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The Third PR Word


This is the third of a series of four blogs. What did you get from the last blog learning about the PRiorities that your client/customer is trying to satisfy? Our next P R word is….

PRocess
  • Where are they in their decision-making process….and how are you going to find out?
  • Are they expecting or able to decide today…or will another meeting be necessary to complete this process?
  • What do they already know or are using as a measure of comparison? 
  • How will you ‘forward the sale’ and move …

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The Second PR Word


This is the second in a series of four blogs about P R words. What did you gain from the last blog to learn more about the PRoblem that your client/customer is facing? Let’s keep looking at our next P R word….

PRiority
  • What matters MOST to them NOW? 
  • What are the key and essential elements of the problem they are trying to solve or the vision they are trying to realize?
  • What are the motivating aspects of this process and decision that is driving them now? 

This part of the sales i…

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Respecting Time by Making Appointments

As part of organizing actions in time, establish pre-arranged appointment times for when they work best for YOU (scheduled at lower opportunity times for other, harder-to-control actions). Use the repeat feature on your calendar so that you hold those times week after week. When you offer an appointment time that is agreed to, send a calendar invitation that can be accepted and ‘saved for this event only’ from the series…leaving that spot open next week at the same time. Increase the opportuni…

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GRATEFUL FOLLOW-UP

For many salespeople (including myself) follow-up is the weakest skill. It takes scheduling, organizing, and consistent action for follow up to be effective. It takes doing things you don’t want to do. It takes failing – a lot! – and trying again. It takes rigorous evaluation and measurement to improve and build the follow-up muscle. And it never, ever ends.

Whether cold or warm calls, managing web leads or referrals, follow-up is a skill and a practice of patience and persistence. It will ALWA…

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Asking for the Commitment…are you asking enough?

Here’s a question…when you KNOW that the solution you presented is spot on, and the customer agrees…and yet they have a question or a concern – which you overcome, do you then ask for the sale?
And if they hesitate or say: ‘I want to think about it,’ do you manage it and ask for the sale again?
And if the sale is not forthcoming, do you ask for and get an appointment – to ask for the sale again?

Okay, this might seem like waaaayyyyy too much for you. You may call it too aggressive. Too inse…

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Asking…enough… Questions

How do you know if you have asked enough questions?
What is it you want to know? And are you asking the questions that will find that out?
As salespeople, we can all expect to learn more and ask better questions as we continue to develop our skills.
One of the clues that you are not asking enough questions is that objections arise when you try to close. What are the objections that consistently come up for you?

Or equally important, do you know where your buyer is in their buying process…

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Connecting…enough?

I have been bumping up against the word ‘enough’ for a while now so I figured that there was a message for me to pay attention to!
Whether it’s gratitude for having enough or acknowledgment for being enough, I thought it might be time to take a look at where else 'enough' matters.

This year I modified the objective of Step 2 of “Sell it or Schedule it” - the step of Connecting and Building Rapport. I adjusted the objective of this step to be "To help the customer to be comfortable enough fo…

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Asking Confirming Questions

This step leads back to the first blog on this topic…assessing versus assuming.

Confirming questions solidify what was discussed and even decided, by asking a question that removed any doubt. As an example, a salesperson is working with a customer and asks them if there is anyone else who wants to participate in the project…as a way of identifying the decision-maker. The customer says, “I make the decisions about furniture.”

We all know that there are several elements to consider in making…

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Asking Summarizing Questions

Summarizing is a questioning step to see if we are accurate, in alignment, and on track. It’s a good step when the conversation is going on too long, is getting confusing (or going into areas that are less important), or when YOU have gotten distracted by too much time spent or too many details and distractions.

It’s simple: “Let me see if I understand…” then review what has been agreed to. Not every detail, just what has been agreed to.

If there is anything that is outstanding and needs…

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How to Summarize?

“Let’s recap where we are now….”
“Let’s look at what has been decided and what remains…”
“Let’s summarize where we are now and make sure we are focused on your priorities.”

Notice that these are all ‘stop action’ statements by the salesperson…directing what the next action will be and the benefit of that action.

Summarizing will let the customer/client take a breath and not add new information to the conversation.
It will allow the salesperson to pause and take a breath, get to neutral…

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