Selling the "Invisible"

Are you a salesperson who has to sell an item that can't be touched, felt, seen, or smelled? If yes, then a lot of people would say that you have a tough job. You're being asked to "SELL THE INVISIBLE!". And there is a group of people that see a serious distinction between selling the "visible" and selling the "invisible."

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There is No Magic Bullet

With the economy changing drastically it feels like people are frantic to make money. People that are feeling desperate and vulnerable are ripe targets for multi-level marketing (MLM) companies.

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When Can a Sales Person Stop Prospecting?

 

Companies are concerned that once a sales person lands a big deal they will stop prospecting.

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Blaming the Sales Person

I’m fortunate in the fact that I have created a small company that is invested in the sales process.

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Doing It Right

Earlier this month I talked about ‘earning the right’ in a sales process. Recently, I was at an event where I met a salesman who did exactly that. A person with solid sales skills just warms my new business development heart, so I had to share the story with you.

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You Have to Earn the Right

 

In the Sales Training courses I conduct, I ask participants to describe the worst sales person they ever dealt with. They reply the sales person didn’t know his product, didn’t care about them, only worried about his commission, was not genuine, didn’t follow up and seemed desperate.  In contrast, I’ll ask them to describe the best sales person they ever dealt with. They’ll reply with the opposite of the qualities they just described, the sales person listened, understood their product, was likeable and engaging, cared about them, followed up intelligently and genuinely cared about a positive result. My summary is “sales is easy, act like the second person you described not the first.” If you do so, you will be head and shoulders above your competition.

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Selling in a Down Economy

As the owner of a Sales Practice companies are surprised when I tell them we are doing OK in this economy. We had a strong business model when the market was fat. We use the same business model now that the market is challenged. The companies we work with that are really suffering right now did not have a strong sales foundation 3 years ago and nothing's changed today. If you're pricing is based on value there is no need to offer steep discounts in this market. I worked with a company that is offering 15% discounts to existing customers because they are asking for it. The company is scared of losing customers so they are giving the discount. I can tell you, there is not a 15% margin to give away. Selling against the Price Objection is covered in Sales 101. If the sales person has listened to the needs of the customer and provided corresponding value, rate will generally not come up at all. If it does, here are some tips on how to handle it:

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What's With These Sales Targets?

I have heard salespeople lately express their concern over what they consider to be high sales targets in view of our current economic situation.

While I would concede that unrealisitic sales targets are sometimes improperly used by sales managers in a clumsy attempt to "motivate" their people, I am not ready to admit that this is a terrible time to attempt to do business.

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Exceptional Management or Management by Exception?

You might have the greatest networked CRM system in the world but the farther you allow day-to-day sales processes to stray from it, the more ineffective it becomes.

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George S. Patton - Sales Manager

If a micro-manager gets involved with every breath a salesperson takes rather than keeping an eye on the prize, the definition of "best practices" for a sales organization will be limited to what that manager knows and believes. Not a good thing.

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