25 Super Sales Secrets
5 experts reveal the sales tips that'll help you close the deal.
By Carla Goodman
| April 24, 2002
URL:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/sales/tipsfromexperts/article51268.html
For many entrepreneurs, making their first sale is a monumental
task. A million questions pop up, such as: How can I make my
product stand out from those of my competitors? What types of
questions should I ask? How do I handle objections? How should I
ask for the order? For the answers to these and other sales
challenges, we've asked five nationally known authors of sales
books and audio tapes to share their sales secrets. Here are their
25 secrets for sales success.
Brian Tracy, president of Brian Tracy International in Solana Beach,
California, is the author of several books, including Advanced Selling Strategies and Great Little Book on Successful Selling.
His sales secrets for first-time entrepreneurs are:
1. Sell benefits, not features. The biggest mistake
entrepreneurs make is in focusing on what their product or service
is. Rather, it's what it does that's important, says
Tracy. "A health-food product contains nutrients that are good
for the body. That's what it is. What the product
does is make the customer thinner, more energetic, and able
to accomplish more with less sleep," he explains. "Always
concentrate on how your product will benefit your
customer."
2. Sell to the people most likely to buy. Your best
prospects have a keen interest in your product or service and the
financial resources to purchase it. They are the ones who will buy
most quickly. "If you're selling photo-copy machines,
don't try to sell to people who have never bought one
before," Tracy suggests. "Sell to those who already have
one, or to those you know would be interested in buying one. Show
them how yours is superior."
3. Differentiate your product. Why should a customer buy
from you and not from your competitor? Tracy suggests coming up
with at least three features that will give a customer reason to
buy from you. "People don't like to go out of their
comfort zone to try something new. So, give them three good reasons
to try your product," Tracy explains. "Your product or
service, for example, works faster, is less expensive, and has a
higher-quality level of ingredients."
4. Get face to face. Spending huge sums of money on
print-media advertising or direct mail is one of the least
effective ways for first-time entrepreneurs to build up their
business. There is no shortcut to the personal approach. Get
one-on-one with your customer--if not in person, at least by
phone.
5. Focus on the second sale. Nearly 85 percent of all
sales are produced by word of mouth. "They're the result
of someone telling a friend or associate to buy a product or
service because the customer was satisfied," says Tracy.
Therefore, concentrate on developing future and referral business
with each customer. "Everything you do must be aimed at the
second sale. Ask yourself: Will this be such a satisfactory
experience that my customer will buy from me again or tell his
friends?"
You can improve your sales success ratio dramatically by
learning as much as you can about your prospect and focusing on his
needs, says Linda Richardson, president of The Richardson
Company, a leadership- and sales-training company in
Philadelphia, and author of Stop Telling, Start Selling: Using Customer Focus Dialogue to
Close Sales. She offers these secrets for success when
making your sales presentation:
1. Build rapport. Before discussing business, build
rapport with your prospect. To build rapport, do some homework.
Find out if you have a colleague in common. Has the prospect's
company been in the news lately? Is he interested in sports?
"Get a little insight into the company and the individual so
you can make the rapport genuine," says Richardson.
2. Ask a broad range of questions. Ask questions that
require more than a "yes" or "no" response, and
that deal with more than just costs, price, procedures and the
technical aspects of the prospect's business. Most importantly,
says Richardson, ask questions that will reveal the prospect's
motivation to purchase, his problems and needs, and his
decision-making processes. "Don't be afraid to ask a
client why he or she feels a certain way," Richardson
explains. "That's how you'll get to understand your
customers."
3. Probe deeper. If a prospect tells you, "We're
looking for cost-savings and efficiency," will you immediately
tell him how your product meets his need for cost-savings and
efficiency? A really smart sales person won't, says
Richardson-he or she will ask more questions and probe deeper:
"I understand why that is important. Can you give me a
specific example?" Richardson suggests, "Ask for more
information so you can better position your product and show you
understand the client's needs."
4. Learn to listen. Sales people who do all the talking
during a presentation not only bore the prospect, but also
generally lose the sale. You should be listening at least 50
percent of the time, notes Richardson. You can improve your
listening skills by taking notes, observing your prospect's
body language, not jumping to conclusions, and concentrating on
what your prospect is saying.
5. Follow up. Write thank-you notes, call the customer
after the sale to make sure he or she is satisfied, and maintain a
schedule of future communications. "You have to be in front of
that client and always show attention and responsiveness,"
Richardson says. "Follow-up is critical."
A successful sales presentation starts with careful preparation
and ends with guaranteeing customer satisfaction, says Shari Posey,
president of Executive Insights, an audio-tape production company
in Long Beach, California, specializing in products for
entrepreneurs. Here are Posey's top five sales strategies:
1. Write out your sales presentation. Making a sales
presentation "isn't something you do on the fly,"
warns Posey. Always use a written presentation. Think about the six
major selling points of your product or service. Develop leading
questions to probe your customer's reactions and needs to each
selling point. "This will help you determine what objections
your prospect might have, so you can show how your product or
service can meet their needs."
2. Write down objections. Show your prospect you are
truly listening to what they are saying by writing down their
objections. In this way, you can specifically answer their
objections by showing how they will benefit from your product or
service. It could be, for instance, by saving money, raising
productivity, increasing employee motivation, or increasing their
company's name recognition.
3. Offer a first-time incentive. Offer your prospect
something significant, so if they do like your product or
service, they'll be inclined to make a decision now, rather
than wait a few days or put off the decision indefinitely.
First-time incentives might include: "10 percent off with your
purchase today" or "With today's purchase, you'll
receive one free hour of consultation."
4. Offer a 100-percent guarantee. Let your customers know
their satisfaction is guaranteed. "A good return policy
minimizes customer objections and shows that you believe in your
product or service," says Posey. Product guarantees should be
unconditional and should not include hidden clauses, like
"guaranteed for only 30 days." You can use a guarantee
even if you're selling a service: "Satisfaction
guaranteed. You'll be thrilled with our service or we'll
redo it at our expense."
5. Close with two choices: Rather than ask, "How
does this sound?," give your prospect a choice. For example,
if you're selling educational books to preschool owners, ask if
they want to purchase the book series or the book and tape series
together. When they state their choice, write the order. "Your
prospect is not likely to stop you," Posey explains,
"because mentally they realize they've committed and
they've said 'yes.' "
Want to really impress your prospect and give him sales
materials that will make him want to order now? Follow these five
important sales secrets from Bob Bly, an independent copywriter and consultant in
Dumont, New Jersey, who specializes in business-to-business and
direct-response marketing. He is the author of more than 50 books,
including The Copywriter's Handbook.
1. Target your material toward a specific audience. These
days, it's not possible to understand and meet the needs of
every potential customer. Show you are a specialist, Bly urges.
"You have a selling advantage and come across as believable
when your sales materials are tightly targeted to specific
audiences," he explains. "Say you offer 'accounting
services for advertising agencies,' not just 'accounting
services.' "
2. Use testimonials. People might not believe your
product or service can do what you say it will. You can overcome
this disbelief by having a past or present customer praise you and
your company. Testimonials are usually written in the
customer's own words, are surrounded by quotation marks, and
are attributed to the individual. They can be used in sales
letters, brochures and advertisements.
3. Write from the customer's point of view.
"Start your copy with something that engages the
prospect," Bly suggests, "and what most people are
interested in is themselves." If an insurance agency wanted to
introduce its new employee health-benefit program for
small-business owners, it might be tempted to state the obvious,
using the phrase, "Introducing our Guarda-Health Employee
Benefit Plan." The agency would get better results if it wrote
something that directly interests the prospect: "Are the
skyrocketing costs of your insurance premiums threatening to put
your company out of business?" As Bly explains,
"That's something business owners who provide benefits to
their employees can relate to."
4. Use questions. A great way to engage your prospect is
to pose questions in the headlines of your sales literature.
"Every car-wash owner should know these seven business-success
secrets. Do you?" Or, "Why haven't satellite-dish
owners been told these facts?"
5. Turn a negative into a positive. If you are new in
business and haven't sold many products or signed up many
clients for your services, don't despair. You can phrase your
situation this way: "Not one widget buyer in a thousand has
ever experienced the advantages of this new XYZ widget
design."
What's the best way to identify with your customer? Know his
business and ask for his feedback, says Barry J. Farber, a
top-rated sales, management and motivation speaker, and author of
several books, including 12 Clichés of Selling and Why They
Work. (He's also Entrepreneur magazine's
"Sales Success" columnist.) Here are five of
Farber's top sales secrets:
1. Know your customer's business. Customers expect
you to know their business, customers and competition as well as
you know your own product or service. Study your customer's
industry. Know it's problems and trends. Find out who his
biggest competitors are. Some research tools include the
company's annual report, trade publications, chamber of
commerce directories, and the company's own brochures,
newsletters and catalogs.
2. Organize your sales presentation. The basic structure
of any sales presentation includes six key points: build rapport
with your prospect, introduce the business topic, ask questions to
better understand your prospect's needs, summarize your key
selling points, and close the sale. "Always begin the process
by first visualizing a successful outcome," Farber says.
3. Take notes. Don't rely on your memory to remind
you of what's important to your prospect. Ask upfront if
it's alright for you to take notes during your sales
presentation . Write down key points you can refer to later during
your presentation.
4. Answer objections with "feel, felt, found."
Don't argue when a prospect says, "I'm not
interested", "I just bought one," or "I
don't have time right now." Simply say, "I understand
how you feel. A lot of my present customers felt the same way. But
when they found out how much time they saved by using our product,
they were amazed." Then ask for an appointment.
5. Ask for feedback. If you want to improve your sales
presentation or your relations with your customers, ask them what
you need to do to maintain and increase their business. "Many
customers have minor complaints but will never say anything. They
just won't buy from you again," Farber says. "If you
ask their opinion, they'll be glad to tell you, and to give you
the chance to solve the problem."
Just because they're experts now, that doesn't mean they
didn't have the nervous jitters the first time they did sales.
But check out how they impressed their first clients.
Brian Tracy:
I was 11 years old, selling soap door to door to earn my way to
YMCA camp. I'd say, "Hello, my name is Brian Tracy.
I'm selling Rosamel beauty soap. Would you like to buy a
box?" People would say, "No, don't need it, don't
want it, can't afford it," etc. I was very
frustrated-until I rephrased my presentation: "I'm selling
Rosamel beauty soap, but it's strictly for beautiful
women." People who had been completely uninterested would say,
"Well, that's not for me. It wouldn't help me. How
much is it?" I started selling the soap like hot cakes.
Bob Bly:
I had been asked to speak before groups and had been paid to do so,
but I had never personally gone after a speaking engagement. I
wanted to do business with a software company which was having an
annual convention for its resellers, but the meeting planner was
hesitant to book me. He felt that, although my information was good
and I knew what I was talking about, I would not be entertaining
enough for his group. "Call any or all of the meeting planners
on the list of references I gave you," I told him over the
phone. "If even one of them says I was not the most
entertaining speaker they had within the last few years, I will
come and do your event for free." He called all of them, and
they confirmed that I gave engaging talks, and I got the job.
Barry Farber:
After college, I sold advertising for a start-up fashion magazine.
I was excited and thought it was the greatest product in the world.
The magazine was a great place for local high-fashion retailers to
attract a local market. I made 145 door-to-door calls in one day,
and sold all the advertising space for that issue. I didn't
have the skills, knowledge or experience, but I overcame those
deficiencies with a tremendous amount of work. I believe 99 percent
of a business owner's success is based on his enthusiasm,
faith, passion for what he does, and the commitment to work hard to
get his name out in the marketplace. Those ingredients can beat any
other combination for success.
Linda Richardson:
I had formerly been a teacher and had done corporate training
before I started my own company that designs custom-tailored
sales-training systems for corporations. The first four months, I
had no clients. I told myself to practice what I preached:
"The next sales call, I'm not going to mention my product
until the meeting is over. I'm going to build rapport and spend
time on the client's needs so I can position my product."
I braced myself and did it. At the end of the meeting, the man
said, "You knocked my socks off. When do we start?" The
major difference was in asking for the client's needs, probing
deeper and deeper, and really understanding what the organization
was about, what they wanted to achieve and why.
Shari Posey:
When I introduced my audio-tape series at a trade show, I
negotiated for a larger space so I could have room to conduct
informational seminars on my product. I invited several of the
entrepreneurs featured on my audio-tape series to speak on how they
started their businesses and to answer questions from the audience.
These informational sessions, I believe, were one reason I sold so
many tapes at the trade show. Giving out information is a strong
statement that you care about your prospective customers and are
willing to give them something for free, whether or not they buy
your product or service. Giving out free information also sets you
apart from your competitors, most of whom focus strictly on a
heavy-duty sales pitch. When you host an informational session,
select a speaker who can make a dynamic presentation, and who can
articulate the benefits of your product or service.
This article first appeared in the April 1997 issue of
Business Start-Ups magazine.
Former corporate public affairs executive Carla Goodman writes
on a wide range of business topics.
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