The Tuesday’s Sales Truths are taken from Bill Brooks’ Book Entitled: Universal Sales Truths

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In all my years of selling and facilitating (quite a few), one of the things I’ve noticed most consistently about salespeople is that they are so eager to get to the close. We as salespeople have been indoctrinated to believe that sales success is measured only by completed sales. But we could complete more sales by NOT focusing so much on the close.

Stop trying to get there so fast! Getting there quickly means forcing the prospect to make a buying decision based on OUR timetable not theirs – and that simply doesn’t work. We could complete more sales by spending more time — slowing down so we could speed up.

We should spend more time on pre-call planning and formulate powerful questions that would lead us to a prospect’s pain much more quickly and efficiently. We should uncover pressing needs, desires and wishes by spending extra time preparing our questions, and referring to those questions to sell our solutions. After all, isn’t this what our prospects really want?

Investing extra time early in the sales process means having to spend less time later in the sales process – time that’s often spent floundering around in front of the prospect if we haven’t done our homework.

For example, if through my pre-call planning I realize that a prospect is facing certain issues or is likely to be dealing with particular problems, I can develop my questions around these issues or problems. By doing this I focus my sales interview on confirming my information and allowing my prospect to talk to me about his or her situation. The more they talk, the more likely they are to buy (all things being equal).

As I listen to my prospect’s response, I can ask additional questions in a conversational way to demonstrate understanding, empathy, and attention to my prospect’s situation. This enhances trust, rapport and attention and increases the likelihood of closing the sale – which is exactly the goal we set out to achieve!

Submitted by: Richard Dickerson

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Last week we had a fairly large crowd in our Conference Center for the IMPACT Selling Open Seminar – 43 salespeople – all from different industries, different areas of the country and three from the Ukraine. But after spending time with this group of salespeople and countless others over the last 13 years, I’ve noticed 3 mistakes that seem almost universal in selling…

1. Too little research and groundwork to really understand the prospect’s business BEFORE meeting with them
2. Too few probing questions to get the prospect verbalizing their needs and wants
3. And the perennial sales mistake of too much talking and too little listening

All of these problems are symptoms of a larger disease that plagues salespeople and eats away at their ability to succeed – Not focusing on the customer. If you can’t take the time to understand their business, uncover their needs and wants and listen to their concerns, why should your customers and prospects trust you or believe that you have anything valuable to offer?

So here’s my advice: Try taking just 5 more minutes…

• Spend 5 more minutes on research and investigation before meeting your prospect
• Spend 5 more minutes preparing questions that will uncover information you need to make the sale
• Spend 5 more minutes asking questions and listening to your prospect before you jump in speak again

Yes, I know that salespeople often think, “I’m not paid to sit in front of my computer and do research…I’m not paid to hang around listening to prospects yak all day…I’ve got to get in there and sell something and move on to the next one.” That’s why I’m suggesting you take just 5 more minutes in these three key areas – that’s 15 minutes more per sale – invested entirely in focusing on your customer. You’ll be amazed at how well those 15 minutes pay off.

Next Monday, I’ll give you some specific suggestions on how to use those extra 5 minutes to increase your chances of making the sale.

Submitted by: Richard Dickerson

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Let your prospect discuss their need for gain, profit, pain reduction, pleasure or solutions in full.

• Ask a question, write the answer – it takes time and is a reminder not to interrupt the prospect.
• When a prospect responds, force yourself to count to three before you respond – do it silently!
• Master the art of the “pregnant pause” – shake your head periodically, place your index finger to your chin, give other non-verbal responses like leaning forward, showing interest, appear relaxed, look surprised. Then, and only then, say something.
• Remember…never interrupt, but always allow prospects to interrupt you.

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Is it that simple? Yes, it is.

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