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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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Sales Tweet #44

by Rick Baker
On Sep 16, 2010
Sales Tweet #44 You make embarrassing, little 'human' mistakes: share a personal story with a buyer today.
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
Obviously, judgment and discretion is required…and we shouldn’t overdo it. But, don’t be uncomfortable sharing some personal things with buyers. Most people like stories and many people like the personal touch. Be careful not to be too personal too quickly. And, pay attention to reactions. Does the Buyer 'clam up'...letting you know you better ease off? Does the Buyer reciprocate, sharing his or her stories with you?

Tags:

Communication: Improving Communication | Sales | Thought Tweets

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How you can improve your sales performance

by Rick Baker
On Sep 15, 2010
According to Huthwaite research, you can improve your sales performance or the performance of your sales team if you:
  1. Choose Behaviour: Identify specific actions you believe might tie in with sales success.
  2. Watch for that Behaviour during Sales Calls: how often does the behaviour happen? Keep track of the statistics.
  3. Divide Sales Calls into 2 groups: successes and failures. (Obviously, this is subjective, depending on how you define success.) Then, you will have two groups: one with the behaviour and sales success and the other with the behaviour and sales failure.
  4. Analyse Frequency Differences: if the successes outnumber the failures then the Behaviour likely is a factor of sales success.
 
In theory, that's a simple way to go about analysing and improving sales process.
 
In practice it isn't.
 
For example, Huthwaite uncovered some surprising things:
  • Most of the closing techniques taught do not work.
  • Closing techniques which work for small accounts will actually lose you business as the sale grows larger.
  • Open and closed probing questions may work for small sales but they won't work for bigger sales.
  • In major sales, objection-handling skills will contribute little to your sales effectiveness.
  • The benefit-from-feature approach to selling can be very successful for small sales but it will fail entirely with larger sales.
At Spirited, we recommend a TARMARVALPRODA process, summarized as follows:
  • Identify your company's Target Markets (typically 2 to 4 TARMARs)
  • Identify the specific Value Propositions linked to your Target Markets (1 VALPRO for each TARMAR)
  • Confirm your company's Unique Selling Proposition, also known as Differential Advantage (DA)...and sometimes called Distinct Advantage
  • Set Marketing Programs for each of your Target Markets
  • Set Sales Programs for each of your Target Markets (to maximize success these must be perfectly aligned with your Marketing Programs)
  • Set roles for and assign your Sales people in a manner that ensures their individual skills align with the requirements of selling to the different Target Markets
  • Set SMART sales goals for each sales person
  • Establish clear sales process, using multi-media communication [writing, audio-visual, etc]
  • Train your sales people regularly: help them understand how sales activity meshes with marketing activity and your company's goals. Repeat your sales training messages using different perspectives and communication media.
  • Establish sales-performance reporting process (Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Vital Sign reporting)
  • Do that sales-performance reporting in groups and one-on-one: as you do it celebrate lessons learned (whether they were learned through failure or success). Be specific. Don’t accept ambiguity.
  • Ensure your sales department has a Can-Do Culture

Tags:

Marketing | Sales

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Sales Tweet #43

by Rick Baker
On Sep 15, 2010
Sales Tweet #43 What's the best compliment a Client has paid to you during the last year? What, exactly, caused it?
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
Take the time to re-live your successes and your brightest-light moments. Work to understand the exact things you did to cause others to compliment you. Don't assume you know. Ask enough questions to make sure you know.

Tags:

Questions?: The Art of Asking Good Questions | Sales | Thought Tweets

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Sales Tweet #41

by Rick Baker
On Sep 13, 2010
Sales Tweet #41 Your Top 10 Clients: what are their proudest achievements? If you don't know then start asking today.
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
If you understand the things that cause your Clients to feel positive emotions like personal pride then you will probably find some common ground for building a relationship. Often, the Client's office provides signals: pictures of family, pictures of pets, pictures of boats or cars, diplomas and awards, etc. Some Clients are not so 'public' and do not display things. They still may enjoy the opportunity to share stories of proudest moments with you.

Tags:

Questions?: The Art of Asking Good Questions | Sales | Thought Tweets

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Sales Tweet #38

by Rick Baker
On Sep 8, 2010
Sales Tweet #38 Positive messages are twice as magnetic as negative messages. (Make the better choice)
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
We have tested positive and negative marketing messages. For example…"in these tough economic times" versus "to build for the future". We found positive messages were twice as successful as negative messages. We believe the same applies to verbal messages made during sales calls. Keep your communications on the positive side of centre. Don't badmouth your boss. Don't badmouth your products. Don't badmouth your service department. Don't badmouth your competition. Don't badmouth the economy. DON'T BADMOUTH ANYTHING!

Tags:

Attitude: Creating Positive Attitude | Sales | Thought Tweets

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Sales Tweet #37

by Rick Baker
On Sep 7, 2010
Sales Tweet #37 Record your next 'please-call-me-back' message. Does the recording 'blow you away'? (It better)
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
If less than 50% of your voice-mail messages get returned when you are cold calling then you need to figure out why you end up wasting so much of your time. Perhaps your voice-mail messages are ear-shattering or stumbling and bumbling? If you want to start this self-review process on the right foot then check out the "Talking Tom" app. That should put a smile on your face and that's a good start for cold calling.

Tags:

Sales | Thought Tweets

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