Relationship selling has long been the “go-to” approach for many sales people. However, research has shown that most decision makers no longer want a relationship with sales people.
The days of the drop-by visit, the “I’m just checking-in” call and sending brochures and other corporate literature to keep your prospect and customer are gone.
Your customers and prospects are too busy to sit and chat and they can’t afford the time to thumb through your latest catalogue of products or listen to you discuss the merits of your latest and greatest product update.
Relationship selling is no longer as effective as it used to be. At least, not in the traditional sense.
A couple of months ago I wrote a post about the importance of sales people improving their business acumen if they want to achieve long-term success.
On the surface, this seems like a simple concept.
However, the practical application is considerably challenging. It means that we, as sellers, need to become more knowledgeable. Not in our products but about current business issues.
I recently received an email from a sales person who asked how she could develop this business acumen.
Aside from reading trade magazines, the business section of the newspaper and scouring the Internet for new trends and issues, you can meet with existing customers and ask them what trends they are noticing, what challenges they are encountering in their business (unrelated to your product or service), or what changes they anticipate. Be upfront by telling them that you want to broaden your knowledge.
The key is to use this new-found knowledge to help other non-competing customers and prospects improve their business results.
I love meeting with business executives because I enjoy discussing business and hearing different perspectives and insights about changes in industries or trends. This type of information fascinates me because these issues affect business results and ultimately influence buying decisions.
I have found that most senior level business people are willing to share their expertise and wisdom providing you reciprocate.
This approach is much more effective in developing strong relationship than the traditional, old-school methods. Not only will you stand out from your competition, you will be viewed as a peer which will give you immediate access to your customer.
Relationship selling has changed…have you?
If you’re planning a sales meeting, training program or conference this year, give me a call and we can discuss how to get the most from it. 905-633-7750 or Kelley@Fearless-Selling.ca
Yesterday I posted three ideas to help you increase your sales in the upcoming year. After writing that post I decided to post a few ideas every day this week.
Here are two more suggestions.
Increase your Actual Selling Time
I know, you’re probably thinking that you already spend 40 hours a week selling.
Well, the truth is most sales people do NOT spend as much time selling as they could. Productivity expert, Mark Ellwood, has discovered that most sales people spend as much as 78% of their time on non-selling activities.
This includes: travel time, admin work, planning, researching their prospects, fulfilling orders, dealing with client concerns and problems, attending meetings, training sessions, conferences, and trade shows. This does NOT include distractions, socializing, and interruptions.
If you want to have a great year you NEED to maximize your selling time.
This means doing pre-call research, completing expense reports, and other admin work during non-selling times. The most successful sales reps do this type of work early in the morning or at the end of the day after they have returned to the office.
If you want to be achieve your sales targets in today’s new economy you need to discipline yourself to do this additional work at a time when it doesn’t interfere with actual selling activities.
Improve your Ability to Connect with Decision Makers
This is one the biggest challenges because decision makers are so busy in today’s business environment. Decision makers are incredibly busy which makes it extremely difficult for sales people to actually connect with them. It can even be difficult to connect with existing customers.
It used to take about 7 attempts to connect with a decision maker but now it takes as many 16 tries. And that’s just to connect with them for the first time.
Maintaining ongoing contact is another challenge.
This means you need to change your approach.
Instead of taking a shotgun approach and trying to connect with decision makers in dozens of companies at the same time, you need to focus your efforts on trying to get into a few businesses at a time.
And to achieve this you need to use a variety of strategies. This includes; calling, snail mail, networking, email, tapping into your network, referrals and using social media.
The key with any of these approaches is to create a compelling message or to demonstrate your expertise on a particular business problem your prospect may be facing. This does not include sending self-promotion emails, corporate brochures or leaving long-winded voice mail messages.
If you want more ideas, tips and strategies that will help you increase your sales this year listen to my latest audio program, “Make 2012 Your Best Year Ever.” Get the details here.
In today’s fast-paced, hectic business world, more and more decision makers are prone to making that statement. And that makes it more difficult for people like you to connect with them.
Here’s how you can manage this objection.
First, it’s important to recognize that virtually every C-level executive you contact will have these words on their mind although the only ones likely to express their actual thoughts are the hard-driving, type-A personalities.
The average senior executive has more than 50 hours of uncompleted work on their desk at any given time so it’s no wonder they are quick to tell you that they don’t have time. The last thing they want is another project piled on their already overflowing plate.
One of my client recently told me, “I never, ever pick up the telephone or return a call from a sales person because I don’t have time to listen to a pitch for something I don’t need or want. Plus, I can’t possibly take on another project.”
Ultimately, this means you need to capture their attention—FAST!
Opening a call with something like, “Mrs. Smith, it’s Stan Prospector from HR Capital Inc. calling and I’d like to schedule a 60 minutes meeting to discuss the possible human resources challenges you’re facing…” is NOT going to work.
I mean seriously…would you meet with someone if they started a telephone conversation with something like that?
The key is to say something that addresses a potential business problem they may be encountering or to shed new light on an industry trend. People who occupy the C-suite want insight into new information, trends, or solutions.
Several of my clients want to know what I’m seeing in the marketplace every time we meet. They are hungry for new information. They want to know what their competitors are doing. They want ideas that will help them improve their business.
If you can achieve this in 30 seconds or less, you are less likely to hear, “I don’t have time” and more likely to move the sales conversation forward.
BTW: This applies to email correspondence, telephone calls, voice mail messages, snail mail, and face-to-face encounters.
Could your team use some help with this concept? Please give me a call and we can discuss the best approach to take. 905-633-7750 or email.
The vast majority of sales proposals I have read during my career miss the mark. They either don’t address the key issues that the prospect is facing or they fail to demonstrate how the prospect will benefit from buying the seller’s solution.
If you need to create sales proposals here are a few ways to make yours stand out from the competitions’.
Open with a situation summary.
One of the oldest and still most effective sales techniques is to summarize your understanding of the other person’s situation before launching into a sales presentation (aka sales pitch). And this is how you open the proposal.
The very first paragraph in your document should highlight or summary your prospect’s situation. What is their problem? What are they trying to achieve? What they experiencing or going through right now?
This single paragraph grabs your prospect’s attention because it speaks directly to the problems or challenges they want to fix, resolve or remedy.
Key objectives
The next component of the proposal should contain four to six bullet points that outline the customers’ key objectives. In other words, what do they want to accomplish or achieve?
You should have generated this information during the discussion(s) you had with your prospect.
The value to the company
Once again, this is a list of several bullet points that describe the value of achieving those objectives. It can be an increase in sales, higher customer loyalty, faster time to market, reduction in expenses, improvement in morale, etc.
The key to developing this page is to ask the right questions during your sales conversation(s). Essentially, you ask the other person questions that uncover the answers to these areas. And you take their comments and insert them into the proposal.
All of this information is placed on the first page of the proposal and you’ll notice that it focuses strictly on the customer; not you, your company or your product, service or solution. This is the fastest way to grab their attention and demonstrate your understanding of their needs and issues.
After that, the remaining pages outline what you will do to help the customer achieve the objectives listed on the first page.
Don’t be fooled by how easy this sounds…
Many sales proposals open with a page or two (or sometimes three!) describing the seller’s company. And it can be tough to wean yourself from this addiction.
However, every piece of information you include in a proposal MUST be interesting and relevant to the person reading it. You seldom, if ever, need to include every single feature or aspect about your solution.
Finally, make it easier to read by adding headings and including white space. A five page, single-spaced proposal written in a 10-point font is not easy to read which means many people will skim through it, or worse, flip to the last page to see how much it costs.
I recall receiving a proposal from one company that spanned 24 pages. Twenty-four pages!
Who has time to read that much information?!?
Certainly, there are exceptions for complex solutions but generally speaking, the shorter your sales proposal, the better. I have never had a prospect say, “Your proposal was too short, Kelley. That’s why we can’t consider you.”
Changing your approach and creating a sales proposal as outlined here will help you stand out from the other people who also submitted a proposal for consideration.
Getting an appointment with a new prospect has never been more challenging. It takes persistence, dedication and lots of hard work. This means you need to make the most of your time once you are face-to-face with them. The last thing you to want do is to lull them to sleep with your sales pitch or presentation.
However, many sales people manage to achieve just that.
Here’s what they do to cause their prospect to lose interest.
1. Open with corporate background
Spending the first ten, or even five minutes of your meeting, presenting details about your company, its products or services, your client list, and other corporate information is the fastest way to put a prospect to sleep.
I know you’ve probably read this before; in fact, I’ve written about it numerous times. However, far too many sales people still remain addicted to this approach. Let’s face it; you can’t sell if you don’t talk about your company, right?
While there is a slimmer of truth behind that thinking, it’s the timing that makes a difference. Opening with this information simply does not give your prospect a compelling reason to continue listening.
If you want your prospect to stay awake for the entire meeting you need to open with a different approach.
2. Ask “qualifying” questions.
This certainly goes against advice that I have written extensively about in the past.
In the “olden days” (pre-2009) it was perfectly acceptable to take the first 15 minutes of a sales meeting or presentation to ask your prospect a series of qualifying questions to get a good understanding of their situation and how you might be able to help.
Unfortunately, this approach is not as effective as it used to be.
Your prospect may answer your questions but they will also be wondering, “Why didn’t this person do his (or her) research? I don’t have time to educate him.”
You might be thinking, “Yeah, but how can I position my offering without knowing my prospect’s situation?”
That’s a valid question.
In today’s ever-changing business world, key decision makers expect you to have a basic understanding of their key business issues BEFORE you step foot in their office. You don’t necessarily need to know every problem they’re dealing with but you do need to know enough about their business so you can initiate an intelligent conversation.
3. Make the presentation a one-way monologue.
One of the fastest ways to lose a prospect’s attention is to make your presentation a one-way monologue. Standing (or even sitting) in front of them and launching into a 15-20 minute pitch about your solution may seem like the natural thing to do but it is one of the fastest ways to put a prospect to sleep.
Key decision makers like to be involved in a conversation and a one-way sales pitch causes them to quickly lose interest because you end up sounding like every other sales person they encounter.
A more effective approach is to engage them in a conversation. One that gets them thinking. A conversation that involves them and helps position you as a thought-leader.
Selling has changed. And that means you need to change to.
Once you have secured that all-important meeting with a valued prospect, don’t put them to sleep.
I do more than write about sales. I conduct sales training workshops and deliver sales keynote presentations at conferences and sales meetings. Contact me to find out how I can help enhance your upcoming event.
