RSSMake the Phone your Best Friend
Mar 1, 2010 Sales Related
Do you believe that to close a sale you must ‘get in front of prospects?’ Why? Really. Have you ever asked yourself why? Do you tell yourself that you MUST have that eye contact? That ‘face-to-face’ juice? Do you tell yourself that if you’re not in the field, you’re not selling?
In 1937, Dale Carnegie advocated it. What else are you using from a 1937 playbook?
Untold billions of dollars have been misspent following this industry-wide belief: planes, hotels, time. And? The industry still has a 7% average close rate.
Here is a rule: Don’t use your body as a prospecting tool.
Here is a secret: your sterling personality, your great outfit, your Rolex watch and Prada shoes don’t close an account. Nor does your great insight or knowledge of the buyer, their need, your industry, or your solution. Nor does that great rapport you create over lunch. Otherwise, you would be closing a lot more sales. Amazing how much push-back I get from an industry with such a low success rate.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: buying decision team, closing, identified problem, phone, sales
Purchasing a solution is the last thing a buyer does
Dec 4, 2009 Sales Related
Someone who has read one of my early books told me she thought that Buying Facilitation® was a type of consultative sales model. It’s far from it. Here is why.
Traditional Sales, spearheaded by Dale Carnegie in his book How to Win Friends and Influence People, published in 1937, is about the product sale. How to position it, how to make its features, functions, and benefits relevant, and how to discuss it so buyers will recognize a need.
Consultative Sales, spearheaded by Linda Richardson in the 80s, added the customer to the mix. What are their needs? What sort of a solution will be relevant? How can we gather the right data so we can ensure that our product/solution can fit with the needs and be positioned in a way to ensure the prospect understands the fit?
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: behind-the-scenes, Buying Facilitation®, closing, consultative sales, Dale Carnegie, decision making, Dirty Little Secrets, Linda Richardson, prospect, sales models, traditional sales
Presentations: How To Compete When In Front Of A Prospect
Jan 3, 2008 Decisioning & Change Management, Top Posts
Your last presentation was great and seemingly well-received. You addressed the prospect’s needs, positioned yourself and your product just right, used the right language and visuals to assure that you were a caring, smart, professional, and had a product that would obviously be the right solution. The price was right, and you clearly had a leg up on the competition in terms of fit. And, the prospect liked you a lot.
But you didn’t close the deal.
Later you heard lots of conflicting stories: they already had a preferred vendor, the CXO had a friend in one of the competing companies, their inside folks were going to handle it, they decided to do nothing, you were too expensive, the competition came in lower than cost just to get the deal….
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: closing, decision criteria, decision making, information, presentations, prospects, questions, teach
