While the qualification process is critical in making an initial sale to clients, it’s not something you can do once and forget about it. In challenging times, you may need to continually re-qualify existing clients. When anything changes, think of them as if they’re new clients all over again. The key element is what they might want or need to change about their current situation. You can never assume you know whether or not they remain highly qualified candidates for your product or service.

Changes that are impacting just one of your clients could be making an impact on all of them. Fastco manufacturing might be a good client when they’re running three shifts each day. But with any change in their production, such as cutting out a shift, or running 24/5 instead of 24/7, their needs may change…and your services may need to change as well. Maybe they’re no longer an ideal candidate for product X that you offer. Getting in there and truly working to serve their needs might show that they’ve become a better candidate for product Y. If you had just let them ride along with product X, they may have been tempted away by a competitor who pointed out a different solution to their needs. (more…)

Think for a moment about what the greatest enemy is to the process of helping people come to a decision that’s truly good for them and getting an agreement for them to own your product or service. What is it that jumps in and brings presentations that were previously sailing smoothly along to a screeching halt? You may think it’s the competition or maybe the financial aspects of your proposal. Perhaps you think it’s the prospective client’s inability to make a decision.   Well, if you think any of those things, you are right. But, with selling being what it is — a bottom line business — let’s dig deeper and find the bottom line of what lies between you and your ‘future client’ coming to an agreement.   If you look at all the enemies you and your associates can come up with, you’ll find they have a common denominator. That common denominator is a thing called FEAR. (more…)

What are you really doing when you close a sale? There are four issues you are addressing, and, perhaps overcoming.

The first issue is that the client really does want to make the decision to go ahead and they need your help rationalizing it. That puts you in the position of the “rationaliz-er”–the one who validates their emotional decision or backs it up with facts and other evidence that they’re making a wise decision to go ahead. (more…)

I thought I’d share some training in a different format for this topic.

Watch the video:

http://candogo.com/search/insight?i=1711&referrer=/candogo/hopkins/

If I asked a room full of experienced salespeople how many of them qualify their clients, every hand would go up. If I asked that same group to define qualification, the answers would probably vary to the extent that a newcomer in sales would be somewhat confused. If I then asked these experienced salespeople to deliver their qualification sequence to the group, I’d have to guess that many would not be able to do so. Too few salespeople, even veterans, have proven, practiced methods of qualification. And that’s a sad truth. (more…)

In the business of selling products and services, you’re bound to hear objections or concerns that interfere with or slow down the sales process. When it comes right down to it, most objections or concerns can be addressed or overcome. Usually, it’s just a matter of clarifying information about the product. Sometimes it can involve switching gears to another product entirely, but most challenges can be overcome. (more…)

In the selling profession, closing is the winning score, the bottom line, the name of the game, the point of it all. If you can’t close, you’re like a football team that can’t sustain a drive long enough to score. It does you no good to play your whole game in your own territory and never get across the other team’s goal line.

Many salespeople are afraid to close. They’re afraid of asking for the order. They’re so fearful, you would think they were having to personally reach into someone’s pocket for their money. To have any kind of success in sales, you have to get over that fear because this is where the money is.      (more…)

Any veteran in business can tell you a story about the one that got away. Veterans who are successful in business today learned valuable lessons from those situations and, hopefully, never repeated them. As challenging as the business of selling might be for some, losing sales is unbelievably easy. Learn from the mistakes of others so you won’t have many of the sad stories to tell.

Sales Killer #1 – Lack of professional appearance. If you want people to listen to you and heed your advice regarding your product or service, you have to come across both in appearance and demeanor as a professional expert. This means that you are appropriately groomed. You walk with confidence. People will buy from you based more on your conviction and enthusiasm for your product than they will your product knowledge. (more…)

The actual closing of the sale is by far the most important step in the selling process. I teach lots of techniques for prospecting, meeting people, qualifying, presenting, demonstrating, and overcoming objections, and they’re all important. But, unless you can close, you’re like a football team that can’t sustain a drive long enough to score. (more…)

Some salespeople are uncomfortable doing much more than presenting their offering. It’s their favorite part of the sales process. They get to show the product, handle it, and amaze their ‘audiences.’ If you’re great at presenting, that’s wonderful, but it won’t necessarily generage sales. You must ask for the business, directly and clearly! There can be no misunderstanding on the part of the client that it’s decision time. (more…)