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Salespeople misperceive their proper roles by being misled by leads

Guest post by: Neil Mahoney

Article Overview: By being the "Star of the Show' you are in peril of overplaying your part. By being the Stage Manager you can control the development of the plot.

Salespeople misperceive their proper roles by being misled by leads

In the world of Sales & Marketing it's long been assumed that an inquiry from a prospect is an invitation to present your product.

As a long-time associate of mine -- and a contributor to the Evan Carmichael site -- insightfully observes: Inquiries are just as likely to be an effort merely to acquire more information on your product as to be an expression of preference for your product.

Not all inquirers are hot prospects -- people are often just shopping around. In fact sixty percent of purchases aren't made until six months after the initial inquiry is made.

Salespeople need a way to separate the wheat from the chaff. You need a good Prospect Development program and that will be discussed in the next installment.

Right now, the focus is on salespeople realizing the importance of becoming an effective Stage Manager of sales calls. Salespeople first must realize that they don't get the prospects to buy -- they must create the climate and conditions that cause the prospects to decide to buy from them and their company.

A. Sales should have a clear understanding of the purpose of the call.

B. Introducing the company and learning the prospects wants & needs is Job#1.

C. When the time is right, present the features and benefits of the product as they best relate to the prospects' wants & needs -- in the general order of their preferences.

D. Answer questions or objections honestly and fully.

E. If there are questions you can't answer fully, get that infomation and report it to the prospect ASAP. Many studies have shown that "Prompt Response to Needs & Requests" is valued almost as highly as Price by most people, regardless of their position in the company.

E. Get the order or get out before you've overstayed your welcome. Know when the prospect is saying "No."

F. Keep the door open for future opportunities to sell.

In situations that require multiple calls or long-term selling upgrade from "Relationship" selling to "Consultative" selling.

You do this by establishing "Respect" and "Trust."

Respect is earned by:

A. Knowing your product

B. Knowing the business

C. Knowing the competition -- their strengths & weaknesses, but discuss them professionally. Don't knock them.

D. Prompt response to Needs & Requests.

Trust is earned by:

A. Being truthful

B. Keeping your word

C. Keeping your appointments

D Prompt response to Needs & Requests

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  Sales VP's and Marketing VP's - Should the Roles be Combined?
  Recruiting Top Sales Pros is now HARDER, not easier
  Selling is Baseball Backwards

Article Tags: amp, carmichael, climate, contributor, expression, initial inquiry, inquirers, inquiries, invitation, long time, nbsp, objections, preference, prospect development, prospects, salespeople, six months, stage manager, time associate, wheat from the chaff



Related Forum Posts
Re: Are we defined by what we do for a living? - Interesting subject - as you know Kevin, I've discussed some of Eckart Tolle's materials before and this topic is covered in his latest book. In particular - The roles we play in society and our identification with the role. His warning is to be aware of your different roles and not get to wrapped up in your identity with the role. One example he uses is the Doctor who looks at patients as statistics and merely a case #. When this happens, the doctor no longer views the patient as an emotional being and more of a case study. The point is - that the doctor is so identified with his role that he has lost touch with the spririt and essence of the human lying in front of him. When we get too attached to our roles - even as parents - we tend to take them very seriously and believe in the role, for example, perceiving a child as uneducated and in need of constant supervision, when in fact the child is very aware and often living more consciously than the adult. The roles have value, just be aware that it's a role. Are we defined by what we do for a living? Only if we are unconscious of the roles we play. You can still have fun with it - just be aware.
Re: Conversion rates - Great point Kevin, word-of-mouth is a great way to convert leads as they are being recommended by someone they trust. My job is converting website visitors into leads, and of the leads we get from the website/s we convert around a 12.5% (of leads). At this point I think our website is the best leads vehicle right now.
Re: Where you can get an ipad2 3G for $5 - I mean, real, proper, reputable companies, or anyone who is likely to actually give you a tablet computer for less than its RRP, will have a proper domain name and hosting.
Marketing strategy - In the means of sales and marketing, the sales people does not involve in situations and decisions which affect their customers. In the area of advertising agency, financial situation once organization is not well-equipped. If there is no proper communication between the customers and the sellers, there is no proper marketing in markets. Its sad but true fact.
Re: Direct Mail Postcards - Great discussion! I just started using direct mail postcards for a business of mine. The leads are generated by the company and then sent to me to place on the postcards that are already made up. It's important to get targeted leads for any form of advertising venture. Finding quality leads isn't tough, but takes some work. Luckily for me the company does this work for me. These people are interested in starting a home business, working from home, etc. That's what I'm advertising on the postcards, so I would say they're very well targeted. The postcards are also made by the company who have over 20 years of experience in generating responses. Now, the problem I see as I deal with this directly working for an insurance company where I call leads, many people may forget that they ever requested information on the subject. In this case the postcard would probably get thrown away, unless it really grabbed their attention or struck their memory. The same problem can be seen when someone needs to confirm their request for being added to your email newsletter.


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