Sales get made and killed every day. Often there is a fine line between the two things and the reasons are pretty obvious. So in this short primer on what not to do when you actually want to make the sale, remember these five simple little rules that will help you close more and lose less!
- Listen up and shut up. Stop over-talking your client or prospect! They want to be heard and have you actually listen to them. Great salespeople let the client go on and don’t take chances.
- Objection? What objection? Don’t try and show your brilliance by answering what you think the next objection is going to be! If you react to what you anticipate is an objection but it really wasn’t, you will kill the sale. This happens all the time! ( HINT: Most objections get solved by the client if you observe rule 1.) Try it and let me know how it works out for you.
- “And the next comment is….” Great salespeople don’t think they know what the client is going to say and then have an answer all ready! I personally find it really annoying when I have one thought and a salesperson thinks he can just read my mind! Wow! Usually, the salesperson is wrong, and that just makes me not want to buy.
- Like my PowerPoint? When you pitch a client, focus on the conversation, doing great discovery, and building a relationship. Your presentation or other materials do not sell for you, and if you are using something, make darn sure it’s original and customized and SHORT! I don’t want three pages of company history and other filler. I have limited time and I need to make sure we solve my issues in the time we have together.
- Homework counts! You better know everything there is to know about my company and me and use that information to make a rock-solid connection between your offering and my needs. This is “Sales 101,” and too many deals get crushed because one size does NOT fit all. You find out everything you need to know with a few quick and efficient searches out there in cyberspace!
There you go – five quick and simple rules that are not always so easy to implement when the year is closing and time is short. These are sales basics, and missing the basics is often why sales are lost.
While a techie and not someone who makes their living directly in sales, I always remembered a quote I read early in my carreer. I cannot attribute it to the source, but it definitely ties into point #1 in your list:
Samson slew 1000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. Every day, thousands of sales are killed the same way.
As a person who makes a living in sales, I witness the collateral damage of this weapon on a daily basis. It is not a pretty site. Most of our people should excercise the quote ” it is better to remain silent and thought a fool, than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt”.