Sales Tip #413 From The Sales Doctor

“Don’t be afraid to fail”

John Mason authored a book entitled “Never Give Up – You’re Stronger Than You Think.”  In it, John says “Don’t be afraid to fail.” If you’re not failing, you’re not growing.

He also states when you stop growing and learning, it’s usually because you become less willing to risk failure. Failure is a delay, not defeat. A temporarily detour, not a dead-end street.

This same principle applies to selling. If you want to be successful, “Don’t be afraid to fail.” It’s never no, just not now. 

Sales Tip #412 From The Sales Doctor

A customer you keep is one customer you don’t have to find!

Sometimes we can spend all of our time and resources prospecting for new clients at the expense of our existing ones.

Everyone should maintain an on boarding and ongoing retention program with three basic components that help customers feel confident they made the right choice.

1. Within 72 hours of the sale being closed, make sure you have something in place that reaches back out to the customer. It could be a letter, phone call, or email that thanks them for their business and helps to prevent any notion of buyer’s remorse.
2. An ongoing outreach and communications program is crucial to client retention. This can include blogs, reviews, newsletters, onsite visits and more.
3. Make sure you also deliver a year-end thank you message for customers that acknowledges their role in making it possible for you to operate your business successfully. It could be something simple as a phone call to say thank you for your business this year.

If you don’t take care of your existing customer base, someone else will!

Sales Tip #411 From The Sales Doctor

Control your spare thinking time!

Do you ever have difficulty staying engaged in the conversation when another person is talking? That’s because your spare thinking time is causing you to drift off or daydream.

Spare thinking time means that you have the ability to think three-to-five times faster than the rate at which another person is talking. If you don’t take steps to control it, you can miss what is being said.

Control your spare thinking time by asking follow-up questions, paraphrasing, taking notes and leaning into the conversation with eye contact and nodding your head. These activities demonstrate to the person that is talking that you are listening.

Remember that people equate not listening to not caring.

Sales Tip #409 From The Sales Doctor

Every sale has five obstacles.

I like the way Zig Ziglar simplified the resistance that we may encounter during the sale. Zig said, “Every sale has five obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, and no trust .”

Don’t wait until the end of the sale to find this out. Surface these potential obstacles during your needs analysis and you will have no problem closing the sale.