Sales Blog with Sales Tips

A regular Sales Tips Blog reader, named Mark, sent me the following email he received from a company trying to sell him consulting services. He wanted my opinion of the salesperson’s selling skills, or lack thereof.

To: Mark L.
From: Bill N. (not his real identity)
Subject: Please call me in the A.M. tomorrow if you are still interested in my offer
Body of Email: 555-789-9781 (not his real phone)

What’s Going On Here?
You can’t help but notice that the content of the email starts in the subject line (something that is highly unprofessional and overly casual) and the body only contains the phone number that Mark (the prospect) has been instructed to call.

The Context
Mark told me he had been negotiating with this company for about two months when things reached a standstill. There was one small remaining issue keeping him from signing a contract.

They had been tossing the issue around and Mark felt they were getting close to a resolution when suddenly Bill (the salesperson) appeared to try this different (albeit stupid) negotiating tack.

Mark felt the salesperson was brazenly giving him the not-so-subtle message, “The ball is in your court now. If you want to work with me then you call me at the designated time.”

I think Mark had analyzed the situation accurately.

Sales Tips On Why This Is Wrong On So Many Levels
Taking the kiss-my-grits approach to customers and prospects is counterproductive for many reasons. It may make the salesperson feel as if he or she has put the prospect “in his or her place,” but this tactic always backfires in many ways.

• If you’re in sales, you must understand a basic tenet in psychology. People are prideful. The salesperson had given Mark an ultimatum. Mark chose not to respond to this email to make it clear to Bill that he was not going to roll over for this joker.
• It’s entirely too easy for Mark to find a substitute vendor. This salesperson was acting as if he was the only game in town.
• Negotiation can take a long time. As sales professionals we know big deals have a way of dying a few times before they are inked. This was a high six-digit deal and it was unrealistic for the salesperson to think he could close it quickly and on his terms.
• Bill’s email burned the bridge for any further dealings with Mark. Once the bridge is burned in sales, you permanently lose any chance of getting any future business. It also doesn’t do much for one’s reputation in the business community. If Mark wrote to me about it, you can be sure he’s talking to others.
• It demonstrates a total lack of emotional maturity. Do you honestly think Mark would trust Bill to handle a six-digit deal with his company after a stunt like that? No way.
• If a salesperson ever feels the need to level the playing field with a decision maker, then he or she is clearly in the wrong business. It doesn’t work that way in sales.

Deference Versus Confidence
While we don’t want to behave like Bill, we also have to be self-assured with our prospects and customers. It’s a balancing act that can be summed up with two words. We must be confident in our inner dialogue and be deferent in our conversations with decision makers.

Confident: Having no uncertainty about one’s own abilities
Deferent: Showing respect and courtesy

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

When it comes to being a sales professional, you cannot be all things to all people – including your sales manager. But there will always be a few things you are really good at when it comes to selling. Let me give you an example from my own experience.

I Love Flying
Years ago, I sold electrical and electronic products for a regional distributor. I was doing okay but not setting the world on fire. One day I stumbled into an airport and suddenly felt like superman. Writing orders for those small airlines and general aviation repair companies was fun, and I was good at it.

It was easy for me to sell in that environment because I had earned a pilot’s license years earlier. I could relate to the people, their terminology and their jobs. I felt a little stupid that this hadn’t occurred to me earlier.

I made it a habit afterward to stop at all the airports I could find since this was an industry where I was perceived by my customers as an expert. I felt comfortable in their world, and my results showed it.

My Sales Manager Didn’t Love Flying As Much
You can guess what happened next. My sales manager said to me, “Scott, your sales are really improving but you’re a little heavy in the aviation industry.”

My response was always, “Yes, I know, I’m working on it.” Of course I had no intention of changing a thing for 2 reasons: 1) I was wisely leveraging one of my selling strengths,  2) If you’re hitting or exceeding your numbers, and not doing anything illegal, your sales manager could care less how you get there.

Watch Out, Here Comes A Sports Analogy
Why does Michael Phelps swim instead of playing football? Because his strength is found in the water. Why does Shaquille O’Neal play basketball instead of golf? Because he is fairly pathetic at golf, I would imagine.

It is just as impossible for great athletes to excel at all sports as it is for you to excel in every industry, product and service your company entertains.

If you know a certain industry well, then go after all the business you can in that industry. Be the “go to” person for your customers. If you are well versed in a product or technology, then pursue businesses that are heavily dependent on that product or technology.

6 Sales Tips For Why You Want To Exploit Your Selling Strengths (And Not Focus On Your Weaknesses)

1. You’ll make more money because you’re selling more.
2. You can command higher prices.  A brain surgeon makes more money than a general practitioner.  Why?  He or she specializes.
3. Your average order size will increase dramatically.
4. You’ll get more referrals, not because they like you, but because they want to do a friend a favor by sending in an expert.
5. Your competitors will find it harder to steal your accounts because of your added value.
6. I can guarantee you’ll enjoy your job more.

Sales Blog Epilogue
To play to our strengths we have to know them first. I will leave you with 2 questions that every sales professional needs to be able to answer without a moment’s hesitation.

• What are my greatest sales strengths?
• What are my greatest sales weaknesses? Yes, everyone has them.

Supercharge your strengths and work around your weaknesses.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

I had the time of my life a few weeks ago in the role of a sales professional, and it’s not the kind of selling environment that I’m used to. I was given an opportunity to actually use the sales tips I speak of in this sales blog. This selling experience reminded me of the importance of sales basics.

The Request
I was asked to help in an estate sale. In case you aren’t familiar with estate sales, they are a few steps up from a garage sale because of the merchandise being sold. Typically, someone is liquidating a substantial amount of his or her earthly assets including jewelry, electronics, major appliances, fine china, silverware, etc.

Performance Anxiety
The scary part was that the person who asked me to help with the estate sale knows about my sales background, this sales blog, my upcoming book, etc. so her expectations for me were high. To be honest, I was a little nervous. You know, performance anxiety. This is the same kind of nervousness your sales manager gets when you say, “Why don’t you take the next sales call and I’ll learn from you.” These kinds of requests make your sales manager nervous, even though they won’t admit it.

5 Basic Sales Tips That Still Work
At the end of the day, I reflected on the sales tactics I most frequently used to sell such a broad array of merchandise. I am happy to announce that the tactics all work well in 2009. Have you forgotten about some of these?

1. Bundle things. A woman approached me with a couple of pieces from a sterling silver set and asked about pricing. Rather than give her a price I said, “If you purchase the entire matching set, the per-piece price will be less expensive.” I sold her the entire set and she was talking about where it was going to go in her home as she walked out the door.

2. Give away something small to sell something big. A nice man asked about an old CD player. I asked him if he wanted to buy the entire audio system that was sitting next to it. He said he wasn’t that interested in buying all of it. I replied, “I’ll give you the CD player if you’ll work with me on the remainder of the audio system. That way you’ll have a matched set of components.” He bought the entire system and thanked me for helping him.

3. Admit a weakness in your products to enhance your credibility. A woman inquired about a piece of furniture that I could tell wasn’t in very good shape. I responded, “This isn’t a very nice piece of furniture and I personally think it’s overpriced. There’s another piece of furniture that’s just a little more expensive that is a much better investment in my opinion.” That’s right, she happily bought the more expensive chair.

4. Puppy dog closes work. The premise of the puppy dog close is that a small child sees a puppy in a pet store and begs his parents to buy it. The pet store owner observes what is going on and says, “Why don’t you buy the puppy right now, take her home for the night, and if you don’t like her, in the morning you can return her for a full refund.” Exactly 100% of those puppies never come back. I used this technique when a nice man didn’t know if a particularly expensive lamp would work in his home. I told him to pay me for it, take it home and give it a try. If it didn’t work out, I would refund him 100% of his money. Never did see that lamp again.

5. Put the brakes on discounts. Buyers will push and push you to discount until you say, “stop.” It’s a bluffing game. I graciously called buyers’ bluffs on many transactions when the price was already fair for both parties.

Sales Blog Epilogue
I was pleased to overhear an older woman in a walker look at me and whisper (she thought she was whispering) to her daughter, “That young man should be in sales. He certainly seems to have an answer for everything…just like your father.”

Did I sell everything I was trying to sell that day? No. But it felt good to know that solid sales basics still work.

P.S. Don’t tell the person who hosted the estate sale, but I gave away a few inexpensive items at N/C to some deserving folks that day (I worked for free). The final lesson I learned is that most of us have more things than we need and are more fortunate than we realize.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer