Friday, July 24, 2009
selling skills
There are well-defined moments in the sales process when you absolutely must ask for the order. You can’t afford to have these precious moments slip through your fingers but unfortunately, that’s exactly what happens to too many salespeople. I have some advice that will protect you from becoming one of those salespeople. The key is to make closing automatic and you do that by knowing exactly when you must ask for an order.
“Always Be Closing”
Unfortunately, too many salespeople were mislead into believing that “Always Be Closing” represents the “ABCs” of salesmanship. Frankly, nothing could be further from the truth. You can’t always be closing because asking for an order is only one of the process
At a minimum, before you ask for an order you need to establish some rapport
with your prospect, uncover a need for your product and present your solution. “Always Be Colsing” may sound great in a movie but it is meaningless when you’re in your sales territory, attempting to sell something to someone.
Often, salespeople that think they should always be closing are, in reality, never closing. These salespeople do not understand the sales process because if they did, they would know when and how to ask for an order. Well-trained professional salespeople don’t have these problems because they follow a well-defined sales process. These professionals know exactly when the only thing left to do is close the business.
Fear Of Closing
the sales reps need to overcome their fear of closing. After all, you can’t be sales rep and have a fear of closing, just as you can’t be an electrician and have a fear of electricity! Salespeople close and if you are not closing you’re not a salesperson… you are just a conversationalist. Salespeople that fear closing just keep talking and hopelessly praying that at some point, the prospect will ask for an order form to sign. Guess how often that happens?
In my work, I’ve uncovered many factors that cause some salespeople to fear closing. Some sales reps don’t want to face the moment of truth. Other salespeople fear they may appear “pushy”. There are also other salespeople that assume, without any data to support their assumption, that the prospect is not ready to sign an order. I help these salespeople by making closing an automatic reflex reaction to certain events in the sales process. When closing is automatic, you don’t even have to think about it. You automatically ask for the business. This process helps most salespeople overcome their fear of closing.
Initial Close
At some point in the sales process, you’ll ask your prospect a series of questions to uncover a need for your product or service. You’ll then present your product and explain how the product addresses the needs you’ve uncovered. Once you’ve presented all the benefits your prospect with gain by using your product, you must close. You must ask for the order at this point in the sales process. Don’t think about it … just close.
Since this is the first time you’ve asked your prospect for the order, this closing attempt is called the Initial Close. Your prospect has two possible reactions to your Initial Close. Your prospect will either give you the order or give you an objection. Obviously, if you get the order, you’ve accomplished your goal. On the other hand, if you get an objection, you still have some work ahead of you.
Overcoming Sales Objections
It is not end of world if you get some objections after your first closing attempt. In fact, you probably will get some objections after your Initial Close. Most prospects feel it is their duty to have some objections for the person attempting to sell them something. So relax and don’t panic. Now that the objection has surfaced, you just moved one step closer to the order. Keep in mind that an objection is not rejection. An objection is only a request for more information. Your prospect is confused and unclear about something you said or something you failed to mention. By addressing the sales objection, you give your prospect new and additional information. Armed with the new information, your prospect is able to develop a new and favorable opinion about their decision to purchase your product.
Objections should not be ignored and must be answered in a way that completely salifyes the prospect. The salesperson should not get defensive or start debating the prospect. The goal is not to win an argument. The goal is to get the order.
The “No More Objections” Close
Once all objections have been successfully addressed, you must close the prospect and ask for the order. As with the Initial Close, don’t even think about it and make this closing attempt an automatic part of your sales process. I refer to this closing attempt as the “No More Objections Close”. Once the prospect runs out of objections, the salesperson must ask for the order. Don’t think about it … just close.
Salespeople should always be direct and confident when closing a sale. The salesperson’s confidence makes the prospect confident about the decision to purchase. All objections have been successfully addressed and the salesperson must confidently assume the prospect is ready to do business.
Also, you must remain silent after you ask for an order. The prospect must be the next one to speak. There could be an uncomfortable pause while the prospect thinks about the final decision. If you interrupt that pause, you greatly diminish your probability of receiving the order. That's why this is called stratigic selling .
When You Must Close The Sale
As you now see, there are two moments in the sales process that call for a closing attempt. The first attempt is after you’ve presented the benefits of your product. The second time is after all objections have been successfully addressed. Implement this process and make closing automatic.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
how to develop your presentation skills
Here are 5 Ways that will help you develop your skills of presentation.
1-Confidence is the Key
Before anything, develop a certain degree of confidence about your own abilities. Don’t go out there with the feeling that everyone is your enemy and is just waiting to rip you apart.
You can also build a certain degree of confidence by being well prepared for the presentation. Don’t leave any facet out, and make it a point to have a script that is tightly edited. Even if you don’t make all the information at your disposal, a part of the presentation, make sure that you have an in-depth understanding of the topic.
2-Be Engaging and Do Not Lecture
Develop an interesting presentation. This is a significant aspect of developing presentation skills. Learn to interact with your audience while giving a presentation. Don’t just stand and dump your data on them.
Be compelling enough, so that the people hear your presentation, without giving you a bored look or without showing disinterest in the presentation. It’s important to understand that, you don’t know more than the audience, and even if you think you do, you are giving the presentation for their benefit and not yours.
3-Knowing Your Audience
Make it a point to know your audience. Meaning, you must know the basic characteristics of the audience. You must also know the number of senior people that would be a part of the audience, or what would be the initial attitude of the people vis-à-vis the topic.
If the people in front of you are intelligent and well-informed, you must be prepared accordingly and try to mold your presentation skills accordingly. Each presentation is different, and needs a few common skill sets in conjunction with skill sets that have been developed for a particular audience.
4-Keep it Short and Simple
Don’t go in for a lengthy presentation. A simple and short presentation does not mean a presentation that falls short of expectations or does not provide important information.
If you try and integrate simplicity, you will develop an orderliness, and will also know what to select and in what amount. You will also become better organized, and not meander away from the topic.
5-Anticipation
You can develop presentation skills by learning to anticipate any eventuality, especially with respect to the questions asked. If you do not learn to expect the unexpected, you might just lose your credibility in the process.
Always identify the questions or problems that your might face, and form an adequate response for the same.
The Time and Patience Factor
Developing presentation skills takes time and no one is born with such skills. You need to practice, and hone your skills, by not shying away from the thought of giving presentations. After a period of time and due diligence you will develop presentation skills that will give you unmitigated success
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Problem Solving skills
Different managers and experts have been coming up with their own problem solving skills. It is inevitable because that is mankind's nature---to improve what is already widely used norms and practices.
Practically, all problem solving skills and practices are derived from the most basic problem solving processes most popularly known in the academe as the scientific approach.
It could be inferred that Science in general, regardless of specific branch or discipline, has forced men to come up with a systematic approach to problem solving.
Thus, the scientific approach to problem solving, being the basic process, is very potent and effective in putting solutions to every challenges, especially in business.
Scientific approach
As refresher, it would help a lot if you would be reoriented to these scientific problem solving steps:
1. Know the problem.
2. Gather pertinent data and information regarding that problem or issue.
3. Formulate/ Devise a hypothesis. This will serve as a guide that would give direction to your problem-solving effort.
4. Test and do activities and tasks that would help you prove the validity of your scientific guess.
5. Make a striking and practical conclusion. It follows that when you arrive to this stage, the solution to your problem is already established.
After doing the steps, you could now solve the problem more effectively. Encountering the same problem again in the future would never be a problem.
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