Month: October 2009

Are You a Doctor of Selling?

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With all the TV commercials using the “Trust Me, I’m a Doctor” lines, I felt it was necessary to point out there really is a good side to being like a Doctor – particularly when it comes to selling. Becoming a Doctor of Selling is the first step to becoming a professional sales person.

How many professionals are getting clients because they advertise the lowest cost like a short term focused traditional sales person. The truth is real professional charge a higher fee because they know they provide value rather than low cost. That is the goal for you – being seen as a real professional sales person.

So how do you become a Doctor of Sales? It is simple and here are the steps…

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Professional Sales People Plan Their Calls

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The big debate of all time with sales people is whether to plan their calls – every call – with prospects and customers. Well, the answer is simple if your goal is to be a Professional Sales Person. You plan the call.

Most sale people prefer to Wing It, stating reasons such as being flexible, going with the flow of the call, being creative, using their knowledge to control the direction, blah, blah, blah and blah! Enough already. The truth is most sales people are lazy and lack the discipline shown by the real Professional Sales People. I know that feels like a strong statement to make – yet, my experience tells me it is true.

So what makes sales people fore go one of the top traits of Professional Sales People? Here are some of the real reasons…

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Segment or Rank both Customers and Prospects for B2B Sales Success

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I get a very questions from B2B Sales people about the ranking of accounts including prospects. This is a fundamental exercise for B2B sales people and it is based off the Ideal Customer Profile. Every existing account and prospect should be classified or ranked according to some standard. The standard is determined by either the company or the sales person.

Here’s how it works. You refer to the Ideal Customer Profile and review what the best customers traits. What sales level do they attain every year, quarter or month. How often do they purchase? Is it daily, weekly, monthly or once a year? How many product lines or SKUs do they purchase? These are simple analysis that every sales person should know well.

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B2B Sales Require Multiple Calls

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I’m almost embarrassed to use this sales tip, however, I keep running into sales people who really think they can make a large B2B sale with just one sales call. If you ever do run into someone who wants to buy a complex product or service on the first visit – well, you better start looking for the problem that is about to hit you in the face. I’ll bet you they can’t find anyone else to sell them anything due to lousy credit or something along those lines.

Here is the real story. When I first started in B2B sales, it would take a minimum of four touches to be successful. As time went on it moved to five touches and then seven became the magic number. Today, the magic number is somewhere around ten touches! So how do you manage making a minimum of ten calls to make one sale? (* point of reference here – we are talking about major sales to large accounts, we are not talking about a small personal item sale.)

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Ask for Information You Need

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Today is really a reminder more than anything else. It is a simple sales tip. You must ASK for Information that you need in order to make the right offer to your customer. If you don’t ask questions to get the real answers and information – you will be back to the traditional sales methods … Read more…

Five Steps to Increase Your Professional Image with Customers?

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When I ask sales people about what is their professional image in sales, I get a lot of “dear in the highlights” looks. Most sales people don’t think about what their professional image may appear to be in the eyes of their customers and prospects – much less to themselves. Which in most cases is why the majority of sales people occupy the lower half of the successful sales people list.

This is really an important question to ask and to give a truthful and honest assessment of how customers and prospects see you. Now, some believe I’m talking about what you wear or how you fix your hair. Well, while these things manner to a small group of people, there a more important issues at play. Let’s look into what is professional image and how does it impact your sales success?

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