Ethnic Correctness

Are you ethnically correct?  Customers come from countless ethnic backgrounds. Ethnicity is connected strongly to religion, holidays, food and life style.  How familiar are you with different cultures and their respective customs and values?  Fatal sales mistakes are made through ethnic ignorance.  That is, sending inappropriate holiday cards, or sending taboo food gifts to your customers.   Days of religious observance are not good days for scheduling meetings with certain customers.  Millions of dollars are lost each year due to ethnic ignorance.

Avoid these sales killing errors by reading Selling Outside Your Culture Zone.  Order it today from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Outside-Your-Culture-Zone/dp/0935907114),  or call GRa for further information about Ethnic Awareness.    910.617.1817  

There, Their or They're

Are you electronically literate?  There are many homonyms in the English language. When spoken, they sound alike.  In e-mail messages to customers these same words are spelled or punctuated differently.  For example their, they're and there are all pronounced the same way yet have different meanings in printed form.  When e-mailing to customers it's important  to get it right. Salespeople are judged by what they say and how they write.  

Consider the following sentence:

Their are many people that spend they're money while there in a hurry.

The errors are quite obvious, yet  they're easy to make.

Many other common errors are seen on e-mails every day. 

Avoid these errors.   Call GRa today.  910.617.1817  

  

Who are You?

What do your customers remember about you?  The old image of the back slapping peddler certainly is not desirable.  Sales professionals have learned to ask questions, provide information and help to solve problems.  Most sales training classes stress some type of selling process leading to the "close."  These processes often result in the cloning effect.  That is, salespeople saying similar things and behaving in similar ways.  So what is it about you that is different from your competitors?  What differentiates you to stand out from the pack of your peers?  For more about personal branding, call GRa today.  910.617.1817

Eat to Sell

Do you eat to sell?   Selling demands lots of energy.  Tight travel schedules and business luncheons often make it difficult to stay on a healthy sales diet.  A diet of fast food and calorie rich restaurant food causes lethargy and sluggishness, seriously slowing one down.    Weight reducing diets were not designed for your demanding sales schedule.  A low calorie, protein rich diet helps to build energy resulting in clear thinking for top performance.  If you feel tired during your work day, consult a diet specialist.  For more about high energy sales performance, call GRa today.  910.617.1817

O-T-J Sales Training

Who are your best sales trainers?  Perhaps they are your customers.  They're the ones that are always providing real-life feedback.  They smile, say yes and no, and ask questions?  What are the subtle facial expressions that express acceptance or skepticism?  Interest or boredom?    The sales professionals that know how to recognize customer feedback as sales training lessons will make the adjustments and continually improve their selling skills.  For more on customer feedback recognition, call GRa today.  910.617.1817

What are you Saying???

Are you are understood on the telephone?  The phone is a sales tool, yet it often creates problems for salespeople.  When your customer can't see you, you're losing about half of your ability to communicate accurately.  Neither you nor your customer has access to the other's facial expressions and hand motions.  As a result you must depend on your tone of voice and the words that you say and hear.  Often this can lead to misunderstanding and confusion.  Compound this with foreign and regional accents and the chances for misunderstanding mounts.  Idioms and industry jargon adds to the odds of confusion.  


For example:
"We'll do a bang up job because, to us, it's a piece of cake, even though it's still on cutting edge of state-of-the-art axial compression technology."


For more on phone skills and accurate communications call GRa today.  910.617.1817

Show that you Care

Are you speaking to all of your customers?  When selling to more than one person do you pay more attention to the ones that seems the most interested?  If so, you are creating a gap between yourself and your less responsive buyers.  It's human nature to reciprocate with those that acknowledge us positively.  It's also natural to shy away from those that seem to be disinterested or negative with us.  That's all the more reason to speak and make eye contact with everyone.  Even those people that are quiet are thinking about you. They are judging you, asking themselves if you you care about them.  This is called an Egocentric Predicament.   For tips on avoiding EP's, call GRa today.   910.617.1817

Angry Customer Management

How do deal with angry customers?  It's natural to get angry when you are dissatisfied.  Every salesperson has been assaulted by an irate customer at one time or another.  One's feelings are the facts, regardless of the reason.  Trying to diffuse one's anger by condescending comments or explanations is usually futile, fueling the fire even more.   Empathic listening skills are vital for suppressing anger.  That is, try listening for the root of the anger before attempting to quench the fire.  Let your customer "dump" on you.  Don't take it personally.  A balloon filled with air will  fly randomly around till it's empty.  Once depleted of air, the balloon is placid and manageable.  For more on Empathic Listening Skills, call GRa today.  910.617.1817 

Sell to Yourself?

Are you selling to yourself?  That may seem like a silly question, but many salespeople apply their own values to their products and services.  Buying is subjective.  People have different tastes and priorities.  If you sell according to your own values, you'll only sell to customers like yourself.  For example, I wanted a boat for relaxing and solitude.  The salesman loved to party with his friends.  He tried to sell me the boat with the loud stereo, ice making machine and huge cooler.  The result --- NO SALE.  For more about selling to buyers' values and priorities, call GRa today.  910.617.1817

What's so funny.?

Do you like jokes and funny stories?  Most people do.  But be careful with humor.  Peoples' senses of humor are different.  What you might see as a witty retort, may be seen as an insult to others.  For example, consider this dialogue between a customer with a foreign accent  and a salesperson:


Sales:  So, Mr. Martin, are you ready to place your order? 
Customer:  Well, I'm still sitting on de-fence.
Sales:  So that must put me on offense.


Humor is often regional.  British humor is quite different than American humor.  Words and phrases may have different meanings.  If you're "full of beans" in England, you're full of energy in America.  Humor in sales is risky business.  Don't risk losing sales because of the misuse of humor..  Call GRa today.  910.617.1817

Customer Management Skills

Do you manage your customer base?  When purchasing big ticket items, there are numerous meetings to determine the best configuration, criteria and performance capabilities of the system.  Meetings take place with engineers, purchasing agents and executives contributing to the decision making process.  In most cases, sales people are excluded from these meetings.  Top sales professionals know what's being discussed amongst the buying team.  They've learned how to manage the buying decision in their favor.  They're able to identify and nurture inside advocates to influence the buying decision.  For more on Customer Management Skills call GRa today.  910.617.1817 

Create Buyer Preferences --- Test the Extremes

Do you know what your customers like most?  Like least?   Everyone has preferences.  Preferences are subjective and can range from color to size to configuration of a product.  There are also preferred brands, pricing and style.  One buyer's preferences may be favorable to you, while another's may be unfavorable.  Before presenting your product, try testing the extremes by asking what your buyer likes most about your competition and what he or she likes least.  What else?  What else........?  Learn the skills of testing the extremes and help your buyer choose your product or service.  Call GRa today.  910.617.1817 


"If you say it they can doubt you.   If you say it, it must be true." 

Sell Solutions; not Features and Benefits

Do you sell solutions to buyers' problems?   Buyers today are under pressure to watch their budgets carefully.  They look closely at product specifications, and try to determine which of those specs best match their immediate requirements. They don't want to pay for useless features nor gizmos that may seem interesting, but have little practical use for problem solving.  Rather than general benefits, buyers want to know how a certain feature will help them solve their own problems.  Skillful presentation of solutions requires close attention to customers' applications and expectations.  Presenting the "latest and greatest" widget  rarely will have much impact without connecting it to your customer's specific problem(s).  For more on Solution Selling, call GRa today. 910.617.1817

Stay in Shape to Sell

Are you in shape to sell?  Sales is physically demanding.  It requires stamina and alertness.  Far too many sales people fizzle out by mid afternoon because they are out of shape.  If you get tired easily, nap frequently and feel exhausted at the end of the day, you are not performing at full capacity.  This could be due to not enough nightly sleep, diet or a chronic physical condition.  If your sales are suffering because of fatigue, see a healthcare specialist and make the necessary lifestyle changes.  For more on Energized Selling --- call GRa today.  910.617.1817

"Yeh but.............."

When your buyers are technically wrong, do you try to correct them?  Be very careful.  It may result in an argument.  Buyers have their own opinions based on facts and based on theory.  By definition,  facts are indisputable.  However there may be differences as to how one interprets the facts.  The result of interpretation is perception or opinion.  Opinions are personal, so attempts to correct them easily may result in an argument with each individual trying to defend his or position.  In sales, I call this the "yeh buts."  It's defensive behavior - - - fight or flight.  Either response can be fatal to a sale.  To learn how to avoid the "yeh buts," call GRa today.  910.617.1817.

Passionate Yourself for Success

What motivates you to sell?  There's a lot of talk about motivation.  Motivational speakers talk about attitude and spew out clever clichés and hyped-up metaphors.  The big question is whether these rah-rah sessions have any lasting value.  Perhaps if we look closely at ourselves, we can understand our own personal motivating factors.  Sure, money is always a selling motivator, but beyond that, what really motivates you?    Without a passion for helping people, one cannot truly sustain a genuine sales attitude.  I call this passionating oneself.   Business leaders describe their own passions in countless ways, but the common factor is that they have learned how to passionate themselves to be motivated to perform well consistently.  For more about passionating yourself and the members of your sales team, call GRa today.  910.617.1817

Imagine That

Do customers really buy products and services?  Actually they buy what they imagine the product or service will do for them.  That's why sales pros are in business.  Gone are the days when salespeople were merely suppliers of information with a hyped-up sales "pitch." Today, top sales professionals are able to help buyers to visualize themselves enjoying their potential purchase.  They describe what the product does, how it will solve a specific problem and how the buyer will feel as a result of ownership.  For example, a whistle has many uses, but the way it is used is quite different for a football referee than for a traffic cop.  As a result of using the whistle, how will one feel? (i.e.: in control, relief, protected, important etc.)  For more about customer visualization skills, call GRa today.  910.617.1817

Warming the Cold Call

Is cold calling frozen?  Today it's become more difficult to reach out to new prospects.   Security has become tighter,  Buyers are more aware of ripoffs.  Information is readily available on-line.  So what can you do to melt the ice?  Most people respond well to personal attention.  They want to know the Purpose of the call regarding their own interests.  They don't want to waste time, so they want to know the Process of your interaction with them.  Finally, they want to know the potential Payoff of further discussion with you.  A little research on one's work might provide you with a purpose for your call.  Ask relevant questions.  Stay away from product talk.  Describing product features over the phone has as much impact as a magician on the radio!    For more on effective prospecting, call GRa today.  910.617.1817

Peddler or Professional?

Are you selling or peddling?  If you remember the days of the old slick peddlers with their "silver tongues," you probably realize why salespeople get such a bad rap.  Unfortunately, modern sales training still advocates many of the old manipulative peddler techniques and "tricks of the trade."  I often hear the term "sales pitch" and think of the adversarial relationship between the pitcher and batter in baseball.  I wonder about the old "closed probes" and "tie downs" designed  to get a "yes" from the buyer.  Then there's the ancient "alternative choice" and "assumptive" closes, cunningly crafted to finalize the deal.  Today savvy buyers are aware of peddler tactics and seek sales professionals that will listen and understand their priorities, preferences and personal motives.  For more about LISTENING SKILLS, call GRa today.  910.617.1817

Last Minute Adjustments

I hope you had a great weekend.  Are you prepared for the coming week?  If so, do you have a "game plan" for each of your sales interactions?  Top sales pros will study their game plans thoroughly before implementation.  They make last minute adjustments based on new information or conditions.  Additionally they have a "set of "well rehearsed alternatives" so they can act spontaneously to unexpected events,; i.e.: reduced budgets, involvement of new members of the buying team, sudden recalls.   For more about sales preparation and spontaneous change of direction, call GRa today.  910.617.1817 

Build Your Buyer Base

It's Friday again.  I hope you had a productive week.  Do you know what you'll be doing next week?  Chances are, you have some appointments scheduled and know where you plan to be each day.  Have you checked around to see if there are other potential accounts nearby your scheduled visits.  Have you thought of ways of approaching new buyers through referrals?  If you're planning any demos or seminars do you know who will be in attendance?  If so, do you know what will be of special interest to them?  There are countless ways to build your potential customer base.  For some new ideas, call GRa today.  910.617.1817

No Problem???

How can one best summarize a buyer's problem(s)?  Often a buyer has a problem, but hasn't quite crystalized it in his or her mind.  Top sales professionals typically listen closely, ask key questions and then summarize the situation based on the cause(s) of the problem.  A problem can be expressed as the difference between what you've got and what you want or need.  For example, low output might be due to frequent mechanical trouble.  That may be summarized by saying --- "You said that you'd like to boost your volume, but your current equipment is wasting production time due to mechanical failure and subsequent servicing."   If the buyer agrees, your next statement leads you directly into your solution to the problem.  Call GRa today to learn how to present powerful summary analyses followed by captivating solution statements.  910.617.1817