As a salesperson you’ve always got to appreciate and understand that the majority of people that you will sell to just hate any kind of risk.

They will also most likely not trust and believe a word you say too! Well, at least not in the beginning!

So to counter this you absolutely MUST have a wad full of client testimonials, client letters, comments, case studies – you name it!

You must also have names, numbers and email addresses of clients whom your prospect can contact to hear it “straight from the horses mouth”.

Prospects always want proof and by you providing them with third party evidence you’ll be doing a lot to break down any of the mistrust that they might have on their minds.

So my question to you is this: what have you got to hand that will help you in your selling to provide the social proof that you need?

And I mean LOTS and LOTS of evidence.

Just imagine that you were meeting with a prospect and they said “Who have you worked with?”

Now instead of you going on and on and talking their head off….

You instead reach into your briefcase and pull out a folder. On page 1 of the folder are 3 columns and a list in alphabetical order of over 600 clients who you have worked for. The folder contains about 200 pages and each one is a personal letter on the companies letterheaded paper with a testimonial about how well your company did for them. You pass this to the prospect to let them browse through.

Now can you see how powerful that would be?

If you haven’t got this reference library in place already then just ask your clients. If you’ve done a great job for them in the past I’m sure they will have no problem in helping you with this.

Happy Selling!

Sean

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

Sean’s Blog: MTD Sales Blog

Free Course: Free Sales Training Course

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 speak at a lot of trade shows each year and I’m flabberghasted at how eager people are to give me their businesscard as though it’s a numbers game.

I come back to the office with a stash of cards!

About 50% of them are from people want us to deliver training for them, about 40% of them are from vendors trying to flog me something and the remaining 10% of them are what I call “nice to meet you” people – these are the people who you meet over coffee or lunch, you got on and just exchanged cards for the fun of it because it seemed to be the right thing to do.

Now if everyone is the same and they all go home with a wad of businesscards, then what is going to make yours stand out? I’m not talking about the design of it, but what is going to make the experience stand out and what is going to make you so memorable that the person will actually give a damn and give you a call or follow up later on?

The bad news is that your card will be one of 30 that this prospect has taken from the event.

The good news is that the vast majority of people just hand their cards over as though it HAS BEEN the thirtieth they’ve handed out!

So make it memorable and special.

Take out your pen and write something on the card for them. Can you give them a free gift? Do what it takes to make “that moment” stand out.

Maybe it’s from where you take your businesscard from? Not your jacket pocket or your wallet but maybe from your briefcase where there is a gimmicky toy holder, I don’t know! Anything so you become memorable.

And remember, you don’t need to be BETTER to be memorable, you just need to be DIFFERENT!

Happy Selling

Sean

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

Sean’s Blog: MTD Sales Blog

Free Training: Free Sales Training Course

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…

Have you ever experimented by offering different options for your products and services?

If you do want to offer options then I recommend the power of 3 options because anymore than that and the information looks a little overwhelming.

A Good (budget option) Better (budget plus) and Best (expensive) approach works well.

Now this approach can work well in the “current economic climate” because it is catering for different budget levels and even if you get your client “in” on a lower budget option, the fact that they are “in” means that you can demonstrate your worth to them and the benefits and an upsell later on will be the natural, logical choice.

This is the approach of “Get them in cheap and sell them deep”

All you want is an opportunity for them to become a client of yours and then, if you are true to your word and your product/service does what you said it would do, and then some, you can upgrade your clients over time to more profitable options.

This is a strategic approach to selling and one that needs buy in from the top because you will have smaller margins to begin with but the the pay off is that you will have long term clients whose margins will increase over time.

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training
MTD Sales Blog

Click here for a free sales training online course

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 this question from Tony Underhill 2 days ago:

“Hi Sean, I’ve just read an interesting blog post on another site about whether sales people are made or are they born that way. As you are “my guru” what’s your take on this? The posting said that it’s a mix of the two”

My thoughts on this:

It’s an interesting one because as a child I was the kid who would stand in the playground on his own!

I was a right “Billy No Mates”!!!

Natural sales person as a youngster? NO

Outgoing? Loud Mouth? NO

As I got older and began to improve my communication skills this obviously changed and today I can speak in-front of 3,000 sales people at a conference and not bat an eye lid.

So I certainly was not a “born sales person”. I’m 100% made!

There are no doubt some people who will be naturally more outgoing than others, that’s probably in their make up, or their DNA as a person and this has helped them to be seen as a “natural sales person” but just because they can talk the hind legs off a donkey doesn’t mean that they are a good sales person.

It’s just that they “seem” to be a natural sales person because they are more outgoing.

I don’t agree with that.

Buyers don’t want a “flash, cheesy sales person” They want an expert and whether that’s an over the top, gregarious person or an introverted thinker, it’s up to the buyer to decide.

Having the “gift of the gab” is no longer good enough. It might have got you through 20 years ago but not so today. Today’s sales people need to be seen as trusted advisors, as experts in their field and have a good alround business knowledge.

Some of the very best sales people that I have met have been 100% made. i.e they were not deemed as having a natural talent for sales until they did it. Maybe it’s their down to earth, natural approach that makes them seem more “personable and human” that makes the difference.

So no matter what end of the spectrum you come from remember that everything has to be approached from the agenda of your prospect.

Your buyers want to deal with an expert, a sales professional.

Happy selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training

Visit the MTD Sales Blog

Sign up to our free online sales training programme

[putvideo]flRvsO8m_KI[/putvideo]

I don’t often get mushy or sentimental but when I see something with truly inspires me then it really gives me perspective on what and who I am as a Dad, a Husband, a Sales Person and as a Business Leader.

So please have a look at this video about the inspirational quest of a Dad to give his son a life.

And when someone slams the phone down on you for the 20th time or if you’re having a rough time, then just think of stories like this and pick yourself up and get back on track.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training

Click here for a FREE SALES TRAINING course

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…

[putvideo]aaJu89iyEhw[/putvideo]

If you ever wondered how important creating a positive brand and sales message is then YOU MUST watch this video.

Learn how the modern day buyer makes their purchasing decisions.

This is VERY VERY important.

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training

Sign up to a FREE SALES TRAINING course

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…

Marks And Spencers “GOT IT” at the weekend.

They well and truly understood the importance of lifetime value and the damage that negative word of mouth can have on their business.

It was my daughter Holly’s 3rd birthday party yesterday. We’d purchased a cake from Marks and Spencers who put Holly’s name on it etc.

I was going to be subjected to 30 screaming kids and then Holly’s big moment when the cake is brought out and she blows out the candles and everyone sings happy birthday.

We received a phone call from Marks’ on Saturday afternoon at 2pm:

“Errrr Mr McPheat. There’s been a slight problem. Your cake for Holly’s birthday party tomorrow is in Leeds, it’s been sent to the incorrect address and we close at 5:30″

Now we live in Rugby so it’s a 2 hour journey up the M1!

“But don’t worry because we’ve already sent a taxi to go up the motorway and he’ll fetch it for you”

Wow, I thought.

5pm came and we received another call from Marks’.

“Errrr Mr McPheat? There’s been another challenge. The taxi driver has had to wait in Leeds for 2 hours because they only had one half of the cake! But we’re going to deliver it to your door tonight so you’ll have it in time for Holly’s party tomorrow”

No problem.

7:30pm came and there was a knock on the door.

It was the taxi driver.

“Want some cake Mr McPheat?” said the driver

We laughed and he explained to me that it had cost Marks’ £120 to get him up to Doncaster and then a further £190 on the clock to get from Doncaster to Leeds and back to Rugby.

So all in all it had cost Marks’ £310 to get the cake to me and the cake itself cost me just £40.

Here are some lessons from this:

1. Marks’ understand the concept of lifetime value. We’ve ordered from Marks’ in the past and we will order from them again so they will “make up” the difference eventually. Do you understand the value of your clients and what money they make you over the long run? Sometimes you can get them in at break even or even at a loss (as in this case) but over a lifetime they are worth far more money to you than the initial transaction.

2. They understand that it was more than “just a cake”. A birthday cake is a big thing. It means more to Donna and I and of course Holly than just some sponge, jam and icing. A cake plays a big role in a birthday party and is an event in itself. They understand this. Do you understand the direct and indirect benefits of what you sell?

3. Negative word of mouth can cripple your business. Just think about this. 30 kids attending Holly’s party with 50 parents who are all in the market for birthday cakes! They all would have seen and heard the horror story if there was no cake at the party and that’s a lot of potential damage reputation wise. I remember when we had a Princess Castle Cake from Marks’ for Holly’s party when she was 2 and 5 of the mums ordered the exact same cake from Marks’ for their daughters parties too. And now they will all get to hear the fantastic customer service that Marks’ has provided us in dealing with this problem. This will only help sales. Lesson – sometimes it better to take “the hit” than to have negative word of mouth spread about your products and services.

It may have cost Marks’ over £300 extra to get the cake to us on time. But how much did it actually save Marks’ in lost revenue due to lost sales that would have resulted in the people who would have known about it.

And now this blog is going out to 10,000 people too and will no doubt get passed around the social media sites.

Power to you Marks and Spencers. That was awesome customer service.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

MTD Sales Blog – click here for FREE 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…