5 Sales Tips to Recharge During the Lazy Days of Summer

BY GRANT CARDONE 

Many people accept that a slowdown in sales  is a fact of business life during the lazy days of summer. Well, nothing could be further from the truth, and as a business owner you need to get out of that frame of mind.

A summer slowdown may be something many people want because they expect this to be a season for vacations when the living is easy. But you don't have to accept that. When others go to sleep, you need to wake up. If you follow these tips, you can create opportunity for your small business while others are off to the beach.

1. Make a firm decision not to participate in a slowdown. Don't allow your employees to buy into this thinking because I assure you that they will make a summer slowdown one of the first excuses if there are any issues with their job performance. Hold a daily meeting to discuss what you are going to do to prosper--not contract—this summer. Set clearly defined goals and list the activities that need to be undertaken to achieve them. Give yourself deadlines for your goals and create a no excuses, no negativity environment. You'll be surprised by what you can achieve. 

7 Step to Effective Speaking

Speaking is one of the most critical assets to getting yourself, your company, and your ideas into the marketplace. The more persuasive and effective your speaking skills are then the more effective you will be at selling your product or idea. This applies not just to speaking in front of thousands of people, but also for when you are speaking to just one customer. Here are seven tips I have learned over 30 years of speaking to audiences all over the world that I guarantee will make a difference for you

7 Step to Effective Speaking

1) Own the Stage- When you take the stage own it and project yourself to everyone in the room not just the front few rows. Assume the position as the authority on the subject you are using. Rather than moving around a lot plant both your feet firmly and present from one point to give a sign of assurance and confidence.

2) Big Claims- Open your presentation with big claims to get the audience's full attention from the beginning. Get attention early.

How to Sell Books AND Get them Read in the 21st Century

Writing a Great Book is NOT enough these days.

RIGHT OR LEFT IS NOT IMPORTANT, YOU ARE!

The Left or The Right?

While the population of our country further solidifies its position to the ‘right’ or ‘left’ and others frustrated with both and giving up hope, I suggest you put your attention on yourself and what you can do, rather than Left or Right and what neither of them can or will do. If you want to make your life better for yourself, your community and the planet quit waiting for the left or the right to do it when you could be doing it.

You can end any passionate ‘party-blame’ discussion by immediately interjecting, “neither party has a solution to problems today, change will not happen until each of us change.” The Left or the Right are NOT going to improve your personal condition – they have had 50 years to do so and it appears that things are only getting worse. The economy, employment, health care, crime, education, poverty and the likes all show signs of worsening. Both sides are caught up in rhetoric and pleasing their lobbyist friends, while you and I are left to provide for our families and make our companies work. This “left vs right” argument appears to be driven to keep your attention on right or wrong and who is to blame rather than what you can do to improve the conditions of your neighborhoods, your business, and your community.

A Great Attitude is Worth More Than a Great Product

Personal Story

..........The Real Jen Harris

A positive attitude is a thousand times more important than the product itself. Just observe how people on this planet spend their money. A person will spend a small amount of his income on the necessities of life and blow his entire paycheck on entertainment. Why? Because he wants to feel good! Why does Jay Leno make more money than all of the schools teachers in Los Angeles combined? Because he makes people laugh and feel good.

People will pay more for an agreeable, positive and enjoyable experience than they will for a great product. Who doesn’t want to feel good? Who doesn’t want to be acknowledged for being right? Who doesn’t want to be smiled at and agreed with? Show me a person that doesn’t want to feel good and I’ll show you someone that you don’t want to bother selling! Man wants to feel good. Man are moved by positive and confident people, more than he is moved by great products. There will always be a market for products that make him feel good, but a person who can make someone feel good can sell almost anything! The individual that combines a great attitude with a great product becomes unstoppable!

It’s easy for a buyer to say no to a product or a company, but it’s extremely difficult to say no to a positive experience with another human being. When something makes you feel good you want more of it whether it makes sense or not. This is why people do things that aren’t good for them because for a moment or two, it made them feel good. People will spend money on things that make them feel good before they’ll spend money on things they need. This explains the poverty and debt levels we see today!

One time I saw a beautiful jacket on display in a shop window and was so intrigued by it that I went inside to have a closer look. I asked the clerk the price, which she told me as she helped me slip on the jacket. Admiring my reflection in the mirror, I protested that the price was insane and added that I didn’t even need the thing! With a warm, understanding and beautiful smile she said, “No one buys a jacket like this because they need it. They buy it because it’s beautiful and it make them feel good.” Melting in the truth of her statement, I asked her, “Do you take AMEX?”

With all the chaos and bad news that the media disseminates daily, it’s refreshing to meet a solution-oriented, positive person.

You know the kind of person I’m talking about. The kind of person who’s always smiling as they say, “Yes sir, I’ll get it done for you, I’d be happy to do that!” I want to be taken care of by positive people. I don’t want to just be sold. I want people around me who are positive, helpful, smiling and motivated. That’s what all people want.

You Sell. I Sell. The World Sells.

How Selling is like Breathing

Think about the last time you were hesitant about going to an event. It can be a birthday party, a dinner, or even just a movie. You might’ve been really tired from working a 10-hour shift or even just having one of those days where you didn’t want to do anything. However, a friend begs, pleads, and somehow convinces you to go. Somehow he or she sold you on the idea that if you go to that event, it’ll give you some sense of fulfillment. As human beings, that’s what we all aim for in life.

Whether it’s trying to get a friend to go to dinner or selling someone a car or even something on a larger scale like selling the idea of peace to a country whose history has known none, it’s all about being able to successfully sell you idea to someone. What’s the idea? It can be whatever you want it to be, but if you can master that ability to sell, you can master the way the world works.

This country, nay, this world is built upon a foundation of people who are born with an innate sense to sell. We just don’t always look at the selling we do as “selling.” “Selling” has gotten somewhat of a negative connotation, but it isn’t negative. To sell is to be human.

In school, they were selling you the concept that memorizing a bunch of facts and figures and utilizing that information will get you that great-paying job. The idea they were “selling” was that in getting that great-paying job, you would find happiness through that job. When I graduated, I wasn’t one of those lucky individuals who knew exactly what I wanted to do in life, so I got into sales as something “temporary” until I found a “real” job. What’s a real job? It’s one that has a title like manager, doctor, or lawyer. But through that, I came to realize that learning how to “sell” gave me a much wider view on the society in which we live; a global perspective.

With this global perspective, I came to understand that a “real” job comes with a title that is supposed to connotate a certain class level in our society. But let’s take a moment to consider whom is selling us the idea that a title will be able to offer that higher distinction and in turn, personal fulfillment. It doesn’t work. On a more fact-based scale, it’s easy to see that without selling, our economic societies would not exist, as people cannot buy what is not being sold. Ultimately, with no service or good being sold, nothing is being spent. Without any monetary transaction, an economy could not exist. It’s all interconnected.

Although there is “prominence” in having a “real” job, most never seem to truly offer the benefits deserved from the work that would be put into it. I didn’t want to spend my life being zapped of my passion, my focus, and my dreams. I realized that if I could just master one concept, a concept so natural that everyone (doctors, lawyers, parents, and even children) partakes in everyday, in one from or another, then I would be able to transform my dreams into reality. That one concept is simply to sell.

Grant Cardone, International Sales Training Expert and NY Times Best-Selling Author

www.GrantCardone.com | www.CardoneOnDemand.com

How to Be a Better Salesperson Series – Pt. 1

COMMIT Yourself and the Rest Will Follow

Commitment. It’s one word that means to devote oneself completely to something. The concept is very simple. For instance, when you see an open parking space, park your car there, and get out instead of continuing to look for a “better” one, that’s committing. It sounds easy, but to master this concept in selling AND in all aspects of life is one of the hardest things to do.

In this part of the “How to Be a Better Salesperson” series, we’ll go through the concept of commitment and how it is a completely necessary part to becoming a better sales representative.

Committing to a parking spot is one thing. It’s a decision that deals with the immediate and the chances of severe consequences coming from deciding on a parking spot are much less than when it comes to selling. Selling isn’t just about you doing a job. Selling is a way of life. I’ll go more into detail on that in another article but simply put, selling is the key to your survival.

It’s a tough economy out there. That’s already a given. Plenty of people still without jobs, but those individuals who know how to sell themselves and their products will never be without a way to support themselves. The best sales people know how to commit to every aspect of selling. What do you commit to?

Be a Better Salesperson by Committing to:

· Your career

· Training daily

· Providing excellent service

· Dominating and not competing

Again, this all sounds easy but committing yourself fully when life throws you so many different options is not easy. For example, instead of committing to training daily, you could just continue to work with the skills that you already have. However, in order to be a better sales person, you will do the opposite. Even if you’re the most successful sales associate at your company, you will commit to being even better by continuing to train daily to learn additional closes, techniques, and strategies that will help you dominate.

It’s widely said that the grass is always greener on the other side, but the person who says that is the one who can’t commit. While they notice at another pasture, their own is being left unattended. The more they look at the other side the more time (and opportunities) go by where they could have made their own grass as green if not greener.

Go and take this first step to be a better sales person and DOMINATE your competition by first COMMITTING to being the best sales person out there!

Grant Cardone, International Sales Training Expert and NY Times Best-Selling Author
http://www.facebook.com/cardonesuccess

How to Be a Better Sales Person Series – Pt. 2

Attitude Through Communication

How do you communicate? Is it by the way you speak? The words you use? The tone in your voice? Do you communicate with your eyes? The way you look at someone? It’s all of that and more.

In this part of the “How to Be a Better Sales Person” series, we’ll discuss how the way you communicate and show your attitude will be critical to your success as a sales person.

Sales is a people business, plain and simple. The first impressions that you make on a customer will basically make or break your chance at closing that deal. In today’s economy, you don’t want to lose any opportunity.

These days a single wrong reply from the sales consultant to the possible buyer is all it takes to lose a sale and throw away an opportunity. And in this economy, every opportunity counts! It’s vital that the sales team and management work on even basic communication skills in order to take complete advantage of every sales opportunity that comes along.

That first impression is dependent on the way you communicate your attitude to the customer from the very beginning. You’ve got to have a positive attitude, one that shows that you fully want to provide him or her with service. It’s not about “selling” a product to them but helping them acquire something that will better their lives. To be a better sales person means being kind, understanding, and give them all the information they need about what you’re selling. This is the very first step to becoming a better sales person.

In order to do the latter, you must understand how to communicate your attitude to the customer. As mentioned earlier, communicating includes many things. It is about what you say, the way you say it, eye contact, the way you shake their hand, providing a warm smile, and those just scratch the surface. Communication includes all of those factors combined all for the purpose of creating true value for the customer.

Sales people need to be sure of themselves and what they’re selling. They can’t be stammering and giving badly thought-out responses. As a company, everyone in the organization must set the stage for a different experience with their sales representatives and set themselves apart from the competition by how they communicate thus creating a positive situation through which they sell value instead of price. Instead of dropping the value, they should improve the quality of the customer experience. As a sales person, the better the customer’s experience the better your chances are at successfully getting that sale.

Along with communication, in the next article we’ll discuss how the environment you’re in as well as the environment you create can help you be a better sales person.

Grant Cardone, International Sales Training Expert and NY Times Best-Selling Author
http://www.grantcardone.com | http://www.CardoneOnDemand.com/

How to be a better salesperson?

How to Be a Better Sales Person Series – Pt. 3

Create the Perfect Selling Environment

You can tell a lot about who someone is through their environment. For example, if you look at a person’s desk and it’s cluttered with papers, pens, and other random objects, it’s probably a good guess that they’re disorganized. On the flip side, if a person has a desk where everything is organized into neat piles and is very clean, it’s a good guess that that person likes to be on top things.

In this part of the “How to Be a Better Sales Person” series, we’ll cover your environment and the environment you personally create for customers can help you become a better sales person and close more deals.

It’s been said that everyone is a product of their environment. It’s not difficult to conclude that if a sales person works in a negative and stressful environment, then he or she will in turn be affected by that negativity and pass it onto the experience they create with potential customers. That’s the last thing any organization wants or needs.

As management, a work environment that is as free of stress and negativity should be at the top of the priority list along with making sure the sales team has all tools necessary to sell and not only sell but do it well. Having this environment and positive reinforcement will allow the sales team the ability to focus on making sure the customer is taken care of to the best of their capability.

As a sales person, you should create an environment that makes the customer feel comfortable and let their guard down. Customers immediately have their defense up when they walk in because they’re afraid of being pressured by the “stereotypical” sales people. Don’t be like them. BE DIFFERENT. Don’t pressure them. Just create a comfortable environment by offering service, providing information, and making sure the customer knows that you are there for them. You are there to help them make their own decision, the one that is best for them, not the one that you think is best for them.

In order to be a better sales person, you have to surround yourself in a positive environment and then create your own positive environment for your customer. Remember that at the end of the day, we’re all human. None of us were born sales people, we were all born babies. We are products of our environment. If you want that sale, make a place that allows that sale to grow and succeed positively.

Now that you’ve got this great environment around you, the next step will be to build your relationships which we’ll go over in the next article in the “How to Be a Better Sales Person” series.

Grant Cardone, International Sales Training Expert and NY Times Best-Selling Author

www.GrantCardone.com | www.CardoneOnDemand.com

How to be a better salesperson? 

Control Your Mind

How to Be a Better Salesperson Series – Pt. 4

Building Relationships and your Powerbase

I have showed you in the series 1,2 and 3 one of the greatest ways to become a good salesperson, although I believe you can be more than a good one, you could be the most successful salesperson if you know how to cultivate relationships.

Let’s say that you had a customer come in, and you did everything you could to try and close a deal that day. You had a great attitude, created the perfect comfortable environment, used all of the closes you knew, but ultimately, he or she just didn’t end up buying the product. Should you just forget about that customer who you just spent all of that time with?

NO!

Doing that would be a fatal mistake. In this part of the “How to Be a Better Sales Person” series, we’ll go over how building relationships with your customers also means building your powerbase for future customers and future sales.

Just because that one sale didn’t end up closing, you spent valuable time and effort in getting to know that customer and building a relationship with that person. Don’t let it go to waste! Make sure you have all of their information stored so that you can follow up with them later on. The problem with most salespeople is that they never follow up with the customer. It takes one quick phone call, maybe a few minutes of your time.

When you follow up with them, you show the customer that you really cared about their business and wanting to provide great service to them. This way when they are fully ready and wanting to go buy a product, they’ll come back to you instead of your competitor because they remember how amazingly you treated them. You’ll be a better salesperson! Not only will you stand out from your competition and get sales, even if that customer still isn’t quite ready to buy just yet, they have friends and family.

A big part of sales is word-of-mouth. When that customer’s friend or family member asks for suggestions on where they can find a type of product like what you’re selling, who do you think your original customer would mention? Because of the great impression you left on them, they’ll recommend their friends and family to you. This means a boost in your powerbase and an increase in your sales!

Don’t be like everyone else out there and just focus on the immediate sales. Dominate your competition by being different and build those relationships with all of your customers and potential customers. This way you won’t only get the opportunities that come to you, but you are creating sales opportunities for yourself. This is how you will be a better sales person.

Now that you’ve increased your powerbase, the next step is to master the power of prediction. That’s right in the next article I’ll give you the secrets to PREDICTION in order to help you be a better salesperson.

Grant Cardone, International Sales Training Expert and NY Times Best-Selling Author

www.GrantCardone.com | www.CardoneOnDemand.com

How to be a better salesperson?

How to Be a Better Salesperson Series – Pt. 5

Master the Art of Prediction

Imagine if you could predict the future. To have the power of knowing something’s going to happen before it even happens. You can know what your customer will say before they even say it. Imagine how many deals you could better navigate and close by doing this. You could be a better sales person this way. Well, I want to let you in on something… stop imagining because you can.

In this part of the “How to Be a Better Salesperson” series, I’ll let you in on how you can master the art of prediction, so you can be ready for anything a customer throws at you.

In order to be a better sales person and master prediction, here’s the secret… you have to PAY ATTENTION. By this, I mean you must pay attention in every customer interaction and view it without emotion or blame and take notes. After a little while, you’ll start to recognize a set of patterns that happen with every sale. You’ll be able to separate your customers into different categories and from there on be able to notice that they all have similar responses.

This is how you predict. Every individual on this planet is different, but we all share different similarities; some more than others. When you’re in the middle of a sale with one customer and you’re able recognize that it’s headed in a similar direction as a sale you had a few days ago, you can learn from that previous sale and do something different. You can be a better sales person and acknowledge their concern before they even have a chance to which will not only surprise them but show them that you two share a similar viewpoint. You’ll be able to relate to the customer in a better way.

Prediction isn’t about some magical power. We live in the real world where life throws things at us that come from a different direction every time. There’s no way to really tell the future, but there is a way to anticipate the possibility of patterns and habits to be a better sales person. People are creatures of habit, so by knowing you’ll gain the knowledge necessary to keep selling no matter what the situation. To KNOW means you’ll be able to get fewer NOs. Fewer NOs mean more a lot more YES which equal to a boost in SALES.

The first step is to take notes and record down every objection all customers give you. Every time they give you one just write it down. Then, study those notes and look for similarities in the objections. Match up those similarities and then come up with possible solutions you could give to alleviate those issues. Next time a similar objection comes up you’ll be a better salesperson by having the solution before the customer even fully thinks about a possible objection.

Now that you’ve committed to having a great attitude and built your power-base within a positive environment utilizing the power of prediction, the final step to be a better sales person is to learn about the price myth.

Grant Cardone, International Sales Training Expert and NY Times Best-Selling Author

www.GrantCardone.com | www.CardoneOnDemand.com

How to Be a Better Salesperson Series – Pt. 6

What is the Price Myth?

If you ask most people what is something that money simply cannot buy, what do you think the answer would be? Simple… love. It can be love from your family, your friends, or your significant other. Even love for a belief.

In this final part of the “How to Be a Better Salesperson” series, we’ll uncover the truth behind the price myth.

You may be wondering what exactly the price myth is? The myth is that most people believe price is the main factor when it comes to getting a sale or not and that simply is not true. The value that you produce is much more important than the price because value is subjective.

Value comes from the experience that you’ve built with the customer throughout the sales process. Everything that we’ve discussed in the previous articles to help you be a better sales person is put into effect to help you create such great value that the price doesn’t matter because the customer VALUES what you provide them.

When you as a sales person spend too much time talking about the price, you’re compromising the value of what you offer through service. This doesn’t mean price doesn’t matter but rather take care of it in the right way and return to building value!

Have you ever had a customer tell you that what you’re selling is too costly and then goes to your competition only to buy the same product at an even higher rate? That’s proof that the value we know as “price” is a myth. The customer really wasn’t talking about the worth of the product but instead, the worth of the sales experience you were creating not being valuable enough for the price.

To be a better sales person, you should focus on directly translating to the client, not price, but instead, commitment through a great attitude and a desire to build trust in a comfortable, pressure-free environment. Also, you need to prove to the client that the product they’re going to purchase is based off a decision that they make because it fulfills one of their necessities. Once this happens, price becomes the only factor that still stands between the customer and what you just showed him or her.

Always keep in mind that it’s almost never price. I guarantee to you that nine out of ten times the issue isn’t price. This rule can even apply for you. Think back on that last item or service you purchased where you went over budget because you just had that urge, that desire to the point where you felt like you simply needed it. Price wasn’t the factor because you feel in love with that product and were convinced that what you were feeling wasn’t a bad thing.

If you take everything you’ve learned from this series and apply it to helping your customer feel how you felt, then you will officially be a better salesperson.

Grant Cardone, International Sales Training Expert and NY Times Best-Selling Author

www.GrantCardone.com | www.CardoneOnDemand.com

Haw to be a better salesperson?

How to get THE JOB you want

Try these 12 tips and I assure you that you will get THE JOB you want.

The job market is so tough today.  You are being told no one is hiring but that is just not true. Yes it is more difficult but if you are committed to getting a good job and are creative and use proven strategies not only can you get the job you want but you can get it quickly.

I have been working with entrepreneurs, businesses and fortune 500 companies for 25 years. I know what they want to hear, I know how to approach them, get in front of them and SELL them.  Use these employment strategies and I guarantee you that you will get the job you want, the pay you want and get it within 36 hours.   Unemployment should not be an option for you. Don't believe that you are entitled to it because you have worked so hard for so many years. Taking employment for any longer than a couple of weeks will hurt you and your family in the future.  Get a job.   

Target companies you want to work for not entire industries, avoid the HR departments and social media instead get in front of decision makers.  Use Twitter, Facebook, Google +, and LinkedIn to target who you want to work for, who is hiring, and who you need to see but leave getting the jobs to these KILLER proven tips on how to get a job.  You can use the job search assistance, monster.com, career builder, craigslist, newspaper, the ladders, a staffing agency but at the end of the day getting the dream job will result in what you do to get in front of the right person and then sell that person that you are the right person.

Do NOT rely on resumes they ruin interviews. When you are being interviewed make sure you are selling and saying those things that executives most admire and also avoid saying those things executives hate to hear in a job interview.    

Do what I say here and you will get a job I guarantee you get a 100,000 job or ...


Grant Cardone shares 12 tips to getting a job.

5 Simple Rules to Win the Sale

Sales Tips You Need To Know About

In this economy every opportunity has to count. You could easily blow a deal just because you are slow to answer a question or stammer through a response to your customer. Your ability to communicate is vital and will ultimately get you more money!

Here are five rules that simplify the sales process, help you communicate effectively and allow you to win the sale. Follow these rules and watch out--- you will now have new problems of too much traffic and not being able to handle all the action!

1. Always agree with your customer.

“No problem,” “Yes ma’am I can help you with that,” “Most people are just looking at first.” Always, always agree with your customer. This is the single most important and the most commonly violated rule in all of selling! People are attracted to products, ideas and people that represent the things they’re in agreement with. This is a fact of the universe. For more information on this, or to get some practice drills to make you better at agreeing, check out my website: salestrainingvt.com.

2. Know the price myth.

You can’t put a price tag on something you really love, so when asked about price, give the information immediately and then spend all your time building value. Show him the value and reconnecting the customer to his emotional needs. This is much more important than price. Value is what your customer will pay to feel emotionally satisfied—it’s the smell of the new leather, the feel of the softest tee shirt, the look of those perfect shoes, the taste of the best vintage. If he really loves it and it will really solve his problems, he will come up with the money to buy your product.

3. Move up, don’t move down.

Many salespeople make the mistake of offering something for a lower price when faced with price objections. When you move the customer down in price he’s less likely to want this next product if he didn’t want the first one. By moving him up rather than down in inventory you’ll get him thinking in terms of value and you will find out if his original objection is valid or not.

4. Give, give, give!

Selling is the act of giving not getting, serving not selling. Instead of being interested in your own commission, focus on what your product really offers the customer and how your client is going to benefit, to win from this experience. If your customer wants one option, give him three or six or even twelve options. Those professionals that care the most are the ones who go the extra mile to find ways to improve the customer’s life.

5. Standing is for losing, sitting is for closing.

You’ll almost never close a deal if you’re standing up. Sit your client down and show him what you can do for him and substantiate it with facts. Do not pitch. Sell on emotion but close on facts and figures, writing it all up for him to see for himself. Your buyer believes what he sees not what he hears so sit him down and show him!

Attitude, Approach, Action our critical to your survival and success.

How to Close the Sale - Part 1 Selling vs. Closing

Selling vs. Closing to Close the Sale

Merriam’s Dictionary describes selling as the action of persuading or influencing another to a course of action or to the acceptance of something. While most people get confused between the concepts of closing and selling. Though they may sound similar do not be mistaken; they’re two separate things! Closing is the critical exchange point whereby there is a transfer point from one action to another. This is where you quit SELLING, talking, promoting, and pitching and get your prospect to take action and exchange something they have for something you have.

Closing is the last step in the pursuit of any goal.

You have to sell in order to get to a close. They’re two different things, but selling is 80% of the sales process. It is the foundation. Without it there can be no final sale. Closing is the last 20% but it’s the most important. Without it there is no reason to have the other 80%. Without the close there is no value in the sales pitch. But without the sales pitch you can never get for the close. These two actions have to be done together to close the sale.

In order to sell you must appeal to a customers’ emotions. You must get the customer to fall in love with the product or service you’re providing. This is done by showing them the benefits, comparing it what they already have, and showing them that yours isn’t only better but making them realize that your product or service will solve their problems. You should stand when you sell. Let your love of the product and your attitude be so infectious that your customer begins to feel consumed by it and has no choice but to love it as well.

Once you’ve gotten them to fall in love with the product and believe that there’s nothing else that will help them, you should proceed to close the sale. Closing is based on logic and facts. Closing is about the numbers. Thus, closing is a science.

The first step in this process is to make sure you and your client are sitting down. Even if your client gets up to walk away, sit down to convey that you’re not done, yet. Getting up will only justify their reason for standing up. Always remember: “Standing is for losing, Sitting is for Closing.”

While you can talk during the selling process, in the close you have to show numbers. Write everything out, payment terms, down payment, financing numbers, and so on. In the close, you are logically showing the client that they can afford this product or service. That’s why my “Close the Sale” app (ClosetheSaleApp.com) for smart phones and the “Closer’s Survival Guide”program are essential to any closer. They provide the formulas necessary to understand the science of closing. To close the sale is like when you were learning in math, learning how to add and subtract. At first, it all seemed complicated and you were at a complete loss of how to do it. But as soon as you learned the rules, it was simple. That’s what closing is, adding and subtracting. The first step to close the sale is through knowing what closing is.

In the next part of the “How to Close the Sale” series, we’ll discuss how doing your research and rehearsal will help you close the sale even faster and better.

Grant Cardone, International Sales Training Expert and NY Times Best-Seller

Close the Sale - Cost of NOT Closing

How to Close the Sale - Part 2: Research, Rehearse, Close

Research and rehearse to close the sale

The saying goes, “Practice makes perfect.” No matter if you’re an athlete or an actor or a sales person, you must ALWAYS practice and train in your skill so that you can get better, be faster, close stronger.

In the first article of the “How to Close the Sale” series, we covered how any sales person who wants to close the sale MUST know the difference between “selling” and “closing.” This time we’ll discuss how you must research and rehearse in order to close the sale.

My wife is an actress and the first thing she does when she gets a role is she researches the role and character she is playing. This means anything from reading books to watching similar characters on TV or in movies. She then rehearses the role extensively and only then can she give her best performance. She does her research, her rehearsals, and then closes that deal by giving that great performance in the end.

Closing is the same way. Contrary to popular beliefs, there are actually a finite number of objections that a prospect will have. Those that sound new or different are usually just repackaged with different words. If you learn all of them and how to handle them, you will become a master closer. For me, my research and rehearse process comes in the form of taking all my experiences everyday and breaking them down into what I felt like I had success with and what I can do in order to improve a potential experience I could have in the future.

When I first started in sales, I had to spend years researching the objections. I would sit down after every meeting with a client and would write down every objection I heard. I would also then gauge how well my responses did at overcoming their objections. After years of doing this, I learned that almost every customer would give some type of objection that I had heard before. Knowing this, I had the answer to put them at ease and help me close the sale. (Luckily you don’t have to spend years doing the research I did, you can find my research in my Close the Sale app and in my Closer’s Survival Guide series). I’ve discovered every objection imaginable and have come up with literally hundreds of closes to counter each of them.

Once you have done your research you have to rehearse these closes. You have to get them to be second nature to you so that as soon as you hear an objection you know immediately, instantaneously how to respond. You can’t stumble through the words and hope the customer understands your point. You have to be confident with what you say to close the sale. This rehearsal can be as simple as saying the words out loud to yourself to practicing with a family member, friend or colleague.

Research and rehearsal lead to the most important aspect of the close: Confidence. When you know the objections and know that you can handle them, you will have an attitude of confidence and positivity that will be impossible for anyone to turn you down.

My wife has the same approach with her acting. When she shows up having done her research and rehearsal, she is so confident that she radiates when she performs. For me, I close the sale and completely shut it down. In the next article of the “How to Close the Sale” series, we’ll cover the top 5 steps to close the sale. Until then, research, rehearse, and close.

Close the Sale - Win Win

How to Close the Sale - Part 3: Top 5 Steps to Close the Sale

The Top 5 Steps to Close the Sale

Long, drawn-out transactions result in lower profits, poor customer satisfaction, and most definitely keeping you from closing the sale.

In the last article of the “How to Close the Sale” series, we discussed that to be successful in how to close the sale you must research and rehearse to close. This time I’ll give you five steps that business people have used to see improvements in customer satisfaction, employee turnover, and increased gross profits. Your sales process should be no more than 5-6 customer valued steps and 30-45 minutes at the most.

Here are the Top 5 Steps to Close the Sale:

1. The Greeting should be 30 seconds or less - initiate the offer of providing the buyer with information. Why wait for the customer to ask? Offer it and separate yourself from the ‘caveman’ down the street. A powerful greeting would be, “Welcome to __________ what can I get you information on?” This makes it known from the beginning that what you’re representing is friendly and easy and that the sales person is able to assist the customer in providing pricing, payments, down payments, interest rates, and all other information in order to close the sale.

2. Move Up, Not Down when it comes to price! Most sales people offer a lower price when they get an objection from the customer about price. The truth is when you move down on the price, the customer is actually less likely to want what you’re selling. When you move up in price, you’ll have him or her thinking in terms of value and discover if their original objection was really valid or not.

3. Present your proposal. We recently did a mystery shop for a major manufacturer and found that 64% of the time the sales person did NOT offer figures for the final purchase of their product. If you don’t enter the negotiations, the buyer CANNOT buy your product resulting in a wasted effort, resources, and advertising dollars. Why try and sell something if you’re not actually going to sell it?

4. Stand to Lose. Sit to Close. I can almost guarantee that you will not close a deal if you are standing up. Instead, you should sit your customer down and present to him or her what you can do in terms of service and back it up with facts on the product. Remember to sell your customer on emotion but close him or her on facts and figures. Put it on paper, on your computer monitor, some place visualso that they can actually see it with their own eyes. You customer will believe what they see rather than just what they hear so sit them down and close the sale.

5. Close or Exit. Closing is EVERYTHING. Sales people that cannot close will not do the other things necessary to be successful. This economy is a closer’s environment not a sales environment. Make everything easy and transparent using electronic generated worksheets that can be CUSTOMIZED to fit different buyer situations. (Warning- do NOT use one worksheet for all buyers.) If you are unable to close the transaction, then make sure that your buyer exits with information packages and a manager using an exit survey. This way, you have a foundation you’ve created to help you close the deal better if that customer comes back.

I guarantee that if you follow these 5 steps, they will help you close that sale. In thenext part of the “How to Close the Sale” series, I’ll be discussing probably the most important thing you’ve got to close on in order to close the sale, that one thing… is YOU.

Close the Sale - The Able Close

How to Close the Sale - Part 4: Be Closed on You!

Be YOU to Close the Sale

Even if the product or service you’re selling is the best that’s out there, the one thing that will be even more critical to close the sale is YOU. That’s right… you. How can you close the sale if the customer doesn’t trust the person selling them?

In the last part of the “How to Close the Sale” series, I gave you 5 steps to take to help you close the sale. To go along with those steps, at the bottom of it all is you. You need to have the confidence, knowledge, and skills necessary to utilize these strategies that will help you ultimately close the sale.

All it takes is one “wrong” response from the sales person to the potential to lose the sale and waste that opportunity. And with the economy the way it is, each and every one counts! So many companies out there have put all of their focus on their service or product that most have forgotten about their responsibility to work on the fundamentals. The fundamentals will teach you how to close the sale. It’s essential that management and everyone in the sales team return to working on basic communication skills in order to fully take advantage of every opportunity that comes up.

Companies will rely on each individual sale in an economy where there aren’t as many sales opportunities as there once were. An untrained and unprepared sales person who stammers and gives out badly thought-out answers is too costly for any company. It’s crucial that each business to present a different experience with their sales teams in order to stand apart from the competition to build a positive atmosphere that will help close the sale.

Value is extremely subjective and much more crucial than price!

When the sales consultant spends too much time discussing price, he or she compromises the development of value. This doesn’t mean you don’t discuss price but rather handle it appropriately and return to building value!

Has a customer ever told you that what you’re selling is too expensive and then goes to your competition and purchases it for even more? This is proof that the value of price really is a myth. In reality, that customer wasn’t talking about the value of what you were selling but instead the value of your service not being worth the price of what you were selling.

You as the sales person must create a positive selling environment, one that presents honest and reliable communication to provide information and service that is non-confrontational. This is your job as a great sales person, and if you can do that, I can guarantee that you’ll be able to close the sale. This all begins with a clear introduction of yourself and a firm handshake. Everything else will follow.

After you’ve become closed on yourself, the next step is for you to be closed on the product or service you’re selling which we’ll cover in the next article of the “How to Close the Sale” series.

Grant Cardone, International Sales Training Expert and NY Times Best-Selling Author

Close the Sale - The Be Grateful Close

How to Close the Sale - Part 5: Be Closed on What You’re Selling

Know Your Product to Close the Sale

Once you are fully sold on yourself and have the confidence and sales training necessary to provide outstanding service to the customer, the next most important thing to help you close the sale involves the actual product or service you are actual selling.

In part 5 of the “How to Close the Sale” series, we’ll cover the importance of how you must fully know the product or service you are selling and be sold on it in order to close the sale. If you aren’t convinced enough to know an answer to every possible question or objection a customer can have about what you’re selling, then how can you sell them on it?

Being a great sales person means knowing everything about the product or service that you are selling. In order to know everything about it, you yourself must be closed on that product or service. You have to fully believe that what it is you are offering is so incredible, so life-changing, that everyone out there must have it because it will improve their lives.

In order to effectively close the sale, you must be so passionate and so knowledgeable that you know your product or service like the back of your hand. Any question or objection that your customer may have during the sale you should be able to confidently answer so that you address what they have to say and close them with what you have to offer.

Be a source of information for the buyer instead of trying to hide it from them. The old adage was, “The less my people know, the better off they will be.” This idea has resulted in catastrophic turnover and dealers paying for customer satisfaction scores. Information is the gateway to closing more deals. The more credible, believable, and expedient the sales person and processes, the more likely they will close the sale and the higher the chances of profit!

Once you’ve gotten them to fall in love with the product and believe that there’s nothing else that will help them, you should proceed to close the sale.

You have to know that the customer will have certain objections, but you must be able to get past them. Their objections are based on emotions that they have from before you even began to sell them on the product or service. They’re probably just reacting to a negative experience they’ve had in the past. The only way to get past their negative emotions is to use logic and facts to make sure you show them that this time their experience will not only be different but better. That is how to close the sale.

Again, be closed on whatever it is you are selling so much so that you know everything about it. I promise you that once you are, you will close the sale and many more afterward. In the final piece to my “How to Close the Sale” series, I’ll cover the final point to what this whole series is about and why it’s important: how to close the sale.

Grant Cardone, International Sales Training Expert and NY Times Best-Selling Author

Close the Sale - The 1st Agreement Close

How to Close the Sale - Part 6: CLOSE THE SALE

All that Matters is to Close the Sale

In this final part of the How to Close the Sale series, I want to discuss that success is all about being able to do one thing: close the sale.

Today’s retail landscape is a closer’s environment not a sales environment. It’s not the best product or the best service that wins but the sales organization that can close the sale. There is only one lowest-price provider in any given market. It’s not the lowest price, lowest payment, or even the best terms that wins, but the sales organization that is able to best make sense of their proposition.

Let’s face it your manufacturer has done massive amounts of research on the price points of your products and what incentives are necessary to make that product a competitive value. Lowering the price and improving the terms is a deadly strategy that’s left other companies suffering and unable to close the sale.

There are only four ways to distinguish yourself in the market -price, product, people, andprocesses. Only two of the latter are those that you control. You don’t make the product, and you don’t control the pricing. All of your attention and solutions should be placed on two things you can control- people and processes.

For instance, if you’re in the auto industry, the old sales process of keeping the buyer at your dealership as long as possible, negotiating for 4 hours to make a mini-deal, and trying to give as little information as possible is at best resisted and as most would agree, over with! We live in the world of information, with buyers accessing invoice, financing terms, and trade figures over their smart phones! It’s safe to assume that all buyers (not just some) are internet buyers today. This means if the buyer is better informed, you must better inform your sales people and management team!

It's all about the Close.

Quick recap:

1) You are not paid to sell you are paid to close.

2) It’s impossible to have customer satisfaction until you close the sale.

3) If you can’t close, you won’t be motivated to do the other things.

4) There is no value exchanged until a close takes place.

5) There can only be one lowest cost provider in any market so the rest of you will have to learn how to make sense of the money and close the sale!

Bring your sales process into the 21^st century – Make your process quick, easy, and believable for your buyer, and then focus all your energy and efforts on training your people on how to close the sale. An organization that knows how to successfully close the sale is an organization that is closing more sales!

Be successful and CLOSE THE SALE!

Grant Cardone, International Sales Training Expert and NY Times Best-Selling Author

Car Sales Training Tips And Strategies Series Pt.1

Putting the Buyer at Ease in 6 Easy Steps

Whenever customers first walk into a car dealership, they immediately feel uneasy. Whether it’s from previous experiences, things they’ve heard from their friends, or the media, immediately they put up a defensive wall to save them from fears such as:

· Fear of Obligation

· Fear of Getting Ripped Off

· Fear of Decision-Making

· Fear of Financial Insecurity

· Fear of Pressure

· Fear of Losing Time

These fears are also known as Reactionary Defense Response Mechanisms (RDR), and these are the challenges that sales people fail before they even get to say a word to the customer. In this part of the Car Sales Training Tips and Strategies Series, we’ll cover the how you can put your customers at ease and in turn, help you get that sale.

Although RDRs may appear bad, there is a positive to it. The more guarded a buyer is, the more you know they’re a buyer because they know they really want that car. That’s why they’re so scared because there’s a very good chance that one of those fears can turn into reality. It’s your job to make sure that, not only will their fears not come true, but also that you make sure to prove to the customer that you are there to serve the customer into what’s best for them.

In order to put your buyer at ease, you should create an atmosphere that’s free of those RDRs. Here are some things you can do to put them at ease:

Car Sales Training Tip#1 The Greeting – Greet your customer warmly by introducing yourself and getting their name. Shake their hand and give them a genuine smile so that they feel comfortable.

Car Sales Training Tip#2 BE POSITIVE – Don’t take the negative and defensive things that the customer may say personally. Be positive even if you disagree by acknowledging what he or she may tell you. This way they appreciate the fact that you care about what they have to say and will be more receptive to what you will say later on.

Car Sales TrainingTip#3 Address Their Fears – Bring up the fears that the customer may have that they haven’t even said out loud. If you bring everything out into the open, you can take the next step to properly address them.

Car Sales Training Tip#4 Reassurance – Reassure them that you are there to provide service to them. Reassure to the customer that you understand their fears, but that it’s your job to make sure their fears do not come true.

Car Sales Training Tip#5 Control – Stay in control of the sale by letting the buyer know that they have no obligation to do anything they don’t want to do. Let them know that they’re in control. In return, with their feeling of control, they become more comfortable to you, and in reality, you can navigate the rest of the sale.

Car Sales Training Tip#6 GIVE – Most importantly, you just have to GIVE GIVE GIVE. Give excellent service. Give your full attention.(See Part ll)

Grant Cardone, International Sales Training Expert and NY Times Best-Selling Author

www.grantcardone.com

How to stay up tone - Your success depends on it

Car Sales Training Tips and Strategies Series - Part 2

Collect the Right Information in 4 Easy Steps

Information has always been power. Those with more information have better chances to succeed than those with less. In this part of the Car Sales Training Tips and Strategies Series, we’ll cover how collecting the RIGHT information and in a non-confrontational way will help you close more deals.

Why do you want to collect information? You don’t. You want to collect the RIGHT information. The fact that they ate a burger at a diner 6 days ago probably won’t help you too much in closing that sale. That’s random information. The purpose of collecting the right information from your buyer allows you to understand the buyer’s mindset, tastes, needs, and ultimately, the right automobile for him or her.

Does this mean you just ask questions like, “How’s your credit? How much are you willing to pay? If I give you the right figures would you buy it today?”

NO.

If you asked questions like that, not only would you make the customer feel uncomfortable but also your chances at getting honest answers are slim to none. Do that and watch your chances at selling that car disappear. Most auto sales training programs would simply tell you to get information but not how to approach getting that information because how you approach asking is just as important as what you ask.

How to Collect the Right Information in 4 easy steps:

Car Sales Training Tip #1 Ask Positive Questions: Finding out information on the buyers car would allow you to understand their tastes and would help you to choose the right unit for them.

Car Sales Training Tip #2 Be Polite but Direct: Your attitude determines how receptive someone will be as much as what you ask them. Be direct but don’t forget to BE POLITE. Treat your customer with respect and be positive while doing so and you’ll gain respect back.

Car Sales Training Tip #3 Ask for their Opinions: Ask your customer questions that require no write or wrong answer, but simply their opinions. You’ll be amazed at how much information you get simply by asking how someone feels or what he or she thinks about something.

Car Sales Training Tip #4 Ask Buying-Habit Questions: By knowing what kind of vehicles they’ve bought in the past, you can get a better picture of what kind of car they’re most likely going to buy in the present. History has shown that people are creatures of habit.

Remember, information can only help you in getting that sale. By knowing your customer, you’ll know the best way to provide them with what they want and need. In order to serve, you must know.(See part-lll)

Grant Cardone, International Sales Training Expert and NY Times Best-Selling Author

www.GrantCardone.com | www.CardoneOnDemand.com

In order to sell you must be sold

Car Sales Training Tips And Strategies Series - Part 3

Qualifying The Buyer

Questions control the sale. Questions lead to everything else:

1.) The Presentation of the Vehicle

2.) The Negotiation

3.) How You Close the Sale

In this part of the “Car Sales Training Tips and Strategies” Series, we’ll go over why it’s so important to correctly qualify the buyer and the simple steps to doing it.

Asking questions should be simple enough right? You’re just getting information? Wrong.

You can’t sell someone the right kind of car when you don’t know what the right kind of car is for him or her. You don’t know that because you haven’t spent enough time getting to know them, their wants, their needs!

You can’t just ask any question and expect to get an answer. Even if you do get one, it’s probably not going to be an honest one. The way you ask questions and the actual questions that you ask will determine the kind of answers you’ll get. From those answers, you should be able to find out 3 things about the customer:

1.) WHAT kind of car they want.

2.) WHY they want that kind of car.

3.) HOW they can buy the car/ you can make sense of them making a decision

Most of the salespeople out there start off by just going into detail about the cars they’re trying to sell without knowing if they would even fit the buyer’s needs. Not asking is even worse than asking bad questions. Bad questions are still bad for a reason.

If you start asking blunt questions like, “How much do you owe?” or “How much can you afford to pay?” You’re going to put the already defensive customer into an even more defensive mode. You will lose that sale.

One question (well-worded and presented) can get you multiple questions. For example, if you ask a customer, “What do you like about the car you have?” chances are that they won’t only give you one reason. They’ll give you a list of reasons and maybe even lead themselves into telling you what they don’t like about the vehicle. The customer will let their guard down a bit because he or she gets to share their opinion.

Opinions are easier to give than hard answers because there is no right or wrong. They can’t be told they can’t afford the vehicle they want because of their answer. Even if the latter is the case, find out if that really is the car that they NEED. Not want but NEED. Often times the two don’t match. You can only know the answer through asking the right questions, qualifying the buyer.

Car Sales Training Tip And Strategy Get to know your customer, and you’ll get to close that sale.(See part lV)

Grant Cardone, International Sales Training Expert and NY Times Best-Selling Author

www.GrantCardone.com | www.CardoneOnDemand.com

The biggest Mistakes in Asking Questions