SMALL BUSINESS OPTIMIZATION: Four sales mistakes you're likely making and how to address them

Four sales mistakes you're likely making and how to address them

RYAN CALIGIURI

Special to The Globe and Mail

Published Friday, Jun. 27 2014, 5:46 AM EDT

Last updated Friday, Jun. 27 2014, 5:46 AM EDT

Let’s face it, we all make mistakes. What’s important, however, is learning from our mistakes and avoid any errors in the future.

For sales professionals, it’s important to recognize mistakes and address them right away, otherwise they could have a significant impact on the bottom line which could have many negative impacts throughout the organization.

These four mistakes need to be addressed by every sales professional responsible for bringing new opportunities to table.I work with sales professionals every day of the week and have seen a number of mistakes come to the surface repeatedly by a large majority of professionals and it is affecting their ability to drive opportunity in a big way.

1. Lack of preparation before a sales meeting. In sales, it’s your job to come into a meeting as prepared as possible. At the very least, you should examine the prospects website, search for them on your search engine of choice, and if possible look at case studies to understand, how they make money.

All of these basics are important for forming a picture of the prospect in your head, but do not stop there, create a list of questions that will help you get more insight on your prospect.

These questions should two things: go beyond what you already know and they need to make the prospect think deeply about their own situation. Some sample questions might include:

• Why is your current service/product/technology/situation/issue no longer working for you?
• You mentioned your current provider is not able to deliver XYZ. If you work with us, what are you hoping will be different?
• What does success look like for you, your business or this project?

2. Not focusing on clients. This is a common issue that many sales professionals fall victim to because they love their product or service so much and spend too much time talking about their offerings. This is a terrible mistake because you’re jumping directly into solution selling before you can even identify the key challenges or reasons behind why the prospect and you are meeting in the first place.

It’s okay to introduce yourself, what you do and who you’ve helped to make sure the prospect knows about you, but after that, get right into your questions and understand what the client needs. Once you are able to paint a complete picture of the client and their needs, you can begin to offer up some solutions for the prospect.

3. Believing that ‘no’ is the end of the road. What’s your first instinct when a prospect says no? Do you assume this means the prospect is not interested and you completely erase them from your sales database? If so, this is a big mistake.

The reality of the situation is that a ‘no’ is not a roadblock, it’s an opportunity for a seasoned salesperson to uncover the prospect’s concerns by probing even deeper.

If you’re in accounting and you call a prospect that tells you they are not interested, you need to ask them questions that make them question their current provider and learn about the key benefits of working with you.

A sample response question could be, “how much does your current firm save you on taxes a year? I ask because our firm focuses heavily on ensuring our clients know all the ins and outs so we can maximize their savings every year. One client, similar to you, saved X amount last year because of what we did for them. Would you like to hear more?”

4. Not having the persistence to make something out of nothing. One of the most common things is that those who persist are annoying, cross the line, or are going to do more harm than good. Let me ask you this: how many people are you going to get through to by calling or e-mailing once or twice? Chances are very few.

Following up is one of the most important factors in penetrating accounts and closing sales. It’s not about being the best or having the cheapest price. The one who wins in most cases is the one who works the hardest at getting in front of the client, understanding their business and driving value through consistent communication.

If you want to win more in business and capture more sales, you need to stop listening to those who play it safe and say following up too much will do harm than good, because they are just plain wrong.

I get criticized often for telling people that I followed up with a prospect 102 times before they became a client of mine. What those people see is a sleazy salesman trying to close a sale and move on to the next.

What they do not see is the creativity behind each follow up, the lifelong relationships, and the great results that came about because of persistent follow up. When someone is able to approach, follow up knowing all of this is possible, follow up doesn’t become a dirty word – it becomes a passion, something someone does to unlock a future filled with many wonderful possibilities.

My challenge to you: If you’re currently making any of these sales mistakes, I want you pick one and try your hardest to avoid making it again. We are already at the halfway point of 2014, so use the remaining six months to eliminate one of these mistakes from your sales habits. I know that if you are able to do this, you will be much more successful as a result.

Ryan Caligiuri is the president of Ryan Caligiuri International, a consultancy focused on driving revenue growth through creative growth strategies for professional services firms. Mr. Caligiuri is also the founder of The Growth Network, a program that provides sales/marketing resources & training to help grow professional services firms.

Follow us @GlobeSmallBiz, on Pinterest and Instagram
Join our Small Business LinkedIn group
Add us to your circles
Sign up for our weekly newsletter

Follow Ryan Caligiuri on Twitter: @RyanCaligiuri

BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION: Customer testimonials are priceless. Here's how to get them

 
• Marketing »
 
• Sales

COMMENTARY

Customer testimonials are priceless. Here's how to get them

COLLEEN FRANCIS

Special to The Globe and Mail

Published Wednesday, Mar. 26 2014, 5:00 AM EDT

Last updated Tuesday, Mar. 25 2014, 3:13 PM EDT

These examples will truly grow your business while making a difference!  I encourage you to try them.

“Buyers believe buyers first, the seller second and the business third.” This is a direct quote from an entrepreneur I coach, and he’s right.

Testimonials are amazingly persuasive: They touch on both the facts and emotions that drive people to make decisions. They reaffirm that your claims are credible and that your services are the real deal. They validate the value you deliver to the prospect. And they do so with a message that is unmistakably authentic and sincere.

Here are the some great ways to acquire testimonials:When a client says great things about you, about your work or the products you sell, give them the opportunity to turn that praise into a testimonial. Simply ask: “I’d really love to share your success with others. Would that be okay?” People generally like to be helpful to other people, but they’ll rarely think to give you that all-powerful testimonial unless you ask.

1. Contact your newest customers first. Get on the phone and call your newest customers. No matter which industry you serve, the most passionate praise you’ll find for your work and the service tends to come from customers with whom you have only recently started doing business. Follow Audi’s lead: Fewer than 30 days after a new car purchase, an Audi representative calls to confirm that the customer is happy with the purchase and to ask for feedback on the dealership. If that feedback is positive the surveyor asks if that information can be shared.

2. Contact your wise and insightful repeat customers. Your repeat customers, while perhaps not as excited because they are used to the great service you give them, provide prospects with important insight about what makes your product or service worth buying. Make a point of calling up people you’ve been doing business with for a long time and ask them why it is that they call on you. The answers you get will often include a great sentence or two that can be added to your testimonial collection. Again, all you have to do is ask.

3. Make it easy for people. One of the most common comments you’ll hear from clients when asking for testimonials is “Well I’m really not much of a writer, so it’s hard for me to put it in words.” The real power of testimonials comes from the fact that they’re not polished, that they’re authentic and from the heart. A business owner I know recently told me that he interviews all clients starting with “Finish this sentence in twenty-five words or less: I really like (product/service/person) because . . .” This approach works because it gets right to the point about the feelings people have for you, and how what you do.

4. Do unto others. Write testimonials for others in your client community and those whose services have impressed you. This creates reciprocity, and sends an important message to everyone about the high standards you have not only as a supplier, but as a buyer, too. Social networking sites such as LinkedIn are handy tools for doing this. (Please note that I am not suggesting you use the LinkedIn “endorsement” function. That I find useless and quite frankly, annoying. Instead, use the functionality that lets you actually write a testimonial for the client, supplier, or partner.) You will find that they will return the favour with glowing references for you too.

5. Thank your customers regularly. When you ask for a testimonial, you are battling with numerous other competing customer priorities. By thanking them (sincerely!) for taking the time to act on your request, your customers will treat your request with higher priority. And when you receive the testimonial, be old-fashioned; send a handwritten thank-you note.

Testimonials are the best way to convince prospects to do business with you. They allow you to say:  “Don’t just take my word for it, have a look at what my customers say . . .” When you do so, you deepen prospect confidence and dramatically reduce barriers to closing the sales.

Sales expert Colleen Francis is founder and president of Engage Selling Solutions. Ms. Francis ensures clients realize immediate results, achieve lasting success and permanently raise their bottom line.

Follow us @GlobeSmallBiz and on Pinterest
Join our Small Business LinkedIn group
Add us to your circlesSign up for our weekly newsletter

IMPROVING BUSINESS EARNINGS PART 1: 3 things marketers could (and should) learn from anthropologists

3 things marketers could (and should) learn from anthropologists

Mitchell Osak | March 4, 2014 8:00 AM ET
More from Mitchell Osak

Ivan Garcia/AFP/Getty ImagesAnthropologists -- who study humankind both in the past and present -- use a rigorous, non-presumptive method of doing research that could improve marketers ability to reach deep into the recesses of the human unconscious.

•  
• Twitter
 
• Google+ 
• LinkedIn 
• Email 
• Comments
•  More

Many companies prioritize learning customer needs above any other marketing activity so that they can create better products and service experiences. Typically, marketers will use traditional qualitative techniques like focus groups, surveys and one-on-one interviews. Unfortunately, these tools often fail to generate breakthrough insights. Standard qualitative methods are good at telling firms what is happening but not the why it’s happening. To get to the root cause of a consumer’s actions, marketers need to explore the recesses of their mind to identify subconscious drivers of behaviour. Anthropology is a very effective way to do this.

Simply put, anthropology is the study of people and civilization, past and present. It incorporates teachings from a wide range of disciplines, from psychology and biology, to the humanities and sociology. Anthropology is increasingly being used by companies (Starbucks, Lego, Herman Miller and Nokia are pacesetters) to better understand latent consumer needs and as well as societal and religious influences on their behavior.

In action

The following example shows anthropology in practice. A firm in the spa industry engaged us to help redesign its customer experience and service offering for female patrons. The client wanted to address any unmet customer needs and better differentiate their customer experience. Conventional research techniques regularly produced muted feedback, which led to copycat store designs and products. We wanted to go deeper into the consumer’s subconscious to find unmet needs and drivers that triggers behaviour.

Freya Ingrid Morales/BloombergBrands like Lego, Starbucks and Nokia have already realized significant marketing success using anthropological techniques.

To get there, we employed anthropology to probe fundamental beliefs and values around their body image and wellness as well cultural influences. For example, how do women define beauty?  What role does human touch play? And, how can a spa experience help satisfy a women’s intrinsic needs? Our findings upended conventional thinking and led to a revamping of how the facilities were designed and how the services and benefits were communicated, resulting in higher client retention, an enhanced brand image and increased rates of cross selling.

Conventional qualitative research techniques take people at their word. This can be risky for brands.  At their core, consumers are often irrational, driven by motives or external influences that are unseen even to themselves. Using anthropology as complementary research can produce a more holistic and penetrating view of the consumer in their real life condition. Likewise, anthropology’s rigorous, academic-driven methodology preempts the emergence of erroneous assumptions around a customers’ behaviour that could have been shaped by a firm’s culture, the bias of its managers, or increasingly, the large but imperfect data stream flowing in.

Anthropologist have a number of data-collection instruments at their disposal including artifact analysis, quotidian diaries, and observational studies. Importantly, practitioners approach their research without hypotheses, gather­ing large quantities of information in an open-ended way, with no preconceptions about what they will find. The collected data is raw, personal, and first­hand — not the incomplete or artificial version of reality that is generated by most market research tools.

Anthropology is particularly helpful in understanding the dynamic world of social media. “Companies are beginning to use anthropology to understand the stream of consciousness within social medial that flows with ‘here’s what I’m doing/thinking/wanting now,’” says Lynn Coles a leading marketer. “Anthropological research helps us better understand and inhabit the social communities to identify behavioral patterns as well as the emerging dialect within a particular community so we can better communicate with our target consumers.”

Basic approach

1. Frame the issue

Anthropology requires the marketer to frame the problem in human — not business — terms. Doing so gets to the core of how a customer experiences a service or product. For example, a business problem could be:  How can a wireless provider reduce churn? The corresponding anthropological issue would be: How do our customers experience our service, and why are they leaving?

2. Assemble the data

The raw data is codified in a form of carefully organized diaries, videos, photographs, field notes, and objects such as packages. Although this open-ended data collection casts a very wide net, it requires a disciplined and structured pro­cess that needs to be overseen by anthropologists skilled in research design and organization.

3. Find patterns, insights

The anthropologist then undertakes a careful analysis of the data to uncover themes or patterns. When organized in themes, a variety of insights will emerge about how a customer feels, their goals and what drives their actions.

Of course, traditional quantitative and qualitative research methods have their place and should remain part of a marketer’s analytical tool kit. However, anthropology will play an increasing role in uncovering the consumer’s subconscious needs as well as societal/religious behavioral drivers, areas that are largely impervious to standard qualitative techniques. Producing this holistic view will allow marketers to design more relevant products and services that deliver higher value.

Mitchell Osak is managing director of Quanta Consulting Inc.  Quanta has delivered a variety of strategy and organizational transformation consulting and educational solutions to global Fortune 1,000 organizations.  Mitchell can be reached at mosak@quantaconsulting.com