Selling in Asia with Tom Abbott

Small business owners play many different roles inside their companies, and being the salesperson is one of them. When speaking to entrepreneurs, I hear common misconceptions from them about sales. These ‘myths’ are holding them back from success with their company, so in this week’s podcast, I share 5 Small Biz Sales Myths Debunked and what you should be doing instead.

• Myth #1. Business Is Only Good In Upturns | 5 Small Biz Sales Myths Debunked
• Myth #2. Sales Come Easily To Big Business | 5 Small Biz Sales Myths Debunked
• Myth #3. Great Products Sell Themselves | 5 Small Biz Sales Myths Debunked
• Myth #4. Sales Increase With Advertising
• Myth #5. Sales Are For Salespeople

It’s easy to blame the economy and state that business is just out of your control, but that’s not true! In fact, many companies do extremely well during downturns by making positive changes to their mindset for sales success. You need to focus on making the mindset that you can create your own economy.

Small business sales have the same challenges as big business: lead generation, prospecting, objection handling, qualifying, and differentiating. Just because you’re small doesn’t mean you don’t have a chance. You have competitive advantages. You need to identify, leverage and implement them!

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You’ve probably heard of the expression – “if you’re great at what you do – people will come.” Wrong. Networking is essential for creating awareness around your product or service! Let people know who you are and what you do.

While it often seems like a foolproof strategy, you mustn’t rely on word-of-mouth advertising because someone has to buy your product first. Instead, it would be best to create a plan and energy around your product that creates excitement, conversation and discussion.

It seems logical that sales increase with advertising and is the best way to reach your audience. However, it’s the best way to lose money quickly. Instead, it would be best to identify 3 ways to advertise your product or service and reach your customers more affordably: blog posts, videos, podcasts, etc.

Sales are not just for salespeople; everyone is in sales and needs this mentality – because without sales, we don’t have a business!

Sales skills need to be learned, practiced, and mastered. In our Sales Accelerator pack, we teach you the skills all sales professionals, entrepreneurs, and small business owners need to sell effectively. Join us in mastering the sales process, starting with getting the right mindset, differentiating from the competition, building strong relationships, and delivering compelling sales presentations using stories.

The post 5 Small Biz Sales Myths Debunked appeared first on SOCO Sales Training.

It’s not uncommon to see salespeople everywhere leading with, ‘I give the biggest discounts, I have the lowest price, I will give you a good deal.’ They do and say all of this because they don’t know how to differentiate from the competition. But really, no one is going to buy something, no matter how cheap it is. If they don’t think it will work, it’ll still be a waste of their money. So, how should you be differentiating from the competition?

I was at a networking event the other day, and a real-estate lady came up to me, handed me her business card, and said, ‘I give high referral commission. And that was it. That was her differentiator! She was pretty much trying to bribe people to give her business. Therefore, she was leading with price as her differentiator. The thing is, she is not alone. In this Selling in Asia podcast episode, Managing Director Tom Abbott shares how to stop using price as a differentiator and what to do instead.

It’s a common notion that the lower the price, the lower the risk, and the higher the price, the higher the risk, whether real or perceived. So it’s effortless to play the low-price game, but you really have to sell a lot to make it worthwhile because the volume has to be there.

On the other end of the spectrum, a high price means you don’t need a lot to make a lot of money. You really have to be able to demonstrate the value. Why should they pay that much for your product or service? Generally, why you shouldn’t solely rely on differentiating on price because, quite often, customers today, even when they pay a low price, still, for some reason, expect high-quality service.

Are you an established brand, or are you a newcomer? Are you a high-priced luxury brand, or are you a low-cost brand? Perhaps you stand apart in terms of service, or you pride yourselves on offering the best level of service possible?

Perhaps you’re the opposite, no-frills. No support at all. And as a result, you’re probably at a low cost.

Maybe you stand apart in terms of being specialized, niche, targeted, and focused. Or perhaps you go the complete opposite, and you’re a generalist a jack of all trades, and you do a little bit of everything!

However, above all else, please consider there’s no perfect way to differentiate. Still, you need to find a way to distinguish your company from the rest because brands that hover in the middle tend to get lost. Ultimately, they end up just competing on price and getting lost in the sea of competitors.

SOCO/ is an expert-led, award-winning sales training company. We’ve spent decades working with some of the most innovative and forward-thinking companies across Asia and the world.

Have SOCO train your team in the top sales skills needed to take on 2021 through either Virtual Instructor Led Training through video conferencing software or letting your team learn new skills in their spare time using our popular e-learning platform – SOCO Academy.

Not sure which of the top sales training programs is right for you? Book an appointment with one of our program advisors who will be happy to build the right training plan for you.

Let’s face it. Many other people are doing the same thing as you and competing for the same business. It can be tough to stand apart from the competition, so why not learn how to stand apart from the competition with our Differentiate to Win training program?

In our Differentiate to Win course, we help you do all of this in a way that’s important to your buyer because at the end of the day if your differentiator doesn’t matter to your prospects – you’ll still be left to compete on price.

Start learning how to position yourself, your company, and your offering as the ideal solution to your customer.

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The post Quick Tip: Don’t use Price to Differentiate appeared first on SOCO Sales Training.

I always get asked this from sales leaders I work with: How do I motivate my team? They tell me the team seems demoralized, and some might even be looking for new jobs. What can I do?

In this episode, we find out what drives sales professionals, which will help leaders understand how to motivate their sales teams.

Why are you doing this? What truly motivates you? I heard years ago that the word “Motivation” really stands for your motive for action. So, what’s your motive for action? What gets you out of bed every morning? Why do you work late at night? Why do you keep sending that one extra email or making that one extra phone call when you’d rather go home and sleep? What drives you? What truly motivates you?

A lot of us are motivated by, you guessed it, money. We all love money, and money’s great. Money buys cars, money buys houses, and it buys a lot of things – clothes, designer bags, shoes, vacations, and travel. You name it. We all love money, but here’s something that I’ve learned over the years, and maybe you’ve learned this too: Money is not an end. Money is simply a means to that end. Think about what truly motivates you. What are you really working towards?

It may not even be what motivates you. Maybe it’s who motivates you or who you are doing this for. Do you have kids? Are you married? Well, I do. I’ve got two kids, a beautiful wife, and two lovely young boys. They drive me. They motivate me every single day to work harder to do more and, quite frankly, to be more. That’s who motivates me. My wife continually drives me to succeed and going above and beyond and doing more than I even thought I could do. So, who motivates you in your life?

Maybe it’s your parents. If you still have living parents, they’ve looked after you their whole lives. Well, at least your whole life, they looked after you. I know that my parents worked so hard and sacrificed a lot to make sure that I had everything that I needed to succeed in life. Now it’s your turn. It’s your turn to take care of your parents. Support them. And look I know it’s not easy, if you’ve got parents and you have kids maybe you feel kind of squeezed. Sometimes, we call it the Sandwich Generation, where you’re supporting both your parents and your kids.

But no one said life was easy. It’s your turn now, and it’s your responsibility. So whenever you feel like things are getting hard and it’s too tough and you don’t want to keep going and you just want to give up, I invite you. In fact, I challenge you to think about your kids, your husband or wife, and your parents.

They’re counting on you.

The post Quick Tip: What Motivates Sales Professionals appeared first on SOCO Sales Training.

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My team’s not hitting targets. What do I do? That’s a question I got asked the other day by a sales leader I work with.  She tells me the team is not making as many calls as they should be, and they’re not as responsive to new inquiries as needed.

Well, I tell them: you need to start by setting goals. In today’s episode, I share what it takes to motivate sales teams to reach targets.

Many teams I work with have monthly, quarterly, or yearly sales targets, but not all have targets around the output. What do they need to do to achieve their targets? 

I recommend setting daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Give them goals around how many calls they need to make each day, how many appointments they need to book, and how many times they need to follow up with customers. You need to find out what it takes for them to reach their targets, then break it down into more manageable daily, weekly, and monthly targets.

But setting targets is one thing; you must follow up with them to see if they’re hitting their output targets. If you don’t follow up, nothing will happen. I recommend using a tool like a CRM to track their efforts, then you as the sales manager need to follow up with them to praise them for reaching their output goals or find out why they aren’t.

This brings me to my next tip: you must identify why they aren’t reaching their goals. It’s not enough to set a goal and then demand it is met. Check-in with them to see how they’re doing. Find out if something is holding them back or getting in their way. Find out how you can help them reach their targets.

Individual targets are great, you being a supportive leader is great, now you need to build a team environment. Your job gets easier when a team supports each other and works towards team goals, not just individual ones. The team starts collaborating and sharing best practices, and everyone helps everyone improve. 

Make sure to check out my slide deck on motivating your sales team on 15 Ways To Motivate Your Sales Team To Achieve Sales Targets

A high-performing team is highly motivated. They take on challenges with an eagerness to exceed expectations, and they don’t blindly follow orders; they look to improve upon them.

Leading a team to new heights takes understanding your team’s unique strengths, how to navigate uncharted territory and how to inspire them to reach their maximum potential. It takes a talented leader to do that.

Join SOCO’s Management Mastery course, where we cover the essential management skills every leader needs to bring out the best of their team, whether they’re working in the office, at home, or in a blended environment.

The post Quick Tip: How To Help Your Team Reach Targets appeared first on SOCO Sales Training.

Connect with people anytime and anywhere. In this episode, Kerrie Phipps shares with us some networking tips to help sales professionals connect online and offline. Do talk to strangers.

Kerrie Phipps. She is the author of the book Do Talk To Strangers, despite what our parents told us. It’s important to talk to strangers. Talk to strangers, and learn how to connect with anyone anywhere. I had the good fortune of meeting Kerrie here in Singapore at the Asia Professional Speaker Annual Convention. And I knew immediately that her message would resonate with sales professionals because we all need to connect with anyone and anywhere.

Sales professionals, business owners and company directors need to always be networking and looking for new opportunities to meet potential prospects or partners. I had the opportunity to speak with Kerrie Phipps, author of ‘Do Talk to Strangers‘, about why sales professionals and anyone in general need to get in the habit of talking to strangers and what they can get out of it.

Learn more about Kerrie at www.kerriephipps.com

The post Out Of The Box Networking with Kerrie Phipps appeared first on SOCO Sales Training.

The other day, the LinkedIn app on my phone just started blowing up with messages. People were saying, ‘ Congratulations! Way to go! ‘ And I was like, What’s going on? It turns out LinkedIn had shared my 20-year milestone at SOCO Sales Training. It’s been 20 years since I started this company! 

It’s been quite the ride for the past 20 years, and I’ve grown and learned so much in that time. In today’s episode, I share what it took for me to go from a one-man show doing pretty much everything to one of Asia’s leading sales training brands with a team behind me.

The other day, my phone just started blowing up with messages. People were saying, “Congrats, way to go!”

I was like, hold on, what’s going on? It turns out LinkedIn had shared my 20-year milestone at SOCO Sales Training, thus announcing that it’s been 20 years since I started this company! 

That’s just mind-blowing. And you know what? It hasn’t been easy. It’s been a long journey. 

It’s funny because when I interviewed someone for a sales position the other day, they said, “It’s amazing how big you’ve gotten. You just came out of nowhere.” And I was shocked. It’s neat how many people tell me, ‘Hey, we’re connected on LinkedIn,’ and I have no idea who they are (Come on! I’m sorry, but there are over 20,000 of you!). 

Still, I’m only getting started, and I’ve worked at this for 20 years! 

The first ten years were tough. Back then, I was in Canada and did a combination of sales coaching and training on various topics. But honestly, I wasn’t focused and hadn’t found my groove.

Then, in 2008, I followed my then-girlfriend to the other side of the world, to Singapore, to pursue her career in interior design. It wasn’t until I got to Singapore that things started to take off. 

I had that immigrant mentality, and I had no ties, expectations, judgment, or anything holding me back. 

However, I had to start from scratch, letting people know who I was and what I did. But I hit the ground running.

I took every speaking gig I could, free or paid. A big turning point was when I did a public workshop for Singapore’s Straits Times Newspaper in 2009. It was great exposure because my face was everywhere in the paper. At the workshop, I met a sales director for Global Beauty, the head company for brands like Marie France Body Line and others. She loved my training so much that she engaged me to deliver my Social Selling workshop to all of their locations across Asia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia.

More so, I remember getting a deposit check from them, which wasn’t even half of the wholesale value; that was more money than I’d ever seen on a cheque addressed to me in my lifetime. 

I still have a photo of myself smiling and holding the cheque somewhere on my balcony.

And that was when things started to take off. I got so busy in 2010 after I married my girlfriend, who brought me to Singapore; she left her job in interior design to help grow SOCO. With her passion for branding, marketing, and design added to the company, we grew even more and started working more and more across Asia. I found myself training trainers in Indonesia and Thailand to deliver the SOCO® Selling methodology because there was demand from those markets too. I’ll let you in on a little secret, our trainer in Thailand is one of the sales managers from Marie France Bodyline that I trained, and she’s an awesome trainer.

As we grew, we had to add more staff, and with the addition of more staff, we could continue to grow faster and faster. We’ve gotten so good at what we do that we’re now applying the same strategies we’ve used to grow SOCO to grow AMC NPO Solutions in Canada. AMC NPO Solutions is a training company that services not-for-profits that I bought from my father seven years ago before he passed away. 

So while it’s been 20 years and one heck of a ride, I’m only getting started. We have a new sales trainer starting with us next month and are currently hiring sales reps. The company is growing so fast, and we’re serving some of the biggest brands in Asia. I can’t wait to share the lessons I learned from the next five years in business with you.

If you haven’t seen my slide deck on 20 Lessons from 20 Years in Business on LinkedIn, please do so and let me know your thoughts.

I moved to Singapore at the end of 2008- one of the things that I love most about living in this part of the world is the surrounding unique countries.

I was actually recently in Bangkok delivering a sales training program for a local Thai company. In fact, our local Thai trainer, Sasivee, will be providing the program in their native language, Thai, which is fantastic!

However, I’ve noticed that sales teams across the region and around the world struggle with the same challenges: How do we stand apart from competitors? How do we answer objections effectively? And how do we close more deals fast?

But each country has its own distinct challenges. How do they sell in that particular market? What are some of the subtle nuances of business etiquette in their own country? That’s why our corporate training programs blend a global methodology or framework with a local context. If you’re looking for sales training in Thailand or a sales workshop in Thailand, drop us an email, and we’ll be more than happy to help you.

Sales skills need to be learned, practiced, and mastered. In our Sales Accelerator pack, we teach you the skills all sales professionals, entrepreneurs, and small business owners need to sell effectively. Join us in mastering the sales process, starting with getting the right mindset, differentiating from the competition, building strong relationships, and delivering compelling sales presentations using stories.

The post Lessons from 20 Years in Business appeared first on SOCO Sales Training.

While Grant Cardone was in Singapore, I sat down with him at his suite at Marina Bay Sands with the view of Singapore’s Central Business District behind us to discuss how to get the mindset to 10x your life, income, and business.

Too many people are playing an incremental game, such as, how can I go from closing 40 deals to 60 deals or earning 100k to 200k? So join us as Grant shares how he thinks everyone should plan to use the 10x rule to 10x their business and income!

• How to use the 10x rule to 10x your life
  • Marketing yourself with Grant Cardone
  • Monetize, Monetize, Monetize
  • What Motivates You?
  • What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There…
  • Have multiple flows of revenue
• More About Grant Cardone

There’s so much competition for attention today. Having a great product isn’t enough. There are terrible products that win every day, and this is really important; the best products do not always win the game.

It’s the product that is in most places that will win the game. If you could combine the best product with the most attention, then you’re going to dominate the game. So do people know you? Are you getting enough exposure?

If you have good content, it should monetize to a product unless you haven’t taken the time to create products and services that solve the problem and support your message. If you’re spending time and energy on something, you must monetize it.

Van Gogh is a perfect example of a guy that never monetized. He is known today as one of the greatest artists who has ever lived. He has massive art production with such phenomenal works but only sold one piece in his entire life.

Do you know many people got rich off Van Gogh because Van Gogh was a great artist and didn’t monetize? He should have created that wealth. It’s about tying the social together, and they are just mechanisms like TV years ago and our newspapers and the barker in the circus to get attention to monetize.

Even Grant Cardone has someone who pushes him to go to the gym. As the saying goes: My money goes, where my attention goes, where my money goes, my attention follows.

Sometimes it’s not just someone who can push you to help you achieve your goals, but things you buy can also help you push yourself. That’s why people need to buy things: when you buy an expensive watch, you’ll take care of that expensive watch.

You buy an expensive car, and you are going to take care of it. So, things that have value can help motivate you to push you.

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People need to unlearn and learn new things. They can’t hope things will happen if they’re unwilling to invest or learn what they need to learn.

For example, if you stack more data on top of a junk pile, you end up with waste on top of waste. Even if you could throw some gold on top of the waste dump, it’ll be just trash.

The information you have holding on to may be wrong. People working for Facebook, making $250k in Silicon Valley, have no money left over at the end of the year.

No retirement money, no savings money. They don’t own anything, following the same set of rules or following the same set of data.

This is because they have data that is incorrect. You can’t have this many people not doing well. It would be best if you said, wait a minute. Where did all of the data come from?

For example, when you watch people play Black Jack. Everybody knows what to do when there’s a six on the table. Everybody’s read that book. Everybody’s losing using the same rules.

The same went when Grant Cardone made a poor investment in his early days, where he says:

“I had more money in a retirement account than I had invested in my business, and I had more money sitting in a bank. Now, who won?” … “That’s right. Exactly.

And so I had to start looking at why. Why am I doing what I was doing? My Dad was convinced of it. My mom was convinced of it, and so was I at 20 years old. I was saving money for retirement accounts. Stupid.

Where did I get that data? Because I was being hit with that message from TV every day. My teachers were telling me to plan for retirement. I was 20 years old.

You don’t need to plan for retirement when you’re 20 years old. You need to go make money.”

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Invest in multiple flows of revenue. If you’re not wealthy, you should only invest your cash in things that provide instant cash flow. Warren Buffet says that if you don’t figure out a second flow, you will die at a job with one flow.

So, you have to produce another flow. Some of the ways to get cash are to trade time for money, raise money from investors or give up equity in your company, or take the money and buy real assets that produce more money; whether you’re sleeping, working, traveling, or where ever you are, it doesn’t matter.

Don’t be a one flow hoe

Tony Robbins talks about having an exit for your business; otherwise, you’re just going to be a slave to your business, and most businesses do not have an exit. You can plan on any exit you want. You’re never going to have an exit because they’re not built for exits, and most businesses are actually going to be destroyed by technology developments.

Author of eight business books, thirteen best-selling business programs, and CEO partner in seven privately held real-estate investing companies. Forbes listed him as one of the top social media business influencers on the globe. Cardone travels the world consulting Fortune 500 companies, small business owners, startups, and governments on business expansion while discussing his real-estate investing work.

The secret to success in sales starts with having the right mindset.

You need to learn how to stay motivated when the economy slows down, when customers say no and when things aren’t going their way.

Often, a strong sense of internal motivation separates the top performers from the underachievers, which is why we consider mindset to be the foundation of sales excellence.

In this course, Mindset For Sales Success, we cover everything from common pitfalls to avoid when managing remote teams to effective communication and remote teams and methods of keeping staff motivated while working from home.

The post Grant Cardone | Grow Your Mindset To 10x Business appeared first on SOCO Sales Training.

In this episode of the Selling in Asia podcast, Tom Abbott sits down with Donald Kelly, Founder and Chief Sales Evangelist at The Sales Evangelist Consulting Firm, to discuss how to get the right mindset for sales. Join them as they discuss competitiveness in sales, the most common problems sales reps face, what sales reps can do right now to increase sales, and how to beat the top players strategically.

• Mindset | Competitiveness In Sales
• The Biggest Challenge Facing Sales Reps | Competitiveness In Sales
• Qualities Leaders Should Look For In Sales Reps | Competitiveness in Sales
• Loving To Win Vs. Hating To Lose | Competitiveness in Sales
• What EVERY Sales Rep Should Focus On Over The Next 6 Months | Competitiveness in Sales
• More About Donald Kelly

The first thing that a sales rep needs to do is believe. Belief is your set of attitudes and your outlook on life. Suppose you believe that you will succeed and that people want or need what you have. It will translate into your action, whether that’s phone calls, videos or maybe just LinkedIn. Ultimately, you will be creative and will get opportunities over someone who does not have that mindset. 

” I feel like it’s kids who have been slapped on the hand one too many times, so now they’re afraid to go and ask for anything.

The premise now is like, “Well, I want to go reach out to people. Nobody’s going to answer their phone. Nobody’s going to do this.” If you believe that, that’s so true. It’s not going to happen. I think Henry Ford said it where if you believe you can or believe you can’t, then you’re right. “

In the pandemic environment, sales reps are harming themselves by getting up in the morning, rolling out of bed, putting on a t-shirt and then making the calls or sending emails. Just think about that for a second. However, let’s consider how the brain operates in neuroscience. You’re going to go into this sluggish, energy-less, depressing mindset.

The best way to negate this is to encourage sales reps to get up each morning, shower, work out, or listen to a podcast. The same things you would do on a regular day. Your brain doesn’t know any different than it’s a regular day versus a non-regular day. Your brain is going to then propel you to act based on that belief that you already have. Don’t focus on people not answering, people not replying, people not using LinkedIn, people not buying. Who cares about that? Focus on the sales that are going to happen. And have the belief that they’re there.

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The first challenge for Sales Reps is their inability to get enough people to speak with. They simply don’t put enough in the top of the funnel. This challenge is universal, whether you’re in general sales or a specialized field like telecommunications. It’s this continual running back to that part of the game. They’ll work that deal and take it down to the pipeline. However, you have to set aside time to find a new business.

The second biggest challenge is that they jump too quickly when they do get those individuals. Suppose we consider the analogy of running a race, such as the 400m or 800m – two of the most grueling races. In the 400, you’re running pretty much a whole sprint around the track. The energy you give at the very beginning and throughout that race must be consistent to some degree. However, at the very end, you must also provide a lot.

Regarding the sales process, sometimes sales reps want to focus on that trophy at the end. Which ultimately means they skip vital steps in that process! Such as not applying themselves to discovery, demo, or giving it their all to get the right people in the process. In Donald Kelly’s organisation, they consider the close starts or happens at the discovery stage. If the discovery is weak, it will likely be a detriment again later; It’s like baking a cake, too. You might say, “Well, I’m just going to put the butter in when I feel like it. Good luck.”

Sellers of all levels need to have stamina – This job is one of the most challenging in the organization. However, many salespeople already naturally have this tenacity and passion. Therefore, the most significant sales reps don’t fight for the money. They fight for a win. They’re just super competitive individuals, and I think that’s one of those qualities that makes them compete against themselves. They always want to beat their yesterday.

However, Donald advises that belief is the very first thing he looks for in sales reps. What have they accomplished? How did they achieve this?

I want to find somebody that has a belief, but I also want to find somebody that’s also competitive. Competitive against themself, and also just helping competition amongst the team. It shows that they have done some things that challenge their norm or challenge their way of thinking or the way of performance. Those are some of the qualities that I would look for. We can train them on the rest, but you can’t come with that. It’s going to be in your detriment.

People who hate to lose have a reason. Sometimes it feels like the worst thing in the world because you know your potential, where you could have been, and where you have performed better.

Let’s say I’m a sales rep. I’ve done so well over the past three quarters, and I hit my target, and then now, in the fourth quarter, I am missing my mark. That will feel – it just gives me a pain in my pit, in my stomach, or my chest that makes my heart and my brain make me feel or know that I performed less than where I was capable of achieving. One of the biggest disappointments we can have in life is knowing that you have regrets or knowing that you didn’t do your all to get there.

However, Donald warns that this idea of hating to lose because you know you are the best causes personal tension. Who does not want to win? Who does not want to hit their target? Who does not want to be able to go to the president’s club? Who does not want to take care of their family? Who does not want to earn that extra commission? Who doesn’t want to win at those things? Who doesn’t want to feel that they did their very best? And that love to win, again, it becomes contagious.

It gives you this propellant, energy and excitement, and these endorphins when you win – so it becomes addictive. Donald advises that sales reps who embody this usually say, “Yeah, the money is good. I got the money, but it’s not the money that I want right now. I just like to win. I want to land those opportunities.”

Regarding what sales rep should be doing right now, there are a couple of thoughts that come to mind. The first one is that the sales rep must be willing to look at the area that needs improvement. Look at the areas that you’re weak at. Perhaps even encouraging a company-wide open dialogue. Whether that’s with your manager in a one-on-one meeting, your teammates, or some of your clients, and asking these tough questions:

Being willing to invest your time in social and being willing to invest your time in the video, I think those are places I would recommend sales reps to go.

The next step is taking advantage of social media, mainly through LinkedIn and video. It’s our nature to connect with other people who are like us. For instance, when you send a text email, only one sense is used: sight. However, sending a video engages your audience’s sight and sound while forcing them to comprehend your facial expressions. Those things help us to connect with an individual on a different level.

Connect with Donald Kelly on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook and visit The Sales Evangelist Podcast to hear more from Donald Kelly and his guests.

Get the Right Mindset for Sales with the Sales Accelerator pack inside SOCO Academy.

Sales skills need to be learned, practiced, and mastered. In our Sales Accelerator pack, we teach you the skills all sales professionals, entrepreneurs, and small business owners need to sell effectively. Join us in mastering the sales process, starting with getting the right mindset, differentiating from the competition, building strong relationships, and delivering compelling sales presentations using stories.

The post The Right Mindset for Sales with Donald Kelly | Competitiveness In Sales appeared first on SOCO Sales Training.

Too many companies think they have a marketing issue when, in fact, they have a sales issue. Yes, sometimes there is room for marketing to improve, but what I like to look at is whether those leads are being handled effectively? Or are they being wasted on untrained reps? In this episode, Tom Abbott uncovers the issues that arise from untrained sales reps.

Sales reps can fine-tune their sales skills with our online sales training platform – SOCO Academy.

Sales skills need to be learned, practiced, and mastered. In our Sales Accelerator pack, we teach you the skills all sales professionals, entrepreneurs, and small business owners need to sell effectively. Join us in mastering the sales process, starting with getting the right mindset, differentiating from the competition, building strong relationships, and delivering compelling sales presentations using stories.

The post It’s Not A Marketing Issue, It’s A Sales Issue appeared first on SOCO Sales Training.

What do you do when your customer says they only have a budget of $2,000 (or so they say) – and your product sells for $2,500? You know they’ve just hit you with the dreaded price objection, so what do you do? Do you drop the price to $500 to match their budget and give them a discount? Most people would, right? Wrong. That’s the wrong answer for several reasons. In this Selling in Asia Podcast episode, Managing Director Tom Abbott discusses how to deal with low-budget customers in 6 steps. Read on to discover the difference between cheap and frugal customers and the different price negotiation tactics they often like to attempt. 

• The difference between cheap and frugal customers
• How do buyers negotiate price objections?
• How to deal with Low Budget Customers

Today, most customers are looking to save money on purchases, or at least get the very best deal they can get – because most prospects know that they already pay too much for their current solution provider and need to reduce their expenditure. However, when dealing with low-budget customers, salespeople must be aware of: Frugal and Cheap. Let’s explore their differences below: 

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Like in all sales areas, salespeople must be prepared for every customer interaction – and in this case, some buyers will try specific tactics to get you to lower your price. That’s why below are some common price negotiation tactics you should be aware of when dealing with cheap customers who might use them to gain a positional advantage:

Anchoring is the price negotiation tactic of sharing a target price or budget cap to anchor the bargaining range in their favor. For example, prospective buyers may say, “We’re only really looking to spend no more than $250,000 for this.”

In this case, the best approach to the customer is to take the lead from the get-go and suggest a price. However, if you can’t do that, instead, ask the customer how they calculated this figure and how it fits into their budget – the idea is that you want to uncover whether they’re stating a real number or a lie.

This type of price negotiation tactic is why it’s essential to prepare for any price objections with possible alternatives you can offer by determining your BATNA, WATNA and walk away point.

A typical price negotiation tactic commonly employed by cheap customers always pushes back on the first price offered. In this instance, salespeople must ask why the price is too much, listen carefully as the buyer explains their objection, and ask permission to understand the issue thoroughly. For example, they may say, “I bought a similar product for at least half that price before!” and you respond by pivoting your answer to resolve or at least challenge the objection like, “I think the reason you’re still looking for a solution is that because you purchased a product from [competitor] that differs from our product because [x, y, z reasons]”

In this price negotiation tactic, buyers attempt to dismantle bundles to gain concessions and assume that the price will stay the same. However, you don’t have to accept changed terms because the buyer changed them. Instead, address the issue head-on by stating that you must review the pricing dependent on the proposed terms. This response will make it seem like their new terms have effectively come out of nowhere and that it’s unlikely to happen, but you will engage in a discussion about appropriate pricing.

Does your prospect have the money? Can they afford it? Do they have the budget? To handle the price objection, you need to find out if they can’t afford it (affordability) or if they don’t see the value. If the answer is yes, they can afford it -then you need to start looking at how to demonstrate value and make sure that they see that this is the right solution for them. So you address price objections that revolve around value by demonstrating the value, not by dropping the price.

If, on the other hand, they see the value, they think your product is worth it, but they just can’t afford it. You need to address the price objection by finding a way to make it easier for them to afford. For example, can they pay monthly installments or pay a deposit now and the rest later? To find out why that’s their budget, the next time you speak with a customer, they say, “Oh, that’s expensive.” Ask them:

“When you say it’s expensive, or you say it’s too much, do you mean that it was more than you planned on spending?” (Affordability) “Or, do you not see the value of that price or you’re not sure why it’s priced at that much?”

The answer to that question will be very different and will then help steer you in the right direction regarding how you handle that price objection.

Creating a needs assessment of your prospective customers’ needs can help you more accurately understand their most pressing challenges while at the same time positioning you as someone who can provide solutions moving forward.

You could start by looking at your offering, approach, philosophy, process, etc. Then re-phrase these statements in the form of scale statements. For example, “I have created an assessment to accurately understand my prospective customers’ needs and position me as someone who can provide solutions. Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 is ‘Completely disagree’ and 10 is ‘Completely agree’)”.

 If you drop the price to match their budget, all you’ve done is you’ve actually said, “You know what, my product really isn’t worth $2,500, to begin with. It’s only worth $2,000,” so maybe that comes across as unethical, to begin with. Why would you charge me X and now drop it down to Y? 

Instead, demonstrate the value. Why is your product or service worth $2,500? Help your customers understand how this can help them solve a problem.

If you exhaust everything, hard qualifying, value demonstration, if they still don’t “get it”, stop fighting. Stop pushing and move on to find another customer who gets it! Who love what you’re doing and are willing to invest because they see the return on investment. Doing all the hard work of ‘qualifying’ opportunities early on makes it a lot easier down the road when you’re negotiating. There shouldn’t be too much back-and-forth negotiation once you’re towards the end of the sales cycle.

It’s important to start all negotiations by planning out in advance what you can sensibly offer in terms of freebies, discounts, and concessions. This is all called defining your bottom line and your walk-away point. Don’t let pressure and uncertainty control the path of your sales negotiation because it will ultimately lead to you losing even if you ‘won.’

By knowing your absolute limits, you’ll ensure you aren’t manipulated into conceding to your prospect’s Price Objections or a deal you can’t happily deliver on. Any offer that’s less than your bottom line should be dismissed, and alternatives should be pursued instead.

Now, check that you’ve satisfied their objection with your solution. Trust me, just because the customer nodded along to your responses doesn’t mean they entirely agreed; instead, they’re polite. So, ask if they’re happy to continue with your solution and explain other components if necessary. 

After you go through everything, hard qualifying, value demonstration, and if they still don’t “get it,” stop fighting. Stop pushing. And move on. Find another customer who gets it! Who love what you’re doing and are willing to invest because they see the return on investment.

Profit, relationships, and deals are won or lost during negotiation. When successful negotiators arrive armed with the tools and skills needed to negotiate effectively, desired outcomes are optimized, and loss of profit is avoided. However, profits and closed deals aren’t the only desired outcomes when it comes to negotiations. That’s where our Negotiation Skills Training comes in. 

Preserving the relationship is crucial to ensure that long-term business opportunities and negative feelings aren’t harbored.

Sales professionals, procurement departments, and business leaders must learn how to navigate effective negotiations that positively impact both parties and inspire future business.

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