Selling to Consumers | Sales Training Blog by Skip Anderson

Four Tips to be More Successful at One Call Close selling

In my previous post, I compared one call close selling to "selling to a bucking bronco" (prospects trying to "buck you" off of them). Today we turn our attention to taming said bucking bronco. Please allow me to suggest four tips for more successful One Call Close selling:

1. Have a plan.

Although plans can change or adapt when necessary, it's always better to have a plan to sell successfully in place when doing any kind of selling, but especially to the one-call-close prospect. This plan would be in the form of a well-designed sales script or a detailed and proven step-by-step sales process. One thing that definitely does not work well is what I call "random selling," which is a conversation with the strategy piece missing. Nor does blathering on and on about your product work. If you don't have a plan, get one immediately, and if you need to, enlist the help of someone you trust to create a plan with you.

2. Learn how to handle objections, stalls, and distractions.

If you don't know what to say after a prospect says "Maybe I'll just get your business card and think about it" after you've asked your prospect to buy from you, you can't yet handle prospect objections, stalls, or distractions. But the good news is that you can learn. Start with creating and memorizing the answer to just one common sales objection. Practice it repeatedly for an extended period of time, even after you think you have it down cold. When you're ready to add to your repertoire, digest another answer to a common sales objection. Eventually, you'll develop a lust for your prospects' objections, because they will no longer make you freeze, stammer, or stumble, they'll make you shine and make you sell more.

3. Be friendly, kind, charismatic, genuine, and very, very human.

People dislike plastic, fake people. People hate plastic, fake salespeople. How you sell is a reflection of your values and your beliefs about selling, yourself, and your prospects and customers. These beliefs shine through your eyes, your behaviors and in what you say to your prospects. Let the light of you shine. People love to buy from people they like and enjoy being with (even if their time with the salesperson is only ten or fifteen minutes). If you're a likable person, you've got a leg up on other salespeople, sometimes even though the competitor's salesperson may have more experience or product knowledge. If you're not likable, find a way to become likable in a hurry. Otherwise, I suspect a sales career may not be for you. Likability is important in any sales career.

4. Make sure your time with the prospect creates sales momentum.

A sales interaction with a prospect, no matter how long or short it is, must create sales momentum to maximize the opportunity. Completing one phase of the interaction (even if that one phase is one simple question) should help propel the salesperson/prospect interaction into the second phase, and the second should propel the interaction into the third phase, and so on. The more momentum, the easier it is to complete the sale. Think about cleaning out your garage or cleaning the kitchen. Once you've started the project, you get into it, and you start digging in. Once you're halfway done, you want to get finished. You've just experienced task momentum. Help your sales process experience sales momentum. Momentum allows the sale to happen with far less effort than with no sales momentum.

Now, go tame that bronc.

 

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 leveraging the buying potential of every prospect and shopper.

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The Race to Sales Competence: A Case for Sales Training

 
Like it or not, all sales organizations are participants in the race to sales competence.

How many sales leads will your organization, whether a sole-proprietorship or large sales department, burn through because your sales people are incompetent (or, at least, less competent than they should be) at selling? How many marketing dollars will you invest in various initiatives to get your phone to ring more or to get more customers into your brick-and-mortar location(s) when those dollars would be better spent getting your sales team to sales competence?

I know readers of this blog sell everything from appliances to fine art to RVs to cabinets to clothing and beyond. Regardless of the product or service your company sells to consumers, how much valuable time is being wasted by not getting your salespeople sales-competent? How many wasted marketing dollars will you spend before you decide to invest in teaching your salespeople to convert those pricey leads to sales? How many customer objections will continue to be answered ineffectively? How many opportunities for customer engagement will fall into the no-sale abyss? How many random sales interactions will replace strategic sales interactions with those leads you've so carefully (and at great cost) cultivated? How many sales of $1400 that could have been $1900 (or sales of $14,000 that could have been $19,000) will you allow to happen before you recognize your current position in the race to sales competence?

Someone is in first place in the race right now - it's either your company or a competitor. Someone is doing a bang-up job of presenting their products so they resonate with their prospects. Someone is closing sales at a far higher rate than someone else. Someone is likable and engaging and assertive and hard working and highly energetic while the also-rans are plodding along in the middle of the pack (or worse) in the race to selling competence.

Every day that passes means more missed opportunities for sales and missed opportunities for larger sales. What is the cost of not committing to sales competence today? You know your key metrics. You know what dollars are being made in promotions, marketing, and advertising. You know what commission plans you've tried, at times only being frustrated that the desired results haven't been achieved. You know how much time and energy of your sales team is being spent every day, every week, every month, and every year working with prospects that could have become customers, but didn't because the you're not winning the race.

What would a closing rate of 85% instead of 65% do for your company's bottom line (or 50% instead of 20%)? What would a 25% increase in your average ticket do for it? What marketing dollars could you save if your sales team sourced 15% of their own leads instead of 0%? 

This is real money. It's real potential profit. It's a real race.

But the real race is against yourself. What will it be? Marginal sales success? Or winning the race to sales competence now?

Sales training can help your team become sales competent.

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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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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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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2 Reasons Salespeople Fail at Effectively Handling Customer Objections

The biggest reason salespeople fail at handling objections from their customers is that they don't know what to say or do when they hear an objection, so they talk.

This is primarily a sales training issue, of course, but once trained, it becomes a sales management and coaching issue. Salespeople need to be reminded (daily? weekly? monthly?) how to effectively handle objections so that a simple customer objection doesn't kill a sales interaction prematurely.

The second reason salespeople fail at objection handling is anxiety. They get nervous, impatient, and loose their composure, often resulting in a haphazard response or an end to the dialog.

Again, this is a sales training and management issue. Just as anxiety control is important in being a pilot, a hockey player or a comic, anxiety control is important to the sales professional, too. High anxiety causes comfortable person-to-person timing to become rushed. During an episode of objection anxiety, sales reps loose their ability to listen, to think, and to react effectively.

If your sales team is struggling with handling customer objections effectively:

1. Make sure everyone knows what to say when the most common objections are expressed by prospects; and

2. Make certain salespeople know how to control anxiety through slowing down, improving listening, and lots of role-playing.

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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How To Handle Objections: The 3A Formula

Objections are part of selling. No matter how hard we try to prevent them, objections will appear out of nowhere, and it will always be that way.

First, for our purposes here, let's define the term "objection," because I think there are several variations on the term that can potentially cause some confusion in discussions about overcoming objections during the sales process.

Objection (definition): "After an attempt to close a sale, an objection is a reason expressed by a prospect why the prospect will not or can not buy the product or service being discussed."

For handling this type of objection, I teach the 3A system:

Skip Anderson's 3A Formula for Handling Objections:

1. ACKNOWLEDGE the objection

2. ADDRESS the objection.

3. ASK for the sale again.

Acknowledging the objection is some statement of understanding or even support for the prospect or their sharing of the objection. Let's imagine a prospect has just stated "I need to talk to my husband about it." Here are a few examples of acknowledgment statements:

- Thank you Mary for sharing that information with me.

- I understand!

- I'm a husband myself, so I can appreciate what you're telling me. 

Most salespeople skip this acknowledgment step, and get right to confronting the objection head-on. The problem with this is that it often comes off as being too confrontational.

The second step is "address the objection." This is when you provide further information, clarify the objection, isolate the objection, revisit previous conversation, remind the prospect of what they told you earlier, or all of the above. Let's imagine the prospect's objection is "I just don't think the colors in this rug will work in my home." Examples of addressing this objection could be:

- Mary, earlier you told me you loved this rug and the colors would match your colors in your living room. Did I hear you correctly? And so on.

- Based upon the paint chips you brought in last time you were in, we both agreed this rug looked great with those colors. What has changed since then?" And so on.

- Mary, why do you say that? And so on.

This step can be a lengthy one, and sometimes can result in rewinding the sales process back to the needs and desires assessment and starting it over again. If this happens, either the prospect wasn't being forthright, or something changed that you weren't aware of, or you missed something.

The third step is to ask for the sale again. Examples:

- Mary, you've spent hours and hours looking for a rug for your home. Why don't you get this one so you can quit worrying about it and start enjoying it?

- Should we schedule delivery?

- You want to own this rug, don't you?

The triple-A formula will help a salesperson get through many tough objection situations whether the objection is a legitimate one or a false objection. Remember: Acknowledge - Address - Ask!

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 Wrong Way to Overcome Customer Objections

I hate it when this happens:

A salesperson who, in response to my objection (I need to talk to my wife, I need to think about it, etc.) either (1) repeats herself (repeating a bunch of stuff she already told me during her presentation) or (2) babbles trite stuff (like "I know you'd love this widget" or "our customers really are happy with our widgets and you will be, too").

No more generic handling of prospect objections, please!

- - - - - - - - - -

My friend and all around nice guy Shane Gibson will be blogging for 24 hours straight to raise money for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society. It sure would be great if you could stop by his blog and donate some money to the cause. Visit Shane Gibson's Closing Bigger Blog.

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.

10 Responses to "We're Just Not Sure"

Here's the sales scenario: You're selling RVs at your dealership. You've invested two hours with your prospects, and they've found a product they like very much. You've done a great job selling and have asked for the sale. Their response to your closing action is "We're Just Not Sure."

What should you say in response? Here are ten possible responses to your customer's "We're just not sure" statement:

1. Barb...Larry...what is it you're just not sure about?

2. Thank you for telling me that, Barb and Larry. That's helpful. Is it the money or is it something else?

3. Just so I can make sure I'm understanding what you're saying, how sure do you want to be about a new RV?

4. I know it can be tough to make a decision about an RV. But I've found it's helpful if we review why you want an RV in the first place. You said one of the key reasons you wanted an RV is to visit your kids in Dallas - did I understand that correctly? [and so on]

5. Barb...Larry...what do you mean?

6. Please tell me more.

7. Would it be okay if we talk about that?

8. Well let's look at the size...does that meet your needs? How about its fitness for your intended use, does that seem to work for you? Tell me how you feel about the interior features, does that please you? You took it for a drive...do you like the drive-ability of the unit? [and so on]

9. Fantastic! Let's get you to the point where you're sure, okay?

10. Would the two of you taking this machine out this weekend on a weekend getaway help you decide if you're sure?

If you like this post (or don't!), please consider leaving a comment, or subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter.

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

How to Handle "Can You Do Better On Your Price?"

This advice pertains to a sales scenario wherein a customer asks you if you can do better with your price. In this scenario, we are going to assume that you have the authority to discount your price, and that you've decided that discounting would make good business sense for this scenario with this prospect.

[Deciding if you should discount is a separate issue and is not covered here. Of course, appropriateness of discounting depends upon your industry, your company, and the product or service you sell.]

Step 1. Validate your prospect.

This is an important step when dealing with virtually any objection. Validiation helps put the prospect at ease and can even be a pleasant surprise to the prospect. Examples: "I thought you were a shrewd buyer, and by gosh you are!" or "I really appreciate that you're sharing with me exactly what's on your mind."

Step 2. Ask if the prospect is ready to commit to a purchase today if you can agree on the price.

If they say "no," there's no reason to negotiate a price because it's a waste of your time and a waste of your prospect's time. You've got other things to discuss with your prospect, like why they are trying to get a better price when they aren't even ready to buy yet.

If the prospect answers affirmatively, you have a green light to go to step 3.

Step 3. Ask, "Where would our pricing need to be in order for you to move ahead with this purchase today?"

Too many salespeople automatically start discounting when a prospect asks about it. Asking this question encourages the shopper to suggest a price that they would be comfortable with. If you can meet that price, it will be very difficult for them to back out of the transaction. If you can't meet their price, tell the prospect that you won't be able to sell your product to him/her at their dream price. Then, ask them if they're willing to come up from their dream price so the two of you can continue negotiating. Many will bite on your question and come back with a more reasonable offer that you do feel comfortable accepting. Otherwise, you can negotiate up from their revised offer to close the transaction. If the prospect is not willing to make a revised offer, then you will have to either meet their demand or lose the sale, but most customers won't take this hard line approach so early in the negotiation process.

If you like this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to our free sales tips newsletter.

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

What Are Your Competitive Advantages?

Several weeks ago, I met with a potential vendor to discuss his products and services. During the course of our conversation, I asked how the product and service they offered compared to their competitors offerings. Here is what the salesperson told me:

"Basically, we offer the same service they do. In fact, they use the same vendors that we do. But we're better at it."

I followed up: "Is there anything different about your product or service?"

"Not really, we're about the same. But we're better at it."

"What makes you better at it?" I asked.

"We've been doing it longer," he said.

"What should it matter to me that you've been doing it longer if you admit that your product and service is the same as the other guys'?"

He was stumped. He had painted himself into a corner, with no way out, and he had missed his opportunity to provide a convincing argument about why I should invest my company's money with his company. This was ineffective selling at it's best.

So here's the takeaway from this encounter: To maximize your selling opportunities, be prepared to articulate in a convincing way how and why your offering is better than your competitor's. You need to be able to answer the question if you're asked, and sometimes you need to present this information even if you're not asked. If you can't articulate this competitive advantage (or advantages), then you've either got to do some more homework, or your companies needs to engineer a real competitive advantage in your offerings.

The more distinct your advantages, the more you can leverage them into sales results. So stay away from nebulous, trite sales speak like "We're better at customer service" or "We have better quality." Everybody says stuff like that, but few can back up those statements with convincing evidence. If you have evidence, share that evidence with your customer; if you don't have evidence, then you need to be talking about a different and more believable competitive advantage.

A final thought: You will always have a more compelling argument for your product/service if you are able to relate your competitive advantages directly to the specific needs and desires of your prospect.This will take your sales interaction out of the realm of generic sales talk and into the realm of personalized diagnosis and prescription. Personalized benefits always resonate better in the customers' psyche than do generic ones. The barker at the carnival side show uses generic sales talk to attract customers; the physician uses diagnosis and prescription. One earns a lot more money. Which would you rather be?

Your comments are always appreciated. Please share your comment by clicking "comments" below.

Skip Anderson is a professional speaker, sales coach, and the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter.

Overcoming Objections: "The Alliance"

Many husbands and wives (and other partners) make a secret agreement before talking to a salesperson. This alliance is formed before the salesperson (you) ring their doorbell at their home (if you sell in the home), or before they walk into your retail store (if you sell in a retail environment), or before your phone call (if you sell in the home), or before they come to your timeshare presentation (if you sell timeshares).

The alliance is formed in a manner similar to the following:

HUSBAND: "Now honey, let's not be pressured into making a decision today. We'll just tell the salesperson we need to think about it, okay?"

WIFE: "Yes, you're right. We'll just refuse to buy no matter what and we'll tell the person we need some time to think about it."

HUSBAND: "Okay, that's our plan, then."

Often, this alliance is so rigidly formed that your prospects will indeed refuse to buy from you, even if you have the right product for the prospect at the right time and at the right price. So how do you handle this unstated objection?

One of the most effective techniques for handling this secret objection is to preempt it by talking about the objection early in your sales appointment (long before you get to the closing step in the selling process). You can bring the "alliance" into the conversation in a manner similar to this:

"Dawn and Brad, I know a lot of the couples I work with have a private chat before I come to their home for our meeting. And that chat often goes something like this: "Honey, let's not buy tonight no matter what, and let's tell the sales guy that we need time to think about it."

And then the other partner agrees, and says something like, 'Yes, absolutely, I agree honey. We'll tell the salesperson we want to think about it.'

Now I don't know if you had a chat like this before I arrived at your home today. That's your business. But I want to make this proposal to both of you:

I propose that we all put forth our best efforts during our time together today. I'll do my best to understand your situation, and you do your best to explain what you need from me, my company, and from our widgets. At the end of our appointment today, I'll ask you if you want what we offer. If you do, say 'yes', and if you don't, simply say 'no.' Is that fair?"

The great majority of your prospects will agree with you, and that gets the monkey off your back. This can pave the way for a smooth interaction, and engaged prospects. It's a great sales momentum builder, because the prospect will be inclined to not automatically announce that they need to think about your proposal. You'll still hear that objection from prospects, but you'll hear it less frequently if you use the technique as outlined above.

Occasionally your prospects will say something like "We never buy right away; we always think about it." If you hear that from a prospect, you can say, "Yes, I've heard that before from clients, and I think I understand why salespeople say that. Nobody likes to be taken advantage of. So can we agree that we'll all put our best efforts on the table today during our meeting?"

This is your second closing question. You're not closing on the sale, you're closing on the agreement to work together effectively.

Then, when it comes time to close the transaction, you can again address the alliance with this prospect if you can offer a discount to make a decision:

"Now I know you folks are cautious about buying something without thinking about it. I understand that. I also understand that my customers want to get the best deal possible. So since you were so nice to tell me up front that you would need to think about this purchase, I'm going to offer you some special pricing that I only offer to people like yourselves. The reason I'm offering this special pricing is because my time is valuable, and I know yours is valuable also. So I'd like to get a yes or no from you today, rather than have to play phone tag or send emails back and forth or drive back to your house tomorrow. So, for us to get this order written today, here's my offer..."

And then you continue with your closing routine. Again, most of your prospects will buy your argument (if you've been successful at positioning your product to meet the prospects needs and if you've successfully addressed all other objections).

Addressing The alliance isn't appropriate for every sales scenario of course, but it is often the best way to beat the alliance.

Don't forget the alliance!

Skip Anderson is a professional speaker, sales coach, and the Founder of Selling to Consumers Sales Training, a B2C and retail sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to our free sales tips newsletter.

Can You Save the Sale?

I received a call the other day from a friend who sells office furniture in an office furniture dealership. She works in a business-to-business environment, but I think some of the elements of this question are applicable to consumer selling as well, so i'd like to share her question with you:

"My client told me that he wanted to keep his office chairs under $400, so after asking a bunch of questions and doing some research, I presented a chair to him. It has all the basic features, it's a well-made chair, and it will fit into his budget. He also didn't want his environment to look like the "Taj Mahal" so wanted a modest look in his office, which this chair would provide. He liked it and asked if he could have a sample of the chair so some of his employees could try it, so I took a few days to round one up and then got it over to him.

I thought everything was on track, but then I got a call from my client and now he wants to know about a well-known very high end chair that would cost over $1000. He said some of his employees were aware of the chair and looked it up online and they were interested in it. He wanted to know if he could get a sample of that chair, too.

What should I do now?"

So here's your challenge: Come up with an answer to my friend's question.

When you're ready to see my answer, go here.

Skip Anderson is a professional speaker, sales coach, and the Founder of Selling to Consumers, a B2C and retail sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to the free Sales Tips newsletter.

Overcome Objections: Start Early in the Sales Process

People who attend our sales seminars often have a strong interest in learning how to overcome objections. After all, objections are what keeps prospects from becoming customers, right?

The challenge is that many objections can be prevented by creating a sales process to preempt them. Objections are best handled by preventing the objections, not be handling them once the prospect voices the objection.

In how many hundreds of sales calls have I have seen customers object by saying "your price is more than I was expecting," yet the sales person hadn't asked about the customer's comfort level in investing in the purchase early in the conversation? Could the prospect's price objection have been prevented? In many cases, the answer is yes.

Is the customer comfortable investing $5000 in the purchase? Or $1000? Or somewhere in between? If you want you know, you have to ask. And the time to ask is early in the interaction, not after asking for the business.

Of course, customers will often underestimate or overestimate their "budget," but that's okay. Asking about money gets the money issue on the table, which is right where it should be, along with all the other factors of a purchase (depending upon what you sell, the other factors might be size, color, delivery options, fabric, finish, engine type, etc.).

The time to handle objections is early in the sales interaction before the customer expresses them. If you wait until closing to handle objections, you'll be less effective as a sales closer. To close more sales, address potential objections early.

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Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips Newsletter.

Anticipating Objections: A Good Strategy for Presidential Candidates and a Good Strategy for Salespeople

I watched Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last night, being a bit of a politics junkie. Whether you admire or despise Obama, I think you'd have to agree that he skilfully utilized a concept of effective sales presentations: anticipate objections and address them directly during your presentation.

The "presentation" phase of the selling process is the time for the salesperson to "be on stage" and to be the center of attention, unlike the "Warm up" and the "Needs and Desires Investigation." The presentation is when the salesperson has the opportunity draw a direct connection between his product's benefits and the specific needs and desires of the prospect.

If you can anticipate your prospect's objections, it's an excellent sales strategy to preemptively address them during the presentation rather than wait until you hear the objection from the prospect's mouth after you've asked the prospect to buy. The advantage of being proactive is that some of the energy of the objection is decreased simply by being the one to address it first. In our sales training, we teach strategies for proactive handling of objections.

Senator Obama utilized this technique in his speech last night (transcript here). He attempted to address the following "objections" in his speech in an effort to disarm his critics:

- Potential Objection... "Obama is merely a celebrity rock star, not a viable presidential candidate":

"Now, I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine. These are my heroes. Theirs are the stories that shaped my life. And it is on behalf of them that I intend to win this election and keep our promise alive as president of the United States."

- Potential Objection... "Obama's pro-choice stance scares me":

"We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country."

- Potential Objection... "Obama is against gun rights and he might take away my guns":

"The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than they are for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals."

We don't know if Obama succeeded in silencing any of the objections that segments of the electorate may be having about his candidacy; but it's clear that he handled potential arguments against his candidacy in a direct and compelling manner, which is exactly how sales professionals should handle their prospects' objections. I predict that some of the negative energy that has surrounded Senator Obama's stance on gun rights, abortion rights, and being "merely a celebrity" (a la Britney Spears) will have been silenced somewhat because of how he addressed these issues.

Silencing an objection during a sales call is a good thing, too.

Flickr photo by shirishbendre.

Please share your comments by clicking on "comments" below.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips Newsletter.

Handling the Unreasonable Offer: 3 Strategies

This is for salespeople who have authority to discount their price to their customer:

Do you ever get an unreasonable offer from your prospect? Here are three ways to deal with this situation:

1. Congratulate the prospect on his aggressive posture. Then  say, "As much as I admire your negotiating ability by asking for such a large discount, your offer is simply not possible. Are you willing to be more reasonable?"

What you want is for the customer to respond affirmatively so that price negotiations can continue. If he says "yes," then you can make a reasonable offer and ask for his business. If your prospect says "no," then you must determine if he's committed to his offer and if so, either accept it (and win the sale) or reject it (and probably lose the sale).

2. Say, "I can get you that price, but we'll have to take some of the product away" (or lower the quantity on the order). Which is more important to you? Paying exactly the price you offered and losing some of the product, or getting what you really want and paying a fair price for it?"

3. Say, "Your offer is a great down payment. How about if we finance the remainder?"

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Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting company. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips Newsletter.

 

You're the First Person I've Talked To

In selling, it's not uncommon for a prospect to tell us that we're the first salesperson they have talked to. This is usually mentioned along with a statement like, "I'm getting three bids" or "We've got a couple other stores we want to look at" or "We we just started looking for a new _________."

Have you noticed how few prospects say, "I've gotten two other bids, and you're my last quote to receive before I make my decision?" or "I've checked out three other stores and yours is the last one we're going to look at before we decide?" I would imagine I've heard statements like that maybe only a handful of times in my entire career, if even that often.

This occurs because prospects want to keep us at arms length and convince us that they're a ways away from making their buying decision. In their strategy, this will prevent us from asking them to buy (which can be uncomfortable for them), or prevent them from looking too eager to us, which, they reason, could cause them to pay more than somebody who plays hard to get.

But here's the reality of it. Let's say every prospect you will see in the next year tells you they're getting three price quotes (or they're shopping at three stores). By the law of averages, you would expect that you would be the first salesperson to meet with a prospect about a third of the time, and you would be the second salesperson to meet with a prospect about a third of the time, and you would be the third and final salesperson to meet with a prospect a third of the time. Yet, prospects always tell us we're the first people they've talked to!

How can this be?

The answer is: it can't be.

Prospects lie. The next time a prospect tells you they're going to be getting other bids, don't assume that you are the first salesperson they've talked to and that they don't already have those other bids. There's a 66.6% chance that you're the second or third salesperson they've talked to; the prospect just doesn't want you to know that.

With this information, you can now consider asking your prospect these questions:

- Who else have you talked to so far?
- Who else do you want to talk to that you haven't yet been able to do?

These questions can be sensitive, of course, depending upon your industry and your selling situation, but many times it's appropriate to ask these questions in a straightforward yet comfortable way. The more information you have, the better you'll be able to engage your prospect, give her the information she needs to make the purchase, and have a greater chance of making a sale.

Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers, a B2C sales training and consulting firm. Subscribe to the free Selling to Consumers Sales Tips Newsletter.