Archive for category: General Information

If you’re in sales, at some point, you have probably challenged yourself with the attitude that when a prospect says “no” that’s when “real” selling begins, because “no is just the first step to yes”.  Our type A personalities are programed to believe that a “no” is a failure.  While it can be disappointing, it is inevitable if you have a career in sales.  Review these tips to remind yourself that N-O is O-K.

1.  Be open to the fact that not everyone is a perfect fit for what you sell. 

This realization will keep your objectivity clear, reminding you that you are not a failure for not selling to everyone.  In fact, if you push the sale when “no” is really the best answer for a prospect, you can be pretty sure that “no” would have been the best answer for you too.  When the customer realizes that they were “sold”, your persistent push to “yes” can become your biggest nightmare for the next few years, when trying to satisfy an unhappy customer who wasn’t a good fit in the first place.

 2.  Re-evaluate your role. 

Instead of thinking that your job is to convince people to buy from you, take a customer-focused approach, having a desire to help a prospect solve a problem or reach a business objective…with your product or service, of course.  The ultimate success is when a prospect starts convincing you that he has a problem and needs your help.  When your approach is to understand their needs, the dynamics change dramatically, and you end up with a happy customer who tells one person, and they tell another, and so on.  Now that’s a “yes”!

3.  Any sales technique that puts the buyer at a disadvantage is inappropriate.

When your goal is to resist a “no”, you create an atmosphere of pressure that will turn an interested prospect into a defensive prospect. Buyers hate pressure. Pressure kills rapport and trust.  A wise sales person will try to remove the pressure and build trust by actually giving a prospect the opportunity to say “no” early in the conversation. Interestingly, the more opportunities you give a prospect to say “no”, the fewer “no’s” you will actually hear.

4.  Provide an easy exit. 

Although this behavior is contradictory to what a prospect would expect from a sales person, give this a try:

Susan, we may get to the end of our meeting today and find out that our company and our potential solutions may not be an appropriate fit to your business challenges.  If it is apparent that there is no point in continuing this discussion, I want you to understand that I am okay with you telling me that.  I will not try to convince you otherwise if that is your decision.

There are two winners in every sale:  The one who wins the business, and the one who gets out the earliest, realizing that they will not win the business.  It’s simple but true:  N-O is O-K.

 

 

 

 

The 2018 Del Mar Thoroughbred Horse Racing Season held its Opening Day in Del Mar, on July 18^th, with racing fans talking of “odds”,  “win, place or show”, “handicap”, “homestretch”, and ultimately, “winning the purse”.  Last year, Flannery Sales Systems held a round table discussion with 18 business people talking about making it through the backstretch of 2017 with Sales Process; looking at “handicaps”, avoiding getting “shut out”, and “winning the purse” more often, more quickly, and with better forecasting odds, to help them place bets on winning more deals to drive Q3 and Q4 revenue.

For serious racing fans, betting on the right thoroughbred requires an in depth understanding of the horse and the dynamics of the race; It’s more than just a gamble.  It’s a process.  For sellers, a formalized, documented, repeatable Sales Process can help take the “gamble” out of winning a deal. CSO Insights says that the win rate on forecasted deals in 2016 was 46.4%-less than HALF “came in”.

 

Our round-table discussion centered around four main topics with expert comments shared and bulleted beneath each topic.

1. Establishing a Customer’s Buying Process Stages (Determining “Odds” Based on an Understanding of a Prospect’s Buying Process)

• “A real Sales Process is based on how your customers buy; it is more than a few stages designated in your CRM.”
• “Process keeps everyone in the office on the same page.”

2. Understanding a Prospect’s Needs (Avoid getting “shut out” by selecting opportunities best suited to your solution)

• “People think they understand my products, but they don’t really understand how to USE my product to help them reach their goals.  That is my job, but I have to understand their NEEDS first!”
• “’Avoid show-up and throw-up’ and the ‘harbor tour’ by understanding the prospect’s needs BEFORE offering your solution.”

3. Identifying, Developing and Enhancing Selling Skills Associated With Each Stage (Reducing “Handicaps”)

• “Most managers are “deal coaches”. A true manager will help elevate the SKILLS of their reps.”
• “We try to hire the skill set, but need to follow-up with training on specific skill deficits. We’re not sure what those deficits are.”

4. Monitoring Progress from Stage to Stage with Prospect Verified Outcomes (Measuring “Furlongs” all the way to the “Homestretch” for the Win!)

• “It’s hard to tell if opportunities are moving forward or stuck.”
• “Confirm a prospect’s urgency and their time commitment to the project.”

Applying process, and supplementing it with a Sales Skills Coaching program (a trainer and a jockey?) increases win rates by 11%. Our customers have recognized these results, and are off to a winning season!  We welcome the opportunity to speak with you about where to get started. So let’s speak soon, as the horses are on the track!

 

In this final post of our three part “Prospecting Spotlight” series, we elaborate on the strategies for effectively getting in touch with key contacts after hearing news of an award or recognition for an innovative accomplishment.

After establishing your target account list, create a system to actively engage with an organization’s activity and their industry in general. My favorite method is setting up news alert feeds which summarize articles based on keywords of your choice, but do not let this be your only source of information. In sales, creativity is critical for success.

Expand your options. Networking is a powerful tool for acquiring information. Look for relevant events and do your homework by utilizing LinkedIn and other tools so you know exactly who to approach.

When the time to establish contact comes, equipping yourself with an appropriate opener is key. This is where the news of a recent award or accomplishment comes into play.

Maintaining authenticity is of paramount importance when using news of an award or accomplishment as your reason to establish contact. It will backfire and tarnish your reputation if a prospect gets the sense you are not being genuine. Flattery must be sincere to be effective.

Start by reaching out to whoever is highlighted in the article about your target company’s success. If there is not an obvious contact, use your detective skills to find someone with a relevant title. Even if your guess is incorrect, this honors the person you are reaching out to because it shows you attribute their efforts directly to the success of their organization.

Pull specifics from the article or their LinkedIn profile to use in your messaging. For example: “I saw you manage the worldwide product development team for Company X, congratulations on the success of….” Your goal is relating their responsibilities as it ties to the award or accomplishment.

If your prospect replies, gently probe on common pain points associated with the tasks behind their success. Demonstrate how you can help to solve their challenges with your products or services.  Prove how you are a valuable resource to similar organizations to your prospect with customer success stories.

If there is no immediate need, use the same approach for establishing yourself as an industry expert mentioned in the earlier articles of this series (*Link to* “How Expansion Opens New Doors” & “Leadership Changes Create New Opportunities”) and wait patiently. There is no need to create artificial pressure and rush a prospect; your opportunity will come with time. Building out your pipeline is just as important for driving revenue as closing a deal this quarter.

Ultimately, with prospecting your goal is to be creative. The methodologies highlighted in our Prospecting Spotlight series all stem from the idea of putting your target prospect first. Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People stresses the fact that everyone loves the sound of his or her own name. Leveraging this into sales is an extremely effective tool for prospecting.

There are seemingly infinite sales people competing against you to get a prospect’s attention. So many of them neglect this golden rule and craft their messaging about what their products or services are all about – everyone loves the sound of their name, but the salespeople who set themselves apart and get decision maker’s attention are those who like to hear the sound of their prospect’s name.