Whenever you listen to a sales pitch, are on the receiving end of a sales presentation, read an advert or are reading one of those 453 page sales letters online, what’s going through your head?

I bet that you’re most likely saying to yourself:

“Ok, how much is this going to cost me?”

You see, whether you know it or not you’ve got a “price till” in your head and as you listen to or read what you’ll get if you actually purchase the item or service, you’re mentally keeping a running total of what you think it will cost you.

And do you know what? Your buyers are doing exactly the same!

So when you’ve got a mental note that you’re expecting the product and all of the additional extras that comes with it to cost you say £500 and when the sales person says it’s £149 you are one step closer to the sale and you say “Now that’s real value!”

And that’s your job as a salesperson.

You need to create and build the value so much that when you reveal the price, the price that the prospect has got in their head is far higher than the one you say.

When you get to that position then you’re “rockin n’ rollin!”

So, what are you doing to make sure that your prospect receives value overload?

What are you doing to reveal even more value when they say “I was expecting that to cost a lot more”, you then say “I almost forget, you receive XYZ as well too…”

That’s why you should do all that you can to avoid revealing the price before going through the features and benefits of the product.

Always make sure your sales process is adhered to, to build up the value and then reveal the price.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

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In today’s tough market conditions it’s very easy for you to grasp onto any lead or potential client that comes your way.

But this creates a problem for you because some prospects can take up a lot of your time and are indeed, a complete waste of time.

You see, no matter how much you may want the business, there are times when you’ve just got to simply walk away from the deal.

So how do you know when you need to walk away? Here are 5 reasons to look out for:

1. PRICE ONLY PROSPECTS

If you’re spending a lot of time with the prospect whose only interest is price then watch out for the warning signals. These prospects don’t really care about standards, quality, service or the ongoing relationship they have with you – just PRICE. So if you’re spending too much time with this type of prospect then think about walking away from the deal.

2. ONE HIT WONDER

So you may get this deal, well eventually and sometime in the next 56 years but what is the potential for future business? If the potential is not there it may be time to walk away if it’s taking up you energy, time and resources in huge amounts!

3. COST BENEFIT

As with everything you need to weigh up whether the costs in time and money will outweigh what you’ll get in terms of profits. (But also bare in mind future profits too – you might make a small loss on this deal but if there are repeat purchases you need to bare that in mind when making your decision as to whether you should walk away or not)

4. YOU ARE NO LONGER IN CONTROL

If you feel that you’ve lost control of the sales process and everything is all over the place then think about walking away

5. GO WITH YOUR GUT

Probably the most important I’ve listed is to go with what you feel is right. What’s your gut decision to this deal? Overtime you’ll pick up a sixth sense and you’ll know when to “hold em and when to fold em!”

Now as with all of the above reasons I’m not saying that you should just roll over with any of your prospects or give up too easily. But you should definately analyse which deals are best to keep working at and which ones you should just take it on the chin and move onto bigger and better things.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

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We’ve all been there….

You’re at a sales meeting with a prospect and you’re asked a question or for an opinion that completely throws you off guard!

You feel uncomfortable, you stumble through an answer and you go away thinking everyone thinks you’re stupid and that you’ve blown the deal!

The fact is, some people can think on their feet and come out with what seems to be well prepared answers whilst others find it difficult.

The people who find it difficult normally call the people who find it easy “blaggers!”

So, let’s assume that you need to blag, erhum, I mean think on your feet more often – here is a neat little tip that you can use:

Prior to attending your sales encounters, identify questions you might be asked and how you will answer them. After a while, this practice will become second nature to you.

If you are asked a particularly difficult question, repeat the question to buy yourself some time but
don’t make it obvious and don’t do it everytime either!

Sometimes when you’re asked a question requiring a detailed answer, try constructing your answer with a brief three-part approach.

Begin with a comment on the background of the issue, followed by the current situation and then speak about possible future outcomes. This simple structure can be extremely valuable when you are caught off guard.

So, in summary:

1. REPEAT THE QUESTION or ACKNOWLEDGE THE STATEMENT

2. COMMENT ON THE BACKGROUND OF THE ISSUE

3. FOLLOW THAT WITH THE CURRENT SITUATION

4. THEN SPEAK ABOUT POSSIBLE FUTURE OUTCOMES

PROSPECT:
“I heard that your company were in a legal battle with a client over the product you are offering me today?”

YOU
REPEAT THE QUESTION or ACKNOWLEDGE THE STATEMENT “Yes you are 100% correct, we are in legal case with a client”

COMMENT ON THE BACKGROUND OF THE ISSUE
“…the client in question refused to have our engineers install the product. They did it themselves and broke the generator etc etc”

FOLLOW THAT WITH THE CURRENT SITUATION
“…they have now realised and acknowledged that they were to blame etc etc”

THEN SPEAK ABOUT POSSIBLE FUTURE OUTCOMES “…a great lesson came out from all of this. Even though we were not at fault, some good came out of it for our clients. All future installations made by our engineers will now be free of charge.
No other supplier offers that”

See what I mean?

You can turn even the most horrible questions around with a little structure to your thought process and answers.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

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So you’ve done the hard graft, you’ve turned your prospect into a paying client, they’ve used your product or service and now they’re really happy!

Ok, so now what?

Well, now you can start to get them more involved to help you through these trying times.

Here are 5 ways that they can help you get through this recession:

1. Repeat Business

This is an obvious one but so many companies fail to ask for repeat business.

Have you asked for the same order?

Can you offer anything for regular orders?

2. Referrals

If they are a happy client then you shouldn’t have too much of a problem asking them for referrals.

But please don’t hide this in a “client update meeting” where you suddenly come out with it! They’ll see straight through this.

Instead, the best approach is to just ask for them.

“James, I’m delighted that you love using our widget, thanks for the feedback. James, so we can keep the costs down for you in the future we’re asking our clients for some referrals. Could you please give me two or three names of people who you think would benefit from the widget as you have? It means we don’t have to plough so much money into advertising and we can pass these savings onto you”

3. Joint Ventures

So the client is really happy with your products and services. If it’s a B2B sale, could they potentially offer your product or service to their clients for a kick back? What about white labelling?

They’ve already done the hard work too with their client list so can you leverage this in some way?

4. Rave Reviews

So the client is happy….can you ask them to write a formal testimonial on their letterheaded paper or for your website that will provide social proof of how good your products and services are?

This will help you to sell your wares to other prospects!

5. Referees

Can you get their permission to give out their telephone number and email address to prospects who want to talk to your existing clients about your products and services?

It’s far more powerful coming from their mouth then it is yours!

The gloom and doom merchants are predicting 5 quarters of “gloom and doom” but if you’re prepared and sales and marketing processes are in place it will not only help you to survive during these testing times but it will also enable you to thrive as well.

Happy selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Sales Expert – Marketing Consultant – Motivational Speaker
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!

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I’ve just come back from a 4 hour round trip on the motorway where I’ve just secured 10 days worth of in-house sales training but having so much time to think in the car makes you mull over how well you did during the sales interaction!

You know, no matter whether you get to secure the deal or not you should always review your sales performance and you need to make that common practice too.

Follow the same process as I did below and ask yourself the following questions:
(I have written down my actual answers for this sales interaction)

Could I have done more before the meeting?
Yes – I was meeting two people. One I knew very well and one I didn’t know too well. I should have found out more information about him and his drivers.

Did I have a primary objective for the meeting?
Yes – to secure 6 days worth of in-house training (I secured 10 – result!)

Did I have secondary objectives in my mind?
Yes

What went well in the meeting?
I asked lot’s of questions and had awesome rapport with both contacts. My solutions were presented in a tangible way so they could see themselves using the training and what it would mean to them.

What would have made it better?
I talked too much in this meeting. Usually I centre everything around the client but I got on a roll at one stage and my mouth ran away with me. We’re not talking huge amounts here but in my normal interactions I’d say that the client talks 60% of the time but in this interaction they spoke about 45% of the time. I needed to shut up more!

Did the client and myself leave the meeting knowing exactly the next steps in the process?
Yes – book dates and sort out delegate lists

There are other questions that I ask myself but if all else fails you should cover the above on a regular basis with each and every sales interaction you have.

Happy reviewing!

Sean

PS I’ve recorded a sales audio session on how to be your own sales coach! Click below to download it:

http://www.mtdsalespodcasts.com/how-to-be-your-own-sales-coach.html

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…

So I received my new Barclaycard Visa in the post yesterday and there was a message on the card saying “Call us to tell us that your card has arrived safely”

“That’s a good measure for security” I thought but at the same time as I was dialling I mentioned to my PA that I bet they were going to try and cross sell me something.

Shivver me timbers I was right!

I was then subjected to a 3 minute CANNED SALES SCRIPT:

“Good Morning Mr McPheat, and how are you today?”

“I notice that your cards are not protected, is that right Mr McPheat?”

You get the picture.

Here are some lessons from this:

1. Barclaycard have the right idea with the cross sell but their execution is very obvious to the point of being annoying. Here was me calling them and then they tried to take up my time and “SELL ME”!

Think about whether there are any occassions that you can up or cross sell products to the prospects or clients that call you – but don’t make it obvious! You need to maximise your sales opportunities but not at the risk of annoyance!

2. Be PLANNED not CANNED – Most prospects and clients can tell you’re reading from a script. If you are forced to read from a script by your company then you need to practice sounding like you’re unrehearsed.

3. Don’t get me wrong, I bet Barclaycard make millions from this process and that it works too. It’s most likely very predictable in terms of closing ratios per hundred calls received. It’s a no brainer cross sell opportunity – can you create any of these? Just think of all of the new cards that are issued each year from Barclaycard that require an incoming call – kerching!

Happy cross selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training

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Telephone: 0800 849 6732

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Well not exactly, but my point is that whenever you sell anything you need to think about the motivations of your buyer.

You need to think about what they want and need and what’s in it for them – PERSONALLY. As well as what’s in it for the company when they purchase your product or service, you also need to think about what is in it for the buyer too.

Here’s what I mean by this:

GET LAID
What I mean by this is that people want to look good, they want to be popular and to make the right decisions.

GET PAID
They want to make more money or save money, they want to get a pay increase, a promotion etc

LIVE FOREVER
This is obviously a strong motivation in the health and beauty industry but people want to be immortal!

Now I know that the above are generalistions albeit in a crude sort of way but I really wanted the message to hit hard about the point I’m trying to get across. The point I’m making is that whilst you are selling your product or service to the company you also want to think about the selfish motivations of the buyer themselves.

They might want to get a promotion, to look good or to be seen as the top dog in their company – this is often a very overlooked area.

Oh, and before I go be sure to check out my brand newly released MTD Sales Podcasts website. I’ll be adding audios to the site each week that you can either listen to online, download to your computer or download to your IPOD or MP3 player. I hope you enjoy them? There’s about half a dozen on there now and I’ll be adding more each week.

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…

I was watching Derren Brown’s Evening Of Wonders the other night and I was amused, entertained and amazed at some of his tricks. Correction – I was amazed by ALL of his tricks.

He confesses not to be a psychic or a medium so all of his stunts and tricks are based upon:

* Suggestion
* Hypnosis
* Slight of hand
* Misdirection
* Psychology
* Showmanship

I then got to wondering!

How effective would Derren Brown be if he were a salesman?

Now I’m not suggesting that you should EVER EVER trick your prospects into buying but there are certain techniques that you can use to “get on their wavelength” and to “read them” more effectively.

You can also use hypnotic language, use certain elements of NLP and you can just use the good old fashion laws of life!

To be an outstanding sales person in the 21st Century you need to master techniques that the bog standard Jo Smith sales person would not even dream of. When you look at the list above of what Derren Brown actually uses, I’ve highlighted the areas that I recommend that you look further into to give you the sales edge.

Remember, sales is not about manipulation. i.e getting them to do something that is not in their best interestd. You have to believe that your product or service is right for them. Then and only then should you use techniques such as these to connect with your prospects and clients to close the deal.

Happy Selling!

Sean

PS – Do you think Derren Brown would make a good sales person? Leave me a comment below

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training International

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…

Now that we’re all busy beavering away as though Christmas and our New Year celebrations never existed it’s important that you know exactly how to muck it all up in 2009!

I thought I’d let you the rules and approach that you should take to guarantee that you achieve nothing in 2009…

1. Don’t Set Goals

Start the year with no direction and no goals of what you want and just drift along like normal.

2. Listen To The Gloom Mongers

Wallow in your own self pity and get caught up with all of the excuses of the credit crunch and blame that for any bad luck that you get

3. If At First You Don’t Succeed…give up

When the going gets tough just throw in the towel, it’s a lot easier than fighting back

4. Do Your Own Thing

Forget what your prospects and customers want. What do they know?! Just do your own thing without understanding their needs

5. Hire Useless People

Why would you want to hire the best people? They know it all, want £50k a year and are a real pain in the ass! Instead, hire numbskulls who know jack and you can be guaranteed that they’ll muck everything up for you

6. Being Fat Is Great!

Forget about doing things slicker, better, quicker and more efficiently. “Fat is the new thin” make sure that you’re overstaffed, pay over the odds and don’t shop around for supplier alternatives

7. Half Of My Efforts Are Wasted – I Just Don’t Know Which Half!

Don’t bother measuring what you do. Don’t analyse your figures and just keep on churning out the numbers without looking up from the trenches

8. Talking Is Over Rated

Why make sure that you’ve got clear communication lines in place when everyone has got email? I mean, what’s the point in talking when you can just ping emails to each other all day long.

9. Busy, Busy, Busy

Don’t delegate any tasks, make sure you do as much as you can as often as you can. It’s much better to feel stressed out all of the time and that you look busy. Never walk around with nothing in your hand – always carry a piece of paper, it makes you look far busier.

10. Gear Up For 2010

Half way through the year put any major projects “on hold” or recap your strategy in lieu of another year being just around the corner when you can carry out steps 1-10 all over again

Of course, you could always do the complete opposite and become a raving success but I’ll leave it up to you…

Have a great year!!!

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training International

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…