EARNING THEIR BUSINESS

Customers love to be sold ! That statement may or may not be acceptable to you but whatever you think isn't important. It's what the customer thinks that is important.

Keep in mind that we are speaking of professional buyers; people who have the responsibility of purchasing for their organization products or services that become the basis of what they offer or need to support what they offer. We are speaking of professional buyers who have been trained and seen literally thousands of salespeople over the length of their career in procurement.

These professional buyers are for the most part very able to recognize the varying degrees of competency in professional salespeople. They are very familiar with being solicited, cold called, voice mails, emails, mailings, etc. along with follow up and / or follow through. They respect what the salesperson has learned about their organization, their needs, and their need to justify whatever they decide to purchase to their chain of command ( change or new directions must be justified with cold hard facts ).

They can tell by the types of questions asked, the ability to listen, and the level of professional persistence utilized whether they want to find a way to buy from this particular salesperson.

They easily recognize whether they really want a relationship with this individual. They recognize communication skills, thoroughness, level of preparedness, and innovative ways of getting their attention. And most important they gain immense respect and admiration for professional salespeople. They want to give their business to someone whom they feel has "EARNED" the opportunity to sell them.

It is very likely that your company or your industry has done focus groups where we get a group of your potential and / or existing customers together and ask for their opinions and feedback about their needs, wants, and insights. Their comments about salespeople are always very inciteful. I could go on and on about their specific comments but I'll just mention for now the two most prominent. 1. Salespeople are usually very poor listeners. 2. Salespeople really don't understand what we are all about, what we do , and what we need - in other words - they come to a presentation or meeting less prepared than needed from a buyer's perspective ( their discovery process stinks ).

Where do you stand in this perspective ?

I didn't mention the economy today - I'm tired of talking about it. We need to find buyers !

NOW GO SELL SOMETHING - YOUR BABY NEEDS A NEW PAIR OF SHOES !