Saw this article and thought it brought up some good, basic tips.
Being a sales rep is a challenge for many of us. There's lots of competition and loads of choice for customers. So how do you become better at sales to achieve higher success? Here are some tips that will help you to get better results faster!
1. Solidify your character. Becoming good at sales rests upon one main key. A trustworthy character. If you've got the ability to build trust and reliability with a customer then you've got a good chance of developing a long term sales relationship. A strong character is built by doing the things you say you'll do, and being the kind of person who provides more value than they consume. A good person in all areas of their life.
2. Teach what you know to others. If you can become a good teacher, you'll build respect earn the level of authority you need to be considered an expert in your trade. Teaching others is a great way to solidify your own skills and make sure you know them inside out. You'll even learn more about yourself and others as you teach!
3. Always seek to improve yourself. Self improvement is the key to long term growth. Keep reading and learning about more and more as you go. It's a never ending process!
4. Become an advocate of your product or service. Only sell and promote products or services you can back up 100%. The key to being able to make good sales is to sell good products and services!
5. Train your communication skills daily. Communication skills are the cornerstone of all sales interactions. Learn about body language and emotional triggers. The better you can communicate, the more people you'll be able to relate to and the more sales you'll make.
6. Read all the books you can get your hands on about sales and marketing. Reading more and more books means getting better variety and flexibility in the way you communicate. More flexibility means you'll be able to relate to a larger variety of customers.
7. Ask good questions. Qualify your customers and make sure you ask questions that will encourage conversation.
8. Listen well. One of the main keys to communication is being able to ask good questions, and listen to the answers. Being a good listener will mean people will want to talk to you. This is great, as they'll be telling your their needs and wants so you can sell them products.
by Dave Vower
Wednesday
overcoming objections
I'd like to take just a couple of moments to hit this important topic. No matter what you are selling, you will get an objection. I am not going to try and go over all the possibilities as we will never get them all and most come down to some simple points.
1. most of the time an objection is indicative of a problem with the previous information. either you havent answered a question they have or they are unclear. if they have decided not to use your product they will tell you.
2. an objection is mainly a time to learn. if you use the objection as a place for you to gain understanding of the desires of the prospect you will do a far better job in actually closing the sale
3. you know the most common objections you are likely to encounter. Either by yourself or with a coworker practice the process of answering the objections. Make them hard, do give yourself an easy time because the prospect wont. If you run into price as a problem for you, you better have a good response (value of some other nature)
If you dont take the time to work through common objections away from your client you will learn by trial and error with your prospects and lose sales because of it.
Role playing is a dying artform, but make no mistake, it's a valuable artform.
1. most of the time an objection is indicative of a problem with the previous information. either you havent answered a question they have or they are unclear. if they have decided not to use your product they will tell you.
2. an objection is mainly a time to learn. if you use the objection as a place for you to gain understanding of the desires of the prospect you will do a far better job in actually closing the sale
3. you know the most common objections you are likely to encounter. Either by yourself or with a coworker practice the process of answering the objections. Make them hard, do give yourself an easy time because the prospect wont. If you run into price as a problem for you, you better have a good response (value of some other nature)
If you dont take the time to work through common objections away from your client you will learn by trial and error with your prospects and lose sales because of it.
Role playing is a dying artform, but make no mistake, it's a valuable artform.
What can Billy Mays teach us about selling?
What can Billy Mays teach you about the art of selling? In a word - lots! He was called the King of infomercials. Why? Because he was the King!
He sold more than $1 billion of products at an average price of $19.95 which means he sold more than 50 million products.
While most salespeople seem to blend in with their competitive crowd, Billy Mays stood out from other corporate "Spokesmen" and "Pitchmen."
When I watch the Billy Mays commercials I see salesmanship on steroids.
He possessed some very unique qualities, which everyone in sales, should take a closer look at.
Billy Mays died suddenly June 28, 2009 of apparent heart failure. His commercials are still running which says an awful lot about his sales effectiveness.
Here's what Billy Mays can teach you about the art of selling:
1. He worked hard to develop a personal brand which included always wearing a blue shirt with khaki pants. Don't under estimate the value of your personal brand.
2. His personal branding included a black beard, his unique voice and a boisterous presentation.
3. He was passionate about his work - he really loved what he was doing. You can't fake this, and that's why it's so important for you to love the work you doing.
4. He exuded enthusiasm, energy and was extremely animated during his infomercials. Sure he annoyed some people with his exuberant selling style - but don't forget his sales topped $1 billion.
5. He was a master at selling benefits for all the products he sold. For example when talking about the "Quick Chop" he said, "It has the power to chop nuts, which you can use for toppings on ice cream Sundays."
I know for a fact most salespeople sell features not benefits. If you watched 10 Billy Mays commercials you would learn all you need to learn about selling your product's benefits.
6. Amazingly he did all of his selling within a 1.5 minute and 2 minute timeframe.
7. The price was always an affordable $19.95 or $19.99.
8. He always included a special bonus product to motivate people to buy right now. How are you using special bonuses and incentives to motivate your sales prospects and customers to buy your products and services?
9. He did something else that was pure selling genius. He always explains and shows what the product does and how it works - leaving nothing to your imagination.
He used simple language and always seemed to talk directly to the people watching his infomercials.
10. He was the PT Barnum of infomercials.
Why settle for mediocrity when you can become a selling superstar. You don't have to do everything Billy Mays did but you'd be foolish, in my opinion, to ignore everything he did.
Usually people don't buy because they get excited about the products you're selling, people buy because the sales person is excited about the products he's selling.
This excitement is contagious. And your excitement creates an advantage for you and oftentimes your excitement is all the advantage you need to make a difference and close more sales.
Simply stated, Billy Mays made buying his products a no-brainer for his customers.
He made things, everything, easier for his customers - and you can too.
After reading about Billy Mays, are you motivated to make some changes in your selling style?
Now's the time! The economy might be on the uptick and it's the perfect time to consider doing the following:
Reinventing yourself, rebuid, reshape, rework, renew, refresh and reconsider how you're selling.
If you're committed to making changes I might be able to help you.
I'll give you 57 sales tips to reinvent and distinguish yourself from your competition that you can use to rework and revitalize your sales effort.
You don't have to spend any time wondering what you can do - I've done all the work for you.
Now you can read or listen to my 57 sales tips, cherry pick the ones you like, and start using them tomorrow. Now of course this isn't for the doubting Thomas's and the Nervous Nellies in the world.
Here's the problem for many salespeople. Let's say you've been selling for 12 years. Let's also say you fall into the trap of believing that your 12 years add up to a lot of sales experience.
Here's another way of looking at it. You might have one year of experience that's been repeated 12 times. That's a scary thought - isn't it?
Unless you're a master of change and constantly chipping away at all the things that don't work and are constantly on the lookout for new sales tips, new selling ideas, and new selling strategies that you can adapt and adopt - you just might not make it to the top of the sales ladder you're climbing.
Billy Mays did it and I'm still a work in progress - and how about you?
Take a look at this if you're serious about jumpstarting your sales career and want to put a saddle on this turning economy and ride it all the way back up again.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Meisenheimer
He sold more than $1 billion of products at an average price of $19.95 which means he sold more than 50 million products.
While most salespeople seem to blend in with their competitive crowd, Billy Mays stood out from other corporate "Spokesmen" and "Pitchmen."
When I watch the Billy Mays commercials I see salesmanship on steroids.
He possessed some very unique qualities, which everyone in sales, should take a closer look at.
Billy Mays died suddenly June 28, 2009 of apparent heart failure. His commercials are still running which says an awful lot about his sales effectiveness.
Here's what Billy Mays can teach you about the art of selling:
1. He worked hard to develop a personal brand which included always wearing a blue shirt with khaki pants. Don't under estimate the value of your personal brand.
2. His personal branding included a black beard, his unique voice and a boisterous presentation.
3. He was passionate about his work - he really loved what he was doing. You can't fake this, and that's why it's so important for you to love the work you doing.
4. He exuded enthusiasm, energy and was extremely animated during his infomercials. Sure he annoyed some people with his exuberant selling style - but don't forget his sales topped $1 billion.
5. He was a master at selling benefits for all the products he sold. For example when talking about the "Quick Chop" he said, "It has the power to chop nuts, which you can use for toppings on ice cream Sundays."
I know for a fact most salespeople sell features not benefits. If you watched 10 Billy Mays commercials you would learn all you need to learn about selling your product's benefits.
6. Amazingly he did all of his selling within a 1.5 minute and 2 minute timeframe.
7. The price was always an affordable $19.95 or $19.99.
8. He always included a special bonus product to motivate people to buy right now. How are you using special bonuses and incentives to motivate your sales prospects and customers to buy your products and services?
9. He did something else that was pure selling genius. He always explains and shows what the product does and how it works - leaving nothing to your imagination.
He used simple language and always seemed to talk directly to the people watching his infomercials.
10. He was the PT Barnum of infomercials.
Why settle for mediocrity when you can become a selling superstar. You don't have to do everything Billy Mays did but you'd be foolish, in my opinion, to ignore everything he did.
Usually people don't buy because they get excited about the products you're selling, people buy because the sales person is excited about the products he's selling.
This excitement is contagious. And your excitement creates an advantage for you and oftentimes your excitement is all the advantage you need to make a difference and close more sales.
Simply stated, Billy Mays made buying his products a no-brainer for his customers.
He made things, everything, easier for his customers - and you can too.
After reading about Billy Mays, are you motivated to make some changes in your selling style?
Now's the time! The economy might be on the uptick and it's the perfect time to consider doing the following:
Reinventing yourself, rebuid, reshape, rework, renew, refresh and reconsider how you're selling.
If you're committed to making changes I might be able to help you.
I'll give you 57 sales tips to reinvent and distinguish yourself from your competition that you can use to rework and revitalize your sales effort.
You don't have to spend any time wondering what you can do - I've done all the work for you.
Now you can read or listen to my 57 sales tips, cherry pick the ones you like, and start using them tomorrow. Now of course this isn't for the doubting Thomas's and the Nervous Nellies in the world.
Here's the problem for many salespeople. Let's say you've been selling for 12 years. Let's also say you fall into the trap of believing that your 12 years add up to a lot of sales experience.
Here's another way of looking at it. You might have one year of experience that's been repeated 12 times. That's a scary thought - isn't it?
Unless you're a master of change and constantly chipping away at all the things that don't work and are constantly on the lookout for new sales tips, new selling ideas, and new selling strategies that you can adapt and adopt - you just might not make it to the top of the sales ladder you're climbing.
Billy Mays did it and I'm still a work in progress - and how about you?
Take a look at this if you're serious about jumpstarting your sales career and want to put a saddle on this turning economy and ride it all the way back up again.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Meisenheimer
Friday
SHUT UP - round 2
A little while ago I wrote SHUTUP - a basic guide to letting the prospect do most of the talking.
Today, we will go more internal with our worlds.
So, youre doing well. You want to make sure your boss and other important people know about it. This is a tricky place to be, because you dont want to be a braggart and at the same time a little recognition would be nice.
Best case is that your boss notices and says something to you.
2nd is that your boss notices, but doesn't say anything to you.
3rd best case is a peer notices and points it out to everyone.
You will notice there wasnt a "you run and tell your boss how great you are"
There is a difference between sharing a big win and summarizing your wonderfulness, and i would even suggest that if you have a big win, that its going to get noticed when the reports come out anyway, so why not let choice 1 happen?
Patience is still a virtue.
The words you don't say have more impact than the ones you do.
Today, we will go more internal with our worlds.
The less people speak of their greatness, the more we think of it.
- Lord Bacon
So, youre doing well. You want to make sure your boss and other important people know about it. This is a tricky place to be, because you dont want to be a braggart and at the same time a little recognition would be nice.
Best case is that your boss notices and says something to you.
2nd is that your boss notices, but doesn't say anything to you.
3rd best case is a peer notices and points it out to everyone.
You will notice there wasnt a "you run and tell your boss how great you are"
There is a difference between sharing a big win and summarizing your wonderfulness, and i would even suggest that if you have a big win, that its going to get noticed when the reports come out anyway, so why not let choice 1 happen?
Patience is still a virtue.
The words you don't say have more impact than the ones you do.
Thursday
The Brochure - of death
Everything sounds more dangerous when you put "of death" at the end of it. Ever notice how magicians, or jugglers use that? but i digress.
For all things good, please stop selling, anything, by brining out your brochure and walking a prospect through it.
You're better than this, but if not, you will be now.
Ever been on a conference call or in a meeting where you get read to? Did you like it? me either. Why in the world would a prospect like it? YOu could have just mailed it to them and then called to make sure they got it.
Your sales call needs to have at least one story. One that resonates with prospects. Preferably one around how your product or service really helped out another person. Practice telling your story. My personal favorite is the self-deprecating story which takes them off guard, in that, most "sales people" don't act human or fallible. I am not perfect but I will work harder for you and you're more important to me than you are to the other guy.
People remember stories a lot longer than they will remember your soon-to-be-trash-can-fodder brochure.
For all things good, please stop selling, anything, by brining out your brochure and walking a prospect through it.
You're better than this, but if not, you will be now.
Ever been on a conference call or in a meeting where you get read to? Did you like it? me either. Why in the world would a prospect like it? YOu could have just mailed it to them and then called to make sure they got it.
Your sales call needs to have at least one story. One that resonates with prospects. Preferably one around how your product or service really helped out another person. Practice telling your story. My personal favorite is the self-deprecating story which takes them off guard, in that, most "sales people" don't act human or fallible. I am not perfect but I will work harder for you and you're more important to me than you are to the other guy.
People remember stories a lot longer than they will remember your soon-to-be-trash-can-fodder brochure.
Wednesday
How to get and give business cards
I thought this was basic, and then i got to thinking about how many times i have seen people screw this up. So here is a great article based on one by Emjae Johnson
Question: So do you give a card to everyone? or hold out on them like their made of gold?
Answer: Pass your business cards out only to those who ask you for one. how? you get them to ask you for yours by asking for one of their business cards first.
Here's How:
- When you meet someone, at a network gathering, business meeting, social gathering, or on the street; after you say hello and engage in little conversation, always ask them for their business card. They will be delighted that you asked and proud to give it to you. After this it will be very natural for them to ask you for yours, but if they do not ask, never offer it. When you think about it, putting your card in the face of someone who did not ask would be perceived as being a little pushy at this point. But not to worry, you still have their card and so you can still stay in contact with them.
- When you receive their card, always thank them for it. Read over what it says front and back. Ask them any questions that genuinely interests you about them or their business after you have looked over their card. Make sure all the contact information is there: name, business name, phone number, address, and email. If there is a piece of information that is missing, ask them for it so that you can add it to the card.
- Ask them for their permission to contact them. It is good professional manners to ask their permission, even though it is assumed that they would want you to contact them. It is a way of being respectful and you will be remembered for it.
- When and if they ask you for your card, politely hand them one of yours and be ready to respond to any questions that they may have. If you have coined your own "opener" then this might be a good time to use it. However, never try to sell them anything at this point unless they flat out tell you they want to buy something from you. Remember, the reason why they asked you for your card was probably more out of politeness because you had asked for theirs. There is no need to go into selling mode here, you really only want to connect with the person at this point.
- Within 24-48 hours send them a note. Always have on hand some blank note cards. These are available almost anywhere they sell cards at and they are sold by the box. If you want to have one with a design on it, that's o.k., but make sure that it is a neutral design. Inside the card handwrite a short note to them stating that you appreciated having made their acquaintance. If you can recall something from the conversation this will help to personalize it even more.
- Place your business card inside the note card, hand-address the envelope using the information from their business card and drop it in the mailbox. The person on the receiving end will be very honored that you thought of them enough to take the time to handwrite a card and "mail" it instead of "emailing" it. Also, people love to receive cards and they can tell that it is a card even before they open it by the size and feel of the envelope. Don't be surprised if they contact you back with a thank you!
- Keep their card in an organized file for future reference. If your contacts are also organized in an address book kept on your computer, then also add their information there. If they do contact you back to thank you for the card you sent, if it is appropriate, ask them if you can add them to your email list. Always ask permission, not only because it is respectful to do so, but also because with emails you don't want to be accused of spamming. If they give their permission, do not abuse this privilege. Send only emails that are short and informative to them.
Parapharased from: http://sales.about.com/od/leadgeneration/ht/howbizcards.htm
Tuesday
You're not selling world peace
Unless you are Gandhi, you are probably not selling world peace. So unless you are selling the cure for a major disease, lighten up.
Please, would you want to do business with a stiff? (no funeral industry jokes here)
I wouldnt either. Its okay to lighten things up and have a little fun. If you are a sales manager, have fun with your team, and if your a sales person one of the best things you can do for rapport is to have a laugh with a client/prospect.
If you take yourself too seriously, no one else will.
Enjoy your day and enjoy what you do. You might not be selling world peace, but you can enjoy the day and and have a little fun along the way.
Please, would you want to do business with a stiff? (no funeral industry jokes here)
I wouldnt either. Its okay to lighten things up and have a little fun. If you are a sales manager, have fun with your team, and if your a sales person one of the best things you can do for rapport is to have a laugh with a client/prospect.
If you take yourself too seriously, no one else will.
Enjoy your day and enjoy what you do. You might not be selling world peace, but you can enjoy the day and and have a little fun along the way.
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