Useful tips for sales newbies

A salesperson is the lifeline of any business.
Some of these behavioral traits take years of experience to learn and more importantly - practice.

However the sooner they are implemented, the faster is your progress.

Here are some tips:

a) Be on time Or Inform the your prospect/client that you will be late -

Ahh yes.. Germans, North Americans, Japanese and individuals of most other nationalities are always on time. However most of us Indians are yet to adopt this way of life wholeheartedly. And what if you are a resident of Mumbai? You are almost, always late! Even though you may be rushing all the time.

Well coming back to title - try as much as possible to be on time. Prioritize your work, set your watch half an hour in advance and do not procrastinate. If all these fail, inform the other party that you will be late and therefore are giving them an option of rescheduling the meeting. There are two benefits - You will avoid stress and your prospect's time would not be wasted.

b) Always share minutes of the meeting with all the appropriate participants -

'The faintest ink lasts longer than the sharpest memory'
Got the point?

Apart from ensuring none of the points are missed there is another advantage.
Imagine that the decision maker is absent in the meeting and you are meeting his minions.
Either because of Chinese whispers or unscrupulous behavior, your message is not delivered in its original form to their master.
Your entire case would be defeated!

DON'T LET THE SNEAKY MINION WIN-

Document everything and let everyone know what happened!




c)  Don't put all your eggs in one basket

Hahahaha..

I know. It is inappropriate. But couldn't help it!

Okay, here is the one:

Most important message for a salesperson.

Even if you know the CEO/Founder/Director/Decision maker of the company, you must try to know more people. This has the following benefits:

• People move. If they like you, they will remember you. They will call you. They might give you business. Result - You create a strong network.
• You would get different perspectives. Suppose ten different people in the same company refuse to buy your product. And each gives a different reason. This is nothing but market research gold mine. If the feedback is genuine you would get great insights on your product, competitors and real needs.
• Read the last few words of the image? ..said basket has a hole. What if the person you are talking to has integrity issues? Is being bribed by a competitor. Hence keeps saying no to you..

So what are you waiting for?

Want to know about 6 powerful skills that can help you succeed in sales? Here they are!

(Source: http://brandongaille.com/how-to-be-a-successful-salesperson-top-qualities-and-characteristics/)

Are you a budding sales person?

Or one of those rare young ones who is contemplating a career in sales?

These are must have skills which will help you grow exponentially:


Listening:

During a conversation with a prospect, a good sales person will listen most of the time. Listening intently will answer many questions that one might have. Let us face it. Nobody likes to be encountered by a motor mouth. We all like to be listened to. This is a basic human trait! So you may or may not be listening to your partner, but do listen to your prospect/client :P


Questioning:

Don't be afraid of asking questions. Why do you need this? What is your expectation? Have you tried a similar product/service earlier? What is your budget? The more questions you ask, the more you will get closer to closing the sale.


ROI:

You will be surprised to know that many salespeople don't approach this part at all! The first two skills coupled with your knowledge should help you present a strong case about return on investment (ROI) to your prospect.
Even when you buy a phone for Rs 5000, you are evaluating several questions. How long will the phone last? What are the features? What can other phones give me at that price point? What will I get if I spend Rs 2000 extra to buy an expensive phone?
So how can you expect a prospect to spend Rs 1 million per year on your product/service without getting clear answers?


Read:

Mint, Financial Express, Business Line
TOI, Hindustan Times
Mid-day, Mumbai Mirror

Intelligent Investor, India After Gandhi

National Geographic, TIME

Yourstory, Techcrunch

Read! As much as you can! Whatever you can.

I would recommend reading this article published in Mint today.


Share:

Share credible information. That is the best way to receive credible information. Share information with your colleagues, competitors, customers and prospects. Help them out. You will be surprised about how many good things come back to you!


Handling objection:

What if a prospect says no? You can read this


Try them out. And do let me know whether these helped!

How to waste a sales person's day?

What should a sales person be doing?

(Source: http://tinyurl.com/o2pb4k4)

Chatting with his colleagues?

No

Analyse reports?

No

Lounge in an A/C office?

No

Discuss 'strategy' with his bosses?

No

Boss around the techies?

Ummm...sometimes...but not so much! :P

Attending sales calls?

(Source: http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=71509421&f=27)

I feel that a salesperson should be just meeting clients and prospects.

And doing nothing else.

At least 2 meetings a day if not more (assuming there are 50-100 clients and prospects).

Unfortunately in many organizations a salesperson manages just 3 meetings a week. 

Can you imagine what a big failure is that?

Anyway, this post is about the different ways of wasting a sales person's day.

Here are a few:

Ad hoc reports

(Source: http://www.quickmeme.com/p/3vqzq4)

A salesperson is randomly asked to share ad hoc reports. Some of these reports might take an hour or two of one's working hours. This is criminal!

Reviews:

Various departments in different companies would point this reason out as the most efficient way to kill time!

Salespersons are asked to participate in needless reviews.

These reviews also hurt morale and fritter away money 

(Source: http://www.salary.com/2013-wasting-time-at-work-survey/)

Lack of a CRM system:

One may find it ironical that companies that aggressively depend on sales do not invest in a CRM system. Not even a basic one! This results in various departments bothering the sales person to ask for client details again and again. 

(Source: http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/36i2pg)

Would you like to share some more?

Feel free to leave your comments

And also:

(Source: http://www.pak101.com/c/funnypictures/view/7180/Baby/funny_baby_comment)

What to do when the deal doesn't close?

Been chasing that important prospect for a long time?

The business from that prospect would be worth Rs 2 lakhs per month.

You are already feeling this way and are planning to upgrade to an iPhone6. 

(Source: http://tinyurl.com/o48lh6a)

But the prospect evaded your last phone call.

That made you sweat a little.

Today when you call up the prospect from a colleague's number, he immediately answers your call! However when he realizes who is on the other side of the phone, you can sense him going from 100 to 0 in 3 seconds! :P

He apologizes and informs you that his company had to select another vendor.

So what do you do?

Meekly say 'It is Ok' and disconnect the call?

If you are doing that, you are doing this:

(Source: http://tinyurl.com/mkbjyrm)

You must do the following:

a) Post mortem analysis: Call up the prospect after a couple of days. Inform him that you will be in his area and you thought it would be a good idea to catch up as you have 40 minutes between meetings. Chances are, he would be willing to meet you. Take him out for coffee or for lunch. Only 15% of your conversation should be about the deal you lost. But your questions should be pointed enough to figure out what went wrong. 

b) Take reference: Ask the prospect to give you a reference during the post mortem analysis. Do understand that he will be very eager to help out and will surely give some fantastic references.

c) Keep in touch with the prospect: Here are some ways of doing that. 

d) Get in touch with other people from the prospect's company: This will help you get in touch with all the important members in the buying cycle. Every member is a different human being. You will never know how soon the next opportunity might arise! Because one of them might surely inform you before the primary point of contact does it. This will also help you when the prospect's company is buying from you the next time as you will be aware of your proposal's position in every step of the buying cycle 

e) Complete your homework: Since you were one of the bidders the last time, the prospect might have not shared the entire information with you. Buyers always withhold information. Use the time from a failed deal to a new opportunity in gathering as much information as you can. So you would have completed your homework the next time your proposal is due for a submission!

Finally, notice that I didn't refer the company as a prospect. I referred to the individual as a prospect. Any passionate sales person will testify that every individual you meet is a prospect. Because individuals keep moving around. They may join some other company. Or they might turn entrepreneurs. So keep in touch!

3 things to do before meeting a prospect

Greetings!

If you are a sales person from India, you must have spent a long weekend celebrating Diwali and avoiding injuries! :P

If you are a sales person from elsewhere and do not know about Diwali, I would urge you to read this

However, regardless of wherever you are from, but are a sales person; you must keep the following in mind before meeting a prospect:


a) Remind: Send an email/message or even call to remind the prospect about the meeting. This must be done a day in advance. There are chances that the prospect would have forgotten all about the meeting because she might be in this mood:



(Source: http://www.pgi.com/learn/rescheduled-again-5-techniques-salvage-cancelled-sales-call/)


b) Research: Today there is no excuse for not being knowledgeable. Except lethargy! Most individuals have a profile on atleast one of these social networking sites:


And most of it is available for free. So do try to find out whether you have a common friend or is the prospect a fan of Manchester United or if the prospect had flown to Manila last week! You will be amazed to know that only a small percentages of sales people spend time researching.

(Source: http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml)


c) Rehearse: Never underestimate the importance of preparation. One can either rehearse the meeting with the help of a colleague or mentally visualize the meeting. Create a list of questions that could be asked so that one can be in charge of directing the meeting rather than letting the prospect be in charge. Look at how Matthew Hayden would prepare for a match.

So Remind, Research and Rehearse!

The three Rs that should help you earn a lot of rupees!



Source: (http://www.123rf.com/photo_27613435_happy-young-business-woman-holding-indian-rupee-notes.html)

Customer is not king

Almost everyone who knows about the word customer, would have heard about this: 'Customer is king'.

This must surely rate as one of the most absurd beliefs of all time.

Some more absurd beliefs are:

1) Evolution is a myth
2) There is no global warming
3) One can eat a hearty meal in Mumbai for Rs 12.
4) One can eat a hearty meal in Delhi for Rs 5
5) One can eat a hearty meal in Srinagar for Rs 1
6) Pedophilia is not a criminal condition, it is a mental illness

Since I am a salesman, I feel this way whenever anyone passionately espouses that customer is king:



(Source: www.memegenerator.net)

I feel it is wrong because of the following reasons:

1) A king will negotiate. But not haggle: Noticed a customer haggling over a few Rupees or Dollars? Treats your product/service as a commodity. Such a customer would refuse to take ROI (Return on Investment) into account. A customer who views the larger picture and does not insist on 'right-pricing' every six months or year is your king.

2) A king will be fair: If your customer admits that his team has been at fault as well, then this customer is a king. Otherwise expect to be badgered about the 'non-user-friendliness' of your software even if the customer's team member thinks 'out of the box' like him:


(Source: http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/mfl/lowres/mfln6394l.jpg)

3) A king will know what he wants:  Have you heard your customer say 'I am not getting the expected results. Therefore I plan to discontinue your service'. You might be exasperated as you had offered the best possible service. In such a case, the customer doesn't really know what he wants. So better to let him figure it out. You can wait till the customer has this moment:


(Source: http://chakracenter.org/2013/03/07/ever-onward-the-divine-ridiculous/)

So treat those customers who are kings as kings. The others can be treated like the Common Man.

Calling up a prospect?

I am a sales man.

Whenever I call my prospects (who has been already warmed up) or customers, I introduce myself, greet them and ask whether is it a good time to speak with them?

I picked this trait up while interning and have observed my colleagues picking this up from me.

So this is how my prospects and customers perceive me:

And therefore it is hard for them to say no :)

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I am also a customer.

Whenever someone calls me to sell, the following happens:

1) The caller introduces her name and company (which is fine) but does not ask whether I am free to speak to her (which is rude).

2) Almost all callers address me as Mr Srinivas (which, incidentally, is my father's name). I hate this as companies today spend millions of dollars into customer insights ( a fancy term to understand more about the customer), but cannot state my name properly. They could just address me as Sham. But I believe they will waste some more share holder money and take another half a decade to get this right.

3) They immediately begin to parrot the not so well rehearsed sales pitch which can even put Karan Pandava off! (I am referring to Karan from Mahabharat who would always give whatever anyone would ask from him after his daily morning prayers to the Sun God. So the pun is that if it can annoy a great giver like Karan it can certainly annoy a Mr McScrooge such as myself! :P )

4) Unlike several others I listen patiently, thank the person for calling and state that I am not interested. They take my word and immediately disconnect. They don't even wish me a good day! :(

I perceive the caller like this:

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Companies could offer training on the following aspects:

1) Good Manners: Ask the receiver whether it is a good time to speak.

2) Ask Questions: Ask whether the receiver requires a product. If not, then whether the receiver is happy with the incumbent product. 

3) Generate a Bait/USP/Any other pioneering term your marketing man can come up with!:  Use some of the insights churned out by their market research team to generate an attractive number. This would be a number backed by facts. Let us consider the concept of term insurance. Term insurance is cheaper and offers substantially higher coverage than traditional money back plans. If you invest the rest of the money that you ended up saving, because you bought a term insurance plan, in a recurring deposit (not even fancy mutual funds) you might end up generating wealth worth Rs 10 lakhs in 7 years. I figured this using Excel and therefore bought a term plan. I am sure  MNC behemoths that are employed with brainy suited up corporate types even know the accurate figure. For some reason they don't share this with the agent who makes calls.

4) Some more good manners!: Thank the receiver for her time and wish her a nice day.

If they manage to do that, they might be perceived by the prospects as the pretty blonde lady in the picture below is perceived by men.



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