Sales Thoughts

People don't love to be sold. Do you? Don't we all cringe just a bit when salespeople are even just being friendly? We're conditioned to think something negative about sales people. Except for those of us in sales, probably. I rather look forward to chatting with floor sales people and figuring out if they know what they're selling. That's fun to me.

Warped, I know.

Think about this: People love to buy! It's a basic tenet of spending in life: we love to acquire and buy and spend our money on things we want. We just want to do it free of being bothered. If we have questions, we want answers, right? So... how well do you know your product? Hopefully well enough to have answers on hand and keep the customer interested, but not drive them away with banal figures (unless they ask). You have to find a way to get customers and potential customers in a buying mode. On top of your product, which may or may not sell itself, you can lean on two big things: testimonials, and benefits of product application in everyday life.

If you can get someone to vouch for your company and what it or your product has done for them, that's tremendous. Don't be afraid to ask for those testimonials from your favorite clients (and referrals, too)! Offer to do something in return for them if you use a product of theirs as well. In fact, offer around to do some testimonials and watch people jump on board to give you one back. One warning: mean what you say. There's nothing worse than endorsing a bad product just to get some positive spin in return. That backfires more often than not.

Also, make sure you can pinpoint the impact of your product or service in the customer's everyday life. How does this give me more time? Save money? Impact my family? If you can show a person that they will have more time, it's almost always a no brainer. We all wish we had more time. Money is another good failsafe. In addition, ferret out whether someone places a priority on personal comfort and ease of use. If it can do something easier than they currently do it, that's another winning strategy.

To qualify your lead, make sure you ask those questions that get them talking. Stay away from yes and no answers! Those will kill your pitch pretty fast. Example: "Do you like this widget?" Answer: "Yes" BOOOOOOO! That stunk. Try this: "What do you like about this widget? How do you see yourself using it?" If they can't imagine how they would use it, you can either offer a suggestion if you have solid knowledge of their business model, or ask them questions based on your product strengths. Just the customer telling you what they like about your product leads you down a golden road, because you know your product well enough to play up any potential bright spots... right?

Once you have them opening up, get them thinking placement of the product/service in their own little world. If you can see that new car in your driveway, you're going to want it there. If you know how nice that leather recliner would be in your living room, it's halfway home already. You get the idea... you've got the customer wanting to buy, but not being sold! Now it's their idea, and that's the most powerful thing you can get them thinking.

But of course, there's bound to be objections. We'll cover those soon, and ways to overcome them.

Where are you missing out?

Likely, you're missing out on the web. You have a web site - and you may even have a wonderful web site - but can someone go one-click-done to a solution/answer? Probably not. Even though I preach streamlined, simplistic web site design (having done a number of them in my day) it's not always enough to get people direct answers in less than three clicks. So what do you do to augment this?

You should have your customer/client interraction contact points set up not only as phone numbers and emails, but as Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, and perhaps even a Tumblr account. These social media portals allow you to instantly and personally answer questions while in a sense creating a legacy FAQ that people will see. Heck, you can even re-post your FAQ on Tumblr or Facebook accounts to help ease access to the information.

You don't have to make this a PR arm, and you shouldn't. Don't spam people with your Twitter, they'll stop reading. One of the great powers of social networking is that people can opt-out at any time, so you have to give them reason to read and stay put. In the case of a sports franchise, you can reach out to your season ticket holders with special offers, advice, and links to shortcuts that relate to them directly as STHs. If you're in an event venue, you can answer ticketing questions, procedural inquiries, and even things as simple as parking directions and locations. Don't be afraid to make it a multimedia presentation. Use a Google Map to help out, and make sure you pin some info on the place you're sending people. Link back to your own web site by all means. Use whatever tools are available to you.

What is even more important than your ability to respond is that you monitor this account and ACTUALLY RESPOND! You have to do this in a timely fashion, and keep tabs on things. This also means finding ways to monitor and organize. For Twitter, I use a program called TweetDeck, setting up search algorythms that tell me when someone talks at or about my account, and allows me to also search general comments about my business through use of hashtags. Once you have it sorted out so that you're able to make sense of the information flying around, you're well on your way to being able to monitor online noise regarding your company in a simple, easy manner.

Lastly, I completely and totally recommend that you keep it professional on your customer service outlines. As I mentioned above, no spam. But also refrain from personal commenting (that's what your own personal or business-persona account is for) on situations or events, even if they directly concern your team/enterprise. This isn't the place. Don't feel the need to follow everyone back on this account, in fact I'd recommend you don't. It will keep your one-page stream to just information you have posted and those who have publicly queried you. It will cut down on a lot of extra footwork and enable damage control if needed!

Hey, you're going to need a thick skin, people love their anonymous cloak on line. But by the same token, take your medicine, hear what's being said about your company and who the ringleaders are, and target them to be won over. If you direct your energy and efforts towards getting them on your side, that alone is worth its weight in gold - especially on line.