The Top 7 Sales BlundersWritten by Kelley Robertson
The Top 7 Sales BlundersWe all make mistakes when selling our product or service. Here are most common mistakes people make. I have to admit I have made many of mistakes listed in this article even though I have been teaching this stuff for almost a decade. I hope you can learn from them. 1.Allowing a prospect to lead sales process. The best way to control sales interaction is to ask questions. This is also best way of learning whether or not your product or service meets needs of your prospect. Quality questions that uncover specific issues, problems, or corporate objectives are essential in helping you establish yourself as an expert. 2.Not completing pre-meeting research. After several weeks of voice mail I finally connected with my prospect and scheduled a meeting. Unfortunately, I entered meeting without first researching company. Instead of presenting a solution to an existing problem, I spent entire meeting learning fundamental information, which to senior executives, is a complete waste of their time. This approach is one of most common mistakes. I have received countless phone calls from sales people hawking their wares and trying to sell me ‘stuff’ I have no need for. As a sole proprietor, I do not need a complex telephone system, additional employees, or an automated payroll system. Invest time learning about your prospect before you call them and before you try to schedule a meeting. 3.Talking too much. Too many sales people talk too much during sales interaction. They espouse about their product, its feature, their service and so on. When I first bought carpet for my home I recall speaking to a sales person who told me how long he had been in business, how smart he was, how good his carpets were, etc. But this dialogue did nothing to convince me that I should buy from him. Instead, I left store thinking that he did not care about my specific needs. A friend of mine is in advertising business and often talks to prospects who initially request a quote for a specific advertising job. Instead of talking at great length about ad agency’s experience and qualifications, he gets potential client talking about her business. By doing this he is able to determine most effective strategy for that prospect. 4.Giving prospect information that is irrelevant. When I worked in corporate world I was subjected to countless presentations where sales person shared information that was completely meaningless to me. I don’t care about your financial backing or who your clients are. Make most of your presentation by telling me how I will benefit from your product or service until I know how your product or service relates to my specific situation.
| | A Requiem for the Sales Meeting Super-JockWritten by John K. Mackenzie
A REQUIEM FOR THE SALES MEETING SUPER-JOCK by John K. Mackenzie Copyright (C) 1980 All rights reservedVictory via VHS From keynote speech to laser lights, technique and technology fuse to find a re-motivated, re-dedicated, and re-energized sales force charging out of ballroom into a bright, shining world where never is heard a discouraging word, and everybody is a winner all time. How could it be otherwise? The rented videotape, featuring a famous football star, promised it would be: "Keep up that can-do attitude, team! Charge that line! Flatten your competition. Go for goal and win, win, win!" Sales meeting insertion of coaches and quarterbacks has been done so long, and so often, it's become institutionalized. And nothing, be it steroid loading, gambling raps, rape, AIDS, public urinalysis or renegade racism seems to suppress our urgent need to move locker room into meeting room. Citius, Altius, Not-So-Fortius Sales meetings (and those who write them) are never permitted to consider possibility that sales people are ever tired, discouraged, or uncertain. All reps are admonished to become relentless reservoirs of enthusiasm, commitment, and triumph. To support this directive, billions of dollars have gone (are going) into films, videotapes, and speeches designed to immunize them from such tedious concerns as doubt, hesitation, or fear. A case in point: Every few years, Go For Gold! is robotically resuscitated as a meeting theme. Millions of dollars are then hurled at presentations designed to convince sales people to emulate qualities shown by Olympic medalists. A grand idea: Were it not for fact that most of Olympic performances we admire are produced by insular mavericks. Dissident loners who sweat it out for years under conditions of fiscal deprivation and personal sacrifice no sales rep in world would tolerate for 30 seconds! Hardly congenial examples to support those consecrated doctrines of teamwork and togetherness so fervently invoked during executive keynotes. Celebrity Central Casting Superstar invocations are not limited to locker room. Presidents, statesmen, generals, admirals and astronauts have been stuffed into sales meeting presentations for decades. Often creating absurd and abrasive juxtapositions as product references and employee photos are jammed in alongside super celebrity shots. You haven't encountered great writing until you've experienced transition from General George Patton to a new laundry detergent or acid reflux pill.
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