A good sales manager and Sales Trainer must teach each and every salesperson of the sales force for their company the importance of relationship building. Consider if you will the very competitive marketplace where your company and the competition compete head to head. Your competition offers specials, bundling of services and products and even special terms for payment.

Often it is hard to keep track of what your competition is doing and therefore your salespeople may lose sales because the competition is willing to do something at the last minute in order to make the sale that your salesperson has no idea of. Instead your salesperson gets an excuse or another round of objections, which have no bearing on reality of the prospects interests, desires or problems with the sale.

If the salespeople have developed a proper relationship with the buyer or purchaser or with the potential customer then this prospect is more apt to tell them what is really going on and give them a chance to match the competitors bid, special offer or special terms.

Even with super intelligence in the marketplace of what your competitors are doing it still behooves each salesperson to be on a strong relationship basis with every prospect they are offering or attempting to sell your products and services to.

Sure, the responsibility is with the salesperson however, in the real world it is the sales managers duty and responsibility to the company to know what is going on and the psychology behind what the salesperson is doing. Please consider this in 2006.

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Most companies have the classic problem of spending money on the marketing side of the fence in order to generate leads only to see that those leads are not followed up effectively by the sales team. This classic leakage of leads to unnecessary expense and definitely inhibits a company’s ability to accelerate its sales.

If your company is experiencing this problem there is a solution, it’s quite easy for you to reengineer your marketing and sales process and connect the dots so that you don’t have any discontinuity between the functions that are generating leads and those who are supposed to follow up on them.

Here are a couple of quick ideas on how you can stop the leakage of sales leads in your pipeline. First, if your sales people are complaining that your leads are of poor quality, find another way to qualify those leads and nurture those leads before you hand them off to the sales team. Most companies use inside lead qualifications specialists who are telesales or telemarketing professionals to do this function. Best in class companies realize that the sales leads often times need to be further qualified and nurtured before they’re handed off to field sales teams…otherwise sales people won’t work on them because they don’t believe that they’re of good enough quality. The telemarketing or inside lead qualification function is a very important one to be able to make sure that you patch the hole and stop the leakage of sales leads between marketing and sales.

Another thing you can do is you can add sales lead follow up as key criteria in your performance management system and metrics for measuring and rewarding your sales people. With today’s CRM systems, it’s easy to be able to track whether or not your sales people are actually following up on leads that are passed to them by marketing; with a quick click of a button you can easily see whether those leads are actually being touched and what the lead disposition is. Hold salespeople accountable for making sure that they’re constantly following up on those leads. If you bring lead follow up into the mix of key measurement criteria and you tie their incentives to the performance of that function, you’ll find out how quickly they actually change their attitude and start following up on every sales lead that’s passed to them. These are just a couple of ideas about how to stop sales lead leakage in your organization.

About Cube Management
Cube Management provides sales acceleration services to emerging growth and mid-market companies in the technology, manufacturing, healthcare and business service sectors. The experts at Cube Management work across the entire spectrum of marketing, sales and business development to provide customized solutions that drive revenue and profit growth. Cube Management combines Strategy, Process & People to produce winning results.

Automotive Sales Training, while not necessarily a glamorous topic, is a subject that needs some attention. Dealers, as they continue to battle the manufacturers with the higher and higher CSI demands, the need for continued and professional automotive sales training will only grow.

Think about it for a second as we walk through a typical scenario. A guy/gal just finishes college, or they have heard from a friend how lucrative the automotive sales business really is…so they wander on down to their nearest dealership. (I am obviously over simplifying here).

Once the dealership and this guy/gal decide that there is a good fit; the automotive sales training begins. The problem, however, is that we have found that the majority of fast paced dealerships simply don’t have the necessary time to sit down and ensure that their new staff members are properly trained.

Sure, many of them are trained on the “steps-to-the- sale,” but in today’s day and age, automotive sales training needs to go much more beyond the basics. Here are a few areas that automotive sales training programs can no longer go without:

1. Sexual Harassment Training 2. Human Resources Training 3. Contract Training

An effective and efficient Automotive Sales Training program that goes without proper “Sexual Harassment” training is setting the dealership up for a future lawsuit. Ok, having someone come indo a 1 hour compliance seminar, then having the entire staff sign a document stating that they understand the elements of sexual harassment is not going to cut it. Not in the least. We are hearing of dealerships that still maintain 100% of the liability, as a sharp attorney is easily able to pierce that “piece of paper,” arguing that it is merely a piece of paper and not a true intention of the dealership to act in good faith to prevent these actions.

Speaking of effective automotive sales training programs. If you do not take the next step and have “Human Resources” training, the dealership is once again looking for trouble: trouble that you just don’t need and can easily eliminate. Look at it this way, by simply engaging in a simple once-per-month course for all 1st year employees to sit with the Human Resources manager and go over the policies and procedures of the dealership, you will be miles ahead of any future lawsuits.

Last, but certainly not least, is “Contract” training as it relates to your automotive sales training program. What do I mean by “Contract” training? Well, as we all know, most of the individuals working in the automotive sales industry do not have a finance degree. They do not understand the related contract laws that apply in their state. However, these are the same individuals that we rely on to ensure that applications, customer statements and final paperwork are documented properly. Granted, the finance managers in most states are required to have some form of “insurance license,” but this does not mean that they get the proper training around contract law and the nuances associated with the contract. We are seeing day in and day out, simple mistakes being made by staff at the dealership nullifying the legality of contracts every day. This can easily be avoided with a proactive management team.

My message here is simple: automotive sales training does not end with the “steps-to-the-sale,” but actually should just be the beginning of the new salespersons training program. Dealers need to protect themselves in every aspect, and this is not something that they can decide to do later.

Visit www.mindsetforsales.com to learn how you can acquire the skills to stay ahead in this game!

We all have people whom we find difficult. We don’t
understand them, connect with them, or even talk
comfortably with them. But, when we own a one person
business, seeing someone as difficult gets in the way of our
selling effectively and their buying wisely.

It is easy to blame the other person. They’re the difficult
ones. But, the truth is, if you find someone difficult, for sure
they will find you just as difficult. And, if you’re difficult they
won’t want to work with you. They’ll take their business
elsewhere.

It’s just human nature to dig in our heals when we’re
irritated. We want them to change. We want them to be like
the folks we find easy to deal with. And they feel the same
way. They dig in their heals too. They want us to change.
Then when we don’t change they leave. They won’t buy, even
if we have the perfect solution to their needs.

Selling to difficult people works best when we step back and
let them set the stage for our sales call. Follow their pace.
Give them information in the way they best understand
Speak to their needs. When we start where they are it is
more likely we will lead them to the sale.

Sally told her prospects so much, so fast, everyone was
overwhelmed. She was stuck on fast forward. She truly
believed the faster the sales presentation, the more sales a
day she could make. Yet when she finally slowed down, she
made fewer presentations but many more sales.

Sally’s mistake was meeting her own comfort and needs,
not her customers’ comfort and wants. If she had focused
on her customers’ comfort and wants, she would more
easily close the sale.

The easiest customers to be with are people like us. Selling
to someone not like us is harder. We have to choose how to
approach them.

Most fast paced, high energy sales people prefer fast paced
prospects. If this prospect is task oriented, they quickly cut to
the bottom line. No small talk here. Give the facts first and
fast. You have what they want, they buy. You don’t have it,
they leave, often with a disparaging remark as the door
closes behind them.

If your high energy prospect is people oriented you may
think a new best friend just walked in. They chat, ask about
your family, your life, your business, but not what they are
looking for. Be friendly, but take charge of the conversation.
Turn the questions to what they want, how you can help
them, how they will use your products. Be assumptive with
your close. Tell them about your return policy to give them a
way out. (They won’t take it but are reassured that it is there!)

Slow paced prospects challenge fast paced entrepreneurs.
Slow down! Slow both your body and your words. Be
prepared with details and specifications. Focus on the
product, not small talk. Don’t take the penetrating,
demanding questions personally. They really do want to
know the subtleties and nuances. Don’t let their silences
unnerve you. It takes them time to think through buying
decisions. They need to be thorough to be right.

By taking the time to analyze just which customers and
prospective clients give you trouble, which you find difficult,
you will be prepared for them the next time you want to sell
to them. Preparation pays off. Think about who you have
difficulty selling. Then spend some time developing a script
to use with them. Practice words that start where they are,
and lead them to a closed sale.

Then, when you recognize one of your difficult prospects,
take a deep breath, reassure yourself you know what to do,
and put into action your preparation and practice.

(c) 2004, Pat Wiklund. All rights in all media reserved.

About The Author

Pat Wiklund is known as the One-Person Business
turnaround specialist. She works with professional services
business ownership they can make more money and get
more personal satisfaction from their work. Start taking
charge of your business and your life with her TakingCharge
mini ecourse from her latest book, Taking Charge When
You’re Not in Control by sending a blank email to tcnic@1personbusiness.com

What if you could earn lots more, in considerably less time, and feel mightily successful when your competitors are so scared they’re spazzing out (haven’t used that phrase since high school) chasing their tails in circles, whimpering, “If buyers aren’t buying we aren’t going to have a business.”

Top Dogs Want Your Calls. Believe It!

Wouldn’t your ears perk up and your tail wag with anticipation at the thought of spending your selling time in front of nothing but qualified prospects, with unlimited check writing privileges, and the ability to say, “Yes” to your solutions and services?

Could you sit up and shake hands with prospects that remove obstacles for your implementation, significantly reduce frustrations, and sign off on multi-million dollar contracts with you. Yes, even in a slow economy!
These things can and do happen with Top Dog Selling Strategists. These top-dollar sales professionals thrive, regardless of economic conditions. They understand that a down economy gives them the Lead Dog’s edge, a hunger for bigger contracts, better contracts, and faster contracts. With laser-like focus, they mercilessly scrutinize, prioritize and chew to shreds their least profitable sales practices and identify ways to leverage their time for more dollars.

What do they do to keep business strong? Make the change to Top Dog selling. They faithfully call on the presidents’ offices of their existing clients and of prospect companies. Understanding there is no other single business decision like this change in selling strategy that will increase sales revenues geometrically.

A recent publication reported that firms are hiring additional sales staff to generate revenues. Most likely those companies justify their investment in salaries for more sales people by thinking these positions pay for themselves in terms of revenues generated. That’s one approach.

How ’bout trying this, support your existing sales force with increasingly productive sales strategies. Leverage their profitability by transitioning to a top-down sales strategy. Make sure that a call below the office of the president no longer counts as a sales-call. Reward them as they schedule appointments with Top Dogs.

Sadly, sales professionals continue to use the bottom-up sales methods they were taught in the beginning of their careers, even though these habits bring in less than top dollar results. They steadfastly hold onto the familiar, in spite of reason. At this point, the commitment to a less profitable strategy is for some a desperate retreat to the safe and comfortable. For others, pure ignorance.

If you are currently doing business with levels below the office of the president of your client companies, make a profitable change. Get in front of the president.

Top Dog Is Better Than “C” Level

Many an inexperienced pup will protest this idea and insist on being more inclusive … saying with their nose up in the air, “My prospects are the people in charge of hiring, the CIO or some other ‘C’ level person.”
Listen up pups, Big Sales Dogs don’t even bother to sniff at that kind of reasoning. Here’s why. When you call Top Dogs first, you have everything to gain, nothing to lose.

First of all, you may get in to see the Top Dog and where else would you rather be than in front of the-buck-stops-here person with more decision-making authority (ability to say “Yes” to you) than any other person in the company?

Secondly, if a call to the president results in a referral to a “C-level” person, such as the CIO, your positioning is stronger than it would have been without that call. What started out as a cold call has quickly turned to a warm introduction from the President of the CIO’s very own company. As you call the CIO you can honestly say, “Your president’s office said you were the one to handle this call.”. A far more powerful opening line than, “Hello, my name is J. Doe with ABC Company.” Don’t you agree?

Change Your Prospecting “Hit” Ratio

Business to business numbers since the early 1950’s have been 2 out of 10-meaning a sales pro who calls 10 prospects will get 2 appointments. It’s a numbers game. When you add Top Dog selling strategies to the mix you see a staggering change. Top Dog Selling Strategists get as many as 8 out of 10, that’s 8 appointments out of calls to 10 Top Dogs. That’s a skills game.

These skilled sales pros consistently prospect Top Dogs, presidents of companies; they learn how to control and direct the 90-seconds of telephone time they have with the Top Dog or his assistant. And they use benefit statements, open-ended, close-ended, and alternative of choice questions to their strategic advantage.

“‘What?’ A handful of you say as you recoil in horror. You want me to go over the heads of the people I’m working with now to meet with the president?” I understand the Naysayers are fearful of offending the lower-level people with whom they are currently doing business by going over their heads.

No one is suggesting for you to sabotage your current low-level relationship. However, I am telling you straight up that the path to a level of selling that you never dared dream of is available to those who leave the comfort of the familiar for the potential of Top Dog selling.
Top Dog sales professionals learn to rule fear so it doesn’t have a chance to rule them to a less productive end. Fear serves you well when it tells you that more information is needed before moving forward. And most sales pros, when given the words to say, will calm their fears enough to go over the heads of their existing low-level relationships and meet with Top Dogs, on their turf, where the big bucks are.

Just tell your lower-level contacts that your new business directive calls for meeting with Top Dogs. And that you’ll tell their president how pleasurable and profitable your working relationship has been.

From The Top Dog’s Viewpoint

- What’s specifically and strategically not said is as important as what is said. Take note, there is nothing in this scenario that asks permission from the lower-level person to speak to the Top Dog.

- Your job is to control the conversation. Politely, but firmly, convey the decision of your new selling strategy.

- Tell the president about your successful relationship with the lower-levels.

- Your praise of a former contact identifies you as a partnership player as opposed to an outsider who will climb over anyone to get to the top.

- The Top Dog will understand the business implications of your words, that is, your services have already proven to be profitable to his/her company.

- Less time is required for implementation of your services, as the people are familiar with your systems.

- Past success on a small scale suggests your services are a risk worth taking for success on a larger scale.

Look at your time and talents through the experienced eyes of the Big Sales Dogs who have gone before you. Apply their wisdom to your business, move to the head of the pack and enjoy frolicking with the Top Dogs as your sales go through the woof!

Forward this article to friendsthey’ll thank you for it!

For your FREE mini-course “Jealously Guarded Secrets to Cold Calling Company Presidents” visit http://www.ColdCallingExecutives.com! Or call Your Sales Coach for Extreme Profitability, author/speaker Leslie Buterin (like butterin’ bread) at (816) 554-3674 9-3 CST (that’s Kansas City/Chicago Time).

If you use fly paper, you know it is difficult for flies to leave once they land. It is important to recognize that it isn’t one point of contact that sticks them. The flies will start with one point, then another and another until they can’t leave. As salespeople we need to adopt this stickiness mentality. When dealing with prospects we often begin with one contact point. The objective is to have several contact points instead of just one. One of the biggest mistakes salespeople make is to go for the close after they uncover an opportunity. Fly paper doesn’t do this. In fact fly paper doesn’t move at all. It just sits there and waits for more connection points with the fly. A salesperson should do the same thing. We need to listen better and question more, uncovering and making contact with more pain points to achieve the strongest opportunity with customers. This sales strategy will create the holding power we want with customers. Making them stick with you like fly paper.

Get Stickier with More Services
We can apply the fly paper sales strategy when we have more than one service to offer. Frankly, who doesn’t offer more than one service or one product? The problem is that many of our customers don’t know about our multiple services unless we make them aware of them. Remember, use the fly paper strategy, listen and ask questions. The goal is to draw in the customer as they reveal problems. We can share our solution when the time is ripe and our multiple solutions will do the rest. Once our customer is connected with more than one service it becomes very difficult for them to leave. This remains true even if a competitor tries to free them from our web of solutions and problem solving points of contact.

Attracting More Customers
When we are trying to attract a customer we can also adopt this sales strategy with our competition. Even if a competitor has a strong hold of an attractive client this can work. What we need is more contact points with the customer and we can pull them away with our multiple solutions. I suggest this because in many cases the competition isn’t adopting a fly paper strategy and clings to a single solution with their customer. This makes is easier for you to come around and provide a multiple solution so they stick with you.

Solve More Customer Problems
The secret to this fly paper sales strategy is to always seek multiple ways of solving customer’s problems and become a one-stop, single source for them. If we adopt this sales strategy, we must always ask questions and never stop asking questions at just one single problem we can solve. There is a difference between talking too much, and asking too many questions. It is difficult to ask too many questions as long as the questions are uncovering problems. Remember, our goal is to make customers stick like fly paper with multiple contacts.

Steve Martinez is revolutionizing traditional sales systems virtually doubling or tripling sales activities and increasing sales using his automated sales process management system. He is the founder of Selling Magic. http://www.sellingmagic.com

Credit Repair Leads

If you are in the credit repair business, you may have at one time or another expressed interest in purchasing credit repair leads.

Credit repair leads can be provided in many different ways. Such as referrals, a toll-free number allowing for people to contact you that may need your assistance, and a web site for people to visit to familiarize themselves with your company and educate themselves about credit repair and the services you can provide them with.

Along these lines of leads, you may have considered purchasing credit repair leads from an internet company.

This isn’t such a bad idea if you are looking for an alternative lead source for credit repair.

The benefits . . .

The benefit of purchasing credit repair leads from an internet company is that the person that needs the credit repair came to a site and found an on line form to fill out specifically to acquire credit repair from a credit repair company.

The customer already understands that they will be contacted from somebody in the credit repair industry and they are waiting for a phone call.

The prospects on these credit repair leads are not playing with the idea of credit repair or just looking for information, they really need and want it. They have committed themselves to going somewhere and to someone for help.

For this reason alone it is a good idea to consider buying credit repair leads. Or at the very least, look into it. Call a few credit repair companies and find out where the leads are obtained from and what is involved with the purchase and delivery process. Purchasing credit repair leads just may be worth your time and money, so give it a shot.

Auto sales training is definitely a constant need in any successful auto dealership, and one that you will find many dealerships not implementing properly because of lack of time. In today’s day and age, having a sharp and well trained staff is no longer a luxury; it’s an absolute necessity.

Car dealerships today are faced with the fact that the traditional auto sales training programs are “not cutting it.” These courses that they have been putting their staff through are not keeping pace with the technological advancements that are coming to the market on a daily basis. Think about it like this: One “X” brand dealership has a well trained staff; one that has a well organized auto sales training program which every single staff member completes. They train their staff the “steps-to-the-sale” and how to properly deal with prospects, customers and some advanced skills in relationship building.

Conversely, a competitor on the other side of the city realizes that they need to stay up with the advancements in technology that seem to take place daily. They have integrated their auto sales training program with a few external trainers, so now this staff is being trained in some amazing new ways. They all individually have their own web sites…a blog…and a PDA.

They are taught how to develop a relationship with their prospects and customers in a way that the dealership ultimately benefits from 10 fold. The sales staff, through the auto sales training program, is now able to engage and utilize technology; while the dealership management has leveraged the relationships of these staff members to ultimately grow the bottom line dramatically.

Which of these two dealerships would you want to be?

I think that the choice is clear, as well as imperative. You see, it is just impossible to be great, or even good, at multiple things…as there is just not enough time in a day. Dealers and the management teams are busy buying cars, selling cars and training their staff on how to buy and sell cars. Technology is flying by us at an incredible pace…and it is proven to be true; that the dealers that have totally engaged technology are the ones that have been able to leverage their time and resources in ways only once imagined.

One really quick example I would like to give regarding leverage is this: the Credit Union sale. Dealers go to Credit Unions all the time to “joint venture” a sale to the clients of the respective Credit Union. Why do they do this? The answer is quite simple. Credit Unions have fantastic relationships with their members, and by leveraging this relationship, dealers are now able to communicate and do business with an entirely new group of individuals that they may not have previously had access to. This is the power of leverage.

Now apply this to a well trained sales staff; a staff that has engaged technology to the fullest and is using this technology to develop their relationships with their prospects and customers.

Now, think about this, while your sales staff is developing better relationships with their prospects and customers…blogs, websites, pod casts, email marketing…the dealership is the ultimate benefactor. Conversely, if the dealership itself is the one that is attempting to do the direct marketing to these potential customers, it is merely seen as MARKETING.

I hope you all see the benefit of not only empowering your sales staff with a more efficient auto sales training program, but that you see how it is ultimately in the best interests of the dealership.

Visit http://www.mindsetforsales.com to learn how you can acquire the technology to stay ahead in this game!

Customers don’t buy features – they buy BENEFITS. A FEATURE is something the product has, or a function it performs. A BENEFIT is what it does for the customer.

Customers buy BENEFITS – so try to to SELL them, because it’s BENEFITS that justify expenditure (of time, money, and effort).

For example:
The handle on that mug on your desk is a FEATURE.

The BENEFIT is the ability to enjoy hot coffee without burning your hand.

Sometimes thought to be old fashioned, A&P believe that features and benefits analysis still forms the basis of a sales proposition

When asked, how many salespeople can define the real benefit that a certain feature or property of their product provides?

The phrase we use to turn a feature into a benefit is ‘Which means’

It works like this

The coffee mug has a handle on the side
Which means
You don’t burn your fingers when picking up the hot coffee mug

However quite often, when using this simple analysis tool of ‘which means’, the feature of the product is only turned into another feature

An example:

The computer has 20 megabytes of storage on its hard disk
Which means
You can store many large files on the computer

This on the face of it might seem to be a benefit, but this benefit statement assumes that the prospective customer knows about the problems of file storage on computers.

What is needed here is the salesperson to go to the next stage and maybe beyond to describe the real benefit to the prospect.

Maybe something like this:

The computer has 80 megabytes of storage on its hard disk
Which means
You can store many large files on the computer
Which means
You don’t have keep downloading files to other storage devices for archiving

Which means
You don’t have to spend time on the archiving process
Which means
Less time wasted on computer housekeeping
Which means
More time available for profit making business activities.

The final benefit statement, actually produces a money element into the process, and this could be regarded the only final benefit for business users.

Finally, look at the feature again, and see if there are any other benefits from the feature.

A benefit might be obtained by thinking about the number of storage disks saved, the cost of buying a new PC or hard disk if the alternative is a PC with a small disk.

This gives a clue to finding the real benefit of a feature. If you take that feature away from the product, what problems are have you now got? You will then need to add that feature back to solve the problem!

Andy Szebeni is director of sales training and telemarketing company A&P. For more information and free tips and hints go to http://www.a-and-p.com.