Occasionally, buyers skip the Fear step altogether. In fact, this is the only step of the buy-learning process that may not occur. If your customer is fearless, it’s time to celebrate! Very likely you will proceed directly from the sales presentation into a negotiation of terms. However, today most customers have more fear about buying, … Read full article
When doing your competitive analysis, be sure to include criteria that reflect the requirements of all decision makers on the Complex Buying Team—operational requirements of interest to users; compatibility information of interest to the Integrator; purchase price and full lifecycle costs for the ROI Authority, and so on.
In professional selling, you can lose credibility when you present a capability that the customer doesn’t need. So the simple answer at this step of the buying process is to first discuss the problems your capability solves. If the customer is unconcerned about some types of problems, you can then adjust your sales process to … Read full article
Winning a complex sale is difficult. Complex sales are bigger-ticket sales, and because your competition wants them as much as you do, success takes more than simple desire and a strong will. Winning also takes skill, the ability to separate yourself from the pack and make a difference for your customer. Complex sales are also … Read full article
Sales coaching has two components: performance management and developmental coaching. Performance management is a quarterly one-on-one meeting where you review a rep’s sales results, activity level, and evaluate their performance. Developmental coaching, on the other hand, is about developing the salesperson’s competence and willingness to sell better going forward. In short, performance management looks primarily … Read full article
Preparation is important, but it’s not everything. You also need to understand how to work effectively during the heat of the moment when you are confronted with a skilled negotiator. Specifically, you should understand the guidelines for effective negotiations and conduct your activities in accordance with them—listening for your customer’s interests, creating innovative win/win alternatives, … Read full article
An executive I know told me recently that a new vice president of sales had joined his firm the previous summer and launched a process to hire a new sales training firm. The SVP’s preference was for a company he had experience working with. He and the decision-making team evaluated that firm and one other … Read full article
Most salespeople include in their approach call a “benefit statement,” which is two or three generic customer benefits that attempt to create interest so the prospect agrees to an initial appointment. But the vast majority of prospects you call are either in the Change or Discontent steps when you call them. They may or may … Read full article
Today we’re going to cover the The Doctor’s role in sales training. The Doctor’s role in sales is to ask questions for two essential reasons: to find out what kind of prospect you’re working with, and to establish their needs, problems and opportunities. Your prospects (patients) fall into three categories: sick, fairly healthy, and “in-denial.” … Read full article
Coaching “symptoms” instead of underlying causes does more harm than good. Accurate diagnosis of a performance problem means looking for the common threads, then applying a bit of detective work to consider: Is this a skill problem? If so, teach. Is this a willingness/motivation problem? If so, help the rep understand the reasons why they … Read full article