How to Ask the Right Questions in Sales

When you are selling yourself or a product, you need to ask the right questions.  The goal is to not talk the whole time, but to guide the questions in a way that they reveal the right information to you with little effort.  You need to be able to prepare yourself by doing your homework before the meeting.  You will need to know What you are going to ask, Why you are asking the question, and How you will ask the question.  The point of this is that any question you ask can be tweaked slightly to get more information from your prospect.  As a sales professional, you need to uncover the prospects needs before you can give a proper presentation.

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Disabled Veterans Need Your Help!

For those of you who do not know, I am a disabled veteran.  I have been writing a blog called Help For Veterans where we talk about issues we are having with the Department of Veterans' Affairs or the military.  I had to go through a process where it took 18 months for them to decide my disability rating, which affects my benefits and pay.  Others that have had to wait this long have lost their homes or their lives.  Please sign the petition below, whether you are a veteran or not, to help speed this process up.  Lets put the power of social media to work, and get this petition signed by thousands.

Share this on your Facebook pages to show all of your friends.  This is a simple act that can change a lot of lives.

Online Petitions by iPetitions.com

How to Start a Sales Conversation Comfortably

Sometimes starting the conversation off, especially if it is over the phone, can be very difficult and nerve-racking. One thing to keep in mind is that you do not want to sound like a pitchy salesman, you want to sound natural, like you are talking to a friend.  Start off you conversation like you would a friend by saying "Hi Tom!" while shaking his hand if you are face to face.  The last thing you want to do is say "Hello Mr Jones."  You want to start off on a level playing field, and being conversational is the best way to do that.

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Linkedin: Professional Social Networking

No matter what industry you are in, you should be using Linkedin, which is the best professional social networking sight out there today.  With Linkedin, you are able to connect with other professionals that you meet through networking, somebody you knew in the past, or network with your colleagues.  With Linkedin, you can upload your resume, so that it will show your prior experience and other qualifications, which will help you if you are connected to a prospect of yours.  You want to show the world that you are qualified to do your job and that you are the right person to talk to in your industry.

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I'm Back on Blogger!

I have decided to move my blog back to Blogger from Wordpress.  I had some trouble with Blogger, but those issues were fixed with the new update they came out with.  I have felt that with Blogger I have had more viewership, probably due to the fact that it is run by Google, so they would rather show this blog than my Wordpress blog.  Either way, I'm happy to be back, so keep an eye out for some new posts!

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Blogger Wins!

Blogging Seminar for Plymouth Chamber of Commerce

Today, I held a presentation for the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce in Plymouth, NH.  I will be posting videos from the presentations in the coming weeks.  Make sure to follow my blog to get instant access to those videos as they come out!

 

"Like" me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dademarketing

Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/dademarketing

Understanding Twitter For Your Business

This article provides the information about twitter, how it can help you to grow your business. Twitter is one of the best online marketing tools.

Twitter for business marketing is really a very important subject to discuss. People must understand the importance of Twitter for marketing your business. It can indirectly help you to grow your business. Now many internet marketers prefer twitter for promoting any product.

How To Use Facebook to Market Your Small Business

Business owners have been loath to use Facebook as a marketing tool in the past. With the high instance of spam, Facebook had the potential to hurt a business much more quickly than it could help it. With the new revamping of business pages, Facebook has provided a safe platform from which businesses can market themselves effectively. Here are the top five ways to use Facebook to market your business.

1. Set Up a Page

The first step in using Facebook effectively is to set up a great page. Be sure to include your business's information including days and hours of operation, the services you offer and consider adding some photos of yourself and staff. Veterinary hospitals, for instance, can add pictures and brief bios of all of their doctors.

2. Keep It Updated

Nothing will hurt a business more than an outdated Facebook page. If your hours or services change, update your page! Too often businesses have old hours or services listed and, believe it or not, this simple lack of updating can turn customers off.

Why Use Social Media?

When I talk with business owners in my area, the main question I get is "Why should I use social media?"  Most businesses use Facebook, but they don't know why they should use it or why they should use more than just Facebook.  The answer is simple:  social media is the new word of mouth, and you need to be involved in the conversation.  Facebook and other social media sites are a perfect place to host a forum where customers can talk about your business.  People are going to be talking about your business online whether or not you are involved in social media.  I have seen many companies that do not even have a Facebook page, but customers are leaving comments on sites like Yelp, where anybody can add a business.

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See my 3-part Seminar on Social Media

I will be leading a three part seminar on Social Media for the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce in New Hampshire beginning on Wednesday, October 19 between 12 and 1pm.  The first subject will be Facebook, and I plan on videotaping the seminar to show on my blogs.  If you are in the area and wish to join me, you can go to http://www.plymouthnh.org/inner.php/Chamber+Events/Chamber+Brown+Bag+Lunch+Seminars/ to register.

I will be editing the videos to a shorter summary to post on my blog and on Youtube, but if you wish to see the videos in their entirety, you have to sign up for my email list to get that.  I am excited and honored to be hosting these seminars, and if you have a certain question you with to be answered, please leave a comment here and I will do my best to answer it.  If I cannot during the presentation I will do my best to answer them either here on the blog or via email if you provide me with that.

Closing: Make the Sale or Don't

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Closing is the second most important step in the sales process behind Finding Needs, and it can lead to making the sale or losing it.  Closing can mean a couple of different things depending on whether you are trying to make a large sale or a small sale.  During a small sale, a successful close will always lead to making the sale and having them sign on the dotted line.  For a large sale, mostly business to business types where there are multiple people involved in the decision making process, you will most likely not be able to close that day.  When this is the case DO NOT USE TYPICAL CLOSING TECHNIQUES!  Doing this will offend your prospect and make them think that you are too pushy.  Remember:  in sales you need to form a relationship with the buyer, and being seen as pushy or uncaring of their needs will make them not want to form that relationship.

Communication Skills in Sales

Most people know that "smooth talking" is a trait that most salespeople possess, but a sales professional needs more than this to be a good communicator.  These skills are necessary in all of the steps of selling starting at building rapport. Here are a few tips on how to better communicate to your prospects:

1) Speak directly.  When talking about your product avoid using words or terms such as "probably" or "sort of."  These words make you sound insecure either about yourself or your product.   Be sure of o0yourself and what you have to offer.

2) Avoid product "jargon."  Your prospect will not understand you if you talk about the "PCF" valve on the "UAV." Even if they do, they might have to explain that to their boss or purchasing manager.  You would be doing them a favor by using terminology any 5th grade graduate would understand.

3) Avoid ambiguity.  You could confuse or potentially insult the person you are talking to.  You may also seem unintelligent.

These tips should be used in any form of communication, whether it is face to face, email, text messaging, or otherwise.  There are many more ways to communicate more effectively, so try to learn as much as you can in this subject to be more successful.

Visit my website at dadesalesandmarketing.com and contact me about my sales training, social media marketing, and website building today!

What is Twitter?

"What is Twitter" is a question I get from a lot of business owners when I meet with them.  Everybody has heard of Twitter these days, but they do not know how it can help their business.  Twitter is a site for "microblogging", which means that you are giving information on what you are doing or what you are working on in less than 140 characters.  Many businesses have become wildly popular by using Twitter, and those businesses have been very creative as to how they use Twitter.  Some have decided to tell a story 140 characters at a time, and others have used it to get their name out there similar to Facebook.

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Listening Skills vs. Swift Talking in Sales

Most people that think of a salesperson is somebody who can talk people into buying their product even if they don't need it.  I have heard the term "He can sell a ketchup Popsicle to a woman in white gloves."  While the ability to be convincing is important in sales, the ability to listen to your prospect is much more important.  How does a good sales professional know how to gear their presentation?  They spent time listening to the customer's needs and adapt the rest of the sales process around those needs.  After you have listened enough to discover their needs and analyze what type of buyer they are, the "swift talking" skills can be applied more efficiently.

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Blogging Tip: Keywords

Many people know how to blog, but they don't know how to blog efficiently to maximize views.  When blogging or posting on other social media sites, it is very important to look for proper keywords.  You want to use keywords that are not used in other sites, but are being searched for frequently on search engines.  Doing this will put you at the top of the list and will drive people to your sites.  To do this, go to Google Adwords or type in keyword search on Google and you will find this tool pictured below.  Type in the words you want to use for your postings and you can see how much competition there is with those words.  You might see that you want to rephrase what you are saying based on the "Global Monthly Searches" or "Local Monthly Searches" and the amount of competition there is.

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Social Media Definition

This blog has talked a lot about how social medial can help your business and the different types of social media.  I thought it would be good to get more basic and talk about social media in general.   A great social media definition given by davepress is the following:

Digital tools that permit people and organisations to interact freely with low (or no) barriers to entering a conversation. The nature of the relationships between social media users is often as important as the content they share – the ‘social’ aspect is very important.

davepress.net/2010/03/19/a-digital-engagement-glossary/

SPIN Selling: It's not what you think it is.

When I first heard the term "SPIN selling" I thought it was referring to the stereotype of a salesperson who twists the truth to make a sale.  I could not have been more wrong.  This refers to the right types of questions to ask when you are in the second step of the 5 step sales process:  uncovering needs.  Each letter stands for a different type of question you should ask:  situational, problem, implication, and needs-payoff.  If you ask the right types of questions, the customer will come to the conclusion on their own that what you have to offer will do them a lot of good.  Here are the types of questions to ask in order:

How Location Based Social Media Sites Help Your Business

Location Based Social Media sites are new to most people, and are a very good tool to bringing customers in your doors.  Potential Customers can track what businesses are around them using their smartphones, and businesses can add incentives that would be appealing to the public.  This video describes how these sites work and how they can bring you more business.

Selling in today's online world

Today, selling can be a difficult profession to be successful in with the growing online market.  Instead of coming into the store, consumers are doing more and more research and purchasing online.  Some businesses are giving consumers a discount or extra incentives to buy online because they don't have to pay their salespeople for the sale.  I have seen this at places like Verizon and Staples, and the list is growing more by the day.  How will the sales profession survive in a climate like this?

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Features and Benefits

Take a look at this video about selling Features and Benefits, and how important it is to the entire sales process.  If you do not do this correctly you will have more objections and you are selling your product short.  Please let me know if you have any questions or if you need some more examples.

steve@dadesalesandmarketing.com

http://dadesalesandmarketing.com/