Colleen’s Blog

How long do you typically take to get back to a prospect upon receiving an inquiry from them? Anything longer than 24 hours is too long. Your customers are busy people - by taking too long to respond you’re letting go of an otherwise potentially easy sale. ← Click To Tweet The number of salespeople and organizations who let days or weeks pass before responding to an inquiry is absolutely staggering. This type of behavior not only breaks several rules in sales etiquette but also displays a complete lack of professional etiquette as well. If you're looking for the easiest, most foolproof way of losing a sale, just trick yourself into believing that your potential customer will be at your beck and call and ready to buy whenever you feel the urge to reply to them. For example: I once sent an inquiry to a company about buying a tradeshow booth. I expressed a strong interest in their product and indicated that I simply needed a few pieces of information before making a purchase. I expected a prompt reply due to my clear readiness to buy their product.

Your sales process could be out of date or prone to more errors than you think. Recently, I worked with a sales VP who was looking to retool their entire sales process. He works with two sales managers who have been in their respective positions for a number of years. Due to this, their process has become more or less automatic. I helped them conduct an end to end sales process review, and here's what we discovered:

You may be familiar with the salesperson who claims they’re stuck, or complains that things don’t go their way. It’s the individual who never takes accountability for their own actions or results and is always quick to blame, but never ready to accept responsibility. It’s important to understand that you have complete control over your results and the choice always belongs to you. - You choose who to sell to - You choose how to sell - You choose what to sell Unhappy with the market that you are selling to? The onus is on you to find a more profitable market or distinguish yourself in such a way that makes you irresistible to your customers. If your current sales methods aren’t working, it’s your responsibility to discover new approaches and try something different. If your product has flaws that make it difficult to sell, it’s your job to overcome those obstacles as well (or begin selling a product that you are proud of). The problem with many salespeople is that they are able to point out the flaws with everyone and everything else, but aren’t able to self-diagnose anything. Subsequently, the same issues occur, the same mistakes are made and the poor results continue.

When meeting with prospects or high level decision makers, many salespeople focus on the wrong type of conversation. Your average salesperson will spend hours preparing sheets that outline their product’s features, benefits, pricing and other details. They practice their pitch, and at times have a lengthy speech rehearsed. While preparation is never a bad thing, the successful salesperson understands the value of focusing on the correct aspect of the presentation. Focus on your client. Your client’s needs, issues and problems should be the main focus of your presentation. While your product may have dozens of practical uses, if the client is only interested in one or two of those uses, you’re wasting their time, boring them and risking the entire sale by outlining features he or she doesn’t need.

This month's award goes to the Hyatt at Vineyard Creek in Santa Rosa who has a breakfast ordering system that is second to none in stupidity. You choose your selections and place it on the door like any other hotel. The hanger specifically reads to place it outside before 2AM. You are invited to choose a delivery time starting at 6AM and they ask that you honor a 15 minute delivery window. That's where the trouble begins!

I have a question for you. Do you really know where your revenue comes from? Most businesses can probably answer that question pretty quickly. It's obvious, right? Not so fast. Recently, we've been involved in a very large sales reorganization. There are three sales teams, a channel sales team, a field sales team and an inside sales team. It was always assumed that the field sales team was the main revenue engine. After all, they were the ones going out, finding leads and closing business. But, we uncovered something interesting...