One of our trainers is looking for a new car for September delivery and he shared with me his experience at his local dealership. I thought I’d share his story with you…

“I had settled on a new model, agreed the spec and was ready to negotiate the price downwards with the salesman. I teach this stuff, so it should be a doddle, I thought.

I asked what was the best price he could offer on this model. He looked at the price list, then at the car, then at his manager. I thought he was going to try the old ‘let me talk to my manager’ ploy, but instead he asked me ‘What price do you have in mind?’

‘Goody’, I thought. ‘I can name my own price!’

I knocked £1500 off the sticker price, more than 10%.

He then asked me ‘Do you care how I get you there?’

This made me think for a few moments, because if I said no, I knew what he would do. If I said yes, he would have asked me what the conditions would have to be to get to the target price.

As price was my main issue (as it is with many discount shoppers) I answered the question with a ‘no’.

This opened the door for the salesman to look at alternative ways to get to my target price.

He asked ‘Is it the fact that you don’t want to pay the asking price at all, or you don’t want to pay it for this car?’

Cue another few moments of thought-filled silence! I answered that I wanted this car, but wanted the discounted price.

‘OK’, he said, ‘let me see how we can get to that price for you’.

He then proceeded to go over the value to me and my family of the choice I had made. I was actually feeling that it was worthy of close to the asking price…I was even feeling a bit cheeky asking for that much off.

He said he could get to the asking price for me, though I would have to go for flat paint instead of metallic, knock off the three year warranty that had been included in the price, take out some of the accessories he had persuaded me I needed, and take his dealer’s finance package, which was 2.9% per annum more expensive than my bank’s deal.

What did this poor old buyer do in the end? Accepted a £500 discount and got my metallic paint, a two-year warranty and accessories back!

Yes, yes, I know…but I had fallen in love with the car, and my emotions won out in the end.

I also asked if he had been on any training courses recently! He told me he was the number one salesperson in his dealership on revenue and profitability, and he also had attended most training courses out of all his colleagues in the past two years.

Naturally, I wasn’t surprised”

Interesting! Maybe that question ‘what price do you have in mind?’ isn’t the best in all situations but it gives you an idea of what you have to move to if you have some margin available.

The other question, “Do you care how I get you there?” gets the customer to consider what’s most important to them. If, like our trainer, you say that the target price is most important, you can see if there’s anything you can do to get to that price.

What you’re basically saying is that, if the price is the only criteria that’s stopping the client from buying, moving the specification, warranty, payment terms, credit facilities, service back-up or other additions can help you get closer to that price.

And if they balk at that, maybe the price isn’t the most important aspect of the purchase after all.

Makes you think, doesn’t it?

Oh, and our trainer has been ribbed all week in the office!

Happy selling!

Sean

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

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Too right you should!

I was asked this question at a business breakfast meeting I attended last week.

Some prospects will drain the life out of you if you continually follow up with them and they keep brushing you off or if you keep hearing “oh, you’ve just missed him, he’s gone into a meeting now”.

When you keep hearing that, it’s time to FIRE the prospect!

You should have a set of up-front qualifying criteria that you should use to engage and manage the prospect in your first couple of interactions – this will reduce the “deadwood” in your pipeline and you should always have an ongoing set of continued qualification criteria that you use too. These will act like warning beacons if your prospect has been in a meeting the last 3578 times that you’ve called!

And when you do FIRE your prospect don’t just let it go completely.

Instead, add them to a list of “Unresponsive” prospects and put them in an automated ongoing marketing system that might include adding them to a monthly or quarterly email list or for direct mailings. That way, if their avoidance was a matter of timing and they just didn’t have the balls to tell you to “bog off” then if the opportunity should come up again, you’ll be in the front of their mind.

Happy selling!

Sean

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

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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

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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

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You know, I’m asked every single day for sales tricks, mind tricks and strategies to help people just like you to close the deal.

And of course there are ways to gain an advantage but in my book nothing can win over a genuine, caring and selfless sales person whose only interest is in helping you out.

Here’s an example of what I mean;

Last night a sales rep from Hillary’s Blinds came around our house to meet with us to discuss “kitting out” about 6 windows with various variations of blinds.

I got the usual “pep talk” from Donna, my wife, who told me to go easy on him!

So, there we sat going through samples, different types of blinds – you name it! (and at the same time I was trying to watch Brazil v Italy over his shoulder on Sky Sports!)

I was looking out for any sales tricks, what approach he was using – you name it and I look for it when I’m being sold to.

And that’s the thing with this chap. I was not being SOLD TO. Instead he was helping me to buy.

He was caring, he was genuine and kind. He was a trusted advisor in his field and knew his stuff inside out.

To cut a long story short it was actually a pleasurable 2 hours even if I did miss Robinho’s wonder goal! We were a couple of grand lighter in the pocket but both of us were happy with the deal and that’s what it’s all about.

Will I recommend this guy?

You bet.

What did he do that was special?

Nothing really. He just cared and listened exactly to what we wanted.

He was a SUPERB LISTENER.

More often then not, all you need to master are the basics to exceed your sales targets. You need to become a master of the doing the basics extraordinarily well – day in and day out.

That’s the key to modern day 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!

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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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My wife and I have been going to the same Indian Restuarant for the past 16 years, the exact same time that we have been together!

We’ve moved twice in that time too and now we live 20 miles away from the Dhaka Dynasty but we still make at least 1 or 2 trips there each month.

Here’s why:

- They made an awesome first impression when we first tried the restuarant. We didn’t have two pennies to rub together at the time but they treated us like VIP’s

- Today, they treat us exactly the same which is very impressive

- They have always called us by our names and have taken a real interest in us as a couple

- They know exactly what I like and what I don’t like. Often asking "The usual Sean?"

- They allow us to try dishes "On the house" as valued customers

- They always give us 2 or 3 extras with our meals whether that be a couple of naans, a samosa etc

- Once, when Donna and I turned up there was a queue out the door, we mingled with some of the people at the back of the queue and they said that they were told that there was a 1 hour waiting time. As we turned around to leave, the manager Abdul called us over and gave us both complimentary drinks at the bar and we got a table in 15 minutes

- When our daughter Holly was born, the first time we went for a meal, they made a real fuss of us and when the bill came they put a big cross through it and it said "congratulations from all of the team at the Dhaka – no charge"

So, why do they do this?

Well, I know from first hand experience that they understand the concept of the lifetime value of a customer. I was working out what we have spent there during past the 16 years and we eat there at least 12 times a year at around £40-£50. So we have spent £9,600! They understand the need to keep us coming back and so they really go the extra mile.

Do you understand how much your clients are worth to you?

What more can you do for them? In terms of the Dhaka, a free meal here or there is nothing compared to what we have put in their tills!

Learn these lessons and watch your sales soar

Sean Mc

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…