How To Sell Show

HTSS78 - Generating trust in sales and how to keep it - Scott Sylvan Bell

Generating trust in sales and keeping it

If you are in sales long enough you will see than most complaints and or objections revolve around trust. Most business owners and or salespeople do not see the correlation between the two items. When you understand how potent trust is and allowing you to close deals you will see more ways to close deals. There are items in the list of building trust you may not have thought of. If you want a long term career in sales and want the status of a closer you need to work on your trust skills and then keep trust.

Why trust is a big issue

Busing trust in sales may seem like sales basics mastery because it is. Some salespeople choose to walk the wrong path in order to make a deal happen and to close a sale. If you want to ruin your sales career losing trust is one of the fastest ways to create problems.

The 12 ways to build trust for the long term in sales  

1. You can create online content in the form of videos that teach the buyer what they need to know about products and or services. This allows you to be seen as the expert in what you do and what you sell. As a side note you also get to build covert rapport with your potential buyer. They get a chance to see your face and hear your voice. If your buyer is making purchases against strangers vs you it may be easier to build some rapport and or trust.

 

2. Being on time for appointments is something not all salespeople do. You can help the ability for someone to trust you just from being on time especially to the first meeting. First impressions are everything in the world of sales and delivering content can be discounted when you are late.

 

 

3. Pay attention to what you say in appointments. How you talk about the competition and the other sales reps does matter. You may have negative things to say about bad clients and that has the capability of losing deals.

How you talk to people with terminology and ideas would also be included in what you should pay attention to what you are talking about. The conversations you have can become inappropriate for business really easily. Some salespeople choose to curse like a sailor in their meetings and for some buyers they don’t care. For some buyers this may turn a purchase into a objection that cant be beat. Your conversations do matter.  

 

4. Do not make bigger claims that what you can deliver on. If you make up what you are capable of doing you will get caught at the worst moment. Some salespeople go out of their way to make claims they cant deliver in order to close the deal. You will lost trust easily by making this mistake.

 

5. When you do sell deliver what you promise. In some industries it is easy to change parts and pieces at delivery where it saves the company a few dollars. When you make changes that the buyer doesn’t know about until there is a problem will create more problems. This item would also include doing clean work and or delivering the proper services.

 

 

6. Tell the truth, even if hurts in the short term can save you a ton of problems in the long term. Most buyers will respect that you explain what went wrong and own up to it. Sometimes companies will want reps to sugar coat what happened so they are not exposed to future problems. If there is a point where you need legal advice seek out an attorney.

  

7. Be on time for delivering services and or products. If you set a date to provide services make sure they are delivered on time. Most salespeople don’t think they can lose a deal or future deals if they deliver late. Your word on delivery dates for your work is important. If you are going to be late there should be a very good reason and updates as soon as possible.

 

 

8. Use good products and or services to sell to a client. Nobody wants to get products that do not work or will not last. You can avoid all sorts of trust issues by selling good products and or services.

 

9. Where most salespeople fall down is they do not check in after the sale is made. This is one place where you can see issues before they happen, gather testimonials and or referrals. Most of your competition does not ever do this. You can win huge by going back and seeing clients after the sale is closed.

 

 

10. If there is a mistake own up to your mistakes and then apologize. So many salespeople try not to lose face so they play down the problems they have created. Apologizing for issues is one way to show you care about what has happened. There is nothing worse than having a problem and then be taken for granted.

 

11. If there is a problem fix it quickly and do it right. Most buyers know there may be an issues but the longer you take to fix the issue the more it will cost you. The longer you make a client wait the worse your problems with them will get. You will want to give updates as to what is going on.

 

 

12. Be gracious if you lose a deal or a sale. One of the problems you can create long term is where you say negative things to a potential client you lost. How you lose is just as important as how you win a deal. You may cost yourself deals in the future for losing your cool at the worst moment.

If you want a long term career in sales you will want to understand what trust is and how you can use it for your success.

Scott Sylvan Bell

@Scottsbell

#sales #closer #success #trust #Podcast #Howtosellshow #Sacramento

HTSS77 - How to be emotionally neutral in sales to close deals - Scott Sylvan Bell

How to be emotionally neutral in sales to close deals 

When you learn how to sell you will want to pay attention to other sales styles. Some selling strategies may make you comfortable while others may make you nervous. There are infinite ways to close deals with buyers. Sometimes you may look at a particular style and think it will not work.

When using the sales strategy of being emotionally neutral you will find it is a different interaction with your buyers. This is more of a laid back process or style.

Emotionally neutral in sales means you show ambivalence towards the sale. To the buyer it seems like you don’t care if you get the deal. This is very relaxed and very chilled out process for your buyer and or clients.

This type of selling is something that you learn over time and isn’t really something to teach a new salesperson to use at first. If you are new to sales pay attention to how closers are emotionally neutral to the sales process.

The fortune is in the follow up  

This type of emotionally neutral sales process is on that can be used to close on follow ups. When you have buyers that are stalling out, getting bids and talking to other people you can find this play help you out.  

If you feel that you are with a buyer they is going to stall in the process you can slow the sale down yourself.

You are the expert and not the other salespeople

It doesn’t matter what other salespeople do, say and or act in fact it works to your favor. You can set a bear trap. This is where you explain what the previous person did or next person will do. You explain the negative reasons why a salesperson acts the way they do. This is a type of neg or a style of negging.  You do have to know product knowledge about what you have to offer and be seen as an expert.

You can use word tracks or catch phrases to help you out:

• Here is what they are going to do
• You are in for some heart ache … here is why
• You want to know the reason they did that?

You cant get caught up in the sales outcome

Most salespeople are caught up in the outcome and that is the close. Salespeople go ABC – Always be closing and it hurts them. When you sell from the standpoint of being emotionally neutral you can want the deal on the inside but show you dont care on the outside.  

Your buyer says “I am getting other bids” your answer is something along the lines of:

• Ok
• I don’t care
• That has nothing to do with me
• That’s ok, you will call me back after you are stuck with them

Being emotionally neutral can help build rapport

What will happen in your sales presentation you may find as weird or unusual. Your buyer will seem like they are drawn to you instead of being repelled. You get to point out the flaws in their thinking through a normal conversation. You remove any form of neediness from your sales presentation and the sale process becomes easier.

Use emotional actions in the sales process

You use emotional words when you talk about products and services, you use humor in the presentation. You can use emotions all you want except when it comes to the sale.. It may feel weird to do this because of how you have been taught to sell.  If you don’t use your emotions in conversations  you will seem like a robot or a jerk.

You can go over the top with your personality to try and make up for going emotionally neutral. This process does take some time to learn and it isn’t always easy. Be aware this sales style can make it easier for you to close deals when you use it right.  

 

 

You can learn how to create a sales follow up process right here: 

Scott Sylvan Bell

@Scottsbell

#sales #closer #success #Podcast #Howtosellshow #Sacramento 

This episode was recorded in Sacramento California 

HTSS76 - The hard Truth about closers vs average salespeople - Scott Sylvan Bell

The hard truth about closers vs average salespeople 

Some sales content hurts peoples feelings. This could be a salesperson who thinks they are better than what they really produce. A business owner or manager can become upset from hearing criticism about what they do and how they do it.

What people forget is there is always someone who can see what you are doing right and what you are doing that is hurting your processes and or ways you work. Sales is no different. We all want to see ourselves for being the best.

What you need to know is not everyone in sales can be a closer or will be a closer. Not all companies are good at hiring salespeople.

In the world of sales closers can be hard to find. It may be difficult for some to articulate why and for some people until they are told they have not clue that there even is a problem.

There is no universal ruler to measure salespeople

As salespeople are stacked up against each other in the world of sales there isn’t a true way to test who is the best. There are plenty of subjective things to take a look at:

• Closing rate
• Average sale
• Profitability

What isn’t looked at the same in all industries are:

• Types of leads and how they are acquired
• Type of product being sold
• KPI’s (Key performance indicators)

The formula to find top salespeople:

There are so many different areas to take a look at and there isn’t one universal standard. There are 3 things that sales can be based upon. There is a formula when it comes to looking for top salespeople, closers and or performers:

Unique abilities and experiences + personality + sales skills = sales talents  

The reason to look at this formula is because there are multiple types of salespeople out there. You can have passive salespeople who can close every deal and you can have aggressive salespeople who can close just as good.  When you look at styles you may ask who is better? – the answer is the one who closes profitable deals.

The definition of types of salespeople  

Since there are so many ways to take a look at the ways salespeople can sell there are not real defined categories. Most companies cant define who they have working for them.  This lack of categorization can create problems when explaining what type of salesperson is being hired or sought after.  

The types of salespeople:

To make it easy there really are 4 types of salespeople that can be defined. Some salespeople will choose one of these categories to stick in and become comfortable. The top salesperson who is the performer is the epitome of talent.

• Sales associate – 80% of the population of sales. This could also include people who are new to sales and just getting started. are everywhere. Most salespeople here are concerned about the price so they become a price matcher and or discounter to close deals. Most sales problems come from this group of salespeople in the form of complaints from buyers. If the salesperson isn’t new a sales associate is maxed out here and for the most part will struggle getting better. The sales associate is the person who isn’t worried about their development and making some money is good enough for them. There is the possibility of shifting from sales associate to salesperson with the right work and effort. Companies can find sales associates anywhere, at any time.
• Salesperson – This salesperson can close sales and they are in the top 20%. This salesperson can be hired and acquired. For the most part they are profitable. They may have hit their peak or they may have more skills to develop. Salespeople become harder to find in the world of sales. They can be acquired from companies.
• The sales closer – This salesperson can close deals consistently and profitably. This is rough 5% of the sales population. This caliber of salesperson gets tougher to woo away from a company but it can be done.
• The sales performer – The top 1% of salespeople in the world of sales. This salesperson is highly profitable. This person literally closes everything they tough. It may be tough to hire this salesperson because they are usually getting everything they want

The fake closer

Some salespeople are taken care of by the office or from the way they get leads. This salesperson thinks they can close everything but in all realities they are not as good as they think they are. There are times where a shift happens in business and exposes them for who and what they are. This salesperson may even go and try to get information changed about their sales numbers so they look better than what they are. Most of the time this salesperson doesn’t have good sales skills or capabilities.

Most industries have different measuring sticks so the top salespeople are not always found and developed. Some of the fraudulent salespeople do not get the microscope help over them so they are not found out. Fake closers hurt team moral and even can cause long term disruptions.

Evert salesperson cant be a closer  

Most salespeople think they are closers. Its not possible for the entire population of sales to be a closer. When you look at sales skills most salespeople are one step off what they think they are. Those who say they are performers are really closers, those who say they are closers are really salespeople. Those who say they are salespeople are typically sales associates.  

One of the reasons why you have so many people say they are closers comes down to this idea: Sales is about building up ideas so salespeople are used to talking themselves up. This is why salespeople will talk themselves into an interview and never show, they don’t want to be caught for what they are not.  

Some salespeople are scared that if they show their goods others will steal them. The ability to sell comes down to knowledge + sales skills + implementation. Even if most salespeople are shown new content they will never use it properly anyway.  

Management issues

Most companies don’t know how to hire salespeople. The average company will hire people pleasers. This type of salesperson is typically passive with weak sales skills. Most people pleasers don’t have the sales skills to be top salespeople.

Some companies don’t look at the profits or he leads that are sold. A closer may be giving away the farm but in their mind they are closing deals. The company may not see that they don’t have a closer they have a price matcher or discounter.  

Most sales managers duplicate themselves. If you sell how you buy, you will also hire how you sell. If you have a sales manager that is weak at sales and skills they will typically find people equal to or less than their skills.  This is the true definition of 80/20 salesmanship. Every once in a while a closer is hired but this isn’t always the case.

What companies can do to get better salespeople

If you are a business owner or a sales manager you can get better salespeople. You will want to know up front you will probably hurt some feelings from taking these actions. You will want to set best practices and benchmarks better than the industry. If the industry says that the average salesperson closes 30% you will want to find people who close at 40%  

In order to have the right abilities you will need to commit to working with the sales team. Be willing to train consistently and hold salespeople accountable for what they do and what they don’t do.  

You will want to make sure to hire better and use a stronger practice to find the top talent.  You will always want to keep an eye out for top salespeople

Last of all be willing to look at how much more profitable salespeople are and pay better to acquire this salesperson. If someone closes at a higher rate than the rest of the team they are more profitable over the long run. Be willing to use this offset in sales to pay them better.

Not everyone in the world of sales is supposed to be a closer. You will have to take some time to find the right people and build the right team.

Scott Sylvan Bell

@Scottsbell

#sales #closer #success #podcast #Howtosellshow #Sacramento

This episode was recorded in Sacramento California  

HTSS75 - Why you need to invest in yourself in sales - Scott Sylvan Bell

Why you need skin in the game

If you want to be successful in sales you have to decide to go all in. You must have skin in the game to be a closer in sales. Most salespeople don’t want to put in any investment of themselves. The average salesperson waits for companies to pay for training. Most salespeople are really sales associates waiting for their sales mommy and daddy to help them out 

When you make an investment in your its internal proof to yourself that you are in the game and are committed.  If you don’t have any commitment to being in sales you will not close the amount of deals you could, you will not push yourself to get better.  

Its you against you first and then you against others second.  Next its you against the top 20% of salespeople. If you want to move up on the ability to close deals you must work on you. There is an old stat that the average salesperson will only spend $20 a year on themselves to improve.  

What you can do to invest in yourself

You have to go all in on deciding to being in sales. In the first 2ish years salespeople tend to back out. Staying in sales for 4 year is the benchmark where people spin out or stay in sales

You can set aside money monthly for a personal training fund. If money is tight you have to find a way to purchase your goods. You can sell things on websites to get money if you don’t have any immediately to use.  Some sites sell books for as low as .01 and 3.99 shipping.  

You can always trade or barter work to get content. You may have to trade your time and or effort to get the help you need.

What are you willing to do to learn how to sell?

If you really want to get better at sales you will want to spend your time role playing, reading or finding new content that makes you uncomfortable.

• Would you be willing to give up time in TV for a quarter so that you can watch replays later.
• Is it possible to buy down for a car so you can free up money to pay for coaching or training?
• You may have to put down a deposit to get a coach
• The investment for the training or coaching could be 10% of your income. Some programs could be upwards of 20% of your income. To get a coach or a mentor you can pay for it by setting a percentage of money away.  
• One way to improve your sales skills is to pay an accountability partner for implementation. What you do is pull out some cash and make a deal that if you don’t succeed at a set of tasks you give the accountability partner money.
• There is the route of finding someone to role play with, you may even have to pay someone.
• Taking the time to read and or listen to books is an investment in time and or money. Once you go through the book you can write a book report.
• When you invest in training some will suck and you may lose you will have to get over it
• If you don’t have money go to a library, you may even have to find someone who has one and leave a deposit

You must decide to go all in for your sales skills

Another way of saying go all in is saying you need to have an obsession. To learn how to be a closer in sales you must invest time, energy and effort.

Scott Sylvan Bell

@Scottsbell

#sales #closer #success #podcast #Howtosellshow #Sacramento

This episode was recorded in Sacramento California  

HTSS74 - Should I join a coaching program for salespeople - Scott Sylvan Bell

Are sales coaching programs worth it

You may be looking for a way to increase your sales skills and or capabilities. You can go a few routes and the first one is to learn on your own.

 

What to expect with coaching or training:

Coaching and training is thrown around all over the place from all sorts of people. You may have questions about who can you call and or trust. Your answer really depends upon what you end goal is and what it comes down to.  For some salespeople it may come down to re you being pressured for a sale to make revenue?

Not all coaching and training programs are the same. The coaching, training, content and results may vary. There are items you must look at and work though on your own. Before you join a program there are things you have take time searching for what you want.  

What do you want out of coaching or training?

You have multiple ways to divide up your information. Depending upon where your skills are and where you need to go in the future will make up your answer.

• A network group may be the one reason to join a coaching program. A good program will have exceptional people to work with.
• A good program can give you knowledge to reduce the learning curve and increase your skills.
• Some programs have training that go along with coaching or training.
• Occasionally some people buy into paid friendships for the ability of name dropping

A good program may offer some or all of the items listed above.

Sticker shock can happen with coaching and or training:

Any coaching or training is going to have a cost associated with it. You may get sticker shock when asking about the investment associated with the program.

One of the ways to look at the figures is to take your income and take 1/10 of it. Most coaching and or training programs for your industry will have a price tag similar to 10%. Most people say they want to get better until they see the price. Most salespeople or entrepreneurs don’t want to invest in themselves.

When people first get information about coaching there is no point of reference. The conversation about money happens but there may not be a way to stack up the investment vs the training or items given. This idea may freak people out because of the price and it may be hard to see what you are getting from a vision.  

 

A weird twist for sales coaching or training  

Some salespeople or entrepreneurs want to be able to say they were self made and pulled themselves up by their boo straps. They are after the rags to riches story for bragging rights.  

Who are you working with – what do you get?

If the coach, trainer or mentor has had success there is probably a good reason for it.  Occasionally there are scam artists and instant successes that cant deliver. A good program will have consistent successes for the people who are involved.  

• Will you have access to the person running the group or program or will you get the information from someone else?
• Are you going to be coached or trained by team members? (how are they qualified?)
• Are the sessions based face to face or will you use technology to get and receive information?
• When and where do you meet and how often?

This is a good list of questions to start with. If you can answer most of or all of these on the list you are off to a good start.

The actions you need to do

Every program and coach is different when you take a look at the outcomes. The higher up you go into groups the less likely you will get baby sat. You will need to take action on your own in most instances.

There are programs out there here you can have your hands held. You will have choices when it comes to people or groups to work with. Sometimes the people in the group may align while others do not. If you need a lot of attention there may be courses for you to take or there is 1:1 conversations.

One item to take a look at is it all about the money or is it about your development? A person or company is supposed make money but if that is all the conversation is about it may be a red flag about the situation.

The upsides of coaching or training

The benefits of a development program is that you get to learn faster and you get other ideas for other members in the network. You can make new friends and develop relationships.  

The possible down sides of coaching or training

Some programs are not the greatest when it comes to success. What’s the next evolution you are going to be asked to join and is it going to follow the ascension model? Are you constantly going to be pitched new programs and training or will there be a point where you are given the goods.  

There is no way to protect yourself from every possible mistake in business. You will get ripped off at some point, this happens in business.

Some coaching and training doesn’t help your situation or the people in the group suck.  

You can get caught up in Guru chasing and or becoming a seminar junkie.

Scott Sylvan Bell

@Scottsbell

#sales #closer #success #Podcast #Howtosellshow #Sacramento

This episode was recorded in Sacramento California

HTSS73 - 12 Easy word tracks for new and struggling salespeople - Scott Sylvan Bell

The 12 word tracks for new and struggling salespeople

Every single salesperson struggles at some point. There are times where you can pinpoint the problem and times you cant. You do need to find a coach or mentor who can help you when sales are not happening.

Most salespeople struggle when they down know what to say or do. The problem some of the time is not technical proficiency of the product or service. The problem is in knowing what could be said to get the buyer back into the conversation. Most salespeople will talk about money and price matching.  

How word tracks can help you out

A word track is a phrase or series of phrases meant to help with momentum in the sales process. The typical salesperson has 2 -3 word track memorized and it isn’t enough when it comes down to it.

The problem becomes a closing issue for salespeople. The average closing time from rolling price is 1/10 of the presentation time. On a one hour presentation this means you need at least 6 minutes of your own content to fall back on. Sadly, most salespeople have about 30 seconds and that is it. You need content and an eagerness to close the sale but you also need patience as well.

Your buyer will complain about pressure

Buyers struggle in the purchasing process because they don’t like being called out on their problems or issues. Sales is about problem solving and most buyers can feel the pressure of the close coming because of how salespeople talk to them. Salespeople struggle with applying any pressure because they are not taught how to or to calibrate how much they are using.

You will need to be calm but also give push back with closing the sale. You may need to ask questions that are pre planned. You will find that questions are also a series of word tracks. The more content you build up over time the better your closing will be.

Being emotionally neutral in sales

You have to care but not care that much and this is a conundrum. You have time, energy, effort, commissions and bragging rights on the line.  Over time you learn how to become emotionally unattached to the outcome on the outside. You find ways to keep the feelings about the deal bottled up. Most salespeople panic when they hit free fall in sales.  

You have to learn how to be patient when you have a loss of control you panic. Having a pre planned word track can give you the time to slow down and think. You may also have confidence built by knowing what to say or what to do.

Pay attention to the little things

The pitch and tone you use matters and you have to be genuine with you potential client. When you get tired and or hungry you will let go of voice control with your buyers. When possible and where legal you should record your sales presentation. Check your local rules and laws for using a recording of someone’s voice. Go back and listen to the points where you lose vocal control and see what you can do to not make the same mistake again.

How to use word tracks

There are 12 word tracks here for you to learn and use. These tracks are not going to magically make deals happen. You still need to put in the work or the effort to learn how to sell. What you will find is you can have new ideas or content to use with your client.

You will need to practice these phrases and how you will use them in your sales presentation. You can combine a few of these word tracks for one giant version. There is a danger of wanting to be fancy and going too far. Start with learning 2-3 of these and in the beginning it may not make sense to combine more than 2. Over time you will learn how to calibrate and what you can do.  

You will need to role play and practice with these, you can use 3x5 cards index cards with the word track written on it. When you roll play an objection you pull out the word track card and see what you can use for the conversation.

You will want to pay attention and make sure the interactions are conversational. You do have to be real and genuine in order to make your role play and eventual sales process work.

The 12 word tracks for you

1. My biggest concern
2. Why don’t we do this / how about we do this
3. Either way you are going to pay
4. When has procrastinating ever made anything better? Lets get you started
5. I have an idea as to what can help you _________ Idea
6. What is your better solution at this point? If it is _________ , _________ or _________ you are in a world of hurt… I can help you out. All we have to do is __________
7. You are giving up a lot to only get a little and that isn’t going to be good in the long run
8. I don’t know if that is the best solution for you… I do know what is and here it is
9. If you do go that route you will se the slow motion version of a train wreck before your eyes
10. You could but why would you want to when you could …
11. Things don’t get better from here they get worse
12. That’s perfectly fine and normal

Deploy you assets in sales  

When you use a word tack in sales presentations or overcoming objections you really do need to pay attention to your pitch, tone an timing. Most salespeople are too excited and push hard for the sale. The complaint is nothing works and the truth is the training was not executed properly in the field. Give yourself some time to make these phrases work for you. One last note to pay attention to is that when you do get traction for ising a word track you cant get overly excited as your buyer will see it.

Scott Sylvan Bell

@Scottsbell

#sales #closer #success #podcast #Howtosellshow #Sacramento

This episode was recorded in Sacramento California

HTSS72 - How to use humor in sales to close deals - Scott Sylvan Bell

How to use humor in sales to close deals 

As a salesperson you can use humor to help close deals. When you think through the common actions people have most people joke when they have nervous energy.  There is a time and place for humor in a sales presentation and when closing sales.

One of the reasons people like humor in a sales presentation is your buyer may be stressed out. Getting a laugh in is a way to alleviate some of the problems. This does not fix all of the problems but I t is a covert way to build rapport. The feeling of likeness can be developed over a few one liners or jokes.   

The case of the one dimensional salesperson:

You have met the guy or the girl who has one go to conversation and nothing else. This one good conversation does not feel comfortable after time and it actually gets annoying. Having and goo developed sense of humor shows you are not one dimensional.

Reduce the hatred for salespeople

Most people have a bad idea about salespeople that they will be high pressure, that they will be the stereotypical always be closing style or person. One of the ways to get past this is to be a real person in the discovery phase and the presentation. One clue here is that people want to be entertained. If you believe that it isn’t a sales call it is a performance this goes into the conversation.

Humor is contagious and it gets people going. One cool element of humor is that laughing seems to speed up time at the same time of relaxing people.

You can go too far with humor in sales

If you are going to develop humor in your sales presentation you do have to work on this skill the right way. Know the people you are with and know your boundaries. Most salespeople go one step too far and tell one too many jokes as they build their funny momentum.

Things you can do to get better at humor

You can get better with humor and just like any other skill this does take time, energy and effort to make happen. You do not acquire this skill overnight and crush it. Here are a few ways that you can learn and develop your ability to be funny:

• Go watch stand up live, you can do video. Live is better because you can see how a crowd can be influenced
• Take improv classes to get timing and milking the crowd
• Try stand up on your own. You don’t have to be good from the beginning.
• Associate with funny people and see what they do
• Start with one liners or zingers – know you can only use so many of these.
• Move up to kid jokes or dad jokes

The dangers of using humor in sales

Using humor in sales can go too far and you can lose deals instead of closing them. You must know when to turn it off. You can turn in to a one person comedy show instead of a sales presentation.  

You will find that sometimes the buyer will try to take over funny and sometimes you let them do just that. The sales presentation may dive into a humor competition between you and the potential client.  

The biggest hidden danger is not being yourself in a sales presentation. You cant be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when it comes to the sales presentation. If you go from a fun lovable person in the sales call to an animal in the closing process you will have problems. You do have to find a way to be yourself and not go too far.

Last list of dangers when developing humor in sales: 

There are some topics to be aware of that can get you in real trouble when it comes to humor and sales. Even if you have the same affiliations as some people there is a point where you will not agree. When you are in sales calls you can get too comfortable and lose the person you are with. Here are a few ideas of topics that can get you into real trouble:

• Politics
• Religion
• Socially charged conversations

When used right humor can help you build rapport, reduce anxiety in the buyer as well as close deals. You just have to take the time to develop your skills and talents when it comes to making people laugh.

Scott Sylvan Bell

@Scottsbell

#sales #closer #success #humor #podcast #Howtsellshow #Sacramento

This episode was recorded in Sacramento California

HTSS71 - How to deal with revenge rejection in sales - Scott Sylvan Bell

Revenge rejection in sales 

Sometimes you get rejected from your buyer in a way that doesnt make sense. You may be facing revenge rejection because of something that happened in your presentation. 

There will be times where you meet with a buyer or have and offering for a buyer and they reject you hard. None of this makes sense for the way they have interacted with you. It started off fine and then the buyer freaked out.  

People can flip on you in a moments notice for what seems like no reason. You literally could be trying to help them out and the turn on you.

You may have created a problem you did not think of. What you need to look at is status and the feeling of looking dumb. When the buyers feel wronged or slighted they flip to protect their internal feelings. This is where revenge rejection creeps in.  

When buyers lose their cool it come from a loss of control. The buyers ego will think of retaliating against you and do a 180 from how they treated you previously.   

• They call you mean names or curse at you
• They tear your products down
• They get angry with you and scream or yell
• The write bad reviews, write emails or call management

Here is how you deal with buyers that use revenge rejection on you  

You may want to think through the times where you have made similar actions. The chances are good you have made this mistake as well. You may not want to admit to it but you have done this very thing.

Here is how you can get through the rejection you face from buyers in weird situations.  

• Be patient
• Be graceful – we are all broken
• Give the conversation a chance for explanation
• Even if it goes sideways be willing to forgive
• Write it down and use it as a teaching moment

It may hurt to have to walk away from a deal when there is weird rejection in a sales presentation. You may force yourself to find ways you could have changed the outcome. Look to where there could be embarrassment or loss of status. Revenge rejection is real and there are times where you trigger it on purpose or even on accident. 

Scott Sylvan Bell

@Scottsbell

#sales #closer #success #Podcast #Howtosellshow #Sacramento

This episode was recorded in Sacramento California

HTSS70 - How to deal with difficult customers in sales presentations - Scott Sylvan Bell

How to keep calm in tough sales calls

Most salespeople are not prepared to work through the sales calls they run. You will find it is easy to freak yourself out especially of you think you are losing the deal. You can panic in the sales process and cause yourself some problems.  

You may have challenges with your buyer, not all buyers are easy buyers. This really is good news for you since most salespeople are lazy and wan quick deals.

Its your job to put in the work and effort. Some of the buyers you face are difficult so you give quick discounts and or concessions. This means you must be prepared to slow down the sales process.

Most salespeople are not good when they are under pressure.  Most role play is not hard enough to represent what it is like to be in a sales appointment. The closing time in a sales call can be 1/10 of the time presenting or more. You must have enough closing material, word tracks and or questions to stick in the closing process long enough and keep your cool

The 10 areas salespeople struggle keeping their cool

1. The time, energy, effort and risk trap is where you get caught up in how much time it took to get a deal. You can fabricate desperation from getting caught up in the time it takes to work a deal. Your buyer can feel your internal pressures are you in turn put them on the buyer.

 

2. Know that some buyers try to rattle your cage. This is a technique taught in buyers classes. You can–pause for a moment and slow the process down. One way to make this happen is to use your note taking as an excuse.

   

3. You may not be listening and you could be causing the problem or the rift with your buyer. This could really be your problem and you do have to accept your responsibility as a salesperson to work this process out.

 

4. Some buyers are scared and are acting out. Some buyers are looking for proof you will not quit on them and this is where they are putting you to a test. If you can handle them at their worst you will stick up for them when there is a problem.

 

5. Trust your sales skills and instincts in a sales presentation. Hopefully you practice enough to feel confident in what you are doing with your buyers.

 

6. There are tough conversation that may need to be discussed. You may have to call the buyer out for what they are doing. You have to pay attention to your pitch and tone when you do have this conversation.
7. Take solace in knowing your buyer only has so many moves that hey can use on you in a presentation. You can be prepared for each and every one of these.

• Avoid you and commitments
• Yell at you
• Complain about price
• Complain about the product
• Give you fake objections  

8. Your buyer is looking for a leader in the call, their problems may be a test for you to complete. If you freak out they freak out in the form of complaints and objections. Your ability to stick in the call is proof you are the right person for them.

 

9. Be willing to ask for the sale and close the deal. Know that tough buyers in tough situations will deflect and try to get you to not ask for the sale. You can be asked to email the proposal instead of continuing the sales process. Even angry people make purchases and you cant let their emotion hold you from closing the sale.

 

 

10. Learn what you can from tough calls, try to find where you closed the deal or where you lost the deal. One of the places to look is where you lost rapport.  

 

Bonus content for closing sales in tough situations:  

• Never deliver good news and bad news in the same spot, you may have to move. This means you may have to move chairs slightly when walking into a tense room.
• Create a commotion by dropping a pen or paperwork. You only get to use this one time in a meeting so you have to use it wisely.
• Ask for a glass of water, make the buyer do something for you and the more complicated the better. If they ask if you want ice and a glass the answer is yes.
• Do what you can to stay emotionally neutral in the sales call. If nothing freaks you out the buyer has proof you are supposed to be there.

Scott Sylvan Bell

@scottsbell

#sales #closer #success #Sacramento #howtosellshow #podcast

HTSS69 - 10 things about sales I wish I would have learned earlier - Scott Sylvan Bell

Top 10 sales lessons I have learned

Since being in sales since 2002 there are plenty of things that I have learned. I wanted to share with you the list of the 10 items I wish I could go back and talk to myself about almost 20 years ago.

The first 10 lessons:

1. Out of all of the lessons this would be the first. It is important to focus on your own skills and not what everyone else is doing. It is you against you first and you against everyone else second. Its not you against 100% of salespeople its you against the top 20%.  
2. Its not a sales call it’s a performance. This means each performance is treated as the work needed to close the sale. Mailing in a sales presentation is one of the fastest ways to have major concessions or losing a deal.
3. There are common trends for salespeople when they struggle. Most salespeople speed though sales presentations when they struggle. The whole thought process is to get to the close and give a discount. Sadly, most of the time this doesn’t work and creates more of a sales slump for the salesperson.
4. You have to pay for your own coaching and training. In the world of sales you have to believe you are the person that is coming to save you. There are times where what you ay for gives you and edge and sometimes it doesn’t work. There is an statistic out there that sales most salespeople will not spend $20 on themselves annually and the is the equivalent to a hard cover book. You can easily outwork your “competition” with just a little effort.
5. You sell how you buy – you buy how you sell until someone points it out. Your own selling process and style is really influenced on how you make purchases. Most salespeople never figure this out and are only able to sell to one segment of buyers.  
6. Deep down inside buyers want to know they will be taken care of. How you treat your buyer before, during and after the sale does matter. This is the idea to sell to and not the price of the product or the service.
7. At some point(s) you will get burned in business, you will lose and it hurts. You cant stop this the more deals you do the bigger your risk gets. This gets chalked up to part of doing business.
8. You will lose friends over your success and or your new sales skills. These haters will be mad that you make them look bad. The fear is that if you can do it and so can they. Since you are doing “it” and they are not the anger rises. You will make friends over your skills who will push you to be better.
9. Have a good follow up plan. Most deals are lost because salespeople do not follow up in a meaningful way. If you want to close extra deals learn how to follow up in multiple ways.
10. The riches are in lists. When you maintain your list for the long term you have a base of people to market to and work with. Make sure to get referrals and testimonials as often as possible as well.
11. Make sure you keep your reputation clean. There will be a time where someone comes to you with an offer that is too good to be true but it will make you a bunch of money. There is no shortcut to success only a shortcut to problems.

I believe that these are the best items to cover and go back in time with. There may be a few others that you would choose or you would pick. If you are new to sales this is a good base for you to start from.

Scott Sylvan Bell

@scottsbell

#sales #closer #success #Podcast #howtosellshow #Sacramento

This episode was recorded in Sacramento California