Bill Rice Internet Marketing > sales calls

Taking Control (In A Good Way) On A Sales Call Is A Matter Of Listening

February 5, 2011 By
Sales Calls

Taking Control of the Conversation is Just a Matter of Listening.

One of the main sales tips all sales reps are taught is how to take control on a sales call. Statistics show that sales are made in the first three minutes of the sales call. With more and more of the buying public savvy to sales techniques and scripts, getting control is becoming more difficult. There are basically three types of people: the totally uninterested, the waffler and the show me more type. With each type, taking control of the sales call is a matter of listening.

The Totally Uninterested

Getting control means allowing people to show you where to grasp control. In the totally uninterested type, this will involve listening carefully to spot their weaknesses and then putting your foot down until you get a credit card number. In some it could be curiosity, in others it could be one upmanship over a neighbor and in yet others it could be the need for a new possession to round out the collection. This type might be seen as an impossible sale, but the impossible just takes a little longer to accomplish.

The Waffler

With the waffler, the sales rep needs all the sales tips he can get in order to get a decision. Sales call research in tracking down leads will yield this type immediately. Where the sales rep will nail down the waffler is in the old adage of the solution to the problem lies in the problem. The customer can’t make a decision so the sales rep makes it for him. Bold, yes, but it works because this type craves a bit of the strength he sees in you that he lacks.

The Show Me More

The show me more type is perhaps the hardest to which to listen. This type will drain dry the sales rep of information, see all there is to offer and want to compare his wares to others he has seen. He is curious about everything possible and buttonholing this guy is going to take special listening skills. The sales tips needed to bring in this customer will involve selling out the competition and convincing the customer he has only one way to go. Control of this type sales call won’t be gained in the first three minutes but will be a lasting sale.

Taking control of the sales call is a matter of listening to ascertain the customer’s type and fulfilling the customer’s need from a position of strength.

Filed Under: Quick Sales Tips, Social Selling Tagged With: control sales call, sales calling tips, sales calls

Sales in a Tough Economy

September 30, 2008 By

What a great time to be in sales!

I know you probably just wrote of the credibility of the rest of this post, but stick with me for a few more lines.

We always talk about sales being about relationships. However, in the last few years as the tech sector was bubbling up with Web 2.0 and the mortgage and real estate industry was massively inflating with exotic mortgages and runaway housing prices, selling was a commodity.

Any monkey with a phone could hawk servers, SaaS, mortgages, or homes. Credit was plentiful and Alan Greenspan assured us there was no such thing as a bubble only increased worker productivity. That meant that people would buy anything, at any price–making you (sales) irrelevant.

You certainly weren’t building a relationship. There was nothing to talk about.

Flash forward, the economy is tightening and so is credit. Businesses and consumers are looking for solutions. Sales begins to rise from the ashes as problem solvers. The emerging market is again looking to relationships for good counsel and valuable guidance to navigate a tough economy.

So, stop moping about your sales forecast and take advantage of this opportunity. Check in on past clients and prospects. Ask how they are doing–see if you can help.

A sale call has never been easier and you and prospects have never had more to talk about.

Filed Under: Social Selling Tagged With: sales calls, Social Selling, tough economy

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