by gulliver burns
(brisbane,qld,australia)
Learn how to generate more leads, overcome objections better and close bigger deals with one contact
Comment
Hi Gulliver,
how to generate more leads ? I never thought I was much good at that, because I never had to do much lead chasing when I was selling B2B. Then it occurred to me, people used to call me. Why ? For advice about where to source a new product they were looking for. I had become a resource for them. They trusted my motives and my expertise. And as I recall if I didn't know where they could get something I'd make a few enquiries and find out, then call them back (the time I spent doing this was proportional to the relationship I had with the customer). And I used to get a number of calls from new prospects who had been referred by my customers.
So, to generate more leads be a resource for your customers, make sure they trust your motives and your expertise.
To overcome objections better you need to practice.
For a week or even a month write down every objection you get. Then look for similarities and group them together. Ask yourself what you can cover earlier in the sales call to prevent that objection coming up. Then sit down with some colleagues and work out at least five answers to each category of objection. Then practice them. Maybe you could use flash cards with the objection on them and just allow your mind to come up with an answer.
I have to say though that I do not favour rote learning a response to an objection. It has the potential to sound robotic and may not respond to nuances in an objection. It is my preference to train your mind in how to formulate a response to an objection. That is the approach I take in Overcoming Sales Objections
Finally Gulliver, you want to be closing bigger deals in one contact. I guess it depends on what you call bigger. But my experience over the years is that the bigger the deal the longer it takes to close it. I mean there have been exceptions but it is a good general rule. In his book "Wombat Selling" Michael Hewitt-Gleeson (a contemporary of Edward de Bono) states you need 7 touch points to close a sale. That is 7 contacts. Not sure about one contact sales ?
Hope this helps, Greg
Return to Like to Know - free book.