Professionnal

To sell effectively to the modern buyer, we need to identify and set aside all the head trash that keeps us from engaging effectively, and often, to uncover new opportunities.

It is far easier to sell at your listed price than most salespeople realize – even during a time of economic uncertainty. Here are three steps you can take today that will make selling without discounting second nature, no matter what else is going on in your market.

Eliot, a 10-year sales veteran, was having major issues with creating rapport during his sales calls. He felt certain that he was properly executing the first two steps of the Sandler Selling System, which establish strong communication and set clear expectations, but he reported that his prospects nevertheless remained “aloof” and “detached.”

What do you do when a buyer or a prospective buyer says something aggressive or confrontational? What’s your very first instinct? How often do you act on that instinct? What happens when you do?

How many times have you thought a sale was closed only to have the prospect call you, or leave you a voicemail, text, or email message, cancelling or delaying the order? All that hard work … and at the eleventh hour the prospect backs out of the deal. Another commission killed by buyer’s remorse!

Learning to embrace failure has to be one of the toughest lessons in sales. It seems counterintuitive to a lot of people. Winning at anything – including selling for a living – might look like the opposite of failure. Actually, though, that’s a major misconception. Failure is what makes winning possible.

There is no one-size-fits all sales coaching model. There are only approaches that have been shown to be successful in particular situations. As the coach, you must identify each individual salesperson’s personal “success code” – and use that code to unlock the salesperson’s potential for success. Here are five tips that have been proven to help sales leaders unlock that code.

Diane, a recent sales hire, got an email from her manager, Luis, suggesting that he accompany her on an initial sales call with a prospect – and then debrief with her on what he’d observed. Diane replied that she thought that was a great idea.
After the meeting with the prospect was over, Luis jotted down some notes. He shared them during his coaching meeting with Diane the next day. “One of the things I noticed about your meeting with Francine,” Luis said, “was that you immediately answered her question about delivery-time windows. How did you feel about how that part of the discussion went?”

The salesperson who claims to “like” prospecting hasn’t ever done it. How can anyone “like” a process that produces such an arena for rejection? When salespeople say they like prospecting, what they might mean is this: “I don’t mind paying the price of prospecting to reach my objectives.”

Eliza, a new sales hire, had posted an abysmally low closing ratio in her first 60 days on the job. She was spending most of her time with prospects who ended up picking her brain for advice and information…and then disappearing. Frank, her manager, asked her during a coaching session why she thought that was happening. “I guess I’m not all that great at presenting yet,” Eliza said. “Do you have any suggestions on how I could improve in that area?”

Average or Excellent?

Average salespeople continue to do what they have always done. They exhibit the same patterns of behavior and employ the same strategies and tactics over and over again, regardless of the results they achieve. They don’t stop to consider that the plan that worked for them one, or two, or five years ago may feel familiar, but won’t necessarily deliver optimum results today.