The more information you have about each prospect, the better you will meet their needs, and possibly uncover more opportunities for your sale. A good salesperson understands that each client’s needs are different. Taking the time to understand their unique pain points will allow you to market your product better. Take a step back, look at the problems they have, and then go through the attributes of your solution and try to match them up these pain points. If you focus on remedying the prospect’s problems instead of trying to sell them on something they might not care about, they will be much more likely to take a vested interest in your product.

Don’t just use a general sales pitch. Customize your conversation/pitch for each prospect in order to engage and interest them in what you are selling. If you have taken the time before the call to figure out how your product fits their problems, this should be easy. Show your prospect that your product or solution is the best one to meet their needs instead of telling them how great it is.

While this requires a little extra effort for each call, it will pay off in the form of many more closed deals. Prepare for each call, understand your prospect and their needs, and devise a plan of attack in the form of an outline that fits certain aspects of your product to their needs.

Geoffrey James of the bNET Sales Machine writes about such an outline in a recent post. The pyramid of sales standards, as he calls it, outlines selling standards from the ground up. This set of standards works particularly well because of the pyramid structure, where each layer relies on the foundation, or layers, below it. As a sales rep, it is paramount to have a solid foundation of sales activities and skills, such as making the right number of calls, managing prospects in an organized manner, etc. Having a weak foundation, or not handling the basics well, will cause your whole pyramid (your selling strategy and effectiveness as a sales rep) to crumble. In fact, you might not even reach the top of the pyramid (repeat business and ultimately being profitable) if you do not have a sturdy foundation of the essential sales skills.

James calls the second layer of the pyramid ‘Sales Skills’, or your skills in terms of how you handle the call, how you deal with prospects, and how and when you followup. While it is key to be organized and thoughtful in creating a solid foundation of sales activity, a large amount of effort is needed to improve you’re on the call and followup skills. Along with lots of practice, being prepared for the call is essential. If you take the time to do the research on your prospect’s company, you will be much better off when you actually make the call. Research will lead you to a better understanding of your prospect’s needs and how your solution can fill them. You also might find a news alert that gives you an opening: a new executive hire at your prospect’s company, or the company being given a large amount of funding, etc. Finding the right news event cannot only give you an advantage but can sometimes result in an easy sale. News may be hard to come by all the time, but the research will always pay off on some level.

However it is certain that you can better manage prospects and sales calls if you’re getting the latest and greatest updates about them all the time- whether it be from social networks, browsing the web etc. There are in fact platforms out there that can aggregate all this “hot” information for you, eliminating the majority of the time you spend researching so you can have more time to focus on closing the sale and improving the top levels of your “sales pyramid”. You can check out one of these platforms here.

To illustrate Dan’s thesis, let’s look at one of his examples: An MIT study. The study conducted by MIT used 3 levels of monetary incentive for people doing a variety of tasks. When it came to physical tasks, the results were predictable; the higher the level of incentive for the person, the better the person performed. This was also true for any task which was a basic “if I do this, then I get that” carrot and stick model. However when it came to any tasks that were even rudimentarily conceptual, it was found that the higher the incentive was for the individual, the worse the individual tended to perform.

Why might this be? As counter-intuitive as this may sound, Dan actually gives us a very reasonable answer as to why this is. If you give a person enough of an incentive, say a wad of cash, they will immediately be focused on the task at hand and trying hard to figure out the solution. When the answer to the problem is straightforward and logical, this is great. But when a bit of creativity is required to attain the solution, being extremely focused on the problem and trying to think through it as logically as possible is probably the wrong approach. As Dan puts it, a large incentive like this “is the enemy of creative problem solving… because your not picking up on the lateral signals.” Going back to the carrot and stick analogy, you can completely focus on the carrot but not see the other things around you, be it a pot of gold (other great idea) or an 18-wheeler speeding at you (other pitfalls).

How does this have any application to sales you might ask? Well if you think about it, you can apply this to your sales reps and especially to those mid level performers. The monetary incentive has always been there for them, but they continue to perform around an average level. They are either less motivated or not as adept at selling as the other reps. If it is a question of motivation, obviously money is not working. If it is a question of skill, well then should we not try and motivate them to learn and become better at what they do? Maybe a different method of incentive will allow them to see sales solutions more clearly.

Dan sites three factors that lead to better personal performance and engagement:

• Autonomy, or our desire to be self directed.
• Mastery, or our desire to get better at what we do.
• Purpose, which can be the best motivator of all. We as people are both purpose maximizers as well as profit maximizers. While money is all well and good, if you can provide a person with a sense of purpose, it may motivate them a whole lot more than a bonus or commission ever could.

Applying this to the world of sales, you can try to encourage your reps to master what they do. Challenge them by pointing out that this is what they do all day every day and they should take pride in it. Explain that even though they might not believe it, the job of a salesman is mostly autonomous, as they are on their own the majority of the time selling a product or service to every prospect and lead that they receive. That being said you and the other salesman are always there to assist them, which can lead into the common sense of purpose. The entire team is working together toward one goal (or one number), and it is the manager’s job to convey this sense of camaraderie and purpose. If you can successfully convey this, you might just find that this team environment provides enough encouragement and creative thinking for each rep to go above and beyond.

Chad is onto something here, and a few of his points really stand out to me. He mentions that the cause of this shift to sales 2.0 is web 2.0; meaning the increase in the flow of information that social media and the web has created is allowing for more informed customers. It also allows for more informed sellers; for example it is incredibly easy to look up a prospect on LinkedIn, get a sense for their business personality and then to look up the company they work for through information services or by simply googling it.

Chad also mentions that at the “center of all this change is content and how we interact with it”. If you have interesting blog posts, tweets that speak to your buyer’s needs, or some other sort of intriguing or valuable thought, you will drive a following and in turn drive more sales opportunities. However it is also important to monitor others content; if your buyers can find information about your product and about you, then you can certainly find information about some of your prospects and their companies. In addition, you can find all sorts of valuable tricks of the trade by searching for articles, blogs, etc. Since you are reading this blog I guess you already know that.

Beyond the necessary information on your prospects, monitoring social networking and/or business sites can also keep you up to date with client events and will keep you on top of certain activities that can trigger sales, such as a merger or management change. While it may prove time consuming to do this on your own, there are information tools that can help you do this (iSell for example).

Bottom line: Make yourself visible on the web through effective content and self promotion, and take advantage of existing content by searching social channels or through business information tools.

 While the practice of not letting leads go cold is widespread, increasing the speed at which the leads are contacted after they first appear may be more crucial than is currently perceived by the majority of sales and marketing individuals. A new study by Leads360 shows that there is a direct correlation between the time it takes to contact a lead and conversion rate. According to the study, 88% of all leads that eventually convert were called within the first 24 hours. Even more astonishing is this figure: “sales leads called within 60 seconds of being first generated online showed a fourfold (391%) advantage over average conversion rates”. While it may be a bit of a pipedream to think that you can always get to your leads within a minute of them popping up, this stat still shows the importance of getting to your leads quickly. The faster you can get to the leads, the more likely they are to still have your product top of mind, and the easier it will be to convert them into an opportunity.

 That being said, don’t sacrifice speed for quality here. Don’t call the prospect if you aren’t fully prepared (for instance if you haven’t done any research into the prospects needs and how to position your solution to them appropriately). The fact that you called them within ten minutes of them opting in doesn’t mean squat if you have no idea who they are and why they might need your product. Take a few minutes to figure out who you’re talking to and what their needs are, and then make the call.

Creating an argument to convince your prospect to buy depends on your product/service. If you have a great product that dominates the competition, you need to formulate an argument to exhibit this to your prospect. Demonstrate the value that your product will provide with real numbers if you have them; talk about the significant ROI that your product has shown vs. your competitors. Talk about how it drives revenue, productivity, pipeline, or whatever is appropriate for you. If your product is more in the middle of the pack, consider why your customers choose you over others. Is your product less expensive? Can you provide more ease of use than others? Figure out what advantage you have over others and create an argument around it. Again, demonstrating the value of your product/service is the key and you must do this through showing hard evidence or with a very convincing argument.

Positioning can be broken down into three categories: Attributes and benefits of the product, the user application of the product, and the how it compares to the competition. 

• Attributes and Benefits: If you’re struggling to come up with substantial evidence that demonstrates your product’s value, list out the attributes of your product and the benefit to the user that each attribute gives.
• User Application: Then if possible, try and show how one or many of the attributes of the product contributes to the ROI for the user. Next, go into the user application of the product: Who are the users and why do they need your product? What do they find important about your product?
• Competition: Finally, once you have identified the users, take each of your major competitors and brainstorm a list for each on how your product is better.

Using this methodology will more than adequately prepare you to position your product. Combining proper positioning with knowledge about the prospect and the prospect’s organization is a sure-fire recipe for a successful sales call.

In any case, the blog post discusses what to do when a prospect starts to shut you out. Instead of losing hope, it advises you to try some new tactics that might help you get your foot back in the door. I can’t help but agree – it’s better to keep trying than to give up at the first sign of rejection.

One of the suggestions is to probe for a new decision maker or influencer.

Maybe the reason why your prospect isn’t responding is because you aren’t talking to the right person anymore. Maybe your contact has changed positions or left the company, and is no longer relevant.

 Or maybe there’s someone else in the company who has a more influential hand in the decision making process that would be more than happy to meet with you. In order to find out the most relevant contact information, make sure you have a viable content information provider– preferably one that aggregates and sorts the most up-to-date information, so you can easily see all the information you’re looking for – saving you time and gaining you access to the right person and of course, closing that sale!

 In addition, many managers take the approach that it is better to spend the money on incentives for sales reps and to cut out those that aren’t performing well. While these tactics can sometimes be effective, without any training the majority of sales reps are likely to fall behind. Gerhard Gschwandtner of Selling Power analogizes this to a football coach who cancels practice when the team is winning, and gives would be training dollars out to the best players instead of paying for more practice equipment. Do you think that would make a good coach? I think not.

 While it would be great if most sales managers took it upon themselves to find appropriate training sessions, whitepapers, and even books to promote better selling, it will usually be left to the rep to find opportunities to educate themselves.

 If you’re a sales manager, consider the fact that a well educated and learned sales team will perform better, and in turn make you look better, than a team who is only driven by extra incentives and the fear of getting the axe. If you’re a sales rep, be proactive. Don’t assume that your manager or your company will consistently find seminars for you to attend. Find them yourself and ask your company to pay for it. In addition, learn from your mistakes and from your customers. Every sale and every customer is different, so keep notes on what worked for you and what didn’t so you don’t make the same mistakes with your next prospect. Write down what you learned from each training session as well; as I mentioned before the training will only stay top of mind for so long, so it is crucial to write down the takeaway messages.

 Sales training will only resonate for a few hours and then will fade from memory quickly, and likewise the enthusiasm generated from a training class will dissipate in a few days. While some may use the skills they have learned from a particular training for a few weeks or even a month, people will usually fall back into their old habits without regular training. Find and attend regular sessions to keep yourself fresh; read articles, whitepapers, and books. Write down what you have learned and apply it; you should find yourself exceeding your quarterly goals in no time.

 When you are selling a product or service, you need to remember that you are also selling yourself. “Each of us sells a certain set of attributes and intangibles that create meaning and value.” says Anthony Iannarino in a recent post from The Sales Blog. Just like the car salesmen, you cannot just assume that a slightly better product or a lower price will win over a prospect.

 It is critical to keep your personal brand aligned with the positioning of your product or service. Your customer wants the best product and one that fits in his/her organization. If there is something “off” about you, or if your personality doesn’t seem to fit your product or service, it will reflect on what you are selling. (Wouldn’t you feel uneasy if someone who sounds like a computer geek tried to sell you sports equipment?) 

While it’s essential to keep the professionalism in your approach, it’s also important to make sure you have your customer’s or prospect’s trust. On top of being personable, make the prospect think that you know what you are talking about and that your personality fits with the product. This will build your company brand and will reflect well on you in the future.