Introduction.
Unfortunately, when we go for the close it is almost always an imperfect solution that we must present.By imperfect¨ what we mean a solution that isn’t exactly what the customer was looking for. There are always things we can’t provide or do in the way in which the customer was hoping.

Making the presentation of our offer is a critical part of our selling effort. Here is a set of steps I have found successful for this endeavor.

1. State and confirm the benefits the customer is looking for.
2. Explain how each will be met by your solution.
3. Detail each of the “missing” items in your proposal and how you will compensate for the omission including how you will accomplish the related task.
4. Confirm with the customer each of the work-a-rounds that your solution includes.
5. Explain each of the additions your solution provides (Especially if they provide additional functions to the requested benefits.).
6. Confirm the total solution with the customer making sure they are agreeable to each of the adjustments you made to the overall solution.
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The holidays are fast approaching and the question still remains. What should I give my client that says ‘thanks for the business’ and ‘have a terrific holiday?’ Believe me, you are not alone in the mayhem of making a proper gift selection. In this month’s newsletter, I will share with you my personal gift buying suggestions. All I can say is, “Martha Stewart step aside there’s a new guru in town.” First, if anyone out there gets so inspired to send a gift to me, make it Titlist golf balls, or any golf paraphernalia.

I am just kidding, of course, but the point lies within. About seven years ago, I bought a box of chocolates for each of my clients for the Holiday season. It was moderately priced, easy to deliver and who in the heck doesn’t like a good piece of chocolate to ruin the diet? Well, I couldn’t be more wrong. Three of my clients were allergic to chocolate, a few more had the guts to tell me they didn’t like chocolate and who knows how many more weren’t able to tell me the truth. This was my lack of human observation and interpersonal communication. I like asparagus, you may not; I am a big fan of golf and many of my clients can’t stand it. Too many people in life buy presents and not gifts. A present is an item you want to present to someone as an expression of kindness, and a gift is a given for the benefit of the recipient. I recommend giving Gifts this year.

Ask yourself:
1. Would I buy this gift for myself and like it?
2. Is this gift being bought from my own personal desires?
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Listen To The Voice Of The Customer

Your customers have the loudest voice in the room. Whether you are a CEO or sales professional. you have an opinion about your business, but ultimately your client has the last word. President Abraham Lincoln was quoted as he was relieving one of his General’s from duty as saying, “His cardinal mistake is that he isolates himself and allows nobody to see him and by which he does not know what is going on in the very matter he is dealing with.”

This plagues businesses today. If you or your delegates are not out in the field hearing the customer, your business will struggle.

In the early 80s, when Chrysler was in the midst of bankruptcy, Lee Iaccoca launched his personal campaign to reach out and hear the voice of American consumers. He set out to regain the trust of his customers and rebuild Chrysler’s vision. In sales, it is important to hear the voice of your customer so that you can meet their demands. As you move forward in your career, invest more time into listening; not missing critical data will propel you to new heights.
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Businesses today must focus their paradigm on the customer’s needs more than any other business issue.
I recently had difficulty with our CRM package Goldmine™. The shortfall in the program is its inability to properly synchronize with a Windows® CE device. In case you not sure what a Windows CE device is, they are the little hand held computers like the HP Jornada or the Compaq Ipaq. They look like a Palm Pilot but are as different as IBM is to Macintosh. Hand held devices are outstanding tools but ineffective if you can’t properly move information between it and your main database.

So I began my quest to conquer this synchronization nightmare. When I looked in the selection of services on Goldmine. it clearly states ‘synchronize with Windows CE or Outlook.’ Either method of synchronization would work fine for my needs. I proceeded to sync Goldmine with CE directly and it wouldn’t sync the notes of each contact into my hand held device. No big deal; I attempted to solve this problem by syncing with Outlook and then with my CE device. Simple right? Nope! I click the synchronize button and it proceeds to move my entire database to my hand held instead of the selected query of 350 I wanted to move. By this time, I was completely frustrated. It only took you 30 seconds to read this paragraph, yet I spent four hours attempting to solve my problem.
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If you hate being rejected in sales, you’re not alone. Nine out of 10 sales professionals get
discouraged in the face of rejection. Rejection and the emotions that come with it are instilled within you from early childhood. You learn about rejection through your parents, family, friends, and outsiders. The negative emotions derived from rejection are many, all of which are predominately negative. So how do you minimize the effects of rejection in your sales career?

Fear of The Cold Call

Recently, I was working with Stazy, a sales professional, who was relatively successful in her career. However, she often was paralyzed when attempting to make cold calls because she hated being turned down. Unfortunately, in sales there is no easy way to make a good living if you don’t learn how to properly prospect. I asked Stazy what her biggest fear was when it comes to rejection. She explained she didn’t know if it was fear as much as it was anxiety about who was going to be on the other end of the phone, their
personality, job title, communication style, and ultimately if they were going to be rude. If you feel some of these same things, remember you’re in the majority.
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The DISC personality profile is a system designed by an American psychologist, Dr. William Moulton Marsden. Basically divides people into four “types” of different personalities that are dominant, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness. Below is a fairly detailed description of the DISC profile.

General Theory

The DISC Profile is a personality analysis must be used to predict the behavior of individuals. When working alone or with others. It can help you put the right person in your company to work in an environment fit. However, the DISC is not infallible. It has its limitations. When it fails, it is because people never have a single personality. It is a combination of all four but in different proportions.
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Sell an influential

To sell you need to earn an influential and be your friend. If you show that you care for him or he likes, he will not buy. Need to show that a sense of humor, who likes to have fun and he’s enjoying talking to him now. Can be a bit strict, but not too serious.

The Influential want to do what seems popular. Do not want to do anything that looks like a detailed work will take a long time. If they reject it seems boring. The best we can tell you is that it will be fun.
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Optimism is seen as one of the most important qualities of a sales person. You have got to have the ability to experience a string of losses and still be able to walk into your next meeting feeling certain that your proposition is strong.
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I would guess that most sales people out there would agree that one of the challenges of selling today is the large amount of information we have to gather, master and recall at the drop of a hat. For example, information on products, competitors, our company, accounts/customers, your prospects’ industry.
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I remember when I first started using email, probably ten years ago, feeling aggrieved when senders didn’t include the formal, verbose style of a traditional letter, instead sending punchier, to-the-point communications. After time I acclimatised to it and began to send such emails myself. Then the next change happened, people began to miss off the recipient’s name at the beginning and their own name at the end. Then the emails got shorter, right down to one or two words. Now different countries, companies, groups and individuals have their own norms.
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