Of all of the novice mistakes a salesperson can make, not qualifying their prospects reigns supremely high on the list. If you aren’t selling to a viable lead, why are you selling to that person or business at all? Think about it. If you have a product that can help enhance productivity, would a disabled retiree really be the best prospect? Not implementing a system that helps you to qualify your prospects BEFORE you contact them is like taking money and flushing it down the drain! You are wasting your time, and time is money, especially for a salesperson.

The road less traveled by a great or even a good salesperson, is that of no direction. Picking up a file and dialing the number without having read it, without knowing anything about the prospects trends and without any focus is misdirection. No great salesperson became great by using misdirected overzealousness to land sales. Some give the explanation that they feel it to be discriminatory to ‘qualify’ prospects. And low and behold, they’re absolutely correct! You have to decipher which people are actually in need of your product or service before you jump head first into a dialogue. As a salesperson you have to be discriminatory, otherwise you’ll be pitching to everyone. Realistically, everyone cannot be your client.

It is said that no two people think alike. We all know that this holds some fallacy. The world is not full of original thinkers. However, there are millions of people who have no need for your service or product. Period. As a salesperson you know that you’re going to hear many ‘no’s’ throughout your career, so why would you multiply that amount by not focusing on viable prospects?

Look at it from this perspective, if you begin a process with the deck stacked against you, you will be fighting a losing battle. This doesn’t mean you won’t win a few. It means that you set yourself up for failure and then have to dig and scrape to make the sell. What you really want to do is set yourself up for optimum success so that you can jump into getting to know prospects and offering solutions as opposed to taking shots in the dark. Ultimately, you will chasing a prospect from start to finish and may never catch the majority of them if you don’t qualify them first.

Qualification doesn’t have to be seen negatively. It is simply a process of deciding who can help and who you cannot help. Although, we all like to think we can help everyone we must realize who we are selling too, and know that everyone is not our customer. Developing a means of qualifying prospects will ensure that you begin the process smoothly, positively and fairly.

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The aspect of controlling a call, a situation or an outcome can seem impossible and unrealistic to the untrained or unremarkable salesperson. The truth is that controlling every aspect, every increment of a situation is how amateur salespeople become great salespeople.

Control is very often carried with negative connotations, especially when spoken about in this extreme. A ‘control freak’ is diagnosed as a person who has to have control over every part of a situation otherwise they lose stability. This is exactly why all salespeople need to be in control. The worst possible scenario is a call or proposal in which the salesperson cannot readily and swiftly adapt to a situation.

People, prospects rather, will test a salespersons ability to change to fit a situation quickly. Let’s face it, people change their minds often and when they do a sales professional must always be prepared to present a solution that fits that change. Without this capacity for adaptation one cannot expect to effectively control anything.

A prime example of being able to change at any increment to best fit a situation is when a prospect provides every excuse available whether it be product questions, contradicting statements or objections and the salesperson listens and can easily present solutions to the varying issues all of which bring the dialogue back to a progressive state.

Where many salespeople fail is that they allow themselves to become entangled in momentum and become dismayed when the deal changes formation. If the negotiation process of a dialogue happens to halt, will you be ready? If you cannot answer yes, then your skill of control is not yet honed with regards to sales. Any abrupt sway in conversation or circumstance can be the death of a sell if your prospect suspects that you cannot keep up with the ever changing role.

You have to be able to effectively steer a deal in the direction that the elements have taken it and be able to regain control of that direction all without skipping a beat. Control is more than a defense mechanism when used appropriately. When you exercise control over a situation you are ultimately taking responsibility for it and making sure that your accountability is administered to every conceivable (and unexpected) happening. Honing this capability does not ensure that you will never hear ‘no’ again. It means that even if you hear ‘no’ you can combat it respective to the situation and learn from the turn down. It means that you’ll be able to keep your emotions, zeal, frustration and personal preferences on the backburner in order to utilize instinct and logic.

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All salespeople have a common goal, to sell and sell well. However not very many are on the road paved with daily sales and efficient contacts. It takes time to build a rapport with a prospect and that time can be wasted when not managed appropriately. We talk so much about building the relationship as the very most imperative aspect of this business. However, there is another regarded aspect of selling that is often overshadowed and that is time management.

Many may not fully recognize the potential for disaster, frustration, loss and discouragement that accompanies wasted time but the effects are crippling. You don’t want to get yourself so deep into the dialogue aspect that you can’t seem to dig your way out. Your entire mission on calls is to discover the prospects intentions, needs, problems and objections so that you can provide your product or service as a tailor-made solution. However, wasting time conversing with a prospect who you know will not close is agitating.

Listening plays a huge role in this part of the job. You have to shut up, sit down and really listen to the prospect speak. If you are just sitting there waiting for your turn to pitch you are not adding value to the call and to the sell. Listening requires patience and comprehension along with decisiveness and proclivity. For example, if your prospect has stated many times that they just aren’t ready to buy even though they see the value and you’ve done your part of presenting the solution and asking for the sale or decision, then why stay on the line discussing natural dog food? You have to know when to end the dialogue and advise about the follow up. Some prospects will not buy, that is a fact. You have to be prepared for those prospects.

Learn to withhold openly, meaning that you should remain composed and reserved in the early aspects of the dialogue. Do not show the prospect your hand, so to speak. Your early objectives are to introduce, ask the probing questions and LISTEN. Talking too much in the beginning of the calls gets you so committed to the sell that you lose objectivity. You must remain conservative at the first sight of interest or risk being overzealous.

Time cannot be returned so treat it preciously. Pay very close attention to your prospects speech, dialogue, reasoning, objections, problems and wants so that everything you say is timed and well thought out. You can’t eliminate an objection you didn’t pay attention to. And there is nothing that prospects hate more than repeating themselves and feeling ignored.

Use time valuably so that you stop wasting it on deals that aren’t happening. On to the next one.

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Traditionally, selling products had a one note message and method to its successful operation. Basically the salesperson would enter a call focusing on providing all of the benefits of his/her product in order to convince the prospect to buy. For a time, this method and reasoning was successful because people used to buy products merely because of the products operational benefits. It is referred to as the commodity paradigm. In a nutshell, what made someone purchase from a salesperson was the seller’s ability to put their product in the respect that it was a commodity. It didn’t really matter if the prospect actually needed the product at that time.

In today’s purchasing society, there are many duplicates of many products, so commodity isn’t a fair or successful reasoning for purchase anymore. The trouble that salespeople face when attempting to pitch a product is that they are advised that the commodity paradigm is in fact still useful. The reality is that a solutions paradigm is much more relevant. This method produces greater results because the seller is in a position to listen, interview if you would, their prospect and provide solutions to the their problems and objections. This selling technique opposes the commodity method because traditionally the seller did the talking and presenting and the prospect did more listening.

The reality is that consumers know their value and the value of their purchasing decisions. They have an over abundance of choices and will always choose the seller they like best. Because they know they are the commodity, they expect to be treated as such. They want to be heard, understood and provided for and it’s a salespersons job to make their prospects feel needed. The goal of the solution method of selling is to solve a problem for your prospect. You want your product or service to provide a fundamental solution to your client’s issue. Period.

No other focus should exist when selling in this way because as a salesperson you are now trying to form and build a relationship with your prospect. This means that they can no longer be just a sell.  Yes, you know (or should know) your product or service better than anyone. However, your prospect knows their problem better than you. Taking the time to listen to their issue and devise a plan to solve it using your services or products will create a sense of confidence and assurance in your prospect that you are doing what’s best for their situation and not just what’s best for your commission.

For relationships management, you want to generate a set of solutions to your prospect that are tailored to their specific concerns. When training for sales positions, skills such as listening, asking questions, creating assurance and problem solving need to be a part of the immediate coaching process. Solve your prospects problems and watch your sales increase.

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What is the ultimate goal of a prospect interested in purchasing a product? Typically, prospects want to get the most bang for their buck when purchasing. Seeing that this is their intention you’ll often run into prospects that cling to a safety net. That safety net is “I’ll think about it”. “maybe” or “we’ll get back to you”. Ultimately they are refusing to make a decision. This gray area is not productive for decision making and is certainly not conducive to making sales. If you want to get past the indecisive aspect of a potential sell, you have to be prepared to hear no and to negotiate.

This back and forth dialogue you’re receiving from your prospects is the cause of a sincere effort to either be polite because they don’t want to say no or an attempt to negotiate the terms. To get through this you can set your prospect up to have to make a decision at the beginning of the conversation. You can do this by saying something like, “Ms. Powell, I’m going to ask you to either accept or reject the idea or proposal I’m presenting to you, ok?” This type of question will generate either a yes or a no response; it will generate the beginning of a decision.

A valued reason that prospects don’t like to make decisions on the spot is because they will have to justify that decision. Taking accountability for a purchase is often the scary aspect of buying any product or service. “Do I need this? Will it work as promised? What if I can’t return it?” are all questions that plague every consumer. Your job as a salesperson is to uncover and eliminate every possible objection with a positive solution and then ask your prospect to agree to or to deny the offer. This part of the sales process and is often ignored as it may seem pushy. However, the alternative is asking an open-ended question that generates a useless response such as “ So, Ms. Powell, is there any reason not to move forward?” Ms. Powell responds, “we’re going to discuss it and get back to you with a decision”. With the answer provided to you, you have learned nothing, have not acquired a sale and have allowed time to interfere with your sale. Even if your prospect decides against the purchase, at least you know where you stand with the deal.

Being in limbo is the worst place to allow a potential sell to venture to as time kills deals. The more time a prospect has to research your competition and to generate excuses, the less likely it is that they will ever purchase from you. To help ensure that you get a solid decision from your prospects you must be sure not to come off needy, have the confidence to ask for or listen to the objections and be diligent enough to ask for the decision. Check out our sales training services for more information.

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When performing business to business sales calls you are bound to run into the gatekeeper, commonly known as the receptionist or secretary of the office. You see, there are several different types of callers businesses receive calls from including, customers, suppliers, friends and salespeople. Amongst other administrative duties the secretary’s job is to deflect salespeople. No one wants to be bothered in the middle of their work day by a person trying to solicit products and take their money. So, the gatekeeper is safeguarding their boss’s time by brushing you off every time you call. Surely you have a prospect, business, that you call only to always receive the message “she’s out of the office”, “he’s with a client”, “they’ll be in meetings all day” every time you attempt contact. The key is to disguise yourself as one of the chosen ones.

It is all about perception. If you come across as a salesperson you will be perceived as one. Alternatively, if you can manage to become a friend or colleague or supplier you can get to the golden goose. In order to accomplish this you have to think, tonality. The sound of your voice isn’t everything. You were trained to sound calm, smooth or energetic to get people in the mood for what you plan to say. But, great salespeople adapt to the situation and understand that believability means a whole lot more than how you sound.

For example, has someone ever made a really snarky comment toward you in the sweetest voice possible? Well, that’s called being nice/nasty. You want the same effect. You want to be perceived as a person who belongs on the line with the decision maker even though to them you are not. To do this you have to more than just say the right thing. If you open the call with “Hello, is Mr. Kevin Donnelly available”, using your “salesperson” voice you will be deflected. You need to think more along the lines of “I’m calling by brother to see if he wants to go bowling” and less “I really need to talk with Mr. Donnelley”. A simple change in intention will help relax your tonality into one that is favorable, recognizable and belonging. A good idea is to have the tone that you’re saying something like “hey Jennifer its Mike, is Kevin free?” this opening is easy, makes the conversation personable and will make the secretary feel like you belong. It’s good practice to know the receptionists name and to prepare yourself to speak in a cool, confident and assured voice. You don’t want to sound like you’re trying to get through.
Practicing tonality is beneficial as opening the call this way will help you lead with the same comfortable tone.

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Of all of the techniques salespeople acquire, one that seems to elude a high percentage is the ability to keep track of a conversation in detailed fashion so that they can ultimately ask the challenging question. Sure, they all know how to talk people into a situation but great salespersons can listen objectively and create a conversation that hosts a problem resolving dialogue.

An example of this would be a dialogue where the consumer was resistant and attempted to give the salesperson the ultimate brush off line. They may have said something like “we will call you when we are ready to purchase”. Ouch! This line is one of the most widely used brush-off techniques that people use to get you off of the phone. As a sales person you have to learn how to speak in a manner that gets past that immediate disinterest and keeps your prospect on the line.

The purpose of your dialogue is to get your prospect to understand why they need to have your product now and that waiting another day before purchasing could ultimately cause more harm than good. The failure in applying such dialogue stems from a lack of listening on the salespersons end. A consumer wants to feel understood and paid attention to, and if you decide that just reiterating the benefits of your product is going to give them that security you are mistaken and missing out on sales.

You need to make a habit of keeping track of your conversation through note taking. A notebook with pertinent pieces of specific conversations will provide more value to increasing your conversion rates than just speaking eloquently. By taking down the objections, hindrances, expectations and situations that each prospect provides, you will form a tailored sales pitch that can overcome the wall of excuses.

The fact is, people have good reasons for not wanting to purchase. However, you need to find their desire to purchase and make every other feeling irrelevant for your potential buyer. By not “pressuring” them into buying as oppose to merely asking the real questions that force them to make a decision. You don’t want to rushed off of the phone without your prospect feeling like they absolutely need your product to solve their problem. Help guide your prospect into the realization that they need to solve their issue immediately and that you are there to help them do so.

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When hiring potential salespeople do you have a foolproof hiring protocol? If you are like most businesses the answer is, absolutely not. The Sales business is one that falls victim to a great deal of employment turnover greatly due to the fact that the competitive dog-eat-dog atmosphere of a sales environment proves to be too much for the average employee. Of course during the interview process candidates are impressive, well versed and able to assure you of their capacity to perform above the standard. However, only about 14% of decisions made during the interview processes are accurate. So, to improve your departments’ performance you have to start at the top.

Sales positions require a specific personality that isn’t found in every potential hire or employee. If your salespeople don’t have that “sellers” quality ingrained into them, they are likely performing poorly due to their desperation. They are stressed, overwhelmed and unsure of their futures with the company, which in turn, causes their sales pitches to have desperation in place of confidence and that will always cost you sales.

While there is no 100% surefire hiring protocol, there are ways to increase the accuracy of your hiring decisions and by implementing a more successful interviewing system you can get the right people for the job the first time.

1. Resumes are used to impress and very often contain fallacies. Taking a resume at face value and being impressed by a candidate’s ability to verbalize it, doesn’t provide enough information to decide on a hire. You have to learn how to get past a candidate’s prepared interviewing techniques and get down to the core of their capabilities.

2. Do not go with the flow. You can’t afford to spend an hour on one interview and expect to successfully review all of the qualified job seekers. Get down to the information you need to know. While it is a great feeling to find a positive vibe with an applicant, you can’t allow that to affect the hiring process by prolonging the interview.

3. Determine who “can” from who “will”. There are many types of employees, all of which fall into two main categories, those who can and those who will, and these are the attributes by which you should make your hiring decisions.

All in all, these are just a few tips, all of which we incorporate in our Sales Evaluation through our STAR program. It’s designed to make your hiring protocol efficient by providing you with a 96% proven success rate.

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Have you ever encountered that very wobbly sales person who so desperately attempts to shop you their product? As a consumer, you probably just answered yes to the above question and consequently, as a salesperson you just discovered how to increase your sales.
Back to that uncomfortably intense sales person, did you buy what they were selling? If you didn’t it typically was because you weren’t comfortable, confident and sure of the person selling you the product as oppose to the product itself. They hit your wall head first and didn’t stand a chance, but their failure doesn’t stem from their direct contact with you; it began the moment they decided to dial your number or knock on your door. To them, you are a prospect and they have one goal, to sell to you. The problem with their approach is focus.

As a salesperson, many jobs attained are commission based and are therefore your sole or primary source of income. Focusing on the fact that you have bills and a mortgage riding on the shoulders of every attempted deal, layers a ton of obesity on top of your sales pitch, if when delivering it your necessities are your focus. To lose that extra weight shift your concern from “What’s in it for me?” to “Is it right for them?”

The “What’s in it for me?” focus detracts from your ability to connect and create a relationship with your prospects. While it may be difficult to place your primal needs on the back burner while trying to earn a living, doing so will ultimately gain you more income than you anticipated. What’s so superb about redirecting your attention to an “Is it right for them?” focus is that it gives you the opportunity to become a part of your prospects thinking and shopping process. In today’s market people are buying solutions not products, so if your product doesn’t assist in solving a pressing need for your prospects, they aren’t likely to purchase it right away.

Essentially you’ll be fashioning a direct line of communication with someone who’s a fitting candidate for your service or product, whether they are motivated to buy from you expeditiously or not. Doing so will provide a durable foundation for your follow up communications, not to mention that if they like you, they’ll likely recommend you to friends and family while always keeping you in mind when they consider the product you’re selling and the solution it could provide for them. It’s time to refocus your attention and intentions so that you can start making more sales by generating positive relationships and earning increased referrals!

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