COMMON BLUNDERS IN THE SALES CAMPAIGN

 

These big mistakes seem to be shockingly common. Make sure you're not guilty of any of them. Maintain a painstaking and detailed journal of your sales campaign 

Sales campaigns become overstretched and the sales professionals become fatigued both mentally and morally. Some become complacent because of the facade of friendliness and cordiality by cleaver purchase agents who want you to lower your guard. You have to become a boxing champ in the ring always like a Mike Tyson on the guard.

 From my years of experience and a field sales professional and sales coach , I've observed that the following 10 basic selling errors are surprisingly common.

1. ANSWERING OBJECTIONS THE CUSTOMER HASN'T SURFACED

Though it's a good idea to anticipate objections that the customer might have and prepare reasonable answers to them, it's a horrible idea to surface those objections yourself--because you've just created an issue that probably didn't exist. Explaining away something preemptively can also make you seem defensive and unsure of the real value of your offering.

Fix: Never start any sentence with "You may be wondering..." or "Perhaps you're asking yourself..."

2. LEAVING THE 'NEXT STEP' TO THE CUSTOMER

I've read dozens of so-called sales letters and sales emails that end with a suggestion that the customer should call or contact the seller "if you're interested" or "in order to learn more." The people who send these letters always complain that they don't get any responses.

No kidding--you're asking the customer to do your work for you.

Fix: Keep the ball in your court. Try substituting a closer like this: "I will call you next week to discuss whether it makes sense to discuss this matter further."

3. SELLING FEATURES RATHER THAN RESULTS

Incredibly, some people (usually “marketing experts”) believe that customers buy a product because it has desirable features. They therefore rattle off a list of those features, hoping that at least one will spark up  the customer's interest.

In fact, customers care only about the results of purchasing a product and the ways it will affect their lives and their businesses.

Fix: Figure out why a customer buys your product rather than somebody else's. Then sell thatresult, using the features to add-on to your ability to deliver that result.

4. FAKING INTIMACY

Like it or not, the minute you're positioned in somebody's mind as "a person who is trying to sell me something," you're fighting an uphill battle to win trust. Under those circumstances, the absolute worst thing you can do is to try to act cozy in tense relationships.

The most common manifestation: brightly asking, "How are you doing today?" at the beginning of a cold call. It makes people want to puke.

Fix: Remain personable and professional--but no more--until such time as you actually forge a friendship, which typically takes weeks.

5. WRITING A SALES PROPOSAL TOO SOON

Although proposals can occasionally help develop an opportunity, in most cases, the proposal requesting (and writing) process happens after the prospect has already defined the problem and (probably) defined the solution as well. Because writing a proposal takes time and effort, it's usually a bad investment unless you've got the inside track on the sale.

Fix: Write a sales proposal only after you've got a verbal agreement.

6. TALKING MORE THAN LISTENING

I've spoken about this problem repeatedly in  my seminars/lectures, but the error is so common that it bears repeating. When you're selling, it's all too easy to get excited and nervous and then try to "drive the sale" forward by talking or giving a sales pitch. Customers find this extraordinarily irritating.

Fix: In your mind, redefine selling as a passive activity that consists mostly of listening, considering, and reacting to what the customer does and says.

7. WASTING TIME ON DEAD-END 'OPPORTUNITIES'

What with voice mail, gatekeepers, and a challenging economy (not to mention the craziness of global competition), it sometimes seems like a miracle when you actually get into a sales conversation with a live human being.  When that happens, the possibility of making a sale can become so seductive that you don't want to spoil the dream by asking questions that might reveal this as a false opportunity.

Fix: Within the first five minutes of your first conversation, ask questions that will reveal whether the customer has a real need--as well as the money to satisfy it.

8. FAILING TO FOLLOW THROUGH

The sad truth is that, to customers, people who sell are guilty until proven innocent. Building a customer relationship is about gradually building up enough trust to overcome the natural antipathy that most people feel toward sellers.

Because of this, you're not going to get any slack if you fail to deliver when promised. Drop the ball, even once, and you're probably out of the game.

Fix: Get serious about your to-do list and scheduling specific events. Make only commitments that you're 100% certain you can keep.

9. TREATING A "CLOSE" AS THE END OF THE PROCESS

Maybe it's the result of unfortunate terminology, but a lot of companies and individuals take "closing the deal" to mean that the sales activity has ended. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The real work happens after you've closed the deal--because that's when you can start building the kind of relationship that will eventually generate follow-on business and referral sales, both of which are far easier and profitable than winning new business.

Fix: Always aim for long-term relationships rather than short-term revenue. That way a "close" is the beginning, not the end, of the process.

10. ASKING FOR A REFERRAL TOO SOON

Some sales training programs recommend asking, "Do you know somebody else who might need my product?" even when prospects say they're not interested. Other programs suggest asking a similar question when you've closed your first sale to a customer.

Both approaches are wrong, because customers in their right mind do not put their own reputations at risk by recommending somebody whose ability to perform is unknown to them.

Fix: Ask for referrals only after the customer is delighted with the products or services that you've sold.

HERE’S WHAT TO DO NEXT

These big mistakes seem to be shockingly common. Make sure you're not guilty of any of them. Maintain a painstaking and detailed journal of your sales campaign  ... and on a Sunday morning notice the pattern and indications which come you might not only have committed these mistakes again but have found new novel ones. A sales champ is always in the making ...his work like a master craftsman is never done! 

with best compliments

DrWilfred Monteiro

LEARN FROM THE COMPETITION

At least during stressful times of business, business people think that it would have been better if there is no competition in business. But, this thought arises because of lack of knowledge on how to utilize competition for the growth of your business. Competition is to be considered as an important aspect of economic growth. The fact is that competition benefits not only consumers, but also businesses in different ways.

Innovative Thinking

Competition makes you think more innovatively which is necessary for the growth of your business. Suppose, yours is the only business in a particular industry and of course you have complete control of the market. Then, you do not have to think on how to satisfy your customers more than your competitor as there is no such competitor. You are the only option for your customers and they have to be satisfied with what you provide whether it is service or product. Thus innovative thinking does not become a necessity which makes you inactive in thinking. But, competition necessitates innovative thinking as you cannot survive without it. You might have to adopt new technologies or business strategies to stand out from competition.

Quality Service

You might not focus much on quality of service you deliver if there is no competition. As there is no other go for your customers, your products might get a boost in the market though customers are not actually satisfied with your service. Quality of service is a key to customer satisfaction. When competitors are around you, you would be forced to provide better quality service. This will lead to more customer satisfaction which of course benefits you in long term.

Better Knowledge about Customer Preferences

As far as there is high competition, you get better information about customer preferences or requirements. When your competitors make more profit than you, it means that they have adopted some great techniques to attract customers. It could be better service, low prices etc. So, you can study strategies that your competitors adopted which makes them successful. Thus, you can easily know the pulse of your customers and this can be utilized to make your business successful. In short, you get better ideas that you can make use of.

Better Motivation

To stand out from competition, you always need to be highly motivated and try to remain as a better business owner in the industry. You really become proactive, alert, creative and above all focused. You stop being complacent and always think of better ways to satisfy your customers. You never wish to go down and you become a real hard working at the same time smart individual though it might be to stand out from the competition. You try to reinforce your strengths and overcome your weaknesses. Altogether, you become highly motivated to achieve great heights.

With best wishes

Dr Wilfred Monteiro

LEAD MANAGMENT IS A STRATEGIC ISSUE FOR THE SALES FUNCTION

seven sales and marketing best-practices IN LEAD MANAGMENT . Address these issues and contribute to the successful alignment of the SALES & MARKETING FUNCTION

Sales and marketing  best practices are universally desirable—but, too often, elusive. Why? And more important, what sales and marketing processes are recognized as best-practices? First—so that we share common ground in this discussion—I offer this definition of best-practices …"The processes, practices, and systems identified in public and private organizations that performed exceptionally well and are widely recognized as improving an organization's performance and efficiency in specific areas."

We are all too familiar with the inverse: Sales and marketing processes don't perform; they are inefficient, and they waste resources and dollars. In most companies, such a lack of productivity is rooted in the lack of alignment between Sales and Marketing.

Take lead definition, for example:

·        Marketing "leads" are high volumes of unqualified prospects that have raised their hands and expressed interest by responding to marketing initiatives. But Sales requires leads that meet specific criteria and deserve attention from highly compensated reps in the field.

·        Prospect databases are not segmented and tested to ensure that marketing programs target only high-value prospects most likely to close. Marketing doesn't have the resources or skill sets to qualify and nurture hundreds and thousands of names in the prospect database.

·        Overwhelmed by the volume of names, Marketing falls back on mostly reactive initiatives for "nurturing" until prospects self-qualify as worthy of Sales' attention. Sales reps do not have the incentive or time to contact prospects, assess their value, and work them as qualified opportunities.

·        When there is Sales contact, it tends to be infrequent, brief, and haphazard, as sales reps move on if they don't find short-term opportunities.

·        And when it comes time to measure success, Marketing points to hundreds and thousands of names delivered at a low cost-per-lead, while sales reps shake their heads wondering why the names they receive are called "leads."

The result: Most prospect names end up languishing in what  we may call "lead purgatory," where they lie unattended—until they magically reappear months later as a closed deal for a competitor.

Following are seven sales and marketing best-practices that address these issues and contribute to the successful alignment of the two groups.

1. Agree on the definition of a lead

It sounds so simple, but Sales and Marketing define leads differently based on their respective self-interest. A consensus on what a lead is must spell out required components, such as decision-maker title and role, business pains, buying process, and the sense of urgency—expressed as a buying timeframe.

2. Segment and test your market

Before spending on a lead-generation program, you must test your market, offer, and media. Start by enhancing test segments with data points such as SIC code, revenue, employee size, and growth rate.

Such added data drives sample calls that validate segments as high-value and most likely to buy. A full-court press should then be deployed against segments with the highest lead rates.

Use less expensive media to nurture lower-rate segments, and make periodic calls into low priority segments to monitor activity.

3. Use outbound initiatives in the right situations

Although there are benefits to using inbound marketing to nurture prospects until they self-qualify as sales-ready, make sure you include outbound calling to develop prospects in situations where inbound is less likely to be effective:

·        Executive work styles and late adopters. Many C-level decision makers have not yet embraced—and may never embrace—inbound's self-service model.

·        Timely market coverage. Because inbound works best over time, it's easy to miss opportunities that could quickly turn up deep in the current pipeline.

·        Complex internal buying landscapes. Outbound calling and its emphasis on personal contact ensures correct assessment of decision-maker roles and influence.

·        High stakes with long-sales cycle/high-investment offers. When offering long-sales-cycle, high-investment solutions, you should base nurturing strategies on personal contact.

4. Use dedicated resources for lead qualification and prospect development

Sales and marketing groups do their tasks well, but they are not the resources that should qualify and develop prospects. Marketing doesn't have the resources or skill sets to qualify and nurture. Sales teams don't have the time or incentive to deal with nonqualified leads.

Successful lead qualification and lead nurturing requires dedicated resources with deep expertise in building relationships and moving prospects to fully qualified status. These dedicated resources can be either an inside sales team or an outsourced lead-generation services provider. Both share a core approach: telephone use and proven teleprospecting skills to perform the tasks that neither Sales nor Marketing can or should take on, such as managing responses, qualifying leads, engaging prospects, and nurturing opportunities.

Best-in-class sales organizations that employ dedicated resources using a teleprospecting methodology stand out. According to one well-known industry analyst, they consistently achieve 90% of their sales team quota; they experience at least a 10% year-over-year increase in average revenue per sales rep; and they gain an average 7% year-over-year improvement in their bid-to-win ratio.

5. Nurture leads in multiples: multi-touch, multi-media, and multi-cycle contact

Results multiply when lead-nurturing strategies multiply. Successfully engaging prospects depends on a mix of tactics to maintain positive awareness of your offering until it's time to buy.

·        Multi-touch: Frequency matters. Our clients' prospects need an average of 12 contacts to engage, and nurturing can take even more touch points.

·        Multi-media: Use a smart mix of multiple media. Integrate outbound calls with voicemail messages, personalized email, direct mail, and landing pages.

·        Multi-cycle: Most prospects buy at more than six months out, so expand planned contact from over a few days to over several weeks and across multiple sales cycles.

6. The sales-lead paradox: Fewer leads are better

There is a counter-intuitive relationship between lead volume and sales performance. Although it seems logical that more leads generate more sales, the opposite is often true. Standard lead generation's focus on quantity rather than quality floods the pipeline with a high volume of low-value leads.

Sales reps actually need fewer sales leads—or, more accurately, fewer raw, unfiltered, and unqualified marketing leads. Conversely, they need carefully qualified leads that have been correctly developed until they are ready to be delivered as high-value sales opportunities. Sales reps can then focus their time more effectively on the most likely buyers.

7. Measure your results, but look beyond cost-per-lead metrics

It is essential to track and measure the ROI of your marketing programs. Though a cost-per-lead metric may work for high-volume prospect acquisition, cost-per-opportunity and cost-per-deal indexes are better for measuring prospect-development initiatives. This is particularly true where there is a complex buying landscape, a long sales cycle, and a high-solution investment. Benchmarks here should be opportunity quality, conversion ability, and revenue generated on investment.

with best compliments

Dr Wilfred Monteiro