Launch - Spring 2008 - (Page 26) There is no trick to closing sales — dump the Zig Ziglar books! Resolve concerns and ask for the sale, then you’ll close qualified prospects continually. May I Have Your Business? I’ve sold and I’ve been sold to. Most salespeople will try to close a sale by asking where they should send the contract or the bill. That’s the wrong approach. I almost always make it a point to ask for the sale. If I feel that concerns are resolved and the customer seems ready to buy, then I ask: “(name) may we have your business?” If they say, “yes” then we complete the deal. If the person says “no,” then I go back into the above four-step “resolve concerns” mode and find out why. Once that concern is resolved, I then ask for the sale again. It’s a simple cycle that leads to closing a higher number of sales. Here are several other pointers for effective closing: >> Always make sure you are talking to the M.A.N. (Money, Authority, Need). >> Build trust by being genuinely interested in the customer and their needs. >> Ask good questions, listen and take notes. There is no trick to closing sales — dump the Zig Ziglar books! Resolve concerns and ask for the sale then you’ll close qualified prospects continually. Incentivizing Direct Sales Staff By Tim Hunt Founder and CEO Lingotek Direct sales is a game of numbers. It is hard work. It is often a matter of following a simple repeatable process again and again with different prospective customers. There is some skill in direct selling especially in the closing, but the truly successful sales representatives know it is mostly hard work. Great direct sales representatives have learned that you don’t win all accounts no matter how good your 26 launch spring sales skills are. You make the most money if you can make the best use of your time and work with as many potential customers as possible. The inexperienced sales representative is constantly modifying and changing his or her sales approach and materials. They waste a great deal of time tweaking their sales approach instead of going after as many potential customers as possible. Great sales representatives have learned that tweaking the sales approach occurs naturally the more experience you have with customers. They don’t waste time modifying their approach in isolation. From the perspective of a sales manager, how do you get your staff to stay focused on working with customers? The answer is in the incentive plan. Most sales incentive plans focus on the commissions. Though this does provide incentive to sell, it doesn’t provide incentive to do the hard tasks that result in sales. Grant Fraser, the CEO of Navigator Business One Solutions, has developed a strong incentive program to ensure that his sales reps close sales. Grant is an entrepreneur who has built and exited multiple companies. He has built all of his companies by selling someone else’s technology. To ensure that his sales staff stays on task he has developed an incentive plan that focuses on the numbers. His sales representatives receive 1 point for each phone call, e-mail or other contact they have with a customer. He calls this an activity. They receive 10 points if they move a prospect from one stage in the sales process to the next. They receive 50 points if they bring in a qualified lead and 100 points for a close. At closing, they still get their standard commissions, but these points add up to additional bonuses each month and quarter. Grant establishes a standard quota that each sales rep is to achieve each month and when they exceed that quota they receive roughly $1 per point. They receive no bonus for meeting or being below quota. His sales reps get between $100 and $500 each month in bonuses. More importantly Grant is able to see daily, weekly and monthly that all sales reps are accomplishing the tasks that lead to closed sales. There are many different ways to incentivize sales staff. The great sales reps know that it is a game of numbers and are use to working hard. Still, if you would like to ensure that the hard work is done, it doesn’t hurt to include something in the incentive plan that motivates the sales rep to get the job done. $ Click here for the HTML version of this article on launchutah.com. J http://www.launchutah.com/article-coverstory-q12008.php
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