WHEN 'NO' MEANS 'YES' - 6 TIPS TO MAKE YOU A BETTER SALESPERSON

Salespeople have a global reputation for being overly persistent... Pesky if you will. Be it an off-shore call centre operator calling during dinner, a Moroccan souk stall-holder shoving cactus silk in your face, or a silver-service waiter suggesting you start with a round of oyster shots. "Sales" is everywhere. But it seems that "pesky" is a perceived by-product of whether or not you end up buying the product/service. The formula seems to be this... Annoy a Few + Make a Few Happy = Hit Sales Targets! So WHY do salespeople persist? WHY are they so pesky? Because, more often than not, the formula works. Do you think businesses would continue to fund those "pesky" sales calls that "nobody" buys from, if the exercise weren't profitable? Someone is buying. Many are buying. Persistence works. But apparently not everybody got the memo... Earlier this week, I received a sales phone call from an Australian-based SEO company. This is how it went down... *The salesperson then hung up on me, assuming the conversation was over. The call lasted 24-seconds! And I was actually in the market for SEO! WTF?* I genuinely don't even know where to start with this. The lack of sales skills bamboozles me, almost as much as the clear lack of sales training that management have supplied to this poor lamb up for slaughter. It's a waste of dollars, and a waste of leads. Think the topic is subjective? Wrong. I was in the market for SEO... She just didn't try. SO... Aside from EVERYTHING, what needs fixing? Here's 5 tips... 1.  NEVER HANG-UP ON A PROSPECT It is not your job to say 'NO' on behalf of your prospect. If you're going to assume anything, assume the sale. (*With the exception of abusive prospects... Hang-up with gusto, my friend!) 2.  LISTEN TO THE FACTS In the above example, WTF does "We're okay for SEO" mean? Why did the salesperson not respond to this information that the prospect gave, and instead translate this to mean "I will never buy from you."? In actual fact (FACT - I am the one who said this, so I know), "We're okay for SEO" actually meant "I am not pedestrian enough to buy into your sleazy pick-up lines, Miss Salesperson... But I am in the market for SEO, so please try harder." Perhaps she could have responded with: This not only keeps the conversation flowing and shows that you care about your prospect (even if you don't benefit), it also gives you more information to continue probing / selling. How? Like this... This shows you understand your prospective client's  concerns, but also invites them to consider how they may be able to benefit. Going straight into an open ended question keeps the conversation going, and in this instance allows you to calculate exactly how much time and money they could save. 3.  TRANSLATE THE FOB-OFF If you choose to believe a fob-off "objection" from clients (e.g "We're fine for SEO thanks"), you are wasting your time, and simply won't get anywhere. If you continue to buy in to the fob-offs you are served, you will have to go through more and more crap calls like this to get anywhere... How will you hit your target? BE REALISTIC and do not give up until you have unearthed a REAL reason - a REAL objection to overcome. If it's real, you've done your job - fine. Below are some examples of fob-offs, and how to deal with them: 4. DIG, DIG, DIG! If somebody says "NO" to you, or gives you a fob-off response, there is ALWAYS a reason. It may not be a good one - it may be "I am scared of salespeople and don't want to be sold" or "I am busting for the toilet, but can't tell you that!" - but there is ALWAYS a reason. Your job is to A) read between the lines to determine whether or not the objection given is actually realistic and B) Dig up the REAL objection... Rookies shy away from objections, but you WANT the REAL reasons why somebody doesn't want to buy, so you can overcome it and CLOSE THE DEAL. So how do you dig? Keep asking questions... Questions that have purpose. 5. NO PERSISTENCE = NO PASSION = IMPERSONALISATION When a salesperson doesn't persist, it shows lack of passion... Lack of faith in their product/service, and lack of belief that this product/service can solve a problem for their prospect. Furthermore, when a salesperson gives up on a prospect too quickly, it sends the message to the prospect that they are just another number. Sure, persistence can be naggy and annoying, but lack of persistence can strike a salesperson or brand/business off the prospects list forever.SHOW PASSION, B*TCHES! 6. DON'T ASSUME YOU KNOW WHAT THEY WANT This goes hand-in-hand with digging/probing for objections and client needs. Sometimes prospective clients are just waiting for the salesperson to say the right thing... Sometimes the prospect IS in the market, and they have done a sh*tload of research... They're just waiting for that one little keyword to make their ears stand up. But heck - they're not just going to GIVE you the sale... Are you serious?? It is YOUR job to discover what tickles their fancy. Take me for example... Being a passionista of the sales process, I A) Give good salespeople my ear, B) Feel no obligation to make things easier for a bad salespeople than I would for a good salesperson and C) Like to flesh out the sales call to see where it goes. I allow salespeople to take me on their own path... If they lead me down the wrong way, that's their loss... I'm going to give them donuts. If they're good - if they say all the right things and actually spark my interest, I will consider and take them seriously. That's what I want. That's weird. So what does the next guy/girl want? Don't assume you know... Pay attention & go with it. Moral of the story? Persistence in sales is a must! Salespeople must call the bluff of their prospect and dig deeper than the pseudo-objections they are given to truly understand what the prospect needs (or why they aren't buying). So the saying goes,  "Buyers are liars." It's your job to play detective, to see if you really can help your prospective client or not.