The Selling Sherpa

DIFFERENT PEOPLE/DIFFERENT MESSAGES

I mentioned in yesterday’s Sales Tip that a company had contacted me about doing lawn maintenance. More correctly, they contacted me twice! Let me explain.

The first “touch” I received a simple direct mail piece. It was an 8-1/2” x 11” sheet of purple paper, printed on one side, folded in half, stapled, with address information on the outside. As always, the shameless remain nameless so I will say it was from something like Smith’s Yard Work. It promised fast, friendly service, free estimates, and a pledge that “We Will Save Your Money!” as a border all the way around the flyer. I was unimpressed.

The second “touch” was a slick postcard from something like “Green Leaf Lawn Maintenance”. It also had similar promises but a much more professional presentation. This looked like a company I could probably trust.

But both marketing pieces had the same phone number in the call to action. Brilliant!

Realizing that different people respond to different messages, this guy had given me different looks, different feels, and different opportunities to respond to his sales message. And I did respond!

How many different looks do you have to your marketing pieces? How many different feels? How many different opportunities will you give your prospect to respond to you?

BUSINESS IN YOUR BACK YARD

First, let me explain that I do not enjoy yard work.

A nice lawn and garden are wonderful things to have but I have never been the kind of guy who cant wait to jump behind a lawn mower on a weekend.

Consequently, the grass gets a little high at my house before I’ll concede it’s time for a trim. How high? Well, let’s just say when I can’t find the dogs in the backyard, that’s a signal that it might be time to mow.

3 years ago, new neighbors moved into a house that is actually situated behind my backyard. Turns out, the husband runs a lawn maintenance and landscaping business, which I think is a brilliant opportunity for him to earn a little money from me handling the yard cleanup which I clearly have no time for.

Since that time, despite the obvious need, he has not asked for the business. Not once. Granted, I could go over to his house and ask, but again, I am a busy guy and it is not my focus....until the dogs are lost again. In the meantime, I’ve already been asked by a neighbor kid or another company and they get the business.

What about you? Is there business in your back yard that you are missing simply because you haven’t asked for it?

24 NEW COLLEAGUES

Sometimes I hear from salespeople who whine they can’t find any new contacts. Their comments always make me wonder how hard they are trying because, in my experience, it’s easy to find new contacts.

Every time you go to a meeting of your Chamber, Association, service club, or other organization, just make sure to sit at a table full of people you don’t know.

It is a simple matter to introduce yourself, offer a handshake, and ask for their card. Do it right and you could end up with 7 business cards every time you sit at a table of 8, or even 9 at a table of 10.

Too shy to meet everyone? No problem. Just make a point of introducing yourself to the person on your left and the person on your right. There’s two new people in your network. Do that every month and you’ll have 24 new colleagues by this time next year.

BE PRECISE

Some folks tend to round up, round down, and round off any statistics in a sales presentation, mistakenly believing it makes the presentation simpler to understand.

The problem is that prospects will look at such convenient numbers (like “50% increase in efficiency” or “$100 less in monthly maintenance”) as unlikely and possibly false data. When it comes to prices, they will also use more energy negotiating something less.

Specific numbers are more believable and will be questioned less by prospects. They will perceive that more research went into coming up with specifics, so be precise anytime you reference numbers and you will likely have less resistance from your prospect.

SELL AN APPOINTMENT

I am not a fan of cold calling. It is a low probability exercise.

You might engage 10% of the people you call, which means you’ve likely annoyed the other 90%.

But, if you must cold call, do yourself, and your prospect, a favor. Don’t try to sell you product or service while you are on the phone; instead, sell an appointment.

Sell an agreement to meet with you so you can begin building a relationship.

Approaching prospects in this way will not only lead to more sales than you could ever make on the phone, it can also lead to repeat business, referrals, testimonials, and an expanding personal network.

SALES CHECKLIST

Just like a doctor using a checklist to diagnose illness, or a pilot using a pre-flight checklist to make sure all systems are go, a sales professional needs to follow a checklist to get to the critical information needed to make a sale.

Reviewing your checklist after the sales meeting may also help you determine your strengths and any areas of weakness. With this information, you can make adjustments to your presentation and constantly improve your sales skills with each appointment.

By the way, following a checklist will help you make sure you don’t fail to ask all the important questions during the meeting, and it will give you all the information you need for appropriate follow-up with your customers.

If you don’t have a sales checklist, create one today. And use it on every sales call.

You’ll be glad you did!

MINE YOUR CUSTOMER DATABASE

Do you have a system to generate referrals from loyal clients? If not, you are probably missing out on a lot of easy sales.

One tool you can use to ask for referrals is a customer survey. You can send it by mail or e-mail, or even put it up on your website.

All it takes to get your customers engaged in referrals is to ask three simple questions:

1. What do you like best about our product or service?

2. How can we improve the value of our product or service for you?

3. Who do you know that's trying to solve (state the problem you solved for your customer)?
Or: Who do you know that wants to (state the benefit provided by your product or service)?

Create a system that will constantly mine your customer database for information, referrals, and GOLD!

LOVE ALL, SERVE ALL

No matter who comes to you for help, no matter what they want or need, regardless of whether or not your company has the right solution, you have an opportunity to serve any and all prospects you come into contact with.

Obviously, if you sell what they need, great! You can provide them with the best solution at the best price with the best service.

But just because you don’t sell what they want doesn’t give you license to say “not my problem.” You have an obligation to do everything reasonable to help a prospect identify the best solution for them.

You sell car audio, but they need tires? Make sure you have a buddy in the tire business so you can send the customer his way. You paint houses, but someone needs yard work done? Make sure you have the best landscaper on your cell phone speed dial.

The Hard Rock Café has it right: love all, serve all. And the more you serve, the more you’ll be rewarded for your efforts!

PRICE VS. COST VS. VALUE

If you sell a quality product or service, you know you are going to hear price objections. Your task is to help the prospective buyer differentiate between price, cost, and value.

Price is simply what people pay to make the purchase.

Cost is what they will pay over time for using the purchase.

Value is what they really want. They need to know the value they receive from making the purchase far outweighs the price.

Most people realize you get what you pay for. Most people can also remember purchasing an inadequate solution for a cheap price and ultimately paying a higher cost because the cheap-priced solution didn’t do the job.

Remind prospects of a time they paid a higher cost for buying a product or service with a cheap price, then demonstrate the tremendous value of what you sell, and price objections will disappear.

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IN?

Yesterday, I heard from one of my clients who was excited to share a success story.

Originally, we had met at an event where I was a guest speaker, she came to my Networking Master Class, and we’ve met since to discuss a few strategies and ideas for how she can boost her sales now.

Well, she had done a presentation for her prospect who told her they would make a decision in a few days. The prospect contacted her via email and asked her what other ‘incentives’ could she offer.

[By the way, when a prospect asks about incentives, that’s a BIG buying signal!]

My client’s response was pure prose. She told the prospect, "let me see, you know we have the best service, the best accessories & the best warranty; what kind of incentive would cause you to lean our way?"

The prospect called her and bought the top-line product at full price, without asking for extras or freebies.

My client won because she believes in her product, her service, her warranty, and, most of all, in herself. A strong belief in yourself and what you are doing is essential to successful selling and, when you have it, it trumps giving a lot of freebies, extras, and margin killers away.

So, what do you believe in?