Transcripts
1. Introduction to the Course: It's no secret that selling
has changed in recent years. This is an exciting and
dynamic profession, yet it is one of the most
underrated and misunderstood, at least in recent years. The back slapping, stazy joke telling hatsta has disappeared, and in his place is a new generation of
sales professionals, highly trained and groomed with the characteristics of honesty, trustworthiness, and competence. Broadly defined,
today's top salespeople are in the business of
identifying needs and persuading potential
customers to respond favorably to an idea that will result in
mutual satisfaction for both the buyer
and the seller. So in this course, you will
become skilled salesperson, skilled at networking,
and learn the 80 20 Vo. After today, you will know who to target and
how to target them. And remember to do
some prospecting every day through
winning up sales calls, following up on leads
and networking. At the end of this course, you will be able to understand
a wonderful paradox. Helping other people
to get what they want gives us more
of what we want. Use goal setting techniques
as a way to focus on what you want to accomplish and develop strategies
for getting there. Identify and be able to better present the competitive
strength of your products and services so that you can
be proactive in handling objections and more successful at asking for the business. Use different types of selling
for different situations. Learn how to use
a prospect board to make you more successful. Identify target
markets to target companies with the
AD 20 rule in mind. Develop and practice
networking skills at every opportunity. So what are you waiting
for? Let's get started.
2. Essential Selling Skills: Essential selling
skills. Welcome back. Thank you for joining us today. Now, let's talk about
selling skills. Selling skills take weeks, months, and even years to learn. It isn't that they
are that difficult, but they have to be practiced sufficiently to make
them second nature. To sell is simple. To sell the advice of
competitive situations, not just once, but
again and again, is an incredibly complex
and demanding task. Here are the basic
skills of selling. If you don't have
them, you need them. They are your future, your rock, your foundation, your
equity increase. You can double yourselves
by mastering each skill by itself and using them all
in strategic harmony. So as a salesperson, you would need port skills, recognizing and
adjusting for the needs of others, observation skills. Reading body language and the subtleties of
non verbal language, interrogation skills,
uncovering and implanting expectations,
needs, desires, motives, and parameters, commitment skills, growing
purchasing commitment, and orchestrating attention
controlled sale from the beginning to end,
negative response skills, interpreting, responding to and revising
negative options, actions or events,
presentation skills. Making your solution sound
attractive, exciting, and complete to the prospective client expectation
skills, exposing, implanting and fulfilling
client expectations, communication skills, facilitating the transfer
of information from you to your client,
organizational skills. Operating your sales
management system efficiently, effectively, and profitably,
strategic skills, evaluating sales situations,
planning tactics, and actions that
result in bigger, faster sales, technology skills, rising beyond the sales
support boundaries that may eventually
hold you back. Training skills.
Provide added value to your customers and
your selling team. Product knowledge
application skills, positively affecting
your customers through your personal knowledge
of your product and interpreting your product, slash service features into
advantages slash benefits, motivation skills,
positively motivating individuals and groups
during sales presentations. Attitude adjusting
skills, repositioning your personal attitude quickly when depressed or demotivated. And of course,
negotiation skills. With an increasing amount of competitors vying for
customer attention, negotiation has become an
expected part of sales. Customers anticipate
that they will be able to negotiate with
the salesperson, which means that sales
reps need to come to the negotiation table
ready to negotiate. Great negotiation skills don't entail conceding
unnecessarily. The skilled negotiator
knows how to find solutions that
work for both parties, resulting in a win win scenario that keeps everyone satisfied. Next, let's talk about
the power of the mind. The ability to control what you think about from minute to minute and from day to day is
a great wonder of the mind. The mind is very powerful
and it can't really tell the difference between what is real and what we imagine. So if we imagine
negative thoughts, how will our mind react? We will get depressed, become convinced we
can't do anything, feel negative, and give up. If we give ourselves
positive messages, the reverse can happen. We can gain energy
and enthusiasm and see the world as a
better, brighter place. Optimism is a learned skill. Is this important
for salespeople and entrepreneurs to
remember? Think about it. Salespeople share many
similar attributes, but the common thread among the sales elite is an
infectiously positive outlook. Optimism is more than having a positive outlook as
you go about your days. The effect of optimism
on the mindset of your customers cannot
be understated. Essentially, optimism
lowers stress. Next is professionalism. Appearance is key
for all salespeople. Even if you do all your
sales over the phone, maintaining a professional image is crucial for your self talk. Here are some tips for
dressing for success. Dress the way you
want to be perceived. Look like you care about
what you are doing. Dress comfortably and be
proud of who you are. Always appear as neat
and clean as possible. Hair clean and neatly trimmed. Fingernails clean
and neatly trimmed. And shoes are clean
and polished. Look trim. If you aren't slender, choose
clothes carefully. Be sure clothing fits properly. You will not feel
good, and you won't look good if your
clothes are too tight. Don't appear too
fashion conscious and don't spend a lot of
money trying to keep up. Know the colors and styles that suit you and stick to them. V H From developed his
expectancy theory in 1960. Although it has been slightly
modified through the years, his theory in its simplest
form is still valid today. It states that we
generally get what we expect positive expectations at the single most outwardly
identifiable characteristic that all winning
personalities demonstrate. Remember, our personal
self expectancy can be discovered if we
listen to our self talk, which is the inner conversations
we have with ourselves. Those little voices
inside our head, a winner's self talk might be. I did well today. I'll
do even better tomorrow. A losers self talk
is more apt to be. With my luck, I
was bound to fail. So you should constantly
monitor and self correct your self talk on daily basis
until it becomes a habit.
3. What is Selling: What is selling? Welcome there. Let's answer our logical
question. What is selling? If we are going to
be good consultants and problem solvers, we need to continually
improve our skills in order to stay competitive and
to help our clients. We will want to work
on all those skills we identified earlier. But again, don't look on your task of improving
yourself as a negative, but look at it as a
challenge, a positive. So here's a case study for you. There were once two
amateur runners, Harry Botkins and Jim Collins. These two men were
about the same age, the same height,
and the same build. They both had the same dream
to place in the top 200 in a marathon race that attracted thousands of
participants each year. Interestingly, both had
a faulty running stride and both went to a clinic a couple of months before
the marathon to get some expert advice on how
to improve their stride. A coach pointed out
their weaknesses and told them how to
correct their problem. And now the similarities between the story of these two men ends. Botkins visualized
himself running, cursed himself under his
breath for running like a dk. Vowed to correct his
strite if it killed him. Collins, on the other
hand, didn't get upset. He was pleased to get
the information and began concentrating on
correcting his stride. He began visualizing
the correct stride, and each time before he run, he would spend some time
correctly imagining it. At first, his time dropped, but he didn't get discouraged. He told himself he was just learning how to use his
muscles differently. After three weeks of
practice, positive self talk, and visualizing the positive, Jim Collins' time was
faster than ever. Watkins continued
to practice, too. Every day he told himself, Don't run like a duck, but every day he continued
to run like a duck. Eventually, he began to
sustain minor injuries, and at one point,
his ankle bothered him so much he had to
stop training for a week. Gradually, he started
running again, but now he was worried
about injuries, and all he wanted to do
was finish the race. The day of the race, Jim Collins kept up his positive self talk, visualized his correct
running straight and his successful race,
and finished 88. He congratulated himself and set a new goal for
the next year, finishing in the top 50. Harry, on the other hand, kept admonishing himself
to try harder. And indeed, he did
try very hard, but he couldn't
change his stride. Stop running like a duck, you idiot, he told himself, but eventually his injuries
got the better of him, and he had to drop out of the race before the finish line. Harry was bitter
about his misfortune and told himself, that's it. Your running days are over. Both men had sought counsel about improving their
running performance. Both men used self talk
after they got their advice. How did they differ in how
they used that information? Are there any lessons to be
learned from this story? Please take notes for yourself. As a salesperson, two of your most valuable assets are your attitudes and
your emotions. Whether you make or
lose a potential sale often depends on how you
manage these assets. By engaging in
positive self talk, you can master these
assets and be in charge of yourself at
every stage of the sale.
4. Features and Benefits: Features and benefits. Today, the customer is suffering from information overload. How can you make your company
stand out from the rest? Although it's impossible
to know everything, the competent salesperson should know as much as possible
about the company, its products and services,
and the competition. Credibility is a key ingredient
in selling relationships. Competent salespeople want to know about how their
products are made, how they interfere
with related products, what services are provided
for the products they offer, and most importantly,
how their products and services satisfy the
customer's needs. So you need to know your
features and benefits. A feature is a fact about one of your
products or services. It's generally unobservable,
tangible property or characteristic and may involve the buyer's sense of taste, touch, hearing, sight or smell. An advantage explains the
function of the feature, a performance characteristic
that has buyer appeal. A benefit is the
satisfaction that the buyer derives from a
particular advantage or feature. It's an emotional or
rational sense of value that the buyer receives from
the product or service. Now, think about it. What are the features,
advantages and benefits of those products
and services you sell? How do you convert
your product knowledge into features,
advantages and benefits?
5. Setting SMART Goals: Setting SMART goals. Researchers have
found that people who set goals are on average likely to be more successful in most ways than people
who don't set goals. As a salesperson, it is important to be smart
about your sales goals. SMRT is a well known
industry acronym for sales goals
that are specific, measurable, attainable,
realistic, and timely. Remember, one of the
biggest pitfalls in setting sales goals is not
being specific enough. So let's start with
specific goals. Specific. Painting a
mental picture of what the goal will look like requires very specific descriptors. For example, if owning
a new car is your goal, then a specific goal might be. I will have a red 2019
crystal uberne hardtop with gray v upholstery, air conditioning, airbags,
electronic windows, and an Empi player. Then you can picture yourself
driving around in that car. Measurable. If you can't
measure your goals, you will not know if
you reach them or not. If you are saving money for a new red lobrain,
how will you know? How are you doing? You
will need to be able to check how much money you
have saved toward that goal. Achievable or attainable. You also want to be certain that your goals are reachable. Sometimes people think that the top achievers of this world set high goals for themselves and then work toward
reaching them. But in truth, the super
achievers of the world know that setting high
goals can be a demotivata. How, if you set
goals that you feel in your heart of hearts
is not just attainable. These can demotivate you. Maybe the car you can't
realistically afford right now isn't a Chrysler
Baron, but a compact car. So adjust your goal. It isn't
written in cement or blood. Relevant. The goal should be
relevant to you personally. Maybe a Chrysler baron isn't relevant to what
you're doing right now. Maybe you really need a chevy half ton to carry
product or supplies, or maybe transportation
isn't your problem. Maybe you need office
space or a new computer. You won't get committed to goals that aren't
important to you, so you will only put
a half hearted effort into achieving the goal and then blame yourself
for the idea of setting goals if you
don't reach the goal. Ted. Goals often
need a timeline. Some of us wouldn't
get a darn thing done if it wasn't for the
deadlines in our lives. There are three
additional points to remember when setting goals. The three Ps. Goals should
be framed positively. There is some energy to be
had from negative goals. But as you heard
from the story about Harry Botkins and Jim Collins, we get more energy
from positives. Put your goals in written form. Writing down your goals increases your likelihood
of reaching them. And finally, make
your goals personal. Only when we are ready to
commit to a goal ourselves, are we ready to strive for it?
6. Time Management Tips: Time management tips. It's an interesting thing about time management that those
who already manage time well, go to the training sessions on time management and then
come back to the workplace, prepared to schedule themselves
even more efficiently. While those who are
not very good at managing time often
comes back from such sessions with the feeling
that they didn't learn anything new that would
really be of help to them. There really aren't any new
ideas about time management. The trick is to use the
techniques we already know about. If small business owners can put even one idea into practice, they will probably make better use of their time
than before they tried. So here's a case study for you. Charles Schwab was one of the wealthiest men in
America in the 20s, the first man to be paid a
salary of over $1 million. He took over Bethlehem
Steel and made it one of the most successful companies
in the United States. At one point, he
paid a consultant $25,000 to help him manage
time more efficiently. Many people thought he was crazy to pay that much money
for something so simple. But Charles Swap always declared it was the best spent
money of his career. So what did the
consultant tell him? He said, Charles, before you leave work
tonight, sit down, write down the six most
important things you have to do tomorrow and put them
in order of priority. When you come into
work tomorrow, look at that list and
see if those are still the most important
six things you have to do and if the
order is correct. If the answer is yes,
then begin working on priority number one and continue working on it
until it is finished. Look at your list again. If your priorities
are still right, start working on number two. At the end of the
day, make a new list. Transfer those items still not done if they still
remain priorities. Come in the next day and review your list and start
all over again. Why was that such a good advice? Could it apply to us
today? Think about it. What are the benefits
of having a routine? But time management is
more than just taking off the to do list on your
personal or teambard. If you don't utilize tools
or set up your time well, then you won't get the results. You need to achieve
long term goals. Technology needs to work with you to make your
work more efficient, and it does this by automating admin and
repetitive tasks. According to
insidesals.com research, sales reps spent an
inordinate amount of time with
administrative tasks, 12.8% of their time. Keep in mind, in sales, it's important to eliminate and automate monotonous and
administrative tasks. We use tools like
Salesforce, drift, join dot me, contact
monkeys, email templates, email tracker, and mail merge, as well as Asana, track, Trello, slack, and
dokey sign, hotspot. So with effective goal setting
and time management tools, you can increase
the number of cells or the amount of money you make.
7. Types of Selling: Types of selling. Hi
there. Welcome back. Let's discuss the three
types of selling. First and foremost is upselling. This type of selling means
selling the customer more of your services than originally
requested or a better, more expensive service
in the same area. For example, the
customer may come in looking for a
*** and you suggest that o tatila would be much easier on his or her
back and faster, too. Next is cross selling. This means selling the customer an additional item or items that complement
the original request. For example, you
may suggest that while the customer is
getting a new car loan, they may want you to
do a consolidation of the other loans. And finally, value
added selling. Historically, value added is a concept in which
a company purchases raw materials and
does something to these materials that
adds value to the buyer. Value added refers to
how the seller changes, enhances or improves
the basic product to increase its
value to the buyer. The salesperson finds
out what is of value to the buyer and then
finds the ways to increase the value
of the offering. Value added is a philosophy that acknowledges there are two
sets of needs in any sale. Your buyer has a need to
resolve a problem and you have a need to sell a product or service
for a profit. In a value oriented
sales environment, both of you achieve your goals. The value oriented
salesperson is constantly looking for ways to enhance his or her product, service or company for the buyer while preserving
his or her margins. When you embrace
this philosophy, you are making a commitment to your company by leveraging
your sales time. Well, you are pursuing your commitment to
sell more profitably. You are slowly making a
commitment to your buyer to actively seek ways to increase the value of your
offering to her. You are also making a
commitment to yourself, a commitment to realizing the performance
potential within you. Remember, value is in
the eye of the beholder. Value is determined by a
buyer's unique set of factors, and we value other
things besides price. As Mark Twain said, it's the difference of opinion
that gives us the horse race. Debrief. Why don't
all salespeople sell from a value added point
of view? Facts and myth. There is some myth about
value added selling. They include some believe that value added selling only applies to very complex
technical sales. Wrong. Some of the most successful value
added organizations sell a commodity identical to those of four or five other
companies in the area. They have learned how to differentiate or
package their product. Some people think that only the product can
have value added. Both the salesperson and the vendor can add
value to the product. This kills the myth that only managers or those high
up the chain of command can design and deliver added value for
customers. Wrong again. Some people think
that because it's not unique, it doesn't count. And of course, there are
salespeople who remain silent about some of
the special features or benefits of their
product because everyone could say the same thing
about their product. One example is the cell
phone that can offer travelers some
protection against being stranded along the road? Yes, every cell phone
has that benefit, but not all companies or salespeople talk
about the benefit. Phrases or value added sale. In the value added sale, there are three
distinct phrases. Phase one is the planning
or pre call phase. This is where you
study the client, make your appointment,
and set your objectives. Phase two is the
implementation stage. This is where you
make the sales call and interview the
buyer thoroughly. You determine his or
her needs and tailor your presentation
of features and benefits to address those
needs specifically, and you ask for the business. The implementation phase can
be one or several calls. Phase three is the
follow up stage where you assure
buyer satisfaction, assuage buyer remorse, and
review your calling effort.
8. The Prospect Board: The prospect board.
The prospect board is a tracking tool that should be mounted on a wall
in your office. Electronic reports and
paper reports are good, but there is something special about seeing your
results on the wall. If you make daily
prospecting work a part of your sales routine, you should closely monitor
the customer's sales cycle. The sales cycle is divided into four parts and is described from the
customer's perspective. Each part describes what a typical customer goes through when deciding
to buy something. So here is pret perception. This can be either perception
of a product or service or a perception of a need that
the product might satisfy. Research, the customer will
look into competing products, testimonials, et
cetera. Evaluation. The customer considers
the options. Decision. The customer decides whether or not to purchase. Paying careful attention to the second and third stages of the sales cycle will
dramatically increase your sales efficiency and
your income potential. As you can see, a
prospect board is a date driven tool that allows you to track all
your opportunities. Rank them according to your own sense of how
likely it is that the sale will close and remove inactive prospects from
your high priority list. It forces you to be realistic
about your prospects. Active prospects
at those who have scheduled appointment
to see you or who are engaged to one
degree or another with you in the second
stage of the sale cycle. Opportunity prospects at those who for one reason or another, are unlikely to close. The prospect board will help you keep you from spinning
your wheels or chasing off the business that isn't
really going to come into existence and keep you from losing interest in
the whole process. So how does it work? It can be a whiteboard or an
ordinary bulletin board, or it can be a portfolio
with plenty of slots for cards with
five vertical columns, such as O, FA, 25%, 50%, and 90%. Have a look at this slide. O represents opportunity. There are the names and
contact information of people and organizations
you have not yet called. These are the people
you are about to call. The information
includes the specifics that have been entered
in your database. This is not an active column, but represents people
you should call. FA is the place where you
leave cards that reflect a first appointment you have set but have not
yet gone out on. No matter how
promising the lead, how enthusiastic the call, no matter how much you
have in common with the person on the other
end of the phone, you can only put
a card here when you have set up a face
to face appointment. 25% shows that the
current prospect you have met at least
once and with whom you feel you have a one in four
chance of closing the deal within the next two months or whatever the norm is
in your industry. These are people who are
willing to meet with you, always a key indicator
of interest. However, the 25%
is still a guess. I guess you get better
at as time goes on. Anyone you've had
a meeting with, but who you honestly feel has a less than 25% chance
of closing the cell. Move them back to the list. 50% identifies those
with whom you have a 50% chance of closing the cell within
the next month or so. Typically, the person
in this column is interested in what you say but has to get
approval from above. Must meet with a committee or must decide based on
a competitive bid. 90% of those who
have a chance of closing within the
next one to two weeks. Don't put prospects here too quickly unless they say
with determination, some variations of, we are
going ahead with this. At any given moment, this column has the fewest number
of cards in it. Please note when a prospect
becomes a customer, their name goes off the board. Each card should list the customer's first
name, last name, email address, phone number, last activity, and
next activity. Your best week
schedule will arise in natural way from the work you
do on your prospect board. Each Friday afternoon,
you should use your prospect board to set your schedule for
the following week. Your activities should be broken down into the
following categories. Prospecting, first appointments, appointments with 25% prospects, appointments with 50% prospects, appointments with 90% prospects, closing and service
calls and tasks, special projects and tasks,
other slash personal. Everything starts with
prospecting and called calling. Prospecting is the first phase, the one that controls
the rest of the cycle. The one that drives your day, your week, your month, your year, and your career.
9. Networking: Networking, what is networking? Sales is about
making connections, though not just with customers. Your long term success as a salesperson depends on your ability to
collaborate with others. Networking, whether it
involves securing employment, generating business
leads, or seeking professional advice, yields
immeasurable rewards. However, many salespeople
find it tough to commit the time necessary
for effective networking. Keep in mind, networking is
more than just a buzzword. It's about building,
cultivating, and developing
relationships with a large, diverse group of people who will gladly and continually
refer business to you. A practical skill played out at well organized trade shows, seminars, association meetings, and professional group meetings, a widely used tool for building a rapport with others
in order to give and receive ideas for learning and educating
about who you who knows you and what
you do for a living. When that person or someone that person knows needs
your products or services, they will think of you providing
they like and trust you. To network effectively, you must be prepared
and open minded, understand the objectives
of attending the event, analyze the event, overcome
the fear of strangers, follow up and keep promises. There are certain skills
involved with networking, some of which are
engaging in conversation, giving the right impression,
gathering information, disengaging from conversation,
follow up on new contacts. So here are a few tips for you
on networking effectively, pre qualifying the group. Attending meetings,
joining organizations, and going to conferences and trade shows are always
to meet people. However, if they don't
fit into the demographics you have decided are most
apt to buy your products. You can waste a lot
of time without ever getting any
return on your effort. So you have to pre
qualify the group. Next is networking
introductions. If you're heading
out to a meeting with the local
Chamber of Commerce, you might want to find somebody who you know that
already belongs to the group and ask them if they would introduce you
to a couple of people. You might have a couple of
people you want to meet that you know they know or you
might leave it up to them. Pre event strategies. Prepare effective
conversational openers. Know what the
organization is about, and what types of
people will be there. The easiest way to
be informed is to become an active participant
in the organization. This is a great way to build relationships with other
members before the event. Self introduction,
spend some time and thought in preparing a self introduction that sounds good and tells people what
you want them to know. Practice until you can say it easily without feeling
self conscious. How to walk into a room. Some people walk into a room
as though to say, here I am. However, you might be more
successful if you walk into the room with an expression of Here you are on your face. Don't just stand there, mingle. If you are with a
group, don't freeze up. Walk around the room
until you spot somebody else who looks like they're alone and then walk up to them. Stick out your hands
for a handshake and introduce yourself. How to break into a group. It can be hard to break into
an already formed group. However, look for
people who are alone like you or for odd groups
in a group of three, for example, one person may be unattached or feeling left
out of the conversation. Think of yourself as a host and look around for others
who may need help. Be the person they remember. In business, as in
most aspects of life, what goes around comes around. Whenever possible,
give a lead or referral to people you meet.
They will remember it. Before you enter the
room, take a deep breath, walk in with confidence, and give the room a once over. Pick a place where
people are congregating. The bar and food table are good places to begin
the networking process. Start with simple questions
such as, are you a member? Find intermediaries. Perhaps there's somebody in
the group who can help you get an introduction to someone
you would like to meet. Ask them if they are willing
to act as an intermediary. A handshake. Nobody wants
to get a webfish handshake, and they don't want to
crush a handshake either. A firm grip, so the web between your thumb and the
forefinger is against the web of the other
person's thumb and forefinger usually gives
you the right grip. Your handshake should
be firm, short, and one handed, and be
accompanied by a smile. Pick a card, not just any card. At business functions, you are expected to have
business cards. Don't pass out business
cards like the candy. Do pass one to anyone
who asks or who has expressed an interest in
your products or services. Or at the end of
the conversation, ask for the person's
card and offer yours. When someone gives you the card, take time to look at it before slipping it in your
pocket or wallet. Do not write on the back
unless you ask them first. Respect their card. Later, make note of where you meet the person and
what the date was. This will help with follow up. Focus on one person at a time. When talking with someone, don't let your eyes wander to others in another
area of the room. Give that person
your full attention until you are ready to move on. You never know when
opportunity will knock. Have you ever had someone
look over your shoulder? It is a rude behavior. Focus on that person. It's not only polite, it's
effective networking. Try to use the person's name three times in the conversation. It makes the person feel good, and it will help you
to remember. Have fun. Have fun. B positive. Remember body language. Use open body
language with arms at your sides and an alert pleasant
expression on your face. Coffee, anyone. Always
send a thank you note to the host or
hostess of the event. Fax an article 0F interest
to someone you spoke with. If a connection has
been made and you tell the person you will call
them to set up a meeting. Call within 24 to 48 hours. If you wait too long, you will lose
credibility. Body system. If you are going to an event, it can sometimes increases your confidence and your
comfort to bring a body along. However, make sure
you and your body agree not to stick to
one another like glue. Make an effort for each
of you to meet others, introduce others to your body, and you have double
the number of people you can network
with in an evening.
10. The Art of Conversation: The Art of conversation. Let's look at the four levels when it comes to the
art of conversation. Getting comfortable
conversing with others is one object
of this exercise. Being comfortable speaking with others in small social settings can have a big impact on both your personal and your
professional life. We are all more drawn to the
person who looks at ease and confident than we are the person who looks ill
at ease and awkward. At work, our first
encounter with another person often begins
with a handshake and a smile. So, first, let's talk
about eye contact. This is not staring at
another person unblinkingly, but rather looking
at their face, eyes, nose and mouth triangle. So here's 1 minute exercise. Turn to your neighbor, friend or anyone next to you and smile. Look them in the eye and tell them you are
glad they are here. The maximum amount of time
you want to look directly into someone's eyes would
be about 10 seconds. You should also
offer a handshake that is firm yet not too tight with the web of your
thumb and forefinger measuring with the web of
their thumb and forefinger. So let's look at
level one small talk. Small talk means a very superficial conversation
about the weather, the traffic, current
events, et cetera. While this may seem purposeless, it isn't is our
chance to size up another person and decide whether you have
something in common. You don't know the other person, and you aren't expected to reveal anything personal
about yourself. Use these questions to generate small talk with your partner, substitute widget
for their business. How did you get your start
in the widget business? What do you enjoy most
about your business? What separates you
from your competition? Let them brag. What advice would you give someone
starting out in your business? What one thing would you do with your business if you
knew it couldn't fail? What significant changes
have you seen take place in your business
throughout the years? What do you see as the coming trends in the
widget business? So here's 1 minute
exercise for you. Go to someone you have not yet had an opportunity
to talk today, perhaps in your workplace, perhaps in a networking room. Smile, extend your
hand in a handshake, introduce yourself if you
don't know the person, and make some small
talk with that person. Next is level two,
fact disclosure. Should the small
talk phase go well, we are ready to move on to the second level of
communication with our conversational partner and reveal a few facts
about ourselves. Could be bits of information
such as our occupation, our hobbies, or the types
of activities we enjoy. Now that you are revealing a
bit more about yourselves, you may find more
you have in common. There is give and take
in this conversation as you ask and answer
questions with your partner. Level three, viewpoints
and opinions. Generally, people don't move to the stage until they feel
comfortable with one another and believe they
have found common ground when you disclose facts
in the second level. In this level, you go
beyond that to give your opinion of whether it is
you've been talking about. Examples include skiing
is an expensive hobby. Your dream is to ski in Jasper. You are counting the
days to retirement. You are hoping to move
to another job soon. You may even venture
into politics or religion if you are feeling comfortable enough to do that. The general rule is low and slow as in don't reveal
too much too soon. You may want to
commiserate about the high cost of sending
a child to university, but wait until you know the person better
before you reveal that you took a second mortgage to send your son or
daughter to university. Here's 1 minute exercise. Go back to your first partner
again and try conducting a conversation at
the third level where you express
viewpoints and opinions. If you can't think of
a topic on your own, use one of the subjects
on this slide. Driving while using
a smartphone, smoking regulations,
best vacation spot. Exercise as a way
to boost energy. And finally, level four
personal feelings. This usually doesn't
come until you feel very comfortable with
your conversational partner. The surest way to get here is to not reveal too much too soon. An example is too much too soon. Might be telling someone
all the details of a messy divorce just 5
minutes into meeting them, or upon learning someone is of a different
political party, launching into a
condemnation of that party, a successful conversation starts at level one and proceeds at a comfortable pace through the second and third levels and continues to
the fourth level, although usually not
during your first meeting. With some people, you
will find yourself moving easily through at least
the first three stages, if not to stage four. It usually takes a
lot of conversations with someone you feel
very comfortable with. You progress to level four.
11. Regaining Lost Accounts: Regaining lost accounts. Another easy way to
increase your sales that hardly anyone does is regain
inactive or lost clients. These clients, for
whatever reason, have stopped doing business
with your company. Know who the former
clients are and begin to actively work at getting
them back into default. Remember, most people
stop buying from you and your company for
one or four reasons. Something totally unrelated
to you or your company happened in their life or business that caused them
to stop dealing with you. They intended to come back, but they never got around to it. Out of sight is out of mind. Once you've stopped
dealing with a company, no matter how good or valuable
their product or service, you forget about them. They had a problem
or unsatisfying last business
experience with you or your company that they
didn't tell you about, but now they have turned
off your company. Their business has changed
to the point where they no longer need your
product or services. Contact these people, too. Hopefully, the situation
has changed for the better. Congratulate them if
the news is good. Emphasize with them
if the news is bad. Care about them, not
just about yourself. Ask them for referrals if they can no longer use your
products or services. Only 4% of customers
bother to complain. Of those who do complain, about 70% will do business with your company again if
the problem is resolved. That number can climb to 95% if they feel the problem
was resolved quickly. 68% of clients stop because
of company indifference. It takes 12 positive
incidents to make up for one negative incident
in the minds of clients. The best way to address this problem is to
never lose a client. However, when you do lose
one, all is not lost. You can almost
instantly get most of the clients back
just by taking action. Contact them, apologize
most sincerely and do whatever you can to resolve the problem or
make it up to them. If you get them back,
they may be even more loyal than those
who have never left.
12. Cold Calling: Cold calling. Hello,
and welcome back, guys. Today we will talk
about cold calling. No prospecting strategy is as good as picking
up the telephone and calling to ask people
whether or not you can get together with them
to talk about what you do. While networking and starting new conversations are good
supplementary measures. Prospecting by
telephone should be your primary method of
finding new contacts. If you make as few as
six calls a day whereby, someone from your target company picks up the phone
and says, Hello. You can make a
significant difference in your total income picture. These six calls do not necessarily all result in
setting up an appointment, nor do they even mean that you always get through
to the decision maker. But if you pick up the telephone and make those six
calls regularly, five out of five days
of every business week, without fail, you
minimize stress, frustration, and wasted effort. You also take control of the front end of your
own sales cycle, a cure for cold reluctance. A lot of salespeople are
plagued by cold reluctance, even though the vast majority of prospects are
unfailingly polite, even if they say no to
talking with your father, one technique for overcoming
call reluctance is to write. Don't worry about it. Just
do it on the front of your planner to
remind you that you are calling people
and asking questions, not just to help you, but
to help them as well. A second technique is
to have your list of prospective clients in
front of you so you can begin at the beginning and
work down through the list without trying to cherry pick the ones who are a to say yes. Here are some other tips to
make cold calls work for you. Create a comfortable call
center that works well for you. Some people prefer headsets, so they can make
notes as they talk. Others prefer to stand. Most people have
a script they use as a guideline to
keep them on track. At any rate, have
the information you need right in front of you. Choose what works best for you. Make your notes immediately
after the phone call, including any
follow up required. Reward yourself after making a certain number of phone calls. The number of calls made
can dictate the reward. One problem you are apt to
encounter is the gatekeeper. Gatekeepers are
those who would keep you from speaking with
your desired target. They may be front
desk receptionists, or they may be
administrative assistants, but their mandate is to filter out non essential colors
and sales people. There are some proven
strategies for getting your target decision maker
without offending them. These include make
calls at times when support staff is
normally not at work, such as early in the morning at lunch hour or end of the day. Not everyone likes to be
caught answering the phone, but if you can say
with the sincerity, I see you are working
late or early like me, you may find they will relax and spend some time
talking with you. If not, quickly ask if you might call them back at a
more convenient time. If you can set up an appointment to talk with them in person, use the answer
slash Ask strategy. This is a technique that really involves turning the
tables on receptionists, assistants, and
other gatekeepers by asking them
questions in return. For example, receptionist,
Acme Holdings. Miss Roberts, please,
receptionist, may I tell her who's calling? Y. Please tell her Ralph Jones
is holding, receptionist. And what is your
company, Mr. Jones? Would you tell her my company is Jones and Jones
Associates, please? Treat them right.
Get that gatekeeper on your side by acknowledging their role and
enlisting their help to find a good time to
reach your prospect. Despite all the
disadvantages of voicemail, there are at least few
advantages we should keep in mind when we are faced with whether to leave
a message or not. You should take this opportunity
to get the most we can. Out of our calling time,
don't get interrupted. And the person we
want to reach will at least go to listen to the
first part of our message. Prepare and practice
what you want to say, put a pleasant smile
in your voice. Speak slower than you
normally would and go for it. Sometimes, no matter
how hard you try, you just can't seem to get
a prospect's attention. Get beyond saying,
I'm so and so, and I'm glad to meet you. If you and your competitors
all use the same words, how will you stand
out from the rest? You need to have a good
opening statement. This includes telling them who you are and what
you are calling about. Prospects get
annoyed with people who try to be coy or to Kutse. Come up with a new way to create prospects that will set
you apart from the crowd. Like, I don't want any money. These 5 minutes could make a difference in
your bottom line. Help me solve a mystery. I learned something really interesting about your
business the other day. Here are some tips for
warming up cold calls. Send a preliminary mailing in a business envelope with a person's name
spelled correctly, a tailored letter
with information directly relating to the
prospect and a small brochure. If you have been referred to this person by somebody
you met during your networking or through someone who have dealt
with successfully, this can be an excellent
way to warm up a cold call. However, you can only use this technique when it
is indeed a referral.
13. The 80/20 Rule: The 80 20 rule, nothing can add more
power to your life than concentrating all
of your energies on a limited set of targets. Nido quippin an economist
named Plfredo Pareto discovered a principle that has an enormous impact on economics
and business ever since. He found that you
could divide members of society into the vital few, the 20% of the population that controlled
80% of the wealth, and the trivial many who
controlled 20% of the wealth. This is now called
Pareto principle, and it has proven to
be the universally valid in virtually
every area of activity. We call it the 80 20 rule, and you can apply it to
every area of sailing. The 80 20 rule says that 20% of your activity will result
in 80% of your results. So if you have a list
of ten things to do, two of them will be as valuable as the other
eight put together. And one of your
biggest challenges will be to keep analyzing your to do list to be sure you are working
on the top 20%. Think about it. Can
you think of some ways this 80 20 rule is
evident in your life? This is very little
difference in talent and ability between high
performers and low performers, except in the way
they use their time. What this means is that for
you to succeed greatly, you must always be focusing
your time and energy on that 20% of your activity that bring you 80%
of your results.
14. It's Not Just Numbers Game: It's not just a numbers game. Hello there welcome
to our last lesson. So congratulations. In our last session today, we will talk about sales being
not just a numbers game. There are more to it
than just numbers. Firstly, there is rapport. Remember, people buy
from people they like. They will even wait to
buy from someone they like rather than buying
from someone they dislike. We must put the
human element into our sales effort if we hope to convince
people to buy from us. One important
factor that creates a willingness to buy is rapport. Relationship building.
We must learn how to build relationships
with the people we hope to do business with. Nobody wants to
be just a number. Everyone wants to feel they have been hard
and they matter. Respect. Without two people
respecting each other, even during a brief moment
of a prospecting call, it is difficult to create
a win win collaboration. Respect the prospects time. Rather than asking them
how they are today, ask if it's a good time to speak with them for
a minute or two. People are generally kind. They are willing to
listen as long as they are shown
consideration and respect. Shooting for the stars. The thin line between
success and failure is a little thing called
positive self expectancy. There are a lot of
theories out there about what makes a
successful salesperson. What is the common denominator? Research tells us that there are many ways to
achieve success. It all depends on the person. Successful people come
in all shapes and sizes and do not conform to
a particular physical look, personality type,
educational level, or family background. They can be loud
and opinionated, or reserved and contemplative. They can be direct and fast paced or indirect and relaxed. However, if they expect to
succeed, they usually will.
Mackenzie Wilson
