I remember when I first started selling my consulting services over twenty years ago. I wasn\u2019t selling something anyone could see or touch, just ideas. At that point, I thought senior managers should hire me to help them improve their teamwork and communication skills.<\/p>\n
Just by being in the right place at the right time, my first project fell into my lap. While still working on my master\u2019s, actually my second master\u2019s degree, I was looking for a research project and ended up getting a consulting job with one of the biggest companies here in Stamford, Connecticut, which at the time had become a mecca for corporate headquarters.<\/p>\n
My big surprise: Not all jobs fall into your lap. After that first consulting job, landing my next, and then the next, was hard work. And some years, when companies were cutting back on consultants, it got even harder.<\/p>\n
Whether you sell intangibles, like consulting services, or tangibles, like hearing aids or sunglasses \u2013 over the course of the last year and a half, selling has gotten harder. Corporations and consumers are cutting back. Cash flow is reduced, and unlike my first consulting job, juicy jobs aren\u2019t falling into most people\u2019s laps.<\/p>\n
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Focus<\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0 Focus your efforts on your best prospects: those people who would reap the greatest benefit from your product or service.<\/p>\n –\u00a0 To make cold calling work for you to generate leads, target the people who not only need your product or service, but also, most importantly, are actively looking for what you sell.<\/p>\n –\u00a0 Identify the people in the greatest pain: the people in the company who have the greatest interest in the solution you provide.<\/p>\n –\u00a0 Use a phone script that targets your prospect\u2019s problem and their interest in achieving the same success as one of their peers you\u2019ve sold to.<\/p>\n Diagnose<\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0 Don\u2019t lead with your product or service benefits.<\/p>\n –\u00a0 Diagnose before you prescribe. Tailor all your questions about product or service usage to your customer\u2019s needs. This requires first leading with a set of diagnostic questions.<\/p>\n –\u00a0 To beat the competition, even if they are bigger than your company, figure out what you do better, your unique competitive advantages, and use these to position your business as the leader.<\/p>\n –\u00a0 Bring up these advantages in a conversation, not a sales presentation.<\/p>\n Lead With Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0 Use questions to structure the conversation with your buyer.<\/p>\n –\u00a0 Don\u2019t have the same sales conversation with every customer. Customize it according to your prospect\u2019s primary concerns.<\/p>\n –\u00a0 Structure your sales conversation based on the customer\u2019s business, not your product.<\/p>\n –\u00a0 Help your buyer envision using your product or service.<\/p>\n –\u00a0 Don\u2019t project your solution onto the buyer without first letting the buyer own the solution.<\/p>\n Base Your Selling Sequence On How People Buy<\/strong><\/p>\n Base your selling sequence on how people like to buy, not how you like to sell. Structure your selling to answer the four things buyers ask themselves:<\/p>\n –\u00a0 Do I have a need to change?<\/p>\n –\u00a0 Do I see a product or service that appears to meet my needs?<\/p>\n –\u00a0 What\u2019s the cost of doing it?<\/p>\n –\u00a0 What\u2019s the risk of doing it? <\/strong><\/p>\n What you, as a seller, need to do:<\/p>\n –\u00a0 Determine if buyer has a need.<\/p>\n –\u00a0 Provide proof that product or service will meet customer\u2019s vision.<\/p>\n –\u00a0 Disarm risk and price objections without dropping price.<\/p>\n –\u00a0 Avoid winging it. Structure your sales process, your sales conversation, to be customer centric. Write the conversation template out and create variations based on varying types of customers\u2019 needs. Then role-play and practice conversations.<\/p>\n Qualify Your Prospects<\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0 How do you qualify your prospects? Ask yourself:<\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0 Am I talking to someone who can buy?<\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0 Does that person have a goal or a problem that matches what I (we) do really well?<\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0 Did I diagnose the problem?<\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0 Do I see enough potential value in the goal they want to achieve?<\/p>\n –\u00a0\u00a0 What\u2019s their vision for a solution, and do they get the benefits of my (our) product or service?<\/p>\n Overcome Objections and Get The Sale<\/strong><\/p>\n –\u00a0 When a buyer goes negative, realize that is a good thing; the buyer is interested and then acknowledge it\u2019s a big decision and then refresh the buyer\u2019s memory about why they told you they wanted your product or service.<\/p>\n –\u00a0 The final step in the selling process is to shut up. Wait for the buyer to ask you for the order.<\/p>\n \n What you do next will determine if you double your sales this year.<\/p>\n Discover the secret to converting more prospects into buyers in a tough economy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[36],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/ic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Your Action Plan<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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