A call with an upcoming guest on my “How to Succeed in Sales” podcast series reinforced the importance of finding ways to keep your name in front of a hot prospect.
It’s not uncommon for buying decisions to take several months—or longer—and keeping your name in their mind can help increase the likelihood of generating a solid sales opportunity.
However, how you approach that objective will influence your prospect’s decision to consider you when they finally make the decision to move ahead with the buying decision.
Here are three wrong ways to keep your name in your prospect’s mind followed by a more effective approach.
The “check-in” call
A common approach is for a sales person to make a “check-in” call—either by telephone or a face-to-face visit. The conversation usually sounds something like, “Hey, Mr Jones, just checking in to see if anything has changed or if you’re ready to discuss that project now.”
I could be wrong but I don’t know many sales people who close deals when they use this approach.
Corporate brochure
Sales people often send corporate brochures and other marketing materials related to their solution. They believe that these materials will give the prospect the information they need to make a buying decision. However, having worked in the corporate world for many years I can say that most expensive brochures end up in the circular file (aka trash can).
I’m going to step out on a limb here and suggest that if you use either of these approaches you’re probably not getting very good results. That’s because you are behaving like most of the sales people competing for the same business or that prospect’s attention.
The corporate newsletter
Many companies send newsletters to their customers. However, I have often found that the newsletter focuses on the selling company and contains information about new products, services, or other “stuff” that is largely irrelevant to the customer’s company.
It’s okay to send prospects information like this once in a while. But, if you really want to stand out from your competition, you need to give them information they can actually use to improve their business.
Become a valued resource
If you want to differentiate yourself AND keep your name in your prospect’s mind, you need to do something different.
Research trends in your industry and send your prospect an article outlining the top three trends that are affecting the industry. Even if they are aware of these trends, you will catch their attention and position yourself as more than a sales person.
You will become a valued resource.
What about you? What do you do to keep your name in your prospect’s mind and stand out from the competition?
Planning a sales conference, training program or other related event? I might be able to help. Give me a call and we can discuss strategies to help you achieve your goals. 905-633-7750
During my tenure as a sales trainer, I have seen sales people make countless mistakes. In fact, I have written articles and blog posts, conducted webinars and talked about these mistakes in my speeches and training workshops.
But many salespeople still make one simple mistake that costs them money. Money lost because a competitor avoids making the same mistake.
At first glance it seems like an innocuous mistake.
Too minor to make a significant impact on your results.
Too small to make that much of a difference.
Too insignificant to warrant a change in your approach.
However, I’m going to step out on a limb and say that if you make the effort to avoid this mistake you will notice a difference in your results that results in an increase in sales.
Here’s the mistake…
Launching into your sales pitch too quickly.
This might seem simple on the surface but it is still the most commonly used approach even by seasoned sales professionals.
After all, it just makes sense to start talking about your solution once you are face-to-face with a qualified prospect? Because you can’t close a deal if you don’t talk about your offering, right?
Unfortunately, jumping into a sales presentation too quickly means…
1. You haven’t demonstrated that you have done your due diligence and learned enough about your prospect’s key issues, problems, or concerns.
2. You didn’t confirm that the issues your prospect initially expressed as being important are still actually important.
3. You may spend too much time discussing aspects of your product, service or solution that are not relevant to your prospect or the buying committee.
4. You may use a shotgun approach and tell your prospect everything about every product in the hope that something will appeal to them.
Launching into a sales pitch too quickly means that it will not be as effective as it could be.
Sure, you might present a few reasons why your prospect should buy from you but it’s highly probable that their interest will wane BEFORE you get to those reasons.
The purpose of a sales meeting or sales presentation is to give the other person a reason to consider you versus a competitor. And quickly launching into a sales pitch seldom accomplishes this.
In fact, it often causes the opposite effect.
I help sales professionals improve their approach so they can close more deals and win more sales. Please feel free to contact me if I can help. 905-633-77550 Kelley@Fearless-Selling.ca
A friend sent me an email exchange he recently had with a sales rep.
We are planning to build a new house in 2012. The goal is to make it as energy efficient as possible. The back roof is unobstructed, and would be dedicated to solar. Not interested in Micro-fit, and I don’t think we quite want to go off-grid, but am hoping to be able to create a system that will offset a large portion of our electrical usage, and will serve us if need be during power failures, etc. I don’t really understand the process well, but I’m envisioning a panel-battery system that draws off the grid whenever necessary. Is this something you can help us with?
I’m out of town on Monday, but if someone could call me later in the week that would be great (telephone number was included here).
Thanks!
Here is the sales person’s response:
PLS contact me,
Company logo Sales person’s name Address Telephone number Fax number Website
I was stunned!
This guy’s response was lazy and pathetic and it demonstrated a complete lack of professionalism and initiative.
Especially when you consider that my friend has budgeted $50-80,000 for this purchase!
I’m sure he gets frequent requests for information from people who aren’t serious but my friend is definitely serious about moving forward with this project.
Shouldn’t he be the one to set up a time to call rather than make my friend call him or make a random call in hopes that my friend will be available to talk?
This guy just doesn’t get it…
Could your team benefit from the concepts in this blog? Feel free to reach out if I can help. 905-633-7750 Kelley@Fearless-Selling.ca
It took me a while to prepare the words and face the music. But, here we go…
I recently blew a sale I thought was in the bag.
This is a difficult admission considering that I write, teach, train and speak on the subject of sales.
However, no one is infallible, no one is perfect, and I am firm believer that we can all learn from our mistakes. Even experts screw up from time-to-time.
Here’s the scoop…
An existing client recently contacted me about delivering sales training to their team. Until this point I had been doing some consulting with the long-term goal of being able to conduct some training programs for them.
Needless to say I was excited that this opportunity was finally presenting itself. Woo hoo!
I spoke with my contact who told me an RFP would be issued to at least two other sales training providers and that each vendor would be required to present to a committee of people involved in the decision. I was confident in my ability to present the best solution and neglected to ask which other training vendors would be approach.
That was mistake #1.
I later learned who the other people were and had I known this beforehand, I would have changed my approach because I knew how good one of these individual’s was at landing deals.
Anyway, my contact gave me an overview of her goals, approximately how many people would be trained, the budget that was available so when the RFP landed in my in-box I quickly reviewed it then wrote and submitted my proposal.
I was confident going into my presentation because I had been through this process before and I knew the committee members.
That was mistake #2.
The committee had changed and only two of the seven people present were familiar. During my conversation with my contact, I had forgotten to ask a simple question…
Who will be present at the meeting?
I started my presentation by recapping my understanding of their situation and what they wanted to accomplish. The committee agreed with everything so at least I was on the right track…or so I thought.
Part way into the presentation, one person said, “This is basic stuff” to which I said, “You’re right, it is, but we all know that it’s not being executed.”
Mistake number three…
Unfortunately, one of the key words in the RFP was “advanced” and although my solution would have taken the basics and moved them into an advanced platform, I failed to prove that during my commentary.
Even though I was extremely familiar with my client’s business and how my program would move them from “basic training” to advanced sales training, I wasn’t successful in communicating it. It was clear in my head and I could make the connection…unfortunately, the committee members weren’t able to connect the dots.
In the end, the committee chose my competitor. During a subsequent conversation, my contact said, “It was really close but the committee felt that Vendor B could help elevate our sales to the next level.”
I was furious! (In fact, I’m still upset)
Not at my client…but at myself…
An easy sale–one that I should have closed and secured–went to a competitor with less experience in the industry. And all because I was over confident.
Sales people need to be confident.
However, when they’re over-confident, they forget to ask the right questions, they fail to position their solution properly and they lose sales opportunities to competitors who deliver a more effective presentation or proposal.
Even though I have spent considerable time nursing my broken ego, I am still disappointed that I lost that particular sale. However, it taught me a valuable lesson and will prevent me from making the same mistake again. Sometimes the most painful lessons are the most important.
Could your sales team benefit by learning some fatal mistakes they need to avoid? If you’re planning a sales meeting, conference or retreat, give me a call and we can discuss a program that will inspire and motivate your team to change their approach. Kelley@Fearless-Selling.ca or 905-633-7750.
In the 16 plus years I have worked with sales people, I have learned that there are many ways to blow a great sales opportunity. Here are nine things that can derail a sale.
#1 Arrive late
I have often heard sales people complain when they arrive several minutes for an appointment. It doesn’t matter if you are only five minutes late. Late is late. Decision makers are busy and showing up late is a sign of disrespect. Plan your schedule to ensure that you arrive at least 10-15 minutes early.
#2 Be unprepared
Busy decision makers expect you to be prepared for your meeting. This means planning your questions in advance, knowing what solution is best for their situation, and being ready to answer tough questions.
#3 Opening with social chit-chat
You may think that talking about non-sales related topics is a great way to build rapport but corporate decision-makers don’t want to waste time on social chatter. Get to the point quickly and don’t waste their time.
#4 Ask weak questions
I know, I know…you’ve heard this before. But the reality is that most sales people don’t ask tough, penetrating questions that REALLY uncover a prospect’s problems and challenges. Weak, feeble questions fail to engage people in a meaningful conversation and do little to separate you from your competition.
#5 Launch into your pitch right away
You may have the best solution in the world but if you fail to present it in the most appropriate manner, you will lose the sale. Take a few moments to verify or validate your research before you start your pitch.
#6 Spend most of the allotted time talking about your company
This still seems to a difficult concept for sales people to grasp. Talking about you, your company, or your products will seldom help you achieve the results you want. It is far more effective to ask your prospect a few high-value questions before you present your solution.
#7 Go over your allotted time
Before every sales call, make sure you clarify how much time your prospect has allotted for the meeting and do everything in your power to finish on time. Better yet, end early. No one will ever complain that you concluded early. Never!
#8 Focus on your company’s achievements
Your prospects don’t care about you or your company. Focus EVERY sales conversation on how you can help them solve a particular problem. If you feel to need to talk about your company’s achievements, awards, or accomplishment, prepare a document that you can leave behind.
#9 Complain
People don’t care about the traffic jam, how tough things are, or any other complaint you might express. Stay focused on your main objection (you did establish a clear objective, didn’t you?) and forget the rest.
These are just a few of the things that can derail a good sales opportunity. What others can you think of?
Could your team improve their approach? I conduct workshops that help sales people master sales conversations and win more deals. Give me a call for details. 905-633-7750 or Kelley@Fearless-Selling.ca.
