Asia Radio Today starts 2014 with a week of advice to help your sales team boost its performance. All this week, respected Australian sales trainer Stephen Pead will share articles from knowledge gained over a 30 year media career.
The Ten Reasons Most Media Salespeople Fail
by Stephen Pead
1. Most media salespeople don’t prospect efficiently, effectively and systematically. They spend most of their selling time with prospects that cannot buy or will not buy.
2. Most media salespeople do not utilise a consistently effective sales process. Each sales opportunity is handled differently, based on what they are comfortable doing. Their results are hit or miss. Great media salespeople use proven systems and a repeatable process.
3. Most media salespeople believe that their primary function is to persuade and convince prospects to buy advertising campaigns. They use manipulative persuasion tactics, which most prospects resent; these tactics create sales resistance and result in low closing rates.
4. Most media salespeople fail to get a conditional commitment to do business at the beginning of the sales process. They then waste too much time with prospects that have no real interest, no real understanding and no real commitment to buy advertising.
5. Most media salespeople neglect to determine the exact buying intentions of their prospects, including what their financial capacity is, when the purchase will occur and who makes the final decision. They spend too much time and resources on low probability prospects and low probability outcomes.
6. Most media salespeople attempt to do what they call “building rapport.” What they are really doing is trying to get the prospects to like them, which is an inherently manipulative process. Most prospects are far more concerned about whether they can trust and respect you.
7. Most media salespeople do “sales presentations,” rather than determining what their prospect really needs and why they need it. As a result their prospects feel neglected, disrespected and once again manipulated. Great salespeople never let this happen!
8. Most media salespeople close at the end of their sales process. The best of media salespeople start closing at the beginning of their sales process and continue to close throughout the entire process. The sum of all those commitments adds up to a relaxed, no pressure close.
9. Most media salespeople learn a few techniques for “overcoming objections” which are largely manipulative. The very best salespeople eliminate almost all objections with their sales process by continually “testing” the prospect’s interest.
10. Most media salespeople are locked into old beliefs about selling. When they try to improve, they only improve on what they already know. That can only result in small incremental improvements. The top media salespeople are always looking for ways to make dramatic changes to gain increases in their sales productivity.
Tomorrow: Why Your Market Isn’t As Different As You Think?
About the author: Stephen Pead is a media industry veteran of 30 years with significant global experience in radio sales and sales training. He has been a sales manager and general manager of radio stations in most of Australia’s major markets. He is now based in Sydney, Australia and runs his own sales consulting company, Sales Solutions specialising in training and coaching for media salespeople and sales managers.
His website is: www.yoursalessolutions.com.au