Creativity, Dignity, Fill the Funnel, The Art of Selling, Winning

Buyers are 65% of the Way to a Sale Before They Talk To You – And What To Do About It

photodune-1328178-business-woman-with-phone-and-laptop-xsI hear this statistic thrown around a lot. Maybe it’s even true.

In fact, on a recent sales call, the guy on the other end of the line said, “I’m your typical Millenial buyer. I’ve already pretty much decided what I’m going to buy before I talk to a salesperson.”

Now, being the salesperson on the end of that call, it’s pretty good news for me, right?

But, what about those people you are calling on who should REALLY consider working with you because you can make their lives SO much better? But, they don’t know about you yet?

You’re kind of in a pickle with them, right?

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Here’s what I’ve found really works in those circumstances…

When people consider it so important to be 65% of the way to a buying decision before they talk to me –  but I want a shot at a deal, I have found that it’s all in the language I use when I am first talking with my prospect. There are five approaches that I find can really turn a situation around and to my advantage.

Continue reading Buyers are 65% of the Way to a Sale Before They Talk To You – And What To Do About It →

Appearance, Authenticity, Loving Life, Presentation

TBT – Sometimes What You Love Hurts You

Since dogs and sales stories are so much fun, I thought I’d pull this one back out. Plus, it’s super embarrassing, which seems to be entertaining.

Happy Throw Back Thursday – from 2012

This is a personal post.

Today, I was playing with my puppy. He has this lovely way to wake me up. (He is a 65-pound Labrador Retriever). Here’s what he does. He jumps on the bed and lays COMPLETELY on top of me and puts his nose in my face. I love it!

Today, we were wrestling around…and his back feet fell off the bed. He scrambled to secure himself…(you can picture it, right?) Front claws flying he dug in to anything that was solid…which included my left eye socket. WHOA!

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Right away, I knew something was wrong. Yet, I had NO IDEA how wrong it might be.

I was bleeding. From my eye!

Tom took me to the ER. (I love him). I was a mess. I wasn’t a mess because of what had ACTUALLY happened. I was a mess because of what COULD HAVE HAPPENED!

Turns out, I didn’t even need stitches. They super-glued my eyelid to heal.

But, here’s what I had to deal with:

  1. I value my looks and wonder if I could be successful as a de-formed woman – how deep is my commitment? What if he’d ripped my eyeball out?
  2. I love my dog – this isn’t his fault. Sometimes the people we work with are just finding their own way and they hurt you, but they are not to be punished for it.
  3. I am vain. I am judgemental. I look at the outside to determine if I want to be involved.
  4. Tom was AMAZING with me, even though the entire hospital staff must have been looking at him like, “What did you do to her?”

How does this apply to sales or success? It doesn’t. Yet, it reminds me that I MUST DO SOMETHING NOW that is important. Risk it all. What we “think” we have, we don’t have. It can all turn on a dime!

Let’s go get WIGGY on what is important to us. Let’s remember WHO WE ACTUALLY are…in the face of anything.

Today, I was a scared, anxiety-ridden person — over scratches. I saw that I think my looks make me who I am! HA!

Now, I have to deal with that! This week, I am going to present to a Fortune 500 company…and I will do it, and I will be great. AND, I will warn them that I look a little crazy.

Toooooo many lessons in this post. My favorite is…PUSH THE DOG TO THE FLOOR WHEN HE IS SCRAMBLING! Then, take THEM to the vet if need be. LOL.

Love your luck UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

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Creativity, Fill the Funnel, Goals, Performance

Remember this magical teenage moment?

Once upon a time, a boy and a girl (probably you) shared a favorite song.

Remember when she came to your house, with a new discovery of a new band, and together you fell in love with a new song? With a new band?

Maybe she even shared an ear-bud with you as you listened together (a la an 90’s Walkman moment).

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Do you have ANY idea how long it took for your favorite song to register for you?

With the exception of your favorite crush plugging the song directly into your brain, it probably took awhile (and a bunch of social reinforcement) for you to even KNOW the song, much less like it.

What does this have to do with sales?

WHY ARE YOU NOT INSISTING THAT YOU BE NOTICED?

CEOs, CMO’s, Your customer… They are waaaaaaaay busier than teenagers.

If you have something that you know will make their business better, it is your job to get the “song” into their ears.

And it will probably take at least 12 times of hearing you or seeing your name before you even start to register.

Just because you called them once and left a message, doesn’t mean anything got through.

Remember, they are counting on YOU to find THEM.

Go sing your song, over and over again, and don’t forget to…

Love ‘em ALL UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

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Dignity, Irreverence, Presentation, Winning

#TBT – If you want to make sure your prospect is listening…

rsz_communication-1015376This short, but sweet, and truly powerful post ran in March of 2014. It’s so good I had to share again.

“If you want to make sure you have your prospect’s 100% attention, let THEM talk!”

~ Alice Heiman

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

Brilliant!

Love ’em UP and let THEM talk!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

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Fill the Funnel, Goals, Performance, Prospecting, Winning

Five Ways We Fool Ourselves Into Failure

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Didja ever notice how some people are reliable to produce results while others simply can’t seem to get what they want?

I see it all the time in sales. MY sales.

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I have DEVOTED myself to studying and learning to be reliable to produce results. And, it’s not by lowering the bar. It is by being on a MISSION to find the ways that I have fooled myself into failure. Hopefully, you can just learn these from me and you don’t have to make all these mistakes yourself.

#1 Way We Fool Ourselves Into Failure:

Thinking that email is the same as having a conversation or making a real request.

Email is an excellent vehicle for transmitting data, getting information, and exchanging ideas. Sometimes you can get people to agree to act through email, especially if it is a personal email.

But, if you think that you are going to fill your seminar, or get a babysitter for your children, or set a meeting with a prospect simply by sending out a blanket email, you are fooling yourself.

When the stakes are high, you’ve got to make SURE that you reach the other person, get their buy-in, and that they are willing and able to act on your request.

Many salespeople think that because they sent out 500 emails that they have accomplished something.

Not until someone responds to you with the favorable outcome you were hoping for have you achieved anything. Counting that email as a true sales activity is fooling yourself into failure.

 #2 Way We Fool Ourselves Into Failure:

Continue reading Five Ways We Fool Ourselves Into Failure →

Performance, Presentation, The Art of Selling, Winning

How The Dog Collar Mechanism Makes You Better in Sales

dog-987936Most of you probably already know that I LOVE dogs!

I’ve learned a lot about life and love from my own dogs – as many of us have.

A couple of years ago, though, I also learned an incredibly successful sales tool from my dogs. If you’ve ever been around ‘em yourself, I bet you’ll see what I mean.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

So, I’m training my 12-week-old lab. Well, actually, my trainer is training ME to get him to cooperate. Which is a little bit crazy with a goofy, needle-sharp teeth, highly distractible, getting-stronger-by-the-day puppy.

She laid a nugget of wisdom on me. She told me about the dog-collar-mechanism. Which, in its most fundamental form, says – “If you pull on your dog’s collar – the dog will immediately pull in the opposite direction”. Huh!

Didja ever notice how that’s true in sales, too?

You make an assertion. And the first thing they do is tell you why you’re wrong.

How do you fix this problem with a sale? Same way you fix the problem with the dog.

Reduce the tension. Make where you want him to go more appealing than where he is now. Have HIM think he came up with the idea of going where you wanted him to go.

With dogs we use cues like treats, or distracting activity, or intriguing noises.

In sales, we use language!

Here are a few of my favorite approaches to working with a prospective client to get his buy-in. Instead of acting like I know everything to solve his problem, I will use phrases like:

“You know your business far better than I do, but it seems to me that….” (Whether they agree with you or they tell you it’s different for them, they are now talking and giving you valuable information!)

OR, I’ll say…

“This probably isn’t true for you, but I find that most of my clients seem to be dealing with this kind of trouble…”(Again, if it is true for them, they are in the same boat with other similar professionals. If it isn’t true, you’ve made them look smart and they will tell you how you can help them solve their unique business need).

OR, I’ll say…

“I doubt this has ever happened in your business, but one of my clients hired me to fix this situation…” (You are probing for information, and you are reducing the tension!)

The hilarious thing about my dogs…I take mine to the beach all the time to chase sticks and balls in the waves. People tell me how well-behaved they are. When, in reality, 99% of the time I am only asking them to do things that I know they are going to want to do anyway!

Remember the dog collar mechanism in your sales conversations and be sure to…

Love ‘em ALL UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

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Dignity, Goals, Loving Life, Performance, Winning

#TBT – GEEZ, OH PEET! WHAT A PANIC!

I wrote this article over three years ago, but I still remember this epiphany! Hopefully, it will be good for you, too!

“ I had a GREAT BIG call today with one of the Elephants I am tracking.

We seem to be getting so close, yet we are HEAD-TO-HEAD with a fierce and competent competitor.

It’s all I’ve been able to think about lately.

I’ve been getting ATTACHED. 

I realized this during my workout today. Here I am enjoying a nice peaceful morning on the Elliptical and all I can think about is this PANIC I am having about landing this elephant.

rsz_eyes-937972

Ridiculous.

And then, I thought, “What Would the Irreverent Sales Girl Do?”

And, it came to me. She would

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Continue reading #TBT – GEEZ, OH PEET! WHAT A PANIC! →

Performance, Presentation, The Art of Selling, Winning

One magical question that gives you control of the sales meeting!

rsz_adult-education-572269

I was reading Whale Hunting by the brilliant Dr. Barbara Weaver-Smith and when I ran across this paragraph, I whooped – YES!

I have actually used this idea one time in my career. The meeting was critical to me. The company I was presenting to had already decided to work with my competitor. They had the (unsigned) contract sitting on the decision-maker’s desk.

It was my Hail Mary meeting!

Each person in the room had a different reason to use my product. I’d never met any of them before. They were busy people. And, as I mentioned, they’d already decided to work with someone else. By sheer determination, I had been able to plant enough doubt about their decision in my customer’s mind – so much that they called me in. The whole gang was there.

And I’d better be good!

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Continue reading One magical question that gives you control of the sales meeting! →

Dignity, Performance, Top Ten Principles of Selling

You’ll get more “YESes” When You Listen for the “No”

Ever thought something was going to turn out?

You were going to meet your quota this quarter?

You were going to have a full event?

You were going to have a signed contract on your desk by Friday?

But, then it didn’t.

Want to know why?

It’s not personal. Everybody has this disease.

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We all listen for WHAT WE WANT TO HEAR. But, that doesn’t mean that the result is actually going to come in.

So, when it really counts, when it really matters, I invite you to do something new.

Start listening for the “no” hiding behind the “yes” you are hearing.

If someone says they are going to show up to your volunteer event, ask them politely, “Is there anything that would get in the way of you being able to make it? Do you have children you need to have looked after? Is there anything else in your calendar?”

Or, if you’re inviting someone to an event. Find out why they are going and what they want to come away with. If it’s really important to you, ask if it would be helpful for you to pick them up. Then, call a couple days in advance to confirm details.

If they are going to get a contract signed for you, ask them: “Who signs? Are they going to be on vacation or do you expect them to be around this week? Is the timing important to them, too? “

Have them walk through for you how the result they are saying “yes” to is actually going to happen, in reality.

When you need it to happen, you must inspect – dig deeper.

Don’t be worried about asking.

You are supporting the person to do what they already told you that they wanted to do. Done well, it demonstrates your leadership.

Too often, when someone is trying to tell us “no” – we don’t listen and find out more. Sometimes we even leave the conversation thinking that now they are going to figure out a way to make it work.

But, that’s not how people are. They are uncomfortable telling you that they are not going to act on your newest suggestion. They just aren’t going to do it.

It should be a true and rare surprise to you if you are expecting someone to act and then they don’t.

If you are masterful at listening, you will hear the “no” instead of hearing what you want to. When you hear the “no” – you have a shot at turning it into a real “yes”! And that is power!

Love ‘em UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

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Authenticity, Dignity, Goals, Irreverence, Performance, Purpose

#TBT – More of Whatever It Takes

This Throw-Back-Thursday article published in May of 2012 and it just seems like the perfect post to come next. If you’ve been reading my articles this week and you got my Totally Irreverent Tuesday newsletter, you will see exactly what I mean!

“Are you willing to live a Do Whatever It Takes Life for your dreams?

Careful of your answer – there WILL be a test! *GRIN*

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

Every single one of us has it in us to do whatever it takes for something. We think we’ll be too tired if we REALLY go for it, or that we’ll miss out on something else that life has to offer.

Not true! The more you give to your dreams the ABSOLUTELY more they’ll give to you. But you gotta be willing to do WHATEVER it takes!!! The miracles that come along with this kind of life will TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY!!

Love it up!

The Irreverent Sales Girl”

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Bringing a Dash of Dignity to the Art of Selling