 
SELL AND GROW RICH

Achieve Unlimited Success in Selling

by

Robert Stuberg

SMASHWORDS EDITION

* * * * *

PUBLISHED BY:

Success Systems International, LLC

Copyright © MCMXCVI - MMXIII Robert C. Stuberg

All rights reserved.

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http://www.Success.bz

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*****

Also by Robert Stuberg

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SOFTWARE

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MUSIC

Provocative Destiny

Music That Will Change Your Life

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

CHAPTER ONE: Personal Development for Success

CHAPTER TWO: Planning for Success

CHAPTER THREE: Engaging the Customer for Success

CHAPTER FOUR: Getting the Order

CHAPTER FIVE: Review

FREE Resources

About the Author

*****

Preface

Selling is the world's highest paid profession. Unfortunately, there are millions of salespeople that don't make much money. How can that be? It's simple really. Here are the two steps for failing in the world of sales:

1. Don't learn the rules of selling.

2. Don't practice the rules of selling.

All you have to do to guarantee your failure is to implement those two ideas. They will work every time without exception.

Conversely, being successful in the world of selling just requires turning those two simple ideas around so it reads like this:

1. Learn the rules of selling.

2. Practice the rules of selling.

While this may seem like an oversimplification, I can promise you that it's not. Becoming successful at anything requires that you learn and apply the fundamentals. And what's interesting to observe is how the top people in any field can always be found practicing the fundamentals. The purpose of this small book is to provide you with the fundamentals for selling. If you learn them and apply them, your success at selling is guaranteed.

We live in a world that operates based on laws and not on luck. In fact, I like to remind myself often that luck is what happens when preparedness meets opportunity. The truth is that we each create our own luck with our own thoughts and actions.

Becoming a great salesperson can be broken down into four major parts. First, is the most important part that I call personal development. While most people in the world are pursuing success, the reality is that pursuing success only leads to stress and frustration. Do your own analysis and see if you don't come to the same conclusion. Most people are chasing after success with the result being that the only thing they catch is anxiety. It's much better to learn how to attract success based on becoming more as a person. In order to open the windows and doors of opportunity, you need is grow as a person. There is simply nothing more important than your ongoing personal development. It is by becoming more as a person that you attract more into your life. People often have this urgent cry to have more without realizing that the secret is to first become more.

The next part is developing a plan for what you want to accomplish. We all need goals that are realistic, compatible, and attainable to keep us growing. What are your goals? What would you like to accomplish? And why do you want whatever is on your list of objectives? If you know what you want and why you want it, you are well on your way ... especially if you have your goals written down!

After your plan, the next step is to learn exactly how to engage customers. You need to learn how to work with and through people if you want to succeed at selling. You need to know how to select the right potential clients and then how to present your products or services. It's not that difficult but it does require a strategy. Remember, selling like life is a contact sport. You need to be able to communicate effectively with other people. This might first appear to be a scary proposition because people can reject you; however, each rejection is a step closer to a sale. You have to remember what you knew as a child. When someone said no, that didn't mean you couldn't change their mind. Just watch the next time to hear a parent tell a child no and see if the child immediately gives up or ends up with the candy. Persistence always wins in the long term.

This brings us to the last major part of selling which is getting the order or closing the deal. There is a huge different between being a great presenter and being a great salesperson. The presenter might entertain but it's the salesperson that gets the order. In ancient times if you were a great speaker you would be called an orator. It was said of one such man, Cicero, that he was a brilliant orator and people loved to listen to him. But there was another man who was also admired as a speaker but for a different reason. Demosthenes wasn't just a great speaker or presenter, he was a great persuader. While people might be awed by Cicero and say, "What great speech!" When Demosthenes spoke they would say, "Let us march!" The key is to get people to take action. Even Cicero said of Demosthenes, "he stands alone among all orators." That's high praise coming from a colleague. Cicero knew that if something required people to take action, the best man for the job was Demosthenes.

So commit to not just being a great presenter, but to being a great persuader. Learn to move people to action.

Now it's time to take action. I recommend not just reading this book but also getting a coach to work with you. All of us need a coach. We are too close to ourselves to really see what's going on. At best, we can only see a reflection of ourselves in the mirror. A coach can give you a full view and an outside perspective that will really help you to grow. So if you don't have a coach yet or if you aren't making the progress you would like to make and are capable of making with your current coach, sign up for a coaching session with us. There's no cost or obligation to try out our system.

Here is the link to that FREE personal coaching session as well as some other FREE resources:

FREE personal coaching session:

http://www.success.bz/coaching/

Other FREE products and services:

http://www.success.bz/sign_up/

*****

Chapter One

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR SUCCESS

I'm going to tell you how you can achieve unlimited success in selling--along with the unlimited rewards of wealth and satisfaction that go with that success.

No other profession offers greater opportunities for individual achievement, wealth accumulation and personal satisfaction than a career in sales. Competent, effective sales people are always in demand and will readily command not only the financial rewards that are due them, but also the recognition and prestige that come as a matter of course to people at the top of their profession.

I don't believe there is such a person as a "natural-born salesman" as the saying used to go. Just as in any profession, top sales people get to where they are as result of study, hard work, experience, and study. And I emphasize the word "study" lest there be any lingering doubts that one of the important components of successful selling is the diligent and continuing acquisition of a large body of knowledge about your product, your industry, your customers and your competitors, not to mention about yourself.

Unfortunately, the classic stereotype of a good salesperson—perhaps "caricature" is a better word—is that of a fast-talking, glib manipulator who relies mostly on pressure to get a prospect to say "yes." I think you know the type: Slick, short on facts and long on hype and lots of now-is-your-last-chance deadlines. Regrettably, that stereotype still persists as a role model in sales for a lot of people.

What we will do in this message is step back from stereotypes, and back away from all selling "techniques" for that matter, and discuss what kind of person you first must become to achieve true success in selling ...and what you must do to become that person. And by the time we complete this program, I expect you to believe, as I do, that you can become anything you want to be if you want it long enough and hard enough and are willing to work for it.

If you're the kind of person that sets limits on yourself, of course, those limits will hold you back. If you're the kind of person who is willing to change, who wants to succeed and will work for it, the future is anything you want it to be. The only limits on your future are the limits you set on yourself.

I'm willing to bet on the simple fact that because you are taking time to listen to this program you are the kind of person who will invest in yourself whatever it takes to achieve success in your selling career.

Success in selling ultimately depends on your making a commitment to excellence in every part of your life. I'll also add that your ultimate happiness in life depends on that commitment to excellence.

So what I'm saying is that nothing is more important to success in selling than the continuing pursuit of personal development throughout your career. What talents you start with in life aren't nearly as important as what you do with the development of those talents.

We are all given different talents in the same way we're dealt different hands in cards. It's what you do with what you're dealt that makes the difference. After all, fortunes have been founded on hands that held little more than a pair of deuces.

Keep in mind that the market only pays excellent rewards for excellent performance. To earn more, you must continue to develop the levels and quality of performance that justify those greater rewards.

Someone has said, "You are earning exactly today what you're worth today" which is a way of saying we are worth the sum total of all the choices and decisions we have made in life up to this point.

And if we're not happy with what we have at this moment, then we darn well have to get busy and make the right choices and decisions that will make us better, more effective and move us forward to the level that justifies the rewards we think we ought to have.

The truth is, at every stage in life, we must keep getting better, growing, expanding our talents to keep from falling back. Our happiness depends on it. We're only happy when we're moving forward, moving toward something important that we really want.

OK, what's the most important goal in your sales career? I'll tell you what it is. As of right now, your goal is to be in the top 10% of your group, your company or your industry, whatever your situation may be. It doesn't matter what your standing is at the moment, because you're not looking back, only forward. From this moment on your objective is to become the best, only the best.

Keep in mind, though, the greater the prize, the steeper the price. Nowhere else is the old adage, "You get what you pay for" truer than in what you're willing to invest in personal development to become the best in your field. And the real price is measured not so much in money as in what you're willing to commit in time, effort, discipline and perseverance to achieve your goals.

This is an investment in the truest sense. Nothing will give you a greater total return than investing in your personal growth to achieve your goals. It's the only "sure thing" investment you'll ever get.

The people who never make the top 10% are those who aren't willing to make that investment because they aren't willing to make the personal sacrifices it requires. They aren't willing to make the tough choices that the discipline of personal growth demands.

But you know, every journey begins with a first step, and then another and another. And personal development is simply a matter of getting better one step at a time. Setting goals and moving toward them. As someone once said, "By the yard it's hard; by the inch it's a cinch." It really is that simple. So start your journey now by taking the first step of making the commitment to a concerted effort of personal growth.

There are 12 important characteristics that define successful sales people and I want you to use these characteristics as targets for your personal development. In all instances, personality and personal traits of character are more important to success than even the important factors of product knowledge, sales skills and the product itself. Selling is a people business, the productive interaction of people in achieving a mutually beneficial exchange of value. The top 10% of sales people are those who bring the highest quality personal attributes to that interaction.

The first of these essential personal attributes is a high level of self-confidence and self-esteem. The two concepts are inseparable. Your self-confidence depends on your self-esteem or how much you like yourself. And there's a direct positive correlation between how much you like yourself and how well you do everything else. It's simply a case of "You become what you think about." The higher your self-esteem, the lower your fear of rejection. The more you like yourself, the more effective you are in getting along with others. The result is that people have more confidence in you when they feel you like them and care about them.

One of the best ways of building self-esteem is backing your sales effort with the second important personal attribute, and that's the will power of commitment and perseverance. The primary reason for sales failure is people don't stick with it long enough and hard enough to get the winning experience to maintain their self-esteem. They're willing to take "no" for an answer. They accept rejection as a personal affront. Selling, like so many other avenues of life, is a business of percentages. Successful sales people know that success is directly related to the number of calls they make and that 80% of sales are made after the fifth visit to a prospect.

It's terribly important that you make an absolute commitment to succeed in your sales career. This is a 100%, no compromises, take no prisoners dedication to become the best in your field. You've made an iron-clad contract with yourself. And you see, once you've done that, failure is not an option. There is no room for excuses, distractions or half-way measures. All at once, you have set in motion the forces that will move you forward. You will see the positive steps ahead, the path you have to take to get you to the top.

This path naturally has its roadblocks and potholes. People who don't succeed, people who haven't made that commitment, will let these obstacles discourage and defeat them. Perseverance is the natural counterpart of your commitment to succeed. Success means you keep trying. You never, ever give up. Remember, there is no traffic jam on the second mile. Or the third, or the fourth. Success in selling is a chain reaction as success breeds success.

Successful sales people are successful because they like themselves, they like selling and they have decided to become successful at it and won't stop until they are.

The next important attribute successful people have is a positive self-concept. It's not only that they like themselves, but it's the total picture they have of themselves. First, they think that success is the natural consequence of the commitment they've made to be successful. If the concept is unfamiliar, you may first have to practice what actors call the "suspension of disbelief", but with time, you can adopt that same mindset of success. Again, you become what you think about. Project yourself into the realm of success you want to achieve as a means of achieving it.

Customers will accept your image of yourself, so act the part you want to be, that is, act in every way like a top sales professional. Cary Grant—his real name was Archie Leach—worked hard and spent years creating the persona of "Cary Grant." And once when an admirer said, "I'd give anything to be Cary Grant," Cary Grant said, "So would I." You are what you think about. How you see yourself determines your behavior and your success.

When successful sales people see themselves in a role that's helpful to customers, this is what the customer also sees. For example, position yourself mentally as a successful consultant to your customers, someone who is on call as a problem solver and advisor. You no longer are just a purveyor of goods & services, but a highly paid specialist to help them increase their sales & profits.

Another useful self-concept is to be a "doctor of selling." You see your customers as patients with complaints and you've been called in for consultation. Your posture is highly professional and with a highly ethical approach you proceed to make an examination, diagnose the problem and provide a prescription for a cure. You do make house calls and insist on follow-up visits.

These concepts are not mutually exclusive, because at the same time, successful sales people always see themselves as president & CEO of their own companies. In that sense, they see themselves as self-employed and totally responsible for their own bottom line, the success of their venture. They know that they determine their own income and what the future holds for them.

Your self-concept is the basis of your customers' confidence in you and what you can do for them. Adopt the mindset of the person you want your customers to see.

The next important attribute for success is the ability to set goals and pursue them. Every successful sales person is goal- oriented, beginning with the goal of being successful. Goals first of all are motivators, the spur to keep us moving forward, as well as the reward for achievement. Goals must be concrete and achievable, even if at first they seem a bit beyond your reach. Goals don't necessarily have to be grand and may be quite finite as stepping stones to a grander objective.

Goals are a marvelous tool for organizing your time effectively. Develop the nightly practice of setting goals for what you plan to accomplish the next day. Prioritize these goals and go after your tasks in that order. You can use the same technique for longer time periods as well.

The great things about setting goals and the plans to accomplish them is how they tend to protect you from the irrelevant and time-wasting distractions that otherwise can bog you down. Once you get in the habit of goal setting it will become an important way of life that you won't be without.

One example of goal-setting you'll want to do is your annual income. Once you decide on what that figure should be, break it down into a monthly, weekly, daily and finally, an hourly rate. If, for illustration purposes, that hourly rate is $50/hour, then you will only do $50/hour tasks and will say no to activities not worth your time and plan your days accordingly.

The key to effective goal-setting, of course, is writing them down and reviewing them frequently. Go over them every day, if needed, to keep you on course and on your time table. Be ready to make adjustments in your plans as necessary to keep you moving toward your goal.

Set your goals and plans in the way the French philosopher, Teilhard de Chardin, intended when he wrote, "Our duty as men (and women) is to proceed as if limits to our ability do not exist. We are collaborators in creation." Be a goal-setter. Be a collaborator in creation.

But it takes courage to set goals and follow through on them and courage is the next important attribute of success. Probably the greatest single deterrent people experience in achieving success is fear. It is fear of many things, but primarily it is fear of the consequences of acting. It is the fear of failure. Some think of courage as taking action without fear, but as Mark Twain said, "Courage is resistance to fear, master of fear; not absence of fear." Or, as we recall, Ernest Hemingway described courage as "grace under pressure." The soldier's badge of courage in battle is pressing forward in the face of overwhelming fear.

While the fears we encounter in our careers seldom concern physical safety, the consequences can be almost as debilitating if such fears aren't faced squarely, challenged and managed. In the simplest sense, courage is managing your fears and acting to overcome them.

You must have courage to take action on your goals, plans and values for as Winston Churchill said, "Courage is the foremost of virtues. For upon it all others depend." Think of courage, then, as a foundation for everything we do. Courage frequently simply amounts to doing something to reach your goal that you intensely don't want to do. But in all cases, do it you must, if you are to succeed.

Courage is an absolute requisite to the next important attribute of success, the essential quality of personal integrity. Of all human traits, it is the hardest won and the most difficult to sustain. Little wonder that it's the personal characteristic that people value above all else.

My dictionary defines integrity as, "Moral soundness as it is revealed in dealings that test steadfastness to truth, purpose, responsibility or trust." And the synonyms listed are honor and honesty.

Note the important emphasis on "dealings that test steadfastness to truth, etc." The point, I think, is that we are constantly tested and the measure of our integrity is how well we stand up to those tests.

How our integrity relies on courage was suggested by the noted author and columnist, Walter Lippman, when he wrote, "(A person) has honor if he (or she) holds himself to an ideal of conduct—though it is inconvenient, unprofitable or dangerous to do so." Think of your personal integrity in terms of that ideal of conduct that takes courage to maintain and defend.

I consider personal integrity the magnetic north on our moral compass. It's a constant reference point that assures a true course in life.

No appraisal of your business conduct will hold you in higher regard than being considered a person of integrity by your customers and co-workers.

We know, of course, "that dealings that test steadfastness to truth, purpose, responsibility or trust," as well as honor and honesty, apply as much when directed to ourselves as to our dealings with others. It means being true to what you believe and stand for, just as in that famous admonition by Polonius in Shakespeare's Hamlet, "To thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."

Take stock of what ideals of conduct you hold yourself to and how you stand up to the tests of steadfastness to truth, purpose, responsibility and trust, not to mention honor and honesty. And most of all, be honest with yourself. Make your name and reputation synonymous with integrity.

The next important personal attribute of successful sales people is enthusiasm. I like the definition of selling that says a sale is a transfer of enthusiasm. It implies, of course, that the person doing the selling has enthusiasm for his or her product or service and has the ability to imbue the customer with that enthusiasm to the point of making a purchase. The point being, that enthusiasm is an essential characteristic of every successful sales person's makeup, much in keeping with Emerson's dictum that "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

Enthusiasm in selling has many parents. There is a one-to-one relationship between how much you like yourself and your enthusiasm. That self- esteem is reflected in the confidence and intensity of your presentations to your customers. And similarly, your enthusiasm will largely be a reflection of how much you like what you're doing and how comfortable you are doing it. Enthusiasm also is a reflection of the goals you set and the intensity of your desire to achieve those goals. Enthusiasm grows out of your knowledge of your product or service and what it can do for your customer. And enthusiasm will stem directly from how well prepared you are.

Enthusiasm, like laughter, is contagious and the more you generate it, feel it and display it, the more readily your customer will catch it and respond by giving you the order.

Now, you may be thinking of enthusiasm in the same terms as Ethel Merman when she said, "Always give them the old fire, even when you feel like a squashed cake of ice." Or even like another writer who said, "Be fanatics. When it comes to being and doing and dreaming of the best, be maniacs!" And if those approaches suit your temperament, great! Go for it. What ever works. That's an expression of enthusiasm.

But maybe the manic approach is not for you. That's OK, too. Enthusiasm can be conveyed just as intensely and sincerely with an earnest thoroughness and quiet fire that leaves no doubt in your customer's mind about your enthusiasm for your product and what it can do for them.

Whatever your take may be, think of the enthusiasm in your sales approach in terms of the energy behind it and what it takes to transfer that dynamic to the customer. And make no mistake, when your enthusiasm is genuine and strong enough, your customer will get it. And you will get the sale.

The next attribute of success is empathy, which is really the reciprocal or the flip side of enthusiasm. Along with conveying your enthusiasm to the customer, it's equally important that you sharpen your senses about what the customer is feeling and thinking.

Empathy is important as the process of shifting your focus from what you want to what the customer wants. It's a matter of opening your mind and your feelings to act as powerful sensors to pick up even the unspoken signals and nuances that tell you what your customer is really saying.

It's awfully easy for selling to become a one-way street for the flow of information going exclusively from you to the customer. After all, you know your product, you've rehearsed your presentation and have it down cold and you can't resist letting it all hang out.

The obvious problem with this is if you do all the talking, you will lose important opportunities to hear what the customer has to say about his needs, problems and desires. This is the information you must have to position your product as an asset to your customer. Selling isn't about you or your product, it's all about your customer and his or her business.

Empathy in action is asking questions. Become proficient at asking questions and following up with more questions to get the customer to tell you why he should buy your product. And equally important, become a good listener. Listen well and become a sponge for the information that will tell you how to present your product as an essential component of your customer's business.

Remember, empathy is giving the customer a chance to tell you how to sell him your product or service.

The next important attribute of all successful people is the faculty for using common sense. Now, this isn't a rare gift allotted to a lucky few. It only becomes rare when we don't use it. It's an innate asset we all have and it's just a question of developing it and using it. But I think Will Rogers was exaggerating only a little when he said, "There's an awful lot of common sense available in America today because nobody's used any of it yet."

Part of the problem is that common sense is one of those things that everyone talks about without a good idea of what it is. Well, to start, common sense is taking time to see things through, to look at the end game of every transaction. In a way, it's always looking before you leap. It's remembering that the law of cause and effect is still in force and every action has an equal and opposite reaction. It's being aware that everything you do has consequences and being ready to deal with those consequences.

But another part of common sense is always looking after you leap, too. It's taking time to reflect on all experiences, good or bad, and learning something from them. The best teachers in life should be the mistakes we make.

Along these lines, the famous pollster, George Gallup, characterizes common sense as, "The ability to have experiences, to learn from those experiences, to derive lessons from those experiences and to apply those lessons to subsequent experiences."

At the same time, common sense is keeping a realistic view of the world around you and dealing with it as it is, not as you would like it to be. The self-delusion of unrealistic expectations rushes in when common sense takes a holiday.

Your common sense is one of your hidden resources that is always there ready to use and develop when you need it.

Perhaps one of the most obvious and most pronounced attributes of successful people is the discipline they apply to their work and achieving their goals. Of all the qualities that affect your performance, your professional discipline may be the most powerful indicator of your future success.

Discipline has been defined as getting excited about making yourself do what's necessary to achieve a desired result. It's the exciting commitment, the motivating force, that makes constructive habits possible. Discipline is the steel with which good habits are forged—and it's our good habits that determine what we come.

I don't think I'm overstating the case in saying that discipline is the key to all human progress. Nothing worthwhile is achieved with out the power of personal discipline. If we don't have the firm hand of discipline to push us along, we can't hope to accomplish much whatever our good intentions.

Discipline is the will with which you control the circumstances around you in the same way Goethe wrote, "He who has a firm will molds the world to himself." A good example is in how we use our time. How many times have we heard the familiar complaint, "I didn't have enough time." The truth is, at any given moment, any one of us has all the time in the world. Whether we gain by it depends on how well we apply the force of personal discipline.

Procrastination is the common pitfall in the path of human progress that has sometime been described as the art of keeping up with yesterday. Your antidote to procrastination is using the force of discipline to keep you moving toward your goals.

The attribute that is perhaps least understood in moving successful people ahead is the application of creativity to their goals, Creativity in this sense is essentially the constant focus on finding better ways to do things. It is the skepticism that refuses to accept the status quo or the most convenient solution to a problem.

This kind of creativity is not an esoteric talent that's limited to a chosen few. It is a genius that is naturally inherent in everyone, available to be called up and put to work. It is one of those inner resources we all have that we only have to recognize and energize.

For example, think of creativity as your ability to look ahead, imagine and ask, "What if...?" It's your ability to take time out and ask if there's another way of doing this. It's your ability to anticipate questions, objections, obstacles and prepare responses ahead of time. It is in all cases, planning the course ahead and providing resources for contingencies.

Like any unused talent, your powers of creativity improve with use and experience. Apply your creative energies to every part of your professional life. Look for the better ways, for example, of scheduling your time, finding prospects, making presentations or planning work. And keep in mind, there is always a better way to do things. All you have to do is look for it.

In conclusion, the last, but certainly not the least, important attribute of successful people is a commitment to a continuing program of personal improvement. Besides focusing on and enhancing the attributes we've just discussed, it's also a dedication to improvement in what I call the important fundamentals of professional growth.

First, work to improve your speaking and writing skills. You will be constantly judged by how well you express yourself. Take stock of your present abilities and take the appropriate remedial steps that are needed to improve and maintain these skills.

Next, continue your education, both broadly and specifically, to increase your sales knowledge and effectiveness. Those who do not keep expanding their knowledge will be surpassed by those who do. Read at least 30 minutes every day and build a library of books on selling. (You'll be surprised how many there are.) Listen to audio programs, especially in your car between calls. Subscribe to professional and industry journals, attend seminars, and enroll in continuing education classes. Make sure you continue to acquire the knowledge that is required to keep you moving ahead in your profession.

Let me conclude with the reminder that the kind of person you are, the quality of your personal attributes, is the most important factor contributing to your success in a selling career. Regardless what your background may be and regardless of your current qualifications, your future success depends on your continuing enhancement of the attributes we've discussed. Please keep this book and your notes from it in a place where it will be convenient for you to return to them and review them frequently.

And finally, please keep in mind that you can become anything you want to be if you want it long enough and hard enough and are willing to work for it.

*****

Chapter Two

PLANNING FOR SUCCESS

The next most important step to success in your selling career is the planning you do before you make your first call.

In today's economy, products and markets both have grown more extensive, diverse and sophisticated and the challenges of selling in this environment have increased commensurately. Anyone who wants to sell successfully in the new economy must have a realistic appreciation of these challenges. You have to recognize not only the volatile dynamics of today's changing markets but also how the temperament and attitudes of your potential customers are changing.

In this session, we will discuss the kinds of planning and preparations, including your own mental preparations that will help you increase your effectiveness and ultimately, your sales productivity. To begin, here is a quick run-down of some of the facts of life that you must be prepared to face in today's selling world.

First, sales take longer simply because of the increasing variety of forces affecting the selling process.

For example, because the dollar-value of sales tend to be greater than ever before, customers have a greater perception of risk than before.

In addition, customers tend to be more knowledgeable about the availability of products and the market. They know that they have options.

However, they tend to view products as commodities with little product differentiation. From their perspectives, one product may be as good as another.

As a result, they are more wary, cautious and indecisive.

Also, you can expect price to come up early as a critical issue which, if addressed too soon can kill the sale.

Another point, you must expect to make multiple calls to make a sale, perhaps as many as 5 or 6, with each designed in a logical progression toward a close.

You will also in many cases have to deal with multiple decision-makers with multiple presentations.

And then, because of the proliferation of products in many markets, you can expect more competition.

And lastly, you can expect competition to be aggressive and tough.

Facing and understanding such challenges in the market is the starting point. Strategic planning is the key to turning them into opportunities. This includes the things you must know and the preliminary steps you must take to prepare a winning approach. So let's look at some of the useful strategies that will help you achieve successful sales in the new economy.

Deciding who your customers are is the first step on the road to selling success. This is a matter of determining what companies you can do the most for, which of course means what companies will do the most for you in terms of sales. Here are some useful criteria for qualifying your potential prospects:

1. Choose companies that are growing and prosperous, companies that have their future ahead of them, not behind them. Investing your time and energies in companies with declining fortunes can only result in diminishing returns.

2. Along this same line, choose companies big enough to be worth your while, where there is promise of substantial volume in the orders you get. It may not take any more effort to get a big order than it does a small one. It's good business to fish for whales, not minnows.

3. Choose companies that you feel you can help to grow, where your product or service will help them increase their market.

4. Choose companies where you can help the customer help their customers through your product or service.

5. Choose companies where your product or service will result in significant financial improvement to the customer.

6. Choose companies that will be buying right now rather than sometime down the road.

7. But at the same time, identify and keep track of those companies who might be buying in the future.

Once you've selected potential prospects, the next step is researching them. Success is equal to your knowledge of what you do and how you do it, as well as knowledge of your customers, what they do, how they do it; and in bringing all this together as second nature to work for you.

You have to learn everything you possibly can about your customer's business, about both the products and the firm, as well as about the industry and your competitors and their products. The more you know before your first call the more effective you will be and the more confidence you will have in dealing with your prospect.

Look for information in the logical connections to your customer's business. Here are a few examples of where to find information:

1. People in your own company who have sold to that prospect.

2. Starting with the smallest firm in that industry, study it carefully and work your way up to the larger companies.

3. Talk to non-customers in the same industry with similar problems.

4. Talk to non-competitive suppliers who sell to that company.

5. Talk to people in the trade association for that industry.

6. Read all the available trade publications.

7. Consult industry experts such as management consultants and lawyers.

8. Read the companies own publications such as annual reports, 10Ks, newsletters and speeches.

This is the way you earn the right to sell, by becoming informed in advance. With this knowledge at your command you're ready to approach your customers and say, "I have ideas that can help you."

But you have to talk to the right person. Do the detective work to find out the right person or persons to talk to. It will save you a lot of time and disappointment to know this in advance. Ask people in your company who have contacts. Ask other industry or trade group contacts. Don't stop until you have a good idea who the persons are who can directly influence the purchase of your product or service. And once you make contact, don't be afraid to ask who else should be involved.

Next, plan your approach to position yourself as a problem solver, someone who focuses on results and the benefits of your product to the customer. As someone used to say, "If you can see Joe Jones through Joe Jones eyes, you can sell Joe Jones what Joe Jones buys."

Be prepared to listen to the customer's problems and where he wants to go with his business. Your challenge is to discover problems the customer has that are profitable for both you and the customer to solve. In every case, the value of the solution to the problems must be greater than the cost of your product or service. In effect, you must be in a position of offering your customer a free product, one that will pay for itself and more.

Here is where you prepare to put on your independent consultant's or doctor's hat, so that the customer will want to hire you to make an examination, diagnose the problem and offer a prescription for correcting the problem.

Next, the best way to be accepted as a problem solver is to position yourself as an expert in your field. People respect experts and want to buy from them because they have confidence that experts know what they are talking about. You've done your homework and you know everything there is to know about your customer's business and products. And you also know everything there is to know about your product to the point that you know more about it than virtually anyone else. This is a great confidence builder because you know more ways than anyone else how your product can help your customers.

You will readily demonstrate your expertise by virtue of the preparations you've made for your presentation. For example:

1. The excellence of your sales materials will be a positive reflection on the quality of your products and service.

2. For prospective customers, the best evidence of a good product is satisfied customers. So you will have testimonials in the form of letters from satisfied customers, lists of existing customers and photos of customers happily using your products. You'll also have third-party endorsements as well as data on the number of referrals and re-sales you've had.

3. Most important, as an expert in your field, you must be prepared to demonstrate the benefits of your product or service to the customer's business.

4. Your customer has one overriding question in mind about your product and that is, "What's in it for me?" How can your product help his business? Here is a three-step process to prepare yourself to answer those questions: (a) list in order the five or ten most attractive features of your product that are reasons why customers should buy it the, (b) also list the problems or needs that these features satisfy and then, (c) list at least ten reasons why customers should buy from you rather than anyone else. In other words, what do you offer that no one else does?

Finally, you have to be prepared to quantify your answers in such terms as how your product will reduce costs, turnover and risk, or increase profits, satisfaction and security and at the same time pay for itself. These are the quantitative answers to the question, "What's in it for me?"

It's helpful, I think, to appreciate very early in your selling career that selling is a mental process, a matter of mind over matter. It involves applying your intellect, knowledge and experience, as well as your personality, in successfully presenting your product as the solution to your customer's problems.

You must have polished communication skills, including the ability to influence and persuade others and to know when to negotiate and compromise. One expert suggests that selling is 80% psychological and 20% technical. As always, knowledge is your stock in trade. Your success will depend on your ability to assemble and integrate a greater amount of knowledge than your competitors.

Of course you have to keep in mind that no one actually buys products or services. Why not? What your customers want to buy and will buy are solutions to problems or means to other ends. Psychologists tell us that the basis for all human action is a desire to relieve dissatisfaction. In business, dissatisfaction usually relates to frustrations in reaching goals and very often a new product or service can be the answer to relieving that dissatisfaction. Your job initially is to get to the bottom of that dissatisfaction by analyzing the problem in relation to the goals and convincing the customer that you can help him achieve his goals.

Another important strategic element in selling success is the continuing professional self-assessment of what you're doing and how you're doing it. This is the process of regularly stepping back and rating yourself and making changes for improvement where it's needed.

You can do this by preparing a list of the important factors in selling that are critical to success and rating yourself against them. Here are several that should be on your list:

1. Your knowledge of your customer's business and the industry.

2. Your ability as a diagnostician in identifying the customer's problems.

3. Your skill in presenting your product as the best solution.

4. How good are you in prospecting and getting appointments—the reason most people in sales fail.

5. How well have you become a specialist in the industry?

6. Your preparation for selling against your competitor's weak spots.

7. Your preparation and skill in answering the customer's objections and concerns.

8. Your skill at establishing rapport, credibility and trust and making a good impression on the customer. How do you rate your personality?

9. How good are you at closing and getting the customer's commitment?

10. How good is your commitment to follow-up and exceeding the customer's expectations?

11. Your success rate for getting re-sales and referrals. All your business should be with existing customers and their referrals.

12. How do you rate your personal health and your appearance?

13. How effective are you in managing your time and setting goals?

Rate yourself on each of these factors on a scale of 1 to 10. Go over your appraisals with others who know your work to get some objective feedback. When you've identified areas where you need improvement, analyze the problems to discover how corrections can be made. In each instance, you should be able to isolate a limiting function that keeps you from reaching peak performance in that area. Approach each problem area with the question, "'If it were not for what?' I could be doing better" until you isolate the difficulty and proceed with corrective action.

Let's take a few minutes to talk more about the importance of time management to your success. It's absolutely essential that you know the rudiments of scheduling your time and have a sense of how valuable your time is and how important it is to use it productively.

You may be familiar with the notorious, but incisive axiom, Parkinson's Law, that says, "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion," which in its perverse way, is an accurate commentary on the tendency of human nature to squander time. We have a remedy to Parkinson's Law, however, when we commit to a disciplined effort of managing our time. When we do that, instead of letting the work expand to fill the time available, we are really expanding our time to get more work done.

The late humorist, Sam Levenson, gave a good prescription for using time effectively when he said, "If you want to kill time, why not try working it to death."

Unfortunately, few people have ever been taught time management and fewer still practice it. A corollary of Parkinson's Law also applies: That is, In the absence of effective controls on time, less and less is accomplished.

To put this into perspective, you can take the position that you really are principally selling your time. The logical next step is to figure out what your hourly rate of compensation is and justify all your activities against that rate.

Successful sales people place such a premium on their time with their customers that they believe that they only time they're working is when they're face-to-face with a customer.

Here are a few examples of significant time wasters that sales people experience when they don't manage their time well.

1. The most pervasive time waster is procrastination, the master thief of time.

2. Incomplete sales calls that necessitate time-consuming call-backs.

3. Inaccuracies and deficiencies in information and paper work.

4. Incomplete or lack of product or customer knowledge.

5. Unconfirmed appointments that the customer probably has forgotten.

6. Failing to cluster sales calls efficiently in convenient geographic proximity.

7. Inordinate and unnecessary preoccupation with details.

8. Failure to concentrate on what the customer is saying and missing cues that could help the sale.

9. Fatigue from over work or lack of sleep that reduces effectiveness, causes errors.

10. Failing to set goals.

11. Failure to prioritize, putting last things first.

Successful sales people seem to agree with the Greek philosopher who said, "Our costliest expenditure is time." They believe that managed time is a precious asset, that wasted time a deadly enemy. They work hard to avoid time wasters and to make the most of their time.

Here are a few tips on how successful people use time effectively:

1. Engage in goal-setting and advance planning. They always know where they're going and how to get there.

2. Plan and prioritize each day the night before.

3. Analyze each day's performance to learn from mistakes and improve performance.

4. Use a Day Timer notebook organizer or a digital equivalent.

5. Join the "6 am club:" Get up early, get going early and get in a full day of calls.

6. Use your days for seeing customers, not for paper work.

7. Avoid coffee breaks and have working lunches. The time saved represents 2 to 3 months income per year.

8. Confirm all calls in advance; this will impress customers to the point that if they've forgotten, they will make a new appointment.

9. Memorize and practice your presentation; know exactly what your key questions will be.

10. Read sales motivation books 30 minutes per day and listen to audio programs in your car to boost motivation and enthusiasm.

11. Get at least eight hours sleep every night for maximum energy and mental alertness.

An important step in taking control of your time is to make a serious assessment of how you're currently using your time. You can do this by setting up and using a Time Log. This is a system of recording your daily activities and the amount of time spent at what you do. You can do this either on paper or digitally, whatever is handiest.

The key to keeping a useful Time Log is making a detailed record of everything you do. The more detailed the better. From the time that you get up in the morning to the time you go to bed, make a note of every meeting, phone call, auto trip, whatever, and the time you start and the time you finish for each occurrence.

Next, the important step at the end of the week is to analyze these records by preparing a breakdown between productive use of time and non-productive use of time. You'll readily see what the time-wasters are and how much of your day they're stealing from you. Most people who do a Time Log discover that the majority of their time is used up on non-productive activities.

Be sure then to take the final important step and use this valuable information in the planning and scheduling of your time. Now that you know what the time-wasters in your routine are, simply eliminate or avoid these costly distractions to your sales productivity.

We often refer to the passage of time in terms of how we "spend" the time and it bothers me to think of it that way. Once we simply spend time, it's gone forever and can never be recovered and that's a terrible waste. It's as if we let our precious minutes and hours just slip through our fingers, leaving us with only the remorse of wondering where our time has gone.

We're a lot better off, I believe, if we condition ourselves to thinking of time as a resource to invest rather than something to spend. We never question the wisdom of investing our money for a profitable return. We should think of investing our time in the same way. Just as money returns us value when we allocate it wisely, our time will enrich us with the achievement of our goals when we use our minutes and hours efficiently. Only then are we investing our time rather than merely spending it.

Now, few preparations for selling success are more important than positioning yourself to understand why people buy. You don't have to be a psychologist to know that people will buy a product or service for their reasons, not yours. Your job is to do the probing to find out what those reasons are.

Everything that human beings do is aimed at improving whatever condition they happen to be in. They decide to buy something only if they become convinced that the product or service under consideration will make them better off than they were before. They'll be better off, they've decided, because what they're buying fills a need. People buy to fulfill their needs.

The key to your selling success is finding out what it is the prospect believes or perceives will make him or her better off. You have to discover whatever needs the prospect has that can be fulfilled by your product or service.

The discovery process is called a Need Analysis and you simply are wasting your time if you attempt to sell before completing a thorough Need Analysis. You must talk to your prospect long enough and carefully enough to find out what needs your product can satisfy. What are the key benefits of your product that connect with the prospect's needs?

As we've discussed, the decision to buy is motivated by the desire to gain or to be better off. But what about the decision not to buy? The decision not to buy is motivated by the fear of loss or failure. This is the fear that deciding to buy will make the prospect worse off than they are. Obviously, no one consciously chooses to be worse off than they are. If fear is the dominant emotion, there is no sale. But fears are also needs that can be satisfied.

Now the interesting thing is that these two emotions, the desire to gain and the fear of loss, typically are interacting simultaneously in the prospect's mind. This tension between these conflicting emotions is always present in any selling situation. In every sales prospect there's a tug of war going on under the surface, to some extent unconsciously, between the desire to be better off and the fear of somehow getting burned in the deal.

As a sales person, it's your job, of course, to resolve that tension in the favor of a sale. It's your job to convince the prospect of how and why your product will make him better off and at the same time alleviate his worries about the possibility of losing. His fears may also constitute needs that can be satisfied.

So, by precisely positioning your product to meet his needs, you have increased the intensity of his desire for gain to the point that it has overcome his fear of loss. And that means you have provided a powerful motivation to buy your product.

For example, a person negotiating to buy a new car from you, is motivated by several positive and negative needs. He may need a roomier car, or he needs to lower his costs, or he wants more horsepower, or he wants more safety features, or maybe certain accessories are important to him. Or perhaps it's a combination of needs. But his desire is pretty intense. He really wants a new car.

However, at the same time, he's apprehensive about how he can afford the payments. Will he pay too much? Is this the right time to buy? Will he get the right one? Can he get a better deal somewhere else. Will he get a lemon? His fear of loss and his fear of failure start to erode his desire for being better off so that the two emotions are pulling him in different directions.

The point is, several factors may be weighing in the prospect's decision to buy the car. Obviously, you stand a better chance of making the sale if you know what those needs are and can present your product in a the most favorable light to them. It won't help your sale to talk about horsepower or getaway speed if the buyer is primarily looking for dependable transportation. It won't help to focus on the automatic transmission if his chief worry is payment terms.

You won't learn what the buyer's needs are in the sale if you do all the talking. The old concept of the salesperson engaging in a marathon pitch extolling the product's bells & whistles just doesn't work.

Through the Needs Analysis discovery process you find out what the prospect's needs are by serial questioning and serious listening. Successful sales people are good questioners and excellent listeners. With the right questions—and patience—the prospect will tell you just what his needs are. And in most instances, this will include needs that he has never articulated or perhaps even been aware of before.

In making a Needs Analysis, the good questioner will borrow the tried and true method that newspaper reporters are trained to use in getting their stories. This is the use of the five W's and an H: Who, What, When, Where, Why & How. When you apply these six helpers carefully and patiently, the prospect will tell you everything you want to know.

So remember, finding out why people buy is the important fundamental to successful selling. The answers to why they buy are contained in the needs to be better off and their fears of failure. The key to discovering those needs is a Needs Analysis where your secret weapons are questions and listening.

The "end game" or bottom line to the Needs Analysis is to identify two key elements in the prospect's decision-making process. The first of these is the Key Benefit to your product. This is the one benefit or feature that will cause the prospect to buy. There may be other, lesser features, that appeal to him, but this is the compelling one, the one that makes the difference. Your purpose, once you've uncovered the key benefit, is to focus on it over and over, keep coming back to it, so that this becomes the most important and most persuasive reason for buying your product.

You discover the Key Benefit mainly by careful questioning. It doesn't even hurt at some point to simply ask the prospect, "If you were to buy this product, what is about it that would make you decide to go ahead?" Another possibility is to ask your existing customers what were their main reasons for buying the product.

The other key element you must discover is the Key Issue in your prospect's decision. The Key Issue is the major objection or fear that keeps the buyer from saying "yes." This could be one of any number of things and the only way to discover it is by thorough, patient questioning. Once you find out what the objection is, of course, you are in a position to present information that will either dismiss or minimize the objection.

The important point to keep in mind here is that you cannot sell unless you discover both the Key Benefit and the Key Issue that the buyer has concluded about your product.

It's good to keep in mind, meanwhile, that people today really aren't looking for someone to "sell" them on a product. In so many instances, they are looking for help in understanding the complexities of a product. They want someone who can teach them what this thing is all about and how it works. They don't want a lot of pressure to buy it. They would rather have a sales person who becomes a counselor, an advisor and even a confidant to their special needs. When the salesperson can make it clear that the product answers their needs, they will buy.

Incidentally, experienced sales people have learned that prospective buyers don't like the term "new" in connection with a product. To the extent that "new" is synonymous with "unknown" the word may reinforce buyers' fears of the unfamiliar. They have found instead that buyers respond positively to the concept of "improved"—in the case of an "improved" product. So when you're introducing a change in a product, be sure you always describe it as "improved" instead of "new."

Planning and preparing your strategies for successful selling is an ongoing process. The information discussed in this message has only scratched the surface of what you can do to position yourself for success in the selling experience. I am confident, however, that the strategies that we've discussed here are essential elements to your success and will prove invaluable to you in the years ahead.

Please keep this chapter and your notes from it in a place where it will be convenient for you to return to them and review them frequently.

*****

Chapter Three

ENGAGING THE CUSTOMER FOR SUCCESS

Growth of the internet and e-commerce business notwithstanding, the selling of most of the goods and services consumed around the world still depends on humans talking face-to-face to other humans. Whenever products need to be sold, not merely conveyed, person-to-person interaction is vital to completing successful transactions. There is no electronic substitute for the personal contacts you must make to acquire prospects and sell your product or service to them. Selling is a people business and your success depends directly on your ability to relate effectively on a one-to-one basis to your customers.

In this chapter, we will discuss the importance of the personal elements of your sales relationships along with some of the proven strategies for identifying and engaging your customers for long-term, profitable relationships.

To begin, there are three basic functions of selling and they all require focusing your personal attention on the people you want to buy your products. You need to become skilled in each of these areas in order to sell successfully.

1. Just as blocking and tackling are the fundamentals of football, prospecting is the important fundamental of selling. And while prospecting is a numbers game—the greater number of prospects, the greater number of potential sales—strategies applied to prospecting can improve the percentages of those numbers. But the essential purpose of prospecting is finding people who will buy from you within a reasonable time.

2. Second is the presentation. Presenting your product and the reasons the potential customer should buy it is the heart of the selling process. But timing is critical to the presentation, coming only after you have developed an understanding of how the product will solve the customer's problem and the presentation has been fashioned to answer those needs.

3. The third function is the important step of answering all of the customer's questions and resolving whatever objections or further problems that may arise. This is the key stage of turning objections into selling points, setting up the close and getting the order.

Let's start with a focus on prospecting, the important first step in the selling process. Prospecting, just like in the Gold Rush days, involves a lot of digging, screening and assaying or evaluating to find the gold represented by qualified potential buyers. The first rule of prospecting is that you must keep prospecting continuously to keep the hopper full of potential buyer ore. As you work through your prospect list, you have to continue devoting part of your time to bringing in new prospects so that you always have a backlog on hand.

Keep in mind that quantity of prospects is especially important when the dollar value of sales is low. In this case, you need to maintain a high level of activity and an efficient processing of prospects to produce results.

On the other hand, when you're selling big-ticket products or services and every sale is significant, you must place more emphasis on the quality of effort and the care of the customer. It's much more costly to lose one of these customers than when the dollar value of each sale is low. So, when quality is more important than quantity, you can afford to be patient and proceed carefully.

In prospecting, your appraisal of potential customers is really a problem search. You're not there to sell or even to talk about your product or service. You're mission is discover problems your product or service can fix even if the prospect doesn't know he or she has a problem.

Prospects usually fall into three categories related to how much they are aware of their problems. The first definitely knows that he has a problem, knows what it is and wants to fix it. The second has an idea that something is wrong, but doesn't have a clue what it is or whether it can be fixed. The third simply isn't aware that there is a problem.

Your challenges are to sort these out and see if and how your product can become the solution to the problem.

You'll do well in your prospecting campaigns if you first take time to study and question how your product's key benefits match the customer's needs, both for specific prospects in mind, or more broadly, for all prospects.

1. First, what result does your product offer the customer's needs or problems?

2. What is the unique property in your product that makes it superior to any other and provides the competitive advantage that makes the customer want to buy from you?

3. Who is your ideal customer in terms of size, business, location, diversity, buying history and reputation? Draw up a profile of your ideal customer.

4. Why would this ideal customer buy from you? What benefits are they looking for? Find the answers in who is currently buying your product and why they are buying?

5. Where will you find your customer? In what industries, what companies, what departments or disciplines or what geographical locations?

6. How and why does your customer buy? What criteria do they set? What is the approval process? What goes into the buying decisions?

Thinking through questions like these give you the perspective of what to look for in your prospects and can save you time in avoiding blind alleys.

Your best prospects, the ones that you're really looking for, will always meet the following criteria:

1. They have problems your product or service can solve, they know they have a problem and are looking for solutions.

2. Their initial problem is only the beginning; it can be leveraged into additional sales.

3. They are worth your while because they offer the potential of high dollar volume sale.

4. They are favorably disposed by reputation to either your industry, your company, your product, or yourself.

5. Their business is growing and expanding and they are financially strong.

6. They are a credible source of referrals.

Productive prospecting depends on planning and good technique. It's important to think through ahead of time exactly what you're going to do and what you want to accomplish in each prospecting call. Here are some proven approaches to successful prospecting:

1. Have specific objectives for each call; you'll want to: (a) see a specific person, (b) get specific information, (c) determine if there is a problem and if a sale is possible, and (d) move to the next step in the sales process.

2. Be willing to trade information, i.e., what you've learned about the industry, problems other companies are having, etc.

3. Tell them what additional information you need from them to make a recommendation.

4. Expect to meet resistance and skepticism and be prepared for it with a positive, relaxed and cheerful attitude.

5. Be willing to spend whatever time the prospect needs or wants to discuss problems.

6. Keep in mind your primary objectives: To uncover specific problems and get agreement on the next step. Use the formula, "TDPPR": Time, Date, Person, Place and Reason to ask: "Why don't we set a time & date for where we want to meet and who we want to be there?"

In prospecting, the initial job is to make friends, uncover problems, suggest possible solutions and agree on the next step.

One of your best sources of new prospects is through referrals and in time, you should expect that the majority of your prospects will come from referrals. Your success in getting referrals will depend entirely on the quality of the reputation you have with your existing customers. Let's take a minute to talk about what's behind a solid reputation. All successful sales people are mindful of their reputations and what their customers think about them. When you care about your reputation and how customers feel, you're naturally going to take the extra steps that assure that customers are satisfied.

Here's what some corporate customers said in a survey about the top sales people calling on them:

1. He works for me rather than his own company.

2. He's here to help me solve problems and achieve goals.

3. She's a friend, counselor, and consultant.

4. She really understands my situation, takes time to listen, and respond.

5. He's honest, reliable, and dependable. I can count on him.

Opinions like these are golden. Once customers feel this way they will never buy from anyone else. And they don't hesitate to recommend you to others. So it pays to be mindful of what your customers think about you. And even beyond that, be mindful how you are regarded in the industry broadly. Just as reputation is your company's most valuable asset, your professional reputation is your most valuable asset. Such terms as "nice, honest, knowledgeable, reliable, cheerful, punctual..." are good terms to be known by.

The initial key to success in your prospecting effort is the effectiveness of your telephone approach to prospects. Because you're calling to get an appointment, your first objective is to arouse the prospect's interest in seeing you.

Here are some important steps to consider:

1. You get the prospect's attention by asking a critical question that arouses curiosity by answering the question, "Why should I listen to you?" So you ask, for example, "Would you be willing to invest in a new method that increases production 25% and pays for itself in three years?" It's important that the opening question also generate the question, "What is it?" It focuses on a key benefit to the prospect in a way that not only gets his attention, but makes him want to know more. Carefully plan your question in advance, rehearse it until you know it word-for-word and can ask it exactly as you have planned it.

2. Your question should help in assuring that you're talking to the right buyer, but you should always confirm that you have the right person and if not, ask to be directed to the right place.

3. Assure the prospect that the proposed visit will be short and that there will be no obligation or high pressure to buy. Just say, "I need just 10 minutes to show you and you can judge for yourself." Instead of asking, "When could I see you," leaving it up to him, keep the initiative and ask for several 'windows of time' for an appointment: for example, 'tomorrow morning or afternoon. Keep asking insistently for a time, "Look, I have my datebook right here, is yours handy? Why don't we set a time right now?"

4. Once the date is set, always call and confirm just prior to going to the appointment. This will not only reinforce your interest and commitment, but it also provides insurance in case the prospect has forgotten and made other plans. In that case, your chances of rescheduling are good. Especially with a first appointment, it's critically important that you get a firm date and confirm it just before the meeting. You will get a better reception to any call if you call with a smile in your voice and you do that by actually smiling when you talk. It's obvious to people on the other end of the phone that you are smiling. And nothing opens doors better than a genuine smile. Get some practice by putting a mirror on your desk and watching yourself smile into the phone.

5. Remember, your only purpose in calling is to get an appointment. Never try to sell on the phone. You lose all the advantages available in personal contact with the prospect and it's much easier for him to say "no" over the phone than in person. By the same token, you should never describe the product other than to emphasize its benefits to the prospect, for example, "It will increase sales by 30%." What you say should tease and arouse curiosity that can only be satisfied by a personal meeting.

6. Next, never mail information to the prospect. Materials in the prospects hands will invite questions and objections leading to a potential "no" that you are not present to answer.

7. When you call to re-confirm your appointment, use this opportunity to increase the prospect's interest and curiosity with statements like, "You're going to like what I have to show you."

8. And the final step in your pre-appointment preparations, immediately before your visit, take time to visualize yourself as you want the prospect to see you. Visualize yourself as calm, relaxed and in control. Confidence begins with liking yourself. Use the self-actualizing practice of saying, "I like myself," and repeating it several times just before your meeting.

As someone said, you only have one chance to create a first impression. And with every new prospect you have only one chance to cement the bond that can lead to a sale. Never leave the conduct or the course of the meeting to chance. Plan exactly in advance how you intend to handle the meeting and once there, maintain the initiative and always stay in control of the meeting. Here are some suggestions for making your prospect meetings successful.

The best first impression you can make is with a smile. A smile says you're glad to see them and it will make them glad to see you. Back up your smile with a firm handshake. It doesn't have to be a bone-crushing handshake, but it should be firm enough to convey your confidence. And while you're shaking hands, reinforce their curiosity about your product by saying, "You're really going to like what I have to show you." Make them happy to see you.

An important rule to remember is people never make buying decisions standing up. Buying decisions are only made when the person is sitting down in his comfort zone. So, never make your presentations standing up. If the prospect doesn't offer to sit down immediately, simply suggest that it would be more comfortable if you talked while sitting down.

You can set the tone of the meeting through the power of suggestion. If you are calm, relaxed and confident, you will impart these qualities to your prospect. When your manner puts the prospect at ease, he will be much more receptive to what you have to say.

One of your primary objectives in your first meeting is to build the prospect's trust in you and your product. Do this in a variety of ways. For example, ask for an opinion on your product. If you get a negative response, say, "Tell me more" or "Give me an example." Listen a lot, smile, and ask more questions.

Body language is extremely important in any meeting. It has been estimated that 80-90% of communication is non-verbal. We are constantly communicating by our tone of voice, gestures, eyes and the expressions on our faces. Person-to-person contact can be important, such as an occasional touch of a forearm for emphasis. Of course, always maintain good posture, whether standing or sitting. Never fold your arms or let your prospect fold his arms. You've probably heard the saying, "Folded arms means a closed mind." If your customer folds his arms, hand him something that requires him to unfold his arms. Also, crossed legs means holding back information, so avoid crossing your legs. Your best posture in talking to a prospect is leaning slightly forward, watching the prospect, maintaining eye contact, listening carefully, nodding and smiling. And never lean back in your chair. This will encourage the prospect to do the same thing and relax. You don't want him to relax. A relaxed prospect won't buy.

Appearances are critically important. Your personal appearance should be exemplary. You should be well-groomed in every respect, including your clothes, shoes, hair and nails.

Your product should also be well-groomed, that is, it should be clean in every respect and presented well. Just as important, your printed materials not only must be crafted well, but they must be fresh and unsoiled.

Obviously, your presentation has to be first class. It must be carefully prepared, memorized word-for-word and fully rehearsed. Give a lot of thought to making your presentation clear, concise, understandable, logical and complete. Imagine yourself conveying information with the same precision as a lawyer presenting an argument or a doctor presenting an opinion.

Noise can be a serious distraction to a meeting. If this is a problem, ask the prospect if there is someplace you can hold the meeting where noise won't interfere with your discussion.

And of course, if the meeting is held in your office, make sure not only that noise is not a problem, but that your office and desk are neat, clean and orderly and you won't be interrupted.

Now, keep in mind, that what you're intent on doing from the very first meeting with a prospect is building a relationship. It even helps to let the customer know that you're interested in building a long-term relationship and are committed to helping the customer solve his problems.

It's an interesting fact that given a choice, customers will choose a better relationship with a sales person over a product because people like to buy from people they like. There's a comfort factor in dealing with someone you have confidence in, are comfortable being around, and who is interested in your problems.

Relationships can never be built on high-pressure or manipulative techniques. Customers know when they're being pressured and will naturally resist tactics of this kind. The natural disposition of customers is to want long-term relationships with sales people they like and can trust. And once a relationship is established, the sales value of the customer will build as the strength of the relationship builds.

The importance of relationships in sales can be summarized in the following key points:

1. Customers want long-term relationships with fewer, but better suppliers.

2. They want friendly, quality relationships, not adversarial relationships.

3. They want cooperative relationships built on trust and geared toward achieving mutual goals.

4. Top sales people are relationship experts in finding personal, non-business ways to reinforce the relationship. Thoughtful gestures such as remembering birthdays, names of children, hobbies and interests are important.

5. Customers want sales people who will be "partners" in their business, helping in ways that they are looked on almost as employees.

The idea of "partnering" between a sales person and customer is the logical extension of a sound business relationship. While it is an informal concept, rather than a legal arrangement, partnering nevertheless has all the benefits of a formal business alliance. In partnering, the sales person and client are working in concert toward mutual goals. It is the relationship the sales person must work to achieve. It is the quality of relationship the client seeks in a sales person.

A partnering relationship is defined mostly by what you as the salesperson bring to the relationship, especially in the form of knowledge of about your customer's business.

Here are some of the requirements for successful partnering:

1. The foundation for partnering is finding potential customers who stand to have the greatest benefit from your product or service

2. Partnering is a relationship built on the level of trust you engender in the customer. It has been estimated that 40% of a sale depends on trust.

3. It involves positioning yourself as a consultant and problem solver with a goal of educating the customer.

4. True partnering requires a thorough knowledge of your customer's business, his products and markets.

5. You need to analyze the source of your customer's sales revenues, profits and potential profits and how you can affect them.

6. You must also develop an extensive data base on your customer's industry and how he relates to it and his competitors.

7. You must determine just how your product or service can profit your customer in areas of high impact. The customer must recognize these benefits and should identify areas of greatest need.

8. Once you have seen the product or service installed, follow up to assure its proper usage and be available to trouble-shoot difficulties.

9. Calculate the actual financial contribution you have made to the business and present this in writing to the customer.

10. Review the successful project with the customer and get him to talk about it. The more enthusiastic he is about it, the more likely he will be a repeat customer and a source of good referrals.

11. Look for opportunities for additional sales within the company.

There are a variety of additional strategies that also can be applied to enhance your effectiveness in the partnering effort.

Here are a few:

1. Make an effort to get to know as many people as possible in the customer's company.

2. Determine how decisions are made and who their key decision makers are, especially where your product is concerned.

3. Cultivate the decision makers and learn the kinds of information they need to make decisions.

4. Cultivate potential allies who will support the purchase of your product.

5. Be able to talk knowledgeably about trends in the industry and the business outlook.

Partnering, then, is just what the word implies. You want to position yourself in the eyes of your customer or potential customer as an essential "partner" in making his business run profitably.

In focusing earlier on prospecting we said this is essentially a problem search. You are on a hunt for problems you believe your product or service will solve. And as we now know, people don't buy products, they buy solutions to their problems. Products are only a means to an end, an end that may be satisfaction, happiness, peace of mind, or any number of other psychic rewards, in addition to profits.

You're also looking for dissatisfaction in customers who may not know what the problem is, but do know they want to do better. And with the proliferation of complex equipment, systems and processes available these days, people often don't know what direction to turn for help. In many instances, potential customers simply don't realize how much better off they could be with the kind of innovations that you can offer them.

You will be looking for cases of discontent that you can intensify; that is, you'll increase their discontent when you show them just how far away they are from where they want to be. And you'll also bring discontent where it doesn't currently exist. People never like to find out the true extent of their problems. But that's just what you'll be striving to do in showing them the gap between where they are and where they should be. As a bearer of bad news, for the moment at least, you're truly a bad news bear. But this is a case of first the bad news, then the good news when you show how you can help them close the gap.

This is where we use Gap Analysis, the process of identifying where a customer is with a problem and showing him where he could be and how your product can get him there.

Ultimately, the gap must be clearly perceived by the customer in order to get him or her to do something about it. At the same time, it must large enough to justify the expense that it takes to correct it. If the customer doesn't perceive or comprehend the gap and or doesn't see a gap that's large enough, then he or she won't justify the expense of buying your product or service.

The requirements you have to have for making gap analysis are the fundamentals we've discussed before: First, complete knowledge of your product and what it can do; next, knowledge of the industry and its problems; and last, a thorough knowledge of your customer's business.

So, what's involved in making a gap analysis? The answer to that question is: Asking questions! You seek to uncover and determine the scope of problems by a process of logical, probing questions.

And the good thing about asking questions is it establishes you as consultant or doctor, rather than a salesperson. You're positioned as a problem solver who has come to help make the customer better off.

Also, questions are guaranteed to hold the customer's attention. Typically, when you're talking, you're only holding about one-third of the customer's attention, while the other two-thirds of his attention are off thinking about the problems of the day. But while he is answering one of your questions, he must devote 100% of his attention to you and your subject. So the more questions you ask, the more certain and the more fully you will hold the customer's attention.

An important rule to follow is never tell something if you can put it in question. Never say, for example, "Industry sales for the last quarter were up 15%." Instead, say, "Did you hear that industry sales for the last quarter were up 15%?" While simple statements can be ignored, every question elicits an answer that holds the customer's attention.

So, keep this simple axiom in mind: "Telling is not selling." As long as you're telling, you're not interacting with the customer which is the key to successful selling. Because eventually, through your questions, you want the customer to tell you why he wants to buy.

Another important reason for asking questions is the person asking questions keeps control of the sales dialogue. It's the same as in a job interview, the person seeking the job keeps control and sells himself by asking good questions. In gap analysis, you're the doctor making the diagnosis and you size up the problem by asking the questions, not the patient.

Customers will often jump in early with questions like, "How will your product help us?" or, "How much does it cost?" When this happens, you just refuse to answer and instead, simply smile and say, "Gosh, I'm not sure what we have here, yet, but if I could ask you a couple more questions, such as..." Answering questions with a question keeps the conversation going in the direction you want it to go.

And by the way, successful sales people never wing it when it comes to asking questions. They never count on thinking up questions on the spur of the moment. Good questions are the result of careful study and planning and are written out and rehearsed so that the sales person knows them by heart. Knowing what questions to ask ahead of time allows you to gauge timing as well in order to be able to ask the right question at the right time. Thoughtful, well-prepared questions asked at the right time, can be responsible for 80% of the sale.

The final phase in gap analysis, after you have fully revealed the problem through your questions, is making sure that the problem is clarified, quantified and intensified.

You'll clarify it by asking every conceivable question of who, what, why, where, when and how, as to the origins, history, scope, effect, etc., that fully defines and puts the problem in perspective.

Then, quantify the problem by calculating the costs and payout for closing the gap with your product or service. This will tell the customer how he can justify the purchase of your product.

Finally, intensify the problem by reviewing it thoroughly with the customer and getting him or her to talk about it and come to grips with the reality of the problem. The more the customer acknowledges the condition, the more he talks about it, then the more he legitimizes the matter as a problem to be solved, the more readily he will be to accept you and your product as the solution.

So, please keep in mind that gap analysis and the questions you ask are the key to assessing your customer's problems, making those problems real in the customer's mind and for positioning your product as the solution to the problem.

In this chapter we have talked about the importance of personal interaction in selling as well as some of the techniques that build relationships with customers and increase sales.

Please remember that there is no substitute for the personal contacts you make in acquiring prospects and selling your product or service to them.

I suggest that you review this information as often as you can to gain the maximum benefit from the ideas we've discussed.

*****

Chapter Four

GETTING THE ORDER

In this chapter, we will discuss the final three elements in the selling process: (1) the presentation, (2) the close and (3) the follow-up to the sale. We name these components for purposes of our discussion, but in reality, these are parts of a continuum, parts of the selling process that are inextricably linked and dependent on one another, so that no sale is completed without the execution of all three.

The interdependency of the presentation and the close is obvious for a couple of reasons. The first of these is that the best presentations not only incorporate closing techniques within them but are so persuasive that the sale is a foregone conclusion. As a result, many feel that the real close always takes place in the presentation. The second reason the presentation and close are connected is that you have to be prepared to stop the presentation and begin the close the instant the customer signals that he or she wants the product. And we'll talk more about that later.

The follow-up to the sale is the essential glue that holds the sale together after the product has been delivered and provides the basis for a continuing relationship, as well as for additional sales. If you consider potential value of your future sales to that customer, the follow-up you make to the initial sale is the most important step of all in the sale.

We've placed a lot of emphasis so far in our discussion of the sales process on the importance of the personal factors in the sale: the kind of person you must be, the preparations before the sale and the personal relationship you must develop with the customer; all of these building blocks must be in place before you actually talk about your product or service.

No selling can take place until you have developed at least an elemental friendship with the prospect. You build trust by building a solid rapport with the customer. With many products, you may achieve that in an hour or two. With sophisticated and big ticket products, it may take days or weeks to achieve the necessary comfort level that gives you the green light to talk business.

And then, and only then, are you prepared to begin the presentation. Starting the presentation before you have a solid relationship with the prospect will kill the sale.

One of the interesting characteristics about a good presentation is how it continues to selectively qualify the customer for your product or service. In doing your homework, You've already done the initial qualification that indicates this business is a potential customer.

Now, in presenting the various benefits of your product, your purpose is to determine the key benefit that will make this customer want to buy. You are qualifying the customer for that key benefit that makes the sale. And for this reason, you never rush through a laundry list of product benefits without carefully evaluating the customer's response to each one. The point is, when the customer's eyes light up and he begins asking a lot of questions about a specific benefit, you never say, "I'll get back to that after I finish the other six points I want to cover." You stop the presentation right there and start selling on that point and start closing the sale. When you've discovered what the customer really wants, you let him help you make the sale.

Incidentally, there's a rule of thumb that says with tangible products, especially with small ticket items, you should always be prepared to close on the first visit, while with intangible products, such as life insurance, there should be an expectation that it will take return visits to complete sale.

In the case of tangible products, the customer has an opportunity to touch and feel the product and even demonstrate it, so that his evaluation may be immediate and the physical presence of the product itself serves as a compelling reason for a decision. This is why you tend to be in a strong position to close on tangible products on a first visit.

With intangible products, such as insurance or investments, the evaluation is likely to be much more cerebral, involving study and analysis of the information presented. In insurance, for example, the first visit is always devoted to finding out what the client's needs are, so that that you can come back on a later visit with a presentation that meets those needs. Some even feel that it is unprofessional to try to close on an intangible product on the first call.

Let me ask you a question: Can you imagine making a sales call without a prepared presentation? Of course you wouldn't, but you'd be surprised how many people don't prepare, but believe their native charm and wit will carry the day for them. These are people who never make the top 5%, or 10%, or even the top 20% of sales professionals and they never understand why they're forever scratching for a living.

A planned sales presentation is at least 20 times more powerful than the ad lib approach. It's structured from the moment you ask the very first question to the time you start filling out the order form.

The heart of the planned presentation is your emphasis on features and benefits of your product. Call it the Feature & Benefit Show. Step-by-step, you show the prospect what your product can do and how what it does benefits him.

This is all done very logically, step-by-step through each of the product's principal features. And at each step, you are gauging the prospect's responses, looking for the key benefit that will be the compelling reason the prospect wants to buy the product. This is a teaching and learning process. You are teaching about your product, but you are also learning what it is about your product that will interest the prospect in buying it. You are teaching the prospect how his needs will be satisfied by your product and you are learning the prospect's key needs that must be satisfied.

If you get to the end of your presentation and the prospect hasn't told you that your product has a benefit that satisfies a need in his business, you are not ready to close. It may mean that this is not a qualified prospect, but it also may mean you just haven't discovered his true needs and you must dig deeper with your questions.

If your questions are logical and they elicit the right answers from the prospect, there shouldn't be an opportunity for the prospect to ask about price until the end of the presentation. If the issue of price comes up before that, it usually means you've lost the initiative with your questions and allowed the issue to come up. If you've made a good presentation that convinces the prospect that your product will satisfy his needs, price should be a secondary consideration.

The question of price, however, may be hovering in the back of the customer's mind at any time, and you must be prepared to deal with it. Your assumption in going should always be that no one can afford the price in the sense that there will always be alternative ways to spend the money and the decision to purchase your product will be weighed against the need to exclude purchases of other products. So, you must keep in mind the difference between "ability to pay" and "willing to pay." Most people that can pay for your product may not be willing to pay and your job is to increase their desire for your product to the point that they are willing to pay. From a tactical standpoint, here are several proven approaches for dealing with objections based on price.

1. Naturally, you don't ever mention price until the customer does. When you are asked, "How much?" you may say, 'Can we come to that in a second. That's the good part" and go on.

2. Always focus attention on the value received by the customer, not on the price paid.

3. To put that another way, emphasize what the customer is getting, not on what you're getting.

4. Never discuss price without mentioning value and benefits at same time

5. Always precede any mention of price by restating benefits in line with the axiom that "Intensified buying desire reduces price sensitivity."

6. If the customer says the product is "too expensive", say, "Compared to what?" and be prepared to compare the price to a more expensive article.

7. Always be prepared to justify the cost of your product by relating the increased benefits from the product's use to the relatively minor increase in the cost per day, stretched over the life of product.

8. Respond to the prospect's claims of a cash shortage with the "What if..." offer, e.g., "What if we arranged terms?" or "What if we didn't bill until next budget period," etc.

9. To a claim that a competitor sells a similar product cheaper, respond, "Yes, ours is more expensive, would you like to know why?" and use this opportunity to re-emphasize features and benefits.

There are several effective techniques that go into a good presentation. A good one to keep in mind is to lead with strength, that is, present your best product features first and proceed to the least important. In this way, your chances of finding a hot button to close on are better at the beginning of your presentation rather than at the end.

Next, keep the prospect involved. Keep your battery of questions flowing to elicit positive responses and keep the prospect talking. In addition, give the prospect information to look at. Ask him to write something down or make a calculation. Ask him to move to look at something in a better light or from a better angle. The idea is to make the prospect feel part of the presentation so that the more involved he is interacting with you, the more receptive he will be to your presentation.

The best means of encouraging interaction is with visual aids. Anything you can show the prospect with visual aids is 50 times more effective than words alone. And again, visual aids work best when you ask the prospect to tell you what they say. As we've said before, telling is not selling.

Most important of all, build your presentation on asking questions. Pity the poor novice sales person who can't stop talking about the virtues of his product and learns nothing about his prospects problems or needs. Professional sales people learn to convey virtually every bit of important information about their product in the form of a question. Or at least when a fact has to be stated, they then follow up with a question that requires a response from the prospect. And, as we've said before, you have to know in advance what questions you're going to ask.

Keep in mind that the typical attention span of the average person is about three sentences, or perhaps 100 words a minute. Now the same person thinks at an average rate of 400 to 500 words per minute, so if you've spoken three sentences without asking a question or used a visual aid, you've lost your audience. His mind is 400 words ahead of you, thinking about a different problem, because you haven't kept him involved in the presentation. Without interaction with the prospect, your presentation will die.

Quite possibly the part of selling that many sales people dislike most, next to making cold calls, is the closing of a sale. It boils down to facing the moment of truth and asking the important question that determines whether all your hard work will pay off or not. And tension may be high because the customer, as well as the sales person, has a lot riding on the decision. Both the sales person and the customer may be burdened by fear of failure. In short, for many people, closing when handled improperly, can be a painful experience.

The idea that the customer may be troubled by the prospect of closing is not news since the resistance in closing arises from the customer's side of the equation. Inherent in the customer's fear of failure may be latent fears of buying the wrong item, or paying too much or being second-guessed on the decision. Reluctance to decide may arise from the more basic problem of human inertia or resistance to change. We know that people tend to resist making decisions that will move them out of their comfort zones.

On the other hand, the aversion that sales people have toward the closing stems from a normal fear of rejection, but it's often made worse by several self-imposed obstacles that get in the way of getting a favorable decision from the customer.

1. One of the most common obstacles is a defeatist assumption that the sales person may have from the beginning that the prospect won't buy. This negative expectation will have a deadly effect on the presentation and inevitably will become a self-fulfilling prophecy on the outcome of the sale.

2. A lack of enthusiasm on the part of the sales person is equally deadly. If you don't show the customer that you really want the sale, the customer is not likely to give it to you.

3. A lack of sincerity by the sales person will kill a sale. You must be absolutely sincere in wanting to uncover the customer's problems and help find solutions. If your interest is primarily in the commission you hope to get on the sale, don't look for a responsive customer.

4. Perhaps it goes without saying that contradicting the prospect, telling him he is wrong, or arguing is equally deadly. Keep in mind the old adage, "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still."

5. Similarly, expressing opinions on controversial subjects such as religion, or politics is also likely to cause difficulty.

6. Knocking your competitors will not only alienate your customers, but will waste time. Instead, when asked about competitors, say, "Many of our customers once used their products, but switched to us. Would you like to know the reasons why?" And continue with your presentation of features & benefits.

7. Assuming authority that you don't have, or making promises you can't keep, just as with any misrepresentation, not only will kill a sale, but will also kill your reputation.

8. Similarly, over-selling, that is, saying a product can do something it can't do, for example, is a recipe for disaster.

On the constructive side, there are several essential conditions that must exist for a successful closing. These are the absolute requirements for moving into a closing and getting the order.

1. You must take the time and apply the appropriate amenities to develop a sound rapport and potentially, a friendship, with the prospect.

2. The prospect must be able to respect both you and your company.

3. You must be positive and enthusiastic in your manner and thoroughly confident that your product is the solution to your customer's problems so that your confidence will overcome any lingering resistance in the customer's mind.

4. Your confidence should be based on thorough understanding of what the customer's needs are and what the customer believes it will take to satisfy those needs.

5. At the same time, as a result of your teaching process, the customer must have a clear understanding of what your product or service will do and what its value will be to his business.

6. Accordingly, the customer at that point must clearly want the benefits offered by your product because he realizes that he needs it and will be able to use it, and lastly, will be able to afford it.

7. Finally, when it becomes apparent that it's time to close, either on a hot button or at the end of the presentation, you must always move immediately and decisively into closing without hesitation or equivocation. In this case, never have truer words been said than, "He who hesitates is lost."

You should keep in mind, that a sale seldom takes place without a close. Oh, there may be that rare occasion when the prospect jumps up half way through the presentation and says, "I'll take it, I'll take it!," but those occurrences exist more in a salesperson's fantasy rather than in reality. Successful sales people live by the old retailing maxim that says, regardless how good your presentation is, "You have to take the order!" And a good close is the way you take the order. It must be carefully planned, carefully rehearsed and carefully executed. To put it in some familiar terms, the close is the bottom line, it's the punch line, it's the denouement of the story. Or, as Vince Lombardi said about winning, the close "...isn't the most important thing, it's the only thing."

As I indicated earlier, the closing should be so automatic at the end of the presentation that the transition will occur as a normal and logical course of events. It should be the natural consequence of your effective presentation. When done well, the close is an integral part of the presentation. Here are some of the closes that will promote a positive decision by the customer.

The Approach Close actually begins at the beginning of your meeting with the prospect when his sales resistance is likely to be at its highest.

You reduce this resistance by asking him at the outset to agree to make a non-threatening decision at the end of your presentation. You're offering him a deal.

You offer a deal by saying, "Mr. Prospect, I won't try to sell you anything right now. But I ask that you look and listen at what I have to say about why others have bought this product and then honestly decide whether or not it applies to your business. And then tell me yes or no, if it does or doesn't apply. Okay? Will you do that?

Most people will naturally be curious why others have bought the product and since they have nothing to lose by listening, will invariably agree to hear what you have to say. So they say, "Okay, why not?" and you proceed with your presentation.

At the end of the presentation, you remind him that he promised to tell you whether or not it applied to his business with the likelihood that his answer will be something like, "Yes, but..." And he's then obliged to give you an objection or a reason that provides you with the perfect opening to continue selling.

Remember the Approach Close. There's a real psychological advantage to setting up the close at the beginning of the presentation.

Another close you set up at the beginning of your meeting with the prospect is the Demonstration Close. This close is structured with a seemingly hypothetical question, such as, "If I could provide you with a marketing incentive program that would increase sales 25%, would it be worth an investment of $5,000 to get it?" The question immediately changes the subject from whether he will listen to your presentation, and becomes instead, a hypothetical proposition of what it would be worth to the prospect for you to make good on your claim. The prospect's responses will range from an optimal, "Yes, it would be worth $5000 to me," to a non-committal, "I'll decide after I hear what you have to say." In either case, you have permission to proceed with your presentation, and in the case of a "yes" answer, you have already elicited a favorable disposition to buy. This is a powerful close, because you have established a favorable disposition to purchase your product at the outset.

One of the most effective closing techniques is the simplest. It's called The Invitation Close. As you get to the end of the presentation, without hesitation, issue the invitation, "Why don't you give it a try?" This straight-forward appeal works because it's disarming. It's received as if it's an invitation to a trial run, rather than to a final decision.

This close is based on the fundamental rule that you should never end a presentation without extending an invitation to make the buying decision at that moment. You can also use variations on the request such as, "Where would you like to take delivery?" or, "Would you like to start on this right away?"

"How-to" books on selling offer a great many so-called closing techniques for maneuvering the prospect into making the decision to buy the product. Unfortunately, too many of these methods amount to pressuring the prospect into the sale rather than obtaining the decision on the merits of the product and the quality of its presentation.

Because closing largely involves dealing with objections or other sales resistance, these kinds of closing maneuvers typically are designed to pre-empt objections or get around them rather than resolve them on the merits of the product or the services that support it. Because the most successful sales people regard objections as just another form of selling opportunity, we want to focus on the critical role that dealing with objections plays in achieving a successful close to your sale.

As a general rule, there can be no sale without objections because objections actually indicate interest from the customer and provide guideposts that show the way to the close. Every objections answered properly is a step closer to a buying decision.

I want you to remember that there are two important ways to answer objections:

1. The first and best way is to regard every objection as a request for more information, i.e., if the prospect says, "I can't afford it," interpret this as saying, "Show me how I can afford it," and respond accordingly with a renewed emphasis on features and benefits.

2. The second approach to answering objections is to know in advance your product's "six objections." The "Law of Six" is derived from studies that say that issues arising from any given product or service will always boil down to a maximum of six essential objections. It can be less than six, but typically not more than six. Your job, then, is to figure out in advance what six or less objections apply to your product and prepare the reasonable and logical responses to them ahead of time. Obviously, failing to prepare and trying to answer these objections off-the-cuff is likely to be counter-productive.

Next, I want you to memorize the six essential keys to handling objections.

1. First, you must determine if the objection is a "condition." And the reason for this is that a condition is a circumstance that will preclude the sale, i.e., disqualify the prospect. For example, you can't sell car insurance to someone who doesn't own a car. If someone says they can't afford it, you must determine if theirs is a condition of having no money at all, or a situation where financing terms would allow them to afford it.

2. Second, be patient and always let the prospect have his say. Don't interrupt. Encourage him to say it completely. Then, pause to take time to consider the issue, and respond politely and considerately.

3. Whenever appropriate, ask for elaboration on the matter. Say, "How do you mean that exactly?" or, "Well, as I understand what you're saying..." then repeat the objection of question before responding to resolve the objection or question.

4. Next, people like to feel their concerns are important, so always compliment the prospect for raising the objection, e.g., "That's a good question," or, "I'm glad you brought that up."

5. The fifth method of dealing with objections is the "feel, felt, found" method. It's a way of validating the prospect's objection when you say, "Mr. Prospect, I know exactly how you feel. Many of our happiest clients felt the same way. But this is what they found, etc." If possible, document your anecdote with testimonials from satisfied customers.

6. The sixth, and perhaps the most important key to dealing with objections is always to be pleasant, agreeable and receptive to objections without argument. After giving a response to an objection, be solicitous about whether you've resolved the issue, "Does that answer your question?" or, "Did I cover all the details on that?"

The important fact to remember is that when you respond to objections and or other forms of resistance to achieve a successful close, it's not about pressure, fast talk or dodging the issues. It is about treating the prospect fairly and respectfully and being fully prepared with knowledge about your product and the prospect's needs.

Finally, you have the customer's signature on the order. You put your pen in your pocket, you put the order in your briefcase and you're ready to move on. And what you're ready to move on to is, in reality, the beginning of the sale. This is the all-important follow-up phase that not only determines whether or not there will be future sales from this customer, but whether the current sale holds up. For this reason, we call the end of the sale, the real beginning of the sale.

Many complacent salesmen have had a rude awakening a week or so after what they felt was the sale of a lifetime when the customer calls to cancel the sale. Any number of reasons, including "buyer's remorse" may work to undermine what was thought to be a completed sale.

After any sale, you may expect the buyer to have an immediate drop in motivation during a period of reflection and a process of questioning if he made the right decision, especially if it is a big dollar or high profile purchase. It's a period when regular contact is important to reinforce the validity of the sale and to assure the customer of your support.

It's critically important that you be on hand for delivery, if it's appropriate, and for startup, however long that may take or whatever it may involve in working out startup problems. The customer should never be left with the feeling: "You got me into this. Where were you when I needed you?" He or she should feel that you are part of the team that's going to be there to assure a successful launching of the new product, service or operation.

Beyond delivery and startup, you begin the second phase of relationship management by periodic calls to check up on the new operation, to convey new information and to ask questions about any problems that have developed. You must continue to treat the customer just as you would a new prospect you are cultivating for the first time. Regardless of the size of the account, you must treat every customer as if his account were worth millions to you.

The third phase of the relationship is the continuing maintenance of the account where you create opportunities to strengthen your friendship with the customer by personal favors or remembrances. It is a fundamental axiom of selling that a happy customer is the best source of new business. When the customer develops new needs to be satisfied, you should be automatically the first one he calls for assistance. No matter how long since the last sale, you can expect that a good customer has potential for increased value in future sales.

A happy customer is also the best source of referrals for new customers. Make it a point in your continuing contacts to ask the customer who else he believes would benefit from your product or service. A referral from a satisfied customer is worth innumerable cold calls in time saved and potential value.

Finally, the golden rule for following up sales is always to exceed the expectations of the customer. Find the additional ways to be helpful and useful in supporting the customer's use of the product or service. Make it a practice to ask how things are going and if there are any problems that need your attention. Be prepared to got the extra mile for your customers and encourage them to count on you as an extended member of their operating team. Then, all your customers will appreciate, as you do, that the sale is just the beginning of the sale.

Please take time to review each of these chapters to become fully familiar with their content and as soon as possible put these lessons to work in your own sales experience. Make these lessons your foundation for becoming a leader among the top 5% of all sales professionals.

*****

Chapter Five

REVIEW

Let's take a moment to review what we've learned about selling.

Successful selling involves two critical elements:

1. Learn the rules of selling.

2. Practice the rules of selling.

This small book gives you the fundamentals that you need to succeed. The next step is to get some coaching. Take advantage of the many FREE resources contained below including a personal coaching session. Selling is the world's highest paid profession but only if you do it in the right way. Take action today!

*****

FREE RESOURCES

If you would like to take the next step in your selling career, here are a number of FREE resources ...

FREE Personal Coaching Session:

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FREE copy of the audio version of The Secret:

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*****

About the Author

Robert Stuberg is one of the world's leading authorities on personal and professional success. He is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, coach, and consultant. His results-driven strategies for achievement have earned him constant praise for his life's work. And his goal in life is simple: To help people reach more of their infinite potential for success by helping them to access and share what they do best.

Robert's rare gift is helping people to find and apply their Unique Talent -- i.e., the one thing that they are meant to do. Although many people spend their entire lives looking for their true purpose or calling, Robert can often help an individual discover his or her Unique Talent in one simple conversation.

Here is what Robert believes about finding your place in the world: "There is nothing more important in life than discovering your purpose -- i.e., that place in the world that only you can fill. I like to call this your Unique Talent. Don't rest until you find it."

Robert has spent his entire life studying and applying the laws of success. He has traveled the world and studied with some of the greatest minds in the personal development field to learn both ancient wisdom as well as cutting-edge technologies.

Robert has helped companies dramatically increase their sales, he has coached individuals to greater happiness and success, and he has created many best-selling programs that share his strategies.

Robert is deeply involved in the entire Success Industry. He is the Founder of Success.com, which from 1996 to 2007 was the premier source for personal and professional development products and services worldwide. In 2008, Robert struck a deal with Success Magazine to make Success.com a part of that publication which was originally founded back in 1891 by Orison Swett Marden. Success Magazine has been led over the years by such renowned authors as Napoleon Hill, W. Clement Stone, and Og Mandino. Robert has contributed many articles and features to the magazine, and he continues to support the publication as it moves forward into its second 100 years of publication.

After merging Success.com with Success Magazine, Robert then launched a brand new personal development website called Success.bz which offers many new personal development products and services. The focus of Success.bz is coaching and developing a whole new generation of success experts. This latest website venture features Robert's ongoing Success Blog which contains many of his views of success as well as many ongoing features including Success Articles, Success Interviews, Success Newsletters, Success University and his widely popular and innovative web-based life management program called LifeOrganizer.

Robert's passion for success began at a very early age when he was introduced to the recordings of Earl Nightingale. Earl was a popular radio and TV personality who became a pioneer in the field of personal development. In fact, after a very successful career in broadcasting, Earl went on to co-found the Nightingale-Conant Corporation. From the moment Robert heard Earl Nightingale's classic recordings, he made the decision to devote his life to helping others become more successful.

One of Robert's early goals was to work with the company that Earl Nightingale started. And true to his goal, part of Robert's background includes more than a decade of working for Nightingale-Conant Corporation. He held numerous positions with the company including Executive Vice President before leaving to pursue his own entrepreneurial vision.

On a daily basis, Robert works with the greatest minds in the personal development field, including Anthony Robbins, Brian Tracy, Denis Waitley, Deepak Chopra, Ken Blanchard, Wayne Dyer, Barbara DeAngelis, Robert Allen and many others. Over the years, he has gained a rare insider's view of their important work of helping people make the most of their time, talents, and lives.

As an astute observer and student of personal development, he constantly monitors and reports on the latest programs and newest ideas that contribute to the advancement of human potential. His engaging style and depth of understanding of the human condition contribute to the growing popularity of his approach to and philosophy of personal achievement and success.

Robert's personal website is located here:

http://www.Stuberg.com

Robert's publishing company, Success Systems International, LLC is located here:

http://www.Success.bz

Here is a link to the FREE AUDIO PROGRAM by Robert Stuberg:

http://www.Success.bz/products/5562/

* * * * *

You've reached the end of the book. Thank you for reading!
