Failure to ask the right questions is one of the biggest causes of lost sales. When lack of preparation results in wasting the prospect’s time – and your own – it can be vexing for both parties.

It is only by asking questions that you can be sure you’re pitching the right product or service to the prospect. While some salespeople believe they can read minds during the sales process, assuming anything about the buyer can lead to a world of trouble i.e. failing to close the deal.

Here are the six most important questions to ask during the sales process:

What’s your name?

Surprisingly, many experienced salespeople often skip this step. Not taking the time to get acquainted with your prospects is not only embarrassing but shows you have little genuine interest in them. Making the sales process personable should be your focus, not making a sale. Go the extra mile by asking how their day is going.

What Is your budget?

While asking your prospects what their budget looks like isn’t recommended during the early stages of your pitch, it is something you should get to sooner rather than later. By waiting too long to ask this question, you could waste a significant amount of time pitching products or services that are out of their price range. Handled correctly, you will find most prospects are honest about their budgets and will appreciate not having their time wasted listening to pitches about products or services they can’t afford.

If you must have one feature, what is it?

In this modern age, we often try to source products that can take care of more than one thing at a time. We bundle our cable and internet services and buy phones that are becoming increasingly like computers daily. As a salesperson, you may overwhelm yourself if you ask for everything the prospect is looking for in a product. The list will go on and on, leading you to forget things and panic. Asking them to name one “must have” feature will give you a solid understanding of what they are looking for. Other bells and whistles can be covered later as the conversation deepens. First, you must make sure you can handle the customer’s biggest need.

What other products are you using right now?

Asking this question will help you recommend a product that won’t disappoint your prospect or customers. By doing this, you can also find out more about your competitors, thus giving you the ability to show prospects why your products are a better choice.

Have you done business with us before?

Returning customers deserve the same level of attention you put into gaining new ones. They have taken the time out of their day to give you another shot, you mustn’t assume they know everything there is to know about your current offering. Ask why they’re coming back as this is a golden opportunity to find out what your competitive advantage is over your rivals. Be enthusiastic and appreciative as you welcome them back with your updated pitch. Never forget to go over new products and services with returning customers.

How should I get back in touch with you?

You may find yourself needing to reach back out to a prospect for many reasons. Perhaps, when you first pitched the product, they were not ready to commit. Or, perhaps they needed to get their finances in order. to it or needed time to secure the funding to pay for it. Once you have their preferred contact, create a follow-up schedule, and stick to it. You never know when a little patience and determination will pay off!

Top 10 Movies Salespeople Can Learn From

Without putting too fine a point on it, sales is pretty much a part of almost everything we do every day. Bottom line: If you had to buy it, someone had to sell it!

That being the case, it follows that sales or sales-related themes show up in the movies we watch from time to time whether we are aware of it or not.

Often, the people making the movies don’t get it 100% right because they’re movie makers not sales professionals. However, sometimes they do get it very right, even to the extent that salespeople can learn a trick or two from watching the film.

Here are the Top 10 movies that have gotten it right and provided ways sales professionals can improve their performance:

1. Jerry Maguire (1996)

Award-winning actor Tom Cruise plays Jerry Maguire, a successful sports agent who suddenly questions his purpose in life. After being dismissed from his job for expressing altruistic views about the direction the industry should take, Jerry is forced to try and start his own agency. Getting this new venture off the ground hinges on Jerry’s ability to convince his star client Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) to stay with him. His campaign to keep Tidwell culminates in the famous “Show me the money!” scene which shows the lengths Maguire is willing to go to for his client. Ultimately, the movie shows the importance of going above and beyond to keep customers happy as well as the critical nature of landing that first big fish.

2. The Founder (2016)

In this film, actor Michael Keaton stars as Ray Kroc, a milkshake machine salesman who transformed an average fast-food eatery owned by two brothers into the most iconic fast-food restaurant in history … McDonald’s. There is some controversy surrounding Kroc’s character in the movie, but when looking at it from a sales perspective, it’s plain to see he had a vision and was willing to go to great lengths to see it become a reality.

3. Seize the Day (1986)

In this classic 80’s film, Robin Williams plays Tommy Wilhelm, a character in turmoil who is burdened by the loss of his job, financial instability, the separation of his wife, and his relationship with his father, among other things. Seize the Day shows the real-life struggles some salespeople face behind the scenes and how stress can adversely affect a salesperson’s performance.

4. Trading Places (1983)

Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd play two strangers who unwittingly become the subjects of a bet between two hard-hearted millionaire brothers. After having their lives turned upside-down by the brother’s social experiment, Murphy and Akroyd decide to get back at the film’s antagonists by running them out of business. While Trading Places is one of the few movies to provide an example of what short selling is, the film also highlights plenty of other selling skills used by the heroes as they plan and implement their revenge.

5. Door to Door (2002)

William H. Macy portrays real-life salesman Bill Porter, a door-to-door salesman with cerebral palsy. This inspirational is a story of perseverance through adversity, as Porter faces the many challenges of being a salesperson, but with additional factors that hinder his performance. It presents a motivational message on what it takes to succeed as a salesperson while shedding light on people with disabilities.

6. 12 Angry Men (1957)

This movie features Henry Fonda starring as Mr. Davis or Juror Number 8. A teenage boy is accused of killing his father, but little in the way of context is provided in the courtroom. Instead of following the rest of the jury in quickly returning a guilty verdict, Davis requests more evidence be provided for consideration. Originally a play, this movie teaches important lessons about the power of persuasion as well as knowing more about your client before pitching to them.

7. The Social Network (2010)

Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield star in this movie about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s college years. While the film highlights the importance of protecting your idea from unscrupulous people who would steal it, it also teaches us what can be done with that idea if you have the right vision and drive. In a lesson for salespeople everywhere, Zuckerberg’s willingness to push beyond his own limits ultimately resulted in the creation of one of the profitable companies in history.

8. Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

This movie tells the true story of a stockbroker named Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Belfort was a successful broker who nevertheless ends up being laid off from the first investment banking firm he ever worked for. While he ultimately becomes wildly successful with his own firm, this movie expresses the dangers of becoming too focused on profits and making poor life decisions as a salesperson.

9. Boiler Room (2000)

The film stars Giovanni Ribisi as Seth Davis, a college dropout who feels pressure to please his father. He lands himself a job as a trainee stockbroker and quickly becomes accustomed to the high income and glamorous lifestyle. However, when Davis realizes something shady is going on behind the scenes, he must choose between keeping his mouth shut to protect his way of life or be honest to protect those who are being taken advantage of. This movie teaches us that honesty should be prioritized over personal gain.

10. Tommy Boy (1995)

Saving the best to last, Tommy Boy is undoubtedly the greatest sales movie ever made! Starring Chris Farley and David Spade at their comedic peak, this film should be compulsory viewing for every rookie sales professional looking to make a splash in the industry. No more analysis necessary. Just go watch it!

What does a football coach and a Sales Operating System have in common? A lot more than you might think!

A football coach spends their time managing players to ensure they are performing at their highest potential. Coaches schedule practices to improve the expertise of the players and run team meetings to promote communication. They carefully plot and organize game plans that will hopefully get their team to a bowl game or even the Superbowl.

A Sales Operating System acts as a coach for your business. It collects, measures, and manages sales activities to help yield far greater results than ever before. They monitor sales to produce reliable profits based on observation and predictability.

Without a Sales Operating System, it can be challenging to attain consistent growth. Your company needs a SOS because:

• Poor decision making for your business could result in obsolete sales techniques
• Inadequate communication between sales members and executive leadership could hinder internal relationships
• Less time spent finding new ways to develop your business could lead to stagnation

Creating a Sales Operating System

With a functional SOS, you can expect to be up to date with fluctuations in demand and better equipped to guide your sales team when communicating amongst themselves and with clients. A SOS will also help you collect important data that will assist with managing your sales team more productively.

To create the perfect SOS, it is important to assess the effectiveness of the different approaches you have when addressing the development of your salespeople’s skills. Your sales team members are the driving force behind your business and your SOS should promote accountability and focus between you and your team.

A common approach when developing a SOS is the APDIR model. Here’s a breakdown of how that model works:

Assess: Begin by observing your sales team members and their current sales process model. By assessing the effectiveness of this model relative to the members of your team, you should start getting a pretty good idea of how your business is currently operating.

Plan: Here is where you develop a gameplan. Gather information from existing key stakeholders through surveys, polls, etc. As you have already assessed your sales team, you can use this new data to see what needs to be provided to each team member to improve their approach to sales.

Design: What is the purpose of your SOS? Do you want to drive more sales for a specific product? Do you want to reach a different demographic? Have you lost business that you want to get back? Maybe you are doing this for the sole benefit of your sales team so that they can improve. Whatever the case may be, it will be easier to tweak and implement your SOS if the goals are clearly defined.

Implement: Resist the urge to heavily commit to your new SOS before testing it. It can be exciting when you believe you have the perfect plan but devastating if your game plan isn’t quite as complete as you thought it was. Test your SOS in a pilot program and closely monitor the results. If your new and improved SOS is showing signs of improvement, implement the changes as soon as possible. If not, revisit the first two steps and take another run at designing the perfect SOS.

Run: Congratulations! Your salespeople are thriving and so is your business. As a last step, be sure to regularly assess the performance of your SOS to be sure it is keeping up with changes in the market as well as to your team.

Finally, never forget that if it can’t be measured, it can’t be managed. This management principle is truer today than it ever has been before and yet many businesses struggle because they make poor judgment calls due to lack of organization and poor management.

A well-designed Sales Operating System prevents this and will undoubtedly yield the results your business needs to grow.

Can you recall a time a client had an unexpected change of heart? It stings. It burns. And even though we shouldn’t take it personally, we can’t help but wonder what exactly went through that customer’s mind to trigger their loss of interest.

Of course, any number of factors could have contributed to their decision but more often than not, you should be looking in the mirror to discover what could have been done to prevent it. Here are five big mistakes salespeople make:

Talking over the client’s needs

Imagine visiting the emergency room for chest pain and the nurse keeps interrupting you to rave about how short the wait times are. Wouldn’t you feel as though your needs were being ignored? When a salesperson has a great sales pitch, they sometimes get stuck on wanting to follow it word for word; however, this can sometimes come across as overbearing to the customer.

A lengthy conversation about your company’s mission statement may also make the customer regret ever asking you about it. Rather than focusing on yourself, let the customer tell you more about themselves so you can tailor your sales pitch accordingly.

Additionally, providing too much information about your product can overwhelm the customer. It is important to keep your presentation short and to the point, so your prospect can ask questions.

Not consulting the client enough

A crucial part of the sales process is engaging with prospects. Having faith in your product is great but trusting in it alone will not guarantee you a sale every time. When your client is in the process of making a decision, they may need to get a second opinion, or they may need to ask you a few more basic questions. In situations like these, you must do your best to accommodate the customer. Leaving them on their own for too long will give them plenty of time to convince themselves they don’t need your product or service. Sales professionals must understand the importance of communication being a two-way street.

Faking your persona

Overly energetic and enthusiastic behavior is both ingenuine and to be honest, creepy. Though your intentions might be friendly, your client might prefer not to feel like you’re trying to get them into bed on the first date.

Remember that nearly everything today is handled digitally in some way, including sales. The customer has reached out to you for insight that isn’t scripted to help them make their purchase. The thought of having to interact with a beguiling, obsequious individual who is incapable of holding a meaningful conversation can be extremely off-putting. When approaching customers, be enthusiastic but try to take it easy on the coffee and don’t overdo it.

Unconfident answers to questions

If a prospect is not sure whether an item is right for them, the chances of them purchasing that item are significantly lower. A salesperson with gaps in their knowledgebase concerning their product is hardly confidence inspiring. If you hesitate with important questions or worse, if you make up information, you will dissatisfy your customers and harm your company’s reputation. Be sure to consistently study your own product or service so you are familiar with its features to better assist customers in the decision-making process.

You prioritize price over value

Always establish the value of your product before mentioning the price. Your customer will have more to consider once you show how much your product can improve their lives. Don’t stall when a prospect is straightforward and demands a price and keep their best interest in mind when you deliver your response. Mention how buying your item will benefit them or go over other options if they don’t seem receptive to the pricing.

Didn’t make the sale? Relax. The customer may not have been ready to make a decision. Being on the market can be intimidating, especially if you receive poor sales pitches. By avoiding these simple things, you can act as a breath of fresh air for your next client.

Let’s face it. The world of sales is evolving at an unprecedented rate.

Advances in technology have people around the world more connected than ever and the interdependent relationship between sales and marketing continues to adapt and advance.

With computers literally in the palms of our hands, gathering information is easier than ever before meaning sales reps should understand that most buyers know a lot about their product or service before that first call ever happens. As a result, educating the buyer about the product before the sale has transformed into educating the buyer on why they should consider your product over your competitors.

As you read this article, think about what do you think it takes to be a successful sales representative in an ever-changing marketplace? While excellent people skills and a million-dollar smile certainly help, a salesperson should consider the following:

The sales rep of the future should be open-minded

You can’t expect to grow as a sales professional if you can’t accept change. Having a desire to learn while adjusting to the changes around you, will take you a long way when it comes to sales. You may have made many sales in the past, but if you approach every opportunity with a cocky, narrow-minded attitude, you will struggle as a sales rep as this field continues to change.

The benefit of the consumer comes first

Buyers don’t want to be sold something; they need someone to help them make a decision that will benefit them. It can be easy to become focused on the sale, but a sales rep of the future avoids this because they are compassionate and understand the hassle of choosing from an overwhelming number of options. Yes, the consumer will probably know about your product and the basics of what it has to offer, but you as a sale rep will have the expertise to educate them even more about the product and why they need it.

Always remain professional

An unsuccessful sales rep will let their emotions play into their performance. It can be challenging to not take rejection personally, but never forget that a buyer is saying no to the product, not you.

The sales rep of the future knows that they are promoting the company they work for 24/7. Therefore, professionalism is extremely important on social media. You may think a post with little attention doesn’t matter, but once it has been posted, your name is tied to it forever. With that in mind, always consider your actions and words both on the internet and among your peers.

Know your product inside and out

Many sales reps don’t take the time to truly delve into all the pros and cons the product they have to offer. A sales rep of the future understands that this puts them at a disadvantage. Buyers are also exposed to positive and negative reviews of the product thanks to infinite resources on the Internet. Anticipating the concerns of the buyer and having a counter that addresses any worries can be accomplished by researching how your product performs in those circumstances. Stand by your product and if applicable, share personal experiences that will show the buyer that you are not just selling the product for your benefit.

Motivation is key

Lastly, the sales professional of the future is constantly looking for ways to improve. There is no room for complacency in this line of work. They have initiative, are self-starters and require little to no supervision because they are in a mindset that encourages continual success.