Small Business Sales Techniques an interview with Kent Zaretzke #75

Small Business Sales Techniques

Today we travel to the shores of Lake Winnebago in Neenah Wisconsin to meet Kent Zaretzke who owns a Mr. Sandless floor refinishing business. Kent is a classic small business owner who uses sales to grow revenue. In this episode Kent shares how he first connects with prospective clients at networking meetings, how he follows up, and closes new business. For Kent the trick is to build trust and never ever be pushy!

Kent tells us all his selling secrets. No matter what you sell, you will find value in these small business sales techniques.

Networking Event Advice

So what do you do? “We refinish wood floors, but we do it in a unique way”.
Kent is not pushy, he only wants qualified prospects
If they are qualified he will say “Here is my card, you can call me. Would you mind if I call you in a couple days if I haven’t heard from you?”
Kent believes in building trust. Never pushy or salesy.
If they don’t answer he will call twice. He will leave a voice message. “Hey Joe this Kent from Mr. Sandless we’re Floor Refinishing , and I talked to Susy at the networking event. She gave me your number and mentioned you were looking to have your floors refinished, I just wanted to give you a quick call, I hope she told you this! If not I’d like to talk a little bit about your floors and see what I can do for you, explain a little bit about our process, because it’s a unique process and I think it might be a good fit for you. If you could just give me a call back my number is 920-558-9663.”
Typically a purchase is around $1K. He understands it’s big decision for many families. He is patient.
He offers to give a free estimate. On the estimate sheet he shows the problem issues. He is very clear what non-sanding will do and what it won’t do.
To close the deal he asks the prospect when they are thinking of making a decision…. if it’s soon, he will ask if they can put it on the calendar right now.

Links to Learn More About Kent

Do you live in Wisconsin? Have some wood floors that need TLC? If so connect with Kent and ask for an estimate:

Selling With Confidence

But before we get started I want you to know this episode is brought to you by Selling With Confidence, the online self-paced sales course that teaches you how be yourself, add value and make sales. Start selling with confidence today.

Sales Babble Mini Course

Also mentioned in this episode the Pitch Your Business Mini Course. Learn how to give a sales pitch in ONLY 10 minutes. Stop the fear of sales in it’s tracks!

June 23, 2015June 30, 2015

How To Be Bold By Prequalifying Prospects Part 2 with Tom Reber #65

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How To Be Bold By Prequalifying Prospects – Part 2

This is the second of two parts where we continue to chat with Tom Reber a sales coach from the Contractor Sales Academy. Tom shares advice on the power of prequalifying prospects and optimizing your time with open ended but focused questions.

Qualification Sales Questions

In this episode we continued the conversation on the power of qualifying prospects to increase your sales efficiency. Commonly this is done over the phone.

Know your client
Don’t project “you” on your client. How you buy may NOT be how our ideal client purchases products and services.
Money may not be an issue with your clients. If you ask them they will tell you the most important thing. If money is NOT number one, it’s really NOT number one!
Who is your” Ideal client” is may change over the years. This demands the seller to stay on top of the market and constantly reevaluate.
Create content on your site to excite your ideal client. If there is a lot for them to read, they will sell themselves.
The more content you put on your website, the more they will enroll themselves on your business.

Tom Reber on Social Media

Skype tom.reber.9

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/tom.reber.9

https://www.facebook.com/MotorHard

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomreber

Twitter

@MOTORstrong

@StrongPodcast

The Contractor Pain and Pleasure Cheat Sheet

To get a copy of the prequalification questions in the Contractor Pain and Pleasure Cheat Sheet send and email to tom @ motorhard.com

Biography Tom Reber

Tom Reber is a contractor at heart. Having built a million dollar company in just
three years, completing more than 3000 projects and being awarded many industry
awards, he knows how to deliver an elite contracting experience. In 2011 he took
this skill and created MOTOR, a business coaching and personal development
company for the service industry.

MOTOR is his personal mantra and mindset he brings to all of his speaking and
coaching. It’s a mindset that keeps fighting and finds a way. It’s a willingness to
do the work others are unwilling to do and to always keep faith in your vision.

He currently works with contractors in several industries to help them create and
implement the systems needed to consistently deliver great experiences for their
clients, which lead to higher profits and more balance in life.

In 2015, he created Contractors Sales Academy. Their vision is to help contractors
begin to immediately get back their time and make more money by implementing
a few simple steps to take back control of their businesses.

Tom lives in Manitou Springs, CO with his wife and 3 adopted kids Dakota, Tiga
& Iris and can be reached by going to www.motorhard.com

How to Stop You from Stopping Your Sales

Are you intimidated by sales?
Do you dread the thought of picking up the phone?
Are you always finding ways to avoid prospecting?

Or maybe you know what to do. But you just don’t do it.

It’s as if your biggest barrier in sales is YOU.

How can you fix that?

This Thursday, June 25th, I will be offering a live online Sales Babble workshop to address this very issue. In this live online workshop you will learn 4 techniques.

How to approach prospective clients.
How to create authentic conversations.

How to justify your cost and pricing.
How to stay focused until the deal’s won.

At the end of this webinar you will have a solid strategy you can immediately apply the next day in your business.

Reserve your spot here

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1905737692209718786

Thursday June 25th 2015

6:00 PM GMT
1:00 PM EST
12:00 PM CST
11:00 AM PST

Another free workshop from the Sales Babble Sales Training, Sales Coaching, Sales Consulting webinars.

June 16, 2015June 15, 2015

How To Be Bold By Prequalifying Prospects with Tom Reber #64

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How To Be Bold By Prequalifying Prospects

In this episode we meet Tom Reber a sales coach from the Contractor Sales Academy. Tom shares advice on the power of prequalifying prospects and optimizing your time with open ended but focused questions.

This is topic useful not only for contractors, but anyone who is prospecting. If you’re trying to discern if you can help a prospect and if they can afford you, this is the episode for you

Qualification Sales Questions

This is the first of a two part episode:

Have your prospects answer this question: “When we’re packed up and gone how will you know you’ve hired the right contractor?” LISTEN!
Contract around their pain, the things that are truly important to them.
When prospects balk at your prices say “You say you can’t afford this price but you said hardwood floors were protected, is that no longer the case?” LISTEN!
Bring it back to their pain
Be up front with budget. ” I could give you $30K lake or $10K pond, which conversation makes the most sense?”
Don’t go out to people’s home unless they can truly help.
Create your on prequalifying script and be bold about implementing it.

Tom Reber on Social Media

Skype tom.reber.9

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/tom.reber.9

https://www.facebook.com/MotorHard

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomreber

Twitter

@MOTORstrong

@StrongPodcast

The Contractor Pain and Pleasure Cheat Sheet

To get a copy of the prequalification questions in the Contractor Pain and Pleasure Cheat Sheet send and email to tom @ motorhard.com

Biography Tom Reber

Tom lives in Manitou Springs, CO with his wife and 3 adopted kids Dakota, Tiga
& Iris and can be reached by going to www.motorhard.com

Sales Training, Sales Coaching, Sales Consulting

Become confident in sales and grow your business. Check out the Selling With Confidence Sales System for both new and experienced sellers. This is an opportunity for you to

Be Yourself
Add Value
Make Sales

Don’t be shy. You too can start Selling With Confidence today!

May 19, 2015May 19, 2015

The Smooth Sale Pricing Process with Elinor Stutz #60

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Smooth Sale Pricing Process

In this episode we meet Elinor Stutz, CEO of Smooth Sale, and author of two books: The International Best-Selling book, “Nice Girls DO Get the Sale: Relationship Building That Gets Results”, and her second best-selling book, “HIRED! How to Use Sales Techniques to Sell Yourself On Interviews.”

Today Elinor shares stories about how she got started in sales. Next she shares her sales pricing process for broaching money during a sales call. She does it in a way that leaves margin that will increase your commission.

Telling Selling Doesn’t Work

When first meeting a client Elinor asks: What caught your attention to invite me in?

Smooth Sale

Smooth Sales as repeat business, referrals and testimonials.

She believes if you do a good job in sales you become an order taker.

The steps:

Your clients repeatedly keep ordering
Your clients tell everyone they know, they become your own private sales force.

Elinor believes we each have our own brand. If you’re true to yourself you too can be a top producer.

First be true to yourself
Second always be improving: clientele relationships, industry knowledge, and widen your network of markets

Everyone is the CEO of their job… treat everyone with respect.

Sale Pricing Process

Right up front Elinor states the following:

I appreciate your time.
We are NOT the least expensive supplier.
I need to know up front, is price or service more important to you?

This gives confidence knowing price is not the sole part of the decision. It allowed her to sell with profit.

Ask For Referrals

You have to ask for referrals. Ask for it when they say glowing things about you, at that moment, not before. Once they share their thoughts say “Can I use your words to share publicly and do you know anyone else who is shopping?”

She recommend Neil Rackham’s SPIN questions.

What she told a prospect to get a meeting and eventually her business. “You must be very embarrassed standing me up 3 times, just give me 5 minutes”.

Elinor Stutz on Social Media:

Twitter: @smoothsale
Facebook: Elinor Stutz
LinkedIn: Elinor Stutz

Youtube: Elinor Stutz

www.smoothsale.net (408) 209-0550

Elinor @ smoothsale.net

Goal Setting

This is the Laser Goal Setting Post Card that Elinor mentioned in the podcast.

Sales Training, Sales Coaching, Sales Consulting

Become confident in sales and grow your business. Check out the Selling With Confidence Sales System for both new and experienced sellers. This is an opportunity for you to

Be Yourself
Add Value
Make Sales

Don’t be shy. You too can start Selling With Confidence today!

December 2, 2014May 6, 2015

How to Win Complex Sales in Technology – an Interview With Brad Walker

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Brad Walker is a Strategic Account Manager at SalesForce.com, a company that specializes in CRM solutions. Brad is a former colleague, old friend and Enterprise Sales expert.

In this episode Brad shares stories, both wins and losses in sales. He explains how it’s critical to listen to all parties when selling solutions and the importance of connecting with the business sponsor. If the decision maker is not on board, the deal may never close.

Brad believes that “Sales is an honorable profession, if done right.”

Click Here To Download This Episode

Complex Sales, How to Approach It

Brad comes from a world of enterprise sales:

selling complex solutions
to large organizations

In these cases, many people involved in the sale. They have have input into the process, they may not. In most cases, each person is responsible for a small portion of the decision. No one person makes the ultimate solution. But there is one person managing the sale. You must keep them in the loop.

Selling Technology

When selling technology solutions, Brad believes that you must

take the time to listen to all participants
let everyone speak their mind
learn all about the organization
do your best to please everyone

But if you don’t have the true decision maker/ business sponsor enrolled, the deal will go sideways and may never close.

Always remember “Business trumps IT”

Sales Resources and Links

Brad can be found on his LinkedIn account.

Brad is a strong supporter of his son’s marketing company Walker Internet Marketing Look it up!

The New Strategic Selling by Miller/Heiman is the book that turned around Brad’s thinking about sales. It’s a great book and I recommend it for anyone selling complex solutions to large organizations.

Find Pat Helmers on LinkedIn

If you enjoyed this episode please take a moment to find me on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is my favorite Social Media venue these days.

Stop on by and we’ll share cup of coffee, if only virtually.

The Minimalist’s Guide to Sales Prospecting

The following Infographic comes from a SalesForce.com Canada article features ten useful activities that take less than 20 minutes a day. You may find it of value!

Click To Enlarge

Via Salesforce

June 26, 2014May 6, 2015

Don’t Sweep Objection Handling Under the Rug

Dealing with objections is objectionable for unsavvy sellers!

Objection handling is the ability to address sticky issues brought up by the prospective buyer. The goal is to somehow provide a satisfactory answer to the buyer’s questions. It takes preparation to do a good job of this. But poorly prepared sellers often avoid topics that may cause the objection to come up. They incorrectly believe avoiding the controversy is the best plan of action. It’s a “maybe they won’t notice” mindset. They are in essence, sweeping the objection under the rug, not understanding that the objection can only go away if it’s handled and addressed.

You are far better off shining a bright light on any objection. By addressing the issues head on, buyers appreciate an authentic and straight response. Knowing the bounds of the solution, they can see if your product or service is indeed a match. If it’s not a match, it’s not a match. In this case the seller has a much better idea of the market needs and gaps in their products. But if all of the questions have been handled honestly, the buyer is much more likely to see the value you bring.

Professional sellers go out of their way to make sure that ALL the buyer’s questions have been asked and addressed. When their services and products have been thoroughly vetted , closing the deal is just a matter of asking them to help fill out the paperwork.

Again it’s critical to be prepared for objections and have good answers that place your products and services in the best light. Do your homework and be fearless in taking questions.

Next if you’re unsure where to get started on the Sales Babble website, click here and learn what we can do to help you close sales today. Click now.