Imagine if you could buy a sparkling new Porsche 911 for the price of a Ford Focus — with an unlimited lifetime warranty to boot. Sounds too good to be true, right?
It probably is. Yet that’s the mentality that a lot of companies encourage their customers to have, writes S. Anthony Iannarino, the president and chief sales officer of Solutions Staffing. They sell a utopia that doesn’t exist, promising the best, fastest, and cheapest all rolled into one — creating unrealistic expectations that are bound to blow up in their…
In the line of fire, it’s easy to get rattled.
When a salesperson goes against a best practices process under duress, the cause is understood. But when the action violates the most basic tenets of sales, it’s usually a matter of graver danger. In a recent article, Mark Hunter, highlighted the three biggest mistakes a salesperson can make. There is nothing more damaging to a sales process than ignoring a customer’s most apparent needs, writes Hunter. If a salesperson isn’t catering to the specific customer (read: not deviating from the pitch for…
If a customer is teetering between leaving you for another vendor or standing pat, they’ll often need a few questions answered before making the decision.
Answering these questions the right way can be pivotal when it comes to keeping the customer aboard, says sales strategist Mark Hunter. If a customer threatens to change suppliers, explore the issue of built-in wait time with them. In most cases, he explains, it will take much longer to make the change than expected. Additionally, Hunter adds that there could be challenges associated with managing two sets…
The last thing you want to see is a potential client retract from a sale due to information overload.
In a recent post, sales strategist Kelley Robertson warns that salesperson be careful not to flood their customers’ brains with offers, options, facts and whatever else there’s room to cram in there. The key is to not over do it. Salespeople often believe that piling more and more onto a pitch will produce the desired result. But all too often, it just overwhelms people, which is a distinctly undesirable result, Robertson writes.…
When your company is catapulting over its sales goals and the operation is running without a hitch, who gets the credit? Every member of the team should be praised, from accounting to marketing. But what happens when the sales goals aren’t met? Is marketing getting scolded? In such a situation, says Rich Chiarello, president and CEO of Above the Line, sales is likely going to take the brunt of the blame. But Chiarello states that such a judgement is inequitable. Instead, companies should be focusing on spreading accountability around the workplace, making everybody more responsible for the bottom-line results. For more from…
Some of the top sales strategists in the business discuss the mistakes they see most often in early stage technology companies.
Damaged customer relationships can unfold in different ways.
But while occasional customer complaints are mostly unavoidable, how you go about resolving those issues is critical. In a recent post, Mike Volpe of HubSpot breaks down four common customer problem areas: they can be angry, they can ignore your company, they can be confused or they can stray from your business. All of these problems are fixable, he writes — with the right approach. For Volpe’s quick tips for fixing customer relationships that have turned sour, read the full article at The Customer…
A salesperson’s ability to close a deal can sometimes be hampered by their inability to … well … shut up for a minute.
Reps are fooled at times into thinking that the more they talk, the more the person on the other end is going to listen. But this is faulty logic, writes sales expert Bob Apollo. In reality, the opposite is true — every person has a threshold for how long they can listen before they retract. Apollo has some suggestions for salespeople looking to avoid distancing their audience. He advises…
Try as we might, It’s impossible to please everybody all the time.
Even companies that are leaders in customer experience and support will occasionally encounter a distraught or displeased client. Although avoiding this problem entirely might be futile, overcoming it isn’t. Here are a few ideas, as outlined by customer service and sales strategist Dave Kahle: Empathize with your customer. You’ve likely been in their shoes before, so you understand the feelings involved. Don’t overlook this valuable fact. Don’t take the encounter personal (unless you are directly involved). When you do this,…
When you make a promise, the expectation is that it will be met.
And in sales, as with everything else, when you fail to meet that promise, there are repercussions. You will lose all credibility with your customers when you fail to reach their expectations — especially if you dictated the terms of your agreement. Add to that, your likelihood of conducting future business with them drops drastically when this happens. As sales consultant Bob Croston explains, there’s more at stake than disappointment. Salespeople that habitually don’t meet expectations are bad for the sales process and…
