The following is a Guest post by Alen Majer, CEO of The Science and Art of Selling.

Many sales are lost because salespeople assume they know what the customer wants. Sales people like to make assumptions of knowledge about what the buyer wants and needs, or sometimes more importantly why the buyer might be motivated to buy. Using one’s instincts and sixth sense is fine in the equation of success, but it should be only part of your expertise.

Consequently, through unorganized hit-or-miss methods, a telesales professional’s cost of selling is high simply because his telesales methods are not as efficient as they should be. This does not mean you shouldn’t use your instincts and be training well. But it does mean that your sales assumptions must be based on a finding of facts, and not guesses.

Using the dart game in the sales profession can lead to failure. You have limited time on your sales call to a prospective buyer and your darts must hit their mark. It’s even more crucial when you use the phone for your sales prospecting activities: several telesales calls miss their mark as being off-the-shelf calls that aren’t developed with a specific buyer in mind. Dartboard selling is a quick way to go broke.

Top notch salespeople advise that 75% of a successful sale is due to the pre-flight work. You must make sure you know what direction you want to go in, and you have to ask precise questions that will lead you to confirm needs you recognized through trigger events. You must know what direction to fly before you takeoff.

Most sales people out there are making a huge mistake meeting (or talking over the phone) with their clients unprepared. These sales professionals think it is enough to schedule the meeting and they will work their magic and close the deal. They will try to break the ice with the customer by talking about the stuff inside the customer’s office. Then the next misstep is to ask a few questions and not even wait for the answers, but to start with the same old sales pitch.

This kind of salesperson knows all the answers and few features and benefits later they will ask for the business. After hearing few “No’s” from customer the salesperson may give up and leave the office with the promise of a follow up a few days later. Unfortunately, the down side is that the customer will probably never return the calls.

Majority of sales people don’t take the time to have a conversation with their customers, because they assume that every other customer is like all the others. You will discover that your previous assumptions in sales were most fatal. Keep those times in the past.It was necessary for you to learn a lesson that every salesperson needs to learn, and now is the time to grow and develop your skills and knowledge. You will do so in developing your knowledge about trigger events. It is time to replace assumptions with research.

When you start learning how to recognize trigger events, rather than trying to assume or guess at them, not only will you enhance your professional sales career and knowledge, but will increase your sales knowledge to what the customer needs.

It is mind-boggling to receive a telemarketing call and the caller spits out a menu of mechanical words. The customer isn’t even, it seems, invited to be part of the conversation. It’s all about the need of the seller. Now when you contact your customers with information collected from recognized trigger events, you will have right questions to ask them, and all you need to do is listen to their answers and reshape your presentation accordingly.

Start with understanding customer’s actual situation and have their needs on your mind, but also find the way to put them on the market by making them realize their yet uncovered needs.

I hope you realize how often you barked up the wrong tree in your prospecting activities, talking to companies without the real need, following up and leaving numerous messages to someone who doesn’t see the value in your product.

It is time to move on. Of course, at one time when we were starting sales, we all may have wasted our time that way, telemarketing people from the long list of unqualified prospects we got from our manager, simply because they were in our territory or vertical market.

Now you will have a very powerful tool to change your approach to selling.

You have to understand the positioning of the company, what they need. It does not matter if these needs are hidden or visible to public eye. You need to do this ahead of the first contact as part of your trigger events research. You have to know the customer’s situation better than perhaps they know it, because at the time of presentation of your product, you will have their needs on your mind and prepare your sales presentation accordingly to the information you hold.

Think value. Give to the customer what they ask for; give them what they need and more, drive the conversation to the customer’s wants and needs.

Impress them with the depth of your understanding of their position on the market and recent events that can trigger buying process, and they will sign on dotted line.

Very often you can hear how selling is a form of art, how sales people need to be creative and use their imagination, but I am not agreeing with that – sales is more science than anything. Yes you can use imagination and creativity, but only after using tools available to you. With the proper tools and techniques you’ll replace guesswork with success.

Even if your company does not have automated system to generate new leads for you, when you learn more about trigger events, you will be able to find your next customer on your own. This will send the message to your manager that you care about your job and you really want to develop your career further, without waiting for someone.

Becoming the best person in the team is an achievable goal and your self-confidence is growing as you establish a competitive advantage towards your colleagues and towards your competition.

You don’t need to use old sales excuses anymore, like “territory is too small”, “need more training”, “inadequate sales tools”, “marketing provides no leads”, “we are overpriced” etc.

Numbers of sales people who lose their jobs or miss their quota each year are not really important to you anymore, because you are more confident that you know what you doing in your sales role and all thanks to getting new customers from trigger events.

Now you are becoming a real Sales Professional. And it is a good feeling having control over your sales career, isn’t it?

Alen Majer consults and trains entrepreneurs and salespeople how to harness their (sex) energy and use it for the success of selling. He is the founder and CEO of The Science and Art of Selling – a sales training, coaching and consulting company in Toronto, Canada; co-founder of Sales Academy – Croatia and Sales Institute of Croatia. Visit his blog at http://www.alenmajer.com

This is a Guest Post from Paul Archer, of Archer Training.

Ever had the feeling that your emails or prospecting letters are never read – just binned? Well here’s a neat little tip for getting people’s attention.

“We’ve got some great news about your car” said the headline from the letter from Mitsubishi Motors, my local dealership. And they were talking about my 5 year old Mitsubishi Shogun. Boy I was just about to phone them to find out what the good news was, then suddenly realised what was going on.

I was being sucked in by the oldest trick in the book.

Living here in rural Gloucestershire and being fairly close to the River Severn which tends to flood quite often, we’ve always had a need for a 4 wheel drive car. In fact the lanes and roads are pretty swollen right now. But we refused to buy a new one recently opting instead for a smaller more carbon footprint friendly car. But I still get to use the Shogun myself and I’m quiet happy with it.

The dealership is trying to get me to trade it in for a new model and I almost got sucked in.

Very clever marketing…

But how can this help us in selling? Well the simple answer is to learn to focus on your subject line of emails or letters. Learn to be different, daring and to get attention with one or two carefully chosen words. Customers get hundreds of emails each day and dozens of letters and we all learn to scan them. Email subject headers are vital. People rely on them exclusively to decide whether to read or delete.

We do our National Lottery by direct debit every week and if we win (which is extremely rare), they send an email with the heading “Good news about your ticket”. Now you can’t see me for dust when I get these, heading off to go online to check my winnings. Usually just £10!

Another great heading to use is “Bad News”.

Curiosity will make most people read what you have to say. The first line of your email could read something like “Bad news is always followed by good news…and the good news is that we have developed a wonderful opportunity to”

A tad corny but you do have to be different to get noticed on email subject headings.

So get thinking about your subjects to claim your customer’s attention.

And let’s hope the floods here in Gloucestershire don’t wreak havoc again. We’ve had enough water here to last a lifetime. Don’t worry for us though, as we’re on a hill, but let’s spare a thought for all those who might be affected here in Gloucestershire and the West.

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.paularcher.com, where you’ll also find his own sales blog, too!

The following is a Guest post by Mike Brooks, AKA Mr. Inside Sales.

People ask me all the time what I think makes up a qualified telesales lead.  It’s simple, I tell them.  There are five things that every Top 20% producer knows when he or she hangs up the phone with a prospect.

Know these five telesales things and chances are real good you’re going to close this prospect.  Leave one out — or two out — and chances are even better that you’re never going to close this prospect.

It’s a simple as that.

Here are the five things you need to know about every telesales prospect you speak with:

1) Decision maker and decision process. When speaking with your prospect, you need to be real clear on whether or not they are the sole decision maker, or who else is involved.  Are there more than two involved in the final decision?

Also, what is the decision process like?  What’s involved?  Who’s in charge?  If you’re not absolutely clear on this when you get off the phone, you don’t have a qualified telesales lead.

2) Time frame. Part of knowing who and how the decision is made also involves knowing the time frame for making the decision.  You must be clear on when they need your product or service, what type of urgency there is (if any), and when they are making the final decision.

Moreover, after getting this information, you need to be clear about what needs to happen next.

3) Other quotes. You also need to know what other quotes, products, solutions, or options your prospect is considering.  If they have a regular vendor and are getting other bids, you especially need to know:

- How many other bids are they getting?

- Why they are looking for other bids?  (Do they just need to get to other bids before going with last year’s vendor?)

- What are they looking for in another bid/product/solution?

- What will make yours the one they choose?

4) Buying motives (needs and wants). It is crucial for you to have a clear understanding of what is truly motivating your prospect to buy.  Only when you know this will you be able to pitch to their listening.  You must be able to answer these questions.

- What exactly is the prospect looking for?

- What are their unique buying motives?

- What do you need to say to sell them?

5) Why they won’t buy. Just as important as knowing why they’ll buy is knowing why they won’t buy from you.  When you hang up the phone you need to know:

- Why are they really getting another quote?
- What are some of their sore spots?
- What are they trying to avoid?
- Why won’t they buy?

These five elements are the bare minimum of what you need to know about every prospect you qualify.  These points form the basis of your qualifying checklist, and you need to have scripted questions that you ask on each and every call to find these things out.  You do have a qualifying checklist don’t you?

If not, use the above questions to form your initial checklist and start finding and qualifying buyers today!

Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, works with business owners and inside sales reps nationwide teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20% performance. If you’re looking to catapult your sales, or create a sales team that actually makes their monthly revenues, then learn how by visiting: http://www.MrInsideSales.com

This week is ‘Mike Brooks’ week on Telesales Magic! Here’s the fourth of five articles from Mr. Inside Sales himself! Dont miss Mike’s final article for this week, tomorrow, where he gives you solid tips on overcoming objections!

Sales reps have it tough today – not only are their clients and prospects harder to sell, but even their companies have pulled back a lot of the incentives they used to reward and motivate their performance.  It started back in December when many companies canceled their holiday parties and annual bonuses.  Then it continued as companies announced they were not contributing to their 401K plans and that any raises or increases in commissions would be postponed as well.

As the downturn continues, it threatens to squelch employee morale throughout organizations – from the sales reps, to customer service, all the way to accounting.  With little money for standard raises and cost of living increases, many companies are rediscovering the benefits and impact that little perks can have.

Continue Reading

This is a Guest Post from Karen Andrews of Shine Sales.

Being aware of and managing the amount in your sales pipeline each week, fortnight or month can have the single biggest impact to achieving your sales consistently from month to month and quarter to quarter.

It is an important forecasting tool that all businesses should use even if they don’t have salespeople, as it clearly shows how many sales to expect and when to expect them.

If your not sure what a Sales Pipeline or Funnel is; it is simply a list of all the prospective customers that have indicated some interest in buying your product or service. They will all be at different stages of the sale depending on their interest level and buying cycle and some will drop eventually drop out.

Continue Reading

Here’s a guest post from Karen Andrews of Shine Sales Solutions. Here she goes into the power behind getting referrals. Check out the Top Ten Tips on the subject, tips you can start using right NOW to get more business!

I’m sure most of you would agree that selling to someone who has been referred to you is much easier and more enjoyable than those generated through traditional sales efforts such as direct mail and cold calling. The success rate is higher because they are in the market for your services and are also much less price sensitive because the referring party has told them the value and benefits that you can deliver.

Anyone who works in the Financial Services such as Accountants, Financial Planners and Trades and Services realizes the potential of well managed relationships. Many have built very successful businesses simply by managing a handful of alliances and have little need or desire to do any other form of marketing. Yet there are also a lot of people out there who try the same thing but it just never seems to work.

Continue Reading