Think Before You Speak !!

You are talking to a customer and after you present your product, service or solution, she asks, "What discount can I get?" or "What can you do about the price?" Think before you speak otherwise this innocent-sounding question will cost you money right off your bottom line. While it's tempting to offer a discount or better price resist the desire to do so. Here's why.

First, just because someone asks you for a better price, does not mean they expect to get it. Some people ask for a discount because they have been told to. They are often uncomfortable doing this and will seldom press the issue. However, professional buyers and key decision-makers know that many sellers will drop their price at the first sign of resistance so they ask everyone for a discount-and they can be aggressive in their approach. Plus, experienced negotiators lose respect for people who drop their price too quickly. Standing your ground and refusing to cave in right away is also a show of strength and executives respect this type of behavior.

Second, when you drop your price too quickly, you teach your customer to repeat that behavior in future transactions. Remember, everything you do now affects your customer's behavior toward you in the future. When I first started my private practice, I gave a client a discount on a package of services. The next time he contacted, he demanded that same discount which put me in a somewhat precarious position-did I give the same discount or risk losing the sale? A business executive once told me that she knew which of her suppliers she could browbeat into giving her a better price and she always took advantage of that perceived weakness. So, what is the best way to respond to a request for a discount or better price?

Professional negotiators will tell you to flinch. A flinch is a visible reaction to a request or demand and goes something like this, "You want a discount!?! Even though we have been working together for four years and you know our services will help you get better results you still want a discount?" When coupled with the right facial expressions and body language, this technique is extremely effective. However, I have found that most people are extremely uncomfortable using this approach and even I find it difficult to apply on a consistent basis.

An effective way to respond to a request for a better price is to ask, "What did you have in mind?" or "What were you looking for?" When you ask one of these questions, you get the other person to tell you how much of a discount they want. In many cases, their expectation will be less than you are prepared to give which means you will increase the size of the sale and save money at the same time-a double win. One word of caution here-an experienced negotiator will say, "Well, I want a better price than this" which means you need to be prepared to ask the question a couple of times.

This also applies to email correspondence. Many people will ask their sales person for a discount via email which makes it next to impossible to use some of the standard negotiating techniques. Before you respond by offering a better price, take the time to properly craft your email. Here is what you can say, "We might be able to do something for you. What did you have in mind?" The key is to give the indication that you have flexibility without committing to something you might regret later.

This sounds like an easy technique to use but it's not. You have to train yourself to listen for your customer's question and be prepared to respond with your own. I hate to admit it but I have fallen for this question because I wasn't expecting it. In one situation, an existing client asked me for a package price on some bundled services. Instead of responding by asking what price he was looking for, I automatically offered a small discount. I kicked myself afterwards because I felt that I should know better.

It is essential to listen carefully to what your prospect says and to think before you speak. It is also critical to practice asking your question until it becomes second- nature so you can respond quickly when a prospect asks for a discount or better price.

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Being a Professional Salesman

I am sure you have heard about salespeople earning $300-400k, a million or even more. Do you think this sales person is better than you are? They are not much different from you; they are not geniuses or impeccable experts in their field. They probably don’t know much more about their products or service than other salespeople in the same company. So you are probably asking yourself – how is it that they can make six or seven figures and you are struggling month by month to make ends meet and reach your quotas? The first and probably the most accurate answer is that they see themselves as professionals. How can you grow if you don’t adopt new ideas or learn about new things in business and in sales? How can you expect to advance to better, higher paid positions if you stop investing in your knowledge?

In my experience in sales, I have met many sales people who never bought a book about the sales in their life. They never attended a seminar about sales, which was not part of their company at the time. However, they were always complaining about how companies are not investing enough in their sales force, yet expect them to be perfect and up to date. That is the reason why they don’t want to invest in seminars on their own. They believe that if their company does not see the value in it, why would they pay for it by themselves? Also they feel they know everything about the sales, so there is no need for spending money on books and seminars, or finding time for reading magazines or specialized websites. Many of those people who don’t learn continuously wonder why they don’t advance in their career or are skipped over again for a promotion.
I am giving you perfect examples of how the amateurs are thinking while blaming everyone around them for being unsuccessful in sales. You are the one who is making the decision. Every morning, when you look in the mirror, are you seeing the reflection of an amateur or professional?
Sales professional is someone who invests in his knowledge, who reads magazines and web portals dedicated to sales people and attends seminars and conferences. A sales person who follows the trends understands how essential it is to improve him personally. Professionals are ones they know how necessary this is to start selling more. And of course – they are the ones who are earning more. Be different from the 95% of salespeople out there who are not investing in their knowledge, and you will start seeing the change. It will start first inside of you where you will be hungrier for the new knowledge. You will have a better conversation and better approach to your prospects and people around you will see that difference.
Your self-respect that you’ve gained with that new knowledge will make the world your oyster. Don’t wait for your employer to send you to a seminar. Be proactive, for yourself and your career. It will benefit you in the long term - with your career and most importantly you will see the difference in your wallet! You are asking your clients to make a change, but if you are unwilling to change yourself, how can you ask your prospects to?
Your sales process will also depend on your efforts invested in research and understanding your customer base, your energy and enthusiasm about your product. If you cannot transfer enthusiasm to your prospects, you are in deep problems. When you talking about something people can feel if you are insincere, or you really know what you are talking about.
It is not what are you saying but how are you saying it. What does it mean to be sales professional? I am not saying that you have to live, eat and breathe sales 24/7 every day for the rest of your life, but to start seeing your sales position as something more, something bigger than 9-5 job.
Whether you love your sales job or not, you have a choice to do it well or not, to be fully involved or back away, and if you have this attitude of choosing to do your work well, you will enjoy your job itself!
You can be very productive once you consciously choose to be in sales, and if you change your approach from get things done to actually enjoy what you do, you can get the job well done and be rewarded for your efforts. Fulfillment in your life comes with doing a great job, whatever you do. And your occupation, in this case sales profession, is just as important to your personal health as the right food for your body.
Invest in your knowledge; put the seeds in the small steps and watering your skills and constant caring about your sales knowledge. And when the time of harvesting comes, you will have the fruits of your efforts in front of you. To differentiate from majority of people who don’t like what they do, you have to actually enjoy what you do.
Start your day by doing your job the best you can, and try to do it for a week. Then come back next week and do it all over again. The best you can, not waiting for rewards, not asking for rewards. Don’t wait for results to come, just do the job the best you could. When first results came back, when you get positive feedback from your customers, when you close a new deal – ask yourself: What has changed?
You will start loving your job because success will come, first in small steps, but more and more day by day it will grow. Your customers will start seeing you as a knowledgeable person, your colleagues will see you with different eyes, and you will realize that all of that is important, but most important are feelings inside of you that start building – good feelings about yourself.
You will feel worthy, valuable to your customers, colleagues, and you will build that feeling inside of you that you are valuable part of your environment. And you will start feeling that you are helping others – your colleagues to be better, your customers to find the best solution, and by helping them you are actually helping yourself to become a more valuable member of the community.
Does it make sense? Natural order of things is in doing your best at what you do best, and the rewards will follow inevitable. Remember this - you can't fail how hard you try it.

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12 Lessons to Good First Impressions

Within the first few seconds of any encounter you are evaluated by the prospect. Your appearance, demeanour and body language all contribute to quickly create a first impression. This judgement happens primarily on a subconscious level and once made is extremely difficult to reverse. The prospect’s subconscious is asking the question “can I trust this person”. Follow these twelve key lessons and learn to influence this judgement in a positive way helping you to make a great first impression.

Lesson Number 1: Do your research
Do your homework, who are the key people? What are the products? Who are their customers? Are there any big plans for the future? Today you can use the Internet to get lots of information about the prospect but its also always worth ringing ahead a few days in advance to gather any relevant insight.

Lesson Number 2: Get focused
So the baby was sick and traffic is awful. Take a deep breath, leave your troubles behind and ensure that your focus is entirely set on the meeting.
Lesson Number 3: Good time keeping

Plan for unforeseen events like traffic etc and aim to get there with time to spare. Lateness is one sure fire way of killing off any chance of a good first impression.

Lesson Number 4: Be Confident
Expect to do business and your words, tone and body language will send out all the right signals. Successful people give off a successful image so even when you are having a bad month, approach every new business encounter in an open and confidant manner.

Lesson Number 5: Dress to Impress
This is the first visual clue that the prospect gets and making an extra effort will pay dividends. As far as the prospect is concerned If you look sharper than the competition changes are you are sharper then the competition.

Lesson Number 6: Keep an open stance
Ensure that your stance is open particularly during introductions. Try to be aware of giving any negative of defensive subconscious gestures such as folding of arms, putting point of sale materials in front of your torso etc.

Lesson Number 7: Smile, smile, smile
The most powerful subconscious tool you have at your disposal is your smile so use it. When you smile at someone, they will smile back and start to relax in your company. Remember, smiling is infectious.

Lesson Number 8: Always offer a firm handshake
A firm handshake helps to imply that you are a confidence and honest person. A loose weak handshake says don’t trust me, I got something to hide.

Lesson Number 9: Keep good eye contact
Ensure that you keep eye contact when addressing someone and when they are talking to you. Good eye contact says, you can trust me, I’m interested in what you have say because its also important to me.

Lesson Number 10: Slow down introductions
When you are introduced, slow down the process taking time to remember the names and positions of the people that are been introduced. We generally tend to rush through introductions and later find we cant remember the names and positions of the people we have just been introduced to.

Lesson Number 11: Use first names.
Once the introductions are over, use people’s first names when addressing your audience or asking questions. This helps to quickly build trust with prospects.

Lesson Number 12: Be an obvious listener
Good listening skills require concentration, focus and effort. Let them see that your attention is directly focused on him or her through use of eye contact, nodding and by avoiding any mental distractions.

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Customers for Life !!!

The most successful companies place great value on developing lifetime relationships with their customers. In today's competitive marketplace, they're aware that their customers are aggressively prospected and their loyalty cannot be taken for granted. Customer focused companies recognize that relationship building and follow on service are critical components for promoting both customer retention and revenue growth.
First Build a Relationship Today we have access to innovative tools such as the Internet, cell phones, faxes and voice mail all designed to enhance our ability to communicate. Nevertheless, even with all of these technological tools at our disposal, the alarming number of dissatisfied customers, lost sales and failed relationships all reflect the fact that none of us are as effective at communicating as we would like to believe.
Temperament understanding helps to foster effective communication. Research in the field of human psychology indicates people are born into one of four primary behavioral styles; aggressive, expressive, passive or analytical. Each of these four temperament styles requires a unique approach and communication strategy. For example, if you are working with the impatient, aggressive style, they want a quick fix and a bottom line solution. Under pressure they can be ill-tempered and quick to anger. Give them options so you don't threaten their need for control. Don't waste their time with chitchat, stick to business. While at the other extreme, the stress-prone analytical style requires more information and is interested in every detail. Their cautious and analytical nature makes them susceptible to buyer's remorse. Be sensitive to their need for reassurance and guarantees. Once you learn how to identify each of the four primary behavioral styles, you will be able to work more effectively with all of your customers.
Communicate Effectively Recognize the importance of nonverbal communication and learn to "listen with your eyes." It might surprise you to know that research indicates over 70 percent of our communication is perceived nonverbally. In fact, studies show that body language has a much greater impact and reliability than the spoken word.
Create a favorable first impression and build rapport quickly by using open body language. In addition to smiling and making good eye contact, you should show the palms of your hands, keep your arms unfolded and your legs uncrossed. You can develop harmony by "matching and mirroring" your customer's body language gestures. Matching and mirroring is unconscious mimicry. It's a way of subconsciously telling another that you like them and agree with them.
Improve your active listening skills. To develop and encourage conversation, use open-ended questions to probe the meaning behind your prospect's statements. Occasionally repeat your prospect's words verbatim. By restating his or her key words or phrases you not only clarify communication, but also build rapport. Keep your attention focused on what your customer is saying and avoid the temptation to interrupt, argue or dominate the conversation.
Little Things Make a Big Difference Rendering quality customer service is both a responsibility and an opportunity. Often salespeople view customer service as an administrative burden that takes them away from making a sale. The truth is that customer service provides opportunities for cross-selling, up selling and generating quality referrals.
Customers describe quality customer service in terms of attention to detail and responsiveness. Customer satisfaction surveys consistently point to the fact that the little things make a big difference. Not surprisingly, the top two customer complaints with regards to customer service are unreturned phone calls and a failure to keep promises and commitments. Make an effort to see yourself through your customer's eyes. True customer service is meeting and surpassing your customer's expectations.
Successful salespeople "go the extra mile" when providing service and turn the customers they serve into advocates to help them promote their business. Your referrals and follow on business are in direct proportion to the quality and quantity of service you render on a daily basis. Want more referrals? Improve your service!
Here are five powerful customer service tips.

1. Under-promise and over-deliver. Develop a reputation for reliability; never make a promise that you can't keep. Your word is your bond.
2. Pay attention to the small things. Get in the habit of returning phone calls, e-mails and other correspondence quickly. Follow up, follow up, follow up.
3. Stay in contact and keep good records. Take the time to jot down notes from meetings and phone calls making certain to record all relevant information. Maintain a written record of service. This is especially helpful when clients are reassigned to a new sales rep. Setup a suspense system to track important contact dates such as client review calls and birthdays. Consider sending a personal note or an article of interest every six months.
4. Give your customers a promotional gift. Consider sending them a letter opener, coffee mug or a calendar with your picture and contact information.
5. Establish a feedback system to monitor how your customers perceive the quality and quantity of the service you provide. Service is not defined by what you think it is, but rather how your customers perceive its value. When it comes to customer service, perception is reality.

Progressive companies emphasize commitment to customer service from the top down by establishing training standards and continuously monitoring customer satisfaction. Companies that fail to implement an effective customer service program actually do a disservice to their customers and unknowingly, leave the backdoor open to their competitors. If you do it right, sales and service blend seamlessly and you will exceed your customer's expectations!

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6 Misconceptions about Sales

Are You Thinking that you're a terrible salesperson? Get over these classic misconceptions, and you'll be a sales superstar. There are a number of potentially dangerous misconceptions that surround the sales profession. There are always people who are "down in the mouth," complaining that business is down, constantly making excuses as to why. If you believe these cynics, you can sabotage your own business. An attitude of self-pity can be contagious, so get things straight in your own mind first. Let's address the most damaging myths associated with sales and how you can overcome them. Before long, you'll actually have fun whenever you engage in selling activities.

Myth #1: Only Someone Who Talks a Good Game Can Sell
In reality, fast talkers don't really do very well in the world of sales. They have a bad reputation because their prospects can sense the pressure, the insincerity and the lack of concern and compassion. A good listener will outsell a fast talker any day of the week. When you don't listen, you don't learn about the individuals, the companies and their priorities. You won't be able to address their needs, hence your chances of making the sale are greatly diminished.

Myth #2: Sales Is a Numbers Game
Actually, sales is a numbers game--the harder you work, the more money you make! Lots of sales managers are obsessed with numbers: how many cold calls on the phone, how many in person, how many appointments, how many sales. I've even seen tons of forms that salespeople have to fill out and hand in at the end of the day. That's how the sales manager monitors the salespeople. Does this sound like elementary school homework or what? Sales work is about people, not numbers. It's a lot more like brain surgery than bingo. It's about research, information and relationships. No, sales is not a numbers game.

Myth #3: To Succeed in Sales, You Must Have Thick Skin
Yes, we all have to (graciously) call on internal reservoirs of strength to deal with inevitable setbacks. But that's not the same thing as developing an outer persona that is offensively aggressive.

In the name of thick skin, a lot of salespeople have adopted a persona that is, in a word, insufferable. Their attitude seems to be, "I succeed, you fail, see you around!" Professional sales result in win-win situations.

Myth #4: Sales Has Its Unavoidable Ups and Downs
Sales only becomes a roller coaster ride if you let the process drive you instead of the other way around. It only has ups and downs if you don't have goals. Almost every industry is vulnerable to seasonal shifts. Like most other inconveniences, these shifts can be avoided with proper planning.

No matter what you hear anyone else say, there really is no "bad" season. There is always opportunity for salespeople who are committed enough to find it. Picture this scenario: While your competitors moan about everyone being on vacation in July, you target people who are less likely to be away on holiday--and you get through to them more easily, because there are fewer gatekeepers to contend with!

Myth #5: You Have to Be Good at Handling Rejection to Be in Sales
Out of the millions of sales professionals in the United States, I'll warrant that every one of them has heard "no thanks" much more often than the average individual. If they took it to mean that they themselves were somehow inferior, we'd probably need special psychiatric hospitals just for salespeople with bruised egos.

Rejection is a bad thing only if you make a conscious choice not to learn anything from the situation. Otherwise, rejection is an opportunity for growth!

Myth #6: Sales Is a Dead-End Career With Little Promotional Opportunity
Did you know that 85 percent of the company leaders and entrepreneurs in America today were once salespeople? They carried sample cases, made cold calls, dialed for dollars, did product demonstrations and handled objections. Today, they're the majority of corporate presidents, CEOs and the like. Sales is a dead-end job, all right--especially when you consider that the end may be at the very top of an organization.

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Objection Handling Techniques

The ability to effectively handle objections is without doubt the single biggest factor in getting prospects to buy. An objection is first and foremost an indication that at some level the prospect has or is considering buying and should be welcomed by the salesperson. An objection is a reasonable concern on behalf of the prospect, an objection is not an unreasonable expectation and this is an important difference. Managing expectations and more particularly unreasonable expectations requires a different skill set and comes under a different heading.
One very effective way to deal with objections is to preempt them as part of your presentation, you will be aware of the four or five concerns that your average prospect has so you can incorporate them into your presentation. This can be effective at promoting you and your company in a professional manner. Rather than operate a head in the sand approach, you tackle these reasonable concerns as part of your pitch coming from a position of strength and demonstrated that you do not run from the hard questions.

When dealing with objections it is important to be aware of body language and unconscious communication. I sat in on a presentation a few weeks back and the salesperson was interrupted mid sentence and asked a hard question with regards to a competitor. While he verbally came across quite well and was able to deal with the issue, the difficult question prompted him to fold his arms and promote a closed stance. This subconscious communication gave away the fact that he was uncomfortable with the question and probably was one of the reasons that he was unable to secure the deal.

I will not be dealing with particular objections as part of this piece but rather giving you a four-step technique for dealing with any objection. Try to remember that objections should be welcomed and they mean that you are in with a good chance of selling.

The first step when dealing with the objection is to acknowledge the concern. Ensure that you make the prospect aware that you understand where they are coming from and their concern is reasonable.

The second step is to qualify the objection, find out exactly what they mean for instance "time to think" means what? What is it that they need to think about? Are there still some issues that you haven't dealt with? What are they not convinced about?

The third step is to re-sell the corresponding benefit, this time been aware that your approach first time round didn't work so you will at least have to expand and take different angles to re-enforce the point

The final step in dealing with objections is to seek agreement with the prospect. Ask them if they are happy and understand what you said and that you have been able to relieve their concern. Obviously if the answer is no, you will need to do some more convincing.

You need only to become skilled at handling the most common objections don't worry about strange or once off objections. Practice and role-play objections as the more times you deal with the particular objection, the better you will become.

We will look at managing expectations later this year, which as mentioned requires a different approach and should not be confused with objection handling. Remember an objection denotes an expression of interest and should be welcomed as part of the sale. Learn to love em.

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What Customers Hate About You

Recent research uncovered almost eighty reasons why customers dislike salespeople. Here are the top seven.

1. Not listening. This was the most cited reason customers dislike salespeople. Too many salespeople neglect to listen to what their customers or prospects say which means they fail to address the key issues that their customer has stated as being important. I remember an interaction with a couple of salespeople a few years ago. One of them asked some great questions to learn more about my particular situation. However, his counterpart did not listen to my responses, and as a result, his solution did not address my business challenges and buying requirements. In fact, his presentation was so far off base, I abruptly called an end to the meeting. Time is a precious commodity for people and when you don't listen you disrespect your prospect.

2. Talking too much. It still amazes me how many salespeople think that telling is selling. I see this in virtually every type of sales environment from B2B to B2C to Retail. My personal belief is that your prospect or customer should do most of the talking in a sales conversation. Sales people react to this idea by saying, "But if they're doing all the talking how can I sell my product?" The key is to let your customer do enough talking so that you can properly present a solution to their problem or situation.

3. Lack of knowledge. In today's information- rich world, there is no reason for a salesperson to lack knowledge about the products and services they sell. I was recently impressed by the person who gave us an estimate on a new roof for our house. He knew his products and was able to speak intelligently about them and the differences between each. I know that the life-cycles of many products are very short and that many companies introduce new products at an alarming rate. However, if you don't know enough about your products, you are going to lose your customer's respect, and in all likelihood, the sale. Do yourself a favor and invest the necessary time learning about your products and services.

4. Lack of follow-up. Many sales people say they will do something and fail to follow through. This ranges from promising to get information to taking care of a problem or concern. Many people use this as a barometer before they make a final buying decision. Here's how.

A potential customer asks for a particular piece of information and the sales person promises to deliver it by a certain date. The deadline passes and the prospect has to call and remind the salesperson. Because the sale has not been finalized, warning signals sound in the customer's mind. After all, if the sales person is this slow to respond BEFORE the sale is made (the courting stage), how long will it take him to respond AFTER the sale?

Lack of follow up results in lost sales. A person contacts two or three companies about a particular item or project. All three submit a quote but only one makes the effort to follow up. Who is more likely going to get the sale?

5. Lying. "I don't care about the customer and I'll tell them anything I have to in order to get the sale." Believe it or not, I heard this comment from a participant in one of my sales training workshops. Unfortunately, the number of sales people who lie or intentionally mislead their customers is staggering. This behavior includes; overstating the capabilities of your product, stretching the truth, or giving people the wrong information. Almost everyone has bought a product from someone who was less than truthful, and as a result, has become more skeptical with their buying decisions.

6. Failing to understand their needs. This is an extension of the first two reasons customers dislike salespeople. When a sales rep talks too much and listens too little, they don't get a full understanding of their prospect's situation. I have worked and interacted with thousands of sales people over the years, both as a trainer and a buyer. I can state without hesitation, that a mere twenty percent of them actually take the time to understand their customer's needs, situation, concerns, etc. And it's this group of individuals who are the most successful.

7. Refusal to take 'no' for an answer. Almost everyone in sales knows the importance of persistence. However, there is a fine line between persistence and stalking. While you shouldn't drop your efforts after the first 'no', it is critical to recognize that you won't gain anything by pressuring people. In many cases, the reason someone says 'no' is because they don't see the value in your product/service or because they are not a highly qualified prospect.

Sales is an honorable profession. Stand out from your competition by avoiding these behaviours.

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4 Keys to a Successful Sales Strategy

With the United States in the midst of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and signs that trouble is headed towards Europe, these are uncertain times for construction firms. This being the case, it is evermore important to have a cost-effective sales strategy that will help to secure the targeted projects you need to ensure that your business continues to turn substantial profits. Fortunately, the good news is that a strategy suitable for a smaller/mid-size builder in the £1m to £20m range is not difficult to develop and is relatively inexpensive to implement.

The strategy outlined below is based on the work that Construction Business Development do for builders of this type and size. It is based on the idea that one concentrated day’s sales a week is the most cost effective way of generating new sales leads. The results speak for themselves with one day typically producing 1-2 high priority appointments between your directors and potential work providers. On top of that, this strategy tends to secure 3-5 tenders a month, mostly through utilization of telecommunications and subsequent relationship development. Finally, this strategy uses planning leads as a key source of market and project intelligence.
Basic Pre-Requisites of the Strategy.

There are some basic elements that firms should ensure are in place before pursuing any marketing strategy. Several of the most important of these are outlined below and for the vast majority of readers they will serve only as a reminder of the basics. These are:

* Commitment from the directors and managers for the a long term sales program is really important because it ensures that your bosses are behind you in your sales endeavors and will provide support when it is required
* A strong, attractive and effective corporate identity is something that all firms aspire to have but it is essential to stress that if one’s corporate image is tainted, it will become much harder to build a client base.
* Clear thinking and clear prioritization of market focus areas will help streamline your corporate process generally, but it will also help any marketing strategy because a clear focus will make the best use of a marketers time.
* Effective marketing resources are essential for promoting a corporate image and for advertising to potential clients. Most firms will already be involved in some activities related to this field, however it is worth reiterating how important it is to be strong in this area by having a wide range of resources available – i.e., brochures, websites, pdf's and email material, case studies and letters

The 4 Keys

1. Market Intelligence
Market Intelligence within this context is information relating to building projects that suit your market within a specific geographical location. It is crucial that every firm develops a process by which this type of information is collected, focused on and developed. This is done in the hope that a firm may discover projects that are still at an early stage so as to determine areas for profit. Within the process of the collection of this information it is important to discover:
* The details of the key contacts and decision makers who run these projects.
* Potential work-providers within your area who may handle projects of potential interest on a regular basis.

2. Regular Time to Develop Leads
The most important point to make about time is that a long-term plan is crucial to ensure a sustained and continuous approach to marketing. However, one day per week is often sufficient to handle these leads and this day can often be divided into blocks of half-day at a time, thus maximizing their potential. For this plan to work, the marketer concerned needs to be confident in cold calling and relationship development especially using the phone as a primary sales tool.

Below are found some typical figures for the volumes of leads that can be handled and the results when using the above mentioned strategy:
* Up to 25 separate contacts/companies per day
* Around 8-10 new leads, 15+ recalls
* Approximately 10-12+ new letters/emails out per day
* Between 1-2 appointments agreed
* Up to 150+ projects/contacts under development at any one time
* Generally 3-5 targeted tenders per month
* Generally one strong new connection every 6-7 weeks

Whilst these figures are impressive by themselves for what amounts to a days work, it is also important to remember that these connections build up and each has a massive long term potential

3. Executive Support
It is important that the directors of your firm, your bosses, support the sales and marketing area of the company. One of the best ways in which they can do this is to make sure that they are flexible in the time that they allocate for appointments with potential clients. However, it is also important to remember that these people can’t bend over backwards to do your every bidding and thus to maximize their time appointments should be of definite value to your firm. To ensure this, in general, appointments should meet these two criteria:
* There is a definite project to discuss.
* The firm you are meeting with regularly handles work of the type you want.

4. Encouragement of Sales Input Across the Company
In a firm it is important to remember that the sales and marketing area is on the only source of new prospects for a company. Instead the opposite is true because in principle, every member of a company can come across new prospects and projects of interest through the local press, local gossip or local knowledge, business contacts and personal networks.

These projects are often very valuable because they are based upon personal connections with employees with your firm. This being the case a system to encourage and reward such input should be put in place. If this system is managed properly, it might be possible to maximize corporate outreach at a minimal cost to the company.
Conclusions

So, where does this leave you? Obviously there is no golden bullet in terms of marketing and sales or else everyone would be doing it. But, whatever strategy one employs it is clear that there are going to be some core basics and some of the most important of these are outlined above.

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10 Deadly Sales Mistakes

Recently a customer of mine asked me to come up with a list of common mistakes made by salespeople so that she could hand it out to their sales team. I decided to keep it simple and limit the list to ten, which I have called The Ten Deadly Sales Sins.

10: Driving all Day
Spend the minimum amount of time travelling and the maximum amount of time prospecting or closing deals. Divide your area into manageable chunks and work each smaller area on a specific day each week. Only deviate from this plan where there is a very good reason such as collecting a certain sale.

9: (Really Cold) Calling
First impressions count big time. Prospect’s care about their business and not yours so have enough research done so that you can talk to them about their business. This will allow you to start to win their trust from the off. You need to stand out from the crowd and convince that your offering will add value to their business and customers

8. Falling Down on Follow Up
Call your customers or drop in to see if there are any more opportunities and that current service is up to scratch. Send out some e-mails informing of latest developments or new products and follow up with a call. Speak to old prospects to see if their circumstances have changed. Selling is about building relationships; relationships are based on communication so make sure you follow up.

7: Painful Presentations and Dull Demonstrations
Let me start by saying the amount of presentations where I have retained information and which were in some way memorable I can count on one hand. There tends to be a general consensus that they are a necessary evil. In my opinion, this is not the case and they are often used as a bad sales prop and contain reams of irrelevant information. Good presentation skills are difficult to master so that average seller should limit time spent presenting and increase time spent selling. When evaluating your presentations and presentations skills ask yourself “ What is the presentation adding to the meeting?” and always ask this question from the point of the person or persons receiving the presentation. If you’re average meeting is one hour and your presentation takes up half, could some of this time be better spend doing something else? How much of the information do people actually want to hear? A simple rule to apply when presenting is far less tell and much more interaction.

6: Stalling Your Sales Engine
Selling is all about the seller managing opportunities so that each action or conversation produces positive forward momentum ending in sales. Set yourself minimum and maximum objectives each time you talk with a prospect and always achieve in between. Ensure next steps and agree timeframes no matter how small. Let stalling be your biggest enemy and attack with all your sales might.

5: Losing Track of Time
Time is your greatest resource, be very greedy with it. Ask the question “ Is this contributing to my sales?” for every action you do and for every conversation you have. If this answer is no, you need to change what you are doing or start having a different conversation.

4: Rejecting Referrals
Referrals are by far one of the easiest ways to get good quality leads. I’m often asked when is a good time to ask for referrals. “Is it when you just made a sale?” “Is it when a prospect is really happy with the quality of back up and after service?” Of course these are all good times to ask but really the very best time to ask for referrals is “now”

3: Running Scared of the Close
The close is a reasonable request at a reasonable time. At best prospects say “yes” and at worst they say “no” and even then you can still change their mind. Ask the question “Can we do business?”

2: Not Getting to Know Each Other
You know why your product is special and can talk about all its valuable features. The prospect knows what makes their business special. To convince a prospect that your product will add value to their business you too need to know what makes their business special. How do you this, you ask lots of questions to find out. Take the time to find out about what’s important to them and what makes their business great. Only then will you be in a position to demonstrate how your product will make their business even better.

1. Alarming Attitudes
With the right attitude and energy nearly everyone can learn the skills required to become a seller and forge a successful and lucrative career for themselves. However even today sales are still viewed in some quarters as a stopgap career move. Some companies too add flames to this fire by tossing away underperforming new hires at rate of knots. Its time these people and organisations woke up to the fact to be successful requires proper training, correct company supports, a varied skill set and most of all a professional attitude on behalf of everybody involved.

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