SELLING FOR LIFE

“To qualify or to disqualify, that is the question” No disrespect intended to William Shakespeare, but I don’t know if he ever had to sell.

The word qualify has several meanings but if you ask most salespeople I believe they would tell you it means going through a process that identifies a problem, the money to fix it, decision making and the motivation to make a change.

There are lots of reasons when we follow this process we still fail to get the business.

• We might be uncomfortable asking the types of questions we really need to be asking.

• Our buying cycle might be causing us to give the prospect too much information and allowing for “think it over’s."

• We might just be looking to “pad the pipeline” until a really good opportunity comes along.
  

• Our own record collection about qualifying for something.  No one wants to be disqualified.

What if we take a new approach and look to disqualify a prospect instead?  We want to disqualify prospects so we can eliminate those who waste our time and won’t buy anyway.  The way to do it is by asking questions.

Too often I hear from salespeople that the prospect is asking all the questions, trying to qualify or disqualify us.

Think about this:

• When we ask questions, the prospect will talk. 

• If we don’t ask questions, the prospect will ask us questions.

• If the prospect asks us questions, we will answer them.

• If we start talking, they get all of our information, ideas and solutions. 

• Once they have all our information without paying for it they don’t need us anymore.

• This is a good deal for the prospect and a lousy deal for us.

 What would happen if our process were geared more towards disqualifying the prospect and finding out earlier in the process to avoid giving away our time and expertise without getting paid for it.

Disqualifying a prospect could be exactly what your business needs for a boost in sales.

“To sell more or not to sell more, that is the question”

If you were asked to describe your closing skills how would you respond? Good, excellent or extraordinary?

Here are the top 10 skills of extraordinary closers.  There are really only 9 but who ever has a top 9 list?  So I added one at the bottom, let’s see how many you can check off.

10.  They get prospects to agree to make a decision.  Yes and no are both decisions, think it over is not.

9.    They don’t make inappropriate quotes or presentations.  They only present when the buyer has agreed there is a problem they have to fix and will give them a Y/N answer after they see the solution.

8.    They get to decision makers.  Need I say more?

7.    They attempt to close.  I know it sounds crazy but have you ever hesitated to ask for the business?

6.    They have closing urgency.  They know allowing the process to drag on only invites competition and lowers the probability of making the sale.

5.    They won’t accept put offs.  Any questions?

4.    They have a personal buying cycle that supports a shorter, more efficient, selling cycle.

3.    They have no need for approval.  They will not allow being “liked” to get in the way of saying or doing the right thing for the prospect.

2.     They control their emotions and stay focused on the problem.

1.     They know when it’s over and time to move on.

So, how did you do?  If you got all ten, great!  If not think about which one would have the greatest impact on your success today and start there.

I am driving out of the rental car facility in Houston and like most places where you rent cars they have speed bumps. Now I know everyone knows why.

They want you to proceed with caution, avoid accidents and get out of the place safely.

It got me thinking that maybe we should have some speed bumps for our sales process. What happens when we go too fast?

We don't listen effectively, we don't allow for moments of silence in the conversation and we risk missing important information from the prospect.
 What's the consequence? Too many lost opportunities, too many inappropriate quotes and continually failing to reach our goals.
 Consider putting these speed bumps in place for more sales.

1. Plan your call in advance. Think about how you will begin the call and then how you will transition into the business part of your discussion.

2. Expect some "speed bumps" from your prospect, you know those questions that you wish they didn't ask but they do anyway. Think about how your answer when they bring them up.

3. Ask great open-ended questions to get them to do more of the talking so you can do more of the listening.

4. When there isn't a compelling issue that they are having, put the car in park and get out.  There is always another one to "test drive".

Drive safely out there.

What is the most important “element” for having success in sales?  Believe it or not it isn’t an abundance of prospects.

There are actually four crucial elements that successful salespeople possess, desire, commitment, outlook and responsibility.  But the most important one is desire.

Desire will provide the incentive to make changes even when it's difficult or uncomfortable.  It will cause you to continue to raise the bar and set new standards for yourself.  Top performers have a burning desire to succeed.

Commitment – what is your compelling reason to do whatever it takes to succeed?  For most they find it in their personal goals.  If you seem to focus on behaviors that are enjoyable and comfortable, you might have an issue with commitment to success in sales.

Outlook – how is your outlook on life, what you are doing, who you are doing it with?  Selling can be tough enough without dragging a poor outlook around with you.  While from time to time everyone can get a little down about things, remember it’s the people that get up quickly and keep going who succeed.

 Responsibility – is just what it sounds like, take responsibility for your actions and results.  No Excuses!  People that make excuses won’t change until they take responsibility for their results.

Ask yourself how you are doing on these four crucial elements and since it’s the start of the baseball season for more success, touch em’ all.