Sales Blog with Professional Sales Tips

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Imagine this scene. We’ve all been there. You’re in a customer meeting with six people from your company and two from the customer. Everything is going fairly well until the customer asks a question and everything goes quiet. You and your comrades start looking at each other with a “Do you have an answer to this?” look on your faces. It’s obvious to everyone that you don’t have an answer. As the Account Manager, you feel embarrassed.

“…[This step]…can be a little frightening because it makes us realize how fragile a sale can be.”

Four Sales Tips to Cure This Problem
After years of suffering through meetings like this, I formulated the following not-always-popular plan that eliminates the problem about 99% of the time. It increased my meeting effectiveness tremendously and I want to share it with you now in this sales blog.

Follow these four sales tips, in the order presented. The more important the customer meeting, the more important it is to make sure every step is covered.

1. If your company feels compelled to send a cast of thousands to every customer meeting, then eliminate  some folks prior to the meeting. When you drag ten people into a customer meeting you aren’t going to be able to maintain control and the likelihood of a dumb answer being uttered by someone on your team skyrockets. Come on, if you can’t tell your story with a maximum of three people, there’s a problem.

This will not make some people at your company happy (i.e., those not selected). It will, however, make your customer more comfortable and the meeting will go more smoothly.

2. Prior to the customer meeting, sit all the participants down and ask the following question, “In what areas are our products or services weak compared to our competitors?” Oh yes I know, you’ve been told that you work for the biggest, best, strongest, best dressed and most intelligently run company in the known universe. But you don’t. No one does. You have weaknesses. Talk about them ahead of time and have smart answers ready for when your customer mentions them. Sure beats making things up on the run.

This is not politically correct at many companies because you’ve been told repeatedly by management how flawless and perfect everything is where you work. It isn’t. Go in prepared with good answers and look like you have a grasp on market realities to your customer. They’ll be impressed.

3. Prior to the meeting ask your group the following additional question, “What questions do we fear the customer may ask that could lose us this deal?” This is a scary exercise because the number of questions can grow rather large. Think like the customer, not as an Account Manager. It’s amazing how you can come up with solid answers for what first appear to be deal killer questions.

Some of these sales tips, especially this one, can be a little frightening because it makes us realize how fragile a sale can be. However, if we prepare intelligent answers to these tough customer questions we can weather the storm and come out on the other side with sails flying high.

4. Prior to the meeting (are you starting to see a trend here?), designate who from your group is going to answer the questions noted above. Challenge them to be an expert on their assigned question(s). Get them to use this sales blog, and others, for additional sales tips.

Sales Blog Epilogue
Now imagine this scene and observe how the above sales tips come together. You’re in a customer meeting with three people from your company and two from the customer. The customer says, “We read recently that your company came in last in a customer service satisfaction survey.”

You listen thoughtfully, turn to Bob (who is on your team) and say, “Bob, you were talking about this the other day (which is, in fact, the truth). Could you shed some light on this survey?”

“No problem. This survey was paid for by one of our competitors. Not surprisingly this particular competitor ranked number one in the survey…”

Bob, the designated hitter, just hit it out of the park. How? Preparation.

Further reading:

• For improved closing skills you need to drive for show and putt for dough.
• Four Sales Tips on Needless Customer Meetings
• Better Techniques for Using PowerPoint
• What are alternatives to PowerPoint?

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

When I was learning to drive in high school the driving instructors sent all the young student drivers to the school auditorium to watch a series of little horror movies. These movies, which must have dated back to the 1940s, featured teenage carnage and mayhem on the highways. The theme was always some form of “speed kills.”

Speed Can Hurt Us in Sales Too
These types of movies made us laugh (not exactly the intended result) because they were produced in such a cheesy way. The serious point they were trying to drive home to their common-sense-challenged teenage audience interestingly also applies to sales. Speed can kill.

“Customers are frequently like Chinese Finger Traps.”

8 Speed Traps
I have frequently observed the “speed kills” problem in rookie sales professionals, but experienced pro’s aren’t immune either. The following are eight sales tips on how speed can kill sales:

1. As soon as the customer indicates they want to buy something, we promptly write the order, thank them for their business and head out the door or hang up the phone. All opportunities for cross-selling are missed.
2. When we successfully identify a decision maker, we don’t take the time to see if there are other decision makers we should be contacting in the same organization. We could be missing sales from an entire department due to our haste in this area.
3. In our desire to expedite the sales process we don’t make time to ask our customers open ended questions that could provide us with valuable information regarding their needs.
4. Our need for speed can result in insufficient time allocated for relationship building. Relationships take time. All sales professionals know that relationships are the key to high quality long-term customers. This is a frequent topic of this sales blog.
5. While we can influence a customer’s buying timeframe, if we resort to arm-twisting in order to get them to buy more quickly, we risk losing more than just an order.
6. What’s the number one complaint from customers about sales professionals from virtually every study that has ever been done? We don’t listen. When customers perceive that we are rushing, they know we aren’t listening.
7. Human behavior suggests that the more we are pushed, the more we naturally resist. Customers are frequently like Chinese Finger Traps. The harder we try to make them do something (e.g., hurry up), the more they resist.
8. The harder we spur a customer to move faster and place an order, the more desperate we look. Customers don’t like buying from desperate sales professionals.

I could provide more sales tips because there are plenty of additional ways that hurrying customers hurts us in sales. Please see “Further reading” below for related posts from this sales blog.

Sales Blog Epilogue
Am I saying that we don’t need to move fast with customers? No. Am I saying that we shouldn’t make every reasonable effort to close orders faster? No. However, I am saying that rabidly rushing customers in order to make them purchase faster can have many undesirable and unintended consequences.

Further reading:

• Slow Down and Pay Attention During Customer Appointments and Presentations
• Decision Makers, Vertical vs. Horizontal
• The Incredible Importance of Open Ended Questions
• What do I need from a prospect?  Hint: relationship

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

I use the term “commodity” frequently in this sales blog. Let’s get on the same page regarding its meaning in a sales context. First of all, it usually has a negative connotation. It implies that our products and services:

• Have few, if any, value added services.
• Are easily and commonly found.
• Are inexpensive.
• Are not unique or “brandable.”
• Are unsophisticated and simple.

“Commodity selling is a frame of mind…not a product or service.”

Commodity Selling Perspective
Selling a commodity product or service can easily deteriorate to price only…if we let it. If we’re not careful, we could turn selling nuclear power plants into commodity sales. However, we can also make corn (the ultimate commodity item) into something much more than just a commodity in the eyes of our customers.

Regardless of what we’re selling, we can control whether we create a commodity-selling situation, or not.

The Wrong Kind of Sales Tips
The following is the toxic formula that will result in your being a commodity salesperson regardless of what you’re selling (i.e., avoid all of these):

• Always talk about price first.
• Never discuss the added services your company provides.
• Mention your competitors frequently.
• Avoid all decision makers and spend all of your time with information gatherers or recommenders.
• Never add-on-sell, up-sell or cross-sell. Never let the customer know you have a breadth of products and services.
• Offer to quote prices on anything and everything, even if the customer doesn’t ask.
• Provide the customer every brochure, flyer, reference sheet and catalog your company has ever produced. Help them kick-start their paper recycling program.

The Right Kind of Sales Tips
If you use the following recipe when selling, you can lift yourself out of the commodity classification. This works whether you’re selling wheat germ (whatever that is), buckwheat or space shuttles.

Commodity selling is a frame of mind…not a product or service.

• Your first priority is to educate your customers about the added value you and your company make available to them. Negotiate price, etc. only after that has been done.
• Talk about yourself and your company. Avoid discussions about your competitors. You’re not there to talk about them.
• Find and get to the decision makers who will appreciate your added value. Decision makers understand ROI (Return on Investment) much better than recommenders and information gatherers.
• Look like the multi-line company you are by teaching your customers what you have to offer.
• Quote prices only when customers are serious about, and capable of, buying.
• God gave you words to sell with; their power can be Biblical. Use them to sell; marketing collateral alone doesn’t sell anything.

Sales Blog Epilogue
You can decide to rise above a commodity salesperson regardless of what you sell and you can decide to do it right now. Powerful stuff.

Further reading:

• Collateral Material, Sales Brochures, What a waste!
• A Great Selling Tip when Selling Commodities
• Sales Advice: Take this test to see if you have become an order taker.
• Transactional Selling Versus Solution Selling

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

I’ll never forget. It was probably one of my worst sales calls. It was my first year in sales. Rookie mistake.

I had arranged an appointment with “Bill” who was the VP of Operations at a large electronics manufacturer. Even though I had confirmed the appointment that morning, he seemed startled by my presence when he met me in the lobby.

“Watching Bill “rush” his cigarette was not an enjoyable experience.”

The “Appointment”
When we arrived at his office, he told me he only had about ten minutes to talk instead of the hour I had requested. Something had “come up.” How did I respond? Not too well. I crammed a one-hour prospect call into ten minutes. I may have left a few parts of my presentation out, but I can talk fast so I think I got most of them in.

While I was talking, and stupidly not doing any listening, he lit up a cigarette and proceeded to inhale/exhale as if he were in a high-speed smoking contest. Have you ever seen someone “rush” a cigarette? That’s what he was doing and it was really annoying to observe.

Here’s the visual. I’m talking a million miles a second and he’s sucking down a cigarette as if he were in the Marlboro high-speed smoking Olympics.

Back out at the car I did a little self-debriefing of the call I just concluded. Do you ever do that? You sit in your car and think about what just happened. It’s one of the simplest sales tips you’ll ever get, but a good one. However, don’t spend all afternoon in a prospect’s parking lot or they’ll call the police. I’m talking just a minute or two here.

Sales Tips from the Parking Lot

• We’ve all had prospects schedule appointments with us when we feel they are hoping we don’t show up. I think that was what happened to me in the story above. However, rushing through my sales presentation didn’t help my case. It probably only reinforced what Bill didn’t like about salespeople in the first place (i.e., we do all the talking and we’re frantic when doing it).
• Watching Bill “rush” his cigarette was not an enjoyable experience. Prospects most likely feel the same way when they watch us go supersonic in order to cram in a sales pitch. Neither of these habits is very pretty.
• When we find that we aren’t going to have as much time as we thought with a prospect, we need to introduce ourselves, ask a few questions and schedule another meeting. If they really didn’t want to see us in the first place, they’re unlikely to schedule another appointment. This is a good thing; we can move on. If they actually had an emergency that kept the appointment short, then they will have no issue with rescheduling.  That’s a win-win to me.

Sales Blog Wrap-Up
Slowing down and changing our game plan in this kind of situation will make us appear more professional and less frenzied. It can also provide an opportunity to get back in front of the prospect when he or she can and will give us an adequate amount of time.

Further reading:

• Stop Making Customer Appointments for a Second
• Slow Down and Pay Attention During Customer Appointments and Presentations

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

Humor can get us in big trouble with our customers. “But Scott, my customers just love my jokes.”

Don’t be so sure you are brightening their day every time you rip off a joke or launch a one-liner. Here’s what to be careful of.

“…the joke will be on us, and we won’t even know it.”

Sales Blog Comedy 101
Humor is centered on two basic principles.

• It is unexpected.
• It is based on some truth.

It’s that second item above that can get us in trouble. Simply stated, making short jokes about a 6′2″ person is going to fall flat. Why? There’s no element of truth to it. It won’t be funny. However, making a short joke about a man that is 5′2″, “in the spirit of good fun,” might garner some laughs.

While the short person is probably laughing with everyone else, I can assure you with 100% confidence that you have hurt his feelings deeply. You might think everything is cool because he doesn’t seem upset. Wrong. He’s laughing with everyone to cover up the tomahawk you just planted in him.

There Are Always Consequences
What are the consequences of the wrong kinds of humor with customers?

• If you’re careless enough to aim jokes like this at a decision maker, you will ultimately lose their business.
• Comedy that is even targeted at non-decision-makers will result in lost respect, at the least. For you that is, not the one targeted.
• Inappropriate humor aimed at people or groups that aren’t employed at your customer will still cause your customer to lower their estimation of you a notch or two.

Sales Tips on How to be Funny
So what kind of humor is appropriate?

• If you feel the need to make a joke at someone else’s expense…make sure it’s at your expense. Customers love when sales professionals make self-deprecating jokes. You’ll find instances where I’ve taken a few shots at myself in this sales tips blog. Doing that is not only legal, but appreciated by everyone.
• Just about any kind of humor that is not done at the expense of others, including persons or groups outside of your customer, is okay.
• I’d be careful about any verbal clowning that is rated much stronger than PG too. You never know when going too far - is going too far. Play it smart and safe.

Sales Blog Wrap-Up
Here are some sales tips that I know are true. Our words are our strongest and most powerful tool in sales. If we use these words to construct jokes with the intent of laughing at others, the joke will be on us, and we won’t even know it.

Further reading:

• Sale Tip: It’s not about you.

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