Would your sales prospects rather see you or a burglar?

Would your sales prospects rather see you or a burglar?

In the modern selling world, it is by your actions and not your title that you can differentiate yourself from the instant recoil that many have when hearing the term salesman. Quite simply put – don’t do what the rest of the pack do!

§  Do your market research and know your Industry backwards.

§  Develop an Information and educational approach to selling.

§  Never, ever, use the old clichéd opening lines that poorly trained, under skilled and pushy salespeople use.

§  Understand current research into buying psychology and why people make the choices they do.

§  Develop a long term focus rather than quick sales.

On that note, here are the best (funny, crazy, inspirational) one liners in sales.

1)      What's the matter, don't you trust me?

2)      We lose a little on every sale but we'll make it up on volume.

3)      Pst ... Viral marketing doesn't work ... Pass it on!

4)      May I have the chance to "wow you" today?

5)      I can provide more than you thought for less than you think.

6)      Sir I am here to save your money !

7)      My personal favorite….“First place gets a Cadillac, second place gets a set of steak knives, and third place - you are all fired” Alec Baldwin said these lines in the movie, Glenngarry Glen Ross, when he was motivating some slumping real estate/time share salespeople.

I still think cold calling WORKS.

Top 3 Tips to Successful Cold Calling

Proper Preparation As simple as it sounds, many people do not prepare correctly for cold calling. Understanding your client fully is essential. A cold caller should place himself in the position of the buyer, who is busy and if the caller is lucky, setting aside a little of his time to listen to a pitch. Getting the buyer’s attention is one thing, maintaining it is another. Hit at the heart of the buyer’s problem, provide an irresistible solution, and remember to have all notes, documents and other papers at hand so each buyer question is answered with a solid, detailed response.

Keep Calling
There’s no reason to hide from it, cold calling is a repetitive job. How you power through the repetition and achieve productivity defines your level of success. Limit breaks between calls to nothing if possible. Although your calls are targeted, hitting on a buyer interested enough to fully consider your proposal may take time, so covering ground is important as well. The more you call, and the tighter your pitches, the more potential clients you collect.

Think Positive As with any job, motivation is key to success in cold calling. A run of empty calls is not unheard of, but the caller does not want to let this affect his next call. In general it is best to be happy in order to sound happy. Maybe the caller thinks his unhappiness is not coming across in his tone, but the buyer may pick up on it and damage the sale. A caller’s tone, attitude, and even body posture have an affect on the mood in which they place their buyers. Callers should remember a bad day doesn’t have to mean a bad sales day.

The Five Most Common Types of Salespeople

Rather than just typecast prospective customers, I prefer to to analyze different types of salespeople I've come in contact with in my years of selling. I have listed below the five most common types of salespeople I've had the opportunity to typecast over my career.

The "Ghost" Sales Rep - This has got to be one of my favorites. The "ghost" sales rep typically works in an industry with repeat customers that buy every month. This rep is usually hardly ever seen in person, hence the name - "ghost". He or she is just a voice on the other line, and primarily drives business by using the phone only. While this rep is not a new business kingpin, they usually are half decent at getting a certain price.The reason why is they don't want to have to work harder when prices are lowered. This might call for "face to face" activity and the ghost sales rep can't have that! When times get tough, this rep has a hard time digging his or her way out of it. In most cases, this rep is found in the average or slightly above average category when it comes to performance. If they can burn up the phone through massive cold calling, they can make it to the top.

The "T to T" Sales Rep (aka - Tuesday to Thursday Sales Rep) - Obviously, this sales rep hates working in the field on Mondays and Fridays. Ghost Sales Reps were usually in this classification at some point before they decided to stay home. T to T reps can actually become very proficient, and use Mondays and Fridays for organization, paperwork, getting reports done, cold calling, and planning sales strategies. They seem to maximum their "face to face" activity to the utmost from Tuesday through Thursday.

The "Rule Breaker" Sale Rep - Usually very independent, this sales rep is horrible when it comes to doing paperwork or getting in reports on time. They are also cynical when it comes to rules and regulations, though they very rarely voice their dissent in company meetings. The rules breaker is not necessarily dishonest, and he or she is very creative in driving new business. A lot of top performers are rule breakers, because they do what it takes to make their number. They have come to understand the phrase - "Better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission." The rule breaker is usually found at the bottom or the top, and seldom can be classified as average.

The "By the Book" Sales Rep - This is the prototypical sales rep most companies go after. This sales rep will always work the required hours, get paperwork in on time, and put a lot of strength on the company's own method of selling. However, this sort of sales rep usually finds it hard to make it to the "top performer" level. While they work hard, they usually lack the creativity to drive business at a high level. They seem to call the "boss" on just about every semi-difficult situation they face. 80-90% of reps in this category could be classified as "average" when it comes to their sales performance. Their sales numbers also usually match the company's overall growth or decline.

The "Price" & "Complainer" Sales Rep - This is the sales rep that loves the sound of his or her voice in company meetings. Why? - because they love to complain! When dealing with customer complaints, they will almost always blame the company and have a hard time negotiating a "fix" with the customer. They are cynical beyond belief about company rules, but after voicing their dissent they actually follow the rules most of the time. This rep always gives away price unnecessarily, and likes to complain about company prices being too high, also. This type of salesperson never makes it into the top performer category unless they are extremely lucky. When it comes time to scale back the sales force, this person becomes an easy target for downsizing. This is also the most common sales rep type to leave the sales profession behind altogether.

Well there it is...the most common types of salespeople I've run into over my career. If you have one in mind that isn't described above, please feel free to leave your description as a comment to this post.

Selling = Acting ?

Like an ACTOR in a one-person show, there are actually several “mini-roles” within the primary role of salesperson that we take on. I’ve identified eight of the most common; however you may have a few others specific to your industry: What can you add?

• Listener
• Cold caller
• Interviewer
• Presenter
• Entertainer
• Negotiator
• Persuader
• Closer