9 things to consider when getting started

Mastering the art of sales requires more than just knowing techniques; it's about building relationships and understanding your audience. This episode discusses key insights for new salespeople, from the importance of cold calling to fostering genuine connections and follow-ups. 

1. Get comfortable with cold calling
2. Pushing for ongoing contracts instead of focusing only on new business 
3. Build long-term relationships rather than seeking quick sales 
4. Networking through various platforms to increase visibility 
5. Consider the significance of generosity in client interactions 
6. Following up consistently after initial meetings for relationship building 
7. Avoiding the trap of perfection before starting outreach 
8. Steering clear of comparing products with competitors 
9. Understanding and engaging directly with the target audience

Chapters

• 0:00 Sales Training and Relationship Building
• 13:10 Effective Sales Follow Up Strategies

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:12

Hello, again, I was doing some reading. I do a bit of reading, believe it or not, before I do these podcasts, because, first of all, I'm really interested in hearing from you if there are any particular topics you'd like me to cover, and also, hopefully, obviously, you'll know that I offer a sales training course, an online training course, so there are core elements of that that I'm not going to talk about in a podcast, obviously, because then you might as well just hang on in there and get the whole course for free. But I do like to talk about other things that sit on the edge of the course, and there may be things I hadn't particularly thought about, or there might be current things, or just sort of incidental things that perhaps don't warrant too much time on their own, or it may be things that, through reading other people's material, I get a different, slightly different take on that subject from what I would give it. And that's really what's happened with this podcast, because I was just flicking through some old articles and in fact, this one is from Forbes magazine, from I think it was 2021. And it talks about nine things that new people to sales, and particularly entrepreneurs, perhaps should consider or think about before they get into sales or when they start looking at sales, or perhaps the areas that give them a lot of difficulty, where they tend to make the most mistakes in sales. So I'm going to really just run through. These are pretty much the headings actually. So what I tend to do is jot down the headings. I don't read the text often, sometimes at all, and I just like to. It just gets me thinking. So what you're getting is my take on these particular subjects. So I'm going to dive in because I'm sure you can't wait to familiarize, give you something useful here.

Speaker 1: 2:07

So the first one is to get comfortable with cold calling, and I would say certainly from my experience doing direct sales, excuse me, I would say certainly from my experience doing direct sales, excuse me, cold calling is one of those things that most salespeople really dislike and will almost do anything to avoid either picking up the phone or walking into a business or whatever form your cold calling takes. But the truth of it is that without cold calling, it can be very difficult to get your business going. Now this applies much more to a business where you are focused on a particular geographical area. So it may be that you're in a big city and that's where your clients are. And in that kind of situation it does make a lot of sense to go cold calling and just chat to people and get yourself known.

Speaker 1: 3:01

But I think the important thing here, and I think what helps people to get comfortable with the idea of cold calling, is to just develop a routine. And I've certainly spoken about this before, because I remember talking to a friend of mine who was a bit of an entrepreneur and he would drop into he was selling into different shops in the town where he lived. But when we started to talk about what he was doing, I realized his whole approach was wrong, his whole expectation was wrong. And what I mean by that is that when he went in to just talk to somebody, his intention was to come away with a sale and really, in my opinion, that was setting the bar way too high. And the reason for that is simply that most people are pretty busy. Most people don't look forward to the next salesperson walking through the door trying to sell them something that's not likely to be the high point of their day. So and you may well recognize that you might well be in exactly the same position if you have a physical business, physical office and people coming in trying to sell you things. I'm sure you're not terribly happy about that in most situations. So what is the way to get around that? What I did with him was just say, well, let's just lower the bar somewhat and when you go in there, just introduce yourself, acknowledge that they're busy and just say look, I offer this service, offer these products. I'd really like to talk to you about them, particularly as other. I'm talking to other people with similar businesses, but I recognize now isn't likely to be a good time.

Speaker 1: 4:36

So is. Is there a time when I could come by, maybe buy a cup of coffee and just have a chat about what I do? The point about that is to make it as low key as possible. There's a little bit of social proof in there as well, if you are listening out and you're aware of those things. So other people also using the service, and these little things are good to remember. When it comes to talking to people, we like to have a bit of social truth Sorry, social proof. Social truth is good as well, but not many of us like to be out on our own trying new things and doing things that nobody else is doing. So if you can involve something like that, that's great.

Speaker 1: 5:16

But the most important thing is to set up a meeting, because and it doesn't have to be very long, it could be 10 minutes but if you have done that, you're doing a couple of things. One is you're respecting their time and secondly, when you go in for the meeting and again, I wouldn't go into that meeting hoping to make a sale, but I would go in there hoping to move the prospect of a sale forwards. So that might be getting an agreement to do some sort of an evaluation or some other thing or try some kid out, whatever it might be, but look at the stages of your sales process and just use each meeting and each contact as a way of moving things forward. Now, that doesn't mean that you won't get a sale and in fact you're probably more likely to get a sale if you take that more low-key approach. Because if you think about it, the person that you're speaking to is likely to not feel particularly pressured to buy anything. Again, most of us, when we're not feeling pressured to buy something, we're probably more likely to buy it. So have a think about that.

Speaker 1: 6:24

So the second point here was push every lead for ongoing contracts, and that's another thing to recognize that when you do talk to people, don't focus on new business. Look at what they're currently doing. What service or product are they using which you could replace? And just have a chat to them about it. See what the strengths and weaknesses are. What would they like to see, what would be different. Again, don't push hard on the sale, but just have a chat. And I think this is key thing about effective selling it's to make it pretty low key. But from your perspective, you're definitely running with an agenda, you're looking for information, you're looking at ways you can perhaps wean them off whatever they're currently using to at least give you a shot at putting your product in.

Speaker 1: 7:08

The third thing here is view sales as chance to create a long-term relationship. I think that's really important because it depends on what you're selling. I mean, it might be a one-off thing, but for most of us, we're probably selling things where we're looking at repeat business, or if you're not looking at repeat business, then you're definitely looking for referrals. So don't treat each encounter as an opportunity to make a sale and run, which is how some people operate, some salespeople operate, but look at it as an opportunity to just start a relationship. So, again, that takes the pressure off making the initial sale. You've got time then to have a conversation. You've got time to talk about other people. They know who they might be able to refer you to, and all of that is really really important and very valuable stuff.

Speaker 1: 8:01

The fourth thing the fourth point sorry, I'll try and say that is just to find ways to connect with other people. So it's particularly difficult when you're just starting because you are completely unknown and, again, depending where you are, there are different ways of doing it. So I've already spoken about cold calling and spent a reasonable amount of time talking about cold calling for the length of this podcast, and that is definitely an important one if you are working in a specific area, a geographical area. But there are other things you can do, and it might be reaching out through LinkedIn. If you're looking at professional services, obviously there's Facebook and with these packages, with these platforms, often you can identify people by their interests or you can identify aspects of what they do that are relevant to whatever it is that you're offering.

Speaker 1: 8:55

Podcasting is another one, which is a way of getting your name out there, which is obviously one of the things I do, and the reason that I do podcasts, is it does a couple of things. One is it gets my name out there, but secondly, it allows it's kind of like an automatic filter, because if you've listened this far, the chances are that you like what I'm talking about or you might not listen again after this podcast. But if you do like the way I'm presenting information, if you do feel that I know what I'm talking about and you want to go and listen to the next podcast, then each podcast that level of trust and familiarity grows. And what you need to do, obviously when you're selling anything, is to be an expert really, or at least be seen to be knowledgeable, to know what you're talking about. So podcasting, I think, is a very good way of doing that, and it requires time, obviously, but I think it can be quite effective. So it's something to think about.

Speaker 1: 9:59

Another thing that they've listed as number five is to consider the value of generosity, and what was meant by that is to step back from just being rather cynically making a sale and then moving on. It's something that I talk about a lot and it's regarding sales as really being in service to your client. It's about helping your client to be successful, and the reason that I tend to stress this is that, again, it does a couple of things. One is it takes the pressure off you, because it's not about you and making that sale, because if you see enough people, you're going to do the business, if you've got a good product and you know what you're talking about and you're qualifying correctly. I mean, obviously these things all need to happen, but if you are doing all of that, then the sales will come. But if you are doing all of that, then the sales will come. Secondly, I think it puts you in a much better place in terms of just connecting with another human being and helping them to move forward, and they'll kind of pick up on that.

Speaker 1: 11:08

What we're very good at as people is we read energetically where other people are coming from, and what I mean by that is that you may well have walked into a room, for example, where a couple of people just had a blazing route. Now they might not have been shouting for a minute or two hopefully there's no broken furniture everywhere but you may have had that feeling. When you walk into a room, you know things aren't right. There's something going on between these two people, even though nothing is being said. And that's what I mean about picking up energetically what's going on. And in exactly that way, if you've got a salesperson who is stressed, perhaps because they're really worried about making their numbers for the week or the month whatever it is they might be worried about losing their job and everything that goes with that that will come across energetically. So the further you can distance yourself from that, the better, because when we get that vibe, we don't know specifically what that vibe is about, but we feel that things aren't right, something's wrong there, and then most people are going to be a lot more cautious about committing to go with that person. So if you go in and you're a bit tense and you're stressed and it's all about you making that sale, you can be subconsciously putting up a wall that will stop you making that sale. So this can really work against you. So if your focus is on helping the person that you're talking to, that means you're going to be listening to them, you're going to be open to what they say. It means that the chances are you'll have a much better conversation with them than your competitors will, because they may well be stressed out or just wanting to make the next sale and get on with it, not really be that interested. So do take a step back, take a deep breath and then really ask questions and really understand where your client is coming from and what you need to do to help them to be successful.

Speaker 1: 13:10

Now the sixth item on the list was follow up after the initial sales meeting. That is really important and I think it ties back in with regarding the meetings. Or certainly the first meeting is the start of a long term relationship. You have a long term relationship with someone because you talk to them regularly. It might not be that frequently, but it happens regularly or fairly regularly over a period of time. So do follow up after the initial sales meeting, the initial conversation. What I like to do myself is to just say at the end of the meeting look, I'd like to follow up in a week or two, whatever's appropriate here, you know, but just get their agreement and then make sure you do it. I write it in my diary. That's the way I like to operate. But find a method that works for you so that when you say you're going to do something, you do it, because that also is really important. Can't stress that enough. But do have those follow up conversations. Again can be pretty low key, just follow up on how things are going. Has anything changed Again? Don't pressure the client. Most people don't respond well to being pressured and they'll tend to push back against it.

Speaker 1: 14:24

Start sooner rather than later is another one that came up, and what they were talking about there was kind of getting all their ducks in the road. This was new products or new business, getting everything perfect before you start. And honestly it's not worth the trouble because first of all, very few of us are able to get anything perfect, and I mean I can use this podcast as an example, because I very rarely edit my podcast. It's me chatting and I do that because this is the way I am. This is what people buy when they buy me as a service, and I like to be pretty upfront about what you're going to get. So some people love it to be polished and perfect and in some ways that can actually put people off. So don't worry too much about that. And really, the sooner you get started the better, because as soon as you start getting out there and talking to people, you start finding out what works, what doesn't. Maybe things you thought you needed to do you don't need to do. It's actually the wrong thing. Maybe you need to change direction a little bit, all those kinds of things. But the sooner you can get that intelligence the better, because then you will start to see success.

Speaker 1: 15:34

Number eight was try not to get caught up in comparisons and what's meant by that and I've seen this a lot, particularly with new salespeople. They will start talking about their product or their service, but in the context of how it differs from the competition. Now there's a couple of reasons why this isn't a good move. The first one is that what you're doing is you're talking about your competition for one thing. So, as you're trying to put your competition down, you might actually say something about a competitive product or service which this prospective client thinks oh, hang on, that could be quite useful for me, I hadn't thought of. That prospective client thinks, oh, hang on, that could be quite useful for me, I hadn't thought of that. So you don't really want to be putting ideas in their head about how competitive products or services might help them. Secondly, assuming they do buy from you, they're not going to buy you and the competitor, so the competitor isn't going to be there.

Speaker 1: 16:25

So what's much, much more important is to talk about the benefits of your solution to that particular person. And how do you know what the benefits are? So it's nothing to do with the features and advantages. If you know about fabs, features, advantages, benefits everything has features. Features are simply, you know how many megabytes or how big it is or how small, or how hot, cold, whatever you know physical things that can be measured or specified. So they're the features and they're neither here nor there in many regards. But are they an advantage? Well, it depends what the person is doing. And are they a benefit to the client? Well, you only know that when you understand how they intend to use it and what they're trying to achieve. So it is really important that you talk about your solution and you listen and see so that you can understand how well it's like to be able to help this person.

Speaker 1: 17:21

Okay, and then the final thing, number nine, is to study your target audience, is to study your target audience. And look, it's relatively easy. I mean, particularly these days with the internet, it's pretty easy to start Googling all sorts of things about your prospective clients and get a lot of information online and maybe people have done studies and that can be useful. So that gives you one layer of knowledge and it gives you certain insights into what they might be looking for. But for me, what's always far more important is to talk to people. Talk to people who you think are the kind of people that will want to buy your product, service, whatever, and by talking to them, you really will then get really direct feedback about just how good a fit you are in reality.

Speaker 1: 18:19

And it may also be and this is where this geographical thing can come in it may well be that in certain areas, certain advantages, certain features of your offering are more useful, whereas in other areas they're not so useful. There are other things that are more important. So, by all means, google away and do what you need to do on the internet, but the people that you're really interested in are your primary target customer base. And again, if it's a geographical area that you're working, then what do the people in that area need? What's most important to them, and I think the only way that you will get a really good feel for that is by going out and talking to them.

Speaker 1: 19:03

So that's it for this podcast. I hope that's given you some useful thoughts and ideas, as always. Please check out my training course, because there's lots and lots of this stuff in the course, and it's constructed in such a way that you can get moving and start seeing a change in your results as quickly as possible, as quickly as you can implement them. And also, if there are things you'd like me to talk about, please send me an email to graham at salescrafttraining. So that's it. I will speak to you in the next podcast. Bye for now.