The Sales Pro Insider Building Performance Profits and People

Closing more sales. It’s the goal for sales managers and professionals alike.  And both are frustrated when it doesn’t happen.  How do I know this?  I ask!

During the needs analysis with a prospect, we always ask “What are the barriers to getting where you want to be?” or “What is keeping you from achieving the goals that are set?” Nearly 90% of the time, one of the reasons given by sales managers is that “My people aren’t closing sales. They do all the work and then the final decision is stalled. They don’t move them through the pipeline.”

If I ask sales people, “What keeps you from closing more sales?” I often hear, “The buyers don’t make decisions timely.”

When I ask buyers why they haven’t decided, they have said “They never asked!”

Okay, so what can be done to get buyers to decide and sales pros to close?  It may be more simple than you think – you need to ask! 

I can’t count the number of times I have observed or coached a sales pro to find out that they do a LOT of work to build the relationship, identify the wants/needs and demonstrate their value.  And then wait. And check in. And wait. Then check in again. But they never have asked to find out the answer!

Instead, there are important questions to be asked after the recommendation is made!  They questions fall into two groups:

• Objections
• Decisions

Unless we ask for their opinion on concerns/objections, we may never know where we really stand.  Until we ask for a decision we may never ‘win’ the deal.

What can you do to close more sales?  First, find out where they are in their thought process and if there are any objections, ask,

• “How does what we’ve discussed sound to you?”
• “What concerns do you have about this solution or me/my company?”
• “What barriers do you see in implementing this?”
• “How does this align with your goals?

Notice these are open ended questions that ask for opinions, ideas and feedback?

Then after listening and responding appropriately, ask for a decision:

• “What is the next action for you in the decision making process?”
• “Have we covered everything you need to make your decision?”
• “Are you ready to move forward?”
• “Can we initiate the paperwork today?”
• “Should we wrap this up?”

Some of these are still open ended to allow you ‘test the water’ before asking for a decision.  But then you HAVE to ask for a decision!

Want to know if this works?  Try it and you will see that it does.

The reason I am writing this post today is because I just used this process with the IRS. Yes the IRS!  They never say ‘yes’.  But I looked at appealing a penalty charge as an opportunity to sell – to build a relationship with the agent, ask for concerns, and then ask for the removal of the penalty.  The charge was relevant – in switching the Sales Pro Insider accounting systems last June, one of the federal tax payments was not made.

It took me two letters and a phone call – which is what sealed the deal. During the call I focused on building rapport, working through the situation together and then asking for the penalty to be removed. The agent cheerfully – really cheerfully – said he would recommend a removal.  I just opened the letter that said it had been approved! A large penalty was removed from the account.

This situation is a great reminder for us all – you don’t get what you don’t ask for. 

My recommendation to you?  Look at your pipeline. What prospects are stalled?  Which situations did you maybe not ‘close’ with the right questions? Then determine how to initiate contact with the prospect. Your objective is to first identify if there are concerns, find out if what you have discussed is of value to them and then ASK for a decision.  The decision might be the buying decision or a decision that they will take an action or talk with  you at a specific time.  And if you get a ‘no’?  Then you know where you stand and can move on to more probable prospects.

In the spirit of asking today – I ask you – who do you know would find value from this blog? Send them a link please!

And if you haven’t already done so, what keeps you from signing up for the Timely T ips ezine here?  Every few weeks you will receive the ezine with helpful tips and fun tidbits. Just for signing up you receive the Timely Tips to Achieve Your Goals eBook – a great roadmap and toolkit for you!

Filed Under: Open ended questions, Sales Objections, sales success, sales tips

I firmly believe we only achieve our best when we have people around us who help us become better.  Sometimes that means these people need to give us information that we don’t want to hear.  Yet, it is just what we need.

I heard a speaker last week – Dr. John C. Maxwell – who summed up my experiences about this topic as he talked about the inner circle leaders need to succeed.  He went through several points of what it meant to have this inner circle lift instead of  only lean on you.  His examples were very good about surrounding yourself with the right people.  And part of having the right people is making sure that they are people who will tell you the truth.

I’ve been mulling over Dr. Maxwell’s lift vs. lean idea for days now and yesterday was reminded how important this is.  I’m in the process of finalizing a very short video to explain our exciting new launch next month.  The video process has been painful to say the least and I thought I was finally done.  Many who looked at it said it was just right…but I knew that something was off.

Never one to take the easy road, I decided to send it to someone who would give me the hard truth.  She reviewed the video…and gave all the positives everyone else did, but she took a step further  to point out an observation that brought my concern to the front.  It’s not what I wanted to hear, but it’s just WHAT I needed to hear.  The end result will be better for her honest feedback.

Of course I am not thrilled about going back to the drawing board, but I will…the outcome is that important!  You see, lifting someone doesn’t mean just agreeing with them or only pointing out the positive.  We can’t get better without hard truths or reflective questions. 

I have a strong personality, and some people shy away from telling me those hard truths…yet those are the people I respect the most. 

A couple of tough questions for you today:

1. Who do you have in your inner circle that will tell you the hard truth? 
2. Do you surround yourself with  “yes” people?
3. What does lifting mean to you?  Is it superficial or meaningful?
4.  How do you lift those closest to you – at work and home?

I heard a statement years ago that puts this all in perspective….”You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”  Are you spending time with people that will help raise your “average?”

In sales, there are a lot of opportunities to turn negative, to make excuses and blame others – but the most successful pros don’t let their energy get zapped in those directions.   It does mean we need to carefully choose those to spend time with.  

We can choose to spend time with those that are lifters and not leaners.  Can’t find them at work?   Then turn to some of the social media or networking groups in your area to find professional, forward thinking and positive people .

The energy you gain from the time you spend with the right inner circle will help lift you to higher levels!

Click for a great article about the Inner Circle by Dr. John C Maxwell.

Filed Under: Leadership, maximize sales productivity, sales success

There were several losses this week in the entertainment world – Michael Jackson, Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett. It seems everyone knew these three celebrities and the media is talking of their legacies.  They each leave a unique thumbprint and memories to those that worked with and watched  them. 

What about you?  Are you a lasting sales celebrity?  If you were suddenly gone, how would your colleagues and customers define you?    

In sales careers we have unique opportunities to create lasting legacies with a lot of different people. 

1. Our support team.  Does your internal team value you or do they consider you a “pain”? 
2. Our customers.  Do they know you value them and that you will always do the right thing for them?
3. Our sales team.  Do you share information that can help them be more successful?  Do you give encouragement and listen to them?
4. Our management.  Do you provide value to your managers above what they expect?  Not just in production but in collaboration, insight and problem solving?

The real Sales Celebrities are transparent, productive and most of all people of integrity.  A tip I give every professional I work with…every action and inaction you take leaves something behind. 

P.S. I was having some fun trying to think of Michael Jackson songs (I’m not saying how I know all these songs ) that could be sales anthems….

• Beat It – because we need to beat “it” – sales goals, the competition, our fears every day.
• You Are Not Alone – we should be in touch with our prospects and customers often.
• Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough – we need to keep on until we have reached those goals!
• I Want You Back – earning back lost customers can accelerate our results this year.
• Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ – action gets us where we need to be.
• We Are Here to Change the World – if your product/service guides value, you can change someones world for the better!
• Unbreakable – Sales pros weather the ups and downs and keep on going.

Any to add?  I’m sure there are more song connections.

Filed Under: Sales, customer loyalty, sales success

Ever play with rubber bands?  At first they can be so rigid and tough to stretch.  Yet the more we use them and flex them, the more pliable they become.  It’s the same with our beliefs about our sales.  When we flex our sales paradigm (belief) and stretch it, we become more flexible and successful.

Do you know what a paradigm is?  No, it isn’t twenty cents   Paradigm is a word used a lot in the last 20 years and it seems that many don’t really understand how knowing what a paradigm is AND how paradigms impact their own personal performance can be helpful. Let’s start with the definition:

 From dictionary.com:  A paradigm is “an example; a model; a pattern”. 

And we have paradigms or models/paterns for most everything we do, including how we think and what we believe about sales and our performance.  This paradigm can be visualized as a boundary around our beliefs.  The key is whether that boundary is helpful or a barrier.

Relating this to sales performance – each of us has a belief paradigm about about our sales and possibilities  We have a pattern of belief and action around who we can call on, what level of sales we believe possible, the types of “deals” we believe we are capable of, the likelihood of closing sales, etc.  And some of these beliefs can help us focus on the right opportunities.  The caution is to ensure that these beliefs don’t limit our selling and results. 

An example:  the media frenzy about how bad the economy is has reduced a LOT of people’s beliefs in opportunity and possibility.  And this limiting belief is playing out across the world in the psyche of sales people and sales managers.  Or rather SOME sales professionals…because there are sales pros experiencing their best year ever right now.  They have not given in to the hype of what “should be happening” (someone else’s beliefs) and are outselling those around them. 

Sales may be taking longer in some cases, buyers amay be more stressed and trying to do more with less and the value provided needs to be stronger than ever.  These new rules of sales are shrinking people’s paradigms/beliefs in possibilities like never before.  The question becomes what can we do to stretch our own paradigms to ensure we aren’t the barrier to capturing more sales?

First, Explore your own paradigms about sales possibilities. Are they accurate?  How are they helping?  How are they holding you back? 

Then stretch your thoughts as you find examples of success all around you.  Who is selling now? What are they doing to sell within today’s realities?

Once your thoughts are stretched, take action.  We can expand our paradigm by first taking action because our beliefs will expand when we see the success that comes with the action.

If you want to increase your sales results this year, start flexing your paradigm.  Just like a rubber band – the more you flex it and stretch it, the more pliable it will become.  And the more success you will find in your sales!

Filed Under: Sales, productivity, sales productivity, sales success, sales tips

Ever  listen to a top-notch athlete talk about their success?  Most of the time they mention their ongoing conditioning, goal setting, coach and breaking new barriers.  That’s why sports analogies are used so often in training top-notch salespeople.  To truly stay on top of your sales game you need to keep your skills toned and your mind sharp.

Today’s “new” business environment has created more complex sales, tighter budgets,and competition which have changed the rules for sales success - what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow.

What can you do about it?  Strengthen your skills and knowledge!  There are many opportunities for learning – - whether your company provides them or not.  Top Sales Experts has tapped the top world-wide sales gurus to provide GREAT informatoin for you to be more successful in your sales.  The topics cross the breadth of sales – prospecting, networking, Sales 2.0, sales skills, leadership – you’ll find options that will help you sell more!

I highly recommend you click here to learn more.  Each webinar is less than $45 if you are a member (which is only $25 a year and you receive $2000 worth of free resources when you join – click here for more details).  Are you ready to make an investment in sharpening your skills and knowledge? 

Filed Under: Uncategorized, sales success, sales tips

A Sales Builder Webinar – FREE for you!  If you are in a role where you need to coax the most productivity of salespeople you know it’s not easy.  Helping others succeed may be the toughest job there is! 

The question is, how do we increase sales through others?    

1. Set higher goals?
2. Tell them its a “do or die” year?
3. Buy them better tools like a Blackberry or faster laptop?
4. Help them discover their personal barriers to higher success?
5. Give them a u-rah-rah speech?
6. Help them build their success habits?

Our FREE webinar for anyone in the position to impact others’ sales results will provide you with tips that will allow your sales team to succeed.  This is for sales managers, presidents, business owners, HR managers and anyone who is ready to help others’ succeed this year!

We will share the “inside” secrets to help you:          

1. Increase the sales results of your team
2. Decrease your turnover and recruiting expenses
3. Maximize each person’s talents and abilities

February 3, 2009

10:30 – 11:30 a.m. Central Time

Click here to register and reserve your spot!

And please share this FREE opportunity with other professionals that could use a boost in building their sales team!

Questions? call Nancy Bleeke at 414.422.1689. 

Filed Under: Leadership, coaching, maximize sales productivity, sales productivity, sales success

Yes, you read that right!  Increase the sales results and performance of your sales team in 2009 as you join sales experts, Nancy Bleeke and Lynn Zimmer for a FREE webinar.  An economic recession does not have to to spell doom and gloom for your sales results.

We will share the “inside” secrets to help Sales Managers:          

1. Increase the sales results of your team
2. Decrease your turnover and recruiting expenses
3. Maximize each person’s talents and abilities

Want to know how valuable this information is?  An attendee in November, Mark Friberg, said:

I would definitely recommend your business to friends and fellow workers. Both you and Lynn did a professional job and gave us valuable information that anyone in the business could use. Thanks for holding this quality seminar, I hope there are more to come! -        I will bring a friend.

Make a note on the details:

Thursday, January 22nd   

10:30-11:30 a.m. Central Time

And then click here to Register to ensure your spot!

Help your colleagues – forward this information so they can increase their team’s sales results too!

Filed Under: Leadership, coaching, learning, maximize sales productivity, productivity, recession proof sales, sales expert, sales productivity, sales success, sales tips

Want to increase your probability of sales success?  “Lost” customers may be the key!  What do you do with your former customers?  Many salespeople hit the ‘delete’ key and focus on new prospects. Big mistake!  These former customers can make great future customers.  Another tip to recession proof your sales – earn business again from customers you’ve “lost” over the years.

How valuable can this be?  A study done by Marketing Metrics shows that we have a 20-40% chance of re-engaging a former customer vs. a 5-20% chance of turning a new prospect into a customer!

Why is now a good time to focus on former customers?  The consolidations, bankruptcy filings, and workforce reductions leave HUGE opportunities for those who are ready to capture more business in this economy.

What can you do?  First,        look BACK!

1. Review your past three years of sales data. Make a list of customers who have not bought/worked with you in that time.  Then for each organization note: 
   • When was your last contact with them?
   • Do you know what/whom they are now working with?
   • On a scale of 1-10, how likely is it they would welcome contact from you again?  If the score is a 5 or higher, they are a good prospect!
   • What do you know about them that you can use to reconnect? History, experiences, challenges they had, people they work with, hobbies or any shared stories?
2. Research your primary contact at each identified organization.  Use the Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, bizjojrnals.com search tools.  Find out what he or she has been up to!  Are they still with that company?  In the same position?
3. Review past business you did with this organization.  What product/service did they use?  What was their experience – favorable, neutral, bad? Why did they stop working with you?  Do you know? Identify whether this was a valuable customer to you/your company.  Sometimes customers can be more work than the value they brought. No sense in recontacting a customer who drained you

Second, use this background information to prepare to move FORWARD.

1. Are the reasons they stopped being a customer relevant any longer?
2. What value might you provide them today?
3. What experiences have you had since you last spoke that would help them?
4. What information would help them Right now?
5. What questions should you ask them?

Third, make CONTACT!

“Hi Gary, it has been a long time. We continue to help companies such as yours increase xyz or decrease abc.  When we worked together, we provided you with the product you needed at exceptional cost and delivery time.  With all the market changes we’ve still been able to help companies with increasing xyz.  And I didn’t forget about you!”

Then turn the focus to THEM!  Be prepared to listen…maybe there is information you don’t know about whey they are no longer a customer.  This should be addressed first.  Then you can move into a series of open-ended questions that will allow you to see if there is an opportunity to work together again.  Some examples:

• “What are you currently working on”
• “How is this economy affecting your business?”
• “What is most important to you these days?”
• “How happy are you with your current supplier?”

This works!  In the past month we’ve reconnected with former customers. And we found that some of them have done NOTHING since we worked with them.  They haven’t left us at all. And yet we haven’t done business with them in a while.  Now that we made the effort to open the discussion again, we are moving through the sales process to see how we can help them again in 2009.

This tip does take work – but the upside of the effort is HUGE!  You never know what hidden gems of business you might FIND in your lost customers.

Filed Under: Sales, customer loyalty, customer loyalty, maximize sales productivity, productivity, recession proof sales, sales process, sales productivity, sales success, sales tips

Have you noticed the changing buying patterns in business these past few months?  The economy is forcing everyone to re-evaluate how business is conducted and who business is conducted with.  The smart sales pros know changes in buying patterns means we have to change too.  One way to maximize your sales productivity is to re-evaluate the prospects in your pipeline.

Recently I took a hard look at the l-o-n-g list of prospects for our company.  At first glance, I thought “Wow, we have a lot of potential business!”  (Whew!)   But then I started looking closer. 

And I realized…

These aren’t all prospects anymore!!  The likelihood of doing business with some of these people and companies in the next year was extremely low! 

I don’t know about you, but we have limits to our time, energy and resources to invest in our sales efforts.  Our priorities had been pulled out of whack these last 6 months.  The anticipation of what the recession might bring caused some of our clients to postpone scheduled services.  Yet there were other prospects that wanted to reconnect and reconsider our expertise in how to increase sales! 

Now the big question, “Where are we spending our time, efforts and energy?”

I challenged our team to consider some tough questions for each name on the prospect list.  In light of what is going on with the economy:

1. What do you know about this person or company?  How might the economy be affecting them?  What does this do for their need for what we provide?  Do they need us now more than ever?
2. When was our last contact and what happened? 
3. Where are you in the sales process?  Be realistic.  Are you in the beginning stages of building trust and a relationship?  Have you uncovered needs?  Are they open to a solution?  Is it time to tie WHAT you do to their needs?  Have you gone through the process and not asked them for a decision?
4. What is the likelihood of them moving to the next step in the sales process in the next 60 days?  The next 6 months?
5. Do they have money to spend on what you offer?
6. Are you talking to the decision maker?
7. What have you done to provide proof and validation of potential results?
8. What value can we provide them today to demonstrate our expertise and to help them?

We learned that we need to realign our efforts. Some of our prospects needs had changed and so must our approach to earning their business.  We also found that some prospects who took a lot of our time and energy were never going to ”buy”.  They were happy to have lots of free consulting and resources.  But no budget to spend.  This doesn’t mean we will ignore them, but they won’t take up so much of our time.

We’ve been working on the new approach for a month and are having very good results.  Recession or not, 2009 is looking bright because we are focusing on the right prospects!

What about you?  Is it time to re-evaluate your prospect list?  To identify your real opportunities in light of the current economic conditions and to realign your efforts to the highest likelihood of success?  How can making the time now ensure you have recession proofed your sales?

Filed Under: Sales, customer loyalty, maximize sales productivity, priorities, productivity, recession proof sales, sales success, sales tips

Want to give EXTRA value to your customers in tough economic times?  Give great business gifts (free or low cost) now!  With cost cutting in most industries and everyone trying to do more with less, its refreshing to know that there are still easy and inexpensive ways to give value today.  And giving value today allows you to receive sales tomorrow.

Giving value to customers does not necessarily mean discounting your price, buying large gifts, or giving more of your product or service at no charge.  In the long run, giving value to the PERSON is more important than all of those things.

Three Extra Value gifts you can give:

Information.  With time pressure listed as one of the biggest stressors and constraints to further success, many people struggle with not enough time to keep up with the “latest”.  It could be the “latest” topic or information in:

1. their industry trends
2. what their competitors are doing
3. something that is unique and specific to them (hobbies, interests)
4. resources

Find useful information and send it them directly.  Books or links to articles, podcasts or forums that are helpful to them all work.  I sent a group of financial advisers I had worked with an ezine link for an expert on getting referrals in their industry.  Months later one of them wrote to me that they are still finding value in that expertise and getting more referrals for it.  They attributed the success to me, though all I did was make the “link” for them! 

You can send the information electronically or surprise them and send them a hard copy of an article in the mail! 

A caution on this tip is to make sure you verify the quailty of the information first to check the relevancy.  You don’t want to send them information that doesn’t fit and waste their time. 

Tools to help them do something better, quicker or easier. A client that liked photography commented on the price of PhotoShop.  I found an article about Paintnet - a free download that does many of the same things as PhotoShop – and sent it to him.  He was so happy when I sent him a note with the link!  

There are so many legal free-ware items available that can help people with nearly everything.  Do they like to travel?  Do they need to do something more efficient at work? 

Think about specific customers and what you know about them, do some research and send them the tool.  Whether it be an electronic link or a “concrete” tool. I had a client trainer that loved my scented markers but her company wouldn’t let her purchase them.  She was thrilled when I sent her a box of scented markers!

Time.  Don’t underestimate the value of your time and attention.  Getting time from customers might be tough, unless they find that time with you is valuable to them! 

Most people value someone taking an interest in them, asking some great open ended questions that aren’t directly tied to what you sell and then having the opportunity to talk.  The questions might be about the current status of their company, the security of their job, the effect of the economy on people they know.  If you are trusted, you may find you will hear about challenges, fears and “new” news because they want to talk to SOMEone about it. 

Demonstrate restraint and don’t jump into “selling” them something right then and really listen. The perceived value of your relationship will increase.

Customers want value – even when they do not have budgets to support it.  They also want sales people to pay attention to THEM – not just when there is a sale at stake.  The type of attention they want is going to be very different depending on the person.  The closer you match what you give to what is important to them (because it still is about What’s in it for THEM?) the more VALUable the gift.

Filed Under: Sales, WIIFT, consultative selling, maximize sales productivity, productivity, recession proof sales, sales productivity, sales success, sales tips