Please, I want to
be sold!
© 2006
David Peterson
Sales is not that
hard. As long as you have a decent product that you believe in then
you can be assured that there are people out there who need a
product just like the one you are offering. To put it simply if
someone wants your product you might as well sell it to
them. In fact
there are people out there who want your product very badly,
they just need to be sold.
It's often said
that the easiest person to sell to is another salesman.
As a
salesman myself I want to be sold quickly. Although I want to be sold
quickly I am listening to your sales pitch and your sales
process.
If I brought you into my home to be quoted then you have the
sale you just have to close me. However to get that
sale you still have to practice selling.
Selling is a trade
just like any other occupation. There are rules. You have to
cold call, prospect, set appointments, open, close, probe,
listen, determine need, pitch, qualify, get time frames, check
budgets, get to the decision maker, trial close, follow-up,
referrals, etc.
Wait - did I write
"follow-up?"
True story - I need
gutters. They are leaking. My wife has told me to go find a
gutter company. So naturally I procrastinated for a year.
Now they
are really leaking and I am a motivated buyer! So
motivated that I
actually listened to 3 different cold calls from gutter
companies (cold calling works). All three gutter companies are very
reputable. I sat through three gutter pitches of at least one
hour per representative - now if that isn't motivated nothing
is! I also called a 4th smaller company that has done work in
our neighborhood. The 4th dealer did not make me sit through a
long sales pitch however he had other faults (late to the
appointment - like a day late).
The pricing for all
4 companies was fairly close so it did not factor
into the
sales process. What did figure into the process was
delivery,
color, quality and a little piece of mind. So, if I am running
after you before you get into your car to make sure I have the
right color picked out then I would call that a buying signal
(Gutter Guy #3). Who got the job...
Gutter Company #4.
Why? Because they followed-up. After Gutter Guy #3
did not call me back asking for an order I was pretty
frustrated. Gutter Guy #4 was really late for his appointment so I
had completely discounted him. However in my hour of
desperation, thinking that I'm going to have to find Gutter Company #5
and listen to another 1 hour pitch from another Gutter Guy
--- the phone rings, it's Gutter Guy #4 FOLLOWING UP! My
wife and I jump for joy. We have someone who wants to work on
our house.
Sales is not about
how well you pitch, or are you cold calling, or even price vs.
quality. Sales is a process, a trade, a career. If you want to be
successful selling anything then you have to follow the rules.
Follow the process. Do not leave out a minor detail like
following up with your prospect. The bottom line...
Practice the
selling process or find another profession because you may starve to
death. Work the sales
process completely and next week we can write about referrals
because the gutters on my neighbors house are worse than mine!
Guess what - he wants to be sold too! He just does not know he
wants to be sold until you call and suggest the new gutters.
People have products they need, you sell products they need
- so don't just pitch, go sell.
Sincerely,
David
Peterson
Author
of:
Been There - Done That
David
Peterson's Search Engine Optimization Guide
Please
send all correspondence to: questions@usreference.com
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