SalesHQ

Have you gotten into a new selling field?  Are you struggling to make your first sale?  Or simply make the next one? I'm not going to give you a magic script that works all the time; no one can. I'm not going to give you a magic prospecting formula so that all your prospects (I know, dirty word these days, but ...

We’ve all been there. You’ve tried everything you can think of. You’ve made your best offer and then some. This time, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to get the client to sign on the dotted line. Regardless of the industry you work in, the ability to close the deal is crucial to the success of any ...

Statistics show that more than 75% of sales calls end without the sales person asking for commitment. Believe it or not most customers buy rather than sales people asking for the order. The purchasing discussion usually goes something like this: "Send me a proposal." Then there's some follow-up and the customer agrees or not. The sales person never really knows why. ...

Mistake #1: Not earning the buyer’s trust. If your prospect doesn’t trust you, 98% of the time, you won’t make the sale. There are two important things to remember about trust. First, trust extends from you. If you begin the sales process by building rapport so that the prospect starts to like you, they will soon begin to trust you ...

Last week I was speaking with a new prospect who had called in to inquire about one of my inside sales training programs. I went over her needs, matched up my training to fit those needs, gave her the price options and then closed on dates. And that’s when I got the old stall, “Well, let me run this by my ...

"My salespeople need to get better at closing," the Vice President of Sales said to me shortly after I arrived in his office. If I've heard that line once, I've heard it a hundred times. Despite being on an important sales call, I couldn't help but cringe. You see, I will never, ever train people on closing techniques if they sell ...

Life is one big seminar. It is not always necessary to go to formal training sessions to learn how to sell. There are many accidental seminars put on by people you encounter every day. In this one, I learned a valuable lesson about asking questions and controlling a meeting's focus. Sarah McCann, my partner and wife, and I were spending our ...

In this tale, an experienced sales pro, Tim, learns a lesson about the value of asking questions before blindly making assumptions. He pays a steep price for the lesson, since it costs him 85 customers. Here's Tim's story: Cecil was an older man about to retire. As president of his company, he was determined to see that his insurance needs, as ...

Many sales reps think that somewhere inside their customer's headquarters is a single decision maker. But today, even CEOs reach consensus with their direct reports before making important decisions, according to Neil Rackham, author of SPIN Selling. h4. Meet the Decision Makers In a recent Selling Power magazine article, Rackham observes that decision making for the purchase of any significant product ...

"No" is unpleasant. It's frustrating, it's demoralizing, it's downright annoying. It's also inevitable if you have a career in sales. You're going to hear it at some time or another, and though that initial sting might get you every time, there are ways to make "no" work in your favor. It doesn't have to resound endlessly in your mind and undercut ...

If you are involved in prospecting, then you will already know the challenges of persuading a prospect to give you the business. Ultimately, there is a four-step process involved in buying that all of us follow: 1. We have to feel motivated to make a purchase, irrespective of its type or size. 2. At some point after we have become motivated ...

You'll pay the price if you swing the wrong way when navigating the price point waters. The price debate is a yo-yo dilemma with serious consequences for your business. How do you know if you should be fighting for every penny or luring in customers with low-price deals? You'll pay the price if you swing the wrong way, so here's a ...

  For you as a salesperson, everything you have done up to the point when you are involved in a face-to-face relationship is wasted motion unless you ask for the order.   But remember, asking for the order or closing the sale is not nearly as major an activity as some salespeople think it might be. This is particularly true if ...

Do not let anyone tell you otherwise! When it really comes down to getting your prospect to pull out his credit card and buy from you, there are very specific emotional sales triggers that will work every time. Learn them, implement them, and watch your sales soar. Neglect them, and you will be leaving a fortune at on the table for ...

"I really care about my customers," Terry told me as we were driving to an appointment. "I try to do the very best I can for them and make sure that their needs are met." "Sounds good," I thought to myself. "But I wonder if it's true." Most sellers I know go to great pains to point out to me just ...

Charismatic communicators are able to make the abstract meaningful, and the meaningful simple. Successful people achieve this effect with metaphors and stories. (Fortune magazine cited Jack Welch and Ronald Reagan as outstanding users of these techniques.) Selling online is no different. In presentations, it's critical to make the complexities of your sites and services simple to understand, and the simplicity of ...

When clients ask for help in closing more sales, I'd ask them to list the objections they are hearing that prevented the sale. It's when they start stumbling over their response that I ask, "Are these the objections you are hearing directly from your prospects or what you're assuming as the reason why they don't buy?" Whether it's around our sales ...

I recently purchased some advertising space in a national magazine. I have been a subscriber for years and knew everything I needed to know to select them as an advertising vehicle. I called them with one intention, to place an order. When I called their office, the salesperson began doing what she felt was appropriate; to start selling me. She began ...

As you can imagine, I am often asked by sales leaders, anxious to recruit the best salespeople they can afford, just what is it that makes a consistently top performer, what are their characteristics, where are their strengths, and what differentiates them? Over the past fifteen years I have trained and developed thousands of sales professionals, from foundation right up to ...

In my coaching practice, I work one-on-one with sales people to help them close more business, faster and increase their profit margins. Over the past few years, I’ve been able to identify a number of the key reasons that can stop even good sales people from closing a sale (many of which I have been guilty of in the past myself!). ...