Stephen M. Haines - Tips for sales professionals

One of my favorite things to hear as a sales leader is when a salesperson is presenting the terms of a potential deal, and throws in..... "...and, they've gotta have an extra $2000.  It's a deal killer!" You know, Ben Affleck said it best in Boiler Room.   In every interaction a sale is made, just sometimes the Buyer sells the seller on why they can't or won't buy!  As a sales professional, you are responsible for both how the value of the product and/or transaction is portrayed, and in my humble opinion, the deal killer is usually.... US! I'll let you off the hook... slightly... and acknowledge that SOMETIMES customers can get price fixation, and thereby overlook the true value of the produce you are selling.  We've all been there - the buyer has been given or set a specific price in their mind, and all logic, begging, and value-adds cannot budge them.  What I am suggesting today, however, is that this is rarer than we like to believe.  That t...

How heavy are your questions? Part 3 of Ask a Better Question is actually a question - "How heavy are YOUR questions?"  In this installment, we investigate which question you are reaching for, and what response you are likely to solicit.  Buckle in, because this topic is HEAVY! This will be the last time I write on questioning for a while, but I felt it was worthwhile to cover one more facet.  You see, we have an opportunity to filter or improve the actual answer we are seeking, and phrase it as a better question - one that actually is likely to help us towards a positive response.  Before I get specific, how about an example? Let's say YOU are shopping for a luxury item for the first time - one you are not that familiar with - we'll go with a boat.  You have made it clear that you are an amateur by the nature of your dialogue - you've asked about anti-lock braking (on a boat, really?), cruise control, and "where does the waste from the toilet go?...

Over the years, "fads" have crossed the sales profession, from "Spin Selling" to "Relationship Selling".  It's funny, dust off one of the fad techniques in your next pitch, and your peers and boss will look at you like you came to work in tight parachute pants and a "Pantera" t-shirt.  Oddly, human behavior has not changed significantly, we just continue to evolve to try to understand it better. Here is what is different, whether you are selling retail goods or B2B, the buyers have become more selective as their budgets have tightened.  I saw this firsthand last month in the US territory of Saint Thomas, a vacation destination that relies heavily on tourism.  In 2003 I visited, and everybody was happy go-lucky, there were steel drums everywhere, it was all lots-of-laughs.  Enter 2011, and the weekly cruise stops have dwindled from twenty-something plus to less than 5.  Doors are closed, businesses are suffering.  Now, the street "handl...