Nicholas Bate

It's Out Soon...

My new sales book is out in September.

Buy it if you want a handy primer for you and/or your team on all you need to know about selling.

Don't buy it if you already have my 'How to Sell & Market In A Recession' as it's an evolution of that book and based upon around 90% of the material.

 

How To Get More Business

 

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Sales Primer 14

1. Never talk cost, price nor discount. Only value.
2. Explain value in terms of how it makes life better, easier or more profitable for the client.
3. Always quantify value.E.g.  34 years of collective experience in the industry.
4. An objection is simply your next objective to resolve.
5. Never leave a conversation without agreeing the next stage.
6. Re-vamp your pitches so you talk more about them and less about you.
7. Re-vamp your cold calls so your objective is not to sell, simply to get a meeting.
8. Selling and negotiation are different. Sell, then start talking about what you might get in return for some discount.
9. Selling and marketing are different. Marketing brings them to you, you then bring in the sale.
10. Include training in every sales meeting.
11. Ask your salespeople to deliver to forecast, it means they are on top of their work.
12. Read Selling Without Tears.
13. Read Brilliant at the Basics of Business.
14. Go home on time.

Price 7

1. Price isn't just cost+margin=price. Price is psychology: of positioning, of perception and of market penetration.
2. Selling and negotiation are two separate stages. Sell first. Then start negotiating.
3. Quantify every benefit you can. The reason prospects keep coming back to price is they can measure and compare it so easily. 
4. Do the calculations when you give discount. 5% discount may well be 10% of your profit.
5. Look at your mix. Maybe one or two products can be premium-priced in the overall mix.
6. Can you look the prospect in the eye, smile and defend your price with ease?
7. Go look at your price list now. Adjust it to make yourself some money in just 10 minutes.

Two Power Sales Questions

Don't move more than an inch (that's 2.54 cm euro) away from the sale without asking two questions:

1. So what? Don't talk features, talk benefits. Why is what you are telling them important? You're an international company? So what? You now have a Facebook link. So what? Never assume: explain.
2. What's next? There's always a next step. Book another meeting? Do a proposal? Do a follow-up call? And when you have won the business your next step is to ensure they are delighted.

Just THREE THINGS For The Monday Morning 0830 Sales Meeting

 

14 Ways To Get The Sales Team Achieving More

1. Spend time with them re-focusing on what the objectives are. In particular the balance between revenue, margin, hunting and farming.
2. Identify the top objections which cause problems and how to resolve them.
3. Ensure everyone in the team has a bigger picture than just the numbers that they are aiming for. Bonuses do motivate but personal career goals inspire.
4. Set up a matrix for 1:1 coaching.
5. Start coaching everyone in the team.
6. Re-build the value of the team meeting.
7. Catch people doing things right and celebrate success.
8. Review and learn from failures
9. Use the power of the team to do some things collectively e.g. cold-calling blitz.
10. Make it be known you are looking for and want to train your potential successors.
11. Get out on sales calls and see what's actually happening.
12. Get them to understand closing is something which happens all of the time.
13. Ask each of them to start the day with a plan, listed by priority pay-off.
14. Every team meeting: spend 10 minutes on core basics e.g. open vs. closed questions.

Bonus 1: Selling Without Tears (free PDF)

Bonus 2: Selling In A Recession.

Marketing Sophistication Alone Is Not Enough

The world of marketing is increasingly sophisticated. There are an abundance of models on which to base your strategies from traditional Kotler 4Ps and Porter's Value Chain to digital and social media methodologies which allow you to talk to THE individual you seek.

However it's still important to ensure that selling is built into the mix. For some small and/or less sophisticated and/or high trust firms the whole process can be completed without the need for a person. But for a significant number of us from consultants to book-shop owners marketing will only get the prospect to our door and then selling needs to happen, and the need to switch from what might have been an orderly hi-tech approach to now a subtle hi-touch approach. 

Attention must be given to that messy, less orderly, people-rich selling process otherwise the marketing investment is wasted. Maybe even damaged.