Level Five Australia » Sales Tips

Sales Tip 10

Level Five — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 11:56:44 +0000

Price is often the easiest way for a buyer to mask consequence issues. Customers and consumers find it much easier to tell you they have decided not to buy because of cost than to explain the real reasons for them not buying from you. Not buying because of a purported price-based decision often also has business respectability within their organisation and can therefore be an equally convenient internal justification for not going ahead with you.

Sales Tip 9

Level Five — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 11:55:26 +0000

Many salespeople, when they meet with a key decision-maker, allow the decision-maker to take complete control. Whilst Senior Executives are used to being in control of the conversation, that doesn’t mean you should sit back and let them steer the conversation. It is essential to have a plan about how you intend to use this valuable “C Level” time effectively. Structure the meeting by setting 2-3 agenda items that you know, from research and account knowledge, are going to engage the other party early in the meeting. Decision-makers appreciate preparation and expect you to use your time with them well. If they sense that you have no real purpose for the meeting, or you do not demonstrate one, it is likely to be difficult to get another meeting in the future.

Sales Tip 8

Level Five — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 11:46:54 +0000

When setting your sales budgets, make your sales team part of the process. Having salespeople owning their sales targets will provide you with a significant advantage over your competitors who are likely to have imposed sales targets that their sales force simply does not believe in.

Sales Tip 7

Level Five — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 11:45:56 +0000

Do you suffer from “premature presentation” syndrome?

If you do suffer from “PP”, you may find yourself presenting often, with positive and encouraging responses, but not getting the sales results that you should.

If you have strong industry sector knowledge and highly competitive products and solutions, prospects and customers are going to be more than open to listen to you and to even see product demonstrations and the like. But the question you need to ask yourself before you present is ‘Does the prospect / customer have a problem you can solve?’

Presenting too early and in the absence of admitted need is putting the cart before the horse. Start doing your Qualify and Develop steps of the sales process properly first and watch out for the difference in outcomes.

Sales Tip 6

Level Five — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 11:44:01 +0000

Unfortunately for salespeople who just love to talk, the old saying that “selling is telling” is a complete furphy. Good selling is actually just like good conversation. The best conversations involve genuine mutual engagement, the asking of good relevant questions and real listening. The best sales calls exhibit 80% / 20% conversation share – in the buyers favour. This is the sales equivalent of the Pareto Principle.

Here’s a good activity to test your persuasion style:

Give yourself 3 minutes to persuade someone on a relevant topic that they will be mildly to strongly resistant about;
Record the conversation on your mobile phone / hand held;
Review the tape at 10 second intervals and determine who is talking at each 10 second point (this will give you 18 data points)
Count the number of points at which the other person (i.e. the persuadee) was talking at the ten second mark; divide by 18 and multiply by 100. This will give you the % of time the persuadee was talking.
Compare it to the 80/20 rule described above.
What does this tell you about your persuasion style?

Sales Tip 5

Level Five — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 11:41:57 +0000

Recognise that smart buyers will always be negotiating – yes, from the very first sales call! There is a time to sell and a time to negotiate – don’t confuse the two. There is no need to give price concessions or to even indicate that they are a possibility, early in the sales process, especially if need is not diagnosed and admitted by the buyer. Every unnecessary concession you make will come back to bite you later.

Sales Tip 4

Level Five — Thu, 27 May 2010 09:20:26 +0000

To fully understand the value of time…

One Year: Ask the child who had to repeat a grade at school
One Month: Ask the mother of a premature baby
One Week: Ask the salesperson who was the only one not to make target and worked in the office the week everyone was away
One Day: Ask the man who forgot his wedding anniversary
One Hour: Ask the lovers about to be apart for a year
One Minute: Ask a person who just missed their international flight
One Second: Ask a person that just came along just after an accident
One Millisecond: Ask the Olympic sprinter who came in second

Sales Tip 3

Level Five — Sun, 23 May 2010 04:58:08 +0000

Most salespeople start negotiating way too soon. A key rule is that you should never negotiate before you must. The earlier you give concessions, the less impact they will have. By giving ground early, you may also create an expectation that even larger concessions will follow.

Sales Tip 2

Level Five — Wed, 12 May 2010 22:04:08 +0000

Where your immediate focus is to gather information about a prospect company, a “Focus of Receptivity” is your best initial target. These individuals are in roles and functional areas most likely to be receptive – and to therefore provide you with access – because they have subject matter and organisational knowledge about the issues and opportunities you want to explore.

Sales Tip 1

Level Five Admin — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 06:47:42 +0000

“Whoever it was that said “you should always be selling” was wrong.
There is a time to start selling and that is only when you have an admitted customer need.
Until you have that, selling is pointless – but diagnosing is not.”