Mail,businesscards,homepage etc.

If you are important or even more important than the actual product you sell where does that leave the “business tools”.

 

Business card.

Having one is a good thing but more social and an expected ritual than anything else.

Have several with you always put them in a couple of places think car, coat pocket, wallet etc.

Upgrade them when necessary and then make sure to put the old ones in the “archives” otherwise they have a strong tendencies to pop up when you don’t want them.

 

Mail and email.

Should really contain the same info as above card and use the same typography so you use the same one in all your printed material. does the type matter? well a good thing is usually to use one that is international so all printers and printing firms can use them other than that use your judgement and play around with the types to see which one you like. ( i spent some time to do this and ended using courier new but i can change .

What mail provider you use seems to hold some weight however, I use yahoo since ive done so for a long time and this seems to be hard for some to accept so now i have changed to my .com mail and the comments disappeared. If possible try not to use Hotmail, yahoo and so fort. If you want to save a buck here and use the free service its ok but change it when the money starts to stack up. ( i personally don’t understand this but since the customers commented on it i simply complied.)

 

Homepage

A good tool to show customers seriousity and that you exist i find it most useful when booking meetings since then the customer can sit down after my call and check trough the page and get a better idea about what my company stands for.

I like selling homepages with less than 100% of the information. why? because then the customer and i have something to talk about when we meet. If they had most of the info they would be pron to take a decision based on the homepage info and would then cancel the meeting. It’s also very hard for any salesperson to argue with good points why the customer should buy from them trough a homepage.

So try to keep the page clean to the point and short and elevator pitchy.

 

If you really going for it a joint face with homepage,mail,email and business cards should be using the same type and also if possible the same theme / style since this will give the customer a better and clearer picture what you are about. How much to spend here is totally up to you and your wallet. but these things don’t generate money they just give a stronger impression of you. so if you do start to splash out for this then make very sure that you get top quality results regardless what you sell.

If you want you can check my page out just press this line.

Give and take

As a salesman / woman your main task is to bring cash, money, gold, profits in short business to your company.

So how does that make your potential (or for that matter existing customers) customer look at you?

They see you as a cost!

That’s some hill to climb and that is what we do all day long without really thinking about this, ignoring it or just being plain oblivious of this fact.

So hopefully you have picked up some pointers in this blog and read tons of books on how to be the most succesful salesperson you can be.

The customer is interested in knowing what you have to offer and that opens the door for you to give them something for their hard-earned money. If your really good at selling (giving) the customer in the end will feel like money don’t matter and a yes / signed contract is the only way to go forward. So you will hopefully make them money by giving them the chance to cooperate in business with you.

Ex you sell consulting hours. the consultants are highly trained and the customer will make millions on the consultants work once finished. The hours they pay for however will cost them as little as 10-15% of the potential earnings a couple of 100k that’s a lot to shell out (cost). Providing this service should be easy as one two three since the customer will make a whooping profit, in other words they will be given more than they pay for. The seller in this case should focus on skill, smoothness, consistency, timely delivery and achieving said profit in a nice package.

So think about what you can give the customer this is if not unique selling points USP at least they are the main points to push for in your presentation.

Can you give things/services away for free?

Sure but then it’s because you get something else than money back.

Personal satisfaction / personal development / Its fun as ….

If you give your product away with freebies with little value, then ok but when it comes to cars, vacations, golf club membership etc then your on thin ice. this can of c be a strategy and it often works but it’s no fun at all when found out or discovered. So think about your company / brand and set out from the start if you want to bribe people to accept your service /product and if you can live with the consequences that may come.

For the rest of us hard work and a lot of handshaking is in the cards.

Want to support your local community?

Give away some of your time to lecture / speak / inspire kids and students in and about sales since that is one of the few remaining careers where you can ”be a geek from the street” and still make it and become a star or at least make a respectable income.”zero to hero” springs to mind as a good saying in this field to. This will help some in that classroom to look more hopeful on their future and that can only be good!

Well lets close the deal.

Give more than you take and business will be better than ever!

 

Greetings and salutations!

How do you project the image of yourself?

Try this very easy test.

Put on your work clothes and go with your hand outstretched to greet a customer but do it in front of the mirror!

Now describe the person there and see what qualities and things you picked up about yourself. (remember to have an open mind about this and give it a serious try.)

You should create a professional image that you would like to meet yourself and also try to let your on personality shine trough to give the customer some idea of who you are.

Would you like to meet with you?

Anything that you should change or do differently?

Try out the mirror again!

After a couple of greetings and salutations its time to try it out on some real person if you work for a company try it out with a fellow sales person they will hopefully have a good positive approach to this, if working alone try to do it with your partner ( don’t do it if you feel they are not having the right spirit for it since this is to boost your confidence!) or some other adult that can help you out. If there is no one then after the mirror go out and practise with the customers .

How would your test subject describe you?

Is it the same description you had about yourself before?

How would you like to come across:

Firm handshake

Confident

Cheerful

Pleasant

Reassuring

Friendly

Interested  (and interesting)

Warm

Relaxed

Sympathetic

Polite

These are all positive descriptive words that the top seller would be described as and now you have a chance to get them said about you to.

Why are these words or traits important to exude?

Ask yourself if you would like to have a meeting with a person greeting you in the above manner. Most likely you would be very interested in knowing more about them and this you now can use to transfer the positivity to your product and get the contract.

 

Ps this works just as well when meeting people in a non professional capacity to Ds

 

Business clothing

What to wear?

Check out what your customers are wearing!

If there is a certain style then use that and do the conservative approach on it.

Beware that the customer will have different dress codes in different markets and country’s. Meaning you can be way overdressed and wearing the same outfit in another country and being way under dressed. (usually this can be quickly remedied by saying im from x and this is what we wear but i will dress more appropriate next time)

Example they wear shoes,jeans, shirt, jacket and no tie. Then go with safe grey jacket, jeans with few ornaments and no bling and make sure they are not punctured with holes in the name of fashion, blue or dark blue shirt (very conservative), shoes seems to be free in Sweden but in the rest of the world black is the thing maybe dark brown. the only place you are allowed to space out is the hanky in the brest pocket and if you have the guts the socks.

So why is it important that you tone down your clothing?

It makes you and your word more solid and down to earth. Hence you increase the weight in your offer and what your company stands for you will be taken more seriously and will have the added effect that customers will have an easier time taking you and your product in and making it easier for you to get the contract.

Having a sale staff with different clothing styles?

Decide what you want them to wear and make it mandatory. (buy a them the cloths if problems arise and consider it an investment).

Looking the part is an important factor to be the part!

Related articles

• I want to dress better but don’t know how. (ask.metafilter.com)

ABC of sales

Ok so Alec Baldwin character didn’t come across as very sympathetic but that probably wasnt why he was there.

He was abusive and kicked hard but above all he was right about the sales part.

A lways

B e

C losing

If you do this and have no emphatic ability you will crash and burn every single time.

You have to have a feeling or the right training to get where and when the timing is right or a presentation that naturally gives you the opportunity to close.

So how do you achieve this without sounding like a complete tool?

In the presentation, build in sections that presents one unique selling point and that goes on for about as long as you / the customer feels comfortable about it, preferably they should cut to the core and after the points been made you do either a closing attempt or an interest check and then a close depending on  the answer.

This should enable you to rescue a no and hopefully continue with 3-4 more unique selling points but the following pitches should definitely be played harder to get the deal if it’s a sell now or get nought. If you can rescue and chicken out you could opt for a second meeting with better preparation. This is usually not a good approach. Decide before the closing meeting if you should chance to blow it or take it home.

Whats the difference?

Interest check = how did that sound to you?

Close attempt = if this sounds good to you would you like to sign right here and now.

Interest check is a soft opening for a close.

The first close attempts should be softer than the coming ones to check out the customers reaction and be really observant here to read all the info from face/body language what they say and what they really meant by saying it.

So A lways B e C losing and you will make you deals than you did before pratice makes perfect and the more customers you meet and try this with the better you will be at it.

The mindset and attitude is very important so walk the walk talk the talk and close the deal.

Oh and you dont need a set of brass balls, just be yourself!

Seal the deal

Closing!

What does it take to get the contract.

Have you established a need for the customer? So if your product solves the need it should sell itself? It’s your job to sell the product that the customer needs so you better sell it.

So you got about 5 chances to close the deal if your savvy enough to repair the no from the previous 4 closing attempts. Most sellers will only ask the customer 1-2 times for the contract and a majority only do it on impulses that are clear from the client/customer.

Top 10 % of the sellers gets the deal before counting to 5 attempts but the reason they are top 10 is that they can get back to pitching after a no.

First of prepare a place in your pitch / presentation that naturally gives a space to ask the client /customer if they want your service /product. Try it out on real people and see if it works if so try to create 4 more catch phrases / pitch sections in your presentation since they then will give you more opportunities to ask the them again.

So if the customer says no (and they usually do just that the first time you ask them) make sure you have a comeback to rely on.

If you think that your head of sales is saying the same thing as me but in different words your probably right since this the most important point to learn when working in sales!

ps check out this clip with Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross that’s one boss you don’t want to have. ds

The first business meeting

So let’s get onwards,

1. Be prepared, read up on the company you are to visit (homepage, news, articles products any and everything you can get your eyes on.)
2. You are a welcome person act like it. (you would not have a meeting otherwise).
3. You are expected so be on time or at the most 5 minutes early.
4. When booking you should have made it clear that the meeting should take somewhere up to 60 minutes.
5. Dress accordingly
6. No matter what be polite (even if they are far from it)
7. End the meeting with a thank you for the business or as you will make business in the future see you next time

Ok you are now in and the person /persons are potential costumers.

Good and keep this in mind until you walk out the door (unless you sign a contract then and there of course).

Ideally like we discussed on the last post you have now been introduced to the company and their products. The customer is not hostile and you have gotten past the niceties.

Your turn!

I suggest you use the same tactic as you did when booking the meeting:

Try and cut to the chase (time is money).

Use the words you used when booking  five to ten words that you think will be the best ones for your business and that will make the customer really interested in your product / service. These you now will use to build up your pitch with.

Now add some positive sounding words around these so it will be an understandable and preferably strong short catch phrase.

The catch phrases are excellent places in your pitch to get the customer involved. Ask them what benefit they themselves could see in your products /services. Get them talking once you have presented 1 or 2 key points to get them on the same train. Dont let them take charge of the meeting however then it could end very soon you should be in charge of the conversation but let them talk and guide them to where you want them (towards your closing pitch. and a signed contract.) This is the key to be succesful or unsuccessful as a salesperson. If you can control the conversation in a nice and relaxed manner and create rapport with the customer they will be likely to buy now and continue to do so in the future. If you lose grip on the conversation you will have a customer who don’t know how to present your product (and they should not) so they will try to end the meeting.

Rule: Guide / control the meeting towards your goal signing the contract.

Road 1 :If you go into the meeting with a firm mindset to walk out with the contract in hand then go for it.

Road 2:If you go into the meeting wanting to get a contract in a few months time you still will be needing to act in the meeting as if you want to sell now but not pushing the signing in the end but leaving it open for the coming meeting.

Walk,talk and act like you are 100 % sure that you will get the contract until you have walked out of the door.  This will make a stronger impression about you and your product and increase its value to the customer.

If you have the contract congrats!

If you don’t?

Make sure you end the meeting with booking a new one on the phone or in real life and make sure the customer understands that it is for the closing so they are prepared to sign or say no (usually they have some confirmation questions first).

Onwards and forwards! go out and try!

The meeting

Congratulations!

You booked your first meeting.

So today is the day your going to meet your potential costumer and hopefully make a good argument for your product / service.

What you do and say has more importance than if the stuff you sell are good or crap.

So first of:

1. Be prepared, read up on the company you are to visit (homepage, news, articles products any and everything you can get your eyes on.)
2. You are a welcome person act like it. (you would not have a meeting otherwise).
3. You are expected so be on time or at the most 5 minutes early.
4. When booking you should have made it clear that the meeting should take somewhere up to 60 minutes.
5. Dress accordingly
6. No matter what be polite (even if they are far from it)
7. End the meeting with a thank you for the business or as you will make business in the future

 

So first thing first. After greetings you should preferably let the customer talk and show you around his or hers company.

They are proud to show you around and you should take mental notes of what they do and how they do it since you will be using this in the sales pitch later in the meeting.

Sometimes however they do not wish to show you around or talk about their company first but will more or less force you to pitch first since this will give them a good advantage when negotiating later.

Try as best as you can to avoid this. If they don’t want to talk about their company go for the personal approach and try to find at least some common ground to stand on. You will get a (hopefully) picture about the other person by the pictures and things they have in their office hook on to some of these to make a topic to talk about. You have 60 min and the actual pitch will usually only take 5 – 10 min and the rest is the parley that you are doing now.

Big company s may stop you even here and send you and their buyer to a neutral meeting room to give you as little leverage as possible. Then you will just try to do the best of it if you can’t or they wont talk anything else than business do that but at every opportunity try to find out how they do things and what use they could have from your product /service.

You will most likely be nervous when doing this for the first time it will show so if its to oblivious then tell the customer that this is in fact your first meeting but that you have worked in this field / you are confident in you product etc. This can create rapport so that he /she feels sympathy for you, makes them go easier and help you land the deal.

They are also humans!

Ok more on this in the next post.

Cold calling

Cold calling:

How many do you need to call to book a meeting?

If you want the Ceo / president or the head of sales or someone on the board then this could take hours of call time stretched out over some days (and sometime even weeks) to get hold of but if you get to them somewhere between 1 in 10 if your good and none if you are not .

So what can you do to improve your standing hit rate or success rate in this field.

Start with looking at the phone and write down how you feel.

If you were to get a cold call how would you like that person to make you feel.

Write that down and see if the 2 matched.

Usually we as humans respond better to a happy or cheerful person in real life as well as on the phone if you are not such a person then you will have to start acting at the very least smile.

A smile when talking on the phone will give the other person a better “image” of you and will make them respond in a different manner than they would have otherwise.

Try and cut to the chase (time is money).

Articulate so they can hear you. The human ear can hear at double the rate that the fastest talking person can speak that means as long as you articulate you can speak in fluid way and fast if you want to. Your not running a 100 meter dash however so you need to make it flow good to. Intonation on the words that you want the customer to hear.

So write down five to ten words that you think will be the best ones for your business and that will make the customer really interested in your product / service.

Now add some positive sounding words around these so it will be an understandable and preferably strong short catch phrase.

let me give an example on an opening:

We are working on upgrading sales / technical consultants.
Our specialty is to train sales staff on site at your customers in real life situations.
Do you have any sellers that you want to increase profitability on?

Here i would intone the words upgrading, real life situations and increase profitability. I would also make sure i said it with a smile and picturing a real customer before me (not on the phone). This is short and to the point if the person you call has zero interest in this subject then you will try to find out why and then end the call. (you will call back anyway in 3-6 months ).

If yes its time to present the good and sound reasons why you should meet up so you can get better opportunity at presenting yourself and your product / service.

Here you should use the same principle as in the opening make it short and powerful articulate and intone the words you want to paint the picture with.

So mainly you should give a speech just as before an assembly but now with only one in the salon instead of 100.

And as you all know the shorter the speech the more prepared you need to be.

This call will be ended within 20 seconds if no and go on for as long as 120 seconds if yes.

Make sure you get the email and suggest that the customer answers it with their contact information. Oh and remember to ask them for visiting address since that can differ from the adress you are calling them on.

Call me! booking with the phone

The Phone is a great instrument to reach many fast regardless of distance.

There are different phone bookings you could make:

1. Cold call / cold calling
2. Lukewarm calling
3. Hot calling / Leads / Tip
4. Incoming

Number 4 would be the call that all are waiting for but seldom get. You could wait a year for the phone to ring and someone on the other side wanting to meet you to buy something from you and maybe it will happen once or twice but rarely more than that. (But it’s always a very welcome surprise when someone does). Mostly this would increase if you are a very social / business networker.

Number 3 predominantly the result of advertising campaigns or active networking. These are very easy to use for booking meetings since the customer at the other end of the phone wants to meet you and discuss what you can do for them.

Number 2 Leads or tips that are secondhand or have been left to long without attention. Or the bulk of these could also be customers that you have sold to in the past and have lost contact with. If they are this could turn out to be a major income boost for you since customers that have bought from you before are much more inclined to do so again. (for some good seller the figure is about or up to 70%).

Number 1 Siberia This is hard work but could be the newly started business only source of meetings especially if you have a tight budget to start out with. You either get the numbers from the phonebook or net based phonebook. Buying numbers that are selected from your search criteria could also spare you a couple of hundred/Thousand calls in vain. We will address Cold calling technic in the next post.