Selling For Dummies E-Book

Tom Hopkins

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 666

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Your guide to the most up-to-date selling strategies and techniques No matter your skill level, this new edition of Selling For Dummies helps you lay the foundation for sales success with the latest information on how to research your prospects, break down the steps of the sales process, follow up with customers, and so much more. Selling, when done right, is more than a job--it's an art. With the help of Selling For Dummies, you'll discover how to stand head-and-shoulders above the crowd by knowing your clients, and approaching selling with passion and a positive attitude. The book covers making killer sales pitches and presentations, using the latest technologies to your advantage, establishing goals and planning your time efficiently, partnering with others, addressing clients' concerns, and closing more sales. * Includes expert tips for harnessing the power of the Internet to increase sales * Covers the latest selling strategies and techniques in the Digital Age * Explains how mastering selling skills can benefit all areas of your life * Explores the newest prospecting and qualification strategies If you're brand new to the sales scene or a seasoned salesperson looking to win more clients and close more sales, Selling For Dummies sets you up for success.

Leseprobe

Selling For Dummies®, 4th Edition

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Media and software compilation copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014951025

ISBN: 978-1-118-96723-2 (pbk); ISBN: 978-1-118-96725-6 (ebk); ISBN: 9781118967249 (ebk)

Selling For Dummies®, 4th Edition

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/selling to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Cover

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Conventions Used in This Book

Icons Used in This Book

Beyond the Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Laying a Solid Foundation for Selling

Chapter 1: Selling Makes the World Go Around

Understanding What Selling Is

Getting a Grip on How Selling Is Done

Recognizing What Selling Skills Can Do for You

Chapter 2: The Seven-Step Selling Cycle

Step #1: Prospecting

Step #2: Making Initial Contact

Step #3: Qualifying

Step #4: Winning Over Potential Clients with Your Presentation

Step #5: Addressing Concerns

Step #6: Closing the Sale

Step #7: Getting Referrals

Chapter 3: What to Sell

Taking a Long, Hard Look at Your Job Satisfaction

Choosing What to Sell

Becoming a Lifelong Student of Selling

Preparing for the Learning Curve: Changing from Caterpillar to Butterfly

Knowing How to Sell What Your Customers Want to Own

Part II: Doing Your Homework Before You Sell a Thing

Chapter 4: Understanding Your Potential Clients

Understanding Why Research Is Important

Starting at Ground Zero to Know Your Clients Inside and Out

Working with Buyers’ Different Personality Types

Being Aware of Unique Cultural Needs

Responding to Your Clients’ Fears

Choosing Your Words Wisely

Knowing How to Listen to Your Clients

Chapter 5: Selling What Your Product Does Instead of What It Is

The Stuff You Need to Know about Your Product

How to Get the Product Information You Need

Chapter 6: Technology as a Sales Tool

Conquering Any Misgivings You Have about Technology

Using Technology to Make Your Life Less Complicated (Not More)

Part III: The Anatomy of a Sale

Chapter 7: Connecting with the People Who Need What You Have

Knowing Where to Start Looking for Potential Clients

Finding the Right People: Proven Prospecting Strategies

Chapter 8: Arranging to Meet and Putting Your Clients at Ease

Knowing the Basics of Contacting Potential Clients

Reaching Your Prospects by Telephone First

Putting Mail, Email, and Face-to-Face Interactions to Work for You

Getting to the Elusive Decision Maker

Making a Good First Impression at Your Meeting

Getting Your Potential Clients to Like and Trust You

Establishing Rapport with Your Potential Clients

Knowing How to Approach Prospects in a Retail Setting

Building Common Ground in Any Situation

Chapter 9: Qualifying Your Way to Success

Taking a Few Sales Pointers from CSI

Satisfying NEADS: The Nuts and Bolts of Qualifying Prospects

Questioning Your Way to Qualifying Success

Chapter 10: Delivering Winning Presentations

Getting More Than a Foot in the Door

Knowing the ABCs of Presenting

Letting the Product Be the Star

Mastering the Art of Visuals

Demonstrating Products to Your Prospective Clients

Presenting Intangible Goods

Avoiding the Crash-and-Burn Scenario of Presentations

Chapter 11: Addressing Client Concerns

Reading Your Clients’ Signals

Addressing Your Clients’ Concerns with Some Simple Strategies

Understanding the Do’s and Don’ts of Addressing Concerns

Handling Concerns in Six Easy Steps

Chapter 12: Closing Sales

Knowing When to Go for the Close

Recognizing That Sometimes All You Need to Do Is Ask

Using Closing Questions and Statements

Overcoming Your Client’s Stalls and Fears

Chapter 13: Getting Referrals from Your Satisfied Clients

Understanding Where, How, and When Referrals Arise

Getting Referrals in Six Easy Steps

Setting Up Meetings with Referrals

Aiming to Get Referrals Even When the Going Gets Tough

Part IV: Growing Your Business

Chapter 14: Following Up and Keeping in Touch

Knowing When (and with Whom) to Follow Up

Paying Attention to What Your Clients Want from Follow-Ups

Recognizing How to Follow Up

Remembering the Importance of Thank-You Notes and Gifts

Maximizing Results from Your Follow-Ups

Chapter 15: Using the Internet to Make More Sales

Understanding Social Media’s Positive Impact on the Selling Profession

Using Social Media during your Selling Cycle

Using Social Media Well

Steering Clear of the Technology Trap and Avoiding Personal Burnout

Chapter 16: Planning Your Time Efficiently

Investing Your Time Rather Than Spending It

Recognizing the Activities You Must Plan

Knowing When and Where to Plan

Organizing Your Workspace

Avoiding the Most Common Time Traps

Handling Physical Interruptions

Part V: You Can’t Win ‘Em All: Keeping the Faith in Sales

Chapter 17: Staying Upbeat When You Don’t Succeed

Finding Out What Motivates You

Knowing What De-Motivates You

Surveying Strategies for Overcoming Failure

Doing the Opposite of What Average Salespeople Do

Keeping Your Personal Life Out of Your Professional Life

Facing Challenging Times in Your Industry

Chapter 18: Setting Goals to Stay Focused

Setting Realistic and Effective Goals

Breaking Your Goals into Smaller Pieces

Looking at Particular Types of Goals

Fulfilling Your Goals

What to Do When You Achieve Goals

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 19: The Ten Biggest Sales Mistakes to Avoid

Misunderstanding Selling

Thinking You’re a Sales Natural

Talking Too Much and Not Listening Enough

Using Words That Kill Sales

Not Knowing When to Close the Sale

Not Knowing How to Close the Sale

Being Insincere

Failing to Pay Attention to Details

Letting Yourself Slump

Neglecting to Keep in Touch

Chapter 20: Ten (Plus One!) Ways to Master the Art of Selling

Develop Your Curiosity

Have Realistic Expectations

Keep an Open Mind and Welcome Change

Rehearse, Perform, and Critique Your New Skills

Personalize Your New Sales Skills

Be Disciplined

Evaluate Your Results

Keep a Success Journal

Learn from Every Selling Situation around You

Make a Commitment to Lifelong Learning

Put Your Clients First

Chapter 21: Ten Alternative Closes

The Wish-Ida Close

The Business-Productivity Close

The Best-Things-in-Life Close

The No Close

The My-Dear-Old-Mother Close

The Law-of-Ten Close

The Buyer’s-Remorse Close

The It’s-Not-in-the-Budget Close

The Take-It-Away Close

The Lost-Sale Close

About the Author

Cheat Sheet

Connect with Dummies

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

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Introduction

Welcome to Selling For Dummies, 4th Edition. Although this book is about selling products and services to businesses and consumers, it goes beyond that knowledge. This book is really about people skills. After all, knowing how to get along well with others is a vital skill — especially if your career involves persuading them toward ownership of your ideas, concepts, products, or services.

If all you want to do is discover how the masters of sales accomplish what they accomplish, you would be able to do that just by reading this book. But if you want to achieve that master’s status in sales for yourself, then you have to do more than a one-time read-through. Think of this book as a reference tool — it’s designed to help you discover the basic techniques of sales and establish a strong foundation of good habits on which to build a great career. So don’t save a space for this book on the top shelf of your bookcase with all the other dust collectors. Keep it within easy reach so when you need to refer back to one of its pearls of wisdom for encouragement, you won’t have far to go.

To be successful in sales, you must be flexible, have good listening skills, and be willing to put others’ needs before your own. With the selling skills covered here in your arsenal, you’ll have more happiness and satisfaction in all areas of your life, not just in your selling career (although your career will certainly benefit, too).

About This Book

Selling For Dummies, 4th Edition, can help you get more happiness and contentment out of your life right now by helping you gain more respect, earn more money and more recognition for the job you do. It can help you get more agreement from your friends and family, have more control in negotiations, and of course, garner more sales. Above all, this book is a reference tool, so you don’t have to read it from beginning to end. Instead, you can turn to any part of the book that gives you the information you need when you need it. And you can keep coming back to the book over and over throughout your selling days.

As the original dummy in sales, I’m the perfect person to write this book. I started my selling career in real estate at age 19. Real estate may have been a great career choice, but at the time I owned neither a suit nor a car. All I had was a band uniform and a motorcycle. And believe me, selling real estate on a motorcycle wasn’t easy; rather than loading up the prospective buyers in my car, I had to ask them to follow me to the properties and hope they didn’t get lost along the way. When they finally came to their senses and realized that this kid couldn’t possibly be for real, they’d keep going straight when I’d make a turn. (To make things even worse, wearing a woolen band uniform in Southern California’s summer heat didn’t allow me to present the coolest image, either.)

But I stuck it out because I knew there was big money to be made in the selling business — if I could just find out what the successful people were doing that I wasn’t. I learned it all the hard way, through trial and error. Early in my career, a professional, experienced salesperson told me I had to learn how to close, meaning “to close the sale.” I responded, “I don’t have many clothes.” See why I only averaged $42 a month in my first six months of selling real estate?

Needless to say, I’ve come a long way since then, and it thrills me to give you the chance to benefit from the mistakes I made, as well as from the subsequent success I’ve had. Yes, I’ve had successes. I achieved my goal of becoming a millionaire by the age of 30, beating my own deadline by nearly three years! At age 27, I was one of the most successful real estate agents in the whole country — a guy who started without a decent suit or a vehicle with four wheels! Just goes to show you that it doesn’t matter how much of a dummy you are on this subject when you start. With this book by your side, serving as a reference for all the selling situations you encounter, you’ll master the selling, persuasion, and people skills you need to really shine.

Foolish Assumptions

When writing this book, I assumed that its readers would either already be in sales careers or considering going into sales. It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling corporate jets or cookies, the basic selling strategies apply simply because you’re selling to people.

I also assumed that you like people in general and that you enjoy working with them. You’re not a hermit or a recluse, you don’t have an extreme case of anthropophobia (a fear of people), and you aren’t painfully shy.

Another assumption is that you’re interested in learning and willing to experiment and apply the strategies in this book. If you’re not serious about at least trying something new to get different results than you’re getting now, you might as well give this book to someone else. This book contains answers, strategies, and tactics for successfully selling products and services, but they won’t work until you put them to work.

Conventions Used in This Book

To help you navigate this book, I include the following conventions:

Boldface

highlights key words in bulleted lists and action steps that you should follow in a specific order.

Defined terms and words I choose to emphasize are in

italics.

Web addresses appear in

monofont

.

When this book was printed, some of the Web addresses I reference may have needed to break across two lines of text. If that happened, rest assured that there are no extra characters (such as hyphens) to indicate the break. So, when using one of these Web addresses, just type in exactly what you see in this book, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist.

I also use some terms interchangeably in this book. For example, the people you look for to present your offering to may be called prospects or buyers in one area. In other areas, I refer to them as potential clients, which I believe creates a more positive, powerful mental image about who they are.

Icons Used in This Book

Icons are those little pictures in the margins throughout this book, and they’re meant to draw your attention to key points that are of help to you along the way. Here’s a list of the icons I use and what they signify.

When you see this icon, you can bet that stories from my years of experience in selling and from my students’ experiences are nearby. And, oh, what stories I have to share. . . .

This icon highlights phrases to say to go beyond the basics and become a true champion at selling. This icon highlights sample exchanges between you and your prospective client so you can see exactly how a conversation can develop if you know just what to say.

I once had a college professor who told us that he didn’t care whether we were awake or slept in his class as long as we learned the things he highlighted with red flags — because those were the areas we’d be tested on. So instead of being the typical warning that red flags usually indicate, this icon highlights the crucial pieces of information and skills you need for selling anything. When you see this flag in the margin, take notice. Great selling tips are at hand.

Some things are so important that they bear repeating. So this icon — like a string tied around your finger — is a friendly reminder of information you’ll want to commit to memory and use over the long haul.

When you see this icon in the margin, the paragraph next to it contains valuable information on making the sales process easier or faster — anything from prospecting to closing and beyond.

This icon highlights things you want to avoid and common mistakes salespeople make. An important part of achieving success is simply eliminating the mistakes. And the information marked by this icon helps you do just that.

Beyond the Book

In addition to the material in the book you’re reading right now, this product also comes with additional access-anywhere content on the web. You’ll find more information on the free Cheat Sheet at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/Selling. I include links to relevant articles on the parts pages of this book as well, which you should also check out at www.dummies.com/extras/Selling.

Where to Go from Here

Glance through the Table of Contents and find the part, chapter, or section that resonates with where you currently are in your selling career. That’s the best place to begin.

To benefit the most from the material in this book, do a little self-analysis to see where you’re the weakest. I know admitting your faults is tough, even to yourself. But reading the material that covers your weaker areas is likely to bring you the greatest amount of success.

Studies by my company, Tom Hopkins International, show that most traditional salespeople lack qualification skills. They waste a lot of time presenting to people who can’t make decisions on what they’re selling. If you’re in traditional sales and you aren’t sure whether qualification is your weakness, Chapter 9 is a great place to start.

The most successful people in life are those who continue to grow. The fact that you’re reading these words now puts you into that realm — because it isn’t how much you know that counts, but how much you can discover after you “know it all.” Congratulations for believing in yourself, in your ability to change for the better, in your ability to improve your lifestyle, and in your ability to improve the lives of the people you help with this book’s many tips on the art of selling. I wish you greatness!

Part I

Laying a Solid Foundation for Selling

For Dummies can help you get started with lots of subjects. Visit www.dummies.com to learn more and do more with For Dummies.

In this part . . .

Understand what the role of selling is, what common approaches successful sales people use to convey messages, and how better selling skills can boost your career.

See how to achieve selling goals and make clients happy in each of seven simple selling steps.

See how getting out of your comfort zone can help you improve sales, enjoy your career, and sell what people want to buy.

Chapter 1

Selling Makes the World Go Around

In This Chapter

Defining selling

Understanding common methods salespeople use to get their messages across

Improving your life and your career by improving your selling skills

Selling is happening every time two human beings communicate. It’s everywhere around you. In fact, selling affects nearly every waking moment of your day. So in this chapter, I help you understand what exactly this thing called selling is, how it’s done, and how you can use selling skills to make your life and your career better.

Getting a Grip on How Selling Is Done

Although the definition of selling is fairly straightforward, the approaches to selling are virtually endless. In this section, I cover the primary ways that products and services are sold (in order from most direct contact to least amount of contact), and I give you some important tips for using each method.

Face-to-face

On an average day, many sales are concluded in a face-to-face fashion. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are purchased in person at favorite restaurants. People physically register in hotels or check in at airport counters. Retail stores abound with sales opportunities, and millions of salespeople sit across desks, conference tables, or kitchen tables turning prospects into clients. The only retail establishment I can think of where you can make a purchase without speaking with someone is the self-checkout line at the grocery store.

The fun part about person-to-person selling is that you can read prospects’ body language and speak with yours. You can hand them information. Have them handle your product or experience the service firsthand. Involve all their senses. Have them taste, touch, smell, hear, and see just how cool your widget is. (I cover methods for doing this in Chapter 10.)

Phone

With a telephone, salespeople have the potential to reach nearly any other person on the planet. And what you say when your prospective client answers the phone, if he answers at all, is critical. In some industries, you actually try to sell the product on the first call (referred to as a one-time close). In other industries, you’re selling interest — enough interest that the person to whom you speak gets out of his home and down to your store or lets you visit him in his home or place of business. Either way, you’re selling what your business is all about, leaving the person on the other end with a very distinct impression of you and your company — good or bad. And you only have a few seconds to make that connection before he reacts with a brush off or hang up.

Although telemarketing is a thriving method for reaching potential clients, many telemarketers who sell to consumers are finding it more and more challenging to reach a live person when they place their calls. If you plan to use this method of approach, be prepared to leave curiosity-building voice messages in order to make connections with potential clients. More and more people are screening their calls with caller ID features and voice mail than ever before. So unless you have your number listed in the phone book as “Sweepstakes Winner Announcement,” plan on reaching a lot of answering devices. (I cover telephone strategies in more detail in Chapter 7.)

If you hear a live person say “Hello” on the other end of the line, you almost have cause for rejoicing — and you have to be prepared for that happening. Be clear about what you’re selling, whether it’s a product, a meeting, or simply getting permission to send the person information.

Despite the difficulty telemarketers often have in getting through to people who are willing to listen to them, selling by phone is widely accepted and recognized as a true sales profession. It requires tact, training, and the ability to articulate a compelling message in a very brief amount of time, as well as the skill of helping others recognize you as a warm, caring individual who has their needs at heart. Companies across many industries realize that gifted phone sales professionals can help bring a product or service to market in a much more efficient and cost-effective manner than face-to-face selling and reward good ones accordingly.

Email

Many companies rely primarily on email solicitations. In fact, an entire industry revolves around writing copy specific to email marketing and strategies to get your messages through the many spam filters employed by individuals and companies alike.

Even though email allows to you get your message to the person who owns the email address, it doesn’t mean you’re actually reaching him. Many people set up multiple email addresses. People may use one email account for personal communication, another for providing contact information on websites, and one for commercial use. Thousands of email addresses lie abandoned in cyberspace — with completely full inboxes.

Although the cost of sending email messages is minimal compared to the cost of printing a mail piece and adding the postage to it, getting through to the person you’re trying to reach is getting tougher — unless you sell business-to-business (B2B) and have a business email address. Most businesses are in the habit of forwarding emails of employees who have left the company to the person who becomes responsible for their work. So, there’s an advantage of email in that if a buyer or purchasing agent moves on, you don’t have to look too far to connect with his replacement.

So far, business email appears to be deemed hands-off. Secretaries and receptionists may receive copies of emails, but they aren’t likely to delete email messages from their bosses’ computers. Home email, on the other hand, may not be thought of as quite so sacred. In fact, some couples share an email address. In that case, your message may be seen and deleted by one party when it was intended for the other, but it still has a decent chance of being seen by the person you want to reach.

To make sure that your intended recipient receives the message you’re sending, I suggest putting the recipient’s name in the subject line (for example, “Here’s the information you asked for, Mike”).

If you use email to connect with prospective clients, you can include your message in the body of the email itself, or you can send it in an attachment that looks like one of your ads or printed pieces or that contains a link to your website. Be aware that many companies set spam filters to not allow emails through that have attachments of a certain size. Some go so far as to not allow emails with any type of attachment. Some companies even ban emails that include hyperlinks to web pages. The rules keep changing and you must be ready and willing to adapt to them.

Email, when used properly, is an extraordinary vehicle for getting your message out. However, you need to be aware of the laws governing the use of email. Sending follow-up emails or proposals and presentation materials is fine, but if you’re planning to use email as part of a larger sales campaign (similar to the way you would use direct mail), you must first get the permission of the recipient of the message, or what is commonly referred to as an opt-in email list. I discuss email lists in more depth in Chapter 7.

Social media

At the time of this writing there are no fewer than 6 types of social media and well over 50 social media platforms available for your use. It’s not feasible to expect you or anyone else to be expert in all of them. What I recommend is to determine which two or maybe three platforms would be of best use to you. By that I mean, find out where the people in your client demographic participate in social media and use those platforms. Many of my students find LinkedIn to be extremely beneficial as a prospecting tool. They can find out a lot about prospective clients before ever contacting them — turning cold calls into slightly warmer calls by searching out common ground in advance of making contact.

Other students make great connections on Twitter by following and reading the Tweets posted by potential business partners or clients. Then, they can reach out to those people with a bit of knowledge of what their hot buttons are.

Some small business clients find great success by promoting their products via Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook, all of which offer the opportunity to use visual images to sell concepts or products.

I can’t tell you which social media platform is best for your particular field of sales. Speak with other successful sales pros in your company or your industry to learn how they’re benefiting from social media. Then, do yourself a favor and attend a webinar, read a book, or take a class on the platform you select. Knowing the basics saves you a lot of frustration, time, and effort.

The technological revolution — and your role in it

If you plan to have a successful career in sales, you need to become somewhat computer savvy. Even if you’re still selling something as simple as buggy whips, you need to track your client contacts in the most efficient manner possible to maximize your sales. You also need to have access to the phenomenal volume and quality of information available on the Internet. Not becoming familiar with the basics of computers and what they can do for you is like locking yourself outside your place of business with nothing more than a business card.

Understanding the basics of today’s technology is also crucial so you can converse with clients who are in tune with it. Nothing ruins your credibility faster than pulling out your 3-x-5-inch index cards to jot down a client’s contact information when he’s using the latest tablet or smartphone.

Take advantage of contact management software (CMS), contact relationship management software (CRM), or sales force automation (SFA), all of which allow you to maintain customer lists, prospect information, schedules, contact information, follow-up notes, and a variety of other sales-related tasks. Talk with others in your particular field to determine which software has the features you’ll benefit from the most, or see whether your company has made arrangements to use a specific program.

Online

Imagine that you’re a customer, and you really, really want a new widget in a razzle-dazzle raspberry color. If you want to see it right away to be sure the color matches or complements your other widgets, what’s the best solution? You can place a call to a widget manufacturer and wait for a salesperson to contact you and then send you a brochure or catalog. Or you can visit the manufacturer’s website and, within a few minutes, see the actual widget in all its razzle-dazzleness. As a busy customer, what’s the best use of your time? To go online and visit the website, of course. This way, you haven’t wasted your time or the time of the salesperson if it turns out that the color wasn’t what you had in mind.

Wouldn’t your customers want to take advantage of the same opportunity? Yes, and if you don’t offer your customers that opportunity, your competitors will.

Efficiency is the name of the game when it comes to technology. And you have to take advantage of every method possible to increase your efficiency while remaining easily accessible to your client base. The key is not to invest so much time in mastering the technology that you have no time remaining to do what you’re paid for — and that is to sell products and services.

The Internet is like the library. You can find just about any piece of information you want there — and so can your potential clients. Not too many people invest a lot of time trotting down to their local library to look up information. They do, however, click on over to the Internet and search for information on your product or service and that of your competition. The key is to provide enough information and build enough curiosity about your product that buyers want to speak with you, the salesperson, in order to confirm you have what they need at a price they’re willing to pay.

The people you approach to do business will likely have a great deal of knowledge about your product or service, so you better know those products and services better than they do (see Chapter 5 for more on this important topic). Look at the same resource information that your customers see. In fact, add to your repertoire a question about where they did their research on your product. Find out where your customers are going for information. If you have any impact on what’s put there, make sure it’s positive. If the information is incorrect, be prepared with facts, figures, and testimonials to correct it in the minds of your buyers.

Direct mail

Every piece of mail you receive, whether it’s a letter of solicitation, a coupon, or a catalog, is devised for a single purpose — to build your curiosity and get you to take some type of action so that someone can sell you something. Companies play the odds that enough people will stop long enough to look at and consider their products before the direct mail hits the trash.

Believe it or not, a one-percent response rate for direct mail is considered average. That means only 1 out of 100 mail pieces generate an actual order. Ninety-nine of those mail pieces are tossed into the trash without ever generating a penny for the company that sent them. Plus, each of those mail pieces may cost a good bit to produce and distribute, especially if they contain a lot of full-color photos. So if that’s the case, why is direct mail still so prevalent? The reason is simple: When you order from a company, you’ll probably order something else from that company in the future. You become a customer, and good companies work very hard to keep you coming back for more. Over the long haul, a company recoups the dollars lost on tossed mail pieces with orders from the one percent who place repeat orders.

Recognizing What Selling Skills Can Do for You

Selling skills can do for you what a way with words did for William Shakespeare. They can do for you what powerful communication skills did for Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Selling skills can make or break you in whatever endeavor you choose. They can mean the difference between getting the promotion or job, landing the girl or guy of your dreams, or having to settle for less in life than you deserve.

If you’re good at selling, you probably earn a satisfactory income and have rewarding personal relationships. If you’re not completely satisfied with your income level or with the quality of your personal relationships, make the development of selling skills a priority, and you’ll reap the rewards.

Having a strong set of selling skills is like having an inside track on what the next batch of winning lottery numbers will be. All you have to do is invest a bit of your time and effort to understand and apply this book’s tried-and-true, proven-effective skills to your everyday life. Before you know it, they’ll be such a natural part of you that no one, including yourself, will even recognize them as selling skills. People around you will just see you as a really nice, competent person instead of the stereotypical, cigar-chomping, back-slapping, plaid-coated, hand-mashing, used-car salesman that most people associate with selling. And, believe me, you’ll then be in the class of people who make the world go ’round.

Salespeople are everywhere — even where you least expect them

The person who isn’t selling isn’t living. Think about that: At some point nearly every day, you’re involved in a selling situation of some sort. You may call it by a different name or not even recognize it as an act of selling, but, all the same, selling it is. Here’s just a short list of the people who sell things and whose “products” you buy:

Actors and actresses: If you’ve ever watched a television show, movie, or play and been caught up in the story, you’ve been a part of a selling situation. The actor has given a believable performance — he’s sold you on his portrayal of a character.Food servers: The wise server gives you choices of drinks, appetizers, meals, and desserts. He doesn’t just ask to take your order. Why? Because when he employs a bit of salesmanship, he’s almost guaranteed to receive a bigger tip.Doctors: Doctors get tremendous rewards when they know — and use — selling skills. Not only is your doctor better prepared to convince you to follow his professional advice, but he’s also building his practice because you’re so happy with his advice that you tell your friends and family how great your doctor is, thus sending him referral business.Lawyers: Lawyers need selling skills in every aspect of their profession. Lawyers have to sell not only to get business but also to persuade judges and juries that their clients are in the right.Politicians: How does the public develop its expectations about political candidates? How do politicians get elected? They persuade the most people that, if they’re elected, they can and will do the job the voters want done.Parents: Whether by words or example, parents constantly sell their children values and beliefs. They convince or persuade their kids on what to wear or eat, how to act, who to have as friends, how to be a friend, and thousands of other things children need to learn to grow into happy, well-adjusted adults.Kids: Few children can go into a store and resist the things shopkeepers purposefully place on the lower shelves to tempt the young. (Considerate of those shopkeepers, isn’t it?) Get ready: You’re about to observe master sellers at work. Notice what kids say and how they act when they try to persuade Mom or Dad to get them what they want. It’s selling at its best.Spouses-to-be: If you get married someday, you’ll put forth one of the most important sales presentations of your life in persuading your significant other of the value of spending the rest of his or her life with you. And if you’re already married, the trick is to keep persuading your significant other that he made the right choice.Friends: If your friends enjoy a movie, they’ll probably want to tell you about it — and sell you on going to see it yourself. Your friends may recommend a place to eat or persuade you to go to concerts or sporting events with them. All of these are examples of selling — but they’re also examples of ways your friends build relationships with you. The more memories you share, the closer you’ll continue to be — and so it is with the art of selling.

You’re not immune from selling situations in your daily life — even if you don’t come into contact with professional salespeople — and you may not even be aware that selling has occurred. We had a saying in our household when my children were young: “You’ve got to sell to survive.” If this list hasn’t convinced you of that, nothing will. (And if it has, then I’ve sold you on my ideas.)

Chapter 2

The Seven-Step Selling Cycle

In This Chapter

Finding the people to sell to, and selling the people you find

Making a positive first impression

Determining who is a true potential client

Understanding the benefit of benefits

Expecting concerns

Closing the sale: The brass ring of selling

Getting your next client from your last one

I like to think of selling as a cycle because, when it’s done properly, the last step in the cycle leads you back to the first. Your new, happy client gives you the names of other people she feels would benefit from your product or service, and then you have your next lead or potential client to work with.

I also like the fact that selling breaks down neatly into seven steps. Everyone can remember seven things, can’t they? The seven steps I cover in this chapter are an overview of what I dive deeply into in Part III. Each step is equally valuable to you. Rarely are you able to skip a step and still make the sale. Each step plays a critical role and, if done properly, leads you to the next step in a natural, flowing manner.

Step #1: Prospecting

Prospecting can also be called finding new business. It involves strategies for finding the right potential buyers for what you’re selling. When considering your product or service, ask yourself, “Who would benefit most from this?” For example:

If the end user is a corporation, you need to make contacts within corporations. Usually, a purchasing agent is assigned to make buying decisions on behalf of the company, so you need to find out whom that person is and how to get in touch with her.

If your end user is a family with school-age children, you need to go where families are (for example, soccer games, grocery stores, dance classes, the park, and so on). Or acquire a list from a credible source (go to

Chapter 7

for more on finding contacts) and start contacting those people at home or through the various organizations they belong to.

To make an informed decision about which people to approach, you need to find out some information about them or the companies you’ve chosen as possibilities. Most of your research can be done online. This legwork is sort of a prequalification step in prospecting. You do even more qualification when you meet a prospective client — but why waste time on an appointment with a company or person who doesn’t have a need for your offering or the ability to pay for it?

Prequalifying helps you just like market research helps companies determine their best target markets. In fact, one of the best places to begin your research in finding the most likely candidates for your product or service is your company’s marketing department. The marketing department has done research during the product development stage to determine what people want in the product or service you sell. Study their results, and you’ll get a handle on where to begin.

If your company engages in advertising to promote your products, you’ll likely receive leads — names of people who called or otherwise contacted the company for more information about the product. Treat any client-generated contact like gold! What better person to contact first than someone who called you for information!

Other valuable assets are your friends, relatives, and business acquaintances. Tell them what type of product or service you’re selling. Listen to the ideas and suggestions they come up with. Who knows — one of them just may know people at one of your prospect companies who would be happy to talk with you because of their relationship. If there’s something good going on, people are always willing to share their stories with others.

A word of advice here that applies to all selling situations: Never begin any selling cycle until you’ve taken a few moments to put yourself in the shoes of the other person. Take yourself out of the picture and look at the entire situation through the eyes of the buyer. Mentally put yourself in her shoes and think about what would motivate you to invest your valuable time learning about your product or taking a salesperson’s call. If you can’t come up with solid answers, you may not have enough information about your product to even be selling it in the first place. Or you may not know enough about your potential audience to sell to them. If that’s the case, it’s back to the books for you. Study more about both areas until you’re comfortable with being in that person’s shoes. In other words, don’t start prospecting until you have something of value to share with your prospects — something you’re confident is worth their while to investigate and, hopefully, purchase.

If you ever face challenges getting through to potential clients, you may need to take a somewhat unusual approach to get their attention or bring about a positive response. Some ideas my students have used include

Including a photograph of your warm, smiling, professional self or even a video of your product in action.

If your goal is to arrange to meet with these people in their homes, they’ll need to make some sort of connection with you other than seeing your signature line on a letter or email.

Including a tasteful comic about the situation your potential clients find themselves in without your product or service.

Your potential client will recognize the relief or benefit the product provides much sooner.

Adding a clever quote or anecdote to the bottom of a cover letter or email.

You can find books that have quotes for nearly any occasion. Check out BrainyQuote (

www.brainyquote.com

) to find just the right quote online. Taking a few moments to find this kind of attention-getter can make your initial contact stand out from the rest.

Using letters in place of numbers for your telephone number so it’s easier to remember.

If your telephone number is 344-6279 and your name is Mary, you can use the alphabet on the telephone pad to ask your potential buyers to call 344-MARY. (If your name is Optimus Prime, this approach won’t work for you.)

These ideas may be a bit gimmicky if you’re selling corporate jets, but they’ve worked for some of my students who were marketing everyday products and services. The idea is to open your creative mind to unusual ways of reaching people and capturing their attention.

To ensure that your name gets in front of the prospective client more than once, send a thank-you note the day you make your first contact with her. Handwritten thank-you notes are the best and a wise use of the time they require. Thank-you notes are always read — and if the prospect hasn’t had the time to review your letter and/or brochure when she receives your thank-you note, don’t you think she’ll go looking for your name among other mail or emails she’s received? You’ll make a positive first impression that will very likely bring you closer to getting an opportunity to connect on a deeper level.

Step #2: Making Initial Contact

You’ve found the right people as potential buyers. Now you actually get to meet them. To persuade another person to give you her valuable time, you need to offer something of value in return. For instance: To gain entrance to someone’s home, you may need to offer a free estimate or gift in exchange for her opinion on the demonstration of your product. With a business-to-business appointment, getting an appointment may be a bit easier because you often work with a purchasing agent whose job it is to meet with and gather information from people like you. Depending on your product, you may also need to meet with a financial officer or owner of the business. When you meet via phone or online using Skype or a Google+ Hangout, treat the appointment the same way you treat an in-person meeting.

Your goal is to make agreeing to spend time with you as easy as possible. I strongly recommend giving your potential client two options with regard to dates and times. Say something like, “I have an appointment opening on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m., or would Wednesday at 3 p.m. be better for you?” This makes the other person look at her calendar and consider the open blocks of time in her schedule. Whereas, if you just say, “When can we get together?” she’s likely to look at how busy she is and hesitate to commit at all.

When you get a commitment, confirm all the details such as where and how the meeting will take place — and get directions if it’s an in-person meeting and you haven’t been there before. Sure, you may be able to get directions from an online map site or by using a GPS device, but only the people who drive there every day will think to tell you if the street in front of their home or building is under construction and you have to take an unusual route. Besides, when a potential client provides this information it gives you an opportunity thank her, and your expression of gratitude makes her feel good, which is the first step in helping her like you.

Also, get a commitment as to who will be present. If you sell products to consumers and know you need to have the agreement of both spouses, you need to confirm that they’ll both be present. If you’re talking with a young, single person, she may decide to have a parent or other adult present to help her make a decision. In business situations, there may be a committee designated to consider and approve all purchases.

When you visit with a potential client, be sure to appear at ease so your prospect is comfortable with you. After all, the number-one need of people is the need to be comfortable. If you’re uncomfortable, chances are good that unless you’re a really good actor, your discomfort shows — and it may make your prospect uncomfortable, too.

Any tension at this point in the selling cycle will take a bit of doing on both sides to overcome. If you don’t get past the tension, you can end up turning a potential win-win into a lose-lose situation. You won’t make the sale, and the potential client will miss out on benefiting from your talents and fantastic product.

So what can you do to avoid or break any tension? Consider the following guidelines:

First and foremost, consider what you look like to your prospect. We all know the old saying “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.” When in doubt about what to wear to an appointment, err on the side of conservatism. Your goal is to be dressed like someone your potential client turns to for advice. So if you’re selling farm equipment, skip the business suit; jeans or khaki slacks and boots may be perfectly appropriate. On the other hand, if you’re selling to a corporation, you’ll want to choose a more formal style of clothing.

You want to look your best. But also remember to be comfortable. If your new shoes are too tight or they squeak, you’ll be conscious of that fact and you won’t be able to put all your concentration into the meeting.

In a prospective client’s mind, any shabbiness in your appearance translates into shabbiness in work habits or a lesser quality product or service.

Think twice before you wear your favorite cologne or perfume. Subtlety is the motto here. You never know if you’ll meet someone who is allergic to your added scents. If the potential client opens the window, goes into a sneezing frenzy, or just keels over, you went a bit heavy on the fragrance — and you probably lost the sale.