The Beginner's guide to Sales + AMA

[Scot]

First, a thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread and elsewhere on the forums. I have learned so much!

At the beginning of this month I got a job "in sales" in that I "sell" memberships to a health club, but really I am a guide to bridging the gap between where people currently are in their health (overweight, low energy, over-medicated, etc) and where they desire themselves to be. All I do is listen to where they are, how they got there, and show them how with our facility and coaching we WILL get them to where they want to be. I'm a problem solver first and foremost. The hard part is that everyone needs to be healthy, but no body wants to put in the hard work and go through the transformation. This is where creativity and good ol' fashioned "sales techniques" come into play.

I have only been doing this for... 24 days now, but from day 1 to today, BIG differences in how I perform and my success rates. Here is what I have learned and am continuing to learn:

A lot of you guys mentioned that sales books are not worth the time or money. While I agree that nothing beats first hand experience, or mentorship, BOOKS ARE THE NEXT BEST THING! When you think about it, books are conversations with the authors through their written word. Zig Ziglar, Jeffery Gitomer, Niel Rackham, Robert Cialdini... all those guys have taken YEARS of experience and condensed it into a few hundred pages to take advantage of at anytime, anywhere. Reading helps build 'tools for the toolbox' for a new "Solutions Engineer" like myself. It creates questions that I will write between the lines or margins of the book, and see if the answers are elsewhere in the book, or allows me to experiment out in the field to test what I want to know. Besides, we can only be in the office for so long before we have to come home. Time not spent improving yourself can be time wasted. Why not fill it with a good book?! Don't just focus on "sales" type books either. Read books on body language, books on psychology/NLP, books on philosophy (Epictetus is highly suggested), and also entrepreneurship (which is what we are all ultimately working toward anyways- financial independence through our own businesses). We are not here to sell a widget, we are here to improve people's lives, so why not read books that do that in ALL areas of our lives?

Next, you have to believe in what you are offering. You must own or use your product. You might not think this is a big deal, but there will be subtle incongruency in your presentations and when you talk about what you offer in general. In order to be a product evangelist, you first be fired up about it! DRINK THAT DAMN KOOL-AID!

This brings me to the next item. ATTITUDE! Attitude is EVERYTHING! You HAVE to have a positive, excited attitude when you are with prospects. People want to know they are making the best choice for themselves. Negative minded people are protective and guarded. They are afraid that something bad will happen, and their attitude is a natural defense to prepare themselves for what may come. The problem is that since the mind is on this 'negative filter,' it will be constantly scanning for threats to 'confirm' what they are preparing themselves for. It lays the groundwork for self-fulfilling prophecies! With the excited aspect, it is possible to 'blow out' the prospect with TOO MUCH energy. A good tool is to estimate what 'level' of excitement they are on, and always be ONE LEVEL HIGHER than the prospect. This way you are constantly raising their energy and excitement to the point you get them in such a state of mind that they will feel comfortable and protected when they make the 'right choice' for themselves after you hit them with all the logical reasons to buy what you offer. I highly suggest Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude By Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone for improving in this area. Also listen to motivational speakers such as Zig Ziglar or Tony Robbins! *Quick word on motivation... it doesn't last! Motivation is like fuel in a tank; it has to constantly be refilled!*

I had a big problem my first couple of weeks on the job. I come from a military background where I had to harden my mind and emotion for the rigors of combat. I highly suppressed my emotional capabilities because stoicism is a crucial tool for survival in those situations. I also have a highly logical thinking pattern in how I learn and act. My initial problem was that I was so focused on presenting information, that I didn't engage or stir ANY emotion in my prospects! I thought, "ALL THE BENEFITS OUTWEIGH THE PRICE OF NOT GETTING STARTED! WHY ARE YOU SAYING 'NO!' " I learned the valuable lesson that INFORMATION PRESENTED WITHOUT EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT IS A DEAD DEAL! I will caveat this in that there are people out there, like myself, who operate more on a logical thinking level, and all you have to do is present the information that it is better to act now than not to act, and they will buy, BUT (and BUTTS are ALWAYS BIG!) even with those people, if you add emotion to it, you will double it's effectiveness! I managed to solve this by forcing myself to act in ways that happy excited people do. I forced myself to smile more, and smile BIGGER than usual. I forced myself to be more animated in my body language and facial expressions. I learned to MOVE MORE, and just be more ACTIVE. I listen to music that GETS ME FIRED UP! I listen to motivational speakers that make me excited and chomping at the bit to get to work. And you know what... it works. I am starting to actually feel emotions again. The best part? My life has improved as a result! I get so much more enjoyment from EVERYTHING! IT'S LIKE I AM ON DRUGS! *I am... it's called a positive attitude.*

Currently, I am working toward improving my cold calls. The biggest advice here is NEVER SIT WHILE ON THE PHONE! Be up on your feel and be animated when you talk EVEN ON THE PHONE! SMILE when you greet a prospect and say hello. Your voice, while you may not be aware of it, is HIGHLY reflective of our body language. If you are stiff and stagnate sitting in a chair, your voice will show it. If you are UP ON YOUR FEET, SMILING, EXCITED, ANIMATED... your voice will reflect that too! People think I am calling old friends by the way I act in the office on the phone, but I am just trying to make new friends .

Another important aspect is GOAL SETTING. How do you know where you will be in the future if you don't even know where you want to go? Setting goals creates a map you can use to navigate your present moment toward bringing your future into being. Goals should be S.M.A.R.T. : Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. Once your goals are set, ask yourself what actions are you taking toward completion of it. This is where you may realize that NEW actions are needed. Make sure you ACTUALLY DO IT! Don't mentally masturbate here. If the action requires a resource, then start asking where you can get it. If you don't know, start asking WHO can help you get it. If you still don't know, start asking who do you know who might know someone who knows, etc. Basically, instead of asking WHY you can't do something, start asking HOW you can take action toward moving closer to achieving your goal. It doesn't matter how small of an action it is, you just have to make the first step.

Lastly, I always end my night and start my day by successfully SELLING myself to... myself! When I go to bed, I essentially set an 'appointment' for me to wake up in the mornings. I soft sell myself by saying that tomorrow will be a fantastic day, that waking up will allow me to go to work to help people improve their lives, and I will be able to see dozens of prospects! I set the "Opportunity Clock" (taken from Ziglar) for when I want to wake and close the appointment. I get a FANTASTIC night of sleep with amazing dreams to entertain myself with. When I wake, trouble starts and the objections rise with me. "I'm tired, I can sleep for five more minutes, my body aches, it's so cold and this bed is so warm..." I start my day with a sales presentation. I start to take the objections and provide solutions. "If you get out of bed, and start to move, you will feel more energetic, the aches will disappear, and you can warm up with a hot shower." Still, there is emotional reluctance, so I find the pain point and dig into it. "If you don't wake up RIGHT NOW and go to work, you will be fired and not make any money!"

THAT ONE NEVER FAILS!

While I am brand new to the world of sales a.k.a. PROBLEM SOLVING, it has been one of the BEST DECISIONS of my entire life. In just a month, I have learned so many skills and knowledge that are CRUCIAL toward success in my entrepreneurial journey. Not only that, but by interacting with prospects AND improving my emotional output, my quality of life and happiness has increased TENFOLD! I feel that I can do ANYTHING, because damn near everything we do in life is 'selling' in one way or another. This job has improved my self-confidence immensely. Within the span of 24 days, starting with ZERO sales experience, I have become the #3 membership rep in sales for my franchise group of 20+ locations this month, and the margin toward being on top is small and shrinking even more! (I'm going with beginners luck on this one, and it being 'New Year's Resolution' season.) I have five months with this job till I set sail out west in search of adventure and success, but I know that in these five months, I will be building a foundation for success that will last a lifetime!

You've learned a lot of lessons really quickly in your short time selling. Great job!

Some of the important things you learned are:

• Believe in your product -> people catch on when you aren't enthusiastic about it
• Set goals -> Always set obtainable goals too, stretch goals do nothing because you wont care if you miss them
• Attitude -> this ties into believing in your product too. A positive attitude breeds positive results

 

[mtak.doc]

Great thread

My sales career started the day a friend's gf casually mentioned that when meeting a women you want to date your really just making a sales pitch.I was young she was younger but i kneeled when i heard that

The best thing you can do to develop sales skills is cross pollinate. Talk to other salesmen and pick their brains. Try and listen in on their sales pitches. I like to think I'm a Frankenstein of all the great pieces of technique I've picked up over the years.

This has helped me learn things, I do my best to take the best from more than one authority in a space. In every field i want to know something about.

Uncle G taught me to be agreeable and that really helped alot. I didnt know i was not..agreeable until he mentioned it me.

Zig Zigler "have you ever called a person and started singing good morning to you?" I actually did that for a laugh and it set the pros[ect at ease.

"help the person next to you" this is how fear and anxiety is crushed imho

It has been the times when i didnt feel like i was making a sale that i received the best feedback.
At times smiling did more than any amount of talking could have.

Thank you to everybody who has in this thread reminded me that being interested is what makes you interesting.

 

[Chazmania]

Great thread thanks for creating it. Bookmarked.

I did sales for about 3 years or so, phone and live appts. VERY eye opening experience!!

I learned about hot streaks and cold streaks.

When you're hot you can't miss and it's the most fun and easiest money ever!

When you're cold..................not so much.

A must for entrepreneurs to get some kind of sales experience.

 

[Young-Gun]

This thread on Sales is *SO GOOD*.

I cannot begin to summarize all the incredible knowledge I've gained by reading these two pages.

It's also insanely timely since I'm doing a ton of cold-calling and cold-emailing for my SaaS startup.
(Not technically "sales" since I don't have a product yet... but the process and challenges of Customer Development are almost identical to Sales in every way. Getting past Gate Keepers to hold productive conversations with Decision-Makers, who don't know me from Adam...)

Much of the best advice in this thread overlaps with my own experience:

• Stay high energy (I love the tip of don't be too high-energy; stay one level above the prospect)
• Don't sit down!
• Phones beat emails...
• But emails beat doing nothing.
• There is more than one way to the sale...
• But all sales revolve around conversations..
• Good conversationalist = listen more than you talk.
• Sell to their needs and objections.
• Don't oversell.
• Don't provide unnecessary details

There are SO many more gold nuggets in this thread I can't possibly list them all.
Gonna go back and re-read the whole thread after work tonight.

Great to see I'm not the only one who struggles with the challenges of making Sales!! Good luck out there everyone, and stick with it!

 

[Guest06196]

Why isn't this thread Gold already?
I have a short summary of some tips taught in this thread. Hope my post adds value to this thread.
Copyright by @Scot

Dress Rehearsal
Research carried out. Bullet points in my notebook and go over them in my head. 10X my opening statement. Confident body language throughout. Positive thoughts lead to positive results. Create your own winning streaks.

Get around the Gatekeeper
Act normal and walk in unless stopped. Sorry I'm new and don't know the rules around here. I'm here to see Scot to follow up a conversation we had earlier.

Ice breaker, intel gathering, & the pitch
Hi Scot, how's business going? If you weren't a sales pro, what would you want to do? I never want to talk for more than 30 seconds. Ask questions and let Scot do 75% of the talking. Steer the conversation with the end result in mind.

Never say No to your customer
In order to do that, the is a 500% surcharge. Is that OK with you? Hmm, ahh, ehh. I'll need to ask my boss because you don't know I actually own 100% of the company and I only made myself a manager, not a CEO on the business card.

Objection
This is a very good point and that's why we have this FAQ secion here. Is your reason a smoke screen? Oh no I mean if this issue is taken care of, what else would hold you back from XYZ?

Closing
Trial - Does this sound like it will be a benefit to your company?
Soft - Good to hear that, would you like to order 20 for next week?
Presumptive - Lets get this bad boy ready for the hiking season. What’s a good shipping address?
Hard - Scot, this month has been really rough for us and the boss is breathing down my neck, could you do us a favor and order 5 more next week?

--- Always follow up. Be persistent, but keep evolving to stay enthusiastic. ---

 

[ApparentHorizon]

Definitely. As noted before, I have the gift of gab, I can get carried away. I always make a point to take a deep breath after a good chunk of talking to evaluate where I am in the conversation and think about it I've let them talk enough.

This is why rehearsing before hand can help a lot. It helps you to summarize your key points. It's kind of like when you wrote essays in school, you want to bullet point out a map so you have a plan to follow in your head.

That's a really good point: you should have the presentation already laid out in your head.

It's not that you don't have the material in front of you, it's that it hasn't been internalized yet.

Paint a mental image...record a mental video/audio.

Makes sense - Thanks!

 

[ApparentHorizon]

I had a call I did today for my side gig, before I dialed the number I had 4 bullet points written out on a notepad. I made sure to navigate the conversation to each point.

5 P's. Proper planning prevents poor performance.

Right, having something visible in front of you makes it so much easier. Unlike school, no one cares if you're "cheating" and have notes in front of you. It actually helps your client understand your message.

However, you never know when you're giving a surprise pitch.

I sometimes carry an index card in my wallet with benefits/features presentation flow. To the client it looks like the info is for them to take home, b/c I "ran out" of business cards that day.

 

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[Scot]

Interesting.

I refuse to read a "sales" book. I learn from a conversation here and a nugget there, normally that makes me face-palm because I suddenly realise what I've been doing.

Personally, the trick that helps me is to just try and help people. If you're genuinely trying to help people then you end up doing a lot of the right things anyway.

The least natural thing is to stfu, especially when it comes to closing time.

Couldn't have said it better myself. As long as you believe in the value of your product and make the conversation about how your product will help them, you stack the odds in your favor.

 

[Scot]

This is a thread full of great information, which I hope to put to use next week when I start calling the people on the list I am working on assembling right now. I do have a question though, and while it is particularly directed towards Thiago Machado, I am sure a lot of you guys might be able to answer this: When you mentioned that the goal of the first call is not to make a sale but to get an "in" on a longer, second call/appointment, how do you go about doing that without seeming awkward? Am I correct in my understanding that during the first call you should basically get a "Yes" before trying to setup a second call? Otherwise what is the point of having a second call? If you pitch them and listen to them and tell them your product can help them and then just say "So why don't we set up another call where we can talk about it more" won't they feel like you just wasted their time?

The first call can be information digging or an introduction. I will say that cold calling is not my specialty. However, make yourself a resource to them. A good thing you can do is to discover things that you can use to help your sale later. I know this is a little vague, I'll think on it a bit more.

@Scot I remember reading that article a while back. I was always a little skeptical because it's essentially a boiled down version of "The Challenger Sale" which made me wonder how the study was correlated with the book.

Also, I've only ever seen a very small amount of people do "the challenger" well, while seeing a bunch of people try and just look like assholes. Have you seen a lot of people be successful with it?

I'm the same as you, a relationship builder. Works well enough for me.

I have to disagree. I am a relationship guy, but the challengers I work with do very very well. My former partner is ranked #2 currently, and man is she a bull dog. Being a challenger doesn't mean to be aggressive or pushy, it means controlling the pace and direction of the conversation. But yes, I agree, most people just think it means to be an a$$ or a used car salesman. Don't be a used car salesman.

 

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[Scot]

It has been the times when i didnt feel like i was making a sale that i received the best feedback.
At times smiling did more than any amount of talking could have.

Thank you to everybody who has in this thread reminded me that being interested is what makes you interesting.

I was having a conversation with a random stranger than elevator day. We were talking about sales. I told her the number one thing is, if you are passionate about what you are selling, how can you expect the person you're selling to to be?

A great sales call should be a conversation. Conversation where you are excited, they're excited, and everyone's answers, fears, and wants are all taken care of. At the end of it yes, it should not feel like a sale.

I'm glad you could get something out of this thread.

 

[Scot]

Hey I read this whole thread tons of great advice. Ive been trying to do some sales myself for my own venture as Fb ads agency as detailed in my progress thread here : Progress Thread - I Got Fired Today. Succeed or Bust!

For the TL;DR verision of my progress thread I have been doing cold outreach via email. I've sent around 400 emails with a open rate of 35% . yet not one single reply .

Basically my email was a short sales email . Wasn't getting results so I am changing it up and trying a new sales process . please tell me what you think. Thanks a ton!

My apologies to not getting to this faster. I’ll be the first to admit, my strong suit is not cold email contact.

I’d check out threads by @Fox as I feel like he’s done the best with this type of sales. Selling FB marketing is hard, but my biggest tip would be consistency and tenacity. Don’t just send one email and assume you’re done. Have you tried setting up an email campaign where you can send a series of emails?

Just because they didn’t respond doesn’t mean they aren’t interested, just send them another one.

 

[AndrewNC]

sales

Thanks for the AMA!

Let's say my target customer is a business owner who does $500,000 per year or more in revenue.

The service I offer is a $3,000-$5,000 12-week program which eliminates stress, allows them to know exactly what steps to take next, and get rid of the mental/emotional struggle of owning a business. 1 call per week for 12 weeks.

So far, I sell the service through the internet slowly building rapport (book -> magazine -> email newsletter -> etc.)

Do you feel sales in this price range are commonly closed in one call over the phone? Or should the sales process be stretched out?

Thanks again!

 

[Scot]

Right, having something visible in front of you makes it so much easier. Unlike school, no one cares if you're "cheating" and have notes in front of you. It actually helps your client understand your message.

However, you never know when you're giving a surprise pitch.

I sometimes carry an index card in my wallet with benefits/features presentation flow. To the client it looks like the info is for them to take home, b/c I "ran out" of business cards that day.

Not a bad idea!

 

[Nicoknowsbest]

This 100% my selling style when I sell. I don't want you to misinterpret when I say have a script or have a plan.

Script for me means to plan out potential objections or questions the target may have and already have a way to answer it. Always answer it in your own words and honestly, but you don't want to be caught off guard and wish you'd done better as you're walking out the door.

And for plan I just mean to have certain bullet points and a roadmap. For my product, there are three things I definitely want to hit on. I'm going to find a way to steer the conversation naturally to make sure we talk about them.


I'm a relationship style seller. I build rapport with the staff and the target so that I can work into those hard closes down the line. Instead of being a salesman selling to you, I become the friend asking you for a favor.

When I get a chance today, there was a great study on sales by Harvard business review that I want to share that goes over the different sales styles really well.

Awesome, thanks for clarifying.

Looking forward to that study.

On that matter - any books you'd recommend?

I read "Spin Selling", "The Ultimate Sales Machine" and "Sell Or Be Sold".

I just received "How To Sell Anything To Anybody" by Joe Girard, but haven't made my way through it yet.

 

[Scot]

This thread on Sales is *SO GOOD*.

I cannot begin to summarize all the incredible knowledge I've gained by reading these two pages.

It's also insanely timely since I'm doing a ton of cold-calling and cold-emailing for my SaaS startup.
(Not technically "sales" since I don't have a product yet... but the process and challenges of Customer Developement are almost identical to Sales in every way. Getting past Gate Keepers to hold productive conversations with Decision-Makers, who don't know me from Adam...)

Much of the best advice in this thread overlaps with my own experience:

• Stay high energy (I love the tip of don't be too high-energy; stay one level above the prospect)
• Don't sit down!
• Phones beat emails...
• But emails beat doing nothing.
• There is more than one way to the sale...
• But all sales revolve around conversations..
• Good conversationalist = listen more than you talk.
• Sell to their needs and objections.
• Don't oversell.
• Don't provide unnecessary details

There are SO many more gold nuggets in this thread I can't possibly list them all.
Gonna go back and re-read the whole thread after work tonight.

Great to see I'm not the only one who struggles with the challenges of making Sales!! Good luck out there everyone, and stick with it!

I'm glad the thread wasable to help shed light on what you're working on. I just got back from a great conference and have some strategies I want to share when I get a chance to write them up.

 

[Anon1351z]

Harvard Business Review found that Challengers by far make up the majority of top performing rep's. They do this for 3 reasons, the most important one being that they take control of the sale. A challenger is able to drive the conversation to the points they want to hit on and then be assertive when needed.

@Scot I remember reading that article a while back. I was always a little skeptical because it's essentially a boiled down version of "The Challenger Sale" which made me wonder how the study was correlated with the book.

Also, I've only ever seen a very small amount of people do "the challenger" well, while seeing a bunch of people try and just look like assholes. Have you seen a lot of people be successful with it?

I'm the same as you, a relationship builder. Works well enough for me.

 

[Scot]

Great advice in this thread so far. Here are two tips from my experience selling:

1) Different selling strategies work better/worse for different price points/sales cycles

For instance, someone selling a $20 HR software over the phone to an HR manager and someone selling a $250,000 OSS/BSS to the C-Suite should probably not use the same strategy.

Take a look at your target market. If it's going to take 6 months and corporate buy-in to get the sale, you should probably build relationships. If you're selling something that is a market disrupter and you'll have to convince the decision maker that they're looking at the problem from the wrong perspective, try the challenger method. Figure out what will work for your model.

2) Play to your customer

I was selling billing software to telecommunications companies, typically someone in a CFO or CTO role. I made it my objective to come across as (and be) an intelligent individual who could speak to the nuances of the technology and the financials. That worked for me.

Then, I switched companies and ended up selling continuous improvement software to plant managers. I tried being the same technology and finance expert with this group and it failed miserably. It was only when I realized that these are blue collar guys who worked their way up the ranks and started talking to them in more of a relaxed conversation with less focus on the nuances, then I started having success. As a side note, I ended up enjoying selling to these people a lot more than the previous group.

Basically, it's not about you, it's about them.

Excellent points. Rep ++

Great addition.

 

[Scot]

This is amazing, really valuable. One thing I would like to ask is: How to do you get better at the ART (yes, art) of asking better questions?

I think a lot of it has to do with emotional intelligence, being able to read someone. If you can tell how they react to initial conversations and questions you can tailor future questions to them.

Also, if you know who you're dealing with you can use questions to strike their ego, or elicit their help. If a guy thinks he's the best thing since sliced bread, ask his advice as an industry leader on how he'd do it. If they seem to be very helpful or caring, ask them to help explain it to you.

Lastly, your questions should all be planned with the end result in mind. The best questions you can ask are ones that get you closer to your goal. Have a clear goal and move the pieces towards it.

 

[Argue]

Wealth of information here. Very good stuff. Gonna read/study frequently.

 

[PrimeLF]

I can't quite remember the post I saw this in, but I thought it was excellent advice!
"Don't be the one to say no"
Obviously, it might not work for all business types, but it helps your customers not be offended if you need to refuse or reschedule for some reason and it makes it feel as if it was their choice to refuse rather than yours.

 

[Nicoknowsbest]

@Scot, thanks for all the great info so far.

I am wondering if you have some thoughts on conversational selling? No script, no tactics, just a friendly conversation with an open outcome.

I prefer this way of selling much more, because I hate being sold to, especially if I get the feeling I am talking to a phrase-robot.

Thanks!

Quick follow-up on that idea. I could do a 5-10 minute call to have them experience an immediate benefit of the stress-reduction, and then talk about how that's one tool for about 100 different (major benefit-oriented) things. Then hand them a book showing them how to do some of them..

Then follow up with a more hard close in 3 days where I offer my services so they won't have to learn how to do all the techniques themesvles.

What helped me the most until now is "show, don't tell."

Maybe you could get video testimonials of 2-3 customers talking about how you changed their lives, followed by a free live-demo?

So far, I sell the service through the internet slowly building rapport (book -> magazine -> email newsletter -> etc.)

That's a great way of building your brand.

I am currently reading a book called "Content Machine" that might have some helpful tips for you to optimize your content and your funnels.

At that point offer him a free copy of the book or magazine to see if he's interested in learning more.

Great idea.

Maybe you could sign a hard copy for him and add a few personal lines?

 

[Evgeny]

"positive thoughts lead to positive results"

This is one of the most important moments. If you have a sullen mood, better to postpone the meeting to another time. Thanks to the experience and techniques you can probably make a sale, but it will be much harder.
Thanks @Scot!

 

[Scot]

This is one of the most important moments. If you have a sullen mood, better to postpone the meeting to another time. Thanks to the experience and techniques you can probably make a sale, but it will be much harder.
Thanks @Scot!

I agree, if you've got a big pitch and you're in a funk, you've better fix it, because it will affect your pitch.

Sometimes you've just gotta fake it till you make it though.

 

[Scot]

Semper Fi! Good read, actually planning for my first gun show here in the next few weeks, closing sales has always been the hardest part.

With your sales at the gun show, don't be afraid to bundle. Also, scarcity can definitely be used here. If you only have 2 shirts left (or on the table) you can use scarcity as a tactic to sell.

 

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[Sbshields]

This 100% my selling style when I sell. I don't want you to misinterpret when I say have a script or have a plan.

Script for me means to plan out potential objections or questions the target may have and already have a way to answer it. Always answer it in your own words and honestly, but you don't want to be caught off guard and wish you'd done better as you're walking out the door.

And for plan I just mean to have certain bullet points and a roadmap. For my product, there are three things I definitely want to hit on. I'm going to find a way to steer the conversation naturally to make sure we talk about them.


I'm a relationship style seller. I build rapport with the staff and the target so that I can work into those hard closes down the line. Instead of being a salesman selling to you, I become the friend asking you for a favor.

When I get a chance today, there was a great study on sales by Harvard business review that I want to share that goes over the different sales styles really well.

Just GOLD! Thank you for the thread!

 

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[Scot]

I'm glad you got value out of this thread!

 

[ZF Lee]

Bump!
Reminds me a lot of SPIN selling, which does focuses on lots of key stuff like letting your customers doing all the talking and not being too harsh or pushy on them especially at the close.

 

[Olimac21]

Over the past few weeks, I've been very fortunate to have some great conversations with fellow forum members about the topic of sales. A few people here reached out to me for advice on sales as they know my Slowlane job is in sales. I wanted to take a little bit of time to throw together a Beginner's Guide to sales for people who have never had any significant experience. Also, I'll open this up to an AMA on sales techniques and approaches.

Disclaimer:
I am not claiming to be THE expert in sales and have every answer, but I will do my best to answer any questions to the best of my knowledge and experience. I have spent the past 5 years working in the Pharmaceutical industry in field sales. In the past year I was given a secondary position as a field trainer, responsible for the entire Southeast US. I train new hires, managers, as well as tenured reps. I also have about 5 years experience in retail commission sales prior to this.

Sales is one of the most valuable and important skills you can have
There it is, my polarizing statement. It has been said by entrepreneurs more successful than I, that sales is one of the most important functions and skills you can have to run your business. I will cite both Rich Dad, Poor Dad, as well as Ready, Fire, Aim as my back up. Of course, if you're building an SaaS platform, a website or app, you need the technical and design skills to create the product, but what next? You're a great author and want to publish your book, you know this has Pulitzer written all over it. Ok, you launch to crickets. Why? Because its the New York Times best SELLER list, not best Author list.

At the end of the day, you need to get your product to people, business, enterprise, who ever you're selling to and they need to make the decision to buy. At the end of the day, that is the foundation of every business. Yes, you need to provide value and that alone will lead to some movement, but even the most valuable products and services need sales to drive business.


How to start selling

When you boil it down to its bare roots, sales is a conversation. This conversation can either happen via email, in person, over the phone, through a video presentation, written copy or advertising. Whether your product needs to have some or all of these elements to drive sales is up to you as an entrepreneur. The most important factor is to start.

Cold Calling: We have some great fastlaners here that excel and thrive in the cold calling world. Cold Calling is one of the quickest ways to get over your fear of rejection. If you’re running a Cold Calling campaign, expect to be told no 1,000’s of times. After that first 100 times, it suddenly wont matter and you will not fear it.


In person sales: Whether you are doing door to door sales, following up warm leads, or networking at events, this is my favorite form of sales. Lots of factors come into play here: Body language, tone, and instant feedback. Body language plays a big role in conversation, so if this is a week point, study up on it. I have seen several sales pitches crash and burn because a rep did not interpret the customer’s body language.


Online Sales: Get your landing page and copy up and running! There’s no excuse to avoid this type of sales. Copywriting is only a form of sales. A great tool to have is an FAQ. FAQ’s aren’t there to answer dumb questions, they’re there to overcome objections. After you’ve spoken with enough customers, you should know what objections they have over your product, answer them in your FAQ! This will already cover all their fears.


The Pitch

I am a fan of being straight to the point and being succinct. People have very short attention spans and if you want to tell your life story, your product’s life story, and every feature and benefit (that they may or may not want), you’re going to watch their eyes glaze over. You never want to talk for more than 30 seconds, you’ll lose them after this.

Control the conversation. I get it, you’re excited, you love your product, they should too, right? This is a problem I routinely have and have to be hyper focused on during a sales call. I want to tell you EVERYTHING. You should let your customers do the 75% of the talking. I’m going to steal a line from my old employer Verizon. Earn the Right. At the end of your pitch, you need to earn the right to close the sale. How? Your recommendation needs to have a foundation to stand on and you build that foundation one brick at a time by LISTENING to your customer.

Ask questions. This is one of the most important parts of sales and often over looked. Play stupid, stroke their egos. “Hey Mr Smith, you’re obviously the expert on widgets, can you tell me what some of the common problems you run into when installing widgets?” You’ll get their life story about widgets. And if you pick up on the conversation, you’ll find opportunities to tie your sale back into. “Suzy, what do you typically look for when buying a new back pack?” Suzy says, “Well I use my packs primarily for hiking, so I need them to be comfortable. A lot of packs are comfortable, but most don’t focus on lower back support, and the ones that do are always so boring and bland” Here’s what the final pitch looks like just from that sentence, “Well Suzy, I know you need a great pack to take on your next hike, here’s why I think the Hiker 5000 is the best option for you. You said that comfort is your number one priority, these cushions here feel great after those 20 miles, plus they’re breathable too. Also, we focus on back support which you said is important too. Oh, and did I forget to mention, we have a fully customizable pattern, no more bland packs for you!”


Objections

You will not close every sale, but you can do your best to find out why they wont buy. Every person has objections when looking at a product or service. The problem is, many people won’t tell you. Worse off, they use what’s called a “smoke screen”. Smoke screens are generic objections like “Oh I don’t need a new one right now” or “I’d buy it if it wasn’t so expensive”. What you’re seeing here is that you did not sell them on the benefits well enough.


An easy way to overcome these objections is to probe deeper. My favorite probe is, “Mr Smith, lets pretend that cost isn’t a factor right now, what else would hold you back from XYZ?” Take their objection off the table and pretend like it doesn’t exist. A lot of times this is enough to get the real reason out. You need to follow the age old WIIFM, whats in it for me. Customers need to know how this benefits them. And many times you need to show them the benefits outweigh their worries of cost, difficulty, interruption, or complacency.


Over time you will naturally see objections surface during your sales pitches if you’re doing face to face, email or phone marketing. The best course is to follow the above guidance, to dig deeper into the conversation, ask questions and get these out of the way early.


Coffee is for Closers

Ok, great, you survived the sales pitch, now its time to get their money! Not so fast. The close is still a very delicate part of the sale that can make or break you. Here are my favorite types of closing techniques.

Presumptive Close: Proceed as if you already got the yes. This can look something like “I’m glad you like the Hiker 5000 Suzy, lets get this bad boy ready for hiking season. What’s a good shipping address” This gets the buyer in the mindset that they’re ready to buy. But be warned, if your pitch was not solid or you didn’t overcome all objections, you will get some bad feedback on this.


Soft Close: Ask permission here. “Mr Smith, we’ve talked about how our new ABC widget will improve your business, would you like to order 20 for next week?” It’s a passive type closing, but you’re asking permission. This one works well, if you use the next type of close early on.

Trial closes: These will help you get to that soft close above. Throughout the conversation throw in little questions like “Does that sound good to you?” Always use yes or no questions. “Does this sound like it will be a benefit to your company?” If you get yes, you move on one step closer to the soft close. If you get a no, circle back and ask why, this is an objection moment.


Hard close: This is only to be used when proper rapport is established. Never use this close on a first time sales pitch. This is your “sympathy close” or “scratch my back, Ill scratch yours” close. “Mr Smith, you’ve been a great customer to us over the years, but I’ve noticed you haven’t ordered any widgets since November, lets place an order for you with a 20% discount” or “John, this month has been really rough for us and partner is breathing down my neck, could you do us a favor and order 5 more next week?” It works, but do NOT abuse this or use it without rapport.


This enough for now, I’ll include some more sales techniques over the next few days. I hope this can help some of you.

This is amazing, really valuable. One thing I would like to ask is: How to do you get better at the ART (yes, art) of asking better questions?

 

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[Bambooing]

[QUOTE="AmericanSpartan, post: 587390, member: 38781]

Currently, I am working toward improving my cold calls. The biggest advice here is NEVER SIT WHILE ON THE PHONE! Be up on your feel and be animated when you talk EVEN ON THE PHONE! SMILE when you greet a prospect and say hello. Your voice, while you may not be aware of it, is HIGHLY reflective of our body language. If you are stiff and stagnate sitting in a chair, your voice will show it. If you are UP ON YOUR FEET, SMILING, EXCITED, ANIMATED... your voice will reflect that too! People think I am calling old friends by the way I act in the office on the phone, but I am just trying to make new friends .
[/QUOTE]

@AmericanSpartan This has helped me immensely and this is what I do anytime I am on the phone. Going further than positively expressing oneself and helping a 'sale', I adopted this purely to help with my stuttering. I once had a phone phobia and avoided talking on the phone for fear of stuttering to the point totally freezing up. Yes, this has happened to me a few times and it saddened me and had to hang up. Felt helpless.

I digress- so in more than one way the above advice works on many levels. Thanks again for your detailed answer and to all others

BTW, not sure how to 'quote snippets properly'.

 

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[Sheps]

Have you tried adding "about the cleaning quote" (or similar) to the gate keepers pitch.

"Maybe you could help me, I need to speak with whoever is in charge of office cleaning services about the cleaning quote. Could you put me through to that person"

It's bending the truth a little. But it is about the cleaning quote. Yours. They didn't ask for it but it's what you're going to talk about.