Selling in a recession


By Frank Atkinson, Sales and Marketing Director, the Sales Training Consultancy http://www.salestraining.co.uk/

Let’s face it times are getting tough. I set up my business in 1989 just as the previous recession started. Not great timing.

I borrowed money on my house to finance the business when my wife was pregnant. I sent out 5000 mailshots to kick start the business and got 3 replies.

At times like these you have to get creative.

Those of us who were selling in that awful period from 1989 to 1992 that followed the boom years of the mid-1980s will remember how tough it was. Customer confidence suffered and buying decisions were either delayed, or not made altogether.

I survived it and would like to give some tips that will help you and your sales team as we head on into the future.

Here is the good news. All is not lost!

Even when the economy stops growing people still buy things. The problem with selling is that if we lose confidence we lose sales. Here are my tips:

Let’s begin with the facts

All economies follow a regular pattern of expansion and contraction. The economy will typically expand steadily for six to ten years and then enter a recession for six months to two years.

Most people define a recession as two consecutive quarters in which the gross domestic product (GDP) decreases. The UK economy is worth about 2.3 trillion pounds, so although sales tend to dip there is still a lot of business out there.

Recession has happened before and it will happen again

Stay positive

Begin with your attitude. If you expect to fail you will probably achieve what you expected. All we hear on the media is negative, yet people still buy things. As a salesperson you have to realise that your attitude is your biggest strength.

The most common attribute of successful salespeople is attitude. Think positively and you will win more sales.

Get yourself a plan

The best salespeople have a sales plan that they work to. Without a plan you are not focused and will fill your day with meaningless activity. We have a free template for a sales plan. E-mail me, frank@salestraining.co.uk and I will send you a copy.

Planning isn’t everything, but it is a good start. Set yourself increased activity targets. Call up more prospects. See more customers. Don’t give up!

Get busy

We did some work for a client during the last recession and found that their sales activity levels had dropped by 23%. This meant less phone calls and less visits.

The salespeople had convinced themselves that things were so bad there was no point in even trying. The answer is to increase your sales activity. Okay, you may get more rejection, but if you give up trying you’ll get nothing.

Prospect

There is enough business out there to make you rich. To find it you have to prospect twice or even three times as much in the hard times.

Be better at everything you do

The best tip I can give you is to be better than the rest. Look at every aspect of your selling from the way you look to how you sell. Simple things matter like being punctual, delivering what you promised, being pleasant and helpful and being positive.

Strengthen your sales skills. Learn more about selling. Sales training works. Buy books. Listen to CD’s. I have a sales training CD that I sell for £35 on my website www.salestraining.co.uk

You can have it for free. E-mail me frank@salestraining.co.uk and I will send you a copy.


Improve your service

This isn’t just a sales issue. Look at all aspects of your customer service. Are you a truly excellent company? I recently put my house on the market and was appalled at the service I received from various estate agents.

Half of them didn’t even respond to my enquiry. Do they have sales training?

Customers rate the service they receive higher than product quality and price. The way you win is by being the best at what you do.

Work harder

Think of all the potential sales activity you get involved in; phoning prospects, booking appointments, contacting your existing customers, e-mailing, faxing, direct mail, attending conferences and so on.

Just do more of the right things and your business will improve.

For more sales advice go to our homepage www.salestraining.co.uk

If you want specific training for your sales team in selling during a recession give me a call on 0845 8725620

Good luck with your selling!


Frank Atkinson

Sales Managers, distribute this article to your salespeople then start working out your strategy for the next 12 months. If you need some ideas e-mail me and I will give you a call.

Don’t forget to e-mail me for your free CD ROM: frank@salestraining.co.uk

Dealing with objections

Dealing with objections

By Frank Atkinson, Sales and Marketing Director, the Sales Training Consultancy http://www.salestraining.co.uk/


During the sales process most people will raise objections. Objections are raised for many reasons. At some stage, customers

· misunderstand something you have said
· feel pressurised
· are not convinced about your claims
· haven't yet made up their mind
· have misunderstood something
· have to go back and justify their buying decision to others
· want to make a buying decision

When people are about to make a buying decision they worry. What they worry about is making a mistake. This is the most common time, in the sales process, when objections are raised; just before the decision to purchase.

Often, what the customer is looking for is reassurance that their decision to buy is the right one. This is why objections are commonly raised at this stage.

The problem is that if we observe the behaviour of salespeople during this process, it can be quite negative. The most common thing that happens when a salesperson hears an objection is that they interrupt the customer.

The customer says “It looks a bit expensive” and the salesperson, who has heard the objection many times before, interrupts and jumps in to the conversation.

What often then happens is the salesperson effectively says to the customer “We are not too expensive” and then offers evidence to prove the statement.

Psychologically, what has happened is the salesperson has said, in effect, “You are wrong and I can prove it”

I don’t know about you but I don’t like:

1. Being interrupted
2. Being told I am wrong
3. Being proved I am wrong


Most salespeople when faced with an objection tend to react too quickly and don’t ask enough questions. This is a bad tactic since none of us like to be wrong and all of us hate to be proved wrong. This method, therefore, of responding to an objection with a statement of fact is unwise since it puts the customer in the wrong frame of mind

Rather than attacking our customer's beliefs or opinions we should try to get them on our side. The golden rule should be that, whatever the objection, you should never openly contradict a customer.

It may be that the customer has misunderstood something you have said previously or maybe feels it is his or her duty to question some of your claims about your product or service in order to test their validity. Whatever the objection and whatever the circumstances the least powerful way to answer a sales objection is with a statement of fact. This is where sales training can help.

There is a simple process that can be used to answer any sales objection.

1. Listen to the objection.
2. Clarify the objection.
3. Deal with the objection.
4. Advance the sale.

1. Listen to the objection

Resist the temptation of interrupting the customer. You may have heard the objection a hundred times before but not from this particular customer. It may also be that the customer has more than one objection, or that this particular objection is slightly different than the ones you usually hear.

By listening you show the customer you are interested in his or her problems and enhance your own professionalism. It also gives you time to think of a way of answering the objection.

2. Clarify the objection

It is very easy in the heat of the moment to mishear what your customer has said and begin to answer the wrong objection.

So, for example, when the customer says you are too expensive it can mean different things. The customer could mean:

I've had another quote
I'm checking you out
I'm negotiating with you
I have to go back and convince others
It's more than I expected
It's more than I have in my budget
I don't want to buy from you

It could also be that when you test your understanding of the objection you find that your customer has another objection that is fairly trivial and can be handled with ease. To clarify the objection you could say something like:

" When you say we are a little expensive, can you be more specific? "

We then need to probe and find out the real reasons behind the objection, before moving to the next stage. It could be that by the end of this stage of the process you identify, for example, they have had a slightly cheaper quote from a competitor. Once you have enough information it is now time to deal with the objection.

3. Deal with the objection.

Once you fully understand the nature of the objection then it can be answered in different ways depending on whether it is

· a misunderstanding by the customer
· disbelief over claims you are making
· a product disadvantage

Misunderstanding.

Where the objection is based on a misunderstanding of something you have said then you must:

· take responsibility for the misunderstanding
· give information to clarify the true position
· gain agreement to proceed

For example the customer says:

I don't wish to see anyone from your company as I am working full-time and can't afford to take time off work during the day.

The customer has clearly misunderstood the fact that someone will be available to call outside normal office hours.

I obviously haven't made myself clear Mr Smith. I will be pleased to call at any time in the evening to suit yourself. I will actually be in your area on Thursday. Would 7.30 be convenient or would you prefer a slightly earlier time.


Disbelief.

This occurs where you have made a statement and the customer does not believe you, or at least doubts some of the claims you have made.

For example:

I think you are too expensive

To answer this and other types of objection there is a method called Feel, Felt, Found, which is very effective for dealing with objections without attacking your customer’s belief system. Let's use the price example. After clarifying, we could say:

I understand how you feel Mrs Smith. Other people have felt exactly the same. People in the same business as yourself who are now our customers. When we first made contact there were often other companies who were able to provide quotes that were a little bit cheaper than ours.

However, what they found was that because we have invested heavily in new technology and are able to guarantee a 3 hour response to any problems that may occur during implementation, it was very much more cost effective in the longer term to pay a little bit more up front.

So, that being the case, would you like to go ahead with the project?

Product Disadvantage.

This occurs where there is a feature of your product or service that is genuinely less advantageous than a feature of a competitor's product or service. For example, the customer could say: We use a local company with an office in the high street.

There is a disadvantage here because you don't have a similar office in this location and is a genuine disadvantage, which needs to be put in perspective.

We try to overcome the disadvantage by stating the advantages of dealing with your company, in the hope that the advantages will outweigh any disadvantages.

This is often called the `Balance Sheet Method'. To do this successfully you need to be aware of your main selling points and the services you can provide that are superior to those provided by others.

However, before we deal with the objection we need to clarify why having a local office is important to the customer and whether other parts of our service might outweigh the disadvantage that has been identified.

4. Advance the sale.

The key to objection handling is to react less quickly when an objection is raised and find out more about the problem. Clarify exactly what the problem is then try to overcome the objection. Ask more questions.

Finally, if you have dealt with the objection successfully and it is the right time, close the sale, or move on the next stage of the sales process. There is loads of free information on selling and free training materials. Go to http://www.salestraining.co.uk/ or e-mail me frank@salestraining.co.uk