Increase Sales Blog

Posts Tagged ‘selling’

Getting customers is essential to any business.  With the advent of technology and its ongoing expansion to more dynamic platforms such as 2.0, some believe that the only marketing needed is a website.  And maybe for some Internet focused businesses such as Amazon this may be true. However, in my opinion, for the majority of small business owners a website is just one piece of the overall marketing puzzle.

Within the sales process of getting customers, there are both marketing and selling steps each having specific goals supported by specific behaviors. Websites are great for attracting attention, building relationships by providing value rich content or information and may make the actual exchange of dollars for purchased goods and services relatively simple through electronic shopping carts.  Yet, business (getting customers) is still about people connecting with each other or what has been called relationship selling.

Even if your business lacks a brick and mortar store front, people still need to be able to reach out to you especially when they have questions or something goes wrong. This is why websites alone may not increase sales.  For it is how you or your representatives interact with your customers that will increase sales or possibly even decrease sales.

So as you begin this next business week in getting customers, do not forget the human element as you optimized your website, enrich its content or add another products to your shopping cart.

P.S. Speaking of forgetting, you may find my weekly business column of interest.

Swearing and leadership was the topic of a recent blog post at Harvard Business Review.  The essence of this posting was that swearing can be constructive and appears to be successful among workers based upon a 2007 study published in the Leadership and Organizational Development Journal by Yehuda Baruch and Stuart Jenkins of the University of East.

Credit: ClipArtHeaven

Swearing for affect still reflects your overall positive core values and business ethics.  Yes many of us swear privately whether out loud or just in our thoughts. This action allows us to release frustration and negative energy. However the question is should you swear as a salesperson when you are engaged in selling or marketing activities?

As I thought about recent current  events such as the President’s recent remarks in a television interview with Matt Lauer and my own experiences in sales, I wondered if the study looked at gender, age and industry? Experiencing over 20 years in a very male dominated industry (pipe, valves and fittings), I heard a lot of “salty conversations” with a lot of apologies from frustrated pipe fitters to buyers who spoke before they thought.

For me, swearing in front of customers, potential customers (a.k.a. prospects) and centers of influence is very much like telling a dirty joke.  I do not tell dirty jokes because as a woman, the listeners (receivers) view me differently than a man who could share the same joke without any repercussions. This observation is based upon my age and 40 plus years in the workplace environment.

The use of swear words in business interactions including those with fellow employees reflects, in my opinion, your intelligence or lack thereof. Personally, I believe given the depth and breath of the English language there are far better words to use in critical situations.

From this professional salesperson’s perspective, I do not believe swearing demonstrates sales leadership through my definition that being leadership is all about securing the desired results using positive core values (business ethics).  Many will disagree and that is Okay because if we all agreed on everything, life would be quite boring.

P.S. I personally have never seen a sales training coaching module on “Swearing to Secure Sales Success.” Given that sales training coaching firms have exploited almost every topic possible related to selling and marketing, this might be an indication as to why swearing in sales is truly not a good behavior to demonstrate.

Today is Father’s Day. With my father being gone for over 10 years, this becomes a day of reflection.

Years ago I heard Morgan Freeman in his portrayal of Dr. Cross in Along Came a Spider made this statement: “You do what you are.” How many times do we hear that selling is in people’s blood or he or she is a born salesman?

Being in sales for most of my professional career from the earliest days of selling popcorn at a downtown movie theater to over 20 years in corporate environment and having a father who was a professional salesman, I wonder how much of selling doing is in my blood and how much has been because of outside experiences (nature versus nurture)?

One thing I have observed is those in sales who truly love to sell have a higher sense of internal awareness.  This observation has been validated by one of the performance appraisal tools I now use – The Innermetrix Attribute Index as well as during my sales training coaching experiences.

The for each salesperson vary because each individual is unique.  How he or she leverages those talents culminates in his or her ability to earn the sales (close the deal) or as I have said numerous times Be the Red jacket in the sea of gray suits..

Today’s post is short and just a sharing with those who visit this blog on a regular basis. So enjoy the day, if your father is still alive give him a hub and if not consider taking a few moments to reflect.  And if you are a father, may you enjoy Father’s Day.

Professional or being a sales professional is probably defined differently by those who are engaged in sellings.  A recent posting on Geoffrey James at the Sales Machine discussed a salesperson, Debbie Lorenzana who is suing Citigroup because she was allegedly terminated due to her dress.

Photo: Carrie Schechter

Since I am of the old school, I shared my opinion as to this type of dress being professional or not. Take a moment to jump over to Geoff’s posting, vote and share your thoughts.

Regardless of what you believe, the question that Geoff raises is a valid one – can someone be to sexy?  My question is can sexy and professional co-exist in the sales world?

No one is expecting here at least in the US for women to dress clothed from head to toe. Yet what is considered to be professional dress is a dilemma for all organizations given dress codes must be balanced against individual rights.

I have a close female friend and client who is quite attractive,  She has been very successful in sales because of her talents of follow-through and building relationships. Has her attractiveness helped her?  I am sure it has, but what has made her a success is her skill sets. In fact she recently wrote a book on sales and if you are into real estate or flipping houses you might find it of interest.

Leave your thoughts if you believe the attire worn by Debbie is appropriate for those engaged as sales professionals  in selling products or services within the financial, insurance or B2B marketplace.

What sales skills are necessary for sales success or if you prefer what makes a sales superstar? These two questions have been making the rounds recently between LinkedIn Discussion Groups as well as known sales blogs. Today, I received my weekly newsletter from Jeff Gitomer who discussed a survey specific to sales skills.

My sense is there a confusion between marketing, selling and soft skills within the overall sales process.  This confusion leads to different sorting of what makes a great salesperson or sales superstar. So would it not make sense to align the skills to the sales process?

If people buy from people they know and trust, then it would make sense that interpersonal, self-leadership people or soft skills would be top of the list. Even better, my sense is those who consistently demonstrate high, positive core values receive over the long haul far more earned commitments than those with less than honorable behaviors. And having a positive attitude by truly knowing and understanding yourself can only help you become better at what you do.

So my first three choices would be:

1. Self-Leadership skills also known as people, interpersonal or soft skills
2. High positive core values that have been written into a values statement
3. Positive attitude based upon knowing individual talents, decision making style and internal motivators

Then looking at the sales process, marketing is the first phase.  If your products or services are not known, your sales will reflect that knowledge. With the marketplace very crowed, creativity is no longer an option, but a necessity. Additionally with so many sales leads being left to whither on the vine, this suggests discipline is also required. Finally, being an active listener is also very important in this phase as well as the selling phase. The next 3 choices are:

1. Creativity
2. Discipline
3. Active Listening (this is a self-leadership skill)

Selling is the second phase of the sales process. Here is where these three technical skills are very much in evidence:

1. Value determination and articulation by doing the required research and then by asking questions ignored by others
2. Presentation based upon product and potential client knowledge
3. Earning the sale which may just be becoming quiet and waiting for the client to make a decision

Every salesperson brings a unique set of experiences and skills to the table.  How they integrate these skills into every interaction is what makes them different from their competitors and allows them to be the Red Jacket.  Your goal is to be authentic first, knowledgeable second and technically savvy third.  Invest the time to understand your own skill sets. By taking this action, you just may increase sales.

P.S. You may find the free sales skill assessment to the right of this column of value.

Business is at least:

• 75% about marketing
• 25% about selling

Unfortunately, for many the opposite is true with 25% or less time being devoted to marketing. Then when the business becomes busy delivering its products or services there is even less time for marketing.  When you think you do not need to market because business is good to great, then look to your nearest McDonald’s.  Has this business with impressive branding stopped its marketing?

Also returning to Axiom #1, did McDonald’s stop marketing during known turbulent economic times?  Absolutely, not! McDonald’s knows their target market can be fickle and easily motivated to go elsewhere for their fast food.

One of the reasons that so many businesses stop marketing during bad times is because they lack an overall strategic action plan as well as the subsidiary plans of marketing, sales, customer loyalty, growth & innovation, leadership & management and financials. What then happens is the Captain Wing It scenario where actions are being sprayed and prayed all over the place with the hope that something sticks.

Take action and determine where you are spending your time versus investing your time.  Make sure you continue to market your business. If it is good enough for McDonald’s it is truly good enough for you.

Marketing is usually the first victim when times are down because the business cannot afford what those in charge view as an unnecessary expense.  Then when times turn around and the economy rebounds, again marketing loses because sales appear to be happening without once again this not needed business liability.

So this leads to this question: What comes first marketing or selling?

This is the chicken in the egg quandary faced by small business owners, SOHO, sales professionals to even C-Level executives.  However, to end that quandary I contend the answer is marketing. Now some may resist this simplistic response because marketing is not their strong suit or because the current organizational structure removes the sales department from marketing efforts.

So why is marketing so critical to business and sales success?  During the past 10 years in working with my clients and observing those who continue to be desperate about revenues, I have identified these five (5) axioms to help answer that question.

Each of these five marketing axioms will be discussed beginning this coming Monday.

A short memo from Kevin Eikenberry reminded me that 149 years ago on April 12  Fort Sumter received the first shots from the South and the American Civil War began. I then began thinking how in many cases sales people “fire on” their potential customers from business networking event to that actual first sales call.

Firing on customers is all about, as my friend and colleague Bill Naplolitano, being Captain Wing It. These type of salespersons goes all around “Spraying and Praying” their actions without rhyme or reason.

The other thought I had was about how sales people also engage in Fire Aim Ready marketing and selling behaviors. Action is taken without being ready meaning no marketing research. Then there is no sales growth action plan that sets a predetermined course for future behaviors specific to target market.  Part of the reason for this behavior is the confusion between marketing and selling. (I explained this in greater detail in  Be the Red Jacket.)

From my observations, this confusion begins in part with sales training because so many of these learning engagements be them seminars, workshops or even college courses focus far more of the time on sales skills while ignoring marketing beyond business networking and the infamous elevator speech. Until others know about you, you may have the best products or services, but you will still not be able to increase sales.

So if you have some time to reflect on this Monday morning, be honest with yourself. Are you focusing your marketing and selling actions on specific targets or are you engaged in:

• Playing Captain Wing-It?
• Selling first with no to limited ineffective marketing?
• Fire, Aim, Ready sales behaviors?

P.S. Check out my weekly business column. Today I write about the gaps in values such as employees texting that spell trouble for business owners. You can sign up to receive notice of this column each week and it includes links for the past postings to this sales blog.

Probing questions usually are seeking pain or gain.  Many sales experts suggest customers buy for one of these two reasons.  Stu Schlackman in a recent blog provided some inight into the buying decision process.

Yet until you as the salesperson have an established relationship where your expertise has been demonstrated and you have earned the trust of that potential customer asking either pain or gain questions will probably cost you the sale.

What I have observed is many individuals start selling before they have completed the marketing goals of:

1. Attracting positive attention
2. Building the relationship

The end result of effective marketing is to be asked back where you can begin to further develop the relationship and with permission ask probing questions. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Always ask permission – May I ask you a question about….? before asking the question.  Watch the body language to ensure congruency between your potential customer’s verbal words and non-verbal language.

Probing questions are tough questions in disguise because you are empathetic in the way you ask them.  Sometimes by how you ask those difficult questions may create an impression that you are too tough, too push for your potential customer.

Credit: WPClipArt

Also, you may wish to consider changing this phrase ABC – Always Be Closing to this one ABE – Always Be Earning.  For the word earning suggests far different behaviors and beliefs than the word closing.

Probing questions are effective when used correctly. Finally, from my observations,  most people buy to avoid pain more so than to secure gain.

Please leave your comments about pain or gain. What has worked or not worked for you?

In what is a never ending quest to understand why businesses continue to struggle with the goal to increase sales, I came upon this research conducted by the Aberdeen Group.  From one of their many research surveys on sales leads management, they revealed these interesting sales statistics:

• In B2B selling endeavors, 80% report a disconnect between sales and marketing functions
• Only 16% of qualified leads actually increase sales
• How firms process the 84% of qualified leads that fail to increase sales separate the best from the not so good

This research confirms other sales research that suggests 50% of all leads are left withering on the vine.

What is interesting to note is if people would learn that the sales process combines both marketing and selling activities and stop substituting sales for selling, then possibly this gap could be close.   The use of these words goes beyond semantics because the result is confusion and the inability to increase sales.

Many whose role is to be engaged in the sales process actually begin selling while marketing.  This is a big, NO, NO! Marketing is all about gaining attention (positive) and building a relationship.

Qualifying sales leads begins within the actual marketing action plan based upon demographics and psychographics research.  Better qualification leads reduce misdirected efforts such as not speaking with the actual decision maker.

The most revealing statistic in the Aberdeen’s research was the final one.  What happens when you do not convert the lead to an actually earned sale?  My sense is those companies who return those leads to their marketing activities through nuture marketing or education based marketing probably are better able to demonstrate positive attention and a solid relationhip allowing the potential customers or clients to feel more comfortable in buying B2B products or services at a later time.

Lesson Learned and Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Just because the client said No the first time does not mean the client will say No the second or third time.