Don't Be Pushy, Don't Be Mushy

Being over-aggressive has led to the term "pushy salesperson." Oftentimes, just the word "salesperson" includes the connotation "pushy." But if a salesperson isn't aggressive enough, they don't make the sale. What to do? The key is to combine empathy with aggressiveness.

Let's define these terms first. Empathy is caring about what the customer does, how they're trying to do it, and what hurdles they're facing. Empathy is not soft; it's sharing the feelings of your client without letting emotions dictate your actions. Empathy is different from sympathy in that even though you may be able to share their feelings to the same depth, you allow your intellect to dictate your actions. This allows you to make clear-minded decisions that are in your clients' best interest. Aggressiveness is continually trying to advance the account to a sale. Aggressiveness is not harsh; it's simply your persistence in driving to close the sale.

Empathy ...
* Makes the client feel like you're working to their agenda
* Makes the client like you personally
* Earns you the right to ask difficult questions
* May get you off the path to closing the sale if you use it too much. You'll never get to closing on the sale if you're overly empathetic.

Aggressiveness ...
* Advances the discussion towards a close
* Results in fewer calls to advance the account to a close
* Keeps the call valuable to the client (they have a busy schedule, too!)
* Helps you gain a better understanding of what's needed to close the sale

How To Combine Empathy With Aggressiveness
Empathy and aggressiveness should be integrated throughout each call. You should always be doing both. The more aggressive you become, the more empathetic you need to be. Both should be applied as overarching principles throughout the call, such as combining emotional outcomes (empathy) with business outcomes (aggressiveness). Example: You call a prospect and they have a meeting in five minutes. Ask, "When can I call you back?" and make sure you get a specific time and date.

The mix will be dictated by the situation. Aggressiveness should be constant throughout the call to drive towards closing. The amount of necessary empathy may be dictated by the cues or by your amount of aggressiveness. Example: During a phone call, the client sounds disconnected, and you hear typing in the background. You could stop and ask if this is a good time or, "Should we reschedule another time that would be better?"

The Erie Sales Club is a joint effort of three leading local businesses: Jameson Publishing, Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services, and VertMarkets.

Tips For Your Initial Sales Call

Many reps think closing calls are more important than prospecting calls. They'll zip through the prospecting call in hopes that their next call could be a closing call. The correct approach is to understand the importance of the prospecting call so you will plan and execute it effectively.

On every call, including the initial sales call, you should be trying to advance the account as far as possible towards a sale. The goal of each call is the same -- to get them to a close, not to send them your literature or schedule the next call. Half the battle is getting people to talk with you. Why would you want to cut it short?

There are a few components that are unique to your initial sales call:
1. Introduction: This occurs when you are calling on a new customer or a new contact at that customer. You need to share your niche statement and introduce yourself as their salesperson.
2. Ask key "knockout" questions: Some standard "knockout" questions center on budget and decision-making ability. If they don't have money to buy what you're selling or they don't have the authority to buy what you're selling, why are you talking with them? If you don't ask your knockout questions on your initial sales call, you will waste your time (and theirs) until you get those questions answered.
3. Establish their first impression: You only get one chance to make a good first impression. Much of their attitude towards you will be based on this initial sales call.

The Erie Sales Club is a joint effort of three leading local businesses: Jameson Publishing, Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services, and VertMarkets.

"What Do You Do?" Tailoring Your Niche Statement

You can't make the sale if the person you're talking with has no idea what you do. And they won't give you half an hour to explain it to them. That's why it's important for you to take the time to craft a niche statement. A good niche statement isn't "one size fits all." A tailored niche statement, combined with your statement of purpose, gives enough information so the contact understands who you are, what your product is, and why you're calling. But don't give enough information for them to think they can make an informed purchasing decision.

Tailored niche statements:
1. Are only applicable on your initial sales call
2. Get the prospect's attention quickly so you can continue the conversation
3. Let them know who you are and why you're calling without providing too much detail.

You will leave them wanting more information about you. If you say too much, you give them an opportunity to develop a preconceived opinion that you're not a good fit for their needs. It's better to leave them wanting more information about your company. This can be a way to spark interest.

How To Tailor Your Niche Statement
1. Set up the framework for the rest of the call
2. Be direct and succinct. Think "elevator pitch." If you cannot describe your product to a prospect while on an elevator by the time they reach their floor, it's too long.
3. Be accurate and applicable
4. Purport a potential fit between the customer and your company
5. Convey your overall focus
6. Convey a stature or uniqueness (e.g. "We are the leading..." or "We are the only...")
7. Be tailored to the prospect based on information you've gathered about them. For example, if you're selling to a family doctor, you should emphasize family doctors in your niche statement. Then, when you're calling on a specialist, you should mention their specialty in your niche statement. Remember point #3 when tailoring your niche statement -- it has to be accurate and applicable.

The Erie Sales Club is a joint effort of three leading local businesses: Jameson Publishing, Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services, and VertMarkets.

How to Write a Highly Effective Subject Line

Derek Van Slyke, a Sales Coach at Jameson Publishing and regular presenter at Erie Sales Club Workshops, came across this article we thought could help your sales efforts.

How to Write a Highly Effective Subject Line
by Jill Konrath (pictured here)

If you're like most sellers, you don't pay a lot of attention to the subject lines. They're an afterthought. No big deal, right?

Totally wrong. Your subject line is the most important part of your message. If it's not a good one, your email gets trashed in a nanosecond. In fact, research by ExactTarget (my email newsletter service) show that the average person spends only 2.7 seconds on a message before deciding if they'll delete it, forward it or read it.

Just 2.7 seconds. That's all the time you have to capture a reader's attention. That's why your subject line is so darn critical.

First, let's talk about what you don't put in a subject line. In order to avoid auto-deletes, it's imperative for you to:
• Avoid salesy verbiage. Get rid of words like excited, hot new product, free offer or special pricing.
• Avoid info on your company. No one is interested in your new product announcements or company updates except you.
• Avoid capital letters. Just the first word should be capped. Otherwise it seems like a headline, not a personal message.

Now, let's talk about what works in your prospecting emails. Here are several options that have proven effective with today's crazy-busy prospects.
• Use a referral. If someone has referred you to this person, put that in your subject line. They'll want to know why. For example, you might write: Terry Jones said to get in touch.
• Ask a quick question. If your prospect feels it's simple and relevant, they'll take a look. Your subject line might read: Quick question re: new client acquisition challenges.
• Tempt with ideas or information. My prospects are always interested in subject lines like this: Idea to reduce your sales cycle time or How XYZ company increased sales to Fortune 500 companies by 127%.
• Mention a trigger event. If something is happening within the company or in their greater business environment that's relevant to your offering, bring that up. For example, if you read about a recent merger, you might write: Impact of XYZ merger on (insert relevant business issue you address.)
Get the picture? To work, your subject lines must focus on something your prospect cares about. If you do that, they'll keep reading.

Here's a major caveat though. When they start reading your message, it needs to deliver exactly what you promised in your subject line.

If you move into salesy mode or talk about your company, you'll trigger your prospect's auto-delete reaction. They can't control it. And you've lost the opportunity to open the conversation.

Hopefully by now you understand just how critical those simple little subject lines are to your sales success. I'd suggest you sit down right now and create 10 new ones you can use in the upcoming weeks.

Finally, start your experiment. See if you can tell which subject lines are most effective with your prospects. Then create variations off the same theme. You'll immediately see the difference in your sale success.

The Erie Sales Club is a joint effort of three leading local businesses: Jameson Publishing, Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services, and VertMarkets.

The Importance of Precall Planning

Precall planning is the process of preparing to make a True Sales Call. A precall plan can:
1. Help you ID the desired Business Outcomes and Emotional Outcomes of a call
2. Help you tailor your "elevator pitch" to the client
3. Help you align pitches and proofs
4. Give you something to start the conversation with and get their attention
5. Help you understand what the client does

The time it takes to develop an adequate precall plan could be anywhere from 10 minutes for a prospect to 30 seconds for a follow-up call deep into the sales cycle. You want to limit your time because you could get lost in the planning which will affect your ability to achieve a sufficient volume of True Sales Calls. There's no bigger waste of time than preparing an hour for a prospect only to find out 45 seconds into the call they have no legitimate need for your service.

For an initial call, gather just enough information so you don't sound like a neophyte and enough information to star a conversation. Do you understand what the prospect does? Do you know the right person to call? Also, prepare your potential proofs and put them into a folder dedicated to that prospect.

For follow-up calls, much of your precall planning should occur when completing the previous call while it's still fresh in your mind. Reviewing your notes (which sometimes look like hieroglyphics) two days after the call is not as effective as planning immediately after the call. Think about and plan what you want to do next and record it. Then, prior to the next call, review those notes to refresh your memory of the account.

These tips aren't earth-shattering. But we've seen a common reason sales reps don't achieve their desired outcomes with a customer is simply because they didn't plan -- they didn't prepare prior to the call and they didn't complete takeaways from the previous call. Some reps do get away with little preparation (for a time), but don't leave your success to chance.

The Erie Sales Club is a joint effort of three leading local businesses: Jameson Publishing, Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services, and VertMarkets.