When you’ve got a hot prospect in your sites, these 10 phrases are anything but welcome: 

1. “Any chance you can come down on that price a little?”
2. “Y’know who you should really talk to about this is … “
3. “I’m sorry, sir … He’s no longer with the company.”
4. “God, it seems perfect for us … Unfortunately, our budget’s closed for the year.”
5. “I know I told you ‘yes,’ but it turns out I wasn’t in a position to do that.”
6. “Oh, no, I’m Lee, Jr. The guy you want to talk to is my dad, Lee, Sr.  He makes all the buying decisions.”
7. “He said if you called to tell you he’s no longer interested, but thank you for your time.”
8. “I think your company offers exactly what we’ve been looking for … which is precisely why it’s so unfortunate we’re under a six-year contract with your competitor.”
9. “I’m sorry … Who is this again?”
10. “This number has been disconnected … No further information is available at this time.”

Some businesses have upped the ante when it comes to picking candidates’ brains to see how they think.

You’re still looking for the “tell me how you’re qualified and convince me to hire you” reaction and input from candidates.

But some employers have taken interview questioning to a new level.

One career site sifted through all of the questions asked of candidates, across a variety of professions and industries.

These are some of the true oddball inquiries pulled together from a variety of employers. (We couldn’t make this stuff up.)

1. What do you think of garden gnomes? (asked by Trader Joe’s)
2. Would Mahatma Gandhi have made a good software engineer? (Deloitte)
3. Room, desk, car. Which do you clean first? (Pinkberry)
4. Would you rather be rated No. 1 at what you do and have all your co-workers dislike you, or be rated in the middle of the pack and have everyone like you? (ADP).
5. How many planes are currently flying over Kansas? (Best Buy)
6. If you could be a superhero, what special powers would you possess? (Rain and Hail Insurance)
7. Pepsi or Coke? (United Health Group)

These come from Ted Barrows, a top sales trainer and consultant:  

 1. They get to work early each day. It allows them to plan their day without distraction. Customers usually appreciate salespeople who work hard and don’t give the impression they have all the answers.

   2. They maintain personal touch with their customers. Customers want to do business with salespeople who are interested in them. They like salespeople who listen and learn about them, their problems and their goals.

   3. They prioritize everything. They break things down in order of importance. They don’t waste time on mundane tasks so they can concentrate on the ones that get results. They realize that customers expect quick replies to requests for information, especially when problems arise.

   4. They provide solutions. Customers want salespeople to present solutions to problems. They look for responsiveness and creativity. They want salespeople who know products thoroughly and are able to offer technical support.

   5. They hold themselves completely accountable for everything that happens to them and make no excuses for poor performance. They view themselves as completely in charge of everything that happens to them. If they don’t like what’s going on, they decide it’s up to them to change it or improve it in some way.   

As a national sales consultant and trainer, Gil Cargill has worked with over 5,000 different organizations.

Based on his 30+ years of experience, Cargill insists there are six common pitfalls sales managers fall victim to, time and time again. Here’s a list of those six pitfalls, along with some proven strategies for trumping each of them:

1. No rigid process. More than 70% of world-class organizations require sales pros to participate in continuous training and development, much of it based on sharpening fundamentals. There should be consequences in place for sales pros who consistently cut corners, rather than following the agreed-upon process.
2. Lack of lead management. Do you conduct annual audits of your sales to determine which prospects have the highest probability of agreeing to do business? Do you proactively sort your leads, to maximize contact rates and ensure salespeople aren’t wasting time trying to reach recycled leads?
3. Lack of preemptive action. A lot of managers hold off on taking action because they assume they need approval from upper-management before they can proceed. The most proactive way to avoid this is by meeting with C-level execs regularly, working to develop an understanding where company brass trust you to make the right moves without needing to consult them first.
4. Poor recruiting/promotion. It’s important to remember the best players aren’t necessarily the best coaches. Promoting/hiring reps based on numbers alone is bad for you, them, and the entire department.
5. Bogged down with too many admin tasks. Delegate. Delegate. Delegate. And, if possible, hire a part-time admin or intern.

Source: “Six Reasons Why Sales Managers Fail,” by Gil Cargill, EyesOnSales.com

1. How you close is the key to getting the sale. Research shows that successful closes result from a series of events that precede it. Most prospects are more interested in how salespeople open sales calls, not how they close them.
2. Persistence is the key to closing success. If a prospect has no need, interest or want in what’s being sold, no amount of persistence will close the sale. Showing persistence with a qualified prospect is a lot more valuable that being too aggressive with an unqualified one.
3. If prospects don’t like you, you have zero chance of closing the sale. Studies show that prospects place much more emphasis on trust than they do the personal feelings they have about the salesperson.
4. Salespeople who open with friendly small talk set the stage for a successful close. According to a recent survey, almost 75% of executives labeled unsolicited small talk as negative. Most are too busy to worry about the weather or the latest sports stories. If prospects want to engage in a little small talk to open the meeting, respond in kind. Otherwise, try to make your opening provocative and credible.
5. The best way to increase your closing ratio is to step up the number of calls you make. Prospecting for qualified customers is critical for salespeople. The key is the word “qualified.” Simply making a lot of calls on prospects who have no interest, budget or purchasing authority will hurt, not help, your closing ratio.

Adapted from The 12 Clichés of Selling by Barry Farber, a sales consultant.

Some take prospecting seriously only during those periods when sales are down. Then it’s forgotten once orders begin coming in.

A better goal is to be “prospect-driven,” focusing total attention and resources on uncovering prospective customers regardless of the state of the economy or current sales results.

Your salespeople can develop prospecting skills by following these six steps:

1. Make the commitment. It’s always easy to put prospecting off until a later day when the circumstances will be better, but the time is now. Effective salespeople place prospecting in the same category as meetings with important customers. They routinely include prospecting appointments in their daily planners.
2. Profile existing customers. Some salespeople fail to meet the prospecting challenge because they don’t put enough effort into studying their existing customers. Knowing why customers chose you can give you an edge in finding qualified prospects. By reviewing your customer base, you’ll get a clearer picture of your best customers and prospects.
3. Realize that the goal of prospecting is to build a bond. The key is to learn how the prospect thinks and what the prospect wants to accomplish. Successful salespeople know that ideas are the basis for an enduring bond with prospects. Once they establish the bond, there’s a good chance that the prospect will become a customer.
4. Understand how resistance to change works for and against you. People have an almost natural resistance to change. While this works to your benefit when it comes to your existing accounts, prospects also prefer the status quo and are more resistant to changing suppliers.
5. Give prospects opportunities to become customers. You never know the exact moment when a prospect makes the decision to become a customer. But the mental process of moving from prospect to customer is the key element in making the sale. The vital element here is to make certain that the prospect has the opportunity to make the purchase. Just because the sale isn’t made today doesn’t mean there isn’t future business potential with this prospect.
6. Regularly review the information you use to evaluate prospects. Buyers retire, are promoted or simply leave. Their needs and relationships are also subject to change. Some of them may move from prospect to customer quickly if you are there on a timely basis. Try to use a regular monitoring process to stay up-to-date with all of your prospects.

Adapted from the book Are You Ready to Sell by Mike Whitney, a sales trainer.

“The strategic threat to Facebook is that power users have gone to Twitter or to Google+,” Parker explained, during an address at the annual Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.

According to Parker, a power user is “any user that regularly contributes [significant] content to Facebook which is being consumed by everyone else.”

In other words, a lot of influential companies and celebrities are migrating to sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Google + that are set up to maximize the ROI on their status updates/tweets.

A quick look at Facebook on any given day reveals a snapshot of what Parker’s referring to. The overwhelming majority of Facebook users post and respond to info about their own personal lives, whereas Twitter is more geared toward a person or entity promoting a brand, product or image.

People don’t follow nearly as many friends on Twitter as they do on Facebook. As the social media landscape shifts, the question becomes: What will Facebook do to evolve beyond a site where people go to see what their friends are up to?

More importantly, what will attract the power users to Facebook, as opposed to Twitter and Google+? As the power users go, so does a social media site’s popularity, assuming Parker’s on the money.

Source: “Facebook power users have gone to Google + and Twitter,” by Emma Barnett, Telegraph, 10/18/11.

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The biggest challenge web marketers faced in 2011 was generating relevant email copy, and delivering it at a time that maximizes open/response rates.

This according to MarketingSherpa’s newly-released 2012 Email Benchmarking Report, which also found:

• Nearly a third of companies have identified a strategy that works effectively in terms of increasing open/response rates
• A fifth of marketers are still sending email without paying much attention to timing and/or the impact of copy on response rates
• What’s proved most effective in segmenting email lists is separating leads and email copy by buying history, stage in the lead pipeline, and/or specific preferences customers have mentioned during the online registration process
• Despite the fact 13% of execs are now primarily checking their email via a mobile device (a number that will continue to climb over the next five years), less than half of websites/emails are optimized for customers to view or respond to via handheld resources, and
• For the first time ever, landing pages that emails link to were found to have more impact on whether a prospect made a buying decision than the subject line of the email itself.

Source: MarketingSherpa’s 2012 Email Benchmarking Report.

Customers’ interest in products or services extends only as far as those products or services can help fulfill these goals.

A survey of B2B customers by HR Chally Group pinpointed seven things customers expect to get from salespeople in addition to the product or service they’re buying. They are:

1. Personally accountability. The salespeople who get the largest part of customers’ business take personal responsibility for the customers’ results. They act as business agents who are responsible for every aspect of the relationship between buyer and seller.
2. Business acumen. This requires understanding how the customer’s business works — its competencies and business strategies. It means understanding the customer’s customers. It means seeing the customer’s business as its CEO sees the business.
3. Being an ally. Customers expect salespeople to be their representative within the salesperson’s organization. The best salespeople ensure that the solutions their customers purchased are delivered as promised. They act as the voice of the customer, keeping their company informed of customer needs.
4. Providing applications. Customers want salespeople who think beyond features and benefits to applications. They want to know how to use products and services to achieve their goals. They want to be sure they can properly implement the solutions they buy.
5. Accessibility. Global is local in today’s 24/7 B2B environment. Today’s best salespeople are always available to relieve customer stress.
6. Problem-solving skills. The closing of the sale mustn’t mark the end of the sales engagement and the end of the salesperson’s responsibilities. Now the closing of the sale simply marks the end of the beginning. Customers expect salespeople to not only solve their problems during the transaction itself, but throughout the business relationship. The best salespeople act as troubleshooters, committing to solving problems quickly and effectively.
7. Innovation. Salespeople must be innovative in responding to customer needs. Because change is the only constant in today’s B2B environment, customers expect salespeople to respond to their spoken and unspoken needs. To meet this demand, the best salespeople adopt the role of the innovator, being the first to recognize and react to new business opportunities.

Adapted from the book Accelerate the Sale by Mark Rodgers, a sales consultant.

What do you know — and what have you done — about what you shouldn’t talk about?

There are several taboo topics for your social media account, experts will tell you.

Four areas to avoid:

1. Posting worthless updates. Sure, you feel the need to “feed the beast.” But if there isn’t anything worthwhile to say, don’t force it. It’s difficult to generate excitement about something you don’t believe is worthy.
2. Trashing your competitors. It only makes your business look petty, no matter what’s going on with a rival. Keep an eye your competition’s pages to see how they’re drawing traffic, and make plans to capitalize on those topics.
3. Overdoing it when answering customer concerns. You can still handle questions, but don’t clog your site with intricate answers.
4. Playing Candid Camera. Maybe you did get some great shots of employees and customers during that holiday party. Don’t post them. Don’t even tag customers. What’s the point? There’s too much at risk to do something so silly.

1. Get more from existing buyers. When it’s difficult to grow your business horizontally, look vertically. How can you increase your average volume per sale? What products and services can you cross-sell or up-sell to existing buyers? Can you offer package deals, volume discounts or upgrades that’ll provide an automatic boost?
2. Alleviate buyers’ fears. During a recession one of the biggest obstacles is overcoming buyers’ fear of making a poor buying decision. Uncovering what motivates that fear (e.g., leaving an incumbent supplier, repercussions from upper management, etc.) puts salespeople in a much better position to win the buyer’s business.
3. Qualify, qualify, qualify. When times are tough, managers need to provide reps with the best leads possible. That means identifying which prospects (i.e., SIC, title, region, etc.) are most likely to buy and moving them to the front of your lead pipeline. But it also means having a system in place to ensure salespeople are qualifying prospects early and often. If your average sales cycle has become longer, it’s a sure sign salespeople are wasting time with prospects who are either stalling or have no intention (or power) to buy.

Despite warnings from experts and a growing body of research, many businesses still haven’t optimized their website to appeal to mobile users.

About 70% of websites continue to overlook this critical flaw, according to a survey from RedEye.

Even grimmer: 84% of companies still haven’t designed emails that can be clearly read and understood on a mobile device.

Customers are going to spend only so much time trying to decipher your email or guess what’s on the rest of your web page — before they turn to a competitor who’s more equipped to meet their needs.

Mobile use is growing and isn’t going away. More people are using mobile devices to check their email regularly and make purchasing decisions.

Fortunately, there’s a relatively simple solution: Run an in-house quality test on your web page and your email. What do your own people see on their small screens? What needs to be improved? How can you do that?

You can use this information to upgrade your message to potential customers, and then send out something you know will get and keep their attention.

For more information on optimization for mobile users, RedEye has made public a synopsis of its Conversion Rate Optimization Report 2011.

But it’s more than that. Many businesses also use Super Bowl advertising to kick off a new campaign or feature that innovative new commercial that everyone will talk about Monday morning. The handicappers will rate the winners and losers, and people who know little about football will have plenty to share about what happened between snaps.

Part of the ad crowd this year: Mars Candy’s M&Ms will introduce a new character (it was in The New York Times, so it must be true) named Ms. Brown. She’ll represent the brown M&Ms, of course.

She’s the sixth M&M to find a voice, joining red, yellow, blue, green and orange. The maker calls them computer-animated mascots.

Ms. Brown is described “an intelligent woman with a sharp wit who finally decided to reveal herself after working for decades behind the scenes as ‘Chief Chocolate Officer.’” I kid you not.

This is high-stakes stuff, though. Companies are shelling out big bucks — rolling the dice — to make the most of this opportunity to publicize the brand, woo new customers and help existing customers validate their choices.

Pardon me as I step out of (or into) character: There’s something creepy about those commercials that give lifelike qualities to foodstuffs designed to be consumed.

Whether it’s the M&Ms discussing who’d they rather serve as a snack for, or breakfast pastries, breakfast cereal or one of several other products, it just seems a little creepy for this talking chunk of chocolate to try to convince me to pop him or her into my mouth.

I guess I was more comfortable with the “melts in your mouth, not in your hand” campaign.

Anyway, talking food aside, there are always winners and losers among the advertisers willing to risk all that money on a 30-second spot.

Oh, by the way: If you want to book your own ad, better luck next year.

Spots for Super Bowl XLVI sold out around Thanksgiving.

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Rejection of an offer is a fact of life in sales. It comes with the job and is normal.

Top salespeople learn to deal with rejection. They try to understand the cause of rejection and take corrective steps to reverse it. They recognize that how they handle rejection may say more about their success than any other selling technique.

Some new salespeople don’t handle rejection too well, according to customer surveys that show almost half of all salespeople disappear after objections are raised.

There are two negative reactions to rejection. The first is that salespeople simply stop trying. They become oversensitive, cautious and retreat. The second is they become aggressive with prospects and customers, attempting to overcome the rejection with heavy-handed tactics. Both of these reactions can be disastrous for a new salesperson.

A positive approach

Whether rejection is valid or invalid, you need to understand the cause of the rejection before you can try to overcome it.

Here are three ways to deal with rejection and stay focused:

1. Learn from lost sales. Use an outline to review what could have been done better. It may help to try to list three things that could be done better in the future.
2. Keep a success journal. A constant barrage of resistance can often eclipse recent successes. Keeping a journal of sales successes isn’t for dates and dollar signs only. List the approach, how objections were handled and what made the customer buy.
3. Get a boost from customers. When things aren’t panning out, remember what’s working for existing customers. Keeping a file of positive customer feedback and testimonials can give you a quick boost. Try to contact those customers to learn what they appreciate most. Comparing that feedback to recent efforts might lead to ending a slump.

Enthusiasm is the key for overcoming rejection

Enthusiasm is a priceless quality in every salesperson. It builds courage and corrects bad attitudes and slumps.

Four key points about enthusiasm:

1. Enthusiasm is undermined by negative self-talk. Resist the temptation to tell yourself all the things that are wrong about the economy. Try to be with positive people, both on and off the job.
2. Enthusiasm is the result of self-discipline, not self-indulgence. Self-indulgence is thinking about what’s good for you and then taking action. Self-discipline is thinking about what’s good for your prospects and customers, then showing them why they should buy your product or service.
3. Enthusiasm allows you to treat all prospects and customers the same. There are prospects and customers who are difficult to deal with. They may be obstinate, contrary and insensitive. A key part of becoming a salesperson is learning to deal with difficult people in a positive, thoughtful way. Enthusiasm is the ingredient that makes this possible.
4. Enthusiasm results from focusing on long-term versus short-term goals. It’s a good idea to renew goals weekly so they’re focused on the long-term. Long term goals lessen the negative impact that may happen in the short term.

Source: John R. Graham, President of Graham & Associates, a sales and marketing firm in Quincy, MA.

1. Talking too much and not listening enough.
2. Failure to ask good questions or phrasing them improperly.
3. Trying to sell products or services while customers look for solutions.
4. Confusing prospects and customers with too much information.
5. Poor after-sales service.
6. Failure to try to regain lost business.
7. Reluctance to sell against established relationships.
8. Failure to respond properly to customer complaints.
9. Failure to convert first-time buyers into long-term customers.
10. Failure to get more business from existing customers.
11. Setting goals too high or too low, or improperly trying to attain them.
12. Selling features and price rather than value and benefits.
13. Exhibiting a poor attitude when calling on prospects and customers.
14. Failure to build trust in prospects and customers.
15. Not taking full advantage of selling time.

Source: Ted Barrows, a sales consultant based in Bristol, RI.

The problem, in many cases, is that salespeople feel awkward asking loyal customers for new referrals. This may be a result of managers not taking the time to train and motivate reps to pursue referrals on a regular basis.

And it may also be the result of these two dynamics, which prevent reps from generating more referrals:

1. Almost 70% of salespeople avoid asking for referrals altogether. The problem in a case like this is that management isn’t making referrals a part of the regular agenda — offering reps as well as customers rewards for constantly pursuing referrals.
2. Only asking once. Statistically speaking, only asking customers for referrals once a year will generate an average of 1.5 new leads per customer, according to a recent article by sales expert Paul McCord. Asking a second time in the same year is proven to generate twice as many hot leads. Asking a third time in one year (the plateau point) is proven to generate three times as many referrals!

Source: “The 10 Biggest Referral Mistakes Salespeople Make,” by Paul McCord, EyesOnSales, 11/1/11.