Improving Sales Success

Closing a sale is one of the hardest aspects of selling, but there are a few minor changes that you can make to improve your success rate.
In the January/February 2010 issue of Selling Power, the article “Oiling the ‘Little Hinges’ of Sales Success” provides some questions to ask yourself to become an effective closer:

1. Greeting: What changes can you make to your live or telephone greetings to engage and draw out the prospect? What could you say that would engage the prospect?

2. Presentation: How can you automate all or part of your sales process to deliver the perfect prerecorded presentation? What can you do to ensure your presentation is delivered efficiently and effectively every time?

3. Follow-Up: What steps could you put in place to get your prospects to take action? What incentives would encourage them to keep in touch with you?

4. Online Interaction: Is there a way that you can chat live online with customers or find other ways to communicate with prospects to overcome objections and close more sales?

5. Customer Surveys: Surveys can help you in many ways. How can you survey your customers and prospects to find what you can provide them and whether they enjoy doing business with you?

Editor's Note: Cycling To The End

Enjoy a preview of May's Creative Selling Editor's Note

Tasks that seem impossible are only going to be hard if you don’t prepare for their challenges. Research and preparation are key to being successful in sales, without them clients and prospects would be let down.
Huge tasks can be accomplished with careful planning. For the past few months, I’ve been training for a 100-mile bike ride in June. I’ve been going to indoor cycling classes where I can focus on my technique and push myself to discover my limits on the safety of a stationary bike.
As the weather is getting warmer and I have fewer than 100 days to the ride, I have to leave the gym and focus on enduring the elements of outdoor riding. I bought new road tires that should help me cover more distance with less effort, which will be helpful between hills. I’ve also had to go riding in the rain to get used to what it feels like to ride a slippery road.
Putting in all of this time, effort and money is a lot of work, but I know that I will not be able to finish the ride if I do not do it. The same idea applies to sales – if you don’t learn about your clients’ needs before you make a proposal, you won’t get the sale, and you’ll have wasted everyone’s time.
I want to finish all 100 miles in six hours. I’m only racing against the clock, but if I quit, I’ll be letting myself down. As a salesperson, what is your objective? What is to be gained from your efforts? What do you want the end result to be?
Know what your goals are and plan out a way to reach them, because anything can be accomplished with a plan.

To preparation,

Kaye Maloney
Editorial Intern

Positioning Your Company For Success

Enjoy a preview of May's Creative Selling.

The customer’s perception of you and your company will determine whether or not they decide to buy your product. How a customer describes you and thinks about you dictates everything they do in relation to you and what you’re selling.

According to the briantracy.com article “The Law of Positioning,” your company perception is based on its position in the market. Here’s why and how to take control of the situation:
• Customer perception: Customers must perceive every product or service positively before they can make any buying decisions.

• Proper positioning: With the right positioning, your product or service will be seen as everyone’s choice to solve a problem.

• Appearance: Every visual element of your company creates a perception of some kind, whether it’s through dress, product, packaging, printing or promotion. Remember that everything counts.

• Position yourself: Top salespeople position themselves as the preferred suppliers of their products and services. Everything you do adds to the customer’s perception of you.

• Description: Determine the words your customers use to describe you and your company to others. What do they think overall? Then take advantage of your position.

Give Your Employees Ownership

To bridge the gap between owners and salespeople, owners need to give their employees a sense of ownership. In return, your employees will have a motivation and sense of pride about their work, in order to provide customers with the best service possible.
The businessknowhow.com article "How to Cultivate an Attitude of Ownership Among Your Employees" provides five tips for how to give your employees ownership of the company:

Treatment: Look at the way you are treating your employees. The way way you treat them is they way they will treat the customers. You should model the behavior you want them to demonstrate. If you treat the employees well, they will do the same for the customers.

Empower: Give your employees the knowledge, skills and tools they need to do their job. Give them everything they need to serve customers well. If employees have what they need to do the job, they can take responsibility into their own hands and solve problems when they occur. This gives them the freedom to act and be accountable for the results.

Polices and Procedures: Eliminate polices and procedures that get in the way of your employees thinking like an owner. Let employees handle situations where the customer wants to talk to the owner, this will help business run more efficiently.

Talk With Employees: Keep your employees informed about what is going on in the company, including good and bad news. Your sales professionals deal with customers constantly and they need all of the knowledge they can get to do their job well.

Feedback: Ask your employees for feedback - What's working? What's not? What do customers like? Don't like? Complaints? Your employees deal with the customers heavily and they can provide you with valuable information.

Editor's Note: Don’t Be Afraid To Look

Enjoy a preview of April's Creative selling.

Working as a sales professional, you cannot be afraid to look for prospects, ideas and help in unusual places. You’ll never know what’s out there unless you search for it and ask for help.
As a college student on the verge of graduating, I’ve been forced to exhaust all avenues that could lead to a job. I have been through the usual suspects – career fairs, internships and online job searches. I even went as far as creating a digital portfolio hosted on its own Web site. But the one resource I did not think to access before now is my family and friends. One of the top ways to find a job is through someone you know. I didn’t think this would really work until I tried it.
While you are out looking for prospects, do not forget about your friends and family. The more people who know what you need to find, the more help you’ll receive in getting referrals.
Also, do not be afraid to go out a limb. At the beginning of my college career, I worked as a reporter, and the biggest challenge was finding stories to write about. After a while, I caught on to the fact that you have to be observant and ask many questions. One of the best stories I wrote was about a guitar-playing, master of archery professor who teaches in the Technology department. However, I would not have known that he would make a good story if I hadn’t asked him about the mangled pop cans sitting on the shelf behind his desk.
In other words, brainstorm where you can look for prospects. If your usual resources are not producing results, then go find new ones. It can’t hurt, and you never know what you might find.

Happy searching,

Kaye Maloney
Editorial Intern

Connect to Customers

As a sales manager, you and your co-workers should constantly be looking for new ways to better serve your customers. And one place to start is with understanding them.

In the businessknow.com article, “Connect to Your Customers On Their Terms,” smart companies are focusing on how to give a better customer experience. The article says concentrating your efforts in this area will increase customer loyalty, which can lead to higher revenue, more profits and a healthier company. But, the only way to do this is to understand your customers by finding ways to reach them. You also have to make it easy for them to reach out to you.

A simple way to do this, according to article, is to simply answer the phone. Have a person answer the phone instead of an automated answering machine. But remember, the customer calling doesn’t want to wait on hold forever or talk to multiple people who ask them for the same information.

And before you make any major changes to your company, take the time to determine what your customers really want. Then, design your company to do that well. Don’t assume your customers want something because you hear about other people doing it.

Make sure you are able to help your customers in a way that is effective and friendly. Thriving companies are putting people on the phone and using social media if that’s where their customers are. Figure out what works for you!

Editor's Note: Step Out of Bounds To Move Ahead

Enjoy a preview of the Creative Selling editor's note from the March issue of MacDonald.

Newspaper advertising today requires sales professionals to take on tasks that they may never had to deal with before, such as selling print and online ads or working both inside and outside sales. Most professionals are very proficient at one skill rather than both, which can cause problems when the newspaper industry is changing.
As an English major on the brink of graduating, I have focused my efforts on mastering multiple skills to make myself a more flexible job candidate. One of the challenges I took on was a minor in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. I have enjoyed the coursework because it involves subjects I enjoy; however, my professors ask me to solve problems that would never come up in writing classes.
To overcome the difficulty of subjects like Environmental Hydrology, I have to spend time going to help sessions to ask questions and work with classmates on assignments. Even though I might not become a hydrologist in the near future, I’m learning new ways to deal with any kind of situation.
Likewise, while you are working on ways to improve advertising rates and hone your selling skills, do not be afraid to ask for help. Collaborate with your coworkers and your sales manager to meet goals for the paper. Learn how to incorporate ideas into multiple situations.
And remember, the most difficult part of this challenge is dealing with trial and error. It took failing a few environmental questions before I fully understood how to apply the concepts in various problems. You will make advertising and marketing mistakes along the way as well, but if you keep an open mind and do not get overwhelmed it will all work out.

To problem solving,

Kaye Maloney
Editorial Intern

Editor's Note: Personnel Is The Best Investment

Meeting sales quotas and deadlines are crucial to be successful in newspaper advertising, but you will not get far without a strong sales team.
The best investment you can make in your company is to hire personnel that can get the job done and do it well. You want a staff that can help the publication meet its goals and produce a good product. Although hiring staff takes time and money, it’s worth it.
In fact, building sales teams is such an important aspect of many companies that they turn to recruiters who hire sales professionals for a living. For your publication, the hiring process will go smoother if you take it from the same approach as job recruiters. Focus on what skills you want your staff to have and how they can help the publication. Make your job description clear – be specific on what you want. You need something to measure candidates with to determine if they are right for the job.
In addition, you need to find where to go to target your candidates. In my Dad’s managerial experience, the job recruiters he worked with knew which companies to consider to find candidates. They also had applicants come to them for help in finding a job.
So, take a deep breath and take a hard look at your staff. Take into consideration what is missing and what is unnecessary. There might be someone out there who can help your publication grow and expand in the near future.

Happy recruiting,

Kaye Maloney
Editorial Intern

Shake Firmly

Part of reaching your career goals is knowing how to present yourself and understand the messages that your body language can send.
If you want your employees, prospects and superiors to take you seriously, you need to pay attention. One of the first messages you send people when you meet them for a meeting or luncheon, is through your handshake.
A handshake is a social norm that is part of the business world, but how you do can say a lot about you. In Michael Dalton Johnson’s salesdog.com article, “The Fine Art of the Handshake,” he gives some pointers:
Avoid the power grip: A handshake should be firm, but not too forceful. Notice your tendency to pull the other person toward you as you shake – this can make you seem aggressive.
Nothing wimpy: Don’t offer up a weak handshake, this is a turn-off for many customers.
Eye contact: As you reach for the shake, establish eye contact and smile. A warm and sincere greeting won’t hurt.
Good grip: Don’t grasp their fingers, take their entire hand into yours.
Body language: What’s your posture like? Stand up tall, give the client full attention and keep your hands out of your pockets.

Make More Time In Your Day

You have a lot to do in one day and it’s easy to get over whelmed. Instead of getting frustrated that you didn’t get everything done, take a few moments to think about ways to make your day go better. How can you be more productive?
Here are some tips from the businessknowhow.com article, “Ten Tips to Help Create More Time in Your Day:”

1.Get Organized: Don’t waste time looking for papers, numbers or supplies. Keep your work area clean and functional.
2.Productive Time: What time of day are you the most alert? Do the most difficult tasks during this time.
3.“To Do” List: Make one the night before, so you can get started right away in the morning.
4.More Time: Need extra time? Try getting up an hour earlier to have your coffee and check emails.
5.Schedule It: Choose one task you will finish on each day of the week and stick with it.
6.Avoid “Day Wasters:” Limit the use of forums, television, surfing the web, talking on the phone, etc. These can be good tools, but they can waste a lot of time.
7.Household Chores: Keep your housework manageable by cleaning a little bit each day.
8.Double Duty: Try to multi-task whenever possible.
9.Say No: If you’re too busy with the work you’ve already taken on, don’t feel like you have to say “yes” to every additional task someone asks you to do.
10. Avoid Interruptions: Let the answering machine take calls when you’re busy and don’t spend all day checking email when you have other work to do.