Sales Training Information |
Business Appointment Success or Failure
One of the quickest ways to loose a sale is to be late for an appointment. A businessperson's character, among other things, may be judged by their punctuality. Some prospects may see it as a slap in the face if you are late for your meeting with them. They may view it as a sign you have no regard for your own word, or their time. And you cannot be depended upon. So why should they do business with the likes of you? So by all means, be on time for your appointment. Make sure to let the prospect know how much time you will need to make your sales presentation. If the prospect is on a tight schedule, it is doubtful they will give you their undivided attention. You both may become nervous, or uneasy due to the time restraints on both of you. If you need 25 minutes to present your sales talk and the prospect can only spare 15 minutes of their time, it is better to re-schedule the appointment than to run out of time. Greet your prospect in a business-like, friendly way. Your introduction should make a good impression of you and your proposal. By choosing your words carefully, you will have gained the undivided attention of your prospect. Then you can tell your whole story. It is common practice to present your business card to your potential customer. The timing of this could be crucial to your sales talk. Your opening statement should be designed to deepen curiosity in your prospect's mind without being too informative. It may be to your advantage to give your opening statement, then, present your business card to the prospect. If your introduction was successful the card will not only introduce your business, but also help you establish a rapport with the prospect. On occasion you may call upon a business establishment unannounced. This is called "cold calling." This method is not recommended, but it does happen. In this instance it may not be a good idea to present your prospect with a detailed business card. It may tell too much too soon because unlike having an appointment, the prospect has not yet had the opportunity to develop curiosity for your proposition. But the card that gives little information (a personal card) could be quite beneficial and serve as an opening to your approach, or introduction. You want to lead your prospect through each phase of the selling process without missing a step. Someone else, such as a friend of the prospect may also be present on the day you meet for your scheduled appointment. Your primary attention should be directed at the person you made the appointment with, but if you have been introduced to the friend, you cannot completely ignore their presence. Should you include the friend in your sales talk? It all depends. If your prospect has introduced you to their friend and the friend then goes about busying themselves with other things, the answer is no. Carry on as you would under normal circumstances. On the other hand, if the prospect's friend has made he or she a part of the conversation, or sits down with you and your prospect, it would be rude to exclude the friend from your sales talk. You may find that the friend is more interested in your proposition than your prospect, or equally as interested in your proposition. So if the friend shows interest give your sales talk to both parties. The friend may turn out to be your best customer. Copyright © 2005 Gloria Whitehorn-All rights reserved About the Author: Gloria is an article writer, business owner, author of two books, salesperson and seasoned mail order pro. Visit her site for information on a great part-time, full-time-anytime business. She knows what she's talking about. *Attn: Ezine Editors/Site owners*
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
Successful Selling in 21 Steps 1. Dependability was chosen as the most important. How to Spellbind Your Prospects in 10 Seconds! You've got yourself 10 seconds to HOOK your prospects or LOSE them!If you can't make them interested in 10 seconds, there's a good chance you'll lose them forever. So, you'd better shoot it right and "grab" their attention -- fast -- if you don't want them to go to your competitors!And how do you do this?**Just write HARD-TO-RESIST headlines!It works just like dating online. 11 Proven Sales Strategies to Help You Close The Deal There are a number of sales closing strategies that you canlearn with different ones applied in different situations.Each salesperson might be more comfortable with one oranother. Sell Yourself - Sell Anything! Each of us sells every single day. We are all sales people. Multiply Your Sales When Thomas Edison's light bulb finally burned for 45 straight hours he said, "If it will burn that number of hours now, I know I can make it burn a hundred."What does this have to do with internet marketing?Everything. Direct Sales and the Use of Clipboards Do you ever feel that when you are doing direct sales you find yourself not getting respect from the local businesses? They are busy and you are an interruption of course, yet at the same time, it does slow you down. Smart direct sales marketers carry clipboards into offices to sell and take orders. 3 Steps To Immediately Increase Sales Want to increase sales within your company? It's not as hard to do as some might have you believe. Though we as a nation are in the midst of an economic downturn these past two years, your company does not have to be. Sales Marketing: 10 Sales Marketing Tricks To Explode Your Profits Sales marketing online is an art that you mustkeep revising, refining and polishing to keep pace with all the changes happening on the Internet.1. Marketing Vs. Sales Marketing and sales co-exist and work in tandem beautifully if they are allowed to remain as separate entities coming together to achieve results:DRIVING REVENUE!!Marketing = SIZZLE ------ Sales = CLOSINGThe misunderstanding that marketing and sales are the same causes a downward spiral of events. Sales staff and managers become frustrated, productivity drops, turnover is high, and company image suffers. Make More Sales By Creating How To Use It Product Updates Do you have any idea what your customers have experienced from using the products they have purchased from you? Most of the vendors I work with make a sale and move on. They often don't bother investing much time improving the products they sell to their customers, much less develop ways to help them better understand how to use them. 10 Ways To Improve Your Sales 1. Determine your current situation. Body Language, Five Key Ingredients When making your living in the sales industry, and working with people, it is important to not only get your point across verbally, but you want to allow for your body language to send a clear message as well.Your body language consists of many key ingredients, but here are the five that are considered to be the most important, along with a description and a few tips to improve your skills. More Sales with Less Selling Have you ever passed by a bakery display case without feeling the urge to buy at least one cookie, dessert or cinnamon bun? Have you ever taken a child into a candy store and not had them ask to buy at least one of their favorite sweets?The smell of fresh baked goods and the memory of the taste of a candy bar makes us want to buy more. The owners of bakeries and candy stores don't have to spend a lot of time extolling the merits of their goods or the length of time they've been in business; they can concentrate on helping us satisfy our appetites. Why Salespeople Dont Take Risks Proponents of traditional sales training simply teach the material, sometimes in a very entertaining format, but they place the responsibility for using the material on the salesperson.So what happens? The salesperson sits at home, stuck with personal flaws related to identity, and he can't perform. Get Tough You deal with rejections, frustrations, disappointment, and possibly disrespect on a daily basis. You probably experience more emotional ups and downs than most other professionals. The Dos and Donts of an Elevator Pitch The dreaded question: "What exactly does your company do?" It's a simple question, but do you find that every time you answer it you give a different answer?One of the first steps in positioning and branding a new company is to craft an elevator pitch. Simply put, an elevator pitch is a clear, compelling description of your business that is short enough to be understood (by your mother no less) in the time it takes to ride an elevator. How to Sound Just Like a Salesperson Prospect - "So now that I've told you what we are looking for, do you think that you can help us with this?" You - "Absolutely!" (or) You - "Definitely!" (or) You - "You have come to the right place Mr. Prospect" Answering questions about your capabilities with enthusiastic affirmative responses makes you sound just like a salesperson. 7 Phrases You Cant Say in Sales 7 Phrases You Can't Say in Sales (Because They Will Undermine Your Credibility and Drop Your Closing Rate) Copyright 2004 by Doug Smart Years ago, George Carlin listed seven words you can't say on television. Then HBO came along, said all the words, and the world of television changed forever. How To Achieve Excellence In Sales Most people are always striving to better themselves. It's the "American Way". Effective Account Management Congratulations! You successfully sold one or more of your company's products or services to a business unit, department, or division of a large organization. Now your manager has tasked you with "account management". |
home | site map | contact us |