Dear Everyone,
Welcome to the latest edition of the Gavin Ingham newsletter, full
of tips, strategies and stories to help you to make more sales and
be more successful. Today, I have 7 sales tips from last night's
Apprentice and it doesn't matter whether you watched it or not,
you will still be able to apply them to make a positive difference
in your sales.
I have also got less than 10 tickets left for the June 19 No Fear
Cold Calling seminar. This is the last one before September so
if you are wanting to come you had better call or go online and
book now! Details are available at the bottom of this email.
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7 Sales Tips From Last Night's Apprentice…
So we've reached week 8 of the Apprentice and we're getting to the
point where there are few people for our Apprentii to hide behind.
With the teams now reduced to 4 against 5 and with 3 required to
enter the boardroom from the losing team, everyone has to make
sure that they perform well every week.
Tonight's task was to select two urban artists per team and then
sell their paintings to both the public and to a corporate client
selected by Lord Alan. With both teams "competing" to persuade
the artists to pick them this is a double sale… first to the artists
and then to the clients.
Team leaders for the week were Gabrielle and Tom. Both claimed
some expertise / experience in this area although, as we will see, a
little knowledge can go a long way to ruining your sales prospects
when wielded incorrectly.
Both teams set about visiting artists to decide who they would like
to represent, meeting with their corporate client to see what their
requirements were and then finally held an evening exhibition to sell
as much art as possible. There were plenty of lessons to be learnt…
Sales lessons for selling art
(or anything else that you might want to sell)…
Tip 1: Ask plenty of questions.
One of the most basic sales maxims is that salespeople should do
more asking and listening than talking and telling. Every salesperson
knows this yet on my travels as a motivational speaker this is not
what I see on a day to day basis. Far too many salespeople are far
too quick to talk and far too slow to listen. Not only do you miss
valuable information this way but you also negatively impact your
connection with your clients and prospects.
When Tom visited Renault he started off by telling them what he
thought they needed. There was a pause and then the client said
that the first thing they wanted was something "French." He could
have just asked.
Over on the other team, Gabrielle and team were doing even worse.
As Karen Brady pointed out to the camera, they didn't ask about
the size of painting the client (Beefeater Gin) wanted, the location
in which it was going to hang nor the budget. These were basic
mistakes but they missed a whole lot more too…
The client started by saying that they wanted something that said,
"this is fantastic" something that said, "everything about the brand",
"everything about London", "history", "heritage"… This was enough
for Gaby and team to say they knew what they meant but I didn't.
How could you? Where were the questions about these
statements? How did they know what they meant by them? How
could they possible select a painting based on these broad-brush
words? They needed to ask questions about them… but they
didn't.
Tip 2:�Don't be a know-it-all.
I mentioned a little earlier on that a little knowledge can be a
dangerous thing and Tom had more than a little knowledge. He
seemed to think that this knowledge would improve his credibility
with his clients by demonstrating his expertise in this area but they
were not impressed. Or even if they were they didn't care. No-one
likes a know-it-all. But what you do need to do is…
Tip 3: Show genuine interest.
Over on Gaby's team Gaby had told her team that the artists got to
pick them (not the other way around) and that her team must be
enthusiastic and passionate about the artists' works. This created
a much more natural and engaging atmosphere that ultimately led
to one of the artists coming to Gaby's team rather than Tom's.
Tip 4: Believe in what you're selling.
This was one of the most important points in tonight's show for
salespeople and business owners. One reason for Tom losing
tonight was the fact that he lost out on one of his first choice
artists, Pure Evil, to Gaby. With no back-up plan he took the high
risk strategy of going with more highly priced paintings from
James Jessop. One sale of one of these paintings would have
seen Tom's team romp away with a win but they never made one.
Whilst I cannot guarantee that they would have made one, it was
fairly obvious that they never were going to because they didn't
really believe that they would. Tom said, in one short comment to
the camera, that he thought they were, "a lot of money" and that,
"I think paying �10k is a big ask." We heard a lot of talk about
these paintings being too big, too niche, too hard to sell, not
suitable for private purchasers. All negative beliefs and all based
on their personal perspectives.
If you do not believe in what you're selling then why would anyone
else?
Tip 5: Don't negotiate before you have to.
Don't negotiate before you have to. It devalues your products and
services. It demonstrates that you are not in demand. It shows
that you are over-pricing to start with. It reduces the chances of
clients buying from you. And worse of all it almost guarantees
that you are going to leave money "on the table."
When faced with some interest in one of the James Jessop
paintings Tom said outright that he would negotiate even before
the client expressed any opinion about the price. I call this
negotiating with yourself. Not a good idea if you want to run a
successful business.
Tip 6: Treat your clients like they are special.
On Gaby's team they couldn't have done a better job of destroying
any credibility they had with Beefeater. They ignored them at the
door of the exhibition, didn't introduce them to the team and then
failed to say goodbye to them. You couldn't even make up the
following conversation with Stephen (oh please, he has to go
soon) if you tried. It's beyond ridiculous…
Stephen (rather too late in the day): "Do you want a glass of wine?"
Beefeater's GIN: "Hoping for a G&T!”
Stephen: "I wish."
Sounds silly but END OF SALE. I'd like to say I haven't seen this
kind of lack of thought in the real world but I have.
Tip 7: Engage brain when selling.
I think that point makes itself!
In the Boardroom…
Back in the boardroom it was a close run thing. With commissions
at 40%, Gaby's team had made �4579.65 and Tom's �4442. A
game of two halves with Gaby's team under-performing because
they had failed to sell anything to Beefeaters but having performed
well selling to the public.
Tom elected to bring back Jade and Laura, partly because they
have both been in the final three before and partly because the
only other option was Adam and he had actually made half of the
team's sales so that was a non-starter. I'd have probably lost Tom
because he could be held responsible for the loss of their first
choice artist and also because he did not have a back-up plan but
Laura had been in the firing line several times so she must have
used up a few of her lives…
Who would Lord Sugar go with?�"Tom, you're fired."
Share your thoughts on this page http://bit.ly/K0n6Pw.
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Motivational Quotes Of The Week…
"Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions."
- Albert Einstein
"When it comes to creating wealth, wealth is a mindset. It's all about how
you think."
- David Shirmer
"Most of us have never allowed ourselves to want what we truly want,
because we can't see how it's going to manifest."
- Jack Canfield
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Live - No Fear Cold Calling, London, June 19th
You have probably been told that cold calling does not work any more.
The person who said it probably believed it. But they are wrong. If you
want to learn what only a very small percentage of people know, if you
want to be a confident cold caller, if you want to learn a system that
will help you to secure more face to face meetings with key clients then
you need to call 0845 838 5958 or visit http://bit.ly/JCnOVi now.
Hope to see you there.
**********
That's about it from me for this week so have a great week and sell
with passion.
Kind regards
Gavin
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Set your next conference or AGM alight by booking
motivational
speaker Gavin Ingham now.
Check out my educational and motivational books,
audios & DVDs
now at www.gaviningham.com.
Read more articles like this one at
www.gaviningham.com.
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