Losing a sale can be disheartening, especially if you lose it for reasons you
aren’t even aware of.

Traditional selling approaches tell us that sales are usually lost because of some element — price, features, benefits — having to do with our product or service.

So, when we sell, we naturally focus on what we’re selling because we feel we have to differentiate our product or service so prospects understand what we’re offering that’s unique.

But…what if focusing all your energy on WHAT you’re selling is actually the main reason
WHY you’re losing sales?

“Not possible!” you say. No?

Let’s hear, in my client Ryan’s own words, what happened to him.

His story will help you realize why you may be losing sales without really understanding why.

===================================================

From: Ryan
Subject: Unlock My Brain

Hi, Ari, It’s been a while since we’ve been in touch, and I’m sure you were frustrated working with me because I was so engrained in traditional sales thinking. I have to admit that it has taken me quite some time to shift my selling mindset.

I just wanted to let you know that I’ve finally unlocked my brain — and consequently the game!

Here’s what happened.

Recently, my VP of sales strongly “suggested” that I push for a close with the largest account that my company had seen. We were all anxious for them to make a decision, but I knew that they needed to reach a few more milestones in their own processes first.

I tried to convey this to my VP, but the suggestion became a demand, and we proceeded down “our” path of techniques and whatnot to convince them to go with us. Of course, I had the VP on every call after this.

At the end of the day, they decided to go with someone else.

When I asked them for feedback, I got a real wake-up call.

They said that at first they felt as if I really understood their processes and problems. Our prices were a little higher than our competition, but what stood out was my approach to understanding them and not pushing the sale.

They felt as if I really had their best interests in mind, so they heard me out. But when I started to push for the close, they saw that I was just like everyone else who sells, so they had to make their decision based on price, instead of on the value of our relationship.

The relationship, and consequently the sale — which I invested many hours developing– died the moment I put on the pressure. By using traditional sales techniques, I wound up sacrificing the relationship and the sale.

This experience was what I needed to unlock my brain and realize the impact of traditional selling techniques on prospects (or should I say, “people”).

I finally feel as if I’ve found the missing ingredients that make selling a natural, productive experience that will actually bring me sales instead of losing them.

Warmest Regards,

Ryan

===================================================

Ryan’s story points to a very important lesson: if you don’t have an approach that is a perfect balance of nonaggression and effective penetration of your prospect’s core needs, you’ll end up asking yourself time after time, “Why am I losing sales, and why has selling become so painful?”

You can risk the relationship and lose the sale, but with a different sales mindset, you don’t risk anything at all — because you can preserve the relationship, and make the sale.

With a Masters Degree in Instructional Design and over a decade of experience creating breakthrough sales strategies for global companies such as UPS and QUALCOMM, Ari Galper discovered the missing link that people who sell have been seeking for years.

His profound discovery of shifting one’s mindset to a place of complete integrity, based on new words and phrases grounded in sincerity, has earned him distinction as the world’s leading authority on how to build trust in the world of selling.

Leading companies such as Gateway, Clear Channel Communications, Brother International and Fidelity National Mortgage have called on Ari to keep them on the leading edge of sales performance. Visit http://www.unlockthegame.com to get his free sales training lessons.

Here’s the scene. You’re at the trade show, having a
discrete “Sales Call” conversation with a visitor. Things are
going well until he says something like…

* So who else uses this upgrade?

* You mentioned Big Foot, Inc. as a client. Who can I contact
there?

* I’m not sure it’s worth the extra money to us. Got any
examples of real savings?

* We’re heavily invested in one of your competitors and I
can’t see junking everything we’ve already done even
though we have problems with that system. You say the
transition would be smooth. How do I know?

YIKES. There you are with great sales resistance, which you
could overcome if you knew what to do. This fellow is asking
for you to give up client info - and you don’t know what your
client will say.

FOUR PROBLEMS

1. A trade show is a job interview for your COMPANY. Just as
you are prepared when you go on a job search - past
history, skills, recommendations - so, too, do people who
are looking to hire a firm want to be reassured about the
history, skills and recommendations related to your
company.

2. Few people will directly ask you for a list of
recommendations for your company. The essence will be in
general conversation. You’ve got to be sharp and listen for
opportunities to bring up recommendations. You can’t
fumble this - you’ve got to be smooth.

3. Your personal recollections may be great but they are
personal. You may be a great salesperson but it’s still you.
They want broader, and more distant, assurances.

4. Now you’re thinking - If I give him Sam’s name at Big
Foot, what will Sam say? Even if you call Sam in advance,
you can’t control the conversation. Or Sam, either by
preference or company policy, may not be able to say
anything.

FOUR SOLUTIONS

1. Know in advance the clients you can talk about and those
you cannot. Understand there are reasons you can’t -
security, proprietary product or an agreement with client. No
one and no company wants to be gossip fodder. Have true
stories everyone agrees upon. Rehearse and do not
embellish. Do not make yourself the hero. Buyers write the
check to the company, not you.

2. Interview your clients before the show. You want current
recommendations. People change jobs and titles. Maybe
Sam was happy in the beginning but not now. Ask for
comments. Ask Sam if he can be contacted on a particular
topic only. Have this information available either at the show
or for follow-up.

3. If you have a sophisticated web site, you could add audio
or video clips. Make them short, impactful and change them
often. Your clients have egos. It makes small companies
look smart; big companies look smart.

4. You have to listen very carefully and get to the heart of the
resistance or query. Is it really dollars or is an assurance
needed that it will be a good value? Is ego in the way of a
sale? Is this a new-broom manager or is there a real need
to upgrade or change? Is this a disgruntled client?

Your clients want to see you do well, and most are happy to
help you.

Julia O’Connor - Speaker, Author, Consultant - writes
about practical aspects of trade shows. As president of
Trade Show Training, inc,, now celebrating its 10th
year, she works with companies in a variety of
industries to improve their bottom line and marketing
opportunities at trade shows.

Julia is an expert in the psychology of the trade show
environment and uses this expertise in sales training
and management seminars.

Information and free newsletter sign up
http://www.TradeShowTraining.com
Contact Julia at 804-355-7800 or
julia@TradeShowTraining.com

If you want someone to nod yes, all you have to do is nod yes at them. This works if you are speaking to a group, or just telling a joke to a couple of friends. It’s most affective, however when you are making a sales pitch.

The old standard policy in sales is to get the customer to say yes and to keep saying yes until you have their signature or their money. The nod gets them in the mood. The nod involves the head and the entire body and is really stronger than merely “saying” yes.

To move prospects closer to that sale, we need to give them reasons why they should buy. What’s surprising is that sometimes the reason only needs to be ‘because.”
In the book Influence: Science and Practice, author Robert Cialdini reveals, “A well known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.”

Cialdini cites a study in which a researcher asked people to let her cut in front of them to make copies “because I have to make some copies.” Her success rate was over 90%. The people were in line to make copies and yet they let the researcher go in front of them, when she gave them a reason . . . because.

Will you try these two sales techniques the next time you’re negotiating? I’m nodding my head, so I assume you are too. Nod your head, and give your prospect a reason to buy . . . even if it’s only because it’s a good product.

Don Doman is a published author, video producer, and corporate trainer. He owns the business training site Ideas and Training (http://www.ideasandtraining.com), which he says is the home of the no-hassle “free preview” for business training videos. He also owns Human Resources Radio (http://www.humanresourcesradio.com), which broadcasts HR and business training information, program previews, and training samples from some of the world’s great training speakers twenty-four hours a day. You can listen and learn on Human Resources Radio.

There are lots of ways to open sales calls, and I detail many of them in my books, such as Reach Out & Sell Someone®.

But I’ve discovered one of them, the “inactive account” approach, is flawed.

Here’s what I mean.

You look at your database and you see lots of accounts that you haven’t talked to in a long time. Gee, you think, they must be upset with us, or minimally, they’ve taken their business elsewhere.

This seems logical, doesn’t it?

So, you rehearse what you’re going to say when you call.

“Golly, Frank, we haven’t heard from you in quite some time. Is there anything wrong?”

It’s not a terrible opener, and you might get a replyexactly the negativity you’re expecting to hear.

But in lots of customers’ minds, they don’t classify themselves as inactive, at all. This is what I’ve found after doing several outbound telemarketing campaigns aimed at these “shadow clients.”

So, if THEY don’t think there’s anything wrong, why plant the seed that there is!

Now, I recommend using the “Thank You Approach.”

“Hello, Frank, this is Gary Goodman with Customersatisfaction.com, and I’m just calling to thank you for all of the business we’ve done together; I appreciate it!”

If they have heartburn, believe me, you’ll hear it in their voices. If not, you’ve just set a great tone for catching up with them and handling any reorders they may have.

In the middle of one outbound telemarketing campaign, the light came on for me, and I switched from the inactive account opener to thank-you opener.

And the results were nothing less than amazing. With the former, we hunt for problems. Using the latter, we’re upbeat, and ready to do more business.

Big difference.

Try it!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

When was the last time you thanked your customers?

This often neglected gesture is a very powerful sales tool. As a small business owner, I want to know that the companies I chose to work with appreciate my business. Here are some of the opportunities you have to thank the people around you.

1. When they place an order or make a purchase of any type. This may sound pretty obvious but my experience has taught me otherwise. Do you remember the last time a retailer thanked you for shopping at their store? Has the cashier at the local grocery store thanked you lately? What about the clerk at the gas station around the corner? How about your suppliers or companies you use to support your business? I use several hotels across the country to conduct my training workshops and some of my sessions are multi-day program which means I can spend several thousand dollars. Yet, I can count on one hand, the hotels who have thanked me for choosing them versus one of their competitors.

2. When they refer you to another potential client. Much of my business is generated through referrals and I take great pains to thank everyone who refers new potential clients to me. A good friend of mine sent many referrals to an associate yet, the other person did not take the time to thank him or reciprocate. Needless to say, my friend has stopped sending potential clients his way. Simply because he wasn’t thanked.

3. When they contact you regarding a service issue. Most companies don’t think of thanking customers for complaining. Far too often, business people and employees try to redirect the blame or justify what went wrong instead of thanking their customer for pointing out the shortcoming. However, when people do express their concern with something, they are providing you with a golden opportunity to take corrective action and improve your business. Shortly after launching my website, a client encountered a problem and received the incorrect item for an online order she had placed. I thanked her because she helped me correct a problem I didn’t know existed.

4. When they make a payment. This morning, as I wrote this article, I received an electronic card from my personal coach who I work with on a regular basis. She thanked me for the timeliness of my payment and commented how quickly she usually receives payment. This, in turn, made me feel good because I now know that she recognizes this. Her thank-you will encourage me to continue my prompt payment habit. If she uses this approach with all her clientele I’m sure she doesn’t encounter cash-flow problems very often.

5. When they help you solve a problem. I recently faced a minor problem with one of my clients. I asked one of my key contacts in the organization to look into the matter and in a matter of hours the situation was resolved. Without his help, I might still be dealing with the issue. Assistance or action like this requires recognition and a simple thank-you can go long way to reinforce someone’s behaviour.

6. When they are loyal. If you have long-term clients it is critical to thank them for their loyalty. We often take these individuals for granted and forget that they, like anyone else, want to feel appreciated for their business. I firmly believe that we should send regular thank-you cards or notes telling people that we appreciate their business. A friend of mine, who also owns a training company, has a thank-you party every year. He invites many of his customers for an evening of dining and entertainment as a way of thanking them. Plus, it gives them a chance to network with other like-minded people, often resulting in the formation of new business relationships.

There are several ways to you can thank someone. You can say thank-you in person. You can call the other person. You can send an email. Or, you can write a note or mail a card. My preference is to send cards because most people receive very few thank-you cards. An inexpensive card with a few handwritten comments can help you stand out from your competition. Plus, many people will keep a card on their desk which keeps your name in their mind. Yes, it takes some time, but the payoff is usually worth it.

One last comment. I know you are busy and like most business people, that your time is precious and more valuable than ever before. Therefore, I want to thank you for taking the time to read this article. I appreciate it!

Copyright 2004 Kelley Robertson. All rights reserved

Kelley Robertson, President of the Robertson Training Group, works with businesses to help them increase their sales and motivate their employees. He is also the author of “Stop, Ask & Listen - Proven sales techniques to turn browsers into buyers.” Visit his website at http://www.RobertsonTrainingGroup.com and receive a FREE copy of “100 Ways to Increase Your Sales” by subscribing to his 59-Second Tip, a free weekly e-zine.

Proponents of traditional sales training simply teach the material, sometimes in a very entertaining format, but they place the responsibility for using the material on the salesperson.

So what happens? The salesperson sits at home, stuck with personal flaws related to identity, and he can’t perform. He takes no risks. Not being able to use what he has learned simply makes him feel worse. He gets caught in a downward spiral of failure and rejection. He continues to find himself not doing what he’s supposed to do - for example, not leaving his home to make sales calls. Pressure, guilt, self-doubt, worry, and fear will eventually totally immobilize this salesperson.

The Sandler Selling System separates identity and role. And by doing so, we reduce the risk factors in a salesperson’s life. Since self-esteem cannot be hurt by the rejection of the sales process, a salesperson will continually take risks . . . more risks, and higher risks, leading to bigger sales.

The Sandler Selling System doesn’t merely teach techniques and strategies. Human relations skills are included as well. The result is that salespeople whom we train are able to use the techniques and strategies with ease and success.

Tens Continue to Grow

When I tell people their identity is always a ten, some of them argue that it’s impossible, because a rating of ten implies they have no room to grow. The say, “If I was a ten when I was born, and a ten when I was eleven, and twenty-five, and I’m a ten today, then how did I grow?”

Okay, imagine that you are going to plant a seed in the ground. The seed is going to grow into a rose. When you plant the seed, what’s the value of the seed and everything in it? Can we agree that it’s a ten?

Now, after a couple of weeks of sunshine and water, a stem wiggles up from out of the seed and appears above ground. What’s the value of that stem? Can it be anything other than a ten? If you say it’s less than a ten, then explain when it lost value. It didn’t, of course!

So after six weeks, what’s the value of the rose? In fifteen weeks, what’s the value of the rose? It continues to be a ten. So the rose was a ten as a seed, and it’s a ten now. And yet, didn’t it grow?

Just because your identity is valued at a ten doesn’t mean you stopped growing. You grow all the time.

However, that’s not to say you don’t have psychological “trash.” In fact, everyone does! It’s part of being human. If you were the only person with psychological trash, then you’d have a problem. But we’ve all got some of it, and in spite of it, we continue to be tens, and continue to grow.

Excerpted from You Can’t Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar, ©1995 Sandler Sales Institute. All rights reserved.

Dan Hudock is an owner of the Sandler Sales Institute in Pittsburgh, PA. He can be reached at (724) 940-2388 or dan@sandler.com. His web site is: http://www.dan.sandler.com

The story you are about to hear is true.

With the implementation of one well-crafted sales tactic, Gene surprised himself by making one phone call and getting a meeting with a senior executive. A man Gene and his team had been pursuing for more than one year!

The contract ended up serving the executive so well he had no reason to renew current contracts with eleven of Gene’s competitors.

What a day that was! Better yet, the days that follow continue to be lucrative with a steady flow of sales coming from the powerful strategy used that day.

One cold call, one meeting, one $13 million contract … ba-da bing, ba-da boom!

Play-by-play reports of big sales bring shivers of delight to sales professionals. We meet. We talk. We share our stories of success. After all, that’s where we get out jollies! We thrive on closing the deals … and no one appreciates the sophisticated subtleties of these stories like other sales professionals

The best-of-the-best know that within each story are nuggets of learning that will …if unearthed and applied … add greatly to their own success.

Gene decided to try calling this executive cold, without a “warm” introduction. His reasoning was, “I’ve spent months trying to get a hold of this guy. I have nothing to lose by calling his office myself.”

Gene called, spoke with his prospect’s executive assistant, and requested a 20-minute meeting.

When the gatekeeper asked the question asked by all gatekeepers, “What’s this meeting about?” Gene responded, “I want to know why he’s using eleven companies to do what his competitor across town just uses us to do.”

Those words prompted the executive to call Gene and schedule a meeting. During their face time, Gene outlined the benefits of: doing business with one vendor in terms of reduced paperwork, having easy access to one contact, and reducing expenses with volume discounts.

That’s the sales call that resulted in a staggering $13-million contract.

Yes, such deals are as simple and complex as all that.

There are important lessons to learn from that brief phone message. A few sentences can result in a tremendous increase in your meetings with high-level decision makers.

First of all, Gene called the executive’s office and let him know he wanted to meet.

Sounds pretty basic doesn’t it? Now, ask yourself, how many executives have you called this week, better yet, today? That’s the question Gene asked himself.

For months on end, he and his super sales team worked their contacts hoping for warm introductions right on up the organizational ladder. Contacts who had assured Gene they’d get him and his team in to see the President. Frustration mounted, as those folks inside the company were unable to follow through on their commitments. Twelve months after going down this path, Gene still wasn’t in.

When introduced to the concept of successfully cold calling executives, the light clicked on for Gene. He could clearly see a new solution for an old problem. He returned to the office, called the executive, and gave a good reason why the executive would want to meet with him.

Let’s take a few minutes here to scrutinize the few words that led to such powerful profits. You’ll find several tactics you can easily implement!

* State the purpose of the call … a 20-minute meeting with the executive.

* Leave a compelling message.

* Speak directly to the executive’s interests in bottom line terms with numbers the executive can sink his teeth into.

Then, take note of what Gene did not do. Take note, he did not “burn daylight” elaborating on:

* Who he was

* The name of his company

* What his company does

* How long the company has been in business

* And so forth … there was no fluff!

His words, information, and delivery positioned him as an important player in the executive’s world. Those very words compelled the executive to act quickly so as to capitalize on a timely opportunity.

Now, it’s your turn to give it a go. Call the top executive of a company you’ve been prospecting for awhile, follow-through with these tactics, and get ready to be awed by the spine tingling stories of success that come your way!

Forward this article to friendsthey’ll thank you for it!

For your FREE mini-course “Jealously Guarded Secrets to Cold Calling Company Presidents” visit http://www.ColdCallingExecutives.com! Or call Your Sales Coach for Extreme Profitability, author/speaker Leslie Buterin (like butterin’ bread) at (816) 554-3674 9-3 CST (that’s Kansas City/Chicago Time).

Power lunches don’t just happen. If you leave them to chance you might end up at half-power. As in all business communications, power lunches start well before you sit down to talk . . . or eat.

Here’s what to do before your client arrives for lunch:

Convert Leads Into Sales. Why is it that so many sales people fail to follow up on sales leads that are handed off to them by the marketing department? It never ceases to amaze me how often I hear the same complaint from sales managers and from marketing managers who are working hard to drive new opportunities in the door. Part of the issue with sales people and their lack of willingness to follow up on sales leads is many sales people have large egos and believe that anything that has been brought to them by others is probably not very good.

They have this, “I’m the king of my territory” mindset, which translates into them thinking that if they haven’t created an opportunity for the company, it must not be real. It’s the job of sales management to dispel this notion and make sure that your sales people are taking all of the leads that are coming to the company through its various marketing programs seriously. A good way to convert leads to sales, is to focus weekly attention on reviewing the sales leads that are coming in from marketing and from telesales efforts and categorizing those leads in getting a quick report from each of your sales people on what they’re doing to follow up on the leads that are coming in.

Lots of sales people are still resistant to this process. And sometimes, it makes sense to segment the responsibility of following up on leads between field sales people who don’t believe they have the time or don’t believe in the quality of the leads that they’re getting, and inside sales people, whose sole responsibility it is to qualify and further advance the sale with leads that are still in fairly early stages of gestation.

Most big, best in class companies in many industries have now gone to an inside sales function whose job it is to qualify and continue to nurture leads forward, until they’re ready for the involvement of outside or field sales. If your company is struggling because it’s not capable of getting its field sales people to follow up on sales leads, think about changing the mix of your sales organization and moving some of your field sales resources into an inside sales role. Probably this means that you’re going to have to replace a few people and you’re going to need to do some recruiting because the profile and aptitudes of an inside telesales lead generation person are quite different from the profile and aptitudes of field sales personnel.

We find that many companies are in the process of reducing their field sales head count and shifting some of that mix towards an inside sales model because of the lower cost and increased efficiency, and teaming those inside and outside personnel together is a much more effective way to make sure that you’re aligning your resources correctly and making sure that you’re following up on every single lead that’s coming in through marketing. Many companies are spending money on marketing but they’re not following up on leads. As a result, they’ve got huge leakage through their pipeline and they’re wasting resources on programs that are not being optimized. Think about how to make sure that each of those precious leads that your marketing department’s producing for your company is followed up on in 2006.

About Cube Management:
Cube Management provides sales acceleration services to emerging growth and mid-market companies in the technology, manufacturing, healthcare and business service sectors. The experts at Cube Management work across the entire spectrum of marketing, sales and business development to provide customized solutions that drive revenue and profit growth. Cube Management combines Strategy, Process & People to produce winning results.

Tradeshow exhibitors often miss important leads at trade shows because they have no
lead development strategy. In addition, according to the CEIR (Center for Exhibition Industry Research), as much as 80% of trade show leads never receive
any form of follow-up.

One reason is that following up with unqualified leads from trade shows is tedious.
This produces disappointment, frustration and inertia as you pursue the mind- numbing
work of trying (and failing) to get new business from your bag full of tradeshow booth visitors’ business cards.

There is a better way.
The key is to identify and classify hot prospects and the products and services they are interested in buying. There are new, sophisticated software packages that allow you to identify a half dozen weighted multiple choice questions in advance that will determine how viable a client prospect is. You need to identify the hot leads, filter out those who are not qualified, and then measure your results. You will be able to target qualified sales leads that have the budget, time frame and ability to purchase your product. Your screening strategy not only helps you zero in on qualified leads but also helps you establish stronger relationships with your best clients.

Rank your prospects as “A” (highly qualified), ” B” (somewhat qualified), or “C” (poorly qualified) prospect. When a prospect arrives at your trade show display, your sales staff will be ready to kickstart the sales process by using the software package to help identify qualified leads.

Have your sales force follow up on “A” leads immediately the day after the trade show to maximize your profit opportunity from the trade show. By earmarking the key prospects, your sales staff should be energized by their success in selling the right products to the right client at the right time. Don’t neglect the “B” prospects from your trade show, but follow up with them only after you have mined the hot lead lode.

Measure Your ROI

You will be able to measure your trade show return on investment and justify your trade show exhibit expense if you carefully track your qualified leads. Measure the results of these qualified leads in every stage from the number and dollar amount of proposals made to monies received from actual sales. Your head of marketing can better justify the tradeshow expense to the company CEO when showing solid business- producing results.

Dick Wheeler, is President of Professional Exhibits & Graphics, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. The firm is a full-service premiere trade show exhibit, graphics and management services company. Go to http://www.proexhibits.com