Sales Process

In our most recent blog, we introduced strip-lining as one of our favorite sales techniques under the Negative Reverse Selling umbrella. Remember, Negative Reverse Selling is doing the exact opposite of what your prospect is expecting from a sales person, thus throwing them off guard. Continuing down that negative selling path, let’s take another look at setting a neutral prospect into motion by strip-lining or throwing him or her some more line to swim about before you reel them in.

In the past few blogs we’ve been talking about the highly effective Dummy Curve technique, where playing the dummy pays off big time when it comes to sales. By playing the dummy and disarming your prospect’s concern, you can get them to reveal pain and establish trust with you. In this blog, we will finish up this series on the Dummy Curve with some math.

At a well-known stock brokerage firm in Boston, 44 Rookie Brokers make over 100 calls each per day as tracked by their telephone system. During my first “Prospecting Clinic” for this group, I polled the group of 44 Rookie Brokers.

I asked all to stand who had gotten one or more referrals over the past 30 days. Just about all stood up. Then I continued, “Please remain standing if you’ve gotten five or more referrals over the last 30 days” – most sat down at that question. By the time I asked who had gotten twenty or more, only one person remained standing; only one person was getting one referral or more per weekday!

So, why is it that salespeople are lousy at ...

In our last blog, we talked about how you can have “Beginners Luck” forever, by being a dummy. Well, a clever dummy, much like our favorite detective, Lt. Columbo. If you ever watched the hit TV series, Columbo, you know he was a master at disarming his suspects by looking and acting like he was a dummy. And Columbo always got his killer. You can do the same thing in sales by disarming your prospects when you play the dummy salesperson.

Have you ever experienced beginners luck, where everything seems to go your way the first time you try something new, or do something you haven’t done in a long time? Every shot goes in the hoop, every puck in the net, every pool shot in the side pocket. Wouldn’t it be nice to have beginners luck all the time? The phrase "beginners luck" describes the phenomenon when people who are new to something, and inexplicably outperform so-called “experts.” The question is, why does it happen?

In our past few blogs, we've been talking about the great sales technique called Reversing. Reversing is an approach we use, where we answer questions with questions, designed to disarm the prospect and create trust. If trust is established, you have a much greater chance of uncovering the prospect's pain and gaining a sale. This blog is the last in our series on Reversing, and shows you how to open doors you assumed were already closed.

In our past few blogs we have been digging into the sales technique we call Reversing. Reversing is an effective approach where we answer prospect questions with questions, a technique that typically disarms the prospect and puts them at ease with us. It’s a great way to gain trust and guide the prospect down the path to uncovering his or her pain. Since it is such an effective sales tool, we continue our discussion on using the Reversing process to close more deals.

Last week we shared with you how Reversing is a questioning strategy designed to encourage prospects to reveal and even relive their pain. Reversing may also help you disqualify prospects who don’t have any pain at the current time, so you don’t waste any more time pursuing a prospect that doesn’t need your services. Reversing is quite simply, answering questions with more questions. On average, it takes 3 reverse questions to get a prospect to talk about their pain.

It’s really just a case of knowing what you are doing. If you practice your delivery, you can deliver an effective reverse without upsetting your prospect at all. Reversing is a great way to get a prospect to trust you and reveal their pain. Why? Because reversing goes against the norm. People expect sales professionals to sell, not ask how they feel about things impacting their work and life.

The Sandler Submarine is a powerful sales tool, but like any other vehicle, it needs fuel to keep it going. The Sandler system uses many techniques to help uncover a prospect’s pain, revving up the sales engine and eventually closing more deals. One of these techniques is very simple but also very powerful, and we call it Reversing.

When Dorothy landed in Oz, she wanted to go home and was told by the Munchkins to see the great and powerful Wizard of Oz. “But how do I find the Wizard”, she asked. “Follow the Yellow Brick Road”. “And the best way to start, is at the beginning”. And that holds true for the Sandler System as well. Start at the beginning.