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Casual Articles - Sell More Using Sales Psychology
Monitoring and evaluation - Customer care is ongoing and needs to be monitored carefully. It is important for all staff to see it is continually being monitored. It can let you know if you need to develop training further. It can help you identify the strengths and weaknesses in your organisation. Also it gives you a basis for checking that objectives are met, like reducing complaints and ultimately raising your organisations revenue.Organisational Policy - setting out your Mission Statement pointing out your reason for existence. In your mission statement it is important that you give your customers an indication of what your organisation is trying to achieve.Customer Research - Finding out what your customer expects and needs is essential for success in your organisation. Although it can be easy enough collecting in information on your customers, it is more important to know how to analyse and put into practise feedback received from them.Staff Perception - Getting feedback and opinions from all members of staff will lead to a more successful customer care program. It takes all members of staff doing their specific job to make your organisation a success. If your employees feel undervalued and overlooked in their employment it will lead to a less motivated workforce.Customer care training for managers - It is important that you as a manager are well versed in the role of implementing a customer care programme. In your organisation it will be your role, as well as your sales manager role, to deliver cascading customer care training to your staff. In short this means that yourself as well as your sales manager will be responsible for passing on-go
What can you do to minimize the risk to the prospect of buying your product or service? Look at all the products out on the market that offer risk-free, money back guarantees.
In today’s “do more with less” business environment, many economic decision-makers have a new top priority – and it’s not “making the very best choice.” It’s “not making a mistake that will cost me my job.”
How can you reassure someone with this mindset that buying from you is smart and safe and risk-free?
Do you offer guarantees, warrantees, refunds, make-ups?
In my seminars, we spend some time exploring how you might do one better than minimizing risk – and eliminate it altogether.
Some of the ideas that seminar participants generate for their specific businesses are outrageous, some are plain impossible – but a good number are brilliant and immediately implementation-ready!
Ask yourself the following questions:
•How can I provide a free version of my product or service?
•What can I learn from the auto industry’s new trend of “the 24-hour test drive”?
•What does the buyer have to lose if they buy from me?
•What do they have to gain?
•How can I ensure the buyer’s success – not just their satisfaction?
•How can I employ the concept of risk-reversal – meaning that the risk is all on my side if they don’t achieve success?
When most sales training programs talk about overcoming objections, they usually don’t discuss the real objections that are in most buyers’ minds. These are things like:
•I don’t trust you
•I don’t believe this will get the results you say it will
•This sounds too good to be true
•If this works, I would have heard of this solution already
•Who says so besides you?
You should understand (and expect) that people probably will not trust you in the beginning of the sales process. They have been sold stuff all their lives “against their will.” They bought the steak knives, the insurance, the Girl Scout cookies, the raffle ticket, or the car and regretted it later. (OK maybe not the cookies.) Trust has to be earned over time.
To add
If you have visited Spain, you may have fallen in love with the Spanish culture and now you want to live there. But first you will have to find a job in Spain, and that may not be easy to do. Using these guidelines will help. You will have greater opportunities if you look in a large city, and of course, some occupations are easier to find a job in.First you will have to decide where you want to find a job. In a large city such as Madrid or Barcelona, you will find more opportunities; there are opportunities in small towns, but not as many. If you can't afford to wait to find your job, a big city is your best bet. If you have visited a few cities already, you know which ones you prefer to live in.Allow yourself some time to shop around. Getting a job in Spain will not be easy, so you can't rush into it. Just as in other parts of the world, you can shop for jobs on the Internet, and you can also find out qualifications for the types of jobs that are available. Therefore, you may have to have some funds to live in Spain for a while before you land that job. Being right there will help in a number of ways: you have a local address on your resume, you can easily go for interviews, and you can ask around with friends and neighbors about job openings. Make sure you have a cell phone so you have a way to be contacted. Put this number, as well as other relevant contact information such as you email address, on your resume.There are going to be some legal and paperwork requirements for working in Spain, but these will depend on your country of origin. It is a lot easier for a citizen of EU countries to get a job in another EU country. If you live outside of the European Union, y
The psychology of urgency
Another typical sales scenario involves the salesperson doing everything right – until after the first appointment. Then, suddenly, the emails stop, messages don’t get returned, and the lead runs cold, leaving you scratching your head wondering how that nice, friendly, responsive, involved prospect dropped off the face of the earth.
Does that ever happen to you?
What you’ve just experienced is a good sales process gone bad for the lack of a key ingredient: urgency.
As Stephen Covey says, there is a big difference between the “urgent” and the “important.”
In everyday business, the urgent category includes soothing angry clients, “putting out fires,” production stoppages, surprise inspections or audits by regulators, labor problems, media blowups, and things of that nature.
The important category includes things like making employees feel appreciated, upgrading to new office technology, listening to someone’s ideas, increasing your industry knowledge, developing good corporate citizenship (charitable, environmental, etc) and so on.
Guess which category is at the top of every executive’s agenda each morning when they walk in the door?
If you’ve positioned the product or service you’re selling as a “nice to have” instead of a “have to have,” – or even better a “have to have now” – your leads will run cold. Simply put, buying from you (even if it’s important) takes a backseat to the urgent matters of the day.
If you as a salesperson haven’t identified the pain, then you will get a less than urgent response. If you walk up to someone on the street and they have a nail sticking out of their knee- they would have a high sense of urgency to have the nail removed. This is the same with the prospect. When you can identify their “nail” they will want to move on it quickly.
In my seminars, I ask people to think about these questions:
•Why is it urgent for the prospect to ACT NOW?
•What is the incentive?
•How can you create meaningful deadlines?
•How is buying both an important *and* an urgent issue?
Again, I’m not going to supply you with gimmicky stock phrases or clever comebacks, but rather suggest that you spend some time and energy thinking about how to intelligently and professionally address legitimate buying obstacles such as “We have no budget,” “We have no need for this product/service,” “We’re happy with who we’re using,” and “This is bad timing for us.”
I don’t believe in the process of “overcoming objections” – sounds too much like fighting. And if salesis a battle, you’re going to lose.
One method I like to use is simply turning objections into objectives. In other words, if you can intelligently address the objection in terms of reaching a goal, agreement, or solution that addresses the problem, you will be well on your way to collaborating with your future customer on buying your solution.
For example, if the objection is “it’s too expensive,” you can show, in clear dollars and cents terms (and using numbers supplied by your future customer!) how your solution will save money, generate sales, increase profits, reduce costs, etc.
You’re turning the price objection into a value objective.
The psychology of time
A lot of sales trainers suggest using the personal touch: handwritten notes, personalized gifts, etc.
We think these are powerful tools, but for different reasons. Whether a note is typed or handwritten makes little difference in and of itself. Whether the note comes with a small gift (personalized or not) also doesn’t really matter.
It’s really about giving time and attention. That is what makes you distinctive.
Let me give you an example. As you may have guessed by now, I’m a speaker, author, and seminar leader. As such, I’m a prospect for a wide variety of businesses – presentation equipment, publicity, advertising, direct mail, courseware, and e-learning suppliers all want a piece of me.
Recently, I put my name in at the website of a reputable radio PR professional who has been getting great results for people just like me. I filled out her online form, attended part of a tele-seminar that she sponsored, and then a few days later received a handwritten note together with 2 name-brand lollipops.
Some background you need to know:
1.I’m a sucker for handwritten notes. They never fail to amaze and impress me.
2.I have a small ego. I love to be told my books are filled with valuable and practical insights or that my ideas incited someone to take action.
Now, here are some problems with this story:
1.Her handwritten note said “Your book sounds perfect for radio.” I never gave her details of “my book.” And I have 5 books.
2.The tele-seminar was one step above terrible. Her guest was a pompous twit and the information in the first 10 minutes was so negligible, I hung up. How tough would it have been to send everyone a post-seminar email or form asking for feedback? Then she could have targeted people who loved the tele-seminar, or at least addressed the shortcomings with people, like me, who didn’t.
So, how does all this apply to you and your business? Simple. The lesson is: put in the TIME to make the sale, add personal meaning to your relationships, and make yourself stand out from the crowd.
For example, when you follow up with a well thought-out handwritten note, it shows the investment of your TIME.
I recently facilitated a six month Leadership Development program for 37 people. Afterwards, I sat down and wrote 37 thank you notes by hand. In each note, I tried to personalize a comment. I sealed the envelopes with red wax and my stamped monogram.
It wasn’t that I am crazy about wax and monograms; it’s the fact that I wanted to send a note that was different than any they had ever gotten. The response was tremendous.
Investing time is another way you will separate yourself from the crowd. What’s the best way to invest your time? Choose as many as you like from the following list:
•Spend time listening
•Spend time customizing solutions
•Spend time following up
•Spend time supplying valuable information addressing your client’s needs and agendas (personal and professional)
•Spend time making your buyer look good to his or her boss
•Spend time referring business to your future client’s company
•Spend time dropping by for no reason and drop off lunch or donuts
A lot of salespeople are leery of doing this work for several reasons. Excuses and objections include:
•I can’t get enough information to do this
•This is free consulting – I need to make sales!
•Why would I waste all that time on a single prospect?
•This sounds like a lot of work
My responses:
•You can get this information
•It’s easier than you think
•Yes, it does take some work
•Welcome to your J-O-B!
The way to make sure you're investing your time wisely vs. doing “free consulting” is simply to make each of these points of contact an opportunity to move your sales process forward.
A final aspect of the psychology of time is timely response to emails and phone calls. This is truly a habit worth developing for several reasons:
•It shows respect and courtesy
•It proves your responsiveness even before the sale is made
•Sometimes, it’s just a practical matter of the first response gets the sale
If you show your willingness to invest your time and attention, prospects are more likely to respond with a willingness to invest their time – – and money – with you.
The psychology of choice
When it comes down to the wire, salespeople who have made a habit of studying sales techniques never offer a ‘take it or leave it’ deal.
It’s simply too easy to say no, and if you didn’t handle the rest of your sales process flawlessly, almost any reason to say no will look pretty appealing to your prospect.
If you always offer options, you shift your prospect’s mindset to considering WHICH, not WHETHER!
And it reinforces your status as a professional who customizes choices, simplifies options, and filters a lot of the ‘noise’ that the prospect has heard in the past. You’re customizing options based on the prospect’s situation. One size fits one.
The psychology of stories
One of the most powerful sales tools you have at your disposal is storytelling. Or more appropriately, storyselling!
So how can you use stories when working with future customers? All this requires on your part is the initiative to begin gathering stories by talking with your existing customers. Very simply, talk to your customers about their experiences with your products and services. You’re sure to gather some powerful and persuasive stories.
Focus on things like:
•A previous customer’s purchase and how the product helped them.
•A previous customer’s problem and how the product/service fixed the problem.
•A previous customer that had the same concerns/hesitation as your current customer, and how the outcome ended up positive.
•A previous customer’s experience with a certain product/service that didn’t work out and what happened as a result. (This can help lead to the product that would be more appropriate for your customer.)
•A previous customer’s “success story” with the product/service.
•Your own (or someone you know) experience with the product/service.
If you think about it…you are storyselling all the time with friends and family, “selling” them on why they should or shouldn’t go to this or that restaurant, use this or that product, etc. Think about the commercial you see on TV, where they guy says “I was so impressed, I bought the company.” That is a story!
Using stories when selling is a powerful opportunity to communicate with your customer in a meaningful way. The human brain is hardwired to quickly understand, interpret, and get the most information from stories.
Not sure if storyselling is worth learning? What if we told you that one of the greatest “storysellers” of all time is investment billionaire Warren Buffet and that one of his most valuable skills lies in tapping into the "gut reaction" of different types of clients through stories?
The psychology of risk
What can you do to minimize the risk to the prospect of buying your product or service? Look at all the products out on the market that offer risk-free, money back guarantees.
In today’s “do more with less” business environment, many economic decision-makers have a new top priority – and it’s not “making the very best choice.” It’s “not making a mistake that will cost me my job.”
How can you reassure someone with this mindset that buying from you is smart and safe and risk-free?
Do you offer guarantees, warrantees, refunds, make-ups?
In my seminars, we spend some time exploring how you might do one better than minimizing risk – and eliminate it altogether.
Some of the ideas that seminar participants generate for their specific businesses are outrageous, some are plain impossible – but a good number are brilliant and immediately implementation-ready!
Ask yourself the following questions:
•How can I provide a free version of my product or service?
•What can I learn from the auto industry’s new trend of “the 24-hour test drive”?
•What does the buyer have to lose if they buy from me?
•What do they have to gain?
•How can I ensure the buyer’s success – not just their satisfaction?
•How can I employ the concept of risk-reversal – meaning that the risk is all on my side if they don’t achieve success?
When most sales training programs talk about overcoming objections, they usually don’t discuss the real objections that are in most buyers’ minds. These are things like:
•I don’t trust you
•I don’t believe this will get the results you say it will
•This sounds too good to be true
•If this works, I would have heard of this solution already
•Who says so besides you?
You should understand (and expect) that people probably will not trust you in the beginning of the sales process. They have been sold stuff all their lives “against their will.” They bought the steak knives, the insurance, the Girl Scout cookies, the raffle ticket, or the car and regretted it later. (OK maybe not the cookies.) Trust has to be earned over time.
To addr
"Great individuals often seek their own interests and the accolades of others . . . but immortals seek to stir the hearts, strengthen the spirits and stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves." Mary Lou Harvey (Mama)Buried in the center of every organization is an institution called the Human Resources Department. Depending on the company, it fills a variety of responsibilities. What distinguishes a great Human Resource Department from an Immortal one is how they view employees: are employees a resource or are they human? All kidding aside, what you believe about the employees who work in your organization is the harbinger for the health of your organization. If you see them as malingerers, malcontents or miscreants, do not be surprised if they meet your expectations. Immortal leaders see their workforce in a far more positive light.Like my Mama, they recognize that the magic in the human spirit is a boundless reservoir of possibility. Mama had the ability to see the good in people, regardless of what they looked like on the outside. She saw beyond their off-putting conduct and somehow managed to touch their heart. Whether it was mean ol' uncle Mike, or Marvin the bristling butcher, she melted them with her overwhelming faith in their worth as human beings. Somehow in her presence they were more than they thought they could be - she believed in them.In the past I told my graduate students the story of a retired teacher who was called in during the middle of the semester to take over a very troubled class of students who had succeeded in running off four teachers before the Thanksgiving break. The principal tried to find a highly qualified teacher, trained
I don’t believe in the process of “overcoming objections” – sounds too much like fighting. And if salesis a battle, you’re going to lose.
One method I like to use is simply turning objections into objectives. In other words, if you can intelligently address the objection in terms of reaching a goal, agreement, or solution that addresses the problem, you will be well on your way to collaborating with your future customer on buying your solution.
For example, if the objection is “it’s too expensive,” you can show, in clear dollars and cents terms (and using numbers supplied by your future customer!) how your solution will save money, generate sales, increase profits, reduce costs, etc.
You’re turning the price objection into a value objective.
The psychology of time
A lot of sales trainers suggest using the personal touch: handwritten notes, personalized gifts, etc.
We think these are powerful tools, but for different reasons. Whether a note is typed or handwritten makes little difference in and of itself. Whether the note comes with a small gift (personalized or not) also doesn’t really matter.
It’s really about giving time and attention. That is what makes you distinctive.
Let me give you an example. As you may have guessed by now, I’m a speaker, author, and seminar leader. As such, I’m a prospect for a wide variety of businesses – presentation equipment, publicity, advertising, direct mail, courseware, and e-learning suppliers all want a piece of me.
Recently, I put my name in at the website of a reputable radio PR professional who has been getting great results for people just like me. I filled out her online form, attended part of a tele-seminar that she sponsored, and then a few days later received a handwritten note together with 2 name-brand lollipops.
Some background you need to know:
1.I’m a sucker for handwritten notes. They never fail to amaze and impress me.
2.I have a small ego. I love to be told my books are filled with valuable and practical insights or that my ideas incited someone to take action.
Now, here are some problems with this story:
1.Her handwritten note said “Your book sounds perfect for radio.” I never gave her details of “my book.” And I have 5 books.
2.The tele-seminar was one step above terrible. Her guest was a pompous twit and the information in the first 10 minutes was so negligible, I hung up. How tough would it have been to send everyone a post-seminar email or form asking for feedback? Then she could have targeted people who loved the tele-seminar, or at least addressed the shortcomings with people, like me, who didn’t.
So, how does all this apply to you and your business? Simple. The lesson is: put in the TIME to make the sale, add personal meaning to your relationships, and make yourself stand out from the crowd.
For example, when you follow up with a well thought-out handwritten note, it shows the investment of your TIME.
I recently facilitated a six month Leadership Development program for 37 people. Afterwards, I sat down and wrote 37 thank you notes by hand. In each note, I tried to personalize a comment. I sealed the envelopes with red wax and my stamped monogram.
It wasn’t that I am crazy about wax and monograms; it’s the fact that I wanted to send a note that was different than any they had ever gotten. The response was tremendous.
Investing time is another way you will separate yourself from the crowd. What’s the best way to invest your time? Choose as many as you like from the following list:
•Spend time listening
•Spend time customizing solutions
•Spend time following up
•Spend time supplying valuable information addressing your client’s needs and agendas (personal and professional)
•Spend time making your buyer look good to his or her boss
•Spend time referring business to your future client’s company
•Spend time dropping by for no reason and drop off lunch or donuts
A lot of salespeople are leery of doing this work for several reasons. Excuses and objections include:
•I can’t get enough information to do this
•This is free consulting – I need to make sales!
•Why would I waste all that time on a single prospect?
•This sounds like a lot of work
My responses:
•You can get this information
•It’s easier than you think
•Yes, it does take some work
•Welcome to your J-O-B!
The way to make sure you're investing your time wisely vs. doing “free consulting” is simply to make each of these points of contact an opportunity to move your sales process forward.
A final aspect of the psychology of time is timely response to emails and phone calls. This is truly a habit worth developing for several reasons:
•It shows respect and courtesy
•It proves your responsiveness even before the sale is made
•Sometimes, it’s just a practical matter of the first response gets the sale
If you show your willingness to invest your time and attention, prospects are more likely to respond with a willingness to invest their time – – and money – with you.
The psychology of choice
When it comes down to the wire, salespeople who have made a habit of studying sales techniques never offer a ‘take it or leave it’ deal.
It’s simply too easy to say no, and if you didn’t handle the rest of your sales process flawlessly, almost any reason to say no will look pretty appealing to your prospect.
If you always offer options, you shift your prospect’s mindset to considering WHICH, not WHETHER!
And it reinforces your status as a professional who customizes choices, simplifies options, and filters a lot of the ‘noise’ that the prospect has heard in the past. You’re customizing options based on the prospect’s situation. One size fits one.
The psychology of stories
One of the most powerful sales tools you have at your disposal is storytelling. Or more appropriately, storyselling!
So how can you use stories when working with future customers? All this requires on your part is the initiative to begin gathering stories by talking with your existing customers. Very simply, talk to your customers about their experiences with your products and services. You’re sure to gather some powerful and persuasive stories.
Focus on things like:
•A previous customer’s purchase and how the product helped them.
•A previous customer’s problem and how the product/service fixed the problem.
•A previous customer that had the same concerns/hesitation as your current customer, and how the outcome ended up positive.
•A previous customer’s experience with a certain product/service that didn’t work out and what happened as a result. (This can help lead to the product that would be more appropriate for your customer.)
•A previous customer’s “success story” with the product/service.
•Your own (or someone you know) experience with the product/service.
If you think about it…you are storyselling all the time with friends and family, “selling” them on why they should or shouldn’t go to this or that restaurant, use this or that product, etc. Think about the commercial you see on TV, where they guy says “I was so impressed, I bought the company.” That is a story!
Using stories when selling is a powerful opportunity to communicate with your customer in a meaningful way. The human brain is hardwired to quickly understand, interpret, and get the most information from stories.
Not sure if storyselling is worth learning? What if we told you that one of the greatest “storysellers” of all time is investment billionaire Warren Buffet and that one of his most valuable skills lies in tapping into the "gut reaction" of different types of clients through stories?
The psychology of risk
What can you do to minimize the risk to the prospect of buying your product or service? Look at all the products out on the market that offer risk-free, money back guarantees.
In today’s “do more with less” business environment, many economic decision-makers have a new top priority – and it’s not “making the very best choice.” It’s “not making a mistake that will cost me my job.”
How can you reassure someone with this mindset that buying from you is smart and safe and risk-free?
Do you offer guarantees, warrantees, refunds, make-ups?
In my seminars, we spend some time exploring how you might do one better than minimizing risk – and eliminate it altogether.
Some of the ideas that seminar participants generate for their specific businesses are outrageous, some are plain impossible – but a good number are brilliant and immediately implementation-ready!
Ask yourself the following questions:
•How can I provide a free version of my product or service?
•What can I learn from the auto industry’s new trend of “the 24-hour test drive”?
•What does the buyer have to lose if they buy from me?
•What do they have to gain?
•How can I ensure the buyer’s success – not just their satisfaction?
•How can I employ the concept of risk-reversal – meaning that the risk is all on my side if they don’t achieve success?
When most sales training programs talk about overcoming objections, they usually don’t discuss the real objections that are in most buyers’ minds. These are things like:
•I don’t trust you
•I don’t believe this will get the results you say it will
•This sounds too good to be true
•If this works, I would have heard of this solution already
•Who says so besides you?
You should understand (and expect) that people probably will not trust you in the beginning of the sales process. They have been sold stuff all their lives “against their will.” They bought the steak knives, the insurance, the Girl Scout cookies, the raffle ticket, or the car and regretted it later. (OK maybe not the cookies.) Trust has to be earned over time.
To add
There is something newsworthy happening at your organization right now. Here are some tips on how to tell your story.First, make sure your story contains all the relevant facts. Ask yourself: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How?Next, make your story readable. Here’s how:• Use short sentences. (Best single thing you can do...and easiest.) Research shows sentences of 15-20 words or less are easiest to comprehend. If you must write a long sentence, punctuation — like colons and dashes — can help the reader.• Use short paragraphs. Usually one or two sentences per paragraph is enough. Otherwise, the reader sees a solid, gray mass when looking at a narrow newspaper or magazine column.• Use easy words. Avoid multi-syllable and/or technical words that are hard to understand. If you must use them, explain them with simple definitions or by using analogies.• Use personal words. These are human interest words: e.g., “I,” “you,” “me,” “they,” names, quotes.• Use active verbs. These are words that show action. Examples are easily found in recipes or on sports pages (mix, stir, blend, whip, hit, run).• Get to the point...fast! Readers and editors don’t have the time or inclination to wade through a bunch of words before finding out what a story is all about.• Use an “inverted pyramid” style. Most editors usually chop stories - to make them fit available space - from the bottom. So put the most important points first, second most important next, and so on down to the least important.Now, alert the media.
So, how does all this apply to you and your business? Simple. The lesson is: put in the TIME to make the sale, add personal meaning to your relationships, and make yourself stand out from the crowd.
For example, when you follow up with a well thought-out handwritten note, it shows the investment of your TIME.
I recently facilitated a six month Leadership Development program for 37 people. Afterwards, I sat down and wrote 37 thank you notes by hand. In each note, I tried to personalize a comment. I sealed the envelopes with red wax and my stamped monogram.
It wasn’t that I am crazy about wax and monograms; it’s the fact that I wanted to send a note that was different than any they had ever gotten. The response was tremendous.
Investing time is another way you will separate yourself from the crowd. What’s the best way to invest your time? Choose as many as you like from the following list:
•Spend time listening
•Spend time customizing solutions
•Spend time following up
•Spend time supplying valuable information addressing your client’s needs and agendas (personal and professional)
•Spend time making your buyer look good to his or her boss
•Spend time referring business to your future client’s company
•Spend time dropping by for no reason and drop off lunch or donuts
A lot of salespeople are leery of doing this work for several reasons. Excuses and objections include:
•I can’t get enough information to do this
•This is free consulting – I need to make sales!
•Why would I waste all that time on a single prospect?
•This sounds like a lot of work
My responses:
•You can get this information
•It’s easier than you think
•Yes, it does take some work
•Welcome to your J-O-B!
The way to make sure you're investing your time wisely vs. doing “free consulting” is simply to make each of these points of contact an opportunity to move your sales process forward.
A final aspect of the psychology of time is timely response to emails and phone calls. This is truly a habit worth developing for several reasons:
•It shows respect and courtesy
•It proves your responsiveness even before the sale is made
•Sometimes, it’s just a practical matter of the first response gets the sale
If you show your willingness to invest your time and attention, prospects are more likely to respond with a willingness to invest their time – – and money – with you.
The psychology of choice
When it comes down to the wire, salespeople who have made a habit of studying sales techniques never offer a ‘take it or leave it’ deal.
It’s simply too easy to say no, and if you didn’t handle the rest of your sales process flawlessly, almost any reason to say no will look pretty appealing to your prospect.
If you always offer options, you shift your prospect’s mindset to considering WHICH, not WHETHER!
And it reinforces your status as a professional who customizes choices, simplifies options, and filters a lot of the ‘noise’ that the prospect has heard in the past. You’re customizing options based on the prospect’s situation. One size fits one.
The psychology of stories
One of the most powerful sales tools you have at your disposal is storytelling. Or more appropriately, storyselling!
So how can you use stories when working with future customers? All this requires on your part is the initiative to begin gathering stories by talking with your existing customers. Very simply, talk to your customers about their experiences with your products and services. You’re sure to gather some powerful and persuasive stories.
Focus on things like:
•A previous customer’s purchase and how the product helped them.
•A previous customer’s problem and how the product/service fixed the problem.
•A previous customer that had the same concerns/hesitation as your current customer, and how the outcome ended up positive.
•A previous customer’s experience with a certain product/service that didn’t work out and what happened as a result. (This can help lead to the product that would be more appropriate for your customer.)
•A previous customer’s “success story” with the product/service.
•Your own (or someone you know) experience with the product/service.
If you think about it…you are storyselling all the time with friends and family, “selling” them on why they should or shouldn’t go to this or that restaurant, use this or that product, etc. Think about the commercial you see on TV, where they guy says “I was so impressed, I bought the company.” That is a story!
Using stories when selling is a powerful opportunity to communicate with your customer in a meaningful way. The human brain is hardwired to quickly understand, interpret, and get the most information from stories.
Not sure if storyselling is worth learning? What if we told you that one of the greatest “storysellers” of all time is investment billionaire Warren Buffet and that one of his most valuable skills lies in tapping into the "gut reaction" of different types of clients through stories?
The psychology of risk
What can you do to minimize the risk to the prospect of buying your product or service? Look at all the products out on the market that offer risk-free, money back guarantees.
In today’s “do more with less” business environment, many economic decision-makers have a new top priority – and it’s not “making the very best choice.” It’s “not making a mistake that will cost me my job.”
How can you reassure someone with this mindset that buying from you is smart and safe and risk-free?
Do you offer guarantees, warrantees, refunds, make-ups?
In my seminars, we spend some time exploring how you might do one better than minimizing risk – and eliminate it altogether.
Some of the ideas that seminar participants generate for their specific businesses are outrageous, some are plain impossible – but a good number are brilliant and immediately implementation-ready!
Ask yourself the following questions:
•How can I provide a free version of my product or service?
•What can I learn from the auto industry’s new trend of “the 24-hour test drive”?
•What does the buyer have to lose if they buy from me?
•What do they have to gain?
•How can I ensure the buyer’s success – not just their satisfaction?
•How can I employ the concept of risk-reversal – meaning that the risk is all on my side if they don’t achieve success?
When most sales training programs talk about overcoming objections, they usually don’t discuss the real objections that are in most buyers’ minds. These are things like:
•I don’t trust you
•I don’t believe this will get the results you say it will
•This sounds too good to be true
•If this works, I would have heard of this solution already
•Who says so besides you?
You should understand (and expect) that people probably will not trust you in the beginning of the sales process. They have been sold stuff all their lives “against their will.” They bought the steak knives, the insurance, the Girl Scout cookies, the raffle ticket, or the car and regretted it later. (OK maybe not the cookies.) Trust has to be earned over time.
To add
Paving Companies have a tough time with customer service because anytime they have to pave a road, driveway or parking lot it will inconvenience those who wish to use said road, driveway or park their cars. You must beware that upsetting anyone will lead to a complaint and hurt your business.But if you rush the job in appeasement you will have to come back and fix it later and inconvenience everyone again and cost yourself more money in labor, time and materials on a job, which most likely you were the lowest bidder in the first place and there is not a lot of room there for screw-ups or a redo.Paving companies there for are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. The key to customer service in the paving industry often has to do with scheduling a time when things are not so busy and of course to do the job right, when the weather is permitting.Another key is good signage, proper barriers, clean equipment and allowing for free flow of cars without too much inconvenience. If you will focus on these things you will find that there will be little if any customer service issues and you will develop a strong showing in your community. Consider all this in 2006.
If you show your willingness to invest your time and attention, prospects are more likely to respond with a willingness to invest their time – – and money – with you.
The psychology of choice
When it comes down to the wire, salespeople who have made a habit of studying sales techniques never offer a ‘take it or leave it’ deal.
It’s simply too easy to say no, and if you didn’t handle the rest of your sales process flawlessly, almost any reason to say no will look pretty appealing to your prospect.
If you always offer options, you shift your prospect’s mindset to considering WHICH, not WHETHER!
And it reinforces your status as a professional who customizes choices, simplifies options, and filters a lot of the ‘noise’ that the prospect has heard in the past. You’re customizing options based on the prospect’s situation. One size fits one.
The psychology of stories
One of the most powerful sales tools you have at your disposal is storytelling. Or more appropriately, storyselling!
So how can you use stories when working with future customers? All this requires on your part is the initiative to begin gathering stories by talking with your existing customers. Very simply, talk to your customers about their experiences with your products and services. You’re sure to gather some powerful and persuasive stories.
Focus on things like:
•A previous customer’s purchase and how the product helped them.
•A previous customer’s problem and how the product/service fixed the problem.
•A previous customer that had the same concerns/hesitation as your current customer, and how the outcome ended up positive.
•A previous customer’s experience with a certain product/service that didn’t work out and what happened as a result. (This can help lead to the product that would be more appropriate for your customer.)
•A previous customer’s “success story” with the product/service.
•Your own (or someone you know) experience with the product/service.
If you think about it…you are storyselling all the time with friends and family, “selling” them on why they should or shouldn’t go to this or that restaurant, use this or that product, etc. Think about the commercial you see on TV, where they guy says “I was so impressed, I bought the company.” That is a story!
Using stories when selling is a powerful opportunity to communicate with your customer in a meaningful way. The human brain is hardwired to quickly understand, interpret, and get the most information from stories.
Not sure if storyselling is worth learning? What if we told you that one of the greatest “storysellers” of all time is investment billionaire Warren Buffet and that one of his most valuable skills lies in tapping into the "gut reaction" of different types of clients through stories?
The psychology of risk
What can you do to minimize the risk to the prospect of buying your product or service? Look at all the products out on the market that offer risk-free, money back guarantees.
In today’s “do more with less” business environment, many economic decision-makers have a new top priority – and it’s not “making the very best choice.” It’s “not making a mistake that will cost me my job.”
How can you reassure someone with this mindset that buying from you is smart and safe and risk-free?
Do you offer guarantees, warrantees, refunds, make-ups?
In my seminars, we spend some time exploring how you might do one better than minimizing risk – and eliminate it altogether.
Some of the ideas that seminar participants generate for their specific businesses are outrageous, some are plain impossible – but a good number are brilliant and immediately implementation-ready!
Ask yourself the following questions:
•How can I provide a free version of my product or service?
•What can I learn from the auto industry’s new trend of “the 24-hour test drive”?
•What does the buyer have to lose if they buy from me?
•What do they have to gain?
•How can I ensure the buyer’s success – not just their satisfaction?
•How can I employ the concept of risk-reversal – meaning that the risk is all on my side if they don’t achieve success?
When most sales training programs talk about overcoming objections, they usually don’t discuss the real objections that are in most buyers’ minds. These are things like:
•I don’t trust you
•I don’t believe this will get the results you say it will
•This sounds too good to be true
•If this works, I would have heard of this solution already
•Who says so besides you?
You should understand (and expect) that people probably will not trust you in the beginning of the sales process. They have been sold stuff all their lives “against their will.” They bought the steak knives, the insurance, the Girl Scout cookies, the raffle ticket, or the car and regretted it later. (OK maybe not the cookies.) Trust has to be earned over time.
To add
Most business owners believe if you want more business you must do more advertising and marketing and whereas this might be true, the truth is if you treat your current customers with excellence and great customer service they are 10 times more likely to spend more money with you than a brand new customer. Ten times more likely; That's right.Does great customer service guarantee that the customers will come back and buy more from you in the future? Not always, but chances are if you give great customer service and the customer has an ongoing need for your services or product they will come back for more and if not the chances of them telling their friends and creating a firestorm of word-of-mouth advertising is more than likely.So how do you create good customer service? Well, the trick is to get inside your customer's head and see your business from their perspective. And the best way to be sure you are indeed looking at the business from the customer's perspective is to do surveys and asked the customer exactly what they think.So often businesses think that they give great customer service and if you ask the customers well, they don't necessarily agree. Great customer service is a serious consideration for the ongoing vitality of any business. Please consider all this in 2006.
What can you do to minimize the risk to the prospect of buying your product or service? Look at all the products out on the market that offer risk-free, money back guarantees.
In today’s “do more with less” business environment, many economic decision-makers have a new top priority – and it’s not “making the very best choice.” It’s “not making a mistake that will cost me my job.”
How can you reassure someone with this mindset that buying from you is smart and safe and risk-free?
Do you offer guarantees, warrantees, refunds, make-ups?
In my seminars, we spend some time exploring how you might do one better than minimizing risk – and eliminate it altogether.
Some of the ideas that seminar participants generate for their specific businesses are outrageous, some are plain impossible – but a good number are brilliant and immediately implementation-ready!
Ask yourself the following questions:
•How can I provide a free version of my product or service?
•What can I learn from the auto industry’s new trend of “the 24-hour test drive”?
•What does the buyer have to lose if they buy from me?
•What do they have to gain?
•How can I ensure the buyer’s success – not just their satisfaction?
•How can I employ the concept of risk-reversal – meaning that the risk is all on my side if they don’t achieve success?
When most sales training programs talk about overcoming objections, they usually don’t discuss the real objections that are in most buyers’ minds. These are things like:
•I don’t trust you
•I don’t believe this will get the results you say it will
•This sounds too good to be true
•If this works, I would have heard of this solution already
•Who says so besides you?
You should understand (and expect) that people probably will not trust you in the beginning of the sales process. They have been sold stuff all their lives “against their will.” They bought the steak knives, the insurance, the Girl Scout cookies, the raffle ticket, or the car and regretted it later. (OK maybe not the cookies.) Trust has to be earned over time.
To address these aspects of buyer resistance, you can use a battery of smart sales tools. You may be using some of these already, but the more you pile on, the more effective they will be.
Start to collect, use, and document:
•Customer testimonials (letters are good; audio and video are even better)
•Awards and industry recognition of your product/service
•Press clippings and articles mentioning you or your clients using your product/service
•Objective, fact-based side-by-side comparisons with competing products/services
•Cost analyses and comparisons between using your product/service, using the competition, doing it themselves, and doing nothing
All of these items will help reduce risk, build credibility, and pave the way for an easier, more collaborative solution-based sale.
Your job as a sales professional is not changing people’s minds (that’s extremely hard to do); your job is to help them make a good decision.
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