Making That First Sales Call

I had a wry smile recently when I saw the nightly news anchor in front of the Iowa state capitol building. He was dutifully standing there reporting on the Iowa Democratic caucus. But he wasn't the reason for my smile, it was because of the building behind him. Many years ago, I also found myself standing on the steps of that very same capitol building.


In the early 70's I was assigned my first sales territory by Eastman Kodak Company and I was based in Des Moines, Iowa. As I was wandering around Des Moines, contemplating who in the world I should call on first, I spotted the majestic state capitol building. It dawned on me to call on the highest ranking person in the state, the Governor himself. I felt that if I could call on him, then anyone else would seem "small potatoes".

So off I went. I drove to the Iowa state capitol building and promply reported unannounced in the Governor's outer-office. The Governor's name was Bob Ray and his friendly secretary was very understanding and a bit amused that I would chose the Governor to be the recipiant of my very first sales call.


She politely told me that Governor Ray was not in the building, and I would have to make an appointment to see him at a later date. Dissappointed but undaunted, I asked her who was the next highest-ranking official who might be available. She offered a small chuckle and told me it was the Secretary of the State, Mr. Melvin Seinhorst. She pointed me to his office and off I went.


Much to my surprise and delight, His Honor, The Secretary of State, of the great state of Iowa, Mr. Melvin Seinhorst himself appeared in the outer room off of his office and hardily agreed to meet with me. After a powerful handshake, Mr. Seinhorst ushered me into his inner chambers. Our meeting ended up being one of the kindest gestures of my sales career. This busy man actually spent his valuable time listening to what a young rookie salesman had to say.


I wish I could tell him today how much that moment meant to me, because it gave me the continued confidence to call on anyone, at any level of business. After the meeting, my career was off and running, and I feared no one. This newfound confidence, I am certain, led to my success.

If you are struggling to decide how to get started and how to get your confidence up, try calling on the most prominent person or account you have. Try the one that you may have been avoiding out of fear. Step right up and do it. You will certainly learn something positive from it, and you will likely gain immeasureable confidence for the future.

Everyone Has Their Own Style

Once you have read my Top 10 Most Effective Sales Tips article listed below, think of how you can incorporate them into your own personal sales style.

No one does something exactly the same way as someone else. Each of us must find a method to use information in the best way that suits our own individual manor of doing things. Otherwise, what ever it is that we are doing won’t be as effective and will seem disingenuous to those around us.

It is probably in your best interest when selling to avoid doing something that doesn't come naturally. Always attempt to do what comes naturally. That way you will be relaxed on sales calls and it will be noticed by your prospects. They will gain confidence in your abilities when they observe your self-confident demeanor. The more you can be yourself on a sales call the more comfortable you will be and consequently, less prone to make a big mistake. Being comfortable and confident with a prospect leads to sales success.

We all have fears and worry about our inadequacies on sales calls. However, they can work in your favor if you present them appropriately. For example, you might say to a prospect, “I'm always hesitant when it comes time to ask for the order, but I guess I should at this point, so…may I have the order please?” This type of non-confrontational entry into a crucial segment of the sales call will put both you and your prospect at ease. It can be a very tense moment when it's time to ask for the order. However, you have just broken the proverbial “ice” with your honest comment. Try this with your own personal style. I think you will like the outcome.

The Top 10 Most Effective Sales Tips

Welcome to the Top 10 Most Effective Sales Tips website.

I want to help you quickly become very successful in sales and start to enjoy the many rewards that come with sales success. There is nothing to buy. Everything here is free for your use.

In the course of selling over a billion dollars worth of both small and big–ticket items, I have won numerous sales awards including Salesperson of the Year at two Fortune 500 companies. Also, I was named a member of the nations Top 25 Sales Force by Sales & Marketing Management Magazine.

Having spent thirty-three years in the business of direct sales, I have attended many of the most popular sales seminars and I have read about all different kinds of sales strategies needed to be successful. The truth of matter is that using my Top Ten Most Effective Sales Tips can make it all happen for you a lot easier and a lot quicker. From all of this experience I have boiled down for you the ten best sales tips for success that you will ever receive.

My Top Ten Most Effective Sales Tips listed below are not necessarily new or revolutionary. As a matter of fact, you may have seen or heard variations on some of them by others. What I am giving you that is different is a condensed version of the best-of-the-best in sales tips that, over my sales career, have worked day-in and day-out for me and the majority of the most successful sales people I’ve known. These tips are not snake oil on paper. They are proven and highly effective. All you need to do to increase your sales success is try them.

If you genuinely want to significantly improve your sales results quickly then print out my Top Ten Most Effective Sales Tips Summary located at the end and reference them prior to making your next sales calls. These tried and true tips are not listed in any order of importance, and should be viewed as equally important parts of the sales cycle. Always keep the list handy. Refer to the tip list often until using all of the tips become a habit. You will start to see positive results immediately.

I welcome any feedback on your successes once you begin to routinely implement these sales tips.

Thanks and good selling!



1. Time Kills Deals:

The majority of sales are made in a logical and often predictable time frame. While most sales cycles are not linear, they have a logical beginning, middle, and end. With even a little sales experience, you know instinctively if the decision to buy your product is taking too long. Actually, once you get the feeling that your prospect is ignoring you for a few minutes, hours, or even days, you are probably already at risk of losing the sale. If you let this instinct go unresolved, you will likely spend hours brooding over the possibility of losing the sale. This is wasted sales energy. To avoid wasting your valuable time and increasing your productivity, you must make contact with your prospect the moment you feel the sales cycle has gone beyond its logical decision timeframe.

You can recover from the known, but rarely from the unknown. Find out what is going on! Finding out early in the sales cycle that you will not be getting the order you had hoped for is a much better result than letting the sales cycle continue unresolved. By getting the bad news early you may have time to recover and perhaps undo their commitment to your competition. Try not to be a pest, but do not wait around hoping to hear from your prospect if you are expecting a purchase decision on your product. If you wait too long, they may already be using your competition's product and you will have little chance to undo what has been done.


2. Ask the 2nd-Level Question:

If your prospect is not prepared to make a purchase, they will often try to delay making a decision on your product by referring to it negatively. Don’t let this behavior deter you. Ask a simple “Why?” or "Why not?" type of question when this happens. If, for example, your prospect says they don’t like your product's style, color, shape, or whatever the objection, ask them “Why not?”. This simple question will cause them to actually think about what they said. Their objection to your product may even sound as silly to them as it did to you once they have had to think about it and defend it. To prevent themselves from sounding completely incompetent, they will have to come up with a plausible explanation for their comment. They probably will end up realizing that it isn’t really an objection after all. This “revelation” will lead to additional dialog with you. Having an actual dialog with an obstinate customer is exactly what you want and will evolve into even more conversation about your product which can help you overcome the objection and go on to make the sale.

Try to handle objections with a simple "why?" or "why not?" response. You will be surprised at its effectiveness.


3. Selling Begins With “No”:

Think about it. If everyone said yes when asked to buy your product, your sales skills wouldn’t be needed by your company. The skill of selling begins when someone says no to purchasing your product. “No” rarely means a definitive “NEVER!”, it most often means that your prospect doesn’t know enough about your product, you, your company, your pricing structure, or a combination of these, to make a purchase decision at that moment. If you have been stopped cold with a “NO” comment, be prepared to react quickly with a relevant response that reflects a positive characteristic about the objection. Ask them if they would “allow” you to give them a few more details. Most people will respond to the word “allow” in a positive manner because they don’t want to not “allow” you to speak to them. Asking a prospect to “allow” you to do something or say something is a very powerful sales tool. Doing this will help soften your prospect’s resistance toward purchasing your product. It will also lead to more dialog which will help you to obtain a sale.


4. Build Relationships:

Whenever possible, try to get to know your prospect well professionally and, if appropriate, personally. Building a strong relationship with a prospect nearly always leads to a sale. You don’t have to be your prospect’s best friend, just show an interest in them personally and share with them a few personal things about yourself. You may find you have common interests. I have learned over the years that it is very difficult for a prospect to say “NO” to your product when they feel there is a strong relationship between you and them. At the very least, they will tell you what you may be competing against. A strong relationship with a prospect will help keep the possibility of purchasing your product active until a final decision is made.

Don’t limit yourself to building relationships with just your prospects. Building a solid relationship with those that support your sales effort is also very important to your success. Groups like suppliers, service technicians, shipping department, home office staff, and many others all contribute to your success. Identify and focus on the key players on your product support team. If you give them the attention and credit they deserve, things with start happening for you that you never could get accomplished in the past. Building a strong relationship with your support team will greatly enhance your sales success.


5. Follow Up:

This tip is a no-brainer! Did you know that one of the biggest complaints customers have about their sales representative is the lack of follow up after the sale has been made? The simple act of making a follow up phone call or visit AFTER the sale has been made will save you hours of misery later on if there is a problem. You will gain the respect of your customer and you will begin to build a relationship that will almost always bring even more business later on. Do not overlook this step if you want to be a successful sales person.


6. Ask A Question, Wait For An Answer:

Asking a question and not waiting for the answer is, to me, one of the most consistent mistakes unsuccessful sales people make. I have witnessed sales persons asking a prospect a very important question only to interrupt before they were done with their answer. Not only is this behavior rude, but it prevents you from finding out valuable information. Remember, information is the main ingredient to making the sale. Without knowing what is going on with your prospect and their surroundings you will likely fail because you will probably miss an important bit of information that could be a key factor in the sales cycle. The best sales people I know are careful listeners, not smooth talkers.


7. Be Prepared To Close The Sale:

About ten years ago a young man called on my office to sell me a copier. He went through the standard pitch and noticed that I had a few sales awards mounted on the wall behind my desk. After a brief chat about them the eager vendor asked me how I became such an effective and successful salesperson. It totally shocked him when I said “by watching Muhammad Ali fight.” “Ali?”, he asked, “Why him?” I told the dumbfounded fellow it was because Ali knew when and how to close the sale. I explained that by watching his fights I observed that Muhammad Ali would be playful and friendly prior to entering the ring, then, once in the ring, he would spar back and forth with his opponent when suddenly he would sense that one of his punches caused his worthy foe to let his guard down ever so slightly. He instinctively knew at that moment he had hurt the other fellow and it was time to knock him out. Ali no longer was playful. He was focused on the task at hand. He knew why he was in the ring. He became determined to end the fight. His eyes would become smaller and his punches were powerful and on target. He was using all of his resources and experience to gain the knock out…he was closing the sale.

Over my career in sales, I tried to emulate these traits as often as I could and they helped me to close many sales. I would begin the sales cycle with a playful and friendly demeanor. Over time, I would “spar” back and forth with my prospect, sometimes gaining and sometimes losing ground. Then, suddenly, I would sense that I had just said or done something that triggered a genuine interest in my product. The prospect was letting his guard down ever so slightly. I became very focused on the task at hand; to make a sale. Slowly and resolutely I would use all my resources and experience to gain the “knock out”…I was closing the sale. I’ll bet the copier salesperson never looked at selling the same way again.

It is crucial that in the process of closing the sale you at some point ask for the order. It is amazing to me that this fundamental of sales is so often overlooked in the sales cycle. I have literally asked for an order many times and received the same response from my prospect, that of “ I wondered when you were going to get to that. Let’s do it!” Remember, when you ask for the order, wait for the answer. It is the kiss-of-death for you to speak first after asking this important question. Force yourself to wait for the answer no matter how painful this may be. It works.

If the answer is “no” then ask the 2nd level question, “Why not?” and wait for the answer. Don’t give up or give in. Try to go from that point until there is another opportunity to ask for the order. You will definitely close more sales if you follow this process.


8. Prospects Buy From People They Like:

We naturally tend to buy from people we like more often than from people we don’t like. Each of us has purchased something that we may not have really needed just because we liked the sales person. I’ve done it more than once, for sure. It is just the same for your prospects. They generally prefer to buy from the sales people they like. This is true at all levels of sales. Liking the person one is dealing with is critical for the prospect if they are going to make a significant purchase. The higher the purchase price of your product the more important this is for them. The reason this is true is because the prospect knows that if they buy your expensive product they are likely to spend a lot of time with you over the next few days, weeks, months, or even years.

It’s not very difficult to be liked by your prospect. Think back on the traits possessed by the person you recently bought something from that was close to stretching your budget. Were they polite? Did they seem very interested in you being a happy customer rather than just a customer? Were they respectful? Did they make you laugh? Did they include your spouse in the decision making process? Did they give you your space while you were trying to make a decision? Give some serious thought as to the characteristics displayed by the sales person that you liked. A significant portion of your purchase decision was likely based on the fact that you genuinely liked or even trusted your sales person very quickly. A buying decision isn’t always about the product you are selling or its price. Like you, a buying decision can be greatly influenced by how comfortable the prospect feels with you and how trustworthy you seem to them in terms of providing the follow up support that they feel may be required.


9. Keep Good Notes:

Keeping good notes on prospects and customers was very crucial to my success. Until the advent of hand-held digital storage devices, I used a weekly planner for the majority of my notes with a manila file folder as a backup for key documents. The personal digital assistant type device works even more effectively because you can transfer notes to your personal computer files. However, the weekly planner was easy to use and for illustrative purposes, I will describe how I used it. I would bring it to all meetings with my prospects and customers. If the person I was meeting with inadvertently gave me an insight into their personal life, such as “I can’t stay later than 4:30 because my son has a Little League game tonight”, I would make a note about it and call the prospect the next day to inquire how their son did in his Little League game. To their delight (and mine) they would spend considerable time on the phone with me. Or if you are in a group meeting, you can easily pick up little tidbits of personal information just by listening to the banter among the attendees at the meeting such as favorite meeting places after work or inter-office news. This can be used to your advantage when the appropriate circumstances permit .

Notes can be very effective in developing personal relationships with your prospects, but they can be a lifesaver when it comes to following up on a commitment you have given. I have made the mistake of saying to a prospect, “ I’ll check on that and get back to you.” Then I proceeded to leave the meeting and forget all about the commitment made. This is not good and sends a very bad signal to the prospect about their treatment in the future. I learned to make a note in my planner the second I made a commitment. Your prospect will notice that you have taken the time to write it down and you will gain their respect when you follow up on a timely basis. Remember, follow up is extremely important to your prospects and customers. Keeping good notes on the general content of meetings you attend, and the phone calls, emails, and text messages you make will greatly enhance your chances to succeed with a sale.

10: Obtain A Commitment:

It is important to have a reason to follow up with a prospect. Ask them to allow you to make a follow up phone call, personal visit, e-mail, or text message to answer a lingering question or to provide additional important product information. Offer to send them a proposal, product video or brochure. Invite them to attend a product demonstration, factory visit, lunch, dinner, or sporting event. With whatever reason that seems appropriate and timely, get your prospect to commit to allowing you back in their door in some fashion.

I have always felt that if, after an interaction of any length with a prospect, I obtained a follow up commitment from them of any kind, then I had a successful sales call. Being allowed to continue to build a relationship with my prospect was a victory in itself. The smallest reason to continue to talk and interact with your prospect can lead to the biggest sales.



TOP 10 MOST EFFECTIVE SALES TIPS
SUMMARY

1. TIME KILLS DEALS
Don’t wait to find out what is going on in the sales cycle.

2. ASK THE 2ND LEVEL QUESTION
When an objection arises, ask “why?”.

3. SELLING BEGINS WITH “NO”
“No” doesn’t mean “NEVER”.

4. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS
Try to form a close professional bond with prospects, customers, and support team.

5. FOLLOW UP
Do not overlook this step if you want to be a successful sales person.

6. ASK A QUESTION, WAIT FOR AN ANSWER
Information is the main ingredient to making the sale.

7. BE PREPARED TO CLOSE THE SALE
It is crucial that in the process of closing the sale you at some point ask for the order.

8. PROSPECTS BUY FROM PEOPLE THEY LIKE
We naturally tend to buy from people we like more often than from people we don’t like.

9. KEEP GOOD NOTES
Your prospect will notice that you have taken the time to make notes on important issues.

10. OBTAIN A COMMITMENT
The smallest reason to continue to interact with your prospect can lead to the biggest sales.