Sales Lessons From A Mentor
Over the years I’ve been blessed to have worked with some great
sales professionals. I looked at these older and more experienced
sales pros as my personal mentors. They taught me a lot, and they
really made a big difference in my ability to build my
businesses.
One such pro, Mike, taught me three critical lessons. I want to
share those with you today.
1. If you’re not in front of a prospect or customer you are
unemployed.
The bottom line is that if you are in your car, or behind your
desk, or at the lunch counter, you are out of business. If you
depend on selling something to make a living or build your
business, and you want to consider yourself employed, then you
have to be in front of someone who has the potential to buy.
Over time, great sales professionals realize that they are in the
people business. They are in the business or serving people and
helping them achieve their personal or professional goals.
You can’t serve people, and you can’t close sales unless you are
in front of prospects. You may sell your products face-to-face,
or you may sell over the phone. Either way you must be in front
of someone or have someone on the phone if you are to have a
chance to make a sale.
The key point is not only to be in front of people, but to find a
way to increase the amount of time during the day you are in a
selling situation. Here are three ways you can do that:
– Manage your time carefully. Certain hours of the day are best
for face-to-face or phone sales. The hours may be different for
each of these as well as for different industries. What are the
best hours in your industry? Schedule your day so that you do
your paperwork and other non-revenue generating activities during
the hours that you are least likely to be able to put yourself in
front of a prospect or repeat customer.
– Evaluate all of the activities that you participate in during
the day. Which ones could be delegated to an assistant? Which
activities can you do after hours or on the weekend? Which
activities are wasting your time? Now fill your day with
activities that will put you in front of buyers.
– Stretch your day. Find organizations and activities that meet
early, before the normal work day or in the evening. These
specific networking opportunities extend the traditional work day
and give you more productive time. If you can meet an extra two
people a day, that will turn into ten people a week and five
hundred people a year! Just think of what that will do to your
sales productivity.
2. If you don’t ask for the order, you are just practicing and
you are doing yourself and/or your employer a disservice.
Many sales people just don’t like to or don’t think to ask the
final buying question. If you are in sales then you have to ask
someone to buy. If you don’t, then you do not have a career, you
have a hobby.
Your company pays you to ask for the order. If you own your own
company then you should already know this.
The bottom line is this; it’s your job to sell. It’s your
customer’s job to buy. If you are not asking for the order then
you are not doing your job. Simple?
When you do ask for the order, remember to remain silent until
your customer speaks. If you speak first, you will relieve the
buying pressure and probably lose the sale. If they don’t want
your product or service, trust me, they will tell you.
3. Sell the sizzle not the steak.
I know we’ve all heard this before, but it is well worth talking
about. People are looking for the excitement. They want what’s
special, different, and unique. People buy emotionally and
justify the purchase after the fact rationally.
If emotion is a big part of the buying process, then the “sizzle”
or emotion arousing characteristics of your product or service is
what will attract the customer and help make the sale.
Let’s go further then the sizzle though. People don’t just buy
features. They buy the benefits they will receive after they own
the product or service. So with every feature you offer, each
sizzle must have a related benefit for your prospect or customer.
What is exciting about your product or service? You must be able
to answer this question. Maybe there is something different or
unique. Maybe you have features that set you apart.
– Here is an exercise that will make you a pro at selling the
sizzle and making it relevant for your customer.
Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. On the
left side of the paper list every feature of your product or
service. It does not matter if your competition has some of these
same features because they are most likely not talking about
them.
No matter how minor you may think the feature is, put it on the
list.
Now on the right side of the sheet list at least one benefit your
customer receives from each feature. If you can list two or
three, then do it!
If your product comes in red or blue and you sell 98% blue you
may not think that the fact it comes in red is important. Here’s
how it works. The resulting benefit of these two colors is that
your customer has a choice. If they change their mind before
delivery they can get the other color. Maybe your competition
does not offer the two colors. Get it?
Remember, it is not a feature or a benefit if only you know it.
Tell your customers everything!
Even minor features can have real benefits. And, since I know
your competition is not going into the detail that you will,
unless of course I’ve trained them myself, you will gain a
tremendous sales advantage.
Use this exercise alone or with members of your mastermind group.
Develop sizzle. Turn all of your features into benefits that will
compel your customers to buy, and you will be on the road to
Building a Better Biz!
