Proven Way to Increase Sales

I received the following email from a previous coaching client of mine (Rino Racanelli). His email boils down my sales philosophy, and it shows how much success you can have if you follow just a couple of proven principles.

I’m reprinting it below—word for word.

The subject line was: “I took your advice”:

Hi Mike,

Hope you are well. Just wanted to update you on my progress and let you know my sales have increased thanks to you!

I took your advice

  1. Recorded my conversations (client consent) and cringed at what I heard when I spoke to client. Boy, was I missing the hot buttons and talked way past the close
  2. Noted all my main common objections
  3. Used your scripts for rebuttal to those objections, made them my own
  4. Recorded my rebuttal scripts on recording device
  5. Then played them on device for memory and made them my own (same as elite quarterback going through his processions)

I don’t know what I would do without your scripts and other training material!

First of all, I’d like to thank Rino for sending me this email, and for allowing me to reprint it.

Second, for all you sales reps and teams out there who are searching for a way to improve your sales, this is it! Let me break it down:

  1. Record your calls! This was the message last week, and I’ve been teaching it for over 30 years. Nothing—absolutely nothing—is more effective than hearing what you say, hearing what you miss, and then finding immediate ways to improve it.
  2. Make a list of your common objections. Remember, the secret to sales is to recognize that you only get 5 or 7 objections 90% of the time! To “ace” them, you need to script out the best-practice response to overcoming them (and stop adlibbing).
  3. There are many ways to script out effective rebuttals to these objections: You can buy one of my books that already have multiple examples of what to say (see some here); you can hire me to write a customized script playbook for your team; or you can work with me one-on-one (like Rino did) to develop your rebuttals.
  4. Record them onto your phone. Have some fun with this! I recommend recording at least three versions of each script, and then keeping the one that sounds the best to you.
  5. Then play them back, over and over again, until you know them like you know the lyrics to your favorite songs.

Once you do this, you’ll never be stumped again when you get objections, and you’ll know exactly how to deal with them—successfully!

Thanks again to Rino for laying out so succinctly how to get better in sales. One caveat, though: This will only work if you work it. I wish more people would take these simple steps to improving their sales—it’s so worth it!

I hope that this real-life email helps motivate you to take the actions that will result in more sales, more money, and more confidence!


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

One Question to Learn Buying Motive

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

Ask for More to Get More

My sales numbers when through the roof when I changed one simple thing:

I asked for double or even triple the deal size at the end of each presentation.

Before this, I used to give my presentation and automatically default to the lowest deal size and be happy if I got it.

In fact, it was so bad that I even dropped the price to half the minimum amount, and I was happy if I got that!

What I didn’t realize at the time is that prospect’s often have a lot more budget than I think they do. In fact, once I started asking for larger deals—and companies and individuals started buying more—I was blown away by how easy it was!

In addition to getting larger deals, I also found it was easier to drop a prospect to a lower amount if I started high. Also, the amount I dropped them to was usually twice as much as I had been used to asking for to begin with!

It was a huge win/win.

As I coach sales reps these days and listen to how they ask for the sale, I’m reminded of myself because guess what? Most of them ask for the minimum amount, or the lowest priced package, or worse—they go below the lowest priced package and are happy when they get it.

The biggest problem with this way of selling isn’t just that they are taking thousands of dollars out of their company’s—and their own—pockets, but the worst thing is that they condition themselves to ask for, and get smaller sales.

And they do.

Take it from me (and all the top reps selling these days): The fastest way to double or triple your sales is to ask for more in the very beginning.

And the sooner you do, the sooner you’ll find prospects who say yes.

Do yourself a favor this month and starting at the top—rather than at the bottom—of your pricing sheet.

And watch as your income goes to the top as well!


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