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In the past we've spoken about the importance of getting your name out to as many people as possible in order to create as many potential leads as possible. We talked about putting your URL on your car, writing articles and posting them on article banks, and also putting out press releases. One other idea you should be taking advantage of are the social networks.
Join Linked In, Twitter, Face Book and others and put information up there that lets people know what you do. Also, join some of the sites such as Classmates.com so you can connect with people you went to school with.
The bottom line: The more places you post your name and what you do, the more people you will potentially reach and the more prospects and customers you will potentially get. Get your name out on all the social networking sites and join other groups that will allow you to connect with new people and also people from your past.
John Chapin - co-author of Sales Encyclopedia www.completeselling.com
If you are strictly in telephone selling, today's blog post really won't relate much to you. If you are in face-to-face sales, how much face time are you getting these days?
They say that in a tough economy, the average salesperson cuts face-to-face calls by 37%. This can be due to several factors, one: trying to cut costs, two: hiding behind the phone and e-mail because of all the bad industry news, and three: less work is easier than going out and making those calls.
In a tough economy, or during other difficult times in your industry, you want to be making more calls not less, working harder, not pulling back. You need to get to your prospects and customers and let them know you are still out there, but you also need to get to the competition's prospects and customers because chances are, the competition is getting to them less.
The bottom line: Try to INCREASE the amount of face-to-face time you spend with prospects and customers. Now, more than ever, it is very important to stay in touch with prospects and customers but it is also a great time to get out and expand your business.
Do you sell a product such as real estate or cars, where the time between repeat sales is long? And if so, are you staying in touch with the people who have bought from you and continuing to build relationships?
When I sold bank equipment I drove a Pontiac Bonneville SSEI; five of them over ten years. Do you know what? I bought all five from five different salespeople and for only one reason: none of the salespeople who sold me the previous car staying in touch. Have you ever heard of Joe Girard? He sold 13,001 cars and trucks over a 15 year career as a car salesperson. How? Simple, he stayed in touch with and built relationships with everyone he ever sold a car to. He sent out a card every month to all of his customers. He would also go to football games and when everyone jumped up to cheer, he would jump up too, and throw business cards. Extreme? Yes. Extreme sales numbers to go along with the extreme ideas? Yes.
The bottom line: Especially if you sell real estate, it’s possible you may never sell to that person again yet, the average person knows 250 people and you can bet some of them will be buying real estate, and maybe soon. No matter what you sell, you need to stay in touch with, and continue to build relationships with, all the people that you have as either prospects or customers no matter how long it may be between sales. The more people you know and stay in touch with, the more you will sell.
John Chapin co-author of Sales Encyclopedia www.completeselling.com
The other day a previous customer from my banking days called. I've been gone for a little over a year and he was calling to find out who his new sales rep. was. Yikes!
I gave him the information he was looking for and then we chatted a bit about business and personal stuff. Years ago he had worked with my dad and that subject came up. He said in effect, "Ya, I remember your dad, an old IBM type salesperson. Every four or five months he'd call, ask if he could stop by and then we'd review what our plans were and what new products he had. That was the old way of selling, the good way of selling, and that doesn't happen anymore."
Sometimes we get so caught up in new ways of selling, new techniques, new technology, etc., that many times we overlook the basics. The truth is: in many cases, the "old" way of selling works best. Going out and seeing people face-to-face and having a relaxed, fact-finding conversation where we simply touch base, find out what is going on and simply let our prospects and customers know that we are still around and that we care enough to pay a personal visit.
The bottom line: Go out and see your customers and prospects, if you haven't already been doing it. Don't let a phone call, e-mail, or some other touch point suffice for what should be an in-person visit. In this economy, most salespeople cut their face-to-face calls by roughly 37%; be one of the salespeople that increases, not decreases face-to-face calls. If you're in the face-to-face sales arena, set up a schedule to call on customers and prospects at least once every 6 months. Get back to the "old tried and true" methods of selling that worked so well years ago and still will today.
What do you fear the most? What would happen if you could conquer that fear?
Okay, on the surface this doesn't look like it relates to sales, but it does. Facing and overcoming fears changes more lives than almost anything else. If you overcome your fears, it will have a direct impact on your life and your sales. Especially if it a fear such as public speaking. Why? A fear such as public speaking is what we'll call a communications fear because it involves communicating with other people. Other such fears are: the fear of being assertive, the fear of leading a group, and the fear of being on TV or radio.
The good news is: whatever fears you have and overcome, even a fear of snakes, will have a positive impact on your life and your sales career.
The bottom line: Step out of your comfort zone by facing your fears and conquering them. On the other side of the fear, you will find a more whole, positive, and fulfilled person, and you will see a positive impact on your sales career too.
Okay, yesterday we spoke about people outside of work knowing what you do, but how about your customers and prospects? Yes, on the surface they know what you do, but do they know EVERYTHING your company does?
For example, when I was in the Banking Industry I sold ATMs, vaults, alarms, video equipment, and all sorts of other items that banks needed, including general contracting work. With all the areas we covered, it would be very easy for customers and prospects to forget EVERYTHING that we did. As a result, they had to be continually reminded. Not in an obnoxious, e-mail everyday kind of way, but just with casual reminders here and there. For example, every time they built a new branch office, I'd review everything and let them know ALL of our services. I'd also send out information when we ran a special on something. Another idea was to send out a quarterly list of the things we did, basically, "Did you know we do..."
The bottom line: Make sure your customers and prospects are aware of the full array of your services and how you can help them.
I was at the gym the other day and I ran into someone I've seen down there on and off for years. We've even had a few conversations. Today he asked me what I did and I told him, "Sales training, consulting, speaking, these days my forte is how to thrive in a tough economy. I'm also the co-author of the most comprehensive how-to guide on selling." Do you know what he does? Well, right now he's been unemployed for two months, but previous to that he was the sales manager for a large company in the area. He said, "Boy, I could have used you up until a few months ago." Ouch!
The bottom line: Do the people you run into everyday outside of work know what you do for a living? If not, it's a good idea to let them know. You have to be a bit careful how you do it, but here are a few keys: one, start talking to more people. Simply start up conversations about the weather, how their workout is going, such as "So, are you having fun yet", and other small items, etc. Eventually you can look at them quizzically and say, "So what do you do for a living?" By the way, this should be about your fifth or sixth question. This will prompt them to ask you what you do for a living. You can also wear a company shirt around if the shirt makes it obvious what you do. Personally, I always carry a copy of Sales Encyclopedia around, well, not at the gym, but I probably should. In any case, most people you talk to will ask about the book, shirt, etc. Some will even come up and ask, thus starting the conversation themselves.
I was driving to the gym the other day and I had a brain storm. It was a great idea for a sales seminar. As soon as the idea hit me, other thoughts started to come to mind very rapidly. I pulled over, found a business card, a pen, and started writing.
What are you doing to catch good ideas when they come? A lot of your best sales ideas may hit when you least expect it, and when you're least prepared to get them down. It could be in the shower, in the middle of the night, or driving down the road, as in my case.
The bottom line: Always be prepared to capture good ideas when they come to you. Have a pen and paper, a recorder, or other device close to you at all times.
John Chapin co-author Sales Encyclopedia www.completeselling.com
Okay, it's Monday, which for most of us means it's the beginning of the work week. So how are things going? Have you hit the ground running?
Call it momentum, call it the "domino effect", call it whatever you like. The point is: if you get moving early, it will be easier to get some motivation behind you and do what needs to be done. In other words, a body in motion tends to stay in motion, one at rest tends to stay at rest. It's true in physics and it's true with human beings.
The bottom line: Do whatever you can to get things moving in a positive direction as early in the week as possible. Obviously the best way is to get some business, but really any positive movement will give you a more positive mental outlook and help to ensure that the rest of the week is productive.
What are your goals? What does your schedule look like? How often are you calling on customers and prospects and how are you touching them? Do you have a specific plan that leads to follow up?
An important key to your sales success is consistency. If you are hot and cold on important tasks and actions, your success will be hot and cold. If you cold call a prospect, but then don't follow that up with anything, you might have some spotty success, but not much.
The bottom line: It's important to be consistent in sales. Consistency starts with goals and a plan to follow to get to those goals. It then requires that you do what must be done when it must be done. You must have a plan for follow up with prospects and customers and you must follow it.
Okay, it's the day after the election. Did your candidate win and how do you feel?
Frankly, it doesn't matter who won, whose taxes will be going up or down, and what the outcomes were on other questions/elections voted on in your State or Town. One thing determines your success: YOU!
Intellectually I think we all know that, but right after an election is a great time for a reminder. Some people believe business will get better because of the result, some worse, and some know that it doesn't matter either way.
The bottom line: Election results, certain policies, factors such as the economy, and all other issues can have an effect on business, either good or bad, but at the end of the day, this isn't about any 4 year or even eight year period, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Keep your head, do what you must do, when you must do it, and at the end of the day, you will be on top.
John Chapin - co-author of the Sales Encyclopedia www.completeselling.com
You cold called, you got the lead, you sent out some background information on your company, you called three times before you finally got the prospect on the phone, you did a 15 minute presentation, over came some objections, closed several times, and in the end you heard, "Ya know what? I really not that interested."
Does this sound familiar? Let's face it, most of us have had this happen at least several times in our selling career, and for some of us, we run into this several times a week.
In a tough economy it's more important than ever to NOT waste time chasing pipe dream leads. Many of us are so anxious to get a lead that we don't qualify the lead quite as well as we should. In other words, having a lead, or a lot of them, gives us hope for a lot of future sales.
We must fight the urge to simply fill our pipelines with lots leads and focus instead on the quality of leads in our pipeline. The way to do this is to be more direct with prospects and ask direct questions, thus finding out up front if we have a true lead versus a pipe dream lead. At the end of the day, using this method may generate fewer leads, but they will be better leads and thus, we will waste less time and be much more efficient.
The bottom line: Cut lots time, effort, energy, and cost by being direct with prospects thus getting more solid leads. Spending time only on quality leads will ensure much more efficiency.
John Chapin - co-author of Sales Encyclopedia www.completeselling.xom
When you cold call, who do you ask to speak with? Are you asking for the purchasing agent, or the president of the company? It's entirely possible that the president isn't your ideal prospect, but most of the time it's better to have the president, or someone close to president rank, tell you he or she is not the person you need, and refer you to the person you do need.
There are many advantages to calling high. First, the people at the top recognize and care about value more than the lower levels. Second, deals get done more quickly. Third, these people are more likely to be around over the long haul. There are other reasons, but these are the primary ones.
Eventually you want to have some kind of relationship with the people at the top no matter what you sell. This way, if the person you usually deal with leaves, you still have a solid relationship with that account. Also, if there is some sort of roadblock to the sales process at some point, the people at the top can resolve it.
The bottom line: The higher levels are where things get done and real decisions are made. When you first begin calling on an organization, you want to be calling as high as possible. Even if you get bounced down a level or two, it is always better to say: "(The president's name or name of president's assistant) said that you're the one I should talk to regarding this." As opposed to a straight cold call to that person. This also opens the lines for future communication to the higher levels.
