Selling to Committees All buyers want to have options, and they want a simple way to compare those options. An example is the Mutual Fund industry. Most brokerages have tools that allow buyers to compare funds side-by-side, helping them to make an informed decision. Yet Matthew Morey of New York’s Pace University, found that it was not necessarily the performance metrics that motivated the purchase … Read more
This is a Sales Call It’s no secret that most people want to avoid sales calls. Once people figure out they have a salesperson on the line, they can’t wait to get off the phone. Traditional sales advice is to cajole them to staying on the phone. But forcing someone to give you their time is unlikely to bring about a positive response. Instead, when … Read more
The Road to Sales Mastery In one of my recent Software Sales Bootcamps, one of my students mentioned that his CEO had been through one of my bootcamps and was using the techniques he learned on sales calls and it wasn’t always smooth and natural. My question to him was, “What makes you skeptical? Is it because his technique is not working?” The student said, … Read more
Objections in Sales Presentations Overcoming objections is an important step in the sales process, but it’s one of the most dreaded parts of sales. No one likes handling objections, but when they come out of left field they can throw off your game – and your sales forecast. I’m going to make the argument that if you are getting regular objections and stalls from buyers, … Read more
Action Items “When you leave a sales meeting, it shouldn’t only be you who has an action item. The customer needs to have an action item too.” This statement came from a salesperson in one of my training sessions. Though early in her sales career, she had already realized that you need the prospective customer to buy-in to the process and work with you to … Read more
Giving Concessions is Not Negotiating Master negotiators make sure their counterpart walks away from the table feeling like a winner. And they do so with a minimum of concessions. Yet, the paradox is that sellers who give away huge concessions easily, will end up with an unhappy prospect who harbors some vague, inexplicable sense that he’s been cheated. Giving concessions is not negotiating. Marking up … Read more
When to Disengage There may be a time when you find yourself in a situation in which a buyer is asking for something that you, as the salesperson, do not know how to respond to. When this happens, it’s important to remember that an agreement does not need to be reached in one meeting. It’s okay to disengage from the discussion to gather more information, … Read more
The Four Stages of Learning I recently discussed the value of training in order to change our instinctive response to certain situations. If you’ve read my other sales tips, you know that I strongly believe in the value of coaching and repetition in order to learn new skills. Let’s take a quick look at the four stages of learning new skills, as popularized by Noel … Read more
4 Ways to Ensure Sure Asking Questions is not an Interrogation I recently talked about the need to use a checklist during your sales calls. A checklist of questions will help guide and bring purpose to your sales conversations, but it does bring a risk of sounding like an interrogation. We discussed this issue in one of my recent Software Sales Bootcamps. #1 Pay Attention … Read more
The Purpose of Questions When you’re on a sales call, you should have a purpose. That purpose helps to focus your questions and guide the call, to ultimately bring about a solution. If you went to engineering school, like I did, you were taught that asking the right questions will bring you 80% of the way to a solution. You cannot jump to a solution, … Read more