I was in Dublin yesterday with a MAJOR player in the food retail industry and it reminded me of two of the very best retail sales tips that every store should use.

So it doesn’t matter what you sell in your store, use them! And if you don’t sell in retail then next time you are in store see if the sales assistants use the following two one liners on you. If they don’t they are missing out on tons of sales!

RETAIL SALES TIP 1

When a customer reaches the counter ask:

“Did you find everything you were looking for today?”

Simple as that. Sometimes you forget what you went in for. Sometimes you just couldn’t lay your hands on an item.

Let’s look at the math.

If you had 50 stores and during each interaction at the till your staff asked:

“Did you find everything you were looking for today?”

Over a day I would assume that each store would make an additional £20 (let’s be ultra conservative here).

50 stores x £20 = an additional £1,000 per day

Let’s assume 300 shopping days.

300 shopping days x £1,000 per day = £365,000 in additional turnover!

A no brainer if ever I saw one!

RETAIL SALES TIP 2

“Can I help you?”

That’s what you normally get asked when a shop assistant creeps up on you in a store.

And how do you reply?

“Just looking”

Of course you do!

Try saying this instead…

“Hi there, what can I help you to look for today?” or “Is there anything I can help you to look for?”

How are they going to say “Just looking now”?

Happy selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

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

Here’s a question I received last week:

Hi Sean,

On the phone: When the possible client tells you that he is happy with his existing supplier how would you break that barrier to get the meeting with him anyway?

Thanks

Kristina

I’m Happy You’re Happy!!

WHAT barrier? How do you break that barrier?

Here is a question for everyone to think about, and I am not being sarcastic.

I want you seriously to think about this: When the prospect says, “I’m happy with my supplier…” What barrier, what objection, what problem are we talking about?

A few seconds into a cold call the prospect says he or she is happy with their current supplier.

Ok

So?

What’s the problem?

OF COURSE he or she is happy with their current supplier. What kind of a decent business person would NOT be happy with whom they are doing business with?

Think about it: A business manager is doing business with a company that he is unhappy or unsatisfied in doing business with. WHY on earth would he continue doing business with that company even for a minute?

Is he stupid?

If he was unhappy, then why did he or she not rectify the situation before? Was he waiting for you to call, while in the mean time his company was losing money or service by continuing to work with a substandard vendor?

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As sales people, we too often fall into the trap of looking for the prospect that is sitting there waiting for us to call. This is a mistake. Frankly, I don’t want to do business with the manager or director who has been doing business with a supplier that they do not want to do business with. This person is could be incompetent or at best, a lousy manager.

Of course they are happy and I am happy that they are happy!

Now, again, what is the barrier that we talking about?

Are you asking this person, after only a few seconds on the telephone, to drop their current supplier and do business with you? Of course not.

All you are seeking is a meeting, right? Ok. Then what does the fact that they are happy have to do with the price of tea in China?

Too often we try to skip over the steps in the sales process. When calling for an appointment—just sell the appointment—just sell the meeting. They are happy, so what? You are not asking them to drop their supplier and give you the business. All you are looking for is a meeting.

That’s all—just a meeting.

Prospect:
“I’m sorry but I am very happy with my current supplier. I have been doing business with them for 14 years now, and I am not thinking about changing.”

Sales Person:
“Great! I’m glad to hear that Mr. Prospect and if you were NOT happy with your supplier, then I would have to wonder how you were running your business. Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not asking you to change suppliers or to even THINK about doing something like that. In fact, I have not yet EARNED the right even to ask you. The purpose of my call is to introduce myself and ABC Company and simply to update you of the options, which I am certain that as a savvy business man, you always want to stay informed of.

“Mr. Prospect, over a cup of coffee, I’ll update you on the options available and provide you with some very valuable information that will be beneficial to you whether we ever do any business or not. If our relationship goes any further than this one meeting, it will only be because YOU want it to. I can see you on Tuesday at 4:15?”

Now you know me, and you know that the above example is in no way meant to be a script.

That example represents the way of THINKING; the mentality you have to have.

Don’t skip steps in the sales process. First get the appointment. Then make the presentation, then the proposal. Don’t look for the lay downs.

Sell ONLY the meeting.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

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

How To Respond To Email Enquiries

Sending a simple email reply to a prospect or a customer seems to be the easiest and quickest way to communicate in business. However, this daily form of communication has some serious inherent problems that if overlooked can cost you money and time.

Effective communication involves much more than words. Voice inflection, tone, pace of speech, body language and facial expression are all vital components of communicating and are missing in email correspondence. The result is miscommunication, misunderstanding and missed sales opportunities. As a professional sales person, you need to spend as much time practicing and perfecting your email communication methods as you do in communicating on the telephone and in person. This template offers some basic guidelines to help you create clear and effective emails that do what email is supposed to do: convey a clear, simple and effective message

The Email Problems
First, let us examine some of the problems with email. Then we will explore the solutions and finally we will design a checklist for you to ensure that your email communication stays on track.

1. Lack of Emotion:
The most evident problem with email is that there is no way to effectively convey emotion and feelings. The written word is not the same as the spoken word. In a face-to-face conversation or even on the telephone, your tone of voice and changes in the “pitch” of your voice convey your feelings. In a face-to-face conversation, your body language and facial expression do the same. Likewise, while you are speaking to a customer in person, you have visual feedback and clues as to the effectiveness of your words. As you are writing an email, in your own mind, you know what you “mean” when you write a sentence: you know your intent. However, the reader will often receive a different meaning. Sending emails that correctly convey exactly what you “mean” requires skill and practice.

2. Response Time:
During an in-person or telephone conversation, responses are instant. That is, as you speak or ask questions, the answers come immediately. With email, the responses can come over a period of minutes, hours, days or even longer. This often causes both parties to “read” some meaning or intent in the timing of the response, especially when the timing changes in the middle of the communication. As an example, you send an email to a prospective customer with information on your services and the prospect responds within a few minutes with some questions. You reply answering the questions also quickly and again, the prospect emails within a minute or two. Then, you send an email regarding the price of your services and there is no response. You wait, and after two hours, still no reply. What does this mean? Usually it does not mean anything. However, this delayed or change in response time will often conjure up false images on both sides of the message.

3. Delayed or Suppressed Feedback:
On the telephone and face-to-face, the parties involved have instantaneous feedback to the message as it develops. During a face-to-face meeting, you mention that your company has an option for customers to receive overnight delivery at an additional cost to their normal service. However, you notice that the customer frowns and shakes his head as indicating he is not interested in such a service. You may instantly change direction and move on to other options. The instant feedback you received from the customer kept the conversation on track. However, in an email, if you were writing to the customer about this overnight service, the customer cannot give you an indication of his lack of interest. In your email, you continue on about this service, perhaps for several paragraphs because there is no opportunity for immediate feedback. This problem causes many email messages to get off track and then continue on a negative tangent.

4. Getting the Customer to Respond:
Getting people to respond to your emails in a timely fashion can be a major problem. Often you find yourself “stuck” because the customer or prospect has not responded to your last email. You do not want to push to hard and continue sending emails without a response. You do not know the reason for the lack of response. The sales process comes to a halt as you try patiently to wait for the prospect to respond. You anxiously wait for the prospect to say something, anything.

5. Presenting a Professional Image:
In person, to assure the customer of your professionalism is simple since the client can actually see you and your surroundings. Projecting a professional image on the telephone is more complex, but with proper training is also achievable. Presenting a professional image via email also requires skill and practice. One ill-conceived email message can destroy your company image and cost you sales.

The Email Solutions
Following these guidelines will help you consistently manage your email correspondence with prospects and customers.

Consistent Response Time – Maintain a consistent response time with prospects and customers. If you are in a position to respond immediately to your emails, then of course you should do so. However, many people cannot do this. You need to figure out an average response time and stick to this time when communicating with customers. If your customer becomes accustomed to hearing back from you in a matter of minutes, then do whatever is necessary to maintain that. If your customer usually hears from you the next day, then maintain this. Try not to alter the usual timing of your response. This will prevent unnecessary and incorrect assumptions as to the motive behind changes in response time. Also, if you are in the middle of an email conversation, where you are going back and forth with immediate responses, inform the recipient when you have to leave. If you are responding immediately, then have to leave your computer, inform the other party that you will be unable to respond or have your email system auto-respond informing the customer that you have stepped out of the office.

One Step at A Time – It is very easy in an email to cover several topics or points in a single message. While this may appear to save time, it will often cause confusion. Try to limit emails to one or two main topics. If you must include many ideas in one message, bullet point or number each topic, leaving space for the recipient to respond to each individually. Do not run the whole thing together in one massive message.

Pause and Ask for Responses – In conjunction with the above tip, you also want to leave the room and wait for a response to different points. When constructing your email, think of what you would do if you were the recipient. If there are times when you would look for some type of verbal or non-verbal response from the customer, then stop in your email and ask for a response. In other words, you may want to take one large email and break it down into smaller ones. Allow as much opportunity for the customer or prospect to respond.

Build Value – Always include some value building statements or facts to your email. If just answering a question, add some value building statements to the answer.

Continue Selling – Even if your correspondence is with current customers, always continue to SELL your product. Continue to uncover problems and help your customer see that the product they bought is the best. Always continue to sell the product even after the sale.

Conclude with an EASY Question – To help motivate people to respond to your emails, end each with a question that will not require much effort to answer. When answering a customer’s question, after you have done so, you might conclude with asking the customer if the answer is sufficient. As an example:

“Jenny, I hope I was able to answer your questions to your satisfaction. I can supply some additional information on this subject, if you wish. Was the answer sufficient or would you like more material?”

Also, if you know that the answer to your question requires significant effort or a major decision on the part of the customer, and then asks for an interim contact.

“Susan, I realise that this will take you and your mangers some time to decide, so should I get back to you next Tuesday or would you rather I wait until Friday?”

This will prompt Susan to respond even if it is to say, don’t call me until the following week.

Write, Do Not Talk – Construct emails as if you are writing, not speaking. Keep in mind that the person cannot hear or see you and your emotion cannot come through. Stop and re-read (in addition to spell checking) your message before sending it and do so with an objective view. If there is any point that can be misconstrued, then change it and make it clear. Do not assume that the customer will “know what you mean.” Also, there is no place for “sarcasm” in email. Avoid little jokes and otherwise humorous remarks and statements that you think the customer will understand. Leave out the “emotion-cons” and little symbols as well.

Business is no place for little smiley faces!

Happy Email Writing!

Sean

Sean McPheat
“The Leading Authority On How To Sell And Market To The Sophisticated And Sales Savvy Buyer Of Today”

Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

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

Do you know who the Millennial Generation are?

You’d better, and quick at that too because you’ll have to sell to them in the not too distant future!

Well, the Millennial Generation are a group of people (a bit like the Baby Boomer generation) who were born between 1977 and 1998.

They are just beginning to enter the workforce and get their first jobs.

Now you may or may not be selling to them now but you will certainly be selling to them in some capacity in the future.

So what are the main considerations that you need to think about now and for the future when this group of influential people have got the spending power as a consumer or spending power as a decision maker?

Characteristics of the Millennial Generation:

- They are more confident than the generation before them. Pressure from achievement orientated and pushy parents has made sure of this!

- They are independent. Most of them have mobiles, laptops, ipods, access to the internet.

- They are internet savvy. This means that they can hunt down information and research quicker than anyone else.

- They are technically sound. Whereas my parents didn’t have a scooby doo about anything IT related, this group do and are up to date with the latest trends in IT, software and internet applications.

- They like lots of friends. Growing up in the early 70′s and 80′s it was the ME ME ME attitude of doing things alone or in small groups. Today the Millennials like to socialise in larger groups and have hundreds of friends whereas in the past quality over quantity won the day.

So what does this mean to you as a sales person?

Well, you need to start planning how you are going to sell to this generation. They love applications like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and other social networks. does your company use these?

You need to “hang out” where they do online to understand what they want and what they are talking about.

They love forums and giving their opinions on things.

They HATE the hard sell so you will need to get rid of this.

They HATE stuffyness so you will have to lose that too if you’ve got it.

Snob value might be a thing of the past.

Overall, you’ll need to be creative. You’ll need to step into their shoes, understand them and then forumulate a strategy on how you are going to market to them and how you will sell to them.

It’s not going to be easy and no two products or services are the same so a combination of online and offline positioning and sales approaches will be required.

But to the victor goes the spoils!

You’ve been warned about this group now so don’t let me say “I told you so” a couple of years down the line!

Happy Millennial Generation Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

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

Sales Target Setting

The Foundation of a Successful Sales Career

Executive Summary

You should have a plethora of personal goals: Lifetime goals such as retirement. Family goals like a successful marriage and children. Wealth goals for a beautiful home and other assets. Spiritual goals of a religious or mental health nature. Physical goals like good health. The list goes on and on. While all of your personal life goals interconnect, in that most goals depend or relate to other goals, we want to focus on only one specific area: Sales Goals.

Once you have found a company and a product that you firmly believe in and where you are committed to achieving success over the long-term, then you must establish a clear set of obtainable sales goals.

Sales Target Setting is key for a successful sales career!

In most professions, time, seniority and good behaviour will propel a person to the top of their field. In many career fields, if a person simply does his or her job, maintaining an acceptable level of performance, and does so for many years, this person could reach the highest levels in their chosen occupation.

In the world of sales however, this is far from the norm!

To reach high levels in professional sales requires uncommon personal performance and individual effort. To reach above average performance, you need to set above average goals and reach them. The following information will help you establish sales goals and a blueprint to obtaining them on a consistent basis.

Goals or Needs — What’s the Difference?

The first step in sales target setting is to differentiate between what are goals/targets and what are needs.

“To pay your rent or mortgage you must have X amount of money and to get that money you must make X number of sales and therefore your goal is X number of sales.”

This is not a goal; it is a need.

When you use your needs as goals, you are working to reach your basic levels of living. When you set this bar, you will usually just reach it or fall just short. Hence, if you work only for a living, you well never really live. Your goals must surpass your basic needs so that by reaching your goals, all of your needs fall into place. Also, if you fall short of reaching your goals, you will have still surpassed your needs.

The purpose of sales goals is to help you to continuously improve and reach higher levels of success. Sales goals are to help you get better, not to help you barely survive.

Also, sales goals will help you measure and quantify your success. So first, be sure that you are not setting goals that are what you need to survive. Now let us examine some traditional goal setting philosophy.

The Basics

Traditional goal setting teaching tells us that all good goals should have several elements in common.

Parameters for good goals:

1. The goal should stretch your boundaries, exceed your immediate reach
2. You must believe in the goal, believe that it is possible
3. The goal must be very specific, exact
4. The goal should have an exact deadline
5. The goal should be written down

While these rules cannot apply to every type of goal, the basics are essentially true, particularly when it comes to setting goals of a general nature.

However, as mentioned, we will focus only on sales goals. So let us slightly alter the above basics to fit the sales category only.

Basics for Sales Targets

1. The Goal should exceed your grasp and ultimately exceed the norm of the company
2. You should be able to clearly visualise the reality of the goal
3. The Goal must be detailed and reverse-engineered
4. Your Goals should have many milestones, incremental steps
5. Your Goal should be written and diagrammed on paper
6. Read and commit to the Goals everyday

The Goal should exceed your grasp and ultimately exceed the norm of the company
While setting good goals can launch your sales career to new heights, setting poorly chosen goals can put you out of business.

In setting good sales goals, each goal should stretch you. Each goal should exceed what is easily obtainable for you. Your goals should motivate you to rise above your previous levels. While this may sound simple, it is more complex and it is where most sales people fail. While you need to set lofty goals, if those goals are too high, they actually can have the reverse effect and become detrimental to your psyche and your success. Goals that are set too low are of no effect. Goals that are set too high can destroy you. How do you find the correct balance of goals that stretch you but not too far?

One method to accomplish this is to set your goals at the places where you fail.

In fact, you cannot truly succeed or establish realistic goals until you first fail. Find the things that you came close to doing but fell short and start right there. Take a high jumper for instance. The bar is set at a height of seven feet. The athlete makes the attempt and successfully clears the bar. The bar is then set at seven feet, two inches and the jumper again clears the bar.

The bar rises to seven feet three inches and once again, cleared with no problem. Has this high jumper really succeeded? He does not know if he has yet been tested. It is only when the bar is set to a height that he cannot jump, that he has reached a point to set a goal.

Now the athlete must stretch himself and reach a new level of performance.

Also, if the jumper failed to get over the bar at seven feet four inches, does he set a goal to jump eight feet? Maybe a long-term goal might be to someday reach eight feet, but the jumper’s next immediate goal has to be to successfully jump the very next height; the height in which he failed to clear. Then he must work harder and practice longer until finally he clears the next height.

Now he has succeeded!

If you take this approach in setting Next Step Goals, you will always set high goals, yet realistic goals. Figure out what are some next step goals for yourself.

Perhaps you want to move to the very next income bracket. Not jump six brackets, just move up one. Or maybe you want to sell just two more contracts this month or this quarter more than the last period. You want to earn just one pound more than you did last week or win the next sales contest.

If you came in last in the previous contest, then perhaps you set a goal to come in third place.

Use this method to help you establish short-term, next-step goals.

You should be able to clearly visualise the reality of the goal
Believing in a goal is one thing. But to be able to close your eyes and see it as a reality is another. You may be able to convince yourself that you could become the top sales person in your company. However, if you cannot actually visual this as reality, it will not happen.

You may believe that it is possible, but you do not believe that it will happen. You can believe that it is possible for you to score a hole-in-one on almost every hole on the golf course, because technically and physically, it is possible. However, you do not believe it will happen and you could never really visualise such as being real. Your goals must be that which you not only believe in, but which you can visual yourself receiving.

Goal must be detailed and reverse-engineered
Goals should be well detailed, precise and for long-term goals, they should be reverse-engineered. Sales goals must be detailed. It is not enough to say that you want to be the top sales person. You have to describe exactly what that means. This does not mean that you must emulate the characteristics of the top sales person, just detail things like what sales numbers, contracts and number of presentations it will require.

Also, for long term goals like sales person of the year, break theses goals down by reversing the goal. Start from the end desired result, then work backwards to determine each incremental step toward the finished objective.

As an example, you want to win an annual sales contest in where to win you will need to produce 36 sales contracts within the twelve-month contest period.

Begin with the 36 sales and work backward: For instance, to close 36 sales for the year, you will need to close three sales per month. To close three sales per month, you will have to do 15 sales presentations per month due to your one out of five closing average.

To complete 15 presentations per month, you will have make 60 calls from your database because it takes you four calls on average to get one presentation. To make 60 calls per month you will have to make 15 database calls per week or three calls every single day.

Reverse-engineer your goals to break them down into short-term stepping-stones.

Goals should have many milestones, incremental steps
Now take these Next Step Goals and the long-term goals along with their short-term interim steps and insure clear, incremental milestones. You should look to achieve some small step every day or week. Set up small, achievable objectives.

Goal should be written and diagrammed on paper
Now that you have the incremental steps and milestones, you need to diagram and map out the details of the “plans.” You want to write down more than the goal, but the path and the steps involved.

Example:

Simple Written Goal:
“I will make 20 sales this month. “

Written and Diagramed Goal:
“I will make 20 sales this month by setting 60 appointments. I will set these appointments by making cold calls on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00 am until noon and then from 2:00 pm until 4:00 pm.

5 hours per day cold calling =
5 appointments per day X
3 days per week =
15 appointments per week =
60 appointments for the month =
21 sales using the company low average of 35% closing rate

Read and commit to the goals everyday
Finally, you want to take this paper, this diagram and literally program yourself with the goals and the steps. You want to read the goals to yourself, hopefully before you turn into sleep at night and very early in the morning. Once your mind recognises the mission, and you begin to form habits that reach small steps consistently, you will begin to operate at peek performance levels as a routine.

Set good goals and success will become a habit.

Use the form at the end of the document on the link below to help you map out your goals and plan.

Sales Targets Download

Happy Sales Target Setting!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

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

If you’re a Sales Manager or a Sales Coach then I’ve got a couple of golden nugget sales coaching techniques for you to use with your sales teams.

And if you’re not a manager you can use these techniques equally well on yourself!

Sales Coaching Technique # 1 – Self Assessment

After you have made a prospecting call or have just visited a prospect/client ask yourself “How did that go on a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is the best possible outcome?”

Rate yourself honestly with no fudging!

Now if you ranked yourself a 7 for example, ask yourself what could you have done to have made it an 8 or a 9?

By evaluating your performance in this way you will make small incremental steps and will improve over time. By improving from a 7 to 8 might just take 1 or 2 things. To jump to a 10 might seem too big a jump!

I use this on myself every single day without fail and it makes a huge difference.

(As a Sales Manager coaching your team, you’d be asking the questions to your staff)

Sales Coaching Technique # 2 – Never leave a coaching session without action!

So many coaching sessions die a death at the end.

Always always always ask your sales person to summarise the keypoints made during the coaching session. Never do this yourself. By doing this you train your staff to really listen in because if they know they have got to summarise the discussion then they will be all ears believe me!

Also, never leave the room without agreeing a set of actions of who is going to do what and when. Have specific dates, have specific actions and follow through on them during the next time you review them.

(If you are “coaching yourself” then make sure you write things down and what you need to do along with dates and resources to help you)

So, carry out these two sales coaching techniques and you will see further improvements in your sales performance.

Happy Coaching!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Looking for Sales Management Training?

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How To Develop Your Communication Skills

Communication skills are vital if you are going to be a top sales person.

But improving those communication skills is easier said then done.

Without doubt the two most important skills are questioning and listening.

Let’s have a look at some questioning techniques you can use.

Open? Closed? Which questions should you use?

I don’t really care as long as they have a purpose!

Questioning With SOAR

Being able to SOAR
An analysis of many thousands of sales has directed us to an acronym that helps us remember the process of questions within the sales call.

The underlying philosophy is for sellers to ‘think buyer’ and help them to understand their needs and potential solutions.

The acronym SOAR stands for SITUATION, OBJECTIVES, ‘ANTI’ and REWARDS

Situation Questions ask about the customer’s operating context and business situation. What is the current business situation that the customer is in? Who else is involved in this decision?

Objective Questions ask about the customer’s goals, visions and ideas that will take them from their current situation towards a solution. What would be the ideal solution for you, Mr Customer? What changes would you like to see in your supplier of services?

‘Anti’ Questions ask what stops you from achieving this, or what is against this happening at the moment. It elicits possible objections without you having to deal with them later.

Reward Questions probe for explicit needs, either directly or by exploring the value or importance to the customer of solving a problem. Would a faster back-up service reduce backlogs? How would a more efficient claims service help? Would x also produce savings with y?

So, asking effective questions is a surefire way of how to develop your communication skills.Keep improving, keep getting better at what you do and the results will come.

The little 1 percenters make a huge difference when added up.

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

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

Tips For Negotiating

I get asked a lot for my top tips for negotiating and it all depends on what you are negotiating for.

Sometimes a negotiation can be based on the price that your client wants to pay and what you want them to pay!

Sometimes it’s for the products and services that you both want or don’t want if you get my drift!

It all depends on the circumstances.

So, here are some top tips for negotiating:

1. Aim High

Let me put it this way. Your price will usually only go in one direction and that’s not up! So aim high! At some stage you’ll probably be required to make a concession here or there so you need something to “play with”.

2. Don’t give away too much too early on

Too many sales people sell the family jewels at the first attempt. If your product is £5,000 and you agree to sell it to me for £3,500 then what does it tell me? Well, unless what you got out of the deal was valuable too you’ve just tried to “do me” by trying to get me to pay an extra £1,500 because you dropped your very quickly! Discount in stages.

3. Lose the EGO

You want the best outcome for both parties. Not for YOU! Not so you lose face in front of your
prospects or peers. A lot of “no deals” result because the 2 parties are too focused on winning and looking good rather than having the right outcome.

4. When is it time to walk away

Do you know when it’s the right time to walk away from the deal? You need to have this in mind before you start the negotiation. When is it time to say “No deal”

5. Planning!

Go into the negotiation with some primary and secondary objectives. What’s your ideal scenario? What would you ultimately want from this in the ideal world? What’s the least you would be willing to accept? You need to know these because in the heat of the negotiation you could get swept away if the other party knows what they are doing!

I hope those quick tips for negotiating help?

At the end of the day I always strive for WIN WIN negotiations where each party thinks they got the best end of the deal. If you can do this then you can really build long term profitable relationships with your prospects and clients.

Happy negotiating!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

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

Cold Calling Tips - 5 Top Tips For More Effective Cold Calling

Cold Calling Tip # 1 – Lose the smile and dial

Don’t be all enthusiastic and over the top when you make your calls. You just sound so false and like the other 20 people who’ve called your prospect that day!

Cold Calling Tip # 2 – Sell the appointment

When setting appointments sell the reasons for setting the appointment and not your product or service. Any objections should be met with “That’s why we should get together!

Cold Calling Tip # 3 - Getting voicemails returned

Don’t leave a big long message about what you are about and why you called. You need to sell the callback not your products and services.

Cold Calling Tip # 4 – Planned not canned call scripts

Rather than working with a script use a framework. If you get sidetracked when using a script it can really throw you so use some guidelines and a framework and be flexible.

Cold Calling Tip # 5 – Learn how to spot a gatekeeper screen

There are two types of screens: BLIND SCREENS and INVESTIGATIVE SCREENS.

A blind screen is one where if your name is not recognised you do not get through and an invstigative screen is when they ask you screening questions BEFORE they tell you that the gatekeeper is not available! Click here for some further information on gatekeeper screens

Carry out these tips and enjoy the success you’ll have with your cold calling!

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

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

The Art Of Cold Calling – It’s time for SMILE & DIAL R.I.P!

The modern day buyer can see straight through your false enthusiasm and approach……..it’s time to lose the smile and dial!

If you sell IT services, software or anything in this area, then you, more than any other sales person, understands the real advancement of the typical prospective customer.

Today’s modern buyer is a sophisticated and savvy individual who knows how to use all of the technology at his or her fingertips. Today’s modern buyer is a well oiled machine; a smart and cagy prospect that has heard all of the BS before—and they don’t buy it—pun intended.

To successfully approach today’s IT buyer, first you must get rid of the typical sales-pitch-money mouth-smile-and-dial approach. That big over-enthusiastic smile, that pep-rally attitude that projects the old-school idea that if you are excited and jumping up and down, than this will make them do the same is ridiculous and today’s buyer resents such an approach.

You can’t use old school sales tactics on new school buyers!

First, you need get rid of the “Have I got a deal for you pitch-man smile and attitude” and be a real person; a professional. Then it’s time to get to get DTE. By the DTE I mean: get Down To Earth!!

I don’t know why it is that makes most people who sell technology think that they have to try sound like a “white-paper!” For some reason, most people who sell IT seem to want to “prove” that they are indeed technologically aware and intelligent. The result, they talk like they are writing a technical paper or giving a speech for the Noble Prize.

You have to get down to earth. Speak like you NORMALLY speak. As you are making calls, cold calls or to set appointments; you have to learn to talk naturally. You must learn to speak in your normal jargon, tone and pace. Now, I know that sounds simple, but it’s not.

You see, once you are making a call, a business call; your body and mind takes on a different posture. Once you know that there is money involved and you may receive a “less than enthusiastic or friendly reception,” you take on a different tone and attitude. Commercialism and expectations now alter your natural communication skills. Now, a simple “hello,” becomes a performance and you are not longer really YOU. You are acting.

This act helps the IT sales person preempt a possible negative response by beginning with what they believe is a more professional and high-level and technically astute opening. The often subconscious idea is to let the prospect know, in an instant, that you are indeed a technically savvy pro — a peer, someone who has been there.

So the call begins with a false projection of what you, the sales person thinks the prospect needs to hear.

Big mistake.

Calm down! Be yourself and get down to earth. Don’t force your knowledge and brains on the customer. Just be YOU. Be you with your stutters, mistakes and broken chains of thought. Be you with words that make sense — simple and plain common sense.

In a world where all of your competitors are making hundreds of cold calls to the very same buyers that you want to reach using the very same techniques that have been taught over decades surely you want to stand out?

Having trained thousands of IT sales people over the years here is a typical opening that they make:

(Imagine a high tempo, energetic and polished performance!)

Sales Person:
“Yes, Mr. Prospect, Stewart Gram here with ABC Software. ABC offers some of the most sophisticated enterprise-wide, multi-image, spider-enabled, SEO optimization and directory enhancement technology on the market.”

Ok. You could say that. Or how about getting down to earth…

Sales Person:
“Yes, ah, Mr. Prospect, Stewart Gram with ABC Software. How are you? {RESPONSE} Ah yes Stewart, ABC offers a web site trafficking software that will help you earn a lot more money.”

Of course, neither of those are exact examples as you know what you do.

But the bottom line is that if you sell IT — get real. Become normal and unrehearsed. You may have to actually practice at sounding unpracticed. But, if you sell IT, lose the smile and dial!

The Art Of Cold Calling has changed…

TOP 5 TIPS TO LOSE THE SMILE & DIAL

Step 1:
Tone down the enthusiasm until you’ve built rapport

Step 2:
Don’t be perfect – include stutters, stammers, “erms” etc

Step 3:
Use words that you’d use to a friend

Step 4:
Reflect back a like attitude and pace of speech

Step 5:
Sound human! Your competitors all sound the same remember

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Have you downloaded my latest report yet? “The Sales Person’s Crisis” has been downloaded by over 10,000 sales pros and entrepreneurs. Don’t miss this unique report that lifts the lid on modern day selling!

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