How do I deal with client objections?

By / / Communication, Customer Service, Negotiation, Sales Skills

Many sales people will tell you one of the biggest worries in sales, besides prospecting, is dealing with customer objections. Its true many people do not like dealing with objections or conflict, however, it is also true that many people unintentionally create objections and conflict by not understanding a customer’s real needs or priorities and failing to find common ground.

In my opinion ‘overcoming objections’ is often blown out of proportion in terms of the issue it claims to be. Too much time and attention is spent on objections in sales meetings and sales …

How do I deal with client objections? Read Post »

Lead the way

By / / Communication, Sales Culture, Sales Leadership

In December 2009 we published The 12 Sales Trends of 2010 and invited readers to vote on what they thought are the most important trends in sales. Thank you to everyone who shared their views and voted. Each month we will explore one of the trends in more detail, starting with the trend voted as most important, Lead the Way. As voted by you, here are the sales trends for 2010 in order of importance:

1. Lead the Way
2. Everybody lives by selling something
3. Back to Basics
4. Social Sales
5. …

Lead the way Read Post »

Why do we ask questions?

By / / Communication, Sales Skills

Building on my article ‘Where is my inner six year old when I need them?‘ using effective questioning techniques is one of the most significant key differentiators between a person with good sales skills and a person with outstanding sales skills. However, many sales people find this the most challenging aspect of the sales process.

Questions are used to not only assist you with gathering information about the customer i.e. their needs, situation, issues and priorities but also, when used effectively, assist the customer with coming to a …

Why do we ask questions? Read Post »

What makes customers unhappy?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Communication, Customer Service

What’s happened to having a pleasant, hassle free customer experience in this country? We are hearing more and more war stories from customers. Some go to buy something and are met with whinging, whiny staff or others return to a supplier (retailer or B2B) with a query, return, or problem to be resolved to be met by resistance, apathy, excuses, and, worst of all, customers being informed of their lack of understanding about how the company in question works.

I mean, do we really expect our customers to be fully aware of and understand the following:

  • The reasons why we haven’t …

What makes customers unhappy? Read Post »

What does Fidelity have to do with selling?

By / / Ethics & Values

The virtue of Fidelity is often associated with personal relationships, in particular, marriage. However, I would like to propose that we consciously extend this virtue to all aspects of our lives, including the functions of sales and service.

Why?

Because fulfilling our obligations and keeping our promises are critical to attracting and especially retaining customers. The way in which we keep our promises and fulfil our obligations (or not) has a dramatic impact on our reputation, brand, and ongoing viability as a business.

First let’s take a look at what ‘fidelity’ actually means (source www.dictionary.com):

  • Fidelity: 1494, from M.Fr. …

What does Fidelity have to do with selling? Read Post »

Where is your inner six year old when you need them?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Call Reluctance, Life Skills, Sales Skills

One of the biggest issues for sales people is knowing the right questions to ask customers.

In our experience many people complain of not knowing how to structure questions, or knowing what type to ask and when to ask them. In fact, we have found that many people are often caught wanting in the questioning department and suffer from what we call ‘amnesia questionitis’.

Why is this so? Why are so many people paralysed when it comes to the vital skill of questioning?

If you have been around any children aged from 3-6 years old you will know that they do not suffer …

Where is your inner six year old when you need them? Read Post »

Do you have the sales force your strategy needs in 2010?

By / / Sales Consulting, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Excellence Acadamy, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Strategy, Strategy

The other week I ran a webinar for SmartCompany.com.au on “How to clearly manage and measure your sales team”. During the webinar I was asked many questions, one of which came from a senior sales leader, “With some time to reflect over the Christmas break, what is the one thing I should focus on getting right for my business?”

Given that business as usual is not ‘usual’ anymore, I suggested the following:

1. Review your business and sales strategy

  • Do you have the right strategy in place?
  • What has changed over the last 12 months
  • How has your client mix changed? i.e. …

Do you have the sales force your strategy needs in 2010? Read Post »

Is Call Reluctance® choking your sales effort?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Call Reluctance, Coaching, Prospecting, Sales Coaching, Sales Psychology, Sales Results, Sales Skills, Sales Tips, Self Promotion

Whether we are working for a private or public company, a “not for profit” or government institution, all of us are in some way competing for access to a revenue source to fund our existence.

How capable people are to take on the responsibility for improving the revenue line of a company is a hot topic in today’s competitive market.

Research shows that no longer can companies and their people rely on their technical competence, passive referrals, reputation, brand or blanket advertising to bring in new business and revenue streams as they may have done in the past. They also need to …

Is Call Reluctance® choking your sales effort? Read Post »

Do you have difficult clients or are they just different?

By / / Communication, Customer Service, Emotional Intelligence, Mindful selling, Sales Relationships, Sales Skills

Style adaptability is where a person can read another person’s preferred communication style and adjusts their own communication style to that of the other person, thus making shared communication and understanding easier. It is imperative to the principle of exchange and critical to any sales role, yet it is often one of the most poorly executed skills.

Time after time we come across teams of sales people who have no conscious idea about how to adapt their style to that of another. Instead when they come across differences, communication usually breaks down and they will speak about the …

Do you have difficult clients or are they just different? Read Post »

What’s the right incentive scheme for my sales team?

By / / Performance Management, Sales Excellence Acadamy, Sales Leadership, Sales Motivation & Rewards, Sales Talent

Of all questions, this is the one that remains on the minds of sales leaders and executive teams. It is often the cause of more debate and angst than any other question in a business.

People search for the golden answer, however their quest will not deliver a definitive one because it all depends on what you want to achieve.

The current wisdom is that while there are ‘best practice’ frameworks for creating the ideal sales compensation or incentive scheme, it is not a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

While Remuneration Surveys can provide some pointers, they are not a reliable or accurate …

What’s the right incentive scheme for my sales team? Read Post »

Scroll to Top