It's an interesting question; Do I want it, or do I need it? I find myself asking this question a lot lately. Do I want a new car, or do I need a new car? Unfortunately the answer is want, so I will be stuck with my car for a while.
This same question is going through the minds of all of our prospects right now. The economy seems to have settled a bit and we will probably see it start to rebound in the near future, but it is still affecting sales in a major way. Companies won't spend money these days for something they want, but they will still open up their wallets for something they need. We as sales people need to be honest with ourselves here. We should look at each prospect in our pipeline and determine if the prospect wants or needs us. It's easy to waste a lot of time and energy on prospects that might want what we sell but most likely won't spend the money because they don't need it.
My advice is to find the few that really need your product or service and spend your time and effort on those. Get the "wants" out of your pipeline and use the time you just saved yourself to find some more "needs". There will be plenty of time to sell the "wants" when the economy is looking better.
Now, I need to figure out a way to convince myself I need a new car!
Happy Selling
Kmason
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Be a Story Teller, not a Joke Teller
I have become a huge fan of Jeffrey Gitomer. If you haven't had a chance to check out his stuff you should visit http://www.gitomer.com/ or you can download some of his podcasts on I-tunes. In his latest "sales rant" he talked about being a story teller instead of a joke teller, and I think he was right on the money.
I have seen it a number of times with other sales reps and have been guilty a few times myself. You just never know what could offend someone, and if you aren't offensive, telling a joke that isn't funny could be just as damaging. Nothing says "cheesey salesperson" more than a bad joke in a sales meeting. I have made a promise to myself not to tell a joke in a sales meeting no matter how funny I think it is.
Story telling on the other hand, is a great idea. I don't mean stories about your crazy weekend, but rather stories about your clients. Having good compelling stories about why other businesses became clients or why they remain clients can set you up for success. Telling stories brings a sense of comfort to a business meeting and can help allow your prospect to open up. Just think about how great a conversation you could have after telling a story about a client, and your prospect is dealing with the same issue. All of a sudden your prospect is telling their story, and might end up doing your job for you; selling your service/product.
So, I think it would be wise for us all to take some advice from Jeffrey Gitomer, and become better story tellers, and keep the jokes at home. Better yet, get rid of the jokes all together. They probably aren't that funny anyway...
Regards,
K Mason
I have seen it a number of times with other sales reps and have been guilty a few times myself. You just never know what could offend someone, and if you aren't offensive, telling a joke that isn't funny could be just as damaging. Nothing says "cheesey salesperson" more than a bad joke in a sales meeting. I have made a promise to myself not to tell a joke in a sales meeting no matter how funny I think it is.
Story telling on the other hand, is a great idea. I don't mean stories about your crazy weekend, but rather stories about your clients. Having good compelling stories about why other businesses became clients or why they remain clients can set you up for success. Telling stories brings a sense of comfort to a business meeting and can help allow your prospect to open up. Just think about how great a conversation you could have after telling a story about a client, and your prospect is dealing with the same issue. All of a sudden your prospect is telling their story, and might end up doing your job for you; selling your service/product.
So, I think it would be wise for us all to take some advice from Jeffrey Gitomer, and become better story tellers, and keep the jokes at home. Better yet, get rid of the jokes all together. They probably aren't that funny anyway...
Regards,
K Mason
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Put it on Your Calendar
I am now the poster child for how not to successfully start something new. When I created my Blog I had every intention of posting at least weekly if not more. Instead I posted twice and then took over a month off. Yikes! The silver lining in this cloud is that my actions have directly led me to this post.
In this down economy many of us sales people are trying to increase our activity to keep up with the reality of it being tougher to find business. I know in the past I have told myself time and time again that I would spend more time on the phone calling prospects but I would get to the end of the week with similar results; less appointments than I wanted. Over time I realized the problem was not my desire to make the calls, but actually scheduling time to make them. We can talk all day long about what we need to do to be successful, but if we don't schedule time for those activities they never get done. In my case it was very easy for other distractions to take up a lot of time during the week.
So the challenge today is two-fold. We need to come up with a plan to increase our activity, and once you decide what you need to do; Put in on Your Calendar! Otherwise you are just another sales person with great ideas but nothing to show for it.
Cheers,
Kevin
P.S. I just added a weekly Calendar event to post my Blog!
In this down economy many of us sales people are trying to increase our activity to keep up with the reality of it being tougher to find business. I know in the past I have told myself time and time again that I would spend more time on the phone calling prospects but I would get to the end of the week with similar results; less appointments than I wanted. Over time I realized the problem was not my desire to make the calls, but actually scheduling time to make them. We can talk all day long about what we need to do to be successful, but if we don't schedule time for those activities they never get done. In my case it was very easy for other distractions to take up a lot of time during the week.
So the challenge today is two-fold. We need to come up with a plan to increase our activity, and once you decide what you need to do; Put in on Your Calendar! Otherwise you are just another sales person with great ideas but nothing to show for it.
Cheers,
Kevin
P.S. I just added a weekly Calendar event to post my Blog!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Lean On Me
With the effect the economy has had on sales I think it's more important then ever for us to lean on each other. Through our sales careers we have all developed relationships with other sales people and professionals. Right now is probably the best time for all of us to reconnect with those people who might be able to help us, and maybe more importantly, we can help them.
We shouldn't take for granted that our friends and colleagues know exactly what makes a good referral for us, and we might not have a full understanding of what makes a good referral for them. As we are all pounding the phones a little harder and/or knocking on more doors to drum up activity, just think of how great a solid referral would be right now. Better yet, think of the impact you could make by giving a great referral. Now more than ever, if you are able to help a fellow sales person get into a new account, you just gained yourself a referral source for life.
As the sales landscape continues to get tougher I think we need to take some time to reconnect with our friends and colleagues. We all need to lean on each other to get through this!
We shouldn't take for granted that our friends and colleagues know exactly what makes a good referral for us, and we might not have a full understanding of what makes a good referral for them. As we are all pounding the phones a little harder and/or knocking on more doors to drum up activity, just think of how great a solid referral would be right now. Better yet, think of the impact you could make by giving a great referral. Now more than ever, if you are able to help a fellow sales person get into a new account, you just gained yourself a referral source for life.
As the sales landscape continues to get tougher I think we need to take some time to reconnect with our friends and colleagues. We all need to lean on each other to get through this!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Provocation Based Selling
For some reason I keep running into sales analogies that revolve around the digestive system. The current economic climate was discussed in our weekly sales meeting and the term Decision Constipation was used. This is the idea that our current slow economy hasn't stopped sales from happening, but has slowed the decision making process down in a lot of cases. Maybe my sense of humor is a little too sophomoric, but I found the term to be funny but also incredibly accurate.
It seems to me that many of our prospects (and maybe yours) are coming up with excuses to delay making a decision, rather than giving us a yes or a no. Nothing in sales is more frustrating to me than not getting an answer. I can deal a no; it just brings me closer to a yes somewhere else. But a "maybe" or a "need more time" is just a killer.
This brings me to a sales concept that seems to be popping up more and more, Provocation Based Selling. The idea here for us (salespeople) to do a better job finding critical problems in our prospects that we can help solve. Once this problem is uncovered we must find a provocative way to illustrate the true impact of not solving the problem, and communicate this to the true decision maker; in our case that is the owner. They key to this strategy is the need for a critical problem to be present, and for the decision maker to agree that this problem needs to be fixed. This is where great questions and good listening skills will be important.
My take on Provocation Based Selling, is that we need to get better at our jobs to remain successful in this economic climate. I would gather that all salespeople have been trained on finding our prospects needs. The key for success today is making sure we uncover critical problems that we can illustrate the cost if they are not fixed. If there is less money in the budget, the problem needs to be critical in the eyes of the decision maker.
The wallets are tightening, but companies are still spending money. We just need to "provocatively" show our prospects why they need to spend that money with you.
Happy Selling,
K Mason
It seems to me that many of our prospects (and maybe yours) are coming up with excuses to delay making a decision, rather than giving us a yes or a no. Nothing in sales is more frustrating to me than not getting an answer. I can deal a no; it just brings me closer to a yes somewhere else. But a "maybe" or a "need more time" is just a killer.
This brings me to a sales concept that seems to be popping up more and more, Provocation Based Selling. The idea here for us (salespeople) to do a better job finding critical problems in our prospects that we can help solve. Once this problem is uncovered we must find a provocative way to illustrate the true impact of not solving the problem, and communicate this to the true decision maker; in our case that is the owner. They key to this strategy is the need for a critical problem to be present, and for the decision maker to agree that this problem needs to be fixed. This is where great questions and good listening skills will be important.
My take on Provocation Based Selling, is that we need to get better at our jobs to remain successful in this economic climate. I would gather that all salespeople have been trained on finding our prospects needs. The key for success today is making sure we uncover critical problems that we can illustrate the cost if they are not fixed. If there is less money in the budget, the problem needs to be critical in the eyes of the decision maker.
The wallets are tightening, but companies are still spending money. We just need to "provocatively" show our prospects why they need to spend that money with you.
Happy Selling,
K Mason
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Sales Laxative
I thought I would start my Blog out with one of my favorite sales terms; Sales Laxative. I have heard it used by a couple sales managers I have worked for and a number of sales people I have worked with so I'm not sure who to give credit to. Whoever came up with it though; I thank you. Not only is it funny, but I think it is crucial to success as a salesperson.
We have all worked with the salesperson with the million dollar pipeline who never seemed to close any business. Unfortunately sometimes that person is us. This is a prime example of the person who badly needs a Sales Laxative, if not a complete Sales Enema!
I think one of the hardest hurdles to overcome in a sales career is developing the ability to be honest with ourselves when we look at our pipeline. It's very easy to justify why someone isn't returning calls, or why right now isn't the time but if I just keep in touch with this person they might buy down the road. Nobody likes to have a small pipeline, but ask any successful sales person and they will (should) tell you that a small pipeline with legitimate opportunities is exponentially better than a huge pipeline full of duds.
So my "inaugural" thought for my 'Sales Stories and Thoughts' blog is - Don't be afraid to use a Sales Laxative every once in a while. While it could be painful at first, in the long run it will make you a much more successful salesperson.
Regards,
Sales Guy
We have all worked with the salesperson with the million dollar pipeline who never seemed to close any business. Unfortunately sometimes that person is us. This is a prime example of the person who badly needs a Sales Laxative, if not a complete Sales Enema!
I think one of the hardest hurdles to overcome in a sales career is developing the ability to be honest with ourselves when we look at our pipeline. It's very easy to justify why someone isn't returning calls, or why right now isn't the time but if I just keep in touch with this person they might buy down the road. Nobody likes to have a small pipeline, but ask any successful sales person and they will (should) tell you that a small pipeline with legitimate opportunities is exponentially better than a huge pipeline full of duds.
So my "inaugural" thought for my 'Sales Stories and Thoughts' blog is - Don't be afraid to use a Sales Laxative every once in a while. While it could be painful at first, in the long run it will make you a much more successful salesperson.
Regards,
Sales Guy
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