Feed your hunger pains

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In business, nothing matters more than selling your products or services. It doesn’t matter how educated your recent hires are, or how cool your website is or how great your plants market are if your company can’t sell. And then when sales do occur, it’s as if they are an unquenchable thirst or an insatiable appetite – you want more. So if you’ve got sales “hunger pains.” Here are 5 techniques you can implement to get more sales today.

Technique #1 – Give it away!

That’s right, give it away. No, not the farm — your experience. Your customers are concerned about where they are and how they’re going to get back to level ground. And your plants can perform better than others, right? Well let your customers know. Offer your experience as the differentiator amongst your competition and you’ll rise to the top. Your customers will love you more and they’ll receive even more value from the prodcuts you provide.

Technique #2 – Get referrals.

Nothing is such sweet music as is the soothing sound of a phone ringing from a referral. Why? Because referred customers are nearly 80 percent sold on you already, thanks to your customer base. Converting them the remaining 20 percent of the way is a no-brainer. However, most salespeople rarely get this opportunity because they never take the time to buckle-back to their customer base and ask for the referral. Contact those people you’re already doing business with and up your level of service. Once you have, ask them who you might be able to contact that would enjoy a similar level of service.

Technique #3 – Introduce yourself with influence.

The first step to meeting a new client is an introduction. The way you’ve introduced yourself in the past won’t work anymore. Imagine your prospective client answering their phone and hearing: “Hello, Ms. Jones, this is John Doe calling from Company XYZ, how are you today? Did I catch you at a great time?” You’re going to have to be a lot stronger. You’re going to have to introduce yourself as an expert. How? You don’t have 30 seconds to rattle off your resume and talk about the degrees and certifications on the walls. You’ve got just two seconds. Immediately introduce yourself and say who referred you: “Hello, Ms. Jones, this is Sam Palazzolo. Jane Doe recommended that I give you a call and here’s why.” This is much better, and straight to the point of why you are calling. Your prospect is going to want to know why Jane suggested you to call them. Notice you should not say your company name or title. Why not? Simple answer: they don’t care. It just gets in the way right now. There will be plenty of time to tell them where you work later.

Technique #4 – Know thy stuff.

If you are going to tee yourself up with the line “…referred me and here’s why…” the next information out of your mouth had better be the good stuff. It’s the merits of why this person would want to do business with you. Rank order your merits regarding why the customer should do business with you versus your competition.

Technique #5 – Perfect practice makes perfect.

There’s a simple recipe as to why people succeed; work hard and work smart. Here’s your opportunity to do both. Practice the merits of your argument and know them inside and out. When you present them to a prospective client, start with the important items and work toward the really important ones. But before you communicate the most important merit that drives the most ROI for your prospect, do something no one else will do. Know the negatives of doing business with your company. If it has lost you a sale in the past, it’s a negative. This is something advertisers discovered years ago which will make you an instant authority. You will gain incredible ground in the “trustworthy and credibility” areas. In a matter of seconds, you can accomplish what would otherwise take you weeks, months or years.