DON'T MOVE! - Face to Face selling

Face to face sales is great.  It's one of the most interesting and fun games any two human beings can play with each other.

One guy sits on one side with a product or service.  The other guy sits opposite with his money in hand.

The goal is for those two people to exchange product or service for money.  Easy enough.  But why is it so hard for some to make that exchange happen?  And why so easy for others?

Well for starters, you need to look the part.  No explanation needed here.

Then, you need to command attention while giving the prospective buyer the illusion that they are in control.  Sales 101.

Then have fun selling.  You pitch, they object, you rebut, they object, you move to the left, move to the right.  And eventually, if you're good enough, it's time to for you to make a move.

That extremely critical part is next.  You need to ask for the sale.  And if you're not currently asking for the sale, you need to find a new job.  Just an FYI.

But 99 times out of 100, when you ask for the sale, you're going to get an objection of some kind.  Sure, every once in a blue moon, you'll get an "OK let's do it," but for the most part you're going to have to work for it.

So here is my advice.

DON'T MOVE!

I'll use the sticker shock close as an example here.  Let's say you're selling a software that specifically helps restaurants streamline the ordering process.

You explained the service that you're going to provide and have told the owner that it's going to cost him $4,000 a month if he wants your top of the line package. But hey, that's for the corporate company's out there.  Since he is just a local restaurant looking to thrive in a tough economy, all he will need is your medium package at $1,000 a month.  And if executed correctly, he will see a return of $2,000 a month.

"$1,000 a month? That's outrageous! There's just no way we can afford that!"

I'm telling you, that even if the service is $5 a month, you'll get this objection half the time.  It's just the world we live in.  But don't worry.  And don't move.  Don't even respond at first.  Let him decompress.

Think about it.  How often do you go to buy something and think "hey that's cheap and a great quality product!"  Not often.  And if you do get to that mental state, it's probably because you were convinced by a salesman, family member, or friend.

OK so now you become the therapist.  Time to shut up and listen and get the contract ready.

You're about to hear about a dozen reasons why it's too expensive.  And instead of going toe to toe with this guy, you're simply going to nod, agree and let him speak.  Why?  Because you're about to get to the dozen reasons why he DOES need it.  It's a very simply psychological process.  There's a reason why the average person eases into the pool instead of jumping off the diving board.

At this point there's probably been about 10 different opportunities for you to shake this guys hand, tell him you'll follow up next week and slash your chances of actually getting this sale.

But DON'T MOVE.

Just sit there and let him talk himself into it.  Your job is almost done.  Now the buyer just needs to sell himself.  That sometimes takes a while.  It also sometimes takes a little pressure.  No fear.  You don't have to say a word.  Just stay there.  Miss your next appointment if you have to.  But you can't leave no matter how awkward the situation gets.

Then finally, once everything has been said and done, and all the cards are on the table, you need to once again ask for the order.  You by no means will always get it.  But you're in a way better place than you were 10 minutes ago when $1,000 sounded like a million.  What if you would have left then?  The owner goes to the manager and says "psshhh, he wanted a grand for this system...he'll probably pop back in next week..tell him I'm not interested."

But you stayed.  You're forcing the thought process that must happen for a potential sale to get done.

Now you're in a position where the value has sunk in, the buyer hasn't kicked you out, and you just heard exactly why he needs what you have.  Plus you listened to his problems.  You didn't talk over him, go toe to toe, or tell him that you'll give a discount.  You simply let the buyer decompress, and now he is at the point where an emotional high is about to set in as he hopefully purchases your product or service.

All because you didn't move.

Never ever leave a sales call before you are told to by the prospect.

When you walk in, sit down, take out your materials, and stay put.

You will absolutely sell more by implementing this tactic into your sales calls.  And as a by-product, you'll also close a lot more doors a lot quicker so that you can move on to the next potential buyer.

Good luck!

David Altimari
"You become what you think about all day"

We Treat our Sales Reps like Philly Sports Teams

So the Phillies, Eagles, Sixers and Flyers are just about as annoying as can be.  Why?  Because they are all either mediocre or striving to be mediocre.

So are the majority of sales reps.  And sales reps are viewed exactly like a Philly sports team.

"What have you done for me lately?" and the blue collar work ethic must be there.

Some company's have weekly goals, some bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.  But does it matter if you hit your weekly goal for the first 10 weeks and then miss it the next 3 weeks?  Sure, you might be given the slightest bit of slack, but in the end it doesn't matter at all.  As a sales rep, your job is to sell and to sell consistently.  And it is definitely one of the hardest things to do.  Think about the obstacles holding a sales rep back from selling every single week.  They are endless.  But it doesn't matter to upper management or ownership how good last week was.  It ALWAYS matters how good this week is.

Side-note - That should be all that matters to you as well.

Getting realistic pipeline projections from sales reps is tough. If it went the way they tell you, every rep would have 3-5 sales a week and every company on earth would be rockin and rollin.  But unfortunately, nothing is going to tell more of the truth than the numbers and the effort exerted on a daily basis.

So here is the harsh reality of a sales rep.  You will always be treated by what you just closed or didn't close.  Not what you plan on doing or what you did last week.  It's the deal you JUST signed at all times.  And that's how it should be.  The hungry ones will never stop because the money and recognition just pours in nonstop and it's an incredible feeling.

I mean think about it.  Why are we so hard on our Philly sports teams?  I'll tell you why.  We pay outrageous cable bills to watch them, pay $100 for our favorite jersey, and pay hundreds of dollars to sit in the nosebleeds at the Eagles games.  Guess how we get that money?  By working our butts off.  So to give it to an already rich organization is painful enough, but to do it and then see a poor product on the field is even worse!

Same for business owners.  You get a salary, benefits, a commission plan and the tools to sell a product.  If you can't do it week in and week out, why is a business owner paying to see you in the office every day?  That's why management is relentless with sales reps and constantly treats them like our good ol' Philly sports teams.  Because it's not about tomorrow or last week.  It's always about today.

Dave Altimari
"You become what you think about all day"

The Arranged Marriage of Sales and Customer Support - The Divorce Rate is High

There is a lot that goes on when a sale is made.  Depending on the caliber of the salesperson, things are about to get either very messy for customer support or a nice smooth transition which leads to a happy customer.  Typically customer support complains about sales and vice versa and it is a never ending battle of "They just don't understand what it's like on this side."  And for the most part that is true on both ends.

No matter what you're selling, there is usually some sort of fulfillment that must happen after the sale is made.  That is most of the time done by customer support after sales has collected the information needed to process the sale and get the account rolling.

So let's look at it from the organized salespersons approach first.  The hand-off from the organized sales person is usually pretty easy.  You hand over the required information that you were supposed to collect, fill in customer support on the expectations that you set for the client and your job is done (for the most part).  If you do this correctly even 7 out of 10 times you will have customer support behind you as a salesperson.  This means your issues will be handled properly, timely, and usually the support person will go above and beyond to satisfy that client.  This is a marriage made in heaven and the client will most likely have a great experience with the company because what they were sold, they received.

And then there is the situation when an unorganized salesperson sells something.  And even worse, when they rushed it.  All hell breaks lose.  If you're an outsider looking in, the situation is quite comedic.  You'll hear things like "Jim just closed one....can't wait to see what kind of crap he told this guy that we can't fulfill" or my favorite "let's see how much of his job I have to do on this one."  Usually the first couple of times it happens, there will be mild rumblings from the support team.  Maybe they'll poke management and mention it to them.  But for the most part, it's just dealt with.  BUT then there is that truly magical moment when the support person completely loses it.  It just happened for maybe the 3rd time in a week and they've had enough.  And it begins.  "Why would you sell it like this?  We can't fulfill that in the time-frame you promised.  We don't even have that feature! Forget it, YOU'RE talking to this guy!"

The battle has begun!

In my opinion, this is the biggest recipe for disaster that a company can have if they have any interest in client retention.  Sales and Support battling will ruin office moral, cause mini battles within a company, and cause favoritism all over the place.  It just leads to nowhere good.

I have found that even if a support person is having a bad day, or you know you screwed something up that you have to hand-off, the best thing to do is be nice.  Don't rush anything.  Don't assume anything.  Simply talk to support and treat them like the client you just sold.  If you help them initially, they will help you fulfill the length of the contract, help with getting referrals, and make your book of business the one everyone wants.  There is a ton of things that can go wrong when a sale is passed along to support BUT if communication is there, and you simply have manners and don't treat them like dirt, you'll have an incredible experience.  These guys have one of the toughest jobs around.  They are basically the complaint department and they smile the whole time.  I could never do it.  Hats off to them.

Those that support a sales staff have a lot going on.  Be the salesperson that sticks out, stays on their side and helps them help your clients.  Otherwise, you will get the bare minimum treatment (which is totally acceptable in my opinion) and your clients won't get what you promised.  Which most likely, was the world.

Go thank your sales support team tomorrow and see how they react.  Oh and don't ask them "did you get to that email yet?" because I promise you this.  They saw it, they are going to tackle it and they are thinking of a way better solution than you.  Just go sell another one and they will have your back.

Dave Altimari
"You become what you think about all day"