Just sell me something

Moneyman · Jul 26, 2009

I am a great fan of good sales patter and have a strange facination for the people who can just go on non stop without stumbling but there is a time to stop.

I was in a little show last week and there was a guy doing jar opener thinggy for people with bad hands. Brilliant, perfect for mum, but he had only just started his pitch and i was nice and early and the only punter in the food hall. "OK I'll have one". But no, the guy was on a roll. trying to give a demo on twenty more difficult pickle jars. "Just how much. i want one". my wife wants me to see something on the other stand and i am still the only person.But the guy is "now you could expect to pay £30 for all these devices but you can do it all with.....". I want one and i am now getting a bit frustrated. so i say to him "right i will just take out this bit of paper write down the name and buy it off the internet so please just sell me one. i promise you can continue the moment i have one and just pretend i am still here. But no. he lets me write the detail down and walk off still demonstrating to an empty tent.

I am not an expert on sales but surely "i want one now" is a cue to sell.

One of my companies had a head of sales who blew a £50,000 sale by pushing an extra product that the guy said he didnt want and couldnt use. He just went on and on until the chap got up and left. I was too far down the table to hurt him.

It is a strange obsession in sales people to forget to listen and just keep going on all the details after the sale is finished.

An Oasis · Jul 26, 2009

The art of sales

50% Talk (and sell)
50% Listen (and understand)

Why does the second 50% seem less important than the first, to many?

Moneyman · Jul 26, 2009

webhostuk said:
I feel this is what you need to concentrate on and improve yourself in sales.

I am terrible at sales and always get someone else to do it. I dont have the time either. I just do the big handshaking bit.

MH1 · Jul 26, 2009

I used to work at a large national parcel company and part of the training we gave our sales people was to spot the first buying signal, and to attempt to close on the spot, very few saw the first or second signals in role plays.

We always filmed the role plays and would then re-run them and point out the buying signals, which seemed to help them a lot.

david poole · Jul 26, 2009

Hi Moneyman

my advice is very simple.
Always ask questions.
what, when, where, how etc etc

then when they answer a question, develop upon it by asking another question relating to their answer.

All you are doing is making conversation, but directing it to find their problem and need. When i first started out I imagined I was a doctor giving a healthcheck! Try it out and se what you think.

The prospect will give you all the answers, its just upto you to create a solution with your product/service.

The demonstrating had been trained to demonstrate, he might have looked like a sales person but wasn't, it is surprisingly common.

In terms of how much you speak. The demonstrator will speak at you for 100% of the time. However in a selling situation yuo should only do 20% of the talking, its all you need. Whats the point in doing anymore? You need to know what they need and why they need it yes?

With your colleague losing out on a £50k deal, Im sure it wasn't because he was trying to push an extra sale. The reason why is he didn't ask the question or understand the answer to the clients need.

I know you dont like sales, but try and have some fun with it. I know its hard but it honestly wont bite you.

Thanks for starting a good thread

david

david poole · Jul 26, 2009

with reference to MH! and buying signals.

I understand that many people are trained that way.
What is your opinion to holding back, asking more questions, getting a wider understanding and then providing a consultancy approach.
Therefore prepring the groundwork to a strong relationship that will create repeat sales.
In my opinion the prospect doesnt feels as if he is being sold to and makes for a more qualitative sell and hopefully a bigger order value.

what are your thoughts please

telemax · Jul 26, 2009

But then again, "I'll take one" is about as big a buying signal as you can get. He could have just taken the money, given the goods and then continued his sales pitch.

As for holding back David, I'm all for building a strong future business relationship, but what better way start it off than a quick first sale, if it's possible.

Jonathan

paultnl · Jul 26, 2009

Back when I was in sales the number one rule was "as soon as you have made the sale, SHUTUP!"

The number of times I have seen people talk themselves out of a sale is unbelievable. I am ashamed to say it happened to me a couple of times.

Moneyman · Jul 26, 2009

david poole said:
Hi Moneyman

I know you dont like sales, but try and have some fun with it. I know its hard but it honestly wont bite you.

david

I am way too long in the tooth to sell anything and half my problem is i am so unlike my customers in almost any aspect i used to find it very difficult to empathise. As soon as i realised how bad i was, my business took off.

One of the better bits i wrote on my site was about the danger of being quite good at something and doing it yourself. In the beginning you have to, but it is amazing how many bosses keep doing things even when they have absolute experts in their companies. theyjust cant help it. Luckily my strong points are in management and delegation. so the good guys do all the work while i swan about prodding them in the right direction.

bluelight · Jul 26, 2009

My mother always said, 'Why do you think we have two ears and only one mouth........to listen twice as much as we talk"

A very good salesman (woman/person) should listen first, listen again and then speak, that is unless you can sell sand to arabs!!

Theres not many of them around I can tell you.

iArtist · Jul 26, 2009

Selling is like sex

Nothing like a quickie - highly reccomend them.

But if you want them coming back for more, you have to make sure they know you have more to offer!

Long drawn out can lead to boredom but not if you're doing it properly

All the above silliness aside

Yes close the deal

You can give them the rest of the bumpf in leaflet form to take away with them.

iArtist · Jul 26, 2009

Selling is like sex

Nothing like a quickie - highly reccomend them.

But if you want them coming back for more, you have to make sure they know you have more to offer!

Long drawn out can lead to boredom but not if you're doing it properly

All the above silliness aside

Yes close the deal

You can give them the rest of the bumpf in leaflet form to take away with them.

(That is re selling, not re sex. You may look a tad odd giving partner leaflet on your other techniques

)

Cornish Steve · Jul 27, 2009

An Oasis said:
50% Talk (and sell)
50% Listen (and understand)

Nope. 90% listen and then 10% talk.

I've been in meetings where the so-called sales guy didn't recognise the most obvious buying signal because he felt the need to finish getting through all his slides. We're talking about a sale of the order of many millions.

I've also heard a sales guy lose a sale because he insisted the product could be installed within 30 days. Everyone else in the room knew it would take 3-6 months, so he lost all credibility in an instant.

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Just sell me something

Moneyman

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Moneyman

MH1

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telemax

paultnl

Moneyman

bluelight

iArtist

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Cornish Steve

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