The most common question I get from salespeople is how to get better results when following up with prospective clients. Here are my favorite ways to get better results fast. I hope you enjoy the video and the increase in new sales that these tips will bring you!
David
In the highly competitive market of today’s world it becomes more and more difficult to stay ahead of your competition. Due to the fast pace business is conducted today many companies focus on utilizing technological advances to increase or maintain marketshare. This can lead to diminishing results.
The reliance on technology can lead to a disconnect from the human and interpersonal aspect of doing busines. This interpersonal aspect of doing business will always remain regardless of the advancements of technology. The reason is humans will always be running the show and humans are emotional creatures.
As an example I point out the fact that in general we tend to do business with people we like rather than those we dislike. In many cases people are willing to pay more for a service or product if they like and feel a connection to the people providing the goods and/or service. So price is not and never will be the only deciding factor no matter how much a potential customer says it is.
A smart salesperson who understands the power of the interpersonal aspect of doing business can ensure their success by selling with this saying in the front of their mind,
“Heart….Brain….Wallet!
This is a roadmap to success. It reminds the sales person to first make a sincere personal connection with your potential clients. Find something you like about them and spend some time discussing that. In fact if you can spend some time participating in an activity your clients enjoy and do so with them you will ensure longevity in your career. As an example, I spent 15 months in the woods….mountain biking with one of the biggest accounts my employer had ever earned and they are still loyal to me to this day. A fact that I’d like you to keep to yourself is I hated mountain biking! I didn’t know that going in but I was constantly sore and of course the client never went at a reasonable hour! No his idea of reasonable was 4:30 am. I didn’t even know a time of day like that existed.
My point is that these actions endeared me to the client and gave me valuable insight as to what made them tick. It’s all about building rapport and trust with a client. In future posts I will discuss methods to accoplish this but for now just remember…..Spend some time getting to know and enjoy your clients.
nce this is achieved now it’s just a matter of appealing to the logic of your clients and making the deal you’re offing seem better than what they are currently recieving. So you’ll want to highlight problems they are running into and how you will save them time and money by utilizing your service. Here is the most important thing to remember!
The most important reason you build trust is so that when you highlight the problems with their current service or product your have earned the right to tell them how to rectify the problem! Consider this scenario…
You walk onto a car dealership and the salesperson begins to tell you about your failing muffler, your leaking differential, your out of date stereo system. Then shows you the latests and greatest in automobiles which he believes you should buy. I know what you’re thinking…..”Screw that guy”
He didn’t take the time to get to know you and you’re needs so how can he tell you what you should do. By taking time to know your clients and their Dominant Buying Motives you will have earned the right to tell them what they need without being punched in the face.
The last part of this thing is unless you are somehow certified as a “professional visitor” you need to make money. The only way a salesperson can do so is to make sales….You have to ask for money! This may seem daunting to many. However, if you have established a high level of trust and healthy rapport with your clients this will not be difficult. In fact, in most cases clients can’t wait to write you a check.
You just have to ask!
In upcoming posts I will discuss techniques you can use to ask for the money but until then just do it until you become comfortable with the uncomfortable and you will have gotten yourself to the finish line.
Humans are very emotional creatures. In general humans make major choices in their life based in emotion and then justify their choices with logic. When the smoke clears and the dust settles there are only six basic, emotional reasons customers will take action and make a purchase TODAY. These emotional reasons customers make purchases on are called Dominant Buying Motives.
The six Dominant Buying Motives are:
The smart salesperson who learns how to master these emotional motivators will experience tremendous success. When you find yourself in a slump it’s alwyas best to identify which of these six motivators your clients identify with and use it to earn more sales.
In my next post I will address several strategies for using these motivators to close more sales and ensure success. Stay tuned!
In the highly competitive environment of today’s cosmetics industry it’s easy to find countless numbers of companies shooting themselves in the foot by constantly chasing current and emerging trends to tap into. Based on my experience the constant search for the next best “mousetrap” in nearly every occurence tends to hinder the creativity of employees, deflates employee confidence in current sales efforts, and at the end of the day almost always results in decreased sales. The knee jerk reaction to the resulting lack of sales is to attempt to acclimate to the latest trend once again with similar results.
Why are trends so detrimental to a sales force?
The simple answer is companies place entirely too much emphasis on chasing new trends! Some companies foolishly rely solely on the advice of trend research opinion which almost always leads to a disconnect of the true needs of a companies core customers. The reason is every market is different and very rarely are the clients of the trend research companies privy to how the research was conducted. Critical data like the demographic, physical location, time of year may not be in line with your target demographic or in the worst cases could have no need or understanding of the value a company offers. For example, it would be silly to poll thousands of men on the search for the emerging trends relating to lipstick. While they may have valuable opinions that should be considered men are not the ones buying lipstick and any trends that resulted from the research is rendered useless. In fact, I believe it ruins opportunity for companies because emerging trends “discovered” while polling men regarding lipstick could lead to false trends that companies structure entire sales efforts on fulfilling leaving them to ignore those truly buying their products. There isn’t anyone on the planet that knows you customers better than you and don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.
The Dirty Truth About Trends.
The fact is most trend researchers put a lot of effort into performing ungodly amounts of time researching industries. Here’s what most professionals in the cosmetics industry fail to consider. While the data these researchers compiles in their efforts is true and accurate the interpretation of that data is a subjective matter. Thus it’s my belief that their resulting “trend information” is really just a fancy term for someone else’s opinion regarding the data they compile regarding your industry. Remember, there isn’t anyone on the planet that knows your customers better than you do and don’t let anyone concvinve you otherwise. I would go out on a limb to illustrate this idea by saying it’s highly likely that two trend research companies researching the same industry could easily come up with completely different results as the other due to the factors I discuss earlier. Bottom line I believe you are just as capable as these research companies maybe even more capable in most cases.
Utilizing Your Inner Trend Setter.
The daily activities of companies within the cosmetics/personal care industries define 
public perception of that company. Often a companies core customers become confused and unsure about the values that makes a company who they are because chasing trends generally leads to inconsistency in regard to a companies daily activities. Companies can easily forget who they truly are, what are their core values, and who is really buying their products. It seems more than reasonable to me to think that no one knows your customers better than you do. By listening to your clients and thinking outside of the box you can develop your own trends as long as you are willing to be bold enough to do so.
Suffer From Commitment Phobia?
In my experience I’ve found that it’s much easier to convince someone of something if they believe the idea was theirs originally. During the 8 years I spent as a timeshare salesperson I noticed something just about everyone I interacted with had in common…..and that is……very few people enjoy or prefer to be pressured into doing something or forcefully convinced to take actions that are the desire of a salesperson with commission breath. So it became my strategy to spend a significant amount of time doing a needs analysis rather than spending the majority of my sales efforts presenting all the features of a product. By conducting the proper needs analysis and asking probing questions an average salesperson will find it easy to become an extraordinary salesperson by taking the time and effort to clearly understand their unique needs as they relate to our products. However, uncovering your clients needs is only the first step.
Use Probing Questions To Develop A Road Map Leading To A Sale.
Probing questions are meant to crystalize the reasons a client will award their project to a company in the mind of the company salesperson. An example of a few probing questions would be:
After asking these types of questions you will find customers say things like, “I’ve been with my current supplier because they give me a great deal.” Or I like my supplier but I wish they made delivery easier. These answers given by your prospecive clients are like bullets in a gun you’ll be using in a firefight soon. When you recieve an answer that you like DO NOT SMILE OR SHOW ANY EMOTION…..And don’t bring it up again. This questioning phase of the sales process is a great time to focus on building rapport and trust. To maximize it’s effectiveness and solidify a great rapport we’ll wait to confirm our understanding of your potential clients statements at the end of this portion I call the “Discovery Phase”. Once you have enough “ammo” for your sales gun you’re going to restate the exact same facts your clients made to confirm your understanding and illustrate your commitment to their needs. I like to finish up the “Discovery Phase” by saying something like this:
“Mr. Client, After taking a few moments to understand your unique needs as they relate to my product/service I feel I have a really good grasp on what you would consider the perfect service to be. You told me you began using your current supplier to cut costs by utilizing thier unbelieveably low price offerings but have found over the years that in the end you tend to pay more for the products you need from your current supplier as a result of hidden fees and substandard delivery practices. You also mentioned that the effectiveness of their ingredients doesn’t meet the quality your products call for and as a result you tend to add more of their ingredients versus their competitors ingredients which also negates any savings that may have been enjoyed. All this while you have the preference for weekend deeliveries which they do not offer. So essentially if you could find a new supplier that has a similar history to your current supplier, offered reliable quality not found in your current supplier, offered weekend deliveries, and kept your cost in a similar price range to what you’re paying now…..you’d be pretty excited about that wouldn’t you?
Did you see what I did there? By restating and confirming the reasons they told me they would leave their current service to begin using mine we will be able to do something I call, “Building A Golden Bridge”. Your confirmation of your understanding their unique needs minimizes the level of effort you need to put into hard selling any customers. It also helps keep you focused on what’s important to the client. For example, during the discovery phase a potential client never says a word about concern over shipping policies but shares a horror story about a former suppliers attempts to take an account belonging to you and servicing it in house at the factory. A smart salesperson will focus the majority of the sales process on how their direct account policies are extremely fair to the distributors and how this has helped other similar clients avoid a lot of headache and extra work. Spending too much time talking about billing procedures with someone who always pays cash is a guaranteed way to send the message that you weren’t listening and don’t care about their specific needs. However just saying it isn’t enough. We must gain the cllients comitment to your statements as fact by making a statement something like:
“So Mr. Client, earlier you told me how important it is to you to know your accounts will not be taken by the factory which essentially pulls the carpet from under you. As you can see we are just as concerned with the negative effect that direct factory accounts can have on your business and our relationship as you are. As you can see our policies protect our dealers because we rely on them to be successful and need our partners to be strong so that we ensure both of our success for many years to come. Our direct account policies may not be perfect but they seem to offer more of what you need than your current supplier. Can you see how our policies address your concerns regarding direct factory accounts?
Congrats you’ve just gained commitment when they answer, “Yes”.
Don’t Wrestle With An Octopus!
This is the technique I call “Building A Golden Bridge” and it ensures that you are aware of the potential objections and have addressed them early rather than waiting till the end of your presentation because it’s generally too late at that point. Shame on the salesperson who is surprised by a customers objection to buy after the presentation is over and the clients have seen pricing. It also prevents the creative prospect from giving you false objections after uncovering their true objections. To protect yourself from this situation gain commitment from the customer by saying something like:
“Mr. Client, today you told me you really liked the quality of our products and proven track record of reliability we offer you. You also told me that in making a decision as to who will be your new supplier you have major concerns about finding a supplier who respects your right to earn a living and does not solicit your clients business as a direct account. After explaining our policies in this regard you said you really liked the manner we handle your concerns in an extremely fair manner. Right? In making this decision are there any other concerns or situations that would prevent you from choosing me as your new supplier? If they say no you can expect a fairly easy close at the end. If they say yes, you’ve uncovered another arm of the octopus that must be dealt with before asking for the sale. If you’ve utilized this technique fully there should be no reason other than money that your client gives you as to why they would not do business with you.
Listen To What They Want….Tell Them What They Need.
Generally people don’t like to make decisions. Mostly out of fear of making the wrong 
decisions. This technique keeps you focused on what’s important to the client and prevents you from talking about items the client is not concerned with which may prevent them from choosing you as their supplier because they feel that your service doesn’t offer what they need. By taking the time to listen to what a client wants and confirming your true understanding with the client a high level of trust is built and you’ve essentially earned the right to tell them what they need because you are a professional and have clearly proven you understand what they need and aren’t getting from their current supplier. Bottom line is this techniqe gets great results. So remember, you were born with two ears and one mouth…..use them in that proportion when engaged in the sales process and enjoy more sales!
Learn how to quantify and visualize the effectiveness of your sales efforts while increasing sales immediately.
How you/your sales team might be guaranteeing failure.
The number one most detrimental characteristic of under performing salespeople is the failure to monitor their effectiveness. From an under performing salesperson’s perspective there aren’t many reasons to bring attention to how effective or ineffective the strategies are that they are utilizing. If they are utilizing a sales strategy at all. When a salesperson’s numbers are up the tendency is to beat your chest while declaring victory. However, when attention is directed away from the perceived victory and the big picture is considered you may realize that this small victory was bound to happen at some point by chance. Although the salesperson will swear it was their skill as a “closer” and not luck of the draw. However, when you consider the countless number of “losses” it took for that salesperson to earn a “victory” it begins to become very clear that this “victory” and prospective client came to you at an extremely huge cost. For this reason alone knowing how effective you and/or your sales team efforts are in gaining positive results is a critical component that often leads to the failure of a sales department due to the lack of importance placed on the ratios of effectiveness of a sales team.
Earning more sales….Let ratios of effectiveness be your guide!
Ratios of effectiveness is a fundamental component of success which can be measured in
different phases of the sales process so that specific inefficiencies can be revealed and the effectiveness of new sales techniques can be measured. I’ve developed a strategy I refer to as “over achieving with baby steps” and it will increase your sales volume by 15 to 20 percent almost immediately. To employ this unique strategy a salesperson begins by listing the different phases that are critical to closing the sale. You are going to learn how to monitor your results in each of those critical phases so that it will be easy to improve your abilities in each phase and earn more sales immediately. For example, if a salesperson prefers to prospect for new accounts by cold call potential customers then the first obstacle is getting past the “Gatekeeper”. Typically the person who answers the phone or is responsible for scheduling daily activities for your prospect do not want an untrustworthy salesperson to waste a second of their bosses time. This combined with the high number of sales calls a business receives every day can lead a person to dislike salespeople in general which will cause them to avoid interaction with you or your sales team. For that reason many receptionists and personal assistants take pride in how difficult they make it for you to get face to face with your prospect. As we know, this is where the nickname of “Gatekeeper” emerged among salespeople and this “Gatekeeper” is the subject of many of the war stories salespeople so eagerly share. We hear about how sales people get past a “Gatekeeper” but if you were to ask those people what their ratio of the number of times a “Gatekeeper” prevented them from getting face time with their prospect versus the number of times you skillfully navigated past the “Gatekeeper” to your actually speaking with your prospective client is a figure that is painfully unknown to most sales pros and it is costing your business in profit margin/lost sales. This ratio of inability to get passed the “Gatekeeper” versus getting past them to the next phase I call your “Gatekeeper Ratio”. By keeping record of how many calls are made in a given amount of time and noting which of those calls you achieved your goal of getting the prospective client on the phone to compare with those calls that didn’t end successfully it becomes very easy to quantify your effectiveness at achieving success in your segment of the cosmetics market.
Time to do the math
How do you figure your “Gatekeeper Ratio”? Lets say you make 20 call per hour and for the sake of example we’ll say that 5 of those calls resulted in you speaking to your prospective client while 15 did not. Your ratio of success in this example is figured by dividing your successes by your unsuccessful attempts. In this case 5 divided by 15 equals .3333333 or a 33% ratio of success when it comes to the “Gatekeeper” and getting passed them to your prospective client. This is only one phase in the sales process that can be monitored in this manner in your efforts to maximize your sales efforts. Every other phase in your sales process which are critical to gaining the sale can be quantified and managed in this same manner.
Make a list of your “Opportunities To Fail”
An opportunity to fail is what I like to call different phases in the sales process. This title I’ve developed can seem negative and potentially pessimistic due to the inclusion of the term “Fail”. However, failure is your friend in this instance. Failure is a great thing because now that you’ve done the math and discovered what your “Gatekeeper Ratio” is you now have a reference point to compare your daily/weekly/monthly ratios so that if you give a new sales technique a try your ratios will clearly identify if its working or not. If your ratios go down stop doing whatever you’re doing different that before. If your ratios are going up do more of what it is that you are doing to succeed. Using these various ratios we now have a tool that can be used to continually “sharpen your saw” or make constant improvements to your sales efforts while developing sales techniques that ensure the success of your sales team. Now its homework time! Take a few minutes and breakdown the critical steps that you must go through in order to earn a sale. The most common are:
There may be additional steps involved in the sales process of your specific aspect of the cosmetic industry so make sure to add any additional steps that you feel important and begin keeping track of your numbers and working on improving your ratios.
Raise your ratios of success by trying something new or redoing something old.
Congratulations! You now have a powerful tool that will result in exciting increases in your sales volume immediately. By utilizing the concept of ratios of success the effectiveness of sales training can be monitored and you/your sales team will enjoy greater sales with less effort. Your ratios of success will improve your ability to close more sales by directing your focus on the actions you take as a salesperson which turn into sales. You will not waste time including a failed sales technique in your sales presentation because your ratios of success will immediately fall telling you to stop shooting yourself in the foot with a failed 
sales technique before it’s too late. Without this tool of ratios of success a salesperson most likely won’t realize the downward fall of sales volume until they find themselves in a position where there jobs may depend on earning more sales but they don’t have any ability to visualize the daily effectiveness of their efforts. You and your sales team can now make the adjustments needed to increase sales volume before lack of sales begins to threaten your employment. Maybe the case is that you stoppe
d doing something you used to do that increased your numbers. Now that you have the ability to gauge the effectiveness of your sales abilities it’s a simple task to make fast adjustments to your sales efforts. This new tool I’ve empowered you with changes the game and achieving a higher sales volume by working less is no longer a pipe dream.
Now use your new knowledge to enjoy levels of success you’ve never thought possible.
Now go out, monitor your ratios of success to earn more sales, work smarter, and enjoy a more fulfilling career in the cosmetics industry!
Cosmetic Success Solutions 