Finding Your Personal Motivation, Part III

Posted by Gavin Ingham on March 10, 2010 · 2 Comments 

The final part of my quick video on Finding Your Personal Motivation. Thanks for your kind comments and thoughts on this one. We’ll be launching the all new GavinIngham.com sales training, personal and business success website in the next few weeks and we will be releasing a lot more videos. This will be one of the last in this more formal format as we’ll be over to a new, exciting format that will allow us to get you sales training and personal success tips more frequently and more often.



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Finding Your Personal Motivation, Part II

Posted by Gavin Ingham on March 3, 2010 · Leave a Comment 

When people find out that I am a “motivational speaker” they often ask me to motivate them as if it is something that I can do for them or to them. We’re often at a party or in a pub and it is posed as something of a challenge however, many times, it is deadly serious too.

Motivation is internal and the ability to motivate yourself is something that you can learn to do if you set your mind to it. There are many different ways to build self-motivation and hundreds of techniques that you could use. Here is part ii of my video short Finding Your Personal Motivation and these are some of my favourite strategies that you can use to help to develop your own personal motivation.


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10 Sales Training Tips That Will Help You To Make More Sales

Posted by Gavin Ingham on February 18, 2010 · 6 Comments 

I am feeling short , sharp and snappy today so here are 10 sales training tips that will help you to win more business…

  1. Play from a 10.
    Attitude is your ability to access your skill. If you’re not on top of your game, you won’t make many sales. We all know that, yet many salespeople don’t fire on all cylinders when they need to. Try measuring your attitude on a scale of 1 to 10 and concentrate on ensuring that you are on top of your game for all important sales  tasks such as prospecting, meetings, presentations, negotiations…
  2. Believe & achieve.
    If you believe you can, you’re probably right. If you believe you can’t, you more than definitely are! What you believe is one of the biggest predictors of what you will accomplish. Believe you can maintain profit margins, guess what you’ll fight to achieve? Believe you can’t, and guess what? Oh dear! Ask yourself, “What do I need to believe to achieve sales success?”

  3. Care about your clients.
    Many clients don’t engage with salespeople fully or honestly because they have been “abused” by a salesperson who was only interested in themselves at some point or other. Most salespeople care only about the sales and themselves, not their clients. Prove you are different by focusing on adopting the mindset of genuinely caring about your clients.

  4. Set big goals.
    Set your sights on the stars. Go for gold. Think big and go for it. Mediocre goals and targets are for sales wimps not sales superstars! What do you want to achieve in 2010? What clients do you want to engage with? How much revenue do you want to secure? What are your goals for yourself, your business and your life?

  5. Take action.
    Nothing happens when no-one does anything. Most people sit chatting, surfing the internet and faffing around with their “to-do” piles whilst sales winners make money. What can you do today that will take you one step close to your dreams and goals?
  6. Ask great questions.
    Sales superstars ask great questions. Great questions come from a mindset of genuine interest in the client, their business and their life. Do an audit of your questioning skills and habits. Plan and design some new questions to try out. What can you do to improve your questioning techniques?

  7. Listen.
    No point asking questions if you don’t listen to the answers. Listen to what your clients say. Listen to what they nearly say. Listen to what they didn’t say. Listen to what they meant. Listen to genuinely understand. Listen without an agenda. The objective of listening is to understand, really understand, what your clients are talking about… from their perspective. How would you rate your listening habits?

  8. Add value.
    How can you add value for your clients? How can you help your clients? Without knowing how you add value you will be constantly battling with your clients over price. You should be selling on value not price. What questions can you ask your clients to better understand why they want and need you and how you add value.

  9. Match don’t pitch.
    Pitch – the worst and most misleading word in selling. Pitch is what you do to a baseball, not a client.Dictionary: Pitch – to throw, fling, hurl, or toss. So that’s going to work then! You shouldn’t talk solutions until you know what a client wants and needs and why. Match don’t pitch. Ask yourself, “What does this client want and need and why?” Don’t guess, ask!

  10. Keep learning.
    Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone loses sales. Everyone gets knocked down by the express train that is life. How fast are you going to get up and what are you going to learn so that you can perform better next time? Great salespeople keep theirsales techniques and sales strategies sharp by reading sales books, attending sales seminars, learning from others and self-assessment. Do you?

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Sales Training Tips From Readers…

Posted by Gavin Ingham on February 3, 2010 · 2 Comments 

Although some of my readers respond on the blog, many don’t, choosing to email me instead so I thought I would share with you a few inspirational… and not so inspirational tales, stories and whoops moments from some of my readers…

In this first story, Sue shares with us how she manages to turn a client around after initially being rejected. She doesn’t use fancy sales techniques or gimmicky lines, she focuses on understanding and building trust with her prospect…

Morning Gavin!

Just wanted to share this with you…

I work for the market leader in the UK for disposable napkins.  A couple of months ago I did a telesales call, got the appointment and happily toddled off the following week to meet the gentleman.

When I arrived at the restaurant and before I had finished my brief introduction to the lady behind the bar, she turned on me and told me that she “wasn’t interested, they only used linen and her husband should’ve known better than to waste my time and hers.”

Now, before this, as I had walked through the door, I had taken in my surroundings and realized a lot of time and effort had gone into the thought and design process in the restaurant.  Also when she spoke to me I knew she was a “visual” person.  From her hair to her toes…. everything was colourful.

So, having had the appointment turned on its head in 10 seconds flat, I smiled sweetly, thanked her very much and half turned away. As I turned to say goodbye, I said, “I have to say… fantastic atmosphere in here, the design is very good,” to which she replied, “Thank you, it’s all my own work.”  “It’s lovely,” said I and I added that my company is design led too.

I was then offered a coffee, as she felt bad for wasting my time, and she gave me ten minutes.  The ten minutes turned into an hour during which she was happy to tell me what she had done to the restaurant, how long it had taken etc.  At no time during this time did I try to sell. She was so happy to look at what I could offer that when she had finished her tale I came away with a 5K order for 3 different printed napkins. I have since had two repeat orders, been for dinner and have been asked to help with her design for dressing the restaurant for Xmas!!

I now spend a few minutes in my car getting ready for my appointments and, as I walk in the door, I spend my time observing (not rehearsing over and over what I’m going to say)…..

Getting into my customers world really does help! I also realized that telling isn’t selling and listening is so important and can be so useful.

Kind regards
Sue

And the next one…

Just thought I’d share something with you that may hit home with other people. This week I went to an exhibition and I was astounded by how many people working for businesses on their stands wasted their time with this pointless exercise. It went something along the lines of…

“’Good day (they check my name badge) Spencer. How are you? Can I give you this to look at?” (offering me brochures).
“Is it relevant to me?”
“Errmm, ahhh, well what do you do?”

Now I am no expert, but shouldn’t you attempt to qualify your leads, even in an exhibition situation? I was annoyed that they didn’t even ask a couple of questions to find out what I was there for and whether they could help me, rather than just showing me what they do and hoping it fits with what I might or might not need.

I wonder how many companies would benefit from a pre-exhibition coaching session on how to interact and make the most of what can be  an expensive investment in a stand/staff etc…

Just my Friday’s ten pence Gavin.

Have a great weekend.
Spencer.

As ten pences go Spencer, a very valuable one. Far too many salespeople don’t do sufficient research, both at shows and in general, leaving themselves looking unprepared and unprofessional. It’s also, as you rightly point out, a waste of time and money. I wonder how they would prepare differently if they had to pay for the stand themselves?

Next up is Nick who has a quickie to tell us about how even the world’s best service can be met with a frown sometimes…

Hi Gavin here’s one for your Sales Tales, “Never satisfied.”

Many years ago a good customer rang up desperate for some rolls of lead (for leaded windows). What could we do? I fancied getting out of the office so I figured an hour to finish what I was doing, half an hour drive and add another half an hour because I am always late leaving. I thought I would impress my customer with a two hour delivery, not bad eh, even today?

“You couldn’t make it one hour?” was the response I got back.

Regards
Nick

You have to smile Nick. There’s no pleasing some people! And finally, one from one of my readers in the US…

Hi Gavin

This was my first newsletter and I wanted to let you know I enjoyed it very much. The only story I could think of happened the first year I was selling. I was selling janitorial services after being in operations for many years. I was on quite a roll having sold a quarter of a million in billing each month for seven months.

I had a sale lined up that was about 25,000 per month in billing. It depended on the hi -tech company visiting our offices in Worcester, MA. We did not have an office there however our company did clean a 30 story building in town and we had an office in the basement near the carpenter shop. The potential client would not have been impressed!

The Building manager had a tenant moving in on the 25th floor. The furniture was in but not the tenant. We put up a sign with our name on the entrance to the suite of offices. I met the client outside the elevator in the lobby and took them up to the 25th floor. I introduced them to our President and the V. P. of operations. We had a phone on the desk but it was not plugged in to anything. They admired the view and asked how I liked it. I rode the elevator down with them.

When I went back upstairs everything with my companies name on it was gone. It was like Mission Impossible. We got the sale which expanded to $85,000 monthly.

Charlie

Thanks Charlie, fabulous. I’m not recommending it as a strategy nor am I recommending being dishonest but you have to love your style!

Why not share your sales stories, anecdotes and tips below?

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Cold Calling Blues?

Posted by Gavin Ingham on January 28, 2010 · 4 Comments 

Just under a year ago, I bought a new car. Many of you may remember this as I mentioned a BMW dealer who showed a total lack of interest in my questions and enquiries. He effectively made my decision for me to buy from a different manufacturer. Anyway, I was reminded of this incident when I got this email from one of my readers…

We lease some cars for sales staff on contract hire.  Sales guy rings from the lease hire company and asks to be put through to me

“Hello Mr Smith.”
“Hi.”
“How’s the cars going?”
“Fine.”
“Good – give us a ring if you need anything.”
“OK . Bye.”

You would have thought with the state of the car market he could have a bit more to say!

2′nd call – this afternoon – I answer the phone – something I try and avoid.

“XYZ company, Joe Bloggs speaking.”
“Hello, can I speak to the head of marketing?”
“What’s it about?”
“Marketing.”
“No – he’s not taking sales calls.”
“Can I send an email?”
“No – Bye.”

Man – if he’d looked at our website my names there as the Director!

Idiot.

You’d like to think that these individuals were particularly bad wouldn’t you? Or maybe that they were just having a bad day. But that isn’t my experience of leasing companies… or of cold callers…

One of the biggest issues many of my sales training clients have is getting their sales teams doing the activity that they need to do to bring in enough opportunities to give them any chance of success. Helping businesses to improve motivation, increase lead generation activity and implement systems to support and improve their reach with new clients is a large part of my business but it’s not the only part…

You have to do it correctly too. Activity alone is not any good. There is no point repeating a totally ineffective cold call over and over again. As I am sure Mr. T might say, “Pity the poor busy fool!”

As a sales director, I used to get dozens of cold calls every day. Most did indeed go like this…

“Hello Gavin, how are you today?” (Ugggh!)
“Fine.”
“I’m calling from It’s All About Me Recruitment Specialists, are you looking to recruit any new salespeople at the moment?”
“No.”
“I have a really good guy I have just interviewed, can I tell you about him?”
“No.”
“Oh ok, bye.”

Pointless.

There’s no point cold calling your clients without thinking preparing first and then without bothering to find out what’s important to them. There’s no point going to networking events and then not following up correctly on the phone. There’s no point working to create a Web 2.0 presence to create new leads if you do nothing with them because you cannot structure your calls effectively.

For many companies, lead generation is something that they need to do more consistently but they also need to do it better. They need to be more effective, more structured and more professional. There is little point making more cold calls of the calibre of these unprepared and unprofessional fools above.

To be a successful cold caller you need to be focused, confident and prepared. You need the right structure and approach and you need to effectively warm your calls up so that they are relevant to your prospects. And then you need powerful questions that are all about them so that you can engage them and start a meaningful dialogue.

There is a huge difference between spam cold calling and legitimate new business calls. Which side of the equation are you on? What do your prospects and clients think of your calls?

When done well, cold calling is one of (the?) fastest and most effective route to gaining more new business leads. Critically, there are times when it would be incorrect to use cold calling and something else would be more effective… but there are also times when nothing will beat cold calling and when cold calling may be the only way to reach your target market.

One of my friends (and an ex-seminar delegate) and his team, set up 250+ appointments, closed tens of millions of business and took a major market share through the use of professionally targeted b2b cold calling in a very short period of time.

What areas of your cold calling do you need to focus on to win more sales right now? How can you improve your cold calling? How can you improve your approach to be more professional, more effective and more consistent?

Filed under Gavin's rants, Prospecting & cold calling, Sales training, Stories · Tagged with , , , ,

What Would You Achieve If You Knew You Couldn’t Fail?

Posted by Gavin Ingham on December 2, 2009 · 10 Comments 

I was meeting with a good friend of mine, Andy Smith (NLP and EI trainer), the other day and, over a tasty Chinese buffet lunch, we were talking about “things that truly make a difference”. Interestingly, and despite all of the training courses that we had both been on, we were in total agreement that you could track back the things that had truly made a difference for us to a handful of techniques and strategies. Perhaps more interesting still was the fact that, even with our very different backgrounds, it was very similar topics that had made the difference for both of us…

And, most interesting of all, the really powerful techniques that really changed our lives were the simplest ones.

Now, I’ve talked before about how sales people and business owners ask for the “advanced” sales training strategies, rushing headlong into studying “advanced sales skills” when they’re not even covering the sales training basics so I’m not going to say again how important nailing important sales principles and reviewing and practising them regularly is…

I am however going to share with you one of my favourite ever questions…

What would you achieve if you knew you couldn’t fail?

A simple question, and one which is easily overlooked. Don’t make this mistaake. Really thinking about this question and your answers to it could well change your sales results, your career prospects and your life.

I was reminded of the power of this important question this week when one of my readers sent me the following passage…

“Let’s imagine that for one day only, you will be guaranteed success on every single new business call that you make, and you absolutely cannot fail……..

What time would you set your alarm in the morning?
What time would you start prospecting?
What time would you finish prospecting?
How many new business calls would you make?
How long would you take for lunch?
How long would you spend socialising?
How long would you spend in the supermarket?
How long would you spend chatting to colleagues?
How long would you spend on ‘admin’?

Now, compare your answers to the questions above to what you actually did do today.”

You’ve probably seen a question like this before. You may have even thought, “Good question”. Perhaps you were even slightly motivated by it. But you probably moved on and read something else without really benefitting from the inherent wisdom behind this question.

If you want a great day, stop now and take a break. Get a coffee and consider…

How would you spend your time today if you knew you couldn’t fail? What would you do? Who would you prospect? What would you ask of them? What would you achieve? What would you ask for that you’re currently not asking for? Who would you ring who you are currently avoiding? What price would you aim for? What targets would you set for yourself? What would you stop doing? How would you deal with distractions? How would you protect your valuable time?

You get my point.

What are you going to achieve today?

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A Sales Training Tip For Estate Agents… And Everyone Else

Posted by Gavin Ingham on November 20, 2009 · 2 Comments 

I have a hobby, it’s called “door-kicking”. It’s a little like “tyre-kicking” but it doesn’t involve cars, it involves houses. When I’m not following my twin passions of motivational speaking and sales training, I love looking around houses… show-houses, old houses, new houses, penthouse flats, country cottages, farms… anything really. You could say that I am an estate agent’s nightmare but then I have bought every house I have ever owned when I was on a “door-kicking” outing.

Anyway, last month I was looking around a house without any serious intention and I loved it. Infact, I loved it so much that I negotiated with the seller then and there and put an offer in. She accepted and my Sunday afternoon jolly had just become a house buying trip! Next day, I contacted one of the well-known national estate agencies and asked them to come around to value my house which they did. The estate agent was polite, efficient and courteous. He valued the house at what I thought was a realistic price in the current market and told me how they operate. It sounded fine so I asked what the market was like at the moment in the local area. He said that it was picking up, that houses were moving again and that he should have no problem selling my house.

Based on this, I agreed to put the house on the market with ABC Estate Agency and they took over the process of selling my house. This, from what I have seen so far, seems to consist of…

  1. Take some measurements and some photos.
  2. Write up a description.
  3. Upload house onto RightMove and ABC’s company website.
  4. Sit back and wait for the proverbial chicken to fly into open mouth.

Are you joking me? These are the same estate agents who have been moaning about how quiet things are, right?

So, as you do, I checked out RightMove to look at my house only to see that…

  • The house does not come up when you search my village.
  • One of the rooms has been missed off the description of the property description altogether.
  • Several of the measurements are wrong.
  • The pictures are poor lousy.
  • The room descriptions are non-existent.
  • I could go on but I won’t because it is too depressing that anyone could be so inept.

If I ran an estate agency and the most junior person on my sales team had been responsible for this description I would have been kicking ass. Let alone, the most senior consultant in charge of the branch!

But hey, no-one is perfect and everyone can make mistakes…

So I emailed them… but they did not respond.
So I repeated the email… no response.

So I rang them and got their voicemail, “Sorry we are not in the office…” (well, I know you’re not showing anyone around my house, that’s for sure!) and decided to get into my car and drive down to their offices. With my (growing) annoyance kept well under check I explained to the one agent in the office the importance of 1) getting things right, 2) making a strong first impression through the advertisement and 3) the power of words like “mature, landscaped garden”, “stylish, open plan living” and “exclusive, residential area” (not just “garden”!”).

He looked bemused so I left a message for the sales manager to call me.

Surprise, surprise, 4 hours later and no call. These guys clearly need a motivational speaker and some sales training! So let’s fill in the gaps and put this into context…

Over the last few weeks I have visited with at least 8 estate agents. Out of all 8 only 1 took my name and contact details. The others knew that I was looking for a house but never asked for my details. Why not? I can only conclude laziness and having had it so good for so long that they do not even know how to do the job properly anymore. Our estate agent’s brain should have been whirring with people he could call the moment I listed my property… apparently not. So here we are, several days weeks on the market, no update calls from the sales agent and no viewings.

Now I accept my fault in this. I am a sales training expert and I should have made the time to see several estate agencies to “interview” them as potential salespeople just like I would for a client. After all, they are going to sell my house for me and interviewing salespeople is something that I am good at!

So about now you could be forgiven for thinking, “Well this is fine Gavin, but what does it have to do with me? I’m not an estate agent!” Good question… and the answer is… “Well, quite a lot … potentially.”

Estate agents are not alone in having had it too easy for the last few years. Estate agents are not alone in cutting corners when they get the chance. Estate agents are not alone when it comes to taking the easy route. Estate agents are not alone when it comes to doing the all important “sales” bit pretty badly.

As a sales motivational speaker I spend a lot of time working with, talking to and consulting with salespeople, sales managers, sales directors and business owners from a multitude of different industries. A rare few do everything they can to succeed but a far larger majority fail to achieve their full potential due to a lack of application in even the most simple of areas.

Simply put – many salespeople fall at the first hurdle because they just don’t apply themselves consistently enough.

As a motivational speaker I always strive to raise my game and challenge myself to push for the next level. I am constantly astounded by how even the slightest increase in your game can increase results dramatically. Raising your game by even 10% can make a huge difference to the sales results and successes that you achieve – both in your job and in your life.

So this weeks’ challenge is to raise your game. What area can you seek to improve to get a leap in your sales results?

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Join Me At The First Recruitment Juice Live Event

Posted by Gavin Ingham on November 15, 2009 · 1 Comment 

I am pleased to be speaking at the first Recruitment Juice live event. If you’re in recruitment and you want to be more successful then grab this rare opportunity to see Roy Ripper and myself in January 2010 in London. Here’s the Press Release…

ISSUED 12 NOVEMBER 2009

RECRUITMENT JUICE LTD PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE FIRST EVER ‘JUICE LIVE’ EVENT “BOOST YOUR NEW BUINESS DRIVE” SEMINAR.

Recruitment Juice Ltd, leading supplier of innovative DVD training programs to the recruitment industry, is building on their success with the addition to their product portfolio of their first live seminar event.

The event, which will take place on Tuesday 12th January 2010 in central London, will be presented by Roy Ripper, host of their DVD programs and will focus purely on transforming the way recruiters approach new clients and generate more business – a topic close to many recruiters’ hearts working in today’s market.

“We hope the event will offer a great opportunity for recruiters to network, learn new strategies and techniques and get a massive motivational boost for their new business drive in the New Year. The seminar will be really high-impact and full of energy as we want the delegates rushing back to their desks desperate to use their newly learned skills and get started on new business!” said Roy.

Presenting alongside Roy, will be author and sales motivational speaker Gavin Ingham, who has been well known for over ten years for his inspirational and compelling approach to sales training.

Matt Trott, Director of Recruitment Juice commented, “We are extremely excited to have secured Gavin’s involvement in this event as we know he will bring something truly unique to the program. We are also very proud to have Dan McGuire, Managing Director of Broadbean Technology, hosting the welcome address and delivering some of his entrepreneurial flair to the delegates as he did when he appeared as an ‘expert’ in our second DVD series.”

For full agenda details and further information on the event visit Recruitment Juice Live or call 08700 677 567. The event is proudly sponsored by JobShop HQ, Broadbean Technology and media partner, UK Recruiter.

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Sales Training Tips For Handling Cold Calling Objections, Part III

Posted by Gavin Ingham on November 5, 2009 · 4 Comments 

Here is part III of my short sales training article on handling cold calling objections…

“I’ve had a bad experience with your company in the past!”

As objections go this one is slightly different as it may not be an objection at all, it could potentially be a complaint. For this reason it needs to be dealt with as a complaint to avoid stirring it up into something more.

Most salespeople are confrontational when put into this kind of scenario. That’s a shame as it really is the complete opposite of how you need to behave to deal successfully with this kind of situation.

Here’s a simple 6 step process for dealing with complaints…

  1. Apologize e.g. “I’m sorry that you’ve had a bad experience with our company in the past.”
  2. Make a powerful lead statement e.g. “We pride ourselves on ensuring that all of our customers are nothing less than delighted with our services.”
  3. Ask a question e.g. “Tell me Mr. Client, what happened?”
  4. Listen, listen and listen some more. Do not interrupt. Do not argue points. Do not put up a defence. The only two things you do are listen and empathize verbally. You do nothing else until the client has no more to say.
  5. Apologize and make another powerful statement e.g. “I’m sorry that you had that experience Mr Client. As I said, we pride ourselves on our happy customers.”
  6. Move to the next stage. This could be done in several ways, the most common of which would be to ask them what they want to happen next or to organize a face to face meeting with them.

Simple though this process is, many salespeople struggle with it as they take the client’s comments personally and do not listen and empathize with them effectively. This will derail the whole process and can destroy rapport.

“I don’t like you!”

This purely emotional complaint is designed to make you feel bad. What’s more, for many salespeople, it usually works!

Most salespeople like people. Most salespeople are people oriented. Most salespeople work hard to get their clients and prospects to like them. Being liked is important to them. It’s not surprising then that this little line hits them where it hurts.

Objections are not personal! Selling is not personal. Business is not personal. Selling and business are professional activities so don’t take them personally.

Try, “Then it’s a good job I don’t take myself too seriously, tell me John…” and move to a question. Taking this route shows the client that you cannot be rattled that easily.

“I’m not interested!”

In the highly competitive and sophisticated markets of today, salespeople face a lot of objections and rejection. Salespeople know that a lot of their prospects will not have any interest, need or desire for their products, services or solutions.

For this reason, the “I’m not interested” objection is quite effective from the client’s point of view because many salespeople expect this response even before they pick up the phone and believe it totally when they hear it.

Firstly, it is highly likely that this objection is quite simply untrue. Most clients have found that this objection works so they use it even when they don’t mean it and even when it is not true.

Secondly, even if they do mean it, it doesn’t mean that you can’t build rapport, find out more about them and their business and uncover some areas of mutual interest.

Try, “I wouldn’t expect you to have any at this stage. The reason for my call is to…”.

So there we are, over the last 3 blog posts we have looked at 10 sales superstar strategies for dealing with 10 very common objections. Invest some time now in writing down some of the most common objections that you get. Think about what effect they have on you, decide how you want to feel and behave in the future instead and then plan some responses that you can use to get more productive results and make more sales.

If you want to catapult yourself towards sales superstar status and become a master of objection handling strategies and techniques then make sure that you get hold of a copy of my sales training book Objections! Objections! Objections!. Many of my clients find it useful to have it on their desks when they are selling on the phone. Maybe you will too…

Filed under Negotiation & objection handling, Prospecting & cold calling, Sales training · Tagged with , ,

Sales Training Tip For Handling Cold Calling Objections, Part II

Posted by Gavin Ingham on October 21, 2009 · 3 Comments 

Here is part II of my short article on sales training tips for handling cold calling objections…

“I use someone else!”

This is a very common objection and one which salespeople and business owners can get very upset about. What they often hear in their heads is, “So I have no need for you!”

Try replacing that self-talk with, “Yes, and?” Obviously, you’re not going to say that out loud but that’s what you need to think to yourself!

Clients change suppliers all of the time. Clients moan about their suppliers all of the time. Clients have problems and challenges with their suppliers all of the time. Most clients are not totally happy with their existing suppliers. So this “objection” is actually an invite…

Try, “That’s great John and I am not asking you to change now, merely have a look at what we do. Problem is, I’m really busy at the moment and I won’t be able to come and see you for at least…”

“I’m happy with my existing supplier!”

Yeah, righto! That old chestnut. They might be happy, but they more than likely aren’t. Either way, it makes no odds to a sales superstar. You do not want to displace the existing supplier anyway. Not yet and not at this stage.

You haven’t even decided if you want to work with this client yet so how can they make an informed decision about you and your services?

All good companies stay abreast of what’s going on in the marketplace. Just because they are in an existing supplier relationship does not mean that they don’t keep their eyes open for alternatives and back-ups. Doing otherwise would be foolish.

Try,

“Many of my clients were happy with their existing suppliers when I first spoke to them and they found it really useful to assess our approach, using it as a benchmark to ensure that they were getting the best possible solutions from their existing suppliers.”

“I’ve got no budget!”

This is probably a lie. How can a client know if they have a budget before they speak to you? In any case, budget for what? You haven’t even had a conversation yet.

Try,

“At this point most of my competitors would ask you when you will have a budget and arrange to call you back then, however, I believe that business is built on relationships and I’d still like to come and see you now. How’s your diary looking…?”

“Is this a sales call?”

This objection is just an attempt to make you feel bad. For many salespeople this is tantamount to the client asking, “Are you the shit on my shoe?”

Don’t fan small flames. Take a moment and calm yourself. Dealing with this is so simple, “No, the reason for my call is to introduce myself…”

Watch out for the final part of this article on handling objections next soon…

Filed under Negotiation & objection handling, Prospecting & cold calling, Sales training · Tagged with , ,

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