Developing Your B2B Sales Skills
Unique Skills for Business to Business Selling
I am often asked for a simple, effective, no-nonsense approach to goal setting that
can be used by anyone to start the year fast and focused.
What follows is what I affectionately call the Six Step Makeover.
It’s a simple process that’s easy to learn, easy to apply, and easy to get results from.
Most of you know how important Effective Communication impacts Your Results. I utilized an entire chapter in my book Three Games of Selling to this most important element in sales and leadership.
There are Seven Tips for Being Clear in Your Communication with Customers. Without this clarity, you can create issues and concerns for the customer which can ultimately cost you sales. Your Success depends heavily upon your ability to communicate exactly what you mean to say and the customer actually gets your meaning completely.
Often when working with b2n sales people I get to observe the handling of objections. The best sales people are quite good in handling objections in a very positive matter – usually keeping the sales process moving in the right direction.
The less successful b2b sales people tend to display similar traits which create their less favorable results. Being able to observe these traits allows me the opportunity to help them improve their sales results by improving their handling of objections.
There appears to be seven key areas you must do correctly to advance a sales opportunity once an objection has been raised. Here is the list of the seven keys for handling objections successfully…
So many sales people ask me about what is the best question to use in selling. I have shared my all time favorite one – I called it the Million Dollar Question – and I shared it a while back on this site.
Yet, the biggest mistake made by sales people is to ask the “wrong” question which challenges the intelligence of the customer. This question surprisingly is triggered by one word. When you use this word at the wrong time to begin a question, you have opened up “Pandora’s box” and you are about to get bit where you don’t want to be bitten – in your bank account.
You’re probably wondering at this time, just what is this powerful yet negative question?
The worst question you can ask a customer is…
Recently was talking to client who was struggling with his results for the past couple of months. He had lost his confidence and was questioning everything he was doing – without any new success.
So after a while of listening he point blank asked me to help him.
So, I started by asking six hard questions to begin his sales results turnaround. Then I realized he may not be the only person with a b2b sales slump, so I decided to share the six questions to help others to gain clarity of the their situation and move forward successfully.
Here are the six Hard Questions…
While it is very easy to use the classic reason for prospects not buying from you – the price was too high – I don’t Buy It. Sorry for the pun it was just too easy. ?
Yet, my choice is correct – that price is not the only reason. And, it is used as the verbal reasoning told to you, since most buyers do not want any confrontation or conflict due to the real reasons.
Here are the REAL Six Reasons They Don’t Buy from You…
One of the biggest signs of a problematic b2b sales performance is the challenge of unlearning the traditional or transactional sales tactics of the past. When b2b sales people start telling me how hard their job is today – and it is – I first want to empathize with them and then find the answer to their problem.
I agree with one “excuse” customers & prospects want to get the best deal – which to many means lowest price. To the superstars, it means they want the best value offer which is quite different from the lowest price concern.
Now as someone who has assisted many sales people and sales teams transform from Transactional Selling to a more Progressive B2B Selling, this has always been an issue for the sales executives. The Key was to fundamentally change or transform the mindsets of the sales teams.
An interesting observation from these experiences – it usually just took One Sales Person to accept the new mindset, change the way they sold and have success in the field. Amazingly, the majority of the team would sudden change their performance levels shortly afterwards. This proves the power of mindsets in the world of selling.
So, how do you know if you are a Transactional Sales Person today? Usually you are not happy with your results, while your gross sales may be the same – your margins are lower and you feel you get less respect from both the customer and the sales manager. So what is causing this issue?
Had a dialogue with a client this week about where their new leads are coming from that lead to new business. The client kept using the term “referrals” as their major driver for new business.
Now on the surface this sounds great and exciting news – referrals are driving all their new business opportunities. Then the dialogue went deeper and the news was not as great.
It appears they were not doing anything to create or control the flow of “referrals.” They just happened to show up from “word of mouth” situations. Is this a real strategy for leads?
This issues happens to most sales people and especially to professional services groups. And, it is similar to the “instant gravitation” found syndrome which is a short term fix. Making matters worst is the continued reliance on this “false” strategy.
The truth is their are two types of “lead generation techniques” which appear to both be labeled as “referrals.” Actually, only one of the techniques is actually a referral.
Often Sales People ask me about meetings with a CEO or President and if there are specific differences relative to these meetings. And, the answer is a huge – yes, this is a different level of sales meetings.
Yet, b2b sales people continue to meet with the top level executives and immediately fall into feature spouting machines. Whenever this happens, the opportunity has crashed and burned and the only person who is unaware is the yakking sales person.
Really people, do you believe the CEO cares about the details or features of your product or service? The CEO is only concerned with improving results. It is really that simple.
So here are a Five Tips for Meeting with a CEO or President in a selling environment…
We are off to a new year so I trust you have first done the following…
If you have done the above list with some time and energy, then you are ready to execute on achieving those goals.
However, if you are continuing down the road of doing your sales process the same way you have done it in the past – well, you may be in trouble. The Buying Landscape has changed. Have you noticed some of things you have used successfully in the past are not working as well or even at all?
Welcome to the new world of b2b selling.
The Buyer feels more in control and is using their new found power (occurred since the Great Recession) to control our efforts as successful b2b sales people.
So if you are sincere about taking back control of your b2b sales success, you need to take a moment and read an exciting new b2b sales book. Personally, it has changed my success since I began following the recommendations found in the book.