1) Search for customers differently today!
Is cold calling still the way to prospect? It is if you are a bot! Changes in sales are necessary to be successful today. Social media is something that needs to happen to support your prospecting process but social media is not alone. Today it is necessary to do things differently and networking is one of the most important. If cold calling is going to happen you better do it right!
2) Tell the prospect it's OK to break up
Today a little bit of reverse psychology is one way to help the prospect feel more comfortable. Changes in sales need to happen in a large way because so many salespeople are so bad at it! The reputation gained by being labeled a ‘salesperson’ is not a pretty one! Often deservedly so. Being truthful and telling a prospect it is ok if you ‘break up’ is a very important step especially when they are acting like you a typical salesperson. More importantly, it is often the right thing is to ‘break up’. Not everyone is in agreement with me because sales has always been seen as something to Pitch to someone, be positive, upbeat… this is often seen as phony and salesy. Thats why a bit of a pull back, break up is often the right move.
3) Be a Reporter
Being a reporter means stop ‘selling’ and start asking. Asking great questions. Asking questions to invite thought is how sales truly works today. The skill of asking really good, open-ended thought provoking questions so the prospect can self-realize that they need what you are selling…or not. Pushing them into something is not good for anyone.
4) Research is important, but not why you'd think
The idea of researching a prospect before talking to them is very basic. The minimum a salesperson should so is look at their website, linked In etc but what are they looking for? The most important thing is to look for opportunities that you might see that your product or service can potentially help with. The salesperson should change the way they look at the research. Yes their website is important but why? well not only to identify who the decision maker is but even more importantly what is their message? who are they trying to be in the community? What is their marketing image? Look at their blog. The blog is what they are putting forth and it will give the salesperson an idea of what is important to them. Look at linked in and put the company name is. See who all of the employees are and look at their background. Where did they work before? what type of posts do they put out? All of these things will help the salesperson develop great questions to use in the ‘interview’.
5) Cutting your price is a BIG problem!
The one that is so important to understand is people make buying decisions for their very own reasons; a bad previous experience, a good one, always paying less or being a proud negotiator. All of these things are important to know but psychologically, if you are priced less than a competitor or are willing to drop your price, the message you’re sending might not be the one you want to send. To most buyers, a drop in price or a less expensive upfront cost will almost always give pause. Why is it less? Why are they willing to drop the price? Is something wrong? Price is more psychological than anything else. It is about belief…do not forget that!
6) Shut Up and Listen!!
The gift of gab’ a real people person… “you’ve got a great personality, you would be great in sales” is something most salespeople have heard along the way. Here is the problem with that. The pitch…as the sales presentation is often referred to, is way too much talking and too little listening. If there is one thing I could teach clients it that asking questions and listening to the answer, not just listening in anticipation of answering is the true difference in a good salesperson and a great one!!