Influential Sales—Are You Hungry for More?

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Influential Sales—Are You Hungry for More?
By: Sam Palazzolo
Issue: June 2010

Five techniques you can implement today to increase sales tomorrow

In business, nothing matters more than selling your products or services. It doesn’t matter how educated your recent hires are or how cool your website is or how great your products or services are if your company doesn’t have the ability to sell. And when sales do occur it’s as if they spark an unquenchable thirst or an insatiable appetite—and you constantly want more; your achievements never seem to be enough. So if you’ve got sales hunger pains—and who doesn’t—try these five techniques to slake your cravings.

Give It Away! Yeah, that’s right, give it away. No, not the farm … your experience. Right now your customers are concerned about where they are and how they’re going to get back to level ground. And your products or services can perform better than others in the current economy, right? Offer your experience as the differentiator amongst your competition and you’ll rise to the top.

Your current customers will love you more (they do love you, right?) and they’ll receive even more value from the product or service you provide.

Information is like fish: If you sit on it for a few days, it will not get better with age.

Get Referrals. Nothing is sweeter to a salesperson’s ears than the sound of a phone ringing from a referral. Referred customers are 80 percent sold on you already, thanks to your current customer base. Converting the remaining 20 percent is a no-brainer. However, most salespeople rarely get this opportunity because they never take the time to buckle-back to their current customer base and ask for the referral.

Contact people you’re already doing business with (Technique No. 1 provides a golden opportunity) and up your level of service. Ask your customer who you can contact that might enjoy a similar level of service. Done … simple.

Introduce Yourself With Influence. The first step to meeting a new client, either face-to-face or over the phone, is an introduction. The way you’ve introduced yourself in the past won’t work anymore. You’re going to have to be stronger than the typical, “How are you … hope I caught you at a good time?” salesperson. You need to introduce yourself as an expert.

You’ve got two seconds. Immediately introduce yourself and say who referred you: “Hello, Ms. Jones, this is Sam Palazzolo. Jane Doe recommended that I give you a call and here’s why.”

This is straight to the point. Whether your prospect woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or happened to be late to an important meeting, he or she is going to want to know why Jane suggested you call. Don’t say your company name or title because the prospect doesn’t care. It just gets in the way. There is plenty of time later to say where you work.

Know Thy Stuff. If you are going to tee yourself up with the line “…referred me and here’s why…” the next information out of your mouth should be the merits of why this person should do business with you: “Our service drives 500 percent improvement in productivity … You’ll decrease your turnover rate by 300 percent ...” Rank your merits versus your competition and know each in order of importance.

Perfect Practice Makes Perfect. There’s that romantic notion that you can get in front of a customer and “fake it ‘til you make it.” Wrong. There’s a simple recipe why people succeed; work hard and work smart. Here’s your opportunity to do both.

Practice the merits of your argument backward and forward. However, before you communicate what drives the most return on investment (ROI) for your prospect, do something that no one else will do—tell the negatives of doing business with your company. Maybe you’re very expensive, have slow production or shipping cycles, or perhaps it’s the cost of your product or service. If something has lost you a sale in the past, it’s a negative.

Rattle off the positive merits of doing business with you versus your competitor and then right before you tell them the biggest advantage of all, tell them a negative merit. This is something advertisers discovered years ago that will make you an instant authority. You will gain incredible ground in the trustworthy and credibility areas. In a matter of seconds you can accomplish what would otherwise take you weeks, months or years.

Regardless of how you’ve performed when selling in the past, these five sales techniques will provide you with more influence to achieve more success and feed that sales hunger.

Sam Palazzolo is the author of “The Influential Leader: 10 Critical Skills You MUST Possess For Success.” As president and chief influence officer at Pathos Leadership Group LLC, he conducts workshops, webinars and one-on-one coaching.