Confidant cold calling is all about preparation and attitude. If you know your product, your customer and your approach, cold calling is a breeze. The first thing you need to do is to define your product. What exactly are you selling? Why would a Canadian want to purchase your product or service? What makes your product or service better than your competitors? You need to know why a Canadian would benefit from purchasing your product or service.

The next step in the cold calling process is to identify your potential customer. Conduct research to find out who exactly makes the purchase decision in that company. Be sure you reach the correct person. Canadians do expect you to be accurate and respect their positions.You can use the internet to investigate the company (Trigger Events!) or call the company itself and ask who in their company makes those purchase decisions. If possible, contact that person via email or by sending them an introductory letter and sales brochure telling them you would like to speak with them about your product. Increase the postage on your material to Canadians and in the letter or email, tell them when you will be calling them. Allow a few extra days when sending material out of the country (from US for example), then call them a couple of days after you believe they have received the initial contact information.

Have a prepared script ready when you make the initial cold call taking into account the benefits of your product to Canadians. Remember that Canadians are extremely polite and expect you to be. We buy differently. We want to be heard. So, when calling be sure to ask if it is a convenient time for them to talk to you. If it isn’t, immediately ask to re-schedule at a better time. Canadians value honest, forthright communications. Be extremely straight-forward and helpful. Remember that the initial call is not necessarily to make a sale but to begin building a relationship with the client. We need relationship, rapport, and empathy. With that attitude, sales will follow.

Oh, and by the way, we don`t live in igloos.

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If you want to learn how to sell to Canadians, subscribe to my Cold Calling For Canadians newsletter:

More info: http://www.coldcallingforcanadians.com/

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

The cry of “hard times” is heard at all times, and not just in these hard days and that is where you should refresh your knowledge of how to handle objections during your sales process.

“Times are too hard, I can’t afford to buy anything“ – how often have you heard that in the last few months?

This objection is made during the most prosperous times, as well as during periods of financial depression. Customers are confronting sales people all over the world with this before even they had a chance to show them the products, or tell them how they can benefit of them.

It is seldom, however, that the objection is made seriously. Oftentimes prospects don’t have anything else to say. They don’t mention it seriously and don’t expect you to take it seriously.

So what to do?

Pay no attention to the cry of potential new recession!

Don’t forget that you create the value through how you’re selling, not just through what you’re selling. You can create the value in each step of sales process, but the most value can be created early in the process by helping customers to define their needs (use trigger events!).

Here is the list of 10 things to do:

1. Go back to prospecting and find customers who want to buy in any market, and spend your time only with the decision maker.
2. Use open-ended questions, use clarifying questions, and remember that great questions produce great answers.
3. Make it easy for customers to say “yes”.
4. Ask for the order. Ask for the order. Again, ask for the order.
5. Use direct questions such as: “Are we ready to move on this? When can we get started? Shall I write up the order?”
6. Use active listening skills. Ask for the feedback.
7. Remember to read buying signals.
8. Don’t forget to send a thank you note.
9. If you get the sale, send them a note thanking them for their order.
10. If you don’t get the sale, send them a little note thanking them for taking time to meet with you.

It is intelligence that makes times easy, and it is the lack of intelligence that makes times hard. Go back to basics. Invest in your knowledge and sharpen your skills, that is the best way of not buying the cry of “hard times” from your customers.

Going Back To Basics – 10 Things To Do is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Plus, you’ll learn how to:

• Enjoy the foreplay (sales people call it the “Preparation Phase”)
• Get lucky more often by focusing your activities (in your search for new customers)
• Handle the situation like a pro if you get the cold shoulder (No Means No – or does it?)
• Master the art of “You Show me Yours and I’ll Show You Mine” (Presentation and Negotiation)
• Seal it with a kiss (The Art of Closing)
• Deal with the morning-after (Post-Selling Activities)
• Ask for help if you aren’t sure about what you’re doing (Yes, you can!)
• Hook up  (Build Rapport and Credibility – Develop the Relationship)
• Have happy endings

This e-book will provide you with more than 200 reasons why selling is even better than sex, and what you can do about it in order to improve your career and your life. This is not just another sales book – this is a revelation!

Order your e-book copy of the book now for only 12.95!

Note: This is an e-book (electronic book), not a soft-cover book. To get your soft-cover version of the book, click here.

E-book Selling Is Better Than Sex – Available Now! is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Consequently, through unorganized, hit-or-miss methods, his cost of selling is high simply because his methods are not as efficient as they should be.

This does not mean you shouldn’t use your instincts and training well. But it does mean that your sales assumptions must be based in a finding of facts, not guesses.

Using the dart game in the sales profession can lead to failure. You have limited time on your sales call to a prospective buyer and your darts must hit their mark. It’s even more crucial when you use the phone for your sales prospecting activities: many telephone sales calls miss their mark as being off-the-shelf calls that aren’t developed with a specific buyer in mind. Dartboard selling is a quick way to go broke.

Top notch salespeople advise that 75% of a successful sale is due to the pre-flight work. You must make sure you know what direction you want to go in, and you have to ask precise questions that will lead you to confirm needs you recognized through trigger events. You must know what direction to fly before your takeoff.

Most sales people out there are making a huge mistake meeting (or talking over the phone) with their clients unprepared. They think it is enough to schedule the meeting and they will work their magic and close the deal. They will try to break the ice with the customer by talking about the stuff in his office. Then the next misstep is to ask a few questions and not even wait for the answers, but to start with the same old sales pitch.

This kind of salesperson knows all the answers and few features and benefits later they will ask for the business. After hearing few “No’s” from customer they may give up and leave the office with the promise of a follow up a few days later. Unfortunately, the down side is that the customer will probably never return their calls.

Big number of sales people doesn’t take the time to have a conversation with their customers, because they assume that every other customer is like all the others. You will discover that your previous assumptions in sales were fatal many times. Keep those times in the past. It was necessary for you to learn a lesson every salesperson needs to learn, and now is the time to grow and develop your skills and knowledge. You will do so in developing your knowledge about trigger events. It is time to replace assumptions with research.

When you start learning how to recognize trigger events, rather than trying to assume or guess at them, will not only enhance your professional sales career and knowledge, but will increase your sales savvy to what the customer needs.

It is mind-boggling to receive a sales telephone call and the caller spits out a menu of mechanical words. The customer isn’t even, it seems, invited to be part of the conversation. It’s all about the need of the seller. Now when you contact your customers with information collected from recognized trigger events, you will have right questions to ask them, and all you need to do is listen to their answers and reshape your presentation accordingly.

Start with understanding customer’s actual situation and have their needs on your mind, but also find the way to put them on the market by making them realize their yet uncovered needs.

I hope you realize how often you barked up the wrong tree in your prospecting activities, talking to companies without the real need, following up and leaving numerous messages to someone who doesn’t see the value in your product. It is time to move on. Of course, at one time when we were starting sales, we all may have wasted our time that way, calling people from the long list of unqualified prospects we got from our manager, simply because they were in our territory or vertical market.

Now you will have a very powerful tool to change your approach to selling.

You have to understand the positioning of the company, what are they needs, does not matter if they are hidden or visible to public eye.

You need to do this ahead of the first contact as part of your trigger events research. You have to know the customer’s situation better than perhaps they know it, because at the time of presentation of your product, you will have their needs on your mind and prepare your sales presentation accordingly to information you hold.

Think value. Give to the customer what they ask for; give them what they need and more, drive the conversation to the customer’s wants and needs.
Impress them with the depth of your understanding of their position on the market and recent events that can trigger buying process, and they will sign on dotted line.

Very often you can hear how selling is a form of art, how sales people need to be creative and use their imagination, but I am not agreeing with that – sales is more science than anything. Yes you can use imagination and creativity, but after using tools available to you. With the proper tools and techniques you’ll replace guesswork with success.

Even if your company does not have automated system to generate new leads for you, when you learn more about trigger events, you will be able to find your next customer by your own. This will send the message to your manager that you care about your job and you really want to develop your career further, without waiting for someone.

Becoming best in team is an achievable goal and your self-confidence is growing as you establish a competitive advantage towards your colleges and towards your competition.

You don’t need to use old sales excuses anymore, like “territory is too small”, “need more training”, “inadequate sales tools”, “marketing provides no leads”, “we are over priced” etc.

Numbers of sales people who lose their jobs or miss their quota each year are not really important to you anymore, because you are more confident that you know what you doing in your sales role and all thanks to getting new customers from trigger events.

Now you are becoming a real Sales Professional. And it is a good feeling having control over your sales career, isn’t it?

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Get the book Trigger Events today and start selling to new customers tomorrow!

Hit or miss doesn’t work in selling is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Action Step

Cost is simply one element of the transaction. If a client can be convinced of the added value of a product – how much it can save them further down the line or what it may earn them in future – then the issue of cost fades into the background. As a salesperson you need to demonstrate to your clients how they will benefit from buying your product. Do not focus on the cost. Rather focus on what they will receive by investing in the product and how they can gain an advantage from it. Put the spotlight on the benefits and the issues of cost are far outweighed.

Sales Tip #78 is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Once you have a foot in the door, use the opportunity to the maximum. The focus should be on the benefits and value to be derived from buying your product. Place the spotlight on the client’s business and how his processes will be improved or how his revenue streams will be expanded by investing in your product. Your client won’t be sold by your persistence in the meeting. He will want to know the facts and figures about how he will benefit from your product. Respond directly to his needs and you will have his undivided attention.

Sales Tip #106 is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Action Step

You need to be in control of the conversation when it comes to selling. This way you will know when it’s the right time to ask for the order. But you can’t ask for the order until you have educated your client sufficiently about the product and how he will benefit from buying it from you. You cannot sell him your product until you understand his business and his requirements. So, ask the right questions – and then LISTEN! Hear what he has to say and let this lead you into your next question. And then listen some more. Allow him to speak but always be in control over where the conversation is going. You cannot sell your product until you know who you’re selling it to – and why.

Ask questions to control the conversation is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

A woman walked up to a girl and asked: 

- “Do you handle ladies’ sunglasses?”

– “Yes,” she replied.

- “I would like to see some.”

- “All right. This pair costs $99; this one $249.”

She responded mechanically, pointing to sunglasses of various prices.  I stood and watched the transaction. The customer received absolutely no information regarding those sunglasses. I said to myself, “You can have a vending machine here – you can set up a box and put a credit card in and get the thing you came for, without any information. This is all wrong.”

As an experiment, I took that same young lady to the store manager and I said to him,

- “You are never going to sell much of those sunglasses so long as you put people out there who do not know how to sell. Until you employ salespeople who can talk intelligently, there will not be any increase in your revenue.”

- “How would you do it?”

- “This way: Go into the office and tell the girl everything you know about sunglasses, but don’t talk in technical terms. Don’t tell her how the manufacturing process works in producing a pair of shades. Tell her what it will do for the customer. “

I wanted to make an experiment and kept track of that girl’s sales. She sold 37 per cent more than the others. Pretty soon customers began to ask her questions because they found that she knew something about the merchandise.

Ask yourself – are you selling based on features of your product, or based on benefits your product will provide for your customer?

Remember – features tell but benefits sell.

Benefits Based Selling is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Action Step

You may not always be able to drop your price or offer a major discount, but you can always highlight the added value that your company and your product have to offer. Your clients will find it difficult to put a price tag on added value, such as excellent after-sales service, warranties, quality, and your expert advice. If your client is able to pay the price that you’re asking, he will more than likely be swayed by the benefits that he will derive from buying your product as opposed to going somewhere else for less. Stand by your product and your after-sales service. Set yourself apart from the competition.

Answer These Questions:

• Are you convinced that your clients can benefit from buying your products?
• Do you offer excellent after-sales care and unquestionable quality?

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Subscribe to my daily sales tips and you will receive a free ebook every 30 days, plus extra discounts on my books, CD’s, webinars and seminars. If you would like to stop receiving my tips, you can unsubscribe at any time. Subscribe today by filling the form on the right-hand side. Thanks!

Sales Tip #152 is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Action Step

Selling is the one area where you can afford to stand out from the crowd. You need to present a unique service, go the extra mile that nobody else is prepared to go, in order to set yourself apart from the rest of the competition. Remember, you’re not simply selling a product. You are selling an entire solution. If you can become an authority in your field of sales you will be able to address your customer’s business issues abundantly – adding more value to the solution than simply offering him a brilliant product.

Answer These Questions:

• What makes you different from your competition?
• Do you have a level of expertise that exceeds that of your competitors? If not, are you prepared to rise to the occasion and improve your strategy and further your training?

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Subscribe to my daily sales tips and you will receive a free ebook every 30 days, plus extra discounts on my books, CD’s, webinars and seminars. If you would like to stop receiving my tips, you can unsubscribe at any time. Subscribe today by filling the form on the right-hand side. Thanks!

Sales Tip: give more value to your clients is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer