| |
| |
|
Sales Training Information |
|
|
|
Sales Prospects Avoiding You?
This issue's topic on sales prospects comes in response to a question I received from a reader. Question:Five weeks ago, I had a good conversation on the phone with an important prospect in my territory. They have a need for our product and the prospect seems to acknowledge this as well. Every time I have talked to him, he has been very interested and seemingly aware of the problem in his company that our product can help solve. I sell print management and print tracking software and the prospect acknowledged that the cost of printing is an issue for his organization. Last time we talked, he indicated he needed to gather some information regarding his current operating cost (which we most likely would be able to cut) before coming in for a demo. But when I called back at the time we had agreed upon, I kept getting voicemail. I have not been able to get him on the phone and he doesn't respond to the voicemails I left either. What do you recommend I do?"When Sales Prospects Won't Take Your CallsWhen sales prospects stop taking your calls, it's never a good sign. It means one of three things: You said that this is a very important sales prospect for you. I assume that your print management and print tracking software are high ticket items for which there are a limited number of companies in your territory who can afford them. If this is true, then you should pursue it further. If on the other hand you have many sales prospects in your territory, then you should probably move on. If you choose to pursue, you need to get to someone who can make something happen. I recommend that you get your management to go over your contact's head to the executive who would be most impacted by this decision. Salespeople often get nervous about going over someone's head. We think of this as a high-risk maneuver. The risk of going over someone's head at this point is actually lower than continuing what you are doing. Right now, the prospect is not treating you as a partner - he is treating you as a salesperson that he can dump on. By going over his head, you can speed up getting to either a yes or no. Continuing to leave voicemails is only going to drag out what will then probably be a no. Call your contact first and let him know that a call will be coming in. Leave a voicemail and say something like this: "The President of my company wants to speak to all of our best new prospective customers. He'll be calling your VP on Wednesday. I thought that you would like to know before he calls. Please call me." This move alone may get you a call-back from your contact. If so, tell him that your President wants to speak to their VP because he knows that you can save their company money. Tell your contact that your President will be calling, unless you two can come up with a reason why he shouldn't at this time. This call and your President's subsequent call should shake things up and either get the deal moving forward or off your forecast altogether. Look at this way. If your sales prospects cannot get any budget money or are too busy with higher priority projects, then going to an executive gives your management the opportunity to make your case. If they are working with a competitor, then your management can position why the prospect should look at you also. If neither you nor your management can get through or get callbacks, then it's a pretty clear sign that they aren't going to do business with you. © 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved. Shamus Brown is a Professional Sales Coach and former high-tech sales pro who began his career selling for IBM. Shamus has written more than 50 articles on selling and is the creator of the popular Persuasive Selling Skills CD Audio Program. You can read more of Shamus Brown's sales tips at http://Sales-Tips.industrialEGO.com/ and you can learn more about his persuasive sales skills training at http://www.Persuasive-Sales-Skills.com/
MORE RESOURCES:
Sales-Training - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Getting Them to Buy: The Two Most Important Pieces to the Sales Pitch Why are some sales pitches more persuasive than others? Are the salespeople just naturally more convincing, or do they know secrets about creating a sales pitch that the rest of us don't?Well, in most cases, convincing salespeople use special elements within their pitches to help increase their persuasiveness. These elements are not heavily guarded secrets, though they are not commonly discussed in general conversation either. A Sale in 30 Seconds? Its all in the Greeting It has been said that a customer makes a decision to buy within the first 30 seconds of their experience at a retail store. That means that as a salesperson, you must create an environment that is comfortable for your customer and conducive to making a sale, all within 30 seconds of their arrival. 9 TIPS: Dont Sell Me - Persuade Me We all have something in our past we believe someone "sold" us. It might have been a lemon yellow car, a skimpy skirt or a purple tie. Instant Rapport: The Key to Sales Success Did you ever meet someone with whom you just clicked? Someone who was so much like you that you practically knew what he was thinking? How comfortable did you feel with that person? Did you trust him? Chances are that you have very high rapport with that person.Rapport means harmony between people. The Rock and Ripple Effect: 3 Ways to Splash to Sales Success Imagine you've just thrown a rock into a pond. SPLASH! Ripples begin extending around the point where the rock hit the water. TheTop 10 Reasons Why Salespeople Get Outsold In my business, it has been an interesting and very busy two quarters. I've worked with sales managers, marketing executives, professional services practice managers, business development executives, divisional presidents, two dozen sales teams, nine VPs of Sales and directly with 29 CEOs in North America and in Europe. 7 Keys to Turning Cold Calls Into Warm Calls Let's face it when it comes to cold calling many of us fear being rejected. What if I was to tell you I have come up with 7 keys to turning your cold calls into warm calls? Would you believe me?Try these 7 cold calling ideas for yourself and see just how easy making a cold call can really be. Assumptions - The Hidden Sales Killer Assumptions can kill a sale. In my sales training workshops, I frequently discuss the importance of not making assumptions about a person before, during, or after the sales process. Theres a Referral for Everyone I worked for years as a mortgage loan officer. During this time I worked with two very successful loan officers, however, their styles were polar opposite. Be Yourself Here's the thing.. How to Build a Repeat Client Base in Automobile Sales Here is a question I recently received from a young automobile salesperson:"I'm a sales rep just starting off. I am 21 years old and have nine months experience at a (auto dealership) store. Practice Building: Create a Powerful and Targeted Call to Action for Your Prospects A "Call To Action" is an invitation for your prospective clients to actively engage you in some way- directly or indirectly.Most prospective clients, even if they are very interested in working with you, often need a way to build a relationship with you in bite-sized pieces to work up to engaging your services. How to Sell to the Devils Advocate There is a car commercial running were a husband is sitting in a car with the salesperson. The wife is standing outside the vehicle looking in on her husband, but unable to hear the conversation inside. The 7 Deaths of a Salesman In sales, you can work one of two ways. You can either do the things you should do or you can do the things you want to do. Yikes - My Feet Hurt! 8 Tips for Trade Show Exhibitors Yikes - My Feet Hurt!Concrete. Tiles. Leverage Avoidance Values for Irresistible Selling What are values? Values are filters that everyone uses to help make sense of all the information we must process before we make a decision. When you appeal to a person's values you speak directly to their decision-making criteria. Sales Leads: 10 Sure Fire Ways To Unleash An Avalanche Of Sales If you knew a few sure fire ideas that have helped me, you may unleash an avalanche of sales and make more money at your website.Below are the secrets to help you generate sales leads:(1) Utilize holidays to increase your visitors or sales. 5 Small Steps To Ultimate Sales Success "Selling worth doing is worth doing badly ? at first!" ~ Gavin Ingham, 2002Have you ever wanted to learn something new but just found it too difficult? Or started something but gave up because you just couldn't get the hang of it? Or maybe you just find the thought of ringing new clients far too scary? Perhaps you sometimes get great results but don't know what you're doing differently? Could you be stuck in your ways?If any of these could possibly be true then this article is for you.Everyone would agree that the ability to learn, understand and utilise new information, strategies and behaviours is important particularly with a topic such as sales where you may well have tried before with limited success. Simple Technique for Isolating Objections To isolate any objection quickly you can use this effective and powerful sentence - "Aside from "that" is there anything else?"Here's how it works: You're a water softener salesperson, I'm your prospect. In the qualifying steps of the sales process you have identified a few concerns that I've shared with you:1. Reaching Goals in Direct Sales From surveys and experience, we've noticed many setting excellent goals for their business. We've also noticed that while the goals being set are good, the results aren't.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |