by Hank Trisler, Author of No Bull Selling: 2010 Edition, and reprinted from SalesGravy

Silence used to terrify me. When I was a much younger man, just beginning to learn how to sell, I was convinced that selling equated to talking. If I wasn’t talking, I wasn’t selling and if I didn’t sell, I’d starve to death. That’s terrifying.

I immediately set off to rectify this situation on two fronts. First, I determined that I would learn every single feature and benefit of my product, so no customer would be able to ask me a question I couldn’t answer. I was trying to sell Oldsmobiles at the time, so I learned the differences between the 88, the Super 88 and the 98 models. I learned the piston displacement of the engines, I learned the cubic footage of the trunks, I learned so much my poor baby mind was just slopping over with product knowledge.

I couldn’t keep ahead of them. The customers still asked questions I couldn’t answer, as I hadn’t thought of them. Besides, the answers kept changing. I’d just learn one set of numbers and a new model would come along and it was a whole new game.

 The second front was I studied talking. I read a couple of books on the subject and joined Toastmasters® International. They taught me not to say “Ah,” and to button my suit coat, but still people weren’t particularly interested in what I was saying.

 I determined that if they weren’t interested in me, I needed to talk louder and faster and I did. People would come into our dealership and I’d holler, “Good morning and thank you for coming in to Fleet Service Oldsmobile. My name is Hank Trisler. How may I help you this lovely day?”

 And they’d say, “Just looking,” or “Looking for the Parts Department,” or “Where’s the men’s room?”

 People didn’t want to hear me babble. They had their own agenda when they walked in and fulfilling that agenda was of primary importance to them.

I learned to simply say, “Good morning,” and then to shut up. They would then tell me about their agenda and I saved a lot of time and wind.

Silence is frightening, as silence is a form of vacuum. Nature abhors a vacuum, so someone’s words will always rush in to fill the vacuum. If you don’t know what to say, the silence will be frightening, as it makes you realize how little you know.

 Don’t sweat it. If you just shut up, the customer will very likely talk, just to fill the vacuum. The pressure you feel is also on the customer. The first person to talk loses control of the conversation.

The central issue, then, is how to remain silent in the face of the enormous pressure of silence. If you’re like me, you’ll simply crack and begin to babble, just to make the quiet go away.

Try counting. Every time you ask a customer a question, or make a statement, count. That’s right,  “One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi, Four Mississippi…” NO, not out loud. Do it under your breath.

Having something on which to concentrate will allow you to focus on keeping your mouth shut and eliminate all the fear from silence. Silence is your friend. Use it for fun and profit and believe your customers will appreciate it, too.

Hank Trilser, CEO of the Trisler Company, has been inspiring exceptional sales performance for more than fourty years.He brings to bear his rich experience and common sense tactics in this newly revised 3rd edition of his classic, bestselling book. Sprinkled with humorous anecdotes and hypothetical situations, No Bull Selling tells you what you need to make that sale. 

Selling isn’t Telling

Companies these days spend a lot of time and money on their brand. Branding had become a popular topic of conversation. “We are branding our new company or rebranding our company” are things we commonly hear. Sometimes I hear salespeople talk about this as if it is a waste of time. And if not done properly it can be (see an expert). However, proper branding will make the sale easier. Brands that speak loud and clear about your company, its mission and promise make it easy for people to buy. Keep in mind a brand is much more than a clever logo, but the logo should convey the message. Take a look at this recent blog post by brand expert Larry DeVincenzi.

Alice’s June 16th appearance on Reno’s KTVN with Jennifer Bushman.

How to Close More Business Over the Phone

By Jeb Blount, reprinted from SalesGravy.com

While attending a conference last month a fan walked up to me and asked, “Do you think outside sales is dead?”  The question set me back on my heels for a moment. I’ve been in outside sales my entire career and the last thing I wanted to ponder was the demise of my chosen profession.

 Can You Effectively Sell Over the Phone?

But then I thought back to January of 2009. The Great Recession was kicking in high gear. Our customer’s were slashing their advertising spending and suddenly cost reduction became a front and center issue for my company. One of the easiest expenses to control was travel and entertainment. The fear however was that cutting travel would cut sales since we did so much of our selling and relationship building face to face. That was until we issued a challenge to ourselves: Could we save money selling over the phone using web and video conferencing technology?

I’ll admit that I was afraid that we would not be effective and would lose sales. I’m happy to say that I was wrong. Since we issued that challenge, our sales actually increased. I personally closed more than $3 million in new business without ever visiting a client for a face to face meeting. 

Why were we successful?

The number one reason for our success was we became more efficient. We could cover far more ground over the phone. Therefore, we were engaged with more accounts and developed a larger pipeline. We also found that sales meetings by phone took far less time than in-person meetings. That afforded us more time to research and qualify prospects, which meant that when we were on the phone. we were engaged with more qualified buyers.

Telephone Meetings are Good for Customers

Another key reason to our success was that our buyers appreciated the time savings as well. In fact, it was far easier to set an appointment for an online demo than an in-person meeting. With the recession, buyers were taking on greater responsibilities. As the head count at their companies was slashed, they had less time to spend meeting with salespeople. Telephone meetings made it easier for them to take time out of their day to listen to our presentations. We originally thought that buyers would demand to meet with us face to face but quickly discovered that they appreciated the time savings too.

In the end we traveled less, sold more, saved lots of money and improved our quality life. However, this did not mean that outside sales was dead.

Outside Sales is Still Important

We still got on planes and into cars to visit customers. Getting face to face with clients is still the most powerful means of building and anchoring relationships. We also had a few prospects who demanded a face to face meeting. In both cases, because we had done so much work on the phone beforehand, our face to face meetings were more effective and allowed us to developed deeper relationships. We have saved so much money on travel that we have been able to invest more in marketing and trade shows–where we have the chance to meet many of our clients and potential clients face to face in an informal environment.

How to Effectively Sell Over the Phone

If you are in Outside Sales you can become more efficient and effective by learning how to sell over the phone. However, there are some important actions you need to take:

Invest in the right technology. There are dozens of web conferencing tools available today. It is critical that you evaluate and choose the tool best for your industry and sales presentation. We’ve compared a dozen or so of these services side by side. If you would like to see our comparison just visit www.FreeSalesStuff.com

Practice pausing. Selling over the phone is more difficult than selling in person because you cannot observe body language. Because of this you will find yourself talking over your customers more often. Learn to pause for a least three seconds after your prospect stops talking before you say anything.

Check your prospect’s pulse often. Likewise, because you can’t see your prospect’s facial expressions when you are presenting you need to stop often and check with your prospect. Ask them questions to ensure that they are still engaged, if what you are presenting makes sense, and if they have questions.

Be a great listener. Listening is the key to becoming great at selling over the phone. You must develop the self-discipline to remain completely focused on your prospect and avoid distractions. When you listen you will find that you build amazing connections with your buyers and uncover real problems that lead to closed deals.

So can you really close deals in your flip flops? For us the answer is yes. In fact we’ve learned that when practicing the right techniques, we can close deals anywhere we can find a quiet place with a phone and Internet connection.

Jeb Blount is the author of more than 100 articles on sales and sales management and three books including Power Principles, 7 Rules For Outselling The Recession, and the hit new book, People Buy You: The Real Secret to What Matters Most in Business  

The Dos and Don’ts of Social Networking – Successful Social Media Strategy – Entrepreneur.com

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I have run into many business owners in the Reno/Sparks area that are responsible for most or all of their sales.  Wearing two hats can be difficult at best.   When I hear a business owner tell me that they do most of the sales for their company I tell them they need to become an expert in time management along with learning what they need to know to increase sales. 

There are a few key things these business owners need to do in order to do two of the most important jobs at their company.

1.  Become masters of their calendar.  Effective Productivity is a must.  There are so many things that take precedence when you are a business owner.  Employee issues, product development, accounting.  These are all important and can keep you from making time for sales.  Some business owners tell me a whole week will go by where they intended to make sales calls and they never go to them.  Using your calendar to block time for selling is the key.  Making that appointment with yourself to have time to sell is just like an appointment you would make with a client or a doctor.  You do everything you can so that you don’t miss it.  Add several blocks of time to your calendar that are specifically for selling work – making prospecting calls, following up, scheduling appointments to visit clients.  This will insure you have time to sell each week.
2. Learn to Sell. This sound ridicules doesn’t it?  Of course you know how to sell, you do it all the time.  That’s how your company got where it is today.  Many business owners tell me they never sold anything before going into business for themselves or if they have they never had any formal sales training.   They may be good with people and have a great product – which put them where they are today.  Just imagine if they now added some great sales skills to that.  Learning how to prospect more effectively and close more deals could benefit any business owner.  There are many ways to improve your sales skills.  You can read some great books on sales, take a webinar, find someone like me to coach you or take some live training like the Effective Selling Series I teach with Valerie Cardenas.

 There is nothing easy about being a business owner, especially when you wear multiple hats.  I know, I do it.  Make it easier on yourself to wear the sales hat. 

Please post your success stories or questions on being a business owner who also wears the selling hat.

Learn more at MakeTheSaleReno.com

Hooray! The Prospect Said NO!

by Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz (reprinted from the Sales Gravy Newsletter www.salesgravy.com)

You walk out of the office, shoulders slumped and head hanging low. The meeting did not go the way you had hoped.

Shoving through the glass doors and exiting the building you heave a sigh, the words of your prospect still ringing in your ears, “No, we’re going to pass.”  Motivation is dwindling fast. For a moment, you think about heading back to the office and blowing off your last call of the day in favor of catching up on paperwork.

But what if it didn’t have to be this way?

Imagine getting a “no” from a prospect and then pushing through those same doors happy, excited and energized.  Imagine actually thinking to yourself, “Hooray, the client said no!”

In order to tap into the “power of no” there are 3 key strategies that you can apply today.

 1) Change your mental model of “success” and “failure.”
Most people operate with the following mental model: 

SUCCESS (Yes) << YOU>>  FAILURE (No)

They see themselves in the middle, with success on one end and failure on the other. They do everything they can to move toward success and away from failure. But, what if that model was wrong?  What if that model was reconfigured?   

YOU >>  FAILURE (No) >>  SUCCESS (Yes)

What if, rather than seeing failure as something to be avoided, it became a “stepping stone” on the path to success? Put another way: Yes is the destination, but “no” is how you get there. 

To achieve significant success in today’s world, top performers do not see success and failure – yes and no – as opposites, rather opposite sides of the same coin that depend on each other.

Success is, to a large degree, a numbers game.  As such, one of the fastest ways to increase your success is to intentionally increase your failure rate. In other words, increase the number of times you hear prospects say “no” to you.  Of course, increasing the number of times you hear “no” will eventually increase the number of times you hear “yes”.

2) Create “no-awareness” by counting your “no’s”.
Here’s a question for you: How many total “no’s” did you personally obtain yesterday?  Last week?  Last month?  Where are you for the year?  Do you know?  Well, you should!

Most people, if they actually counted the number of times they hear “no” during a typical day or week, would be shocked to see how low that number actually is.  If you don’t know your number, it’s time for you to start counting every “no” you hear, because the very act of counting your “no’s” will increase your no-awareness and that, in turn, will enhance your no-focus.

 3) No doesn’t mean never, it means not yet.
Woody Allen said that 80 percent of success is simply showing up.  While the power of showing up should not be underestimated, the reality is that showing up – in and of itself – is usually not enough.  The key to success is to show up, and then to keep showing up!  In a word: persistence.

Is this to suggest that when someone keeps telling you “no” you should stay at it forever?  No. Though Winston Churchill famously declared one should never, never, never quit… knowing when to quit is an important skill.  The problem is most people think that time has come long before it actually has!

How do you know the perfect time to quit?  Unfortunately, there is not a definitive number of “no’s” at which one should throw his/her hands up and go home – after all, every situation and every prospect is different.  So the answer always begins with an analysis as to whether the person you’re trying to sell to is a qualified buyer.  If they are unqualified (they neither want nor need what you have to offer), then you should pack it in and move on.  However, if they do need what you’ve got – even if they don’t want it yet – then pursue them for as long as it takes!   
 
So the next time you walk out of a prospect’s office having collected another “no”, remember these five key points and say, “Hooray! I just got a no!” Because when you increase your failure rate and go for “no”, the “yes” will eventually come… they always do!

Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz are the authors of “Go for No!”, a short powerful story written specifically for sales professionals in every industry who must learn to harness the power of no to be successful.  They are also the creators of the new personal development video documentary, “Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There!”  To learn more, visit www.goforno.com or call 800-290-5028.

This is the last one of the 8 tips on how to get more sales in 2010!

8. Energize your sales team. 

Ask them what they need to make 2010 their best year ever.  You need an A-Team.  There is no room in this economy for salespeople who are not A players.  Give them what they need, training, coaching, encouragement, recognition, leads, support, accountability.  Make sure you are or have the best sales manager on the planet.  Work together to get the whole company thinking about sales.  Reward any employee who finds a lead or brings in a sale.  Keep your team charged up, don’t let the energy wane.  Make sure you have a sales plan and that each salesperson has a plan and that they execute it.  Discuss their plans with them often.  Ask them constantly what you can do to help them close more sales and make sure you do it.  Retain your best salespeople; don’t lose them because you or your company makes their life difficult.  Appreciate them and make sure they have the tools they need to do their job effectively.  Hold them accountable, most salespeople do best when they have the tools they need to do their job, the coaching they need to move sales forward and the accountability to keep them on track and show them when they have been successful.

Your company can have its best year ever by following the 8 tips we’ve posted over the last few weeks.  Don’t try to do all this alone, ask for help.  If you don’t have a team, create one.  There are tons of resources in this community to help you grow your business.  You can start by calling your chamber of commerce, the small business development center at UNR, NCET or SCORE.  Most of their resources are free.  You can also hire a great business coach or consultant or join a group of business people who work together to grow their businesses like TAB or Vistage.  So, no excuses.  Will your company grow in 2010?  I would be happy to help direct you to the proper resources; you can reach me at info@aliceheiman.com.