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the decision maker for this project?” or “Do you have a budget for this project?” warns O’Hara. “You’re calling on them and suddenly you’re vetting them to see if they’re worthy of your attention,” she says. “It’s insulting.” Instead, be more discreet in your inquiries. “Effectively, you have to qualify every person you speak to within the organization, in terms of their mandate and motiva- tion as change agent,” says Gwalt- ney. Do they have P&L responsibil- ity? What is that person’s leadership role within the organization? How are they perceived? What is the process they’ll go through to make a purchase?
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How to Be More Professional – Even if Your Technical Knowledge Is Limited
Nothing bothers me more than hearing a salesperson say, “I’m not an engineer – I’m not technical,” or “I never went to college – I’m not educated.” These kinds of statements are demeaning and, if said to a prospective customer, may create fear, uncertainty, and doubt in his or her mind. You don’t have to be technical to be professional. You simply need to know your product. How it works, what it can and cannot do, how it stacks up against the com- petition, and how to use it to fill your customer’s needs are all you need to know. Of course, the more you know about how your product works, what the competition’s products can do, and your general market, the more confidence you can build in yourself. Think of yourself as an expert in your field. Profes- sionals always make the time to learn about their products or services – and the competition’s as well. They keep abreast of trends in their field and try to follow the customers’ position in their marketplace. You may be thinking this is all basic stuff. But so often we forget the basics and end up losing sales we should have had. I’d like to share some things I did in order to sell prospects on me. First, I would tell a prospect that
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I expected to legitimately earn his or her business. Then I would define what I meant by that: • To know my product/service (and my competi- tor’s), and what it could do and could not do.
• To be certain that I thoroughly understood the prospect’s need.
• To help educate the prospect and assist him or her in making an intelligent decision.
• To give the prospect some alternatives so he or she could evaluate tradeoffs.
• To assure the prospect that, if I could not solve the problem – but knew who could – that I would gladly tell him or her about it and help make con- tacts if possible. The prospects felt like they were dealing with a
professional they could trust, which was exactly the feeling I was trying to instill! Even though they knew I was a salesman, and made my living by getting orders, I always told my customers that I expected to earn their business by helping them solve their problem, not just by selling them something. If, after this buildup, I had thrown in a P.S. such as, “By the way, since I’m not technical, if you have a technical question, I’ll be sure to get you the an- swer!” I would have tarnished the shine I had built in their minds.
The key issues are basic: know your products, know your competition’s products, know your cus- tomers’ needs, educate them if you need to, and have the integrity and courage to tell them not to buy if you can’t solve their problems.
– LEE A. EGHERMAN THE FOUR PILLARS OF SALES ENABLEMENT RESPONSIBILITY
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