Selling to Consumers | Sales Training Blog by Skip Anderson

Pacifying Pissy Prospects: 6 Tips

They're having a bad day. Or they're rushed. Or they're just naturally pissy people. If you work in sales, you've met them before. They're pissy prospects.

Pissy prospects or customers can be rude, disagreeable, frustrating, energy-depleting, spirit-sucking scoundrels who swoop into our lives leaving us feeling empty or angry. And in sales, it's our job to deal with these gems of the human race. If you haven't had one of these charmed prospects yet, don't worry, you will. They'll appear out of nowhere without any warning and your day will have taken a speedy turn for the worse.

These evil bottom-feeding vermin can be a challenge for any salesperson, regardless of the amount of sales experience or the sales skill level of the individual. Today I offer six tips for dealing with the fire-breathing, body-odor bearing, self-serving, impatient herd we affectionately call pissy prospects:

1. Act, but don't react.

Often, the best action to take is listening intently. The worst action to take is reaction. Take a chill pill and listen not only to the words of the prospect, but the needs or frustration behind those words. You are a counselor, negotiator, crisis interventionist, hotline operator, and emergency room doc all wrapped up in one earthly body. You need to determine if your prospect is a globally pissy person or a incident specific person. So listen up and soak up all the information you can.

2. Slow down your tempo of speech.

When humans get agitated, or are pissy by nature, they sometimes talk more quickly, and at a higher pitch. Fight the tendency to react in kind. Talk in a comfortable tonal range and at a reasonable--perhaps even slower than normal--pace. It's important that you don't add to the pissyness fire.

3. Talk at a reasonable volume.

Shouting, although employed often by the pissy prospect, will rarely help the saleperson's cause so therefore should be avoided by the salesperson. Therefore, keep your personal volume knob locked at a "5" or less, even if the prospect is cranked up to "10" (or "11" in the case of a This is Spinal Tap fan).

4. Lose the attitude.

Uncross the arms, loosen the pursed lips, and keep that jaw from jutting forward. As difficult as it can be to deal with these tortured pissies, keep your cool at all costs. Coolness is a tranquilizer to tense customers, so pour on the coolness while you avoid other self-defeating sales behaviors.(* see below)

5. Repeat. Then repeat again.

Sometimes pissy prospects don't want to listen to what you're saying. The remedy? Keep repeating yourself.

Pissy Prospect: "But I want you to throw in the pillow shams because I'm buying all the sheets and the comforter."

Salesperson: "I can't do that, but I'd love to add the shams to your order. Shall I do that?"

Pissy Prospect: "I'm in here all the time and am one of your best customers. I can't believe you won't throw in the pillow shams."

Salesperson: "We appreciate your business a great deal. Should I add the pillow shams onto your order?"

Pissy Prospect: "I want to talk to a manager, I can't believe how I'm being treated."

Salesperson: "I am a manager. Should we add the pillow shams to your order?"

Pissy Prospect: "I suppose, I can't very well have a sham-less pillow on my bed, can I?"

6. Give them a time out.

Customers are not always right, and when they won't play nice, they deserve a time out. Send them to their quiet spot, tell them you'll check back with them in ten minutes, and dismiss yourself. It's okay to say no to a pissy prospect, or any customer for that matter, and it's okay to end a conversation if it is no longer in the best interests of both the customer or the seller.

*Self defeating sales behaviors: eye rolling, finger wagging, nose raising, eye squinting, head nodding (side-to-side), interrupting, applying hands to hips, face flushing, voice shaking, dagger eyes, and retaliatory farting during a tense prospect interaction can obliterate your sales opportunity. Beware.

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.

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5 Brief Motivational Videos That Are Motivational

Business motivational tools can be trite, over-produced pieces that play on emotions but rarely have long-lasting effect.

So I was very pleased when I ran across five brief "motivational" videos by Jerry Kennedy. Their messages are powerful, the production is simple, and the videos are fantastic. I know Jerry, and nobody is more genuinely interested in helping others succeed.

Have a look and get motivated today!

Jerry also created Motivation 101, a fantastic audio program which I highly recommend, too. I've listened to the audio program in my car a half dozen times and will continue to do so.

Jerry's You Tube videos:

Got Purpose?

Got Focus?

Got Passion?

Got Optimism?

Got Motion?

Check out Jerry Kennedy's Motivation 101.

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.

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Breaking Bad Selling Habits: Where Sales Training & Coaching Intersect

I was working with a client's sales representative who had been selling in his industry for seventeen years. Despite this wealth of sales experience, he was a very marginal sales performer at best.

"Ben" was skeptical about the sales system I had created for his employer and all their salespeople. This isn't unusual, of course, because in my industry we not only need to share sales knowledge, we need to "sell" our client companies and individuals on learning, embracing, and implementing sales knowledge we provide. Ben was being resistant at worst and leery at best. So I asked him a few questions:

1. Are you willing to change anything in your sales behaviors? (He said "sure.")

2. Do you know which sales behaviors to change to get a better results? (He said "not really.")

3. If, after seeing you in action, I find five sales behaviors that you would be well-served to change, would you be willing to implement these changes in your selling? (He said "yep").

4. If at first you don't experience immediate success, will you be willing to implement these new behaviors 500 times before you give up?

To this last question he laughed, and then he said "no." So I said...

"How many sales appointments do you suppose you've been on in the last month, Ben?"

Ben said he'd probably been on 65.

"Ben, how many sales appointments do you suppose you were on the month before that?"

Ben again guessed about 65.

"And the month before that?" I asked.

Ben said 65.

"So Ben, is it safe to say that you've been on about 780 sales appointments in the last twelve months?" (12 x 65 = 780)

Ben thought that was a realistic number.

"And the year before that, Ben?"

He thought 780 was good for that year, too, and the year before that and the year before that.

"So in your seventeen-year sales career, you've been on approximately 13,260 sales appointments. Ben, does that seem about right to you?" (17 years x 780 appointments - 13,260).

Ben agreed.

"Ben...You've been ingraining your incorrect sales methodology on your conscious and subconscious mind during 13,260 sales appointments spread across seventeen years. Don't you think that you owe it to yourself to try these new sales behaviors a mere 500 times before you give up on them?

Ben stopped and thought and went silent. I could see the gears grinding away. Eventually, Ben's eyes made contact with mine and he said, "Yes."

"Ben, do you mean it? You'll try these new things I'm going to teach you FIVE HUNDRED TIMES before you give up on them? You REALLY mean it, Ben?"

Ben sad, "Yes, Skip, I do mean it. It's just that I don't know if I'll be able to do it."

"Ben, how would you rate your sales compared to the others in your company? Let's say on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best?"

Ben surprised me and said "a two."

"So are you telling me you've been a marginally effective salesperson for seventeen years?"

"Yes. Marginal. Yes," replied Ben.

"Would you like to be better than marginal?"

"Yes, Skip, I would, I would, yes" was Ben's reply.

"So let's do it. Let's have you become better than marginal. Will you join me?" I asked.

He paused. And then he said "Yes."

And thus started the first step of a long journey for Ben to break old sales habits...ones it took him seventeen years to "perfect." And it was incredibly hard for him, but luckily his sales manager took up the sales coaching torch where I left off. Last I heard, Ben was still with the company and had improved several notches (hey.,.several notches is nothing to sneeze at! If 422 sales employees all improve by several notches you've got some serious revenue that's being produced with these new notches!).

Sales learning can change lives. It can change the lives of individuals and it can change the lives of companies. Sales training provides sales learning. Sales learning is a process, and it requires constant coaching to bring about the behavioral changes that drive sales improvement.

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.

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Minnesota Sales Training

I sometimes get asked about sales training resources in my home state. Minnesota is blessed to have outstanding and industry-leading sales experts. Here are excellent sales training resources in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and throughout the state of Minnesota:

Danita Bye (Sales Growth Specialists): Danita helps companies develop their sales strategies and execute them to get desired results. Sales Growth Specialists

Jill Konrath (Selling to Big Companies): Jill is the author of the best-selling book "Selling to Big Companies," a leading B2B sales expert, and the powerhouse behind the Sales Shebang. Selling to Big Companies

Lee Salz (Sales Architects): Lee is the author of "Soar Despite Your Sales Dodo Manager." Lee is a sales management consultant that helps companies hire the right salespeople and on-board them effectively. Sales Architecture

Sam Richter (SBR Worldwide): Sam is the author of the acclaimed book "Take the Cold out of Cold Calling." He is a public speaker and an expert on how to find online information about prospect companies. SBR Worldwide  

Skip Anderson (Selling to Consumers): Skip is a leading authority and writer on selling to consumers. He works with B2C & retail companies and individuals to unlock the buying potential of each prospect. Selling to Consumers Sales Training.

Tom Schaber (Selling Dynamics): Tom is the author of "The Road Warrior's Guide to Sales Management." Tom provides sales organization audits in order to fix broken sales organizations and help healthy ones grow. Tom Schaber

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter to read more sales tips and commentary about selling and sales.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip works with companies and individuals to unlock the buying potential of every prospect through improved selling.

I'll Know It When I See It and Top 100 Sales Blogs

Here's the scenario: You're working in sales at a furniture store, and you greet a couple who has entered your store. You quickly find out they are looking for a sofa, so you begin to ask probing questions about their need so you can be helpful. Then the prospects say this:

"We'll know it when we see it."

I know people who sell cars, homes, clothing, jewelry, and many other products also here this distancing statement. Having spent many years working in a range of business-to-consumer selling roles (yes, even selling furniture for quite some time), I would cringe when I would hear a prospect say something like, "We'll know it when we see it!"

Why would I cringe? Because I would feel like I had been marginalized. Prospects saying this succeeded at keeping their distance from me. They had effectively prevented me from doing my job. Although "I'll know it when I see it" limited me early in my sales career, I eventually figured out why prospects would say this. And here's the reason:

Lack of prospect engagement. 

When a sales professional doesn't succeed at creating an engaging relationship with a prospect,  the prospect can see the salesperson as a foe rather than trusted advisor. Engaging the prospect draws them in, makes them feel comfortable, and encourages them to enter into conversation with their salesperson.

When prospects are engaged, they are actively involved in the buying (and selling!) process. They speak, they share, they challenge, they ask, they joke, they relax, they relate, they laugh, and on the list goes. In my sales training, I talk a lot about how better engagement of the customer cures many sales ills, but one of my favorites is putting an end to hearing prospects say "I'll know it when I see it."

Engage more if you want to sell more.

* * * * *

News flash: The Selling to Consumers blog was recently named to a list of the Top 100 Sales Blogs. See the list the here.

 

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter to read more sales tips and commentary about selling and sales.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip works with companies and individuals to unlock the buying potential of every prospect through improved selling.

Business Networking Tip #3: Give Before You Expect to Receive

Some of us in the sales profession do lots and lots of networking (all of us should be networking, regardless of the type of selling we do - and yes, that include retail sales pros, too). I've noticed there are three types of networkers:

1. Those on a mission to receive.

These are the individuals who are always looking for business, introductions, and referrals through networking. The individuals can be quite aggressive, and even off-putting. What many of these real estate agents, insurance sellers, financial professionals, and others don't fully comprehend is that prospects and customers typically care primarily about themselves, and are not programmed to go out of their way for others.

What is this group's fatal flaw? They seek to receive without giving first, and this is a turn-off for many. Therefore, networking success for these folks is often very limited.

2. Those on a mission to give.

These salespeople know that they will eventually receive if they give first. They've learned to be the first one to extend a hand of support, or share a lead, or provide a valuable tidbit of information. These salespeople, who we should all aspire to become if we aren't already, have a spirit of helping others, knowing they will benefit be creating the relationship first and receiving the benefits of that relationship as time marches on.

Give before you expect to receive.

3. Those who network but aren't on a mission.

These individuals don't have a clear networking plan. They have a lot of contacts, they connect with a lot of people, and they enjoy meeting new acquaintances. But they are missing a networking strategy. They likely know where they want to end up (with revenue generated via their network), but there is a disconnect between their strategy and their desired end game. These individuals enjoy the hunt, but they don't reap benefits from it.

What is this group's fatal flaw? Random networking activity that doesn't get them to where they want to go.

* * * * *

While we're on the topic of networking, I wanted to let you know about a book I've recently read by Kathleen Watson, MBA. "NetProfit: Business Networking Without the Nerves."

What I love about this book is the simplicity of the layout of the book. There are copious checklists of activities, self-checks throughout the book to get you to analyze your own networking behaviors, and valuable "bottom line" summaries.

The chapters are fairly brief and easily digestible, but don't take that to mean light on content. This is a very good book, and anybody who is interested in improving their networking skills would be well-served to read it. Get information here about NetProfit.

 

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter to read more sales tips and commentary about selling and sales.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is mad about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

Don't Take This Bitter Pill

I see it often. Salespeople who want to sell more but who don't do what they need to do to get there. Managers who should be doing this but do that instead. Business owners who don't take the bull by the horns. People avoid change. People avoid discomfort which is a part of being in business. People avoid opportunities for growth instead of embracing them.

Activity is the fuel for your career. Correct activity is the fuel for success.

Sometimes salespeople look for easy answers. Whether in the form of a bitter pill, a seminar, or a supposedly new sales methodology, successful selling is usually not easy. Successful selling is hard work. Not all pills are safe, but more activity is always safe.

Do you want to sell more? Then do more. Get out there. Overcome your obstacles. Charge!

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter to read more sales tips and commentary about selling and sales.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is mad about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

Are You Who You Say You Are? Time for a Reality Check

Are you one of those 180-degree people? You know, those people that say things that are completely opposite of reality?

For example:

- You say, "I'm not a complainer; I hate it when people complain." Yet, you are the biggest complainer in your company.

- You say, "I work sixty hours a week for this company." Yet, everyone around you knows that--in a good week--you invest thirty hours of your time on your job.

- You say, "I always ask for the sale." Yet, every time your sales manager observes one of your sales interactions with a real, live customer, you don't ask for the order.

It's time for a reality check. We are approaching the halfway point of 2009. It's time for each of us to look ourselves in the mirror and get a better grip on reality. All of us benefit when we approach reality in a more real way.

What are the issues you're facing that would benefit from greater reality?

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter to read more sales tips and commentary about selling and sales.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is mad about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

What Salespeople Go Through: A Video

If you sell moderate priced retail items, you probably don't have to deal with many negotiating customers. But for those who sell higher-priced items, or sell in customers' homes, or many other products and services, things can get very challenging when prospects try to nickel and dime you to death. Or, when they have unrealistic or unreasonable price positions.

Email the link to this video to all your friends who don't sell so they know what we go through in your career.Just copy and past this url in your email message: http://blog.sellingtoconsumers.com/2009/06/what-salespeople-go-through-a-video.html

I love this video! Thanks to Sales Training Ireland and Niall Devitt for bringing this vid to my attention.

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter to read more sales tips and commentary about selling and sales.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is mad about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

How to Engage Your Customer (If You're Halle Berry or George Clooney)

If you're Halle Berry or George Clooney, here's how you engage your prospects:

You just stand there.

The mere presence of Halle Berry in close proximity to me would yield an astonishing level of engagement on my part. I'd be all ears. And all eyes. Extra engagement points would be awarded if she actually looked at me. If she happened to touch my arm during the interaction, I would...I would...oh, I can't even say what I'd do because I'd be overdosed on engagement.

[I'm married to Pamala Anderson - not the Pamela Anderson that you know, probably, but an even more  attractive woman than the famous one. For the record, I have the same reaction to being in close proximity to my wife that I would have to being sold to by Halle Berry - except when my wife scowls at me, which seems to be happening more and more lately, which might explain why I spent so darned much time this afternoon reviewing photos of Halle all across the internet. Where does the time go?].

Being a decidedly heterosexual sales trainer, I will even admit that George Clooney would have a similar effect upon me as the Halle effect, albeit much, much more moderate (I can admit this because I'm so incredibly secure in my sexuality). Ladies and gay men, I suspect your reaction to Mr. C would be similar to what my reaction to Ms. Berry would be: a full body stupor-like high.

But alas, I've allowed myself to get sidetracked.

If you're not Halle or George - and most of you aren't - you're likely an average looking, well-meaning, moderately talented individual with typical charisma. I certainly fall into that category (at best), so I can't rely on the charm and pure personal (animal?) magnetism that is the gift of being a Halle or a George. I need to WORK at engaging my prospects. And you probably need to work at it, too (or should).

Every bit of natural charisma you or I have helps us in our endeavor to involve prospects in our selling process (and in their buying process). Our senses of humor (always appropriate, never inappropriate) help, too. So do our abilities to listen, to indicate sincere and genuine interest, to talk well, to use interesting verbiage, to speak at the appropriate pace and volume, and to look well put together and act in a way that will resonate with our prospects. And that's only the beginning of creating customer engagement.

Here's what to do:

1. Accept the fact that your prospects will not hang on every one of your words like I would if Halle was selling me a food chopper or garbage disposer or a Sham-Wow.

2. Talk less.

3. Ask more questions than you ever dreamed you could.

4. Listen carefully to the answers.

5. Do whatever else it takes.

Halle, if you're ever looking for sales employment, please look me up.

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter to read more sales tips and commentary about selling and sales.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is mad about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

Selling to A Naysayer: 7 Strategies for Dealing with Prospect Negativity

You're selling in a furniture store. A prospect comes through your front door. You say, "Good morning!"

"I'm just looking," she says abruptly as her eyes dart left and right. She quickly moves farther and farther away from you as your sincere hopes of engaging the shopper dim.

A bit later, she approaches you. "How can I get some help here?" she announces.

"I'll be happy to help," you respond, smile on face.

"All your sofas are too big. I can't believe you don't have any reasonably-sized sofas in your store. That's so frustrating."

"What would be the ideal sofa size for you?" you inquire.

"Smaller than what you have here at your store for sure," she barks. "Who would want such huge sofas? I can't believe it."

"Did you see the apartment-sized sofas on the second floor by any chance?" You're trying to help.

She apparently doesn't want your help. "I don't live in an apartment. I live in a house, and all the sofas in here are just too large. Can you recommend a store that would have some real sofas?"

You've just met a naysayer. These prospects are the individuals that seem to have their mind made up that you won't be able to help them, that the world is against them, and that you are incompetent. Nothing will work, nothing will help, and nothing will relieve their (imagined) pain.

How do you deal with these negative customers and still have a hope of moving the sales interaction forward to a closed sale? Here are seven strategies for dealing with the naysayer prospect: 

1. Be unfailingly positive.

Don't let anger, disgust, or despair creep into your persona. Be positive. Smile genuinely. Be helpful. Sometimes even the most ardent naysayers can be softened by a caring salesperson.

2. Simplify.

Naysayers create negative momentum. They love to pile negative thought on top of negative thought. They make their situation needlessly complex because of all this layering. Counter this by simplifying instead. For instance: "Can we back up a moment? I know you're disappointed in our sofas, but I'd really like to understand what size of sofa you'd like. If I understood that piece, I just might be able to help you. Would you be willing to share that with me?"

3. Take notes

Naysayers get caught in a cycle of negative thinking and negative speaking. Sometimes they do this without even being aware of it. By taking notes, you're documenting your prospects' conversation. Sometimes the trickiest prospects will lighten up when they see you with a pen in hand writing down their key statements, such as "This store sucks because all your sofas are too big."

4. Let them talk

Naysayers sometimes need to get something off their chests. Let them do it. After sufficient opportunity to vent, naysayers can brighten their outlook. Some people do yoga to create a positive frame of mind. Others bitch at salespeople. Whatever works.

5. Know when to stop letting them talk

Yes, this is 180 degrees from #4. Naysayers' negative talk can energize some naysayers and make their naysaying condition worse so they transform from naysayers to extreme naysayers before your very eyes. Don't let it happen! Don't let the naysayer reach the point of no return. Take over before they implode!

6. Use closed questions

Closed questions are easier for people--especially children and naysayers--to answer. Closed questions can be answered with "yes" or "no," or with multiple choices. Sometimes "What size of sofa do you want?" is too complex a question for a naysayer customer. "Would an 84 inch sofa work for you?" might be your ticket to breaking down the naysayers nayness.

7.Disengage

As a last resort, disengage with your prospect. Saying something like "You know, I just don't think I'm going to be able to help you today - Thank you for coming in today" will shock some naysayers back into reasonable conversation. Some even apologize! Others will go on naying their way into oblivion.

*  *  *  *  *

Don't forget my "Engage More...Sell More" webinar today (June 17, 2009) at 1PM Eastern.

• Learn how to win your prospects over;

• Hear what actual salespeople sound like when they are non-engaging in their behavior;

• Analyze your past sales behaviors to evaluate your engagement proficiency;

• Learn ten simple yet effective strategies to achieve richer customer engagement with your prospects and customers;

• Leverage your engagement skills to more and bigger sales.

INVEST IN YOUR SUCCESS:

OPTION A: The webinar is free with a VIP membership in Top Sales Experts (only $25 a year - AND you can attend all TSE webinars and master classes for FREE with your VIP membership; You can even listen to a recording if you can't make a live session). To take the Top Sales Experts VIP tour, click here.

[After becoming a TSE VIP member, make sure to go here to register for the webinar].

OPTION B: Attend the webinar for $59.50 without a TSE membership. To register, go here.

Begin engaging your prospects more effectively starting next week. Take the "Engage More...Sell More" webinar. Register now!

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter to read more sales tips and commentary about selling and sales.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is mad about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

Fight or Flight: Which Have You Chosen?

There are some signs that the economy has reached it's bottom, and if that's true, we'll (hopefully) soon begin a (probably) lengthy economic recovery. Having said that, many salespeople and organizations are still struggling to deal with the present day realities of the current economy.

How have you chosen to deal with this economy? Fight? Or flight?

Only you can decide if it's time to pull up your roots and find a new gig. If you've lasted this long in your position, perhaps you've weathered the worst of the economic storm and your environment, although still challenging, will start to improve for you. If you're a fighter, you probably fall into one of two categories:

Those of you who are more long-term, future-thinkers are already thinking ahead a month or a year or beyond. You've strategized, created a plan to implement now that will position you in a stronger position down the road. You are fighters, not flighters!

Those of you who are more present, current-day thinkers are already stretching yourselves, developing new markets, new sales techniques, and working harder to overcome the current hardships. You are fighters, too!

The best sales fighters will do both: prepare for the future (after all, the weak will have already left, leaving you in a better position to benefit from an economic recovery!) while putting up sales numbers today that will pay your bills (and maybe even create wealth!) and keep your employer in business for tomorrow.

Flee if you must, but I encourage you to fight a stronger, better fight.

•   •   •   •   •

Begin engaging your prospects more effectively starting next week. Take the "Engage More...Sell More" webinar! Learn more.

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter to read more sales tips and commentary about selling and sales.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is mad about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

Engage More...Sell More: A Sales Webinar

Presented by Skip Anderson

Wednesday June 17, 2009

1:00 PM Eastern / 10:00 PM Pacific

Are you losing sales you should be winning? Is your sales approach sluggish? Would creating more sales momentum during your sales interactions help you close more sales?

The answer to these and other selling challenges is to do a better job of engaging your prospects in the buying (and selling) process. By engaging prospects more fully, salespeople are able to maximize opportunities that exist with each and every prospect.

Salespeople who are highly skilled at engaging their prospects are more likely to become top sales performers, more likely to earn repeat business from their custom base, and more likely to achieve higher customer satisfaction.

In "Engage More...Sell More" you will:

• Learn how to win your prospects over;

• Hear what actual salespeople sound like when they are non-engaging in their behavior;

• Analyze your past sales behaviors to evaluate your engagement proficiency;

• Learn ten simple yet effective strategies to achieve richer customer engagement with your prospects and customers;

• Leverage your engagement skills to more and bigger sales.

INVEST IN YOUR SUCCESS:

OPTION A: The webinar is free with a VIP membership in Top Sales Experts (only $25 a year - AND you can attend all TSE webinars and master classes for FREE with your VIP membership; You can even listen to a recording if you can't make a live session). To take the Top Sales Experts VIP tour, click here.

[After becoming a TSE VIP member, make sure to go here to register for the webinar].

OPTION B: Attend the webinar for $59.50 without a TSE membership. To register, go here.

Begin engaging your prospects more effectively starting next week. Take the "Engage More...Sell More" webinar! Register now!

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter to read more sales tips and commentary about selling and sales.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is mad about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

Mundane No More

One positive effect the economic crisis has brought to the table in many businesses is a rejection of mundaneness. Fighting for one's survival is, by definition, not mundane! Fighting banality is a good thing in any business, regardless if it is struggling or successfully overcoming the current economy's side effects.

Why does TV's Sham-Wow guy have an impact? Because he's different. He's the opposite of mundane. Billy Mays did the same thing in TV pitching starting a decade or more ago. His voice was different from all previous TV pitch men.

Okay, I know, you don't want to be like Billy Mays or the Sham-Wow guy. I don't blame you. So don't be like them. Be like you, but a fresher you. A fun you. A different you. Salespeople should resist  being boring,

So should managers and executives and companies. If you or your business are stuck in Mundane World, here are a dozen suggestions to help you step into some perhaps newfangled territory to aid in your fight against all things mundane:

1. Hold one of your weekly department meetings offsite: How about a truck stop, a shopping mall, a playground, a park, or a museum?

2. Wear a suit to work. Buy a new tie especially for the occasion...in a color you thought you'd never, ever wear.

3. Sales managers, take your people to the airport to get their shoes shined. Maybe one of your best customers would like to join you?

4. Record an audio testimonial from a customer. Send a CD of this testimonial to fifty other customers, asking them if they would record a similar testimonial. Publish the testimonials on your website or create a compilation CD which can be given out to prospects.

5. Sales department: do something nice for another department in your same company. Hand wash their cars, make them grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for lunch, have a massage therapist come in and give them all a ten minute neck and shoulder massage, help them clean up their workstations, bring them a surprise malt or plant, or take them to a movie. Yes, I know, sales drives business, but other people are on the bus with you. Be kind to your fellow passengers.

6. Wear a Barney suit to work one day. Why? I don't know. But have you ever tried it?

7. Invite a high school soccer team (or other non-profit group) to provide car washes for customers in your parking lot one day this summer. Take donations from your customers and donate the money to the team. Give those who donate a free candle. Or a baby back rib. Or a fishing lure. Or a perfume sample.

8. If you sell landscape design, bring a houseplant to your prospect as a gift to your in-home meeting. Every time the prospect waters the plant, they'll think of you. Email them a care instruction sheet a week later. Engage your customers.

9. Department stores: mix up your departments for a weekend. Put a outdoor grill display in your men's clothing department (men buy grills, don't they?); Put a tie display in your Better Sportswear (women's) department (women buy ties for men, right?); Display coolers next to swim suits; Sell men's watches next to dress shirts; Invite men to try a foot massager while trying on shoes; Put a sandwich cart in the women's shoe department. I don't know if any of these ideas are good ones, but someone in your organization has to figure out a way to fight mundaneness!

10. Men's clothing stores: Have everyone associate wear a Columbia fishing vest at work this weekend. Invite a fishing resort to put up a display in your department. Serve fish tacos for lunch. Everyone get out your fish ties!

11. When you send your spray crew to spray (weeds, fertilizer) the lawns of your clients, give them a discount coupon supplied by a local window-washing company. Everyone needs to have their windows washed. Have your crew hand the coupon to your customers. Have the window washing company do the same thing for your company.

12. Ask your retail customers to vote for their favorite songs. Hand them a CD case (instead of a CD and the usual insert, put a special offer in it or advertise a brand new piece of merchandise), and ask them to hand the case to a store associate when they hear a song they like playing on the store's background music system. When they turn in their CD jewel case to an associate, ask them if they'd like to take another CD case with them so they can vote again. Tally the results and post them next weekend. When customers exit, hand them a coupon for the CD store across the parking lot. Make shopping fun!

If I could think of these twelve ideas in thirty minutes, imagine what you and your company could think of...

Be mundane no more! Fight boring business practices!

No matter how crazy, how unique, or how outside-the-box, please share your ideas to fight mundaneness by posting your comment now!

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter to read more sales tips and commentary about selling and sales.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is mad about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

Firing an Employee? Ask Yourself These Questions First

Terminating employees is a fact of life for businesses and managers. But before you fire an employee, ask yourself the following questions to help prevent HR and business mistakes.

1. Is this firing caused by my management deficiency or by the employee's performance deficiency?

This is a tough, but crucial, question. It can help you to see what role you played in this employment situation. It can also help you understand options other than termination, and help you manage your next employee more effectively.

2. What are the short-term implications of the firing?

There are possible implications of revenue loss, political struggles within the company, and a potential impact on other employees (both emotional and practical). Responsibilities may need to be distributed to other associates. Consider what will happen this week, next week, and next month if this termination moves forward.

3. What are the long-term implications of the firing?

Will this employee become your competitor? Will she be in a position to hurt your business in a way that is greater than she currently does as an employee? Will you be able to retain long-term customer relationships without this employee? How will this impact your organizational chart? Think ahead 1-2 years to predict the impact this action will have on your department and your business.

4. Have you sufficiently counseled the employee?

This includes verbal and written warnings, coaching sessions, documentation of performance and behavior issues, performance improvement plans, training, etc.

5. Is there another manager in the company to whom the employee could report?

Especially if there has been personality issues between you and your employee, this may be a way to allow the company to keep benefiting from the employee while allowing another manager to take over the management responsibilities of keeping this individual on board.

6. Have you asked the employee this question: "What would it take for us to save your job and continue our business relationship?

This is a great last-ditch-effort question to ask. Just when it seems like you're at the point of no return, you may learn something that may help you keep your employee.

7. Might this action be putting me or the company in legal jeopardy?

The time to do research, get your ducks in a row, and consult your attorney is now, not after legal action is commenced.

8. Are we ready to terminate this employee?

How will internal and external stake-holders be notified of this action? How will you get all company property? Do you need to review the employee's employment agreement before he leaves? How will voicemail, email, mobile phones, laptops, and access to your computer network or intranet be handled?

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter to read more sales tips and commentary about selling and sales.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is mad about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

They're the Only Brand that Won't Do WHAT?

As sales professionals, we're in the people business. In the people business, nothing is more important than understanding our customers. We must not only accurately hear the words our customers speak, but we must also understand the meaning behind those words. The story below illustrates this principle quite well, I think.

The following is a true story. I was working as a part-time clothing salesman. We pick up the dialog as a prospect enters the shoe area:

CUSTOMER: "Do you have Sperry Top Sider flip-flops?" [I notice he had a slight accent - Irish, perhaps?]

ME: "All our flip-flops are over here on this wall" (I lead the customer to the display wall). "Do they have to be the Sperry brand?"

CUSTOMER: "Yes, they do. Sperry Top Sider is the only brand that won't scratch my butt hole."

ME: ["Huh?" I think. "What did this guy just say to me? And why did he say it? What did he mean? Did I hear him correctly? Is he coming on to me? WTF?" My mind was spinning like a carousel on steroids. I tried to speak but nothing came out. All I could do is point to the flip-flop display wall and slightly shrug my shoulders while my mind whirred. Finally, I manage to find my voice and use it:] "Pardon me?"

CUSTOMER: "I said Sperry is the only brand that won't scratch my butt hole."

ME: ["Argh! He said it again! What on earth is he talking about? What does he do with these flip-flops, anyway?" My mind is picturing him kneeling down on his knees with the flip flop perilously scratching his buttocks. "Is that what he means?" I picture him kicking up his heels as he walks through the mall with the back of the flip-flop grazing his behind. "Nobody walks like that, though," I think. "Huhhhhh?"]

Eventually, I figured out what my shopper meant. Although my ears definitely heard "They're the only brand that won't scratch my butt hole," what he really said was...

"They're the only brand that won't scratch my boat hull."

Understanding our customers is very, very important.

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter to read more sales tips and commentary about selling and sales.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is mad about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

A Case For and Against Motivational Speakers

I've never cared for the term "motivational speaker." Sometimes people assign that title to me, and I always cringe a little bit when I hear or read it. Many so called motivational speakers I've seen are more entertainers than they are motivational. And I can't help think of Chris Farley's portrayal of motivational speaker Matt Foley on Saturday Night Live.

Often, motivational speaker is someone who gets the audience excited by leveraging latent energy in a roomful of people and channeling it toward cheering, laughing, and an eventual standing ovation. From what I've experienced, this type of motivation has a half-life of about 24 hours - the amount of "motivation" decreases by fifty percent every 24 hour period.

As I see it,if you're in sales and you need someone to stand in front of you to get your heart pumping faster so you can go out and do your job, you're probably in the wrong business.

To me, motivation comes from knowledge, not entertainment (not that receiving knowledge can't be entertaining; you should hear my story about the eight foot tall salesperson). If you're a salesperson and you know what to do and how to do it, there's tremendous motivation in that. And there's incredible opportunity when we drink in knowledge which opens up doors to new heights of selling performance. 

I'm a sales trainer. And if you must, you can call me a motivational speaker - I'll know you mean I provide motivation through education.

And for the record, I don't live in a van down by the river.

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter to read more sales tips and commentary about selling and sales.

Skip Anderson is the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and management consulting company. Skip is mad about helping companies and individuals sell more.