How do you answer a potential customer when they say, “Tell me a little about your company.” If you are like most salespeople, you view this as an invitation to rattle off your 35 minute PowerPoint on your history, management, value propositions, and top it off by giving them several reasons why they should work with your company. When your customer asks you this question, they are not really interest in hearing what you have to say. They aren’t lying to you or having bad intentions, the problem is they never learned how to buy and they just don’t know what else to ask you. When they are asking this question, they aren’t at all interested in your story, they want to hear their story. How your company is going to help their company. This mid-understanding can send many a sales person down the path of literally talking their way out of the sale.
So the question is how do you answer their questions by bringing them back to their own company? You shouldn’t embarrass a customer by ignoring their questions or refusing to answer the question, but you should find a way to quickly turn the conversation back to them. Once they start talking about themselves and their company, you have the opening to show them how you can help their business. This is similar to product selling where you give the customer a sample versus telling them of the product’s features. Examples include having them lay on the mattress if you are selling mattresses or giving them a chip if you are selling salsa. Actively listen when they are telling you about their company and their issues, include examples of how you have helped other customers in their same situation. Show them why they should do business with your company, don’t tell them. Actively show the customer how your business and/or product can fit into their company.
Let your competitors sell by telling their story. It won’t work very well because the only story the customer is interested in is their own. Find a way to work your company into their story. Don’t talk your way out of the sale.
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We are always looking for ways to generate more sales for our businesses whether that means diversifying into another product line, increasing our marketing or just plain and simple making more customer calls or visits. Sales is what drives an organization and the sales levels affect everyone in an organization. It is something that people think about and worry about on a daily basis. Today we are seeing a heightened sense of businesses trying to increase their sales as many companies are still trying to dig out of what the recession did to them. I am a firm believer in continued self improvement and no matter how long you have been in the sales field, it never hurts to continue to learn and refresh what you have learned once, twice or multiple times before. So with that I wanted to share Adrian Miller’s Top Ten Sales Tips for Sales Success (http://www.adrianmiller.com/).
- Don’t do the bulk of your business prospecting during prime business hours. Often the call that is placed at 8AM or 6PM will be received by a decision-maker that has more time to talk. And don’t underestimate the value of leaving voice mail messages at night. These will be the very first messages that your prospect will hear in the morning, thereby increasing the odds of them placing a returned call.
- If you want to present products and services that are of value to the prospect and that meet their needs, you have to ASK questions. Ask the right questions and the prospect will tell you what they want and how they need to be sold.
- Too many sales reps launch into a conversation by discussing the features of their products and services. Features never sold anyone. The only thing that a prospect cares about is what these features will do for them. In other words, speak in terms of benefits and your prospect will be more pre-disposed to listening to your presentation.
- There’s no magic bullet. Prospecting takes time and if your sales pipeline isn’t always filled with prospects in various stages of being worked, then you are in for a future sales slump.
- Don’t underestimate the power of faxes. In these days of email, faxes have taken a back seat. Because of that, faxes get noticed. Carefully position faxes as part of your prospecting efforts.
- Follow-up and follow-through are keys to prospecting success. Just like gardening, if you don’t water the seeds, the garden will languish. And so it is with prospecting… if you don’t remain in contact, you will never break through.
- Give a prospect something for nothing. An article that would be of interest and value, information that you received online etc. and transferred to the prospect with a note “just thought you might be interested in this” indicates that you are thinking of them and wish to be a resource.
- Periodically tape-record a random sampling of your cold calls. Listen to the tape and assess your tone and voice. How did you sound? Would you want to speak with a person who sounds like you? What about your words? Were they clear and benefits-oriented? Taping gives you the opportunity to self-correct your presentation.
- Pace yourself. Prospecting is a very time-consuming and arduous task. Allocate a specific amount of time each day (week?) and keep to the schedule. It is always easy to put something ahead of the prospecting activity but make an appointment with yourself and don’t break it.
- Last but definitely not least, maintain a good sense of humor. Make the prospect smile and you’re halfway there!
And to conclude, I will share one of my favorite quotes from Adrian, “In today’s competitive business world, only the excellent survive. Be excellent.” Good luck with your selling in 2010!
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