Top Sales Mentor Closing Technique - Puppy Dog Closing

Have you always been struggling on your selling? Well if you’re looking for a sales closing technique for any tangible product, today’s sales mentor lesson is one of the best closing techniques you can use.

This technique is called, the Puppy Dog Close. Yup, it’s really called that way, though it may sound irrelevant to sales closing. After I explain the entire concept of the Puppy Dog Close, I promise the name will all make sense.

Imagine yourself you going to a pet shop, wherein you plan to buy a dog for your son. While browsing the puppies in the glass window, you spot a very cute Golden Retriever puppy. So you go inside the pet shop ask the sales agent if you can hold him and somewhat “inspect” this very cute puppy.

At first you are joyful to cuddle the puppy, and you admire your cuteness. You are almost 90% convince that you are on verge of getting the credit card to pay for the cute Golden Retriever. But upon further thinking, you ask yourself – is my son going to like this puppy as well?

A Sales Technique By Giving Something for Free.

Well, it did not take me long to get you a sales mentor lesson in just a few days. So for today’s sales mentor tip, we will discuss a very common way to sell, especially on the long term. This concept is called the Free Concept.

Yup, I know you already have an idea from the title of the sales concept alone. Simply put, you give something for FREE in exchange for your prospects trust and to create tangible value for your product.

In my experience, this is one of the best ways to improve your sales without much effort on sales persuasion and sales presentations.

This technique is most effective when you are introducing a new product or a new line of products. But the problem here comes if for example your business or company has very limited, hence this getting more sales using the Free Concept is only good for businesses that have a good budget for the free. Although there are certain ways to apply the free concept to grow your sales but that is another future sales mentor lesson.

Learn from The Best SALES Mentor!

As I started my sales career, I really didn't care much about learning from other sales mentors. I felt that reading and attending external sales trainings is only for people who couldn't really sell.

I was very eager to attend trainings about products, but I took for granted other sales trainings that I thought was a waste of time.

I only changed, once I attended a network marketing training. At that time I was not familiar with network marketing and really hated anything that had to do with that kind of business model.
But suddenly, I sat at that training was listening emphatically. And much more, I was near closing and convinced to invest my savings in that network marketing company.

After a weeks with the company, I became friends with that network marketing trainer and found out that he attended many sales trainings (both external and internal). Also that he read many sales training books and audios.

The Most Successful People Also Failed Tremendously

Stand up from your failure, Source : Flickr

The last and probably the most important benefit you get from learning how to sell is, it allows you to fail more.
Although for most people, failing is a negative thing but I believe there is a great benefit from failing. And from my personal experience as a sales mentor, failing has been the main reason I have been successful.

Weird, right? But let me cite a few people who failed tremendously but became one of the most successful and influential people of their times.

Sell And Have A Network Of A Prince

The Network Of A Prince

source : http://www.flickr.com/photos/

I remember my first sales call in the main office of a big chain of restaurants that offers ice cream concoctions, ice cream cakes and other kinds of desserts using ice cream as a basic ingredient.

The owner was Mr. Edwin. A young but very stern CEO of the company I was calling to.

I think it was probably the hardest sales call that I have ever done in my entire career as a sales mentor. But after several meetings and tailor fitting of his needs, I was able to close an exclusivity contract with him.

Grow Your Income By Learning To Sell

source : http://www.flickr.com/photos/materialboy/

Probably this is one of the most exciting benefits in learning how to sell - it can grow your income.

As a young student at an expensive University in the Philippines, I had to be more creative in my studies wherein I had to earn money and study at the same time. Luckily, I was blessed by the Lord with a great talent of being friendly and being talkative.

During that time, I started to sell mangoes to earn money for my allowance. It was very difficult at the start, and since I did not have any sales mentor at the time, I made many mistakes. After a month, I started to become better at selling and have already started to learn a basic sales theory, "sales is not sales unless paid and collected".

Learn To Sell And Lower Your Invisible-Self-Defenses

 source : http://www.flickr.com/photos/materialboy/

"We can all sell if we choose to, but for most people it is one of the most difficult
things to do because they afraid of loosing their self." - Robert Allen 

Based on our last sales mentor lesson, the first benefit from learning to sell is that it lowers our invisible-self-defenses.

I think most of us will agree that as people, we all have our own invisible walls. No matter how sociable we are, there will always be certain areas in our lives that we prefer to leave it a secret.

Train Your Sales People Like Soldiers Going To Iraq

I remember my first day as a salesperson. I was hired by one of the biggest Ice Cream companies in the Philippines as an Account Specialist (AS). I remember being excited for my first ever sales job and anxious at the same time. 

Before we did our selling, we first had a 5-day classroom training, with my very first sales mentor Mr. Rusky. He was a bright person with superb communication skills.

We started with the background of the product lines that we were going to sell. The company's policies and history. The organizational structure and where we were at the structure.

3 Sales Tips To Develop A Long Term Customer-Relationship

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).

Believe In What You Sell!

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.

How Selling A Book Will Help Increase Your Market

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!)

Are Salespeople Still Needed?

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.

Warren Buffett and Sell to Survive

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.

By: Grant Cardone (@ the HuffingtonPost)

Another great post from Mr. Grant Cardone. 

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

Dedicated to your selling success.

Sales Mentor TM

Sales Meetings That Motivate

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.

By: Grant Cardone (HuffingtonPost)

Weekly Philippines Sales Update - Export Sector

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



Jessica Anne D. Hermosa

Source

My Opinion

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.


Dedicated to your selling success.

Sales Mentor TM

Basic Selling Lesson

If you want to sell anything, it has to start with this basic lesson.


“Our prospects will only buy when they believe our product/service can provide for them a need, a desire, or a want that they have.”

If you are serious on earning money from a sales career, whether you are currently an employee for an international company, just starting to sell for a multi-level direct selling or maybe pursuing the entrepreneurial path, this should be the Mindset that you should be following and taking into heart.
I believe that with this guideline alone, you as a salesperson already have a head start among others who just blankly follow what their managers tell them to do, which is just to sell.

Back when I was still a child, I remember I asked my father if he could buy me an acoustic guitar. His simple answer was “show me that you need it, and I will buy you one”. As an eleven year old, that didn’t really make sense to me but since I was really eager to learn to play music, I borrowed my friend's guitar and practice often until I could play a full-length song. Only then did my father surprised me and bought me new acoustic guitar.
With that example alone, we can evaluate that once we have provided the prospects need (in this case my father is the prospect), selling is definitely easy.

Like what Robert Kiyosaki said in his book Sales Dogs, “find out what the person needs and getting him to buy will be easier”.

A reminder to the corporate world:

I’ve seen many good companies in the Philippines that had superior products, yet they did not achieve their expectations with it because they were in the “wrong” market. They spend so much in marketing and promotions only to realize after a few years that they are positioning that product in an area where it has a weak affinity or appeal to the target market. Although I know that we learn best from our mistakes, yet corporate management should really take into consideration the feedback from the front liners who are the ones really marketing the product.

Going back with our selling lesson.
You as a salesperson already have an overview and even before approaching a prospect, you should have asked the question "does this prospect have a need, want, desire for my product?".
With that question alone, you can somehow foresee the possible objections that the prospect will throw at you. When we sell it is important that we have already started the selling process in our mind, with this we become persuasive in every level of the sales negotiation.

In a nutshell our job as a salesperson is to provide that need, that want, that desire. Or it can be to help the prospect to realize that they have that need, that want, and that desire. Jim Robbin says it well - "we become as a co-buyer for our prospect".

Now how do we do that? We show them the benefits and the features of what we are selling in which will be fit for their wants and needs.

This is what we will talk about on my next post.

That's it for today. Do not forget to leave your comments below.


Dedicated to you selling success,

Sales Mentor TM.

Who Should Gain the Most?

Before we go to the details on the selling process, I just want to emphasize a very important point that I have observed most Filipino salespeople lack.

“The Winner or the one that should gain the most should always be the customer.”

(I’m obviously assuming that the product you are selling is legitimate, is fairly priced, and will perform as expected).

The customer is KING and he should be treated as one. He is and will always be our number one priority. This has been my guide and the key to my continuous success in selling. Let’s face it my selling friend, our profession would not have survived this long if all Pinoy salespeople only focused on making themselves better.

During my early days as an Account Specialist (my hairline was not receding then and was really “macho”), I’ve seen how my fellow Specialists complain often about how our customers were gaining too much yet our commissions were not that high. We forget that all these years, the Sales Profession has always been booming because of the growing number of prospects we have; the Kings and the Queens. Thankfully, I wasn’t their kind so I was able to progress rather fast than most of my colleagues.

As your sales mentor, I have a responsibility to remind you that we should be giving more value on our customers than the monetary value we are receiving. This and only this will be the ultimate reason that we can build a long lasting relationship with our customers. In fact, we as a Sales Force should consider that our customers are the pillars of our growth and label them as our business-partners.

As the great sales trainer Zig Ziglar says, “You can have everything you want in life if you will just help enough people to get what they want”. In my own words, our initial intention should be to help meet the needs of our customers and not vice versa. We as salespeople must be by nature problem solvers, and thru our product/service, we should be able to provide our customers with what they really need so in return we will then get our desired results.

The customer is always the big winner – He is King!

That's it for today, join me again next time.

Dedicated to you selling success!

Sales Mentor TM

Click
here to submit your site to the search engines for free!