Selling to Consumers | Sales Training Blog by Skip Anderson

Brochures Don't Sell. People Sell.

Brochures, flyers, catalogs: They're all part of the weak salesperson's selling arsenal, at least in the face-to-face (F2F) selling realm. While these pieces can be helpful in marketing a business or a product, they are rarely much help to a salesperson in selling a product or service. 

The most effective tool a salesperson has in his selling arsenal is the salesperson.

A human being has the capacity to be infinitely more engaging with another human being than does a piece of paper, and an engaged prospect or shopper has a higher likelihood of becoming a customer than a non-engaged prospect or shopper. A brochure cannot ask questions. A catalog cannot leverage subtleties of personal communication preferences to have a greater impact. A flyer cannot keep an individual's interest like a human being can. A leaflet cannot become a trusted advisor.

RESIST the temptation to hand out a brochure...

> when a prospect asks you a question;

> when a shopper asks if you have one;

> when a browser asks if you have any information;

> when you're presenting your product or service to your customer;

> when you are handling an objection;

> when you habitually reach for one;

> when you don't know what else to do.

INSTEAD, do this:

> ask a question;

> then ask another one;

> listen;

> show the actual product;

> tell a story;

> paint word-pictures;

> take out a pad of paper and take notes;

> present;

> explain;

> smile;

> invite the prospect to touch your product;

> clarify the issue;

> review;

> ask for the sale;

DON'T BE A DISPENSER OF FLYERS. ENGAGE INSTEAD!

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 to increase sales by realizing the buying potential of every prospect.

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The Selling Process: A Primer for Business-To-Consumer Salespeople

Just about everything in life has a process:

> There's a process for getting registered for kindergarten.

> There's a process to get accepted into college.

> There's a process for changing the oil in your vehicle.

> There's a process for paying taxes.

> There's a process for having a baby.

Successful selling has a process, too. Think of the selling process as a GPS for your sales interaction. GPS will get you to where you want to go, as long as the unit knows your destination preference. A well-conceived selling process will also get you where you want to go with your prospect. Although there are always exceptions to rules, a step-wise progression consisting of doing the right things and the right times will yield big results in sales.

A PRIMER: THE SELLING PROCESS FOR SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMER SELLING

1. Find your prospect.

If you work in a retail store or have leads provided to you, you don't have to find a prospect to sell to. But otherwise, one of the keys to selling success is to find individuals who are open to spending time with you discussing their needs for your products or services.

Door-to-door selling in a residential neighborhood is a process of finding someone who won't slam the door on your face and will answer your questions (at minimum) or indicate they have a need for your product (better yet!). Selling insurance or real estate or other products or services that aren't sold at retail or door-to-door (D2D) require strong prospecting skills (or a nice marketing budget) in order to have enough people to talk to about your product. Selling on the phone requires a phone list of viable prospects or current customers to upsell.

Once you have your prospect, it's time to find out more about them.

2.Investigate Needs and Desires

Purchases are not random acts. Consumers buy to fulfill needs. Clients are complex and marvelous beings, and the better we understand them and their needs, the better we can position our products and services, and our company, to fulfill those needs. This leads to the prospect or shopper to become a customer or a client.

The depth with which we understand the prospect's needs will help determine our success with our prospects. Merely a superficial understanding will yield less results than an understanding of depth and an appreciation of nuance and detail in the customer's thinking. Therefore, we ask questions to uncover needs, and we discuss those needs and desires to develop a rich and thorough understanding of them, even if we have limited time with our shopper/prospect.

Most sales training will tell you that identifying and understanding consumers' needs and desires is one of the keys to a successful sales career. But many salespeople don't spend enough time on this step of the selling process because they're so anxious to talk about their product or service, or show the shopper something. Ask good good sales questions. Then ask more questions. Investigate.

3. The Presentation

Now is the time for the focus to be on the product or service, the salesperson, or the salesperson's company. This is where we match up our product to the shopper/prospect's needs.

We explain the features of our product. "Features" are details and facts about the product, ideally with the individual consumers' needs in mind. A feature might be any of the following: It's available in 17 colors; you can get an extended warranty; It's available in large or small; It is manufactured in the USA; we custom design all our products for our customers; It's 1.1 carat; It has side airbags; etc.

We also present the benefits of the product or service. "Benefits" are what the features will do for the prospect/shopper. This is where value enters the mix.

A benefit could be any of the following: So you can match the color of the widget to the color of your decor; so you can be protected over the next three years should anything happen to your new computer, therefore saving you time and money and frustration; so you're helping to keep Americans working and not frustrated with products that are made overseas with less quality craftsmanship; so the item is the perfect size for your needs rather than having to buy a widget from stock sizes that might not be right for you; so your fiance will have a diamond that is over that important 1 carat threshold that so many engaged women hope for so your fiance will be thrilled; so your not only protected with the front airbags in a crash, but also protection to the side can help minimize head injury and even death during a crash.

4. Closing the Sale

Everything we've accomplished so far is like the plans for a wedding: the proposal, the shower, the selection of the wedding date, arranging for the participants in the ceremony, acquiring a location, buying the cake and flowers and scheduling the musicians, creating and mailing invitations, selecting the attire, purchasing the rings, preparing the vows, etc.

But closing the sale is like the wedding ceremony itself. It is what all the previous steps have led you. Without the wedding ceremony, all the wedding preparation is a waste of time. Without closing the sale, all the previous sales steps have also been a waste of time.

Closing the sale first consists of a trial close (or test close) that is designed to verify that you have been on the right track with your prospect/shopper. An example of a trial close question is "Are we on the right track?" Another is "Today you were hoping to find a brown widget that would let you do this and that. Do you think this brown widget would let you do this and that?" If the shopper/prospect says "yes," you've successfully completed the trial close. If the response is "no," you've got to return to the "identifying needs and desires" or "the presentation" step of the selling process.

There are many different methods for closing the sale, the simplest being a direct question: "Do you want to go ahead and purchase it?" A salesperson can give alternates: "Do you want to go with the Hitachi or the Sony?" or assume the purchase: "When do you want this delivered?"

Closing the sales is absent from many salesperson's repertoire in the B2C selling sector, and therefore their sales success is limited.

5. Handling Objections

An "objection" is a stated reason why the customer won't or can't purchase from you.

Many of the objections a salesperson hears from a prospect are automatic responses that are not valid. Consumers have developed these responses over many years of dealing with salespeople or seeing others (parents, for example) deal with salespeople. Many other objections are outright fabrications. The remaining objections are valid objections. It's the salesperson's job to find out into which of these categories the objection fits.

Once that determination is made, the salesperson's job is to navigate through these objections in an attempt to arrive at a closed sales transaction despite the objection. The salesperson does this by asking questions, providing new information or reviewing information already presented, investigating the objections, understanding the objections, exploring the objection with the prospect, and asking the prospect to buy again.

I've developed the 3A method for overcoming objections. It can be used as a template for a great many sales situations to help the salesperson successfully handle objections and move on to the sales transaction.

In our wedding analogy, think of the objection as an absent priest, pastor or rabbi from the wedding ceremony, or a lost wedding ring or a pipe organ that won't work. Handling these events are like handling objections.

6. Acquire referrals and testimonials.

While many business-to-consumer sellers skip this step, it can be helpful for many in the B2C sector. Happy customers are often willing to share the names of friends and family members who could use your products or services. Testimonials are positive statements of endorsement you can use in your selling process or in promoting yourself to others.

* * * * * * *

Download the free sales eBook by Skip Anderson, "27 Can Do Steps to Sell More"

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 to increase sales by realizing the buying potential of every prospect.

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10 Favorite Responses to the Dead End Prospect

My definition of a "dead end prospect" is a prospect with which you've completed your selling process, handled any objections, and, despite your best efforts at doing a bang up job selling, have reached a dead end, without any clear reason why the prospect isn't buying.

The dead-ender almost always is a result of the salesperson missing something (or several things) during the selling process. As salespeople, we should always want to know why a potential customer is removing themselves from the "potential buyer" category and placing himself in the "not a buyer" category. Usually, during the sales interaction, you're able to drill down enough to understand why.

But a dead-end prospect is one that catches you off guard, that surprises you, that hasn't given you any answers as to why he's not buying, and suddenly declares he is not interested. These are those few shocker prospects that leave you scratching your head and without a sale.

Here are my 10 favorite responses to the dead end prospect in a one-call close or big ticket retail environment [all assume that you've had a productive and positive sales interaction up to this point]:

1. "Hold it please! Let me write down what you're saying [grab a pad of paper]. What was it you were looking for today?" [This is really starting the selling process over again, and works well because in most one call close or retail scenarios, the prospect is the one that initiated the interaction with us in the first place].

2. "I'm not surprised you would say you're not interested, as lots of our customers said they weren't interested at first. But after I was able to understand the real reason why they were saying that, it created better communication between us. How can you and I communicate better about this?"

3. "What are you thinking?" [Said in an inquisitive manner not an accusatory manner.]

4. "Is it the money, is it me, or is it something else?"

5. "Hmmm. I'm just wondering what it is I'm missing here. Will you help me out?"

6. "Let's talk about it for a few minutes, would that be okay? [then be silent]"

7. "What changes would allow you to become interested instead of not interested?"

8. "John, were you interested when you called me out to your home to discuss getting a widget? Were you interested when we were talking about your need for a widget an hour or two ago? So please help me out here so I can understand."

9. [Via Brian Tracy:] As you're leaving the home, or they're leaving your retail establishment, you suddenly say, "Terry, what's the real reason you didn't purchase today?"

10. "I'm so sorry Becky! Tell me what I missed?"

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 to increase sales by realizing the buying potential of every prospect.

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Retail Sales Clerk v. Retail Sales Professional: Which One Are You?

I'm on a mission to advance the sales professionalism of retail sales representatives, especially in big ticket retail sales.

Most definitely, retail clerks have their place in the retail industry, and if you're a retail clerk, please don't be offended by this post. Retail clerks work very hard at what they do. Different skills are required for a shopper interested in a $3.49 bottle of shampoo than a shopper interested in a $34,900 car (having said that, if all sellers of shampoo were properly trained on how to sell, they'd sell more $34.99 bottles of shampoo, not to mention all the add-on sale possibilities!).

What I have a problem with are retail clerks filling a position that requires a sales professional (or a company hiring clerks when hiring salespeople would be so much more profitable!). The roles of clerk and salesperson are very different.

Part of success in B2C retail selling is determined by how you view your job. Your thoughts and beliefs about your job will direct your behavior in your job. If you see yourself as a retail clerk, you'll act as a retail clerk. If you see yourself as a professional salesperson, you'll act like a professional salesperson, and a retail clerk and a retail sales professional are as different as nurse assistants and physicians: both work in a similar field, but the difference in education and expertise is significant.

So how do retail sales clerks and retail sales professionals differ?

Clerk: Is always busy with busywork.

Retail sales professional: Is always busy advancing the sales process.

Clerk: Is reactive.

RSP: Is proactive.

Clerk: Understands how to restock shelves

RSP: Understands shoppers and how to influence them.

Clerk: Completes transactions.

RSP: Makes transactions happen.

Clerk: Checks stock.

RSP: Checks if the prospect will buy if it is in stock.

Clerk: Is product focused.

RSP: Is customer focused.

Clerk: Knows how to merchandise a display.

RSP: Knows how to sell the products on a display.

Clerk: Understands prospects' needs on a very basic level, if at all.

RSP: Strives to develops a rich understanding of prospect needs.

Clerk: Gets you to sign up for the store credit card.

RSP: Gets you to spend twice as much (or more!) as you intended to spend.

Clerk: Asks, "Do you have any questions I can answer?"

RSP: Engages the prospect in conversation, even if the prospect doesn't have any questions.

Clerk: Talks about his product knowledge.

RSP: Talks about his product within the framework of the shopper's stated needs.

Clerk: Earns minimum wage; sometimes a bit more.

RSP: Earns a lot more.

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 to increase sales by realizing the buying potential of every prospect.

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Objections: The Roadblock to a Sale. But...

I'm not the first person to draw the analogy between a roadblock and a customer objection during the selling process. Both can prevent progress: one in driving and the other in selling.

Most road barricades are there for good reason. Maybe a bridge is out, or a power line is down, or the road is under construction. In northern Minnesota where I went to college, there were often logging trucks on the roads, and sometimes trees would fall off those logging trucks. That's a good reason to place a road closed sign on a road. These are the reasons someone invented road closed signs in the first place.

And prospects' objections, too, are often legitimate. They might have the desire to buy, but no money to pay for your product. They might have the desire to own what you're selling, but their spouse would kill them if they came home with it. They might have the desire to purchase from you, but the bank will not approve their loan.

These are merely a few examples of how objections can be legitimate, or true, objections.

But things are not always as they seem. This is true with road barricades and it's true with customer objections.

When I was in college my freshman year, a bunch of guys loaded a road barricade into a pick-up truck and moved it from a road construction site (luckily, there were additional road closed signs on the road to prevent disaster). They moved the road closed sign to a road without any road construction. In fact, the sign ended up on a stretch of rural highway that was perfectly fine.

It was a college prank, but I'm sure at least one driver must have driven up to the sign, stopped, and turned around. This happened even though there was no road construction, no bridge out, and no tree on the road from a logging truck.

These drivers assumed the barricade was legitimate and heeded the warning of the sign. And I recommend this to all drivers who see a road closed sign.

But the freshman prank is like half the customer objections you hear from prospects. There's no legitimate reason for the road barricade, and, with this 50% of objections, there's no reason for the objections. Over centuries, consumers have developed A.R.M. - an automated response mechanism to blurt out objections to salespeople even if the objection isn't legitimate. Over centuries of history, mankind has learned that suddenly uttering "I have to think about it" will get rid of most salespeople.

But often the goal of the prospect isn't even to get rid of the salesperson - it's to prevent them from having to make a decision, from taking a stand, from making a change. Even if a prospect wants, needs, and can afford your product, they may still blurt out one of these false objections, such as "I have to talk to my husband."

So how do you know if a prospect's objection is legitimate or not?

1. You create selling hang time.

With continued dialog between salesperson and prospect, things often work themselves out and the salesperson is able to understand that the objection was simply the automated response mechanism in action.

2. You investigate.

Wildly successful salespeople have a healthy dose of skepticism. Interviewing your prospect (in a non-threatening way, of course) can help you to flesh out the facts and identify the real, and not real, issues surrounding the potential purchase.

3. You offer new perspectives.

The prospect shopping for a new stove but announcing the "I have to talk to my husband" might need to hear this: "Your husband would want to make cooking and baking easier for you, wouldn't he?" Sometimes we have new perspectives that shed new light on the potential purchase, and that new light helps create a new paradigm for the prospect.

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 to increase sales by realizing the buying potential of every prospect.

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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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Only 2 Years to Meet Your Sales Goals! The World is Ending!

 
So Hollywood tells us that the world is going to end in 2012. Yikes! That means we only have a couple years to meet our sales and career goals! Better hurry...

> Ask for help. If you need to find prospects as part of your selling job, start beating the bushes like you've never beat them before. Get out there. Time is of the essence!

> Learn how to close sales quicker than you used to. Whenever possible, accelerate the speed of the sales cycle for your prospects. Hurry up now...

> Do more of what you do well. If you sell well on weekends, work every weekend. If you sell well immediately after you get a haircut, get more haircuts. If you sell well after you work out, start working out every day. You get the idea.

> Don't waste your time. Some salespeople waste 80% or more of their time on unimportant non-selling activities. Stop doing that. Please.

> Clean up your act. If you're on the fringe of being a sales professional, clean yourself up and join the profession of selling instead of the dark underbelly of sales. Use unsavory business practices? Stop. Need a shave? Ditto. Sleeping with your prospects? Not anymore. After all, there's only two years left to sell. Sleep on your own time.

> Be remarkable. Perhaps for the first time in your life, become a remarkable salesperson. Do what it takes to cross the threshold of remarkability. 

What can you recommend to your fellow sales peeps to maximize their sales by 2012? Let our readers know! Post a comment!

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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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

 

Customers Reduce Risk by Buying from Experts. Are YOU One?

Prospects and shoppers are busy and distracted and sometimes even confused. They might research companies or purchases online before they go shopping or make a call to a potential source for a good or service, but when they finally meet with a salesperson, whether in a retail store, on the phone, or in the consumer's home, they want to deal with an expert.

What is an expert?

- An individual with knowledge about how to sell the product or service;

- A person with Knowledge about the product or service itself;

- A salesperson with connections with others within the company or externally to make the transaction and any post-purchase issues get resolved smoothly and painlessly.

- An individual who has received recognition from peers (a top producer for the real estate company, President's circle member at the car dealership, senior-level sales associate at the retail company, etc.).

- A person who has received market recognition of experience, knowledge, and excellence (writes an article in the community paper every week, speaks at civic functions, received awards, volunteers expertise at non-profit organizations, is visible in the community, etc.).

- A salesperson who is easy to work with, accessible, and low-risk, with a reputation to match.

These things might not matter if you sell underwear at the mall, but if you sell a kitchen full of appliances at retail, it could matter. If you're investing in a college fund for your toddler or adding a room onto your home, it most certainly matters.

Shopping for big ticket items causes the prospect to perceive an increase in the level of risk that is present. He can seek to reduce this perceived or real risk by dealing with an expert. Anybody who has selected the wrong real estate agent to sell their home knows what risk is all about in the B2C sphere.

If you want to sell more, increase the perception and reality of you as the expert. It's not enough just to be an employee of a company anymore. Become an expert. If you already are one, become a better one.

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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6 Ways Hair Stylists Can Sell More Product

Hair stylists perform a service, but they also sell product. Some resist the product selling aspect of the profession, while others embrace it and not only earn more money, but have a greater impact on their clients' well-being.

Here are six tips to improve the sales of product to your clients:

1. Don't call it "product."

I get that the industry calls shampoo and conditioner and gel and the like "product." This term distinguishes it from services offered in the salon, such as haircuts, color, etc. But that doesn't mean you should call it "product" to your customers.

"Do you need any product?" doesn't sound good to my customer-sensitive ears. I'll spend money to look good, to have healthy hair, to reduce loss of hair, to have sexy women run their long fingers through my hair; but hearing about "product" from a hair stylist makes me picture a warehouse with floor-to-ceiling stacks of pallets full of cardboard boxes. Is that the image you want in your client's mind?

2. When you use a product, tell the client what it is.

If a product is available to the client for purchase, always tell the client what it is. Never add anything to the hair without taking the opportunity to speak the name of the product.

3. Explain the benefits of using the product.

When you add product to the hair, don't just tell the client what it IS, tell the client what it DOES. Give one or two or three quick bullet points that lets the client know the WHY of the product.

Customers don't buy a drill because they want a drill. They buy a drill because they want holes. Salon clients don't buy conditioner because they want conditioner. They buy conditioner because they want healthy or soft or shiny or manageable or beautiful hair.

4. Recommend the product.

After you've explained what you're putting in your client's hair, recommend the product. Recommending a product is different than merely explaining what the product is and what the product does and why they should have it. A recommendation is personal. "I recommend you try this XYZ serum for a month, and then I'd like to hear what you think of it the next time we see each other!" is a recommendation. 

Stylist recommendations sell more product!

5. Ask for the sale.

So you've used the product in the client's hair, you're explained what it is, what the benefits of the product are, and you've recommended it to the product.

Either immediately or at the end of your session, you must ask for the sale. A direct question is great ("Do you want to go ahead and take home some of that XYZ serum?") or an alternative close is great ("Do you want some of that XYZ serum or do you like the ABC serum I used before?") or whatever closing method you like, but ask for the sale.

6. Follow up.

If a prospect has purchased product previously, make sure to follow up with them at their next appointment. Ask them how they liked it and how it worked. Be curious. If they like the product, ask them if they would like to buy more either at the current appointment or a future one, but don't lose the sales momentum of the product by stopping discussion about it after the client has purchased it.

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your 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, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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Retail Zen: 10 Tips for a Blissful Sales Career

True salesmanship in retail has all but disappeared in most sectors of the industry. Customer service and merchandising seems to rule the day at the mall. Not that customer service and merchandising aren't important, mind you, but what about the ancient art of face-to-face selling?

When the stacks of sweaters are folded, the carpet is vacuumed, the glass is sparkling, and the till is counted, how about stepping into the zone of retail zen? Here are ten tips to help you do so:

1. Look shoppers in the eye.

Eye contact between salespeople and customers has been gradually waning in retail for years. Let's bring it back!

I once read that parents spend each day with almost no eye contact with their children. It has been suggested that one way to show children you love them is by honoring them with your attention, and attention means eye contact when they're talking or you're talking. The same applies to retail customers. Put down the scanner, the sale signs, the merchandising plan...and lift your eyes to your customers.

2. Be clever.

"May I help you?" is great for a nurse to say when a patient at the hospital rings the nurse call button, but it's so awfully boring in the retail arena that I wish retail sellers would abolish it. Come up with something more clever. Infuse some personality into the day-to-day milieu.

3. Do the unexpected.

An additional "SALE" sign isn't going to help your store's sales.

But whenever prospects are confronted with something unexpected, they tend to pay attention. One challenge with retail is that it has become profoundly boring for most shoppers. Do your customers a favor: do the unexpected. Bake some spinach puffs in the new oven your company started selling and serve them to customers. Show an episode of The Office in the recliner gallery. Wear a football uniform to work at the kids play equipment showroom. Play a polka on your PA system.

4. Suck them in.

Draw the customers in with your smile, your wit, your knowledge, your interpersonal communication skills. Lock down the person-to-person connection first, then worry about the product. Selling is all about people. It is not all about the carpet, the shoe, or the computer; it's about what those things do for the customer.

5. Take a deep cleansing breath. Now exhale!

Outside B2B salespeople get to drive across town to meet with their prospect, or fly to far away destinations. Retail salespeople get to visit the rest room.

Fight the monotony of retail selling by taking time to breathe, to refocus, and cleanse the mind of unwanted negative thoughts. You may not be able to select the music that's playing on the speakers overhead, but you can select how to react to it.

Relax those tense shoulders!

6. Ask customers what they think.

You just put a new refrigerator on your appliance sales floor? Great! Ask the customer to take a look at it with you, then ask them what they think of it. Ask them what they think of your company's new logo, or your store's new video game display, or the new LED lighting.

7. Be a salesperson, not a clerk.

Become proficient at opening conversation with your shopper. Become skilled at identifying their needs, even the hidden ones that the prospect isn't likely to talk about. Help the shopper understand her needs. Clarify. Do an impressive presentation. Ask for the sale. Handle objections.

That's what salespeople do. 

8. Be thankful.

Retail can be a wonderfully rewarding career. Revel in it. You will probably talk to more people in one day than most business-to-business salespeople talk to in a week or more.

You could be stuck in a cubicle, you know.

9. Sell add-ons.

Isn't it mundane to only sell what customers say they want? Why not sell some things they haven't said they want? Sell two vases instead of one. Sell a digital camera with the laptop. Sell underwear -- yes, underwear -- with the suit. Sell a satellite dish with the RV. Sell a subscription to Metropolitan Home with the dining room.

The possibilities are endless!

10. Have some fun.

Do you sparkle at work? Do you add value to your prospects lives? Do you entertain, make people smile, and truly make them feel welcome? Find your inner retail child. Remember how much fun it was to play "store" when you were seven years old? 

What suggestions do you have to help retail sales professionals find "Retail Zen?"

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your 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, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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In Selling, Are You a "Waiter?" (It's Not What You Think)

Immediacy is a prized trait in business. For better or worse, businesses run on what happens today, not on what might happen tomorrow or next year. Therefore, we all live in the environment of sales targets, sales goals, sales budgets, bonuses, incentives, sales plans, and projections.

Business investors, owners, executives and managers want to know what you're selling today, and they want to have confidence that you're going to duplicate what you're selling today again tomorrow, too, and the next day and the next month and the next year (but with a 10 - 20 percent increase, of course).

Despite the length of sales cycle (the door-to-door salesperson has an extremely short one while the stock broker courting high net worth individuals might have a long sales cycle), immediacy rules the day.

"Waiters" don't do well in the sales profession. In selling, a "waiter" is someone who waits for good things to happen. It might be out of hope for the future, or it might be out of laziness or a personality trait that lacks immediacy to take action or be accountable for one's own sales performance.

If you tend toward being a "waiter", ask yourself five questions every day (post them on your cell phone, by your office phone, on your mirror, or in your car) to help keep you focused and falling into the trap of becoming a waiter:

1. Is what I'm doing right now going to help me generate revenue today?

2. If not, what must I do today to bring in sales now?

3. What business do I need to close today even though I tend to believe that the prospect really will "think about it."

4. What actionable behaviors am I going to do today that will help position me for success today?

5. What can I do today to spend less time thinking (hoping?) about the future rather than taking action today?

6. What action will I do today to take responsibility for my own success?

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your 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, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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10 Reasons In-Home Sales Calls Don't Succeed

For those who sell in consumers' homes, the in-home sales consultation is the catalyst to either sales greatness or failure. If you master the dynamics of selling in the home, you master your sales career!

Here are 10 reasons why in-the-home sales consultations might not be successful:

1. Not on time.

People are busy, and while prospects will likely cut a sales rep some slack if he's late (it's always best to call the prospect as soon as you know you're going to be late), outright disrespect for a prospect's time doesn't help grow sales.

2. Focus on the product instead of the prospect.

Of course salespeople need to present their product's features and benefits in a positive and interesting way, but that shouldn't be the centerpiece of the sales appointment. Although product and technical expertise is important in all kinds of selling, it's more important to have people expertise. The way to sell successfully is to focus on the prospect and her needs, not just the product that's being sold.

3. Do stupid things.

The salesperson parks in the driveway (a no-no in the eyes of some prospects), or plods across the lawn, he tells the prospect he doesn't like cats, he sets a tape measure on a nice cherry dining table and scratches it, he doesn't take off his shoes and tracks muck into the home, etc. Stupid.

4. Wrong pace.

Some prospects are naturally fast-paced, while others are s-l-o-w. Since people like to be around people who are like themselves, salespeople need to adjust their pace of speaking and the pace of their movement to the natural preferences of their prospects.

5. Not leveraging the location.

The prospect collects Italian pitchers. They're all over the kitchen, dining room, entry, and family room. But the salesperson is too busy playing with his order form, brochures, and PowerPoint presentation to notice, much less say anything about it to the prospect. Really? Yet this bozo told his sales manager during his job interview that he's a "people person." Yes, really.

6. No sit-down chit-chat.

The sales rep is in the home to do business. A great place, probably the best place, to do business is at a table, like a kitchen table or dining table. Yet, thousands of salespeople try to do business while hovering around the broken furnace, or in the unfinished basement, or in the upstairs bathroom, or in the entryway of the home where the security system control pad would go. Why? Because that's where the products they're selling are going to be installed if the prospect buys. Almost all in-home sales interactions can benefit from sitting down together first.

7. Missed opportunities for connection to prospects.

The rep knows some of her prospects own dogs, yet she doesn't t keep a small package of dog treats her our bag to offer one to the furry friends. She knows kids can be a distraction when trying to talk business, yet she doesn't t carry a couple coloring books and crayons in her supplies to keep the lovable kiddos busy while she has a serious talk with the Mom about her needs. She assumes everyone remembers her name, so she doesn't give a business card to the prospect at the beginning of the call. Missed opportunities. 

8. Not spending enough effort on discovering or understanding needs.

The prospect doesn't buy a sunroom to have a sunroom. She buys a sunroom to sit in it on a beautiful morning while enjoying her morning coffee while looking out at their apple trees and chatting to her college-aged son on the phone. If we only spend time telling prospects how great our product is, we miss the opportunity to relate the sunroom to the needs and desires and lifestyle of the prospects, and the things that are truly important in the customer's life.

9. Odors. Bad ones.

Cigarette smoke odor on our clothing, parmesan-chicken-with-garlic-mayo-on-ciabatta odor on our breath, body odor on our bodies, or overly aggressive perfume or cologne on our selves can make a sales interaction go south in a big hurry. These are offensive at any time, but these types of odors are even more troubling when they occur on the prospect's [literal] home turf.

10. No sale.

For many products and services sold in the home, our chances of buttoning up the sale AFTER we leave the home is slim. To maximize the sale, we have to know how to complete the sale while in the home. It's truly a skill, and one that every sales professional who sells in customers' homes must learn.

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your 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, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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25 Fantastic Sales Questions

Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers. We are thankful for your readership and your comments and interaction on this blog!

* * * * * * *

In many ways, questions are at the heart of the selling process. Great sellers ask great questions. Mediocre sellers don't.

Here are 25 great sales questions. While not perfect for every selling scenario, each is perfect at the right time:

 
1. What else should I be asking you that I haven't?

2. Why did you call us today instead of last month or next month?

3. Who do you know that might be interested in talking with me about my widgets?

4. What brings you into the store today?

5. Would you please name the one thing that is most important to you in deciding which company to buy from?

6. Yes, I'll check our stock. If we do have one in stock, should I reserve it for you?

7. When we meet next week, is there any reason you wouldn't be ready to move ahead with your purchase?

8. You've gotten other quotes for this project. Other than price, what do you think is the biggest difference between our quotes and their quotes?

9. Do you want to buy it?

10. I'm curious; Why do you say that?

11. What else?

12. When you find the right widget, how will you know?

13. Who, besides yourself, will be using this widget?

14. I can understand you need to talk to your husband, after all, I'm a husband, too! Should we call him?

15. How come?

16. To save you from having to make extra trips during this hectic holiday season, what else should we look for while you're here in the store?

17. Just so I can make sure my notes are up-to-date, what else might you be needing in the next year or so?

18. If you're comfortable with our widgets and with our price and with me, will you be ready to place your order today?

19. How does everything sound so far - am I on the right track?

20. What was it that you liked and also didn't like about your old widget?

21. When you started out shopping for a new widget, what was your biggest concern?

22. Now that you've shopped for a new widget at several stores, what's your biggest concern now?

23. How can I make shopping for your new widget an easy process for you?

24. Who can I thank for referring you to our company?

25. Now that you're a customer and you've been through the purchasing process with me, what suggestions can you offer me?

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your 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, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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Assumptive Language Helps the Sale Move Forward

 
The real estate agent, after a long discussion of our needs and wants, begins to show us property. My wife and I are getting a tour of a cabin in beautiful northern Minnesota. It's on a smallish lake, with loons and birch trees and some hills, with vintage, quaint cabins from the 1940's.

Sure, the property is fun to see. But what strikes me is the non-assumptive language of the salesperson.

Non-assumptive language might not be appropriate early in a sales conversation, and in certain sales conversations that are more exploratory in nature. But, especially after a salesperson has done a good job of investigating needs and desires, a presentation of a product or service begs for assumptive language.

Assumptive language:

1. Tells your prospect you believe in your product;

2. Tells your prospect you believe in your product for your prospect;

3. Tells your prospect it's okay to take ownership of the product, at least during the sales conversation;

4. Helps move the sales conversation to closure, especially if the prospect is on the fence.

Here are some excerpts from the mouth of the real estate agent, along with my suggestions for assumptive language:

AGENT: "And here is the boat house, where you could have guests stay, at least in the summer."

BETTER: "And here is your boat house, where your nieces and nephew will sleep when they visit during the temperate months in the late spring, summer, and early fall." [The agent found out that one of the main visitors to the cabin will be our nieces and nephew).

- - - - -

AGENT: "The size of the lot would give you plenty of room to add a second garage in the future to store your toys."

BETTER: "The size of the lot will give you plenty of room..."

- - - - -

AGENT: "The property owner's association would be one of the best in the area."

BETTER: "The property owner's association is one of the best in the area."

- - - - -

AGENT: "If you spend much time in the winter..."

BETTER: "When you spend time here in the winter..."

- - - - -

AGENT: "If the dock is too short, you can make it longer."

BETTER: "If your dock is too short, you simply make it longer."

- - - - -

AGENT: "The cabin's fourth bedroom is upstairs..."

BETTER: "Your fourth bedroom is upstairs..."

- - - - -

AGENT: "The current owners could close before Memorial Day so you could take ownership by the summer."

BETTER: "The current owners will close before Memorial Day so you will have the entire summer to enjoy your new lake."

- - - - -

Assumptive language isn't going to make an uninterested party buy something they don't want to buy. But it will give permission to your prospect to mentally take ownership of the product during your sales conversation. And sometimes, that can supply just the tiny bit of buying inertia that can make a sale happen.

* * * * * * * * * *

The nice folks over at Your Business Channel put together a brief video with quotes pulled from some of my writing. See the video at beat the recession.

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your 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, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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7 Indicators of High Pressure Selling

The vast majority of salespeople working today don't want to be high pressure sellers. In fact, some have a fear of using pressure to gain sales and avoid assertive, professional selling techniques because of their hyper-sensitivity to high pressure selling.

I also have a disdain for high pressure selling. But I know that professional salespeople need to be assertive, to be willing to put themselves out in the public's eye, to be able to take control, to drive their prospect's decisions, and to bring in the orders.

High pressure selling is something completely different. But what, exactly, is the high pressure selling that most of us dislike so much?

I think high pressure selling can be identified by the following seven indicators:

1. When the salesperson hasn't generated sufficient rapport with, or trust from, the prospect.

2. When the sales representative dominates the sales conversation and does not create customer engagement. 

3. When the salesperson lets the product dominate the conversation rather than the prospect's needs and desires, and their unique circumstances.

4. When the salesperson displays behavior that is disrespectful, rude, or offensive.

5. When the sales representative attempts to close the sale too early or in the wrong way.

6. When the salesperson crosses the line from being assertive (a valuable trait in selling) to being aggressive (attempting to dominate the prospect).

7. When the customer has incorrectly implied or communicated a high level of interest of commitment in the salesperson's product, and then feels taken advantage of when the salesperson acts congruently with that interest or commitment.

You'll see that six of the indicators listed above are the responsibility of the salesperson, and the last one is the responsibility of the prospect. Go ahead and hate aggressive selling. But don't let that keep you from selling.

Are there any sales behaviors missing from my list that you think is an indicator of high pressure or aggressive selling?

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your 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, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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My [Very] Personal Story: The Pain of False Objections In Selling and in Life

I wanted to make love with my wife one night last week (especially because I've been very busy and have travelled a lot). But my plans were foiled when she told me she had a migraine. [She knows that the tried and true "headache" excuse doesn't work anymore, so in recent years she's elevated "headache" to "migraine"].

But I know she didn't have a migraine. No way. Her "objection" wasn't real. It was a faux objection.

The real reason my wife avoided my husbandly advances was because she wanted to watch a TV show.

[Great. Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe takes precedence over moi. While I'm thinking about getting "dirty" with my beautiful wife, my beautiful wife is thinking about Mike Rowe getting truly dirty as he plays the role of both a dung beetle researcher and a glass blower. That's just not the kind of role playing I had in mind. But I digress...]

It's not just wives that give objections; prospects do, too. So what do you do when you hear an objection from your customer?

The first and most important task is to determine how accurate and true the objection is. Is it a real objection? Or is it a false objection?

Salespeople hear objections every day. And every day, salespeople go after those objections not knowing if they're real or if they're a cover up, a false objection, a smoke screen, an excuse, an easy way out, a tall tale, a desire to exit the sales situation without having to make a decision, a temporary anxiety attack, or a manifestation of status quo paralysis.

Before we address the actual objection, we put our investigator's hats on and dig into the objection and ask some probing questions. Examples:

- - - - -

Objection: "I need to talk to my wife about it."

Investigative Question: "Being a married person myself, I can appreciate that. Let's set your wife aside for a moment. How do you feel about owning this [insert product or service here]."

- - - - -

Objection: "I can't afford this right now."

Investigative Question: "I agree, Bob, it's important that you only consider cars that you can afford. What was it about this [insert model of car] that made you want to test drive it today? [customer answers]. Is it more that you can't afford this car, or more that you don't want to spend this kind of money?"  etc.

_ _ _ _ _

Objection: "I'm going to have to think about this. Buying a townhome is a big decision."

Investigative Question: "You know, you bring up an excellent point. Let's think about this together. Do you like the location of the home? What do you think about the fourth bedroom? (I know you only needed three bedrooms). What do you think about the layout of the rooms?, etc.

_ _ _ _ _

Faux objections throw salespeople off course. Before you address an objection (or as you address it), find out if the objection is real and true. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't, but addressing a fake objection as if it's the real reason the prospect isn't moving ahead with the purchase is a serious sales strategy error.

By the way, Dirty Jobs is on TV again tonight. Argh.

 

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your 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, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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What Are Your Sales Strengths?

As a salesperson, what are you good at?

Is it something broad, like "retail selling" or "telesales?" Or is it something specific, such as "Getting customers to see the investment potential in our ABC mutual fund," or "Adding lamps to the order whenever I sell a sofa." Whatever it is, celebrate your sales strengths.

What I sometimes see are salespeople who don't take full advantage of their existing sales strengths. In an effort to be more balanced, (or to respond to pressure from management), they seek to moderate their outcomes by focusing on areas of weakness, and in doing so, they lessen their success in their areas of strength.

I want to suggest that you start using your strengths like nobody on the face of the earth can do what you do. If you're great at selling lamps whenever a customer buys a sofa, why not try selling two lamps instead of just one, or three instead of two? You've already discovered you're good at selling lamps as an add-on sale, so take that ball and run with it.

Or maybe you can expand your strength into selling lamps along with beds, too. Whenever you have a bed customer, there should be two lamps on the delivery truck with that customer's name on them.

And if you're tops in your organization at getting prospects to see the potential in your "ABC" mutual fund, perhaps you can also have the same effect when you propose your the "DEF" fund to a slightly different customer with slightly different needs.

Some people are only vaguely aware of their strengths, or not aware of them at all. Start by clearly identifying your sales strengths. Ask your manager, your coworkers, your boyfriend, your customers...ask whoever would know what your strengths are. Don't settle for vague or general answers. Drill down to specifics.

As your understanding of your strengths grows, identify opportunities to use those strengths in an even more significant way. Out of this process can grow new opportunities for rising sales.

Next, look for ways to use your strengths in new, fresh, unexpected, or expanded ways. When you do that, you have even more opportunity for sales growth.

What are your sales strengths? Tell the world by clicking "comments" below...

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your 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, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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Disappointing Selling Behaviors

There are some disappointing sales behaviors I've been seeing lately in some salespeople:

• Talking AT their prospects instead of talking WITH them;

• Telling instead of asking;

• Pushing instead of leading;

• Speaking to get the words out rather than to be understood;

• Seeking the limelight instead of providing the limelight for their customers;

• Answering the prospect's question the way they thought they heard it instead of the question the prospect actually asked;

• Rushing through instead of savoring the time with the prospect;

• Being product-focused instead of prospect-focused;

• Getting the prospect to pay attention to brochures and catalogs and flyers instead of the salesperson;

Do you see this in the marketplace? What do you think can or should be done about it? How can we change that?

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your 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, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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Selling is a Skill

I loved playing baseball as a kid. I'd take my book about pitching outside with me and pitch for endless hours to my younger brother (probably my earliest experiencing in selling was learning how to "sell" my brother on being catcher to my pitches even after he wanted to quit).

It didn't take me long to figure out that pitching was a skill. You had to throw the ball the right way to get the ball to go where you wanted it to go and to get it there taking the path you wanted it to take. Great baseball pitchers need to stay healthy, to be able to work when called upon, and to handle pressure effortlessly, but they also need the skill to get the ball to do what they want and need it to do.

I am a trained classical musician with two degrees in music. I played two instruments semi-professionally, and taught, and conducted and composed music. Performing music requires skill.

Just think about the number of hours that top music students in top music conservatories and universities across the world spend honing their craft. It's crazy. But anybody pursuing music at this level understands that performing music requires skill. It requires more than that, too, but it definitely requires skill.

Readers of this blog will know that I had surgery earlier this fall. My surgeon was very skilled - I know this not only by the quality of his work, but also by the checking I did before my procedure. But the only reason I needed surgery is because the surgeon that performed this surgery on me one year ago was unskilled. He had botched it. Surgeons need knowledge, but they require copious skill, too.

And so it is in the profession of selling. The mission of sales training is to improve the skills of professional sellers. Just as with pitchers, classical musicians, and surgeons, salespeople need to have their skills developed to a sufficiently high level to result in sufficiently high sales performance.

If you want to get better at selling, work hard. Treat people well. Be helpful. But make sure you have developed the skills you need to achieve what you want.

Read over 100 posts in this blog about sales skills.

If you like this post (or don't) please click on "comments" below and share your 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, in the financial, real estate, and insurance markets, and other consumer-selling industries.

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A Celebration of Sales Learning

I apologize in advance for the self-centered nature of today's post. You see, this is my 400th post on the Selling to Consumers Blog.

I love my job as a sales trainer, public speaker, and management consultant. I am so thrilled to be making a living doing something I love. Helping a client company or coaching client sell more fulfills me in so many ways. I just love it. This blog is for you.

But not every company or every individual who sells to consumers can or will hire me or my company. This blog is for you, too.

This blog is a celebration of learning about selling. Free to anyone, the 400+ posts of this blog will tell you a lot about what you need to know to be able to sell better and be more successful.

So if you're new in sales, or a veteran, or if you manage a sales force or own a company that sells to consumers, this blog is truly for you. If you have a passion for learning and improving, a passion for your career, and a passion for your customer, I hope you'll continue to join me here at Selling to Consumers for the next 400 posts. I know a bunch of you will hire my company to do training or consulting work, and that's great. I thank you. But even if you aren't one of those companies or individuals, I hope you visit here often and, most of all, I hope you learn something that helps you achieve your business and career goals.

Thanks for celebrating with me.

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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Don't Worry About H1N1 - NAS is More Dangerous

Forget about H1N1. Here's the real affliction making the rounds in the sales profession: Negative Assumption Syndrome (NAS). NAS is the real [career] killer.

Salespeople can be their own worst enemies! I see it often. Salespeople decide for their prospects if they're going to buy. Then, once the salesperson makes this decision, he acts in congruence with that decision.

As of this date, there is no vaccination for Negative Assumption Syndrome. But there is a remedy:

Let the prospect decide if they're not going to buy - Don't do it for them.

Unfortunately, many salespeople don't use the remedy. Just like an expired bottle of pills wasting away in the back of the medicine cabinet, salespeople know they should assume the sale, but they forget. Instead, they exhibit NAS, like these salespeople:

- The rug salesperson who said to his coworker, "I know they're not going to buy...they said they were looking online for rugs...I'll bet they'll buy online."

- The real estate agent who - while driving to his open house - "The weather's too darned nice today...nobody's going to be out looking at houses today."

- The interior designer who says "I know you have to talk to your husband, so show him my plans and then let me know what you guys decide."

- The fitness club sales rep who thinks, "She can't buy a membership...she's got three kids! I only have two kids and I couldn't afford it if I didn't work here."

- The department store salesperson who never offers credit accounts because he says "Anybody who wants a credit card already has one."

- The furniture store sales representative who shows the cheapest recliner first, instead of showing the premium product first because "the economy sucks."

- The door-to-door salesperson who skips a house because "their bad siding tells me they can't afford a security system."

- The optical store rep who doesn't try to add on sunglasses because "times are tight and people can't afford two pairs of glasses these days."

You cannot predict the future. So don't waste time on dire predictions.

If you're going to make assumptions, then make assumptions that you ARE going to be successful, that your prospects ARE going to buy, that you WILL find a way to make it through challenges, that your hard work and sales skill CAN and WILL take you to new heights, that you MUST improve, and that you DESERVE to rise to the top.

Wherever your mind goes, your behavior follows, so select your assumptions carefully.

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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Orthodontics Sales Training

 
Every year, orthodontic practices spend major dollars on marketing campaigns and referral programs to ensure phones will ring enough to grow the clinic's practice financially. While marketing is important, and making the phones ring is certainly important, what's also important is the ability of the orthodontic consultant to be able to convert prospects into paying customers of the practice.

Here are 5 tips to do a better job converting your orthodontic prospects into production clients:

1. Engage the customer.

It's easy for orthodontics practices to view prospects as individuals who are seeking information. But successful selling requires more than sharing information. It requires engagement of the prospect. The more engaged the prospect is in the decision making process, the more successful the practice will be. A simple first step in improving customer engagement is to ensure that prospects are spending as much time verbalizing as the consultant during a consultation. The consultant's job is not only to share information, because getting information is just as important.

2. Create sales momentum.

A consultation is an opportunity to lead your prospect through a series of events that can be looked at as steps on a staircase. Each tiny step - when completed - makes it more likely that the next step will successfully be completed also. By the end of the consultation, so many of these tiny steps should have been climbed by the prospective patient and the consultant together that the chances of the prospect backing out of treatment are minimal. Rather than viewing your consultation as a hour-long random conversation, "stepify" your consultation to create this sales momentum.

3. Nurture two relationships.

In the case of children, ensure that you are nurturing relationships with both the child and the parent (this can actually be three separate relationships if two parents are in attendance at the consultation). A twelve year old child and a forty-two year old parent have different needs during a consultation. Make sure you're providing for those needs in the design of your consultation. One final note: If both parents are in attendance at a consultation, resist the temptation to direct your attention only to the mother; fathers need just as much attention!

4. Add Value

Look for opportunities throughout the prospect's consultation experience to add value. This can be as simple as offering to hang up jackets for your visitors or providing an iPod to a child to listen to while they're waiting for their consultation as the parent fills out intake forms. But look for opportunities at every point in the consultation process to add value. These added value points add up!

5. Ask for the sale.

Consultants need to be consistent with asking the prospect to begin their treatment plan. After investing an hour of the practice's time with a prospect, it's vitally necessary to ask for the sale. But it's not just important to do it, it's important to do it in such a way that makes it easy for the prospect to agree to treatment. Finesse your process so more prospects begin treatment.

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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The 20% Rule: How To Distribute Your Selling Resources

Sales representatives have finite resources of time and energy in which to create revenue. If you want to excel, choose carefully where you spend your time and energy.

Most one-call close industries have a set of numbers like these:

- 20% of customers will buy no matter what

- 20% of prospects will not buy no matter what

Your company or your industry may be 10%, or 35%, or whatever, but I've seen these numbers enough times that I know they often exist.

So here's a vital question: On which group should the sales representative focus his or her efforts in order to become wildly successful in a one-call close environment?

The correct answer is on the 60% of remaining prospects. The 40% described above will take care of themselves. Assigning too much time or effort to these prospects will limit the amount of time and effort spent and on the vitally important 60% of prospects that are on the fence and could end up either as customers or as lost sales opportunities.

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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6 Business Lessons from the Hospital Bed

I had surgery last week, and proceeded to have the longest hospital stay of my life. During the several-night stay at the hospital, I had plenty of time to worry about all the work I wasn't getting done, the prospects I promised proposals to but hadn't yet delivered, and the customers for which I knew I had to complete projects. But, alas, my intellectual self knew that -- no matter how much I worried or thought about the stuff I needed to finish -- my backlog of tasks were not going to get done while I lay there in the hospital bed.

So I decided to use the time to plan some future writing projects and study the operations of the patient care department. As a consultant, I'm always focused on finding opportunities for performance improvement. And what a better place to analyze the hospital's delivery of services than while I'm laying in bed for several days experiencing the nursing staff's performance from a front row perspective.

Chances are, blog reader, you don't run a hospital or manage a hospital staff. But you might sell insurance or handbags or custom closets or something else. So don't ignore this opportunity to see your business (albeit a different one) through the eyes of a consumer:

Lesson #1: Be Proactive.

Hospitals care for guests every day. They're in the business of patient care. With a wealth of knowledge about their customers, their operations, and all the regulations, one should be able to anticipate many patient needs. I'm guessing every patient in the hospital (at least those who are able) would like to take a shower by their third or fourth day having not had one.

So anticipate this, hospital care staff. Provide soap and shampoo and washcloths and towels, and instructions on how and when to take a shower with the patient's unique circumstances kept in mind. A patient shouldn't have to ask to take a shower on their third or fourth day in the hospital. They should already know it's available, how to do it, and what they need to do to accomplish it. If, due to the nature of the patient's situation, he is unable to have a shower or bath, then he should be told so proactively.

Use the knowledge you have about your customers and how they do business to do better business.

Lesson #2: Little Things Matter.

During my stay, I dealt with probably seven or eight nurses and probably seven or eight nursing assistants. I'm a human being. Nurses are human beings. Why wasn't there more human interaction taking place?

One of my nurses came to see me every day at the end of his shift to tell me he would be leaving in twenty or thirty minutes. What a wonderful way to recognize the humanity of your patients...keep them informed!

Little things matter to human beings.

Lesson #3: It's Not All About Hearts, Spleens, and Broken Limbs

During my entire stay, the light above my sink was burned out, as was the overhead light in my room. Several of the nursing staff noticed it, and I reported it more than once. Yet, by the time I left my room for good, it had not yet been fixed.

How much do you want to bet that the lights are still out now, even though I left the hospital three days ago?

Yes, it's very important to take care of patients' hearts, spleens, and broken limbs. But doesn't it stand to reason that an organization that cannot effectively manage burned-out light bulbs may not be so good at managing patient's spleens either?

Lesson #4: Personal Touches Matter

When a nurse comes into your room with a long face and a harried look, you just know you're not going to be treated very well, specially when you plaster a big smile onto your face and exclaim, "Good morning, Nancy!" and get a dour response. I'm sure nurses are overworked and underpaid, and they probably have more than their fair share of challenging patients, but none of that is an excuse for not treating your patients like special people (like customers for heaven's sake).

A facial expression (frown or smile), a tone of voice (warm or cold), and type of eye contact (direct or avoidant) speaks volumes to the patient. So does human touch. And what if every nurse would say, "Is there anything else you need before I leave?" every single time she left your room? Wouldn't you feel more cared for than if she simply walked out of your room?

Nurses live their careers at the hospital so everything becomes routine for them. But for most patients, hospital visits are anything but routine. I think it's important for all those serving patients in the hospital to remember that.

Handshakes, smiles, grins, chuckles, patience, warmth, a gentle touch of the hand - these are the tools of humanity and hospitals need more humanity. Your business probably needs more humanity, too.

Lesson #5: Customers Get Frustrated When They Have to Ask More Than Once

Lunch never came and you ask for it, and it still never comes after you call attention to the fact. You want a pain pill, yet, one hour later, the pain pill hasn't arrived. You ask a question and the nurse ends her shift without getting back to you with the answer, or at least telling you she doesn't have an answer yet.

I hate to have to ask more than once. Customers hate to ask more than once. What do your customers have to ask for over and over again?

Lesson #6: If It's Quiet They Want, Give Them Quiet.

Hospitals are noisy places. Some patients, like me, are light sleepers. Put noisy places and light sleepers together and you have a potential disaster. I would have paid just about anything out of my own pocket by the morning after my first night's stay if someone would have guaranteed me a quiet stay. 

The nurse staff chuckled and chortled all night, yelled from one nursing station to another about this or that, waking me up every single time. I'd get up and shut my door, but getting up with a blood pressure cuff around one arm and an I.V. in the other are major endeavors. Yet, whenever anybody would come in to check my vitals or give me some more meds, they'd leave without closing the door, even though I had asked them to do so.

I bet your customers would pay just about anything for something. If you can identify that something, you've got a huge money-making opportunity.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not totally unhappy with my experience last week. It's just that I know they could have done so much better.

Even though you probably aren't in the hospital or nursing business, what can your business learn from these lessons from the hospital bed?

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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More Hang Time Means More Sales

One factor limiting sales success is the salespersons' insufficient time with the prospect, especially in one-call close sales scenarios.

Since we need to get the prospect to hang in there with us and not end the conversation, I call the time we spend with our prospects "hang time." Often, more hang time equals means more sales.

One reason sellers fail at handling objections from customers successfully is that they aren't able to extend the conversation long enough to adequately deal with issues in the objection. "I'm going to hold off," for example, begs for a response, but you only have the opportunity to provide a response if you're able to engineer enough hang time into the sales interaction.

What many salespeople do to try to extend hang time is babble about more features or repeat themselves from earlier in the sales interaction. But these are ineffective ways of extending time with the prospect. What is far more effective is to address each objection with a customized response to that particular objection.

Or, responding to "I'm going to hold off" with a simple question such as "Tell me what you're thinking" can help reengage the prospect to continue the dialog. Important information, such as the true customer objection, can then surface. Once this objection sees the light of day, it can be examined and discussed, giving the seller the opportunity to change the outcome of the sales interaction.

If you're challenged with overcoming objections, develop the ability to increase the hang time with your prospect.

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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The Power of a Sincere Compliment

Retail sales reps and salespeople who sell in customers' homes usually have a brief time to establish customer engagement. In the retail environment, customers get distracted, realize other priorities, or leave the premises. When selling in the home, the sales representative is on the prospect's home turf, so she can exercise very little control over the meeting.

In selling, sometimes small tidbits can create wonderful results. Sharing a sincere compliment with your prospect is one of those tidbits.

Although some individuals need recognition more than others, any human being loves to be recognized, and a compliment is a small way to recognize the value of another. I'm not suggesting fake compliments, wherein a salesperson shares a compliment in a sleazy manner to try to manipulate the prospect. I'm suggesting sincerity here.

There are some interesting gender and sexual-preference dynamics in the realm of complimenting customers. Sometimes women can compliment other women in a way that men can't. I've seen gay men interact with female customers in a way a straight man probably couldn't do successfully, and vice versa. Women salespeople sometimes need to adjust compliments to men customers if the men customers' wives are with them. It can be easier for a woman salesperson to compliment a woman customer than it is a male salesperson to compliment a male customer, so sometimes male sales reps have to work extra hard at complimenting effectively and inoffensively.

Here are compliments for you to ponder. Some of these are appropriate for retail settings, while others are appropriate for selling in the customer's home, yet others will work for office meetings. To engage your customer better, compliment better:

I love your glasses! Where did you get them?

You have the best laugh!

What a lovely purse!

Oh, what a beautiful baby! What's her name?

You have the most wonderful kitchen countertop. What is it?

This floor looks so exotic. I love it!

What a gorgeous family portrait - you have a beautiful family!

You look like you're relaxed and ready for the weekend.

You two make an adorable couple.

I love how you parent your little one. We see such poor parenting here sometimes; it's nice to see someone who sets boundaries for their kids.

I love looking at men's ties and I think yours is great!

I can see how much your wife means to you.

Oh my gosh, may I ask where you got those amazing SHOES?

What cool sunglasses you have on! They're stunning!

I could sit and listen to your accent all day! Where'd you get that?

Looks like you're bright-eyed and raring to go this morning!

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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Selling by Winging It vs. Selling by Doing It Right

I was born to be an analyzer. It's part of the make-up of my personality. I can't help but analyze things.

It wasn't until I was well into my adult years that I realized that not everybody has this perspective. Most people don't care to analyze stuff. They just life live on an in-the-moment basis, skipping happily through time enjoying most of it and dealing with whatever comes their way.

My life has been a whirlwind of analyzation. I analyze why this happened, why that didn't happen, how this or that could have been done differently to get a different result. This stuff fascinates me. I love it.

This is part of the reason I became a consultant and sales trainer. Because of this penchant I have for analyzing things, I believe possess some insight into sales situations that many others don't possess.

I took part in a debate recently about selling: should you just "be yourself" or should you carefully follow a plan. Although I believe it's possible (and advisable) to do both, I spoke for the "follow a plan" side of the issue. I was up against an advocate for "playing things by ear" and "being yourself" and "mixing it up" and "not getting tied down."

But I think I have some information this individual doesn't have. Specific tactics are likely to achieve specific results, because history has shown that to be true. I know this because I've spend a ridiculous number of hours analyzing things.

For instance, if you cold call for a living, you're likely to do better if you make more calls. You're also likely to do better if you know how to make successful cold calls. Put those two facts together, you're you're headed for sales success. Thumbs down to the fellow who suggests you shouldn't follow a script, a plan, or have a call goal, all in the name of "playing it by ear."

So here's my bias as a sales trainer, consultant, and teacher: 

Do it right. Don't wing it. Be proactive always, and reactive when you must. Figure out what works and do it. Don't be random. Be mindful of your selling and your customer. Select the right words to get the right result. Absorb, analyze, and improve. Everyone can get better at selling.

This doesn't mean we shouldn't be flexible; we should be. In fact, we must be. It doesn't mean we don't change course once underway; that's often required. It doesn't mean we don't use variety or customize our approach for certain situations; you're a fool if you don't do that.

But if you want to improve your sales performance, stop winging it and learn how to do it right.

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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Oh, How I Hate Salespeople!

That's what a former boss of mine used to exclaim periodically throughout the work day (actually, his language was often more colorful than that). Whenever he'd receive a phone call from a salesperson (whether it was a cold call or an expected call), he'd slam the phone down after the call and shout out "Oh, how I hate *$#%+#@ salespeople."

And he's not the only person I've run into that exclaims hatred for people in our profession.

So those of us in the sales profession probably have something in common with IRS agents and traffic cops: some people just don't like us. Even if we have something that might help them, even if we are friendly and nice and well-meaning, even if we work our behinds off to be professional and effective, some people do not care for us because we're salespeople.

Here are four ways to handle customers who dislike salespeople:

1. Don't get angry!

If someone who dislikes salespeople pushes your buttons, don't fall prey to their manipulative strategies! These folks love to see you turn red-faced thanks to their actions.

2. Kill them with kindness!

No matter how vile these people treat you, kill them with pleasantries, a smile, and a helpful attitude. They hate that.

3. Put them in their place!

Many of these scum-like customers will quickly change their tune if you put them in their place. It works like magic in certain situations.

4. Fire the customer!

You've got to draw the line sometimes. Fire your customer and spend your time with others who are less evil. Your spouse, children, and dog will thank you.

* * * *

Here's a nice little video featuring some of my time management tips that the peeps over at Your Business Channel put together:

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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Jewelry Sales Training

The great thing about selling jewelry in a retail location is you've got lots of beautiful pieces in your store to show your customers.

The bad thing about selling jewelry in a retail location is you've got lots of beautiful pieces in your store that distracts you from the a most important factor in successful selling: engagement of the shopper in the buying process.

Can beautiful jewelry engage a prospect? Yes, it can. But far more effective at engaging a human (shopper) is another human (the salesperson). The problem is, we human salespeople start to think that selling jewelry is all about the jewelry surrounding us, so we focus on that instead of our shopper.

Buying jewelry, just like all consumer purchases, is a means to an end. People buy jewelry for a variety of reasons, most of which has nothing to do with jewelry. It might be to feel important, to treat yourself, to make someone else feel important, to get attention from others, and so on.

The more we know about the macro-needs and micro-needs of our prospects, the more likely we will be to engage the prospect in a very meaningful way, and when engagement occurs, the buyer-seller relationship enters and entirely different realm. Find out what is important to your customers and you'll earn a sale more often. But show them case after case of product, and you're just crossing your fingers that the customer will see something she likes enough to bring out that credit card.

Engage more = sell more.

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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A Successful Life is About the Journey; But What is Successful Selling About?

A successful life is all about the journey: friends old and new, school, jobs menial and important, family, activities, sports, hobbies, causes, contributions, travels, learning, experiencing, feeling, growing, challenging, committing, overcoming, enjoying, being...

But successful selling isn't about the journey. It's about the destination.

If you think selling is all about the journey, you may be one of the gazillions of salespeople out there who love talking to people, who love meeting people, who love the action and the interaction, who are passionate about their product or service, but who can't get to the producing revenue part of the equation any more often than the average sales representative.

Don't get my wrong: the journey is very important in selling. And you certainly have to enjoy the journey or you will be miserable in a sales career. Yes, selecting the right path and the correct behaviors will get you to your destination in selling or in anything. In fact, I make my living helping people improve and enhance their journey.

But what's important is that the journey gets you to where you must go if you earn your living selling.

The world is full of salespeople who love their product, their company, the action...but can't sell. Don't be one of those people. The destination in our profession, whether the process is simple or complex, is a completed buying transaction.

Commit to the destination. Commit to the deal.

*  *  *  *  * 

Read "Working in Sales? Don't Make These 5 Common Career Mistakes," an interview I did for examiner.com.

*  *  *  *  * 

Today is September 1, which means that two-thirds of 2009 is now history. You have one-third of the year to make your team's - or your individual - sales goal for 2009.

It's not too late. Contact us to see how we can provide sales training that will help you make your year!

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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What's Bugging Your Customers?

Customers can be fickle: happy one minute, not happy the next. But the better job we can do of avoiding trigger points that bring on customer dissatisfaction, the better we can keep our customers happy. In other words, customers will always find reasons to be unhappy, but we shouldn't help them in that endeavor.

 Here are what might be bugging your customers today:

• You talk more than you listen.

• You prescribe product solutions before you understand the needs & desires of the prospect.

• You say trite stuff like "this is our most popular widget" or "most customers love this."

• You make it more difficult to buy than necessary.

• You don't do what you say you're going to do.

• You get impatient or angry when asked questions or given objections.

• You don't take sufficient time to understand the prospect.

• You don't add value to the relationship; you only react to prospect's requests or questions.

• You don't care about your prospect.

• You don't deliver bad news in hopes it will just go away.

• You under-estimate cost or time.

• You over-sell your product or service.

• You don't return phone calls, emails, or texts quickly enough or at all.

• You omit important information the prospect should be aware of before committing.

• You don't help the prospect understand the issues they should know about before making a decision.

• You ask for the sale too early or at the wrong time.

• You pressure the prospect to buy.

• You talk too fast or too loud.

• You touch or talk inappropriately.

• You or your breath smell bad.

• You use too much cologne or perfume.

• You dress inappropriately.

• You don't go to bat for your customer internally within your company.

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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And the Secret to Selling Success Is...

There isn't a secret to selling success.

And there isn't a secret to being a top professional athlete, a famous actor, a top-tier attorney or a respected physician.

So stop looking for secrets (a huge waste of time) and start improving your skills, your knowledge about selling and customer psychology, and begin to work harder than you ever have 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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The Sweet Spot of Selling

Salespeople will have the most opportunity to influence decisions with those who are "on the fence." These are the prospects that could go either way and either become a buyer or not become a buyer.

Many salespeople waste time and energy on prospects who are at either end of the "likely to buy / not likely to buy" spectrum instead of those in the center (what I call the "sweet spot"). But this is a strategic sales error for most sales situations. Fence-sitters are the prospects that give a salesperson an opportunity for a high performance sales career. A weaker salesperson will focus on the hard-to-sell types, or the buy-for-sure types. But this is a miscalculation that has limited sales results for many. 

We only have limited time and resources. Therefore, we have to spend our influence time on those that are most likely to reap sales results. The "very likely to buy" crowd will take care of themselves and usually require minimal energy and resources from a sales representative. The "not likely to buy" group can suck the life out of a sales career.

Do you want to be influential with your prospects? Spend your time and energy in the sweet spot of selling.

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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