Electric Heating Systems

In this latest post on "selling" guidelines, here are the first three of twelve great "rules" of good sales techniques for new products in tough times.

1 - People buy people
It is a truism: people buy people, not their products. You might be selling the first ever fountain of eternal youth. But unless you can connect with people on a personal level, you will never sell it. People connect in business using the same cues as they use to make friends. People trust their senses and can sniff bad vibes from a mile out. Never get tied-up bringing other people down or overselling the truth about yourself. Be gracious and courteous. Even if a sales bid work out poorly, write and thank people for the time they spent with you. (Did you know a "no" list is a great source of referrals?). Let the competition be competitive and pushy. Never ever knock them yourself. (They could be working harder for you than you - or they - realise!) People buy people. Work on the following "rules" for selling YOU. Don't keep looking over the garden fence at what the neighbours are doing!

2 - Sell you
People buy people. This means cultivating chemistry between yourself and other people. This is in itself a social skill, but consists of finding what common ground exists between you and another person. Some people can do this instinctively (a guy I knew had the knack of getting people to completely open-up to him within five minutes of meeting him. It was a gift. He did it through being very cheerful: having no axes to grind: finding common ground and then he'd suddenly throw in to the conversation a direct question - never quite on subject - directly related to you as an individual. It was an amazing technique. You just had to answer him honestly. He'd then side with you and move the conversation on until the next question. You never felt awkward or like he was probing. But it was an enormously effective information-gathering technique. And he got on with everybody. So become a people expert. Actually LIKE people. Be interested in them. Find your common ground

3) Ask questions
There is "asking questions" and "motivating people to give information". We're so wound-up in sales of "finding out peoples' needs and wants" yada, yada that we sometimes think it requires the Spanish Inquisition to determine these. Actually to get information, you often don't even need to ask questions.

The relevant technique in psychology is called "motivational interviewing". Its basic premise is that you get more "out" of someone (I know that's the wrong phrase, but you know what I mean) if you approach them on the back foot. You get less from people or get shown the door if your questioning sounds adversarial ("You do what?") or like you're playing "topper" ("You do that?"). Let's see these in action.

DON'T
Don't do what one software salesman once said to me back in my banking days as he looked over at the notes I was scribbling. He said something like "Ah! Note taking. You should do what I do and create a mind map. Would you like to know how?"
I said something like "No".


DO
Do "side with (then question)" someone. I bracket the "Then question" bit, because simply getting on side with someone often opens them up to offer you both the question and answer you;re looking for.

The thing is that rightly or wrongly, people vest a huge amount of themselves in the status quo - even if they know in their heart of hearts that things need to change. Don't ever knock the status quo. It is personal space.

So, for example using motivational interviewing you may well want to find out what sort of heating a prospect client currently has and find out its strengths.
"Yes, well, oil heating has been around a long time and it really does warm you up!" (You can actually leave this statement without tagging a question onto it. It is just begging for someone to open up to a "yes-but" sort of answer). But if you want to you could say "I wonder why people want to change?" or something like that - i.e. ask them what the issues are).

Other person: "Yes, it does work, but I'm beginning to wonder about the cost / environmental impact / etc".

You: "Yes. It is a bit expensive isn't it. I know some other people are worried about its health and environmental effects as well." (Again you can leave this open-ended - or add "Have you thought about cost savings from alternatives?" etc.) And you're off.

This post is the second in the series of making sales in Infrared heating and it is entitled "Finding business".

And the first thing to recognise is that sales is a pro-active task. It takes responsibility, action and focus to win new business and you should never believe you are reliant on anybody else.

The other point that I will make up front is that with every list of prospects you develop (and I suggest lots of ideas below), work through it TO THE VERY LAST NAME. I have found personally that there is an important truth in this. The source of a sale often comes from the person you would least expect - even people you may historically not have got on with who now find themselves in new situations themselves. Such people - you guessed it - always end up at the bottom of your list. They're not the "obvious" ones; not the "comfortable" ones. But I strongly urge you to try them. Just personal experience.

Sources of prospects:

Sources of prospects include:
- Past customers;
- Newspapers and trade magazines;
- Referrals;
- Present customers who you ask for more business;
- Your rollodex of business cards - or Email list of personal contacts;
- Alumni from schools, college, companies you've worked for, trade organisations;
- Past people who "only enquired" (you kept their details, right?);
- "Used-to-supply" lists (i.e. "Gone-away customers);
- "No" lists;
- Contacts who have moved (find out discretly from estate agents who is moving - it is a great opportunity to contact potential IR buyers. Hey, install an IR panel in the agency and get everyone talking about it!);
- Classified adverts and new vacancy enquiries;
- Trade organisations - institue of directors, chambers of commerce;
- Local sports competition activities.

Ways to approach people:

There are several different approach for contact: passive and active.
Passive approaches include:
- Advertising;
- Direct mail;
- Leaflet drops;
- Inserts in jornals & newspapers;
- Conferences, public speaking, article-writing.

Making an active approach:
- Write a letter in which you sell a follow-up telephone call (don't just cold-call - direct marketing agencies have ruined the public tolerance to cold-calls);

- Always make the call yourself - never use a secretary to make contact for you;

- Do not go into detail in a call, your aim is to MEET;

- Always use an unusual time to meet: never on the hour or half-hour (too easy to cancel for all the OTHER meetings planned for these slots);

- Be aware of a customer's "prime desire": it is never to BUY A HEATER: it is always going to be something like "SAVING MONEY"; "COST-EFFICIENCY"; "SPACE-SAVING"; "HEALTH ENHANCING" etc.

So remember: a letter to sell the phone call; a phone call to sell a meeting; a meeting to sell yourself.

Final Thumb Memo:
- It is essential to get new customers, regularly;
- The richest source of interest will always be past customers;
- Use newspapers and journals;
- Referrals are the most cost-effective business, most reliable & haggle the least;
- FOLLOW your customers;
- Develop networks;
- ASK for the business. Don't obscure your eventual aim with a prospect. Ask them.