best practices for sales success

Program Objective

• To provide real-world, no unrealistic tips, tricks & techniques that will allow you to:

• Convert more prospects• Win more new business• Retain and grow your existing clients• Capture more market share

The Challenges

The Fundamental Truth

You must be able to demonstrate what makes you DIFFERENT, not better.

By using exquisite sales skills, you show how this difference equates to an improvement in your prospect’s situation (business or personal).

Ultimately, this improvement must be in something that they WANT.

What Makes You Different?

Old-fashioned, but True:

Benefits Are All That Matters

Prospects don’t care about features; they care about what the features can do for them.

Don’t tell them about your product or service. Tell them about how it can make an improvement in their current situation.

Emotion sells. People buy what they want and they want benefits.

There Must Be A Match

What you present must improve your buyer’s circumstances otherwise there is no need for them to say “yes” to your offer (regardless of how good it is!)

Is Your Funnel Filled?

Yes, You Must Have…

Quantity and Quality!

You must have enough prospects in your sales funnel to generate sufficient new business and revenue.

Prospect Generation

Pick Up the Phone

The Holy Grail in Cold Calling

Engage in pre-call planning. This is not discretionary!Do not bore your prospect! Think of a problem they are likely to have with their current solution/s.

The Holy Grail in Cold Calling

Get them curious about what you have to offer.Be ready for obstacles.Have a fallback position. What will you say if they don’t agree to your desired outcome?

Screening & Qualifying

Not all prospects are created equal, and in order to save time and follow-up/follow-through appropriately, you must effectively screen and qualify your prospects (proactive and reactive).

Screening & Qualifying

The “rush to meeting” can ultimately cost you time that would be better spent in other endeavors.

What?

Probing

In general, people are better convinced when they “discover” the solution on their own.

You can help them to accomplish this discovery by effective probing.

Closed-ended Probes

A closed-ended question can be answered by “yes,” “no,” or a number. They do not provide “space” for the prospect to describe a situation in their own words. These questions can close down a conversation and you must be careful where and when you deploy these probes.

Open-ended Probes

These questions usually begin with “how,” “what,” “when,” “where,” or “why”. They provide qualitative insights and are best used to draw out a prospect.

The More Questions…

The More Information!In order to present value and communicate how / why your offering is an improvement, you must engage in active probing.

Probing enables people to (eventually) buy (and not be sold!).

Probing leads prospects to see benefits and advantages.

You Will Get Pushback

Resistance and Pushback

What are some of the reasons you might get resistance from your prospects?

You didn’t present enough value and benefits.

You didn’t demonstrate an improvement over what they are currently specifying.

You are experiencing prospect inertia (inertia can often be won over by persistence).

Overcoming Objections

I understand how you feel

Several of our prospects/clients felt the same way

They found that…This is where you RE-SELL your benefits as

they apply specifically to the prospect. End the benefit statement with a controlling question.

Staying on the Grid

Persistence (not stalking)

Maintaining mind share during a lengthy sales process

Generating increased ROI from your prospecting

Use the Three I’s

The Three I’s & Staying on the Grid

Information: anything that can add value and/or be of interest (either professionally or personally)Invitations: to events, meetings, charity outings, etc. (whether or not you will be attending yourself)Introductions: to individuals that share specific synergies

What Doesn’t Work…

in Touch Point Management

Checking inTouching baseHaven’t heard from you in awhileWhat’s happening

Frequency of Touches

Depends upon the quality / potential of the prospect.

If the prospect was good enough for you to meet, they are good enough for you to stay on the grid and get closure.

Successful Sales Behaviors

Attitude for Success

Passion

Commitment

Consistency

Flexibility

Open-mindedness

Thank you

Adrian Miller Sales Trainingwww.adriamiller.com

516-767-9288

amiller@adrianmiller.com