Sales Blog for Sales and Sales Management

The economy is in a tailspin?  Yes, that is a question because every sales person I've talked to this week tells me how great things are.  Every one of them has told me that they are getting calls and getting appointments.  People are willing to talk, people are worried, concerned, and they want help. That's the good news.  The bad news is that they'll talk to anyone, and in many cases, they want free advice.  Neither of those are good if you don't stick to a sales process that focuses on qualifying, asking questions and getting to a decision making process.

I want you to understand and put into practice the following:

1. Just because someone wants to talk to you because they are worried doesn't mean that they want to make a change or want to buy something. So your job isn't to just offer some comfort, but also to make sure that the ‘worry' is significant enough to do something. Take action, make decisions to change.
2. Yes, they want advice. But remember that they already have other advisors, and in many cases, they are working to ‘round out' the advice that they are getting. In other words, they are working to get a 360^o on their current status as it relates to risk they have or they might be facing. So as part of your advisory role and consultative approach, again, you have the opportunity to make yourself unique among the other advisors. That opportunity is to take the prospect to a point where they make decisions relative to the seriousness of their problem. If there is a compelling reason to do something, whether new or different, you must position yourself in the role of the one that will execute this change.
3. If your prospect or client needs to take action, you must now put yourself in a qualifying position to make sure that you are the one that they go to when they take action i.e. make a change or make a new or different purchase of a product or service. DO NOT, provide the advice, especially to a new prospect, free of charge. DO NOT let yourself believe that your expert advice alone will get you the opportunity to get paid in exchange for this advice. If they are a prospect they are most likely doing business with someone that is in your line of work. They are the incumbent and so they are already on third base ready to capitalize on any expert advice that you have provided THEIR client. Make sure that you get commitments from these prospects to take action and take it with you.
4. Be patient. I know from our own personal circumstances that we are in the process of making changes. Yes we are making changes, but we are a little more deliberate now about the timing of those changes. We are doing more risk and reward analysis than normal because we feel that there is more at stake currently, given the uncertainly of the marketplace. Chances are your clients and prospects are feeling the same way. So there are two really important steps here:

• Be patient. Set timelines for follow up and have clear expectations and outcomes for each step or meeting. Make sure that the ball keeps moving in a direction of a decision every time you talk or meet.
• Prospect like you've never prospected before. Again, now is the time that people are looking to get advice and help. The more people you contact the more you expand your database for current opportunities as well as in the future.

This too shall pass.  If you've always had a consistent and predictable approach to building your business your business will now zoom.  If you haven't had that kind of approach now is a GREAT time to start.