August 24th, 2018
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4 Key Principles of Negotiation in Sales

Negotiation in Sales is About Perspective

Negotiating in sales is one of the most fundamental aspects of selling. Every sales professional will spend the majority of his/her career negotiating with either their customers, employees, and even themselves. Getting other people to see things from your perspective while listening to their point of view in an equally respective manner is a key aspect of acquiring new customers, retaining profit, and building meaningful relationships in business. It can also be the most frustrating. Negotiation is an art form that requires working with someone or groups with different views in order to create a mutually beneficial agreement.

Read Our Free White Paper: 8 Critical Negotiation Skills to Kill Your Sales Quota

Negotiators should think about how to develop strategies that will help both sides to get more of what they want. Don’t look at negotiation in sales as a competitive, win-lose battle where you inevitably cave into bad deals in order to avoid conflict. When negotiating in sales, you can achieve better results by keeping these 4 key principles in mind:

 

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Separate Your Relationship from The Problem

Remember that your counterparts are human beings and not just another sale. They have their own feelings, opinions, values, and backgrounds that influence what they say during the negotiation.

To solve this problem, imagine the situation from their perspective. When you are negotiating with someone who is firm in their position, ask them how things are working out for them. This allows you to gauge their point of view more clearly and can help you avoid resorting to blaming tactics during the negotiation process.

Prioritize Interests

Often times negotiations begin with both parties coming out strong with their positions which leads to a deadlock. This can be difficult to get out of because you are left with little room to negotiate. A better stance to take would be to ask questions about their interests and what motivates their position. You can ask them why a particular stance is important to them or probe them for more details.

Prioritizing interests gives you a chance to share your own which can open up more opportunities to explore each other’s problems allowing you to create a solution that benefits both parties.

Manage Your Emotions

Allow yourself and your counterpart to be honest with any strong emotions you feel during the negotiation process. Give ample time for them to honestly speak their mind. Emotions get in the way of looking at the problem for what it is. Taking turns to express your feelings without interrupting lets you listen better to what is being said and can prevent arguments from getting out of hand.

Make Your Counterpart Feel Appreciated

Expressing appreciation can help to open up your counterparts during the negotiation process. Understanding where others are coming from and highlighting key points in what they are trying to communicate shows that you are listening. It also shows that you respect what they are saying and where they are coming from.

Stay Calm and Relaxed

It is imperative when negotiating in sales that you remain calm and relaxed. You want to inspire their emotions and control yours. Remember to think about objectives over objections. Over time the experience you gain from negotiating in sales will allow you to incorporate a unique style and flair but keep these 4 key principles of negotiation in mind on your next deal!

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If you would like more information on how to sharpen your negotiation skills, read about our Negotiation for Sales Professionals Workshop!

Do you like what you just read? Visit our resource center and download any or all of our 17 Executive Sales White Papers to help improve your sales skills training and build a successful sales career.

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August 13th, 2018
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ABC – Always Be Connecting : How to Use Social Media to Build Connections and Sales

Building Connections with Social Media

For most salespeople, the ABC acronym sounds familiar. Most remember the “Always Be Closing” acronym, but that phrase has become outdated. In the age of social selling, the ABC acronym has taken on a new identity. The ‘C’ now stands better for “connecting” because you cannot sell on social media if you can’t connect with customers in a meaningful way. To do that, you must maintain a steady stream of fresh content, excitable photos, videos, and develop a following of people who follow others to maintain a healthy fresh network of connections.

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Related Reading: 4G Selling – How To Use and Leverage Social Media for Marketing Success

Of course, most salespeople start with coworkers, family, and friends when they’re learning the ropes, but you should also expand your network by building connections with social media. The overall goal is to raise awareness and interest of your customers with your company or brand. You can reach out to customers, influencers, speakers, journalists, bloggers, and even people you meet on the street. In the digital age, your social media acts as a business card.

The ABC Strategy

While the ins-and-outs of your strategizing are likely to change with the time, the core strategy for building connections with social media should be to connect with interesting or influential people who are intrigued with building connections with your brand. Over time you will build more connections with people of interest allowing your social capital to zoom skyward.

The key is to first gather information about your buyers, whom they trust, what their interests are, and connect with those people to earn trust and likeability through extension. However, be aware of who you associate with when building connections through social media. You could potential tarnish your company or brand if you don’t pay attention.

Quality, Not Quantity

When building connections with social media, most people focus on the number of celebrities or interesting people they can get to like or follow them. However, you have to be careful if you don’t know much about these people because you run the risk of being associated with negative issues or whatever public relations disaster that celebrity or influencer might be involved in. Instead, focus on a few people that spark your interest and learn as much as you can about them to ensure they’re brand won’t hurt your ratings.

Learn to Develop the Right Content for Social Media

You’ve made the connections now it’s time to start thinking about how to create fresh and unique content that will keep your consumers engaged, interested, and educated. Building connections with social media means always staying up to date with new ways to maintain your brand’s digital presence. Having a structured strategy for your content allows you to understand which connections are more engaged with your brand, what kinds of messages are working, and what kind of content you need to create.

 

Related Reading: The Must-Have Social Media Content Strategy for 2018

Do you like what you just read? Visit our resource center and download any or all of our 17 Executive Sales White Papers to help improve your sales skills training and build a successful sales career.

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August 6th, 2018
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3 Ways to Beat Sales Slumps

Transcription: 

3 Ways to Beat Sales Slumps

One of the biggest factors that will prevent you from achieving your goals is falling into the inevitable sales slump. We all go through sales slumps from time to time and sales slumps happen for various reasons. It’s important to acknowledge the circumstances and get out of them when they happen.

Here are 3 things to keep in mind when you find yourself in a sales slump so that you can refocus and get back on the right track.

Examine your selling patterns and habits

Take a look at your sales process from previous prospects and clients and examine where your issues and bottlenecks occur. At which points during the sales cycle did you have the most trouble? Once you’ve identified these issues you can begin sales training to correct them!

Work with a Sales Coach

Have someone you respect examine your sales calls or evaluate your sales presentations. It could be a sales manager or colleague but regardless of who you choose, it’s important that you ask them to be honest and that you stay humble and respect their advice.

Related Reading: 10 Benefits of Sales Coaching

Have Patience and Don’t Beat Yourself Up

Sales slumps happen to the best of us and is an essential aspect of growing as a sales professional. Don’t fall into bad habits of negative thinking. If you have to, take a break to recharge and reconnect with your goals.

Learn to Refocus

Sales slumps are an important aspect of selling because all salespeople go through it at some point in their careers. Take time to refocus and keep in mind that it will pass. The most successful sales professionals experience sales slumps. The difference between the top 1% that succeed and the ones that don’t is that they are motivated to learn from their failures while maintaining a positive mental attitude.

Do you like what you just read? Visit our resource center and download any or all of our 17 Executive Sales White Papers to help improve your sales skills training and build a successful sales career.

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July 30th, 2018
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4 Cold Calling Scenes From Movies That Will Inspire You To Make The Sale

Sales Lessons From Cold Calling Scenes

You may have found yourself in many of the same scenarios and situations that you’ve watched in Hollywood’s most infamous cold-calling scenes. These feelings and frustrations that the characters are going through are universal to all sales professionals. Most, if not all, are uncomfortable and to relatable. Nevertheless, the sales lessons that you learn from many of these cold-calling scenes are applicable to a wide variety of sales experiences and offer valuable sales insights.

It’s important to consider how each scene portrays sales professionals and the behavioral tendencies they exhibit in order to overcome common problems in the world of sales.

One of the most important aspects of selling as a sales professional is making your cold calls. The process can be difficult if sales professionals fail to develop best practices.

These 4 cold-calling scenes from movies and tv shows will inspire you to make the sale and become more efficient.

 Develop Proper Phone Calling Etiquette – The Office

It’s important to keep in mind that sales professionals make several cold calls during their workday. Going through a multitude of customer objections can be a frustrating endeavor as each call is different with its own rhythm and objections. While this hilarious cold calling scene from The Office should not be taken at face value, the message here is that it pays to be respectful with customers during sales calls regardless of how frustrating it may become.

Practice introducing yourself in a calm and collected manner. Deliver your pitch with clarity and speak loudly but at an appropriate volume. Take a cue from Dwight (played by Rainn Wilson) and ensure you don’t lose your cool during difficult sections of the call.

 Set Yourself Apart From Your Competitors – Boiler Room

One of the most frustrating aspects of making cold calls is conveying the value of your product or service to customers. There are plenty of competitors competing for business. In this cold-calling scene from Boiler Room, Seth (played by Giovanni Ribisi) is at home eating breakfast when he receives a lackluster cold call from a newspaper sales rep who he immediately turns down. We see again in this sales scene that the sales rep does not have a developed sales strategy for dealing with rejection.

Being the professional sales rep that he is, Seth attempts to guide the weary cold caller with some solid sales coaching advice and asks him to try again. Notice how the cold caller sets his product apart from the rest of the competition by outlining the specific benefits and features of his newspaper (more photographs than any other newspaper and the most reliable delivery service).

Highlight your unique selling points when making your sales calls to ensure your product or service stands out from the competition.

Related Reading: How To Anticipate and Handle Objections with Confidence

Respectfully Educate Your Clients – JOBS

 Does your prospect understand your product or service? One of the hardest aspects of making cold calls is making sure your customers understand what it is you’re selling. In this cold calling scene from Jobs, Steve Jobs (played by Ashton Kutcher) is having a hard time explaining the details of the Apple Computer to prospective investors.

Imagine trying to explain something as innovative as a personal computer during that time period. Unpack the details of your product or service by demonstrating how it can mitigate their specific problems or concerns but ensure you don’t talk down to them if they miss or don’t understand something.

Try and paint a picture with your words and explain your product or service in a way that is easy to digest. Ask your prospect about their knowledge of your product or service on a scale of 1 to 10. This will give you a clear understanding of how in-depth you need to be with your presentation or if the call requires another person for decision-making. Come up with a strategy to explain your product or service simply and in less than a minute.

Be More Efficient by Staying Positive– Pursuit of Happiness

Effort and dedication are the keys to making your calls and increasing your potential for making a sale. In this cold-calling scene from The Pursuit of Happiness, Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith) shows how having a focused and determined positive mental attitude can help sales professionals be more efficient. He maintains a polite tone of voice during his sales calls and treats the Gatekeeper with respect even after getting rejected. The majority of sales calls will take you to the decision-maker’s secretary or assistant, so it is important to treat them with as much respect as you would the CEO.

Watch Related Video: Attitude is a Choice

Do you like what you just read? Visit our resource center and download any or all of our 17 Executive Sales White Papers to help improve your sales skills training and build a successful sales career.

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July 16th, 2018
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4 Key Attributes of Mentally Prepared Sales Professionals

The Mentally Prepared Mindset

Top salespeople don’t just have meetings; they are mentally prepared for meetings. Just as you would make sure you have the demo, the samples, the PowerPoint or brochures as well as the product video all keyed up on the tablet, top salespeople also take the time to prepare mentally. Are you mentally prepared for your next sales meeting? Here are 4 key attributes of mentally prepared sales professionals.

1) Mentally Prepared Sales Professionals are Organized and Focused

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Top sales professionals keep a great record of their clients and their information. They have the names of their clients’ spouses, information about their passions, hobbies, and the industry they are selling into.

Mental preparation for sales presentations and meetings are a part of mental discipline. It is often not boring or a lot of memorization if sales reps are genuine and authentic. Get into a problem-solving mindset rather than sales mode with clients.

Related Reading: How to Use Time Management To Become a More Successful Sales Professional

 

2) They Study the Unique Sales Problems of Their Clients

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Mentally prepared sales professionals consider the information on the client already known, what would be helpful to know in this meeting, and how the product or service offers value.

In this way, mental preparation is a lot like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. In going over current information, the mentally prepared sales professionals may find missing pieces. Reviewing client information provides a framework for details and data for the sales rep.

This is vital to understanding the story and challenges that the customer is facing. By discovering these details in authentic and genuine conversations, the product or service becomes the solution rather than just a part of the puzzle.

WATCH NOW: Four Traits of Successful Sales Professionals

 

3) They Are Experts at Adjusting Their Sales Tactics Based on the Client

It is very common for a sales professional to find a method of selling which works very well with one client. A common mistake is to develop a thought that this sales technique or method is the “perfect” option for all customers.

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Customers are very different. This difference extends even to companies within the same industry. What works as a solution for one company may not be needed or effective in another company. Locking into a mindset of one sales solution for all customers is not only self-limiting, but it is likely to be self-destructive.

 

A better option is to maintain an open mindset about trying new things. This also goes back to not taking rejection personally. In some cases, the deal-breaker may be the approach that was used. Experimenting with different approaches and methods differently will keep the sales professional focused on the buying signals sent by the client.

For example, one customer may want to spend 10 or 15 minutes sharing personal stories and getting to know you as an individual. Another client may want to talk about the problems they are experiencing, and a third client may want to include a team approach to making a purchasing decision. Some customers may want information emailed while others will want to hear your presentation at the meeting. Understanding each customer will impact how you structure and plan your time with the customer.

4) They Communicate in a Relaxed and Genuine Manner

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By being flexible and carefully discerning what approach is best for the client, top salespeople vary their presentations, communication styles, and interactions with the customers. This flexibility comes across as authentic, natural, and not stilted or forced. It also gives you additional ideas for how to be comfortable in trying new approaches with future customers.

 

Not being rigid also allows the successful sales rep to quickly read a customer and adjust their style in the first few minutes of a meeting. Challenging yourself to meet the best style for working with a customer is a great mindset for success and one which will have an immediate positive impact on any meeting.

Do you like what you just read? Visit our resource center and download any or all of our 17 Executive Sales White Papers to help improve your sales skills training and build a successful sales career.

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