And now for something completely different… I was interviewed today for a sales blog (Sales Giants) and I thought that the answers might be fun for my readers plus there are several important sales tips, strategies and ideas in my answers…

1. What kind of customers do you usually work with and how do you help them exactly?
   I have two specific customer types and in both cases I help them to improve sales motivation and performance. Firstly, I work with companies and organizations speaking at sales conferences, AGMs and away days helping to motivate and inspire. My aim is to ensure that they not only have a great event but that I leave a lasting sales buzz and energy which means more sales. This could typically be anything from a 45 minute opening or closing keynote address to a 3-hour sales boosting session. My second type of client is anyone and everyone who sells whether they are a salesperson, a business owner, an entrepreneur or a professional. Through my books, audio programmes, video training, open seminars and blogs I help people to make quantum leaps in their sales results and in their lives.

   
   

2. In a short sentence, what companies should be interested in your training services?
   In short, any company looking to increase sales. Not quite as short, corporate organizations looking to set their next sales conference alight and individuals and smaller companies wanting to increase sales results.

   
   

3. On the other hand, who shouldn’t? What will companies NOT find in your training?
   I don’t work with anyone who is not committed to getting results. I hate whiners, whingers and losers and I have no time for people who want to blame the economy, the market or someone else other than themselves for their lack of sales results. Don’t work with me if you don’t want straight talking advice!

   
   

4. Besides your website (http://www.gaviningham.com/), what other sales websites would you recommend?
   That’s a difficult one. I am a voracious reader so my favourite websites are any sites with books on… I particularly like Amazon for books, Nightingale.com for programmes and Youtube for video shorts. More and more speakers and trainers are getting the message that they need to add value first so there is a lot of good stuff out there. If you want more of my stuff, the website is good but also check out Youtube, Facebook and LinkedIn.

   
   

5. How about your preferred sales/business books?
   As I said, I am a voracious reader and I have read upwards of a thousand sales, personal development and business books and I liked many of them for different reasons at different times in my life. I usually only recommend books to individuals and like to ask a few questions before recommending. Put on the spot and asked to recommend books that are a good read for everyone I would recommend Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins because it was pretty much the first book I ever read in the field, NLP The New Technology of Achievement by Steve Andreas and Charles Faulkner and The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. Reading is not just about great books but also about keeping positive ideas and strategies moving in your head. It’s about growth and development and surrounding yourself with good karma (!) so even bad books can be good!

   
   

6. How did you get started in sales?
   Like many people I got into sales by mistake… I kind of fell into it. I found myself without a job and someone suggested that I had “the gift of the gab” and should “try my luck in sales”. It took me a while to realize that it was the gift of shutting the mouth I needed rather more than the gift of opening it. And soon after I realized that luck has little to do with it. I was fortunate that I was quite good straight away but I then had to work hard to work out what I was doing that was working so that I could improve my performance and getter even better results.

   
   

7. Most memorable sale?
   Gosh! There have been so many. I tend to be very in the moment and look forward in life not back so my most memorable sale is usually my most recent one. That makes it a keynote for a conference for 600 people early next year. One sale that sticks out is one where I met with an HR Manager who was using their nephew as their sole supplier. I didn’t know this at the time so I gave it all that I had. When I didn’t win the sale I kept persisting and eventually won an opportunity which I capitalized on and won the business. I later found out that it had caused something of a family rift. If I had known of the relationship at the time, I am not sure that I would have persisted as stubbornly! Maybe I would have given up and said to myself that it was an impossible situation. What this experience demonstrated to me was the importance of believing that you can succeed and employing the right tactics and strategies with 100% conviction.

   
   

8. Most disastrous sale (or funny situation)?
   Early on in my career I did several deals and was something of an overnight sales superstar but it all went seriously wrong when I then failed to land 18 deals in a row. My boss at the time was pulling his already sparse hair out and was going bald much faster than he should have been. I knew that tenacity, persistence and commitment to my personal development would win the day but I was sure glad when the awaited deal arrived.

   
   

9. What is the biggest mistake you see as a sales expert?
   There are actually several core mistakes that salespeople seem to make over and over again. Here are three…
   A) Too much “Me! Me! Me!” Most salespeople go into sales meetings thinking about how they are going to make the sale, how they are going to convince their client to buy, how they are going to close the deal. This is wrong. When you visit a client the meeting should be about them, about their business and about what is important to them.
   B) Putting clients under too much pressure. After making their pre-packaged, pre-prepared sales pitch most salespeople turn to a tried and tested close. Sales trainers still teach this BS. If you feel like you are putting your clients under too much pressure than you probably are. No-one likes to be pressurized into making a purchase.
   C) Not adding enough value. Salespeople all talk about selling on value and not price but many have no idea what this means! If you want to sell more then you need to work out how you can add value for each and every one of your clients and prospects.

   
   

10. What is the best sales advice you have ever received?
    That would be courtesy of Mrs. Ingham (my Mum) and is more of a way of living. It’s as good advice now as it was when I was five, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again.”

    
    

11. What is the best testimonial/comment you have ever received?
    Take your pick… Here http://www.gaviningham.com/sales-motivational-speaker/testimonials/ or here http://www.linkedin.com/in/salesmotivationalspeaker.

Related posts:

1. Audio Interview Of Sales Motivational Speaker Gavin Ingham On ExpertsOnline.tv
2. See Motivational Speaker Gavin Ingham Live At The Selling Show, 28th & 29th October 2008
3. Achieve Your Goals From ‘Motivate People’ By Motivational Speaker Gavin Ingham

I received your newsletter. Thanks again. I wanted to ask you a question. I work for a (market given) magazine that is distributed for free to (consumers) throughout the local area. I sell advertising space in the magazine. Our magazine has been around the longest. It started in (our area) and has branched out to include (surrounding areas).

However, there are 2 other magazines that are distributed in the same area. One of the magazines has been in our county since 2000. The other magazine has been around in maybe the same time frame. I have two questions:-

1. How do I convince the advertisers that our magazine is a good place to advertise?  I receive a lot of objections that include things like: 

"We already advertise in ABC magazine and it is distributed in the same way as yours.”

2. I go to all of the advertisers that advertise in the other magazines to try and get them to advertise in ours. I also go to companies that don’t advertise in the magazines and sometimes even have better results because I don’t get that objection. However, with the companies that don’t advertise in the other magazines I have to convince them that advertising in our magazine is good because it is a very targeted audience and everyone who reads this is a potential client.

Name & company supplied.

Firstly, thanks for your ongoing readership of my newsletter – remind your friends that they can subscribe free at www.gaviningham.com but don’t tell your enemies!

The situation that you are facing is very common and not distinct to your marketplace…

I’d like to tell you a little story…

Once upon a time, in a far off land there lived a happy salesperson who had products and services that were new and fresh. He had no competition and he could easily stay ahead of the marketplace. The clients loved his visits because he could educate and entertain them and they were always enthralled by his amazing new solutions to their problems and challenges…

Did this mythical, unicorn of a salesperson ever exist? I doubt it! I agree that the marketplace is maybe quicker and faster than it ever was but at the end of the day, sales is all about competition. If you have a good idea, someone will nick it! If you’re onto a winner, someone will copy you. If you’re in a market by yourself, get ready for some competition!

If you had some time in that mythical, fantasy land of being the only magazine in the marketplace then great but it was never going to last…

The aim of the game now is to help your clients to understand that you are the one for them and that you are better and more relevant for their needs than your competitors.

Here are some tips…

1. Stop trying to convince them and start “knowing” that you’re the best!

Sit down and think about all of the services that you have and offer that are better than those of your competitors. Get a piece of paper and write them down.

Seriously. Just doing this exercise will make you feel better about what you are selling.

You need to come across as confident and congruent with what you are selling. Salespeople don’t sell well when they are desperate and clients don’t like desperate salespeople! You need to “act as if” you are the only company worth dealing with in the marketplace.

Remember – your client’s perception of the value of your offerings will be determined to a large part by how you are viewed by your clients.

2. Remember that your clients probably don’t really think that you and your competitors are all the same!

But they know by telling you this that they put you on the back foot. Most clients think that they have the upper hand and that we are all desperate to do business with them at any cost. Don’t be so eager, take your time and plan your responses to start to redress this balance.

Your clients more than likely don’t see you as the same as your competition. It just suits them to tell you that! You need to ask more questions and find out more about how you are uniquely positioned to help them.

3. Plan and learn objection handles for common objections.

Preparation is one of the main keys to successful selling. The only way you will get better at selling is by thinking through situations and asking yourself the question, “How can I deal with that better next time?”

With your specific objection…

"We already advertise in ABC magazine and it is distributed in the same way as yours.”

What about something like…

“That’s fine I’m not asking you to change now, merely have a look at our services to see how they might complement your existing services.”

Or…

“That’s fine, business is built on relationships. At this stage, all I want to do is find out a little more about you and your business and see how we might be able to benefit you in the future.”

Or even, if you feel the need to say more…

“That’s great. I’m pleased you realise the importance to your business of advertising in this medium however our distribution is not the same as theirs. I’m not asking you to change now, merely have a look at our services and see how they might complement your business objectives in the future. Tell me, how often do you advertise with…?”

Remember – the objective is to get them talking, to find out why they are using the service, to discover their objectives, to understand how successfully they are meeting those objectives and then to offer something better and more relevant to them.

For more on objection handling have a look at my book Objections! Objections! Objections! available on www.amazon.co.uk.

4. Perception is everything.

Even if your services are exactly the same as your clients (or indeed are not as good!) it is whether the client thinks they are or aren’t that matters most. This means that it is your job to find ways that your services are more relevant to them than those of your competitors.

On your second point, you are right in your strategy. There is no-one more destined for failure than a one-trick-salesman. You need to be approaching both new customers to your service and customers who are using your competitors. As you have rightly pointed out, these two groups of customers will often require different sales strategies.

For the potential clients who don’t advertise at present make sure that you are ready to deal with likely objections. They will more than likely have been “sold” to before so when they object with “I have looked before and it’s not for me" objection handle with a gentle reframe…

“That’s fine. I’m not asking you to buy now merely have a look at how our services might complement your existing advertising strategies. Tell me, how do you currently…?”

Then get interested in their current situation, how they advertise, what their objectives are and how you might be able to help them now or in the future.

Let’s face it , until you ask and listen you’re not going to know whether you can help them or not. Best of luck and remember to sell with passion.

Related posts:

1. Why I Bought Private Medical Care And Why You Should Sell On Value And Never On Price
2. Should I Only Be Cold Calling Prospects I Convert Most Easily?
3. Does Cold Calling Work?

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.

Related posts:

1. Does Cold Calling Work?
2. Stand Up If You Like Cold Calling!
3. Sales Training DVD: Power Canvassing For Confident Cold Calling

And now for something a little different…

I thought it was about time we did a bit of podcasting so here is an mp3 for your enjoyment! Sales motivational speaker and sales training expert, Gavin Ingham (that’s me by the way), interviewed on ExpertsOnline.tv.

In this interview we talk about  sales strategies, sales techniques and sales atitiudes and a lot more besides so grab a cup of tea, a biscuit and a pen and enjoy.

Interview length 22 minutes 30 seconds.

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This is the first of several interviews and audios that I will be posting at GavinIngham.com so make sure that you join my newsletter now and you will be the first to hear about them.

Related posts:

1. Gavin Ingham Interviewed By Keybank On Successful Goal Setting
2. Cold Calling Howlers, Gavin’s Kitchen Nightmares!
3. Stand Up If You Like Cold Calling!

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!

Related posts:

1. Getting To The Sales Negotiation Mindset
2. The Sales Apprentice: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Part V