American Association of Inside Sales Professionals – AAISP

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This could easily be the first lesson in the Sales Getters Sales Training Course. If you aren’t a good listener, you’ll never reach your full potential in sales. There is nothing as self-defeating as not listening to what your prospect is saying to you.
There are several keys to good listening:
1. Look the person who is speaking in the eyes. Don’t glare, but consciously make eye contact. This will signal to the other person that you are paying attention; even if you are not.
2. While the other person is talking don’t be thinking about what you are going to say next. Not only is this a bad habit, you’ll miss what they are saying.
3. Occasionally, repeat back all or part of what they said or asked you. Keep it conversational and don’t be a parrot. If your prospect says, “Louie, I am going to have a tough time getting this past the Operations Committee.” It’s okay to reply with the question; “Max, Operations can be tough. How do others get things through them?” Max then knows you heard him.
4. Listen for tone and inflection. It’s true that it’s not always what you say, but how you say it. Your prospect may be telling one thing and meaning another. You have to listen carefully to detect this nuance.

After developing good listening skills you can sometimes tell what a person really means. I had prospect tell me, after we had sent a proposal and agreed on the date to review it, that he had not had time to look at it. I could tell from the tone of his voice he had no intention of looking at the proposal yet. When I pressed him with, “Larry, you’re really not interested enough yet to start going through our proposal, are you?” Larry replied, “No.”

Sales Homework –
1. After each of your calls this week, write down the salient points you think you heard from your prospect. Double-check to see if what they actually said is consistent with their actions. They may be saying one thing while meaning another.
2. Start practicing the listening skills listed above.

Sales Managers – During your sales meetings practice a “total recall” at the end of the meeting to see how your sales reps listening skills can improve.

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Do you act differently with your prospects than you do with your customers? Don’t.
Put yourself in their shoes. What if you act one way during their buying cycle and another way after they’ve given you their money and their confidence? During the buying cycle you’re calling every day, bringing gifts and getting your prospects all the resources they need. Don’t stop doing those things. You probably don’t have to call as often because there won’t be as many details to cover. However, while there may be fewer calls, your calls should still deliver the same amount of value to your customer.
This approach is simply good business because:
1. You want your existing customers to buy additional products and services from you.
2. You want them to tell other prospects how good you were after the sale.

You cannot be one type of person before the sale and another type of sales person after the sale and have a profitable, long-term career in sales.

Sales Homework — Look at your customer list and make sure you’re treating your current customers the way you’re treating your prospects. List three things you can do this week to enhance your existing customer relationships.
1.
2.
3.

Sales Managers – Coach your sales reps to raise their game to this level of professionalism. Click http://sales-getters.com/build-a-course.html to bring Louie onsite and start accelerating sales and profits. If you “like” this video please click the Like button.

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This is an excellent question to ask your prospects, but one that can cut both ways. So, to make sure this question works for you, make sure you know the answer. For example; let’s say you’re selling a product that’s a huge improvement over what your prospect currently uses. They’re okay with what they have in place no matter how inferior it is compared to what you are offering. In this case, if you can ask them, “What happens if you just stick with what you currently have?” You’ll probably get an answer like, “We’ll be okay.” And that’s the truth. But, they’re just okay.
This question will be much more effective, however, if they do not have a solution in place. It can lead to the following questions:
• Will they lose or continue losing money?
• Will they fall behind the competition?
• Will they lose their leadership position?
• Will their current customers leave them for the competition?
• Will it hinder their productivity?
• Will it increase costs?

Make sure these questions are asked at the right time and for the right reason. If your prospect does say, we’ll be okay; one way to respond to this is to ask the question “Is “okay” good enough for you?” When they respond they may tell you how to sell them. For example, they may tell you “We want your product over what we currently have, but cannot justify the expense.” At least then you have something to work with. If you have prepared a favorable ROI, now would be the time to pull it out and present your case. If, on the other hand, they come back with just, “Yes, okay is good enough” you need to keep drilling for reasons that allow you demonstrate the value of what you are offering is vastly superior to what they currently have. They need to feel a sense of urgency to switch. This urgency will probably be based around one the bullet points/questions listed above.
Important: How you respond can vary based on the person and title to whom you are responding. For instance; “We’re okay” coming from a support person or administrative assistant is different than hearing those words from a CFO or CEO. Practice your response for both types of prospects. Typically, someone without profit and loss responsibility will utter that phrase just to get you off the phone. Whereas the CEO will (if they really care about their company) respond favorably to your questions on why “We’re okay” is just not good enough.
Sales Homework — List three more questions that get your prospect thinking about why it would be better for them to leave their comfort zone and switch to your product rather than stay with what they have.
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Sales Managers — Don’t let your sales reps be discouraged when their prospects don’t want to switch. Coach them to find a way through good questioning. Click http://sales-getters.com/build-a-course.html to bring Louie onsite and start accelerating sales and profits.

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Negotiating is one of the most important skills you can learn. While it is a skill, it’s an art as well. Learn to negotiate like a pro and your sales career will be much more rewarding, in all aspects. Negotiating is a topic that covers much more than we can cover in a 33 minute lesson. However, here are some points to remember:

• NEVER negotiate for something for which you aren’t prepared to walk away. Once the person you are negotiating with knows you have to have what they are holding from you, they have the upper hand. Make sure before you start the negotiation that you have alternatives or you can live without whatever they have. If you learn nothing else from this lesson, please learn and understand this point. Everything else follows behind it.

• Be patient. Most people aren’t. Many times you will get what you want by just waiting out the other party. This point follows closely behind the second point. If you can live without whatever you are negotiating for, then you do have the luxury of being patient. Along those lines, when talking over the phone or face to face, don’t respond immediately to an offer. Many times your silence will be taken as a sign that you do not care for their offer. This can be difficult, but you must bite your tongue. Many times, having used this approach I have had the other party come back with something like, “Well, I can see you don’t like that idea, how about this…” and offer something better.

• Be professional and courteous. You don’t want to appear confrontational. Never give someone a reason to want to “stick it to you.” I hear this frequently from sports coaches before big games. They don’t want their players “trash-talking” about their opponents. They don’t want the other team to have any additional reason to fight harder to win.

• Be willing to listen. You have a better chance of being heard if you really listen to the other person. Sometimes this requires parroting back to the other person what you believe you heard. If the other person thinks that you are not listening or paying attention, they will become frustrated and either physically or mentally quit negotiating. There are plenty of books and articles on listening. Check one out before you start negotiating.

• Find out exactly what the other party wants early by asking them. “What do you want out of this negotiation?” is a legitimate question that shows you care. It also helps you prepare what you are going to offer or concede before you open your mouth. You may get someone trying to be coy with you and say something like, “I want to get the best deal possible.” You can respond with, “Come on, Joe. Let’s get it all on the table so we can work together to get this done.”

• Figure out how to let the other party win something from the negotiation. Decide ahead of time what you can live without and keep that in your back pocket. If you believe it may be of value to the other party, let them “win” it. Everybody likes to “save face” and be able to walk away feeling as though they won something.

• Never negotiate when either party is angry or distracted. You will be wasting your time. And, if you do go ahead with the negotiation, you probably won’t get what you want.

• If you are the one starting the negotiation by making the first offer, be certain you convey your excitement about your offer. You are thrilled you could offer this to them and nobody else. Many times people will accept this as they don’t want to disappoint you or start the relationship off on a negative note.

Sales Homework – There are excellent books on negotiating. Get a few of them and read or listen to them. One I can personally recommend is, Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher.

Sales Managers – You want sales reps that aren’t going to cave in the first time a prospect throws something at them that’s just a negotiating technique. Encourage them to learn negotiating skills and situational role play with them. Click http://sales-getters.com/build-a-course.html to bring Louie onsite and start accelerating sales and profits.

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If you really want to elevate yourself above the average sales person, become a business person. Business people ask questions like:
• How will this purchase increase sales?
• Will it reduce costs?
• Will it increase profits?
• How long will it take to implement?
• What kind of resources do I need to accomplish this task?
• How will this put me ahead of my competition?
• What will happen if I don’t make this purchase?
• Do I have the support of management?
• Will it improve productivity?
• Could this decision be a career-ender if it goes badly?

To make sales to business people you need to think and act like them. Put yourself in their shoes and answer the questions about your product listed above. Once you go through this exercise and have this discussion with your prospects, they will see you in a very different light. They will see you as a serious, professional business person and, hopefully, a partner. Yes, they know are a sales person. But, not like the usual suspects that call on them.
One other benefit — When you go through the business/numbers side of the deal, your prospects are less inclined to ask for discounts because you have done your homework. If they do want you to start lowering your price, you can always go back to your business case on why lowering the price would not be a good idea for either of you.
Sales Homework — List four more business questions to discuss with your prospects.
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2.
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4.

Sales Managers — Once you have a team of sales reps that think like business people, your profits and commissions will start going up and never come down. Don’t settle for less than top notch sales and business professionals. Click http://sales-getters.com/build-a-course.html to bring Louie onsite and start accelerating sales and profits.

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Nothing diminishes your prospect’s trust in you more than using a bluff which has no merit. A while back we were looking at upgrading one of our software applications, as we were on a hiring spree. I went back and forth emailing with my vendor’s sales rep going over how many accounts we needed and what the pricing would be. I knew she had the ability to flip a few switches after the deal was done to make available what we needed. However, she sent me the following email:
Louie,
Have you made a decision yet? Please let me know as soon as you do — I need to update my teams.
Jen

This email really rubbed me the wrong way. I knew she didn’t have to let anybody know anything. She was bluffing in hopes of getting me to take action. I’m guessing she thought I believed there would be a delay after we placed our order. This is amateurish and does nothing to build relationships. Or, all-important trust.
If you have legitimate leverage that can help move your prospect’s buying cycle along, I’m all for using it. But, the key word here is legitimate; a time-based offer, limited inventory, etc. My need with Jen was real, but not an emergency. Acting admittedly immature, I waited as long as could before ordering from her.

Sales Homework — List three legitimate reasons your prospects should accelerate their purchase with you sooner rather than later.
1.
2.
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Sales Managers — If you want a professional sales team that sells more to the same customers over a longer period of time, coach them to be “legitimate.”

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I was attending an online meeting with one of my sales reps where he was showing our services on the screen for everyone to see. During the presentation our prospect wanted to show us something they were doing and asked for control so he could show us what was on his screen. When we gave over control it turned out he had his email inbox open and we were able to see and read the entries. In the inbox, there was an email from one of our competitors who we did not know was being evaluated by our prospect! Wow. Needless to say, we adjusted our thinking.

This doesn’t stop with screen sharing. I attended another online meeting with one of my sales reps. The rep and I were in the online meeting room but the prospect had not yet arrived. They were a couple minutes late. So, my sales rep left the meeting to call the prospect and see where he was. While he was calling him the prospect joined the meeting — by phone only and we started talking. After a few seconds my rep jumped back in the meeting still not seeing the prospect in the meeting, and started talking about the gatekeeper at the prospect’s office and something else, not realizing our prospect was on the voice line. Thank goodness the conversation didn’t go much further and I jumped in and screamed, “We are all on the call now!” At least it felt like I screamed.
Let this be a lesson to you if do live or online meetings.
• Learn how to use the online meeting software flawlessly.
• Only have the applications and documents open you want your participants to see.
• ALWAYS assume you are not alone in the meeting.

Online meetings are a great way to “meet” with your prospects and customers quickly and inexpensively. Use this technology with skill, preparation and care.

Sales Homework — Practice using your online meeting software so you can focus on your meeting and not the technology.
Sales Managers — Have your sales reps practice giving their online meeting presentations to the whole group.

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In horse racing, you can win money if your horse comes in first, second or third place. That’s not the case in sales. The only person that walks away with the money is the person that wins the deal. If you are a commission sales person, the stakes couldn’t be higher. So, you have to think like a winner.
Your need to get rid of thoughts like:
• This proposal will be good enough.
• I can trust my lower-level contact to carry my message.
• I have other deals I know will come through.
• I’ve made enough money.

You need to replace those thoughts with the following:
• What other ideas can I come up with to help win the deal?
• I need to get in front of the final decision maker.
• I need a confirmation from the final decision maker they are choosing me.
• I want a perfect winning record. No losses.
• I hate losing.
• I love winning.

Selling is a risk — reward business. The risks are higher and so are the financial rewards.

Sales Homework — List four additional thoughts about winning you need to keep thinking. Plus, read The Psychology of Winning by Denis Waitley.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Sales Managers — Coach your team to think like winners. This is a place where you need to not only give your sales reps winning ideas, but where you need to pump them up. Schedule a meeting a few weeks out to discuss the book The Psychology of Winning which your reps should have had time to complete.

Click http://training.sales-getters.com for the complete course and increase your sales commissions.
This is a tip that will really set you apart from the average sales person. After a conference call or meeting, you should send a Meeting Follow Up document to your prospect(s). This document’s front page should be the same as the front page of the Proposal Template document which includes the recipient’s company name and/or logo. It’s a little branding on your part and subtly prepares them for the proposal which may follow.
The following page(s) should begin with this sentence:
To ensure accurate communication going forward from our meeting, I have noted the following topics were discussed and action items assigned: Please add, modify or append.
After the sentence above list:
Meeting attendees (include yourself):
• Name 1
• Name 2
• Etc.

Discussed topics:
5. Item 1 that was discussed.
6. Item 2 that was discussed.
7. Etc.

Action items for your company:
8. Action Item 1
9. Action Item 2
10. Etc.

Action items for their company:
11. Action Item 1
12. Action Item 2
13. Etc.

Sales Homework — Start using the Meeting Follow Up document today.
Sales Managers — Using the Meeting Follow Up document will set your team apart and help you win more business. Insist on it. It also protects you against miscommunications.