Order Taker? Trusted Advisor? Or Cheese Monster?

From the customer’s point of view there are 4 types of relationships that they have with their suppliers.

And if you can progress through each of the stages I’m about to describe below you can really make a huge difference to their business and your own profits!

STAGE 1 – THE ORDER TAKER
If they view you as just an order taker then price sensitivity will be very high indeed and their loyalty to you and your products and services will be zero.

Price will be the major factor.

STAGE 2 – THIRD PARTY SUPPLIER
To your customers you offer a good range of products and services and there are some other benefits that come along with it to.

You’re still classed as a vendor though and the deal is a business transaction rather than a business relationship.

STAGE 3 – THE VALUE ADDED SALES PERSON
You are there for your customers and you add value by helping your customers with more than what is expected.

You’re still viewed as a vendor but one that is top of the list.

STAGE 4 – TRUSTED ADVISOR
This is ideally the position you want to be in.

The customer views you as an extension to their business and a part of their business.

Usually, you are able to offer higher prices because you deliver the goods both directly and indirectly. The customer calls you to sound you out on ideas and whatever you say, goes a lot of the time!

This is the key for building long-term relationships.

So where are you on this ladder and what can you do to progress through the stages?

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The Sales Jedi
MTD Sales Blog

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…

Success leaves clues and from working with and training thousands of the very best sales people in the world I get a great insight into what they do and how they do it!

One of the key factors that makes these people stand out from the rest is structure.

That does not mean that they are not flexible, far from it.

When I say structure I mean that they follow a process in their client interactions or an order to make sure they get a successful outcome.

Now we’ve all heard of the million and one sales models out there and one that I like, to give you that structure is called:

PAPASA

Which stands for:

Probe problems – what are they and are they important?
Amount – who much is it costing them? Time, money etc
Prioritise – how big an issue is it for them?
Actions – what have they done about it?
Solution – can you present one that solves their problem?
Ask – how to move the sale forward

This is a really simple, yet very effective model to use.

Give it a go and it will provide you with the structure that you need for successul prospect and client interactions.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The Sales Jedi
MTD Sales Blog

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 recently asked some of my weekly email sales tips subscribers and linkedin practical sales tips forum a simple question:

“What’s the best piece of sales advice you’ve ever received?”

Well, I’ve received over 200 replies and the list is growing!

So I thought that I’d start a mini-series and put some of them together for you over the next week or two.

Just one or two of them may make the difference in your selling!

ADVICE
When cold calling or prospecting, ALWAYS make that one extra call before you leave…even if you’ve put in the time… that one extra call will pay off. With existing customers, if you call them when things are working, they’ll be your customer as long as things work. If you call them when things are down (or not working), they’ll be your customer for life, no matter where you go or what you do.
Director of Sales at Advansys Technologies

ADVICE
A wise man (my father) once said: “God gave you 2 ears and 1 mouth. This means you should listen twice as much as you speak!” We ALL know salespeople that have talked themselves OUT of the deal.
Strategic Technology & Telecom Executive; Strength in Sales & Marketing

ADVICE
Some points come to mind:
- Never hesitate to ask for the business
- Know what it is that you’re selling and your value; know your customer and know your customer’s customer
- God gave you two ears and one mouth, listen more than talk
- “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” Sir Winston Churchill
- Hope is not a strategy
Senior Director at General Dynamics

ADVICE
“Strive to understand, then be understood”
Anon

ADVICE
- Don’t call screen – pick up the phone!
- Add value as an individual beyond your product/price
- Know how to overcome common objections
- Believe in yourself, your company and your product – you can’t effectively sell what you don’t believe in
- Be accountable for your own successes or failures
- Show up more often
- Outwork, Outlast, Outsmart the competition
- Give effective and memorable presentations and practice it!
- Have a written plan every day – don’t wing it
- Sell during selling hours
- Make the tough calls – don’t disappear when something goes wrong
Wholesale Regional Sales Manager – ICON Residential Capital

ADVICE
Understand (through listening) and be able to translate to the customer the difference between the “lowest price” and the “best value”
Training Manager at Levin Furniture

Some wise words above there and some really useful advice.

Take a couple of them and then make them a way of life in your selling!

They’ll be some more “Best pieces of advice” on your way very soon in PART 2.

And please, if you’ve got a golden nugget to add please feel free to add a comment below.

Happy selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The Sales Jedi
MTD Sales Blog

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…

“Hunting and farming, hunting and farming” – that’s all you ever hear from your sales managers and directors.

“Farm your existing clients” and “Hunt out new business”

But what they always leave out is “What can we do as a company and as a sales team to get “hunted out” too?

That’s when new prospects come to you.

If you can position yourselves right through delivering the best service, proposition, support, marketing, sales care, PR and so on your prospects will HUNT YOU OUT.

They will talk about you in forums, in networking events, in social media, across their company, through word of mouth and so on.

They will qualify themselves and will have a much higher probability of purchasing from you.

You need to work closely with the other departments in your company so they enable prospects to hunt you out.

After all, we all want that don’t we?

And the great news is that when prospects hunt you out they usually have their needs already defined too.

So don’t forget – hunt, farm and be hunted too! Have strategies in place for all of them.

Happy selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The Sales Jedi
MTD Sales Blog

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…

We’ve all been there…

“What’s the best price can you do? Can you offer me a discount?”

And then the negotiation starts!

The fact that you’ve received that response means you are nearly there in the first place! And now with just the right approach you can get back to the office and update your CRM system with a CLOSED WIN in next to no-time!

My approach to responding to discounts and counter offers is the following:

VALUE X 2 MINUS 1 PRICE

What this means is that when you’re faced with a “Can you give me a discount?” response you should not just cave in to start with. Instead you should respond with a value building statement and stay firm. If they come back again, then do exactly the same. But if they come back a third time then you should give a concession and ask for something in return.

You’ll be amazed at how little you actually have to give discounts by standing firm!

Now I love getting referrals in exchange for discounts because it’s money in the bank.

So I’d say something like this “I’ll tell what I’ll do Joe. I’ll reduce the price by 15% if you can give me the names and phone numbers of 5 quality referrals that you’ve worked with who also need this service too. Is there any other reason why we can’t go ahead with this?”

Quality referrals are like gold dust and they have a monetary value too because the replace advertising spend, so that’s why I really like getting them in exchange for a slight discount.

So, in summary:

Remember VALUE X 2 MINUS 1 PRICE

Build the value twice before you even entertain lowering your prices and then if you need to lower your price do so by asking for something in return.

In today’s economy you’ll come across a lot of people who will ask for discounts so practice hard on what you’ll say and how you’ll say it when faced with the “Can I have a discount?” response!

Happy selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
The Sales Jedi
MTD Sales Blog

MTD Sales Training

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 received an interesting question yesterday. Here it is:

Hi Sean

Russell Flory
Director

Here are some areas to look at and think through:

1. You want to maintain momentum but don’t be a pain. Don’t follow up too often

2. Educate the client - can you send any articles or educational pieces as to what they could use your cutting machine for? Instead of selling in-between contacts why don’t you educate them?

3. Get a mystery shopping company to “shop” the competition and find out what they do in-between contacts with prospects. Get them sign up their lists, to ask for info and see what sales process the company use on them

4. What makes you so different? Now is the time to really think through your competitive advantages and to use these when you sell

5. In terms of telling everyone on your database, I hope you are setting up appointments to meet with them? For example, to show them is better than to tell them

6. Staying ahead of the competition is all about finding out what they do EXACTLY and then make everything about your products, your service and about doing business with you, better.

There are many more things I could help you with but I’d need a lot more information from you first but I hope these get you started.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
The Sales Jedi
MTD Sales Blog

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…

This video makes me laugh everytime I watch it.

I love the very last example of selling “You get a fishing hook, put on a little bait and wait until they bite. Ask them questions as though you’re interested and once you get their trust – KERPOWEEE! you just sold a car!”

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Happy selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The Sales Jedi
MTD Sales Blog

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…

Manny Pacquiao’s Trainer Freddy Roach Masterminded Hatton’s Downfall Due To Superior Tactics

There were 3 topical sales lessons to be learned from the aftermath of Ricky Hatton’s loss to the “Pacman” when it comes to improving your sales.

LESSON # 1 – Hatton blames the training camp and his coach Floyd Mayweather Snr

I hear a lot of sales people blame their company, their sales manager, the ozone layer! and everything else apart from themselves. This is very very common.

You have to own your own development and the tactics that you use.

Sometimes you just get outclassed and Hatton was way out of his league.

Also, you have to take a long hard look at what you do in-between your sales. Hatton has had a history of loving “the high life” and often balloons up and adds 3 stone in-between his fights.
I was reading in the newspapers that over the past 10 years he’s shed and put on about 60 stone! And this cannot be helpful.

So as a sales person you need to take care of yourself, train and practice hard and take your profession seriously.

LESSON # 2 – Floyd Mayweather Snr blames Hatton for not executing the plan

Hatton’s trainer blamed Hatton for not following the plan!

There are two things here.

First, how many times has your sales manager given you the third degree and then says it’s always your fault for not getting the sales. When maybe it is the training methods and approach that is to blame?!

Also, everyone knows what to do but often they don’t do what they know. If Hatton did not follow the plan then he has no-one to blame but himself because whatever tactics were used just did not work BIG TIME! Hatton went for it from the bell and the Pacman just picked him off.

So you can have all of the mindset and attitide you need for success but if the tactics aren’t right then you’re a gonner!

The same can be said in selling.

LESSON # 3 – Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddy Roach had studied Hatton and had a plan

“Hatton fell right into our trap” were Roach’s words after the fight.

Roach went on to say: “I studied Hatton’s tapes and I know him really well. Every time he throws his punches he cocks his hands first and makes the opening for the inside hook. I told Manny once you have feigned him you will draw him in, he will cock his hands and you will hit him with the inside hook. It worked just perfectly”

There’s a great sales lesson here.

Planning and preparation are key. Understand your buyer and what they do and then formulate a plan.

Don’t wing it.

Instead study your buyers and how they buy and what the world is according to them.

It worked for the best pound for pound fighter in the world – and it will work for you too!

Happy selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
The Sales Jedi
MTD Sales Blog

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…