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I Can Sell Anything..AMA

Ask me anything!

AlterJoule

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As a matter of fact I'm dead serious. You said you can sell. You said to ask you how to sell. Plenty of people may have that question. What is so hard to believe about that question? I'd benefit from your answer, you asked me to ask you.
 
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jockinbox

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As a matter of fact I'm dead serious. You said you can sell. You said to ask you how to sell. Plenty of people may have that question. What is so hard to believe about that question? I'd benefit from your answer, you asked me to ask you.

Seems like a troll question since you didnt bother reading the first page & you wouldve found your answer there

How do you sell products where there is a lot of competition? E.g. selling a particular product where most of the market share is dominated by big brands


In an online space
There's not that many differences between retail selling & online selling but heres some worth mentioning
1) make your website a 1 stop shop. Where your customer can do everything from Learn the basics about your product, how to use your product, etc. If you sell F*cking t-shirts tell them what color jeans they go well with, better yet make a bundle & sell the jeans and a belt too. If you are selling scooters make sure you have videos on how to turn it on, how to ride, stop, etc. Basically you dont want them to leave your website. The more time they spend the more likely you are to buy, if you are a buyer.
2) advertise, advertise, advertise. In the book "as a man thinketh" the author mentions something about that if you only had 20 bucks your gonna die in the advertising space because it take 7-8 times of seeing your ad to buy.
He says something like
the first time they see your ad they dont acknowledge it
the second time they see your ad they acknowledge it but dont read it
the third time the read it
the fourth time the wanna know the price
the fifth time they tell their wife/significant other about it
the sixth time they are ready to buy
the seventh time they buy
I laughed when I read that its so true.
A general sale goes through the following points
Interest (thats cool)
Education (how do I use it)
Suitability (is it for me)
Economy (can I afford it)
Do I really want it? (reinforce interest)
Sale

Learn who your customers are & make your product better suited to them

Engrave you & your brand in their mind

KNOW YOUR PRODUCT.

Also seems like a troll because I cant change the price? Why can't I raise the price on my product?

If you are serious how you do it
1. Brand product
2. Raise price to 149-199
3. Make YouTube Videos demonstrating your product and put videos on your website
4. Buy twitter ads to kick off
5. Adwords (adwords will favor you because youve developed a brand and people are more likely because they recognize you from twitter ads, which increases your CTR which decreases your CPC)
6. Reinvest heavily
7. Bankrupt everyone else
 

AlterJoule

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I've read everything you've posted on this site. First page of this thread included. I set up a specific situation with a specific barrier because I wanted to see your specific suggestions pertaining to those criteria. You can't change the price because I want to see a good salesman's approach to dominating a market filled with the same stuff.

Maybe you could post some dialogue you'd have with an interested customer? Sell me on why your product is better... Maybe you could post some examples of how your product Copy would be? Maybe you could tell us an exact angle you would take that is COMPLETELY different from the other guys that may set you as the company apart. Maybe you give a free pair of something with every purchase to so and so. Maybe for every $100 dollars spent, you give them points that add up towards another purchase. Maybe you have a cool backend product that benefits them in another way.

That's all I was getting at. These types of specific questions help a lot of people, that's all.

I'm not doing this to bust your balls. I'm doing it because you're telling me you rock at sales. I wanna see. It might make me better. And others.
 
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jockinbox

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You can't change the price because I want to see a good salesman's approach to dominating a market filled with the same stuff.

Going up in price is a tactic
It gives your product more value over others. It also gives you more profitability to create a better product.

Maybe you could post some examples of how your Copy would be?
Headling (promise/result)
Connect
Empathize
Solution (your product)
Remove Objections
Connect Again
Proof (testimonials)
Outline of What you Get (features/benefits)
Urgrency / Scarcity
Money Back Guarantee
Call to Action


Maybe you could tell us an exact angle you would take that is COMPLETELY different from the other guys that may set you as the company apart.
I would create a content rich website which takes a customer through all of the following stages
interest
education
suitability
economy (cost)

More tactics:
-find out what your customers are saying about other peoples product (what they like/hate) pitch with those things in mind
for example customer says they like the battery life on the S3 your response would be well the iPhone has the absolute best battery life in the market
Customer says he hates having to restart phone to close apps, well with the iPhone you can just hold the home button and close all your apps from there
-always offer free shipping
-find out who uses your product and make it more suitable to them
Do construction workers buy your tablet because its tough? sell them a water-proof case or a battery case
-bundle
Sell everything as a package
-offer better customer service
-have a twitter, instagram, facebook setup with social proof

theres 10000000 ways to go about this, if you tell me more specifically what field you are in I can give you dialogues, tips, tactics, etc.
 
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jockinbox

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from my previous posts related to sales

Cost Vs Value: How to price & pitch your products
Interesting question came up today on the forums developed a incredible software that solves a huge need but had a problem regarding pricing & how to pitch to hospitals (b2b)

There's 3 things to consider here: savings, reputation, market

1) Savings
Let's say your product solves a problem that will save your customer 10k a month. If your product cost 11k a month, you won't get any sales because they will be bleeding 1k a month. If you sell your solution at 1k a month, you miss out on a lot of money that could be profit.
So the solution is here is to get as close to the 10k you save the clients while still making them want to switch.

This applies to a lot of service business models like insurance. Suppose someone wants a quote on their car and they pay 200/m & your company can provide the same for only 100/m. From a sales perspective you should get as close to the 200/m while still providing enough savings for your client to switch. Maybe they'll switch for 180/m and you just sold 80 dollars more of product, which means more perspective value, higher retention rate, more satisfied clients, better referrals.

2) Reputation
So let's assume that you are a personal trainer and charge on a per session basis. You get a client that wants to lose weight/gain muscle. He/she starts off and quits 3 weeks later. As a trainer you know a transformation will take at least 12 weeks to get to where they want to be but you allowed the client to work with you without a contract. Now the client goes on FB and tells everyone you're a shitty personal trainer because you didn't them results. You just missed out on a lot of potential clients because of this negative publicity
Instead the trainer should have pitched this as a 3 month deal with 60% upfront and then when the client finishes the 12 week program he'll see the results he wants & refer you some more fat people.
Mike is just starting to sell his product, the LAST thing he wants is a hospital network saying they didn't see savings using product. Now if he gets them on a 1-2 year contract, demonstrates savings, they will be RAVING about him/his product.
Eventually Mike will have to deal with copy cats since software is easy to reverse engineer, but he'll have reviews on his side. Nobody is gonna want to take a shot with the new kid on the block when Mikey's got the market cornered. Figure out how long it'll take to convert your sales into costumers and make this the minimum. Anything else you're wasting your time
If it takes a year for the hospitals to see savings, Mike should be pitching as a 60k product not a 4k a month product.

3) Market (n/a to mike)
Who do you want to target? Better yet, who do you want to deal with? Do you want to deal with 100 low end clients or 5 high end clients? Once you find out who you want to target it gets so much easier. The personal trainer that only trains celebrities and athletes banks, vs the the trainer that trains your average Joe could be living paycheck to paycheck. The shoe company that sells $30 shoes has to sell 1000 to make 30k, the shoe company that sells $250 shoes only needs to sell 120.

Some random tips in no particular order about selling b2b from my experiences
When selling to a business they only care about 3 things: increased sales, cutting costs, and higher conversion.
Give yourself value, don't bend over backwards for them. Make them chase you.
Tell them their competitors are interested in your product or have already purchased your product
Be willing to prove your product firsthand
Make it hard for them to say no
Make them think about what you want them to think about (the problem your product solves)
Don't try to sell them on the first meeting
Ask questions, make improvements, rinse & repeat

How to hire 'unlimited' sales reps
"I'm looking to hire some sales guys to make outbound calls to my customers to sell a high priced training package. Commissions per sale are high. Does anyone have any recommendations on where I can go to find good sales guys for this? I'm sure someone on here has done this before. What is your method for finding these people?"

It's always cheaper to do salary + commission from a business perspective.
1-you can hire better talent
People with sales exp usually feel entitled to salary, I don't blame them
2-less of a turnover rate
They don't feel like their wasting their time. If you go 5 days without a sale you'll most likely quit, where as if you had salary you have motivation to stay.
3-less commission per sale means more profitability while giving you more room to incentivize

Here's the formula I've used to hire new reps & maintain profitability

How often do you expect a sale
How much is the profit per sale

Let's say you make about 1000 profit per sale & expect to close 1 every 2 days average

Salary + Commission
$15hr X 16 hours=240+200 commission = 440

You'd have to dish out at LEAST 60%
So $600 a sale MINIMUM, in my experience if reps are commission only they usually want 60-100% of the profit

Everyone always worries about hiring salary & them not performing, fire them, problem solved. Remember, salary is the "safety" & "security" slow lane folks crave. Give them what they want & make money off that too!

So where do we find said reps? Well @ $15 an hour you shouldn't have too much of a problem since that's well above minimum wage but here's some ideas

Craigslist usually $25 per job post
Monster/indeed/the ladders: very expensive per job post
Recruiting: you can look into recruiting sales reps from: wireless stores, retail locations, best buy, etc. These cats are usually making close to minimum wage with "commissions" idk what the hell some of the companies mean by that (my first ever sales job @ a retail location I made a whopping 0.25 commission off a $100 sale, on top of my glorious minimum wage salary)

Also, don't try to mess with this formula, if you can afford to pay your people more DO IT. Don't be greedy it's gonna bite you in the a$$. I had a friend who worked for a wireless company & most of them working there were making $8 an hour and bs commissions (I also heard a rumor they would hold pay checks) Needless to say they all left and the company went bust a year later. If you have talent, invest in them, champion them. You have no idea how many sales jobs I've held in the past & I've literally quit on the first day because the commission structure was bullshit.

You can also hire kids straight out of high school that are hungry and get someone to train them. This usually works well since 18 year olds have girlfriends and POS hondas they wanna buy parts for.

Getting referrals and a simple trick to boost retention, earnings, and profitability without spending much time/money
Do you know what the best time to ask for referrals is? Its right after you make a sale. Don't take no for an answer. This script is setup for a positive answer since the previous questions are affirmative

Mr. Customer thanks you for letting me earn your business today, how satisfied are you with the service I've provided you?
blah blah
Great, I'm happy I was able to exceed your expectations today, would you recommend my work to someone?
blah blah
Terrific, do you know anyone who needs this product/service?
yes=you know what to do
no=well I would love to talk with the first person that came to your mind. Who did you think about when I asked that?


Dale Carnegie's salesperson of the year was Jeoffrey Gitomer and he says he would rather have 100 existing customers than 1000 leads. Over the years, society has shyed away from being aggressive in sales, but he still makes a valid point. It's so much easier to sell to someone who already knows you/trust you. It's important to always follow up with you people you didnt close, but its even more important to follow up with those you did. Keep that relationship warm. Dont sell somebody something and then 14 months later ask them to buy something else if you havent followed up.

Here's an exercise I'm using with my current contract to improve retention/boost sales

Think of 5-15 customers that made you the most money last month and write them a quick thank you note and follow up by phone 3 days later. Every month do this with the previous months. It should take about 2-3 hours a month and you will see immediate improvement. The conversation should NOT be about sales but something else entirely. Ask them how they like your product, what they wish it did, recommendations, pros/cons, etc.

You will blow your competition out of the water. What was the last time you got a call or a thank you note from a product you purchased?
Only the very successful companies do this. Verizon Wireless, is critical on the follow up process.

Over time, your retention will be higher among the more profitable customers customers and you will lose the dramatic, time consuming, productivity killing customers that barely make you money.
 

z6Evolved

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(tonality is super important here, when you get to let me show you, lower your voice to indicate scarcity which leads to interest)

Straight Line, eh?

Either way, it's not a bad program and it works for a lot of people so do it to it. And thanks for starting the thread. I work in a very high volume sales environment myself and it's nice to see people's take on the art from other angles.

Here's my favorite topic to discuss with other salespeople when shooting the shit - what's your favorite way to deal with "I need to talk it over with my spouse/business partner/other person not involved in the buying decision and I'll get in touch with you"? The industry I work in is very, very competitive and the pressure is pretty high, I've literally seen people quit after a week because they couldn't break through that stall and figured they never would.
 

jockinbox

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Yeah my system is a mix of straight line, sales bible & grant cardones books.

When someone says that I usually get a partial commitment
-we are low on inventory, let me set aside some for you. You don't wanna miss out right?
-ok that's perfect, now I can't guarantee that the price will stay the same by the time you call back in, let me take a small $2 deposit to lock in your price for the week/month. (This works because they already feel like they own it)
-you can use our product risk free for 15 days, if you aren't completely satisfied, we'll take it off your hands and not charge you a dime (works with high end stuff, like printers/computers since they'll get attached in 2 weeks)

I try to ask
"Are you the only decision maker?"
"Are you looking to buy in the next 30 days?"
Before I go too far into pitch to eliminate window shoppers
 
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jockinbox

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Sales person interview

Most of the people here are not salesmen but entrepreneurs so let me go over how to interview sales folk and what to look for

What to look for
1. Creative
2. Can explain complicated things easily
3. Is motivated my money
4. Is not employed elsewhere
5. Friendly


Interview questions
1. Name 5-10 uses for a #2 pencil besides writing (erasing, throwing, as a lever, press buttons, reach far places, push/pull things towards away from you, etc)
2. Pitch me something you've sold before
3. Go over commission structure ask if they like it or if they want to make any changes (have 2 or 3 that equal the same thing, some people want more commission and less base others want the opposite)
4. Are you employed elsewhere? Do people ask you what you do for a living? If they need to stay late to close a deal, make sure there's no other job they are worrying about.
5. Tell me about a time you dealt with a stupid/angry customer? (The correct answer is I've never dealt with a stupid/angry customer)
6. Why should I hire you? (Elevator pitch)

Anything else you can teach them

Some stories from interviews I've conducted:
One guy brought his girlfriend to the interview and asked her to review the compensation to see if it was okay for him to work there
One guy said his hobbies include being lazy, drinking beer, and watching soccer
I asked one guy to tell me about a difficult customer he said "buddy I've worked retail before, everyone is a difficult customer" ...that's a great attitude 'buddy'
 

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Thanks for doing that. This thread is full of good advice.
I am about to launch a marketing campaign for my lead generation website so on one side I plan to contact the professionals through a cold email series and on the other side, I am planning on setting up Facebook ads for the customers.
Could have I your view about what I plan to do and how you would go about it if you had to do it yourself?
 

jockinbox

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Thanks for doing that. This thread is full of good advice.
I am about to launch a marketing campaign for my lead generation website so on one side I plan to contact the professionals through a cold email series and on the other side, I am planning on setting up Facebook ads for the customers.
Could have I your view about what I plan to do and how you would go about it if you had to do it yourself?

On the professional side
Cold Calling might work better, be sure to have some references ready to go. Also niche down as much as possible, its impossible to compete against LeadsUSA unless you niche down (I know I tried LOL)

Script something like:

Heading: Do you know the #1 reason businesses (replace with niche like Surgeon, Agent, Doctors, etc) fail?

Hi (name)
I'm the (owner/manager/ceo/top dog) at XXXX & for years we've been helping (surgeons,agents,doctors) like yourself succeed in their business. We've learned many things a long the way & I wanted to share some of this info with you.

Let me know if you'd be interested in getting this exclusive content for FREE

Yours truly,
Cleiver V

Second email

Hi (name)

Here's the link to my article: xxx.com/case-study

Cheers,
Cleiver V

P.S I'll follow up with you in a week, whats the best number/time to reach you?

make a simple webpage talking about how businesses fail because of lack of business and what your company does (be vague, but intriguing)

Once you get them on the phone your home free bro

tips of cold email
-use advantage of making up people in the company (john@xx.com, tony@xx.com)
-goal of first email is to get a response
-look at the guide i posted above with a link

Again, cold call is gonna be much easier since all business owners wanna make $$$$$$$$$

The leads is gonna be the harder part

again catchy copy
and listen to this https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ow-to-kick-a$$-with-facebook-marketing.48920/

hope that helps, anything else just ask
 
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Roland

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Thank you very much for that. I am going to put that into practise.
I have never been good at cold calling so that's going to be a good training.
On the other side, for Facebook marketing, I have already listened and started to implement Jason's advice so I will see how this goes.
 

jockinbox

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Thank you very much for that. I am going to put that into practise.
I have never been good at cold calling so that's going to be a good training.
On the other side, for Facebook marketing, I have already listened and started to implement Jason's advice so I will see how this goes.

Hire someone, get into the practice of outsourcing stuff
 

Roland

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That's in the plan but I don't have enough money to pay the first month salary at the moment so I will have to start on my own before being able to afford having someone to do it for me.
 
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I'm approaching businesses doing $1-$10 million annually that sells products/services for $1,000-$5,000+ …….

I am using a direct mail piece to a decision maker and then following up on the phone a few days after delivery to see what they thought of it and schedule a meeting.

I'm alright at getting past the gate keeper and getting the decision maker on the phone. (thanks to techniques from Chet Holmes)
I've had little success in getting these calls to leads to consultations where I then sell based on their problems, pains and desires.
I'm much more comfortable "selling" face to face in the above sort of scenario.

Would you advise to stick with the follow up calls to get a better hang of it, learn a bit more, really get a hang of it, and THEN hire for it? Or just hire an appointment setter ASAP?

I see value in both. I could learn a heck of a lot, both about telephones sales as well as my specific market.
I also see the value in playing from a position of power as you say and having employees and assistants making my calls for me.

What are your thoughts?
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experiences.
 

jockinbox

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Hey brother thanks for all the likes I appreciate it!!

Let's dive right in

Would you advise to stick with the follow up calls to get a better hang of it, learn a bit more, really get a hang of it, and THEN hire for it? Or just hire an appointment setter ASAP?

It takes a special kind of person to be successful at cold call...you have to be friendly, understandable, wont take no for an answer, have a good phone system/quiet place to call. There's a pretty big learning curve for learning how to cold call, but theres also a big learning curve on learning to pitch & close. So what i recommend is

Find where you are strongest (me personally I can pitch & close all day long)
Outsource everything else ( I HATE cold calling, yeah I said it, sue me. But guess what cold callers are a dime a dozen )
Do what you do best, after a while you'll realize you can hire someone to help you and you can technically be in two places at once
Rinse & Repeat


I've had little success in getting these calls to leads to consultations where I then sell based on their problems, pains and desires.
Once you get them on the phone ask them for a meeting not a sale
Remember a big ongoing sale like that will take anywhere from 5-12 meetings (including discover, pitch & follow up)

Any questions feel free to ask
 

jockinbox

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thought this deserved a

bump
 
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Roland

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I am still working on the advice you gave me. I'll let you know soon.
 

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Hello!

Nice to see someone from my city.

I've been working in sales for a while now. I am great in persuasion and I think it helped most of my sales. I always believe in my product/service and showing that to the customer makes a difference.

Now I am getting the position to be a leader in the company I am working for. Be responsible to hire someone and train. All it started when I first I came and showed to the owners a good structure for their auto used parts department. Showed why they were selling so little online. They accept my plan, I started working and raised the sales over 200%.

Now to raise production and more sales they gave me the green light to hire someone. And the same time the employee who was working in the physical store quit his job.

Questions:

1. You're in Miami and here people act differently from other states. They are lazy not to say other words. Thank you for the post on how to hire but besides Craigslist (cheapest site) where to find good sales people? You said stores. How do you approach them? "Hey I have a company and I am looking for a sales person?". Straight like that?

2. We basically use eBay to sell our used parts. Any experience on how to increase sales on eBay? I am saving the "store" from past negative feedbacks and changing their weak product description and poor quality pictures.

Off

Are you still in the sales business? What area?

Thank you!
 
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jockinbox

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1. You're in Miami and here people act differently from other states. They are lazy not to say other words. Thank you for the post on how to hire but besides Craigslist (cheapest site) where to find good sales people? You said stores. How do you approach them? "Hey I have a company and I am looking for a sales person?". Straight like that?

Miami is an interesting place to recruit
Youre better off hiring someone who you can trust rather then someone who can sell

Miami's average salary is under 30K a year, yet the average cost of a home is $270k and the cost of living is well above the national average. Somehow everyone is getting by. Fraud and stealing are at the top of my concerns when hiring down here.

Its not like you are really selling anyways, youre just an order taker. Get someone you can trust, if you need someone shoot me a PM and ill see what I can do

Im assuming thats for the retail store by the way



2. We basically use eBay to sell our used parts. Any experience on how to increase sales on eBay? I am saving the "store" from past negative feedbacks and changing their weak product description and poor quality pictures.

Good start, although if theres too much negative feedback you're better off starting fresh. Have your listings end on Sundays, pay the 50 cent fee to come out on top, start an eCommerce store selling your products at retail price, link to your ecommerce store from eBay youll get some nice PR links and thatll bump you on Google. Too many factors to go into at this time, but that should be enough to get you rolling.


Are you still in the sales business? What area?

I'm at the beach, sipping pina coladas wondering what my next venture will be

Cheers,
 

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I got a question for you.

I sell home security systems over the phone. 12 hours a day 6 days a week I'm dialing leads non stop.

Hi John? My name is X I'm with Y, I'm not calling you to sell you anything haha, I have some good news for you, you have taken a brief survey over the phone a while back, it was about Z, you remember that right?

That's the first line in the script. 90% of people hang up quickly and/or just angry in general.

I don't HAVE to go buy the script exactly, I can say basically whatever I want. Its commission only. I convince the leads to sign a 3 year contract and pay the monthly monitoring fee.

I don't think I'm that good on the phone and never get any training, even though my "numbers" are good. I want to be doing much better. I've been looking at books about selling over the phone, it's tough to tell which book would actually be worth buying.

Do you have any good references to send me to or any advice would be great. Thank you.
 

z6Evolved

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I got a question for you.

I sell home security systems over the phone. 12 hours a day 6 days a week I'm dialing leads non stop.

Hi John? My name is X I'm with Y, I'm not calling you to sell you anything haha, I have some good news for you, you have taken a brief survey over the phone a while back, it was about Z, you remember that right?

That's the first line in the script. 90% of people hang up quickly and/or just angry in general.

I don't HAVE to go buy the script exactly, I can say basically whatever I want. Its commission only. I convince the leads to sign a 3 year contract and pay the monthly monitoring fee.

I don't think I'm that good on the phone and never get any training, even though my "numbers" are good. I want to be doing much better. I've been looking at books about selling over the phone, it's tough to tell which book would actually be worth buying.

Do you have any good references to send me to or any advice would be great. Thank you.

I sell exclusively over the phone and I'm damn good at it (as you can tell I'm both humble and modest about my skillset.) I'm actually transitioning from doing to teaching right now so I figured I'd pop in and throw out some general advice. If there's anything specific you were struggling with, I'd be happy to try helping with that too.

Never, ever, ever, ever EVER start with saying "I'm not trying to sell anything!" You most certainly are. They KNOW you are. This just makes them think that, through the power of their own assumption, that you're a liar and not to be trusted.

10 seconds into the call is not a good place for that to happen, naturally.

Most of the big "sales trainers" who work with cold calling specifically suggest that you do the opposite. I don't do any cold calling anymore (thank the gods for that) but I can tell you what worked for me, and what I've seen work for others.

Start simple: "Hey, is this (name)? This is (your name) from (your company) - is this a bad time?" If they say yes, which they might, ask when a better time is. Or just be real and say "I know, I get it, when is it ever really a good time? But if you've got two minutes to spare..." If they ask you to call back, do it. They might not answer but if they do there's a much better chance of them hearing you out.

If they say they're not busy, great. You've got maybe 30-ish seconds to qualify why you're calling, why they should listen, and hook them into a conversation. If you need an example of how not to do this, I recommend this clip from boiler room:


Actually that's a great example of how not to make calls in general haha

So they say "nah it's fine I got a minute, whats up?" and where most people mess up is with broad generalizations like "I have a great offer for you!" or "I've got a product that can change your life!" They say nothing and people don't care. You need to get in there quick and make a point and get them interested.

"(name), I'm a home security specialist and I've worked in the past with many people in your community to help them improve their home security. From what we've seen in the area, most people are really concerned about (hot button topic 1) or (hot button topic 2). Which if these is more important to you?"

It's like a soft win-win close, because even though you're not asking for a sale you're asking for a commitment on their behalf to get them to admit they're concerned about something. Doesn't matter much what it is. Just make sure they're relevent topics for your product, like "the rising number of break ins in (whatever city)" or "the possiblity of home invasions". I don't know your industry, you'll know this better than I would.

Once they pick a topic, ask them why that's important to them. Let them expand on it. That just solidifies their position as caring. This way when they say "no" or "I need to think about it" to your close later, you can hit them with "I know you told me that (topic) was something that really concerns you because of (reason) and (reason) - this is the perfect solution for that because of (benefit). Let me help you by..."

A lot of people are just going to hang up within the first half minute though, honestly. That's the nature of the game. The difference between the closers and the quitters tends to be who can laugh off the hangups and the people who just curse at you for no reason. If you can let that shit slide, and keep dialing, you'll eventually get paid. But increasing the percentage of people who hear your pitch, and you get a chance to actually close, that's going to make it much easier for you to keep your sanity.

Hope some of that helped, and if it was too much of a ramble let me know and I'll try to make it more compact.

Could you recommend any books that helped you out when along the way?

Saw this pop up and wanted to recommend a few. Influence by Robert Cialdini and BrainScripts by Drew Eric Whittman. Read his book Ca$hvertising too if you have the time, it was a game changer for me when I was doing marketing/advertising and a lot of the basic ideas translate to sales on some level.
 

The Grind

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I sell exclusively over the phone and I'm damn good at it (as you can tell I'm both humble and modest about my skillset.) I'm actually transitioning from doing to teaching right now so I figured I'd pop in and throw out some general advice. If there's anything specific you were struggling with, I'd be happy to try helping with that too.

Never, ever, ever, ever EVER start with saying "I'm not trying to sell anything!" You most certainly are. They KNOW you are. This just makes them think that, through the power of their own assumption, that you're a liar and not to be trusted.

10 seconds into the call is not a good place for that to happen, naturally.

Most of the big "sales trainers" who work with cold calling specifically suggest that you do the opposite. I don't do any cold calling anymore (thank the gods for that) but I can tell you what worked for me, and what I've seen work for others.

Start simple: "Hey, is this (name)? This is (your name) from (your company) - is this a bad time?" If they say yes, which they might, ask when a better time is. Or just be real and say "I know, I get it, when is it ever really a good time? But if you've got two minutes to spare..." If they ask you to call back, do it. They might not answer but if they do there's a much better chance of them hearing you out.

If they say they're not busy, great. You've got maybe 30-ish seconds to qualify why you're calling, why they should listen, and hook them into a conversation. If you need an example of how not to do this, I recommend this clip from boiler room:


Actually that's a great example of how not to make calls in general haha

So they say "nah it's fine I got a minute, whats up?" and where most people mess up is with broad generalizations like "I have a great offer for you!" or "I've got a product that can change your life!" They say nothing and people don't care. You need to get in there quick and make a point and get them interested.

"(name), I'm a home security specialist and I've worked in the past with many people in your community to help them improve their home security. From what we've seen in the area, most people are really concerned about (hot button topic 1) or (hot button topic 2). Which if these is more important to you?"

It's like a soft win-win close, because even though you're not asking for a sale you're asking for a commitment on their behalf to get them to admit they're concerned about something. Doesn't matter much what it is. Just make sure they're relevent topics for your product, like "the rising number of break ins in (whatever city)" or "the possiblity of home invasions". I don't know your industry, you'll know this better than I would.

Once they pick a topic, ask them why that's important to them. Let them expand on it. That just solidifies their position as caring. This way when they say "no" or "I need to think about it" to your close later, you can hit them with "I know you told me that (topic) was something that really concerns you because of (reason) and (reason) - this is the perfect solution for that because of (benefit). Let me help you by..."

A lot of people are just going to hang up within the first half minute though, honestly. That's the nature of the game. The difference between the closers and the quitters tends to be who can laugh off the hangups and the people who just curse at you for no reason. If you can let that shit slide, and keep dialing, you'll eventually get paid. But increasing the percentage of people who hear your pitch, and you get a chance to actually close, that's going to make it much easier for you to keep your sanity.

Hope some of that helped, and if it was too much of a ramble let me know and I'll try to make it more compact.



Saw this pop up and wanted to recommend a few. Influence by Robert Cialdini and BrainScripts by Drew Eric Whittman. Read his book Ca$hvertising too if you have the time, it was a game changer for me when I was doing marketing/advertising and a lot of the basic ideas translate to sales on some level.

Thanks for the response.

Yeah I've watched all the sales movies countless times. Not much actionable advice though.

"I'm not here to sell you anything haha" I've never liked that line but my boss wants us to say that it's in the script. I've always disliked it strictly for the reason you said and my boss says it and he's "the best" so I say it once in a while.

You're tip on qualifying the customer first, finding out what they're concerned with, I like that a lot and it's not something I've actually done yet.

I always just say my name my company why I'm calling and explaining the service. I usually get 1-2 sales a day. If I could get even 1 more a day it could double my income.

What are your thoughts on exact tonality when pitching? I'm talking real specifics.
 
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Formless

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"I'm not here to sell you anything haha"

I never say it because it raises bullshit alarms. 'If you're not trying to sell (get commitment) then why would you be calling me?'

We live in the post-insurance scam era, people are weary. You can close, but don't lie, their radars are highly sensitive.
 

z6Evolved

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Thanks for the response.

Yeah I've watched all the sales movies countless times. Not much actionable advice though.

"I'm not here to sell you anything haha" I've never liked that line but my boss wants us to say that it's in the script. I've always disliked it strictly for the reason you said and my boss says it and he's "the best" so I say it once in a while.

You're tip on qualifying the customer first, finding out what they're concerned with, I like that a lot and it's not something I've actually done yet.

I always just say my name my company why I'm calling and explaining the service. I usually get 1-2 sales a day. If I could get even 1 more a day it could double my income.

What are your thoughts on exact tonality when pitching? I'm talking real specifics.

I don't stress about tonality - not into NLP or using voodoo to sell haha. It's about how you come across. I hate to quote Jordan Belfort but his whole thing is that within the first few seconds of starting the conversation you need to make sure they know that you're (and I'm quoting here) "Sharp as a tack, Enthusiastic as hell, and an authority or force to be reckoned with." Guy is a douchebag but it's true. You want them to know you're excited (but not excited to the point where you sound creepy or like you're trying to steal their pension), that you've been doing this forever, that you're on top of your game and a professional to boot. It's all about building their confidence in you.

Instead of tone worry about cleaning up your speech. No "ums" or "uhhs". Don't hesitate or pause. Answer them confidently and quickly, but not immediately. That makes it seem like you're bullshitting. Pause for a second - let them think you're mulling it over - then hit them with the response. We call that the "pause for the cause" for some dumb reason, but it works.

Match their tone and pace while they talk. Try to bring them up slightly if they're real low. If they're real quiet and slow, meet them near there and move toward more enthusastic and slightly faster. If they change their pace and tone you're golden. If not, try to stay near matching but always a little more optimistic, a little happier, a little more confident. Again, that's how you build their trust in you.

Selling over the phone puts you at a disadvantage because you can't use the normal salesman's arsenal like body language, facial expressions, nice clothing, etc. But the upside (in my opinion) is that I can close a 5 figure deal wearing jeans and a t-shirt and the guy on the other end of the line pictures me in a three piece suit. That's the mental image they'll get of you if you come across as knowledgeable, helpful, an expert and a true professional.

The days of the sleazy used car salesman are dead, and anyone who doesn't realize that and move forward will eventually be out of work. I read an article from Edmunds the other day about how so many dealerships are moving to a lower pressure no haggle sales staff that suddenly the "old guard" of used car dealers went into real estate towards 2008-2009, and after the market fell out they all went into selling mattresses of all things. High pressure, price-pumping commission based sales, I guess. Who knows. But the people who are making bank in the car industry, and in most "real" sales positions, are taking a new approach towards sales. You need to be an expert in your field, and come across as helpful instead of pushy. I never liked the "old school sales tricks" they used to teach us because they're gimmicky. "Say OK a lot to get them to agree to anything!" or "say their name 10 times in the first 5 minutes to guarantee the sale!" Sure, man. Let me know how that works.

Know your product, know your customer base. Qualify the customer. If the product will help them and it's a good fit, it will sell itself once you show them that connection. If it's a bad fit all you're doing is reaching in their wallet and taking their money. You'll have an unhappy customer, which makes for an unhappy boss, which makes for an unhappy you when there's no commissions coming in. I really started to close a lot of sales once I realized that I was less of a "salesman" and more of a "problem solver". My customers have problems, my employer offers solutions. My job is to dig out the problem from the customer (especially since they almost never want to tell me what it is) and then show them how XYZ product can make their life better and solve that problem. When you think about it that way it's a lot easier to close people because you feel like you're honestly helping them, and they don't feel like they're being sold to because it's more like a trusted friend guiding them toward a solution to an issue they're having.
 

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I suppose I'll just continue to hog this thread since no one else asks sales questions =P

I had an interview at Toyota for sales today, the guy had 22 interviews and chose 8 people to start training.

I was one of the 8 people to be selected, I start training Wed. I really do not want to mess this up, its not fastlane at all but it's an extremely good oppurtunity for the mean time. All the sales associates there make 70k+ a few make 6 figures. Always room for management, thats what they want, managers make 150k.

Im used to makeing 200-400 dollars a week. Most sales jobs suck and are a complete dead end. This is much much better.

Question: Anyone work for a major dealership selling cars? What can I expect? Any tips for me before I go into training? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
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mrsilva

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I suppose I'll just continue to hog this thread since no one else asks sales questions =P

I had an interview at Toyota for sales today, the guy had 22 interviews and chose 8 people to start training.

I was one of the 8 people to be selected, I start training Wed. I really do not want to mess this up, its not fastlane at all but it's an extremely good oppurtunity for the mean time. All the sales associates there make 70k+ a few make 6 figures. Always room for management, thats what they want, managers make 150k.

Im used to makeing 200-400 dollars a week. Most sales jobs suck and are a complete dead end. This is much much better.

Question: Anyone work for a major dealership selling cars? What can I expect? Any tips for me before I go into training? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

I will throw some advice and insides about this industry. Just for reference I worked at Honda, Lamborghini and multi-brands dealerships. Today I am still selling cars for a living on the side.

Is a great way to start on the sales industry. Few points:

- 100% commission. That means you need to sell, everyday, all day. ABC my friend. ALWAYS BE CLOSING.
- Extremely competitive. If you stay on this dealer or industry for a while you will see many people coming and going. Is very hard to get used to long hours, work saturday's, sunday's and holidays. Expect 50+ hours per week.
- Pay attention to your Pay Plan. I've worked for flat rates (U$250 per car), 20%, 30% commission of profit. At the beginning is usually low. With experience you can request a raise. Take advantage of bonus and spiffs.
- Learn a lot about sales. Grant Cardone is a reference into car sales industry.
- I would prefer to work for a large scale dealer and popular brands (Toyota, Honda, Ford). In Florida the number one dealer for Hondas was Rick Case, over 250 cars per month. More salespeople, but a lot walk-in traffic. You just need to be quick and attack every opportunity. Make tons of phone calls (50-100 per day).
- Guys making U$70-100k a year usually live there. Means they spend a lot of hours, have 10+ years of experience and have a great customer list.
- Always dress nicely, never crazy color shirts or ties. Nice and short hair cut. Hygiene always!

Some guys sell a lot of cars because they are "nice", some because know a lot technical info... I used to be a mix between the nice guy, and because I love cars I could explain many features.

After some years... Did I learn a lot? Yes. Do I regret? No. Would I work at a dealer again? I don't think so.

Today I control the buying, fixing and selling. I control the price, my time... is different and is probably the only reason I keep doing.

Good luck!
 

Thiago Machado

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What tips would you give someone who wants to get into sales, but has no experience?

Other than real world experience, would you recommend any specific books or courses on sales?

I'm an American currently living abroad. I know there are some telecommuting sales jobs. What are your thoughts on them? What's the best way to land these types of jobs? Any specific companies hiring? Any specific websites to find these jobs?

If you were to start learning sales today, which "type of sales" would you start off with? ( example: door to door, telemarketing, copywriting, etc...)
 

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