Tip 1: Be confident and enthusiastic, develop excellent listening and questioning skills.

What made the call different? Well firstly the person on the phone was bright, confident, enthusiastic and sincere. Not too pushy. They didn’t sound bored with their job. They didn’t assume that I wanted to hear from them. They asked empathetic questions and listened making it clear that they valued my time and they were enthusiastic about their company. They clearly had developed
excellent telesales skills!

Tip 2: Don’t focus on selling, create a positive customer focused experience.

They were actually calling from a local cable company (and we already had satellite TV). I let them know very quickly that we had satellite – but they were not fazed by that. Instead they were interested to know what I liked about the service I had and explained that they would welcome the opportunity to talk again if and when things were to change. Why am I writing about this? Mainly because this person left me with a very positive impression of their company simply because of the way they handled the call. Their polite, confident and empathetic approach made me think well of their company and much more likely to be open to considering change in the future. They didn’t make a sale on that call (but I suspect that was not their primary objective). They created a positive environment for a future call.

Tip 3: Be sincere and empathetic

The message: too many telesales people seem to forget that they are speaking to another human being. They don’t seem to care about the person who is answering the phone. They are not sincere or empathetic. They are totally focused on getting their call completed and moving to the next. By contrast I just received yet another telesales call – this time of the negative variety. They asked to speak to a colleague – speaking in a way that made it very clear that they were not at all interested in talking to me. Little did they know that I was the decision-maker for their service, but they didn’t care enough about the person answering the phone to take the time and trouble to find out. They had one goal. They weren’t thinking. They were following a script.

My thoughts turned to that very different call a few weeks ago … and made me think more positively about the company that had employed that person. A company, vested in their employees success (and therefore their own) and who realized the importance of excellent telesales training to create a successful, positive, customer focused experience. When I’m ready for the annual service renewal I might even call them.

1. Build solid sales relationships at all levels of the hierarchy

There are many challenges involved in moving a sale forward, many of which can be resolved by correctly interpreting signs in the environment. The more contacts you are able to make at the top of a company’s hierarchy the stronger your position will become. At the same time it is important to build solid relationships at all levels, and to always be respectful of organizational structure and the people it comprises. Don’t depend on this hierarchy to stop the competition, make your competitors, not you, deal with the politics of the company and aim to work above them in the organization. Make it your focus to discover the decision makers and define a well-defined sales process. Successful sales people use the organization to beat the competition.

2. Build productive sales relationships

Keep all your sales relationships productive, make the value of what you offer known to the top people and never try to sell during any internal reorganization. Do not allow your efforts to be distracted by negative people within the organization. Be aware that sometimes opposition can be hidden, let your competitors, not you, be blindsided by them.

3. Keep ahead of the competition

Endeavour to be one step ahead of the competition and look for signs that your competitors might be about to move in on the sales opportunity you have been working on. Listen for rumors about the competition, these could well come from senior management. Look for indicators of the competition’s activity, such as if the goals of the purchase suddenly alter or there are too many purchasing requirements or if your supporters are suddenly unavailable. Should the competition try to collaborate with you they probably need your help, at the same time if they offer to split the sale or even give it to you beware of a trap!

4. Develop strong customer relationships and present concise sales proposals

Your relationships with your customers need to be strong. The customer must believe in you and that you are vested in their success. Successful selling is all about making it easy for the customer to buy, ensure that this happens, educate them and they will order from you repeatedly. Your proposal needs to be clear and firm, especially when working with new customers. With customers you have previously worked with you need to be more flexible, let them give you their new ideas. If your proposal cannot win the sale refocus your efforts, prepare for the competition, gather information and delay the sale never letting the competition get ahead of you.

Do you think your customer’s believe in you and that you are vested in their success, what ideas do you have, we would welcome your suggestions?

Why, at the very start of any sales situation is it so important to determine your customer’s needs? Having successfully made the initial customer contact and therefore met one of the most challenging aspects of selling, what is the next priority? It is difficult to predict the exact path that the sales cycle will take so it is important to be prepared, to be flexible and to plan for possible outcomes. Although people don’t like being sold to, most people like to buy something that they know they need. By determining what your customer needs, you will have a greater likelihood of being able to demonstrate how what you have to offer meets your customer’s needs and increase the chances of a sale.

1. Understand the customer’s business

The first step is to understand your customer’s business: become knowledgeable, use any contacts you might have within their company, meet with them, talk to them, and try to take advantage of their input and their perspective. Do not appear to be too keen to make a sale. Suspend that sales pitch; focus on the customer, not on your sale. The more you understand the customer’s perspectives and their needs, the better off you are and the more easily you can tailor your presentation to meet those needs.

2. Focus on the customer, be empathetic and sincere.

In your sales efforts always try to differentiate yourself from your competition. Try to focus your conversation on the customer, on their markets, their challenges, their opportunities and not on your product. Listen to your customer, be empathetic and sincere. This approach will encourage the customer to share their ideas and gradually will earn you their trust. Your goal is to become their ‘trusted advisor’, the one they turn to for solutions, the one they continue to buy from and advocate to others.

3. Be creative and inventive. 

Look for creative ways to help your customer find new opportunities and success. Be proactive in suggesting innovative ideas, it will demonstrate your sincerity, that you genuinely want to find viable solutions to your customer’s problems. Be inventive; try to identify new opportunities which the customer may not even have considered. Look for ways to suggest how the customer might try different approaches and explores new ideas.

What do you think, how successful have you been in determining your customers needs? How creative have you been in showing your customers how you can help them? How effective have your sales effort been to enable you to successfully close a sale? Let us know, we welcome your thoughts and suggestions.

Following a recent consultative selling workshop about developing sales partnerships with clients, I was struck by what one of the sales executives said to me when I ran into him at his offices the following day. “How is it?” he asked “That you seem to know so much about our company. It seems as though you know more about us than many of the people who work here?” Wow – what an eye-opening realization from a young man in the early stages of his professional sales development. I wondered whether he realized that he had identified one of the key elements of a truly ‘consultative’ or in fact a ‘partnership’ sales approach.

Develop partnership sales relationships to help customers achieve their goals

As a sales consultant you eventually cross an imaginary line in the sand beyond which the customer stops seeing you as a sales person for another company, and instead starts to accept you as part of their extended team, working in partnership with them to deliver the results that really matter to them. To get to this hallowed ground you need to park your product pitch at the door, leave it in the car (or at least in your bag) and only refer to it when the customer actually asks you for it. I am certainly not advocating a sales style which would see you arrive at a customer meeting unprepared; in fact quite the opposite. What I am suggesting is that you can spend time planning a killer powerpoint presentation by all means, but plan on NOT using it. Plan on a consultative conversation with the prospect or customer, a conversation focused on them and their needs and challenges and not on your products or solutions. Once they see that you really care about them, about understanding them, and that you’re not simply waiting to deliver a pitch, they will start to tell you what you really need to know to be a true partner to them. When the time is right, when they feel that they can trust you, then THEY will ask you what you have to help. At that point they are interested in your insight and your ideas, not the glossy brochure or impressive slide-deck.

Focus on your customer not your product!

During you time with the customer, be you. Care about your customer as a person. Demonstrate that you want to help them … and they will help you! In the process you will learn enough to be considered a valued member of their team and not an outsider.

Back to our sales executive … I talked with him for a while and explained that I had had to work hard over many months to develop the kind of in depth understanding that he was referring to. There is no substitute for hard work but ‘smart work’ really counts too. Sales people should spend less time worrying about learning every nuance of their product or service and instead invest that time in really trying to understand their customers and prospects. It pays huge dividends. What have been your experiences and what suggestions do you have to develop a consultative, partnership sales relationship?

Being an inspirational leader is not about charisma or power but about sincerity, your belief in what you are doing and in the people you are asking to help you. When people listened to Hitler, a leader with immense power and charisma, they really believed that HE could achieve anything. When people met and heard Churchill they came away believing that THEY could do anything. The difference was that Churchill’s ability to inspire was not dependent on his power or charisma or even his words, but demonstrated by his behavior. “No-one ever left his cabinet, meetings without feeling himself a braver man’. Leo Amery, Cabinet Minister

Churchill realized that to be effective with others, we need to be honest and realistic about our own abilities, and to know when to offer advice. Churchill showed his sincerity and interest in people and their ideas, he was empathetic and he knew how to listen. It won him people’s attention, respect and most importantly their commitment. Against terrible odds, in desperate circumstances, people were prepared to make unusual sacrifices to endure great suffering, strengthened by a renewed belief in the ability to win. People were inspired.

How can you inspire others to action, to do what needs doing?

“Leadership is about the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because they want to do it” Dwight Eisenhower.

The ability to inspire others comes from your conviction in success and your confidence that the effort will be worth it. Be the example…lead from the front, be committed to excellence, never expecting more out of others than you would of yourself. To encourage others, ‘walk the talk’, look for ways to be involved and to participate, always portraying calm, confident optimism. Listen and be responsive to other’s suggestions, be willing to share power and delegate. Focus on issues that you can control to create potential positive outcomes to reinforce your belief in success. This behavior will motivate people and help promote agreement about decision criteria.

Inspiring leaders take risks, make decisions, are accessible, optimistic and confident.

Inspirational leaders are prepared to take risks, they don’t get stuck in planning and research, they make decisions. They are initiators and not position conscious. They are accessible and interact with others. They are giving of their time and their skills, committed to their team’s growth and well-being. They try to create a better work environment, celebrating successes and milestones, however small. Inspiring leaders are confident and optimistic, Churchill’s ongoing mantra “….we shall never surrender” was heart felt, representative of how he felt despite the very gravest of circumstances. Confidence is contagious, being optimistic, yet realistic, draws people to the cause, encourages people to believe that their continued effort will make a difference, optimism inspires………….. how well do you inspire?

Sun Tzu was a great advocate of the power of persuasion, an important element in any sales situation. Customers buy from us to help them achieve their business objectives. Often this means that they need to be persuaded to accept new ideas or to do things differently. Sales can become complicated and confusing for the customer. Sales people can create clarity by being confident, strong and persuasive, but how?

Understand your customer’s corporate culture and their needs, be creative.

First, from the outset learn as much as possible about the customer and their company’s culture. Meet with its people, gain a good grasp of their strengths and weaknesses, of their competition, and who you might be competing against for the business. Second, determine customer goals, what is both important and unimportant. Know when to persuade and when to listen, if you are addressing too many or too few needs and when the customer might need to buy. Third, be creative to encapsulate each situation’s uniqueness, alternating between well-accepted ideas that the customer is comfortable with and new ideas that are novel and exciting. Your creativity and persuasiveness will give impact to your ideas generating interest and excitement, and any resistance will start to fade.

Outwit the competition, create advantage in the sales process.

Fourth, avoid selling where the competition is already entrenched. Uncover unexplored opportunities. Look for prospects who need your solutions and try to lock out the competition by ensuring that you are satisfying all the customer’s needs. Fifth, look to create advantages in the sale process to put your opposition at a disadvantage. Do this by identifying how the customer needs help, discover their goals and then offer irresistible solutions. Focus on needs that the customer hasn’t addressed, lead them one step at a time using your knowledge to overcome their lack of information Be clever about your intentions, don’t let customers assume they know what you have to offer. Entice your customers with your unique benefits, engage them and generate interest so that they want to learn more.

Take the lead, present flexible, strategic and well timed proposals.

Sixth, take the lead in moving the sale forward to help the customer make good decisions. Always aim to build your influence throughout the sales process, keep the prospect engaged by providing solid information to get their attention and then act. Seventh, present flexible, strategic and well timed proposals. Be flexible, use a variety of tactics, no single approach or specific timing or single proposal is always correct. Suggest different proposals, maybe something without risk or with promotional offers. Make sure your proposal is difficult to improve upon, closely meeting the customer’s key issues. Be strategic, attentive and timely, avoid presenting proposals too early to prevent the competition being able to discredit you. Create a sense of urgency, for an instance could determine your success or failure. An enticing proposal will persuade the customer to buy and for you to be able to smoothly close the sale. Learning how to be persuasive and how to create advantages will significantly help to lead to successful sales results. What have been your experiences?

My last blog discussed the idea that the corner stone of a successful sales and marketing message is being able to define what your business represents. This blog explores this further, why it is important to define not just what you do but why you believe in it, why you are passionate about it. Whether face-to-face, via marketing campaigns or in the ever growing, important, social media world, when your message expresses passion it creates attraction. If you resonate a sincere and clearly defined, compelling message people start to listen to you, and if you have something to offer which they need, they are more likely to buy from you.

2. Is there passion in your promise – does it create attraction?

Are you passionate about what you do? Is your sales message clearly defined and why is that important? Wikipedia defines passion “as an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire……” Passion is indeed intense and contagious. From experience, when I talk excitedly about what I do, showing a sincere conviction in why I do it, my enthusiasm entices people to engage, a dialogue begins and a relationship starts to develop.

3. Business is connecting with people, to engage others know what differentiates you.

Central to this for me, is that although we might be business people, first and foremost we are people. Regardless of the size of the corporation you work for, business is about connecting with people. So if via your communications you are perceived as a sincere, enthusiastic, reliable and competent person, aren’t people more likely to want to work with YOU? If our Integratis marketing message just said: ‘we are a sales training company’, the chances to engage are slight, there are many other sales training companies. By expressing enthusiasm and passion in what we do, explaining what differentiates and defines us we attract attention: “Integratis believes that people do business with people. That people can be helped to develop their skills to become more successful.” Curiosity is aroused, people want to know more, ‘how do we do this?’ A conversation starts, where we can try to find out what the listener’s needs might be and show how we could help them. I would say something like this: “we can teach your sales people how to build partnerships with their customers, how to develop a consultative, customer centric approach. Our process focuses not on selling, but on the customer’s goals and concerns. We show how to build ongoing customer relationships, how to become perceive as a preferred solution provider, a trusted partner, the person the customer thinks of first when they need help.” How would you articulate how you might be able to help someone? Our business is trying to teach people to think of the other person, to be supportive, to build relationships built on trust and in so doing help others to build success. Yes, like any other commercial venture we want to be profitable, to make money. Our success in doing do is because we have a clearly defined passion and belief in what we do, we believe in people and have well proven tools to help develop people to be better than the best. What do you believe in? Why do you do what you do? I would love to learn your thoughts.

Have you ever thought when explaining what you do, why you get little response? Most of us, most organizations, when asked what we do, explain things in a prescribed order. We explain what we do; how we do it, but rarely articulate why we do what we do. Why is this important? What type of marketing message entices you to want to learn more or even to buy something? Are you engaging and inspiring people to become your customers?

Are you able to express your purpose and belief?

Inspiring leaders and organizations are skilled in being able to clearly express their purpose and belief, why they do what they do. They are intent and passionate, such passion is infectious and compelling. By articulating the ‘why’, people are more likely listen to you, and become part of what you do, whether that be buying from you or following your cause. I would like to share what I learned on an excellent TED video, with Simon Sinek who offers great advice how to do this

Differentiate yourself, know WHY you do what you do.

Inspiring leaders, like Martin Luther King and Winston Churchill and organizations like Apple and Facebook clearly express their purpose and belief, why they do what they do. They are intent and passionate, such passion is infectious and compelling.  Apple, under Steve Job’s inspiring and much missed leadership is an excellent contemporary example of a company who differentiated themselves and captured a huge market following by communicating why they do what they do. Most marketing and sales is expressed by what we do, how we’re different and then an expectation, a purchase or a vote. If Apple followed this, their marketing message would be: WHAT do we do – we make great computers. HOW do we do it- our products are beautifully designed and simple to use. Want to buy one? Apple actually communicates like this: WHY: Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. HOW: The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. WHAT: We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?

The need to develop solid sales skills and a clearly defined sales strategy has never been more imperative than in today’s highly competitive marketplace. Most of our customers or prospects are probably already talking to, or considering, an alternative supplier to our solutions. Sales people have to be prepared to compete for EVERY piece of business they are chasing, that means not only competing against other suppliers, but also competing for the revenue that the customer might want to spend on other projects. If you’re not ready to compete – you’re not ready to sell. So it follows that we must develop our sales skills and strategy to win against the competition. Remember, the will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win.

Aim to win and then keep your customers

In the book the ‘Art of Sales’, based upon the ancient Chinese warrior, Sun Tzu’s strategic principles, there is succinct and relevant guidance to help sales people succeed by developing their selling skills and defining their strategy. In Sun Tzu’s view the secret to winning, is winning quickly and economically and learning to keep what you have won, combating the competition by finding the places where the competition is not active, becoming involved early in the customer’s buying cycle – before the competition is aware that an opportunity even exists. Tzu counsels that the ultimate victory goes to the person with the most knowledge, this means having better information than anyone else, knowing more about your customer and their industry than any of your competitors. The true consultative sales person spends more time analysing and understanding the customers’ business and less time focused on selling the feature, function, benefits of their products. The battle for the customer’s mind is won by focusing on them, not on your own products or solutions.

Sales people should think competitively.

Sun Tzu teaches that in addition to having a professional approach and adhering to a proven sales process you must also learn to think competitively. Try to focus the sales process on those customer problems that only your product and services can effectively solve. Tzu’s view is that you need to be innovative, to broaden your standard sales process so that it addresses a wider variety of your customer’s concerns. This usually means that sales people need to broaden their contact base within the customer’s organization and develop relationships with people who have the most to gain from adopting your solutions.

Sceptics might consider it surprising that an ancient warrior has any lessons to teach us about selling, especially for a modern sales person competing in today’s highly technical, rapidly changing market, a world which Tzu would probably have found impossible to envisage. Actually Tzu provides the basis for many strategic selling approaches, especially as they relate to competitive strategy. As you will have seen from my blog on Xenophon it is of great significance that another esteemed modern business guru, also claims to have learnt a great deal from the ancient world. That person, often regarded as the father of modern management and leadership principles is Peter Drucker. Drucker’s favourite book on leadership, the one that he felt was still applicable and offered the most advice for the modern business leader was ‘Kyropaidaia of Xenophon’. Xenophon was a Greek warrior who fought the Persians in the fourth century B.C.! Look for more on Xenophon and  Sun Tzu  in previous and future blogs. I believe that can both teach us a great deal, what do you think?!

Preparation and Research – to become a trusted sales partner

Determining client needs is critical to your success. Researching your client before you even meet will provide you with valuable background information. There is a comprehensive list of resources to discover much of this information. The internet, reference sources such as ‘Hoovers’, public company information like annual reports, brochures, advertisements, the press and analysts’ reports, their company’s website, their white papers or newsletters. Their social media presence, maybe they are on Facebook or Linked in. You could subscribe to their RSS Feed, follow them on Twitter, and look at any blogs they have written. These sources provide useful insight about your client’s thinking and culture, aiding your understanding of your client’s business objectives, and who is likely to own these objectives. We try to plan our account strategy based on such analysis. If appropriate we add this research information to our CRM system and update it when we meet with the customer and discover new and relevant information.