This is a guest post by Paul Archer

A few readers wrote to me just before Christmas asking for help. Both were struggling to get in front of new prospects to sell their services and products. Both had excellent propositions but found call reluctance to be as problem and prospects unwillingness to speak with them preferring to “weather the storm” and batten down the hatches.

Have you experienced this as well?

I think we all have to some degree and unless you’ve had your head in the sand, you’ll recognise that we are going through a downturn. Now I don’t sign up for the “business is better that it’s ever been, I’m busier than ever, what recession?” brigade; these people seem to be just massaging their egos when they print this stuff.

The plain fact is – we have to prospect more than ever before. Working harder and smarter at getting to speak with new customers, will help us succeed in this economy.

I think we’ve all got the skills but maybe haven’t had to use them so much over the last five to six years since there’s been plenty of business to go around.

So now’s the time to smarten up our prospecting tools, or client acquisition tools as this is now known as.

Here are some quick tips to help you.

• Examine your product and service and be crystal clear as to what problem it solves. Problems in recessions are all about saving costs and increasing revenue, getting invoices paid on time, preventing suppliers going bust and such like. Try to think like your customers and be totally clear as to what problems your product solves

• What is your customer segment? Be as precise as you can as to which type of customer has the problems that your product or service solves and then focus on these customers.

• Decide on your marketing to reach these customers. There are many routes to market that you can choose but the quickest and most decisive is still telephoning them to make an appointment to see them.

• Get over any call reluctance.

• Dedicate specific blocks of time in your diary to make calls to prospects.

• Aim simply for a face to face appointment nothing else. Don’t get into conversations, send out literature etc. These never work, although we think the do at the time, are easy to do, quite gratifying but divert your attention to the job of making appointments.

• Be up front with your prospect on the phone about the problem that your product solves and ask for an appointment.

• Don’t ask “if it’s convenient to call” you’ll lose sales if you do this. Instead say “if it’s convenient to speak right now I’d like to…” Subtle difference. And if you feel brave enough, don’t even ask, just launch into your opening.

• Learn how to politely persevere on objections twice and then leave the prospect alone. Keep coming back to the objective of asking for an appointment.

• Sticky tape the phone to your wrist and don’t put it down. Use the 60 second rule. This ensures you get onto the next call within 60 seconds, no longer.

• Spend a maximum of 60 minutes making appointment calls.

• Reward yourself when you.re done as making appointments is stressful, there’s no way around it. Yes alpha male macho types will tell you they enjoy it but you look at the burnout rate of call centre direct sales people.

It’s hard, full of rejection and people saying no, occasional rudeness and extremely easy to put off to-do another job.

We all need more prospects right now and making appointments via phone is the quickest and most effective method of doing so. Dig out all those customers that have connections to your company, old names and phone numbers. Those people who you never had the time to contact. Maybe buy some lists or leads and start to make those calls with the specific intention of making an appointment.

Paul Archer is an international sales speaker, sales trainer, author and coach based in the UK. He specializes in rapport selling and rapport coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small. For more information on Paul and his training courses, visit www.archertraining.co.uk or his sales  blog at www.paularcher.com

As a consultant specializing in the hand-off of new products (or services) from Marketing to Sales, it was clear to me that my services were desperately needed.

Please realize though, that at this point my targeted account didn’t know they needed me. No one in their business had ever heard of me. And, not one penny in their already tight budget had been allocated for the type of work I do.

But I knew that the lackluster financial performance of this eBusiness could no longer be hidden in the profits of the manufacturing giant. Wall Street would demand results soon. Short-term results. Immediate results. And I knew I could make a difference.

After a plethora of unsuccessful attempts, I finally reached the president. This is basically what I said:

“I’ve been following your business. I know it’s imperative for
your company to have strong financial results immediately.
You’re counting on your new products to achieve your objectives
… and I can help shorten time-to-profitability.”

Following a brief 5-minute conversation, the president told me to call a key marketer on Monday, giving him a chance to talk to her first. Essentially, it was a done deal. The outcome – a highly profitable engagement with the firm.

Why am I telling you this? Because business opportunities for your firm are everywhere. In fact, they’re staring you right in the face every time you pick up a newspaper or turn on the radio or television.

The Ripple Effect of “Triggering Events”
But most sellers don’t use the news because they’ve never connected these “triggering events” with the potential for business.

For example, any time two organizations collide due to a merger or acquisition, this triggers a whole slew of problems of can lead to great sales opportunities. Long-term suppliers no longer “own” the account and the door is open for the astute seller.

Here are just a few of the areas where your opportunities might abound when firms merge:

•  Sales & Marketing: Rebranding, new collateral, revision of go-to-market strategies, product launch, PR support, advertising campaign, sales training, channel conflict, compensation discrepancies, SFA/CRM systems integration, new technology.

• Information Technology: Planning, prioritization of projects, massive system integration issues in just about every conceivable area, new technology acquisition.

•  Human Resources: Teambuilding, compensation issues, legal problems, downsizing/outplacement assistance, evaluating personnel, employee benefits coordination.

Once you know what to look for, opportunities for your products or services become readily apparent. They just need to be acted on.

Capitalize on “Triggering Events”
Follow the news about companies in your targeted market segment closely. Keep your eye out for any changes because they could create business for you. Once a change hits your radar screen, extend your research immediately, collecting as much information as you can before you contact someone in the company.

The key to your sales success lies in your ability to align your product or service offering with their key business needs related to the “triggering event.”

When you connect with corporate decision makers, remember that they could give a rip about the process you use, your leading-edge product line or one-stop shopping. But they care desperately about business results, eliminating problems and achieving their desired outcomes.

So pay attention to the news. Right now some companies desperately need your products, knowledge or expertise because of what’s happening in their business. Use the news as a trigger to identify who they might be, research them and then make that phone call.

That’s the quickest way I know to create new opportunities, shorten your sales cycle and grow your business.

Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies, helps sellers crack into corporate accounts, shorten sales cycles and win big contracts. She’s a frequent speaker at annual sales meetings, kick-off events and professional conferences. For timely and provocative sales advice, visit www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com

This is a guest post by Karen Andrews.

Believe it or not, the best way to make sales is not to talk about how wonderful a product or service is or how great the features are because your prospects and your customers simply aren’t interested.

If you really want to be a successful and professional salesperson the best way to achieve that is to master the art of consultative selling.

Consultative selling qualifies and listens to the customer to help them to buy what they need. It focuses on the needs of the customer and how to improve or benefit them in some way. It is the complete opposite to traditional methods of selling because it isn’t about what the salesperson wants to sell them; it is about what the customer wants or needs to buy.

It a common fact that most people dislike being sold to but love the feeling and power of buying so the easier we make it for prospects to buy, the easier it is to win them as customers.

People buy from people they trust and who understand their issues. If you can get customers to think about the needs of their business and to really think about current or potential problems or challenges they may face, they start to see you differently and understand the value you can add to them or their business. This leads to long term profitable relationships rather than short term sales.

There are many times when prospects and customers know what their needs are. However, it is more than likely that they are not only unaware of having any needs for your product but also insist they are perfectly happy with how they are the moment and the last thing they want to do is;

• Change suppliers
• Spend money or increase investment
• Try anything new

Your job is to help your customers and prospect uncover needs they may not already be aware of or to simply consider an alternative to what they are doing now and the way to do this, is through questioning.

Questioning is an important component of consultative selling and the goal is to ask intelligent, high level questions that helps customers to think about their current situation and identify what they are looking for.

Think of consultative selling in terms of a visit to the Doctor. When you visit a Doctor, one of the first things they will do is ask you questions to identify your symptoms (fact finding/uncovering the need). Even if you tell them what you think the symptoms are, they continue to ‘probe’ and ask more questions to ensure they have a full understanding of your problems.

Once the Doctor has all the critical information they diagnose your problem and provide solutions which may be in the form of a prescription or seeing a specialist (providing a solution and the next steps).

If the Doctor doesn’t uncover all the relevant and important information, they will mis-diagnose your problem and provide the wrong solution which can be extremely dangerous.

Imagine how you would feel if the Doctor didn’t ask you any questions or listen to you but simply started talking and assume they knew what was wrong with you. Would you consider them to be an experienced, trustworthy, professional?

Consultative selling is no different, if you don’t uncover the real needs and the real issues of your prospects and customers you run the risk of providing the wrong solution or one that has little to no value to them.

Karen Andrews is Director of Shine Sales Solutions, and a Sydney based Sales Coach and Sales expert who  works with businesses to increase their sales through strategy development, sales coaching and mentoring..

This is a guest post by Paul Archer

The next time you have a customer who is objecting to your price for your product or service, here’s a little quotation that’ll remind you how business works.

“It is unwise to pay too much, but it is unwise to pay too little. When you pay too much you lose a little money and that is all, but when you pay too little you sometimes lose everything, because the thing that you have bought isn’t capable of doing the thing which it was bought to do.”

“The common law of business balance prohibits you from paying a little and receiving a lot – it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder it would be as well to add something for the risk you run, and if you can so that you can afford to buy something better.”

John Ruskin 1819 – 1900

Paul Archer is an international sales speaker, sales trainer, author and coach based in the UK. He specializes in rapport selling and rapport coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small. For more information on Paul and his training courses, visit www.archertraining.co.uk or his sales  blog at www.paularcher.com

This is a guest post by Jill Konrath

Earlier today I got an email from a seller who’d just read my article on naked selling. He shared with me how he does it – which I thought was a great idea too.

Then it hit me. Most of you haven’t read it yet. So I’m bringing it back. Enjoy!

——-

My daughter went to a small college in Northern Iowa that’s famous for two two things: an excellent music program and … (drum roll) … Coed Naked Soccer. Every year some students manage to sneak a game in despite the administration’s warning of dire consequences if they’re caught.

What does that have to do with sales?

This past week, I talked with two sellers who are having extraordinary success right now. Their business is skyrocketing. Pricing is virtually a non-issue.

And all this happened once they started going into sales calls totally, stark-raving naked.

At least that’s how they felt when they stopped bringing their brochures into meetings with prospective buyers. Armed with only a notebook and pen, they had nothing to hide behind.

They couldn’t direct the prospect’s attention to the marketing collateral. They couldn’t point out hot new features. They couldn’t show the exciting new technologies. They couldn’t display their incredible portfolio of work.

Instead, they sat there naked – totally vulnerable – with their prospect staring at them. Waiting. Watching.

Without the brochure, they were forced to focus on the prospect’s business. They asked questions about how it was going. They explored the challenges and the issues the prospect was concerned about. They discussed the prospect’s goals, ideas and expectations.

And, because they were naked, with no brochures to fall back on even if they wanted to, they ended up having totally client-focused conversations.

The prospects loved it. They felt valued and understood. They felt like the reps cared and were concerned. They asked for the rep’s advice and even wanted specific recommendations.

Despite this final temptation to pull out a brochure, these reps suggested a second meeting as the next step. They got it – and shortly thereafter ended up with bigger contracts than even they could have imagined at the beginning.

If you’re one of those salespeople who relies heavily on your marketing collateral or samples, try shedding them for awhile.

Go naked into your sales calls. Have a discussion – not a pitch. It won’t be long before you too start seeing the difference it makes!

P.S. Here’s Fred Barker’s suggestion. He’s the guy that wrote me earlier today:

Having great disdain for going into a meeting completely naked, I now take my note pad plus a company pen and extra pad for the person with whom I’m meeting. My prospects use the notepad to take notes, which keeps our company name and logo in front of them.

Sounds like a great idea to me!

Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies, helps sellers crack into corporate accounts, shorten sales cycles and win big contracts. She’s a frequent speaker at annual sales meetings, kick-off events and professional conferences. For timely and provocative sales advice, visit www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com

This is a guest post by Paul Archer

I’m sure you’re making more prospecting calls at the moment, just like everyone else, so I’m guessing that you’re coming across barriers in getting to talk to your prospective customers.

If that barrier is a Personal Assistant who’s trained to stop you in your tracks, here’s a neat little tip that just might get you put through.

A UCLA survey showed that on the telephone a massive 84% of the message and meaning

is derived purely from your voice. This is a well known fact and was substantiated by Albert Mehrabian in the 1970’s.

I’m suggesting that you sound important so you can get through the gatekeeper.

Important people have deeper voices and say things in shorter sentences. Their tone of voice falls at the end of each sentence to accentuate their importance and they leave lots of pauses.

And most people when faced with someone who sounds ever so important will put you through without hesitation. Try it, it works and is also fun.

Paul Archer is an international sales speaker, sales trainer, author and coach based in the UK. He specializes in rapport selling and rapport coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small. For more information on Paul and his training courses, visit www.archertraining.co.uk or his sales  blog at www.paularcher.com

This is a guest post by Jill Konrath

When I hung up the phone, I was in a state of shock. I’d just agreed to do something that was vital to my business growth, yet totally unreasonable to accomplish in only 90 days. To top it off – I had no extra time in my already over-flowing schedule.

It all started when leadership coach Caitlin Miller invited me to participate in the Breakthrough Game. When it came time to identify my goal, she insisted that I select one that was the “other side of possible.”

So, with a great deal of angst and a bit of excitement, I committed to increase my database by 50% in three months.

Was I crazy? Perhaps. But trying to pull this off in such a short timeframe was a challenge I couldn’t resist.

The Failure of Incrementalism

Most of us are used to dealing with incremental goals. Our quota goes up 15% each year. We decide that we’d like to earn 10% more money.
We’d want to increase our closing ratio by 5%.

These small increases keep us thinking and acting small. We commit to making one extra call each day. We focus on working harder. Perhaps we even think about working smarter.

But the reality of it is, incremental goals feel like a burden. They don’t inspire us to greater heights. Mostly, they just wear us down as we face a never-ending cycle of doing more, more, more.

The Real Secret to Success

When we set unreachable goals that require us to stretch beyond what we think we’re capable of achieving, we’re forced to consider new options.

Take my situation: It took me seven years to build by database to its current size. Now I needed to increase it by 50% in a totally unrealistic timeframe. Clearly, my normal modus operandi wouldn’t work.

New strategies were needed – ones that I’d never considered before. I had to think differently about this challenge.

I started by asking new questions:

• How could I double my database virtually overnight?
• Where could I find a critical mass of people who’d want to receive my newsletter?
• What partnerships could I put together?
• What resources did I have at my disposal?
• If I had all the money in the world, what would I do?
• What would Steve Jobs do if he were given this challenge?

You see, your brain cannot resist an unanswered question. It goes to work connecting ideas and tidbits of information to create new options for you. It operates on hyper-alert as it goes about the day, searching for possible solutions from what it observes, reads or hears.

New ideas start to pop up- ones you may never have considered before.
Some will be good. Others will be lousy or off-the-wall, but they may be just what you need to spark the next great idea.

The Clock Starts Ticking

When you give yourself an unreachable goal with an unrealistic deadline, you also need to plot out a plan. Personally, I divided my 90 days into three one-month segments.

In the first 30 days, I focused on exploring the challenge. I actively searched for ideas that I could implement. I challenged myself to find solutions that wouldn’t push me to the brink, were easy to implement and low cost.

I spent the next 30 days, creating some lead generation tools as well as modifying my website. And, the final 30 days were allotted for implementation.

Did I achieve my goal? Not quite. I only grew my database by 25% in those 90 days, but that in itself was an unachievable goals. I was totally elated with these results – especially since I abandoned the project in the final three weeks in order to meet my publisher’s deadline for my newest book, SNAP Selling.

I Double Dare You

Now that I’ve told you my story, it’s your turn. What kind of unreachable goal can you set for yourself in the upcoming 90 days?

It has to be something that you’d really like to achieve – and, as Caitlin Miller says, “is on the other side of possible.” You have to feel a little bit scared to tackle it, but it excites you too.

How about increasing your hot prospects by 50% in the next three months? Perhaps it’s landing five new appointments with big companies in your area? Maybe it’s pulling together an educational event for your prospects and getting 35 people to attend?

Think about it! I double dare you to take this challenge. And 90 days from now, I’d like to hear what you accomplished!

______

Jill Konrath, sales strategist and bestselling author of Selling to Big Companies and SNAP Selling, is a frequent speaker at annual sales meetings, kick-off events and professional conferences.

For more articles like this, visit www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com. Sign up for the newsletter and get a BONUS Sales Call Planning Guide.

This is a guest post by Karen Andrews

Did you know that the majority of sales leads and enquiries do not get followed up more than once (which could be why your business has a low conversion rate*)?

To improve your sales or that of your sales team, develop a system to regularly check where each one is at and when they were last contacted. If you hold sales meetings, doing it at the beginning or end of each month is perfect.

Here are some statistics that I’m sure you will find most interesting:

• 48% of sales people never follow-up with a prospect
• 25% of sales people make a second contact and stop
• 12% of sales people only make 3 contacts and stop
• Only 10% of sales people make more than 3 contacts
• 2% of sales are made on the first contact
• 3% of sales are made on the second contact
• 5% of sales are made on the third contact
• 10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
• 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact

To ramp up some sales in the next couple of months, go through all the leads you have received over the last 3-6 months and either you or your sales people pick up the phone and call them. You will be surprised how many people haven’t done anything, simply because no one has bothered to follow up and they have simply been too busy to do anything about it.

* Your sales conversion rate is how many enquiries you receive vs. how many you convert into customers over a specified time frame. To calculate your sales conversion rate follow this simple formula

Total No. of Sales/ Total No. of Enquiries x 100 = Sales Conversion

e.g. 100 sales / 80 enquiries x 100 = 80%

This sales article was written by Karen Andrews, Director of Shine Sales Solutions, a Sydney based Sales Coach, Strategist and Sales expert that works with businesses to increase their sales through strategy development, sales coaching and mentoring.