Experience is a wonderful teacher, but only if you pay attention and draw the right lessons from your experience. It pays to document certain portions of your company’s sales process—and the most successful practices that you and your fellow salespeople have found for handling common challenges. Salespeople who do this maximize the use of their time, shorten sell cycles, make more sales, and cash bigger paychecks.

To learn from what works, document what works.

What parts of your sales process should you document?

First, identify the milestones in your sales cycle. What are the necessary steps that lead from your initial contact with a prospect to a completed sale? What commitment must you gain from the customer at each milestone that will lead to the next step? For example, does your sales cycle usually require an initial meeting with several decision makers followed by another meeting at which you present a formal proposal? Both of those meetings are milestones.

Write down your 10 strongest sales features—the features of your products or services that have the strongest appeal to most customers. Include a benefits statement for each feature. Remember that benefits usually have dollar signs attached.

Next, write down the expected customer needs associated with those 10 features and benefits. Customers will only buy if a benefit represents a solution to a perceived need. So what needs must you look for? Write some open-ended questions that help you draw out needs for which your 10 strongest features offer solutions.

Write the best questions that you can use to determine what your sales strategy must be for a particular client. Your sales strategy is determined by the competition you face, the buyer’s time frame, and the buying influences that will play a role in the sale. What are the best questions with which to draw out information about those factors?

Document a crisp (30-second) and powerful company story that you can tell in all first-call selling situations.

Ask your peers about each of these topics, and compare their approaches with yours. If somebody else has a great question for drawing out needs, for example, by all means write it down and use it. Create reminder lists for yourself, and review them before every sales call. Then you can stop making the same expensive mistakes.

In The Field:

“Our region has jumped to No. 1 in the country,” says Leif Rowles, regional manager for Sears Commercial Division. Rowles moved his region from the middle of the pack to the top in sales while boosting profits by a whopping 111 percent with Action Selling Sales Training. His people learned and practiced “The Process” until it became part of their culture.

“Now we have a common sales language we can use to strategize before and after sales calls. We are a stronger team and better able to coach one another,” Rowles says. Action Selling sales training programs define the most effective practices for conducting the entire sales process. Then it provides a template to document exactly what the best salespeople do to gain business.

When you have a system that clearly shows everyone what the Best Practices are, you can achieve great gains in performance and productivity. Rowles puts it simply: “Action Selling is the reason we are closing more customers.”

Believe me, and I speak as an ex mechanical engineer, I couldn’t give a toot what goes on under the bonnet. I’m much more interested in driving a car that matches the rest of my accessories. You
know-silver car - silver watch - silver hair. Mind you, I draw the line at one of those little four-wheel drive jobs with the yellow wheels and pink upholstery. I’ve seen a lot of men driving these fluffy little things and don’t tell me they all belong to the wife or girlfriend. “Four-wheel drive off roaders”-they probably couldn’t pull you out of bed.

Anyway we all have male and female customers and clients and they do need different handling. If you want to be successful at selling or negotiating with someone of the opposite sex then please be aware of the differences.

Firstly, be you male or female, you’ve got to look the part. Women will look you all over, men won’t. Women will notice whether you have shiny shoes and clean fingernails, men won’t notice if you have on one brown shoe and one black or if your fingernails are bitten up to the elbow.

I once interviewed a lady for a job and I didn’t notice she had different shoes on. Turns out that, in her rush to get to the interview she slipped on two black but certainly different shoes. However my female colleague noticed right away and thought the whole thing quite amusing.

If you are a man negotiating with a woman, be very aware of what you say because women listen much better than men, they pick up on emotions. They will pick up much better on whether you really believe what you are saying. Also, make sure you keep talking, don’t stop just because the woman
starts examining the product or reading the literature.

Women can multi-track, they’ll be listening to you even although they’re taking the product apart or writing something in their diary.

A warning to a woman selling or negotiating with a man, he can’t multi-track. If the man
starts doing something else, stop speaking until he’s finished. If you don’t believe any of this then just consider a time when you’ve watched TV with your partner.

Men stare at the television giving their whole concentration to the programme while women read a book, paint their toenails and watch the programme. Men haven’t the foggiest idea how women can do this.

It can be difficult for a woman negotiating with a man because men don’t listen well. They listen like statues and it’s difficult to tell whether you’re getting through. They probably are listening; it’s just that they don’t show it. Women on the other hand tend to display their emotions so you have much more chance of understanding whether they are happy with what you’re saying or not.

Salesmen need to be careful when describing something to a woman. Men are more able to visualise something in three dimensions. Women are more likely to visualise in two dimensions. Far better to show a woman the actual product rather than a drawing or a plan.

Women when they see the product are more likely to be influenced by its colour and its smell. The reason for this is simply because women can distinguish colours better; they also have a better sense of smell and taste than a man. Just watch a woman in a supermarket buying wash up liquid. She’ll
very likely take the top off the bottle and sniff it. Men see no reason to do that at all; lemon, pine or fruity, what’s the difference when you’re only washing dishes? With their better sense of taste women are much better at tasting wine and food than men.

Can I also suggest that the male sales person compliment their lady customers? And just before the ladies start getting irate, I mean a genuine compliment. As I mentioned earlier, women will pick up on your emotions much quicker, so no false compliments guys and don’t patronise the ladies
or you’re dead. On the other hand, a woman can give all sorts of compliments to a man and he’ll just love it. It doesn’t matter whether you mean it or not ’cause he can’t tell the difference.

Selling and negotiating to men and women isn’t the same - ignore this at your peril.

Expandability is a term more associated with hardware as opposed to software. If there is a point of convergence for software and expandability it would be on the operating system itself.

For those of you who’ve gone out and purchased a computer, one of the prime determinants of whether or not to buy is how much capacity or memory does the computer have. This is usually followed up with a question on how much can you ‘expand’ the capacity later on down the road if needed.

When selling expandability for hardware products, we are usually referring to the physical limitations of the product itself. Sinc, in order to expand, the system must have available ‘slots’ for system cards. In the case of a computer, we usually want to swap out or add another processing board to increase either system speed or memory capacity.

Selling Expandability

So how do you sell expandability? Lets take two scenarios, 1) A computer for the average consumer (Small sale), and 2) A Internet Service Provider who is purchasing a telephone switch (Large Sale).

Small Sales Strategy: It isn’t difficult to sell a customer on expandability; especially if the buyer is a person who anticipates their processing or memory storage needs growing in the future. But when it comes to the average consumer who wishes to use the computer for basic internet and family projects, the expandability feature is greatly diminished in its ability to sway a customer’s decision. In a small sales scenario, the key for the salesperson is to identify the technophile from the average consumer. The question, “What are your plans for the computer?” should allow the salesperson to clearly identify if the buyer is an average consumer or a technophile. This template applies for any business model in general. If the buyer is wanted a straight forward, for now solution, expandability will do little to help close a sale. On the other-hand, if the buyer is building out a network or a system and envisions growth, the expandability feature will have some impact in the sales process.

Large Sales Strategy: When selling to a big customer who will be using the product to provide service to others, expandability plays a major role. Most start-up companies are unsure about the size of their customer base or simply have little cash flow and can’t buy a full-blown system. Expandability options allows a provider to buy into a system knowing that expansion is possible and can be done on an incremental basis. In the case of a Internet Service Provider, a chassis with telephone card slots allows the provider to buy only the minimum amount of cards needed to do business. In the case of a data center or a digital storage facility, the providers will only purchase the amount of memory and processing speed cards needed to service their customer. Some finer points for large sales strategies when selling expandability are:

1) Most customers will want to buy 10-20% more in backup cards or boards to hold in stock. This is an additional revenue stream.

2) All expandable systems require a redundant power supply (i.e., backup power supply card). This also adds sales revenue.

Selling expandability starts with identifying who your customers are and their anticipated needs for future growth. Whether it’s a small (computer) or large sale (network switch), the qualifying question is whether or not they anticipate a need for growth in the future. Selling expandability is about selling the optimistic side of business and growth. Those who see potential and growth for the future will be easy sells. Those who are unsure about the future, well…it may not be so easy to sell them on the concept of expandability.

Victor Gonzalez, top motivational speaker, sales trainer and author of “The LOGIC of Success”.  For more info go to:  www.thelogicofsuccess.com or by email victor@thelogicofsuccess.com

Define Your Fear.  What is it about selling that makes you afraid?  Next question, how did you develop this fear?  What is it based on? 

a) Many people fear sales because they’re afraid of being rejected as I mention. 

b) Others simply fear being the center of attention; especially when giving a presentation in front a large group of people. 

c) Some fear selling because they’re simply unprepared to answer tough questions or don’t have a deep understanding of the product or service they’re selling.

d) Could it be you don’t believe in the product or service your selling?

e) Other _______________________________________________

Why do your fear selling?  Circle one before you proceed.

Checking Your Premise.  Now that you selected, I want you to check the premise of your answer.  In other words, I want you to question the validity of your fear.  If you chose C, for example, then your fear isn’t selling; it has more to do with being unprepared and the potential ‘shame’ of being exposed in public.  Take the necessary steps to learn the product; this confidence in your knowledge will minimize your fear.  If you chose B, you have to question why you’re afraid of getting up in front of others.  Did you have a bad experience when you were younger?  Or, are you still programmed by the “children should be seen and not heard’ parental reminder?  To overcome the fear, you must first check the premise (validity) of why you hold that fear. No one every died from giving a sales presentation…at least not to my knowledge.  

Like What You Sell. I can’t emphasize this enough.  When you sell what you love, you’re selling from a position of belief.  When you believe in something strongly, that enthusiasm squeezes out the fear.  Are you selling something your really believe in or are you selling in order to get a paycheck?  If the answer is the latter, you may be successful selling, but you’ll never achieve a true level of success (i.e., making money doing what you love).  If you don’t truly believe in what you’re selling, you will always be selling from a position of doubt.  Doubt breeds fear.  Seek out products you love to sell.

Measure Success Over Time. Many trainers advocate measuring your successes on a daily basis.  Let’s get real here.  Some of my days are full of setbacks making measuring success on daily basis painful.    Daily actions are just minor events leading up to the main event; the sale.  Don’t measure minor events, measure main events.  A runner doesn’t count how many running steps it took to get to the finish line, he instead focuses on getting there!   Stay focus on the main event, the sale, and not the day-to-day ups and downs. 

Small Elephant Bites.  Remember, the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.   Begin with small attainable objectives, than move on to larger ones. Build momentum.

Indicators. When you succeed or have a win, take a mental inventory of how it came about.  Analyze in your mind the steps you took to manifest this win.  When things don’t go well, do the same thing; analyze your thoughts and actions and ask, “What should I have done differently?”.  Setbacks are indicators or guideposts on the road to sales success.

Don’t Take It Personal. Earl Nightengale once said that success plays no favorites.  Success only favors those who persist and don’t give up.   Selling is about persistence.  Persistence is about not taking rejection personally.  When clients or people refuse to buy from you, learn to ask “Why?”.  And no matter the response you get back from the customer, learn to depersonalize it and then learn from it.   Only sissies take things personally (don’t be a sales sissy)!

There is one eternal truth about this free market we call capitalism…selling keeps the economy moving.  Selling is the grease that lubricates the economic machine and keeps all its moveable parts in motion.  From this moment on, as a salesperson, I want you to view your profession as the necessary component for keeping this economy going. I want you to see purpose in your profession.  Purpose squeezes out fear in order to make room for enthusiasm.

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FREE book, The Logic of Success at www.thelogicofsuccess.com

© 2003-2004. Victor Gonzalez. All Rights in All Media Reserved. Victor Gonzalez is a sales trainer and motivational coach. To learn more or to contact Victor directly, please visit www.thelogicofsuccess.com

So what do you think happens in most sales encounters? That’s right… we tell ‘em what we do.

Problem #1 - Clients don’t really want to know what we do.

Not to start with anyway. Usually they first want to know that they can trust us and that we comprehend their situation. They also want to understand ‘how’ we can help them. This is different to knowing exactly ‘what’ we do. To achieve this we need to look at what they want to achieve, and what their concerns are.

Problem #2 - When we’re talking we’re not listening.

It’s a fact. People can think many times faster than they talk. This means that when you’re talking, your client can think about lots of other stuff (like their next appointment, or your unpolished shoes). So keep your client focused by getting them to do the talking.

Control the sales encounter with questions. By using a structured questioning sequence you can move from initial exploratory questions to high-impact outcome oriented questions. When done properly this creates a harmonious exchange between the seller and the client. It’s not a matter of interrogating the client, or forcing them to make a quick decision.

As the salesperson (whether you be a consultant, partner, owner or manager) the overriding temptation is to start explaining what you do. Often this includes mentioning previous clients and interesting outcomes you have achieved. But does the client care? Not always. And not ever if what you are saying is not relevant to them.

The secret to selling like a professional is to listen closely to the client. Find out as much as possible that might be relevant to your service. Ask questions about their expectations. Then when you have that knowledge, discuss only the aspects of your service that have a direct bearing on your clients stated needs. Use this ‘inside knowledge’ during your presentation to highlight why you are the best choice as service provider.

And when you finish your presentation and need to gain a commitment from the client, ask another question, or suggest the next step. “Would you like to sign the agreement tomorrow?” or “Can we meet next week to finalise these last few issues?”

With a bit of practice you can replace your old sales monologues with a meaningful exchange of information that leaves your client wanting to work with you.
 

(c) 2004 Stuart Ayling

Stuart Ayling runs Marketing Nous, an Australasian marketing consultancy that specialises in marketing for service businesses. He helps clients to improve their marketing tactics, attract more clients, and increase revenue. For additional marketing resources, including Stuart’s popular monthly newsletter, visit his web site at www.marketingnous.com.au

You ARE selling something. Whether you are a Real Estate agent selling multi-million dollar homes, or a worker trying to sell your boss on the idea that you are a valuable employee, everybody is selling something. So it would be wise to learn these secret tricks and use them to achieve your own personal success.

The secret psychological tricks that I am going to reveal are not really secret. They have been used by shrewed salesman for millenium. Their existence was revealed back in 1984 by Dr. Robert Cialdini in his book “Influence : The Psychology of Persuasion”.

You will recognize these tricks being used everywhere in advertising today. Now you will be able to put them to use to enhance your own personal success.

Psychological Selling Trick Number 1: Reciprocity

Reciprocity works like this: you give someone something of value for free. That individual feels an obligation to return the favor. Reciprocity is a very powerful principle.

To use reciprocity as a marketing tool, you give people something of value for free, they reciprocate by purchasing your product or service. But you would be surprised how many advertisers totally blow it. Either they don’t understand the concept of “free”, or they don’t have total faith in the principle of reciprocity.

For example, consider the offer “get a free camera when you subscribe to our magazine for two years.” That’s not free. Or, “free installation with a one year commitment.” That’s not free. The customer is paying with an obligation. No sale.

Consider the offer,”receive the latest issue of our magazine absolutely free. No bill will be sent.” If the
prospective customer finds the magazine to be of value, they feel an obligation to subscribe. Or, “one month of free Internet service. No credit card required.” If the Internet service performs well, the prospective customer feels an obligation to sign up.

The trick is to create something that has high perceived value to a prospective customer, but costs you little or nothing to produce. Free information is a good example. Here again many advertisers totally blow it. The free information turns out to be nothing more than blatant advertising.

Free samples of your product or service is another good example. Again, many businesses blow it. They either produce a cheaper version of their product to use as free samples, or they use the free sample campaign as a means to dump reject product.

The largest Internet Service Provider is well known for giving away hundreds of hours of service for free. No credit card required. The largest cookie company is famous for giving away free cookies. Reciprocity is a very powerful marketing strategy.

Psychological Selling Trick Number 2: Scarcity

Scarcity works like this: There is a limited amount of the item available. After those are gone, the item will not be available. “urgency” implies Scarcity. For example, “this offer will be honored only for a limited time”.

The effectiveness of the scarcity principle is well demonstrated by the large segment of the population involved n pursuing antiques, collectibles, and memorabilia simply because these items are scarce. Scarcity is often contrived, as when a company produces a “limited edition”.

For example, when Disney releases a limit edition of one of its classic stories - yes, limited to a production of more copies than they could ever possibly sell - then it goes in the “vault”. And how fortunate we’ll be a few years from now when they decide to do us the favor of taking it back
out of the vault.

Note: Manufactured items, especially DVDs and CD-ROMs, cannot be “scarce”. It’s a simple matter to put the manufacturing dies back into production. All scarcities of manufactured items are contrived.

One popular incarnation of scarcity is the “going out of business sale”. Customers somehow don’t pick up on the fact that the mark-downs are not that great, or that the store has new merchandise coming in the back door to take advantage of the increase in traffic.

Scarcity is a very powerful marketing tool. There are many ways to contrive scarcity. You can create a limited edition, or for items like information products, scarcity can exist in the form of urgency by creating a limited time offer.

Psychological Selling Trick Number 3: Commitment

Commitment involves getting a prospective customer to take a tiny step towards a goal. For example, you might get them to request free information, or fill out a survey. When the prospective customer takes that first step, they have made a commitment, however tentative, towards the goal you have
set out for them. They are likely to take another step.

One example of this process is the “two step” method used in mail order. When a mail order marketer runs an advertisement, they don’t even try to sell the product. Instead, the advertisement offers free information. A prospective customer makes that first commitment towards purchasing the product by requesting the free information. The free information they receive is designed to entice them to take the next step.

Another example of using commitment as a marketing tool is a survey. By checking a few boxes and answering a few questions, a prospective customer takes that first step towards a commitment. The result they receive from the survey is designed to entice them to take the next step.

Yet another example of using commitment as a marketing tool is a lottery. For example, people enter their name and address on a ticket for a chance to win a new car. A salesman uses that information to contact them. By entering their name and address on the lottery ticket, the individual has made a commitment to own that new car.

The most common example of the principle of commitment are those long-winded full page advertisements in magazines. The prospective customer invests a great deal of time reading through the entire advertisement. That investment of time represents a commitment. They are likely to take
the next step, responding to the advertisement.

To use the psychological power of commitment in your advertising, don’t try to sell your product or service in your ad. Instead, use a survey, contest, or free information to get a prospective customer to make that first step towards a commitment to purchase your product.

Psychological Selling Trick Number 4: Consensus

Consensus involves getting prospective customers to believe that “everybody’s doing it”. Everybody is just waiting in line to purchase your product. Everybody can’t be wrong, so the product must be fantastic!

Of course you’re smart enough to know that everybody CAN be wrong. Everybody thought that SUVs were safe vehicles (they roll over). Everybody thought Enron was a great investment (it went bankrupt). Everybody thought Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (well maybe not everybody). You’re an
independent thinker.

Here are some examples of headlines using the consensus principle: “It’s the new sensation crossing the country”, “People are signing up in droves”, “People just can’t get enough of them”, “Record sales”, “Unbelievable response!” and “Join millions of smart consumers”. Combine this with a stock photograph of a large group of people, a long line of people, or a crowd of people, and you have a powerful consensus message.

Note: Many people don’t think they’re having fun unless they’re in a large, noisy crowd. Unfortunately, every large crowd contains a few lunatics. When things go wrong, the crowd stampedes and people get hurt, or killed. When I see a large crowd, I head the other way.

Fortunately, most people are not independent thinkers. They act like a herd of cattle. Use the consensus principle in your advertising, and people, like lemmings headed for the sea, will come in waves to buy your product.

Psychological Selling Trick Number 5: Authority

Authority involves getting prospective customers to believe that someone who is knowledgeable or famous uses your product or service. If a knowledgeable or famous person uses your product, then it must be fantastic!

The bigger the authority, the more powerful the advertising message will be. For example, doctors are authorities. “Most doctors prescribe Tylenol for arthritis pain”. Large organizations are authorities. “The National Heart Association says - Quaker oatmeal is good for your heart.” The Federal Government is an authority. “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says whole wheat bread is part of a complete diet”. If only we could think of a way to use God as an authority!

Here’s how to use the principle of authority in advertising: search the Internet for any references to your product or service. Find an article that alludes to your product being of value. For example, let’s say you sell black T-shirts. You find an article by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that says “bees are attracted to bright colored clothing”. Your copy: “The U.S. Department of Agriculture that says my
T-shirts protect you from attack by stinging insects.”

Most advertising using the authority principle is taken out of context and exaggerated. Some advertising uses totally fake authorities. “My dog biscuits are recommended by the International Association of Dog Nutritionists” (an organization I started last week). Some advertising uses a
“study” as an authority. “A recent study found that my lemonade tastes better than any other brand” (my mother liked it better).

I don’t recommend that you use a fake organization, a fake study, or take information out of context or exaggerate, but if you can locate a legitimate authority or study related in any way to your product and quote it without exaggeration, you will have a powerful authority message.

Psychological Selling Trick Number 6: Greed

Greed involves taking advantage of many peoples belief that there is a secret short cut to wealth. They believe that wealthy people didn’t earn their wealth, instead they know a “secret”.

Note: I am not recommending that you use the principle of greed because it is used by unethical scammers. I’m simply informing you of it’s existence in order to make this series of articles complete.

The simplest method of using the principle of greed is the chain letter. You have no doubt received a chain letter at some point. A chain letter contains a chart specifying the massive amounts of money the recipient will get when they follow the instructions. The first instruction is to send money.

The multi-level or network marketing scheme works similar to a chain letter. The prospective recruit gets a chart showing the massive amounts of money they will receive when they join the network. After parting with their money, the victim is instructed to con their friends and relatives into joining.

Another method of using the principle of greed is the lottery or casino. The odds of winning most lotteries are about the same whether you buy a ticket or not. A casino allocates only a tiny portion of it’s customers money to winnings in order to create the illusion that the odds of winning are good. Many people don’t understand statistics. In their mind, the phrase “win a million dollars” translates
into “get a million dollars”.

Another example of the principle of greed is the business opportunity scam. We know it works because successful scammers invest millions to run business opportunity infomercials, and they make hundreds of millions in profits. They prey on people who believe there is a secret short cut
to wealth. The scammers think people who fall for their scam are stupid, lazy, and greedy, so they deserve to get ripped off.

The way to use the principle of greed is to contrive a “secret plan”. Run an ad describing how the plan requires absolutely no work to make massive amounts of money. Include a few bogus testimonials and a legitimate looking chart that shows the massive amount of money the plan will bring. Some scammers include pictures of fake checks or fake bank statements.

Never divulge any details of the plan in the ad. The prospective customer is required to send money to get the plan. The typical plan instructs the purchaser to run the same scam.

The principle of greed is very powerful. People who have been ripped of by this scam a thousand times before will, like hypnotized zombies, send you their money. They think THIS TIME they will receive the REAL secret plan.

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Resource Box:
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1. Attention

What captures a reader’s attention more than an exciting list of things that will benefit THEM? Think about the affects of starting right off with 6 of the most appealing benefits of your product or service.

A Multi Level Marketer might start a sales letter like this:

• Experience the freedom of …
• Being your own boss
• Financial independence
• Benefit 3 and so on …..

That gets their attention, and compels them to read on.

2. Interest

Here’s where we sneak in the basic facts that might otherwise be uninteresting. The nitty gritty details of the product features won’t hold the customer’s attention for long, so keep it short and sweet. Hey, it’s great that your swimming pools have filters, etc., but let’s face it… there’s not a lot of excitement going on here!

3. Desire

Whet their appetite, but give them some cold, hard logic to back up their purchase. Most consumers buy on impulse, then ask themselve whether it was the right choice. Don’t make them second guess! Preparing them to face the doubts with a solid logical reason they got the best deal for their buck might include:

• The advantages of purchasing from YOU.

• Testimonials from other satisfied customers.

• An unconditional money-back guarantee.

• A good deal!

4. Action

Order now! Hey it says move it, but it doesn’t pack the wallop of a stronger action statement like this one:

Hurry! Don’t miss out on this LIMITED TIME special offer. Call now to place an order, or visit us at www…..

Be sure to give details of how to order. Make it a part of the command… make it easy to do… provide several options.

Copyright 2005 Cutts Group, llc

There are four basic reasons why salespeople don’t make a sale.

The customer doesn’t want/need your product or service. Therefore they lack the motivation to make the purchase.

Many sales people ignore the fact they don’t want/need the product and continue to attempt to make the sale.

In this case, the sales person doesn’t adequately qualify the buyer. Not everyone you come into contact with will have a need for what you are selling. But sales people are conditioned to try to make a sale no matter what.

Asking good questions and listening carefully to the answers will solve this problem quickly. That will free up the sales person to move on to greener pastures.

The customer can’t buy. They don’t have the money.

This problem is similar to the previous reason why sales aren’t made. The salesperson has not asked the appropriate questions to qualify the buyer.

The buyer has the need, but they don’t have the money. You can’t force someone to come up with money. If it is beyond their budget, face it and try to work within their budget by finding an alternative product or be honest with them about what it will take to make the purchase. They will appreciate your honesty.

The customer can’t buy. They are not the decision maker.

If you are dealing with someone who is not a decision maker, it is because the sales person has not taken the time to qualify the individual’s role in the purchase. You need to get in front of the decision maker. In my experience, no one can make the sale for you.

If you make the presentation to the un-qualified person in the hopes that they will take the information to the decision maker, more times than not, they will not be able to close the sale for you.

The customer doesn’t understand the offering.

You haven’t made your offer clear. Or you haven’t educated them about your product. Perhaps you’ve been selling features instead of benefits to them and that makes them unclear as to how they could use your product.

Or it is a technical product and they are a non-technical individual. You have been speaking in tech-talk and they don’t want to appear ignorant, so rather than asking for clarification, they decide not to buy. After all, they don’t know how it will benefit them.

As you can see, in each of the instances, it wasn’t outside forces that inhibited the sale, it was the sales person.

To become a SuperStar Salesperson, you need to learn to evaluate your role in each and every sale. For the most part, you will find that your efforts can and should be improved. The effort is well worth it.

Margo Chevers, author of the book STOP the BS (bad service), has been providing sales and customer service seminars and consulting to a diverse cross-section of industries for the past 15 years. For information about Margo Chevers’ speaking or training schedule call (800) 858-0797 or Margo@MargoChevers.com

Whether you’re selling software or hardware, one of the biggest obstacles you will face in the sales process is convincing the buyer that your product will not negatively affect their existing system.

Lets begin by first defining the term itself, compatibility. A product is considered compatible when first, it can be added or integrated into a system without negatively affecting performance, and second that it has the capability of enhancing the system itself. The latter is obviously why companies buy compatible products; to enhance its performance.

So how do you sell compatibility to a customer? What approaches are necessary to overcome some of the obvious objections regarding quality, interference or integration?

Selling Compatibility

So how do you sell compatibility? Lets begin by understanding what the customer will think when they hear the term compatibility. The first reaction from the customer might be to immediately call into question whether it is compatible and will undoubtedly ask for proof? Even if it is compatible, the customer will think, “Why should I potential disrupt my system?” There are two ways to overcome these mental objections and sell compatibility:

Strategy 1: To say a product is compatible is the equivalent of saying, “It’ll work with your system, no problem.” The customer’s immediate reaction will be for you to provide convincing real world evidence that it won’t cause glitches or intermittent problems. Customers fear one thing more than anything else when it comes to maintaining systems, intermittent problems. These problems are the worse because they have no specific mode of behavior. They appear and then disappear for no apparent reason. Selling compatible equipment will mainly be about convincing a customer that your product will not cause intermittent problems. The only way to guarantee this is to: 1) trial the product on various systems before proposing it to a customer; by doing this you will be able to somewhat assure the customer that your company has pre-tested the product on a similar system, and 2) Begin testing the compatible product on isolated or departmental systems; this allows controlled on-site testing.

Strategy 2: Once you’ve overcome the fear factor of possible intermittent problems, the next step is to demonstrate the ease of adding this product to the system. Compatibility is synonymous with ‘easily integrate-able’. If your selling software, make sure you have an easy to navigate GUI (pronounced Goo-ee, Graphical User Interface) with simple setup Wizards. If the product is hardware, make sure your connection ports are labeled using the same iconic representations that are considered standard for the industry (e.g., USB port graphic on your computer should match the one on your product). Although this is more of a product management design issue, it is the salesperson’s job to highlight these similarities and ease of setting up the equipment. The more the customer perceives that the product is somewhat ‘standard’, the more like they are to want to go ahead with the purchase.

Selling compatibility comes down to selling the products ease of integration and that it will not compromise the integrity of the system when introduce. All of us as consumers are reluctant to buy add-ons for two specific reasons, 1) the perceived difficulty of setting it up, and 2) the fear of possible problems that may occur. We only overcome those fears when the need to upgrade moves from being perceived as a luxury (i.e., nice to have), to that of a necessity (i.e., must have). The task of a salesperson is to diminish the fear of implementation and augment the need by showing the customer the long-term benefits.

Victor Gonzalez, top motivational speaker, sales trainer and author of “The LOGIC of Success”.  For more info go to:  www.thelogicofsuccess.com or by email victor@thelogicofsuccess.com

1. Any archaic, stilted words, such as: hitherto, whereby, thereby, herein, therein, thereof, heretofore.

2. “Kindly advise.” As opposed to not kindly advising.

3. “Whereas.” Instead use “where” or “while.”

4. “Pursuant to.” This is too informal for 2004. The express expired in the 1980s.

5. “As per your request.” As per any other way…dah?  shorten to, “as requested” or “as your requested.”

6. “As of today, we are in receipt of” or “we are in receipt of.” Instead, “Today we received.”

7. “Please don’t hesitate to call.” Again a term that went out in the 1980s. Update it with, “feel free to call.”

8. “When time permits.” This is great language for a poem but not sales information. The adjective “time” doesn’t have anything to do with permit. It needs to match people.  Only people use time.

9. “Enclosed please find.” Honestly, I don’t know when this one expired, yet it did, so don’t use it.

10. “Of even date.” This one I thought went out in the 1950s and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I received not one but two sales letter with it included last week. So, I thought I would put this one for those that missed it back then.

Bonus: Yet and so — use them conservatively and only for impact. They are on their way out as well.

Catherine Franz, past managing partner, now certified life and business coach specializing in marketing and writing, Internet and infoproduct development. For other articles, and ezines: http://www.AbundanceCenter.com.