December, 2011
Personal Blog
The world reveals information bit by bit. Sometimes, it comes out obvious. Othertimes, it comes out subtle. It's hard to imagine that there are so many things that a person can't spot in the open. How to pick up chicks? How to sell? or the one of ive been trying to figure out. How to get to the top 10%.

October, 2011
Notes taken from multiple different books

FROM THE BOOK PERSONALITY PROFILES (DISC)
(CLICK ON THIS LINK)

REFERRALS
SalesProA
You said you have 3 more business. You know when I can go by and set
them up with the savings right now?

SalesProB
You said you have a two split house who's the next one. You know
anyone else who would like to save money right now?

SalesProC
Your gonna love it (door knock close) Just finished the deal and its
more relaxed.

Oh btw do you know anyone who would like the same benefits that you
just got right now?

oh no no no ill do all the work for you.

The first 4 or 5 numbers that you have on your phone, let's give them
a call and see if they want the same benefits that you just got.

I'm hoping we can brainstorm for few minutes to see if there are some
people about who should know about the work I do.

Great, were just brainstorming here. There are several places we can
explore. Let's begin with your family. I know you have a sister in the
area who has recently been divorced. I suspect this process might be
very helpful to her. Would you feel comfortable introducing me to her?

I'm just looking for an introduction. Well see where it leads. I'd
like to learn more about Linda's situation. But first, let's continue
brainstorming a bit more. I have some categories of people whom I can
usually bring great service, why don't I throw out the categories to
you and you tell me who comes to mind. Okay?

What are their names?

Let's pretend its two years from today and we've been working together
for that time? What's your measure of our success in working together?

SOCRATES
Let us look at the costs that (This company) is charging their merchants.

Would you like to consider the question as to whether the terminal
costs will affect the bottom line of your business?

Do you think that saving money should be your bottom line choice of action?

Don't you feel that Moneris is charging a lot of money?

Moneris has lowered my rates
If this is true, wouldn't your bill be a lot lower or is it the same?

What about yourself? How much trouble has Moneris given you in the
past couple of months? Didn't they say that they would cancel your
services?

Tell me John, do you know how much you're paying with Moneris?

Tell me John, if you were paying too much for your terminal, do you
take the time to look at other options for your POS terminal?

What about this: do you care...

How, then, do we save money for your business? Wouldn't you agree that
you should be paying less for your terminal?

Then...
Besides...

BYPASS THE OBJECTION
until the end of the presentation.

CLOSING ON A FINAL OBJECTIONS
Well as I understand it, you feel the saving of the terminal isn't
good enough to switch POS providers?

Now that's the only thing that stands between us, right? I mean if it
wasn't for the savings you would go along with it right?
-Yes that's right

Just to clearify my thinking, why do you think the saving is not good
enough to switch providers?

-Hooked on it
-#1,#2,#3

Now that completely settles that, Isn't it? do have a business card?

SHARP ANGLE CLOSE
Do you want it if it does? (Yes)

LOST SALE CLOSE by Tom Hopkins
Would you tell me what I did wrong?

LOST SALE CLOSE
I'm sorry for not being a better consultant, because now you will lose
out on the savings your business can save every month. I want you to
know that I'm truly sorry for being inept. Would you mind telling me
what I did wrong?
-Didnt I cover that?

QUALIFICATION (NEADS FORMULA)
N - What do they have now
E - What can they Enjoy
A - What can you Alter
D - Are you the Decision maker
S - Solution Business (Consumers)

NEED OF ASKING QUESTIONS
Whenever you're in trouble ask a Question. Today people have an
enormous pride themselves. That is why they don't allow sales man to
tell them, but we rather have the ability to ask questions.

FLINCHING
•make them feel that you can't lower the cost, and make it hard for them.

FEEDBACK (Forces him to explain)
•it costs to much
•It costs to much?

INTERRUPTER
•Besides
•By the way
•Say do you know
•Tell me (Then ask a question)
•Did I forget to tell you
•That's an interesting can you elaborate it? (Interesting, by the way...)

SWITCH OFF QUESTIONS
•Form#1
I know your concerned by the hassle of switching over (objection) but
would you prefer the savings that you'll receive in addition to the
fact that I'm going to do everything for you (benefit) to the hassle
of switching services(objection)?

•Form#2
May I ignore your doubts of our machine if I can prove that this
machine will save your business money in addition to that get you a
machine that you can own instead of rent?

CHALLENGING QUESTIONS
•"John" I hope I'm not over stepping my boundaries here, but we've
analyzed the benefits you'll receive, and I have to ask you seriously,
why would you deny your business the savings?

DON'T YOU AGREE
•Don't you agree that saving "$165" is important for any running
business? That you are paying too much with "TD?"

JUST SUPPOSE
•Just suppose if I can save you money would that interest you?


CLENCHING
A friend of mine taught me a technique called clenching. Essentially this is all you really need to sell. If you can clench you can sell. Here's the theory behind this concept. Lawyers used to use this to get the jurors to agree with him. In court they banned this type of secret language because if you get caught in it (most people do) you will have absolutely no choice to saying yes. Let me give you an example.

Me: This burger tastes good, right?
Her: yeah it does!

If you say a statement, and then end it off by saying

isn't that right?
am I correct?
isn't it?
don't you think?
right?

Me: Saving money is important for a business, don't you think?
Prospect: yes, of course!

6TH SENSE
I haven't read one sales book that talked about sensing a potential prospect buying signals. Whenever you sell to a prospect you can usually feel whether they are interested in what you're selling or that the prospect have been rejecting in your presentation since the beginning. It's odd. As you get deeper and deeper into selling, you can begin to feel this type of positive or negative energy from your prospect.

September, 2011
CLOSING A DEAL - 7 Steps - Notes taken from multiple different books

1. Take away close
We all want what we cant have. It's for calling into the merchants bluff during his interest stage.

Example
"This POS rate is actually selling quickly because I have 10 other customers that is waiting for me to come in to set them up with the terminal."

2. Test Close
To test a close to see if the merchant is ready for the Final Close. It's better to attempt it after handling an objection. It's a subtle technique to analyse where you stand before actually closing the deal. If the merchant is positive then it's a good sign and if it's negative then you need to work on them some more by asking key questions

You, "why is that?"

Example
You, "You will definitely save $80 dollars a month! and where would you like the new terminal to be on the same spot or over there?"
Merchant, "Oh over there would be good"
(Now go for the close it's a positive response)

3. Sensing - 6th Sense (This takes time to develop)
Before a close you can usually sense and gauge where you are at with the merchant. Try to find out the KEY objection with the merchant. Usually if you can handle that KEY objection, the merchant will gladly change her service with you. Feel it out! Do you need to ask more question or do you need to close, you be the judge?

4. Agreement Paper out technique
This works great for appointments. If you put the agreement right ontop of your binder it decensitizes the merchant from you closing them later. This technique helps greatly when you take it out right when you enter the business for new or old merchants. They will know your end goal subconsciously, and if they say nothing then you're in for the kill.

5. Summarise
This one is one of the most important skill to have. It was one of the most important skill taught to us in Telus Residential Sales. At the end before you close, you point out all the key point that you said from the objection handling point of the sale with the customer.

Example:
"Okay, im gonna save you 1200 dollars per year, get you a better and faster terminal, and cover your cancellation fee all together. It's hassle free!"

6. Make them Feel Cheap (Good way)
If they ask for more after the close "(Sweetly) Oooh comon... you negotiated a pretty good rate on the PTS terminal, dont make me give you a free application too, fair enough?"

7. Closing Statement
Try to keep this part natural and adjust the wording to your style.

This is my closing statement, "in 7-10 days im gonna come in to install the machine, teach you how to use it, and cancel your services. It's hassle free you dont have to do a thing. You can just sit back and relax, the only thing you need to do is pass the box to UPS. <pause and really soft and innocent> okay it's gonna take me about 10minutes to get your terminal profile setup. <start filling sheet - Shutup during a close if he talk answer objections in one sentence and if he chit chat keep away from talking about the product.



May, 2011
Closing the Sale - 10 Steps - Notes taken from multiple different books

1. You reassure the prospect
Charles B. Roth, in his excellent book the secret of closing sales,
says: "the closing secret is that you must overcome any fears in your
prospect's mind. Before you press for the close, you must reassure
him. You must restore his confidence and courage.

This is exactly what you do in the weighing close method. You reassure
him; you restore his confidence in his own judgment; you make it
easier for him to sign.

2. The assumption close
Salesperson
Do you want to pay by cash, check, or credit?

Customer
I'd like to think it over

Salesperson
I know you're going to like the remote control feature. You'll wonder
how you ever got along without one before

Customer
I agree but is an option I've lived without for all these years

Salesperson
Its not an option, its standard equipment so you are not paying
anything extra for it. It comes with this model. Is the morning the
best time of day to have it delivered to your house?

Customer
The afternoons are better

Salesperson
(Writing up the order) you live on...?(Notice how this is stated so
the customer can automatically give his address)

After the order is written up, the question is again asked:
"do you want to pay by cash, check, or credit card?" With this close
you assume, assume, assume.

3. Make it harder for your prospect to refuse to buy than it is to go
ahead and buy.
Bob Bale and I were once the victims of this closing technique. We
were trying out a new sales school in a little town in Arkansas,
perhaps I've forgotten. Anyway, this town had only two restaurants.
The first morning we were in Osceola we ate at one of them. This cafe
did not serve fresh fruit. So the next morning we tried the other one.
It did. We went back to the first restaurant for lunch the second day.

When the only waitress in the first restaurant probably part owner as
well came for our lunch order she accusingly, "why were you here for
breakfast?"

We explained that we liked grapefruit for breakfast and that we could
get them at the other place.

The waitress said not a word but walked to the telephone called the
grocer and said, "please send us a half-dozen grapefruit"

We ate the rest of our breakfasts at her restaurant! She had made it
hard for us to refuse.

Usually as in the above case the principle involved is to do something
which, unless the prospect stops you, amounts to a tacit agreement to
buy. For example the salesman pulls out his order blank and says,
"you'll want delivery of one gross next week and another about
december 1." It isn't a question it is a statement. As he speaks, he
writes this down on his order blank. He doesn't stop, he doesn't look
up. He just fills out the rest of the order blank. As the salesman
talks the prospect knows that he must stop the salesman or else he has
ordered the two gross. If the prospect does stop him, the salesman is
no worse off; if the prospect does not, the salesman has the order.

Roth calls this "the physical action technique." He says in brief that
you should do something like filling out an order blank something that
the customer must either stop you from doing or else leave himself in
a position where he has almost a moral obligation to sign.

4. The secrets of closing
"A good sales talk is a good thing, but the signed order is the thing"
Note that there are two distinct parts to the act of closing:
1. Getting the decision
2. Getting the signature
The closing of the selling process is not some great, amazing
astounding, separate act. It is merely one step in a process. If you
have taken the other steps effectively, you have a right to expect an
order, not every time, but often enough to qualify you as a
professional salesperson.

5. I'm ready to close what do I say?
Let's now assume you feel that you have carried the sales talk
successfully through the steps of attention, interest, conviction, and
desire. You then face the problem, "how do you close" I wrote a book
on selling before I was any too sure. Up to that time I had nothing
but the old reliable rule, "ask for the order" That isn't the worst
rule in the world, either! Millions of sales fizzle out each year
because so-called salesman don't ask for the order. So if you can't
remember the right way to close, just ask for order anyway. However,
there's a better way.

6. Probably the oldest joke about selling is this.

Prospect
All right ill take it

Salesman
No you won't - not till I finish my sales talk

This brings up the question, "when should I ask for the order?"

Some of the old time books on selling would have answered that
question by saying, "ask for the order at the "psychological moment"

The inference was that, at one certain moment, if you asked for the
order you got it; if you didn't ask, you lost it!

7. Watch for buying signals
- when getting the bill or order
"The fact that the prospect is not conscious that he is giving buying
signals is no reason for you to be unconscious"
Salesman should watch for:
1. What the prospect does
2. What the prospect says
3. Relaxes - opens his hands / arms
4. Leans towards you
5. Assumes a pleasant expression
6. Steps back to admire your bill
7. Uncrosses legs
8. Reexamines a sample
9. Picks up the order blank
10. Has a sparkle in his/her eye
11. Picks up literature and reads it

** If you get the signal, don't wait-close! don't stop to finish a
sentence; don't stop - just close. Close as though it were the most
natural thing in the world, at just that point, to ask for the order.

Vincent F. Sullivan gives this warning about buying signals: "don't
let the customer know that you know he has just about made up his
mind. The minute you do, the customer begins to feel either that he
has been rushed into buying or that he is being played for a sucker."

8. Trial closes - test closes
What are trial closes? They are questioned asked by the salesman at
various times in his sales talk to determine whether or not his
prospect is ready to close. The Frigidaire manual calls them "closing
feelers"

Trial closes have this great advantage over buying signals. They are
under the control of the salesman. The prospect may or may not give a
buying signal - but the salesman can always try a trial close.

Example:
"Would you wash your clothes this afternoon if we could deliver the
washer then, or would Monday be better?"

"The factory is rushed and deliveries are uncertain so quick action is
important - don't you think?"

"Wouldn't you like to save that money with an air-way?"

"How soon will you need the POS?"
Answers "Maybe in a couple of weeks" the salesman stated to write out
the order. If the answer was vague or even negative, the salesman went
right on with his sales talk as thought the prospect hadn't spoken.
Remember the trial close leaves you no worse off if you get a
turndown; and vastly better off if you get an acceptance.

Why are trial closes necessary?
1.Because they tell you when to ask for the order.
2.Because trial closes usually shorten the sales talk. The shorter the
task, the safer. Provided it is just long enough to get the order.

I sold Ted Eliades a home on Carsam Street in Fanwood, New Jersey,
with the help of trial closings. I started using them at the very
beginning of our talk and I kept it up.

The first few trial closings showed no results. Finally I hit on the
right one, when I said, "when we make Mr.Paul an offer for his house,
shall we request that he repair the three or four defective
clapboards?"

He answered, "Yes" and I brought out the contract.

Mr.Paul agreed to fix the clapboards, and accepted the offer. I
honestly feel that, if I had not used trial closings, I might still be
showing houses to Mr. Eliades.

To sum it up: you learn whether or not your prospect is ready to sign
the order blank by using trial closes. After you talked a few minutes
you ask, "do you like the larger size or the smaller?" If he expresses
a preference you ask, "is monday soon enough?" If the answer is, "I'd
like it this afternoon" you fill out the order blank. If he says, "Oh
I'm not going to buy" you are no worse off than you were back in your
sales talk, just as though he had not answered you at all.

Especially use a trial close immediately after you have answered an
objection. As Charles Roth points out, "When the buyer throws you a
resistance, he is like a boxer who has thrown a hard punch-he is
temporarily off balance. The last thing he expects is a closing
action. So suprise him with a trial close.

Trial Close vs Actual Closing:
1. A trial close asks for an opinion
2. An order-asking question asks for a decision
3. An order-asking question can be made into a trial close by
prefacing with with some statement as, "if you were to buy now."

Examples
"In your opinion, which is a more convenient delivery date, Monday or
Wednesday?" The salesman asks for an opinion.

9. Summary Close / Paraphrasing
Some of the reasons why I believe that it is good sales policy to
summarize just before you ask for the order, all the reasons against
buying, as well as those for buying, are as follows:

A. Your prospect is thinking of the reasons for not buying anyway-so
why try to keep them a secret. As evidence, ask yourself if, in any
purchase uou ever made that called for a considerable expenditure, you
did not think of the reasons for not buying right up the time you
signed the order or said "ill take it"

B. Ideas opposed to buying are like steam. Confine them and they are
explosive; let them out in the open and, like released steam, they are
only moist vapor.

C. An Idea opposed to buying, left to roam around in the prospect's
mind, is fuzzy, vague, and somehow tremendously important to the
prospect. Once the salesman has stated the idea opposed to buying,
this idea becomes clear and usually not so important.

D. Stating the reasons opposed to buying makes the salesman face the
things he fears-which are the reasons for not buying. He overcomes his
fears by doing the thing he fears to do.

E. By stating the negative reasons, the salesman cause the prospect to
regard the salesman as a friend, an adviser, an assistant purchasing
agent. The prospect says to himself, this salesman is fair. I'm glad
to do business with a man like that.

It probably sounds strange to recommend that a mental attitude of "I
came to help rather than to sell" will greatly improve a salesman's
work, but the experience of scores of leading salesmen proves that it
will. The idea is not altruistic- it's simply a practical way of
making sales efforts more fruitful and profitable.

From this help habit will stem self-respect, confidence, and the
self-assurance which will make our recommendations virtually
irresistible. You can't lose!

F. Remember we said to mention all the reasons against buying. Why? If
you fail to mention even one negative idea which the prospect has
thought of, he will feel proud of himself for having thought of it. He
will give it importance out of all proportion to what it deserves.

G. If the salesman has mentioned all the reasons against buying, he is
in no danger that, at the last minute, the prospect will think up a
new reason against buying. If he does and if he presents it vigorously
he will perhaps wreck the sale.

10. Clenchers / Tie Down by Alan Roy Hocking
Tie-Downs are a form of turning a statement into a question that
forces either a "yes" or "no" answer. The more little yeses you can
get during your sales presentation the easier it will be to get the
big yes at the end!

The use of "Tie-Downs" in your sales presentations can be a very
powerful closing tool when used correctly and in the right places.
"Tie-Downs" come in four main forms: standard, inverted, internal, and
tag-on, and need to be mixed correctly to gain the maximum effect when
leading your clients into the final close.

I have stated many times before in previous sales training articles of
mine that nowadays we are dealing with a much more educated sales
prospect. I don't mean educated as in, they all went to university. I
mean educated in the normal old school, hard close sales techniques,
so you will need to practise mixing the four types of Tie-Downs until
they flow into your normal conversation to avoid sounding like an old
stereotype slick sales pitch.

So let's look at a few examples of using Tie-Downs:

The Standard Tie-Down: (At the end of the statement)

"You can see the benefit of using tie-downs in your sales
presentation, can't you?"

The Inverted Tie-Down: (At the beginning of the statement)

"Doesn't it make sense to include as many Tie-Downs into your sales
presentations as possible?"

The Internal Tie-Down: (A little more difficult has to be placed
within the statement)

"If you could master the art of using tie-downs, wouldn't it improve
your sales figures?"

The Tag On Tie-Down: (Tagged on to the end of your clients' statement)

Client: "learning to use Tie-Downs was easy" You: "Wasn't it?"

Did you find yourself answering yes to all those statements? There is
also a way of using a negative tie-down to overcome objections, but
that is a whole article in itself and I want to leave that for another
day.

Invisible Tie-down:
This tastes good (dont say anything) they will automatically agree. Just state the obvious and automatically they will clench themselves.

-Nice day today
-Yes it

Here are a few examples of common tie-downs:
Aren't they?
Aren't you?
Can't you?
Couldn't it?
Doesn't it?
Don't you agree?
Don't we?
Shouldn't it?
Wouldn't it?
Haven't they?
Hasn't he?
Hasn't she?
Isn't it?
Isn't that right?
Didn't it?
Wasn't it?
Won't they?
Won't you?

As always, go and practise using Tie-Downs on your friends, partner,
the guy in the pub and any one else who will listen to you until it
becomes a natural part of your conversation. Then when you're ready,
include them into your sales presentations and watch your sales
figures double over night.

It makes sense saving money, isn't it?