Spark Your Sales by Mark Mandell
165
Copyright 2008 by The Spark Organization, LLC
Transcript of Spark Your Sales by Mark Mandell
Copyright 2008 by The Spark Organization, LLC
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SPARK YOUR SALES
BY
MARK MANDELL, DC, MBA
www.TheVitalityDepot.com
www.SparkYourCompany.com
Register for a Spark Your Sales Workshop at
www.Sparkinar.com
Phone - 866-940-3656
Dr. Mark Mandell is an international motivational and business
development speaker. He was the Medical Staff Chairman for the
1994 World Cup Opening Ceremonies At Age 23. Dr. Mandell
was also a Chicago Bulls NBA cheerleader. He has been an
Industry Consultant to Fortune 100 and small businesses His
clients Increased sales in the 4th quarter of 2008 by 36% To 260%.
Spark Your Sales
This book is dedicated to my family and friends who have
encouraged and cheered for me throughout many years. I have
been blessed in having so many wonderful people in my life. To
some people, the currency of success may be riches, but mine has
always been love.
The love of a dear friend, some lifelong and great mentors
and others new companions, in which the feeling of
connectedness is always strong.
The love of a relative – from my always loving
grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, nephews, brothers,
sister and parents, all of whom I wish I could see more often.
But there is no greater, deeper and truer love than that of
a loving spouse and adoring children. To my wife Jessica and my
incredible twins, Hannah and Joshua, you are the most wonderful
treasure in my life. Thank you for being an extraordinary part of
my life and reminding me about what really matters in success.
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CONTENTS
Introduction
1. The Lifeblood of the Company
2. Start Sales With A Spark
3. When Are You Selling?
4. Spark Sales in Your Store
5. Spark Your Sales in The Customer’s Office
6. Spark Your Sales Over the Phone
7. Spark Your Sales Over the Internet
8. Spark Your Sales at Trade Shows
9. Spark Your Sales Through Distributors
10. The Long-Term Sale
11. Winning Sales Contests
12. Sparking It All Together
Spark Your Sales
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this book is to guide you on the path from
ordinary to EXTRAORDINARY. Every day we are faced with
opportunities to do better, but all too often we fail to see and take
hold of what lies right in front of us. It’s like standing knee deep in
the water of success, but not knowing that we can take a drink. By
transitioning yourself from acting ordinary to being extraordinary,
you are elevating each touch point with a customer and will be en
route to success.
Transformation is never easy. The first few steps are
always uncomfortable. Keep moving forward though, because the
uneasy feeling is actually a good sign. It shows that you are
growing and improving. And soon enough, the changes begin to
feel normal. This is when you have reached your next level of
success.
When my son Joshua was five years old, I was tucking him
into the bed the night before his first ever soccer practice. He
didn’t seem comfortable, so I asked him what was wrong.
“Dad,” he asked. “Is it normal for little kids to be nervous
about soccer?”
“Sure,” I smiled. “You have never played soccer before
with a team, so you don’t know what to expect. You are stepping
into something new and unfamiliar. So, of course, it’s going to feel
strange and you can feel nervous. It’s okay.”
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“Thanks Dad.”
“And you know what else, Josh?”
“What?”
“Every other little kid who is signed up for soccer that is
going to bed right now is probably a little nervous too. You’re not
the only one.”
“Really?”
“Yes, Josh. And tomorrow you have an opportunity to do
something extraordinary. Even if you’re nervous, you can do this.”
“What is it, Dad?”
“Well, tomorrow, there’s going to be a lot of little kids out
there who are nervous. You can do something great by
recognizing if a kid is nervous tomorrow, going over to them and
being their friend. Do you think you want to do that?”
“I think so.”
“OK. Sleep tight. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
The next day, Joshua woke up, dressed himself and got his
soccer ball. I found him standing on my side of the bed waiting for
me to wake up at five AM.
“I’m ready Daddy.”
“Josh, it’s still a little early. Why don’t you go back to
sleep?”
Spark Your Sales
“I can’t sleep. I’m ready to go to soccer practice. I don’t
think I’m nervous anymore.”
I got myself up. We had some breakfast and played some
games. Finally, after what seemed like days to Joshua, we headed
out to the soccer fields. We were the first ones there. So, Joshua
and I ran out to the field and started kicking the ball back and
forth. Little by little the other kids were arriving with their
parents. Most of the kids ran onto the field and started kicking,
running and chasing their balls.
One boy got out of his car and held onto his father’s leg,
screaming. His father was a big guy, but he could not get the boy
off his leg and could not get him to stop screaming. Actually it was
more like wailing. You could hear it clear across the field. His boy
did not want to play soccer.
“Dad,” Joshua said. “Look. I think that boy is nervous
about soccer. I think I’ll go be his friend and help him.”
Astonished, I watched as my little five year old son picked
up his soccer ball and ran to the sidelines. He approached the little
boy and said, “Hi, I’m Joshua. What’s your name?”
The little boy was caught off guard by Joshua approaching
him and stopped crying. The silence was noticeable and all the
parents turned to see what made him stop. The big father looked
down at his son and Joshua.
“I’m Carson,” the little boy sniffled.
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“Hi Carson!” said Joshua. “Want to play some soccer with
me?”
“S-s-sure.”
Joshua now bent down to pick up Carson’s ball in his other
arm, in quite an amazing balancing act. The two of them ran off
into the field, dropped the balls and started kicking them. The
parents along the sideline looked at me incredulously. I smiled
and felt like Father of the Year!
My son loves playing sports, but he may or may not
become a superstar athlete. He may or may not play college or
professional sports. He may or may not become a sports
champion. But no matter what he achieves, I may never be as
proud of him as I was on that first day of soccer. Five year old
Joshua made the move from ordinary to extraordinary and
impacted all the adults who witnessed him that day. Like Joshua,
each of us should strive to overcome our fears and BE
EXTRAORDINARY!
Spark Your Sales
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SALES ARE THE LIFEBLOOD Sales are the lifeblood of a company. Sales are the fire.
Sales are how a company earns money and has an operating
business. No matter what
business you are in, you need
to have incoming revenue in
order to stay in business, and
that incoming revenue is
generated by the sales
department. In turn, with the
money from the incoming
revenue, the company
purchases inventory,
manufactures an order, pays
its suppliers and provides a
service or product to its
customers. The revenue from
sales provides money to hire
employees, pay wages and
build facilities. The entire
business process starts and runs with SELLING.
Spark selling is
helping a
customer to
discover their true
needs and then
working with the
customer to make
sure those needs
are properly met.
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Despite some bad connotations with snake oil salesmen,
selling is actually an honorable profession and often the most
lucrative within a company. In most companies, the top
performing sales professionals are the most highly compensated
because of the value that they provide. To a Spark Sales
Professional, selling is not about trickery or misleading statements
to induce a customer to buy something they don’t need. Spark
selling is helping a customer to discover their true needs and then
working with the customer to make sure those needs are properly
met. The negative version of selling is “scamming,” in which the
scammer is trying to outwit the buyer into making a purchase that
they don’t need or want.
Professional selling may
involve helping that
customer to think beyond
the initial product or service
to see the bigger picture, but
selling should always be
conducted with the
customer’s best interest at heart.
A Spark Sales Professional learns what a potential
customer needs or wants and shows them how his or her product
or service fills that void. A professional insurance salesman will
True success in sales
requires a passion
for the work.
Spark Your Sales
educate you about financial risk you may have from injury,
catastrophe or death and then will provide you with a policy to
protect you from it. A professional retail clothing sales clerk will
show you the latest fashions and help you to select wardrobe
items that fit you and highlight your best features. A professional
industrial parts sales representative will demonstrate how the
latest technology has created better, safer or more cost effective
parts for you to include in your product. A professional consultant
will talk with you about the problems in your organization and
provide you with answers and a plan to correct them. In each case,
selling is about adding value.
Just like any profession, if you love the work that you are
doing, then it shows in the results. My grandfather Dr. Emanuel
Mandell was a chiropractor in the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s in New
Jersey. He graduated from chiropractic college, and was licensed
in Vermont and Florida. Although chiropractic was legal and
licensed in most states, New Jersey was not one of them. New
Jersey, though, was my grandfather’s home and he wanted to help
his community in Linden. During his career, my grandfather was
arrested 13 times for providing chiropractic care under the charge
of practicing medicine without a license in New Jersey, even
though there was no way for him to get licensed.
Like many chiropractors of his day, my grandfather had an
incredible passion for his work and his ability to help patients. He
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spoke with the police chief about chiropractic and the police chief
became a patient. Each time the police chief had to serve the
arrest warrant, he and my grandfather would pick up the
chiropractic table, carry it out to the chief’s car and hang a sign on
the front door of the office for patients to go see Dr. Mandell at
the City Jail.
All this so my grandfather could continue to help his
patients. Did it work? You bet it did! My father remembers as a
young boy bringing dinner to the jail and having to walk past
dozens of patients lined up on the steps waiting to sign with the
deputy and walk into a jail cell to be adjusted by my grandfather.
A few years later, when Governor Hughes of New Jersey signed
chiropractic into law, my grandfather, who was president of the
New Jersey Chiropractic Society at the time, was standing right
behind him, smiling from ear to ear. I keep a photograph of that
signing hanging in my office.
Do you have that level of passion for your job, for your
company and for your product or service that you believe it’s
important enough to go to jail for the right to sell it? If they
outlawed your product, would you continue to sell it just because
it’s the morally right thing to do, and you believe in its vital
importance? And if you indeed feel that passionately about your
product that you would be arrested and continue to sell it in the
Spark Your Sales
face of the law, would your customers also feel that same level of
passion and visit you in jail so they could buy from you? That’s the
power of passion. If you have
this energy for your job, then
your customers will too.
There are some businesses
that at first glance don’t seem
to require selling. Take a
plumber for example, who
comes to your house to unclog
a sink. Is he selling when he
shows up at your door? Well,
the plumber’s marketing and
advertising made you aware of
how to reach him. But when
he answered the phone and
arrived at your house, he was actually selling his services based on
a timely response to your call and maintaining a professional
manner. If he answered the phone rudely, you may have moved
on to the next plumber in the phone book. If he showed up at your
house late, did shoddy work and left your place a mess, you would
not have called him again. His “selling” was conducted by how he
provided his service. He was selling his services for your next
project.
Every touch point,
every contact,
every phone call
and every
interaction with a
customer can lead
to a sale.
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Therein lies the real truth about selling. It is not done only
by the sales team and customer service department. Selling
should occur throughout the entire company by EVERYONE in the
company. Every touch point, every contact, every phone call and
every interaction with a customer can lead TO a sale or lead AWAY
from a sale.
Therefore, every touch point, every contact, every phone
call and every interaction with a customer should be viewed as a
business opportunity,
because no matter who
you are in the company -
accounting, billing,
assembly, purchasing,
information technology,
marketing, data analyst,
human resources, designer
or maintenance, when you
are communicating with a customer, you are either leading them
to a sale or leading them away from a sale. So, like it or not, no
matter who you are within a company, you are selling.
Now, an obvious question to ask is how does a
maintenance facility person sell when no customer ever comes to
the facility? That person never speaks with or even sees a
The difference between
order taking and order
making is the additional
value that you are
providing.
Spark Your Sales
customer. Selling involves the reputation of the company. The
maintenance person is supporting the selling operations team and
their environment. The maintenance person also is creating the
professional reputation of the company by maintaining the facility
to impress customers, partners, suppliers and employees.
Decisions to conduct business with a company will involve the
image that company portrays. A clean, orderly facility provides a
very different image from a filthy, messy one, and will certainly
attract more business. So, if you ask me if I think vacuuming a
floor can impact sales, I say yes. Everyone in a company can have
an impact on sales – whether those sales, be they for today or
tomorrow or the tomorrow after that.
There is also a distinct difference between order TAKING
and order MAKING. If a customer calls in with an order, and a
customer service representative simply takes the order and enters
it into the computer, then that is order taking. It is a personalized
way to check out and pay for an order. But if that same customer
service representative asks the right questions of the customer,
educates the customer about the products and services offered by
the company, and connects the customer with the right items to
meet his or her needs, then that customer service representative is
MAKING an order. The difference between order taking and order
making is the additional value that you are providing. Order takers
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are just simply order takers. Order makers are salespeople. Which
ones do you want talking with your customers?
I often hear from people that Marketing drives sales. I
especially hear this from people who work in marketing
departments. I do agree with the comment. In a perfect world,
the marketing team
researches, designs,
tests, develops,
launches, advertises
and, of course, markets
the products. But the
marketing team is all
about DEVELOPING the
right products in the right packaging at the right price and
COMMUNICATING all of this to the right audience at the right
time. Marketing should let the world know who your company is
and make the phone ring. Marketing is absolutely an essential
part of the selling process that is occurring throughout the
company. Spark Sales Professionals, however, close the deal.
They are working on the front lines of the company, getting the
signed agreement and ringing up the cash register. EVERYONE in
the company should be involved with selling, but salespeople are
Spark Salespeople are the
revenue warriors who battle
for sales every day for the
sake of the company.
Spark Your Sales
the revenue warriors who battle for sales every day for the sake of
the company.
In this view, the Spark Sales Professionals are the
protectors of the lifeblood of the company. When a company is
growing, there’s money for pay increases, bonuses, raises, perks,
benefits and other investments. There are more budgeted funds
to hire staffing, pursue new projects and purchase equipment.
Growing a company’s sales offers greater opportunities for
everyone. So, let’s figure out how to spark more selling, so we can
all benefit!
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2
START SALES WITH A SPARK The single biggest key to sparking your sales to success is
JUST START DOING IT NOW. So many people get stuck by the
fear of rejection that they procrastinate about starting and deny
themselves the opportunity to actually sell. They can think of
every negative reason why an idea won’t sell and literally talk
themselves into a state of fear. The result is that they just don’t
get started. So, if you want to succeed at selling, just get started.
SPARK 1: SHOWING UP
I learned the first spark of selling, SHOWING UP, in my
first sales job. I was selling home heating oil contracts door to
door to new home buyers, and practically anyone else who would
talk with me. Home heating oil is a fairly commoditized product,
and my employer, Dawn Fuel, was in a competitive market with
about a dozen other companies. We spruced up the offer by
including a furnace cleaning and 50 free gallons for their first year
(home oil tanks came in 250, 500 and 1000 gallon sizes). I worked
this job two and a half months each year from early June to late
August, during my summer break from college, and in those two
Spark Your Sales
and a half months, I could outsell the other sales representatives
who worked the whole year!
Bill, the owner of Dawn Fuel, wanted to know my secret. I
didn’t understand what he was talking about. I didn’t have a
secret. Bill had me talk with the team about my sales pitch, how I
overcame objections and even the clothes I wore, but my
suggestions didn’t seem to help.
It wasn’t until years later that I
finally figured out the special
difference. The key to my success
was SHOWING UP. It wasn’t that
the other sales reps didn’t go to work and go door to door. They
did. But I had daytime college classes, so I could only go door to
door Monday through Friday from 5pm till dark and on the
weekends from 9-5. It sounds obvious now, but I SHOWED UP at
my prospects’ homes when they were home. The other sales reps
worked from 9-5 on Monday through Friday, when most people
weren’t home! Sure they were working a 40-hour week, but what
good is it to show up and try to sell if your prospect isn’t even
there?
I have seen this same problem at enough companies to
know that SHOWING UP is a problem. I worked with a company
on the west coast of the United States that started answering their
phones at 9am Pacific time, although they deal with clients across
Stupidity has
no boundaries.
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the United States. That means that clients in New York and the
rest of the east coast have to wait until noon to call them because
of the time difference. How many of those sales are going to their
competitors? Their competition has a three hour head start on
them EVERY DAY. So what does SHOWING UP mean? It means
being there when and where your customers are.
You are probably saying to yourself, “How stupid can
those people be – trying to sell to people at the wrong times?”
And you are right. Stupidity outwits the best laid intelligent plans
every time. When stupidity goes up against intelligence,
somehow, stupidity always finds a way to win. Don’t believe me
yet? Think about the best and most comprehensive plan that you
have ever put together in your life. Did any simple, stupid, little
thing happen that upset that plan? Someone decided to pull the
electric plug from the lights, someone forgot to bring plates to the
company picnic, someone brought the wrong tool, someone gave
you the measurements in centimeters but failed to tell you they
weren’t inches, and so on. There are a million ways that stupidity
can worm its way into any plan – and it always does. So remember
that as simple as it may sound, the first key spark to successful
sales is SHOWING UP.
Spark Your Sales
SPARK 2: KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING
The second key spark is almost as simple – KNOW WHAT
YOU ARE DOING. I am not a fan of trial by fire. Throwing a
person into a situation without any training sets him or her up for
failure, and I am a believer in setting people up for success. That
means you need to know your product, your offer, your customer,
your company, your market and your competition. At the very
least, you need to know a bit more than what your customer
knows. At the very most, you should be the leading expert on
what you sell. Your
company should provide
for this training. If they
don’t, then ask for it. If
they still don’t, then make
the investment to learn it
yourself.
Product training
usually occurs at the start
of your job and then often
gets overlooked as time
goes on until a new product is introduced. Over time, everyone
develops their own way of talking about the product and falls into
a rut. Sales representatives can even start to believe some of their
own stretched truths about the product or service once they
To be successful in To be successful in To be successful in To be successful in
sales, you need to sales, you need to sales, you need to sales, you need to
know your stuff and know your stuff and know your stuff and know your stuff and
know what you are know what you are know what you are know what you are
trying to achieve. trying to achieve. trying to achieve. trying to achieve.
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repeat it dozens of times. Salespeople can pick up some rumors
from customers about the value of their products and mistakenly
start to incorporate them into sales presentations.
Periodically stopping to do a product facts check can be
very helpful in making sure that
everything is communicated
accurately. A simple exercise for a
Spark Sales Professional to do is to
write down all the facts and talking
points they use to talk about their
product or service and have it reviewed by a manager. It’s
amazing how some assumed and oft repeated product facts
actually are falsehoods.
Special sales offers change over time, especially offers
made by sales representatives to customers. These offers can
comprise as much as 100% of any company’s business. New offers
communicated to sales representatives should be done in writing
all of the time. Customers have a knack for finding the loopholes in
any special deals and taking advantage of them. And sales
representatives who are incentivized by commissions and bonuses
are encouraged to garner sales and make customers happy. To
ensure that special offers are communicated and sold properly,
there should be a check and balance system within the company
Knowing your
customer is
critical.
Spark Your Sales
so that someone other than the sales representative can review
the orders. This review does not have to occur at the point of sale,
but it should occur within 24 hours. Although most of deals the
sales representatives make are kosher, mistakes can and do occur,
more often guided by overzealousness for a sale than intentional
outwitting of the system.
Knowing your customer is critical. If you have the chance
to prepare prior to a customer meeting, reviewing information on
them can put you a step ahead of any competitor. Visiting the
customer’s website is key, but also Googling them or asking other
people about them can be extraordinarily insightful.
If you don’t have the luxury of researching a customer, use
the conversation during the sale to learn more about them. Are
they environmentally conscious and focus on “green” products? Is
there a particular charity which they support? Is their company in
the midst of a major new initiative or project like an acquisition?
How can you best serve that customer and provide them with the
maximum value? Simply, by knowing what makes them “tick.”
Equally as critical is knowing your company, inside and
out. This goes far beyond knowing the company history and its
public relations statements. REALLY know your company by
learning how business gets done and who does it. Learn how to
fast track an order. Learn how to customize a special order. Learn
how to get a new policy approved. Learn who the go-to people
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are. In essence, learn how to work within the channels of your
business and behind-the-scenes. This expertise makes you an
extraordinarily valuable resource to your customers.
Understanding your market and your competition better
than your customers is the last component to knowing what you
are doing. Read trade journals and industry reports. Talk to other
suppliers and manufacturers. Join industry trade groups, and
follow their newsletters. Not only will this help you to spot trends,
but you increase your value as a Sale Professional by being able to
communicate this market information to your customers. Selling
clothes? Read the fashion magazines. Selling medicines? Read
the medical journals. Selling software? Read the technology
blogs. Know your best sources for information and stay on top of
them. No matter what you are selling, a Spark Sales Professional
should be an industry expert.
SPARK 3: KNOWING YOUR GOALS
The third spark is KNOWING YOUR GOALS. If you have
goals, you understand what you are trying to achieve. I once
worked for a company that was absolutely ecstatic when they sold
two to three units of their product in a month. I remember my first
trade show for them because my seminar partner and I sold six
units in one weekend for them and the company was astounded.
Spark Your Sales
So we did it again at the next trade show, and then repeated it
over and over and have now laid those records in the dust as we
continued to figure out how to grow the sales.
How did we do this? We made this the primary product
sale at trade shows. We laser focused the sales goals, the
commissions and the sales representatives’ attention solely on this
product. It was all management talked about for months, so it
soon became all the
sales representatives
talked about. As we
reached higher level of
sales success, we then
worked to figure out
how to get to the next
level. Along with
marketing
improvements and a
focused company-wide
effort, we were
ultimately able to
achieve monthly sales over 100 times the original levels!
The funny thing about knowing your goals is that you
often figure out how to hit them. When you think about
something long and hard enough, the brain somehow figures out
Having a defined goal to
achieve is an incredible
psychological motivator
for Spark Sales
Professionals to do just
a little bit more.
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how to get there. True Spark Sales Professionals somehow figure
out how to hit their prescribed goals, no matter how aggressive
they may seem.
Make a few extra phone calls each day. Approach more
walk-in customers. Learn how to cross-sell a special product
better. Whatever it takes. Knowing your goals means that you
write them down, look at them and read them aloud each day until
you believe in your ability to achieve them.
SPARK 4: HAVE THE RIGHT POSITIVE ATTITUDE
The fourth key spark to success in selling is HAVE THE
RIGHT POSITIVE ATTITUDE. You need to be properly motivated
yourself in order to properly motivate your customer into buying.
Attitude is absolutely everything and is absolutely contagious. Did
you ever meet a person who had such incredibly negative energy
that by walking into a room, he literally sucked the smiles off of
everyone’s face and brought a feeling of awkwardness? If you
never met such a person, then go look in the mirror because you
might actually be him! To be a truly great Spark Sale Professional,
you need to be the exact opposite of that person. You need to be
positive energy. You need to be able to instantly generate smiles
and a feeling of comfort and approachability when you enter a
room or answer the phone.
Spark Your Sales
Take a look at yourself in the mirror, and see if you would
want to do business with yourself. Do you match up with the
people in your industry? If you are selling fitness products, are you
in healthy shape? If you are selling fashion clothing, do you dress
and look fashionable? If you are selling medical drugs, do you look
intelligent, like you master the science surrounding the drug and
the disease?
Having the right
attitude is partly about
looking like you belong,
but it’s also about feeling
like you belong. When
you feel that you belong in
your job, you are
CONFIDENT. You walk,
speak and carry yourself
with confidence. It gives
you a bit of a swagger.
You are more believable
and more inspirational
with confidence. And you sell a lot more.
Here is the difference. When you have confidence in
yourself, in your product and in your company, you start off a sales
call knowing that you can help the prospect. They can sense that
You need people to
want to talk with you.
You need people to
want to like you. You
need people to want to
do business with you.
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from you and will connect in that belief in yourself, your product
and your company. This is very different from starting off a sales
call feeling like a total loser who is expecting not to get the sale.
Don’t feel like a loser. Feel like a winner. Believe that you can
accomplish the sale. Whether you approach the customer in your
store, in their office, at a tradeshow or over the phone, believe in
yourself first.
Most of the time I have that belief in myself when I am
selling, but there are also times that I need to reset my attitude.
There are tons of books
on this subject (visit us
online at
www.SparkYourCompa
ny.com for some
suggestions), so try to build a library for when you need them. I
have several bookshelves of motivational books that I peruse on a
weekly basis to stay optimistic. But I will tell you what else I do
when my confidence level drops. I use a repetitive mantra – “You
can do this Mark, Mark you can do this.” I say this over and over in
my head, and if no one is around, then I repeat it out loud over and
over. Usually after a few repetitions, I can feel my confidence
coming back up and believe that I can actually do this task. I
Don’t feel like a loser.
Feel like a winner.
Spark Your Sales
imagine my confidence meter like a gas gauge going from near
empty and getting back to full.
I also use a lot of visioning techniques to strengthen the
right attitude. When I made cold calls to sell insurance, I would
start my day by visioning a stack of
signed insurance policies next to
me. Today, before I begin each
sales call, I spend a few moments to
focus my mind and envision walking
out with a signed agreement. I
picture in my mind shaking the
customer’s hand to seal the deal
and hearing “Yes.” “You can do this
Mark. Mark, you can do this,” repeats in my head. I AM READY
NOW!
SPARK 5: MAINTAIN CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
The fifth key spark to success in selling is MAINTAIN
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS. Too often, salespeople focus on
getting the next new customer and neglect their current customer
base. Take care of your customers, and your customers will take
care of you. Customer attrition will happen naturally, but Spark
Sales Professionals will slow that attrition and develop ways to
serve them better. Quality issues and problems certainly affect
Care for your
customers,
or your
competitors
will.
29
customers, but the feeling that you don’t care about them will
push customers away faster than anything else. Two-thirds of
customers who leave a company cite a feeling of indifference from
the company as their reason for leaving. They felt like a number,
or that the company didn’t care about
them.
The best way to take care of
your customers is to give them more
than what they expect and exceed
their satisfaction levels. Here’s why. A
customer who is “satisfied” gets what
she wants but doesn’t talk about it. An
engaged customer gets what she
wants PLUS more. She will talk about that experience to many
others – as many as ten other potential customers! Don’t we all
want our customers talking and bragging about us? What better
way to generate more new customers. Word of mouth advertising
is the strongest buying influence and is absolutely free. All it takes
is INCREDIBLE customer care!
What’s the best way to maintain relationships with your
customers? Communicate with them regularly. Communication is
a two-way street. Sending monthly emails, newsletters and
postcards is a good step, but it’s communication in only one
All it takes is
INCREDIBLE
customer
care.
Spark Your Sales
direction. You need to hear feedback from the customer. Sure,
the customers wants to know what is going in your business, but
even more importantly, they want you to know what’s going on in
their business and how you can help them.
So provide a forum to make
this happen. Visit or call your
customers on a weekly to quarterly
basis, listen to them and respond to
any questions from them. Even GE,
the titan of companies, has a program
in which they will place their
employees in their major customers’ facilities to do just that –
listen and respond! When my staff consults with companies, one
of the first things we coach the CEO to do is to meet with the top
customers and make sure that the company is meeting their needs
and then some. So as a Spark Sales Professional, you want to
absolutely make sure that you are maintaining those relationships.
You also need to communicate correctly. One of the most
annoying things from a customer’s perspective is the pesky
salesperson coming around once a month “to see how things are
going.” Know what? Things are going just fine. See you next
month, buddy.
Too many sales representatives fail to respect their
customers’ time. If you are going to stop by to see a customer,
Your Time
is Worth
Money
31
make sure you have a message of value for that customer each
and every time. Make the customer look forward to seeing you
because of what you provide them. Bring by a list with the
monthly special offers, drop off a new sample, deliver a special
order, offer to speak with their sales representatives, share some
industry data or have some specific survey questions to ask them.
Whatever you do, make sure that in exchange for taking up the
customer’s time, you are providing something of value.
The value of this time should be an advantage to you as
well. Your time is worth money, so you need to maximize
opportunities for yourself when you make a sales call. Is there a
second sale opportunity? Can you help the customer to sell more
units? Is it possible to get a referral from the customer?
The basic point of all selling is to remember to maximize
the value of your time. In a perfect sales world, every customer
you speak with would buy the maximum amount from you. In a
realistic world, even major league baseball players are celebrated
for getting on base three out of ten times at bat. Working smarter
and utilizing the Five Key Sparks to Successful Selling will get you
one step closer to achieving the perfect sales world. When can you
get started on that journey? Right now.
Spark Your Sales
3
WHEN ARE YOU SELLING? When I travel to lecture for companies and conventions,
after the speech, I am often approached by folks from the
audience who will say, “This is nice and interesting Mark, but I’m
not a salesperson.”
“Do you have a job?”
“Yes.”
“How’d you get it?”
“I saw an ad, interviewed for it and got hired.”
“Did you sell yourself during the interview or did you send
someone else to do your interview for you? Isn’t that how you got
the job?”
“I hadn’t thought about it like that.”
We are always selling, whether we think about it or not.
When we are dating, we “sell” ourselves to the guy or girl we think
is attractive or interesting. We “sell” our advice to our children by
convincing them that we know something. We “sell” our stories
at parties by participating in conversations and interjecting humor,
items of interest or familiar names.
When I venture out into the world, I try to “sell” smiles. I
want people to have enjoyed the few minutes of time that we
33
interacted, and I see that currency of success in their faces when
they walk away with a smile. When I walk into the health club
each morning, I am greeted by the same woman. Most days, she
is in a good mood, but like anyone else, she has her days and can
be overwhelmed. She can tell me about her husband’s health
problems, some large bill or the furnace that broke in her house.
On those days I will respond, “Wow, sounds like you have some
issues. This is when it’s
important to remember
the blessings and great
things we DO have in our
life.” She will pause for a
second while she starts
reframing her thinking and
then she smiles. Ka-Ching!
The smile cash register
rings up another sale!
Anybody who has
worked with me will say
that I am always working. I am always talking with people about
ways that we can help you and help your business. Why? Because
I am passionate about what I do. I eat, breathe and live my
business. I simply love my work.
It doesn’t matter
what you are selling,
but the more that you
are “open for
business,” the more
you will sell.
Spark Your Sales
When you love your work, it becomes your essence.
When you love your work, it becomes your identity. When you
love your work, it is no longer “work.”
How you identify yourself in relation to your job will often
predict your success at it. Too many people are not happy in their
jobs. How can you be passionate about your work and sell that
excitement about it to others when you are not happy in your job?
The truth is that you can’t. If your job doesn’t excite and energize
you, then find a way to change your perception of that job, or find
a new job.
The 9 to 5 mentality maintains that you are only working
for eight hours a day and after that, you are free to do something
else. But if you are engaged with your work, then you are thinking
and talking about it all day long because you are inspired about it.
You are finding connections to customers, coming up with new
sales concept and growing yourself.
Now I am a big believer in work-life balance, so I don’t
think being “on” 24 hours a day is the right way to have a
successful career. With my business travel, I do have to make
sacrifices regarding family time. But if you spend time with me,
you’ll know quickly that I talk about my family a lot. In fact, my
wife and my children are probably my most favorite subject to talk
about. Why? Because I love having them in my thoughts and
sharing the happiness and inspiration they have given me.
35
Carrying around your work identity should not become
intrusive into your family life, but you do need to carry it with you
beyond the Monday through Friday 9 to 5 work week. Think of
how many people you meet after hours and on the weekends.
How many of those people know what you do? Do you know what
kind of work these people do?
This type of interaction is about networking. Off-hours
networking to grow your business is a fantastic sales booster.
People are connected to each other in amazing ways. How many
times have you inadvertently met someone who turns out to know
exactly the person you were trying to reach in a big company – and
they were willing to make that introduction? If it hasn’t happened
for you, then you are missing the off-hours networking
opportunities.
Spark Your Sales
Your social network has far-reaching opportunities.
Often, the people closest to you can be some of your biggest
promoters. Encourage your friends and family to talk about your
services in a way that’s comfortable for them. It’s easier for them
to sell you if you have a standard profession – like a chiropractor,
landscaper or car dealer. It’s a bit harder for them to promote your
services if you are highly specialized or in a technical field. Either
way, they can best help
you to network by
having a clear and
simple description of
your business.
This is your 30-
second elevator pitch.
This is how you
introduce yourself when
someone asks what you
do. You need to make it
so easy to remember, to
say and to understand,
that anyone can do it. Then, you need to say it A LOT. Break it
down to its elemental simplicity. The fewer words you use, the
better it probably is.
“We grow companies! We
find the leaks in the sales
and marketing programs
and fix them. Our goal is to
make your current sales
and marketing programs
less ‘leaky’ and get
better results.”
37
After years of trying to explain the business development
work that I do, involving sales and marketing strategies, sales
organizations, systems development, sales team motivation,
bonus programs, call center management and coaching, I
managed to boil it down to this, when asked what we do. “We
grow companies! We find the leaks in the sales and marketing
programs and fix them. Our goal is to make your current sales and
marketing programs less ‘leaky’ and get better results.” That’s
simple enough for anyone to say, “Hey, I know someone who can
help. He grows companies. He helps a sales team to get better
results. He’s unbelievable! You should talk.”
Why is this so important? Because each of us meets an
amazing number of people each week – on the lines of the soccer
field, in the grocery store, at church and at parties. And the first
question people ask after our name is often, “So what is it that you
do?” I have seen too many people blow this opportunity to pitch
themselves and their companies with this free minute of
advertising because they were not prepared. They either take 10
minutes to explain what they do or they shrug it off like they are
too good to talk shop after hours. I have also seen some amazing
responses in which people can tell you exactly what they do, who
their company is and what kind of customer they are targeting, all
in a smooth manner.
Spark Your Sales
“I sell stylish wallets and belts made from the softest leather
in the world mostly to small mom and pop retail shops.” (I was
instantly intrigued about wanting to see those wallets and belts.)
“I handle worry-free investing for folks wanting to retire
with at least a million in assets.”
“I am a whole body
chiropractor who works with
nutrition, exercises and stress relief
techniques to advance your
wellness.”
If you get a sales lead from
the conversation, then you can hand
it off to someone in the sales
department. The opening of the
sale can be done by anyone, but the
closing of the deal or order can
usually be best done by a Spark
Sales Professional. Getting the
message out there about the
company and product is the important thing.
The simplicity of this is in the re-framing of how you
introduce yourself:
“I run the IT network for the best all-natural vitamin
company.”
Whether you
are in sales or
not, you should
still promote
your company
when you
introduce
yourself.
39
“I do accounting for a stylish but very affordable clothing
store.”
“I am in purchasing for the coolest sports equipment store in
the country.”
Why talk about your company outside of work? Simply
because you never know who is listening. The opportunities for
new business are far more abundant than you think. Keeping it a
secret doesn’t help anyone. Share the message in a concise, easily
worded way, and you will see the power of word of mouth
promotion. Just get started talking with the right words.
Spark Your Sales
4
SPARK SALES IN YOUR STORE The great thing about selling in your store is that the
customer is already there and has expressed some level of interest
in wanting to buy from you. Your store can be a retail store in a
mall, a freestanding store, a restaurant, a warehouse, a kiosk, a
flea market booth or a sandwich truck – the key concept here is
that the customer has approached you in your environment to
look and possibly buy something. Now what?
Your goal now is to find out what the customer is looking
for and to provide them with what they need. Most customers are
looking for a solution to their problem. They may think that they
have the solution in their mind, however they often do not
recognize that other solutions exist. Your job as a Spark Sales
Professional is to help the customer solve their problem, not just
be a companion in their search for their one answer. For example,
a woman walks into a store asking you for a size 8 black dress. If
you didn’t have a size 8 black dress, most salespeople would say,
“I’m sorry, but we are out of them right now.” A Spark Sales
Professional would find out what the size 8 black dress is for, and
might offer a size 8 red dress that better matches the woman’s
complexion and which the store has in stock.
41
A Spark Sales Professional would make sure that size 8
was actually the right size and suggest trying on a size 6 and 10,
which the store has in stock. A real Spark Sales Professional would
also sell the entire package of dress, stockings, bra, shoes,
handbag, watch and throw in some custom alterations at no extra
charge. As I said, the goal of a Spark Sales Professional is solving
the real problem – which in this case was what to wear to a special
party that weekend.
To best understand
the sales process in a store
environment, it’s important
to know the anatomy of a
sale. This helps to let you
know where you are in the
sales process and what steps
can be taken to keep the sale
moving forward.
THE APPROACH
The sale all starts with the APPROACH to the customer.
What, when and how do you approach the customer? The most
common line I hear used in stores is, “Can I help you?” And the
most common response to that uninspired line is “No, I’m just
Start viewing
the world in a
customer’s
perspective.
Spark Your Sales
looking.” We all know that this approach does not work, so let’s
stop using it. Let’s commit to NEVER saying that greeting
question again to a customer and replacing it with a much higher
value greeting.
Start by viewing the world from a customer’s perspective.
She just walked into your store. Through the window, she
probably saw one or two items that caught her attention, and now
she has entered your world. This is not her territory, this is yours.
When you walk into someone else’s territory, our social norms are
such that you are a bit tentative until you are welcomed and
invited to “make yourself at home.” When you go over a friend’s
house, you don’t waltz into the house like it’s your home, you
don’t sit down until invited and you don’t grab food until offered to
do so. The same kind of welcome works in a store.
“Welcome to Beth’s Boutique! I am Susie. Are you familiar
with our place? I would love to show you the layout and help you to
find the exact right thing you are looking for.”
Oftentimes a customer is already in a store and looking at
some merchandise by the time a sales person can get to them.
This happens frequently, in larger stores and in smaller booths.
The approach to a customer who is already actively engaged in
looking at merchandise should be modified somewhat. This is
more akin to approaching someone at a party or club, in which you
want to engage them in conversation without scaring them off.
43
“That’s a great pair of running shoes you are looking at. I
bought them myself and felt a real difference while running.”
“You’ve got a good eye for jewelry. That’s one of my
favorite designs.”
“The fragrance from those plants is wonderful, isn’t it?”
It’s a much kinder, gentler approach that helps a sales
professional to be accepted by the customer. This customer
approach technique is a conversation starter instead of a flippant
line. Who’s going to say “No, I’m just looking” when approached
in this manner?
ENGAGEMENT
This kind of sales approach helps to facilitate
ENGAGEMENT, the second step in the sales process.
Engagement is where the salesperson becomes actively involved
with the customer’s search. Even with the right approach, the
engagement has to occur properly in order to facilitate the sale.
“Are you looking for something for everyday use or for a
special occasion?”
“Is this going to be for you or a gift for someone else?”
“We’ve got some great pants that came in today that would
go really well with the shirt that you are holding. Would you like me
to show them to you?”
Spark Your Sales
To be honest, the last line is not one that I came up with,
but one that was said to me. I was shopping at a men’s clothing
store in Oak Brook, Illinois. I walked into the store to just buy a
shirt and was flipping through the rack, holding one shirt in my
hand, when a saleswoman approached me with that line.
“Sure,” I replied.
“Here, let me carry that shirt for you,” she said. I gave her
the shirt, and she lead me to the pants rack, asked my size and
pulled out two pairs of pants, one brown and one blue. “Why don’t
you try on these, and see if you like them?”
En route to the fitting room, we also harvested another
two shirts that went well with the pants, and a belt too. Hook, line
and sinker. I was sold. Why? Because I was engaged in the
absolutely right way. I was getting fashion advice on how to
update my wardrobe – which was really the whole purpose to my
wanting to buy a new shirt.
How are you engaging your customers with a message of
value? How is your customer engagement taking the experience
to a whole new level of service? Are you providing friendly
leadership and guidance within the store? Are you working from
the customer’s perspective? Engage the customer like a Spark
Sales Professional, and see how the selling becomes transformed
into a buying experience.
45
OPENING THE SALE
OPENING THE SALE is the part of sales process in which
the sales person introduces the merchandise, equipment, service
or material for sale. The key here is to avoid yes or no type
questions and instead offer choices to select:
“Which color would you like to see in your size?”
“Would you prefer to test drive the model T2 car or the
model S3 car?”
“Are you interested in
the preferred package service or
the economy package service?
The preferred package service is
the most popular.”
When asked a choice
question, the customer is lead to
respond under the assumption
of moving forward with a
purchase decision. The more that the Spark Sales Professional can
be the leader in the interaction, the more likely the sale will come
to fruition. People often want to buy things but will hesitate,
procrastinate and sometimes give up, because they are afraid of
making the wrong decision. By using questions to provide the
customer with leadership and guidance for the decision-making
Focus on
their true
needs.
Spark Your Sales
process, a Spark Sales Professional can help the customer to reach
his or her sales decision sooner.
I have seen many sales representatives make conversation
with customers but fail to open the sale by never asking. The
customer is in your store to buy something. You are a salesperson,
not a professional conversationalist. You need to find out what
they want to buy so you can help them. How you ask them
though, is key to the success of the sale. Using guided questions
will help the customer to focus on their true needs, and ultimately
will help you to earn the sale.
Recall the last example of choice questions – “Are you
interested in the preferred package service or the economy package
service? The preferred package service is the most popular.” It
includes an important component, the special tag, “The preferred
package service is the most popular.” When it comes time to make
a selection, people like to know their decisions are positively
validated. If most of the other customers selected a particular
item or package, then it must be a great value! Simply letting a
customer know that “this is the most popular” or that “most of our
customers pick this one” can help a customer to feel more
confident about their decision. They like the endorsement that
other people made the same choice as they did.
In addition to the customer recommendation, another
popular endorsement can be similarly as powerful. This is the
47
“celebrity” endorsement. A celebrity can be someone famous like
a superstar athlete or a movie star, someone respected like a local
doctor or community leader, or someone personal, like a good
friend. When you have the opportunity to leverage such an
endorsement, use it to help with the sale.
PRODUCT DEMONSTRATION
The PRODUCT DEMONSTRATION should follow the
opening of the sale. The product demonstration can consist of the
customer test driving the vehicle, trying on the merchandise,
practicing using the equipment, tasting a flavor, watching a video
about the service or any other means of touching, feeling, seeing,
hearing, tasting, smelling or experiencing the product or service
which you are selling. This can be a technical demonstration such
as one for a medical or industrial product, or it can be a simple
customer-led process like trying on a pair of shoes. The premise
for a successful demo, however, is still the same. The Spark Sales
Professional needs to understand what problem the customer is
looking to solve and make sure that the demonstration addresses
that particular issue.
Spark Your Sales
If a woman is trying on that little
black dress for a night out on the town,
be sure that she has dress shoes and a
handbag to get the total feel of the
evening. The problem she is looking to
solve is what to wear to feel special.
If a doctor is asking about a new medicine, then the Spark
Sales Professional should be sure to have all of the research and
product comparison information on hand to explain the benefits
for patients. The problem the doctor is looking to solve is how to
treat some patients who are not responding well to the currently
prescribed medication.
If a manufacturer is looking to include some new
equipment in the production line, the Spark Sales Professional can
show a video that explains how the product fits in with the current
line, provide a sample product made with the equipment to
demonstrate quality, include a floor plan of the facility to show the
layout options and offer a return-on-investment spreadsheet to
help the manufacturer assess the value of the equipment. The
problem the manufacturer is looking to solve is how to
manufacture his product more cost efficiently.
The key to the demonstration is to answer the questions
of the customer, not just to showcase what you have to offer. The
more questions that a Spark Sales Professional can answer during
Engage the
customer in
a dialogue.
49
the demonstration, the greater the likelihood of the sale and the
faster the purchasing decision can be made.
In addition, to answer these questions, the Spark Sales
Professional has to engage the customer in a dialogue. The
demonstration cannot be a monologue, which it is all too often.
The smartest demonstrations have the Spark Sales Professional
play the role of a guide and the customer the role of a user. In this
process, the Spark Sales Professional can guide the customer with
simple directions and engage the customer with questions. The
best possible outcome for a demonstration is to have the
customer realize the features and benefits himself and tell the
Spark Sales Professional.
Unbelievable as it sounds, this is an incredible selling
process. Using the self-directed demonstration, the most pertinent
components are elicited and discussed, and the customer ends up
essentially selling himself. Hearing something in your own words
is much more powerful and believable then hearing it in someone
else’s words.
During a demonstration, customers will be thinking about
the product and getting a feel for whether they want it or not.
They also want to make sure that they have gathered all of the
required information. Most of the time, they also want to make
sure that they are paying a competitive price. Sometimes they
Spark Your Sales
just want to see if there’s anything better out there. If you are
prepared for these kinds of questions and know how to handle
them during the demonstration, then you can remove objections
even before they come up.
I experienced this sales process in action and loved it! I
was shopping at Best Buy for a new GPS Garmin device. The price
seemed reasonable, and I wanted to get one, but I also like to
comparison shop. When the Spark Sales Professional asked me if
he could ring up my order, I told him that I just wanted to check
the prices online. So he offered to do it right there for me on his
computer, saving me from driving home and back to the store
again. We looked up the device at two competitors and saw the
same price, but one of them included a travel package at a better
price – which he immediately matched for me. I had no other
issues, so I bought it on the spot and felt GREAT about the
experience! Who wouldn’t?
Imagine how powerful this service could be for your
business - providing the right information to your customers to
help speed up the sales decision process and prevent leakage of
sales opportunities. Some leading car insurance companies have
ended sales leaks by doing this with their online and phone rate
quotes with great success.
Leakage is when a customer intends to purchase from you
but, due to a delay or possibly some poor follow up, the customer
51
ends up purchasing from a competitor. Closing the sale during the
first demonstration helps to plug sales leaks and increase overall
sales. The power of the demonstration and having all of the
related information cannot be understated. Improvements to the
demonstration alone can add several percentage points of growth
to a company and have an immediate impact.
OVERCOMING THE OBJECTIONS
OVERCOMING THE OBJECTIONS is the next stage
sparking your sales following the demonstration. Most customers
will have only one or two objections. Rarely, they will have three.
If you are getting more than three objections, your demonstration
probably needs to be refined because it is failing to provide the
basic necessary information.
The best way to initiate the
objection component is to simply ask
the customer.
“So, what do you like about this
new car?”
“How do you feel about putting
this new equipment into your production
line?”
“How do you like the fit of this
Know your
most common
objections in
advance and
be prepared…
Spark Your Sales
suit?”
The key to handling the objection component is to know
your most common objections in advance and be prepared to
respond to each one. This way, when you confirm the objection
with a validation question, you can comfortably answer it and
move forward. Validating an objection is an important but often
overlooked step by novice sales representatives.
Customers will throw out an excuse rather than the truth
because it’s easier and less confrontational. For example, a
customer could say that he needs to check with his wife before
buying the table. To validate the objection, you would ask, “So if
your wife says yes, then you’ll buy the table?” If he says yes, then
you know that you need to work out how he’ll show his wife the
table. If he says no, of course you will have to validate the new
objection as well. “So if the price is what you were looking to pay,
then you would to purchase this table today?” When he answers
yes, then you know that you can bypass the talking to his wife
objection because the real issue is the price.
Now you can come up with financing or some other value
offer to meet his pricing needs. Because objection validation is
such an important step, practice it out loud so it rolls smoothly off
your tongue.
53
The most common objections can be compiled into a
most frequently asked list for easy training. The objections across
all industries are usually the following:
• The price is too much.
• I need to talk with my partner/spouse/manager.
• I’m not ready to buy this.
• I want to think about it.
What you need to recognize when you hear these
common objections is that you have not solved the customer’s
problem within a reasonable level of confidence. So, you need to
correct that. An ordinary salesperson will hear one of these
objections and accept it at face value. An extraordinary Spark
Sales Professional will dig deeper to uncover the true objection.
“The Price Is Too Much.” This objection is fairly common
when a customer has an expectation of the value, but the product
is priced at a different level. This product may or may not be right
for the customer, and it’s the job of a Spark Sales Professional to
find that out.
Spark Your Sales
Sometimes people view prices as the entire purchase price
and sometimes they consider the monthly payment. This is often
true for mortgages, car payments, equipment leases and other
large ticket purchases. Many customers will be more interested in
how they can afford the monthly payment than the purchase
price. Finding the right leasing package can sometimes be as
important to closing the sale as the product itself.
Another consideration is that the product package itself
may be more than what the customer is willing to pay because it
includes more options
than what he needs.
Does the customer really
need the super premium
deluxe package with all
the trimmings or will the
basic economy package
do just fine? I will often
take a small car when
renting cars for business travel because I don’t feel the need to pay
the extra money for a status rental car. Matching the customer’s
needs to the right package option can address the pricing issue.
Customers will also feel the price is too much if they don’t
understand the total value proposition of the product or service.
Paying extra money for premium industrial equipment that can
Factor in the value
added to help each
customer make the
right decision.
55
manufacture more widgets faster can generate a significant cost
savings down the road. Selecting the higher grade energy
efficient washer and dryer saves on electricity bills and the
environment. Purchasing the better made business suit means
that you can get more years of wear.
In these cases, the additional cost of the purchase is
related to the longer term view of an investment in future savings.
Pay more now and save even more later. It is the Spark Sales
Professional’s role to factor in the value added to help a customer
make the right decision.
After you validate the pricing objection, you can respond
with some smarter questions. Notice that your responses should
be in question form rather than statements or arguments. Your
job is to guide the customer, not win an argument about their
need to make a purchase:
“Are you more concerned with the monthly payment or the
total purchase price?”
“Which features of this package are necessary for you? We
can design one that meets your specific needs better.”
“Is it more important for you to save a little money now or a
lot of money later on?”
Spark Your Sales
Remember that your goal is to help your customer to
make the right decision. Ask the right questions, listen to the
customer’s response and then meet their request.
“I Need To Talk With My Partner/Spouse/Manager.”
This can be a fun objection if you know how to handle it, because
so often it is used to hide the real issue. If you truly want to find
out who’s in charge, then ask if the husband came home one day
towing a brand new boat or a motorcycle he just bought, if that
boat or motorcycle would have to go back to the store the next
day. There are times when you are not speaking with the decision-
maker of the household or office, but that is no reason to give up
on the sale at the moment. Leverage this objection to confirm all
of the information that you provided the customer to make sure
that he got it correct. Then turn on your salesmanship.
“Can I ask how you will present this offer to your
partner/spouse/manager?”
“What do YOU like most about this product or offer that you
are going to highlight?”
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What the Spark Sales Professional is doing when
responding to this objection is getting the customer to admit what
they like about the deal and why they are afraid to move forward
with the purchase. The customer will outline his or her
interpretation of the value of the product or service. The Spark
Sales Professional has to listen carefully, find the sticking point
and work through it. This can be
done by reiterating the positive
aspects of the deal and then
nudging the customer with a
guided suggestion such as,
“Sounds like you really do like this
deal. Why don’t we just go ahead
and write this order up? The best
way to show this to your partner/spouse is to take it home and try it.
We have a seven day return policy, so there is no risk.”
Great, you say, but your company does not offer a return
policy. That’s probably because you haven’t sold the idea yet to
your company. That’s right. Remember how it’s every person’s
job within the company to sell? Well, it’s also the job of the Spark
Sales Professional to provide feedback to the sales, marketing and
executive teams on how to create better sales programs.
… sell the idea of
what you need
to the people in
charge.
Spark Your Sales
If you don’t have all the sales tools that you need, you
need to sell the idea of what you need to the people in charge.
And if you really think you need something, then don’t take no for
an answer. Sometimes it is easier to ask for forgiveness than to
ask for permission – as long as you are within the boundaries of
applicable laws and regulations. If the company just wants sales
clones and won’t listen to you, then find a company where the
value you bring is appreciated and rewarded. Life is too short to
keep banging your head on the wall.
“I’m Not Ready To Buy This.” This is a vague objection
that often indicates that the customer’s concerns have not been
fully answered. Many times, it is used as a polite way for the
customer to say that he is not convinced about buying what you
are offering. Now there are cases when a customer is just pre-
shopping, and the statement is true. I have looked at Harley
Davidson motorcycles with my daughter just to make my dream
more vivid of owning one, without having any intention of making
a purchase on that specific day. But most of the time when you
hear this as the first objection, you should dig a little deeper.
The Spark Sales Professional will again respond with the
right questions to draw out the important information:
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“What milestones or
signs will let you know
that it’s the right time
to purchase this?” (Get
response from
customer, then ask:)
“Why do you feel they
are the right signs?”
“If the price
were free, why would you take this today?”
“In a perfect world, what would you change about this
product or offer to make it the absolute, must-have, no-questions-
asked, I’ll-take-it-now deal?”
Now, armed with the underlying issue, the Spark Sales
Professional can work with the customer to create the right offer.
Did the product, service or offer have to be tailored to meet the
customer’s specific needs? Was the price an issue? Was the
customer looking for something different? Get the information,
and you will be in a better position to help the customer.
“I Want To Think About It.” I love hearing this from
customers. We all know that a customer is not going to go home,
set aside 30 minutes of uninterrupted time and sit and THINK
The final decision to
buy almost always
comes from the heart,
not from the head.
Spark Your Sales
ABOUT the product or offer. It’s not the way people buy. People
buy mostly from emotions, not from cognitions. The final decision
to buy almost always comes from the heart, not from the head.
Your job as a Spark Sales Professional is to bring the conversation
back to the heart by using words of feelings, emotions and senses
rather than comparison-based thought.
“Sure, I can understand that. What do you like about the
offer?”
“How does the offer look to you?”
“How does the deal sound to you?”
“How do you feel about what we’ve talked about?”
What do you like, how does the offer look and sound, how
do you feel about it? LIKE, LOOK, SOUND and FEEL are based on
emotion and the five senses. The Spark Sales Professional is
asking the customer to return to her heart in talking about the
product, service or offer. People are often more confident talking
about how they FEEL about something than how they THINK
about it. The killer phrase to avoid is, “What do you THINK about
it?” This question can make the customer close down rather than
open up and put you back a few steps in the sales process instead
of forward.
Focusing on feeling is not about getting the customer to
make a decision without careful consideration of the facts
involved. This is about leading the customer to make a decision,
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and decisions are often based on a feeling. It is important for the
sales professional to help the customer to get in better touch with
that feeling to make a decision.
ASK FOR THE SALE
After validating and clearing the objections, the next step
in the sales process is to ASK FOR THE SALE. I have seen so many
great sales presentations fall flat because the sale person makes
the pitch and, instead of asking for the sale, waits for the customer
to jump out of their seat to say, “I gotta have that!” This just does
not happen. A Spark Sales Professional asks for the sale EACH
AND EVERY TIME. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. So at the very
least, ASK!
One way to ask for the sale is called the Assumed Sale
Approach, in which instead of asking for the decision on the sale,
the Spark Sales Professional assumes the customer has made the
decision, but hasn’t stated it yet. This approach requires that the
Spark Sales Professional recognizes the buying signals and can act
on them. Some examples of the Assumed Sale Approach are:
“Will that be check or charge?”
“Which model did you want me to order for you?”
“How soon should I have this shipped to your office?”
Spark Your Sales
If the customer responds with a new objection, the Spark
Sales Professional must work to handle this objection and then ask
for the sale a second time. This is selling. This is salesmanship.
This is not order taking. This is order making. And this is the real
reason that Spark Sales Professionals are paid a lot of money.
Because the really great Spark Sales Professionals EARN IT.
CLOSING THE SALE
Finally, the last stage of sparking your sales is CLOSING
THE SALE. This occurs after the sale is written up or processed.
Closing the sale is actually far more important than most
salespeople imagine, because it sets the tone for future business.
Closing the sale includes congratulating the customer for their
decision, connecting personally with the customer and asking for
referrals.
Why CONGRATULATING instead of thanking? Because
thanking someone means that they have done something for you.
Congratulating someone means that they have done something for
themselves. This whole process can be boiled down to something
short and sweet such as:
“Congratulations! You made a wise choice. I’d like to give
you my card. If I can be of future help to you or to anyone you know
who is looking for products like this, I would love the opportunity.”
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Close the sale with class and professionalism, and set the
stage for your next sale.
This chapter outlines how Spark Sales Professionals
handle themselves. They know the steps of the sales process and
can identify where they are in the midst of a sale. They know
where they are going with the conversation and how to address
customer questions and issues. They know how to facilitate the
sale by asking the right questions and how to guide the customer
to make the right decision faster. Spark Sales Professionals know
how to sell. Are you a Spark Sales Professional?
Spark Your Sales
5
SPARK YOUR SALES IN
THE CUSTOMER’S OFFICE The field sales representative position is a position of
independence. Many people enjoy the freedom that it offers.
Freedom from daily office politics. Freedom from being chained
to a desk. Freedom to be out on
the road, meeting and talking with
customers. Of course there is a
price for this freedom, that of self-
motivation and the ability to accept
rejection. In exchange, successful
field sales positions can be
extraordinarily high earning jobs.
PLAN IN ADVANCE
Making your time productive in the field is necessity. Each
day, you should plan to visit as many customers and prospects as
possible. Increase your face time, and reduce your windshield
time. Lay out the highest priority visits first. These are the pre-set
appointments that you made ahead of time. If you set an
Increase
your face
time.
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appointment, do everything to keep that appointment ON TIME.
Being on time does not mean waltzing in at exactly the appointed
time.
The rule is if you are five minutes early to the
appointment, you are ten minutes late. Get there 15 minutes
ahead of time. This shows your professionalism and that you are
serious. It also allows your customer to spend a few minutes
clearing up anything that may need their attention so they can
better focus on the conversation with you.
Working around pre-set appointments, the Spark Sales
Professional plans the route for the remainder of the day. Look for
clusters of customers who are within close driving distance and
those who are easily reached along the driving routes. For
customers in remote areas, it’s often easier to visit them as special
days and then try to fill in the blanks of time. In really remote
areas, it often pays to drive there the night before, stay in a hotel,
and visit the client in the morning. This way you did not have to
eat up normal working hours by driving. Successful field sales
relies on how productive you can be, which is all about maximizing
the face time you have with customers in a given week.
Spark Your Sales
There is bit of both art and science in route planning. I
used to plan my heating oil sales route on a big folded map and
index my potential customers by quadrants. Today there are
electronic mapping tools that can help plan optimal routes, but
these are not foolproof. Traffic patterns will greatly affect your
driving times.
The key is to avoid heavy traffic areas at high volume
times. This may mean leaving your home earlier in the morning or
trying to squeeze in last
hour visits at five or six in the
afternoon. This may mean
learning side streets in your
territories. This may also
mean avoiding certain areas
at certain times of the day.
The more detailed logs you
can keep about traffic
patterns, the more effective
you will be.
Another big item to contend with in regards to route
planning is your customers’ office hours. Most retail and industrial
businesses have normal business hours, but businesses such as
doctors’ offices often have irregular hours. Making notes of their
office hours and planning your route with that in mind will boost
…stopping in to see a
very loyal customer can
be a great emotional
boost to help you regain
confidence and
enthusiasm.
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your productivity to new levels. On a similar note, learning which
customers go out for lunch and which ones eat in the office can
help you to plan your lunchtime visits better. Again, keep detailed
logs about this information.
Finally, for your own peace of mind, it is a good idea to
mix up the day’s route with a mix of warm and cold leads.
Although it’s nice to visit your friendly customers, the need to
build your customer base requires that you attempt cold calls on a
regular basis. For balance, if you’re having a tough day with cold
prospects, stopping in to see a very loyal customer can be a great
emotional boost to help you regain confidence and enthusiasm.
Once you actually visit a customer, much of the sales
process formula in the field follows the same pattern as when
selling in your own store. The significant difference is that the
customer has not shown an initial interest by coming to you.
Instead, the field sales representative is wandering into the
customer’s store or home, and the interest level is completely
unknown. The first order of business here is to stir up interest,
whether in an initial cold call or a follow-up monthly visit. Ask
yourself, “How can I make this visit interesting?”
Spark Your Sales
THE COLD CALL
When the Spark Sales Professional makes the initial cold
call to a customer, she has to introduce herself, ask to meet with a
specific person and provide the reason for her visit. More often
than not, this is explained to the receptionist in an office setting.
Many times, the first person who greets you is not the one that
you want to hear your sales pitch. You may have to stir up interest
from someone who may not know anything about you, your
company, or what you are selling. The first thing that has to be
interesting is YOU. Are you being someone that people will be
interested in talking with?
It is customary and polite to introduce yourself, explain
who you represent and provide a business card. What
distinguishes the successful Spark Sales Professional is how she
engages that person at the front desk or front door. There are
tons of strategies, from acting empowered to being jovial, but the
most successful ones match up with the sales professional’s
personality. You want your approach to be natural and fit your
personality. You also want to get to the point. And you want to
strive to be extraordinary in your approach.
The receptionist or “gatekeeper” needs enough
information to pitch you to the person you really need to speak
with, yet shouldn’t be overloaded with information that he or she
might forget. The key points of Name, Company, Product or
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Service you are selling and a Brief Phrase explaining the value of
your visit are how you should arm the gatekeeper.
“Hi there! I’m Michael with Office Systems. I’d like to speak
with the office manager today. I don’t know if she’s busy, but I have
something very interesting to
share with her about new cost
saving technology. If you could
help me to have a few minutes
to speak with her, it could turn
into a big savings opportunity
for your company.”
Despite all the rumors
of the difficulty in getting past the gatekeeper, most businesses
understand the potential value of the information that a field sales
representative can offer and are willing to meet with you. They
just may not do it on the same terms. The sales representative
wants to be invited back into the office area to make the sales
pitch but often has to earn his way there by explaining his product
or service while standing in the reception area. Again, the sales
professional has to stimulate interest in the product or service
when the company representative comes to the reception area to
meet him.
Change occurs
when there is
extra value that
exceeds the risk.
Spark Your Sales
“Hi there! I’m Michael with Office Systems. If I could save
you $1,000 a month on your printing expenses, how interested would
you be? I’d like to see your current photocopier and provide you with
an information sheet so you can see the savings potential. It takes
about five minutes of time and is truly worth it!”
Make a strong value proposition. In exchange for a few
minutes of their time, what will you provide them? Also,
remember that most people are resistant to change, even if it’s for
the better. People are comfortable with the status quo even if
they know that it’s not the best. Change occurs when there is
extra value that exceeds the risk. How much value is there in your
proposition and how much more value can you include?
When I talk about this with some salespeople, sometimes I
am told that they were not given these kinds of tools from their
companies. Really? So, the company didn’t give you absolutely
everything you need to close every possible sale? Welcome to the
real world! This is not an obstacle, it is an opportunity. Instead of
whining, use your brain and MAKE YOUR OWN VALUE TOOL.
I had a great sales professional who created her own
spreadsheet template to input the number of patients a doctor
saw in a week and a few other data points to calculate the
profitability of using the equipment she was selling. When I asked
her why her sales were going so well, she showed it to me and
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offered to share it with the rest of her sales team. It was fantastic
and the team loved it! She was a hero!
FIND THE DECISION MAKER
Once you have communicated the value in a winning
format to the company, the decision will come down to the
following issues:
Are you talking to the real decision maker?
Is there money in the budget?
When do they want your product or service?
A true decision maker can often approve most purchases
on the spot. To increase your
efficiency and closing ratio, try to
deliver your sales message to the
decision maker. You won’t have
to rely on someone else to make
the sales pitch or arrange a
meeting for you with the decision
maker. In these circumstances,
you are dependent on the
salesmanship of someone else.
Sometimes this cannot be avoided. With proper planning
and preparation though, a Spark Sales Professional can get an
Ask to speak
with the CEO or
President of the
company.
Spark Your Sales
appointment or at least the name of the true decision maker and
focus on getting the initial presentation with that person. If you do
your homework on the front end before a sale, then you won’t
have to wait on the back end after you start the sale in process.
The best way to reach the decision maker early on is to
start at the top of the food chain. Ask to speak with the CEO or
President of the company. Even if your purchase is a smaller ticket
item, they will refer you downward to the right person to speak
with. And a referral coming down from the CEO asking the
decision maker to meet with you is the strongest sales
endorsement you can have. What’s your alternative? Start at the
bottom or at the middle and then try to work your way up to a
decision maker? When you think of it from this perspective, it sure
seems a lot harder this way and a lot less likely to result in the sale.
If you are thinking that your product or service is not
important enough to merit time in front of a CEO, then you need
to work on motivating yourself until you can correct that thought
process. The problem is the fear and insecurity in your own mind.
I know CEO’s of large companies that concern themselves with
fine details of running a business from the cost of the lawn
mowing service to office chairs to catering. If you are offering the
value of cost efficiency or revenue growth, and any viable product
or service should provide one of those values or both, then start
with the CEO.
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THE TRIAL DEMO
The most powerful sales closer for any decision maker is
the TRIAL DEMO. This is where the customer gets to use the
product or service for a short trial period of a few days or weeks.
This is powerful because when the product or service is great, it
sells itself. And when the product or service is lousy, it unsells
itself. Either way, if the decision maker cannot make up his or her
mind, try using the trial demo. A trial allows you to change the
status quo without the customer even realizing it.
The next decision to overcome is whether there is money
in the budget for your product or service. Not having money is
often a polite excuse used by managers to turn a salesperson
down, but I am talking about determining if the customer actually
has the money to pay you. Whether you are selling to a company
or a consumer, this question has to be cleared before the sale
occurs. No money, no sale. You can’t deposit a signed agreement
in the bank and use it to buy groceries. You have to get paid for it
to count.
If at all possible, try to get paid for the product or service
before you ship it or provide it. It’s a lot harder to collect
afterwards. This means that you cannot be bashful about asking
Spark Your Sales
for money. Many people are. Successful people are not. When it’s
time to ask for payment, you need to be clear.
The order of preference is usually cash, credit card or
certified check, then commercial financing or personal check and
finally the 30-day net terms. Since there are so many ways to pay,
a simple but effective tool is to ask, “How would you like to pay for
this?” Since you likely prefer credit cards or cash, an even better
way would be to ask, “Will that be cash or credit card?”
A budget is a funny thing. When people really want
something, they somehow find a way to pay for it. If you are
selling $50,000 of advertising to a company, and they respond that
they don’t have the money in the budget to pay for it, that’s a
different question then saying they can’t afford it. Sure they don’t
have the money IN THE BUDGET if they didn’t budget for it. If
they had budgeted for it, then they would ALSO have the EXTRA
REVENUE generated from advertising in the budget, which would
more than help pay for it. The lack of the money is not the issue.
It’s the lack of belief that advertising will generate a real return,
which means you did not build the value proposition in a way that
the customer believes you. So go back to the value proposition
and make it more believable.
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BUY TODAY
The final question is deciding when the customer actually
wants the product
or service. It’s an
easy excuse to say
that they want it,
but not right now.
Although that may
be a valid excuse, it is often another way of saying that they want
to think about it. They want to consider other options. They want
to check your competition. They want to validate your value
proposition. So, how does the Spark Sales Professional prepare
for and respond to that?
There are often many drivers to entice the customer to
buy today rather than tomorrow. Is the product or service being
offered to a limited number of customers in the area? Could the
customer be effectively shut out if they delay? Will there be a
price increase later on? What will a delay cost the customer in
terms of savings or lost additional revenue?
I love talking about how with every day that goes by,
every hotel room that wasn’t sold that night is money that the
hotels will never be able to make. It’s a one-time deadline.
Similarly, additional sales or cost savings in any business that did
Never postpone a
sale tomorrow that you
can make today.
Spark Your Sales
not occur during a business day are awfully hard to make up in
following days. Never postpone a sale tomorrow that you can
make today.
MAINTAINING CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
Once you have developed a prospect into a customer, the
relationship has just begun. In some cases, this is obvious because
your product or service may be a recurring purchase or a
replaceable, disposable item. In cases of a one-time purchase, the
long term customer relationship is less obvious. However, even a
customer who makes a one-time purchase of a high-priced item
should be romanced. Here are four reasons why if you have a
relationship established, then work to keep it alive:
1. An excited, loyal customer will refer other customers
when prompted.
2. In a few years, they may need to replace the model they
purchased, and you want them to call you and not your
competition.
3. You may introduce a new product line, or you may change
jobs and want the customer to purchase from your new
company.
4. The power of goodwill and a strong brand name are
invaluable to growing a business. Take great care of your
customers, and your customers will take great care of you.
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The first step in
maintaining relationships
with customers is to be
sure to have a message of
value on EACH VISIT. A
customer should look
forward to your visits and
be excited to see you. In
order for that to happen,
you can bring an actual
gift every time you show
up, or you can bring a gift
in terms of information.
Make it easier and
cheaper on yourself, and give the gift of information. Let them
know about special offers, news about your industry, new
products and other interesting and worthwhile information. As
long as it is valuable, then communicate it.
You also want to keep in constant communication with
your customers. If your company does not provide an e-
newsletter, then make one yourself. Send out monthly
communications with VALUABLE information such as specials,
industry updates and pearls of wisdom. Periodically, write a
If everything is
going smoothly,
then stop in to see if
they have any ideas
on how your
company could
improve.
Spark Your Sales
personal note to each customer. You can even include a special
article of interest if you know they enjoy a special hobby. It can be
something as simple as a photocopied article with a sticky note
attached saying, “I saw this gardening article and thought of you.
Hope your garden is thriving this summer! If you have extra zucchini,
let me know!”
Continue to go the extra mile. If the equipment you sold
had an issue, be sure to stop by and offer a loaner during the down
time. If there was a shipping problem or billing concern, be sure to
stop by and talk about it face to face. If everything is going
smoothly, then stop in to see if they have any ideas on how your
company could improve. Giving a customer the opportunity to
help your business is a great relationship builder.
Your goal of each visit is to strive to make a magical
moment. Not sure what a magical moment is? Ever been to
Disney World? Disney trains their staff to seek to provide magical
moments to their customers. Ask a street sweeper for directions
and instead of pointing you the way, he will stop what he is doing
and walk you to exactly where you want to go. The entire
workforce of Disney is there to provide you and your family a
magical vacation, one memory at a time. In fact, they don’t even
call you a customer, they call you a GUEST. So, as a Spark Sales
Professional, ask yourself how you can provide magical moments
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to your customers. With this kind of mindset and approach, just
like Walt Disney, you can make your own dreams come true.
Spark Your Sales
6
SPARK YOUR SALES
OVER THE PHONE Phone sales are one of the most under-leveraged sales
tools by most companies. Lots of companies try to use phone
sales, but they do not do them well. They miss tons of sales
opportunities, ranging from failure to up-sell and cross sell, failure
to offer better service to the customer and failure to ask for and
get referrals. These easy additional sales can be generated from
the incoming calls your company already is getting.
Companies have hundreds, thousands or tens of
thousands of calls coming in each day,
each with the prior intent of a
purchase. With a bit of sales leadership
on the phone, these calls can be
converted to sales just by
understanding how the company can
better serve the customers’ needs.
Many companies THINK their
customer service representatives are
doing a good job, but after closer
… outlining the call helps
to understand how the
call starts, progresses
and finishes and provides
the sales representative
with a guide map for
success.
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inspection, they often realize how much sales leakage occurs by
lack of training of the representatives, lack of motivation, lack of
offers and lack of compliance. Are you sure that YOUR customer
service is as good as you want it to be? Try calling in as a
customer.
There is often a huge discrepancy between what
MANAGEMENT WANTS DONE on the phones and what the
REPRESENTATIVES ACTUALLY DO. If the company corrected
the training, the motivation and the offers, then the compliance
would improve and the sales increase. Easier said than done, but
when implemented properly, you can grow sales practically
overnight. I know, because I consistently see the sales growth in
the companies that we work with by using this approach.
The other phone sales opportunity that exists for most
companies is making outbound sales calls. These calls can be
made to cold prospects, warm prospect lists, active customers or
inactive customers. Outbound calls are a cost effective means to
generate additional business, but only when the calls are executed
properly. Not everyone has the fortitude to make outbound
phone sales. For those who do it well, however, it can offer
incredible earning opportunities.
The first step in both inbound and outbound phone sales
is to map out the structure of the call. At first, this may seem like a
Spark Your Sales
daunting task, but outlining the call helps to understand how the
call starts, progresses and finishes and provides the sales
representative with a guide map for success. If the sales
representative knows the direction of the call and has some
talking paths to help him reach the destination, then he is much
more likely to make the sale. The value of training cannot be
underestimated here.
ANSWERING THE PHONE
Improving an inbound call starts with improving the way
the call is answered. Ordinary companies answer the phone in
ordinary ways. “Thank you for calling ABC Company. My name is
Helen. How can I help you today?”
Extraordinary companies answer the phone in
extraordinary ways. They seek to provide value on the call and set
the tone to do so from the onset of the call. The callers’
expectations are raised from the first moment.
• “Good morning! Welcome to ABC Company. I’m Helen,
your phone guide today. How can I be of extraordinary
assistance to you?”
• “Good morning! Welcome to ABC Company. I’m Helen.
How can I put a smile on your face today?”
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• “We’re having a great day here at ABC Company, and we
would love to share that with you today. I’m Helen. What
can I do to make your day fantastic?”
When scripts like these are delivered with energy,
enthusiasm and the right intentions, they are powerful.
However, when they are delivered with a lack of engagement,
they can actually be a negative. Poor delivery of a great script
is just as bad as having nothing great to say. Any time you
utilize a sales script, the team has to be
thoroughly TRAINED AND TESTED,
not just on the words but also how
those words should come out. For a
sales team, this is best achieved with
group demonstrations, then
progressing to one-on-one role
playing, call coaching and call
recording. If you are trying to improve
your own phone sales, then you want
to practice this every chance you get –
in the shower, in the car, in your office
- any time that you can talk out loud. Saying it in your head is
not as powerful for your memory as saying it out loud.
Hearing your own voice (or seeing yourself on video) helps you
When scripts like
these are delivered
with energy,
enthusiasm and the
right intentions, they
are powerful.
Spark Your Sales
to break your own bad habits and learn stronger selling
techniques. You cannot imagine how much room for
improvement you actually have until you hear (or see)
yourself.
Listening to yourself is so powerful, that I actually caution
sales trainers to wait to do call recordings until after the sales
representatives have already started the sales team on a path to
improvement with trainings, demos and role plays. If salespeople
hear themselves too early on, they can get discouraged and lose
self-esteem.
The purpose of the call recordings is to improve their
success, not break down their self-worth, so you want to be able to
catch them doing some things right when reviewing the call.
Waiting until after the training has started, helps the phone sales
representative to do a few things right on the call and also to see
for themselves how the call naturally progresses and where they
get stuck.
WHO’S THE CUSTOMER?
The next step on an inbound call is to find out why the
customer is calling and who they are. The caller may want to order
something, return an item, complain about a problem, ask a billing
or shipping question or request help. The phone sales person also
wants to find out who the customer is because frequent and high-
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ticket item customers may get additional leeway or special offers
that are not offered to occasional customers.
Although airlines generally are not the best example of
great customer service, they do succeed in this one area because
of their frequent flier programs that stratify customers. With a
frequent flier program, any airline representative can immediately
assess the value of a customer and has guidelines on what extras
can be offered. Imagine if a program like this could be used in your
company. More than
likely, one is being used
already – either formally
or informally. If there
isn’t a formal program,
then the phone
representatives and the
managers are using their
own customer valuation formulas, which may or may not be a
profitable or accurate determination of the customer’s true value.
It helps if everyone within the company is using the same
proven formula and feels empowered to act on it. If you don’t
already have a formal customer valuation system in place, then
get started on creating one.
Treating the customer
appropriately for their
experience level creates
better rapport.
Spark Your Sales
Understanding who is calling helps the Spark Sales
Professional to put the customer’s reason for calling into
perspective. Customers will usually state their reason for calling as
soon as they get a chance to talk, particularly if they are upset.
Understanding the customer’s experience with the company helps
the Spark Sales Professional figure out how to respond. A new
customer may require additional explanations about the offering.
An experienced customer may be asking for more detailed
information. Treating the customer appropriately for their
experience level creates better rapport.
Once the issue is stated by the customer, the phone sales
professional should repeat what the customer said to make sure
they got it right and then proceed to ask questions to get
additional details. The purpose of the additional questions is to
make sure the customer’s primary issue is handled completely.
There may be several layers to the issue that the customer might
not have considered.
Also, the additional information that the customer
provides can help the Spark Sales Professional discover more
value opportunities to offer. The more you know about the
customer and his issues, the better you will be able to service
them.
For example, if a customer is calling up to order a new
mattress, a typical sales representative will ask about the mattress
87
type, size, box spring and removal of the old mattress. The Spark
Sales Professional however, will also find out the problem with the
old mattress and if a new type of mattress can offer them better
support. He will determine if the new mattress will be a different
size than the old one and if they will need new sheets, a new
mattress protector and possibly new pillows! He will ask how old
the other mattresses are in the house, and if they need to be
replaced too. If not now, then when will they consider replacing
them?
These are all questions to open the opportunities of
providing additional value to the customer. When done properly
and professionally by a well trained Spark Sales Professional, the
company can better meet the true needs of a customer. That’s the
difference between being an order taker and an ORDER MAKER.
SEEK CLOSURE FIRST
No matter how anxious you are to get the sale, solving the
customer’s issue should be completed before moving to the selling
stage. The customer needs to feel that they got closure on their
issue before taking the next step. Closure on the issue may be
discovering that the customer needs to purchase upgraded
equipment, new components or try something different
altogether. So first, solve their problem and then move forward.
Spark Your Sales
For example, a company we were working with was trying
to get activity reports from the phone system they had purchased,
but the reports they wanted didn’t come with the system. The
phone software company said our client could either purchase
upgraded software or pay someone to program the current
version. Either way was an expensive proposition for something
that our client had thought came with the version they purchased.
Our client of course had a third idea: return the phone
system, get a refund and buy one from a different company. Of
course the phone software company didn’t give him that option.
Eventually, our client got a manager on the phone who
changed the tone of the call. She asked how valuable the reports
were to our client and how they would help improve the metrics
and management of the call center. The manager explained that
the additional investment was only a fraction of the value that our
client would get in return. That reframed the whole picture, and
our client agreed to purchase the upgrade. The value proposition
made sense.
Looking for the up-sell or cross-sell starts with really
understanding what the customer is looking for and then
providing it. Making standardized offers that do not specifically
relate to the customer are bland promotions. What if I were
buying work boots from a catalog company, and the sales
representative told me that they are running a special on window
89
draperies? It’s a
weak offer that fails
to match the offer
with the customer.
Compare
that with a more
specific offer. “I see
that you purchased the blue oriental vase. Most customers get the
matching candy dish as a complementary accent piece. The designer
Jacques Verde intended for them to be used in the same room as a
conversation piece. Would you like for me to ship that together for
you?”
By getting specific with the recommendation, by
leveraging a recommendation by the masses (“most customers”),
by personalizing it with the designer’s name, by using a futuring
technique (getting the customer to think about her friends seeing
it in her house) and by using the assumed sale, this cross-sale
approach is far more likely to result in a closed sale. This is why
scripting and training can be so valuable. If you want to improve
your own scripts, go online to www.SparkYourCompany.com, and
select the online workbooks to improve your call center.
Extraordinary offers go even one step further. I picked
this up from a fabulous waiter in an awesome restaurant. He came
Don’t ask once. The
second or third time may
be the charm.
Spark Your Sales
by to ask for our dessert order, and my wife and I said, “No
thanks.” Whereas most waiters acknowledge that answer and just
bring the bill, this one came back with a great retort, “The
chocolate cake is to die for. Are you sure I can’t interest you in one
order and two spoons?” My wife and I looked at each other and
smiled, but I was just too full. So I said, “We’d really like to, but
we’re just too full.”
The waiter came back with a third request that sealed the
deal. “No problem. I can put the cake into a to-go box for you to
enjoy later tonight.”
Now I really smiled. He had pulled our real objection for
the dessert from us - we were too full. Then he solved the problem
by offering that we could eat it later. SOLD! We took the cake
home, and I learned a valuable sales lesson. Don’t ask once. The
second or third time may be the charm.
ASK FOR REFERRALS
This multiple request is also valuable when asking for
referrals following the close of the sale. I know that you are either
asking for referrals on every sale – or that you are going to start
doing so immediately. Why pass up an opportunity to grow your
business on every call? Ask for referrals – and do it in an
extraordinary way.
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“Is there somebody special that you would like for me to
send a catalog to?”
“Do you have some friends that you think I should call to let
them know about our service?”
Then, help the customer to provide you with those
referrals by asking a second time.
“Who’s the first person that comes to mind that you think I
should call?”
“Which friend or relative would be most interested in this
information?”
Why is this so powerful? It’s just harder to say “No” twice
in a row. Don’t take the first “No” as the final answer. By asking
nicely enough, you can often work right through it and help the
customer to get what they really want but were afraid of saying
“Yes” to.
Eventually, you will have to wrap up the conversation and
close the call. The issue has been resolved. The order has been
taken. The cross-sell has occurred. The payment has been made.
The referral has been received. So, what’s left? Thanking the
customer for their business and encouraging them to call back
soon.
Want to get the customer to call back real soon? Offer
them a special discount if they call back within 10 days.
Spark Your Sales
“Congratulations on your order today. We do appreciate your
business. What I’d like to do is to put a note on your account that if
you call us back within the next 10 days, that you will be eligible for a
special $10 coupon. Would you like me to do that for you?”
Want to see increases in repeat business? Try including
that kind of offer on your inbound calls.
THE OUTBOUND CALL
The outbound call will be a more aggressive approach but
utilize many of the same techniques. The priority differences
between making outbound calls and taking inbound calls is that
the sales representative will need to get past the gatekeeper to
speak with the decision maker, who then needs to be initiated into
the concept of the sale.
There are a number of techniques to get through the
gatekeeper or receptionist. Creating a sense of urgency usually
helps, as long as the urgency is not a faked emergency. and can be
done in several ways:
“Hi there. I’m Adam, your representative at Sun Systems.
I’m trying to reach Mr. Kaplan regarding an important deadline. Is
he available?”
“Good morning! I’m calling for 24 Security. I sent some
important information to Mrs. Laden. I don’t know how urgent these
materials were but they were express mailed to her, so I wanted to be
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absolutely sure to follow up that she got what she needed. Would
you be able to get her on the phone?”
Another technique is the Two Call Close. The first call is
made to set an appointment for the next call. This is best used to
reach customers whose work day may be tightly scheduled, such
as doctors and senior executives.
“Sure. I understand that Mr. Richardson is busy. Are you the
person in charge of his schedule?” (If yes, then) “Great! What’s the
earliest time we can arrange a 10-minute call?” (If no, then) “Who
would be the person I should talk with about scheduling a 10-minute
call?”
“Oh, Mrs. Barnett is busy? What’s the best time for me to
catch her when I call back later today?”
OFFER THE VALUE PROPOSITION
Once the sales person has finally reached the intended
targeted customer and gotten them on the phone, the value
proposition has to come out strong, clearly and quickly. In this
case, it’s best to ask some leading questions that allow you to build
the case for your services. Once the need is established, then you
become the obvious answer to solving that need, and Voila! You
have a new customer!
Spark Your Sales
There are some sales philosophies that encourage the
sales representative to first make small talk to build rapport and
ease into the sales conversation. In reality, the small talk
schmoozing is more helpful in making the sales representative feel
comfortable then the customer. The customer knows that you are
there to offer something and try to sell it. They just want to
determine how much value they can get before they decide. So,
rather than start with small talk, a Spark Sales Professional can get
the conversation going in the right direction by using value
propositions to build interest instead of discussing a mutual
interest in playing tennis.
In outbound calls, the value propositions are questions
that get the customer to understand the value of what you are
offering. When worded correctly, they should get your customer
to realize their need for your product or service without you having
to spell it out for them. If you are selling life insurance, then the
value proposition is, “How concerned are you with your family’s well
being after you die?” If you are selling air purifiers, then the value
proposition is, “How worried are you about the allergens, mold and
bacteria in the air in your home?”
If you are selling a generic, low cost product, then the
value proposition is¸”How much money do you want to save when
you buy ______?” The value proposition communicates the
primary benefit of your product and gets the customer to state the
95
value that they place on that
specific benefit. What a
great way to start a sales
conversation!
When you get to
speak with the targeted
decision maker, the
conversation can flow like
this:
“Hi Bill. I provide strategic financial investing services to
hundreds of people just like you. How important is it to you to grow
your investments while minimizing your risk of losing your money?
(get answer) On a 1 to 10 scale, how satisfied are you with your
current investment strategy? (get answer) What do you want to see
from your investments that you are not getting? (get answer)
Sounds like you are looking for some improvements, Bill. I’m sure
glad that we were able to get in touch with each other.”
With an approach like this, the sales professional is able to
find out exactly what the prospect is looking for and then tailor the
presentation of the services to meet those exact needs. Here’s a
second example:
If you want to sell more, then
instead of talking about what
YOU want to talk about, talk
about the product or service in
ways that the CUSTOMER wants
to hear about.
Spark Your Sales
“Hello, Susan. I was told that you run the greatest bakery in
the region. We provide
commercial baking
equipment to companies
like yours that are ready
to grow. I know you are
running a great
business, but what do
you think are some of the things that restrict your manufacturing
capacity from growing? (get answer) If you had convection oven
equipment that lowered your production costs by 15% through faster
and more even cooking, what kind of advantage would that give
your business?”
Notice the use of the silver-tongued compliment, “you run
the greatest bakery in the region.” Compliments, a great foot-in-
the-door sales technique when used properly and honestly, can
get the customer’s attention and prepare them to hear your
message. Be sure that the compliment is honest. A glaringly false
compliment can burn you.
Once you have used the value proposition to gain the
customer’s interest, your demo or explanation of your product or
service needs to show exactly how you provide that specific value.
There may be many things that your product or service offers, but
if you asked the value proposition correctly, then you can focus
Remember the maxim,
“KISS,” keep it short
and simple.
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your sales pitch on that issue primarily. This is especially
important when selling over the phone, and the customer’s
attention span is shorter. Too often, sales representatives want to
show all the features and benefits during a demonstration or
explanation. If you want to sell more, then instead of talking about
what YOU want to talk about, talk about the product or service in
ways that the CUSTOMER wants to hear about. You will be
amazed at how much less information you have to cover and how
much more you will be selling. Remember the maxim, “KISS,”
keep it short and simple.
An even more advanced technique is to ask the customer
some leading questions to get them to talk about how your
product or service fulfills the value proposition. It solidifies the
value proposition in their minds because they are actually saying it
to themselves. And people believe what they tell themselves.
This is based on the Socratic method of teaching, popularized by
the Greek philosopher and teacher, Socrates, who would instruct
his pupils by asking them clever questions and letting them
discover the answers on their own.
“By using the advertising plan we just laid out for you, how
do you see this driving new customers to your business?”
“Based on the educational curriculum we described, how do
you think your child will advance in his math learning?”
Spark Your Sales
The right questions will help guide the customer to
“discover” the answer themselves. You want to ask short-answer
questions that stimulate the customer’s thoughts and directly
relate the positive attributes of your product or service. As the
customer starts verbally walking himself through the sale, in
addition to the benefits of your product or service, you will also
hear the customer describe the issues that are creating hesitancy
in their minds. These issues are the objections that are holding
back the customer from saying “yes” to the sale. Helping a
customer through the objections, puts you on the final path to the
sale.
OVERCOMING DELAY OBJECTIONS
Even if a customer believes in the value proposition, many
times they are hesitant to buy something over the phone from a
cold call. Far too many sales are lost at this moment. So when a
customer tells you that they want to think about, the
salesmanship has to kick into play to help the customer to
convince himself to buy now.
Why is this so important? Because it is hard to get a
customer back on the phone a second time, and if a sales
representative does, he has to start the sales pitch over again from
the beginning to pump the customer back up to wanting the sale.
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Only this time, they’ve already heard the pitch once, so it requires
a new approach and new set of sales tools to be successful.
Any type of objection that is in the family of “I want to
think about it,” “I need to talk it over with my partner,” or “Let me
run the numbers to see if it makes sense,” are all common delays
indicating that they have not decided yet. Your job as a Spark
Sales Professional is to bring the customer back to the mindset of
buying today whenever that is possible. Buying today should be a
collection of payment, but the next best thing to get is a confirmed
order in writing. Often this is a compromise between a customer
wanting to hold off on paying for a purchase and a salesperson
getting the customer to agree to the deal. A percentage of these
unpaid orders will cancel, but it is better to have a signed
agreement than just the mere prospect of calling them back. So,
how does the Spark Sales Professional achieve this kind of sale?
By taking control of the conversation again.
“On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to purchase this?
(Get answer) Why do you like it so much? (Get answer) Sounds like
you are ready to do this today.”
“How soon would you like to have this? (Get answer) Why
is that important? (Get answer) Looks like we need to get that order
placed for you today to help you meet that deadline. I can express
ship it out to you if you’d like it even sooner.”
Spark Your Sales
This may sound like pressured selling, but the purpose of
this is to speed up the decision-making process. Instead of waiting
to buy something next week, next month or next year, this
technique is to clearly convey the value proposition so it makes
sense to do it immediately. Convey the benefits of your product
and service so clearly that the customer feels that they must have
it right away. That is selling.
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7
SPARK YOUR SALES
OVER THE INTERNET
Two of the world’s largest retail stores are now
Amazon.com and eBay. Tens of thousands of other websites offer
product sales. And more and more communication between
buyers and sellers occurs via email. Selling through the Internet is
a fact of life. Communicating a sales pitch via the digital word is
significantly harder than the spoken word.
Inflections and tones are easily lost. Humor can be easily
misinterpreted. Responses can be delayed minutes, days or weeks
and are much harder to control. As a Spark Sales Professional,
whenever possible, you should pick up the phone and call a
customer rather than emailing them. The value of the time it
takes to call a customer is more than outweighed by the increase
in sales as a result. Nevertheless, when you are selling through the
Internet or are communicating via the Web, similar selling
principles as selling over the phone should be adopted.
Spark Your Sales
The information in this chapter is not about the latest
technologies that are available on the Web, nor the latest e-
marketing fads. If you want to learn about these things, then go
online. With the turbo-fast changing pace of the Internet, if I put
information about Web technology into this book, it would be
outdated by the time we sent it to be published. What this chapter
does give you is information on how a Spark Sales Professional
should use the World Wide Web as a sales tool.
The level of competition on the Internet is fierce. With a
simple Web search, comparison shopping can be accomplished at
the touch of a few keys. Your competitors can be found as easily
or sometimes even easier than you can. Reviews can also be found
on your company, your product and you, personally. Want to
know what they’ll find
out? Type your
company, your product
and your name into a
search engine, and see
what links come up. It
pays to know what the
customer knows about
you first. Perception is everything.
Just like with brick and mortar stores, web retailers or e-
tailers focus their marketing efforts on their products in the stores.
… people don’t just buy a
product, they buy from the
company or person selling
that product.
103
While this is important, people don’t just buy a product, they buy
from the company or person selling that product.
Ask yourself, if you could buy gourmet popcorn on the
Internet and get a tin of flavored popcorn for $35 from a store, or
pay $40 for a similar tin from a fundraising charity that supports
educating orphans, which one would you purchase? See, it’s not
about price, is it? As much as we all think that price is the final
deciding factor, it really is not.
MAKE THE CUSTOMER WANT TO BUY FROM YOU
If you are selling over the Internet, you want the customer
to want to buy from you. The basics for accomplishing this are
having a simple store to navigate, a secure website, easy to
complete order forms, customer-friendly return policies and high
rankings in the search engines. Smarter selling goes beyond that.
Building the relationship with the customer via the Web is
just as important as over the phone or in a store. Does the
customer get a chance to know you through your website, or is it
an anonymous experience? Don’t hide behind the facade.
Computer shoppers are people too. They like to know who they
are buying from.
How personalized is your website? Are you keeping your
customers informed about future buying opportunities and
Spark Your Sales
specials via email or the phone? I signed up online with a local day
spa for a massage. Now, each day I get notices of special last
minute discount appointments. I love it! Other companies also
send me daily or weekly discount notices. I unsubscribe to the
ones that don’t offer me any value, and keep the ones that do.
Your customers will do the same.
Are you instant messaging (IM) with your clients to help
them to make a purchase? Getting the one little question
answered via IM is a lot faster than having to search through the
site or wait for an email response. When I bought my last laptop
online, the IM representative was terrific in helping me to select
the right features I needed. She was certainly a lot more engaging
than my having to search magazine articles that explained the
differences to me in non-technical language. So, don’t just hide
behind your computer on the Internet – get out there and talk to
your customers!
STILL MAKE YOUR PHONE CALLS
Are you following up your Web prospects and customers
with phone calls? Nearly everyone follows up purchases with
emails to the customer, but phone calls are a whole other matter.
When I purchased an online software service, I got a phone call a
few hours later from a customer representative who offered to
walk me through a personal tutorial on how to use it. Plus he gave
105
me his direct extension to call if I ever had questions. Talk about
service! I never expected that from a web-based company.
Most web-based companies hide their phone numbers so
you can only contact them via email or IM. Have you tried to find a
phone number on the websites of some of the Internet giants?
Good luck! Want to impress your e-customers with a little
extraordinary service? Call them on the phone. It’s that simple.
BUY NOW
Another important factor of success in Internet sales is
creating the sense of urgency. Why should they buy now? The
reason for this importance is that many customers use the Internet
to browse shop or to research a purchase before going to a bricks
and mortar store. Having a sense of urgency to buy NOW can
convert some window shoppers to merchandise buyers. How can
this be achieved?
• Have a note that the price listed is a special deal only
good for today.
• For limited quantity items, have a counter that counts
down the number of items available.
• Use auction sites that have a timed expiration for the
offer.
Spark Your Sales
The same strategy should be used for communicating an
offer or sale via
email. This email
can be a
broadcasted email
or one in which you
are negotiating a
deal with the
customer. As
mentioned before,
given the choice between one-to-one email or phone
communications with a customer, always chose the phone. But
when email is the only choice, you want to incentivize the
customer to buy now by explaining the limited quantities or
expiration of a timed offer. “Delay your decision and it might not be
available.” “Buy now and save money.” Or better yet, use your
email to find out the best time to call them, and discuss the sale
over the phone.
The Internet is an incredibly powerful sales tool that is all
too often utilized merely as a digital brochure for most companies.
A true Spark Sales Professional will harness the power that the
Web has to offer with the same extraordinary manner that he is
using face-to-face and telephone salesmanship. The Internet is
just another powerful communication tool in the salesman’s
The Internet is just
another powerful
communication tool in the
salesman’s toolkit.
107
toolkit. And the Sale Professional will leverage use of ALL his
tools.
Spark Your Sales
8
SPARK YOUR SALES
AT TRADE SHOWS
Trade shows are probably the most expensive lead
generating system a company has. Even getting a small 6x8 booth
space for a two-day show can cost a company nearly $5000 for
traveling expenses, shipping the materials, renting the booth
space, apportioned booth design cost, promotional materials,
payroll costs for show and travel time and planning time required
to organize the event. Bigger booths can costs in the tens or
hundreds of thousands of dollars! All for a few hours of exhibition
time to the convention attendees.
Because of the high costs involved, it is absolutely
imperative that a trade show sales team is well trained to get the
most out of the experience. This is not the time to sit in a chair in
your booth and wait for customers to pull you up to talk with
them. This is the time to gather all the potential prospects you can
find, do your absolute best to try to close them at the show and
provide for a foolproof means of follow-up immediately after the
show.
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PLAN NOW
The planning for a major trade show should start several
months in advance. New products and services are often launched
at major events. Booths and signage may need to be redesigned,
materials re-printed and samples ordered. Allow for enough time
to get this completed, shipped to the office for inspection and
then sent to the trade show in accordance with their delivery
protocols. As soon as you decide to attend a trade show, start
putting all of these events on a calendar, and track them so each
task gets done on time. The trade show will go on whether or not
you have your booth and materials there, and most events do not
offer refunds. Each trade show is a one-time event that does not
have make-ups or do-overs.
PRE-EVENT MAILERS
Pre-event mailers also need to be designed and mailed.
For most shows, a company wants the fliers to hit their targeted
customers a few days before the customers leave to travel to the
show. If this is a local trade show, drawing from customers within
driving distance, then plan for the materials to be delivered 2-3
days before the opening. If this is a national or international trade
show, a company needs to allow for possible travel time prior to
Spark Your Sales
the event, and the mailers should be delivered 1-2 weeks before
the opening day.
The goal of the pre-
event mailer is to get the
customer to visit the booth by
generating excitement or
making a very special offer.
Some shows will have smaller
attendance on the first day, so
anything that can be done to
entice the customer to visit the
booth on the first day will be an
effective traffic booster. To
make the mailer even more
effective in drawing attendance, follow up the mailer with a direct
call to your customers and prospects to set appointment times
with a company representative at the booth.
Some of the power offers that can be used in a pre-mailer
are:
• “Visit us at 11am for a grand unveiling of our newest
technology and receive a free gift!”
• “Bring this coupon to our booth for a Double Discount on
Day 1!”
• “Free golf shirts to the first 50 booth visitors!”
First day discounts are a
great strategy to boost sales
at trade shows, but
combining them with
special Day 1 bonuses to
incentivize the sales team to
close sales make it
unstoppable.
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First day discounts are a great strategy to boost sales at
trade shows, but combining them with special Day 1 bonuses to
incentivize the sales team to close sales make it unstoppable. Lots
of trade show attendees will tell you that they’ll “be back” to buy,
but many of them fail to show up. As always, do everything to
close the sale on the spot, but if not, then set an appointment for
the Be-Back-er to return to talk with you and get their cellphone
number to call them. If they are even five minutes late for the
appointment, call them right away.
THE PRE-EVENT MEETING
Usually just prior to the start of a major trade show, the
sales management will want to meet with the team to announce
the targeted goals and any related special bonuses to the sales
team. The bigger the reward and the more tangible they can
make it, the more excited the sales team will be.
Keeping a team enthusiastic throughout a long trade
show, where they are standing for hours on a hard floor talking to
sales prospects, is very important. Sales contests can help
maintain the energy and excitement. See Chapter 12, on Sparking
Your Sales Using Sales Contests, for specific information on this
area, or go online at www.SparkYourCompany.com and review
those workbooks.
Spark Your Sales
The pre-event meeting is also a good time to review the
logistics of the event, the types of attendee badges, practice with
all the equipment in the booth, and review the sale techniques
with the sales team. Even if they have all heard the sales training
before, it is always a good thing to remind them of powerful sales
techniques. Seasoned sales representatives tend to stick with only
a few sales tools and over time will forget the lesser used ones.
Reviewing everything, even the basics, keeps them sharp.
If you don’t believe me, then just attend any professional golf
school. The first thing they ask you in golf class is to show them
how you grip the club. Yes, that’s right. You can be playing golf
for twenty years and the first thing they ask is the most basic step
of all – gripping the club. Why? Because the basics of golf are the
foundation of everything, and they need to be polished in order to
truly grow. Just like with sales.
CUSTOMER STOPPERS
The most important
selling step at a trade show is
actually getting people to stop at
the booth. Every passerby is a
potential customer. If a Spark
Sales Professional is not talking
to a customer in the booth, then
… make sure to
ask questions
that are real
customer
stoppers!
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he is approaching customers to stop and talk with him. Some
companies hire models and use giveaways to get people to stop at
their booths. This works, but a Spark Sales Professional can go
one step better than that.
Every person walking by the booth should be personally
and directly invited into the booth with a stop-dead-in-your-tracks
question. This is not the “Have you tried product X?” or “Want to
make more money?” kind of question. The magical stop-dead-in-
your-tracks question should be far more engaging than that. And
it should never be a yes or no question that is easy to answer and
keep walking. This needs to be a real question that makes the
customer think and slow down to respond to you. Once they slow
down, you’ve got the chance to reel them into your booth. Better
yet, asking the question in a bit of a slower rate of speech
practically forces the person slow down to hear you. Saying it too
fast only encourages them to keep their fast pace of walking by
the booth. And by slipping into the aisle as you ask them, you can
also use your body as a stop sign. So make sure to ask questions
that are real customer stoppers!
• “What’s the single biggest reason you haven’t invested with
Eagle Financial yet?”
• “When was the last time you slipped your feet in Axiom
Shoes?”
Spark Your Sales
• “How many new customers did you NOT get last month?”
The customer-stopping question is actually a one-two
combination. The stop-dead-in-your-tracks question only earns
you the privilege to speak with that person. The second part is
what gets the sales conversation going. The sales professional
needs to hear the customer’s response, and then respond with:
• “That’s exactly why we are here to help folks like you.”
• “Can you imagine how the next few moments might impact
the rest of your life?”
Now, some people, no matter what you say to them as
they walk by, will just say, “No, not interested.” If you truly want
to be an extraordinary sales professional and be an order maker
instead of an order taker, then you need to engage some of these
folks as well. Are you ready for one of the most powerful
questions to stop a person dead-in-their-tracks even when they
tell you:
• “I’m happy with my current
company/supplier/provider (your competitor).”
• “I need to be somewhere for a meeting.”
• “I’m good. Thank you.”
• “I’m not interested.”
Here’s the power question in its three forms:
“What would the ideal ____________ partner look like to
you?”
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“What would the ideal ____________ experience look like to
you?”
“What would the ideal ____________ (product) look like to
you?”
This question needs to be tailored for your specific
company’s industry, service and product. And it works for
everything.
• “What would the ideal printing partner look like to
you?”
• “What would the ideal water filtration partner look
like to you?”
• “What would the ideal dining experience look like to
you?”
• “What would the ideal hair cut experience look like
to you?”
• “What would the ideal running shoe look like to
you?”
• “What would the ideal car look like to you?”
This question catches people. It catches them and makes
them stop and think and answer and then talk with you. It catches
everything you need to know about what they are looking for from
a company like yours. It catches the value concept far more than
price. And it catches their interest because you’ve just asked them
Spark Your Sales
to talk about WHAT THEY REALLY WANT. Most people have a
vague idea about the products and services they want, but as they
talk about it, they think more about what really is important to
them.
Using the words “partner” and “experience” also elevates
the concept of your company and service. The words help to focus
the customer on both the tangible aspects and the intangible
elements that can differentiate a company, even in the most
competitive of environments. By talking about these important
aspects, the customer is priming themselves to be sold.
THE DEMONSTRATION
Now that you have gotten the customer’s attention and
you have heard what is most important to them regarding their
needs and wants, you are in a really great position to explain what
you can do for them. This is the demonstration or explanation
portion of the sale.
Armed with understanding the aspects important to that
customer, you have the extraordinary opportunity to tailor the
demonstration or explanation to just those few important points.
You can tell them exactly what they are looking for and what they
need to hear to become a customer. How much easier can it get?
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If you have the product right there, then show the
product. If you have the
opportunity to use
videos or pictures, then
use those too. Video is
the most powerful
because if the customer
sees it AND hears it,
then the information is
more memorable and
impactful. Depending
on what the customer told you they wanted, use a variety of
visuals to show the customer the actual product. Visuals can
include a specification sheet, a photo or video of the service or
product, or anything to mentally imprint into their brains.
The Spark Sales Professional can go one step further and
make it personal for that customer. Using a pen, the sales
professional will circle, underline or add specific information onto
any printed handout. Don’t be afraid of marking up a beautiful
handout. They are not works of art. They are works of marketing
and are designed solely to garner new business. Writing on them
only increases the value because you are increasing the likelihood
of the literature to actually generate a sale.
Don’t be afraid of
marking up a
beautiful handout.
They are not
works of art.
Spark Your Sales
ENGAGING MULTIPLE CUSTOMERS
A fairly common situation is that while you are talking
with one customer, a few more come up to your booth to see
what’s going on. This can happen often when there are scheduled
lectures during the trade show and the attendees visit the exhibit
hall during the break times. A bird in the hand is certainly worth
more than two in the bush, and there are some ways to keep the
customer you already are working on and also to engage the other
folks as well.
First, consider how far along you are with your current
sales presentation. If you are about to close the sale and write the
order, then you want to focus on getting that sale. However, at
any point before you asked that customer for the sale, you can
invite the other customers to hear your pitch and demo. Be sure
to ask the current customer first if they would mind letting other
people listen while you spoke. When inviting other customers to
join your sales conversation currently in progress within the booth,
you will need to switch from the role of sales representative to
sales presenter. As soon as you are talking with more than one
customer, you are now managing a crowd. This means that you
have to keep everyone in the group engaged in your sales
presentation and talk with them as a group, not as a bunch of
eavesdroppers listening to a private conversation. You want to
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face the whole group as you speak with them. You also want to
hold your product demo high enough that everyone can see it.
When you ask a question of a small crowd, the same as you would
for doing a one-to-one sales pitch, you want to make sure that
everyone in the group answers that question. Be careful of being
drawn into arguments or negativity. If someone throws out a
challenging comment about your company or product, it is better
to say, “Let’s talk about that later,” and continue with your sales
presentation.
Use as many people in the group as possible for the
demonstration. One way is to ask for participants or select
volunteers to keep them involved. Instead of having one person
operate the controls, have several people do one or two small
steps. If it’s a really quick demonstration, then have the group line
up and take turns one by one. If you are using handouts, make
sure everyone has a copy. Be sure to walk around the group and
mark up everyone’s sheet if you are making notes on the
handouts.
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It’s also easy for
someone to fall out of the
group and walk away. They
will listen to you for a few
minutes from the back of the
group and then leave. To
make sure that you are able
to contact them later on,
either ask them to provide a
business card or have a
clipboard with a sign-in form
for them to provide their
name and contact information. Even if you have to repeat yourself
a dozen times for people to sign-in during a single presentation or
assign that task to a customer in the group, you need to make sure
that you are capturing that information.
The sales process when selling to a group is similar to that
of selling to one person. You will follow the steps for the
approach/open, engagement, demo, objection handling, asking
for the sale and the close, but once you have started at a given
step with the group, you will keep moving forward from that step
instead of going back and starting from the beginning. The most
fun part comes when you ask for the sale, and close a whole group
together. Some of the best lines that I have heard are:
Something as quick
as a smile or a friendly
comment goes to show
the customer that he
has not been forgotten,
and he is a person, not
just a “sale.”
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• “Raise your hand if you want to be the first one to get
this.”
• “Take out your credit cards, and hold them up if you are
ready to buy.”
• “I have just enough for each of you. Here’s the form to
complete. We can go over the form together.”
Once you get a few hands raised, use some crowd
psychology to get the folks who are on the fence to say yes. This is
where the second ask is powerful. Leverage the peer pressure
inherent to crowds, and use an extra bonus offer or a little humor.
• “Looks like we got a lot of folks interested. If we can get
a few more hands in the air, then I can include free
shipping in the offer.”
• “If you don’t have a credit card in the air, then find
someone who does and put your order on theirs!”
Just like selling over the phone or in an office, closing a
sale at a trade show does not end the relationship with a customer
but rather gets it started. Most people will wander the aisles of a
trade show several times, so a customer is likely to walk past you
several times after buying from you. Be sure to acknowledge the
customer every time they walk past your booth. Something as
quick as a smile or a friendly comment goes to show the customer
that he has not been forgotten, and he is a person, not just a
Spark Your Sales
“sale.” A true Spark Sales Professional will go one step further
with a customer who made a purchase and ask that customer
about other people they know at this show that they can bring
over to the booth. At professional trade shows and local or
regional exhibition shows, many of the folks know each other.
Just by asking for referrals on a consistent basis, you can easily
garner a few more sales that might never have fallen your way.
Every little bit makes the difference.
GETTING THOSE EXTRA SALES
Another way to win a
few extra sales is to make sure
that you are at your booth 30
minutes before the exhibit area
opens and that you stay another
15-30 minutes after it closes. Why? There are always a few early
birds and some late stragglers who you can speak with at those
times. Some people just like to be the first in line or the last to
leave, so you want to be able to cater to them. They often will buy
on the spot, just because you were there to take care of them, and
your competitors had already left. Additionally, you can use that
time to sell your wares to some of the other vendors who may be
interested in your product or service. I have even worked for some
companies where we sold to the hotel and convention hall staff at
A sale is a sale, and
each one counts!
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those times because those folks had come in for set-up or take-
down. A sale is a sale, and each one counts!
The same goes for taking down your booth and packing
up. Even though other exhibitors may be putting things away, a
Spark Sales Professional will wait until the very end of the event in
order to look ready to sell at all times. I would much rather keep
my exhibit up through the very end of the show and make one or
two more sales than start packing things away too soon just to
leave a half hour earlier. The time saved by leaving early can easily
be sales lost.
SLOW SHOWS
What happens if you are stuck working a dead show with
limited attendance? What do you do if only a few attendees are
walking through the exhibit hall? You take matters into your own
hands. Most trade shows are pretty strict on selling in the public
spaces such as walkways and eating areas, but if your company
paid thousands of dollars for the booth, and you are only getting a
trickle of traffic, go speak with the folks in charge of the event and
ask what they can do to help you. Don’t wait until the end of the
show, because by then it’s too late. Instead, keep your cool, and
try to salvage the show. Offer suggestions such as moving your
booth to a more heavily trafficked area, arranging five minutes to
Spark Your Sales
address the group from the main stage or getting permission to
place flyers on the chairs in the main lecture hall. Most event hosts
will seek to accommodate their exhibitors if approached in a
reasonable manner.
WHEN YOU GET HOME
Immediately following the show, it is imperative that the
leads you obtained are given the highest priority. Starting first
thing the next business day,
the leads should be followed-
up. Although it is easier to
email people, it is more
effective to call them. There
are some people who say
that following a trade show,
the attendees may need
some catch up time of their
own so you should try to reach them after a full work day. In my
experience, however, you want to be the first to reach them when
they are back in the office. Why give your competitor a head
start? At 9:00am on the day following the event (or earlier if you
account for time zone differences), the Spark Sales Professional
will be calling all the folks that he spoke with over the weekend.
This includes the prospect list, referrals and also anyone he sold.
Selling at trade shows
requires planning,
salesmanship and
diligent follow-up.
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Make it the highest priority to reach these customers within the
first 24 hours. The sales results will speak for themselves.
Selling at trade shows requires planning, salesmanship
and diligent follow-up. No matter the attendance or size of the
show, do your best from start to finish and MAKE the show into a
success!
Spark Your Sales
9
SPARK YOUR SALES
THROUGH DISTRIBUTORS
The pros and cons of selling through distributors versus an
internal sales force is an inevitable discussion for any growing
company. An internal sales force usually is comprised of
employees or contracted hires who exclusively sell for the
company, whereas distributors often are companies or individuals
who represent several different manufacturers.
Distributors usually are a more cost effective means to
launch a project because of the lower upfront costs, though they
can be more expensive in the long run because of the higher
commission rates they will earn. Distributors often (but not
always) can leverage their existing customer base and their
networks to get your product more exposure in a faster time
frame. Distributors also may have the advantage of leveraging
several salespeople on their team within a territory and also may
conduct some of their own marketing programs such as catalogs,
newsletters, telemarketing and a website.
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On the other hand, when working with a distributor, a
company is literally buying their time and attention with the
margin and total potential opportunity that can be earned. The
distributor can either be exclusive to that product or offer multiple
lines of products.
Also, a company has less control over a distributor than an
employee. Enforcing company policies on an employee whose
entire income is paid by the company is easier than doing so on a
distributor whose income from the company is only a portion of
his total. And, in case of termination, either the company or the
distributor or both may retain the right to contact the customers,
depending on the details of the distributor agreement.
In any distributor agreement, the distributor discerns how
best to focus their time, effort and attention to maximize the
profit based on the motivating factors from the company. There
are four primary motivators for a distributor to sell your product:
Compensation, Training, Service/Communication and Co-
operative Marketing.
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COMPENSATION
Compensation is usually
negotiated in the beginning of the
relationship, hopefully in a written
agreement. Although it may be
difficult to put it all down on
paper, the written agreement
helps to spell things out for both
sides so that there is less chance
of a misunderstanding. Since
distributors are not employees
but independent contractors, they
are not paid a salary or benefits. Therefore the compensation that
they earn on sales is often a bit higher to accommodate for their
increased income risk and their need to pay their own benefits.
An independent distributor should earn a higher
percentage commission on a sale than an employed sales
representative who gets a base salary and benefits. In some cases,
a distributor may work on pure commission, and in other cases,
there may be some minimum guaranteed commission for a period
of time. This “commission” may be either a paid commission or a
discount that the distributor uses to purchase your product to then
resell at a higher rate.
…the more money a
distributor can earn
by selling your
product, the more
sales attention and
effort he or she will
put into it.
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Simply put, the more money a distributor can earn by
selling your product, the more sales attention and effort he or she
will put into it. Although the commission or discount is a big
factor, it is not the only one. The ease of making a sale is also a
large factor.
If your company has strong positive brand recognition, it
is a lot easier to sell to customers than a no-name brand. Another
factor is the frequency of repurchases. If a product is a recurring
purchase like a disposable item, the value of building a base of
frequently repurchasing customers will help increase the
distributor’s earnings on your product. The commission or
discount should be set accordingly. I have seen the commission
and discount rates as low as the single digits and above 50%, but
most frequently they will be in the range of 15-35%.
Once the commission, discount and any other payment
factors are set in the agreement, there are still some ways to
energize a distributor network. Using periodic bonuses on unit
sales is a great way to get your distributors to focus their effort on
certain product lines. For example, if you were to run a $100 bonus
on a certain model that you overstocked, you can certainly inject a
level of enthusiasm and attention to that particular model. Like
any bonus program, you want to run it only for a short period of
time so people can focus on that achievement, and then you want
Spark Your Sales
to end the bonus so it does not become a standard that everyone
just expects. A bonus should be special. When it becomes a
standard payout program, it loses its luster and effectiveness.
TRAINING
When you bring a distributor on board, just like when you
bring an employed sales representative on board, you have to train
them about your company
and product. Depending on
the distributor’s experience,
you also may have to train
them about your industry, the
markets you are in and
salesmanship. Even if you
have a world-class
experienced distributor, it still
helps to review the basics.
You never know what the distributor knows or doesn’t know. And
everyone can benefit from a refresher. Plus, in many cases, the
distributor can contribute additional information that may benefit
others participating in the training session.
Training does not end after the initial session, even for
distributors. New products are launched. Existing products are
upgraded. These features and benefits need to be communicated
Demonstrations
and role playing
can be powerful
tools for these
trainings.
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to the distributors. Weekly sales trainings or conference calls can
communicate these changes as well as help sales representatives
learn new techniques and strategies. Demonstrations and role
playing can be powerful tools for these trainings. Experienced
Spark Sales Professionals also should be encouraged to share their
successes as examples of Best Practices. Best Practices are those
sales tools that work! If they work for one Spark Sales
Professional, then they should be shared so everyone else on the
team can learn and use them too. Always encourage sharing of
Best Practices at sales trainings, especially when training
distributors, because they are exposed to sales trainings for other
companies and can build on their experience from working with
other products.
Remote trainings of distributors can be done on a steady
basis, but on-site visits, including working with the distributors as
they speak with customers at trade shows, riding along with their
sales reps to offices or working alongside them in their stores,
should occur several times a year. To really help a distributor
increase sales and contribute to growth, traveling to visit them on
their turf is an absolute must. You never know what a distributor
really knows about your product or salesmanship until you see
them interacting with a customer. Plus, you will be able to spot
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some new Best Practices that the distributor may not have even
realized they were doing.
A few years ago, I traveled halfway around the world to
work with one of our distributors at the time. I watched him
conduct a training seminar for his customers and learned a whole
new way to train customers that we had never considered. We
brought that concept back to our own seminars with great
success. Distributors can sometimes teach a manufacturer as
much as the manufacturer can teach them.
SERVICE/COMMUNICATION
Just like you take great care of a customer, you also have
to take great care of your distributors, with the same level of
service and attention. Higher levels of service may be warranted
because that one distributor can directly affect the business that
you are doing with hundreds or thousands of customers! The
customers that you have through the distributor may be
considered both the distributor’s and your customers, but the
distributor has direct communication with them and therefore has
the advantage of likely keeping them.
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So, it pays
enormously to have a
GREAT relationship
with your distributor.
This relationship
includes making sure
that the distributors’
accounts are
exceedingly well
serviced. Make sure
that their shipments and payments to them are accurate and on
time. Make sure that their orders are processed quickly and on
time. Make sure that your entire company shows them the
attention they deserve by doing things right for them the first
time. There are few things more frustrating in a distributor
relationship than a supplier who continually messes up shipments,
payments and orders. Taking steps to make the relationship
operationally error-proof is an important first step.
Next, you want to build solid communications with the
distributors. Schedule regular conversations to find out how you
can help them and to make sure they are doing what was agreed
upon. The purpose of scheduling the calls instead of making
impromptu phone calls back and forth is to make sure that you
Start talking with other
people, and you will
see entirely new
concepts germinate
and come to fruition.
Spark Your Sales
have set aside time and attention to address any issues that they
may have for you.
It also gives you a definite time to update the distributor
on any particular sales and marketing programs that are being
launched or are in the pipeline to be launched. You know that you
will be speaking every Tuesday at 11am, so you will be more
prepared for the call. You also have the opportunity to collectively
brainstorm new ways to increase the distributor’s sales. This is
one of the great benefits of working with distributors over
standard sales representatives. Oftentimes, a large distributor has
extensive and broad experience with a network of contacts in the
same industry. That experience can be leveraged to develop new
ideas.
If you have read Napoleon Hills’ book “Think and Grow
Rich,” then you understand the concept of a Master Mind Group.
This is a group of smart people that you get together with for the
purpose of discussing how to grow your business. The phone call
with your distributors is very much akin to the Master Mind Group,
although on a smaller level.
Start talking with other people, and you will see entirely
new concepts germinate and come to fruition. The ideas start
flowing, and you have people to discuss them with to develop the
idea into a workable plan. By having scheduled calls, you will
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begin to hold yourself and others accountable. Little by little, you
will see your business grow through this process.
CO-OPERATIVE MARKETING
Co-operative marketing consists of any shared expenses
between the company and the distributor that are related to sales
and marketing opportunities. Sometimes this may be a formal
budgeted amount, and other times it is an informal decision on a
particular project. I have seen companies use this money to help
fund the hiring of new sales representatives, direct mail projects,
advertising, telemarketing, trade shows, point of purchase
materials, flyers and more. The benefit of co-operative marketing
is that the company and the distributor pay their apportioned
share of the costs.
The company gets the benefit of leveraging the
distributors brand identity and customer base. The distributor
gets the benefit of reduced risk by cost-sharing. If you are not
offering this opportunity to your distributors, you are missing out
on untapped sales.
Offering co-operative marketing is one thing. Working it
out is another. I am sure you are familiar with how hard it is to get
a single marketing piece completed within your own company and
how many folks have to approve it before its distribution. With co-
Spark Your Sales
operative marketing, you also need to
send the piece to a whole separate
company (your distributor) for them to
review, edit and approve.
That means a few extra steps of
going back and forth so both your
company and the distributor are satisfied
with the marketing material produced. It pays to have the
marketing people from both companies talk in the development
stage so everyone feels their ideas were included and later
editorial changes are not quite as drastic. The more that can be
shared from the onset, the more cooperative both parties will be.
Another important component of co-operative marketing
is keeping track of all the billable costs that relate to the co-
operative project. Most times, the internal labor costs are covered
by the individual parties. The company would not normally bill the
distributor for the graphic design work if the work was completed
in-house. However, all external charges should be recorded, and
at some fixed point in the project, the expenses need to be tallied
and apportioned appropriately. In the excitement of launching a
co-operative marketing project, the expense component is often
overlooked, so be sure to lay out clear guidelines from the onset.
Finally, find some way to track the results of co-operative
marketing on a project by project basis. Both the company and
In business,
what you pay
attention to is
what grows.
137
the distributor want to know if their money is being well spent.
Use media codes or special order tracking systems to provide the
data to see if the project worked or not.
The advantage of co-operative marketing is the company
and the distributor can concentrate efforts on a particular product,
market or area for growth. In business, what you pay attention to
is what grows. That is why both parties are willing to commit
money, time and resources for the project. Identifying these kinds
of opportunities and then putting in the funds to support them will
help direct growth in the intended directions.
Managing distributors has slightly different nuances than
managing employed sales representatives, but in the end, the
motivation is centered around the same basic concepts of money,
leadership and communication. And the results are a big leap in
sales!
Spark Your Sales
10
SPARK WITH THE
LONG-TERM SALE
A lot of the selling suggestions in this book so far have
focused on increasing the velocity of the sale of products and
services that could be sold quickly. Many salespeople think that
customers need days, weeks or months to decide to buy, when in
fact, if the salesperson found out the customer’s TRUE NEEDS and
was able to unquestionably satisfy those needs, the customer
would be more than willing to buy today. The reality is that many
customers are not really sure of their needs, and the salesperson
does not take the time to pull that information from the customer,
so many buying decisions are delayed.
This chapter is NOT for those situations. This chapter is
about working with true long-term buying situations. An example
of a long-term buying situation is where an airline company calls
up an airplane manufacturer about possibly placing an order for 25
airplanes. Specifications and designs of the planes would have to
be clearly delineated and reviewed. Airport gates need to be
considered. Pilot training needs to be planned out. Maintenance
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of the planes needs to be arranged. Passenger loads and fuel costs
need to be calculated. Budgets need to be prepared. Financing
needs to be arranged. And federal regulations may have to be
referenced.
So many aspects of the purchase have to be considered
and so many people have to be involved in the calculations, that a
single phone call is highly unlikely to result in an instant sale.
Although some aspects of this sales cycle may be streamlined, this
is a classic example of a long-term sale. Other examples include
real estate, furniture, large capital equipment and corporate
software purchases.
Another type of long-term sale to consider is the
customer who makes frequent purchases from you. This occurs in
companies with disposable goods, general suppliers with a broad
product offering or even retailers with multiple product lines such
as a grocery or department store.
This is a long-term relationship sale in which the “sale” to
the customer is actually a series of smaller sales. The customer
has to be engaged and provided value at each individual sale in
order to remain a customer, so many of the facets of the one-time
long-term sale apply.
Spark Your Sales
THE NEED FOR COMMUNICATION
The long-term sale requires a flow of information back
and forth between the buyer and seller. Often, a long-term sale is
a significant expense or investment, so accurate communication is
paramount. An example would be the sale of a product sub-
component such as a memory chip to a computer manufacturer, in
which the memory chip has to be properly fit and connected with
the computer’s other components and software. The computer
manufacturer will not commit to buying the memory chip until the
memory chip manufacturer sends samples, and the computer
company can test them within the computer and other parts. The
success of the memory chip sale depends on the successful
matching of the memory chip to exactly what the computer
manufacturer is looking for.
In the past, language barriers between nations often
limited the accuracy of specifications, so companies dealt more
easily with component manufacturers in their own countries.
Fortunately, international trade has matured over the past few
decades with a common language of English, but differences such
as standard measurement units and misinterpretation of
specifications can still create some unforeseen problems.
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BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
The success of the long-term sale also involves strong
relationship building. If the buyer or seller does not like the
personality of the other, then conversations likely will be strained
and the sale may not happen. Some salespeople just try too hard
to be liked, to the point where it is irritating. Others may just be
abrasive.
This is a very hard pill to swallow, but to really succeed in
sales, a Spark Sales Professional needs to be able to honestly
assess himself and understand how other people perceive him.
The PERCEPTION by the buyer is the reality of the situation. It is
what and how the buyer perceives about the sales representative
that defines the nature of the relationship. This ability of reality
testing is challenging for many sales representatives, but it is a skill
that can be learned through practice and coaching.
For high ticket item purchases, sales representatives often
leverage golf games, fishing outings, special lunches or dinners,
attendance at sports games, fancy trips and unique gifts to build
relationships. Certainly the shared experiences work to build
relationships. The customer enjoys being treated like a VIP, and
the sales representative has the time to talk with the customer
away from the office and can get his undivided attention.
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The truth of the matter, however, is that a customer will
not really choose to buy your goods based on the quality of the
seats that you bought for the NBA Playoff games. Nor will they
choose to use your company based on the nice gift or trip you
provided. They will choose your company when you make them
FEEL SPECIAL. The sales tool of high priced entertainment is one
way to make a customer feel special, but as a stand alone tool
without also delivering the customer special attention, such gifts
can just be a wasted expense.
Also, many of the entertainment that sales
representatives choose for their customers are things more that
people would do with friends. The psychology behind doing them
with customers is that if the customer would normally do those
things with a friend, and if he is now doing them with you, then the
customer will probably begin to look at you like a friend. However,
this is not always the case.
The challenge for the Spark Sales Professional is to figure
out how to make the customer truly feel special without being
invasive. Dropping off a birthday cake is a great way to celebrate a
customer’s birthday yet also a lot less personally intrusive than
taking the customer out to dinner for their birthday. The customer
will likely have plans with family or friends and want to make her
birthday a personal affair rather than a business meeting.
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Another concern with high ticket entertainment for clients
is that over the course of the evening or outing, although you may
be building relationships by way of the activity, it can be hard to
actually talk about business uninterrupted. Even during a five hour
golf game, the appropriate time to talk business may only be 20
total minutes!
In many industries, high ticket entertainment is the de
facto standard of doing business. So how can a Spark Sales
Professional compete without it? By being honest and direct.
“Mr. Shubert, my company can meet the specifications for
the materials that you are wanting in the time frames that you need.
Your current supplier is charging $425 a pallet. Would you rather
that I match the price and take you out for a golf outing, nice dinner
and a New York Knicks game or would you want me to beat that
price by $15 a pallet and take you out for a simple lunch to celebrate
that you just saved your company $7,000 a year?”
In the end, a true valued relationship with the customer is
based more on proven service over time than on high priced
entertainment. If you won over a customer based on price or
glitzy entertainment, you can be beat by a new rival with better
pricing or better entertainment. However, if you can exhibit and
commit to an extraordinary level of servicing the customer on the
points that they consider to be important, you are truly protected
Spark Your Sales
from being outsold by the competition, simply because you have
already “out-serviced” them and won the customer’s loyalty.
A Spark Sales Professional earns loyalty from a customer
by remembering the details of the relationship. Want to impress
someone? Don’t just send a pre-printed holiday card. Send a
birthday card, an anniversary card and a valentines’ day card.
Want to really impress them? Include a copy of a news article or a
write-up that is aligned with their interests. If you know they love
to fly fish, then send them an article about the greatest fly fishing
vacation trips when you see that in a travel magazine. Want to win
them over for life? Handwrite all your cards and notes. In this day
and age, the handwritten note connotes a level of personal touch
that a typed letter just cannot duplicate.
Loyalty also is earned by more than just the one person
you are meeting within the company. If you are doing serious
long-term business with a company, make sure to learn the names
of all the people in that company. Take the time to treat them like
people and not as doormats to the decision-maker. They will talk
about you when you leave, and you want them to be saying only
good things about you.
Think the office receptionist doesn’t have any influence?
Think again. Some decision-makers ask them specifically how a
sales representative treated them, because it can indicate how
that same sales representative will treat a customer.
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Above all, you must show
sincerity. I knew a supplier once who was
so good at keeping track of information
about me that it came off as too slick.
We hadn’t yet developed a strong level of
connection, yet he was referring to my
wife and kids by their first names, even
though he had never met them. I must
have dropped their names in our first
conversation, and he kept good notes.
Good for him for keeping the notes, but when he asked me how
they were doing by name on the second visit, I actually felt that he
had invaded some personal territory. So as powerful as knowing
all this information, it is even more powerful to know when to
properly use that information to keep the customer within his or
her comfort zone.
Finally, a strong relationship builder in long-term sales
relationships is simply to show and express gratitude to the
customer. After all, you are grateful for his business. That’s how
you are paying the bills. All too often though, sales
representatives don’t take the time to say thank you for that
business. Every time I come to pick up my clothes, my dry cleaner
tells me that they appreciate my business. And I love to hear it
Treat your
long-term
customers like
you would want
to be treated
yourself.
Spark Your Sales
every single time. It makes me feel that they truly want my
business – which, in turn, makes me want to give them more of my
business. A statement of appreciation and gratitude really has to
come from the heart. The statement can be said, but it needs to
be felt by the sales professional when it is actually said to the
customer. Talk about a relationship builder – that’s a powerful
connection between sales professional and customer on all the
right levels.
Treat your long-term customers like you would want to be
treated yourself. Provide them with the information necessary to
make the right decisions and the highest level of customer service
to keep them wanting to continue doing business with you.
Businesses spend a lot of marketing dollars trying to reach new
customers. Spark Sales Professionals need to spend a lot of time
on trying to keep the ones that they already have.
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11
SPARK YOUR SALES
WINNING SALES CONTESTS
I absolutely love sales contests! I love running them as a
sales manager, and I love winning them as a sales representative.
Any sales representative does too. Why? First, it’s extra money,
and what sales person doesn’t like that? Second, it’s a contest and
sales professionals like competition and strive to win
competitions. Third, effective sales contests will increase sales on
the right products. They can inject enthusiasm into a slow day or
create a wave of excitement over weeks.
Sales contests simply wake up a sales force to take notice
and focus on a particular product line. And when the sales team
starts talking about something more, the customers start buying it
more. So let’s examine how a company creates and runs winning
sales contests and how the Spark Sales Professionals should try to
win them.
In order to engage a team immediately to get started,
sales contests are best run for short periods of time. If a contest
Spark Your Sales
has a deadline that is too far out, such as a few months from now,
sales representatives do not feel the urgency to get started. By
the time they feel the urgency, the excitement from the initial
launch of the contest has worn off.
Different sales contests are appropriate for different
selling environments. To get a team focused on closing sales at a
trade show, multiple sales contests can be run: one for the first day
only and separate ones that last for the whole event. This way
everyone comes out of the gate strong and stays engaged. To
wake up a call center, sales contests can be run on the spot. For
example, if a call center director sees sales are slow in a particular
product line, she can announce an immediate double commission
rate for all sales in that particular line, good for the remainder of
the day. Amazingly enough, the call center staff will start talking
about that product line more and start increasing those sales.
STEPS OF THE SALES CONTEST
The first step in launching a sales contest is to DECIDE
WHICH PRODUCTS OR SERVICES YOU WANT TO FOCUS ON.
There are two primary factors in picking the best item. The first is
that you probably want to focus your team’s attention on selling a
product with the highest profit margin. The second is that you
want to select a service or product line that has significant
potential for increased sales but is underperforming. Be careful
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about choosing something that is already on the fast growth track
because then you might be paying bonuses on sales that you
already had. You want your team to have to work smarter or
harder to generate the additional sales and earn the bonus.
The next step is DESIGNING THE RIGHT MOTIVATING
COMPENSATION STRUCTURE, which will depend on your team.
Close knit sales teams may prefer group rewards in which
everyone gets a piece of the reward if the team hits a certain goal.
Competitive sales teams may prefer individual rewards based
directly on individual effort.
Highly competitive sales teams may even want a winner-
take-all reward in which only the top performer earns the reward.
The caution with winner-take-all rewards is that as soon as lesser
performing sales representatives realize that they are not on pace
to win, they are no longer incentivized by the contest because they
view it as impossible to win, so why bother trying.
The reward itself also has to GRAB THE ATTENTION OF
THE SALES TEAM in order to generate excitement and results.
Some examples of sales contest rewards are:
• extra commission
• super bonus, like a major cash payout
• extra time off (paid early dismissal, half-days or
vacation days)
Spark Your Sales
• company products
• company logo items such as shirts, hats, mugs and
bags
• reward pins
• gift cards
• professional massages
• car wash or car servicing
• special trips
When using a monetary award, try to create a tiered,
retro-active awards program. Tiered payouts mean that the
payout increases as the sales increase in that period. For example,
selling up to 5 units, the bonus payout is $5/unit. Selling 6-10
units, the bonus payout is $6/unit. Selling 11-15 units, the bonus
payout is $7/unit.
Retro-active payouts mean that once the sales
representative hits the new tier for the contest, then all the
payouts for that month are increased to the new level. In this
example, the combined retro-active rule with the tiered structure
would mean that if the sales representative sold 12 units in the
month, then the bonus payout on all 12 would be $7.
Remember, if the contest was not retro-active, then the
sales representative would have earned $5 for the first 5 units, $6
for units 6-10 and $7 for the 11th and 12th unit. The goal of the sales
contest is to motivate and incentivize the sales team. When a
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sales representative is having a hot month, you want to encourage
them even further, and not help them to feel safe enough to sit
back and rest on their laurels. The tiered, retro-active
compensation structure certainly achieves that by significantly
increasing the value of their efforts as they increase their sales.
When designing a non-monetary award, it also pays to
know your people so you can create one that will be significant to
them. If your team values family time, then time off may be a
better reward than cash. Better yet, personalizing an award can
be an incredibly powerful stimulus. To energize a field sales team,
I once created a dream vacation bonus, in which they got to pick
their own personal dream vacation. The contest was to set a
record number of units sold in a month, so the first five people
who hit that record would get bonus money for their dream trip.
The incentive to sell today was designed as a sliding
reward scale, so the first person who broke the record got $5,000
towards the dream trip, but the second person only got $4,000,
the third person got $3,000, the fourth got $2,000 and the fifth got
$1,000. In order to keep the contest alive in each of the field
representative’s minds, they were required to tell us what their
dream trip was in detail, AND they had to keep a photo of their
dream trip with them in their cars. Well, every sales representative
drove around with a photo of their dream trip, and as the first few
Spark Your Sales
winners hit the bigger payouts and the remaining awards got
smaller, the intensity and focus of the rest of the representatives
on winning the contest increased. There is a huge psychological
motivator for the award to be personal and tangible, and asking
the sales representatives to look at their personal dream each and
every day kept them engaged in the contest. The result was the
largest unit increase in sales within 60 days!
Launching a sales contest, no matter how big or small,
should occur with GREAT FANFARE. This is a special opportunity
and the company should treat it as such. Contests should best be
announced face-to-face in a group setting so the swell of
excitement from the entire team can be felt.
Rules for the contests should be put in writing. This is
what most people would call the “fine print,” but it is necessary.
No one can envision every possible scenario that can arise with a
contest, so exceptions always arise. The most common two
exceptions are how to handle returns and addressing when
multiple representatives were involved in a single sale. The
purpose of the rules is to clearly state the expectations, the
rewards and the eligibility, so in case of exceptions, the company
has some set of guidelines for reference.
Although the launching of a sales contest can be a mini
pep rally, the cheerleading does not end with the launch. In fact,
the CHEERLEADING FOR THE SALES CONTEST NEEDS TO
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CONTINUE ALMOST DAILY to keep the team engaged
throughout the contest. Successful milestones should be noted,
announced and even celebrated in some way. If you have your
first winner, you want to confirm the numbers, announce that
right away and encourage the rest of the team that it’s possible for
them to earn the payout too!
Another way to keep the team motivated throughout the
contest is to post the individual and team numbers. Public posting
of the sales is a powerful motivator. No one likes to be on the
bottom, and Spark Sales Professionals especially like to be on the
top. What’s interesting is that some of the bottom folks may not
realize that their performance is sub-standard, so by seeing how
they rank compared with their peers, they can see the reality of
the situation. Keep the chart updated at least on a daily basis, if
not more frequently. The team needs to see that when they sell
more, the results are updated. It shows them that the company is
really interested in the contest.
If the chart remains out of date for several days, it quickly
can result in a lack of interest in the contest by the sales team. For
sales teams that are dispersed across a geographical area, use a
digital chart or spreadsheet, and email it out to the team each day.
The key point in charting the results is to keep people thinking
Spark Your Sales
about how to get to the top of the chart and stay off of the
bottom.
Using sales contests as a way to focus the efforts of the
sales team is a proven sales management tool. The differentiating
factor of extraordinary sales managers is the ability to use the
contest to step up the motivation level and maintain it throughout
the contest. Keeping the whole team engaged is just as important
as designing the right contest and award. Like many great
business ideas, the key to success lies not in the idea but rather in
the execution of the idea.
HOW TO WIN
So, as a Spark Sales Professional, if you are presented
with a sales contest, how should you go about planning how to win
it?
First, make sure that you CLEARLY UNDERSTAND THE
RULES OF THE CONTEST and which products, units or services or
eligible. A Spark Sales Professional will want to focus on those
particular items because the company has indicated that they are
the most important by virtue of the sales contest itself. Ask
questions to clarify any point that you might be unclear on.
Whenever possible, try to get the answers to those questions in
writing.
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Second, FIND OUT WHAT INCENTIVES YOU CAN OFFER
to your customers. Are there any special inducements such as free
shipping, bulk discount pricing or add-ons that you can offer for
the specified product? You want to know all of your sales tools to
motivate customers who may be on the fence about purchasing.
Orders only count if they occur within the timeframe of the
contest. Again, be sure to try to get the incentives in writing from
the company so that everyone is clear on the offers that you can
make.
Third, LOOK AT YOUR SALES PIPELINE and figure out
which prospects are the low hanging fruit. Who can be easily
closed within the contest time period? Review any recent
customers and see if any of them might be interested in the
specified products for the sales contest. Making a second sale to
an existing customer is often easier than making the first sale. You
have already established a relationship and trust with them. They
already believe in your company and at least one product. You
just have to educate them about the other products that you offer.
Fourth, EXAMINE YOUR WORKDAY to find out how you
might be able to reach more customers and increase your own
sales.
• How can you increase the number of calls that you
make by 10% each day to reach more customers?
Spark Your Sales
• Can you come in
early and do any administrative
work before 9am?
• How can you be
more productive during the day to
have more exposure to
customers?
• Do you pre-judge
customers, or do you give
everyone the opportunity to buy
from you?
• If lunchtime is a
good time to reach customers, can you eat your lunch
early or late so you can be available during lunchtime?
• Can you prepare your calling lists or sale route the
night before to give you extra work time?
• Can you notify any frequent customers about special
offers and personally invite them to buy?
• Can you ask for referrals from your customers each
and every time?
A sales contest essentially gives a Spark Sales Professional
the reminder to re-energize his workday. Taking some time
periodically to assess how you are doing, and digging deep to ask
yourself how you can do better, is the true purpose of running a
The goal is to
help the sales
team and
individual sales
representative
become the
absolute best
that they can be.
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sales contest. Those who win the sales contests are those Spark
Sales Professionals who commit to personal growth and are open
to new ideas. A sales representative who is doing the same old
thing will get the same results.
Sales contests give Spark Sales Professionals the incentive
to try new things or try to do the same things more efficiently or
better. Spark Sales Professionals who respond to these
opportunities will consistently outperform and out-earn the rest of
the team.
Look at sales contests as the opportunity to improve and
advance yourself. Use the contest award and deadline as self-
motivating factors to try harder. That’s why the contests are
utilized. The goal is to help the sales team and individual sales
representatives become the absolute best that they can be. We
can all use reminders to take our game up to the next level, and
contests are a great way to do that.
Spark Your Sales
12
SPARKING IT ALL TOGETHER
There are a number of sales growth opportunities that
were laid out in this book at both the company and individual level.
At first glance, it can seem exciting yet overwhelming. Start one
step at a time, and focus intensely on that one project first.
It’s always good to have some early wins when starting
out on some new projects. Look for smaller sales projects that can
achieve a quick result. One of the quickest things you can do from
scratch to grow sales is to start training your sales team better.
The salespeople are speaking with customers each and
every day, whether they are phone representatives, field
representatives, store clerks or distributors. With training, the
very next customer that they speak with can be an opportunity for
growth. That means results can occur NOW!
Internet marketing certainly has a quick return timeframe
as well, but if you have not been using the Internet properly for
marketing purposes, it can take some time to develop what you
need and to achieve sufficient exposure. However, once you have
a web marketing program in place, it is another great way to
create sales growth opportunities. Responses to email and web
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search campaigns can be evaluated in a matter of hours and days.
Companies with established web marketing programs should be
leveraging them consistently for sales growth opportunities.
Given the two choices of quick sales returns with either
sales training or web marketing, I have seen sales training
generate greater impact. It equips your front line salespeople with
the selling tools to up-sell, cross-sell and close sales more
effectively, all with the overarching goal of finding ways to help
customers better. When your salespeople can perform their jobs
better, they develop more self-respect and confidence, they will
feel better about themselves, they will earn more money and they
will be more excited. A company’s investment of time and
resources to help develop the sales team lets them know that you
want them to succeed. Proper sales training for your company is
nothing short of inspirational!
Sales training also has spillover benefits for every other
sales and marketing program that you run. Once you have trained
your salespeople to close better, then any marketing or sales
program you run from then on will be even more effective. Your
sales team will be able to achieve higher closing rates for all the
new leads and new customers walking in the door. The
investment in sales training increases the value of all customers
and leads generated by any new programs!
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Sales training can best be done by professionals, but most
sales managers can at least get the ball rolling. Pulling the sales
team together into a meeting or onto a teleconference and having
each one of them review their best sale of the week helps to get
the brainstorming started to share the Best Practices. Even
meeting daily for a five minute pep talk can help your sales team
by getting them energized for each day. Another option is getting
each sales person their own copy of a sales book and going
through a chapter or two each week. Challenge them to apply
those concepts in their work for the week, and then report back at
the following meeting.
As the training develops and the sales growth momentum
starts to build, you can start to look to other types of sales
development programs. If you are selling through inbound calls,
test an outbound calling team. If you are doing outbound phone
sales, experiment with a field sales force. If you are doing retail
sales from a shop, try a few trade shows or create an online store.
Try something totally new! To really grow sales, you need
to stretch yourself to do something different. Single digit sales
growth comes from improving your current programs. Double
digit sales growth is achieved when you launch entire new
programs or products. Think and act big, and you will earn big!
When building a new program, many companies try to
test it by adding the project onto the plate of a successful but
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overworked manager. This can set a program up for failure
because the manager has neither the time nor the specific
expertise to tackle the job. Instead, set the program up for success
by hiring the right talent, either a consultant, independent
contractor or an employee. You can try to build something brand
new yourself, but you will pay the price through mistakes, delays
and missed opportunities. It’s far wiser to invest the same money
into getting experience and guidance from someone who has
“been there and done that,” rather than blow the same amount or
even more in errors that could have been avoided.
Going for growth requires taking some risks. Some new
projects will succeed and many will fail. Some failures will be
caught early and some will be realized after major investments.
Being able to tolerate the failures and move beyond them is vital.
In fact, celebrate the failures! Yes, celebrate them. Celebrating
the failures will show everyone in the company that taking
calculated risks for growth is a good thing. This requires more
than just a fluff celebration. Allowing failures and supporting risk-
tasking within a company often requires a cultural overhaul that
ultimately will lead to growth. New ideas will bubble up from
every corner of the company. Management does not have a
monopoly on the good ideas. The more people who can
contribute, the better off the company will be.
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Nearly everyone wants revenue growth, but growth brings
its own set of problems. As more orders start flowing through the
company’s pipelines, little problems that go overlooked when the
systems are at half capacity suddenly become bigger problems.
To succeed with the growth, some things are non-negotiable.
Product or service quality must remain the same or improve.
Customer service levels must remain the same or improve.
Delivery times must remain the same or improve. Inventory levels
need to be managed better. Staffing levels need to improve so
overtime does not become an added cost and eat into margins. All
these components are important so a company grows but does
not implode from the growth.
The key is to create profitable growth and not growth at
any cost. Profitable growth requires the coordination of scalable
systems across all departments within a company. If sales grow by
20%, it does not mean that staffing needs to grow by 20% as well.
It means that the various departments and teams need to consider
how they can absorb the additional business by spotting the
inefficiencies of their systems and correcting them. The sales
growth should be accompanied with efficiency gains so the costs
increase at a slower rate than the revenue increase. This is one of
the most challenging parts of running a company but also the
most important for long-term growth.
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In the beginning of this book, we talked about how
everyone within a company is involved in selling. This also means
that everyone within a company should be involved in planning for
growth. The time to start looking for efficiencies and
improvements to increase capacity levels should start at the same
time that growth initiatives are begun. Just as the sales team is
being trained and the marketing programs are getting launched,
the inventory and manufacturing levels should ramp up in concert.
This comprehensive coordination is the hallmark of true successful
company growth. Master this coordinated effort and you will truly
have Sparked Your Sales!
Spark Your Sales
