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Welcome to the Sales Impact Fast Track Rapid Programme Review
Use this as your ready reviser to prepare yourself for upcoming selling tasks and activities.
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Remember, Fast Track is not a substitute for your Sales Impact books. Rather, it will remind you of the key elements of the programme and act as a memory jogger to the other parts of the content.
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Contents
Tme Management
Time Management
You Against the Clock. Who's Ahead?
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Set goals for your total life both business and personal. It will give you something to go for.
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Write down the goals for your lifetime, the next five years and the next six months.
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Set priorities using the A, B and C technique.
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Apply Pareto's Law, the 80/20 rule, to increase the value of what you do.
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Create a new, daily list of priorities.
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Fill your prime time with prime activities.
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Influence your organisation to abandon time wasters.
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Speed up your work using tools and technology.
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For regular tasks, invent routines and drills.
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Defeat the paper dragon by dealing with it ruthlessly.
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Choose your top three tips for handling interruptions and the telephone. Implement these.
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Delegate, delegate, delegate.
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Don't ruin your efforts by procrastinating.
Presentations
Presentations
Train out fear. Let your ideas win through. Planning and practice.
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Aim for intellectual acceptance aided by that warm, fuzzy glow.
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REMEMBER:
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Verbal 7%
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Voice 38%
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Body Language 55%
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Planning to delivery, a 10 to 1 ratio.
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Hone your purpose and objective into one sentence.
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INTRO
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Assess your audience, what will they need?
Arrange content and sequence and gauge duration
Decide on the venue and utlisation of the media.
Pay particular attention to the opening and closing.
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Brush up on your basic ability and make and take opportunities to present.
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Listen attentively to questions and comments from your audience.
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Acknowledge, clarify, answer and confirm questions
Use visual aids, not to make points but to support those you make.
Develop your style and, with experience, introduce some tricks of the trade.
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Meetings
Meetings
You want me to attend what?
Meetings, Meetings, Meetings. They are a necessary part of business life and you need to contribute effectively.
Your contribution will be viewed and judged. Always be a positive and assertive contributor.
Put forward suggestions to make the meeting more effective.
Objectivity will improve if the chairperson is the least involved in the subject or situation.
Identify and deal with each personality type.
Beware of the expert, senior person or forceful character who can awe the group.
Seize the opportunity to make an impression with a presentation. See Sales Impact 'Presentations'.
After each presentation, review your performance.
Analysing your territory
Analysing Your Territory
Making the Best Business Opportunity from your Raw Material.
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The basic material of your business opportunity is your territory.
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20% of your Clients will produce 80% of your revenue.
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Focus on your top 20%, their requirements, needs and tastes. How can you keep them there?
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Your first place to go is your existing Clients. They know you and you know them.
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Be careful of big companies. They do not always mean big deals.
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Be aware that the Client is buying you, not your Sales Manager or your Managing Director.
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Find ways of helping your Clients and they will respond by finding ways of buying from you.
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Keep your name in the frame by recognising your Client's achievements.
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Your past Client list can be a fabulous source of new business.
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Treat your internal support as well as you would treat your Client's. They are as important to your success.
managing priorities
Managing Priorities
Empowered people get to tell themselves what to do. What are you going to tell yourself today?
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As a Sales Professional, you have chosen an empowered style of job.
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Highly successful Sales Professionals manage their priorities to achieve the outcome they desire.
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Income needs come first so spot the cream and skim the cream.
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Create your A, B and C lists of accounts and a file for new Prospects.
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Look for the 80/20 rule and a balance of ABC lists to emerge.
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Never confuse motion with accomplishment.
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Skim the cream by going for the A's and the top B's first.
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Plan your travelling with care.
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Don't be dazzled by blue chip Clients.
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Don't put much faith in titles.
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Be pro-active. You decide the agenda and make the judgments.
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Beware of early success and over-demanding Clients. These can knock you out of the driving seat.
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Clear your way by dealing quickly with really urgent items.
intelligence and s
Intelligence and Territory Research
Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted.
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You need to know about your Clients.
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Gather the right intelligence and you can out-sell, out-manage, out-motivate and out-negotiate your competition.
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Build your Client profiles.
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Invest time outside of your normal selling day to keep your records up to date.
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Start with your exisiting Clients.
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Companies can and should be read just like people, so understand their ethic and tone.
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Research the individuals you sell to by building a picture of their personal and business lives.
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There are many sources of information, your manager, your predecessor, rumour and gossip, libraries, newspapers, trade papers and magazines, PR and advertising material, competing companies and your contacts.
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Build and maintain profiles using the guide outlined in the Sales Impact 'Client Profiles'.
Anchor 6
The Sales Funnel
Controlling and Directing the Prospect Flow.
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You need to find new Clients every day, every month, every year.
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The world is full of new Clients, but you have to find them!
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Aim for a constant progression of Prospects, each at various stages along the route to becoming Clients.
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Remember that your most precious commodity is your selling time.
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As a winner, you must have your own system for finding new business, independent of others.
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Prioritise your Prospects by the potential they represent.
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Prioritise your call-backs.
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Always return calls in order of their potential.
Anchor 7
Winners
Identifying the ideal prospect.
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Stay on a reality hunt and don't be misled by titles.
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Aim high in the hierarchy because it is more productive to work down than up.
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'Imagine the worse' confront the Client you fear.
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Recognise the problem Prospects:
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Smoke screens
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Anti-sales
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Boxers
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Mouldies
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Bad days
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Genuine thugs
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Seek the ideal Prospect.
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Three acid tests:
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Money
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Authority
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Need
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The M A N you want.
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Six extra characteristics that make this Prospect special:
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Understands your offering
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Reliable
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Information hungry
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Potential helper
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Personally compatible
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Easily accessible
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You and the Telephone
You and The Telephone
Intrusive and Feared or friend and ally? It's your choice.
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The telephone is one of the best productivity tools we have, so learn to use it.
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Confront telephone reluctane by looking at 'the worst that could happen'.
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Warm up your calls by developing your telephone manner.
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Plan your calls by developing your telephone manner.
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Plan your calls and always know the reaction and outcome you want.
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Manage your time and decide how many calls, how long, and make sure that you have all the information you will need at hand.
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Allow the Prospect more speaking time than you allow yourself.
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You will not hit the target every time, so plan for follow-on-calls.
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Consider the geography of your territory as you plan your meeting times,
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Practice announcing yourself and your company in a a way that makes both sound impressive.
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Develop good relations with gatekeepers.
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When you are put through to the Prospect, allow 10 to 1 seconds for them to orientate. Sit down and wait.
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Politeness and courtesy count at all times.
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Qualify on the phone. Verify the person.
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Have your main message prepared and rehearsed.
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Write your own telephone guide.
Enquiries
Enquiries
Welcome but unpredictable.
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Know what methods your company has put in place to get noticed.
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You never know when an enquiry will come in and it could be the big one.
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Prepare to handle them and make your life easier.
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Keep a list of questions you will ask all enquirers.
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Your first priority, make the Prospect feel good about calling you.
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Spend time exploring your Prospect's needs before explaining your offering.
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Never finish a call without an agreed course of action.
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Record all enquirer's responses and file these in an organised way.
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Make sure the pathway to you is unobstructed. Prepare your support staff to handle enquiries in your absence.
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Always return calls personally and quickly.
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If your return call will be delayed, make sure the Prospect knows when you will be in touch.
Prospect Meeting Overview
Prospect Meeting Overview
Setting the strategy for the face-to-face contact.
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Go with the tried and tested allowing room room for experimentation with genuine 'C' Prospects.
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Your overall approach will parallel your image of the company.
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Remember that face to face relationship building is the most powerful magnet of business.
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Use your company research and discussions with colleagues to set a strategy for the meeting.
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Set clear goals for what you want to achieve.
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Find out who will be at the meeting and think about whether you need to change your strategy.
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Think through and prepare the questions you will ask.
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Use open-ended questions to encourage the Prospect to talk more.
Sparking Interest
Sparking Interest
Approaches that awareness and anticipation.
Aim to spark interest on each and every call that you make.
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Prepare these activities with this in mind.
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Take time to consider the Prospect's motivations.
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Use Maslow's hierarchy of need to assist you.
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Select an approach type and decide on your approach sentence for each call.
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Choose from the approach types:
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Introduction
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Introduction and questions
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Factual
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Question
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Reference
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Personal Interest
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Return
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Expose the product and spark interest by letting the product do the talking.
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When you are dealing with difficult Prospects, try harder to the point of exaggeration.
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References
References
Let your stories do the selling.
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In selling, emotion plays a bigger part than logic.
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As emotion plays such a big part in selling, few things sell like a good reference.
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References are stories that build confidence that a desired outcome is possible, achievable and highly probable.
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References are relevant, interesting, informative and contain key messages.
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Your key messages will reach this Prospect's interests and desires.
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Your references will show how similar problems were overcome.
Your reference Client will be a STAR for you and your company in crucial, supporting roles.
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Find references from your experience, your colleagues, even from your competition.
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References from competition are particularly useful as you can demonstrate how you can do better.
Before the Meeting
Before the Meeting
Using your professional skills face to face.
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Now your preparation begins to pay off. Your knowledge gives you control and enhances your physical and mental attitude.
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Arrive early and check through your plans and equipment.
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Refine your view of the organisation sa you move from the car park through the reception.
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Time your arrival so that the call announcing you is put through to the Prospect's office right at the appointed moment.
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Take your opportunity to begin to build rapport with the gatekeepers.
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Check for visual signs of the organisation's tone.
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Don't sit down! Standing will make you feel much more in command.
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Don't wait forever. Politely take your leave if the wait becomes too long.
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Consider the meeting from your Prospect's viewpoint. How will you answer their concerns?
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Use visualising to paint a mental picture of the meeting running smoothly.
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In you go to a great meeting.
Opening
Opening
Making yourself the person they want to buy from.
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You should never lose a sale because the Prospect doesn't like you. Not only is this factor critical, it is the one over which you have most control.
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If there are several people at the meeting, it is good news in some ways. Turn the group into an audience.
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Create an excellent first impression. Tell them who you are and who you represent in a way that shows you are proud of both.
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Shake hands firmly but gently. Look them in the eye in a pleasant and friendly manner. Project businesslike enthusiasm.
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Check for pointers to their interests, hobbies and achievements. Find ways to humanise the relationship.
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Enter the social phase where you build rapport. Communicate as you would with a friend or relative.
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Use their name and massage their ego, encourage them to talk about themselves.
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With difficult people, be sure to try harder. Turn up the charm and almost go over the top.
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Transition smoothly to the business phase remembering that is why you are there.
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Answer price questions immediately and frankly.
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Be prepared to share some inside stories about your organisation as a fair exchange.
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As you move on into The Sales Process, your Prospect already wants to do business with you.
Uncovering Needs
Uncovering Needs
Listen and learn.
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Sales Professionals help clients to recognise their needs by providing help and guidance.
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During this part of The Sales Process, you help to precisely match what they want with what the need.
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Resist the urge for instant results. Set the pace to give the Prospect time to become comfortable.
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Take time to uncover what may be underlying needs.
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Ask 'Have' and 'Want' questions. The difference reveals the opportunity, the Prospect's and yours in that order.
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In tricky terrain, make sure you have their trust that you will guide them reliably.
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Sales Professionals do not create needs but this is a widely held myth. If you discover that there is no need, you have nowhere to go.
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Face facts if the Prospect turns out not to be a Prospect at all.
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Define, as success measurements, mutually agreeable objective that can be clearly stated.
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Define what can stop you succeeding.
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Leave the Prospect with a clear understanding of what can happen next to meet their needs.
Proposing
Proposing
✓ All support materials should look as Professional as the Salesperson themselves.
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✓ All support materials must be concise and easily scanned.
Brief, Bright and Brilliant.
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Proposing can be the most rewarding phase of The Sales Process.
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This is the point where you present the distilled knowledge of all you have gained so far. The relevant facts that connect your offering to their needs.
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At this stage, the Prospect starts to react to the proposition and not just your personality.
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Your task is to make the proposal appear as the best possible Professional advice.
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Add vision by replacing references to future benefits with the present tense.
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Keep it short because not everyone has time for long proposals.
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Have you price conditioned your Prospect? If not, do it now.
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Match the vital aspects of your offering to the needs of the Prospect.
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Be prepared to modify the proposition if new facts emerge.
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Concentrate on the value, not the price.
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Remember that perspective shrinks price so make sure that you show the bigger picture.
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Tailor your presentation specifically and exclusively and exclusively to the Prospect.
Negotiation
Negotiation
A good deal makes everyone happy. Now negotiate your way to excellence.
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Negotiation is not confrontation, successful negotiation leaves everyone happy.
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It forms the beginning of the ideal longterm relationship.
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At all times, maintain absolute clarity of purpose.
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Decide on the relationship you want. is it high income for a short period or reasonable income with a lasting relationship?
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Keep the whole deal in mind and be sure to understand the Prospect's complete shopping list.
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Recognise your position and theirs and identify your strengths.
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Although your stance is not confrontational, it should be forward moving.
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Aim high to get big results and hold onto your prices.
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See objections as negotiating points.
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What details within the transations are valuable to them but cheap to you?
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De-value the Prospect's concessions.
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Avoid admitting to deadlines, they weaken your position.
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Be prepared to walk away if your limit is reached. Point out the time invested int he discussions so far.
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Use emotion and candour but avoid ego.
Closing
Closing
✓ Before you close, you must know their needs
✓ Closing should not be difficult
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✓ Closing is the most helpful thing you can do
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✓ Close early and often
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✓ When you have closed, shut up
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✓ After their 'Yes' only say 'Thank you'
A continuous opportunity.
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Over the years, closing had gained a mysterious aura.
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Closing is not a special technique used to make the unwary buy. It is the natural result of the whole of The Sales Process.
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Closing is not an aggressive act to make people do what they don't want to do.
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Closing becomes automatic is you follow the process.
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Get used to asking for the order to set milestones through the sale.
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Spotting the right moment demands all your listening skills.
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Regularly take the buying temperature to define the moment.
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No is OK. Turn each 'No' into a 'Yes' for another action.
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Learn when to walk away. A firm 'No' is better than the indefinite 'Maybe'.
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Don't set deadlines unless you mean them. They can erode your credibility.
After the Sale
After The Sale
✓ Add value by exceeding expectations
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Your second chance to make a first impression.
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Now is the time to complete the transformation from a Prospect to a long-term Client.
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Consolidate the sale to counteract buyer's remorse.
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Suggest a simple action plan that will unfold in the near future.
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Emphasise your continuing involvement in answering their questions and making sure they receive what they expect.
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Ask now for referrals. The Client is at their peak of regard for you.
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Never cut and run because this is your second chance to make a first impression.
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Take your leave, professionally, of all involved.
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Follow-up with a 'Thank You' email or a brief letter. Send another to summarise the agreement that you have reached.
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Review your performance. Could you have done better?
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