If you
are marketing or selling a book – and possibly your services or expertise as a
consultant – you’ll need to sell like a pro.
There are many, many sales techniques one can utilize to enhance their
sales efforts. I found a copy of The Ultimate Book of Sales Techniques by
Stephan Schiffman, to be helpful.
He says
one should adhere to these principles:
·
Let
the prospect talk.
·
Use
a cold call to set up a meeting
·
Keep
track of things.
·
See
an objective as an opportunity.
·
Beware
of the personality type that you’re selling to.
·
Know
what the prospect does, why he does it, and how he does it.
·
Be
aware of who you are competing with to give the prospect what he or she needs.
·
Ask
a list of questions – and listen to the answers.
He uses
a strategy called PIPA: Present, Interview, Present, Agreement.
Step one
is to present an option.
Step two
is to inquire about past, present and future.
Step
three is to use parable selling or present a new option, such as: “It is
interesting you mentioned that – we did a program from ______ that addressed a
very similar problem, where we ________.
What I’d like to do is _________."
One of
his 75 sales techniques covers emails.
Excerpted below is a section revealing five common mistakes made with
e-mail:
“Mistake #1: Not Asking for, Confirming,
or Setting a Next Step
Not
building a reference to some kind of Next Step into your e-mail, or preparing
for one you can plan to ask for, means breaking a basic commandment of
selling.”
“Mistake #2: Tone Mismatch
I’m
assuming you were careful enough to send an initial
message that struck a professional tone and piqued the other person’s
interest. What I’m talking about here is
the message you send in response to an
incoming message from the other person.
Often, the messages salespeople important conversational cues from the
other side.
“Mistake #3: Sending Attachments
Too Early in the Relationship
Sometimes,
spam filters will refuse a message that carries an attachment, or will regard
an image within the message as an attachment.
Even if the message with an attachment or image makes it through, people
will generally shy away from a message with an unfamiliar correspondent that
has an attachment. Can we blame
them? This is how computer viruses are
spread. Leave off the attachment until
the other person tells you that it is okay to send one.
“Mistake #4: One-Word Messages
Even in
response to a one-word message from another person. Even if the person does understand you (which
is far from a certain thing), you will run the risk of being perceived as
arrogant. Do something a little more
creative than writing the words “yes” or “no” in the body of the message.
“Mistake #5: Being (Perceived as)
a Jerk
Here’s
the interesting thing about e-mail: it is extremely easy to misinterpret.
We, as readers
of e-mail, lack any meaningful visual information from the sender. (We can’t read body language or facial
expressions, the way we would in a real-life, one-on-one conversation.) Similarly, we as readers lack any information
about the pitch or tone of the sender’s intended “voice.” (We can’t hear whether the other person
intends a remark to sound facetious, for instance.)”
READ THIS!
Amazon: Miracle or Apocalypse on 34th Street?
Authors will hashtag their way to success
How to sell your book in 10 steps
Is Amazon A Danger? http://www.newrepublic.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.