Sales Tip of the Iceberg
September 2, 2010
Contributed by CRT Sponsor Darren Cecil, Owner, San Diego Sandler Training Center
Like the iceberg that sank the Titanic, there are at least four major weaknesses lurking beneath the surface of any potential new hire and perhaps even your current sales force. Don’t wait till your ship starts taking on water to uncover and shore up any potential threats.
Ice Issue in the Need for Approval
When salespeople need approval from prospects, they are unable to close effectively. They cling to comments like, “we really appreciate what you did for us”. They are too fearful to get the business. They usually find it difficult to ask tough questions because they’re afraid to upset prospects.
Freezing due to Emotional Involvement
Some salespeople are worriers. They strategize on the fly, are excitable, creative, or analytical. After a sales call you might hear them say, “Oh jeez! I should have said…” They weren’t able to execute during the call because they were caught off guard, became emotional, and over-analyzed. Panicking, they began to think about how they would handle the obstacle. When your salespeople talk to themselves they can’t effectively listen to their prospect.
Icicles in Non-Supportive Buy Cycles
Buy Cycle refers to how your salespeople make purchases for themselves. They will tolerate bad behavior from their prospects when it is similar to their own. A buy cycle that fails to mirror a proper selling process causes many obstacles your salespeople have been unable to handle. Anyone who bargain shops, does extensive research, and clips coupons will be more vulnerable to stalls, put offs, lies, excuses, procrastinators, comparison shoppers, sob stories and other forms of “think it overs.”.
Cold Feet Talking About Money
My parents told me never to ask questions about how much money people made, had, or merely mention the word money. Discussing money is impolite. Right? Wrong.
When salespeople are uncomfortable talking about money, they can’t ask a prospect how much money (s)he has, where it might be coming from, or how to come up with more. Therefore, they fail to accurately learn how much money a prospect will spend with them. This becomes even more difficult when the prospect is equally uncomfortable.
You run a tight ship and don’t shuffle the deck chairs on the Titanic. You systematically assess all your new hires freezing out anyone who can’t or won’t sell at the margins you require. You also have a good plan for supporting your existing team so these icy issues don’t cause their blood to run cold. As a result your sales are hot.
If for any reason you want a screening or a sales force evaluation process more streamlined and fluid, please contact us at the Sandler Training at 619 295-2222 or check out www.sdsales.sandler.com and we will help your ship come in.
Darren works with CEO’s, sales managers, and sales people on taking control of the sales process, shortening sales cycle times, eliminating the frustrations and disappointments of an erratic sales process and implementing a selling system that produces predictable and consistent results while protecting all parties involved. Darren Cecil worked with major corporations such as Qualcomm, Toyota, Genoptix and the National Football League.
Darren attended Emerson College for his bachelors degree and graduated with his masters degree from The Ohio State University. He has a scholarship named after him at Emerson College entitled the Darren Cecil Scholarship.
In addition to his professional work in the San Diego business community, Darren is very active in local civic organizations such as The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, the San Diego Rotary Club 33, a Board Member of The Executives Association of San Diego and the Chairmens Round Table. He is also a national speaker and published author. He is married and has 3 children.
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