Selling Success Marries the Sales Approach to a Proven Process
Selling Success Marries the Sales Approach to a Proven Process
When my sales coaching clients share with me they cannot understand why they cannot sell anything in the first meeting, I know there is a lack of a proven sales process resulting in what I call a lot of spraying and praying. Until a mutually agreeable relationship has been established, any telling about your product or services will result in you not selling. Sales Coaching Tip: People buy from people they know and trust.
Building relationships are an investment of time and energy especially if you want loyal customers who purchase again from you and make those golden referrals to others. If you believe you can develop that type of connection in the first meeting, then possibly you should be writing this article.
The sales process is the overall guide for the behaviors associated with the sales approach. How you reach out to your customer based upon what phase or step you are currently walking is directly connected to your overall method of operation.
Unfortunately, a lot of salespersons and even some gurus are confused about marketing and selling skills. These folks jump mid stream so to speak and fail to take a step by step approach as they proceed forward to earn the sale.
Think about crossing a small stream where there are 7 stones. Each step you take lands you on a stone and you do not take another step until you have solid footing as to where you are currently standing. This is probably the best way to describe a sales process.
Step One is gaining attention. You need to attract attention so someone knows about you, your products or services.
Step Two is building the relationship. People buy from people they know and trust. This is an important step and not to be rushed. Sales Coaching Tip: This may be meeting number one through number four.
Step Three is discovering the gains and pains. Your potential customers (a.k.a. prospect) has to connect the value your products or services deliver to their current needs both expressed and unexpressed.
Step Four is presenting the whys to take action and the why nots if action is not taken.
Step Five is simply earning the sale. If you have executed steps 1 through four flawlessly, this might be as easy as to asking Where do we go from here?
Step Six is delivering the sale. Your client has a relationship with you and your business card. Do not relegate this step to another person or heavens forbid another department.
Step Seven is following up and asking for three referrals. Again, flawless execution of steps one through six will allow you to walk away with three solid referrals.
To increase sales does demand your sales approach to be perfect and that is based upon the utilization of a proven process where you know the next step. Remember, only 2% of all sales are made on the first call while 80% of all sales are earned between the fifth and twelfth contacts. Therefore, does it not make sense to use a methodology that works with your potential customers and existing knowledge instead of against it?
Selling Success Marries the Sales Approach to a Proven Process - To learn more about this author, visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website.
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A recent poll by a respected sales guru suggested that during your first meeting with a potential customer (a.k.a. prospect) you can begin your presentation after you have established rapport. Maybe that works for you, but given that only 2% of all sales are made on the first contact, this sounds like a recipe for disaster.
When my sales coaching clients share with me they cannot understand why they cannot sell anything in the first meeting, I know there is a lack of a proven sales process resulting in what I call a lot of spraying and praying. Until a mutually agreeable relationship has been established, any telling about your product or services will result in you not selling. Sales Coaching Tip: People buy from people they know and trust.
Building relationships are an investment of time and energy especially if you want loyal customers who purchase again from you and make those golden referrals to others. If you believe you can develop that type of connection in the first meeting, then possibly you should be writing this article.
The sales process is the overall guide for the behaviors associated with the sales approach. How you reach out to your customer based upon what phase or step you are currently walking is directly connected to your overall method of operation.
Unfortunately, a lot of salespersons and even some gurus are confused about marketing and selling skills. These folks jump mid stream so to speak and fail to take a step by step approach as they proceed forward to earn the sale.
Think about crossing a small stream where there are 7 stones. Each step you take lands you on a stone and you do not take another step until you have solid footing as to where you are currently standing. This is probably the best way to describe a sales process.
Step One is gaining attention. You need to attract attention so someone knows about you, your products or services.
Step Two is building the relationship. People buy from people they know and trust. This is an important step and not to be rushed. Sales Coaching Tip: This may be meeting number one through number four.
Step Three is discovering the gains and pains. Your potential customers (a.k.a. prospect) has to connect the value your products or services deliver to their current needs both expressed and unexpressed.
Step Four is presenting the whys to take action and the why nots if action is not taken.
Step Five is simply earning the sale. If you have executed steps 1 through four flawlessly, this might be as easy as to asking Where do we go from here?
Step Six is delivering the sale. Your client has a relationship with you and your business card. Do not relegate this step to another person or heavens forbid another department.
Step Seven is following up and asking for three referrals. Again, flawless execution of steps one through six will allow you to walk away with three solid referrals.
To increase sales does demand your sales approach to be perfect and that is based upon the utilization of a proven process where you know the next step. Remember, only 2% of all sales are made on the first call while 80% of all sales are earned between the fifth and twelfth contacts. Therefore, does it not make sense to use a methodology that works with your potential customers and existing knowledge instead of against it?
Selling Success Marries the Sales Approach to a Proven Process - To learn more about this author, visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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