Moving sales forward or status quo and you!

The Status Quo Ladder, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Status quo is an ugly place to be in sales.

Moving forward is good.

Getting a yes is better.

Even getting a no on a deal is better than status quo because then at least you know its time to drop it and move on to something/someone else.

When doing drive alongs with sales people the thing that separates and is the thing most easily spotted is that an average seller or poor seller does is staying in status quo because they are afraid to move things towards a No or a Yes.

Or to put it in another way the top seller always moves the process towards a yes or a no.
Towards the point of decision-making.

They (the top seller) know just aswell as the rest of the sellers that in order to make a deal happen you have to push things to this point but the big difference is that they don’t stop to contemplate the possibility to lose the customer when getting them to the decision point. They accept the fact that they will lose customers, its natural that some say no.

Just as its natural that the rest say yes.

So by staying in the status quo limbo the poor sales person wastes their own and their customers time!
And by doing so they hinder themselves in becoming the next top sales person.

For you and me the answer is an easy one.

Status quo bad.

Moving things forward good.

Increased profitability!

Patrik Olson

Related articles

• Status Quo Bias (introforextrading.com)
• How Great Leaders Inspire Action (outsider-trading.com)
• The Status Quo (beeseeker.wordpress.com)
• Say What!? Christian Bloggers that Question the Status Quo (keriwilliams.wordpress.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