Sales Blog with Professional Sales Tips

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Yesterday, without even knowing it, Barack Obama inadvertently provided sales professionals around the world with some exceptional sales advice. It doesn’t matter whether we love, hate or feel indifferently about Barack; his unintended sales tip applies to all sales representatives regardless of industry.

What sales skills did he teach us? He told us that Americans need to be multilingual. Whether we agree with that statement or not makes no difference when it comes to this sales blog. What is important is that we realize we must be multilingual with our prospects and customers regarding the language of their business. When we are speaking with customers do we know their industry language? Do we speak their language of finance, manufacturing, distribution, construction, etc.?

“…we must be multilingual with our prospects and customers regarding the language of their business.”

One of the best ways for us to use our multilingual sales skills is to ask our customers quality open-ended questions that demonstrate our knowledge of their business. Doing this provides valuable information about the customer, helps build a relationship with them and creates believability.

Non-multilingual Example: “Are you more efficient since you’ve installed the new manufacturing equipment?”

Multilingual Example: “How has your new MRPII system positively impacted your finished inventory turn rate?”

If all we can do is talk to the customer in generic non-industry-specific terms then we run the risk of being viewed as just a generic non-industry-specific order processor. There’s not much perceived value in being one of those.

Related links: Sales Advice: Take this test to see if you have become an order taker., The Attributes of an Unsuccessful Salesperson

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

Fact: most sales professionals spend more time on post-sale activities than they do getting the sale in the first place. In other words, once the sales representative secures the sale they spend unnecessary non-sales hours actually getting the product/service to the customer. The expression for this is “spending more time behind the P.O. than in front of it.”

This is indicative of an atmosphere where the salesperson has to simultaneously sell, deliver and install with only minimal sales help. The policies of the employer usually cause this predicament and almost every employer is guilty.

This can be a motivation killer for a salesperson and can cause sales volumes to be stellar in month-one and then suffer in month-two because the sales representative has to spend time getting the month-one order to the customer and invoiced.

“The policies of the employer usually cause this predicament and almost every employer is guilty.”

Since most of us have to deal with this reality we need sales tips on how to sell in this environment.

• Upwardly delegate some of these installation/delivery responsibilities to the sales manager. Believe me; if we’re putting down some good sales numbers they’ll be happy to provide sales help.
• We need to form relationships with those in our organization (e.g., operations, engineering services, etc.) who can help us with some of these chores. We need to treat them as business partners and get them involved in our sales.
• Downwardly delegate some of these responsibilities to sales support. Treat them as co-owners of your customers and teach them enough sales skills to help.
• We can create our own systems. If we know that we need to create a work order for something once it is sold, then we need to create a system to incorporate that into our sales process.
• Ignore administrative processes that don’t positively affect the customer or the quality of service they receive. For example, consider ignoring a request to complete a form that tracks the amount of collateral material sent to a customer. Marketing might need to know this but it doesn’t make a difference to our customer.

Appreciate that virtually all companies have an issue with this. Realize that we can take action to minimize the impact it has on our sales.

Related links: Quit Being a Slave and Learn How to Sell More, Free Sales Tips: Don’t lose sight of this when selling.

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

In earlier posts I’ve provided sales tips about firing customers. I’m surprised at the number of sales pro’s who haven’t considered the benefits of this. Let’s explore this concept a little further and see why it can help grow our sales.

First, a sales help checklist for customers that are candidates for termination.

> Small purchases that require absurd amounts of hand-holding, price quoting, etc.
> Chronic credit problems.
> Purchase size may be acceptable but profitability is heartbreaking.
> Commissions barely cover gas costs for customer appointments.
> Frequent returns of merchandise and/or unending unhappiness with service.
> Constantly threatening to complain to: boss, BBB, local C of C, newspaper, sales blog, etc.
> Personally abusive to the sales representative in any way.

“You’ll be positively amazed how high you’ll have to raise their prices…”

Second, sales skills on how to do it.

If we have a customer that fits most of the attributes of the above list, then they may be a contender for termination. What’s the best way to fire a customer? As I’ve said before, we end their buying privileges with a dull pencil (versus a sharp pencil). Raise their prices to the point where they flee. If they decide to continue buying from us at inflated prices, at least we’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that we are being compensated for the pain of doing business with them. We can always raise prices even more if necessary.

You’ll be positively amazed how high you’ll have to raise their prices to make them go away if that is the true objective. This reinforces the sales tip that people really don’t make buying decisions exclusively on price. The “firing with a dull pencil” concept has the added benefit that it doesn’t focus on the customer or us; it’s just a pricing issue.

Finally, sales advice on why we do it.

> Frees up our time to pursue high quality prospects.
> Gives us more time to develop relationships with existing customers.
> Potentially stops a persistent source of negative public relations.
> Not worth $4+ per gallon gas to visit them.
> They aren’t worth losing any of our sanity or self-esteem.
> They start buying from one of our competitors. Think about this one for a second.

This is a serious exercise in how to sell to different types of customers. We must be confident that we’re terminating customers that genuinely are hampering our sales success and have little to no chance of improvement. Secondly, this is a bona fide way for us to decrease frustration, increase sales and build a better account base for the future.

Related links: Fire a Customer for Fun and Profit, 4 Ways that $4 a Gallon Gas Can Help Our Sales Skills, Here’s some fact-filled sales help about price objections

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

One of the worst habits to get into is becoming a Task Salesperson. A Task Salesperson loses sight of their sales goals and sales skills. They primarily focus on the mechanics of sales. This can happen to us without even knowing it.

I used to observe two polar-opposite sales representatives. One of them was incredibly well organized, a hurricane of activity and was under budget every month. It looked like he had everything under control but in reality needed a lot of sales help. The other one sat in a garbage dump cubicle reading her favorite sales blog, always seemed relaxed and blew out her sales budget every month. What was going on here? One of them was most likely focusing on the mechanics and tasks of sales while the other was focusing on the true goal of sales…developing relationships with customers.

“Be careful not to be a slave of what doesn’t matter in sales.”

Giving sales tasks too much priority will keep us busy but normally doesn’t make us a sales leader.

Task Salespersons have these habits:

-Respond to every proposal and lead that is sent their direction
-Spend three days on a proposal that could be done in four hours
-Contact 100 prospects each day regardless of the quality of the leads
-Spend a minimum of two hours preparing for each customer appointment
-Spend 90% of their time on administrative functions
-Their sales manager loves the quality and penmanship of their required sales reports
-Never seeks sales tips from his or her peers and refuses all sales help

Goal Oriented Salespersons have these habits:

-Ensure they have a relationship with a company before investing time in them
-Are always prospecting but primarily to referrals and other qualified leads
-Do only mandatory administrative duties that aren’t directly related to sales
-Are always getting screamed at by their sales manager for past due sales reports
-Relationships are first, administrative perfection is number two
-Are consistently hitting and exceeding their sales objectives
-Welcome any and all sales advice and are open to any sales tip given to them

Remember, no sales representative is ever paid more or promoted simply for their administrative abilities. Be careful not to be a slave of what doesn’t matter in sales. What matters is customer relationships.

Related links: Your Personality is What the Customers Wants to See, Free Sales Tips: Don’t lose sight of this when selling, The Attributes of an Unsuccessful Salesperson

To receive this sales blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer