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Training Tuesday:Increasing Sales Achievements

Posted 8 years ago

High achievers embrace new experiences more eagerly than average achievers, they leave their comfort zones more willingly, and as a result, become more familiar with the process of growing than others do. They also view the anxiety or pain involved in new challenges as a small price to pay compared to the new levels of success they enjoy in return. High achiever thinking can be learned; however, the process takes time, patience, skillful mentoring, and persistence. Below are some of our suggestions for becoming a “high achiever” in sales.

1.Find role models or mentors to help you grow. There are many more people in high places willing to give advice than there are people actively seeking advice from them. You can find a role model n those you already know or use it as an opportunity to expand your network.

2.Don’t “should” yourself. To practice a new way of thinking, begin by practicing a new way of talking to yourself that puts your thoughts in a psychologically helpful perspective. Don’t personalize or internalize a negative situation by saying that you “should” be doing better, focus instead on what you “could” be doing.

3.Increase your mental “navigation” skills. Begin imagining new possibilities, new ways of acting, new ways of overcoming obstacles or roadblocks. It is important to use imagination constructively so it will enhance your ability to deal with situations.

4.Test the reality of your thinking. Work to put things in perspective and keep unrealistic or overprotective thoughts from getting in the way of your success.

5.Face difficulties and enjoy growth. Accept the fact that in order to grow, we must face difficult experiences. High achievers accept the challenges of growing as necessary and they learn to seek out experiences that enhance their growth.

 

Implement some of these techniques, and you will find yourself growing and achieving more towards your sales goals.

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Training Tuesday:Service Calls, part 2

Posted 8 years ago

Last week, we addressed eight ways to say thanks and offer service to customers. This week we’re covering more ways to say thanks as well as some tips to increase your sales, gain market share, and ensure your customers get exactly what they deserve – the best service.

1.Surprise a customer with a small gift that relates to a known hobby or special interest of theirs. For example: golf balls, a souvenir from their home state, logo-ed gear of their favorite sports team.

2.Invite your customer to accompany you to seminars, speeches, and other business functions.

3.Return all phone calls immediately.

4.Establish a follow-up schedule. Remember that last month’s “no” may be this month’s “yes.” Try to touch base with prospects regularly, but avoid being intrusive.

5.Vary your modes of contact. Phone calls, emails, packages – all will have a greater impact if they are followed with another form of contact. Show customers that you are persistent in your desire to help them.

6.Collect leads on follow-up calls to established customers. Contact repeat customers frequently to let them know they aren’t taken for granted. If you provide good service to these customers, you shouldn’t hesitate to ask for the names of business acquaintances and others in their own company who might benefit from the services you offer.

7.Make buying fun. You don’t have to sacrifice professionalism to make buying an energizing, enjoyable experience that will keep your customers coming back.

8.Make sure internal employees are well-trained in good customer service techniques. Anyone who will have contact with customers should be trained in customer service and should be as excited as you are to provide outstanding service to your customers.

9.Never sell your customer a method of moving their freight that you don’t believe they really need. Know your prospect, know their needs, and sell to those needs.

10.Most importantly, do what you promised, do it when you promised, and do it more often than your competition.

Start today – make service an integral part of your sales strategy!

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Training Tuesday:Service Calls

Posted 8 years ago

To some sales agents, service is what they do when they don’t feel like selling. Service can be a way to putt off more important activities. Don’t use service calls as a way to pad your call report. Making service calls to your customers is very important, but remember that a service call should have definable objectives.

One problem that many have with service calls is that there’s very little short-term reward for it. There’s a much greater immediate reward for, and attention paid to selling than to servicing.

We define service as anything that builds trust or confidence that in our company and the services we provide to the customer. We’ve put together a list of services that are specific and measurable that you can use to make service a more specific part of our sales planning.

1.Write thank you notes as part of your service system. Carry the cards in your car and fill them out at the end of the call.

2.Conduct a training session for the client and their staff. Something in the sales training or customer service field is usually appreciated and it shows an interest in the customer’s success that goes beyond just the business you want from them today.

3.Schedule a visit of upper management to the client. This is symbolic but also allows your upper management team to gather information and stay connected.

4.Conduct office tours on a regular basis. Allow clients to come to the office to get a grasp of the depth of professionalism and dedication that goes into meeting their needs.

5.Throw a client appreciation party.

6.Bring coffee and donuts to their office. Get stickers that have your company logo and your contact information and put them on the box so you have many opportunities for name recognition.

7.Help clients with long term planning and strategizing efforts.

8.Send a thank you card or small gift to clients after they utilize your service for the first time. It shows you appreciate your customer and that you stay on top of the things happening at your company.

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Training Tuesday:Accelerating Sales – Part 2

Posted 8 years ago

Last week we addressed 5 of our top tips on improving sales success. This week we have 5 more suggestions for improving your success on sales calls.

1.Listen carefully. Here’s a basic rule for a successful sales presentation: Talking 50 percent of the time is too much. Instead, ask questions to direct the conversation 10 percent of the time and listen intently 90 percent of the time.

2. Ask directive questions. Memorize the 5 or 10 most pertinent questions you can ask. Make sure they are open-ended and use the answers to ask follow-up questions.

3. Remember to sell benefits. Although sales trainers have been preaching selling benefits versus features for decades, this technique is often overlooked in the heat of the presentation. If there is any one greatest selling violation, it is the failure to sell benefits. In fact, many salespeople don’t really understand what true benefits are. Be certain you do.

4. Use trial closes. You can often create these in advance of a meeting, then use as many as you need. The best trial closes are frequently open-ended questions that offer a choice and start with a who, when, why, where, or how.

5. Play the numbers game. For seasoned pros, sales is like gambling with the odds stacked in their favor. If you play it often enough, you’ll end up a winner.

If you utilize these methods, in combination with some tried and true methods you’ve perfected, you should be able to quickly accelerate your sales success.

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Training Tuesday:Accelerating Sales – Part 1

Posted 8 years ago

Almost all companies, from the smallest to those in the Fortune 100, frequently – if not continually – face the challenge of getting sales fast: next month, next week, even “tomorrow.”

Sometimes you should rely on the tried and true methods, but sometimes you should shake things up. Often the well-established selling principles may need to be shelved.

Here are some of our key tips for improving your and your company’s sales results:

1.Set clear sales objective. Determine what sales you are being asked to make in this situation and then set a strategy for getting them. Make a plan and put it in writing, even just a couple sentences will do. Refer to your plan every day and don’t hesitate to make revisions when necessary.

2.Be certain you have pre-call credibility. Proper pre-call credibility will telegraph what benefits the buyer can expect from your sales call and get him to look forward to meeting you, or to at least listen and learn about what you have to offer.

3.Make use of sales support. Use every ounce of sales and marketing ammunition available to you: telemarketing appointments, email, pre-call letters, literature, testimonials, referrals, leads, ads, etc. Test them, then use what works and discard what doesn’t.

4.Skim the “cream” of your customers, prospects, and suspects. Make a list of prospects most ready to buy. Sort them into groups and then target them in priority order.

5.Rehearse. Even if you’ve sold the same product or service for years, one or two mistakes can kill a sale. Practice, record your presentation and review, role-play with your team; practice and perfection will pay.

Check back next week for more of our top tips to quickly improve your sales success rate.

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Training Tuesday:Sales Traits Part 2

Posted 8 years ago

Last week we discussed several sales traits and the signals to improve them that you may be getting from your prospects and customers. This week we’re covering five more of these sales traits and signals.

Handling Resistance. If you’re running into a lot of resistance, the best thing you can do is work on analyzing needs and talking about benefits. When customers ask the same question over and over – even though you feel you’ve addressed it – you may be focusing on a benefit that doesn’t matter to them, and failing to find out their true concerns.

Selling Pressure. You’re coming on too strong if, when you attempt to close, customers become defensive or raise objections that seem irrelevant. When a customer starts defending a competitor they were unsatisfied with, that customer is telling you to back off. And if it seems the longer you’ve known a customer, the harder it is to get an appointment with them, the message is “stop pushing.”

Compatibility. Customers tell you you’re compatible by greeting you warmly, calling you when they think you can help them, and showing an interest in you that goes beyond “strictly business.” If new prospects quickly become unwilling to see you, customers are rude to you and keep you waiting, or customers keep calls short and straight to the point and refuse your invitations to lunch or recreational activities, be concerned about compatibility.

Trust. If customers don’t trust you, they may show it by withholding information you need, especially sensitive information such as budget constraints or involvement with competitors. They may ask you to put everything in writing or require proof, in the form of technical documentation and third-party references, of everything you say. If they’re calling the home office to check up on you, you haven’t gained their trust.

Account service. Simply put, this means getting in touch with your customers often enough to know about any changes that might impact future orders, and being available to handle little glitches before they become big ones. If you’re weak in this area, you may be getting these signals: Business from new customers drops off after the second or third order, or you lose sales to a competitor, even though you believe your product is better.

These are all important sales traits to work on and listening to the signals from your customers will help you determine your strengths and weaknesses. Improving these skills will improve your overall sales success.

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Training Tuesday:Sales Traits Part 1

Posted 8 years ago

Do you provide customers with the kind of sales and service they expect? It not, they’ll let you know about it – not directly perhaps, but through indirect messages related to each of the sales traits below.

1.Professionalism: If customers keep you waiting in the outer lobby or look at their watches while you’re talking to them, they’re commenting on your professionalism. If they seem hesitant to discuss their needs with you, or don’t return your calls, you probably have not made a businesslike impression. You have two opportunities to establish your professionalism – in the initial contact and in the way you continue to keep in touch.

2.Analyzing needs: If customers seem bored and restless during presentations because what they hear isn’t relevant to them; customers interrupt you with questions that sound impatient or brusque because they see that you don’t know enough about them to propose appropriate solutions; you lose sales to competitors, even when you’re sure your product performs better, because our competition does a better job of finding out what the customer needed.

3.Talking in benefits: If customers are truly interested in what you’re discussing, they will be attentive, and the conversation will continue after the formal meeting is over. If, on the other hand, they’re nice and polite, and ask good questions, but leave with a simple “Good presentation,” watch out! This is a sign that you probably didn’t do that well.

4.Technical Competence: If you avoid talking about the technical aspects or avoid the customer’s technical people because you’re afraid you’ll be tripped up by their questions, or if you had an easy time getting in the door but a difficult time scheduling further appointments, this is usually a sign that you are lacking in technical competence.

5.Asking for the order. If you don’t move customers towards a buying decision, or ask for their business, the dialogue and interest will fade away. Making a lot of calls, but not many sales, the prospect’s interest fading away, or leaving a sales call without feeling accomplished, are all signs that you may not be asking for the order at the right time.

Next week we’ll discuss some additional sales traits that you should already possess, and the signs you may get that signal a need to improve them.

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Training Tuesday:Fixing Sales Talk Mistakes

Posted 9 years ago

“Open mouth, insert foot.” It’s a saying used to describe what we feel happens when we say something that we should not have said because it could potentially be interpreted as inappropriate, hurtful, embarrassing for either party, or just awkward. In sales, you can occasionally say something and immediately want to take it back.

There are a few reasons this typically happens:

* We’re so excited and nervous to be talking to the customer that we get on a roll and can’t seem to stop ourselves

* We get defensive when we hear an objection – about our company, office, or service, and we rush to give an explanation

* We become uncomfortable or impatient with the silence after we ask a question, and we start speaking without waiting for an answer

* We say something we know didn’t sound right, but instead of stopping to regroup, we stumble on to the next potentially bad comment

The problem with this is that we can never fully take back those words. More importantly, we can’t predict a customer’s reaction to them.

What can you do when you’ve said something you wish you hadn’t?

  1. Offer a sincere apology. Give a genuine “I’m sorry” or “I apologize” followed by specifics of what you said or did.
  2. Use humor. With the right person and context, self-deprecating humor is helpful and almost always works.

Admitting that you did or said something wrong can be powerful in building a new customer relationship. We’re all human and we all make mistakes. Your customer knows that. Sometimes demonstrating the ability to admit your mistakes, and trying to remedy them, makes a customer want to work with you even more. It lets them know that you’ll be honest with them going forward.

We all make mistakes. Very few are fatal. Apologize when you make them. Learn from them and make it your goal to make fewer mistakes and more sales.

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Training Tuesday:Sales Listening

Posted 9 years ago

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. 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. People love to talk about themselves, their jobs, and their companies; encourage them to do so.

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 have all the answers, but you never know what changes may have happened since your last call.

Never waste the prospect’s time. There will come a point when the customer is ready to move past the small talk, and it’s usually quicker than you might think. Everyone is short on time these days and most traffic managers, purchasing managers, and other decision-makers will appreciate you getting to the point. You can do this tactfully without jeopardizing the emerging relationship.

First, give the prospect a reason he or she should answer your questions and ask for permission to proceed. The prospect always expects to answer questions and will give this permission. When you move on to the questions, make sure you are actively listening and not just mentally preparing for the next thing you are going to say.

Take notes! Taking notes can be one of your most powerful sales tools as it will reinforce the reason you made the appointment in the first place: to learn more about the prospect and their company’s needs.

Taking notes also 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 and makes it more difficult to miss important points.

Taking notes puts you in a position of authority. It encourages the prospect to open up and generally sends strong positive signals to them. It says, “I’m listening to you and I won’t forget.”

Be sure to pay attention to the fine line between asking questions and making the prospect feel that they are being cross-examined. Be natural and at ease to create a comfortable two-way conversation.

Listen, Learn, and Earn.

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Training Tuesday:Mastering the Sales Presentation

Posted 9 years ago

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 simples 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.

Lastly, get to know everything you can about the transportation business – both SunteckTTS and the competition. When you demonstrate how much you know about your industry you’ll gain the respect of your customers and prospects. When people believe they are 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. It’s when a salesperson doesn’t know much about the transportation industry as his or her prospect that people resent a strong sales approach. 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 theirs. When you exemplify excellence in your sales presentation, the customer is eager to find out what you can do to offer solutions to their 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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