A Day of Celebration

What does July 4^th have to do with selling? The answer is everything.

America is known as the land of opportunity by people around the world. For centuries they have flocked to our shores to take advantage of the freedom America offers and for the chance to prosper in our free society.

Given the opportunity, many immigrants chase their American dream and succeed. Professionals, entrepreneurs, skilled laborers and others know what to do when they get here. Yep, this is the place to make your dreams a reality. All it takes is knowledge, skill and effort. Much of what is needed is here for the asking. America is a platform for excellence, prosperity and happiness.

Like many others, my background is diverse. My ancestors came to America from different parts of Europe, different cultures. America is truly the melting pot of the world. With little exception, we all arrived here from somewhere overseas.

That brings me to the sacrifices made over the centuries by brave people who fought for our rights as Americans. There are few American families who have not been touched by war in one way or another. The sacrifices made by our founders and by our brave servicemen and women have made it possible to maintain our freedom and be what we can be.

Celebrate Independence Day. Celebrate our freedom. Honor those that went before us.

Your reward as an American is waiting for you. If you work hard you will prosper. So, you are now free to go out and sell something and make money. Go for it.

Good selling.

The Odds Against Making a Sale

Beating the Odds

Odds are that you won’t make the sale. Odds say that your prospect won’t even talk to you. How’s that for a negative opening line?

It is a fact that salespeople lose more orders than they win. The odds of making more sales and earning more money improve when some sales fundamentals are faithfully practiced.

There are many barriers standing between you and booking business. That said; let’s lay out a few things that you can do to make your chances of success better and cutting the odds.

 

1.      Know your buyer

Does your buyer clearly have a need for your product or service? Is there a budget to buy from you? Is your buyer a decision maker? If you can answer all three questions with a yes, you have increased your odds of success.  This is known in sales lingo as qualifying the lead. You will enjoy more happy outcomes if you are good and faithful at doing this.

 

2.      Know why they will give you money

There must be a reason for the buyer to give you money. What is it? Most sales are made when the seller solves a problem for the buyer. If the problem hurts more than the cost of the solution you are on to something. The easiest way to get to the bottom of the value proposition is to ask the buyer a bunch of relevant qualifying questions. The answers will help you make the case for your offer that will resonate with the buyer. We call this step solution selling or consultative selling.

 

3.      Know what you are talking about

Buyers like to buy from experts. It gives them some security. If you really know the application you are pitching you might even get the order without having to be the lowest bidder. The good news here is that you can invest in yourself and can become an expert on your target buyer’s needs and how your offer solves those needs.  Bingo. A knowledgeable salesperson should beat out novice competition.  In sales, knowledge is power. Power up

4.      Tune up your pitch

The words that you say and how you approach a buyer really matter. Get your story straight, make it short and compelling. Feature the value you provide. If you get the buyer’s interest early (within seconds) you will cause them to ask for more details, giving you all of the time you need to sell. You need to fine tune and practice your opening remarks. This opening statement is referred to as an elevator pitch because you have to get it out and over in the time it takes for an elevator ride.

5.      Ask questions and listen

It seems contrary to logic, but listening is the best sales skill. If you ask probing relevant questions and let your buyer answer, you will learn what the buyer’s problem is and what will cause them to give you, or someone else the order. One fundamental rule is to make sure that the buyer is the first person to talk after you ask a question.  And while you are at it, don’t forget to ask for the order. Break this rule and you chances of making the sale are diminished.

Selling is difficult. Make it easier on yourself by following a few simple rules.

 

Good selling.

 

I Went to a Camper Show

A couple of weeks ago. on a snowy winter's day, my wife and I went to a camper show at the community college arena.

We had been discussion our plans to take a real vacation this year and camping was one of our options. I saw an ad for the show in my morning paper. There was nothing much to do and going to the camper show sounded like a pretty good thing to do.

The showroom floor was busy. There were a lot of people and what seemed to be an equal amount of salesmen in the building. Not a saleswoman in sight.

When we arrived we were approached by a salesman who engaged us by asking questions...a good sales tactic. When I told him we were looking for a summer rental he pointed to a couple of campers down the aisle. I turned around to talk to him and he was gone. When he realized that I was not a buyer he moved on. No money there for him. Good move on his part. He qualified me quickly and moved on to find a real buyer to invest his time in.

As we walked through the maze of campers we were approached by another salesman. He didn't abandon us when we asked about rentals. He provided us with the information we needed, gave us his card and asked us to call him. As we started to move on he told us that if we wanted to rent a camper for this summer that we had to reserve one now before they were all spoken for. That may have been true, but I really got a kick out of his "act now" closing technique. Good job salesman!

The third salesman we encountered started out with questions. Again, this is an excellent way to sell. He asked me what I would be pulling the camper with. When I told him that I didn't have a vehicle that could pull a camper he immediately countered with "That is great. The best way to buy a camper is to purchase the camper you want first and then buy the correct vehicle to tow it." This young man took what I told him and spun it and me like a pro. Any answer I gave him became a positive reason to make a buying decision.

I was delighted by our experience. I am not sure how going to a camper show morphed into me enjoying a clinic on selling, That was exactly what happened.

I did not buy or rent a camper. Attending the show helped us decide that camping might not be the best vacation option for us, but it was great to see sales professionals in action.

As we walked down the last aisle we came upon an impromptu sales office with six desks on each side. These was a salesman sitting at each desk sitting across from couples who appeared to be filling out paperwork. Everyone on both sides of al of the desks were leaning over the desk. Very intense. The only thing that could have enhanced the image was for the salesmen to have green visors. What appeared to be a sales manager (pit boss) walked from desk to desk helping make the deals a reality. I really would have loved to have listen to all of those closers working. Were they using the act now close, the little decision close, the assumptive close or the just ask close? Were they trial closing or using a mix of all of these methods to get to yes? I'm not sure of the answer, but one thing is for sure is that business was being done at the camper show.

It was great to see professional salespeople in action. It made my day.

Next: A free lunch at a time share event. wish me luck.

You Don't Always Win

The percentage of prospects that buy from you after your sales appointment and closing attempts is referred to as your closing percentage. Prospects don’t all buy every time in spite of your best effort to convince them. The reality of selling is that no one has a 100% closing ratio. At the height of my personal success selling medical insurance billing systems to doctors, my personal sales closing ratio was less that 50%., and I was looked on as a leader in my industry. My best salespeople closed 20% - 25% of the deals they chased and they made a lot of money. You just lose more than you win in sales. That is how it works.

If They Say No

I was taught early in my sales career to take responsibility for my failures. It was good advice that has served me well. If a prospective customer says no to my offer after a focused sales sit down I only have myself to blame for the failure. If you are faced with no, take a deep breath and try to figure it out what happened and fix it.

“No is not no, it is non-yes.” Mark Thelen, My favorite sales trainer.

Objections

Objections are a term for the reason or reasons the prospect does not want to buy your product or service.

Overcoming objections is a deliberate method to answer and neutralize reasons the prospect rejected your closing offer. If you can get them to state the objection or objections to a purchasing decision you have a fighting chance to neutralize them and ask for the order again.

 

• Ask them why they are not buying.
• Confirm the objection. Ask them to confirm what you have heard.
• Put the objection in perspective. “How often will your objection issue happen every year?” If the answer is once or twice, you can overcome the objection with the many other positive reasons that your prospect has already agreed to.
• Look at your notes from the sales interview. If you were using the trial closing technique, you probably have all of the fuel you need to overcome, answer and ask for the order again.
• Offer a solution to the objection. “If you can’t pay the full amount today, why not take advantage of our 90 days same as cash option?” Wait for the answer. If they accept your counter offer you have made the sale. Congratulations.

Objections are normal, particularly when there is a lot on the line. Learn to deal with and handle objections. There are only a few objections that you will hear over and over again. They may be slightly different, but over time (hopefully not much time) you will adeptly answer the core objections effectively as second nature.

If your prospects repeatedly say no and mean it your closing problems might go deeper than just mastering closing techniques and overcoming objections. There are a lot of steps and barriers standing between prospecting for leads and cashing the check. If your closing ratio is a low number and if you are struggling to book business a serious analysis of your step-by-step processes is in order. If this is your personal condition I suggest that you get a mentor or coach and work it out.

Never forget that your mission as sales professionals is to locate opportunity, develop each prospect, sit down with them, skillfully pitch your product or service to them and ask for the order. Closing business is the end game and the final measure of success.

Trial Close and Sell like the Pros

Closing or ending the sales interview is end of the sales process. We traditionally close the deal at the end of the meeting. We use proven methods to get the prospect to yes after going through the steps of the sale.

My first sales book was the textbook from the Dale Carnegie Sales Training class that I attended weekly. The training was excellent. Looking back now, things have changed in sales. New tools, new systems, new products and services have revolutionized business, industry and the selling of product and services. In spite of the changes, professional salespeople still follow systems that generally end in a face-to-face moment when the salesperson asks for the order. That has not changed in one hundred years or more. The reality is that if you don’t ask for the order you are unlikely to get it.

The textbook was “The 5 Great Rules of Selling” written by Percy Whiting. Percy went on the road and sold securities in 1918, I believe. He wrote the book after an illustrious career in sales and after his appointment to a leadership position in the Dale Carnegie training organization.

The 5 Great Rules of Selling are:

1. Attention
2. Interest
3. Conviction
4. Desire
5. Close

Note what happens at the end.

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) is my favorite sales movie. I don’t care much for the profanity. I guess it ads to the intensity of the movie. There is a lot to learn from the story. Much of it is overdone, but the reality is that selling is a tough business. There are too many great snippets from the movie to share with you. The best part is when a character (Alec Baldwin) conducted a sales meeting at the office as a favor to his friends that own the company. The presenter was a top sales producer. He didn’t have any respect for the sale force. It was a rough sales meeting for all involved, but the reality of selling was accurately presented again.

In the story, the sales process was noted as

1. Attention
2. Interest
3. Decision
4. Action

Get it done at the end.

 

There was another acronym that he presented during the meeting. The message is not new. It is well known in sales. It is an important truth that sales professionals follow when practicing their profession.

A. Always

B. Be
C. Closing

What does always be closing mean? How can you always be closing without irritating the prospect and blowing up the deal? The answer is simple. A easy and effective way to always be closing is to learn and practice the technique of trial closing.

Trial closing is done during the sales interview, not at the end. As you work through your sales process and ask your prospect if what you just said made sense. Ask if they agree with the value of each point. If they say yes you can go on to the next point. If they say no you can stop right there and explore why is isn’t important or of no value to the prospect.

There are a couple of really good reasons to practice trial closing. The first is that by trial closing you take and maintain control of the process. You are in the lead chair. If one or two points of your presentation don’t resonate, put them away and focus on others that do. The next good reason to trial close is that trial closing makes the end game easy. If your prospect continues to say yes and agree during the course of your meeting, it is darn hard for them to say no. If they do, just pick up your notes and confirm all of the good points that they have agreed to and go for close again.

Here are some simple examples that you can adapt for trial closing your products or services. Let’s use selling a car as an example.

(You) “I see that you like the red coupe. It really looks good. Can you picture yourself driving with your best girl, the top down and your favorite songs on the stereo?”

(Prospect) “Yes I can.”

(You) You might not know this, but your coupe is delivered with an unconditional 100,000-mile warranty. That is the best warranty in the business. You can rest easy that you won’t be paying for repairs for the foreseeable future. Do you see and appreciate the great value in having this extended unconditional warranty?”

(Prospect) “Yes I can.’

(You) I gave some recent industry data that shows your coupe has one of the top five-resale values in its class. That means if you decide to sell your coupe you will get a high market value for it. That makes your purchase of the red coupe financially sound. Do you agree?”

(Prospect) “Yes it do.”

If you have sufficient product knowledge, understand your competitive advantages and have a qualified buyer in front of you, getting to yes by practicing trial closing makes the whole sales event easier for both you and for them.

In reality, if I have a prospect that has told me yes to multiple trial closing questions I am inclined to just ask for the order.

(Me) ‘Based on what you have told me, let’s do the paperwork and get you your new red coupe.”

(Buyer) “OK.”

Based on my example, I have just completed a true sale, a value proposition for both of us. The buyer got the car of his dreams with assurances about warranty and resale value. I got money. We are both happy.

I love to sell. I hope that you do too.

The Just Ask Close

Just Ask For The Order

 

At the end of your sales call there is only one thing to do. Ask for the order. There are easy methods to get your prospective customer to yes.

 

There is a method that I refer to as the little decision closing technique. Other ways to close the sales are the act now close and the assumptive close. These tactics can stand alone or can all be used to complement each other during the tender period as you bring your sales call to an end and solicit positive purchasing decision.

 

I am making an assumption that during your sales presentation you are selling a product or service to a prospect that has a need, a budget and decision authority to buy from you. If not, all bets are off.

 

That said, if you have done a good job of prospecting, qualifying and interviewing your prospect you have earned the right to ask for their business.

 

A simple observation I would like to share with you is that your prospect know exactly who you are, who you represent and why you asked for their time. If they gave you and appointment it is a very good and positive sign. I don’t make appointments with salespeople unless I am interested in their topic. My time is valuable to me. I do not waste my time meeting with people who have not won my interest before setting the meeting. Your prospect’s time is just as valuable to them as mine is to me. If they give you an appointment you are staring out in a very good position.

 

This brings me to my final suggestion to end the sales interview and win an order. I personally prefer to just ask for the order. No gimmicks, no games, no tricks, just a simple yes or no answer. If I have done a good job along the way and the prospects says no, I immediately ask them why not, answer the objection(s) and ask for the order again.

 

Here are some simple statements that you can use to just ask for the order:

 

“Are you ready to move forward with my proposal?”

“Let’s do this.”

 “I’m ready to get started, how about you?”

 “Are we in agreement?”

 

No matter how you go about closing your sale it is very important to let your prospect answer any and all questions you pose before you talk again. You will be penalized for continued chatter while closing business. Let your prospect talk. Let them answer. They will tell you yes or tell you no. Again, if they say no you get to ask some variation of “why not?” Either way, you are still in the game.

 

Just ask? Yes, it is a very simple way to end your sales presentation successfully. There was a lot of preparation and skill required to get the prospect and the sale to a conclusion. If you did a good job during the sales process, closing the sale should be easy.

 

Now, go and close a deal. Good selling.

Assume the Closing Position

The Assumptive Close

Closing a sales is a relatively easy to do if you have successfully gone through a quality sales interview with a qualified buyer. My style is consultative selling or problem solving. This style of selling is based on getting the prospect to talk about his or her needs after leading them with relevant, progressive probing questions. The objective is to get to a point where you both agree that there is a problem that you can solve for an investment by the buyer.

Closing is just asking for the order.

There are a few simple ways to get to the end of the sales process. There is the act now close, the little decision close and the assumptive close. You can use any three of these methods to close the order. They all work. Another easy way to close sales is to just ask for the order. “Will you buy from me?” also works just fine.

Let’s look at the assumptive closing method. The assumptive close is a little more nervy and tricky than the others. It can backfire if deemed to heavy handed.

The premise of the assumptive close is that all during the interview you and your prospect have agree on the problems and the solutions you have offered. You may have stopped a few times along the way to do some trial closing. “Will that feature solve this problem?” After a few or more yeses you can assume that the prospect is going to purchase and become your customer.

The tender moment when you apply the assumptive close can be played out with simple statements or questions..

 

• "Just sign here and I will get your order processed.”
• “Please write a deposit check for $100.00.”
• “What is the purchase order number?”

 

Next?

If they don’t put up a fight you have won the order. Enjoy your victory and move on to the next call. If they do object to your assumption don’t panic. Objections are a normal occurrence in sales. They happen often.

 

Handling objections is easy if you have done a good job during the sales interview.

 

• Repeat the objection to your prospect so that you have a clear mutual understanding of their concern.
• Answer the objection if you can. Use the notes from your interview to point out what the prospect said earlier on that particular issue.
• Get agreement.
• Close again.

 

If you like, feel free to upgrade your close with a few little decision and an act now value statement.

 

Earlier you told me that this feature would solve an important issue for you. Has anything changed? Good then we can move forward. Will you be paying cash or will you take advantage of our payment plan (little decision)? Place the order today and I will be able to process it and deliver your product before Christmas (act now).

My favorite sales trainer, Mark Thelen, said that no is non-yes. If you don’t win the order on a sales call you have failed somewhere along the way. It is your fault not the prospect’s fault. Learning, practicing and using proven closing methods just makes good sense and helps salespeople succeed.

 

Assume that the order is yours. You have earned it.

Good closing!