outside sales teams

[rugeleyboy]

are there any people out there that specialise in sales calls for small businesses??

i am having trouble turning calls into sales and i am looking at either employing a salesperson,but i dont think i am busy enough for that move yet??

[pezza.......]

Hi rugeleyboy, by call do you mean a tele sales call or an outside appointment made by a sales 'rep'?

Whichever you mean there are a few things that can make the difference that are basic sales principles. (I used to train sales staff).

1. Always make sure you have a set aim for the meeting or call. If you want to sell something there and then, that is your target, other businesses may just be setting a next action such as a return visit or demonstration. Without this simple step you sometimes forget the aim of the meeting so just carry on regardless.

2. Ensure that the person you are speaking to or seeing is the correct person, not just a person in the office who has no decision making or influence power.

3. Let the customer do the talking. Most business people enjoy talking, mainly about themselves, let them. It may give you plenty of signals as to what makes them tick. Once you understand this you can move from being a supplier to being a partner company.

4. When you do do the talking, ask questions. Dont assume that you know what the customer wants or needs. FIND OUT. Ask suitable questions, open questions to find information and closed questions to gain commitment to a solution or idea.

Hope these help, if not I will try and post more.

Good luck

[rugeleyboy]

nice one pezza,

many thanks for the information you have given me....

we sell to mainly the public via the internet, my biggest advert is e bay and we pull in an average of 30 quotes a week and within 12 months my web site had had over 6000 hit's..........but heres the crunch!!!

i am so busy myself that i leave the sales to a lad who works for me and to be honest ,he isnt closing the door on sales.....we have sold about 150 items from the web site...
can you see the problem 6000/150?

but also, i dont feel confident in myself to do this either,so this leads me here? what do i do???????

[pezza.......]

No problems rugeleyboy.

What you obviously need is to up your converstion ratio from 40-1 to around 10 to one. Ideal would be 3 or 4 to one but one step at a time.

Ask the sales lad why he thinks his ratio is so low. Get him to think about it and spean an hour or so away from the phone and write everything down. Look for a list of at least 7 or 8 things.

Sit down with him and go through each point and get him to tell you if he thinks the point can be overcome. Discuss each one with him and make a plan to get over each 'objection'.

For example, people arent buying due to the cost. This could be a number of things. They might not have the money and didnt realise the cost of the items. In this case that is down to advertising and marketing.

Another reason for the to expensive line is that the sales lad hasnt fully justified the cost to the client. Lay a plan where he fully explains the features of a product, then what those features do and how they will benefit the client. This provides cost justification.

I know this covers a wide spectrum and may not be totally suitable depending on what you sell, but generally this approach will help the sales lad overcome common objections.

Good luck