Prospecting:
This is the beginning of the sales process
and the most important part. If you have enough qualified
prospects in the front end of your sales pipeline, you will
almost inevitably get enough completed sales out of the other
end of the pipeline.
A prospect is defined as “someone who can and will buy
and pay for your product or service within a reasonable period
of time.”
A prospect is not someone who likes you or what you sell.
It is someone who has the money, the need, and the authority
to buy what you sell, combined with an intense desire to enjoy
the benefits of your offering as soon as possible.
A good prospect is someone who likes and respects you and
your company, wants and needs what you are selling, has the
money and the power to make a buying decision, and is ready
to move ahead with the buying decision as quickly as possible.
A prospect is not someone who likes you but has no
money, no authority, no need, and no urgency. A prospect is
not someone who might buy your product or service in a year
or two. A prospect is someone who puts food on the table
today.
Your job is to find as many of them as possible by clearly
identifying your ideal prospects and then focusing all of your
time, all day long, on speaking to more of these people.
Presenting:
Presenting is the inner game of selling. Your
ability to establish rapport and trust, identify the true problem or
needs of the prospect, and then show the prospect that your
product or service is, all things considered, the ideal solution for
him is the key to sales success.
The good news is that all sales skills are learned. Some of
the highest paid and most successful salespeople in the world
The Principle of Simplicity—Take the Direct Approach
today could at one time not sell their way across the street. But
they settled down and studied selling and the sales profession.
They learned the critical skills. They memorized the right questions
to ask and the correct responses to customer concerns
and objections. They planned their work and worked their
plan. As a result, they got better and better, and eventually they
sold more and more.
The more of your product you sell, the easier it becomes for
you to sell even more of it. You become more knowledgeable
and skilled about the sales process. You become more familiar
with the most common concerns of the prospects you speak to.
Soon you learn how to identify and isolate a good prospect in a
few seconds of conversation. You learn how to identify the “hot
buttons” of a particular prospect and focus your presentation
on satisfying the most important needs he has.
Follow Up and Close:
In golf they say, “You drive for
show but you putt for dough.” In sales, you prospect and present
for show, but you close for dough. Your ability to overcome
the final objections and then get the customer to take
action on your offer is the critical part of modern selling.
Take the time to think through and identify your ideal customer,
based on the benefits you sell and the needs you satisfy.
Use your creativity and imagination to find more and more of
these ideal prospects. Learn how to present your product persuasively
so that your prospect considers you and your company
to be the ideal choice. Finally, learn how to ask for the
order and get the customer to make a buying decision.
The more of these three tasks you perform, and the better
you get at each one, the simpler and easier selling will be for
you, and the more money you will earn.