A Roadmap to Sales Success

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“What are the day to day events and experiences that prompt them to consider the problem? The more intense the experience, the more significant the need becomes, and the more likely it is that he/she will consider satisfying the need.” - - Richard Arundel
Vol. 1 No. 4 December, 2003		Feel free to pass this along if it can help others.
SPECIAL OFFERING!!! For help with sales issues: see "Ask your Sales Partner”. Submit your questions to info@salestraininginc.com . All Questions will be answered via e-mail. However, if your question is selected to be answered in next month's newsletter, you will receive a FREE 1-hour consulting session!!!		Ask your Sales Partner: Mike asks: “In trying to determine customer needs, what are some good questions to ask to get a prospect to start talking?” SP: Mike, a good source is “Quality Questions to Understand Your Customer's Needs” by Keith Abraham. It's available on our website at: http://www.salespartnersinc.com

About the “Roadmap …”

Each issue of the “Roadmap to Sales Success” will contain items of interest to the business (especially the sales) community.

In addition, each issue will also feature one in a series of “progressive” articles to help you through the “Sales Cycle.” Following is the schedule:

No. 1	-	“The Importance of Sales/Salespeople”
No. 2	-	“Understanding Your Offering/Your Market”
No. 3	-	“Reaching Your Decision - Makers”
No. 4	-	“Things to Say When You Do Make Contact”
No. 5	-	“Offering Your Offering - in the Best Light”
No. 6	-	“Handling Obstacles/Objections/Concerns”
No. 7	-	“Closing a Sale”
No. 8	-	“Cultivating Lasting Relationships”
No. 9	-	“Networking for Results”
No. 10	-	“Importance/Use of a Customer Data Base”

This Month’s Sales Tips …

“A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something.” - - Wilson Mizner

"If we would have new knowledge, we must get a whole world of new questions.” - - Suzanne K. Langer

“When in doubt, ask the customer.” - - Joyce's Law #18

Upcoming Events involving Sales Partners:

01/08/2004	-	Raleigh Chamber Central AM Network Panel
01/09/2004	-	Cary Chamber Advisory Committee
01/26/2004	-	Wake Tech Sales Class Starts
01/29/2004	-	Wake Tech Cust Svce Class Starts

Please see:
http://www.salespartnersinc.com for details

Things to say when you do make contact - - Vol. 1 No. 4 - - December 1, 2003

“The beginning is the most important part of any work…” - - Plato (The Republic)

When we (salespeople) make contact with a prospect, our human nature drives us to tell that person everything about our offerings and how those are going to provide value. This is wrong, of course. Would you throw a parachute to a drowning person - before you realized he was drowning and not falling? I would surely hope not!

In that same (figurative) context, we must first identify just what are the prospect's problems – before we propose a possible solution. Even if we are CERTAIN that we know the answer beforehand, we must get the prospective customer talking about his/her “pains.” This may seem like a waste of time, but it will ensure our credibility, the mutuality of our understanding, and help make the “close” a lot easier – for both parties.

“Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.” - - Samuel Johnson

Our Approach:

In order to get someone to openly and honestly describe their challenges/issues, we must first spend time building an element of trust in ourselves and in our willingness and ability to be of help.

One way to do this is by “building rapport” - to create/demonstrate a mutuality of interests. The very best/most successful sales people not only have a strong ego drive to achieve something, they also have a tremendous ability to empathize with their customers.

Building rapport may require many months of time in some cultures/geographies, just a few minutes in others. You'll need to work on your local knowledge to decide.

Since we may be speaking with this person as a result of our “networking” approach – see Newsletter No. 3 - the first thing we'll want to do is ensure that the reason he/she agreed to talk with us is still valid.

After this has been confirmed, or a new reason agreed upon, we can demonstrate our interest (and our expertise) by asking questions. That's right! Asking intelligent questions shows prospects that we know what we're talking about – more so, in fact, than by telling them (anything.) Here's an interesting little test for salespeople: can you close a sale WITHOUT making a declarative statement? By only asking questions? If so, my hat's off to you; you are a pro.

“… few prospects will give you the time to answer your questions unless they're already interested in your product.” - - Dave Donelson, President, Enterprise Learning Center

You might start out by saying, “In order for us to make the best use of our time together today, would you mind answering a few questions?”

Questions may consist of:

Some “small talk” to get the other person comfortable about speaking with us
General, “open-ended” questions that relate to their circumstances and to problems that our offerings might solve – “Tell me about…”, “Describe...”, etc.
Then more specific, “closed-ended” questions to determine if a void exists that our offering can fill
Each time the prospective customer describes a need, we will want to confirm the reality of it - by asking - to demonstrate to them that we understand their issue (empathize)
Only after the prospect has CONFIRMED one or more needs that require our solutions is it (finally) safe to put our offering on the table – more of that will be described in Newsletter No. 5

At some point, we will also need to know if this person also has a desire to satisfy their need(s), the ability to make a buying decision, and the FUNDING. (If not, we perhaps shouldn't have gotten this far with him/her.)

“The job is to ask questions – it always was – and to ask them as inexorably as I can.” - - Arthur Miller

Next issue:

Be on the lookout for next issue of “Roadmap …” where the topic will be: “Offering Your Offering - in the Best Light”

Until then, Good Selling!!


Helpful Hints this month: Need help putting together the pieces of the Public Relations puzzle? Please see: http://www.sa-pr.com/ Like to have a website that actually does something to help your business? Please see: http://www.webdesignstudio.com/ Looking for the highest level of competencies in professional certification/licensure? Look to: http://www.castleworldwide.com/ And, of course, to improve your sales situation, please see: SALES TRAINING, INC. ^SM http://www.salespartnersinc.com/		Ask your Sales Partner: (Bonus Question) Mike (again) asks: "Is there a ‘formula' that will cover all selling situations?” SP: Yes. The ‘formula' is: V = IP, where: V - the number of Variables in Sales equals: I - the number of Interactions you have times: P - the number of People you interact with Every situation is “situational”, Mike! Submit your question/comments to: info@salestraininginc.com Subscribe to the “Roadmap …”