Stephen M. Haines - Tips for sales professionals

When visiting with a group of students at a University recently, the issue popped up about when and how to close. I find it interesting how much it is discussed, yet how bad most people in the profession actually ARE at it. Now, I know that people can close. Just about every person that is on this planet is here because someone closed the deal: to go out with them, to date them, to marry them, and then to have kids. OK, I'm not that old, I know many of those get jumbled now, but still - a close occured, and boom - billions of people are on this planet. Somehow, without the pheromones and emotions connected with my analogy, however, when it is only...your livelihood... on the line, salespeople gradually get worse at it. That is why most trainers have summarized and watered down the close into simple phrases you are supposed to carry around for motivation: "Close hard, close often." "You don't ask, you don't get." "It takes 5 "no"...

Time to wrap up the 4 parts on "Are YOU on Demand?" with the final challenge - how engaging are you?  Chances are, you probably consider yourself pretty engaging, which is why you are in sales, but let's take a step back and compare back to these "smart" devices again, and find out how engaging  they are. On a recent 12 hour drive to see family in Maryland, my kids thought it would be amusing to talk to Siri.  They asked it every possible question to confuse and mesmerize this 'artificial intelligence,' while I, the driver, was pretty amused at the...well...conversation. Kids: "What is the best smartphone?" Siri: "I think you've already answered that question" Kids: "what is the best smartphone?" Siri: "Seriously?" Kids: "Whatever" Siri: "Fine" Kids: "Whatever!" Siri: "Everything is definitely OK" Kids: "You are so weird" Siri: "You are certain...

In this installment of  Are YOU On Demand?  we will focus on the promptness.  As you recall, we've been looking at how we have moved into the On Demand era, and how our consumers are demanding it from not just devices, but from everyONE they deal with.  Not only are they looking for someone who makes it simple to do business with, they also want those people to be prompt and engaging. The newest laptops on the market have solid state hard drives, whose main purpose is to create an "Instant On" experience, one touting a 2 second boot up!  Compare that to your laptop!  Why do I bring this up?  well, again, your consumer's iphone, iPad, and now laptop starts as quickly as their cars have for years (although even those now have Push button starts now!)  How does this translate?  If a customer leaves some question in your lap, they kind of expect it answered....quickly.  This is best seen online, where customers who used to survey that they...