Partners in Performance Blog

The #1 Mistake in Handling Sales Objections

Sales-ToolsThink about a recent sales objection that you’ve encountered, one that typically surfaces in your selling world. What do you do when presented with a tough objection? Do you jump in to answer it with a convincing statement?

If so, how is that working for you? Likely, not very well. Here’s why.

Telling is not selling

We know that questions persuade more powerfully than any other selling skill. We know that ‘pitching’ our ideas, products and solutions without getting grounded in clients’ needs beforehand makes it next to impossible to position … Read More

How to Turn Client Objections into Sales Success

Key-To-Sales-SuccessOne of the questions I get when training sales professionals is almost always about handling client objections. Sales people seem to dread this part of the sales process. That’s because they don’t prepare for them well, and don’t have a positive perception of objections. I look at them as a key learning device for uncovering the client’s needs. Yes, I look at objections not as barriers but as clues to achieve sales success through understanding what clients want.

I recently asked Jim, one of my colleagues, for an update on the … Read More

How to Avoid Being Stumped by Client Objections

Client-ObjectionsThe boy scout motto ‘Be Prepared’ couldn’t be truer for sales. Especially when it comes to handling objections. There is no excuse for struggling with the same client objections over and over again. And yet it’s astonishing to see that professional sales people don’t develop a proactive strategy for handling these common objections.

Reactive Objection Handling

In my work coaching sales people, I find that many follow this common pattern:

Dread objections and pray they won’t come up Get defensive when they surface Struggle with a response and lack confidence Don’t … Read More

Preparation Checklist for Intentional Selling Success

Check-List-Sales-PreparationPreparation is the first step in the Intentional Selling 6-Step Process, as it is in any sales system process. Yet, when I work with sales professionals and we do a post-mortem sales autopsy, it’s the first place things go wrong – in the preparation, before there’s even any contact with the client!

Don’t let this happen to you. It’s avoidable. You have control over your sales preparation.

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. But not all preparation is the same. Knowing how … Read More

Can You Define Your Repeatable Sales Process?

sales process Small (2)If I were to ask you to specifically define your sales process and tell me why it works to produce sales results, what would you say? My hunch is you would struggle with your answer.

That’s because one of the most all too common mistakes made by sales people from all industries and professions is their lack of a disciplined, intentional sales process that stacks up against well established best practices.

How can it be that organizations understand the importance … Read More

What the Ice Storm Taught Me about Sales Preparation

Preparing for Sales What do sales preparation and preparing for the next big winter storm have in common?

More than you might think, as I have learned!

If you live in Toronto and the surrounding areas, you experienced the wrath of the ice storm during the frigid Christmas holiday season. It was devastating and everyone had their stories.

We live in the country about one hour outside of Toronto and our power was out for 6 days and five nights. We had no … Read More

How Listening and Sales Go Together

An often overlooked sales skill is listening. And I mean really listening. To the point of “zipping it!” Listening is a pre-requisite for persuasion. If your client or prospect doesn’ t feel heard, they will resist your offer.

Here’s what I tell my clients who want better sales results: Listen with the intention to hear. So often we fall into the bad habit of listening with the intention to answer without really hearing what’s said. This is flat out dangerous. It costs you sales.

For example, when coaching sales people … Read More