Selling to Consumers | Sales Training Blog by Skip Anderson

Free eBook: "27 Can-Do Steps to Sell More in Tough Economic Times"

My new eBook is 33 pages and it's absolutely free. Download it here at free sales ebook.

And please email this link to your colleagues and friends so they can download it, too:

http://sellingtoconsumers.com/27_can_do_steps_to_sell_more.htm

 

Sales News

Branding expert Martin Lindstrom, author of Buyology, was interviewed by Matt Lauer on the Today Show this morning. You can listen to my podcast interview with Martin Lindstrom on the Selling to Consumers Podcast.

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I've been named to "The Sales 2.0 Pro Bowl Team" along with such notables as Gerhard Gschwandter (Publisher of Selling Power magazine), Jeb Blount, and fellow Minnesotan's Jill Konrath and Lee Salz.

There are AFC and NFC teams. I was assigned to the NFC team. Check out the list of sales experts on the Sales 2.0 Pro Bowl list, then please vote for the NFC (regardless of your football allegiances)!

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I'll be attending "Senior Sales Executive Conference" in Chicago later this month as a blogger thanks to The Conference Board. I'll be covering the conference on this blog and also on Twitter. If you're not attending the conference, tune in for updates!

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If you haven't joined the Selling to Consumers group on LinkedIn, please do. It's for all executives, managers, and salespeople in the B2C space, as well as other sales and business experts. Selling to Consumers LinkedIn Group.

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Blog.com named the Selling to Consumers Blog one of the "Top 10 Sales Blogs." Check out the list of top sales blogs. All the blogs named to the list are fantastic and worth following.

If you like this post (or don't) please leave a comment.Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies that sell to consumers in all B2C sectors including retail, in-home selling, health care, financial, real estate, and insurance,etc.

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The One Thing Better Than Selling with Enthusiasm

"Enthusiasm really IS contagious, and many times your customers buy your belief in your product as well as the product itself."

-Mike Brooks

"People naturally get swept up into excitement and enthusiasm when they are surrounded by what they think is natural and authentic excitement."

-K.B.

"...come to the realization that enthusiasm is the ultimate secret weapon of all the great salespeople in this business."

-Jeffrey F. Knott

* * * * *

Enthusiasm transfers emotion from the salesperson to the prospect, right? Enthusiasm is contagious, yes? Enthusiasm breeds more enthusiasm, correct? Enthusiasm sells, doesn't it?

I'd say the answer is "sometimes."

And sometimes not. Have you ever witnessed a sales interaction with a salesperson who is inappropriately enthusiastic talk to someone who is naturally reserved, even when they're enthused? Ouch, it hurts just to think about it.

All humans have a natural "enthusiasm comfort level" whether we're talking about someone working in the sales profession or a customer who doesn't work in our field. Everyone has high, low, or medium propensity to feel and communicate enthusiasm. This enthusiasm comfort level helps determine how we'll react to enthusiasm in others, including salespeople selling to us.

The mother in the front row of the auditorium at the piano recital who is standing up and cheering for her seven-year-old as he finishes "Scale Study No. 6" probably will react to a salesperson's enthusiasm differently than the father of another child in the back row who zones out during his daughter's performance of the "Sonatina for Piano."

So with this in mind, enthusiasm from a salesperson can be either an engaging or an off-putting element during a sales interaction.

Let's say all individuals can be charted on the following "Enthusiasm Propensity Scale":

 
 

The enthusiasm propensity ratings of five individuals have been placed on the scale. Rachel has the greatest propensity to feel and show enthusiasm, while Josh has the least. The remaining individuals lie somewhere between those two extremes.

We can easily relate to others who have the same or similar comfort with enthusiasm as we do. I propose that one's enthusiasm will have a positive effect on anybody that is within two points on either side of that individual's rating on the scale. Therefore, if Jose or Linda are selling to me, or vice versa, we should be in pretty good shape, because both lie within two points on either side of my score.

 

But the farther apart two people lie on the scale, the greater the potential negative effect on the sales relationship. 

I'm a fairly enthusiastic individual at 7.5. But, simply put, Rachel's enthusiasm is going to irritate me. She's too enthusiastic for my tastes - we're just too far apart on the scale. Rachel selling to Linda is going to be an even greater challenge, because the separation is more pronounced. And it would likely be a disaster if Linda were selling to Josh.

So where does this leave the role of "enthusiasm" in selling?

I think we can safely conclude that appropriate enthusiasm is an asset in the selling profession, and inappropriate enthusiasm is a negative factor, and that the appropriateness we are talking about here is determined by the prospect/customer. The one thing better than enthusiasm when selling is appropriate enthusiasm when welling.

So as the three quotes at the top of this article point out, enthusiasm can be helpful in working with sales prospects. But be aware that you may need to moderate your enthusiasm to prevent unintended negative consequences!

If you like this post (or don't) please leave a comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, and the financial, real estate, and insurance markets.

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When Sales Performance Incentives Don't Work

I have often been an advocate of increasing incentive pay and lowing base pay for salespeople in the B2C space. But increasing the portion of income that can be derived from commission won't work for all types of sellers.

Let's look at four different salespeople:

 

> Salesperson 2 is highly skilled at selling, and is also highly money motivated. This person will generally respond well to increased monetary sales incentives.

> Salesperson 4 is not highly skilled at selling, but is highly money motivated. This person will generally not respond well to monetary sales incentives, unless that money motivation motivates the salesperson to develop his sales skills as an intermediary step.

> Salesperson 1 is highly skilled at selling, but is not money motivated. This person will generally not respond well to increased monetary sales incentives.

> Salesperson 3 is not highly skilled at selling, and is not highly money motivated. This person will generally not respond well to increased monetary sales incentives.

Therefore, sales management throwing money at a sales performance problem results in a FAIL for three of the salespeople in our scenarios. Monetary rewards only work for those who are highly motivated to make more money.

Don't get me wrong! I want sales professionals in the business-to-consumer market to earn more money!

To improve the sales of salespeople 3 and 4, management needs to implement sales training that works. To improve the sales of salesperson 1, management needs to identify motivators that will increase performance, as more money clearly will not. It might be: becoming the top salesperson in the organization (ego motivation), being part of a winning team (team motivation), or something else.

If you like this post (or don't) please leave a comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, and the financial, real estate, and insurance markets.

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That Buying Fog: 4 Ways to Fight It

Much of the time, consumers are in a fog - a buying fog. The buying fog is fueled by a lack of personal clarity about what they really want or desire, by their dislike or fear of salespeople (whether it be strong or mild), and by their lack of: time, money, clarity, silence, or priorities.

But it's difficult to make progress when someone is in a buying fog. The fog blurs common sense. It limits emotional buy-in to what you're selling.

Here are 4 ways to clear the buying fog of your prospects this week:

1. Be engaging. 

Have your prospect take notes, or fill out a worksheet while you give your presentation. Get him up out of his chair if you sell in a sit-down environment (office), or get him into a chair if you sell in a stand-up environment (retail). Have him help you measure, search a brochure, look up data, call your vendor, punch 3 holes in a document, take something to the copier, listen to your voicemail, try to break your product, take your product apart, press a button, drive you to a demo, open a carton, hold the controller, wipe it down, lift something up, etc.

2. Be undeniably funny.

When someone is laughing, they're not in a fog. So figure out how to entertain your prospect. If you're funny and can elicit a belly laugh - or at least a smile - that buying fog will lift. Would you rather watch a public speaker with no sense of humor? Or one that lets you laugh several times during the presentation?

3. Be outrageously helpful.

Are you offering to get coffee for your prospect during a meeting? Great! But instead of "coffee," hand them a menu of your four different coffee choices. Then bring in a huge tray of different coffee mugs and cups and let the prospect choose one that is to their liking. Don't just offer one sweetener, offer five. Clean your prospect's raindrop-laden glasses. Walk them to their car with an umbrella. Don't just tell them where the restroom is, walk them there. Be a concierge, not just a salesperson.

4. Be outrageous.

Consumers live in a noisy environment. There's noise from their families, their banks, their kids' schools, and their places of worship. The noise continues at work: who is noisier than your manager? Or your employees? Or coworkers? Add the noise of media, of advertising, of mailers and TV and internet marketing and emails and you have one hugely noisy existence for most of us. Constant noise elevates mental fog, and when one of these individuals shop, their fog turns into buying fog. Fight the fog by being outrageous. Do the unexpected. Be the unexpected. Be outrageously you, but in a fog-fighting bigger and better way than you ever have been you before.

If you like this post (or don't) please leave a comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, and the financial, real estate, and insurance markets.

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Sorry, We're Going to Go With Your Competitor

Every salesperson hates to hear those words. But we're told we have to learn how to handle this type of rejection because it's part of sales.

And I agree that salespeople must learn to handle rejection. But if the rejection can be avoided, we can avoid having to handle it.

Here's a scenario for your consideration:

Let's say you sell landscaping design and services. You meet with your prospect and do a needs assessment, measure the property, and schedule a second meeting. A week later, You schedule a second meeting with your prospect for a week later, at which time you plan to present your proposal and make the sale.

But while you're away from your prospect for a week, there have been several key events:

1. Your prospect found out he's being sued by a business partner;

2. Your prospect has been looking into purchasing the property next door;

3. Your prospect received a proposal from one of your competitors, who has successfully convinced the prospect to change the prospect's previous stand against adding a hardscape in the northwest corner of the property.

The day for your second meeting arrives. You sit down with your prospect, present your proposal, and ask the prospect to sign your contract. But after you present your proposal, your prospect tells you she's decided to do business with your competitor instead of you.

What went wrong?

You started the second meeting as if the week between the two meetings didn't exist. You picked up where the first meeting ended, but that doesn't recognize that many changes could have (and in fact did) occur in the intervening week.

So what is the lesson to be learned here?

LESSON: Whenever your sales interaction with your prospect is divided into two or more separate events, at the beginning of the latter event, always ask your prospect if anything has changed since you last talked. Do this before you present a proposal.

Here's a great all-purpose question you can use to see if anything has changed since your last meeting:

"We last met three weeks ago to discuss your [widget]. Has anything changed since we last met?"

Or, you could go into even more detail by asking multiple questions, such as these:

> "Last time we met, we discussed the landscaping along the eastern border of your property, right around the old maple tree. You decided to plant ____________ and _____________ in this area, and we were going to place a casual gathering area under the tree. Has anything changed in your thinking about this area?"

> "We also discussed your love of lilacs, and your desire to include lilacs somewhere in your plan. What have you been thinking about lilacs lately?"

> "You wanted to keep the northwest corner of your property open for possible prairie plantings. Is that still your plan?"

> "Has anything else changed about your project or your ideas since we last spoke?"

By doing a thorough review of key issues before presenting a design or pricing, you can prevent confusion, prevent failed attempts at creating sales momentum, and keep you from frustration caused by barking up the wrong tree.

If you like this post (or don't) please leave a comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, and the financial, real estate, and insurance markets.

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Skip Anderson Interviews Shane Gibson, Co-Author of "Sociable!"

Shane Gibson and Stephen Jagger have written a brand new social media book titled "Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside Down." I interviewed Shane on the new episode of The Selling to Consumers Podcast.

I recommend the book to B2C companies and individuals who are trying to figure out if or how social media plays a role in everyday business. Listen to my interview with Shane Gibson at sales training podcast.

If you like this post (or don't) please leave a comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, and the financial, real estate, and insurance markets.

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