Brett Baker

You may have heard the old saying that 90 percent of success happens between the ears. That’s easy enough to say. But what does putting this principle into practice really mean? What does it look like when it shows up, in a discussion with a prospective buyer, as part of who we really are?

When a prospect asks you to set up a presentation, do you instantly agree? Lots of sellers do. Sometimes it’s because they’re excited about the possibility of engaging with a person or group, they haven’t been able to connect with.  But if the presentation results in “Let us think about it,” you’ve wasted time, even if it does put you in front of new people.

There’s one simple, easy-to-pose question that will, if you use it consistently, simultaneously improve your closing ratio, shorten your sales cycle, and deepen your relationship and impact within the buying organization. And yet salespeople hardly ever ask this question. buyer meeting: Does anybody else need to be at this meeting?

A critical part of sales qualification is uncovering the buyer’s budget - the investment. Salespeople are often uncomfortable asking a decision-maker how much money is available to solve a problem. The big question is: Why are so many salespeople so resistant to initiating this discussion?

And the answer is: there is a monster under their bed.

Brett Baker, Sandler Training Springfield, joins the Smoke & Burn Podcast to discuss alternatives to the feature/benefit method of sales, upending the customers expectations of what a sales call should sound like, permission based selling on the service drive, and many of the interesting rules that the Sandler Training system uses to govern interactions with customers. 

Thanks to the global pandemic, salespeople across the country and around the world are now coming to terms with a sobering reality.

These days, more salespeople than ever are relying on videoconferencing to move deals forward. But how many of them are using this powerful communication technology effectively to interact with prospective buyers?

Growing up, I was raised by an optimist and a pessimist.

What does a spilled box of candy have to do with a sales call? Everything.

Ask salespeople to list their least favorite selling activities, and you can count on “prospecting” being at the top of the list. And, the least favorite of all prospecting activities is unquestionably making cold calls.