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[Derrick]

How to turbo charge your sales calls

Do you want to be a sales champion? There are a few small secrets that will help you achieve these goals.

1) Commit to your goals. Write down your sales goals for this week, this month, this quarter and this year. I urge you to use specific numbers that challenge you, but are attainable. Post these goals in your office, commit yourself to meetings or exceeding those numbers. Commitment is the foundation that enables you to proceed with the remaining steps.

2) Ask involvement questions. Your No. 1 goal is to find the prospect’s need and then fill it. Sales champions use their time to find out what potential clients really need. This encompasses two purposes, one that you are interested in helping the prospect and two that you keep them interested in your presentation.

3) Maximize your time. Many amateurs spend a large percentage of their time prospecting. Sales champions develop systems that maximize their time and enable them to spend time doing what earns them money.
- Ask your current clients for referrals as you close the deal, so you’re striking while the iron is hot. Ask for referrals from prospects that do not buy from you. It is a simple idea, but it yields great rewards.

4) Prepare for objections. The most common rejections will be related to time,
money and fear. Fear of rejection is normal for human beings.

Here are a few simple steps for handling objections:
• Receive the objection. Allow your prospect to complete his or her train of thought before offering a rebuttal. Never interrupt.
• Acknowledge and clarify the objection. Endorse the fact that your prospect has offered a great idea and valid point. Ask some questions to make sure you understand the objection, which also allows the prospect to explain his or her idea completely.
• Answer the objection. This is where you address the objection. Many salespeople lose the sale here. Amateurs dance around the issue and usually never get back to asking for the commitment. You need to not only answer the question, but focus on following up with a closing question.

5) Create a win-win close. Sales champions create value in their product
or service to move forward with their proposition. Here are a few strategies they use to close the deal:
• Trial close: Give the client a few choices for moving forward to purchase your product or service.
• Assumptive “walk-through” close: “Let me walk you through this so you get a complete understanding of how this is going to work for you.”
Then walk your potential client through the steps of your process, getting him or her to visualize a simple, effective means to move forward. Finish with: “Most important, if you have any questions, I want you to call me so I can either help you answer them or put you in contact with the right people who can. I want to save you time and money. So please feel free to call me anytime.”
• Method of payment close: “Are you going to use a credit card or check to purchase today?”


6) Give unlimited follow-up: Implement strategies to communicate with
your clients regularly so you can build trust, loyalty and additional selling opportunities. Champions use thank-you cards, emails, voicemail messages, birthday cards, holiday cards, newsletters and personal phone calls. They stay in touch – at least once every three to four weeks.

[Sheps]

Any thoughts from anyone? Good/bad howto?

[Akash]

Which How-To Forum would you think this goes in? I can't find one...

[Knogle]

Running a webhosting business, perhaps?

[Derrick]

I dont believe Running a web hosting business has a how to section. Although I thought it did when I posted this and I agree that is where it should go Guess it either sits here until Running a Hosting Business gets a how to or it gets deleted

Derrick

[steliosx]

Originally posted by Derrick
Guess it either sits here until Running a Hosting Business gets a how to or it gets deleted

Derrick

It outlines quite a few interesting topics so i think it would be a shame to get deleted.. simple and concise.. thanks for this how to

just my 2 eurocents

[Fujiwara Takumi]

hmm, this has a lot of interesting points, especially the bulleted area also applies to general customer service.

followups are nice, when i bought my car they sent me a birthday card on my closing anniversary. I remmeber I thought to myself, oh boy, only 3 years to go :-\ ... but it was anice gesture.

[CybexHost]

This is a great how-to, it should definitely be added somewhere!

Great work Derrick!

[Derrick]

Thanks for the support everyone, I believe in the near future they are adding a how to section for Running a web hosting business. So hopefully they will put my article in that

Derrick

[patrick24601]

I'd agree with all of it except I have a slight problem with the payment close:

"Are you going to use a credit card or check to purchase today?"

As long as that is used after a definite confirmation has been obtained that they actually want your product or service. I say this because Telemarketers do this sometimes and abuse the assumptive closed. I've had sales calls that closed with "... so how do you want to pay today? Visa or Mastercard?" when I never said I wanted what they were offering.

Still all good ideas when used properly.

[jhonabe2003]

Closes are something I am skeptical of.

I think that the present day consumers are very intelligent and would come to know if we try to close on them.

I am sure the consumers too wud be aware of majority of closes and might get offended (thinkiing that we are trying bookish sales trick on them) if we try to use a close on them.

What say.

Jhon.

[jhonabe2003]

Closes are something I am skeptical of.

I think that the present day consumers are very intelligent and would come to know if we try to close on them.

I am sure the consumers too wud be aware of majority of closes and might get offended (thinkiing that we are trying bookish sales trick on them) if we try to use a close on them.

What say.

Jhon.

[Derrick]

Jhon,

You are right closing the sale has to done at the right moment, but it is not really something an article can discuss(at least not this one), a total new article would be needed on how to detect when to close a sale. It would involve body language and other aspects that will allow you to transition into your closing with practice a smooth transition is possible.

Derrick

[integrityhost1]

Originally posted by jhonabe2003
Closes are something I am skeptical of.

I think that the present day consumers are very intelligent and would come to know if we try to close on them.

A few things to be aware of:

-You will never make the sale unless you ask for the order.
-Closing is a process that begins the moment you meet the prospect, it's not something you do only at the end of a presentation.
-Closing is not something you do "to" a prospect; it's something you do with them and for them.
-If you believe your product or service will be beneficial to your prospect, then you are doing them a disservice if you don't attempt to close the sale.

[Derrick]

Some great points integrityhost. I am going to revise the article in the near future with input from many readers. Would you mind if I added in some of your points?

Derrick