Albert Einstein was a sales genius!

Having once said that "If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut", Albert Eistein got it right about sales success!

Its true: Listening is more important that talking in sales. Knowing that here are some ideas on how to improve your listening skills with clients, prospects and employees.

1. Pause and listen.Let's be honest - do you really listen to what your customers have to say, or are you just catching your breath between questions? If that sounds a little too familiar, try counting silently to three (at a regular speaking pace!) every time your prospect finishes talking. This will give them enough time to gather their thoughts and continue what they were saying if they haven't finished, while also not being a long enough pause to seem awkward if they are done talking, and are simply waiting for your response.

2. Support what they tell you only when you mean it.Before you ask your next question, make sure to thank your prospect for the information they already provided in response to your previous one. It’s not always easy for a prospect to open up, especially in the early stages of your relationship. If they have been generous with their information, thank them for being open. If they ask a great question, thank them for it. But while this approach can yield great results, don’t ever fake a compliment or expression of gratitude. If you don't truly believe what you are telling and thanking your prospects for, then believe me - you won't be fooling anyone but yourself.

3. Take notes and ask for clarification.To make sure you remember the details as well as the substance of what a customer is telling you, take notes, and ask for clarification any time they say something you don't fully understand. Remember, in sales, your best friends are “why," "how" and "what." Use them often to get additional information from your customers - and then don’t forget to document their answers!

4. Echo and paraphrase.They say that you never really understand something until you have to teach it to someone else. To be certain you really understand what a customer is telling you, repeat it back to them, using your own words and interpretation. Then end with a question, to gain their confirmation that your understanding is correct.

Experts agree that the most successful sales people listen 70% of the time, and talk only 30%. Check out our articles The Fine Line Between Being Honest, And Being Brutal and Don't Get Angry - Get Results), you receive more tools to get the information you need from your prospects, create an open dialogue - and start building long-term profitable relationships with your customers.


Cheers, Colleen
Toll Free at 1-877-364-2438

P.S. – If you have not already taken advantage of my 30-Day no-charge trial of Lead- Up sales mentoring program, here is another opportunity to see what you have been missing: http://www.lead-up.com

"Colleen, one of our reps went from one or two conversations out of 10 cold-call connects and no prospects (previous week average), to 6 prospects from of his 10 cold-calls on the day immediately following your training. That is a pretty dramatic and immediate result!" – Thanks, Lewis Prochnau Corporate Sales Manager Protus IP

Get More Sales Meetings

Over the past few weeks I have been leading many private sales training classes for clients in various industries, with teams of varying experience. Despite their differences, all teams have a common struggle: A constant battle to get through to the decision maker.

Once engaged with a decision makers my clients are having little trouble navigating through the buying process, building a relationship and making a sale. In fact, we are finding that for many clients, closing ratio's are up. Trouble is ,sales are down becuase meetings are way down.

So what can we do. Here are a couple simple yet effective techniques for getting through.

1) Don't look and sound like a sales person. You must look and sound like an industry expert. When you act differently to all other vendors, the gatekeeper and decision maker will treat you differently. Try this exercises in your next sales meeting:

"Divide a paper in half and on the left hand side write down all the things a typical sales person in your industry says and does - maybe its the same list of what you said and did yesterday. Them, on the right hand side list everything you can do that is different from the column on the left. What can you do that's different?"

2) Scour the news for valuable articles about your prospect's business that you can send them in the mail, with a note attached from you. These CANNOT be advertising pieces. Chose articles that your company wrote, or that others wrote that are pertinent to your clients business an/or business problems. Call them back about 5 days later and there is an increasing chance they will return your call because they will want to thank you for the article and discuss it with you.

3) Be friendly with the gatekeeper. Remember that all day gatekeeps are feilding calls from vendors, and employees trying to get hold of their boss. The majority of those calls are not respectful, fun nor easy. What can you do to show respect and thankfulness to the gatekeeper? Can you make them laugh? If they like you, you have a better chance of getting through.

4) Ask for their help. Something like "I was hoping you could help me....." often works to get you an appointment with the decision maker because people have hard time resisting "help". Take a look at our article on Gatekeepers for more detail.

send a thank you. Try www.sendyourcardnow.com if your handwritting is that terrible! If you do manage to get put through or have an appointment schedule take out a pen and a card and hand write a thank you card immediately. Send it to the gatekeeper. They will remember you and help to make sure your calls are taken in the future

Cheers, Colleen
P.S. – If you have not already taken advantage of my 30-Day no-charge trial of Lead- Up sales mentoring program, here is another opportunity to see what you have been missing: http://www.lead-up.com

"Colleen, one of our reps went from one or two conversations out of 10 cold-call connects and no prospects (previous week average), to 6 prospects from of his 10 cold-calls on the day immediately following your training. That is a pretty dramatic and immediate result!" – Thanks, Lewis Prochnau Corporate Sales Manager Protus IP

Sorry its been a while since I posted. Its been a whirlwind of activity, attending the Dan Kennedy seminar last week and the CAPS (Canadian Association of Professional Speakers Conference this past weekend. I am back in the Eastern time zone again but this time in Toronto…heading home Thursday!

An interesting comment was made during the Dan Kennedy conference that I thought worthy of sharing because sales reps are always asking me how often they should be following up, with their prospects. Most reps, in my opinion are not following up enough, and now I have a guru to back up my opinions!

Direct marketing master Bill Glazer, who runs the Glazer - Kennedy Inner Circle along with Dan Kennedy, spoke at the conference about the direct mail campaigns he ran to his client base when he operated Baltimore's #1 retail men's clothing store, Gage Menswear, along with his late father.

Bill shared a a story about one of his first direct mail campaigns. He told his dad that they were going to mail a special promotional offer to the same list three times. His father was appalled.... yelling at Bill that he was stupid and wasting their money!

Bill persisted and mailed all three pieces of the campaign. His results revealed that mailing the exact same offer three times doubled their response AND in- store sales poured in!

According to the latest statistics we are inundated with over 4000 distinct messages every day! In order to get your message heard, you need to repeat it over and over. This is why repetition works. Without repeating your offer at least 3 times to your audience you are never going to break through the clutter to actually get your prospects attention, get them to listen ,AND get them to respond.

How can you use this in your sales practice?

Your newsletters - Are you publishing and sending your company newsletter often enough? Can you send 1 per month rather than 1 per quarter…or even 2 per month?. How about adding a newsletter from a different medium (e-zine if you are print only or visa versa)

I believe you should be reaching out and "touching" your prospects and customers at least once a week, if not more. The best way to do this, without annoying customers is to mix up the types of communication medium ( paper, ax, email, phone)

Events - When promoting events, you're going to need many more than one or two announcements or mailings. As a general rule, when I'm really trying to fill up a Web class for Engage we send out 3 emails dedicated to the promotion. 2 in our newsletter and 1 as a separate email. For a live event, we will send dozens of announcements, well ahead of time.

Sales calls - How many times are you following up? Using my voice mail technique we find that you can follow up 3 times per week, 2 times per month without annoying the customer. Don't be afraid to call or mail again. Harvard Business Review points out research showing that decision makers claim 37% of sales people don't follow up enough!

Advertising - Instead of blowing your budget on a few large ads per year, try running a smaller ad much more often. Most publications, both online and offline, will provide discounts for purchasing more than one ad at a time.

Repetition is the key. You don't have to be overly creative with your marketing - just saying or mailing the same thing over and over is better than not saying it or mailing it again!


Cheers, Colleen

Toll Free at 1-877-364-2438
P.S. – If you have not already taken advantage of my 30-Day no-charge trial of Lead- Up sales mentoring program, here is another opportunity to see what you have been missing: http://www.lead-up.com

"Colleen, one of our reps went from one or two conversations out of 10 cold-call connects and no prospects (previous week average), to 6 prospects from of his 10 cold-calls on the day immediately following your training. That is a pretty dramatic and immediate result!" – Thanks, Lewis Prochnau Corporate Sales Manager Protus IP