Understanding Behavior and How to Manage It

One of our three key areas to balance is what we call behavior. Behavior should not literally be how we behave, rather it's the critical habits, and activities needed to push sales forward. Logically, behaviors are things like, requests for referral’s, prospecting calls, appointments scheduled, face to face meetings held, closing sales, and any other specific activity that can be tracked and would lead up to an eventual sale and revenue.

How do you monitor your behavior? How do you determine what is the correct amount of behavior to be doing? Recently Sales Concepts invested in some new technology to help both our own organization and potentially our clients to maintain a healthy understanding of this behavior. Most salespeople need assistance when it comes to tracking and managing behavior. Accountability is often a missing link in developing the habits needed to achieve consistent success.

Do you have a realistic plan for your activity? Are you consistent with those habits? Do you know where to focus the training or management help to improve your performance? How effective are your sales tools to stay on task and how well have you structured a support system to make sure behavior happens? Ask yourself these questions or call Sales Concepts for help at 440-575-7000.

Be Wary of Our Own Assumptions

We find ourselves saying this very frequently, the job of a salesperson is to help prospects make a decision. Too often, as we are trying to get the prospect to make a decision we fall into the trap of making assumptions.

Assumptions are one of the root causes for many of the “sales nightmares” we can experience. Statements from prospects like “everything seems to be in line we just have to run it past our committee for a final ok, but you have my vote”. Or, “I am going to need a little time but I feel real confidant about what you have shown us”. We hear they are buying, but time may prove that was a hopeful assumption.

The result, we assume our contact is advocating for us, we assume that they are going to have enough horse power to push us through the committee or we assume they are telling us the truth. We may also assume that we have educated our contact to answer all of the questions that the committee might have? What if that one question we didn’t prepare our contact for is the question that the committee asks? This is called “Murphy’s Law”, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. What if we did not leave our results up to chance?

Great salespeople ask all the questions necessary to really understand the prospect’s intentions. Successful salespeople will not accept words that are not clear from their prospects. Avoid making assumptions rather get clear well understood commitments from your prospects. Before you go on your next sales call think about being wary of your own assumptions. Let us know your thoughts! Please leave us a comment.

“Three Tips for Selling Today!”

Recently we were approached by a local media staging company (that shall remain nameless) to quote us on an upcoming event that we will be having in March. The salesperson was well spoken and articulated very well what she and her organization would be able to do for our company. However, this salesperson missed these three very important tips that we would like to share with you.

First, (this is by far one of the most important steps) set an agenda for the meeting. What is the reason for getting together? What is the discussion going to entail? What should the prospect have prepared for the meeting? So many sales people go into meetings with a ton of mutual mystification. They assume that what they are going to present is what the prospect is looking to see.

Second, get your prospects talking. Salespeople generally love to talk about the product or service that they are selling. Resist the urge. You may have heard the saying before, “ask questions, better yet ask open ended questions”. The way to ensure the question is open ended is to begin with an interrogative, Who, What, Where, When, Why or How. If you are starting your questions with anything else you are probably getting very short answers.

Lastly, get a clear understanding of what your next steps are. So many times salespeople will leave meetings with an idea of what next steps are; unfortunately they learn later that their idea of next steps and their prospect’s idea of next steps are not close to the same. Far too often the salesperson thinks they are moving closer to a deal and the prospect is just glad the meeting is over!

Want to learn more! Control your sales calls by calling (440)575-7000.

Are You Easy to Do Business With?

It is an interesting question, not just from a customer service perspective but every aspect of doing business. Do you make it easy for your customers, and even prospects, to do business with you? Many successful companies and individuals have determined it may be largely about managing expectations.

For example, when someone calls your voicemail, do they have a sense of when you're going to be available, or do they just leave a message hoping you're going to call them back? When you call and leave somebody else a voicemail, are you clear when you are available for a return call?

Do people within your organization make it easy to do business with your customers? For example, if someone were to call and ask for you, are they told no, he's not in, would you like his voicemail? Or do they say, sorry he's not available, but is there something I could help you with?

At every layer of the customer/prospect relationship, there are a multitude of opportunities to make it easy to do business with you. When they're sitting in your lobby, does your receptionist ask "Do you need to go somewhere else after this meeting?" "Or do you need directions to your next meeting?" When talking with colleagues, do you recommend books, or do you give them to the client? Do you say you ought to go check out this web site, or do you copy and paste it into an e-mail and send it to them saying here's the web site I was telling you about?

Success in sales is often determined by what you do and how far you exceed the customer's expectations. What little things are you doing to make it easy to do business with you? Ask yourself that question or call Sales Concepts at 440-575-7000 for help with some new and different ideas.

"Don't Beg, Get Invited In!"

Unfortunately, the pressure on salespeople to get in front of prospects can be overwhelming. As a result, most salespeople will do or say almost anything to win an appointment, even beg.

Lines such as, “I am going to be in your area on Wednesday morning and I just want to drop off some information” or “Is Tuesday morning or Thursday afternoon better for you” have become all too common.

What is the result? Salespeople continually arrive at their destination and find the prospect is not in, or refuses to see them. Even when the prospect graces us with their presence they are often short and disinterested. Are we there for the wrong reason?

Successful salespeople have learned how to help the prospect discover they need to see them. Unless your prospect really needs your product or service, unless they have a real problem, should you even spend the time?

Think about this before you make your next sales call, or ask for help from Sales Concepts at 440-575-7000.

'When to Close?"

Many salespeople have attempted to master the art of “closing”. What should be said, how do you say it, and most importantly when is the right time to try and close.

Unfortunately, many salespeople are missing the point. The problem is never when to close…it is whether ot not the prospect is ready to be closed.

First, does the salesperson even know the real reasons why the prospect wants to buy?

Second, has the salesperson heard the budget his or her prospect is ready to spend, and is it enough to afford their product or service?

Finally, can the salesperson clearly articulate how, when, and by whom this decision is really going to be made?

When you have established all three of these criteria, then and only then is it time to start closing. Once your prosect has commited to make a decision, show them how your product or service will fill their needs and they will often close themselves.

Remember, get an answer to all these questions, then you will know, “When to Close”. Think about this before your next sales call, or ask for help from Sales Concepts at 440-575-7000.

“Sales Success Triangle”

What does it take to be successful? First, what is success? Success is one of those terms that could mean many things to various people. Often, it is associated with money and material things…suffice it to say, you are successful if you are among the best at what you do.

That being said, how do you become a successful salesperson? The key word is balance. Successful salespeople have mastered equal amounts of Behavior, Attitude and Technique. Picture a triangle with three equal sides, the minute one leg of the triangle gets shorter the space inside is reduced dramatically. In the same way salespeople need equal amounts of all three key components.

Behavior is doing the things that generate sales, every day. Top salespeople know exactly how much behavior needs to be done daily, monthly and even annually to reach their goals. Good examples of Behavior may be dials, walk-ins, contacts, appointments, referrals and sales. Make sure you know what to track and how many are needed daily.

Attitude sounds like a simple concept, stay “positive”. A positive attitude is really only masking the true issue. Great salespeople effectively control the Attitudes or feelings they have about so many different pieces of their life. To be successful you need the correct Attitude about things like, your product or service, your company, your clients and prospects, your competition, and the economy as a whole. Unfortunately, many miss the most important Attitude of all…how you feel about yourself.

Technique is the manner in which you carry out sales. That is, what you say, who you say it to and how you say it. Technique also gives you skills to escape difficult situations, or control meetings and conversations. Technique is having a systematic approach to the sales process, so you always know exactly what to do next. All these skills are demonstrated in such a way that your prospects feel like you have their best interest in mind…that is great Technique.

Success comes with a constant balance within your ”Sales Success Triangle”. Think about this before your next sales call, or ask for help from Sales Concepts at 440-575-7000.