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My friend Bill Tucker, President of the Florida Building Material Association, recently wrote in his associations publication (e-BLUEPRINT):

The members of one of our business round tables were discussing how to increase sales, when one of them commented on the need for training. Without thinking, I quickly reminded him that during the construction boom, few members attended the numerous sales courses offered by FBMA.

That’s the way it is; when shooting fish in a barrel, you don’t need to learn how to aim.

How many salespeople are sitting around waiting for someone to call? How many are still hawking the same old products with the same old lines? How many are looking to the same, rather than developing new customers? How many believe they don’t need sales training?

Whenever I am asked, “When do sales professionals no longer need sales training?”
I reply, “When they quit breathing!”

Because no matter how good you were at selling and marketing yesterday or how good your are today, there will always be competitors and economic changes that come along that you must react to, to stay where you are in your success. Those who are prepared do not react to changing times and conditions, they ‘ACT’ before the changes adversely affect them.

It is human nature, and sales professionals are no different, to take the easy way out. To become lackadaisical. Selling when times are good we do not have to have as sharp an aim, it is jus like shooting fish in a barrel.

We do not have to be sharp when the customers are calling and all we have to do is fill out the order forms.

But for many industries that time is over, at least for the foreseeable future. Sales professionals need to sharpen their old skills and yes, learn a few new ones to sharpen their aim to stay at the top of their profession. For some, as you see them falling by the wayside, it is already too late. For most it is not.

It is not too late if they make the commitment to rededicate themselves, and rededicate their business to the art of selling and marketing. Start refreshing, learning and re-learning selling and marketing skills and techniques and you will become the sales professional and business that is able to ‘ACT’not ‘react’ to the changes in your market.

I once heard that the great football coach Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant when asked how he turned a losing football team into a winner replied, “I thought to myself, someone has got to do something about our poor performance. Then I remembered - I was someone.”

If you are ‘the someone’ in your organization, the someone who needs to and can do something about it, it is time to:

Become more aggressive in marketing and selling
a. Create and use a sales marketing plan
b. Determine who your best prospects are
c. Learn and use selling skills and techniques that attract customers to you

Dare to be different than the competition
The business that gets noticed and is remembered will be the successful seller

Dare to market and sell differently than you did when you could shoot fish in a barrel

It is time to learn (re-learn) the selling and marketing skills and techniques it takes to gain and retain your most profitable customers. We are no longer shooting fish in a barrel.

Bob Janet uses 40 plus years of face-to-face selling and marketing experiences, combined with his unique fun-entertaining presentation audience involved style to help sellers gain and retain their most profitable customers. See all Bob’s sales growth programs at http://www.BobJanet.com

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If you thought that selling was difficult, think again. The truth is that successful selling involves a simple set of skills. One is the skill of getting information. The other is giving it. When you master the balance between the giving and the getting, you will find much more success in your sales situations.

Getting Information

Many new sales people make the mistake of trying to tell the customer too much too soon. If you overload your customer with information, you very well may lose your chances of making a sale. The customer may view you as overly aggressive or pushy. Try
instead to learn more about the customer and the customer’s situation.

To get more information from your customer try using an open ended question. Ask, “What is the main concern or challenge facing your business?” You may also want to provide a statement of fact, “I’ve read in the news that your company is going through a merger.”

Not only does this approach make the customer feel more at ease and in control of the situation, but it also opens up a wonderful opportunity for you to gather information about that customer. Feel free to grasp on to hints that the customer may be looking for some change in his organization or may be dissatisfied with some other product or service. When you recap the information that they gave you and prove to your customer that you really were listening to his needs, you will find him much more receptive to your message.

Sharing Information

The mindset of the successful salesperson is focused on what needs to be accomplished during the time available with the customer. To be successful, you must also keep in mind the impression that you want to leave with the customer. You don’t want to be
seen as just a nice person and a possible new friend.

Still, it is extremely important that a relationship of trust is established with your customer. Listening is the first step to establishing that relationship. It demonstrates that you have the customer’s interests in mind as you attend to your own interests. Other effective ways to build and maintain trust with your customer include the following:

Prepare the Customer

Tell him in advance that you will be asking questions and then ask permission to do so.

Give your customer control of the clock
Find out how much time they have to speak with you, and wrap it up within the allotted time.

Help the Customer to Feel Special

If you go on with a memorized script, the customer won’t feel any different from any other person you could have been speaking to. Try asking what information he would like to receive from you.

Giving Information

Now that you have gathered plenty of information from your customer and you have opened the door to a sharing environment, it is your turn to be the giver. There will be times when your customer is ready to buy your product or service immediately. Don’t smother such a possibility by spilling out unnecessary data and information.

Ask an Open-Ended Question:

“What else can we show you or provide you with to make you comfortable doing business with us?”

Not only will this question save the time of giving the customer information that he doesn’t care to know, but it will also make him, once again, feel in control of the conversation.

If he doesn’t have a response to the open-ended question, don’t fret! Just go for the sale: “When would you like to start our service? Would August 1st be right for you?”

Many times, you will not be closing the sale in the traditional sense; rather, you will be advancing it a step closer to completion. This is fine. In fact, the most important way for you to make more sales is in a step-by-step advance.

When you approach the customer for the next sale, you will already have the influential advantage of the trust gained by your first approach. Be sure to use the same tools of getting, sharing and giving as you
establish a firm commitment from the customer and when you follow-up on that commitment.

You will find these simple skills to be the key to successful selling.

Alan Vengel is a consultant in management training and organizational development and
author of The Influence Edge - How to Persuade Others to Help You Achieve Your Goals. He offers
cutting edge training and skill building workshops on influence and negotiation.
http://www.vengelconsulting.com.

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One day a wise old German Shepherd starts chasing rabbits and before long, unexpectedly discovers things are not going as he expected as he is lost. But he was not overly concerned because this wise old German Shepherd had been lost before and he had a backup plan.
Wandering about, he notices he is in grave danger as a leopard is heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having him for lunch. The wise old German Shepherd thinks, “Uh, oh!” I’m in deep doo-doo now!

Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap, the wise old German Shepherd exclaims loudly,

Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder, if there are any more around here?”

Hearing this, the young leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees.

Ah, says the leopard, “That was close. That old German Shepherd nearly had me!”

Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard.

So, off he goes, but the wise old German Shepherd sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up.

The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself for protection with the leopard.

The young leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what’s going to happen to that conniving canine!

Now, the wise old German Shepherd sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back and thinks, but is not worried at all, because he has a backup plan.

The wise old German Shepherd sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn’t seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the wise German Shepherd says

Where’s that monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!

Hearing this, the leopard turned and hightailed it out of there.

Moral of this story

Business people who survive and prosper in a slow economy are wise enough to have a backup plan when they discover things do not go the way they expect.
You will come out the other side of this current economic slowdown (recession for some) if your back up plan includes becoming more and more aggressive in: Building relationships with your customers
Building relationships with your competitions customers
Selling your unique selling values
Selling the benefits your customers receive from your products
Daring to differentiate yourself and your business from your competition

Bob Janet uses 40 plus years of face-to-face selling and marketing experiences, combined with his unique fun-entertaining presentation audience involved style to help sellers gain and retain their most profitable customers. See all Bob’s sales growth programs at http://www.BobJanet.com

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There really is no guaranteed way to sell your timeshare property in 60 seconds, or at least sell a timeshare property very quickly and feel like you have sold it in sixty seconds or less.

There are so many reasons why people like to sell their timeshares. But we would like to tell you that selling a timeshare property is very different from buying one. It is a lot more difficult to sell than it is to buy. So what are the reasons why people sell their timeshare, among them:

- The realization that the timeshare property is not being used as often as desired

- The desire to invest in something for potential profit

- The desire to have an increase in cash flow

It is more difficult to sell timeshare property because it is not a necessity, unlike a house that you have to put over you head. Timeshares are not real estate properties, they are shares in a real estate property. People buy them for the pure please of staying at five star hotel for the cost of a cheaper hotel.

Resort salespersons that sell timeshare resorts are very quick to tell about how wonderful it is to lap in the luxury if a timeshare resort. It is rare to find anyone who is forthcoming enough to tell you about how difficult it is to re-sell a timeshare.

There are some ways to make selling timeshares an easier task. Here are some of them.

- Offer a realistic price. Timeshares prices vary greatly, but you should offer your timeshare at a price and value that is better than the resorts price. Take note: your potential buyer must see the value of buying a timeshare from you.

- Spread the word. Tell people that you are selling your timeshare property. You can even advertise at niche classified ads. To save yourself the trouble of doing it yourself, you can also get listed with a real estate agent or a realtor. A realtor would typically just take a commission from your timeshare. The only problem is that most realtors would push for high-commission sales instead of your own timeshare. To get the most effective result, you can have your timeshare listed at a listing company. Do your due diligence to find out which listing companies are the most reputable.

- Be on the accepting mode, and close. Be prepared to accept buying offers on your timeshare property. And of course, do not forget to close the deal. If it is your first time to close a timeshare sale, then you better a professional closing company do it for you. It might cost you more if you close the deal yourself.

You will find many timeshare buy and sell companies on the Internet. These companies are already experienced in the fine art of closing timeshare deals. The best of them would feature an online resort directory where potential buyers can take a look at the resort where you have timeshares in. This is a very powerful tool since potential buyers are always looking forward to an ocular inspection before buying.

Matthew Stanton writes about how to Sell a Timeshare and has written several articles about the topic. You can check this website for more details on Timeshares at Sell A Timeshare

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This is question that we get asked a lot: is selling a timeshare a lot like selling a house?

We are here to tell you that selling a timeshare is a more daunting task than selling a house (read: it is easier to sell a house), and it is because timeshare units are not of real estate properties. They are, in fact, luxury items that you invest in for the sheer pleasure of an extended stay at a resort. It is not as important as having a roof over your head.

There can be a lot of reasons why you want to sell your units of timeshare. Maybe you want to invest your money in something that earns interest. You may need the money, or maybe you are simply not using your timeshares as much as you like. If it is not work, something always came up.

Most timeshare salesmen would be quick about telling you about how wonderful it is to have timeshare, you are able to stay at a five-star resort at the cost of a cheaper, but not necessarily cheap hotel. None of these salesmen will tell you about how difficult it is to tell timeshares.

But selling your timeshares really does not have to be that bloody. Here are some tips in selling your timeshares:

- Start at a realistic price. The prices of timeshares vary greatly, but your reselling price should be better than resorts prices for new timeshares. They must see the value of buying a timeshare property from you.

- Advertise. Now matter how great a deal you are offering, you will not get an offer to buy if you do not tell people that your timeshare is for sale. You can have your timeshare listed with an agent or realtor or you can do it yourself. A realtor would typically not charge you a listing fee but would take a cut of the commission. But really, you are much better off advertising your timeshare with a listing company. It may charge a listing fee but the people that run it would know where to list the timeshare so it can get sold, however, it is your duty to find out the company you are dealing with is reputable. Doing it yourself almost always means you have to place an ad yourself.

- Accept and close. There will always be responses to your ad, so you have to be prepared to accept an offer to buy and close the deal. If you do not have the experience, it is better if you enlist a timeshare closing company. Doing it yourself might cost you a lot more than what you have to pay the closing company.

Out on the Internet, there are companies that broker buying and selling timeshares. The good thing about these companies is that they have a ready audience of over one million timeshare buyers and sellers.

Keep in mind that the first thing that potential buyers do when they respond to your advertisement is to take a tour of your resort and its surrounding area. That is where the resort directory comes in handy.

Matthew Stanton writes about to Sell Your Timeshare and has written several articles similar to this topic and you can check this website for more details on Timeshares at Sell Your Timeshare

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Sometimes the finest solutions are the simplest. Focusing on relationships when making cold calls is one of them. It keeps us genuine, and eliminates our dread of making cold calls. We’re real people talking about real things. We’re interested in the conversation, and it shows.

Most of us dislike putting on our “salesperson persona” when we make cold calls. We think it’s needed, however, because we’ve been trained to make the sale. And yet we’re interacting with a live, breathing person without having any real connection to him or her. It often feels fake, and it often is.

This artificial role puts a great stress on us, and sabotages our cold calling conversations. When we aren’t genuine, it’s a red flag to the other person that we have a sales agenda. This puts nearly everyone “on guard.” They’ve never met us and are wary of possibly being manipulated.

Have you ever noticed that most cold calls break down the moment we try to “move” things along towards a sale? It’s as if we’re getting ready for battle, and the tension pushes us along.

But the person we’ve called doesn’t know us. The momentum we’re trying to impose puts him or her in a defensive position. They’re protecting themselves from a potential “intruder” who might have a self-serving agenda.

So how can we to shift into something more positive? We begin by focusing on the relationship rather than salesmanship. We call with the anticipation of meeting someone new, and looking forward to a pleasant conversation to find out whether we can be of service. This mindset is subtle but powerfully felt by the other person.

Building relationships humanize our cold calling conversations — and ourselves. We are less artificial. Cold calling conversations become more natural. And people tend to respond with more warmth and interest.

The point is not to use the “technique of building relationship” to improve sales. That’s having a hidden agenda rather than a relationship. Our goal is to see if we can provide something that will benefit the other person. If it doesn’t, then we prefer not to continue interrupting their day. That’s a real relationship, even if brief.

When we’re being real people treating others as real people, the difference is amazing. Both people are both more at ease. We anticipate talking with someone who may possibly have an interest in what we have to offer. And if they don’t, we’ve enjoyed our time with him or her.

When others feel this relaxed mindset from you, they are much more likely to welcome you into their day. But if you rigidly follow a script or launch into a mini-presentation, then your call is immediately pegged as something initiated primarily for your own gain. And that puts most people into resistance.

Here are 8 keys to building relationships in cold calling:

1. Focus on the other person’s needs rather than on securing a sale

2. Surrender to the outcome of your cold call so you can connect with your potential client at a human level

3. View the human connection as an exciting journey in which you encounter new and interesting people

4. Speak graciously and naturally as you would with any new acquaintance

5. Remember it’s about how you come across, not about how many people you call

6. Allow the conversation to evolve naturally

7. Invite both of you to decide together whether it’s worth your time to pursue the conversation further

8. Use phrases that are non-aggressive yet very effective

So try this. Practice shifting your mental focus from salesmanship into a place of relationship. You’ll find that your genuine enjoyment of the conversation rubs off on the other person. They’ll be less defensive and more likely to share with you truthfully.

One of the best ways to build relationship is by using phrases that carry the human element very well. Start out by asking, “Hi, could you help me out for a minute?” The most common response will be, “Sure. What do you need?”

Your next question might be to ask whether they are open to the idea of looking at different ways to, for example, reduce their expenses. Most of the time the reply will be something like, “Well, sure, what kinds of expenses are you talking about?”

Now you are able to open the conversation between the two of you and build an initial relationship. It’s easy and comfortable to continue from there.

When you do this, you’ll experience so much success and satisfaction that it will really change the way you do business. And it will bring sales success beyond your imagination.

Adam Price is a Senior Coach, for Unlock The Cold Calling Game, making cold calling painless and simple. Learn the cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit: http://www.UnlockTheGame.com/PersonalGrowth

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