7 SALES SKILLS TO IMPROVE IN 2006

The beginning of the new year is a good time to review the
following 7 sales skills, which I have found to be the
most important for professional salespeople. Get good
at these, and you'll be able to make a lot of money no
matter how the economy is doing.


SKILL #1: QUALIFYING FAST TO AVOID WASTING SALES TIME

Do you chase after your prospects until they tell you yes or
no? Do you ever tell your prospects "No", as in "No, I am
not going to sell to you"? There are many things in selling
that you do not and will not be able to control. The one
thing that you do have control over is your time and how you
choose to use it.

To qualify fast you must have a set of criteria describing
who you will and will not sell to. You want to sell to the
prospects likely to purchase your products, and drop the
prospects unlikely to purchase (so that you can find more
good prospects). Sounds simple, but too many salespeople let
sludge buildup in their pipeline, constricting the total
revenue that flows out.

KEY TIP: Develop a checklist of sales qualifying criteria
that prospect's must meet in order for you to invest your
sales time with them.


SKILL #2: MOTIVATING PROSPECTS

Qualifying goes beyond budget, authority, and need. You want
to sell to prospects who *want* to purchase from you.
Finding prospects that need our products usually is not
difficult. Finding those who really want our products though
can be very hard if we wait for them to come to us.

Products sold by professional salespeople are more complex
and deliver more value than commodity products sold through
stores, catalogs and brokers. Prospects generally do not
know they need such products, until they first discover that
they have a problem. This process can take seconds or years
depending on the nature of the problem (and the prospect!).
Prospects get motivated to work with you when you help them
to discover that you solve their problem better than anyone
else.

KEY TIP: Determine which problems that you eliminate or
solve for your prospects. Plan and ask questions to uncover
and agitate those problems.


SKILL #3: SELLING TO PEOPLE OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE

Most salespeople who are "people persons", already think
that they are good at this. Let me ask you a question. When
you last lost a sale, how was your rapport with the key
person who decided against you?

You can't afford to look away and ignore people that you
don't have natural rapport with. The good news is that
people like people like themselves. All you have to do to
gain rapport is stretch your behavior outside or your
comfort zone until you become like another person.

KEY TIP: Match speech patterns with people to gain rapport
outside of your typical sports or weather conversation.


SKILL #4: REACHING DECISION-MAKERS THROUGH VOICEMAIL

There's two ways to make more sales. One is to close more of
the prospects you do contact. The other is to get more
prospects into the pipeline. When prospecting, you can look
at voicemail as either your enemy or your ally. With 70%
of your prospecting calls going to voicemail, it is time to
make friends with it.

Although you will not get even close to getting every
voicemail returned, you can get a significant number of your
messages returned when treat them as a one-on-one
commercials.

KEY TIP: Prepare 3-5 separate benefit-focused voicemail
messages that you can leave over a period of days or weeks
for a single decision-maker before you give up on her. Each
message should focus on a single unique customer-focused
benefit.


SKILL #5: DELIVERING "I GOTTA HAVE THAT" PRESENTATIONS

Let's face it, a lot of business presentations are really
boring. Salespeople talk about why their product is great,
why their company is great, and the history of their
company. Prospects don't relate to this. That's why they
look so bored.

Great presentations get the prospect's imagination involved.
The best way to involve the imagination is through
storytelling. Stories rich in descriptive detail get the
prospect picturing them using your product and evoke that "I
Gotta Have That" reaction.

KEY TIP: Study 1-3 of your best customers and develop
detailed customer success stories that will put emotional
power into your presentations.


SKILL #6: GAINING COMMITMENTS INSTEAD OF CLOSING

Eliminate "Closing Cheese" from Your Vocabulary. You know
what I am talking about: "Would you like that in gray or in
black?" or "If I can show you how this will help you will
you purchase today?". Lines like these are why salespeople
are down near lawyers when it comes to getting respect.

Learn the power of asking for incremental commitments from
the beginning of your sales cycle. It is not an easy shift
to make. First you got to get the prospect to show you what
they most want (Hint: See Skill #2 above). Then you can
negotiate incremental commitments in return for more of your
time, information or resources.

KEY TIP: Practice asking for simple commitments once someone
has expressed a clear want, pain, or desire.


SKILL #7: HAVING MORE FUN

Sales is fun when you are in control and closing deals.
Selling is miserable when you are under pressure to close
business.

Take the pressure off of yourself to close and instead focus
on qualifying and motivating your prospects.

KEY TIP: Shift the responsibility back to the prospect to
solve his own problems, and the pressure to make the sale
will be gone. Focus on selling at your best only to
qualified prospects and you'll close more and have fun doing
it.


*** BONUS SALES TIP ***

When you are giving a presentation, selling on the telephone
or one-on-one in your prospect's office, picture your
prospect as having the words SO WHAT stamped on his
forehead. Imagine that for everything you say, the prospect
is asking "so what, why should I care?".

Remember, prospects only care about how what you are selling
can eliminate a problem that they have or help make their
business or life better. The answer to this question is
always what your product does for them (benefits), not what
your product is (features).


ADVICE TO SALES PEOPLE WHO WANT TO CLOSE MORE SALES

Forget giving away your time, attention and knowledge to
prospects who don't purchase. Learn 5 simple skills that
will enable you to close significantly more in the same time
that you are working now. No more cheesy closing lines.