Jeffrey Gitomer November 25, 2013
November 24, 2013
By Jeffrey Gitomer
November 25, 2013
I get a ton of emails from people seeking insight or asking me to solvetheir sales dilemmas. Here are a few that may relate to your job, yourlife, and (most important) your sales thought process right now.
Jeffrey, A company that installs gutter guards recently lost my business. I wassolicited by their sales team twice. The second time I was in the market to buy. But their technique is different. They require both the husband and wife be home during their estimate. I do understand why they wantboth to be there (so they can eliminate any obstacles). However, my wife doesn’t care, nor does she want any involvement in these type ofdecisions. I told them if they require this, I will take my businesselsewhere. They simply stated, Thank you, and hung up. They lost thesale, but I now have new gutter guards that were installed by anothercompany. What is your take on this? Mike
Mike, Old-worldsalespeople are gonna die. In sales, it’s called a one-legged sale whenonly one of the two deciders is in the room. Companies don’t want towaste their time on someone who can’t decide without talking to their spouse because the objection they use is, I’m going to talk this over with my … The bottom line is that company is rude, stupid, and willlose people (just like they lost you).
First of all, men don’tdecide anything, anyway! Only women decide. The woman will approve alldecisions in any household. Don’t take my word for it, ask any husband.
HERE’S THE SECRET: If you’re in the business of sales, you’re also in theservice business, you’re also in the people business, and you’re also in the friendly business. Anyone says, I’m not going to give my salespresentation unless both decision makers are in the room, doesn’t fully understand that concept. But that’s the bad news for them. The goodnews is you can call their competition and coach them on what to docorrectly. Somebody obviously did. Best regards, Jeffrey
Dear Jeffrey, My company delivers mobile dictation and transcription service to field workers in IT and health care, saving these people time inreporting. Lately I have been promoting the service to salesprofessionals. I have written several 30-second commercials for this but keep running into all sorts of objections. Salespeople are difficultprospects and I’m constantly trying to find the right pitch. How wouldyou approach the market of sales professionals and sales management? Do I need two different approaches? Gerhard
Gerhard, No. You need one approach. Every salesperson who has a CRM – SalesForce.com, Microsoft Dynamics, whatever it is – is required to put stuff intotheir computer on an everyday basis for every sales call they make andthere’s one universal truth about it: they all can’t stand it.
But if you could get them to record something on their laptop immediately,like a two minute, this goes here, this goes here, and you couldactually do their CRM entering for them… Oh baby! Their boss would buyit, they would buy it, their CEO would buy it, and their spouse wouldbuy it. Everybody would buy it and they would pay double.
Theproblem is you’re trying to sell your service instead of giving them ananswer that they’re looking for. Big mistake. Don’t tell me what you’vegot. Sell me what I perceive that I need and then I will buy. Bestregards, Jeffrey
Jeffrey, I’m an independent commercial realestate lender and commercial real estate mortgage broker. I’m trying tolink up with referral sources such as CPAs, commercial realtors,financial planners, etc. Do you have suggestions for a thought provoking question or line of conversation to help me connect with these folksand open the door to more meaningful dialogue? Dennis
Dennis, Dude, you’re providing them with money. You’re helping them get dealsdone. Why don’t you ask them questions like, What do you think aboutwhen your deal doesn’t go through? Do you think that there’s anotheralternative way?” and then follow with, “My name’s Jeffrey, and I wouldlove to be your secondary source for the deals that don’t make it. If Ican prove myself on a couple of them, maybe I can earn my way tobecoming your primary source. Fair enough?
All the peopleyou’re talking to in the real estate business only want to get a dealdone. That is their primary objective. It doesn’t matter what theinterest rate is. It doesn’t matter where they get the funding from.They only want to get the deal done. If you can be a person who can help them get the deal done, they will use you. Best regards, Jeffrey
Jeffrey, I am a devoted reader of your weekly email magazine and a fellowPhillies fan. I’m not a salesperson by title, but as GM turnedentrepreneur, selling is a vital skill, and your insightful informationis greatly appreciated, not to mention it just makes sense. My strengths are more on the production and supply side, so I was wondering if youhad any advice on how to find qualified salespeople in specificindustries. I have several products that I’d like to develop saleschannels for, but I’m not sure where to begin effectively. Rob, ChiefCook and Bottle Washer
Rob, Qualified salespeople arealready working someplace else. You must attract them with reputation,range of salary and incentives, and social proof that you’re great. Look for people in related industries or directly at your competition. Askyour vendors. Ask your customers who they love to buy from. SearchLinkedIn by keyword to see who may be “looking for career offers.” GoPhillies! Jeffrey
Jeffrey, My boss and I have drafted emailsto different types of industrys specifying how they can make money andprofit from our service. The plan is to send out these briefdescriptions through email and see who gets back to us. After readingalmost all of your material, I know you don’t believe in cold calling,but in this case is it better to email the companies or call them on the phone? Ryan
Ryan, The answer is neither. What you need tobe doing is blogging information about these companies that they wouldconsider valuable. You have an email magazine. You post something onTwitter. And with their search for keywords about their own stuff, theywill find you. If you only send out information about yourself… We have this great service and it’s the greatest thing in the whole wide world” …delete, delete, delete! But if you put value messages out that theymight be able to find, it will be delight, delight, delight! Bestregards, Jeffrey
Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of twelvebest-selling books including The Sales Bible and The Little Red Book ofSelling. His new best-selling book, 21.5 Unbreakable Laws of Selling, is now available. For book tour dates and information about training andseminars, visit www.gitomer.com or email Jeffrey personally at [email protected].
© 2013 All Rights Reserved. Don’t even think about reproducing this document without written permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer. 704/333-1112
November 25, 2013
I get a ton of emails from people seeking insight or asking me to solvetheir sales dilemmas. Here are a few that may relate to your job, yourlife, and (most important) your sales thought process right now.
Jeffrey, A company that installs gutter guards recently lost my business. I wassolicited by their sales team twice. The second time I was in the market to buy. But their technique is different. They require both the husband and wife be home during their estimate. I do understand why they wantboth to be there (so they can eliminate any obstacles). However, my wife doesn’t care, nor does she want any involvement in these type ofdecisions. I told them if they require this, I will take my businesselsewhere. They simply stated, Thank you, and hung up. They lost thesale, but I now have new gutter guards that were installed by anothercompany. What is your take on this? Mike
Mike, Old-worldsalespeople are gonna die. In sales, it’s called a one-legged sale whenonly one of the two deciders is in the room. Companies don’t want towaste their time on someone who can’t decide without talking to their spouse because the objection they use is, I’m going to talk this over with my … The bottom line is that company is rude, stupid, and willlose people (just like they lost you).
First of all, men don’tdecide anything, anyway! Only women decide. The woman will approve alldecisions in any household. Don’t take my word for it, ask any husband.
HERE’S THE SECRET: If you’re in the business of sales, you’re also in theservice business, you’re also in the people business, and you’re also in the friendly business. Anyone says, I’m not going to give my salespresentation unless both decision makers are in the room, doesn’t fully understand that concept. But that’s the bad news for them. The goodnews is you can call their competition and coach them on what to docorrectly. Somebody obviously did. Best regards, Jeffrey
Dear Jeffrey, My company delivers mobile dictation and transcription service to field workers in IT and health care, saving these people time inreporting. Lately I have been promoting the service to salesprofessionals. I have written several 30-second commercials for this but keep running into all sorts of objections. Salespeople are difficultprospects and I’m constantly trying to find the right pitch. How wouldyou approach the market of sales professionals and sales management? Do I need two different approaches? Gerhard
Gerhard, No. You need one approach. Every salesperson who has a CRM – SalesForce.com, Microsoft Dynamics, whatever it is – is required to put stuff intotheir computer on an everyday basis for every sales call they make andthere’s one universal truth about it: they all can’t stand it.
But if you could get them to record something on their laptop immediately,like a two minute, this goes here, this goes here, and you couldactually do their CRM entering for them… Oh baby! Their boss would buyit, they would buy it, their CEO would buy it, and their spouse wouldbuy it. Everybody would buy it and they would pay double.
Theproblem is you’re trying to sell your service instead of giving them ananswer that they’re looking for. Big mistake. Don’t tell me what you’vegot. Sell me what I perceive that I need and then I will buy. Bestregards, Jeffrey
Jeffrey, I’m an independent commercial realestate lender and commercial real estate mortgage broker. I’m trying tolink up with referral sources such as CPAs, commercial realtors,financial planners, etc. Do you have suggestions for a thought provoking question or line of conversation to help me connect with these folksand open the door to more meaningful dialogue? Dennis
Dennis, Dude, you’re providing them with money. You’re helping them get dealsdone. Why don’t you ask them questions like, What do you think aboutwhen your deal doesn’t go through? Do you think that there’s anotheralternative way?” and then follow with, “My name’s Jeffrey, and I wouldlove to be your secondary source for the deals that don’t make it. If Ican prove myself on a couple of them, maybe I can earn my way tobecoming your primary source. Fair enough?
All the peopleyou’re talking to in the real estate business only want to get a dealdone. That is their primary objective. It doesn’t matter what theinterest rate is. It doesn’t matter where they get the funding from.They only want to get the deal done. If you can be a person who can help them get the deal done, they will use you. Best regards, Jeffrey
Jeffrey, I am a devoted reader of your weekly email magazine and a fellowPhillies fan. I’m not a salesperson by title, but as GM turnedentrepreneur, selling is a vital skill, and your insightful informationis greatly appreciated, not to mention it just makes sense. My strengths are more on the production and supply side, so I was wondering if youhad any advice on how to find qualified salespeople in specificindustries. I have several products that I’d like to develop saleschannels for, but I’m not sure where to begin effectively. Rob, ChiefCook and Bottle Washer
Rob, Qualified salespeople arealready working someplace else. You must attract them with reputation,range of salary and incentives, and social proof that you’re great. Look for people in related industries or directly at your competition. Askyour vendors. Ask your customers who they love to buy from. SearchLinkedIn by keyword to see who may be “looking for career offers.” GoPhillies! Jeffrey
Jeffrey, My boss and I have drafted emailsto different types of industrys specifying how they can make money andprofit from our service. The plan is to send out these briefdescriptions through email and see who gets back to us. After readingalmost all of your material, I know you don’t believe in cold calling,but in this case is it better to email the companies or call them on the phone? Ryan
Ryan, The answer is neither. What you need tobe doing is blogging information about these companies that they wouldconsider valuable. You have an email magazine. You post something onTwitter. And with their search for keywords about their own stuff, theywill find you. If you only send out information about yourself… We have this great service and it’s the greatest thing in the whole wide world” …delete, delete, delete! But if you put value messages out that theymight be able to find, it will be delight, delight, delight! Bestregards, Jeffrey
Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of twelvebest-selling books including The Sales Bible and The Little Red Book ofSelling. His new best-selling book, 21.5 Unbreakable Laws of Selling, is now available. For book tour dates and information about training andseminars, visit www.gitomer.com or email Jeffrey personally at [email protected].
© 2013 All Rights Reserved. Don’t even think about reproducing this document without written permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer. 704/333-1112
