The Salesby5 Blog

It is September 4th of 2003. (I wrote blog posts on paper then). My wife and I were checking into a Disney resort in Florida with my 3 year old daughter and 1 year old son. I was scared of a tiny room that I had reserved and asked about an upgrade. It was going to be a $250 per night upgrade and I asked what was included. I was told “it is a little larger” with a small bedroom and an attached couch bed. I was having a hard time swallowing the $250.00 per night extra and mentioned this. Within a few seconds, the price dropped to $175.00 and I reluctantly said yes as I was told I could get the smaller cheaper room if I did not like it. I really wanted this to be fun, special and relaxing, right?

We get to the room to see what we got for the extra $175.00 and we had been completely undersold. We had a full suite with a fridge, kitchen, 2 full bathrooms and a full living room. It was 2.5 times the size.  The room had a porch which overlooked views of the giraffes and gazelles. I am pretty happy at this point and the family was too as we had friends coming in to visit us for the day and now had plenty of space.  But, there is more. The floor we were on had a giant living area, kitchen, bar, and two people at a desk who turned out to be concierges. I found that because we had the suite, we also had free dinner, drinks, South African wines, desserts, breakfast, snacks, lunch, French water, cokes, free tickets to events, free transportation and a person to take care of all of our needs as part of the suite.

I almost said no to the $175.00 as it provided only “a little larger room” and the real overt benefits were never mentioned. I wonder how many upgrades don’t get sold because of what comes with the room. Later, I went to thank the lady who booked the room. She had never seen it and others had not either, yet there was a whole floor of suites. They did not know what they were selling but viewed it as a tiny benefit. If you ever go to a Disney resort, ask about the upgrade, it may just be the best money spent.

Is there anything you are marketing, selling, advertising that you are not articulating the real value, the real experience. Real matters and your customers should not have to dig to find it.

photo by DJ Riel

Have you ever walked into a store and seen something on sale at an unbelievable price?  If you’re like most customers your first thought is, “Wow. This is great.” But then it’s immediately followed by, “And I wonder what’s wrong with it?” Of course you’re skeptical.  You’ve been told ever since you were a child that if something sounds too good to be true then it probably is. Y ou might be so skeptical that you end up passing on a great deal.

Customers are naturally skeptical.  It’s a defensive mechanism to keep from being taken advantage of or making a mistake.  It can also keep customers from getting a great deal and doing business with a very good company.

Whether we know it or not, we lose sales to skepticism every day.  One of the biggest challenges for independent retailers is overcoming customer’s skepticism of the independent’s prices.  Most believe that an independent’s prices are much higher than the big box or national chains even though that is not always the case.

Skepticism also impacts our ability to make sales. When products are marked down customers often think there must be something wrong with them, or at the very least are something nobody else wanted – so why should they? Customers are also skeptical of brands they’ve never heard of. That’s always one of the biggest challenges when you bring on a new line in a segment where brand recognition is a key part of the decision-making process. You wouldn’t think twice about buying a Canon camera but you can’t say the same for a Rockwood Fosfate subwoofer.

The key to overcoming a skeptical customer is to proactively give them the necessary information to keep them from being skeptical.   If an independent retailer prominently posts a sign telling shoppers about the price guarantee, the customer knows that this store is competitively priced, which may or may not be the case.

The same approach works with markdowns.  If you’re giving the customer a great deal you need to tell them why. A “50% Off Our Top Sellers” or “50% Off Spring Clearance” will always be more effective than just a “50%” sign by itself.  When working one-on-one with a customer you should also explain why something is “such a good deal.”

Thank you Doug Fleener for this piece!

Photo by Twon

People often get disappointed when they don’t close a sale within the first or second attempt.  Would you be in that category?  Take heart!  Here’s the data on how many  high value contacts/touches it takes per client to make a sale:

• 2% of all sales are made on the first contact
• 3% of all sales are made on the second contact
• 5% of sales are made on the third contact
• 10% of sales are made on the forth contact
• 80% of all sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact

So how important is it for you to follow up?

• 48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect
• 25% of sales people make a second contact and stop
• 12% of sales people only make three contacts and stop
• ONLY 10% OF SALES PEOPLE MAKE MORE THAN THREE CONTACTS!

As you saw yesterday, the new #1 reason to not get the sale is not listening to the prospect.  So here’s what you need to know:

1. Make high value contact with your prospect and LISTEN!
2. Follow up
3. Keep following up
4. Sell

photo by Patrick Haney

CSO Insights recently conducted surveys of more than 2,000 sales and marketing professionals.  Get this: 85% of company marketers felt they were doing a good job generating quality sales leads. By contrast, only 50% of the sales professionals in those same organization were satisfied with the efforts from Marketing. The result of the disparity is fewer closed deals and less revenue.

“Great sales people wake up and say, God bless the competition ’cause I am going to kick their ass.”

The most important research tool is not a computer, a library or a friend who will dig through the prospect’s trash can.  The most valuable tool is your willingness to ask for help.  Information is everywhere if you look.

- Randy Schwantz, The Wedge: How to Stop Selling and Start Winning

This past weekend, my wife and I traveled to Corpus Christi to visit friends and family.  Yesterday was a miserable day weather-wise in Corpus, 30+ mph winds, drizzle and chilly.  Before returning to San Antonio, I pumped my gas and awaited my receipt, then I saw the frustrating “RECEIPT WITH CASHIER.”  As I made the annoying walk, I was greeted by two ladies behind the counter.  One provided me my receipt, the other said “I’m so sorry you had to come in, may I get you a coffee or hot cocoa?”  I was so pleased with their attitude, I went back to the car and told my wife the story.  Then, when we joined our friends for lunch, I told them about the experience as well.  This company bought my admiration with a cup of coffee.  What small things can you do for your customers and clients to make their day a little more pleasant?  Can you keep the holiday spirit going year ’round?

Our last Twitter post was about how it can sell you and sell others. It has been hard for me (Erik) to articulate the “how” until now. Knowing what @LanceArmstrong is doing, having @fitfuel display their level of customer service or reading live transcripts from @ImagineChurch on Twitter can be inspiring. More than that, you see data and knowledge that others share by providing pictures and links that you wouldn’t normally see. Perhaps the largest benefit is making friends with all kinds of people, from folks around the block that you might not have met to people around the world. The sale here is communication with humans and all that comes with it. If you do not understand it or want to know more, check out the video below, then start following @nanpalmero and @erikdarm.

Have you ever been part of a company or organization that had rules you couldn’t quite understand?  Do you currently have rules that seem to make no sense?  Companies are excellent at crafting rules and policies but they are often terrible at ending them when they’re no longer necessary.  Why not take a look at some of your rules for the New Year with your team? Give them the permission to ask how they apply, then do away with those that are no longer relevant.  You might just find a higher level of productivity by letting go just a bit.

photo by ClintJCL

In one weekend, I (Erik) learned the power of twitter.  I have new friends and followers, and most importantly, I am able to build relationships.  It can be scary at first, but I am now learning about the daily life of Lance Armstrong and many other great humans.  Following others can be quite inspirational if you follow the right people, both in life and online.  I would hate to be behind in this world and not know about this and how it is involved in sales!  The most exciting thing is that, although I learned about the power of twitter this weekend, it will be used in a completely different way in a few days.  Why not register for twitter today?