Real Secrets of the Top 20%

How to Handle the Price Objection Now on to today's topic which is how to handle the price objection.  Now here's what to do:  When your prospect asks you about the price of your product or service, what's important is not that you tell them, but rather what happens next.  In fact, let me ask you: "What do you say after you give them the price?"  80% of your competition either: 1)  Remain silent, waiting for them to ask another question2)  Keep pitching their product or service.3)  Move onto another qualifying question. Guess what?  All these responses are wrong.  If you do any of these, you're missing a golden opportunity to find out where your prospect stands in regards to budget.  The right question?  Ask them how they feel or where they stand in regards to the price you just gave them.  Use any of these: 1)  How does that price sound to you?2)  Is that within your budget?3)  Which of those price points appeal to you the most

5 Ways to Have a Great 4th Quarter For those of you who have been through training with me, or have purchased any of my training material, you know that I am BIG on preparation.  I still maintain that the Top 20% are infinitely more prepared than the bottom 80% who are, for the most part, ad-libbing their way through their sales presentations and careers.  And it is this preparation that especially shows through during the 4th quarter.  Top 20% producers look forward to the 4th quarter, because they know they are going to reap the benefits of the first part of the year, and they're going to use their skills to finish the year strong. The bottom 80% are worried and are wondering how far off of their overall goal they are going to be.  One of the things you can begin doing right now to prepare to have a great 4th quarter is read and apply the ideas in this article.  Use it as a check list to compare what you're doing - and what you're not doing - and then adjust your activities to co

  How to Keep Control of the Call You know, I've been listening to a lot of sales rep's recordings these days while I prepare for some custom inside sales training seminars, and I can't tell you how bad I feel for them!  I mean, over and over I hear these reps get manhandled by their prospects.  I'm sure many of you know what I mean. A prospect will call in and start asking questions, and suddenly you've lost all control of the call, you're completely at the mercy of the prospect, and after about 5 minutes, they've drained you of all the information they need and they then leave you like an old used car abandoned in the desert.  Feels pretty bad, doesn't it? Well, here's the good news: it doesn't have to be that way!  In fact, by using this one technique, you can immediately answer their question, qualify them, and take control of the call.  The technique?  Simply ask them a question after you answer theirs.  Goes like this: Prospect: "So how much does that cost?&q

How to Qualify Before You Send Information In response to last week's Podcast on 'Just send some information,' someone emailed me and said that: "Sometimes it takes five to seven 'touches' before someone will buy, and sending information begins that process.  How do I strike a balance or know when to just cut bait and not send anything?" I understand it's important to build relationships and that sending information is part of a process, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't disqualify those who are just looking for an easy way to get you off the phone, or who are trying to blow you off.  What you must do is ask questions, like: "I'd be happy to, what other kind of information, companies, or solutions are you looking at now?" This tells you how many other people they have given this line to (and how many brochures they've collected and who your competition is), and then: "And what do you like so far?" This tells you about their decision process and chances are any objections or stalls t

Real Secrets 012: Just Send Your Information Just Send Your Information Today's Top 20% Secret will help you deal the age old brush off of "Just Send Your Information" Let's face it, of all the brush offs, "just send some information" is one of the most common and deceiving of all.  "But they didn't say no," 80% of sales reps will say.  "Maybe after they see my information, they'll become interested," they think. Yeah, right.  And maybe I'll buy the winning lottery ticket today. If your information did the selling for you, they would need you.  All they would have to do is send out information and then deposit checks, but it doesn't work like that does it?  So what to do? Call your prospect out on this obvious attempt to blow you off!  Try saying this: "I would be happy to.  Let's say you like what you see, what would happen next?" Or even stronger: "I'll be happy to.  If you like what you see, will you be ready to buy at that point?" In other w

The Power of Trial Closes Today's Top 20% Secret will show you how to use trial closes to become more effective selling over the phone. Many people find selling over the phone challenging because you don't have all the visual cues to tell you how your prospect is reacting to your presentation.  Are the bored?  Ready to buy?  Did they understand what you just said?  Are they with you?  80% of sales people can't answer any of these questions, but Top 20% producers can. And that's because the Top 20% use trial closes -- both while qualifying and closing -- to get this crucial information. Trial closes can be as innocent as:  Are you with me on that?"  Or "Does that make sense?" Two more targeted:  "Is that what you are looking for?" Or "Is that going to fit your situation?"  Or "Is that within your budget?"  Or "Can you see the benefit here?" To downright near closing questions:  "If this was all you knew about this, would you

How to Use Assumptive Questions Now on to Today's Top 20% Secret which will teach you how to ask assumptive questions which will give you the information you'll need to close more business. You know, there are all kinds of questions a sales rep can ask -- closed-ended, open-ended, directive, etc. -- but none are more valuable than the assumption question. While 80% of your competition use closed ended questions – "Are you the decision maker on this?" only the Top 20% use and value the proper use of the assumption question. The main benefit of using an assumptive question is that it often catches your prospect off guard and eliminates the smoke screens they are so used to giving.  Let's take the above example of the decision maker. To start with, most prospects you speak with will involve others in the decision-making process.  But most of them won't tell you this until the end of your presentation. Asking the closed-end question "Are you the decision maker," often prompts them to say yes a

Don't Answer Objections, Isolate Them!   OK, today's Top 20% deals with how to properly handle objections.   Let's fact it, most sales reps hate getting objections.  Their hearts sink into their stomachs, their palms start to sweat, and they start wondering how they're going to pay the rent.  Sound familiar?   When sales reps ask me how they should handle objections, they are often surprised by my answer.  I tell them they should never answer objections.  When they look at me like I'm crazy, I explain:   "Objections are often stalls or smokescreens hiding other objections that your prospect doesn't want to disclose.  As soon as you begin answering objections, have you ever found that they have another and yet another?"   "Oh, yeah," they say.  So here's what you should do:   Instead of answering an objection you must first isolate and question it.  Let's take two of the most common ones – "Your price is too high," and "I need to speak

Another Way to Double Your Closing Ratio   With Today's Top 20% Secret, I'm going to share with you another technique you can use to instantly double your closing ratio. I talk a lot about the techniques that separate the Top 20% of the money earners from the other 80%.  As you know, this newsletter is dedicated to providing you, often word for word, with the exact tools, tips and strategies that you, too, can use to become a Top 20% producer.  And today I'm going to share with you one of the most effective and easiest ways to double your sales.  And it has to do with what you say when you call a prospect back to close the sale. Here's what 80% of the inside sales reps currently say: "Oh hi, this is _______ with the XYZ Company.  I'm calling to follow up on the  (proposal, information, etc.).  Did you have a chance to review that?" Or, another equally weak opening most sales reps use is: "Hi, this is ________ with the XYZ Company, how are you?  Good, I was just cal

Real Secrets 007: Double Your Sales in 90 Days Today's Top 20% Secret is Discovering and Learning the one technique you can use to double your sales in just 90 days. Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?  Stan Billue, a top telemarketing sales trainer in the late 80's, claimed that he had a sure fire technique that could double your sales in 90 days if you just followed it.  So I did.  And it worked! The technique?  Record your calls.  Everything that you are doing right, and every area you need to improve in will be revealed to you in just a few days.  And by being able to calmly listen to your qualifying/closing calls all the way through, here are just a few of things you'll hear that you're probably missing: ·What your prospect's true buying motives are.·What your prospect's objections are.·Whether or not you listened to these and answered them.·Whether you were listening at all.·How often you talked past the close.·How many objections you created.·Whether you heard their o

Today's Top 20% Secret is about Time management. I don't know about you, but 24 hours in a day doesn't seem like it's enough. And 8 - 9 hours for work just barely covers the paperwork, order follow-up, client calls, e-mails that need answering, voicemail messages, etc.  "And you mean you want me to prospect and find closing time, too?  What, are you kidding?!" Sound familiar?  It should.  Sales reps and their managers constantly tell me they are on the run the moment they get in the office.  Just opening and answering their email can take them on an hour journey away from what they should, want, or need to be doing to drive sales (like the prospecting calls or reorder calls).  What to do? I just finished giving a seminar on time management to a company here in Southern California, and boy did I need the reminder.  I'm much better - and so are they – now that I'm following these Five Keys to Time Management.  Use them and you'll feel better too!  Key #1 -

Secrets to Assuming the Close You know I talk a lot about the techniques that separate the Top 20% of the money earners from the other 80%.  As you know, this Podcast is dedicated to providing you with the tools, tips and strategies that you, too, can use to become a Top 20% producer. And today I'm going to share with you one of the most effective and easiest ways to double your sales.  And it has to do with what you say when you call a prospect back to close the sale. Here's what 80% of the inside sales reps currently say: "Oh hi, this is _______ with the XYZ Company.  I'm calling to follow up on the  (proposal, information, etc.).  Did you have a chance to review that?" Or, another equally weak opening most sales reps use is: "Hi, this is ________ with the XYZ Company, how are you?  Good, I was just calling to see what you thought of the (proposal, information, etc.)?" Wrong, wrong, wrong!  I cringe when I hear sales reps open the close this way!  First, you

Now as I promised last week, today I'm going to give you some specific scripts and techniques to deal with Red Flags.   In fact, one of the biggest mistakes 80% of salespeople make when qualifying is to overlook or not react to obvious Red Flags prospects give during the initial call.   In their haste or desperation to "generate a lead" or to "fill their pipeline." most sales reps hope that the possible objection they just heard will miraculously go away once the prospect sees their information or product or service, etc.   But you all know from experience -- it never does.  In fact, the law for calling back leads is that:   "Leads Never Get Better."    What appears to be an objection or deal killer always is.   Red Flags are those answers – or non-answers - prospects give you that make your gut hurt.  It's the answers or vague blow offs they give you that mean they're going to be a tough close, or hard to reach, or not very cooperative when you get

You know I received a lot of email last week from people who wanted to know more about this concept of Disqualifying rather than qualifying leads. When I was in the financial industry, I'll always remember that the top closer in the office used to hold his lead cards over the trash while he was qualifying people.  And as he got answers he didn't like, he'd lower the lead closer and closer into the mouth of trash can.  After three vague or suspect answers from the prospect, he'd let the lead fall away and he'd move on.  Isn't that a great image?  The bottom line is that 80% of your competition is trying to create a qualified lead from prospects who will never buy, while Top 20% producers are more interested in finding the real buyers -- not in generating useless leads. And the way they do that this is by disqualifying prospects rather than qualifying them. It's the attitude shift here is that's so important.  80% of sales reps are desperate to "fill their pipelines," as we talk

Throw Your Sales Pipeline Away Now I know you're all familiar with the idea of the sales pipeline, right? You go out and cold call, prospect and generate as many leads as you can. You put all these leads into your pipeline and then hope and pray that some of them come out the other end and turn deals, right?  That's the basic idea and it's how almost every sales company I've ever worked with or have read about currently run their sales departments.  When managers draw this on the board, it looks like a funnel, doesn't it?  The larger end at the top is where you put all those leads, and then you watch the smaller bottom end waiting for some deals to trickle out. In fact, there are even ratios and numbers you assign to measure this. Out of 10 leads you might close one deal, or out of 15 leads close one or two deals, and so on. Now, this is how 80 to 90% of salespeople and companies run their business. But not the Top 20% You see, there are problems with the pipeline idea. The biggest problem i

"How to save Gas AND make more sales: The 5 Secrets of Top 20% Producers" I don't have to tell you that times are hard for companies these days.  And that means hard on you, too, the sales rep.  Now when companies tell you that they don't have the budget, you really believe them, don't you?  Well not the Top 20%.  Top 20% producers are still making 80% of the sales because they know how to adapt in a changing market like the one we're in today.  They also know that companies are still buying their products and services, and what they are doing is adjusting how they sell so they can be more efficient with their time and energy.  And one of their top priories these days is improving their phone skills.  Whether you only prospect and set appointments by phone, or if your entire sales cycle is conducted by phone, learning to use the phone more effectively is going to be crucial to your success in today's economic environment. Here is Part One of 5 Secrets of Top 20% producer