Training Tuesday:Tips for a Great First Impression

The initial approach to a prospect is the most crucial part of the sales presentation.  All the selling skills in the world won’t matter if you don’t get your foot in the door. First impressions are lasting impressions. You can’t win everyone over with a single script designed to handle the first few minutes. Below are some of our top tips for the initial approach.

1.Believe in yourself. If you don’t believe you can win the prospect’s confidence, you’ll self-destruct in the opening moments of your first sales call. You also must believe in your company and the services you sell. If you don’t have a belief in your services, how can you expect your prospect to believe in what you’re offering?

2. Develop and maintain a positive attitude. Give the prospect a nice, warm, genuine smile. Show that you appreciate their time and willingness to meet with you. Be sincere. Sincerity wins customers – insincerity loses customers and prospective customers.

3. Be professional. Dress professionally and maintain a clean appearance. Shake hands firmly, but don’t overdo it. Make an impression of strength and steadiness, but don’t use an obnoxious amount of force, or shake for an overly long time, as that can make the prospect uncomfortable. Part of this consistent and professional front is also being prompt. Lateness tells the prospect you don’t respect his or her time.

4. Be likeable. Be conversational and use humor early. Likeability is the key to building a connection with your prospect, and that will help you make more sales.

5. Qualify the buyer early, preferably before your first face-to-face meeting. Know the prospect’s industry and business before you make the call. It is important that you know who the decision maker is and make your presentation to

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Training Tuesday:Tips for Stress Management

Selling offers more highs and lows than most other professions. Most salespeople suffer through periods of stress that are direct results of their sales jobs, but salespeople who succeed in the long run never let disappointments get the best of them. They know rejection goes with the territory and learn not to take it personally and instead, they view mistakes and failures as lessons that will help them improve. On the other hand, some very promising sales careers have died premature deaths due to stress. Stress sometimes causes sales people to lose confidence and then fill their day with nonessential activities and hide from their customers or prospects. We’re also faced with lots of rejection on our daily search for success. If you dwell on the negatives, they’ll bury you. You have to lighten up and look for ways to lessen the stress caused by your job.

Below are our top 10 tips to reduce stress:

1.Focus. Focus on what’s truly stressful to you about a situation and why – the idea being that understanding the stress lessens it and gives you some control over it.

2.Put stressful situations in perspective. Is this situation going to matter in 1, 5, or 10 years? If not, try to worry about it in the current time. Don’t allow the problem to feel bigger than it is, and remember that at the end of the day, it is just work.

3. Establish boundaries. Postpone thinking about problems until an appropriate time. Successful people learn how to compartmentalize their thinking. It is important to establish healthy work-life boundaries and stick to them. Don’t allow a stressful moment at work to ruin your off time.

4. Take a deep breath. Size up stressful situations and decide which are worth worrying about. Techniques like meditation or other mindfulness exercises can have a powerful effect on stress levels and general mental health.

5. Take vacations and occasional time off. Having a break from the stresscan allow you to recharge and feel more emotionally or mentally ready to tackle the challenges at work.

6. Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself. Your reaction to a situation is just as powerful as the situation itself, and your reaction and attitude have an enormous impact on your overall mental health and wellbeing.

7. Talk to others about job pressures.  Talking to others who have been in your situation can be cathartic and help you discover new techniques to manage the stress or can just provide a change in attitude that can help put the stress in perspective. It can also be helpful to talk to your supervisor, as they may be able to offer advice or help with a particularly stressful situation.

8. Expect the unexpected. Allow time and reserve energy to deal with the inevitable stressful events that occur daily.

9. Do something for yourself. Take a break from the constant push to be productive and take a walk or enjoy a cup of coffee without constantly refreshing your email. Make the effort to find something small that you can do each day to create a peaceful moment for yourself.

10. Volunteer or do something in the community that is rewarding to you.

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Training Tuesday:Handling Unhappy Customers

Even the best company, with the best service, will occasionally make mistakes. What matters most is how you handle the situation when issues arise. Your response to a crisis or to your customer’s unhappiness can make or break your relationship with that customer.  Below are some of our top tips to best help a dissatisfied customer.

1. If there’s a crisis, make sure you inform the customer as soon as you can – they’re going to find out one way or another – and no news travels as swiftly as bad news. Contacting them first allows you the opportunity to set the tone and break the bad news in the most productive way possible. This also allows you to maintain control of the situation and offer ways that you’re already willing to help fix their issue.

2. Listen first, react second. You can’t solve the problem if you don’t fully understand it. Listening to the customer also makes them feel understood, and that you care for them. If your customer approaches you with a complaint, don’t interrupt. Don’t become defensive or make judgements until you’ve heard all the facts as the customer sees them. Take them seriously, even if it seems trivial to you, and try to empathize with them.

3. Apologize sincerely. A sincere apology will go a long way with most customers. A simple, but genuine apology can prove that you’ve really listened to them, and you understand how frustrating or upsetting the situation is for them, and you’re going to try to remedy it.

4. Find a way to fix their problem that also works for you and your company. There’s no point in playing the “blame game,” because the customer has already decided to blame you and your company, which means it’s time to take responsibility for the problem and solve it. Let your customer suggest solutions or alternatives. Find out their expectations for a solution and follow that if it is reasonable.

5. After resolving the initial situation make sure to follow up. You should always follow up with the customer to make sure that they are truly satisfied with your efforts and the resolution. It can also be nice to do a little something extra for your customer. It shows that you recognized that they were inconvenienced and you’re acknowledging that with something tangible.

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Training Tuesday:Tips for Cold Calling

Cold calling can be intimidating, frustrating, and uncomfortable. It is important to remember that you aren’t trying to make a sale via this first cold call – your only objective on a cold call is to schedule an appointment.  Never attempt to sell at this stage.  The purpose of the initial call is to set up a time for the prospect to hear your presentation. Then when you have that official presentation, you can begin the sales process. It is important to remember that this cold call is your chance to make a great first impression with your prospect – and without it, you may not get the follow up appointment that you need. Below are some tips to make the cold calling process easier and more productive.

  1. Research, research, and more research. Know the decision maker’s information and how you obtained the lead. Never call a prospect without knowing his or her name in advance. Also make sure that you know enough about their company to be confident in your ability to help them. Research the best time to contact your prospects – this can help you ensure that your call will be answered and that the prospect will give you the proper amount of time and attention.
  2. Assume control of the conversation but remain polite and friendly. Practicing a script of sorts can be helpful with this as it allows you to have specific talking points and plans for redirecting the conversation where you want it to go.
  3. Speak with conviction. You have to believe that you and your company can help your customer. Be well prepared with answers to common questions and objections. Make sure that your tone of voice is confident, friendly, and engaging.
  4. Focus on your call. Many people are reluctant to dedicate the proper amount of time to cold calling, but setting aside time to practice what you will say on the call, and then designating distraction-free time for the calls themselves is a great way to improve your success with cold calling.
  5. Keep your goal in mind. The cold call is an unavoidable part of the sales process, but it is also a crucial tool for getting an appointment with a qualified prospect that will lead to a sale. When you are making calls, set goals for yourself for how many calls you’ll make in that time frame. Remember how this task contributes to your overall goals for the day, week, or year and use it to motivate you on each call.

It’s a matter of how you see and carry yourself.  You must always keep in mind that your objective is not to leave the decision in the hands of a third party screening the prospects’ calls.  Your prospect’s decision on who they trust to ship their goods is one of the most important decisions they make. Be persistent.  Make sure they get the opportunity to enjoy the benefits that only you can sell them.

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Training Tuesday:Defining and Providing Great Customer Service

Clients expect service, but agents, salespeople, and clients often have trouble defining “service”.

Driving across town to deliver donuts often gets listed as a service call.  Dropping in to see how things are going often appears on weekly call reports as service.  To some sales agents, service is what they do when they don’t feel like selling.  Service can be a way to put off more important activities.  Servicing your customer is very important.  Just be careful.  Don’t use service calls as a way to convince yourself that you’re selling.  A service call should have definable objectives.

One problem with service calls is that there’s very little short-term reward for doing it.  Few agents or sales managers greet returning salespeople at the end of the day with, “Did you provide great service to your clients today?”  Instead, managers ask, “Who did you sell today?” There’s more financial reward for, and more attention paid to selling than to servicing.

         Let’s define SERVICE as anything that builds trust and confidence in you, your company, and the services you provide to the customer. The following is a list of potential customer service and contact ideas that are specific and measurable. You can use this list to plan what you will do right after you make the sale.

  1. Write thank you notes.  I sometimes write as many as 10 thank you notes per day.  I’ve made sales calls where I’ve seen my handwritten notes on my clients’ desk months later.  Carry cards in your car and fill them out at the end of the call while still in the customer’s parking lot.
  2. Bring coffee and donuts.  It’s cheaper than buying lunch, and most of the time easier for your client.  Get stickers to put on the box with the logo and your agency’s telephone number.  This gives you a dozen chances to register name awareness.  It helps to be known by many people in the organization from the boardroom to the breakroom.
  3. Help clients with long-term planning and strategizing.  Offer to participate on a project planning team.
  4. Return all phone calls immediately.  The simple act of returning a phone call can differentiate you from the competition.
  5. Establish a follow-up schedule.  Remember that last month’s no may be this month’s yes.  Try to touch base with prospects regularly without being intrusive.  Also, group prospects according to when you expect them to buy (within 30 days, within 60 days, etc.).  Consider their unique shipping cycles.  Is their product seasonal?  Do they have a contract expiring soon with another carrier?  When will they accept bids?  The sooner you expect a prospect to buy, the more frequently you should stay in touch.  Design a follow-up contact calendar to help you keep track of your prospects and the contacts you make with them.
  6. Vary your modes of contact.  A call or email will have more impact if it’s reinforced with another form of contact.  Follow phone calls with an email outlining the highlights of your conversation and confirming any action steps your prospect approved.  Call your prospects and current customers within a week after you send an email to confirm receipt and offer to discuss any questions or issues they may have.  Personalize your method of contact and show your customers that you’re persistent in your desire to help them.
  7. Send literature sparingly.  Withholding literature selectively keeps your service information (late pick-ups, customized billing, early delivery, etc.) customized for each individual prospect.  Use your customers’ requests for information to gauge their level of interest in your service.
  8. Make buying fun.  Selling doesn’t have to be all serious business.  Relax; show them you’re at ease with what you’re doing.  Adopt an energized, off-the-wall approach to show your customers you’re a forward-thinking, innovative go-getter.  You don’t have to sacrifice professionalism to make buying an energizing, enjoyable experience that will keep your customers coming back.
  9. Most importantly, do what you promised, do it when you promised, and do it more often than the competition. Constant communication is the key to building a lasting relationship with customers and prospects.  You must stay in touch.
  10. Many customers are suspicious of freight salesmen.  They think that we’re there at the time of the sale but not when they need us if something goes wrong.  Many people get buyer’s remorse.  Soon after the sale they think, “Did I make the right decision?  Maybe I should have chosen someone else.” When they get that follow-up email or phone call, or they experience the other customer service techniques discussed here, it makes them think, “Yes, I made the right decision.”

So start today— Make service an integral part of your sales strategy.

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Training Tuesday:Managing Objections

If it weren’t for objections everybody would be in sales. While none of us likes objections, we must accept them as part of the business and make sure we know how to overcome them.

Your main goal when faced with an objection is to turn the objection around into a reason to purchase our service.

“Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman, not the attitude of the prospect.” – W. Clement Stone

People love to buy but hate to be sold. Objections are inevitable. Not only should you expect objections, you should welcome them. You should view an objection as a positive part of the sales process. A purchasing VP who gives you an objection is listening closely. They’re considering buying your service to solve their transportation problems. And most importantly, their objection gives you an opportunity to answer the objection and add one more good reason why they should buy from you now.

Expect objections, but never create them. Prepare a list of the top ten objections your customers and prospects have had with all their motor carriers in the past and then prepare two or three appropriate responses to answer each one.

When faced with an objection, first restate the question or statement.

  • “The rates are too high?”
  • “You feel your service is too slow?”
  • “You’re worried about damage?”
  • “You wish we offered next day service to Cleveland?”

Give the prospect an opportunity to confirm your understanding of his objection, and hopefully your prospective client will give additional reasons for his or her objection.

Clarify the objection.

  • “I’m curious why you feel that way?”
  • “Could you be more specific, please?”
  • “Do you need more information?”

Remember this is not a contest. Nobody should win or lose. This should be a conversation where two people are answering questions and gathering information.

After you’ve re-stated the question, and clarified the objection, and you’re sure you understand the objection fully, then answer it. Don’t just handle your customer’s objections, instead answer them. Answer the objection head on, honestly, simply, and succinctly. Handle objections early and often. A direct approach to handling objection guarantees greater sales results.

When possible, let prospects answer their own objections. Sometimes you can stop an objection in its tracks by asking, “Could you tell me why you feel that way?” If your prospect can’t answer, then you and the prospect know the objection has little or no validity. If your prospect does answer with a more specific objection, you have a chance to eliminate it and move one step closer to the close.

Buying decisions are risky for your prospects. Choosing the wrong carrier can be harmful to the prospect’s career. Objections are the only way they have to help make sure that risk will pay off for them. If you can eliminate those objections, you’ll help provide the reassurance they need to say yes.

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Training Tuesday:Value Added Selling

There are more and more salespeople who have adopted a value-added approach to sales as a means to differentiate themselves from competitors, but few of them put a real dollar value on the value-added benefits and services they provide.

Don’t forget, all benefits are claims, which means they are largely intangible and often difficult for your customer to grasp. When presenting value-added benefits, the proof of their value is even more intangible. The customer is usually not seeking it or paying for it and may not even realize that they exist. However, identifying value-added benefits often requires a number of resources or services. A salesperson must make the value-added benefit as concrete and tangible as possible, and then present it effectively, in a way that decision-makers both understand and appreciate it.

HOW TO QUANTIFY VALUE-ADDED BENEFITS

With a bit of creativity and some number-crunching, a salesperson should be able to quantify most value-added benefits. Also, while all value-added benefits should be presented and reinforced – including benefits that are difficult to quantify, like relationships and trust – quantified benefits are more visible and leave a positive and lasting impression with the customer. Here are some pointers on quantifying these benefits.

  • Start with the value of the benefit. If the benefit cannot be measured in specific terms, try to compute the cost of the service that provides the value-added benefit. For example, your company provides its customers with a customer portal (value-added service), and while the entire transportation department at the customer location can now easily access specific shipment information in one location (invoices, POD’s, other shipment related paperwork), instead of making multiple calls to carriers to check on the status of a particular shipment, there’s no way of measuring how much this has contributed to their bottom line. However, with research you can determine that the portal, based on the number of shipments and confirmation calls required prior to offering that service, will save the customer four hours per week.
  • Measure value in bottom-line dollars. Think in terms of profit increases, reduced overhead, increased productivity, and so on. As an example, it’s more effective to say, “If you follow my inventory suggestion, you’ll be able to generate a $10,000 annual return on the space saved,” than it is to use the less effective statement, “You’ll be able to find a more productive use for the 3,000 square feet saved by the inventory reduction.”
  • Link value-added services or benefits to make a more sizable benefit. Keep this in mind when quantifying the total value-added contribution. Measure values individually but link them to increase the total amount of the benefits accruing to the customer.
  • Project the values over a longer period of time. Obviously, if a value-added benefit has a life cycle of six months or isn’t enhanced over time, you’re limited. However, if you provide ongoing benefit to the customer, you have earned the right to value it over a longer period of time. Many salespeople project value over a period of one to three years. Use common sense to choose a time period appropriate to the specific value-added benefit. For example, it’s more effective to say, “We estimate that our just-in-time service will allow you to save $8,000 a year in inventory costs,” than it is to say, “Our JIT service might help you save up to $150 per week.”

Value-added summary

1. All value-added benefits provide value to the customer, and most values can be quantified.

2. When quantifying value, the ideal method is to measure the benefit. If this can’t be done, quantify the cost of providing the service (what it costs your company to provide this benefit).

3. If more than one value-added benefit, service, or resource is involved, link them by adding or multiplying as needed.

4. To maximize the value, project the benefits over the long term.

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Training Tuesday:Tailoring Your Sales Presentation

Be sure to focus your presentation – but only after you spend a considerable amount of time on the fact-finding and consultative selling components of the sales process. Thorough research and questioning should give you an idea of your prospect’s logistic problems and the solutions you can provide. Tailor your presentation to suit each individual company and focus your presentation on the benefits—not features, that you can offer. Before making the presentation ask yourself: what kind of presentation will convince the prospect to buy (analytical? logical? emotional?), then model your presentation to match them.

Know your audience. Take the time to make sure that all the important decision-makers are in attendance. When possible, be sure to include the traffic manager, purchasing manager, maintenance supervisor, VP of sales, and anybody else involved in the final decision. Include the CEO or President of the company whenever possible. Be sure you know their level of expertise about the transportation industry, your company, and their company’s shipping needs. This allows you to use terminology appropriate to the attendees’ knowledge of the transportation industry.

If you’re using printed presentation materials, make sure you have a packet or folder for everyone who will be in attendance. A printed packet can be very helpful as a selling device because it gives some tangible representation of the intangible services you are selling.

Even in your sales presentation you must remember to be a good listener. Being a good listener generates confidence and demonstrates sincerity in your desire to understand the prospect’s needs. During the fact-finding session, let the prospect talk as long as they want. It’s simply a matter of respect for the other person to let him have his say. Unfortunately, too many transportation salespeople forget to extend this basic courtesy during their sales presentation. Listening can’t be emphasized enough.

Most salespeople who are successful in our industry are strong supporters of concept selling. Consequently, each devotes a major portion of their presentation to securing agreement on the need that their particular transportation solution fills before specifically focusing on the nuts and bolts of how they move the prospect’s freight. We sell an intangible service, so we can’t actually give a demonstration (you can’t physically take the prospect along with their shipment on a truck from their dock to the consignees dock – you can only describe what happens). The product we sell is nothing more than a promise – a commitment to the customer to move his or her freight when we said we would, at a reasonable price, with no damage.

Psychologically, the most memorable parts of sales presentations are the beginning and the end, so they deserve special attention. Engage the prospect from the beginning and get to the point quickly with an imaginative opening that showcases the most important benefits of using your services. Use your conclusion to summarize the key points of your presentation. As you plan it, ask yourself what lasting impressions you want to leave your prospect with when you finish.

“It’s not your customer’s job to remember you. It’s your responsibility to make sure they don’t forget you.”

– Patricia Fripp

Practice, practice, practice. Increase your odds of closing more sales by practicing your presentations. After you’ve made sales presentations, they become practice sessions for presentations you’ll give in the future.

Collect the ideas you’d like to suggest or selling points you want to make; then organize them according to your purpose and the needs of your prospect. Give your words greater credibility by backing them up with data or testimonials. Keep your words as simple and direct as possible; use active, not passive language; and vary your tone, volume and pitch to keep the prospect interested. Illustrate your words with examples and interesting stories to add color to your presentation.

Make sure the prospect realizes that you’re an expert. When you demonstrate how much you know about your industry, you’ll gain the respect of your customers and prospects. When people believe they’re dealing with an expert it’s a lot easier to close the sale. Most customers want you to advise them. When they realize that you have a great knowledge of the transportation industry and of available carriers, then they’re happy to let you take control. You become their consultant. It’s when a salesperson doesn’t know as much about the transportation industry as his or her prospect that people resent a strong sales presentation. However, there’s no doubt that traffic and purchasing people are better informed today than they’ve ever been.

The best way to make a compelling sales presentation is by demonstrating that you’re an expert in your business as well as his. When you exemplify excellence in your sales presentation, the customer is eager to find out what you can do to offer solutions to his or her particular transportation problems.

To make the best presentation possible, you must have conviction in the services you’re there to sell. A customer instinctively knows whether you believe in your service. If you do, they in turn will believe in you. Only then can you make a sales presentation that turns into a sale every time.

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Training Tuesday:Improving First Impressions

The initial approach to a prospect is the most crucial part of the sales presentation. All the selling skills in the world won’t matter if you don’t get your foot in the door. If you don’t handle the situation correctly, the first impression can be the only impression!

Up front, state your name, the company you represent and the services you’re there to sell. Try not to beat around the bush – make a strong statement like, “I’d like to share an idea with you. I’m in the transportation business. I’m assuming that you’re always looking for ideas that will help your company ship or receive goods in a way that will make your company more efficient, more service driven, and more profitable. I’d like to run some ideas by you.”

This statement is a big attention-getter and opens the door. It creates immediate interest. Of course, you then have to substantiate your statement with an excellent sales presentation.

Early in your initial meeting be sure to mention the names of several of your satisfied customers. This is done to establish credibility. It lets the prospect know that your solutions have benefited leading logistic decision-makers that came to the well-informed decision to trust you and your ideas. Make it a point to discuss other customers in their industry who are working in similar environments. When you speak about familiar customers who have found the solutions to similar shipping problems through your services, you’ll get the prospect’s immediate attention.

If you know beforehand that the prospect knows little about your company and nothing about yourself, it can pay off to send a short bio-sketch and a few magazine and newspaper articles that have featured your company. Providing something tangible to the prospect can add a new dimension to the relationship.

There are too many freight sales reps in the U.S. today to even come up with an accurate number. I think it’s important for your prospect to know about your qualifications. Tell the prospect about yourself. No grandstanding or patting yourself on the back, just an informative look at your career and the customers you’ve helped. It lets the prospect know that he’s dealing with a professional. It tells him that he’s not dealing with the run-of-the-mill freight rep. In the transportation business there are two kinds of sales people: those who add value to the client’s traffic department, and those who seem to mishandle every shipment or transaction their company is involved with (late, damaged, billed incorrectly, etc.). Let the customer know early on that you fall into the first category.

Of course, when the moment of truth arrives, you’ll have to find the best way to make a good first impression. Take into consideration the particular dynamics of your prospect’s age, position, and gender in comparison with your own. Accommodate and welcome the differences.

Every prospect will react differently to what you have to say. Some prospects will give you all the time in the world, while others believe making time for a ten minute meeting threatens a crisis. Some are skeptical, while others are freethinkers who pride themselves on being open to new ideas. The point is you can’t win everyone over with a single script designed to handle the first few minutes.

Usually there is an advantage to begin an exchange by focusing on your own observations and experiences. Doing so takes some of the pressure off of the prospect, who’ll be expecting you to try to “draw him out.”

You can always find something that will serve as a positive conversational starting point that has to do with the way your prospect has chosen to decorate his or her surroundings. It may sound corny, but it’s a fact, people say a lot about themselves in the way they decorate their offices.

First impressions are lasting impressions. By using the advice in this chapter you‘ll put the customer at ease and give them confidence in your ability to handle their demanding logistic needs. In the process, you’ll develop a lot of new customers and lasting friendships.

“The better your relationships the shorter your sales cycle and the more money you will make.”

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Training Tuesday:Consultative Selling & Fact Finding

Consultative selling has many advantages and can be a very effective sales technique. But this type of selling can have a negative impact on some salespeople. Some sales reps visit a customer two or three times, ask them every question they can think of except the most important question of all – asking the customer to buy their service.

If on the second call you don’t ask for the shipper’s business, it then becomes a social visit and not a sales call. You can and should qualify the customer and re-visit their needs on a regular basis. If they’re qualified to buy and you don’t offer your help, then you’re doing them a disservice. On the other hand, if you keep calling on a customer who’s not qualified, you’re stealing time and money from yourself. Be sure after you’ve made a consultative sales call that you follow up by asking for their business.

Treat all your sales work as a consulting assignment. Consultative selling turns salespeople into experts and clients into partners. When you first meet the prospect take your “sell” sign down for the majority, if not all, of your first call.

The best salespeople are professional problem solvers. We’re in the business of solving transportation problems. But you have to know and understand the problem first before you try to solve it. You have to be willing to walk in the door without any preconceived notions as to how best to solve the problems identified.

Since you sell to other companies, you should consider yourself in the business of solving profitability problems. That’s the key concern you’ll ultimately be addressing – how to increase profitability. Everything you do should eventually lead to the goal of the clients’ company increasing its level of profitability. If you can’t break your sales efforts into solutions that help the customer, you’ll either base your sales on manipulating others or fail to persuade prospects that you’re offering anything of value.

On every sales call, be the student, because you really are. In real estate, they say it’s all in the location. In transportation sales it’s questions, questions, and more questions. You’ll be surprised and sometimes shocked at what a customer will tell you.

Not only is the consultative sales approach effective in finding the correct sales solutions, it’s also very helpful in eliminating people who are not potential customers, thus saving you time in the long run.

Even though it’s okay to call an initial visit with a customer a qualifying call, don’t only make the call to qualify. Make the call primarily to learn.

Sales listening is patient listening. Don’t anxiously wait for an opportunity to jump in and solve all the customer’s problems right away. After I ask a question I shut up and allow my prospect to speak. Sometimes I wait for several minutes. I don’t feel threatened by the silence. Most salespeople can’t stand a pause in the conversation. Take a deep breath, relax, and listen. Some prospects want to be listened to more than they want their problems solved. If a client or prospective client has had a bad day, let them talk about it. Don’t try to stop them.

“Pretend that everyone you meet has a sign around their neck that says MAKE ME FEEL IMPORTANT. Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.” – Mary Kay Ash

Transportation salespeople who have been in our industry for a long time should re-visit how they qualify and maintain accounts. It’s easy to start believing that you possess all the answers. Too often we make assumptions based on outdated information. Visit accounts often and ask questions. You never know what changes might have taken place since your last call until you ask.

Take notes! Taking notes during your meeting with the prospect can be one of your most powerful sales tools. It will reinforce the reason you made the appointment in the first place: to learn more about the prospect and his company’s transportation needs.

Taking notes helps you listen. There’s something about holding an empty notepad in front of you that makes you pay better attention to what is being said. It also makes it more difficult to miss important points.

Taking notes puts you in a position of authority. You can also glance at notes and questions you prepared prior to making the sales call. Taking notes will also encourage the prospect to open up. Taking notes sends strong positive signals to the prospect. It says, “I’m listening to you. I won’t forget. I’ll use the information you’re giving me to find solutions when I get back to my office.”

It’s a fine line between asking questions that will help the prospect solve their transportation problems, and a cross-examination. Be sure your prospect feels at ease. Be natural. The consultative sale should be a comfortable two-way conversation.

Never waste the prospect’s time. That may seem like an obvious point, but many of your competitors never know when to get to business, or for that matter, even when the appointment is over. There will come a point when the customer will be ready to move past the small talk, and usually it’s quicker than you might think. Your contact, like most of us these days, is short on time. Most traffic managers, purchasing managers, and other decision-makers you call on appreciate you getting to the point. You can tactfully do this without jeopardizing the emerging relationship.

First, give the prospect a reason he or she should answer your questions. Second, make sure everyone involved in the decision-making process is present if at all possible.

Know the questions you’re going to ask before you arrive at the customer’s desk. The list below is provided to stimulate ideas that will help you customize your own list. The information you collect from the customer’s answers will increase your chances of putting together a great proposal after you’ve made the consultative sales call.

Last, but not least, be sure to wrap up the appointment by asking for the next appointment, and by getting a positive response on a trial close. It should sound like this:

Salesperson: “Mr. Smith, I’ve learned a lot here today, and I want to thank you for taking the time to talk to me. We’re at the point now where we should set up another appointment, one where I can come back after having sorted through everything I’ve learned here, and show you more about what Sunteck may be able to do for your company. Is Thursday at 2PM okay?”

Prospect: “Sure, next Thursday at 2PM will be just fine.”

Salesperson: “Great! One last question ( pause ) if you like the program I develop for you, would you be willing to give us a try?”

OR

Salesperson: “I really appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions. Based on what I just learned, I’m confident there’s a fit between our companies and that we can definitely help you solve some of your shipping problems. I’m going to make a commitment to you to develop a customized proposal, which will include my recommendations to you and your company. What I’d like in return from you is a commitment to give us a shot. Let us prove how good we are. I’m confident you’ll be very happy! Can I get that kind of commitment from you?

“Great! I’ll need about a week to get with my team back at the office and develop a package just for you. Is this time next week good for you?”

Both of these approaches let the prospect know that when you come back for your second appointment, your sale sign will go up. It prepares them to say “yes” when you come back later and ask them to buy.

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