Normally there are several people involved in a decision nowadays as committee decisions are becoming more common place now than ever before for several reasons.

1. Prospects like to get buy in from the people/departments/senior managers who will either be using the product or service or who are responsible for implementing it

2. Decision Makers are scared to make poor decisions. At least if 5 of them have made a bad decision, if it all goes wrong then they will not be singled out!

3. Scared. A lot of decision makers can’t simply make a decision on their own - this is a really important point to bare in mind. Some are “external reference” people which means they need facts, opinions, back up, input and evidence before making a decision

4. Then there are those that just CAN’T make a decision to save their lives! Whether it be your product or service, what to have to lunch, what to wear etc !!!!!!

Work out the buying process up front and it will really save you a lot of time, meetings, presentations and frustration!

This is just another reason to upgrade your selling skills to match those upgraded skills of the modern day buyer - they are a lot more sales savvy than you think!

Happy committee selling!

Sean

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

MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

Knowing that tightening budgets and shrinking revenues are an issue, you can now walk in the door using this to your advantage.  During lean times, companies do what they can to become more lean and mean.  In effect, they strive to become more efficient; making use of every penny and wasting nothing.

So when customers complain of being light on cash flow, then this is the time they can least afford to waste money.  This is the time they can not afford to let things slip through the cracks. Now is the time they must plug up the holes!

Do your products or services help your customers to plug up some holes?  Do you help them save money?  If you can find anyway at all that will help them to save money or resources, then turn that benefit around and sell the money they spend without your product or service.

This is an integral technique in selling most services due to the fact that it is easier to uncover a fear of loss when selling an intangible than the desire for gain.  However, in these times, take anything and everything that you can, and reverse that benefit to show that the prospect is spending or losing money without your product or service.

Think about it:  if the main issue, the primary objection will be that they do not have the money then if you can effectively show this prospect that right now, without your product, that they are already spending MORE money than what your product or service costs — then guess what?

Prospective Customer:
“Well, it looks good, but we really can’t afford to spend any money right now.”

Sales Person:
“Sure, that’s exactly why I’m here Jo, I know you can’t afford to spend any money right now.  But every month, you are spending £1,560 on heating your warehouse.  Our new Thermo 9000 will cut that cost by 80%.  I agree, Mr. Prospect, you can’t afford to keep spending an extra £1,248 every month. Installing our Thermo 9000 right now will put about £15,000 back into your pocket.”

Turn the benefit around and empathize the tight economic conditions.  Start from the beginning—even at making the appointment:

Sales Person:
“Mr. Prospect, Lisa Johnson here with ABC Widgets? The reason I’m calling is that in these tight economic times, most companies are really feeling the pinch and simply don’t have money to spend.

Well, we have a new widget processing system that will put thousands of pounds back into your monthly budget, adding to your bottom-line and giving you more money to do your job…”

Now after an introduction like that, it is unlikely this prospect will come back and say, “We don’t have any money.”  The sales person just said that the reason she is calling is because she already knows they have no money!

The process is simple, though not always easy:

•    Take a benefit that your product or service offers to your customers.
•    Turn that benefit around to find the problem that is costing the customer money in some way.
•    Figure out the savings to the customer
•    Instead of selling the savings—sell the flip side—the costs.  Emphasize what they are LOSING, spending, wasting.
•    Stress this spending as the key—using the hard times as the reasoning

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat - The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling

MTD Sales Training

Telephone - 0800 849 6732

From time to time I’m also asked to write sales scripts for face to face sales too.

Here’s my take on this:

To be honest, OVERALL,  I am not a big fan of using scripts. If you’re new to a company, or if you’re selling a specific product then a script can help you to learn the ropes but a script should never be used verbatim.

I can tell a mile off when someone is using a scipt and you lose a lot of the personal touch and nouse that gets you through a sales interaction.

Instead, I’m all for using a framework instead of a script. With this it would look like a mind map of certain pieces of information or keywords to cover. Not a word for word script but a planned “not canned” framework.

Successful selling is all about being flexible in any sales interaction. As soon as you use a script and your prospect throws a question in that you haven’t thought of or don’t have a canned answer to, you can be easily thrown off track.

Instead, have a brainstorm of the areas you need to cover - whether it be a telephone call or a face to face interaction. Be flexible and use the framework as a guide.

If you are new, then use a script to start with and then ditch it in favour of a framework and mind map.

Happy planning and not canning your approach!

Sean

Sean McPheat

The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling

MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

“Sean, here’s my main problem: Our clients want to reduce their business by a few ££ or say that they will have to stop doing business for a few months. I cannot afford to lose total revenue so being forced to compromise on profits. Or do I take a risk and say I cannot lower prices?”

My thoughts:

You mentioned the options are to either make compromises on profits by lowering prices or remain firm and risk losing business.  Well, there is a third option: Raise the value.  Or use a combination, by dramatically raising the value and only slightly reducing the price.

There are usually several ways to raise the value and the perceived value of a product or service without significantly increasing costs.  Often this may include more attention, more time or more personal service, which yes, will increase the overall cost basis, but not the cost of goods sold.
Look to finds areas where you can raise the tangible or perceived value of what you sell.   This can be in services or in processes or in even in people.  As long as you remain in the general range of the market for your product, you should be able to gain an advantage on the competition by raising value. Without knowing exactly what you do, I can’t give you any suggestions, but here’s a generic example:

Two shoe repair shops across the street from each other.  Due to lean times, one cuts prices and reduces the space he is renting to save money. The other, uses this fact and instead of cutting prices or space, adds some comfortable seats in his shop along with free coffee and cakes while you wait.
Now the choice for customers is a shoe repair while you stand for 30 minutes or go out and walk around, for £4.  Or sit in a comfy chair, watch a bit of TV and have coffee and a doughnut while your shoes are repaired for £5.
One has a sign that says, “Shoes Repaired While You Wait.”  The other says, “Shoes Expertly Mended While You Rest!”

I know these are generic examples for illustration, but I hope you see what I am getting to.

I know sometimes that it’s not even possible, but first do everything you can to explore every area to increase the value far beyond the cost.   Also in a selling situation, remember that people and process can add value.  Where one software firm employs high school grads and college interns to help with programming, the other only uses skilled programmers—this is an added value.
Whenever possible look for ways to add more. Remember that every price or money centered objection, whether that be in the form of the economy or not, is still about value.  Once the return for letting the money go, exceeds the cost of holding on to the money—sold!

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat

The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling

MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

With this you’ll most likely hit 25% of yearly sales target with one piece of business.

But do you continually go after whales all of the time at the expense of smaller fish?

My advice is that your pipeline should consist of both.

The reason being is that to bag a large deal normally takes you a lot longer time to close and they take up a lot of your attention usually at the expense of the smaller deals.

That’s not to say that you should not go for them, but you should have both in your pipeline.

For example, to get the deal which made 25% of your yearly target it may have taken you 60% of your time  to get it so it puts you under pressure then to make up the difference.

Make sure that your prospecting strategy includes approaches to big fish as well as small fish.

The big fish will give you a fantastic feast but after a while you’ll go hungry. Whereas a steady supply of little tiddlers interspersed with the odd whale will keep you full all year round!

Happy Hunting!

Sean

Sean McPheat

The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling

MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

But there’s no room for egos in the sales process!

Here’s why…

You see, when you approach a sale as a “WIN-LOSE” event you lose the need to have the prospects best interests at heart in favour of winning the business.

Your ego takes over.

Your ego wants you to look good, to talk the most, to be right and ultimately to win but in sales this is not always the case.

Both you and your prospects need to look good, the prospect more so. Your prospect should be doing most of the talking not you and you need WIN-WIN outcomes where you BOTH feel like you’ve got the best end of the deal.

It goes right against what your EGO wants!

Oh, ok, I’ll admit it - I have a big EGO! But I leave it at the door when it comes to a sales interaction.

The only outcome on my mind is to get what’s right for the prospect even if it means walking away - and I am deadly serious about that.

So, lose the EGO and focus on your prospect’s needs and wants and watch your sales fly!

Happy EGO losing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling

MTD Sales Training

Oh come on….I did say I had an EGO!

This goes far beyond the call of duty of a “typical sales person”.

Instead, you want to position yourself as an expert in your field, the “GO TO” person for whatever you sell.

And it goes far beyond what you sell too. I’m flattered to be called a leader in my field by the press and other sources and I receive requests from my clients ranging from “Do you know anyone who could help us with IT?” through to “Could you help us to set up some joint ventures?”

I can tell you that the list is endless!

But in order to achieve this “status” in the marketplace, you’ve got to put the hard, long hours in.

You should be centred on your clients and prospects at all times. I send them any articles I see in the papers, any free resources I am privvy too, any latest news I pick up from my travels and anything I feel will be of benefit to them.

Of course, when I meet with them I know my stuff and the ongoing support I provide for them takes me/MTD into partnership status instead of third party supplier.

And that’s exactly the position you need to get to. And like always if you want any advice on this please just click here with your scenario and I’ll be happy to give you some pointers.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat - The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling

MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

"Please help me identify where I am going wrong Sean?" was his plea!

Here are my thoughts on this…

Personally, I’m a numbers junkie. I like to know every single stat and number of my selling.

Why?

Well, that’s easy.

You see, if you can split out your sales process into 8 different steps (for example) and you can measure each one then when I’m not getting the results I want I can analyse each one of those steps and see where the bottlenecks are.

I’m not just talking about the bog standard steps either. I mean EVERY STEP.

Too many sales people go through a "slump" where their number of closed sales are not what they should be. So what do they do? Well, they start to muck about with their presentation and how they close and they tinker with little things here and there.

The bottom line is that they do not know where the problem is so they guess. Well, with a well thought out sales process, one which you can measure, these bottlenecks can easily be identified.

For example, the problem might not be in the sales presentation at all - that ratio might be just has high as normal. The problem might not be the number of prospects in the pipeline either. The problem might not be with the number of appointments set too.

"So where is the bloomin problem?" I hear you cry.

Well the problem might have been that your decision makers were cancelling the appointments that you had set with them and because you were so busy busy busy, something like that could have gone un-noticed. So many "lost sales" fall under the radar.

So on  the face of it your appointment setting ratios are still the same, your closing ratios are still the same yet your number of actual closed deals is falling.

Something like unfulfilled appointments can slip through the net undetected. They might go unrecorded for example.

So what would this mean?

Well, it might mean that you are selling too hard in your cold calls. By this I mean that the prospect agrees to a meeting just to get you off the phone and then cancels later on.

You need to understand every step of your sales process not matter how small or trivial and then you need to measure that step.

Something trivial looking like just improving the number of returned calls you get when leaving voice messages can make you an additional 5-10 sales per year just by changing the message you leave everything else being equal.

What you need to do next is:

• Go somewhere quiet and map out your end to end sales process in as much detail as you can - leave nothing out!
• Take steps to measure the numbers and ratios at each stage
• Consistently review your figures at each stage so you know what’s working and what isn’t

Happy Selling! (and measuring!)

Sean

Sean McPheat

The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

"Hi Mr Prospect, it’s John Byrne from ABC, how are you?"

Do you get upset when a cold caller uses the "How are you?" opening?

It’s a bit like marmite really - you either love it or hate it!

Well, I’ve been putting the question out to my networks and it’s a 75/25 split against using the question.

My take on this?

I can see both sides of the story. In my experience of having helped 10,000 sales people around the world, your success in asking the question will all come down to the execution of it.

I’ve used the question myself in the past and have got some awesome results. Having said that, we don’t train it nowadays as much as we used to because the modern day buyer has wised up to it because so many cold callers ask it! The thing is, is that you need to ask it in the right way. It’s no good asking it in the tonality which says "I’m calling for your money". Those cheesy openings from the smile and dial era are to blame for giving the "How are you?" question a bad name in the first place!

Personally, I don’t like being on the end of "How are you?" because as of yet no-one has said it in a way that made me feel that they were genuinely interested in me apart from getting money.

But what do you think?

Do you use it?

Do you hate it?

Well, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Maybe you use the line and have had great success with it? Maybe you use the line and wonder why you don’t get the results you want?

If you do use it, your success will depend on the timing and also the tonality of your voice.

Please make a comment on this blog below and let me know what you think.

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat

The UK’s #1 Authority On Sales Success

PS I’ve just started a new group called Practical Sales Tips on LinkedIn - I would love you to join the group and it’s also a great opportunity to network with other sales people too. The debate about "How are you?" is hotting up there too!

So there I was just preparing to write my blog on how well Danny and Anna-Marie did in the latest task, about their "out of the box" thinking, their creativity and their activity rates and up comes Gavin with one deal and he wins the whole damn show.

Ridiculous really.

His sob sob story about how crap he was to the guy who pledged £20,001 was pretty appalling.

Still, that’s by the by (embedded comand for a sale there! "by" instead of "buy") well done Gavin!

Nice guys can win but it was a complete fluke and you got lucky.

It just shows that you should never give up but by Gavin winning it really made a mockery out of the entire series and how must Danny be feeling? Absolutely gutted I would think.

By far, the best sales person on the show was Danny and he ended up with nothing.

Anna-Marie - you did a great job too.

I had loads to say about how well you two guys did but I’m still gobsmacked and I’ve been up since 4am as I had an early bird flight to Amsterdam this morning so my typing skills at 12:00am are not too hot!

So this brings the Natural Born Sellers series to a close. ITV should have pulled their fingers out and sold it more themselves. I don’t think they’ll be another series.

But I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the series and I’ve also enjoyed the email and telephone chats I’ve had with most of the contestants and I’ve made friends with quite a few of them too.

All the very best and happy selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat

The UK’s #1 Authority On Sales Success

MTD Sales Training