Category: sales process steps

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Buyer Centered Selling with Tom Williams #384

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Buyer Centered Selling with Tom Williams #384

Who’s the got the money?  Who’s got the pain, the problem or the aching desire to be fulfilled? In short, it’s the buyer. Yet in the industry of sales, the focus is always on what the “sellers” should be doing, how the seller should act, how the seller needs to be resilient and tough and tenacious and have a mindset that never gives up.  But today’s guest, Tom Williams has a different take on this. He believes that we should adopt Buyer Centered Selling and start to focus our energies on how buyers buy versus how sellers sell. He believes we should let the buyers take control of the sale, to follow their lead and mitigate the risk of choosing something new. Our greatest competitor is the status quo. By taking Tom’s approach we can find solutions that are a win for both the seller AND the buyer.

Dump your sales process and adopt a buyer centered process.

Buyer-Centered Selling

Buyer-Centered Selling provides sellers strategies and tactics that help the buyer address eleven dilemmas likely to slow and obstruct the buying process. Tom shares that buying and selling are inextricably connected in their focus on helping the customer buy.

Without the collaborative efforts of both seller and buyer, many buying processes are doomed by lethargy, fear and eroding internal support from the buying community. By focusing too much on the seller, it leads to bad behaviors in hopes of “closing a deal” vs solving a buyer centric problem.

Take Action Advice

There is risk in any buying decision. It’s the sellers responsibility to uncover those factors and craft solutions that address all concerns. If you can do that, you can close deals.

How To Find Tom Williams

Tom’s book, Buyer Centered Selling is available on Amazon https://amzn.to/2kq7xwc and  https://amzn.to/2LJ057j and in bookstores worldwide  

Thank Our Sponsor Vidyard

Vidyard is an easy-to-use yet powerful video solution that makes it simple to create videos, host them ad-free, share them with others, and track their performance. Whether you’re recording a video for one person or sharing it with the world —– on your website —-, it’s easy to manage your video content. Vidyard’s solution is built for business, with robust analytics, integrations with top enterprise tools,  and customization options that answer businesses’ unique needs

Sign up for Vidyard free account today by going to vidyard.com/babble. Start using Vidyard completely free and as a bonus get their High-Conversion Virtual Sales Playbook.

Thank Our Sponsor Habanero Media

We help busy B2B companies  attract new customers and clients through the magic of podcasting! Start your B2B podcast today and grow your brand, authority, influence and trust.

Download “Why Your Business Needs a B2B Podcast” here.

Sales Consulting To Grow Your Business

Pat helps technology startups and businesses discover the true value they bring to market, find customers who deeply appreciate that value then scale that process to extraordinary profits. We do this with modern 2020 sales and marketing techniques. 

Image result for linkedinImage result for emailImage result for telephone icon

Pushy sales doesn’t work! The key is to build trust over time. What  tools do we use?  LinkedIn, Email and the power of the Voice Mail.

We believe and teach the value of a helping mindset. Your prospective customers have challenges, hopes and aspirations. They need your help. All you need to do is build their trust, and faith, in your organization. Learn  how we help here. Once it’s clear you can help, you will have loyal clients for life. When you bring value you make sales. Or if you’re a startup, learn sales for engineers and skills to promote your new venture.

Got a Question?

Something about today’s episode got you thinking? Do you have a question or a comment you’d like share?

If so “babble me” an email here, or if you can’t wait chat Pat now.

Maybe you’d like to share your musings on the podcast? Leave a voice message here. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Don’t worry about babbling, we prefer it.

Listening Options

You can find us on:

 

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Go For No with Andrea Waltz #343

Andrea Waltz Go For No

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Go For No with Andrea Waltz #343

Andrea Waltz Go For NoIn this episode we meet author Andrea Waltz. Andrea is the  co-founder of Courage Crafters, Inc. and co-author of the best-selling book, Go for No! Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There.  Andrea teaches people in virtually every business and industry how to think and feel differently about failure, rejection and the word, NO!

Now is the time to get over those feelings of rejection. Realize that you can’t get to Yes unless you hear a few no’s.

Why Go For No?

Too often sellers fear rejection. This is very human. Sellers personalize negativity when they hear it. However, you can’t get to Yes unless you’re willing to take action and hear many Nos. The more No’s you hear, the more Yes’s you will hear.

This is not what Robocallers do. This is far more personal. For example, Andrea shared a story about a clothier who only responded to yes’s. He never took the extra step to solicit a no. As such, he left money on the table.

Get over your fear. Be OK with the reality that customers have issues and circumstances. Persistence and tenacity wins over time.

Know this!

Many No’s are actually No Not Now. When the time is right to ask for the sale, go for a simple close: “Are you ready to do this today?”

Take Action for  Go For No

What you can do this week”

    • First create a “no” awareness
    • Ask yourself “am I hearing no enough?”
    • Go out of your way this week to hear a few extra No’s

How To Find Andrea Waltz

Thank Our Sponsor Habanero Media

We help busy B2B companies  attract new customers and clients through the magic of podcasting! Start your B2B podcast today and grow your brand, authority, influence and trust.

Download “Why Your Business Needs a B2B Podcast” here.

Past Episodes

Sales Consulting To Grow Your Business

Pat helps technology startups and businesses discover the true value they bring to market, find customers who deeply appreciate that value then scale that process to extraordinary profits. We do this with modern 2020 sales and marketing techniques. 

Image result for linkedinImage result for emailImage result for telephone icon

Pushy sales doesn’t work! The key is to build trust over time. What  tools do we use?  LinkedIn, Email and the power of the Voice Mail.

We believe and teach the value of a helping mindset. Your prospective customers have challenges, hopes and aspirations. They need your help. All you need to do is build their trust, and faith, in your organization. Learn  how we help here. Once it’s clear you can help, you will have loyal clients for life. When you bring value you make sales. Or if you’re a startup, learn sales for engineers and skills to promote your new venture.

Got a Question?

Something about today’s episode got you thinking? Do you have a question or a comment you’d like share?

If so “babble me” an email here, or if you can’t wait chat Pat now.

Maybe you’d like to share your musings on the podcast? Leave a voice message here. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Don’t worry about babbling, we prefer it.

Listening Options

You can find us on:

 

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Build a Sales Estimating Process That Works with Marcel Petitpas #336

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Build a Sales Estimating Process That Works with Marcel Petitpas #336

Have you ever earned a new customer that actually cost your business in the long run? Your ability to predict success for a service industry is dependent on your skills to estimate accurately.  Too often businesses fail to have a profit centered process when selling.  Yes sellers are able to close deals, but sadly too often these deals don’t pay the bills.  According to our guest Marcel Petipas, revenue is a liability unless you make a profit. In this episode Marcel shares his sales estimating process for making solid estimations that add to the bottomline.

Fixing a Broken Sales Estimating Process

The way to fix a broken sales estimating process is to:

    • Have a strong pipeline.
    • Be able to say no if a deal is not a good fit.
    • Create a standardized estimation process for quotes.
    • Evaluate every deal when the project is complete.
    • Ask the question “what was the profit margin?”
    • Use the results and create a feed back loop to improves the sales estimating process.
    • During each audit look at project management, process management and account management processes.
    • Collect data but focus on what’s important and avoid unnecessary detailed data.

Profit Focused Sales Estimating Process

Too often businesses take on any project just to keep an inflow of work. This attitude is suicide for a business. Instead create a sales estimating process that works, one that’s profit focused. Provide quotes and bids with profits built in that enrich the organization.

How To Find Marcel Petitpas

You can find ParaKeeto here parakeeto.com

If you want to connect with Marcel directly marcel at parakeeto.com

      

Thank Our Sponsor Sharetivity

 

Sharetivity on Sales Babble Sharetivity helps salespeople increase prospect engagement by providing an easy and fast way to personalizing their outreach. Sales starts with getting your prospects attention, given all the noise you have to be different, you have to personalize your outreach. Unfortunately, that is time consuming to go to Google, Linkedin, Twitter, YouTube etc to find an icebreaker. One click personalization.

Thank Our Sponsor Habanero Media

We help busy B2B companies  attract new customers and clients through the magic of podcasting! Start your B2B podcast today and grow your brand, authority, influence and trust.

Download “Why Your Business Needs a B2B Podcast” here.

Past Episodes Sales Estimating Process

Sales Consulting To Grow Your Business

Pat helps technology startups and businesses discover the true value they bring to market, find customers who deeply appreciate that value then scale that process to extraordinary profits. We do this with modern 2020 sales and marketing techniques. 

Image result for linkedinImage result for emailImage result for telephone icon

Pushy sales doesn’t work! The key is to build trust over time. What  tools do we use?  LinkedIn, Email and the power of the Voice Mail.

We believe and teach the value of a helping mindset. Your prospective customers have challenges, hopes and aspirations. They need your help. All you need to do is build their trust, and faith, in your organization. Learn  how we help here. Once it’s clear you can help, you will have loyal clients for life. When you bring value you make sales. Or if you’re a startup, learn sales for engineers and skills to promote your new venture.

Got a Question?

Something about today’s episode got you thinking? Do you have a question or a comment you’d like share?

If so “babble me” an email here, or if you can’t wait chat Pat now.

Maybe you’d like to share your musings on the podcast? Leave a voice message here. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Don’t worry about babbling, we prefer it.

Listening Options

You can find us on:

 

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Sassy Selling for SaaS Sellers with Bill Wilson #283

Bill wilson Saas Sellers on Sales Babble

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Sassy Selling for SaaS Sellers with Bill Wilson #283

Bill Wilson is the Co-Founder and CEO of SalesRight, a B2B SaaS company that provides sales teams with intelligent and interactive pricing guides that instantly boost opportunity to close rates. Bill started as an entrepreneur as an iPhone app builder (photographers, newspapers,health apps, etc..). In this episode we give SaaS sellers advice on nurturing clients for life.

Why SaaS

There are many good reasons for sales professionals should consider becoming a  SaaS seller:

    • market $70B and growing
    • easy to add value incrementally and iteratively
    • quicker product tomorrow, not someday
    • B2C experience, makes a B2B sales more comfortable for buyers
    • no big upfront fee for buyers

Bill believes that a sales person’s job isn’t to sell. it’s to give customers value.    We should all aspire to attract the best customer you can get for your company. Not just anybody.

Common SaaS Process

First a prospect calls an SDR/BDR, they then are referred to another Inside sales person. That rep gives them  a demo at which time the process breaks. When SaaS sellers are asked questions beyond the original demo, it is difficult to get answers. There are ALWAYS more questions!

    1. People want choice. Trust matters, so open up on your pricing. Be transparent.
    2. Don’t have a heavy proposal process. Make them lighter.
    3. Have the courage to say no. Don’t make it hard on your customer success department.
    4. Compensation – good people need a strong base given people pay monthly esp. at start. Commissions 1.5 of base.
    5. Good follow-ups are the foundation of keeping prospects top of mind.
    6. BONUS: Ask for the close (and if they’re not ready figure out why).

Springfield Buys a Monorail

How to Find Bill Wilson

Website: https://salesright.co/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SalesRightCo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SalesRightCo/?ref=bookmarks
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/11772492/admin/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/salesrightco/

Closing Sales Tips

Here are past episodes SaaS sellers will love:

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How Value Selling Can Grow Your Business with Chad Sanderson #281

Chad Sanderson Value Selling

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How Value Selling Can Grow Your Business with Chad Sanderson #281

Chad Sanderson Value SellingOur guest today is Chad Sanderson, the author of the award-winning Value Selling Framework.   Chad has  successfully sold and marketed products and professional services across the globe. In this episode, Chad and I discuss the necessity of using a repeatable and predictable methodology for selling.  Next we survey the landscape of sales. We look at what’s working, what’s not working, and where there are opportunities for sales growth.

Predictable Selling Methodology

Sales is problem solving. Chad learned his chops selling marketing services. He  found when sales teams get larger, you can’t manage one-on-one. Many methodologies talk about what you need to do when selling. Yet they fail to  talk about how to sell.  Chad believes in focusing on value selling.

The Value Selling  methodology tells you how to do it. B2B buyers act like B2C customers. Sellers need to truly uncover the buyer perspective. just as you would in the B2C space. The difference is subtle but it takes awhile to put in practice.

Value Prompter

Value Prompter is completed per person. There are six affinites in the design:

    • Contact Name and Title
    • Business issue –  time bound and quantifiable
    • Anxiety Question to get an emotional action
    • Problems from the buyers perspective
    • Solution from the buyers perspective
    • Value Box  which contains quantifiable description of problem (from a personal perspective )

Probing Questions are asked to find insight. These questions uncover the buyers perspective and are used to guide value selling.

    • Prepare for a call
    • Take notes
    • Copy past notes into a plan letter (accountability)
    • Development and prospecting persona development.
    • It guides cadences and content.
    • QBR (Quarterly Business Review) readouts

High performing organization have consistency of sales behavior.

How To Find Chad Sanderson

  • chad.sanderson@valueselling.com
  • His company can be found here valueselling.com
  •  https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadsanderson/
  • Twitter  @csanderson001

How to Manage Sales Teams with Repeatable Processes

Listen here to past episodes on repeatable methodologies like value selling:

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Selling is an Away Game with Lance Tyson #274

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Selling is an Away Game with Lance Tyson #274

Lance Tyson  is the author of the highly acclaimed book, Selling is an Away Game:  Close Business and Compete in a Complex World.    Lance is entrepreneur known for training sales talent for some of the biggest names in professional sports and entertainment.  In this episode Lance and Pat babble about prospecting using the buyers point of view, how to use a blended approach for setting appointments and how sales is half science and half art.

What Makes Sales an Away Game

Lance views selling from the buyers point of view. You’re competing in their space on their turf making it an away game. Buying has changed. Buyers have other means of obtaining information about your products and services. They no longer need to go through you.  They have the upper hand on sales professionals and it’s best to sell  within that context.

Look at your own personal buying experiences. When you buy things online, do you check out reviews before purchasing?  Probably.   We all want to make a wise buying decision.  Sellers may consider these questions “objections’ but that’s a misnomer.  The buyers are not objecting to your product, they just have questions!

Common objections include: cost, price, value, and budget.  Value is  always perceived in the buyer’s mind so it’s imperative to discover those perceptions.  The seller must understand the market and buyer intimately. 

    • What do they value?
    • What do they desire?
    • What experience do they hope to attain? 

Speed Moves Actually Slow You Down

Everyone is in such a rush to get an appointment. According to Lance,  the new ways of communicating has actually slowed down appointment setting.  There are a new set of rules of engagement. It takes 6-8 touches to get contacts and 6-8 touches to get an appointment. Use a blended approach ( email, call, social media texting) and have a process. Consider health care. There is a clear repeatable process checking you in, evaluating and sending you out the door.  Sellers should do the same.

Sales is half art and half science.  A sales process will set you free.

How To Connect with Lance Tyson

Here are links to find Lance online and his thoughts on how selling is an away game.

  • This is the Tyson Group
  • Lance on LinkedIn
  • Email Lance at lance @ tysongroup.com
  • @lancetyson on Twitter

Lance and  I mentioned how we both love the book How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Research Study for Habanero.Community

Please help with the Habanero.Community matchmaking mastermind study! two  minutes I promise!

 

How to Prospect and Generate Leads

Here are past episodes on prospecting you will find of value. Listen now!

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No Sh*t Sales Journal with Carson Cook #270

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No Sh*t Sales Journal with Carson Cook #270

Guest Carson Cook visits Sales Babble to babble about his new book, “The No Sh*t Sales Journal”.   Carson dials in from Nepal where he consults and runs sales centers for the USA, India, Mexico, Bangladesh, and China. He has trained hundreds of sales professionals in sales communication, client relations, and finance. Currently, he manages several sales-related businesses including inside, outside, and digital sales outlets. Carson specializes in finance and sales- from initiation to close. His expertise lies along interpersonal communication and same-day or one-call closing.

Profanity is Taboo

Profanity is taboo or is it? Sometimes profanity is  the right tool according to Carson.  At times it can be used to emphasize the meaning behind what you’re trying to say.

He wrote his new book as a common sense journal. First as sales basics for sales professionals who want to brush up on their tricks. Next for  new sellers who want to build a foundation for selling.

When making an in person sales call, we will dress at the level of the buyer.  This is true too for your language. Like dressing, speak at the level of your buyer. People trust sellers who are similar to them. Go from stranger to trusted confidant by being like them.

Rules of Communication

When your face to face, there are big communication benefits. You can read what their thinking, not by what they’re saying. Carson then shared it’s not what you say but how you appear. Carson believes there is a 7 second bias.  That’s all the time you have to make a connection. If you mess that up, it’s hard to recover.

Use English words that show empathy e.g “I completely understand”. Solicit interest quickly and give the carrot over the phone as soon as possible.

Learn Your Industry

Carson recommends knowing your buyers industry better than they do. When starting the sales dialogue ask for commitment “If I show you all we have  do I have a chance of earning your business?”   If they say yes, give the full demo. If they say no, you’ve saved yourself a lot of time.

Objections are really concerns, they want to have  addressed. Objection handling is walking through they buyers needs, desires and questions.  At the end of each meeting, create a sense of urgency. Little by little keep advancing the sale.

How to Find Carson Cook

Website:  theCSOpro.com
You can get Carson’s new book here:  “The No Sh*t Sales Journal”. 
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Five Steps for Instant Sales Improvement with Brian Robinson #259

Brian Robinson Sales Babble

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Five Steps for Instant Sales Improvement with Brian Robinson #259

Brian Robinson Sales BabbleBrian Robinson is a sales and marketing expert, coach, and author of the best-selling sales book, The Selling Formula: 5 Steps for Instant Sales Improvement. After working with some of the largest companies, Brian left the corporate world to launch the only startup in the history of the industry to sell more than one million dollars in business in twelve months—entirely by phone!  In this episode Brian shares the process he uses to train his sales staff for instant sales improvement.

Sales Book

As a long time writer Brian decided to assemble his advice into a book on selling challenges. He journaled what he does when selling, then recorded his conversations. This provided a way for people to listen and integrate itinto their own personal selling strategy. 

Questions are the key to life, and the key to successful selling. Brian has constructed a frame work, with scripted lines and questions, that can be adjusted for instant sales improvement.

Steps of a Sale

Brian has a five step process:

  1. Connect and set the agenda – “Are you opposed with having me share what we’re going to talk about?”
    • I’m going to ask about your business
    • I’m going to ask about the challenges your facing and some solutions we offer
    • I’m going to walk you through how our service works and we’ll talk about pricing
  2. Interview – ask for permission to take notes , shows you care and wantto  collect this information, if you have a bunch of questions they appreciate your preparation
  3. Present your solution – tell stories about your solution from customers in similar situations
  4. Pricing and guarantees – share three prices , have a high-low anchor and most will pick the middle. Have a guarantee that puts the responsibility on you .  Give garauntees that all your competitors do already. Just put them up front.
  5. Close the deal – if all previous steps done properly, this should be a no brainer.

Powerful Selling Phrases – Jedi Mind Tricks

Brian mentioned a few lines he uses time  and again to persuade buyers:

  • Would you be opposed to following up next Tuesday
  • I’m just curious, is there something your uncomfortable with, something we could talk about
  • If I could would you ……. if I could offer you some incentive to move now as oppsed to later, would you be opposed to that?  If I could offer youfree installation would you go now
  • With your permission I’d like to set up another time for us to get together next Tuesday at 10

Email  for Seemly Dead Deals

Brian said the following email gets an 80% response rate and revives many a stagnant deal. This is the script:

Subject: Pat, is it dead or alive?

Dear Pat,

I’ve attempted to connect with you via phone or email and unfortunately I haven’t received any response. So I’m just curious, is it dead or alive?   

Thanks for letting me know one way or another if you would like me to make further contact or to close your file.

Either way I look forward to the courtesy of your reply. 

Best regards,

How To Find Brian Robinson

Brian is easy to find!   Go to his website BrianRobinson.me to connect.
Go to Brianrobinsonbook.com for the first three chapters
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How to Win the Game with a Sales Playbook with Rod Feuer #253

Dave Gerhardt Sales Babble Playbook

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How to Win the Game with a Sales Playbook with Rod Feuer #253

Dave Gerhardt Sales Babble PlaybookConsider the possibility of not just having a model to base your selling process, but a playbook like in sports that tells you what to say and when to say it. Last week we heard advice that  selling must go from models to mindset. Today we’re going to turn the conversation around to look at it from the perspective of going from mindset to models, a sales playbook.

Our guest is Rod Feuer, Chief Strategy Officer, and Co-Founder of Costello. He believes that the best way to have the right first time conversation  is to tip the scales in your favor with a sales playbook. Rod helps sellers navigate key conversations in the moment and qualify them on critical deal information to keep opportunities advancing to a close.

Conversation Playbooks

The goal is to put reps in best place and to help guide them through calls. Give them the best set of words to respond for two kinds of calls . The first one is outbound calls (cold call  you often get push back) and overcome objections. The goal is to schedule a meeting. The second call is an inbound call and discovery conversation.

Picture a playbook with all the right conversations and questions a prospect might take. It’s a decision tree with paths. Once you make enough manual calls you get a 80-20 idea what they are going to say and how they will respond.  The goal is not to be a robot.

  • What you ask always the same
  • How you ask is adaptive

Take Action Advice

Start on version 1 of your sales playbook by writing down the 7-10 things about a deal you want to know. Next come up with questions that answer those questions. Now you have a great start. 

How To Connect with Rod Feuer

Rod chief strategy officer at Costello

This Rod on LinkedIn 

Sales Process Episodes

Let’s keep the conversation going and listen to other past episodes on this topic!

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The Index Card Business Plan with Brian Margolis #224

Brian Margolis Sales Babble

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Brian Margolis Sales BabbleThe Index Card Business Plan with Brian Margolis #224

In this episode we meet Brian Margolis, author of the “The Index Card Business Plan For Sales Pros and Entrepreneurs”.  The natural order of life and business moves from the simple to the complex. Yet at the same time big advances in science are the simplest of answers. You too can simplify and advance your business. Brian walks us through his business Chaplanning process with only a set of recipe cards!

Have a Strategy

If you had a completely free day, what would you work on today? If you’re unsure  you don’t have a business strategy. Let’s get one and build a process that ensures results. Stop procrastinating.

Characteristics of Pillars on the Index Card

Brians process is based on a set of pillars. Pillars are activities when executed consistently have a diproportionate postive effect on your business. When you execute your pillars, in a week you will see results.

Examples of Pillars:

  1. Proactivity
  2. High leverage activity
  3. Action or predictable result
  4. Something you already know how to do
  5. You can measure it weekly
  6. It’s not already a habit

Example Pillars for one client…

  1. Schedule certain number of meetings
  2. Send 5 non-sale touches to existing clients
  3. 2 hours a week sharpeing the axe
  4. Worked out 3 times a week.

Brian’s Pillar

  • Prospect and message 3 hours a week (uses a spreadsheet)

How To Find Brian Margolis

Twitter @prodgiant
LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/margolisbrian
Go to the website for a worksheet for the book and see the first chapter