Selling and Sales Skills Newsletter
Skyrocket Your Sales
07/23/08 issue: Competitors, Call Killing Phrases
Email for: John <info@craigparker.info>
Issue #361 July 23, 2008 – Selling and Sales Skills Newsletter
Publisher: David Riklan – http://www.selfgrowth.com
In this issue:
-- Sponsor of the Week
-- Inspirational Quotes for the Sales Professional
-- Article: When A Competitor Undercuts You - By Ann Barr
-- Article: Call Killing Phrases - By Wendy Weiss
-- Book Review: Question Your Way to Sales Success: Gain the Competitive Edge and Make Every Answer Count – By Dave Kahle
-- How to Subscribe and Unsubscribe from this Newsletter
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*** Sponsor of the Week ***
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*** Inspirational Quotes for the Sales Professionals ***
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If the wind will not serve, take to the oars.
- Latin Proverb
Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient.
- Eugene S. Wilson
Change is the process by which the future invades our lives.
- Alvin Toffler
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** Article: When A Competitor Undercuts You - By Ann Barr **
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She made the telephone call, scheduled the appointment and everything seemed to go well.
She wrote a thank-you note after the appointment and after that, made a follow-up telephone call to the client.
The client wanted a demo. The demo was a success. The client asked for a proposal. Wow. Time to celebrate.
But then something unexpected happened.
A competitor came in and offered the same product for a lower price. The client bought from the competitor.
What happened? How could this have been prevented?
The Missing Elements
First: It is critical to start - from the beginning - building trust and value - value, value and more value. Value is defined as "quality relative to price." Quality includes all non-price attributes involved - both attributes of the product and associated customer service.
Value is a critical way of differentiating your company from competitors. The challenge is to convince prospects that they will be getting VALUE that is greater than the price they are paying.
One definition of trust: "Firm reliance on the integrity, ability or character of a person or thing."
Four Ways to Build Trust
(1.) Create realistic client expectations - Help the client to understand exactly what you will do for him or her. What will create extra charges? How and when will you be billing the client? Living up to the expectations you create helps your clients feel they can trust you..
(2.) Help the client to understand the process - If s/he understands how you and your office works s/he can then know what to expect and when to expect it.
(3.) Never over promise - It is tempting to promise whatever the client requests without consulting a schedule or finding out if it is doable. Over promising often causes broken agreements and thus broken trust. Better to under promise and over deliver.
(4.) Don’t allow interruptions at meetings - If you take interruptions during meetings with clients it makes them feel they are not important to you. (One sales rep who left her cell phone on during a meeting actually answered a call from another client during the meeting. Not a smart thing to do.) Eventually you erode the good will and trust that you had with them.
Why Opportunities Can Be Missed
The reason sales people miss the opportunity to build trust with their clients is simple: many sales reps feel conflicted about selling. In some cases, our parents looked down on salespeople, so we feel vaguely guilty when we have to sell. There is that vision of the used car salesman wearing the purple jacket and the yellow tie with the green shirt and asking: “What do I have to do to get you into this car?”
Why Hard Selling Has Gotten Harder
The goal of the sales process is to close deals—isn’t it? Not if you want to build trust. The focus of trust-based selling isn’t the transaction, but the relationship.
The salesperson looking for that first phone-call sale may be disappointed and/or not successful in the long run. Building a good relationship is critical, if you want to keep the customer. The customer must feel s/he can trust the salesperson and most consumers do not want to buy when high-pressure sales tactics are used..
The truth is that clients want to trust us—to believe that we care about them and their interests. They want to believe we are trustworthy.
How can you PROVE you are trustworthy and provide value?
TESTIMONIALS written by real people at well-known businesses prove that your company can be trusted and that you provide real value FASTER than anything you can tell the prospect.
When you say something about yourself or your product, it’s not nearly as effective as when other people say it. When others say or write positive statements about you or your product, it’s proof. That is the essence of the testimonial. And it’s okay to prompt customers about what you want them to say – IF what you want them to say is the truth.
You can ask for testimonial letters from happy customers, but in order to speed up the process, send a testimonial request letter (or email with permission) and fax-back form. You can download (copy and paste) one free at http://www.telephonesales..com/Testimonials.htm
The principles of building trust starts with the knowledge that if we consistently behave with the best interests of the client and the relationship, we will get more than our share of sales because we are fulfilling the highest desire of a client—to find an expert who can be trusted.
If this is not truly your attitude—that you really want to help people with the product or service you provide, be prepared to lose clients to your competitors.
About the Author:
Born and educated in Virginia, Ann spent 10 years in the Court Reporting business in Washington, D.C. before beginning a successful sales career in 1980 for an office equipment dealership in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
In 1993 Ann started SellingSupplies.com, a consulting and sales training business in Virginia Beach. She develops and presents workshops and sales seminars for the office equipment industry.
Ann Barr's seminars are known for helping participants increase sales by up to 50%. Ann writes a monthly column for ENX Magazine and publishes Weekly Sales Tips, an e-mail newsletter serving subscribers in more than 100 countries. Ann has written eight books on sales and marketing, available at www.sellingsupplies.com
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** Article: Call Killing Phrases - By Wendy Weiss **
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How often have you started a call to a friend, family member or business associate with the phrase, 'How are you?' I'm willing to bet the answer is a lot. I know I say it frequently. It's commonly used as a greeting, as a 'hello.'
Because 'How are you?' is so commonly used, how often have you started your introductory calls with this phrase? If you do use this phrase as an opening for your introductory call, please stop immediately. It's an introductory call-killer, and this is why:
1. If you ask this question, you must be prepared for the answer. What if your prospect answers, 'I'm having a lousy day. My back hurts, I have a cold, I hate my job and my wife left me yesterday'? Do you really care? Is this the reason for your phone call?
2. You lose control of the call. (This is probably the most important reason.) If your prospect does respond, 'I'm having a lousy day. My back hurts, I have a cold, I hate my job and my wife left me yesterday,' how are you going to get the call back on track?
3. It's a set up, a tip off to your prospect that you are making a sales call. It gives your prospect the opportunity to say, 'I'm busy. What do you want?' (See number 2 above.)
Similar issues apply with the introductory call-killing phrases, 'May I have a moment of your time?' and/or 'Is this a good time to talk?'
With both of these phrases, you lose control of the call right at the beginning, before you've had a chance to say anything at all. If the prospect answers, 'no,' the call is over. These are also both tip off phrases. Friends, family and important business colleagues would probably not say, 'May I have a moment of your time?' or 'Is this a good time to talk?' Only someone making a sales call would use this language, and it's all too easy for your prospect to respond negatively.
I know that many of you reading this will argue, 'Wendy, it's polite. It's polite to say, 'How are you?' as a greeting and it's polite to ask permission to speak.' There are, however, many ways to greet a prospect - saying 'hello' works just fine. It is also equally polite to simply introduce yourself and get to the point.. This is not only polite, it's respectful of your prospect's time, it's more effective and it allows you to retain control of the conversation.
In order to be truly effective prospecting or selling by phone, it is imperative to control the conversations you have with prospects. You want to set yourself up to have the best possible conversation that you can have with any given prospect. While it is true that not all prospects will respond badly to the above phrases, why take the chance? Why risk blowing a lead at the beginning of the call if something as simple as not starting out with, 'How are you?' can totally eliminate that possibility?
Say hello. Introduce yourself. Get to the point and say what you have to say. Then ask for what you want. This is the formula for a successful introductory call. Save the 'How are you?' question for those whose answers really interest you.
About the Author:
Wendy Weiss, 'The Queen of Cold Calling,' is a sales trainer, author and sales coach. Her recently released program, Cold Calling College, and/or her book, Cold Calling for Women, can be ordered by visiting www.wendyweiss.com. Contact her at wendy@wendyweiss.com. Get Wendy's free e-zine at www.wendyweiss.com.
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*** Question Your Way to Sales Success: Gain the Competitive Edge and Make Every Answer Count – By Dave Kahle ***
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How can a salesperson gain better results from every sales call? By mastering the art of asking questions.
A good question is the salesperson's single most powerful tool, one that can be powerfully used in every stage of the sales process, from making appointments to closing the sale to following up afterwards; yet, most salespeople are ill-equipped to use this powerful tool effectively. As a result, they find themselves dealing with "price" issues, and wondering why the customer purchased from someone else.
Question Your Way to Sales Success will transform the way salespeople think and operate by offering specific, practical advice on how to ask "better sales questions." A powerfully asked question...
* Is your primary tool for collecting deeper and more detailed information about your customer.
* Can make your customer think about what you want him or her to think about.
* Is an effective tool to create the perception of your competence in your customer's mind.
* Is your primary tool for gaining agreement from your customer.
Learn how to use the techniques that separate the superstar salespeople from the mediocre. Every aspect of your sales process will become more effective as you understand:
* The unrecognized, ultimate power behind a good sales question.
* How to analyze the language in a question to make sure it serves your purposes.
* How to create better sale questions with a foolproof, step-by-step process.
* The subtle techniques that allow you to deliver a question more effectively than ever.
Kahle analyzes hundreds of real questions, developed by real salespeople, to provide you with practical and realistic information. Your sales strategy will never be the same again...and neither will your results!
About the Author
Dave Kahle is one of the world's leading sales educators. He is the author of 10 Secrets of Time Management for Salespeople, six other books, and 100 multimedia training products. He also writes a weekly Ezine for salespeople; and has presented in 43 states and seven countries. As a salesperson, he was number one in the country for two different companies in two totally distinct industries. For 20 years, he has been president of The DaCo Corporation, a sales training/consulting company where he has trained tens of thousands of salespeople and sales managers.
The list price for this book is $14.99. To purchase it from Amazon.com for $10.19. a 32% discount, go directly to http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1564149943/selfimprovemeonlA/
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