Prospect Pains
What kinds of pains/problems do you help people solve? Do you have a list of those? No? Shame on you.
How can you be a problem solver if you don’t even have a menu of the kind of problems you fix?
Start that list today.
Tag Archive for: Bill Caskey
One Minute Sales Process Rants
Bill and Brooke bring their ‘rant faces’ to this episode. They’ve each been through some sales processes where they’ve experienced life as the buyer. And they bring these up to with a word of caution: ‘Check out yourself’ to see if you make these errors…
- How you introduce yourself to people,
- How you introduce others in a meeting, and
- Whether you use the words ‘less’ or ‘fewer’ correctly. (That’s Bill’s and he acknowledge that has nothing to do with anything…he just got on a roll and couldn’t stop.)
There are some lessons here amidst the emotion. Check these out and see if they bother you as much as they do them.
Setbacks Have Great Lessons In Them
Obstacles and roadblocks…we all have them. You’ve heard the saying, “Kites rise against the wind, not with it.”
And yet, we do all we can to avoid setbacks. Not saying you should look for failure, but it’s just a big universal feedback mechanism that should signal that you may be off track. Use it as such.
A New Way To Look At Selling
Many of our models in our world are broken, but it’s hard for us to reinvent any model unless we look closer at what it is now.
In this video, Bill Caskey explains how the old sales model of “convince and persuade” no longer works. He offers a new way to look at selling and gives one tip to help you get the power back in the sales cycle.
**This sales training video took place in Indianapolis, IN on 5/1/12 at the Caskey Refresher Seminar.
Price Resistance Might Have Nothing To Do With Price
How you present things is how people see things.
A few weeks ago, a sales person came into our office and was pitching a new water system. They talked about the features and benefits of their offer, but NEVER asked me any questions about what I wanted. And then I told them the price was too high.
If you’ve ever had a prospect say your price was too high, it could’ve been you forgot to ask the right questions.
How To Write An Email When A Deal Is Struck Or Stalled – Email Tips For Sales Professionals
In this video, Bill Caskey, Author of Email It — A Seller’s Guide to Emails That Work with 20 Pre-Written, Ready-to-Use Emails, discusses the most common questions on emailing he gets from his clients.
This is one of the most common issues we’ve noticed: How does the seller deal with the sales process when it gets stalled?
This email tutorial gives the EXACT framework you should use when you must write this email.
*You can learn more tips on how to write emails to a prospect or your client at: http://emailitsellersguide.com/
Plenty of Expertise Right In Front Of You – But You Have To Ask
Go interview a successful person and question their philosophy. I don’t mean question it as in ‘challenge’ them on it. I mean interview them to see how they think about:
- Success
- Other people
- Their value
- Their market
- Their skill level
When you inquire as to another’s philosophy you will learn the core essence of why they’re successful. Take notes, feed it back to them. Try to understand a deeper level of success.
3 Tips On Selling A Premium Product in a Commodity Market
A few years ago, I did a Webinar called “How to Sell A Premium Product in a Commodity Market.” It was one of our best attended webinars we’ve ever done.
Lots of interest in the topic – and I believe I know why.
In this article, I want to update some of the content and give you a couple more ideas. I picked this topic because it is an ongoing area of concern for sales people – how to sell a premium product into a market that sees price as THE main driver.
Why it’s so tough.
Think about it. We live in a “price leads” society. Advertisers have led us on a race to the bottom by the constant drumbeat of, “Lowest Prices In The Industry!” Or, “We’ll Beat ANY Price!” I know you’ll say, “But I’m not in the retail game.” No, you aren’t. But do you see the attitude that they’ve placed in the minds of buyers?
So the context is that even though your buyer might not jump to “What’s your price?” they certainly have it on their radar.
Here are four notions that I suggest you consider as you extract yourself form the “commodity dungeon” where the only important issue is price:
1. Position Your Self Properly.
Interesting thing about positioning is that it’s not just about what you say – it’s about how you say it. Sales people spend so much time concerned with the “what” and ignore the “how.”
And that’s wrong.
Regardless of your word choice (you’ll have to decide that), the essence of your message should be centered around ‘the types of problems that you solve.’ That’s right – no enthusiastic sales pitches about how great you are – or how smart your team is. None of that.
Frame your ‘premium value’ around the pains and problems that prospects face. Some of those problems they know they have. Some they’re oblivious to. But either way, begin the conversation there.
Be a problem solver not a product seller. There is a trap waiting for you. The prospect sets it and you fall right into it. It happens when the prospect shows interest and you default to “the pitch.”
Instead, when your prospect shows interest in the types of problems you solve, refrain from pitching the product and spend more time diagnosing what that problem means to him. This one thing can do more to change your position (in the prospect’s mind) and help them see that your premium fee is worth it.
Flattery Tells Me You Don’t Really Care – So Stop
Superficial flattery gets you nowhere. In fact, it might set you back a few paces.
We sales people have been taught to say something nice…to flatter prospects. But if it isn’t sincere, then don’t say it. We all have the BS detector running at all times. And at no time is it the loudest than when we hear those patronizing compliments.
-B. Caskey
