Recent statistics released by the LinkedIn Ads group showed that nearly 50% of LinkedIn members are in a key decision maker role such as Manager, Director, Owner, Chief Officer or Vice President – once again proving that LinkedIn really is the biggest and best decision maker search engine in the world!

So how can you delve into this network of key decision makers and engage with them on a one-to-one level? Well, a great way to gain direct contact with these desired connections is to strike up a conversation with them in one of the many LinkedIn groups that the platform has to offer.

The chances are that you will already be connected to some of these key decision makers through your current groups, but you can also research which groups these ideal contacts are members of simply by visiting their profile. Here you will find a list of all the groups they are involved with, so it’s wise to go in to a few of these and see which ones they are the most active in – as most people will join lots of groups but may only contribute regularly within a certain few, so seek these out.

Once you have found out where your key contacts are hanging out on LinkedIn, you can then enter the discussion and strike up conversation with them by commenting on their recent posts or starting a relevant discussion of your own which you feel they would be likely to interact with.

The key to being successful when prospecting and networking via the LinkedIn groups is to be genuine with your interactions and contribute useful content – without turning everything you say into a sales pitch. By all means share your blog posts and link to your webpages in your responses, but only if this adds real value to the discussion.

Once you have gained a decent level of interaction with these key decision makers, and offered plenty of friendly and free advice (without trying to sell them anything straight away) you can then send them an invitation to connect with your personally.

Better still, you could contact them directly by email or on the phone to see if they would like you to send over your latest whitepaper or pop into their office for a chat about how you could help them in their business.

Certain groups even organise networking events for their members, so if you find out one of your key decision makers is attending one of these get-togethers then why not offer to meet them there, and turn your online networking into a face-to-face interaction.

Networking and engaging with your desired prospects in this way is none threatening and is likely to yield a better response than spamming them with emails or trying to cold call, so make the most of your LinkedIn groups and show these connections why they should want you as a contact.

That’s all for now folks, see you again soon for another Techy Tuesday.

Regards,

Louise

Louise Denny

Marketing Manager

(Image by Idea Go)

Some call it “small talk.” Others refer to it as the “warm up.” You know; it’s that idle, incidental banter between you and the prospect as you get things into place before the sales interaction. This warm up talk is more important than many realise and can steer the sales process in a positive or negative direction. In addition, this time for many sales people and prospective customers, is a waste of time. So, read on as I share a few tips on making sure this SMALL talk pays BIG dividends.

Part of the Sales Interaction
First, you need to pay as much attention to the structure and planning of the warm up as you do to the rest of the sales interaction. The warm up IS part of the sales interaction and an integral part of the entire sales process. Do not take for granted this period, and keep in mind the following three ideas.

#1 – Prevent the Conversation From Going Off Target.
You want to make sure the direction of the talk does not veer too far off on a tangent such as becoming too personal for the product or service at issue. It is fine to touch briefly on topics like the family and children and sports, etc., especially if the product warrants such information. However, be careful not to let this become liken to two ol’ buddy’s having a pint at the local pub. This is business.

Far too often sales people fall into the trap of trying to become best friends with the prospect first. While it is important to develop a good rapport with the prospect, today’s modern and educated buyer is not going to buy from you just because you are a nice and likable person.

You also want to direct the conversation so it does not delve into sensitive areas such as politics or religion. Even if you may happen to agree with the buyer’s views on those kinds of topics, they are always dangerous during a sales call.

#2 – Gather More Information
Use this time to get more information that will help close the sale. Ask questions that are of a warm up nature, yet have a business foundation. As an example, you may make a comment on how nice the prospect’s office looks when you walk in. Take that comment to another level and get some information that may aid in the sales process.

As an example, let’s say this sales person sells computer hardware and services. Instead of:

Sales Person
“Wow, Sarah! This is a great office! Beautiful, and you have such a lovely view of the water.”

Prospect
“Thank you. I like it.”

Try…

Sales Person
“Wow, Sarah! This is a great office! Beautiful, and you have such a lovely view of the water. Do you own the whole floor?”

Prospect
“Yes. Our office goes all the way around the building and we have two other floors as well.”

Sales Person
“That’s great. So, about how many employees in this building?”

Prospect
“Oh, a little over 300 at this location.”

Sales Person
“So, that’s at least 300 PCs…How many servers operating here?”

You get the idea. Use the warm up to get information.

#3 – Position the Buyer as a Client
Use the warm up to help paint the picture of the prospect as a customer. In other words, make comments that show the prospect that many of your clients are his or her peers and share many of the same problems and issues; issues that you have solved for them.

Prospect
“Yeah well, we used to be over on Coventry Lane and I had over 500,000 square feet. But with the economy downturn, I had to relocate to this smaller facility.”

Sales Person
“Oh, I understand that, Steve. In fact, I was able to assist several of my clients, right after they made that type of transition…”

Plan the warm up. It is part of the sales presentation.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training

Stop scratching around for sales and learn how to sell the modern way with my FREE 40 minute online training session. Click on the image below to find out why you’ve got to be changing the way that you prospect and sell…

 (Image by Renjith Krishnan)

Your LinkedIn “teaser” is the short header section which appears at the top of your profile on the site, and includes your picture, name, profession, location, industry and most recent status update.

It’s known as the “teaser” because it’s the only section of your LinkedIn profile which shows up when you appear in the platform’s search results and when you contribute to a discussion in one of your LinkedIn groups. This is the equivalent of your first impression on the site, and it is so important to optimise this part of your profile to the fullest to encourage people to click through to your full profile and find out more about you.

The basic rules of optimising your “teaser” for best results include using a professional image of yourself (no holiday snaps please!) and making sure the name you use is the one that you are referred to as within your professional environment – so no nicknames or abbreviations.

It’s also important to include the most relevant industry and the local area of your company within your teaser so that people can who are searching for the products and services you provide in your local area can find you easily when they are searching online. But the really important factor lies within your professional headline.

Your professional headline should be a one line power house of a bio, which explains in good detail but in few words exactly what your company does, your role within the company and most importantly what you and your company can do for your prospects.

You need to choose the keywords that will trigger a response when a prospect is searching for somebody in your area of expertise and make sure you clearly explain to them how what you do will benefit them.

For example, my headline on LinkedIn could simply read “Marketing Manager at MTD Training”, but although it does explain my role within my company, it doesn’t explain what my company does or sell me as a professional within my industry.

So, I have optimised my LinkedIn headline to read “Marketing Manager at MTD – We Help Businesses To Improve Their Sales People, Their Managers & HR Capability” – as this clearly names my company, describes my role and explains what myself and my company can do for potential clients. Bingo!

Your “teaser” – and most importantly your headline – is critical because this is the first thing people will see when you show up in their search results or respond to their post in a group, so you need to fully optimise your teaser and polish up its appeal.  Not only will this help you make the right first impression but it will also encourage new connections to read your full profile and potentially choose to connect with you.

That’s all for now folks, see you again soon for another Techy Tuesday.

Regards,

Louise

Louise Denny

Marketing Manager

Finally, the prospect agrees to meet with you.  However, he made it clear that you will have but 15 minutes for this fact-finding, discovery meeting.  The door is open.  You have an opportunity and you do not want to blow it. 

Below are four effective tips to help you make the most of that short sales interaction and turn this suspect into a true prospect. 

#1.  Have a Plan
You must have a clearly planned objective, agenda, process and direction for the meeting.  You need to know exactly what you are going to do and say before you walk in the door and try to stick to that focus.  Develop a checklist and run through it as an airplane pilot does before a takeoff.    

#2.  Set the Follow Up Meeting
Part of your plan should include you setting the appointment or the agreement for the appointment, for the next meeting.  Do this early in your interaction.  Let the prospect know that if certain conditions present themselves during this meeting, then you will come back with a proposal or next step meeting.  If you cannot get back in the door, then the discovery meeting was for naught.  Too often sales people get through the discovery stage, only to end up chasing the prospect all over again, as if it were a new cold call. 

Example:  “Ms Prospect, as I mentioned, I am just going to get some information today.  However, this short meeting will not be in vain because if it appears that there is a real problem and we can help, then I will put together a proposal and come next week.  Ok?”  

Then, set a solid follow-up appointment—while you are there!    

#3. Uncover Unknown Problems
The most important objective in your fact-finding meeting is to uncover problems.  By uncover, I mean you need to expose problems that the prospect is having that they were not previously aware that they were having.  You have to unearth at least one major problem and put a price tag on it.

4. Do Not Sell
As you unearth problems and pull out information from the prospect, the temptation to talk about the solution to those problems will arise.  Resist this.  The prospect may even begin to ask questions about the solution to the problem, like pricing.  Be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking you have a “lay-down” sale and skipping important steps in the sales process.  Stay focused on the objective for the meeting. 

Plan this process and stick to it.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

Our experience in talking to buyers and clients has brought it home to us that there are some bad salespeople out there. When I say ‘bad’, I don’t mean that they are corrupt or nasty; just inept and poorly-skilled. Buyers have their top-5 ‘hates’ when it comes to what sales people do or don’t do.

Here are some signs that things aren’t as they could be:

1) Poor or non-existent planning and preparation: It simply isn’t enough to just take a look at their website or download their company brochure before you go and visit a prospect. Your preparation should go way beyond the basics. Why are you there in the first place? What extra value can you offer to them? What do you know about their current suppliers before you visit?

Buyers hate to have their time wasted by salespeople who cannot be bothered to find out the essentials before they turn up.

2) Poorly thought-out questions: Unprepared salespeople do not have specific questions lined up. They wing it, and miss specific directional indicators when they are discussing opportunities with their prospects. This drives many prospects up the wall, because they want their suppliers to dig deep and identify their real needs. Bad salespeople ask either the wrong or incomplete questions.

3) Scripted, stock presentations, not aligned to business needs: Bad salespeople will take presentations they have given to other companies and rework it for the next prospect, sometimes just cutting and pasting the company name into a previous document. Your credibility with the prospect will go down the drain if you don’t specifically identify the way that you can bespoke your offering to match and exceed the particular needs of the person you are speaking to. Generalistic presentations are boring for you and pointless to your prospect.

4) Poor or no prospecting system: You should continuously be networking for new contacts, not just leaving it up to your lead-generation department. If you keep on quoting Jack Lemmon’s character out of the film ‘Glengarry Glenross’ and are continuously commenting “The Leads Are Weak”, then you show yourself up as a poor prospector, with no commitment to personal responsibility. Make sure that the system you use (whatever you choose) works the way that you work.

5) Poor or no commitment to personal development: One of the interesting things that differentiates the best salespeople from the bad ones is their commitment to long-term continuous personal development. If you are not developing your skills, you are going backwards in your career. On our sales training programmes, we ask how many salespeople have planned learning programmes that keep them up to date with the latest trends in communication, negotiation, psychology of business, buyer needs, and other such subjects. It’s embarrassing how few people confirm that they have.

These signs don’t mean there is no hope; they simply mean you have to work at it to make it better. Fortunately there are many ways you can improve, so commit from today that you won’t fall into the trap of the ‘bad salesperson’!

Happy Selling!

Sean

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

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

I read an interesting article by Jim Domanski the other day, where he introduces the ‘rule of 25′.

This rule is good to know when you are trying to cross-sell or up-sell your client.

The rule states that, after people have made the decision to buy, they have accepted they will be spending or investing a certain amount of money. Now, if you have been taught to up-sell or add another product onto that sale, it is unusual for people to spend more than 25% more than what they have just invested.

Don’t ask me why that figure is important…it just seems to be the cut-off point for most customers.

So if your client has already invested £100 in your product or service, asking them to spend more than around £25 more on back-up products or services may prove to be a step too far.

Think about how this ‘rule of 25′ could work with your products. Plan for how this could be used. If you have a extras or services that could be worth your client investing in, think about the extra value they will get from those items or services. And be aware of the initial investment they have made. What could be worth them investing in? How much extra will they have to invest?

Keep this rule in mind next time you are thinking of up-selling or cross-selling. It might help you to gain more incremental sales, and you’ll have the knowledge to know how much farther you could expect your client to go.

Happy Selling!

Sean

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

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

The England Cricket Team has been announced to compete in the Ashes series against Australia in the winter. Among the bowlers is Monty Panesar, a spin bowler who has played for England 33 times. Interestingly, Shane Warne, the legendary Australian spinner, said of Monty, “He hasn’t played in 33 tests; he’s played in one test 33 times!”

What he meant was he thinks Monty is a one-trick pony. He can’t adapt his game to various conditions, and he only has one way of bowling. Batsmen get used to his style and are able to play him because of his predictable nature.

Actually, we love Monty because of his enthusiasm and sheer determination. It got me thinking, though, about how we approach customers at times. Remember that they have seen maybe dozens of salespeople who have tried to sell what you sell, and know exactly what you’re going to say before you do. They’ve got their responses ready and they know exactly what price they want it for.

It’s only when someone approaches them from a different angle, helps them see things from a different perspective and convinces them that the product is going to make their business quicker, safer, more productive or more profitable, that they may say ‘yes’ to your offering.

Think how you can be viewed differently today. How can you approach your customer with a different mindset? Is is possible for you to change your ‘delivery’ rather than send down predictable messages that can easily be batted away?

If you do, you prove to your prospect that you can help their company thrive and prosper in their market place. And that can only be good for business!

Happy Selling!

Sean

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

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

You’ll know how difficult it can be out there to maintain your effective pricing strategy. How often have you been drawn into a price battle with your customer, with the biggest threat going through your mind that you’ll lose the sale if you don’t discount?

Before you do offer a discounted price, bear in mind the following dangers associated with lowering your original figure:

• When you offer discount, you set a precedent. The new price you offer is the reference point from which your customer will start negotiating. When you discount, it’s telling the customer that’s the starting point, and it’s going to be mighty difficult to raise prices again in the future.
• Your pricing point creates an image for your product and your company. By discounting, you effectively reposition your brand message. You are sending the message that your product isn’t as good as you say it is, and you turn it into a commodity, rather than something of value to the customer.
• You tell your competition you are willing to start a price war. When your competition see you discount, they will retaliate by cutting prices, and it’s a downward spiral.
• You are less profitable, and you earn less money. You become more dependent on a price-only strategy, eventually leading to a policy that focuses less on what you can do for the customer and more on cutting costs. This means you have less to invest in R&D and product enhancement, stifling your growth and leading to poorer quality.
• You send the message to your customers that, because your focus is on discounting, you might as well shop around for the cheapest price anywhere, because I have nothing to offer you but a lower price.
• Since the only way your company makes money is through the profits you bring in, you have to start looking inside your company to cut costs. You start asking questions like ‘how can we save a little on quality costs?’ and ‘do we need all these people to support our discounting salespeople?’. You have to cut costs on the inside because you aren’t making the profits on the outside.
• You tell the whole world that your products and services are not as valuable as you suggest they are, making the customer wonder where else you might not be strictly honest.

Do a study on how much your discounts actually cost your company. You may be surprised by how much your short-term thinking affects your long-term prosperity.

Happy selling!

Sean

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

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

This video has a great sales lesson for you.

In this video Google Chrome (Google’s Browser) is pitted against several different objects and activities in a series of speed tests to show just how quick it is.

The purpose of the video is obviously to creat buzz via viral marketing but another objective of the video is to demonstrate just how quick the browser is.

Google could have just proclaimed in it’s marketing and sales gumph that Chrome is the quickest but their approach with this is something completely different.

Chrome is not even pitted against Internet Explorer or Firefox – two direct competitors.

It’s very clever and reminds me of salesman that used to sell security glass and instead of saying how good it was he used to take a piece of this special glass and a hammer with him to meet a prospect and would ask the prospect to smash it with all their might.

90% of the people he met signed up within 20 minutes!

Be different and unique in your selling and you can often win deals on this alone.

Ok, here’s the Chrome video – enjoy!

Happy Selling

Sean

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

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…

Many salespeople tell us that the way they differentiate themselves from their competition is by adding value to their products, in order for the customer to see why they are charging the price they are.

Nothing wrong with this per-se. It adds meaning to why they are positioned where they are, right? The customer can see exactly what they are getting for their money, and by adding value, the customer can make the connection between the product and the savings he will make.

This is good, but could it be better?

How many times do you ‘hold something back’ so you can surprise the prospect with that little extra to encourage them to buy? We sometimes cause ourselves problems here, because the prospect may be wondering what else might you be holding back, and have they really got everything they could from you?

Something to try might be to add value up front.

What I mean by this is showing how much you care, showing the customer what they will gain by working in partnership with you. Your ‘value-add’ ideas may include:

• Free ideas and newsletter from your website
• Free consultations with a specialist department before the prospect makes a decision
• Videos and DVDs of how others have benefited from using your product
• Testimonials from others about you
• Special terms and conditions
• Free samples
• Free trials of the product before they commit

By offering extra value before they have to commit to a decision, it makes the prospect feel they would be missing out if they didn’t go with you. Then you don’t have justify a higher price than your competition by adding on the extras; they have seen the value of your offering before you even start talking about price.

Happy Selling!

Sean

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

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

Click on the image below to find out why you’re very existence as a sales person is in doubt…