Small Talk Is for Small Sales
Small talk is meaningless yapping about nothing at all. Small talk is safe, but it accomplishes nothing of value. It’s a restatement of the obvious. Small talk is for small sales.
Back to (Sales) School
So what’s your plan? What will you do to maximize your sales opportunities during the remaining 68 business days of 2014?
I’ll get you started. These are the things you should be thinking about if you want to make the most of this year:
Are You an Order Taker or a Salesperson?
There’s an argument going on and it’s time for me to weigh in. For years I’ve heard managers complain that their salespeople are “lazy order takers.” I’ve witnessed teammates jab at one another by delivering the lowest of all low-blow insults: “You’re nothing but an order taker.”
Loyalty Starts with You
Most businesses think loyalty comes from issuing a “frequent flyer” card and giving something away for free. That’s not loyalty. That’s buying repeat business from customers who are loyal to the prize, or to the price. Eliminate the freebies, and you eliminate the customer.
What is the Secret to Success?
Success in selling means destroying your quota. It means having a closing ratio that exceeds that of your teammates and your competitors. Success in selling means becoming your best, earning customer loyalty and not having to cold call.
Do You Follow Up or Follow Through?
As a result of putting myself out there, I had the pleasure of meeting new people on a daily basis. That pleasure also came with a challenge: I left each function with a stack of business cards, often as many as 50, and often struggled to keep up with follow-up; that is, I struggled until I created a process.
Through trial and error, defining and refining a process, and observation of how others follow up, I created a best-practices list that I now follow. Before I share that list with you, however, you should know there are two major considerations with regard to successful follow-up.
When Should You Ask for the Sale?
Today, I’d like to share a recent revelation with you – a concept I’ve just learned about from an avid reader (who wishes to remain anonymous), who proclaims that you should “never deliver bad news on a Friday.”
His idea is that a transmission shop should never tell a customer that their car needs a new transmission on a Friday afternoon. He alleges that the customer will “think things through” and simply buy a new car on Saturday.
Have You Heard of the Telephone?
The greatest sales tool ever invented is not social media. It’s not LinkedIn. It’s not NLP. It’s not SPIN Selling or some other formal sales process. It’s not Salesforce.com or other CRM software. It’s not the fax machine. It’s not the iPhone. And, it’s certainly not email. Those all are great tools, but they are not the best. No, the greatest sales tool ever invented is the telephone.
The Stigma of Sales
There are two kinds of people in the world – cat people and dog people. Wait, no. That’s not the point of this article. There are two other kinds of people in the world – people who love sales and people who hate sales. And, then, there are those who hate salespeople and those who love salespeople. From my own experience, I have found that there are far more Americans who detest salespeople than there are those who love (or even like) salespeople.
You Don’t Have to Be a Salesperson to Make a Sale
The most important part of your business is making the sale. Your title, however, means little to anyone but yourself.
Easy Returns = Easy Sales
Just before I popped the top off the ECM unit, I realized that the part number on top did not match the one in the instruction manual for my chip. Rats! The instruction manual specifically pointed out that if the part number does not match for any reason, “DO NOT INSTALL THIS CHIP. YOUR CAR WILL NOT BE HAPPY.”
We’re Doing it Wrong – the World is Flat
The industry is nearing a crossroads. We’re not quite there yet, but it’s coming soon.
It’s the perfect storm: new technologies in transmissions, new buying motives and habits among vehicle owners, new media and marketing options, new competitive forces from general-repair shops and consumer-focused new-car dealers, new this, new that.
