The other day I was speaking at a conference and was inviting delegates to ask me anything they wanted to know about marketing. One of the audience asked an interesting question – “Is Cold Calling dead?” 

They’d been along to a social networking seminar on the same day and the presenter had made this bold statement so the delegate naturally wanted to know what my response to this question would be. So, I’ll tell you what I told him – no, I don’t think cold calling is dead, but like any marketing method, cold calling cannot be taken in isolation and expected to do all the work. Let me explain what I mean. 

Too many business owners choose one marketing method out of the hundreds of different ideas out there and expect it to bring in miraculous results. If it doesn’t, they’re disappointed and tell everyone that that marketing method didn’t work. Rubbish! 

What you should be doing is using a marketing method as part of a strategy. Let’s take cold calling for instance. If you make say 100 calls and get nothing back, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s not working for you. But instead, let’s say you make 100 calls, follow-up with some information by email and then call back to see if that information is of interest, then that is more of a strategy and you’ve combined both email marketing with cold calling as marketing methods. Even better, would be to run an email campaign first; get people to express interest and then call these interested parties to turn them into prospective customers. It’s all in the strategy. 

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You may think Nike sells shoes and Apple sells Macs and iPhones, but you’re wrong. They sell their brand. Developing a powerful brand can spell the difference between struggling to make ends meet and achieving real success. Why is developing a successful brand so important? Take a Nike shoe or an iPhone and replace the known brand name with a generic label: you’ve just demonetized both products. Both are as functional as they were before, but neither is as valuable. The brand is what creates the value.

So, what is a brand? According to Wikipedia, a brand is: “the personality that identifies a product, service or company (name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or combination of them) and how it relates to key constituencies: customers, staff, partners, investors etc. Some people distinguish the psychological aspect, brand associations like thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and so on that become linked to the brand, of a brand from the experiential aspect.”

In other words a brand is not a product; it is the emotions, thoughts, and perceptions that a product elicits. It is those reactions that create a brand’s value. If the majority of people agree that something is valuable, then it’s valuable. The value isn’t necessarily intrinsic to the product itself. The value comes from the worth we collectively assign to it.

For example, if you show someone a painting and say it was painted by John Smith, it will be assigned a particular value, if you then say you were wrong and it was actually painted by Rembrandt, the value of the painting will skyrocket. The Rembrandt name, label, brand (what have you) is what drives the value. Similarly, people will pay top dollar for an original fashion designer’s purse. They’ll also pay for a complete counterfeit product, if it carries the right label. The label carries the value.

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A recent editor’s note in a sleep products magazine discussed how many people suffer from poor sleep and the editor referred to these individuals as zombies. Instantly, I thought of dozens of sales people I have encountered over the years who could be classified as zombies, too.

Here are 14 signs that you might be turning into a sales zombie.

1. You no longer ask high-value qualifying questions. Asking questions takes too long and you’d rather spend your time talking about your product so let’s not waste time. Besides, prospects won’t tell you the truth anyway so it’s better just to move past this step.
2. You launch into your sales pitch as quickly as possible. Telling is selling and if you’re not talking about your product you will lose the sale.
3. You make quick assumptions about your customers and prospects. “They said no last time so I won’t call them today” or “They can’t afford our product.” Assumptions are deal killers and you need to avoid them.
4. You use the same sales pitch with every customer. You have refined your pitch so why so should you change it? It’s been working just fine and besides no one has complained. Plus, you’re closing about 20 percent of your sales opportunities.
5. You frequently refer to the “good old days”. Yeah, nothing like the good old days when you could take a prospect out for lunch and close a deal over a few beers. Or you could make a few calls and reach your quota. Times have changed but you haven’t.
6. You don’t seek clarification. Prospects and customer don’t always clearly articulate their thoughts but that doesn’t matter because you understand everything they say.
7. You don’t listen for underlying clues. Many people say one thing but mean something else.

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I know in my own business that I ALWAYS do better each month if I set some targets for my marketing. If I’ve got goals to aim for, I know where I am and I can try to achieve them. 

So my targets for this month for instance are:

• 1 x meeting in the diary every week
• 1 x new client every week
• 1 x networking event every week

Because I’m clear on what I’m striving to achieve, I can aim for these and know whether I’ve done them. 

To put some meat around the bones on these targets, one meeting each week is with a potential customer – someone who is looking to use our services. This can be over the phone or face to face – it doesn’t really matter. These meetings can also be with past customers too. So for instance this week, I have had a phone meeting with a past potential client and a meeting with a past customer. 

One new client each week means a client who is willing to give us more work. This could either be a new client, an existing one who wants to give us more business or a past client who wants to come back on board with us. 

One networking event every week is pretty self explanatory really. But for me, this isn’t only about going along to the event; it’s also about making sure that you follow up after each networking event too as that’s where the power of networking is. 

As well as these main targets, I also have goals in place that are going to help me to achieve these targets. So other things that I do are things like:

• To follow-up with 2 x potential clients by email or phone each day
• To post 6 social networking posts per day
• Send out at least one piece of email marketing per week
• Contact 5 x past clients each week

And so on…

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There is usually a time in any business where you think it might be useful to ask your customers what they think and get their opinions.  This is particularly useful if you’re considering launching a new product or service and want to know whether people are likely to buy it. So if you do want to find out what your customers are thinking, what’s the most effective way to do this and what sort of questions should you be asking? 

Before I cover that, let’s start by looking at an ineffective survey. I filled in a survey a couple of days ago and the person was asking about work life balance. The question went something along the lines of “Which work life balance issues are you currently struggling with?” Following the question, there were a number of options none of which applied to me. I wanted to write “I don’t really feel I have any work life balance issues,” but no option was available for me to do this. 

My first tip on writing an effective survey is always to remember that while you want people who are experiencing whatever you’re asking them about to answer your survey, people who don’t fall into that category are likely to answer your survey too so don’t forget about them. 

Whenever you’re putting a survey together, I always take a blank sheet of paper, write my topic in the middle and then have a good think about what it would be useful to know. Write down as many questions as you can think of – you can always get rid of the questions later. Creating your questions in this way will help keep you focused on the main question you’re trying to answer. Keep coming back to this main topic – are the questions you’re going to ask potential customers going to help you answer this main question? If yes, keep going. If no, revise your questions. When you’ve finished this exercise, you’re going to have a basic questionnaire in place. Now you need somewhere to create your survey.

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I wasn’t a search engine marketer 10 years ago, but from veterans in the industry, I learned that it was much easier to rank back then. There was less competition and the search engines were fairly simple.

All you had to do was insert keywords in the meta tags and the content to do well on the search engines. Then, Google arrived to the scene and revolutionized the industry with PageRank and a strong link based algorithm. Search engine marketing (SEM) became a little harder but search experts were able to figure out the shift and adapt.

Today there is a lot more competition as many new companies and individuals have created commercial sites. Also, the search engine algorithms have gotten more complex. It is harder to succeed as a search marketer these days. Still, SEM is a relatively new industry, so there are opportunities you can take advantage of.

Right now I believe using competitive research is one of the best strategies out there. I’ve used it to great effect to increase the traffic and income of my sites.

With the rise of social media, SEM has become less technical and moved closer to branding and public relations. If you can stand out from your competitors, you will gain many quality links and reap huge benefits on the search engine rankings.

That’s where competitive research comes into play. It’s hard to stand out in your industry if you don’t understand your competition. Here’s a four step process that I go through to make sure my sites provide at least one or more unique features to differentiate them from the competition.

Step 1: Identify and research the top sites.

Most of the traffic in an industry is going to a few top sites. This is just the 80/20 rule in action. Because of this, I don’t think it’s necessary to research the lower or middle tier sites.

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During the last 16 years I have worked with many great salespeople and they all do one thing more consistently than their colleagues … they ask. If you want to increase your sales and grow your business you need to develop the ability and skill to ask for a variety of things.

Ask more qualifying questions
I know you probably think you ask enough questions but I’ll challenge you on this because most of the sales people I encounter don’t ask nearly enough good qualifying questions. Most of the sales conversation I listen to start with one or two questions before the sales person launches into his or her pitch.

Ask better qualifying questions
Stop asking weak feeble questions and start asking tough penetrating ones. Questions that make your prospect or customer think. Questions that separate you from your competition. Questions that make you feel slightly uncomfortable…at first.

Ask for the decision maker
If the person you are speaking to is not the sole decision maker you must ask to be connected with the real decision maker. You can accomplish this without alienating your first contact person by saying, “My experience has taught me that everyone has a different perspective on this issue. To avoid confusion, I have found that a conversation with all the key stakeholders saves time for everyone involved. Can you arrange that?”

Ask for the meeting
If you’re making a prospecting call you need to ask for that meeting or appointment. You can’t expect the other person to jump out of their chair and exclaim, “We have to meet!” You need to take the initiative to make that happen.

Ask for an introduction
When you come across an ideal prospect through your network, reach out and ask someone who knows that contact to make an introduction.

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Whenever I recruit for a new member of the team, I usually don’t ask for someone with marketing experience, but more for someone who is organised and has good admin skills. 

Why? Because the vast majority of marketing I personally think is admin based and about being organised. Think about it: 

• Making calls to potential clients and following up
• Sending out emails
• Creating newsletters
• Writing brochures, literature etc
• Following up after networking events

To name but a few possible marketing tasks are all admin based, so when you’re doing your own marketing, if you’re good at admin and you’re organised, you’re not going to go far wrong. But, let’s look at when this is a problem. It’s so easy for marketing not to work because of lack of organisation. Imagine going to a networking event and then following up with everyone afterwards. Great job – that’s exactly what you should be doing.  But then imagine in the follow up email saying that you’ve met someone at the networking event when you haven’t – that’s down to organisation. 

Here are some other areas where organisation plays a big part in marketing: 

1. Not having a list of everyone who has expressed interest in your products and services so that you can properly follow them up
2. Not updating your website on a regular basis
3. Missing meetings and deadlines because you haven’t put them in the diary
4. Not sending information you’ve promised to someone who has asked for it
5. Running out of business cards before a networking event because you’ve forgotten to order some more.

Not being organised creates an impression of you and your business which can reflect very badly if someone is looking to use your products and services.

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The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) recently banned radio stations from playing “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits after it received a SINGLE complaint from a ‘minority group about the use of the word ‘faggot’ in the song. People who are familiar with the song know that it was inspired when Mark Knopfler overheard a conversation between two blue collar people in an appliance store as they watched a music video and one of them used the word ‘faggot’ to describe the musician. This song has been played tens of thousands of times in Canada since it was released in 1985 but one person has effectively prevented it from being aired again. Unfortunately, this type of knee-jerk reaction is common.

When I first started writing my newsletter more than eight years ago, I once mentioned a particular company in a negative way and immediately received backlash from ONE subscriber who lambasted me for mentioning the company’s name. Since then I have been cautious how I present information in my newsletter and blog. Here’s how this reaction by a few people affects your sales decisions.

• One prospect expresses concern about your price and you immediately think that price is the sole reason people make buying decisions. Or, you believe that ALL of your competitors are cheaper and that your company is pricing itself out of the market.

• One customer says they are dissatisfied with your product and you instantly start to wonder if other customer’s feel the same way. As a result, you begin to lose faith in the value of your products and services.

• One prospect hangs up after you make a cold call and you automatically believe that every person you call will behave in the same manner. This causes you to rethink the value of cold calling and you scale back your efforts to connect with people using this approach.

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“It is a choice, Wesley, that each of us must face: to remain ordinary, pathetic, beat-down, coasting through a miserable existence, like sheep herded by fate – or you can take control of your own destiny and join us, releasing the caged wolf you have inside.”. – Sloan, Wanted, Universal Studios (2008)

Soon we will all be able to spend our time blindly, mindlessly, fearlessly on the Web. Government officials who can’t balance their own budget have taken up a more difficult, more popular (and visible) challenge – protecting your online persona. These people know that you want 1st class services from your government and lower taxes. And … that you want instant access to information/material that is relevant to you without paying for it. Boy, you’re a tough cookie. Actually, the public outcry over Apple’s, Sony’s, Google’s, Facebook’s, recent problems did more to force the companies to look at their policies, their procedures, their programs than the grandstanding Congressional hearings.

You Are Heard
Ordinary people do more damage to the companies than the “irate” class-action lawsuits which will come as sure as night follows day. Just thinking about the two protectors – lawmakers, lawyers – make you agree with Wesley, “You know, if I wanted to get beat up, I would’ve stayed in my cubicle!” With a few exemplary exceptions, too many marketers still approach social media the old-fashioned way. You know, one-way communication – pitch them to buy the stuff you want to sell – and a sales program that talks at the customer rather than with the customer. But every time an incident occurs, they do take a harder look at what they’re doing, how they’re doing it…because you make it known in a very loud, clear, immediate fashion.

Social media has changed the entire landscape of customer relations.

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Don’t launch your public relations outreach until you’ve had some media training and have prepared yourself to handle media interviews. If you’re going to go through the work of launching a PR campaign, you owe it to yourself and your business to be prepared to fully maximize your media opportunities. Whether it’s a TV, print, or radio interview, don’t assume you can just wing it and hit a media home-run. Keep in mind a media interview is not a conversation; it is the meeting of two agendas. The interviewer has his or her agenda and you have yours. You want to review the various questions that could be asked and prepare your responses. With that in mind, the following are some interview tips to review before.

1. Listen. Don’t anticipate questions. Don’t think that you know what the interviewer is asking. Wait until the question is asked and then respond.
2. If you get momentarily confused, or lose your train of thought, that’s okay. It happens to everyone. Take a deep breath and start again.
3. It’s all right to ask the interviewer to repeat a question. The last thing you want to do is give an answer to a question you don’t fully understand.
4. Don’t be vague or use trade jargon. Speak in easy-to-understand language.
5. Show the audience what you’re talking about. Use a story or an account that illustrates a point, as opposed to just giving them vague ideas or theories.
6. Keep your information short, concise, and to the point. Keep it easy to understand.
7. When trying to make a particular point, be assertive but not pushy.
8. If having clients visit your store is pertinent to your business, mention your location. The viewers may love you, but if they can’t find you, you’re in trouble. Don’t simply blurt out your address, but weave your location into the conversation.

Remember, prepare, anticipate and practice.

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When launching a public relations campaign, it can be easy to get so focused on trying to land a TV interview that you forget to give any attention to how you’re going to handle the interview. Print is usually the easiest in terms of how you look and carry yourself. Those interviews are generally done over the phone. You could be in bed in your pajamas for all the interviewer knows.

The same is often the case with radio. If you’re calling into the show, the interviewer has no idea what you look like, what you’re wearing, and if you’re in your living room or the pool. Another upside of those types of print and radio interviews is that you can write out cheat sheets that you can refer to. In fact, you’re wasting a great opportunity if you don’t do that. Write out a number of flash cards that each list a main point that you want to address, or list statistics, information or quotes that will make you sound quite brilliant, which is never a bad thing.

But, in the worlds of PR and media relations, TV is a whole different animal. Cheat sheets and pajamas are definitely out on TV interviews. Well, you can try pajamas. At least you’ll make an impression.

So, let’s say you’ve pitched your story to a TV outlet, the producer liked your pitch, she booked you on the show and today is your day. First, congratulations on getting this far, now here is your TV media appearance drill. To start, review your wardrobe and dress appropriately. If you’re discussing a product or a book, you’ve made sure that you’re taking along some extra samples (you have already sent copies to the producer). Give yourself plenty of time to get to the studio (keep in mind – if you’re late, you’re dead) and review two or three primary points that you want to get across during the interview.

Make sure you go over the basics as to your story and information, but remember TV is a visual medium.

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Prospecting is a key selling skill and a critical skill to develop if you want to increase your sales and achieve long-term success in sales. Yet, most sales people don’t invest enough time to this integral sales strategy. Part of the problem is that very few companies teach sales reps how to prospect. Here are five prospecting best practices for you to consider.

Allot a specific amount of time every day/week or month.
When my wife first started her software training business, our accountant said, “Devote a certain amount of time every week looking for new business.”

Prospecting is not a fun activity, at least not for most people. However, the more time you consistently invest prospecting for new business the more likely it is that you will never suffer from a sales slump. That’s why it is imperative that you block time in your calendar each and every week to prospect for new business.

Do you schedule prospecting time into your calendar every week?

Use a variety of methods to prospect for new business.
Too many sales people take the same approach week after week. Although they may generate good results it is critical that you use multiple methods and approach to uncover new business leads. Here are a few strategies you should consider:

- Cold calling via telephone
- Door to door cold calling
- Asking for referrals
- Networking
- Speaking at conferences
- Writing articles
- Trade shows
- Conferences

Are you using enough prospecting methods to generate ample sales leads for your business?

Develop a powerful introduction.
The majority of sales people fail miserably at this.

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I came across a very interesting formula the other day, which was shared by a sales guru based in the US called Lisa Sasevich. She was talking about the fact that when many of us talk about what we can do for customers, we concentrate on how we can deliver the product or service and not on what the results are. I completely agree. 

Let’s face it, we’re all taught to concentrate on features and benefits and this inevitably leads to us talking about what we do for customers. We’ll say things like: 

• You’ll get a car wash with your next service…which means that you’ll get a great looking shiny car when you pick it up.
• You’ll get three workshops included for the price of one…which means you don’t have to pay more than you need to.
• You get a free introductory session…which means that you’ll get to try out our product or service.

Great stuff, right and brilliant that you’re highlighting this.

But, all of this concentrates on HOW you deliver your product or service.

What you’re customers really care about especially at the moment when finances are often stretched is what the RESULTS of all this will be.

Let me give you some examples.

Customers don’t really care whether or not they get a car wash with their next service (THE HOW). What they care about is that the car is working as it should be and it’s not going to break down on the way to an important meeting (THE RESULTS).

Customers don’t really care that they’ll get three workshops for the price of one (THE HOW). What they care about is that is that attending the workshop is going to make a major difference in their life or business (THE RESULTS). 

Customers don’t really care that they’ll get a free introductory session (THE HOW).

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Most marketers understand that exhibiting at trade shows is a very effective marketing technique. The chance to meet face-to-face with most of your biggest prospects in one place over a multi-day period is a marketers dream. If you’ve targeted the right show for your company, you have a great chance of acquiring new business.

The major knock against trade shows has always been cost. The truth is exhibiting at a show is expensive. You have to factor in costs such as exhibit space rental, booth construction, travel, shipping, labor, associated show marketing, and additional expenses charged by show management. It isn’t cheap. However I do have some good news. The costs associated with exhibiting at a show are getting much lower. Let’s take a look at a few of the reasons that exhibiting costs are going down.

1. Large amount of convention space -The late 90s and early 2000s saw a huge boom in the construction of convention space around the country. Major cities saw the benefit of attracting shows to their cities and so they built and built. Today, there is a surplus supply of quality exhibit space all around the country. This means that the competition for shows is fierce and rates are going down. This increased competition has also forced labor rates to fall as well. Lower rates for convention space trickles down to exhibitors and means lower space rental and associated show fees.

2. Lightweight exhibits – 15 years ago, there was one thing you knew about your display. It was going to be heavy. Wood panels and laminate were the dominant design features and this meant that your exhibit was going to be real heavy and real expensive to ship. Today, most displays feature major sections of lightweight printed fabric graphics. Exhibits today weigh nearly a quarter of what they did over a decade ago. This means lower shipping and drayage costs.

3.

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Everyone who sells a product or service is required to deliver a sales presentation from time to time. Whether it’s an informal presentation to one over coffee or a formal presentation to a group of decision makers, these sales presentations can make or break your ability to move the sales process forward and increase your sales.

Here are 7 strategies that will help you deliver a killer sales presentation, every time.

1. Start with a brief summary of the other person’s situation. Forget the details about your company, the awards you have won, the companies you have worked with; you can discuss them later. When you open a sales presentation with an executive summary that outlines your understanding of your prospect’s key issues, you will immediately capture their attention and separate yourself from your competition. It sounds easy; however, most of the sales presentations I have witnessed begin with an overview of the seller’s company which may be important to the seller but it is seldom very interesting to the buyer.
2. Keep it brief. If you have been allotted 60 minutes set a goal of finishing in less than forty-five. No prospect is EVER going to complain that you didn’t use up your allotted time.
3. Focus on “must-have” information. The vast majority of sales presentations include far too much detail, usually about aspects of the product/service that are irrelevant to the buyer. Improve your sales presentation by discussing ONLY the most important elements of your offering. Be prepared to talk about the “nice to have” aspects but only if requested and if time permits. Contrary to popular believe most prospects don’t want to know everything about your solution; they only want to know what’s relevant to their situation.
4. Use stories, cases studies and examples. Weave stories into your presentations that demonstrate how people have benefited from your offering.

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Email is a widely used prospecting tool but it is seldom used correctly or as effectively as it could be. Most sales people and small business owners make a variety of mistakes that prevent them from increasing their sales when using email to grow their business. Here are the top six mistakes they make that cost them money.

Mistake 1—Poor subject line
Never, ever reference your company name in a prospecting email. That’s the fastest way to make sure it doesn’t get read. Also, don’t mention something lame like your new website. Do I REALLY care about your new website? Does anyone other than your marketing team and the person who approved the budget care about it? I highly doubt it. A prospecting email must start with a great subject line that catches your contact person’s attention. Executives receive hundreds of emails every day and if your email has a dull or boring self-serving subject line, it’s going to get deleted without being opened or read.

Mistake 2—Asking me for feedback
Once again, I’m too busy to give you feedback on YOUR stuff. This is not a compelling way to capture and keep my attention. Because your email is a sales letter (which I have nothing against) I know that your request is simply an attempt to get me to click through your link. If you want your email to take action make sure that you address a specific problem my company is facing. Then, I might be compelled to follow through on your request.

Mistake3 —Generic approach
The statement, “It describes our services and success with companies just like…” tells me nothing about your product or service. While you or your marketing department might think that that is a creative and intriguing approach, it isn’t. If you really want to get my attention tell me what success have you achieved with other companies like mine.

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About a year ago now, I went along to a presentation on sales. The presenter advised us to think about people’s personalities when selling as four key animals – Monkeys, Lions, Dolphins and Elephants. Although all of us have a mixture of these personalities within us, we’re all dominated by one of them too. 

Knowing this information can be especially helpful when writing sales proposals; going to sales meetings and writing websites. Ideally you need to have something in there for all of these different types of personalities. Here’s a quick guide to making sure you have something in there that appeals to all sorts of different people.

For instance – for the Lions – those people who like to be leaders:

• Keep things brief and to the point
• List the key benefits and results right at the top of your proposal in bold
• Add in a testimonial of someone who they respect
• Concentrate on RESULTS

For the Elephants – those people who like detail:

• Add in EXACTLY what you’re going to do for them
• Throw in a couple of charts/graphs/facts/statistics
• Detail the metrics/results that they’re likely to see
• Concentrate on the DETAILS

For the Dolphins – those people who like people and also reassurance

• Give an example of a story (not a case study though, but a story) of someone who has benefited from your product / service
• Show an emotional testimonial
• Ideally include some pictures too

For the Monkeys – those people with ego and like value and shiny objects

• Add in things of value i.e.

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Too many sales people don’t ask for the things they need or that could help them increase their sales and grow their business.  Developing the confidence and ability to ask for the things you need is an essential sales skill. Here are twelve situations that sales (and business) people need to summon up the courage to ask.

1. Ask for help. First and foremost, if you need help it is essential that you ask. Ask the top sales person in your company for ideas, advice and feedback. Ask your boss for coaching or direction. Ask people in your network for insights and suggestions to improve your results.

2. Ask for the appointment. Too many people beat around the bush and don’t ask a new prospect for an appointment. This strategy can result in more meetings which will lead to more sales. Try asking, “Does it make sense for us to meet?”

3. Ask more high-value questions. After 15 years of training sales people, I have found that the majority simply don’t ask enough high-value questions. High-value questions force your prospect or customer to think and will give you insight to their current situation, problems and desired outcomes. It sounds simple but more people feel uncomfortable asking these types of questions because they think they are too probing and they feel that their prospect will be offended.

4. Ask for clarification. When someone says something that is vague or unspecific, seek clarification. Ask, “Can you elaborate on that?” or “Tell me more” or “What do you mean by that?”

5. Ask for commitment. When a prospect or customer says, “Call me next week” pursue that statement by asking, “What day should I call?” If they say, “Anytime is fine” ask, “Does next Tuesday work?” Then ask what time is the best to connect with them. If they respond with, “Anytime is good” ask, “Is mid-morning at 10:15 a good time?”

6.

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During a recent sales training workshop I conducted with a client, we were discussing the importance of asking the right questions; high-value, high-impact, penetrating questions. One person spoke up and said, “When I’m talking to a new prospect I like to ask, “What do you know about us?”

An uncontrollable groan escaped when I heard this. But it got me thinking, what other lame questions do sales people ask? Here are a few that I’ve heard over the years and still continue to hear.

1. “What are your needs?” Really? You seriously think this question separates you from your competitor? Using this question automatically turns you into an order-taker, not a sales-maker.
2. “Are you the decision maker?” Although there is nothing technically wrong with this question, it usually results in a ‘yes’ response. A more effective way to get this information is to ask, “Who else do you normally consult with on decisions of this nature?”
3. “What is your budget?” Many people haven’t established a budget or don’t know what to budget for a particular purchase. Do them and yourself a favor and focusing on exploring their problems and presenting a solution that addresses those issues. Budget will become less of a concern.
4. “Do you want to save (insert money, time, or other lame benefit)?” Don’t insult my intelligence. Enough said.
5. “Do you want this (whatever the feature might be)?” I don’t even know what that feature will do so how can I possibly tell you if I want it. Oh, wait! If I say that then it gives you the opportunity to start talking about your product. Now I get it…
6. 6. “Would you give me a referral?” I might if I knew what type of person or company you wanted an introduction to. Be specific and help your customer understand who would make a good referral. BTW: Saying “anyone” is NOT an effective reply.
7. 7.

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