|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com : "Sales" Home Page |
|
|
< How To Profit From Initial Consultations
"I'd love to work with you, but?" How many times have you heard these words? As a professional service provider looking to grow your business, isn't it sometimes frustrating to hold an initial session with someone who you'd love to work with but the potential client has a whole list of reasons why s/he would love to work with you, but?? As in, "I'd love to, but.."-"I can't afford it." Or "I'm not sure if it will work for me." Or "I'm going to try to work on it by myself and will get back to you." Here are some tips and strategies for overcoming the dreaded "I'd love to work with you, but?" syndrome. These are gleaned from my own personal experience in building my coaching business, as well as tips & strategies I learned in the SalesCoachTraining.com program. I'm happy to share these with you because I really believe it is much easier to run your business when you can afford to do so because you have enough clients who pay you well. So, there are 10 steps to consider: © 2003, Dr. Rachna D. Jain. All Rights in All Media Reserved. About The Author Dr. Rachna D. Jain is a sales and marketing coach and Director of Operations for SalesCoachTraining.com. To learn more or contact Dr. Jain directly, please visit http://www.salesandmarketingcoach.com, and sign up for her free newsletter, Sales and Marketing Secrets.
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
An Introduction to B2B Lead Generation It is important that organizations find other companies to do business with. Business-to-business sales, abbreviated as B2B sales, are vital to many companies' profit margins and to their standing within their industry. How to Create Material That Will Get You Sales Now! WHY ARE YOU WRITING THIS BROCHURE OR SALES LETTER? Whats Your Clients Style? When it comes to effective selling, one simple fact never changes: Selling is a relationship business. You already know all about your company's products and services ? and you've learned the fundamental aspects of the sales cycle. Six Steps to Creating Online Presentations for Telephone Selling How much extra money could you make by closing just one or two additional sales a day? You can double, or even triple, the effectiveness of your telephone selling by showing prospects why they should buy from you, instead of just telling them. How To Sell Your Products or Services on Value And Stop Selling On Price Alone Have you ever met with, or talked to a prospect that wasn't ready to buy what you had to offer? What did you do with that prospects? Most sales gurus of the 1980's and 90's wrote books that told you to move on to the next prospect who is ready to buy now, and not waste your time on those that aren't ready yet. A Brief History of the Sales Profession The formula for defining a "profession" is similar throughout many disciplines, including: accounting, education, engineering, law and medicine. These professions all have codes of ethical conduct, a definition of their scope, and standards of practice for their members, which include some or all aspects of academic preparation, accreditation, certification and/or licensing. Morris L. Cogan addressed the definition of forming a profession in business in 1953. After reviewing all the literature on the topic, he offered the following comprehensive distillation, which is submitted here, as a fine summary of the previous definitions:A profession is a vocation whose practice is founded upon understanding the theoretical structure of some department of learning or science, and upon the abilities accompanying such an understanding. This understanding and these abilities are applied to the vital practical affairs of man. The practices of the profession are modified by knowledge of a generalized nature and by the accumulated wisdom and experience of mankind, which serve to correct the errors of specialization. The profession, that serves the vital needs of man, considers its first ethical imperative to be altruistic service to the client"(Vollmer et al., 1966).Why is the definition of a profession so important to selling? The professionalism of a group establishes the power that is recognized by others within the business community and outside the profession. With the sanction, approval, and authority intact, the profession attains higher status in the eyes of the clients. In this case, the clients of the seller would need to recognize and sanction, and approve the authority of the sales professional. Due to the nature of the buying-selling relationship, many individual buyers do not feel comfortable giving or otherwise recognizing this power in the sales professional. The question becomes: if doctors and lawyers receive money for their work, and indeed must sell and market their services, why then, are they seen as "more professional"?All of these definitions of a profession provide insight into the ideals and behaviors, which are needed to be considered "professional" by members of the business community. In learning to become a "professional", many occupations are taught in school. When a student studies any new subject matter, their first objective is to understand an overview of the entire subject matter. For example, when studying medicine, students first understand all the systems of the body, the different medical terms, and a high level overview of the entire field before they ever operate on anyone. Once any student studying a new subject understands this high level overview, they then move in depth into each specific area of that profession.Some sales professionals have entered the field by joining a large and established company. Others have grown up in the field by learning the "hard way". Still, others have done a combination of both. With over 15 million sales professionals, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the United States alone there was no set standard upon which to measure and advance the entire profession until the United Professional Sales Association standards were created at the turn of the century. With these standards, thousands of sales professionals are discovering that they are indeed a part of a "True Profession." The Struggle to Decide: The Paths Customers Take to Solve Problems Usually my essays discuss the issues that the 'sales' method initiates, methods such as over-long buying cycles, product and brand differentiation problems, price competition, and objections. This article focuses on the buyer: what, precisely, is the real problem they face; and how you lose differentiation/competitive edge/time through your faulty assumption that a sale can be achieved through a clear-cut equation: Making the Sale When the Customer Wont Buy Ever had a party online or offline, and had guests say "I love that item, but I can't afford it right now", or "It's so hard to decide, I want all of this!". This is a perfect time to sell all those items to your customer without them having to pay a dime. Challenge Yourself!!! Evaluate Your Selling Skills! This evaluation is not for the "weak-kneed". Real questions to determine Real skills for Real world sales.When is the last time you were evaluated for your skills - not your personality or potential? Be honest. How do you critique you? How do you identify your strengths and weaknesses in sales?This mini evaluation is designed to critique your skills regardless of what type of sales you are currently in. Although the product or service may change the selling process remains the same.Take a look at the following questions, answer them carefully, and check back next week for the answers.1) List the top five most important steps in the selling process.2) Of these top five, which is the most important? Why?3) List the top three steps in the qualifying process.4) Of the top three which is most important. Why?5) What's more important - qualifying or closing? Why?6) What is your current closing average?7) How do you determine your closing average? 8) What is a qualified lead?9) How do you qualify your leads?10) What is the most important step in the lead qualifying process? Why?How do you know you're effective?How do you know you can't be better?How do you determine your strengths and weaknesses?Wouldn't it be important to know? Telling the Value Story You arrived on time and completed your calculations. You worked up a presentation of all the things you're going to do and items included, going over each item carefully. You've just given the customer the price. They look at each other. He says, "Okay. Thanks for the quote. Well get back to you. Of course, we need time to think about it. It looks good. I've heard good things about you. So there's no need to worry. We never make a decision without thinking it over first." Top 10 Ways to Sell your Product or Service While you Sleep - Part 2 Part one of this article is available at www.bookcoaching.com/freearticles/article-31.shtml. The Risk of Being A Yes-Man Sales is all about negotiating. You are negotiating from the first word out of your lips on a cold call, to the moment that you touch the contract with your customer's wet signature on it. Where to Find Mannequins for Sale Any time a clothing store opens or expands, they must buy mannequins. There are many different places to find a mannequin for sale, including the Internet, companies that mass produce mannequins, and businesses that make unique mannequins one at a time. Other mannequin sellers offer used mannequins at a discount. Take the Contract with You I learned something very interesting this week. Thankfully, what I learned was really at no one's expense. What I learned is that when you are on a sales call and you believe there is a possibility (even a remote one) that you may close, always take your contract or letter of agreement with you! This does not apply if your contracts are so complex that it takes a team of attorneys to sort through it. If, however, your contract or letter of agreement is one or two pages long? take it with you. Make Your Trade Show Booth Popular So, you are taking your products and heading to a trade show, but this year you want to make your trade show booth popular in order to garner more business and have no idea how to do it. Actually, it really is quite simple to make a popular trade show booth as long as you put forth the effort. Everything Follows the Pitch If you asked me to point to the heart and soul of a startup company, I would not say it's the people, the culture, or even the product. I would say it's the pitch. The pitch is that one message that, when delivered, makes people say "wow, that's a great idea!". The pitch gets everyone in the room excited about getting on board with your product and your company. It's the inspiration that carries everyone along for the ride. Your Best Friend - The Phone We all know that you can't earn your commission until you make the sale. Furthermore, you can't make the sale without the order, and you can't write the order until you have a product presentation scheduled. Finally, you can't have a presentation until you make the infamous CALL to schedule the appointment. Future Business Key Element In Sales A challenge facing many businesses is how to maintain a constant stream of customers in order to provide a regular cash flow. Impotent Questions - How Much Are They Costing You? Last issue we talked about what motivates people to buy something. A person or a business is motivated to buy when they perceive that a change needs to occur to fix or avoid a problem, or to enable a greater vision for their future. They buy when they believe that a product or service will bridge this gap for them. Picture Yourself a Winner In the work place, the amount of good things that happen to a person during the day far out number the amount of bad things that happen, so why do we spend so much time stressing over the bad things when we should be smiling about the good things.
|
 |
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |
