High Performance Selling
The Power of Numbers!
The Power
of Numbers is about understanding that powerful results in sales and in
business come from taking as many actions as possible.
If one idea is good then ten ideas are great and thirty ideas are amazing! More
importantly if all the ideas are leveraged against each other then you
will deliver incredible sales power to your business.
My experience
is that many organizations choose one course of action and stick with
it. Although this thinking can work, if you choose the right course of
action, my experience has been that a number of actions will provide a
better chance of success.
Many companies
choose to have a sales rep visiting customers and cold calling
prospects leaving literature and hoping for a response. Other
organizations will choose to participate in one trade show a year
putting all of their eggs into that basket.
The problem
with this is that only 3-5% of qualified prospects will be ready to do
business with you at the time you contact them. How do you build enough
momentum to build a business when only a small percentage are ready at
any one time?
What is the best approach to close sales?
Do you call every week, wasting their time and yours until they start to avoid your calls or ask you not to come back?
Do you try one sales attempt and move on?
Do you do one big trade show and then sit and wait?
No, in building sales it is better to
use a wide range of strategies to build awareness of your company, your
products and services so that when prospects are ready to buy they will be
certain to contact you!
How is this done?
1) Your positioning becomes your position
If it is your goal is to be a market leader than stake out that position. Let the world know that you are "the leading" or "the fastest growing" or "international" or "the most responsive" or "the largest" business in your category.
These claims should be true, in a least some sense, but more importantly your claim or positioning should clearly representative your company goals.
Making a public statement about your business goals will increase the chance that potential clients will see you that way.
2) Make your sales calls Professional, Powerful and to the Point!
To many sales people and organizations are timid about what they have to offer.
If you believe in your company then create strong, powerful statements about what you do.
Don't
waste your prospect's time with limp sales and marketing. Make
powerful, strong statements providing your prospect with the strongest
possible reasons why they should be doing business with you and then
move on to the next prospect.
Create a powerful and memorable presentation, thank your prospect for their time and move on to the next prospect.
Follow-up
with other forms of contact but do not act in such a way as to give the
prospect the impression that they are your only prospect or that you
are desperate for their business.
Act and look hungry and you will be hungry. Act and look like a winner and you will be a winner.
3) Look and act Successful
"Fake
it until you make it" is an old saying but it is true. Take a deep
breath and position yourself and the most knowledgeable and competent
choice in the marketplace.
When this "positioning" get you the opportunity make it true because you may never get a second chance.
Every
large, successful company has had to push beyond their current
capabilities in order to grow to the next level. Look for bigger,
better opportunities and when the opportunities arrives stretch and
grow to meet the opportunity.
Always act the part of the winner and others will see that winner in you.
4) Educate your prospect on why you are the best choice!
Roosters Crow to show that a certain place in the barnyard is their turf; to try and assert their own authority in their world.
Every sales person and every company should do the same.
Let the world know that your services and your products are the best! Don't be shy because your competitors are not!
5) Build awareness - think smart!
Look
for multiple avenues to build awareness in your company. Too many
companies depend 100% on sales people to build awareness but sales
people cannot and should not be repeatedly in front of the same
customer.
The
sales call is an important start with a qualified prospect but then
follow-up with regular mailings, faxes, or email newsletters just like
this one!
Read
some of my past newsletters for dozens of ideas of how to raise your
profile and keep your business in the mind of the prospect without
breaking the bank. This newsletter service costs less than ten dollars
per issue and is send to thousands of businesses.
6) Build a stable of actions and resources!
The sales call.....followed by...
a an email.....followed by...
an informational mailing....followed by...
a regular newsletter....followed by....
an open house or informational seminar...followed by..
a telephone call......followed by.....
another powerful sales visit....
As long as the client remains a viable prospect the cycle should continue.
The sales will follow!