Sales and Bread

[Some fag No.869898]

Hey /biz/,
I'm back. Bored and home from work. Copypasta OP follows, but I'm gonna talk a bit about closing today. Can still field the usual questions on sales and do greentext stories, though.

Copypasta OP and Russian nesting doll sales archive (Honestly, I'd just root through to the first thread, then go from there):

Last thread. Also has link to the first thread. Without being too much of a narcissistic douche, they both have a ton of info on salesmanship and general sales. Worth a read:
https://archive.moe/biz/thread/825328

On me: 23 year old timeshare salesman. College dropout. Averaging around $12k a month income selling timeshare.

[Anonymous No.869901]

>>869898
How are people so stupid to buy a timeshare?

[Some fag No.869930]

>>869901
This gets asked every other thread. Last time it was, I pretty much sold the anon a timeshare. Check the link.

So closing. What is it, and why do most people suck at it? Closing is getting the deal that minute. It's getting the client to say yes rather than "It's a good deal."

The first part of closing: playing the game. Sales is generally a two person game. You need a sales rep and a TO/closer/manager whatever you want to call them. This applies more heavily to in-person sales than anything else.

The job of a sales rep is to get a client to love them and the product. Your job as a closer is to take away the client's ability to get the deal. Whether that means the inventory isn't there, that pricing can't be honored, or that particular set of benefits can't come together as a package. You're going to take something away. That's because people want what they can't have.

Generally, you're going to be answering a question when you're brought into a deal. Assume that whatever is being discussed is wanted heavily by the client. Warm up to them for about a minute. My go to is complementing some clothing. After that, "So anon, what did you want to ask me?"

>Well I was just talking to Mr. and Mrs. Jones here about X and
>Woah, woah, woah. Let me stop you there. That's all -and I'm sorry about this guys- but we don't do X anymore. Now if you want...

The rep will generally cut me off and try to argue on their behalf. It allows them to be an advocate. The decision making process no longer falls on the client; it falls on me. If they begin arguing for it with the rep, we've gotten the deal without having them say "Yes." Yes scares the shit out of people. Eventually, I'll be brought around to helping the client as well, and everyone gets what they want. The client gets a special deal, and the rep gets a sale.

There's some specifics on that, but most anons on here probably have to close their own deals, so I'll go over being a one man closer next.

[Anonymous No.869939]

(1/2)

Hey OP,

Super timely I should be looking for something like this.

I skimmed over the last thread and while I saw some things of value, most of it seemed to be centered around car sales, and other 'bigger' ticket items (time shares)

I'm curious if I can pick your brain about a different sale. My friend and I launched an app in a free beta about 2 months ago, and we're 1 month away from really selling it.

It's basically a punch card app for small/local business, but there is a feature which uses frequent customers to get their friends in the door. We validate whether a customer is a new customer, and can effectively place a dollar figure on CAC for the business.

I'm basically responsible for sales E2E - walking in to places/cold calling, meeting and demoing to business owners/decision makers, coordinating the sign up, dropping off marketing materials and holding standing meetings with the staff to quickly train them on how to use it.

We're planning to undercut our closest competitor by 50%, starting at $25/month/location. Obviously this hinges on volume. But, we have a low burn rate and the long term plan is to have customers find the site, sign up, enter payment info, create rewards, install the merchant app on their device and start using it on their own - with effective self service.

In each market however, there will have to be boots on the ground sales to kickstart interest. Since we're in the mid-west US, the tech scene isn't as hot as elsewhere. I've had moderate success showing business owners the app and selling them on the slickness and the fact it's free for now.

I guess the crux of what I'm getting at is what's a good way to sell this? I have a BS in MIS, which is effectively useless for selling an app (though, I run the infrastructure so it helps a little). I've been experimenting with other pitches but none of this really seems effective -

[Some fag No.869942]

>>869930
>Assumptive language
A big part of closing is assuming the sale. You can't even fathom any they wouldn't do this, so that language should be out of your vocabulary. The whole time, you're sharing what this will do once they own/use your services, so it's a given that they'll buy. You don't ever ask them to buy. You ask what they'll be putting the down payment on. Which is stronger?

>So the purchase price is normally $45,000
>The price here is $30,000
>It's a $15,000 discount
>There's a $5,000 down payment here
>So are you buying today?

>So the purchase price is normally $45,000
>You're paying $30,000 and saving $15,000, literally half of the purchase price
>All they would need to secure that for you is $5,000
>Which card would you put that on?

The first way asks a question that's far too easy to say no to. If I doubt that you're going to do it, why shouldn't you?

[Anonymous No.869957]

(2/2)

1) Walk in, buy coffee, ask for punch card, "the reason I ask is.." and proceed to whip out the app, rattle off elevator pitch and leave a card.

This one takes persistence because 9 out of 10 the baristas don't give a crap - and I have to try again at different times to try and catch the owner.

2) Walk in, straight ask if they do anything for customer loyalty, ask if they've looked at any low-cost tools to get new people in the door, and proceed as before.

I use this one at nail and hair salons primarily. I'm 23, Male and /fit/, so the heck am I going to do there?

Dunno, I guess that's all I've tried. One of the guys on the team has a couple of 18/yo sisters we send in to do guerrilla marketing sometimes to ask if the business uses Poinks. I'll followup if there's interest.

I guess it ties in to closing, but what makes small business owners tick? The system is super simple, so it's not necessarily a technical hurdle.
Or, what materials should I look at as a starting point? I'm not great at this, kinda INTJ, so it doesn't come natural.
Are there principles of sales across all sectors/industries that hold true I should study?

I have "How to become better at sales" on my to do list.

Thank you OP!

[Some fag No.869971]

>>869939
If you're comfortable with stretching the truth, it's easy.

Essentially, you're creating a centralized rewards system for a market. Don't pitch it so much as you're selling to the business owners. Sell it to the general public harder. Sell their end of the product.

When you're pitching to a business, ask them if they like reducing overhead. Does that carry into their personal life? If there was a business that they frequented, and the competitor offered 25% off for the same service, would they be more inclined to try it? Absolutely. And why would the majority of the public be any different. So they'd agree that discounts offer incentives to try new things.

Here's where things are going to deviate a bit from what you normally do. You're now working with the business. Slow them all the marketing materials for getting the app on the consumers' phones. Show adoption rates. Say that it's growing rapidly and you're offering the ability for them to get in. If I was going to a pizza place for instance, I'd find the most recent promotion they offered. I'd also find the nearest competitor. I'm visiting Tony's, who ran a 15% off coupon last week. His nearest competitor is Jim's. After demonstrating how it all works, showing that people are using it, and getting him to line the idea, he's going to wonder what it costs.

>Now here's where you're in a unique position (Everyone is. People love to be in unique positions), Tony
>Jim's has already enrolled. They're now exposed to XX,XXX people
>They're offering a 10% discount on orders of $20 or more
>Now for only $25 a month, we can show a 15% discount at your shop right above that
>Now if you were buying pizza for the little league team, which one would you go with?
The 15%
>Exactly, so if we waive the enrollment fee and the first month's bill, what would we put the second month on?

[Some fag No.869991]

>>869971
>Essentially, you're creating a centralized rewards system for a market. Don't pitch it so much as you're selling to the business owners. Sell it to the general public harder. Sell their end of the product.
I didn't elaborate on this enough. Show business owners that the product is being adopted. Business owners work off of money, same as anyone else. If you show them a market that they can get in on, and increase volume, they'll appreciate it.

>>869971
I mentioned an enrollment fee. Get an enrollment fee. It should be somewhere around $500. Nobody will probably ever pay it, but it gives them something to say no to. People love saying no. They also love getting a special deal.

>So if we waive the enrollment fee, you're saving $500 right off the bat (Snap your fingers. It sounds stupid, but I swear to God it helps). That's two years worth of our services
>Now we have two contracts available. One year and two year. Would you like to enroll that entire savings towards increasing your business, or just half of it?
Whole
>Great, I'll get the two year form.

[Some fag No.870005]

>>869957
>Are there principles of sales across all sectors/industries that hold true I should study?
Yes. Sales is sales. The best salespeople are actually introverts that force themselves to be extroverts, so don't worry.

What's your biggest stumbling block?

[Anonymous No.870021]

>>870005
>What's your biggest stumbling block?

That's a good question. Maybe failing to convey the value is the root cause, but I've dropped off a *lot* of business cards around town.
If I get the business owner's e-mail address (or if they ask for more detail over an e-mail), I'll shoot them a message thanking them for their time and add a short (like 4-6 sentences tailored to their business) explaining the app, benefits, the fact it's very simple and that it's free for now. I'll end with things like "I'd love the opportunity to show it to you" and "chat soon!" as a pseudo-call to action.

Even if I do followup in person later, I'll likely never hear back to that email.

So really it's going from touch points to sealing the deal. I'm missing something in-between (or like I said, I blew it in person and this is just the outcome)

If they agree to a demo, they've already decided to sign up every time, I have noticed.

[Some fag No.870032]

>>870021
>If they agree to a demo, they've already decided to sign up every time, I have noticed.
Because it's a good product.

Odds are that you're making the mistake a lot of people selling do. You're giving it away. Free doesn't sell. Perceived value is important to people. You're coming off as a kid peddling some weird discount card.

Get a good suit, get a fuck you attitude, and get in front of a manager. Explain that they're either signing up, or their competitor is. This is going to drive a ton of business to them. Why would it be free? Most people are paying around $500 just to get listed. You're the first in the market, that's literally the only reason you have the ability to get in for anything resembling a discount. You can sign up later once the market is established, sure. It'll be twice as expensive and you'll be playing catch up, but you're more than welcome to.

That's an attitude that sells. Begging someone to participate isn't getting anybody's attention. You're important and your product is amazing. Carry yourself in a fashion that reflects it.

[Some fag No.870058]

>>869942
Back on track

>Getting objections/getting no's
You're going to want to get a few no's along the way. Every sale has them. Get something for them to say no to. An example:

>Now if I could do everything we spoke about here, but not get rid of the prepayment penalty (Or whatever was important to them) would you still move forward?
>No
>So what you're saying is that the only way you'll do anything is if we get X, Y, and Z? That's going to be tough, but if we get it, you'll be walking out of here as the only person to get X AND Z.

In my business, I'll generally bring out a final proposal with everything they've asked for on it (It's always stuff that I've primed them to ask for), and tell them I'm going to submit it to "them" on their behalf. Now normally, this gets initialed after a deal is agreed to. I tell them that we're going to need them to initial it and I'll fax it over.

>If they can't do it, oh well. If they can get everything on the paper that you've asked for, you're in, right?
>Yeah
>Fingers crossed then

They've already said no to a few variations of the deal, so this is the way they want it. I'm going to bat for them as an advocate.

[Anonymous No.870081]

>>869898

How are you still 23 after all these years?

[Some fag No.870086]

>>870081
>after all these years?
Not really sure when my first post on here as a namefag was, but I'm turning 24 very soon. Will you come to my party, anon?

[Anonymous No.870095]

>>870086

I knew you were a libra

[Some fag No.870102]

>>870095
I'm not

L O N D O N
O
N
D
O
N

[Anonymous No.870104]

>>870102

>virgo

Kill yourself you autistic shit

[Some fag No.870478]

>>870104
That really hurts, mang

[Anonymous No.870515]

Fuck yeah, a new S&B Thread!

>I'm Cancer
>Also Australian