Ignite Your Sales – Tips and Tricks from Fiona Walsh

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November 15, 2009 by Inna | Comments (0)

At Seattle’s  latest  CRAVE chat event we learned what it takes to be a top notch sales person. Fiona Walsh revealed tips on how to prospect, qualify, and close deals resulting in more time, money and energy to focus on other areas of business. Fiona (@fionawalsh) is founder of FM Walsh and Associates Inc, and one of North Americas leading speakers on women in business. Her straight forward approach helped us find opportunity and confidence while facing this tough economy.

Although all of us don’t enjoy the sales accept of business, we all know it is a crucial to success. By avoiding some critical mistakes, taking initiative, and tapping into our natural tendencies as women we can limit the time and stress of the sales process while increasing our revenue.

Be prepared:

Keep in mind the three things you need to build successful business:

VISIBILITY, CREDIBILITY, PROFITABILITY

As women we have a natural advantage when it comes to doing sales. According to Harvard Business Review the number one trait that drives successful people is not passion, knowledge of product, or persistence, it’s EMPATHY. When you are focused on identifying the needs of a client and providing a solution, instead of just a product, people will trust you and give you their business.

You must be very clear about what you’re selling before you prospect. You must be able to answer the following questions very specifically:

1.What do you do? (Not just your job description)
2.Why does it matter?
3.Who cares? (Who’s your niche market/ customer profile) – to save more time it’s good to let your network know this information so they can pre-qualify references for you

You meet someone that seems interested in your product, you exchange cards, you get excited an extra bounce in your step, and then you wait and wait and wait. The most important skill besides closing is QUALIFYING. It is crucial that we do this because otherwise we waste our time and energy on people that might not even fit our target market. Qualify people from the get go with these three simple questions:

1.Do they have a budget?

• You should never just give stuff away unless there’s a strategic benefit in it for you.
• Exp: “how much have are you budgeting for health/fitness on a monthly basis?”

2. Do they have a reasonable timeline? This allows you to prioritize.
3. Do they have the ability to make the decision to buy?

• Exp: ask “are you able to make the purchase decision or is there someone else I should speak with?”
• If presenting to couples, make sure they are both there!

Making the call:

• If making a sales call scares you, get over it! Remember that you are gutsy, smart, and passionate and that you have a natural tendency to be a great sales person simply because you care.
• Everything in sales is scripted! Sit down script out everything if you have to, memorize it and then say if with confidence!
• Confidence is SEXY!
• Remember that making one or two calls is NOT ENOUGH! Expect that you need to be making 7-8 touches minimum, around 12 at the CEO level. This does not mean calling everyday to ask for the sale, find ways to “romance” your prospect. Email them an article that you think they’d find interesting, or a pr opportunity they could take advantage of. Make them aware of what you do.
• When you get their answering machine make it memorable by always adding value! It needs to be results driven, personalized, compelling, and include a call to action. Tip: script out a message before you make the call just in case.
• One of the biggest mistakes people make in sales is highlighting just the features or attributes of a product/service, and not the benefits. People ask themselves one question when they’re making a purchase decision “what’s in it for me?” You must paint a picture of what your product/service will do for them, how it will make them feel. BENEFITS are what sell.

Dealing with objection:

• Don’t be afraid of objection it means they’re interested and just need more information.
• Script out answers to potential objections, and then document them if they worked well. This can be used as a great training tool later on!
• Price is really not the objection 80% of the time. You might have to dig deeper to find out what they are really concerned about so don’t start slashing your prices right off the bat.
• Exp: “If we take price off the table are you happy with the product we have for you?”
• Remember, unless you’re a non-profit don’t just give stuff away, if you must negotiate price down take some stuff off the table.

Closing:

• You do a great job prospecting, qualifying, finding out their needs, providing solutions, and painting a picture in their minds that Picasso would be proud of, but you’re still not getting the sale what the heck?!
• Don’t assume people will stand up after your presentation and hand you a check. You have to ASK for their business.
• Come up with some catchphrases and see what works best.
• Exp: “When do you want to get started?”
• “When would you like this to be shipped to your house?”
• “When would you like your first session?”
• These days people expect to pay for products and service so don’t sell yourself short by being shy. PEOPLE EXPECT TO BE CLOSED. The worst they can say is no, but thankfully your sales funnel is running in full force so you can just move on to the next prospect.

You now have the necessary tools and knowledge to go out there and close the deal. Remember that you are gutsy, caring, and smart GOOD LUCK!

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