| |
| |
|
Sales Information |
|
|
|
Closing Sales Is Not A Problem, It's A Process
In my opinion, the most overrated topic in sales training is the subject of closing. In year's past, it seems the object of most sales training courses was to fill the heads of participants with as many closing techniques as possible. The logic was simple, if the "Ben Franklin" close didn't work, you could rummage around in your head for the the "secondary question" technique, the "order-blank" method or the "forced choice" close to tie off your sale. Selling in the old school of training was basically learning 54 or 84 ways to close. Today, most successful sales professionals know that if you use a consultative sales process, one with a series of selling steps like those listed below, the close (asking for the business) will literally take care of itself. Closing is an integral part of the following; a solid sales process--not a specific stand alone technique: - Building rapport and trust; - Obtaining your prospect's attention; - Probing for problems, opportunities, needs and values; - Demonstrating products based on the specific needs you have discovered, - Asking trial closing questions and answering objections, then - Asking for the business. By first building rapport with a prospective customer or client, a sales or service industry professional can create the trust that our research shows is vital to consistently obtaining sales success. Through using an attention getting provocative question and then taking away your offer, you can open your prospect's mind to answering your questions and later accept the suggestions that you make in your sales presentation. By asking open-ended, probing questions, you can learn about hidden needs and problems that can be solved by your products and/or services. Through effectively demonstrating your products and/or services, answering objections and asking trial closing questions, you then set the stage for closing the sale. All that is left in this process is to ask for the business. In my self-directed learning manual entitled Sales Success Strategies, (see www.TheSellingEdge.com/manual1.htm) I explore the steps that must precede a successful close. This unique learning guide won't give you a dozen closing techniques to memorize, nor a list of power words that will impel your prospect, client or customer to sign on the dotted line, because these words and closes simply don't work with today's sophisticated consumers. If you take time to review them and apply them to your daily sales activities, the ideas discussed can make a significant difference in your ability to regularly generate business for your company or professional firm. VIRDEN THORNTON is the founder and President of The $elling Edge®, Inc. a firm specializing in sales, customer relations, and management training and development. Clients have included Sears Optical, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Deloitte & Touché, Bank One, Jefferson Pilot, and Wal-Mart to name a few. Virden is the author of Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success and the best selling Building & Closing the Sale, Fifty-Minute series books and Close That Sale, a video/audio tape series published by Crisp Publications, Inc. Menlo Park, California. He has also authored a Self-Directed Learning series of sales, coaching & team development, telemarketing, and personal productivity training guides. Virden assists clients through a unique personal coaching (telephone)program. He has taught at the Center For Professional Development, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas and the School Of Entrepreneurship, Marriott School Of Management, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. You can contact Virden at: Virden@TheSellingEdge.com. or learn more about him at: http://www.TheSellingEdge.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Sales - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Color Psychology Will Make Or Break Your Sales Success Color psychology is the biggest question I receive on a regular basis. The reason being is it's importance. Why People Use Long Sales Copy Have you ever wondered why some people use long sales letter? Here is the answer: These people newer bothered to find out what the potential customer wants. If you know exactly what your potential customer wants, you can be short and to the point. Schedule Telemarketing Time For More Success Telephone canvassing, or cold calling, is the practice of sitting down with a long list of potential prospects you've never met and telephoning them, one at a time, to learn which of them needs what you sell and then arranging to sell it to them.Believe me, nobody likes telephone cold calling. How To Set Goals and Achieve Them We use only 5% of God's given potential, 95% of them is not used. Why not tap the 95% of our Creative Intelligence and achieve our desired goals. Lazy Man's Way To Get Customers No matter how big or small your business is and no matter how high or low sales are right now, there is something you need, badly. And that is a selling system. Picture Yourself a Winner In the work place, the amount of good things that happen to a person during the day far out number the amount of bad things that happen, so why do we spend so much time stressing over the bad things when we should be smiling about the good things.One reason being, when something bad happens, such as being berated by a customer, it shakes us up a little bit, maybe our pride has been touched up a little. How Sellers Can Take Control For centuries - at least since the serpent convinced Eve to eat the apple - sellers have assumed that getting the right information about a product into the right hands would offer a good chance of a sale.But if you look at the numbers over the years, the success rate from prospecting to close has remained the same: in general, you close approximately 7% of your identified buyer population. How Can Fundraising Consulting Help Us Raise Money? If you need to hold a fundraiser and don't know where to begin there is help out there for you. It is time for you to seek fundraising consulting advice especially if your fundraising event is going to be on a larger scale. Prepare to Sell! Sales is a critical part of any business, including non-profits. Sales is not complicated or difficult, but requires preparation, consistent action and a plan. Losing the Big-One: Salvaging Lost Accounts After careful consideration, we have chosen our vendor, and it's not you."Hard words to hear. Follow the Long Yellow Copy: Do Long Scrolling Sales Letters Work? Have you ever sat through a movie and got to the point when you counted the minutes till its ending? Unfortunately, you can't speed it up or leave it for another show (although, some people do try switching movies). When long Web copy leaves your eyes glazing in that same way, what do you do?As you read a long, scrolling sales pitch do you read it and make the buy? Read it and lose interest? Click away? Skim it and do nothing?Welcome to salesmanship in print. Top 10 Ways to Sell your Product or Service While you Sleep - Part 2 Part one of this article is available at www.bookcoaching. How To Get Your Mail Past The Gatekeeper And Into The Hands Of The Decision Maker GUARANTEED There are several ways to get your information into the decision maker's hands.Use "The Stealth Mail Method". Sell More Products and Services with Testimonials Testimonials are all-important to sell anything. You may already have testimonials for your new book and service, but do you have testimonials for other promotional pieces? Next time you check out a Web site, notice the testimonials. Handling Objections HANDLING OBJECTIONSSales presentation is not always going to be plain sailing. You must expect objections. Selling - Remember These Ten Rules and Succeed There are thousands of books and seminars on how to succeed. What many don't make explicit is the requirement to be a great salesperson - even if you're selling an idea!Here are the ten simple but powerful rules that will guide you in all your selling decisions. Your Profit is in Your Follow-up: A System for Increased Sales Conversion No matter what you sell--products, services, or causes--one of the key ingredients to your success will be the attention you give your sales lead follow-up system.Notice that I used the word system to describe your follow-up program. Instead of Discounting, Back Some Value Out of Your Proposal Last minute discounting has become so prevalent that many companies have come to depend on it as their default sales strategy. Employing a go-to-market strategy of being the lowest cost provider is one thing, but dramatic, tactical discounting on every deal will erode your company's margins and leave you digging a deeper and deeper hole in which your company will ultimately bury itself. A Pause For Thought You can have your cake and eat it.What is it that makes the sale of information products so appealing?Is it the fact that the only storage space required is a minute spot on your computer's hard disc. It Isnt A Sale Until Youre Paid Back in the days when I sold for CTV and CBC Television I had a manager that once said " It isn't a sale until you're paid." Most salespeople absolutely HATE calling their customers to ask for payment as they feel like the GOOD GUY and BAD GUY rolled into one!Hey - we have all been there.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
