Salespeople are notorious for talking too much. At times, I'm even guilty of the sales person's cardinal sin: talking past the sale.
How do we stop this? How do we know when it is time to 'pitch' and when it is time ask questions. First of all, it is NEVER time to 'pitch'. Stop 'pitching' and start asking. 'You have two ears and one mouth' my mentor used to tell me. What this means is, at a very minimum, you should be listening twice as much as you're speaking.
How many times have you, at your prospects first sign of interest, started with your pitch and ended with them saying, 'Sounds great, let me think about it.' Too many times.
It is time to stop pitching and start asking questions. I'll discuss how easy this is to do in my next post.
Remember, "In selling as in medicine, prescription before diagnosis is malpractice."
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Is your sales process boring?
You Can’t Close If You Don’t Know How To Open.
Opening is the most important part of job as a business to business cold caller. If you can’t open well, you won’t have anything there to close. It’s simple, “Open well, open wallet.”
Too many of us sometimes get caught up saying a variation of the same three things when we walk into a business. “Hi, my name is Josh Haddon and I’m with XYZ Company. What are you currently doing for your ______________ ?” Boring and not efficient. This approach generally gets us no where. Well, ‘The definition of insanity is doing to same thing over and over and expecting a different result.’
Here are some tips that will help you open more effectively:
1) Act as if you are in a hurry. I say act as if, but really, you are in a hurry. You have doors to hit and customers’ needs to meet. I like to sometimes start of by approaching the receptionist, extending my hand with a firm handshake and a smile while saying, “Hi there, I’m Josh Haddon, I only have a minute but I was hoping you could help me and answer a couple questions.” Unless we’re talking yard work or helping someone move, most people like to HELP. I can’t stress how important using that word is. Also, telling a busy receptionist YOU are the one in a hurry eliminates her/his ability to use the same excuse back. Think about it!
2) Be aware and play to your environment.
Pictures on the front desk? “Oh cool, they look the same age as my son, daughter, niece, nephew etc/is that taken at Yellowstone/what kind of car is that/when were you on that vacation/is this your entire team here?”
Work being done in building? “Oh hey, are you folks expanding/getting a new paint job/making the place more secure/adding a sky light so you can see awesome days like today?”
Sports team memorabilia, the weather, cool business cards, leather waiting room chairs, plaques on the wall – I’m sure you get the picture, you can open with anything. Engaging the gatekeeper without an ounce of commercialism will do wonders for your opening. Do your best to sound sincere. If you can share your wallet photos with someone before they know you are there to sell something, you’re in!
3) Confusion comes across as non threatening. Many times I like to seem a bit confused when I enter a door. I might say something like, “I had a heck of a time finding the place.” (Every single city has some local’s only street knowledge you can play on.) “I’m bad at these roads, are you from here?” Now you have completely disarmed the receptionist or first contact person. Whether the response is ‘yeah, grew up here’ or ‘no, moved here 2 years ago’ you are gold. RIGHT NOW, spend 5 minutes thinking about the endless directions you can go regardless of the response.
4) Take risks. Be brave. In theory this should be the first tip of this post. Changing anything about the way you currently do what you do, is always a bit of a risk. Remember, in order to separate yourself from every other cold calling sales person you must be able to reduce or eliminate your comfort zone. Try new things all the time. After 3 or less days of subpar results, you must change something. Personally, I ask myself all the time when thinking of tweaking my sales process, ‘What is the worst that could happen?’ Then I remember, ‘oh yeah, the last 3 days have already been the worst that could happen!’ In fact, recently I’ve started wearing a “Hello My Name Is:” tag everywhere I go. I think it will make me even more approachable. For great ideas on what to change when cold calling, read ‘The Little Black Book of Making Connections’ by Jeffrey Gitomer.
Opening is the most important part of job as a business to business cold caller. If you can’t open well, you won’t have anything there to close. It’s simple, “Open well, open wallet.”
Too many of us sometimes get caught up saying a variation of the same three things when we walk into a business. “Hi, my name is Josh Haddon and I’m with XYZ Company. What are you currently doing for your ______________ ?” Boring and not efficient. This approach generally gets us no where. Well, ‘The definition of insanity is doing to same thing over and over and expecting a different result.’
Here are some tips that will help you open more effectively:
1) Act as if you are in a hurry. I say act as if, but really, you are in a hurry. You have doors to hit and customers’ needs to meet. I like to sometimes start of by approaching the receptionist, extending my hand with a firm handshake and a smile while saying, “Hi there, I’m Josh Haddon, I only have a minute but I was hoping you could help me and answer a couple questions.” Unless we’re talking yard work or helping someone move, most people like to HELP. I can’t stress how important using that word is. Also, telling a busy receptionist YOU are the one in a hurry eliminates her/his ability to use the same excuse back. Think about it!
2) Be aware and play to your environment.
Pictures on the front desk? “Oh cool, they look the same age as my son, daughter, niece, nephew etc/is that taken at Yellowstone/what kind of car is that/when were you on that vacation/is this your entire team here?”
Work being done in building? “Oh hey, are you folks expanding/getting a new paint job/making the place more secure/adding a sky light so you can see awesome days like today?”
Sports team memorabilia, the weather, cool business cards, leather waiting room chairs, plaques on the wall – I’m sure you get the picture, you can open with anything. Engaging the gatekeeper without an ounce of commercialism will do wonders for your opening. Do your best to sound sincere. If you can share your wallet photos with someone before they know you are there to sell something, you’re in!
3) Confusion comes across as non threatening. Many times I like to seem a bit confused when I enter a door. I might say something like, “I had a heck of a time finding the place.” (Every single city has some local’s only street knowledge you can play on.) “I’m bad at these roads, are you from here?” Now you have completely disarmed the receptionist or first contact person. Whether the response is ‘yeah, grew up here’ or ‘no, moved here 2 years ago’ you are gold. RIGHT NOW, spend 5 minutes thinking about the endless directions you can go regardless of the response.
4) Take risks. Be brave. In theory this should be the first tip of this post. Changing anything about the way you currently do what you do, is always a bit of a risk. Remember, in order to separate yourself from every other cold calling sales person you must be able to reduce or eliminate your comfort zone. Try new things all the time. After 3 or less days of subpar results, you must change something. Personally, I ask myself all the time when thinking of tweaking my sales process, ‘What is the worst that could happen?’ Then I remember, ‘oh yeah, the last 3 days have already been the worst that could happen!’ In fact, recently I’ve started wearing a “Hello My Name Is:” tag everywhere I go. I think it will make me even more approachable. For great ideas on what to change when cold calling, read ‘The Little Black Book of Making Connections’ by Jeffrey Gitomer.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Halloween is Sales - Part 1.
As a poor child, a chubby one at that, my favorite day was Halloween. In fact, any day where I was able to knock on a complete stranger’s door and get free candy would have been a great day. Unfortunately for you and I this only happened once a year. Can you imagine how great our childhood would have been if Halloween was weekly? Or even daily?
As we grow older we buy ourselves candy whenever we want it and can afford it. For some us that want of candy has matured into wanting iPods, clothes, beer or any other grown up stuff we spend our money on. So in a perfect world, the adult Halloween would be us going door to door and having complete strangers give us money. With this ‘Halloween money’ we could go out and buy our grown up candy. Fortunately for us, Halloween can come every single day if we do a few little things right. The other fortunate thing is, with a little training we don’t even have to physically go door to door. We can call the money givers on the phone from our comfy chair or better yet, have the money givers come to us.
If you want to become a true Sales Professional, look back to Halloween. Why did you not dread cold calling then?
As we grow older we buy ourselves candy whenever we want it and can afford it. For some us that want of candy has matured into wanting iPods, clothes, beer or any other grown up stuff we spend our money on. So in a perfect world, the adult Halloween would be us going door to door and having complete strangers give us money. With this ‘Halloween money’ we could go out and buy our grown up candy. Fortunately for us, Halloween can come every single day if we do a few little things right. The other fortunate thing is, with a little training we don’t even have to physically go door to door. We can call the money givers on the phone from our comfy chair or better yet, have the money givers come to us.
If you want to become a true Sales Professional, look back to Halloween. Why did you not dread cold calling then?
Josh Haddon - Who and Why?
Even though I am without cracker jacks, foam fingers and a $9 beer; this post still feels like opening day for me. A new chapter, in the bestselling thriller that is my life. I plan on sharing insights and pen fights from the marketing and sales fields I work in. With any luck, I will be able to look back at this blog as a sort of map, accurately describing how I became free from the daily grind.
WHO I AM:
I'm Joshua Haddon or 'Josh Haddon' to some, a sales professional currently living in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. I currently own and operate Discount Savings Network based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. I have managed sales teams for international water treatment companies, vacation clubs, Rogers Media, Shaw and fitness facilities. I pride myself on a motto my mentor taught me years ago, 'Who can I help? What can I learn?'. I have little time for whiners and less time for people who over do diplomacy. I thrive in 'just make it happen' situations and get more satisfaction in helping others become successful then in any other aspect of my profession.
WHY I AM WRITING:
Verifable proof that we all choose our destiny. I have given myself 10 years to be at a place where I financially secure and feel personally rewarding. This will be my road map, my guide and my measuring stick. Everyone knows that it isn't what you KNOW that counts, it's what you DO with what you KNOW. I know a fair bit about this sales game and I learn every day. I figure if I am preaching it, I'll practice it even more.
WHO I AM:
I'm Joshua Haddon or 'Josh Haddon' to some, a sales professional currently living in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. I currently own and operate Discount Savings Network based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. I have managed sales teams for international water treatment companies, vacation clubs, Rogers Media, Shaw and fitness facilities. I pride myself on a motto my mentor taught me years ago, 'Who can I help? What can I learn?'. I have little time for whiners and less time for people who over do diplomacy. I thrive in 'just make it happen' situations and get more satisfaction in helping others become successful then in any other aspect of my profession.
WHY I AM WRITING:
Verifable proof that we all choose our destiny. I have given myself 10 years to be at a place where I financially secure and feel personally rewarding. This will be my road map, my guide and my measuring stick. Everyone knows that it isn't what you KNOW that counts, it's what you DO with what you KNOW. I know a fair bit about this sales game and I learn every day. I figure if I am preaching it, I'll practice it even more.
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