Selling to Consumers | Sales Training Blog by Skip Anderson

Why "3 for $99" is Worth Much More than $99 to a Seller

You sell products or services to consumers. Let's say you're offering a widget on sale this week for $33. And you sell some throughout the day or week this widget is on sale. That's good for business.

But what's even better for business is to offer those same widgets at 3 for $99. Of course, this makes sense because a lot of customers will buy three of them, thus increasing your revenue.

But here's the real reason to adopt a "3 for $99" mindset in appropriate nooks and crannies of your business-to-consumer sales operation. You are setting up an opportunity to say this to your prospect or shopper:

"You can do 3 for $99, OR, you can save even more money and get 6 for $198, do you want to do that?

I know this isn't feasible for all B2C segments, but for some, this concept will have an impact on a company's revenue. Assuming that my suggestion is feasible for your particular business, then depending upon the industry and the product or service you are selling, you will find that anywhere from one out of ten prospects to ten out of ten prospects will take you up on your proposal. Just imagine what this could do for your top line!

Here are some potential examples:

> Your a men's clothing retailer so you offer a certain collection of dress shirts at two for $75, but you offer to sell four for $150.

> You're a plumbing and heating contractor and you have a special on toilets sold in the home for (I have no idea what toilets sell for these days, especially when installed, so bear with me) $395 instead of $450, but then you say, "or you can do a second toilet and do both of them for only 790. Some consumers will reason that, as long as you're already there replacing a broken toilet, I might as well go ahead and get a new toilet in the guest bathroom as well."

> You sell dog treats in your pet supply store. A special section of premium treats are $1.49 each, but you post a sign saying "2 for $2.75." When your shopper picks up two and lays them on your counter to purchase them, you say "If you want, you can get 4 for $5.50 and save even more money, do you want to do that?" You're surprised but pleased when the prospect puts eight dog treats on the cash counter.

Of course, the magic isn't in the exact quantity or the exact price in these scenarios, it's the concept. If it makes sense with your product in your industry, you can utilize this selling strategy to easily upsell many of your clients / customers.

How have you used this strategy successfully in your business? Or how do you think it could be used? Please share your thoughts or pass along additional examples of the concept.

  

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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Deciding: The Salesperson's Very First Step In Selling

A few minutes ago, I decided to take a break from what I was doing at my desk. I consciously told my body to move my chair back away from my desk, then I told my legs and arms to lift me out of my chair, and then I told my legs to transport me to the restroom.

Notice the word "decided" in the first sentence above. None of us will ever take a break from what we're doing at our desk unless we decide to do it first. The precursor to movement away from a desk is a decision made in our mind. In fact, it has to be made in our mind before we can execute the movement.

Successful selling is no different. 

> We can decide to be successful or we can decide to be unsuccessful (we can also decide to be tentative, to not put in too much effort, to wait and see what happens, etc. - each will bring a different result).

> We can decide to craft an effective presentation or we can decide to wing in (which may feel good to us, but will probably result in less success).

> We can decide to improve our sales closing skills or we can keep doing what we're doing ( in which case we will almost certainly get the same result)s.

> We can decide to become a better manager by improving communications with our staff, or we can blame our staff for not getting it (a sure-fire way to lose your staff, or at least its loyalty).

> We can decide to role-play a challenging part of our sales process or we can wait to see if it comes together over time (I don't want my surgeon seeing if his skills come together over time).

> We can decide to talk to our manager about an issue that concerns us or we can decide to not do that and instead gossip about it to anybody who will listen (thereby reducing the chance that something will be done about the issue).

Life is series of decisions, the results of which will show success or failure or something in between. Becoming either a top-tier salesperson or a short-lived one is also determined by our decisions - many of them - both big and small.

What decisions, big and small, do you need to make today?

 

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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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 Bucking Bronco of Sales: The One Call Close Prospect

Some of us who sell for a living have merely a single prospect interaction (a meeting or visit to our store or a stop at their front door) to complete a sale with that prospect. The solution for this predicament has been termed the one call close.

I think the prospect in many one call close scenarios is the bucking bronco of the sales prospect world. Even if we've been invited into a prospect's realm (or they've invited themselves into our realm, such as during their visit to our showroom), prospect's love to keep us at a distance, to throw us off track, and to delay a buying decision.

First, let's make sure we're on the same page regarding "one call close" selling. Here are some examples of a sales interaction that could be considered one call close opportunities.

>  You're selling art on a cruise ship. Your prospect will only be in your vicinity for five days. After that, he or she goes away forever.

> You're selling a consumer product in a retail store (pick a product; let's say it's golf clubs). The vast majority of visitors to your store end up not buying, whether it's buying today or next week or next month. Therefore, if you want to maximize your sales opportunities, you need to make the most of the prospect's presence in your store right at the moment they are in front of you.

> You're selling your product door-to-door in the residential market (pick a product; how about a package of discount coupons to the new auto repair shop in your community).

> You're selling custom closets. The prospect's current closet fell down in the middle of the night (it was a cheap product and also installed with insufficient care) and they need it replaced (and improved) right away so they've invited you to their home for a price quote (that doesn't automatically mean they're going to select you to do it, however).

Most of these prospects will become -- in part or in whole -- bucking broncos:

> They may avoid answering some of your questions. They do this by changing the subject, or giving one word answers to questions that would typically require longer answers, or by acting as if they are indifferent. 

> They may answer questions untruthfully, either intentionally or unintentionally. When you inquire about, let's say, their budget for a project, they may either lowball it (in hopes of receiving a greatly discounted price from you) or highball it (in an effort to not look cheap or unable to afford something, even though that may be the real truth).

> They may avoid allowing you to question them at a deeper level. Even though it would probably allow us to help the prospect more, they may not be willing to share information about their driving habits even though we'd like to be able to recommend a vehicle that matches their driving habits. Perhaps they think they're protecting themselves from us (side note: shame on "us" -- sales professionals and sales organizations -- for putting prospective customers in a situation where they feel they need protection from us).

> They may say they're getting other "quotes" or "visiting other stores" even though they've already received those other quotes or already visited the other stores. They often want to shut us down or put us on hold, even though they may still end up purchasing our product.

All bucking broncos buck. But they can be trained and worked with in such a way that they won't buck anymore. And when that happens, it's good for the bronco and it's good for the rider of the bronco. It's also good for the prospect and the sales professional selling to them.

Tame your bucking bronco prospects, and you'll be a better seller.

 

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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Sales Success: It's All in Your Head

When I was losing weight, I would sometimes convince myself that my plan to lose weight would allow me to have a couple chocolate truffles here and a few doughnuts there. Intellectually, I know that chocolate truffles and doughnuts are not foods that are known for their nutritional value or for their ability to create weight loss. 

Yet, I somehow convinced myself that "just this once" was okay, even if "just this once" happened several times per week, and even if it didn't include truffles or doughnuts but instead included french fries or pork ribs. Although the weight I was carrying was in my body, it was allowed to stay there (and grow) because of what was in my head. 

As it turns out, I wouldn't lose weight in my body until I took responsibility for what was in my head. Crazy thinking leads to crazy behavior.

Selling can be like that, too. 

We know that there is a path to success in sales. We've learned this path either from others in our company (colleagues, mentors) or from our salespeople parents, or from books we've read, educational seminars we've been to, from our sales manager, or from our experience. Yet, our crazy thinking creeps up on us, and we start to believe we can take shortcuts, yet achieve the same level of success.

So we don't upsell, or make the number of calls we're supposed to make. We don't follow the sales script or follow all the steps as defined in our sales manual. We talk about features but leave out the benefits. We convince ourselves our prospects don't want to hear what we have to say, or won't accept the price increase the company has just announced.

So our crazy sales thinking sabotages our real world sales success. We become our own worst enemy instead of being our own best supporter and cheerleader. We move backward instead of forward.

Your head will tell you...

... whether to greet the next prospect in your store or office with sincere gusto or with dreadful monotony.

... whether you'll be able to sell your widgets at $1150 instead of the old price of $1000.

... whether to practice a sales script until you know it or dismiss it as unnecessary or unimportant.

... whether to work until 5:00 on Friday afternoon or sneak out at 2:00 (haven't you already done that the last seven Fridays?)

... whether to put in the little bit of extra effort to do this or that instead of choosing the easy way.

... whether your prospect is a prospect or isn't a prospect (because it doesn't look like they can't afford your product or service, or they don't look like your typical customer.

... whether you learn or get stale, whether you energize yourself or bore yourself, whether you reach for the stars or don't bother reaching at all.

Sales success: It's all in your head. And whatever is in there will determine how successful you become. 

  

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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This Prospect Will Make Or Break Your Sales Career

 
Your effort will make or break your sales career. So will your knowledge and skill and ability to add value to your prospects' lives. So will your ability to create trusting and genuine short-term and long-term relationships with prospects, customers, managers, and suppliers.

But, perhaps more than any of the factors above, this prospect type will have more to do with your career success than any other:

The "on the fence" prospect.

This is the prospect that could fairly easily either become a customer or a no-sale. They have an interest in your product, and your company, but they also have an interest in perhaps buying from another company or buying another product, or an interest in not buying anybody's product and keeping their money instead. They are hesitant, or cautions, or not completely convinced. They've given you time to present your product and its features and benefits, they've communicated forthrightly about their needs and maybe even asked good questions. They've expressed interest and perhaps excitement about your product and about owning it, or using your service.

Yet, there they are: on top of the fence, swaying first to the "no sale" side of the fence just a bit, then over to the "customer" side a bit, and then back again, but they remain squarely on the fence.

Ultimately, though, a prospect cannot stay on the fence forever. The default decision for fence-sitters is to remain a non-customer, since buying a product requires that the fence-sitter tip to the "buy" side and off the fence. Make no mistake about it: fence-sitters are non-buyers until they get off the fence and into your customer (meaning "people who have bought from us") list.

I see many salespeople who spend tremendous amounts of time working with prospects who are simply not going to buy. Persuasion is a good thing in selling. But just as Glenn Beck is simply not going to persuade supporters of Dennis Kucinich that Beck has the "correct" political viewpoint, and Rachel Maddow is not going to persuade Texas Governor Rick Perry that she has the correct political views, a salesperson is simply not going to persuade a prospect who is dead-set against buying to buy.

I also see a lot of time and energy wasted by salespeople on prospects who are definitely going to buy. In the areas where my client companies work (one-call close, B2C selling, retail), salespeople need to do their best work with people on the fence, let those who are definitely going to buy buy, and let those who definitely not going to buy not buy.

So here's my sales training tip for the day: The prospects whom you deal with in the next year who are on the fence will make or break your sales career in the next 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 that sell to consumers in all B2C sectors to increase sales by realizing the buying potential of every prospect.

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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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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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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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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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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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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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Customers Lie

Nice customers lie. Mean customers lie. All customers lie. They can't help it. It's wired into their operating systems.

Customers consciously lie - yep, right to your face!

- They'll tell you their budget is $5500 when it's really $6500 (or $4500)

- They'll tell you they can make a decision today, but then want to discuss the purchase with their spouse.

- They'll tell you they're ready to move quickly on the purchase, but then drag their feet.

- They'll tell you that the widget they're going to buy must have the XYZ feature, but then buy a widget  without the XYZ feature from your competitor. 

- They'll tell you their brother-in-law bought the same thing for $13,000 when in fact it was $14,900.

- They'll tell you they'll buy if you knock 200 bucks off the price, then they walk after you do.

Customers also unconsciously lie. They don't mean to. They just can't help it. In fact, they're not even aware of it. Lies seep into the conversation without the prospect knowing it.

It doesn't mean you can't be wildly successful selling to consumers, it just means you need to be prepared. Put everything your prospect tells you into your truth machine for a second look. Be skeptical. Test the customer. Constantly reevaluate. Question your prospect. Look for cracks, proof, and evidence. Don't take much on face value. Investigate. Assume your prospect is lying in some way, especially on crucial issues.

Don't hate your customers for it. Love them. But like parents of devious children sneaking handfuls of cookies into their beds at night, listen carefully for their footsteps outside your bedroom door. And then look for crumbs in the morning.

Those who protect themselves will survive the onslaught of customer lies today and will sell anyway.

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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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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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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Home Improvement Sales Training: Sales Professional or Pitchman?

Much of conventional wisdom in home improvement sales training centers around "The Demo." This is particularly true when selling windows, doors, sunrooms and the like.

The concept is that you wow your prospect with the quality of your product and walk out the door with a sale. But if this works so well, why does the average salesperson have to discount his price ("drop" in home improvement lingo) one or more times to get the order?

Look, we've got it all wrong. If we spend five minutes getting to know our prospect and twenty minutes performing our demonstration, where is our focus? What's more important here, our window, or our prospect?

I say our prospect is far more important. If we're going to spend twenty minutes doing our demo, then we'd better spend at least twenty minutes getting to know our prospect. It a decision that will determine if you are a sales professional or a pitchman.

- What micro and macro needs does our prospect have?

- Who is the dominant participant, in the case of a couple? Why?

- What prior experiences of the prospect will influence their decision about the purchase of our product?

- What's on the prospect's mind?

- What fears do that have regarding our product or our company or the buying process?

- How will the prospect make a buying decision?

- Why did they call us to their home today and not a year ago? Or a year from now?

- And so on.

But when a sales representative's focus is on the demo, he is:

- Assuming his product meets the needs of his prospect

- Putting his prospect in a role of secondary importance

- Putting the cart before the horse

- Hoping the prospect is interested enough to sign on, rather than finding out up front

Here's my suggestion:

If you sell windows, doors, cabinetry, custom closets, sunrooms, patio rooms, flooring, knives, vacuums, security systems, or anything else in the home, work to engage your prospect in the buying process by focusing on your prospect. Everything else will fall into place more easily if that is your starting point. Otherwise, you could just as well be an infomercial pitchman doing all the talking and none of the listening.

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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5 Ways to Increase Customer Engagement With Better Goodbyes

I read a very interesting post this week by Rodney Johnson. I love the title: "The Power Goodbye." Read it.

In his article, Rodney discusses how society places more importance on beginnings (the "hellos") than on endings (the "goodbyes"). This is an interesting thought that got me thinking about how this concept  applies to prospects, customers, salespeople, and the sales process.

First, let me say I am a big believer in the power of effective openings during the sales process. The companies I work have salespeople who sell in customers' homes or in retail or in other B2C selling venues. They often have very limited time to establish a trust relationship, and while a B2B salesperson can rely upon prospecting activity to create a vibrant pipeline of prospects, many business-to-consumer salespeople can only rely on the leads supplied to them or the traffic in their store.

For instance, in a retail setting, you wait for your prospect to come through the door. When they do, you have a limited window of opportunity to engage that prospect in conversation. If you fail at opening up that conversation, the prospect will likely either leave the premises (perhaps to visit with your competitor!), or end up engaging with another sales representative at your store. Since the prospect traffic in a retail setting is a finite set, a salesperson must maximize their openings  with these visitors if they are to maximize their sales results.

But let's also look at, as Mr. Johnson calls them, the "goodbyes." 

Let's imagine your customer has just purchased a new barbecue grill, or an entertainment center, or a sunroom. How should the salesperson handle this engagement opportunity?

Here are five tactics to help you maximize engagement with your customer immediately after the sale:

1. CONGRATULATE.

It's very common to thank a customer for their order. One might even be able to argue that it's such a  common occurrence that it's lost its effectiveness. So, congratulate your prospect instead. "Betty and Bob, congratulations on your new health club membership!" has a nice ring to it. And when you follow it with a handshake and appropriate eye contact, you are supporting your prospects underlying needs and desires that motivated them to spend this money on this product or service.

2. SEND A THANK-YOU NOTE, BUT...

Thank you cards are nice. Send one after your customer buys 1 house-full of window treatments or a riding lawnmower or hardwood flooring from you.

But do something different, fun, or unexpected. Send an applicable article clipped from a newspaper or magazine with the thank-you. Take a picture of the customer next to his new recliner before he leaves your store and mail the photo the the customer along with the thank-you note. Send a lottery ticket. Have the entire staff of your store or company sign the card. Send an unconventional card - maybe something that doesn't even look like a traditional greeting card.

When customer engagement processes become unimaginative and routine, their effectiveness is reduced. But when we make them clever, entertaining, or different, we increase the odds of engagement. 

3. BRING A MANAGER INTO THE PICTURE.

When I bought my Sony laptop at Micro Center last year, the cashier called a manager over to her station to  personally thank me for my purchase. Did they have to do this? No, of course not. But did it have an impact on the customer. Yes!

If you work in a venue other than retail, the manager could phone the customer to thank the customer, or send a note or an email.

4. MAKE IT EASY FOR CUSTOMERS TO WEIGH IN ON THEIR EXPERIENCE.

The proper instrument may be a written comment card, a mailed comment card, an online survey, or a phone follow-up, but when you ask prospects about their experience, and it's clear to the customer that you really want their feedback, you increase engagement, trust, and respect.

5. FEATURE YOUR NEW CUSTOMER AND THEIR NEW PRODUCT.

A photo of your new customer standing next to their brand new boat (or, better yet, fishing on it) could be featured on a billboard, in an ad campaign, or in an email newsletter. Making human being customers the focus of your marketing activities can help engage customers because your company is more human-centric and less product-centric. Could insurance companies, for example, benefit from this? Yes! And maybe your company could, too.

Put more effort into your "goodbyes" and you'll increase your customer engagement.

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 Random Sales Process: A Perennial Favorite

What makes a selling process work? The strategy behind it.

And by definition, strategy is not random. Yet I observe lots of salespeople being random in their selling process. And their prospects return the favor by being random back.

In a retail store, the sales representative spewing everything he knows about the refrigerator on a couple. Then he asks if the prospects have any questions. The husband and wife look at each other and say, "No, I think we just need to think about this." End of conversation. Randomness wins. Both the shoppers and the salesperson loses.

At the athletic club, the sales woman gets bullet-point-itus (listing all the wonderful reasons the twenty-something guy should join the club). He takes a brochure home. End of conversation. Randomness wins again. The pounds will not be shed after all, or the heart strengthened, or the muscles toned. And the seller loses his commission opportunity.

In a home, the flooring salesperson brings stacks stacks of carpet samples in to show the prospects. Then he goes out to his van to get more stacks. He jumps from the twist carpet to measuring the room to chatting about his recent trip to Mexico and then back to the carpet samples again. The customers want to shop around. End of conversation. Randomness wins again. The fifteen-year-old carpet will stay on the family room floor for now, and the sales representative will repeat this scenarios at his next appointment.

Randomness is fine when spending time with your  loved ones, your best friend, when on vacation or while strolling through the park. But randomness is a losing proposition in selling.

Buying is like walking up a flight of stairs. Each step gets you closer to the top. Walking stairs is not a random act. It's a strategic act. If you want to get to the top of the stairs, get more strategy, and lose any randomness.

If you want to sell more, get more strategic about it. Lose the randomness. 

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.

The Law of Distraction

The so called "Law of Attraction" has been much talked about in the last few years. But my sense is that it's becoming less trendy to talk about lately. Perhaps it's becoming a bit passe (he says, not intending to offend the Law of Attraction fans out there).

If I'm right, then I'd like to propose a new law that we should embrace: The Law of Distraction.

Prospects are distracted. Especially the consumer shoppers that are the focus of my client companies. The default state of most consumer prospects is that of distraction: They're always in a hurry to get somewhere; They have conflicting requests for their time and energy and attention; They have too much to do in too little time; They're concerned about finances and the economy. They can't focus. They are challenged by making decisions and giving sufficient mental energy to those decisions.

How can a B2C salesperson use the Law of Distraction to his advantage?

1. Accept it.

Assume you will have less time with your prospects now than you did a few years ago. Assume they'll be frazzled. Assume they'll be conflicted. Engineer a sales strategy that accepts these realities but yet allows you to deal with them successfully.

2. Engage your prospect.

The enemy of distraction is customer engagement. Create new ways to engage your customers. Use surveys, polls, videos, displays (retail), and most of all, improved questioning skills. Get them involved in the buying process more effectively than ever before.

3. Buy time.

If you sell in a retail venue, find ways to keep your prospects in the stores. Promotions, kids play areas, novelties, entertainment, refreshments, and anything that will keep distracted prospects in your store longer might be a plus. If you sell on the phone, offer an incentive for talking with you. If you sell in customers' homes, create an incentive for listening to your entire presentation.

4. Simplify the buying process.

Get out your paring knife and see what can be discarded that's currently a part of your selling process. Keep only the elements that help you sell. Say 20% fewer words (contrary to what some believe, fewer words are often more engaging than more words). Skip the hollow verbiage, the wasted words, the trite salesisms.

5. Get back to sales basics.

There are no magic wands in selling, but there are magical sales skills that work time and time again. Brush up on all the elements of selling because great sales skills work even for distracted customers.

6. Be less distracted.

The more distracted your prospects, the less distracted you must be if you want to overcome the law of distraction.

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.

Selling to Consumers: It's Mostly About Relationships

When we think of "relationships" we usually think of those that matter most to us: partners, children, parents, friends, and the like. But those aren't just relationships, those are strong, meaningful relationships. There are other relationships, too. Those other relationships are the ones we have when we end up chatting with someone at the neighborhood coffee shop or meeting someone new at the bar while having a cold one.

And what about the relationship with the front desk clerk at the hotel we check into? It only lasts a few minutes, but isn't that a relationship? Or the parent we meet at the playground while our kids are playing. Or the person that talks to us in a retail store...isn't that a relationship? They're not deep, long-term relationships, but they are relationships, right?

Enter Doyle Slayton

My good friend (and rising star sales guru) Doyle Slayton through up quite a post on his blog Wednesday. It's gotten a lot of people thinking and discussing his topic, which is something that I think is very important for all of us in the sales profession (when I last checked, he had dozens of comments on this blog post). His post, "It's nothing personal, it's just business," takes a contrarian point-of-view to the the commonly held belief that selling is all about relationships.

While I understand what Doyle is getting at, and I definitely agree that sales results are king (everything else is just a means to that end), I somewhat disagree with Doyle's point of view, probably because Doyle's sales background and my sales background are in different types of selling.

My post today is about poking holes in Doyle's post (I warned you, Doyle!). The following are several excerpts from Doyle's article (I encourage you to read the whole thing so you can put everything into proper context). I've added some of my B2C-oriented commentary below. I hope you find the "debate" interesting at least, and thought-provoking at best:

“The relationship begins after the sale, not before.” 

Here's my bias, and why I've chosen to offer a differing point-of-view to Doyle's post:

Most of my sales experience, like many B2C and retail salespeople, has involved sales interactions where you must quickly establish rapport and trust (the basis of any relationship, in my opinion), so you can make a sale while the sales opportunity exists. If you sell windows, for instance, you're going to have a 90 minute (more or less) in-home consultation in order to complete the sale. If you close that opportunity often, you'll be a sales superstar. If you never do it, you'll just be one of the long list of salespeople who tried this job but failed at it.

For a salesperson to sell windows in an in-home sales appointment, one must absolutely, without question, create a relationship with the prospect as a means to achieving the sale. This relationship will be different than the relationship with your good friend, different from the one with your neighbor, your love interest, or your college buddies, but it will be a relationship.

Building a relationship isn't something you do TO someone, it's something you do WITH someone. And to be successful in these types of selling scenarios, the relationship has to be there, because you likely won't get a second chance to sell if you come up empty on the first call. The prospect will be on to his next appointment with your competitor, and if your competitor is able, he'll button up the business while you're left on the sidelines watching from afar.

The same thing holds true in selling jewelry, furniture, fine clothing, or cosmetics at retail. Or selling basement finishing, custom closets, landscaping, or home remodeling in the home. We may never see the customer again (therefore, a relationship after the sale is a moot point), but the relationship almost always has to be there if we're going to win the business.

Most people who sell to consumers don't act as account managers (insurance and financial products are two exceptions). Once the transaction is complete, the relationship, if it exists at all, is of minimal importance. "The relationship begins after the sale?" Nope. I don't think so. Not in the B2C world.

"If there are no results, there is no relationship. Period!"

I disagree with this statement for reasons I've already stated. In my world (consumer selling), there is a relationship, and almost always that relationship exists from the point of contact to the close of the sale, and rarely lasts longer than that.

"If there are no results, there is no relationship" strikes me as being a "which came first, the chicken or the egg" dilemma. Having said that, in B2C selling, the relationship almost always comes first.

Francesca at the gourmet store probably has one chance to sell you a set of All-Clad stainless steel cookware for a thousand dollars or more. If you don't buy it from her, you'll likely go to another store, or order it online, or decide that something else has a higher priority in your life at this moment than cookware. Many consumer purchases take place in a very limited window of opportunity.

I offer this spin on Doyle's statement: "If you can't quickly create a relationship with your prospect, you probably don't have a sale."

"Do you really think the majority of your prospects are interested in building a relationship? We might be pretty good people, but I don’t think any of us are that cool."

If you ask your prospects if they're interested in building a relationship, they'll say no. I agree with Doyle here. But I can also say that consumer prospects prefer to have a positive and productive interaction with their appliance salesperson or their interior designer at the end of the day. As salespeople, we shoot ourselves in the foot when we don't create a positive relationship, albeit a usually short-lived one, with our prospects.

Our prospects probably don't want us to ask for the sale, either. But we still do it. We have to to excel.

"Ok, point made. Let’s transition to look at our current client base."

Many of us in consumer selling don't have much of a "current client base."

While the B2B salesperson has the luxury of getting ongoing orders for steel or paper products or industrial finishes, or IT services, we B2C folks hunker down and look for new selling opportunities. You can make a nice sale selling window treatments to your prospect today, but aside from selling them window coverings at their second home or for their new home when they move in seven years, you're not going to get much repeat business from your customer (again, there are some exceptions, like insurance and financial services).

In my opinion, it's must more important to maximize your relationships with all your prospects, whether those relationships last five minutes, half-an-hour, or several hours (or if you're lucky enough to leverage a longer-term relationship into ongoing revenue). If you want to sell more, get better at creating relationships quickly.

That reminds me: Years ago I created a sales training program for a national chain of furniture stores called "Have a Relationship with a Customer." The point of the training was to look at the sales interaction as a relationship, not just two ships passing in the night.

Thanks, Doyle, for your thought-provoking post. Let the discussion continue!

[One of my favorite sales books is Relationship Selling, the 8 competencies of top sales producers by Jim Cathcart. Although this book has a bit of a business-to-business bias, it's filled with great insight and wise recommendations.]

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 Selling Is About: A Review of an Actual Sales Call

Someone (I'll call him Steve) stopped by yesterday to try to sell me some knives. I let him give me his presentation at the kitchen table. He was energetic, positive in his demeanor, and he asked for the order. Those are all very good things.

But Steve could have improved his salesmanship in a number of ways. The biggest was this:

Steve came in and got out his knives and his 3-ring binder and started telling me about the manufacturer of his knives. It wasn't offensive. It wasn't overbearing. It was mildly informative. But it didn't influence me, the prospect, to nearly the level it could have. What was missing? 

ENGAGEMENT!

Here are my suggestions for how Steve could make his sales meetings even more effective when selling in his customers' homes: 

1. While Steve was getting his knives, note pad, order form and pens ready, he could talk to me as a fellow human being. A little chit-chat, some friendly banter, goes a long way to put a prospect at ease. Steve could have asked about the dog, or the pile of rocks in our back yard.   

2. After Steve had everything ready, he should have engaged me in conversation and not been so quick to tell me about his company and his knives. Here is the type of conversation that I think it's important for in-home salespeople to have with their prospects so their sales appointments don't end up being infomercials:  

Salesperson: So who does the cooking in your house?

Prospect: My wife does.

Salesperson: What's your wife's name?"

Prospect: Leona

Salesperson: What are some of the dishes Leona prepares that are your favorites?

Customer: Italian Beef Roast, Stuffed Peppers, Chicken and Dumplings, and Marinated Pork Chops with Wine Sauce.

Salesperson: Wow! I'm impressed! She sounds like quite the cook. And how about you? Do you do any of the cooking? 

Customer: Yeah, once or twice a week, but I cook the more simple things like burgers or pasta. One thing I make, though, is the best cheesecake in Oklahoma! 

Salesperson: I love cheesecake! What's your secret to making it "the best?"

Customer: I put a little lemon peel in it, but there's also a little bit of lemon liquor in it too. Not so much that you can really taste it, but just a little bit so it enhances the flavor. It's like a secret ingredient because nobody can really tell it's there, but everybody compliments me on it. People really love it! 

Salesperson: Well good for you! That sounds delicious! What I have to show you today will change your experience cooking, and I know it will make life so much more simple for Leona. [presentation continues].

Later, when Steve is presenting his knives, he can refer back to the Italian beef roast, the cheesecake, and the other dishes. He can call the prospect's wife by name. He can customize the sales presentation to the particulars of the prospect, rather than merely reciting a memorized script about each knife.

Steve can now use tie-downs during his presentation. Let's say Steve is presenting a slicing knife. Steve can present the features and benefits, but then can ask, "Do you think you and Leona would find this knife with it's chroma-cut edge useful when serving her famous Italian beef roast?" 

Steve did a good job during his sales interaction with me. But he could have done a great job. 

Selling is not so much about you, your product, or your company. It's more about your prospect. We can't make it about our prospect unless we strive to understand him, his needs, and the particulars of his situation. If you want to sell more, engage your prospects more.  

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

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

You Might Be a Sleazy Salesperson if...

You might be a sleazy salesperson if...

 
...you make fun of your customers behind their back. Alot

...you don't just take advantage of an opportunity, you take advantage of a customer

...you don't keep private information private

...don't treat your customers with genuine respect

...cheat someone out of something

...view your prospect as being your opponent

...have a fake smile

...wear polyester ties

...wear a top that is two sizes too small (applies to men and women)

...or even one size too small

...you can't help out a colleague without expecting something in return

...your ego is bigger than your humility

...take anything of the customer's that isn't yours

...hit on your customers

...say "trust me"

...show too much leg

...act like a gangsta

...you line up with other salespeople, peering out the windows of your car dealership

...with binoculars

...eat in front of your customer, unless you're dining together

...wink a lot

...your perfume/cologne lingers two hours after you've left the room

...prematurely bring your sales manager into the conversation to "close the deal"

...tell a unabashed lie to your prospect

...don't do what you say you were going to do

...use colorful language in front of your prospects that don't use colorful language

...you call a customer "babe" or "baby" or "honey"

...say inappropriate things around children

...look anywhere in your customer's home that you shouldn't (if you sell in the home)

...chomp on gum while with a customer

...say "I gotta go take a dump" to a customer, unless that's how your customer talks

...don't play by the rules

...don't know the rules

...don't care that you don't know the rules

...wear too much jewelry

...have breath, clothes, or a body that smells like an ashtray or worse

...have too many buttons unbuttoned on your blouse or shirt

...stand around your store or showroom talking trash with other salespeople, especially when customers are present

...answer your cell phone when with a prospect

...itch yourself where you shouldn't

...for too long

...you think know the world evolves around you

What salespeople do you know that are on the sleazy side? What else should be on the list that I'm missing?

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 nuts about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

Sales Training Advice: Selling Door-to-Door

Spring is finally upon us here in Minnesota (at least I think spring is here; sometimes it's hard to know for sure in Minnesota). I saw one sign of spring earlier this week: I had a door-to-door canvasser ring our doorbell at our home.

I admire door-to-door canvassers; they experience massive amounts of rejection, and yet they still get out there, walking the streets and by-ways of the community, to identify prospects to whom they can sell. For most, it's not an easy job, but it can pay big dividends, especially if you know what you're doing.

So I admire the guy who came to our home the other night. He had a pleasant and sincere smile, and he was working hard. But he could have done a much more effective job.

Here's what he said when I answered the door: "Hi, I'm with _____________ Painting, and I'm wondering if you have any painting projects planned in the next year."

I said, "No."

He then gave me a door-hanger and asked him to call him if I decided we needed any interior or exterior painting. The was the end of the interaction.

What follows are some suggestions that, if implemented, would improve this salesperson's success rate.

1. Stand back from the door 6-8 feet after you ring the doorbell. Many people feel a twinge of uneasiness when somebody they don't know is at their door. That feeling of uneasiness is magnified when the unknown person at the door has their mug mere inches from it. Give the homeowner some breathing room.

2. Wear a large ID badge attached to your clothing or hang it around your neck. It should show your company's name and your name in large letters, and it should have a picture of you on it. When you introduce yourself to the prospect, left up the id badge to call attention to it. This helps the suspect feel at ease.

3. Rarely, if ever, should a door-to-door salesperson start with a closed question (one that can be answered with yes or no, or a multiple choice question. Start with an open-ended question. A perfect open-ended question for the gentleman who visited us the other night would have been, "I couldn't help but noticing the patch of rotting siding on the side of your house. It made me curious; What happened?"

It's a long story about why we have a patch of rotting wood siding on the side of our house, so I won't go there, but we certainly need to have some siding replaced, and after it's replaced, it will need to be repainted. So why did I tell the salesperson that I didn't have any painting projects planned in the next year?

Like a lot of customers, I took the easy route. His closed question made it too easy for me to say "no." But if he would have engaged me in a more effective manner, I probably would have shared this information with him. I've also been avoiding thinking about the rotting siding; so my psyche is in denial mode. He question let me continue in denial mode.

The key is customer engagement. Closed questions are notoriously poor engagement instruments. Open-ended questions, on the other hand, are fabulous for this purpose.

4. Ask for referrals after a suspect shuts you down.

"You know the people in your neighborhood much better than I do. Who would be the 2 or 3 people that you think it would be most important for me to talk to?" Some people will refuse to answer your question, but some people will give you some neighborhood intelligence that may be helpful in finding viable prospects to talk to.

Even if they shut you down again, follow up with another question: "I would love it if you would give me the names of two or three people you know who might possibly want to talk to me about painting...even if they don't live in your neighborhood."

Hand the prospect a referral sheet and a pen and see what happens. You'll definitely get some referrals if you utilize this approach consistently.

Happy canvassing!

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 nuts about helping companies and individuals sell more. 

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.

Selling to the 2009 Consumer

It's a new year, and time to look ahead. Trendwatching.com has just released their list of consumer trends for 2009. Anybody who markets or sells to consumers could use this list to educate themselves about the consumer mindset in current times.

In one of the trends, which they call "Happy Ending," Trendwatching.com predicts that the new year will be a good one for companies that do a good job of showing their customers that they truly care. And, with the economic downturn in full swing, this is what they have to say about the new consumer mindset:

"But the most important effect of more austere times is probably that consumers start questioning what truly makes them happy, which more often than not steers them towards the realization that happiness ain't (just) about traditional consumption. Expect pockets of consumers to switch to lower-consumption models with surprising ease, and to look for different and less costly sources of happiness and thus, ultimately, status. Any way you can help them with that will be a guaranteed winner."

I takeaway three things from this:

1. Consumers will consume less and when they do consume, it will be at a more moderate price point than before; and

2. Prospects will focus on what makes them truly happy, with an eye on practicality.

3. The definition of "status" is changing.

Years ago when I was selling custom closet systems in customers' homes, I was intrigued and constantly puzzled by homeowners who built, for example, a 5000 square foot home (that's a good-sized home in my part of the country) with a large master closet, but would only put a rod and shelf (either wood or wire shelving) in the closet to hold the clothing. What apparently made this consumer happy was a large home (but a poor use of space).

This didn't seem practical to me (but admittedly, I was biased). Imagine how much money this consumer spent on their 10 foot by 16 foot master closet (don't forget to add the mortgage interest on 160 square feet of space into the mix). Yet, they often went the cheap route and put an inexpensive rod/shelf (with tons of wasted space) in this large closet to hold their thousands of dollars worth of clothing. Wouldn't it be a better investment to put that expensive space to good use with a little extra investment in a quality closet system to utilize the space well?

Perhaps the new trend will be to build smaller homes with more modest closets, but also to invest in a custom closet system that truly utilizes that space. It makes sense, doesn't it? (Making full use of what you have rather than mindlessly building something where the only goal is sheer size). Products like this may fit well with the new definition of status.

I believe we'll see consumers shop smarter in 2009, but those of us who can position our products to be a practical addition to their lives rather than an ego trip will probably fare better than those of us selling products that are purely luxury purchases. Look for the consumers you sell to be more practical and to focus on what makes them truly happy. This will be an opportunity for many of you, but will require a slightly or greatly different approach to selling and marketing.

What can you do to help your product/service and your sales approach resonate with the consumer of 2009? Let's talk about it.

Flickr photo by Gemma Vittoria.

Please share your comments.

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.

Selling in the Home: What to Drive

Someone once told me that in-home salespeople shouldn't drive a nice car to their sales appointments.

I say "hogwash!"

I believe it's perfectly appropriate to drive an upscale car to most sales appointments at customers' homes. Salespeople shouldn't try to hide their success. If you're successful and you have a nice vehicle,then go ahead and drive around town in a nice vehicle. This won't have a negative impact on your sales performance if you're engaging, friendly, and focused on your customers' needs.

I'm not suggesting you flaunt your riches to your prospects. But don't be afraid to be the most successful real estate agent in your town, or the best paid residential landscape designer or the most successful custom closet consultant. 

Prospects hate snobs. But they love to deal with successful people who they feel comfortable with.

Flickr photo by Fabio Aro.

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.