The Right Way To Drop Your Price

Step 1: Stand Firm & Ask for the Order X 3

Probably the biggest mistake most sales people make when reducing the price is they do so too quickly.

You cannot give away money.

You cannot lower the price too soon. You must stand firm on your original price as long as possible and believe you will get it. When you lower the price too fast, the prospect first begins to lose respect and trust for you because your first price was apparently just a ruse. The prospect begins to wonder just how low can you go.

You must remain firm on your price and ask for the order a minimum of times before you consider doing anything.

To do this, you will need to have something to say, some closing questions to continue to ask for the order at the original price. In other words, you cannot just keep saying, “But this is a good price, Mr. Jones, buy the product…But this is a good price Mr. Jones, buy the product…”

You have to have different closes:

Examples:
“Mr. Jones, you and I both know that this product is worth easily twice that amount. Plus you agreed that you did some pricing before. Now let’s go ahead and put this order in place”

“Jane, the longer we put this off, the more money your people continue to lose. I mean, if you do not start this service today, you will pay for it anyway. Let’s go ahead and get you started on a new program today, ok?”

Put out a hand to shake, extend the order pad with a pen, do something, but continue to close. You have to do this a minimum of three times—with conviction.

Step 2: Build Value X 3
After you have asked for the order it is time to add to the value of the product. You must always increase the value before you lower the price. This is imperative. When you are in this situation, the value of the product in the mind of the prospect is at one level and the value of his or her money is at a higher level.

When you then simply lower the price, you consequently also push down the value. You must first raise the value, then raise again, then raise the value again and then slightly lower the price. When the value of the product and the money match = sale.

How do you raise the value of your product?

You must have several value building statements to add at this time.

Examples:
“You know, Mr. and Mrs. Smyth, this policy will also add to the value of your home.”

“Mrs. Johnston, every day that your administration staff goes without training, they cost you money. Statistics tell us that the average employee spends about 22% of their day wasting time due to their inefficiency with the software. With your average employee earning £3,400 a month, I say that you throw away about £750 a month PER employee! This training program guarantees each person will increase their proficiency level by at least 30%”

You have to have some value building statements that are strong and real. You can also amplify the problem, which will increase the value of the solution as well. Fill in the blanks for at least three value-building statements.

Step 3: Get an Idea for a Valid Reason and Justification

Now you must have a very good reason to justly any reduction in price. You need to come up with an idea that will allow you to slightly lower the offer and you need to explain this idea. You need to sell the concept of the reason for the drop. There has to be some benefit in it for you or your company.

Example:
“You know, James, we do not have any clients in this area and we would really like to get our foot into this territory. It might be worth it to my company to do something to help make that happen.”

Getting referrals is a great idea…
”Ok, I have an idea, Bill. You know a lot of the business owners in this area. If you can give me the names of five of your associates so that I can give them a call to tell them about my product, I’ll essentially pay you for those referrals”

Step 4: Drop the Price for a Mutual Benefit and Close
Now lower the price and do it slowly. You should act as if you are giving away your own money out of your pocket, because you are!

If you are going to drop incrementally and very slow because of the nature of your product, then you need to have as many reasons. You should also be using a “Talking Pad,” to do this.

A talking pad is nothing more than a note pad or paper where you can visually write out the offer and the reduction. This “seeing” is important. Immediately after the reduction, close strong with an assumptive attitude.

“Ok. Bill. For the five names and numbers of business associates, for me it is like advertising. I will pay you £40 per name or £200 for the five names and I will take that right off of the price, right now. So, the whole thing comes to only £3,200, and you are going to love it. Now do you want delivery next week or should I set up a rush order?”

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

A maven is someone who dominates their marketplace or industry.

A maven is the “go to” person for a particular product or service.

A maven is the leading authority in ABC or XYZ.

The truth is, mavens are well respected and trusted so if you can build up your reputation to maven status and as the “go to” person then selling becomes a lot easier.

I’m humbled when companies and the media call me a maven in the sales industry. I think the term is a little over the top to be honest but I’ll take it nonetheless!

Here are a couple of things to become a maven:

- Send your prospects and clients reports and information that positions you and your company as the leading authority. Send lots of info without asking for anything in return. Prove yourself as the expert.

- Send press releases and articles to media publications within your industry. If and when you get published it automatically positions you as someone who knows what they are talking about.

- Build an email list of prospects and clients and send them info, tips and know how each week or bi-weekly. By keeping in front of your prospects and clients you’ll be building up trust.

In short, prove that you are the best in your industry.

Become a maven and you will overcome one of the biggest objections know to mankind “lack of trust”

Go for it!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Do you send emails out to prospects?

Do you send follow up emails to leads you’ve met?

If so, read on…

I received a great email the other day.

The salesman who sent it was asking me whether I knew where to find some stats/websites on email opening rates etc.

Here’s the questions:

Hi Sean,

Do you have any stats/know of any websites that provide stats in terms of:

How many seconds in general do top CEO’s/VP’s spend in reading emails before deciding if its worth the time to read on?

How many will take the time to open one attachment, let alone two?

If you are a new Sales person, would you mention in your email that you are new to the Company or is it better left unsaid?

Is it a good idea to use a video during a sales presentation? Or would the video be a distraction and detract from your sales pitch i.e. you should be able to convey whatever you need personally, than playing a video demonstrating a service. “We sell quality as a service”

In terms of a subject line which one will get a better response/read?

Stopped by to see you at Show - Improve the quality of “ABC” with “MY COMPANY’S SERVICE/PRODUCT” (After meeting them at a show and sending a reminder to them)

OR

“MY COMPANY NAME” – We change the QUALITY of your “ABC” and INCREASE your Sales!

——————————————-

Here are my replies:

Do you have any stats/know of any websites that provide stats in terms of

How many seconds in general do top CEO’s/VP’s spend in reading emails before deciding if its worth the time to read on?

Well, if they even get to read your email in the first place they will read your title in the subject line and if it appeals they’ll open it and if not – CLICK! It’s gone to the trash folder!

A lot of gatekeepers filter emails and are under strict instructions to delete all sales and marketing emails!

Your headline in the subject line is the most important thing you can ever write in an email because if it doesn’t get opened you’re done!

How many will take the time to open one attachment, let alone two?

Don’t send attachments in a first email. These are busy people and you are just giving them more work! It just doesn’t make sense to give them more work. You’re nuts of you do this!

CLICK! DELETE!

If you are a new Sales person, would you mention in your email that you are new to the Company or is it better left unsaid?

Never say you are new. As a prospect I want someone who is experienced to deal with me! Ideally I’d want to deal with your Director so when you tell me you are fresh out of Uny what does that tell me?

Is it a good idea to use a video during a sales presentation? Or would the video be a distraction and detract from your sales pitch i.e. you should be able to convey whatever you need personally, than playing a video demonstrating a service. “We sell quality as a service”

Personally I have about 4 or 5 different approaches and I don’t know which one I will use until I have spent about 20 minutes with the prospect.

I tailor my approach depending upon how they buy and what their preferences are.

If they like gizmos and widgets and are “hi tech” out comes the laptop. If they are “belt and braces” prospects I’ll use another approach and so should you.

Don’t show up and throw up. I hate the term “pitch”.

Instead, go with the flow and be prepared to change direction at anytime.

In terms of a subject line which one will get a better response/read?

Stopped by to see you at the show - Improve the quality of your “ABC” with “MY COMPANY PRODUCT/SERVICE” (After meeting them at a show and sending a reminder to them)

“MY COMPANY” – We change the QUALITY of your “ABC” and INCREASE your Sales!

NEITHER!

Too salesy and they will just get deleted.

Are you bulk sending or 1 by 1?

If the former I’d use the following in the subject line title:

Hi James, here’s that report I told you about at Olympia…

REMEMBER THIS:

The objective of the SUBJECT line is to make a sale.

But not as you may think!

The only sale you want to make is to get your EMAIL OPENED AND READ

That’s the only sale you want to make at this stage!

Happy Email Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Well, does cold calling work?

I’d love to hear your comments - just post something up at the end of this blog posting. Does it work for you? Got any good, bad or ugly tales to tell?

There’s a train of thought that cold calling is going to die a death in the coming years if it isn’t already dead that is!

My opinion?

Well, unless legislation steps in it will still be a valuable way to generate leads. Notice how I say “to generate leads”. To sell a service or a product over the phone in true cold calling style is becoming more and more difficult due to the scam artists out there. Who will want to give a total stranger a credit card number or their personal details when they haven’t even seen a picture of what they are getting!

Identify fraud is a hot topic and without being able to verify who you are talking to, you’ll never be able to gain the trust of the caller no matter how much “patter” they have.

The problem with cold calling is that it has got a horrible reputation. The skill levels of cold callers today are awful.

The sales training we provide is different to that of most companies when it comes to cold calling. The old “smile and dial” method of the 80’s and 90’s is soooooooo outdated it’s unreal.

With this, trainers would teach you to smile on the telephone, be upbeat and have lot’s of energy. Some would even tell you to have mirror by the side of your telephone when making sales calls.

Oh come on!

My advice?

Be a real person. Lose the smoothness. Lose the cheesy patter “And how are you today Mr McPheat?”

“I’m crap, someone has just gone into the back of my car and my boss has just given me a rollicking - bog off”

Be a real person, imperfections en all!

Why?

Well, 95% of the people making cold calls (and believe me your prospects will be receiving lots of cold calls from your competitors and other cold callers each and every day too) use the old smile and dial techniques so much that your prospects get so hacked off with everything.

So much so, that they regard all cold callers as the same - a real pain in the 8ss!

So you need to be different. Do the complete opposite of what they do and you will immediately improve your chances of success.

Happy cold calling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
“The LEADING AUTHORITY on how to market and sell
to the modern and sophisticated buyer of today”

Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

I’ve got something a little more light hearted for you today!

You’ve heard of various sales management styles to avoid right?

You know, like Mushroom Management!
- These sales managers keep you in the dark and feed you manure every now and then!

Well, here at MTD Sales Training we have come up with a list of management styles that are quite unique but I am sure you could put names in the frames where you work!

Have fun with it:

* THE KIPPER SALES MANAGER

Two-faced and gutless

* THE PEDESTRIAN SALES MANAGER

Look both ways before crossing them

* THE CONSTRUCTIVE SALES MANAGER

Thick as a brick!

* THE DELEGATED SALES MANAGER

“It’s your turn to drain the swamp of crocodiles Sean”

* THE SINATRA SALES MANAGER

“We will do it my way”

* THE OSTRICH SALES MANAGER

Lose your head while all around you are keeping theirs

* THE GERONIMO SALES MANAGER

Leaps on you from a great height

* THE BALLOON SALES MANAGER

Full of hot air and floats around with their head in the clouds

* THE HOBBY SALES MANAGER

Doing things they shouldn’t be doing, just because they are good at them, or because they are interested in them

* THE FROG SALES MANAGER

Hopping about from job to job and never finishing anything

* THE SEAGULL SALES MANAGER

MY FAVOURITE!

Rushes, screaming loud noises, into the room, flaps around a lot, drops a load of muck and rushes out again!

* THE JOHN WAYNE SALES MANAGER

Shoot first, ask questions later

* THE ASSASSIN SALES MANAGER

Always finds a scapegoat when things go wrong

* THE BLACK HOLE SALES MANAGER

Makes sure that your ideas and initiatives never see the light of day

I’m sure you can identify some of the above with people from your office?!

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Peter Thomson made it into the 2008 Internet Marketing Ryder Cup even if Monty didn’t!

Peter Thomson has always been a favourite of mine when it comes to public speaking and business growth. So much so that I added him the 2008 Internet Marketing Ryder Cup!

Now whilst he is not an internet marketer through and through he would play an important role in the strategic direction of any internet marketing strategy and hence that’s why I’ve put in him!

Do you like the photo of Peter Thomson above? He’s third from the right - back row.

Can you also spot me holding the cup?!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

A NEW SALES APPROACH - It’s not what you think…

Here’s a question I received recently:

“Is there a new/better approach to building interest in a product or service than the time honoured direct mail + cold calling process most marketers utilise?

The cost of telemarketing is outrageous. The targets never remember reading your direct mail. And they are all numb from the continual marketing onslaught from every conceivable angle.

What are some cost-effective, new and innovative approaches that will permit me to use the great sales techniques you have helped to hone?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
John

Here are my thoughts on this:

Thank you for the plug, and let me say that your observation is spot-on about the most formidable challenge in the world of selling today: sky-rocketing high prospecting costs, using age-old and ineffective techniques, resulting in a dismal return on investment.

You are correct in that this problem is serious and we do indeed need a new approach.

In answer to your question, is there a cost effective, new and innovate approach? Yes!

However, the overall interpretation of the problem, the analysis of current conditions and the solution to the problem, may not be what you would expect and is infinitely too in-depth for me to cover here. But I can give you an overview of the concept.

Let me begin by first sharing a few facts:

As far as the costs; prospecting expenditures, in particularly in telemarketing has gone up year after year. B2B Magazine reports that almost 46% of all marketers will once again, increase their budgets on lead generation, most by around 20% and about half of all sales companies say that above every other business objective, their top business priority is lead generation and sales lead management.

And as to the effectiveness; a recent B2B Marketing Effectiveness Survey found that while over 60% of all sellers use telemarketing for lead generation, less than half of them report that it is effective for them or pays for itself. The survey also found that 88% extensively prospect electronically and by email, but only 20% see real results. And, you are absolutely right in that the survey also found that 62% of all marketers spend small fortunes on those beautiful fancy, full-color glossy brochures that you mail out, but they report barley a 6% effectiveness rating.

So yes; costs are up, results are down and something has to give. And yes, the whole thing stems from the fact that the, as you so eloquently put it, “time-honoured,” techniques simply no longer work.

However, it is not the mediums; that is the telephone or the post, that are the problem. Nor is it even the time-honoured techniques. What has occurred is that the medium and the techniques are being used for a prospective customer who no longer exists.

We are dealing with a new, modern, educated, sales savvy and sophisticated buyer and need equally a new and educated way of thinking.

We can still use the telephone and make those cold calls and the direct mail-follow-up call process will work, IF we change our thinking and our approach to match the new prospective customer of today.

In that, I am not talking about a few new fancy words or off-pat answers to objections or a slicker mailer. I mean that we need to make a complete paradigm shift in the world of selling; we must re-create our entire profession from the ground up.

I have made this the single most important objective in my business, my career, in fact, in my life. I have developed the solution and MTD is just beginning to reveal and market that solution.

However, the reason I mentioned the above is because the solution to this sales conundrum we are in, is not a newer bunch of sales closes. It is about our thinking and understanding and will require a whole lot of work and study. As sales professionals, we have to re-learn what we think we know.

You see, the only reason the costs for telemarketing is so high is because the results are so low. The only reason the results are so low is because the prospects most of us are calling is not there any longer and therefore those old, tried and true techniques are simply no longer valid.

But stay tuned!

I am developing a new product that is so new and innovate that it will turn the world of selling upside down!

Prepare to re-think every single thing you have ever learned about selling.

Prepare to trash sales concepts and ideas that you may have held sacred for years.

I won’t tell you what the concept is called just yet because I am gagged by my law team at the moment. But make sure that you are subscribed to my weekly sales tips newsletter so you
are the first to know when it’s released and of course I will be offering a very special deal for my loyal subscribers!

Watch this space

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

I received a question recently from “J” who asked how he should go about making some cold calls.

His email was quite lengthy so I’ve copied it below along with my thoughts:

————————————–

Hi Sean,

I’m just about to start a call out to follow up a mailshot we sent our recently.

The mailshot I sent out was just a brief introduction of our product and name dropped a few of our existing customers.

We sell cashless catering solutions for schools and bookings and lettings software for their rooms and sports halls for conferences and adult education and community learning. Our software will also link with other applications so the students who have a card or biometric fingerprint to access and pay for their school lunch, can use the same method of identification to work with access control systems, school library systems, registration systems. We also link our software with online payment systems which allow parent to load money onto their child’s lunch account but also to pay for school trips online, library fines, uniform, music lessons, anything the school charge for really.

We have some very high profile schools and academy’s currently using the system and our other market is in sports and leisure and we have over 400 sports and leisure clubs across the UK and Ireland.

The main benefits to our cashless catering system are

Reduced administration costs
increased information is available to the school through our complete EPOS system
De stigmatisation for the kids who receive free school meals as its offered discreetly.
No bullying for money within school as it creates a cashless environment.
Healthy eating rewards for students.
Increased turnover as all money given by parent must be spent in school not on junk food down high street.

Basically this is our product in a nutshell but I wondered how best your thought I go about calling the schools.

Unfortunately the mailshot was only addressed to the Business manager at the school and isn’t personalised.

How do you suggest I get there name from reception and talk to them after such a cold calling mailshot?

What would be your advice when speaking to them. Ideally we want to go out and demonstrate the system to those schools that are interested.

I would appreciate any help or advise you could give me. I’ve only been in this job for 6 months so I want to continue to impress. My background was retail management before I moved here.

Thanks

“J”

————————————–

OK, here are my thoughts on this…

I’ve highlighted 3 of your comments below with my thoughts underneath.

I’m not going to give you some cold calling tips per se because what you’ve just told me has just reduced your chances of success by about 90% before you even pick up the telephone!

“Unfortunately the mailshot was only addressed to the Business manager at the school and isn’t personalised”

You are selling to schools and this is probably one of the biggest school errors you can make!

I really mean that.

Do you know what the first objective a direct mailer is?

Nope, it’s not for you to tell them about your wares. It’s not for brand awareness either.

It’s to get the envelope opened!

That’s it in a nutshell - your first objective of your direct mail piece is to get your letter opened.

Now by addressing it to “The Business Manager” I’ll bet that the gatekeepers or PA’s at the schools etc will throw away between 50-60% purely because you have not addressed it to someone and have classed it as junk.

So that cuts your chances down by half before you even start - you don’t make it easy for yourself do you?!!!

You are also putting your trust in others who sort the mail. “Business Manager - who should this go to?” says the admin bod. So another 10% are routed to the wrong person who duly throws it in the bin too.

Then, for the remaining 40% who receive it, because of the lack of personalisation I would say another 30% just glance over it, see that it’s a sales jobs and throw it in the bin.

That leaves 10% tops that may or may not see your message and who might be interested.

But then, because your mailing sales copy is not good they don’t read any further.

Your most important copy in your mailing is your headline. Because this will “sell” them to read the rest of the mailing.

You might want to think about your mailing strategy!!!!

Now I may sound a little harsh here but so many cold calling campaigns fail before they even start because of this. You need to give yourself a chance to succeed!

How do you suggest I get their name from reception and talk to them after such a cold calling mailshot?

You need to do some pre-qualification before your mailings. Call up the receptionist and ask for the person’s name and then add that to your database before the mailing. At that stage try to get the telephone number too. Then after the direct mailer is delivered you can call them directly.

Another good approach is to put the following in your direct mail piece:

“I’ll call you in a couple of days to get your feedback as to whether this will be of value to you”

Then, when you call the receptionist and ask to be put through to your contact you say “He’s expecting my call” Because he is! You said it in your mailing didn’t you?!

What would be your advice when speaking to them. Ideally we want to go out and demonstrate the system to those schools that are interested.

Don’t sell your product or service just sell the appointment - simple as that.

There is a lot more about setting up appointments here

Happy Cold Calling! There’s far more to it than just making calls!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Sean McPheat - “The Heavyweight Champion Of The World When It Comes To Selling To The Modern Buyer Of Today”

Hi there,

Got a bit of self indulgence here!

When delivering a keynotes speaking gig recently I was referred to as The Heavyweight Champion Of The World When It Comes To Selling To The Modern Buyer Of Today

I was flattered to be honest! But me being me I commissioned a cartoon to celebrate my new silverware! Well, ok, I didn’t win anything but I am claiming that new title!

Hope you like it!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

Lehman Bros Files For Bankruptcy….

….what does this mean for you as a sales person?

With the sad news that Leham Bros’ headquarters had been corndoned off as staff left carrying cardboard boxes with their personal belongings it got me thinking as to:

A. What the UK media will make of this
and
B. What it will mean to you as a salesperson

Well, we all know what the answer to A will be. The UK media will lap it up. They love bad news because bad news travels quicker than good and it will sell more papers. And because of the media coverage business owners and corporations alike will most likely take a more conservative stance when it comes to spending money so they can “see what happens” with the fall out from the Leham Bros collapse.

So what does this mean to the salesperson?

Well, in my view you now need to work harder than ever before. Not in terms of the number of appointments you make or the way you churn your numbers. When I say work harder I mean that you need to work harder on improving and honing your skills and you need to formuate a response to the objectives that you know are going to come - PRICE and ALL EXPENDITURE IS ON HOLD

The business will be out there for you.

Let me repeat that - the business and the money is out there for you even if it has been reduced.

You just need to make sure that when they open their purse strings that they give you the money instead of to your competitor.

Here are 4 questions for you to look at and answer:

- What makes you, your company and your products/services stand out from the rest?

- Why should I use you instead of your competitor?

- “You are too expensive and we cannot commit to that amount in the current climate?” How will you respond to that question?

- “Everything is on hold at the moment” How will you respond to that question?

So, it’s time to regroup and to evaluate where you are now and where you need to be.

No matter what the Lehman Bros fall out will be there will still be the money out their for what you offer - just make sure it comes to you!

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732