You have at least 14 ways to screw up a simple question if you haven't prepared to ask better ones.
An earlier article listed 23 ways you can use questions effectively in selling.
People often say there’s no such thing as a stupid question. That’s nice, and it may help you feel better about yourself when you ask them.
But it’s not true.
This article warns you about 14 ways you can go wrong by asking bad questions.
If they cost you a sale because you weren’t better prepared, I’d say that’s stupid.
[click to continue…]
If you had to name the single sales skill or ability that’s more important than any other — regardless of what kind of selling you do — what would it be?
Would it be prospecting? Speaking, demoing, or presenting well? Networking? Building rapport? Establishing trust? Listening? Knowing your products? Handling objections? Closing deals? Knowing your industry and your market? Knowing your competitors?
Yes, they’re all strong candidates. But in my opinion, the most valuable sales skill doesn’t even appear in that list.
It’s the ability to ask powerful and effective questions. I think it’s the most valuable selling skill for most of us because it’s fundamental to nearly all others.
This article will share 23 valuable uses of questions, at least 18 of which you may never have thought about. [click to continue…]
To help your customers and prospects feel at ease, cultivate your imperfections.
Are you ready for another contrarian tip about successful sales negotiations?
A prior article suggested that you introduce a slight stammer or hesitation into your conversation with a prospect.
This article tells you why. If you agree with what you’re about to read, you’ll never want to look too good again. [click to continue…]
An earlier article suggested that you start each new sales relationship by withholding the information you have in order to bargain for the information you want.
This article will show you how to do that without irritating your prospect.
The strategy comes from Jim Camp, my mentor in sales negotiations. He’s the only person I know of who recommends this approach. That’s a pity, because it’s worked well for me.
Why Not Go Straight Into Your Pitch?
It sounds crazy at first. If someone asks you what you’re selling, why not just tell her?
Because the moment you’ve satisfied your prospect’s curiosity, she is less motivated to share what you want to know about her.
Details Provoke Objections
As soon as you start telling her about your offering, she’ll begin making snap judgments about whether she wants to hear more. At first mention of feature or function she doesn’t like, she may shut you down. [click to continue…]
A prior article noted the conflict you often face when the sales process you want to follow is at odds with the evaluation process your prospect wants to follow.
Have you had a prospect express mild interest in your offering and ask you to send information? You agree, and then when you call to follow up to talk about his interest, he ignores your calls.
Have you found yourself telling a prospect everything about your offering without learning anything about the reason for his interest, his sense of urgency or his ability to buy?
Have you ever responded to a Request for Proposal (or RFP), and when you call to follow up a reasonable time afterward the prospect gives you only minimal information about the status of their decision?
These are all examples of you giving a prospect everything he asks for without getting any useful sales information in return.
This article provides a framework that can reduce or eliminate the likelihood of finding yourself in such situations. [click to continue…]
It doesn't pay to struggle with a prospect over whose process your going to follow. But it usually doesn't it make sense to comply fully with theirs. What should you do?
If you’ve been in sales awhile, you’ve learned to find your way through multiple sales cycles. You’ve developed a sense of process.
Your process is the series of steps you go through with your prospect to arrive at a successful transaction. It’s a mental map of the route you must navigate to arrive at a sale. Having it in clearly your mind helps guide you toward your destination.
What happens when the customer’s buying process is inconsistent with your sales process? Do you abandon your process and embrace theirs? [click to continue…]
Be well prepared when you call high.
If you call high and aren’t ready for the conversation, it could end your life prematurely – at least in that account.
Have you heard about vibratory courtship?
No, this isn’t about kinky sex — at least not for humans.
It’s the way a male spider approaches a web-spinning female without being mistaken for dinner.
The male taps carefully on the web in a special spider code that tells her he isn’t a bug to eat.
Once she signals her receptivity by raising her front legs, he approaches quickly and does his business. If he’s lucky he escapes with his life. Sometimes the male messes up the approach and gets eaten.
The point? When you approach a senior executive, you’d better be prepared to do it in the right way. Because if you make a bad impression at that level, you’ll have a very hard time recovering for as long as he or she remembers you and your company.
Stay fresh.
– Scott Silverback
If you don't call on people who have authority to buy, you might as well do something else you enjoy more than selling.
Ross Perot, founder of Electronic Data Systems (EDS) and Perot Systems, billionaire, former candidate for the presidency of the United States and famously cantankerously outspoken Texas personality, used to tell his sales people at EDS to “call high or go to a movie.”
Perot’s point was that his sales people will never close a deal on a big-ticket item with a low-level manager. So they might as well spend their time doing something they enjoy rather than waste time on sales calls with people who can’t approve the sale.
For what EDS sells – multimillion-dollar contracts for data-processing services to businesses – Perot was probably right.
Great Advice, But Not a Rule
The problem arises when sales managers in other companies, including my own, quote Perot’s advice as if it were sales gospel. [click to continue…]
When you stop trying to control things you can’t, you’ll be able to focus more of your energy and attention on gaining complete control over the only things you can: your behavior and your actions. [click to continue…]
Don't kid yourself about controlling your customers.
How much control you do maintain over your prospects during a sales cycle?
If your answer is ‘a lot,’ I have a bone to pick with you. At best you’re deluded. At worst you’re a control freak. In either case you’re probably working against your own best interests.
Let that harsh judgment forewarn you that you’re about to read a short rant. [click to continue…]