Talking is not selling

Too many salespeople equate with talking (or, more appropriately, preaching).

The most successful salespeople spend the bulk of their time asking well researched questions and then listening intently to the answers.

What they end up with is a profile of their sales prospect. Most importantly, listening enables the salesperson to build up a "needs" profile. What are my prospect's hot buttons? What are his or her problems? In what order does my prospect think they need to be addressed? Is my prospect a real prospect or simply fishing for information? Does he or she have money to spend on my solution? Are they in a position to make a decison or do they have to refer to someone else? What is the potential timeline for a decision? What benefits are they seeking from a solution? Why?

Now the salesperson is in a position to be able to sell.

The key is not to sell what YOU think the prospect wants. The key is to sell what the PROSPECT thinks he wants. A Ferrari salesperson would, I imagine, be highly tempted to sell the high performance aspects of his product. His potential buyer on the other hand may only be looking at a Ferrari to be able to show off and boost his ego in front of his colleagues and peers with a name brand sports car. Selling performance to this prospect may very well result in a lost sale.

In "the old days" we used to hear time and time again the adage "the customer is always right". Well in the 21st century nothing has changed.

Prospects want to talk. They want to tell you their problems. (They also want you to believe that they have the money to make a purchase now and they and only they are the final decison makers - this is where the qulaification skills of the salesperson need to be utilized (but more about qualification in another blog post)).

So instead of barging in like a bull in a china shop the salesperson would be wise in taking advantage of the prospect's willingness to share information. because this knowledge will provide the salesperson with the power to be able to target the prospect's hot spots and, all things being equal, close the sale, and close it faster and with less fuss.

In the selling game knowledge truly is power. And this knowledge can only be gained if the salesperson talks less and listens more.

iSyndica - the web distributor - Upload once, sell everywhere!

iSyndica - the web distributor - Upload once, sell everywhere!

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Contacts

This blog is aimed at the people who are selling product(s) for a living.

If there is such a thing as that "one magic bullet" that will help you win more sales and make you more money it is your Contact Base.

Your contacts are everything.

So, some ideas:

• write down the name, phone number, and email address of everyone you meet.
• keep in touch with them on a regular basis. Even if you do not think you have anything of value to say a simple email checking to see if their business is doing ok and that they are keeping well will suffice. Once a month is plenty (otherwise you run the risk of being a nuisance).
• all contacts are valuable. Even if they have nothing to do with your line of business and they will never buy from you, they may well know someone who knows someone who will buy.
• if you promise to do something for a contact (read everyone you meet in your professional life), follow though - do it!
• never lie - your first lie will your last.
• take every opportunity to physically meet with as many people as possible - even if it is for coffee. You do not need to spend lavishly on all of them - in fact spending lavishly may actually backfire in some instances as it could be seen as a sort of bribe. You do not need to discuss any business at all. It is the face to face bonding that is important.

MOST IMPORTANT

• people buy from people!!! Assuming your product(s) and price(s) are within the realms of reality, what will set you apart from your competition is your relationship (personal & professional) with the buyer. Making a purchase is scary. Making a big, costly purchase is even scarier. At the top of the list is the purchase that, if it does not work as expected, could harm the purchaser's career. Buyers are human with human emotions. Buying is less an intellectual and much more an emotional experience. Use your relationship with the buyer to help him/her through their fears. Assure the buyer that all will be well - the product(s) will perform as promised, your forecast Return On Investment will be realized!
• if it all goes according to plan and the prospect becomes a client, and 3-6 months down the track he or she is happy with the purchasing decision, ask for a referral to another prospect. More often than not a satisfied client is more than happy to share his success story with his contact base.
• join a business networking site such as LinkedIn. This is an easy way to meet business people, thus enabling you to make new contacts, in your part of the world. It is one of the most cost effective ways of socializing in the business community.

Treat your contact base with the same care you would your money in the bank and you WILL reap the rewards.

The Prospecting Email

Get it right and effective email prospecting can help you can significantly increase your lead generation hit rate.

Some pointers:

• Decide on the purpose of your email:

1) to get an appointment?
2) to keep in touch with a prospect?
3) to make a prospect aware that a competitor has bought your solution (so they better get their act together). You cannot build a house without first having sketched out what you are going to build.

remember: emails do not sell a product.

• understand you target audience:
• in certain geographies people only respond well to short, sharp, factual emails. Other geographies respond differently.
• individuals at certain levels within the company hierarchy will respond differently to unsolicited emails: a "C" level individual only has attention time for a couple of lines whilst an IT person may well read a longer email. If you do not know then find out (ask other salespeople). Don't drone on and shoot off all your product benefits bullets in one email - you will hopefully have plenty of time for that at your face to face meeting.
• research the target audience individuals (so do not send the same email content to everyone within the company: different people are interested in different touch points of your offering)
• make it personal; don't send "ads" they could as easily see in a newspaper
• make it appropriate: exactly how does your product help their particular industry at this particular point in time
• Most importantly, refer to 2-3 success stories: companies that have bought your solution. Briefly describe how they have benefited through its implementation and usage. Nothing sells a product better than a reference. But keep it short and to the point.
• Finally, before sending, put yourself in the receiver's company role and frame of mind (as best you can), and ask yourself how he would react to your email - then ammend accordingly.
• CHECK THE SPELLING!

Selling your photos

Fact: there are many, many, many photographers out there in the real and cyber world trying to sell (and I use the term lightly) literally millions of images!

The reality is that unless buyers are looking for a specific image at a specific time and you've taken just such an image and it is actually possible for them to find it then you might, if you're lucky make a sale.

Of course you might strike gold and sell gigabytes of images simply by being in the right place at the right time with the right images. Or not!

So, do we as photographers give up? Of course not! The dilemma we must deal with is exactly the same one as that faced by car/soap/technology/etc manufacturers who all face a vast array of competitors, all selling ostensibly similar products, on a daily basis.

At this point the purists out there will argue that the points I make below fall into the category of Marketing rather than pure Sales. Well, there is some truth to that. For those who struggle with the difference between sales and marketing, the first is typically one to one (or one to a few), whilst the latter is one to many.

Regardless of semantics, if you want someone to buy your images you are going to have to sell them. In other words, what is in it for the buyer to part with his or her hard earned money to purchase your image?

So lets start at the top - the image.

Your image/photo could be exactly or close to what the buyer wants. Whether he knows it or not he wants to know about the benefits of purchasing that specific image (its beauty, its ability to help him sell product/impress his wife or boss/etc).

You could argue that he has seen the image somewhere (a microsite, your website, Flickr) and simply decided to buy it. But is the sale of one image enough? How do you get him to buy another, and another, and yet one more?

It pays off to research your audience. What are buyers looking for? And remember that, fortunately for us, what a buyer seeks changes over time. Once you know this go out and photograph appropriate images and post them in relevant locations. Say something about the image (how difficult it was to take, how long you had to wait to take it, how rare such images are to find, how may more similar inages you possess, their very competitive price, etc). Selling the image means not selling the image: rather ir means selling the short and long term benefits to the buyer of purchasing that specific image.

But I want to photograph what I want to photograph? This is good too. But art for art's sake might not make you as much money as art for the buyer's sake. If the buyer doesn't matter, or if the money doesn't matter then you're probably in the wrong blog:-)

A lot has been written about where best to display your images so I do not want to go over old ground. All I can add is that if you want to sell your photos/images read about this topic as much as you can. You can never learn too much.

Then there is you, the photographer. On you website, microsite, even at your fleamarket stall, tell the audience about your experience, your ability to shoot the images that interest them, your willingness to go our on a limb professionally, financially to capture just the right moment in time, just the right facial expression, just the right color or lighting. Start a blog. Get involve in other people's blogs. Write in appropriate forums. Connect with successful photographers you have read out. You may well be suprised how many will respond to your emails and willing they are to dispense some words of wisdom (don't harass them though:-)).

Slowly, over time, you will differentiate yourself and you may just find yourself earning more money for your images.

Go out and actually SELL your images! Sell yourself! Most importantly, focus on the benefits to the buyer because what you think is of no consequence, only the buyer's opinion matters.

Selling isn't confined to work

Unless you're single and/or have no parents or siblings, you need to interact with family members. In order to get anything done talking is not enough: you need to sell, of which negotiation, and knowing how to close, are integral.

Talk really is cheap. Words do slide off people like water off a ducks back. And to me words = facts.

We hear so many words (read facts!) throughout the course of our lives we almost become de-sensitized to them.

As people though, we are swayed by arguments. And by arguments I mean the putting forth of pluses and minuses.

To put this into context, in order to "get" something, whatever that may be, we need to sell/talk/argue "benefits". The listener at home will be swayed by benefits - what's in it for him/her to give you what you want. The car salesperson calls this closing. At home we call this being smart. Sell benefits. And last week's benefits may not apply this week. In the old days this was known as knowing how to "push the right buttons".

Telling your child to do his/her homework because if they don't they won't get into college which means they won't get a job simply doesn't cut it. Pointing out that not doing their homework will ultimately mean no travel, no new clothes/shoes, no iPod, laptop, Flatscreen TV (or whatever technology will exist when they grow older), and no freedom to leave the boss they hate because they are stuck for life in the job they were lucky to get in the first place, will probably elicit a different response.

So even though you may not know it you are now selling!!

In a similar vein, negotiation (a discipline of the sales process) is not just relegated to the car yard. In order to "get" what you want/need from your husband/wife or kids you may well have to give something up.

Again, you are selling!!

Finally, when it looks like you are going to achieve your goal of getting what you want, ask for it!! Too many times we argue our point (professionally or otherwise) only to forget to ask if the person with whom we are interacting actually agrees with us. Unless you do this throughout the course of the interaction you are in no position to judge whether or not you are on the rightr track. If you are not getting positive feedback (read agreement) then you need to alter the course of your argument (read restart the selling process).

Sales as a profession probably ranks up there with being a lawyer or a traffic cop. But whether we agree with this or not we are actually all selling (or ought to be) in just about every aspect of our lives.

It makes sense then that knowing something (even a little) about the sales process ought to help us in our every day lives. As far as I am concerned the most practical, easy to read book about Salemanship is "How to Master the Art of Selling" by Tom Hopkins (no, I am not getting a commission from Tom or anyone else for that matter:-)). The reason I love this book is that it is a book for everyone and not just the professional salesperson.

So, the next time you need your husband's or wife's approval to do or buy something, think about what's in it for her to agree with you.

The elevator pitch

How many times has someone asked you what you do for a living?

In reply how often have you stumbled through a 10-15 minute disjointed tirade that has left the asker confused and committed to never asking such a question of anyone ever again?

In today's world, whether we like it or not, we get asked such questions and judged by our answers all the time. More importantly, if we consider ourselves, or are considered by our bosses, to be professional salespeople, our answers could very well directly impact our earning capacity. Remember that the person we answered may well talk to others about our response so the impact of our response is far greater than we think.

In the sales profession the "elevator pitch" is the answer one would give to just such a question from an individual if he or she were in an elevator and we, by the nature of our physical location, only had a minute or two to respond.

How many of us would really be able to respond succinctly and with enough detailed information so as to allow the asker to exit the elevator knowing exactly what we do for a living?

So I encourage all of you to take the time to write down and rehearse your response. And don't just rehearse them alone. Do so in front of your friend and peers. Do they understand what you do for a living after you have explained it to them in 2-3 minutes?

You may be surprised to discover that it is not as easy as you think.

edward

Prospecting

There is nothing more difficult in any salesperson's life than prospecting. We hate it.

Let me throw out some ideas that might make prospecting easier:

• Decide on the purpose of your prospecting call (be it phone, email, or face to face).
• Is it to get an appointment? If so then aim for that and nothing else. Once you get your appointment say thank you and excuse yourself. Do not sell your product. You have achieved your goal.
• Do your research. Spending 10 minutes on the Web learning about your prospect, his company, and his background will make it so much easier to get that appointment. Read the local newspapers and industry specific publications.
• Be smart about prospecting: Phone calls are just one way of getting an appointment. Use social websites: LinkedIn is an excellent way to get to meet the people with whom you want to do business. Consider Facebook. Send short, sharp, appropriate, personalized emails.

It's all about working smarter and not harder.

Introduction to my thoughts about selling

Whether we like or acknowledge it we are selling every moment of every day of our lives.


We learn as children that in order to "get" something we need to do something special. We cannot just ask. Asking usually elicites a NO answer. So we learn to frame our request in a manner that makes it easier and quicker to get a YES answer.


Every day we are exposed to strangers, family members, work colleagues, bosses, etc. Every day we will ask some or all of them for "something". In order to achieve this with a minimum of fuss and a maximum chance of success, we SELL. We frame our words, our actions, our arguments to benefit our chances of obtaing what it is we want.


MY passions are photography, travel, and fish farming. I want to earn money from my photos. I need to be able to have enough money to travel. I have to sell the fish that I farm.


Currently I am the Country Head for the Middle East's most successful provider of eRecruitment solutions. This is my "paid" sales job.


This blog, i hope, will touch on the many, varied, and exciting aspects of the sales process. Hopefully one or some of these tips will help one or some of you to achieve a goal easier and quicker.


I seek your input and your questions. Thoughts and ideas are generated through discussion and discussion ultimately ought to lead to action.


edward