Page 22 - Australian Paint & Panel Nov-Dec 2020

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Business Matters
PAINT&PANEL NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2020 WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
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SELL SMART
YOU HAVE TO SELL YOUR BUSINESS TO CUSTOMERS, INSURANCE COMPANIES, FLEET COMPANIES, OEMS AND EVEN YOUR SUPPLIERS TO BE SUCCESSFUL. HERE’S A COUPLE OF TIPS FROM CHARMAINE KEEGAN.
S MARTER SELLING IS A SALES training company created by a passionate, proven sales expert, Charmaine Keegan h over 28 years experience in high performance sales. Keegan is our keynote speaker for Women In Colli-
sion this year.
DO WHAT OTHERS WILL NOT DO
One day I was blueberry picking with my 6-year-old. He said ‘Mum let’s go through the middle of the row’ which looked diffi- cult. When I asked him why his response was ‘If you do what everyone else has done you will get what everyone else has got’.
That’s what business development is about – finding other ways around a problem. Three ways to stand out from y1our competitors:
PLAN Business Development profes-
sionals know how much time needs to be dedicated to growing the business. They know how many calls and meet- i2ngs they need to do to exceed targets.
TAKE ACTION CONSISTENTLY You don’t get
thin by eating one healthy meal – and you don’t grow the business doing busi- ness development once. Put times in your 3diary and stick to it.
FOLLOW UP The average follow up
needed is 12. Most sales people give up after 3. The hard work has already taken place. Learn to add value with your follow ups so it’s not a ‘I’m just fol- lowing up’ conversation. Know how to motivate your team so they are driven to do what others do not want to do.
LANGUAGE MATTERS
In Australia, as in the UK (my birthplace) we are pretty negative with our language. How are you today? ‘Not bad’. I called a friend the other day and asked how he
was and he replied – ‘not dead yet!’. The problem with this is how negative
language inadvertently slips into our business conversations and you can end up dropping in something negative next to the brand. For example at the end of emails writing ‘if you have any prob- lems’ (implying there might be).
Or, at the end of a client call saying ‘if you have any queries, let me know’. Ditch the words ‘query, worries, concerns, is- sues, problems’ and replace with ‘if you need more clarity, let me know’.
In the worst of cases, sales people let slip things like ‘I know it’s expensive but...’ It’s then hard to move the conver- sation into another direction. The client has been anchored in that thought. If you think it’s expensive, then the client certainly will too.
Of course, when with a client this lan- guage works both ways. At no point should you be ‘dumping’ information on them – so ‘if you need more clarity, let me know’ shouldn’t even exist if we are
clearly reading them and the situation constantly to know if they are ‘buying into’ our perfectly aligned solution or if it’s off the mark.
Remember, the client needs to be sold before you get off the phone or finish the conversation. We need to ‘normalise’ eve- ry interaction, raise our professionalism so we are seen as the ‘trusted advisor’. We need to approach business in an intelli- gent, sophisticated manner where we en- gage with a client/prospect with the intent of partnering. Being there to help them. As a leader you can help your team by: • Ensuring they are 100% clear on the
solution and are internally aligned
• Discussing the reasons why a client should buy your product over another. Do they understand the value your prod-
uct delivers over the competition?
• Suggest options from your product suite
they could buy instead and why.
Find out more at: smarterselling.com.au