Posts Tagged ‘sales techniques’

How the Jaguar salesman missed a sale

Friday, May 20th, 2011

How the Jaguar salesman missed a sale, by ignoring one of the basics of good selling. Get to know your customer first, before you try and be all clever and sell to them. Remember the old adage LISTEN FIRST, TALK SECOND.

This is of course a true story – one I heard from a client. Jaguar sales story

A business man went to look at the Jaguar XF in the showroom. He went with his father, who had recently bought a top of the range Jaguar XJ from the same dealership. He was happy with his purchase so persuaded his son to try Jaguar.   

They went out on the test drive which was by all accounts an interesting experience. The young salesman was keen to demonstrate how fast it was – WHOOSH ! And how quickly it accelerated, and generally how powerful it was. All sounds fantastic doesn’t it? Just the ideal type of car any young business man might want. Probably just the type of car the salesman likes to drive.

Only problem is, he isn’t the customer is he? At the end of the test drive, the older, wiser father, the one with the XJ put one simple question to the salesman. “Do you know what he does for a living ?” he asked referring to his son” “No”, the salesman replied, looking a little quizzical. “He’s an accountant” said the prospective customer’s father. It seems he’s much more interested in mpg than mph.

And that was it, the car wasn’t bought. The point is the salesman forgot the very basics of getting to know his customer first and it probably cost him a sale. And some commission.

It is really important to get to know your customer and work out what makes them tick. What is important to them? What are they looking for from your product or service? What do they use at the moment? Who supplies them and why?  These are all crucial things to know and will tell you all the key things you need to know in order to sell to them.

IGNORE THIS AT YOUR PERIL. You have been warned!

To Market runs telephone sales and telemarketing training courses across the East Midlands, Peterborough, Cambridge, Leicester, Northampton, Derby, Nottingham, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Coventry, Birmingham, Lichfield, Solihull, Peterborough, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, Milton Keynes, Lincoln, East Midlands as well as wider parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Buckinghamshire, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire

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Posted in Car dealerships, Field sales training, retail sales, sales development training, Selling advice | No Comments »

Benefit selling on the phone

Friday, February 18th, 2011

Benefit selling on the phone is really important. You only have 4 seconds to make that impact, and at that point the customer or client will decide whether to mentally switch off from what they were doing and ‘engage’ with you.

So you have to make it sound attractive.

Benefit selling on the telephone is key to effective selling

Benefit selling on the phone - Master it - for better results

Make your call stand out from the crowd. Make them want to sit up and pay attention. Talk specifics where you can. Inane phrases such as “we’re one of the leading suppliers in the UK of ‘blah-blah’” doesn’t cut it any more. Anyone can say that and many do. However saying we supply 40 of the FTSE Top 100 companies would make me sit up and take notice. So would “we are the only company in the UK who offers a full 5 year warranty on our products” as would “we are the second largest company in the UK who ……”

Work on identifying what makes your company or products stand out from the crowd. Then nail it. Say it frequently and often (is that the same thing?!)

That’s the reason special offers and campaigns work. There is a benefit from buying it from me today!

Also use evocative adjectives to describe your products. Words like New, extended the range of, improved, now come with ……… and even ‘exciting’ if you feel comfortable using it are all words that will motivate the customer to want to listen. And if you achieve that, you’re half way there. The best of luck.

To Market runs a range of telephone sales courses all across the Midlands : Birmingham, Leicester, Coventry, Derby, Nottingham, Northampton, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Coalville, Milton Keynes covering this subject and a range of communications skills topics. Find our more here http://www.tomarket.co.uk/courses.php

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Posted in Cold calling, communication skills, sales development training, Selling advice, telemarketing, Telemarketing management, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales team assessment, telesales team management, Telesales tips | 1 Comment »

Why do sales people fail to close ?

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

Why do sales people fail to close ? This is a question we spotted on a forum recently and it is an interesting question. With over 140 responses so far it has clearly got the juices going.

The key reason why sales people don’t close effectively is out of fear. They either don’t ask the question at all, or ask it at the wrong time.

Closing the sale - is all about overcoming the fear of rejection

Closing the sale - is all about overcoming the fear of rejection

For a sales person to close at the right time, all they need to do is understand where they are in the process and trust themselves and the process.

As a rule of thumb it is a good idea to open the prospect up by asking them some open questions (so that’s your 7 ‘W’s.) Then just listen attentively and pick up on both what they are saying and how they’re saying it. This will allow you to decide which aspects of your product or service are most relevant to them. You support this with some benefit statements explaining clearly and concisely why this is what they need – and then you watch for buying signals. Once you get a buying signal, the close should be the natural and logical next step.

And it should be remembered that the close is simply a question that’s all. No great drama, it’s just a closed question.

 If they decline at this stage you merely go back to asking questions to uncover more about their needs. To ask the question at the wrong time means you’ve not used the above process accurately enough.

Finally, remember that “everyone lives by selling something” so there should be no great shame attached to going for the close.

Like most things be relaxed, remember you’re a human, relate to them as a human and the close and successful selling should become a natural ‘next step.’

To Market offers telephone sales training, telesales training, telemarketing training for companies across the Midlands ; Leicester, Northampton, Kettering, Wellingborough, Coventry, Birmingham, Daventry, Melton Mowbray, Cambridge, Newmarket, Warwick, Stratford on Avon, Leamington Spa, Loughborough, Nottingham, Derby, Solihull, Lichfield, and wider parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Suffolk plus the East and West Midlands

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Posted in Field sales training, sales development training, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales, telesales team management, Telesales tips | No Comments »

New sales course with partial funding from Train to Gain

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Good news is that there is a new sales course with partial funding available through Train to Gain.

 

To Market is now able to off you a one day course entitled the

 

            21 things you need to know to sell more products to more customers

 

You can commission us to run this course in-house on your premises, or if you have less than 6 people for training why not join us at one of our open courses ?

 

For anyone new to selling, or someone just in need of a brush-up on technique with some top tips on selling skills and sales techniques this course is for you.

 

During the day we cover ;

§         Identifying needs

§         Getting past gatekeepers

§         Benefit selling

§         Questioning skills

§         Expression, energy, emphasis in the human voice

§         Opening the sales call

§         Dealing with objections

§         Call wrap-up

§         Getting commitment

 

Provided you are a SME (small to medium sized business) and you are the owner, a director or a senior manager within your organisation, and you undergo the training yourself, then there is funding available for this course through Train to Gain which means you get this one day course for up to 6 people for just £500. The normal fee is £1,500. So yes the government (bless them) will put £1,000 into training for you and your team.

 

What do you reckon ?

 

For more details and to register your interest just e-mail us at info@tomarket.co.uk and we’ll get the ball rolling for you.   

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Posted in communication skills, Field sales training, Funded training, Getting past gatekeepers, Overcoming objections, partially funded training, sales development training, Train to Gain funding | No Comments »

Handling sales objections – you’ve heard it all before

Friday, February 6th, 2009

One of the things that is most challenging about any form of telemarketing, telesales or sales job is dealing with those (pesky) objections.

 

Wouldn’t selling be easy if people simply agreed to all the wonderful things you put to them ? But they won’t and they never will ! And I also think that ironically selling would become less interesting and less stimulating if people agreed all the time ! After all that would remove the challenge wouldn’t it ?!

 

So get geared up, and get ready for them. I believe that once you’ve been in a job for 3 months or so, you’ve probably heard 95-99% of all the objections you’ll ever hear.

 

 

So find out answers, write things down, listen to how others deal with the same objections.

 

I can probably guess what 8 of the top 10 will be in any case. We’ve all heard them before. The words may change from industry to industry, but the essence is the same. We have an audio CD available on this subject, click this link to go straight to it.

http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=22

 

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Posted in communication skills, Field sales training, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales | No Comments »

How to get your field based sales team into the office making calls

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

Does this sound familiar ?

Business is quieter, your sales team don’t have so much to do (and yet there’s more to do). They need to be more proactive and stimulate the market, it won’t come to you.

Not only this of course, but also in tandem a need to keep a lid on costs and having the team in the office allows them to use their time more effectively than simply driving around, adding miles, fuel bills and killing polar bears.

Often though the sales team isn’t particularly motivated to want to do this, and this might partly be because they’re not that good at it. If you can identify with this, please read on.

 

We are currently offering a short, sharp one day course aimed at sales people who are making customer calls from the office. This can be held on your premises (or somewhere of your choosing) and so it can be flexible in terms of content, timings and number of delegates.

It is fully interactive and is designed to be stimulating and fun. It will be based around your requirements, but typically a course may cover such topics as ;

  • Listening skills
  • Questioning skills
  • Directing the conversation
  • Getting past the gatekeeper
  • Call planning (OPTs are opportunities – Objectives, Preparation, Timeliness, Success)
  • Successful call openings
  • Identification of needs
  • Call wrap up

If this is of interest simply e-mail us info@tomarket.co.uk. We will then send out a more detailed course schedule via e-mail. We will then follow it up by phone of course. We like to practice what we preach !

This course offers you a number of benefits ;

  • Gives support to a key part of your business process. It is people who make things happen.
  • To add to their skills in an area where they may not feel especially confident.
  • To help them get more motivated.
  • Signals a company commitment to them and their role. Many sales people are finding selling less fun at the moment (and maybe feeling a bit unloved !)

Let’s get busy ! 

We have telephone sales training courses for field sales coming up in Leicester, Northampton, Derby, Nottingham, Birmingham, Coventry, Kettering, Corby, Loughborough, Coalville, Solihull and Lichfield.

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Posted in communication skills, Field sales training, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales | No Comments »