Know The Prospective Buyer

Understanding and dealing with different personality types

Buyer Traits
While every person is different, you will find that most prospective customers fit into certain categories. We will examine how to recognise each one, and then provide tips on how to deal with them. These tips, of course, are not concrete rules that apply to every personality and every situation. However, you will find that they provide a good overall view of commonalities in the different types of buyers. Some of these tips will also suggest that in some cases and at some point, you should terminate the sales process. You may feel that this is giving up or accepting defeat. No. This is about being smart and staying professional. You will not make every sale and you will not change the laws of psychics by sacrificing your time, money and dignity.

Different Prospective Buyer Types
1. The Assertive
2. The Paranoid
3. The Know-It-All
4. The Price Only
5. The Timid
6. The Jokester

The Assertive: - This buyer personality is often difficult to deal with. If you have been in the world of selling for any length of time, you have met this person. This is the prospect that interrupts you, is often rude or disrespectful, tries to antagonise you and seems to be someone who eats sales people for lunch. You need not too many tips on how to recognise this person, as it is usually quite clear. However, let us look at a few traits:

Assertive/Aggressive Buyer Traits:
1. Has overly firm handshake: This person usually puts too much emphasis on a handshake, grasping hard and long.
2. Maintains deep and constant eye contact: The person will stare you directly in the eye with unwavering penetration. It is almost as if he or she is testing you to see who will look away first.
3. Sits forward and upright: Usually will not lean back or take a relaxed posture.
4. Overly confident in self and accomplishments: Very sure of him or herself.
5. Will begin to interrupt your presentation: This person will often interject your presentation with objections long before they should arise.

Assertive/Aggressive Buyer Tips
1. Do not change your personality to match: be yourself. This includes your handshake. Allow this person to have the stronger hand. This person often wants some control and if you begin to change, you are allowing the buyer to control you. Be yourself.
2. Keep your eye contact natural. You should always maintain good eye contact with everyone, but don’t go overboard and force unnatural eye contact. Don’t be intimidated to the point where you are afraid to look away. When asking questions and closing, get close and maintain steady eye contact.
3. Sit back and relax. This is one place where you want to adapt. If you are sitting with the person across from a desk or table, as this buyer leans forward don’t lean forward too, this will cause unnecessary challenges and tension.
4. Don’t patronise. Be careful not to patronise this person with condescending, phony complements and agreeing with everything he or she says. If anything, try not to be overly impressed.
5. Patience – then continue. Once again, you do not want to patronise this person. Often this prospect will want to throw you off track or see if they can disrupt your normal flow. Address each question IF it is a question and continue with your normal sales process.
6. Don’t be overly friendly. This is the worst prospect to try to make friends with and try to get them to “buy you” first, false admiration and condescending comments are a bad idea at all times but will mean death with this person.

Summary:
With the aggressive and overly assertive buyer, you want to be yourself. Maintain your composure and do not be moved. You want to give the person respect, but you want him or her to know that you are a professional and will do your job.

The Paranoid – This person seems to be afraid of everything and trusts nothing and no one.

Paranoid Buyer Traits
1. Usually answers questions and comments with, “But…” As in, “I understand that, but what about this…”
2. Will see a negative possibility in almost everything
3. Wants proof and guarantees
4. Will have examples of bad experiences with competitors or industry

Paranoid Buyer Tips
1. Good question. Answer and move on. Let the prospect know that the question or concern is valid. Answer the question, and then move on. Don’t linger or continue to ask if the customer fully understands. Just answer clearly and continue.
2. Don’t try to alleviate unwarranted fears or phobias. Address legitimate issues, but don’t give too much time to fears that are completely ridiculous. If you fall into the trap of fighting ghosts and monsters that don’t exist, you will waste a tremendous amount of time and if by some stretch of the imagination, you happen to make the sale, this customer will be your worst nightmare. Such a customer will cost you far more money in unnecessary service calls, unwarranted complaints and imaginary problems than the sale is worth.
3. Address questions but don’t justify. With this personality, most sales people have the tendency to try to justify or prove everything they say. Answer questions clearly and completely but don’t try to justify your statements. Truth needs no justification and the more information you volunteer, the more this person will turn it against you.
4. Don’t bash the competition. This is a critical mistake. If the customer’s bad experience is something that you are aware of, then show how your company has risen above this problem. If the customer’s complaint is something that appears to be an isolated incident then DON’T JUSTIFY IT BY SLAMMING THE COMPETITION. Let the customer know that it’s an isolated incident and that you are shocked to hear of it. Defend the competition and the integrity of your industry.

Summary:
Don’t add fuel to the fire.

The Know-It-All
This customer can also be very frustrating to deal with. This buyer believes that he or she knows more about your product and company than you do and there is nothing in your presentation that provides any new information. This patient wants to tell the doctor what the prognosis and remedy is.

Know-It-All Buyer Traits
1. Will challenge or debate much of your claims
2. Will test your knowledge of details and industry information
3. Will claim to know more about your competition than you do, including prices

Know-It-All Buyer Tips
This buyer and the assertive/aggressive are similar. However, unlike the assertive buyer, this prospect needs the preverbal pat on the back. Let the customer know that someone as educated in the industry as she always buys your product and the easiest sale your company will make. .

1. Complement buyer on thinking
2. Congratulate buyer on ideas
3. Let buyer know that the educated consumer is best

The Price ONLY
It is very easy to describe this customer’s traits because all they want to know is how much your product or service will cost them. They are not interested in a sales presentation or any explanations of what you have or what you do. They just want to know HOW MUCH!

Price Only Buyer Traits
1. Will tell you they understand all the benefits and a sales presentation isn’t necessary
2. Will tell you they are ready to buy now. Just want a price.

Price Only Buyer Tips
1. Don’t fall into this trap—stick to your presentation
2. Inform the buyer of your pricing process. You should have a presentation that requires feedback and answers from your buyer so you can construct a proposal or a price. Let the prospect know that you have a process to come up with the best price and it is in their best interest that you follow your process.
3. When all else fails, put your foot down. When you have exhausted all avenues try this approach: “Listen, Mr. Prospect. I appreciate your enthusiasm and interest for my product and I sincerely appreciate your time. However, I am a professional and all of my customers became customers because they are able to make a well-informed, well-educated decision. So, unless you allow me to give you all of the information you need so you too can make a well-informed decision, then I am afraid that I can not allow you to make any decision at all and I will have to leave.” If the prospect allows you to continue after this point, you will almost always make the sale. If the customer continues in the same way, then keep your word and leave.

Summary:
Giving the buyer the price before they have all the proper information is a disservice to them.

The Timid
This can be one of the most confusing prospects and one that can cause you many lost sales. This person is quiet and doesn’t usually ask any questions.

The Timid Buyer Traits
1. Asks very few questions
2. Agrees with everything you say
3. Offers no definitive objections

The Timid Buyer Tips
1. You must pull information out of this person. You have to get them involved
2. Do not assume that the silence and the smile means that they agree or buy your service/product
3. Offer objections. Provide challenges to what you say—then overcome them

Summary:

Silence is not always golden.

The Jokester
This person will also cost you a lot of money if you’re not careful. This person is full of distractions that take you off course and out of the sales process. This buyer is usually overly nice, cordial and more like a good friend than a prospect. He or she wants to go to lunch with you, have dinner with you, and play golf with you and everything else except do business with you. Full of jokes and funny stories, this person will turn every serious conversation into a comic routine and avoid making a decision for as long as possible.

The Jokester Buyer Traits
1. Will avoid and put off questions
2. Wants to have a long meeting or lunch to talk about anything but business
3. Is afraid you are going to ask for the order

The Jokester Buyer Tips
1. Keep your cordial attitude, but stay firm on questions until you get an answer
2. Let the prospect know that you want to discuss other things, and will, AFTER you both take care of business.
3. This prospect thrives on the belief that you are too intimidated or afraid to ask for the order, don’t be. Do not make friends before you do business. Make friend AS you do business.

Summary: Stay focused and ask for the order with conviction.

Let’s put it all together.

Understanding and dealing with different personality types

Buyer Types and Tips be yourself
 Keep natural eye contact. .
 Sit back and relax.
 Don’t patronise
 Patience – then continue

Do not be too friendly

Assertive/Aggressive Buyer:
• Has overly firm handshake:
• Maintains deep and constant eye contact:
• Sits forward and upright:
• Overly confident in self and accomplishments:
• Will begin to interrupt your presentation

Pardoid Buyer
• Answers questions with, “But…”
• Finds negative in everything
• Wants proof and guarantees
• Has bad experiences with competitors

 Good question. Answer and move on
 Do not chase ghost and phobias
 Address questions but do not justify
 Defend the integrity of your industry

Know-It-All Buyer
• Challenges and debates
• Tests your knowledge and details
• Knows more than you

 Complement buyer on thinking
 Congratulate buyer on ideas
 You like educated consumer

Price Only Buyer
• Presentation is unnecessary
• Ready to buy now
• Just need price

 Stick to your presentation
 Inform of pricing process.
 Put your foot down

The Timid Buyer
• Has very few questions
• Agrees with everything you say
• Offers no definitive objections

 Pull out information
 Silence is not golden
 Offer objections, then solve

The Jokester
• Will avoid questions
• Wants long meetings or lunch
• Is afraid you’ll ask for the order

 Get an answer
 Will play AFTER business
 ASK FOR THE ORDER

Happy Prospecting!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

A NEW SALES APPROACH - It’s not what you think…

Here’s a question I received recently:

“Is there a new/better approach to building interest in a product or service than the time honoured direct mail + cold calling process most marketers utilise?

The cost of telemarketing is outrageous. The targets never remember reading your direct mail. And they are all numb from the continual marketing onslaught from every conceivable angle.

What are some cost-effective, new and innovative approaches that will permit me to use the great sales techniques you have helped to hone?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
John

Here are my thoughts on this:

Thank you for the plug, and let me say that your observation is spot-on about the most formidable challenge in the world of selling today: sky-rocketing high prospecting costs, using age-old and ineffective techniques, resulting in a dismal return on investment.

You are correct in that this problem is serious and we do indeed need a new approach.

In answer to your question, is there a cost effective, new and innovate approach? Yes!

However, the overall interpretation of the problem, the analysis of current conditions and the solution to the problem, may not be what you would expect and is infinitely too in-depth for me to cover here. But I can give you an overview of the concept.

Let me begin by first sharing a few facts:

As far as the costs; prospecting expenditures, in particularly in telemarketing has gone up year after year. B2B Magazine reports that almost 46% of all marketers will once again, increase their budgets on lead generation, most by around 20% and about half of all sales companies say that above every other business objective, their top business priority is lead generation and sales lead management.

And as to the effectiveness; a recent B2B Marketing Effectiveness Survey found that while over 60% of all sellers use telemarketing for lead generation, less than half of them report that it is effective for them or pays for itself. The survey also found that 88% extensively prospect electronically and by email, but only 20% see real results. And, you are absolutely right in that the survey also found that 62% of all marketers spend small fortunes on those beautiful fancy, full-color glossy brochures that you mail out, but they report barley a 6% effectiveness rating.

So yes; costs are up, results are down and something has to give. And yes, the whole thing stems from the fact that the, as you so eloquently put it, “time-honoured,” techniques simply no longer work.

However, it is not the mediums; that is the telephone or the post, that are the problem. Nor is it even the time-honoured techniques. What has occurred is that the medium and the techniques are being used for a prospective customer who no longer exists.

We are dealing with a new, modern, educated, sales savvy and sophisticated buyer and need equally a new and educated way of thinking.

We can still use the telephone and make those cold calls and the direct mail-follow-up call process will work, IF we change our thinking and our approach to match the new prospective customer of today.

In that, I am not talking about a few new fancy words or off-pat answers to objections or a slicker mailer. I mean that we need to make a complete paradigm shift in the world of selling; we must re-create our entire profession from the ground up.

I have made this the single most important objective in my business, my career, in fact, in my life. I have developed the solution and MTD is just beginning to reveal and market that solution.

However, the reason I mentioned the above is because the solution to this sales conundrum we are in, is not a newer bunch of sales closes. It is about our thinking and understanding and will require a whole lot of work and study. As sales professionals, we have to re-learn what we think we know.

You see, the only reason the costs for telemarketing is so high is because the results are so low. The only reason the results are so low is because the prospects most of us are calling is not there any longer and therefore those old, tried and true techniques are simply no longer valid.

But stay tuned!

I am developing a new product that is so new and innovate that it will turn the world of selling upside down!

Prepare to re-think every single thing you have ever learned about selling.

Prepare to trash sales concepts and ideas that you may have held sacred for years.

I won’t tell you what the concept is called just yet because I am gagged by my law team at the moment. But make sure that you are subscribed to my weekly sales tips newsletter so you
are the first to know when it’s released and of course I will be offering a very special deal for my loyal subscribers!

Watch this space

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone:
0800 849 6732

When it Comes to Prospecting, Planning is Key

Efficient prospecting is the difference between success and failure in every B2B sales career. However, good prospecting requires much more than just prospecting skill and professionalism; it also takes good planning.

There are many aspects to an effective prospecting plan; however, if you follow this one tip, it will virtually ensure results. Simply, “Work the stats, then stat the work.” Let me explain.

You need to work by science; statistics and data; the averages. You must know for a fact, exactly how many calls, or emails, or letters you need to send or complete everyday and stick to that number—no matter what.

Here’s an example:

Let’s say in your sales model you first make cold calls to companies that fit your target demographics. Then, you reach the decision maker (DM) and qualify the person and the company, asking the prospect to opt in to receive your literature. You then call to follow up and try to set an appointment. Finally, you make an in-person sales presentation and close for the sale.

You want to know exactly how many of those initial cold calls it takes, on the average, for you to end up with one sale. Now, you should already be working with a good Customer Relationships Management (CRM) software tool like ACT!, Sage, Salesforce, GoldMine of something which records your sales activity in detail. Or you should be able to find such data on previous sales people. In either case, how many calls does it take for you to end up with one sale?

For instance, let’s say that you have a closing average of about 33%. In other words, over time you know that you close about one out of every three presentations or consummated appointments that you make and ask to the order. Now, determine how many of those follow-up calls it takes for you to set one good appointment. You obviously don’t set an appointment with every single person you call to follow up. Maybe you find that it’s 50%: for every two prospects you follow up with, you set one appointment. And you need three appointments to make one sale.

So, actually it takes you six of those follow-up calls to make one sale.

Make sense?

Now take it just one step further. How many initial cold calls does it take for you to find one prospect to opt in and allow you to send information in the post and follow up? Say that you need to make five cold calls to get set two call-backs, to get one appointment.

So your stats would be: 15 cold calls = 6 warm calls = 3 appointments = 1 sale! Now remember, these are averages over time and it may not work that way every week or month.

But this is the data; the science of your business. Figure out exactly what your prospecting stats are first. Then concentrate on one number only: the first number—in this example, the 15 cold calls.

In planning your work, focus on the 15 and make them no matter what. Plan them according to your available prospecting time and divide it evenly. Perhaps you need to make five cold calls everyday or 20 cold calls every week. Figure out your first number, hit it with consistency and then keep good records of your work; periodically checking to make sure that you are sticking to the plan. Use the facts and not your feelings.

Also, do not get caught up in what happens during this prospecting period; remember it is a plan. If you are having a bad day, so what. As long as you maintain the numbers; the proper work ethic—the sales will come. Just hit your numbers. If you your plan is to make 18 cold calls everyday and you get on the phone and make three appointments after only 5 calls—so what?

FOLLOW YOUR PLAN!

Make those 18 calls no matter what.

Consistency is the key in successful selling.

So, in planning your prospecting, work the stats, then stat the work!

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training
Tel: 0800 849 6732

Sales people constantly ask me about prospecting techniques and methods. Yet the solution may not be techniques you need to employ, rather mistakes you need to avoid.

Below are five deadly prospecting mistakes that sales people routinely make.

These blunders can and have ended sales careers.

So take note of these five killers from the least deadly to the most.

And avoid them like the plague!

#5 – Poor Record Keeping

Most sales people overlook the importance of keeping good activity records. Prospects that slip through the cracks are often the difference between success and failure. Prospects you forgot to call, emails you
didn’t send or lost leads, are a fraction of what slips through your fingers.

If you are using post-it notes, an A4 pad, memory or the back of a cigarette packet for prospecting, you are losing money!

Even tools like Outlook and Access cannot handle the complexities of professional sales prospecting.

You must become an expert with a CRM, (Customer Relationship Management) program. Don’t look at it as an expense because it will pay for itself many times over.

Failing to keep good records is a major mistake you can avoid by having a system in place.

#4 – Selling the Product or Service Prematurely

The next prospecting mistake is to fall into the trap of selling the product or the service instead of the appointment.

Sometimes this is due to a poorly structured appointment setting presentation, other times it is deliberate.

Some sales people are looking for the easy sale; the person who says, “I’ve been waiting for you to call! Please let me to give you my money!” and this is a critical mistake.

When setting appointments you must remember your objective is to sell ONLY the appointment. You don’t want to be evasive, but you must help the prospect understand that the answers to their questions are the reason why a personal meeting is necessary. And again, do not look for the lay-down-sale. Find qualified prospects and then—-DO YOUR JOB!

#3 – Failing to Get and Use Referrals

With all the “tricks” out there for getting referrals, the easiest one is to simply ASK FOR THEM. It is amazing so many sales people still fall short in this area which is likely due to the sales person’s lack of personal belief in their product. If you do not deeply believe in what you sell, it is hard to ask for referrals, especially from a prospect that did not buy.

Then there is the sales person who makes the sale and wants to hurry and leave or quickly get off the telephone. Take your time after closing a sale.

Make sure paperwork and details are correct and ask for referrals from everyone including the “no-sales.”

Then, when you get referrals from the no-sale—CALL THEM.

A huge mistake sales people make is they are afraid to call referrals they received from prospects who did not buy.

Call all referrals without regard to their source.

#2 – The Smile & Dial Approach

The second deadliest prospecting mistake is to come on with the old school, smile and dial approach. On the telephone, in person or by email, many sales people still use the overly enthusiastic, insincere, pep-rally
approach.

Consumers today are educated and have heard the old sales pitch before and they are tired of it. Your approach should be relaxed, professional and sincere.

You need to lose that big phony smile and tone down your enthusiasm. There is a time when you will get enthusiastic such as when explaining benefits, but it is not during your initial approach.

#1 – Inconsistent Work Ethic

The number one deadly mistake in prospecting is to have an inconsistent work ethic. The sales profession is the most subjective business in the world. It is easier to fool yourself in sales than in any other
profession.

At the end of the day or week, you may honestly believe that you called on a ton of prospects, made a bunch of calls and sent out a gang of emails. But what you THINK and FEEL will seldom match with the facts.

You cannot judge your performance by your emotions; you must rely only factual data. This is another area a CRM will help. You have to know exactly how many prospects you called or flyers or emails you sent.

Then you must set prospecting activity goals and stick to them. If you say that you will make 30 prospecting calls a week, then don’t think you did—KNOW you did.

Also, immediately after a big sale or a good month, usually prospecting activity drops off dramatically.

Set clear prospecting activity goals and use factual data to ensure you consistently meet them. Avoid these five deadly mistakes and prospecting will become your friend not your foe.

Sean Mc