4 Tips for Effective Pre-Call Sales Planning

Stymied about what to say when you contact a prospect?

It's especially tough if you feel like you don't know enough about their organization to craft a relevant message. Recently, Katrina wrote to me about her frustration with pre-call sales planning:

"In your books, you talk about the importance of doing research prior to contacting a prospect. I’m having a hard time with that. I sell to marketing departments. But since companies don’t share that information publicly, it’s really tough to find out what issues they have. What should I do?"

Why You're Afraid to Ask for the Sale

Prospects almost never come out and say, “OK, I want to buy this product right now.” No matter how interested they are, they will be inclined to let the moment go unless you come out and ask for the sale. But asking someone to buy from you in so many words can be a scary experience, especially for someone who is relatively new to sales. The trick to overcoming this fear is pinning it down and understanding it.

Supermarkets Shifting Ad Strategies to Meet Sales Goals

The printed weekly circular has long ruled as the tool of choice for supermarkets to lure shoppers through the doors. But as shoppers spend less time perusing the traditional newspaper, supermarkets are changing their ad strategies. Not surprisingly, these stores are placing greater emphasis on online tactics.

Tighten up your message

A non-performing sales team can wreck a company’s profitability. Setting wrong goals or ineffective sales messaging often lead to underperforming sales teams, and this underperformance snowballs into a mammoth problem that hits profits harder than one can imagine.
It doesn’t matter if your product is very useful and affordable. It doesn’t matter if your business is ethical. What matters is whether the customers and prospects are aware of your product, its advantages, and how it can help make their life easier.

Selling to a Fortune 1000 Company

For most B2B salespeople, landing an account with a Fortune 1000 company would be a dream come true. Why not make it happen? Of course, if your business doesn't have the infrastructure in place to support such a large client's needs, then you'll have to stick with smaller customers. Even so, you can start laying the groundwork now so that as your company continues to mature, you'll be ready to sell to the big guys.

Why Sales Quota Must be Perceived as Achievable

Ok, I’m coming back to the quota discussion.

My last post about quota focused on the importance of quota aligning with business objectives and business strategy. This post is going to tackle perception. The perception of achievability.

RULE 1: Quota MUST BE perceived as attainable.

RULE 2: See rule one.

Be ruthless about preparation

(MoneyWatch) Panic. Fear. Frustration. Inevitably, someone on your sales team is going to stand up just before you approach a potential customer and say, "I think we've got this all wrong. We have to change this whole thing or we might as well not bother pitching it."

You can almost count on fearful emotions bubbling up. And these panicked salespeople win a lot more often than you would think. The fatigue of working through the process just starts to wear people out. The frustration of not being able to get it perfect will cause people to give up on their current path and start over.

Help! I Can’t Close Sales: 5 Ideas to Increase Your Close Ratio

Recently I got an email from Ahmed that said, “Do you have anything on how to close sales? Getting into an account isn’t a problem for me. But I get stuck after submitting a proposal.

“By this time, I’ve already sent them all our marketing materials and given them a demo. They seem interested. Then, after they get my proposal, nothing. What am I missing?”

I can’t tell you how many times salespeople have asked me to help them get better at closing. However, despite what you think, it’s not the real problem.

A Simple Way to Increase Sales is to De-Pollute Sales Positions

It was much clearer when the sales leader initially hired each sales person. They would have a sales role – either inside sales or outside sales, named accounts or other clear sales position.

There was a job description, so long ago – but in the last number of months or over the last year, things changed. The role morphed so much that at times, the team members are not sure if they are a salesperson or a whole host of other things.

Some roles morph from sales to part-time sales and part-time customer support.

Some roles morph from sales to “all hands on deck – whatever we need”.

Some roles morph from sales into collections.

Some roles morph from sales to research.

Regardless of how it happened or why it happened, there is one thing undeniable.

Sales Trick: Here's What Not to Say

Customers don't actually care about what you're selling. They're interested only in addressing their own needs.

Want to sell more? Stop talking about what you're selling.

Yes, you read that right: It's always a huge mistake to talk to prospective customers about what you're selling. Instead, talk about what the customer is buying.

Bear in mind: These are two very different things.

Here's a prime example. I recently received this email from a longtime Sales Source reader:

Geoffrey, I am new in the Short Term Insurance industry, and am looking for that catchy one liner (some call it the "elevator pitch"), to capture the attention of my prospects. I find that when I say I am selling insurance, they often "switch off."

Retail Sales Consultant Tip: Make The First Sale Of The Day

Have you ever heard the first crack of the bat at a baseball game? One that goes soaring into the outfield far enough to allow the hitter to get on base?

It is a tremendous amount of energy released. And that’s just to get on base, the energy from an out-of-the-park home run is even more spectacular.

That first hit is crucially important because the team that gets the first hit usually wins the game. That hit is a confidence builder for the team.

Strategies for Answering the Toughest Questions

Harvard Business Review is arguably the most prestigious publication for business leaders and management thinkers. Here’s one of my recent Harvard Business Review articles titled “Strategies for Answering Your Toughest Customers’ Questions.”

One of the hardest things to do in all of sales is handle tough questions from skeptical prospective customers. After interviewing thousands of customers as part of the win-loss studies I have conducted, I can tell you with certainty that answering customer questions successfully is often the difference between winning and losing. Here are seven points to consider when answering questions:

10 Reasons Why Field Sales Teams Are Becoming Extinct

Today’s “new normal” sales landscape has sales leaders scratching their heads, wondering about the best way to structure their sales organizations. Should they keep their expensive sales duo: inside sales AND field sales? Or just go with inside sales? Good question. Step into my time machine. When you step out in the year 2020, and the landscape may look quite different.

Entrepreneurs' Biggest Sales Mistakes

When an entrepreneur decides to start a business, there are typically several important tasks at the top of his or her To-Do list, such as writing a business plan, choosing a name, and obtaining financing. Once the company is up and running, most founders obsess over perfecting the product or service, and perhaps devote energy to secondary tasks such as building a website.

Too often, there's a task that's far down this list of priorities that deserves to be much higher: Making the company's first sale.

3 Activities to Fill Your Sales Pipeline

Some time ago we talked about the 3 parts of the sales pipeline: front, middle, and end  from a sellers point of view.

Today let’s talk from a marketer’s point of view. (Disclosure: since I represent sales, not marketing, this is my interpretation of what a marketer would say.) Actually anyone in professional selling has some marketing characteristics – there is no longer separate ground, but lots of interwoven strategies between marketing and sales to work with the new buyer. It will all tie into sales shortly.

The Power of Meeting In Person

Everybody is busy these days, including salespeople. That's why many are shifting to virtual meetings, emails, phone calls, and even texting as a way to communicate with prospects and customers. Yet none of these communication tools can match the face-to-face meeting's personal touch. While virtual contacts can be a quick and easy way to stay in touch, periodic physical meetings are still a necessity.

Four Tips for Creating an Effective Lead Scoring Program

Most companies dream of being flooded with leads. And why wouldn’t they? More leads provide more chances to close deals. But high-lead volume also has its drawbacks: Your best prospects might be falling through the cracks because your salespeople are scrambling to keep up with everyone.

Fortunately, lead scoring programs can help deal with all that scrambling. They provide actionable scales for deciding when an opportunity is sales-ready.

Using the Five Senses in Selling

In my previous post (Mind-control in Selling) I was talking about how selling is fundamentally a question of the influence of mind over mind, and how the formula for developing a mind control is very simple.  It is a study of the five senses and the manner in which they influence the mind, and a constant effort to apply in practice what you have learned.

You have learned, in the early grades at school, that the five senses are sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.  These five senses may be called the avenues to the mind. It is impossible for any sensation to reach the objective mind except through one of the five senses.

The Six Golden Rules of Satisfying the Unhappy Customer

The focus of all modern management thinking, and strategic business practice, has to be the customer. Keep your customers happy and your sales will continue to soar. Neglect them, or take them for granted, and your bottom line will suffer accordingly.

2 Simple Ways to Stand Out in Sales

Recently I read a rant from one of my colleagues who was tired of people not responding to e-mail. I know exactly what he means.  It happens so often that it seems now to be acceptable and perhaps even fashionable to not reply to an email – even between client and company, or family members, or friends.

Before you get as mad as my colleague did, (which I don’t blame him for) – if you are a seller or other business professional making a living building relationships through communication, stop and think about a couple of things first.