Sales Language: What's Wrong with But?: "Sales Language: What's Wrong with But?
-by Shamus Brown
Language is one of the most important tools you have to influence someone.
The most successful salespeople and persuaders use positive, active sales language that instills confidence in them and their capabilities.
Here is one word that you'll want to avoid using as much as possible when you are selling and persuading."
Salespeople and entrepreneurs under perform because they don't sell enough. They don't sell enough because they don't have enough prospective buyers to sell to. And they don't have enough prospective buyers because they don't initiate contact with new prospects in sufficient numbers. For many low producing salespeople, initiating first contact is emotionally uncomfortable, so they avoid it, put it off or contort it into alternative and sometimes barely recognizable contact strategies such as colorful mailouts, deflected identities ('I'm here to advise you, not to sell you anything') or calling only on limited, emotionally 'safe' segments of the market. This coping style is called compensatory prospecting. It is practiced by many salespeople and some entire sales organizations and businesses.
by Art Sobczak
You've probably heard it before:
'Yeah, why don'cha send me sumthin' on that?'
That request sends sales reps scrambling for the literature racks, and the resultant massive revenues generated every day by sales reps for the U.S. Postal Service likely have helped avoid even larger postage rate increases than we're regularly forced to swallow.
Click here to read the rest of this Free Sales Training Article by Art Sobczak
Increase Your Selling Confidence
You can measure the gap between successful salespeople and average ones in the extra steps they take. They practice daily the following guidelines:
- Be on time. In fact, arrive a few minutes early, so you can mentally prepare for your sales presentation. When you arrive on time, your professionalism shows your prospects that you value their time as well as your own.
- Ask specific questions. Find out exactly what the prospect needs and wants from your company's product. If you get the details early, than you can avoid possible misunderstandings and delays later on.
- Dress appropriately. Your first impression is extremely important, so always dress in a professional manner. A well dressed salesperson with good posture radiates professionalism and honesty. Since certain parts of the country are more relaxed in their style, know your regions style and dress according to it. You don't want to be ostentatious, just obviously successful.
- Listen attentively. Listening is an all-important skill and salespeople often overlook this fact. Focus your attention on what the prospect says. Don't let your mind wander. Listen for subtle clues that may indicate your customer is ready to make the purchase.
- Be concise. Use the "KISS" method. Keep It Short and Simple so your prospect can understand all aspects of your presentation. Use stories rather than lists or statistics to illustrate a point. Stories will help you hold your prospects attention.
- Be enthusiastic. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm". Be visibly and verbally excited. Many people feel that they don't have anything in life to be enthusiastic about. Through your excitement, you can help them change their attitude. Enthusiasm is contagious!
- Maintain eye contact. Eye contact is important for two reasons. First the eyes are an important channel of nonverbal communication that allow you to read your customer's true feelings. Second, if you maintain eye contact, your customer can gain greater trust. If you can't look them in the eyes, they may doubt your integrity.
- Say "Thank You". These two simple words can bring dramatic results. They area sign of appreciation and your prospect will realize that you do value their business. Send a thank you note after the sales call. Show your prospect every common courtesy.
Follow these eight steps and watch you selling confidence and your sales soar higher than ever before!
(c) 2005 Neil Greenberg
I got a confession to make! The little communication device used to scare me to death!
I would pick ip up and dial a prospect and when the phone rings my heart would start pounding wishing that the recipient does, to pick the phone up. When the phone is picked, guess what?
My home business was rationalised and crippled by the fear of phone. The telephone is a very essential tool to expose your business. Some persons have become millionaires due to using the phone proficiently.
However, when I discovered the two minute exercise a new world opened converting me into a calling machine. Despite the fact that English is not my first language, I have a commanding personality over the phone.
I will show you the magic pill to eliminate the fear of phone in record time. It doesn't matter the level of your fears but be assured that the exercise works.
Are you ready? Lets take the ride!
First and foremost acknowledge the fact that the phone does not cause fear we talk on it everyday. The potential negative results and perceived failure from the call creates the uncomfortable feelings that leads to avoidance.
Here is the simple exercise:
- List down as many telephone contacts as possible. Your contacts must comprise of warm list[people that you know] and cold leads. You can order a list of telephone leads regardless of the quality. Write down a script in relation to your business.
- Start making calls to your prospects one by one. Limit your time to two minutes and stick to your script. If the recipient does not pick up the phone leave a message. Do not focus on the result concentrate on making calls.
Do you fear playing lotto just because you lost? Play as many as possible phone calls lotto and do not expect to win.
What will happen?
The fear will take its toll reaching the highest peak! Your prospects will notice present of fear from your conversation. They will sense it in your voice and reject your offer.
Now this is the key! Without your knowledge magic is happening inside you. You are targeting fear with a laser beam and melting it away. You are now building little victories on gradual basis. The fear that crippled you will start to subside generating you a momentum that will seem foreign to you.
You will not understand how easy it will be to pick up a phone and call a prospect. You will eliminate the nerves and replace it with confidence.
You will be astounded by the feelings and the power of two minutes exercise. Go for it! Launch the fear attack campaign to improve your business and better your lifestyle.
Peter Benson publishes articles that identifies obtacles that may hinder your business to grow. He provides practicle solutions to anyone looking forward to succeed in business. Grab a free subscription at http://www.HomeBusinessGeneration.com
8 Sales Lead Generation Methods
I've been getting lots of email from my readers lately. And one thing that I hear often is that people need more sales leads.
In order to generate sales leads, you need three things:
- A written profile of your target prospect,
- A list of suspects containing potential prospects,
- A method of reaching your sales prospects.
In this article, I am going to discuss eight proven methods of reaching your sales prospects.
Complementary Partner ReferralsI put this sales lead generation method first because this one generates the highest quality sales leads. How you do this depends on the market you are in. There have been a lot of articles written about networking through chamber and association meetings, so I won't rehash that here.
If you are selling business to business, you want to strike up relationships with sales reps from companies who call on the same businesses as you do. An example is if you sell an information technology consulting service, then partner with a few computer systems hardware vendors. These reps call on the same customers as you and you complement each other by sharing leads and information about customers and prospects.
Cold CallingAs much as nearly everyone dislikes this one, it is very effective for sales lead generation when executed properly. If you consistently prospect for leads by phone, you will consistently generate sales leads.
You can find more cold calling tips at my website listed at the end of this article.
Live Seminars
Live seminars are a great sales lead generation technique because you are usually delivering your a pitch to a prospect very early in their buying process. The key to a successful seminar is offering a solution to a problem that your target market really wants to solve. You can give the pitch yourself, or get one of your company executives to do it (sometimes business "celebrity" can help pull more sales prospects in).
Live seminars can be done inexpensively. The costs for in-person seminars are comprised of room rental, refreshments, audio-visual equipment, and promotion. Teleseminars are the least expensive, with the only costs being conference phone line rental and promotion. Webinars are actually more expensive due to the hefty fees the online meeting services charge to use their services.
Trade ShowsTrade shows are a good way generate sales leads if you can find events highly targeted to your prospect audience. Often such events yield low-quality sales leads because they are attended by the recommenders and influencers and rather than the true decision-makers.
I rate this method lower on the list, yet it is a valuable one if your company has the budget and there are industry events well-targeted to your audience.
Mass MailingsSales letters are one of the more underused sales lead generation methods. There is an entire industry of people dedicated to selling this way called direct marketing. But most field sales reps and business professionals don't know how to use this technique well.
Success with this method comes as a result of mailing a well-written letter to a good quality list of names (quality = targeted at your audience).
Two good primers on this are
"The Ultimate Sales Letter" by Dan Kennedy and
"Selling to VITO" by Anthony Parinello.
AdvertisingThis method can be highly effective when done right. You must find publications that are able to deliver your target audience. You must run ads that stimulate people to take action. To generate sales leads, you must avoid big-company style image ads.
I am no expert on advertising, but I do know that if you can't do this one right don't do it at all because you can blow through your marketing budget fast.
Internet AdvertisingThis one is very appropriate for small businesses and some independent professionals. With a well-designed website, you can generate sales leads through "ads" that the search engines create from your webpages. If you know what keywords your prospects are likely to search for you with, then you can generate very targeted and qualified leads.
This method is not for everyone though, as your prospects must be searching for something related to your products, services or the problems that you solve.
Email PublicationsWhat you are reading right now is an example of an email publication that keeps my name and business in front of 9000 people every month. I collect all of my names through my website, but that isn't the only way to do this.
A sales rep or business owner could create an email newsletter and mail it to sign-ups from an offer presented at a seminar, at a trade show, in a mass mailing, in an advertisement, or on a cold call.
If your a sales rep, why not create your own email newsletter? You could send out industry news and tips to suspects in your market. Eventually a few of them will become customers because you are on their mind more often than your competition.
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© 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved.
Shamus Brown is a Professional Sales Coach and former high-tech sales pro who began his career selling for IBM. Shamus has written more than 50 articles on selling and is the creator of the popular Persuasive Selling Skills CD Audio Program. You can read more of Shamus Brown's sales tips at http://Sales-Tips.industrialEGO.com/ and you can learn more about his persuasive sales skills training at http://www.Persuasive-Sales-Skills.com/
