You’ve done the difficult part,
getting the prospects in the store,
but once they’re there,
are they buying?
The difference between traffic and
conversion into sales transactions
is an easy source of increased revenue
yet according to Headcount,
less than 25% of retailers track traffic.
Take that extra step.
Joss Stone hounded Lauryn Hill’s mom
for 2 months to convince the elusive singer
to add her voice to Stone’s new album.
She was ultimately successful.
80% of salespeople quit on their first no.
20% of salespeople make 80% of all sales.
Coincidence?
I don’t think so.
As Stone says “If you want something,
you have to go out and get it.”
Persistence is a requirement for sales,
both internal and external.
Very few people buy on the first approach.
As Kelley Robertson states
it takes an average of 8 points of contact
before a prospect buys.
But there is a difference between
being persistent and being a pain.
Persistent saleswomen are respectful
of the prospect’s time.
They keep it brief, keep it polite,
and allow the prospect time to respond.
I.e. they don’t leave long voicemails
every five minutes.
According to
Guerrilla Marketing Weekly Intelligence
“52 percent of callers hang up
when they are placed on hold
for one minute in silence,
but only 13 percent hang up
when music is played,
and a mere 2 percent hang up
when there is a spoken message.”
But what to say?
A study in the Journal of Applied Psychology
states that customers prefer
information over apologies.
Tell them
where they are in line.
Paul McCord has a great article
on How To Develop Client And Customer Trust.
One of the best ways is
to give the right advice for the client
even if that may not be the right advice
for the salesperson.
“Once the client knows that
you are willing to sacrifice
an immediate sale
for the sake of maintaining your integrity,
your reputation with that client is sealed.”
Consumer Packaged Goods companies
know this.
There’s a coveted position
of category captain
at grocery
and manufacturers compete for that honor.
The category captain leads shelf redesign
and is expected to put the needs
of the grocery store ahead of
the needs of her company.
Seth Godin has a great post
on how people accustomed to saying no
will continue to say no.
The opposite is also true.
People accustomed to saying yes
will continue to say yes.
A common sales “trick”
is to start the prospect off
with easy yes answers.
Have you thought about getting a new car?
Yes (or else what are they doing on the lot?)
Do you have some models in mind?
Yes (again, they are on your lot).
Those types of questions.
Working, of course, up to the big yes,
the yes to your sale.
I love this cartoon by Hugh
at Gaping Void.
The pawn thinking that
all his hard work will allow
him to be King
and the King thinking that
all the pawn’s hard work
will allow him
to remain King.
A wonderful illustration of two people
thinking “what’s in it for me.”
That could be you and your client
or you and your boss.
When you frame your pitch
to appease her concerns
while satisfying your own goal,
you’ll have success.
On the weekend,
I made a comment about
being an arrogant ass.
A friend turned to me
and said
“But even arrogant asses
cry sometimes, don’t they?”
Too true.
As Harry and Christine Clifford Beckwith
state in their new book
You, Inc.
“There are big eogs.
But there are no
invulnerable egos.
All people are fragile.”
Make a person feel important
and you’ll make a friend
or make a sale.
Screenwriter Nika Rylski ‘s recent seminar
covered the 8 elements of voice.
They are;
-vocabulary
-grammar/syntax
-accent
-slang
-jargin
-speaking style, sentence length
-verbal ticks
-subtext
Why are these elements important?
Each tells a good saleswoman
more about her prospect.
For example:
vocabulary tells us class
grammar tells us level of education
slang tells us age
The more we know about our prospect,
the easier we close sales.
Mirroring is a powerful sales technique,
matching the saleswoman’s actions
to the prospect’s.
Some street people looking
for hand outs know this.
They know that if they walk
beside the prospect,
they’ll get more money
because they become
one of us.