Business Coaching Sales Tips

#1 Sales Tip of the Month: Listening Skills

If a sales person can stop talking and LISTEN for a minute, they might discern that the customer has thrown out a buying signal!

My favorite topic is "Listening Skills"---and always HAS been!
It's one that is not preached enough---and is constantly abused and forgotten by sales people!.

Do you have trouble getting your sales reps to come up for air during their sales presentation? This type of verbal affront is one, if not the most common mistakes made by sales people and yet it is the simplest to overcome. Listening skills are extremely important and yet a majority of sales people are very poor at it. They are too busy talking themselves to hear what the customer is saying.

I've been on client visits with many rookie sales people over my career when the buying signals were happening on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the sales rep was too focused on his rehearsed speech to listen to the conversation. Once a sales person learns to listen, they will recognize buying signals…STOP the speech right then, acknowledge what was said and attempt to make a trial close!

Obvious Buying Signals:

What are obvious buying signals? "That sounds great", "This is just what we need", "I'm interested" or "How long will it take to deliver?" to name just a few. It takes practice to recognize these however, they only happen when you stop to listen to the comments the customer makes.

Try This Next Time:

If you are in sales, try this on your very next call: once you have made a couple of product feature-benefit statements…leave the floor open to the client for a few seconds until he speaks…then, as painful as it seems at the time, leave a couple more seconds and you will be surprised at how easy it is to get the client to open up with additional information. Again, this takes practice but the results of effective listening will pay dividends once you make it a regular part of your sales pitch.

Another great way to practice this is in everyday conversation with friends, business associates. Try to listen more and ask questions directly related to what was just said. It shows empathy and can make you a much more successful sales person...any related questions? Send them to craig@imotionmarketing.com

Craig Montgomery has more than twenty-five years experience running his own businesses and working for organizations such as Motorola. His focus has been in developing sales and marketing strategies that help build successful companies. Craig coaches, consults and trains individuals and sales teams. He also runs iMotion Marketing Inc, based in Kelowna, providing e-business solutions.

With grateful contributions by Wayne Allan, a retired executive with extensive business experience running large, North American sales organizations. Wayne now lives the good life in Florida.

#2 Sales Tip of the Month: The Trial Close

So many new salesmen are AFRAID to go for a Trial Close and it's an extremely valuable part of the sales cycle.

Once you have listened to discern that the customer has thrown out a buying signal, you need to stop and test the assumptions. It doesn't mean you can expect an order at that time however, it is worth asking critical questions to drill down further into what the customer said and find deeper meaning. This is about beginning to take the order and it's important!

For example in response to "This is just what we need", you could offer the following suggestion."Fantastic! Well, the next step is to get you to sign the contract and we'll have our designers start working on your system". It really helps to show enthusiasm for the client's verbal approval and it is time to attempt a trial close. You may need to back up once you have established that this was a legitimate buying signal and finish up the other important parts of the presentation that the client wants to hear.

This accomplishes two things, it shows you have been listening to the client and it makes them feel a commitment to you. You have connected and regardless of whether they love your product, your sales presentation or they are desperate to make a decision...enjoy the moment and move forward to more formal paperwork. Book the order!

A Trial Close is a "probe". There are two responses to a Trial Close------"YES" or "NO". A "NO" response doesn't necessarily lose the order; rather it prompts a follow-up question: "Well, what have I missed, and not told you?"

Then, it's listening time again---and the sale proceeds to move forward towards an eventual close, when ALL the customers needs have been responded to by the product's Features and Benefits that apply to that customer.

A point to remember is to make no assumptions. Sometimes buying signals may be false and that is why they are called "trial closes". You are testing the client's intentions and may have to regroup and continue with your feature-benefit statements to uncover more buying signals.

The most successful sales people today use the trial close method every time they are in the sales process and it works...any related questions?
Send them to craig@imotionmarketing.com

Craig Montgomery has more than twenty-five years experience running his own businesses and working for organizations such as Motorola. His focus has been in developing sales and marketing strategies that help build successful companies. Craig coaches, consults and trains individuals and sales teams. He also runs iMotion Marketing Inc, based in Kelowna , providing e-business solutions.

With grateful contributions by Wayne Allan , a retired executive with extensive business experience running large, North American sales organizations. Wayne now lives the good life in Florida.