Sales Blog with Sales Tips

The following is a bad habit I’ve observed in hundreds of sales professionals. They get tired of hearing themselves “sell” and think their prospects feel the same way.

All of us bring a unique chemistry to each individual prospect we speak with. Everything about us is new to them. They’ve never heard our message or experienced us before. We’ve never experienced them either.

An Analogy
Remember the schoolteachers who made you feel like you were the only person in the world? Even though they might have taught 10,000 students in their careers, they knew their relationship with you was unlike any other, and treated it as such.

I don’t care if you’re 20 or 100 years old; you still remember the magical quality of those teachers. Sales professionals who master this same ability will create customers who see them as standouts from the hoard of  salespeople they see every day.

Why Tired Sales Professionals Do Poorly
When we approach a sales opportunity feeling as if we’re tired of hearing ourselves talk, we create circular reinforcement.

1) The more downtrodden we become with our own message, the less receptive a prospect will be. 2) When we observe the resultant fatigued look on the prospect’s face, we conclude our sales approach must be unappealing. 3) Our motivation is lessened. 4) Go back to step 1 and repeat. This process creates a death spiral of enthusiasm for both the salesperson and the prospect.

Snap Out Of It!
I’m no physics expert (just ask Mrs. Crook, my high school physics teacher, who never liked me). However, I do know that once something is set in motion – e.g. a bored and self-defeating sales attitude – the only way to change its direction is to apply another force.

Shrinks call this an intervention. But you don’t need to go to a shrink to help yourself. Read on for some sales tips that will do the trick.

Sales Tips Rx
Consciously practicing the following habits over an extended period (e.g. 3 months) will freshen how you feel about yourself and how your prospects see you. Most importantly, you’ll sell more too.

1. Slow down. I know you’ve heard your own sales presentation a million times, but the prospects haven’t. Give them the opportunity to absorb and process the valuable information you are sharing.

2. There is no such thing as a generic prospect. After you’ve called on a few hundred prospects they can all look the same. When you see them in this light, they can tell. Just remember how important your favorite teachers made you feel when they treated you as an individual. People you make feel important frequently do one thing – buy from you.

3. It’s in the eyes. If you’re in front of a prospect, you must make constant eye contact. It will greatly enhance communication quality and will let you know what he or she is thinking. Let his or her eyes guide your presentation.

4. Listen. The questions prospects ask are everything. These questions will tell us everything we need to know in order to sell them. Giving prospects all the room they need to speak will move mountains when it comes to revitalizing how your prospects and you perceive your presentation.

Internalizing these habits will energize you and your prospects. Most importantly, you’ll re-learn how important it is to connect with people in the selling process.

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>©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

Scott Sheaffer’s New Book, “Comatose Management”
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Six Short Stories of Destructive Management Practices, Volume I
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Available in printed and Kindle edition on amazon.com
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—

I had the privilege of speaking with a very successful older sales professional recently. He told me that being a top producer is easier for him today than in years past.

His comment piqued my curiosity. Always looking for sales tips material I asked him, “What have your years of experience taught you that makes you more capable today?”

The Sales Professional’s Most Important Tool
In a perfect example of life imitating art he said, “Just one thing.” I felt like I was listening to Jack Palance, who said a similar line in the movie, City Slickers.

He had my attention. I almost begged, “And that one thing is?”

He replied, “Our tongue.”

The Power Of Spoken Language
He went on to tell me that our tongue is like a rudder on a large ship. Even though the surface area of a ship’s rudder is miniscule compared to the size of the vessel, it has a profound impact on the direction the ship takes.

I asked him to provide more details and he told me the following:

What we say to customers has more impact than anything else we do. Our words are, by far, the most powerful tool we have in our arsenal.

A customer can always detect a lack of sincerity in our voice. It’s better to be quiet than disingenuous.

We have complete control over our tongue muscle. We must never react to a customer’s accusations and rage; we must respond.

It always takes two to tango. Don’t verbally engage with irate customers. Let them vent their anger and then deal with the situation.

Don’t ever try to deceive customers with your words. When we do, there can only be two outcomes; neither is good: 1) They can immediately tell we’re lying, or 2) They’ll find out later they were given bad information.

Look customers in the eyes when speaking to them. Have you ever heard anyone complain about too much eye contact?

Listen. Customers won’t listen to your words if you don’t listen to theirs.

Sales Tips Wrap Up
Are these simple truths? Absolutely. Are they hard to put into practice? Yes. Knowing these realities is the first step in making them part of our daily relationships with our customers.

>You can automatically receive Sales Tips Blog by Scott R. Sheaffer >by email< or >by RSS<.
>Follow >Scott R. Sheaffer< on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.
>©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

Scott Sheaffer’s New Book, “Comatose Management”
—
Six Short Stories of Destructive Management Practices, Volume I
—
Available in printed and Kindle edition on amazon.com
—
—

When I was just a sales pup I received one of the best sales tips I’ve ever heard. It was from my sales manager.

The advice I got was, “Keep in touch with your customers when they are laid off; they always reappear somewhere else.”

Why This Is Especially Important Right Now
We’re heading out of the recession, but the unemployment rate is a high 10%. About 4% of this 10% represents those who are not looking for work or chronically unemployed. This leaves us with a net real unemployment rate of approximately 6%.

What does this mean? One out of 17 of your customers has been laid off and is looking for work. That’s a lot. This percentage will vary according to the industries represented in your customer mix.

That 6% represents a tremendous sales – and helping – opportunity for you.

Staying In Touch
There are a number of reasons to keep in contact with your unemployed ex-customers.

• Most importantly, it’s the right thing to do. People feel abandoned and forgotten when unemployed. It doesn’t matter whether you think you’ll ever sell to them again or not. This is an issue of being human. The karma thing.

• 99% of the time, these ex-customers will end up in the same industry and same job they came from. They’ll want to do business with you because you’re a known and trusted person. Keeping in contact during stormy times keeps the bond intact.

• As ex-customers look for employment, you can help them by providing job leads. Think of the goodwill this creates. They will also be in a position to share information with you about companies they are interviewing with (i.e. sales leads).

Sales Tips For How To Keep In Touch
Here’s a short checklist on how to keep in touch with these temporarily unemployed ex-customers.

• If you’ve lost touch with them, you can search for them on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Do a little research so you’ll know something about their current situation before contacting them.

• Contact them by email and/or phone at least every 2 to 3 weeks to see how they are doing. Be sure to mention any job openings that might fit what they’re looking for. They welcome the moral support provided at a time like this.

• Listen to them. What was true when they were active buying customers is true while they are unemployed. Listen to their needs; you’ll be in a better position to help them.

A Final Note
Don’t do this primarily as an exercise to get them back as a customer. Do this in order to support people who have helped you in the past (i.e. by buying from you). When they land on their feet – and they will – they’ll likely contact you and business can resume again.

If they aren’t able to, or choose not to, do business with you after finding a new job, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you helped someone. That has a way of drawing all kinds of good things your direction.

Further sales blog reading:
A Reader Asks About Sales Force Layoffs
These Two Words are Killing Your Sales
Direct Sales Tips: What the media types do to ruin your sales career.

>You can automatically receive Sales Tips Blog by Scott R. Sheaffer >by email< or >by RSS<.
>Follow >Scott R. Sheaffer< on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.
>©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

Scott Sheaffer’s New Book, “Comatose Management”
—
Six Short Stories of Destructive Management Practices, Volume I
—
Available in printed and Kindle edition on amazon.com
—
—

Many of the things we say and do to create and enhance customer relationships actually erode them instead. That’s right. We regularly use exactly the wrong behaviors to get what we want when it comes to rapport building.

2 Principles of Relationships
There are two essential truths when it comes to bonding with one another. These truths are counterintuitive. As you read these two points in this sales blog, think of your past customer experiences in creating and nurturing relationships as reference points.

Principle #1
Detachment. You will never be everyone’s friend. Not everyone is going to like you. Don’t try to force a psychological relationship on customers. It will backfire.

However, oozing an aura of detachment ironically draws people to you. People naturally put up defenses when they feel anything is being forced on them. Including you. People want to be friends with people who don’t need friends. They want to choose to be in the relationship.

Simply stated, be the cool-kid in high school who everyone liked.   The cool-kid never needed groupies. Don’t be the popular-kid who always had to be the center of attention and felt worthless without adoring fans. Have you noticed that post high school cool-kids are generally much more successful in life than post high school popular-kids? Check it out at your next high school reunion.

Psychological detachment is a good tool; however, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be available to others.  More on this below.

Principle #2
Abundance. Exuding – or even fully verbalizing – that you don’t need someone’s business will make you a more attractive business associate. Customers like doing business with people who aren’t desperate, or needy, or twisting their arm.

When your personality radiates the idea that there is plenty of business to be had, even if a particular person doesn’t buy from you, it is called abundance. “There’s enough business for everyone, and unless it’s a good fit for both of us, we won’t force the issue.”

This is the New Authenticity in action.

Principle #3
Okay, I know I wrote there were two principles. But, there is a third. The first two concern things we tend to do, but shouldn’t (i.e. psychologically clinging to people and pushing customers into actions they aren’t ready for).

The last principle has to do with showing interest. This is something we should do. Always let your customers know you value them, have time for them, respect them, will listen to them.

Further reading:

• 8 Speed Traps in Sales [Customer relationship building takes time and deliberate effort.]
• Our Professionalism May Be Killing Us [Sales tips on allowing our real personality to help us sell.]
• Why Dogs Make Bad Sales Professionals [Brown-nosing our customers can backfire.]
• Can Hillary Clinton teach us something about sales? [Sales blog post on the dangers of not being authentic.]

>You can automatically receive Sales Tips Blog by Scott R. Sheaffer >by email< or >by RSS<.
>Follow >Scott R. Sheaffer< on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.
>©2009 Scott R. Sheaffer

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