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How to Imply Agreement (Advanced Sales Techniques)
Last week I started a mini-series on advanced sales techniques. If you missed the first one about buffer statements, make sure you read that....
How to Get the Processing Statement
While the skill to sell”on the spot” is very important, the more important skill by far is the ability to get statements from the merchant. Even if you never close a deal on the spot, you can make a lot of sales in this business if you get a lot of statements. Here are a […]
James Shepherd
May 8, 2015
While the skill to sell”on the spot” is very important, the more important skill by far is the ability to get statements from the merchant. Even if you never close a deal on the spot, you can make a lot of sales in this business if you get a lot of statements. Here are a few tips and a script that I use to get the statement. Tips:
1. Know your numbers!!!!! If you want to be successful, you must know three numbers.
- How many new businesses have you walked into in the last day, week, month? If you are not walking into very many businesses for the first time, you are not going to make many sales. Whether you are getting appointments scheduled or just walking in, you must be walking into a lot of new businesses to get sales.
- How many face to face meetings have you had with business owners in the last day, week, month? This number should be roughly 30% to 60% of the new businesses you walk into, depending on how saturated your market is and whether they are pre-set or cold walk ins.***Remember, a phone call or email is not a good idea when you are at this stage. You want a face to face meeting; there’s no substitute. If an employee asks me, “Here is his email address; can you email the info to him?” I collect the email address and then I say, “You know what, I am out in the field so much, I will make sure I stop back by. What is the best time to catch him on Friday?” Or if they give me his card and say, “Give him a call to schedule an appointment,” I respond, “You know what, I will be back out on Thursday anyway. So I will probably just swing by; is he normally in on Thursday?” My rule is: once I walk into a business, I will only deal face to face moving forward. You might try it a different way and get people to “seem” interested, but I promise you that email and phone selling will drag out the sales process. I use email and phone calls as a tool to make the next appointment face to face. The only exception is really large multi-location deals which do require a longer sales process anyway.
- How many new statements have you received in the last day, week, month? This number should be 20% to 40% of the face to face, first time meetings you have had with business owners, depending on your sales ability. This is the number I am going to talk about improving. The other two are more a function of your work ethic and market than your sales ability.
The reason I pointed out the top two numbers is because if you are only getting one or two statements per week, this might be because you only walk into ten new businesses per week. Don’t beat yourself up about the wrong thing. Track all three of these numbers throughout your day and then key them into a CRM program every night like our Merchant Sales Marketing Platform. This way you can see a running total for the week and month. Identify your weak area and try to improve it. Are you not spending enough time in the field? Are you only speaking to 20% of the owners at businesses where you visit? Or are you only getting statements from 10% to 20% of the business owners with whom you speak? These are all very different problems. You need to identify with which problem you are dealing. Here is an opening script that should help you get the statement:
You walk in: “Hi, my name is _____. I am a local business owner offering Credit Card Processing services to local businesses. You might actually know X business; I work with them. (Or if you have no business clients nearby, “I am doing a cost analysis for them.”) May I ask who you are using for your credit card processing services?”
Client Responds: “We use XYZ processor.” (If they add, “We are really happy with them,” or “We are not looking to switch,” just ignore that and keep going to the next line.)
You say: “Ok, I am familiar with XYZ Processor. I didn’t realize they had any local reps around here. Do you work with a local agent or do you just deal with them over the phone?”
Client Responds: “…well, over the phone.”
You Say: “If I could ask one favor of you: I am a local guy trying to build my client list here in X City. I would really like to stop by on X day and drop off some free information for you to keep in your files, including a detailed cost analysis that will break down our pricing. Would you mind if I did that for you?”
Client Responds: “Sure, you can drop off some free information.”
You Say: “Great, the only thing I will need from you is a recent processing statement so I can do the free analysis for you. Do you have one handy or should I swing by and pick that up later in the week?”
There are obviously many variations of this pitch. Try typing out your own opening and memorize it. Improvising is actually easier when you have a bunch of lines memorized. That way you can really listen to the client without thinking, “What am I going to say next!!!” Also, if you write out your pitch and then find that you are lacking in any of the three important numbers, email me your script. I can make some suggestions.
Email me with questions: james@ccsalespro.com
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