The Selling Newsletter
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SALES QUOTE
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
– Napoleon Bonaparte
It’s a tough economy. Now is the time to use every strategic tool that’s in your sales tool kit.This may not happen often, but if it does, at least you’ll be ready. When customers complain about your competition, make sure you let them elaborate and express as much dissatisfaction as they can. Even if you understand the situation, don’t try to end your customer’s complaint. The more a customer talks about the dissatisfaction, the worse he will feel.Pain is good—for you as the salesperson. Dissatisfaction is a powerful motivator for customers to do something about the pain. If I hear a customer complaining, my facial expressions reflect my customer’s discomfort. When they think they’re done talking, I’ll say, “That’s unfortunate.” I’ll even add, “Tell me more.” I want to maximize my competition’s mistake. So don’t interrupt an unhappy customer, especially when he’s talking about your competition. If you did interrupt, it would be your mistake.
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THE BLOG S AND OTHER COLUMNS
I’m now writing The Real Deal, a column on women in business for Allbusiness.com
Here’s a recent column:
Why You have to Be Careful if You’re a Star
Do you think it’s easy being a star at work? If you have all the technical talent, people skills and IQ points bursting out of your brain, do you think your corporate ladder climb will be like a rocket, straight to the top? You may think so. I disagree. Here’s why.
I’m also a Sales Coach for Allbusiness.com
Here’s a recent column:
My Bad
What happens when you make a mistake? You won’t be the first salesperson that does something you regretted later. It doesn’t have to be the end of the world. Here’s how to make lemonade out of lemons. If you want to read more
I’m now a guest columnist for the Dallas Business Journal. My column is called “Customer Connections.” I’ll be answering readers’ questions about selling. Do you have any selling questions? Send them to info@bestatselling.com
What’s sales tip has helped you be even more successful in sales?
Send your helpful tip to tip@bestatselling.com
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The Selling Ideas for this Month
Bull’s Eye
What if you could sell more if you sold to fewer customers? You can. You’re better off long term if you find the best few customers for you to focus your energy on.Think it’s hard to find them? It’s easier than you think.
Why targeting is a good idea. Bill Peterson is president of Peterson Strategy Group, Inc., an Austin, Texas based marketing and sales strategy firm. He has significant experience creating actionable marketing and sales strategies for Fortune 100 corporations, having honed his skills at Bain and McKinsey consulting groups.Targeting is the selection from all possible potential customers those who are most likely to need and want to buy what you’re selling. Peterson points out that it’s not enough to go after an attractive market or one that is large, profitable, growing rapidly or is prestigious. You need a competitive advantage. He says, “Consider the aviation industry. Southwest Airlines built a business model based on low cost, low frills, point-to-point service. It’s the alternative to driving or taking a bus. The other airlines that were hurt by Southwest copied their tactics, but they were ill prepared to compete with a high cost structure.” They tried to move in without a competitive advantage and they were unsuccessful. Targeting works because Peterson says, “If you offer a little of everything to everyone you’re vulnerable to a competitor who is more focused on a customer. Why would customers buy from a generalist when they can buy from a specialist who focuses on them?”
How to do it. You start to target by answering the question “What do you have that your customers want that they can’t get anywhere else?” The answer might be right before you.Peterson’s strategy is a substitute for formal market research that gets to 90% of the benefits of a study with far less cost. He recommends a win/loss analysis of previous sales. He says, “Recent results are the best indicators of future success.” To do the analysis he sits down with the salespeople and looks at 20 to 100 of their last sales, both won and lost. He characterizes the sales by looking at specific dimensions that are relevant to the sale. Dimensions could be the size of the customer, who was the decision maker, who was competition, what was the budget, was it a low risk decision, or were there existing relationships. He creates a grid and evaluates each dimension for each won or lost sale. He scores each dimension using a circle that gets filled in quadrants. For example, one dimension could be demonstrated expertise. Where his client demonstrated considerable expertise in a sale the circle was entirely filled. In another sale where his client demonstrated far less expertise, only a quarter of the circle was filled. He says you’ll begin to see a pattern in the grid. One customer realized that in the deals they won they were working with deals that were under $1MM. As a result they changed their targets to focus on getting smaller deals rather than focusing on the larger deals. Peterson says, “If you look at the analysis and find that there’s a certain kind of deal you normally lose, unless you’re going to do radically different things, how can you expect to get different results?”
What makes it hard. Peterson says it’s ironic that the more narrowly you define your target market the fewer the prospects you’ll have, but the greater the chance of selling to those targets is. Before limiting his target market, Peterson’s client would drop everything and focus on the big prospects that came his way. He would end up losing the smaller prospects he could have closed. He missed opportunities to develop success stories and increase clout with trade journals and suppliers in his industry. His strategy changed to focus on the smaller sized accounts with the expectation that with increased credibility in the marketplace in the long term his company would be better positioned to sell to the larger companies.
It’s your choice. Do you want to be great in one market or pretty good in many markets? Pretty good will get you some sales. Great will get you easy sales. If easier selling is your target, now you know how to hit the bull’s eye.
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Action Items
1. Who are your ideal customers? Look at recent sales, define your customer criteria and determine your best prospects to reach.
2. Which prospects are you presently pursuing that are NOT a good fit for your business? What are you going to do about it?
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Programs
What: Power Persuasion: Unleash Your Influence Skills
When: May 15
8.30 AM- 11:30 AM
Where: TEXO-The Construction Association
11111 Stemmons Freeway, Dallas
For More Information: $249 non TEXO members
972-647-0697
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What: Master Selling Series
When: June 5, 12, 19, 26
11.30 AM- 1:30 PM
Where: Small Business Development Center
4800 West Park Blvd.
Plano, TX
For more information: 972-985-3749 or
972-985-3758
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Here are some selling tools to help you sell more now. Click on the photo to find out more!
Sales Quotes: A book that has quick ideas for you to be more successful in sales.
Real-World Selling: A book with selling skills and strategies that work in the real world of sales.
Secrets of Persuasion: Audio CD for the clues to use to speed-read people and close more business.