Tag: Closing Techniques

Say This to Get Better—Right Now!

by mike

Want some quick (and easy!) tips that will make you better Right Away?

You’ll find them below, and I guarantee that if you use them, you’ll not only identify buyers faster, but you’ll feel more confident, you’ll close more sales, and your income will grow—starting today.

Here are quick/easy things you can say to make yourself—or your sales team—better:

Instead of saying, “I don’t know if you have any budget for this…”

Say: “And what type of budget do you have set aside for this?”

Instead of saying, “Why don’t we set up another meeting to talk about this…”

Say: “From what you’ve seen today, is this something you feel would work for you?”

Instead of saying, “The sooner you start with this, the sooner you’ll see the results…”

Say: “What is your timeline for getting started with something like this?”

BETTER: “Based on what you’ve seen today, does this sound like something you’d like to put to work for you?”

Instead of saying, “Who else needs to look at this?”

Say: “Is this something that you would recommend to (this other person)?”

And if YES, then: “And do they generally take your recommendations?”

OR: “I’m sure you work with (the other person) pretty closely, so from what you know about what they’re looking for, do you think they would go with this?”

As you can see, the point is to be more assumptive, instead of beating around the bush and not asking.

Remember, YOU are the closer, and YOU need to be leading the sale. And you can. And by adopting the questions above, you will!

And if you’d like more scripts like this, then download my Complete Book of Scripts by clicking here.

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

Tie-Downs: You’re Using Them, Right?

by mike

It’s a new year, and the sooner you learn, practice, and use new habits, the faster you’ll get better results.

This is true whether you’re attempting to eat better, work out more, or make more sales.

And one easy and important habit you can develop right now is to use more tie-downs.

Ask yourself: After I give a benefit to my product or service, do I use a tie-down to see if it’s important to my prospect?

Tie-downs include things like:

“Do you find that, too?”

“How would you use something like that?”

Budget: “The investment in this is $10,000—is that within your budget right now?”

“Is that the amount you’d be willing to spend if you like what you see?”

While tie-downs are self-evident, it’s amazing how few sales reps use them. If you’re a manager or business owner, ask yourself: How often do my team members get confirmation and direction from their prospects by using tie-downs?

If they don’t, they likely just keep pitching and talking past the close. And the dangers of that are also self-evident.

So: New year, new you? If you want to get new results, you’ll need to adopt the new habits that will lead to success.

And that starts by using tie-downs.

If you’d like to know more about tie-downs and want word for word examples of them, then click here.

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

How to Sell A Pencil—Or Any Product or Service

by mike

NOTE: While this article talks about using this technique as an interview question to determine what kind of sales rep you’re about to hire, it’s also a great technique for managers to use to diagnose what is wrong with reps who may not be hitting quote consistently. Simply call your reps in, one by one, and ask them:

“If I gave you a pencil and asked you to sell it, how would you go about it?”

This is one of the most basic of interview questions I use for prospective sales reps, and the answer reveals so much about their previous training, their understanding of the sales process, and ultimately about what kind of sales rep they are going to be.

So, what is the most effective way to sell a pencil? 

Let’s first look at how most sales reps go about doing it. When I’m interviewing sales reps, this is my favorite question. After letting a rep tell me how good of a closer they are, I pull out a pencil, hand it to them, and tell them to sell it to me. And off they go…

80% of sales reps start the same way – they start pitching. “This pencil is brand new, never used.  It has grade “2” lead and a bright yellow color so it’s easy to find. It comes with a built-in eraser,” etc.

Some reps can (and do!) talk about it for 5 minutes or more before they ask a question or ask for an order (more rare). As the sales rep rambles on, I begin to yawn, roll my eyes, etc. Amazingly, this just makes them talk even more!

“What’s wrong with these people?” I think.

Now let’s look at how the Top 20% go about selling a pencil. As soon as I give a top rep the pencil, they pause, and then they begin asking me questions:

“So how often do you use pencils?”

“How many do you go through in a month?”

“What other locations does your company have that use pencils, and how often do they order them?”

“What quantity do you usually order them in?”

“Where are you getting them from now?”

“Besides yourself, who’s involved in the buying decision?”

Quite a difference, isn’t it? I’ll tell you right now, I listen to hundreds of sales reps in a month, and they can easily be separated into these two groups: Those who pitch, pitch, pitch, and those who take the time to understand their prospect’s buying motives and properly qualify to understand the entire selling process. 

Now let’s see which category you fit in. When you speak with a prospect for the first time, how much of your script is focused on describing and pitching your product or service as opposed to questioning and uncovering buying motives?

If yours is like most scripts I review, then it’s filled with descriptions of what you do and how your product or service helps people. Most scripts attack the prospect with a barrage of “value statements” that turn people off and make them want to get you off the phone as quickly as possible. 

Want a better way? Then take a tip from some of the best “pencil sales reps,” and change your script and your opening so it focuses more on questioning and qualifying. Seek to discover whether or not you are actually speaking with someone who is a good fit for what you offer.

Without knowing this, you will just end up with a lot of frustration and a lot of unsold pencils at the end of the month.

If you found this article helpful, then you’ll love my Completely Updated and Revised eBook, “The Complete Book of Phone Scripts.” Now over 130 pages of powerful and effective scripts to help you easily get past the gatekeeper, set appointments, overcome objections and close more money!

Visit Here to find out why Jeffrey Gitomer, Brian Tracy, Tom Hopkins and many others recommend my eBook of Phone Scripts!

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

Lessons From the NFL to Close More Business

by mike

Are you ready for some football?

The first preseason games are in the books, and coaches are watching game film and teaching players how to improve every week.

I read a piece by Peter King from SI.com about his conversation with Ellis Hobbs—former cornerback with the New England Patriots. He was talking about how much respect he had for Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.

Ellis said, “Early in my career, Bill called me into his office, and we sat there, for a long time, studying game film. He taught me to look for the simple things, and not to make football so complicated. I got better. I was with one of the best coaches of all time, and he helped me become a better player.”

In inside sales, too, you can become a better sales producer if you concentrate on the simple things and doing them better. Here are two things you can do starting today to increase your closing ratio and make more money:

#1: Keep a record of the reasons your prospects don’t close and then concentrate on qualifying on these issues up front with your next prospects. This was one of the simplest and most effective habits I developed early on to get better.

I kept a notebook with all my prospects in it and every time they didn’t buy, I’d put in red ink the reason why not. I even boiled it down to three codes: NI, for No Interest; NM for No Money; and NC for Not Cooperative.

And then throughout the days and weeks I’d go back through my notebook and look for patterns and ask myself, “What do I need to focus on during the qualification stage?”

If too many prospects were not buying because they simply weren’t ready to buy right then, then “No Interest” needed to be addressed during the qualifying call. I’d start by asking more direct questions like: 

“_______, if you find that this would work for you, what is your time frame for moving ahead with it?”

And so on.  Bottom line—if you don’t get it right during the qualifying call, then you’ll never increase your closing ratio.

#2: Ask for bigger orders on every close. Oh, I know, you’ve heard this before, right? But how often do you actually do it? 

So many sales reps are afraid to ask for too much and are just happy to get a minimum order. I know because I used to be that way…

But my career turned around when I began asking for bigger orders on every single call. And what I learned is that you never know how much a person or company can handle. You can always go down (in price, quantity, etc.), but you can never go up.

The truth is, it’s all the same amount of work anyway, so why not ask for two times, or three times the minimum order and see what you get? If only two in ten of your prospects buy the increased amount, how much more money would that mean to you?

In addition, the good part about consistently asking for more is that you’ll end up getting more—and every time you do, you reinforce the habit to do it. And as soon as you get a taste of closing bigger deals, you begin looking for and expecting them. Try it and you’ll see for yourself. It’s one of the simplest things you can do to make a lot more money.

So, there you have it—two simple ways of closing more business and making more money. Just remember as you’re reading this, NFL players and coaches are working on the simple things to improve. 

You should be doing so, too!

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

3 Things You Should Stop Saying in Sales

by mike

I have listened to thousands of sales calls over the years, and I spend the majority of my coaching and training hours listening to sales calls even today. And I still hear the same mistakes….

Here are three things NOT to say if you want to become more effective at opening and closing more sales:

#1: When speaking with a gatekeeper and they ask if they can tell the prospect who is calling, don’t:

  • Just say your name (“John,” or “John Davis”)—and then nothing else…
  • Say your name and company name
  • Say your name and company name and then start pitching the gatekeeper…

Instead, respond with: “Absolutely! Please tell prospect’s first name, that John Davis is holding, please.”

#2: If you’re speaking with a client and you’re asking if they need to order anything, don’t say:

  • I’m just calling to see if you need anything today?

Instead, change the question to make it assumptive. Ask: “While I have you on the phone, what’s on your white board that you’ll be needing soon?”

You can adjust this to fit your product or service, but always change “Is there anything” to “What are you looking for…”

#3: When you are scheduling an appointment to follow up, don’t use the generic:

  • I’ll call you in a month to follow up…

Instead, you should ask the prospect when a good time to follow up is. AND, make this ask assumptive. Try: “When would you like me to check back in with you?”

By asking the prospect when you should follow up, you’ll be able to gauge their urgency and assess their buying rhythms. If they tell you 6 months, then suggest you’ll check in with them in 3, just in case something changes.

Little tweaks like this can make a huge difference in your overall sales results. Remember: practice doesn’t make perfect; it just makes permanent.

Only practice of perfection makes perfect.

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

One Question to Learn Buying Motive

by mike

How is your first quarter turning out so far?

Closing lots of business and exceeding your quota? Or are you struggling to catch up and hoping for a strong March?

If you or your team is struggling, a cause might be a fundamental flaw that many sales teams suffer from: failure to understand—and pitch to—a prospect’s unique buying motive.

Let’s review the sales process briefly:

  1. Recognizing all buyers of products and services have specific needs (buying motives) they are looking to fulfill.
  2. Not everyone’s buying motives are the same. The best way to sell someone is to fully understand what their buying motives are and then to:
  3. Pitch to each buyer’s specific needs.
  4. Then, as you do, you use carefully placed tie-downs and trial closes to build a yes momentum that leads to the close.

That’s the essential process of sales. Of course, there are nuances and specific techniques to master the above steps at a high level, and that’s why you train…

But, let me tell you what I have found to be the major problem for teams and individual sales reps who are not making their numbers:

They never understand exactly what each prospect’s unique buying motive is, and so they just keep pitching, hoping that what they say will match up somehow with what a prospect wants to hear.

Two problems with this approach:

  1. Many prospects aren’t buying regardless, and so if you just keep pitching without understanding their buying motive—or worse, haven’t identified that this prospect doesn’t have a buying motive you can fulfill—then you’re wasting everyone’s time.
  2. If you have failed to understand exactly what a specific prospect’s buying motive is, then you won’t be able to speak directly to it, build the appropriate amount of value, and you’ll miss step 5 above and risk talking past the close—and yourself out of a deal.

How would you like one magic question that will reveal to you each prospect’s buying motive? Here it is:

“{first name}, let me ask you: what specifically are you hoping a (product or service) like ours will do for you at this time?”

That’s it! Now, listen carefully to the answer, and ask yourself honestly: Can your product or service give them exactly what they are looking for? If so, pitch directly to it. Use tie-downs to see if you’re getting closer to making a sale. Shift to trial closes mid-way through your close. And if you’re getting buy in, then assume the close!

This one question, combined with the 4-step process above, will elevate your close ratio and help your entire team make their quota.

Try it today!

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

5 Closing Questions You Need

by mike

Note to my readers: Because of my heavy client load, I am reducing my blog articles to bi-weekly starting today. Your next blog will arrive on Tuesday, August 17th.

Ever feel stalled during a close?

Wouldn’t it be convenient to have a list of 5 questions you could use to get your prospect talking, to get them to open up about how they’re feeling and what you might need to concentrate on?

Use the following questions to help open your prospect up and to get them to reveal where they really stand, and what you need to do to move closer to the sale:

#1 “I can tell that’s important to you; why does it mean so much?”

#2 “You know, I’ve given you a lot of information, do you mind if I ask you what you think so far?”

#3 “I understand that you need to (talk to someone, check on something, or any other stall), but let me ask you: Based on what we’ve gone over so far, what do YOU think?”

#4 “Let me see if I have this right.  You (restate what they said), right?  What would have to change for this to work for you then?”

#5 “If you had to make a decision right now, what would it be?”

And a bonus layering question:

#6 “And what would change that for you?”

If you found these questions helpful, then it’s time to write some of your own. Make them specific to your product or service and write them so you’d be comfortable asking them. 

If you’re a manager, this is a great exercise for a sales meeting.  You could do two: one for prospecting and one for the close.

If you found this article helpful, then you’ll love Mike’s eBook, “The Complete Book of Phone Scripts” with over 130 pages of powerful and effective scripts to help you easily get past the gatekeeper, set appointments, overcome objections and close more money!

Happy Selling!

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

How to Pitch Multiple Products

by mike

Rookie mistake: You’ve got several products or services you can offer a prospect, and you start by offering the first, or main one, then hear an opening for another one so pivot to that one, and describe another—and then another.

Result? Stalled sale. “Let me think about these and get back with you.”

Sound familiar?

Luckily, there is a best practice around this and it is:

Stick with your main product or service, close that deal first, then circle back around and pitch the ancillary product/service. You can use the intel you got from your initial pitch to open up the upsell.

Something like, “You know, {first name}, the last time we spoke, you mentioned you had trouble with your XYZ. We have other clients in your situation, and they found our…very helpful. Can I ask you how you’re handling….”

And off you go!

The dangers with offering too many choices are you’ll often talk past the close. Not only will the prospect be confused, but you will be, too. Once you get to the end of your presentation, your offer will be muddled, and that will make it difficult for your prospect to make a decision.

In addition, often times other products or services bump up the dollar amount, and this often slows down decision making as well.

Note: There are two exceptions to this:

  1. While this rule applies in a general way (80% of the time), there are times when you should pivot and offer something that is more in alignment with what your prospect needs/wants. I’m sure you know when this happens.
  2. When a prospect is totally in and buying anything you’re offering. At that time, load them up! They are in “the ether” as we used to call it and the old adage, “strike while the iron is hot” applies here.

Your best practice, however, is to secure the deal on the product or service you’re pitching, then circle around for the upsell.

Another note: The best time to do that is right after they buy—don’t wait too long, as they’ll cool off and want to “see how it goes.”

So, simplify your offer, make it easy for your prospect to say yes, then circle back around with any upsells using the intel you gathered during your pitch.

Happy selling!

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

Qualifying: Before or After Your Presentation?

by mike

I was working with a new client this week, and I listened to a recording of their presentation and it went like this:

  1. Hello, how are you doing—brief rapport building
  2. Deep dive into their presentation—including features and benefits
  3. Qualifying to see what the client was most interested in.

How does this sound to you?

Is this the way your presentations go?

After we went through the call, I suggested it would be much more effective for the rep to know the client’s buying motives (his needs, wants, and wishes) before giving the presentation.

Here’s why:

  1. By knowing the buying motives before your pitch, you’ll be in a much better position to “speak to those buying motives” during your presentation.
  2. While tailoring your pitch to your prospect’s specific buying motives, you’ll also be able to stop after making a point, and, using tie-downs, check in to see how your presentation is going.
  3. Near the end of your presentation—right before discussing pricing—you’ll be able to use a trial close to see if your prospect is bought in. Something along the lines of: “So, based on what you’ve seen so far, does this sound like the solution you’ve been looking for?”

If you want to immediately improve your conversion rates, then make sure you understand—in advance—what your prospect’s buying motives (and potential objections) are.

Then, spend your presentation targeting those needs, and checking in often to see if you’re meeting them!

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today

One Great Close You Should Be Using

by mike

How do you handle the following two big objections?

“Your price is too high.”

“I can get a better deal/rate/price using XYZ”

Arguably, these may be the two most frustrating objections sales reps get, and interestingly, there is one technique that works amazingly well—but few sales reps use it.

Instead, the vast majority of reps stumble when they get these objections, or worse: they lower their prices to try to compete.

The best way to handle this is to…

Isolate it! Just like you should do with most objections.

Here is the easiest way to do this:

Whenever you get either of the two objections above, simply respond with:

“In addition to price, what else is important to you?”

OR

“In addition to price, what else is holding you back today?”

Then hit that oh-so-important MUTE button, and let your prospect tell you how to sell them.

That’s it!

For those of you thinking this is too easy, I challenge you to use it for the next month each time you get this objection.

You’ll be amazed at what you hear—and how much further you can take your prospects…

Need More Proven Responses to the Selling Situations You Face Every Day?

ON DEMAND SALES TRAINING THAT GETS RESULTS!

If your team is struggling with call reluctance and is tired of the endless rejection they face, then get instant access to our On Demand training today. We provide the exact talk tracks, templates, and proven tools your team will be motivated to apply, all structured around an award winning comprehensive inside sales approach that gives your team the confidence to succeed in every selling situation they face today.

Unlimited License: One to 100 reps can attend for one low price!

Perfect for reps dealing with the following issues:

  • Reps struggling with call reluctance
  • Getting screened out by the gatekeeper
  • Overcoming blow off objections like, “Just email me something”
  • Identifying decision makers
  • Qualifying prospects
  • Setting call back appointments that stick
  • Giving successful presentations and dealing with objections
  • Staying motivated
Get Access Today