I was speaking to one of our clients this week about his job role. He’s an account manager. So he manages accounts. Sounds good. Every account we have needs managing.

But his gripe was concerning the fact that he has to spend so much time looking for new business that he seldom has enough time to develop business with his current accounts. He is worried that he’s missing opportunities to develop loyalty with his existing client base.

There’s no doubt that the fastest way to generate revenue is to grow existing accounts.  But most companies seem to spend a lot of time looking for new business, hence leaving poor  account management programmes in place for existing customers.  Often, these programmes are more focused on customer satisfaction than actually getting more business from clients.

I told this account manager that he should be spending more time developing strategies that grow existing revenues with current clients.  They’re the ones who know you and your services best. So, you should be creating real reasons why your existing clients should be interested in doing more business with you, so that their business improves.

Here are some thought-starters.

Make an analysis of which clients buy which products and services from you. Are there some gaps that you should be pursuing? Do you sell products that some clients buy and not others? Is there a market for those other products with existing clients? Do they buy some products or services from other suppliers? There may be opportunities you are missing.

Build loyalty by creating offers only available to current clients. This serves as a kind of loyalty bond, and encourages the client to think of you when they need more products, rather than trying the competition.

Invite them to customer focus groups. An incentive to attend one of these groups could be to help you develop your future products and services, while in return getting better payment terms or closer account management.

Consider building symbiotic buying relationships with the client. This will encourage them to partner with you and will get you deeper into the buying process that they are using when they choose a supplier

Create value through partnering. How many of your customers sell at trade shows and exhibitions? Offer to work with them in setting up the exhibition.Make them look good in their customers’ eyes. Determine how you can increase their expertise in their field. They will start asking you for your advice and listen to your recommendations.

Develop on-line business by using them as a case-study of success in your newsletters. When your client sees their company used in a successful way, they see the relationship with you deepening and you become even closer partners

These approaches will convince your current clients that they made the right decision partnering with you, and you will see customer loyalty increase.

So, spend more time on building loyalty with existing customers as well as looking for new prospects. You know it makes sense!

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

Attitudes are contagious…is yours worth catching?

What is an attitude, anyway? It’s your choice of feelings and emotions that drives your action.

Now, notice I said ‘your choice’. Many people go round acting as if someone has injected them with the ‘negative drug’, as if it’s everyone else’s fault that they are feeling this way. It’s as if they want the whole world to dedicate itself to making them happy.

Sorry, but there’s only one person who’s responsible for your attitude.

If you say your attitude today is because of that bad call or those poor leads or your negative boss, you’re basically saying that you hand over responsibility for your attitude to someone else. In effect, you’re saying  ‘I will allow you to control how I feel. You control me, Mr Prospect. However you respond will determine how I feel. So, how would you like me to feel today?’

Sounds silly, doesn’t it?

OK, how do you take control and make your personal attitude one that you choose and one that you want to keep?

Here’s some ideas that will help you maintain that right attitude:

1. Take personal responsibility for all that happens to you: It all starts with you accepting the ownership of your attitude. Looking at things through emotionally negative glasses will distort everything you see. So, choose the attitude that creates a firm foundation for action

2.Don’t spend time, invest it: This means making a choice as to what you do every hour of the day. If you choose to spend 5 hours in front of garbage TV, then accept the consequences. Don’t blame others for feeling tired the next day. Instead, invest some time in things that will give you a return in the future.

3. Create a group of positive friends that you listen to every day: And if you can’t find any, invest in them on CD so you can listen to them every day. Their positive input will encourage your thought processes toward the positive

4. Listen to how you talk: Become aware of how you speak about people and situations. Notice if you are blaming other things or people for your negativity. As the saying goes…you can visit Pity City, but don’t live there.

5. Develop a reframe mentality: This means that whatever happens to you, you decide how you’re going to view it. You can have fun with this. We play a game called ‘bad news, good news’ where someone comes up with some bad news, then another person in the team has to ‘reframe’ it by telling a consequential piece of good news. This silly but interesting game forces you to think of something positive, and gets you mind off the negative stuff. It also leaves a smile on your face, which is always good!

6. Develop your own positive outlook: You do this by deciding to. Every moment, decide the best way to feel. Create an aura of choice around you. Stop casting the first stone. By allowing yourself to concentrate on the positive side, your focus will  create a different view and you’ll see solutions where there were once problems.

It all starts with your attitude. Get that right, and you give yourself a better chance of success.

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

It may sound unbelievable, but there may be occasions when the prospect does not go with your solution, and chooses either to do nothing or go with a competitor.

What can you do to learn from the experience and lessen the chances of it happening again?

You need a robust process that will gather information, and help you prepare for a similar situation in the future. What the prospect tells you could have a big effect on your future training and development, product presentation, pricing, marketing and competitor analysis.

As you are often too closely involved in the sale to get an objective view of the scenario, it’s always a good idea to get someone in authority to follow up on the call. The prospect is more likely to open up and be honest to another person, than if they had to justify the reason to you. This helps you and your team analyse the real reasons for losing the sale.

Think about what information you require from the prospect. You might ask questions similar to these:

What was the decision-making process you went through?

What was it about the competitor’s product that made more sense for your business?

Did we miss anything in our analysis of your situation?

Was price an issue?

Did our proposal match your needs?

Was our sales rep knowledgeable in the areas you needed them to be?

What was it about our competitor’s offer that you liked better?

Did our presentation impress you in any way?

Is there any way we could have changed your mind?

These questions help you see why you may have lost the sale on this occasion. However, it doesn’t mean all is lost.

Find out when the product change cycle is due to come around again. If they’re leasing the product, how long is the lease? What would you have to do differently next time to win the sale? How can you keep in touch with them during the next few weeks or months while they are assessing the suitability of the choice they have made?

Remember, when you have the opportunity to contact them again in the future, it is not a cold call, as you have already built up some kind of relationship with them. You can check on the viability of their choice, how happy they are with their service provider, and find any chinks in the armour that you can possibly fix for them in the future.

By learning from every lost sale, you give yourself opportunities to build good client relationships in the future, and that can only be good for business!

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

I’ve sat through literally hundreds of presentations by salespeople trying to sell me their products or services. And most of them have been from companies I have actually asked to come in and tell me about their products. Whether they were office furniture salespeople who wanted to kit out our new offices or recruitment agencies for new people in the company, I have sat through some real humdingers of presentations, I can tell you!

But some have been what I consider to be quite magical. They were the ones that did their homework. They were the ones who talked about my business rather than their products. But, most importantly, they were the ones who made their presentations come alive. How?

By creating a vivid picture of how my business would be more successful when we used their products.

What did they do, specifically?

They painted pictures with their words. They made their products come alive in my mind with the language they used. They created a bespoke solution for my company by showing me how I would lose out if I didn’t say yes.

And yet, I never felt under pressure. They didn’t use tricks or tactics that made me think I was being sold to. No, they created a need in my mind that could only be satisfied with their solution.

Painting pictures with words means speaking the language of the client. One salesperson described how much time I could save using his product. He asked what I could do with the extra 30 minutes a day his product would save me. When I realised that was 10 hours a month, I was instantly intrigued by what he was offering, as I could immediately see the benefits to other areas of my business.

How can you make your presentation come alive by painting pictures with the words you use? Practice with your colleagues so you can share ideas and create presentations that really stand out against the competition.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

Preparation prevents poor performance. You know that. It’s the most obvious rule you’ve ever been told by your manager. But what sets you apart from the also-rans is the quality of your preparation. Here we take a look at what highly successful salespeople do to prepare for that first meeting with a prospect.

1) Research so you have specific reasons to call. Don’t just find out a few bits and pieces about the company; go beyond page 2 of Google and dig deep into the background of the company, so you feel you know them like a shareholder would. Be curious. Develop some powerful questions from your research that prove you want to help the company.

2) Search on Hoovers.com or Riskdisk.com to check their rating. This might help you investigate their credit rating, so you don’t go too far before finding out you are wasting your time!

3) Do a search on the industry and your prospect’s competitors. What competition are they facing, and what can you do to help them achieve higher market share?

4) Check if the prospect themselves is on LinkedIn or Plaxo or FaceBook. Can you find out something specific that would help you build good rapport or highlight a need that can be solved?

5) Set a specific goal for the first meeting. Don’t go in with the idea of just selling your product or introducing yourself. Have a clear idea of what you are trying to accomplish.

Examples might be: Find out their decision-making process, discover their buying cycle, determine their specific needs, leave a demonstration model, introduce a package that would suit their needs for the next six months, highlight a new product or service that will solve a specific problem or challenge they are facing.

Whatever it is, make sure you set the correct goal for the meeting.

6) Ensure they understand how valuable the meeting with you will be. Call beforehand to make sure they are still expecting you. Strive to arrive early. Spend three or four minutes in your car going over your notes before you go to the meeting. Get into the right frame of mind, especially if you’ve driven a long-distance for the meeting.

7) Make sure you build rapport with the receptionist or PA before the meeting. These will be the very people who will put you through when you follow up after the meeting.

8 )Maintain your confidence and professionalism, so you make the right impact with all you meet in the company. Check out the magazines they have in reception. Do they give you an idea of what periodicals your prospect may be reading and advertising in?

By ensuring you have all the knowledge and background you need before the meeting, you’ll have the confidence to create a great impression with the prospect now and when you’ve built the relationship in the future.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

So many salespeople are concerned about the stage of the sale that really should be straightforward…getting the customer to say yes!

Here are some ideas to help you achieve the ultimate goal. There are no tricks or complications here; just common-sense tips that you can use to get the sale:

1) Help the customer buy. Forget putting yourself and the customer under pressure. Think of opening up a long-term relationship. You wouldn’t pressure someone who you’ve built up a good relationship with, would you? Then don’t do it now, when you’re building one! Don’t sell, let them buy!

2) Remain positive and persistent. Maintain the correct momentum for the sale. If the customer is still having to think about things, lay out the right road for them to follow. Follow-up diligently with a personalised follow-up letter. Remain optimistic that you still have a chance, right up to the moment they say yes.

3) Know your goal. Have a specific objective for every meeting you have. It might not be to close the sale that day, but it might be to get them to agree to test your product or introduce you to an end user. Create a real reason for every meeting you have, and you set yourself up for success

4) Check your progress. You know how an auto-pilot on a plane keeps it heading in the right direction? Well, put some ‘milestones’ in the conversation, just like an auto-pilot would check that the plane was on target. Check with the client that everything is sounding good to him or all is looking great.

5) Summarise and ask for the business. Make a final assertion of the benefits you can bring the business and then check if it meets their objective. Make a statement rather than ask a question, and if you’ve built up the right level of trust, the customer will agree to carry out your suggestion. For example, “We’ve covered all the ways your business will benefit from these widgets, Mr Smith. All we have to do now is sign the documents and we can start saving you money immediately”.

Keep reinforcing the value you will offer the customer and remember to follow up diligently.

Closing, then, isn’t a matter of trickery and deceptive remarks – simply by maintaining your professionalism and making it a natural step in the process, you’ll build the trust and close more sales.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

In a previous blog, we discussed some home truths about selling that have created a lot of interest, mainly because some people still think the old buyers still exist for their outmoded style of selling.

Here’s another of those home truths that brings salespeople kicking and screaming into the 21st century:

False: It’s the salesperson’s job to get the prospect to buy

Truth: Your intent should be to solve problems or open up opportunities

Most sales training puts the emphasis on the sales cycle, where the salesperson plans their presentation meticulously around how the product works.

Well, most buyers will not be interested in the product unless it can move the status quo for his business. In other words, they will not change a thing unless you can prove you can either eliminate some of his pain, or create some form of opportunity.

The motivational direction that the customer will choose can be summed up that way. So, either increase the pain of where he is now (or where he will stay if he doesn’t move), or open up opportunities for his business by proving how you can assist in developing the market for him.

Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes and identify exactly what he or his business will achieve by partnering with your business.

Of course, you can’t do this without proper and concise questioning. This will build your knowledge of the current situation and help you to create a future that would not be possible without you. This symbiosis will help you both achieve your ultimate goals…profitability and new market penetration.

By analysing how you can assist the prospect in solving problems or opening up opportunities, you increase your value and give many reasons for others to talk to you.

And that can only be good for business!

Happy selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

How valuable is a loyal customer to your business?

Many clients we deal with don’t think about this important question often enough. They will spend lots of time advertising for new customers, while existing customers visit only once or filter out the back door without saying goodbye.

We can think of our customer going through four stages of the buying cycle.

Firstly, there is the ‘random experience’, the one-off visit that might result in a good or bad incident, often driven by chance, with little intent involved.

Then there’s the more predictable experience...the customer has been through the process with you before, so there’s a bit of consistency and intentionality about the experience.

The next stage is where the customer feels safe in repeating the buying experience with you. They have seen the value of your services and see the differentials you offer. They may even decide to also tell others about you.

The fourth stage, though, is where loyalty comes in. This is where you carefully and intentionally design services that meet customer wants and needs, are consistent in providing for those needs and differentiate yourself from the competition with those products and services.

So ask yourself:

What experience am I creating for my customer?

Is it valuable and different enough to make the customer feel they are doing the right thing in being loyal to me?

What promises do I make to them that I can build on?

Can you buy loyalty? If you’re referring to whether you need to offer discounts, create more short-term offers and campaigns, or beat the competition on price…this may work in the short term.

But the most effective way to buy loyalty is to create a real reason for your customer to want to use you more often.. and that comes from building a valuable and differentiated brand image.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

Your ability to sell is most often tied in to your ability to help customers make the best decisions for themselves and their businesses.

Having seen many salespeople try to persuade customers by telling them how good their products and services are, we have written many times of the need to put on the buyer’s mind-set, see things from their perspective and determine what makes them make the decision to buy.

How others make decisions was the subject of a study by Daniel Kahneman, who developed ‘prospect theory’ and won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2002.

Kahneman’s studies describe how people make choices in situations where they have to decide between alternatives that involve risk, e.g. in financial decisions. Starting from empirical evidence, the theory describes how individuals evaluate potential losses and gains. Interestingly, in its original form,  the term prospect referred to a lottery!

How does this apply to us? Well, here are six points from Kahneman’s work that help us understand how customers can be helped to make decisions:

1. Anchoring. Do more or less than 15% of the population have life insurance? The question is anchored around 15% and you are getting your customer to start with that figure in mind. So, before you start dealing with figures, have an anchored figure set the tone for the discussions.
2. Loss aversion. Losses to a customer could be rational and economic. How much would they lose if they didn’t take up your offer? Remember also the emotional losses they might encounter if they don’t go with you. How would they be made to ‘feel’ by their end-users or stakeholders if they made the decision to change?
3. Social proof. Have you noticed that sports fans like to wear the same kit as their heroes? At the deepest level, they think ‘If it works for my favourite player, maybe it could work for me’. Show your customers how others have succeeded in using your services and the benefits they gained. This social proof is a good tool to get people to make a risk-free decision.
4. Framing. Do you prefer savings and investment or cuts and spending? Basically, they’re the same thing, only the language is different. By framing the words in such a way that you are talking the same language as the customer, you enjoy a closer rapport and understanding.
5. Repetition. Advertisers know this. By maintaining a stance on a subject, you use their convincer style to recommend a decision to the customer. Repeating an idea three times in a conversation hammers the idea home.
6. Emotional credibility. Make your point relevant to the specific customer you are with. If the recession didn’t affect them, no amount of description of the economic situation will hit home. But if they had to close businesses and set up again, the recession will have a major credible impact. Persuade them from their vantage point, and you will have a good basis for decision-making.

Decision-making is emotional, and if you recognise this in your discussions with customers, it will help you to get to the decision-making point quicker.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

In a previous blog, we highlighted five ways to improve your sales with some home truths that many of you have responded to.

The first of those truths was that people buy, not because of intellectual reasons like price, quality and service, but because of emotional needs and wants.

The truth is that we as human beings are emotional creatures walking around in a body. We like to think of ourselves as rational, thinking persons, but a home truth is that our decisions are made with our emotional brains and then we justify that with logical thinking to back ourselves up.

How many times have you bought something purely on price alone, without thinking of the consequences of that purchase? Being driven purely by logic turns us into automatons, robots with no thought patterns of our own, our decisions created by the  logistics of the product. That doesn’t seem to fit right with our experience.

Yes, the rational reasoning is important to us, but they only back up the fact that we feel good about the purchase. The emotional connection concerning the value and benefits of it all have to be considered first.

The old cliche ‘people buy from people’  is still true in the majority of cases. How do you feel dealing with someone you don’t get on with? Do you trust them, respect them, honour them?

So if your clients are mainly making decisions based on what their emotional needs and wants are, what can you do to satisfy them? Remember that people are often driven by basic needs like safety and security, so convince them that they are making the right choice because of how it will make them feel safe and secure. They are making a sound investment, or they can be safe in the knowledge they are getting great value.

Appeal to their status needs, if you have found out they make choices based on how it will make them look in others’ eyes.

People will only make decisions when they are in the right state to do so; don’t try and sell when they are obviously not in the right emotional state to deliberate or consider the choice.

By being aware of this simple home truth, you will avoid the average salesperson’s downfall of only concentrating on intellectual needs and missing that vital ingredient that we all use in making decisions – the emotional connection.

We’ll tackle the other home truths in future blogs.

Happy selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…