May 13th, 2011 by Matthew Linklater
February 2nd, 2011 by Matthew Linklater
I have been in sales for 13 years. I was an air tool salesman, a life insurance salesman, an annuity salesman, and a manager of salespeople. I have sold many things myself and been on the wholesale side of things as well. Thus, I have been on joint appointments where someone was trying to resell my product or where I have sat in on one of my representative’s calls.
One of the most important steps in the sales process is profiling or listening to what the customer says to your questions. I have seen some great set ups in the profiling stage for it to all come crashing down and the salesperson completely ignore what the prospect has said.
My first day traveling with someone as a sales manager I witnessed what I call could have been the worst sales video ever made. My sales representitive, lets call him Steve, completely came off canned and insincere. This particular sale was a consultative sell. Thus, meaning our product could replace the current product, compliment the current product, or compliment the product suite the prospect was using. Steve’s opening line in his best-used car salesman voice was, “You and I have never met and don’t know each other, but what I want to do is… Steve proceeded to ask numerous questions about all the other products the prospect was using not even related to what we sold. Not necessarily a bad thing. He then, went directly into his sales pitch on his product. Steve went through every little detail. He could have avoided this by asking the appropriate questions and knowing where his product fit in and filled the gap of his client’s business. So, first off make sure you ask the right questions.
The other side of the coin I have seen people ask numerous questions, but then just cram the product down the prospects throat. On most occasions either the sales representative made up her mind before the prospect came in on what product she was going to sell them or she was not diverse in her knowledge of product offerings and just sold one product. For instance lets say you were selling a piece of fruit. You could sell any piece of fruit an apple, orange, pineapple, kiwi, etc. Let’s say you start to ask profiling the client asking questions. The first question:
Salesman: Are there any colors you just can’t eat?
Prospect: Yellow
Salesman: Are there any flavors you don’t like?
Prospect: Sour
Salesman: Great! I think that you should purchase this lemon today!
This sounds silly but I have seen circumstances where the salesman was blinded by their knowledge or love for a product that they only could sell, in this case the lemon.
The lesson is if you are going to profile a prospect, LISTEN! We have all heard the old adage, God gave us two ears and one mouth, use them in that proportion.
Another listening challenges that I see are at restaurants and coffee houses. These servers profile you. Then take the order back to no avail get wrong. Recently, I was at a coffee shop in San Francisco. I wanted to order coffee and oatmeal. I changed the oatmeal order slightly from what was on the menu.
Menu: Oatmeal – Whole milk, Brown sugar, Raisins, Berries
How I Ordered: Water, Berries
How it turned out: Oatmeal – Whole milk, Brown sugar, Raisins, and Berries
I know what you are thinking; this person works at a coffee shop and does not take the job as serious. I just think it is a great example to illustrate what average salespeople do each and every day they call on prospects. Two things, ask the questions and do not have preconceived answers to them, and LISTEN intently.
October 20th, 2010 by Matthew Linklater
Matthew Linklater, personal coach, author and public speaker, has recently been named as one of America’s PremierExperts® in recognition of his leading role in the business and marketing community.
Orlando, Fla. – October 20, 2010 – Master Coach, Practitioner and Trainer of Nuero-Linguistic Programming, Matthew Linklater, has recently been acknowledged by America’s PremierExperts® as one of the leading experts in his field. America’s PremiereExperts® recognizes leading experts, across a wide array of industries, who are willing to provide information and education to consumers as a public service.
Personal coach, business mentor and success-seeker Matthew Linklater is an accomplished motivational speaker, author and life-changer. His multifaceted approach uses his expertise as a certified practitioner and coach of Neuro-Linguistic Programming in conjunction with Time Line Therapy® and Hypnosis to help Live Your Vision. Matt is also the author of Quick-Witted: Saying the Right Thing to Win Big and the forthcoming Basic Training: Sales Boot Camp and Counter-Attack: Business Strategies for Explosive Growth in the New Economy with nationally renowned business development expert Brian Tracy.
Matthew asks his clients, “What is the one thing, professionally or personally, which if you had it now you would live the life you dreamed?” Matthew’s goal is to help others to “stop dreaming about your goals and start living your dreams.”
America’s PremierExperts® LLC is an organization that honors an exclusive group of celebrity experts who are dedicated to spreading knowledge and awareness in their field of expertise and making significant contributions to their industry and the marketplace as a whole. America’s PremierExperts®, was launched by Nick Nanton, Esq., The Celebrity Lawyer and J.W. Dicks, Esq., the world’s leading expert on business growth through personal branding, authors of the best-selling books, “Celebrity Branding You®, “Big Ideas For Your Business” and “Shift Happens.”
To learn more about Matthew Linklater, please visit http://www.TheLinklater.com
For more information about America’s PremierExperts® please visit http://www.AmericasPremierExperts.com
About Matthew Linklater:
Personal coach, business mentor and success-seeker Matthew Linklater is an accomplished motivational speaker, author and life-changer. His multifaceted approach uses years of experience as a Vice President at three fortune 500 companies, as a real estate entrepreneur, and his expertise as a certified practitioner and coach of Neuro-Linguistic Programming in conjunction with Time Line Therapy® and Hypnosis to help Live Your Vision.
Matt prides himself on his congruent lifestyle, excelling both personally and professionally and living the healthiest life possible. He knows that when you point the mind, body and spirit in the right direction, you will manifest exactly what you desire.
Matt is the author of two essential books: Quick-Witted and Basic Training.
Quick-Witted: Saying the Right Thing to Win Big. Matt believes the key to success and becoming the go-to person is be creative and a problem solver.
Basic Training: True Sales Training (Coming Fall of 2010) Matt offers state of the art communication technologies to communicate and sell more effectively.
As a speaker, Matt is full of an infectious energy, a passion for life and a gift for high-energy storytelling that captures audience attention and draws them in. Matt leaves the audience wanting more and with actionable usable strategies.
Through Success Coaching, Matt, along with his fiancée Denise, can help reach your dreams through their Live Your Vision coaching process. They believe strongly that the only thing holding us back is the quality of our thoughts. Matt and his beautiful fiancée Denise currently reside in Chicago. When they’re not inspiring people around the globe they can usually be found reading, learning and experiencing life to the fullest.
To learn more about Matthew Linklater, please visit http://www.TheLinklater.com
About America’s PremierExperts® LLC:
America’s PremierExperts® is an organization that recognizes business experts for their willingness to promote free expert content in their field of expertise to consumers and journalists alike, while offering business owners, entrepreneurs, professional speakers, authors, professionals and corporate CEOs exclusive, invitation-only, opportunities for further exposure and growth in the marketplace. JW Dicks, Esq. and Nick Nanton, Esq., attorneys by trade and entrepreneurs by choice, founded America’s PremierExperts® to honor entrepreneurs, CEOs, authors, professional speakers and businesspeople who are dedicated to spreading knowledge and awareness in their field of expertise and making significant contributions to their industry and the marketplace as a whole. For more information about America’s PremierExperts® visit http://www.AmericasPremierExperts.com
