Permission selling is rarely practiced. This is unfortunate. You practice permission selling when you seek the prospect’s agreement before taking any action that involves them. Permission selling or permission based selling, involves the use of statements like, “Is it okay if I…?” or, “Do you mind if we….?” You catch the drift. Here are 3
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‘What this means is that…’ Such a simple phrase, so rarely used, so costly to selling. Here’s what I mean. Technical language necessitates lay explanation Technical language can be found in every industry. This could be industry or institution specific. And what it means at industry level could be different, institution. For instance, Q1 to
When you don’t sell, you close through delivering service excellence. This is what selling through service is. The more if your service or product is sold as a reaction to a query. Not because of any fault of yours but because the nature of your product deems it so. Think selling moving services, coffins, mortuary
Insist on face-to-face sales meeting. At the meeting, dialogue, listen, take notes. Get to the nub of the issue. Then consensually agree on way forward. After all, even in a pandemic, we are still social creatures. This piece of advice should be Holy Grail for two sellers. The business to business (B2B) one for whom
If they don’t buy you, they won’t buy what you are selling. You are as much a product as the one you are selling. So sell yourself first. One day, I asked my plumber to refer me to an electrician and he did. Only problem is the fellow arrived smelling body odour. And when he
Ask. Just ask for the sale. Ask for the meeting. Ask for the cheque. Even ask for the referral. Ask. Just ask. And be specific when asking. It is tragic that many sales fail simply because the sales person did not ask. He did not ask the right questions, or worse, did not ask for
Differentiating yourself on price is a race for the bottom. Who hits bottom first, wins. And be dammed the cost. All else lose. Differentiating yourself by ethically selling doubt is more productive. But how to sell doubt, you wonder? Well, read on. First off, doubt triggers pause. Doubt triggers introspection. Doubt triggers attention. And all
Convert internal training to customer understanding to thrive in selling. Why? Because, unfortunately, internal professional sales trainings programs, are company, not customer, focused. They focus inward, not outward. They focus on the science of the product, not art of selling it. Companies engage in sales training to empower their front line. If only companies knew
What is an example of commoditizing a product? This is: “Our debit card will allow you to pay for services at no extra cost. All you do is swipe. Our bank account has no ledger fees. You will also access your account online or an app.” The prospect yawns: “What’s new?” he wonders. Indeed, what’s
Contrary to popular belief, money does not motivate salespeople; not all, not unendingly. In other words, increased monetary rewards (typically from increased targets) are not guaranteed to incentivize all salespeople. Even human resource personnel admit that money in itself is not a motivator. “How?” you wonder. “But money (present or absent) is a central theme