Sales philosophy
Let’s talk sales plan from thriving sales strategy.
“I can sell anything; just give me a product!”
In sales, we all heard that phrase, we all know that self-proclaimed magician that think his charming personality and few tricks sell. Sadly, it’s not true anymore. You need a lot more than a salesperson with a trick up his sleeve.
A strategy and careful planning are essential in realizing your sales goals.
What do you need to create a perfect sales plan and nail all of your sale goals? How can you prepare a sales strategy plan that is bullet-proof?
If you don’t already have a sales strategy plan, this article can provide a basic understanding of creating a sales plan. It can guide you with three foundations on which you can build and improve.
Do you have a sales plan already? Hold your horses and don’t jump right in yet. Assess your ideas, did you consider not only technicalities but also the philosophy of sales?
Three foundations of sales plan
Three pillars hold every good sales plan. Any of those pillars combined and adjusted with other can help you achieve your sales goals.
You need a good sales team, trained in the art of selling and supported by science. That’s all. Know your basics and create a good sales plan — one that is going to leave your competitors far behind.
Emotions in sales
We are all people, cliché, I know. Still, we tend to forget that even though we go to space, build skyscrapers, and push boundaries of human understanding of the universe – our brains didn’t change that much.
As social animals govern by emotions, we make our decision based on affection, not objective facts. That’s why it is crucial to take that into account when creating a sales plan.
Which personality traits and social skills make you a better salesperson?
Optimism – helps to deal with sales daily life: objections and frustration. Positive attitude protects sales rep from taking objections personally and allows to work through them to turn that NO into YES. Pessimistic by nature or unhappy people tend to hang on to failures, which make them unable to deal with rejections in a productive way.
According to a study conducted at UCLA 84% communication over the phone is vocal, and only 16% is verbal. With that number in mind think about the smile. People over the phone can not only recognize if someone is smiling, but they can also judge sincerity and degree of that smile.
So is your sales team a happy bunch? Do they smile to achieve their sales goals and realize your sales plan? Did you consider their positive attitude when creating your sales plan?
Persistence – sales work in a timeframe, like any human contact. Your sales team need to follow up on calls, attend meetings and present demo. There is no place for setbacks, procrastination. Some customers prefer face-to-face meeting instead of calls or email. You have to address that.
Is your sales team able to push a pitch without appearing to be aggressive or overbearing? Do they follow up on calls and meetings? Are they e-mail people or comfortable with face to face interaction? Those are an important question to answer when creating your sales plan.
Empathy – ability to understand and experience other person feeling and point of view can be crucial for your sales team skill set. In sales, it’s listening, not talking that sells. By actively listening your sales team has the opportunity to show interest, gain additional feedback and build a lasting relationship.
How to listen actively?
- Focus on the customer
- Send positive signals like nodding, smiling, affirming in a nonverbal way that you are listening
- Paraphrase to get a better understanding and clear any miscommunication
- Ask open-ended questions
- Lean towards, the slant of head
Is your sales team able to actively listen? Are they interested in what your customer has to say?
Training to build long-lasting relationships with customers is how you create a sales plan that takes human nature into account.
It’s crucial to remember we create sales plans for people and with people in mind.
Goal oriented – Sales are all about goals, monthly goals, yearly goals. Although the process of selling is important, your sales team need to be goal-driven.
The goal has to be tailored to your company but also your sales team. Too big is going to be discouraging, to small might prove unchallenging.
Interior sense of control – people come in two flavors, those who are responsible for their action and those who look for others to blame. The first type is more likely to take control over their actions and realize goals; the second is not as effective at being accountable.
When sales planning, first evaluate your sales team emotions and attitudes. Are those people able to realize your company sales goals?
Art of sales
Before you are going to conquer the world with your sales plan, make sure your sales team is well trained in the art of selling. This concept is a mix of communication and negotiation skills combined with knowledge about customers and product. Like a beautiful painting, the art of sales requires training and talent.
Communication skills – to say they are crucial for the sales team to realize your sales strategy is pretty obvious. You can’t sell a product without demonstrating it’s features or value. Also, you have to be responsive to customer needs.
Presenting product – sales team need to be able to show the product, and its features in a clear way.
Actively listening – communication is not one-directional, to work correctly it has to go both ways.
Handling demanding customers – talking with the happy customer is easy, it’s when they are unhappy those communication skills become handy.
Relationship with customers – sales process is not only about the one-time deal. You need to make a long-lasting relationship with the customer. Small talk, follow up calls show that you genuinely care about your clients.
Talking with strangers – cold calls and meeting require the ability to speak confidently with strangers.
Inside team communication – getting along with colleagues ensures excellent working atmosphere and information flow.
To ensure your sales plan goes according to schedule, check your sales team communication skills in those areas.
Knowledge – for successful sales plan, sales team need to be knowledgeable in three areas: customers, product/service and company. Knowledge about the product goes without saying. Learning about customers, their habits and needs are crucial to develop a prosperous sales strategy. Salespeople need to be also aware of your company goal and values.
There are two types of knowledge you can pass to your sales team to ensure your sales plan is a success.
- Know-what – facts about your product, features, strong and weak points, applications for customers needs.
- Know-how – skills, experience, emotional resistance, and intelligence allows dealing with customers under pressure of time and goals.
Sadly, during training, the sales team gets only know what type of knowledge. I can’t stress hard enough how vital it is to pass know how too.
Negotiation skills – negotiation in sales are not simple YES or NO. That is a wrong approach. Negotiation is the subtle art of getting what you want, by offering something to another party. There must be value in your offer, and it works in set margins.
To accomplish your sales plan look for salespeople that can:
- Be prepared for negotiation
- Establish bottom line
- Talk with the decision maker
- Show value
- Offer alternatives to cash discount
- The gain value in exchange for a discount
- Walk away
There is always a pressure to close a deal. Sales are not charity, it is a business, and has to create value. You can generate more revenue through good negotiation. One shot deals are no longer a thing.
Building relationship skills – look for empathic people, focused on the needs of others, that enjoy human to human connection. It can’t be indeed faked. Either you take a genuine interest in other person needs and business or you just a lousy salesperson.
- Have a conversation, not a pitch
- Seek feedback
- Listen and add value
- Help customer, make their life easier
- Respond accordingly to customer problems
Time for building and maintaining a relationship should be included in your sales plan. Take that as an investment in future sales and opportunities for your sales team.
Educational background/training – in sales, everything changes; trends, customer needs, products. It’s great for your sales strategy if your team has an educational background in sales. Psychology can come handy too.
However, constant training is most crucial for realizing your sales plan. Training keeps know-what knowledge updated, it also helps develop skills and experience in the know-how of sales.
Do you offer boot camps for your new employees? Is there a regular training program in your company? Sure, training employees can cost, but it’s valuable effort to give a considerable boost to your sales plan. Do you know how to manage your sales team?
Science of sales
You have a great sales team; they are perfect for the job. How are you going to evaluate that?
In the modern technology world, it’s easier than ever before. Excel spreadsheets, CRM, applications for tracking time, AI algorithms. There are many tools to choose from to ensure the success of your sales plan.
Evaluate – put in place methods to collect data, from customers information and profile, sales number to costs. It can be a simple Excel spreadsheet if you are running a small operation or CRM system. Don’t look at numbers as taxpayer necessity; they have critical information for you.
Some of the data is generated by the sales process, invoices, customer information, etc. Although you can reach to other methods and collect data by:
- Surveys – ask directly for feedback from customers or employees.
- Competitions – competitions are a popular thing on social media now, use them to collect additional customer information.
- Online research – research your customers and competitors on social media, like LinkedIn.
This process might be costly at first, but it’s money well spent. It will help you manage your business year after year.
Determine KPI – key performance indicators are metrics that keep your sales plan in check. Diversify and choose parameters for the sales process, sales team, and customers. All those aspects add up to your company performance indicators.
Check out that example of KPI.
- Sales target
- Sales growth
- Average profit margin
- Average purchase
- Monthly calls/meeting/demo per rep
- Sales per rep
- Lead to sales conversion ratio
- Retention and churns
- Employee turnover
- Customer satisfaction
Choosing different KPI ensures that your company is evaluating all goals in a sales plan. Which should include customer satisfaction. It’s a mistake to focus only on sales metrics. They are important for sure. Although knowledge about employee turnover or customer satisfaction can make a huge difference.
Gather feedback – your customers and your employees can be a great source of data. However, don’t forget about your competitors, what did they do? Keep an eye on the market, follow trends and essential events. Make and maintain connections with key customers and competitors.
- You can gather feedback before, during and after contact with the customer.
- Check social media and forums for reviews and opinion. Follow Quora and Reddit for the question about your product.
- Use Live Chat and Call Centers to be in touch with customers
- Provide dedicated feedback forms
- Call your customers to ask for feedback, not only to sell
- Use polls in social media channels
- Monitor social media and website for your competitors
- Create and maintain online communities
- Display positive feedback
- Check your NPS, compare with competitors
- Prepare in-house anonymous surveys for employees
Improve – when you have all the data, from customers, your employees and company data, it’s time to make adjustments. Making tweaks is crucial. Nothing is set in stone, and even the best sales plan will need some improvements.
Establishing a time frame for evaluation and improvements is a great idea. It can be six months or one year, depending on the type of sales in your company.
Cut back an unnecessary cost, check which operation generate more cost than value. Assess if you need to keep them running.
Make your goals possible. Your sales team did it best, but you didn’t reach your sales goals? Make sure they are possible to achieve in a given timeframe.
Grow, look for new ideas and opportunities – don’t settle!
Conclusion
Creating a sales plan is crucial to the success of your company, not only it helps to establish a goal, create a customer profile, it also provides valuable insight into your sales team operation.
Sales plan provides replicable and measurable ways to achieve your sales goals.
So how to create a sales plan that is going to be bullet-proof? What are the basics of a sales plan strategy?
Emotion, art, and science of sales, those are foundations.
Consider your sales team attitude, happy; optimistic people sell more. People that can listen and are goal-oriented sell more effectively. They also build long-lasting relationships with customers.
Make sure your sales team is well trained in the art of sales. What does it mean? They have extensive knowledge about product, communication and negotiation skills and build relationships like a pro.
Evaluate your sales plan and improve when needed. Put right metrics in place to ensure you meet all your sales goals.
Taking those three pillars into account will make sales planning pleasurable and productive.
Objections are a common occurrence in sales, even with the best pitch out there you can still get “NO” for an answer. There are several reasons for sales objection, related to price, trust, and a product.
Let’s talk about common sales objections and the best ways to overcome them. After you read this article, handling objections is going to be a piece of cake for you.
“Treat objections as requests for further information.” Brian Tracy
What is a sales objection?
It’s an issue or a problem that stops a prospect from buying your product or service. It’s communicated during calls or meetings. The objection is not rejection, more often is a request on prospect part to clarify misunderstanding or offer more value.
It’s crucial to be prepared; the prospect will give you only a few minutes to react to objection.
Purpose of this guide is to familiarize you with the most common sales objections and bullet-proof ways to overcome them. Keep reading and handle any sales objection like a pro!
General rules to overcome any sales objection
Listen
Inexperienced salespeople can be tempted to respond to objection immediately. This mistake can cost you a deal. Give prospect your full attention and listen carefully to the whole objection. If something is not clear, ask for details.
Sales objection is not personal, so don’t treat it this way. Restrain yourself from acting defensively and focus on controlling negative emotions.
As humans, we have opinions, biases, and anticipations. Try to not listen to them, instead actually listen to prospects concerns.
Understand
Let’s make one thing clear; some sales objections are excuses or facade to hide real reasons. It’s a job of the salesperson to get to the bottom of a problem.
How can you achieve that? By asking open questions and letting the prospect speak. If something is unclear, ask more questions. Don’t assume you know the problem beforehand. Every prospect is different, comes from different backgrounds, companies and has different needs.
Respond properly
It’s crucial not only to listen and understand objection but also to respond to it adequately. You just have a few minutes, so preparation is a key. Read this guide to learn about most common sales objections and ways to overcome them like a pro.
Following those four rules will give you the tools to overcome any sales objection. Turn every “NO!”, “I don’t know” and “Maybe” into “YES!”
Satisfy objection
When you have identified and responded to the objection, don’t forget to confirm with a prospect if you have satisfied his objection. The more clarity there is, the more likely you will close that deal.
Price – your product is too expensive!
It’s the most common sales objection, every salesperson heard it before. But when prospects say that the price is too high, it’s not always about money.
What is it about then? What causes this sales objection?
There are actually three reasons that can be the underlying cause of this sales objection.
Price – not enough value
Never oversell your product, tailor value offer to prospects. Customer research and gathering feedback is a part of the sales process. If your pitch is not perfect, if you don’t understand customer’s problem and frustration, you may inefficiently present your value.
- Research – gather all information you can find about your prospects, including demographic data, channels of distribution, channels they use to collect data. The more you know, the more prepared you are.
- Feedback – even if you didn’t make a sale, use that as an opportunity to gather feedback from the prospect. Ask about opinion regarding your product, competitors gap, and customer service. Prospects and customers are a valuable asset when it comes to overcoming objections in sales and perfecting your pitch.
Greedy customer
Some prospects want a discount on everything. They shout “DISCOUNT!” before you open your mouth.
Is there a way to overcome this sales objection? They are two ways to handle objection like that.
First of all, you have to understand that discount is something you can offer to newcomers or your loyal customers. However, it’s not an option that can be demanded.
Offering discount can be harmful to your company, and it’s not about money. It leaves the impression that you overpriced your product if you offer discount easily. Explain in details what value customer gains at a given price. Underline key features and problems they can solve for the customer.
“Sure, we have discounted option for [insert lower price] without features [insert 2-3 features, not key ones, but still valuable], it’s a great idea if you want to lower the price.”
Humans are funny creatures; we value loss over gains. Your prospect will forget about the discount; he is going to focus on those features. You are introducing a feeling of loss; this is something that people don’t like to deal with and are willing to pay more to get rid of that sensation. Try this way to overcoming objection this way is highly effective.
It’s not the price, it is …
Price works as a great excuse for some customers, and inexperienced salesperson often falls for that. Meanwhile, the experienced salesperson is overcoming objection by asking more question to determine what is the actual reason.
“If a price was not an issue, would our product fit your needs?”
“We offer interesting discount options and loyalty programs; maybe we can work around price problem?
“In a few weeks, we are going to offer a holiday discount for new customers, can I reach out to you then? Can we schedule a call?
Customer will likely get into a conversation, and you may be able to uncover the actual reason behind this sales objection.
Conclusion:
How can you overcome price objection?
Price sales objection (not enough value) – focus on research and feedback to tailor your pitch to every potential customer.
Greedy customer objection (“give me a discount!”) – offer the product at a lower price but with fewer features.
Price as an excuse – determine what is the real cause of objection, dig a little deeper.
Brush-off” – e-mail me more information.
This sales objection is tricky; it doesn’t have to mean NO. If you hear it before you had a chance to pitch, well it means no. Prospect is not interested, can be busy or not in a great mood that day.
How to handle this sales objection? Try to salvage the situation by asking the prospect about follow up.
“I can see you are pretty busy right now. Give me 30 seconds to explain, how we could help with [insert a problem your product solves], and you will decide if we can schedule a call at the later time?”
This way you have a chance to get later appointment and present your company as understanding and valuable partner.
In some situation, you are going to hear this sales objection after your value proposition, but before qualification. Prospect can be interested, or your pitch was off the point. How to deal with this objection?
“Happy to send you more information about our product, do you mind if I ask few short questions to assess your needs better and tailor our offer to you directly?”
By asking questions, you can present how serious your company is about a customer and delivering the best solutions. Even if your pitch is not perfect for this prospect, you are going to leave a good impression for the future.
You can find yourself in a situation, where the customer decides he wants more information after qualification. If your company has a demo service, offer it to the customers. Explain how seeing your product in action can present additional value to the prospect. This way you won’t make a sale. However, you are going to get yourself another try at demo appointment.
Conclusion:
Is there a way to overcome those common sales objection?
Before pitch – try to quickly present value and reschedule a call at a different time.
Before qualification – emphasize that to provide the high-quality solution you want to gather data before sending more information.
After qualification – try to turn an e-mail into the demo.
Competitor – we have a deal with [Insert Competitor].
Changes bring chaos, none like that. So instead of proposing a switch, ask your prospect if you can present your solutions. Emphasize that you have customers that work or were working with competitors.
There is no perfect deal, by getting that demo you can persuade your prospect to switch to your company based on your product value and solutions.
Research your competitors to point out feature gap and added value you can offer. If you can present a better match, even those prospects who are not into “fixing what isn’t broken” may be interested in your offer.
Conclusion:
Find that one feature or value that makes you more fitted for that customer to handle his objections.
Competitor – we prefer to work with [insert industry standard].
Of course, most of the companies, especially big ones prefer to work with established service or product providers. A startup can present too much risk to be worth the time.
Is there any way to overcome that common sales objection?
If you are a salesperson for smaller company or startup, you have an ace up your sleeve. You have to play it right. What is that ace that is going to help handle sales objection?
The answer is pretty simple. For industry standard, your prospect is one of hundreds or even thousand clients. You can provide unique features that are hard to come by in big corporations.
- personalized service focused on your customer needs.
- the ability to react quickly, any change takes time in a corporation setting, with a lot of decision-makers involved.
- innovative product.
- quality always beats quantity.
Conclusion:
To overcome that sales objection, play your cards right! You are smaller, but that only means more mobility, passion, and innovation.
Gatekeeper – you shall not pass!
Purchasing managers and executives are busy people. They don’t have time to deal with cold calls on a daily basis. For that reason, there is usually a gatekeeper, trusted assistant or office worker. Imagine Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog of the Greek god of Underworld, Hades. Well, now you have the idea.
How to check if you are dealing with gatekeeper?
- dodging your phone calls
- needs approval for decisions
- takes a while to get back to you
- gives uncertain answers about budget and priorities
So, do you have to fight Cerberus to overcome this sales objection?
You are in luck; it’s enough to tame gatekeeper, they can become your allies. Establish a relationship, don’t push on sales, try to present value and solutions to problems. Use gatekeeper as a source of information, ask about feedback and frustrations.
If you gain gatekeepers trust, they will be your heralds, and you can get access to decision-makers in no time.
Conclusion:
Don’t treat gatekeepers as enemies, tame them and they will become your allies.
Decision-makers – who keeps money in this family?
The experienced salesperson knows that you only make a pitch to decision-makers. During your prospect research, you need to establish key decision-makers and gain access to them.
You don’t have to overcome this sales objection, in fact, you can stop it from happening by thoroughly researching your prospects. Make sure that you can gather all stakeholders at a value proposal meeting.
In big corporations and organizations, it’s harder to reach all stakeholders. There is a need to schedule a meeting with many busy people. It might prove more useful to score an appointment with the high-rank executive.
Keep in mind the best times to make calls. According to this study best way to call a prospect is to follow simple rules:
- Wednesdays and Thursdays are the best days to contact a lead.
- 8-9AM and 4-6PM is the best time to call a prospect.
- Monday is the worst day for contacts.
- Use lunch time for lunch; it’s not adequate time to call prospects.
To learn more about improving the contact rate, check out our article.
Conclusion:
Gather all decision-makers before you make your pitch.
Time – call me maybe
One of the most common sales objection you can hear is “I don’t have time right now.” The worst way to handle this objection is trying to push the sale still.
Purchase managers are busy people, respect that.
Best way to handle this objection is to empathize with the prospect.
“I hear you, Mr. X, Thursdays are crazy, right? Would it be ok for us to reschedule a call at a different time? I’m convinced that our product can help solve your time shortage.”
You were kind and respectful, based on the rule of reciprocation prospect is going to at least consider hearing you out.
Conclusion:
Don’t push the deal, try to empathize with a prospect and reschedule.
Budget – your product is not a priority right now!
This objection is similar to price objection. Either you didn’t research your prospect enough, and your pitch is not fitting to customer needs, or budget is just an excuse.
In the first case try to salvage the situation by gathering feedback.
There is a third option. Your prospect has an actual budget problem. Try to establish what is it, do they need more time? Maybe you can offer a flexible payment plan?
“I’m not asking you to buy right now; we are more interested in learning about your problems and offering a solution. I think we can make a valuable impact on your organization revenue. Can we schedule follow up call or appointment so that I can present you with our solutions?”
Conclusion:
Take charge of the situation, determine the real cause of sales objection.
Don’t push for a sale, establishing relationship can bear fruits later.
Trust – who are you?
We like what we know. In our busy, fast-paced world we tend to go with what we already know to save time. Make sure your business has well established online and social media presence. It’s crucial to be present in channels used by your prospects.
Make yourself known by offering high-quality content for free. Articles, know-hows, webinars can attract prospects and make them familiar with your brand.
Conclusion:
Make your brand and product known. Don’t push for sales until you have established an online presence.
Pro Tip! Cold-calling script can be a great tool to deal with objections. By preparing conversation paths in advance, you give yourself an edge you may need to overcome an objection. Check our article to learn how to develop scripts and use free cold-calling scripts made by experts. They provide a 60% success rate and can be customized to your needs.
Sales are a stressful and frustrating job, no way to deny that. However, sales are also rewarding and challenging. It’s important to separate your emotions from prospect’s objections. It’s not personal, the prospects are not being mean, they just want to clarify problems and get a better offer.
Not every sales objection can be overcome. However, all should be listened to, understood and replied. With our step-by-step guide, you gained knowledge about most common sales objections. You also have techniques to overcome them. Now go and fight sales objection like a PRO you are!
Sales is as much selling as it is emotions.We, as humans, are animals bound to their brains and therefore emotions.
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