Commodity Sales Prospecting - How to Stand Out From Your Competitors
March 10, 2010
I have received a number of requests for advice from salespeople and sales managers that sell “commodity” products and services. When I refer to commodities, I don’t just mean pork bellies or frozen concentrated orange juice. A commodity is any product or service where the target prospect is likely to be thinking:
“I get contacted by (X) salespeople a day that sell (whatever they perceive your product or service to be). Why should I spend any of my time with you?”
How can salespeople prospect successfully if their target prospects see them as just one of many possible (and nearly identical) sources for a product or service?
The key challenge when prospecting in a crowded field is finding some way to capture enough of a prospect’s attention to convince them to meet with you. This all-important first meeting is the starting point for building a relationship, which in turn is a crucial element of success in “commodity” sales. Here are four strategies that will help you win more of these elusive first meetings:
1. Write and distribute Special Reports.
8 Procedures to Take Control of Sales and Marketing
January 9, 2010
The Cash to Cash Cycle Part Three of Series
We’re sprinting toward that million dollar mark…and we’re only a couple strides away?
Decreasing inventory carried us over the first hurdle, and last week reducing Accounts Receivable sped us through the half-way mark. We’re making great time, so let’s bring on the next mile marker ? marketing and sales.
Increasing Overall Sales and Marketing Effectiveness
If you are an organization spending $500,000 or more on marketing expenses (e.g. advertising, trade shows, print materials, direct mail, etc.) then STOP! We found it again. Why you ask?? Because marketing has the greatest potential of being very unproductive. In fact, many marketing programs struggle to break even, and actually frequently lose money. So if we increase the overall effectiveness, then we can eliminate 50% or more of your wasted marketing efforts, which translates into $250,000 in cash.
So now, let’s see how this actually works in a real-life scenario.
Sales and Marketing Company Policy Case Study
The Art of Sales (And Tips On How To Manage Your Sales Team)
November 12, 2009
Selling. Cold calls, introductions, interviews, appointments, proposals, referrals, call cycles, building rapport, listening, asking for the order, overcoming objections, closing the sale, and rejection. There’s a lot to know about the business of selling. No wonder many people are a bit overwhelmed when they are asked to do it.
And it’s not a job for the faint-hearted. Selling is a communication-rich activity, with lots of verbal and non-verbal clues to simultaneously recognise, understand and respond to. It’s a tough job looking after the interests of the customer and the company at the same time. Especially when you have to do this many times a day, every day.
The sales process does not usually proceed in a linear, one-way direction. The participants will often meander along paths filled with associated ideas, go back to items already discussed, find answers for problems (overcome objections) and explore the features and benefits offered. An effective selling style will display a relevant and appropriate personal manner combined with a strong focus on the required outcome.
On many occasions handling a sale is much like steering a boat across a strong current. There is a need to constantly assess the amount of ‘drift’, making minor adjustments to stay on course for the destination.
How To Use A Powerful Leadership Tool To Step Up Sales Results
September 15, 2009
Good sales people can close, but few “step up” for even more sales from that close. Yet stepping up should be one of the easiest accomplishments in sales - that is if you know how to build the staircase.
Do it by applying a leadership tool I have taught thousands of leaders worldwide during the past 20 years. The tool is simply to foster a particular viewpoint, which is this: Challenge people not simply to do a task but to take leadership of that task.
The difference in results-producing effectiveness between doing a task and taking leadership of a task is the difference between the lightning bug and lightning.
This change in viewpoint may seem simple even simplistic; but when put into action many times daily, it can work wonders.
For instance, I worked with a manufacturing leader whose workers were constantly falling short of productivity goals. I told him he was leading the workers in the wrong way; he was ordering them to get productivity advancements. I told him that he should have the workers sign on as leaders of productivity advancements. When the workers began seeing themselves as such leaders, they started hitting the goals consistently.
3 Steps To Getting A Sales Meeting
July 18, 2009
The best way to get a new customer is to clearly identify who you want to do business with and then get in front of them. They can then see what you look like, possibly see what your product looks like and also examine any data or statistics you might have. It gives you the ideal opportunity to start building a positive working relationship with your potential customer.
Advertising, direct mail, web sites and telesales all have their place but nothing beats the face to face interview. The first challenge is, of course, getting to speak to your prospect and arrange a meeting.
When you phone your prospect’s organisation it’s highly possible you won’t get through initially even if you have their direct number. There’s always an assistant, a colleague or voice mail to deal with.
# 1 Deal with the other person
1. Always be pleasant and polite. Use the person’s name as soon as you know it but not over familiar.
2. Use your prospects name and your name; say - “Will you please tell John Smith that Alan Fairweather is on the phone for him.”
10 Things to Help Your Business When Sales Are Slow During the Holidays
May 22, 2009
Twiddling your thumbs and waiting for some business to come in? Why not use this downtime to set yourself up for greater success in the new year? Here are my 10 picks, but you don’t have to do them all. Even doing just one will get you another rung higher on your business ladder.
1. Evaluate your virtual team and make changes if necessary.
Are administrative tasks taking up most of your time and keeping you from working ON your business? Then hire a virtual assistant. (See my article on this topic at www.EzineQueen.com/everything.htm.) Are you paying too much in taxes? Meet with your accountant to talk about getting more aggressive with write-offs, or make appointments to interview new accountants. Same goes for your lawyer — do you love him/her? If not, take this time to ask around for referrals.
2. Learn how to get more business via your Web site.
Would you like to be getting business leads and sales 24-7? Then look at how your Web site could be working better for you. For help in writing copy that sells, sign up for Red Hot Copywriter Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero’s e-zine at www.Red-Hot-Copy.com. To get more targeted Web visitors, sign up for Marc Harty’s free e-course at www.StrategicTraffic.com. It gave me tons of new ideas!
Sales Plan? Whats a Sales Plan?
March 20, 2009
In the past, if you said the word "plan" to me, I would bolt and run. I’m the "creative type," a former ballet dancer and choreographer-I’m terrible with details. When I was dancing professionally, all the details were taken care of; all I had to do was show up and dance. Even when I was choreographing, as long as I met my deadline for when the dance needed to be complete, I could go with the moment, go with the impulse and see where the dance led.
A hearty dose of reality hit when I began to run a dance company. All of a sudden, I had people-employees, volunteers and dancers-waiting. I had to know where we were going and how we were going to get there. It was a different world. Every decision had impact down the line. If we were going to have a spring season, I needed to know what we would be performing and where we’d be performing it. How many dancers would I need? What about costumes? Were we going to commission music? What would it cost? How would we pay for it all?
Discounting Your Way Into Sales Oblivion
January 23, 2009
I don’t even like saying the word d———g. I have literally obliterated it from my dictionary with a black marking pen. I’ll bite my tongue until it bleeds, before I say the word.
Earlier this week Bernadette, my wife, and I went shopping . . . something I love to do. Just kidding! We were looking for a 3-piece plant stand for our deck. We found one in a catalog and went to the store to check it out.
Bernadette always asks the sales person if he can do better on his price. You’d be surprised how much you can save just by asking.
Sidebar! The word ASK is the most powerful word in a sales person’s vocabulary.
Back to what happened. We debated over two different pieces and made a decision. The piece we didn’t select had a 30% discount tag on it.
According to the sales person the 3-piece set we decided on was not on sale. Our sad faces didn’t seem to move him. He said he could get into trouble for giving us a discount.
Another sidebar. The GNP of the United States would increase by a staggering amount (Probably hundreds of billions) if all salespeople got into trouble with their organizations for giving discounts.
Sales Tactics to Beat Your Competition
November 25, 2008
This month I want to share a success from a friend and customer of mine. You’ll find in this story two important sales tactics for beating your competition.
From Chris Chalmers of Quova Inc:
“We sell a commodity product (geographic data) that is available from a variety of competitors and public sources. Recently, we lost a major account to a competitor, and based on our long-standing relationship with them, they consented to debrief us on what went wrong. Obviously we had an account management issue, and there had been a service problem or two. But the clincher was our competitor was perceived as “more helpful” and “more expert” because they were offering all sorts of unsolicited suggestions about how to use the product.
“That was a real surprise - Shouldn’t the customer already know what they were going to do with the product? Otherwise they wouldn’t have bought it, right? How much advice can you give when your product is a simple commodity?
“So we tried our competitor’s approach in our next sales cycle. When the customer was talking about their perceived needs and uses of the product, we used to sit mildly and take notes. This time, we launched into a barrage of questions about the intended use our product, interspersed with short stories about how other customers were using it.
Speed-up Your Sales Cycle
September 26, 2008
This week’s article is my response to a question by David Cohen of Bridge-Soft.
“Quite a few prospects have told me that business is stagnant at the moment, but they are hopeful towards the 4th quarter. How do you approach the sales cycle where the cost of the product is relatively high and the sales cycle is lengthy, sometimes six months or more, in good times. I have little trouble generating interest in our products during my cold calls, but the relationship of a slow economy, long sales cycle, in combination with the cost of the software puts a few road blocks up. Any ideas on how to either avoid or breakdown these road blocks?”
-David Cohen, Sales Director, Bridge-Soft
Thanks for writing in David. Essentially what you want to know is how to speed up the sales cycle. Let’s start the discussion from the standpoint of why people and businesses buy when they do.
Everyone buys to solve a pain or fulfill a desire. This is true for individuals and businesses alike (businesses are nothing but a group of individual decision-makers). Buying decisions are always prioritized, whether people are aware that they do this or not. Businesses making buying decisions usually have formal procedures for prioritizing their acquisitions. Individuals also prioritize their buying decisions, but this generally is a much more casual and often unconscious process.
