training covers the ‘logical side’ of sales – in other words, the features, functions and business benefits of the product or service and how to best communicate these to the prospect. While this is still important, sales training should also cover the emotional, political and subconscious forces that have an impact on the decision.

4. Build confidence with easy sells

Confidence is an essential skill for any salesperson. But, if you’re new in a job or you’re struggling to start out, your confidence – and, consequently, your ability to sell effectively – can take a knock.

For the first few months, focus new hires on products or prospects that you know to be an easy sell. Let your new sales team make sale after sale, and watch their confidence grow. When they come to tackle the riskier prospects later on, they’ll be filled with self-confidence, which will swing the sale their way.

5. Ensure training is consistent

Training needs to be consistent. This is because the only way you can get every member of your team to use a CRM the same way is if they all get the same information at the start. Experienced sales reps may be great at what they do, but, if the way they log progress on the CRM is different to everyone else (or lacking detail), they’ll be harder to manage and some information could get lost.

Without the right information, you’ll be missing valuable insights and will be unable to forecast accurately, which could have a direct impact on the business’ goals.

The Ten Traits of High Sales Performers

A big benefits-management company recently conducted a survey where they asked 365 CEOs and sales-management executives, “What are the three key factors that separate high-performing sales professionals from moderate- to low-performing sales professionals?”

Both CEOs and C-level sales executives (all people who don’t sell, but rely on their salespeople so they get paid) ranked self-discipline/motivation as the most important factor.

Next in line were customer knowledge, innate talent/personality and product knowledge. Further down the list were experience and teamwork skills. Totally bogus.

These are qualities of corporate greed, not value, service or help—the three things that customers require to give you their business and maintain loyalty.

If you’re interested in the most important qualities of a high-performing salesperson, let me give you a realistic list of success characteristics.

Perpetual, consistent, positive attitude and enthusiasm. This is the first rule of facing the customer, facing the obstacles, facing the competition, facing the economy and facing yourself.

Quadruple self-belief. Unwavering belief in your company, in your product and in yourself are the first three parts. But most critical: You must believe that the customer is better-off having purchased from you.

Use of creativity. Use creativity to present ideas in the customer’s favor and to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Ability to give and prove value. Prove the value of your product or service, as well as your ability to give value to the prospect beyond the sale so you earn the order, the reorder and the loyalty.

 Ability to promote and position. Your use of the Internet to blog, create e-zines, utilize social media and achieve Google top ranking leads customers to perceive you as a value provider and a leader in your field.

Exciting, compelling presentation skills. You must develop not just solid communication skills, but superior questioning skills, listening skills and a sense of humor, as well as the innate ability to capture the imagination (and the wallet) of customers.

Ability to prove your value and claims through the testimony of others. Testimonials sell where salespeople can’t. The best salespeople use video testimonials to support their claims. But you don’t get testimonials; you earn them. Same with referrals.

Ability to create an atmosphere where people want to buy (because they hate being sold). This is done by engaging and asking, not presenting and telling.

Ability to build a relationship, not hunt or farm. I wonder if the executives talking about the factors of great salespeople are the same morons dividing their salespeople into hunters and farmers. Great salespeople are relationship builders who provide value and help their customers win. Unyielding personal values and ethics. Great people have great values and great ethics. It’s interesting that 365 executives don’t deem them in the top 10.

The personal desire to excel and be their best. This is a desired quality of every salesperson, but the best salespeople have mastered the other 10 elements. And the key is that all 10 must be mastered in order for this quality to manifest itself.

There is no prize in sales for second place. It’s win or nothing. The masters know this and strive for—they fight for—that winning edge.

We” is for selling. ”You” is for buying

The key to mastering any kind of sales - a big sales principle - is switching statements about you – how great you are and what you do, to statements about them – how great they are, and how they will produce more and profit more from ownership of your product or service.

Here’s the Secret: Take the word “we” and delete it. Delete it from your slides, your literature, and ESPECIALLY from your sales presentation. You can use “I” but you can’t use “we.”

Here’s the Power: When you stop using “we,” you have to substitute it for the word “you” or “they” and say things in terms of the customer. How they win, how they benefit, how they produce, how they profit , how they will be served, and how they have piece of mind.

“We” is for selling. ”You” is for buying.

Mandate for Understanding: Go through your entire presentation and  record it. Listen to it actively – which means take notes. Count the amount of times you use the word “we.” Take out the “we,” and begin to make value statements instead of selling statements.

Here’s the reality in plain English:

1. The buyer, the prospect, and the customer expects you to have knowledge of their stuff, not just your stuff. To transfer that knowledge, the prospect needs to understand and agree with your ideas, feel your passion, feel your belief, and feel your sincerity beyond the hype of your sales pitch.

2. You have to know their industry, not just your product.

3. You have to know their business, not just your product.

4. You have to know what’s new and what’s next, not just your product.

5. You have to know the current trends, not just your product.

6. You have to know their marketing, not just your product.

7. You have to know their productivity, not just your product.

7.5 You have to know their profit, not just your product.

key to mastering any kind of sales - a big sales principle

The key to mastering any kind of sales - a big sales principle - is switching statements about you – how great you are and what you do, to statements about them – how great they are, and how they will produce more and profit more from ownership of your product or service.

Here’s the Secret: Take the word “we” and delete it. Delete it from your slides, your literature, and ESPECIALLY from your sales presentation. You can use “I” but you can’t use “we.”

Here’s the Power: When you stop using “we,” you have to substitute it for the word “you” or “they” and say things in terms of the customer. How they win, how they benefit, how they produce, how they profit , how they will be served, and how they have piece of mind.

“We” is for selling. ”You” is for buying.

Mandate for Understanding: Go through your entire presentation and  record it. Listen to it actively – which means take notes. Count the amount of times you use the word “we.” Take out the “we,” and begin to make value statements instead of selling statements.

Here’s the reality in plain English:

1. The buyer, the prospect, and the customer expects you to have knowledge of their stuff, not just your stuff. To transfer that knowledge, the prospect needs to understand and agree with your ideas, feel your passion, feel your belief, and feel your sincerity beyond the hype of your sales pitch.

2. You have to know their industry, not just your product.

3. You have to know their business, not just your product.

4. You have to know what’s new and what’s next, not just your product.

5. You have to know the current trends, not just your product.

6. You have to know their marketing, not just your product.

7. You have to know their productivity, not just your product.

7.5 You have to know their profit, not just your product.

Experts have been telling us for years that following up with your prospects and customers can increase your sales by 30%.

Experts have been telling us for years that following up with your prospects and customers can increase your sales by 30%.

Ohhh, I think I just heard a loud groan from quite of few of you, along with, “Follow up? I hate following up, it feels like such a waste of time!”

So if that 30% number is really true, then why do less than 10 percent of salespeople actually follow up?  Well, we’ve got the “usual” reasons: lack of time, desire or it doesn’t work… and that might be true for some, but honestly? The simple fact is that most salespeople have never been taught how to effectively follow up.  And that’s probably not your fault.

Okay, so is it worth it to you if you could make one more sale a week?  What about getting one more qualified referral a week?  30% — that’d be a nice bump right? Yes? YES!!

Now for the disclaimer: there’s no magical follow-up formula, but use these three follow-up techniques and they’ll consistently net positive results.

1.  Find something you have in common with the customer, making your follow-up contact memorable. It could be hobbies, like interests (music, movies, sports, etc.) or philosophies. Just something that will let them know you can relate to them on their level.

2.  Make a friend of the customer – nobody minds being contacted by a friend. This doesn’t mean you have to invite them to your son’s wedding.  It might be something as simple as being more “neighborly” than “salesy”, sharing a joke and a laugh, or getting their advice on something you have in common.

3.  Speak to your customers’ goals, dreams or passions. If your customer loves cooking, send them a subscription to cooking magazine along with a quick reminder of how your product or service could give them more time or money to be doing what they dream of.

Essentially, you’re building a relationship with your customers and finding ways to connect with them only helps you reach that goal because it shows your prospect that you’re interested and willing to take the time to get to know them.

So using the 3 tips above, practice at least five different methods of follow-up – call, write, email, text or drop by. It really is that simple. We recommend you commit to follow up at least five times before you move on.

And finally, track the results of your follow up strategies – at least for a while – for two reasons:

1) to prove to yourself how beneficial effective follow up can be

2) so you can continue to do what brings you the greatest success.

What are you waiting for? Go get that 30% bump!