Peady’s Selling Engagement sponsored by IRD Prospector
Welcome to this week’s post on sales and selling success.
Sales is arguably the oldest existing business practice. Think about it. Back in the day when Og had more deer meat than he could use he’d offer some to his friend Ug in exchange for something else such as animal skins or firewood. And that’s selling “to give or provide something in exchange for money or goods.”
All these years later and we are still selling goods or services, however today the industry is changing due to the impact of the internet and all that goes with it. But even in our highly connected world an integral part of sales is building a personal relationship with a potential customer.
Too many younger sales people would rather send an email to prospects instead of investing time on the phone or in a face to face meeting. Sure, you’ve contacted more people at a faster rate but have they really been “contacted”? Ever heard of a spam filter or delete button? Research shows that 57% of those who receive these emails consider it spam without even opening it; so, the great majority of the people that you send your emails to won’t read them.
Call me old fashioned but the personal touch in selling is still one of your most valuable weapons – a phone call, a face to face meeting will always beat an anonymous email!
The phone
A powerful tool for making contact with current customers or making cold calls to get new customers. At some point, you’ll use the phone to reach the right person, close a sale, follow-up with a customer or to handle a customer inquiry. The phone is money, but while its integral to your success, so many sales people that I get to work with are terrible at using it – in some cases scared to use it.
Lesson one: Improve your phone skills, practice and develop scripts to build your confidence.
Face to face
Most selling organisations depend on face to face meetings to win new customers, close new business and develop their high-performing talent. Fact: You are twice as likely to convert prospects into customers with a F2F meeting. The likelihood of getting a “yes” is considerably higher, because it is so much easier to say “no” in an email.
Additionally, the F2F meeting brings into play the power of body language. Without the ability to read other’s body language (a critical form of communication) we miss crucial elements that can positively or negatively impact the outcome.
Lesson two: Create F2F meeting opportunities and then practice or learn questioning, presentation and body language techniques.
Don’t misunderstand me email, texts, video conferencing are all important to the communication “mix” but you can’t beat the personal touch of the phone or face to face.
Have a great selling week!
About the author
Stephen Pead is a media industry veteran of 30 years with significant experience in direct sales, sales management and general management. He is based in Sydney and specialises in helping SME’s market their businesses more effectively and providing training for salespeople and sales managers.
He can be contacted at [email protected]
