Closing Strategies, “Not in budget”

When you are working with artists or heads of labels, they will often try to stall you or dismiss you by saying the purchase of our service just isn’t in their budget. For some, it can become reflexive to say that. Rather than let the impersonal budget stand between you and a potential sale, get them to admit who is in charge of the budget. Then, sell the value of our offering over the value of sticking to something that was created before they even knew our benefits were available.

It might sound something like this:

To Label:

“I can understand that, LABEL. That’s why I contacted you in the first place. I’m fully aware of the fact that every well-managed business manager controls the flow of his/her artist money with a carefully planned budget. The budget is a necessary tool for every manager to give direction to their artist goals. However, the tool itself doesn’t dictate how the company is run. It must be flexible. You, as the controller of that budget, retain for yourself the right to flex that budget in the best interest of the artist’s financial present and competitive future, don’t you?

What we have been examining here today is a system, which will allow your artist an immediate and continuing competitive edge. Tell me, under these conditions, will your budget flex, or will it dictate your actions?”

To Artist:

“I can understand that, Artist. That’s why I contacted you in the first place. I’m fully aware of the fact that every success artist controls the flow of his/her money with a carefully planned budget. The budget is a necessary tool for every artist to give direction to their goals. However, the tool itself doesn’t dictate how your business is run. It must be flexible. But you, as the controller of that budget, have the right to flex your budget in the best interest of your financial and competitive future, don’t you?

What we have been examining here today is a system, which will allow your music an immediate and continuing competitive edge. Tell me, under these conditions, will your budget flex, or will it dictate your actions?”

ABC

How Social Media is Impacting the Sales Process [VIDEO]

June 20, 2013 By Tom Hopkins

Today’s sales environment has definitely changed and professional salespeople are learning to adapt by embracing social media as an effective way to connect with prospects and customers.

From sparking a conversation on Twitter, to connecting and sharing resources with someone on LinkedIn, social media has armed us with new ways to research, prospect and add value more creatively than ever before.

In this video, social media strategist Joe Soto, CEO of Revenue Inbound, interviews Tom Hopkins to get his thoughts and insights on how social media is impacting the sales process.

Here are some of the tough questions asked and discussed in the video below: 

1.     What do you say to the new young sales professional who believes he or she can rely on social media and technology to build relationships with prospects?
2.     What are the important people skills a new person entering the sales world must master that will then transfer how he or she comes across when using social media tools?
3.     What do sales leaders need to do to make sure their people are well trained or coached on what matters most?
4.     Do face-to-face and phone conversations still have the same value or can salespeople do it all online today?
5.     Where do you think social media has helped the most, and where has it hurt the most in how we sell in today’s environment? 

Click here to watch video.

repost from June 10, 2013 By Tom Hopkins

Are you selling or serving?

As a true sales professional, what you do provides genuine, specific, and highly personalized service to people who have the need and ability to own your product or service. Selling is service.

As an individual or as an organization, you may face incredible pressure to put your product or service, your monthly quota, your company, or even your own personal goals ahead of the needs of your client. That, my friend, is the road to tragedy, not to achievement.

Clients are becoming more sophisticated in their knowledge of products and services, and in the new technologies that continually spring onto the market. More than that, customer needs are continually shifting with changes in demographics, economies (local, regional, national, and global), politics, and technology.

The winners in the future will be those individuals and organizations who take on these multifaceted challenges and turn them into opportunities to build strong and long lasting relationships with individual clients.

That, my friend, takes selling.

SOURCE:  http://www.tomhopkins.com/blog/sellingskills/selling-is-serving

Selling is Serving

June 10, 2013 By Tom Hopkins 1 Comment

inShare22

Are you selling or serving?

As a true sales professional, what you do provides genuine, specific, and highly personalized service to people who have the need and ability to own your product or service. Selling is service.
As an individual or as an organization, you may face incredible pressure to put your product or service, your monthly quota, your company, or even your own personal goals ahead of the needs of your client. That, my friend, is the road to tragedy, not to achievement.
Clients are becoming more sophisticated in their knowledge of products and services, and in the new technologies that continually spring onto the market. More than that, customer needs are continually shifting with changes in demographics, economies (local, regional, national, and global), politics, and technology.
The winners in the future will be those individuals and organizations who take on these multifaceted challenges and turn them into opportunities to build strong and long lasting relationships with individual clients.
That, my friend, takes selling.

- See more at: http://www.tomhopkins.com/blog/sellingskills/selling-is-serving#sthash.2cXaR8u0.dpuf

Selling is Serving

June 10, 2013 By Tom Hopkins 1 Comment

inShare22

Are you selling or serving?

As a true sales professional, what you do provides genuine, specific, and highly personalized service to people who have the need and ability to own your product or service. Selling is service.
As an individual or as an organization, you may face incredible pressure to put your product or service, your monthly quota, your company, or even your own personal goals ahead of the needs of your client. That, my friend, is the road to tragedy, not to achievement.
Clients are becoming more sophisticated in their knowledge of products and services, and in the new technologies that continually spring onto the market. More than that, customer needs are continually shifting with changes in demographics, economies (local, regional, national, and global), politics, and technology.
The winners in the future will be those individuals and organizations who take on these multifaceted challenges and turn them into opportunities to build strong and long lasting relationships with individual clients.
That, my friend, takes selling.

- See more at: http://www.tomhopkins.com/blog/sellingskills/selling-is-serving#sthash.2cXaR8u0.dpuf

Selling is Serving

June 10, 2013 By Tom Hopkins 1 Comment

inShare22

Are you selling or serving?

As a true sales professional, what you do provides genuine, specific, and highly personalized service to people who have the need and ability to own your product or service. Selling is service.
As an individual or as an organization, you may face incredible pressure to put your product or service, your monthly quota, your company, or even your own personal goals ahead of the needs of your client. That, my friend, is the road to tragedy, not to achievement.
Clients are becoming more sophisticated in their knowledge of products and services, and in the new technologies that continually spring onto the market. More than that, customer needs are continually shifting with changes in demographics, economies (local, regional, national, and global), politics, and technology.
The winners in the future will be those individuals and organizations who take on these multifaceted challenges and turn them into opportunities to build strong and long lasting relationships with individual clients.
That, my friend, takes selling.

- See more at: http://www.tomhopkins.com/blog/sellingskills/selling-is-serving#sthash.2cXaR8u0.dpuf

The Seven Selling Basics That’ll Make You as Great as You Want to Be

 By Tom Hopkins

inShare1

What so few of us are willing to accept is this fundamental truth: Great salespeople, like great athletes, simply do the basics very well. Some of us would like to believe that there’s a shortcut around the basics; that, if we could only find it, there’s a secret formula out there somewhere for just sitting back and letting the money roll in. The sooner you get rid of that illusion, the sooner you can get on with reaching the heights you want to reach through effective use of the basics.
1. Prospecting. If you’re like most of the people in my seminar audiences, just hearing the word prospecting makes you a little nervous. Don’t think that way. If you don’t like to prospect, it’s because no one has taught you the professional way to do it. I’m going to.

2. Making original contact the professional way. We all meet new people all the time—in social situations, at events for our children, at church, in non-sales business settings. The key to success in selling is to refine your skills during these initial contacts to become memorable to the other folks and to remember as much about them as possible so you can impress them even more on your second meeting—which, hopefully, will be a selling situation.

3. Qualification. Many salespeople spend most of their time talking to the wrong people. If you do that, it doesn’t matter how eloquently you present your service or product. Your earnings are going to be low. I’ll show you how professionals make sure that they invest their time with the right people who can make yes decisions, instead of expending it on the wrong people who can only make no decisions.

4. Presentation. After you qualify and know that this person has a need for your product or service, it’s now time to move on to the fourth basic which is the presentation or demonstration. You must present your product in such a way that they see that it’s just what they had in mind all along.

5. Handling objections. The fifth basic method of developing your competence is to learn how to handle objections effectively. Maybe you’ve had prospects who want to wait and think it over; prospects who already have one of whatever it is you’re selling; prospects who’ve been doing business with your competitor for years. Have you ever heard any of these things? If you’ve been in sales longer than a week, you undoubtedly have. Read on. You’ll find material that’ll make you smile the next time you hear these objections. You’ll smile, bore in—and close a delightful number of such sales. But there’s a price to pay for that smile: You’ve got to learn the concept, adapt the idea to your offering, and learn the words that make it work.

6. Closing the sale. Many average to good salespeople prospect, make contacts, qualify, present, and handle objections so well that they manage to get by without learning to close competently. And that, of course, is what keeps them from being great. Closing contains elements of both art and science, and those elements can be learned.

7. Referrals. After you’ve satisfied the needs of your client and closed the sale, you have earned the right to your next prospect. By that I mean getting referral business from each and every client. That is the seventh and final basic. If they’re happy, they’ll want someone else to be happy, too. I’ll teach you simple steps to getting solid, qualified referrals every time, if you’re willing to learn.

But many of us have forgotten how to learn, so let’s quickly review the steps to learning that apply not only to everything in this book, but to anything you choose to study.

The Art of Building Client Relationships

Customer relationships

 

When it comes to building long-term relationships with clients, it’s very similar to building long-term friendships. In kindergarten, children are encouraged to make new friends by talking with others, inviting them to play, and being “nice” to them. They often hear these words: “To have a friend, you have to be a friend.” In many business situations, clients often become more than clients. They become friends…not necessarily the kind you would invite to non-business gatherings, but people you truly care about and who care about you.

There is a feature in a local area newspaper where readers are invited to review their favorite non-franchise restaurant. The articles are wonderful publicity for the restaurants. One of the key elements I see repeated over and over again is that patrons know the names of the owners, hosts and/or servers. And, many of the restaurant workers know something about them as well. They know if the guests prefer coffee or tea with breakfast. They may even remember their favorite meal, asking if they want “the usual.”

Put yourself in the seats of those guests for a moment. How would it make you feel to have your particular favorites automatically placed before you without having to explain your preferences? It would make you feel at home or as if you’re at the home of a good friend…someone who knows you well and wants you to have what you want. They want you to be happy. That type of response is the ideal when it comes to serving your clients’ needs and it can be created no matter what your product or service is.

You may think you’re in the business of selling automotive services, home remodeling or repairs, printing services, financial services, tutoring or signs, but you’re not. Even if your products are sold only to other businesses, the business doesn’t make the buying decision. A person does. You are in the people business and learning to make people feel important and cared about will help you make both the initial sale and long-term sales over the course of time.

Maybe you sell tires, not breakfast. Even so, you should introduce yourself to each client and give your name. Use your clients’ names in conversation during the sales process. Inquire about the use of the vehicle. Does the client have young children or a teenage driver? If so, safety will be an important issue to discuss with them. Do they have a cabin in the woods where some off-road driving is involved? Or, do they travel for business and need “highway” tires? All of these answers help you lead them to the best choice for them. Keeping a record of the answers will help you build long-term relationships.

No matter what your business is, every client should receive your best care during the sales process and after. During the initial sale, get them talking and take good notes. Enter the information into your client database.

Harvey Mackay has a long list of details he requires his salespeople to gather about clients over a certain time period. This includes not just information required to do business, but a few personal details such as birthdays, whether or not they’re married, children’s names, and whether or not they have pets. That information is used to make contacts and to start conversations with clients after the initial sale.

People like to do business with A&Rs who are like them, who demonstrate that they care about them beyond making the sale and who keep them in mind when something new that might be of interest to them arises. That type of treatment makes them feel important. They come to rely on businesses and A&Rs they know they can trust to have their needs and interests at heart.