Month: July 2011

Four Signs You Need Training or Coaching

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Every once in a while I notice some b2b sales people who believe they have arrived and no longer need to go to any form of training, sales development or even be coached.

This is a common issue and one you need to watch out for assuming you want to truly be the one of the best b2b sales people in your company or in your industry.

These are higher standards of performance and require a different mindset for sales success. One of the most important elements for your long term b2b sales success, is to constantly improve your selling skills – and I am not referring to product knowledge or objection handling here.

It takes practice and continuous learning to move into the upper level of b2b sales superstars. Development is the key to move to the next level. Yet, a large number of sales people have a habit of avoiding opportunities to improve their skills and competencies.

Then there are the four signs you are in serious need of re-energizing your sales skills. Here are the four signs you will need to watch for in your daily sales routines…

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Are You Using Gap Analysis to Win B2B Sales?

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Unless you are a naturally born product pusher, you should be aware of the power of gap analysis.

This tool is one of the primary techniques used by the B2B Sales Superstars. What is really great is it is a simple process. It is basically a five step process.

Yes, three steps and you can get a customer focused upon the possibilities for success due to listening and buying from you.

Here is how this simple “Gap Analysis” works…

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Are You Looking Past the Next Sale?

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I find most b2b sales are only focused upon the immediate sale opportunity coming their way. Is this the way you look at sales opportunities?

The best sales people – including the b2b sales superstars – have a longer time horizon. They look at the next sale as the first step in a series of sales opportunities.

In fact, I have a friend who is always telling me how he looks at every customer with a three year INITIAL time line in mind. If the customer appears to be a one sale only – he passes on the opportunity. Could you do that?

What factors are in play to cause you to want to look into the future when evaluating a potential sales opportunities? Let’s take a look at what I’ve learned…

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Ten High-Risk Triggers Impacting a Customer’s Safety

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I have shared the fact that Corporate Customers are all about Safety and Security. They base their decisions upon the degree of risk assumed to be in play when dealing with you.

Therefore, it is extremely important to be aware of the triggers used by your prospects or customers to assign risk to doing business with you or any other b2b sales person.

So here is a list of ten key triggers to watch for during your interactions with you customer and particularly the decision makers.

These ten triggers include…

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Six Ways to Strengthen Your B2B Sales Strategy

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Most of the time, b2b sales people just make a call on a prospect or customer using the “wing-it” sales strategy. Meaning they just show up and trust they ability to figure things out on the fly and make a sales.

“Making a Sale” is the first mistake, since it is seldom focused upon the long term Account Relationship. It is much more important to build an account than to make a “sale.”

To assist you in the develop of a clear and concise sales strategy for a targeted account, here are six ways to strengthen your B2B sales strategy…

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How Do You Deal with Competitors?

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Seems to be a number of questions and chatter about how to deal with, attack, match and overcome competitors. Therefore today we will discuss how to deal with competitors.

Okay, first a couple of facts.

  • If you have no competitors, the customer may not be worth the trouble.
  • The better the account, the more competitors you will have.
  • Customers will use the competitors to either valid your pricing or use the competitor to get you to lower your prices.
  • Some competitor will always attempt to buy the business with an loss leader type pricing.
  • You must know who your competitors are in order to develop a sales strategy to win the account.

So, the question is back to how do you offset the competitor’s energy and persistence to take your business from you everyday? That is the focus we will be taking and one you should be examining every day you are in the field or with a customer.

Now, we have all heard some sales person say this… “I have no competition.”

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Ever Hear This? – “Let me Think about Your Offer”

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This week I am going to address several questions I get from you – the readers of these sales tips.

This first question is about what you will do when a potential customer says to you – “Let Me Think about Your Offer.”

There are several ways to respond to this statement, unfortunately, most are rooted in the traditional sales model where a sales person is in some form of combat with the buyer. Things like…

  • You have agreed to everything we have discussed, what is it you feel you need to think about at this moment?
  • This offer has a limited time period, are you sure you want to risk missing the deadline for ordering?
  • Is their someone else you need to talk with to move forward on this?
  • If so, can I meet with them also in case their have some questions about this offer?

That is just a short list of possible responses using the traditional model of selling.

The real reason for any delaying tactics on the part of a qualified buyer are based upon three things. These are the three – with the third reason being the most likely reason.

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Are You Self-Focused or Customer-Focused?

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Recently I attended a sales workshop – even the people who teach go to learn more – and one of the topics emphasized during the session was title question -Are You Self-Focused or Customer-Focused?

What a great question to ask yourself. What is your answer – self or customer focused?

The difference is critical is you want to join the ranks of the b2b sales superstars. They know the answer is being customer focused.

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Top Ten Reasons B2B Sales have Communication Issues

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I guess I have been watching too much David Letterman with his famous top ten lists. However, the purpose of his lists are to create humor and laughing. My list of Top Ten Communication Issues for b2b sales people is of serious concern.

Often when traveling with a b2b sales person and being an observer of the sales process I have seen the Good the Bad and the Ugly of Communication with customers. GEEZ! It really is not that hard or difficult to gain rapport with customers and have great communication.

However, the difference between bad communication and good communication is due to the choices made by the sales person. That is correct. The B2B Sales Person is the key to the Communication Success of their customer relationships.

You can begin your journey to successful and effective communication by knowing what causes poor communication and eliminating as many of the causes as possible. So let’s begin with the Top Ten List of Communication Issues or Barriers…

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Why New Products Cause Good Sales People to Fail

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Sometimes it makes no sense when experienced and effective b2b sales suddenly begin to fail when selling new products in their markets.

What is happening to these experienced and good sales people to have issues hitting their numbers?

Well, in my opinion there are two major reasons for this decline in effectiveness when selling new products.

  1. Too Many Details and No Problem Identification
  2. Calling on the Wrong Type of Decision Maker

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