In recent months, I have worked with a variety of companies and their sales people still start their sales meetings, appointments and presentations with a corporate monologue.
They discuss “who we are” “what we do” and “who we serve”.
They talk about the awards they have won, the clients they have worked with, how long they have been in business, and other self-serving propaganda.
Contrary to popular belief, this approach is not effective.
Prospects don’t’ really care about you or your company.
Decision makers don’t care about the awards you have won.
Most people don’t care what other companies you have worked with.
Unfortunately, when you open your sales meeting or presentation with this information, you will quickly lose your prospect’s attention. And they will start to look for a reason to bring the meeting to an end.
Here is a more effective approach…
Open your presentation by discussing your understanding of your prospect’s situation, goals and objectives.
Even if you have done your due diligence prior to your meeting and know some of your prospects key pain points or potential problems, it is much more effective to review those concerns BEFORE you launch into your solution.
Here’s why…
Things change.
Reviewing your prospect’s key issues before you jump into a presentation ensures that the information you were initially given is still valid and relevant. If your prospect’s situation has changed, you can modify your approach accordingly.
New people may be present.
It’s not uncommon for people who were not involved in the initial discovery conversation to be present at a sales presentation. Starting your presentation with an overview of their situation, goals and objective brings these individuals up to speed and gives them the opportunity to add their perspective.
It changes the dynamics.
Rather than launching into a sales pitch, this approach encourages a two-way dialogue and exchange of information.
It captures their attention.
Most buyers and decision makers are used to passive, one-way sales presentations. And most of them are busy which means they may be distracted. This approach captures their attention which means they are more likely to pay attention to the entire presentation.
Research has shown that you have 30 seconds or less to make a great first impression. Use those critical moments to make a great impression and to connect with your prospect. Don’t waste it by talking about your company, its awards or anything else that is not important to your prospect.
During the last decade or so I have learned that the more you give away, the more you attract.
Sound confusing?
Allow me to clarify…
One of the concepts I consistently “preach” about is adding value to a prospect’s business BEFORE you get the business.
This means providing them with information that will help them improve their business.
Here are a couple of examples…
If you sell pumps, valves and controls, you can send your prospects (and existing customers) information on how to reduce their repair and maintenance costs, common mistakes people make when ordering replacement parts and factors that affect the performance levels of these items.
Let’s say you sell promotional products. You can send people details on how to improve employee productivity through incentive programs. You can discuss the impact that logoed products have on brand recognition. Or you could talk about the mistakes companies make when developing an incentive program.
Unfortunately, many companies resist doing this because they feel that “giving the information away” will prevent that prospect from buying their product.
This scarcity mentality is simply not accurate.
None of this information will prevent people from buying your product. Nor will this information suddenly cause them to buy from a competitor.
If anything, it will encourage them to buy from you because you are providing valuable information that will help them with their business.
Unfortunately, this is a concept that many companies just don’t get.
You can give away free information without affecting your business. You don’t need to attach strings or conditions.
When you give people useful information, you become a resource.
When you become a resource, you increase your value.
When you increase your value, you differentiate yourself from your competition.
And when you separate yourself from your competition, you will increase your sales.
Don’t be afraid to give away information. When you give away the right information, to the right person, at the right time; you open doors of opportunity that may never have been offered to you in the past.
Looking for a speaker for an upcoming meeting? Here’s a video clip of a recent keynote presentation I delivered at a conference. 905-633-7750 or kelley@fearless-selling.ca
Fellow blogger and sales pro Mike Weinberg recently wrote a great post about preparing for a sales meeting and I have to admit that his article rattled my cage a bit.
Although I do prepare before every sales call—both face-to-face and telephone—I have seldom started a meeting with an agenda. Sure, I know the objective of my call or meeting but I honestly can’t recall the last time I went into a call with written agenda.
Mike’s advice really resonated with me because when I conduct a sales training workshop I always outline the flow of the day. This not only shows participants what they can expect, it also helps keep me on track.
Sales meetings are no different.
Prospects are busy and their time is valuable. Your time is valuable too. And you want to make the most of the face time you have with a new prospect or existing customer.
When you outline the key topics and time frame for your meeting, you demonstrate that you respect the other person’s time. You position yourself as a professional. And you will stand out from every other salesperson vying for your prospect’s time.
Your agenda doesn’t have to be complicated (the shorter the better). It doesn’t have to outline every point of conversation. But it should state the purpose of the meeting and list the key topics of conversation.
If you really want to stand out from your competition and make an impact, send this agenda to your prospect before your meeting.
It’s a simple concept but it can be challenging to implement because you have to think ahead and clearly identify how you see the meeting progressing.
If you can’t create an agenda at least start the meeting by stating, “Mark, we have 30 minutes allotted for today’s meeting. Here’s how we can make the most of that time.” After you review the agenda say, “How does that sound?”
In all likelihood your prospect will express some surprise and you will be one step closer to increasing your sales.
BYW: If you haven’t read Mike’s post yet, I urge to take a quick visit and read it now.
Would this concept help you or your sales team? I deliver keynote presentations and sales training workshop that help sales people master their sales meetings. Call me if you’re planning a sales meeting, conference or event. 905-633-7750 or email.
Several years ago Billy Bob Thornton played a high school football coach in the movie, Friday Night Lights. During the final game of the season he tells his players to be perfect. He didn’t mean that every play needed to be executed flawlessly or that mistakes were unacceptable. Instead, he expected that each player could look his teammates in the eye and be able to say that they played their best.
This concept is very relevant to selling.
If you want to achieve long term success in sales you need to give 100 percent in EVERY sales call, presentation, or meeting you have with clients and prospects. If you deliver anything less, you are not being perfect and you are missing valuable opportunities to make more sales and grow your business.
Before any sales interaction, I urge you to think of what you need to do to be perfect.
What research should you conduct before you call that new prospect?
Is your voice mail message or prospecting email on target and designed to capture their attention?
What preparation do you need to do before you meet with them?
What questions should you ask that will help you gain a better understanding of their current state of affairs?
Do you need to practice your presentation to ensure that you can deliver it flawlessly?
What can you do to stand out from your competition?
It is highly unlikely that you will ever execute a perfect sales call—I don’t think there is such a thing.
However, if you strive for that perfection, you will boost your performance and improve your ability to increase your sales.
In Case You Didn’t Know…
I help sales people master sales conversations so they can win more business and increase their sales. If you’re planning a sales meeting, conference or event and need an engaging & informative speaker, call me at: 905-633-7750 or Kelley@Fearless-Selling.ca. Here’s a video clip of a live presentation: http://bit.ly/ef5P5l
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post called, 11 Lame Questions You Need to Avoid. It generated several comments and one reader asked, “What questions should I be asking?”
What ARE the questions sales people should be asking to increase their sales and improve their results?
Certainly this depends on your industry and/or product(s). However, there are many questions that are generic in nature or that can be easily modified to your specific sales environment. Here are 23 high-value, tough, penetrating and powerful sales questions that will help you grow your sales.
Let’s start with high-level questions; these are important if you sell to senior executives.
The higher up in an organization you sell, the more important it is to ask these types of questions simply because executives are used to asking—and answering—tough questions.
What goals are you striving to achieve this quarter?
How do those targets compare to last year’s results?
What, if anything, is preventing you from achieving these goals?
However, do NOT start your conversation with questions like this because you have to earn the right to ask them, especially if you do not have an established relationship. It is much better to begin by demonstrating your expertise, industry knowledge, and understanding of your prospect’s business and/or company.
We’ve noticed several trends occurring in the industry lately. The two that stand out the most are… How are these affecting you and your business?
When I was doing some research, I noticed on your website that your company is… What progress are you making on that initiative?
These questions are effective because they show that you have done your homework and executives appreciate that. In fact, many of them would like their own sales team to take this approach before calling on a new prospect. Questions like this also demonstrate that you know what is happening in business as well as your customer’s industry.
Assuming you have captured your prospect’s attention you can move the sales process forward by asking other questions that focus on a problem they may be facing.
What are the 3 biggest mistakes being made by…?
What challenges or difficulties are you experiencing with…?
What two problems are giving you the most grief or taking up the most of your time?
Once you determine the key problems that your prospect is dealing with the next step is to determine the impact of the problem. You can do that by asking:
What impact is that having on your business?
What is this problem costing you in terms of (money, profit, market share, customer loyalty, time to market, etc.)?
What will happen if you don’t take action?
How will that affect your company? You personally?
It is critical to understand that business people do not make buying decisions based on your ability to spew out product specifications and information. Instead, they want to know what result they can expect. In other words, your prospect wants to know how your solution will affect their top line (sales) or bottom line (profits).
Will they make more money? Gain more market share? Improve brand recognition? Compete more effectively? Save money? Improve morale? Increase productivity? Reduce costs?
That means you need to be prepared to ask questions that focus on the future. When I talk to new prospects about sales training, I often ask what they want to see as an outcome or final result. This information then helps me position my solution and the positive financial impact training will have on their business. Consider these questions.
What is the ideal outcome you would like to see or experience?
How does this compare with your current results?
You mentioned that you want to improve employee morale with this initiative. Can you tell me what that looks like?
You have stated that increasing market awareness is one of your primary objectives. How will you know that you have succeeded?
You need to determine the priority of this decision, how the decision will be made, and what potential roadblocks may prevent you from moving forward. Here are few examples.
How does this project rank in priority compared to the others you are working on?
Walk me through the process you follow when you consider decisions of this nature?
Who else do you normally consult with on decisions like this?
What potential roadblocks might prevent you from moving ahead with this?
What concerns, if any, do you have about moving forward?
There are also questions that don’t fit into a specific category.
What are some of the qualities you look for in a vendor?
How will you measure success?
These may sound like difficult questions. And they can be. However, with practise you can develop the courage and confidence to ask these tough, penetrating questions. And in doing so, you will separate yourself from your competition and increase your sales.
Full disclosure: I can’t take credit for developing all of these questions. Here are some of the resources I referred to:
