The sale starts when the customer says no

I just completed my second Jeffrey Gitomer book: his Sales Bible. I can definitely see his style of numbered lists, with an extra "0.5" at the end at all times, and his intense energy and enthusiasm for sales philosophy came through strong in the audiobook. At times, the text seemed to lack structure and direction, and I felt like there was a lot of repetition. However, buried in this tome are a lot of great nuggets and sample scripts, clearly developed after a lot of field testing.

It's interesting how many of the sales techniques presented link closely with the principles of psychology from some of the other books I've recently been reading.

Below are my main notes and lessons from each section.

Think: the sale is in your head

• Walk in with the feeling of certainty, that your product is the best value
  
• Listen to inspirational messages
• Pump yourself up

Believe

• In your company
  
• In your product
• In yourself
• And that the customer is better off buying your product from you

Engage

• Develop rapport
• Ask people where they live, where they grew up, where they travel, how they landed here, how they got to this career

Discover

• Find their reasons first; why they buy is much more important than why you need to sell
  
• Find out why others buy
  
• Learn from customer wisdom (ask past customers why bought from you)
  

Ask

• The right questions
• Get them to reveal value and benefit of ownership

Dare

• Chutzpah
  
• Cold calls
  
• Asking for something
  

Own

• Know whose fault it is when the sale not made
  
• Always your fault
  
• Learn from it
  

Sell for relationship, not commission

• You "earn" a sale, not make it
  

Prove

• Testimonials are huge; use video
  
• Make them specific
  
• Use them on site, in sales visits, with proposals
  

Become

• Daily work towards big goal
  

Values and techniques of the sales professional

• Create difference
  
• Know the difference between satisfied and loyal
  
• Ability to speak and be compelling
  
• Stay a student everyday; apple a day of learning
  
• Friendly relationship
  
• Humor
  
• Creativity
  
• Ask for the sale
  
• Believe in yourself
  
• Be prepared
  
• Don't whine
• Yes attitude
  
• Set and write down goals on post it's on mirror
  
• Positive attitude
  

Customer management

• Add value, ideas to prospect instead of just following up routinely
  
• Show testimonials like crazy
  
• Present just facts, no fluff
  
• Ask personal, deep questions about awards, history of customer's company, goals, family; use these to sell to
  
• Be friends with customers
  
• Call people, add value, do things that are not selling to them at all
  
• Take them to events, outings
  
• Join a business council where you can sell to each other
  
• Your current customers are your best prospects
  
• Use humor
  
• Listen to affirmations
  

Meetings and questions

• Answer people's deeper, underlying questions and concerns that lead to close
  
• Ask, What do you look for? What has been your experience? What did you like about it?
  
• Power statements: Sell value to user, not value of product
  
• Develop an elevator pitch with clear call to action
  
• Study the other person deeply beforehand
  
• Cold calls in person or phone: ignore no soliciting signs, ask for help, ask for some passive info, say want to leave some important information, ask who decides on this sort of stuff
  
• Carry article about you, testimonial video, give referral to customer they can talk to, keep a list of loyal customers big and small
  
• Craft words carefully
  
• Never say "honestly" or "frankly"
  

Presentations

• Involve the prospect in the sale; make their experience tactile, hands on
  
• Ask for help in setting up presentation, projector; accept others' offered drinks
  
• Wrong: "I'm not finished with my presentation," "Don't buy yet" -- others' questions and agenda always take priority
  
• Create presentation from customer's perspective, not product's perspective
  
• Have at least one laugh per 5 slides
  
• Use a white background
  
• Logo in corner
  
• Use Impact type face, 44pt, shadow on font
  
• 1 point per slide
  
• Tell a story instead of relating facts
  

Handling objections

• "No" is a required step to "yes"
  
• The sale starts when the customer says no
  
• Get down to the real objection
  
• Every conversation is sale: your selling them on yes or them selling you on no
  
• Prevent objections before they're voiced
  
• Closing: If I could x, would you buy?
  
• Have good answers to real objections
  
• Present in front of all decision makers, don't let them be your salesperson for internal decision-making
  
• Do prospect's competitor comparison for them ahead of time
  
• Clearly ask for the sale
  
• Buying signals: asking about cost, availability, timing, questions on company (these are Indicators of Interest -- IOIs)
  
• Answer questions with questions (When can you deliver it? -- When do you want it?)
  
• Use the puppy dog close: let them try it out (they can return it anytime but won't)
  
• Use the negative sale (hurt that comes from not buying)
  

Persistence

• As children begging for a candy bar, we learn the art of persistence
• Sales requires persistence and getting through 5 No's before you get to Yes
  
• Get prospect's work schedule and call before or after secretary's hours
• Always leave a voicemail anyways
• The shorter the message, the more likely to be returned
• Just leave your first name and number
• Trick: leave a message and hang up mid-sentence on some important point having to do with them

Customer service

• Guru: Ty Boyd
• Aim: not just satisfaction
• Put in as much work to keep customers as to acquire
  

Exhibitions

• Be the first in the room, last one out
  
• Write down notes on business cards, personal rapport details
  
• Give talks
  
• Be brief and move on when meeting people in a row/networking
  

Networking

• Ask customers what events they plan to attend and be there
  
• Spend most of your time with new people
  
• Chamber of Commerce publishes events
  
• Give first to others
  

Sample sales schedule for a true sales hustler

• 10 prospect calls per day
  
• 10 follow up calls per day
• 10 new appointments booked per week
• 4 client lunches per week
  
• 2 networking events per week
  
• Damn, sales is hard!

Philosophical lesson from his dad

• When facing a problem, ask yourself: "Is it anything $10,000 won't cure?"
• If it's not, it's not a problem.
  

Afterword/When I grow up

• Make decisions as the person you want to be