These are the two events mentioned in the video…….
Salford Reds Event – Friday 26th February
ISMM London Event – Thursday 11th March
Please refer to the email newsletter for articles and sales tips for this month.
This one is for all the ‘networkers’ who are always talking about what you ’should’ and ’shouldn’t’ have on your business card…..there are also a few ‘reality’ tips below from me!
Please don’t watch the video if you’re easily offended – thanks to a printing client for sending me this….
What was your favourite part of the video? Mine was ‘it doesn’t fit in a rolodex….because it doesn’t belong in a rolodex!’ lol
Now onto the more serious tips!……
Andy’s Top 5 Tips For Business Cards
Tip No 1 – Get the best looking business card you can afford!
Remember, once you’re gone, all they have left to remember you by is your business card – so make sure it’s made a good impression!
This means getting it designed properly, and having your branding consistent with your website etc, so it’s a consistent message to would-be-clients.
Tip No 2 – Ignore the ‘rubbish’ people say about being able to write on it
So many so-called ‘experts’ talk about this. But far more important is the quality of the card and the design (see tip 1). Most people that talk about this say you should be able to write on the card so they can make notes to remember you by. Well if they can’t remember you to start with, you’re obviously not that memorable! That’t not a good sign!
If someone represents a genuine opportunity to you, it’s YOUR responsibility to follow up with those people – so keep those cards seperate from the others and get them in your CRM system or diary – fast – if they represent genuine opportunities to you.
Tip No 3 – Only pass cards to people you want to keep in contact with
From a sales point of view, there’s pretty much zero point in just handing out your cards to everyone and collecting theirs – unless you’re just keeping the printers in business!
Let’s face it – you’re not going to follow up with everyone anyway (unless you think that a ’standard email’ is following up? I hope not!), so why bother? Ask for and keep the cards of the people you want to stay in touch with….
Tip No 4 – Have something memorable on your card
Have something memorable on your card that makes you stand out from your competitors. And by ‘memorable’, I don’t mean ‘cheesy!’ If you are the ‘face’ of your business, a picture is essential. Spot varnish and ‘cut outs’ are fairly inexpensive options these days to make you appear different. Otherwise, direct the recipient to an offer or certain part of your website designed to engage them with you and your company.
Tip No 5 – When face-to-face, exchange them at the start of the meeting
So many people get this wrong. If you’re in a face-to-face meeting with a client, exchange them at the beginning of the meetings. This saves the ‘awkward moments’ wondering about when it’s a good time to exchange them. Put the card on the table in front of you, so you can easily remember the client’s name and responsibilites – I’ve seen too many people forget the client’s name part-way through a sales meeting! Don’t let this happen to you….
Note: Andy is running a teleconference/webinar on ‘How To Convert Incoming Sales Leads’ shortly – if you want advance notice of it, please contact Andy here straightaway
Why You’re Not Converting Your Sales Enquiries Into Customers
In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains why you’re not currently converting enough enquiries into customers…..and what you can do about it to get the results you deserve……..
One of the things I’m noticing at the moment is that in a lot of cases salespeople and business owners are seeing the number of sales enquiries they normally receive has dropped over the last few months. Businesses that have been used to higher levels of sales enquiries in the past are now realising that the drop in sales enquiries is having a similar affect on their turnover and profits.
In a similar vein, many companies right now have what I would call ‘non-salespeople’ doing activities that would be traditionally handled by a salesperson. This may be due to things bring ‘tight’, a new focus on ‘new business’, staff leaving (or being made redundant), so their activities now get passed to other people.
What Do I Mean By ‘Non-Salespeople’ ?
This means for example in some cases that marketing staff are making cold calls for appointments, customer service staff are making outbound sales calls and the worst thing ever – admin staff are taking incoming sales enquiries!!!
Think about it. You’ve paid all that money for advertising, networking, marketing, or whatever lead generation method you use to ‘earn’ that sales enquiry. Then the person taking it has little or no sales ability, little or no training in what’s needed to convert it into a sale, and has no idea how much business they could be losing through their lack of understanding!
How scary is that? Even people employed in a sales role don’t always handle sales enquiries as well as they could, so what chance has a ‘non salesperson’ got?
So, below are some reasons why you’re currently not converting as many sales enquiries as you could be – and what you can do to get them back on track!
Reason No 1 – You Don’t Respond Quickly Enough
For any incoming sales enquiry right now, responding could mean the difference between you converting that enquiry into a customer, and missing out on the business to one of your competitors.
Right now, people have more choice than ever before, and more companies are desperate for their business than ever before – so are you prepared to let one of your competitors get business that could have been yours?
Ask yourself – how fast do you currently get back to your sales enquiries? And then, how could you speed that up?
Reason No 2 – You Only Take The ‘Specification’
This is another example of poor handling of a sales call. This is where the person taking the incoming sales enquiry only asks questions that get the specification, or the details that they need in order to quote for the work.
Bizarrely, this is what most companies train the staff responsible for taking the sales enquiries to do! So those staff give a quotation without asking anything about buying motivation, current supplier, other quotes, buying timescales or other information that would help them secure the business.
It’s almost like the business equivalent of giving a quotation, crossing their fingers, clicking their heels together 3 times and ‘hoping’ that the person rings them back to place the order!! Is that really the way we want to treat those precious sales enquiries in the current business climate?
Reason No 3 – You Fail To Qualify The Opportunity Properly
Another thing that seems to get missed when staff are handling sales enquiries is understanding the full cope of the potential opportunity. This has been made worse by the customer service people and poor sales trainers in the past that have banged on about ‘you must treat every customer the same’. What a load of old rubbish!!
Should a printing company treat differently a customer who buys £50 worth of business cards once a year, compared to a company that spends £25,000 on their annual print requirements? Of course they should! Now of course both customers should receive good service, but would you want to ask different questions of these 2 different enquiries? Would your sales process change based on their potential spend? Would you service the account differently? Of course you would!
The problem is, you need to qualify the potential opportunity first – so start doing it!
Reason No 4 – You Don’t Take Control Of The Situation
Another mistake most people make is that they don’t control the situation properly. Once the potential customer has put the phone down (or walked out of the shop in a retail context) – if you haven’t defined or agreed the ‘next steps’, you’ve just lost control of the sales situation.
If you just give them your quotation, or hand/send them your literature and then leave them to their own devices, they’re probably going to buy somewhere else, or not at all! If they’ve bothered to take the time to call you, send an enquiry over the internet, or arrive in your showroom then right now is the opportunity. Not tomorrow, not the day after, not next week – but right now.
So if you can’t take advantage of this opportunity, then you have to define the ‘next steps’, what will happen in what sequence and get them ‘locked in’ to you, rather than letting them go off ’shopping’ and comparing prices with you and the competition – or against their existing supplier!
Reason No 5 – You Don’t Follow Up
There is no excuse for this! ‘I was too busy’ doesn’t cut it. ‘I got caught up in other things’ doesn’t cut it. ‘Well they’d come back to me if they wanted it, wouldn’t they?’ is just plain stupid!
If you’ve bothered to take the enquiry in the first place, and weren’t able to convert them into a customer on that occasion, yet you know they’re interested enough in what you do to have enquired in the first place, why on earth wouldn’t you bother to follow it up?
I’ll be running a teleconference/webinar on ‘How To Convert Incoming Sales Leads’ shortly – if you want advance notice of it, please contact me here straightaway
If you’re guilty of this one, you might as well email over all your sales enquiries to your competition, because you’re giving them the business as it is! Follow up each enquiry quickly, and secure the business for you and your company, rather than giving it to someone else!
Follow the tips above and watch your sales soar! I look forward to hearing how you get on……..
You can get Andy’s free cold calling and sales tips HERE
You can also see more about Andy’s training for small businesses at www.salesbreakfast.net
This article is copyright Andy Preston 2009. To copy or syndicate this or any part of this article contact Andy Preston for guidelines. Media enquiries – details here
Every now and then everyone needs a little inspiration, don’t you agree?
As salespeople (or business owners who have to sell) it’s important that we keep our motivation levels as high as possible – particularly in the current climate, where we could be finding things tougher than usual, and getting more rejection and objections than previously.
Sport has links to selling, as it serves us by providing examples of excellence. Having done some work with professional sportspeople on peak performance, some of the traits required for suceess in that field mirror the traits required to become a top salesperson.
I saw the video below, and it reminded me about the pursuit of excellence. Watch and it and I DARE you not to feel inspired by it! There are some good sales lessons in it too, about persistence and not giving up (the first minute where he’s trying to get across the railings) calm and poise in difficult situations and about working hard on your skills to give a good performance when it matters!
Watch the video and let me know your favourite bit – mine’s probably the somersault off the tree at 3:05….
Enjoy the video!
I was talking with a group of salespeople and small business owners the other day, and they were telling me about the ’sales challenges’ they’re experiencing at the moment.
Some commented that they were struggling to generate new sales leads, as their usual levels of incoming leads had slowed down somewhat.
Others commented that it was getting tougher to get meetings, or to get new potential clients to take them seriously.
Another group commented that getting committment from clients and closing them down was their biggest problem.
So I’m interested to know – what do you think the biggest sales problem is for most salespeople (or business owners that have to sell) right now?
Enter your comments by using the ‘leave a reply’ box at the bottom of the page….
Best Regards
Andy
PRESS RELEASE
Leeds Businesses Get Early Morning Wake Up Call From UK Sales Guru
Small business owners and sales people in Leeds were put through their paces by UK sales guru Andy Preston after his Sales Training Breakfast Club arrived in Leeds.
During the early morning training session which started at 7.30am at The Village Hotel, Leeds South, Andy Preston addressed business owners and sales professionals from local businesses including BMW, Auditel and TLC Business Supplies, on how to win more business from cold calling.
“In the current climate, the ability to win new customers or gain more appointments over the phone is vital. I felt that is was particularly important for local businesses in Leeds to get the results they deserve from their cold calling activities” explains Preston, Director at sales performance company Outstanding Results.
Feedback From Attendees….
The event provided food for thought for many in attendance with Andy Ryalls from BMW commenting, “Andy has totally changed my mindset about the ‘worst’ part of my job’, and Jo Elsy from TLC Business Supplies said the session left her feeling ‘very positive’. Preston believes that it is critical to help boost the morale of small business owners and equip them with the skills they need to thrive, despite the downturn.
“We all know that small businesses are helping to keep the economy going yet most have little or no budget available to dedicate to sales training, but need to be good at selling to stay in businesses! The bitesize training given at the Sales Training Breakfast is perfect for busy business owners and sales people and is proving extremely popular both in the UK and abroad,” adds Preston.
The Sales Training Breakfast Club is hosted in a number of locations including London, Manchester and Dubai and is designed to help small business owners, consultants and salespeople get more sales and more customers every month. Launched in early 2008 by Preston, The Sales Training Breakfast Club was created specifically to help give businesses across the country access to quality sales training at a price they can afford.
Further Events….
The next Leeds Sales Training Breakfast will be held on 4th AUgust 2009 at the VIllage Hotel, Leeds South at 7.30am. For more details or to book a place, call Andy Preston on 0845 130 6779, or visit http://www.salestrainingbreakfastclub.com/salestrainingleeds.html
The other Sales Breakfast events can be seen here – http://www.salestrainingbreakfastclub.com
Places are in high demand so early booking is recommended.
In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains why you’re not currently getting the results from your cold calling that you could be…..and what you can do about it to get the results you deserve……..
Please note: This is the second part of a 2-part article. To read the first part, go here now.
Whenever I’m talking to business owners or their sales teams, the topic of new business development and cold calling in particular always evokes interesting reactions.
Cold calling is one of those topics that everyone has an opinion on – even those that don’t do it! And the salespeople and business owners that do it normally fall into one of the camps – love it, loathe it, or tolerate it!
However, no matter which of those camps you or your team fall into, most people don’t get the results that they want from cold calling, so below are some reasons why that is the case, and also some ideas on what to do about it!
So why isn’t your cold calling working as well as it could be?…..
Reason No 5 – Wrong Attitude
I always find it interesting how many people start a cold calling session that are defeated before they even start! These people can always find an excuse for not doing the calls ‘oh I haven’t got the time’, ‘I’ve just got to ring a few existing customers first’ and ‘I just need to tidy my desk for the 17th time this week!’
And when they actually have to make some calls, they are convinced that decision makers don’t want to speak to them, that no one will buy because of ‘the recession’, that cold calling is a pointless activity and won’t work, etc etc.
What kind of impact does this sort of thinking have on the potential results of their cold calling sessions do you think? Might it be affected in a negative way? Of course!
Then, when it comes to handling objections, the same negative attitude and mindset affects them here as well. Let’s take the example above, where the salesperson has ‘decided’ that no-one is buying because of the recession.
What do you think will happen to that salesperson’s attitude the minute that the person they’re talking to says something like ‘we don’t have a budget’ ‘or we’re cutting back at the moment’? That’s right, they’ll say to themselves ’see I knew it, no-one’s got any money at the moment because of the recession, maybe I should get out of sales and get another job?’
Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? But it’s happening a lot more than you’d think. What happening to trying to handle that objection, position back the value and re-close for the business? Didn’t even show up! All because the salesperson had the wrong attitude and had already ‘decided’ that the person wasn’t going to buy – and the first piece of ‘evidence’ that seemingly confirmed their suspicions, they gave up….
Reason No 6 – Lack Of Pride
I’m often astounded when I meet salespeople (and business owners who have to ’sell’ as part of their role) that don’t appear to be proud of what they’re doing. Instead of being proud of themselves, their role, their company and their products and services, far too many salespeople sound like they’re almost ashamed instead!
Think about when you’ve ever received a call from someone trying to sell to you. If the person has sounded weak, uncertain and has started to apologise for the fact that they’re even calling you, what kind of impact has that had on your perception of this person, their company, and their products and services? My guess would be that it wouldn’t be particularly favourable!
I’ve even heard some salespeople say things like ‘oh I’m sorry to bother you’, or ’sorry if this sounds like a sales call but…’ It IS a sales call! Be proud of the fact! Be proud of the fact you’re in sales, your company and your products and services, instead of apologising for them!
God knows what the potential customers think of the salespeople who apologise! Do those salespeople think the client’s going to say something like ‘there, there, it’s okay. I don’t mind this sales call. It’s okay, please go ahead and pitch me….?!!’
Sales is a difficult job to start with. Cold calling is even tougher. Why on earth would you want to make your job even more difficult by trotting out this kind of rubbish?!!
Reason No 7 – Lack Of Activity
Now I know some of you are going to complain about this one (those would be the sales whingers 
) But seriously – lack of new business activity is one of the biggest reasons salespeople don’t hit their turnover or profit targets.
And before any of you start banging on about ‘oh but Andy I want to make quality calls, not quantity’, let me explain further. I don’t mean that I want you to make lots of random calls with no direction, no quality and no value. What I mean is that I want you to make quality calls, I just want you to make more of them!
Let’s face it – no matter how poor (or how good) your sales skills are, based on your existing conversion rates if you make 10% more calls, you’re going to get to speak to 10% more decision makers, make 10% more meetings, 10% more proposals, and therefore 10% more business! Just from a 10% increase in activity alone!
Now if you were to read the rest of this article (and the first part) and work on your sales skills, you can increase your sales figures even higher…..and some of you could also increase your activity by more than 10% of course
And this also comes back to ‘reason one’ that I mentioned in the first part of this article – that mentioned ‘preparation’. If you haven’t planned to do a cold calling session uninterrupted, how on earth can you expect to get in the ‘zone’ as athletes call it – ready, focused, motivated and call after call continuing with the same energy and enthusiasm that’s needed to help persuade people over the phone?
Reason No 8 – Lack Of (Or ‘Rusty’) Sales Skills
This is a topic that people are becoming more and more aware of in the current market. There is a general lack of sales skills, but especially so in the ‘new business’ and ‘cold calling’ arenas.
For far too long, cold calling has been viewed by some people as a ‘necessary evil’, something that ‘junior’ salespeople do, and generally looked on as something that people with a year or more of sales experience don’t have to do anymore. They’re wrong.
Cold calling and new business generation is something that every salesperson should do, regardless of age, seniority or experience. It helps to keep you ’sharp’, being able to deal with the tougher objections (so when they come up from existing clients, you can deal with them easily) and helps you to fill your sales pipeline.
For some salespeople however, they’ve never developed those skills, possibly because they’ve been in more of an account management or ‘incoming’ sales role. It might also be that they haven’t had to cold call for a while and their skill are ‘rusty’ at best.
To be successful at cold calling and new business generation, you need to have a good level of skill at call openings, getting past gatekeepers, questioning, objection handling and closing at the very least! How do you currently rate yourself or your team in those areas? And when would be a good time to do something about it?!!
Follow the tips above and watch your sales soar! I look forward to hearing how you get on……..
You can get Andy’s free cold calling and sales tips HERE
You can also see more about Andy’s training for small businesses at www.salesbreakfast.net
This article is copyright Andy Preston 2009. To copy or syndicate this or any part of this article contact Andy Preston for guidelines. Media enquiries – details here
In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains why you’re not currently getting the results from your cold calling that you could be…..and what you can do about it to get the results you deserve……..
Whenever I’m talking to business owners or their sales teams, the topic of new business development and cold calling in particular always evokes interesting reactions.
Cold calling is one of those topics that everyone has an opinion on – even those that don’t do it! And the salespeople and business owners that do it normally fall into one of the camps – love it, loathe it, or tolerate it!
However, no matter which of those camps you or your team fall into, most people don’t get the results that they want from cold calling, so below are some reasons why that is the case, and also some ideas on what to do about it!
So why isn’t your cold calling working as well as it could be?…..
Reason No 1 – Lack Of Preparation
If this is you, you’re not alone! Most people fail to prepare for their cold calling sessions properly. You’d be astounded how many times I see people ’start’ a cold calling session by looking for their list of people to call, trying to find their diary, finishing off an email, taking a call from an existing client, tidying their desk, going to get a drink or have a quick cigarette…pretty much anything but start making the calls!
Often, this means that the calling session that was due to start at 10.00 now really starts at about 10.40. Then, by the time the salesperson has made a few calls, the session is over! The salesperson might have achieved their objective of ‘avoiding’ the session, but has the session really contributed to the success of the business? Hardly!
Cold calling is best done in focussed ’sessions’, with no interruptions. That means no emails, no incoming phone calls, no interruptions from colleagues, no going to get a drink etc – do all of that before the session starts. And if the session is meant to start at 10.00, then the first phone call should be at 10.00 – not 10.05, 10.10, or 10.20!
Reason No 2 – Lack Of Belief
A number of business owners and salespeople I meet still aren’t convinced that cold calling actually works, or could work for them and their company. And those people are usually the ones who have tried it (or are currently doing it) and aren’t getting the results that they could, or they haven’t tried it but have already decided that it won’t work!
I always find it interesting when I talk to people who have this belief as they often that that ‘cold calling just won’t work in my industry’. Then, when I ask them what they do, they are in the same industry as someone that I have trained that is getting great results from cold calling! Perhaps what the people with the negative beliefs really mean is – I’m not sure of the right approach that would make it work for me?
Whatever the reason, if you or your team is making cold calls with the belief that cold calling doesn’t work, do you think that might stand in the way of the potential success of your calls a little? Of course it will!
In my experience of making and listening to tens of thousands of cold calls in all sorts of industries, if you start with that sort of belief, your activity levels will be lower, your voice tone will be monotone and boring (instead of bright and enthusiastic), you’ll accept the first objection too easily and you’ll do anything to avoid doing the calls – so is it any wonder that cold calling isn’t working for you at the moment?!!
Reason No 3 – Inability To Deal With Rejection
This is always an interesting subject. This can affect anyone, particularly if you’re new to sales, new to cold calling, or only do it as part of your role. For example, if your role consists of mainly account management, if your boss has just told you that you need to start making cold calls, or you’ve started up your own business and need to start cold calling, then this could be affecting you right now!
Let’s face it – if you’re cold calling you’re going to face some rejection. Some of you will have to deal with the fact that people will give you objections. Some of you will have to deal with the fact that people will say ‘no’ directly to you. And some of you will have to deal with the fact that people will put the phone down on you fairly regularly.
When you’re cold calling, the majority of people you speak to are going to be hesitant, resistant and say no to you at some level. The point is, you’re not expecting to get a ‘yes’ on every call. You’re expecting that 90%, 95% sometimes even 97.5% of people are going to say no. The reason you’re calling is to get the smaller percentage of people that are going to say yes to you – yes I’ll consider you, yes I’ll meet with you, yes I’ll look at buying from you.
However if you can’t deal with (or learn to deal with) the rejection that you’re going to face, do you think that might stop you making the calls, or do your best to avoid it? Of course it will!
Reason No 4 – Failure To Stay Motivated
Cold calling can be difficult. And because of the amount of objections and rejection you face it can sometimes be difficult to stay motivated. However your failure to stay motivated could actually be causing you problems on your cold calls.
Many people I talk to find selling over the phone difficult. Particularly if your role involves selling face-to-face, or has done in the past. This is because when you sell face-to-face, you can read the other person’s body language, build rapport faster and watch their reaction when you deliver your price. However when you’re selling over the phone, all you have is your voice tone and your delivery.
And if your role involves a lot of cold calling, it’s very easy for your motivation levels to drop later in the day if you’re not careful! For many people cold calling is about sounding bright, enthusiastic, confident and certain. And all these traits can be heard in your voice tone, can’t they?
However, I’ve lost count of the amount of calls that have been made when the salesperson or business owner isn’t motivated. Their voice tone has gone from being bright and enthusiastic to bored, tired and disinterested. They might as well be saying ‘Hi it’s Andy from XYZ company…..you probably won’t be interested in what we have to offer…..you’ve probably happy with your existing supplier, so please put me out of my misery and tell me to go away, so I can ring someone else and hit my call target to get my boss off my back….’.
Now, you don’t have to be a genius to work out that making that sort of call is going to produce pretty much zero results, do you?!
This article is continued next month, where we look at 4 more reasons why your cold calling isn’t working for you. If you have any questions in the meantime, ask Andy your question here
Follow the tips above and watch your sales soar! I look forward to hearing how you get on……..
You can get Andy’s free cold calling and sales tips HERE
You can also see more about Andy’s training for small businesses at www.salesbreakfast.net
This article is copyright Andy Preston 2009. To copy or syndicate this or any part of this article contact Andy Preston for guidelines. Media enquiries – details here
In this article, leading UK Sales Expert Andy Preston explains why most salespeople and business owners get so many objections to their price……and the mistakes that most of them make…… that often result in lost sales, or lost profit………
Whenever I’m working with salespeople and business owners, they are frustrated that they get so many price objections, particularly because they don’t understand why, or how they should deal with them! As the market gets tougher, you’re probably finding that people are objecting to your prices, and negotiating with you more than ever before – are you prepared well enough to deal with that?
What salespeople and business owners often don’t realise is that there are a number of reasons that clients object to their prices, and sometimes they generate those objections themselves – something in their approach or what they have said has generated the price objection for them – and then they don’t deal with it well!
So let’s have a look at the main reasons they get the price objections, so we can lessen the chances of getting them in future…
Reason No 1 – It’s A Negotiation Tactic
As many regular readers of my articles know, before my successful selling career, I started out as a professional buyer – beating up salespeople for a living! It gave me a great insight into how people buy….and often how people don’t sell well to others! I’ve lost count of how many awful sales pitches I endured during that period!
Any buyer worth their salt (and also a lot of business decision makers these days) knows, the minute a potential supplier to us gives their price, if we come back with a response like ‘ooh, that’s too expensive’ or ‘that’s higher than your competitors’ most potential suppliers crumble!
Most suppliers end up saying something like ‘well how much were you thinking of paying?’ Daft move! The buyer then thinks ‘fantastic, got these guys on the run!’ Their response then is something like ‘ooh….about half that!’ Now you’re in trouble. You’re starting to negotiate from a price that 50% below where you wanted. And if the buyer is any good, the price is only going down from there! Not a good situation to be in, is it?
Andy’s Tip – Sometimes it’s a negotiation tactic – expect it and be prepared to deal with it. Prepare and practice your response.
Reason No 2 – You Don’t Give Enough Value First
This is really, really important – but it’s often overlooked! If you’re the sort of person that never quotes a price up-front, listens intently to what the customer is saying, questions well to uncover their needs, matches back your product or service with those needs, demonstrates huge value and then closes for the business….every single time….then you probably don’t have anything to worry about here.
If however, there’s ever been a time where you’ve been under pressure to deliver a price earlier than you wanted to, where a client didn’t really seem to think your product or service was worth the price you wanted, or where the client bought from someone else – even when you’re product or service would have been better for them – then this is vital that you read this and digest it fully.
The problem is we often let the client control the meeting and the flow of the conversation, so the conversation turns to price quicker than we would like! We haven’t had time to get the client to appreciate the value in what we’re offering, so is it any wonder we get a price objection here?
As the market gets tougher, it’s more important than ever for the client to appreciate the value in what you provide. The faster the conversation goes to price, the less chance you have of the client appreciating the value in what you offer – which then means you get a price objection!
Andy’s Tip – Don’t give prices out before you’re ready – be prepared to deal with the client asking the price and how you’re going to deal with it.
Reason No 3 – You Talk About Price!
Over the past few weeks I’ve been doing some ‘field sales assessments’ – accompanying some salespeople on their prospective client meetings. The client said that their salespeople had been getting a lot of price objections recently, and had put it down to the ‘credit crunch’ and their particular industry.
When I was observing the salespeople in their meetings though, it wasn’t the prospective clients that were taking the conversation towards price, it was the salesperson themselves!
Think about it. If you ask a question like ‘how much do you normally pay for…’ or ‘what’s your normal rate on this sort of thing’, then what else can you expect from the other person but a question about your price?!!
Even worse, if your only way to differentiate your offering is on price – saying things like ‘we’re cheaper’ or ‘we’ll match/beat their prices’ then who’s to blame for taking the conversation towards price? You are!
Andy’s Tip – Stop asking questions or making comments that refer to price, and watch the impact that has on getting you less price questions from the client!
Reason No 4 – You Don’t Differentiate Yourself Enough
In the current market when times are tough and there seems to be more competition than ever before, it’s absolutely vital that you can differentiate yourself from your competition.
Yet many salespeople and business owners fail to do this adequately. I was doing some work with a recruitment company the other day and one of their consultants got an objection on a live call I was listening in to. The prospective client said ‘I’m happy with the agency I use at the moment’. The consultant then proceeded to ‘tell’ the prospective client how they were different – by saying ‘but we’re different to other agencies!’
The reply from the prospective client was fantastic. They said ‘yeah, every consultant who rings me up says that too’. Hilarious! All the consultant achieved by saying ‘but we’re different…’ was to make themselves the same as all their competition!
Differentiating yourself from your competitors is not done by just saying ‘we’re different’, but by acting, saying and being different – starting with your initial phone call! If your call sounds the same as all the rest, you ask the same questions as all the rest and you say the same things as all the rest, is it any wonder that clients consider you the same as all the rest?!
Andy’s Tip – Start to differentiate from your initial phone call into that client by saying and doing different things to your competitors. Not sure what to do? Contact me for some ideas…..
Follow the tips above and watch your sales soar! I look forward to hearing how you get on……..
You can get Andy’s free cold calling and sales tips HERE
You can also see more about Andy’s training for small businesses at www.salestrainingbreakfastclub.com
This article is copyright Andy Preston 2009. To copy or syndicate this or any part of this article contact Andy Preston for guidelines. Media enquiries – details here
Manchester United’s win against Tottenham on penalties in the Carling Cup Final has been put down to goalkeeper Ben Foster pulling out a video ipod just before the penalty kicks started and watching previous footage of Tottenham’s penalty takers. Foster claims that doing this enabled him to better ‘guess’ where Tottenham’s penalty takers would place their kicks, and therefore give him an advantage in saving them! There’s more to this than meets the eye however, says leading Sales Expert Andy Preston, who explains what ’sales lessons’ we can take from the incident……
It’s interesting that Ben Foster puts his success in the penalties down to watching the ipod video clips. There are some important things to note here than Ben himself probably isn’t aware of, that can have a positive effect when it comes to sales as well!
Let’s have a look at what positive impact the ipod ‘incident’ had on Ben, and how that relates to our own sales……..
Sales Lesson Number 1 – More Confidence
Do you think that purely by watching the video clips gave Ben more confidence about his ability to save the penalties? Of course it did! We all know that the good penalty takers don’t place the ball in exactly the same place every single time, but purely from watching the video clips, Ben would have had more confidence in his ability to save the kicks, right at the critical moment, just before the kicks were about to start.
Quick question – how often do you feel really confident before you pick up the phone, or go into a sales appointment?
Sales Lesson Number 2 – More Certainty
By watching the video clips of the kicks beforehand, do you think Ben felt more certain that he was going to save the kicks than he did before? Of course! Certainty is linked to confidence and is an inner feeling that you’re going to make something happen, no matter what. By being more certain in his abilities, Ben gave himself more chance of being successful in the penalty shootout.
Remember the quote from Hannibal? ‘I’ll either find a way or make one’. That is an example of certainty at work. It inspires the people around you as well, so could definitely have had an effect on Ben’s team mates taking the penalties as well. Just imagine a team starting a penalty competition with no confidence in their own goalkeeper!
Quick question – How certain do you feel that you’re going to do business with a prospect, prior to the call or appointment?
Sales Lesson Number 3 – Being Prepared
Preparation often leads to confidence. Without this step, often people’s confidence is affected. If he hadn’t watched those video clips, do you think Ben’s performance would have been affected in a negative way? Of course it would!
How often do you give yourself enough time to prepare for your sales calls or appointments? Enough so that you feel confident and certain in your ability to win the business?
Follow the tips above and watch for the massive improvement in your sales. I look forward to hearing about your successes!
You can get Andy’s free cold calling and sales tips HERE
You can also see more about Andy’s training for small businesses at www.salestrainingbreakfastclub.com
This article is copyright Andy Preston 2009. To copy or syndicate this or any part of this article contact Andy Preston for guidelines. Media enquiries – details here
