An Easier Way For Sales Success?

Sales can be very stressful and frustrating. The amount of people who come and go in sales is very high compared to other industries. One reason is the hierarchy and culture of sales, the expectation of getting every sale. Sure sales are the lifeblood of business and without sales there wouldn’t be a company, however, part of a sale relies on the client, which we can’t control.

We can do a great job of getting qualified leads and doing excellent sales presentations, but at the end of the day we cannot control the decision of the client. This is where the frustration comes from. We can certainly influence other people, but we can’t control them.

Instead of the boss asking, “Did you get the ABC account? Better questions might be, “How many calls did you do this week?” “How many qualified leads did you get? “What did you learn from the ABC presentation?” “How many follow up calls did you do?” “What could we do better with the ABC account?” etc.

Sales is a lot like fishing, you can have the best location, latest tackle, the right conditions and the best bait, however, sometimes you come home empty handed.

This is the same for sales, do enough calls and cover the basics of sales well and you will get results.

If you are hung up on every outcome of the call you will become stressed. Focus on doing the basics well, (which you can control) not the outcome.

The end result then reflects on how well we are doing the basics.

Why Sex Isn't Always Good In Sales And Advertising

One famous television advertisement that promoted a new beer showed a busty blonde model, wearing a white tight t-shirt. Surveys were then conducted, by the agency that created the advertisement. The question was asked, “Who watched the ad?” Huge amounts of people in the target market stated they watched the ad. It was talked about everywhere.

The agency thought they were on a winning commercial, until they asked the next question. “What was the name of the beer?” “Um, um, I don’t know, I was too busy looking at the model.” Was the typical response.

So does sex sell? Well if you are selling products that you want people to associate the image of being sexy with a particular product, then yes it does sell. Think of some of the jean or deodorant commercials. Customers do associate that “If I wear this aftershave, ladies will be attracted to me.” Or “These clothes make me feel sexy and help me get a boyfriend.” This association of products and sex does work, however it is a fine line.

The other type of ad like the busty blonde model doesn’t sell products well. It certainly captures people’s attention, but that is all it does. It doesn’t continue on with the sales message. The whole ad is concentrating on the model, and not the benefits of the product.

The point of difference is that one helps sell the product, the other hinders the product by overshadowing it.

One simple and easy way to help people create an effective advertisement is to use the A.I.D.A. principle. This is a tried and tested formula that has been around for years in advertising and marketing. Salespeople also use it as a good guide to follow. So what is A.I.D.A.?

A.I.D.A. stands for:

A – Attention. First thing, get their attention. It's said we see something like 3,000 plus marketing messages every day, so you've got to break through the clutter. Keep this hard hitting and short, once you have their attention move on to the next step. While the busty blonde model ad got people’s attention it didn’t proceed to the next steps.

I – Interest. Get them interested. Get their attention and go on further about how it's going to be dead easy and super fast to get whatever got their attention. Follow on from the first step and make them take notice.

D – Desire. Stimulate their desire. Really go into depth about what's in it for them. We buy on emotion, and justify later on with logic. Buying is an emotional decision, so get them stirred up about the benefits of buying from you and you're almost there.

A – Action. Get the customer to take action. 'Brand' or 'image' advertising, such as talking about how good your company is, falls down completely here. It relies on the initiative of the person to find out how to take action and then do it. Trouble is, your prospect is like a sleepy sloth in a tree. To get him to wake up, get off his warm, comfy branch, climb slowly down to the cold hard ground, grab his credit card and buy something takes good marketing. You have to demand that they take action before you stop the offer.

To sum up the formula, A.I.D.A., is a lot like fishing. You cast out the bait and get the fish’s attention by the bait hitting the water. Splash! The fish sees the delicious bait sinking to the bottom, now you have their interest. The next step is to wiggle and move the bait in front of the fish, so it looks desirable. Now the final part is that you wind the bait in and make the fish take action before the bait is gone. Make the fish think he will starve if he doesn’t take action now. Bingo, you have hooked the fish. And made a sale!

Do you make these crucial mistakes in sales?

1 Never be late

A very obvious one, never be late, but how many times are you or your colleagues late?

I have heard some statistics that, only a small percentage of the population is always on time, something like five percent. From my experience, (Not me, but waiting for other people) I would say this is very true, that means a whopping 95% of people who are always late.

With sales being a hard game and gaining rapport with the client is paramount, stepping of on the wrong foot for starters is not a good game plan.

It is not that you are late that is the main issue, it is saying that you do not respect the other persons time. It is always better to be a little early than a little late.

Sure things do pop up in life, and you can’t control everything, however lets look at something we can control. Getting lost and not knowing where the appointment is, is no excuse for being late. Because we are professional, we have done our homework, we have driven past the building and know exactly where it is. We also have a rough idea of what the traffic could be like and how far away it is.

For travelling interstate asking question to taxi drivers, hotel staff and even in some cases asking the client, like, how far the meeting place is from your hotel and what is the traffic like?

If you do have a tendency to be late all the time, advice like, allow fifteen minutes extra for getting up in the morning, allow another fifteen minutes for travelling to the appointment, will probably do you no good.

Being late has probably become a habit for you, and habits are hard to break. So I would concentrate on being the type of person who is always punctual, not the type of person who is always running late.

“Always being late is not a time issue, but a mind issue.” Craig Howlett

At a recent business seminar, one of the speakers proposed the question, “So what do you do if have an appointment with a prospective client and you are going to be late?”

Some of the audience stated things like, “Give the client a ring and tell them that you are going to be five minutes late.” Or “Tell them, the car has broken down.” Or “Ring the client and explain that a emergency has come up and you are going to have to reschedule the appointment.”

The speaker simply replied, “You are missing the point, never, ever, ever be late!”

2 Always have business cards

The ritual of shaking hands and greeting clients is normally followed up with exchanging of business cards.

If the client hands you his or her business card, not returning your business card gives of negative signals to the client. Like, you don’t think the client is worthy of a business card or you are unorganised.

3 “A pen, my kingdom for a pen!”

I have seen a sales representative deliver a sales quote and he snatched the pen right off the client, and this was while the client was taking notes about the presentation.

Don’t laugh, he did not even ask for the pen, he just reached out and grabbed it! The shock and horror of looks around the table, was unforgettable.

Hmmm, I wonder why he didn’t get the business?

While every “I haven’t got a pen.” scenario is not as comical, going to presentation without a pen nearly is.

4 The fourth sin is never assume anything.

During sales presentations, telling the client, how good your service, company or product is for them, could be a waste of time.

Even if you have done your homework and know roughly what the customer wants, things change.

Your research may have been done a while ago and the clients needs may have changed. Perhaps when you spoke to the manager, her concern was getting the job done on budget, however, now she has received extra funding for the project and speed is now the concern.

Or maybe the person you spoke to about the project was worried about a certain issue, so you plan the presentation around this.

The real person who is the decision maker, isn’t concerned about it, he just wants to know about something else.

The whole meeting was just wasted and you didn’t get the account. I am not saying, don’t do your home work and plan, that would be foolish, however, never assume anything.

5 Ask and you shall receive

This one leads on from the above. How would you feel if you went to a fancy restaurant. You and your partner, look like a million dollars, and the atmosphere is just right. You just sat down and table and the waiter brings over the crayfish? (Lobster.)

However you didn’t want the crayfish, you haven’t even ordered yet and worst still, you are allergic to crayfish.

The waiter has tried to sell you something you do not want. He is trying to sell you seafood, when you wanted chicken.

This is the same for sales, salespeople are always trying to sell something a client doesn’t want, or can’t have. Be like a good waiter and ask, “What would you like?”

Sure you can tell customers about the specials, and if the chicken is okay for the customer, but there is something better, you might advise, “The chicken is a good choice, however, we have some special tasty King Island steak, just flown in, that is a treat.”

In advertising, a general rule is, the more you tell is the more you sell.

However, in sales, you have a big advantage, you can ask the client questions. Questions like, “What exactly are you after?” “What didn’t you like?” “Can you tell me more about….?” “Why do you prefer your current supplier?” “How would this widget go for your situation?” You then can tailor the sales meeting for the customer, just ask.

Never talk too much, just for the sake of talking. I have heard that we have two ears and one mouth, so we should use them in that proportion.

Good advice, I think.

Yes, Thank You

It could be for an act of kindness, either personal or business, anything that deserves a thanks. You could even just send a thanks for their business.

Let your common sense guide you on this one, make sure the note is hand written, not typed. It does not have to be long, just a “thank-you” on a small card or note will do.

When you sign thank you notes or any letters for that matter, try to use a blue pen, as black is more impersonal.

Think of how you feel when you receive a birthday card, maybe a thank you note is not quite as good, but you feel appreciated. Why not send some to your clients?

Tip - Thank you notes are also good for reducing buyers remorse.

That is, when a customer buys an item and later on thinks, “Perhaps I shouldn’t have brought that, it is too expensive or doesn’t really suit me.” A note from your business, try to send it of within 48 hours, saying something like, “Thank you for you business. I am sure you will be delighted with “XYZ” product. It will save you 17 minutes of your time a day and save you money. You have made a great choice.” This will help reduce returns, as you are reinforcing why they purchased the product and more importantly, it makes the customer feel appreciated.

Alternatively a phone call can be just as effective. This is a great opportunity to discuss or reinforce the sale without being too direct or obvious. It also gives the client the chance to ask any questions they may have thought of afterwards. A phone call is a great way of getting extra feedback.

Eighty Twenty Rules

In other words if you relate that to sales, it could mean 20% of your customers will account for 80% of your sales. Or 20% of your activities account for 80% of your results and the 80% of your activities only account for 20% of results.

For companies the Pareto principle means 20% of your salespeople will do 80% of sales.

Knowing this rule, what would happen if you focused only on the top 20% of activities that will return 80% of results?

Prioritise on the valuable tasks and avoid doing things like talking rubbish with your work mates, getting another coffee, procrastinating and having two hour lunches.

What would happen if you spent more time with your top customers, the twenty percent ones, that account for eighty percent of your profits?

Now if you learnt from the top 20% of salespeople in your company and other businesses, what would happen? Imagine if you combined all three strategies, your sales would improve dramatically.

For More Updated Juicy Sales And Marketing Tips Go To Craig Howlett's Blog

Disclaimer - The articles aim to provide general ideas. Neither the authors nor publisher shall take any responsibility for any loss or damages occasioned to any person or organisation acting or refraining from action as a result of this information. As always the advice of a competent legal solicitor, accountant or other professional advice should be sought.