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Dedication
DEDICATION
To all those out there trying to close a deal, I salute
you!
You are the economic pistons that fuel this economy
engine we call capitalism.
CONTENTS
DEDICATION
xii
PREFACE
xiv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHAPTER 1.
MAKE THE COMMITMENT
#1: Why Are You in Sales?
#2: Quantifying the Goal
#3: Dark Days of Selling
#4: Know Your Target
#5: Data Mining
#6: Sketch Your Prospect
#7: Are You B2B or B2C?
#8: Law of Sales Attraction
#9: Knowing Your Product or Service
CHAPTER 2.
PRESENTING FEATURES AND BENEFITS
#10: Building Credibility
#11: The I Dont Know Rule
#12: Features and Benefits
#13: Know Thy Competition
#14: Creating Value
#15: Sales Integrity
#16: Why Listening Works
#17: Open-Ended & Closed-Ended Questions
#18: Interview, Not an Investigation
CHAPTER 3.
xviii
1
2
3
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
11
12
13
15
16
17
17
18
19
CHAPTER 4.
CLOSING THE SALE
CHAPTER 5.
BRIDGING THE SALES GAP
#37: When the Prospect Says They Dont Have
the Time
#38: When the Prospect Says They Dont Have
the Need
#39: When the Prospect Doesnt Have a Sense
of Urgency
#40: Building Trust When There is No Trust
#41: Crossing the Sales Gaps
#42: Theyre Rejecting the Offer, Not You
#43: Principle of Least Interest Effect
#44: Make the Client Discontent
#45: Long Sales Cycle versus Short Sales Cycle
vi
21
21
23
25
26
27
28
29
30
30
33
33
33
34
34
35
36
37
38
39
41
41
42
44
46
47
48
49
50
51
CHAPTER 6.
THE LONG AND SHORT OF THE
SALES CYCLE
#46: Measuring Your Sales Cycle
#47: I Have to Speak with My X
#48: Send Me Your Information
#49: Thats Too Expensive or Thats Too
Much Money
#50: Displaying Your Products
#51: Influence versus Manipulation
#52: The Primacy Effect
#53: The Recency Effect
#54: Presentation Sequence
CHAPTER 7.
THE MINDSET OF PROSPECTS
#55: Pricing Option
#56: Social Proof
#57: Salting the Jar (Another Example of
Social Proof)
#58: Rule of Consistency
#59: How Telemarketers Use Consistency
#60 Sales Truth Serum How to Get Accurate
Information
#61: Sales Attention Grabbers
#62: Price Options
#63: I Dont Know!
CHAPTER 8.
THE VALUE OF MONEY
#64: Reducing Your Sales Cycle
#65: The Alternative Close
#66: Verbal Packaging
#67: Sequence Your Offer
#68: Building Instant Credibility
#69: Relative Value of Money
#70: Customer Orientation
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53
54
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56
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58
59
60
60
61
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62
63
63
64
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66
67
69
69
70
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71
72
72
73
#71: Sunk Cost Fallacy
#72: Customers Lie
CHAPTER 9.
ASSESSING THE SITUATION
#73: Prospecting
#74: Prospecting via Cold Calling
#75: Prospecting via Inquiry
#76: Prospecting via Referral
#77: No Pain, No Sales Gain
#78: Lowering Resistance, Then Raising
Acceptance
#79: Situation Questions
#80: Verbal Gifting: The Ultimate Rapport
Builder
#81: Trouble Questions
CHAPTER 10.
PRESENTING THE PRICE
#82: Dont React or Act
#83: The Psychology of ConsistencyAgain!
#84: Amplify Questions
#85: Rule of Association
#86: Reward Questions
#87: Tie-Down
#88: Tie-Down in a Small Simple Sale
#89: Tie-Downs in Large Complex Sales
#90: Price Distortion The Magnifying Effect
CHAPTER 11.
RULES OF PERSUASION
viii
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77
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77
78
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80
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83
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93
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96
98
99
100
102
104
104
106
108
108
108
110
#97: Finding the Dominant Buying Motive
#98: Reversing Field - Building Rapport
and Credibility
#99: When to Consolidate or Partition
Your Prices
APPENDIX A: RESOURCES
OTHER BOOKS BY VICTOR ANTONIO
111
112
115
118
118
APPENDIX B: WORKSHEETS
119
COMMITMENT EXERCISE
119
122
PREFACE
There are a lot of misconceptions regarding the
profession of selling. The stereotype of a salesperson
is likened to someone who is always looking to sell
you something you dont need or want. If youve ever
watched the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, you come
away with a very dim view of what salespeople are
and an even lesser opinion of their moral code and
conduct.
If you watched or read Arthur Millers Death of a
Salesman youd swear that companies are set up to
suck the life out of salespeople and when theyre best
years of selling are over, theyre discarded without
regard upon the emaciated heap of used up
salespeople. Next!
I often receive emails from my readers or folks
whove visited my website asking a wide range of
questions that leads me to believe that selling is truly
a much maligned and misunderstood profession.
Heres a sample of the types of questions and
comments Ive received.
with additional tools, tips and tactics that you can use
to supplement your already stocked sales toolkit.
With all of that said, I hope you enjoy this book as
much as Ive enjoyed writing it. And remember,
selling aint hard, when you know how!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHAPTER 1.
MAKE THE
COMMITMENT
#1:
Why
Are
You
in
Sales?
Suppose someone stopped you, dead in your tracks,
while making a sales presentation, and asked you the
question, Why are you in sales? How would you
answer? Id like you to think about that for a moment
because its a very important question. In fact, I will
go out on a limb and say that the very answer to this
question will indicate whether or not youll be
successful in the sales profession.
Many who answer this question will say, Money,
thats the reason Im in sales. Which still begs the
question: What will money get you? Here are some
benefits of having money: financial freedom, worryfree living, more time with family, sending the kids to
the best schools, buying that new car or house youve
always wanted, or retiring early. Can you think of any
others?
The more tangible and real you make your reasons for
being in sales, the more likely you are to stay
motivated and sell better. Id like you to give this
question some serious thought: Why am I in Sales?
Write down the why that drives you.
#2:
Quantifying
the
Goal
Writing down goals is fine, but it is more effective to
write down specifically what you want and what it
will take to get it. For example, if you want to buy a
$30,000 car with cash, then write that down. Now,
lets assume your average sale is $1,000 and you
make a commission of $200 for each sale. Well, that
means youd have to make 180 sales ($36,000
divided by $200) in order to earn that much money.
One hundred and eighty sales sounds like a lot;
however, when you divide by 12 months in 1 year,
that means you have to make 15 (180 divided by 12)
sales each month (or 4 sales per week) to meet your
goal. You now know how hard (or easy, depending
on your perspective) youll have to work to get that
new car.
Now it doesnt have to be a car. It could be having
enough money in the bank to put your children
through college. Or maybe you want to pay off your
2
10
CHAPTER 2.
PRESENTING
FEATURES AND
BENEFITS
#10:
Building
Credibility
Nothing will undermine your credibility faster in
front of a potential client than your inability to
articulate what you have to offer or your inability to
answer the most fundamental questions about the
product or service you offer. When a client sets aside
time to speak with you about your product, and you
dont know the answers to fundamental questions
about the product or how it can best serve the client,
then youve wasted your time. Even worse, youve
wasted the prospects time, and that is inexcusable!
Your goal as a salesperson should be to dedicate
yourself to learning as much as you can about your
product. Then, find ways to demonstrate to the client
how your product stands head and shoulders above
the competition. In other words, dont let the prospect
20
CHAPTER 3.
HOW TO SELL
WITHOUT SELLING
#19:
Active
and
Passive
Listening
Weve all heard the saying, God gave us two ears
and one mouth, so that we can listen twice as much as
we talk. Learning to listen is a challenge. We are
often overcome by the need to share our opinions too
much. For some reason, it makes us feel good about
ourselves when were doing the talking.
Over the years Ive learned, that the key to successful
relationships,
professional
or
personal,
is
communication. Id like to say that communication is
divided equally into 50% speaking and 50% listening.
However, Im more inclined to go with a 20:80
speaking to listening ratio. It takes time and practice
to learn how to listen. For some people, especially
introverts, it may come easily. However, most
salespeople are extroverts; they love to talk. Dont let
32
CHAPTER 4.
stage. Lastly, if you can close the deal, you now have
a client (i.e., a prospect who bought from you
becomes a client) coming out of the bottom of the
narrow funnel. How many prospects you convert into
clients is called your conversion rate or closing rate.
Each phase of the sales funnel is critical, but none is
more critical than qualifying your prospects up front.
This phase insures that you dont waste time trying to
sell to someone who isnt going to buy your product.
#33:
Calculating
Your
Closing
Rate
In sales, the name of the game, is to start with many
qualified prospects. As you move them through your
sales stages (or funnel), youll still have a handful
that will come out of the bottom funnel, buy from
you, and be able to measure your effectiveness. In
selling, this is referred to as your closing rate.
If for example you had 10 prospects you were trying
to sell to, and after having gone through the selling
stages, only 1 buys, then your closing ratio or
percentage is 10% (1 divided 10 100%). If 2 out of
10 bought, then your closing percentage is 20%. Note
that in selling, there is no standard close rate or good
close rate since it varies from industry-to-industry.
For instance, a 10% close rate may be bad if youre
selling a low commission ticket item ($100 printer),
36
No Money
No Time
No Need (or No Interest)
No Urgency
No Trust
40
CHAPTER 5.
BRIDGING THE
SALES GAP
#37:
When
the
Prospect
Says
They
Dont
Have
the
Time
A prospect may tell you the reason they wont buy
from you at this moment is because they simply dont
have the time to invest in implementing, using, or
learning about your product. Ive had prospects tell
me the reason they wont buy my product is because
it takes too long to install or it takes too long to learn
how to efficiently use it.
The best way to handle this stall is to test the
prospects knowledge of efficiency and utilization.
For example, if youre selling a prospect a product
that will help him or her save one hour a day, any
sane person would be interested in finding out more.
Mr.
Prospect,
I
know
that
you
value
time
and
that
time
is
money.
If
I
can
show
you
how
this
product
will
not
only
save
you
money,
but
will
give
you
more
time
42
44
Many people are drawn to this car for its looks, but
given its maintenance track record, I wouldnt
recommend it to someone who is looking for a
reliable car.
Your immediate reaction might be one of disbelief!
After the shock has worn off, you feel a sense of trust
develop. Who else but a trustworthy salesperson
would be so brazen and forthright as to tell you NOT
to buy something? Learn to build trust quickly by
demonstrating expertise and unsuspecting honesty!
#41:
Crossing
the
Sales
Gaps
In order to get anyone to buy your product or at a
minimum get them to consider your product, you
have to get them to cross over three mental sales
gaps. The first sales gap is Awareness. A prospect
has to be aware that he or she has a problem. This
may not be as obvious as it sounds. Sometimes, the
prospect isnt aware of a situation that may be costing
him time or money. Step one is to create awareness
by identifying the problem for the prospect.
The next phase of the selling process is what I call
crossing the Urgency Gap. Once the problem has
been brought to the prospects attention, it doesnt
necessarily mean hell act on it. In other words, he
may have a need or a problem that must be resolved,
52
CHAPTER 6.
54
60
CHAPTER 7.
THE MINDSET OF
PROSPECTS
#55:
Pricing
Option
When submitting a proposal to a prospect who has
agreed to buy, the prospect will typically choose the
less expensive option. The reason behind this is the
fact that many prospects who are buying for the first
time are risk averse. They dont like to take risk. By
buying your less expensive item, they minimize the
risk of buying the wrong thing, and therefore avoid
what we all know as buyers remorse. So what if you
want them to buy the most expensive item? Is there a
way to influence them to buy the more expensive
item? The answer is yes. Check out my next tip to
find out how!
#56:
Social
Proof
When determining a course of action or behavior,
when unsure on how to act or behave, we will look
for social clues or environmental cues for help. For
62
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68
CHAPTER 8.
THE VALUE OF
MONEY
#64:
Reducing
Your
Sales
Cycle
The best way to effectively reduce your sales cycle is
to set up the next appointment while youre at the
customers premise finishing up a meeting. Too often,
salespeople leave a meeting without pre-arranging a
time and date for the next meeting. This leads to a lot
of telephone tag, and the next thing you know,
several days if not weeks have gone by.
When you finally do get a hold of the prospect, it
might be too late, or they seem to have lost interest in
the whole matter. Before you leave the meeting,
confirm a time and date. If the prospect says, Well, I
dont know when we can meet again. all you have to
do is use the I Dont Know technique, to get your
answer.
76
CHAPTER 9.
ASSESSING THE
SITUATION
#73:
Prospecting
Of all the six stages in selling, prospecting is by far
the most important; no prospects, no clients, no
business, no money! You get the idea? In
prospecting, the first step is knowing who youre
selling to. Once youve identified your target market,
the questions are; How do you get them to come to
you? or How can you approach them? In sales,
prospecting falls into one of three categories: Cold
Call, Inquiry, or Referral. Lets take a look at each to
help you determine which method of prospecting is
good for you.
#74:
Prospecting
via
Cold
Calling
Whenever you pick up a phone to call someone that
you dont know, you are making a cold call. The
objective of cold calling is to briefly introduce
yourself and your company to the potential client.
78
Motivation questions:
Market questions:
88
CHAPTER 10.
PRESENTING THE
PRICE
#82:
Dont
React
or
Act
Salespeople who are looking for trouble spots will
immediately react with some visual cue or change in
audible tone, after hearing one. As soon as you react,
the client may notice it and decide to pull back, and
not speak so freely. In poker, the fastest way to lose
your money is to telegraph your opponents the type of
hand youre holding. The way to win and win big in
poker is to let the opponent think they have the upper
hand and that theyre in control. Every time a card is
drawn, smart poker players will lull the opponents
into a false sense of security causing them to commit
deeper to the pot. Once hes gotten them to commit as
far as he thinks theyre willing go he goes all in,
catching the opponent by surprise and leaving them
confused and unsure of themselves.
Its no different in selling. If the client tells you
something critical that you can use later to help you
close the deal, dont show any emotion whatsoever,
96
It is now up to you, the salesperson, to begin to tiedown the prospects needs by demonstrating how
your product or service will help the prospect.
The last step in this S.T.A.R.T. system is the TieDown. A tie-down can best be described as a
summation question posed by a salesperson seeking
to get some form of agreement or commitment from
the prospect.
Tie-downs are powerful closing techniques that can
be used to get the prospect to commit to buying or to
simply get the prospect to agree with what youve
stated. Tie-downs can be used in small (simple) and
large (complex) sales, but how you use them to close
a sale differs.
#88:
Tie-Down
in
a
Small
Simple
Sale
In a small sale, the prospect is less conscious of price.
A tie-down can be used to gain the prospects
commitment right there and then. For example, after
having created the need and urgency, you may try to
tie a prospect down for a commitment by using some
commonly used tie-down phrases:
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CHAPTER 11.
RULES OF
PERSUASION
Rules of Persuasion
Just like the season ticket pass holders, the buyer may
choose not to use the product even after the purchase
(i.e., devaluing the item from the beginning).
Value attribution is about controlling perception, and
the last thing you want is a buyer to associate you (or
your company) with selling cheap products or
services. The unintended consequence of heavily
discounting a product may be that the buyer, sensing
little value, chooses not to buy any other products in
the future. Be careful!
#92:
Nodding:
Pumping
the
Prospect
for
Information
Lets go back to the premise that the best salespeople
are usually the best listeners, and lets analyze more
closely why that might be so. Weve all known that
person who was able to squeeze out more information
from a prospect, and were left wondering how.
One study in particular may provide us with a clue of
why that might be so. Research conducted on human
behavior has revealed that using a head nod
encourages the other person to talk. Its our way of
saying, Go ahead, youve got the floor. It has also
been shown, that nodding your head in intervals will
encourage the other person to speak. One study
showed that individuals will talk three to four times
106
Rules of Persuasion
108
Rules of Persuasion
Rules of Persuasion
Rules of Persuasion
114
Rules of Persuasion
$199.00
$0
$0
$0
$199.00
Partitioned Pricing:
Software:
License Fee:
Upgrade Fee:
Tech. Support:
Total
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116
Rules of Persuasion
APPENDIX A: RESOURCES
Other Books by Victor Antonio
The Logic of Success
Cold Calling Success
Why the Squirrel Kept Winning
Response Block Selling
Sales Psycho
Winning Back the Business
Appendix:
Worksheets
APPENDIX B: WORKSHEETS
COMMITMENT
EXERCISE
Think of something youd like to achieve and then
quantify your goal just like I did with the new car.
[Find a picture (e.g., cut it out of a magazine) that
represents your goal & paste it right here]
(1) Object of your desire: ____________________
(ex. Car)
(2) Cost of this object: _______________________
(ex. $36,000)
(3) Average commission per sales: _____________
(ex. $200)
(4) Months to complete this goal: ______________
(ex. 12 months or 1 year)
(5) How many sales needed:
____________________Take (2) divided by (3)
120
Appendix:
Worksheets
ABOUT THE
AUTHOR
Victor Antonio is proof that the
American dream of success is alive and well. A poor
upbringing from one of the roughest areas of Chicago
didn't stop Victor from earning
Victor
Antonio
a B.S. Electrical Engineering
and an MBA, building a 20-year
career as a top sales executive, and becoming CEO of
a multimillion dollar high-tech company.
Prior to being CEO he was President of Global Sales
and Marketing for a $420M company. He was tasked
with building a global sales force, establishing
contract agreements, developing financial pricing
models, and in charge of developing the corporate
brand and marketing the company's services for
worldwide acceptance. Before that he was Vice