Sales UP Newsletter
Volume 1, Issue 10, Nov 16, 2005 Editor: Stuart Quinn
Welcome to the Sales UP Newsletter. The purpose of the newsletter is to provide you with tips, hints and ideas on selling as well as point you towards other resources that may help you to become more effective with your selling efforts. We welcome articles from our readers as well as real life stories about the best selling practices you employ. Send your thoughts and ideas to SalesUP@SalesUP.ca
Closing Techniques
I frequently get asked, “how can I close more business?”. Well the simply answer is to make sure that you actually try to close your deals by asking for an order. It is remarkable how many salespeople go to all the trouble of prospecting, identifying needs, presenting their solutions and then just hold their breath and hope the customer will say, “okay I’ll take it”. One of my clients (national retail chain) conducted a secret shopper exercise across all of their stores and one of the most amazing findings was that in 75% of the encounters the secret shopper was not asked any kind of a closing question. In retail if you don’t ask the odds are the client will keep shopping. At an absolute minimum asking for some form of a commitment gets any potential objections on the table and shortens the sales cycle. Here are some sample closing techniques: • Assumptive closes – if you’ve received buying signals (lots of agreement) then simply assume that the major decision has been made and switch to easier to answer questions like color, model, delivery, features, payment options etc. • Ben Franklin close – help the client make a list of all of the pros of buying from you, then have them (on their own) make a list of the cons – usually the pros outweigh the cons • Impending event close –remind the customer of the reasons for making the decision now vs. later (price changes, availability etc.). • The Paddock close – sometimes clients just need to say no a couple of time, after receiving a negative response to a close change the subject, talk about something else for a while and then try to close again.
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Direct close – review all of the benefits that the client has agreed to and ask for the order
Product complexity and the client’s buying process will have an impact on how we try to close but we should always be trying to gain some form of commitment from the client that moves the business forward. It might be the sale or it might be a demo or a reference visit but we need to be asking. Remember if you don’t ask your competitor will! Closing Language: Sometimes the language we use can inadvertently cause some people to hesitate in moving forward. Some words just put some people off…. Like “BUY”. It sounds so final; it really is just a verb and has no value to the client. Now “OWN” that is a much more personal word. Owning this widget vs. buying this widget – a subtle change but one that at some level may make your client feel more comfortable. How about “SIGNING” a “CONTRACT”. Both very ominous and officious sounding words to some. Instead what about okaying, confirming or approving this agreement or understanding? These are softer sounding terms that just might make the client a little more at ease.
Upcoming Events
Sales UP Sales Club Meeting November 23rd Topic: Effective Presentations Calgary Chamber of Commerce
11:30-1:00, Room 213 RSVP to SalesUP@SalesUP.ca If you are not currently on the Sales Club Reminder List and would like to be please email us at SalesUP@SalesUP.ca
Time Management
There is just never enough time in the day to get everything done! Those follow-up calls that should have been done today get pushed to tomorrow and then probably the next day. Everybody wants a piece of your time. Just think how much more we could sell if we only had an extra hour or two of sell time each day! Many of us could have those extra hours if we only managed our time better. The first step is in recognizing where we are losing time during our day. Time wasters usually come in two forms – those that are self-generated and those which are thrown in our path. The most common self-generated time wasters are: • Disorganization – where did I put that….. • Lack of interest – I really don’t want to do this • Procrastination – don’t do today what you can put off till tomorrow • Perfectionism – I’m not sure the color palettes in this presentation are exactly right… • Inability to say no – sure I can probably find time for that Examples of time wasters that get thrust upon us are: • Email – spam, personal notes, instant chat, copied on every note every written • Telephone calls – personal calls, requests for advice, • Visitors – unexpected, yakkers • Waiting – no shows, planes, traffic • Meetings bloody meetings Understanding how our time is being wasted is important so it never hurts to track your time for a while and try to determine the biggest culprits. On a more basic note there are some simple things you can do which have been proven to help. The first and most important step is to have a plan. At its simplest form this may be a To-Do list. While this is a step in the right direction you need to go back and think about your strategic goals for this month, week or day. You need to have some way to prioritize your To-Do list or
you may end up accomplishing lots of tasks but still not getting where you want to be so: • Rule #1 is to schedule and protect some planning time (Sunday night or late Friday afternoon would be my recommendation). • Rule # 2 is to practice time boxing. Time boxing is where you allocate specific time to a specific task. So if you know that you need to make 50 client telephone contacts a week then book the required time (maybe 8:30 to 10:00 every morning) and protect that time. Don’t book meetings during this time – dedicate it to the planned task. Just as important in time boxing is to not go over the allotted time. Move to your next task. Going over puts the rest of your calendar in jeopardy and its surprising how that “just 10 more minutes can turn into 60! Schedule your To-Do’s like meetings. You may not accomplish everything you wanted to in that particular meeting but you are moving forward on all fronts continuously. • Rule # 3 is to break tasks up into sub-projects. Sometimes a task looks so large that we never can find the time to get started and it never gets done. It’s like the answer to the question of how you eat an elephant – a piece at a time! These 3 rules are pretty basic but they can go a long way to help you accomplish more of what you need to get done and lower your stress! If you have any personal tips please pass them along and we will include them in future issues.
Quotation Corner
"Shallow men believe in luck; strong men believe in cause and effect." Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) -American poet “Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.” Zig Ziglar – motivational speaker "You accomplish victory step by step, not by leaps and bounds. “Lyn St. James (1947 - ) second woman in history to race in the Indianapolis 500
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