Author Archives 
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My Best Closing Tactic
Getting people to laugh helped me close more deals than every other method combined. Steve and I were negotiating our first deal. He was pushing me to the wall for a big discount. First, I was unwilling to cut my price. Second; I didn’t need to, because he had already made the emotional commitment to buy, which was why he was pushing so hard.It got tense. You know the type of tense negotiations I’m talking about. This wasn’t a poker faced, behind the shades, all in Texas old ‘em negotiation. This was an in your face, blood on the wall, last man or woman standing deal.
Finding an opportunity to raise a smile seemed impossible, but Steve finally gave me the opening, “You have it and I want it, so let’s make this deal.”
Without hesitation and a smile I said, “Steve, having is better than wanting, and I have it and you want it.”
He had a hard time catching his breath and nearly laughed himself to tears. I knocked off less than 1% on a six figure sale and we did plenty of business together down the road.
A father and son team tried working me over on $60,000 piece of equipment we were dying to sell. The son offered me $48,235.61 or some hokey number very close to that. Our deals are rounded off to the nearest zero, so this smelled fishy.
“Do you mind if I ask how you came up with that number?”
“My dad told me to offer you that.”
“Do you mind if I speak with your dad?”
“That’s an interesting number” I chortled. “Do you mind telling me how you came up with it?”
“It sounded good to me” he laughed.
“Well, $60,000 sounds better to me.” We laughed. He then explained that he was teaching his son how to buy. We agreed that I would give his son a small discount and a feel-good moment. We settled at $57,000, which I was very happy to get. His son felt like a hero and his father appreciated the discount and my handling the situation with a good sense of humor.
Of all the closing tips, tricks, and manipulations, nothing works better than authentically making someone feel good. And the best way to do that is to put a smile on their face and a laugh in their belly. Joke telling isn’t the only way. Most often, when we’re in tight negotiations, there is something in the situation that is truly funny. Try not to take yourself and selling too seriously. When all else fails, self-deprecation works very well.
When you laugh, the world laughs with you, and so do your customers.
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Are You Selling to Phantom Buyers?
Imagine you’re running a retail shop. Twenty or thirty times a day, your front door opens and the entry bell rings “ding-ding.” You trace the path of depressions in the carpet and see products shuffled around your shelves. Most of these journeys through your store end with an invisible departure.
This is what internet marketing looks like. Marketers view internet analytics and see which landing pages are creating the best results. Marketers trace the navigation paths to see what material is being read and downloaded. But unless a visitor fills out a contact form, they are just an anonymous phantom. (more…)
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The Last Thing They See – Lasting Impressions
The importance we place on first impressions overshadows our last impression. Most people dress and check their front and maybe a side view in the mirror. Because we don’t have eyes in the back of our head, we pay little attention that side of ourselves. But it’s the last thing people see when we leave. (more…)
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Marketing Creates Lousy Sales Presentations
Guest post By Mark Hunter
Too many marketing departments are still living in the 1990s with how they feel salespeople should be making presentations. Marketing departments are notorious for making slick presentations that do nothing but extol the virtues of how wonderful their company is. I call these “capabilities presentations.” Really they should be called “look at me – I think I’m perfect” presentations.
The reason they are lousy is because all they do is waste time and make people angry.
Why should any customer have to sit through a lousy presentation that does nothing but share stupid facts and information about the vendor – especially when it is nothing but old news? The main reason it’s old news to the customer is because they’ve already had a chance to see the very same information on the internet.
Today’s customer does not wake up in the morning looking forward to having their time wasted by salespeople. Customers have far more important things to worry about. One of the easiest ways customers are cutting down on the amount of time they spend with salespeople is by using the internet before they even meet with the salesperson.
Customers are using the internet to gather the information they want to know, including specific facts and general knowledge. The reason customers do this is because they feel it’s a better use of their time. (This alone is a sad comment about the perception customers have of salespeople, but that’s an entirely separate issue.)
If the customer is knowledgeable before the salesperson meets with them, then there’s no reason to waste anyone’s time with the boring presentation from marketing.
I’m not saying salespeople should assume the customer knows everything. On the contrary, the salesperson needs to now verify everything. It’s for this reason I’m a strong advocate of what I refer to as the “modular presentation.”
The modular presentation is comprised of many small presentations, with the premise that any single piece can be used by itself. The value of the modular style is it allows complete flexibility on the part of the salesperson. They’re able to focus on the parts the customer needs to hear, not on what they already know.
To make the modular style of presentation work, the salesperson must be highly skilled at being flexible in asking the customer questions and listening for their responses. In addition, for the modular style to work, the marketing department needs to be willing to let go and allow the salesperson to know what is best.
This in and of itself is the hardest part of the move, but in the end, it is essential. Failure to move away from the “capabilities presentation” and to the modular style will only result in upset salespeople, upset customers and lost sales. The choice then is really quite simple. Either marketing is going to remain in control or sales is going to have the flexibility they need to close sales and maximize profits.
Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter,” is a sales expert who speaks to thousands each year on how to increase their sales profitability. For more information, to receive a free weekly email sales tip, or to read his Sales Motivation Blog, visit www.TheSalesHunter.com. You can also follow him on www.Facebook.com/TheSalesHunter, www.Twitter.com/TheSalesHunter and www.LinkedIn.com/in/MarkHunter.
Reprinting of this article is welcomed as long as the following is included:
Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter,” www.TheSalesHunter.com, © 2011
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Pistachio Nuts and Sales Opportunities
Sally and I love pistachio nuts. We always race for the meaty ones bursting out of the shell. They’re the easiest, best tasting, and give the most for the least effort.
When the best picks are gone, we fish through the bowl and pick the promising nuts. They take a little more work for a little less meat.
Finally, only the tough nuts are left, the airtight sealed nuts that take more work. Out of desperation we may try cracking some to the disappointing hint of pistachio mixed with shell. -
Are You Selling Value Proposition or Cost Benefit?
Sally recently learned the difference between value proposition and cost benefit when one of her dance students did not return this fall. Jenny had been studying at her school for two years and was ready for a more advanced level. Sally told Jenny’s mother the exciting news and penciled her in the schedule after their conversation. But Jenny dropped out. (more…)
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It’s National Sales Day!
Back in the 80’s, I was fortunate enough to spend the evening with an icon in the machine tool industry at our monthly association meeting. Jay was an old school, NY sales pro in his 60’s. When I saw him, I told him I liked his tie. He immediately took it off, handed it to me, and invited me to sit with him. Jay turned to me and asked, “Do you know what day it is?” As I shrugged my shoulders he said, “National Sales Day”. As I pondered how that escaped me, he quickly asked, “Do you know what tomorrow is?” In New York harmony we both said, “National Sales Day”.
Barring Sundays, holidays, and vacations, every day is “National Sales Day.” The purpose of Sales Du Jour is to help you achieve your sales and marketing goals every day.
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Do You Know the Truth?
A linguistics professor was lecturing to his class one day.“In English,” he said, “a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, a double negative is still a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative.”
A voice from the back of the room piped, “Yeah, right.” – From the Houston Chronicle via Aristotle Bancale
Words + Inflexion = Real Meaning (more…)
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Timing is Everything – Sales Strategy
Whenever I needed money, my dad’s no took the form of there’s a time and place for everything sermon followed by now is not the time or place. I rarely got any money, which is one of the reasons I went into sales. My poor sense of timing transferred to the early part of my sales career.What I learned about timing at 21, I later taught our children. They learned to wait until I was comfortable. When the timing was right, they went for the close. I rewarded their good timing by feigning acquiescence to what they believed were masterful negotiations. (more…)
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People are Strange, When You’re a Stranger – Until You Meet Them
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Paul Castain’s post “Should We Connect With Strangers In Social Networking?” inspired this thought:
Outside of family, everyone else I know was a stranger first.
Some of the people I have met over the years are just as strange as me, if that’s possible, and in a very good way (tongue-in-cheek). But now I know them as acquaintances, business associates and friends. And I hope they don’t think of me as too strange. (more…)
