Sooner or later a customer will ask you for a discount. Sometimes it comes before the quote goes out, and sometimes it comes right at the end, just before they place the purchase order. How you answer makes a big difference to your margin, and to how the customer sees you from then on.

My biggest order

One year we won our biggest project ever from a key account, specified across multiple locations. I'd visited that customer every week or two for years, so I knew who was involved and how they worked.

But before they placed the order, which was worth over £7m, I got a call in my office. They wanted a 10% discount before placing it.

I politely declined, and we still won the order.

I could say no calmly because I knew where we stood. We had been specified, and we had spent years being genuinely interested in their business.

Know where you stand before you answer

A request for a discount doesn't always mean the order is slipping away. Before you answer, think about what you know. Have you been specified? Do you know everyone involved in the decision? Have you shown them why your offer is the right one? If you can answer yes, you can say no to the discount without worrying about it.

Sell value, not price

If you can offer a benefit your competitors can't match, or haven't explained well, you're in a much stronger position when it comes to price. Often the difference comes from how you operate, such as how quickly you respond when something goes wrong, the technical knowledge of your team and how consistently you deliver.

Have your answer to "Why are you more expensive?" ready before anyone asks it. Write down the benefits your competitors can't match, in the customer's language, so you can explain them calmly when the question comes.

Don't let your price be a surprise

A lot of pressure on price comes from a figure the customer wasn't expecting. Give them an indication early on and see how they react. If the price is going to be a problem, you'll find out while there's still time to talk about it, rather than when the purchase order is about to be raised.

Say no politely

Saying no doesn't mean being difficult. Thank them for asking, remind them what they're getting for the price, and keep the conversation friendly. If you've done the work earlier in the sale, you won't need to give your margin away at the end of it.

You’ve had a good meeting, the quote has gone out and the customer has said they’re keen. Then nothing. A few days pass, then weeks. Sound familiar?

Most sales aren’t closed in the quote. They’re closed in the follow up. A quote that nobody follows up is an order left on the table.

Book it before you hit send

Don’t send your quote and hope they’ll call you back. Book the follow up before it goes:

“I’ll send the quote across later today. Can we put 15 minutes in the diary to run through it on Wednesday?”

This keeps the momentum going. It gives you the chance to explain your thinking, answer questions and spot objections before they become roadblocks. Then block it out in your diary and treat it like a first meeting.

Why it matters: a real example

I was supporting a client who had sent a quote that was clearly better, technically and commercially. On paper, they should have been the obvious choice.

But it wasn’t the quote that tipped the balance. It was the follow up.

We picked up the phone at just the right moment and found out internal meetings were taking place. The buyer was reviewing all the quotes and planned to decide before going on holiday. That call gave us a window. The very same day, we revised the quote and sent it back, putting ourselves in a much stronger position.

The best offer doesn’t always win. The best managed sales process often does.

If you didn’t book a date

Call two working days after the quote went out. Check it arrived and reached the right person, ask if they have any questions, and agree a date and time to go through it.

When you go through it

• Check nothing has changed in their requirements or timescales.
• Go through price, lead time and commercial terms, and bring in your engineers if needed.
• Ask: “What would need to happen for you to place the order with us?”
• Agree the next step and date before you finish the call.

After that

Follow up on the dates agreed, then regularly until it’s decided. Never “just checking in”. Every follow up should add something, such as an answer to a query, a datasheet or a useful article.

How long should you keep going?

I don’t set a fixed number of follow ups. I keep following up a quote until the customer either places the order or tells me they’ve gone elsewhere.

That way nothing is left to drift, and if we do lose, at least I know why.

Good salespeople don’t wait for things to happen. They make them happen.

Don't rush to send a quote just because you've been asked. First, speak with the prospect. Understand their goals, their constraints and, critically, their budget.

If the numbers don't stack up, it's better to find out now. You can adjust your solution or decide whether the opportunity is worth pursuing. Either way, you'll save time and strengthen your position.

You don't want your quote to be the first time they see your price. Give them an indication early on and see how they react.

Ask before you price

• Is this a live project with a firm requirement, or a budget enquiry?
• Is the budget in place and approved?
• What happens if they do nothing?
• If they already have a supplier, why would they change?
• Who in your business owns this quote and will follow it up?

Quoting for work we were never going to win

At one company I joined, the team had been quoting a tier 1 supplier for equipment that went into their equipment and was then sold on to an OEM. We kept quoting and never won anything.

When I looked into why, the answer was simple. The tier 1 supplier wasn't winning the work, and going through them added cost that made us uncompetitive anyway.

So I changed the approach and talked to the OEM directly. That led to the largest award of the year and the company's first complete turnkey solution for that customer. Working with them directly also meant quotations set out the way they wanted them, and more business in new regions with the same customer.

A few questions up front would have saved a lot of wasted quotes.

Take control of the process

Far too many salespeople are afraid to lead the sale. They tiptoe around prospects, hoping not to scare them off. In doing so, they hand over control. And when you give control away, you lose orders.

From the moment the enquiry comes in, be proactive. Pick up the phone, get clarity, confirm timelines and understand what's really needed. If the brief is unclear, ask questions. If the deadline is tight, ask for more time.

Don't be a passenger. Drive the sale.

Understand how they buy

• Who's involved?
• How do they make decisions?
• What's their timescale?

The more clarity you have, the better you can position your solution and influence the outcome.

Then book the follow up

Don't send your quote and hope they'll call you back. Book the follow up before you hit send: "I'll send the quote across later today. Can we put 15 minutes in the diary to run through it on Wednesday?"

More on that in Never send a quote without booking a follow up.

In sales, speed really does matter. It puts you in control. When a prospect is speaking to you, they're not speaking to your competition. The quicker you respond, the greater your influence on their thinking and decision making.

In our world, time kills opportunities. Delays create doubt, and opportunities cool off. Responding quickly doesn't just show professionalism, it shows enthusiasm, confidence and respect for the prospect's time.

Deadlines matter

One of the golden rules in sales is to under-promise and over-deliver. When you exceed expectations, you build trust, and trust is the foundation of every strong business relationship.

Imagine you've committed to sending a quote by a certain date and then it arrives late. Even a small delay can undo a lot of the good work you've already done. The prospect starts thinking, "If they can't get the quote in on time, how can I trust them to deliver the job on time?" That might seem unfair, but perception is everything.

Aim to be first

That's why it's so important to meet deadlines and, ideally, to beat them. Aim to be the first to submit your quote. It shows you're engaged, proactive and reliable. It also gives you a psychological edge. You set the benchmark and shape how the others are judged.

A quote on a Friday evening

Earlier in my career I promised a customer a quote by the Friday. The costings didn't reach me until late that afternoon, and it would have been easy to send it on the Monday instead.

I sent it that same Friday evening, as promised. It sounds like a small thing, but the customer noticed. It helped build their trust in us, and it played its part in us becoming a key supplier to one of the biggest players in the industry.

Prospects remember whether you did what you said you would, when you said you would.

Don't stop there

Follow up. Pick up the phone. Speak to the decision maker. Keep the momentum going. Staying front of mind is often what tips the balance in your favour.

In short, move fast, speak early and stay visible. Quick, professional and dependable, that's the kind of impression that wins business.

In order to be effective, salespeople need to develop a number of key skills. For us the one that stands out above all others is active listening. After all, it is their responsibility to listen to understand the issues that the prospect is having so they can formulate a strategy to help and support them.

So, what are the three common types of active listening and what should they consider?

1. Support Listening

Your sales team should encourage your prospect to talk so they can learn about their role, responsibilities, and the challenges they and their business are facing. By asking open questions, the prospect should do most of the talking. The salesperson can use the opportunity to collect as much information as possible while avoiding the temptation to interrupt. The salesperson should listen carefully and show that they understand what is being said without distracting the prospect from continuing to speak.

2. Responding Listening

Responding listening is centred around relationship building. Along with the information gathered, your sales team needs to show that they are interested in the prospect, what they have to say, responding with curiosity and discussing how they can help them in the future. It’s important therefore that your salesperson concentrates on the prospect and uses dialogue that puts them at ease and shows empathy.

3. Retention Listening

Lastly, there are situations where your sales team may not be personally engaged in dialogue and are not able to build a relationship with the prospect. Here they should use retention listening skills to listen out for facts and hard information that they will find helpful going forward.

Along with these three active listening techniques, one useful exercise that we recommend before moving on to the next stage of the sales process is to summarise what the prospect has said so that they know they have been listened to. Then, we suggest that your salespeople specifically highlight the needs from the issues the prospect has revealed, together with any solutions that they can provide to assist them.

7 signs your salespeople aren't listening properly

We think that listening along with questioning are the most important skills your sales team should possess. Rather than just hearing, they need to become effective listeners. A skill that can be developed through concentration and a little effort.

There’s a chance that your salespeople aren’t having productive sales calls or visits because they're not listening properly. This can result in the inability to obtain sufficient customer intelligence and a lack of enquiries and purchase orders.

So, what are the 7 common causes of ineffective listening with salespeople?

1. They interrupt the prospect before they’ve had the chance to finish what they are saying.
2. They pretend that they are paying attention, but they are really thinking about other things.
3. They are impatient and cannot wait to have their say before letting the prospect finish talking.
4. They pay little attention to what the prospect is saying because they are mentally preparing their next question.
5. They have already decided what they think the prospect is going to say and make assumptions.
6. They get frustrated with how the prospect is coming across and don’t listen to the content of what they’re actually saying.
7. They are so enthusiastic that they tend to ignore either good or bad news.

Your sales team have scheduled a meeting with your key prospects and customers. They’ve prepared fully in advance, built rapport, mutually agreed an agenda, encouraged participation and started to build a relationship with the prospect. They’ve asked appropriate open questions and actively listened to the prospect’s answers. This has led to the prospect revealing specific issues that they need addressing. So, what’s next?

1. Present Product and Services

Now that the customer’s needs have been identified it is time to proceed to the next part of the sales process, to make a bespoke presentation of your tailored products and value-added services. Specifically, to deliver a solution specific to THEIR problem. What your sales team must bear in mind here is to create a presentation that reflects the needs of their prospect and perhaps their client and how they solve their problem. They may wish to consider a product demonstration but ultimately, they need to present the benefits that their product and value-added services provide. After all, they want to highlight how their solution makes the prospect’s life easier in some way i.e., how it saves them time, money, increases quality, efficiency etc., whilst convincing them they are providing the best possible solution.

2. Use Case Studies

Your sales team may wish to consider demonstrating the benefits to the customer by including a few relevant case studies that back-up their argument. For instance, giving examples of similar projects that centre around the prospect’s needs. Using the opportunity to emphasise how the specific problems were solved and the benefits experienced. Ideally with quantitative resource savings or improvements if possible.

Presenting how a problem was put right

Presentations aren't only for winning new business. When I was a Global Sales Manager, a member of our quality team asked for my help after a problem with a customer.

Together we put a presentation together covering the issue, how it had been resolved and the steps we'd taken to stop it happening again. Then I went along on the visit and presented it to the customer with them.

The customer left satisfied. Showing them clearly what we'd done, rather than just telling them, made all the difference.

3. Highlight Value Solutions Provide

As part of the discussion, ideally your salespeople need to emphasise the benefits and value that your solution will provide both for their prospect and their client. During the meeting, they need to use their observation skills and ask questions to see how this has been received.

4. Gain Further Commitment

Your sales team’s solution may not be exactly what the prospect is looking for. But what they’re really after is commitment that they are interested and that they would like to pursue things further. It’s advisable here that your salespeople summarise what has been discussed, and if the prospect is in agreement, jointly agree on what the next steps should be.

We find rapport a fascinating subject and think it’s critical to being successful in sales. From the moment you meet or start to talk to prospects and customers, they will be judging you. Simply put, they tend to be busy people so will decide very quickly whether it’s worth spending time with you. It is therefore crucial that you engage in a way that develops a positive relationship which builds over time. Your goal should be to connect with your customers to build partnerships to achieve long-term success for both parties.

Rapport can be defined simply as shared and common interests between you and the prospect. Here are 4 ways you can build rapport between each other.

1. Communicate Well

As with most things in sales, communication is key. How you come across at the start of the meeting will set the tone; from the words you use and how presentable you are, down to your body language. Do your homework before you enter your prospects offices. Research as much about the company and the people you’re about to meet as you can. Read industry publications and company reports, visit their website and check their social media. Get to know as much as possible as this will be greatly beneficial. You will be judged on the quality of the questions you ask and your listening skills. Don’t ask silly questions that don’t help the prospect, and listen as if your life depends on it!

2. Use Empathy

When you meet prospects and customers they might not share the same thoughts, feelings and opinions as you. This is perfectly understandable, but by having the ability to empathise, you can sense the other people’s emotions and try to understand how they might be feeling. Really listen to their thoughts. This can go a long way to building a greater understanding between you both, which leads to greater rapport.

3. Find Common Interests

To find common interests, it makes sense to use your research about them and their company to find out more about them, their issues and problems, their likes and dislikes, hobbies etc. We’d suggest starting by asking an engaging question about themselves - it’s less salesy and we’ve found people tend to like talking about themselves. It’s important that you build rapport quickly with the prospect by getting to the point, whilst also maintaining and building upon it. Be personable and try and establish a business friendship.

4. Match and Mirror

When talking and listening to the prospect it is beneficial if you can communicate on the same wavelength. One useful technique is to try to match and Mirror their verbal and non-verbal language throughout the meeting. This can be anything from matching their speech, tone and voice volume to copying their motions, gestures, and body language in a subtle way. This ultimately builds trust and rapport, and if they mirror you back it raises the feeling of engagement that you’re having between each other.

So, how do you know if you’re beginning to build rapport?

Rapport tends to begin when people feel relaxed in your company. There will be a few signs that this is starting to happen – the prospects defensive body language will start to ease; they will start to open up and talk more freely. As rapport builds, they will begin to nod at what you’re saying and over time, they will begin to talk more than you, which of course is exactly what you’re after. After all, how can you solve their problems if they’re not talking to you about them!

At some point in the sales process, it’s highly likely that your sales team are going to encounter an objection from their prospect. This is not unusual and objections should actually be viewed in a positive light. This is because if the prospect is engaging with you, you can start to work towards a solution.

When it comes to handling objections it’s always best to try and pre-empt them. In an ideal world, your sales team should overcome them as early as possible, but it’s not always that easy! Prospects like to ask questions for a whole manner of reasons.

So, how should your sales team handle objections? Here are 5 steps we would suggest.

1. Acknowledge The Objection

Your sales team should firstly acknowledge the prospects objection. They should do this by using their active listening skills, whilst showing respect and empathy. They may not agree with the prospect’s objection, but instead of becoming defensive, your sales team needs to seek clarification. It’s important at this stage that rapport is maintained.

2. Question The Objection

It’s not uncommon for objections to be centred around price, delivery, need, desire, availability and trust. What’s important is for your sales team to seek to understand the real reason behind the prospect’s objection. They should ask open questions and actively listen to what they have to say. In this way, they can try and establish what is being said by reading between the lines.

3. Tackle The Objection

Once your sales team really understands the prospects objection, they need to respond in a way that tackles their objection whilst providing a convincing argument to overcome the objection. Evidence can come in many forms but what the prospect is after here, is information or data from your sales team to confirm what they are saying is correct, can be achieved, or proof of experience. Examples could be a production schedule, test certificates, examples of previous projects, customer testimonials etc. You may also wish to negotiate terms and conditions of contract or introduce stage payments. Listening and trying to find solutions to the objections can only strengthen their relationship with the prospect.

4. Gain Acceptance

After your sales team has provided their prospect with evidence to overcome their objection, their next point of call is to seek confirmation that their response was satisfactory and has met their needs. After all, their prospect needs to be convinced to continue along your sales process to ultimately purchase the product or service.

5. Objections Are Opportunities!

We’ve already briefly mentioned this earlier, but objections should be viewed positively by your sales team. This is because their prospect is still communicating with them and as such, they have the opportunity to try and convince them to buy. Unfortunately, there will be times when the prospect decides that they are going to purchase from elsewhere. While this will obviously be very disappointing, this is another opportunity for your sales team to learn from the experience. We will cover this in a later blog when we write about the most important sales stage, following up!

For many businesses it’s tough out there at the moment.

In the coming months, it is highly likely that companies will be concentrating on the orders that they’ve already received which will be eating into their working capital and cash flow, and they will be struggling to find enough time to develop new business. While some companies may be fortunate to receive a few legacy orders without an increase in sales, there will certainly be more redundancies and job losses to come. This will result in a huge gap in sales experience and companies will struggle to keep the lights on through a lack of sales when they eventually run out of cash.

Now more than ever it’s critical that businesses are able to prospect, develop and convert new business.

You could seek out an outsourced sales and marketing consultancy to help you, but if you’re looking to do everything yourself, the five principles below might just provide the helpful advice that you need to help you ride out the storm.

If your sales team starts to adopt the following principles – and executes at least some of them properly – you should start to see the difference in your results in a few short weeks.

1. Use Extensive Resources That Are Available to You

There is a no better time to brush up on your skills and become better at what you do through self-improvement. There is a plethora of free sales resources available to you from books, podcasts, and videos etc., which you can use to develop your knowledge and skills so that you will be ready when we come out of this difficult time.

2. Use Historical Sales Data

A simple and quick way to benchmark your current situation is to use historical sales data about your existing customers to establish who your key customers are, what they buy, how often they buy and how much revenue and profit they generate for you. You can then investigate opportunities to develop more business from them and perhaps expand upon your product/service offering or try to gain business that you once received in the past but no longer do.

3. Review Your Outstanding Leads, Opportunities and Enquiries

Before prospecting, it’s far easier to concentrate on chasing down the leads and opportunities that you already have. This is where you need to focus your time and create a sales forecast focusing on those that can be converted in the short term those that have received budget sign-off. Speak to the appropriate decision-makers and convert the sale.

4. Start Prospecting for New Business

Once you have followed up on existing opportunities and built your sales pipeline, it’s vital that you still prospect for more business. The obvious place to start is with your existing customers as they’ve already bought from you and they will provide you with the best opportunity for more business. Next, you could consider talking to those who you’ve quoted in the past but weren’t able to convert and to find out why this was. You could also consider your customer’s rivals, and perhaps the suppliers of your customers, all of which may give you new opportunities.

Once this has been exhausted, it’s time for outbound lead generation. This can take many forms; phone, email, networking, social media etc. Each have their own advantage. With a little thought and with the right marketing strategy you can use a combination of these to give you the best chance of your prospecting being successful.

5. Increase Awareness and Brand

It has never been easier to promote yourself or your business on social media. By using a platform such as LinkedIn you can build your personal brand and grow your reputation as an expert in your field. If you’re good at what you do don’t be shy! Position yourself as the ‘go-to’ person and post regular content that is engaging, relevant and helpful for your customers and prospects. Tell your prospective customers how you can help them, giving examples through articles, case studies and customer testimonials.

Isn’t it frustrating when your sales team make every excuse under the sun when they’re not making their numbers?

During these difficult times it is especially important that business is developed in a timely manner. When forecasted orders do not materialise when they are expected, this can have a huge impact on your business and cause you a lot of headaches. Lack of sales can lead to problems with cash flow and working capital, leading to difficulties in covering your costs. Overheads, wages and paying suppliers can then become a major cause of concern. Once you’ve been placed on stop, it is likely this will impact deliveries of your product or service to your customer – all in all not very satisfactory at all!

You could seek out an outsourced sales consultancy to help you, but if you’re looking to do everything yourself, our answers to the six excuses below might just provide the helpful advice you need to help you get over these obstacles.

If your sales team stops making excuses and starts to adopt the following practices – and execute at least some of them properly – you should start to see the difference in your results in a few short weeks.

So, what are the excuses and what can you do about them?

1. I Don’t Have Time

Salespeople don’t like admin – there I’ve said it! They’d rather be out there selling, but unfortunately it’s a necessary evil. Admin is vitally important; putting together sales goals and objectives, call plans, meeting minutes, forecasting, updating the CRM or whatever, will actually help them achieve their sales target because it focuses their minds and makes them more strategic in their approach. Documenting activities also ensures that the prospect list is up to date, the salesperson is speaking to the right people, is working on what is important, and is closing targeted opportunities to meet their magic number. And, in the event they leave the business, there is a good starting point for the person who takes over the role. A well-developed, simple sales process should be easy to use, actually save them time, relieve stress and make their role easier and more enjoyable.

2. Marketing Provides Poor or Insufficient Leads

I really struggle with this statement. Throughout my career, I’ve worked for companies of various sizes from SMEs to corporates, some with marketing departments, some without. Most of the time I have had to generate and close my own leads (which I must add is very satisfying!). The first point of call is to follow up on your existing opportunities and build your pipeline. Next you investigate potential opportunities from your existing customers. You could even perhaps expand upon your product/service offering or try and gain business that you once received in the past. Now look at those you’ve quoted in the past but weren’t able to convert and find out why this was. Other opportunities can be found from your customers rivals, or suppliers of your customers. After all of this, you should then consider outbound lead generation. This can take many forms i.e. phone, email, social media. Using the right strategy will increase your chances of success.

3. Our Product Isn’t Good Enough or Is a Commodity

This is the poorest excuse of all, particularly if other members of the sales team can sell the same products to similar customers in different regions. It is the job of the salesperson to be more positive and proactive. Even basic products which are true commodities can be differentiated and value can be created. The sales team should be encouraged to seek product feedback during their discussions with prospects and customers to provide this to the marketing, engineering, and product development teams. They should then put a sales strategy together to drive sales. Have they considered framework agreement contracts, stocking policies, call-offs, price configurators, reduced lead times, quantity discounts, key account management?

4. My Territory Is Poor

This is similar to #3, unless of course this has historically been an issue. This can easily be established by looking at historical sales figures. Where has business been gained? Who are the key customers? What has been their spend over the past 5 or so years and what have they bought? Who are their competitor’s buying from? Who isn’t buying from you that you feel should be? If the territory truly is poor, then you may want to consider amending/consolidating territories.

5. I Can’t Get Past the Gate Keeper/Speak To The Decision Maker

We would always advise that you call the decision maker on their mobile or direct line number if you can. But there will be times where you will speak to the ‘gatekeeper’. Gatekeepers are there for a reason. They are most likely to be a receptionist or a PA whose role is to filter calls for a person who already has a full diary and is very busy. As such, several people including your competitors are going to experience the same issue. Rather than avoid the gatekeeper, we would advise being polite and personable and always state your name and company. It is key that you explain why you are calling and state a brief benefit that your call will have to the person that you are trying to reach. They are then more likely to connect you with the decision maker or appropriate department.

6. We’re Too Expensive

In my career I’ve sold bespoke, customised engineered products, often as either the market leader or as the number two in the marketplace. I’ve found that price is often not the issue. Yes, you need to be competitive, but more importantly you need to sell value and give your customer a reason to buy from you. Try speaking to your existing customers and see why they’ve bought from you in the past. Find similar companies to help them with the problems they are experiencing. There is normally another reason other than price why people don’t buy. You just need to identify what this is, and then this is where you need to concentrate your efforts.

Your sales team have scheduled meetings with your key prospects and customers. They have improved their chances of a successful sales call by preparing fully in advance. What should they do next? How do your salespeople ensure that all the effort they’ve put into their preparation and planning doesn’t go to waste?

Here are the 6 things we recommend your sales team consider.

1. Be Prepared

People tend to make impressions very quickly and sometimes without justification. After all, this might be the first time your salesperson has met with this customer. As they say, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression and this is certainly the case in sales. There are things that they can control - arriving on time, taking pride in their appearance, bring the right equipment and making sure that it’s all working correctly. Above all they should listen attentively, be polite and well mannered. Make sure that your team are memorable for the right reasons!

2. Build a Rapport

At the beginning of the call, your sales team need to find a way to build rapport with the customer. They can do this by showing empathy and by building trust. People will want to do work with your business if your salespeople listen to their problems and help support them. It is the responsibility of your sales personnel to uncover what their issues are and work in close collaboration to solve their challenges. We will cover empathy and trust in more detail in future blogs.

3. Highlight Benefits of the Visit for the Prospect

Remember that time is precious for the decision-makers and influencers that they will be meeting. Your team need to make them feel that the meeting is relevant and worth them being there. It must equally be beneficial, so they see the value in attending. If not, they may be inclined to cut the meeting short before everything is discussed. So, the agenda should always be about what you can do for them. How can you make their life easier? After all, your customers will have their own KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) to meet. These will undoubtedly be, amongst other things, reducing costs, improving quality, on-time delivery performance etc. They may also have technical challenges that need to be met.

4. Go Over and Agree the Agenda

As we discussed in our blog on sales call preparation, we would always advise that your sales team agree an agenda with the customer in advance of the call making sure that the key customer benefits are included. It makes sense to go over this agenda at the start of the meeting to emphasise its purpose as to what will be covered and asking if there’s any other objectives the customer would like to add.

5. Encourage Participation

We would then suggest that your salespeople encourage the customer to partake in the discussion as soon as possible. They should do most of the talking. In time, using a collaborative approach, your aim should be to build relationships and work towards ongoing, long-term mutually beneficial partnerships. You should never be interested in quick wins that come at a cost of potentially eroding trust and lost business.

6. Take Minutes

It is always beneficial to take minutes during the meeting and to ensure that any actions are recorded along with who will be responsible for actioning them and by when. This ensures that everything is kept on track and most importantly that promises are kept, thus consolidating the relationship of on-going trust and support with the customer.

Your sales team might be managing to get appointments with key prospects and clients. But how do they improve their chances of a successful sales call? As with most things it’s all about the preparation. Let us explain.

The key decision-makers they are talking to are remarkably busy people. Their diaries are often too full and as such they want to avoid wasting their time. They need a legitimate reason to talk to salespeople. It must be in THEIR interest. Therefore, your sales team need to consider everything from the customer’s perspective.

Before they set foot in the customer’s offices, they need to do their homework. Investing a little time beforehand can significantly improve the outcome of the meeting.

So, how should your sales team prepare?

1. Research Industry Trends and Their Business

To avoid wasting time during the call, if your salesperson hasn’t visited the customer before or it’s a new prospect, we suggest they research the business beforehand. There is nothing more frustrating for the customer than having to answer poor questions when the answers could have been found earlier. Questions like number of employees etc. Answers to these don’t move you further along the sales process so why bother? A thorough analysis of the customer can uncover potential product or service usage. Keeping a close eye on how the industry is developing can also provide answers to the challenges that your customer may be facing.

2. Review Previous Visit Reports

If the customer has been visited before, your salesperson should review the notes from the previous visits. They should make sure all the action points have been closed out to the customer’s satisfaction and look at opportunities where the customer relationship can be further developed.

3. Analyse Purchase Orders and Outstanding Opportunities

Using CRM (if you have one) they should create an order history report and produce a list of all outstanding quotes and opportunities that you may have. These can be discussed and followed up. This exercise might also highlight lost opportunities where further investigation with the customer could prove helpful. The salesperson may also discover opportunities with legacy products.

4. Set Clear Objectives and Create a Pre-Call Plan

To be effective, clear objectives for the call should be set and they should list what they’d like to achieve. At the very least they should consider what they believe to be the most important objective of the sales call. Prospects and customers have strategic goals and their own motivations. They will also have problems and issues that they need resolving. It is the role of your sales team to uncover what these are and to identify how the customer can be supported. This is where a pre-call plan comes into its own. Make sure your salespeople take the time to list questions that they will be asking, to uncover what these issues might be, as these could be your biggest opportunities. These objectives should be linked to an overall strategic plan that mirrors the customers goals.

5. Agree an Agenda

We would always advise that your sales team agree an agenda with the customer in advance of the call which should reflect the customers priorities. This is prudent because both parties then know what is expected of them. They can then effectively prepare giving the meeting a better chance of success. Having an agenda also helps to keep the discussion on track to ensure all the items are covered.

6. Measure On-Going Progress

Last but not least, your sales team should constantly measure their progress so that it’s both effective and timely, whilst constantly modifying their plan to reflect their interaction with the customer.

A lot of salespeople avoid cold calling like the plague! But, unlike other outbound sales methods, cold calling gives you the key advantage of having a direct conversation with a prospect. By communicating directly with a decision maker, you can establish their pain points and any business issues that your product or service can potentially solve. As you are speaking to the right person, you can establish the timing of when they may need your product or service and answer any objections they may have, ensuring that they are satisfied enough to want to do business with you.

So, what are the 7 things you should consider when cold calling a prospect?

1. When to Cold Call

For a cold call to be successful you can be ‘lucky’ and call them just as the company is considering to purchase the product or service that you are offering (which is unlikely), or alternatively you can be proactive and speak to the decision maker, make them aware of your product and service, and potentially influence their decision to purchase from you at a time suitable for them.

2. Prepare Well

By preparing well you have a better chance of having a successful cold call. So, before picking up the phone, it is advisable that you undertake some research. By using the internet, you can quickly get an overview about the company you’re about to call – what the business does, its financial figures, key personnel, their products/services, press releases, news, blogs etc. This information will help you understand if your product/service would be of interest to them. It will also help you be better prepared when you speak to someone on the phone.

3. Call The Right People

Sounds obvious doesn’t it? But if you’re not speaking to the decision maker you could be wasting a lot of your most precious resource - time. So, how do you ensure that you’re contacting the right person? We have always found that it’s better to try and speak to senior personnel wherever possible. If they can’t help you they can always direct you to the person who can.

LinkedIn is a great tool to conduct research on decision makers before calling them. By looking at their profile you’re able try and understand what their job role is and what is important to them. This will help you have a more informed conversation with them.

4. The Gatekeeper

Ideally it’s best if you can call the decision maker on their mobile or direct line number but there will be times where you will speak to the ‘gatekeeper’. This person is most likely to be the receptionist or a PA whose role it is to filter calls. Rather than avoid the ‘gatekeeper’ it is always advisable to be polite and personable, stating your name and company. It is key that you explain why you are calling and state a brief benefit that your call will have to the person that you are trying to reach. They are then more likely to connect you with the decision maker or appropriate department.

5. Make it About Them

The people that you call will tend to be very busy so be brief and tailor your message to your prospect’s biggest needs or the problems that your product or service solves for them. You should be supportive, ask open questions and use simple language such as “I think we can save you time/money”. In this way your prospect can quickly see the benefits that your product or service gives them and be more receptive.

6. Know Your Product or Service Thoroughly

As they say you only get one chance to make a first impression so it’s vitally important to establish credibility with your prospect. You must know your product or service inside out and answer any questions that they might have in a confident manner whilst communicating your value proposition and demonstrating to the decision maker why they should choose you over another supplier - i.e. what makes you special or remarkable.

7. Take Notes

Depending upon your product or service it may be possible to close on the first call. It is likely however that you will need to develop a relationship with your prospect to build trust through communicating with them over a period of time. Keeping a record of your discussions ensures you know where you are in the sales cycle, helps you to keep your promises, and is an aid to closing the sale in a timely manner.

In our last article, we focused on the 4 steps to presenting solutions during a sales presentation. Your sales team’s solution may not be exactly what the prospect is looking for. But what you’re really after is commitment that they are interested and that they would like to pursue things further.

1. Gain Further Commitment

Your sales team have presented your products and services using case studies and emphasised the benefits and value that your solutions provide for their prospect and their client. What we would suggest they do next is to summarise what has been discussed and ask for commitment.

2. Ask For The Business!

If the prospect is interested in your solutions and they feel that they’re going to solve their needs and issues, then your salespeople should ask for the business! They should seek final commitment using closing techniques and take control of the sale. It is the responsibility of your sales team to take the guessing out of how the prospect can move forward. They should be confident and assertive but definitely not arrogant. After all, what you’re really after is making it easy for your prospect.

3. Agree Next Steps

If the prospect is in agreement, for a truly collaborative approach, it’s essential that both parties jointly agree an action plan. Your sales team needs to ensure that the plan is clear, and it includes all the necessary steps to reach a successful conclusion. The plan should be the starting point for your prospect’s immediate needs but should be extended where possible with the ultimate goal of developing a long-term partnership. The plan may simply include the format of the prospects enquiry, how your proposal will be evaluated, and opportunities for further dialogue (including resolving clarifications and the follow-up procedure).

4. Ensure Ownership

For the plan to be executed well, there needs to be ownership of all the actions from both sides. Your sales team therefore needs to get “buy-in” from the prospect. Along with the necessary steps to be taken, they should discuss and agree the appropriate timescales and if possible, the names of individuals that will be completing the tasks.

When both sides own the plan

One of the hardest prospects I ever worked on was overseas. Our product had never been ordered before, the customer wanted it for projects tied to their own customer, and it had to pass far more stringent qualification standards than we were used to.

It took several meetings over a long period, and it was years before the first order. My Managing Director asked me whether qualifying the product was worth the time and resources. From all the conversations, meetings and my own research, I was confident it would become a huge opportunity, so we went ahead.

What made it work was that both sides owned the plan. The customer sent their own engineer to our facility to help set up and pass the qualification test before placing an order. Repeat orders for multiple projects followed.

Are your sales team complaining that they can't find the time to prospect or close deals?

Time can be both your enemy and your friend in sales. There are only a certain number of hours in the day that your sales team can prospect, make sales calls, set appointments, visit customers, make presentations, attend meetings, negotiate, close deals, write reports, forecast etc. It is vitally important therefore that your sales team use their time wisely and focus on what’s really important.

If you’re finding they're struggling to find time to prospect or close deals, you could seek out an outsourced sales consultancy to help you, but if you’re looking to do everything yourself, the principles below might just be the helpful advice that you need during these difficult times.

If your sales team starts to adopt these principles - and execute them properly - you should start to see some positive results in a few short weeks.

How much time do they have?

Let’s look at a simple example. There are 365 days in a calendar year. When you deduct the number of unproductive days from this, you can establish how many days they have available to actually sell.

Weekends (52 weeks x 2 days) = 104 days.

Annual leave (typically 4 weeks x 5 days) = 20 days.

Bank holidays (typically) = 8 days.

Sick leave (approx.) = 5 days.

So, assuming they don’t work during the weekend or during their holidays, they each have around 137 unproductive days a year.

This leaves only 228 days to meet their sales target!

Put it another way, if their sales target is £1.0m, then they need to sell on average £4,386 of products/services per day or £83,333 per month to meet their target!

This exercise really puts things in perspective and focuses your mind on what must be achieved doesn’t it?

So, how should they spend their time?

To achieve their sales target they need to know where it’s best to spend their valuable time to make the most impact. To do this it is always advisable for them to have a plan. This can then be further broken down into sales call goals and objectives. They can then set their priorities and organise customer visits, meetings, and sales calls to maximise their efficiency and effectiveness, ultimately saving time and money.

As part of their plan they should focus on three separate key areas:

1. As 80 per cent of their sales generally comes from 20 per cent of their customers, they should analyse historical sales data from their existing customers to establish who their key customers are, what they buy, how often they buy and how much revenue and profit they generate for them. They can then investigate opportunities to develop more business from them and perhaps expand upon your product/service offering.
2. Review their outstanding leads, opportunities, and enquiries. Create a sales forecast focusing on those that can be converted in the short term and have received budget sign-off. Speak to the appropriate decision-makers and convert the sale.
3. Carry out on-going business development to build and maintain their sales pipeline. This can involve cold-calling old customers and prospects that they haven’t spoken to for a while, maintaining an existing relationship and establishing if there is a further need for your product or service. They could also create an avatar of their target customer, put a prospect list together and start chasing those leads!

You’ve presented your product or service to the prospect. This has generated interest, you’ve sent out a proposal and followed it up in a timely manner. But what next? How do you know when your prospect is ready to buy?

Timing is everything, and knowing when to close the sale critical. Knowing when the prospect is ready to buy will improve your ability to close the sale. This is where your active listening and observation skills come to the fore. Buyers are likely to give out verbal and non-verbal clues. These are known as buying signals and are the first step to closing the sale either with a test close or a full close. Both of which we will cover in future blogs.

So, what buying signals should you be looking out for? There are many, but here are a few examples:

1. Any Questions Around Price

When a prospect is asking questions that relate to price this should be considered as a positive. Often, if this is the case, the prospect has reviewed your proposal and is interested. This is where you can make sure that any outstanding issues and questions are resolved and move the sale forward by looking at payment options including perhaps milestone payments.

2. Questions About Availability/Delivery

If a prospect is interested, it is likely they will raise questions around availability. For example, they may question the delivery terms mentioned in your proposal or ask for a more detailed delivery schedule. They may also ask if the delivery times you have quoted can be reduced. If the delivery periods are unachievable you may be able to consider other options to assist them.

3. Repeating Statements

A prospect will often ask a question about a key benefit or ask you to confirm something that you have already mentioned that was of particular interest to them. Here the prospect is clarifying if what’s important to them has been considered and is included in the offer.

4. Product or Service Questions

Specific questions that relate to the product or service are usually an indication that the prospect is interested. Questions such as how does this operate? What is the time period between overhauls? What are the options available? Are all key buying signals.

5. Warranty or Guarantee Questions

Prospects may want to limit their risk exposure by asking questions around the warranty period that you’ve included within your offer. Here you can alleviate their fears by talking in-depth about what is covered and length. You could also discuss extending the warranty period if this is an option.

6. Buying Noises

Prospects will also show their interest by making comments. There are many, but examples may include things like – that’s helpful, I didn’t know that, that’s just what we need, that’s interesting – so it is vital that you ask pertinent questions and make sure you really listen to what’s really important to the prospect.

What is a test close, and when would you use it?

In our last blog we raised the question of knowing when your prospect is ready to buy. We introduced the concept of buying signals being the first step to closing the sale either with a test close or a full close. But what is a test close and when would you use it?

A test close is simply raising a deliberate open question with your prospect. It’s a useful way of gauging how interested the prospect is without going for a full close. A full close could put them off if it’s too early in the sales process. So a simple “how does that sound?” or “how did you find our proposal?” can be a way of making sure that you’ve sufficiently clarified everything and provided all the information that your prospect is seeking. It also gives the salesperson the opportunity to watch out for verbal and non-verbal clues that could provide some indication of the prospect’s intentions.

The test close starts a conversation so the salesperson can enter dialogue. This allows them to respond to whatever the prospects say. If the prospect has a doubt or is needing more information, this is the ideal time to provide it before trying another test close. Alternatively, with a positive response, the salesperson could go for a full close which we will cover in a future blog.