Sales Conversation

Tessa Stowe

7 Reasons Why You Must Zealously Qualify Prospects

Have you ever worked really hard on a sale - put in a lot of time, money and resources - and they decided to do nothing or they bought from your competitor? When you looked back you could see that if you'd asked a few more questions you could have found out at the beginning that there was a very low probability that you were going to win this sale.

There is a way of finding out at the beginning of a sales campaign what the probability is of winning the sale. You find out by having a sales qualification process in place and by zealously putting each and every prospect and opportunity through this sales qualification process.

Here are seven reasons why you must be zealous about putting your prospects through a qualification process before you sell to them:

1. Qualifying ensures that you only sell to people who are going to buy.
By qualifying you can determine if your prospect is going to buy and, more importantly, if they are going to buy now. By qualifying, you avoid wasting time, money and resources on selling to prospects that do nothing.

2. Qualifying tells you where to focus.
On which prospects do you spend your valuable time? Qualifying gives you that answer. By qualifying, you identify high probability opportunities and these are the ones you need to focus on.

3. Qualifying enables you to win more sales.
As a result of qualifying, you only sell to prospects that are going to buy and you only focus on high probability opportunities. Just by having this focus on high probability opportunities, you increase your probability of success, if that makes sense.

4. Qualifying speeds up your sales and results in a shorter sales cycle.
As a result of qualifying, you will find out the reason why your prospect should act now. You find out their 'compelling event.' When you find out your prospect's compelling event, they will be motivated to take action now. They will be motivated to buy your solution now rather than later and your sales cycle will be reduced as a consequence.

5. Qualifying reduces your wasted costs.
If you routinely sell to people who are not going to buy or have a low probability of buying from you, then you are wasting a lot of time money and resources. By qualifying you stop these wasted costs.

6. Qualifying enables you to choose whom you want to become your client.
Do you have a client that you wish was not your client? They require so much time and energy that they really are not worth having. Also more importantly they distract you from serving your ideal clients and from winning new business. With qualifying you will identify these non-ideal clients straight way.

7. Qualifying attracts prospects.
If you share your qualification process with your prospects, they will see that you are a professional and selective about whom you have as your client. When you become selective about who you work with, people want to be 'selected.' It's human nature. Your prospects will be trying to sell you on why you should sell to them! Even if you both agree that you are not a good fit for them right now, this process will leave them feeling impressed by you and they'll probably refer others to you.

Right now make it an unbreakable rule that you will zealously qualify prospects and you will only ever sell to qualified prospects that will be ideal customers. So find, learn and implement a sales qualification process straight away and watch the impact on your sales results.

(c) 2008 Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation.  WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE? Yes, you can, provided you make all links live and include this copyright and by-line below.

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople 10 simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Sign-up for her FREE monthly newsletter that is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself at http://www.salesconversation.com.

4 Secrets To Selling Value Versus Price

Do you find that your prospects are focused on the price of your products and services and often pressure you to give them discounts?

You've told your prospects in so much detail about all the great value they will receive but they just don't seem to get it. You know that if only they could see the value in your products and services then price would not be such an issue.

Here are four secrets, if learned and applied, will guarantee that your prospects will see the value in your products and services so that price is no longer the issue. These four secrets are commonsense and obvious once you know them but in selling what is commonsense and obvious is rarely applied.

Secret #1: Forget about selling and trying to get your prospect to buy your products and services.
The common trap, that you don't want to fall into, is to start selling your products and services from the very first conversation with your prospect. Instead, you want to forget about selling and trying to get your prospect to buy your products and services. Just have a conversation and ask the right questions so you can understand their problem and determine, if in fact, you can help them. I call this initial phase the 'Discover Phase' and it is where you should be spending the majority of your time in the sales process.

Secret #2: Have your prospect tell you the value (instead of you tell them).
If you tell your prospect about the value you offer, they may or may not see this as relevant, of interest or of value. However if you ask the right questions so your prospect tells you the value of solving their problem, they will then see this value as relevant, of interest and of value. The big difference is that they have told you (and themselves) the value as opposed to you telling them.

Secret Number #3: Have valuable conversations.
The conversations you want to have with your prospect should include so much value that they actually thank you for speaking with them and, in fact, look forward to having more conversations with you. How do you have such conversations? It's easy really. You see probably no one has asked your prospect powerful questions which help them get clarity around their problem and what it is costing them. This sort of clarity and information is of great value to your prospect. They will see that you have a valuable skill and they will want to have future conversations with you to continue gaining clarity in other areas. They will see having conversations and having a relationship with you as valuable.

Secret #4: Add your value to their value.
Once your prospect has told you the value they will receive from solving their problem, they will be receptive to listening to how you can add even more value. Not only will they be receptive to listening to how you can add more value but they will also be appreciative of the additional value you can add. This is because, at this stage, they will have effectively sold themselves on taking action to solve the problem and the more value they can see that they will receive; the easier it is for them to justify buying your products and services.

In summary, as a consequence of not selling while you ask the right questions, your prospect will see both the value in solving their problem plus they will see the value in having a relationship with you. You are then in a position to help them justify a buying decision by adding more value to what they have told themselves. This all leads to a decision based on value and not on price.

(c) 2008 Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation.  WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE? Yes, you can, provided you make all links live and include this copyright and by-line below.

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople 10 simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Sign-up for her FREE monthly newsletter that is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself at http://www.salesconversation.com

Make More Sales By Avoiding The Product Trap

The majority of salespeople fall into the product trap when selling their products and services. Are you falling into this product trap too?

You will know if you are falling into the product trap if:

* When you are having a sales conversation, you are passionate about your products and services.

* Your sales conversations are focused around telling people about your products and services. You think that the more they know about your products and services, the more they will see how great they are and want to buy them.

* Your marketing materials and website are all about your products and services.

* You define yourself and what you do by your products and services.

If you are selling for a company, it is highly likely that the company has fallen into the product trap too. Take a fresh look at all their marketing materials to see if the focus is on their products and services. Another sign is that they focus on giving you product training so you know all about the features and benefits of all their products.

So what is wrong with the product trap you may ask? Well if you, or the company you work for, have fallen into the product trap, there will be a direct negative impact on your sales results. Also, selling will be a lot harder than it needs to be. This is because, if you have fallen into the product trap, you will consequently be selling the wrong thing. You will be selling your products and services and your products and services are not what people buy.

People do not buy your products and services. They buy an outcome that they want and your products and services simply play a part in delivering that outcome. You don't buy a drill because you want a drill. You buy a drill because you want the outcome, the hole, which the drill delivers. Similarly people want to buy an outcome from you. Hence to make it easy for them to buy an outcome from you, the first thing you can do is to stop falling into the product trap.

So if you are falling into the product trap (and you are definitely with the majority if you are) here are some tips for getting out of it:

* Get passionate about the outcomes and end results you achieve for your clients. To do this, brainstorm the outcomes and end results your products and services produce. Also ask your clients about the outcomes and results your products and services have produced and the difference they have made. Spend the time to get really connected to these outcomes as the more you get connected, the more passionate you will become.

* Find and learn a simple sales process that is focused on selling an outcome versus products and services. If you have such a sales process you will automatically avoid falling into the product trap.

* Change your marketing materials and website so that they are focused on the outcomes you produce versus your products and services.

* Define yourself and what you do by the outcomes you produce.

If you are selling for a company that has fallen into the product trap, ask for outcome focused marketing materials. In the meantime avoid giving your prospects any product focused marketing materials. Also, when your company is giving you product feature training ask what outcomes and end results these features produce.

In summary, first recognize if you are in this product trap and then if you are, commit today to taking immediate action using the tips above to get out of it. My promise to you is that you will see an immediate impact on your sales results and you will close more sales. It really is that simple.

(c) 2008, Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation.   WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE? Yes, you can, provided you include the copyright statement and the byline below.  All links must be made live.

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services and products by just being yourself. Sign up now at http://www.salesconversation.com

• Previous Posts:

• 7 Reasons Why You Must Zealously Qualify Prospects
• 4 Secrets To Selling Value Versus Price
• Make More Sales By Avoiding The Product Trap
• A Simple Sales Strategy: Ask Questions!
• A Simple Sales Strategy: Define What Selling Is!
• A Simple Sales Strategy: Talk to Yourself!
• 10 Essential Criteria For Choosing Your Target Market

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