The Top 7 Sales BlundersWritten by Kelley Robertson
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5.Not being prepared. I remember calling a prospect expecting to receive his voice mail. That meant I was completely unprepared when he answered call himself. Instead of asking him a series of qualifying questions I simply responded to his questions, allowing him to control sale. Unfortunately, I didn’t progress any further than that initial call. When you make a cold call or attend a meeting with a prospect it is critical that you are prepared. This means having all relevant information at your fingertips including; pricing, testimonials, samples, and a list of questions you need to ask. I suggest creating a checklist of vital information you will need and reviewing this list before you make your call. You have exactly one opportunity to make a great first impression and you will not make it if you are not prepared. 6.Neglecting to ask for sale. I recall a participant in one of my workshops expressing interest in my book. I told him to look through it but at no time did I ask for sale. Later, I heard him express this observation to other participants in program. If you sell a product or service, you have obligation to ask customer for a commitment, particularly if you have invested time assessing their needs and know that your product or service will solve a problem. Many people are concerned with coming across as pushy but as long as you ask for sale in a non-threatening, confident manner, people will usually respond favorably. 7.Failing to prospect. This is one of most common mistakes independent business make. When business is good many people stop prospecting, thinking that flow of business will continue. However, most successful sales people prospect all time. They schedule prospecting time in their agenda every week. Even most seasoned sales professional makes mistakes from time to time. Avoid these blunders and increase likelihood of closing sale.Copyright 2004, Kelley Robertson
Kelley Robertson, President of the Robertson Training Group, is a professional speaker and trainer on sales, negotiating, and employee motivation. He is also the author of “Stop, Ask & Listen – Proven Sales Techniques to Turn Browsers into Buyers.” For information on his programs, visit his website at www.RobertsonTrainingGroup.com. Receive a FREE copy of “100 Ways to Increase Your Sales” by subscribing to his 59-Second Tip, a free weekly e-zine available at his website.
| | A Requiem for the Sales Meeting Super-JockWritten by John K. Mackenzie
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Win or Else! Myopic obsession with winning exacts a price: It atrophies psychic muscle required to sustain self-worth during rejection episodes all sales people must deal with. When winning is only option sales reps are permitted to consider, failure becomes an abhorrent personal malignancy: often perceived as a form of corporate sedition. The transgressor is branded unclean, unworthy, and unpromotable. Year-end bonus dollars, along with company-paid Disneyland trips, vanish. The convicted party's family slinks into seclusion as a scarlet F is sewn on their clothing. Decontamination and status restoration can take years. An Idea Whose Time Should Never Have Arrived During 70s and 80s superstar scenarios gave sales reps a voyeuristic view of individuality that mass marketing techniques denied them. But today's market fragmentation and lifestyle diversity no longer justify need for sales people to be force-fed surrogate achievement stories. If only way you can exemplify winning qualities is to employ paid testimonials -- transparently alien to selling, and patently impossible for your audience to attempt -- then you (and your company) have a problem. Instead, try for something your sales force can identify with. If you can't find a good internal achievement story to build on, try this one: "I'm going to tell you how I lost one of best accounts I ever had, and what it took to get it back!" In minds of your sales force, this will qualify you for beatification: above and beyond even that given unto Lou Holtz and Joe Montana. Amen. _____________________________________ Additional sales meeting monographs can be found at: www.thewritingworks.com/memos.html
John Mackenzie is a combat-qualified, self-employed, corporate communications writer/director. A 30-year veteran of conference-room script changes, he put two kids through college while underwriting dozens of Prozac prescriptions. More can be learned by visiting his website at http://www.thewritingworks.com/
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