Selling More by Talking Less - Sales Training, Sales Motivation, Sales Techniques, Prospecting

Making the transition from getting everything ready to go and actually taking the next step can be a lot harder than it sounds.  Laying the groundwork feels so darn productive… because it is!  Leaving the getting ready mode has a sense of uncertainty and often leaves many caught in a frustrating circle.  

Mind reading is costing you sales, income, opportunity and it’s limiting your options.

Your competition, they hear a request for information and pricing and they get to work giving good answers hoping they are their right ones and this person will buy.

This is more common in sales than we think, not just for those new to the business, it can affect experienced sales people who have fallen into the infamous "rut".

The process was slowing down early on in the selling process… specifically in the initial communication phase.   Meetings, phone calls were ending without a specific next step to move forward.  

Call any office in America today get someone's voice mail and you will likely hear some version of:   "Hi, you've reached the desk of ______; I'm either on the phone or away from my desk.  Please leave me your name and number I'll get back to you as soon as possible."  

Last week, one of my clients—we'll call him Rick—had a demo scheduled with a prospect. The standard "show up and throw up" they typically did early in the sales cycle.   Trying to shorten the sales cycle, I asked naively, "Why does the customer want to buy? What are they trying to accomplish?" Rick couldn't tell me. I asked if he thought the salespeople knew. He said no. I gave him an assignment: he had to find out "Why," "Why now," and "What's it worth." Otherwise no demo.

Nowadays, marketing has been made much easier. With a strong email list and some few ideas, you're set to give your business all the prospects you’ll ever need.   Here’s a quick 10 point list: 

As professionals it’s our job to connect the right people with the right information in the right way – a way that makes it easy to say yes if there’s a fit.   This means that when we’re prospecting for new opportunities, what were really looking for are the people that are open to having a conversation.

This is something so simple it gets overlooked time and time again so it creates longer sales cycles, leaves us wondering what we’re doing wrong and literally steals money out of our pocket every time we do it.

What I’m getting ready to share with you is a simple tool you can use to take the follow up calls you’re already making and transform them into laser focused discussions that get your prospects to start telling you why they need what you have and literally asking “What’s the next step?”… 

What separates good sales people from those who struggle is their ability to learn how to get out of their own way.

How comfortable are you talking about Money?  Asking for it… telling people how much it is or just bringing the subject up all together? I’m asking because it’s not unusual for the subject to make many of us uncomfortable and it shows up in the way we sell.

At the beginning of the year or whenever I start working with a new coaching client there is an exercise that has proven over time to be very profitable to walk through.  - I call it Where and When.

Whenever I'm selling to this style, I get a little nervous.  Here's Why...

This is one of the smallest but most important styles for us in sales to be able to connect with.  

We want to get a clear understanding of who we’re talking to and how to speak the same language…. Making sure our communication gets us the response we want.

Name:  Tom Desloge Company: STL Metallizing Industry: Machinery Job Title: Director of Sales & Marketing

Knowing who to invest time with and when can make the difference between being a “me too” player and the ability to add real value and be the hero.  

Check this out - This is interesting.. The Selling Professionals Network, Interviews with Top Performing people in sales with a track record for getting it done!

There an interesting dynamic many salespeople drop into when dealing someone who has come to them on the recommendation of someone else. They abandon their sales process.

… she made the comment that she liked the way Brute cologne smelled on him.  Now fast forward 20 plus years.  This friend and I will go out maybe once every other month…and guess what cologne he’s wearing?  You guessed it, Brute.

Here is a real bold statement; Send this email and you will close more sales.  Now let’s see if I can live up to it…. You be the judge and jury on this one…  Ready?  

The hungry, they don’t get fed… Just because we need a sale doesn't mean we get a sale.  In fact the more we need it, the higher the likelihood we won’t do the things that need to be done to get it.  Ask the hard questions and clear next steps.  

 This company, their sales strategy was to follow up with individuals who had indicated some level of interest by completing a form on a website and requesting additional information.  Sharing their name, phone number and e-mail address. On the surface these should be very hot leads, a no brainier with a high success rate…but this wasn’t happening. 

 Essence & From, in the world of sales is a silent killer of deals because if the prospect doesn't like or agree with the way you deliver what you offer.. They usually just disappear or go away, never sharing this feedback with you. Leaving us to wonder what happened.

 Commitment; this one seems so obvious it usually gets overlooked… Usually because it’s confused with needs and wants.    

Time kills deals. If it turns out that they don’t or won’t have time, when would we like to be able to address this?     

Should we be closing implies there are things that we need to understand before we share what we have in specific detail.   

Have you ever left a conversation on the phone or face to face without a clear idea on what is supposed to happen next?       

Here is one of the hardest questions for salespeople to ask…”Is doing nothing an option?”  

Let’s get clear on what happened and make some specific decisions that will affect our results next time.  

You have about as much chance of answering this correctly as you do of winning the lottery, not only that, it sets us up to give the all the wrong answers.  

How many sales have been lost because the person we are talking to didn’t get what we were saying and suddenly felt unsure about their ability to make an informed decision.

 “I’m tired of wasting time with people who waste my time...”  This is how the conversation started with a new perspective client.  

Traditional selling is push, push, push... feature and benefits.  Let me ask you what would happen if you were to step back and ask them why they would be interested? 

“The first step in exceeding your customer's expectations is to know what they are.”     - Roy H. Williams You, take control of your day by making decisions about how and where you will spend your time.  Stop playing phone tag and start building credibility. 

 “Success demands singleness of purpose.”    -  Vince Lombardi There really is a difference in what the top 20% do.  Here’s one of them….

In the past 6 to 9 months, how many bids, quote or presentations did you give where you didn't get a yes but you didn't get a no either…nothing really ever happened?

Our job is to help prospects identify the gap between where they are and where they want to be. We can do this is by asking questions that challenge the assumptions they have, creating an opening for them to want something different.

How much pressure do we as salespeople put on ourselves unnecessarily?  After all literally what do we have control over?  It’s been said when two people want to do business together the details can be worked out – but – when two people do not want to do business together the details will always stand in the way.

Think about when you’re on the phone.  Better yet, think about the last sales call you made…were you simultaneously online clicking though different web pages? YouTube, Facebook maybe CNN?  How about playing games on your phone? You may or may not be able to relate…. The fact that it’s possible that you COULD have been doing something while on the phone it’s ALSO reasonable that your prospects are MAY BE doing something else while there on the phone.  Fair?

Let your competition roll the dice and hope they get a return call…then have to decide if they should just keep pretending their being ignored. You stay in the driver seat by telling them the next time you’ll be calling, setting a soft appointment and building credibility along the way.

Imagine a conversation with a potential customer.  They are talking about what they looking for.  If we've done our job as salespeople they are now even talking about why they need it. In an effort to sound competent and in control we let slip a minor comment that messes everything up.  It sometimes sounds like… “No Problem” or “We can handle that”.

It’s been said the quality of our conversation is in direct proportion to the quality of the questions we ask.  Here are 3 questions that will do just that.