The Sales Apprentice 2009: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part III
Week 3, the car, circa 6am and the boys were talking. Ben, he of “to me making money is better than sex”, was pumped up and ready for the third task, “I’m not nervous, whoever is up against me, their arseholes are going to be twitching like rabbits’ noses”.
Sir Alan had called the candidates to the new athletic complex at Lee Valley, the elite Olympic training ground East of London, “Here we are at Lee Valley athletics centre… fitness is big business… people can hardly afford to pay for a membership at those fancy gyms, what I want you to do is create a piece of portable home fitness equipment. And tomorrow you are going to try and sell them to three of Britain’s big retailers…”
So a design, pitch and sell task; the kind of task that many previous teams of apprentices have failed spectacularly at. This could be good. After a team member shuffle up with Kimberly and Kate moving to Empire and Philip and Noorul (“I’m posh”) moving to Ignite they were off – the team with the most orders at the end of the task would win and someone from the losing team would get fired.
Our two teams had two days to design, prototype and sell a completely original piece of fitness kit. On the Ignite team, Debra half stepped up for team leader, as did Lorraine. “I’m a little bit calmer than other people,” said Lorraine. Phillip and Noorul , meanwhile, were favouring Debra. Patronisingly, Lorraine asked Debra, “Are you capable of managing unique personalities?” Some of this lot really ought to read some books on communication skills…
Putting himself forward to lead Empire James said that he had “a reasonable amount of product management experience”. The others seemed happy for him to hang himself out to dry and none of them volunteered or objected. As Empire discussed their initial thoughts for a product, trainee stockbroker Ben suggested that they should go down the “sex sells” route. He began to expand his idea by explaining that it should be “something that you can incorporate into actually having sex that creates resistance whilst you’re doing it.”
I wonder, has James ever had sex and who is this target audience of people were who are so busy (and sad) that they want to double-up and exercise when they are getting lucky? In any case, this suggestion seemed more sex toy than fitness kit…
Perhaps worse, or maybe not, Debra’s team, couldn’t think of any ideas for a piece of fitness kit at all. Debra, who has to have one of the most expressionless faces I have ever seen, wasn’t looking on the positive side of things, “It’s apparent that none of us are creative” she bleated.
Sales training and business tip: Creativity is a state of mind as much as it is a skill. Anyone can learn to be more creative and the starting point is the belief that you can be creative…
On the other team, James and Empire had finally focused on “flab” as their target enemy and “bingo wings” in particular. I’m not sure that you can say “bingo wings”… surely that’s fatist or classist or something? None of the apprenti seemed bothered by minor complications like these and they quickly agreed that this was what they were going to be designing. James put Ben in charge of designing the product and Ben described it as “this is for people who cannot even lift their own body weight”.
Meanwhile, Ignite were listening to estate agent Philip who was plugging the idea of a core cube (or blocks of dense foam that you could stack), rather like a Swedish ball but in a cube shape instead. Debra was pushing her idea of an ankle exerciser for the elderly. “Biddies need foot stools”, she said (what?).
Unable to agree they visited a personal trainer for advice and the personal trainer promptly rained on both of their parades saying that she would not buy either product. As this product had to retail for under £30, Kate, James and Howard decided to do some research on the high street to see what actually does sell best in this market. The surprising answer (which really highlights the sales training principle of always knowing your market) was… a door chin up bar.
With this knowledge under his belt, James was convinced that the best plan was to kiss – keep it simple stupid. With James not present at the designers, Ben had other ideas and, in conjunction with Majid, was keen to change James’ “simple” brief and bump up the design spec and add multiple features.
In the final minutes of the planning time, Debra’s team, through Philip, came up with a solid idea for a “bum ball” to work on core stability. Next morning, both teams got their first chance to see their prototype products. Ignite’s “bum ball”, now renamed as a body rocker, looked sleek and smart and they seemed rightly pleased. Empire’s “home multi tone”, by contrast, looked home made, Heath Robinson-esque and like something I might have created in my middle school woodwork and design classes.
Ben was at it again, “I’ve come up with a bloody great product. I’ve actually shocked myself”. Project leader James grimaced and said, “I like it”. He was clearly lying, which he then pretty much admitted privately to the camera.
Ignite’s Lorraine was practising her sales pitch with the strangest word soupage style…
“The body rocker, it’s innovative, it’s new, it’s original, it’s functional, it’s dynamic, it’s completely blown every other product of its kind out of the market. It’s portable, what I mean by being portable? You can carry it in your handbag, children can use it to enable them to have a stable stability… what do you think so far?”
Thanks for the explanation of portable Lorraine and “stable stability”… suddenly my world has become clear. Debra, who I think could barely muster an emotion even if Lorraine danced the can-can and tossed off her clothing, seemed no more impressed than I was, “Errrm, I didn’t really know what the product was”, she said.
Back in the real world (!), Ben was giving himself some I-love-me-love, “It makes perfect sense that Kate and I are doing the modelling” (cut to him doing press ups ) “I’d say, out of the men, I probably am the best looking. You can tell just by looking at them they’re all out of shape. I’ve at least graced the floors of a gym once or twice.”
Sales training tip: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, selling is about results, not egos. Selling is not about talking the talk, it’s about walking the walk. Selling is not about what you say you can do, it’s about what you actually do. Selling is not about promises, it’s about delivery.
On the way to their first sales pitch, Lorraine was practising her lines and, despite being a “sales woman”, she didn’t seem, able to string two lines together.
Sales training tips for making powerful presentations: To maker a powerful and persuasive sales presentation you need to know your stuff, you need to know what you’re presenting, you need a solid and proven structure BUT you also need to be natural. Practising memorizing your pitch word for word in the manner in which Lorraine did can make your presentation stilted and un-engaging.
Cue Lorraine and her first sales pitch to Power House Fitness, “Let me introduce you to the next iconic design that is a functional, portable, fitness product The Body Rocker…” Noorul leant back six inches on the rocker and then said how much pressure he felt under and how much he could feel the burn. “In terms of target audience there isn’t really anyone who wouldn’t use this product,” continued Lorraine, “I think even Nan who is sitting in the chair all day could use this product in terms of not seizing up…”
Hmmm, I’m kind of not sure, is this for ripping the stomachs of young fit people or is it for octogenarians?
At Totally Fitness, James’ team had botched their first sales pitch, “We target mid to high end so I am unlikely to direct them to this if they have the money to buy a £2000 multi-gym, for example”, stated his prospect. Bang, that’s one door shut.
Sales training tip: Know your client, know your client, k-n-o-w your client.
At John Lewis, Ben was in his element demonstrating the kit and as Kate mentioned the fact that the equipment would exercise your bum, Ben bent over and slapped his bum like a slightly chubby, overly smiley, very cheesy, stripper. The client grimaced.
Lorraine meanwhile, was completing her final sales presentation, still sticking to her “original, dynamic, portable, functional … lip smacking, thirst quenching, ace tasting, motivating, good buzzing, cool talking, high walking, fast living, ever giving, cool fizzing bum body rocker… oh, sorry, that was something else…”
Sales training tip: I know that we never see much of any sales presentation in The Apprentice but what we never see are the compelling reasons why products should be bought. What we never see are any questions or any client engagement. Do our apprenti even consider important questions like what problems their products solve, or how their clients will benefit from using them, or how they compare, improve upon or complement existing products in the market…? Instead, all we get is meaningless words and swaggering promises…
And then Debra closed John Lewis, demonstrating that closing does not have to be sophisticated and that sometimes just asking is all that it takes,
“Can you see it on your shop floor and can you see yourself putting forward an order for that product?”
“If we want this product exclusive to John Lewis, what does that mean for you?” queried the client, playing his dead-pan, I am a serious business person face, for all he was worth for the cameras.
Philip, “You’d have to make us a serious offer on a serious amount of orders because we do have other people interested…”
Client, interrupting Philip, “Order? Have you thoughts about that?”
Debra, “No, we’d have to have a conversation as a group about that”.
Slick. Errr, not…
Sales training tip: Set objectives for all sales meetings. Set primary objectives for all sales meetings. Set fall back objectives for all sales meetings. Set fall back objectives for your fall back objectives. You get the idea.When seeing professional buyers (such as this one) in particular, you know that if you are successful they will want to negotiate so give your negotiation positions some thought and be prepared…
Yasmina, and you have to respect her for stepping in,
“I would like to put this on the table. Ok. We’re offering this product at £14 for a unit. If you can guarantee us 20,000 units tomorrow then we can guarantee you exclusivity”.
The client, coming back like a Roger Federer back hand, “For how long?”
Yasmina, “For 6 months.”
Client. “Too short? 2000 units for 6 months isn’t a particularly great deal…”
And the cameras were cut on this scene… Pity.
In the board room…
Sir Alan asked, “Was James a good team leader?”… Ben said that he wasn’t exactly like Winston Churchill…. James said that he thought that “the end prototype was not up to scratch”… Sir Alan asked if Debra was a good team leader… Mona said she was “ok” but with little enthusiasm… Philip said he was very proud of his idea… Sir Alan asked about Lorraine’s presentation… Debra showed her slippery shoulders saying that she thought that she “tried her best” but that she did not know whether that was good enough or not… . Philip offered his support for Lorraine and said that she did a “good job and it is easy to be critical later on”…
The results were in…
Empire had no orders from Powerhouse.
Ignite had sold 80 units to Powerhouse.
Empire had no orders from Totally Fitness.
Ignite had sold 100 units to Totally Fitness.
Empire had sold 500 units to John Lewis.
Nick, “(John Lewis) asked for exclusivity but Yasmina went in far too high and asked for 2,000 for a 6 month exclusivity deal but they have placed an order for 10,000 units on an exclusive basis.”
Sales training question: Did she? Did she start too high? Did she really? What do you think? Why not share your thoughts below in the comments and I will share mine with you…
Ignite had won and won well. And, for once, a good result. They dreamt up, designed and created a new fitness product in 2 days and sold 10,000 units to John Lewis. Nice.
Ignite went off for a private concert from Katherine Jenkins and Sir Alan was left to quip with the others, “Well, the empire doesn’t strike back does it?” Another one he dreamt up in the bath I’m sure…
Back in the board room…
James elected to bring back Ben and Majid… James said that he was impressed by how “alive” Ben was about the product and that he did not want to micro manage him… Sir Alan said that Maj just hung around on the periphery of the action… Maj disagreed and said that he was not given a big enough job… Nick asked Maj if it was an enduring lack of confidence in his abilities… Sir Alan asked James why Ben was back in the room… James said because he thought Ben could take the concept and turn it into something that looked better than what he had produced… Sir Alan pointed out that no-one else came up with any better ideas… James and Ben argued… Ben shouted “If you’re quite done, I came up with the concept, it was up to you guys to find our what the retailer and the consumer wanted, if you did not convey that then that is up to you”… Sir Alan asked Ben why he thought James had brought him back into the board room and Ben said that he had no idea…
Sir Alan, “James, interestingly enough Margaret felt that you wasn’t too bad in management. She sees a Jekyll and Hyde person… Your two colleagues are pointing the finger at you the logic is that you go. Maj, you seem to be hanging around on the periphery not doing much… I wonder if a leopard will change its spots… And Ben you are young… I think it would be grossly unfair if you were held responsible for the failure of this task… my instincts are that I can’t really have people that are perceived not to contribute and you might not agree with this but Maj, you’re fired…”
“You are so close to going out that door James. You got Margaret to thank for putting that glimmer of doubt in my mind…”
Final sales training tip of the night: You have to step up. You have to take action. You have to do something, anything to take you in the direction of your goals and aspirations. Maybe Maj was standing back deliberately. Maybe he thought it was a good game plan…
Success in sales does not come to those who watch the game. Success in sales comes to those who pick up the ball and play their hearts out, right the way to the final whistle.
So what do you think about tonight’s decision? Who do you think should have gone and why?
7 Tips For Selling In An Economic Downturn
It’s hard to look at this week and to not worry about the impact that current events might have on sales. Many of you may be reading this and thinking, “They already have”. Every media outlet, every paper, every radio station and (seemingly) everybody is talking about events. Even people whom I have never heard talk about economics or the economy have had something to say – usually negative!
I was listening to the radio on the way home from my Close the Sale seminar last night and they spoke to someone who said that he was going to put his money under the bed because he didn’t trust banks. You know the kind of person; one of those “random” types that the research crew see wandering down the street with a can of beer and a kebab in their hand and looking out of their BMWs they deem him to be Mr Average. Anyway, what interested me was not his advice (!) but that he knew what they were talking about at all. I think it’s fair to say that normally, Mr. Average would have little or no awareness of these things.
The message is clear… many people are starting to panic.
Now I am not going to advocate gung-ho tactics. Nor am I going to wax lyrical about how you get what you focus on. Nor am I going to blow hot air up your ass (where did that phrase come from!). You don’t need that.
What we all need is straight talking. What we need is ideas and tactics. What we need are strategies to help us to navigate this choppy water so here is my sales kick up the ass approach to selling in a downturn.
1. Stay positive!
Your attitude determines your altitude. Your attitude determines your ability to access your skill. Your attitude determines your success of failure. If you don’t know that, you should go do something else instead of sales!
Many individuals and companies are starting to droop at the moment like little flowers in the sunshine. They need to give themselves a good dousing with common sense and motivation. Success in every market is totally dependant on attitude. This is even more the case in tough markets.
If you want to fail, get a negative attitude and I can pretty much guarantee you failure. Clients buy on emotion and you’ll never create emotion by going through the motions. Work on staying upbeat and positive. Clients have enough doom and gloom thrown at them from the media and their colleagues, they don’t want it from you too!
2. Believe you can!
I know of one large company who have just laid off their sales training department seeing it as a luxury! This is sheer fool’s folly and the directors need their heads banging together. What’s worse is that they aren’t even suffering any negative affects in their business at the moment. They soon will. Sales training and development is essential in any market, particularly tough ones. Sales training teaches your staff the skills that they require to do the job properly. Tough markets require top skills.Changing markets require changing sales skills. Sharpening your sales skills requires sales training and development.
What’s more, investing in your staff builds the belief that you believe in them and that your company is going to thrive. Cutting training teaches the exact opposite. Staff who believed that their company was “rock solid” won’t now. They’ll question, worry and share their fears and soon feelings will become beliefs and beliefs will affect their activity and their results. They will achieve what you believe. Imagination will become reality.
What you believe about this market is going to determine what you get. There’s plenty of negativity out there, don’t let you, your team and your business be a victim of this. What are you going to do to build, support and nurture positive beliefs about your company, sales and success?
3. Prospect! Prospect! Prospect!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the lifeblood of salespeople is prospecting. No matter how good a salesperson you are, prospecting is critical for your success. The more clients you call, the more chance you have of closing more sales. This is not a case of quantity or quality because quantity and quality are not mutually exclusive.
You need quantity and quality. If your conversion ratio is down, up your activity. If your existing clients are pulling in their belts, ring some more. When everyone else is sitting on their arses, get out there and meet people. Selling is not complicated, are you up for it?
4. Visit more clients!
In the busy times we often neglect some of our clients. Maybe we take on a new piece of business with a client but we don’t get chance to meet them as often as we’d like (or at all!). Maybe we have existing clients that we’d like to see but we don’t have to, so we do something else instead.
In a downturn clients want reassurance that they are working with the best, that their suppliers are thriving and that their supply lines are rock solid. Take some time out to plan which clients of yours would benefit from a face to face visit, a lunch or a coffee and make that call!
5. Check commitments!
Salespeople who learn to sell in easy markets cut corners. Not because they’re lazy but because they don’t know any better. Dotting the “I”s and crossing the “t”s is not so essential in booming markets because busy markets are sellers markets. Busy markets pick up the slack. Qualifying properly is still important but it is possible to succeed by doing a reasonable job rather than a perfect job.
Tough markets are not like this. In tough markets you need to check commitments. You cannot afford to be working on client opportunities where you end up giving “free consultancy” or where your client is just on a “shopping comparison trip”. The key to gaining commitments is asking the right questions and this is something that I teach in both my Close the Deal seminar and my Professional Selling Skills seminar.
6. Ask for referrals!
Few salespeople ever ask for referrals. Fewer still always ask for referrals. Most never ask for referrals. This is because clients can and do say “No” so it is often easier to just not ask than to risk yet another rejection.
Asking for referrals should be built into what you do. Asking for referrals should be mandatory for you, your sales colleagues and your sales team. Sure, you’ll get some refusals but if you ask at the right time and in the right way you will get some fantastic leads and introductions and you will grow your business with quality prospects.
Know a salesperson, sales manager, director, entrepreneur or business owner who would benefit from reading my blog and newsletter? It’ll take you two minutes to send them a quick email telling them to have a look at www.GavinIngham.com.
7. Strengthen relationships!
Most salespeople do not spend enough time thinking about the quality of the relationships that they hold with their clients. There are many aspects of your relationship with your clients and spending time strengthening and improving those relationships will encourage loyalty, openness and partnership in all markets not just tough ones.
Think about the various aspects of your relationships with individual clients (for example the awareness they have your company, how they view your business, how they view you, your personal relationship, your business conversations…) and devise a plan of action for improving and strengthening those. Start with your key target clients now.
So there wer are, 7 tips for selling in tough markets. Go grab yourself a cup of coffee, give yourself a talking to and plan what you’re going to do to make the rest of the year and 2009 a great time for you and for your business.
How To Upsell And Cross-Sell To Achieve Rapid Sales Growth
January has been a busy month of sales seminars, sales training and motivational speeches so I hadn’t had any time to think what I was going to write about this week until about half an hour ago…
I was sat at my PC in my home office, tidying up some emails when one of my good friends called. It’s been a while since I have spoken to him so I was delighted to hear from him. After a quick catch up we quickly focused our attentions onto setting the world to rights! He said that he has something he thought I would be interested in hearing…
This story starts with my friend’s 18 year old son who is currently enjoying a gap year, getting his head down and working. He has a job in major UK supermarket and he is really enjoying it.
Based in South West London the store he is working in is busy, affluent and diverse. It’s not huge but it’s a decent size. They have around about 150 staff and shifts would mean that at any one time there might be 40 or more people working in the store.
Like most retailers the store chain in question are keen on their customers owning and using store cards. This creates loyalty, allows the store to compile details on personal shopping habits and group trends and, perhaps most importantly, allows them to extend credit to their customers.
And as any business who has cards like these knows, customers on credit are worth far more than those paying cash!
So back to our little store…
Like most stores they have targets and goals and their most recent “push” is on encouraging customers to sign up for more store cards. Each member of staff, whether individually or as a group, is trained to “upsell” these cards and are then let loose on the customers. Not particularly ambitious, their target number of take ups is 4 cards per week… for the whole store.
So for the next week our young hero, despite not being on the till much of the time, asked every customer he could if they would sign up. Despite his lack of experience or formal sales training and techniques our hero signed up… 18, in one week. Now I have to admit that I have no idea how this rates or how many you or I would have signed up but it is obviously well over the target of 4 that was set for the whole store.
At the end of the week our young salesperson goes on his holidays, returning two weeks later to find out that in his absence the whole store, 150 people remember, have upsold exactly … zero.
Zero in 2 weeks. So what do we learn from this?
1. Upselling and cross-selling to existing clients is critical if you want to sell more and make more money.
Clients who have already bought off you, who are in a buying mood and who believe in and see value in what you do are great prospects for upselling and cross-selling. There is every possibility that they will buy something else if you make it known to them.
I remember as a young salesman one of my best clients buying something off someone else. I rang him to ask why he had not bought from me and he told me that he would have but that he was unaware that I could help in this area! Ouch! I never made that mistake again!
2. Know what you can upsell and cross-sell.
Up to date knowledge of what you can upsell is critical. Upselling the wrong or irrelevant products or services will just alienate your clients. Upselling and cross-selling the right stuff at the right time is your duty. How many times have you bought something only to get it home and realise that you wish you had bought the more expensive option because it has features or benefits that you would have preferred. If only the salesperson had told you about it!
A reader rang me yesterday to tell me that he was running a short training session on upselling. The first thing that he had done was outline for his team all of the options they had for upselling and how these would benefit the client. This knowledge is critical if you want to maximise your sales.
3. Make sure that you ask.
Perhaps the biggest block to upselling is that salespeople do not ask. Maybe they feel scared. Perhaps they feel cheeky. Maybe they think that they don’t have the right. Perhaps they “already know” that the client will say, “No”.
Whatever! The biggest problem with upselling, as with asking for referrals, is that most salespeople quite simply just do not ask.
Call it the McDonalds affect if you like… you have to ask! They upsell on everything and they get a lot of “Nos” but they also get a lot of “Yeses”! You need to make just asking part of your sales process too. You could significantly increase your sales results over night.
Yesterday morning I met my sister and her kids in the afternoon. I only wanted a cup of tea. As I ordered the woman said, “I’ve just baked some home-made scones. They’re still warm. Can you smell them? Would you like one whilst they’re still warm?”
“Yes please”. An easy sale!
4. Learn how to "ask" properly.
Once you know the benefits of upselling and cross-selling, know what to upsell and commit to asking you need to improve your upselling techniques. McDonalds ask if you want a bigger drink or fries but they have no idea whether you are thirsty or hungry or neither. That’s fine in Mcdonalds, they don’t have the time but you do. And you have the relationships to do this too.
As you are selling ask questions that uncover the need for an upsale. They needn’t be complex but they do make a huge difference to the relevancy of your upsell and the final result.
When booking keynotes I don’t just suggest that people buy the books or audios as well, I ask a few questions first to identify what exactly is needed and how it would add benefit for my client.
5. Keep it simple.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again but 80% of selling is about turning up, maintaining the right attitude and playing the game.
Many salespeople walk in to my seminars and demand the advanced stuff because they are so experienced yet, when you follow them around, they have forgotten or are not doing many sales basics.
Without the basics you are screwed!
My friend’s son may not know the intricacies of selling yet. He may not have the skills or the experience. He may not be as subtle, as sophisticated nor as cunning as his more experienced friends yet. But subtlety, experience and cunning are no substitute for action and if he keeps on taking action he will outsell his more established but less proactive peers.
To sharpen your sales skills and maximise your sales check out my powerful sales training books, audios and DVDs online now.
Should I Only Be Cold Calling Prospects I Convert Most Easily?
Hi Gavin,
I am wondering if you could help me with a problem I currently have. I work for a web development company. We supply our services to designers and web design agencies. In recent weeks I have been calling a list of graphic designers and a list of web designers. For the graphic designers I normally seem to get an appointment from 1 call in 10 (ish), however for the web developers/agencies it seems to be 1 in 25.
I have two questions, firstly, do you think it is worthwhile to contact web agencies where their objections are that they do the website prgramming themselves?
Secondly, if it is, in your opinion; how do you get around the fact that the majority tell you upfront they do it themselves and it is a core business? What would you say to get them to engage further?
My opinion is my time would be better spent calling design agencies where they may need our services, but i am interested as to what your opinion on the matter is
Thanks for the question. Without more detail this is quite a difficult sales training question and the sort of scenario I will be discussing in my new No Fear Cold Calling teleseminars which will be launched soon.
First off, let’s deal with the question of which client type to ring. The answer to this is not simple as it might seem. Cold calling different clients at different times is going to get different results. You need to pay attention to this and is just one of the reaons why it is important to record your personal sales results so that you know what your success and conversion ratios are for every step of the sale.
I work with many companies where they work on generic figures as ratios. This is fine for beginners just starting out or when you have nothing else but it is important that you start to collate your own information as quickly as possible. Knowing your statistics allows you to ask questions like this one and also to monitor the market, find skills areas in which you can improve and calculate likely results ahead of time.
Anyway, on the face of it, it looks like an open and shut case. You should be ringing the clients where you are getting a 1 in 10 return first. This seems a good investment of your time and a fair result which, with skills training and "call warming", you will be able to improve over time.
That said, 1 in 25 is not bad either and there are plenty of successful cold calling industries where 1 in 25 would form the basis of a very successful business.
Here’s the snag however…
Your conversion ratios are not the only figures in play here. What I have just said ONLY APPLIES if the deal sizes in both clients are the same, if the lifetime value of the clients are the same and if your meeting to sale conversion ratio is the same. To really know that your 1 in 10 clients represent a better use of your time you would need to know the average deal size, the lifetime value of a client and your conversion ratios.
Consider this, if the average deal size in the web agencies was 3 times the size of that in the designers who would now represent the best use of your time? Has that changed your mind?
What if the deal size was the same but the frequency of purchase was 5 times as high thus making the lifetime value of the client higher? Unless you’re desperate for business now that may well change your plans too!
Or what if your conversion ratio was better in one than the other? You’d then need to look at "why" but again that could change your plans.
So, in brief, you’re on the right tracks but make sure that you have all of the figures to hand before making your decision and know that the web agencies will still make good prospects when you have finished!
With regards to the objection that you are getting. I am not surprised that they are saying that. It would seem the quickest way to get rid of cold callers like you! But you have the advantage here because you know that objection is likely and you can plan and prepare for it. What you need here is a good reframe objection handle which allows you to back off into questions.
Ask about what they design, when, where and with whom. You are looking for gaps, challenges and problems with the way they currently do things. You need to find a way that you can add value to their existing approach. Remove this objection and that alone might siginificantly change your ratios!
For more on objection handling check out my book "Objections! Objections! Objections!" and make sure that you join my newsletter as I often talk about objection handling.
Tips For Negotiating In The Toughest Of Negotiation Scenarios
How to negotiate like a sales superstar when it seems you can only fail…
As with all of my sales training tips and sales strategies it´s important that you know how to apply tactics in the real world. Here is a negotiation question that has been asked of me several times and in several different guises:-
Gavin. I´ve got a client who is already using us. He is using one product list value 3000 and another worth 2000. Total value 5000. He has only been paying 1500! He now wants to drop the 3000 product and continue with the 2000 product but is expecting a discount from his current investment of 1500. What can I do?
Great question and one which is not at all uncommon. The first problem here is that this client has obviously been seriously under sold in the past and this has set his expectations. Whilst there is not a lot you can do about this situation now it´s important that you learn this and do not fall into this trap yourself when signing up new clients yourself…
For this case, here are some negotiating strategies you may be able to use:-
Work out your walk away price.
What is the least that you will be happy doing this deal for? You need to decide before you ever go anywhere near your client. In the heat of the moment salespeople often sign deals that shouldn´t be signed. If you are certain about your walk away then at least you can´t make this mistake.
Work out what you think the client is going to want.
You should have a good idea about this. Based on past conversations and history – what deal do you think the client will be going for?
Work out what the client will settle for.
What´s the most you think the client will pay? This is crucial because this is what you are going to be negotiating up to.
STOP.
Now you have 4 possible deals:-
1. Your opening price 1500
2. Your walk away
3. The client´s opening stance and,
4. The client´s walk away
Hopefully, there is some overlap!
Work out your concessions
What variables can you add or remove from this deal that you can negotiate with? In all of the sales cases and with all of the sales people I spoke with in similar scenarios we managed to find several…
Work out how much the client needs you
It may be that this client is about to play hard ball but that really they need you and they know that they have been getting the deal of a lifetime in the past.
Now you need to consider how you are going to run the client negotiation meeting itself. Some planning on the steps of the negotiation could well be rewarded with a successful negotiation here.
Set client expectations
You have to tell this client that they have been getting a great deal and help them to understand that you may not be able to continue with it but that you do want to walk away with a win win if at all possible. Try and get them to agree that they need you and link it to their business. Don´t discount the possibility that you might be able to upsell them on the full package again.
After resetting client expectations try and get them to commit first on price. It doesn´t matter how low they go really, it´s a starting point and one from which you can only go up. This will allow you to start to judge the likelihood of a positive outcome. If the first offer is really low don´t be scared of shrugging it off and asking for another more realistic one.
Once you have a starting figure you can make your first offer. Make it as high as you "reasonably" can. Only now can you start to trade concessions and variables whilst using all of your negotiation skills.
For more on the process of sales negotiation that will help you to negotiate win win end games and close more sales more profitably, join my RSS feed and then join my newsletter wihch is packed fulls of tips, tricks and strategies free.
Happy negotiations!
The Sales Apprentice: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part V
"Now 11 remain to fight for the chance to become the Apprentice." So began this week’s episode of the hit TV show which was primarily about selling and was packed to the rafters with sales training tips for the sales superstar in waiting.
This week’s task for our "wannabees" was to dabble in the art market selling photography. After picking 2 potential photographers each our heroes were to see who could make the most profit from art sales in one day. SAS was on top form declaring this to be "a special kind of salesmanship" where one cannot talk people into buying but where our team had to "smell" when a potential customer was on the hook!
They all had very different ways of approaching this task…
The two teams, led by Christina, the pharmaceutical sales manager, and Natalie, who has an MBA, split up and set about the task of speaking to the photographers. They all had very different ways of approaching this task. Katie preferred to find out all about the photographers, their desires wants and needs. Adam on the other hand got down to figures fast! Katie was, as usual, unimpressed, declaring to the camera that this was not a car lot and that if Adam went back to one and got run over that would be ok by her!
"If we pick you, do we have your commitment?"
Under Nat, Katie pushed their team down a very "softly-softly" route. Christina meanwhile was getting business like with Tim, a horse photographer. Who is your typical buyer? Have you a client list? Great questions. She even tried a commitment close, "If we pick you, do we have your commitment?" Nice.
Because of the nature of the competition this task was a double-edged sword. Not only did the teams have to sell photographs but they also had to "sell" the photographers on the idea of working with their team.
Not happy with totally blowing the deal she decided to alienate her client even more…
The first big sales training lesson of the night came from Natalie when her team visited Tim, the horse photographer. She walked through the door announcing, "We have 10 minutes". If you were the client how would that make you feel? What would you be thinking? I know that I would be annoyed and thinking, "So I’m a last resort am I? You don’t value me or my work. Thanks!" As if that weren’t bad enough Nat’s phone then rang. "Excuse me I have to take this" she said, turning her back on her prospect and walking off. That… just lost you that photographer Nat. There’s no come back from there. Not happy with totally blowing the deal she decided to alienate her prospect even more, "Tim, I hate to cut in. We must go."
Sales training advice: No matter how important you think you or your business is you cannot behave in this way and expect to get away with it. When you are with your clients you need to be with your clients 100%. No distractions. No interruptions. Be honest – are you totally focused when you are with your clients?
Back to the show, both teams picked the same two photographers – Tim and another called Elizabeth. Not surprisingly after Nat’s offhandedness, Tim said that he was more convinced by the leadership of Christina’s team.
Artists on board, the teams set about drumming up business. Despite the moans about his lack of work ethic Adam was on the phone calling past clients of one of their artists whilst the rest… hung paintings. Nat described Adam as "our weakest link." Some nerve given he was the man on the phone!
Which brings us to the sales training lesson of this week’s show…
You must always sell!
In an attempt to get away from the "hard sell" many, many salespeople and business people go too far the other way and don’t sell at all. Katie and Nat both fell into this trap. At the top of the show Katie said that selling art was all about "integrity". Hmmm! So other goods don’t require integrity then Katie?
Of course they do. All selling is about integrity but having integrity does not mean that you cannot ask for the deal! You just can’t sell Katie!
If you want to find excuses to go easy and not progress the sale you will always find them. At one point or another salespeople from virtually every industry have said to me things like, "Our industry is different. You have to take it really carefully here. My clients don’t like being pushed". They then proceed to fluff around, make friends and sell nothing.
Poor old Adam who understood that he had to sell was called a "catastrophe"! Elizabeth (one of the artists) and Hugh (her husband) said it should be soft sell. Well of course they did! Most artists say that. That’s why they have other people selling their work for them. Doh!
As everybody was selling Katie muttered that her style was, "So soft I’m wondering if it’s too soft!" You think?! Her follow up classic,"I just don’t know how to make it harder!"
Sales training tip: Making friends is not the same as making sales. Whether you’re selling a car, a house or a painting or an IT system makes no odds. If your prospect isn’t going to buy you need to move on. Get over it. Tire kickers don’t just kick tires, they kick paintings too! They also kick IT systems, software, houses, telecoms systems, consultancy…
Christina’s team, meanwhile were in full on selling mode closing clients to buy paintings. The results produced an obvious win for Christina’s team selling 14 paintings for £4702 profit as compared to Nat’s 7 for £1599.
Had Nat an ounce of business savvy she would have dragged Katie back to the board room. She’d have probably still gone but she could have argued that Katie was in awe of the photographer and that her sales efforts were misguided and weak. The girls at the moment, however, are gunning for the blokes in the boardroom and she brought back Lohit and Adam. Lohit because … well… I dunno, certainly she didn’t seem to and Adam because she basically didn’t like his approach. Given he made the cold calls, sold some paintings (she didn’t) and was the only one who seemed to "get it", it was no great shock when SAS said to Katie "You’re out of your depth with regret you’re fired."
Lohit summed it up, "At the end of the day we didn’t make enough sales".
You don’t say!
Sales Training DVD: Power Canvassing For Confident Cold Calling
Eliminate the fear of cold calling and secure more face to face time with senior decision makers.
You can probably count the number of salespeople on your teams who enjoy making cold calls on one hand. Maybe even on one finger! Yet proactive client calls and gaining new business meetings are a crucial part of winning more sales and growing your business.
Even experienced sales staff must be able to ring new clients and get meetings with key decision makers, fast!
After writing a recent article on the importance of controlling your attitude before, during and after a call cold call one sales manager kindly offered his thoughts with me. He mailed me directly and said, "I keep my staff motivated during calls by threatening them with the sack if they don’t stay motivated!” Errr, yes thanks for that! With my Power Canvassing cold calling sales training DVD you don’t have to resort to such radical tactics so fast!!
Get your sales teams motivated, buzzing and on the phone!
We all know the importance of telephone canvassing for hitting targets and budgets yet telephone canvassing is one of the most misunderstood and loathed areas of sales.Trying to get consistent, proactive, successful cold calling results either individually or from a team is one of the most difficult challenges facing sales organisations in business today.
In this Power Canvassing sales training DVD I cover the core aspects of cold calling including the 6 stages of a proactive new business call, the importance of planning and preparation for success, how to deal with gatekeepers confidently and professionally, how to create a strong 1st impression with an opening Power Statement, how to personalise your calls for differentiation, how to get clients involved, how to close for that all important meeting, how to deal with client objections and rejections and much, much more!
You only have one chance to make a 1st impression…
One area I cover in detail is the importance of using a proven structure such as the one from the “Ingham Sales System” to maximise your success on the phone. When I ask sales professionals how long they think that a client actually listens to them before making an initial decision about the call they all know that it is only a matter of a few seconds. Follow that up with a question about the importance of those first few seconds and someone always says something about it being crucial.
Why then do few sales people take the time or effort to really maximise this opportunity?
I have done some research here and I think this is quite useful. When we advertise for sales people we use words like "opportunity", "flair", "dynamic", "entrepreneurial" and so on. Whilst this may be the right thing to do, it attracts candidates who are attracted by possibility and opportunity.
But! Sales consultants also need to be able to follow structures. Problem is that a “possibility” sales person will say stuff like "If you stifle my individuality I won’t be able to sell" and “I don’t like structure”. Get real – I don’t like oily fish but it’s still good for my heart! Every success has structure behind it. If you want to get truly flexible then you need to get structure. If you employed an administrator to file and they filed wrongly you wouldn’t accept it just because they said that they had “didn’t work well that way” so why sabotage your business by opening calls poorly because of a similar excuse?.
In Power Canvassing sales training DVD I teach an incredibly simple yet powerful 5-part Power Statement which gets results…
- Initial introduction.
What you should and should not say. This allows you to test your approach, for example… does using your company name at this stage invite an initial objection that has nothing to do with this part of the call at all?
- Gaining client permission.
By asking at the right time and in the right way, “How convenient is it to speak?” we get our client assenting to and listening to what we have to say. - The reason for the call.
This answers the client’s main objections, “Who are you? Where are you calling from? What do you want? Why are you calling me?”
- WIIFC (What’s in it for the client).
Critical to the success and credibility of your call. Being able to position your call so that it is personal and targeted at the client needs is critical to your sales success.
- The Sales Bridge.
A clever little technique that we use to link to parts of a call and to pre-frame out many client objections before they even utter them. The Sales Bridge keeps the call moving and helps to keep you (politely) in control.
You need to keep your calls about the client not you so that they want to listen to you. Avoid words like "tell", "show", "sell", "demonstrate" and avoid making assumptions such as "we can show you how to improve…” .
These are just a few tips from Power Canvassing sales training cold calling DVD programme. If you want to explode your sales results and be a champion cold caller then you need to unlock all of the strategies on the DVD programme. At £97 it’s a snip so pop on over to my site and grab one for you and your teams right now. Alternatively, have a look at some of the other books, audios and DVDs reviewed on this site.
Sales Superstar Or Sales Stalker?
It’s 1028pm and I have, just two minutes ago, avoided a sales call from a health care sales person. 1028pm! On Thursday afternoon I flew out to Spain for a few days arriving late evening. I flew back late last night arriving about midnight. After 4 days eating tapas and relaxing today was a busy day catching up on emails, making sales calls and sorting out my latest sales training book… of which more another day!
The sales scenario…
I turned my mobile on this morning and I had 6 missed calls from this guy. I feel like I am being stalked! Even sales training authors are allowed Easter off you know! 6 missed calls – over Easter! That’s a lot. And that’s on top of the 3 sales calls he made to me each and every day last week! He’s like the anti-sales squad!
Now, let’s be fair to the guy. I rang him initially. And I do want the insurance. But frankly my business may be going elsewhere just because of how I feel about his constant nagging. And before you think, "Well, what can he do if you’re avoiding him?" consider why I am avoiding him…
He has not asked the right questions…
I did see him first and a full week and a half before one of his competitors could see me but he doesn’t know that. He never asked me. I only see the next guy tomorrow but he doesn’t know that. He never asked me. I would never have made the decision without seeing all three short-listed suppliers but he doesn’t know that. He never asked me. I have various other factors influencing this purchase but he wouldn’t know because, hey you guessed it, he never asked me.
So now I am being stalked by someone who probably has the best product and, had he asked the right questions, would almost definitely have got the sale and known when the right time was to call me back…
He probably still will but he has sure made it hard for himself.
Are you making selling hard for yourself? Does your sales funnel fall apart at the closing for commitment step? Could you being leaving deals on the table?
How Not To Close A Client
I love everything about sales and the psychology of selling and I read as much as I can on the subject. I always have a book with me to learn from, to inspire me and to keep me on the sales edge so that I am constantly refining the processes and strategies that I teach in my books, audios, DVDs and seminars…
As you might expect I am not particularly squeamish when it comes to closing people down however over the last few nights I have been reading a book on closing written in the mid-1980’s. It is appalling and what’s more some of the tactics in it are based on the cheesiest of theories. Here’s one tip from the sales training book…
Hold up the book and tell them that it describes customers like them!
One of the closes describes how when the customer objects saying that they need to think about it that you should hold up the book itself and tell them that the book describes customers like them and tells you exactly how to answer their objections! It then says to continue and tell them that it outlines their personality and attitude and that you know that they don’t really have to think about it. Infact all they’re really worried about is the finances! It then says to talk to them about money!
Is this sort of rubbish still being taught?
Did this ever work? I doubt it! Is this sort of rubbish still being taught? I hope not! But then maybe it is as the book’s still for sale because I bought it not 2 months ago! And it has dozens if not hundreds of equally creepy closes within it’s covers! This is by no means the worst!
Is it any wonder that some people see salespeople as slimy and uncaring when there are lines like this being spouted around the globe?
This approach is not only cheesy, it also makes massive assumptions about what the client’s real (money in the writer’s opinion) objection is. Manipulative, cheesy closes like these should have sunk with the Titanic. When you care about your clients and understand what they need and want then simply asking for the business is all the closing that you should be required. I think I am going to write a book on closing one day… it will be short.
Find out what the client needs and why they need it and then ask for the business!
I’m afraid that much of my musical taste is still stuck in the 1980’s but sad as that is, it doesn’t affect my sales. If your sales techniques, like my musical tastes, are stuck in the 1980’s then maybe now is the time to catapult yourself into the 21st century!
Learn The Art And Science Of Closing And Win More Sales
One of the questions I often get asked in sales training seminars by sales people and business owners alike is, “How do I close more sales and what closing techniques would you recommend?”
In my experience, closing is one of the three most feared areas of the sales process. The other two are fear of canvassing and fear of objections. But the real question is, what is it about these three that creates such a fear? Especially, when even some of the most successful sales professionals face challenges in one or more of these three areas. The answer is simple – fear of rejection. Humans are social animals and the fear of rejection is one of the primary human drivers so it takes a different line of thought to face this issue. Mere techniques will not suffice.
Fear of rejection is one of the primary human drivers…
There are books about closing with hundreds of different types of closes in. There are hundreds of different sales training programmes out there focused on closing more sales. Some are great examples, some are awful but all of them have one thing in common. They are just examples. They are often not usable as “off the shelf” solutions for your sales scenarios because they each represent a model and that model only works if the person you are dealing with is “running” a similar model in their personality and if your situation is nearly the same too!
Now, I am not saying don’t study about sales. Infact, quite the opposite. I do recommend that you read everything you can about sales and human communications because you will learn more about sales and communications in that way than from virtually any other. What you learn however may not always be what the author intended as you should be a student of human behaviour and influence, not beholden to any one particular book! When Bruce Lee studied kung fu he took the best of each style of kung fu and designed a new art which had no set forms. This new style changed to be the most effective for each and every situation. A good sales professional will be aiming to achieve the same.
Why not “ask for the business instead”…
The first sales training tactic for achieving a better close ratio is to change the words that you use. Why not “ask for the business” or “take the order” or “provide a solution” instead? These words don’t create the same fear. I have tested this on dozens of sales people. Removing the word that the fear is associated with removes the fear too. If anyone has read Anthony Robbin’s material he describes how you can only experience feelings that you have words for and that words only have the meaning that you ascribe to them. He describes how, because the quality of snow is important to their survival, Eskimos have dozens of different words for snow but we just have very few. Their experience of snow is different than ours and we cannot comprehend that because we have no words to describe it.
Start with the end in mind…
Secondly, it is important that you start with the end in mind. Whenever you go to a client sales meeting, sales presentation or sales negotiation think through it in your head first. Think about what outcome you want from the sales meeting or sales call and think through the possible ways this might occur. Think also of what the minimum outcome is that you are prepared to accept from the sales meeting or sales call. When you have built rapport, asked questions, uncovered your clients’ needs and provided a solution it’s only natural to ask for the business. After all, you have provided a solution so asking for the business is the next step! Why would you accept less than your minimum acceptable behaviour from the client?
I once worked with a talented sales professional. He made fantastic cold calls, built elegant and effective rapport and uncovered client needs effortlessly but he did little business. In a short sales training session I discovered that he disassociated the sales process from “closing” hence he would “do the meeting” and then think, “Oh dear! Now I need to close!”. Cue panic. His customers could see it and the sale was lost, every time. He was in “sales” mode and they were resisting. He was a nice guy so it was easier to walk away than risk rejection or upsetting the client! Simply by viewing the sale as one seamless process with a natural conclusion he was able to see the “time-line” and “path” of the sale. If the client deviated from this he was able to maintain control and bring them back on track. He achieved a sales training breakthrough literally overnight.
What’s the next step…
At this point, I might add that you must remain flexible. There will be times when you cannot make the sale for unexpected reasons. On these occasions, it is important that you assess your performance objectively. Ask yourself whether next time you could ask better sales questions to uncover the unexpected situation earlier. If the answer is “no” then reset your objective for the client sales meeting. If the answer is “yes” then take on board what you have to learn and reset the objective for your next meeting. But, and this is very important, always remember to set a new objective for the meeting.
When was the last time you heard this conversation:
“How was the sales meeting?”
“Great”.
“How did you get on?”.
“Oh, great I think he / she will use us!”.
My next question for you is, ”So what’s the next step?”
This should have been agreed, with time-scales with the client. If it hasn’t then you haven’t reached your objective. Maybe this was because you didn’t set one or you didn’t achieve it but this sales meeting was not “great”!
They are expecting you to ask for the business…
Lets face it, you work hard to find clients and get that all important meeting with them and you listen hard to understand their true needs not your perceived ones. When you provide a sales solution that matches their needs they are expecting you to “ask for the business”. When this becomes a relaxed, natural part of the meeting you will achieve more and effortless sales success.
Sales training tip: Ask for the business!
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