I want to be your "Sales Mentor Online in the Philippines". It doesn't matter if you want mentoring in handling objections, sales process, types of sales close. I will be your sales mentor online.
For today's sales mentor lesson we will now talk of the effectiveness in having a good presentation material to ensure a salesperson closes the sale.
To tackle this topic we need a little background in Psychology. Don't worry I'm not going to talk about parts of your brain or any Psychology concepts to make you understand this topic.
All you need to know as a salesperson is this; when you target audio 15% of the person's attention is with you; if you use audio with proper diction and voice stress you are able to target a preson's attention by 45%; and lastly if you use audio with stress and include visual aids in your presentation 95% of the person's attention is with you.
Well it seems kinda weird for me as your sales mentor to make an article about today's wedding of the century, but honestly there's a sales lesson on this wedding as well. Actually it's more of a group of lessons as well.
First sales lesson and probably the most important is that how the royal family has "pre-sold" the wedding of a royal blood. Let's be totally honest with all of us, there just human beings. Hey they maybe of "royal" blood but aren't we all are? Jesus Christ died for us all, and only for princesses and princes of the world. In other words, this plain marketing and sales. This was hyped up by the previous royals that a prince being married is a dream come true for any woman. In other words, it has been embedded in the human brain that is really a "dream come true". The world has already been programmed to think this way. With only proves more, that this is a marketing issue.
Hi everyone, welcome back to your sales basics techniques and strategies. Again, for this series we will continuously focus on sales closing techniques that will help you in your sales career.
So for this week’s sales mentor lesson on closing skills, we will talk about the “ultimate pause”. Honestly the “ultimate pause” closing technique is just a name I made myself. You can’t find it in technical sales books from Zig Ziglar or any sales book for that matter.
I call this technique ultimate because even with its simplicity, the result that it gives me has always been a surprise.
This sales closing technique is so simple, I believe that this should be the beginning strategies used by first time salespersons. So here’s the simple process of this sales closing technique:
Congrats to us! This is the first year anniversary of your very own Sales Mentor Online!
Thank you so much for all the people who visited my website. Thank you also for the people who gave their honest comments about my theories in Sales and Marketing. I really appreciate your comments whether it is positive or negative.
Thank you also for my followers. I also acknowledge that there are actually many followers for sales mentor online, they did not just officially click the follow button.
I remember asking my father before a question that changed the course of my life - "Dad, what profession will legally allow me to go out and talk to many people?". My father answered, "Well, when you're a salesperson you are always out on the field and you talk to all sorts of people. I guess that profession would be in a sales or marketing industry."
After that day, I resigned from my job as a process engineer and sought to find a sales job that would provide me the best sales training. (Surprise? Yep I wasn't always a sales mentor or salesperson.) Like most sales professionals, I too wasn't always a sales person. I just loved to talk and never wanted to stay in one place.
I was about to start eating my delicious Pork-Sate meal last night with a nice cold orange juice for my drink to complete my dinner when suddenly someone called out my name.
It was Ms. Rizza, one of my closest customers when I was still selling Ice Cream for Magnolia (San Miguel Foods Premium Ice Cream Brand). We haven't really seen each other for quite sometime and yet she was still very fond of me.
I invited her to join me and my wife for a sumptuous meal in one of my favorite restaurants in Cebu. Our "little chat" took almost an hour, and I noticed that my wife is slowly feeling out of place. (There's a sales mentor lesson here, I promise).
This is the start of a new series of sales mentor lessons. Since we already got through the needed mindset and basic definitions, we will now discuss on the actual selling process.
How to start selling.
In a formal sales program, often, the sales training begins directly with the discussion on what is sales flow, persuasive selling, closing techniques, but for me this is all useless unless you start with this mindset - "Believe in what you sell".
Being a sales mentor and a salesperson myself, I've seen many salespeople directly jump start without really understanding their own product and more importantly, believing in their own product.
Believe me, being a "loyal customer" alone of what you sell improves 50% of your average closing. When you believe and also use what you sell, there's no objection strong enough for you.
Based on our last lesson, we talked about Opening an online sales store, and what is needed to succeed in that kind of sales based business.
And that is Integrity....
Integrity to deliver the promises you are making about your product.
Integrity to actually deliver the product on the committed time and date.
Integrity to walk the talk.
Amy Dee-kristensen...The Truth Fairy of Pragmatic Personal Development. Amy has been a Motivational Humorist Speaker for over 20 years. She a single parent, a psychiatric ...
1. Consistency/persistence. Be your own lottery. The harder you work the luckier you get!
A few weeks ago I stood in line to buy a lottery ticket. The other folks in line socialized, and joked with each other. It was obvious they'd known one another from past weeks, months, maybe even years of standing in line to buy a lottery ticket.
These lottery hopefuls believe in the power of consistency and persistence. They wouldn't dream of missing their chance at winning and, like clockwork, show up to buy their chance at a better life. They have the right idea but they are in the wrong line.
Sure, once in awhile you meet a smooth talker who has drifted along getting rewarded for little effort but most of the time, this is short lived success. Successful people may make their efforts look easy, but they are often the ones waking up earlier, worker harder, and getting home later.
I don't know who started the concept, but many authors attempt to sell their books by giving away their books. Charles Sheehan Miles did it. Wicked author Gregory Maguire did it. Cory Doctorow did it.
And of course, Seth Godin did it. (Click on their names to find out how you can get your copy!)
Just a while ago I was at a Jollibee outlet. As usual I had to line up to the counter in order to get what I want to eat.
The young girl (probably in her teens) greeted me with a wonderful smile saying, "hello sir, welcome to Jollibee, can I take your order?". I got a bit startled cause I was currently texting my wife that I am already waiting for her at the store.
Everyone loves to tell a good story. Stories teach, they inspire laughter and the bring about change. As consumers, we love to tell stories about the people we buy from -- good, bad or ugly.
If I stopped 10 of your clients/customers today and asked them to tell me a story about your company's customer service -- what story would they tell?
Kill the competition is the only way to think about your business and especially your competition. Most people do not desire competition in business but then do little or nothing to eliminate it. You wouldn't tolerate fleas on your dog or termites in your house, you would eliminate them.
This question was asked to me recently in an interview, "with the dominance of the internet is the salesperson even needed anymore?" It might surprise you to hear my answer. Understand I have worked as a 'sales expert' for over twenty years, rewritten sales processes for entire industries, licensed customized sales processes for organizations, and written three books on selling.
Super Investor, Billionaire and Master Sales Person Warren Buffett sanely states on his recent CNBC interview, "During times like these the most valuable asset you have is your skills and abilities." If you haven't seen the interview watch it because it will give you a sane approach and solution to how to survive and prosper.
Mr. Buffett thinks in futures not in the havoc of the moment and takes every opportunity to "sell" the products, services and enhance the value of the companies he owns. He is the perfect example of someone that doesn't see selling as something you do as much as something that has to happen. Watch the interview and you will see what I mean. He is not a frantic, high-pressure fast-talking sales guy, but he does take every opportunity to promote his products and add value to the companies he invests in.
Warren Buffett knows that selling is basic to business and survival. Without selling products and services the company value diminishes and the same holds true for individuals. Whether its American Express, Coca Cola, Wells Fargo, See's Candy, Wal Mart or GE if the company is unable to sell its products and its value it will diminish. Why does a billionaire continue to promote, market and sell the value of the companies he has major stakes in? Because even the richest man in the world knows that the financial solvency of a company or household is dependent upon selling the products, service and value of that company.
Every household in America needs to take heed of Mr. Buffett as he embraces selling as a survival skill for creating the future you want. From my book Sell to Survive, "Selling is as important as water, oxygen and food and is an innate ability to every person. Contrary to popular belief this skill is not limited to just some. This ability has only been lost because of the way we are educated and socialized and it can be easily rehabilitated."
Americans has developed a disdain for selling when this is the one single thing you cannot avoid if you want to have money in the bank! Every major problem people are having; from job loss to bankruptcy can be traced back to the inability to sell yourself, your products and your services. Show me a company or individual failing and I will show you someone having difficulty selling their products and services or their personal value to the marketplace. You cannot manage, organize, save or plan your way out of the current economy, you can only sell to survive this!
The tighter the economy gets the more this skill is needed. Remember what Buffet said, "During times like these the most valuable asset you have is your skills and abilities." The largest legal firm in the country just laid off 20% of their lawyers and I assure you those that got laid off had one thing in common; the inability to bring in revenue (sell).
Look at Buffett, he isn't sleazy, high pressure or a fast talking sales person, but he knows that selling is a natural action that should not be disdained but embraced in order to survive and prosper. Click here to see a great movie about this topic.
This time he talks about the greatest investor of all times, Warren Buffett. Apparently Mr. Buffet is not only an investor, he is also one of the greatest salesperson of all times. If a person like Mr. Buffett sees selling as a major tool in a successful business, how can we not?
It doesn't matter if you have a great system, a very organize admin staff, superb products and services, but at the end of the day your salespeople can't sell a single cent, your company will not survive in the long haul.
My Advice....
Learn the art and science of selling.
In this difficult times, we all have to learn new skills to survive. If in America Warren Buffett is telling his country men to "sell to survive" we to in the Philippines must follow as well. To ultimately improve our business or income, learning to sell will allow us to add-on to our income.
For example if you have a full-time job, you can join a multi-level marketing (commonly known as networking) company and sell to you warm prospect list. Having a learned ability in selling will definitely change your position in life wherein you will be able to start something in the side.
That's it for today. For any comments or questions please fill free to contact me at salesmentoronlinephilippines@gmail.com
The purpose of a sales meeting is to motivate your people and get them prepared to focus on selling. All too often sales meetings become boring lectures, repetitive messages that really have nothing to do with selling your products, and then becomes a source of de-motivation rather than motivation and increased sales. Sales meetings that are unplanned are punishment for those that have to attend.
Sales meetings should be delivered every day and provide the team with information that gives them new hope and new solutions that will help them in increasing business. Most companies agree with daily sales meetings but then don't have them because they lack fresh and compelling content and soon find the meetings to be a waste of time. For sales meetings to be effective you must invest time and energy in making them interesting over and over again. The purposes of the meeting is not for the sake of a sales meeting but to: (1) Bring the team together and get cohesiveness as a selling team. (2) To motivate and provide the sales and management with hope of what is possible. (3) Prepare individual sales people with new techniques and solutions that will actually increase sales.
These meetings must be kept fresh, motivating, engage the audience and be upbeat. It's important that you don't waste your salespeoples' time, but also avoid overloading them with information that is just information. The meeting should be short, inspiring, provoking, positive and focused on SOLUTIONS! The key to almost any successful meeting is to make it interesting, useful, positive and short. Short means under twenty minutes.
Before you rally the troops for another sales meeting, consider some of the following ways to get the most out of your sales meetings:
a) Get the meeting off to a jump start and surprise your team with visual content that sets the stage and grabs their full attention. Use high impact video to make points, something that can really wake them up and get your team thinking. Here is an example of a wake up video called, You Can't Handle the Truth Sales Meeting. Don't just talk to people get their senses engaged, get them focused, and wakes them up! The major goal of the sales meeting is to offset the massive amounts of negative information your team has received in the last 24 hours from mass media.
b) Once you have their full attention then next focus on 'saving' business that was worked over the last days or weeks. The goal here is to get them thinking how we as a team can piece a transaction together and get the day started on a fast track.
c) Focus on the 'wins not the losses! Take a few minutes at every meeting to congratulate salespeople for any and all completed goals, closed deals, and successes. Praise reinforces positive behavior and encourages everyone to do well. Keep the discussion relevant and don't allow people to present problems unless they also have potential solutions.
Sales meetings should be daily, short, engaging, entertaining and interesting and focused on solutions and the positive not the negative. Your people are being trained whether you train them or not. The question is will you provide them with sales training daily or will you let the media train them. An effective sales meeting will motivate, entertain, engage and get your people focused on how to conquer sales. An effective sales meeting done on a daily basis will prove a great investment of time and energy when done correctly.
Features and Benefits – What’s the big difference?
I remember my Sales Manager told me this before, “convert our product features into customer benefits and ultimately increase the number of productive calls you make in a day”.
Now I would like to rephrase what my Sales Manager said, “a product’s Feature can only describe or tell what the product is all about, but only custom-fit Benefits can convince the prospect to buy”. Of course, the features can certainly create a buyer’s interest but until a salesperson can convert that interest into custom-fit benefits, the buyer is still considered a prospect because he has not made up his mind into buying the product.
To make it simple, let’s define it this way – “Features only tell and custom-fit Benefits sell”.
Here are some examples
Features:
-has vitamins A & B
-automatic timer
-auto lock system
Translating this into benefits:
-Mr. Prospect our product is filled with vitamins A & B which will greatly make your kids stronger and healthier, therefore saving you cost for buying additional benefits (like vitamins or medicines).
-Mr. Prospect with the automatic timer settings in our air conditioner, you have the freedom to turn off the system by itself and then save electricity
-Mr. Prospect with our new auto lock system, you do not have to worry of leaving your car unlocked since you can choose a time delay for the automatic locking
Actually the great sales trainer Dick Gardner said it best, “features cost us money and benefits takes home the money”. While both are crucial for the sales process, the conversion of the features into benefits should be the main focus of a salesperson’s persuasion in the prospect’s mind.
Let me end this lesson by telling you a story.
Back when I was an Account Specialist for one of the biggest ice cream brands in the Philippines, I thought of getting a sideline to increase my monthly net earnings. During that early stage in my career, I already knew that being dependent in one income stream will not give me the kind of life I dreamed of.
On the weekends I joined an insurance company that sell investments, mutual funds, term-life insurance, health care, and death plans. I went there for three consecutive weekends to undergo training for different plan presentations. They taught us how to make a prospect’s list, how to get an appointment and etcetera. After that I was on my own to sell. Since I had a regular list of customers, thanks to my day job, I scheduled for an appointment with one of my closest customers who has an ice-cream shop (in the Philippines we call it a “suki customer”).
In my sales call, my presentation was superb. I was following what my sales insurance mentor taught me. I pushed for the higher benefit plans. I mentioned good examples and situations. I felt I had him in the palm of my hands but suddenly when I tried to close, he would not buy.
I got confused. He told me so many reasons why it was not good to buy, and one big reason he told me was “your products are good but I don’t think it can do anything for me”. When I heard those words, I immediately realized that I was not acting as a co-buyer to the customer.
It dawned on me that I was just presenting to him and mentioned only other people’s stories but I never really converted it to his personal Benefits. I knew then that I have to give him what he needs. Then I remembered this phrase “Features tell, Benefits sell”. So with that in mind, I immediately went back to the first stage of negotiation. I went through all the presentation again and this time I mentioned the features and custom-fit benefits that he would gain from it.
I ended up selling my first insurance sale, and gaining one important lesson that I will never forget.
Again it is this simple, “Features tell, Benefits Sell”.
Well that’s it for today. Join me again for my next coming post.
Social networking tools like Face Book, Linked In and Twitter are not just social networking tools but should be used as ways to create relationships and create real sales. This is a whole new world that is exploding with sales opportunities and not just a way to find old college buddies. Social networking is for more than just making connections but for making sales!
Go into this with the idea that you are going to use social networking to increase your contacts, get them thinking and talking about you and then covert those contacts into contracts! Unfortunately or fortunately depending on who you are, most people are just using this tool to entertain and waste time.
Getting started is as simple as entering your email address into any of these sites, what you do with after that is what counts. Focus on what image you want to create and how to get people to see your site and the creative ideas of how to stay connected with those people.
Getting to the right person at the right time with the right presentation is what creates the sale. And that is what these sites can and should do for you. With the economy much tighter it is critical that salespeople increase the number of opportunities they personally create and not wait for something to happen. Social networking tools are transforming the salesperson's sales efforts.
First, understand this is not a place to waste time and meander but to connect with those that can propel your business. When I use social networking I am looking to connect with those that can either promote my business or directly see and buy my products. If my old college mates can help me great then go after them but that should not be your primary purpose when using these tools.
Your Sales Mentor's Opinion:
Hi everyone, I got this post from Technorati. I think this is where the future is going.
As salespeople we too should be looking to the future and be open to the changes even before it happens, so that we are always a step ahead. Although for now not many Filipinos take advantage of this social media sites (it is still a good site to keep in touch with friends by the way), but we too have to learn how to take advantage of this sites as one of our best selling areas in which we can use even for free.
We can even open new accounts connected to, or related to the products/services we are selling, and inform a lot of possible prospects just by befriending them and adding getting our accounts added to their list of contacts.
The key here is on how to choose the prospects and to look for groups which you think will be interested in what you are selling.
I'm not good at sitting idle. So if I am stuck waiting for some reason, I get antsy. To kill that time, I'll fire up my smart phone and play a game (or two) of Hearts. In the game, by default I am player south. (4 players sitting around a table, each designated by a direction.)
My arch nemesis is player north. He is the shrewdest of the computerized players and if anyone is going to beat me, it's him. (Stay with me, I promise there is a marketing message in here!)
I have played Hearts (usually with real people so don't feel too sorry for me!) for many years and I'm pretty good. I have a sound strategy that has been time tested so I rarely need to vary from it. But...the fact that north is good and is my most worthy opponent throws me off that track.
I find that I play differently when I am overly-conscious of trying to beat him in particular. And in fact, the more I purposely change the way I play to thwart him....the more I lose. If I stay disciplined enough to play my own game my own way -- I rarely lose.
(Did you notice the marketing message I snuck in there?)
We all run the same risk in running our businesses and planning our marketing. Way too many businesses invest too much time and energy worrying about what their competitor is doing. Then, they change their own game plan to chase after the other guy -- emulating or trying to outdo.
I found this great site which discusses practical marketing strategies that will definitely help us improve our sales carriers and future business.
This article is from Drew McLellan a top Dog McLellan Marketing Group. As a salesperson I have long understood that for us to improve we need to be completely open and aware of the new and current ideas that are available for us. Yet with this concept from Drew, we are reminded that we also need to "stick with our own guns" if we want to have our own cut of the total Marketshare.
To continue reading Drew's article please click here.
I assure you Drew will give you great advice on your marketing endeavors.
Future Plans on the Export Sector - A new Industry A new export plan that will guide public and private sector efforts to grow the sector will likely focus on maintaining the Philippines’ market share as the global economy exits the downturn, officials yesterday said.
The 2011-2013 Philippine Export Development Plan is up for drafting starting today in a workshop to be led by the Export Development Council (EDC).
"For now we will just have to find programs to continue. It won’t be overly ambitious and will be instead more for market holding," EDC Executive Director Senen M. Perlada said in a telephone interview.
"We will only be drafting the framework and will await the imprimatur of the next administration," Mr. Perlada added, noting that a change of leaders would be due in June following the May national elections.
The 2008-2010 plan, he said, was based on the broad Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan. As there is yet a new medium-term road map in place, the new export industry road map will have to use earlier plans as bases in the meantime.
Sought for comment, EDC Vice-Chairman Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, Jr., who represents the private sector, similarly said the new plan would likely echo the 2008-2010 version.
"It will be more or less the same, focusing on the same markets and winners," Mr. Ortiz-Luis said in a separate telephone interview.
The previous plan aimed to emphasize the country’s competitive advantages, analyze value chains to strengthen production, and bolster public-private sector partnership for export promotion and development activities.
It tagged the following products as the sector’s revenue streams: electronics, textiles and apparel, automotive products and parts, food, home decor, organic products, and construction materials. The export of construction and information-technology enabled services was likewise eyed.
Growth for the sector would have been achieved through product diversification, market expansion and the optimum use of trade agreements, the plan stated.
"We will revise it slightly because of what happened, the crisis. But it is a rolling plan," Mr. Ortiz-Luis said.
Also up on the agenda at the two-day workshop is a review of the EDC’s operations, Mr. Perlada said.
"Part of the workshop will be to revisit the council itself," he said.
Amid the global economic crisis, merchandise export sales fell by a quarter to $35.004 billion from January to November, according to latest official data. This came after sales flattened in 2008 to $46.332 billion.
The EDC has been in charge of vetting export promotion and development project proposals that proponents want funded from a P1-billion facility. The council had released just P11.6 million by end-2009, or roughly 1% of the fund, even as exporters railed for more support amid the economic downturn. - BusinessWorld
Being practical, I think Mr. Ortiz should really take into consideration what products we will get our revenue streams from. Firstly. I do not think that the world economy is back on its feet. When we were born we start to crawl, then slowly we walk, then we walk well, then we run, then learn to ride a bike and so on. We should be doing the same thing in our approach to export sector. As a sales "evangelist", I have always taken in to heart to make realistic goals. We all know that improving the export gross yearly sales, will entail a lot of marketing and promotions. Just like in a sales recovering business, we look to our strengths to get back on our feet which is our cheap and quality labor, abundances in resources, and organic products (which is currently a great trend today in the world market). Secondly. EDC (Export Development Council) will not be able to handle this sector alone. With the presidential elections fast approaching, I implore all Filipinos to be vigilant in choosing a well economic oriented new president. Our new president will be one of the biggest keys (in the macroeconomic level) to improve our economy and hence improve the sales that many of us are trying to achieve.
In summary, I believe that the export sector will be the key source in which we will be able to grow the Philippines internal businesses and with no reason that is should be taken for granted. We as salespeople should also be aware of the current new trends in the market, and take advantage of it. As Warren Buffet says it - "the trend is you friend". Hence, it is within us to forecast on what we should improve in the future.
That's it for today. I hope you enjoyed my weekly Philippines sales update.
