Old School Sales Techniques Are Out of Here!

Post in Online
August 24th, 2010
 

Taking clients out to lush and lavish dinners, sporting events or nights on the town. Working 4 hour days and spending the rest of the afternoon on the golf course with your favorite client. A little wooing and the client would be wrapped around your finger and your goal would be met for the month. Ah, those were the days.

It may exist somewhere, but good luck finding that job. Times have changed. More competition and tighter budgets make the sales process more challenging. Clients who are too busy during the day to golf and would rather be home at night with their families than at a baseball game with you.

It used to be that if you had a gregarious personality and plenty of confidence, you were guaranteed success in sales. While these qualities will still help you tremendously, being successful in sales takes so much more.

Take a look at these suggestions and you might just find that making some of these changes to your strategy will help you grow your sales in an economy that hasn’t seen much growth!

First, be aware of your competitors, their products and their prices. This will allow you to start off with a more competitive proposal. Leave room for negotiation, but know that if you aren’t competitive to begin with, you might not have a chance to negotiate. Price and value DO matter!

While the dinners and sporting events might be a rarity with customers, do attempt to create a personal relationship with your clients. Just be sure to add a personal touch to moments that they will remember. Send a small gift for your client’s wedding or birth of a child. A card on their birthday. A little thoughtfulness will go a long way in building a relationship. It simply isn’t going to guarantee the sale.

Include added perks in your business proposal. Do not simply sell them the product they are looking for, but show them some VALUE. Include something extra. For example, I work in publishing and I might try to bundle together some print advertising with web advertising and throw in a list rental to show them the overall value. My spouse works in business technologies and may throw in a free used fax machine or printer to enhance the value of his proposal.

Finally, be sure to provide continued service to your customers. Often times, even with the best of intentions, we get busy and once the sale is done, we do not speak to our clients again until it is time for them to buy. If you need to flag them in your calendar to stop in once a quarter, do that. Do whatever it takes to keep you organized and keep you in the forefront of your client’s mind when it comes time to buy again.

With a little more work, research, organization, and aggressive selling practices, you’ll be just as successful as ever.

How to Build a Picture With Your Customer

Post in Online
January 22nd, 2010
 

There’s one thing I know–if your customer can’t picture themselves with the product you’re selling, you won’t sell the product to that customer. But how do you you build a picture with your customer so that they envision themselves using the product you’re selling? There are several different ways to help them see the big picture. If possible, allow them to try the product, or to sample it. If you’re going door to door selling knives, be sure to let the customer try the knives and compare them to their own cutlery. Why? This allows them to see themselves using the product every day. However, it’s not always possible to give the customer the opportunity to try out what you’re selling. When this is the case, more than anything else you need confidence. This doesn’t mean that you shove what you’re selling in the customer’s face. Let the words you say paint a picture for your customer so that they can see that what you’re selling is what they need.

If you don’t believe in what you’re going around selling people, they’ll be able to tell. So try asking yourself why you would buy what you’re selling. Think of all the different reasons, and then figure out why this particular customer would want to buy what you’re selling. By the two of you figuring out together why the customer needs your product, you’ll not only find that the customer will want to buy what you’re selling, but you’ll feel great selling it to them, and not just because of your commission. You’ll know that you helped make their life just a little easier, a little more convenient, and maybe a little more fun.

The point is this—once they’ve got the picture, you’ve got the sale. Just work with the customer to help them see why they need the product.