The Art of Sales with Art Sobczak

One of the best sales questions Art has ever heard was from the old TV show, Ally McBeal. You can use this simple question to get people off of the fence, and either tell you they are not a prospect, or get them to move forward. Both of which are better than a "maybe."

Sometimes prospects ask salespeople extremely technical, or outrageous questions that catch them off-guard, and cause them to respond with a long string of nonsense. We can avoid that, and it involves actually NOT answering the question immediately. You'll hear how to respond, and why.

Do you tend to put things off? How does that work out for you? Procrastination rarely leads to anything positive, especially in sales. Here are a few brief tips to help you take action on things you have been putting off--now!

It should be obvious that inquiries are your best source of new business. Yet sales reps mishandle them every day, and lose opportunities, and cash. Here are examples of how many reps made mistakes when Art wanted to buy now, and what one person did to get the business.

Salespeople waste a lot of time needlessly by easily giving in to something like, "Give me a call back next month." You'll hear what to say to learn if they even are a good prospect, and if so, why waiting is even necessary. You'll save time, and sell more.

Everyone who prospects for new business has heard, "We're satisfied with who we're using now," or some variation of that. There's a lot of nonsense that has been taught about how to respond, such as, "What do you like best about them?" That actually gets them to reinforce their decision to work with their vendor. You'll hear what TO say instead, to get them talking, which then opens up the chance they will work with you.

On the popular medical drama TV series from a few years ago, the surgeons would always ask one question with their new patients during the initial consultation. This is a question that revealed very important things about them. It's the same type of question we should use with prospects and customers to learn about them, and which will help them buy from us.

Art found an online article suggesting many lies and deceitful tactics that salespeople should use if they want to be successful. He takes each of these, points out how absurd they are for ethical salespeople, and what we should do to really be successful.

Many times salespeople end up dropping their price, and it is a direct result of how they quote their price. There are a number of words and phrases you should avoid when stating your price so that you don't give the impression that you are willing to negotiate it. And, you'll hear precisely how to state your price, and respond if they still ask for a better price, so you still sell at your full price.

Here are three subtle, but powerful persuasion techniques--that likely have been used with you--that you can adapt to be more persuasive and influential with prospects, customers... friends, family... anyone really!