In my last newsletter, I shared with you some thoughts about Les Boyle of ROI Media. He recently passed from this earth to the next leaving behind many people who will miss him. He was one of my favorite nemesis when I managed stations. Shortly before he died, he shared some additional words of wisdom with me.
For most of my career as a Sales Manager and then Market Manager, I did battle with Les on a regular basis. He was always trying to negotiate the best deal possible for his clients. And I was trying to keep my rates at a somewhat reasonable level. But one thing is abundantly clear: Les was a consummate negotiator. He was also a top-notch sales person. He was the rainmaker for his buying service.When Les speaks on sales, we should listen. Here are some final words of wisdom from Les:
"A.K.C. No, this does not stand for "The American Kennel Club". It does stand for "Always Keep Closing". The mantra of every successful salesperson in the world.
Perhaps it started with the first caveman who needed to trade his excess mastodon meat with the guy in the next cave. The phrase came to popularity a number of years ago from the Broadcast drama "Glen Garry-Glen Ross". The play was based on a nefarious group of "boiler room" salesmen selling questionable real estate opportunities.
A tour de force of personal interaction under tremendous pressure to sell at all costs.
The Bentnose Boys, AKA the Mafia, owned the operation. The manager kept shouting: "Always keep closing".
The technique is a very simple one. Keep asking the prospect questions to facilitate a positive response as you detail the benefits, the reason to buy what you are offering.
You gain enormous positive agreement, you make the sale.
Every presentation should be well-thought out. "Winging it" will usually fail. Define the benefits and frame the questions to elicit a positive response. Do not lose sight of why your customers will buy or why they reject the idea.
Keep on asking! Keep on closing!
You may have a close personal relationship with the client. Do not try to coast on that.
You have to continue extolling the benefits of why they buy from you. Going on "howdy calls" just opens the door and holds it open for the competition."
Those who have been in my training will remember the two-prong technique that we teach to handle objections. We focus on WHY the offering is important to the prospect. We ask questions, questions, questions.
Today it's not what you TELL a prospect, it's what you ASK them. Les was right-on with his advice. Thank you, Les! We'll miss you!
