My take on Spin Selling (part 3 of 8)

Spin Selling

by: Neil Rackham

Neil Rackham is a best selling author. You can read more about him at his website linked to his name.

Customer Needs in the Major Sale

The studies at Huthwaite revealed that the stage with the strongest influence on overall call success is Investigating.

Remember, the Investigating stage: Asking questions and collecting data about customers, their business, and their needs.

It’ sin the nature of major sales that needs aren’t instant.

Different Needs in Small Sales and Large

Contrasts between smaller sales and larger sales:

• Need development is faster in smaller sales than it is is larger sales.
• Larger sales require consulting with others, smaller sales do not.
• The strong emotional component of a smaller sale is not acceptable in larger sales.
• A bad purchasing decision in a smaller sale is, well…smaller.

Broadly speaking, Huthwaite says that as the sale becomes larger:

• Needs take longer to develop.
• Needs are likely to involve elements, inlfuences, and inputs from several people, not just the wishes of a single individual.
• Needs are more likey to be expressed on a rational basis, and even if the customer’s underying motivation is emotional or irrational, the need will usually require a rational justification.
• A purchasing decision that doesn’t adequately meet needs is likely to have more serious consequences for the decision maker.

Huthwaite’s research suggests that these differences are substantial. Enough so that they require a different set of questioning skills.

For research purposes, Huthwaite defines a NEED as:

Any statement made by the buyer which expresses a want or concern that can be satisfied by the seller.

For these purposes there is no distinction between the needs and wants of a buyer.

How Needs Develop

The first sign of a need is a slight discontent or dissatisfaction.

Needs normally:

• Start with minor imperfections.
• Evolve into clear problems, difficulties, or dissatisfactions.
• Finally become wants, desires, or intentions to act.

In small sales these stages can be almost imstantaneous. In larger sales the process may take months or even years.

Implied and Explicit Needs

Huthwaite looked for a simple way to express this series of stages. They decided to divide needs up into two types:

Implied Needs. Statements by the customer of problems.

Explicit Needs. Specific customer statements of wants or desires.

In larger sales, one of the principle differences between very successful and less successful salespeople is this:

• Less successful people don’t differentiate between Implied and Explicit Needsm, so they threat them exactly the same way.
• Very successful people, often without realizing they’re doing so, treat Implied Needs in a very different way than Explicit Needs.

Huthwaite’s research showed that, in simple sales, the more Implied Needs you can uncover, the better your chance of getting the business.

What matters in the larger sale isn’t the number of Implied Needs you uncover, but what you do with them after you’ve uncovered them.

Why Implied Needs Don’t Predict Success in Larger Sales

Anyone making a decision to purchase must balance two opposing factors:

• The seriousness of the problems that the purchase would solve.
• The cost of the solution.

In many small sales, because the cost is so low, it is easy for relatively superficial needs to tip the balance in favor of purchase.

The Value Equation

The Value Equation is the relationship between the size of needs and the cost of a solution.

If a customer perceives…

• the problem to be larger than the cost of solving it = sale
• the problem to be small and the cost to be high = no sale

This explains why, in smaller sales, you can sell just by uncovering problems. In major sales, you must develop the need further so that it beocmes larger, more serious, and more acute in order to justify the additional cost of your solution. Remember the pyschological aspects of a major sale? These usually add to the cost side of the equation. (example: entering a relationship due to length of sale, risk of bad decision costing job)

Explicit Needs and Success

Huthwaite did research to show that, in larger sales, Implied Needs were not significantly higher in successful calls, but Explicit Needs were twice as high.

So, in larger sales, Implied Needs don’t predict success, but Explicit Needs do. In smaller sales, both may predict success. A probing strategy for the larger sale must uncover Implied Needs then convert by questions into Explicit Needs.

Buying Signals in the Major Sale

Implied Needs are accurate buying signals for small sales. Explicit Needs are the buying signals that predict success in larger sales. Less experienced people put too much weight on Implied Needs.

The purpose of questions in the larger sale is to uncover Implied Needs and to develop them into Explicit Needs.

In the next chapter, Rackham shows how this can be done using the SPIN questions.

Remember- The work you’ve just read is Neil Rackham’s. I have simply outlined his book. Most of the words above are his own. At times I paraphrased.

Until next time…

Keith Porterfield

a Student of Sales

My take on Spin Selling (part 2 of 8)

Spin Selling

by: Neil Rackham

Neil Rackham is a best selling author. You can read more about him at his website linked to his name.

Obtaining Commitment: Closing the Sale

Huthwaite research shows that success in the major sale depends more on how the Investigating stage of the call is handled.

So why is everyone so enthralled with Closing?

In this chapter Rackham asks the following questions:

1. How many of these closing techniques actually work?
2. In larger sales, how do such factors as price and buyer sophistication influence the success of closing?

What is Closing?

Huthwaite’s definition of Closing:

A behavior used by the seller which implies or invites a commitment, so that the buyer’s next statement accepts or denies commitment.

The Consensus on Closing

The consensus among writers on selling seems to be this:

• Closing techniques are strongly related to success.
• You should use many types of closes.
• You should close frequently during the call.

Starting the Research

Rackham started his research into closing in the late 1960s.

Talking with Salespeople

Rackham found that salespeople

• Talked about closing on their own time.
• Could name four different closing techniques.
• Could give no more than one technique on opening the sale or handling objections.
• Less than half of the field in another study could specify a single technique for investigating customer needs beyond just asking questions.

Closing for Real

When Rackham first quit his University teaching job to found Huthwaite he enrolled in a sales training program and paid particular attention to the area of closing techniques. He had to sell his services to eat.

When he tried his first close, an Alternative Close, it worked. For a while he was a hard-close believer.

What changed his mind? Read on…

Initial Research

Huthwaite began their research fully believing they would find a strong positive link between the number of times a seller tried to close and the success of the sale. He believe the magic number of 5 closes would be found to hold true.

Unexpected Results

For the first small study, Huthwaite went out on 190 calls. They took for study the 30 calls in which the sellers had closed most often and compared them with the 30 calls in which the seller had closed the least.

11 of the high-close calls resulted in a sale.

21 of the low-close calls resulted in a sale.

They could not call this a resounding victory in the “close early, close hard, and close often” school of learning.

Uneasy Feelings

Rackham noticed in this first study an antagonism from the buyer anytime a closing technique other than asking for the order was used.

Attitude Problems

Rackham conducted research on attitude as it affects closing.

The results (though possibly skewed) showed that

• more favorable attitude towards closing = less sales
• less favorable attitude towards closing = more sales

This raised more doubt as to the effectiveness of closing. More research was needed.

The Effect of Training

More research was conducted on how training in closing affected sales success.

After training, on 86 calls, sellers used 2.4 more closing behaviors per call than before.

However, the overall effect of the training was a decrease in sales.

• Before training the success rate was over 60%.
• After training it was around 50%.

A possible flaw in this research was that the training caused the seller to feel ackward in his presentation, therefore causing a negative effect on the sales call success.

A Glimmer of Light

Rackham then came across a major training firm claiming that they could increase sales by 30%. After further investigation he came to theorize that

• closing techniques worked when the sale was small
• closing techniques failed when the size of the sale increased

Consider the pyschology:

Closing is, in effect, putting pressure on the customer to make a decision. As this decision increases in size, the pressure tends to have a negative affect.

Rackham highlights this by the classic example of a young man courting a young woman. The alternative close of “shall we sit here or shall we sit there?” works because the decision is small. However, the same young man may have a considerably lesser success rate with the alternative close of “my place or yours”. The decision this close implicates is a much larger one.

The Photo-Store Study

Huthwaite was to study whether a new training for the photo store would be effective.

This study would allow Huthwaite to observe sellers in rotating positions. One day they would be selling low priced items, the next they would be selling high priced items.

Closing and Decision Size

Before the training took place Huthwaite measured three things:

1. Transaction time. How long did each sale or attempted sale take?
2. Number of closes. How often did the seller use a closing behavior during the transaction?
3. Percentage sale. What percentage of the transactions resulted in a purchase?

Low-value items:

The effects of closing training:

• decreased the transaction time
• the number of closing behaviors increased
• the success rate increased

High-value items:

The effects of closing training:

• decreased the transaction time
• the number of closing behaviors increased
• the success rate decreased

Two Conclusions

By forcing the customer into a decision, closing techniques speed the sales transaction.

In small sales it’s generally desirable to keep transaction time short; in larger sales a shorter transaction time has fewer advantages and many penalties.

Closing techniques may increase the chances of making a sale with low-priced products. With expensive products or services, they reduce the chances of making a sale.

Closing techniques, like all forms of pressure, become less effective as decision size increases.

Closing and Client Sophistication

The few existing research studies all suggest that the more sophisticated buyers react negatively to the use of closing.

Closing and Post-Sale Satisfaction

Huthwaite performed a study on the satisfaction rate of customers. The idea was to find out if customer satisfaction was affected by the use of closing techniques.

The results showed that sellers who had been trained in closing had lower satisfaction rates.

Rackham’s states that the most likely interpretation of these results is that, in using closing techniques, the sellers put pressure on customers to make a decision. Most people are less satisfied with decisions that they feel they’ve been pressured to make than with those they feel they’ve made entirely on their own.

This is key when remembering one of the pyschologically important factors of a large sale:

The large sale is an ongoing relationship.

Why is the Rest of the Army out of Step?

Rackham was reluctant to present his findings. In the few instance when he did share, he was poorly received. He did not so much dislike the rejection as he was concerned that his research was wrong.

Why did so many people, successful industry people, believe and spend so much money on techniques that not only don’t work, but are counterproductive?

What Makes a Compulsive Closer?

Rackham, around this time, conducted a seminar with a California management consultant named Roger Harrison. Harrison suggested that there are only two reasons that people continue to behave in an unsuccessful way. Either they are crazy or there’s something in their environment that’s rewarding and encouraging the use of the ineffective behavior.

Closing behaviors are the only behaviors that are directly rewarded or reinforced by orders.

This insight helped Rackham realize that his work, thus far, was of value and that the rest of the world just might be out of step.

But You Must Close

An inexperienced salesperson is afraid to bring the call to a conclusion and, as a result, the customer gets impatient.

Some research shows that:

• a ‘no-close’ call is ineffective (22%)
• a ‘one-close’ call is most effective (61%)
• a call with more than two closing behaviors is least effective (<20%)

Where Do We Go from Here?

The seller must obtain some kind of commitment from the customer for a call to be a success. But how can you get a commitment from your customer without risking the penalties that come from using closing techniques?

Traditional closing techniques are ineffective or have a negative effect when:

• The sale is large, involving high-value goods.
• The customer is sophisticated: for example, a professional buyer.
• There is a continuing post-sale relationship with the customer.

What should you do?

Obtaining the Right Commitment

The first step in successful closing is to set the right objectives. Know what level of commitment makes the call a success.

Just getting an agreement to another meeting isn’t an adequate measure of whether you’ve closed successfully.

Defining Closing Success in Larger Sales

Four possible outcomes of a sales call:

• Orders – Where the customer makes a firm commitment to buy.

• Advances – Where an event takes place, either in the call or after it, that makes the sales move forward toward a decision. Typical Advances might include:

  • A customer’s agreement to attend an off-site demonstration
  • A clearance that will get you in front of higher level of decision maker
  • An agreement to run a trial or test of your product
  • Access to parts of the account that were previously inaccessible to you

• Continuations – Where the sale will continue but where no specific action has been agreed upon by the customer to move it forward.

  • “Thank you for coming. Why don’t you visit us again the next time you’re in the area?”
  • “Fantastic presentation, we’re very impressed. Let’s meet again some time.”
  • “We liked what we saw and we’ll be in touch if we need to take things further.”

Huthwaite classified those calls that closed with Continuations as unsuccessful.

• No-sales – Where the customer actively refuses a commitment.

It is important to know these 4 possible outcomes in order to close calls more effectively by turning Continuations into Advances.

Know the difference between Continuations and Advances, then become dissatisfied with setting call objectives that result only in a Continuation.

Setting Call Objectives

The secret of strong closing in major-account call is to question your objectives ruthlessly.

In your call planning, always include objectives that result in specific actions from the customer.

Obtaining Commitment: Four Successful Actions

Huthwaite found that there are four clear actions that successful people tend to use to help them obtain commitment from their customers:

1. Giving attention to Investigating and Demonstrating Capability.
   • Successful salespeople give their primary attention to this action.
   • Successful salespeople do an outstanding job of building needs during the Investigating stage.
   • If you can convince customers that they need what you are offering, then they will often close the sale for you.
2. Checking that key concerns are covered.
   • Sellers who were most effective in obtaining commitment from their customers would invariably take the initiave and ask the buyer whether there were any further points or concerns that needed to be addressed.
3. Summarizing the Benefits.
   • In a larger sale, summary will almost always be a helpful way to bring key points into focus just before the decision.
4. Proposing a commitment.
   • Asking for the commitment is not what successful sellers do.
   • In all ther other stages of the sale, asking behaviors are much more successful than giving behaviors.
   • At the point of commitment, successful sellers don’t ask–they tell.
   • Most natural and effective: Suggest an appropriate next step to the customer.

How do you know which commitment to propose? There are two characteristics of the commitments proposed by successful salespeople:

1. The commitment advances the sale. As a result of the commitment the sales will move forward in some way.
2. The commitment proposed is the highest realistic commitment that the customer is able to give. Successful sellers never push the customer beyond achievable limits.

Rackham’s old friend and colleague, Hans Stennek, is quoted as saying: “I’ve never been a believer in closing, because my objective is not to close the sale but to open a relationship.”

Remember- The work you’ve just read is Neil Rackham’s. I have simply outlined his book. Most of the words above are his own. At times I paraphrased.

Until next time…

Keith Porterfield

a Student of Sales

My take on Spin Selling (part 1 of 8)

Spin Selling

by: Neil Rackham

Neil Rackham is a best selling author. You can read more about him at his website linked to his name.

Mr. Rackham prefaces this book with two statements.

Preface:

1. It’s about the larger sale.
2. It’s based on research.

Sales Behavior and Sales Success

Successful Salespeople are…

• Not better closers
• Not better at handling objections
• Not better at using open ended questions

Many beleive the 3 key components to a sales pitch are:

1. Uncover needs with open and closed questions.
2. Overcome objections.
3. Close for the business.

Huthwaite (Rackham’s research company) found through 10 yrs of research that the methods listed above are:

• Good for low-value sales

According to Rackham,

Top salespeople are using a

POWERFUL PROBING INVESTIGATION STRATEGY

to achieve their success.

Success in the Larger Sale

Traditional (not necessarily effective) steps of a sales call are:

1. Opening the call~Relate to the buyer (not necessarily effective in the large sale.
2. Investigating needs
3. Giving benefits
4. Objection handling
5. Closing techniques

Again, these may be o.k. for a small sale. A small sale for these purposes are one that is relatively low-value and can be closed in one call.

The Major Sale

You know a major sale from a minor one.

Now, consider the psychology…

• The customer perception changes.
• Customer behavior changes.
• Selling cycle is longer:
  • Most of the “talk” about your presentation is done internal.
  • Or…not by you.
  • Consider these questions:
    1. How much of what I’ve said will the customer remember tomorrow after I’ve gone
    2. Could the customer repeat my smoothly polished presentation to her boss?
• Size of customer commitment is bigger:
  • The building of value is probably the single most important selling skill in larger sales.
• The on-going relationship
  • It is harder to seperate product from seller in larger sales. The customer has to decide whether or not they want to enter a relationship with the salesperson.
• The risk of mistakes
  • Larger decisions are much more public and a bad decision is much more visible.

The 4 Stages of a Sales Call

Every sales call goes through these 4 stages.

1. Preliminaries

   • Introduce yourself
   • How you begin conversation
   • These are less important in large sales.

2. Investigating

   • Very important
   • Crucial in large sales
   • In fact, the most important selling skill.

3. Demonstrating Capability

   • You must show customers that
     • You have a solution
     • That it makes sense to do business with you

4. Obtaining Commitment

   • The key here is called ADVANCES in larger sales.

The balance of these four stages will depend on:

• The type of call
• The calls purpose
• Where the call comes in the sales cycle

So, which stage is most important?

The answer depends on the size of the sale.

Questions and Success

In studies of

• NEGOTIATION
• MANAGEMENT INTERACTION
• PERFORMANCE INTERVIEWS
• GROUP DISCUSSIONS

More Questions = More Interaction

Focus: Open vs. Closed

• Closed: Answered in single word, Sometimes called directive probe
• Open: Require longer answer, non-directive probe

Points about Open and Closed Questions generally made by writers over the last 60 years:

• Open Questions are more powerful and often reveal unexpected information.
• Closed Questions are less powerful and can be used with “talkative” customers.
• Closed Questions can be used when little time is available.
• Open Questions are particualarly important in larger sales, Closed Questions can be successful in small sales.
• General goal of sales training should be to help people ask more Open Questions.

Huthwaite found that these points are not necessarily true. There has been no scientific research on their truth. Even still corporations around the world are spending billions of dollars training salespeople with these assumptions held as truth.

A New Direction

Huthwaite found that questions in the successul call tend to fall into a sequence they call SPIN.

1. Situation Questions. ~ Data-gathering questions about facts and background not to be over used.
2. Problem Questions. ~ Explore problems difficulties, and dissatisfactions in areas where the seller’s product can help. Inexperienced sellers generally don’t ask enough.
3. Implication Questions. ~ Take a problem question and explore it’s effects or consequences. Very important.
4. Need-payoff Questions. ~ Get the customer to tell you the benefits that your solution could offer.

The SPIN Model

This is not a rigid sequence. However it is generally true that Situation Questions are asked early in the call and all other types of questions follow.

Remember- The work you’ve just read is Neil Rackham’s. I have simply outlined his book. Most of the words above are his own. At times I paraphrased.

Until next time…

Keith Porterfield

a Student of Sales

Sales Magic Trick

I learned this trick from a guy named David Sorrells. He’s a great salesman.

Let me walk you through this step by step.

1. Write down a 4 of diamonds on a piece of paper (like the card).
2. Cover the piece of paper or put it in your pocket (you could already have it saved somewhere, like in your cell phone.)
3. Ask someone to “Pick two suits of cards (clubs and hearts).
4. If the person picks diamonds as one of their suits then skip to step 6.
5. If the person does not pick diamonds then ask, “Ok, what suits are left?”
6. Ask the person to “Pick one of those”.
7. If the person picks diamonds skip to step 9.
8. If the person does not pick diamonds then ask, “What’s left over?”
9. Repeat the word boldly…”DIAMONDS“
10. Now ask the person “Pick three even cards” (2, 6, 8.)
11. If the person picks 4 skip to step 13.
12. If the person does not pick 4, ask “What other even numbers are there?”
13. By this time 4 should be one of the selections.
14. If there are two cards left skip to step 16.
15. If there are three cards get the person to pick two.
16. Get the person to pick one of those numbers.
17. If the person picks 4 skip to step 19.
18. If the person does not pick 4 ask “What is left over?”
19. Repeat the answer boldly, “4! of DIAMONDS“.
20. Now, most often the person will be suprised and ask how you did that.
21. Either tell them, or don’t.

Think about this process. It is a fundamental part of salesmanship.

You have to

ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

to get to

THE RIGHT ANSWER!

Until next time…

Keith Porterfield

a Student of Sales

You Have No Reason!

If you want to be in sales and you’re not…

YOU HAVE NO REASON!

I went to Careerbuilder.com the other day and searched for the key word ‘Sales’. I was specific as to my location, Texarkana. There were a ton of opportunites. I’ll highlight a few, but first let me say this. I received a call back on three of four resume uploads.

Just so you know, I have spent a considerable amount of time on my resume. It looks pretty great if you ask me. If you want some help on yours let me know. I’ll point you to some good sites. I might even help you with yours if you ask nicely.

Anyway, here are the companies that I’m looking into. I’ve listed them in order as to which I am leaning towards.

National Write Your Congressman — providing legislative research since 1958.

Central Payment Corporation– a registered IPO of JP Morgan/Chase Bank.

George S. May – Quality Management Consulting since 1925.

All three are in good standing with the BBB and have opportunities right now!

So, to be short and sweet…

If you want to be a salesman and aren’t afraid to step out of your comfort zone.

YOU HAVE NO REASON

not to.

Until next time…

Keith Porterfield

a Student of Sales

Stud of Sale

I have recently been informed the I am a “Stud of Sale”. I agree. Confidence, baby! If you don’t believe it, then what? I can’t even talk about it.

I am currently studying ‘Spin Selling’ by Rackman. I’d say it’s pretty popular in the industry for those of us who read. If you haven’t read it, you need to. If you have, re-read it. Here’s the link:

Spin Selling by Rackman

I’ll post a review as soon as I’m done.

Until next time…

Keith Porterfield

a Student of Sales

Simple

Try going one full day without your computer. Wait, read the rest of this article and then do it.

A friend of mine brought this to my attention. She spilled a glass of red wine on her laptop. Everything she’s been working on for the past two years is on that laptop. I think her data can be salvaged. I really don’t think the hard drive was affected, but we’ll see. Anyway, we were sitting talking about the events of her day when she said, “I wonder what my life would be like if I didn’t use a computer for everything I do?” Collectively, we said, “Simple”.

Everyone knows that computers are meant to make our lives easier. Sometimes, however, I am convinced that they do just the opposite.

Here’s my solution:

• Take a day to go without the computer. You may have to briefly plan for this. If you are a blogger, this may involve writing an extra post and setting it to publish on a specific date or inviting a guest to post for you that day. To take it a step furthur, add your cell phone to the mix. You may have to let those close to you know in advance that you will be unavailable on your cell for the day. This keeps people from worrying about you.
• Get out of the house. If you’re in sales and don’t have a cell phone or computer you have to get out of the house (or office). This may be just what you needed. You have to get in front of people to sell anyway. Why not go out and meet some people? Don’t make it all about a sale and you just might have some fun. If you aren’t in sales or want to take a break from the grind, go for a walk or some other fun activity.
• Write out your To-Do list. When I was in elementary school, I learned how to write a word and it’s definition over and over until I learned it (or just the word for spelling). I still do this on a rare occasion. Anyway, the work invloved in manually writing something goes a long way towards making you commit it to memory.
• Save time by skipping the e-mails and RSS feeds. Lately, I have become increasingly aware of how much time I spend checking my e-mail and RSS feeds. When I have a 8a-11a window to call on prospective B2B clients and a 6p-8p window to call on prospective individual clients, an extra 30 minutes to check my e-mail is out.
• Make dad happy. My dad HATES computers! If I told him I decided to go without the computer even one day a week, he would probably jump with joy. He is constantly saying we need to ‘Get back to the basics’. I don’t know, dad, let me look this up on Google. Father’s Day is coming up…maybe I’ll try and put this post to work for a Happy Father’s Day.

Well, it was fun but I have to go.

Until next time…

Keith Porterfield

a Student of Sales

How to ‘Just Get Started’ B2B

The process I’m about to show you is intended for insurance sales. Specific wording for your industry may be substituted.

Goal:

‘Just Get Started’ contacting Businesses about my Work Site Program

Action Plan:

• Open a word document.
• Type out the following:
  • Company Name:
  • Phone:
  • Gate Keeper:
  • Sales Dept. Name:
  • Phone:
  • Benefit Program:
  • Open Enrollment:
  • Decision Maker:
  • Phone:
  • Appointment:
  • Blog Interview:
  • Potential Interview Topics: Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Sales
• Open the yellow pages.
• Call on you choice of industry.
• Fill in your form as you go.
• Follow up

This is straight forward. Let me explain a bit to make sure it is clear.

Gate Keeper: The person that answers the phone is the gatekeeper. It doesn’t matter who this is. Write down the name of the person that answers the phone. It may be more than one person. If you get transfered to someone else, write down that persons name as well. These people will become important to you as you establish a relationship with your client. As time goes by, you may be able to ask for this person as a contact point within the company. Make the gatekeeper your friend!

Sales Department: Many companies, such as yours, have a sales department. You need to know the company’s salespeople. Ask if a salesperson is available. You will learn a lot about the company structure this way. In a larger organization, you will be able to gain valuable information from a salesperson. In a smaller company, you may reach the decision maker herself. Salespeople are valuable resources.

Appointment: Always ask for the appointment. No matter how the call goes, ask for the appointment. Whether you speak with the decision maker or not, make it clear that you want an appointment with that person.

Blog Interview: If an appointment is hard to obtain, pull out your secret weapon. Ask for an interview of the owner for your blog. You’ll need to draw up questions for this one. My personal favorite topics to discuss are Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Sales. Most decision makers will jump on this opportunity. Make sure you bring up your sales position when conducting the interview. If you don’t have a blog, now you have a reason to start one.

That’s all I got. Let me know if this works for you. I’m off to ‘Just Get Started’ calling some businesses.

Until next time…

Keith Porterfield

a Student of Sales

Prospecting

Every name and every phone number should be an opportunity. Did you know that you can use the classifieds as a prospecting tool? You just have to talk and listen (more effective: listen then talk).

Goal: Increase my sales calls by 10 per month.

Action plan:

1. Pick up the paper everyday.
2. Take 30 minutes to call on various classified ads.
3. Take notes on the seller’s good (used cars work best for me).
4. Take notes on the seller’s situation (Why do they want to sell this car?).
5. Mention your job title.
6. Try to set a time to meet with the seller.
7. When meeting with seller ask for an interview (sales call).

That’s all I have for today. Let me know if this works for you. I’m off to pick up the paper.

Until next time…

Keith Porterfield

a Student of Sales

Persistence Pays

Tom Reilly and Kae Groshong Wagner know about this.  I’ll know later.  I just don’t have the will and drive to write anything here…..

I’m not looking to get paid on this one.

I guess I could tell you about my college experience…nah, maybe later.

Until next time….

Keith Porterfield

a  Student of Sales