Strategic Sales & Marketing Solutions

When a tough economy takes the first tentative steps toward recovery, the ice surrounding a customer’s reluctance slowly begins to melt. A professional salesperson knows how to craft an irresistible, value-packed offering when budgets are tight and prospects are still overly cautious about their spending.

The antiquated view of selling is that an “all or nothing” approach is the only sure pathway to success. The salesperson determines which products or services are most likely to generate a high rate of closed sales in his or her territory, and a hard-sell “features and benefits” script is built around those products and services. The salesperson becomes determined to handle objections, wear down resistance, and close the sale.

A hard sell never works in a tough economy. A prospect faced with the tired “What are the consequences of your not buying today” question might very well respond with “I’ll still have my money.”

Two rules hold fast and true in any economy, weak or strong.

The first rule is that when a prospect verbalizes a need or desire, the sale has already been made. The experienced salesperson recognizes this, and calmly works with the prospect as they seek reassurance that they have made the right decision, that the need or desire is valid and necessary, and that the salesperson can be trusted to provide it. The novice salesperson does not, and sticks closely to their prepared script, and more often than not, fails to close the sale.

The second rule is that no salesperson, whether they are seasoned or just beginning, can advance the sales cycle toward closure until a prospect’s need or desire has been identified and articulated by the prospect. There is no “features and benefits” slideshow presentation in the world that can change this truism.

The professional salesperson has greater success with more initial contacts via the first rule for one simple reason: They do their homework. Their research uncovers prospects with a predisposition to the benefits offered by their products and services. While this research does not offer a 100% guarantee of success with all prospects, it greatly increases the potential for success. The salesperson makes initial contact a professional with a basic understanding of their prospect’s needs. They avoid the jarring, self-defeating “cold call” approach.

Once the need or desire has been expressed by the prospect, the salesperson comes to a fork in the road. If the prospect is successful and is not feeling the pressure of a tough economy, they can follow the straight path and work toward their most desired, most profitable sale. If the prospect is facing financial challenges or simply not willing to spend, they can “Head East or Head West.”

The “Head East” approach is adopted by inexperienced salespeople who lack the necessary skills and confidence to calmly work through the entire sales cycle on a client-by-client basis, rather than a rigid adherence to a script. When cost becomes a factor, they see cost as an objection, and attempt to counter that objection with a number of ill-conceived responses. They might offer a deep discount, which cuts directly into their bottom line profits. They might offer a volume discount, which results in a larger immediate sale but creates a closed sale based on a lower profit margin, which is a sign of compromise, not success. A salesperson can never give more in terms of product or service or accept less in terms of compensation and consider their efforts to be successful.

The “Head East” salesperson will also attempt to assign value to low-or-no-cost “incentives” such as giveaway items, white papers, extended warranties and other products or services which do not represent a significant cost to the salesperson but also, by default, fail to impress the prospect. A full-price ticket cannot be padded with low-value items. The prospect will ultimately return to the bottom line price and will weigh the so-called “extra” value of these items. They will then question the value of the main product or service, seeing the “add-ons” as a desperate move on the part of the salesperson.

The “Head West” approach is adopted by experienced, professional salespeople. Once a need or desire has been articulated by the prospect, and it is clear that the salesperson’s product would help fill the need or meet the desire, the salesperson moves into “How can we make this happen?” mode.

As an example, a professional Website developed for an organization might cost $3500. This Website might include photographs of all staff members in the organization with brief biographies, relevant video which illustrates the core values of the organization, a detailed overview of the organization’s history, and any number of interactive elements. The prospect’s initial reaction might be that they like the proposal but can’t afford the $3500.

If the salesperson has reasonably quoted this project at $3500, a discount would represent full value for a less than fair price. If the organization reviews the proposal and feels that it represents an Internet marketing presence they would like to ultimately have, but cannot afford today, a much better approach would be to determine what they can afford, make it happen today, and adopt a phased approach toward “growing them into” where they would ultimately like to be in six months, a year, or longer.

This objective could be met with a group photo of the staff today, to be replaced with individual photos in a year. Video could be moved to the second or third phase of the project. The salesperson would then work with the prospect to identify the most urgent need in the present moment, and would offer solutions to meet that need. The Website would rise to meet the level of the prospect’s current need and budget, rather than lowering the price of the full-featured Website to win the favor of a prospect who cannot afford it.

Salespeople who adopt the “Head West” approach retain the respect of their customers for two key reasons. First, they don’t back down from the full value of what they offer, and thereby avoid creating suspicion or skepticism in the minds of their customers regarding that value. Second, they exhibit a willingness to build a long-term relationship with their customers by exploring every avenue toward meeting their needs today.

The “Head West” approach is not a compromise. It is a lower ticket immediate sale, but the price on the ticket is at full value. It greatly increases the chances of the customer engaging in future sales. It is a formula for success. Customers always appreciate flexibility and a willingness to work within their own unique arena of challenges and opportunities.

The ability to employ fast and agile thinking is what separates the professional salesperson from the beginner. When you meet with prospects who are feeling the pinch of a down economy, try the “Head West” approach and watch your sales increase dramatically.

Every time our economy stumbles, we hear those four magic words: “Work Harder, Not Smarter.” We find ourselves surrounded by catch phrases like “productivity gains,” which can often be a euphemism for “We just fired the person in the cubicle next to yours, so now you will be doing your job as well as his.”

When times get tough, the tough occasionally want to intellectualize. You can think yourself out of a lot of problems in life, but you can’t think your way out of a hole. You have to grab the rope and start climbing. Falling into the “work smarter, not harder” trap is nothing more than an excuse for you to cease working and start daydreaming. Successful selling is never a matter of what you know. It’s a matter of what you do with what you know. While all living and breathing creatures must evolve, maybe the problem isn’t the fact that you need a new game plan. Maybe you have a great one and you simply are not working it hard enough.

This doesn’t mean that continuing education should be absent from your Professional Selling career…quite the contrary. You must learn something new every day. But you must learn while doing. Greatness has never been achieved strictly through the pursuit of knowledge. Greatness is achieved by learning and applying that knowledge, by taking action and risks and falling down and getting up and doing it all over again.

Professional Selling is built on a foundation of several pillars that may vary in appearance, but are always consistent in principle.

First, you must love the art of selling. If you don’t, you will never be a successful salesperson. You must embrace selling as your chosen profession and you must have a deep, burning desire to excel. When you show up for a job that you don’t like…maybe even a job that you hate…you watch the clock, contribute only the bare minimum that will keep you employed, show up late, leave early, take long lunches, surf the Web when your boss isn’t hovering over you, make personal phone calls, email your friends, and spend all day Saturday and Sunday dreading Monday morning. That’s not life. That’s a prison sentence.

Second, you must think like Elvis Presley and Take Care of Business…”T.C.B.” Elvis distributed gold-plated “T.C.B.” trinkets to the members of his “Memphis Mafia” as a constant reminder of his personal manifesto. What is your manifesto? Is it to show up late and leave early, to take care of business, or some other point in between? People must be able to trust that you will keep your word and follow through on everything you’ve promised. You will occasionally run into extreme, unpredictable circumstances which are not within your control, but most people will understand and appreciate your honesty and direct, immediate communication during these times. On the other hand, if you let something fall through the cracks because of your apathy, laziness, or neglect, you will begin to erode any trust you’ve built among your customers, colleagues, or peers, and will be on the fast track to “unemployable.”

Third, you must believe in the product or service you are selling with an unshakable sense of faith. You must believe that while you may have competitors, you have the superior offering. You must be able to back this up with client testimonials and success stories, not simple arrogance. If you do not already have this belief, or you cannot foster it over time, you are selling the wrong product or service. Get out now and find the right scenario for you.

Fourth, you must embrace the age-old goal setting wisdom that dictates you will strive for “this or something better.” You can never control the final outcome. You might meet a prospect and close the sale after one or two brief conversations. You might also invest considerable time in proposals or consultations, only to find that the prospect is either price shopping or just curious, with no means or motivation to buy in the near or distant future. Both of these scenarios are realities along the Professional Selling landscape. You must accept what is in your cup, whether it is fine wine or ashes, and realize that your path is a forward one. You have no time for self-pity, anger, hurt, or resentment. As you are driving away from your failed sales call, struggling with your emotions, your prospect is buying a candy bar from the vending machine and thinking about 100 other things that don’t involve you. Celebrate the successes and move on. Acknowledge the lesson in the defeats and move on. Never stand still.

Fifth, always earn the sale. The exact moment in which you earn the respect, admiration, and future referrals from your customers is the exact moment in which you give them everything they paid for, everything they expected…and you haven’t slowed down a bit. They’ve gotten everything you promised and you’re still delivering. One aspect of sales that is true in any economy, strong or weak, is that the salesperson who consistently exceeds expectations is the same salesperson who will never fret over an empty or diminished pipeline. Be as passionate about the success of your customers as if it were your own.

Finally, take the advice of a wise old friend of mine. When you are facing the lion and the lion has only one thought…to eat you…stand firm, stand tall, and look the lion straight between the eyes. Smile, and say “I hope I taste good.” Fear and weakness and doubt have no place in sales. Economies come and go. When you build your motivation on favorable circumstances and a level playing field, you will reap nothing beyond the low-hanging fruit. In a tight economy, that fruit has already been picked by your competition. You must make a stand, decide to fight, and work harder.

The overwhelming majority of limits in life are self-imposed. The concept of an “eight hour work day” is wrapped around companies who must pay overtime for anything beyond eight hours. If you are a Professional Salesperson…especially if you are a sole proprietor or entrepreneur…there is no time clock. There are no weekends.

There is only life. Life’s what is happening to you right now, while you are reading this article.

There is your work, your passion, your craft, your success. Don’t work smarter. Work harder. You already know what to do and how to do it. You’re just not doing enough of it. Make a decision right now to change that behavior. You can do it, and you will see immediate results.

The days of “autopilot” selling, at least for the short term, are long behind us. In the current economy, professional salespeople…accredited members of the “Top 2% Club”…don’t even consider a script for their prospecting or follow-up efforts. Every single sales call…without exception…requires a true sales performer to master the following skills:

1). Do your homework. In the “Age of the Internet,” there is no excuse for a salesperson to skip this essential step. With a few clicks of a mouse, it is possible to discover a company’s yearly income, its decision maker, its location, and more. There is one reason, and one reason only, for a professional salesperson to skip the “homework” stage. The reason is that they don’t belong in sales.

2). Approach every prospective client with respect and professional courtesy. Then kick over their apple cart. Look at it this way…if every one of your prospective clients is 100% “In The Zone,” they don’t need you. You have nothing…I repeat, nothing…to offer. The good news is that the overwhelming majority of your potential clients are nowhere near “The Zone.” They are too close to their immediate situation. The are playing a game that they cannot possibly win, which is known as “Follow The Leader.” They are using the efforts of their nearest competitors as a benchmark, which is a fatal mistake. Your challenge, as a professional salesperson, is to conduct an exhaustive inventory of every sales and marketing effort currently in play by their competitors. After that, you redefine the playing field. If you are unable to do this, you are in the wrong profession. Start scanning the employment listings in your local newspaper.

3). Discuss your client’s “comfort zone,” and provide supportive illustrations that demonstrate how living in a comfort zone will never result in success. We have now reached the point where professional salespeople separate themselves from “order takers.” If your sales strategy…your entire value proposition…is playing to your prospective customers’ “comfort zone,” you have just guaranteed your failure. If you have the courage to do your homework, understand the needs of your potential customers, thoroughly understand their current efforts, and look beyond “where they are” to “where they could be,” you are in the “Top 2% Club.” If not, you are someone who belongs in a different profession who is currently hiding out with the job title of “Salesperson.”

4). Accept your potential client’s ego and level of self-perception and be willing to turn it inside out.

Here is a real-life illustration for you.

I am currently in negotiations with the owner of an Italian restaurant. I am Italian, and I know how to cook authentic Italian food. I have no interest in…nor patience for…Italian food that is not authentic. When I find a restaurant that knows how to deliver the “real deal,” I present myself for what I am: an Italian-American man who knows how to cook authentic Italian dishes and respects restaurants that offer authentic cuisine. This, combined with my professional Web Design skills, makes me uniquely qualified to approach the owner of an authentic Italian restaurant and discuss my qualifications for building a Web Site that will bring them new customers.

The next step is to enter into the “What’s In It For Me / So What” stage.

There are two stages in every sales call. The first is “What’s In It For Me.” This is the moment in which a business owner makes a declaration of their unique selling proposition, their primary reason for being qualified to extract dollars from their customers’ wallets.

Let’s stick with the Italian restaurant theme.

Response to the “What’s In It For Me” question might be “I make pizza.”

In a world filled with “pizza joints,” the immediate response from most consumers might be “So what?”

The response to the “So what” question is the dividing line between success and failure.

Here is a successful response:

“We make our pizza dough from scratch, as well as our sauce, and we use only the finest ingredients. We do not have freezers in our restaurant. We prepare what we need in advance each day. We use authentic Italian recipes for all of our menu items, and we invite you to visit us soon so that you can taste the difference these steps make.”

The average restaurant owner is locked into his / her own ego. “We make great pizza.” Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. What is required…the critical step which requires sidelining ego…is to explain to the buying public why their pizza is superior to the pizza available from the chain stores that have a presence on every block of every city in the United States.

I’ve worked with a client who is literally operating in the shadow of a major, nation-wide pizza chain. He is located in a strip mall that is set back slightly from the main street, where the chain store is located.

This chain built its reputation on cheap pizza, plain and simple. For a small amount of cash, you can walk in and purchase a large amount of food. For customers who aren’t concerned with quality or authenticity, it’s a great deal.

If you walk a few feet back into the mall, my client offers fresh dough, fresh sauce, quality ingredients…for only a few dollars more per pizza.

For some consumers, “filling the hole” is the primary concern, and at the cheapest possible price. But there is a huge divide between the cheapest fast food and five-star restaurants. Therein lies the opportunity. There is the opportunity for a restaurant owner to say “We aren’t fast food, but you also don’t need to take out a second mortgage to enjoy a meal at our restaurant.”

A salesperson must be willing to roll up their sleeves, to challenge the client’s status quo, in order for that client to see their current unique window of opportunity.

Everything is possible. It just becomes a matter of how willing a professional salesperson is to have a vision, and to relentlessly pursue it.

Salespeople often explore all of the possible ways to avoid prospecting, which is single most critical skill required to increase sales in a tough economy. It is difficult to understand why prospecting is looked upon as such an ominous, intimidating, threatening activity when it can be an adventure, a game of pure strategy, and the most direct method of achieving a higher ratio of new, qualified potential customers and closed sales.

A sale is closed, a contract is signed, a check is cut in the exact moment in which a prospective customer believes that a need will be met. Salespeople will procrastinate and put off prospecting by offering the feeble excuse that “no one is buying,” which may be true in limited, specific situations, but is a complete falsehood in others. It is a “wishful thinking” excuse. The salesperson doesn’t truly believe that no one is buying. They hope that by placing the blame on the economy or any other external circumstance, rather than accepting full responsibility and accountability for their own inner game, they will be allowed to coast along and gather up the low-hanging fruit.

During lean and difficult financial times, the needs of most people increase. When times are good and everyone has money to burn, basic needs are an afterthought and “disposable income” is used to fuel desires, not to purchase survival items.

In a tough economy, sacrifices are made. Budgets are cut. Products and services which are needs, not desires, are trimmed, creating new and greater needs. The salesperson who has trained themselves to pay close attention to the changing tides will see this and act upon it. The salesperson with low motivation, narrow focus and limited imagination will spend their days endlessly trying to force the square peg into the round hole.

Sales is not a “by rote, by the numbers” game. It is the exclusive province of agile, quick-thinking, highly motivated professionals who seek out challenges for the opportunities they contain. The salespeople who cannot or will not accept this become the leaves that fall from the tree, are gathered up, placed into plastic bags, and set out at curbside for pickup.

A salesperson who can fill a need will always make a sale in any economy. Sales prospecting is nothing more than quickly and efficiently isolating the people who have a need that is in direct alignment with the salesperson’s products and services. The problems begin when an inexperienced or timid salesperson takes on the self-imposed burden of closing the sale on a prospecting call. Professional salespeople resist the temptation to “go for the kill” in the opening stages of contact. This does not mean that if a salesperson contacts a prospective customer with an immediate or urgent need who is willing to buy immediately that they should defer the prospect’s eagerness. It means that one out of every one thousand prospects might respond in that manner. The rest of them need to feel confident that the salesperson is someone worth talking to and not a pushy intruder before they will allow themselves to consider buying from them. As a colleague once said, “Time + Trust = Relationship.” People feel good about buying when they have a relationship with a trustworthy seller.

The search for a prospecting “method” is the first trap that most call-reluctant salespeople fall into. There is only one method, available to each and every professional salesperson, regardless of what they sell or where they sell it. It is called “being comfortable in their own skin.”

If a friend or relative calls with a need, there is no anxiety or hand-wringing or procrastination regarding how to respond. There is no manipulation, no cat and mouse games. A need is articulated. One person speaks, another person listens. The act of verbally expressing the need might raise questions for the person listening. The questions are asked, the questions are answered, and a decision is made in regard to whether the people involved in the conversation can work toward providing a solution that meets the immediate need.

That, in a nutshell, is the definition of sales prospecting. Novice salespeople occasionally overwhelm a prospect with “solutions” that they don’t need, don’t want, or can’t afford, and in doing so, sabotage any real opportunity that might have existed. It is critical to do the appropriate homework before picking up the phone or walking through the door. The salesperson must, to the best of their ability and within reason, determine the need of the prospect before making contact.

The next step should also come naturally, but often constitutes the second trap. Just as the time in a salesperson’s day must be managed, so must their expectations. There should be one question on the salesperson’s mind while they are in prospecting mode: “Do they have an interest in speaking with me, and if so, when can I set an appointment?” It is perfectly reasonable to set a closed sale as a goal. In doing so, initial contact is step one. If step one is successful, step two becomes a follow-up appointment. That could lead to a closed sale, additional appointments, or a prospect who isn’t motivated to buy. The only thing a salesperson can control is a complete and sincere commitment to doing their best in each of the steps as they occur.

The time has come for the professional salesperson to embrace prospecting, to personalize it, and to manage their time as well as their expectations. In doing so, they will close more sales.

Salespeople are faced with the daily choice of short-term pain versus long-term gain. Rather than relying on confidence in their ability to effectively communicate the full value of their products and services, inexperienced salespeople will begin to offer discounts, price concessions and incentives in order to entice their prospects into a closed sale. If they succeed, they have created a customer with expectations. Every time they approach the customer for repeat business, the customer will demand a new perk, a new gift, a new instance of “something for nothing.” Unless the salesperson locks in the second sale in the same moment as the first (such as time-limiting a discount of 30 days against a long-term agreement in which the cost reverts to full price), they are playing a game that they will never win.

There are times in which these tactics are appropriate, and there are others that add up to a simple admission by the salesperson that they lack the skill or mental stamina to guide their prospect through the sales cycle.

The acquisition and ongoing nurturing of customers requires a series of skills that are usually learned by trial and error. The professional salesperson must possess a deep, almost fanatical interest in human psychology and what “makes people tick,” also known as “why they buy.” Every sales encounter is a lesson. Each lesson, accumulated over time, is like the single drops of water that form a rock. One lesson, one drop at a time, extended over years, results in a salesperson on the road to mastering their craft.

Just as you learn to ride a bike or a horse by getting on, falling off, getting up, brushing yourself off, and getting right back on again, you learn the appropriate and inappropriate use of discounts and incentives in the sales process by making money or losing money.

A nation-wide fast food restaurant chain recently offered a bold promotion. They mailed a full-color flyer to residents with over $25 worth of coupons for their food. Half of the coupons offered as much as a 50% discount for a meal, while others were of the “two for one” variety. In addition to the discounts, they announced a date on which customers could come to the restaurant for a free meal: two pieces of chicken with two tortillas and salsa.

On the day of the promotion, the parking lot at my local restaurant was full at opening time, with drivers circling the lot hoping for a space. The line for ordering extended to the door. Some customers simply took advantage of the free food and ordered no additional items. Others used coupons from the flyer and purchased food as well.

Was this promotion successful? A percentage of people showed up for the free food and will not return unless a similar offer is made in the future. A second group consisted of regular or semi-regular customers who might have made an extra, unplanned trip to take advantage of the free food. The third group consisted of the “sitting on the fence” or “unaware” customers…those who either did or did not know of the restaurant previously and had never tasted the food.

The promotion was successful in two very significant ways. First, it was a gesture that appealed to the pocketbooks of the community at a very challenging time in the economy. While some people could obviously afford the food and simply enjoyed getting it for free, others might have gone a while between meals. Second, it issued a challenge to the restaurant’s competitors to follow their lead. One direct competitor, in fact, accepted the challenge by offering a similar (but more limited) promotion during the same week.

The success of the promotion also relied on the fact that it was a numbers game. There is a significant difference between a one-on-one negotiation with a single client and a “loss leader” day in which “X” amount of product will be offered at an “X” percentage discount in order to build public awareness and strengthen the brand. The cost of the promotion becomes marketing overhead, a legitimate business expense, so there really is no way to “lose” money. The immediate issue at hand is the profit margin resulting from the promotion, but there is also a “ripple effect” of new business that might not have been generated without it.

With any customer relationship, you must examine the long term. There are customers whose primary interest lies in paying the lowest possible price, often in combination with something that is clearly labeled as “free” (even if the actual cost is rolled into the overall price). There are others who make buying decisions based on value, as well as an ongoing relationship with a reputable vendor. The majority of customers will fall between these two extremes, and it is the responsibility of the salesperson to be somewhat clairvoyant, to look into the crystal ball and make an educated assumption regarding the state of the relationship in six months, a year, five years. If the salesperson becomes a dog chasing their tail in order to consistently appease the customer’s desire to receive “something for nothing,” they have failed in their greater task of creating a stable and profitable customer.

There are a number of ways to include discounts and incentives as rewards and gestures of appreciation to long-term customers. You can also provide things of value which cost nothing, such as articles that are directly relevant to the goals and challenges that your customers are facing. Focus on the words “trusted business partner” and realize that unless you sell a completely commoditized product…something which is used and discarded and replaced by new product in an ongoing cycle…your customers remain in a relationship with you because of your expertise and the investment you’ve made in their success.

Never offer a discount or incentive to “tip the scales” in order to close a sale. Sales greatness cannot be achieved with “hit and run” tactics. Focus on providing value, building relationships, and showing appreciation to your loyal customers. It is the only path to long-term sales success.

If you were to distill the essential wisdom from all of the sales books and articles published in 2009 to one key golden nugget, your mission statement would become “Find the people with money and custom-tailor your value statement to those people.”

Of course, that’s pretty conventional wisdom for even the best of times. But in the current economy, the people who are willing to spend money on your products or services might exist outside of your “sales comfort zone.” Therein lies the first step…if you are willing to surrender any notion of the false concept of a “sales comfort zone” (or a comfort zone in any area of life, for that matter) you are already miles ahead of the rest of your competition.

As an example, you might be very comfortable with the “walk in / drop in” method of in-person cold calling. In the world of strip malls and “Mom & Pop” businesses, it’s one of the easiest ways to get directly in front of your prospect. In most situations, it is also “gatekeeper-free.” You simply walk in, strike up a conversation, and you’re selling. If you are uncomfortable on the phone, you will not face that issue. If you are articulate, well-groomed and professional, there is a good possibility of quickly building rapport and entering into a sales cycle within moments. You might secure an appointment for a follow-up conversation, or you might close the sale on the spot. During times when the “Mom & Pop” stores lining Main Street in Anytown U.S.A. are thriving, it’s a veritable harvest waiting to be plucked.

We are not in those times. Sole proprietors, Mom & Pop, small business owners…these are the prospects who are reading the newspapers, watching TV, surfing on the Web and witnessing unrelenting doom and gloom and a hundred reasons a day to keep their wallets in their pockets.

That does not mean that every small business owner has mentally shut down when it comes to spending. It simply means that if this is your area of sales expertise, the basket which holds all of your eggs, and the one trick your pony has mastered…you’ve got a problem.

In the current economy, as a professional salesperson, you have two key objectives: find the money and go after the money. You cannot chase and hope to catch something which does not exist. In thriving economic times, “persuasion skills” and a bit of cat and mouse might help you turn the corner with hesitant prospects. In tough times, you are potentially dealing with prospects living in fear, in panic, in “survival mode.” The extended effort you waste in attempting to “persuade” them keeps you away from other, more qualified prospects.

A colleague phoned me recently. He’s a small business owner who specializes in incentive gifts…items like coffee mugs emblazoned with a corporate logo. He bemoaned the fact that “things are tough out there right now.” He asked if I had any clients who might have a need for his products and services. I explained that many of the business owners I’ve spoken with in recent days are hesitant to spend a single penny on what they consider to be “non-essential purchases.” An additional problem lies in their definition of the things they consider to be “essential.” That includes expenditures which might, ironically, help them survive…marketing, advertising, and promotion. I told my colleague that unless he is able to approach a prospective customer and clearly articulate how his products and services will make them money, save them money, or bring them new customers, he most likely will not get an extended audience with them.

In this scenario, my colleague has an overwhelmingly tough uphill climb. He can find the money by stepping out of his current comfort zone of small business owners into a broader corporate playing field, but once he’s standing on it, he will still face the challenge of crafting his value proposition. At this particular point in time, companies don’t have to provide perks for their employees. They simply need to point to the headlines and the daily stories of layoffs. The climb must go higher, up through the first level of clouds, up through the first few levels of people who have the money to spend.

Once that level is reached, a new challenge presents itself. Perhaps the “incentive gifts” determined to be appropriate for small business owners won’t pass muster in larger companies. That calls for a new offering, and with it, a new value proposition.

It all begins with finding the money and conducting thorough research on the person or company in possession of it. The second step is to identify all areas of growth or challenge that the person or company is currently facing. The third step is to craft a value proposition, preferably laced with detailed and enthusiastic testimonials from current customers, which clearly and unquestionably translates into making money for the prospect, saving them money, or bringing in new customers.

A salesperson who can accomplish that is a salesperson who can sell successfully in any economy. The remaining salespeople need to internalize all of the elements outlined above and aggressively put them into practice. Consistency of effort will yield the desired results, but more importantly, will also result in a “sifting” process which empowers the salesperson to identify the best markets and the best approach in each. Let go of the familiar. Step outside of the comfort zone. Take a deep breath, put a smile on your face, and go to work.

Salespeople often refer to the number of “touches”…instances of contact, whether via phone, email, regular mail or in person…that it takes to close a sale. While this might be an interesting number (and could potentially shed light on trends in specific targeted businesses), it lacks consistency and context. There are too many variables: the mood of the prospect on a certain day, whether your first contact was a true “cold call” or a connection through a mutual colleague, an unexpected ebb or flow in their finances, or the attempts of your competitors to under-bid your already quoted price.

How many “touches” does it take to close the sale? The answer is deceptively simple. It takes as many as it takes. Your primary responsibility as a professional salesperson is to never abandon your relationship with a prospect until you have complete assurance that you have no other options.

Even if you do determine that nurturing the relationship with one or more of your prospects is not the best use of your time and that no sales are visible on the immediate horizon, you can still drop a helpful article of interest in an envelope (with a brief, handwritten note and your business card) one or two times a year. You can leave a short, enthusiastic voice message about an upcoming event that they might enjoy, especially if it is directly related to their business. Doing so reminds your prospect that you are still alive, still interested in doing business with them, and still qualified to save them money, solve a problem, or both. Do not attempt to pressure the prospect into a sale during these moments of contact. Present yourself as a man or woman of service, someone with a genuine interest who is available to help them meet a need. They know what you’re selling and they know why you’re contacting them. Now is the time for you to focus on long-distance running, not a sprint to the finish line.

The challenge in effectively managing prospect “touches” lies in the salesperson’s ability to function fully in the moment, to listen, and to receive every verbal and nonverbal “clue” provided by the prospect.

As an example, when the prospect asks “How much will this cost,” the salesperson might reasonably acknowledge this as a strong potential signal that the “benefits” phase of the sales cycle has been successfully concluded. It stands to reason that while human beings are curious by nature, a prospect will have no interest in the cost of a product or service unless they also have a need, desire, or both. If the price question is raised before the salesperson has been given the opportunity to offer their presentation, the prospect is attempting to qualify or disqualify them solely on the basis of price. The prospect is primarily interested in finding the fastest way to show the salesperson to the door. There are very few prospects that will engage with a salesperson at any length unless that salesperson has captured their interest.

The intuitive powers of the salesperson come into play when the price question, coupled with tone of voice, body language, and any number of nonverbal cues, add up to a prospect who is ready to buy. This requires a salesperson willing to reject the smoke and mirrors of a “magic formula” in order to go the distance and invest the proper amount of time…no more, no less…in nurturing quality relationships.

During a recent sales cycle with a prospective new client, the number of “touches” I experienced between initial contact and a signed contract was two. This was not a trend. This was an isolated incident, specific to the players involved and the services being offered.

In other situations, I have maintained contact with prospects over a number of months. I have had prospects ask me to “Call back in a month,” which in reality meant “I’m willing to bet that if I call you back in a month, you will either forget or give up, and I won’t have to tell you yes or no.” I’ve had other prospects make the same request, and when I called them back in a month, the sales process moved forward. On some occasions, the follow-up call resulted a closed sale. Making the call is what made that possible.

A good friend who runs marathon races and seldom finishes first, second or third was once asked how he felt about crossing the finish line after many of the participants had already left. His reply was “I beat all of the people who stayed home.” The same is true for professional salespeople. Your persistence will pour out the gold that might have gone to the other salespeople who gave up too soon and too easily.

You can never really know in advance if the “sure things” will go belly-up or the “long shots” will come through for you. You also cannot pin all of your hopes on a few “wobblers” in your pipeline. At some point, you need to purge those who are not interested or not qualified in favor of those who are. But the only way you can achieve that elusive “Top 2%” of sales success is to use your intuition, be persistent, and view your sales education…no matter how lengthy or credentialed or impressive it might be…as nothing more than a launching pad that allows you to go into each new selling situation with a clear mind, a fresh perspective, a desire to win, and the confidence that comes with knowing that by consistently and earnestly practicing all of the disciplines above, you are already a winner.

This is part four in a ten-part series that provides the tools you need to obtain commitment and close sales by making the most effective (and profitable) use of your time.

I’m going to share the four most valuable words you could possibly hear in 2009 if you are a salesperson.

Are you ready? Here they are.

The rules have changed.

Everything old is new again. For the last few years, many sales experts have celebrated the demise of cold calling. Guess what? It’s back.

I’m sure that you have heard it all before. “Get your satisfied customers to refer you to other customers. Your best source of new business is your current customers.”

There is a great deal of wisdom behind that thought, but there is also one small problem.

Your current satisfied customers might be just as frightened as your prospects, and helping you find new business while they are worried about their own may not be their number one priority. You need to maintain a healthy relationship with your clients, and you also need to be realistic about your expectations. When times are good, people are often willing to help others. When times are tough, many turn the focus inward and deal with their own needs and issues.

Obviously, there are many businesses that are thriving. The owners of these businesses are aware of the daily headlines about the economy. They simply choose not to become a slave to those headlines, to wallow in gloom, to surrender to fear, to go into hiding until things get “better.” The turnaround in the economy will not happen as the result of one single, “thunder clap” event. It will happen over time, through a series of smaller events. Each day provides the opportunity to make those events happen.

The single greatest victory for anyone in 2009 is the ability to rise above fear. To rise above the TV, newspapers, the Web, your “worried” clients.

Stop waiting for someone to do something “for” you and do it for yourself. Gratefully accept each and every referral your clients, friends, and associates offer you, but don’t sit by passively while you wait for them. You need to actively and aggressively seek out new, potential customers. The economy is in turmoil and you are a warrior or you are not. Only you can decide if you’re willing to fight for what you want.

You’re going to have to work for new business. You’re going to have to earn it. And part of your process, like it or not, will be good, old-fashioned cold calling.

Here’s some food for thought as you adjust to the new reality of selling in 2009.

1). There are no guarantees that you’ll win over 100% of the people you approach, no matter how authentic and sincere you might be. The guarantee is that you will build better and stronger long-term relationships if you sell through your knowledge and the strength of your character than if you engage in the memorization of closing techniques and objection handling responses. You need to know the basics of sales, but you need more. You need to infuse your own charisma and spirit of service into your interactions with prospects, and you can’t accomplish that by memorizing a book. The sales techniques that you put into practice must flow through you naturally, and that comes with time and practice.

2). Call reluctance, like any other mental barrier which prevents you from accomplishing the things that are important to you, needs to be addressed and understood. However, you must not get stuck in a permanent cycle of self-analysis that prevents you from taking action. You need to create clear, vivid goals and back them up with positive affirmations. Since objection handling plays such a large role in sales, the best place to begin mastering it is with your own objections. Turn your doubts inside out. If you feel that a task is bigger than your ability to handle it, tell yourself “I can, I will, I must.” Don’t be intimidated when the time comes to approach prospects, either by phone or in person. Approach them confidently, knowing that you are bringing them value.

3). Don’t get stuck in the negative thinking trap of “sales is a numbers game.” Yes, to a degree it is, but the “numbers” are the number of qualified prospects you approach before closing a sale. If you grab the phone book and start calling everyone whose last name begins with the letter “A,” you’re playing the numbers game. If you pre-qualify your contacts before calling, you are a professional salesperson. Do you see the difference?

4). Create your list of prospects, don’t purchase it. This is especially important if you’re operating on a tight budget. While some list brokers meticulously scrub their data and keep it up to date, others are selling information that hasn’t been reviewed or updated for years. Subscribe to your local business journal. Bookmark your local Chamber of Commerce Web Sites, as well as business intelligence sites like Jigsaw and Manta. With persistent and focused effort, you can compile your own prospect list that is far more robust than anything you can purchase.

Cold calling is back, although some will tell you that it never left. The economy has changed. Your prospects have changed. The rules have changed. Unless you have built a steady, growing, referral-based business, you need to embrace cold calling with a positive, “can do” attitude. Read some of the recent articles explaining how cold calling can be integrated into your overall sales strategy in an effective manner. Anchor yourself to your goals with a positive attitude. Instead of resisting the need to engage in cold calling, make it work for you and enjoy the benefits.

Here are six recession response strategies to help you profit in the current economic climate.

Response #1: Ensure every lead opportunity is being handled and accounted for properly. Many business don’t realize they get good leads, everyday, that “slip through the cracks” – and who can blame em’ ya don’t know what ya don’t know. If you can identify and “plug up the holes” in your customer acquisition funnel – your lead generation and sales process will become more efficient. An efficient lead gen process will free up cash and give you flexibility to put more resources into advertising and sales initiatives. Tips for making customer acquisition more efficient. 1.) Track response from all forms of advertising and marketing – drop the ads that don’t produce response and spend more on those that do produce a direct response. 2.) Hone your sales process at the initial point of contact when people call your office, walk into your business or complete a lead form online. Pay closer attention to those factors that result in sales. Most of your competitors will not take the time to measure response, script their sales process and identify which forms of marketing are most effective. Most will simply reduce spending money on customer acquisition initiatives (advertising, sales and conversion strategies). In the past you may have been able to get away with sloppy or half-hearted marketing and sales, but tight times expose weaknesses.

Response #2: Employ the “Glutton at a rainy picnic principle.” Imagine you’re at a picnic BBQ and it starts to rain. All of your friends and family run for their cars, but you stick around. Now you can eat to your heart’s content without competition. If you stick it out through the rain and let the storm pass you get first pick of all the vittles you like. The same is true when recession proofing. Most businesses knee jerk reaction is to “hold everything.” Tighten the belt – run for the hills. But before you do that, find your “rainy picnic” opportunities. Start using a media outlet or ad source that your competitors have bailed on because of they think it’s too expensive. Find the opportunities that come with change and make bold moves to capitalize on the new circumstantial change.

Response #3: Leverage adjacent marketing and sales strategies. Because everybody is “feeling the heat” or worried about the changing economy develop relationships with other companies to pool resources and refer internally. Devise a strategy to offer your customers more service, special offers or other incentives to do business with you because of your relationship with fellow business owners. For example: If you sell auto parts, develop a relationship with a service station for discounts on gas (of course only available through your store). Develop a relationship with an oil change station, etc. Workout a mutually beneficial referral system that gives each business a better shot at a customer. I guess you could call this a Co-Op Win-Win.

Response #4: Don’t sing the Recession Blues around any staff what-so-ever. If people feel like they have a reason to fail some of them just might – don’t give em the opportunity. It starts at the top…all that stuff. Don’t ignore reality, be willing to speak candidly about the changing circumstances that impact your business, but don’t emotionally “throw in the towel.” With the exception of a handful of businesses…the market still exists for what you sell. Somebody somewhere is buying what you’re selling. The question is are you positioned well enough to be the one to sell it to em’ and are you capitalizing on every opportunity? (see tip # 1)

Response #5: Riches in Niches. Specialization allows you to charge premium prices vs more generic competitors. And it affords you a stronger position in the minds of your customers. For example Whole Foods specializes in organic groceries. They can charge more, as they build a loyal customer base who continues to buy from their store time and time again. Think of Whole Foods vs Food Lion or Giant or Harris Teeter or whichever basic grocer is in your area…Whole Foods competes with those stores, but they don’t have the same level of competitive threat the other more generic grocers have with one another because they have a niche. Essentially you can elevate your business out of the competitive mire by developing a niche position in the market – great for recession proofing.

Response #6: Get more from what ya got – focus on your existing client base. According to the late Peter Drucker (these are old ratios, but relevant) your business has a 1:14 chance of doing business with someone with whom you have never done business, you have 1:4 chance of doing business with someone with whom you have had a relationship but have stopped and you have a 1:2 chance of doing business with an existing customer. So, what does this mean? A great recession proofing strategy is to communicate more with your existing customers – focus marketing and sales resources inward. Build a loyal herd of followers and use your client base to drive referrals.

© 2008-2009 Ryan Pitz, President, New Call Solutions

This article has been reprinted with the author’s kind permission:

Ryan Pitz
President, New Call Solutions
Website: www.newcallsolutions.com
(866) 231-2055 toll-free
Email: info@newcallsolutions.com

This is part three in a ten-part series that provides the tools you need to obtain commitment and close sales by making the most effective (and profitable) use of your time.

In his classic book Think & Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill discussed how a winner will consistently display a willingness to “burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat.”

As long as you build an excuse for failure into your goals, you will exercise this option every time you feel yourself venturing to the edges of your comfort zone. Clinging to a “comfort zone” is a conscious decision that you make to give yourself permission to set high targets and then aim low.

Your greatest successes occur in the moments in which you have fully surrendered yourself to the inevitability of your success. You do not clutter your concentration with vacillations between self-confidence and doubt. A fundamental principle of goal-setting is that you must never retreat. You establish a goal and work toward its fulfillment, expecting only your desired result or something bigger and better than you first envisioned.

A comfort zone is not only emblematic of weakness. It is also the ultimate manifestation of selfishness. Greatness is never achieved through concessions to circumstances. Those who would be truly great acknowledge their external circumstances and make them work to their advantage.

Abandoning your comfort zone is never a license for foolish behavior or half-baked schemes. You do not deliberately place yourself in a position in which you cannot hope to win. You do not deliberately endanger yourself or others. You simply form consistently achievable goals, and upon their achievement, keep raising the stakes for each new goal.

You are the least qualified person to determine what you can or cannot accomplish. You are the sum total of every external circumstance in your life, from the moment of your birth to the moment in which you are reading these words. Every person who’s crossed your path has left an indelible mark: friends, parents, teachers, employers, peers, even random encounters with total strangers. You are unique and successful in direct proportion to the degree in which you give these distant voices power in your present moment.

When you separate yourself from what others have told you that you can or cannot do, you shrink the word “impossible” so that its mighty and intimidating lion’s roar becomes the faint squeak of a mouse. You obliterate the power that words and opinions have over you, and in doing so, you become powerful.

Because conditioning is a constant, ongoing process…think in terms of water drops forming a rock…you cannot reverse years of conditioning in a moment. What you can do is accept and acknowledge the fact that you have been conditioned, for better or worse. You can then look at each situation you encounter during the course of your days and ask yourself how this conditioning, this predisposition to success or failure, either helped you to achieve your goals or robbed you of victory before you left the starting gate.

If you venture confidently into a selling situation with the mindset of a winner, you will win. In order to do this, you must re-define your own personal meaning of the word “win.” Let’s assume that you plan to approach a prospect with the intention of selling your goods or services. One goal-setting option might be to determine a fixed dollar amount that you would like to receive. You choose your moment, make contact, and the prospect makes the decision to not do business with you.

Some might see this as failure. Some might say “My goal was to close a $2000 sale with this prospect, and they said no, so I failed.” The next step in this downward spiral is to move from accountability to blame, to move from failure as an event to failure as a person. Don’t do it. The reality is that the person in this scenario did not fail. Their goal was to reach out to a prospect with the intention of making a sale. They did so, and as a result, achieved success. Their success was not in alignment with what could be considered a rigid expectation ($2000 in profit). The lesson to be learned is that success can never be considered as a conditional event. You cannot tell yourself that you will only be successful “if” and “when” certain conditions are met.

Success is achieved at the exact moment in which you make a commitment to yourself to be successful. You take every necessary step, without rigid expectations, unreasonable conditions, or the shackles of fear and doubt. You do not measure your success by comparing it to what others have achieved. You decide what you want and you go after it as if you cannot fail to obtain it.

Begin today. Begin immediately. When you find yourself entering into an internal dialog about what you can or cannot accomplish, focus on the end result. Become a heat-seeking missile. If you miss the target, get right up and go after a new one. Keep yourself so focused and energized that you do not allow yourself a single moment in which to wallow in doubt, self-pity or self-sabotaging behaviors. Keep moving forward in confidence.