Category Archives for "Sales Management"

I’ve seen a number of things posted on social media recently, along the lines of ‘the more follow ups you have, the better”‘ and ‘x amount of sales are made on the nth follow up’….

Now, whilst some of the implied messages behind these can be quite useful (‘salespeople should pick up the phone more’, ‘every quote should be followed up’, most salespeople give up too easily’), there’s actually a danger in following them too closely.

In fact, there’s one particular one that’s been ‘doing the rounds’ again recently, the one about how many contacts it can take to make a sale….

Unfortunately when you do a little ‘digging’ on this, it turns out it was completely made up! 🙁

There is no such association as the ‘National Sales Executive Association’, and these particular statistics have been debunked numerous times, yet it still doesn’t stop people sharing it as if it’s ‘true’ – even when it’s not!

It’s almost as if we ‘want’ it to be true, to justify all the follow ups that we do!!

So here are some reasons why it can be ‘dangerous’ to take this study at face value (even if you didn’t know it was false until now).

Reason Number 1 – It Implies ‘More Is Better’

That’s probably the biggest point.  It implies ‘more is better’.  In other words, the more follow ups you do, the better you’ll do in sales.

And the problem with that?  It’s not necessarily true.

As an example, if you’re contacting new prospects, let’s say you don’t do your job properly on your first contact and don’t uncover any needs the prospect may have for your product/service, you don’t get them to admit/notice that they may well be interested in a further conversation, and manage to set the ‘next steps’ by the end of that interaction.

You’re now going to have to do ‘more’ follow ups to that prospect, than if you’d put more work in earlier in the process, so that wouldn’t be needed as much!  And most of the follow ups in that circumstance would be the dreaded ‘keeping in touch’ follow ups.

The world definitely doesn’t need any more of those!

So in this circumstance, ‘less’ is actually better!

Reason Number 2 – It Implies No ‘Evaluation’

And this is a VERY important point!

Good salespeople will evaluate/qualify both the prospects, and the potential sales opportunity, to know whether it is worth following up at all!  And if it is, when, how and why they should do that!
And as early in the process as possible!

And if you truly want to maximise your time as a salesperson, you need to be able to quickly identify REAL prospects from people that will waste your time.

You see, some prospects might have little or no intention of using you or your company, but they need your proposal, in order to give them a comparison with the other suppliers they truly are considering.  Therefore they will still take you all the way through your sales process, talk to you, meet with you, ask you to submit a quotation or full proposal.  But with no intention of using you.

These prospects will suck you time, suck your energy and chip away at your ‘sales esteem’ (your self-esteem in relation to your sales role).  You need to identify them as quickly as possible, not only not to waste your time, but to avoid the ‘endless follow up’ trap that also hurts your sales esteem.

Reason Number 3 – Too Many Follow Ups Annoy Prospects

The other thing to consider when you’re having to do lots of follow ups, is how annoying you can become to prospects if you try and do too many to one person!

Lots of follow up to one person (without anything fresh to say to them) ends up with lots of calls that are basically ‘how are things?’ or ‘has anything changed since we last spoke?’ or ‘any new feedback for me?’.

You already know the reaction to those you of calls is going to be terrible. So why are you still doing them?

Most salespeople end up doing these because they have to have an update on their ‘pipeline’, or their manager has asked them to get one! Yet, because the earlier part of the sales process wasn’t handled well enough, we end up with these ‘pointless’ call backs, that run the risk of just annoying prospects!

If we handled the earlier part of the sales process better, most of the follow ups wouldn’t be necessary. Because we would already know the next steps, and have arranged call-backs booked in, not just random ‘keeping in touch’ calls!

Follow the steps above and watch your sales soar! I look forward to hearing about your future sales!

In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains what the successful sales leaders and salespeople are implementing right now to make sure they have a great 2017….

The New Year is a great opportunity to set some new sales goals, and some ‘Sales Resolutions’
Here are my suggestions for the Top Five New Years’ Resolutions for your sales team……

Sales Resolution Number 1 – Increase Your Prospecting Activity

If your ‘goal’ or ‘outcome’ for 2017 is to increase your sales, or that of your team, one of the things to look at is to increase your prospecting activities.
Most salespeople tend not to have enough prospects, and therefore rely on most of their sales opportunities coming off, in order to hit their targets. In most cases, that’s a recipe for failure.

Take a look at whatever prospecting activities you’ve been doing (that have been working for you, of course) and look at how you can increase them. You might also want to increase the ‘range’ of activities as well.

Whether your prospecting activities include networking, cold calling, referrals, cold canvassing or anything else, simply upping the activity will generate better results. Once you’ve done this, it’s now time for the second step…..

Sales Resolution Number 2 – Stop Being Bullied By Prospects

This is starting to happen more and more, as buyers take control of the sales process. By ‘bullying’ I meant things like…….

• Playing you off against competitors
• Using you as ‘price fodder’ in the process (with no intention of buying from you and wasting your time)
• ‘Commoditising’ the sales process
• Ignoring your suggestions and advice and insisting on ‘their’ spec
• Forcing you to lower your prices and eroding your margin/profit

Far too many buyers now are taking control of the process and forcing salespeople to dance to THEIR tune – usually resulting in the salesperson having control over the process, no influence on the process, and no sale at the end of the process!

Make sure you don’t fall into this trap!

Sales Resolution Number 3 – Filter Your Sales Opportunities Better

You can only do this step when you have a lot of Sales opportunities (hence my recommendation in No 1 above), so if you haven’t got enough opportunities yet, go back to that step until you have!

Once you have enough opportunities, the next step is to ‘filter’ them. What I mean by that is to look at which opportunities are better for you. So how on earth do you judge which are better than others?

If you’ve already ‘profiled’ your opportunities, then you’ll already know what I mean. If you haven’t, here are some quick tips. From experience either you or your manager will have an idea which of your opportunities are most likely to convert, which will do so faster than others, and which will be worth the most money.

This might be based on their industry, the level of decision maker you’re talking to, their buying motivation (you have found that out, haven’t you?) size of project, approval process and impending deadlines etc.

Based on the results of your ‘filtering’, you can now work out which opportunities you need to focus on, and which ones require you to qualify them a little harder. Please note, if the thought of doing this makes you hesitant or concerned that you might ‘lose’ an opportunity or two, then you probably haven’t got enough opportunities in the first place – go back to the first resolution above!

Sales Resolution Number 4 – Improve Your Pipeline Control

Pretty much EVERY sales leader I speak to, wishes their salespeople were better at controlling their sales pipeline!

Most salespeople have deals in their pipeline that actually have no hope of coming off, yet they often don’t realise it! Also, when I ask salespeople to talk me though their pipeline, it quickly becomes apparent that they’re not ‘on top’ of it, they don’t know where they stand in relation to others in their deals, and often don’t have a concrete plan for bringing that piece of business in, rather than losing it to a competitor.

That needs addressing, right now! Every salesperson should be on top of their sales pipeline. They should know where they stand in relation to their competitors in every deal. They should know the buying motivation of the client, who they need to influence, and what timescales are at work as a minimum. They should also know what actions they need to take (and by when) in order to win the business, rather than lose it to a competitor.

If you’re not on top of your pipeline, it might be time to look at your qualification of prospects, or your ability to get the ‘deeper needs’ from the client earlier in the sales process. Or it could be down to your failure to ‘stand out’ from the competition right at the start of the process. Find out which one it is and do something about it, now!

Sales Resolution Number 5 – Work On Your Sales Skills

Right now we’re in a competitive market. With competitors’ after our clients more than ever before. With prospects comparing us to others more than ever before. With meetings with Senior Decision Makers being harder to get than ever before.

So it often comes down to your salesperson versus your competitors’ salesperson. Their sales skills, versus their competitors’ sales skills. Who is going to win in that scenario? Who would you put your money on?

Now is the time to work on your own sales skills, and those of your team. To look at areas in which you could perform better. And to regularly invest time (and money where appropriate) in getting your team to where they need to be, in order to make sure YOU are winning the business, rather than your competitors!

Follow the tips above and watch your sales soar! I look forward to hearing how you get on…….

This article is copyright Andy Preston 2004-2017. To copy or syndicate this or any part of this article contact Andy Preston for guidelines.

In this article, leading sales expert Andy Preston explains the problems that ’status quo’ can have, and what to do to make sure your team don’t fall into that common trap…..

It’s always interesting when I’m working with salespeople and sales teams all over the world when I start talking about ‘status quo’ and complacency.  They can be the biggest reasons for lost potential sales in experienced salespeople, yet are often overlooked by sales management.

So why do so many experienced salespeople fall into this trap?  Here are 4 of the main reasons….

Reason Number 1 – No Pressure From ‘Management’

Now you might find it a bit strange as some salespeople will say their sales manager never gets off their back, yet most sales managers tend to focus on the underperformers, and spend less and less of their time on the top performers.

I’ve even heard some sales managers say ‘I don’t care what they’re doing if they’re hitting target’.  Whilst that attitude might be fine for them, I dread to think how many more sales their team could be getting in with proper management!

Reason Number 2 – No Personal Goals

If you’ve been to one of my events, or heard me speak at a conference somewhere in the world, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of salespeople having personal goals.

Often in my experience however, salespeople tend not to set personal goals, or even if they do, they tend to have them as a ‘wish list’ or a ‘hope list’ rather than a ‘must have’ list.

Reason Number 3 – No Challenge From Colleagues

Another reason salespeople get complacent is if they’ve been top performer for a while, and there are no colleagues close to challenging them!  This happened to me in my sales career when at one point I was actually selling twice as much as my nearest ‘challenger’.

That’s a dangerous situation to be in.  Experience tells me that for some salespeople, without the challenge of colleagues for ‘top spot’, they often end up just doing what they need to do to retain their position, and not focusing on how they can sell even more than they currently are.  Which means they’ll limit themselves from selling more until they get a close challenge from another colleague – and they’ll suddenly find that ‘extra gear’ – that they had all along, but didn’t need to use it.

Reason Number 4 – They’re ‘Tired And Jaded’

This is often found in salespeople that have been in a company for a while, or in an industry for a while – particularly if their role hasn’t progressed much in that time.

Because they’ve been seeing the same customers and prospects for a while, talking about the same products and services to the same people, the monotony of that activity shows up in their attitude towards pushing themselves to the next level.

Unless these salespeople find a way to get more energy and interest back into their job role, they’ll just ‘amble’ along until something shakes them out of that state – usually losing a customer or the threat of losing their job.  My preference is to get them out of this state before either of those 2 happen.

7 Signs To Look Out For…..  

So what are the signs you need to look out for, to see if you’ve got any salespeople with any of these challenges?

1. You have one ‘top performer’ that brings in a lot of business, without a ‘close challenger’
2. You’ve had a number of salespeople that have been in a similar role for a while now
3. The same prospect names appear during the ‘pipeline’ discussions at your sales team meetings
4. You pay a high basic salary and your sales team don’t seem hugely motivated to win new business
5. Some of your sales team don’t respond well to your questions and have an ‘I know what I’m doing’ mentality
6. Your sales team have more experience in the company (or the industry) than you have
7. Your salespeople try to divert the conversation from ‘prospects’ and ‘new business’ to how busy they are with existing clients or paperwork

If any of the 7 signs above give you cause for concern, drop me a line and I’ll see how I can help you get your sales team back on track!

Follow the tips above and watch the performance of your sales team soar!  I look forward to hearing about your future success…. 

This article is copyright Andy Preston 2004-2016. To copy or syndicate this or any part of this article contact Andy Preston for guidelines.

In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains why most people struggle with ‘selling by email’ – they don’t understand it, they don’t know when to use it (and when not to) and they don’t know how to use it for best results…….……

After reading this article you’ll be able to utilise email to add value to your sales efforts – instead of hampering them – and get your sales figures back where they belong!……..

When I working with sales teams all over the world, Sales Managers and Directors often tell me that they believe all salespeople are inherently lazy. I’m not sure I agree with that hugely sweeping statement, but I do think salespeople often look for the quickest way to do something!

I think this is partly down to the fact that a lot of salespeople only start earning real money when their commission kicks in, so any task that isn’t directly related to bringing in new customers, orders or money, they tend to try and find the quickest way to do! Hence why the managers think they’re lazy.

As salespeople though, this ‘quickest route’ habit can often cause us problems! Particularly as technology has advanced and email is a popular communication method for many. However, this often results in salespeople resorting to email communication – at the expense of their own sales figures! Have a look at the examples of common email sales mistakes below, and see if any ring true for you……

Email Sales Mistake Number 1 – Using It To ‘Follow Up‘ Your Pipeline

Let’s look at this from a ‘new business’ perspective. You’ve spoken with (or met with) a client previously, you’ve started to develop rapport, but they’ve probably got an existing supplier, or existing way of doing things. So you didn’t pick up their business from your initial call or appointment.

Your boss has probably been putting pressure on you about your sales figures or your sales pipeline. So you decide you need to ‘follow up’ with a few people, this particular prospect included. So what do you do next? Pick up the phone and call them, establish their current situation and needs and potentially see how you may be able to add value to what they’re trying to achieve over the next few months? Close for another appointment, attempt to dislodge the existing supplier (or existing process) and pick up their business? Or send an email?

If you’re in the ’email’ category, stop it! Right now!

Email Sales Mistake Number 2 – Just ‘Adding‘ People To A Mailing List

Another great idea from the marketing department. Sending an email newsletter or similar to keep people ‘informed’ of your products and services. The funny thing is, how many newsletters do you get that you don’t read, or you don’t read in full? I bet it’s quite a few. If you don’t know the sender well, you probably don’t read it at all. Sometimes even when you know the sender well you still don’t read it!

Don’t sit back and think that just because someone is on your generic email list that that’s helping you ‘sell’ to that person. In most cases it isn’t. That’s more of a ‘nurture’ campaign for the Marketing department to worry about!

The responsibility to move that person through your sales pipeline is still yours!

Email Sales Mistake Number 3 – Sending Mainly ‘Flyers’ By Email

Please tell me you’re not still doing this? Even worse if the email is titled ‘offer of the month’ or similar! If the person hasn’t used you before, you’re relying on ‘luck’ for the person to buy from you. And the more competitive your marketplace and the higher the price of what you sell, the less likely people are to buy!

Plus as mentioned in my last point above, it’s hardly ‘personal’ communication to that prospect, is it? Is this really the professional sales job you were employed to do? If this is the best you can do in terms of ‘sales persuasion’, you’re in trouble!

Email Sales Mistake Number 4 – Responding To New Sales Enquiries Via Email

Let’s think about this one. You or your company has expended time, money and effort in producing the incoming sales lead. Whether it’s come from a previous phone call by you or a colleague, networking, advertising or over the internet, you’ve managed to get a precious incoming sales lead.

The next question is, what are you going to do about it? Pick up the phone and find an excuse to start a dialogue to understand their needs in more detail, positition a ‘next step’ in the sales process and look for some committment from that person. Or just send a quick email giving some information and leaving them to ‘wander’ on their own, with no idea how motivated they are to purchase, their timescales, or what other options they’re considering?

Looks like you’ve missed your chance again, doesn’t it? In most cases if they come back to you, it’s because when they enquired with your competition, they did a worse job than you did (hard to believe I know, but it could be true). Is this really the best way of dealing with that precious incoming sales lead do you think?!!

Email Sales Mistake Number 5 – Sending Proposals Or Quotes By Email

Now it’s time for my personal favourite! Sending proposals or quotes by email. This has become an interesting area over the last few years, with many prospects asking you to send your quotes/proposals etc via email.

Now, most of the ‘old school’ trainers will tell you that you HAVE to go in and present the proposal face-to-face. That that’s the ONLY thing you can do.

I don’t agree.

I agree it’s BETTER to be able to present the proposal face-to-face and talk it through. I agree that the more expensive the product (and the more value you have to build before presenting the price) the more important it is to try and get in face-to-face to present it.

But what happens if you’re not in Field Sales/Outside Sales? What if you don’t have the opportunity to visit the prospect? And how about the prospects that ask you to send through your proposals and quotes via email?

Andy’s Tips On Sending Proposals Or Quotes Via Email

The main thing you need to be aware of is that the minute you send through your proposal or quote via email, you lose most of your control over the sales process. You allow the prospect to go into ‘hiding’ – not returning your calls or emails, and basically going quiet on you!

Therefore you need to have asked ALL your ‘sales questions’ BEFORE sending through the proposal, otherwise your chance of winning the business is dramatically reduced!

If you are interested in me working with you or your team to overcome some of their problems with proposals, pipeline management and closing, then contact me here, or call +44 161 401 0142 to see how I can help you!

Follow the tips above and watch your sales soar! I look forward to hearing how you get on…..

(This article is copyright Andy Preston 2004-2019. To copy or syndicate this or any part of this article contact Andy Preston for guidelines).

In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains 4 awful sales phrases that most salespeople use, and why they will cost them (and you) business going forwards……

Whenever I’m listening to salespeople on the phones (or face-to-face) they often use awful sales phrases that cause them problems in the sales process, and often cost them sales! Here are 4 typical ones you need to avoid using (but appear to be in ‘common’ use in most sales teams)….

AWFUL SALES PHRASE No 1 – “I’m Your New Account Manager”…..

SITUATION – When you’ve just taken over an account from a colleague, who may also have just left the business

WHY IT’S BAD – The effect your words have on the client. They hear something like “the last guy was crap so we fired him” or “our company isn’t very good so lots of people leave” (especially if the last person wasn’t the only account manager they’ve had’

Or even worse “I’m new here, haven’t a clue what I’m doing, and YOUR ACCOUNT is going to be the one I learn and practice on!”

Can you imagine the impact on the client, and what they’re thinking when they hear those words?!!! Awful!

Even worse (and I hear people doing this FAR too often) is using this phrase when the ‘customer’ you’re calling has never spent any money with you!!

That’s right. They’re NOT a customer. They are a prospect. So when they hear you say “I’m your new account manager”, the impact of that is “well it hasn’t been ‘managed’ very well, as we’ve not got any account with you and have never spent any money with you!” Often closely followed with “and we’ve got a supplier we’re happy with for that anyway!”

Why would you be so stupid as to walk into all of that stuff, and a strong objection as well? Yet still I hear a lot of people doing it…….

AWFUL SALES PHRASE No 2 – “I’m ‘Just’ Calling”…..

SITUATION – Making an outbound sales call

WHY IT’S BAD – You’re ‘just’ calling? No you’re not! You’re not ‘just’ doing anything!

In this circumstance it’s a ‘downgrading’ word. It downgrades your call in the mind of the prospect (or the client), and downgrades your own credibility!

In this situation, it takes your call from being positioned as important and valuable, and reduces it to ‘unimportant’, ‘an interruption’ and about as valuable as ‘market research’

Why would you want to start your call by giving the recipient extra motivation to want to get rid of you?!!!

AWFUL SALES PHRASE No 3 – “Thank You For The Opportunity To Quote”……

SITUATION – Client/Prospect has just asked you to quote them

WHY IT’S BAD – This is awful!!! Truly awful! Your positioning on this is terrible! Are your seriously ‘thanking’ someone for asking you to give a quote?!!

This is the problem with all the ‘Customer Service’ stuff that’s been spouted over the last few years. ‘The Customer Is King’ and ‘The Customer Is Always Right’. I’m in agreement that we need to give people good service, but when it comes to sales there is a difference between ‘Service’ and ‘Subservience’.

You want to be perceived as an ‘equal’ by the client. Not more important than them. Not less important than them. As an equal.

When prospects and clients perceive you as an equal, it changes the way they treat you. Generally speaking, they respect your opinion more, they ask your advice more, they tell you more and are more honest with you! All things that would help us make more sales!

When you are ‘subservient’ to a client, you typically lose control of the sales process, get beaten up on price, you waste lots of time ‘running around’ after them, and then not getting the sale anyway!

Using this phrase so early in the sales process will count against you afterwards. It ruins your positioning and the prospect/client’s opinion of you. Don’t do it!

AWFUL SALES PHRASE No 4 – “How Are You Today?”

SITUATION – On An Outbound Sales Call

WHY IT’S BAD – This is my ‘pet hate’. It’s probably THE WORST thing you can say as the introduction to a sales call, but many people still say it, and even worse, are TRAINED to say it! Terrible! And the colder the call is, the worse it is!

Now if you’re making a call to someone where you have the level of rapport to say ‘John, how are you doing? How are the kids? And how was your weekend?’, you’ve obviously making a call to someone you know extremely well, and have a very high level of rapport with, so that circumstance is exempt from this.

When however, as many people do, if you’re using this on a call where you don’t know someone that well at all (or even worse, on a cold call) this will cause you major problems!

It comes across as fake. Insincere. And a ‘cheap’ attempt at trying to gain rapport with someone that you hardly know. And it will cause you big problems. Stop it. Now!

Follow the tips above and watch your sales soar! I look forward to hearing how you get on…..

This article is copyright Andy Preston 2004-2016. To copy or syndicate this or any part of this article contact Andy Preston for guidelines.

In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains why buyers lie to salespeople…..and what they really mean when they say those things to you…….

I’m often amazed how many salespeople and business owners are surprised when, after we’ve de-briefed their sales meeting or phone call, they realise the ‘buyer’ or decision maker they were talking to has lied to them.

Do buyers lie? Of course they do! Having been one, I GUARANTEE you that’s the case!

In many cases the salesperson will actually defend the buyer – saying things like ‘well they’re just not ready to buy’, or ‘they have to see all the salespeople first and then make a decision’, or ‘they need to check with a couple of colleagues first’.

If there are any sales managers or directors that are hearing things like this from their sales team, then get in touch with me right now! What the salesperson often means when they say something like the above is ‘I haven’t done my job properly’ – yet not many are willing to admit it (and some aren’t even aware of it!)

So here are some phrases that buyers or decision makers will say to you or your team – and what they really mean…….

Buyer Phrase Number 1 – ‘I’m Happy With My Existing Supplier’

Don’t you just love this old chestnut? I’m still astounded when most salespeople fall for this one, and either exit the call or almost mentally ‘give up’ when they hear this phrase.

The average salesperson hears this so often, you’d think they would have learnt to deal with it by now, wouldn’t you?!!

When the buyer says something like ‘I’m happy with my existing supplier’, in most cases what they may actually mean is ‘I don’t know you well enough to consider you as an alternative supplier just yet’ or ‘I don’t like you as much as I like my existing supplier’ or even ‘Your call or visit has interrupted me and I’m going to use a phrase that gets rid of most salespeople (but might not even be true)’.

Yet still most salespeople hear this ‘objection’ and let it affect them in a negative way – and some don’t even get as far as asking another question. How crazy is that?!! Let’s be honest here – if this is your first decent conversation or visit with the potential new client, isn’t it fairly normal for them to be ‘happy’ with their existing supplier at this stage?

It’s your job as a salesperson to understand their current solution, and how your product or service adds value to what they’re trying to achieve with it. If you only relied on being ‘lucky’ as mentioned above – you’re missing out on the majority of your sales opportunities!

Buyer Phrase Number 2 – ‘I Need To Think About This And Come Back To You’

Another classic example of something a lot of salespeople fall for! I was doing some ‘field sales assessments’ where I attend appointments with the salesperson last week. The decision maker said to the salesperson ‘I need to think about this and come back to you’. The salesperson’s reply? ‘That’s fine, here’s my card. Give me a call when you’ve had time to decide, or need some help deciding.’

No, No, No, No, No! When someone says the phrase ‘I need to think about this and come back to you’ what they might well mean is ‘I haven’t got enough information to be able to make a decision on this yet (or you haven’t given me enough!) What they might also mean is ‘I’m not sure about you, so I’m going to check you and your company out on the internet while you’re not here’. Or even ‘I’ve already decided not to use you but I’m not willing to tell you that!’

Whichever of those it is, leaving the appointment or phone call at this stage is the worst thing you can do! Even if they are considering you and truly thinking about it in more detail, what that means is that they’re going through that process (and even reaching their decision) without you being involved. What chance have you got of putting any element of persuasion into that process? None whatsoever! Not the best use of your sales skills, is it?

Buyer Phrase Number 3 – ‘I’m Under Contract At The Moment’

Another old favourite! Again something a lot of salespeople fall for. This has even got to the stage where the buyer or decision maker is starting to take the mickey out of the salesperson! I was out with a client doing some door-to-door cold calls last month when the salesperson was lucky enough to meet the decision maker when we walked in! What a great bonus you might think? Not if you don’t deal with it properly!

The decision maker’s first objection was ‘We’re under contract at the moment’. The salesperson replied ‘and when does that contract finish?’ (Which is a really stupid question by the way). The decision maker then said ‘Oh, not for another 5 years!!’

Now even though the salesperson knows that 5 year contracts don’t even exist in his industry, he still accepted it without challenging! Isn’t that crazy?

When a buyer or decision maker says the phrase ‘I’m under contract at the moment’, what they might well mean is simply ‘Go away!’ Or perhaps ‘I don’t want to be pitched by you right now’. Or even as a challenge, as in ‘Let’s see how he handles this one!’

Again if you fall for this, you’ve only got yourself to blame.

Buyer Phrase Number 4 – ‘I’ve Had A Better Price’

What a great negotiation tactic this is! Yet many salespeople don’t realise it and fall for it almost every time – particularly if they’re struggling for sales figures or income.

Often, when the buyer or decision maker says ‘I’ve had a better price’ what they may well mean is ‘Let’s see how much you can reduce your price by’ or even ‘Let’s get a cheaper quote from you, so I can go to my existing supplier and get their price down as well!’

Buyers and decision makers know this works because the salesperson’s first thought is ‘I need to drop my price to get the deal’ rather than ‘I need to find out more about this’.

The conversation then turns to how much the buyer or decision maker wants the price reduced by – also known as ‘haggling’ – and in some cases the price ends up somewhere between 50-70% of what the salesperson originally stated.

The salesperson then justifies to themselves that what just occurred what necessary to ‘win the order’, whereas the buyer or decision maker thinks ‘Fantastic! Just got 30-50% off something I would have paid full price for!’

Not the outcome you really want as a salesperson, is it?

Want ideas on getting Buyers and Decision Makers to tell you the truth more often, and stop lying to you?  (like they do to most salespeople).

Call Andy on +44 (0) 161 401 0142 or Contact Andy here.

This article is copyright Andy Preston 2010-2019. To copy or syndicate this or any part of this article contact Andy Preston for guidelines.

In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston discusses 5 ideas that will help qualify your sales meetings with prospects better…..

Okay, so I’m a big fan of qualification. Qualification of the prospect. Qualification of the opportunity. Qualification of the individual. And most certainly, qualification of the meeting.

This is something that most salespeople miss (or are scared to do), that often comes back to haunt them later on in the sales process!

The task of qualification is made a little more difficult is someone else is making the calls for you, particularly if it’s not someone in your organisation, i.e. you’ve given the task to a telemarketing agency or similar. You now have two choices. You can either get the person making the initial call to do some qualification for you (if it’s an internal person) or make a call once the appointment has been booked to do some additional qualification yourself.

A good rule of thumb to use here is that the more time and energy you’re investing in an appointment (in terms of research, driving time, appointment time and paperwork), the harder you should qualify. Most salespeople should certainly thing twice about attending an appointment made for them “blind” – without much knowledge of the company, their potential needs or what they’re after.

If you haven’t made the appointment yourself, then it’s always a good idea to make a call to do some additional qualification. First of all, this will give you a good idea of the quality of the appointment, but it will also allow you to build up valuable rapport with the prospect and start to understand more about their potential needs – making the face-to-face meeting much easier.

Now I know some of you will be saying “But Andy, doesn’t that make it easier for them to cancel the meeting?” Yes, at some level it does. But let’s be realistic about it, an appointment that cancels when you ring them to do some additional qualification was very likely going to cancel anyway, or turn into a “no show” or an “I forgot you were coming”.

Also if it’s done in the right way, very few (if any) meetings cancel, and the ones that are attended are more serious!

So let’s take a look at the sort of things that we should consider qualifying or finding out before the meeting……

Qualification Question 1 – Is The Meeting With The Decision Maker/s?

I know this sounds obvious, but you’d be amazed how many appointments are booked with people who aren’t the decision maker for what you offer! There are many reasons for this, ranging from people being scared to ask the question, just assuming the person the person they’re talking to is the decision maker and even the old favourite “I need as many appointments as possible to hit my activity target, so any appointment will do!”

Qualification Question 2 – Is There A Budget For The Product Or Service I’m Offering?

Now I know this is not needed for most salespeople, but for some of my clients it’s essential! The larger the purchase and the longer the sales cycle would mean that there has to be some sort of budget set aside, or “financial sponsor” in place, otherwise the project has little chance of moving ahead.

Qualification Question 3 – What Are Their Expectations Of The Meeting?

Are they expecting you to come and do a presentation? Or come and look at their challenges and suggest potential solutions? Or are they interested in what you have to offer? Depending on what their expectations are, the meeting will need to be prepared for and conducted in a different way.

Qualification Question 4 – What Solutions Have They Already Looked At?

How have they tried to solve the problem already? Have they looked at any of your competitors? What are the other solutions they could do? (including doing nothing).

Qualification Question 5 – Have You Confirmed All The Appointment Details?

This is the last step and one of the most important! I’ve lost count of the amount of salespeople who’ve told me that they’ve arrived at the wrong premises, for an appointment with someone who works at another office! Make sure you confirm time, date, location, who will be attending, any equipment or facilities needed etc.

Obviously the suggestions on the list above are purely ideas of qualifying questions you could ask. Depending on your market, your role and your industry you will have various things that you may need to qualify before it’s worth going to an appointment – including distance, potential spend, potential of future business etc.

The exact questions asked are entirely up to you. Just make sure you ask them and start to qualify your appointments properly!

Follow the tips above and watch your sales soar! I look forward to hearing how you get on……..

This article is copyright Andy Preston 2004-2017. To copy or syndicate this or any part of this article contact Andy Preston for guidelines.

In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains why clients beat you down on price…… and what you need to do about it to get your profits back where they belong!….

As an ex-professional buyer, ‘negotiation‘ is always an interesting topic for me! Whenever I’m working with salespeople or business owners, they often fail to get the price for their products or services that they wanted – and often get even less than they deserve for their offering!

This has become even more true in the current market conditions – where savvy buyers and decision makers are looking to get the best value when they’re purchasing. Therefore to get good results, the salesperson or business owner has to be able to ‘stand their ground’ in a negotiation in order to get the price they deserve. Sadly, this often isn’t the case?

So why is it that the buyer or decision maker often has the ‘upper hand’ when it comes to negotiation?….

Andy’s Reason Number 1 – They’re Better Prepared To Negotiate

One simple reason why the buyer or decision maker often does better than the salesperson in a negotiation, is that they’re better prepared to negotiate than the salesperson is! Often a salesperson gets caught up in a negotiation when they aren’t ready for it – and this is a recipe for the salesperson losing the majority of the profit from a deal!

Most salespeople get negotiated with before they’re ready! So if you think that a meeting or phone call could result in a negotiation, make sure you prepare for it beforehand! If if a negotiation starts before you’re ready, don’t be afraid to postpone it and re-schedule it for another time when you’ve had chance to prepare!

Andy’s Reason Number 2 – You’re Too Desperate!

Another main reason that salespeople struggle to get better results from their negotiation is that on most occasions, they’re so ‘desperate’ to win the deal that this comes across to clients, and the clients use that as ‘leverage’ to swing the negotiation in their favour!

Prospects and clients can ‘smell’ desperation. It isn’t big. It isn’t clever. And it certainly isn’t attractive! One a client knows the salesperson is more ‘desperate’ to do the deal than they are, that’s just given them the ‘green light’ to get the best deal they can – at the expense of the salesperson!

It’s about time as salespeople that we got some pride back. And realised that prospects and clients often want to do the deal as much (or sometimes even more) than we do – but often we don’t know it….

Andy’s Reason Number 3 – You Fail To Spot Their ‘Tricks’

Any buyer or decision maker worth their salt will attempt to play ‘tricks’ during a negotiation. If you can spot these and deal with them, then you’re usually fine. However, most salespeople aren’t even aware what the other party is doing, think that their ‘tricks’ are real, and end up falling for them!

I remember back to my days as a professional buyer, on my first ‘buying’ course. By the afternoon we’d been given a list of 5 tricks to play on salespeople to negotiate better deals, and squeeze their profit margins to a minimum. By lunchtime on day 2 it was 10. By the end of day 3 it was 20!! Can you see why some salespeople struggle to get the best deal when they’re negotiating!

If you can learn how the buyers and decision makers are ‘tricking’ you into losing profit, then learn how to deal with them, then you’re fine. Fail to identify them however, and you could continue to struggle……

Andy’s Reason Number 4 – You Don’t Know Enough About The Other Party

Another reason salespeople often come off worst in a negotiation is that they fail to find out enough about the other party before the negotiation starts! The buyer or decision maker might well have strong reasons for wanting the product or service the salesperson is offering, and strong reasons to purchase now!! But often the salesperson doesn’t find that out, and ends up ‘worse off’ in the negotiation.

Very often there are pressing issues, or demands on the buyer or decision maker’s time – which would force them to do a ‘quick deal’ – but often the salesperson fails to find that out! Therefore they end up the ‘keener’ party to do the deal – and often miss out on vital profit that could have been gained, had they bothered to find out more in the first place!

Andy’s Reason Number 5 – They Have More ‘Skills’ Than You

Think for a moment….. When was the last time you went (or sent a member of your team) on a professional negotiation skills course, lasting from between 1 and 3 days in total? A course that taught you all the ‘tricks’ a buyer or decision maker could play on you, how to spot them, and what to do about them? My guess is that it’s been a while….possibly never!

Think about the other side….. If they’re a professional buyer, you can GUARANTEE that they will have been on such a course. If they’re a decision maker in a business, they’re also likely to have been on a similar course! At the very least, they’re far more experienced at negotiation than you!

If you’d like to ‘right the balance’ and get an advantage over the other side in a negotiation, call Andy Preston now on 0161 401 0142 or contact us here – and we’ll happily help you and your team get back on top!

This article is copyright Andy Preston 2004-2019. To copy or syndicate this or any part of this article contact Andy Preston for guidelines.

In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains why most people struggle with ‘selling by email’ – they don’t understand it, they don’t know when to use it (and when not to) and they don’t know how to use it for best results.

After reading this article you’ll be able to utilise email to add value to your sales efforts – instead of hampering them – and get your sales figures back where they belong!……..

When I working with sales teams all over the world, Sales Managers and Directors often tell me that they believe all salespeople are inherently lazy. I’m not sure I agree with that hugely sweeping statement, but I do think salespeople often look for the quickest way to do something!

I think this is partly down to the fact that a lot of salespeople only start earning real money when their commission kicks in, so any task that isn’t directly related to bringing in new customers, orders or money, they tend to try and find the quickest way to do! Hence why the managers think they’re lazy.

As salespeople though, this ‘quickest route’ habit can often cause us problems! Particularly as technology has advanced and email is a popular communication method for many. However, this often results in salespeople resorting to email communication – at the expense of their own sales figures! Have a look at the examples of common email sales mistakes below, and see if any ring true for you……

Email Sales Mistake Number 1 – Using It To ‘Follow Up‘

Let’s look at this from a ‘new business’ perspective. You’ve spoken with (or met with) a client previously, you’ve started to develop rapport, but they’ve probably got an existing supplier, or existing way of doing things. So you didn’t pick up their business from your initial call or appointment.

Your boss has probably been putting pressure on you about your sales figures or your sales pipeline. So you decide you need to ‘follow up’ with a few people, this particular prospect included. So what do you do next? Pick up the phone and call them, establish their current situation and needs and potentially see how you may be able to add value to what they’re trying to achieve over the next few months? Close for another appointment, attempt to dislodge the existing supplier (or existing process) and pick up their business? Or send an email?

If you’re in the ’email’ category, stop it! Right now!

Email Sales Mistake Number 2 – Just ‘Adding‘ People To A Mailing List

Another great idea from the marketing department. Sending an email newsletter or similar to keep people ‘informed’ of your products and services. The funny thing is, how many newsletters do you get that you don’t read, or you don’t read in full? I bet it’s quite a few. If you don’t know the sender well, you probably don’t read it at all. Sometimes even when you know the sender well you still don’t read it!

Don’t sit back and think that just because someone is on your generic email list that that’s helping you ‘sell’ to that person. In most cases it isn’t. The responsibility to move that person through your sales pipeline is still yours!

Email Sales Mistake Number 3 – Sending Mainly ‘Flyers’ By Email

Please tell me you don’t do this? Even worse if the email is titled ‘offer of the month’ or similar! If the person hasn’t used you before, you’re relying on ‘luck’ for the person to buy from you. And the more competitive your marketplace and the higher the price of what you sell, the less likely people are to buy!

Plus as mentioned in my last point above, it’s hardly ‘personal’ communication to that prospect, is it? Is this really the professional sales job you were employed to do? If this is the best you can do in terms of ‘sales persuasion’, you’re in trouble!

Email Sales Mistake Number 4 – Responding To New Sales Enquiries Via Email

Let’s think about this one. You or your company has expended time, money and effort in producing the incoming sales lead. Whether it’s come from a previous phone call by you or a colleague, networking, advertising or over the internet, you’ve managed to get a precious incoming sales lead.

The next question is, what are you going to do about it? Pick up the phone and find an excuse to start a dialogue to understand their needs in more detail, positition a ‘next step’ in the sales process and look for some committment from that person. Or just send a quick email giving some information and leaving them to ‘wander’ on their own, with no idea how motivated they are to purchase, their timescales, or what other options they’re considering?

Looks like you’ve missed your chance again, doesn’t it? In most cases if they come back to you, it’s because when they enquired with your competition, they did a worse job than you did (hard to believe I know, but it could be true). Is this really the best way of dealing with that precious incoming sales lead do you think?!!

Email Sales Mistake Number 5 – Sending Proposals Or Quotes By Email

Now it’s time for my personal favourite! Sending proposals or quotes by email. You’re in field sales and you’ve had the meeting with a potential client ……the prospect then asks you to ‘send a proposal’……and you put it in an email. Really?!! Now you’re in trouble.

Why on earth didn’t you position your offering when you were face to face with the client? When you could read their body language and reactions to your offering (and your price) best….when you could judge whether you had got the proposal right or not?……when you had the best chance of getting them to say ‘yes’?

Even if you needed time to put the details together, why on earth didn’t you organise a second meeting to discuss it in more detail? Crazy! You’re giving other salespeople a better chance to win that business over you – why on earth would you want to do that?!!

Note – if you’re in internal sales or do most of your selling over the phone, it may not be practical to go out and see the prospect face-to-face, and if you can’t get them to come and see you, you’re almost ‘forced’ to send the proposal via email – however, you know when you do this it’s less persuasive.  As an ABSOLUTE MINIMUM you should have covered my ‘7 Things To Do BEFORE You Send A Proposal’ – otherwise I’m still going to be hard on you!!  Anyway, back to my ‘field sales’ example….

So Why Do Field Salespeople Send Quotes Or Proposals Via Email?

Normally field salespeople send quotes or proposals by email for a few reasons. The first reason is fear of rejection. It ‘hurts’ less to send it by email as at worst, they just send an email back saying ‘no thanks’ – much easier to deal with than them saying it to your face, isn’t it?

Or if they don’t reply to you (or send an email back saying they’re thinking about it) they haven’t really rejected you at all, have they? Can you see how that kind of thinking is holding you back from making more sales?!!

The second reason is laziness. You probably would say it’s because you’re busy, but it’s laziness. This is one of the most important parts of the sales process, and you’ve decided to email it because it’s ‘easier’! From an objective perspective, how stupid is that?!!

The third reason is because is ‘normally’ do it that way! Does that mean it’s the best way? Or even any good at all?!! Let’s think about this – it could be the most important part of the sales process, and you’re just sending it off into the ‘ether’ and hoping they’ll give you a positive response. Again – the more competitive the marketplace, the higher the price of your product/service and the longer the time elapsed from your initial conversation/meeting the less likely you are to get the business!

You can also ask any questions about this article or sales in general, by contacting Andy here

Follow the tips above and watch your sales soar! I look forward to hearing how you get on……..

This article is copyright Andy Preston 2004-2017. To copy or syndicate this or any part of this article contact Andy Preston for guidelines.

In this article, leading Sales Expert Andy Preston explains the pitfalls associated with trying to ‘motivate’ employees, and the potential successes you can achieve ….. if you get it right!

The “How can I best incentivise my staff so I get better performance from them?” question is an interesting one. Because of the wide range of businesses that I work with, the staff concerned could range from serious under-performers, through to average performers, right up to top-performers – who the managers are very happy with in terms of achieving targets, but just want more from them!

There are a number of benefits of introducing or using incentives but they have to be considered carefully, as introducing the wrong thing at the wrong time could actually have the opposite effect, demotivate the team and actually reduce performance against targets set. If you’re in the situation where you’re wondering about introducing incentives the following may help….

Andy’s Question No 1 – What behaviour are you trying to encourage?

Do you want increased activity? Increased financial figures? Improvement in morale? The team to work better as a “unit”?

Depending on what you are looking for, you need to design any kind of incentive system around it.  In order words, you need to think about your desired behaviour FIRST, then think about the incentive.

Andy’s Question No 2 – Do you have the team’s “buy-in”?

Will all the team be motivated to achieve what you want, based on the incentives you’ve offered? Do they actually want to win it? For example, in a typical sales team the “standard” is to award high performance over a year in terms of sales achieved.

If however, the prize can only be won by one person (usual examples are a car for a period of time, or a holiday etc) then if 6 months into the year if one person is way ahead of the rest, then it may result in the rest of the team “giving up” on the incentive and actually demotivating them and reducing their activity and performance levels. The same is true if (when the incentive is announced) certain team members don’t believe they can win it, or that it is already biased in favour of a particular salesperson.

Andy’s Question No 3 – How are you planning to track, monitor and enforce it?

Most incentives are introduced without much thought (beyond the basics) of how to monitor and enforce it. However we know salespeople are creative people and if they can find a way around it or a loophole, believe me thay’ll find it!

Every eventually has to be thought about before introducing the incentive and how it will be tracked, monitored and enforced at every step of the way. Most important of all, the incentive must be simple and the process easy to understand so as to avoid confusion.

Andy’s Question No 4 – How long is the incentive period for?

As a general rule of thumb, the longer the incentive period is, the less impact it has. For any incentive period longer than a month, be prepared for having to work hard to keep the team focused and motivated towards it. Salespeople generally tend to be attracted to the “latest thing” and keeping their attention on a long, drawn-out incentive period can be challenging.

Andy’s Question No 5 – What size of incentive are you offering?

Again, a general rule of thumb is the longer the period, the bigger the offering, and the bigger the increase in performance, the bigger the offering! However, don’t think you have to have a huge incentive to get people motivated, quite the reverse can sometimes be the case! As we move more and more to a younger and more flexible workforce, the more the “old school” motivater of “money” has less and less impact.

Some of my clients have been seeing big increases in performance from incentives like leaving the office early, a small prize for top appointment maker of the week (with the prize having been on the desk from the Monday – always good as a “reminder”), team incentives like foreign days away (great value from using some of the cheap flight deals). Now these might seem like small things compared to the traditional incentive schemes, but as people and their motivation habits change, we have to change with them, or risk being left behind by those who do.

Follow the tips above and watch your sales soar! I look forward to hearing how you get on……..

If you’re a sales manager that would like help with any of the above, or to know more about what we can offer to help you and your team tackle the above problems, call me directly on +44 (0)161 401 0142, or contact us here and we’ll happily talk through some ideas that will help…

This article is copyright Andy Preston 2004-2017. To copy or syndicate this or any part of this article contact Andy Preston for guidelines.