Being able to quickly develop trust is essential for sales prospecting success and account growth. To learn more, check out my interview with Charlie Green, co-author of the hot new Trusted Advisor Fieldbook and developer of the TQ (Trust Quotient) Assessment.
In today's marketplace, your prospects have so many options -- and they know it. When you tell them, "We're special" -- they don't believe you. If you say, "We have a passion for excellence" -- they don't care one little bit. Tons of companies have the same passion for excellence.
TERRY ASKS: I help people with new product launches. When I meet with prospects, I do a decent job of building rapport and quantifying their pain. But I run into trouble when I try to nail them down for the next step.
For example, I'll say, "I'll call you at 9am on Tuesday to collect input for the ROI process." Instead of agreeing, they'll say "I don't know my calendar" or "Can you please call me next week."
Should I be empathetic to their situation and just call next week as they ask? Or should I push for a firm time commitment/due date for any follow-up action no matter how harassed they are so I can keep in control of the sales process?
JILL ANSWERS: Dealing with crazy-busy prospects is a real challenge. So let's assume you really did do a great job in the call.
Sometimes a change in perspective changes everything. Take this morning for example. Before the day even started, I felt overwhelmed with a never-ending To Do list. But rather than dig right into it, I putzed. I played games. I called a friend. I checked email. I read the news online. I complained to myself. I rechecked email.
Then it dawned on me ... wrong approach.
If you are tired of your prospects dragging their feet on making decisions, you need to simplify things for them. This is critical because your prospects are so crazy busy. They don't have time to process tons of information or handle all sorts of new ideas. Complexity of any sort overwhelms them, driving potential decisions to a screeching halt.
Would you like to get a free copy of the international bestseller, How to REALLY Use LinkedIn? Right now authors Jan Vermeiren and Bert Verdonck are giving away 1 million copies. You can download it at http://www.how-to-really-use-linkedin.com.
They're also using this as an opportunity to raise $1 million in charity. You can find out all about this initiative on their website. I hope you enjoy this article from them too.
Every once in a while we are reminded that our perception of the world is not necessarily accurate. That's exactly how I felt when I read Lynn's letter.
A few months ago, she'd been quite snippy at a party we were at. After I innocently said, "Life is good," she really laid into me. After that, I kept my distance for the rest of the evening.
If you're finding it harder and harder to set up meetings with with potential buyers, you're not alone. Sales prospecting isn't easy these days.
But the real problem is that most sellers don't understand how their prospects are evaluating their attempts to get in. This lack of understanding is the root cause of most prospecting failure.
That's why I wrote The Buyer's Lament -- a sales poem that highlights what your prospects really want from you. Enjoy!
Today I continue my interview with Brent Adamson and Matthew Dixon, author of the groundbreaking new book, The Challenger Sale. Their research has major implications on sales success in today's business environment. [Note: Miss Part 1? Click here to read it.]
JILL: Can you define the Challenger style in more depth. What kinds of things will Challengers do that others won't?MATT: Sure thing. According to the data, there are three things Challengers do differently.
They teach the customer during the sales interaction. They share new ideas for making money or saving money that customers themselves hadn't even realized existed. This is a very different type of sales conversation than what most reps deliver.
It takes a lot to get me excited about a sales book these days. But that's exactly how I felt after reading The Challenger Sale, a new book filled with groundbreaking research with major implications for all business-to-business (B2B) sellers.
The authors, Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson of Corporate Executive Board, surveyed over 6000 B2B salespeople to determine what it took to be successful in today's business environment. I decided to interview the authors so you could learn more about what they discovered.