Why Buyers Lie To You (And What They Really Mean!)

In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains why buyers lie to salespeople…..and what they really mean when they say those things to you…….

I’m often amazed how many salespeople and business owners are surprised when, after we’ve de-briefed their sales meeting or phone call, they realise the ‘buyer’ or decision maker they were talking to has lied to them.

In many cases the salesperson will actually defend the buyer – saying things like ‘well they’re just not ready to buy’, or ‘they have to see all the salespeople first and then make a decision’, or ‘they need to check with a couple of colleagues first’.

If there are any sales managers or directors that are hearing things like this from their sales team, then get in touch with me right now! What the salesperson often means when they say something like the above is ‘I haven’t done my job properly’ – yet not many are willing to admit it (and some aren’t even aware of it!)

So here are some phrases that buyers or decision makers will say to you or your team – and what they really mean…….

Buyer Phrase No 1 – ‘I’m Happy With My Existing Supplier’

Don’t you just love this old chestnut? I’m still astounded when most salespeople fall for this one, and either exit the call or almost mentally ‘give up’ when they hear this phrase.

The average salesperson hears this so often, you’d think they would have learnt to deal with it by now, wouldn’t you?!!

When the buyer says something like ‘I’m happy with my existing supplier’, in most cases what they may actually mean is ‘I don’t know you well enough to consider you as an alternative supplier just yet’ or ‘I don’t like you as much as I like my existing supplier’ or even ‘Your call or visit has interrupted me and I’m going to use a phrase that gets rid of most salespeople (but might not even be true)’.

Yet still most salespeople hear this ‘objection’ and let it affect them in a negative way – and some don’t even get as far as asking another question. Let’s be honest here – if this is your first decent conversation or visit with the potential new client, isn’t it fairly normal for them to be ‘happy’ with their existing supplier at this stage?

It’s your job as a salesperson to understand their current solution, and how your product or service adds value to what they’re trying to achieve with it. If you only relied on being ‘lucky’ as mentioned above – you’re missing out on the majority of your sales opportunities!

Buyer Phrase No 2 – ‘I Need To Think About This And Come Back To You’

Another classic example of something a lot of salespeople fall for! I was doing some ‘field sales assessments’ where I attend appointments with the salesperson last week. The decision maker said to the salesperson ‘I need to think about this and come back to you’. The salesperson’s reply? ‘That’s fine, here’s my card. Give me a call when you’ve had time to decide, or need some help deciding.’

No, No, No, No, No! When someone says the phrase ‘I need to think about this and come back to you’ what they might well mean is ‘I haven’t got enough information to be able to make a decision on this yet (or you haven’t given me enough!) What they might also mean is ‘I’m not sure about you, so I’m going to check you and your company out on the internet while you’re not here’. Or even ‘I’ve already decided not to use you but I’m not willing to tell you that!’

Whichever of those it is, leaving the appointment or phone call at this stage is the worst thing you can do! Even if they are considering you and truly thinking about it in more detail, what that means is that they’re going through that process (and even reaching their decision) without you being involved. What chance have you got of putting any element of persuasion into that process? None whatsoever! Not the best use of your sales skills, is it?

Buyer Phrase No 3 – ‘I’m Under Contract At The Moment’

Another old favourite! Again something a lot of salespeople fall for. This has even got to the stage where the buyer or decision maker is starting to take the mickey out of the salesperson! I was out with a client doing some door-to-door cold calls last month when the salesperson was lucky enough to meet the decision maker when we walked in! What a great bonus you might think? Not if you don’t deal with it properly!

The decision maker’s first objection was ‘We’re under contract at the moment’. The salesperson replied ‘and when does that contract finish?’ (Which is a really stupid question by the way). The decision maker then said ‘Oh, not for another 5 years!!’

Now even though the salesperson knows that 5 year contracts don’t even exist in his industry, he still accepted it without challenging! Isn’t that crazy?

When a buyer or decision maker says the phrase ‘I’m under contract at the moment’, what they might well mean is simply ‘Go away!’ Or perhaps ‘I don’t want to be pitched by you right now’. Or even as a challenge, as in ‘Let’s see how he handles this one!’

Again if you fall for this, you’ve only got yourself to blame.

Buyer Phrase No 4 – ‘I’ve Had A Better Price’

What a great negotiation tactic this is! Yet many salespeople don’t realise it and fall for it almost every time – particularly if they’re struggling for sales figures or income.

Often, when the buyer or decision maker says ‘I’ve had a better price’ what they may well mean is ‘Let’s see how much you can reduce your price by’ or even ‘Let’s get a cheaper quote from you, so I can go to my existing supplier and get their price down as well!’

Buyers and decision makers know this works because the salesperson’s first thought is ‘I need to drop my price to get the deal’ rather than ‘I need to find out more about this’.

The conversation then turns to how much the buyer or decision maker wants the price reduced by – also known as ‘haggling’ – and in some cases the price ends up somewhere between 50-70% of what the salesperson originally stated.

The salesperson then justifies to themselves that what just occurred what necessary to ‘win the order’, whereas the buyer or decision maker thinks ‘Fantastic! Just got 30-50% off something I would have paid full price for!’

Not the outcome you really want as a salesperson, is it?

You can ask any questions about this article or sales in general, by contacting Andy here

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Andy Preston is a leading Sales Expert, Trainer and Motivational Speaker. He runs the Ecademy ‘Sales And Cold Calling Tips Club’ as well as writing for magazines, newspapers and trade journals all around the world on anything related to sales and selling.

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

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……..

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Andy Preston is a leading Sales Expert, Trainer and Motivational Speaker. He runs the Ecademy ‘Sales And Cold Calling Tips Club’ as well as writing for magazines, newspapers and trade journals all around the world on anything related to sales and selling.

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!

Selling By Email – 5 Mistakes Most Salespeople Make

In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains why most people struggle with ’selling by email’ – they don’t understand it, they don’t know when to use it (and when not to) and they don’t know how to use it for best results.

After reading this article you’ll be able to utilise email to add value to your sales efforts – instead of hampering them – and get your sales figures back where they belong!……..

Please note: this is a ’shortened’ version of a full article I wrote for a sales magazine recently. If you’d like a copy of the full article, please ask for one using this link

When I working with sales teams all over the world, Sales Managers and Directors often tell me that they believe all salespeople are inherently lazy. I’m not sure I agree with that hugely sweeping statement, but I do think salespeople often look for the quickest way to do something!

I think this is partly down to the fact that a lot of salespeople only start earning real money when their commission kicks in, so any task that isn’t directly related to bringing in new customers, orders or money, they tend to try and find the quickest way to do! Hence why the managers think they’re lazy.

As salespeople though, this ‘quickest route’ habit can often cause us problems! Particularly as technology has advanced and email is a popular communication method for many. However, this often results in salespeople resorting to email communication – at the expense of their own sales figures! Have a look at the examples of common email sales mistakes below, and see if any ring true for you……

Email Sales Mistake Number 1 – Using It To ‘Follow Up’

Let’s look at this from a ‘new business’ perspective. You’ve spoken with (or met with) a client previously, you’ve started to develop rapport, but they’ve probably got an existing supplier, or existing way of doing things. So you didn’t pick up their business from your initial call or appointment.

Your boss has probably been putting pressure on you about your sales figures or your sales pipeline. So you decide you need to ‘follow up’ with a few people, this particular prospect included. So what do you do next? Pick up the phone and call them, establish their current situation and needs and potentially see how you may be able to add value to what they’re trying to achieve over the next few months? Close for another appointment, attempt to dislodge the existing supplier (or existing process) and pick up their business? Or send an email?

If you’re in the ‘email’ category, stop it! Right now!

Email Sales Mistake Number 2 – Just ‘Adding’ People To A Mailing List

Another great idea from the marketing department. Sending an email newsletter or similar to keep people ‘informed’ of your products and services. The funny thing is, how many newsletters do you get that you don’t read, or you don’t read in full? I bet it’s quite a few. If you don’t know the sender well, you probably don’t read it at all. Sometimes even when you know the sender well you still don’t read it!

Don’t sit back and think that just because someone is on your generic email list that that’s helping you ’sell’ to that person. In most cases it isn’t. The responsibility to move that person through your sales pipeline is still yours!

Email Sales Mistake Number 3 – Sending Mainly ‘Flyers’ By Email

Please tell me you don’t do this? Even worse if the email is titled ‘offer of the month’ or similar! If the person hasn’t used you before, you’re relying on ‘luck’ for the person to buy from you. And the more competitive your marketplace and the higher the price of what you sell, the less likely people are to buy!

Plus as mentioned in my last point above, it’s hardly ‘personal’ communication to that prospect, is it? Is this really the professional sales job you were employed to do? If this is the best you can do in terms of ’sales persuasion’, you’re in trouble!

Email Sales Mistake Number 4 – Responding To New Sales Enquiries Via Email

Let’s think about this one. You or your company has expended time, money and effort in producing the incoming sales lead. Whether it’s come from a previous phone call by you or a colleague, networking, advertising or over the internet, you’ve managed to get a precious incoming sales lead.

The next question is, what are you going to do about it? Pick up the phone and find an excuse to start a dialogue to understand their needs in more detail, positition a ‘next step’ in the sales process and look for some committment from that person. Or just send a quick email giving some information and leaving them to ‘wander’ on their own, with no idea how motivated they are to purchase, their timescales, or what other options they’re considering?

Looks like you’ve missed your chance again, doesn’t it? In most cases if they come back to you, it’s because when they enquired with your competition, they did a worse job than you did (hard to believe I know, but it could be true). Is this really the best way of dealing with that precious incoming sales lead do you think?!!

Email Sales Mistake Number 5 – Sending Proposals Or Quotes By Email

Now it’s time for my personal favourite! Sending proposals or quotes by email. You’ve had the meeting with a potential client (or at least an in-depth telephone conversation)……you agree to send details of what was discussed……then you put it in an email. Really?!! Now you’re in trouble.

Why on earth didn’t you position your offering when you were face to face with the client? When you could read their body language and reactions to your offering (and your price) best….when you could judge whether you had got the proposal right or not?……when you had the best chance of getting them to say ‘yes’?

Even if you needed time to put the details together, why on earth didn’t you organise a second meeting to discuss it in more detail? Crazy! You’re giving other salespeople a better chance to win that business over you – why on earth would you want to do that?!!

 

So Why Do People Send Quotes Or Proposals Via Email?

Normally people send quotes or proposals by email for a few reasons. The first reason is fear of rejection. It ‘hurts’ less to send it by email as at worst, they just send an email back saying ‘no thanks’ – much easier to deal with than them saying it to your face, isn’t it? Or if they don’t reply to you (or send an email back saying they’re thinking about it) they haven’t really rejected you at all, have they? Can you see how that kind of thinking is holding you back from making more sales?!!

The second reason is laziness. You probably would say it’s because you’re busy, but it’s laziness. This is one of the most important parts of the sales process, and you’ve decided to email it because it’s ‘easier’! From an objective perspective, how stupid is that?!!

The third reason is because is ‘normally’ do it that way! Does that mean it’s the best way? Or even any good at all?!! Let’s think about this – it could be the most important part of the sales process, and you’re just sending it off into the ‘ether’ and hoping they’ll give you a positive response. Again – the more competitive the marketplace, the higher the price of your product/service and the longer the time elapsed from your initial conversation/meeting the less likely you are to get the business!

Please note: this is a ’shortened’ version of a full article I wrote for a sales magazine recently. If you’d like a copy of the full article, please ask for one using this link

You can also ask any questions about this article or sales in general, by contacting Andy here

Follow the tips above and watch your sales soar! I look forward to hearing how you get on……..

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Andy Preston is a leading Sales Expert, Trainer and Motivational Speaker. He runs the Ecademy ‘Sales And Cold Calling Tips Club’ as well as writing for magazines, newspapers and trade journals all around the world on anything related to sales and selling.

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

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.

 

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!

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Andy Preston is a leading Sales Expert, Trainer and Motivational Speaker. He runs the Ecademy ‘Sales And Cold Calling Tips Club’ as well as writing for magazines, newspapers and trade journals all around the world on anything related to sales and selling.

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

In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains why most companies struggle when it comes to getting business from exhibitions……and how some simple tips on what to do instead can make a huge difference……

As the market gets tougher, more and more people are turning to other ways of generating new business – cold calling, marketing and in particular, doing business through exhibitions.

Now for most businesses, their experience of exhibitions, conferences and roadshows is fairly limited. They have perhaps attended a few, maybe even exhibited at a few in the past, yet are still unsure as to how to get the best return-on-investment from them. In fact, when they do exhibit, they’re probably guilty of making some of the common mistakes that most people make when it comes to exhibiting.

 

The Common Mistakes That Mean You Losing Business At An Exhibition…..

Most people lose business at exhibitions because they commit some of the following common mistakes. Let’s look at these in turn and then what we can do to avoid them.

 

Mistake No 1 – Not Thinking About Your Outcomes Beforehand

This is a critical step that most people miss. It’s essential to think about what you want from an exhibition in advance! Is it to ‘showcase’ a new product? To gain new sales leads? To have a ‘presence’ for buyers and show them you’re still around and want their business?

You also need to think about what will make the exhibition a success for you. Is it number of new enquiries? Orders placed at the show? Orders that come in afterwards?

In addition, which potential customers are you hoping to meet at the show? Have you sent them specifically targeted invitations, perhaps to an event you’re hosting after the show starts?

 

Mistake No 2 – Trying To ‘Sell’ On The Stand

This is a huge mistake that most people make. Think about it – you’ve invested all that money, time and effort in having a presence at the exhibition, all the staff costs you’ve incurred for them attending, and you’re letting valuable sales leads ‘drift away’ because you’re caught up in conversations with other people trying to ‘sell’ them on what you offer? Big mistake.

Exhibitions should only be about the first part of your sales pipeline – meeting and qualifying your potential customer. Anything more and you’re going to be losing business because of the number of people you missed speaking to because you were too ‘caught up’ in trying to sell someone else what you offer.

Use the exhibition as a way of meeting, identifying and qualifying prospects, then you could potentially set up one-to-one meetings with prospects during the event in a quiet corner of the cafe, or an external venue. Alternatively why not do a presentation on your company after the show one evening, and arrange meetings after that?

You’ve paid good money for your company and your staff (and yourself!) to be at that exhibition. Don’t let valuable sales leads walk away because you’re too focused on one person.

 

Mistake No 3 – Not Being ‘On Top Of Your Game’

I’ve lost count of the number of exhibitions, conferences and roadshows where the company has spent a large amount of money on the exhibition stand, taken the majority of the sales team off the phones or the road in order to ‘man’ the stand for the event and then proceeds to allow (and in certain circumstances encourage) them to get seriously drunk in the evenings.

Now I’m the last person to stop someone enjoying themselves and having fun, but think about it. The amount of time, money and effort you’ve invested in the exhibition could go to waste if when the potential sales opportunity comes along, your salesperson isn’t at the top of their game and fails to deal with it properly.

At far too many exhibitions, salespeople appear visibly hung-over, tired, and sometimes even still smell of the previous night’s alcohol – not a great first impression for a potential new client, is it?

Exhibitions can be long days. You need all your energy and focus to maximise the sales opportunities that come your way, without ruining the opportunities before they even have a chance to get started.

 

Mistake No 4 – Not Following Up Properly

This is probably the biggest mistake of all! I regularly speak at exhibitions and conferences and I often go over to stands, engage the salespeople in conversation and show interest in their products and services. Usually they take my details (I give them my training company card) and I then wait to see how pro-active they are in following up my interest?

I reckon about 10% of the time I receive a phone call, and about 50% of the time I receive an email. That means that 40% of the time, I’m not getting any follow up from that company at all! And even more scarily 90% of the time, the salespeople don’t bother pick up the phone and call me! And I’m not alone – whenever I speak to others about this, those numbers seem to be about right for them as well.

So why would that be? Their company has spent all that time, effort and money to generate that lead, yet the salespeople don’t follow up? Here are three quick reasons that explain in more detail……

 

Reason 1 – Your Salespeople Didn’t Take The Exhibition Seriously

Some salespeople still see exhibitions as a chance to get away from work and get drunk on the company (see mistake number 4 above). They don’t take the leads seriously, see it as a hassle, and can’t wait to get back to ‘normal’ work.

 

Reason 2 – You Gave It To The Wrong Person To Follow Up

Another big reason is that you gave to the wrong person to follow up! A lot of the time, follow up is done by marketing departments or office staff, not trained salespeople – and then wonder why the leads don’t result in much business!

 

Reason 3 – You Left It Too Long!

People that are visiting exhibitions will probably be talking to you, and your competition. If they’re in the market for your product or service, they may well be talking to other suppliers outside the exhibition as well. Yet you’ve done the work, you’ve met the person, you’ve got the lead…..then what do you do? Wait a couple of weeks to follow it up? Hopeless!

Make sure if you’ve took the time, trouble and effort to get the lead in the first place, that you follow it up within 3 days, maximum! 

Follow the tips above and watch for the massive improvement in your negotiations. I look forward to hearing about your successes!

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Andy Preston is a leading Sales Expert, Trainer and Motivational Speaker. He runs the Ecademy ‘Sales And Cold Calling Tips Club’ as well as writing for magazines, newspapers and trade journals all around the world on anything related to sales and selling.

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

Sales Negotiation Lessons From The Egyptians…..

In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains why most business owners struggle when it comes to negotiations (and in particular negotiating over their price)……and how some simple negotiation lessons can be learned from the Egyptians……

Whenever I’m working with business owners, something I often come across is a lack of confidence or comfort with the more critical parts of the sales process. Examples might be ‘objection handling’, ‘closing’ or in particular ‘negotiating’.

Particularly as the market is now getting tougher, those critical areas of the sales process are becoming even more critical – yet many business owners lack the attitude, skills and knowledge to be successful in those areas, particularly when it comes to negotiation.

That could be because they’re not used to negotiation, it could be that they’re naive to the tricks that the other side can play, or it could be that they’re desperate for the order and will cave in to any demand the other side will make. Or it could be a combination of any or all of those reasons! Whatever the reason, without some element of knowledge of the negotiation process, the business owner is going to continue to struggle.

So How Do The Egyptians Come Into This?…..

Over Christmas, I was working out in Egypt with a well-known, multi-national IT company. On the last afternoon of the course, we went into Cairo Old Town (my Egyptian friends will know I have the Arabic pronunciation well practiced, but I’ll use the English version here so everyone else understands what I’m on about!).

Cairo Old Town is well known for being a kind of market, a trading ‘zone’ where there are many small, independently owned shops where you can buy local goods, gifts and souvenirs.

The main business in the area is tourism, so therefore the shopkeepers are pretty well practiced at getting tourists into the shop, and trying to sell everything in the shop to them (or maybe it just feels like that) at the highest price possible!

Watching these guys operate is like watching masters at work! It’s fascinating. They are ‘old hands’ at bartering, trading and negotiating – why? Because they do it every day! They know what their potential buyers are going to say often before it comes out of their mouths! Everything they say and do is well practiced and designed to give them the upper hand in the negotiation.

So How Does That Relate To You?

Well, because the Egyptian traders are negotiating all day, every day, they are used to the things that happen in a negotiation. The things that the other side will do to try and gain the upper hand. That certain things you say can make….or break …..a deal.

If you’re not used to negotiating, yet the person you’re sat in front of negotiates far more often than you do (and has probably been on courses do learn how to do it well), doesn’t it stand to reason that you’re going to be at a disadvantage? That they’re more likely to get their outcomes than you are to get yours?

So what lessons can we learn from the Egyptians that will help us in our negotiations?

Andy’s Lesson No 1 – Be Prepared For The Negotiation

How prepared do you think those Egyptian traders were for their negotiations? And how prepared are you for yours?

Your first answer is probably something like ‘fairly prepared’. Think again! Has there ever been a time when someone has said to you ‘how much is that?’ or ‘how much do you charge?’ and you’ve not handled that with confidence and certainty?

How often have you mumbled a price? Or worse still, gone in at a lower price than you’d want to charge, and justified it to yourself as you ‘need’ the business?

You’ve just found yourself in the middle of a price negotiation…….unprepared!

Andy’s Lesson No 2 – Think About What You Want

This is essential before going into any negotiation. How often do you find yourself in the middle of a negotiation without any idea of what you actually want from it? I don’t mean what you’d ‘like’ to have, I mean a solid, tangible outcome that you want to achieve? Your minimum expectation from the negotiation otherwise you walk away? What your anticipated outcome is and why the other side should agree to that?

If you haven’t got this sorted before your negotiation starts, you’re setting yourself up to fail. Not to mention giving the other side everything they want…at your expense.

In the example of the Egyptian traders, do you think they’ve thought about what they want, even before they’ve started the negotiation with you? Of course they have!

Andy’s Lesson No 3 – Think About What The Other Side Might Want

Not only should you be thing about what you want, but also what the other side might want! What do you know about them so far? What might they be looking for from this negotiation? What have they been tasked with achieving by their bosses?

Another thing worth thinking about is what are their alternatives to dealing with you, or continuing dealing with you?

Far too often business owners go into a negotiation without thinking what the other side’s possible options are…..and end of agreeing to something that they never should have done – only to find out later that the other side were in a weaker position! Doh!

When you study the Egyptian traders, they’ve already thought about what you might want. They’ve asked you questions about what you’re looking for…..they find it (and if they don’t have it, they’ll get it off another stall to sell it to you) and therefore they’re in a very strong negotiation position!

They’ve asked you what you want, provided it, and now all they have to do is achieve the price they want! Simple!

Andy’s Lesson No 4 – Use Time To Your Advantage

Time can be a big advantage to you in a negotiation – if you use it wisely! You can speed things up to put pressure on the other side. You can slow things down to give you the advantage if the other side has some time pressure to conclude the negotiations (think car salesperson at the end of the month). Alternatively, don’t be afraid to postpone negotiations if you feel you’re not ready!

The Egyptian traders are great at this! They know you don’t have a lot of time to shop at the different places in the market. They know that you have more than likely come to the market to buy souvenirs. They know that you don’t want to go home empty handed, so if they make it easy for you, you will buy!

Follow the tips above and watch for the massive improvement in your negotiations. I look forward to hearing about your successes!

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Andy Preston is a leading Sales Expert, Trainer and Motivational Speaker. He runs the Ecademy ‘Sales And Cold Calling Tips Club’ as well as writing for magazines, newspapers and trade journals all around the world on anything related to sales and selling.

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

Happy New Year to all my friends, contacts and subscribers from all over the globe!

My focus for 2009 will be to increase the sales figures (and the profits) of as many of you as possible!

That’s why I’ll soon be announcing more details on how you can have your best sales year ever, and how myself and my colleagues at Outstanding Results will do our upmost to help you.

There are various things that we’ll be launching soon specifically designed to help you get more customers, more business from your existing customers and have more fun and actually enjoy your role as a salesperson or a business owner!

We’ve now moved into doing webinars (small, bite-sized seminars over the web) specifically to include more of our international friends and subscribers who can’t make our ‘physical’ events and for whom the cost of the phone call to attend one of our teleseminars has been prohibitive in the past.  Details on these will be available soon.

I’ve also personally been very busy over the break – even working Christmas Day would you believe?!  You can find out why here….

I’ve also been working on two new seminars over the break to help you succeed in the current market conditions, as well as a new book, scheduled to be published by April/May time (no pressure!!).  Again details of these will be released very soon.

For those of you who aren’t already on our newsletter list, we send the best tips and discounts on events, webinars and products to loyal subscribers – you can get those here now.

The best of luck for 2009 and I look forward to helping you with your sales and your business!

Kind Regards

Andy Preston