Salespeople sometimes forget the value of thoughtful conversation. We have so many other methods of communication with our customers. There’s text messages, email, LinkedIn mail and voice mail exchanges. The true value is almost always in conversation especially face to face.
When’s the last time you spent some sincere effort understanding your customer and building rapport? Sometimes finding that one connection, hobby or interest can take your relationship to a more trusting level, just by finding commonality. You’ll be surprised how much we all share.
Author Archives: rainmakah
Rapport and Commonality
Filed under Best Practices, Business, Quality, Sales, Value
Success Breeds Complacency.
This quote by Andrew Grove is well known to most good salespeople.
You better not forget the basics of keeping your pipeline stocked with new leads, opportunities and forecasted deals. If you let up or think you have things well in hand, it opens the door to complacency and failure. Remember the sales cycle and it’s twists and turns. It’s good to have a healthy paranoia.
Filed under Best Practices, Business, Persistence, Sales
Working on the right sales opportunities.
Are you working on the right sales opportunities? Do they fit your customer profile? You can waste a good deal of time if you haven’t properly targeted your audience. If you have control over what customers to call on, don’t just call the well known ones. Everyone calls them. Call the ones that come in under the radar. Many companies have the same issues and pains. It makes it a lot easier if they are all in the same vertical space, but many times you’ll find the only difference in verticals is the acronyms being used. There’s plenty of information out there on the challenges that face certain industries become an expert on those and how your solution resolves them. If they are hiring a lot of people there could be expansion plans and may need your help. Check press releases, acquisitions, and events that they attend. Believe in your solution and its value, engage and never give up.
Filed under Best Practices, Business, Persistence, Sales, Value
Good Salespeople Never Give Up
Non-Salespeople always ask me when do you give up and stop making calls? They stop after leaving 2-3 messages. They don’t want to appear to be over aggressive or annoying. The traits that most C-Level executives look for in there own salespeople is tenacity. Although most will do whatever it takes to avoid salespeople from other companies. Ultimately as long as you are polite and professional you have the green light to keep calling. Executives are very busy and have full schedules. Most will applaude your persistance when you finally do make contact. Just make sure you have a valuable message/solution for them.
Filed under Best Practices, Business, Ethics, Persistence, Sales, Uncategorized
Fail to Plan. Plan to Fail.
As a professional sales person you know that if you don’t plan your strategy and allow for setbacks and mishaps you’ll be caught wondering what happened. You need to have contingency scenarios ready. Solution Selling, Miller Heiman, Sadler teach you to the good habits similar to project management milestones and checkpoints. If you don’t know where you are in the sales cycle or your customers buying process who does? Check in, early and often with your customer, so you’re both on the same page and sharing the same goals.
Filed under Best Practices, Business, Sales, Uncategorized, Value
Share the Credit
Most Sales Executives know that some deals they’ve closed, couldn’t
of happened without the aid of their colleagues. Although some will
never admit it. Good Sales Engineers, Solution Architects, Engagement
Managers, Telesales and Admin’s are worth their weight in gold. Give them credit for making you look good and helping deliver on a promise.
Filed under Best Practices, Business, Ethics, Sales
Pay it Forward
“Pay it Forward.” Is it a great philosophy or just a good tag line? How many of us practice it? In sales it’s critical to provide prospects with value and relevant insight that will improve their business. Your prospects will recognize your sincere effort and commitment and reward you with access to decision makers. The key is presenting what is valuable to them, not to you. They may be to different things.
The 80/20 Rule
Here’s a rule that has been around for a long time. If you’re in sales you know it and need to remind yourself of it often. In sales, the rule states that 20% of your customers will generate 80% of the revenue. Once your target audience is identified it’s all about delivering your message and value proposition. Invest in the things, that work, that you do well and that are effective. You’ll see results. Never give up.
Filed under Sales
The Secret to Selling to Verticals
Are they all that different? Manufacturing, Financial, Healthcare, Retail, State and Federal Government. The process and the acronyms may be different, but the challenges are the same. Do you understand their business, their current environment, and problems that keep them up at night? If you don’t, you need to do your homework. Research their company using One Source, Hoovers, WSJ and Buzz. Read all their press releases/ news and their competitors. Read executive speeches, mission statements, analysts reports, and attend the events and seminars they do. If you do all this, you’ll find the one secret.
Filed under Sales
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