As all of us in the sales profession know selling is a communication skill. Communicating is not an easy process even in the most trusting of settings much less the precarious setting of a sales presentation. Often we think of communicating as the sounds that are being sent back and forth between people. However, communication scientists tell us that in speaking to one another, we actually communicate more non-verbally than we do with the words we say. When we are making a sales presentation we should be aware of what our body is saying while we are speaking and listening. Just ...
The Sale After the Sale … Getting Referrals. Referrals have always been the single most valuable commodity a salesperson can acquire. The more referrals a salesperson is able to collect, the more income he is going to make. After we have created a new client, it is time to start selling again. We must sell the new client on giving us some referrals. In my 30-plus years of selling and coaching salespersons, I have noticed that most salespersons are very poor at getting referrals. There may be a number of reasons. If a salesperson is having a “run of success,” ...
What is “Post Closing” and Why Is it Important? “Post closing” helps to prevent the prospect from “changing his mind” after he has made a purchase. We do this by helping a new client reduce any “post purchase” doubts that may be entering his mind just after making the buying commitment. Do you remember the thoughts going through your mind the last time you made a major purchase (i.e. automobile, home, life insurance policy, etc.)? It is not uncommon for a person to begin to “second guess” his decision. This is often called “Buyer’s Remorse.” It does not always threaten ...
One of the longest standing, most respected and basic presentation methods is F.A.B. Selling. I do not know who first identified this method, but I learned it from Larry Wilson in a Sales Sonics course in the late 1960s. The abbreviations stand for Feature, Advantage and Benefit. Many salespersons would tell you that they understand F.A.B. Selling. My 40+ years experience in sales training has taught me that this is not necessarily so. When salespersons say they understand it, what that has usually meant is that they know that prospects do not ...
As salespersons we know that occasionally (really more often that we like) we are going to get an Objection. The question is, “When do we handle those objections.” For many years professional salespersons have followed a practice of handling objections at four different times in the sales process. Understanding exactly which objections should be handled at which places in the sales process is another of those great sales techniques. The four times to answer an objection are: (1) before it comes up, (2) immediately when ...
Do Great Closers Have a Closing Instinct? Yes! How Did They Get It? What must we know even before we meet our prospect that will help us make the close of the sale more natural and comfortable? Tom Hopkins can probably still hear his mentor, Doug Edwards saying, “All great salespersons have a ‘closing instinct.’” When asked if these great salespersons were born with these “closing instincts?” He said, “Of course not! They got their ‘closing instincts’ by closing too soon and too often rather than closing too seldom and too late!” (That is an excellent phrase to ...
What Causes a Qualified Prospect to Buy … and to Buy Now? A prospect buys all products/services on emotion! However, there must be a “logic safety net” in place when he reaches the “Buy Zone,” so he can justify his emotional decision. What causes a qualified prospect to buy and buy now? The answer is: a professional salesperson has taken a prospect into the “Buy Zone” and then closed. What is the “Buy Zone?” The “Buy Zone” is that point in time when our prospect has bought our ...
Why Doesn’t a Qualified Prospect Buy Now? It is not uncommon for a thoroughly qualified prospect to stall on making a buying decision after he has heard a perfectly delivered feature, advantage and benefit presentation on a correctly priced product/service that is exactly what he wants/needs. Read on and find out why? Often after a prospect has heard a presentation and has been asked to buy, he puts up some resistance to buying at that time. Very often what he says has a tendency to cause the salesperson to lose momentum and ultimately bring the sales process to a halt. ...
Zig Ziglar, one of the most well known sales authorities of all time defined selling. Zig said, “Selling is the transference of feelings. If I can get my prospect to feel about my product or service the way I feel about my product or service, he will not only want it … he will demand it.” To persuade someone, it is not nearly enough to get them to think as we think, it is imperative that we get them to feel as we feel. Getting a person to feel the ...
Once we have found our prospect, it is important to understand why and how to qualify him to determine his level of interest. What are the different levels of interest? Does this prospect Require (need) a product/service like ours? For example, if the prospect is a nurse, he or she would need a watch with a highly visible way to see the seconds in order to take a patient’s pulse. Does this prospect Desire (want but not need) a product/service like ours? For example, if the prospect has a watch that is ...
