Achieving Sales on the Telephone - Closing a Sale

Although you will close the sale at the end of the call it is important to realise that a close is not just about a commitment to purchase, but also commitment of interest. A good salesperson will display the intention to close throughout a call, so that it does not come as a surprise to the customer at the end.

Once you have reached a point where you have summarised the agreed customer needs, related the product advantages (benefits) to these needs you are ready to ask your closing question.

There are many different questions and methods that you can use to close a sale. However, there are three golden rules you should consider. These are…

• Present the close in the form of a question

• Once you’ve asked your question be silent and wait for an answer

• If you don’t ask, you will never know if they would have purchased

Remember, both you and the person you are talking to know that your role is about closing sales. You will not ruin a good relationship by trying to close. Be confident about closing, but do not let this over-run into high-pressure tactics or rudeness. Part of your responsibility is to leave the door open for future sales.

Examples of closing questions

The Direct Close

This requires a yes/no answer. ‘Would you like to go ahead and purchase then?’ You may get a ‘no’ response, if this is the case, ask the customer why, you may have more objections to overcome.


The Alternative Close

Give the customer a choice. ‘Would you like this product, or the other?’


The Secondary Close

Ask the customer a question, which by answering means they will purchase. ‘Would you like to purchase this? Where should I send it to?’

This article is an excerpt from the workbook of the Trainer Bubble training material, 'Achieving Sales on the Telephone'. You can purchase this training course by visiting our website at www.trainerbubble.com

People Watchers - BBC2. Well worth a watch.

There is a new programme called 'People Watchers' on BBC2 during the day, which is hosted by Richard Wiseman amongst others. They set about testing psychological experiments on people and the results are really interesting.

One such experiment was carried out in a shopping arcade. The 'People Watcher' had set up a stall where you could win a moped by guessing how many ping pong balls were in a bowl.

They asked people to guess how many balls they thought were in the bowl. When the person made a guess. The tester went to enter their figure on a flipchart, but in doing so revealed lots of previously entered figures which were hugely over inflated. They made no reference to the other figures, but gave the person a last chance to alter their own answer. The person being asked would then alter their figure to be closer to the other figures.

What does this tell us? People tend to form opinions based on others. It's a herd mentality!

How can we use it? Set sales targets high, people will follow…I'm sure you can think of more!

If, like me, you are too busy in the day to catch this. Simply catch up with it on the BBC I-player.

Develop Your Sales by Building Trust

Successful salespeople have a knack for making people feel important. They understand the value of building trust and rapport early on in the selling process. It really doesn't matter how knowledgeable you are about your product line or how many closing techniques you have mastered, unless you earn your prospect's trust and confidence you are not going to make the sale.

Once you have established trust and rapport with your prospect, you will encourage a situation where you make it easy for them to buy from you. Often there is not much difference in specific products that we sell anymore and the amount of trust you can build with your prospects becomes the only differentiator between you and your competitors.

While there is no system that will work 100 percent of the time with every situation, studies show that there are four elements that precede trust.

Ethics — Conducting business with honesty and using good business practices, such as a high standard of customer service and high personal moral values.

Bonding — Conducting an individualised and value-added relationship over a long period of time. This may include feelings of friendship.

Empathy — The ability to see a situation from another person’s perspective. ‘Take a walk in the customer’s shoes’.

Reciprocity — Providing favours or making allowances in return for similar favours or allowances.

So next time you enter a sales discussion, consider the four points above and how you can build a trusting relationship with your customer...it's what the great salespeople do!

This article is taken from a section in the workbook of 'Practical Sales Skills', which is a set of training course materials that our customers have been downloading and using to develop their sales team. Visit our website today for sales success! You will also find many other useful training resources.

Sales - How to Handle Objections

Objections are a fact of life for a salesperson and a lot will say that they hate when they get them. I really don’t think this should be the case as objections are just another way for a prospect to say, “I need more information” and can actually be a good sign that a sale is not too far away. After all, if you handle the objection effectively, what reasons are there left not to buy?

The most common reason for salespeople disliking objections is the simple fact that they are not prepared for them. There are no excuses for not being prepared for objections, after all, there are only so many objections that you are likely to receive and believe me, the prospects of the world are not sat in a room right now thinking up new and better objections in order to catch you out!

A truly effective salesperson will spend time practicing and perfecting their response to these objections and when they receive them the response will be so slick and meaningful the prospect will have no option but to buy the product or think up a whole new objection…that can be answered just as quickly!

Another thing to consider when overcoming objections is the way you deliver them to the prospect. There are four practical techniques to follow.

Pre-empt the objection – The best way to avoid receiving objections is to answer them in your pitch. If you have an awareness of the common objections that you get to your product/service, not pre-empting them seems madness.

Some salespeople might argue that it’s best not to highlight the downside to a product. Believe me; even if your prospect doesn’t say it, they’re thinking it. Get the issue out in the open and answer it straight up. That way, when you reach for a close, the prospect will not have the objection.

Treat objections as questions – Objections are not something to be feared. If you treat the objection as just another question that drives you towards the sale you will find that your body language and tone of voice doesn’t alter and your enthusiastic response will be seen by the prospect as a positive statement of confidence in your product.

Agree with the prospect – This is no time for an argument! You are not opposing the prospects statement, simply helping them to understand your point of view. There is a tendency to use words like ‘but’, which put up barriers between you and the customer. Instead, make them realise that you respect their query by supporting it and then stating your side of things. A good technique to follow is one developed by Zig Zigler (well known sales trainer), which is…

Use Feel, Felt, Found - This process is great for handling objections whilst still acknowledging and respecting the prospects point of view. When a customer raises an objection, you say something like; “I understand how you feel, our other customers felt the same way too until they found that…” This technique is incredibly simple and yet amazingly effective.

This is an excerpt from the workbook in the Trainer Bubble training materials for 'Practical Selling Skills'. Visit our website now to view the rest of the content.

Meetings or Work? – A Modern Dilemma

What is it with business people and meetings? I’ve lost count of the mundane, ineffective and downright pointless meetings that I have had the misfortune to attend so far this year. If one more person drags me half way across the country to attend a meeting about the meeting before it I’m pretty sure I will throw myself out of the meeting room window.

I’m not against meetings per se, but it seems that people are pre-occupied with talking about issues rather than getting their hands dirty and actually dealing with them. I guess it’s easier to imbed yourself in a days worth of appointments talking about ‘the state of the business’ than it is to spend time actually trying to resolve anything.

The trouble with this abundance of dross gatherings is that it turns people off to the worthwhile meetings that really do help to address ‘real issues’, which can create a positive benefit to the future of the business.

So, for those of you that are interested only in positive meetings with purpose, let’s lay down some guidelines…

1) Never call a meeting if the information can be distributed or matter resolved by alternative, simpler means.

2) Provide a clear agenda and any relevant information to those due to attend the meeting. If they are required to prepare information, let them know.

3) Only invite people that absolutely need to be there.

4) Always start and end the meeting on time.

5) Stick to the topics on the agenda.

6) Be clear on the goals of the meeting and work towards them.

7) Do not allow AOB to become inane ramblings. If people want to have a general chat, ask them to do it elsewhere.

8) Prepare for the meeting and be clear on the content. If you have not prepared adequately then postpone, avoid bringing people together to ‘chat around the topic’.

9) Avoid ‘satellite’ meetings. If you can combine topics and all relevant people are due to be there, do so.

10) If the meeting becomes no longer necessary, don’t have it!

See, simple really isn’t it? So stop calling a meeting every time you need a break from the real work and start planning for successes. If you want to have a moan, save it for the water cooler!

You can download our new training resource on 'Leading Meetings' at our website www.trainerbubble.com

Influencing Sales via 'The Contrast Principle'

My partner and I had taken my son, Quinn, out for a trip to the zoo recently and as we entered we came across the usual ‘souvenir’ store complete with an array of animal related toys. Of course my son went crazy at this point and wanted everything. I explained that we could return after our walk around the zoo and that I would consider buying him something then. Although disappointed, he seemed to agree that this was fair and we managed to prise him away and into the zoo.

We had a fantastic time, looking at all the animals and stopping for a bite to eat. However, as we drew closer to the exit I began to remember my promise about the souvenir store. It seems Quinn had not forgotten either. “Dad?” He said, as he finished the remains of an ice cream “How much money can I have for toys?” I contemplated this for a second or two and said, “I think £5 should be enough”. “£5!” He said, “That’s nothing, how about £200?” “£200 is a lot of money for toys son, even for you. In fact, that would buy up the whole souvenir shop. How about £10?” His response was immediate “Ok dad”.

It was only when I reached the souvenir shop that I realised my mistake. I had been duped by my son and what is known as “The contrast Principle”. Of course, after my sons initial request of £200, the £10 counter offer didn’t seem so bad, yet he had managed to double his initial request.

The contrast principle is a powerful way to increase the odds of getting what you want. In fact, once you recognise it, you realise it is used in many different scenarios and is yet another example of our brain using a mental shortcut i.e. ‘The offer must be fair, it is much less than the other’.

Car salesmen demonstrate an example of the contrast principle used in a business context. They will sell us a car and only after you have accepted the purchase will they start trying to sell you the extras (Metallic paint, Sat Nav etc.)

This can also be seen in a clothing retailers, common sense would tell us that it would be easier to try and sell a customer a small item (like a belt) and then ‘once they are warmed up’, try to sell them a larger item. However, this actually works better in reverse. The idea is that once the customer has bought the expensive sweater, the cheaper belt and t-shirt don’t seem as much...in contrast.

This excerpt is included in the Trainer Bubble training course material 'The Power of Influence'. Download this fantastic training resource at Trainer Bubble

Sales Culture – Beware of the broken window

There’s a park I walk through on the way home each day. It used to be a very pretty park with vast areas of green freshly clipped grass, commemorative benches with gleaming plaques, pristine toilets that won countless awards, trees that have been there for decades and freshly painted playground equipment for the kids to climb over.

About a year ago I happened to notice that one of the windows of the toilets had been smashed, I could have been wrong, but it looked like someone had thrown a stone through it. I tutted to myself and continued on my way. The next day as I was walking, I noticed that someone had added to the broken window with another and someone else had scrawled their name next to it in giant, sprayed on letters.

Over the year, things have got worse. The green grass has yellowed and is littered with rubbish, the benches have become worn and broken in places and the playground is more rust than paint and seems held together by the marker pen graffiti.

A sad tale of urban decay you may be thinking, but what the heck has it got to do with sales?

The thing that tripped off this series of events was the broken window. I would argue that had that broken window been fixed the day after it’s breaking then the person who broke the second window and left graffiti would not have done so. Consequently the park would not have become an area where it was ‘ok’ to treat with disrespect and it would not have fallen into steady decline.

Again I hear you thinking, I get it, but what the heck has that got to do with sales?

Let’s say you have a team and in the majority they are pretty successful with sales. They are all doing ok and you can see that their skills are developing progressively. However, there is one member of the team that is not on board with the concept. They are disruptive, they complain, they challenge every product by comparing it negatively against competitors and they do their utmost to undermine the process at every opportunity.

Many managers will ignore this person in the hope that they will get so fed up that they move on to another part of the business or even to the competitors they so admire. They’ll invest little time in them and ignore their development. This is a mistake. The person we have described is your ‘broken window’ and all the time they are left ‘un-mended’ they will encourage the same negative behaviour in others, until your business looks as tired and worn as the park I go through every night.

Other people will start to model the behaviours displayed by the broken window and you will notice a steady decline in sales development, after all, ’if they can get away with it, maybe I can too’. It is far easier to change the methods of one than it is to alter the habits of one hundred.

I would even go further than this and say that they are the catalyst and, if turned around, they will move your culture of sales on to the next level. When negative obstructers, who generally court a lot of influence, become flag wavers for the business, you have found a method of ensuring that things happen even when the boss isn’t looking.

Like mending a broken window, it’s not fun and nobody wants to spend the time, money and effort on it, but it’s a lot better than having to re-develop the whole damn park.

Trainer Bubble provide some very useful sales training resources, why not visit and see what we have? Trainer Bubble - Training Resources

Improving Sales Effectiveness – The Question is Why?

Achieving sales success is crucial to every business, after all sales is the only revenue generating function within a company, everything else costs money. So what do we do to ensure that our key players in the sales arena are doing all they can to develop this most important of areas?

Much is said about the process and techniques of sales and there are many books and courses written on the topic of sales strategy. However, I believe the key to improving sales is not what we tell our sales people to do or even how they should do it (although I agree they cannot be overlooked). No, for me the answer is not aligned to things you can teach or processes you can explain. I believe the answer is much simpler and at the same time much harder. The simple fact is that most businesses do not achieve the sales they expect through their people because they never answer the why, or to put it in clear terms ‘Why should I sell this product if I am not motivated to do so by my leaders?’

I have seen many a sales meeting where the sales manager carefully explains what the product does and how it works without once explaining why it is important that the team sell the product at all. What’s in it for them? What’s in it for the business? Why should I sell this product!?

We’ve all heard of features, advantages, benefits and you can be sure that the customer is only interested in the benefit to them of buying a product, so why should this be any different for a salesperson selling a product? They need to know the benefit to them of selling the product, otherwise why should they?

Now I know there are some cynics reading this who will answer the question, ‘Why should I sell this product?’ with the much fancied response of ‘…because you are a salesperson and that’s your job.’ To that I say ‘great’, if you are getting results in this way then carry on doing things just the way you are, but if you’re not getting results using this method I have another response…

…If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.

Now I mentioned earlier that what a product does and how a product should be sold should not be overlooked and I think that is very true, but when you only focus on these you will be left scratching your head as to why your sales team aren’t getting the results. So, a simple way to deal with the issue is to use the following formula…

What + How + Why = Sales

In this formula, ‘What’ is the clarity around the product or service, i.e. do they know the features and benefits of the product? ‘How’ is the capability to sell the product, i.e. do they have the correct skills and techniques? ‘Why’ we can call motivation, i.e. do they understand the benefits to them and the business of selling the product?

You may find that results still come in with one of these elements missing. However, when you combine the elements you will be truly blown away by what you can achieve.

So next time you hold that sales meeting, remember the reasons why.

Achieving Sales on the Telephone - Effective outbound calls

The key to making effective outbound calls is structure. The most effective telephone sales person will have a set process for contacting customers and will stick to it, no matter what the temptation to alter their methods. Most outbound call agents will use a ‘working list’ to contact customers, it is important that you approach this list methodically and the following approach will help you to remain effective.

Define your ideal customer – The best way to predict who your future customers will be is to understand who your past customers have been. For instance, if by looking at your past client base you realise that the majority of your orders have come from the 18 – 30 year old bracket, then this would likely be the best people to focus your attention on. Of course age isn’t the only consideration to make. You may also want to look at geography, past buying patterns, interests etc.

Develop a good ‘script’ – A good script or series of specific questions is the most important thing you can do to improve your effectiveness when selling on the telephone. This becomes even more important when you are making outbound calls.

Some people resist the idea of using a script. They argue that it is better to sound natural and this will help build the relationship with the customer. The trick is to use the script as a series of prompts or reminder of what to say rather than reading it verbatim. This way you can concentrate on how you say things as opposed to what you are saying. More importantly, it allows you to focus on what the customer is saying and helps you tailor your conversation to suit.

The script should be seen as a method of allowing you to be flexible in your approach as opposed to being a restraint.

Eliminate – The trouble with making outbound sales calls is you usually have absolutely no idea of the level of interest of the recipient until you have called them. It may be that the first ten people you call are all interested in what you have to sell. Alternatively, it may be the last ten! You role is simply to find those people that are interested and temporarily eliminate those that are not. It is useful to methodical in your approach to calling customers.

It is tempting to disregard the customers that you couldn’t reach or did not show an immediate interest. However, a good salesperson will ensure that they follow-up on all of these opportunities. In order to ensure you keep track of the customers you have previously called, it is useful to create a system of note-taking. If a customer is not available then you should make a good clear note of this next to their contact details, or you could mark their level of interest from 1 – 3. By using this system you will ensure that you are fully prepared when it is time to call them again. Although this may seem tedious, it is a lot better than having to call a prospect ‘cold’.

Persist – A good telephone salesperson will develop a thick skin throughout their career. You will need to accept rejection as part of the job and consider each new call as a new opportunity. Even the most hardy individual will get despondent at times, it is useful to set your expectations early on and realise that you will not be able to convert the large majority of calls you make. This does not mean that the customer will never buy from you, just not today.

By making clear notes on your call list, you will be able to re-work an old list and even convert some previous rejections. The key to outbound sales is to never give up!

You can find valuable training material on Achieving Sales on the Telephone on our website Trainer Bubble. These course materials include everything you need to develop your sales team and can be downloaded instantly.

Team focus - How to re-set the sights.

I was at a training event recently and during the opening 'set the scene' intro the senior director in the company asked the group to list all the things that were stopping them providing a good service to their customers.

The team took great pleasure in listing all the concerns: Morale, time, work pressures, customer issues, the products etc etc.

The director gleefully added each and every comment to the flipchart and when no more issues were given he looked up and said.."I have only one problem with this list......." He let the question hang in the air for a few seconds and when the team's started to look around non-plussed, he said, "You're not on it!"

It may not have been what they wanted to hear, but Wow, did it have an effect.

Identifying a team members complacency is often the key to re-generating a workforce, it's a common problem and one that can have disastrous effects. In my experience, there tends to be two main reasons behind it.

1. The team member has been doing extremely well and has taken their eye off the ball.

2. The team member is not doing as well as his counterparts and so feel de-motivated and unable to achieve.

In both situations the key is to encourage the team member to 'buy-in' to the business once again. They need to appreciate the consequences of their action, or in-action, and learn to change.

So how do you do it?

The best approach is to identify the team member's drivers, that is, what it is that makes them want to succeed. For some, it will be the desire to get away from how they currently feel, for others, it will be the hope of reaching a better future state. Once you know what approach your particular team member prefers, you can encourage them to work towards, or away from it.

Of course it's not always easy to identify a person's drivers without asking them. So that's exactly what I suggest you do! You don't have to be so upfront with the question, using coaching as a method of understanding is a great way to achieve this.

I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that through a good use of questioning and an even better use of listening you will be able to not only identify your team's drivers, but also help them establish a need to change.

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