follow-through actions. Demonstrat- ing follow-through abilities helps you send an important message to your prospect – that you are a professional who meets all business commitments. You also reinforce the fact that you genuinely care about your customer, and that caring goes beyond the quick sale.


Strategy: When you fulfill the role of sales consultant, you provide informa- tion and service to your customer, thereby “adding value.” This ap- proach demonstrates that: 1. You understand the needs of your customer.


2. Your customer understands the value and benefits of your prod- ucts and services – and of doing business with you.


3. Your customer knows how you will continue to service his or her account. Above all, the most important way


SELLING TIP Four Ways to Overcome Everyday Disappointments


Are you suffering from a minor disappointment? Congratulate yourself. It means you’re growing. Constant gratifica- tion would be like living in a 100 percent sterile environment. That’s totally unrealistic. Generally, minor disappointments are challenges for self-management and opportunities for personal growth. Here are four tips for overcoming everyday disappointments.


1. Establish new priorities. Stop running. Think. Review your experience. If you feel alone, put it on paper. Talk with a good friend about disappointment you’re feeling. If the disappointment is related to your job, discuss it with your spouse or trusted mentor first. Isolate minor disappointments before you see your next customer.


2. Minimize your exposure to disappointment. One major source of disappointment: unrealistic expectations. We often overestimate what we can do, what money can do, what authority can do, what contracts can do, and what other people will do for us. Disappointment in expectations helps us learn about the practical opportuni- ties in life. Unrealistic self-expectations can lead to unnecessary disappointment.


3. Increase your resilience. You need to develop resilience to lessen your chances of suffering disappointment. How? Don’t mistake customer indifference for anything other than what it is. In selling, some prospects will accept you and some will reject you. Understand that a rejection may be real or imagined; it may also be just indifference or nothing but a reflection of the other person’s world and particular situation.


4. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Monitor your expectations. Know your abilities and limits. Renew your com- mitments every day. Learn to accept other people’s negative feelings. Accept your vulnerability. Maintain con- scious control over what drives you. Build close relationships. Keep reaching higher than you expect to achieve.


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to defeat these 10 death sentences is: Don’t let them occur in the first place. Sales pros understand that sales is a process. It begins with Planning and continues through the phases of Listening, Presenting, Han- dling, and Closing. Don’t look for the magic sales suc- cess bullet or search for a shortcut to achieve your sales success. Follow the five-phase cyclical sales approach and your B2B sales performance will be hypercharged to higher levels of achievement.


Dan Duffy served as director of sales training for MicroWarehouse, Inc., and created a 91-page consultative selling “Workshop in a Workbook” that con- tains detailed strategies and techniques to strengthen your sales skills within each phase of the five-phase cyclical sales process.


SELLING TIP


Isolating Objections Are your prospect’s objections real or are they a smoke screen? To find out, one sales trainer suggests that reps respond with follow-up questions designed to find out what the real problem might be. For example, if the prospect says your price is too high, the rep should ask, “What if the price were exactly what you’re willing to pay? Would you invest in this today?” If the prospect says he or she has to speak with the supervisor, the rep should ask, “If you were to speak with your supervisor, who then said it was up to you, would you be willing to move forward on this today?”


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