1. Drill down deep into the resume. Regardless of how well-dressed candidates are or how effectively they sell themselves, the resume still tells the real story. Be sure to review it prior to the interview and prepare a list of follow-up questions for anything that raises a red flag (e.g., lapses in employment, shuffling of jobs, whether the candidate simply lists responsibilities, instead of accomplishments, awards and accolades). Try to verify as many facts as possible to ensure the candidate is on the level.
2. Check for any online presence. The world is a fishbowl these days, and recruiters need to use that to their advantage. Before hiring someone, it may be helpful to do an search online to see if he or she has a personal website or blog. It may tell you a lot about the person’s interests and work ethic. Social networking profiles may be able to tell you a lot candidates aren’t willing to share during an interview. Candidates who have a strong online presence can be a major plus for the company, because it’s a sign they’re internet savvy. As a caveat, don’t immediately dismiss a candidate based on something you found on a social networking profile or blog. Everyone has a personal life outside of work, and those that know how to maintain a healthy balance can actually be a tremendous asset. Plus, the ability to be social is a very valuable skill in the sales world. In fact, having no online presence whatsoever may be a red flag in and of itself.
3. Put as much weight on their questions as you do your own. It’s a very stiff job market out there, and employers can generally tell a lot about how a candidate approaches the opportunity based on the questions he of she asks. Asking no questions may signify a lack of interest (unless you’ve answered all their questions during the course of the interview). As a general rule, the questions candidates walk into the interview with (or jot down during the process) provide a strong window into why they’re applying for the job (and what they hope to get out of it).
4. Request specific references. Obviously, it’s smart to talk to a candidate’s past employers or supervisors to find out about past work history and whether or not the employee left on good terms. But you may also want to request one reference from an organization or activity the candidate pursues on his or her own time. Those types of references can speak to a candidate’s integrity and passion.
5. Emphasize the cover letter/e-mail. The days of the boilerplate cover letter are over. If a candidate really wants a position with your company, he or she should be willing to reach for it. That means taking the time to write a job-specific letter that lays out all the reasons why they’d be an ideal fit for your sales team. If the candidate submits a generic “Dear Potential Employer” letter, chances are yours is one of 10 or more letters they’ve sent out that day. While that speaks to aggressiveness, it also may be a sign that they see the position you’re offering as a dime a dozen.

What strategies do you use to find top salespeople? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Business consultants are able to completely internalize their customers’ points of view, producing the following benefits for them:

• the opportunity to give advice on customers’ high-level decisions and policies that have a long-term impact on future sales
• the stature to be asked by customers to help evaluate competitors’ newly-released products
• invitations to cross-sell elsewhere in the organization instead of having to request access.

Eight key indicators

Here are eight key indicators that distinguish business consultants from salespeople:

1. They manage the sales process. Business consultants look for ways to synchronize the customer’s buying process with their selling process. They start by doing their homework, identifying the key players in the customer’s buying process and making sure everyone involved knows all the issues and concerns.
2. They build credible reputations. To be successful business consultants, salespeople need to be knowledgeable experts in the eyes of their customers. They establish their own reputations, separate from the organizations they sell for.
3. They build a solid knowledge base, becoming knowledgeable about the customer’s organization and what they want and need. They put themselves in their customers’ shoes by identifying their market objectives. They go beyond reading annual reports and prior sales figures to become familiar with their customers at every level.
4. They develop the right solutions, listening to what the customer wants, then educating them about exactly what they need. They ask the right questions to make sure their solutions respond to the customers’ voiced and unvoiced needs.
5. They present and propose effectively. Busy customers expect salespeople to be able to present well. Business consultants rehearse presentations before giving them, trying to come up with questions prospects may ask.
6. They manage their time and territories. Just as other professionals need to know how to run a business, a salesperson should be able to step back and take a look at how he or she is doing relative to the organization’s business objectives and his or her own goals.
7. They maintain and expand their existing accounts by targeting their most profitable accounts. Some salespeople dedicate most of their time to difficult customers, forgetting about the rest because they seem secure. They may lose contact with them, forget their needs, and allow a competitor to come in. Business consultants prosper by selling broadly and deeply into existing accounts.
8. They close the sale. Business consultants know when it’s time to close the sale. When they see buying signals from the customer, they move to summarize benefits and ask for the order.

Adapted from Strategies that Win Sales by Mark Marone & Seleste Lunsford (Dearborn Trade Publishing). Mr. Marone and Ms. Marone are senior managers for AchieveGlobal with more than 1600 employees across the U.S. and in 40 different countri

The pressure is building. Prospects are more knowledgeable, demanding more concessions and more results. The good news: Even in these uncertain times many salespeople are delivering impressive results. Want to know how?

A recent study conducted by the business experts at Forum identified nine driving principles that top salespeople follow during an economic downturn:

1. Be a true business consultant to customers. Customers value new ideas and insights based on your experience and expertise. What have you learned from other customers with similar issues that can relieve a new customer’s pain immediately? Talk results with customers. Show how your product or service helps them meet their goals. Create solutions for their problems. Be innovative. Increase credibility by acting as a trusted advisor who brings innovative, highly differentiated solutions to the table that respond to customers’ unique business challenges.
2. Do your homework. Know more, connect to more information than your customers do and turn your knowledge into value. Invest time and energy in researching your customers’ customers, markets, competitors, employees and challenges. Study before a sales call, so you can prepare insights to share with the customer during the call that turn into meaningful action after the call.
3. Clearly differentiate. Try harder to have your company, product or service clearly differentiated from the competition. If you customers can’t easily and quickly explain why you’re different from others in the same field, it might be a good idea to review your presentation. Don’t just assume they see your uniqueness — tell them.
4. Identify hot industries or sectors. A downturn doesn’t hit all companies, all sectors of the economy or all industries. There are always some areas that still grow. Concentrate on finding those areas.
5. Market yourself more to both prospects and existing customers. Keep in touch with them through letters, postcards, newsletters, e-mail, voice mail and sales calls. Try to have something of value to share with them every time.
6. Stay in touch with customers who are not buying, for whatever reason. By not staying in touch with them now, you send the signal that you only want to talk with them when they’re ready to order.
7. Keep your enthusiasm. Prospects and customers are influenced by your enthusiasm — or lack of it. Customer surveys report that they prefer doing business with positive, enthusiastic sales professionals. Complacency by a salesperson almost always leads to disaster.
8. Avoid negative self-talk. It’s easy to get caught up in negative thinking, especially during tough times. Resist the temptation to tell yourself all the things you’re not doing right and all the things you need to improve on. Recharge or renew yourself and then put in enough effort to get where you want to be, not just enough to justify where you are now.
9. Focus on your long-term vision versus short-term goals. Keep telling yourself that it’s all about the bigger picture. That’ll keep small failures from affecting your overall mood and approach.

Source: Ron Koprowski, Executive Vice President, Forum, Forum@forum.com

Your salespeople shouldn’t assume customers see their uniqueness –  they should ask them. If customers stammer and stumble … start sweating, because you may lose their business. Here are some tips to share with your salespeople.

Get them excited
Whether the purchase is routine or unique, small or significant, your objective is to get your customer excited about the purchase. Picture how you want the customer to feel once the order is signed. Getting the order may be everything to you. But the experience may be different for the customer, who may begin to think about the transaction and develop doubts. The goal is to have customers feel they’ve made the best possible decision. If the customer feels any letdown once the sale has been made, there may be trouble ahead.

Six techniques
Here are six techniques that may help you stand out from the competition:

1. Become more aggressive. Emphasize how your products or services save time, cut costs, and increase productivity. If you take this route, you may stand out from your competitors who may take a more defensive, protective position in a slow economy.
2. Keep a watchful eye on the competition. It’s not a good idea to assume that they’re sleeping. They may be making moves which could cost you customers.
3. Use value-added techniques to give yourself an edge. Separating your company from all the rest in your industry is more important than ever. Try to think like a customer to discover what you can do to dramatize your uniqueness.
4. Be a good ambassador. Tough times can cause anxiety. Try not to let it show. Negative messages spread quickly and may hurt your image with customers. Emphasize good news.
5. Concentrate on the basics. Your single most important job is to get and keep customers. The best way of doing this is to help your customers solve their problems better than anyone else. Don’t assume you have all the answers. Learn what each customer means by “better.” Then adapt your product or service so that it’s perceived as “better” in the eyes of your customers and prospects.
6. Concentrate on consulting. Customers don’t usually look for quick solutions during difficult economic periods. Tailor your products or services to meet precise needs. This means taking more time to be helpful, understanding and supportive of your customers.

Adapted from Break the Rules Selling by John R. Graham. Mr. Graham is president of Graham Associates, a marketing and consulting firm based in Quincy, MA.

These three metrics go beyond closing rates and click-throughs to uncover more opportunities to boost sales and revenue: 

1. Average customer relationship: How long does the average buyer continue doing business with your company? Does the average volume per sale increase or decrease over time? Does the frequency with which buyers make purchases decrease over time? If any of these numbers are shrinking, it may be time to survey past and current customers to find out why.
2. Average sales cycle: Are sales cycles longer than they were a few years ago? If so it could be an indication that: salespeople have drifted away from your company’s selling process, they’re spending too much time with stalling prospects or they’re not spending enough time building relationships with high-probability prospects.
3. Gross sales vs. net profit: What are reps doing to push high-profit products and services? Are they granting too many concessions? What’s your average profit margin and, more importantly, how does this year’s figure compare to what it was three or even five years ago? Shrinking profits may mean your salespeople are trying to add too much value to your products/services.

Also worth checking

How do your metrics stack up against major competitors? Figuring this out will certainly require a lot more digging, but getting some indication of your competitors’ key metrics is a good way to see how you measure up or determine if there’s something they’re doing that helps them close more.

Are you using any of these metrics at your organization? Let us know what’s working for you in the Comments Box below.

Here are four of them:

1. They wait for things to “happen.” Some salespeople wait for a call back from a prospect, wait for people to call in, wait until a proposal is developed, wait for a quote, wait for a referral or wait for a decision. This “waiting” wastes time and money. Selling is an active profession, not a passive one.
2. They think positive rather than acting positive. At sales meetings, they talk a good game and seem to buy into all of the motivation and helpful tips they receive. When they get in front of prospects, they allow negative vibes to creep in: Why should this prospect drop a current supplier? How can I match that price? Prospects pick up on indecision or lack of confidence quickly.
3. They don’t strategize their presentations. Although each sale situation may be different, there are certain things that occur over and over. Successful salespeople use what has worked, correct what hasn’t and apply that knowledge to future presentations.
4. They complain about poor leads, the economy, the credit department or the sales manager. There’s no time for laying blame or complaining about why sales aren’t made. Salespeople are in charge of the process and should lead and act to make things happen.

Adapted from Selling When No One is Buying (Adams Media, Avon, MA) by Stephan Schiffman. Mr. Schiffman is president of DEI Management Group, NYC.

According to research by small business expert and author Eugene Griessman, high achievers:

1. Discover what they’re best at and love doing.
2. Work hard at developing their sales skills. They still regard their work as fun.
3. Know how to manage their time, which they see as a limited and valuable resource.
4. Are persistent. They always find a way to make the important things happen.
5. Get what they need through hard work. Their work ethic enables them to gain recognition, earn a living and contribute to society.
6. Are able to concentrate completely on the task before them without being distracted. They recognize that if they’re not thinking about the task they’re involved in, they’re not going to be as effective as they can be.
7. Know how to function properly in most situations. They understand the importance of being in the right place at the right time.
8. Are able to recognize opportunities and seize them even if it means taking risks.
9. Know how to say “no” to those wanting to place demands on their time. Some salespeople say “yes” too often and don’t have enough time to accomplish the important tasks that lead to more sales.
10. Make planning and research a regular part of the job. They don’t consider planning a once-a-year task. They do it on a regular basis to make sure they’re setting the right goals.
11. Set aside and take advantage of a quiet time each day, including time to relax.

Adapted from “Your Personal Best,” by Eugene Griessman

Prospects are all different, and every presentation you make must be carefully tooled to win them over. Here are five rules for persuasive presentations:

Rule #1: Most presentations are won in preparation, not in the interview. Winning salespeople spend enormous amounts of time finding out what the prospect wants. They want to know their prospects’ needs better than the prospects themselves.

Try to uncover facts about what the prospect needs and not just about what your product or service can do for them. Facts about your prospect’s specific situation will always be more persuasive than facts about your product or service.

To identify customer expectations, ask yourself:

• Do I know how the prospect perceives his or her needs and why? You know what your perceptions are, but they might be quite different from the prospect’s expectations.
• Do I know the customer’s quantity, service and delivery requirements?
• Do I know who the buying influences are, their titles, responsibility and authority?

Rule #2: Emotion is a primary driver of the persuasion process. A persuasive presentation starts with the salesperson. Your own personal enthusiasm determines whether your presentation creates enthusiasm in the prospect.

Emotional points to consider:

• Every product or service has an emotional component. Whatever you’re presenting will have some kind of emotional content associated with it. Think about the emotions that different parts of your proposal may trigger in your prospect.
• When you plan a persuasive presentation, try to plan the emotional content along with the information content. Your goal is for the prospect to feel something that advances your proposal.
• Start building enthusiasm by telling them why. You can have all the facts and details in the world, but if you can’t package and present it with passion and conviction, you’re probably not going to get the job done.
• Tap into what it is personally that you share, experience or deeply believe about what you’re presenting. Ask yourself if there’s part of what you’re presenting that you can be totally passionate about.

Rule #3: The most persuasive salespeople strengthen dialogues and don’t try to control it. The least persuasive presentation starts and ends with salespeople who take total control of the conversation.

What sets salespeople apart from competitors in prospects’ eyes is extensive knowledge of the prospect’s business.

Ask yourself:

• What can I do to help the prospect understand, motivate them to feel, show the contrast, help them to trust, get the involved or see a benefit that will win acceptance for my product or service?
• How can I put my prospects first? What do I have to do to persuade them?
• Will my facts hold up? Do I have credible proof to support them? You don’t want to be halfway into your presentation and be brought down by an objection to one of your facts.

Rule #4: Don’t talk about solutions too soon. A common fault in the presentation is to talk about solutions too early in the call. Offering solutions before you know a prospect’s needs may cause objections and reduce your chances for a successful close.

Your goal is to tailor the presentation to create something unique for the prospect. To do this you need to study your product from every conceivable angle and determine what you offer that is truly unique.

Try to find ways to get the prospect involved in the sale. Ask questions. Get feedback on major selling points. Prospects want information, knowledge and helpful ideas. Do everything you can to share everything you know.

Rule #5: Ask for the order. A persuasive presentation has a goal. Before you end the presentation, you either want to achieve that goal or understand what the next step toward achieving it will be. In a sales presentation, if you don’t ask for the order, you won’t get it, no matter how persuasive your presentation has been.

Be relentless. Momentum comes from a consistent effort. At the start of your presentation, your prospect may think a competitor has a better product or service. If your presentation is effective, your prospect will now see you on top.

This is the time to assume a positive confirmation with a commitment to start doing business together today.

Adapted from Presentations That Change Minds by Josh Gordon (McGraw-Hill). Josh Gordon is the president of Gordon Communication Strategies, a skill training and representation firm based in New York City.

Most experts agree that a true leader has many of the following qualities:

• Commitment – They are willing to apply themselves to achieve a goal or to work for a cause. They take their jobs seriously and don’t hesitate to go the extra mile for their prospects and customers.
• Initiative – They are self-starters with a desire to excel. They want to be in charge and are willing to work hard to achieve success.
• Integrity – They refuse to compromise their values. If there’s only one right way to do a job, that’s the way they insist that it be done. They are honest with themselves and with their prospects and customers.
• Self-confidence – They are confident in their own abilities and can make sound decisions quickly and rationally.
• Perspective – They understand the big picture. They know how to shift perspective from the details of the sale at hand to the impact on the organization as a whole.
• Sense of order – They can walk into a chaotic situation, quickly scan it and impose order. As a result, sales goals are clarified and more easily obtained.
• Willingness to take risks – They have a strong self-image. If they take risks and come up short, they don’t let their world fall apart. They’re willing to accept the responsibility that risk-taking entails.
• Stamina – They have the stamina to withstand the pressures of the job and the resilience to bounce back from failures.
• Sense of humor – They aren’t afraid to laugh at themselves from time to time or to point out the humor in otherwise discouraging situations. This keeps up their morale and motivation.
• Human relations skills – They recognize that intuition, curiosity and sensitivity to customers are essential to effective sales leadership.
• A good mind – We’re not just talking about IQ here. Successful sales leaders have the type of mind that can sort out complex situations in a logical and analytical manner.
• Open attitude toward change – They aren’t set in their ways. They listen to their customers and prospects to find better ways of selling products and services.
• A positive outlook – They focus on the positive rather than the negative. They know how to keep their sales up despite the economy or competition.

Adapted from “Gain By Following Up On the Sale,” by Barry Farber

When done properly, marketing and sales communications eliminate any and all doubts prospects have. But before a message can accomplish that, it must contain these five ingredients.

1. The true cost. Include all costs that prospects will incur when making a purchase. Hidden fees (like shipping charges) that are revealed last minute drive prospects away at the worst possible time — after you’ve spent time, money and energy getting them to the brink of the sale.

2. The objective. Explain what the product or service will achieve. If the main focus is to reduce production costs, try to explain how it will be done.

3. The process. The prospect should be told when the product will be made, shipped and installed. Just be sure to keep in mind that it’s never a good idea to over-promise, because customers will hold you to it.

4. Expected results. Remind prospects of what the benefits are by explaining the impact that the new purchase will have. It’s a good idea to clearly display why it’s in the prospect’s best interest to do business with you.

5. Closing arguments. Re-state the points that caught the prospect’s attention in the first place. If your company’s reputation is what grabbed them, try to include customer testimonials.

What ingredients do you find work best in your sales/marketing communications? Share them in the Comment Box below.

A lot of companies are missing out on a likely source of new sales: former customers.

Here are 10 strategies that help get former customers back in the active file. Share them at your next sales meeting.

• Let former customers know you’re interested in finding out why the business was lost. One study showed that many former customers stopped buying because no one let them know they were valuable to the company.
• Stress the fact that former customers have been missed – as individuals, not as names on a list.
• Take responsibility for your actions and those of your company. Admit your mistakes, and take responsibility for everything that was done to lose the customer in the first place.
• Assume there are logical, workable answers to why former customers stopped doing business with you.
• Give former customers information about anything new or different that you’re providing.
• Concentrate on meeting the former customer’s needs in order to deliver full satisfaction.
• Give former customers your undivided attention. It cuts through the resistance, tension and suspicion that may accompany former relationships.
• Understand that former customers are trying to make or save money by increasing sales or reducing costs. You can sell them again if you show former customers how to create and hold an economic advantage.
• Let customers know why it’s smart to do business with you again. Former customers want to feel they’re making the right buying decision in doing business with you again. Try to reinforce that decision throughout your relationship.
• Assure former customers that regardless of what happened in the past, things will be different in the future.

John R. Graham is the president of Graham Associates, a marketing and sales firm based in Quincy, MA.

They can make an appointment so upsetting or intimidating that some salespeople would rather make no deal and avoid all contact with these types. Here are strategies to share with your salespeople.

Control the encounter

While salespeople can’t control the emotions or actions of truly difficult people, they can control the encounter by recognizing the three categories most difficult people fall into:

1. The Situationally difficult: Those people whose situation or circumstances make them difficult. Something may have happened to disrupt their day.

2. The Strategically difficult: Those who think being difficult helps them get what they want.

3. The simply difficult people: Those who have an ingrained personality characteristic – bullies, tyrants & impossible people (B.T.I.P.). Their behavior is reactive, manipulative, uncooperative or a combination of these characteristics.

Three choices

Salespeople have three choices when dealing with a B.T.I.P.

1. Give up. Run for cover, close your eyes and wait until it’s over. If the customer attacks you from the get-go, wave the white flag and surrender. If you’re blindsided the moment you let your guard down, turn the other cheek and get clobbered.

2. Get nasty back. Fight fire with fire, stubborn with stubborn, anger with anger, temper with temper, ego with ego.

3. Find another alternative to deal with B.T.I.P.

The first choice doesn’t work because it only allows the B.T.I.P. to continue what he or she does best – bullying a salesperson into a bad choice. The second choice usually just brings an unpleasant situation to an unsatisfying end – especially for the salesperson.

Gaining control

Difficult people are usually trying to gain or maintain control of a situation. The more they fear losing control, the more entrenched they may become in their positions. It’s critical to make a solid connection with B.T.I.P. This means listening carefully and opening your mind to opposing views – and then coming up with new options that make a situation or deal a win for the other person.

Adapted from ‘Bullies, Tyrants, and Impossible People,’ by Ronald M. Shapiro, Mark A. Jankowski and James Dale. (Crown Business, a division of Random House, Inc.). The authors are sales consultants and training specialists.

Here’s a four-step strategy for more successful new product sales. Share it with your salespeople:

1. Avoid the features spiel. With new products or services, salespeople often get fixated on the features and veer away from the benefits prospects really care about. It’s usually a better approach to concentrate on what the product or service will do for them.

2. Double-check the targets. Salespeople frequently target their biggest customers first when introducing a new product or service. But often the high-volume customers aren’t looking to change, so they may not value the product as much. Tip: Consider starting with smaller customers or a balanced mix of them to hone presentations and get more traction.

3. Quantify the benefits. We all know that customers are more likely to buy when they know exactly what the new product is worth to them. Try to put some hard numbers around the key benefits, like “boosts productivity by 10%,” to enhance credibility.

4. Prepare for battle. It’s a good idea to pretend you’re a competitor and map out how you’d sell against this product. Examining the launch from that perspective may help point out the strengths and weaknesses in the offer.

Source: “Pack a Punch With Your New Product,” www.peerspectives.org

1. Environmental consulting: With all the talk about green buildings, green companies and green initiatives, environmental consultants are in high demand. Not only do most companies feel a stricter responsibility to be environmentally sound (not only from a legal perspective, but also in the sense they feel a social obligation), but new buildings, homes, parks and other initiatives are now being built in an environmentally sound way. Besides which, companies have realized that being green also means saving on energy and supply costs.
2. Home health care: With so much confusion about the ins and outs of the new healthcare package, and healthcare costs for hospital stays and care escalating at an astronomic pace, a lot more people are opting to treat their condition at home. That means getting in-house care, as well as pharmaceuticals delivered, in addition to other services. The New York Times recently reported that “telemedicine” (i.e., consulting with a doctor at home via Web cam) is now growing at a rate of 10% a year. That industry grossed more than $500 million last year.
3. Health drinks and organic food: The fitness craze is in full swing and Americans are moving toward a much more health-conscious diet. Fast food is still popular, but frowned upon. More people are insisting on organic foods, and natural juice drinks are all the rage.
4. Public storage: The housing crisis had an odd, if not fortunate, side effect for this industry. All those displaced needed a place to keep their possessions while they looked for a new place to live. That trend continues, as the storage industry raked in more than $22 billion last year. The most interesting part: Because of the nature of the business, more than 90% of the industry is independently owned by small companies and entrepreneurs.
5. Mobile apps: If you can dream it, believe us … within five years, there’ll be an app for that. This industry is exploding, and the best part about it is any innovative companies can hop on board by creating its own app.

Can you think of any other industries that are ready to boom? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Source: “The Best Industries for Starting a Business 2010,” Inc. Magazine.

Here are the four causes of sales slumps and ways to overcome each one. Share them at your next meeting.

1. The Attitude slump. This slump usually results from either losing faith in the product/service being sold, an inability to meet goals or giving in to high levels of stress. The best way to turn an attitude slump around is to pinpoint which of the three has got you down and work on getting your confidence back in that area. For example, if you’ve lost faith in a product, remind yourself what’s great about it. One way: Call a satisfied customer and ask what it is the person loves about it.
2. The Prospecting slump. When prospects dry up, some salespeople blame the economy, the products or simply bad luck. Prospecting is not about contacting a ton of people (the spray and pray method) — but identifying and getting in touch with the few who need the benefits you can provide and have the ability to buy right now.  Be willing to try new and creative approaches to prospecting. Dig deeper to recognize which prospects are the most qualified.
3. The Presentation slump. These slumps are usually the result of pressing too hard for a sale and failing to listen to what it is prospects are saying they want. This can be solved with a renewed concentration on prospects’ needs and how well they’re being addressed. Take a step back and review your presentation to see where it can be improved. Then tailor each presentation to each prospect’s specific needs.
4. The Closing slump. There are two major causes of this type of slump: No. 1 — Trying to close with a prospect who isn’t the decision maker. The solution to this problem is to ensure the person you are presenting to has the authority to make a purchasing decision. No. 2 — Trying to maintain control throughout the presentation. Successful salespeople understand that it’s OK to let the prospect dictate the direction in which a presentation heads — as long as the prospect’s problems are being solved, or his or her concerns are being addressed.

It comes at the time questions have been answered, objections have been resolved and  prospects are thinking about how a product or service will benefit them.

Three levels of interest

Prospects may have three levels of interest when they are ready to buy:

1. Prospect indicates complete satisfaction and is ready to be asked to buy.
2. Prospect knows all about the product or service but still needs some last-minute information.
3. Prospect understands the product and acknowledges its benefits but still needs time to think things over.

Measuring the interest

It’s not easy to measure the prospect’s level of interest. Some of the ones who seem the most receptive are the most difficult to close. Others who raise the most objections move effortlessly to a close.

Trial closing

A good way to determine a prospect’s interest is to use a trial close. When trial closing, a salesperson is asking for the prospect’s opinion about the product or service. It helps measure a prospect’s interest at any time during the presentation.

Urge your salespeople to use a trial close as soon as they spot a buying signal. There is usually no risk in trial closing. They may get an immediate positive response or uncover some resistance that has to be overcome before they can close the sale. It’s a win-win situation, in either case.

Adapted from The One Minute Closer (Business Plus, NY) by James W. Pickens. Pickens is a sales consultant and author

1. Contributors. This feature will allow multiple users to post to the same Twitter account without having to share a password. This means businesses can partner with one another to post to a joint account and make announcements that could impact both companies’ customers. It also means several different people can gain access to a company’s central Twitter account, giving individual sales and marketing people access to a much wider audience.
2. Verified accounts. This will add an emblem or “badge” to the Twitter accounts of high-profile users like celebrities, politicians and CEOs. With so many people registering for fake accounts, the “verified accounts” emblem ensures customers they’re in fact choosing to follow the real company CEO (or the company itself) and not some imitator.
3. Direct messages. Direct messages may have the most practical use for businesses that rely on Twitter as a customer engagement tool. It allows users to send private messages to other accounts, regardless of whether they follow the company on Twitter. This new function allows companies to engage customers in one-on-one exchanges in a non-public setting. It also makes Twitter a much more valuable means of opening a dialogue with customers.

Source: “A Closer Look at Twitter’s Latest Features for Businesses,”
Open Forum, 5/19/10.

Here are some ideas your salespeople can use to bring lost customers back:

1. Start with the customer. Ask for specific reasons why the customer left. Sometimes the answer is something the salesperson can control – like service – and other times it’s not, such as a change in decision makers. Finding this information will help determine how you should approach the situation.

2. Review the account history. If the former customer refuses to get into specifics, you should be prepared to do some research. Check the account records carefully to see if there were any problems with delivery or complaints about quality that went unanswered. Try to come up with a plan to fix the problem, then share it with your former customer.

3. Check with other departments at your former customer’s company to get more information. Maybe the account was lost because of a decision made in accounting or credit. You can’t fix what you don’t know.

4. Don’t let the experience affect other accounts, especially if you uncover negatives that led to the loss of business. Try to repair the problem and, if it’s significant, explain the situation to your present customers before they cancel, too.

Adapted from Master Selling, Maximize Success (Chronicle Books) by Kristina Susac. Ms. Susac is a consultant and sales trainer with clients such as Coca-Cola and Citibank.

The following mistakes are to blame for losing the most sales.

In reverse order, here they are:

7. Depending solely on the capabilities of your products or services to seal the deal. The problem: Not many companies have a unique enough product or service to simply blow the competition away. So companies must differentiate their products or services in ways that convey value to customers.

6. Salespeople are afraid to get out of their comfort zones — and be more persistent or persuasive, push past gatekeepers to find the real decision makers, pick up the phone and make more cold calls, etc. Some are fearful of calling executive-level buyers or become intimidated when selling against tough competition. Unfortunately, few comfortable places exist anymore for salespeople who aren’t willing to challenge themselves.

5. Not knowing the competition. Some companies get outsold because their reps don’t know anything about the salespeople competing against them for the same business — not their names, not how they sell, not whether they’re new to the job or highly experienced, nor what they are likely to do to win business. That’s selling blind — and it doesn’t work.

4. Depending too much or too little on relationships. Relationship selling isn’t enough anymore. If a company can’t prove ROI, being friendly with buyers won’t close future sales. On the other hand, it’s always a good idea to build relationships with those who can influence buying decisions, as well as the main decision makers themselves. The key is to develop strong relationships throughout your industry without counting on them to close sales for you.

3. Not having a plan to win. To succeed, both sales and marketing pros need an objective, something to aim for. This requires planning — not just talk.

2.  Not understanding customers’ businesses. Successful companies have two things in common: They heavily research customers’ businesses, and they are passionate about solving customers’ problems.

1. Failing to develop the skills and traits required to win. The skills required for sales success today are different from what they were even a few years ago. Salespeople have to be better researchers, problem solvers and leaders than their competitors. Winning a sale today requires knowledge, planning and precise execution from beginning to end. Successful companies offer greater and more meaningful service to their customers than the competition, and they know their competitors’ next moves — so they can beat them to the punch.

Adapted from “How Winners Sell” by Dave Stein.

Sixty-eight percent of Americans now feel politics is the least trusted profession in America, knocking off Sales as the long-time incumbent, found a new survey by Sandler Training.

While most feel the shift to politics is a reflection of the major rift between this country’s political parties and the rash of scandals that have sprouted up over the past few years or so, the real surprise was that politics was such a runaway winner (or loser, depending on your perspective).

The top six on the list of professions people voted as the least trustworthy:

1. Politics (68%)
2. Sales (9%)
3. Law (7%)
4. Journalism (6%)
5. Banking (6%)
6. Automotive repair (5%)

The survey also asked respondents which segments of the sales profession they trusted the least. Car salespeople (38%) were the least trusted and financial sales execs (35%) came in second. Meanwhile, retail salespeople were the most trusted.