1. I’m not interested.  Create interest by telling a short anecdote of how someone else benefited her home/work/play by using your product.
2. I don’t  have enough money.  Quickly recount how using this product saves money in the long run by  improving the client’s health, saving  his time, or increasing his influence.  State dollar examples of savings gained.
3. I don’t need it.  Be alert to the needs of the customer.  Don’t try to push more on the customer than she needs.  Does she need more space, more time, better methods, or just the basics?
4.  It’s too much hassle to set it up (such as a new phone, exercise equipment). Offer to set it up for him, according to your company’s regulations.  
5. My old one is good enough.  Make sure your client has product knowledge. Teach her the new features as you promote the latest device or service.  Discount it. 
6. Another company has a better offer.  Don’t say “no” to the customer.  Provide an in-store coupon, a sample, a gas card, service, delivery, or warranty.  Give people what they want.
7. I can’t decide.  How to handle objections involves eliminating excess information.  Narrow down the decision to two or three options and focus on the best selling point of each.  Offer your personal preference, if the client asks.
8. I’ll think about it.  Don’t let the client leave without providing specific facts and figures with which he can compare.  Tell him what day and time you will personally be available to discuss it again.
9. It’s not exactly what I want. If you are going to make a sale, you must know how to handle objections like this one. If it is not in stock, order the closest approximation to your client’s need. 
10. It’s just not for me. Show proof that having your product gives your customer greater advantage, potential, and possibilities than not having it.  Be honest, but do what it takes in devising how to handle objections.  Let your client know that you will make it happen for her.

10 Ways to Handle Objections Effectively is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

When you’re cold calling, your best chance of success is to be self assured, confident, and 100% well versed in what you are selling. If you’re using the word ‘maybe’ in your sales scripts, you run the risk of sounding wishy washy. It either is or isn’t. Pick one.

Don’t

In fact, any negative, when describing your product or service, is a definite no. You want to list the positive attributes – not the negative. So instead of thinking about what you don’t do, can’t offer, or won’t provide, think about what you do, can and will. Then write about those.

Hope

When you tell your client you’re ‘hoping’ for something, you’re not sure, are you? If you’re not sure, then why should they be? Never let a prospect hear that you’re not 100% behind your product, your company or your service, or it’s entirely likely you will lose the sale.

Contract

It may sound innocuous enough, but the word contract conjures up all sorts of unpleasant pictures of lawyers, being ‘tied down’ and other negative thoughts. When you’re writing a new sales script, you want to avoid those negative ideas, so make sure that any words like contract that indicate your prospect will be locked in are on your list of what to avoid when cold calling.

Cheap

We all know people want to pay less for goods and services, but the word cheap just sounds, well, cheap. Think ‘cheap and nasty’ and you have some idea of what’s going through your prospects mind when you say cheap. Stick to ‘cost effective’, ‘value for money’, or ‘highly competitive pricing.’ All of them sound better, and say the same thing, without making your prospect think of badly made, low cost goods or services.

This certainly isn’t a complete list of words to avoid when you are wondering what to avoid when cold calling, but it’s a start. As a general rule of thumb, you should avoid any word that has a negative connotation, even if you use it in a positive way. Consumers tend to hear the negative word, and form a negative connection with your brand, without even realizing it.

Always remember that it’s not only what you say, but how you say it, that determines sales success!

What to avoid when cold calling – part 2 is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

• I don’t want to bother anyone
• They probably won’t be interested
• I don’t want to be yelled at
• I don’t like reading from a script
• I don’t really know what to say
• What if they act like they may be interested, but still won’t buy?

There are probably several other objections, but these are the common ones. The bad news is that these are real – and they represent potentially huge barriers for any company’s marketing efforts. The good news is that with a different way of approaching cold calls, this can change from a feeling of dread to a feeling of enthusiasm and actual anticipation – and this is not as hard to accomplish as it may seem.

The first and most important step is to realize that you are not bothering your prospective customers/clients. By not calling and introducing your products/services to them, you are really doing them a disservice.

Think about that. If you really believe in your company’s products and services, why wouldn’t you want to tell the whole world about it? Your customers need what you are offering, and cold calling is one way to make them aware of the benefits you can offer them. This is an important first step in changing the way you think about cold calls.

The next step is to put yourself in the position of who you are calling. They have problems; you have solutions. Why in the world are you hesitant to offer to help them by making their life easier? There is no good answer to that question. Once you have identified your targeted market, and what they are concerned about, the calls will begin to flow naturally, and the phone will no longer weight 10,000 pounds.

To help overcome the fear factor, ask yourself this: what is the worst, the very worst thing that could happen? You hear an obscenity and the phone slams down? BIG DEAL! If anything, you will learn to enjoy results like that, for the simple reason that those “No’s” are leading you to the next “Yes’s”.

As you can see, it all begins changing the way you approach cold calls. And that is totally under your control!

How To Approach Cold Calling is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Clammy hands?  Blank mind?  Have you become an expert at creative avoidance?  No one actually looks forward to cold calling, yet it’s a necessity for successful selling.

Happily, there are some simple cold calling techniques you can use to become much more comfortable, move past your fear and enjoy the positive results you want.

These cold calling techniques can really help:

• Acknowledge your anxiety.  Even professional athletes psych themselves up, put on their game face and focus only on desired results.
• Be prepared.  Know exactly how each prospect can benefit from doing business with you, how your company and products can improve their operations or bottom line.  Talk with current customers to learn how they’ve benefited to get ideas and examples.
• Assume prospects are interested.  Unless you’re merely opening the phone book and blindly selecting numbers to call, you’re making appropriate contacts.  They just haven’t met your company or products yet, so it’s a teaching opportunity for you.
• Anticipate objections.  You can be a hero by helping resolve problems or allaying  concerns about pricing, budget, timing, usage, etc.
• Pretend you’re speaking face-to-face.
• Speak normally.  Know the points you want to make, but let your personality show.  People buy from other people, and they prefer to do business with people they like.
• Stand up.  Your voice will sound better and you’ll be less tense.

Don’t overdo it. 

Set yourself up for success, by scheduling short cold calling sessions – say, ten calls or 15 minutes — and rewarding yourself after each session.  Rewards should be something you really like, such as calling one of your best customers to check in, reading for a few minutes (limit the time) about sales tips or market trends, even tapping into a short podcast or video.

Short sessions and frequent rewards make cold calling manageable and focus on the positive, energizing you for your next round of calls.  Get up and move around between sessions, too, because stretching improves blood flow to your body and your mind.

These cold calling techniques can improve your results.  And remember, cold calling is not a goal.  It’s the first step in a winnowing process, so naturally you’ll find some “chaff” along the way.  But with every call, you’re expanding awareness of your company’s brand and products, and you’ve introduced yourself so you’re no longer a complete stranger.  You’ve planted a seed that might some day grow into a customer.

———-

I’ve been nominated as one of the Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management in 2011 by Sales Lead Management Association. Voting is open until November 30; please vote for me only if you feel I am contributing to the sales community:

http://www.salesleadmgmtassn.com/50most2011/top50_vote.htm

Cold Calling Techniques is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

It is not true that new products are manufactured to supply the demand.

There is no demand. Both the demand and the goods have to be manufactured. The public has always held fast to its old-fashioned discomforts, until the salesperson persuaded it to let go.

• There was no demand for the Railroad, and for years many people believed that thirty miles an hour would stop the circulation of the blood.
• There was no demand for the Steamboat, and when Brunei drove the first boat by steam on the Thames, he became so unpopular that the London hotels refused to give him a room.
• There was no demand for the Sewing machine, and the first machine that Howe put on exhibition was smashed to pieces by a Boston mob.
• There was no demand for the Telegraph, and Morse had to plead and beg before ten Congresses before he received any attention.
• There was no demand for the Air-brake, and Westinghouse was called a fool by every railroad expert, because he asserted that he could stop a train with wind.
• There was no demand for Gas-light, and all the candle-burners sneered at Murdoch for trying to have a lamp without a wick.
• There was no demand for the Reaper, and McCormick preached his gospel of efficient harvesting for fourteen years before he sold his first hundred machines.

No, it is not true, as learned theorists have said that every great invention springs into life because it is demanded by the nation. It springs into life and nobody wants it. It is the Ugly Duckling. Everybody prefers dollar to it, until a few salespeople take it in hand and explain it.

• When Frederick E. Sickles first exhibited his Steam steering-gear, all the sailors looked upon it with contempt. “Nobody seemed to take the slightest interest in it,” wrote Sickles.
• When Charles T. Porter first showed his High-speed engine in England, it was not taken seriously by anyone. “My engine,” says  Porter “was visited by every engineer in England and by a multitude of engine-users; and yet in all that six months not a builder ever said a word about building neither it, nor a user said a word about using it. I was stupefied with astonishment and distress.”
• When Bell first showed his Telephone at the Philadelphia Centennial, it was endorsed by the greatest scientists of America and England. It was tested and proved. But the average man called it a “scientific toy” and refused to either use it or finance it. Bell preached telephony for years before the public bought it.

When the new product has been perfected and produced, the manufacturer must step back and make way for the salesperson. The salesperson can’t invent. A sales mind is not in-growing but out-growing. They aren’t manufacturers. Whenever they have tried it, the costs go skyward. But they know how to interest and convince the public.

The truth is that we, salespeople, have done more for progress and civilization than anyone imagines.

We have done more than all the colleges to develop the peasantry of Europe into enterprising American citizens.

We have transformed the “Man with the Hoe” into the person with the computer.

We have given to general public the radiator for the fireplace, the automobile for the push-cart, the computer and voice recognition for the quill pen.

We have put more comforts into everyone’s homes than the king used to have in his palace.

The main thing in selling is to make people want to buy. A selling atmosphere must be created, and if you fail to do that – you will not sell. Simple as that. The professional salesperson makes the customers realize they want what is being offered.

Continue reading in depth on creating the demand: Are You an Order Taker or an Order Maker?

Make People Want to Buy is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Weak people get cold feet, and cold feet make weak people. The sad thing is they could and would have succeeded if they had but known and paid the price. Most of the failures would have been successes if there were just a little more grit and patience and wide-awake zeal, a little more integrity, a little more perseverance. Nothing is ever saved or gained or accomplished by turning back.

It is a sad sight to see a person turn back when he is in over his shoe tops. If you plan to pass the creek, go across even if there is a yard or so that seems a little deep. You can swim a little if necessary, and when you are through the deepest it gets shallower all the time. Don’t turn back. When you do, you are not only disappointed tremendously and your friends taunt you with “I told you so,” but you are soaking wet. Get across. Deny everything but success.

Difficulties will make a path for your feet; and if you mean it, obstacles will flee on your approach. The turbulent waters of fear will be divided and will become a wall on your right hand and on your left, and you shall march through on dry land. It is staying with it until the last second of the last minute that wins the game. Every salesperson carries the price of success within himself.

The majority of salespeople could immortalize themselves if they would appropriate the earnestness of any great business builder. No one needs to go into the selling business to try it. It has already been tried. You need to try yourself; and if you don’t make it go at first, make yourself make it go. Mix hard work, intelligence, and enthusiasm together, and if taken in sufficient quantities you will succeed.

Never wait, but hustle. You can do more business by trying than by not trying.

There are two classes of salespeople who lose time – the one because business is too good and the other because business isn’t good enough. The salesperson who does more business than he expects thinks he can afford to take a day off. The one who doesn’t do as much as he expects gets a little blue and concludes that he will go to his office and work harder so that he won’t waste time and opportunities. When he goes to his office, he thinks of but one thing, the dark side of his business. Instead of being lifted up and enthused, he gets bluer and bluer, and often gives up on cold calling and prospecting.

Better stay focused. Work will overcome the blues. Keep the blood circulating. Keeping everlastingly at it brings success; waiting until you feel more like it brings failure. The steady worker is the better person, because keeping constantly at it develops brilliancy. Brilliancy and hard work make the genius.

Take advantage of every opportunity. Defeat for some is opportunity for others. Don’t judge your work by one sale or by one day or by one week. Judge it as a whole. Judge it by the month and by the quarter.

When a person fails it is because of an unconscious preparation for failure. It is thinking over what may happen. Things may seem a little dark occasionally, but when you take the blues home with you it will be dark all the time. Fear not, doubt not, linger not on the ragged edge of failure.

Physical exercise is necessary. Take a run through the woods. Get into the sunshine. Get up in the morning and hear the birds sing. Become active mentally and physically. When you are blue, your brain, so to speak, is covered with a thick scum like that of a stagnant pool. Turn on the thought currents, and this dark scum will disappear.

Read something that will electrify you with new hope (Selling Is Better Than Sex, anyone?). Do anything but reflect. Don’t sympathize with yourself or ask sympathy from others, and don’t tell your troubles to others.

There is only one thing that is worse than not getting sales, and that is everlastingly finding fault. See the good. Get encouragement and orders.

Sales Pitfalls: Giving Up is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

If you as a salesperson exercise no influence whatsoever upon the mind of your customer, but the customer does all the deciding, you are not a real salesperson. You are an order taker. (Please read my article: Are You an Order Taker or an Order Maker?)

There is a certain proper influence that every mind may have over every other mind. This influence arises from strong personal character, from a knowledge of products and services, and from a knowledge of the science of selling.

Your character, knowledge, and abilities can be improved and strengthened in the interest of your work (and career as a salesperson). First, let us clearly understand the distinction between proper mind-control, and hypnotism or other forms of mesmeric influence.

Proper mind-control

If you arrange your thought and presentation logically, so as to lead your customer into the proper attitude toward your products or services, you are well within your rights. So is the salesperson who introduces new and overwhelming arguments, and he who studies methods of so impressing his personality on a customer as to inspire confidence.

Certainly you can’t justly criticize a salesperson for studying his customer’s face and manner in such as way as to find out the exact minute when he would be most likely to consent to a purchase, or for any other studious effort to learn exactly when to urge his strongest points. The salesperson must learn when his argument is at its best, and, conversely, when the customer’s mind is in its most receptive condition. That is the minute for action. You must be able to recognize it when it comes, and must practice every possible method of bringing it about. You must compel the buyer to minimize any objections in his mind and to become enthusiastic over the advantages that you have presented.

This is proper and legitimate mind-control. It has nothing to do with hypnotism, mesmerism, making a sale to an intoxicated or demented person, or any other unfair method of taking advantage of an abnormal condition of the buyer’s mind.

The following are examples of legitimate mind-control:

1. A salesperson finds a buyer opposed to his product because he does not understand its features (and benefits). A simple explanation of benefits compels the buyer to change his mind.
2. A salesperson finds that a buyer is impulsive and enthusiastic. He therefore describes his products enthusiastically and secures the order “on the spur of the moment.”
3. A salesperson finds it difficult to secure the buyer’s signature to an order. He watches his customer’s face until it shows a keen interest, then hands him pen and paper with a request to sign, at exactly the right moment.
4. A salesperson learns that his customer is inclined to favor those salespeople for whom he has a personal relationship. He therefore cultivates a feeling of friendship between himself and his customer, and uses it to secure an order.

These are simple examples, but they make the meaning clear. You will no doubt be able to add many similar examples from your own knowledge, such as the use, at the proper time, of the names of well-known customers of yours.

The formula for developing a mind control is very simple.  It is a study of the five senses and the manner in which they influence the mind, and a constant effort to apply in practice what you have learned.

Next post in this series will be about using the five senses in selling – please subscribe to my blog to be notified when a new post is published.

Mind Control in Selling is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Exactly in similar fashion the salesperson learns a mental rule of suggestion, and thereby makes a sale. Or he learns how to improve his personal powers. And so on.

Prof. Hugo Munsterberg of Harvard said, “Every experience leaves the brain altered. The nerve fibers and cells have gone into new stages of  disposition for certain excitements.” To learn how to alter your own nerve fibers and cells to make them more easily disposed to the excitation that you desire, and to learn how to alter the mental processes of the buyer that are opposing your success, is the thing that makes psychology valuable to the salesperson.

One of the things that gives hope and courage to men and women who study the structure of the mind, is the fact that the brain tissues may be altered with much greater ease and to a far greater extent than other bodily tissues.

Every thought wears a path in the tissues of the brain.

Constant thinking builds up the brain at a marvelous rate.

A scar on the surface of the body caused by a wound may remain for life, but when brain tissue is injured and replaced it is replaced by entirely new tissue wherein no sign of the former scar remains. It is important for the salesperson to realize how vitally the study of the mind affects the success of the salesperson in his or her chosen field.

In order to indicate to the salesperson the great scope of psychology in selling, here is a list of some of the important topics in mind-study:

• The five senses: How to train them.
• Suggestion: Introducing a favorable thought in the buyer’s mind.
• Auto-suggestion: Influencing your own mind by helpful thoughts.
• Attention: What it is, and the art of commanding it.
• Selective attention: Why and how the mind selects certain topics.
• Thinking: Analyzed as a consecutive process of observing, comparing, reasoning, and judging
• Emotion or Feeling: How to arouse it in your favor.
• The Will: How to compel action.
• Imagination: Its value to a salesperson.
• Memory: How to make it serve you.
• Habit: How to make it work for you rather than against you.

If you want to learn more about the connection between psychology and selling, please keep following my blog.

The Psychology in Selling is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Professionals are the ones who know how necessary it is to start selling more. And, of course, they are the ones who ultimately earn more.

Action Step

If you want to take your sales career to the next level, take the initiative to improve your skills. Attend a sales seminar, a training course or buy a book that will teach you how to perfect your selling technique. Read as much as you can and talk to like-minded sales professionals. Learn from the best! And just when you think you have learned all that there is to know, go ahead and invest in another course in order to further advance your skills. When you KNOW more, you will BE more, and then you can EARN more.

Answer These Questions:

• When did you last attend a sales seminar? Are you prepared to take the initiative and attend one soon?
• Do you regularly interact with other sales professionals, whether in person or in online discussion groups? Do you know where to look for these groups?
• Are you always ready to take your sales career to the next, best level?

Sales Tip #48: be a sales pro is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

So you are probably asking yourself – how is it that they can make six or seven figures and you are struggling month by month to make ends meet and reach your quotas?

The first and probably the most accurate answer is that they see themselves as professionals.

How can you grow if you don’t adopt new ideas or learn about new things in business and in sales? How can you expect to advance to better, higher paid positions if you stop investing in your knowledge?

In my 20+ years in different roles in sales, I have met many sales people who never bought a book about the sales in their life. They never attended a seminar about sales, which was not part of their company at the time. However, they were always complaining about how companies are not investing enough in their sales force, yet expect them to be perfect and up to date. That is the reason why they don’t want to invest in seminars on their own.

They believe that if their company does not see the value in it, why would they pay for it by themselves? Also they feel they know everything about the sales, so there is no need for spending money on books and seminars, or finding time for reading magazines or specialized websites. Many of those people who don’t learn continuously wonder why they don’t advance in their career or are skipped over again for a promotion.

I am giving you perfect examples of how the amateurs are thinking while blaming everyone around them for being unsuccessful in sales. You are the one who is making the decision. Every morning, when you look in the mirror, are you seeing the reflection of an amateur or professional?

Sales professional is someone who invests in his knowledge, who reads magazines and web portals dedicated to sales people and attends seminars and conferences. A sales person who follows the trends understands how essential it is to improve him personally.Professionals are ones they know how necessary this is to start selling more. And of course – they are the ones who are earning more.

Be different from the 95% of salespeople out there who are not investing in their knowledge, and you will start seeing the change. It will start first inside of you where you will be hungrier for the new knowledge. You will have a better conversation and better approach to your prospects and people around you will see that difference.

Your self-respect that you’ve gained with that new knowledge will make the world your oyster. Don’t wait for your employer to send you to a seminar. Be proactive, for yourself and your career. It will benefit you in the long term – with your career and most importantly you will see the difference in your wallet!

You are asking your clients to make a change, but if you are unwilling to change yourself, how can you ask your prospects to?

Your sales process will also depend on your efforts invested in research and understanding your customer base, your energy and enthusiasm about your product. If you cannot transfer enthusiasm to your prospects, you are in deep problems. When you talking about something people can feel if you are insincere, or you really know what you are talking about.

It is not what are you saying but how are you saying it.

What does it mean to be sales professional? I am not saying that you have to live, eat and breathe sales 24/7 every day for the rest of your life, but to start seeing your sales position as something more, something bigger than 9-5 job.

Whether you love your sales job or not, you have a choice to do it well or not, to be fully involved or back away, and if you have this attitude of choosing to do your work well, you will enjoy your job itself!

You can be very productive once you consciously choose to be in sales, and if you change your approach from “get things done” to actually enjoy what you do, you can get the job well done and be rewarded for your efforts.

Fulfillment in your life comes with doing a great job, whatever you do. And your occupation, in this case sales profession, is just as important to your personal health as the right food for your body.

Invest in your knowledge; put the seeds in the small steps and watering your skills and constant caring about your sales knowledge. And when the time of harvesting comes, you will have the fruits of your efforts in front of you.

To differentiate from majority of people who don’t like what they do, you have to actually enjoy what you do.

Start your day by doing your job the best you can, and try to do it for a week. Then come back next week and do it all over again. The best you can, not waiting for rewards, not asking for rewards. Don’t wait for results to come, just do the job the best you could. When first results came back, when you get positive feedback from your customers, when you close a new deal – ask yourself: What has changed?

You will start loving your job because success will come, first in small steps, but more and more day by day it will grow. Your customers will start seeing you as a knowledgeable person, your colleagues will see you with different eyes, and you will realize that all of that is important, but most important are feelings inside of you that start building – good feelings about yourself.

You will feel worthy, valuable to your customers, colleagues, and you will build that feeling inside of you that you are valuable part of your environment.

And you will start feeling that you are helping others – your colleagues to be better, your customers to find the best solution, and by helping them you are actually helping yourself to become a more valuable member of the community.

Does it make sense?

Natural order of things is in doing your best at what you do best, and the rewards will follow inevitable.

Remember this – you can’t fail how hard you try it.

Sales Amateur vs. Sales Professional is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer