Mastering The Essentials of Sales to Close Every Sale_3 doc

Resistdemands for discounts by selling the value of your MASTERING THE ESSENTIALS OF SALES 62... Business leadersand sales and marketing executives who overlook their re-sponsibility to

2 Nervous CEOs are drawing up massive

restructur-ing plans, cuttrestructur-ing budgets, bonuses, inventory, travel,payroll, advertising, suppliers, and above all, unprof-itable divisions

3 Nervous middle managers are beginning to wear

more and more hats, working harder, assuming moreresponsibility, spending under budget, and squeez-ing their suppliers even harder than before

While managers are busy restructuring the company,rewriting budgets, redesigning marketing plans, and re-shuffling responsibilities, the real challenge of selling at aprofit often gets overlooked

What can sales executives do to improve profits?Plenty!

1 Spread the word every single day that profitable

sales are the only insurance of continued ment Profit is the lifeblood of your company’s future.Profits mean survival and growth opportunities forevery member of the company

employ-2 Put “profit eaters” on a starvation diet Cut waste,

fat, and long-winded discussions Get more done inless time

3 Train salespeople to sell price with pride, quote list,

and replace the word discount with work that addsreal value to the sale When a customer receivesvaluable ideas, competent service, and professionaltreatment, the pressure to discount will melt Resistdemands for discounts by selling the value of your

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company, testimonials, service, training, appearance,and personal competence in addition to your product.Stop selling price; start selling value.

4 Protect your business against fraud, improper

ac-counting methods, employee theft, kickbacks, andother illegal schemes Loose ethical guidelines, laxsecurity, and careless supervision cause an ever-widening leak in your shrinking reservoir of prof-itability

5 Think productivity Productivity leads to profits Ask

these productivity questions every day: How canyour salespeople meet with more customers everyday? How can they close more sales with fewer calls?How can they close higher sales on each call? Howcan they increase the frequency of repeat sales? Howcan they work smarter and harder?

6 The best source of profit is excellence Excellence

starts with thinking, continues with action, and ends

in superior results Get

salespeople to think

be-fore acting Plan your

profits before calling on

customers Think profits

before completing the

order form, and keep

profits by selling your

customers on keeping

their promises Set

stan-dards of profitability for

In a great economy, the percentages are reversed

While pondering the issue of profits, keep in mind thatevery year more than 60,000 businesses go bankrupt.These businesses lose sight of the fact that the principalobjective of a business is to make a profit Business leadersand sales and marketing executives who overlook their re-sponsibility to keep costs low and sales high will have tomake room for those who have a bigger appetite for profits.

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What is the number-one problem that stands in the waybetween you and your prospect? Chances are thatyour prospects don’t know you, your company, or your prod-uct; they don’t understand your message; and they don’tcare about your story or your unique selling propositions.Why? Most sales messages fizzle in the marketplace Back

in 1888, very few people had heard of George Eastman andhis little black box that he called the “detective camera.”Only a few people understood photography, and even fewerknew his company He started a sales revolution with thesimple and compelling message “You push the button, we

do the rest.”

Since 1888, advances in technology have created a

land-REVITALIZE YOUR SALES MESSAGE

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Copyright © 2006 by Gerhard Gschwandtner Click here for terms of use

slide of products and an avalanche of information Today’scustomers are bombarded with sales messages that theyhave learned to tune out faster than ever.

Ask direct marketers and they’ll tell you that every yeardirect-mail response rates decline Today, more than 99percent of all direct-mail letters are ignored Ask salesmanagers and they’ll tell you that up to 90 percent of allprospects ignore a salesperson’s attempt to close the sale.Ask yourself how many sales presentations your teammade and how many resulted in a sale Ask marketingmanagers and they’ll explain that 60 percent of all market-ing materials are ignored by the salesperson

Why do most sales messages fizzle? Because we seem to

be better at creating new products than we are at creatingclear and compelling sales messages

What makes effective customer messages sizzle? In

1937, the first author to write about selling with sizzle was

Elmer Wheeler His book titled

Tested Sentences That Sell

re-vealed his experiments withsales messages and their im-pact on prospects Wheelerspoke about “meaty words”that prospects could sink theirteeth into and “watery words”that had little impact For ex-ample, Wheeler found that if awaiter asked, “Would you care

to order a red or white winewith your dinner?” it woulddouble the sales of wine

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ACTION TIP

Don’t use boilerplate

messages Your job is to

skillfully tease out

burning problems during

the client interview The

next step is to dress your

solution in a tailored

sales message that

matches the interest

level of each

decision maker

Today’s customer-message management has less to dowith the right choice of products than with the right choice

of words Every market has its own jargon that salespeopleneed to know Each prospect lives in a different world that

is governed by different preoccupations, perceptions, andpreferences While a CEO’s perception focuses on the fu-ture, on strategy, and on efficiency, the CFO’s preoccu-pations revolve around cash flow and ROI For a salesmessage to gain access to the prospect’s mind, it must re-flect the language of the market, the preferences of theprospect, and the capabilities of the company

Unfortunately, very few salespeople are able to late their company’s boilerplate sales message into theprospect’s market realities and align it with the prospect’sprofessional preoccupations and corporate challenges.That’s why savvy managers demand that sales andmarketing act as a team to create better sales messages.That’s why smart companies create sales intelligence cen-ters that can generate customized sales messages by cus-tomer category and white papers that are customizable byjob title These companies realize that revitalizing sales be-gins with a revitalized sales message

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For many industries, selling in the late ’90s was likeshooting fish in a barrel Now the fish are shootingback The power has gone back to the customer, and a lot ofsales managers feel frustrated It’s tougher to see pros-pects, it takes longer to persuade them, and it’s eventougher to close sales In this uncertain economy only onething is certain: The old ways of selling and marketing nolonger work As old jokes lose their power from being toldtoo many times, the old sales messages no longer producethe vigorous buying reflexes seasoned salespeople savoredbecause they produced images of laughing all the way tothe bank Here are the key trends from a number of inter-views with CEOs, VPs of sales, authors, and consultants

1 CEOs are very tious about the economy.

cau-Many have a hunch thingsmay improve, but they are notcounting on it Their mantra

is “cost control.” A courageous

20 percent of CEOs havestepped up to a higher level ofcompetitiveness One CEOsaid, “Business is an unfor-giving, relentless, competitivestruggle We’re constantly re-fining our customer messageand are expanding our marketing and sales efforts.Those who can’t cut the mustard must cut theirbudgets.”

2 There is a widening gap between sales and marketing One of the key conflicts revolves around

customer-message management Marketing is morefocused on product facts, while salespeople are morefocused on relationships Salespeople speak the cus-tomer’s language, but the people responsible for cre-ating marketing materials don’t This often leads tosuch problems as:

• Marketing messages that are not in sync with realcustomer concerns

Experts estimate that 50 percent of a pany’s marketing material is never used Topsalespeople create their own messages and close

com-MASTERING THE ESSENTIALS OF SALES

advertising team should

never be the final judge

of what is an effective

message and what is not

The only judge is

your customer

sales, while other salespeople miss sales nities.

opportu-• Marketing messages that don’t offer enough stance

sub-Today’s customers spend a lot more time searching competing solutions and dismiss boiler-plate information When prospects ask questions

re-at a deeper level, salespeople are often unable todifferentiate their capabilities or substantiatetheir claims

• Marketing messages that are far too complex.Customers wonder, “How can I trust them with

my problems if they speak about their products in

a language that I can’t understand?”

Very few companies are able to create a collaborative lationship between sales and marketing that leads to effec-tive customer-message management CEOs are frustratedbecause there is so little desire to improve Said one CEO, “I

re-am always dissatisfied I preach dissatisfaction To my mind,everything needs to be improved, or we risk extinction.”Tough times are challenging companies’ core missions.Progressive CEOs help recalibrate their core marketingmessages to hit the shrinking sweet spots in the market-place They boldly redesign their ad messages, refocus theirUSP, and give their sales teams new tools that capture thehearts and minds of their customers There is no doubt thatthe economy rewards those who understand their cus-tomers’ pain, are capable of offering solutions that work,and above all, speak their customers’ language

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When the economic pendulum swings toward a sion, sales executives face a series of tough choices.Here are 10 recession-survival strategies that can cushionthe rough ride

reces-1 Don’t put all your eggs into one basket Expand

your customer base This is the best time for gettingnew business because customers are looking for bet-ter ideas that can lower costs and increase productiv-ity

2 Never be afraid to talk about money early on in the sale Don’t waste your time with customers who

don’t have the financial muscle to back up their

buy-WHAT’S YOUR STRATEGY FOR SELLING IN TOUGH TIMES?

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Copyright © 2006 by Gerhard Gschwandtner Click here for terms of use

ing decisions Remember, the decision to buy is onlythe first step of the close It is better to close twosmaller sales than to have one big sale slip away be-cause the customer’s financing fell through.

3 No matter how tough competition gets, never compromise your integrity Even when your com-

petition is fighting for sales with dirty tricks, don’tlower your ethical standards If you are in doubtabout which course of action to take, get legal advice

4 Cut the fat out of your budget, but leave the muscle you need to keep your sales up to speed For every hour spent in meetings designed to

cut the budget, invest an equal amount of time inthinking of new ways to increase sales If you lookonly for ideas for cutting costs, your sales team willnever find ideas that could double your sales

5 Upgrade your negotiation skills for dealing with collections Collect receivables with a carrot

and a stick Sell your customers on the benefits ofpaying, the troubles saved by sending the check, theadvantages of a good credit rating, and the conse-quences of legal actions Be friendly, listen to theirstories, and no matter what they tell you, alwayscome back with your demands for payment

6 Don’t go soft when customers try to cancel a firm order Tough times will test your sense of fair-

ness Develop a positive attitude toward the job of

“reselling the sold customer.” Because of a newbudget directive, the customer’s boss often will veto apurchase order after it has been signed Save the sale

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by reselling your customer’s boss on the benefits ofyour product and on the necessity to stick with theoriginal agreement.

7 Selling in a recession is a time of concessions.

Rethink your offer Can you add extra services?Extra parts? Extended warranties? Deferred pay-ments? Better interest rates? Special options? Alonger tryout period? A free loaner in case of break-down? A free training course for the operator? A fac-tory visit? Can you bundle products together? Athree-year, guaranteed buy-back plan? Brainstormmore creative selling ideas today!

8 Monitor your existing customers’ financial health Always ask questions about their business

plans, their sales, their operating budgets, etc Learn

to look out for the sensitive financial indicators such

as payment habits, key supplier payment terms, orbank credits Remember that bankruptcies alwayshurt the ones who don’t bother to check out red flags

9 Don’t let the economy depress you Although

we can’t control the economy or our customers, wecan control our attitude

Read positive,

motivat-ing books, or listen to

motivational tapes

Reg-ular exercise is the best

antidote against

feel-ings of depression

10 Reject the values

im-posed by those who

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SUCCESS PRINCIPLE

Tough times producegreat teachers whochallenge us to reachdeep within to discoverthe greatness hidden inour souls

tell you, “Things will get worse before they get better.” People who hold an image of doom in their

minds will always pursue a defensive strategy ple who see the silver lining on the horizon will al-ways make the best of the situation and get thebusiness that’s out there

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As we prepare for progress in this uncertain economy,one thing is certain: Buyers will ask tougher questionsbefore making a purchase Here’s a list of questions thatcan help you prepare your sales organization to win.

1 Do you thrive on change? If your company’s rate

of innovation is slower than normal for your try, you can’t expect forward momentum Customersare always looking for new ideas If they can’t getthem from you, they’ll get them from your competi-tion

indus-2 Are you committed to ongoing improvement?

The more you improve as a company, the better you

A TEN-POINT PLAN FOR SUCCESS

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Copyright © 2006 by Gerhard Gschwandtner Click here for terms of use

can help your customer’s business improve ber that the more customers improve as a result ofyour sales efforts, the better your bottom line.

Remem-3 Are you stretching your abilities? If your

sales-people don’t stretch their abilities, you’ll see astretch in your company’s liabilities If your team’ssales goals are not stretched, your cost of sales soonwill be

4 Are you removing all barriers to buying?

Com-panies like Compaq and Dell are able to build andship a computer within a week Are you willing to im-prove your sales performance to a similar world-class level? Do you have a plan for removing allbarriers to buying?

5 Do you exploit new technology aggressively?

The purpose of technology is to save time for the tomer, to manage relationships for the sales team,and to help management improve the organization

cus-Is your information technology truly designed toserve people’s needs?

6 Is everyone motivated to win? People come to

work to win, not to lose Winning demands that theheart be involved in the job If salespeople love whatthey do, sales managers will love the results

7 Do you measure and reward top performance?

Winners expect results, not excuses Result seekersare scorekeepers Set competitive rewards commen-surate with the levels of achievement

8 Are you managing meaning? Rethink, resell, and

renew your company’s mission If your salespeople

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