Cell Phone Ringers

Back in the day when I owned a good size company and had sales people rolling through my office daily, cell phone ringers made me crazy.  As soon as I heard a cell phone ring my attention was gone.  Now it may seem petty but this was my office and my time.  To me it doesn’t take much effort to turn your ringer to vibrate.  The salesperson already had a hill to climb because I didn’t have time for whatever they were selling in the first place, and I had little interest in buying unless I was going to be “wowed”. Keeping the attention of your audience is critical and cell phone ringers can rob you of that quickly

Looking Like A Ragamuffin

Maybe it’s unfair to rate the value of the product on appearance of it’s representative but we all do it.  I can’t understand why businesses allow their sales representatives to visit prospects or customers looking like a rag bag. Don’t visit a customer dressed like you can’t afford your own product.  Muddy shoes and wrinkles will shut down your target quicker than anything.  Your credibility has a lot to do with first impressions regardless of how great you’re product is or how brilliant you might be.  A rough appearance can make many clients uncomfortable. Make sure you don’t look homeless or hungry, it’s never a good sign if a customer feels like they need to feed you or lock the door when you arrive.

Talking About Religion or Politics

If you want to shoot yourself in the foot as soon as you get out of the gate, bring up political opinions or talk about your church.  Now chit chat is critical in building a relationship with a client but keep it general and away from hot button issues initially.  If a customer brings up their political stance or religious following, be polite and change the subject quickly. Never, never, never bring either of these topics up yourself.  We all know you have an opinion but you are there to sell a product not your religious or political agenda.  Keep Pandora’s box closed and steer clear of these topics.

For starters we have to prioritize and understand that the gate keeper is the most important item on the triage list. We can’t even begin to think of our real target until we cross this hurdle. A mistake that is commonly made by sales people is ignoring the gate keeper or even going as far as being rude to them. Raising the ire of the gate keeper is a huge mistake. Spend some time getting to know the person who holds the key to the kingdom. Take a soft approach, drop off something nice just for them or take them to lunch. In most cases the job of gatekeeper can be pretty thankless. Take time to make this person feel extra important. In most cases the gate keeper is an operations manager, office manager or a book keeper who has significant influence and can further your agenda if you’re smart about it. When you can, make a fan of this stalwart sentry and at that point the door is wide open for you.

After you’ve tamed the beast then use that angle to gather intelligence on the primary target. A gatekeeper in your pocket can provide volumes of information that can get you that small advantage that we all work so hard for. Remember no matter what the decision makers background, title or demeanor is, they are still human. The thing about people is their susceptibility to influence. Our job as sales professionals isn’t to manipulate. All a sales person can ask for is to shift the needle a few degrees in their direction, creating that all important opening and closing on it. Knowing details like family life, work habits, hobbies and even favorite eating establishments can open the door just a crack. We must always keep in mind that selling ourselves and enamoring our target is job one. Once we build that relationship and establish trust then closing is easy. When people honestly want to do business with you then there is a product in your inventory that they will want to own.

So at the end of the day taming the gate keeper and becoming part of the team is the best spot we can put ourselves in. A sales person who enlists the aid of his prospect’s coworkers can use the opposition as a force multiplier for their own query. To make sales, make fans.

The first tactic is always be positive.  People are like animals in a way, they can sense uneasiness and fear, throw that out before you start your day.  Second guessing yourself is waste of time that could be better used in front of an interested buyer.  Make sure that grin you’re trying to maintain isn’t a quarter inch deep, it has to originate from the center and move outward.  No one likes doing business with a negative person, it taints the deal and future relations ships.

The second tactic  that comes to mind for me if follow up.  After you’ve given that rock star sales pitch don’t forget to call back and ask for the business if you didn’t close right away.  Most savvy customers don’t make impulse buys.  If you aren’t following up then the key reason why your widget is better than any other may never surface.  Follow up and make sure you ask the client if they have any additional informational needs.

Thirdly, send out thank you notes even if it’s as simple as an email.  Most people appreciate thoughtfulness and are moved by it.  Don’t kid yourself, someone helped you make every sales you’ve ever sold.  Making prospects into fans is one certain way of earning business.  Always show some appreciation for opportunities you didn’t have.

These are only a few sales tactics but don’t forget to look at the tools that are always available. Your laptop or smart phone can help you be more efficient but ultimately it can only multiply the force you’re willing to exert towards your sales goals.

Know the animal you hunt. Understanding that customers are not strange creatures with an entirely different culture than your own is step one. Put yourself in the shoes of your clients and how would you like to be approached if you were being presented to.  Many sales people remove themselves so far from the perspective of the customer that it is difficult to make that all to important connection with the individual in front of them. To sum it up simply, treat others as you would like to be treated even when selling.

Stop forgetting to follow up. The second biggest killer of sales people, other than the C word (complacency), is failing to follow up.  If a deal is big enough to quote it’s big enough to follow up on.  I have heard countless tales from past customers whose main reason for giving me the business was the fact that I followed up.  Customers want to know that you are interested in earning their business and that they are important enough to at least get a phone call.  Why waste the time going through the motions of a presentation if you aren’t going to call back and see if they want to buy?

Sell the sickness not the symptom. If every customer truly knew what the needed and not what they think they want, then all of us professional salespeople would be out of a job.  You should always ask plenty of questions and dig deep to see what is going to create the best fit for a customer.  There are always opportunities to sell a customer what they want or sell them more than they need but fight the urge.  Unless you’re an industry nomad, you may want to be in the business you are in for a while and like a tailor people follow whoever gives them the best fit.  Find out what pains or  inefficiencies your customer is trying to remedy with your product.  If your product isn’t really a need then find out the motivation for wanting a particular item.  Knowing what motivates your customer is the best way to making a sale that sticks and avoid buyer’s remorse.

Stop Closing, ask for the business. Don’t get caught up in closing.  If you have done your job properly there should be no doubt in you mind as to the outcome of the meeting.  In the Army the Drill Sargent  told us that when we fired our weapon, if we focused on the target it should be a surprise when the trigger was actually pulled and the round fired.  If you concentrate too much on delivering a witty super closing phrase then you may pull left or right of your target.  Build a stone foundation of information, discovery of needs, build trust and then know the answer before you ask.

Now go and put KSSS to work for you and your organization.  The fundamental ideas here coupled with some due diligence on your part may not guarantee success but it will increase your average.

So now that we’ve decided to stay in this crazy game called sales, what can we do to impact the market.  I’ll tell you what we do, move our wares!  The single biggest issue right now is that we are in an economic drought.  The clouds are full to the bursting point of cash, probably more so than they have been in years, but no one has been able to do the right dance.  We as sales professionals are the rain makers.  We are the people that identify the needs of our prospects and motivate them to own what we have to sell.  We must be rattling the bushes, and turning over the stones to find those people sitting on the fence and push them over.

Trust is a big proponent of the ongoing dollar drought.  There are trust issues with the government, the banks and markets.  What can we do about this?  Absolutely nothing.  What we can do is create a bubble around ourselves and our customers, a small pocket of peace.  The way we accomplish this is first by identifying the right customer.  Does this customer have a pain that can be solved by my product?  Can this customer benefit significantly from my product? Then we must decide whether or not its monetarily possible for this customer to own my product.  Once you have a customer who meets these criteria then the onus is on the sales pro to make that customer feel comfortable owning their product.  We do this by professionalism in our communication, details in our proposal, zealotry in our follow up and by having impeccable character.  We must make our customer feel like they are buying a carton of champagne even when they are buying a six pack of cheap beer.  By making our customers’ experience from start to finish one of professionalism and relative ease, we encourage consumers to get back out there and buy.  Every good experience they have makes a consumer braver about buying.  We have a responsibility to make our customers feel like they can get value, in a professional way no matter what the state of the union may be.  We set the tempo of the precipitation and our responsible actions have a definitive impact on how the general consumer population feels.

Now I don’t want what I’m saying to be directed only at people who business card says “sales” in some form.  Everything here applies to anyone who needs to move a product from the hot dog vendor to the cashier at the pharmacy.  We are sales professionals in one way or another.  When someone visits our shops or agrees to an appointment to demonstrate a product we must put our best foot forward.  Think of trying to entice a squeamish animal to let you pet it, making loud noises and flailing your hands really does not benefit your agenda.  When you do get the animal close, don’t grab it by the neck.  Give it a few minutes to stop shaking and speak softly.  Once you have it’s trust, you may  get to pet it again.

So get out there, put on your dancing shoes and make it rain!

So come and share your greatest sales victory or worst sales blunder, if you’re willing to admit it.  We love to hear success stories and we can all just try and not repeat our mistakes.  A free Sales Tactics Today.com t-shirt goes to best one!