Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Atricle Dump - Sales Process - The Secret to Closing More Sales
I’m doing a sales turnaround assessment and planning project right now for a company that’s lost a large percentage of it’s sales in the last year. The CEO has come to us and asked us to help him devise a strategy to quickly get revenues back up to their previous levels. The company is losing money and while it has scaled back on it’s employee headcount and other costs, it’s still struggling to get close to breaking even. The company needs an immediate sales fix.As most people know, there is no such thing as a quick fix when it comes to boosting revenues and accelerating sales. It takes time to design and execute a sales turnaround strategy. A lot of time the sales cycle it
IMPORTANT NOTE: In order for a quantified impact to add value to the sales process, your prospect must be the source of the numbers. Why? In general, prospects don't trust salespeople. Many have dealt with salespeople who were more interested in making sales than they were in providing value. Plus, prospects recognize that salespeople have a vested interest in creating a compelling business case that can be used to support a buying decision. This causes prospects to discount any quantified impact information that salespeople provide. However, if the prospect is the source of the quantified impact information, they perceive it as unquestioned truth. This makes learning how to ask quantifying questions a valuabl
Here was a man, recently hired at great expense from, literally the largest agency group in the world, now working for one of the world’s largest clients – on a global assignment!We had just completed analysing the results from an interactive programme we had recently produced for this company.The results were, to say the least, staggering.At one of the initial presentations on the research, one of the most senior executives, representing this client said, “We spend millions of pounds just to hold our share of market, yet look at what this small investment in this form of interaction has produced!”Yet when we presented this same research document to ‘the man
What is a Business Problem?
A business problem is any activity or outcome that negatively impacts a business. Examples of negative impacts include reductions in revenue, profits, customer satisfaction, employee productivity, job satisfaction, etc.
Here is an example of a business problem description:
"Many mission-critical software applications (e-business, manufacturing, point-of-sale, etc.) need to access relational databases in order to function. If a database has problems (goes down or suffers data loss or corruption), application downtime can cost companies tens of thousands of dollars per minute in lost sales, lost customers, and lost opportunities."
In the above example, the business problem is a database that is not functioning properly.
What is the relationship between Business Problems and the Features and Benefits of a product or service?
Features are what actually solve business problems. Benefits are what customers enjoy when the business problem has been solved.
The only features prospects actually care about are the ones that will solve their own specific business problems. If we randomly spew long lists of features and benefits at prospects, in effect we are hoping they are already aware of their business problems, and they will somehow figure out which of our (product or service) features will solve their business problems. This is a very inefficient way to sell. Plus, we run the risk that our prospects will NOT figure out which features will solve their business problems. Or, they may become bored and "switch off" before we mention features that may actually be of interest to them!
If you are going to talk about features and benefits, discuss only those features that will solve your prospect's specific business problems! Of course, you need to identify your prospect's business problems if you want to have this kind of highly targeted discussion.
If your employer's product or service training programs do not specifically address business problems, you will need to do some digging to uncover them. Ask the question, "What problems does this product or service solve?" Another way to ask this question is, "What would motivate a prospect to make the investment required to buy this product/service?" Then, once you have made a list of the most important business problems, ask, "What questions can I ask that will help me figure out whether a prospect has any of these business problems?"
When you become an expert in business problems and related qualifying questions, your education will not be complete. You also need to learn the questions you can ask to quantify the impact of each business problem.
What is a Quantified Impact?
Quantified impacts are dollar values or percentages with associated time frames that can be assigned to specific business problems. In the earlier business problem description, the quantified impact was "tens of thousands of dollars per minute".
Quantified impacts are an invaluable aid to closing sales. How? If the quantified impact of a business problem exceeds the investment required to fix the problem, a buying decision is easy to justify. The larger the difference between the quantified impact and the required investment, the easier it becomes to close the sale. If the quantified impact is a multiple of the required investment (for example, a quantified impact of millions of dollars versus a required investment of thousands of dollars), the buying decision becomes "a no-brainer".
IMPORTANT NOTE: In order for a quantified impact to add value to the sales process, your prospect must be the source of the numbers. Why? In general, prospects don't trust salespeople. Many have dealt with salespeople who were more interested in making sales than they were in providing value. Plus, prospects recognize that salespeople have a vested interest in creating a compelling business case that can be used to support a buying decision. This causes prospects to discount any quantified impact information that salespeople provide. However, if the prospect is the source of the quantified impact information, they perceive it as unquestioned truth. This makes learning how to ask quantifying questions a valuable
Among the various kinds of trade show displays that you can use, a popular category would be that of banner displays. Banner displays are a very good option as they are light and thus easy to transport. They are also very easy on the pocket and can easily fit in the smallest of budgets. Trade show banner displays get the job done exceptionally well as they can display graphic headlines that can easily attract considerable attention and interest. You also have the freedom to use them at almost any location. Also, at the same time by using such banner displays you can effectively minimize the costs that you would incur by using a booth.You can exhibit your banner displays at trade
In the above example, the business problem is a database that is not functioning properly.
What is the relationship between Business Problems and the Features and Benefits of a product or service?
Features are what actually solve business problems. Benefits are what customers enjoy when the business problem has been solved.
The only features prospects actually care about are the ones that will solve their own specific business problems. If we randomly spew long lists of features and benefits at prospects, in effect we are hoping they are already aware of their business problems, and they will somehow figure out which of our (product or service) features will solve their business problems. This is a very inefficient way to sell. Plus, we run the risk that our prospects will NOT figure out which features will solve their business problems. Or, they may become bored and "switch off" before we mention features that may actually be of interest to them!
If you are going to talk about features and benefits, discuss only those features that will solve your prospect's specific business problems! Of course, you need to identify your prospect's business problems if you want to have this kind of highly targeted discussion.
If your employer's product or service training programs do not specifically address business problems, you will need to do some digging to uncover them. Ask the question, "What problems does this product or service solve?" Another way to ask this question is, "What would motivate a prospect to make the investment required to buy this product/service?" Then, once you have made a list of the most important business problems, ask, "What questions can I ask that will help me figure out whether a prospect has any of these business problems?"
When you become an expert in business problems and related qualifying questions, your education will not be complete. You also need to learn the questions you can ask to quantify the impact of each business problem.
What is a Quantified Impact?
Quantified impacts are dollar values or percentages with associated time frames that can be assigned to specific business problems. In the earlier business problem description, the quantified impact was "tens of thousands of dollars per minute".
Quantified impacts are an invaluable aid to closing sales. How? If the quantified impact of a business problem exceeds the investment required to fix the problem, a buying decision is easy to justify. The larger the difference between the quantified impact and the required investment, the easier it becomes to close the sale. If the quantified impact is a multiple of the required investment (for example, a quantified impact of millions of dollars versus a required investment of thousands of dollars), the buying decision becomes "a no-brainer".
IMPORTANT NOTE: In order for a quantified impact to add value to the sales process, your prospect must be the source of the numbers. Why? In general, prospects don't trust salespeople. Many have dealt with salespeople who were more interested in making sales than they were in providing value. Plus, prospects recognize that salespeople have a vested interest in creating a compelling business case that can be used to support a buying decision. This causes prospects to discount any quantified impact information that salespeople provide. However, if the prospect is the source of the quantified impact information, they perceive it as unquestioned truth. This makes learning how to ask quantifying questions a valuabl
The future of change management is when robotic artificial intelligent androids will be the ones making decisions rather than people and humans will have to accept this without sabotaging the equipment or computer systems. This will be when robots vs. machines compete for the top executive positions.It will be funny too because the artificial intelligent business decision systems will be able to work without ego, over confidence, pride, spite, vindictiveness or personal greed. After all the decisions are suppose to be made for quarterly profits, future market innovations and exploits and or shareholders equity, not the petty human’s executive fiefdom.It will be grea
If you are going to talk about features and benefits, discuss only those features that will solve your prospect's specific business problems! Of course, you need to identify your prospect's business problems if you want to have this kind of highly targeted discussion.
If your employer's product or service training programs do not specifically address business problems, you will need to do some digging to uncover them. Ask the question, "What problems does this product or service solve?" Another way to ask this question is, "What would motivate a prospect to make the investment required to buy this product/service?" Then, once you have made a list of the most important business problems, ask, "What questions can I ask that will help me figure out whether a prospect has any of these business problems?"
When you become an expert in business problems and related qualifying questions, your education will not be complete. You also need to learn the questions you can ask to quantify the impact of each business problem.
What is a Quantified Impact?
Quantified impacts are dollar values or percentages with associated time frames that can be assigned to specific business problems. In the earlier business problem description, the quantified impact was "tens of thousands of dollars per minute".
Quantified impacts are an invaluable aid to closing sales. How? If the quantified impact of a business problem exceeds the investment required to fix the problem, a buying decision is easy to justify. The larger the difference between the quantified impact and the required investment, the easier it becomes to close the sale. If the quantified impact is a multiple of the required investment (for example, a quantified impact of millions of dollars versus a required investment of thousands of dollars), the buying decision becomes "a no-brainer".
IMPORTANT NOTE: In order for a quantified impact to add value to the sales process, your prospect must be the source of the numbers. Why? In general, prospects don't trust salespeople. Many have dealt with salespeople who were more interested in making sales than they were in providing value. Plus, prospects recognize that salespeople have a vested interest in creating a compelling business case that can be used to support a buying decision. This causes prospects to discount any quantified impact information that salespeople provide. However, if the prospect is the source of the quantified impact information, they perceive it as unquestioned truth. This makes learning how to ask quantifying questions a valuabl
Obtaining a long distance education was once thought to be for students with little or no responsibility, or had the ability to be attached to their computer at the same date and time every week, with positively no interruptions. If a family was a responsibility, it was almost easier to drive to and attend classes on campus, as keeping little ones quiet while taking a course was nearly impossible.Fortunately, the internet era has allowed us to morph into the world of asynchronous classes for long distance learning needs. These types of classes make taking online classes very flexible and easily fit into life’s planned and unforeseen events. Long gone are t
When you become an expert in business problems and related qualifying questions, your education will not be complete. You also need to learn the questions you can ask to quantify the impact of each business problem.
What is a Quantified Impact?
Quantified impacts are dollar values or percentages with associated time frames that can be assigned to specific business problems. In the earlier business problem description, the quantified impact was "tens of thousands of dollars per minute".
Quantified impacts are an invaluable aid to closing sales. How? If the quantified impact of a business problem exceeds the investment required to fix the problem, a buying decision is easy to justify. The larger the difference between the quantified impact and the required investment, the easier it becomes to close the sale. If the quantified impact is a multiple of the required investment (for example, a quantified impact of millions of dollars versus a required investment of thousands of dollars), the buying decision becomes "a no-brainer".
IMPORTANT NOTE: In order for a quantified impact to add value to the sales process, your prospect must be the source of the numbers. Why? In general, prospects don't trust salespeople. Many have dealt with salespeople who were more interested in making sales than they were in providing value. Plus, prospects recognize that salespeople have a vested interest in creating a compelling business case that can be used to support a buying decision. This causes prospects to discount any quantified impact information that salespeople provide. However, if the prospect is the source of the quantified impact information, they perceive it as unquestioned truth. This makes learning how to ask quantifying questions a valuabl
Good customer service is indeed hard to find, much more to provide. It is one thing to want to provide good customer service to your customers and yet another thing to do it. Information sharing between the management and frontline staff, budget constraints and equipments needed to do the job makes providing good customer care harder than it seems.But with these simple and age-old tips, you can boost your customer care program without even shelling out a huge amount of cash. Moreover, these customer care tips are not dependent on extra equipments, software or any other things that will cost a lot of money.1) It is important to keep your promises. It is always easy to prom
IMPORTANT NOTE: In order for a quantified impact to add value to the sales process, your prospect must be the source of the numbers. Why? In general, prospects don't trust salespeople. Many have dealt with salespeople who were more interested in making sales than they were in providing value. Plus, prospects recognize that salespeople have a vested interest in creating a compelling business case that can be used to support a buying decision. This causes prospects to discount any quantified impact information that salespeople provide. However, if the prospect is the source of the quantified impact information, they perceive it as unquestioned truth. This makes learning how to ask quantifying questions a valuable skill indeed!
If you want to close more sales, invest some time and effort in identifying the business problems that can be solved by your products and services. If you become an expert in business problems and the questions you can ask to 1) determine whether a prospect has specific business problems, and 2) quantify the impact of those business problems, you will close more sales faster and with less effort.
Copyright 2005 -- Alan Rigg
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.articledump.net/article/39947/articledump-Sales-Process--The-Secret-to-Closing-More-Sales.html">Sales Process - The Secret to Closing More Sales</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.articledump.net/article/39947/articledump-Sales-Process--The-Secret-to-Closing-More-Sales.html]Sales Process - The Secret to Closing More Sales[/url]
Related Articles:
Self-Promoting Yourself into a Job
Verbal Aikido: 7 Ways to Handle Difficult Customers
Real Estate Postcard Q&A: First Class Mail vs. Bulk Mail
Bookmark it:
|