Tell me if this sounds familiar. The salesperson walks into the meeting and it starts off pretty much like this: "Dear mr. Customer, let me start by telling you about our business. We were incorporated during the time of medieval feudalism in Europe, and we're the biggest and best company in our business. In fact, you should consider yourself lucky that we've taken time out of our busy schedule to be with you today." Then after the salesperson...
Too many advisors claim that they lose the sale on price. All too often that's not the case. You didn’t lose the sale on price - you lost it because your customer doesn’t trust you. So how do you get customers to trust you? The main pitfall when it comes to trust is self-orientation. Self-orientation is the tendency we all have to focus on our ourselves, and what we have to offer. It usually looks like walking into a meeting and presenting...
I was 16 years old when I started in sales and holy shit was I dumb. I couldn't recognize a buying signal if it struck me flat in the face. The first job I had in sales was for the national tabloid newspaper - when you could still smoke inside the boiler room (which obviously I did). Now direct telemarketing is probably the business in the world that has the highest employee turnover rate - which also explains why they would take me in at 16 -...
There's a saying that I like - a saying that I live by really. I'm continually amazed by how stupid I was two weeks ago. Now, to show you what I mean, let me tell you about a recent revelation I had. I don't remember exactly when, and I don't remember exactly how or why it hit me. Matter of fact, I don't think it was a sudden realization at all. I think it was more like a slow, creeping realization, that I had. I mean sure, I'd read a few books...
Introduction One of the most important aspects to sales is building relationships. It's important not just for your current clients but also for potential clients, who are more likely to be persuaded by someone they know and trust. That's why one of your main objectives as a sales professional is not to sell products or services, but to build to relationships - and like with anything, building relationships is better to do before you need them....
"Trust is everything. It is the most valuable commodity in business." - Stephen Covey Trust: The Foundation of a Successful Business Trust is the foundation of a successful business. When you think about it, your clients want to know that they are giving their hard-earned money to someone that they can trust. In order for there to be a lasting relationship between your company and your client, you have to earn their trust. The more you can show...
The failure rate for new businesses is extremely high. Depending on the source the numbers vary, but there's no arguing with the fact, that if you start your own business, the odds are stacked against you. Now, there are a multitude of good reasons why businesses fail, and starting a new business is extremely difficult. One of the most common reasons for failure however, is that most entrepreneurs don't sell their product aggressively enough....
Introverts can make great salespeople and sales managers. But most don't. That's why, when it comes to some of the fields that classically attracts a more introverts than it does extroverts such as engineering, law, accounting and to a certain degree consulting and banking, most of the people who are asked to sell their company's services hate it. What's ironic about that, is that most people who are asked to sell are asked to do so because...
When it comes to making our next sale, there are essentially three ways to go about it: Selling our services to new clients Selling more to existing clients Selling to clients who were referred by current clients Selling our services to new clients is by far the most the most demanding, the most difficult and to many people the most frustrating experience. It takes a lot of no's to get to a yes, and no matter how skilled we are, we will never...
