by Tony Mayo | Communication, Conversation, & Confrontation, For Salespeople, Sales Techniques
Lying is the toughest part of being a salesman. No, not me lying, but people like you assuming that I–the salesperson–am lying. Expecting the worst of salespeople seems to bring out the worst in prospects.
Years ago, I heard that one of my clients had been put in charge of a major new project. Expecting more business, I went to his office and said, “Congratulations on getting Project X.”
He looked me in the eye–looked me in the eye!–and said, “That’s not my project.”
“Who’s got it?” I asked.
“It hasn’t been approved,” he said.
I was in a meeting a few days later where he reported on (more…)
by Tony Mayo | For Salespeople, Quotes and Aphorisms, Sales Techniques
The pessimist complains about the wind.
The optimist expects it to change.
The realist adjusts the sails.
–Author Unknown
If you know the source,
please add a comment.
by Tony Mayo | Quotes and Aphorisms, Sales Techniques
If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
— Henry David Thoreau
Walden, Chapter 18
Creativity and genius are two different things. Ordinary talent growths from earth towards the sky. But genius lives in the sky and tries to reach the earth from there.
— Kari Suomalainen
by Tony Mayo | For Salespeople, Sales Techniques
How many new sales do you need to recover the cash lost in just one poor negotiation? If your net margin is 10%, you would need $1,000 in new business just to cover the deficit from giving away a single $100 discount.
Every dollar that poor negotiating removes from your price is a dollar of pure profit lost; free cash flow you have utterly wasted.
The most shameful part is, because you failed to negotiate well, the customer didn’t even appreciate the bargain you gave away.
Everybody lost!
I have read a lot about negotiation and even written a little, but most of the literature is for buyers trying to get better price and terms. Advice for the other side of the table, the salesperson, is harder to find. My executive coaching client, Raj Khera, CEO of MailerMailer, has just put a superb, free guide for business owners on his blog. Titled Negotiating price: how to overcome price resistance, Raj’s post is concise and practical. Apply his simple advice and increase your profits.
Don’t confuse hard negotiating with heartless negotiating. A deal that doesn’t make sense for everyone makes sense for no one.
Always leave some money on the table.
Never spill blood on the floor.
You may need to return to that room again.
by Tony Mayo | For Executive Coaches, For Salespeople, Sales Techniques
People think in stories. No, that’s not the important thing. People feel in stories. Feelings (emotions) help people decide, buy, stay loyal, and refer new customers.
“One of the things Whole Foods taught us is the need to tell stories” about our products, Mr. Heinen said. In fact, Heinen’s has 50 stories that it trains employees to tell customers about its meat, produce, baked goods and other items.
Tom Heinen
Heinen’s Fine Foods in
The New York Times
What stories are your customers and prospective customers hearing about you?
See also, Creation Myths and Why We Need Them: Origins.
by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners, For Executive Coaches, For Salespeople, Sales Techniques
Establish the habit of slowing down your responses to questions, to save time and trouble. A simple and effective way to do this is by training yourself to respond to every question with a clarifying question. This gives the questioner a chance to explain why they asked and what they are trying to accomplish. You’ll be surprised how often the quick answer you might have given would not have helped them –or you– at all.
Suppose, for example, you shipped that big report yesterday, just as you had promised. Today the client telephones and asks, “Have you (more…)
by Tony Mayo | For Salespeople, Recommended Books, Sales Techniques
You Can’t Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar:
The Sandlr Sales Institute’s 7-Step System for Successful Selling
by David H. Sandlr, John Hayes
I put off reading this book for months. Reading another how-to, self-help autobiography was like a trip to the gym: I knew I should, but it could always wait. Most sales trainers left me with a simple pair of thoughts: that stuff would really work–if I could force myself to do it! The Sandlr System leaves me with: this stuff works–and it feels natural!
The book is very professionally written: not literature just clear, concise and readable. A lively mix of (more…)
by Tony Mayo | Communication, Conversation, & Confrontation, For Business Owners, For Salespeople, Recommended Books, Sales Techniques
Getting Past No: Negotiating Your Way from Confrontation to Cooperation by William L. Ury
A practical guidebook to “Win-Win” negotiation.
William Ury is not only an experienced high-level negotiator but an acute student of his art who can distill his wisdom into concise, memorable lessons. This book is indispensable for anyone who wants to do well in negotiations, formal or informal, without humiliating or destroying the other side. For Ury and his disciples, Win-Win is not a feel-good aspiration but a profitable practice. As a negotiation style that builds relationships while getting things done, Win-Win is a cornerstone of the “Sustainable Workstyles” we teach at MayoGenuine.
A key insight of his method is the possibility of being “soft on the people, hard on the problem.” Negotiation is so often associated with macho words like “bruising,” “hard-nosed,” and “marathon” that it is easy to forget negotiation is not war pursued by other means. We negotiate as an alternative to battle, not as another version of it. Everyone wants (more…)
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