I was recently asked to write an article for Equestrian Business Monthly Magazine providing some tips and techniques on how to get the most out of Trade Shows.

Now whilst this article is for the Equestrian industry, the content of the article is applicable for any company who exhibits or is thinking of exhibiting at a trade show.

Please CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD the 2 page PDF of the article.

Puor yourself a cuppa, print off the article and enjoy!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

MTD specialise in sales training, sales coaching and http://www.mtdsalestraining.com/sales_consulting.html

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 you’ve verified the decision maker, you’ve got them on the phone and you’re making a direct sale there and then – so just what is the best way to close the sale?

You know, closing a direct sale completely over the telephone requires a few different skills and techniques than closing in a face to face meeting.

In person, if you mess up, say the wrong thing or get an unusual objection—you’ve a good chance to recover and it’s very difficult for the prospect to hamper your continued attempts to close.

On the telephone however, you may only get one shot at closing the sale. And it does not take much for the prospect to abruptly END your closing attempts. All it takes is a “click” and you’re history.

Now I’m going to give you a simple and concrete closing methodology to use on the telephone that will help you maintain control and close more sales. Now I’m not talking about some off-pat answers or exact words here, but instead a way to think and to go about this.

Ok, in order to close a sale over the telephone you’ll need to:

1. Summarise the offer
2. Reference the future of the relationship
3. Use a transitional closing statement

Ok, first you’ll need to briefly summarize your offer, including prices, totals and particulars. Now this doesn’t have to be some long winded speech because you should have covered all of this before but you’ll want to bring it all together…

Here’s what I mean:

“So, Jo, what we’re talking about is the two cases of our Super Deluxe Widgets, at 50 per case, that’s 100 total, and that’s at the discounted rate of just £5 per Widget. That includes the lifetime warranty as well. As I mentioned, we’ll pick up all of the shipping costs on this…so the whole thing comes to just £500…”

So that’s the summary.

Ok. Then you want to look to the future.

This is critical over the telephone. You have to remember that in most cases the prospect has never met you. You may be hundreds or even thousands of miles away and they’re about to give money to a voice.

So you want to help the prospect to visualise a “relationship” and the future with you there. You do not want the call to end with the prospect feeling as though they placed a one- time – never going to hear from you again—order with a strange voice.

You need to Paint the picture of the future; of a continued relationship.

So use words and phrases like this “initial order” and “this order to get us started.” If it is repeat business, still do same. Use words and phrases like, “in our next order…” or “as our relationship grows” and “over the next few years…” etc.

Here’s what I mean:

“Jo, I’ll carefully analyze your savings over the next few months, and then we’ll know which way to go on future orders…”

“Jo, over the coming year, you’ll see how well these widgets perform, and then we can talk about outfitting the entire plant…”

“Steve, once you see how your customers love our packaging and the product jumps off the shelves, all I ask is that we’ll talk about adding a few more stores in the by the end of the year…”

And finally, use a closing statement that makes it EASY for the prospect to buy!

Try something like one of these three closing statements:

“Does that make sense?”

This is a great transitional closing statement. Just ask the prospect if what you just proposed makes sense.

Or use something to the effect of, “Does that sound like a good fit for your office, Karen?”

Or third, “Is that fair enough?”

This is really good if you’ve changed the offer or reduced the price. You may have begun with a closing statement like, “Does that make sense?” And the prospect objected.

You then build value, and build value and build even more value and then you slightly reduce the price. Now you might close with, “Is that fair enough, Steve?”

So let’s put this all together:

1. You need to summarise the offer
2. Reference the future of the relationship
3. Use a transitional closing statement

“So, Jo, what we’re talking about is the two cases of our Super Deluxe Widgets, at 50 per case, that’s 100 total, and that’s at the discounted rate of just £5 per Widget. And that includes the lifetime warranty as well. As I mentioned, I’m going to pick up all the shipping on this initial order…so the whole thing comes to just £500 to get us started. And we can talk about discounts on future orders once our widgets have started to save you money in your bills, does that make sense?”

Here’s another example:

“So, Graham, what we’re looking at for this initial order, is the District-level version of our Help Desk Plus, which includes the six months of free maintenance and upgrades. I’m also going to add two weeks of on-site consultation during the installation and that’s at no charge to get our relationship started. So, the whole thing comes to just £2,670. And when you see how much more productive your staff become, and how much you save this year we take a serious look at our enterprise-wide edition that will shave off another 15% of your outgoings – is that fair enough?”

You know, closing directly over the telephone is the hardest sale to make. It’s a different animal altogether but with the right approach you’ll soon be outperforming everyone else in your company.

Happy Closing

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

Check out our MTD Sales Podcasts

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…

More objections, more price bashing, the economy excuse, stalling tactics, gatekeepers from hell and elusive decision makers – just what is going on in the world of selling?

Well, to me, it’s obvious – today’s buyers have changed; they are more advanced, sales savvy and more sophisticated than ever before and they’ll take the shirt off your back if you’ll let them too!

But here’s the question: WHY?

Well, let me give you 5 reasons why this is so.

REASON # 1 is that the internet has changed the face of selling as we know it. Before the internet it was very difficult for any buyer to check up on anything that the sales person was saying.

Not so today.

With a couple of clicks of the mouse they can get information about your company, your products and services, your clients, your turnover and even information about you.

They can then go on over to your competitors site and do exactly the same. Just think about how cars used to be sold?

Before the internet you’d most likely have to go to a dealership where the sales person would you show you the cars and tell you all about them. Today, a prospect turns up armed with print outs and specs about the cars they are interested in, HP checks and information about competitor models where they are visiting next.

This is the same for mobile phones, software, B2B products and services – almost anything can be checked out, read up on and verified due to the internet.

So the modern day buyer is more informed than their predecessors and you need to know and appreciate that fact.

REASON # 2 is that they are far more sales savvy then ever before.

A lot of them have even read the same books as you and have been on the same courses as you too. You also need to remember that they have been SOLD TO more often than a lot of sales people have actually sold especially in a business 2 business environment.

So they know the tricks, they know the process that you might go through and they are tired of the same old bull.

You’ve also got to appreciate that a lot of today’s buyers also need to know techniques about selling too.

Whether that be selling ideas internally, selling themselves or whether they sell a product too – this type of knowledge is becoming a must-have in today’s commercial world.

REASON # 3 is that the modern day buyer understands that the balance of power has changed – no longer do they have to hang on every word that you say. Quite simply put it has become a buyers market.

They know that they can find alternatives to what you offer very quickly, they know that they can play you off against other suppliers and they’ll demand more value at a lower price all of the time.

REASON # 4 is the fear of failure.

The damage that might occur to their career, their self esteem and their standing in the company if they select the wrong product or service is more prevalent now that at any time in history and it’s important to bare that in mind when you sell.
That’s why there are so many committee decisions these days.

A lot of buyers have to also get internal buy in and input from other parts in their business before a decision is made so you might often find yourself talking to a number of different people before a decision is made.

REASON # 5 is the state of the economy. A lot of your buyers will use this excuse even if it does not affect them directly. They’ll use it to squeeze the life out of your prices, to play games with you and to stall on decisions.

You know, it’s very important to understand the modern buyer of today because the old sales tactics of yesteryear are simply less effective with them nowadays than they once were.

So my take away action for you is this: think about how you are currently selling to the modern day buyer in light of what I’ve covered.

What can you do differently to all of the rest of the sales people out there?

You know, sometimes you don’t even need to be better to get the business, sometimes you just need to be different.

Sure, you’ll get some buyers who don’t do any of what I’ve said during this session but the tide is turning and it’s turning fast and when you do come across a sophisticated and sales savvy buyer, you’ll need to have a different approach to make them sign on the dotted line.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

MTD offer sales training, sales coaching and sales consulting to all types of businesses!

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…

Raw Entrepreneur Magazine Feature

How To Blitz Your Sales Targets In 2009

I was recently interviewed in Raw Entrepreneur Magazine for my thoughts on how sales people can blitz their targets in 2009.

Please CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD the article. I’ve put it into a 2 page PDF doc.

I hope you enjoy it!

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

Useful Resources:
Sales Audio Tips – MTD Sales Podcasts
Sales Blog – Sean McPheat’s tips and advice
Sales Training Courses – MTD offer in-house and open courses

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…

There are 3 types of sales people in this world….

There are:

1. Those that make things happen

2. Those that watch things happen

and those that say “Oh my god, what happened?”

As a sales person you need to make things happen.
You need to create
You need to get out there and prospect
You need to make connections
You need generate the pipeline
You need to work your sales process
You need to follow up
You need to educate yourself about the client
You need to educate yourself about your industry
You need to educate yourself about the sales profession

I could go on and on and on!

Don’t wait around waiting for that big deal or allow things to happen to you.

Get out there and MAKE IT HAPPEN!

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…

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

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…

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

Click here for the 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…

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

Like Sales Audios? Try out our MTD Sales Podcasts – they’re free!

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 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!

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

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…