The key to success with voice mail  is to come to grips with the fact that on some level most of your buyers despise it and either ignore or delete most of their messages. It is wishful or, more likely, delusional thinking to expect your voice mail messages to actually be returned. However, with a few simple adjustments that make your messages easier for your prospects to deal with, you may succeed in getting many more messages returned and at the same time earn the respect of the people you call.

Here are the top three tips: (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…)

If you do business with people from cultural groups different than your own, you would be wise to invest some time understanding their cultures as well as their needs in terms of your products and services. You may not necessarily be doing business with people in another country, but with those from other countries who have relocated near your place of business. If you want their business, you have to understand their needs on many levels.

Also, if you are building a web site for your business, you need to consider who the viewer might be and their cultural situations. Some words and phrases just don’t translate to have the same meaning that you may wish to impart, thus, confusing the visitor.  Or, worse, the translation may unintentionally be offensive when made. (more…)

Too many people, when faced with clients who range from dissatisfied to downright angry, choose the loser’s path by postponing handling the situation. Worse yet, they handle it inappropriately. Postponement doesn’t make the problem go away. It results in one of two things happening. Either the angry client decides the problem isn’t worth the aggravation and cools down. Or, the client gets so angry that the next time you hear from him or her is through some sort of official (and possibly legal) letter. Worse yet, you’ll see your company named on the local news channel in one of those consumer protection segments. (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…)

          From the moment we are born until the moment we die, everything we say and do is for the purpose of satisfying some want or need. A basic rule of selling is that a person will buy what they want, whether or not they need it.

          One of the most common mistakes salespeople make is in assuming that a client will make the purchase because you have convinced them that your property is a great buy. Now, I don’t claim to be a psychologist, but in my selling experience, I have found that there are two basic appeals. We react from logic and emotion, and when there is conflict between the two, emotion will always win. (more…)

Fear is the greatest enemy you’ll ever encounter as a professional salesperson. Your fear, the prospect’s fear, market and trend fears and so on.

What do we fear? As salespeople, we fear saying or doing things that may halt a potential sale. Hopefully, you’ll learn to recognize and conquer your fears through continual education, practice, drill and rehearsal of strategies and tactics that will keep you ahead of the pack.

A tough part of our jobs as salespeople is in helping others understand and overcome their fears so we can earn the opportunity to help them make decisions. Fear is what builds that wall of resistance we so often run into. You must master the skills to either climb over or break through those walls.

Here are some other common, normal and potentially paralyzing fears that many people face in decision-making situations and what you should do about them. (more…)

Before beginning your presentation, spend some time establishing rapport. This is a vital “warm up” to any sale. You have to make your potential clients comfortable with you before they’ll want to listen to you or answer your questions.

First, always use the client’s name the way they give it. If your client introduces himself as Anthony, don’t call him Tony. Don’t ever change a name. Just remember it correctly and be prepared to use it a few times during the presentation.

Next, make good eye contact. There is an old adage that if you can’t look me in the eye, I can’t trust you. I don’t know if that is necessarily true, but if they believe it, it is! (more…)